He came from a middle-peasant family, and if he was not forced by the local landlords, he would not have joined the army, after all, there were still a few acres of thin land in the family, which could support his family. What's more, there was still a saying in the society at that time: "Good iron does not hit nails, and good men do not fight soldiers."
His name is Tang Zi'an, a native of Xiangtan, Hunan, because his family has a few acres of thin fields, although there is no well-off life, he will not be hungry, so he was sent to primary school by his parents when he was a child and studied for three years, and then dropped out of school and went home to farm. At the age of 18, he clashed with the local landlord, who falsely accused him of being a "bandit" to the government, so he had no choice but to leave his hometown and join the army when he was forced to do so.
The first time he joined the army, Tang Zi'an entered the troops of Lu Diping, who was then the commander of the Kuomintang Fifth Army and the commander of the Wuhan garrison, the chairman of the Jiangxi provincial government and the vice chairman of the Kuomintang Jiangxi Local Consolidation Committee. Although Tang Zi'an was a newcomer to the barracks, he felt that this unit was not the kind of unit he had ideally fought for the poor people, and his style was corrupt like a bandit, so he informed his father and asked his father to gather 30 pieces of ocean, and after some eating and inviting, the officer released Tang Zi'an.
Tang Zi'an, who had not long returned home, once again joined the army, and the result was still the Kuomintang troops. However, this time, it was impossible for the family to take out silver or two to beat up the officers, and they could only resign themselves to fate.
Fortunately, in December 1930, Tang Zi'an was intercepted by the Red Army in northeast Jiangxi on his escort to Goyang with his troops. This time, when Tang Zi'an changed his destiny, he immediately decided to switch to the Red Army after some exchanges with the comrades of the Red Army and become a soldier who truly fought for the poor people.
From then on, Tang Zi'an fought bravely on the battlefield to kill the enemy, and half a year later he was promoted to deputy squad leader and merged into the party, first serving as deputy company commander and company commander of the 57th Regiment of the 19th Division of the Red 12th Army, and then transferred to the 5th Division of the Third Army as a company commander. During the Long March, Tang Zi'an was taken into the Red Fifth Army because of his wounds, and served as a battalion instructor and battalion commander in the 37th Regiment of the 13th Division of the Red Fifth Army, and later became the deputy chief of the reconnaissance section of the regiment.
In August 1936, Tang Zi'an was blocked by Mao Bingwen of the Kuomintang 37th Army on his way to the west, and he was wounded and captured while covering the retreat, and was imprisoned in the Lanzhou North Temple concentration camp. In the face of the enemy's interrogation, he fought with the enemy and was released without revealing his identity. After the "Xi'an Incident", he returned to the Red First Army and served as the commander of the teaching battalion.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Tang Zi'an went to the anti-Japanese front with the 115th Division, participated in the battles of Pangjiawa, Yansuyan, and Loess Ridge to annihilate the 36th Brigade of the Japanese Kou, and became an excellent commander of the Eighth Route Army. He successively served as the captain of the military and political school of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, the commander of the 2nd Regiment of the Third Sub-district, the chief of staff of the Third Sub-district, and the chief of staff of the Ji-Jin-Jin Military Region.
During the Liberation War, Tang Zi'an accompanied his troops to attack Cha'nan, turned to northern Hebei, and marched into the northwest, and he successively served as chief of staff of the fourth column of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region and deputy commander of the 64th Army of the 19th Corps, making contributions to the liberation of northern China and northwest China.
Tang Zi'an, who threw himself into the wrong army twice, finally became famous after switching to the Red Army.
In 1955, Tang Zi'an was awarded the rank of major general and became the founding hero of the republic. However, General Tang Lao did not take pride in this, he always led by example, insisted on thrift and thrift in life, treated the people equally in work, and "did not recognize the six relatives" in the face of principles. He always warned his subordinates and their relatives: The Kuomintang loses and loses in front of the common people, and we must not learn from the Kuomintang's example.
On June 11, 1982, General Donald died of illness at the age of 70.