On January 10, 1949, the Huaihai Armageddon, which shocked China and foreign countries, ended with a great victory for our army. The battle lasted 65 days, annihilated a total of 555,000 Nationalist troops, the Nationalist generals were either killed or captured alive, but the commander of the 13th Corps, Li Mi, disappeared without a trace, becoming a major mystery at that time.
Soon, Li Mi reappeared in Fujian, and it was known that he had already escaped from the Huaihai battlefield. So, how did Li Mi get out at that time, and where did he flee? The secret has always been little known. This article collects the memories of several parties in those years to solve this mystery for everyone.
On January 7, 1949, most of the main force of the 13th Corps was annihilated, and Li Mi fled to Chen Guanzhuang with the remnants of the army, where he joined Du Yuming and Qiu Qingquan to discuss countermeasures. However, Hua Ye did not give them any respite, and continued to attack Chen Guanzhuang with a fierce attack like the autumn wind sweeping away the fallen leaves.
On the evening of January 9, the defeat of the Nationalist army was decided, and Li Mi, Du Yuming, and Qiu Qingquan each took their retinues and fled for their lives. At more than 1:00 a.m., he fled to Zhou Lou, the command post of the Third Division of the Ninth Army, found the division commander Zhou Fan, and said: "Yesterday, Du (Yu Ming) boss asked me to discuss how to go next, and I did not have a good way. You've been chief of staff, so come here and help figure out a way. Zhou Fan was also helpless, and could only sit on the side and shake his head and sigh.
At dawn on the 10th, Huaye's artillery sounded again, and the remnants of the Third Division were killed and wounded, and the position was chaotic into a pot of porridge. At this time, Zhao Jiping, the deputy commander of the corps, found Zhou Fan and said that the commander had come up with an idea and spoke in his ear like this. It turned out that Li Mi wanted him to be "cannon fodder", voluntarily surrendered his weapons, and then used the opportunity of negotiation to escape.
Zhou Fan thought about it for a moment and agreed. In his view, the People's Liberation Army has become a siege, and the trapped beasts will only increase casualties, not to mention that as a subordinate, it is also indispensable to rescue the chief in times of danger. So he decided to write a note and surrender to the People's Liberation Army.
Zhou Fan wrote a surrender letter, handed it over to Li Mi for examination, and after agreeing, sent his subordinates to send it out. At noon, the Ninth Column and Twenty-seventh Division of the People's Liberation Army also sent a letter of persuasion, to the effect that "you have been surrounded, and surrender is the only way out." Zhou Fan told the messenger, "You go back first, I have already delivered the surrender letter and am waiting for an echo."
Not long after, the people's liberation army replied to the letter, asking their chief officers to come out to report, and all the troops disarmed and assembled at the designated place. When Li Mi saw that he wanted the chief officer to report, he cried loudly, crying and shouting, "I can't die!" I can't die!" If I can get out alive, I will take good care of your wives and children!" Zhou Fan saw his position and understood that he wanted to let himself come forward, so he agreed to report for him. Li Mi was still not at ease, so he dragged on to surrender later, wanting to wait for the dark to go out.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, the subordinates found some soldiers' cotton clothes and leather shoes and asked Li Mi to dress up as soldiers. At this time, the People's Liberation Army came to urge the surrender, and Zhou Fan could not see the delay, so he had to hang up the white flag, order the troops to lay down their weapons, go to the designated place to assemble, and accept the surrender after listening.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, Zhou Fan walked out of the headquarters and raised his hand to surrender to the People's Liberation Army. Li Mi took the opportunity to escape from Zhou Lou with 3 retinues and went straight to the Longhai Railway. Before leaving, he also constantly begged Zhou Fan not to leak the makeup and escape.
In the early morning of January 11, Li Mi and his party fled to the vicinity of Gaozhuang Village in Xiao County (present-day Anhui), encountering a young man on the way. When Li Mi saw that he was wearing a Kuomintang uniform, he went forward to talk and learned that the young man's name was Wang Xin'an, who had originally served as a soldier in the Kuomintang troops, had been captured by the People's Liberation Army during the Battle of Huaihai, had just been released, and was preparing to return to his hometown of Wang Kanzhuang in Zhongshan.
Li Mi made up a blind statement, saying that he had just been released by the People's Liberation Army and was preparing to go to Li Zhuang by train back to Shanghai. The two talked a few words and then set out on the road together. On the way, Li Mi learned that Wang Xin'an's cousin was a Kuomintang officer, and he was secretly happy in his heart, planning to go to the Wang family for a day of rest.
Along the way, Li Mi cared deeply for Wang Xin'an, not only letting his entourage hold the package for him, but also giving him the only American beef jerky and biscuits left on his body, which touched Wang Xin'an badly. Several people walked around and rested, and finally arrived at Wang Kanzhuang on the night of the 12th.
Li Mi was good at observing and observing colors, and after several inquiries, he had already explored Wang Xin'an thoroughly, believing that he would not betray himself, so he revealed his true identity. Wang Xin'an looked at the person in front of him, and it turned out to be the commander of the well-known corps, and he was speechless for a moment, and he didn't know what to say.
The next day, Wang Xin'an summoned his cousin Wang Tao to discuss how to send "Chief Li" out. When Wang Tao saw Li Mi, he first looked up and down and said, "Sir, you are wearing a torn cotton robe on the outside, but on the inside is yellow camel velvet, which is also too eye-catching, let's change our clothes."
People rely on clothes and horses to rely on saddles, this is not false at all, and Li Mi, the commander of the regiment, changed into Wang Tao's clothes, and he could not see the appearance of a high official at all. However, Li Mi's biggest concern was how Wang Tao could send him out.
Wang Tao also introduced his cousin Gao Darong to Li Mi, who had been a graduate of the Central Military Academy and was now working in the county government, and when he learned of Li Chang's situation, he felt that this was an opportunity to be promoted and rich, and offered to escort Li Mi to Xuzhou. Several people gathered together to plan for half a day, and a plan came out.
On January 15, Wang Tao opened a road to the PLA company headquarters stationed in the village, saying that he was going to Xuzhou to deliver noodles. After the road was opened, it was handed over to Gao Darong, and several people pushed the noodles to the Lizhuang Railway Station, and Li Mi followed behind with his face smeared with pot ash. Because of the road of the People's Liberation Army, they went all the way unimpeded and arrived in Xuzhou smoothly by train.
At that time, there were many people going south, most of them drove to Wuhe, Yangzhou and other places, and then crossed the river by water, and did not check the road. Therefore, Li Mi and Gao Darong bought two tickets to Wuhe, and on the way, they also got a road to Nanjing, although it had expired, Li Mi was like a treasure, as if Nanjing was in front of him.
On the evening of the 18th, when the carriage reached Shuanggou Town, a bad news came from the front: the People's Liberation Army was stationed in Wuhe and all pedestrians were forbidden to go south. Li Mi and the two had no choice but to return to Xuzhou by the same way. On the way, Li Mi proposed to go north and go to Qingdao, which is still a national unification area. But when they arrived in Xuzhou, they tried everything they could, and they didn't get a road to Qingdao.
In order to escape from his life, Li Mi made a heavy promise to Gao Darong: As long as he could find a way to open a road, he would give him a regiment leader if he wanted to become an official in the future, and give him a steamship if he wanted to do business. In the face of such a temptation, how could Gao Darong not be moved? Therefore, he asked Li Mixian to hide in Xuzhou for a few days and return to Zhongshan to find a way.
Gao Darong returned to his hometown, and found someone to open a road to Weixian (present-day Weifang), although it could not be directly connected to Qingdao, but when he arrived in Weixian County, Qingdao was not far away. Gao Darong hurriedly returned to Xuzhou, and Li Mi hit the road again, all the way without danger, and arrived at Weixian Railway Station on the morning of the 28th.
Out of the train station, the two went straight to weixian famous "Fu Juxiang", the owner of the shop Li Huizhi is Li Mi's old acquaintance. Li Mi went to his house, first, to rest his feet, and second, to let him find a way to open a road to Qingdao.
Coincidentally, Wang Guihe, a distant nephew of Li Huizhi, was about to return to his hometown of Gaomi for the New Year, and two names were written on the road. Li Huizhi then brought Wang Guihe and said that Li Mi was going to Qingdao to pick up his cousin, but now the road was not clear, so Wang Guihe thought of a way to send Li Mi to Qingdao no matter what.
Because the road can only let the two people on the road, Gao Darong can't walk with Li Mi. During the separation, Li Mi said a bunch of words of gratitude to him, and promised again: "As long as the old man does not kill me, there will be a day of retribution." ”
On the evening of the 29th, Wang Guihe took Li Mi to Gaomi's hometown, where he settled Down Li Mi and hurried out to find his cousin Wang Keqiu. Wang Keqiu is the township mayor and has the right to open a road, and Wang Guihe made up a lie and said, "There is a friend who wants to go to Qingdao with me, and you will open a road for us and send us over." When you get there, my friend will give you a small treasure as a reward. ”
Wang Keqiu heard that the shot was so generous, knowing that there was deception in it, but he was eager to smoke his heart, and did not report the situation, but instead found two caster cars and took advantage of the night to go north. On February 1, they successfully crossed the Gu River into the Guotong District. At this point, Li Mi finally absconded successfully after more than 20 days of running. In order to thank Wang Guihe for saving his life, Li Mi took out a few small yuan treasures as a thank you and let them divide.
It is said that after Gao Darong and Li Mi separated, he had been living in Weixian County waiting for "good news", but after waiting for a few days, he did not move, and the money on his body was almost spent, so he had to return to his hometown in Zhongshan. A few months later, Gao Darong was overjoyed to hear that Li Mi had been reused again, forged certificates with the Wang brothers, and with the dream of becoming a senior official and making a fortune, went straight to Qingdao.
When the three of them came to Li Hui's place in Weixian County, they learned that Li Mi had already left Qingdao and gone to Fujian to become a commander. Gao Darong and the three of them were still not dead hearted, bid farewell to Li Huizhi, and continued to go south, only to be intercepted by the Nationalist army near Qingdao. The three explained their intentions, and the nationalist sentry looked at the three ragged peasants in front of them, where they would believe that they were Li Mi's saviors and shoot them away.
In 1951, the "Li Mi case" was exposed during the suppression of counter-revolution, Gao Darong was sentenced to 15 years in prison, Li Huizhi was sentenced to death, and Wang Xin'an and Wang Tao absconded in fear of crime. In April 1970, the Two Wang brothers were arrested and brought to justice, Wang Tao committed suicide, Wang Xin'an was sentenced to 3 years of custody, and later the verdict was revoked, declaring him innocent. Li Mi's few life-saving benefactors ended up worse than the next.
As for Zhou Fan, the commander of the Third Division, after surrendering to the People's Liberation Army, he was tight-lipped about Li Mi's absconding in disguise, and was later imprisoned and reformed for 25 years, and was pardoned and released from prison in 1975. After restoring his freedom, he was placed in the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and lived until the age of 88 before his death, and the Hunan Provincial Party Committee held a solemn memorial service for him.
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