What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
After the founding of New China, in order to praise those generals who had made outstanding contributions to the neutrality of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, a military rank conferment ceremony was specially held in 1955, of which there were 10 founding marshals, and only 10 founding generals, and 57 founding generals, such as Wang Zhen, Ye Fei, Li Kenong, Lü Zhengcao, Deng Hua, Xu Shiyou, and so on.
Among them, one of the founding generals was revolted from the Kuomintang, and in 1949 he took the initiative to lead an uprising of 100,000 Nationalist troops, this person was once the first general under Hu Zongnan, and he also received special attention from Chiang Kai-shek, who was General Tao Zhiyue.
Tao Zhiyue is a native of Xianfeng Township, Ningxiang City, Hunan Province, who attended a private school when he was 6 years old, and later studied at changsha Chengnan Normal Affiliated Primary School and Qiuzhong Middle School, and like many patriotic generals, he eventually embarked on the road of joining the army.
In 1907, Tao Zhiyue was admitted to the Hunan Army Primary School, after graduation, he was directly admitted to the Army No. 3 Middle School, in 1915 he was transferred to the Baoding Army Officer School, during the Great Revolution, Tao Zhiyue participated in the Northern Expedition, and was also promoted to the position of major general for meritorious service, of course, during the agrarian revolution, he also participated in the Jiang Gui War, the Jiang Feng Yan War and the encirclement and suppression of the Central Red Army.
So why did General Tao Zhiyue finally break with the Kuomintang? In fact, it was because of the War of Resistance Against Japan, and we know that after the Lugou Bridge Incident, it represented the comprehensive beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japan, but at that time, Chiang Kai-shek, as president of the Republic of China, put forward the established national policy of "foreign countries must first be safe inside", and gave the three eastern provinces such a large land area to the Japanese, I believe that any patriot will despise such a traitorous act, and Tao Zhiyue is also indignant!
At that time, Tao Zhiyue was the commander of the 76th Army and the commander of the 8th Division, and he very much agreed with the communist party's proposition of "opposing civil war and unanimously going to the outside world", and for this reason he was also one of the few generals in the Kuomintang who actively resisted the war.
In the subsequent War of Resistance Against Japan, Tao Zhiyue really fought with the Japanese army, in fact, Hu Zongnan was extremely optimistic about Tao Zhiyue, otherwise how could he be allowed to become the commander of his First Army, you must know that this is Chiang Kai-shek's ace army, with the reputation of "the first army under the heavens", and Tao Zhiyue can become the commander of the First Army, which is undoubtedly the trust and importance of Tao Zhiyue.
However, Chiang Kai-shek's government is indeed too corrupt, coupled with Chiang Kai-shek's great ambitions and great desire for power, in fact, it is a dictatorship, which also prompts Tao Zhiyue to waver in his heart step by step.
In 1946, Tao Zhiyue served as chairman of the Kuomintang Xinjiang government and commander-in-chief of the Xinjiang garrison, the main thing of which was to support the political ideas of peace and democracy, and also assisted Zhang Zhizhong in releasing many imprisoned Communists, which undoubtedly made our party have a strong sense of gratitude to General Tao Zhiyue.
Just when the People's Liberation Army arrived in Xinjiang, Tao Zhiyue suddenly led an uprising of 100,000 Nationalist troops, so that Xinjiang was naturally liberated peacefully, and it is estimated that Chiang Kai-shek was really angry and vomited blood at that time.
Later, Tao Zhiyue also did a lot of good things for the local people, such as planting cotton, building water conservancy, afforestation, building cities, etc. In 1955, General Tao Zhiyue was awarded the title of founding general. On December 26, 1988, Tao Zhiyue died of illness in Changsha at the age of 97.