In 1945, the Central Military Commission sent a telegram to Xu Shiyou, asking Nie Fengzhi, then commander of the 5th Division of the Jiaodong Military Region, to go to the northeast, and while Nie Fengzhi was preparing to go to the northeast, Xu Shiyou suddenly told him that if the central authorities did not let him go, why would the Central Military Commission not let him go? Although he had doubts, he did not investigate deeply, and only after decades did he know that Xu Shiyou had done something in the middle.
Xu Shiyou was not willing to let Nie Fengzhi leave him, so he sent a telegram to the Central Military Commission, saying that Nie Fengzhi was not in good health, it was difficult to adapt to the environment in the northeast, and it was even possible to deepen his illness.
Nie Fengzhi was Xu Shiyou's old subordinate, they were in a regiment during the Red Army period, but the relationship was also a general friendship, and later when they arrived at the Kang Da, the two were both cadets, and the relationship was not so close, which really made the friendship between the two grow by leaps and bounds, that is, during the War of Resistance Against Japan, when Xu Shiyou was the commander of the Jiaodong Military Region, and Nie Fengzhi was the regimental commander and division commander under his command.
Xu Shiyou was short-tempered, but he could tolerate only one person, that is, Nie Fengzhi, who may be a hero to pity each other, at the end of 1946, Nie Fengzhi was hospitalized for appendicitis, and the next day after the operation, Xu Shiyou came to visit him and told him that the troops attacked Lingshan, the losses were very large, and Lingshan had not yet been captured, Nie Fengzhi listened, immediately pulled out the needle, rode straight to the front line.
Nie Fengzhi was called "Tiger General" but not a vain name, and when he arrived at the front line, soon Lingshan was attacked, Xu Shiyou told him that you can continue to go back to the hospital, Nie Fengzhi punched his own wounds, has healed.
Once, Liu Yong and Sun Duanfu led their troops to fight a battle at the Beihe Temple, they wanted to go to Xu Shiyou to plead guilty, in order to avoid Xu Shiyou saying too many ugly words, they specially invited Nie Fengzhi to go with them, and when they arrived, as the two imagined, Xu Shiyou first scolded them.
With that almost finished, Nie Fengzhi spoke, "Old Commander, have you scolded enough?" We fight in the front and you sit at home drinking. Do you know that we haven't even eaten a mouthful of food since yesterday, we came to ask for sin, you ignored it, as soon as we entered the door, we scolded, we felt good? Xu Shiyou listened, the three of them had not yet eaten, and immediately let people make egg fried rice, just like that, in the giggle, the matter was closed.
Although Xu Shiyou and Nie Fengzhi were superior and subordinate, they were more like brothers, the two also quarreled, but after a while, they recovered like this, and the two had similar temperaments, so this was one of the reasons why their friendship could last a lifetime.
In 1955, Xu Shiyou became the founding general and Nie Fengzhi became the founding lieutenant general.
Nie Fengzhi has long been Xu Shiyou's most trusted subordinate, in his later years, Xu Shiyou wanted to write a memoir of his own, Nie Fengzhi learned that he immediately took action, organized a writing team, and then the writing plan was personally responsible for him.
Xu Shiyou did not have any hobbies in his life, nothing more than drinking and hunting, at that time Xu Shiyou was seriously ill, he himself could not hunt, but he liked to watch others hunt, for a long time, no one was willing to accompany him to hunting, only guards, drivers and other people.
Nie Fengzhi is very concerned about Xu Shiyou, every once in a while, he will ask Xu Shiyou if he wants to go hunting together, in Xu Shiyou's old age, it can be said that Nie Fengzhi sent him to the end of his life.