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In other words, when we talk about this "Ma Jiajun" in Qinghai, we have to go back to the late 19th century, when this Ma Bufang divided Qinghai and traversed Gansu for decades, causing negative impacts and persecution that brought a serious threat to our army.
In that era of wars and chaos, China's Great Northwest region was vast and sparsely populated, which was not conducive to the conscription of troops at all, and it can be said that the Ma Bufang clique did not have an advantage in the number of troops compared with other warlords.
In 1949, its number reached its peak, but it was only less than 100,000. Compared with the old Chiang Kai-shek Central Army, Li Zongren Gui's lineage, and Yan Lao's Xi'er Jin Sui Army, it is really not enough to see, but why has Ma Bufang been regarded as a thorn in the side of our army for more than 20 years? There are three reasons for this.
First, ma bufang's troops had the advantage. In the Qinghai Majia Army, due to objective restrictions, it is very general in terms of equipment and firepower, but its strongest unit is cavalry.
In the 1930s and 1940s, the major military powers such as the Western powers have popularized mechanization, like what fighters, battleships, tanks, and artillery are available, as for the cavalry, they do not value it, and the development of the cavalry is only showing a declining trend, because in the face of steel, flesh and blood are not worth mentioning, but in backward and agricultural-based China is completely different.
In China, cavalry can be described as a rapid reaction force on the ground, especially in rush operations, which can show great power, especially in the Great Northwest Region.
Looking at our army, although there has been some improvement in weapons and equipment, the vast majority of them are captured Japanese weapons, and then to the liberation war, although the weapons are increasing day by day, but compared with the West, there is still a big gap.
Looking at the Red Army period and the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, there was an extreme lack of heavy firepower and other powerful weapons, and once it clashed with the cavalry of the Qinghai Majia Army, there was really no more effective way to deal with it.
Coupled with regional cultural customs and other reasons, the ethnic minorities in the northwest region have been good at riding horses since childhood, familiar with horse warfare, etc., and are much stronger than Han cavalry in terms of combat effectiveness.
In 1933, there was a classic example of "four horses rejecting sun", that is, the horse hui army fought with strong cavalry. The superiority of the training of soldiers, coupled with the superiority of war horses, has made the combat effectiveness of the Qinghai Majia Army more lethal, and for our army, it is a long-term headache stumbling block.
The second point is the fierceness and bloodiness of the MaJiajun in Qinghai. The Majia Army can also be called the Ma Hui Army, and its soldiers are mainly ethnic minorities, and in the later period, only the Han gradually joined.
The Great Northwest is very barren relative to the southeast coastal area, before liberation, the social system was primitive and brutal, creating the murderous and fierce nature of local soldiers, and men were taken away as soldiers for military training at the age of 12, and at the same time instilled in them the idea of enslavement.
In the 1930s, the Western Route Army of the Red Army suffered from the poisonous hands of the Majia Army in Qinghai, and this battle can be regarded as one of the most painful battles in the history of our army.
Qinghai Majiajun belongs to the family hereditary system in terms of rule, Qinghai soldiers are generally foolishly loyal to Ma Bufang, Ma Jiyuan and other Ma family, these soldiers have been brainwashed since childhood, thinking that killing the enemy is infinitely glorious, which has become the so-called "faith" of Ma Jiajun, and the terrible faith has created their strength in combat.
There have been records of evaluation: the fierceness and fortitude of the soldiers of the Qinghai Majia Army are no different from those of the Japanese army invading China, especially in terms of battlefield will, which is no less than the bushido spirit of the little devil.
In this way, in the case of insufficient firepower, our army will suffer great losses when encountering the cavalry of the Majia Army in Qinghai, and many soldiers will be struck by the sabers of the Majia army cavalry before they can shoot during the engagement, and moreover, the threat of hundreds of cavalry groups charging at the scene is extremely great, which quickly disintegrates the psychological defense line and combat will of the soldiers of our army, and finally the battle line collapses. Ma Jiajun took advantage of this "magic weapon", coupled with the fact that there was no "natural enemy", it was also in line with common sense to be able to dominate the Great Northwest for a long time.
Finally, some historical legacies. In the Great Northwest Region, the strength of our army is not strong enough, especially the elite field troops, which are mainly distributed in the eastern region, to the eastern, northern, northeastern, and central theaters. It was not until the middle of 1947 that the number of men and horses deployed by our army in the Great Northwest region barely reached about 30,000.
Judging from the superficial data, the number of the Qinghai Majia Army does not show that they have any advantages, but with the addition of the warhorse, its combat effectiveness has more than doubled. For example, the Qinghai Majia Army fought with Hu Zongnan's 200,000 or so Central Army at the same time, and at the same time engaged the Northwest Army of our army, under the premise of asymmetrical numbers, they were only in some weak positions, which shows how strong the Qinghai Majia Army is in terms of combat strength.
In fact, from an objective point of view, the weapons and equipment and logistical level of the Qinghai Majia Army are not much superior to those of Xiye in the same period, but in the long-term engagement between our army's Northwest Army and the Majia Army, our army has won more than it lost, which to a certain extent affects the operational psychology, and the Qinghai Majia Army still occupies a certain advantage.
References for this article: "Northwest Sanma", "Modern Chinese War", "Ma Bufang Family", "CNKI Related Information - Qinghai Majiajun Impact and Other Related Materials", "Baidu Encyclopedia Related Terms - Ma Bufang, Qinghai Sanma, Qinghai Majiajun, etc."