In 1930, at the age of 27, Chen Mingren was promoted to brigadier general of the Third Independent Brigade. At this time, among the Huangpu I students who served in Chiang Kai-shek's troops: 34-year-old Hu Zongnan was the acting commander of the First Division (converted in January 1931), Song Xilian, 23, was the regimental commander, 25-year-old Guan Linzheng was the brigade commander, and 26-year-old Du Yuming had just been promoted from battalion commander to regimental commander.
At this point in time, Chen Mingren was the best among the first-term students of Chiang Kai-shek's army, but who would have thought that 17 years later, Du Yuming, who was only the regimental commander at the time, was already the commander of the Northeast Security Command, and Chen Mingren became the commander of the 71st Army under him.
Then, why did Chen Mingren, who was once valued by Chiang Kai-shek, who was a tiger general, be hindered by his promotion and promotion repeatedly, and have a feeling that "Li Guang is difficult to seal"? From the fact that he provoked Chiang Kai-shek three times and was refrigerated, we can see the hidden feelings.
He was beaten by Chen, causing Chiang Kai-shek to be dissatisfied
Chen inherited
In June 1931, Zhang Xueliang in Beiping received a shocking news that Shi Yousan, commander-in-chief of the 13th Route Army stationed in Xingtai, was planning to raise troops. Shi Yousan was a famous "defecting general", originally one of the "Thirteen Taibao" under Feng Yuxiang of the Northwest Army, in 1929 he and Han Fuyu telegraphed "anti-Feng to throw Chiang Kai-shek", after the outbreak of the Central Plains War Shi Yousan again again against Chiang Kai-shek, and after Zhang Xueliang's elite Northeast Army entered the customs to support Chiang Kai-shek, Shi Yousan saw the wind and made the rudder fall to Zhang Xueliang.
Although Shi Yousan was absorbed by Zhang Xueliang, but this was only nominal, Zhang Xueliang did not command Shi Yousan at all, and by June 1931, Shi Yousan believed that he had nearly 70,000 troops in his hands, so he was ready to attack the Northeast Army and capture Pingjin in a surprise attack.
Although Zhang Xueliang had the superiority in troop strength, he was not at ease with the combat effectiveness of the Northeast Army; at the same time, there were a large number of former Jin Sui Army and Northwest Army in North China, and although these huge numbers of troops were nominally reorganized by the Nationalist Government and brought under Zhang Xueliang's control, once Shi You raised three troops, it was inevitable that no one would repeat and respond. As a result, Zhang Xueliang urgently transferred elites from the northeast into the customs, resulting in the emptiness of the northeast.
On July 18, Shi Yousan officially raised an army, and in addition to leaving one brigade to guard Xingtai, he led the remaining five divisions of about 60,000 people to attack Beiping. While zhang Xueliang sent Yu Xuezhong and others to fight in battle, he sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek asking for help, and Chiang Kai-shek ordered Liu Zhi to lead his troops and the Northeast Army to attack from the north and south to quell Shi Yousan.
Liu Zhi, with the Third Division (division commander Chen Ji) as the main force, attacked Shi Yousan from the south road. Chen Jie believed that Shi Yousan's soldiers were arrogant and fierce, and it was not easy to be tough, so he proposed at the military meeting to seek stability and wait for the friendly troops to move closer; at this time, Chen Mingren, who was the brigade commander of Chen's division, expressed his dissatisfaction, confronted him on the spot, and said in a mocking tone: "The Huangpu spirit has always been to win more with less, and Shi Yousan's strength should not be overestimated." ”
After the meeting, Chen Mingren led the whole brigade to advance rapidly, and encountered three divisions of The Three Divisions of Shi You's three divisions in Juluzhuang and Shi You's three divisions in Hebei Province, resulting in a major destruction of the Shi Army with the strength of the first brigade, and also captured Shi Yousan's former enemy commander-in-chief Sun Guangxian.
Shortly after the war, Chen Was promoted to acting commander of the First Army and commander of the Luoyang Garrison Command, and at this time, the Kuomintang generals of huangpu generals mostly believed that Chen Mingren, who had shined in battle, would definitely take over as the commander of the division, and Chiang Kai-shek did have this intention at that time.
However, contrary to his wishes, when Chen Zhi, who had a vendetta, went to Nanjing to meet Chiang Kai-shek, he fiercely sued Chen Mingren, telling him of "charges" such as disobeying the dispatches of his superiors, being arrogant and difficult to discipline, and being self-righteous on the battlefield.
Chen Ji had served as a tactical instructor at the Whampoa Military Academy, and during his time at the school he had established a good personal relationship with Chiang Kai-shek, after which he was also an official and prosperous, and was quite trusted by Chiang Kai-shek, and he and He Yingqin, Gu Zhutong, Qian Dajun, Jiang Dingwen, Chen Cheng, Liu Zhi, and Zhang Zhizhong were known as Chiang Kai-shek's "Eight Great Kongs" during the mainland period. Therefore, under the "small report" inherited by Chiang Kai-shek's confidant Chen, Chen Mingren not only did not become the commander of the division as he wished, but was secretly demoted to deputy division commander by Ming Sheng and lost his military power.
He confronted Chiang Kai-shek and lost his hand with the military commander
Chen Mingren
Chen Mingren did not sit in the position of deputy division commander for long, and because of his upright personality, he was repeatedly ostracized after that, and in 1934, shortly after his training in the Lushan Officer Corps, he was sent to the committee as a senator.
In 1935, Chen Mingren was sent to the 13th period of the Army University to study. Chen Mingren, who was discouraged, ushered in the opportunity to lead the army after the outbreak of the all-out War of Resistance, and he was appointed as the commander of the 2nd Reserve Division, and then led his troops to participate in many battles.
At the end of 1938, due to the huge casualties in the battle with the Japanese army, Chen Mingren led the pre-2nd Division to Qianxi to rest. In November 1939, the Battle of Guinan broke out, Chen Mingren led his troops to Wuming, Guangxi on foot, when the Japanese army had already captured Kunlun Pass southeast of Wuming, Du Yuming was ordered to lead the Fifth Army to capture Kunlun Pass, Chen Mingren command post headquarters strongly attacked and took the highland opposite Kunlun Pass, prevented the Japanese reinforcements, and effectively responded to the Fifth Army's operations. After the war, the Pre-Second Division was commended, and Chen Mingren bought wine and vegetables with the bonus allocated by the General Committee, and ate and drank happily with the officers and men.
After the Battle of Guinan, Chen Mingren led his troops to garrison Kunming, during which the Second Reserve Division, under Chen Mingren's training, ranked among the top few in the evaluation of the Central Military Commission. In November 1941, Song Xilian was promoted to commander-in-chief of the 11th Army (under the jurisdiction of the 66th Army and the 71st Army) and commander of the Defense of Kunming. Song Xilian was a veteran commander of the 71st Army, and after he took office, he immediately proposed to the Central Military Commission that Chen Mingren take over as the commander of the 71st Army.
Chen Mingren had made many military achievements, but at this time he was still a division commander and indeed could not say it, so after the Central Military Commission reported to Chiang Kai-shek for approval, it designated Chen Mingren as a candidate for the commander of the 71st Army, and the appointment would soon be announced.
Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling arrived in Kunming not long after, but when they went out on a trip, they found a group of soldiers repairing fortifications on the highway, these soldiers were ragged.
After Chen Mingren arrived, Chiang Kai-shek scolded him and angrily rebuked the Second Preparatory Division for not having military appearance, and Chen Mingren, the commander of the division, was incompetent. When he saw the "principal" so angry, he must have been trembling and trembling, and he did not dare to speak out. However, Chen Mingren was a stubborn temper, quarreled with Chiang Kai-shek on the spot, and even acted even angrier than Chiang Kai-shek, and threw his lieutenant general Jian Zhang on the ground, saying: "I am not a lieutenant general, what do you want to do." ”
The attendants who heard the news rushed to persuade Chen Mingren to leave. Afterwards, Chiang Kai-shek did not deal strictly with Chen Mingren, and there were two reasons for this: First, chen Mingren was really not to blame for this matter; at that time, the Supply of the Kuomintang army was difficult and the quality of military uniforms was very poor, so Chen Mingren asked soldiers to wear worn-out military uniforms when building fortifications, in order to avoid the wear and tear of newer military uniforms; second, after the news of Chen Mingren's making a big fuss about Chiang Kai-shek's official residence was spread, Long Yun, chairman of Yunnan Province, came to persuade chen Mingren for his honesty and incorruptibility, lack of love of money, and good military discipline; at the same time, Guan Linzheng, Song Xilian, and the generals of the Huangpu Phase I in Yunnan, Guan Linzheng, Song Xilian, and Du Yuming came to intercede. When Chiang Kai-shek looked at it, he really couldn't find chen Mingren's other problems, so he no longer pursued them.
Under the persuasion of Song Xilian and others, Chen Mingren later went to see Chiang Kai-shek again, and when he was ready to apologize, Chiang Kai-shek waved his hands one after another, indicating that the past had passed. But has it really passed? How could it be that shortly after the incident, Chen Mingren was secretly demoted to deputy commander of the 71st Army by Ming Sheng, and lost his position as commander.
The front foot was promoted to the commander of the corps, and the back foot waited for the removal of the post to investigate
When Chen Mingren went to the 71st Army as a deputy commander, the commander was Song Xilian's close friend zhong bin of the Huangpu Phase I, and the two worked well together. In this way, Chen Mingren, the first to ascend to the head of Huizhou during the Eastern Expedition, known as the Huangpu Tiger General, was suppressed for a long time, until October 1944, because of the great contribution of the 71st Army in the counter-offensive of Western Yunnan, Chen Mingren was promoted to the commander of the 71st Army (Zhong Bin was transferred to the commander of the 9th Army of the Youth Army).
In early 1946, Chen Mingren was ordered to lead the 71st Army into the northeast and was assigned to the command of Du Yuming, the commander of the northeast security, at this time Chen Mingren was still effectively loyal to Chiang Kai-shek, so he actively participated in the operation in the northeast. In July 1947, Chen Mingren was promoted to commander of the Seventh Corps for his meritorious service in upholding Siping, and was awarded the Order of the Blue Sky and White Sun.
At this time, Chen Mingren finally felt that he was out of his head, and at the same time as the formation of the corps headquarters, he took a leave of absence to visit his family in Hunan Ling. However, what Chen Mingren did not expect was that soon after he returned to his hometown, he waited for the bad news of his dismissal and investigation.
It turned out that with the defeat of the Nationalist army in major battlefields, Chen Cheng, chief of staff, became the target of public criticism, and Chiang Kai-shek, in order to save face of this confidant, transferred him to the northeast to replace Xiong Shihui as the director of the northeast xingyuan. Originally, Xiong Shihui and Du Yuming cooperated quite well, but after Chen Cheng's arrival, in order to fully grasp the military and political power of the Kuomintang in the northeast, he proposed to Chiang Kai-shek to abolish the Northeast Security Command. Originally, after the Battle of Siping, Du Yuming went to Shanghai for medical treatment, and when he left, he let Zheng Dongguo, a friend of Huangpu Phase I, act as the security commander, but As a result, Chen Cheng's operation caused Du Yuming in Shanghai to suddenly lose his military post, and the acting commander Zheng Dongguo was also deprived of military power by Chen Cheng, giving a vacant position as the deputy director of the Northeast Xingyuan.
After Chen Cheng arrived in the northeast, he wantonly excluded dissidents and transferred a number of military generals, at which time Liu Handong, chairman of the Kuomintang Liaobei Province (a classmate of Chen Cheng's Baoding Military Academy), who was at odds with Chen Mingren, took the opportunity to complain, saying that Chen Mingren used grain aided by the United States to build fortifications during the Battle of Siping.
Liu Handong also deliberately exaggerated this matter and reported it to the US military advisory group in China, and as a result, the US advisers also directly rebuked Chiang Kai-shek, and Chiang Kai-shek, who was in urgent need of assistance, was most afraid of offending the Americans at this time.
However, Chiang Kai-shek also knew that Chen Mingren's dismissal was really nothing, so the dismissal was true, and the investigation was not carried out, and the position of commander of Chen Mingren's corps was not yet hot, so he was sent to Nanjing and given a lieutenant general an idle post to join the army.
This incident dealt a great blow to Chen Mingren, and also made him see clearly Chiang Kai-shek's personality, and his thinking underwent profound changes.
Become a founding general
In October 1948, Chen Mingren, who had been idle for more than a year, was suddenly summoned by Chiang Kai-shek, and after meeting with Chiang Kai-shek, after a few words of greeting, asked Chen Mingren how his residence in Nanjing was and whether there was any maintenance. Chen Mingren, a straight man, said: "For more than a year, I have sat on the mountain and eaten the sky, and the servants have been dismissed, and who has the money to repair the house." ”
Chiang Kai-shek was greatly embarrassed, and immediately summoned the head of the guards, Yu Ji, and asked Chen Mingren to prepare a sum of money. Why did Chiang Kai-shek's attitude change drastically? It turned out that at this time, Chiang Kai-shek saw that all fronts were tight and the Nationalist army was constantly losing battles, so he remembered Chen Mingren, a tiger general, and it was at this time that Bai Chongxi, commander-in-chief of the "Suppression General" in central China, also recommended Chen Mingren to Chiang Kai-shek.
How did the idle Chen Mingren get the favor of both Bai Chongxi and Chiang Kai-shek? For Bai Chongxi, he was deeply impressed by Chen Mingren's military ability, and he also knew that although Chen Mingren was in the Huangpu Period, he had many contradictions with Chiang Kai-shek, so he belonged to the Huangpu generals who could be used; for Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Mingren was no longer a huangpu student of his, and going to central China could contain Bai Chongxi, and it was better to use Chen Mingren than to use other generals of the Gui clan.
In this way, Chen Mingren came to central China to take up his post, and Chiang Kai-shek and Bai Chongxi successively gave him four important posts: deputy commander-in-chief of the "Suppression General" in central China, commander of the Wuhan garrison, commander of the 29th Army, and commander of the 1st Corps. After being forced to temporarily leave Changsha in July 1949 under the pressure of the peace-seeking Kuomintang Chairman of Hunan Province, Cheng Li, Chiang Kai-shek and Bai Chongxi, Chen Mingren was appointed chairman of Hunan Province and commander-in-chief of Hunan Appeasement.
With the People's Liberation Army crossing the Yangtze River, the liberation of the whole country is only a matter of time, and Chen Mingren, who is unwilling to let his hometown rot, made the right choice at a critical moment. On August 4, 1949, Chen Mingren and Cheng Qian led the announcement of the "peaceful uprising electrification" in Hunan, which saved Changsha from war.
Shortly after Chen Mingren's uprising, as a specially invited representative to Beijing to attend a meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Chairman Mao invited him to his home, and Chen Mingren said to Chairman Mao: "I am guilty, and I have beaten Siping Street too hard." ”
Chairman Mao smiled and said, "The two armies are in contention, and each is its own master." ”
This meeting made the burden in Chen Mingren's heart completely let go. In 1955, Chen Mingren was awarded the rank of general of the People's Liberation Army, the Liberation Medal of the First Class, and became the founding general. At the award ceremony, Chairman Mao named Chen Mingren and took a group photo and proposed that he be appointed as a member of the National Defense Commission.
Chen Mingren later said to his relatives with emotion: "I have worked hard for Chiang Kai-shek's birth and death, and it is rare to hear a sincere and cordial word from him, chairman Mao met me, but he was so approachable, generous and benevolent, there is really a difference between heaven and earth!" ”