In September 1937, Li Fuying, then the commander of the 61st Army of the Jin Sui Army, led the remnants to withdraw from Tianzhen and embarked on the way home after more than ten days of bloody battles with the Japanese invaders.
Fu Zuoyi's telegram
On the way back with Li Fuying's troops, when he passed through Yanmen Pass in Yingxian County, he suddenly received a telegram from Yan Xishan, informing him to go to Yamato Lingkou to attend a commander-level meeting, but the specific content of the meeting was not specified in the telegram.
After receiving Yan Xishan's telegram order, Fu Zuoyi and his subordinates successively advised Li Fuying not to attend the meeting to avoid Yan Xishan's disadvantage to him. Fu Zuoyi is a high-ranking general of the Kuomintang, and his status in the Kuomintang is far higher than that of Li Fuying, and his political sensitivity is naturally stronger than that of Li Fuying.
After Li Fuying took the initiative to withdraw from Tianzhen, Fu Zuoyi found that something was not quite right. Because of the loss of Tianzhen and the loss of Shanxi without a barrier, Yan Xishan had always promised Chiang Kai-shek that he was actively deploying the "Battle of Datong".
When Chiang Kai-shek questioned Yan Xishan, Yan Xishan, who had no preparation at all, had no choice but to take advantage of the situation to put the blame on Li Fuying, falsely claiming that it was because Li Fuying lost Tianzhen that the previously deployed "Battle of Datong" could not be implemented. In fact, Yan Xishan did not have any preparations at all, and even sending Li Fuying to lead his troops to Shoutian Town was a hasty move, and the fortifications planned to be built in Tianzhen were only about 40% completed.
Yan Xishan's private deeds Chiang Kai-shek did not know, and only thought that the responsibility for the loss of Tianzhen and the collapse of the "Datong Battle" plan lay with Li Fuying, so he asked Yan Xishan to deal with Li Fuying severely. At the same time, the news that the loss of Tianzhen led to the Japanese army's long drive into Shanxi spread far and wide, and was attacked by patriots from all walks of life.
Fu Zuoyi was the most clear about the causes and consequences of this matter, and naturally knew better than Li Fuying that the situation of this matter was not good, so he urgently sent a telegram to Li Fuying, informing him not to go to see Yan Xishan in case of accidents. Why did Fu Zuoyi do this to Li Fuying? Because Li Fuying was studying at the Baoding Army Military Academy, he was called the "Thirteen Taibao" with Fu Zuoyi and others, and the two were sworn brothers!
In addition, Li Fuying's subordinates also dissuaded him from going to see Yan Xishan, they were worried that Yan Xishan was insidious and cunning, and would be unfavorable to Li Fuying, and I was afraid that it would be difficult to return again.
After graduating from Baoding Military Academy, Li Fuying joined the Jin Sui Army, and nineteen years have passed in the blink of an eye, and almost the entire youth has been dedicated to the Jin Sui Army. For so many years, how could Li Fuying not know about Yan Xishan? But he was reluctant to run away, because he believed that he was worthy of his conscience, and if he chose to flee this time, although he would not have to face the risk, he would be convicted of the crime.
Li Fuying still insisted on going to the meeting even though he knew that it was not good for him, and naturally there was a reason for him. Perhaps he felt that he didn't have any problems at that time, whether it was leading his troops to fight the Japanese invaders in Tianzhen, or later withdrawing from Tianzhen after receiving Yan Xishan's clear order to retreat after completing the task of blocking the enemy, he strictly fulfilled the duties of a soldier.
Bloody Japanese Warriors
The so-called 61st Army was actually reorganized from the 68th Division, with a division and an independent brigade under its jurisdiction, and the total strength of the army was only 7 regiments. Moreover, before Li Fuying led his troops to Tianzhen, he also supported Tang Enbo once, and in this battle, the two regiments suffered heavy losses, and there was no chance to replenish them after the battle, so they rushed to Tianzhen to deploy defenses non-stop.
Tianzhen is the gateway to Shanxi, and Yan Xishan planned to build a large number of fortifications here, but because the progress was too slow, only about 40% of the construction was completed by the time the Japanese army launched an attack.
Even in the case of "remnant formation" and "remnant army", the 61st Army led by Li Fuying still fought bloody in this battle. The 425th Regiment stationed in the positions of Luojiashan and Lijiashan held out in the face of the Japanese aircraft and artillery, and carried it for four days and nights. In the end, at the cost of 9 company commanders and 8 casualties, and more than half of the casualties of the whole regiment, the Japanese army's advance was blocked, and it had to turn to attack the Panshan position.
In fact, if this battle has reached this point, if they follow the order of "hold on for three days" issued by Yan Xishan, they have already completed the task. However, Yan Xishan added another order halfway through, asking him to "continue to hold for three days", which led to the 400th regiment having to continue the bloody battle with the Japanese army. The Japanese army had just been deflated, and there was no place to spread the fire in their hearts, so they all poured into the Panshan position in the form of aircraft artillery.
After the bombardment, they also launched a fierce attack on the Panshan position in the form of infantry and tank coordinated operations. Gao Baoyong, the commander of the 2nd Battalion, died on the battlefield, Xi Baoshan, the commander of the 1st Battalion, was wounded and could not get out of the line of fire, and one of the battalions and some officers and soldiers of the mountain artillery company were directly buried alive in a cave.
The officers and men of the 400th Regiment fought until they ran out of ammunition and food, and finally could not continue to stop the Japanese army's footsteps, and the Panshan position was declared lost. At the same time, Tianzhen, where the 399th Regiment was stationed, also exchanged fire with the Japanese army, and the battle fell into a fierce battle, but after the Panshan position was lost, the defensive pressure suddenly doubled, and Li Fuying gave the order to the 399th Regiment at that time was to "hold on for seven days".
No matter from the perspective of the weapons and equipment of the two sides at that time, or from the difference in strength between the attacking and defending sides, the 399th Regiment wanted to complete the order to hold on for seven days, unless there was a miracle, it was an impossible task.
However, Zhang Jingjun, commander of the 399th Regiment, performed brilliantly, and his combat methods were very flexible during the operation against the enemy, and he did not blindly stick to it, but when he discovered the fighters, he resolutely transferred two flat-fire guns and launched a surprise artillery bombardment on the long-range Japanese troop transport columns, destroying the Japanese military columns in one fell swoop, causing the Japanese to suffer heavy losses.
The Japanese army has always been very retaliatory, and after being bombarded in this way, they became angry and immediately launched a more fierce attack. Aircraft and artillery bombarded in turn, but the 399th Regiment did not retreat an inch and defended the city. How tragic was this battle? was so frightened that the magistrate of Tianzhen County went to see Zhang Jingjun in person, hoping that he would give up defending the city for the sake of the people.
But the facts have proved that the result of abandoning the defense of the city will only usher in the massacre of the Japanese army, and trying to protect the people by giving up the defense of the city is tantamount to a fool's dream. Zhang Jingjun refused the request of the county magistrate because of the soldiers' duty to stick to the order, but he considered that the soldiers and the people had indeed increased the casualties due to the war, so he ordered the deputy regiment commander to lead the remnants and the people to evacuate, and he himself had to live and die with Tianzhen.
At that time, the soldiers had already killed the red eye, and when they heard such an order from the regiment commander, no one obeyed the order at all, and they all expressed their stance on the spot that they wanted to live and die with the regiment commander. In the end, all the officers and soldiers of the 399th Regiment completed the feat of holding Tianzhen for seven days, and this battle was later recorded in the "History of Army Operations in the China Incident".
At the same time, the 414th Regiment also fought very fiercely in Yanggao City, and after being unable to resist the Japanese artillery fire, it still did not choose to abandon the city and flee, and fought street battles with the Japanese army in the city. The regiment commander Bai Ruyong was also the first soldier, and he had been charging on the front line of the battlefield until he was gradually defeated in the street battle, and he still took the lead in leading the remnants to break through, and when the number of people was finally counted, it was found that there were only more than 300 people left in the 414th regiment.
So, when the 61 officers and soldiers were fighting desperately, what was the commander Li Fuying doing? He took the think tank to the front line to supervise the battle almost every day, whether it was Tianzhen or Yanggao, he was all there. It was precisely because Li Fuying did this that he could boost the morale of the defenders, and if he fled in advance, the defenders would naturally be defeated.
Judging from the situation of Li Fuying leading the 61st Army to organize anti-Japanese resistance in Tianzhen, Li Fuying almost did what he could, and insisted until Yan Xishan gave him the order to "retreat", and then led the remnants to withdraw from Tianzhen in an orderly manner. Therefore, although Li Fuying trusted Fu Zuoyi and knew that the dissuasion of his subordinates was not unreasonable, he felt that he was not ashamed of Yan Xishan and did not need to avoid him.
Tragic ending
In this way, after Li Fuying received Yan Xishan's order, he went to the meeting according to Yan Xishan's wishes. As a result, after Li Fuying arrived at the venue, Yan Xishan didn't even give him a chance to explain, and directly asked people to lock him up and charge him with "fleeing without authorization".
Obviously, Yan Xishan plans to let Li Fuying take the blame, but Li Fuying is a military commander after all, so he can't just go through any procedures and be killed directly, right? Moreover, after Fu Zuoyi learned that Yan Xishan had arrested Li Fuying, he frequently sent telegrams to Yan Xishan to plead for mercy, and it was impossible for Yan Xishan to turn a blind eye.
In the end, in order to confirm Li Fuying's "crime," Yan Xishan also set up a temporary military court after escorting Li Fuying back to Taiyuan, intending to convict Li Fuying "justifiably." But it was Yan Xishan's move that not only failed to achieve the desired effect, but made himself fall into the truth.
Yan Xishan first asked Li Fuying why the fortifications were not repaired during the battle, and Li Fuying's answer was "no materials". Why is there "no material"? Because the money was deducted by Yan Xishan, Li Fuying's answer was equivalent to a resounding slap in the face to Yan Xishan.
Yan Xishan asked again, "Why did you evacuate without permission?" Li Fuying was even more angry when he heard this, and even took out the telegram sent to him by Yan Xishan directly from his body, and insisted that he was "evacuated by order", not "evacuated without authorization".
Things have developed to this extent, even the most stupid person can see the truth of the matter, Yan Xishan simply went straight to the showdown, walked to Li Fuying's side and whispered to him, let him rest assured that his relatives would be taken care of.
This scene is very similar to the scene of Cao Cao killing the grain officer in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", but Li Fuying is not a grain officer, he is a soldier who has just returned from the front line with his troops, and he does not buy Yan Xishan's coercion, so he scolded Yan Xishan on the spot, and said that he wanted to die on the battlefield and did not want to die here in a daze.
It's a pity that Yan Xishan didn't give him this opportunity, and directly asked Kang Zeng, the commander of the guard battalion, to take Li Fuying to the execution ground and shoot him dead. It's just that the company commander Kang Zeng also knows that Li Fuying is very wronged, but he is helpless, such a person is now going to die in the hands of his own company commander, and all he can do is say "I'm sorry" before shooting.