(Continued from the previous article)
Seventy-five. The last moment in Qiu Qingquan's life
The 96th Division, an elite unit of the Central Army of the Nationalist Army, was completely annihilated within half a day after the launch of the General Offensive of the People's Liberation Army;
Zhangzhuang, where the Nationalist Seventy-second Army was stationed, was lost one after another, the officers and men were defeated and retreated, the commander Yu Jinyuan surrendered, and the xuzhou clique Chen Guanzhuang headquarters opened widely;
HuaYe's ten columns conquered Li Zhuang, Zhao Yuan, and Xiao Xinzhuang, and the Ninth Army of the Nationalist Army suffered a heavy blow;
The Eighth Army of the Nationalist Army had no intention of fighting, and fled in a hurry, until finally there was nowhere to escape, and the commander Zhou Kaicheng led his troops to surrender in the confusion;
Huaye's 10th Column forcefully conquered Lu Caiyuan and besieged Liu Ji in the northwest of Chen Guanzhuang, and after fierce fighting, the Nationalist 74th Army was completely annihilated by Huaye for the second time in the Liberation War, and more than 4,000 officers and men, including commander Qiu Weida, were taken prisoner;
The Eight Columns of Huaye coordinated with the Nine Columns of Huaye to march all the way to conquer the Headquarters of the "Suppression General" of Xuzhou in Chen Guanzhuang;
On January 9, the Nationalist army was defeated again and again, and the headquarters of Li Mi's 13th Corps was destroyed by Hua Ye, and the officer training regiment of more than 1,100 people in Li Mi's corps was all captured by the People's Liberation Army;
The 70th Army of the Nationalist Army suffered heavy losses under the fierce attack of the Eighth Column of Huaye, the whole regiment and battalion structure were annihilated, the morale of the whole army was disintegrated from the general to the pawn, and the commander Gao Jiren was seriously wounded;
The ace troops of the Xuzhou Clique, the Fifth Army, one of the five main forces of the Nationalist Army, were completely destroyed;
The Kuomintang soldiers who lingered in the trenches
It is hard to believe that the above is a report on the situation of the Most Elite Kuomintang Xuzhou Clique within three days after the launch of the Battle of Chen Guanzhuang.
Since the East China Field Army launched the general offensive of Chen Guanzhuang on January 6, 1949, the Kuomintang army has staged a large-scale rout rarely seen in the world like a fragile mass of rubble, and the speed at which hundreds of thousands of people have collapsed is like a frightened bird, fleeing with the wind and flying up and down.
By the third day of the general offensive, the Seventy-second Army, the Seventy-second Army, the Seventieth Army, the Eighth Army, the Ninth Army, and even the Fifth Army, one of the "five main forces", were on the verge of collapse, and the Xuzhou Clique was on the verge of extinction.
When Chiang Kai-shek first established these elite forces to point their swords at the Central Plains, his heart must have been full of ambition, and he felt that sending the Communist Party's Tu Balu with such an army was simply a piece of cake, even if they developed and grew strong under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the regular troops of the party-state could also deploy troops with them, and the real swords and real guns would be solid and hard-working.
It is estimated that Chiang Kai-shek could not have imagined that the powerful main force he had painstakingly built up would, at a time when most of the elite soldiers had not yet seriously entered the battle, all the generals and horses would quickly fall into an irreparable defeat.
With such a reality coupled with such an ending, Old Jiang will absolutely inevitably spit out a mouthful of old blood after hearing about it.
Chiang Kai-shek (first from right) and Mao Zedong (first from left)
In the early morning of January 10, 1949, Chen Guanzhuang, Henan, was the shelter of the Kuomintang army headquarters.
The atmosphere here was very dead and silent, and everyone who was supposed to be there was there, including Du Yuming, deputy commander-in-chief of Xuzhou's "Suppression General", Qiu Qingquan, commander of the Second Corps, Li Hanping, chief of staff of the Second Corps, and Tan Fulie, commander of the Xuzhou Garrison. Unlike in the past, everyone did not wear their own general uniforms, but changed into the clothes of soldiers one by one. - This is the feeling that the end is coming, and I am ready to run.
The dreary environment of the headquarters shelter and the boiling of people on the battlefield outside are completely different, here is relatively quiet, but everyone's eyebrows show anxiety and impatience, and at present, this irreparable war situation, the practice of using pretending to be calm to stabilize the hearts of the army is no longer useful.
"Now the enemy situation is extremely serious, Chen Guanzhuang has been surrounded by communist troops on three sides, only a gap in the southwest can go, after everyone has broken through the siege, whoever can run to Nanjing, who will report to the president on the course of this all-round defeat and the situation of this evening's battle." Qiu Qingquan looked at the others and said with a solemn look.
The others did not speak, and did not comment on Qiu Qingquan's remarks, but to tell the truth, everyone's heart was full of contradictions, and everyone did not want to become a prisoner of the Communist Party, nor did they want to go back to Nanjing to go to Old Chiang Kai-shek to take the blame, and be the head of this wrong.
Qiu Qingquan when studying in Europe
Qiu Qingquan, as a highly qualified student of the Whampoa Military Academy, Chiang Kai-shek attached great importance to his teacher-student relationship, but Qiu Qingquan's violent and arrogant personality and pretentious personality also made old Chiang Chiang not particularly fond of him, so he has not been entrusted with heavy responsibilities.
However, this could not conceal Qiu Qingquan's military ability and command talent, so Chiang Kai-shek's management method for Qiu Qingquan's "valuable chess piece" was to "enwei and exert power", that is, to slap him and give a piece of sugar to eat, so that he could lead Qiu Qingquan's nose. Later, this kind of management style of grace and power did play a role, making Qiu Qingquan loyal to his beloved Principal Jiang like a dead soldier of the party and the state.
Qiu Qingquan did this, and luck did come, and he was promoted to commander of the Second Corps. In this way, Qiu Madman was even more grateful to Chiang Kai-shek, and the words spoken by this guy afterwards were almost as passionate as when Liu Zhigang was appointed commander-in-chief of Xuzhou's "Suppression General": "I am desperately going with the communist bandits!" ”
At that time, Qiu Qingquan probably never thought that he felt superior to himself, and he would actually be like all the defeated generals of the Nationalist Army, to this point of embarrassment.
General Stilwell and the generals of the Nationalist Army (fourth from the left is Qiu Qingquan)
Just a few days ago, Qiu Qingquan faced the general offensive of the People's Liberation Army and said one after another: "It has really collapsed!" Really crashed! His subordinates instantly understood, if even Qiu Madman, the Chaos Demon King, said this, then what hope could there be? Then, Li Hanping, chief of staff of the corps, told Qiu Qingquan about trying to find a way to break through, who knew that this matter directly made Qiu Qingquan hairy, and threw down a sentence: "I don't care!" Let him collapse! ”
After Qiu Qingquan sent Li Hanping away, he went to drink a drunken tincture again, and then went to sleep with his head covered. It can be said that since then, Qiu Qingquan has become a hand-shaking treasurer and began to cope with the current war situation with the psychology of escape.
What would Qiu Qingquan think at this moment? Maybe he is recalling his own step by step from the beginning of his performance to this position, perhaps he is looking at his proud and brilliant achievements in the past, perhaps he will feel unhappy with the end he is about to face, or maybe he is asking himself a question: Why do the military generals who have made great achievements in the party-state have to end up like this?
However, no matter how you think about it, the breakthrough must be sudden.
Group photo of nationalist generals (qiu Qingquan in the back row on the right)
And then what? Outside the Headquarters of the Fifth Army, a rare spectacle appeared: Du Yuming, Qiu Qingquan, Tan Fulie, and Li Hanping were seen, dressed in tattered soldier uniforms, and four people sneaked out of the headquarters. Their posture is a bit comical, like kindergarten children lining up in formation on the playground, four people forming a team, the latter putting his right hand on the left shoulder of the previous person to avoid losing his way, and then braving the noise of the PLA's anti-heavenly artillery fire, advancing in turn in the vast darkness.
Leading them was the commander of the engineering battalion of the 200th Division, whose task was to bring these senior leaders of xuzhou's "suppression general" out of Chen Guanzhuang from the southwest. I don't know if the battalion commander knew that his troops had been completely annihilated, but judging by his current behavior, he could indeed be called a loyal subordinate officer.
It is conceivable that in the dark night when you can't see your five fingers, coupled with the cold wind in the plains, there are soldiers from both sides chasing me on all sides... These people seem to be a bit of a ridiculous breakout operation, and the probability of failure is very high.
Soon after a few people came out, they immediately dispersed because they could not distinguish the direction.
Chief of Staff Li Hanping was immediately captured.
Chen Guanzhuang's nationalist prisoner of war
What about Qiu Qingquan? His condition was more serious, and he was directly insane. This Qiu madman's pretense of composure at the headquarters of the Fifth Army just now completely vanished. When the battle situation in Chen Guanzhuang became sinister and the breakthrough plan was proposed, the most calm was Qiu Qingquan; but when everyone was in it, the most panicked person was also qiu crazy.
Only to see that in the people's liberation army's earth-shaking shouts and killings, Qiu Qingquan, who was already insane, completely lacked the unruly posture of the past, and at this time he was like an ordinary routing soldier, holding his head like a headless and brainless fly in the crowd of people who were fleeing everywhere, and he was embarrassed.
"The Communist Party is coming! The Communist Party is coming! Qiu Qingquan ran to the east and the west for a while, shouting to the surroundings with all his might.
Qiu Qingquan's galloping figure appeared to be weak in Chen Guanzhuang, who was full of gunfire, and there were no subordinates to rely on around this crazy tyrant, he was like a lonely and miserable poor insect rolling in the fire, and he was continuing an incomprehensible crazy behavior.
Suddenly, Qiu Qingquan shouted, as if he had been hit by a stray bullet of the People's Liberation Army, only to see his figure slowly fall in the smoke of the battlefield, and then dissipate in everyone's sight.
In front of the gunshots and the onslaught of the People's Liberation Army, the Kuomintang soldiers crossed Qiu Qingquan's body one after another and fled one by one, without anyone realizing that this guy who was lying at their feet and had lost his breath was the same Commander Qiu who was usually high on his toes.
Qiu Qingquan, a generation of fierce generals, ended his unruly life at Chen Guanzhuang.
Qiu Qingquan's body, bullet holes can be seen on his body
It is said that after Qiu Qingquan's body was found, as soon as the PLA soldiers heard that this was Qiu Qingquan, they immediately became angry and directly cursed and grinned and fired five more shots at his corpse.
Probably this guy thinks that Qiu Crazy died too easily...
It is not known whether the person who shot at Qiu Qingquan's body was a PLA soldier or a captive soldier surrendered by the Kuomintang, but it shows that Qiu Crazy's reputation among officers and soldiers is not very good.
Later, some people commented that Qiu Qingquan was not killed in battle, but stubbornly...
This comment editor thinks it is appropriate.
Seventy-six. Li Mi, who is scheming but still has a good death
At 1 o'clock in the morning of January 10, 1949, that is, at the same time that Du Yuming qiu Qingquan and they fled side by side, Chen Guanzhuang ZhangMiaotang, the headquarters of the 3rd Division of the Ninth Army of the 13th Corps.
The commander of the 3rd Division, Zhou Fan, stood in the headquarters, sighing softly, his eyes were a little overwhelmed, and like everyone else, Zhou Fan did not expect that the elite troops of the Xuzhou Group he belonged to would collapse so rapidly, and that he was about to become— or already be— a defeated general.
Zhou Fan did not start with the Ninth Army, he began his military career in the special service battalion of the Whampoa Military Academy, and later he was also able to operate from time to time, and was admitted to the Kuomintang Nanjing Central Military Academy. It is worth mentioning that Zhou Fan also served in the Fifth Army during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, served as the chief of staff of the honorary First Division, participated in the Battle of Kunlun Pass, and was a pioneer and brave in battle, which was greatly appreciated by Du Yuming.
And now, in Zhou Fan's eyes, everything about to turn out is about to come to naught, the soldiers have lost the battle on the battlefield, and once they are taken prisoners, then the fate is firmly in the hands of the victor.
Zhou Fan was thinking to himself, at this time, Li Mi suddenly broke in.
When Zhou Fan saw that the commander had come, he was somewhat unhappy in his heart, because the order he received from his superiors was: After the commander Li Mi broke through, he could take the soldiers of the 3rd Division to break through. And Li Mi was still there at this time, indicating that he could not leave for a while and a half.
Li Mi (first from left) and his subordinate officers
Only to hear Li Mi say to Zhou Fan: "In the evening, the defensive positions in the east collapsed, and Elder Du asked me to go to him for consultation, asking us what to do, what can we do?" But he dragged us away again, and the communists came to the front of the eyes, and he let us out. I'm disoriented now, and anyway, I watched the big troops follow, and as I walked, I was beaten back... What about going? After walking around and being beaten back, I completely followed the chaotic team to be shot coldly..." Li Mi paused, and then said, "I thought about it, if I was killed, it would be uneconomical, so I went to the Ninth Army to find you, and just happened to come to your Zhou Division Commander, I think that in this situation, only by following your own troops can I be sure to rush out." ”
Li Mi was obviously lying, what is Du Yuming asking you what to do? When you went to Du Yuming's place, Chief Du didn't want to take care of you at all?! (Already covered in the first two chapters)
After Zhou Fan listened, he pretended to be calm and said, "We were also waiting for the commander's news, and the brothers of the 200th Division all left after receiving the notice, and only then did they judge that the commander should have left, and the commander decided to tell us to leave... The commander came at the right time. ”
"That... Now what do you do? Li Mi asked.
"Report to the Commander, I am ready for everyone to decide before proceeding." Zhou Fan said.
Li Mi's face calmed down: "Very good, very good, can the Zhou Lou position be defended?" ”
Zhou Fan said, "Ask Commander Fu." ”
Zhou Lou – The Kuomintang 13th Corps is one of the few positions still in its hands.
Li Mi was sure that the Position of Zhou Lou had not yet been lost, so he relaxed his heart and said to Zhou Fan: "This is good, let's first retreat to Zhou Lou, the bullets do not have long eyes, so as not to be killed by random guns." ”
At two o'clock in the evening, Chen Guanzhuang Zhou Lou, the last headquarters of the Thirteenth Corps of the Kuomintang Army.
Like Chen Zhuang, the headquarters of the Fifth Army, there was a lot of artillery fire outside, and the shelter department of the headquarters was very calm. Li Mi sat dumbfounded with several officers of the Thirteenth Corps who had not yet been captured, and the officers looked at each other with a look of chagrin, their eyes sluggish, and their eyes widened and narrowed their eyes.
"Good, good, good, with you here, then it will be safe," Li Mi said to everyone, "the old man of Nanjing, they are talking about a peace armistice, there will be almost results, as long as you can hold for a few days, we have hope to go out." ”
Zhou Fan looked at Li Mi and felt that he was talking, but he still controlled his emotions and said, If you don't have food or drink, how can you keep the time when you negotiate in Nanjing, then you can't starve people to death?! ”
"The peace talks are almost successful, two or three days." Li Mi seemed to be talking to himself.
They have all reached such a point, and even ordinary soldiers no longer believe in such statements, and they can't win the battle, so how can people obediently negotiate with you?
After Li Mi said this, he was anxious to end this meaningless meeting, he got up and left, and actually went directly to sleep...
Everyone felt that this Commander Lee was trying to escape reality by pretending to sleep.
Li Mi's escape from reality is exactly the same as Qiu Qingquan's approach.
Li Mi (first from left) in Myanmar
By the next morning, the PLA's attacking forces had advanced to the vicinity of Zhoulou, and the artillery involuntarily launched a new round of fire coverage on Zhoulou.
The huge noise produced by this level of artillery cover directly woke Li Mi up, and the soldiers stationed in the Zhou Lou were miserable, one by one they were beaten to the point of blurring flesh and blood, their bodies were blown to pieces by the artillery fire, and even their intestines and stomachs were blown out, and the rest of the people did not hesitate to abandon their positions, and in an instant the trees fell and scattered.
The remaining officers of the Thirteenth Corps came out to see that the first round of artillery fire of the People's Liberation Army had turned the Zhoulou position into this virtue, how could this continue to fight, simply surrender and save their lives.
"You've been the chief of staff, can't you think of a proper way?" Li Mi said strangely to Zhou Fan, the commander of the 3rd Division.
Zhou Fan said to Li Mi, "Commander, if we continue to fight, everyone will fight all at once, and we will follow suit, I think... I want to send someone out to send a note to the communists to ask for surrender, you see..."
Li Mi agreed with Zhou Fan's idea, but left a heart eye, he did not write his name on the note requesting surrender, only signed "Zhou Lou Garrison Commander".
After receiving Li Mi's note, the People's Liberation Army was also very face-saving, and they sent back a letter of persuasion, which read: The People's Liberation Army wants you to surrender immediately, the commander-in-chief comes to report, and the troops lay down their weapons to collect, otherwise they will attack immediately and must not delay any longer!
"They want the chief officer to report, and you can see which one to go," Li Mi suddenly cried loudly, in a loud voice, "colleagues... I can't die!" I can't die!" If I go back, I will take care of your family members, you can rest assured, I promise! ”
Zhou Fan looked at Li Mi in disgust and thought in his heart: You are too good at pretending! I see that you can simply make it clear, just let me go, so cry and tears to whom to see!
"In this way, tell Fu Qingyun to report!" Zhou Fan said that he knew that Fu Qingyun was Li Mi's confidant, when would this guy stay longer if he didn't devote himself to retribution?
Who knew that Fu Qingyun cried even harder: "No... No way...... I can't go! I can't go!" ”
Zhou Fan was not surprised by Fu Qingyun's performance, no one wanted to go, because whoever went would become a prisoner of the communist army, and it would be difficult to say what would happen in the future.
"Forget it," Zhou Fanchong waved his hand at the gang of nesters, "don't cry, I'll just go." ”
"You'll go again later," Li Mi said to Zhou Fan, wiping away his tears, "It's still early." ”
Zhou Fan was stunned for a moment, thinking in his heart: Oh, Commander, you change your face very quickly, I heard that you don't have to go to death and immediately stop crying? You said I'd go again later, when you didn't know what kind of heart you had? You want to use this time to dress up, change into the clothes of ordinary soldiers, and grease the underside of your feet when I go to contact the communists!
Zhou Fan's feeling was not wrong, Li Mi quickly changed into a soldier's costume, still with human blood, and then made himself gray. At this time, the chief of staff of the Ninth Army, who had been captured, was sent by the People's Liberation Army to persuade him to surrender, and as soon as he entered the door, he recognized Li Mi, who was dressed in soldier's clothing, and said in surprise: "This... This is not a commander! Why are you here? ”
Li Mi hurriedly waved his hand and said in a low voice, "Don't tell the communists that I am here!" ”
Li Mi then burst into tears: "You go, go, if I can go back, I will take care of your family," he sighed, "you must not expose me, even if I beg you." ”
When everyone saw the top boss of their own regiment begging for themselves so lowly, they couldn't tell what it was like. Anyway, he said to help everyone take care of their families, which no one believed.
Just when Zhou Fan surrendered on behalf of the Thirteenth Corps, Li Mi left quietly, unconsciously...
It is said that Li Mi sneaked away in such a car
Then, after more than 20 days of travel, with the help of his subordinates, Li Mi finally moved from Qingdao to Wuhan.
Li Mi, who was greedy for life and afraid of death, escaped from the battlefield of Chen Guanzhuang in this way. It seems that during the previous retreat in Xuzhou, Qiu Qingquan angrily scolded Li Mi, saying that he was a Huangpu student in vain, which was really not a lie.
Later, the scale of the war became larger and larger, and the People's Liberation Army fought successive victories from Xuzhou to Sichuan and Guangxi, and Li Mi, because of his foolish loyalty to Chiang Kai-shek, vowed not to surrender, so he retreated to Yunnan with his cronies and remnants.
After Li Mi fled to Yunnan, after the People's Liberation Army launched the Southern Yunnan Campaign in 1950, the remnants of his troops were quickly crushed by the People's Liberation Army, and his dream of "establishing himself as king" in a vain attempt to divide Yunnan was also completely shattered.
Later, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Li Mi to go to the Golden Triangle area of northern Burma to collect the remnants, and Li Mi not only went, but also organized an "anti-communist to save the country" team and commanded his thousands of Remnants of the Kuomintang to beat the tens of thousands of Burmese government troops who came to encircle and suppress them. During the war, they actually sold drugs in order to engage in military expenses, which was strongly opposed by the Burmese and Thai militaries, which also laid the groundwork for Chiang Kai-shek's second transfer of Li Mi back to Taiwan.
The anti-communist contingent that Li Mi has pulled up in Burma
Li Mi once gave an interview to a reporter in 1954, when he said: "I can't be the 'king of Yunnan', but it is still okay to be a Burmese king." This was later learned by Chiang Kai-shek, who was very unhappy; and since the U.S. government did not want Li Mi to become bigger in Burma, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Li Mi to immediately take most of the remnants of his Nationalist army back to Taiwan by plane.
However, with the intellect and mind that Li Mi had honed over many years of official career, as well as his understanding of chiang kai-shek, the old principal, it was impossible not to know that old Chiang was very sensitive in employing people. Therefore, many people believe that the so-called "King of Burma" is just a gimmick deliberately made by Li Mi to let Lao Jiang transfer him back to Taiwan.
Although Li Mi said that he returned to Taiwan, the drug trade he had done in the Golden Triangle to raise military funds did not stop, but intensified in the next few decades, eventually making the Golden Triangle a drug market full of evil.
Li Mi (third from left) and his subordinates
Some of Li Mi's subordinates did not return to Taiwan with him, but stayed in the Golden Triangle, and many of these people became drug lords there. In the eyes of posterity, Li Mi himself also has another more well-known identity - the originator of the Golden Triangle.
Compared with li mi who served as the commander of the Thirteenth Corps, he seemed to have a greater influence on the Golden Triangle.
(To be continued)
The "Blood Stained Huaihai" series is a series of documentary literature of war history, in addition to the historical facts, they are all original by the author, and there are also literary renderings, please do not copy.
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