"The defeat of Zhangjiakou has already come out!" Now we have Shijiazhuang Victory! ”
After October 1947, the soldiers of the People's Liberation Army of the Jin-Cha-Ji Field Army could raise their eyebrows and shout like this! The victory in the Battle of Shijiazhuang not only rewrote the history of the People's Liberation Army's urban offensive, but also allowed the Jin-Cha-Ji Field Army to regain its self-confidence. Who would have thought that a year ago, they were still frustrated by the defeat at the Battle of Zhangjiakou. What changed all this was the commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army who easily did not shoot and would be amazing--Zhu De.
The dilemma of Jin-Cha-Ji
Time back to 1945. With the signing of the "Double Tenth Agreement", the mediation of the Kuomintang and the Communists in the United States can be regarded as a superficial usher in peace. In the commemorative photos of the signing of the agreement, Chiang Kai-shek's smile is the most kind. It seems that a new era of peace is about to come.
In order to show its sincerity, the Party Central Committee decided to carry out two phases of disarmament, two-thirds of the overall disarmament! Such a great intensity shows the peace sincerity of our party.
The Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, one of the major military regions, has carried out the disarmament order to the letter. In three months, a total of 100,000 Eighth Route Army and local armed forces laid down their weapons. Even the arsenal of the military region has ceased production, and some machinery and equipment have been demolished. The entire military region has a posture of "putting knives and guns into storage and horses on the south mountain," and the focus of work has shifted from military to economic construction.
However, in June 1946, the kuomintang sun lianzhong, Fu Zuoyi and a part of Yan Xishan's troops suddenly rushed to Zhangjiakou in the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region. After fierce fighting, Fu Zuoyi's troops took the initiative on the battlefield, and the troops of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region could only be forced to retreat.
Zhangjiakou was a key city, and once it was lost, the connection between north and northeast China was immediately severed. The impact on the overall national strategy is extremely significant. Nie Rongzhen, commander of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, held an emergency meeting in Laiyuan to sum up lessons learned. As a result, at the meeting, deputy commander Guo Tianmin and Nie Rongzhen quarreled, and Nie Rongzhen was so angry that he actually removed him from his post! For a time, the morale of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region was low, the generals lost peace, and the people were panicked. Even the field army structure that had been established was abolished, and only three columns were retained. North China is facing an unprecedented dilemma.
Mr. Zhu came
The period between 1946 and 1947 was the most difficult period of the War of Liberation. The Kuomintang troops had the upper hand in almost all battlefields throughout the country. However, the turnaround is also slowly emerging. In the northeast battlefield, as Chen Cheng replaced Du Yuming, who was good at war, the situation of the struggle began to change; in the battlefields of northern Jiangsu, central China, and Shandong, Chen Yi and Su Yu integrated to form the East China Field Army, and the combat effectiveness was also enhanced. However, the extremely important Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region is still in a slump at this time, which makes people feel sad.
In April 1947, the Party Central Committee established the Central Working Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Central Working Committee), led by Commander-in-Chief Zhu De and Vice Chairman Liu Shaoqi, to Nanzhuang, the county seat of Fuping County. According to public accounts, the task of the Central Working Committee is to help the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region strengthen its work. But looking at the names of the two team leaders, you know that this matter is not so simple.
At this time, the Kuomintang general Hu Zongnan had just occupied Yan'an, and Chairman Mao and other important leaders were now fighting guerrillas in the ravines of northern Shaanxi, and the situation of the struggle was already quite critical. In order to integrate all forces, several important leaders of the Party Central Committee began to inspect various base areas. In order to facilitate action, there is such a name as "Central Working Committee".
Originally, the Central Working Committee was going to the Taihang Mountains for an inspection. However, the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region has been too unhappy recently, so the Work Committee decided to transfer here. After talking with Commander Nie Rongzhen, the Work Committee made the decision to stay in Jinchaji.
This decision is very shocking. Everyone knew that the commander of Jin-Cha-Ji was Nie Rongzhen. But no matter from the position or seniority, he and Liu Shaoqi and Zhu De can not be compared. In particular, Commander-in-Chief Zhu De is not only highly respected, but also a down-to-earth military cadre. It is difficult for him to stay and not give people the illusion of "grabbing power". But in fact, General Manager Zhu did not interfere with Commander Nie's command, but only assisted him in sorting out the internal affairs of the military region, so that the military and political personnel in Jin-Cha-Ji could quickly survive the pain after the victory of the War of Resistance.
Mr. Zhu's first trick: talk
Commander-in-Chief Zhu De is characterized by the fact that he cannot find his people when the battle goes well, and when it does not go well, he will become the needle of the sea god. After coming to Jin-Cha-Ji, he immediately started with political work work and talks to solve the problem of unity in the military region.
He first found three people to talk to: Commander Nie Rongzhen, former Deputy Commander Guo Tianmin, and Commander Zheng Weishan of the Chahar Military Region.
The conversation with Commander Nie was relatively simple, only to discuss the problems faced by the military region, and also to explore the reasons for the recent defeat in the campaign. Commander Nie expressed his opinion and admitted to making the mistake of being overly optimistic. The two also communicated about future development issues.
The conversation with Guo Tianmin is relatively complicated. In addition to the military region's combat history and current situation, Mr. Zhu also focused on the contradiction between Guo Tianmin and Nie Rongzhen. In fact, Guo Tianmin's opinion is right, but it should be easy to say good things, after all, Nie Rongzhen is a commander, and it is inappropriate to criticize with a split face. Bear with it in public and solve problems privately, and the situation may not develop to the point of losing peace. Later, Mr. Zhu decided to transfer Guo Tianmin to the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Military Region to cooperate with Liu Bocheng.
As for Zheng Weishan, it is a completely different situation. Zheng Weishan was a battlefield general, known as the "Night Tiger", whether in the Red Army period or in the War of Resistance, he always won more battles than he lost. But now, in Zhangjiakou, the battle was lost. He felt that he could not exert his talents in Jin-Cha-Ji, and it was better to fight in the war than to go to the northeast or Taihang and northern Jiangsu! Commander Nie Rongzhen had tried his best to keep him, but Zheng Weishan's attitude was very vague.
Moreover, Zheng Weishan's problem is not an individual problem. When the battle was fought like this, many commanders felt bad in their hearts. If Zheng Weishan really transferred away, there would be a large string of people following behind him. In the future, it will be difficult for military districts to continue to carry out military work. Commander-in-Chief Zhu talked to Zheng Weishan, in fact, to appease all the military cadres.
What the generals were thinking, Commander-in-Chief Zhu certainly knew in his heart. He first listened carefully to the other side's complaints, and then said to Zheng Weishan: The Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region will not lose the battle forever, and it will definitely win the battle! The Party Central Committee will certainly help Commander Nie and coordinate the work here. There will definitely be a vicious battle to be fought here in the future, which is exactly where Zheng Weishan is used!
Mr. Zhu's words aroused Zheng Weishan's ambition. So he put aside his distractions and settled down to continue his work in Jinchaji. At this moment, a large number of military cadres were down-to-earth.
Mr. Zhu's second trick: combing the economic structure
Later, Mr. Zhu also talked with quite a few cadres and the masses, and gradually found out the problems of the military region. So he began the next step: combing the economic structure!
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the combat units of our army usually had their own jurisdictions. And almost every regimental department of a military sub-district has its own economic department. Some of these sectors are self-sufficient through production and some through business. However, each unit has different jurisdictions and different ways of operating, so the money that can be earned is also different. Therefore, when it comes to the treatment of soldiers, every unit is different.
This creates the problem that once troops are mobilized, the original commercial resources will be cleared. There are some issues of interest in this, which can easily lead to contradictions between the troops.
But today, for the troops to be regularized, the finances must be consolidated. Only in this way can the material be better deployed so that the troops can concentrate on the battle. However, when the field army system was first established, the units at all levels attached too much importance to their own interests and were unwilling to give them up easily. Commander Nie knew that it was not easy for everyone, so he did not make a heavy hand when he reformed the system. Although the military district has become a field army in form, it is still the same inside.
It is conceivable that such an army, which is separated in its core, can form a joint force on the battlefield? Even if the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region does not disarm, its combat effectiveness will not be comparable to that of other armies that have completed restructuring.
After Mr. Zhu came, he began to carry out deep-seated reforms. Under his orders, all the troops directly under the military region withdrew from economic production. All industry and commerce are under the unified management of the economic department of the military region. The salaries of officers, men, and workers of all units shall be paid in accordance with uniform standards. At the same time, all the ordnance and ammunition of all units were also uniformly handed over to the logistics department. All seizures are not allowed to be withheld without permission. With this change, the troops began to move toward regularization, and their combat effectiveness was steadily enhanced.
Mr. Zhu's third move: to introduce cadres and rebuild the field army
As mentioned earlier. The Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region originally had a field army organization, but it was later abolished because the battle was not well fought. Now that General Manager Zhu has arrived, he has begun to rebuild the field army after completing the work of readjusting the military's morale and economy.
Of course, as a military, the core thing is combat effectiveness. Although the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region is also a major military region, it lacks famous generals who can influence the overall situation. Commander Nie Rongzhen and another general in North China, He Long, did not have outstanding military ability, and it was difficult for them to become master commanders like Su Yu, Peng Dehuai, and Liu Bocheng. Mr. Zhu was very concerned about this point, so he thought of asking for foreign aid.
Soon, three famous generals came to Jinchaji. They are Yang Dezhi, Luo Ruiqing, and Geng Biao. Among them, General Yang Dezhi was transferred from the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Military Region, General Luo Ruiqing was transferred directly from Yan'an, and although General Geng Biao was regarded as an "old man" in Jin-Cha-Ji, he had also followed Ye Jianying before and engaged in foreign affairs such as united front work and military regulation. After the three men were transferred, they served as commanders, political commissars, and chiefs of staff of the field army.
In addition to the three "airborne" cadres, Zhu De also carried out a major reshuffle of the original military pattern of Jin-Cha-Ji. He does not care about the original relationship and personal feelings, and the mobilization follows a principle: those who can go up, those who can't go down! The strength or weakness of combat effectiveness is taken as the criterion for military cadres.
After this major reform, the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region has a completely new look. In April 1947, Commander Nie Rongzhen personally commanded the Battle of Zhengtai, annihilating more than 35,000 Kuomintang troops; in June 1947, the Jin-Cha-Ji Field Army successively conquered the three counties of Qingxian, Cangxian, and Yongqing, eliminating nearly three enemy security corps; at the end of the month, it conquered the two cities of Xushui and Gucheng, and crushed one regiment each of the enemy's Sixteenth Army and ninety-fourth Army; in October, the Jin-Cha-Ji Army came to the aid of another encirclement point and annihilated the main force of the enemy's Third Army at Qingfengdian. After that, he followed the trend and conquered Shijiazhuang in one fell swoop, creating a major miracle in the history of the People's Liberation Army. Soon after, the Party Central Committee settled in Xibaipo and began to liberate the whole country.
When many people comment on Marshal Zhu De, they always feel that although his qualifications are old, his ability is not outstanding, which is obviously a misunderstanding! The real handsomeness does not lie in how to charge the front, but in how to make the combat effectiveness of the subordinates play to the strongest. During President Zhu's trip to Jin-Cha-Ji, he did not participate in the specific campaign command, but who can deny his contribution? The beloved Marshal Zhu De is a real handsome man.