During the period of the Red Army, the independence of the Chinese nation was our common goal, and in order to achieve this goal, many people were working hard for it. Many of their comrades-in-arms, who usually fight side by side, have become friends who talk about everything, because they have the same goals and have more common topics.
Chen Xilian and Li Desheng were such close friends, when the two of them first met, Chen Xilian was the division commander at the time, and Li Desheng was only a squad leader.
However, after 48 years, Chen Xilian became a vice-national level, but Li Desheng, who was only a squad leader at the time, had the treatment of a full-fledged state. However, although the status is different, it does not affect the feelings between the two.
Chen Xilian's revolutionary career
Chen Xilian was born in Huang'an, Hubei Province in 1915, although China was already carrying out the old democratic revolution, but because people's feudal ideas were too deep-rooted, Chen Xilian's family was very poor, and later because of the death of his father, the family was even worse.
Later, under the leadership of Chairman Mao, our Party embarked on a new road of encircling the cities from the countryside, and in 1929, the Chinese Red Army came to Huang'an, Hubei Province, and implemented land reform, which eased Chen Xilian's family situation, and at the same time gave Chen Xilian, who was only 14 years old, the idea of joining the Red Army.
Subsequently, Chen Xilian joined our Party, joined the Red Army, and was incorporated into the 11th Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. At that time, Chen Xilian was still young, but in the face of the enemy's constant encirclement and suppression attacks, he was not only not timid, but on the contrary, he was always active in the front line of the struggle. Chen Xilian, who was only 14 years old at the time, dared to fight the enemy single-handedly.
In 1933, at the age of 20, Chen Xilian became the commander of the 10th Division with his outstanding military achievements. One day in July of the same year, Chen Xilian suddenly received an order from his superiors, telling him that a squad leader had been dispatched to his unit, and that this person was Li Desheng.
Later, in the day and night of fighting side by side, he and Li Desheng became close friends, creating a very enviable friendship.
Li Desheng's revolutionary career
Like Chen Xilian, Li Desheng was born in a very poor family, he was born in Henan in 1916, although he was one year younger than Chen Xilian, but his revolutionary career was longer than Chen Xilian,because he began his revolutionary work as early as 1930.
Unlike Chen Xilian, although his family is not well-off, Li Desheng's childhood is carefree, because his parents cannot send him to a private school, so he spends every day in play, and there is no particularly big ambition.
It was not until 1928, when the Red Army arrived in Xinxian County, Henan, that the ideas propagated by the Red Army and the land reform introduced by the Red Army suddenly awakened Li Desheng, who was only 12 years old at the time, and then he made it clear to the organization that he wanted to join the Red Army.
However, because of his young age, Li Desheng was appointed as the leader of the children's regiment at that time, and since then Li Desheng has begun to follow the Red Army troops in the southern expedition to the north.
Subsequently, Li Desheng followed the troops to participate in many famous battles such as Huang'an and Sujiabu. Unfortunately, Li Desheng, who had been at the forefront of the team, was hit by the enemy in a battle, and unfortunately, his life was saved, but unfortunately, Li Desheng's body was still left with serious sequelae because of this injury.
After resting for half a year, Li Desheng returned to the unit to continue to participate in the battle, and because of his flexible mind and rich combat experience, he was appointed as the branch secretary of the division's traffic team.
In June 1935, the Central Red Army and the Red Fourth Front met the division in maogong victory. After meeting the division, the people held a meeting to discuss the Red Army's future march plan. Li Desheng was suppressed because of the disagreement with Zhang Guotao and others at that time, so he was demoted to the position of commander of the commanding corps, and was transferred to Chen Xilian's unit, where he met his lifelong friend.
Join forces
After Li Desheng was dispatched to Chen Xilian's troops, because of his experience of being suppressed, not only was his mood very bad, but his political career was also likely to come to an end.
After Chen Xilian learned about the incident, not only did he not fear being implicated because he had offended Zhang Guotao and others, but instead patiently enlightened him. In the conversation and exchange between the two people, Chen Xilian found that Li Desheng was a material that could be built, and even passed on his combat experience to Li Desheng.
Later, although Chen Xilian himself was demoted to regimental commander because of the squeeze of the Eighth Route Army, he still promoted Li Desheng to platoon commander and let him fight with him.
Under the leadership of Chen Xilian, Li Desheng successively participated in many battles such as the night attack on Yangmingbao, The Shefu Xiangtangpu, and the Lion Brain Mountain, because of his excellent performance, in 1945, Li Desheng had grown into a regimental commander.
Later, in the Liberation War, Li Desheng participated in many major battles such as Longhai, Dingtao, Huaxian, Northern Henan, Huaihai, Xiangfan, etc., and his position was also promoted from regimental commander to division commander, which was also inseparable from Chen Xilian's promotion.
After the war, Li Desheng was promoted several times because of his excellent performance. After the founding of New China, the two still worked hard together for the construction of the motherland.
It was not until August 1973 that Chen Xilian was elected a member of the Politburo at the Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, with the treatment of vice-state. Li Desheng, who was then the commander of the Beijing Military Region, was appointed to the Politburo Standing Committee and enjoyed the treatment of being a state official.
After the identity of the two was reversed, Li Desheng would still call Chen Xilian from time to time to greet him, and the friendship between the two was still very good, and he was not affected by the change of position at all.
brief summary:
In 1999, Chen Xilian died of illness, and Li Desheng expressed his great discomfort and told everyone that the two of them had known each other for more than 60 years from the realization that Chen Xilian was not only an old leader and old colleague of his deep friendship, but also his close old comrade-in-arms.
It can be seen from this that the deep friendship between the two, this very deep feeling has become a good story in the eyes of future generations, this kind of participation in the revolution together, fighting side by side, and striving for the same goal together, this friendship is really touching and indeed enviable. The spirit of the two of them will always be worth remembering.