When the 29th Army is mentioned, people can't help but think of the "March of the Great Knife" in the Great Wall War of Resistance, and they can't help but think of the first shot of the all-round war of resistance fired during the Lugou Bridge Incident, and it was this unit that struggled to support the dangerous situation in north China before the outbreak of the all-out war of resistance and confronted the Japanese and puppet forces in the Pingjin area, so as to avoid North China becoming the second "Manchukuo."
However, this meritorious and powerful unit was actually a patchwork of several remnants of the Northwest Army. In the second half of 1930, the 300,000 Northwest Army under the command of Feng Yuxiang collapsed in the Middle Plains Scuffle, most of them surrendered to Chiang Kai-shek or were eliminated and incorporated, and only a few generals such as Zhang Zizhong, Liu Ruming, and Zhao Dengyu retreated into southern Jin, temporarily taking refuge under the command of Yan Xishan, the "King of Shanxi".
After the Battle of the Central Plains, Zhang Xueliang, a young marshal who led his troops to assist in the war, was appointed deputy commander-in-chief of the national army, navy and air force, and was given the right to surrender and reorganize the anti-Chiang Kai-shek forces in the north. Under the protection of Zhang Xueliang, tens of thousands of remnants of the Northwest Army in southern Jinnan were preserved, and in January 1931, they were reorganized into the 3rd Army of the Northeast Border Defense Army, and in June they were renamed the 29th Army of the National Revolutionary Army.
Before the reorganization, it was controversial who would hold the position of commander of the army, and if it was according to the custom of "having a gun is the king of grass" during the warlord melee, this position of commander should belong to Zhang Zizhong.
First, among the remnants of the various armies, Zhang Zizhong was the strongest.
During the Great Battle of the Central Plains, zhang Zizhong's 6th Division, in addition to the 17th Brigade, which was assigned to friendly troops, was wrapped up and surrendered to Chiang Kai-shek, and most of the 15th Brigade, 16th Brigade, and pistol regiments, all of which came out with Zhang Zizhong, were the most well-preserved units in the remnants of the Northwest Army, and also the most powerful and well-equipped units.
Second, Zhang Zizhong was supported by middle- and lower-ranking officers and men.
Zhang once served as the head of the Northwest Army Cadet Corps and the principal of the officer school, teaching people to be loyal to the country, abide by the law and love the people, and endure hardships and stand hard work! The method of teaching is to discipline oneself and teach others, and those who must obey it at a lower level must first abide by it and implement it themselves.", coupled with the fact that he has always been clean and self-righteous, "is particularly strict with military expenditures", so it has won the support of most grass-roots officers and men.
Third, Zhang Zizhong is a man of great heroism and chivalry.
Some people often compare Yue Fei with Zhang, saying that he is "solid in physique, has a successful vision, and has a deep stripe of mouth and auxiliary, which is characterized by determination; Heroic personality, rich in the spirit of Yanji Ranger, generous friendship, not proud of status, so for its friends, once acquainted, that is, feel the thickness of its speciality, willing to use it, and have an open-minded and generous leadership character."
Fourth, Zhang Zizhong was supported by Chiang Kai-shek and others.
In the defeat of the Central Plains War, Zhang Zizhong's troops did not collapse and did not defect, showing extremely high ability. For these reasons, Zhang Xueliang had planned to make Zhang Zizhong the commander of the army and "prepare to hand over the remnants of all the northwestern armies in southern Jin to Zhang Zizhong to clean up"; Chiang Kai-shek initially tried to let him absorb the remnants of the northwest army and go to Jiangxi to "suppress the communists".
Although Zhang Zizhong had enough strength to compete for the position of military commander, he also had obvious disadvantages, that is, he entered the Northwest Army late and had shallow seniority. Liu Ruming, who later served as the deputy commander of the 29th Army, said: Zhang "although he was one or two years older than me, he was still a pure rising star at that time" Fortunately, Zhang Zizhong proceeded from the overall situation of the entire Northwest Army, "did not disregard the great righteousness with personal interests", and strongly recommended Song Zheyuan, who was more qualified and more senior, to lead the remnants of the Northwest Army.
At that time, Song Zheyuan had just fled back to Jinnan, and there were only two guards left, almost the commander of the light pole. But he has an incomparable advantage over Zhang Zizhong and others.
Seniority.
Song enlisted in the army since the Guangxu years, and for a long time followed Feng Yuxiang on his eastern expeditions to the west, and when Feng was promoted to brigade commander of the Mixed Brigade in the second year of the Xinhai Revolution, Song Zheyuan was already the deputy battalion commander under his command, and later for a long time, he served as the commander-in-chief of the Rehe Capital, the commander-in-chief of the Army stationed in Ning (Xia), the chairman of Shaanxi Province, and at the same time, he was also the only general in the remnant army of southern Jin at that time.
High prestige
。 Unlike Zhang Zizhong, whose qualifications were often despised by Liu Ruming and other veterans, Song Zheyuan was one of the five tiger generals in the early days of the Northwest Army (the other four tigers were Lu Zhonglin, Zhang Zhijiang, Li Mingzhong, and Liu Yufen), and before the Central Plains War, he once acted as the commander-in-chief of the Northwest Army, that is, the Second Army, and almost all the remnant generals of the Southern Jin Army were his old troops. At the same time, Song Zheyuan was frank and cheerful, handled things fairly, and was also a recognized loyal elder in the Northwest Army.
In the end, Song Zheyuan served as the commander after the reorganization of the army, Liu Ruming and Qin Dechun as deputy commanders, Zhang Weifan as chief of staff, Xiao Zhenying as the general counselor, Zhang Zizhong and Feng Zhi'an as division commanders, and Zhao Dengyu as brigade commanders. However, the 29th Army clearly stipulates that these 8 people are the core of leadership, and "eight people discuss everything together, plan and then move."