Among the founding fathers of our army, there are many people who have forged a deep revolutionary friendship in the rain of bullets, such as the two we are going to talk about today, unlike others, and the two we want to talk about today are even more legendary.
The two are Chen Xilian and Li Desheng.
Before 1935, Li Desheng had heard chen Xilian's name, but had never seen it, and Chen Xilian had never heard Li Desheng's name at all, and in 1935, Li Desheng was dismissed because he opposed Zhang Guotao's wrong line.
At that time, he was transferred to the Tenth Division of the Red Fourth Front as the commander of the Transmission Corps, and it was Chen Xilian who served as the commander of the Tenth Division.
In 1933, Chen Xilian, then the commander of the Red Army, and his brother troops invaded Daxian County, where the Sichuan warlord Liu Cunhou was occupying, and captured many materials.
Among these supplies, Chen Xilian had never seen a gold brick, so he used it as a copper block and put it under his bed, and the next day, Li Xiannian, who was the political commissar of the army, and Zheng Yizhai, director of the general manager's department, came to Chen Xilian's residence.
Zheng Yizhai saw that chen Xilian's bed was covered with so many gold bricks, and he immediately became angry: "How did you do it, such a valuable thing is not handed over, but hidden under the bunk?" ”
Chen Xilian didn't know what he was talking about, and asked doubtfully, "All of them are copper blocks, and many of them have been thrown into the pit." Liu Cunhou's these crap, use it to cushion the bed, what a fuss! ”
Hearing Chen Xilian's words, Li Xiannian and Zheng Yizhai couldn't help but laugh: "This is gold, it's a gold brick!" homosexuals! ”
Only then did Chen Xilian scratch his head in embarrassment, and then he gathered the gold bricks thrown into the pit and the gold bricks thrown everywhere into one piece and handed them to the general manager's department.
This incident became a small joke made during Chen Xilian's military career, and later some people said that although Chen Xilian did not know the golden bricks, he was an identification talent.
Li Desheng is a best example.
In 1935, Li Desheng came to the Red Tenth Division as the commander of the order corps, Chen Xilian did not know him before, and when he learned that Li Desheng was dismissed because he opposed the wrong line, he was very concerned about Li Desheng's situation.
Chen Xilian comforted him and encouraged him to lay down his "baggage" and move forward lightly; under Chen Xilian's care, Li Desheng's mood was much better, and he did not give up his ideals and persistent pursuit of revolution, but followed the troops on the Long March.
Since then, Chen Xilian has been more concerned and helpful to Li Desheng.
After the outbreak of the All-out War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in 1937, Chen Xilian was appointed as the commander of the 769th Regiment of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and at that time, due to the problem of the establishment of the troops, many Red Army generals had to be demoted, but Chen Xilian took extra care of Li Desheng, not only did not demote him, but let him serve as the platoon leader of the communication platoon.
In October, the 769th Regiment, in accordance with the orders of the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, went to the northwest of Jin to fight, the troops came to Dai County, and when fighting the enemy in the area of Sulongkou and Liujiazhuang, Chen Xilian found that the enemy's aircraft took off here very frequently, so he immediately concluded that there must be an enemy airfield here.
After the scouts learned about the situation, Chen Xilian learned that the Japanese army had an improvised airfield in the town of Yangmingbao.
On October 18, Chen Xilian personally led people to carry out a surprise attack on the enemy's airfield, and in this battle, our army eliminated more than 100 Japanese troops, and in this battle, the number of Japanese troops eliminated was secondary, and our army blew up 24 enemy aircraft.
After this battle, Chen Xilian became famous in the first battle, and even Chiang Kai-shek sent him a commendation order.
Li Desheng also personally participated in this battle in Chen Xilian's troops, and for many years, Li Desheng recalled Chen Xilian's battle, and he still had a very admiring tone.
In a battle in 1938, Li Desheng was unfortunately wounded in the head, chen Xilian learned of it, personally came to the hospital to visit him in a busy time, for Chen Xilian's promotion and appreciation of himself, Li Desheng was very grateful for his life.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1945, Chen Xilian was very concerned about Li Desheng's punishment for opposing the wrong connection, and after his proposal, in 1946, the party organization rehabilitated Li Desheng.
At the time of the victory of the War of Resistance, Li Desheng was already a regimental commander of the Eighth Route Army, and this regiment was not an ordinary regiment, but the 769th regiment that Chen Xilian commanded in the Battle of Yangmingbao.
During the Liberation War, Li Desheng left Chen Xilian's command and came to Wang Jinshan's command as a brigade commander, and at that time Wang Jinshan had three strong generals under him, namely Li Desheng, You Taizhong, and Xiao Yongyin.
The three of them were known as the three powerful subordinates under Wang Jinshan.
Wang Jinshan's name is known to everyone, but he is actually a rare and powerful general in our army, and he and Chen Xilian are called "two wild and two flowers", which shows that his contribution to the revolution and his ability are very great.
In 1949, the army was reorganized, Li Desheng was appointed as the commander of the 35th Division of the 12th Army, and it was Wang Jinshan who was the commander of the 12th Army, while the 12th Army belonged to the Third Corps, and the commander of the Third Corps was Chen Xilian.
After the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea in 1950, Li Desheng later led his troops into the Korean War, and the Shangganling Campaign, which shocked the world, was divided into two stages, the first stage was commanded by Qin Jiwei and little known, and the second stage was commanded by Li Desheng.
In 1955, Li Desheng was awarded the rank of major general and Chen Xilian was awarded the rank of general.
In 1968, at the opening ceremony of the Twelfth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee, Zhou Enlai read out the list of participants attending the meeting, and when Li Desheng was read, Chairman Mao interjected and asked: "Which is Li Desheng?" ”
Li Desheng stood up, and Chairman Mao said, "I think things in Anhui are doing well." Didn't we inform him of the whole Wuhu, Wuhu is very well organized! That Wuhu problem is complicated."
Chairman Mao asked, "How did you do it?" ”
Li Desheng only said one sentence: "It is to create public opinion." ”
In 1969, Li Desheng, then commander of the Anhui Provincial Military Region, received Chairman Mao's attention and promotion, and this year he was elected as an alternate member of the Politburo, and the following year, he was promoted to director of the General Political Department.
In 1973, when arranging for the selection of vice chairmen of the Party Central Committee, Chairman Mao said: "I see that among the current candidates, there are old and young candidates, and there are not yet winners!" Aren't we talking about the combination of old, middle and young? We should also combine old, middle and young! ”
According to Chairman Mao's proposal, the most suitable person is Li Desheng.
In 1973, 38 years after Chen Xilian and Li Desheng met, the squad leader li Desheng became a full-fledged state, and the division commander, Chen Xilian, was also elected as a member of the Politburo that year and became a vice-state level.