In 1979, China fought back against the harassment of Vietnam under the compulsion of necessity, and the international situation in China at that time was also relatively bad, not only to fight against the great powers led by US imperialism, but also to guard against the threat of the Soviet Union, so it was not unreasonable for Vietnam to choose to act against China at this time.
Before counterattacking against Vietnam, the Party Central Committee also made some deliberations on its commander-in-chief, and finally decided that Xu Shiyou would serve as the commander-in-chief of the eastern front and general Yang Dezhi on the western front. The purpose of the central authorities in this campaign is quite obvious, that is, it must be fierce and fast, and the purpose of sending Xu Shiyou is also for this reason; Xu Shiyou is fighting very fiercely and has a great tendency to destroy and decay, while Yang Dezhi is very steady and pays attention to tactical tactics. As a military general, Xu Shiyou had not heard the sound of gunfire for a long time, so this time he used all his strength to go up.
After Receiving the order, at the pre-war meeting, Xu Shiyou put forward a very bold idea, he wanted to form a huge encirclement circle with the Western Front Corps deep into the waist of the Vietnamese territory and the Eastern Front, and give the Vietnamese troops a devastating blow, and in the face of this plan, there were some people who agreed, just like MacArthur's landing at Inchon in Korea. However, the Central Committee immediately rejected this battle plan, because in this way the Vietnamese follow-up troops were directly surrounded, as many as 300,000 people, so that there was the flavor of a great power, which meant that they would be annihilated, and the international situation at that time was very unfavorable, according to Deng's meaning.
Xu Shiyou could only go to the battlefield very reluctantly, and as a result, he hit almost half of China's shells on Vietnamese land, and there was almost no grass in the Lang Son area. It took Xu Shiyou only ten days to fight the Vietnamese army almost incapacitated, and when the fierce battle was in full swing, the central government's order came down and ordered Xu Shiyou to retreat, and the purpose had been achieved. Xu Shiyou could only return to China with a sigh of relief. After returning to China, Xu Shiyou was still very unwilling, so he put forward a very bold idea, and then transferred troops directly to Cambodia to eat all the elite Vietnamese troops stationed there, which not only completely destroyed the backbone of the Vietnamese army, but also saved Cambodia's idea of letting the Vietnamese army completely abandon its aggression.
The Central Committee was very surprised by Xu Shiyou's bold idea of this move, although this move was not impossible, but in the end it was rejected after discussion, and the most important factors were that the purpose was achieved unnecessarily, and Cambodia did not border with us, so it was inconvenient to send troops.