Xue Yue has a nephew named Xue Weizhong. When he recalled his uncle in his later years, he mentioned a small thing:
"More than ten years ago, my wife and I went to Zhangjiajie, Hunan for a trip. While waiting for the plane at Changsha Airport, my wife went to the newsstand to stroll around. I saw a magazine with the title "The Top Ten Famous Generals of Chiang Kai-shek" on the cover. It was published in the mainland, so she bought it. On the plane, we looked through the magazine, and the more we read it, the more strange it became: Our family and the Chinese are in the middle. There seems to be a little unpleasant past, but nine of these 'Top Ten Famous Generals' were scolded so much. Why did they not get scolded when they arrived at my uncle Xue Yue? There are many similar things."
Xue Weizhong sighed, More and more people in the mainland are talking about "Xue Yue" with relish, but Taiwan does not promote Xue Yue very much. There are fewer and fewer people who know him , which is really ironic. In a picture album "History of the Founding of the National Army of the Republic of China" published in Taiwan, three battles in Changsha were mentioned, but the name "Xue Yue" did not appear once!
As Xue Weizhong said, although Xue Yue also followed Chiang Kai-shek to "suppress the Communist Party", when we talk about this general, most of us will mention his anti-Japanese record, three times Changsha Battle , Tianlu Tactics. As for what happened after he arrived in Taiwan, few people probably know about it. Xue Weizhong said that Taiwan does not promote Xue Yue much, which is already a euphemism. In fact, when Xue Yue arrived in Taiwan, he was ruthlessly cleansed by Chiang Kai-shek and his son.
Because he was born in the second year of the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, an ordinary farmer's child in a mountain village in northern Guangdong was named "Yang Yue" by his father, which means respecting Yue Fei and not forgetting the humiliation of his national experience. When he grew up, the farmer's child changed his name to a single "yue", which emphasizes the meaning of "acting it in person" - the meaning contained in this name seems to be in a secret way that the farmer's child's life trajectory is Xue Yue.
Xue Yue was one of the "Three Musketeers" of Sun Yat-sen Guard Regiment in his early years. He was the battalion commander of Sun Yat-sen Presidential Office Guard Regiment with his classmates Ye Ting and Zhang Fakui who were in the sixth phase of the Baoding Military Academy. During the Eastern Expedition, Xue Yue made many military achievements and was promoted to the commander of the First Division. Before becoming Chiang Kai-shek's direct line, Xue Yue jumped in the Central Army, Guangdong Army and Guangxi Army many times. It can be seen that Xue Yue did not agree with Chiang Kai-shek, but every time he opposed Chiang, whether in the Guangdong Army, the Guangxi clique, or the Guangdong-Guangxi joint forces, it was internally disintegrated by Chiang Kai-shek. Finally, when Chiang Kai-shek extended an olive branch and asked him to come out to "suppress the Communist Party", he happily accepted it and participated in the fifth "encirclement and suppression" of the Central Soviet Area as the deputy commander-in-chief, and pursued the Central Red Army in the Long March all the way.
Let’s sort out the trajectory of Xue Yue’s movement from the Northern Expedition to the War of Resistance Against Japan:
In the past 10 years, Xue Yue changed his position several times, jumped between the heads of the major army, and finally gained the power to take charge of the side under Chiang Kai-shek.
During the entire War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Xue Yue, who was then the commander of the 9th War Zone of the Kuomintang, had the most famous record of the Second Changsha Battle. The National Government was not prepared to guard Changsha. For Chiang Kai-shek, anti-Japanese war has never been his first choice. He just couldn't stand the rising public opinion across the country and the pressure from Zhang Xueliang in the Xi'an Incident, so he took on the burden of "anti-Japanese leader". During the War of Resistance Against Japan, the principle adhered to by Chiang Kai-shek government was "The war of resistance will perish, and the war will perish, and then peace will be peaceful." It is conceivable how active it is in the war of resistance is. The miscellaneous army and the Eighth Route Army can fight against the Japanese invaders, and it is best for the Central Army to avoid it if possible.
Xue Yue received the order to hold on to Changsha for two weeks, and once the pressure is too high, he will give up north of Changsha. But Xue Yue had a stubborn temper: "What can't stand it? My old Xue must be able to hold on." Xue Yue called Chongqing directly to Chongqing and asked Chiang Kai-shek for a fight. Chiang Kai-shek was already asleep at that time, and it was the call that Soong Mei-ling answered by . Xue Yue said to Soong Mei-ling on the phone: "I'm going to fight in Changsha. If I defeated me, I will commit suicide. I will win. If I disobey, I will shoot me!"
Soong Mei-ling told him not to be excited and she would convey it to Chiang Kai-shek. The next day she called Xue Yue: "Brother Boling, the chairman said, if you have this confidence, you will fight here. It is rare for us to have such confidence. Why don't we have this confidence? You are not disobedient. Now the chairman gives another order to cooperate with you."
In the Battle of Changsha, the "Tianlu Tactics" pioneered by Xue Yue is still talked about by many military fans. He said: When the Japanese army launched an attack, while preserving itself, the troops first resisted step by step, retreated step by step, dragged down and exhausted the enemy as much as possible, and then retreated to the mountainous areas behind the slope, and went around the enemy's encirclement line to form a counter-encirclement against the Japanese army on a larger level, building two "Sky Furnace Walls". At the same time, in the middle area, the road traffic was completely destroyed, the empty rooms were cleared, the enemy was lured to the decisive battle area, and the rear was cut off, forming a natural "melting furnace" from all directions, and finally annihilated the encircled enemy.
Xue Yue had a slogan at that time: "Turn the road into fields, transport grain to the mountain." It means destroying all the roads, making the enemy's mechanized troops unable to move, and the ridges of the fields were narrowed to within one foot. It was very difficult for Japanese soldiers wearing leather shoes to march on the ridges; transporting the grain of the people and the troops to the mountain to hide, so that the enemy could not replenish them on the spot, and leaving no food for the enemy to eat.
Because of his "magical" performance in the War of Resistance Against Japan, Xue Yue still left a lot of topics, such as how many Japanese troops he annihilated. On October 10, 1946, US President Truman personally awarded him a medal of freedom to commend him for his contributions to the War of Resistance Against Japan.
After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Xue Yue still followed Chiang Kai-shek to participate in the Civil War , and served as the director of the Xuzhou " Appeasement Office " with an extremely important strategic position. However, facing the New Fourth Army commanded by Su Yu, Xue Yue's troops were defeated repeatedly. After only more than half a year, Chiang Kai-shek stripped off his military power on the grounds of "powerless command and low reputation", and made him renamed the commander of the State Government and became Chiang Kai-shek's "high-level horseman".
Many people say that Xue Yue is negative about civil war because he is unwilling to fight a civil war, so he deified him. But combined with his spare no effort to "suppress the Communist Party" during the First Kuomintang-Communist War, and when the Kuomintang government was about to collapse, he also grasped the power he had finally obtained in Guangdong, saying that he was passive of the civil war and did not seem to be convincing. It would be better to say that he met an opponent. After all, in the face of Su Yu's magical command, which senior Kuomintang general can get the advantage?
After Chiang Kai-shek stepped down, Xue Yue was able to return to Guangdong to regain military power, but he was still anti-communist. Even though his confidants Wu Qiwei and others revolted, Xue Yue retreated to Hainan Island and still fantasized about building the "Boling Line of Defense" to resist stubbornly. However, with the support of the Qiongya Column and the Hainan people, Deng Hua's Corps of the Fourth Field Army of the People's Liberation Army passed the Qiongzhou Strait , and Xue Yue's troops collapsed with one blow. Xue Yue fled from Hainan Island in a hurry and flew to Taiwan. It can be said that on the road of counter-revolution, Xue Yue reached the last moment.
After Xue Yue arrived in Taiwan, like most senior generals in the mainland, he was seized from military power and appointed as the "Strategic Advisor" at the first-level general of the "Presidential Office". The so-called "strategic consultant" is nothing more than an honorary position and there is no substantive work to do. In October 1952, Xue Yue was named a member of the Kuomintang Central Committee and was re-elected for several terms. In August 1958, Chen Cheng was appointed as the "President" and invited Xue Yue and other senior members of the Kuomintang to serve as the "Government Affairs Committee" to decorate the storefront. In May 1966, Xue Yue was appointed as the chairman of the Kuomintang’s “Restoration of the Mainland Design Committee”. All of them are honors and jobs, and they are just names, and there is nothing to do.
Although Xue Yue still effectively complied with Yue Fei's ambitions, his wishes went against his wishes. He could only stay at home all day long, and he used to copy Yue Fei's font to express his ambitions in his heart to comfort him. Although he would not be killed in vain like Yue Fei after going to Taiwan, he was quite helpless because he was suspicious of Chiang Kai-shek.
After Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan, he shouted "Counterattack on the Mainland", but in his mind, he had long known that it was impossible, and what he had to do was to consolidate the "forever generations" of the Chiang Dynasty in Taiwan. All he cared about was whether Chiang Ching-kuo could succeed. Perhaps some Jiang fans will refute this, but just ask back, if Chiang Kai-shek really wants to "counterattack", then wouldn't he betray a group of senior generals, including Xue Yue? Stop arguing. What Chiang Kai-shek thought was that the pseudo-government in Taiwan that maintained his, and all the mainland and countries were all over the world.
It is precisely because Chiang Kai-shek is devoted to the Chiang family dynasty, and everything that poses a threat to Chiang Ching-kuo's succession is in the ranks of cleaning up. The powerful and powerful military generals naturally need to be cleaned, and political enemies in the mainland, especially those who once opposed Chiang Kai-shek, must be thoroughly cleaned.
Xue Yue’s position is relatively subtle: on the one hand, in the eyes of the CCP, Xue Yue is Chiang Kai-shek’s “direct line” and an “old opponent” who has been dealing with them for decades. But on the other hand, on the side of the Kuomintang, although Xue Yue was a member of the Central Army, he had never done the "cede land" like local warlords like Bai Chongxi and Li Zongren, but he was not a "Huangpu " person, and he had joined the anti-Cheng Group many times. This became the "dead knot" of his relationship with Chiang Kai-shek: he was not convinced by Chiang Kai-shek, and Chiang Kai-shek did not fully trust him.
Chiang Kai-shek was worried that Xue Yue and Bai Chongxi had secret contacts with Li Zongren. In
Xue and Bai couldn't help but call Chiang Ching-kuo. Chiang Ching-kuo said, "This is not what I mean, please call the president." The two called Chiang Kai-shek again, and Chiang Kai-shek replied, "I know about this. We should have such a big search for everyone." But in fact, only Xue Yue and Bai Chongxi were searched this time, and no such searches were conducted on others in the future.
Shortly afterwards, Xue Yue was attacked by some "legislators" because of the "large amount of public funds unknown" during his tenure as chairman of Guangdong Province. In fact, this is just Chiang Kai-shek's usual technique. Bai Chongxi was also impeached by a "National Congress representative" from Hubei and investigated his corruption in military spending during the Central China Suppression General Office. Even Chiang Kai-shek's confidant Hu Zongnan , because of his final performance in the mainland, Chiang Kai-shek was extremely dissatisfied, and he had been impeached like this after he arrived in Taiwan. Of course, as long as Chiang Kai-shek doesn't want to make a final liquidation, such impeachment is just to disgust people.
Xue Yue's will became increasingly depressed. Except for occasionally going out to hunt with Yang Sen , he basically learned Chinese at home. Due to his many years of military achievements, Xue Yue was inevitably proud and conceited. His military career since childhood made him irritable and fond of smoking, alcohol and gambling. At the same time, like other important members of the Kuomintang, he likes to appoint relatives and friends and cultivate close friends. His brothers Xue Zhongshu, Xue Shuda and Xue Jiliang all served under him. His younger brother Qiu Guowei, his uncle Fang Xuefen, Fang Renjue and others have held important positions around Xue Yue.
Xue Yue has had three marriages and had two wife who were married by Ming media during the mainland. The original wife Zhu was from Liangjiang, Lechang County, and was the eldest sister of Zhu Jieshan, the Party Secretary of Lechang County and the county senator during the Republic of China. Zhu was born in the countryside without education and had no children. However, after becoming famous, Xue Yue did not divorce Zhu because of this, but instead handed over the entire hometown of Jiufeng to Zhu.
Xue Yue's second wife was the daughter of Fang Biao, the county magistrate of Lechang County during the Republic of China, and was named Fang Shaowen. Fang was knowledgeable and after marriage, he followed Xue Yue to various battlefields, while also serving as a secretary. On the eve of liberation, Fang Shaowen and his children moved to Hong Kong and lived in a villa in Repulse Bay . Xue Yue and Fang Shaowen's eldest daughter once studied in an English academy in Hong Kong. After Xue Yue went to Taiwan, his eldest son Xue Zhaoming was only the company commander in the Taiwan army.
The second year of his trip to Taiwan, that is, in 1950, Xue Yue and his third wife, Ms. Tan, who was 30 years younger than him, got married in Taiwan. After one year of marriage, they moved to Hualien Port , and lived a quiet life without regard for the world. Although Xue Yue was over 50 years old when he got married, he and his third wife still left behind two men and two women.
After Xue Yue arrived in Taiwan, he rarely expressed his attachment to his hometown in the mainland. Only when he was nearly a hundred years old, once his son Xue Zhaoxin went on a business trip in Shenzhen. Xue Yue wrote him an address, saying that this was their old house in Guangzhou back then and you could go and have a look. Later, Xue Weizhong visited the mainland and brought back the white pepper from Shaoguan . Xue Yue tasted the specialties from his hometown and said , "I don't know if there is still a chance to go back to his hometown."
For Xue Yue, the most successful thing in his later years was undoubtedly his longevity. Chiang Kai-shek and his son were suspicious of him, idle and even humiliated him, but Xue Yue survived until Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo and his son died one after another, and he still lived a very tough life.
In February 11990, the Taiwan authorities held the eighth meeting of the so-called " First National Congress " to elect the president and vice president. In such a farce of fighting for power, Xue Yue, 194-year-old, unexpectedly appeared and served as the chairman of the conference. It was just that in order to appease the old representatives, the Kuomintang authorities launched Xue Yue as a tool.In the end, the representatives of the Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan made a big fuss in the venue and opposed Xue Yue as the chairman of the meeting, which made Xue Yue very embarrassed. Soon, Lee Teng-hui was successfully elected, and Xue Yue's historical mission was completed and returned to silence.
Although Xue Yue lost his ambition in his later years, his leisurely life made up for the stressful life he had when he fought on the battlefield in his early years. In May 1998, Xue Yue died of illness in Taiwan at the age of 102.
After Xue Yue passed away, his family organized the relics and had no property. The most special thing was a pair of Japanese saber stands similar to deer antlers, named "Japanese Black Dragon Head", which was obtained by Xue Yue from the captured Japanese generals during the Battle of Changsha. After Xue Yue arrived in Taiwan, he was liquidated by Chiang Kai-shek. In addition, he had always supported a huge family and lived in poverty in his later years, so not many of them were left behind. So much so that now my hometown in Jiufeng, Lechang wants to build a Xue Yue Museum, and the family members have no information to get.
Reference
"The Last Ending of Forty-Three War Criminals of the Kuomintang", He Ming, Communist Party History Press
"Xue Yue lived in seclusion by Jiang's suspicion", Chapter novel: Mid-month issue
"Nether Recalling the Famous Anti-Japanese General Xue Yue: Respected by the Japanese Army to worship his ancestor's tomb", oral Xue Weizhong/director Li Jing, Sanlian Life Weekly
"General Xue Yue, "The God of War in the Heavenly Lu"", Wang Feng, all walks of life
"Remembrance of General Xue Yue's Son: Father's Heart has a Country but no Home", Jia Peng, Beijing News
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