In the history from the end of the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, there were many warlords on the land of China, such as the Feng army occupying the northeast, the Sichuan army occupying Sichuan, and so on.
These warlords fought everywhere, resulting in the misery and displacement of the people.
However, a warlord entrenched in the northwest of the mainland was much more cruel than all the above-mentioned warlords, they burned, looted, genocide, and did all kinds of evil, and even killed many Red Army soldiers.
They are Ma Jiajun.
There was a general in Ma Jiajun who killed four senior commanders and fighters of the Red Army.
However, after the liberation of the northwest, after arresting this person, our party actually let him leave the country.
What is the reason for this? What secret is hidden behind our party letting him go?
Ma Jiajun, who does all kinds of evil
Speaking of the establishment of the Ma Jiajun, it can be traced back to the Qing Dynasty.
In 1863, a Hui rebellion broke out in Shaanxi, and after Zuo Zongtang put down the Taiping Rebellion, he came to Shaanxi with a modern army and put down the chaos that lasted for nearly ten years.
At that time, Ma Zhanao, the leader of the Hui army in Gansu, after defeating Zuo Zongtang in the first battle, still led the troops to surrender to the Qing army, which was appreciated by Zuo Zongtang.
Later, Zuo Gong continued to march to the northwest to recover Xinjiang, and Ma Zhanao led his troops to make great contributions in the battle.
Since then, the Ma family's troops have gradually gained a firm foothold in Gansu, Qinghai, and Ningxia, and the Ma family army led by Ma Bufang, the third generation of the Ma family, has appeared.
Ma Jiajun is a very special warlord army.
There are many ethnic groups within the Ma Jiajun, in addition to the Hui who occupy most of the number, there are also Salar people, Han people and other ethnic groups.
These people are all Muslims, and their religious beliefs have united this multi-ethnic force.
The Ma Jiajun has a strict religious hierarchy within the army, and its leader uses religion to tightly control the entire army.
In addition, the Ma family army is essentially a feudal family army, so the middle and senior officers are basically the Ma family.
The private army of feudalism and religious factors caused this Ma family army to be extremely xenophobic, very cruel to the enemy, and relatively strong in combat.
General Ma's battles also have their own characteristics.
Since Qinghai and Gansu have been high-quality horse farms on the mainland since ancient times, producing excellent war horses, the Ma family army began to train cavalry after grabbing local wealth.
This group of Ma cavalry often carried out surprise attacks, ran away after the battle, and relied on the mobility of the cavalry team to make the enemy suffer, including the troops of our party's Western Route Army.
2. The tragic Western Route Army
After 1936, the main force of the Red Army completed the 25,000-mile Long March that shocked the world and reached northern Shaanxi.
However, the barren land in northern Shaanxi, coupled with the Kuomintang's blockade, made it extremely difficult to supply materials to the base areas in northern Shaanxi.
For this reason, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China made a decision to launch the Ningxia Campaign, and after occupying Ningxia, it could not only expand the strategic base areas in the rear of the Red Army, but also open up the passage to the Soviet Union and obtain material assistance from the Comintern.
Therefore, the central government ordered the Red 30th Army, the Red Ninth Army and the Red Fifth Army of the Red Fourth Front Army, totaling more than 21,000 people, to cross the Yellow River to the west to form the Western Route Army, and Xu Xiang was the former commander-in-chief and marched into Ningxia.
However, Chiang Kai-shek also adjusted the troops and sent a large number of troops to encircle, pursue, and intercept.
Therefore, the Western Route Army could only change its battle plan, from occupying Ningxia to opening up the Hexi Corridor and obtaining Soviet assistance from the direction of Xinjiang.
In this direction, the main enemy of the Red Army was Ma Bufang's Ma Jiajun.
At the time of the initial crossing of the Yellow River, the Western Route Army was gaining momentum, and achieved good results in the vicinity of Yongchang, Shandan and Yiyi Mountain, not only destroying the enemy's living forces, but also capturing a large number of supplies.
However, these successes not only did not allow the Western Route Army to gain a foothold, but also put them in an increasingly dangerous situation.
Although the Red Army soldiers fought valiantly, logistical supply was extremely difficult and ammunition was extremely insufficient. At that time, no soldier could afford to own a rifle, and the average gun had only five rounds per gun.
Coupled with the unfamiliarity with the local terrain and the difficulty of communicating with the central government, the Western Route Army soon fell into a difficult situation.
Under the brutal attack of the enemy, the Western Route Army was almost completely annihilated, which was a painful chapter in the history of our party.
3. Ma Chengxiang stained with blood
Ma Chengxiang is Ma Bufang's nephew and married Ma Bufang's niece. With this relationship of intimacy and kinship, Ma Chengxiang rose very quickly within the Ma Jiajun, and it didn't take long for him to become a brigade commander and become his uncle's minion.
After the Western Route Army crossed the Yellow River, Ma Chengxiang's Fifth Cavalry Division was ordered to intercept it.
Fierce battles broke out between the Ma Jiajun and the Red Army in many places, and for various reasons, the fighting of the Western Route Army was very fierce.
In the Battle of Gaotai, Dong Zhentang, the commander of the Red 5th Army, died heroically after several days and nights of fierce fighting with the enemy.
Ma Chengxiang also captured thousands of Red Army soldiers, sent them to build roads, and wantonly abused and killed these prisoners, and their hands were stained with blood.
It was such a brutal reactionary who was the first brutal reactionary, and in the end our party actually let him go, what is the reason for this?
The truth behind it
Ma Chengxiang marched into Xinjiang in 1945 and subsequently ran his own forces in Xinjiang.
As the Liberation War progressed, the Ma Jiajun in the northwest was quickly wiped out, and Ma Chengxiang in Xinjiang could not sit still.
Faced with the heavy blood debt he owed, Ma Chengxiang knew that it must be the people's judgment waiting for him, so he decided to resist stubbornly in Xinjiang.
He contacted the Kuomintang Chiang Kai-shek and the Americans in an attempt to get their funding for a comeback.
Tao Zhiyue, the commander-in-chief of the Hexi garrison at that time, had already led the troops in an uprising, and because he and Ma Chengxiang were old acquaintances, he was sent to do Ma Chengxiang's work.
Unexpectedly, Ma Chengxiang was ready to resist to the end and did not want to surrender.
In order to avoid Xinjiang from falling into war, Tao Zhiyue had no choice but to put forward a plan.
If Ma Jiajun surrenders to the PLA, the PLA will guarantee their lives, and as for Ma Chengxiang himself, he will be allowed to leave China and go wherever he wants.
Faced with such temptation, Ma Chengxiang finally gave up the command of the troops and offered to go abroad.
Tao Zhiyue not only provided him with a passport to go abroad, but also bought his property in Xinjiang and paid for it in gold, which was also taken away by Ma Chengxiang.
Although Ma Chengxiang did a lot of evil, General Tao let him go in order to save Xinjiang from war and separatism, and it was a decision that the advantages outweighed the disadvantages.
Resources
On September 13, 2020, the Institute of Party History and Literature of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China told the story of the Western Route Army
June 24, 2021 China Youth Network West Route Army: Faith condenses the soul of the army, and blood casts Qilian