Foreword: Wei Lihuang, as one of Chiang Kai-shek's Five Tiger Generals, was once an important subordinate of Chiang Kai-shek, and during the Red Army's Long March, he was ordered to encircle and suppress the Red Army.
Later, our party also listed him as a "first-class war criminal". Why, then, was it that in 1955, he was able to return to the mainland safely, and shocked *** and six marshals to come to greet him?
Let's explore the secrets together.
At 9 a.m. on April 6, 1955, the Beijing Railway Station was bustling. One general stands out in particular. "Is it *** and a couple of marshals? Why are they here? ”
Is it possible to welcome VIPs? "I heard that Wei Lihuang has returned from Taiwan. "Wei Lihuang? No way. That's a first-class war criminal, how dare he come back? ”
A noisy conversation was interrupted by the sudden sound of a train, and a man and a woman walked on the car, which was none other than "Wei Lihuang", one of the "Five Tiger Generals". * and the six marshals hurriedly stepped forward, and after a few words of greeting, everyone left, and the news instantly spread throughout the country, causing an uproar.
Does he dare to come back? **Why do you still greet them in person? The story of the "legendary general" Wei Lihuang is curious. Let's take a closer look at Wei Lihuang.
Wei Lihuang: Born in a poor peasant, but he has extraordinary experience and brilliant achievements. He is a child in a small rural village in Anhui Province, who lost his father at the age of 7 and comes from a poor family. However, from an early age, he showed remarkable wisdom and talent.
When he was studying in a private school, he was able to compose poems, write fu, and even carry the 24 histories with him. When he was 14 years old, the Xinhai Revolution broke out, and his life took a turn for the better. The following year, he took part in military training, cut off his braids and began his military career.
He admired Sun Yat-sen and hoped to enrich himself like him and realize his ambitions. However, his relatives were killed in the fighting, and he saw fleeing people and a mess of streets.
Despite his setbacks, he persevered and eventually became an excellent military general. His story teaches us that birth does not determine destiny, and that with determination and perseverance, anyone can achieve their dreams.
He stared at the scene in front of him, deeply intrigued, but the next second the "cooing" of his stomach pulled him back to reality. He realized that in the era when Yuan Shikai was in power, it was difficult to eat enough every day, and even the simplest meals became a luxury.
So, he decided to join the military. A few months later, he was successfully admitted to the Hubei Army Academy and saw many young people who shared his ideas and ambitions.
After more than a year of training, his body and mind have been tempered. Wei Lihuang, who followed Mr. Sun Yat-sen, studied and grew up in Guangzhou. Fascinated by Dr. Sun Yat-sen's wisdom and achievements, coupled with his admiration for heroes since childhood, he decided to join the Guangzhou Revolutionary Army.
Here, through his own efforts, he was finally appreciated by Dr. Sun Yat-sen and became a member of the guard.
The contact with Dr. Sun Yat-sen gave Wei Lihuang a deeper understanding of the revolution. He understood Dr. Sun Yat-sen's ambition to build a democracy in China that is "owned by the people, enjoyed by the people, and governed by the people".
Mr. Sun Yat-sen also expounded the national righteousness and the Three People's Principles to Wei Lihuang, and hoped that he could make contributions to the world. When leaving, Mr. Sun Yat-sen gave Wei Lihuang a 12-inch ** and a 6-inch **, and signed: "Comrade Lihuang, Sun Wen presents".
However, the early problems of religious differences and class differentiation led to contradictions and conflicts between the "Beiyang warlords" led by the northern warlords and the Southern Revolutionary Army led by Mr. Sun Yat-sen, and finally the Protectorate War broke out in 1917.
Wei Lihuang performed well in the battle and became the platoon commander of Mr. Sun Yat-sen's "Guard Platoon", and later promoted to company commander and battalion commander. Through his own efforts, he became acquainted with Chiang Kai-shek and joined the Northern Expeditionary Army, eventually becoming a battalion commander.
By chance, he became acquainted with Chiang Kai-shek, who was then the chief of staff of the Cantonese Army.
In 1925, Dr. Sun Yat-sen died of illness. In the same year, Chiang Kai-shek, on the pretext of continuing Sun Yat-sen's legacy, issued an oath to the whole country to unify China with the Northern Expedition. This has the support of most people, and Wei Lihuang is one of them.
Therefore, Wei Lihuang's Ninth Corps was incorporated into the Northern Expeditionary Army and joined Chiang Kai-shek's subordinates. In October 1926, the Northern Expedition began. Wei Lihuang showed extraordinary courage and resourcefulness in the two battles of Yongding and Songkou.
He used the Art of War, which he had read in his early years, and Peng Yue's guerrilla tactics during the Chu-Han War, and improved them and successfully applied them to the Northern Expedition. He adopted the strategy of advancing while fighting, and eventually encountered Sun Chuanfang's army in Zhejiang.
With his skillful art of war and brave combat, he successfully repelled Sun Chuanfang, and in March 1927, he joined the Eastern Route Army and arrived in Nanjing.
In 1927, Wei Lihuang showed his bravery and wisdom with his outstanding performance in the Yongding and Songkou battles, so he was promoted to division commander. However, in that period, the so-called "democracy" was only superficial.
Just as the Northern Expedition was making progress, Chiang Kai-shek betrayed the revolution and openly colluded with foreign powers and the bourgeoisie to launch the infamous "April 12" coup.
He manipulated the militants of the Youth Gang to pose as workers, launched attacks on workers' pickets, and then went on a large scale of the masses and communists. The atrocities resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives, thousands of people**, and a large number of people missing.
These events deeply saddened Wei Lihuang, and he began to reflect on why he struggled, what was justice, and what was selfishness. He remembered what Mr. Sun Yat-sen once said: "It is necessary to establish a democratic type of 'owned by the people, enjoyed by the people, and governed by the people'."
Wei Lihuang once listened to Chiang Kai-shek's rumors and began to encircle and suppress the Communists. However, in his in-depth contacts with the Communists, he found that the hearts of the Communists were full of righteousness, faith, and ambition.
As time passed, he came to realize that within the Kuomintang there were phenomena of mutual protection, deceit, and flattery, while the Communist Party was more popular with the people.
However, all this changed after the 918 incident. In 1931, the Japanese invaded the three eastern provinces of China during the "September 18 Incident", but Chiang Kai-shek ordered the implementation of a policy of "non-resistance".
At this moment, Wei Lihuang was completely sober, and he realized that all this was contrary to his original intention. On December 12, 1936, the Xi'an Incident broke out, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng imprisoned Chiang Kai-shek, trying to establish a national united front and forcing Chiang Kai-shek to give up the idea of "fighting outside must first secure the interior".
At that moment, Wei Lihuang fell into deep contemplation.
On December 17, 1936, ** participated in the Xi'an Incident on behalf of the Communist Party, and called on both sides to put aside their grievances and join hands to resist Japan. Wei Lihuang was deeply moved by this move, and he lamented the Communist Party's national righteousness and broad-mindedness, and expressed his willingness to go north to resist Japan and jointly save the nation from danger.
With the outbreak of the "77 Incident" in 1937, the all-out War of Resistance officially began, and Wei Lihuang firmly devoted himself to the anti-Japanese battlefield.
The outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression opened a new chapter in the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. The Red Army was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army and became a strong force under Yan Xishan.
However, for a number of reasons, Yan Xishan handed over operational command to Deputy Commander Wei Lihuang. In this way, Wei Lihuang had deeper contact with the Eighth Route Army.
Since then, Wei Lihuang and others have had more opportunities to communicate, and they often have oral discussions and friendly discussions, and work together for the great cause of resisting Japan.
He always approaches issues with respect and never forces interference. ** once spoke highly of Wei Lihuang: "We all come from peasant families, and we have been farming for a living for generations.
He commanded outstanding battles in the early Northern Expedition and the recent War of Resistance Against Japan, and was a rare talent in the Kuomintang army. He also recalled the first meeting between the two in Luoyang in January 1938.
Wei Lihuang and ** met on the train to Luoyang, and they were in the same carriage. Wei Lihuang cordially inquired about the situation of the Red Army's Long March across the grasslands, and gave detailed answers on how they repelled the enemy's encirclement and suppression, how they won the victory of the Long March, as well as his thoughts and aspirations.
Through this conversation, Wei Lihuang has a deeper understanding of the Communist Party and the Communist Party.
Wei Lihuang realized that he had been deceived by Chiang Kai-shek's rumors, and said with deep regret: "I deeply regret that I met Mr. ** late. Even *** spoke highly of Wei Lihuang: "He is an anti-Japanese faction in the Kuomintang, as long as you can resist Japan, he doesn't care whether you are a Kuomintang or not, he treats everyone equally, he never interferes arbitrarily, never seizes power."
At the beginning, he and Yan Xishan were both in Shaanxi, and the cooperation between us was very pleasant. In addition, Wei Lihuang also worked closely with *** and others to reach consensus on the command and discussion of the War of Resistance against Japan.
At the beginning of 1938, the Eighth Route Army lacked spring clothes, ammunition, guns and equipment. After Wei Lihuang learned about it, he ignored Chiang Kai-shek's warning, adhered to the principle of the united front of the War of Resistance, organized a meeting, and presented millions of ammunition, clothes and materials to the Eighth Route Army.
**After hearing about it, he personally invited Wei Lihuang to Yan'an to visit the customs and customs, and set up a banquet to entertain him. At that time, the two met late, exchanged opinions, and took a few precious **.
However, this incident made Chiang Kai-shek suspicious. After 1940, Wei Lihuang and the Eighth Route Army skillfully cooperated many times, and repeatedly thwarted the Japanese army's attempts to seize Zhengzhou.
The Battle of Zhengzhou not only dealt a severe blow to the arrogance of the Japanese invaders, but also added a glorious touch to the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan. Wei Lihuang was imprisoned, ** skillfully rescued In 1941, Wei Lihuang was defeated in the Battle of Zhongshantiao, and Chiang Kai-shek felt that he was biased in favor of the Communists, so he removed Wei Lihuang from his post as commander and stripped him of the rank of general.
Later, Wei Lihuang went to Europe to inspect and get acquainted with communists. As the old saying goes, "The bird hides the bow, and the rabbit dies and the dog cooks." In the end, Wei Lihuang did not escape this ending.
In 1945, after the end of the Anti-Japanese War, Wei Lihuang was once again snubbed by Chiang Kai-shek, and later, he traveled to Europe several times to meet Wang Dezhao, a leader of Chinese students studying in France.
And through him, he got in touch with the Communist Party and expressed his determination to stand on the side of the people, hoping that the civil war would end as soon as possible. In October, Chiang Kai-shek invited *** to Chongqing for negotiations, however, Chiang Kai-shek was planning a big conspiracy behind his back.
Soon after the Chongqing negotiations, he tore up the "Double Tenth Agreement" and launched a civil war.
In September 1948, the Liaoshen Campaign was about to start, and Chiang Kai-shek had no one available, so he thought of Wei Lihuang after thinking about it. He directly named Wei Lihuang to return to China to participate in the Liaoshen Campaign.
Since 1947, Chiang Kai-shek has repeatedly urged Wei Lihuang to return to China as soon as possible and take up the important task of "suppressing the Communist Party". However, after Wei Lihuang returned to China, he fell under Chen Cheng.
Because Chiang Kai-shek did not trust Wei Lihuang, Wei Lihuang did not have the power to mobilize all the troops, so he could only shrink his forces and stick to the key points. However, Chiang Kai-shek's telegrams came one after another, urging him to send troops south to support Jinzhou.
However, Wei Lihuang found that if he went rashly, he would not be able to care about each other before he arrived in Jinzhou. Once the other side comes to attack from the north and south, Wei Lihuang's army is in danger of being annihilated.
Although Chen Cheng could not resist Chiang Kai-shek's urging, he rashly sent troops. As Wei Lihuang expected, the Kuomintang army ended in a rout. On October 14, 1948, the People's Liberation Army successfully conquered Jinzhou.
1. "Commissar Mao's protection allowed Wei Lihuang to escape, and since then he has a deep understanding of the incompetence of the people, and finally returned to the motherland under the arrangement of the state, and reunited with the marshal and was full of emotion. "
2. "Chiang Kai-shek's anger and the imprisonment of Wei Lihuang allowed him to escape under the protection of ***. Wei Lihuang returned to his homeland and met with *** and the marshal, with mixed feelings in his heart. "
3. "Wei Lihuang was a blessing in disguise, and the patronage of Commissar Mao saved him from the accusations of the national **, and finally returned to the motherland under the arrangement of the state. His reunion with *** and the marshal gave him a deep understanding of the incompetence of the national **. "
4. "A report from Committee member Mao allowed Wei Lihuang to escape the accusation of the national **, and finally returned to the motherland under the arrangement of the state. He was greeted by *** and the marshal, and he was full of emotion. "
If it weren't for that first-class war criminal, we might never see each other again, haha, you have to understand that. After hearing this, Wei Lihuang pondered for a long time, and finally understood the meaning of "first-class war criminal".
After that, he was elected as a deputy to the National People's Congress and succeeded Long Yun as vice chairman of the National Defense Committee.
Ending: As *** said, "Harmony is the most important, and patriotism is in no particular order, regardless of group, regardless of party affiliation." Wei Lihuang is such a model, although he was a Kuomintang officer, he showed deep patriotism in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation.
He firmly believed that only communists who have the support of the people can win the heartfelt support of the people, and only such a contingent can be the most popular among the people.