As everyone knows, Chiang Kai-shek accumulated enough capital at the Whampoa Military Academy to begin his "great cause of a thousand autumns."
To some extent, old Chiang regarded the "party-state" as his "private property," and the Whampoa Military Academy was his most valuable "possession."
However, Lao Jiang, the most valuable "belongings," was "lost" by a person.
The man who "lost" the Whampoa Military Academy was named Zhang Yaoming, the third president of the Whampoa Military Academy, and a high-ranking Kuomintang general who was unambiguous in his resistance to Japan, but who was "born at the wrong time."
General Zhang Yaoming
In 1924, Zhang Yaoming and a group of other people, through the introduction of Mr. Yu Youren, went south from Shaanxi to Guangzhou and were admitted to the first phase of the Whampoa Military Academy.
After graduating from the Whampoa Military Academy, Zhang Yaoming experienced the Eastern Crusade, the Northern Expedition and warlord melee.
Like most Nationalist generals, Zhang Yaoming also participated in the encirclement and suppression of the Red Army, but Zhang Yaoming was still a small regimental commander at that time, and he was seriously injured as soon as he went to the battlefield.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Zhang Yaoming began to emerge in the military field.
"Military fan" friends may know that there is a tactic called "anti-slope combat".
Although Zhang Yaoming was not the inventor of this tactic, he was the first to apply this tactic in the war against Japan.
In January 1933, the Japanese attacked Shanhaiguan, and after several fierce battles, Zhang Yaoming and Guan Linzheng were distressed by a problem.
The Japanese aircraft and artillery fire was too fierce, and the majority of the casualties of the Nationalist army on the front line were killed or maimed by Japanese aircraft and artillery.
Zhang Yaoming and Guan Linzheng used their brains and finally had a way to deal with it.
They dug scattered pits and trenches behind the launch line of the attack, so that the number of Nationalist casualties dropped significantly, and the Japanese aircraft artillery was not so terrible.
Old photos
This tactic, later known as "anti-slope warfare," was used for decades because it was simple and practical.
Although the Great Wall War of Resistance failed, Zhang Yaoming was awarded a fifth-class Baoding Medal for his outstanding performance.
After the outbreak of the All-out War of Resistance, Zhang Yaoming became the commander of the 25th Division of the Kuomintang 52nd Army.
The 25th Division is good at long-distance raids and is known as the "Thousand Mile Colt".
Zhang Yaoming took his "thousand-mile colt" and made many meritorious achievements in the anti-Japanese battlefield.
In the Battle of Taierzhuang, Zhang Yaoming was ordered to meet the Japanese Setani detachment, and the speed of the attack of the "Thousand Mile Colt" and the fierceness of the attack made the Japanese army stunned;
After that, the 25th Division, with the cooperation of the 2nd Division, gave full play to the specialty of "Senri koma", and made a long-distance attack on the Japanese Sakamoto detachment, which caught the Japanese by surprise and suffered heavy casualties, making a major contribution to the great victory of Taierzhuang;
In September 1940, Zhang Yaoming was then the deputy commander of the 52nd Army and the commander of the 25th Division, and he commanded the 52nd Army to achieve the "Great Victory of Xiangbei" and make great contributions.
It can be said that on the anti-Japanese battlefield, Zhang Yaoming was not ambiguous at all when he fought devils!
However, in the years of the War of Liberation, the situation was completely different.
Old photo of Chiang Kai-shek at the military parade
In November 1948, Zhang Yaoming became the commander-in-chief of the Nanjing capital garrison, and a few months after taking office, the People's Liberation Army crossed the Yangtze River.
Zhang Yaoming, the "thousand-mile colt" of that year, slipped faster than anyone else and ran to Taiwan in one breath.
Zhang Yaoming did not expect that Chiang Kai-shek would pull him back from Taiwan to Chengdu with a warrant, and on September 20, 1949, the 44-year-old Zhang Yaoming took over the post of principal of the Whampoa Military Academy.
He was the third principal of the Whampoa Military Academy after Chiang Kai-shek and Guan Linzheng.
The position of president of the Whampoa Military Academy was glamorous and beautiful, and Chiang Kai-shek easily did not give up, and many people in the Kuomintang dreamed of it.
It is reasonable to say that Zhang Yaoming should be regarded as a "lucky person", but Zhang Yaoming is not happy.
This is because the Platon Army is pressing the border, the Kuomintang regime is in turmoil, and Zhang Yaoming took over a "hot potato."
The whole of Chengdu was in crisis, and the people in the military academy were panicked, and Zhang Yaoming could only complain that he was "not born at the right time" and went to Chengdu to take up his post.
On November 30, 1949, when the People's Liberation Army occupied Chongqing, Chiang Kai-shek was forced to fly to Chengdu, and he set up his own temporary headquarters in the Chengdu Whampoa Military Academy.
At the Whampoa Military Academy in Chengdu, Zhang Yaoming suffered a "catastrophe" that laid a "landmine" for his future debasement.
On December 3, in the compound of the Whampoa Military Academy in Chengdu, Chiang Kai-shek made a lot of preparations before the last inspection of military cadet officers and students.
Especially in terms of security, Zhang Yaoming carefully inspected the parade ground and its surroundings three times to confirm that there were no problems.
Chiang Kai-shek, Soong Mei-ling
However, when several cadets were raising the flag, the flagpole suddenly broke, and the flag fell to the ground...
This is an "ominous omen"!
Everyone at the scene was stunned, and Zhang Yaoming was scared and sweaty, and hurried to find a way to remedy it, but he saw that Old Jiang's face was already very ugly.
Zhang Yaoming's heart immediately had an ominous premonition.
In December, the People's Liberation Army began to push into Chengdu, and Chiang Kai-shek ordered the Whampoa Military Academy to move south to Yunnan.
As a result, Zhang Yaoming issued a number of instructions in a row and began to dispatch school personnel.
As soon as the news came out, the Chengdu Huangpu Military Academy opened in chaos, nearly 200 cadets fled home, and some officers chose to commit suicide in despair.
The military academy was preparing to move south from Chengdu to Yunnan, but the only passage had been blocked by the People's Liberation Army, and Zhang Yaoming had to take everyone back to Chengdu.
At this time, Zhang Yaoming knew that under such a situation, it was a luxury to take the Whampoa Military Academy out of Chengdu.
Therefore, Zhang Yaoming decided to let the 23rd batch of students in Huangpu graduate early, and destroyed all archives and historical materials.
At this point, the Whampoa Military Academy was disbanded on the spot.
On December 25, 1949, after Zhang Yaoming personally "cut off" the Whampoa Military Academy, he left the mess to Li Yongzhong, the chief education officer, and took a plane from Chengdu to Taiwan.
After that, Li Yongzhong, the education chief of the Whampoa Military Academy, led the officers and men who stayed in the school to revolt.
At this point, the Whampoa Military Academy ended its history on the mainland, and Zhang Yaoming became the "last principal" of the Whampoa Military Academy in the mainland.
After Zhang Yaoming arrived in Taiwan, Chiang Kai-shek did not give him a good look, which made Zhang Yaoming very depressed.
Zhang Yaoming felt that he was very wronged: the "flagpole rupture incident" at the military parade, coupled with the Uprising of Li Yongzhong and the dissolution of the Whampoa Military Academy, maybe that is Providence, Providence cannot be violated, can you blame me?
Nowadays, Old Jiang has put these "bad debts" on Zhang Yaoming's head, and he Zhang Yaoming can hardly escape the blame, so he can only admit that he is unlucky.
Zhang Yaoming also understood the pain of old Chiang Kai-shek very well, after all, the Whampoa Military Academy, which old Chiang loved all his life, was destroyed in his own post, and old Chiang spilled a bad breath on himself, which was also "excusable."
Zhang Yaoming was detained soon after, and a few months later, he was released in a vacuum.
Zhang Yaoming was already disheartened at this time, and he only wanted to stay away from the official scene and seek peace, but he thought too beautifully.
The Kuomintang authorities were still uneasy about Zhang Yaoming, and in his home, there were armed agents close to him at all times, called "protection", which was really surveillance.
Zhang Yaoming thus ended his military and political career and lived in depression all day long.
On October 11, 1972, Zhang Yaoming, the "last president" of the Whampoa Military Academy, died in Taiwan due to liver disease.