As we all know, General Chen Geng is a cheerful, humorous and humorous person in his daily life, and in the army, whether he deals with superiors, peers or subordinates, he can always handle interpersonal relations in a witty and humorous way.
This can be fully reflected in his clever handling of Zhou Xihan's "complaints" about the temporary command of the brother troops.
During the Battle of Huaihai, Chen Geng led the 4th, 9th, and 11th Columns and the Yuwan Su Independent Brigade as the Eastern Group, responsible for breaking through the defense line of the 14th Army of the Huang Wei Corps.
Zhou Xihan led the Tenth Brigade as the right wing of the Eastern Group to break through in the direction of Li Weizi and Shen Zhuang.
On the morning of December 5, 1948, Chen Geng came to Zhou Xihan's command post. The time for attacking Li Weizi was set at 17:00 on the 6th, and he had come to check the preparations and participate in Zhou Xihan's infantry and artillery coordination meeting.
Zhou Xihan's command post, as seen from the outside, was nothing more than two tall dirt bags with dry yellow grass growing on them.
But as soon as he entered the inside, Chen Geng was dumbfounded. It's spacious enough to hold small meetings. A floor-to-ceiling gas lamp illuminates the room as bright as day. What surprised him most was that there were sets of aluminum-made American olive-colored tables and chairs, and the tables were pressed with plexiglass stitched combat maps.
"Hey! Zhou Xihan, you guy will enjoy it very much! Where did you get it? Chen Geng said in surprise.
Zhou Xihan pointed in the direction of the southwest double pile: "It is not yet a tribute on the enemy." Wu Xiaomin got it, said he couldn't use it, and sent it to me. ”
Chen Geng tapped his hands on the plexiglass panel like a piano: "Well, this conductor's post is good, I want it." ”
Zhou Xihan skimmed his lips and said, "You want everything." It's only two steps away from the enemy, you're here, where am I going? When I get rid of Yang Weizi, I will occupy the nest of Xiong Shouchun (the commander of the enemy's Fourteenth Army), and this place will naturally be given to you. ”
"You might as well say you got rid of the double stack and give it to me." What's the use of me asking for these crap then? Never seen you so stingy. Hey, you say your Brigadier Zhou is not stingy? ”
When the crowd saw that they were used to fighting, no one interjected, and when he asked, they all laughed.
After laughing, Zhou Xihan announced the meeting.
At the meeting, Chen Geng rarely opened his mouth, mainly listening. Zhou Xihan gave a detailed report on all aspects of the situation, and Chen Geng was very satisfied when he heard it.
After the meeting was adjourned, Chen Geng did not mean to leave immediately, but leaned back in his chair and carefully inquired about the deployment and preparation of Zhou Xihan's other two brigades.
The crowd understood that they were going to talk individually, and they all withdrew with interest.
After listening to all of Zhou Xihan's ideas and determination, Chen Geng nodded and said, "It's okay." How well we play in the East Group depends entirely on the progress of your four columns here. Li Weizi's head must be opened well. ”
He said the words "your four verticals" very heavily. Since the General Front Committee appointed Chen Geng as the commander of the Eastern Group, he submitted to the General Front Committee for approval and designated Zhou Xihan to temporarily command the Fourth Column during this period.
Zhou Xihan understood Chen Geng's intentions, but he was not satisfied with this temporary authorization.
It is not uncommon for a level command in a unit to be at the same level, but sometimes it is very embarrassing:
You put your troops in the most difficult position, others may say that you look down on people, only care about yourself;
You give the difficulties to other troops, and people will say that you put the burden on others. Winning the battle is everyone's, and if you don't fight well, you are incompetent in commanding and not pleasing horizontally and vertically.
If this kind of situation of commanding at the same level appears between Zhou Xihan and Chen Kang, who are friends of life and death, or between Zhou Xihan and Li Chengfang, Zha Yusheng, and other close comrades-in-arms, it will certainly not be a problem.
But if you want to command those troops who are not familiar with them, politely be careful and most reluctant, and command others like the commanders of his own regiments, people can't stand it.
All in all, in the case of "improper name and bad speech", such temporary designation is indeed not easy to deal with.
However, in the face of Chen Geng, the old superior, Zhou Xihan could not say such a thing, and he knew that it was a loss.
Zhou Xihan thought about it left and right, skimmed his lips and began to "complain": "Don't you know that during the War of Resistance Against Japan, our 386th Brigade temporarily commanded other units, and he always nibbled hard walnuts, and the result was not a lot of gossip?" ”
"Not really!" Chen Geng sighed a long time, and also spat out the groove, "Haven't these past few years been the same?" My column commander is in command of other columns. Even the common people knew that there was a Chen Xie army. But now I'm just a column commander. In other field armies, too old to say, the commander of the corps may have already been appointed. ”
He looked at Zhou Xihan and continued, "When I go back, I will tell Liu and Deng Shou-Chang that I will not do anything about the Eastern Group and not the Eastern Group. I will command my four columns, and which of the other columns will happily command which one will go. ”
"The inability to annihilate Huang Wei was a matter for him Liu and Deng Shou-Chang. The Battle of Huaihai was not well fought, and the process of victory in the War of Liberation was delayed, so let them review with the supreme commander and the chief of state, and shut me up Chen Geng X matter! ”
At first, Zhou Xihan thought that Chen Geng was touched by his words, but listening to it made him taste the taste, and it turned out that Chen Geng was criticizing him on a crooked turn.
He was embarrassed and had to say, "Okay, you don't want to point fingers at Sang Acacia." I Zhou Xihan's opinions are based on opinions, and wars are wars. Don't say that being a brigade commander, being a regimental commander or battalion commander will not prevent me from defeating Old Chiang Kai-shek. This realization still needs you to enlighten! ”
Chen Geng smiled and said, "That's pretty much it." I don't know your difficulties yet? But I can't do anything else. I don't have a doppelganger, if I don't hand it over to you, why don't you recommend someone to me? ”
Zhou Xihan was anxious when he heard this, and his neck was stalked, and he pretended to be annoyed and said, "Which one is recommended?" That's not me! ”
Chen Geng smiled and scolded and got up to say goodbye.
As it turned out,
Chen Geng's decision to let Zhou Xihan temporarily command the four columns was a very wise decision, and Zhou Xihan did not live up to his expectations.
He led the Tenth Brigade and the Fourth Column li weizi, Shen Zhuang, Yang Weizi and many other strong enemies, and made great contributions in the Huaihai Campaign.
It can be said that Chen Geng's decision to let Zhou Xihan temporarily command the four columns, although it was "complained" by Zhou Xihan, achieved the proud work of Zhou Xihan's military career.
As he often said in his later years: "Although Huang Wei was not captured by my brigade, he was defeated by Lao Tzu!" ”