Due to Wei Lihuang's mediocre performance in the northeast during the Liberation War, there has always been a saying that he was an underground member of the CCP, and deliberate inaction led to the fiasco of the Nationalist army in the northeast. Even many writers of literature and history believe that Wei Lihuang is an underground party member, but the official historical materials have never called him "comrade", which also makes Wei Lihuang's true identity a mystery in history.
Is Wei Lihuang an underground party member? The author has recently come into contact with several interesting historical materials, which I share with you for reference only.
From left: Fu Zuoyi, Lao Jiang, Wei Lihuang
First, regarding the mystery of Wei Lihuang's identity, two points can be determined:
1. Wei Lihuang's early anti-communist stance was firm
Wei Lihuang joined the Cantonese army as Xu Chongzhi's subordinate, and he followed Lao Jiang for two important reasons. In June 1922, when Chen Jiongming rebelled, Sun Yat-sen took refuge on the Yongfeng ship, and the old Jiang rushed back from Ningbo to board the Yongfeng ship to accompany Sun Sun Yat-sen for more than 50 days. At that time, Wei Lihuang was Sun Yat-sen's bodyguard, and naturally looked at it in his eyes and regarded old Chiang as a staunch supporter of Sun Yat-sen.
Wei Lihuang went south to join the Yue army because he was introduced by his cousin Wu Zhongxin, who was the eldest brother of old Jiang, and the three of them would occasionally meet at Wu's residence, which was considered to be acquaintances. Later, Lao Jiang forced Xu Chongzhi to go down into the wilderness and reorganize his army, and Wei Lihuang became a regimental commander under Lao Jiang.
Wei Lihuang participated in several "encirclement and suppression" campaigns against the Red Army, and the battle could not be described as brave. In particular, in 1932, he took the lead and attacked Jinzhai, the political center of the Eyu-Anhui Soviet District, and after the occupation, Lao Jiang renamed Jinzhai to Lihuang County.
2. Wei Lihuang did propose to join the CCP
There are two triggers for Wei Lihuang's ideological change. In the early days, although Wei Lihuang was known as the Five Tiger Generals of Old Jiang, he was a halfway monk and had never attended a military school. Moreover, he is not a fellow of old Jiang, he cannot become a confidant of old Jiang, he can only be regarded as a miscellaneous card in the old Jiang's family, and the other 4 tiger careers are much smoother than Wei Lihuang. This made Wei Lihuang feel unfair and had a rift with Old Jiang.
Wei Lihuang ate on the battlefield
During the fifth "encirclement and suppression", after learning that Chen Cheng, Gu Zhutong, and Jiang Dingwen, who were of the same seniority, had all served as the commander-in-chief of the first road, and that he was only serving as the commander of the column, he actually abandoned his post and left the front line in a fit of anger. Jiang Wei's contradictions are made public, and according to the general rules of the workplace, employees who openly oppose their superiors are usually marginalized.
In addition, after the Xi'an Incident, the Sino-Japanese national contradictions have risen to the main contradiction, and the old Chiang Kai-shek still insists on civil war, which makes Wei Lihuang very disgusted. In particular, during his tenure as deputy commander of the Second Theater and commander of the First Theater, Wei Lihuang had frequent interactions with the top level of the Chinese Communists and also had many cooperation on the battlefield. The ideals and convictions of communists have a profound impact on them.
After the War of Resistance Entered a Stalemate, Old Chiang set off an anti-communist upsurge and demanded that Wei Lihuang resolve the dispute with the Eighth Route Army by force, but Wei Lihuang did not carry it out. After Lao Jiang discovered Wei Lihuang's abnormality, he tried to set up a regimental commander to set up Wei Lihuang, which naturally made Wei lihuang even more disgusted.
It was against the background of Chiang Kai-shek's constant persecution and yearning for the CCP that he revealed his desire to join the CCP. There are relevant descriptions in historical archives and in the memories of many of Wei Lihuang's older ministries.
Wei Lihuang has an old department named Chen Tie, a native of Guizhou, who graduated from Huangpu I. Wei recruited him to serve as deputy division commander under his command, but he secretly asked Old Jiang to agree. Later, because of the problem of leading troops, Chen Tie was bitterly criticized by the old Jiang and felt unfair and wanted to resign. When he saw Wei Lihuang before leaving, he scolded Old Jiang, and Wei Lihuang made a reservation and regarded him as a close confidant.
One day in 1939, Wei Lihuang asked Chen Tie to escort Liu Shaoqi across the Taihang Mountains, and the two had a private conversation. Wei Lihuang said to the city railway: "Some people want us to join the party (referring to the CCP), what do you think?" Chen Tie repeatedly said that Lao Jiang's agents were very powerful, and when they learned of it, they would put them in danger.
Wei Lihuang's face began to become ugly, and Chen Tie had no choice but to say, "I enter, you don't enter for the time being, and if something goes wrong, you protect me." At this time, Wei Lihuang's face turned better and he said, "I'll talk about it later." ”
Unexpectedly, Chen Tie turned around and reported the matter to Hu Zongnan, who in turn forwarded it to Old Jiang, so he left an archive. Hu Zongnan said in the report:
Late at night, Wei summoned Chen Tie, commander of the Fourteenth Army, to Yuyu in his own car, introduced him to the party, and said that the Communist Party had strong strength, special status, and the help of the Soviet Union, and could succeed, and we joined, we could respect ourselves, Chen Tie persuaded Wei to slow down to participate, and Wei gave up.
Wei Lihuang and Long Yun reviewed the expeditionary force
In addition, Wei Lihuang's secretary Zhao Rongsheng recalled: One day in the second half of 1938, Wei Lihuang said to Zhao Rongsheng: "Am I good to join the Communist Party?" How to participate? Wei Lihuang then asked Zhao Rongsheng to go to Yan'an to find Zhu De (Zhao was a cadre sent to Wei by the Eighth Route Army). Zhao Rongsheng asked Lin Boqu for instructions because of his long journey to the office of the Eighth Route Army in Xi'an, and Lin replied: Wei Lihuang stayed in the Kuomintang and contributed more to the revolution.
However, due to various karmic coincidences, at this stage, Wei Lihuang's wish to join the party was not realized. Until the end of 1946, Wei Lihuang went abroad to investigate, visited France, and asked Wang Dezhao, a physicist studying in France, to try to contact the CCP. It can be seen that before this, he is likely to still not be a party member, at least he has not received the task assigned by the organization, otherwise the organization will try to send him a codebook to keep in touch no matter what.
Second, the two mysteries of Wei Lihuang's identity:
1. Why did you go to the troubled northeast to take up a job
Wei Lihuang was inspecting a foreign country, and The old Chiang Kai-shek suddenly sent a telegram ordering him to return to China to succeed Chen Cheng as the commander-in-chief of the Northeast "Suppression General." According to Du Yuming, Chen Cheng suffered successive fiascos after going to the northeast to mess around, and was frightened by the People's Liberation Army and fell ill in bed. Old Jiang asked Wei Lihuang to go to the northeast, hoping to use his connections with the Americans to obtain more American aid and reverse the situation in the northeast.
At that time, the Nationalist army had been divided and surrounded by the People's Liberation Army in several important cities such as Changchun, Shenyang, and Jinzhou, and most people judged that the defeat in the northeast had been decided, and it was likely that taking office in the northeast was to carry the pot for the old Jiang, and it was his own reputation that was ruined. Wei Lihuang was naturally not stupid, at first he resigned, but after several persuasions he still agreed.
Why did Wei Lihuang jump into the fire pit at this time?
Wei Lihuang's old troops were all opposed to his going to the northeast, and Tao Zhenwu, who had served as a senior staff officer of the expeditionary force, said to Wei Lihuang: "This is Chen Cheng's golden cicada's plan to get out of the shell." What is your assessment of the situation in the Northeast? What are your certainties? How is your relationship with the president like the three people who went to the Northeast before? None of the three of them have produced good results, and it is even more difficult for you to do it. ”
Wei Lihuang's answer surprised him a little: "Soldiers take obedience to orders as their duty. Tao Zhenwu believed that Wei Lihuang was greedy for official positions.
Wei Lihuang's wife, Han Quanhua, also opposed his going to the northeast, and the two had a fight. Wei Lihuang explained that he had gone to the northeast for "revolution" and repeated the matter of finding Wang Dezhao in France to contact the Chinese Communists.
Whether it is because of greed for official positions or because of "revolution" is a private idea hidden in the hearts of the parties concerned, and posterity has its own opinions, which is difficult for outsiders to speculate.
Wei Lihuang and his wife
2. Since it was a "revolution" to the northeast, why didn't the troops lead an uprising?
This is the biggest puzzle of Wei Lihuang's identity, and many people believe that Wei Lihuang went to the northeast to avoid war, and the defeat in the northeast had a lot to do with his passive avoidance. Because when Jinzhou was besieged, the old Jiang Dian ordered Wei Lihuang to march west to reinforce, but he could not hold out and sat and watched the liberation of Jinzhou.
Later, after the liberation of Jinzhou, old Jiang still wanted to retake it, and once again sent a telegram ordering Wei Lihuang to send troops, but he still disagreed, and even kept sending people to Nanjing to report to Jiang in person. Old Chiang could only personally go to the northeast to command and forcibly send troops.
In fact, Wei Lihuang did not move according to the soldiers, and it was not necessarily true that he was "a general communist." From a military point of view, the Nationalist army has suffered successive fiascos and has been divided and surrounded. A large number of supplementary recruits have not yet completed their training, and it is difficult to match the PLA in terms of morale and strength, and indeed they should not be rash.
From God's point of view, withdrawing from the northeast was the best policy, but at that time, Old Jiang did not agree, so he could only retreat to the second place and develop obscenely. According to Liao Yaoxiang's recollection, Wei Lihuang began to reorganize the army after he arrived in the northeast, and there was some improvement. It is the correct choice to wait for the new recruits to complete their training, replenish their weapons and equipment, and then act after their strength is restored.
Moreover, for Lao Jiang's westward advance, not only Wei Lihuang did not agree, but du Yuming and Liao Yaoxiang also disagreed. They unanimously agreed that the main force of Shenyang would die if it went west. The most fierce opposition was actually Liao Yaoxiang, who analyzed from a military point of view: "The main force of Shenyang is like going out of the west, carrying three major rivers, advancing from the flank of the enemy, reinforcing Jinzhou, and there is a danger of being cut off, surrounded separately, and broken." ”
After Lao Jiang personally went to the northeast, Liao Yaoxiang still adhered to the above views, and Old Jiang Sheng angrily sent a telegram: "If it is delayed again, it will be carried out by military law." Liao Yaoxiang said very desperately: "You must do this, you must cut off the main force of the corps, then I can no longer be responsible, it is up to you to go." The final result was that Liao Yaoxiang was annihilated after he left the west.
Therefore, from a purely military point of view, it is more advantageous to hold out than to go west. Wei Lihuang's strategy of sticking to it did not help the PLA from the actual situation, but the old Jiang randomly commanded and helped the PLA.
In fact, Wei Lihuang showed no signs of uprising in the northeast. At that time, the generals in the northeast were not controlled by Wei Lihuang, and Wei Lihuang was still under the surveillance of secret agents at all times, and there were many inconveniences in his actions. After Wei Lihuang took office, he expanded his army and prepared to find his old subordinates to take up posts, but the purpose of controlling the troops was not clear. And the time is too short, before the army training is completed, the northeast has been liberated.
Wei Lihuang's wife once said in a reminiscence: "Wei Lihuang tried to contact the CCP, but did not find it. It is hard to imagine that Fu Zuoyi in Beiping, Cheng Qian in Hunan, and Lu Han in Yunnan could all try to find the underground party, and Wei Lihuang, who had such close relations with the top level of the CCP, could not find the underground party.
Wei Lihuang after returning to China
Third, Yang Shangkun believes that Wei Lihuang is an underground party member
Throwing this point out is Yang Tianshi, a very prestigious expert in the field of history, and many history buffs should know his big name. Yang Tianshi once heard Jin Yilin, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, say: Yang Shangkun's diary records that Wei Lihuang secretly joined the CCP in 1939 through Zhu De and Peng Dehuai. The paragraph was later deleted when it was published.
Also holding this view is Zhang Dingcheng's daughter Zhang Laojiu, who recalled visiting Yang Shangkun's house once and mentioning Wei Lihuang's performance in straw bales in the northeast. Yang Shangkun personally said: "Wei Lihuang is a member of the Communist Party, and Wei was introduced to me, Ye Shuai, and Li Kenong. (Note the difference between the introducer and the diary)
After Yang Shangkun's diary was published, the content recorded the events from 1949 to 1965, that is to say, the description of Wei Lihuang's joining the party is likely to be mentioned in the aftermath of the previous events. Due to age, it is possible that the memory may be biased. Moreover, there was also a big gap in the information obtained by Yang Tianshi and Zhang Laojiu. Is it the person who said it was wrong, or the person who passed it on the wrong?
As for Wei Lihuang's performance in the northeast, we analyzed it earlier, and it was not he who led to the defeat. It is too far-fetched to speculate on Wei Lihuang's identity based on the results of the northeast war situation.
Later, Yang Tianshi asked the relevant person in charge of the Central Literature Publishing House why the paragraph was deleted. The reply was: "I have asked for instructions on this issue, and I believe that Yang's statement has no definite basis, so it was deleted when it was published." "When publishing books related to leaders, state-level publishing houses are very strictly censored, and even the time and place must be checked one by one, and things that cannot be verified must naturally be deleted."
The chairman invited Wei Lihuang to a banquet
Wei Lihuang's grandson, Wei Zhi, once said in an interview with the media: "Calling my grandfather also an undercover agent of the Communist Party is not actually a fact, it is somewhat exaggerated. He explained that Wei Lihuang's secretary Zhao Rongsheng had published a book "Remembering Wei Lihuang" very early, "Due to the special social environment at that time, the description and entry point of some historical events in the book were not completely objective. Many later articles quoted the book's views, so that Wei Lihuang's identity was misrepresented.
Therefore, the author tends to think that Wei Lihuang is not an underground party member, at least in the northeast battlefield, there is no "common communist" behavior.