epilogue
The Tang Dynasty literary scholar Wang Bo's "Preface to the Tengwang Pavilion" has a saying: "Poor and strong, do not fall into the ambition of Qingyun." It means that when a person is in a more difficult and difficult environment, the more he must insist on working hard, work hard, and never give up his lofty ambitions because of adversity. For example, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, countless heroes and martyrs persisted in fighting with the toughest will and even sacrificed their lives in order to achieve the great goal of building a new China at the most difficult moment. But there are also people in the revolutionary ranks who are not determined, who defect, who flee or who have disappeared.
The most bizarre thing about those whose revolutionary ambitions are not firm is the "Disappearance of Zhou Kun", which has only happened once in China's military history, and the mystery of his whereabouts has not been revealed to this day. So, who is this Zhou Kun? What positions do you hold in the military? How to participate in the war and make a contribution? How to disappear? Let's take a closer look at this event.
▲ Zhou Kun and his comrades-in-arms took a group photo
01
Zhou Kun was a veteran of the Red Army from Hunan, who had participated in the Autumn Harvest Uprising, and after the victory at Jinggangshan, he fought guerrilla warfare in jinggangshan, gannan and western Fujian. He commanded guerrilla warfare with mobility and flexibility, and indeed fought many victorious battles, so he made many military achievements. Before participating in the Long March, he was already a senior general in the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in order to fight a comprehensive war of resistance, the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army, and Zhou Kun served as the chief of staff of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army and assisted Lin Zongzong, commander of the 115th Division, in fighting against the Japanese army.
▲Painting of anti-Japanese war scenes
When the Japanese army invaded Shanxi and occupied Datong, and the troops attacked Pingxingguan in two ways, the 115th Division received orders to assemble and wait for the opportunity, and after the division leaders studied the terrain, they adopted tactics such as blocking warfare, ambush warfare, and scrambling warfare, which severely damaged the heavy troops of the elite division of the Japanese army. In this battle, more than 1,000 Japanese troops were annihilated, nearly 100 vehicles were destroyed, a large amount of Japanese materials were captured, the myth of the invincibility of the Japanese army was broken, and the determination and confidence of the all-out war of resistance were greatly encouraged.
▲Flat-type Guan Dajie scene painting
In such a famous historical battle as the Pingshiguan Dajie, which shocked the world, seeing the Japanese army so defeated, Zhou Kun was proud and proud of the major victory of his 115th Division, because he also had a credit here. It should be known that the victory in this war is of great significance to China's War of Resistance Against Japan, and the merits of all the soldiers who participated in such a battle will forever be remembered in history.
02
After the Battle of Pingxingguan, Zhou Kun fully assisted the 115th Division in leading the operation, actively strengthened the construction of troops, and used guerrilla tactics in the northeast of Shanxi to the Zhengtai Road area, and repeatedly won battles. Unfortunately, although Zhou Kun has military talent, he often has a vain and greedy side in his life. In particular, as one of the members of the Eighth Route Army, during the national chief of staff meeting held in Wuchang, he submitted a report on the war against Japan on behalf of the division leaders, and after some contacts and exchanges with senior officials of the National Government, he was very envious of the travels and material life of the officers of the National Government, and was extremely dissatisfied with the poverty of the Eighth Route Army.
▲Stills of the Eighth Route Army
After the meeting, on the way back from Wuchang to the anti-Japanese front, Zhou Kun met with the senior leaders of our army, and he made a report to the leaders on the Wuchang meeting, after which Zhou Kun described how he had humiliated people during the Wuchang meeting, claiming that he was like a beggar, that the Han Office was so poor that he could not pay for a car, and that the generals of the Nationalist government all had mansions, cars, and servants. After listening to Zhou Kun's self-report, the leaders of our army were so angry that they immediately severely criticized his ideological deviations, but Zhou Kun not only did not accept the criticism, but also complained privately.
▲Photo of the Presidential Palace of the National Government
According to the memoirs of founding lieutenant general Wang Bingzhang, Zhou Kun passed through Linfen on his way back, attended the headquarters meeting in the Second Theater of the National Government of Linfen, and received 60,000 yuan of the division's salary that month as the chief of staff of the 115th Division. After the Linfen Theater meeting, he privately divided the 60,000 yuan of military salaries in half and put them into two military satchels, then called the guards over, handed them a military satchel, and said: "This satchel contains an important military document, and you will now rush back to the division headquarters to hand it over to the Operations Section." ”
▲ Zhou Kun (left) with people
However, when the guards handed over the military satchel to the Operations Section of the division headquarters and opened it, there was no important military document of only 30,000 yuan, while the other 30,000 yuan of military salaries and Zhou Kun were missing. Later, there are four theories about Zhou Kun's disappearance, among which it is generally believed that Wang Bingzhang's memoirs recorded that Zhou Kun returned to his hometown of Pingjiang in Hunan Province with 30,000 military salaries, and never left, and organized an investigation after the founding of the People's Republic of China, believing that his escape did not have other purposes. However, in fact, the mystery of the whereabouts of Zhou Kun and the 30,000 military salaries he had taken away from his greed for money had not yet been revealed.
Mo Zhai, a great thinker during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, said in "Mozi Self-Cultivation": "Those who are not strong in ambition are not wise enough." It refers to people like Zhou Kun, whose personal ambitions are not firm, and their wisdom cannot be fully exerted, resulting in their own loss. He did not succumb to the obscenity of the Japanese invaders, did not fall in the war-torn war, lost his correct judgment because of his personal vanity and greed, gave up his lofty ambitions, and finally embarked on a road of no return. His bitter lesson deserves deep reflection and prompts us to stay on the right path.
Resources:
"Mozi Slimming"
Preface to the Tengwang Pavilion