preface
After the founding of New China, the central authorities stipulated that all people who saw Chairman Mao were not allowed to carry guns, except for Wang Zhen. One day Wang Zhen came to Chairman Mao, and the guards saw him in a military uniform and a pistol, so they stopped him.
When Chairman Mao found out, he said: "Wang Beard will not harm me, and he will not have to stop him from carrying anything but atomic bombs."
It can be seen that Wang Zhen and Chairman Mao have a deep revolutionary friendship.
First, a one-time escort to form a lifelong friendship
In 1925, the 17-year-old Wang Zhen was appointed as the leader of the local railway workers' picket squad because of his outstanding performance in the Beijing-Hankou Railway Strike. Once, wang Zhen was sent to lead 3 team members to escort Mao Zedong to Changsha.
On the way, Mao Zedong asked Wang Zhen: "What are you doing revolutionary work so little for?" Wang Zhen replied without hesitation: "In order to liberate the toiling masses!" Mao Zedong listened to it and praised him one after another, and then the two talked to each other all the way. This escort experience was the beginning of Wang Zhen's revolutionary friendship with Mao Zedong, and Mao Zedong's teachings also injected more blood and passion into Wang Zhen's young heart.
In 1927, Wang Zhen joined the Communist Youth League of China and became a member of the Communist Party of China in May of the same year.
After the defeat of the Great Revolution, he decisively threw himself into the struggle against the Kuomintang reactionaries. In 1930, Wang Zhen was introduced to Mao Zedong by Teng Daiyuan in Zhentou City on the Liuyang River. Mao Zedong clasped Wang Zhen's hand and said happily, "Aren't you the little soldier who sent me in a rocking cart a few years ago?" Wang Zhen also said excitedly, "Yes! I am!" After a few greetings
Mao Zedong asked, "Do you want to be a regular Red Army?" Wang Zhen immediately said, "I dream of it!" So three days later, Wang Zhen led a team to find the Xiangdong Special Committee after getting the permission of the organization. On October 6, 1930, the Independent Division of the Red Army in Eastern Hunan was established, with Wang Zhen as the political commissar, and from then on the task of creating the Xianggan Soviet District was launched. In July 1934, Wang Zhen served as the political commissar of the Red Sixth Army and became one of the main founders of the Xianggan Soviet District.
Second, the Nanniwan will be transformed from a barren mountain into a southern part of the River
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Wang Zhen rushed to Shanxi and made great contributions to resisting the Japanese army and creating anti-Japanese base areas. In August 1939, Mao Zedong ordered Wang Zhen to return to northern Shaanxi as commander and political commissar of the Suide Garrison District, and Mao Zedong said to Wang Zhen: "Northern Shaanxi is poor, and if there are too many troops, we can't afford to raise them, so we must put some elite soldiers and strong generals here." For more than two years, Wang Zhen participated in and commanded dozens of large and small battles, during which time not only crushed the wishful thinking of the Japanese army, but also seriously hit the first anti-communist upsurge of the Kuomintang. Due to the Kuomintang's economic blockade of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, the materials in the border area became more and more tense.
In February 1941, Mao Zedong approached Wang Zhen to discuss the strategy, and Wang Zhen immediately led his troops into Nanniwan to carry out a vigorous large-scale production campaign.
After the arduous production movement of the soldiers, the originally deserted Nanniwan became a good Jiangnan in northern Shaanxi, which was full of cattle and sheep, and Mao Zedong personally wrote an inscription for Wang Zhen, saying that he had a creative spirit.
In the autumn of 1943, Mao Zedong came to Nanniwan to inspect, saw that the fighters were all full of spirits, and quipped: "The Kuomintang wants to trap us and starve us, and the more trapped they are, the fatter you are." As soon as Mao Zedong arrived at the brigade headquarters, Wang Zhen invited him to dinner, and Mao Zedong smiled and said, "When you first came, you will have dinner, and it seems that you really have no shortage of grain!" Mao Zedong stopped here to inspect and inspect for five days, and finally left satisfied.
In July 1944, the Party Central Committee intended to send a regimental commander to lead a reinforced battalion to escort the cadre regiment to Guangdong, Wang Zhen took the initiative to ask Mao Zedong for help, so the Central Committee formally decided in October that Wang Zhen would be the commander and carry out the task of opening up a new base area in the south. On the day of the departure of the team, the villagers took the initiative to gather together to send off the soldiers. Wang Zhen led 5,000 soldiers from Yan'an to Shanxi and Henan, and at the end of January 1945, he successfully met the division and opened up a guerrilla base area in Xiang'egan after crossing the Yangtze River in the south. In July 1945, Wang Zhen continued south, arriving in Nanxiong County, Guangdong Province, in August, while Japan announced its unconditional surrender. Chiang Kai-shek intended to eliminate this lone army and called two theaters of operations to eliminate this contingent at the Hunan-Guangdong border.
So the Kuomintang army dispatched eight regiments of troops to besiege the army led by Wang Zhen, and at that time, it happened to be heavy rain, and the team was cut off from food, and it was almost in a desperate situation.
However, Wang Zhen led the soldiers to fight in blood, and finally killed the encirclement. After that, Wang Zhen led his troops back to the north, fought all the way, and finally reached Jiangbei a month later, out of danger. In May 1946, Chiang Kai-shek sent troops to surround more than 50,000 people of the Eighth Route Army in the Xuanhuadian area, Wang Zhen led his troops to break through to southern Shaanxi, the soldiers bravely killed the enemy, got rid of the enemy's encirclement and blockade, and successfully arrived in Yan'an on September 27, 1946.
Mao Zedong looked at the ragged, disheveled, bearded general in front of him, tears came out of his eyes, and he said:
"King Beard, you have suffered! Nine deaths in a lifetime, remarkable! Since then, Wang Zhen's title of "King Beard" has also spread among the troops.
3. Change the world for the people of Xinjiang
In March 1949, Wang Zhen took the initiative to invite Miao to march into Xinjiang, and when everyone was watching the Peking Opera "Red Lady" together, Mao Zedong said to Wang Zhen meaningfully: "Wang Beard, you see, that red lady always does good things for others." You go to Xinjiang just like him and do good things for the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang. "After Wang Zhen led the army to peacefully liberate Xinjiang, he promulgated a series of policies and guidelines.
Moreover, the scene of large-scale production in Nanniwan was reproduced, more than 100,000 People's Liberation Army endured hardships and stood hard work, and more than 830,000 mu of land were opened up in just one year, and Mao Zedong sighed with relief: "Wang Zhen entered Xinjiang, so quickly gained a firm foothold, and also won the enthusiastic support of ethnic minorities, which is really gratifying and congratulatory."
In February 1954, Wang Zhen received an urgent task from Mao Zedong: to lead the railway troops to the south to rush to build a railway.
Wang Zhen immediately issued a military order and made it clear that he would complete the task within three years. That's it
Wang Zhen led an army of 100,000 to move mountains and reclaim the sea, and it took only 9 months to build a total of more than 300 kilometers of lizhan railway. At that time, the situation on the southeast coast was very tense, and in such a harsh situation, Wang Zhen led the soldiers to build the Yingxia Railway with a total length of more than 700 kilometers, which was originally planned to be completed in three years.
In 1955, Wang Zhen was awarded a number of honors at the award ceremony and became a veritable general, for these rewards, Wang Zhen actually did not care, he valued more about the development of the party and the people. Once Mao Zedong saw Wang Zhen while watching a military performance,
So I asked him, "Wang Beard, how did you lose weight?" Wang Zhen replied, "My intestines are not good." Mao Zedong immediately said: "Wang Beard has a bad intestine, but his heart is good!"