Chen Yi is the founding marshal of new China, who is well-known at home and abroad, and he has two older brothers who are little known. In those war-torn times, people had their own ambitions, they chose different paths in life, but brotherhood was very strong.
We also went to France for work-study
Chen Yi has three cousins: Chen Xiuhe, Chen Shize, and Chen Shiheng. Three brothers, Chen Yi is the second eldest, brother Chen Shilu, the word Meng Xi; brother Chen Shixun, word Ji Rang. There are also four sisters.
Due to the similar age, Chen Yi had more contact with Chen Xiuhe and Chen Mengxi, and his feelings were also deep; followed by Chen Jirang.
In March 1918, Chen Yi and Chen Mengxi were both admitted to the Preparatory School for Studying in France of the Chengdu Branch of the China Studying Abroad Work-study Association. In the spring of 1919, the Chen Yi brothers were all admitted to the top 30, and each received a travel allowance of 400 yuan from the Sichuan provincial government. In early June 1919, he left Sichuan, boarded the ship "Mai Lang" in Shanghai, and set off for France. Arrived in Marseille, Grand Port, southern France, on 10 October.
Shortly after arriving in France, Chen Yi and Chen Mengxi were arranged to go to the Montagny Public Secondary School. Chen Mengxi and Nie Rongzhen share the same desk. After more than three months of waiting, the brothers finally entered Schneider Company, one of the "Two Hundred Families in France", as handymen. Chen Mengxi is a painter and Chen Yi is a fitter. "Frugality" became a failure, and because they participated in the struggle of the Sino-French University of Lyon to protest against the French authorities, the Chen Yi brothers ended the last lesson of "Western civilization".
In October 1921, together with 102 Chinese students, they were "deported" by the French authorities! Chen Yi roared angrily on the "Portega" cruise ship: Mother of civilization, you imagine, what kind of wine can you make in this grape-colored civilization?
Everyone has their own aspirations, and brothers break up
In May 1927, Chen Yi arrived in Wuhan. At this time, Chen Xiuhe, Chen Mengxi and Chen Jirang were all in Wuhan. Chen Xiuhe and Chen Mengxi were admitted to the fifth phase of the Whampoa Military Academy in Guangzhou in 1925, Chen Xiuhe studied artillery and Chen Mengxi studied politics. Chen Jirang was admitted to the sixth phase of the military academy in Wuhan, and the brothers unexpectedly met.
At a time of great storm, the brothers often meet, have different political opinions, and often argue, but the feelings are very close. Chen Mengxi, because of his different views from Chen Yi, tried his best to persuade him to break away from the Communist Party, but he resolutely refused. Because the reason was not sufficient, it was not enough to say that Chen Yi, the brother was refuted by Chen Yi and cried, and the result did not shake Chen Yi's will. When Chen Xiuhe saw this, he felt that to stop Chen Yi's revolution, he could only hurt the feelings of his brothers and agree to go their separate ways.
Soon after, Wang Jingwei announced the "separation of the Communist Party", and white terror enveloped the urban and rural areas of Wuhan. Chen Mengxi was ready to join the Sichuan warlord Liu Cunhou, and Chen Xiuhe was determined to go to Shanghai to engage in shipbuilding. Chen Yi asked Chen Jirang to return to Sichuan to teach, and he rushed to Nanchang to participate in the "August 1st" uprising.
On the day Chen Xiuhe left, Chen Yi sent him to the Wuchang Riverside Pier. Chen Xiuhe only said one sentence: "Please rest assured, I will never do anything sorry for my brother!" "But in the torrent of long-term political struggle, there are many constraints to a man's way forward, he served as an aide-de-camp in Chiang Kai-shek's attendant's office, and he was sent to France to study ordnance manufacturing...
Unexpectedly learned about his brother
In late March 1929, Chen Yi led the newly formed First Column of the Red Fourth Army to a landlord's home near Ruijin, Jiangxi. In the landlord's study, the walls were covered with newspapers. Chen Yi hadn't seen a newspaper for a long time, and he was overjoyed and leaned on the wall to read it.
What surprised him even more was that it was actually the "New Paper" in January! There is also a familiar name: "Chen Mengxi"! At this time, Chen Mengxi was already Liu Cunhou's major general and representative in Shanghai, so Chen Yi went to contact him.
On August 26 of that year, a British steamship arrived in Shanghai. Chen Yi, disguised as a worker, was preparing to squeeze into the most chaotic flow of people and get off the ship, when he suddenly found Chen Mengxi and Chen Xiuhe in suits and shoes, wearing the badge of "Songhu Police Headquarters" on their chests, and boarded the ship. Chen Yi, the "communist bandit", followed them through the inspection gate smoothly and drove to the Xinsu Hotel on Fuzhou Road. Chen Mengxi had already chartered a room on the first floor, allowing Chen to live in the "bandit" room, Major General Chen to live in the outer room, and Chen Xiuhe, although he returned to the arsenal, he often went to take care of it. The brothers also took a group photo at the Shanghai Photo Studio.
Originally, in August, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China sent a letter asking the Red Fourth Army to send people to Shanghai to attend a military conference held by the Politburo to report on the situation of the Red Fourth Army. The Red Fourth Army decided to send Chen Yi to Shanghai, and when he was waiting for the ship in Xiamen to go to Hong Kong and shanghai, he sent a quick letter to Meng Xi, telling him the approximate schedule. Therefore, Chen Yi got a lot of convenience in Shanghai under the rule of the Kuomintang.
On October 1, Chen Yi left Shanghai safely. Brothers, another 20 years...
The director of the "Lieutenant General" factory led the troops to revolt
In March 1946, Chiang Kai-shek summoned Chen Xiuhe, director of the General Headquarters of the Army and the Kunming Office of the Ordnance Engineering Bureau, to Nanjing. After Chiang Kai-shek asked Chen Xiuhe about the equipment of the Yunnan troops, he asked him about his relationship with Chen Yi. After Chen Xiuhe reported to Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Kai-shek went on to tell him that the party-state should be the most important thing, and instructed him to write to Chen Yi and try to pull Chen Yi to the side of the Kuomintang; if Chen Yi was willing to come over, he should be reused as the chairman of Shandong Province and the commander-in-chief of the group army.
Chen Xiuhe told Chiang Kai-shek at that time that Chen Yi was very firm in his belief in communism, and that he would probably not be able to pull him over; if he talked to him on the premise of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, he would not be rejected.
When the PLA soldiers came to Shenyang, Chiang Kai-shek, on the one hand, made a wish to Chen Xiuhe and promoted him to the post of director of the Military Engineering Bureau, and on the other hand, strictly ordered the demolition and destruction of the Shenyang Arsenal, but Chen Xiuhe resisted. On the eve of Shenyang's yizhi, Chiang Kai-shek sent planes to pick up Chen Xiuhe and go south, but he still did not get his wish. The Shenyang Arsenal was led by Chen Xiuhe to protect the factory, and after the People's Liberation Army took over, Chen Xiuhe served as the director of the factory, prepared for three days, and started construction immediately on the fourth day. The few 155 mm heavy guns were repaired and played a great role in the battles of Tianjin and Taiyuan. Immediately afterward, Commander-in-Chief Zhu De sent Chen Xiuhe to Shanghai to contact those military technicians who remained in Shanghai.
After Chen Xiuhe arrived in Shanghai, he contacted more than 200 people and marched into the southwest with the Second Field Army of the People's Liberation Army. In his conversation with Deng Xiaoping, he not only planned the production of the military industry, but also drew a blueprint for the Sichuan-Chongqing Railway. On October 21, 1949, Zhou Enlai, premier of the People's Republic of China, appointed Chen Xiuhe as deputy director of the Central Bureau of Technology Administration.
Soon, Chen Mengxi and his wife also arrived in Shanghai. Chen Mengxi served as the director of the political department of the 26th Division of the Kuomintang 43rd Army, served as the deputy commander of the major general of the Western Sichuan Division during the Kuomintang War, and led the uprising in Leshan, Sichuan in December 1949, and was assigned to work in Shanghai as an uprising general.