In the movie "Chosin Lake", there is a scene that is particularly thought-provoking. When Five-Star General MacArthur was on his way to retreat and saw the People's Liberation Army frozen into ice sculptures, he chose to raise his hand in salute.
True heroism will make the enemy stand in awe, and there are many such soldiers in our country, and there are many such generals, and General Zhang Zizhong is one of them.
In that year, after general Zhang Zizhong was martyred, the Japanese not only cleaned his body but also bought a good coffin for him when cleaning the battlefield.
At Zhang Zizhong's funeral, the enemy planes that had prepared air raids finally chose to abandon their original plans and evacuated after circling a few times, which was also a kind of respect for Zhang Zizhong.
Of course, at that time, the most sad thing was our people, the leaders of the two parties wrote a letter for General Zhang, and the 100,000 people in Chongqing were not afraid of the Japanese bombers and spontaneously sent them to the general.
A general who can win the respect of both the enemy and us is rare not only in the War of Resistance Against Japan, but also in the history of the world.
General Zhang was able to have such a special honor thanks to his character, and the formation of character is the result of years of experience.
Zhang Zizhong was born on August 11, 1891 in Tangyuan Town, Linqing City, Shandong Province, with the character "Xingchen" and the nickname "Baoqin".
The word "荩臣" comes from the "Book of Poetry, Daya", the original text is "Wang Zhi Xingchen, no nian Erzu", which means "loyal to the country, do your best", which is also his father's ardent expectation of him.
Later, Zhang Zizhong followed Feng Yuxiang, and Feng Yuxiang believed that the word "subject" was the title of feudal society, which was quite taboo, so he changed "Xingchen" to "Xingchen".
Zhang Zizhong's grandfather Zhang Chunlin saved a rich family business with hard work, and his father Zhang Shugui served as an inspector of Qingkou in Haizhou, Jiangsu Province, and was later promoted to Zhi County because of his outstanding political achievements.
Zhang Zizhong followed his father since childhood, and under the guidance of his father, he was familiar with the book of Kong Mengzhi from an early age. At the age of 16, Zhang Zizhong's father died, and Zhang Zizhong returned to the high school in his hometown to continue his schooling and began to receive a new type of education.
When he was a child, Zhang Zizhong was very kind, well aware of the hardships of the life of the tenants, and was very tolerant of many behaviors of the tenants in the family.
It is said that every year when the wheat was harvested, the tenants would come to help the Zhang family cut the wheat, and his mother asked him to supervise the tenants in the fields.
Whenever this happened, Zhang Zizhong just sat on the wheat bale and looked east and west, never caring whether the tenants worked quickly or slowly, let alone bullying others.
The tenant knew that Zhang Zi was loyal and kind, so he let his children go to the field to collect wheat, and some bold children even smoked ears of wheat under the wheat bundle where he sat, as if he had not seen it.
In 1911, Zhang Zizhong was admitted to the Tianjin Beiyang Law and Politics School, which was a school specializing in cultivating administrative and judicial talents in the Beiyang government at that time, with a good learning environment and very formal teaching materials.
In the same year, the Xinhai Revolution broke out in China, and Zhang Zizhong, influenced by revolutionary ideas, joined the Chinese League. In 1914, the main leader of the League was killed by Yuan Shikai, and Zhang Zizhong decided to throw himself into the pen, but his mother resolutely opposed it.
Think about it, he was the most prominent child of the Zhang family at that time, he could not take care of the family when he did the revolution, and his life was difficult to protect, and it was normal for his mother to vote against it.
But Zhang Zizhong was resolute, and his mother had to respect his choice.
That summer, Zhang Zizhong, along with six like-minded people from the same village, defected to che zhen, a fellow villager who had long joined the army, and was the commander of the 29th Brigade of the 20th Division of the Beiyang Army.
Although they were fellow villagers, Che Zhen was not optimistic about Zhang Zizhong and others, because they were all children of rich families and had never suffered any hardships since childhood, and the army at that time had a saying called "soldiers are not soldiers, first carry forty pounds", that is, being a soldier is more tired than farming.
However, they were hindered by the compatriots, and the car earthquake was not good enough to send them away directly, so they let them stay for the time being, first participate in the army's wheat cutting task, and if they adapted, they stayed, and if they did not adapt, they went back.
As a result, just two days after cutting, Zhang Zizhong's hands were covered with blood bubbles, and his waist hurt so much that he couldn't straighten up, and the degree of hard work was far beyond their imagination.
A week later, the other 6 people returned home, but Zhang Zizhong chose to stay. Che Zhen saw that this young man still insisted on cutting wheat with blood bubbles on his hands, and felt that he was not simple, so he incorporated him into the army.
After joining the army, Zhang Zizhong became more diligent and diligent. Digging trenches, building roads, carrying rice, carrying coal, these heavy tasks he had never done, he did not fall, he lost more than 20 pounds in two months, and the skin on his shoulders was red, swollen and ruptured for a long time.
After a period of observation, Che Zhen believed that Zhang Zizhong had a hard personality, both brave and endurance, and superhuman perseverance, and was an excellent officer material, so he deliberately promoted him. In 1916, Che Zhen was promoted to brigade commander, and Zhang Zizhong was promoted to the rank of brigade staff officer, which belonged to the rank of second lieutenant.
In September 1916, Che Zhen met with Feng Yuxiang and specially brought Zhang Zizhong with him. Che Zhen and Feng Yuxiang were old friends for many years, and Shunshi introduced Zhang Zizhong to Feng Yuxiang. In this way, Zhang Zizhong went to Feng Yuxiang's men and studied in the teaching group first.
During the study period, Zhang Zizhong's quick thinking and tenacious perseverance attracted the attention of Feng Yuxiang, and as soon as he graduated, he immediately entrusted him with heavy responsibilities, starting from adjutant, and then promoted to captain and company commander, becoming Feng Yuxiang's right-hand man.
At that time, the domestic situation was complicated, and Zhang Zizhong, who was bent on serving the country, immediately threw himself into the vigorous revolutionary movement.
On September 17, 1924, the Second Zhifeng War broke out, and Zhang Zizhong, as Feng Yuxiang's general, was ordered to lead a team from Gubeikou to Changxindian, cut off Wu Peifu's transportation corps, and forced him to surrender.
However, when the army reached Fengtai, it was stopped by the British. At that time, many Chinese soldiers did not dare to provoke foreigners, but Zhang Zizhong did not do it.
The British had no choice but to send a representative to negotiate with him, and Zhang Zizhong said sternly: "This is China's territory, Chinese soldiers are carrying out their tasks, and foreigners have no right to interfere!" "When the British saw that the negotiations could not be concluded, they began to attack with force.
Zhang Zizhong immediately ordered that no one should offend me, I would not offend anyone, and immediately commanded the army to fire at the British army, and the British army was forced to retreat one after another, and finally had to concede defeat. After this battle, Fengtai Station, which had been occupied by the British for many years, returned to the hands of Chinese again.
From 1917 to 1929, Zhang Zizhong mainly engaged in military training, from company commander, battalion commander, and regiment commander to principal of the officer school, training thousands of military talents for Feng Yuxiang, and was the person with the highest achievements in military education in the Northwest Army.
In many years of military training, Zhang Zizhong mastered mature military theory, laying a profound foundation for future battlefields.
In 1930, after the Central Plains War, Feng Yuxiang's troops disintegrated, and Zhang Zizhong's troops were absorbed by Chiang Kai-shek. In 1931, Zhang Zizhong was appointed commander of the Thirty-eighth Division of the Twenty-ninth Army, and was promoted all the way to the commander of the Right Wing Corps of the Fifth Theater.
In 1933, the Japanese invaded Rehe, Tang Yulin abandoned the city and fled, the front spread to the front line of the Great Wall, Zhang Zizhong was ordered to resist the Japanese army, this was his first confrontation with the Japanese army.
At that time, although he had 30,000 horses in his hands, the equipment was too far from that of Japan, and the entire army had less than 10 guns, only 100 heavy machine guns, and only 2 light machine guns in each company.
The Japanese army knew that Zhang Zizhong's troops were weak in weapons and decided to strafe with firepower, consuming all their troops. Zhang Zizhong led his troops to resist for a few days, and found that fighting attrition was not the way to go, so he decided to attack at night.
That night, Zhang Zizhong personally led a surprise attack on the enemy, annihilating more than 600 enemy people with hundreds of people, and immediately after returning, he let the troops make an active defense to prevent the enemy from counterattacking.
Under the meticulous planning of Zhang Zizhong, the 29th Army finally annihilated more than 6,000 enemy troops. From then on, the Japanese army regarded Zhang Zizhong as a thorn in his eye and was bent on getting rid of him.
After this battle, Zhang Zizhong began to serve in the Kuomintang government, and the Japanese were very afraid of him, so they used their usual despicable tricks---- counter-plan.
In 1937, on the eve of the launch of the war of aggression against China, Zhang Zizhong visited Japan in order to help Song Zheyuan perfunctory Japan. This just created an opportunity for the Japanese.
The cunning Japanese immediately spread rumors that Zhang Zizhong was a friend of Japan. What is even more despicable is that during the Lugou Bridge Incident, Japan shouted out the slogan of "only fighting Feng Zhi'an, not Zhang Zizhong," which caused the masses to have a profound misunderstanding of Zhang Zizhong.
Suddenly, the news about Zhang Zizhong's pro-Japanese pro-Japanese was overwhelming, and after he arrived in Nanjing, many people even rumored that he was driven from Beiping to Nanjing.
During that time, Zhang Zizhong was extremely depressed, sometimes looking up at the sky and sighing, wanting to commit suicide, sometimes clenching his fists, vowing to fight with the Japanese to the end, and finally returning to the battlefield as he wished
On the anti-Japanese battlefield, Zhang Zizhong was a thorn in the side of the Japanese army and a good officer loved by the people. When he was a child, he had pity for the poor, and he continued to do so until after he became a general.
Once, a poor family complained to Zhang Zizhong, saying that his adjutant had violated his daughter, and after investigation and verification, there was indeed such a thing.
Although many people interceded for this adjutant at that time, Zhang Zizhong was painfully determined and resolutely announced that this person would be shot in public.
During the first shooting, the bullets were deflected and the adjutant was not dead. After the injury was healed, he came to zhang Zizhong again, and everyone thought that this could make the adjutant return to the team, and there was a shortage of manpower on the battlefield at that time.
However, after Zhang Zizhong invited the adjutant to eat a meal, he still shot him with tears, and the adjutant had no complaints or regrets before his death, and the people loved General Zhang even more.
In 1938, the Japanese army invested 70,000 or 80,000 troops to attack Taierzhuang, and on the way, it engaged Pang Bingxun's Third Army in a fierce battle. Because the disparity in strength between the two sides was too large, Pang Bingxun urgently needed reinforcements.
Zhang Zizhong hurriedly led his troops to reinforcements, and after several days of fierce fighting, the two armies joined forces to repel the Japanese army and ensure the victory of Taierzhuang.
It's just that many people don't know that many years ago, Zhang Zizhong almost died at the hands of Pang Bingxun.
During the Central Plains War, they were originally all Feng Yuxiang's subordinates, Pang Bingxun betrayed Feng Yuxiang and fell to Lao Jiang, and secretly attacked Zhang Zizhong's headquarters for loyalty, resulting in Zhang Zizhong's body being shot and almost dead, and the two became old enemies from then on.
However, when everyone faced a common enemy, Zhang Zizhong, who cherished the great national righteousness, put aside his personal grievances and led a team for the country and the nation. In the end, the two joined hands to repel the Japanese army, and after the war, they met and laughed and hated each other.
After this battle, Zhang Zizhong led the 59th Army as a rearguard to cover the retreat of the main forces of the Fifth Theater, and Li Cheng, the liaison staff officer of the Nationalist Army at that time, highly praised Zhang Zizhong, saying that he was a typical representative of famous generals.
In March 1940, the Japanese army launched the Battle of Zaoyi, Zhang Zizhongben was defending the west of the Xiang river, but the Japanese army was surging and saw that it was approaching Xiangyang and Zaoyang, as the commander-in-chief of the group army, he decided to lead part of the army to cross the Xianghe River in the east to personally supervise the battle.
Hearing that the general was going to the front line in person, many soldiers were worried about his life, and his Soviet artillery adviser advised him that as a senior commander, it was not advisable to go too far, even in the fierce European war, no commander-in-chief was within range of the mountain artillery.
Li Zongren also constantly advised Zhang Zizhong, and the commander of his pistol battalion, Du Lanzhe, even wrote to him, claiming that "the establishment of officials and posts, each with special responsibilities", the commander-in-chief should grasp the whole situation, and if he led a small number of people to the front line to fight hard, it would affect the war situation and the security of the country.
But Zhang Zizhong was iron-hearted and insisted on going to the front line. Who knew that after a day, Du Lanzhe was still unwilling, and once again with tears in his eyes, a big man, in front of Zhang Zizhong, spoke sobbing and could not cry.
Zhang Zizhong was deeply moved, and he explained to Commander Du: "You are right, but you don't understand that the Japanese are so rampant, that is, they think that we are Chinese afraid of death, and I want to use my actions, even my head and life, to inspire people to resist..."
After crossing the river, heavy rain fell from the sky, Zhang Zizhong led his team all the way north, and within two or three days they successively contacted the divisions in Hedong, and when the generals heard that General Zhang had personally come to the front, their morale was immediately boosted, and they quickly cut off the rear road of the Japanese army.
The Japanese launched a frenzied counterattack, encircling Zhang Zizhong's troops on three sides within a few days. After several days of fierce fighting, the casualties of the army were very heavy, and they were finally trapped in the ravine.
On May 16, Zhang Zizhong's troops launched a final fierce battle with the Japanese army, our army only had more than 1500 people left, and the other side had more than 6000 people.
In the fierce battle, Zhang Zizhong was shot nine times, and the soldiers still wanted to escort him to break through, but he loudly ordered his men, you can all go, I can't go.
In the end, a generation of famous generals, martyred by their lives, fell on the battlefield for which he fought for half his life.
In the war history of the Japanese army, there is a description of the scene when General Zhang Zizhong was dying:
The Japanese first-class soldier Fujioka rushed toward a man in the form of a supreme commander with a bayonet, and when he was about to approach, he saw this person suddenly stand up from the pool of blood, and his eyes were fixed on Fujioka, which frightened Fujioka in place.
At this moment, gunshots rang out from behind the officer, the bullet hit the officer's head, and a slightly uncomfortable expression appeared on his face, and Fujioka suddenly returned to his senses and raised his knife to stab, and the officer's tall body finally fell.
It was the scene of General Zhang Zizhong's death at 4 p.m. on May 16, 1940.
With the fall of the general, the gunfire suddenly stopped, the mountains and rivers suddenly fell silent, the drizzle fell silently on the corpses of the soldiers, the blood of the hero flowed down the slopes of the rain, and the earth was gradually dyed red.
When the Japanese army was cleaning up the battlefield, it found the body of General Zhang Zizhong, and could not help but take a few steps back, and all of them stood up and saluted. Subsequently, the Japanese officer ordered the soldiers to scrub him with alcohol and buy a coffin to bury him on the uphill slope.
Chiang Kai-shek sent death squads to retrieve the general's body.
On the 18th, the general's body was transported to Hankou, and on the 21st, the coffin arrived in Yichang, and 100,000 people took to the streets to bid farewell to the general despite the bombardment of Japanese aircraft, and the Japanese aircraft circled over the sky many times without dropping a bomb for a long time.
After the death of General Zhang Zizhong, many soldiers recalled their time with the general, saying that although the general was quiet and quiet, he often talked about the topic of "death".
In a letter to his brother, he said: "If I do not die for a day, I will fulfill my duty to kill the enemy every day; if the enemy does not go for a day, I will die with loyalty."
He once told his subordinates that soldiers must "bow down and die before they die", and as long as there is a chance, I will definitely take you to find a way to die.
He once talked to Sun Lianzhong and said that he had been waiting for the opportunity to sacrifice himself to set an example for the nationalist army.
He used so many words to show his concept of life and death, that people will eventually die, and they will not be spared a death, rather than dying in mediocrity, it is better to die for the country to do a cause.
Because of this concept of life and death, General Zhang will leave a will every time he goes to the battlefield, and every time he holds the heart of death, and finally people die on the battlefield, and their souls will last forever.
Some people live, he is long dead, some people are dead, he lives forever in people's hearts!
General Zhang Zizhong, who gave up his life of wealth and threw his pen into rong, is the person who will always live in the hearts of the people!!!
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The author | wonderfully
Editor-in-charge | Muyang
Typography | Li Yike