In late October 1936, the headquarters of the Fourth Front of the Red Army and the Fifth Army, the 9th Army, and the 30th Army, according to the organizational orders, carried out the Ningxia Campaign Plan, crossed the Yellow River, and then formed the West Road Army with the changes in the battlefield situation, and moved to the Hexi Corridor.
At that time, the Western Route Army was in a difficult situation, fighting with several times the enemy in blood, but after the defeat of the outnumbered, the enemy chased and blocked all the way, the Red Army fought and marched, and then the troops dispersed, and in March 1937, the headquarters discussed and decided that Yuan Lifu, the combat staff officer Chen Mingyi, and the guard platoon leader Xiao Yongyin escorted Xu Xiangqian and Chen Changhao back to Yan'an with more than 20 people.
After several days of walking, the enemy was constantly searching for the Red Army team on the road, and along the way they could only rush through the dark and evade the enemy's search. But the goal was still too big, Xu Xiangqian suggested dispersing the action, Xu Xiangqian handed Chen Mingyi and Xiao Yongyin a letter, instructing them to hand the letter to the organization and report on the situation. In this way, Chen Mingyi and Xiao Yongyin and Xu Xiangqian were separated, and then they went around the Qilian Mountains to avoid the enemy, but still did not hide from the enemy, and the people who led them were scattered, leaving chen Mingyi and Xiao Yongyin to roll down the cliff to escape the enemy.
The two men could only starve and freeze, and the bad thing was that Chen Mingyi's back was scratched by a rock during the struggle with the enemy, and the two then contacted Wu Jianchu, who was engaged in secret traffic work, who was ordered to develop comrades at that time, with the help of coal kilns to carry out activities, in order to recuperate, Chen Mingyi and Xiao Yongyin hid in a very deep coal kiln for eighteen days, Ma Jiajun's search wind relaxed, and the two felt that they could not wait any longer, and they could not complete the task and could not go to Yan'an.
So the two embarked on the journey again, turning over the snow mountain through the desert, there was only sand in the desert, the two people were hungry and thirsty, almost out of the desert, fortunately, after dark encountered a clear spring, the two were able to maintain their lives and walked out of the desert. Then the two of them walked east along the Great Wall, asking for food separately during the day, and when they were tired at night, the two of them leaned on each other's body temperature for warmth.
After crossing the Yellow River, the two were originally ready to go in the direction of Yan'an, but they heard that there were bandits on the road, and the two changed their course to Zhenyuan County, the headquarters of the Western Army, and when the two people arrived in Zhenyuan County, it was already July 1937.
Commander Liu Bocheng personally went out to greet Chen Mingyi and Xiao Yongyin, the two people were already in rags at this time, and Liu Bocheng was left in tears after seeing it. The two also wept with joy at seeing their comrades-in-arms. The letter was then returned to Liu Bocheng, and the two were able to rest.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the organization decided that the task of marching into Tibet would be undertaken by the Eighteenth Army. After discussion, it was decided that Zhang Guohua and Tan Guansan would lead the main force into Lhasa, and the rest of the eighteenth army would form a rear unit; Chen Mingyi was at this time the commander of the rear troops entering Tibet; after discussion, it was believed that only by repairing the highway could our army occupy the heel in Tibet and open up the Qi'er Mountain at an altitude of 5,300 meters, which was called the "forbidden area of life" and should be opened at the end of the year, and the difficulty of this project could be imagined, but Chen Mingyi immediately expressed his position: "If the road is not repaired, it is not allowed to go down the mountain for the New Year." ”
In order to understand Queer Mountain, Chen Mingyi had to climb to the top of the mountain by himself, Chen Mingyi was a native of Shangcheng, Henan, and did not have the habit of living in the plateau plateau, and when climbing the mountain, he had altitude sickness and felt dizzy, but he insisted on climbing to the top of Queer Mountain. He climbed to the top of Queer Mountain 3 times in 3 months, commanded a large army to fight tenaciously, and opened up Queer Mountain. In 1954, the 2,500-kilometer-long Kang-Tibet Highway was opened, and the Tibetan people praised it as the "Golden Bridge", the road leading to the light. Chen Mingyi, who commanded the construction of the highway, also became the "Commander of the Golden Bridge".
In 1955, Chen Mingyi was awarded the rank of major general and served as deputy commander of the Tibet Military Region. Subsequently, he also participated in the self-defense counterattack against the Indian border and assisted Zhang Guohua in victory. During his tenure as deputy commander, he twice made it to the most arduous post in Tibet, the 5,300-meter highest, the Tsangola post. Help them solve problems such as housing and eating vegetables. The oxygen content of the Chagora post is only 35% of that of the mainland, and the average annual temperature is below minus 10 degrees Celsius, so you can imagine how hard life can be.
Although General Chen Mingyi held power, he never favored selfishness. He was very strict with his descendants and relatives, his nephew wanted him to help solve the difficulties of life, he gave him the large cotton coat he had when he was marching, and the second nephew wanted him to help solve the work problem, but he wrote to let him plant a good field at home, not to help him favoritism.
In his later years, Chen Mingyi was still worried about the construction of border defense in the motherland and Tibet, and in 2002, General Chen Mingyi died of illness in Chengdu at the age of 85.
Looking back at the life of General Chen Mingyi, he was dedicated to the motherland, growing from a "little red devil" to a commander. After 4 months of hard life, he returned to northern Shaanxi, worked in Tibet for 25 years, participated in the War of Resistance Against Japan, the War of Liberation, and made great contributions. We should always remember the general.