In December 1949, the whole territory of Guangxi was liberated, but Li Tianyou, deputy commander of the 13th Corps of Siye and deputy commander of the Guangxi Military Region, was not happy.
Due to the ineffectiveness of the "suppression of bandits," Li Tianyou was severely criticized by the chairman for the first time in the world: "Guangxi has achieved the worst results in the work of suppressing bandits in the whole country..."
Li Tianyou did not expect that from the north to the south, after so many strong winds and waves, he would actually "overturn the boat in the gutter."
Another thing that surprised him was that in order to strengthen the suppression of bandits, the central government sent a support soldier - the 53rd Army of the 21st Corps of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
This unit was personally led by the corps commander Chen Mingren, who was Li Tianyou's "old friend", and the relationship between the two was extraordinary.
General Li Tianyou
Three years ago, Li Tianyou and Chen Mingren first met in the northeast battlefield, and as soon as they met, they fought in the dark.
Now, Li Tianyou has to fight side by side with his old opponents, and his feelings are somewhat complicated.
The "three strikes and four draws" was the first battle fought by Li Tianyou after he was transferred to the commander of the first column of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army, but Li Tianyou did not achieve the expected goal, and it can even be said that he was a "fiasco."
At that time, the nationalist garrison general Chen Mingren "sprinkled beans into soldiers" and stubbornly held out until the moment when the reinforcements arrived in Siping.
Li Tianyou was forced to withdraw from the battle and was in a very bad mood. Li Tianyou swore that he must "destroy Chen Mingren, the wrongdoer", and out of this evil breath!
Interestingly, Chen Mingren, the "general of the nationalist army defending the city," was also in a very bad mood; Chiang Kai-shek awarded Chen Mingren the "Order of the Blue Sky and White Sun" on the one hand, and on the other hand, he removed Chen Mingren from his post and transferred him to Nanjing.
A year later, Li Tianyou attacked Siping again, which is known in history as "Four Strikes and Four Pings".
General Chen Mingren
This time, Li Tianyou learned the lessons of the three wars and four peacetimes, adopted the tactics of multi-point breakthrough and flexible maneuvering, and took Siping City in only 23 hours.
The old people of Shiye later said: "The whole northeast is the most difficult to fight with four flats, four flats, four flats, four fights to fight before the level is drawn!" ”
Li Tianyou's only regret was that he was unable to make friends with the old "wrongdoer" Chen Mingren again, so he was not able to repay the "one-arrow revenge", because at that time, Chen Mingren was sitting on the "cold bench" in Nanjing.
Li Tianyou and Chen Mingren originally thought that the two of them "fighting when they meet" is tantamount to "being a rival to the enemy", and if they meet again in this life, it will definitely be on the battlefield.
Li Tianyou did not expect that Chen Mingren and General Cheng Qian would revolt against Chiang Kai-shek in Changsha in 1949, and later join the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and they all belonged to the Fourth Field Army.
History is so unpredictable that former opponents have become comrades-in-arms today.
Now let's talk about it, Li Tianyou has been fighting on the battlefield for many years, and it can be said that he is an invincible and indestructible tiger general in the four wildernesses, so why is he criticized for suppressing bandits?
Old photo Of Siping Battle
In fact, Li Tianyou led his "Tiger and Wolf Division" not to do nothing, just after the New Year of 1950, it quelled the bandit Gongcheng riot, suppressed 40,000 bandits in 3 months, and the remaining 50,000 bandits broke up and burrowed into the deep mountains and old forests.
When the United States intervened in the Korean War, the bandits began to stir up trouble again, and they came out in droves.
Li Tianyou was busy suppressing bandits every day, but there were so many bandits in Guangxi that it was difficult to suppress them for a while.
Moreover, these bandits have a complex composition, and many of them are defeated by the remnants of the national army.
Some of them were also "entrusted with heavy responsibilities" by the Kuomintang, giving them the titles of "commander", "commander", "division commander", etc., and the Nationalist army also gave them a large amount of weapons and ammunition.
In addition, Guangxi's policy toward bandits does have the problem of excessive leniency, so banditry in Guangxi is becoming more and more rampant.
On November 10, the chairman personally called again: "Guangxi cannot be 'lenient and boundless', and guangxi must complete the task of eliminating bandits before May 1, 1951." ”
One telegram after another, like a series of gold medal battle orders, Chen Mingren led the 21st Corps and the 53rd Army to rush to the aid of Guangxi, which further demonstrated the determination of the central authorities - to eliminate the bandits, there is no time to delay!
Li Tianyou met Chen Mingren in Nanning.
Old photo of the Higashino headquarters at the Battle of Siping
The last time the two met, they beat you to death, and this time "the wrongdoers turned into relatives", and Li Tianyou, who had a straightforward personality, welcomed Chen Mingren, the former "wrongdoer", with a warm handshake and a rich welcome banquet.
"We are all old acquaintances, we are not shallow, this time we have a good cooperation!" Li Tianyou spoke quickly.
"Heaven forbid, a few years ago we were still fighting each other, but we didn't expect to have the honor of serving under Commander Li today, and Chen Mou will definitely do his best." Chen Mingren said sincerely.
During the banquet, the topic of the two could not avoid the Battle of Siping that year.
Chen Mingren sighed, "Back then, I had learned from Commander Li's military might, your soldiers were too fierce, and my 'Ten Kills Order' couldn't stop the troops!" ”
"That time, I also went out to fight!" In that battle alone, I lost more than 10,000 people, and to be honest, I have never seen a few tough Nationalist generals like Commander Chen. Li Tianyou also sighed heavily.
"I'm ashamed to say, but now that I think about it, I'm really confused and I can't regret it..." Chen Mingren looked embarrassed.
Li Tianyou (middle)
Li Tianyou immediately changed the subject: "Don't talk about the past things, this time we two joined forces strongly, enough for the bandits to drink a pot!" ”
"The chairman sent me to Guangxi, that is, let us join hands and sing this great drama of suppressing bandits!" I also had the opportunity to do something for the country. Chen Mingren said.
After briefing Chen Mingren on the situation of the bandits in Guangxi and other relevant situations, Li Tianyou agreed with Chen Mingren on the division of work and authorized Chen Mingren to command the troops in southwest Gui to carry out the operation to suppress the bandits.
Li Tianyou then left Nanning with a few staff officers, and this time, he wanted to personally go to the front line of the bandits to supervise the battle.
Li Tianyou made a big fuss in southeastern Guizhou, and a series of actions to suppress bandits became more fierce and fierce than the last, and the local bandits were completely shocked, and those who were lucky enough to survive fled.
Li Tianyou then personally commanded the Yaoshan bandits, and in less than two months, more than 38,000 bandits were eliminated.
At the same time, Chen Mingren's campaign to suppress bandits in southwest Guizhou was also vigorous and vigorous.
Li Tianyou (front left)
Chen Mingren gave full play to his military ability, and the officers and men under his command were tenacious and heroic, skillful and courageous in the application of tactics, and achieved great results in battle.
Among the bandits in southwest Guizhou were many remnants of the former nationalist army, and some of them already knew Chen Mingren's name, and when they learned that it was Chen Mingren who led the troops to encircle and suppress them, one by one they complained bitterly and thought that they were unlucky.
By April 1951, under the auspices of Li Tianyou and Chen Mingren, the bandits in Guangxi had been basically eliminated.
Back to that, how many bandits are there in Guangxi?
According to statistics, nearly 200 bandits at and above the division level were captured and killed alone, and more than 380,000 weapons of various types were confiscated.
General Li Tianyou ordered his troops
Just a day ago, he also said to a leader of the Central Military Commission: "Guangxi now has two tiger generals, one Li Tianyou, one Chen Mingren, a pair of tiger generals, and a pair of old wrongdoers!" ”
The chairman also said: "They all say that 'one mountain does not tolerate two tigers', and I prefer to let these two tigers go up to the same mountain, as long as this pair of 'wrongdoers' become 'pro-family', things in Guangxi will be easy to handle." Let's wait and see the good drama! ”
The two generals, Li Tianyou and Chen Mingren, did not disappoint the chairman, and they did not follow the mistake of "one mountain does not tolerate two tigers" and completed the combat tasks assigned by the chairman as scheduled.
Not only that, Li Tianyou and Chen Mingren also completed another task that the chairman did not explicitly indicate: the former "wrongdoers" have since released their previous suspicions and become good friends who cherish each other.