Welcome to Shiyuan History Column No. 2522. In the 1949 Southwest Campaign, the Kuomintang army had nearly one million remnants in Sichuan and Yunnan, but the real combat effectiveness was very limited. Among them, there are also many local warlord troops in Sichuan and miscellaneous armed forces, and it is almost impossible to resist the pursuit of the main forces of the People's Liberation Army. Many of the senior Kuomintang generals at that time hoped to get the opportunity to go to Taiwan, not because they did not want to revolt and surrender, but because the families of some senior officers had already been sent to Taiwan, so they also hoped to be able to escape by plane at the last moment.
Among the senior officers of the Nationalist army, Tang Yao, deputy commander-in-chief and chief of staff of the army, was originally "lucky", he was sent to Yunnan in December 1949, but the war situation deteriorated very quickly, and at the end of the month he flew to Taiwan by plane and successfully reunited with his family. Tang Yao thought that he had escaped the disaster, but lao Jiang believed that there were still several armed forces in Yunnan, and that senior commanders needed to organize stubborn resistance in the local area and even retreat to Burma. Originally, Old Jiang wanted Gu Zhutong to return to the mainland to command, but the environment was dangerous, and Gu Zhutong did not want to go, so he shirked and gave him his deputy post, Tang Yao. So Old Jiang ordered Tang Yao to quickly return to the Yunnan front by plane and appointed him as the commander of the Eighth Corps. In fact, the Kuomintang 8th Army and the 26th Army, which actually had only more than 10,000 people, were under his command.
Tang Yao was shocked to hear this, which was equivalent to jumping into the fire pit again. He originally thought that he was very lucky and escaped before the complete liberation of the mainland, but he did not expect that just a few days after arriving in Taiwan, Old Jiang asked him to return to Yunnan. Seeing that Tang Yao did not want to be a substitute ghost, Gu Zhutong persuaded him with good words, and although he did not say anything, he let Tang Yao understand that this time he was just making a show, and when the mountains and rivers were exhausted, he would still send a plane to take him back to Taiwan. Although Tang Yao was reluctant, his family was controlled, and he could not disobey the order, so he flew to the front line in Yunnan.
After arriving in Yunnan, the alert Tang Yao stepped up protection of Mengzi Airport, but he was not concerned about the war. He just wanted to protect the air passage so that he could fly back to Taiwan when the time was right to resume his life, and then he could say to Shangfeng that he had "tried his best." However, due to inaccurate intelligence and the speed of the People's Liberation Army's Erye Pursuit Force, it actually controlled the Mengzi airfield overnight, and Tang Yao lost the possibility of flying back to Taiwan. In a panic, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Tang was captured by the People's Liberation Army near the Yuanjiang River, only 16 days after he returned to the mainland.
Tang Yao was the deputy commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang army at that time, and he may not have been particularly famous in the entire liberation war, but in terms of official position, he was indeed the highest among the captured. Moreover, he had obviously fled to Taiwan, but he was forced to fly back to the front line to make a show, and within a few days he became a prisoner and could not go back at all. Since Tang Yao's military level is average, why is his position so high?
After the end of the three major battles, the number of people available to the Kuomintang army was getting smaller and smaller, the number of elite officers and men was sharply reduced, and the gold content of many senior positions was also greatly reduced, and the unknown Tang Yao could become the deputy commander-in-chief of the army. This position seems to be very high, in fact, there is not much real power, which is why he later fled to Taiwan, but was sent back as cannon fodder. Although this person was a prisoner of war of the Kuomintang army, his personal fate could not help but be regretted.
After tang yao was captured, like many former high-ranking officials and colleagues, he was imprisoned in the Beijing Gongdelin Management Center for reform, but his luck was indeed bad, and many Nationalist generals returned to society and gained freedom after reform, while Tang Yao died of illness in the management office in 1962 and was never able to see his family in Taiwan again.
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