Recently, the historical war drama "Heshan", starring Wang Xinjun, Qin Hailu and Li Xuejian, has been broadcast, which reproduces the magnificent and vast anti-war scenes and enthusiastically praises the great spirit of the war of resistance, which can be called an epic anti-war blockbuster comparable to "Bright Sword". The protagonist of the play, Wang Xinjun, the leader of the Kuomintang Shaanxi Army Reinforcement Regiment and the commander of the Travel Column, Wei Dahe (Wei Xiao'an), has a strong personality, courage and strategy, firm patriotism, and a distinct personality, which has been highly praised by the majority of fans.
So, did Wei Dahe, the anti-Japanese general of the Shaanxi Army, have his prototype in history? Although the characters in the play are not completely real, but a mixture of many characters, there is a hero in the history of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression who is very close to the image of Wei Dahe, whose name is Liang Xixian.
Liang Xixian (梁希贤), courtesy name Zhesheng, was born in 1898 in Liangjiayuan, Huangbao Town, Tongguan (now part of Tongchuan City), Shaanxi Province. When he was a teenager, he witnessed the country being deeply humiliated by foreign countries and the suffering of the people, and he was determined to devote himself to the military and serve the country. In 1926, Liang Xixian was admitted to the 5th phase of Huangpu (the famous generals of our army in the author's previous article, Zhang Zongxun and Xu Guangda, also graduated in this period). After graduation, Liang Xixian participated in the Northern Expedition, because of his bravery in battle and outstanding military achievements, he began with a platoon leader and was promoted to regimental commander step by step.
In 1937, when the All-out War of Resistance broke out, Liang Xixian, who was the commander of the National Revolutionary Army Battalion, took the initiative to ask for help with full of anti-war enthusiasm and led his troops to participate in the Songhu Defense War, in which he was seriously injured. After recovering from his wounds, Liang Xixian returned to serve as the commander of the 2nd Regiment of the 1st Division, and led his troops to garrison the Chishui area in Weinan, Shaanxi (in "Heshan", Wei Dahe also fought a battle at chishuihe to block the "Central Army").
In September 1939, Liang Xixian was transferred to the commander of the 79th Regiment of the newly organized 27th Division of the Shaanxi Army, stationed in The town of Chaoyi in Dali County, Shaanxi Province, on the west bank of the Yellow River. During this period, Liang Xixian once led his troops across the east bank of the Yellow River and attacked the Japanese in the Yongji area of Shanxi, killing more than 100 enemy soldiers. (The Yongji Bloody Battle in "Heshan" is also true, referring to a bloody battle between Sun Weiru's 31st Army of the Shaanxi Army and the Japanese Army in August 1938))
In October 1940, Liang Xixian was promoted to deputy commander of the 27th Division (division commander Wang Jun, another hero of the Shaanxi Army's War of Resistance), and led his troops into the Zhongtiao Mountain area to fight against the Japanese, during which he fought dozens of times and defeated the enemy's attack.
In May 1941, in order to relieve the Chinese army's threat to the Pinghan and Tongpu railways, and then cross the Yellow River to the south and open the Pinghan Road, the Japanese army secretly concentrated 100,000 main troops, under the cover of aircraft and artillery, from the east, north and west to carry out a crazy attack on the passes of our anti-Japanese army in the anti-Japanese guerrilla base area of Zhongtiao Mountain.
Liang Xixian was ill at this time, and when he learned that the Japanese Kou was about to attack, he resolutely gave up returning to the rear hospital for medical treatment, decided to stay in the army to command the battle, and led his troops to cooperate with friendly troops to defend Zhongtiao Mountain.
On 7 May, the main force of the Japanese 36th Division, the 37th Division, and the Independent 16th Brigade attacked the Chinese defenders east of Zhangdian. It also focused on the combined forces of the 80th Army and the 3rd Army of the 5th Army, with dozens of aircraft bombing indiscriminately and poison gas. The 27th Division held its position in Zhangdian Town, and fought fiercely until dusk, when one of the positions was breached. During the battle, Liang Xixian, as the deputy commander of the division, disregarded his personal safety and personally commanded the front line, leading the 81st Regiment to heroically return fire and repelling the enemy's attack several times.
On May 9, the Japanese offensive was even more frantic, and the 80th Army retreated to Taizhai Village, where Liang Xixian led his troops to hold out and fight the Japanese in blood. In the end, the ammunition was exhausted, the soldiers were killed and wounded, the division commander Wang Jun, the chief of staff Chen Wenqi were killed one after another, and Liang Xixian was unyielding, thrown into the rolling Yellow River, and martyred at the age of 43.