In the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, many Kuomintang generals abandoned the secret and joined the Communist Party of China. Wan Yi, who had served as the regimental commander under Zhang Xueliang, was one of them. Wan Yi was born in 1907 to a peasant family in Dalian, Liaoning Province. In the spring of 1925, Wan Yi was admitted to the Fourth Infantry Section of the Northeast Army Military Teaching Corps, studied with the captain Zhang Xueliang, and then successively served as Zhang Xueliang's lieutenant lieutenant in the adjutant office and an ordnance officer in the Shenyang Beibei battalion.
In June 1930, when Wan Yi graduated from the ninth phase of the Northeast Army Lecture Hall with the first place, he also received a pocket watch and a command knife rewarded by Zhang Xueliang. After the northeast was changed, Wan Yi followed Zhang Xueliang, who was then deputy commander-in-chief of land, sea and air, to Nanjing. In 1935, when Wan Yi went to the Shaanxi-Gansu region with the army, he became acquainted with Liu Lanbo and others sent by the Communist Party to the Northeast Army to carry out secret united front work, and deeply understood the communist ideology and the truth of the workers' and peasants' revolution.
From January 1936, at the age of 29, Wan Yi was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 627th Regiment of the 109th Division of the Northeast Army, becoming the youngest regimental commander of the entire Northeast Army, and was deeply valued by Zhang Xueliang. In March 1938, Wan Yi officially joined the Communist Party of China and became a special member of the Communist Party. However, just after he joined hands with Chang Endo, commander of the 111th Division of the 57th Army of the Northeast Army, to launch the 922 Hoe Rape Campaign and drive Miao Chengliu, the commander of the 57th Army, who was in collusion with the Japanese army, out of the Northeast Army, the Kuomintang diehards created the Anhui Incident that shocked China and foreign countries and persecuted the Communists on a large scale.
Wan Yi was also imprisoned in the Lunan Theater Prison during this period. In 1942, Chiang Kai-shek also issued an order calling for Wan Yi's execution. Just the day before his execution, Wan Yi managed to escape from the small farm yard where he was imprisoned and successfully contacted the Shandong branch of the Communist Party of China. Later, under the leadership of Wan Yi and others, the original 111th Division was gradually transformed into a people's army, and Wan Yi also participated in many battles as the commander of the People's Liberation Army and won brilliant achievements. In September 1955, Wan Yi was awarded the rank of founding lieutenant general, becoming the highest-ranking Manchu military officer.