Founding Lieutenant General Wan Yi is a legendary figure, and his biggest feature is his straightforward personality and dare to say and do. He was once promoted by Zhang Shaoshuai for saying a very choking sentence, and he also offended many colleagues for his bluntness, and even left "black materials" in Lao Jiang's place, and was almost executed secretly by him.
Wan Yi was born on August 8, 1907, to a Manchu family in Forty Mile Fort, Jinxian County, Liaoning Province, when Lushun, Jinzhou, Dalian, was occupied by the Japanese and incorporated into Japanese territory. His father was a peasant who had read books, served as a soldier in his early years, and married Han Chinese women.
Wan Yi studied in private school for a few years and later worked as an employee at a money house in Dalian. He also worked as a clerk in the Finance Department of Fengtian, but was dismissed because the introducer was implicated in an accident.
In March 1929, the 22-year-old Wan Yi was admitted to the Northeast Army Non-Commissioned Officer Teaching Team, and the captain was the famous Zhang Shaoshuai.
Wan Yi was very proud to be a soldier, and he once said very happily: "The army is a good place to eat without being angry!" ”
Unexpectedly, after the "Guo Songling defection" incident, Wan Yi's military station was disbanded.
After a period of idleness, he returned to the Northeast Army Headquarters to take the exam, and was hired by Lü Zhengcao as a lieutenant and aide-de-camp to The Aide-de-camp of Zhang Shaoshuai.
Soon, Wan Yi served as an ordnance officer in the Beida camp in Shenyang. Then, he was admitted to the ninth session of the Lecture Martial Arts Hall for further study, ranking first among the 2,000 students, and Zhang Shaoshuai personally presented him with awards, and the prizes were a pocket watch and a command knife.
With the end of the warlord melee in the northeast, Zhang Shaoshuai was appointed deputy commander of the army, navy and air force, and Wan Yi went to Nanjing with him, where he was the commander of any battalion major in the third team of the Army Corps.
In February and March 1935, the Ninth Company of the 3rd Battalion of the 7th Regiment of the 3rd Brigade of the Northeast Army was surrounded by the 16th Division of the Red Army, and Wan Yi was then the acting regimental commander of the 7th Regiment.
Later, this experience made Wan Yi very remorseful, and in his later years he wrote a heavy stroke in his memoirs, with the title of this: "The Northeast Army has become a bandit army." Fighting the Red Army and relieving the siege of the Ninth Company was a major mistake in life. ”
The success of this sneak attack gave Wan Yi the opportunity to be promoted, and half a year later he was transferred to Zhang Shaoshuai's headquarters, and his straightforward personality naturally attracted the attention of Zhang Shaoshuai.
It was once when Zhang Shaoshuai led his troops through the banks of the Wei River, saw a green field in the field, and suddenly felt relaxed and happy, so he said with great emotion: "This place is good!" There are so many soldiers of the Northeast Army who are living in Guannei to fight, and in the future we will build a new village in the northeast here, so that the brothers from the northeast can settle down here."
Wan Yi said disapprovingly to Young Marshal Zhang, who was only six years older than him, and said, "Deputy Commander, why do we settle down in such a place?" We are thousands of miles in the northeast wilderness, which place is not a hundred times stronger than this one! ”
Listening to this "choking" sentence, Zhang Shaoshuai was silent. But it wasn't long before Wan Yi was appointed liaison staff officer.
In January 1936, at the age of 29, Wan Yi was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 627th Regiment of the Northeast Army. At that time, he was the youngest among the regimental commanders, and he was also promoted by Zhang Shaoshuai. Perhaps it was his sincere words in the Weihetian domain that brought him a turn of fate!
In June 1936, while participating in the officer training corps, Wan Yi once again "violated Yan Zhizhi" to Zhang Shaoshuai and fired a "cannon" in response to the situation of the Northeast Army.
It was in a class about discussing the whole army, and Wan Yi said very unconvincingly: "Doesn't Deputy Commander Zhang want to reorganize the army?" To reorganize the army, we must first get rid of those corrupt elements. The corruption of our army is too serious! Eating empty quotas is not like words! The quartermaster and the supervisor colluded with each other and violently shoved it into their personal pockets. ”
If he said this, it is not a cannon, but the next words have the power to attack, he said indignantly: "In my opinion, those who have been quartermasters for more than a year will all be shot!" Because all quartermasters are corrupt. ”
His words won warm applause, and Wan Yi felt very proud at the time, and later realized that although saying such words in public vented the anger in his heart, it was easy to hurt his colleagues.
Wan Yi reflected on this experience in his memoirs: "I think that my personality is straight, I have something to say, and I don't hide my views, which is a strength, but I have not considered it more comprehensively, the problem is simple, and the final result is often contrary to subjective wishes." ”
In October, Wan Yi met Liu Lanbo, who was a secretary at the side of Huang Xiansheng, deputy commander of the Northeast Army, who became his enlightener on the revolutionary road.
However, just a month later, Wan Yi's fearless, daring personality once again made him "run into trouble" - he actually beat up the political trainers sent by lao Chiang to the Northeast Army in public.
At that time, Old Chiang Kai-shek installed a secret service agency in the Northeast Army, which was called the "Political Training Office." A major political trainer named Zhang Gongzhu repeatedly tore down the posters in the barracks about aiding the Suiyuan War of Resistance and took them to report to his master.
After Wan Yi, who was bent on supporting the War of Resistance, heard about it, he ran to Zhang Gongzhu to question the matter, and searched out the wall newspaper he had torn off on the spot, and slapped Zhang Gongzhu in one breath.
When Old Jiang learned of this, he scolded Young Marshal Zhang and said, "The regimental commander under you named Wan Yi is too reactionary!" Although Zhang Shaoshuai did his work to suppress this matter and save Wan Yi from being punished, Wan Yi has left "black materials" with Lao Jiang since then.
Five years later, Wan Yi was arrested by Huancai, a truly reactionary sub-descendant of the Northeast Army, on an excuse. In August of the following year, just when Lao Jiang issued a secret order to execute him, Wan Yi fortunately escaped and entered the coastal anti-Japanese base area.
In 1944, Wan Yi's new 111th Division was reorganized into the Coastal Detachment of the Eighth Route Army, and since then he has become a member of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the War of Liberation and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and has made outstanding achievements. In 1955, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general and became a shining member of the star book of the new Chinese generals.