One day in March 1943 coincided with the period of the National War of Resistance. However, the Fourth Division of the New Fourth Army, under the leadership of division commander Peng Xuefeng, launched an attack on the Kuomintang troops in the Hongze Lake area.
The result of this battle was that Han Deloitte, chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Government of the Nationalist Government, was once again captured by our army.
This is also the third time that Han Deqin has been captured, and both have been captured under Chen Yi's hands.
Although Han Deloitte was ungrateful to the New Fourth Army and still killed our army in the Hongze Lake area after receiving help from our army, Chen Yi decided to release him and even gave him 80,000 yuan.
Why? Only after deep investigation did it become clear that Chen Yi's purpose was to foil Chiang Kai-shek's conspiracy.
Chen Yi
Gu Zhutong's "brother", Han Deloitte's smooth life
Ever since Chiang Kai-shek launched the "April 12" counter-revolutionary coup, there has been constant friction between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. In these frictions, many Nationalist generals have dealt with our army, and Han Deloitte is one of the more special beings.
In 1892, Han Deloitte was born in Siyang, Jiangsu Province.
His father was a xiucai in the late Qing dynasty and was considered an intellectual. From an early age, Han Deqin read and read under the education of his father and learned culture. Later, he was selected by the county to send him to the Jiangsu Army Primary School in Nanjing and became a student of the fourth phase of the primary school.
He studied at the Hebei Army Academy and then entered the Infantry Section of the Baoding Officer School. Although Han Deqin is a sleek person, he is far inferior to his elementary school classmate Gu Zhutong in terms of military knowledge.
Gu Zhu and his hometown were only a few dozen miles away from Han Deloitte, and after the two learned that each other was attending classes at the Army Elementary School, they met to go to school together so that they could take care of each other.
The two were extremely familiar with each other, and even after graduating from elementary school, the two became "brothers with different surnames".
Becoming a "brother" with Gu Zhutong was also one of the reasons why Han Deloitte still held important positions in the Kuomintang government even though he was "often defeated".
After graduation, Han Deqin successively joined the army in the Anhui warlords and the Sichuan army. In 1924, he was wounded after participating in the Chuandong War. After recovering from his injuries, he did not return to the Sichuan Army, but chose to return to his hometown and made a small errand in Jiangsu. I thought that life would be spent so plainly, but his little "worshipper" brother Gu Zhutong wanted to "share the wealth" with him.
Gu Zhutong
Gu Zhutong's experience and ability are far beyond Han Deloitte's. From 1921 onwards, Gu Zhutong defected to Dr. Sun Yat-sen, and in the Northern Expedition camp, Gu Zhutong can be said to have been an "elder". Moreover, his own ability is also extremely outstanding, and he is deeply appreciated by Sun Yat-sen.
When Sun Yat-sen was preparing to open the Whampoa Military Academy, he learned that his alumnus Chiang Kai-shek was the president of the Whampoa Military Academy, and the two became closer to each other through their work. In the two eastern expeditions, Gu Zhutong made great achievements.
Chiang Kai-shek was anxious to cultivate his own team, and naturally admired Gu Zhutong as a talent. Soon, Gu Zhutong had great power in the Kuomintang. At this time, Gu Zhutong remembered the "brother who was a small classman" in Nanjing.
Therefore, he wrote again to invite Han Deqin to come to Guangzhou to participate in the Northern Expedition and "enjoy wealth" together. In fact, Gu Zhutong has invited Han Deloitte to come many times, but Han Deloitte has chosen to refuse. But this time, Han Deloitte chose to be invited to go.
Gu Zhutong was very happy about his arrival, and on Gu Zhutong's recommendation, he went to Guangzhou to serve as the deputy director of the lieutenant colonel. Later, Gu Zhutong became the commander of the Third Division, so he made Han Deloitte a brigade commander, you know, at that time, many Huangpu elites were still just a company commander and platoon leader.
Despite the smooth sailing in the post, Han Deloitte's ability to lead troops is really average. Even though Gu Zhutong could rely on this big tree, he still "played steadily", and even more because he was captured three times after leading his troops to fight unsuccessfully.
The "often defeated general" Han Deloitte was captured many times and still alive
In June 1931, Han Washoe was then the commander of the 52nd Division of the Ninth Army of the Nationalist Army. In accordance with Chiang Kai-shek's instructions, Han Deloitte's Ninth Army launched an "encirclement and suppression" operation against the base areas of the Central Soviet Region, which was Chiang Kai-shek's third "encirclement and suppression."
Under the leadership of Chairman Mao and a number of outstanding generals of the Central Military Commission, the third "encirclement and suppression" operation of the Ninth Army was declared a failure. Han Deloitte's 52nd Division was ordered by the military headquarters to prepare to retreat in the direction of Xingtai, and when passing through Fangshiling, it was ambushed by the main red army forces led by Huang Gongluo's department (under Chen Yi).
When Han heard the gunshots, he already knew it was not good. He hurriedly commanded his troops to sneak up the hill in an attempt to gain position and fight. However, the terrain of Fangshiling was complex, and the 52nd Division was unable to deploy its position at all, so it was targeted by our army.
The 52nd Division was defeated and more than a thousand men became prisoners of our army. Han Deloitte is among them.
The Third Anti-"Encirclement and Suppression" Campaign
Although it was a big victory, the Red Army at that time obviously did not have the ability to manage these five thousand prisoners. So the Red Army had to release their guns after they had captured them.
At that time, Han Deloitte was mixed up among senior generals. In order to make these prisoners safe to arrive home, the Red Army even gave them travel expenses, and Han Deloitte was given five oceans.
Han Deloitte thus returned to the Nationalist army, knowing that he did not have the ability to lead soldiers to fight. Moreover, his 52nd Division was almost scattered, and it was difficult to successfully form it again, so he offered to be demoted.
Under Gu Zhutong's guarantee, Han Deloitte was not punished too much. It happened that at this time, Gu Zhutong was going to Jiangsu Province to serve as the chairman of the government, so he took Han Deloitte with him.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Gu Zhutong was busy with the war in the Third Theater and had no time to take care of Jiangsu's administrative affairs, so Han Deloitte naturally became the acting chairman of Jiangsu Province.
As the leader of Jiangsu Province, Han Deloitte naturally knew Chiang Kai-shek's thoughts. From 1938 to 1939, Han Deqin repeatedly slandered our party's anti-Japanese actions, and even frequently created friction, intending to "wipe out" the base areas in northern Jiangsu, in order to repay Chiang Kai-shek and Gu Zhutong's kindness.
By 1940, the New Fourth Army entered northern Jiangsu for development. Han Deloitte repeatedly sent troops to harass the New Fourth Army, with the intention of "suppressing our army south of the Great River and suppressing it in one fell swoop," but the results were all resisted by our army and they were beaten to shame.
In February 1943, 7,000 Japanese puppet troops went to the vicinity of Huai'an, Jiangsu Province, to conduct a sweep, and Han Deloitte's 10,000 horses were not opponents at all, and they were defeated by the Japanese Kou. Han Deqin fled with the remnants of his soldiers to Sujiazui, where the New Fourth Army was located.
Because they had not greeted them beforehand, Huang Kecheng, commander of the Third Division of the New Fourth Army, immediately led his troops to arrest them. Afterwards, Han Deqin explained the origin to Huang Kecheng, and after Huang Kecheng asked Chen Yi for instructions, he felt that since he had withdrawn here to resist the defeat of the Japanese Kou, he could take them in for a while. But Chen Yi particularly emphasized:
"Make sure to get them to withdraw from their defensive zone afterwards."
As a result, Han Deloitte was able to gain a firm foothold in Sujiazui. Huang Kecheng felt that since they were friendly troops, they should naturally watch over each other and help each other. He properly placed Han Deloitte and the remaining Kuomintang troops, made room for them, and even ordered the Eighth Route Army logistics to provide them when they were not eating. This made the Kuomintang army very moved, but Han Deloitte did not think so.
Just as the so-called "good scars forget the pain", Han Deloitte feels that even if the New Fourth Army is good to itself, it should be, after all, he is the "landlord" Jiangsu is his territory. Therefore, when the Kuomintang and the Communists united to resist Japan later, he would always intentionally or unintentionally create incidents.
Huang Kecheng
Chiang Kai-shek also sent a secret order at this time, which said: "Waging sabotage in the New Fourth Army is to achieve the merit of disintegration from within." Han Deloitte knew that Chiang Kai-shek meant that he was "attacking" the forces of the New Fourth Army in Jiangsu.
Therefore, he proposed to Huang Kecheng to return with his troops to rest, and then quickly raided our army's defenders at Lirenji and Chengdaokou.
Peng Xuefeng, commander of the 4th Division, who was responsible for keeping an eye on Han Deloitte, sent someone to make representations, but Han Deqin ignored Peng Xuefeng's advice that "the enemy is at the moment, and it is the first to resist Japan." He released the lie of "returning to the original defense in the south and recovering the lost land", but he led his army to cross the Yellow River at night and occupy the head of the mountain, in a vain attempt to confront Peng Xuefeng's Fourth Division.
Peng Xuefeng
When Chen Yi and others learned of this, they were extremely annoyed by Han Deloitte's treachery, killing CCP members and wounded members of the New Fourth Army, and even brandishing butcher knives at innocent people. Officers and men at all levels asked for orders to go to war, hoping to execute Han Deloitte, a villain who complained about Morality
。
Therefore, Chen Yi no longer hesitated, and he ordered Huang Kecheng to "let go of his actions, but he must capture Han Deloitte." After Peng Xuefeng received Huang Kecheng's order, he quickly dispatched a brigade from the 2nd Division and the 3rd Division to support it, and with the cooperation of the officers and men of the 4th Division, Han Deloitte was soon captured alive by Peng Xuefeng again. Wang Guangxia, the commander of the third column under him, was killed on the spot.
Han Deqin "sacrificed his life to become a benevolent person," and Chen Yi asked Chairman Mao for instructions
At first, Han Deqin also planned to mix among senior generals in an attempt to pass the pass. But this time, the soldiers hated this despicable villain who repaid virtue with resentment, and recognized him at once, and the soldiers thought of their comrades who had sacrificed, and they were eager to kill Han Deloitte on the spot, and Peng Xuefeng knew about it and quickly sent him to the division headquarters.
Huang Kecheng was also very annoyed with this ungrateful villain, but he knew that the military department had its own plans, so he ordered han Deqin to be detained, and he himself reported to Chen Yida.
After Han Deloitte was imprisoned, the first thing came to be a farce of "sacrificing oneself to become a benevolent". He heard that the phosphorus on the match could kill him, so he swallowed most of the box of matches in his mouth. But then he found that this method could not die at all, so he began to go on a hunger strike.
Although the division headquarters hated Han Deqin, he was after all the chairman of Jiangsu Province and a senior Kuomintang general, so he took good care of his food. However, Han Deloitte resolutely refused to eat, and even made a will saying that "if you don't succeed, you will become a benevolent person" and "be loyal to the principal".
Wu Zhipu, director of the Political Department of the Fourth Division, came forward to talk to him about this, but Han Deloitte staged a drama of "one cry, two troubles, and three hangings". He cried to Wu Zhipu about his hardships in resisting the Japanese in Jiangsu Province over the years, and even shed tears at the end.
Wu Zhipu had no choice but to report to Peng Xuefeng. Peng Xuefeng had planned to wait for Chen Yi's reply before making arrangements, and when he learned that Han Deloitte had actually insisted until now, he was also worried that Han Deloitte was real this time, so he found Han Deloitte and persuaded him to eat.
Wu Zhipu
Han Deqin saw that Peng Xuefeng had also come to persuade himself to eat, and he was proud of himself. Presumably his will came to an end, so he borrowed a donkey and ended the farce of the hunger strike.
As the acting commander of the New Fourth Army, Chen Yi's consideration of Han Deloitte was naturally more comprehensive, and since Han Deloitte first came to Sujiazui, Chen Yi had reported to Yan'an. This time, even if he had completely torn his face, he also needed to ask Chairman Mao for advice on how to deal with it.
Chen Yi (first from left)
During this period, officers and soldiers constantly asked Chen Yi to execute Han Deqin, and although Chen Yi expressed understanding, he repeatedly disagreed. The reason is that the advantages of leaving Han Deloitte outweigh the disadvantages.
First, Han Deloitte's troops have basically been wiped out, and even if he wants to fight back, he has no strength;
Second, although Han Deloitte is of average ability, he is the nominal chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Government of the Kuomintang, and killing him is not conducive to the current united front situation, and will also give Chiang Kai-shek, who wants to sabotage the united front by all means;
Third, Han Deloitte's ability is average, this kind of "mediocre" can make the New Fourth Army develop very well in Jiangsu, if Han Deloitte is executed, Chiang Kai-shek sends Tang Enbo to serve as the chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Government, it will be extremely unfavorable to the development of the New Fourth Army.
After Chen Yi reported his consideration to the CPC Central Committee, he was affirmed by Chairman Mao. Chairman Mao told him:
"Your analysis is reasonable and well-founded, and you will send Han Deloitte back as soon as possible."
Chen Yi and Mao Zedong
Han Deqin demands money, Chen Yi sabotages Chiang Kai-shek's "conspiracy"
After receiving Chairman Mao's reply, Chen Yi conveyed the decision to "release Han Deqin" to the divisional commanders and officials, and asked the commanders at all levels to appease the officers and men at all levels. Subsequently, he found Han Deloitte.
When Han Deqin saw Chen Yi, he smiled bitterly and said, "It is really an honor for General Chen to be able to bend down to see me, the general of the defeated army. ”
Chen Yi told Han Deloitte:
"Chairman Han, this is our third encounter. The ancients said that it is only three things, and I hope that this will not be the case when we meet in the future. ”
Han Deloitte listened and nodded like a garlic, "What General Chen said is that in ancient times, Zhuge Liang captured Meng, and now General Chen has captured me Han Deloitte three times, but I am afraid that in the future I will become the laughing stock of the Chinese people." ”
When Chen Yi saw that Han Deloitte understood, he said: "If you understand, I hope you understand that at present, you should put the national righteousness first, and personal honor and disgrace as the last." As long as you point the finger at the Japanese Kou, our New Fourth Army will never create trouble. ”
Han Deloitte was even more moved after listening to it, and he talked endlessly about his three captives by Chen Yi. Later, he said that he was also involuntary in the Kuomintang. Chen Yi knew that he was shirking his responsibility, but he didn't bother to break it, so he just nodded slightly.
Han Deloitte
When Han Deloitte had said almost the same, Chen Yi said: "Chairman Han, I understand your hardships, as long as you do your best to resist the war." This time we intend to release you back, do you have any other requests? ”
Han Deqin said that his mouth was dry, and he couldn't believe hearing Chen Yi say that he was going to let go.
When Chen Yi saw that he did not respond, he frowned and said, "Chairman Han, what, are you not willing to go back?" ”
Han Deloitte wondered, "General Chen, I definitely want to go back, but I have two requests, and I hope That General Chen will agree." After saying that, he looked at Chen Yi. Seeing that Chen Yi nodded, he continued:
"First of all, I hope that General Chen can return some of my guns and personnel; second, can I borrow a sum of money so that I can survive when I go back." Otherwise, I am afraid that it will be difficult to account for it after I go back. ”
Chen Yi saw that Han Deloitte was right, and he was also worried that Han Deloitte would be targeted by Chiang Kai-shek after he returned, so he agreed to his request and gave him 80,000 yuan. After that, he handed over the return of relevant personnel to Peng Xuefeng.
On April 1, 1943, Han Deloitte and Peng Xuefeng of the New Fourth Army signed the "Ten Memorandums of Understanding between Chen Yi and Han Deloitte". After that, Chen Yi specially practiced for Han Deloitte and sent Han Deloitte back to Huainan.
Chiang Kai-shek was also surprised to learn that Han Deqin had returned safely, but he quickly understood Chen Yi's plan. He couldn't help but say, "Chen Yi is really too cunning, this trick is really too cruel!" ”
Originally, Chiang Kai-shek planned to make Tang Enbo the chairman of the Jiangsu provincial government as long as Han Deqin died. He had long looked at Han Deloitte, the mediocre chairman of the government, very unpleasant.
Chiang Kai-shek
As early as May 1938, Han Deqin led his troops to meet the Sato branch of the Japanese army, and with five times the enemy's strength, he was defeated before he could deploy the position, and Chiang Kai-shek cursed in anger:
"How can the deputy commander-in-chief solve himself by five times the strength of his troops, but he has lost his troops and lost his ground?"
Later, Chiang Kai-shek asked Han Deloitte to stop the development of the New Fourth Army in the northern Jiangsu region, but the result was that the New Fourth Army grew day by day; he secretly ordered it to engage in internal sabotage, but in exchange for the almost destruction of the team, and this "culprit" was still there.
Originally, Gu Zhutong's opinion did not dare to directly dismiss Han Deloitte, but now it is difficult to find that Han Deloitte has the opportunity to "make a heroic sacrifice", but he is released by Chen Yi. Chiang Kai-shek only felt that his chest had been knocked several big sticks.
Seeing this, Chiang Kai-shek's plan to make Tang Enbo the chairman of the Jiangsu provincial government had to be abandoned.
After Han Deloitte returned, he did not choose to "repay Germany with resentment", and he moved his office to Fuyang, Anhui Province, far away from the New Fourth Army.
Without the harassment of the Kuomintang troops, the New Fourth Army has reached a new level in its development in northern Jiangsu and provided favorable conditions for the growth of our army.
Instead of being punished by Chiang Kai-shek afterwards, Han Deloitte continued to rise. Later, he was even allowed to accept the surrender of the Japanese army in Hangzhou. You must know that the generals who can attend the scene are generals who held important positions in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression or who made great achievements.
Chen Yi captured Han Deloitte three times and released Han Deqin three times, which cannot be said to be as resourceful as Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang set his sights on the shu Han dynasty's decades of southern barbarian rebellion, and used "seven captures and seven verticals" to make southern barbarians return to their hearts;
And Chen Yi is the same, he looks at the long term, based on the small place of Jiangsu, but the vision is a higher dimension of the game.
He successfully resolved the matter peacefully, foiling Chiang Kai-shek's plot to rearrange in this part of Jiangsu Province. Thus creating conditions for the development of the New Fourth Army and winning the military and political initiative.
From this, people can't help but sigh that the great people like Chen Yi at that time had a lofty vision and outstanding wisdom. It is precisely such a group of people who can lead the people to create a new country and have a beautiful life today!