On May 19, 2000, Zheng Weishan, who felt that his time was short, wrote a suicide note to the Central Military Commission:
My body was getting weaker and weaker, and I felt like the days were not long.
Man is always going to die, this is the law of nature. I solemnly request that when I am not able to do so, stop the treatment of me at the right time and save more medical funds, which is also my last contribution to the party.
I don't have much savings in my life, please turn over my last month's salary as my last party fee to the party organization, and send the books I have saved to a school in Dabie Mountain for use by children in mountainous areas.
After I died, I did not hold a memorial service, did not say goodbye to the body, did not enter the Babao Mountain, nor did I engage in any form of farewell ceremony, the body was cremated after dissection by the medical unit, and the ashes were scattered on the mountain on the roof of the Dabie Mountain.
After Zheng Weishan got lung cancer, he had two major open surgeries, although it was very painful, but he miraculously turned the crisis into safety, and the doctors were very surprised by Zheng Weishan's vitality and willpower.
In this regard, Zheng Weishan said to the medical staff very humorously: "In my life, I don't know why I have formed an indissoluble relationship with the word 'three', three times I have crossed the meadow and snowy mountains, three times I met the main force of the Red Army, I became the commander of the three columns and the commander of the 63rd Army, I entered the great northwest three times, Fought three 'tigers' This hospitalization is afraid that I will have to fight three major battles..."
In fact, what he is most commendable for is that Nie Rongzhen retained Zheng Weishan three times.
Three times over the snowy mountains, three over the meadows, three times to participate in the main division of the Red Army
Born in August 1915 in a poor peasant family in Xinxian County, Henan Province, Zheng Weishan attended a private school for a year as a child, then dropped out of school and went home to herd cattle. Before the jute uprising, he was influenced by the revolutionary ideas of his fathers and participated in revolutionary activities.
He joined the Communist Party of China in 1930 and joined the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in the same year, and by December 1933, at the age of 18, he was already serving as the political commissar of the Twenty-seventh Division of the 9th Army of the Red Fourth Front.
In 1935, the Red Fourth Front returned to northern Sichuan and crossed the Jialing River in the west, Xiong Houfa and political commissar Zheng Weishan led the Red 88th Division to attack Laoguanguan and Hongshan, and then successively captured Zhongba, Maozhou, and Weixian, and reached Wenchuan, an important town on the east bank of the Min River, in mid-April. After that, Zheng Weishan led the 265th Regiment and the 268th Regiment to continue to the west to meet the Central Red Army.
At this time, the Central Red Army had captured the Luding Bridge and was crossing the Jiajin Mountain.
There are about 160 kilometers from Wenchuan to Maogong, and there are many lofty mountains in the middle, including a large snowy mountain called Hongqiao Mountain, which is 40000 to 5000 meters above sea level, and the top of the mountain is still covered with snow all year round. After Zheng Weishan made preparations at the bottom of the mountain, he crossed the Snow Mountain with great difficulty and danger and met at the valley mouth where the two mountains of Jiajin Mountain and Hongqiao Mountain met.
In August 1935, Zheng Weishan led his troops through the meadows, however, the Red Fourth Front received orders from Zhang Guotao to return to western Sichuan. In October, Zheng Weishan once again crossed the Jiajin Mountain, captured a large area of territory in western Sichuan, and annihilated more than 10,000 enemy troops. Chiang Kai-shek and Liu Xiang were greatly alarmed and hurriedly dispatched 200,000 troops to the battle.
Although the Red Fourth Front, a Kuomintang unit facing the fierce march, fought heroically, the losses of the troops were too great, and they had to be forced to cross the folded mountains that had been covered with snow all year round and retreat to Ganzi and Maogong.
After three crossings of the snowy mountains, Zheng Weishan's unit met with the main Red Army for the second time.
In July 1936, after the Red Second and Fourth Fronts met, Zhang Guotao was forced to agree to go north. Zheng Weishan and Xiong Houfa led the 88th Division through a trek of more than 20 days and crossed the meadow for the third time.
In October 1936, the Red First and Fourth Fronts met in Huining, and Zheng Weishan personally experienced the main division of the Red Army for the third time.
So far, Zheng Weishan has climbed the snowy mountains three times, walked through the meadow three times, and participated in the main division of the Red Army three times.
Nie Rongzhen retained Zheng Weishan three times
At the end of 1936, Zheng Weishan accompanied the Western Route Army on a westward expedition, and later after experiencing all kinds of difficulties and dangers, he returned to Yan'an alone to beg for food, and joined the Kang Da study.
In 1938, after zheng Weishan graduated from the Kang University, he did not go to the front line to lead the troops to fight, but was assigned to serve as a military instructor at the military and political cadre school of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region.
Because Zheng Weishan has rich practical experience, the lectures are reasonable and well-founded, and they are easy to understand and easy to remember, which is very popular with the students.
Even some organ personnel and cadres who came from the front to handle affairs were constantly coming to observe Zheng Weishan's lectures. This incident attracted the attention of many people, especially Sun Yi, the principal of the military and political cadre school, who specially recommended him to Nie Rongzhen: Zheng Weishan is a rare military talent, and now is the time to employ people, which should be reused.
Nie Rongzhen nodded his head in approval of Sun Yi's words after listening, but he did not immediately activate Zheng Weishan, but decided to take a look. After all, as the saying goes: the jade test must be burned for three days, and the identification of the material must wait for seven years.
In March 1939, the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region Teaching Regiment was established, and the head of the regiment was Tang Yanjie, deputy chief of staff of the military region, and Zheng Weishan was appointed as the political commissar of the teaching regiment.
Tang Yanjie had more things to do, and he rarely went to the teaching group, which trained a group of highly qualified combat cadres in 8 months under the leadership of Zheng Weishan.
Tang Yanjie said to Nie Rongzhen, "Zheng Weishan is a good hand, leading a division to fight to make the enemy feel frightened, fiddling with a teaching you to follow the regiment, that is not a piece of cake." ”
At this moment, Zheng Weishan attracted Nie Rongzhen's attention, formally appointed him as the head of the teaching group, and said: "Comrade Weishan, you have been wronged, and I solemnly apologize to you." From now on, let go and do a good job! ”
Nie Rongzhen's words made Zheng Weishan excited, and he worked even harder from then on.
Just as Zheng Weishan was galloping on the battlefield in North China, a person far away in the south began to chant about him.
This person was his old chief Li Xiannian.
After Li Xiannian entered the Central Plains, he pulled up a team of tens of thousands of people in less than a year, and after reorganizing it into the 5th Division of the New Fourth Army, he urgently needed the help of his right-hand man, so he thought of his old subordinate Zheng Weishan, and after many inquiries, he finally learned that Zheng Weishan was now the leader of the teaching regiment under Nie Rongzhen, and decided to ask Nie Rongzhen for help.
In the autumn of 1942, when Li Xiannian saw Nie Rongzhen in a meeting, he asked, "I heard that Zheng Weishan is with you?" ”
"Yes! He served as the head of the teaching group and also served as a political commissar. ”
"That's a man who can fight, so why would you put him in the teaching group?"
"My teaching regiment is used as the main force regiment, training cadets in peacetime, and performing combat missions in wartime."
"Can you..."
Before Li Xiannian could finish speaking, Nie Rongzhen made a gesture and said, "I want Zheng Weishan to come to you, right?" It's not negotiable. ”
Li Xiannian wanted to take Zheng Weishan away, which made Nie Rongzhen feel that talent was rare, and after returning, he immediately appointed him as the deputy commander of the Fourth Military Sub-district, taking on the heavy responsibility of guarding the rear organs of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region.
Zheng Weishan later recalled: "I did not expect commander Nie to put the burden of the commander-in-chief of the Tang front on my shoulders, and the task was very difficult, but I finally carried it down, withstood the test, and did not live up to his trust in me." ”
In 1944, Nie Rongzhen went to Yan'an to participate in the Seventh National Congress, and Zheng Weishan went to Yan'an to study.
After arriving in Yan'an, Zheng Weishan's request to study at Kang Da was also approved by the Organization Department. However, the person receiving the reception only accepted the letter of introduction from Zheng Weishan's wife, Sun Jingbo, but neither registered nor explained the reason for Zheng Weishan.
When Zheng Weishan was surprised and preparing to inquire, a familiar voice came from outside the door: "How did Zheng Weishan get here?" ”
As soon as Zheng Weishan turned back, he found Nie Rongzhen and Zhu Liangcai, and before Zheng Weishan could speak, Nie Rongzhen smiled and said, "Hurry up and pack your bags and go back with me!" ”
"Where to go back?"
"Where else can I go, the front!"
Nie Rongzhen said that he turned around and left, and Zheng Weishan, confused, followed behind without saying a word. It turned out that as soon as Zhu Liangcai arrived in Yan'an, he saw Nie Rongzhen and reported the situation to Nie Rongzhen.
Therefore, as soon as Zheng Weishan arrived in Yan'an, he was intercepted by Nie Rongzhen.
On September 9, Nie Rongzhen returned to the Jin-Cha-Ji Liberated Area and appointed Zheng Weishan as chief of staff of the Zhangjiakou Garrison Headquarters.
Zhangjiakou is the seat of the party, government, and military organs in the Jin-Cha-Ji Liberated Area. The commander and political commissar were xiao ke and Liu Xiufeng respectively. Because the two have a lot of their own things, all kinds of things fall on Zheng Weishan alone...
In response to the chaos in Zhangjiakou after the war, Zheng Weishan issued the "Circular on Rectifying the Order of Zhangjiakou City", and then dispatched a garrison patrol, and Zhangjiakou's style was new.
On January 10, 1946, representatives of the Kuomintang and the Communists formally signed an armistice. More than one-third of the troops of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region also began to streamline and downsize, and more than one-third of the troops of the Military Region took off their uniforms and moved to the localities; for a while, zhangjiakou, which had only 170,000 people, appeared every day with some untidyly dressed and vulgarly behaved soldiers on the streets, which seriously damaged the image of the people's army.
The garrison issued a notice to effectively control all soldiers entering Zhangjiakou, and Zheng Weishan personally patrolled the streets and found that those who violated military discipline and disobeyed pickets were pulled back to concentrate on study, and then informed the unit leader.
One evening, Zheng Weishan received a report from the staff officer on duty at the headquarters: "A commander of the field column did not buy tickets to watch the play, had a dispute with the personnel on duty, and even started to beat the personnel on duty, and he could not say anything. ”
After Zheng Weishan arrived at the scene, he also had an argument with the other party, and for this reason, he went to Nie Rongzhen.
After understanding the situation, Nie Rongzhen immediately pointed to the comrade in charge of the field column and covered his face for a training session, and it was not until the comrade confessed his mistake and apologized to the comrades on duty and Zheng Weishan.
Soon this incident spread throughout the military region, and no one dared to violate the discipline of the masses anymore, and the image and spiritual outlook of Zhangjiakou's soldiers were renewed.
After the outbreak of the all-out civil war, the Kuomintang launched a large-scale attack on the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, and at that time some people thought that Zhangjiakou could hold out for 3 months, but Zheng Weishan was not optimistic about the situation, believing that the Kuomintang would definitely try everything to attack Zhangjiakou.
Sure enough, in the face of the Kuomintang's frenzied attack, the party, government, and military organs had to withdraw from Zhangjiakou, and in the process of evacuation, Zheng Weishan commanded the troops to resist the Kuomintang for three days and three nights, successfully completed the task of blocking the attack, and ensured the transfer of the Jin-Cha-Ji party, government, and military organs in Zhangjiakou.
Nie Rongzhen later said many times later: "Evacuating Zhangjiakou and resisting Fu Zuoyi's sneak attack, Zheng Weishan has made great contributions. ”
After retreating from Zhangjiakou, Zheng Weishan was reappointed commander of the Chahar Military Region, and Nie Rongzhen was assigned two brigades to Chahar.
Just when Zheng Weishan was planning to do a big job in North China, he received a telegram from the central government, asking him to go south with Liu Deng and report immediately.
In 1947, the central government decided to establish the Central Plains Bureau, and Li Xiannian's troops had grown from a few thousand people at the time of the breakthrough of the Central Plains to a column, and they were in urgent need of commanders and fighters.
After Receiving the telegram, Zheng Weishan went to the Organization Department of the Political Department of the Military Region and issued a notice to go through the formalities for transfer. Who knew that the two duty officers said: "Commander Zheng don't worry, just received a notice that Commander Zhu wants to see you, you sit first." ”
Zheng Weishan knew that this was the lobbyist coming.
It turned out that at the same time that Zheng Weishan received the order to go south, Nie Rongzhen, who was commanding the battle on the front line, also received the order that Zheng Weishan was going to go south, and how could Nie Rongzhen allow his good generals to be transferred away, just when he was at a loss for words, Luo Ruiqing came over.
"You've come just in time, there's something, let's discuss."
"Don't you just want to keep Zheng Weishan, what's so hard about it?"
"Let's hear it."
"Commander Nie, whether or not to formally report the issue of restoring the formation of the field army to the Central Military Commission, add a political commissar, and transfer Comrade Yang Chengwu to serve as the second political commissar."
At this point, Nie Rongzhen also suddenly realized that he had immediately made a report to the outside: Zheng Weishan, the former commander of the Chahar Military Region, took over as the commander of the Third Column.
After Nie Rongzhen's report went up, Liu Shaoqi and Zhu De, who were in Chengnanzhuang, were very embarrassed, and they asked for instructions from the central authorities on the one hand, and explained to Zheng Weishan on the other hand, and stayed.
Zhu De went directly to the main topic: "The Central Military Commission has an order to follow Liu Deng to the south, and Comrade Rongzhen's opinion is that people are also needed here... What do you think? ”
Zheng Weishan blurted out: "I am still willing to go south!" ”
For Zheng Weishan's reaction, Zhu De had long been prepared, and said with a smile: "Well, you should consider it again." ”
Nie Rongzhen was worried that as soon as Zheng Weishan left, he called Zhu De and asked him to bring people down.
But no matter what Zhu De said, Zheng Weishan was an attitude: resolutely go!
At that time, Jude was also too busy, so he took him on the march, and constantly persuaded him on the road, persuading him for a week.
After repeated persuasions, Zhu De was not angry, and always smiled, and Zheng Weishan was finally impressed by Commander Zhu De and no longer insisted on going south.
Soon after, the Central Military Commission formally ordered Zheng Weishan to be the commander of the Third Column of the Jin-Cha-Ji Field Army. Before leaving, Mr. Zhu also talked to him, letting him understand that staying in North China also has great achievements.
Just as Zheng Weishan was preparing to take up his new post, the staff officer on duty came to tell him that Commander Nie had asked him to stay for a few more days and then leave when he returned.
A few days later, Nie Rongzhen rushed back from the front line, and the first thing he said when he saw Zheng Weishan was: "Comrade Weishan, it was my idea to ask you to stay, and I was sincere." I really don't want you to go! ”
"Your three retentions of me are unforgettable." Zheng Weishan said movingly!
#开国将帅 #