After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party began to cooperate in the war against Japan, and the Red Army and guerrillas in 13 areas of the 8 southern provinces were reorganized into the New Fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army, referred to as the New Fourth Army. Ye Ting served as the commander, Xiang Ying as the deputy commander, Zhang Yunyi as the chief of staff, and Yuan Guoping as the director of the Political Department. At that time, the New Fourth Army did not have divisions and brigades, and had four detachments under its jurisdiction, with a total strength of more than 10,000 people. Today we will talk about the deeds of Ye Ting, the first commander of the New Fourth Army.
Ye Ting is a Guangdong Guishan native, born in 1896. At the age of 15, in order to support the revolution, he resolutely cut off his braids, when the Qing Dynasty had not yet perished, he was also arrested by Qing officials for this move, and later his family ran to release him on bail. Soon after, the Xinhai Revolution broke out, and Ye Ting decided to throw himself into the army and was admitted to the Baoding Army Officer School. After graduating from the military academy, he began to follow Sun Yat-sen and served as the commander of the second battalion of the Guard Regiment of the Grand Marshal's Office.
In June 1922, Chen Jiongming, commander-in-chief of the Guangdong Army, defected and led his troops to shell the presidential palace, and the situation was very critical. At this time, Ye Ting stepped forward and led his troops to guard the front yard of the presidential palace, and Lady Sun was able to escape from danger. After the Start of the Northern Expedition, Ye Ting served as the commander of the Independent Regiment of the Fourth Army, and led his troops to defeat Wu Peifu's main force at Tingsi Bridge and He Sheng Bridge, which became famous all over the world, and the Fourth Army also won the title of "Iron Army". Because of his outstanding military achievements, Ye Ting was promoted to commander of the 24th Division of the 11th Army.
Soon after the Nanchang Uprising broke out, Ye Ting became the commander-in-chief of the former enemy and the commander of the 11th Army. Later, the rebel army marched south to Guangdong, and was besieged by the superior forces of the Kuomintang Qian Dajun in the Sanheba area, and finally lost after a bloody battle. Four months later, Ye Ting, Zhang Tailei and others led the Guangzhou Uprising, and Ye Ting became the commander-in-chief of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. It can be seen how old Ye Ting's seniority is, so after the formation of the New Fourth Army, he became the first commander of the army with great expectations.
After the reorganization, the New Fourth Army assembled in southern Anhui and central Anhui, and then went to central China to fight against the Japanese puppet army, dealing a heavy blow to the arrogance of the enemy. In 1941, the Anhui Incident broke out, the New Fourth Army was besieged by an enemy several times its superiority, and Ye Ting was detained while negotiating with the enemy and spent 5 years in prison. During this period, Lao Jiang sent people to win him over many times, but Ye Ting refused, and in order to show his heart, he wrote the famous "Prisoner Song". At the beginning of March 1946, after many efforts, Ye Ting finally gained freedom. A month later, he was killed in a plane crash on his way to Yan'an at the age of 50. So after Ye Ting was killed, how did his descendants live?
Ye Ting's wife, Li Xiuwen, was born in Macau to a wealthy family, 11 years younger than Ye Ting, and the two have a total of 9 children. Three of them died prematurely, and the fifth daughter and youngest son were killed together with Ye Ting and his wife. The remaining 6 children have all become the backbone of our country, Ye Ting's eldest son Ye Zhengda, the second son Ye Zhengming, the fourth son Ye Huaming, the seventh son Ye Zhengguang and the eighth son Ye Qiguang have all joined the People's Liberation Army, of which Ye Zhengda is China's first batch of aviation experts, with the rank of lieutenant general; Ye Huaming is China's first batch of missile experts. Ye Ting's daughter is named Ye Jianmei, and among the 6 brothers and sisters, only she has no experience in joining the army, and she has become a literary and art worker when she grows up. Judging from Ye Ting's seniority, if he had not died young, he would have become a marshal when he was awarded the title in 55 years.
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