Welcome to Shiyuan History Column No. 1064. Even after the "victory" of the Kuomintang Army's Northern Expedition in 1928, remote areas were basically controlled by warlord forces, and the influence of the central government was limited. Among them, the most powerful warlords in the northwest region were Ma Bufang and Ma Hongkui of the Hui ethnic group. These two men had more than 100,000 troops, controlled the local financial power, oppressed the people, and a large amount of gold and silver flowed into the Ma family's private pockets. Until the end of the 1949 Liberation War, Ma Bufang still controlled Qinghai and Gansu provinces, while Ma Hongkui occupied Ningxia, known as the "King of Ningxia", and owned 7 tons of gold alone, not to mention other real estate and fields.
However, as a local warlord, no matter how domineering he was in the past, it was futile in the face of more than 5 million People's Liberation Army at the end of the Republic of China. In 1949, the First Field Army concentrated 300,000 troops to attack Gansu, aiming to liberate the whole northwest. The arrogant Ma Bufang did not know the current affairs, and mobilized 100,000 disciples to guard Lanzhou, in a vain attempt to hold the northwest gateway in order to continue their warlord rule. Ma Hongkui, on the other hand, was very cunning, knowing that his strength was not enough to confront the Ichino army, so he adopted the posture of sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight, shrinking in Ningxia and not sending troops, letting Ma Bufang's "qingma" fight with Ichino, and Qingma Sheng would make his own profits; once the situation in Lanzhou was critical, he could escape in advance.
As a result, although Qingma fought fiercely, after Lanzhou stubbornly resisted Yiye's first offensive, it was defeated a few days later, and the Qingma troops withdrew from Lanzhou in a big way, with the main force losing nearly 30,000 people. Ma Hongkui saw that Ma Bufang's army was defeated and the northwest was gone, and he did not intend to rely on his own 70,000 horses to hold on to Ningxia, so he loaded the 7 tons of private wealth he had plundered in Ningxia in the past 20 years and loaded it into a plane, and fled to the United States (Chongqing and Taiwan first) together with more than ten of his wife and children.
Logically, Ma Hongkui went to the United States with huge assets, and although he lost his military power and ability to be a mighty man in Ningxia in the past, there should be no problem at all in order to live the rest of his life comfortably. However, the life of Ma Hongkui's family in the United States is not very peaceful, and Ma Hongkui's later years are even very lonely. The Ma family's residence in the United States is located in Los Angeles on the west coast, because the Ma family's private wealth is huge, and Ma Hongkui's family brought to the United States has 3 wives, which involves a serious property war. Ma Hongkui's sons and grandsons even went to court for money, which made Ma Hongkui sad. In addition, Ma Hongkui did not plan to go to the United States at the earliest, but the Taiwan authorities did not allow him to flee without a fight, and to pursue military responsibility, Ma Hongkui ran to Los Angeles for refuge, for which he was also dismissed from the rank of general of the Kuomintang army.
In fact, Ma Hongkui is a person with a lot of local concepts. After experiencing the ups and downs of power and family, and even returning to his homeland in his later years has become a luxury, after the age of 70, he mentioned to the people around him more than once: I really want to go home. This makes people sigh, like Ma Hongkui, a person who has thousands of private wealth in the air, but lives a very lonely life, it is difficult to say that it is a complete life. Ma Hongkui died in the United States in 1970, and the once invincible "King of Ningxia" ultimately failed to realize his wish to "go home".