During the Nanchang Uprising, in accordance with the arrangements of the party organization, Zhu De made full use of the resources of his contacts in the Yunnan Army's Lecture Hall and the Dian Army to carry out fruitful united front work against the top brass of the Dian army stationed in Jiangxi at that time, laying a good foundation for launching the Nanchang Uprising and also creating favorable conditions for later preserving the revolutionary seeds of the remnants of the uprising.
In 1909, Zhu De came to Yunnan from Sichuan and was admitted to the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall, which became the starting point of Zhu De's military career and revolutionary road. Under the influence of the school motto of "stoicism and hard work" in the Lecture Hall, Zhu De not only systematically studied military theory and tempered his command ability, but also got to know a large number of friends of the same window, such as Zhu Peide, Jin Handing, Wang Jun, Fan Shisheng, Yang Ruxuan, Yang Chisheng, and Tang Huaiyuan. In the common study and battle, Zhu De won praise and trust with excellent results and sincere and loyal character, and established a deep friendship with them.
Yunnan Lecture Hall
Zhu De and Zhu Peide were both classmates and friends when they lectured on the martial arts hall, they were both excellent in character and learning, and whenever there were superiors or foreign guests who came to the school to inspect and visit, they mostly came forward to direct the performance, and sometimes had the reputation of "Model Erzhu", which was very envied by other students.
On the eve of the northern expedition, Zhu Peide's garrison in Guangdong was reorganized into the Third Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and Zhu served as the commander of the army, and he became a "one-word king" with Chiang Kai-shek, Cheng Qian, and other 7 other northern expeditionary army commanders, and became the highest figure in the guest Dian army. Jude commented that he was "a relatively honest man among the old soldiers, and his Third Army was relatively close to us."
Zhu Peide and Zhu De
Among the students of the Lecture Hall, Zhu De was honored as a master brother by Jin Handing, Fan Shisheng, Yang Ruxuan, Yang Chisheng, Yang Hao, and so on. He and Fan Shisheng, Yang Ruxuan, Yang Chisheng and seven or eight other people organized a small group called the "Wuhua Society" with the purpose of saving China, and often studied, discussed and exchanged new ideas together.
The closest relationship with Zhu De is Jin Handing. In the war of defending the country and protecting the law, they have been fighting side by side, and they are famous for their bravery and good fighting, and they have experienced many life and death tests together.
Kim Handing
Fan Shisheng and Zhu De were admitted to the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall at the same time, and soon after enrolling, they became good friends at first sight. Fan Shisheng also secretly introduced Zhu De to join the League, and they often secretly circulated and copied progressive books.
After the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, they jointly participated in the Kunming "Chongjiu" Uprising under the leadership of Cai Yi. After the establishment of the Yunnan military government, Zhu De and Fan Shisheng were incorporated into the second echelon regiment of the Sichuan Aid Army, with Zhu De as the platoon commander and Fan Shisheng as the company commander, and went to Sichuan to help Sichuan resist the Qing army.
Fan Shisheng
Zhu De spent a total of 13 years in Yunnan from the time he went to the Yunnan Army to study at the Wu tang and finally left Yunnan. During this time, Zhu De had a deep friendship with his friends in the Wu Tang, and experienced the baptism of blood and fire, the test of life and death. Zhu De's friends later became senior generals of the Dian Army, and on the eve of the Nanchang Uprising, they held heavy troops and were stationed in Jiangxi and other places.
At the beginning of 1927, Zhu De ended the united front work against Yang Sen and supported the Northern Expedition in Sichuan, and the CPC Central Committee gave him a new task to go to Jiangxi to engage in military movement work. Zhu De passed through Jiujiang and visited Jin Handing, commander of the Ninth Army of the National Revolutionary Army stationed in Jiujiang.
Commander of the Ninth Army, Jin Handing
The next day, Jin Handing accompanied Zhu De to Nanchang to meet Zhu Peide, who was then the commander-in-chief of the Fifth Front Of the National Revolutionary Army. When the "Model Erzhu", known as the Yunnan Army's Lecture Hall, met, the two old classmates had endless words of their own. In view of the fact that the Third Army suffered heavy losses in the Jiangxi battlefield and replenished its troops after entering Nanchang, but the quality of subordinate officers and non-commissioned officers was very low, Zhu De proposed the establishment of an officer teaching regiment and conducted military and political training for them according to the method of the Yunnan Army's martial arts hall. Zhu Peide gladly adopted this suggestion.
On March 5, 1927, Zhu Peide opened the Officers' Teaching Corps and appointed Zhu De as the General Counselor of the Third Army and the head of the Teaching Regiment. Chiang Kai-shek and Li Liejun attended the opening ceremony of the teaching group. Chiang Kai-shek also delivered a speech, saying that the Third Army had a glorious history of following Premier Sun and that the Northern Expedition was also very hard work, and hoped that the cadets would study well under the guidance of Commander Zhu and so on.
First Class Army General Zhu Peide
In addition to strengthening military training for the cadets of the Third Army Officer Education Corps, Zhu De paid attention to enhancing the political and ideological consciousness of the cadets, and often invited Guo Moruo, Fang Zhimin, Shao Shiping, Zeng Tianyu, and other comrades to the education corps to talk about the Chinese revolution, peasantry, society, and other issues, and secretly established Communist Party groups in each company to actively develop party members (some company communists even accounted for 1/3 of the cadets). The education corps is actually in the hands of the Communist Party and has become an important base for the Party to train military talents.
In addition to the training teams, they also set up training classes for workers and peasants, peasant training centers, and some of the cadres who were later trained in northeast Jiangxi and on Jinggangshan were trained at that time.
In early April 1927, the Kuomintang appointed Zhu Peide as the chairman of Jiangxi Province, and on the day he took office as provincial chairman, he also appointed Zhu De as the director of the Nanchang Public Security Bureau. Taking advantage of his position as the director of the Nanchang Public Security Bureau, Zhu De led the trainees and workers' pickets of the teaching regiment to attack the Kuomintang Jiangxi Provincial Party Headquarters, arrested and expelled the counter-revolutionary Cheng Tianfang and 7 other people, and cleared an obstacle for the Nanchang uprising under the imminent white terror.
At this time, Chiang Kai-shek suddenly launched the "April 12" counter-revolutionary coup, and Zhu Peide, under pressure, paid each of the more than 140 Communists in the Third Army for the road, and then "gifted" them all out of the country to Wuhan, thus saving them from massacre. At this time, Zhu De also graduated the cadets of the first and second battalions of the Officer Education Regiment ahead of schedule, leaving only the third battalion. Most of the graduated cadets returned to the expanded Third and Ninth Armies, and the rest were assigned to the counties in the Ganjiang River Basin to carry out the workers' and peasants' movement.
Diploma of the Officers' Education Corps
On July 15, after the confluence of Jiang and Wang, the white terror spread rapidly, and Zhu De was also "sent out of the country by Zhu Peide". In order to cover the escape of Zhu De and the others, Jin Handing stepped forward and personally took them to Jiujiang until they all left Jiujiang safely
After Wang Jingwei launched the "July 15" counter-revolutionary coup in Wuhan, the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party completely broke down. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to launch an armed uprising against the rule of the Kuomintang, and the site of the uprising was chosen in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, where the party's work foundation was relatively good.
In late July, the central government sent Zhu De back to Nanchang to make preparations for the uprising. On July 20, Zhu De first went to Jiujiang to mobilize Jin Handing to participate in the uprising. Jin Handing did not agree, but out of brotherhood, he handed over the Twenty-eighth Division of the Ninth Army to the leadership of the Communists, adding revolutionary strength to the Nanchang Uprising.
Zhu De and Jin Handing after the founding of the People's Republic of China
After Zhu De returned to Nanchang, he immediately threw himself into the intense preparations for the uprising, actively leading the cadets of the Officers' Education Corps and some police officers of the Nanchang City Public Security Bureau to prepare to participate in the uprising. At the same time, Zhu De actively used his social status and the relationship between the Dian Army to investigate in detail the enemy's number, the number of personnel, weapons and equipment, and the deployment of urban defense in Nanchang City, and drew a "sketch of the distribution of the enemy army." He also covered the arrival of the CCP leaders who participated in the Nanchang uprising, and set up a committee of former enemies with Zhou Enlai as secretary at the Nanchang Hostel.
On the eve of the uprising, Zhu De feasted on the commanders of the 23rd regiment and the 24th regiment of the Third Army of the Dian Army, and dragged them to ensure the smooth progress of the uprising. During the banquet, he learned that there was a traitor informant, and Zhu De immediately informed He Long of the news. The Committee of Former Enemies of the Uprising immediately made a decision and decided to launch the uprising two hours in advance, and a series of thorough and meticulous preparations carried out by Zhu De before the uprising were highly praised by Zhou Enlai, secretary of the Committee of Former Enemies of the Uprising, who praised Zhu De: "Made the first contribution to the Nanchang Uprising!" ”
On August 3, 1927, according to the original plan, the rebel army withdrew from Nanchang in batches and went south to the Chaoshan region of Guangdong to open up a base area. Before departing from Nanchang, Zhu De sent a letter to Yang Ruxuan, commander of the Kuomintang 27th Division stationed in Linchuan and a former friend of the Dian Army, to persuade him to join the revolutionary ranks. Yang Ruxuan did not agree, but considering the friendship with Zhu De for many years, he gave the rebel army a big road to the south. In this way, the rebel forces were able to successfully pass through Linchuan.
Yang Ruxuan
In early November of the same year, Zhu Deyu arrived in the area of Shangbao in Chongyi County, Jiangxi Province, which was located on the edge of Xiangyue and Gansu. Shangbao was Yang Ruxuan's military defense zone, and Zhu De wrote to him again, hoping to "borrow Shangbao from me for three months of military training." Yang Ruxuan gave the green light again. Zhu De seized the opportunity to carry out the "Shangbao Rectification Training". This is a recuperation environment obtained by Zhu Deyu since the retreat of Nanchang 3, so that these generals who later became the founding fathers of new China have been fully rested and made a comeback.
At this time, the problem of the supply of the troops could not be solved, and it was almost the middle of winter, and the soldiers were still wearing single clothes and shorts, and the grain, guns and ammunition were not landed. At a difficult and embarrassing moment, Zhu De unexpectedly saw in the newspaper the news that Fan Shisheng's troops of the Sixteenth Army were stationed in Chenzhou and Rucheng, Hunan. Zhu De wrote a letter to contact, and after Fan Shisheng received the letter, he immediately replied to the letter to welcome it.
On November 21, Zhu De and Fan Shisheng met in Rucheng and agreed that the rebel contingent would be organized into the 140th Regiment of the 47th Division of the 16th Army, with Zhu De, alias Wang Kai, as deputy commander of the 47th Division and commander of the 140th Regiment. The troops are completely autonomous in organization and personnel, free from interference, and can come and go freely. Subsequently, Fan Shisheng replenished the 140th Regiment with guns, ammunition, military supplies, and paid grain.
In early January 1928, Chiang Kai-shek learned that Zhu De was hiding in Fan Shisheng's troops, and immediately secretly ordered Fan Shisheng to disarm the rebel army and arrest Zhu De and escort him to Nanjing. After receiving the order, Fan Shisheng quickly wrote a letter to inform Zhu De to transfer, and sent tens of thousands of yuan of foreign road fees and a batch of military supplies. In the letter, Fan Shisheng specifically instructed Zhu De to still use the sixteenth army number to lead the troops to take the main road and not to take the small road, so as to avoid the losses of the troops.
Shonan Rebellion (oil on canvas)
Zhu De immediately led his troops out of danger, moved to the Yizhang area of Hunan, and launched the Shonan Rebellion. In April, Zhu De led the remnants of the Nanchang rebel army to Jinggangshan to meet the autumn harvest uprising forces led by Mao Zedong in victory.
In 1944, Zhu De said at a symposium on compiling the combat history of the Red First Army: "Because of my personal classmate relationship with Fan Shisheng, our soldiers, guns, ammunition, uniforms, medicine, etc. have been replenished, and the troops have also been well rested. All this has played a great role in our future struggles!
In May 1928, Chiang Kai-shek, who learned of Yang Ruxuan's release of water, became angry and ordered Yang Ruxuan to lead his 27th Division to encircle and suppress the Red Army at Jinggangshan. Yang Ruxuan's troops adopted a self-protection strategy of "encircling but not attacking, pursuing but not fighting" against the Red Army, and adopting a self-protection strategy of "avoiding the truth and making false things and perfunctory." Yang Budian's sergeant had no fighting spirit and had to be mixed and mixed, and as a result, he was rushed by the Red Army.
Subsequently, Chiang Kai-shek ordered four other regiments of Yang Ruxuan's army, together with a regiment of Yang Chisheng's regiment of the Third Army, which was also the Dian Army, to attack the yongxin and Ninggang areas, and in this perfunctory military operation, even Yang Ruxuan himself was wounded by stray bullets, known in history as the "Battle of Longyuankou". So much so that a song and ballad circulated around Jinggangshan, "It did not cost the Red Army three points to defeat the two sheep (Yang) in Jiangxi."
Later, Chiang Kai-shek downsized Zhu Peide's Fifth Front Army (mainly the Dian Army), and Yang Ruxuan was relieved of the military power of the 27th Division and transferred to the Central Military Senate as a lieutenant general. Chairman Chiang Kai-shek later pushed Yang Chisheng and other units of the Dian Army to the front line of encircling and suppressing the Red Army as cannon fodder. However, these farces will still be staged in any military encirclement and suppression operation in which the Dian Army participates. Therefore, the Dian army was mistaken for being incompetent and incompetent. However, judging from the War of Patriotic Protection, the War of Northern Expedition, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the combat effectiveness of the Modern Dian Army is first-class.
Yang Chisheng
On the other hand, at that time, the Central Army, the Xiang Army, and the Gui Army, whether in the April 12 coup, the encirclement and suppression of the Soviet zone, the encirclement and suppression of the Long March, or the later Anhui Southern Incident, were all cruel and ruthless to the Red regime. Therefore, in contrast, we can only know why the Dian Army can open up to the Red Army, which has a lot to do with the personal relationship and classmate friendship of Zhu Laozong's Yunnan Wutang.