Chapter 81 Section VII

Sun Dianying escaped punishment and continued his life as a warlord.After the beginning of the Central Plains War, the situation was very unfavorable to Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang, so he took refuge in Zhang Xueliang; in the War of Resistance Against Japan, he performed well at the beginning. He fought bloody battles with the Japanese army for seven days and nights; but in 1943, he led his army to surrender to Japan and became a traitor; after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Sun Dianying's troops were organized by Chiang Kai-shek as the Fourth Route Army, following Chiang Kai-shek to fight the civil war.

In April 1947, the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army (Second Field) attacked Tangyin, Henan, and the defender of Tangyin was Sun Dianying.Sun Dianying built five city defenses, but within half a month the troops were defeated and the city was destroyed, and he himself was captured alive. After being at large for nearly twenty years, this time he finally became a prisoner. The arrested Sun Dianying received certain preferential treatment because of his high rank (major general).He carried two suitcases with him, and never left him even when he ate, drank, slept, and slept.He almost became an international celebrity because he bombed the Eastern Tomb of the Qing Dynasty, and Erye knew what treasure was in the box at a guess.

The brigade commander Xiao Yongyin went to inspect and said to him with a pleasant face: "Commander Sun, I heard that you have two treasures. Let me open my eyes by showing them." Sun Dianying was respectful and dumbfounded. Offer a treasure, brother is willing to offer a treasure!" In one box is a jade watermelon that he stole from Cixi's tomb, which was a gift from foreign vassals to the Qing emperor; in the other box is an ancient sword, which was used by Zhao Zilong of the Three Kingdoms!Xiao Yongyin looked at it and said to him: "Commander Sun, I'm really sorry, these treasures belong to the state and must be handed over to the public!"

Sun Dianying showed the appearance of a miser, and begged: "I like these two treasures so much. You don't know that since I have these two treasures by my side, I feel like I have a spiritual head when I live. Can you let them accompany me again?" I have two days!" This request was denied.Later, he was escorted to the headquarters of the Central Plains Field Army and then detained in She County, where he was given preferential treatment in life, during which Liu Bocheng gave him a special opinion. Sun Dianying died of illness in the autumn of 1947 due to his unsatisfied addiction to opium and his old age and infirmity.He who became well-known for robbing tombs finally walked into the tomb himself.

It is worth mentioning that he, a warlord famous for his tomb robbery, had an only son, Sun Tianyi, who became a professor.Professor Sun Tianyi has been striving for self-improvement in the harsh political environment all his life, and has published eight translations including "The Biography of Roosevelt", "The Biography of Chamberlain" and "The Biography of Charles de Gaulle".He used to be the dean of Xi'an University of Foreign Languages, and later served as the vice chairman of the Shaanxi Provincial Political Consultative Conference and the director of the Education, Culture, Health and Sports Committee, and spared no effort to protect scenic spots and historical sites.He said: "The stain of my father's destruction of cultural relics cannot be erased. Because of this, my sense of responsibility to protect cultural relics has increased."