During the Whampoa Military Academy, Chiang Kai-shek attached great importance to the pre-exercise training every morning. On this day, Chiang Kai-shek arrived at the playground on time, and just as he was about to start his training, an officer hurriedly ran to the queue, running while still buttoning and belting.
Chiang Kai-shek, who has always been rigid, has always disliked officers who are not punctual and do not pay attention to military appearance and discipline, and when he saw this late officer standing in the queue of instructors, the fire in his heart suddenly rushed straight to the door of his head. He sternly ordered the officer to come out of the line and punish him to kneel down and show the public to set an example.
During this day's morning training, Chiang Kai-shek was on the stage to talk about military appearance and military discipline, and an officer who had made a mistake was kneeling on the spot. Chiang Kai-shek left the playground directly after finishing his training, and the teachers and students left separately after finishing their morning exercises, leaving only the officer on his knees who stood up straight and kneeled.
Chiang Kai-shek had a habit of getting up early. The next morning, he went to the playground again and saw a man kneeling on the playground, his head and back covered with a layer of white frost, probably tired of kneeling, and his body was shaking slightly. Chiang Kai-shek remembered yesterday's events and walked up to the officer: "Why are you still kneeling here?" ”。
The officer looked up to see that it was Chiang Kai-shek, immediately stood up and answered loudly: "Report to the principal, I will never get up without the principal's order!" ”
Chiang Kai-shek was obviously touched by him, and reached out and patted him on the shoulder: "Okay, I now order you, you can get up." When the officer stood up, Chiang Kai-shek continued, "Go back and wash up, and then go to my office." ”
This instructor who had been kneeling all night was called Gu Zhutong.
When Gu Zhutong came out of Chiang Kai-shek's office, his career was on the express train, and the next day, Chiang Kai-shek issued an order that Gu Zhutong be promoted from lieutenant to the rank of lieutenant colonel, which is the famous story of "jumping three levels on one knee".
From then on, Gu Zhutong followed Chiang Kai-shek all his life, and for decades he was loyal and loyal, and Gu Zhutong's career was also prosperous, and he had the nickname of "tumbler" in the Kuomintang army, and later ranked commander-in-chief of the army, chief of staff, minister of national defense, and other positions, and was promoted to the rank of general of the army.
Gu Zhutong is a native of Lianshui County, Jiangsu Province, and many people know his name mostly because of the "Anhui Southern Incident". In early January 1941, Chiang Kai-shek planned and created the "Anhui Southern Incident" that shocked China and foreign countries, and the direct perpetrator of this tragedy was Gu Zhutong.
Gu Zhutong and Ye Ting, commander of the New Fourth Army, were classmates of the Baoding Army Officer School, and the two had a good private friendship. After Ye Ting was placed under house arrest, Gu Zhutong, in accordance with Chiang Kai-shek's will, did his utmost to induce General Ye Ting, and after Ye Ting refused, he personally escorted Ye Ting to Chongqing for imprisonment according to Chiang Kai-shek's orders.
In Gu Zhutong's career, "one knee jump three levels" is just the beginning, and the later "three years of jumping three levels" is even more unattainable, in just three years, Gu Zhutong's military rank has jumped from lieutenant colonel to lieutenant general.
Shortly after Gu Zhutong was appointed as a lieutenant colonel tactics instructor in the military academy's professorial department, the Whampoa Military Academy established the military academy teaching regiment, and Gu Zhutong was appointed as the commander of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of Teaching. In February 1925, during the Battle of Tamsui during the First Crusade, Wang Bailing, the commander of the 2nd Regiment, was instructed to retreat from the battle, and Gu Zhutong stepped forward to lead his troops to fight fiercely with the rebels and capture Tamsui City in one fell swoop.
Then, in the famous Battle of Mianhu Lake, He Yingqin led the 1st Regiment to fight lin hu in a bloody battle with Lin Hu at Mianhu Lake, and just when the 1st regiment was about to be unable to support itself, Gu Zhutong's 2nd regiment was five kilometers away from Lihu Lake, and it was Gu Zhutong who decisively led his troops to rush to reinforcements, and finally defeated Lin Hu.
He Yingqin later said that during the Battle of Cotton Lake that year, if Gu Zhutong arrived half an hour late, he would be completely finished. After the Battle of Mianhu, Gu Zhutong was promoted to chief of staff of the 2nd Regiment.
In October of the same year, Gu Zhutong led his troops to participate in the Second Crusade, and he was first promoted to deputy commander of the 2nd Regiment Lieutenant Colonel, then to the chief of staff of the Colonel of the 3rd Division, and the deputy commander of the 3rd Division. In July 1926, after the start of the Northern Expedition, Gu Zhutong led his troops to attack the direction of Fujian with the Eastern Route Army, and after the Battle of Songkou completely annihilated the Zhou Yinren department of the Fujian Army and occupied Fuzhou, he was promoted to the commander of the 3rd Division, and continued to lead his troops to Fujian, Zhejiang, Suzhou and other provinces, winning many battles until March 1927, when he led his troops to conquer Nanjing, and in September 1927 he was promoted to commander of the 9th Army and commander of the 3rd Division.
Gu Zhutong also created a Huangpu "model" unit for Chiang Kai-shek, and all the officers at all levels of the 3rd Division were Huangpu students, which made Chiang Kai-shek feel very pleased, and the Third Division naturally became the division of Chiang Kai-shek's central department. In just three years, Gu Zhutong was promoted from lieutenant colonel instructor to lieutenant general, thus establishing his position in the Kuomintang military circles.
On December 12, 1936, after the "Xi'an Incident", the Communist Party of China immediately sent a telegram to the whole country to advocate a peaceful settlement, and the National Government in Nanjing appointed Gu Zhutong as the commander-in-chief of the Rebel Army's Western Route Army, and Liu Zhi as the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Route Army as Liu Zhi, preparing to send troops to attack Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng's "rebels".
Soong Mei-ling quickly met with Gu Zhutong and asked him not to carry out He Yingqin's orders and to adopt a peaceful solution to ensure Chiang Kai-shek's safety. Gu Zhutong did not disappoint Chiang Kai-shek, and when Liu Zhi waved his army to advance, Gu Zhutong always sat firmly in Nanjing, found all kinds of excuses to delay, and then fully assisted Kong Xiangxi and Song Ziwen in planning a peaceful rescue of Chiang Kai-shek. Although this move made He Yingqin very dissatisfied, with Chiang Kai-shek's return to Nanjing, He Yingqin could only let Gu Zhu on the same horse.
Through this incident, Gu Zhutong not only won the trust of Soong Meiling, but also eliminated the suspicion that Chiang Kai-shek had in his heart, so he was even more highly valued by Chiang Kai-shek, and after the victory of the War of Resistance, Gu Zhutong was appointed commander-in-chief of the army and chief of staff of the Ministry of National Defense. After going to Taiwan, Gu Zhutong served as acting defense minister and strategic adviser to the "Presidential Office."
Speaking of this, one thing must be made clear: How could Gu Zhutong, as an instructor at the Whampoa Military Academy, make such a low-level mistake as being late and be "punished by Chiang Kai-shek for kneeling" (although that "kneeling" opened his smooth path in life), and what was the reason for his tardiness?
Gu Zhutong went to Huangpu at the recommendation of Xu Chongzhi under the condition that the Whampoa Military Academy was in urgent need of military instructors, and was able to go to the Whampoa Military Academy as a tactical instructor, which had both face and a future for Gu Zhutong, and being an instructor was a "profession" that he liked since he was a child. Perhaps too excited, Gu Zhutong invited a few friends to the Fengyue place to drink and seek fun.
Who knows, Gu Zhutong drank too much under the excitement, drunk as mud, friends saw that he could not return to the military school, they arranged for him to live in the restaurant, and also "intimately" called a girl as a companion.
After Gu Zhutong woke up the next morning, he suddenly found himself not lying on the hard board bed of the military academy, but lying on the comfortable and soft bed of the restaurant in disheveled clothes, especially there was a young woman with thin clothes next to him, he was startled, quickly put on his clothes and rushed to the military academy, but the military school was far away in the suburbs, there was not a short road from the location of the restaurant, when Gu Zhutong rushed to the playground, it was already late...
Although Gu Zhutong was punished by Chiang Kai-shek for being late, it was precisely this kneeling that made the legend of the "tumbler" general "jumping three levels on one knee." Looking further back, if there is no "one knee jump three levels" at the bottom, the "tumbler" general Gu Zhutong will not have the opportunity to create another miracle of "three years of jumping three levels", but the cause of being punished for kneeling is actually because of a night of leisure, and it is really ridiculous to say it.