On September 27, 1955, the first award ceremony of the three armed forces of the New China Navy, Army and Air Force was officially held. Beijing immediately became the focus of attention of the whole world. Founding generals gathered together, and starry skyward .
Major media around the world are rushing to report, and important sections of major newspapers the next day were all left to this important news, allowing people all over the world to appreciate the style of founding generals.
At that time, an Hong Kong old man paid attention to this grand occasion through the newspaper as soon as possible. When he saw the ten marshals of the New China in the newspaper, he was in a complicated mood and indifferent expression. He couldn't help but sigh: "If I were following the other person back then, I would be the leader of the marshal!"
What is the identity of the old man? Why did he sigh so much?
"Iron Army" commander
The old man's name is Zhang Fakui, who was the former general of the Kuomintang army, and also a famous general of the Northern Expedition and anti-Japanese general. Even so, among the founding generals with brilliant stars, all of them have made great contributions. Why did he claim that he had the opportunity to become the leader of the marshal? This starts with Zhang Fakui's ups and downs in life.
Zhang Fakui is a Cantonese native . His parents are both ordinary farmers and he can only make a living by cultivating a few acres of thin fields. Originally, he had no chance to study with Zhang Fakui's family conditions, but he was very lucky that he happened to catch up with the reading trend that set off nationwide after the failure of the 1898 Reform Movement.
As this tide of the times swept across the country, many educated teachers have also set up private schools in the countryside. For a time, private schools sprung up in rural areas like mushrooms after a rain, allowing many children from poor families to gain valuable study opportunities and become the beneficiaries of this trend.
Zhang Fakui In this historical context, also got the opportunity to study , put down bullwhip , walked into a private school, and started learning from literacy with the teacher. This year, Zhang Fakui was 8 years old. Although he started late, fortunately, his talent and his study progress far exceeded that of his children of the same age. After three years of study, he successfully entered the County Higher Primary School and continued to study.
1911, Zhang Fakui was already a 15-year-old man. He was active by nature. He liked to go out to swim and take a bath with his classmates during his studies. Once, when Zhang Fakui and his classmate Li Jun left school to swim together, Li Jun drowned.
The only two of them were swimming together at that time. Zhang Fakui naturally had no connection with the death of classmate Li Jun. Knowing that after returning to school, he would inevitably be implicated by Li Jun's death, Zhang Fakui simply decided to leave the school and went away from Guangzhou . Zhang Fakui had no relatives in Guangzhou. For the sake of livelihood, he arrived in Guangzhou and worked as an apprentice in a dyeing factory for a while.
After that, Zhang Fakui was unwilling to learn dyeing and weaving every day, so he left the dyeing factory and resolutely joined the army. When Zhang Fakui joined the army, it was a chaotic time. He actively cultivated military talents in the army, and there were many opportunities for young people to develop. Because Zhang Fakui is educated, he quickly stood out in the army.
1912, Zhang Fakui was admitted to Guangdong Army Primary School and was able to continue his studies. During his school days, Zhang Fakui, , had frequent contact with members of , Tongmenghui , and felt deeply like-minded, so he joined , Tongmenghui . Zhang Fakui was smart since childhood, and after going to school, he was diligent and studious, and gradually became the best among his peers.
In the year, Zhang Fakui was really glorious when he applied to the Wuchang Third Army Middle School. A wonderful article he wrote was still an outstanding work even if it was placed among the works of 3,000 classmates. After several years of study, Zhang Fakui achieved success in his studies. After graduation, he joined the Guangdong Army and served as the platoon leader when he first joined the army.
Zhang Fakui was like a fish in the army, and when fighting, he was like a tiger going down the mountain. Because of his outstanding performance in the Second Battle against Yuan in , he was valued by Mr. Sun Yat-sen and became his close attendant. After that, Zhang Fakui participated in the Battle of Guangdong and Guangxi as a lieutenant.
Guizhou warlords have strong combat effectiveness and have the advantage of defending the city. When the Guangdong Army fought with Guizhou Army, they did not gain any advantage.This situation occurred when the Guangdong army attacked the city of Huizhou. The Guangdong army attacked fiercely on the front, but Huizhou city was high and thick, easy to defend and difficult to attack. The Guangdong army's fierce attack never worked.
Zhang Fakui saw this and recommended himself, finding more than ten warriors who were not afraid of death to form a siege suicide squad, with Zhang Fakui taking the lead in charge . Zhang Fakui was full of energy and was well versed in tactics. He found the weaknesses of the defenders and led his team to take the opportunity to climb the city wall, engage in close combat with the enemy, and tore a hole in the enemy's defense line.
After more than two hours of fierce fighting, the suicide squad led by Zhang Fakui broke through the defense line at the south gate of Huizhou. The main force of the Guangdong Army took advantage of the situation and captured Huizhou City in one fell swoop. Since then, Zhang Fakui made military achievements one after another, and his prestige in the army has grown increasingly. He was gradually promoted to the base camp of the Presidential Palace Battalion Commander of the Third Battalion of the Guard Regiment, shouldering the important task of protecting Mr. Sun Yat-sen's safety.
1922, Chen Jiongming led his troops to launch a mutiny and extended an olive branch to Zhang Fakui, who took office as an important position. In order to dismantle Sun Yat-sen's team from within, Chen Jiongming was sinister and specially invited Weng Shiliang to write a handwritten letter to Zhang Fakui to persuade him to surrender. Weng Shiliang was once the principal of Army Primary School and had a teacher-student friendship with Zhang Fakui. . Chen Jiongming asked him to help surrender Zhang Fakui, but in fact he played a powerful "love card".
Zhang Fakui has always respected his teacher and has always respected Weng Shiliang. But this time, after receiving Weng Shiliang's letter, he was unmoved. In his reply to Weng Shiliang, he only wrote eight words: "The teacher's kindness is unforgettable, and he is unforgivable to obey his destiny."
Obviously, Zhang Fakui was not confused in the face of major issues. He flatly rejected Weng Shiliang's "good intention" and vowed to defend Mr. Sun Yat-sen to the death. Chen Jiongming was so angry that he led his army to launch a fierce attack on Zhang Fakui's troops. Zhang Fakui has been fighting hard and vowing not to surrender. Seeing that he was outnumbered, he led his troops to retreat into the Shixing Immortal Cave and used the terrain to continue to fight against Chen Jiongming, and held on for half a year.
Zhang Fakui had no good feelings for the traitors. After this battle, Zhang Fakui and Chen Jiongming's Liangzi were completely formed, and the two of them were in the same situation since then.
After Mr. Sun Yat-sen's death, of the Guangdong Army First Division and the Presidential Office Guard Regiment. Zhang Fakui entered the merger sequence as the commander of the guard regiment. After adaptation, he became the commander of the Independent Brigade. He held military power in his hands and participated in the Second Eastern Expedition .
During this Eastern Expedition, Zhang Fakui encountered Chen Jiongming's troops again on the battlefield. There was a rift between the two. At this moment, they were particularly jealous when they met, and a fierce battle broke out. Although Zhang Fakui's military quality is higher than Chen Jiongming, Chen Jiongming has a strong force and is 20 times more powerful than Zhang Fakui. has many enemies and we are inferior to us, so Zhang Fakui can only choose to stick to it.
After learning from the last lesson, Chen Jiongming did not have any illusions about recruiting Zhang Fakui. He was determined to take the opportunity to eliminate Zhang Fakui's troops, so he ordered the entire army to attack fiercely, putting great pressure on Zhang Fakui who was defending the defense line. But Zhang Fakui was in command and the soldiers tried their best to resist for a whole day.
Chen Jiongming's troops could not capture it for a long time. Zhang Fakui's reinforcements arrived. Under the attacks inside and outside, the situation on the battlefield suddenly changed. Zhang Fakui's troops were attacked for a day, and he was full of anger. At this time, he was released, so he was naturally extremely fierce. On the other hand, Chen Jiongming's troops failed to work for a long time and had already shown signs of fatigue. Under the attack of Zhang Fakui and reinforcements, they were quickly defeated.
After Zhang Fakui's troops achieved a difficult victory in this battle, they seemed to have been tempered. Whether it was Zhang Fakui or the soldiers under Zhang Fakui at that time, they all had the spirit of fighting to the death with the enemy after this battle, laying a solid foundation for later becoming the "Iron Army".
1926, Zhang Fakui, who served as the commander of the 12th Division, led his troops to participate in the Northern Expedition . During this battle, Zhang Fakui performed very bravely, and with Ye Ting's independent regiment and the 10th Division, forcing Wu Peifu's 2 units to retreat repeatedly until Tingsi Bridge. Until this time, Wu Peifu still wanted to rely on the geographical environment surrounded by water on three sides of Tingsi Bridge to be defended and wait for assistance.
But in Ye Ting's independent regiment, all of them were Communist soldiers who could withstand the test. They charged bravely during the battle and were not afraid of sacrifice. Wu Peifu's troops only held on for a few hours before they were broken through the defense line. From then on, the Northern Expedition Army was unstoppable. After Zhang Fakui led his troops to conquer Wuchang , he returned to his troops to annihilate Sun Chuanfang and Xie Hongxun , and cooperated with the Seventh Army to capture Nanchang .
In the Northern Expedition, Zhang Fakui made great achievements and had a greater prestige in the army. In January 11927, was promoted to the commander of the Fourth Army , officially becoming the leader of the "Iron Army" of the National Revolutionary Army. At this time, Zhang Fakui's classmate and chau Ye Ting became his subordinate. Later, under his appointment, Ye Ting served as the commander of the 24th Division.
hesitated and missed the opportunity. The reason why the Fourth Army was able to win the title of "Iron Army" was that Ye Ting's Independent Regiment was definitely the first merit . Zhang Fakui personally admitted this, so he promoted Ye Ting to the commander of division. After the second Northern Expedition began, Zhang Fakui also left Ye Ting's 24th Division in Wuhan, which shows his trust in Ye Ting.
Why did Zhang Fakui trust Ye Ting so much and hand over his important rear base to Ye Ting? Because Zhang Fakui has a deep understanding of Communist Party members, understands their military capabilities, and believes in Ye Ting's character. He once expressed his views on the Communist Party members and Ye Ting in person:
"I admire the fighting spirit and enthusiasm of Communist Party members very much... I have never doubted the courage and good fighting of Communist Party members. I have never questioned the reuse of Ye Ting..."
In April 1927, Chiang Kai-shek completely tore off the mask of hypocrisy, held up the butcher knife to the revolutionaries, and made a chilling move. Zhang Fakui hated Chiang Kai-shek's actions very much and even wanted to attack Chiang Kai-shek. However, due to the situation at that time, he had to continue to complete the Northern Expedition.
After Zhang Fakui left Chiang Kai-shek, he got closer and closer to Wang Jingwei , but Wang Jingwei is not a good man, but just another ambitious man other than Chiang Kai-shek. Soon, Wang Jingwei also betrayed the revolution , which made Zhang Fakui difficult for a moment. Although he failed to make up his mind to get rid of Wang Jingwei, he did not stand on his side. During his participation in various actions that were unfavorable to the revolutionaries, he still retained a trace of kindness to his former robes.
As Jiang and Wang betrayed the revolution one after another, the Communist Party members were expelled one after another, and eventually most of them joined the 4th Army, 11th Army, and 20th Army. That year, Li Zongren, , instigated Zhang Fakui, saying that his Fourth Army had the most Communist Party, so he asked him to be more careful to avoid not being able to control the army in the future.
But Zhang Fakui was not instigated by him and told Li Zongren firmly: "Ye Ting and those little fellow villagers have been together since childhood, as close as brothers. The relationship between me and Ye Ting is close, Ye Ting will not make things difficult for me ." Li Zongren did not give up and instigated a few more words, but Zhang Fakui had a firm attitude and always believed in Ye Ting.
From this point of view, Zhang Fakui has great trust in Ye Ting and the qualities of Communist Party members. Instead, he was wary of the Kuomintang people, so he was not instigated by Li Zongren. Judging from the origins of Zhang Fakui and the Communist Party, he had the opportunity to join the Communist Party back then. Once this decision was made, his qualifications in the party would inevitably be extremely high.
When the Kuomintang attacked the revolutionaries, Zhang Fakui used his power to protect many people, including Ye Ting, He Long, Ye Jianying and others. Moreover, the situation of Zhang Fakui helping Communist Party members was not a secret at that time. Wuhan once circulated this passage:
"Cheng Kai-shek massacred the Communist Party, Zhu Peide sent the Communist Party, and Zhang Fakui hosted the Communist Party."
At the same time, Zhang Fakui had friendships with Chen Geng, Chen Yi , Xu Xiangqian, Su Yu , Lin Biao and others. These people have served in the army led by Zhang Fakui, and Zhu De was also invited to serve as the leader of Zhang Fakui's officer regiment. It is precisely because Zhang Fakui has such a deep connection with the Communist Party that when the separation of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party became inevitable, the Communist Party members had tried to join Zhang Fakui.
But Zhang Fakui, who acted decisively on the battlefield, became indecisive and hesitant when facing the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. This can be seen from his behavior of sheltering and protecting Communist Party members after he later defected to the Kuomintang. Zhang Fakui's attitude was always in a state of almost tangled .
Under the same situation as the two sides, how can they allow such a neutral position to occur? Zhang Fakui's hesitation made his situation worse and worse. In fact, Zhang Fakui was very clear about his situation at that time. He once commented on himself like this:
"...My interest in military is far higher than that of politics."
As Zhang Fakui's position gradually stabilized, the Communists' expectations for him became lower and lower. Ye Ting, Nie Rongzhen and others expressed the following view during the Jiujiang talk meeting: "Relying on Zhang Wei's leader's return to Guangdong movement, there is little possibility of success."
can be seen. If Zhang Fakui chooses to join the Communist Party, he will achieve a very high status, but unfortunately he did not choose so. After this view was put forward, they reached unanimous agreement. They later proposed, "abandon the policy of Zhang and decide to take independent military action." At this point, Zhang Fakui's position was basically chosen, and there was almost no room for maneuver.
On the other hand, Wang Jingwei couldn't wait any longer and decided to completely solve the "hidden dangers". He is very smart and cunning, and secretly planned the "killing two birds with one stone". He was named "strike against Chiang Kai-shek" and divided his troops into two groups. One was led by Tang Shengzhi and Zhang Fakui's troops went on another.
At that time, He Ye's troops were all under Zhang Fakui's command. During this "Eastern Expedition to Defend Chiang", He Ye's troops were arranged as Zhang Fakui's vanguard troops. The intention of doing this is already very obvious. He Ye's troops were used as the vanguard to attack Chiang Kai-shek. If He Ye's troops win and Chiang Kai-shek suffers a heavy blow, He Ye's troops will inevitably suffer heavy losses.
On the contrary, the failure of He Ye's troops is equivalent to "killing with a knife", and blame all the charges on Chiang Kai-shek's head, and Chiang Kai-shek's troops will inevitably reduce their combat effectiveness. But their abacus was loud, and He Ye's troops were not dough that could be kneaded. After receiving the order, they immediately understood the enemy's conspiracy and decided to show off to Zhang Fakui.
At that time, whether it was He Ye's army or the Communist Party, had been forced to make a choice . After discussion, they found Zhang Fakui, clearly explained the situation at that time, and asked Zhang Fakui if he was willing to go back to Guangdong with them? If they don't want to, they will do it alone.
At such a critical moment, Zhang Fakui finally retreated and did not choose to go back to Guangdong with them. Subsequently, the Nanchang Uprising, with He Ye's troops as the main force, broke out. At that time, there was a huge gap in the number of troops and weapons and equipment compared with the Kuomintang army. Zhang Fakui's failure to choose to join the Communist Party to lead the uprising, which has a lot to do with the weak side of the uprising team.
But in fact, during the Nanchang Uprising, Zhang Fakui had another chance to choose. Because during the uprising, the uprising team still listed Zhang Fakui as the commander-in-chief of the Second Front Army. Whether He Ye's troops or the people, they actually still have hope for Zhang Fakui. He Ye even sent a telegram to Zhang Fakui, inviting him to revolution together. The masses also posted slogans supporting Zhang Fakui on the streets, "Support Commander Zhang".
I have to say that the Communist Party invited Zhang Fakui at that time, and even when the uprising team retreated to Shantou , it still did not give up fighting for Zhang Fakui.
According to Gao Yuhan's recollection, Premier Zhou specially found him and asked him to go to Hong Kong to contact Zhang Fakui. Although Gao Yuhan arrived in Hong Kong successfully, he failed to see Zhang Fakui because he returned to Guangzhou at that time. Later, although I talked with the representative sent by Zhang Fakui once, there was no result.
Judging from Gao Yuhan's recollection of the situation at that time, if Zhang Fakui really wanted to leave the Kuomintang and join the uprising ranks, he would still win a very high position within the party.Unfortunately, he missed all the opportunities in one after another, and he finally had to part ways regretfully.
Fighting against the Japanese invaders
1931, the Japanese invaders invaded the Northeast, and China set off a wave of anti-Japanese resistance. All the people of lofty ideals turned their attention to the Northeast, aiming to defend their country and fight against the invaders. When Zhang Fakui was in the face of national crisis, he was brave enough to stand up to fight the invaders, so he volunteered to the Guangzhou government and asked to lead troops to the Northeast to participate in the anti-Japanese war.
Zhang Fakui is determined to fight against Japan, but Guangzhou National Government has another consideration. Although he agreed to Zhang Fakui's request, he did not allocate military funds, resulting in the inability to drive out of the army. After that, due to military expenditure issues, Zhang Fakui's situation became increasingly difficult, and he had no choice but to hand over the military power and hand over the command of the Fourth Army to the Central Committee.
In the year, Zhang Fakui applied to lead his troops to the Northeast for the War of Resistance, but was rejected by Chiang Kai-shek. Not only did Chiang Kai-shek not only failed to allow him to fight against the war, but also asked her to lead her troops to Jiangxi to "suppress the Communist Party", which made Zhang Fakui feel disappointed. At this time, Zhang Fakui, , truly saw that Chiang Kai-shek was a person who completely ignored the national justice and only focused on his own selfish interests.
Zhang Fakui saw that he had no way to serve the country, and he refused to become a tool for Chiang Kai-shek to realize his personal ambitions. He went abroad angrily and traveled around Europe and the United States. During this period, Zhang Fakui has been paying attention to the situation of the War of Resistance in China and is still looking forward to the opportunity to return to China to participate in the War of Resistance. During his travels, he publicly stated: "I am willing to lead my own army to fight against the enemy, and I hope to avenge my country if I want to take revenge."
Moreover, Zhang Fakui did not agree with Chiang Kai-shek's proposal that "you must first settle the country when fighting foreign countries", believing that this is a wrong decision. In 1935, Zhang Fakui also met Chiang Kai-shek specifically and told Chiang Kai-shek earnestly that if you want to save China from fire and fire, you can only actively resist the war, . I hope Chiang Kai-shek can fight against the war with all his might and not make any small moves.
But Zhang Fakui said lightly, Chiang Kai-shek ignored his words and insisted on his own. Until 1937, after the outbreak of the full-scale war of resistance, Chiang Kai-shek's situation changed, and the Japanese army further invaded, which shook Chiang Kai-shek's foundation and touched Chiang Kai-shek's personal interests.
At that time, Japan was preparing to attack Shanghai, and Shanghai was the foundation of Chiang Kai-shek, and its interests were deeply involved. While Chiang Kai-shek placed his hopes on the great emphasizing peace, he actively mobilized the army to prepare for war with the Japanese army. When things developed to this point, appointing Zhang Fakui naturally became a natural thing. It could not only satisfy Zhang Fakui's wish to fight against Japan, but also satisfy Chiang Kai-shek's selfish desires. The Zhang Fakui's wish to fight against Japan was realized.
Zhang Fakui led his troops to participate in the Battle of Shanghai, the Battle of Wuhan, and some other battles. Zhang Fakui made many military achievements in the War of Resistance Against Japan, and after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he became a famous general in the Anti-Japanese War. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Zhang Fakui once again ushered in an important turning point in his life, and the CCP once again invited him.
However, Zhang Fakui still did not accept the invitation and chose to stand on Chiang Kai-shek's side. Zhang Fakui obviously lacked his understanding of Chiang Kai-shek, and mistakenly regarded Chiang Kai-shek as a revolution in his heart. After Japan surrendered to , Chiang Kai-shek no longer had to disguise himself and kicked Zhang Fakui out again. General's power was firmly controlled by his own generals.
Zhang Fakui's contact with Chiang Kai-shek finally made him completely recognize his character. Unfortunately, it was too late, Chiang Kai-shek's status had been consolidated, so Zhang Fakui had to leave the market in disgrace. Afterwards, Zhang Fakui went to Hong Kong. It was not until 1949 that Chiang Kai-shek asked Zhang Fakui to come out again, but Chiang Kai-shek's defeat was decided at that time, so Zhang Fakui naturally ignored him.
1955, Zhang Fakui was nearly 60 years old at this time, and he could see through many things and see openly. But when Zhang Fakui was reading the newspaper, he saw reports of the ten marshals in New China awarding titles. Several of the familiar names were his former subordinates, but now they are different from the past and have become the marshals with outstanding achievements.
If Zhang Fakui had made the right choice and followed the right person, with his qualifications and abilities, he would have really become what he called "head of the marshal" .
But this is just a hypothesis. All the founding generals of the New China have come firmly from the most difficult times. No matter how they face ups and downs, dangers, or failures, their beliefs are always unwavering. Even if they fall into the hands of the enemy, they are all unyielding and unyielding. They have never had any hesitation, let alone shake their position.
As for Zhang Fakui, he just had such an opportunity before, but he did not cherish it and missed it again and again. Having said that, even if he made the right choice in a certain historical time, he might not be able to become a marshal. After all, it is difficult for to achieve victory in many difficulties without the firm revolutionary spirit!
