Throughout the ages, the number of generals who have changed to "lords" due to the situation or their own cognition is not small. However, the person who has changed his master four times in his life seems to be only one person at present.
At 8 p.m. on April 20, 1949, the People's Liberation Army launched a river crossing operation. According to some sources, the 35th Army fought the "Miura" Campaign at that time, and the 103rd Division launched an attack on the enemy in Jiangpu.
In Su Yu's "Memoirs", there is a passage like this: "The Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth Armies on the front of Zhenjiang occupied Zhenjiang and Pukou and Puzhen on the morning of the twenty-third day, and occupied Nanjing, the capital of the Kuomintang government, that night. ”
There is no more record of this detail than this.
Why is there so little ink left in such an important battle?
The reason for this is related to Wu Huawen, commander of the Thirty-fifth Army.
Wu Huawen was a subordinate of Feng Yuxiang, Chiang Kai-shek, and Wang Jingwei. Looking at this history alone, it gives people the feeling that this person is also too "half-hearted" and frequently changes owners, so such a person is not worth mentioning.
So, what exactly is this for?
Wu Huawen was a native of Shandong Ye County (present-day Laizhou), with three Wu Huawen brothers and four sisters, and Wu Huawen ranked second among the brothers.
At that time, in order to make a living, he ran to Feng Yuxiang to become a soldier, because he had some culture and could bear hardships, and Feng Yuxiang valued him very much. As a result, he was promoted all the way, and even served as Feng Yuxiang's retinue staff officer. In fact, Feng Yuxiang was not thin to Wu Huawen and sent him to the Beijing Army University to study. After returning in 1923, Feng Yuxiang gave Wu Huawen the title of a staff officer of the headquarters colonel, and he was subsequently sent to Han Fuyu as a liaison staff officer.
According to common sense, Wu Huawen should have followed Feng Yuxiang with all his heart, but as Han Fuyu was bribed by Chiang Kai-shek, Wu Huawen also defected to Chiang Kai-shek in 1930. He successively served as the commander of the senior teaching regiment, the commander of the pistol brigade, and the commander of the Jinan garrison. In January 1938, his unit was reorganized by Chiang Kai-shek into the Independent Twenty-eighth Brigade, and he served as the brigade commander. After the fall of Lunan Taierzhuang, his unit was reorganized into the New Fourth Division, and he served as the commander of the division and the commander of the First Division of Shandong Security.
However, Wu Huawen's unit, in the eyes of others, only has the value of use, and has not been paid attention to at all. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, Wu Huawen also fought against the Japanese army, but in the face of the high price of the Japanese army, he was once again moved. This time, he actually called the Chongqing Military and Political Department of the Kuomintang to ask for instructions on whether he could lower the sun. The answer he got was: "As long as you don't surrender the Eighth Route Army and can preserve your combat effectiveness, you can do anything." ”
Therefore, on January 18, 1943, Wu Huawen defected to the Wang puppet regime and became the commander-in-chief of the Third Front, joining forces with the Japanese army in Shandong to attack the Eighth Route Army. After that, Wu Huawen openly became the puppet army of the Wang regime in Nanjing, and moreover, he became the main force of the Japanese puppet army in Shandong, with a total strength of more than 10,000 troops. At that time, Wu Huawen was killing wildly in the Shandong region, brutally creating a "no-man's land" and cooperating with the Japanese army to fight against the Eighth Route Army.
But two years later, in August, after Japan's defeat, Wu Huawen returned to Chiang Kai-shek and became the commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang's newly formed Fifth Route Army.
This time, just as Chiang Kai-shek had accepted him, the Kuomintang only wanted to use his forces against its own "enemies." At this time, in Wu Huawen's troops, there were many voices rebelling against Chiang Kai-shek.
Therefore, Wu Huawen was a little confused, so he went to see his former owner, Feng Yuxiang. After that, Feng Yuxiang pointed out a clear path for Wu Huawen: to join the People's Liberation Army. However, at this time, Wu Huawen was still waiting and watching.
After the Battle of Jinan began, he secretly contacted Chiang Kai-shek again, but despite the PLA's efforts to persuade him, Wu Huawen led an uprising on September 19, 1948.
On October 29 of the same year, Wu Huawen's troops were reorganized into the 35th Army of the People's Liberation Army and the 103rd, 104th, and 105th Infantry Divisions, with him as its commander.
On the evening of April 23, 1949, the Thirty-fifth Army entered and occupied Nanjing, the seat of the Kuomintang government. It was originally a very glorious piece of history, but the military commander's resume was not very honorable, resulting in posterity knowing very little about the details.
Although Wu Huawen made great contributions in this battle, the locals have never forgotten the "bad things" he did in Shandong that year.
Therefore, while Wu Huawen was recuperating in Shanghai, there were shandong representatives who came to Shanghai to petition, saying that they would kill him in order to comfort the people of Shandong who had been wrongfully killed. Eventually, the Thirty-fifth Army was withdrawn in January 1950.
Later, Wu Huawen changed careers, and the rank at that time was "lieutenant general", and he became a member of the provincial government of Zhejiang Province. After that, Wu Huawen claimed to be ill and went to the Zhejiang Provincial Transportation Department, and his later life was leisurely.
Looking at Wu Huawen's life, it seems that there is no problem in saying that he has no principles in doing things, and that he sees profits. Because he was too concerned about his own gains and losses, several times "betrayed the lord", all of which were in the unfavorable situation of the original owner's family, and he quickly slipped away.
However, to say that Wu Huawen survived in the cracks, it was a bit pitiful to him. At that time, Chiang Kai-shek asked Wu Huawen to send troops to reinforce the remnants of the Kuomintang trapped in Teng County, but he just stood still and almost lost his head for this matter. Later, it was he Siyuan, then chairman of the Kuomintang Shandong Provincial Government, who informed Wu Huawen that Wu Huawen refused to go to the aid of the city and was saved from the scourge of being killed.
In fact, it was because Wu Huawen did not want to sacrifice this little of his own troops, and he still thought that if he could change the owner as in the past, he would be able to protect his future. In fact, Wu Huawen is also very knowledgeable about current affairs, knowing that if he no longer does anything, he is afraid that he really cannot wash himself. However, what he did before, history will not forget. In particular, he defected to the Wang puppet regime to help the Japanese Kou to mutilate his compatriots, so that after liberation, Wu Huawen was not reused, but was condemned by the people.
In history, many people have had "two hearts" and gone to the so-called "good lord", but Wu Huawen is right and wrong. Even if you have a great achievement, you can't offset it.
Perhaps, Wu Huawen is the head of the wall grass, falling with the wind, and the lord who blows on which side the wind blows, will fall to which side. Of course, Wu Huawen finally understood how to choose, and this last "betrayal" made him embark on the right path. Therefore, Wu Huawen's story is just to let people know that speculation cannot really be clever, and choosing the right direction can go to the right life.
In 1962, Wu Huawen died of illness at the age of 58.
Resources:
【History of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression", "Dictionary of Major Events in the War of Resistance Against Japan", "Military History"]