First, a natural warrior, Zhang Guotao's most valued guerrilla genius
In March 1932, the 21-year-old Yu Tianyun succeeded the wounded Xu Haidong as the commander of the 36th Regiment of the 12th Division of the Red Fourth Front. At this time, the leader of the 34th Regiment of the 12th Division was also very famous, Xu Shiyou, a Shaolin monk. Xu Shiyou never left his body with a large knife, calling himself a "full-time death captain", which is notoriously fiery temper. But according to Yu Tianyun's compatriot and comrade-in-arms Lieutenant General Hu Qicai:
"Xu Shiyou, who has a flamboyant personality, is brave in battle, and drinks a lot of alcohol, is afraid of Yu Tianyun in terms of temperament and alcohol."
The two "thorn-headed generals" of the Red Army gathered in the 12th Division, and Chen Geng, as the commander of the division, was worried and happy. The worry is that these two people are notorious for not listening to commands and daring to confront their superiors. The good news is that the 12th Division has these two tiger generals, and there is no hard battle that cannot be taken down. In particular, Yu Tianyun was a natural general, and Zhang Guotao even compared him with Chairman Mao, calling both "guerrilla geniuses."
The Red Fourth Front turned to Sichuan and Shaanxi, and Yu Tianyun led his troops to rampage, breaking through the strong enemy in Zaoyang, Xinji, and Manchuan, opening up a passage for the whole army. Later, against the "three-way siege" of the Sichuan Army, Yu Tianyun created a military miracle of blocking the siege of a division with a regiment. At the Niuping position, he personally led two companies to fight with a half brigade of the Sichuan Army for three days and three nights, annihilating more than 1,500 enemy people.
At the Battle of LiulinHe, the Four Fronts Army was almost forced into a desperate situation by Wei Lihuang, and the general headquarters was surrounded by enemy troops, and Zhang Guotao and Xu Xiangqian both personally took up their guns and went to the front. At the critical juncture, Yu Tianyun, who was fighting on the outside front, discovered that the enemy's situation had changed, and without receiving the order, he led his troops to return to the aid without authorization, completely annihilating the invading enemy, and turning the headquarters into safety.
In June 1933, the Red Fourth Front expanded its army at Mumen, and the 27-year-old Yu Tianyun was promoted to the commander of the 30th Army. At that time, there were many marshals in the 30th Army, and Li Xiannian, Wang Jian'an, Cheng Shicai, and Du Yide were all famous generals and later founding fathers. Yu Tianyun, who became a military commander at the age of less than 30, was the brightest general star in the Red Army, and the 30th Army under his command became the most powerful absolute main force in the four fronts.
Second, domineering military commanders only attach importance to the "barrel of a gun."
The Four Fronts Army ranked first among the Red Army's major fronts in both numbers and strength, but this unit had a very serious weakness, that is, the majority of commanders and fighters did not have a high level of education. Most of the generals of the Four Fronts Were from the Jute Uprising and the Peasant Self-Defense Army in the Eyu-Anhui base area, and their knowledge level was limited and they were good at guerrilla warfare, but the overall military level was not high. What is even more serious is that some generals have been in the army for a long time because they have joined the army at a young age and have been guerrilla in the mountains for a long time, so they have a very heavy habit of dealing with the world, and it is inevitable that they will be a bit domineering and arbitrary in their dealings with the world, and Yu Tianyun is one of the typical representatives.
Yu Tianyun came from a poor peasant family, only studied in private school for a few years, and participated in the jute uprising at the age of 16, from a soldier to a military commander. Because his military career was too frank, coupled with his strong personality, youthful vigor, and competitive habits, Yu Tianyun, who became a military commander, was also not afraid of heaven and was not afraid, and his style of conduct was very domineering.
Once when the troops were marching on a mountain road, Yu Tianyun fell off the horse because of the slippery foot, and he threw his anger on the groom and seriously wounded him. The cook made him a noodle with a cow hair, which he thought was deliberately trying to hurt him, and he wanted to kill the cook. Often beating people, cursing people, and making a big fuss, the guards and correspondents around Yu Tianyun, without exception, have all been beaten and scolded by him. And even if he was a commander and fighter at the same level and superior, Yu Tianyun was ruthless.
Du Yide, the political commissar of the 89th Division, was transferred to the 31st Army and came to say goodbye before leaving, and Yu Tianyun actually took a fancy to the old subordinate's gun and almost started to rob it, causing the two to disperse in the end. Zhou Shiyuan, the commander of the 274th Regiment, gave the captured mule to Mr. Zhu, and was inexplicably beaten by Yu Tianyun.
In September 1935, the Red Fourth Front held an enlarged meeting. When Yu Tianyun saw General Political Commissar Chen Changhao praising He Wei, commander of the 9th Army, who had a disagreement with him, he suddenly became angry and scolded at the meeting. Xu Xiangqian, commander-in-chief of the Four Fronts Army, asked someone to hold Yu Tianyun down, criticized him for disrespecting his comrades-in-arms, and had the bad habit of beating and cursing soldiers at will, so he dismissed him from his post as commander on the spot and let him go to the Red Army University for training and study, so as to temper his temper and disposition.
The hero killed the Danba River, and a misunderstanding plagued the two marshals for 20 years
Entering the Red Army University for further study and receiving more systematic military training was actually a very rare opportunity for Yu Tianyun, who was born in the grass. But the tiger general in the Red Army did not realize this.
After entering the school, Yu Tianyun saw that his classmates were all battalion and regimental level officers, and only he was a military cadre, so he was greatly dissatisfied and felt that he had lost his identity. What was even more embarrassing was that Yu Tianyun saw his old rival He Wei as the principal of The Red University, and he was taller than himself. Yu Tianyun was extremely resistant, often taking advantage of the excuse not to go to class, and shouting to teach He Wei a lesson.
During the Period of The Red Age, Yu Tianyun still displayed his own military commander's shelf, and in addition to the guards he carried with him, he also called a machine gun platoon as a guard. In addition, Yu Tianyun has always despised intellectuals, and when he was in the 30th Army, he could not get along with Li Xiannian, who was the political commissar, and even more so when he arrived at the military academy.
Once when General Peng Shaohui was teaching as a lecturer, Yu Tianyun shouted directly in the classroom:
"What is the military theory of Rausch, winning a battle is the last word, and Lao Tzu does not learn to win a war."
Later, Guo Tianmin took an air defense class, and Yu Tianyun once again made a big fuss:
"There's nothing to learn, we all know airplanes, it's not a big deal. Our Fourth Front is not as afraid of death as the One Front. ”
After disrupting the classroom several times, Yu Tianyun brought his own jianghu qi to Hongda, and also made Liu Bocheng, the chief instructor of Hongda at that time, realize the seriousness of the matter. Liu Bocheng not only ordered Yu Tianyun to be equipped with a gun, but also published an article in the "Red Furnace" newspaper of the Fourth Front Army, stating that it was necessary to resist this domineering style and warlord style in the Red Army.
But Yu Tianyun not only did not appreciate Liu Bocheng's good intentions, but was greatly annoyed, and shouted to solve the problem with his fists, and no one could persuade him. After Zhang Guotao heard the news, he also deliberately arrived at Hongda, severely reprimanded this love general, asked him to apologize to Liu Bocheng, and locked him up for a short period of confinement.
After this incident, the spirited Yu Tianyun became very depressed, too smooth for the first half of his life, so that he did not know how to face these setbacks and contradictions. At this time when his life was at its lowest, Yu Tianyun suffered another major blow. His wife, Liu Boxin, was then the commander of the Second Regiment of the Women's Independent Division of the Red Fourth Front, and because he could not bear the starvation of his soldiers in the meadows, he slaughtered a yak of the common people without authorization, and was executed by Zhang Guotao at the age of 22.
Yu Tianyun, whose career was frustrated, who loved his wife and died, who had a strong temperament and was too fragile in his psychology, could not withstand such a blow at all. In April 1936, when the Four Fronts Army moved north and marched to the Dambama River Chain Bridge in Xikang Province (Sichuan), Yu Tianyun jumped into the river from a high cliff and ended his life at the age of 30.
The news that Yu Tianyun had committed suicide by throwing himself into the river shook the whole army, and the youngest commander of the Four Fronts Army, a general with outstanding military achievements, actually chose such an extreme ending, and no one expected it. Because of the special historical background, Yu Tianyun's sacrifice has not been given a most fair and public explanation, and many Red Army commanders and fighters do not have a comprehensive understanding of this incident.
In May 1958, Marshal Peng Dehuai said without pity:
"Liu Bocheng also had dogmatism during the Red Army period, which hurt his comrades."
Because during the Long March, Peng Dehuai did not know much about the Four Fronts, and only then did he make a wrong judgment. For more than 20 years, Peng Dehuai has been misunderstanding that Liu Bocheng's criticism made Yu Tianyun look for short-sightedness.
In the end, chairman Mao spoke justice for Liu Bocheng:
"Yu Tianyun is still a doll, can't think straight, looking for short-sightedness, no wonder who."
Yu Tianyun's tragedy stems from the defects of his own character. The boy's military career was smooth sailing, and his competitive personality made him fearless on the battlefield, and also made him too domineering outside of war. Yu Tianyun once said that he was the "proud son of heaven", such a metaphor is not excessive, his outstanding military talent, accumulated battle achievements, are enough to prove this.
The heroic hero has fallen prematurely, and in addition to lamentation, there are too many places worth pondering.