Xue Yue, a native of Lechang, Guangzhou, was born in 1896, and his real name is Xue Yangyue. named the meaning of admiring the national hero Yue Fei, and determined to be a well-known figure who is loyal to the country. It is true that Xue Yue has an upright personality and is not good at drilling camps, but he can excel in the Kuomintang camp where there are many factions and fight each other, and he has been entrusted with important tasks many times to lead his troops to resist the war, which shows that he has enough ability and confidence in military capabilities.
However, with the defeat of the battle on Hainan Island and his retreat to Taiwan, Xue Yue, who completely lost his military power, also became a "semi-retired" figure and was shelved by Chiang Kai-shek.
In 1993, 97-year-old Xue Yue was rumored to have been sued by his landlord because he couldn't afford the high rent...... When people looked at the gray-haired old man in the defendant's seat, some people remembered that this was the god of war of the national army who used the "Heavenly Furnace Battle Method" to annihilate 100,000 Japanese invaders.
1. Xue Yue fought in the Marshal's Mansion desperately to save Sun Yat-sen
In 1921, Xue Yue, who was only 26 years old, was appointed commander of the first battalion of the Generalissimo's Office Guard Regiment with the rank of lieutenant colonel. In the summer of that year, Chen Jiongming launched a rebellion, and the rebels were outnumbered and besieged the Generalissimo's Mansion, Sun Yat-sen's official residence.
On the night of the rebels' incident, Xue Yue got the news in advance, quickly sent someone to report to Sun Yat-sen, and asked Sun Yat-sen to disguise himself as a doctor who came to the Generalissimo's Mansion at night.
When the rebels attacked, Sun Yat-sen's wife Song Qingling was still living in the nearby Yuexiu Building and could not escape. It was Xue Yue who went to the rescue and commanded Ruoding to repel several rounds of attacks from the rebels. The rebel dog jumped over the wall in a hurry, brought kerosene and firewood, and prepared to use the "fire attack" strategy, Xue Yue sent someone to ask Mrs. Sun to go downstairs, and under the escort of He Xiangning and the guards, she safely withdrew to the Yongfeng ship.
From June 15 to resist the rebel attack with more than 800 guards, Xue Yue held out for three days before breaking out with the remaining 200 guards on June 18. This time, Xue Yue's loyal and brave performance left a deep impression on Sun Yat-sen and his wife.
Second, the Red Army marched all the way, and Xue Yue pursued closely
During the Northern Expedition, Xue Yue successively served as regiment commander, division commander and then army commander, and the Fourth Army under his command was fierce and had outstanding achievements. However, Xue Yue, who was born in the Guangdong army, was jealous of He Yingqin and constantly excluded him. At that time, He Yingqin held the power to rectify the army establishment, so he deliberately demoted Xue Yue's Fourth Army to the Fourth Division, and the officers and soldiers of the original monolithic army were scattered to other troops.
In addition to being angry, Xue Yue also saw through the indifference and ruthlessness of the factions in the army, and decided to resign and retire to his hometown. Chiang Kai-shek's love for talent is not endless, he hopes to envelop Xue Yue, but he doesn't want Xue Yue to be full-fledged, so he put the pot on He Yingqin's head, and bluntly said that he didn't mean to target Xue Yue, but He Yingqin "doesn't understand you".
Seeing Chiang Kai-shek's posture like this, Xue Yue simply went home to learn German. It is said that he was going to study German and then go to Germany for further study. As a result, the plan could not catch up with the changes, the Red Army prepared for the Long March, and Chiang Kai-shek actively encircled and suppressed. At the time of employing people, the top level of the Kuomintang thought of Xue Yue again.
In this way, Xue Yue took office and aimed his gun at the Red Army. The Red Army moved generally, carried too much baggage, and marched slowly, and Xue Yue was a famous general of the Northern Expedition, so he became the most difficult opponent on the Red Army's Long March. The Red Army traveled tens of thousands of miles westward, and Xue Yue also followed tens of thousands of miles, making the Red Army pay a very painful price.
3. The "Heavenly Furnace Tactics" Show Strength Xue Yue ranks first in the number of enemies annihilated
In the 2005 CCTV documentary "Anti-Japanese Heroes", when talking about the famous anti-Japanese generals of the Kuomintang, it took a lot of pen and ink to show the demeanor of the famous anti-Japanese general Xue Yue. Among Xue Yue's successful tactics against the Japanese army, there is a "Heavenly Furnace Combat Method" that is the most famous, and he himself has specially summarized and written a military book, which is called "Heavenly Furnace Battle".
The so-called "Heavenly Furnace Tactics" is actually a tactical method of taking the initiative to show weakness and retreat to lure the enemy into attacking deeply, while the own side takes advantage of the convenience of the terrain to encircle and annihilate him. Xue Yue's purpose was very clear, when the Japanese army invaded Hunan, he took the lead in destroying the railway network and road network where the Japanese army had to pass, forcing the Japanese army, which had a much higher degree of mechanization than the Chinese army, to rely on foot and a small number of mules and horses to advance.
Xue Yue took advantage of the terrain to distribute his troops in a network of strongholds, delaying and blocking the Japanese army along the road, constantly consuming the rampant spirit of the Japanese army. When the Japanese army was dragged into the predetermined decisive battle site, the main force of the national army, which was waiting for work, started a decisive battle with the Japanese army after losing a lot of sharpness. The three successful applications of the "Heavenly Furnace Battle Method" were the first, second, and third Battle of Changsha.
In the first Battle of Changsha, Xue Yue commanded the national army to fight fiercely with the Japanese army for 24 days and nights, and finally paid a considerable price and achieved the glorious result of killing and wounding more than 40,000 Japanese invaders.
Such a feat, to the long-drive Japanese army to give a head start, but also to the discouraged Chinese people who were discouraged by the current situation, not only the domestic impact was far-reaching, but also won universal praise in the international community, even Chiang Kai-shek could not express his excitement, praised Xue Yue's battle of Changsha, so that the Nationalist Government's international diplomatic work was carried out well.
In September 1941, the defeated and more courageous Japanese army came back, this time gathering as many as 120,000 troops of the navy, land and air force, and arrested strong people along the road, ordered them to build a passage road, and once again sought to conquer Changsha City. Xue Yue predicted that the Japanese army would inevitably learn the lessons of the First Battle of Changsha and come from northern Hunan.
Sure enough, the main force of the Japanese army really went straight from this direction. However, Xue Yue's deployment was also different from the first time, he deployed the main force on the flank of the Japanese army, and used small troops in front of the Japanese army to feign the main force, making a posture of going to a tough decisive battle.
The Japanese advance quickly routed these feint troops, and even the Japanese plainclothes team had infiltrated into the city of Changsha, and Xue Yue remained unmoved until the end of September, when Xue Yue's strong bow and crossbow finally shot at the Japanese army.
In the face of the siege of the Chinese army at every turn, the Japanese army could not rest day and night, and their morale was greatly reduced, and finally they had to be defeated after paying the price of heavy casualties. After the war, Xue Yue counted about 60,000 casualties and about 40,000 Japanese soldiers.
On December 19, 1941, Japan had already launched the Pearl Harbor Incident at this time, and the United States had declared war on Japan. As a result, the third Battle of Changsha under the command of Xue Yue began, and this time the severity of the tragedy continued unabated from the previous two, lasting a full 29 days, and the Chinese army overcame a huge gap in equipment and combat quality, killing and wounding about 60,000 Japanese troops.
According to He Yingqin's battle report, this figure is more specific, and it should be more than 56,900 people. After the war, the ruins were cleared and the dead bodies left behind by the Japanese invaders were burned, and the black smoke billowed for more than a week.
The three battles for the defense of Changsha were rare major victories for the national army on the frontal battlefield. It can be said that the success of Xue Yue's command has greatly changed the image of the national army in the past when it was crushed at the slightest touch. Judging from the data of the battle report, a total of 140,000 Japanese soldiers were killed and wounded in the three battles of Changsha, considering that the scale of these three battles was already very intense, with many killed and few seriously wounded, some scholars believe that Xue Yue commanded at least the national army to annihilate 100,000 Japanese troops.
If this figure is in line with objective historical facts, then Xue Yue can be called the military general who killed the largest number of Japanese soldiers on the battlefield of China's resistance against Japan during World War II. To achieve such results, all kinds of honors have also come one after another. Chiang Kai-shek awarded Xue Yue the Order of the Blue Sky and White Sun, and the U.S. government awarded him a Medal of Freedom. It can be said that Xue Yue, as a general of the national army, was in the limelight for a while.
Fourth, eager to unload his armor and return to the field, but he was driven to fight the civil war
Among the generals of the national army, Xue Yue is more or less a military talent with idealistic ambitions. Although it is the duty of a soldier to obey orders, however, Xue Yue has experienced a lot of things and is tired of those boring battles. Many accusations and attacks are not of any benefit to the entire country and nation. As the saying goes, one will succeed and ten thousand bones will wither, and Xue Yue's achievements are also accumulated by countless Ding Zhuang with his life, which he himself knows.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, Xue Yue went to Shanghai to prepare for the idle life and did not care about the world. As a result, Chiang Kai-shek twice sent Chen Cheng to Xu Yi's high position, the first time he said that he would make him the commander of the army, and the second time he even said that he could be arranged to be the commander of the navy. Even Xue Yue laughed at these words:
"I, Xue Yue, haven't driven a single ship, how can I manage the entire navy?"
Soon the civil war broke out, and Xue Yue was driven to the shelves again, and once again aimed his guns at the Communist forces. However, this time, Xue Yue, who was shining on the anti-Japanese battlefield, seemed to have suddenly become "unable to fight", and after burying a mechanized elite army that Chiang Kai-shek was proud of, Xue Yue was disheartened and completely left without a single soldier.
Until the end of 1949, when the general trend of the Kuomintang was gone, Chiang Kai-shek forced Xue Yue to take charge of the defense of Hainan Province. This is true, but the remnants of the main forces of the Kuomintang were taken to the island of Taiwan by Chiang Kai-shek, and there were few regular troops left on Hainan Island. In desperation, Xue Yue could only organize the six militia armed security forces in Guangdong into three armies to resist stubbornly. As a result, in March 1950, under the blow of the devastating People's Liberation Army, the army was defeated and fled to Taiwan.
Fifth, the high-ranking official Houlu Xue Boling has become an old man who does not pay rent?
After retiring to Taiwan, Xue Yue got his wish, and was assigned several fictitious positions that sounded very famous but actually had no power at all. It's not an adviser to a committee of so-and-so, it's a senator of a department of so-and-so. For Chiang Kai-shek, his personal prestige was severely damaged by military defeat on the mainland, so that the only remaining military strength of the Nationalist army, which he relied on to maintain his personal rule, had to be placed in the hands of a reliable confidant.
The so-called confidant, loyalty is paramount, and ability is the second consideration. A person like Xue Yue, who is not a descendant, is really trusted and reused by Chiang Kai-shek in every difficulty, can Sun Liren fight? After being suspicious of Chiang Kai-shek, what will happen to him?
Therefore, some people felt indignant that Xue Yue was put on the shelf and had nothing to do, but Xue Yue felt that this was the greatest blessing for him for the rest of his life. Unlike many famous generals who can't bear the emptiness and loneliness of peaceful days, Xue Yue enjoys himself in ordinary days. Many generals are so heavy that they often have frequent nightmares and a heavy psychological burden, which seriously affects their physical and mental health, but Xue Yue's mentality is obviously much better than theirs, not only survived Chiang Kai-shek, but even survived until Chiang Ching-kuo died.
Many people are curious, but he is also a famous general of the national army, and he is still receiving a salary and pension from a fictitious position in the Taiwan authorities, so it is not possible to say that he cannot pay the rent in his old age and let the landlord sue him, right?
It turned out that during the two Jiang eras, although Xue Yue was not welcomed, the treatment was still very good. The annual rent of his apartment in Taipei comes from the expenses of the department where he works. Therefore, the place where Xue Yue lives is equivalent to a welfare house attached to work.
However, in 1993, the Taiwan authorities abolished the so-called "departments" and "committees" to which Xue Yue belonged. At this next age, Xue Yue is not only really "retired", but the house he lives in all the year round is about to be repossessed. If Xue Yue still wants to continue to live, then I'm sorry, please pay out of your own pocket, old gentleman!
As soon as Xue Yue asked about the price, he realized that the price was ridiculously expensive, and it was obvious that he was trying to force him away. Xue Yue was extremely unwilling to pay high rent to stay in the apartment, nor was he willing to move out of the "home" where he had lived for most of his life. Xue Yue stubbornly got into trouble with the Taiwan authorities, so the relevant departments could not collect the rent for a long time, so the Bank of Taiwan came forward and took Xue Yue to court.
So there is the outrageous scene at the beginning of the article, and the gray-haired old man appears tremblingly on the report table. After many people learned that this old man was Xue Yue, a famous anti-Japanese general, they accused the Taiwan authorities of not doing things in an authentic way. It is not known how the court handed down the sentence, but it is said that the two sides eventually reached a settlement.
Five years after this lawsuit, General Xue Yue died in Taipei at the age of 102. Xue Yue's life is very legendary. He was a general born in the late Qing Dynasty and grew up in an era of military reform between the old and the new. He has both traditional loyalty and patriotism, as well as modern and Western-style ideals and aspirations. He served as an executioner for the Kuomintang reactionaries and was spurned by the people for encircling and suppressing the Red Army, but he also stood up for the Chinese nation and scored amazing results in the anti-Japanese battlefield, winning the heartfelt respect of the Chinese on both sides of the strait.
Xue Yue's complicated experience also seemed to make him difficult to evaluate. He did many things involuntarily, so a lot of slander and praise were all handed down by posterity.