After the title was awarded in 1955, Lieutenant General Chen Xianrui said to Admirals Han Xianchu and Liu Zhen: "The soldier is a general, the squad leader is a lieutenant general, how do I bring this soldier?" ”
The two admirals said in unison, "What a lieutenant general or a general, the soldier must listen to the squad leader at any time." ”
After saying that, the three laughed.
Han Xianchu (center) Chen Xianrui (right) Liu Zhen (left)
These three founding generals are really from a class. The formation sequence was one detachment and one squad of the Special Agent 4 Brigade of the Northeast Hubei Provincial Committee of the Red Fourth Front.
The 4th Special Agent Brigade was under the direct command of the Northeast Hubei Provincial Committee and the Guerrilla General Command. This brigade, with a total of more than 120 people, was reorganized from a detachment of the Pistol Regiment of the Red Fourth Front, and later selected from the guerrillas of various districts and counties to supplement them with brave and resourceful young fighters.
They were well armed and well-stocked, each with a German-made barge gun and four or five melon grenades. The squad leader and the combat squad leader each have a long gun. Each detachment is equipped with a flower machine gun squad. This is the "jiaozi" of the General Headquarters of guerrillas in northeast Hubei and is also the unit envied by the cadres and fighters of various guerrilla units.
The main tasks of the 4 special agent brigade are threefold: First, to collect enemy intelligence, to reconnoiter the enemy's movements, and to assassinate reactionary vigilante groups and reactionary government figures who are extremely indignant; second, to fight landlords and local tycoons to prepare funds and materials. The third is to escort leading cadres and transportation liaison personnel who travel between the central authorities and the Eyu-Anhui base area.
The activity method of the 4 brigades is very flexible, and depending on the task, it can perform tasks as brigades, detachments, and squads, and sometimes disguise themselves as various identities to complete the task. It can be said that it is a special force directly commanded by the Northeast Hubei Provincial Committee and the Guerrilla General Command.
So how did these three generals coincidentally come to the same class?
Lieutenant General Chen Xianrui
Chen Xianrui was born in 1914 to a poor peasant family in The Village of Dayanjiawan, Mahegang, Shangcheng County, Henan Province, which was assigned to Jinzhai County in Anhui Province during the Liberation War in the southern district of Shangcheng County. In 1929, the 15-year-old Chen Xianrui first signed up for the children's regiment, and later joined the Red Army, and was assigned to the 98th Regiment of the Red 32nd Division.
Chen Xianrui
In 1930, he was transferred to the reorganized 2nd Division of the Red Army as a signal officer. In March 1931, the Northwest Anhui Province Headquarters set up a special task force behind enemy lines, and Chen Xianrui was selected into the special task force because of his bravery in battle and his cleverness.
In October 1932, when Chen Xianrui left the Eyu-Anhui base area with the Red Fourth Front and transferred to the Yushan Border Region and passed through Zaoyang, Hubei Province, he unfortunately fell ill and developed a high fever, because the troops lacked medical treatment and could not be treated, he passed out during a major break in the army, and when he woke up, he found that he had fallen behind and lost contact with the troops. So he left alone to recuperate, and when he was well, he could no longer catch up with the troops. Helpless, he had to rush back while begging for food, wanting to return to the Soviet area.
In December 1932, Chen Xianrui came to Hekou County because he had delivered letters to the county Soviet government and knew the people here. After he was lucky enough to meet an acquaintance, he told him what happened along the way. The men of the Hekou County Soviet government decided to give him a break and then sent him to the guerrilla command in northeast Hubei.
Soon, under the introduction of the Hekou County Soviet Government, Chen Xianrui was sent to the General Headquarters of guerrillas in northeast Hubei. When Zheng Weisan, then secretary of the Northeast Hubei Provincial CPC Committee and commander-in-chief of the guerrillas, saw Chen Xianrui and thought that he had served as a special task force at the headquarters of the Northwest Anhui Province, he arranged for him to go to the Special Agent 4 Brigade.
Chen Xianrui first served as a soldier in a squad and a squad, and after several missions, he was quickly promoted to squad leader because of his bravery and flexibility in combat.
Admiral Warrior Liu Zhen
Liu Zhen, also known as Liu You'an, was born in March 1915 to a poor peasant family in Xiaowu District, northeast of Xiaogan County, Hubei Province. In 1928, at the age of 13, Liu Zhen joined the children's group. He joined the prefectural Red Guards in April 1930, and at the age of 15 he was the youngest of the Red Guards. In September 1931, he signed up for the Red Army, and in October he was assigned to the Guerrilla Brigade (later changed to an independent battalion) in Pixiaobei County.
In the spring of 1932, Liu Zhen was transferred from the Independent Battalion of Pixiaobei County to the 4th Special Agent Brigade of the Northeast Hubei Provincial Committee, and was assigned to a detachment and a squad.
Admiral Warrior Han Xianchu
Han Xianchu was born in February 1913 in Fengshugang Village, Huang'an County (now Hong'an County), Hubei Province. He came from a poor background and suffered a lot since childhood. At the age of 16, he joined the Red Guards in his hometown with his brother-in-law Tian Changsong, and later joined the Huang'an County Independent Division and became a formal Red Army.
Han Xianchu
In the summer of 1932, Han Xianchu, who was serving as a communication platoon commander in the Independent Division, was sent to the battalion as an adjutant because he was unwilling to kill the ordinary people who were suspected of being traitors. Saying that he was an adjutant was actually similar to today's battalion commander, who was responsible for buying grain and vegetables every day and managing a few fires to cook.
Because of his good work performance, he let him go down to the company to carry a gun and fight as a big soldier. However, when attacking the county seat of Luotian County to seize the enemy's treasury, something went wrong again. The troops finished snatching the vaults, and when they left the city, the enemy counterattacked, the men and horses were crowded, and in the darkness he was squeezed into the ditch by the side of the road, and the two bags of silver dollars on his shoulders were all scattered into the waist-deep muddy water. Because he lost his booty, he was punished as a brother-in-law. This is good, completely pick up the fire stick.
Soon the troops moved, and he was asked to take a few people to set up camps. This side was settled, and the troops over there were ordered to go elsewhere. He didn't know where the troops had gone, so he had to inquire around and look for them. He hid in the mountains with a few people during the day, went to his hometown at night to get some food, and finally found another Red Army unit, the 4th Special Agent Brigade of the Northeast Hubei Provincial Committee. He was assigned to a squad of Chen Xianrui.
In this way, the three generals gathered in a squad and began their years of fighting. From the perspective of time, the first to arrive at this class should be Liu Zhen (spring 1932), followed by Chen Xianrui (December 1932), and finally Han Xianchu, from his memoirs, chen Xianrui and Liu Zhen were already there when he arrived at the first class.
Once, Chen Xianrui led the whole class to Huangpi, Xiaogan was beaten by the local tycoon to raise money, captured a local tycoon's son as a hostage, let the local tycoon take money to redeem. Local vigilante groups, the Red Gun Society, and some regular troops followed and surrounded the class of more than 10 people in a house, with machine guns mounted on the feng shui wall outside the house, shouting for them to surrender.
Chen Xianrui said: The soft are afraid of the hard, and the hard are afraid of not dying. Fight with me, who doesn't fight to the death!
At that time, everyone decided that there was only fighting: anyway, this would be the revolution to "succeed", spell out one enough, spell out two and earn one.
Han Xianchu said: The squad leader is right, we must fight with the enemy. But we can't fight blindly, we have to come up with a way.
He suggested to the squad leader: each person has a grenade, throw it together, throw it out, rush out, rush out, shoot at the enemy around, no one is responsible for a section of the fan, shoot all the bullets in the gun. My squad leader and I killed the machine gun first. Then the bomb was dropped, and the grenade popped out and rushed out together.
Chen Xianrui thought it was reasonable, and said to everyone, just follow Han Xianchu's playing style. As a result, the whole class successfully broke through and rushed out.
Another time, Han Xianchu and Liu Zhen went out on a mission together.
Liu Zhen
During the day, they unknowingly entered the white zone and hid in the home of an underground party member. At night, the action plan is dispersed according to the action plan. They agreed to rush back to the border areas before dawn.
However, due to the traitors' whistleblowing, in the territory of Xiaogan, they were discovered by the vigilante group, and the situation was extremely critical.
"Hey, surrender, you're surrounded!" A vigilante squad leader waved his pistol and shouted at Han Xianchu.
Han Xianchu and Liu Zhen quietly hid in an abandoned house with a large wall attached. Looking at the sky, it was already dinner time.
At this time, Han Xianchu gave an explanation to Liu Zhenluo, then jumped out of the short wall and shouted: "XX, there is a kind of walking with Lao Tzu!" With that, he fired two shots and quickly ran toward a grove of trees behind the house.
The vigilante groups were crowded with a large number of people and rushed to chase after them.
Taking advantage of the night when it first fell, Han Xianchu rushed left and right, forcing the enemy out two or three miles away.
At this time, Liu Zhen saw the opportunity and quietly rushed out of the encirclement circle of the vigilante group and rushed to the meeting place he had agreed with Han Xianchu.
The next day, just after dawn, Han Xianchu, who had thrown off the vigilante group, appeared in front of Liu Zhen...
Statue of the Long March Memorial Hall of the Red 25th Army
After that, the three were incorporated into the Red 25th Army Pistol Regiment, followed the Red 25th Army to start the Long March, and moved to Shaanxi and Gansu. After the end of the Long March, the posts of the three men also underwent great changes, but they were still in the red 15 army structure, which was reorganized from the Red 25 Army and the Red 26 Army, Chen Xianrui served as the commander of the Red 74th Division, Han Xianchu served as the commander of the 223rd Regiment of the Red 75th Division, and Liu Zhen served as the political commissar of the 225th Regiment of the Red 75th Division.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the three of them gradually separated and went to their own revolutionary posts. Since then, they have hardly seen each other again during the war years. When we meet again, it will be in Beijing after liberation. In Beijing, their exchanges have increased, and old comrades-in-arms have exchanged courtesies and each other, and you have feasted and invited me, enjoying the joy of success together, needless to say. The three experiences and relationships were also rumored to be a good story at the time.
After a meeting of the Central Committee, the three of them went together to visit Comrade Hu Yaobang. After Hu Yaobang listened to the situation of the three of them, he repeatedly said:
It's remarkable, it's remarkable. There are really not many cases like the three of you who have come out of a squad as soldiers and are now senior generals of our army, and you can write a novel or a big article.
”
The author's limited ability can not make a big article, so let's make a small article on this topic to entertain the reader.