As mentioned earlier, Sichuan is a city with many disasters and difficulties, and it has almost died in the province several times, but no matter how difficult it is, the Sichuan Army has never failed the country, and today I will introduce a famous general of the Sichuan Army, Rao Guohua.
Rao Guohua (1895-1937), also known as Bi Chen, was born into a peasant family in Ziyang, Sichuan Province, and studied private school in the village since childhood. At the age of 17, he threw himself into the torrent of the democratic revolution led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen and joined the New Army, starting as a house soldier and later rising to platoon leader.
During his tenure as platoon leader, he was still studious and tireless, and specially asked a soldier to follow him every day, and if he saw that he was slightly tired, he immediately shouted to him: "Guohua, Guohua, the country is in danger to this point. ”
During his more than ten years in the army, he was promoted from platoon, company, battalion, regiment, and brigade commander to division commander, but he always studied diligently day and day, and did not dare to slack off a little, he said: "The heroic deeds are based on the honest learning of the sages, although I am not sensitive, I also have that ambition. ”
A few years after the marriage, his wife Lan Zixian saw that he had not given birth to a boy for a long time and persuaded him to take a concubine, but he insisted that he did not agree, and once he attended the banquet and found that another prostitute was present, and he regretted that he would never easily participate in the banquet again.
After Cai E launched the Patriotic War, Sichuan fell into the trend of warlord chaos, Rao Guohua was also involved, and the years of chaos brought him great pain, he simply converted to Buddhism, became a monk, and never asked about the world.
In 1923, at the gestational invitation of Lan Shiju of the Sichuan Army, Rao Guohua returned to the customs, and 3 years later, Rao Guohua participated in the Northern Expedition War, performed military achievements, and became a famous general of the Sichuan Army.
In 1937, when the Lugou Bridge Incident began, he wrote a letter to ask for help, went out of Sichuan to resist Japan, and whenever there was a rally, he would make a generous statement: "Do not expel the Wokou out of the country, and vow not to return to the hometown!" At this time, he may have predicted that there will be no return for this trip!!
At that time, the Sichuan army was looked down upon, not only the equipment was extremely poor, the wind evaluation was even worse, everyone jokingly called: "The Sichuan army has two guns, a rifle and a smoking gun", many generals have refused to give the Sichuan army a supplement, Rao Guohua faced cold and hunger, did not complain and shout bitterly, and resolutely joined the anti-Japanese army.
At that time, the Songhu battlefield had fallen, and the Japanese general Matsui Ishigen led 8 divisions to attack Nanjing in four routes, and under the cover of the navy and air force, went straight to Wuhu, Anhui, and threatened Nanjing. Rao Guohua, a general of the Sichuan Army who was able to recruit good warriors, was responsible for guarding Guangde and defending Nanjing under such circumstances.
On November 22, the Japanese Niudao Division was covered by aircraft artillery, and more than 100 steamships were taken from Taihu Lake, and rubber boats went straight down to Yixing and Changxing, and directly attacked Guangde. Rao Guohua commanded the Tong Yi division of the 433rd Brigade to occupy a position in Si'an, about 60 miles ahead of Guangde, and fought against the Japanese.
The Japanese army dispatched mechanized troops, taking advantage of the firepower, and used 27 aircraft to bomb in turn. In the case of the destruction of the fortifications, the collapse of the city walls, and the siege on three sides, Rao Guohua and his soldiers fought together to kill the stubborn enemy, and fought bitterly for three consecutive days and three nights, and finally they were outnumbered and Si'an was lost.
At the same time, the main force of the Japanese army went straight to Guangde along the Wujia Highway, Rao Guohua learned of this and led the 433rd Brigade to the boundary plate about five miles in front of Guangde to block the Japanese army, while the commander of Rao Guohua's division, who was a pioneer soldier, personally led the special agent company, rushed into the enemy position to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army, although unfortunately he was shot in the abdomen, he still shouted and killed.
In the end, Rao Guohua only had one battalion of officers and men left, and was heavily besieged in the cross shop stronghold, at this time the Japanese army did not advance, repeatedly persuaded to surrender, but Rao Guohua was mighty and unyielding, shouting to his subordinates: "Now is the time for the soldiers to serve the country, we must win glory for the country, and shed the last drop of blood!" ”
On December 1, 1937, he wrote a desperate letter with tears: "Drive the enemy out of the country and restore the soul of our country!" Now self-determination in the city, though there is no hatred in death. Finally, he sat cross-legged on a reclining blanket and calmly martyred himself, while his Sichuan army troops also fought hard against the Japanese army, and finally all of them were killed.
The news of Rao Guohua's sacrifice spread, the whole country grieve, the anti-Japanese soldiers and people throughout the country were determined to follow General Rao Guohua's example, and the morale of the Sichuan army was doubled, and the most heroic thing was that Wang Mingzhang led the Sichuan army to martyr the whole city in the defense of Tengcheng.
When General Rao's body was transported back to Sichuan, people from all walks of life held a solemn public sacrifice meeting, and then posthumously awarded him an army general and buried him in a state funeral.