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Fu Zuoyi () (June 2, 1895 − April 19, 1974) was a Chinese people military leader. He began his military career in the service of Yan Xishan, and he was widely praised for his Suiyuan campaign of Suiyuan from the Japanese. During the final stages of the Chinese Civil War, Fu surrendered the large and strategic garrison around Beiping to Communist forces. He later served in the government of the People's Republic of China as Minister of the Hydraulic Ministry.
In March 1936, Manchukuo troops occupying Chahar Province invaded northeastern Suiyuan, contesting Fu's control. These Japanese-aligned troops seized the city of Bailingmiao in northern Suiyuan, where the pro-Japanese Inner Mongolian Autonomous Political Council maintained its headquarters. Three months later, the head of the Political Council, Demchugdongrub declared that he was the ruler of an independent Mongolia (Mengjiang), and organized an army with the aid of Japanese equipment and training. In August 1936 Demchugdongrub's army attempted to invade eastern Suiyuan, but it was defeated by Yan's forces under the command of Fu Zuoyi. Following this defeat, Demchugdongrub planned another invasion while Japanese agents carefully sketched and photographed Suiyuan's defenses.Gillin 230
In November 1936 the army of Demchugdongrub presented Fu Zuoyi with an ultimatum to surrender. When Fu responded that Demchugdongrub was merely a puppet of "certain quarters" and requested that Demchugdongrub submit to the authority of the central government, Demchugdongrub's armies launched another, more ambitious attack. Demchugdongrub's 15,000 soldiers were armed with Japanese weapons, supported by Japanese aircraft, and often led by Japanese officers. (Japanese soldiers fighting for Mengguguo were often executed by Fu after their capture as illegal combatants, since Mengguguo was not recognized as being part of Japan).Gillin 230–234
In anticipation of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japanese spies destroyed a large supply depot in Datong and carried out other acts of sabotage. In order to defend Suiyuan, Yan placed his best troops and most able generals, including Zhao Chengshou and Yan's son-in-law, Wang Jingguo, under Fu's command. During the month of fighting that ensued, the army of Mengguguo suffered severe casualties. Fu's forces succeeded in occupying Bailingmiao on November 24, 1936, and was considering invading Chahar before he was warned by the Kwantung Army that doing so would provoke an attack by the Japanese Army. Demchugdongrub's forces repeatedly attempted to retake Bailingmiao, but this only provoked Fu into sending troops north, where he successfully seized the last of Demchugdongrub's bases in Suiyuan and virtually annihilated his army. After Japanese were found to be aiding Demchugdongrub, Yan publicly accused Japan of aiding the invaders. Fu's victories in Suiyuan over Japanese-backed forces were praised by Chinese newspapers and magazines, other warlords and political leaders, and many students and members of the Chinese public. Fu's victories in Suiyuan greatly increased his prestige, and the prestige of Yan Xishan.Gillin 234–236
During the Chinese Civil War, Fu's forces (500,000 men) controlled the critically important Suiyuan-Beiping Corridor that separated Manchuria from China proper. After the Communists captured the Manchurian provinces in late 1948, Communists infiltrated Fu's inner circle and pressured Fu to negotiate a peaceful solution for the inevitable Communist take over. At the same time, Fu became increasingly disillusioned with Chiang. Fu's personal estrangement from Chiang reaching a climax in October 1948, when Chiang suddenly withdrew from a critical meeting on the defense of territory under Fu's command without giving any immediate explanation. Sometime earlier Chiang's son, Chiang Ching-kuo, had arrested and refused to release his cousin, Kung Ling-kan, as part of a broader effort to punish economic and financial criminals. Realizing that her nephew could be executed for his crimes, and that Chiang Ching-kuo was highly likely to execute Kong to set an example, Soong Mei-ling begged her husband Chiang Kai-shek to fly immediately to Shanghai to rescue Kung. Chiang left in the middle of the most important stage of defensive planning, a great blow to Nationalist morale and left an impression on Fu and many other Nationalist commanders. Fu remarked that this proved Chiang "loved the beauty more than the throne," that is, he had placed the welfare of his family above the welfare of the nation. Jay Taylor, The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-Shek and the Struggle for Modern China (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2009): 386-387
Communist agents active within Fu's inner circle included Fu's own daughter, Fu Dongju, and Fu's most trusted personal secretary, Major General (閻又文), who was from the same hometown as Fu (Ronghe, in Yuncheng). Fu Dongju, Yan Youwen, and other agents pressured Fu to surrender and repeatedly passed vital intelligence to the Communists. Fu began secret negotiations with Lin Biao, in which he arranged the surrender of the Beiping garrison, totaling a quarter of a million men, on January 31, 1949. Yan Youwen acted as Fu's representative during Fu's communication with Lin, but Fu did not know the true allegiance of Yan until after the establishment of the People's Republic of China.
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