In April 1951, in Beijing's Zhongnanhai Fengze Garden, the pines and cypresses were lush and quiet, and the leader of the country, Mao Zedong, dressed in a simple cloth, personally received Comrade Zeng Zesheng, the commander of the 50th Army, who had just returned from the Korean battlefield.
Zeng Zesheng sat nervously next to Chairman Mao, answering chairman's questions while unconsciously rubbing his hands; in order to show respect, he also turned half his body toward Chairman Mao, and his eyes kept watching Chairman Mao talk.
Chairman Mao saw Zeng Zesheng's nervousness, lit the cigarette at hand without hesitation, and cordially inquired about the situation on Zeng Zesheng's front; although he was in Beijing, Mao Zedong knew the Korean front very well and clearly remembered the strategic deployment of each forward position and front, even if it was a small defense point.
Chairman Mao's meticulousness and earnestness greatly surprised Zeng Zesheng, who did not expect Chairman Mao to know so much about the 50th Army thousands of miles away, after all, there were some problems that Zeng Zesheng himself was not very clear about.
Chatting and chatting, Chairman Mao suddenly asked the location of the second-line detachment garrison, Zeng Zesheng immediately broke out in a cold sweat, in the previous work he did not know the specific location of the second-line garrison in detail, for a while he could not answer Chairman Mao's question, and he could not say why.
When Chairman Mao saw the situation, he hurriedly comforted: "I just casually asked, your 50th Army has fought well!" ”
After reporting on his work, Zeng Zesheng returned home and angrily scolded his wife: "I can't stay in Beijing for a day!" Go back to North Korea immediately, I want to go down to the grassroots! ”
This was a small and inconspicuous thing, but it greatly changed Zeng Zesheng's work attitude, and from then on, Zeng Zesheng took Mao Zedong as his life model and treated his work with a cautious attitude, and finally was awarded the rank of lieutenant general and the Liberation Medal of the First Class.
First, get lost and return
Zeng Zesheng was born in a wealthy family, the family has hundreds of acres of good land, the population of thirty or forty, unfortunately Zeng Zesheng's happy life did not last long, after the death of his father, Zeng Zesheng and his mother in the family were cold-eyed, bullied.
When he was 18 years old, Zeng Zesheng stole 200 yuan from his family, fled to the county town at night, and wanted to go to middle school, but he was arrested and returned not long after running, and the money was also taken away by his family. Zeng Zesheng, who failed to escape, did not give up, and still protested to his family desperately and asked to enter middle school.
The clan bullied Zeng Zesheng's orphans and widows, and did not pay attention to Zeng Zesheng's demands at all, and Zeng Zesheng, who was desperate, abandoned his studies and joined the army and was admitted to the Yunnan Lecture Hall. In 1924, Zeng Zesheng transferred to the Whampoa Military Academy and became the captain of the Whampoa Phase III District.
During his studies at the Whampoa Military Academy, Zeng Zesheng saw through the coldness of the world, when Zeng Zesheng was appointed as the company commander of the second regiment of his mentor, and he took the initiative to resign not long after, and he said to his friend in disgust: "These officers only know how to eat, drink, and have fun, and do not ask about political affairs. ”
Later, Zeng Zesheng graduated from the Whampoa Military Academy with excellent results and entered the headquarters of the Northern Expeditionary Army, when Zeng Zesheng served as the captain of the officer corps of the Fifth Division of the Kuomintang Army.
But for Zeng Zesheng himself, he was doubly distressed, the corruption and darkness within the Kuomintang army made Zeng Zesheng a little confused, he was unwilling to join hands with those big-bellied Kuomintang officers, bent on achieving his own career, and finally Zeng Zesheng took the initiative to resign and came to Shanghai thousands of miles away to learn car driving.
At that time, the motherland was in the midst of internal and external troubles, and when the wind and rain were fluctuating, Zeng Zesheng was bent on doing something for this sick motherland, but he was always unable to get out of the way, and in a fit of anger, he decided to withdraw from the political arena and military circles, engage in transportation, and contribute to the country in the way of "saving the country through the curve".
Zeng Zesheng's aide-de-camp once commented on him: "He does not smoke, does not drink, does not play cards, does not play women, and is very moral. Life is also very simple, there is only a mattress and a quilt around, there is a small leather bag containing old clothes, a small bamboo box containing books, and if the clothes are not torn, they will not buy new ones. ”
It is conceivable that such an upright and upright person cannot be associated with the old army, where "bureaucracy" prevailed.
But fate always likes to tease people, in 1929, after the Yunnan warlord Long Yun unified Yunnan, he tried his best to recruit Zeng Zesheng into the Dian army, when Long Yun promised Zeng Zesheng that the Dian army would definitely go to the front line to resist Japan, and Zeng Zesheng reluctantly agreed to help Long Yun.
Long Yun was still trustworthy, and after the Lugou Bridge Incident, he sent 200,000 troops to form the Kuomintang 60 Army to the front line to resist Japan. Zeng Zesheng strongly requested to join the 60th Army, and served as the commander of the 105th Regiment of the 184th Division of the 60th Army, leading the troops to participate in the Battle of Taierzhuang.
At that time, Zeng Zesheng was ordered to lead his troops to hold the commanding height of Taierzhuang, Yuwang Mountain, desperately resisting the fierce charge of the Japanese army wave after wave, but he was stunned to hold this commanding height and did not let the Japanese army rush up, Zeng Zesheng also became famous in the war, and his name also spread to the ranks of our workers' and peasants' revolution.
After the Japanese occupation of Vietnam, Zeng Zesheng led an expedition to Vietnam and presided over the Japanese surrender ceremony in Vietnam. In this way, Zeng Zesheng fell deeper and deeper into the mess of the Kuomintang step by step.
After Japan surrendered, Chiang Kai-shek immediately sent the 60th Army into the northeast to snatch the fruits of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, and Zeng Zesheng was very unwilling in his heart, and he once said to people with emotion: "The Kuomintang stole the fruits of the victory of the War of Resistance, but at this time the Kuomintang has already eroded to the bone, the soldiers are engaged in business, and the soldiers are greedy for money, which is really the misfortune of the country and the harm of the nation!" ”
Figure | Chiang Kai-shek
After the 60th Army came to the northeast, Chiang Kai-shek asked the troops to lengthen the defensive line and fortify along multiple railway lines, zeng Zesheng believed that this was a typical "greedy and chewy" mentality, some stations only have one platoon, or even one squad, once attacked, they do not have any defensive capabilities at all.
Zeng Zesheng saw the loophole in Chiang Kai-shek's command, but chose to blindly follow his "leadership", because he believed that Chiang Kai-shek had "led" the Northern Expedition, was Sun Yat-sen's "successor", and was backed by the United States and the Whampoa Military Academy.
Later, the uprising of the 184th Division brought great shock and influence to Zeng Zesheng and the entire 60th Army, Zeng Zesheng's heart was shaken for the first time, and the comrades who used to fight side by side lost their way and returned to the People's Liberation Army, and Zeng Zesheng began to struggle, whether he wanted to lead a large army to emulate the 184th Division to a "great uprising", and henceforth abandon the dark and surrender to the light, and fight for the people and the country?
Just when Zeng Zesheng's heart was shaken, Liang Huasheng, chairman of the Kuomintang Jilin Province, suddenly issued an order, asking the 60th Army to expand its territory and find a way out on its own, and the financial situation of the jurisdiction could not afford to support the 60th Army.
Liang Huasheng's attitude was obviously to reject and bully the 60Th Army, and Zeng Zesheng angrily rebuked Liang Huasheng: "If we want to mobilize the 60th Army, we must obey the orders of the Northeast Security Command." ”
Liang Huasheng crossed his hands at his waist, narrowed his eyes, pointed directly at Zeng Zesheng's nose and scolded: "Lao Tzu is a deputy commander, and Lao Tzu has the right to command your 60th Army!" ”
After speaking, Liang Huasheng picked up the phone and called Du Yuming of the commander's department on the spot, and soon Du Yuming's order came down, asking the 60th Army to leave Jilin and go out to make a living.
Figure | Liang Huasheng
At this time, Zeng Zesheng was really "dumb and eating Yellow Lian--there are words of suffering", and he swallowed his troops and stationed his troops in the Hailong and Meihe areas.
Wave after wave, wave after wave, the 60th Army just entered Hailong was attacked by the People's Liberation Army, the two sides fought fiercely for five days and five nights, the 60th Army suffered heavy losses, and the newly established 184th Division was completely annihilated by the People's Liberation Army.
Before Zeng Zesheng could breathe a sigh of relief, the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army launched a "summer offensive." Zeng Zesheng saw that the situation was not right, and quickly sent a report to his superiors and applied for a retreat to Jilin Province.
Unexpectedly, the Jilin Military Region not only did not allow the 60th Army to retreat, but instead let Zeng Zesheng lead the remnants to block the so-called "retreating" communist army, Zeng Zesheng had no choice but to lead the troops back and forth in the duck rack, crotch ditch, and large sauce jar area and the communist army to "tear" up, and in the mobile operation, the 60th Army once again suffered heavy losses.
The Jilin Military Region's contempt and prejudice against the 60th Army made many officers and men in the unit war-weary, including the commander Zeng Zesheng, who was also heartbroken by the Kuomintang, who thought that he had joined the army for many years, was loyal to Chiang Kai-shek, fought many victorious battles, and made no small contribution, but in the end he was ostracized by his concubines and took his brothers as cannon fodder.
Figure | Nationalist 60th Army
Second, abandon the dark and cast the light
In the summer of 1947, Zeng Zesheng, who had been frustrated by successive setbacks on the front line, was sleepless and depressed, and he soaked in the war room day and night, looking over and over again on a topographic map, but he never said a word.
Just at this moment, Zeng Zesheng received a letter from Pan Shuoduan, commander of the 184th Division of the former 60th Army under his old subordinate, Pan Shuoduan painstakingly advised Zeng Zesheng to polish his eyes, see Chiang Kai-shek clearly, and see the essence of the Kuomintang, and suggested that he study the 184th Division and take the road of anti-Chiang Kai-shek uprising on the front line of the civil war.
To tell the truth, Zeng Zesheng was very clear about the nature of Chiang Kai-shek and the face of the Kuomintang; when he was a major captain in the Northern Expeditionary Army, he had already seen through Chiang Kai-shek's ambitions and the corruption of Kuomintang officers, but he still had hopes for Chiang Kai-shek, hoping that the old Chiang Kai-shek could not forget his original intentions, inherit Dr. Sun Yat-sen's legacy, and implement the Three People's Principles to the end.
Figure | Pan Shuoduan
Soon, the news of Pan Shuoduan's letter to Zeng Zesheng reached Chiang Kai-shek's ears, and Chiang Kai-shek immediately sent his son Chiang Ching-kuo to fly over Jilin by plane to offer condolences to the 60th Army.
Chiang Ching-kuo's arrival surprised Zeng Zesheng, who simply believed that Chiang Kai-shek had not forgotten him and would reuse him sooner or later; when Chiang Ching-kuo left, Zeng Zesheng's emotions were very excited, and the inner turmoil brought by the 184th Division and Pan Shuoduan was all smoothed out by Chiang Ching-kuo.
In September of the same year, Chiang Kai-shek specially built a cemetery to bury the dead officers and men of the 60th Army, and also sent his confidant Lu Han to Jilin to attend the ceremony of the general cemetery, and Zeng Zesheng naturally became the commander of the Jilin garrison.
Three great joys in a person's life: Zeng Zesheng, who was promoted to a rich man and married a wife, and who was heavily promoted by Chiang Kai-shek and promoted to commander of the Jilin garrison, was "immersed" in the "sweet trap" carefully customized by Chiang Kai-shek for him, zeng Zesheng once again began to believe in Chiang Kai-shek, firmly believing that sooner or later the 60th Army would become Chiang Kai-shek's confidant.
In March 1948, the People's Liberation Army hit Jilin, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the 60th Army to blow up the Xiaofeng power station, Zeng Zesheng knew how difficult it was to build a power station, and deliberately blew up the ammunition depot during the retreat, creating the illusion that the power station was destroyed.
When the 60th Army, which was originally a defeated army, was warmly welcomed by the Changchun defenders, Chiang Kai-shek personally gave a copy of the "handwriting" to Zeng Zesheng, who specially entrusted people to frame and paste, and cherished it very much.
Figure | Zeng Zesheng (Standing)
After the 60th Army entered Changchun, it was merged with the New 7th Army into the First Corps, and Zeng Zesheng was promoted to deputy commander of the First Corps, and the commander was Zheng Dongguo.
The New 7th Army was Chiang Kai-shek's concubine unit, and after the two units were combined, contradictions soon arose, although both were the First Corps, but the 60th Army received far less treatment than the New 7th Army.
The first is the equipment of the troops; the New 7th Army is well equipped and has sufficient grain and grass; the 60th Army, which has escaped from Jilin, has an incomplete structure, lacks clothing and food, and is subject to discrimination; officers above the company level of the New 7th Army have scooters, regardless of their principal and deputy, while the rest of the officers of the 60Th Army, except for Zeng Zesheng, are not equipped with any vehicles.
In addition, the 60th Army could only get some sorghum rice when receiving grain, and at the most excessive time, it could only rely on soybeans to fill its hunger, Zeng Zesheng looked at these brothers who were born and died with him and followed him so angry, his heart was very angry, many old subordinates directly lost their temper with Zeng Zesheng, and Long Yao, commander of the Twenty-first Division, scolded the Kuomintang in front of Zeng Zesheng's face: "Over the years, we have been angry with the concubines every day, attacking the front, retreating to break, winning the battle, they received the reward, and after losing the battle, we carried the pot, such a nest of anger. The brothers don't want to take it for a day! ”
Looking at the angry brothers, Zeng Zesheng, who had been undecided, finally made a decision, and in the autumn of 1948, Zeng Zesheng decided to lead the 60th Army to revolt against Chiang Kai-shek, and from then on he only fought for the people, for the country, and for the revolution!
After the Liaoshen Campaign, hundreds of thousands of Kuomintang troops were trapped in Changchun, Shenyang, and Jinzhou, the People's Liberation Army cut off the Beining Line, the Kuomintang troops on the three isolation points could not communicate with each other, and the Kuomintang activities in the northeast were completely divided.
The 60th Army stationed in Changchun had only three roads in front of it, the first was to hold Changchun and wait to be completely annihilated by the People's Liberation Army; the second was to launch a breakthrough and join the Kuomintang army in Shenyang, but along the way, it was necessary to break through the layers of the PLA encirclement, and it was likely that it would be completely annihilated before it reached Shenyang.
The third way is to oppose Chiang Kai-shek's uprising, abandon the dark and surrender to the light, join the revolution, join the People's Liberation Army, and atone for the people's sins.
Figure | Jeong Dong-kook
Zeng Zesheng had already made plans in his heart, and he began to secretly plan the uprising without Chiang Kai-shek, and it was at this time that Zheng Dongguo, deputy commander of the Northeast "Suppression General" and commander of the First Army, suddenly called and asked the 60th Army to cooperate with the New 7th Army to attack.
Zeng Zesheng said cautiously: "At present, the morale of the troops is low, the People's Liberation Army is just outside the city, and we can't go out at all." ”
Zheng Dongguo on the other end of the phone angrily scolded his mother and said helplessly: "Then we can't sit and wait for death!" ”
After hanging up the phone, Zeng Zesheng sent a regiment to cooperate with the New 7th Army to break through in the area of Bali Fort, and at the beginning of the battle, Zeng Zesheng asked Li Hong, commander of the New 7th Army: "Can the 56th Division stand out now?" ”
The 56th Division was the worst regiment in the overall strength of the New 7th Army, and Li Hong shook his head and said, "Alas, don't talk about the 56th Division, even the 61st Division and the 38th Division are enough to choke, now the commander has the idea of the commander, the soldiers have the abacus of the soldiers, it is good to stay in the city, once you go out, you are afraid to disband in situ." ”
Hearing Li Hong's words, Zeng Ze couldn't help but smile in his heart, it seemed that not only the 60th Army was planning to oppose Chiang Kai-shek's uprising, but even the New 7th Army of the Concubines had many people who wanted to defect to the People's Liberation Army.
In the early morning of October 14, Zeng Zesheng rescued the PRISONERs of the People's Liberation Army according to the plan, and suddenly Zheng Dongguo called again and hurriedly asked Zeng Zesheng to go to the headquarters.
Before leaving, Zeng Zesheng immediately called Long Yao, and he said cautiously as if he were confessing his last words: "I want to personally go to the headquarters, if Zheng Dongguo detains me, even if the sky falls, you must act according to the original plan, and the life and death of the brothers will be entrusted to you!" ”
As soon as Long Yao heard this, he quickly asked Zeng Zesheng what was wrong, Zeng Zesheng quickly hung up the phone, sorted out his clothes, drove to the headquarters, met Zheng Dongguo, on the way, Zeng Zesheng was ready to "justify", the uprising was exposed, nothing more than death, but the brothers of the 60 Army must live.
When Zeng Zesheng saw Zheng Dongguo, Zheng Dongguo was sitting in his office and smoking a cigarette, and when he saw Zeng Zesheng, Zheng Dongguo then threw a report to Zeng Zesheng's hand, and Zeng Zesheng picked it up and looked at it, and it turned out to be an order issued by Chiang Kai-shek himself to "break through to Shenyang."
It seemed that the "uprising" had not yet been exposed, and Zeng Zesheng pretended to be calm and asked Zheng Dongguo what to do, and Zheng Dongguo slumped down on the sofa, extinguished the cigarette in his hand, and said sadly: "It is really not possible, we can only fight guerrillas." ”
Zeng Zesheng nodded, did not ask anything more, Zheng Dongguo saw that Zeng Zesheng did not have any good advice, so he sent him away.
Zeng Zesheng quickly returned to the army, and Long Yao immediately led the 21st Division to revolt in situ, and then the 21st Division, under Zeng Zesheng's orders, deployed the New 7th Army in Changchun City.
At eight o'clock in the evening, Zeng Zesheng came to the 182nd Division again and said to all the officers and men of the 182nd Division: "The 21st Division has revolted, and I support and approve of it. ”
Division Commander Bai Zhaoxue immediately shouted, "Uprising! We're going to revolt! ”
Subsequently, all the officers and men of the 182nd Division shouted "Uprising" with Bai Zhaoxue, and Zeng Zesheng nodded with satisfaction and ordered the 182nd Division to cooperate with the 21st Division to begin to deploy against the New 7th Army.
Figure | Kuomintang army
That night, Zeng Zesheng called Li Song, commander of the Kuomintang's provisional 52nd Division, and Li Song, who was in the dark, honestly brought regiment-level cadres to a meeting, and as a result, he was detained by Zeng Zesheng as soon as he arrived at the military headquarters.
Zeng Zesheng also sent people to transfer all the deputy regimental cadres of the 52nd Division to the military headquarters for a meeting, and under Zeng Zesheng's bitter persuasion, the cadres of the 52nd Division agreed to the uprising one after another, resolutely saying "Obey the command and support the uprising!" ”
After preparing for these tasks, Zeng Zesheng did not rest, he returned to the office, wrote a letter to Zheng Dongguo and Li Hong to persuade them to revolt, and at dawn, Zeng Zesheng sent the letter to Zheng Dongguo and Li Hong.
After that, Zeng Zesheng handed over all the defensive land of the 60th Army to the People's Liberation Army, and the New 7th Army, which lost its core defense and was isolated and helpless, also surrendered with Zeng Zesheng and its troops.
This was the second time that Zeng Zesheng had voluntarily left the Kuomintang troops, and from then on, he was completely disappointed in Chiang Kai-shek, and even less hope for the Kuomintang troops, and completely severed ties with the Kuomintang.
Zeng Zesheng once wrote happily in his autobiography: "After coming into the embrace of the people, I felt the enlightenment and influence of the Communist Party, and thanked the Communist Party of China for waking me up, leading me from the wrong path to the right path, and saving me from the shadow of death. ”
Under the leadership of Zeng Zesheng, the PLA soldiers liberated Changchun without bloodshed and accelerated the process of the Northeast Liberation War, because of the correct choice, Zeng Zesheng suddenly became a "great hero" of the Chinese people!
Figure | The smooth uprising of the 60th Army (oil painting)
Third, I want to go down to the grassroots level
In 1950, Zeng Zesheng led the 50th Army of the People's Liberation Army reorganized from the 60th Army into the DPRK with the 38th Army and the 39th Army, and he withstood the pain of arthritis and commanded the troops to climb mountains, climb hills, cross dangerous passes, and wade into rapids to fight against the powerful US imperialist invading army.
Although he came from the old troops, Zeng Zesheng was very able to endure hardships, and he and the soldiers starved, climbed the ice and snow, closely followed the leadership of Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai, fought bravely in the first four battles, and played the prestige of the 50th Army.
Peng Dehuai deliberately found Zeng Zesheng and praised him vigorously: "The 50th Army has fought well, and you have commanded it well!" ”
Zeng Zesheng said happily to Peng Dehuai: "We are far from the brother troops, but we can finally raise our heads!" ”
Peng Dehuai laughed and humorously comforted: "What is this, I am from the same old army as Peng Dehuai, in my heart you are all the same, I see the 50 Army will fight very well!" ”
Figure | Peng Dehuai
In April 1951, Zeng Zesheng returned to Beijing to report for duty and was personally received by Chairman Mao, who was in Beijing and knew the Korean front very well, and some questions could not even be answered by him, the commander of the 50th Army.
Even so, Chairman Mao still vigorously praised Zeng Zesheng and the 50th Army, and was praised by the people's leaders, and Zeng Zesheng was very proud in his heart and realized his shortcomings.
After coming out of Chairman Mao, Zeng Zesheng said to his wife with anger and shame: "I can't stay in Beijing for a day, I will return to North Korea immediately, I will go down to the grassroots level!" ”
Chairman Mao not only commanded millions of large armies and large corps to fight, but also knew very well the state of each small detachment; Zeng Zesheng was on the front line and was still the commander of the 50th Army, and his understanding of the squads and details was not as good as Chairman Mao's, which made Zeng Zesheng very ashamed.
After returning to the Korean front, Zeng Zesheng deliberately gained a deep understanding of the details and dynamics of all the volunteer troops in the DPRK, even if it was a small defensive point, he did not let go, under the influence of Chairman Mao, Zeng Zesheng completely corrected the "bad habits" developed in all the old armies, and his ideological consciousness was greatly enhanced.
In April 1955, the 50th Army was triumphant with its outstanding military achievements, and in May, Chairman Mao once again received Zeng Zesheng, who happily shook Zeng Zesheng's hand and said: "You have fought well!" ”
Zeng Zesheng said embarrassedly: "The chairman has passed the award, and we are still far behind!" ”
Figure | Chairman Mao
At the ceremony on September 27, Zeng Zesheng was awarded the rank of lieutenant general. Zeng Zesheng's life tells us that it is really important to make the right choice, especially in the face of the national righteousness, we must polish our eyes, insist on standing with the people, stand with the Chinese Communist Party, sooner or later will usher in the dawn of victory!