After the Liaoshen Campaign, he was placed under house arrest in Nanjing by Chiang Kai-shek, and in early 1949, in order to protect him, New China listed him as one of the "number one war criminals".
When he returned to the mainland in 1955, he was warmly received by the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and before his death, he served as vice chairman of the National Defense Commission and other important positions.
Why did he have such a legendary life? Where are his descendants now?
Wei Lihuang
01 As a famous General of the Kuomintang, he became acquainted with the Communist Party because of the Anti-Japanese Resistance
Wei Lihuang was born in a small village on the eastern outskirts of Hefei, Anhui Province, the son of a local petty official, but died of illness when he was only eight years old.
Fortunately, at that time, his eldest brother Wei Lijiong had already found a position in the county town and could take care of him, so he went to the eldest brother to learn cultural knowledge in a private school.
In his childhood, Wei Lihuang was very sensible, studied hard, and was particularly interested in the historical celebrities in the historical classics, so he planted the seeds of saving the country from rong from his heart.
At the age of fifteen, under the influence of his brother and friends, he devoted himself to military training and cut his hair in pigtails to show his ambition to join the revolution.
After the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, Wei Lihuang joined the armed movement several times.
In 1914, he was admitted to the Hubei Army Cadet Barracks, and after more than a year of systematic and rigorous military training, his military knowledge and vision were greatly improved, and in 1917, he was selected to serve Sun Yat-sen's guard directly.
During his pursuit of Mr. Sun, he made many meritorious contributions, won successive promotions, and was also given a precious photo signed by Sun Yat-sen.
After 1925, Wei Lihuang, who led the Northern Expedition, was flexible in tactics, using troops like gods and winning victories step by step. Soon after, he reached Nanjing and defeated Sun Chuanfang's troops, and was appointed deputy commander.
In 1927, after Wei Lihuang went to Beiping Army University to study in the first phase of the special class for generals, he was ordered to form the 45th Division in Bengbu and served as the division commander.
From 27 to 32 years, Wei Lihuang won many battles with his brain, experience, and heroic way of fighting, but in fact, he was always dissatisfied with the corrupt style of the Kuomintang government, and also felt sad for the entire country and the people who were poisoned by the warlords.
When the "Xi'an Incident" broke out, Wei Lihuang, Chiang Kai-shek, and others were detained in Xi'an together, and the CPC deputies led by Zhou Enlai at that time put forward the idea of "stopping the civil war and jointly resisting Japan" brought great shock to Wei Lihuang.
After the peaceful settlement of the Xi'an Incident, Wei Lihuang was also one of the few Kuomintang generals who really cooperated with the Communist Party and did not deliberately create friction in the Kuomintang-Communist joint anti-Japanese campaign.
Therefore, Wei Lihuang has repeatedly said to the people around him: "As long as it is an anti-Japanese unit, I will treat it equally." "Also during the War of Resistance, he repeatedly provided help to the Communist forces, either explicitly or implicitly.
At that time, Wei Lihuang not only implemented the "three noes policy" of "no intervention, no seizure of power, and no friction" for the Communist troops, but also gave a large amount of strategic material support. It helped the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army solve many practical difficulties.
According to records, in the spring of 1938, he went to visit Lin Biao, who was mistakenly injured by the Nationalist army, and asked him directly: "Is there any need?" Lin Biao didn't realize it at the time, and replied, "I don't need anything personally." ”
Wei Lihuang further said, "What about the troops, do they need medicine, food, and clothing?" Lin Biao finally reacted and hurriedly said, "The troops are short of ammunition." ”
"Okay, then I'll send you ammunition." Soon Wei Lihuang ordered the Eighth Route Army to allocate 1 million rounds of ammunition and 250,000 rounds of grenades to the Eighth Route Army, which were urgently needed by the Communists at that time.
Some subordinates were worried that the number was too large and did not dare to send it, and he personally inquired about it, prompting this batch of military supplies to be quickly sent to Yan'an to solve the urgent need.
After the Hundred Regiments War, Wei Lihuang even praised the people around him, "This is the real anti-Japanese team." ”
Later, he went to Yan'an for a three-day inspection, where he was personally received by Mao Zedong and had in-depth conversations with Mao Zedong and other major leaders, deepening their understanding of each other.
The two not only had a very pleasant conversation, but Wei Lihuang also had a deeper understanding and appreciation of the Communist Party, and also had closer contact with many senior leaders of the Communist Party.
In addition, during his field investigation in Yan'an, he personally saw the harmonious scene of the local people and the Communist Forces being "close to the military and the people and the fish and the water", and also personally experienced that our army's troops strictly managed the army, the soldiers did not take a needle and a line from the masses, and did everything themselves, not only did not harass the people, but also often helped each other with the local peasants.
All this brought great touch to Wei Lihuang. Maybe this is the government that he really deserves to support in his heart, this is the army he wants, this is the way out for all the people in China.
In his heart, what kind of road to take and who to follow have become clearer and clearer.
However, due to the defeat of the expeditionary force, Chiang had to re-employ this tough general, who made him love and hate, and he did not live up to expectations, leading the expeditionary force to eliminate the Japanese army entrenched in Burma and open the Burma Road.
02 His heart is not on the side of the Kuomintang
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in order to avoid the civil war, Wei Lihuang took the name of military investigation and went to Europe and the United States with his wife Han Quanhua for a year.
It was not until the end of 1947 that he was urgently recalled and went to the northeast to serve as commander-in-chief.
According to Wei Lihuang's son Wei Daoran, "It was not until the last moment before the liberation of the northeast that my father received a telegram saying that everything was under your command, and the people around him congratulated him on taking back the command, but he replied, they called me to command, but who else can I command now?" ”
In fact, at that time, Wei Lihuang was already discouraged by the Kuomintang and Chiang Kai-shek, and was no longer willing to make enemies of the Communists.
At that time, Du Yuming asked him why he did not move, and he resolutely replied: "I have always loved soldiers like sons, and I do not want my soldiers to make senseless sacrifices." ”
In the Liaoshen Campaign, he used the excuse that the PLA troops were too strong to fight head-on, and he always held on to Shenyang, adopting the strategic method of not dispatching troops and only repairing fortifications, so that our army could have the opportunity to break through the Kuomintang troops entrenched in the northern land in the Northeast Liberation War and win victory with the smallest losses.
In 1949, taking advantage of Chiang Kai-shek's departure from the wilderness, Wei Lihuang fled the mainland with his family, but he did not go to Taiwan, but hid in Hong Kong to avoid people's eyes.
At the same time, he also became one of the number one war criminals declared by the mainland, but in fact, this was a means for the new people's government to protect him. It was not until 1955 that he secretly returned via Macau under the arrangement of the CCP leaders.
After his return, Wei Lihuang was cordially received by Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou and other leaders and marshals, and he also became the highest-ranking general in the Kuomintang who returned to the mainland.
He also wrote the "Letter to a Friend of Taiwan's Robe Ze", and was successively elected as a deputy to the National People's Congress, a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee, succeeding Long Yun as vice chairman of the National Defense Commission.
After Wei Lihuang died of illness in 1960, he was buried in the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery.
03 Wei Lihuang and his four wives
According to historical records, Wei Lihuang married four wives in the republic, and the last two wives are also quite legendary.
The first two ladies were both marriages arranged by his mother, and it was said earlier that his father died very early, so he listened to his mother very much. Unfortunately, due to the medical conditions at the time, both ladies died of illness early. They left him two children.
His third wife is Zhu Yunheng, the principal of Chongshi Middle School, and when it comes to the fate of the two of them, it is very tasteful that they do not fight or do not know each other.
Because Wei Lihuang was stationed next to the school at that time, some soldiers seized the school building and intimidated the students, Zhu Yunheng did not have any timidity, and generously directly found Wei Lihuang and asked him to train troops not to affect the students' learning.
Her boldness attracted Wei Lihuang, and Wei Lihuang's pacesetter record had also been reported, Zhu Yunheng did not expect such a well-known general to be polite in front of her, and immediately restrained his subordinates, so the two had a good feeling for each other, and they were also very affectionate after marriage.
Later, she also took the four children left by Wei Lihuang's ex-wife to Live with in Shanghai, and she herself gave birth to two children for Wei Lihuang. Unfortunately, she also died of an infection during an operation.
Wei Lihuang's fourth marriage was to escape the political marriage of the Kong Xiangxi family, he asked someone to introduce him to Han Quanhua, who was in the United States at that time, as a Peking University flower, on the one hand, she admired Wei Lihuang as an anti-Japanese hero, on the other hand, she also felt that others were very talented after contact, so she was willing to marry him.
They had a simple wedding in Kunming in 1945, and Han Quanhua stayed with Wei Lihuang until his death in 1985 after returning to the mainland with him.
04 Where is the goal now?
Wei Lihuang had three sons and three daughters in his lifetime.
The most famous of these is the youngest son, Wei Daoran, who originally lived in Hong Kong, studied at two universities and obtained a pilot's license.
Wei Daoran
After his father's death, he returned to the mainland and worked diligently from an ordinary technician to a senior engineer at the Beijing Auto Repair Company.
In his later years, Wei Daoran actively threw himself into the great cause of the reunification of the motherland, and his son Wei Zhi was also influenced by it and made many efforts for cross-strait exchanges.
Except for the eldest son, Wei Daojie, who served in the military during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, none of the other children have joined the military or politics, and it is difficult to find their information on the Internet. However, his grandson Weizhi once gave an exclusive interview to the magazine and introduced to reporters what he knew Wei Lihuang was.
Now Wei Lihuang's descendants live a peaceful and tranquil life all over the world, and I believe that they are also working silently like all ordinary people, working hard for their own happiness and doing what they can for the reunification of the motherland.
The Hump Flying Monument was built in Kunming to commemorate the contributions of the Expeditionary Force and the Flying Tigers to the victory of the War of Resistance. Wei Lihuang's granddaughter Wei Xiuning also appeared at the scene, dressed simply and behaved in a low-key manner, expressing her reverence for her grandfather and father.
Wei Lihuang's descendants, taking their fathers as an example, patriotic and dedicated, chose to rely on their own hands to work silently, rather than choosing to borrow the shadow of their fathers and live a life with their backs to the trees. This is also worthy of our praise.