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1. Two different endings
Since Fu Zuoyi's peaceful uprising in Peiping, Yan Xishan , who was trapped in Taiyuan, has realized that his doomsday is not far away.
And outside the city, who was about to drive himself out of Shanxi with his own hands, was Xu Xiangqian, who was only separated from his hometown by a river.
Perhaps at this time Yan Xishan realized that Mao Zedong ordered Xu Xiangqian to rest for five months outside Taiyuan, in fact, it was to stabilize Fu Zuoyi from North China, because Taiyuan's fall was likely to alarm him and lead his army south. Now that Fu Zuoyi has "swept in the Communist Party", he has no way out, and Taiyuan has become an isolated city that is "slaughtered by others".
Yan Xishan has a strong local tendency to employ people on weekdays. Chiang Kai-shek's employers are nothing more than "protection, Huang, Zhejiang, and Yi", but Yan Xishan will only use the pure fellow villagers of his hometown Wutai as their confidants, so-called "can speak Wutai words and hang the sword around his waist."
"King of Shanxi" Yan Xishan
Then why didn't he recruit Xu Xiangqian under his command? The reason is very simple - the age difference between the two of them is 18 years old, and the two families are both poor and rich. Moreover, when Yan Xishan became a prince who held the military and political power in Shanxi, Xu Xiangqian was still studying in a private school. At that time, he naturally had no idea about Xu Xiangqian's military talent.
It was not until Xu Xiangqian became the commander-in-chief of the Red Fourth Front Army that Yan Xishan realized that such a person who was enough to be equal to him appeared in a place separated from his home, and he felt a little regretful and sighed.
At that time, it was impossible for Yan Xishan to recruit Xu Xiangqian again, because Xu Xiangqian had already reached his opposite and was extremely disappointed with him.
, and Xu Xiangqian also believed that military commanders like Yan Xishan who only appoint their hometown people were just local warlords with the national army and were destined to be unsuccessful, and were incomparable to Mao Zedong.
Facing Xu Xiangqian's step-by-step pressing, Yan Xishan, who is extremely attached to his hometown in Shanxi and his power status, put on a stance of "fighting to the end".
Yan Xishan learned from German doctors that in , some German officers embedded potassium cyanide in their teeth in the second world , and they died immediately after biting it, without any pain.
So he quickly ordered people to imitate potassium cyanide day and night, and produced a lot of copycat versions of water-agent poisons.
Yan Xishan was having a meal
Then, Yan Xishan put a lot of small bottles of poison on the table in front of many Chinese and foreign journalists, and even airlifted a coffin for himself from Pei .
"I am determined to live and die with Taiyuan, and have ordered the pharmaceutical factory to create suicide potion. If Taiyuan is lost, I will drink this poison with my subordinates and die together!" Yan Xishan vowed everyone, and he also distributed 500 bottles of poison to his base members in Taiyuan City, called "Taiyuan Five Hundred Perfects."
American journalists immediately took this "tragic" moment and placed it in Time magazine.
But those who are familiar with Yan Xishan will never believe that he will be successful when Taiyuan City is broken. Those who could not even defend Niangzi Pass and Xinkou back then probably did not have this kind of courage. In Mao Zedong's eyes, as long as Yan Xishan is in Taiyuan, Taiyuan will have a chance to be peacefully liberated; but if he is not in Taiyuan, then his men, such as Sun Chu, will stick to the last moment.
Taiyuan refused all peace talks, so just as a million powerful troops went to Jiangnan, more than 1,300 cannons used by Xu Xiangqian to attack Taiyuan were deployed.
Just one day later, Taiyuan was gloriously liberated, and the history of the Jinsui Army, which had been entrenched in Shanxi for decades, ended here.
Sure enough, Yan Xishan ran away before the general attack was launched, and he didn't use any bottle of those poisons.
The enemy officers captured in the Taiyuan Battle
However, those 500 people would not really commit suicide foolishly, but there were Yan Xishan's sister Yan Huiqing , Liang Huazhi, acting chairman of the provincial government, several personnel from the Special Police Constitutional Command Department and the Japanese war criminals he used to play on the scene to "sincerely sacrificed their lives", and used their lives to foolishly become Yan Xishan's capital to gain political support.
"Five Hundred Perfects in Taiyuan" is simply a ridiculous farce.
When Taiyuan was liberated, when Xu Xiangqian stepped onto this already scarred city and remembered the person he defeated with more than a year of hard battles, he might have a very complicated mood.
Although one became the marshal of the Republic and the other lived on an isolated island, as a fellow villager, Xu Xiangqian did not particularly hate Yan Xishan, and even a little grateful to him.
2. Xu Xiangqian and Yan Xishan
Yan Xishan, who ruled Shanxi Province for 38 years, and Xu Xiangqian, who later became the marshal of the New China, are undoubtedly the two best talents in Shanxi Province during the Republic of China. Since Yan Xishan led the Taiyuan Uprising in his 20s and became the governor of Shanxi, he has always taken charge of the military and political power of Shanxi. The Jinsui Army he established was one of the most powerful local armed forces in the Republic of China.
History does not deny Yan Xishan's achievements in Shanxi. He issued Jin Chao, built Tongpu Railway , and implemented education reform... Shanxi became a model province of the Republic of China under his rule. The compulsory education rate of ordinary people actually reached 72% - this was simply unbelievable at the time.
Shanxi children who received education
, and Marshal Xu Xiangqian is a more dazzling figure than Yan Xishan. His military career is legendary. Although the Jinsui Army became famous during the War of Resistance Against Japan, the famous generals who came out were not good. Not to mention the confidant generals under Yan Xishan, such as Zhao Chengshou, Wang Jingguo, , and Sun Chu, the later powerful Fu Zuoyi, Chen Changjie, etc., are still very different from Xu Xiangqian.
Although Xu Xiangqian and Yan Xishan's hometown are only separated by a river, the two had no intersection at the beginning.
When Xu Xiangqian entered a private school at the age of 10, 28-year-old Yan Xishan was already the governor of Shanxi.
Later, Xu Xiangqian was admitted to the Shanxi Provincial National Normal School founded by Yan Xishan, and the two officially had some intersection.
This school is called Normal School, but it is actually full of military flavor. The faculty and staff are not normal teachers, but instructors selected by Yan Xishan from officers above the army battalion level. The so-called intersection means that Yan Xishan comes to the school for inspection once a week.
In this school, Xu Xiangqian gradually came into contact with some advanced ideas. On the one anniversary of the May Fourth Movement, Xu Xiangqian also participated in a parade organized by students.
But Yan Xishan, the founder of the school, strongly opposed the march and even sent troops to suppress it.
Yan Xishan's Jinsui Army
Yan Xishan's attitude made Xu Xiangqian separate from him for the first time. He had always thought that Yan Xishan set up schools and trained military talents in Shanxi to overthrow reactionary rule, but why did he ban such just marchs that accused reactionary rule?
Little do you know that Yan Xishan’s primary requirement for education is: only students are allowed to behave properly, and no revolution is allowed!
For Xu Xiangqian, who has revolutionary ideals in his heart and vows to transform China but has a stubborn temper, this concept is undoubtedly contrary to him.
After graduating from the normal school, Xu Xiangqian became an elementary school teacher. At that time, the fire of revolution had already ignited in his heart. At that time, the humiliation of China by Paris Peace Conference was far from dissipated. Xu Xiangqian often looked for opportunities to tell students what was happening now, mobilizing the students' excited patriotism.
What awaits him is not a promotion and salary increase, but a cold dismissal letter.
Xu Xiangqian knew that the dismissal book was nominally from the school, but in fact it seemed to be given to him by Yan Xishan himself.
Because in Shanxi where he ruled, no one was allowed to instill this concept in children.
When Xu Xiangqian received the dismissal letter, he asked the visitor: "What am I telling to the students? Why aren't you allowed to say this?" He also wanted to ask Yan Xishan in person.
When he was young, Xu Xiangqian
From then on, Xu Xiangqian saw through the true face of Yan Xishan in the name of revolution, and in Shanxi, this person was a complete "fake revolutionary".
At the same time, this is destined that Xu Xiangqian will never be able to get together with Yan Xishan in this life.
Xu Xiangqian was discouraged by Yan Xishan and left the school without looking back. Then he packed his bags and went south to apply for Whampoa Military Academy .
After becoming the first student of the Whampoa Military Academy, Xu Xiangqian officially embarked on the revolutionary path.
After Mr. Sun Yat-sen passed away, Xu Xiangqian saw that he could no longer stay in the Whampoa Military Academy controlled by Chiang Kai-shek, so he discussed his future prospects with several fellow Shanxi fellow villagers.
At that time, someone suggested going back to Shanxi to join Yan Xishan, but Xu Xiangqian refused repeatedly: "You can't take the step of resigning to Chiang Kai-shek, and you can't take the step of resigning to Yan Xishan when you go back to Shanxi to join Yan Xishan. Yan Xishan is very cunning. At the beginning, he might use you to do things for him. When you use enough, he can easily kick you away or kill you secretly."
Since Xu Xiangqian questioned Yan Xishan's concept in Shanxi, he has been observing him secretly and concluded very early: Although he is a fellow villager with "a dressed in a row", he and Yan Xishan are definitely not the same person!
Xu Xiangqian joined the 2nd Army of the National Army. At the beginning, he was preparing to roll up his sleeves and do something big, but after a long time, he found out what kind of " National Army " is this? It is completely different from the bandits. The officers and soldiers do not know how to train all day long, but only know how to plunder the people's wealth.
As a result, the National Army was defeated very miserably by the warlord troops of Zhang Zuolin and Wu Peifu.
Beayang warlords machine gun squad
1925, Xu Xiangqian left the National Army again to find his own way out. During that period, he also went home for 10 days and found that Yan Xishan's troops were no different from the National Army, and he ignored the lives of the people. Before leaving, he said to his father Xu Maozhun: "As long as it is a warlord team, I will not do it. I don't believe in the troops that have not sought happiness for the people!"
In 1927, Xu Xiangqian officially joined the Communist Party of China, and since then he and Yan Xishan have completely parted ways.
After that, Xu Xiangqian was in the water in the Communist Party, from the Chief of Staff of the 4th Division of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army to the commander-in-chief of the Red Fourth Front Army, commanding a series of battles, smashing the Kuomintang's third "encirclement and suppression" of the Hubei, Henan and Anhui Soviet Area.
It was at that time that Yan Xishan learned about Xu Xiangqian's name for the first time, and what he couldn't believe was that such a meritorious military genius lived on the other side of his river.
, who believes in "who can speak Wutai words and hangs on the waist of the sword", may beat his chest and stamp his feet: "Why haven't I discovered this talent long ago? Why can't I recruit him under my command in time?"
This is the time and space misalignment that often occurs in history, and can also be called "dark under the light".
However, this does not mean that Yan Xishan has never won him over. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held an enlarged meeting of the Politburo in Luochuan . Xu Xiangqian was elected as a member of the Revolutionary Military Committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and later appointed as the deputy commander of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army.
Xu Xiangqian during the Eighth Route Army
After the Luochuan Conference ended, the 115th Division and the 129th Division, which belonged to the Second War Zone, rushed to Shanxi for the War of Resistance. Yan Xishan was the commander-in-chief of the Second War Zone and Xu Xiangqian's fellow villager, so Xu Xiangqian was sent to participate in various negotiations with him.
So, Xu Xiangqian returned to his hometown in Shanxi, which he had been away from for 12 years.
With the help of Xu Xiangqian, the negotiations between the Eighth Route Army and Yan Xishan went very smoothly, and Yan Xishan also admired Xu Xiangqian very much.
1925, Xu Xiangqian went home to stay for 10 days because he hated the warlords' melee.This time, I had the opportunity to visit my relatives again. Many people around me advised Xu Xiangqian to go home to see him. Moreover, his hometown, Yong'an Village, Wutai County, Xinzhou, is less than half a day away from Taiyuan. Going home to visit my relatives basically doesn't delay any trouble.
At first, Xu Xiangqian felt that military affairs were busy, and now he was not suitable to go back to see his family, but the deputy commander-in-chief Peng Dehuai told him:
"In the future, we will start working in Wutai Mountain District. You will just expand our influence when you go back. You have been away from home for so long, and it is reasonable to go home to visit relatives. You can't let others say that we are not merciful! Yan Xishan attaches great importance to the relationship between fellow villagers, and he will not pretend to make things difficult for us. If we have enough people here, you can go back with confidence."
After Peng Dehuai said that, he also gave Xu Xiangqian some money and asked him to buy something for his family.
3. "Xiangqian, it seems you are on the right path!"
Three days before the Mid-Autumn Festival in 1937, Xu Xiangqian got up early. Just as he was preparing to get on the road with the guards, he suddenly found a man in a Jinsui military uniform standing by a car waiting. Needless to say, this person must have been sent by Yan Xishan.
Yan Xishan (left)
"Deputy Commander Xu, Chief Yan knew that you were going back to your hometown to visit relatives, so he specially prepared a car for transportation," the man said, "And there will be a special person escorting you all the way, and confessing that you must let you go home safely."
Xu Xiangqian knew very well that Yan Xishan wanted to win him over, but at that time, Xu Xiangqian had formed a firm revolutionary ideal under Chairman Mao's command. Although he was a fellow villager of Yan Xishan, he was destined to be different from him and not seeking each other.
However, this did not prevent him from accepting Yan Xishan's kindness.
Xu Xiangqian "swaggers" and heads into the car and heads straight towards Mount Wutai. After driving all the way, when the car passed Dongye Town, the rest were all crooked mountain roads. Xu Xiangqian got off with the guards and walked. Seeing the village scene in front of him becoming more and more familiar, Xu Xiangqian's heart became more and more excited, and even talked endlessly about his interesting childhood stories to the guards, which was so happy.
A long way from home, he saw an old man walking with a big pocket on his back, and he looked very troubled.
The old man was Xu Xiangqian's father Xu Maozhun.
12 years later, I saw my old father with gray hair again, and Xu Xiangqian's eyes were filled with tears.
He hurriedly walked forward, snatched the pocket of the old man's back, and said, "Big (i.e. dad), I am Xiangqian, I'm back."
Xu Xiangqian was riding a horse
Xu Maojun was stunned for a few seconds when he heard the word "Xiangqian", and then tears began to rise in his eyes: "Xiangqian, is it really you?"
Xu Xiangqian looked at his much older father and nodded in tears.
The news that Xu Xiangqian returned to his hometown quickly spread throughout the village. The deputy commander of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army returned home in glory and caused a sensation. The villagers nearby wanted to witness this big man who was as famous as "Yan Laoxi". Xu Xiangqian's home was soon filled with people.
Xu Xiangqian shook hands with the villagers, hugged them, and answered their questions one by one. The atmosphere at home was as lively as the New Year. Fortunately, there are no Japanese and puppet troops nearby, otherwise Xu Xiangqian's personal safety would have become a problem.
It is worth mentioning that Xu Maozhun, who is over 70 years old, was a former scholar in the Qing Dynasty. He was considered a well-educated person in the local area, but he was by no means a pedantic person and was very concerned about China's revolutionary cause.
Rather than saying that he cares about the revolutionary cause, he cares about his son's safety.
Xu Xiangqian has been away from home for 12 years. Xu Maozhun has maintained the habit of reading newspapers in the past 12 years, especially paying attention to the trends of the Red Army and the Eighth Route Army. He also knows that his son became a high-ranking official of the Communist Party.
Xu Xiangqian was looking at the map
This time when he went home, Xu Maozhun said something heart-to-heart to his son:
"Xiangqian, it seems that you are on the right path!"
There is no doubt that his father still calls him by his past name.
It’s a pity that Xu Xiangqian’s mother Zhao Jinluan died three years ago.
Xu Xiangqian's sister told him that since he went south to Guangzhou to apply for Huangpu , the basket he made up back then has been kept at home. When Zhao Jinluan missed her son, she would cry when she looked at the basket. Until she died, she did not see her son. This is a great regret for visiting relatives.
Amid the laughter, an old lady squeezed to Xu Xiangqian and said, "Let me take a look. People say you have red hair, blue eyes, and pig's mouth, and you have become a 'bandit'. Is this true?"
Xu Xiangqian laughed. This statement obviously comes from the propaganda of the Kuomintang that slandered the Communist Party, so she joked with the old man: "Then you still come to see me, aren't you afraid that I will eat you?"
The people in the room were amused and laughed.
Comrade Xu Xiangqian's former residence
The aunt who loved Xu Xiangqian the most looked at her nephew. Although he had become a high-ranking official of the Communist Party, this high-ranking official was not as warm as ordinary people, so she said, "It's getting cold. Let's see how you spend the winter with your clothes? Aunt make you a pair of cotton pants!"
Xu Xiangqian smiled and said, "Aunt, I'm afraid you can't afford it!"
aunt was surprised: "No matter how poor you are, you can still take out a pair of cotton pants."
"Aunt, we are the Eighth Route Army, with tens of thousands of people," Xu Xiangqian said meaningfully, "I wear the same clothes as them, you have to make tens of thousands of cotton pants! If you want to do it, you have to do it together. You can't just wear it warm alone. How can this be done?"
aunt then understood the nephew's painstaking efforts.
In later memoirs, Xu Xiangqian specifically described the scene of going home this time, and his words were touching.
4. "He values homesickness!"
When the Communist Party and the Kuomintang reactionaries were fighting, many of the families of early leaders of the Communist Party of China were persecuted, and even Mao Zedong's wife Yang Kaihui was not spared. The reactionary warlord He Jian brutally killed her.
The worst one is undoubtedly Xu Haidong, who later became the founding general. His family has 27 close relatives and 39 distant relatives, all of whom were killed by the Kuomintang, almost exterminated. In order to save their lives, other relatives who survived by chance changed their names and surnames, so that Xu Haidong did not find a single relative after the liberation of the country.
Xu Haidong
But in Xu Xiangqian's hometown of Wutai, Yan Xishan, the "King of Shanxi", sent a message: "No matter what, you must not disturb Xu Xiangqian's family." Moreover, in these 12 years, Xu Xiangqian's father has also received a lot of help from local villagers under Yan Xishan's notes. During the Agrarian Revolution, many Red Army families were affected in time, but the Xu family was still calm and lived and worked in peace.
In fact, Xu Xiangqian was very nervous before returning to his hometown. He was very worried that his family would be implicated by him and that Yan Xishan would persecute them.
But since he saw his father for the first time, his hanging heart was relieved.
After Xu Xiangqian sent off the guest, he asked his family about how they had been doing over the past ten years. His sister said that everything was normal at home and told him a story:
Since Xu Xiangqian embarked on the revolutionary road, Yan Xishan has never come to his house to cause trouble. However, once Chiang Kai-shek actually sent two adjutants to ask about Xu Xiangqian's situation: "Do you know Xu Xiangqian's whereabouts? Do you need help?"
Xu Mao replied in a ruling manner: "Since my son was admitted to the Whampoa Military Academy, he didn't know where he went, and there was no news. I was about to ask you Principal Jiang to ask for someone!"
Xu Xiangqian's father's words made the two adjutants laugh and cry, so he had to leave in disappointment.
After listening to this story, Xu Xiangqian looked at all the surviving relatives again, and even felt a little grateful to Yan Xishan: "I have been away from home for 12 years of revolution. Yan Xishan did not hurt my family. He is a person who values homesome!"
The elderly Xu Shuai
Yan Xishan is not like He Jian, the butcher who cruelly killed Yang Kaihui, nor is he like Chiang Kai-shek who slaughtered the entire Xu Haidong clan in a crazy manner. In Yan Xishan's concept, whether it is different political views or his masters, it cannot be a reason to take his anger on his family.Although
is a local warlord who engages in "fake revolution", Yan Xishan uses his care for Xu Xiangqian's family to stick to the final bottom line of being a human being.
Even though he committed a crime against the Communist Party, Yan Xishan was still a kind person after all to the people and things on this land of Shanxi.
Yan Xishan values the style of his fellow villagers, and Xu Xiangqian still respects it very much.
However, in the western Shanxi Incident two years later, Yan Xishan was afraid of the growing Eighth Route Army and ordered the Shanxi Sui army to attack the rear hospital of the Eighth Route Army and killed more than 1,000 democratic government cadres and Eighth Route Army wounded in six counties including Xi County, Shanxi Province.
It's not over yet. Sun Chu, a general of Yan's army, colluded with the Japanese and puppet troops, killed more than 600 officers and soldiers led by the Communist Party, and kidnapped more than 1,000 people. Even Wang Liang, the editor of the Xinsheng Newspaper, the Tongmenghui, was buried alive.
As a prince, Yan Xishan's style of conduct is really despicable. In one sentence, it is - "Take great things and cherish your life, and forget your life when you see small profits" .
It can be seen from this that Yan Xishan is a purely "local person". He will not distinguish between "memberly righteousness" and "national festival", but only care about his own acre and three-part land, and has no overall view of the family, country and the world. He took care of his fellow villager Xu Xiangqian's family from all walks of life, but was cruel and ruthless to the Communist Party where he was. He did his best to be a fellow villager and was so confused on the national festival. Such a person may be a good fellow villager, but he is a failed local leader.
Old Yan Xishan
On the Taiyuan battlefield in 1949, Xu Xiangqian, as the commander, did not show mercy to Yan Xishan because he preserved his family, because Xu Xiangqian was a real revolutionary and had the world in mind. This is the most different thing between him and Yan Xishan and the place where Yan Xishan is not as good as him.
In the face of national justice, Xu Xiangqian performed his duties as a soldier.
No matter how powerful Yan Xishan, who values rural feelings, is, when there is a huge change in Chinese history, such people will surely be submerged in the torrent of the times.
. His little feelings of attachment to the countryside are just a few highlights in his failed life, and they can't resist the national justice.
Xu Xiangqian evaluates Yan Xishan’s hometown feelings. The author believes that Yan Xishan is home to success and failure.
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