Picture 丨 Xu Shiyou
preface
Many people think that Xu Shiyou is a reckless man, in fact, throughout his life, it is not difficult to see that Xu Shiyou himself is an extremely shrewd and wise person.
In the turbulent political arena, Xu Shiyou is like a tumbler, always living through everything without danger...
Xu Shiyou in "White Sparrow Garden"
Picture 丨 Zhang Guotao (left)
In May 1931, Zhang Guotao came to the Eyuwan base area as a plenipotentiary of the Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, which represented the beginning of Wang Ming's central government's control over the Eyuwan base area.
Zhang Guotao abolished the CPC Eyu-Anhui Special Committee and established the Eyu-Anhui Branch of the CPC Central Committee, with himself as secretary, and later established the Eyu-Anhui Revolutionary Military Committee, concurrently serving as chairman.
In September and October, Zhang Guotao presided over the Baiqueyuan Incident, in which tens of thousands of revolutionaries were sacrificed.
Cadres at all levels of the Red Fourth Army, except for a few who survived the disaster, were almost all wiped out.
Figure 丨 Xu Forward
Xu Xiangqian, who was first the commander of the Red Fourth Army and then the commander-in-chief of the Red Fourth Front, once recalled the past with great sorrow:
"The Red Army cadres they arrested all came with us in guerrilla warfare, fought bravely, did not show any abnormal performance in peacetime, and overnight, they were characterized and incomprehensible.
"In order to prevent the troops from moving, Zhang Guotao and others also decided to break up the mixed formations with the battalion as a unit, some people to inspect and supervise, and everyone to endanger themselves, and when they saw acquaintances, they did not dare to speak, for fear of being said to be a secret organization or something."
Xu Shiyou is one of the few who survived, not only was he not arrested or implicated, but he also rose step by step.
Picture 丨 White Sparrow Garden Incident
After liberation, one night, Xu Shiyou drank with a few familiar cronies, the wine was flourishing, he drank a few more drinks, he took the initiative to mention the Baique garden incident, and revealed the reason for the rapid promotion at that time.
"During that period of the Red Army, I was promoted very quickly, mainly because I grasped two points: One is to fight bravely, not afraid of death, rather than being killed by my own people, it is better to die on the battlefield and be a martyr; the second point is not to complain, fight when fighting, sleep when not fighting, even if he checks, he will not be able to find my head."
At that time, Xu Shiyou was famous for his love of drinking, he was the only general in the Red Fourth Army who could make an exception to drink, and every time he finished a battle, he would look for wine everywhere, and when he was drunk, he would fall asleep on the side.
Because of dissatisfaction and worry, people gather together to talk about two sentences, Xu Shiyou never participated in these discussions, he just slept, drank, drank, slept.
As we all know, Xu Shiyou drank a lot of alcohol, and it is not known whether the drunkenness at that time was true or false. However, as long as the people around them think that Xu Shiyou is drunk and confused, and can't see his sobriety and wisdom, maybe he can escape the disaster.
Xu Shiyou himself did not complain, nor did he allow the troops under his jurisdiction to complain.
Once, Xu Shiyou heard several battalion commanders in the regiment gathered together and whispered:
"What are we going to do, where are we going?"
"Ghosts know that all day long is walking around..."
"I see, is the head of headquarters an escapist?"
"You're looking for death, don't be heard!"
"What are you afraid of, now the Red Fourth Front, which person does not hold fire in his heart?"
Xu Shiyou quickly stepped forward and scolded loudly, "What are you muttering, can you win by playing tricks?" Net nonsense! ”
The period of the Red Army
Xu Shiyou mentioned that he improved quickly,
The first reason is that war is not afraid of death
。 He used to be a member of the death squad, basically carrying a large knife to play with the enemy, if he survives, he can naturally be promoted smoothly.
"In just three years, I went from an ordinary soldier to squad leader, platoon leader, and even regimental commander, which is definitely relatively fast from the current point of view. Why fast, people are gone, you are a communist, do not do it, I have fought thousands of battles from soldiers to regimental commanders, some small battles are several times a day, even if it is not clear, in this process, I gradually learned how to lead soldiers to fight. ”
In August 1927, at the low ebb of the Chinese revolution, Xu Shiyou joined the Communist Party, returned to his hometown to join the revolution, and began his military career.
As soon as Xu Shiyou returned to his hometown, he joined the Macheng Six Townships Peasant Volunteer Brigade and was elected as the captain of the brigade and the captain of the artillery team. The reason why he was able to get everyone's support at the beginning was because before Xu Shiyou joined the Communist Party, he had five years of military experience in the Kuomintang, and Xu Shiyou knew Shaolin Kung Fu.
On November 13 of that year, Xu Shiyou joined the jute uprising with the Liuxiang Peasant Volunteer Brigade, and in the early morning of the 14th, the rebel army occupied the whole city, and the battle ended successfully, xu Shiyou returned to his hometown with the team.
Figure丨 militia
On November 18, the peasant government of Huang'an County was established, and the jute rebel army was reorganized into the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, the Edong Army, and the revolutionary situation was very good.
On December 5, the situation suddenly changed, the Kuomintang raided Huang'an County, and the Edong Army, led by Wu Guanghao, left the jute area.
In January 1928, the Edong Army was reorganized into the 7th Army of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, with Wu Guanghao as the commander, and the team became larger and larger, and in April, Wu Guanghao returned to the jute area with the 7th Army.
The volunteer army led by Xu Shiyou was incorporated into the 7th Army at this time, and Xu Shiyou officially entered the main force.
In July, the 7th Army was reorganized into the 31st Division of the Red 11th Army, with Wu Guanghao as the commander and Xu Shiyou as the 6th squad of the 2nd Brigade, and soon after, Xu Shiyou's squad leader was killed in battle, and Xu Shiyou took over as the squad leader.
Figure 丨 Wu Guanghao
In the winter of 1928, because Xu Shiyou was strong in martial arts and could fight and rush, he was promoted to platoon leader, and in early 1929, Xu Shiyou was promoted to company commander.
Southwest of Guangshan Mountain, Henan, this cottage has a cottage with more than 300 landlords armed, and this place is full of twists and turns, the terrain is complex, the defense is extremely strong, and it is not easy to take it.
As the leader of the death squad, Xu Shiyou led the order to attack this cottage, and as soon as the gunshots of the battle rang out, Xu Shiyou rushed to the front without dying, the enemy occupied the high point, pushed down the roller boulders, and the death squad had no choice but to withdraw.
Xu Shiyou summed up the experience, let the team members stand against the table, wrapped in the quilt to continue to rush, the enemy in addition to pushing things down, began to pour hot boiling water down, fortunately, there is a cover, the death squad members were not affected.
Xu Shiyou was the first to climb to the top of the village, and three or four enemies held up a huge log and smashed down at Xu Shiyou, and were shot down three times in a row. The last time, the giant wood hit Xu Shiyou's head, and he fell off the roof of the village and fainted on the spot.
Under the encouragement and influence of Xu Shiyou, the death squad members became more and more courageous, and finally conquered the cottage. The team members thought that Xu Shiyou had sacrificed, and carried Xu Shiyou back in tears, just as Xu Shiyou woke up, saw everyone crying bitterly, and said happily, "Huh? Why did I get a good night's sleep? The players burst into laughter.
In June 1929, Xu Xiangqian became the deputy commander of the 31st Division of the Red 11th Army. As soon as he took office, he noticed the heroic and good-fighting Xu Shiyou, and in September, after several battles of all sizes, Xu Shiyou was promoted to battalion commander of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Regiment of the 31st Division.
In January 1931, the Red 11th Army was reorganized into the Red 4th Army, with Xu Shiyou as the battalion commander of the 10th Division, and in November 1931, based on the Red 4th Army (10th Division, 11th Division, 12th Division), the Red Fourth Front Army was established, with Xu Xiangqian as the commander-in-chief.
Xu Xiangqian was a cadet of the first batch of the Whampoa Military Academy, born in the class of the Eight Classics of Zheng'er, and Xu Shiyou, who was born as a peasant, learned a lot of experience in leading soldiers to fight.
In 1932, Xu Shiyou was promoted to the head of the 34th Regiment, and soon after taking office, Xu Shiyou faced the test of the war.
The enemy gathered heavily and launched an attack on Shangcheng and Huangchuan, and these two places were the military strongholds in Henan.
On the morning of February 1, the Red Fourth Front army began to fight, the enemy was well equipped and had strong combat ability, and the Red Fourth Front withstood the enemy's crazy attack with a hard scalp. In the afternoon, the enemy's army was shaken and completely collapsed, and the troops on the front and flanks of our army began to attack fiercely, and the enemy troops fled for their lives one after another, leaving behind a lot of guns and artillery supplies.
However, the Red Fourth Front did not crush the Kuomintang's fourth "encirclement and suppression" and could only be forced to fight and move.
In November, the Red Army entered Manchuan Pass, a pass in southern Shaanxi.
When the Red Army arrived at Manchuan Pass, the enemy army already had three regiments defending here, with wolves in front and tigers in the back, and at a critical moment, Xu Shiyou was ordered to be in danger.
Xu Xiangqian said,
The 34th Regiment led by Xu Shiyou and the 219th Regiment led by Han Liangchen were both units that were good at fighting hard and vicious battles, so the 34th Regiment made a frontal assault, and the 219th Regiment cooperated to capture the Beishan Pass and open a passage for the whole army.
The battle was fought extremely fiercely, and more than 500 people in the 2nd Battalion of the 34th Regiment fought until more than 100 people were left, and Han Liangchen, the leader of the 219th Regiment, was also killed.
During the battle, Xu Shiyou found that the nearby machine gun suddenly stopped sounding, he turned his head to look, found that the shooter had been killed, he inserted the pistol into his waist, picked up the machine gun, and strafed at the enemy.
This was a battle that concerned the survival of our army, and the 34 regiments led by Xu Shiyou made great contributions, and Xu Shiyou became famous in the first battle, worthy of its name.
Xu Shiyou made rapid progress, and in July 1933, the Red Fourth Front was reorganized, expanding from 4 divisions to 4 corps, and Xu Shiyou served as the deputy commander of the Red 9 Army.
Photo丨 Monument to the Red Army at Changping Mountain in the south
At that time, the Sichuan warlords cobbled together more than 60,000 troops to blockade the Red Fourth Front, and the salt outside could not be transported in. As Xu Xiangqian said,
"Salt is not unusual to look at now, but in the past it was extremely expensive, even to the point where there was no place to buy it, and more than two million people in the base areas wanted to live and produce, but it was impossible not to solve the problem of eating salt!" Salt had a bearing on the vital interests of the masses, on the combat effectiveness of the Red Army, and on the stability of the base areas; this was indeed a question of strategic significance at that time. ”
Coincidentally,
At that time, southern Sichuan was a well-known salt-producing region, and Xu Xiangqian decided to launch the Battle of Yinan
Solve the problem of eating salt first.
In this battle, Xu Shiyou, as the deputy commander of the Red 9 Army, commanded the Red 9 Army to occupy most of Yilong County and the southern part, including more than 100 salt wells.
With the cooperation of the local party organizations of the CPC, more than 90 salt wells continued to be produced, and more than 60 new salt wells were dug subsequently, and the problem of eating salt was completely solved.
During that time, Xu Shiyou was chatting with his comrades-in-arms, and when he couldn't argue with others, he yelled angrily, It's not Lao Tzu who has conquered the south, you are all ridiculous! The comrade-in-arms laughed at him, "You are all salty! ”
Shrewd "rough man"
The second is not to complain, which Xu Shiyou did as a political task, which is also a good habit he has developed over the years, no matter how complicated the situation is, he is as good as gold, for sensitive topics, never talk behind his back.
A veteran general who fought with Xu Shiyou for many years recalled Xu Shiyou's true character,
"He rarely takes the initiative to interact with people, in addition to the wine table regardless of size, casual, talking and laughing, usually very lonely, it is rare to find someone to talk to, let alone confide, he was already like this when he was in Jiaodong, when he was only thirty years old, or there are always people who call him 'Old Man Xu', this nickname is decades."
Once, a leading cadre made a report to Xu Shiyou, planning to hold a meeting to let everyone make friends, Xu Shiyou's eyes narrowed.
"You're always communicating! Give your heart to someone else, and you can still live? ”
This may be the hidden shrewdness of Xu Shiyou, who has great political acumen, knows how to protect himself, sees the political situation thoroughly, and has superb skills in controlling the situation.
An old subordinate said bluntly,
"Don't think that Commander Xu is a rough man, he is just rough and rough, coarse and thin, especially shrewd. Many cadres are very shrewd, and they are only shrewd in terms of people and things, and Commander Xu is not at all in the same grade. ”
Xu Shiyou, who was once in a high position of authority and experienced several ups and downs, will create a low posture in politics, which makes people have a strong feeling:
This man has no political ambitions.
Beginning in 1980, Xu Shiyou began to gradually "retire".
This year, the Fifth Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held in Beijing, and Deng Xiaoping made a speech.
"We are now engaged in four modernizations, and we need to train and select a large number of talents; this is a new topic and a responsibility put forward to the old comrades, and it is necessary to conscientiously select a successor." Have you decided on a goal? We must do it, but who will do it, it is not enough to rely on us sitting in the office to draw circles, the old comrades are experienced, but the energy is not good, this is the law of nature, there is no way. ”
In accordance with the arrangements of the party Central Committee, a number of elderly leading cadres have successively withdrawn from all circles of the party, government, and the military.
Xu Shiyou was seventy-five years old at the time, serving as a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Military Commission and a member of the Politburo.
Figure丨 Deng Xiaoping
It is in this case that Xu Shiyou took an unexpected step of "chess",
He handed over a report to the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission, asking for leave and returning to Nanjing.
His reasoning was that he was unwell from Beijing's climate; he planned to allocate manpower to help him write his memoirs.
Xu Shiyou's report was confined to a very small circle, except for his secretary, basically did not disclose to anyone, the cpc Central Committee leaders made a "consent" instruction on the report, Xu Shiyou justifiably left Beijing.
In September 1982, the 12th Party Congress elected a new leading body of the Party Central Committee, xu Shiyou's new title: deputy director of the Central Advisory Committee of the Communist Party of China, and director deng Xiaoping.
At the first meeting of the CPC Central Advisory Committee, Xu Shiyou made a speech in which he said three points and basically made his meaning of "retiring" public.
1. You have chosen me to be the deputy director, and my deputy director is a deputy director who neither "cares" nor "asks";
2, I don't live in Beijing, I want to be in Nanjing;
3. I asked the central government for leave and found someone to help me write my memoirs.
It is not easy to "retire" thoroughly, but Xu Shiyou is so easy to retreat, and his personality is to do what he says, to be in place in one step, frank and straightforward.
When we reread history, we can actually feel Xu Shiyou's sensitivity. Deng Xiaoping said many times,
"I am going to take the lead in establishing a retirement system, I am slowly practicing how to live a retirement life, working for decades, if you want to get rid of it immediately or have a process, the next party congress will not engage in the advisory committee, directly engage in the retirement system, hesitate for a few years, has been delayed, people are old and have the strengths of the old, but there are also shortcomings, do not know which day the brain will not work, physical strength will decline, the leadership is not updated is impossible."
In a meeting with American journalist Wallace, Deng Xiaoping also said,
"I advocate a retirement system, but we need an advisory board to overdo it."
really
In October 1992, the 14th Party Congress announced that the Central Advisory Committee would no longer be established.
I have to say that Xu Shiyou seems to be reckless and confused, but in fact he is very politically far-sighted, and his every step is also cautious and resolute.
After Xu Shiyou returned to Nanjing, except for a few meetings of the East China Group and attending the plenary session of the Central Committee as observers, as well as the celebration activities of some major programs, there was basically no news, and people rarely saw him again from newspapers, radio, and television.
Until the end of his life, Xu Shiyou lived in Nanjing, and even when he was seriously ill, he refused to go to Beijing.
Figures: He Ming and Nie Fengzhi
In 1985, Xu Shiyou was diagnosed with liver cancer, and this news was not told to Xu Shiyou himself, and Nie Fengzhi could only knock on the side and persuade Xu Shiyou to go to Beijing for better examination and treatment.
As soon as Xu Shiyou heard that Nie Fengzhi asked him to go to Beijing, he refused with a straight face, and Nie Fengzhi did not die and continued to persuade, "Liver problems cannot be taken lightly, Beijing's treatment conditions are better, go." ”
Xu Shiyou still stubbornly insisted on himself, "I don't go! ”
Nie Fengzhi's wife, who used to be the director of the outpatient department and has a certain knowledge of health care, she persuaded Xu Shiyou from a professional point of view to the benefits of going to Beijing, and Xu Shiyou was unwilling.
Figure 丨Liu Xuanting (right)
Later, Liu Xuanting, then the political commissar of Beijing 301 Hospital, came to Nanjing with two experts, he was Xu Shiyou's old subordinate, and he had a certain understanding of Xu Shiyou's stubbornness and saying that he was not two, but he was still very curious about the reason why Xu Shiyou refused to go to Beijing.
"Chief, how nice it would be for you to go to Beijing." "I'm not going to Beijing."
"Why, Beijing's treatment conditions are better."
Xu Shiyou was silent for a while, "Beijing Road is too narrow. Liu Xuanting was puzzled, "Beijing Road is very wide?" Xu Shiyou did not speak again.
Although it is unlikely that he will delay his illness because he did not go to Beijing, when Xu Shiyou was seriously ill and tortured by illness, he still did not agree to go to Beijing.