Yan Xishan Picture from the internet
Among the new four warlords of the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-shek, Feng Yuxiang and Li Zongren all had many famous generals in their ranks, but compared with the above three warlords, the famous generals in the army were much weaker. Although there were high-ranking officials like Xu Yongchang who served as military ministers in the Republic of China government, they were also appointed by Chiang Kai-shek to balance the various warlord factions, and xu Yongchang really had this ability.
However, there was one general who could not only recruit good warriors, but also was a temporary choice in both tactical thinking and strategic thinking, but because of Yan Xishan's suspicions, he finally broke away from the Jin army and made a difference of his own name, and he was Fu Zuoyi, a famous general of the Jin Sui Army.
Compared with Chiang Kai-shek's criteria for employing people as "shi, huang, lu, and Zhejiang," Yan Xishan's idea of employing people is even more narrow, and if he wants to be reused, he must be a Shanxi person, preferably a Wutai person, and the so-called "learn the five Taiwanese dialects, and then carry a foreign knife." It was precisely because of this narrow employment standard that the talent of the Jin army was far weaker than that of other warlords.
But the generals were weak, but the Jin army had one thing stronger than other warlords, that is, stability. Since Yan Xishan took power in Shanxi, he had never heard of a General of the Jin Army breaking away from the Jin Army, which was also a great skill of Yan Xishan.
However, at the end of 1937, just when Yan Xishan wanted to pursue responsibility for Fu Zuoyi's loss of Taiyuan, Fu Zuoyi was promoted by Chiang Kai-shek to the rank of general commander of the General Headquarters of the 2nd Theater North Road Army and commander of the 35th Army.
Since then, Fu Zuoyi has freed his hands and feet to develop his own strength, and by the time of the Liberation War, Fu Zuoyi has become the commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang 'General Crackdown' in North China, sitting on an army of 600,000, becoming the supreme ruler of the Kuomintang in North China, and his influence has surpassed Yan Xishan.
So, why did Fu Zuoyi leave Yan Xishan? Is it really because of Chiang Kai-shek's division?
It's definitely not that simple.
In the Battle of Zhuozhou, Fu Zuoyi reported on Yan Xishan's Zhi'en Tu
Fu Zuoyi, a native of Linyi County in southwestern Shanxi, graduated from the Fifth Artillery Section of the Baoding Military Academy. Like other Officers from Shanxi, Fu Zuoyi entered Yan Xishan's Jin Army as soon as he graduated.
Beginning as an intern platoon commander in 1918, Fu Zuoyi made rapid progress in the army, and by December 1926, Fu Zuoyi had been promoted to lieutenant general of the Fourth Division of the Jin Army. In the past 8 years, from platoon commander to division commander, progress can be described as rapid, although Fu Zuoyi's personal efforts are included, but it is undeniable that this is also inseparable from Yan Xishan's meticulous cultivation. In this sense, Yan Xishan was kind to Fu Zuoyi.
In October 1927, the Jinfeng War broke out.
The battle plan of the Jin army was to divide the troops into two routes, with the left route army led by Fu Zuoyi's old commander Shang Zhen (Fu Zuoyi was in the Shangzhen Brigade when he was a probationary platoon leader) to go out of Datong, march east along the Beijing-Sui Railway, and after occupying Zhangjiakou and Xuanhua, attack Beijing from the south, and at the same time cut off the traffic between Beijing and Shanhaiguan, blocking the retreat route of the Feng army to the northeast; Yan Xishan personally led the right route army to the east to leave the Taihang Mountains, cut off the Beijing-Hankou railway after occupying Shijiazhuang, and then attack Baoding in the north, and the left route army would attack Beijing.
Yan Xishan's route of entry was not surprising at all, these were the two classic routes of the Jin army to fight in the Jin Dynasty, one took the Niangzi Pass on the eastern front, and the other took the Yanmen Pass on the northern front, which belonged to the tactic of dividing the attack and combining attacks. But Qi is strange in Fu Zuoyi's way.
The art of war has clouds: "With positive harmony, with strange victory." In order to win a surprise victory, Yan Xishan sent Fu Zuoyi to lead the Fourth Division to take the Taihang Mountain Road, which suddenly appeared on the Beijing-Hankou Railway, cutting off the connection between Beijing and Baoding. Shang Zhen on the northern front, seeing that Fu Zuoyi had succeeded, also immediately marched into zhangjiakou, and Yan Xishan also led the Eastern Route Army to attack and capture Shijiazhuang.
Yan Xishan's sudden dispatch of troops did not surprise Zhang Zuolin, he did not expect that Yan Xishan, who had always been cautious and cautious, dared to send troops to attack himself, and did not react for a while, and was caught off guard by Yan Xishan. But after he reacted, he immediately mobilized the troops of Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces to help. At this time, the Jin army fighting on the Jingsui and Beijing-Han railways was only 100,000, while Zhang Zuolin's army had reached 170,000 people and was well armed. Yan Xishan suddenly felt great pressure, so he had to ask for help from both Ning and Han, and the promise given was that whoever came to help him would be the leader of whomever he wanted in the future.
Jiang Fengyan group photo Picture from the network
However, at this time, Chiang Kai-shek of Ningfang had already been ousted from power by the Gui clan and was in the opposition; Tang Shengzhi of the Han side was also in a hurry, and Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi had to use their main forces against Tang Shengzhi, and no one on both sides of Yan Xishan's request for help was taken care of. In view of this, Yan Xishan shouted that he was deceived, and had to fight with the Feng army with a hard scalp. However, the Feng army's offensive was too fierce, the Jin army could not resist, and it was gradually defeated and retreated, so Yan Xishan had to order the whole army to return to Shanxi. This retreat greatly damaged Yan Xishan's face, and because the withdrawal was too rapid, Yan Xishan even lost his own seal letter.
After the Jin army retreated, he relied on the geographical advantages of Niangzi Pass and Yanmen Pass to block the fengjun's attack, but Fu Zuoyi, who had already penetrated deep into the Beijing-Han Railway alone, did not tell him to retreat, and he still led the 4th Division to Zhuozhou as originally planned.
Objectively speaking, Fu Zuoyi's strange army was indeed very powerful, and if zhuozhou was captured, it could not only intercept the road for the Feng army to march south, but also cut off the road for the Feng army to transport supplies to the front line, and also block the Feng army retreating to the north after the victory of the Jin army, which was of great strategic significance.
However, when Fu Zuoyi captured Zhuozhou, he found that he was already in an extremely embarrassing situation. It turned out that Fu Zuoyi knew the news that the Jin army had returned to Shanxi after defeat.
But in this way, his own strange army became an abandoned army, and the Feng army could mobilize all its forces to attack itself. If you defend Zhuozhou and have only one division of more than 10,000 people, it is bound to be unsustainable; and it will be even more difficult to retreat. When he came, in order to avoid the Feng army, he walked to a place with high mountains and dense forests, rough roads, and few people, which can be said to have taken a lot of effort, and now he has to retreat, and the Feng army will follow in pursuit, how many people in his division can get out of danger? Thinking about it, Fu Zuoyi made a decision, that is, to stick to Zhuozhou, put it in the land of death and be reborn, and create possibilities where it is impossible.
The Zhuozhou Offensive and Defensive Battle can be described as the most exciting operation since the Republic of China.
In order to capture Zhuozhou, the Feng army could be said to have exhausted all the high-tech weapons it could have at that time.
First there was shelling, then digging tunnels, and then the planes dropping bombs and incendiary bombs, but these were all defused one by one by Fu Zuoyi, who had been prepared for it. The enraged commander-in-chief of the feng army siege, Wan Fulin, sent 6 Renault-17 light tanks purchased from France, but they were still destroyed. This is because one of the biggest drawbacks of these tanks is that the wheels on the sides and back are made of wood, but they are wrapped in iron on the outside. Naturally, this tank cannot withstand the blows of high-intensity warfare.
However, the tanks of the Feng army brought benefits to Fu Zuoyi, that is, the Jin soldiers got gasoline from the destroyed tanks, and the transmitter that Fu Zuoyi's troops had stopped for a long time could finally be used. What disappointed Fu Zuoyi was that Yan Xishan was having a hard time protecting himself at this time, where did he have the ability to send troops to rescue himself? All that can be given is spiritual encouragement: the 4th Division will each be promoted to the first level, and the ocean will be rewarded with 70,000 pieces.
Seeing that he could not attack for a long time, Wan Fulin, who was ashamed and angry, after asking Zhang Zuolin, took out the last bit of the bottom of the pressure box in fengjun's inventory, that is, 500 poison gas bombs.
However, when the gas bombs were released, they still did not achieve the expected results, and it turned out that these gas bombs were all old goods from the First World War and had already passed the shelf life, so they did not cause major casualties to Fu Zuoyi's troops. However, after Yan Xishan knew about this matter, he immediately sent a telegram to question Zhang Zuolin:
"Poison gas bombs are internationally banned, and Yu Shuai actually used them against the Chinese people, there is a kind!"
As soon as the news of Feng Jun's use of poison gas bombs was hyped up by the media, Zhang Zuolin was greatly disappointed. Although Zhang Zuolin defended that Feng Jun released smoke screen bullets, not gas bombs, the facts speak louder than words, and Zhang Zuolin lost face in front of the world. In desperation, Zhang Zuolin had no choice but to order:
"No need to fight, blockade Zhuozhou, starve Fu Zuoyi!"
"Wei Mi Zi Shou Quan Vi":
"Whoever has a soldier who must be saved has a city that must be defended, and whoever has no soldier who must be saved has no city to keep."
At this time, Fu Zuoyi had indeed reached the point of exhaustion of mountains and rivers, zhuozhou had indeed reached the brink of losing its defense, and Yan Xishan's reinforcements would certainly not come, which was completely in line with what the martial arts said, "Those who have no soldiers to save will have no city to defend." However, when Fu Zuoyi's classmates and division commanders took turns to persuade them to surrender, they were all sternly rejected by Fu Zuoyi, Yan Xishan did not speak, and Fu Zuoyi never surrendered lightly.
From this, it can be seen that Fu Zuoyi is worthy of Yan Xishan's grace of knowledge.
Fu Zuoyi's feat of resisting the Fengjun alone with the multitude of a division also alarmed the Nationalist government in Nanjing at that time, and in order to reward Fu Zuoyi, it was announced that Fu Zuoyi would be appointed as a member of the Military Commission and a division commander as a member of the Central Military Commission, and Fu Zuoyi was the first and last.
Fortunately, Yan Xishan played a little humane at this time, and since he could not rescue Fu Zuoyi at all, instead of letting Fu Zuoyi die in Zhuozhou, it was better to temporarily surrender to the Feng army and retain his useful body for the future. Therefore, at the behest of Yan Xishan, Fu Zuoyi agreed to surrender to the Feng army. On December 30, 1927, Fu Zuoyi telegraphed an armistice.
Although the Battle of Zhuozhou eventually ended with the defeat of the Jin army, Fu Zuoyi's military ability to attack and defend well in this battle won unanimous praise from military circles throughout the country, and Fu Zuoyi became famous in the first battle.
After the Battle of Zhuozhou, Fu Zuoyi was placed under house arrest by Zhang Xueliang in Tianjin. However, Fu Zuoyi did not sincerely surrender, and with the assistance of his friends, fled Tianjin and returned to Yan Xishan's subordinates.
During the Great War of the Central Plains, a secret letter caused Yan Xishan to begin to be jealous of Fu Zuoyi, and a rift in trust was created
In June 1928, the "Northern Expedition" jointly of the four major warlords of the Republic of China won victory, and Yan Xishan was appointed by the National Government of Nanjing as the commander-in-chief of the Beijing-Tianjin garrison. In August, Yan appointed Fu Zuoyi as commander-in-chief of the 5th Army of the National Revolutionary Army and commander of the Tianjin Garrison to reward him for his service.
In June 1929, Fu Zuoyi was promoted to lieutenant general of the 16th Route Army and commander of the 43rd Division, with two armies and one division under his command, becoming a major general under Yan Xishan.
In April 1930, the 43rd Division was expanded into the 10th Army, and Fu Zuoyi was promoted to general commander of the 2nd Route Army of the 3rd Front and commander of the 10th Army.
In May 1930, the Central Plains War broke out, and Fu Zuoyi was responsible for commanding the war at the northern end of the Jinpu Line. On June 25, Fu Zuoyi led his troops to conquer Jinan and became the director of the Jinan camp.
Logically speaking, Yan Xishan was kind to Fu Zuoyi, and Fu Zuoyi was working hard for Yan Xishan, so there should be no contradictions or suspicions. However, all this changed with the arrival of Zhang Yinwu.
Just as Fu Zuoyi was reorganizing his armaments, Zhang Yinwu, the commander of the Beiping garrison appointed by Yan Xishan, suddenly led the 4th Route Army south to join forces with the 2nd Route Army led by Fu Zuoyi and formed a coalition army, with Zhang Yinwu as the commander-in-chief and Fu Zuoyi as the deputy commander-in-chief.
This appointment was unexpected by many Jin generals.
Fu Zuoyi The picture comes from the Internet
Not to mention that Jinan was originally attacked by Fu Zuoyi's troops, and judging from the command ability of Fu Zuoyi and Zhang Yinwu alone, Zhang Yinwu should not have served as the commander-in-chief. But Yan Xishan did just that. Is there something hidden in this?
There really is. It turned out that just when Fu Zuoyi led his troops to capture Jinan and was appointed by Yan Xishan as the director of the Jinan camp, Zhang Yinwu sent a secret telegram to Yan Xishan:
"When Zhang Xueliang held a meeting with Zhang Qun, Wu Tiecheng, Fang Benren and others in Beidaihe, Fu Zuoyi secretly participated, please note."
In Yan Xishan's view, Fu Zuoyi's participation in this secret meeting was a sign of rebellion. During the chaotic period of warlords in the Republic of China, it was not a new thing that the generals of various armies repeatedly rebelled for their own interests. Although such a thing has not yet appeared in the Jin army, everything must be prevented.
Therefore, Yan Xishan sent Zhang Yinwu to serve as a supervisor.
So, did Fu Zuoyi participate in this secret meeting? There is no clear evidence.
However, due to the arrival of Zhang Yinwu, Fu Zuoyi's command of the battle was constrained everywhere, and he was unable to concentrate his forces on the battle at all, and in the end, he was defeated miserably in the confrontation of Chiang Kai-shek's army, which directly affected the rout of the anti-Chiang Kai-shek coalition army. Coupled with Zhang Xueliang's entry into the pass, the Battle of the Central Plains ended with the defeat of Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang.
After the defeat in the Central Plains War, Yan Xishan, in order to shirk his responsibility, pushed the responsibility for the defeat to Fu Zuoyi, which once made Fu Zuoyi resentful and even killed himself with a gun. Fortunately, Mrs. Fu Zuoyi reacted quickly and pulled Fu Zuoyi, and the bullet failed to hit the head, but only hit the left arm.
Taking the Central Plains War as the dividing line, there was an irreparable rift in the good relationship between Yan Xishan and Fu Zuoyi, and the reason was zhang Yinwu's unproven secret electricity.
After the defeat of the Central Plains War, Yan Xishan had to be electrified and fled to Dalian to live in seclusion, but because Fu Zuoyi left too many good impressions on Zhang Xueliang in the Battle of Zhuozhou, Fu Zuoyi's department was absorbed by Zhang Xueliang, first giving a northeastern border defense 7th Army the name, and then officially giving the Nationalist government army the 35th Army, from then on, Fu Zuoyi finally had his own basic troops.
This is not to mention, Zhang Xueliang, in order to further win over Fu Zuoyi, also appointed Fu Zuoyi as the chairman of Suiyuan Province, which was more or less lost power after the defeat of the Jin army, but Fu Zuoyi grew against the trend and forged his own basic disk, which could not help but make Fu Zuoyi of Yan Xishan's troops more suspicious, and even concluded that the failure of the Central Plains War must be Fu Zuoyi's obstruction, otherwise, after the defeat of the Jin army, why did everyone else lose their army and leave their posts, but Fu Zuoyi was able to grow against the trend?
If during the Great War in the Central Plains, Yan Xishan was only suspicious of Fu Zuoyi, then, as Fu Zuoyi took charge of Suiyuan, Yan Xishan concluded that Fu Zuoyi had betrayed himself. This laid the groundwork for Yan Xishan to take advantage of the fall of Taiyuan to kill Fu Zuoyi, and Fu Zuoyi completely broke away from the Jin army.
In the defense of Taiyuan, Yan Xishan wanted to put Fu Zuoyi to death
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Yan Xishan was appointed by the Nationalist Government in Nanjing as the commander of the Second Theater of Operations, under the jurisdiction of the 6th and 7th Army Groups, and Fu Zuoyi served as the commander-in-chief of the 7th Group Army. After the Outbreak of the Battle of Xinkou, the 7th Army rushed to the Xinkou Battlefield as the main force. However, due to the loss of Niangziguan on the eastern front, the northern front troops' defense of Xinkou had lost its meaning, and if they did not retreat in time, they would be blocked by the Japanese army between Taiyuan and Xinkou, so Yan Xishan ordered the whole army to retreat and prepare to concentrate its forces to defend Taiyuan.
Judging from the war situation at that time, defending Taiyuan was a very unwise choice.
First, Yan Xishan also knew in his heart that Taiyuan could not be defended, and before issuing orders to defend Taiyuan, he had already transferred his main forces to Linfen and other places in southern Jin. At this time, when he proposed to defend Taiyuan, he actually wanted to use the troops defending Taiyuan to hinder the pace of the Japanese army's continued westward advance.
Second, after the Jin army experienced the Battles of Niangziguan and Xinkou, most of them had been damaged and were simply unable to organize a defensive war in Taiyuan.
Third, Yan Xishan still harbored a glimmer of illusion, hoping that the Jin army could protect Taiyuan. After all, Taiyuan is the nest of his painstaking operation for many years, all kinds of factories are complete, especially the Taiyuan Arsenal is one of the three major arsenals with the same name as the Fengtian Arsenal and the Hankou Arsenal during the Republic of China period, if Taiyuan is lost, the arsenal is occupied by the Japanese army, what weapons and equipment will be used by their own Jin army to fight with the Japanese army in the future?
In addition, Yan Xishan also had a secret mind, that is, by defending The original basic troops that fu Zuoyi had not consumed much, what he was looking forward to was that Fu Zuoyi died in Taiyuan, and if Taiyuan fell and Fu Zuoyi escaped the disaster, then he could still deal with Fu Zuoyi with military law. In short, as long as Fu Zuoyi defended Taiyuan, then he would die!
This kind of secret underworld affair Yan Xishan was not the first to suffer. In 1936, because his subordinate Li Shengda was directly appointed by Chiang Kai-shek as the commander of the 19th Army, Yan Xishan felt threatened, so in the middle of the night, Li Shengda was assassinated, and the murderer was Li Shengda's personal guard. As for the culprit behind it, you don't have to guess who it is.
However, when Yan Xishan proposed to defend Taiyuan, he encountered the collective cold ground of the Jin generals. Everyone knows that Taiyuan cannot be defended, and the loss is a matter of the length of time, if anyone guards Taiyuan, then once Taiyuan is lost in the future, he will become a scapegoat for Yan Xishan to cover up the defeat. As the generals of the Jin Army who followed Yan Xishan for many years, everyone knew this well.
Yan Xishan is not like a kind old man that we see every day, but he is very vicious. When he retired from the Battle of Xinkou, he killed Li Fuyi, the commander of the 61st Army, for disobeying orders. In fact, Li Fuyi's fight was still good, first he obeyed Yan Xishan's orders to resist for 3 days, then added 3 days, and finally, Li Fuyi led his troops to resist the Japanese army for 11 days before losing the battle, no matter from which aspect, Li Fuyi completed the task. However, Yan Xishan needed a man to cover his shame for the defeat at the Battle of Xinkou, and in this way, Li Fuyi became a scapegoat.
His family said that Han Fuyu was the first senior Kuomintang general to be executed because of the inability to resist the War, but in fact, it was not, but Li Fuyi was.
Seeing that everyone was silent, Fu Zuoyi stood up. He also knew that his record of defending Zhuozhou for 83 days was already well-known in the world, and Yan Xishan proposed to defend Taiyuan, even if he did not take the initiative, Yan Xishan had to give this task to himself. Since sooner or later it is your own business, why not take the initiative? It would be good if he could use this defense of Taiyuan to relieve Yan Xishan's previous suspicions about himself.
Therefore, Fu Zuoyi stepped forward and took the initiative to undertake the task of defending Taiyuan.
However, defending Taiyuan and defending Zhuozhou before were completely different things, and the weapons and equipment of the Japanese army were far from the old equipment that fengjun had collected from the First World War. Moreover, the main forces of the Jin army had been transferred to the south of Jin by Yan Xishan, and the Wei Lihuang troops of the Central Army were still separated from the Japanese army, and it was impossible to expect them to join the battle in the short term. In this way, Fu Zuoyi stubbornly defended Taiyuan for 7 days with less than 20 regiments of troops, and finally when he received Chiang Kai-shek's order to retreat, Fu Zuoyi led his troops to withdraw from Taiyuan.
Although the Taiyuan Defense Battle failed, due to Fu Zuoyi's stubborn resistance, a large number of Japanese troops were contained, which enabled the Wei Lihuang Department of the Central Army, sun Lianzhong of the Northwest Army, and Chen Changjie of the Jin Army, which were already in a dangerous situation, to get out of the dangerous situation and preserve the strength of the anti-Japanese resistance.
But it was clear that Yan Xishan did not see it this way, and he was extremely dissatisfied with Fu Zuoyi, who had come to Jinnan to meet him:
"You guarded Zhuozhou for 83 days, Taiyuan for 7 days, and lost the people of Shanxi."
Based on Fu Zuoyi's understanding of Yan Xishan, this evaluation meant that Yan Xishan had to do something to himself. It seems that he is the second Li Obeying, and he is going to become Yan Xishan's scapegoat.
However, at this moment, Yan Xishan suddenly received an order from the Military Commission of the Republic of China government to promote Fu Zuoyi to commander-in-chief of the Northern Road Army in the Second Theater.
Fu Zuoyi escaped the disaster.
Fu Zuoyi completely got rid of Yan Xishan's control and was unique
Obviously, Chiang Kai-shek believed that Fu Zuoyi was meritorious, and in addition, Chiang Kai-shek also learned from other sources that Yan Xishan was preparing to attack Fu Zuoyi. How could Chiang Kai-shek, who had always been good at dividing and disintegrating his opponents, let go of this opportunity? Therefore, an order for promotion was issued, did Yan Xishan still dare to risk the great discord of the world and disobey his own order to kill Fu Zuoyi?
And Fu Zuoyi? Seizing this rare opportunity, he led his troops out of the Southern Jin region where Yan Xishan was located and rushed to the northwest of Jin.
However, Yan Xishan was always angry with Fu Zuoyi, because many jin generals who were suppressed by themselves also defected to Fu Zuoyi, like Chen Changjie, who ran to Fu Zuoyi after his subordinates were treated unfairly. If this goes on for a long time, your own team will not be easy to bring. To this end, in December 1938, Yan Xishan reported to Chiang Kai-shek that Fu Zuoyi's 35th Army and the He Longbu of the Eighth Route Army in northwestern Jin dynasty wanted to hand over secrets, and proposed to replace Fu Zuoyi.
Yan Xishan thought that as long as Fu Zuoyi was attacked as a "Wang Bomber" who had had too close contacts with the Communist Party, he would definitely persuade Chiang Kai-shek to remove Fu Zuoyi.
But reality once again hit him in the face, and Fu Zuoyi was not only not removed from his post, but was promoted to deputy commander-in-chief of the Eighth Theater, completely breaking away from the combat sequence of the Second Theater. From then on, Fu Zuoyi completely broke away from Yan Xishan's control and became unique.
Yan Xishan's biggest mistake in employing people was jealousy, because of jealousy, he only believed in Shanxi people or Wutai people, which drove a large number of talents into other factions; because of jealousy, he listened to an unconfirmed rumor, and he always wanted to get rid of his own confidant generals, which eventually caused Fu Zuoyi to deviate from Germany and break away from the Jin army.
Note: This article is reproduced from the network, does not represent the position of this platform, for the reference of readers only, and the copyright belongs to the original creator. We share this article for the purpose of disseminating more information. If there is infringement, please leave a message in the background to contact us to delete, thank you