胡宗南
After World War II, Hu Zongnan battled the Communist Party of China and in the early stage of the struggle, was once successful in taking Yan'an, the capital of the communist base in Shaanxi. However, Hu was unable to achieve any further significant victories because out of the original 400,000 troops he once commanded for most part of the war, a great portion was transferred to other commands after the war, leaving only 250,000 for Hu himself at the time. It was rumored that Hu's rivalries within Kuomintang around Chiang Kai-shek such as Chen Cheng were jealous of him and convinced Chiang to reduce Hu's power. With the death of his close ally Dai Li, there was nobody to defend Hu Zongnan in front of Chiang, and since Hu himself was in the distant land in the remote corner of China busy fighting the communists, he could not abandon his job and go to Chiang to explain himself in the political infighting within the Kuomintang. Although Hu Zongnan was a capable commander, he was nonetheless not a match for his communist opponent Peng Dehuai, and with the absolute numerical and technical superiorities, Hu's a quarter million troops not only failed to defeat the communist Peng Dehuai's 20,000 strong force, but after their initial success, also continuously suffered numerous defeats that greatly reduced Hu's strength. The loss of his troops was so great that in March 1950, when Hu retreated to Taiwan, he was by himself and did not have any troops left.