Author: Mo Guyan
As a military general, if you can command a million troops in your lifetime, it will be the glory of history, and there are only a few such people in history. As one of the most recognized figures in Chiang Kai-shek's army, Bai Chongxi had the opportunity to command a million-strong army at the age of 55, but he did not succeed.
According to the mainstream, the reason why Bai Chongxi gave up this coveted command power was because he had no confidence in the Battle of Huaihai. This statement is true, but it is only half true.
In April 1948, Li Zongren defeated Sun Ke and was elected vice president. Before the election, Chiang advised Li to abandon the campaign on the grounds that "you and I are both soldiers, and military personnel come to power to influence the image", and asserted that Li "definitely cannot be elected". Who knew that Li Zongren confidently said that "I will definitely be elected", and indeed he was elected with obvious advantages, which was tantamount to giving Jiang a sullen stick.
Li Zongren's successful campaign made the Gui generals raise their eyebrows and breathe a sigh of relief. Bai Chongxi "broke the news" to all walks of life as a defense chief at the meeting: After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, there were 5 million people in the Nationalist army, of which 40 divisions were US weapons and equipment, and there were also 8 air force brigades. The problem is that with such superior conditions, it only took two years to lose millions of troops.
The deputies roared one after another: "Please kill Chen Cheng to thank the people of the country!" In fact, everyone understands that chen cheng is not responsible for major matters related to the war situation, and Bai Chongxi's remarks are not aimed at Chen Cheng. As for who the spearhead is aimed at, everyone knows it.
On May 25, 1948, Chiang Kai-shek personally talked to Bai Chongxi about how important the strategic position of Central China was, and then the conversation turned sharply: "Brother Jiansheng, you are a military expert with several numbers, and I would like to ask you to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Central China Suppression Campaign, stationed in Wuhan, and commanding the central China military. ”
Since July 1947, when Liu Deng's army broke through the natural danger of the Yellow River and plunged straight into the Dabie Mountains, the entire Central Plains war situation underwent earth-shaking changes. In order to deal with Liu Deng's confidant, Jiang specially sent Bai Chongxi to sit in Jiujiang and command the troops of the five provinces to encircle and suppress Dabie Mountain. After Bai took office, he was quite successful, and for a time Liu Deng was forced to divide his troops, and he repelled the siege of Su Yu and Chen Geng's two major armies in the Battle of Qishan, and became famous for a while.
Jiang's mentality toward Bai Chongxi was very contradictory, on the one hand, he did not dare to let his power be too great, so as not to lose his tail; on the other hand, Bai Shi was indeed a "number of military experts" in Chiang Kai-shek's army, and there was indeed a set of leading soldiers to fight, and if he wanted to win the battle, he had to rely on him. At present, liu deng, Chen Su, and Chen Xie's three-way army is passing through the central plains, and there is a great possibility that it will attack Nanjing and Wuhan; if it is impossible to send capable personnel to actively deal with it, the central plains battlefield will become increasingly eroded, and those who lose the central plains will lose the world.
Oil painting showing Liu Deng Dajun
The problem is that the Central Plains Theater has concentrated the essence of Chiang Kai-shek's army, and commanding such a large army must not only be outstanding in ability, but also have superior prestige. Pulling and pulling, only Bai Chongxi meets these two conditions.
Seeing that Chiang Kai-shek had asked for his own favor, Bai Haosheng was proud of himself, and while expressing his obedience to his orders, he clearly put forward his own proposition: Only one theater can be established in central China in order to concentrate troops. The headquarters should be located in Bengbu to facilitate the gathering of heavy troops between Jianghuai and Huaibei to defend Nanjing.
Militarily, Bai Chongxi's proposal was entirely correct. The two field armies of the People's Liberation Army, Zhongye and Huaye, are gradually converging, and Chiang Kai-shek's army naturally has to concentrate its forces to the greatest extent possible. If the two "suppressors" of central China and Xuzhou are combined into one, Chiang Kai-shek's army will have a million people in the central plains battlefield, and at the very least it will be able to stand in an invincible position.
The question is, can Jiang let Bai Chongxi, an opponent who has been fighting with him all his life, command a million troops? Chiang made it clear that Xuzhou would set up another "Suppression General", while central China would only command the troops in the upper reaches north of the Yangtze River.
In this way, Bai Chongxi was demoted and released, and his rank was equal to that of his former subordinate Liu Zhi, where would he be willing? So he did not comment on Jiang's words.
Bai Chongxi
On June 1, Chiang announced that Bai Chongxi had not made a clear statement as the commander-in-chief of the "suppression" in central China. Bai Chongxi, who was holding his stomach, immediately went to Shanghai to relax and relax, posing as a provocative gesture.
The reason why Chiang Must send Bai to Wuhan was not only out of military necessity, but also Chiang's consistent strategy against the Gui clan.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chiang Kai-shek left Bai Chongxi with him as the deputy chief of staff, transferred Li Zongren to the front line to take charge of the Fifth Theater, and adopted a policy of divide and rule isolation, and Jiang Gui was safe and sound. Now that Li Zongren has become vice president, Bai Chongxi must be released. If Li and Bai were both in Nanjing, it would be possible to repeat the history of "forcing the palace" in those years, and Jiang had to guard against it.
Zhang Qun, an aide, suggested to Jiang that Huang Shaohu be sent as a lobbyist. In terms of status, Bai Chongxi served as Huang Shaohu's chief of staff and was a colleague; on group relations, Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi both acknowledged that Huang Shaohu was still a leading figure in the Gui clan.
Huang Shaohu during the Northern Expedition
After eating a family banquet for Chiang Kai-shek, Huang Promised to persuade Bai Chongxi to go out of the mountains, and soon flew to his mansion on Xiafei Road in Shanghai and invited Bai to his home.
Mr. Huang first acknowledged that he was a lobbyist sent by Chiang, but also said he had other ideas. Huang's view of the situation is rather pessimistic, believing that according to Chiang's command, sooner or later he will have to lose all his capital. Now Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi are both high in Nanjing, seemingly in high positions of power, but they are actually caged birds.
"There are several armies in Guangxi in central China, and if you go out early and take control of it, once the time is ripe, will you not be able to count in one fell swoop by letting the Degong come out to take charge of the government and advocate peace talks?"
Huang Shaohu's remarks opened up Bai Chongxi, so he immediately returned to Nanjing to meet Chiang Kai-shek, and while agreeing to the release, proposed a quid pro quo: Expand the authority and defense area of the "Suppression General" in central China, and he himself was directly responsible to Chiang Kai-shek and was not subject to the control of the chief of defense and the chief of general staff.
Jiang agreed very happily this time, and Bai thus got rid of the shackles of the Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff Headquarters and gained great command and initiative in the military field, which was the greatest gain he had gained by picking and choosing for half a month. On June 28, 1948, Bai Chongxi flew to Hankou and was inaugurated as the commander of the "Suppression General" in central China.
As soon as Bai Chongxi took office, Liu Bocheng gave him a chance to get off the horse- the Central Plains Liberation Army launched an attack on the 15th Appeasement Zone defending Xiangyang, completely annihilating the defenders. While Bai Chongxi was patrolling around to plan for the next battle, Jiang Shi suddenly summoned Bai back to Nanjing with a telegram. Chiang's order surprised everyone: Bai Chongxi immediately went to Bengbu, commanded the two theaters of xuzhou and central China, and began to prepare for the implementation of the "Battle of Xu Beng".
The two theaters of operations merged into one, which was exactly what Bai Chongxi suggested not long ago. At that time, Jiang Shi resolutely disagreed, but why did he change again after a few days?
It is called this time and another time. Just as Jiang Bai and the two were bargaining, Su Yu led the outer line corps of the East China Field Army to cross the Yellow River in the south, conquered Kaifeng in one fell swoop, and then annihilated the Shounian Corps of the district, severely damaged Huang Baitao and Qiu Qingquan's corps, and turned the land of eastern Henan upside down. In order to save the decline, Chiang Kai-shek dispatched troops everywhere and fragmented the entire defense system, resulting in the loss of two important strongholds in Xiangyang and Yanzhou, and the ability of Chiang Kai-shek's army to conduct mobile operations in the Central Plains battlefield had been completely lost.
Huaye's forces conquered Kaifeng in the Battle of Eastern Henan
The Battle of Eastern Henan was a rehearsal of the Liberation Army's launch of a large-scale corps of annihilation, heralding the coming of a larger-scale armageddon. In such a big battle that decided the life and death of The Jiang clan, besides bai Chongxi, who else was Liu Bocheng and Su Yu's opponents?
Bai Chongxi was naturally happy to see that he could command so many troops, and he agreed to this appointment with all his mouth, and immediately asked for a plane to go to Bengbu to inspect the military situation. However, he soon changed his mouth and resolutely refused to take office, his reason was: Bengbu is right in front of Nanjing, the president can completely command himself, why fold the bed frame house, set up another institution?
Why would Bai Chongxi, who had always regarded the army and territory as his life, give up the opportunity to command a million troops? There are two reasons for this:
In the report on the Battle Plan of Xu Beng made by the Second Department of the Ministry of National Defense, the Jiang army in the Xuzhou area was placed on the two lines of Longhai Road and Jinpu Road, rather than relying on both sides of Jinpu Road for offensive defense as originally said. In Bai Chongxi's view, this layout is like an ominous cross, and the two crossed long snakes are extremely easy to be cut off. Bai felt that in his military career, this was the first time that he had encountered such an uncertain armageddon. If defeated, he will become the person responsible and be pushed to the guillotine, even if he is lucky enough to win, the main force of the Gui Army will probably be left.
At Li Zongren's official residence, Bai Chongxi explained to Li Zongren that Jiang had given him unified command of the Battle of Xu Beng. Li Zongren revealed important information: "Ambassador Stuart Leiden repeatedly accused Chiang Kai-shek of being the least beloved of the people in his report, and suggested that he retire and let me take office. ”
Bai Chongxi's eyes lit up, as if he had grasped something more powerful than a million troops, and the next day he flew back to Hankou and once again picked a pick for Jiang.
For this capricious Bai Chongxi, Jiang Shi had no choice but to scold "Niang Xipi", so he had no choice but to withdraw the order, and still set up xuzhou and central China according to the original plan, and Xuzhou's 600,000 troops were still commanded by Liu Zhi. In this way, the "Battle of Xu Beng" had not yet been fought, and Jiang Jun had already lost half of it.
Judging from Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi's intentions, they did not want Jiang Jun to win the Battle of Xu Beng at all. The more the Jiang Junyan clan lost miserably, the greater the chips of the Gui clan, and the downfall of the Jiang clan was not exactly what Li Bai and li Bai had wanted for many years?
After the Battle of Huaihai broke out, Chiang Kai-shek's army was gradually defeated and retreated. Jiang Ordered Bai Chongxi to send Zhang Yi's corps to support Xu Beng's battlefield, but Bai refused to send troops. Jiang had no choice but to send Huang Wei's 12th Corps to aid Xuzhou in the east. When the hundreds of thousands of people and horses of Huang Wei's corps were trapped in the double pile, Jiang urgently ordered Song Xilian's corps to move east, and Bai Chongxi repeatedly objected, and after Gu Zhutong came forward to dredge up, he agreed to let them go. However, when Jiang wanted to transfer the 2nd Army, Bai threatened to resign. Jiang scolded Bai for disobeying the order, but Bai said, "Reasonable orders I obey, unreasonable orders I cannot accept." Jiang Bai broke up from then on.
Huaihai Battlefield
Li and Bai joined forces to dismantle the stage, and finally let Chiang shi step down, and Li Zongren became the "acting president" as he wished. However, there was no end to the eggs under the nest, and half a year later, the Gui family, which spanned half a century, was also completely buried by the torrent of history with the collapse of the Jiang family dynasty.
In 1965, when Li Zongren returned to China, Zhou Gong talked about Bai Chongxi in a meeting with him, and commented on his life: "Bai Chongxi is quite conceited, but in fact has no foresight. ”
In a word, to the point.
On the morning of November 16, 1966, in a mansion on Songjiang Road in Taipei, an old man in pajamas curled up and lay frozen on the floor, his heart stopping beating. The pajamas on the deceased's body were torn into pieces and scratched all over the body, showing that the death was extremely painful. The skin of the deceased was patina-green, apparently not from natural death.
This is the final outcome of Bai Chongxi.
[Deeply cultivate the history of war, carry forward positive energy, soldiers say that all parties are welcome to submit articles, private messages will be restored]