There is a saying in the military circle of the Republic of China that there are "two and a half" military strategists. "Half" refers to " Xiao Zhuge " Bai Chongxi , and what can be called "one" refers to Jiang Baili and Yang Jie , the latter is the commander-in-chief of Gubeikou who was appointed by Jiang Jieshi himself. Yang Jie, from Dali, Yunnan, graduated from the third session of the Chinese Student Class of the Japanese Army University. Army University is not an Army NCO school. There are very few Chinese people who graduated from this school. The reason why Jiang and Yang can be called "a military strategist" is because both of them are original in military theory. Among them, Jiang Baili wrote " National Defense Theory " and Yang Jie wrote "New National Defense Theory". In those days, if you were in a military academy or carrying the title of general, but you didn’t know the “two theories” (“National Defense Theory” and “New National Defense Theory”), others would definitely look at you, thinking that you are really out of date and absolutely out of date! In terms of theoretical attainments, Yang may not be as good as Chiang, but in terms of strategic and tactical application, Yang surpassed Chiang. As early as when Yang Jie was studying in Japan, he was the best in the Chinese class. It was common for him to get the first place in the exam. Gradually, even the Japanese instructors looked at this Chinese student differently. The instructors were handed over to Yang Jie for correction in the whole class's test papers. He was asked to be the referee of the field homework. Whoever played the chief of staff, whoever played the brigade commander, and whoever played the regiment commander were all assigned by him. He also scored good or bad points, and he became an instructor who was not the instructor.
It is precisely because Yang Jie became famous too early that he has high self-esteem. He can be said to be arrogant and often compare himself to the contemporary Jiang Taigong and Zhuge Liang . Except for Jiang Baili, none of them looked down upon in the country. They once said in front of others that people like He Yingqin and Chen Cheng are "as stupid as a cow, as stupid as a mule." Soviet officers were finally amazing, and they didn't even see others' eyes. They said that the other party would give him a student. The Soviets were not good, and the Japanese were just making do with them as students, but there were only three qualified ones, namely: Ishihara Kanir , Tojo Hideki , Koisaki (at that time, he was the chief of staff of the Kanto Army ).
Since you are a great man, you will definitely have something to be good. Yang Jie followed Chiang Kai-shek very early and was an essential aide in the latter's account. He was deeply trusted and valued by Chiang Kai-shek. Many of Yang Jie's suggestions were adopted and used. The Second Northern Expedition , Chiang Kai-shek wanted to fight Anhui's Chen Tiaoyuan , and asked Yang Jie how to play. Yang Jie immediately picked up his pen and wrote on the paper: Use his power to treat him with power and lure him with profit, and he will definitely surrender. Chiang Kai-shek's heart moved and fighting first was indeed a masterpiece. Then he asked: How much does it cost to lure the surrender? That means, is the price big? If it is too big, I can't afford that much money. Yang Jie smiled: Wu Peifu , Sun Chuanfang has fallen, Chen Diaoyuan, a mediocre person, why do you need too much? If you have money, give more, and if you don’t have one, give less. It’s okay. Chiang Kai-shek followed the plan and spent only tens of thousands of yuan. Chen Tiaoyuan obediently surrendered. I don’t know how much effort it had saved. What impressed Chiang Kai-shek the most was probably the time when the Central Plains battles was . Chiang Kai-shek was commanding on the train and was suddenly attacked by Feng Yuxiang's cavalry troops. At that time, Chiang Kai-shek only had one spy battalion, but the other side was a cavalry army, so he was immediately in a desperate situation where he could neither fight nor escape. Everyone was in a panic, and Yang Jie offered a suggestion: One motorcycle could be installed on both ends of the train. The cavalry caught up and the train drove north, and after leaving twenty or thirty miles, then went south. This was repeated over and over again, and the cavalry ran around, exhausted but found nothing. Afterwards, even Chiang Kai-shek, who had always been happy and angry, praised Yang Jie, saying that if you weren't by your side, I would have been the captive of Feng Yuxiang . Yang Jie smiled and said: This is just a test!
As a staff officer, Yang Jie can be regarded as a top expert. Even the "half-military strategist" Bai Chongxi had to accept it, saying that Yang Jie was indeed knowledgeable and asked him to make plans according to a map. He could write a complete combat plan in a short while. At that time, few people could match this skill.Yang Jie was so talented, but before that he mainly participated in military affairs in Xiangxiang and basically had no independent troops to fight wars. Therefore, some people had long advocated that "military strategists" take charge of the war. Chiang Kai-shek also had this intention, but the Minister of Military Affairs He Yingqin insisted on it. He Yingqin and Yang Jie debuted at the same time, but the two were incompatible. Yang Jie compared He Yingqin to "Liao Hua" in ", Sichuan has no general, , Liao Hua is the pioneer", while He Yingqin believed that Yang Jie was a type of figure in , Ma Su , did not do practical things, and could only brag, so he also gave him a hat privately: Yang Dapao. Minister He even advised Chiang Kai-shek directly, saying that it would be okay for you to let Yang Dapao be a staff officer. If he had to take charge of military affairs, it would be a bad thing, and maybe even a traitor would not play a role. As early as before Great Wall Anti-Japanese War , Yang Jie was already the deputy chief of the General Staff Department. If he wanted to go further, he had to have some practical military achievements. In addition, he was employed. Therefore, despite the opposition from He Yingqin and others, Chiang Kai-shek still opposed the opposition and handed over the command of the Battle of Gubeikou to Yang Jie. Niu Dao is finally not a small test, it is going to be a big test. However, He Yingqin's words unfortunately came to his words, and Yang Jie became a copy of Ma Su since then. When "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" records the "lost Jieting", it says that Ma Su is proud and underestimated the enemy, and does not obey Zhuge Liang's instructions to "surround the mountains and rivers", but deploys his army on Jieting Mountain far away from the water source. When Deputy General Wang Ping raised an objection, Ma Su sneered: What are you? I know the art of war, and everyone knows it. Even the Prime Minister sometimes has to ask me for advice. Yang Jie is almost the same. As the commander-in-chief of Gubeikou, he has never been to the front line before. He just works behind closed doors at home and makes some big and empty plans. As for how the front line coordinates and deploys, he doesn't ask about it, and of course he doesn't know anything about the progress of the war. When the Kwantung Army was approaching Gubeikou, he didn't know about this. After the battle, the Northeast Army "retreat early" and flashed a big gap, causing the entire Gubeikou to be lost. It was only afterwards that he found out. If you go to the front line to command and take a look on the spot, the situation will definitely not be so bad. In war, people will die, and many people will die, which is not that simple. The fall of Gubeikou shocked Chiang Kai-shek. The 29th Army guarded Xifengkou, and not only defended it, but also achieved great victory. The Central Army, whose direct line guarded Gubeikou, was lost in a few days. It was incredible and too shameless. The reasons for the loss are complicated and involve internal conflicts between various factions and armies, so Chiang Kai-shek could not have tried to attack Yang Jie alone, but it would be fake if you say that he is not disappointed. From this moment on, the impression that Yang Jie was not the master's talent had already begun to sprout in Chiang Kai-shek's heart. It should be said that this is not the worst. The worst thing is that Chiang Kai-shek soon became suspicious of Yang Jie's character. Yang Jie naturally felt a dull face when the fall of Gubeikou, and at the same time he noticed Chiang Kai-shek's disappointment with him. Others may not care, but it is really unbearable to put it in a "military strategist" like him. At the military meeting, Yang Jie was ready to fight a turnaround, so at the beginning of the meeting, he made a shocking statement, saying that he would change the Great Wall War of Resistance from a defensive to an offensive. How to attack? Seduce the enemy into the deep! The specific strategy is to let the Central Army retreat, wait for the Japanese army to chase in, and then ambush on both sides and attack at the same time, so that the main force of the Japanese army can be wiped out in one fell swoop. In Yang Jie's opinion, this is a very amazing plan. At this point, it's okay not to give everyone a highlight? But when he finished speaking, everyone in the congregation looked at each other. Yang Jie's plan sounds good, but it is impossible to implement it. How strong is the Kwantung Army and how strong is the Chinese army? Even if you surround it, how can you "annihilate" the opponent? What's more, Great Wall still has dangers to defend. After putting it in, it is flat and there is no danger to defend at all. So why don't Pingjin be directly explained? Everyone knows that "tempting the enemy deep" doesn't work, but they are also familiar with Yang Dapao's temper, so no one is willing to stand up and point it out directly, allowing him to set off firecrackers randomly.When talking about the relatively false "trick plan", Yang Jie was very excited, but to the point of being specific, he emphasized that the Gubeikou Front (now the Nantianmen Front) was quite difficult and reinforcements were required. Then, the cannon focused on exaggerating how the front line he was responsible for was "very difficult", including the influx of Japanese troops and the battle was extremely fierce. Of course, most of this was "military strategist" who "imagined" himself in the room with the door closed. Until this time, Yang Jie didn't know that he had made a fatal mistake. It is difficult for Chiang Kai-shek to get the front line. If you report your work one-on-one to him, it may be okay to brag. There was a He Yingqin sitting in the venue that day. He was analyzing the battle situation every day. How could he not know what was going on in the Nantianmen? There was no fierce battle in those days. In terms of position, He Yingqin is Yang Jie's superior. In front of Chiang Kai-shek, he naturally could not agree with his subordinates' statement, so he raised objections on the spot: Is the war in the South Heaven Gate very fierce? It's impossible. As far as I know, the entire Great Wall defense line has been very calm recently. In fact, He Yingqin is a relatively gentle and generous commander, and there are also steps to go down. If Yang Jie beat him up at this time, he would get over there. But he didn't know what medicine he took that day, so he said: I just came back from the front line, how could I not know the situation there? Of course it was very intense! Now, you are confident that you are so happy, but you are forced to the dead end. Assuming that Yang Jie's words are true, He Yingqin's problem will be big. Isn’t this obvious that it is even worse than your subordinates? Although it was a dispute between the two, Chiang Kai-shek kept staring at him: He Yingqin, you are the general manager of the North China War, but you don’t even know the basic situation of the battlefield. What kind of food do you eat and what kind of intentions do you think? In order to prove himself, He Yingqin changed his true nature as an honest and kind person, and immediately asked someone to call the front line to inquire about the situation at the front line of Nantianmen. Without any suspense, the other party's answer was: The front line was very calm. Yang Jie's face suddenly turned red and he didn't say a word. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek must have sighed in his heart. It’s wrong to use Yang Jie! Ma Su lost Jieting and Yang Jie lost Gubeikou. It was an exaggeration and was not very useful. If the commander was not adjusted, the South Gate of Heaven would not be guaranteed. Soon, Yang Jie was removed from the position of commander-in-chief of Gubeikou.
Yang Jie's story is not over. Although he has encountered major setbacks in his life, his habit of liking to amplify cannons has not changed at all. A long time ago, Yang Jie was promoted to lieutenant general. However, when the younger generation of Gu Zhutong , Chen Cheng and others were promoted to generals, he was still lieutenant general. Yang Jie complained to people: I was a lieutenant general twenty years ago, but I am still a lieutenant general now. I don’t know what kind of general will be twenty years later! Perhaps Chiang Kai-shek heard this, so he sent him to the Soviet Union as a special envoy, and promoted him from Lieutenant General to General. When we arrived in the Soviet Union, we went to fight for military aid, because the War of Resistance had entered the most difficult stage. But Yang Jie soon lived a life of debauchery in a foreign country, and a lot of related reports were placed on Chiang Kai-shek's table. Chiang Kai-shek couldn't help it and asked him if he had received military aid. Yang Jie answered the question irrelevantly and said that he saw a man in the Soviet Union who had a secret weapon. As long as he brought it over, the Japanese army in China would be killed all of them, and it only needed a lot of money to buy it (Is it atomic bomb ? It doesn't seem to be like it). Yang Jie's tone was extremely mysterious, but Chiang Kai-shek never asked him again. Until Japan and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression agreement, Yang Jie, who was in the Soviet Union, was kept in the dark and knew nothing in advance. After this incident, he was transferred back to China and has never been able to use it again. How many life opportunities are missed one by one in the eyes of others. In that era, perhaps people were really eager to and demanding that a perfect military strategist appear, but unfortunately Yang Jie was not. To some extent, he is more like a naughty boy. The naughty boy held a stack of beautiful pieces of paper in one hand and scissors in the other. Amid the screams and regrets of the adults, he cut the pieces of paper into pieces and threw them into the sun.When you cry, I laugh, but when you laugh, I cry, this is Yang Jie, a person who can only see his own shadow but has never really found himself.
Excerpted from "One Inch of Mountains and Rivers One Inch of Blood"
Yang Jie
