He was a senior general of the Red Army who followed Chairman Mao to participate in the Autumn Harvest Uprising, served as the chief of staff of the 115th Division during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and was on the same level as Lin Biao, Peng Dehuai and other founding marshals, but disappeared in Shanxi in 1938 with money, and his whereabouts are still unknown. So who is this person who gave up the great future, fled with the money, and what happened after escaping? Why is it still a mystery to this day?
After the outbreak of the All-Out War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1937, the Kuomintang and the Communists cooperated for the second time, and the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army, which we know as the Eighth Route Army. The Eighth Route Army had three main divisions under its jurisdiction, namely the 115th Division, with Lin Biao as the division commander, Nie Rongzhen as the deputy division commander, the 120th Division with He Long as the division commander, Xiao Ke as the deputy mayor, the 129th Division with Liu Bo as the division commander, and Xu Xiangqian as the deputy mayor.
In terms of configuration and strength, the 115th Division was the strongest. It can be seen from the fact that the Eighth Route Army's first anti-Japanese station, the Battle of Pingxingguan, was fought by Lin Biao's 100 or 50. It was also after the Pingxing Guan's victory that Lin Biao recovered in the Soviet Union due to the mistaken injury of the Jin Sui Army, and after that, he also left the sequelae of fear of light, fear of water, fear of wind, and fear of sound. So why Lin Biao went out on horseback without a guard company was actually related to the disappearance of a senior general of the 115th Division.
The missing general, known as Zhou Kunming, was the chief of staff of the 115th Division, and most importantly, he carried 30,000 eighth-route army salaries. Zhou Kun, who is missing, was born in 1902 in Pingjiang County, Hunan Province. He joined the revolutionary ranks from following Chairman Mao to participate in the Autumn Harvest Uprising, and during the Red Army period, he was already a senior general at the level of a corps commander, and even a level with Lin Biao, Peng Dehuai and other founding marshals.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he was appointed chief of staff of the 115th Division. If he had been working in the revolutionary ranks, with his excellent military prowess and clever and flexible mind, he would have been at least a general if not a marshal after the founding of the country. However, how did such a promising senior general of our army disappear with money? This made Lin Biao, the commander of the 115th Division, very injured, and his chief of staff had such a thing, not only did he have to be punished by the organization, but no one was responsible for the staff work of the 115th Division, and the burden of opening up the anti-Japanese base area behind the enemy lines was very heavy, and it was precisely the time when there was a shortage of talents.
Therefore, Lin Biao, who was already silent and taciturn, was even more depressed, and often went out on horseback alone, which was to let go of the bitterness and pressure, which also led to him being mistakenly injured by the soldiers of the Jin Sui Army and going to the Soviet Union to recuperate. The 115th Division, which had lost its chief of staff and division commander, was once leaderless, and the chenguang that succeeded it was comparable to Lin Biao, which also made the 115th Division, which was originally stronger and more generals, and finally the number of annihilated enemies in the War of Resistance Against Japan was not as good as that of the 129th Division.
So, why did Zhou Kun, the chief of staff of the 115th Division, disappear? This all stemmed from a trip to Wuhan after the PingxingGuan Victory. In 1938, Zhou Kun, as a senior representative of our army, went to Wuhan to communicate with Kuomintang officers. In Wuhan, he was entertained by many Kuomintang officers, and saw that even a regimental commander had a mansion and a car to find a wife, and as a division-level general, he had to be careful when he went out and took a rickshaw, which made Zhou Kun's heart change.
When he returned to the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, Zhou Kun even complained to Peng Dehuai about this, and was severely criticized by Peng Dehuai. However, she was very unconvinced by The criticism of Mr. Peng, and then received 60,000 yuan from the 115th Division's military expenses in Linfen, the headquarters of the Second Theater, and later Zhou Kun did not want to return to the 115th Division, so he took 30,000 yuan out of the 60,000 yuan of military salary and handed it to the guards, saying that he still had things, and let the guards first borrow 30,000 yuan to return to the division headquarters, and then he disappeared.
As for the reason for his escape, people at that time also had different opinions, but it was generally believed that Zhou Kun envied the extravagant life of the Kuomintang officers and saw the desire to get rich. As for why he did not take away all 60,000 yuan, he only took 30,000 yuan, it may be because he still has feelings for the 115th Division and can't bear to take all 60,000 yuan away, or maybe he is afraid of all the sweeping away, Lin Biao is angry and does not let him go, in short, in the end he took the 30,000 yuan and disappeared.
Then where he went after he fled with the money, people no longer know. He did not defect to the Japanese or the Kuomintang, and in his capacity, wherever he went, he must have been ridden by high-ranking officials and horses, and he would certainly have been used for hype, but there was never any news of this. After liberation, especially when counter-revolution was purged, it was not discovered.
If Zhou Kun had fled overseas, he would not have been heard from, so it is very likely that he died before liberation, but it is unknown whether he died of illness or was killed by someone seeking wealth. Of course, all this is just speculation, without any evidence. In those war years, it was common for a person to die or disappear.