Before reading this article, we sincerely invite you to click "Follow" in the upper right corner, which is not only convenient for you to discuss and share, but also to read the latest content in time, thank you for your support.
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, mourning was everywhere, the people were struggling to make a living, riots broke out frequently in various places, and the warlords were in decline.
In today's Qinghai and Gansu, there is such a team of warlords, who have been entrenched in one side for three generations, and have become a local force that dominates the party.
It is the Ma Jiajun known as the Northwest Five Horses.
After the Liberation War, the only one left on the mainland among the Northwest Horses was Ma Hongbin, what was his final outcome?
Northwest Zhuma: The Ma family warlords persecuted the Red Army
In October 1936, when the Red Army's Long March ended successfully, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China ordered that more than 20,000 people of the Fourth Front Army form the Western Route Army, cross the Yellow River, and prepare to advance westward to seize Ningxia.
However, in this battle, although our army bravely resisted the local warlords, it was almost completely annihilated. It was not until 1949, during the War of Liberation, that our People's Liberation Army liberated the northwest through the Lanzhou Campaign and the Ningxia Campaign.
The reason why the northwest was liberated so hard was because of the Ma warlords who dominated Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia and Xinjiang.
During the Qing Dynasty, Ma Zhanao, Ma Qianling, Ma Haiyan and other Hui people surnamed Ma in the northwest revolted one after another, and after being suppressed, they returned to obedience, and the Ma family army was initially developed.
After the Xinhai Revolution and the disintegration of the Qing Dynasty, Ma Jiajun felt that "heroes are useless", so they turned around again and surrendered to Chiang Kai-shek.
After that, the forces of the Northwest Zhuma led by Ma Buqing, Ma Bufang, Ma Hongbin, Ma Hongkui and Ma Zhongying were further developed and dominated one side.
It was during this period that they committed heinous crimes against the Red Army.
Beginning in June 1935, Ma Bufang of Qinghai mobilized more than 100,000 people from the 100th and 5th Divisions, the Border Garrison Command, and militia groups on the border, and built blockades along the road to prepare for the Red Army.
In August, the Red Army marched to northern Sichuan and occupied the Amuqu River, Ma Bufang sent Ma Biao and Ma Pu to lead the troops to counterattack, and the Red Army turned to Maicang.
Ma Bufang pursued relentlessly, and ordered Ma Biao to make a detour to the west of Maicang to attack, take advantage of the Red Army's westward advance to occupy Maicang, and search here, and brutally kill more than 1,000 Red Army people who were slow to move due to injuries and illness!
After the Western Route Army led by Li Xiangqian and others crossed the Yellow River, Ma Bufang, Ma Buqing, Ma Hongkui and others pursued and attacked our army fiercely.
At that time, there were 1,300 female Red Army soldiers in the Western Route Army, and they were the first female soldiers to form a corps on the mainland.
In the battle of Liyuanbao, the 5th, 9th, and 30th armies of the Red Army were divided into three columns to hold on, and Ma Bufang attacked with superior forces.
Our army stubbornly resisted the war, the political commissar of the 25th Division of the Ninth Army died heroically, the rest of the troops also suffered heavy losses, and the number of the Red Army Women's Independent Regiment was sharply reduced to 200 people.
Subsequently, Ma Bufang and Ma Buqing's troops searched the mountains and distributed the surviving female Red Army soldiers as trophies to their subordinates.
They were tortured, some bravely, others endured humiliation, and only a few finally escaped and went to Yan'an.
At the same time, in the battles of Gulang, Liangzhou, Yongchang, and Anxi, the warlords of the Ma family used cruel methods and slaughtered or mistreated the captured personnel of our army.
Those who were wounded, sick and infirm were killed and abandoned by the roadside, while those who were young were organized into supplementary regiments and sent to the mountains to build roads, canals, and dig stones.
These Red Army soldiers were poorly clothed and fed, and worked for more than 12 hours a day, so many were tortured to death.
Under the persecution of the warlords of the Ma family, only more than 400 members of the Western Route Army arrived in Xinjiang during this Western Expedition.
Xu Xiangqian recalled this period of history in "A Review of History" with a heavy heart, and named it "The Bloody Battle of the Hexi Corridor". It can be seen from this that Ma Jiajun committed a great crime against the Red Army.
Western Route Army
The choice of the Northwest Horses: Only Ma Hongbin stayed on the mainland
On December 12, 1936, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng launched the Xi'an Incident.
The following year, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party launched a second cooperation and formed an anti-Japanese national united front.
However, this cooperation did not last long.
In June 1946, the Kuomintang launched a full-scale civil war, and the second Kuomintang-Communist cooperation came to an end.
During the War of Liberation, the Northwest Zhuma was rampant, and accumulated a lot of wealth for himself with the blood and sweat of the people in the Northwest Region.
As the pace of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in liberating the whole country is unstoppable, Ma Hongkui, Ma Bufang, and Ma Buqing, the three horses, know the crimes they have committed in front of the party and the people, and they cannot stop worrying.
So, on the eve of the liberation of the Northwest, they fled with a large amount of property and spent their old age in a foreign land.
Ma Hongkui
Unlike the other Northwest Zhuma, Ma Hongbin chose to stay on the mainland.
Although Ma Hongbin, who was located in Ningxia, also blocked the Red Army troops under the orders of Chiang Kai-shek during the Long March, the fighting between the two sides was not fierce.
Moreover, the Red Army did Ma Hongbin's ideological work many times, not only releasing the captured soldiers, but also writing to Ma Hongbin's subordinates, hoping that the Chinese would not fight the Chinese and would jointly resist Japan.
It can be said that Ma Hongbin has been shaken in his thinking at this time.
In 1937, the outbreak of the full-scale War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the troops led by Ma Hongbin were expanded into the 81st Army, with Ma Hongbin as the commander and his third son Ma Dianjing as the chief of staff, and went to the Suixi front.
After that, Ma Hongbin actively trained the soldiers, boosted morale, and took the stage to speak.
He stressed that the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was a national war, and it was necessary to defend the country and fight to the end, which was in sharp contrast to the passive resistance of other Ma Jiajun's troops.
In the summer of 1939, the Japanese invaded the garrison of the 81st Army in automobiles and armored vehicles, and the Suixi War of Resistance began.
In the face of the enemy's well-equipped weapons, the 81st Army only had old mortars.
However, under the command of Ma Dianjing, he resisted tenaciously, fought hand-to-hand, fought to the death, and finally captured a large number of enemy supplies, and won the first battle.
In the following years, the 81st Army and the enemy army experienced large and small battles in the land of Suixi, and they sacrificed their lives and forgot to die in the face of national righteousness.
Therefore, after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Ma Hongbin was awarded the Medal of Loyalty and Diligence in recognition of the significant contributions made by the troops he led in the anti-Japanese resistance in Suixi.
Ma Hongbin, who experienced the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, changed his thinking even more obviously.
In September 1949, the First Field Army led by Peng Dehuai and Ma Hongbin's 81st Army were separated from each other by the Yellow River.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China continued to do Ma Hongbin's united front work, and found Guo Nanpu, who was quite famous among the Hui people, as well as Meng Baoshan and others in the former Ma Jiajun.
Later, he went to Yinchuan to visit Ma Hongbin and explained to him the party's willingness to liberate Ningxia peacefully.
Thanks to the efforts of our party, Ma Hongbin began to study the plan of the uprising.
On 19 September, Ma Hongbin sent Ma Dianjing, Ma Peiqing, and others across the Yellow River to Shazhou to sign the "Agreement on Peaceful Settlement" with Fu Chongbi, a representative of the People's Liberation Army.
Two days later, Ma Hongbin and Ma Xuanjing announced the uprising of the 81st Army and accepted the reorganization of the People's Liberation Army.
The so-called person who knows the times is Junjie.
At an important juncture in his life, Ma Hongbin was able to put aside his personal gains and losses, contribute to the peaceful liberation of Ningxia, and greatly protected the safety of local people's lives and property, and his behavior was also widely praised.
After the liberation, Ma Hongbin and his son actively devoted themselves to the cause of building the motherland and contributed their own strength to the development of New China.
The end of life: tossing and turning in turmoil for half a life, and the evening is windy
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Ma Hongbin successively served as vice chairman of the Ningxia Provincial People's Government, vice chairman of the Northwest Administrative Committee, and first vice governor of Gansu Province.
He was also elected as a deputy to the First and Second People's Congresses.
As one of the leaders who witnessed the war, strife and development and construction in the northwest region.
At the same time, Ma Hongbin attaches great importance to ethnic equality and ethnic unity, and is committed to developing a national united front in the multi-ethnic areas of the northwest.
He taught the public that in the past, there had been problems of inter-ethnic struggles, all because of the lack of a reliable government and leadership.
But now it is different, and any national issue can be resolved on the basis of equality and respect.
Ma Hongbin's behavior has a lot to do with the education he received since he was a child and his consistent ideological advocacy.
In 1900, when the Eight-Nation Coalition invaded China, Ma Hongbin's father Ma Fulu was ordered to guard Shanhaiguan.
His father led his troops to fight to the death with the Eight-Nation Alliance, fought to the death without retreating, died in his country, and was posthumously named General Zhenwei by the Qing court.
Ma Hongbin lost his father at the age of 16 and has been staying with his uncle Ma Fuxiang.
Since then, he has been deeply influenced by traditional Chinese culture and has read the Four Books and Five Classics by heart.
This laid the foundation for his concept of self-cultivation, family management, and military governance.
Later, Ma Hongbin set an example, wearing long shirts and cloth shoes all year round, being diligent and thrifty, prohibiting extravagance, and strictly disciplining his family.
When governing the army, Ma Hongbin won the title of "Ma Shanren" because of his generosity and compassion for the soldiers.
According to records, there was a company commander in the army who called the soldiers to wash his feet, and Ma Hongbin saw it, was furious, and severely reprimanded him.
Later, this soldier bravely killed the enemy in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and sacrificed his life for the country. It is precisely because he fully understands the hard work of the people at the bottom that after the founding of New China, Ma Hongbin was able to understand the people's feelings and run for the toiling masses.
In 1960, 76-year-old Ma Hongbin suffered from stomach cancer, and Premier Zhou was very concerned.
Not only did he personally call all parties to get medical treatment, and sent a special car to deliver medicine, but he also took him to Beijing for expert consultation, and only sent him back when his health improved.
Premier Zhou
However, the good times did not last long, and on October 21, Ma Hongbin died of illness in Lanzhou.
Party and government personnel from all walks of life in Gansu formed a funeral committee and held a public memorial for 1,000 people to mourn this old man who had been turbulent for half his life and had a windy evening.
Throughout Ma Hongbin's life, he experienced the Battle of Gengzi, the division of China by the great powers, and the warlord melee after the warlords, although he submitted to Feng Yuxiang and Chiang Kai-shek.
But at the critical juncture of his life, he made the most correct decision, which made his life more firm and steadfast, shining with the brilliance of humanity.
Resources:
"The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Strives for Ma Hongkui and Ma Hongbin Again" - Yinchuan Party History
Linxia County - Ma Hongbin Memorial Hall - Gansu Province Red Memorial Hall
"Historical Review: The Bloody Battle of the Hexi Corridor" - Xu Xiangqian - People's Liberation Army Publishing House
"Suixi Anti-Japanese War" - Gansu Daily
Presenting the Centenary of the Founding of the Party - Telling the Story of Women Heroes (6): Women's Independent Regiment of the Red West Route Army-The Paper