On January 10, 1949, the 66-day Battle of Huaihai finally came to an end, and in this large-scale battle, our army annihilated and reorganized more than 550,000 enemy troops, and as the commander of Xuzhou, Du Yuming was also defeated and taken prisoner.
In fact, Du Yuming has always been reluctant about the fiasco in the Battle of Huaihai, and he summed up two reasons, one is to listen to Chiang Kai-shek's wrong decision, and the other is that someone within the Kuomintang leaked a highly classified battle plan.
In 1981, Du Yuming, who was 77 years old, still asked to see a deputy commander of the corps, when this person walked to his hospital bed, Du Yuming's emotions seemed particularly excited, he tightly grasped the hand of the corps commander and asked him: I am dying, just ask you to tell a truth, are you a communist?
This person did not admit it to his face, but only stressed that the position was different at that time, and Du Yuming did not get the answer he wanted, which was very disappointing.
Soon after, Du Yuming died of illness in Beijing, and the mystery hidden in his heart for many years was not solved until his death, as for who was the commander of the corps mentioned by the author? Everyone should have guessed, yes, he is Guo Rujie.
Guo Rugui was born in a family of scholars, his great-grandfather was still a man in the Daoguang years, to his father's generation, there are already xiucai meritorious names, the result is because the imperial examination system was abolished, resulting in ten years of cold window hard reading into an illusory dream, may be because of the ambition is not rewarded, his father is good at discussing current politics, when he was a child, Guo Rugui often listened to his father attack the corruption of the Beiyang warlords and expose the dark side of society, early he established the correct three views, laying a good foundation for the future revolutionary career.
In 1925, Guo Rugui graduated from high school, and his father had intended to let him study medicine, but he did not obey his father's arrangement, but chose to follow his cousin Guo Rudong on the revolutionary road.
In this way, Guo Rugui went to Guangdong and was admitted to the fifth phase of the Whampoa Military Academy, starting his military career.
At the beginning of the founding of the Whampoa Military Academy, it was the period of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, when most of the political instructors of the military academy were Communist Party members, and Guo Rugui's earliest contact in Huangpu was also Marxism and communism.
Fortunately, Guo Rujie relied on his own subtle observation and found that his classmate Yuan Jingming was actually a communist party member, so he applied to join the party, but considering Guo Rugui's identity, Yuan Jingming said that he needed to pass the test to officially join the party.
But before Guo Rujie could be tested, he ushered in the first major task in his life.
In 1927, an extremely dark year in the history of our Party, when Chiang Kai-shek launched a counter-revolutionary coup d'état and massacred Communists and revolutionary masses in Shanghai, Guo Rugui, as a witness to the events, was extremely angry at Chiang Kai-shek's cold-blooded and brutal behavior.
Guo Rujie was given the lurking task of preventing Yang Sen from attacking Wuhan through his cousin Guo Rudong.
After lurking around his cousin, Guo Rugui learned that his cousin's relationship with Yang Sen was not very good, and although Guo Rudong made it clear that he would not move, he was secretly loyal to Chiang Kai-shek and had the idea of joining the Kuomintang camp.
In 1928, Guo rugui became a member of the Communist Party as he wished.
After lurking around Guo Rudong for 3 years, Guo Rugui knew that he and his cousin had embarked on a completely different path, so he decided to go to Japan to study, which coincided with the outbreak of the September 18 Incident in China, and the patriotic Guo Rugui gave up the opportunity to study in Japan and returned to China.
After returning to China, Guo Rujie first studied at the Army University of the Higher Military Academy and later at the Whampoa Military Academy, and he also became a protégé of Chiang Kai-shek.
After graduating successfully, Guo stayed at the Army University as an instructor in war history, and later served as the chief of staff of the 14th Division.
After the outbreak of the July 7 Incident, Chen Cheng ordered the 14th Division to join the anti-Japanese battle sequence in North China, and at that time, Guo Rugui was ordered to participate in the Battle of Songhu, he was ordered to serve as the brigade commander of the 42nd Brigade of the 14th Division, and personally supervised the battle, leading all the soldiers of the 42nd Brigade to die at the forefront of the battle, at that time Guo Rugui also wrote a suicide note, ready to die.
When he led his troops to stubbornly block the enemy for 7 days and 7 nights, although the positions he held were not lost, the Battle of Songhu still ended in failure.
In any case, Guo Rugui's performance in this battle was still very eye-catching, he was also considered to be famous in the first battle, and soon after, his immediate superior Chen Cheng took office as the commander of the Third Theater, and Guo Rugui was immediately promoted to chief of staff of the 54th Army.
In the Battle of Wuhan, Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Cheng still did not learn their lessons and planned to establish fortifications in Wuhan, when Guo Rugui strongly opposed it, he pointed out loopholes in this plan, once one of the ring positions was breached, there might be a situation of total army annihilation.
Chen Cheng thought twice, but still listened to Guo Rugui's suggestion, began to take advantage of the terrain outside Wuhan, and actively adjusted the strategic deployment.
In the end, because of the correct deployment of military operations, all the Kuomintang troops involved in the Battle of Wuhan did not suffer major losses, and Guo Rugui also became a big red man in Chen Cheng's eyes, and was promoted to the chief of staff of the 12th Group Army in one fell swoop.
As Guo Rugui rose all the way, he also gradually squeezed into the top echelons of the Kuomintang, and came into contact with many powerful figures in the military and government organs, but the more he took root in the darkness, the more Guo Rugui hated the corruption within the Kuomintang, and his heart was extremely eager for light.
Guo Rujie never forgot his faith, but because of the frequent wars, he never had the opportunity to maintain close contact with the organization.
However, near the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Guo Rujie reconnected with the organization, and one of the important figures was Ren Lianru.
Late one night, after dressing up, Ren Lianru quietly came to Guo Rugui's home, the two were old acquaintances, this visit of Ren Lianru, let Guo Ruru pour out all the troubles of years of missing contact with the organization and searching for unsuccessful results, he said that he did not want to be with the Kuomintang anymore, hoping that the organization could re-accept him.
Ren Lianru considered that Guo Rugui's situation was very special, so he truthfully reported it to Dong Biwu, the person in charge of the Southern Bureau, and then Dong Biwu personally received Guo Rugui, and after the two met, Guo Rugui explained all his work experience within the Kuomintang, hoping that the organization could restore his status as a communist, and agreed to let him go to Yan'an and join the torrent of the War of Resistance.
Dong Biwu was impressed by Guo Rugui's enthusiasm, but at this time his intention was to develop Guo Rugui into a "red spy" planted within the Kuomintang, so he did not immediately agree to Guo Rugui's request to go to Yan'an.
After Dong Biwu left, Ren Lianru conveyed Dong Biwu's decision, saying: Elder Dong said that you can restore your status as a party member, but at the moment you can return to Yan'an without much help, and the organization hopes that you can continue to lurk within the Kuomintang and provide more valuable information for the party.
Guo Rugui was well aware of the arduousness of the task, but for the sake of the overall situation, he decided to stay within the Kuomintang and exert his greatest value.
After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chiang Kai-shek unilaterally tore up the peace talks agreement in October 1945 and deliberately launched a large-scale civil war, for which he also developed a detailed battle plan called "The Battle Sequence of the Nationalist Army".
However, what Lao Jiang did not expect was that as soon as the plan was drawn up, Guo Rugui secretly transferred this top-secret intelligence to his liaison officer Ren Lianru, and after Yan'an learned of this, he methodically carried out pre-war deployment.
After the Liberation War began, Guo Rugui was strongly recommended by Chen Cheng, successfully ascended to the throne, and took the position of lieutenant general of the War Department of the Ministry of National Defense, at this time the highest military organization of the Kuomintang had no secrets in his eyes.
However, as a member of the Ministry of National Defense, Guo Rugui was to participate in the deployment of the campaign, which also meant that he had to "make enemies" with his comrades, and Guo Rugui, who was undecided in his heart, ventured to contact Ren Lianru and asked his superiors to reconsider and let himself break away from the hidden front and fight side by side with the comrades on the front line.
When Ren Lianru heard the news, he immediately met secretly with Guo Rujing and conveyed the decision of the organization: In order to provide more powerful information to the party organization, please continue to lurk and give full play to the role of the director of the war department.
In May 1947, before the outbreak of the Battle of Menglianggu, senior Kuomintang generals gathered together for a pre-war military conference, when Zhang Lingfu, commander of the reorganized 74th Division, expressed doubts about the plan of "stationing troops on the mountain" in the battle plan, and put it forward in public.
When Guo Rujie heard this, he immediately frowned and scolded: You are the Communist Party.
When they were red-faced at the meeting, Chiang Kai-shek came forward to reconcile, he did not have any doubts, and he could not suspect that Guo Rujie was a communist because of a battle plan, which would also chill the hearts of his subordinates.
Subsequently, in the Battle of Laiwu, the Kuomintang was defeated by Hua Ye, and someone directly reported Guo Rugui to Deng Wenyi, saying that he had issued an order to drive the Nationalist troops into the encirclement of the People's Liberation Army.
Because Guo Rujie's connection with the organization is extremely secretive, plus he has never made any bad remarks, and he is also a graduate of the Huangpu Fifth Phase and the background of the Army University, it can be said that he is a red Miaozheng, and from his past experience, it is completely impossible to find any problems, but Du Yuming is unwilling to give up, and there is always a seed of doubt in his heart.
One day, Du Yuming deliberately went to Guo Rugui's home as a guest in an attempt to find some clues, and guo Ruming knew that du Yuming, the commander-in-chief of the Communist Party, was very unusual, and he did not show his face and warmly entertained this uninvited guest.
Although he did not find a clue, but Du Yuming is not without gains, he found that Guo Rugui's life is very simple, even the sofa at home is patched, the food served is just some ordinary home cooking, for Du Yuming thought, I thought I was clean enough, I did not expect Guo Rujie to be more bitter than me, he must be a communist.
Then, Du Yuming made a small report to Old Jiang, claiming that Guo Rugui was a communist, and when Old Jiang heard this, he was surprised: Guangting, what are your reasons for doubting him?
Du Yuming began an analysis: Guo Ruzhi, as the director of the National Defense Operations Department, was not greedy for money and was not very sexy, I went to his house to see, even the sofa was patched, this is clearly the style of communist party members, for the officials are so clean, he must be a communist party.
When Chiang Kai-shek heard this, he was immediately laughed at and said: According to what you said, greed for money and lust and filling our own pockets are the style of our Kuomintang, right?
Du Yuming was unable to speak by Chiang Kai-shek, and Chiang Kai-shek was silent for a while, patted Du Yuming's shoulder, sighed and said: Guangting, private grievances should not be brought to work, the party-state is now in a critical period, it is necessary to unite sincerely.
Then, according to Old Jiang's personality, did he really not suspect Guo Rujie? In his later years, Guo Rugui recalled that after liberation, old Jiang once checked an eyeliner around him, and at that time, his every move was monitored by military commanders, fortunately, Guo Rugui did not show a trace of abnormal behavior.
On the eve of the Huaihai Campaign, He Yingqin held an emergency military conference at the Ministry of National Defense and put forward the strategic principle that guarding the river must defend Huaihuai, and he proposed that the Platon Army be lured to the Jinpu Railway area for a decisive battle, and the plan should be handed over to Chiang Kai-shek for instructions.
Therefore, Guo Rugui first copied a copy of the battle plan and secretly sent it to the People's Liberation Army before sending it to Chiang Kai-shek for instructions, and then he took advantage of his position to persuade Chiang Kai-shek to transfer Zhang Kexia to the commander of the Xuzhou Defense, and Chiang Kai-shek also agreed.
He did not know that all this was in Guo Rugui's calculations, Zhang Kexia was ostensibly the deputy commander of the Third Appeasement Zone, but in fact he was still a senior agent of our party, and zhang Kexia played a huge role in the Huaihai Campaign.
In November 1948, Zhang Kexia and He Jifeng together led two divisions of the 59th Army and one and a half divisions of the 77th Army at the garrisons of Jiawang and Taierzhuang, a total of more than 23,000 people declared an uprising, resulting in a huge gap in the defense line of the Kuomintang army on the eastern front of the Huaihai region.
With the uprising of Zhang Kexia and He Jifeng, Du Yuming became more convinced that Guo Rugui was a communist, but Chiang Kai-shek chose a trusting attitude toward Guo Rujie, which led to a major mistake in command decision-making.
After the end of the three major battles, Chiang Kai-shek thought that the general trend was gone and was ready to retreat to Taiwan, but he also wanted to establish a base area in the interior, when the Kuomintang suffered an unprecedented defeat, Guo Rugui felt that it was difficult to escape accountability, in order to avoid arousing suspicion, he took the initiative to ask Gu Zhutong, who went to the southwest, to serve as a military commander, of course, this is also the meaning of the organization.
In the campaign to liberate the Great Southwest, Guo Rugui, then commander of the Nationalist 72nd Army, once again exerted his residual heat, when he was appointed by Chiang Kai-shek as the commander of the 22nd Army, with absolute command of the 21st, 44th, and 72nd Armies and three independent divisions.
At this time, the remnants of the Kuomintang in the interior were almost all under the control of Guo Rugui, and when the People's Liberation Army was preparing to attack Sichuan on a large scale, Lao Jiang ordered Guo Rugui to deploy defensive forces along the river, but Guo Rugui launched an uprising in Yibin with more than 10,000 soldiers.
Chiang Kai-shek, who had already retired to Taiwan at that time, almost fainted when he heard the news of Guo Rujie's uprising, and he couldn't help but scold Niang Xipi, saying that this Guo xiao ghost was actually a spy installed next to him.
After the founding of New China, Guo Rugui repeatedly applied to the organization to restore his party membership, but he never followed.
In 1980, at the age of 73, Guo was officially approved to reinstate himself as a member of the Communist Party, and he has been enjoying the treatment of corps commander ever since.
It is worth mentioning that in Guo Rujie's spy career of more than 20 years, he has never revealed his identity, and played a great role in the liberation war, where he pays high tribute to these revolutionary ancestors who selflessly dedicated themselves in the hidden front.