I'd rather be a ghost of war than a slave to the country, and swear blood and shame to the country - Song Zheyuan
In the history of the mainland, there are people who have made outstanding achievements and have been passed down through the ages, while others have a bad reputation and are pointed out by thousands of people.
How history books are written and how future generations evaluate them is beyond the control of these predecessors, but hearing is believing, and those who are praised by people may not have done bad things, and those who have been poked in the spine and scolded may not have done good things.
There are always some people who need to do something that is blamed for the sake of righteousness, and they certainly don't want to risk being scolded by future generations to do something, but they know that what they need to do is more important than fame.
During the war, there was such an army general named Song Zheyuan, who was ordered to suppress bandits and captured more than 5,000 prisoners after the victory of the war.
It is reasonable to say that after capturing prisoners, they will generally be returned or dismissed, but Song Zheyuan did not do this.
For the safety of the people, he said: I would rather bear the guilt of eternity than kill these 5,000 prisoners.
1. Song Zheyuan and his people
Song Zheyuan, born in 1885, a native of Shandong, he was born in a family of scholars, because the family is a reader, so Song Zheyuan received a good education from a young age.
Under the influence of the ears, I have developed good study habits and cultivated a high cultural literacy.
For Song Zheyuan when he was a child, his father Song Xianghe can be said to be the person who has the greatest influence on him, because
His father was not only extremely knowledgeable and able to teach Song Zheyuan a lot of knowledge, but also had good cultivation and correct values, which set a positive example for Song Zheyuan.
Song Zheyuan, who grew up in such a good environment, not only achieved success in his studies, but also was kind and sincere. He knew that reading was a very difficult thing for most people in society, so he began to run a private school at home from the age of seventeen, teaching some children to read.
Most of the students he recruited were children of poor families who could not receive education because they could not afford to pay the tuition.
Song Zheyuan's approach is also very touching, he waived the tuition fees of these children, so that they have a valuable reading opportunity.
Because of this good deed, he was loved by many people, and it was also because Song Zheyuan had great righteousness in his heart when he was young, so when he chose the future path, he unswervingly entered the beiyang army academy.
There, he excelled, showing not only his military talent, but all the spirit he should have as a soldier. afterwards
He was soon appreciated by his superiors, rising all the way up, and after graduation, he was also reused, participated in many important wars, and made many achievements.
Kill five thousand prisoners of war
In 1928, he participated in the Northern Expedition and received an important task, that is, to suppress bandits.
At that time, the Kuomintang had successfully occupied Shaanxi, and the next thing they were about to face was the bandits who had been entrenched in the northwest region for more than a decade.
These bandits burned and looted without evil, and the leader Dang Yukun had some ability, and wantonly invaded the local people, making them miserable.
Because Dang Yukun had been a soldier, he had a lot of insight into marching and fighting and governing the team, which made him fully aware of the importance of collecting materials and expanding the team, so during the years when he was the leader of the bandits,
He not only looted the money of the local people, but also joined forces with the local squires to rob tombs and sell valuable cultural relics in exchange for more money.
Such a practice has caused the mainland to lose a large number of valuable cultural relics, so the government has sent troops to surround and suppress them many times.
Unfortunately, each time failed, so after Song Zheyuan arrived, he was immediately appointed as the commander-in-chief of the bandits, and was pinned on the high hope of completely annihilating this group of bandits.
You must know that Song Zheyuan usually encountered fierce enemies on the battlefield, and these bandits were not worth mentioning to him at all, so Song Zheyuan did not pay attention to them when he first began to suppress bandits.
However, what he did not expect was that this group of bandits was much more cunning than he thought, and with the help of the steep terrain, they could not attack, so Song Zheyuan tried many ways but failed to cause them substantial harm.
Song Zheyuan realized that he could no longer be such a light enemy, so after careful consideration, he thought of a way, that is, to dig tunnels.
He first sent people to continue the attack on the main battlefield to attract the attention of the enemy, and then dug a tunnel about a hundred meters away from here, leading directly to the bottom of the city.
Then a room was found on the corresponding ground, filled with explosives.
When everything was ready, he pressed the detonation button, and then the shells outside the city and the explosives inside the city exploded at the same time, and the huge roar shook the whole mountain, and the enemy heard this loud noise and was immediately frightened.
With such a foundation, Song Zheyuan naturally opened the bandits' lair and was able to successfully attack it. lose
Taking advantage of the geographical location, these bandits were not opponents of professional soldiers at all, and were soon caught off guard and had to hold their heads and surrender.
Song Zheyuan won a great victory in this war, capturing more than five thousand prisoners, and when deciding what to do with them, Song Zheyuan thought about it and said that he must kill them all.
The idea is a bit crazy, these people are bandits, but after all, they are a living human life. What's more, in the wars of successive dynasties, prisoners were treated either by education or imprisonment, and there was no direct killing.
But Song Zheyuan did not think so, he believed that these bandits had been rooted here for many years, but if they were given the slightest chance, they could make a comeback effortlessly, and at that time, it was still the people here who suffered.
Third, I would rather bear the name of the ancient
Therefore, Song Zheyuan of the 29th Army would rather bear the name of the ancient curse than kill these 5,000 prisoners of war.
And the later results proved that he was right, and in such a cruel result, there were no more bandits here, and the people regained a peaceful life.
After this incident, everyone had mixed evaluations of Song Zheyuan, some people thought that he was right to do so, and some people thought that he was not close to people.
But no matter what everyone thinks, it doesn't matter to Song Zheyuan, because he made such a decision for the sake of righteousness, and he has no shame.