In the halls of power in China, President Xi Jinping has fought a quiet battle for control of the country's armed forces.

Last month, he fired his top general in a massive shake-up of the Chinese military.

General Zhang You Xia, the senior most general and number two of the Central Military Commission,

which is basically the Chinese military's decision-making body,

was under investigation for, quote, severe violations of party discipline and state laws.

General Zhang Yosha was once considered Xi Jinping's right-hand man, vital to the People's Liberation Army.

And now, he's under arrest.

Zhang is the most senior active duty military officer to be ousted and put under investigation by Xi Jinping,

and the highest ranking military figure purged in decades. So that announcement was really a bomb shot.

The Chinese military gave few details about the investigation into Zhang.

But our colleague Lingling Wei has been trying to figure out what led to his removal.

And she learned that Zhang Yoh Shah was accused of a litany of crimes, including bribery,

corruption, and the leaking of nuclear weapon secrets to the United States.

But our reporting does not confirm whether those allegations are true or not.

Beijing's internal explanations do not always reflect the complete or even true motivation behind Xi Jinping's decisions.

It's a huge black box.

What we do know is that the Chinese military has been ramping up its purges of top officials.

She has now purged five of the six senior generals he handpicked only three years ago to lead the military.

So it is quite unprecedented. It basically represents the hollowing out of the Chinese military's high command.

And Zhang is the most high-profile figure to be fired so far.

Lingling says that now, Xi Jinping has the sole command of the Chinese armed forces.

So by clearing the decks,

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