On December 31, 1986, General Yang Dezhi, then chief of the General Staff, made a special trip to the home of an old general to congratulate him on his 82nd birthday. At that time, the veteran general had retreated to the second line and was no longer in an important position in the army.
Yang Dezhi, who was in a prominent position, had great respect for him, and not only shouted respectfully: The old chief, but also held his hand tightly and looked at him with a smile, as if he were meeting a big person with a higher status than himself.
(Yang Dezhi and Li Jukui)
The old general looked very calm, he did not look at Yang Dezhi, but smiled at the camera. Who is the old general? How did he become yang Dezhi's old chief?
His name was Li Jukui, a native of Anhua, Hunan, who participated in the Pingjiang Uprising led by Peng Dehuai and then followed Peng Dehuai up Jinggangshan. In the Central Soviet Region, Li Jukui served as the commander of several divisions, and At that time, Yang Dezhi was still a middle- and lower-ranking general.
At the beginning of 1934, Li Jukui was transferred to the commander of the Red First Division, and Yang Dezhi was already the leader of the Red First Regiment. The Red Regiment happened to belong to the Red First Division, and Li Jukui was Yang Dezhi's immediate superior. They are all hunan people, Li Jukui is 7 years older than Yang Dezhi, is his big brother and old chief.
The fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" battle broke out, and the enemy's three divisions attacked the three points, and if the enemy occupied the three peaks, it would be a great threat to our army, and the head of the Red First Army ordered Li Jukui to resolutely defend the three peaks. Li Jukui entrusted this most difficult task to the Red Regiment, which was the most capable of fighting.
Li Jukui ordered Yang Dezhi to quickly occupy the Three Peaks and block the enemy from the front and hold his position. Yang Dezhi was worthy of being a tiger general, preemptively occupying the Three Peaks one step ahead of the enemy, and even more difficulty was still behind. The enemy attacked wildly, the red regiment heroically blocked, and the corpses in front of the position were scattered all over the field.
Unable to attack from the ground, the enemy sent out planes to bomb our three-point position, how to defend the land of projectiles? Yang Dezhi called Li Jukui and said that our bullets were finished and we were using stones to block the enemy.
Yang Dezhi is worthy of being a famous general of a generation, he did not complain bitterly, but truthfully reported the actual situation of the battlefield to his superiors. Li Jukui understood Yang Dezhi's situation, as a superior, of course, he could not ignore the lives of his subordinates, he had already asked for reinforcements.
Li Jukui said to Yang Dezhi in an unmistakable tone, you must hold on, the head of the regiment has promised to send the Red Fourth Regiment to come to support, you will hold on a little longer. Yang Dezhi replied firmly, please rest assured.
Two hours had passed before the Red Fourth Regiment had rushed over, and Yang Dezhi's Red Regiment had defended the last position with stones. Many years later, Li Jukui recalled that Yang Dezhi was worthy of being a famous general in the Red Army, and many of the arduous tasks of our division were mostly entrusted to the Red Regiment to complete.
Yang Dezhi's ability to lead the troops to fight wars became more and more prominent on the later battlefield, even surpassing the old chief Li Jukui.
Li Jukui, who had already served as the commander of the Red Army division in that era, suffered a lot of setbacks later, he was sent to the Red Fourth Front, and then experienced the defeat of the Western Route Army, begging all the way back to Yan'an.
When the War of Resistance Broke Out, Li Jukui was sent to the 386 Brigade led by Chen Geng as chief of staff, and then he worked as a staff officer and logistics work for a long time.
Because he did not lead the troops on the front line, Li Jukui's fame was not as loud as Yang Dezhi. Relatively speaking, Yang Dezhi's military career has been relatively smooth, he has always been in the main force, serving as the commander of the main column and the commander of the corps, and has not encountered any major setbacks.
Yang Dezhi and Li Jukui were both founding generals, but Li Jukui received the rank of general in 1958, later than Yang Dezhi. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Yang Dezhi served as the commander of the Grand Military Region for 25 years, defending the side of the country and town, a very prominent position, and finally in 1980, he served as the chief of the general staff, participating in the leadership of the whole army.
Li Jukui served as the political commissar of the General Logistics Department and the dean of the Higher Military Academy, which seemed a bit obscure. In 1981, Li Jukui retired to the second line and entered the Central Advisory Committee.
Yang Dezhi always remembered that the old chief's birthday was December 31, so on this day in 1986, he specially came to Li Jukui's home in a busy time to pay homage to the old chief. Careful readers and friends may have found that Yang Dezhi is the chief of the general staff, he naturally has to wear a military uniform, why does Li Jukui also wear a military uniform?
Li Jukui was also an adviser to the Central Military Commission, and he did not want to be a fictitious adviser who ignored no questions, but actively offered suggestions and suggestions for army building, and personally gave many valuable opinions to the leaders of the Central Military Commission. In 1988, Li Jukui was awarded the People's Liberation Army's First Class Red Star Meritorious Service Medal.
In 1994, Yang Dezhi died at the age of 83, and the younger brother walked in front of the old chief. The following year, Admiral Li Jukui died at the age of 91.