On December 25, 1948, the People's Daily published a list of forty-three first-class war criminals of the Kuomintang, and Wei Lihuang was ranked twenty-eight. At this time, the Kuomintang army was completely defeated on the battlefield, millions of elites were killed by the People's Liberation Army, and the defeat of chiang kai-shek's clique was decided.
The kuomintang officials on the list of war criminals were afraid of retaliation by the People's Liberation Army and sought a way to escape. However, at this time, Wei Lihuang, who was in Hong Kong, saw that he was on the list of "war criminals", but instead shouted: "The Communist Party has not forgotten me!" ”
Many people are surprised that as the "General of the Five Tigers" of the old Chiang Kai-shek and the "general who won every battle and every victory" praised by Stilwell during the War of Resistance against Japan, why was he grateful to the Communist Party after he was listed as a "war criminal"?
In fact, the relationship between Wei Lihuang and old Jiang is not too good, it seems that he is the "Five Tiger General", but he is a miscellaneous army in the concubine lineage, Wei Lihuang is not surnamed "Huangpu", nor is he surnamed "Jiang", and he is not a Zhejiang person, according to the suspicious characteristics of old Jiang, he has always distrusted Wei Lihuang, but because Wei will fight, he has to reuse it.
However, after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, old Jiang immediately snubbed Wei Lihuang. One day in September 1946, Chen Cheng held a banquet and invited Wei Lihuang to attend, but at the meeting, lao Jiang saw him and said: "Why are you still in China, didn't you go abroad to investigate?" ”
Wei Lihuang said, "I have not received any notice of this!" Jiang said, "Oh, then I will immediately ask Chen Cheng to inform you, you can prepare now, go to the United States!" ”
The reason why Old Chiang Kai-shek did not let him stay in China was actually to be jealous of his relationship with the Communist Party, for fear that he would make trouble behind his back, which would send him out of the country.
Wei Lihuang wanted to avoid the storm of the civil war, and after listening to it, he also went abroad to investigate, observing Japan and the United States successively, and then requesting to go to Europe to investigate. After arriving in France, Wei Lihuang, with the help of his friends, wrote a letter to the Soviet Embassy in France, which read: "Cooperate with the Chinese Communists within their own capabilities, and hope that the Soviet Union can provide a large number of weapons for the Plaster and seek the early peaceful liberation of China." ”
However, in October 1947, due to the successive defeats of the Kuomintang troops in the northeast, the old Chiang frequently urged Wei Lihuang to return to China as the commander of the northeast "suppression".
However, Wei Lihuang did not want to be an enemy of the Communists, and before leaving, he sent a telegram to Chairman Mao, saying: "In order to end the civil war quickly, I hope to be on the side of the people and cooperate in all military, political and other aspects, but because of personal environmental problems, I hope to keep it secret." ”
This telegram was delivered to Chairman Mao under the pretext of passing, and it was this telegram that made Chairman Mao's combat strategy even bolder during the Liaoshen Campaign. On the other hand, after Wei Lihuang returned to China in early 1948, he was appointed commander of the Northeast "Suppression General".
It turned out that after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Lao Jiang sent Xiong Shihui to the commander-in-chief of the northeast, who wanted to lose 300,000 troops; he also sent his own confidant Chen Cheng, and the result was a terrible defeat. Old Jiang saw that he wanted to abandon the northeast, but he was afraid that the army's heart would be unstable, so he thought of Wei Lihuang, hoping to use his military prestige and talents to help him make a comeback.
However, Wei Lihuang had been excused not to take office at first, and old Jiang had no choice, so he invited Gu Zhutong, Zhang Qun and other military and political leaders to persuade him, and Mrs. Chen Cheng even tearfully persuaded him to go.
But Wei Lihuang said to his subordinates: "Old Jiang asked me to go to the northeast, that is, to let me jump into the fire pit, I did not want to go, but now it seems that it is difficult to resign." "Indeed, today's 500,000 national troops in the northeast have been besieged by the People's Liberation Army, and without a large number of reinforcements, it will not work at all."
Old Jiang came again and said that he would meet all his needs, and even if he lost the battle, he would not be responsible. Wei Lihuang only then proposed that you can take a look. Old Jiang was greatly pleased to hear this, but at this time his suspicions were again committed, and when he heard that Wei's secretary had close contact with the CCP, he immediately asked to talk to his secretary.
Wei Lihuang knew that Old Jiang still didn't trust him. After arriving in Shenyang, he secretly set up his own team, appointing his old subordinate Chen Tie as the deputy commander-in-chief of the "Suppression General" and Peng Jieru as deputy chief of staff, and asked these old subordinates to establish good relations with various ministries and win the hearts and minds of the people.
In order to hide his eyes and ears, he actively carried out military training and established fortifications, and said: "The main point of the communist army's operation is to besiege the city and provide assistance, we cannot send troops at will, we must stick to the areas around Shenyang, Jinzhou, and Changchun, do not act rashly, and wait for the situation to change." ”
In this way, Old Jiang repeatedly sent orders asking him to send troops to relieve the siege for friendly troops, but he did not move at all, so angry that Old Jiang scolded him several times, but he was always silent.
Soon, the People's Liberation Army divided Jinzhou, making it an isolated city. Seeing this, Chiang Kai-shek ordered him to withdraw the main army to Jinzhou to prevent the communist army from entering the pass, and at the critical time, he could also abandon Changchun and Jilin, or withdraw the northeast army to north China.
However, Wei Lihuang said: "No, the communist army is good at besieging the city and providing assistance, if it withdraws to Jinzhou, I am afraid that it will be surrounded by the communist army section by section, and thus annihilated separately." In this way, the old Jiang three orders and five Shen, he has not listened, and even said that he is a big deal to resign.
Old Jiang was very annoyed, and he also lost confidence in Wei Lihuang, and he continued to look for candidates, originally wanting Liao Yaoxiang and Fan Hanjie to serve as commanders, but the seniority and status of these 2 people could not be compared with Wei Lihuang, and it was difficult for the Northeast Army to obey the orders, so Old Jiang could only give up.
On September 12, 1948, the Liaoshen Campaign began, and the Battle of Jinzhou was the first battle between the People's Liberation Army and the Kuomintang army, and it was precisely by taking Jinzhou that the connection between the northeast and north China could be severed and the Northeast Kuomintang army completely annihilated.
However, Lin Biao initially had no plan to attack Jinzhou, and was bent on attacking Changchun, and even sent a telegram to the Central Military Commission saying: "Please chairman sober-minded!" However, Mao Zedong sent more than twenty telegrams asking him to attack Jinzhou.
Lin Biao was not an enemy of Jinzhou, when the nationalist army was compressed into Shenyang, Jinzhou, and Changchun, Shenyang was Wei Lihuang's territory, the strongest force, unable to choose, only from Jinzhou and Changchun.
The reason why Lin Biao chose Changchun was also because his base camp was in Harbin, close to Changchun, and the supply was convenient. At the same time, there was a serious shortage of grain in Changchun, and the Kuomintang army was scattered, and it was far from Jinzhou and Shenyang, and could not be rescued.
At the same time, Lin Biao was also worried that if jinzhou was directly attacked, once the field army in the north China battlefield did not stop the nationalist army and the enemy's reinforcements arrived, our army would inevitably be in a stalemate, and it might be unfavorable for a long time. Jinzhou has 150,000 troops, and if you want to attack the city, you need heavy weapons and huge logistics supplies, otherwise it is easy to fall into trouble.
In contrast, the attack on Changchun had the least losses, and the enemy was weak, so there was not much risk.
But Chairman Mao did not think so; what he wanted was not an ordinary victory, but a great war of annihilation, so as to strike at the enemy's military will and quickly annihilate the entire enemy in the northeast, otherwise the enemy army in the northeast would enter the customs to reinforce the battlefields of North China and Huaihai, which would increase the pressure on the PLA.
Therefore, Chairman Mao sent more than 20 telegrams, repeatedly asking Lin Biao to lead the main army to attack the enemy in Jinzhou. It is reasonable to say that Chairman Mao and Lin Shuai were both outstanding military experts, so why do they disagree on this issue? In fact, it is not that Lin Biao is timid and afraid of things, but that the two have an unequal grasp of information.
In fact, Chairman Mao and Wei Lihuang had many dealings. As early as the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Wei Lihuang worked with the Eighth Route Army, and during the six months of commanding the war in Shanxi, he witnessed the excellent style of the Eighth Route Army and the courage and tenacity of fighting against Japan.
First, the 115th Division won the Pingxingguan Victory, annihilated more than a thousand Japanese troops, and broke the myth that the Japanese army could not fight; then the Eighth Route Army won multiple victories in the Defense of Taiyuan, annihilating 1,800 enemy troops with 300 dead and wounded, all of which shocked Wei Lihuang, and he repeatedly praised the Eighth Route Army as "the most elite unit for reviving the nation." ”
In April 1938, Wei Lihuang went to Luoyang for a meeting, passing through Yan'an, and wanted to take the opportunity to visit, Chairman Mao attached great importance to it, and specially set up a reception team.
On April 17, Wei Lihuang's motorcade came to the outside of Yan'an City, and the people of Yan'an greeted him with the slogan "Cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party" everywhere, and Wei Lihuang was deeply moved, and then he and Chairman Mao had a close conversation and greatly admired the chairman's ideological and strategic intentions.
After this trip to Yan'an, wei Lihuang, in order to pay tribute to Chairman Mao, ignored the doubts of his subordinates and demanded that the Eighth Route Army be given one million rounds of ammunition, 250,000 grenades, and one hundred and eighty boxes of canned beef. For the Eighth Route Army, which is scarce in ammunition, it can be described as a charcoal in the snow.
After that, Wei Lihuang met and exchanged with the communist high-level many times, such as after the Battle of Xinkou, he and Zhou Enlai met and met three times. He also took the initiative to learn the guerrilla tactics and political work methods of the Eighth Route Army, and sent a secretary to express the idea of secretly joining the Communist Party.
At the same time, the telegram sent by Wei Lihuang to Chairman Mao in 1947, so Chairman Mao decided that Wei Lihuang would not send troops to support Jinzhou. However, because Wei Lihuang demanded that he be kept absolutely secret, his relationship with the CCP was known only to the central leaders. Coupled with the fact that Hou Jingru, who was then the commander of the 17th Corps and the commander of the security of Tianjin Tanggu, was a member of the Communist Party, he would not send troops from North China to support Jinzhou.
Because the relationship between Wei Lihuang and Hou Jingru was a core secret, Lin Biao had been fighting outside for many years and was unaware of this relationship, so he was worried that the Kuomintang would send troops from Shenyang and North China to support. However, the chairman concluded that there would not be too many reinforcements from the Kuomintang and would not pose too much of a threat to the People's Liberation Army, so he insisted that Lin Biao attack Jinzhou.
Sure enough, after the Battle of Jinzhou began, Fan Hanjie, an officer defending the city of Jinzhou, hurriedly sent a telegram for help, and the old Jiang saw it and immediately flew to Beiping to take command, and asked Wei Lihuang to send troops to liaoxi to relieve The dilemma of Jinzhou.
However, Wei Lihuang resolutely opposed, saying that Shenyang could only protect itself, believing that the enemy of Jinzhou should be solved by Guannei's troops.
Old Jiang forcibly asked Wei Lihuang to send troops and sent Gu Zhutong, the chief of staff, to supervise the army, but Wei Lihuang said: "I would rather not be this official, and I will not rush to send troops, otherwise the main army in Shenyang will be completely destroyed, and if you don't believe it, we can bet." ”
On October 2, Chiang Kai-shek personally flew to Shenyang and directly ordered Liao Yaoxiang's corps to relieve the danger of Jinzhou. However, behind the scenes, Wei Lihuang demanded that the fuel reserves for Liao Yaoxiang's corps should not exceed 7 days, so that they could not advance quickly.
At the time of the crisis in Jinzhou, Old Jiang asked Fan Hanjie to retreat to Jinxi, but Wei Lihuang ordered: "The Jinzhou defenders remain unchanged, do not affect the whole army." As a result, on October 15, Jinzhou was conquered, and Fan Hanjie's troops were completely annihilated.
On the 18th, lao Jiang came to Shenyang for the third time, seemingly to discuss the war with Wei, but in fact he left Wei Lihuang aside and let Du Yuming command Liao Yaoxiang's corps and Hou Jingru's corps to attack and fight the People's Liberation Army. Sure enough, the 100,000-strong army of the Liao Corps was quickly annihilated by the People's Liberation Army, and a number of generals were captured.
With the liberation of Jinzhou and the uprising of the Changchun Nationalist Army, only a dangerous city remained, Shenyang. Old Jiang was afraid that Wei Lihuang would be captured by the communists, and immediately sent a plane to meet him. On November 2, the defenders of Shenyang revolted, and the northeast ushered in a complete liberation.
On November 26, the elder Jiang issued an order: "Wei Lihuang hesitated and missed a good opportunity, resulting in the loss of the northeast, and immediately removed from his post to investigate." However, because Wei Lihuang was highly qualified and supported many subordinates, the immediate trial would make the military heart confused, and he was placed under house arrest in the Beiping Sun Lianzhong Mansion and sent spies to monitor him.
In mid-December, Wei Lihuang secretly chartered a plane and planned to flee to Hong Kong, but was discovered by the agents, escorted to Nanjing, imprisoned at home, and became a prisoner. Old Jiang also instructed that as long as Wei Lihuang had the slightest movement, he would immediately solve it.
In old Chiang Kai-shek's view, Wei Lihuang had already been plotted against by the CCP, and this person could not stay for a long time, just for fear that someone would gossip and leave him a way to live for the time being.
After that, Wei Lihuang could not go out, could not meet with anyone, could not talk on the phone, that is to say, he was completely isolated from the outside world. As soon as he stepped out of the door, the gendarmes at the door would pick up their guns and aim them at him.
It was not until December 25, 1948, when Xinhua Publishing Published a list of forty-three Kuomintang war criminals, including Wei Lihuang, that Chiang was relieved to conclude that he had nothing to do with the CCP, and that the secret service's supervision of him was noticeably relaxed a lot after this day.
It can be said that it was this practice of the CCP that helped Wei Lihuang a lot, but Wei Lihuang, who was isolated from the world at this time, did not know it. At this time, old Jiang sent Gu Zhutong to persuade him to be ready to go to Taiwan, but he turned the topic to the side every time.
On January 21, 1949, the elder Chiang was forced to step down, and Acting President Li Zongren immediately ordered the restoration of Wei Lihuang's freedom. However, the gendarmes who went outside were evacuated, but the agents inside the house still did not move, and they only obeyed Mao Renfeng's orders.
On January 28, the Chinese New Year's Eve, the agents who were monitoring Wei Lihuang all went home for the Chinese New Year, and Wei Lihuang seized this great opportunity and fled to Shanghai overnight, and boarded a boat to Hong Kong.
After coming to Hong Kong, Wei Lihuang realized that he had become a "war criminal", but he did not care personally, but instead worried about his mother and relatives in Hefei. Wei Lihuang knew that the Communist Party's move must be to get himself out of danger, not really to treat himself as a criminal.
In the eyes of other PLA officers, Wei Lihuang is a war criminal, and whoever can catch him can make a great contribution. Even if you can't catch him, you may use your hands and feet on his relatives.
At that time, Wei Lihuang's mother was already eighty-five years old, and she couldn't stand any fright, and her mother had no one to take care of her at home, even a local petty official would let her mother eat and walk.
Thinking of this, Wei Lihuang hurriedly sent a telegram to Zhu De, commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army, hoping that he could help take care of the old mother.
In the telegram, he wrote: "During my time in Shenyang, I could not help myself and had limited mobility, and I hope that my brother can understand." Now I have successfully escaped the clutches of old Chiang Kai-shek, but it is not peaceful in Hong Kong, where spies are everywhere, and I may die at any time, but at present I still miss my old mother, and there are dozens of children and nephews in the family.
I think that it will not be long before the People's Liberation Army will arrive, and I hope that my brother can help take care of it and protect it, so as not to let it be frightened. ”
The reason why Wei Lihuang sent telegrams to Mr. Zhu was also because he established a deep friendship during the anti-Japanese war. In January 1938, Chiang Kai-shek held a military conference in Luoyang, when the Eighth Route Army sent Zhu De and Peng Dehuai. The CPC deputies contacted Wei Lihuang and said that Commander-in-Chief Zhu De wanted to discuss with him the great anti-Japanese plan.
Wei Lihuang had long wanted to meet the supreme commander of the Eighth Route Army, whom he had admired for many days, and he was also looking forward to meeting him as soon as possible. In this way, within a few days, the two began to meet for the first time.
At that time, Zhu De was dressed simply, but his eyes revealed firmness and fortitude, and in the first meeting, Zhu De told his own experience, which made Wei Lihuang very moved, and he admired The spirit of Mr. Zhu for the revolution.
As they walked, they talked about the anti-Japanese war, and had an in-depth discussion on "guerrilla tactics" and trusted each other more in their conversations.
During the Spring Festival in 1938, when Wei Lihuang, as the deputy commander of the 2nd Theater, came to pay homage to Mr. Zhu Laozong, the two also expressed their desire to cooperate together and resist Japan to the end.
However, to say that Wei Lihuang was deeply impressed by Zhu Laozong is still in a battle in February 1938. At that time, the Japanese army sent 100,000 troops to attack the southwest of Shanxi, but due to the leak of secrets by the Traitors, the Japanese army learned of Wei Lihuang's headquarters and immediately launched a fierce attack on Han Xinling.
Wei Lihuang led his troops to resist for ten days, but because the Japanese army was encircled from the left flank, he could only lead his troops to withdraw and turn to the area around The Nakajō Mountains to evacuate. However, due to the disclosure of the whereabouts of the traitors, Wei Lihuang encountered dangerous situations many times.
Once, when Wei Lihuang first arrived at Bai'erling, he was ambushed by more than 2,000 Japanese troops, and had no choice but to seek support from the Eighth Route Army. Zhu De had only three hundred men around him, but still sent a company (one hundred and fifty men) to block the Japanese army.
The Japanese army had aircraft artillery and was several times higher than the Eighth Route Army, but it was difficult to move under the obstruction of the Eighth Route Army, and finally had no choice but to withdraw. Wei Lihuang was greatly shocked after hearing this, and did not expect that the eighth route army's combat strength was so terrifying.
After that, he was even more impressed with Mr. Zhu, willing to be a younger brother, honoring Mr. Zhu as the eldest brother, and repeatedly sent military uniforms and ammunition to the Eighth Route Army.
Therefore, when he was listed as a war criminal, he first thought of Jude, a good big brother, and hoped that he would treat his mother kindly. Soon, Mr. Zhu received this telegram, and after reading the contents of the letter, he did not know what to do. After all, even if the personal relationship between the two is good, they can't take special care.
Because wei Lihuang helped the Eighth Route Army during the war against Japan, was a close friend of the Communist Party, wanted to join the Communist Party many times, and "released water" during the Liaoshen Campaign, this made it difficult for President Zhu to handle it. He didn't want to use the power in his hands casually, and he didn't want to disappoint Wei Lihuang, an old friend.
Mr. Zhu, who has always been calm and calm, did not hesitate in the face of the enemy's thousands of troops and horses, but repeatedly hesitated on this matter, not knowing what to do.
Subsequently, he and the secretary around him talked about the matter, and the secretary thought that this matter could be big or small, and That Mr. Zhu could privately send someone to greet the locals, or he could use the army to provide protection for Wei Lihuang's mother. However, if the army is sent, I am afraid that it will not be good, and it will set a bad example for the following. But if you don't help, it's not good for personal friendships.
Listening to the secretary's words, Mr. Zhu nodded thoughtfully, but his troublesome chairman quickly saw it, and Chairman Mao said humorously: "What can make us worry About Mr. Zhu?" ”
Mr. Zhu was stunned and said, "How do you know that I have something on my mind?" "Aren't all your troubles written on your face?"
Subsequently, Mr. Zhu told the chairman about Wei Lihuang's original version. The chairman smiled and said, "I thought something was going on, was that it?" It's little things, little things! ”
Subsequently, Chairman Mao said: "Mr. Wei and our party have been friends for more than ten years, and during the War of Resistance Against Japan, he cooperated with our party to resist Japan and supported a large number of military supplies to the Eighth Route Army. Although during his time in the Red Army, he had vigorously encircled and suppressed the Red Army, but at that time he did not know much about the Communist Party, and the ignorant were not guilty! ”
During the liberation period, although Wei Lihuang did not directly help the People's Liberation Army, he did not make enemies of the People's Liberation Army, but instead accelerated the liberation of the entire northeast because of his grudge with old Chiang Kai-shek. That being said, he is not our enemy either. Although we have classified him as a war criminal, it is also to protect him. ”
"In my opinion, since the old mother in his family has no one to take care of, we will send troops to take care of him; on the one hand, this is the attitude of the Communists, and we will not forget the friends who have helped us; on the other hand, we also express our gratitude to Mr. Wei and welcome him back to the mainland at any time."
Considering the issue of Zhu Laozong's identity, Chairman Mao personally ordered that after Liu Deng's army crossed the Yangtze River, a force would be sent to protect Wei Lihuang's mother and not let her be frightened.
At the same time, the chairman also said in a telegram: "I hope to convey it to the Hefei County Government for special protection for Wei Lihuang's family." It was under the care of the chairman that after the liberation of Hefei, Wei Lihuang's mother and family were taken care of.
Soon, Wei Lihuang's relatives told him about this matter, and he was very touched after listening to it, and he did not think that the CCP still trusted him so much, and did not demarcate himself from himself because he listed himself as a "war criminal".
Therefore, when the founding of New China was founded, Wei Lihuang disregarded the Kuomintang agents who were secretly spying on him and sent a congratulatory telegram from Hong Kong:
Chairman Mao of Beijing:
Mr. Huang's wise leadership has enabled the Chinese nation to achieve great rejuvenation, and New China is expected to embark on the road of prosperity and strength, wholeheartedly supported, and sincerely yearned for and blessed.
On March 15, 1955, Wei Lihuang's family returned to the mainland, and excitedly he immediately called Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou, and Vice Chairman Zhu, and Chairman Mao quickly called back, hoping that he would return to Beijing as soon as possible.
On April 25, Wei Lihuang said goodbye to Chairman Mao in Zhongnanhai, who had been away for seventeen years, and the two had a cordial conversation, which made Wei excited. Soon, he served as a standing committee member of the CPPCC Committee and vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, and became a vice-state leader.
In January 1960, Wei Lihuang died of illness at the age of 63, and his body was placed in Babaoshan Cemetery, and the chairman gave him a wreath.