Although China's five-thousand-year history has experienced disasters, it has never been interrupted. This is because whenever the country is in crisis, there will always be people who stand up, help the building to fall, turn the tide of the tide, and pay everything for the country. In the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the greatest calamity of the Chinese nation in modern times, countless Chinese boys stepped forward and sacrificed their lives for the country, and Xiao Shanling was one of them.
Xiao Shanling was born in a small mountain village in Yiyang County, Hunan Province, his father was Xiucai in the late Qing Dynasty, and Xiao Shanling was very studious from an early age. In 1904, after Xiao Shanling graduated from the Normal School, he was very indignant to see that the great powers were dividing up Chinese territory one after another, so he threw his pen into Rong and successively entered the Hunan Army Primary School, the Wuchang Second Preparatory School, and the baoding Military Academy Phase III, and he and the later Kuomintang Army General Zhang Zhizhong were classmates.
After Xiao Shanling graduated, he was sent to serve in the Xiang Army, and during the Northern Expedition, Xiao Shanling successively served as a company commander, battalion commander, and regiment commander. In 1929, Xiao Shanling became a lieutenant colonel in the staff office of the Capital Garrison Headquarters and began his military police career. In 1932, Xiao Shan ling was promoted to the chief of the general affairs colonel of the gendarmerie command, responsible for the establishment and training of the national gendarmerie. In 1936, Xiao Shanling was promoted to chief of staff of major generals of the Gendarmerie Command.
After the end of the Battle of Songhu, the Japanese army launched a three-way attack on Nanjing, and the Chinese troops guarding Nanjing at that time totaled 150,000 people, most of whom had just been withdrawn from the Songhu battlefield, with insufficient soldiers and rudimentary weapons. It is claimed to be 150,000 people, but in fact there are only more than 80,000 people, of whom 30,000 are recruits. Coupled with the serious factions within the Kuomintang, Tang Shengzhi, commander of the Nanjing Garrison District, could not command these troops for many times. At this time, Gu Zhenglun, commander of the Kuomintang gendarmerie, went to Wuhan to recuperate, and Xiao Shanling was appointed mayor of Nanjing, deputy commander of the national gendarmerie, director of the Capital Police Department, commander of air defense, and deputy commander of the Nanjing Garrison District.
On December 7, 1937, the Japanese Central China Front began to attack the outer positions of Nanjing, matsui Ishigen tried to persuade Tang Shengzhi to surrender, but Tang Shengzhi ignored it, and destroyed the ship, expressing his demand to break the ship and coexist with Nanjing. Under the strong firepower of the Japanese army, although the Chinese army put up stubborn resistance, it suffered heavy losses, and many positions were still lost one after another.
On December 12, Tang Shengzhi received orders from Chiang Kai-shek to command the troops to retreat, and Xiao Shan Ling was appointed and dismissed as the commander-in-chief of the river crossing. At that time, there was no battle plan, which led to great chaos during the retreat, and 100,000 soldiers and civilians poured into the Shimonoseki Ferry and became a mess. Xiao Shanling commanded the gendarmerie troops to block the Japanese army, and at the same time led people to dismantle houses and rafts to help the troops cross the river. On the evening of the 12th, Xiao ShanLing's men pushed him onto the raft several times and asked him to leave, but Xiao Shan Ling climbed back.
In the early morning of the 13th, the Japanese army pressed the border, Xiaoshan Ling continued to command the gendarmerie troops to block the Japanese army, after running out of ammunition, Xiaoshan Ling led the troops and the Japanese army to launch a large-scale white-knife battle. In the end, the gendarmerie troops led by Xiao Shan Ling were completely destroyed, and Xiao Shan Ling shot himself and committed suicide, martyring the country with his body, fulfilling his promise of "coexisting and dying with Nanjing".