If you ask Xu Shuai who his number one love will be, you may be benevolent, and some people may say that he is Xu Shiyou, he is a famous general of the Red Fourth, who participated in the death squad and served as the captain of the red army many times during the Red Army period, which was deeply loved by Xu Shuai; perhaps some people will say that it is Wang Jinshan, who is equally brave in battle, known as "Wang Crazy". Although Xu Shiyou and Wang Jinshan performed well in Red Fourth and were also loved by Xu Shuai, they were not Xu Shuai's number one favorites.
So who is Xu Shuai's number one love general? He is Chen Haisong. For Chen Haisong, there may be some friends who are not very familiar with him, he is a Hubei Dawu person, his mother died when he was very young, and he grew up under the care of his aunt. Although the family life was not rich, his aunt still gritted his teeth and sent Chen Haisong to the academy, so that he received several years of private school education, which was very helpful for his future growth. In July 1930, the 16-year-old Chen Haisong joined the Red Army and became Xu Shuai's number one favorite in just a few years.
The main reason why Chen Haisong was able to become Xu Shuai's number one love general in a short period of time was that he was both excellent in military and government and complete in wisdom and courage. There are many fierce generals who can fight in the Red Fourth, but there are very few people like Chen Haisong who are both military and political. Chen Haisong not only has a superb memory, but also is very good at organization, a material can grasp the main points at a glance, but also can explain it in the most attractive way, which is very rare, and he is also deeply loved by Xu Shuai.
In addition to the outstanding talent of political work, Chen Haisong is also a rare good hand in fighting wars, often winning with ingenuity. Let's give two examples and you will understand. The first example is the Battle of Wanyuan. In early July 1934, Tang Shizun, the commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Army, commanded 8 brigades to attack Wanyuan, and if Wanyuan was lost, Hongsi was in danger of being pushed out of northern Sichuan by the enemy. It was precisely because Wanyuan's strategic position was so important that Xu Shuai gave the task of defending Wanyuan to his beloved generals Chen Haisong and Xu Shiyou.
At that time, Xu Shiyou was the commander of the Red 25th Division, and Chen Haisong was the political commissar of the Red 25th Division. He decided to use the favorable terrain to block and deplete the enemy, and then launch a counterattack when the enemy's sharpness was exhausted and the soldiers were tired. To this end, he first prepared a bamboo skewer array for the enemy, and Chen Haisong asked the soldiers to cut the bamboo, cut it into sharp bamboo skewers, and then put these bamboo skewers into tung oil and fry them.
After some treatment, these bamboo sticks were as hard as steel and sharp, and then these bamboo sticks were inserted into the enemy's charge, forming a dense bamboo stick array. It was the height of summer, the weather was very hot, and the enemy wore thin-soled shoes, and even grass shoes. Coupled with the dense vegetation on the mountain road, you can't find these bamboo skewers without looking closely. After the battle began, the Sichuan army suffered enough in Chen Haisong's bamboo swab formation, and many people's feet were stabbed with blood.
The Red Army took the opportunity to shoot at the enemy, and soon repelled several enemy charges. In order to eliminate these bamboo sticks, the enemy took a lot of effort and paid a considerable price of casualties. With great difficulty in opening up several roads up the mountain, Chen Haisong prepared a large number of rolling stones for the enemy, and pieces of boulders and logs roared down from the top of the mountain, quickly smashing the charging enemy to pieces. Later, Chen Haisong took advantage of the low morale of the enemy to lead his troops to attack the enemy camp at night, annihilating thousands of enemy soldiers.
The bamboo sign formation, rolling wood and stones, and night raids made the enemy army exhausted and had no morale, and the Red Army took the opportunity to launch a counterattack, crushed the Tang-style Zunbu, won the victory in the Defense of Wanyuan, and laid a solid foundation for smashing Liu Xiang's "six-way siege.". In recognition of Chen Haisong's military exploits, he was promoted by Xu Shuai to political commissar of the Red 9 Army after the war. From service soldier to military political commissar, Chen Haisong only took three years, and this promotion speed was not only unmatched in the entire Red Army.
The second example of Chen Haisong's skilful battle occurred during the Battle of Jialing River. In late March 1935, the Red Fourth launched the Battle of Jialing River, and the Red 25th Division crossed the river north of Langzhong on the left wing. In order to prevent the Red Army from crossing the river, the enemy snatched all the ships along the river and burned them. How can troops cross the river without boats? Chen Haisong decided to outwit. While ordering people to secretly make bamboo rows to prepare to cross the river, he asked the soldiers to find many wooden barrels, and then used ropes to connect these barrels together to carry out a river crossing exercise under the eyes of the enemy.
At first, the enemy thought that the Red Army was really going to cross the river in barrels, and shot and fired vigorously. Later, when I saw these wooden barrels swirling around in the water, they couldn't cross the river at all, and they laughed one by one and laughed at the stupidity of the Red Army's method. The enemy thus relaxed his vigilance, and Chen Haisong took the opportunity to command his troops to launch a smuggling campaign using bamboo platoons on the night of March 28, and succeeded in one fell swoop. After crossing the river, Chen Haisong led his troops to raid Jiangyou and defeated Deng Xihou's troops in one fell swoop, capturing more than 3,000 prisoners alone and almost capturing Deng Xihou. Chen Haisong, who was able to write and fight, and who was both superior in military and political affairs, soon became Xu Shuai's number one favorite general, and later Chen Haisong accompanied Xu Shuai on his western expedition and died heroically in the bloody battle between Liyuankou and MaJiajun, at the age of 23. After Chen Haisong's sacrifice, Xu Shuai was very sad and could not eat for several days, which showed the depth of his love for Chen Haisong.