In the War of Liberation, how many corps did our army have? There may be friends who are not very clear, the answer is 19. At the beginning of the establishment of the four major field armies, there were 13 corps, of which only two corps were in one field. With the addition of the three corps of the North China Field Army, the total number of corps reached 16. The remaining three corps were reorganized from the nationalist rebel forces, namely Chen Mingren's 21st Corps, Tao Zhiyue's 22nd Corps, and Dong Qiwu's 23rd Corps.
So who is the youngest of these 19 corps commanders? He was Chen Xilian, then commander of the Erye Third Corps, who was only 34 years old at the time. Chen Xilian is a native of Hong'an, Hubei Province, his father died very early, and the burden of life all fell on his mother. This year, because of the drought, the crops were not harvested, many people were forced to go out to beg for food, and Chen Xilian also joined the team of disaster victims with his mother. Chen Xilian had a clan uncle who was a landlord in the village, and when he saw their mother and son going out begging for food, he thought that he had lost his face, and he came forward to reprimand him.
Chen Xilian's mother was just about to distinguish, and several evil slaves couldn't help but say nothing, and they came forward and beat her up. Chen Xilian was angry and wanted to go up and fight with these people, but he was stopped by his mother. Chen Xilian thus understood a truth: In the old society, the poor and poor people had no way out. In 1929, the Red Army passed through his hometown, and the 14-year-old Chen Xilian did not hesitate to join the Red Army, and because of his bravery in battle, his comrades-in-arms affectionately called him "Little Steel Cannon".
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the main force of the Red Army was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army, and in order to limit the development of the Eighth Route Army, Chiang Kai-shek only gave three regular divisions. As a result, many cadres had to be demoted and used, and Chen Xilian was also demoted from the political commissar of the division to the commander of the 769th Regiment of the 358th Brigade of the 129th Division. Soon after, the 769th Regiment, as the advance regiment of the 129th Division, set out from Sanyuan, Shaanxi Province, to the north to resist the Japanese, at that time, the Eighth Route Army's communication equipment was very scarce, if everything was asked for instructions, it would take a long time to come and go, and it was bound to delay the fighters.
Therefore, before leaving, Liu Shuai specifically instructed Chen Xilian: "You take the 769th Regiment to act alone and flank the Japanese troops who are attacking Yanmen Pass towards Xinkou. The troops act independently, under the general intention of their superiors, in accordance with the ever-changing circumstances. This is tantamount to giving him the power to make decisions on the spot. When Chen Xilian led his troops to the area of Sulongkou and Liujiazhuang on the south bank of the Tuotuo River, they found the Japanese airfield at Yangmingbao. He led his troops in a decisive attack, blowing up 24 enemy aircraft and killing and wounding more than 100 Japanese troops.
Destroying 24 enemy planes in a single battle, which was unprecedented in previous battles, chen Xilian became famous all over the world, when he was only 22 years old. After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chen Xilian took part in the War of Liberation, successively serving as commander of the Third Column of the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Field Army and commander of the Third Corps of the Erye Army, and led his troops to participate in the Battles of Shangdang, the Battle of Handan, the Battle of Southwest Lu, the Battle of Huaihai, and the Battle of Crossing the River. In the Battle of Huaihai, Huang Wei, commander of the Nationalist 12th Corps, was captured alive by Chen Xilian's three columns. After the founding of new China, Chen Xilian held important positions many times, and in 1976, he also led the Three Armed Forces on behalf of Ye Shuai, when he was 61 years old.