In 1966, the compound of the naval organ in the western suburbs of Beijing was surrounded by a group of people, and just when the gate of the courtyard was about to be squeezed, a telephone suddenly came, and the angry rebuke of a Shanxi accent came from the microphone: "Immediately evacuate the people for me, and not a single blade of grass is allowed to move!" The person who called was Xu Xiangqian, the marshal of New China, and he guaranteed that the person who settled in this courtyard was Zhou Xihan, the founding lieutenant general of New China, and Liu Bocheng once praised Zhou Xihan as the "Zhao Zilong" of our army. Why was he trusted by so many marshals, and what a legendary life did this founding lieutenant general have? If you are interested in this topic, please help "press the 2-second like button" to give a strong thumbs up. And "pay attention" to it, often come later, and don't get lost.
(Zhou Xihan)
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > three were "protected" by Xu Xiangqian, why was he favored by the marshal alone? </h1>
The "lifting of the siege" in 1966 was not the first time Marshal Xu Qianqian protected Zhou Xihan. Zhou Xihan sighed many times: Xu Qianqian Marshal has a "life-saving grace" for himself. As a member of the founding lieutenant generals, why was Zhou Xihan so favored by Marshal Xu Qianqian?
The story begins with a report of recruits in 1928: after the Jute Uprising, some of the troops involved in the uprising were incorporated into the 38th Regiment of the Red 13th Division. At that time, Xu Xiangqian was in charge of the reporting of these recruits, and when a recruit walked up to him, he looked up and down at the 15-year-old baby soldier and sighed: "Good soldier baby! It's just too skinny! ”
(Xu Xiangqian)
But who expected, this baby soldier was very unconvinced at the time and said: "What is wrong with being thin?" Guan Yu was nine feet long and had a large body, and in the end he was not defeated in Maicheng? Wolong Phoenix chicks have no power to bind chickens, can they win battles? ”
This made Xu Xiangqian, who had read some of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", immediately get interested, thinking that although this new soldier was young, his knowledge was not ordinary, and just as he was preparing to take out the map of marching and fighting, he wanted to test this young man, but unexpectedly, this baby soldier took the lead in speaking: "I haven't learned the map, can you teach me?" ”
As a result, Xu Xiangqian officially accepted this "apprentice" in the Red Army and loved him very much, and this baby soldier was Zhou Xihan. After getting acquainted with Xu Xiangqian, Zhou Xihan painstakingly learned his skills, made many military achievements, and finally went from an ordinary recruit to the position of staff officer of the headquarters of the Red Fourth Front, becoming a general who really strategized and won a decisive victory. However, during the period of his growth and progress, he did not receive Xu Xiangqian's "three life-saving graces".
(The person wearing the Japanese coat is Zhou Xihan)
At the beginning, Zhou Xihan was once suspected and excluded because of his small stature and too small military service. In 1931, someone complained that "Zhou Xihan was born into a kulak and was sent into our army by the enemy." Later, Zhou Xihan was "sent home" because of this. Zhou Xihan proved his innocence many times without results, so he had to return to his hometown of Macheng to open an "identity certificate", but when he returned to the Red Army after issuing the certificate, he was only arranged to work in the kitchen. Once, Xu Xiangqian went to the kitchen to find a pot to eat, and only then pulled the gray-headed Zhou Xihan out of the kitchen and let him return to the army.
The second time, it was because Zhou Xihan "complained" in the army -- during the fourth anti-encirclement and suppression campaign, Zhang Guotao ordered the army to confront the enemy, and Zhou Xihan criticized Zhang Guotao as a "blind commander". Zhang Guotao, who heard the news, arrested Zhou Xihan and "poured pepper water" around. After Xu Xiangqian heard about it, he rushed to Zhang Guotao and said, "He is just a clerk of mine, and I am not strict in discipline, so I will pay more attention to it in the future." In this way, Zhou Xihan was rescued by Xu Qianqian for the second time and placed on his side for protection.
However, Zhang Guotao was obsessed with Zhou Xihan from beginning to end, and in Xu Xiangqian's absence, he tied Zhou Xihan up and ordered him to be "shot immediately." Zhou Xihan, who was escorted to the river beach, shouted "Long live the Communist Party of China" in his throat, which attracted Xu Xiangqian, who was walking with Chen Changhao at the time. After rushing to the river beach to understand the situation, Xu Xiangqian unceremoniously said to the soldiers: "Let the people go!" "The third time in the Red Army saved Zhou Xihan's life.
Later, Zhou Xihan also did not live up to Xu Xiangqian's cultivation of him. In the anti-"three-way siege" and "six-way siege" in the Sichuan-Shaanxi revolutionary base area later, he repeatedly accomplished qigong, so that the comrades-in-arms who used to ridicule him for being "thin" also looked at him with astonishment. One day, he and Xie Jiaqing's brother troops fought together and captured a Nationalist officer, and Zhou Xihan put this Nationalist officer next to him, compared it, and said: "Dog boy, thinner than me!" In the future, I am not the thinnest in the world! This made the warriors around him laugh uncontrollably, and this was also a recognition of Zhou Xihan.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="8" > Liu Bocheng called him "Zhao Zilong of our army", and the Japanese were afraid to meet him</h1>
Zhou Xihan, who gradually grew up, not only shrugged off the ridicule of his former comrades-in-arms for his small stature, but also became more and more valued by the senior generals of our army. After our army criticized Zhang Guotao's mistakes during the Long March, Chairman Mao also heard about this little soldier who dared to fight Against Zhang Guotao, saying: "I have heard of the doll who was almost cut off by Zhang Guotao's head, and I heard that it was quite clever to start a war. Later, Zhou Xihan met Chairman Mao, Chen Geng and other cadres, and Chen Geng took the initiative to introduce himself to Chairman Mao: "The chairman does not know it yet, he has a nickname, called Thin Man!" I gave it to him! Subsequently, Chen Geng also drew hand in hand: "So thin! "Let everyone present laugh.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Zhou Xihan was incorporated into the 386th Brigade of the 129th Division, serving as the chief of the operations unit and the chief of staff of the supplementary regiment, fighting side by side with Liu Bocheng, Chen Geng and others. Liu Bocheng, Chen Geng, and Zhou Xihan got along very well in the army, and some people jokingly nicknamed the 386 Brigade the nickname "Three Sons Unit", saying that Zhou Xihan's nickname was "Skinny Son", Chen Geng was "crippled" because he had injured his leg, and Liu Bocheng was "only son" because he had been injured in the eye, but it was this "Three Sons" unit that played the arrogant Japanese troops in the Taiyue Military Region. In 1940, the Battle of the Hundred Regiments broke out, and the 129th Division was ordered to meet the enemy. During the battle, our army and the Japanese army held each other at Yangerling, and at first the Japanese army broke through our army's position with the superiority of strength and equipment and directly approached the front-line command post. Just when Liu Bocheng was struggling with how to break the situation, Zhou Xihan hurriedly led a troop to reinforcements, and Liu Bocheng was overjoyed and said to the people around him: "Zhao Zilong in our army is coming, I have nothing to worry about." ”
(Second from the right is Zhou Xihan)
Zhou Xihan, who rushed to reinforcements, quickly changed the situation of the war, causing the head organs of our army to retreat peacefully under the surprise attack of the Japanese army, and later Zhou Xihan's timely arrival was also specially praised by Liu Bocheng at the summary meeting. In the battles of Shentouling and Linnan, Zhou Xihan also defeated the Japanese army many times with a brave and fierce combat style, which made the Taiyue Military Region at that time circulate such a folk song: "Little Japan, you can clearly hear, there is Chen Geng on the Taihang Mountain; Little Japan, don't make trouble, beware of encountering Zhou Xihan." ”
Why did Zhou Xihan fight so bravely in the War of Resistance Against Japan? In addition to his own personal ability, Xu Xiangqian, Liu Bocheng and other generals appreciation, there is also an unknown reason is Zhou Xihan's father. When he heard that his son had joined the Eighth Route Army and became an anti-Japanese general, Zhou Xihan's father sold his wealth and went from his hometown in the south to the north to visit his son. On the way north, Zhou Xihan's father only brought 8 pigs, selling pigs all the way and making a mess all the way. Later, when he arrived at the Edge of the Yellow River, Zhou Xihan's father finally rushed to his son's team camp, and at this time, the coiling on his body had been spent, and Zhou Xihan's father could not cross the river. So Zhou Xihan's father could only call out his son's name across the Yellow River. When Zhou Xihan heard this, the father and son could only look at each other across the river.
(Battle of Sheep Ridge)
Zhou Xihan joined the Red Army at the age of fifteen, and in his later years he was still concerned about the national defense cause of the motherland, and the reason why he was able to persevere was precisely because of the support of his comrades-in-arms and the encouragement of his family. The word "state" has a special meaning for Zhou Xihan.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="12" > crushed the Huang Wei Corps and presided over the navy after the founding of the People's Republic of China</h1>
In 1946, after the outbreak of the War of Liberation, Zhou Xihan, who had frightened the Japanese in the War of Resistance Against Japan, once again went to the front line and contributed to the revolutionary cause of New China. By 1948, the national situation of the War of Liberation had undergone earth-shaking changes. At this time, Zhou Xihan was following the Central Plains Field Army and besieging the Huang Wei Corps.
Although our army has surrounded Huang Wei's regiment, Huang Wei is still fighting with trapped beasts, which makes it difficult for our army to eat this large piece of enemy for a while. In the end, the task of annihilating the remnants of Huang Wei's corps was entrusted to Zhou Xihan. And Huang Wei had also heard of this general who made the Japanese army afraid on the battlefield, so he also gave a death order to his troops: to advance is to live, and to retreat is to die. After several attacks, Zhou Xihan's troops did not pick up a little bargain. At this time, Zhou Xihan's good friend Chen Geng came to supervise the battle and comforted him: "If the troops have lost, don't be sad, as long as you can eat Huang Wei, how much you lose, I Chen Geng here to make up for you!" ”
(Our army encircled the Huang Wei Corps)
However, what Chen Geng did not expect was that at that time, Zhou Xihan himself also left a ten brigade for temporary battlefield as a reserve, and in the end, Huang Wei's corps was finally annihilated in the repeated attacks of our army, and he himself was captured alive by our army. After hearing this, Chen Geng was surprised and delighted to hammer Zhou Xihan's chest and said, "Why should I hide this hand from myself?" In his later years, when Zhou Xihan recalled how he defeated Huang Wei's regiment, he once sighed: "Huang Wei was not captured alive by me, but was defeated by me with troops!" ”
In fact, Huang Wei was not the only senior Kuomintang general that Zhou Xihan captured. According to statistics, a total of 64 senior generals of the Nationalist army were captured alive by Zhou Xihan during the Liberation War, including Huang Zhengcheng, who claimed that his unit was the "first brigade under heaven," Wu Tinglin, commander of the reorganized 15th Division, and Yao Beichen, deputy commander of the reorganized 15th Division; and Xiong Shouchun, commander of the 14th Army, and Shi Jian, commander of the 42nd Division, who were killed.
(Huang Wei)
After the founding of New China, Zhou Xihan still contributed to the national defense cause of New China in the army. In 1950, Zhou Xihan went to Vietnam to support the Vietnamese people in resisting the Law and helped the Vietnamese people train troops, and later Chen Geng also rushed to Vietnam to review the Vietnamese troops trained by Zhou Xihan, and all of them directly praised "Zhou Xihan's training troops have a level." But what Zhou Xihan did not know at the time was that in 1979, a border conflict war would break out between China and Vietnam, when Zhou Xihan was 66 years old. When he heard the news that Vietnam provoked on the border of our army and was subsequently defeated by our army, he laughed dumbly: "The Vietnamese army is indeed trained by me, but who apprentice can beat the master's truth?" ”
In addition, Zhou Xihan presided over the construction of naval forces after the founding of New China. Zhou Xihan has not received a more systematic education since childhood, but he also has great respect for talents. After hearing the news of Qian Xuesen's return to China, he specially invited Qian Xuesen to "give a lecture" to his naval unit. Subsequently, Soviet experts were invited to help China conduct shore-based missile tests and defend the coastal defense security construction of New China. Premier Zhou Enlai also greatly appreciated his work and introduced Zhou Xihan to foreign friends as a representative general of China. When foreign friends asked what special meaning Zhou Xihan's name had, Premier Zhou Enlai said: "Zhou Xihan's meaning in Chinese is a rare hero in China!" ”。
(Chairman Mao meets with Zhou Xihan)
In 1988, Zhou Xihan died at the age of 75. He has always been called "a living fossil of the history of the Chinese revolution", but he has never written a memoir about himself, and he once sighed: "I can narrate history, but I can't write history. Although Zhou Xihan never wrote a memoir, his singable and weeping life will always live in the hearts of the people.