In 1978, the central government issued an order to Xu Shiyou and specifically asked him: Only make preparations, not propaganda! Why? We know that in the late 1970s, Vietnam, at the instigation of the Soviet Union, had begun to continuously invade the mainland's borders, which greatly challenged the sovereignty and bottom line of the mainland, so it became inevitable to launch a self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, and this matter began to be planned in the central government.
After being selected by the Central Committee, he decided to entrust this task to Xu Shiyou, who was then the commander-in-chief of the Guangzhou Military Region. After Xu Shiyou received the order, he looked at the guangxi border map for a long time, thinking about how to clean up Vietnam well, and at the same time thinking about how to complete the order issued by the central government. It should be known that in the war years, every order of the central authorities must be obeyed, and as a veteran who has experienced hundreds of battles, Xu Shiyou naturally understands the importance of orders, and naturally understands the reasons why the central authorities require secrecy.
At that time, Sino-Soviet relations were in a state of tension, and Vietnam's daring to provoke China was obviously instigated by the Soviet Union, so we had to teach Vietnam a lesson, but we could not let the Soviet Union know, so before the war was launched, everything was handled in secret.
On December 10, Xu Shiyou informed the military commissions and asked them to attend the meeting at the military region at 8 o'clock the next day. After the meeting began, Xu Shiyou conveyed the instructions of the central authorities, but for the sake of secrecy, the word "Vietnam" did not appear in the combat mission at all, and the commanders were tacitly aware of each other. After the task was arranged, Xu Shiyou also ordered that the operation should be carried out in the form and name of camping, and even the car brand should use the number of the Guangxi Military Region. In this regard, Xu Shiyou also said: If anyone fails to complete the task in this operation, then who will be strictly disciplined on the battlefield!
Under Xu Shiyou's strict orders, preparations for the Vietnamese self-defense counterattack were intensively carried out. Despite his busy preparations, Xu Shiyou often visited the troops. Because there were many new recruits at that time, none of them had fought, so Xu Shiyou also asked the troops to do a good job of passing on and helping, and said that only in this way could they win the battle. In the end, under the supervision of Xu Shiyou, the Guangxi Military Region successfully completed the preparatory task, and on the Vietnamese battlefield, the Chinese army once again showed its might!