Why did he lose to the Communist Party, Xue Yue reflected in his later years: He was too greedy for money and wanted to kill. In May 1949, there was an atmosphere of murder in the Guangdong Provincial Government building. Xue Yue, the provincial chairman who had just taken office, was anxiously pacing back and forth. The phone rang suddenly, he grabbed the receiver and shouted, "Why don't you do it yet?" If you delay any longer, you will wait to be held accountable!" After hanging up the phone, Xue Yue looked at the portrait of Yue Fei on the wall and muttered to himself: "Ancestor, am I serving the country, or am I digging my own grave?"
The rise and fall of the Cantonese army: from local power to collapse
Who would have thought that the Cantonese army, which once shocked South China, would now fall into such a field? Let's go back more than 20 years and see how this force rose and why it declined.
In the 1920s, the National Revolutionary Army led by Sun Yat-sen was in full swing. As the backbone of the Guangdong army, under the leadership of Chen Jiongming, Chiang Kai-shek and other generals, swept through Guangdong, swallowing mountains and rivers. At that time, the generals of the Cantonese army were all dragons and phoenixes: Zhang Fakui was brave and good at fighting, Li Jishen was strategic, and Xue Yue was famous for being a "tiger boy". This group of tiger generals not only fought fiercely, but also had great ambitions and wanted to be the soil emperors of Guangdong.
Unfortunately, the good times did not last long, and with Chiang Kai-shek coming to power, this group of unruly Cantonese generals gradually fell out of favor. Chiang Kai-shek knew that in order to unify the whole country, it would not be possible to rely on local warlords alone. So he vigorously supported the central army and suppressed local forces. Although the Cantonese army was unwilling, it could only obediently comply. During the Anti-Japanese War, the Guangdong army lost the opportunity to fight independently and became a vassal of the Central Army.
The world has changed, and the Cantonese army cannot escape its fate
After the outbreak of the civil war, the situation took a turn for the worse. The Communist Party was in a state of collapse, and the Kuomintang was losing ground one after another. In early 1949, Chiang Kai-shek had to pin his hopes on local warlords. As a result, Xue Yue, Zhang Fakui and other former Cantonese army bigwigs were invited back to Guangdong to sit in the town.
These veterans are ambitious and want to revive the Cantonese army. Unfortunately, it backfired, and they found that their soldiers were no longer the fierce generals who could fight well. After years of war, the Guangdong army has long been seriously injured, and the rest are either old, weak, sick and disabled, or improvised recruits.
What's worse is that the Communist Party's underground work is doing too well. Many Cantonese generals have secretly hooked up with the Communist Party for a long time. For example, Liao Mingou, Li Jiezhi and others were obedient to Xue Yue on the surface, but behind the scenes, they were planning an uprising. This made Xue Yue angry, and his former cronies turned out to be grass on the wall one by one!
A sudden mutiny shattered Xue Yue's dream
Just when Xue Yue was still dreaming of reviving the heroic style of the Cantonese army, a sudden mutiny completely shattered his illusions.
On May 14, the Kuomintang forces in eastern Guangdong suddenly declared an uprising and defected to the Communists. This can poke the hornet's nest, and the entire Guangdong Province is in a mess. Xue Yue, the provincial chairman, was sitting in his office, and one moment he received the news of the uprising here, and the next he heard that the troops there had mutinied. He was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, eager to shoot all those traitors.
However, the situation is stronger than people, and Xue Yue can mobilize fewer and fewer loyal troops. He had no choice but to pin his hopes on his old subordinates. Who knows, these former cronies have long been unreliable.
Take Liao Mingou as an example, this Huizhou commissioner is respectful to Xue Yue on the surface, but behind the scenes he is planning an uprising. Xue Yue originally regarded him as his own, but he learned from the secret report that this guy was actually writing a secret letter to the Communist Party!
Xue Yue was so angry that his face turned green, and he immediately ordered Liao Mingou to be arrested. Unfortunately, this order was given too late. By the time the Kuomintang army surrounded the Huizhou Special Office, Liao Mingou had already run away. Xue Yue could lift a stone to shoot himself in the foot, not only did he not catch the traitor, but he startled the snake and made more people feel second-hearted.
A great change, the destruction of the Cantonese army is imminent
As the news of the uprising spread, the whole of Guangdong was enveloped in an atmosphere of impending mountain rain. The officers, who were still waiting, could not sit still now. They sent people to Hong Kong one after another, hoping to join the Communist Party as soon as possible.
Xue Yue's donkey skills are exhausted now. He wanted to catch the traitor, but who knew which one was truly loyal? He wanted to suppress the uprising, but he had fewer and fewer soldiers in his hands, and he couldn't suppress it at all. In the end, he could only watch as his territory was encroached upon.
By September, the PLA army was pressing. Xue Yue, the "tiger boy", could no longer pretend, so he could only flee to Taiwan with his tail between his legs. In this way, the once commanding Guangdong army quietly withdrew from the stage of history.
This history has left us with many lessons. First of all, no matter how strong the local forces are, they cannot withstand the general trend of history. Second, over-reliance on personal prestige is unreliable, and once the leader falls, the entire group will fall apart. Finally, in troubled times, the human heart is the most unpredictable. Those subordinates who are ostensibly loyal may turn against the water at any time. Therefore, you still have to be down-to-earth, don't always think about being a prince. After all, the wheels of history are rolling forward, and no one can stop them.