In the history of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, many heroic martyrs have been left behind, among which "Wei Lihuang" has always been a unique existence, although he has been famous and made the enemy feel frightened, but he has also been full of suspicion and suspicion from the outside world because of the vacillation of his political stance and the mystery of his identity.
He was once one of the "Five Tiger Generals", but he also became a first-class "war criminal" wanted by the whole country. So, what kind of person was Wei Lihuang in history? What sustains his ups and downs and remains undefeated?
First, the "tiger calf" was born, tenacious and enterprising?
On February 16, 1897, at this time, Chinese people could not imagine that in the small Weiyang Village of Hefei, Anhui Province, Wei Lihuang, one of the famous "Five Tiger Generals" under Chiang Kai-shek, was born.
Perhaps it was his talent, or perhaps it was his counterattack and resistance to the dark rule of the Qing government, Wei Lihuang showed extraordinary talent and wisdom from an early age.
Wei Lihuang's father, Wei Zhengqiu, was an official of the late Qing government and in charge of Tian Fu in Shitangqiao Town, Hefei County, but unfortunately, he died of the plague in 1905, and Wei Lihuang, who lost his father at a young age, was raised by his eldest brother Wei Lijiong.
From a young age, he knew that it was not easy for his eldest brother, so Wei Lihuang had always been very hardworking, and when he was young in a private school, he was known for his diligence and hard work, and he could export chapters at a young age, and the poetry calendar was even more proficient, under the guidance of traditional education, Wei Lihuang accumulated a lot of cultural knowledge. It is not difficult to predict that a good cultural foundation has laid a solid foundation for his future political career in the military.
Wei Lihuang's life had several major turns, but the initial source of these so-called turns began with his determination to join the army, which was also where Wei Lihuang's dream began.
Wei Lihuang began to join the army at the age of 17, and as a child, he not only did not complain about a word of bitterness or tiredness, but instead hid all the hardships in his heart and turned all the exercises into tests.
From the beginning of his career as a soldier, Wei Lihuang followed Mr. Sun Yat-sen's side, followed mr. Sun Yat-sen to start a revolutionary cause, he started from the lowest position of the guard, step by step to the squad leader, platoon leader, company commander and then to the battalion commander, from a person slowly developing and growing to leading a team, this 17-year-old teenager sharpened himself step by step, fought in the battle, fought in the revolution, he had all the advantages that young people have.
Pictured: Wei Lihuang looks at a map
In 1920, on the way back to the Guangdong army's successful crusade against the Gui warlords, Mr. Sun Yat-sen also specially sent a single photo to Wei Lihuang and signed it himself: "Comrade Sun Wenzhi of Lihuang."
This photo gave Wei Lihuang great encouragement and recognition, and this photo of special significance has been carefully collected by Wei Lihuang since then, giving him countless support and encouragement during his life.
Soon after, this young man who struggled hard finally became the commander of the 14th Army of the National Revolutionary Army at the age of 34, and in the course of the entire Northern Expedition, he calmly responded to the enemy, was brave and good at war, and successively made battle achievements, which also made this young general from the small countryside in the countryside first appear his prestige, and those years of fighting behind Mr. Sun also accumulated valuable combat experience for him.
Second, others are pawns and "suppress the communists" cadres
After Sun Yat-sen's death, Chiang Kai-shek used various means to suppress politically opponents who disagreed with him, and secretly relied on rhetoric to co-opt Mr. Sun's former subordinates, and he vigorously portrayed himself as the successor of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary cause.
Perhaps it was precisely because of Chiang Kai-shek's exquisite eight faces that the simple Wei Lihuang agreed to Chiang Kai-shek's incorporation and was willing to become a member of his fierce generals. However, to Wei Lihuang's surprise, the imaginary bright future not only did not come, but he became a pawn in Chiang Kai-shek's hands.
Chiang Kai-shek pays attention to kinship and estrangement when employing people, which dooms Wei Lihuang not to become Chiang Kai-shek's confidant, because Wei Lihuang is neither Chiang Kai-shek's compatriot, nor is he trained at the Whampoa Military Academy, which makes Chiang Kai-shek look down on Wei Lihuang very much in his heart, so even if he is also a "general of the five tigers," the relationship between Wei Lihuang and Chiang Kai-shek is far inferior to that of the other four. As early as the period of the Northern Expedition, the two had been unhappy, which further made Chiang Kai-shek dislike Wei Lihuang.
Chiang Kai-shek, who has a city in his heart, once said to people when talking about Wei Lihuang: "Wei Lihuang is a person who can use troops, but he cannot engage in politics. And the hot-tempered Wei Lihuang also said bluntly to his subordinates: "If there are troops in hand, it is necessary to bring down Chiang Kai-shek, who does not pay attention to faith." It can be seen from this that these two people have been feuding for a long time and are doomed not to become the same person.
In 1930, under the orders of Chiang Kai-shek, Wei Lihuang's army was ordered to be reorganized into the Forty-fifth Division, which was later expanded into the Fourteenth Army, and it was this army that had been transformed several times, and in the near future, it not only became a fierce tiger army under Chiang Kai-shek, but also the main force for Chiang Kai-shek to encircle and suppress the Red Army.
In 1932, the unappreciated Wei Lihuang was appointed commander of the Sixth Column and sent by Chiang Kai-shek to encircle and suppress the Communists. Wei Lihuang then started from the revolutionary base area of Eyu-Anhui and launched an offensive.
It just so happened that at this time, due to Wang Ming's "Left" opportunist instructions and Zhang Guotao's erroneous leadership, the CCP embarked on a wrong line, first making the mistake of lightly attacking the enemy, then panicking, retreating in a hurry, and facing Wei Lihuang's fierce attack, they had no strength to resist.
Soon, Wei Lihuang led an army to occupy the political center of the revolutionary base area of Eyuwan- Jinjiazhai. The success of this encirclement and suppression made Chiang Kai-shek very happy.
In order to further boost morale and encourage the generals to continue their crusade against the CCP, Chiang Kai-shek not only gave Wei Lihuang a large amount of bonuses, but even explicitly ordered Wei Lihuang to establish a new county at the geographically dangerous Pass "Jinjiazhai", and proposed to name this new county after Wei Lihuang, so "Lihuang County" was born.
It should be known that this honor was enjoyed by only two generals among Chiang Kai-shek's many subordinates, one was Liu Zhi's "Jingfu County", and the other was Wei Lihuang's "Lihuang County".
This move of Chiang Kai-shek obviously dealt a serious blow to the CPC; he not only formally pushed Wei Lihuang, the "first anti-communist person," into the eyes of the masses, but also caused the arrest of the Red Army, activists, and cadres of the Soviet union hidden in Jinjiazhai, causing a famous "white terror" incident in history for a time and greatly frustrated the revolutionary cause of the Red Army.
Since Wei Lihuang did make great achievements for Chiang Kai-shek in the cause of "suppressing the Communist Party," even if Wei Lihuang was not liked by Chiang Kai-shek, he had to be appointed as a member of the Kuomintang Central Military Commission, but Wei Lihuang was still one step away from being a minister of feudalism.
Soon after, Wei Lihuang once again became Chiang Kai-shek's first tool for encircling and suppressing the CCP. At the same time, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng were also threatened by Chiang Kai-shek and ordered to annihilate the Red Army. What no one expected was that the "Xi'an Incident" occurred, and although it was a bloodless coup, Wei Lihuang, Zhang Xueliang, and others still could not escape the end of being placed under house arrest.
At this time, wei Lihuang's reputation as the "first person to suppress the Communists" was tantamount to becoming a sharp blade hanging over his head, knowing that under the impetus of Chiang Kai-shek, he had successfully been defeated as an "anti-communist activist." In the case of the peaceful settlement of the Xi'an Incident, he who was not liked by Chiang Kai-shek was likely to be abandoned by Chiang Kai-shek, knowing that he might really be not far from death this time.
But the miracle happened, God gave Wei Lihuang a chance to repent, and the Communist Party did not care about the previous suspicions, gave way for the minister of state, and let Wei Lihuang pick up a life. It is precisely because of the magnanimity of communism that Wei Lihuang has mixed feelings and regrets the beginning. He also embarked on another turning point in his life.
Third, the "undercover" is undecided, and the identity is a mystery?
Wei Lihuang, who had been affected by the Xi'an Incident, was deeply frightened, and he realized that in addition to his loyalty to the party-state, the Communist Party could also be his second retreat.
After the Xi'an Incident, the two parties reached a consensus to temporarily stop the civil war and unanimously resist foreign enemies, thus giving Wei Lihuang an opportunity to have in-depth contact with the CCP.
In August 1937, the Red Army under the leadership of the Communist Party of China was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and in September of the same year, it was changed to the Eighteenth Army, with Yan Xishan as commander and Wei Lihuang as deputy commander.
However, Yan Xishan was timid and cautious, and in the face of the turbulent situation at home and abroad, he did not dare to easily give orders and commands, but instead threw all his heavy burdens to Wei Lihuang, and Wei Lihuang also became the de facto "chief" of this team.
Pictured: Wei Lihuang and Chairman Mao
Everyone in the world knows that Chiang Kai-shek's cooperation with the Chinese Communists was forced and unavoidable. However, Chiang Kai-shek did not miss this opportunity; he ostensibly cooperated with the Chinese Communists to resist Japan, but behind the scenes, he stepped up his persecution of the Communists; during this period, Chiang Kai-shek plotted in secret to pit the Eighth Route Army against the Japanese army and preserve his own forces, causing many CCP members and revolutionaries to be devastated.
Wei Lihuang was very dissatisfied with Chiang Kai-shek's unkind and righteous approach. In this context, in 1939, when the Japanese army attacked Taiyuan, Yan Xishan was powerless, was beaten to the ground, defeated and retreated, and urgently asked for Chiang Kai-shek's support, but they could not wait for the support of the troops.
At the critical moment, Wei Lihuang stood up, and he led the soldiers to change the route of NiangziGuan and turn to Xinkou. The tragic Battle of Xinkou in the history of the Kuomintang-Communist Cooperation War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression kicked off.
The battle was fought extremely hard and bloody, and every day of the war was extremely cruel. The Japanese army, which had experienced the washing of the Battle of Pingxingguan, did not dare to rush forward in the face of the team led by Wei Lihuang.
However, at this time, the Chinese and Japanese armies were very different in equipment and strength, and the Japanese army seized this loophole and used the advantage of heavy artillery to carry out a long-range attack on Wei Lihuang's army.
Under the onslaught of artillery shells, our army suffered numerous casualties, trenches, defensive positions, etc. fell apart, in addition, the Japanese army also used aircraft to drop bombs, and soon tore open the defensive front under Wei Lihuang's subordinates.
Under the shells of the Japanese army, Wei Lihuang realized that he must not sit still, and rather than be passively beaten, it is better to take the initiative to attack. Therefore, on the evening of October 15, Wei Lihuang led five brigades to XinXian county to capture Lingshan as a breakthrough.
Under the correct leadership of Wei Lihuang, the war between China and Japan entered a stalemate stage, the Chinese army could not attack, and the Japanese army also lost the advantage of heavy weapons, and the people and horses on both sides had to start a bloody battle.
In the process, Wei Lihuang once again saw the CPC's determination to resist the war and the spirit of fearless sacrifice, and under the cover of the CPC members sparing no effort to save their lives, he bought a chance for Wei Lihuang to breathe in his death. It also enabled Wei Lihuang to once again deepen his understanding of the CCP.
Speaking of Wei Lihuang, we have to mention the undercover Zhao Rongsheng beside him, Zhao Rongsheng, with his talent and identity as a fellow villager with Wei Lihuang, was appreciated by Wei Lihuang and stayed by Wei Lihuang's side to do things. It was precisely under the intentional guidance of Zhao Rongsheng that Wei Lihuang's favorability toward the CCP rose again and again.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the CHINESE Communists' armed equipment was extremely low, and once, when Wei Lihuang heard that Lin Biao was injured, he went to visit and care, and when he returned, he felt that he should give Lin Biao a gift in return, but he did not know what to give, so at the suggestion of Zhao Rongsheng, he sent Lin Biao millions of ammunition, and when he encountered obstruction in the wholesale process, he personally came forward to adjust it. All this laid a solid foundation for Wei Lihuang to turn to the CCP in the future.
It is precisely because Wei Lihuang has repeatedly shown favors to the CCP and has been detected by people with hearts that some people have spoken to Chiang Kai-shek, saying that Wei Lihuang is an "undercover agent of the CCP", even if in the end there is no conclusive evidence to prove Wei Lihuang's undercover identity, but Chiang Kai-shek no longer trusts Wei Lihuang.
In May 1941, Chiang Kai-shek, on the pretext of defeat at Zhongtiao Mountain, stripped Wei Lihuang of his rank as general and ordered him to serve as a pensioner in Chengdu. In 1943, in the urgent need to employ people, Chiang Kai-shek remembered Wei Lihuang again and summoned him back to fight for himself.
Sure enough, Wei Lihuang, who returned to the battlefield, became famous in the More Than 1944 Battle of Yunnan and Burma, killing thousands of enemies, and once again letting the world see the style of "Tiger General". However, the good times did not last long, and after the victory of the War of Resistance, Chiang Kai-shek, who rebelled again, once again left Wei Lihuang idle.
He even arranged for him to go to a foreign country to investigate, transferred him away from the center of political power, and Wei Lihuang, who had endured it again and again, finally launched a counterattack against Chiang Kai-shek.
Pictured: Wei Lihuang (center) with the chairman in Beijing
In 1948, in order to protect Wei Lihuang, the CCP had to designate him as a "first-class war criminal." In a hurry, Wei Lihuang fled to Hong Kong. It was not until 1955, under the secret arrangements of the CCP, that he and his wife returned to the mainland. He has also served as a deputy to the National People's Congress and vice chairman of the National Defense Commission. Until January 17, 1960, he died of illness in Beijing.
Four or two wives must meet nobles
The reason why Wei Lihuang was able to survive in crises again and again, to gradually move from a small guard to a general, and to survive peacefully in the cracks between the confrontation between the Kuomintang and the Communists, in addition to his own acumen and wit, was also indispensable to the help of nobles.
Speaking of Wei Lihuang's life, he met many nobles, and Zhou Enlai, Song Meiling, and even Mao Zedong and others have all lent him a helping hand. However, I think the most fortunate thing in Wei Lihuang's life is that he has two "Xianneisuke". It was the help of his two virtuous wives before and after him that paved a smooth path for Wei Lihuang in the rear.
Zhu Yunheng, Wei Lihuang's original wife. He studied in the United States, attended a church school, and served as the principal of a girls' high school after returning to China. During the Northern Expedition, he became acquainted with wei Lihuang and married him.
In January 1939, Wei Lihuang, who was the commander of the First Theater, missed the post of chairman of Henan Province because he was not liked by Chiang Kai-shek. Fortunately, Zhu Yunheng became a good friend of Song Meiling by virtue of his similar growth experience and study abroad experience to Soong Meiling, so at this time, Zhu Yunheng came forward to lobby Song Meiling, and then changed Chiang Kai-shek's decision, Wei Lihuang was able to turn the tide, entered Chiang Kai-shek's blue eyes, and concurrently held the important post of chairman of Henan Province.
Photo: Wei Lihuang and Han Quanhua in 1955
Since then, it was zhu Yunheng's secret coordination that made Chiang Kai-shek look more and more at Zhongwei Lihuang and constantly win him over. But the good times did not last long, and in October 1930, Zhu Yunheng fell ill and died, leaving her two children and Wei Lihuang alone.
Wei Lihuang, who had been widowed for many years, ushered in the second "nobleman" in his life in 1941, Han Quanhua, a university student at Peking University. Han Quanhua was born in the Han family, one of the "Eight Greats" in Tianjin, from a noble birth, the daughter of a famous and prestigious family, and was loved from an early age, and later studied at Peking University, and even studied in the United States.
During the War of Resistance Against Japan, Han Quanhua has not been able to return to China, she once wrote to Wei Lihuang to ask him not to wait for himself, but Wei Lihuang has not agreed, or insisted on waiting for Han Quanhua's return, this integrity finally impressed Han Quanhua, in 1945 Han Quanhua returned to China, and married Wei Lihuang in Yunnan.
Han Kwon-hwa photo when he was young
After the Liberation War, Wei Lihuang was full of suspicion by Chiang Kai-shek on the one hand, and on the other hand, he carried the identity of a "war criminal" and had to flee to Hong Kong to hide. During this period, Han Quanhua has always accompanied Wei Lihuang, and the two have never given up on each other in the crisis.
Wei Lihuang did business with people in Hong Kong, but unfortunately he was deceived and lost all his savings, and he was greatly shocked by the fact that he also walked through that difficult time accompanied by Han Quanhua. It was not until Wei Lihuang returned to the mainland in 1955 that Han Quanhua really relaxed his mind.
Wei Lihuang has many legends in his life, whether it is a "suppressing communist" element or a "five tiger general", all his rights and wrongs have eventually been forgotten with time. However, I believe that history will not forget, and will not forget that there was a person named "Wei Lihuang".