Among the founding generals, if you talk about battle merit, it is Su Yu's battle achievements that are the greatest; but if you talk about seniority, it is Zhang Yunyi who is the oldest. He joined the League very early, participated in the Huanghuagang Uprising and the Xinhai Revolution, and was so senior that no one among the founding generals could match. During the Agrarian Revolutionary War, Zhang Yunyi and Deng Gong together led the Baise Uprising and founded the Red 7 Army; during the War of Resistance Against Japan, he served as the chief of staff and deputy commander of the New Fourth Army; during the Liberation War, he served as the deputy commander of the East China Military Region, making important contributions to the victory of the Pingjin Campaign and the Battle of Crossing the River.
After the founding of New China, Zhang Yunyi came to Guangxi to take up his post, serving as secretary of the Guangxi Provincial Party Committee, chairman of the Guangxi Provincial Government, commander and political commissar of the Guangxi Military Region. It was rare for one person to hold four such important positions at that time, which showed the importance of Zhang Yunyi by his superiors. However, just over two years later, Zhang Yunyi resigned from all his posts in Guangxi and only hung up in the military. So why is this happening? One of the main reasons was that Guangxi was ineffective in suppressing bandits at that time, and because of this, it was severely criticized by the superiors.
In the early days of the founding of New China, many parts of the country were faced with a serious threat of banditry, of which Guangxi was the most serious. Guangxi is the home of the Gui clan, which has been operating here for decades and has laid a certain foundation. On the eve of the liberation of Guangxi, Bai Chongxi, who was not willing to accept defeat, had been planning to make a comeback one day. To this end, he scattered tens of thousands of troops into the Dayao Mountains, 60,000 Mountains, and 100,000 Mountains, leaving these people to stay and rely on the Mountains and the People's Liberation Army to fight guerrillas.
At the same time, on the eve of fleeing Guangxi, Bai Chongxi also sent special personnel to reorganize the bandit armed forces in Guangxi, and the commanders he appointed were as numerous as cattle feathers. In order to enhance the combat effectiveness of these bandit armed forces, Bai Chongxi also deliberately mixed them with the troops who stayed behind to fight guerrillas. After this tossing and turning, the number of various bandit armed forces in Guangxi reached more than 280, of which 75 were more than 1,000. These bandits go around committing evil deeds, using cruel means and great indignation of the people.
After Zhang Yunyi took up his post in Guangxi, the first task he faced was to suppress bandits. Together with Li Tianyou, deputy commander of the military region, he commanded the 38th, 39th, 45th, and 49th Armies to carry out a comprehensive liquidation of bandits entrenched in Guangxi. After several months of hard fighting, more than 40,000 bandits were eliminated, and the remaining remnants fled into the mountains and forests. Just when the work of suppressing bandits was beginning to bear fruit, the Korean War broke out, and the 38th Army and 39th Army were transferred to the northeast to prepare for war, and the strength of the bandits was weakened. At the same time, Lao Jiang and Bai Chongxi also constantly sent spies to infiltrate Guangxi to cheer up these bandits.
Soon, one by one, the bandits came out of the mountains, causing scourges everywhere, and the bandits in Guangxi reached their peak. In 102 counties in the province, bandits spread to 97 counties, more than 500 cadres were killed, and more than 28 million catties of public grain were robbed. Chairman Mao was very dissatisfied with the fact that the bandit plague in Guangxi was so serious that he severely criticized: "Guangxi is a province with the worst achievements in the work of suppressing bandits in the whole country, and it has serious defects in its leadership methods and has made the mistake of leniency and boundlessness. ”
At that time, there was indeed a problem of excessive leniency toward bandits in Guangxi, such as Zhong Zupei, the leader of the bandits who had killed more than 200 cadres and masses, and after being arrested, he only educated him. Some of the other bandits were also released after being caught. The reason why the Guangxi Military Region did this at that time was that it did not want to kill too many people, hoping that these people would be able to change their minds and become people again after being released. But these bandits could not be moved by three words at all, and they became even more vicious when they returned. This is also the reason why the Guangxi Military Region was criticized by Chairman Mao for making the mistake of "being extremely lenient."
Soon after, Chen Mingren's 21st Corps was ordered to march into Guangxi and join forces with the Guangxi Military Region to suppress the bandits. For those bandits who have committed the most heinous crimes, they are often arrested and shot in public trial, which is a great deterrent to the bandits. After nearly two years of large-scale invasion and suppression, by the end of 1952, a total of 430,000 bandits had been eliminated, and the bandit plague in Guangxi had been calmed. Soon after, Zhang Yunyi resigned from his post in Guangxi on the grounds of "frailty and illness" and went to Guangzhou to recuperate. After that, Zhang Yunyi only had a temporary post in the army and was no longer responsible for specific work until his death in 1974.