In 1993, a 97-year-old farmer in the Taiwan area was sued by the landlord for not being able to pay a huge amount of rent, and the old farmer's face was slightly tired and sad, and under the judge's stern questioning, the old farmer suddenly shouted out a sentence of "I once wiped out 100,000 Japanese troops", which made all the jurors stunned and revealed the true identity of the old farmer who had been hidden for many years.
It turned out that he was no one else, it was Xue Yue, the famous anti-Japanese general who had the title of "Tiger of Changsha" and "God of War of the Nationalist Army" during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and eliminated the most japanese troops.
So why did the famous anti-Japanese generals of the tangtang generation who had made great achievements end up in the tragic end of being accused of going to court because they could not pay the rent?
Xue Yue, born in December 1896 in a remote and impoverished mountainous area of Shaoguan, Guangdong Province, because the Qing government had just signed the Treaty of Maguan, which humiliated the country, Xue Yue's father deeply felt that this was a great shame and humiliation of the Chinese nation, and in addition to his grief and resentment, he named his son Xue Yangyue, hoping that when he grew up, he would be able to expel the Tartars and restore China like Yue Fei, a famous general of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Later, he himself changed his name to Xue Yue, implying that he not only admired Yue Fei, but also threw himself into the army and served the country loyally.
In 1907, at the age of 11, Xue Yue, at the urging of his father, was admitted to the Baoding Army Officer School in Hebei Province for further study, systematically learning military and political knowledge, and after graduation, he was recommended to enter the Second Preparatory School of the Wuchang Army, becoming the second batch of outstanding cadets, and conducted a two-year study.
But because Xue Yue was young, he did not have much opportunity to perform, until Chen Jiongming in Guangdong suddenly rebelled, Xue Yue met the first noble person in his life, Ms. Soong Qingling, the wife of the revolutionary pioneer Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
In 1921, after Mr. Sun Yat-sen led the great revolution in an armed uprising, overthrew the corrupt feudal rule of the Qing Dynasty, and smashed Yuan Shikai's dream of being called emperor in one fell swoop, he was inaugurated as the president of the Republic of China in Guangdong, holding high the banner of protecting the country and protecting the law, and preparing for the northern expedition of the whole army at any time.
However, just as Sun Yat-sen's Northern Expedition was in full swing, his most trusted and powerful subordinate, the Guangdong warlord Chen Jiongming, suddenly rebelled in June 192, sending 4,000 people to surround the presidential palace and shelling YuexiuLou, the residence of Sun Yat-sen and Soong Qingling.
At this critical moment, Xue Yue, who served as the commander of the guard battalion, and Ye Ting, the battalion commander, respectively, held the front and back doors of the presidential palace and engaged in a fierce battle with the rebels, but there were many rebels, and Xue Yue and Ye Ting fought for more than ten hours and failed to repel the rebels.
In desperation, Ye Ting had no choice but to urgently escort Lady Soong Qingling to transfer, and after the machine gun battalion led by Xue Yue was broken, he desperately escorted Song Qingling to break through smoothly, while Dr. Sun Yat-sen was transferred to the Yongfeng ship in advance before the incident.
Xue Yue's troops were scattered by the rebels when the breakthrough was broken, but he was not frustrated, but actively gathered the remnants of the troops and continued to protect Sun Yat-sen on the Yongfeng ship, which was also the first first achievement in Xue Yue's military career.
His heroic and fearless combat performance left a deep impression on Dr. Sun Yat-sen and Ms. Soong Ching Ling, won their high praise and evaluation, and thus began Xue Yue's incomparably brilliant revolutionary military career.
From the Crusade against Chen Jiongming to the Northern Expedition of the Great Revolution, Xue Yue was deeply appreciated by Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek, two big military leaders, because of his bravery in battle, his courage to be the first, and his military command ability.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1937, Xue Yue ushered in the famous Battle of Changsha.
In 1939, Xue Yue, who had distinguished himself in the Battle of Songhu and the Battle of Lanfeng in Shanghai, was promoted by Chiang Kai-shek to chairman of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee and chairman of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, and was stationed in Changsha to prevent accidents.
At the end of August, after Abe Nobuyuki became the prime minister of Japan, he officially issued a statement in the international arena, deciding that he would no longer interfere in european wars, concentrate on solving the Chinese problem, and regard Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, as the next key attack area for the Japanese army.
From a military strategic point of view, after the fall of Wuhan in Hubei and Guangzhou in Guangdong, Changsha in Hunan became the main city of the Sino-Japanese frontal battlefield.
From a political point of view, the attack on Changsha could support the Wang puppet regime.
From the perspective of economic layout, Changsha is China's granary, and as long as Changsha is occupied, it can immediately march westward and besiege Chongqing, the new capital set up by Chiang Kai-shek.
Therefore, the commander of the Japanese 11th Army, Okamura Ninji, personally formulated a plan, sat in command, and strived to capture the main army of the Chinese army in the shortest possible time, annihilate it in one fell swoop in the Pingjiang and Xiushui areas in the north of Xianggan, and complete the dream of fighting against China at an early date.
In mid-September, Okamura Ningji gathered the strength of the Seven Master Regiments, with the cooperation of the Yangtze River Fleet, the Air Force and the Armored Forces, a total of more than 100,000 people, giving full play to the advantages of the three-point attack and defense of the sea, land and air, and besieging Changsha in six ways from northern Jiangxi, southern Hubei and northern Hunan, and it is expected to completely capture Changsha by the end of September and eliminate the elite national army led by Xue Yue.
The Japanese army is menacing, but Changsha is not a strategic offensive and defensive place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, so Chiang Kai-shek and the Ministry of National Defense advocate abandoning Changsha, but Xue Yue vowed to coexist and die with Changsha, and called Chiang Kai-shek late at night: "If I lose the battle, I will commit suicide and martyrdom, and I will win the battle, so I disobeyed military orders!" ”
After hanging up the phone, Xue Yue immediately ordered a platoon of troops to deploy, and successively built three strategic deep defense lines along the Jiangnan line to the north outside Hunan City, known as the "Xue Boling Defense Line".
Through the method of line-by-line resistance, the combat sites were arranged into a network of strongholds, and through ambushes, flank attacks, baits, and dangerous attacks, the Japanese army's living forces were eliminated as much as possible, and finally the enemy was lured deeper, and the tired division of the Japanese army was tricked to the banks of the Laodao River, and annihilated them in one fell swoop through the three sides of the east, south, and north, and this was Xue Yue's original heavenly furnace tactic.
Xue Yue's talent in military command was vast and he was very confident in the Battle of Changsha, where 15 armies of the Nationalist army totaled 240,000 men, while the Japanese army had only 100,000 men, occupying an absolute superiority in strength.
Moreover, the mountainous north of Changsha restricted the normal play of the Japanese army's mechanized heavy weapons, while the Nationalist army was very familiar with the terrain and landform of the northern Hunan province, and it was easy to advance and retreat, and had an innate advantage in the rational use of terrain and terrain.
In the end, Xue Yue decided to personally command this battle in front of the battle, which boosted morale and avoided the fleeting fighters, which really could be described as taking advantage of the time and place, and the army fought a battle with its backwaters, and there was no reason to lose.
On September 14, 1939, the First Battle of Changsha officially began, and Xue Yue urgently mobilized the strength of 21 armies and 52 divisions, and according to the previously formulated strategic plan, evenly distributed in northern Gan, southern Hubei and dongting Lake to block the Japanese army.
In the battle of more than 20 days, the Japanese army suffered heavy losses, more than 40,000 people were defeated, and the rest included more than 40 officers above the rank of Shaozuo, and won the final victory of the battle, won a high commendation from Chiang Kai-shek, and rewarded the soldiers who participated in the battle for 150,000 yuan.
After this battle, Xue Yue and the Japanese army carried out two more battles of Changsha, and in the third Battle of Changsha, Xue Yue led his troops to annihilate the Japanese army to 110,000 people, which dealt a heavy blow to the arrogance of the Japanese army to invade China, and basically smashed the Japanese army's dream of landing in battle and destroying China.
After the war, Chiang Kai-shek gave the Battle of Changsha the highest praise: "This is the most accurate and proud work after the July 7 Incident", and awarded Xue Yue the Order of the Blue Sky and White Sun, the highest honor of the Republic of China.
After this battle, Xue Yue was praised as the "Tiger of Changsha" and the "God of War of the National Army", and became a well-deserved anti-Japanese general and national hero.
In 1950, after Xue Yue was defeated by Han Xianchu in the Battle of Hainan Island, he followed Chiang Kai-shek to retreat to the Taiwan area, received preferential treatment from Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo's father and son, and once served as a strategic adviser to the presidential office.
However, after the death of Chiang Kai-shek's father and son, Xue Yue's military and political status within the nationalist army was seriously shaken, and he was forced to leave his post due to conflicts with superior leaders at many meetings, and was idle in the family farming for a living.
Later, because of his opposition to the absurd move of leading the revision of the Constitution to expand his powers and vainly attempting to be re-elected, he was resentful by the superior leaders, and in 1991 he ordered the cutting off of Xue Yue's rental funds, and secretly signaled the bank to demand high fees and rent from Xue Yue.
After being rejected by Xue Yue, he was sued by the bank in 1993, and in the face of the judge's rebuke in court, the 97-year-old Xue Yue was indignant and indignant, and told everyone about the past, and when it came to the emotional place, he shouted loudly and unyieldingly: "Lao Tzu once destroyed 100,000 Japanese troops!" ”
It is really sad and regrettable that a generation of famous anti-Japanese generals and meritorious men of the state and the nation have ended up in such a miserable end.
By 1998, Xue Yue had completed his legendary life in poverty at the age of 103.