Mention the name Chen Mingren, probably everyone has heard of it. Some people know that he is a hero of the Eastern Crusade and a pioneer in the crusade against the warlord Chen Jiongming; some people have heard that he was a brave and good war-fighting anti-Japanese hero who participated in the Battle of Jiujiang and the Battle of Guinan; some people explain that he was once a senior general of the Kuomintang and participated in the Battle of Siping.
This former lieutenant general of the Nationalist Army actually became one of the founding generals after the founding of New China. The intricate reasons for this have to start from Chen Mingren's life.
Chairman Mao and Chen Mingren
Chen Mingren was born in 1903 to a peasant family. When he was a child, the conditions at home were acceptable, so Chen Mingren also had the opportunity to attend private schools, attend primary schools, and successfully enter secondary school. After graduating home, he became a teacher and taught at the local Baitutan Primary School.
Unfortunately, in those days, there was great war, and the people were displaced and impoverished. There are also very few children who can receive education in primary schools. Chen Mingren, who has a high cultural attainment, knows that to change all this, it is far from enough to teach and educate people.
In 1924, the thirteenth year of the Republic of China, things changed. In this year, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party achieved their first cooperation, the revolutionary power in Guangdong was consolidated, and the enthusiasm of the revolutionary movement of workers and peasants throughout the country was unprecedentedly high.
Chen Mingren is no exception, not to mention, to defend the family and defend the country, Pi Fu has the responsibility. To this end, Chen Mingren, despite his family's opposition, quit his original stable job and came to the Guangzhou Army Martial Arts School to study military affairs. In the autumn of the same year, the Whampoa Military Academy was established, and Chen Mingren became the first student of it. Since then, Chen Mingren's military career has begun.
▲Whampoa Military Academy
In 1925, the National Revolutionary Army went on a crusade, targeting the warlord Chen Jiongming, who also participated in the crusade. In the Battle of Dongguan, Chen Mingren charged with illness and destroyed a battalion of Chen Jiongming's troops with a platoon of troops; in the Battle of Huizhou, Chen Mingren led the death squad and was the first to climb the city tower and let Huizhou change its banner. Such martial courage made Chiang Kai-shek look sideways. At the celebration meeting, Chiang Kai-shek promoted him to battalion commander on the spot, and all the soldiers raised their guns to pay tribute to this brave warrior who was not afraid of death.
Since then, Chen Mingren has participated in one battle after another. These included the Jiang Fengyan War, the "encirclement and suppression" of the Fujian-Gansu Red Army and the Eyu-Anhui Soviet Region, as well as the attack on the Fujian People's Government. He relied on his military theory and indomitable spirit to become a regimental commander, a brigade commander, and even a division commander.
On July 7, 1937, the Lugou Bridge Incident broke out, and the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was in full swing. Chen Mingren was then the commander of the Second Reserve Division and participated in the Battle of Jiujiang and the Battle of Guinan.
In 1944, Chen Mingren was promoted to commander and, along with the Chinese Expeditionary Force, went to western Yunnan to participate in the counteroffensive operation against Japan. Along the way, Chen Mingren's troops crossed the Nu River and captured the so-called "indestructible" Songshan Fortress.
Subsequently, on the second day of the defense, he recaptured long-unable to attack Longshan, took advantage of the victory to pursue the town of Gongkeqi, successfully met with the Chinese troops stationed in northern Burma, and opened up an important international military strategic highway in the southwest- the China-India Highway. It provided stable logistical support for the troops fighting the Japanese army in China and laid the foundation for victory.
▲ Expeditionary Force
Chen Mingren's sword in the army became sharper and sharper in the tempering of many battles, large and small. Unfortunately, the owner of such a sword used him in the civil war.
In 1945, after the victory of the 14-year War of Resistance Against Japan, the war-torn people rejoiced, and peace could finally come. In the same year, the 43-day Chongqing negotiations were held, and the "Double Tenth Agreement", a symbol of peace, was signed, and people were even more excited. The peace that has been waiting for so many years is finally coming. Chen Mingren also hopes that this time can usher in a real time of peace.
But his immediate superior, Chiang Kai-shek, did not think of it at all. Chiang Kai-shek was bent on becoming the one who dominated China. He did not heed the voice of the people at all, arrogantly tore up the "Double Ten Agreement", and a full-scale civil war was launched.
Soon, Chen Mingren received orders from above, asking him to lead the 71st Army to the northeast battlefield to fight the People's Liberation Army. Although Chen Mingren had a grudge in his heart, after all, the military orders were like mountains and had to be obeyed. Moreover, he still had a trace of admiration for Chiang Kai-shek, the person who promoted him. To this end, Chen Mingren fought bravely on the battlefield in an attempt to repay Chiang Kai-shek. Unfortunately, an incident that happened later made him completely chill out chiang kai-shek.
In June 1947, Chen Mingren received a telegram from Chiang Kai-shek in siping city, which was already under fire and full of broken walls and ruins. With his trembling hand, he picked it up and looked at the four big words on it, which suddenly made his lips tighten: "Stick to Siping!" ”
▲The Battle of Siping
After defending Siping, Chiang Kai-shek promoted Chen Mingren to commander of the Seventh Corps of the Kuomintang Army, and Chen Mingren became famous for a while. Soon after, however, Chiang Kai-shek sent Chen Cheng to the northeast to take charge. In the early years, Chen Cheng had friction with Chen Mingren, and now Chen Mingren has unlimited popularity, which makes Chen Cheng resentful.
To this end, Chen Cheng used many means to catch out a few "shortcomings" of Chen Mingren and went to Chiang Kai-shek to report them. As soon as Chiang Kai-shek heard this, he did not distinguish between the red and the red, so he dismissed Chen Mingren and let Chen Mingren return to Nanjing and spend all day idle.
As a predatory soldier, Chen Mingren was secretly calculated by his colleagues and transferred away from the front line, and his heart was extremely uneven. He also became more and more disgusted with Chiang Kai-shek. It is precisely this change that has made Chen Mingren pay more and more attention to our party. Under the persuasion of his friends and the influence of our party, Chen Mingren became more and more aware of our party. This also laid the groundwork for Chen Mingren to make that crucial decision later.
In 1948, Chen Mingren served as the deputy commander of the "Suppression General" in central China and the commander of the Wuhan garrison, but he had no intention of working for Chiang Kai-shek anymore. At this time, he had close contact with Cheng Qian, director of the "Appeasement" in Changsha and chairman of Hunan Province, who was inclined to peace.
▲Cheng dive
This part of Hunan is really a very contradictory territory. It is located between the two forces of Chiang Kai-shek and Bai Chongxi, and between Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Kai-shek, there has been a long-term contradiction. Whoever does it first will easily intensify the contradiction, which neither side wants to see. At this time, Bai Chongxi took a fancy to Chen Mingren.
Bai Chongxi already knew that there had been friction between Chen Mingren and Chiang Kai-shek, and the relationship was delicate. If Chen Mingren could be arranged to go to Changsha, Chen Mingren would certainly be as grateful to Chiang Kai-shek as he was to him for his promotion. The part of the Central Army that belonged to Chen Mingren in this way was not owned by Bai Chongxi? In this way, Chen Mingren came to Changsha, and all this seemed too coincidental.
In February 1949, Chen Mingren led his troops to Changsha to meet Cheng Qian. As soon as he arrived in Changsha, Chen Mingren discovered the city's distinctiveness. In Changsha City, the people were not as panicked as elsewhere, but more harmonious and stable. What surprised Chen Mingren even more was that in this city, the people were very eager for peace and a stable life, and this sentiment even affected some of the soldiers guarding the city.
After many conversations, Chen Mingren knew that Cheng Qian had a plan in mind. Chen Mingren and Cheng Qian already knew that neither Chiang Kai-shek nor Bai Chongxi really wanted to think about the people, but only wanted to call the king emperor. After several negotiations, the two decided to secretly plan a peaceful uprising.
On August 4, 1949, Chen Mingren, Cheng Qian, and others electrified the whole country to revolt! Suddenly, the whole country was shocked, the alleys and alleys were endlessly discussed, and the people of Changsha were even more overjoyed. On August 5, after our army entered Changsha, it was warmly welcomed by more than 100,000 Changsha citizens, and the city was full of gongs and drums, full of joy, and the joy was excessive.
▲ Changsha liberation report
As early as when Chen Mingren came into contact with our party, he made it clear that there are no conditions, everything is for peace, for the sake of defending the family and the country. This only made Chairman Mao and others feel embarrassed, because Chen Mingren's proposal of the uprising was of great significance.
At that time, it was the moment when our army crossed the Yangtze River and advanced southward. Due to the dispersion of the front line, the pressure on our army is enormous. At this time, Chen Mingren led the troops to revolt, one of which was to solve the pressure of the frontal battlefield for our army, and at the same time, Chen Mingren's soldiers could also join our troops and continue to fight.
The second is to create momentum for our army, and the incident of Chen Mingren's uprising spread throughout the country, proving to the people of the whole country that the leadership of our party conforms to the trend of history and meets the expectations of the people.
The third was to strike at the momentum of Chiang Kai-shek and others again, so that the morale of the troops was reduced again, and they had no intention of fighting. As a result, our army was as imposing as a rainbow and attacked most of the cities in the south like a bamboo. These points are undoubtedly very important for this battle.
After that, Chen Mingren took the initiative to ask for help, hoping to lead the troops and do his best for the country militarily. To this end, in 1950, Chen Mingren led his troops to Guangxi to eliminate the bandits and miscellaneous soldiers who were wandering around the local area. When the troops were about to be collected, Chen Mingren led his troops to annihilate more than 30,000 enemy special forces, making great contributions to the peace and stability of Guangxi.
In 1952, Chen Mingren's department was reorganized and based on water conservancy construction. In October of the same year, Chen Mingren served as the commander of the 55th Army of our army and rushed to Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province, to garrison the border.
▲Chen Mingren in the early stage of the results
It is precisely because Chen Mingren understands the great righteousness and makes outstanding contributions that he can become one of the founding generals. He was a revolutionary general during the Northern Expedition; a famous anti-Japanese general during the War of Resistance Against Japan; a hero of the uprising during the War of Liberation; and even more a founding general who worked day and night to consolidate peace and stability in our country.
Although for the first time of his life, Chen Mingren served under Chiang Kai-shek and had a confrontation with us. But that is also just living in a different camp, each as its own master. What we should understand even more is that even if General Chen Mingren served Chiang Kai-shek for half his life, after discovering Chiang's wolf ambitions, he dared to revolt with a righteous heart.