In 1969, the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China was about to be convened, but Xu Haidong failed to receive a notice to attend the Ninth National Congress.
Chairman Mao held an emergency meeting overnight and proposed that Comrade Xu Haidong be allowed to attend the Ninth Congress and attend the presidium of the Congress.
On the day of the Ninth National Congress, Chairman Mao sat down and began to look around the rostrum, and at first, no one knew what he was looking for.
Later, Chairman Mao asked loudly, "Has Comrade Haidong come?" I asked three times in a row.
It was not until Comrade Xu Haidong was brought to the scene that Chairman Mao began the meeting.
Some people think of the 1955 appraisal, Chairman Mao approved, and the ten generals Xu Haidong should be ranked second. However, Xu Haidong began recuperation in 1940 and almost did not participate in revolutionary work after that.
Many people wonder why Chairman Mao cares so much about General Xu Haidong.
Xu Haidong
"Xu Laohu"
Xu Haidong was born into poverty, and his ancestors were kiln smiths for six generations, so he hated the exploiting class very much, actively participated in the revolution, and joined the Communist Party of China in 1925 and became a glorious revolutionary fighter.
In 1927, after the "April 12" counter-revolutionary coup, Xu Haidong returned to his hometown according to the orders of the party organization, started with a pistol, formed a peasant self-defense army, and participated in the jute uprising.
During the battle, Xu Haidong often wielded a large knife to charge into the battlefield, and the enemy was afraid when he saw it, and was called "Xu Tiger" and "Xu Tiger who can fight" by the masses.
In February 1932, Chiang Kai-shek launched the third "encirclement and suppression" of the Eyu-Anhui base area, when the 36th Regiment led by Xu Haidong became the main target of the enemy's attack.
In the face of a large number of enemy troops, our army suffered heavy casualties, many cadres were killed, and division commander Chen Geng conveyed the order to "resolutely hold" three times.
Xu Haidong
Xu Haidong took off his cotton coat and shouted, "Please rest assured chief, people are in the position!" After that, he led the whole regiment to fight for three days and three nights, successfully waited for reinforcements, and repelled the enemy army.
Chen Geng later recalled that during these days, he had said: "One of the most glorious things in this life is that he was the leader of Xu Haidong for a few days. He was the famous 'Xu Tiger', when I was the leader, he did not bite me, but helped me fight many hard battles. ”
In October 1932, the Red Fourth Front withdrew from the Eyu-Anhui Soviet Area under the "encirclement and suppression" of the Kuomintang's 300,000 troops, and Xu Haidong was responsible for covering the retreat of large troops.
At that time, Xu Haidong lost contact with the headquarters, and the Red Twenty-seventh Division led by him was also divided by the enemy army, even in this situation, Xu Haidong still led his subordinates to fight tenaciously, successfully escaped the encirclement and interception of 10 times the enemy's strength, and successfully met the headquarters.
In 1933, Xu Haidong served as the commander of the newly formed Twenty-Eighth Army, leading more than 2,000 people to fight against the Kuomintang's nearly 100,000 troops in Dabie Mountain.
Xu Haidong
Under the leadership of Xu Haidong, the Twenty-eighth Army carried out the following: Do not fight a war of attrition, do not fight hard, actively guerrilla warfare on the outer front, seek opportunities to annihilate the enemy, and seize enemy materials, so that the soldiers can eat enough to wear and warm, and gradually get rid of the passive situation.
This made the Kuomintang exclaim: "Suppress the Communists, suppress the Communists, the more they suppress!" ”
Chiang Kai-shek regarded Xu Haidong as "a great harm to civilization" and said that "Xu Haidong does not die, and the country has no peaceful day", And Xu Haidong's head once rose to 250,000 oceans, and this reward amount was equal to chairman Mao and Marshal Zhu, which shows how much the enemy hates Xu Haidong.
Chiang Kai-shek also ordered: "Once Xu Haidong's hometown is occupied, not a single person with the surname Xu can remain."
The Kuomintang massacred Xu Haidong's hometown of Huangpi, killing 66 of his relatives so much that the locals did not dare to take the surname Xu for a time.
"Suicide" responds to the Long March
In 1934, Xu Haidong ceded the position of commander of the Red 25Th Army to Cheng Zihua, and he himself served as deputy commander, and together with political commissar Wu Huanxian, he led the Red 25th Army.
Cheng Zihua
Since the Eyu-Anhui base area was blockaded and surrounded by enemy troops, the situation of the Red 25th Army became increasingly difficult, so the Red 25th Army decided to break through the enemy's encirclement and establish a new base area.
On November 16, 1934, more than 2,980 members of the Red 25th Army set out from He Jiachong, Luoshan County, Henan Province, to begin the Long March, and since then they have lost contact with the central government.
After entering southern Shaanxi, the Red 25th Army established the revolutionary base area of Eyu and Shaanxi, where it fought against the enemy army, during which it broke the Kuomintang's two encirclements and suppressions, and also enabled itself to develop and grow.
Xu Haidong defeated the Northeast Army countless times at Eyuwan, and 3,000 people annihilated a division of the Northeast Army at ChanglingGang.
Fushanzhai fought with 3,000 people to crush tens of thousands of people in four divisions of the Northeast Army, so that the soldiers of the Northeast Army to the commander were all afraid to hear Xu Haidong's name.
Xu Haidong
During the Xi'an Incident, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng took the initiative to ask Xu Haidong to command the operation, and entrusted the Garrison Brigade and a division of the Northeast Army to him for command.
In July 1935, the Red 25th Army threatened Xi'an, and learned from captured Kuomintang newspapers and messages from traffic officers that the Central Red Army and the Red Fourth Front had successfully met the division and might then move north.
On July 15, Xu Haidong proposed at the emergency Fengyukou conference: "Contain the enemy army and plan the Red Army to go north!" ”
The next day, the Red 25th Army set out from Fengyukou and marched west to Gansu to contain the enemy army and welcome the Red Army north.
In order to prevent the Red Army from moving north, the Kuomintang prepared three lines of defense: the first line of the Sichuan-Gansu border; the first line of the Weishui line; and the first line of the Sealand Highway.
The main mobile unit of the Kuomintang
The Red 25th Army's westward march contained the mobilization of these three lines of defense, and more than 3,000 people pinned down hundreds of thousands of Kuomintang troops.
With the continuous westward advance of the Red 25th Army, the intention to cooperate with the main Red Army to go north became more and more obvious.
In this regard, Chiang Kai-shek issued five consecutive orders, the last of which was: "The reason for investigating the reasons for Xu Haidong's bandits' western string is to plan for Zhu Mao, and now we have formulated the essentials of internal operations, and we should gather superior forces to kill Xu Haidong bandits first, and then fight back against Zhu Mao."
In this way, Xu Haidong led three thousand baby soldiers with an average age of fourteen or fifteen years old to go to the position where the enemy was the most numerous, stuck the enemy's important transportation hub, the Sealand Highway, for 18 days, and overturned the sky in the enemy's heavy army area.
Route of the Red 25th Army's Western Expedition
While crossing the Weishui River, Xu Haidong took precautions and asked a question: "What if we fail to make peace with the main Red Army?" ”
At that time, if we cross the Weishui River south again and return to the Eyu-Shaanxi base area, we are likely to be attacked by the enemy on our stomachs and backs, and the situation will be extremely dangerous.
After several leaders discussed: If they could not receive the main Red Army, they would go directly to northern Shaanxi and meet Liu Zhidan's troops.
After the forecast time arrived, the Red 25th Army resolutely retreated and headed for northern Shaanxi.
During the 10-month Long March, political commissar Wu Huanxian was killed, deputy commander Xu Haidong himself was almost heroic, and military commander Cheng Zihua was seriously injured and could only lie on a stretcher.
Wu Huanxian
First meeting with Chairman Mao
In September 1935, Xu Haidong led the Red 25th Army after many hardships, and finally arrived in northern Shaanxi and successfully met with the Red Army in northern Shaanxi led by Liu Zhidan.
After arriving in northern Shaanxi, the Red 25th Army was already well-dressed and well-equipped after recuperation, and almost every company had six light machine guns, and even the PLA company after the founding of the People's Liberation Army may not be able to compare with the Red Army in northern Shaanxi, let alone the red army in northern Shaanxi reorganized by guerrillas.
After the division, the Red Army was merged into the Red 15th Army, and Xu Haidong served as the commander of the regiment.
In order to consolidate the revolutionary base areas, Xu Haidong on the one hand began to deal with the encirclement and suppression of the Kuomintang, and on the other hand, he also sent personnel to coordinate the Central Red Army to northern Shaanxi.
Xu Haidong
In early November, Xu Haidong led the main force of the Red 15th Army to attack a nearby Kuomintang garrison, and as soon as the battle began, Xu Haidong received news that Chairman Mao would come to the regimental headquarters in the afternoon!
Xu Haidong's excited battle was not fought, and he directly ordered the attack to stop, while he flew on his horse and ran wildly for more than three hours, climbing two mountains and walking 135 kilometers to meet Chairman Mao.
When guests come from home, you go out to greet them, it is a courtesy of several weeks; you go out for hundreds of kilometers to greet them, that is called Chi Chen's affection.
When he saw Chairman Mao, Xu Haidong was already sweating profusely, and he shook Chairman Mao's hand, so excited that he could not even speak.
This was the first meeting between Xu Haidong and Chairman Mao in their lives.
Chairman Mao
Subsequently, Chairman Mao inquired in detail about Xu Haidong's kuomintang encirclement and suppression battle plan, and Xu Haidong said with confidence: "We will definitely be able to crush the 'third encirclement and suppression.'" ”
After learning that the Central Red Army had arrived in northern Shaanxi, Chiang Kai-shek was so anxious that he immediately ordered the mobilization of 5 divisions of the Northeast Army and attacked the Red Army in northern Shaanxi in two ways.
Xu Haidong led the 15th Army from south to north, while the Red Army from north to south laid down a net of heaven and earth to wait for the arrival of the Kuomintang in the town of Zhiluo.
This campaign completely smashed the Kuomintang's three encirclements and suppressions of the Shaanxi-Gansu region, which Chairman Mao called: "A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Task of placing the National Revolutionary Base Camp in the Northwest by the Party Central Committee. ”
There is no ambiguity in "sending charcoal in the snow" for the Party Central Committee
The Central Red Army and the Four Fronts Army, which have gone through countless hardships, have successfully met in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, and the Central Red Army, which has just arrived in northern Shaanxi, can be said to have lived two lives, and people are sleepy and poor.
It was a harsh winter season, and the warriors were not only short of food, but also lack of clothing for the winter.
However, the natural conditions in the Shaanxi-Gansu region are harsh, there are many gentry and local tycoons, and the lives of the masses are also miserable, coupled with the blockade of the Kuomintang army, they are facing many difficulties in establishing a base area here.
After some calculation, it was learned that the army currently had only 1,000 oceans left, but if it wanted to feed 7,000 soldiers for the winter, at least two or three thousand oceans were needed.
How to get the soldiers through this harsh winter became the first problem facing the leaders of the Red Army.
Chairman Mao really couldn't think of a good way to raise money, so he wrote an IOU for Yang Zhicheng, director of the Logistics Department, to bring to Xu Haidong and confessed to him: "We must not let Comrade Haidong feel embarrassed. ”
An IOU written by Chairman Mao
Yang Zhicheng immediately took the IOU and went to Xu Haidong.
After meeting with the Central Committee, Xu Haidong saw that the leaders were thinly dressed and patched on them, so he ordered someone to make some cotton clothes and give them to several leaders, but did not consider the soldiers.
After sending Yang Zhicheng away, Xu Haidong learned that he only had 7,000 silver dollars left, and he also knew that the life of his subordinates was not good, but he could make Chairman Mao open his mouth to borrow, and you can imagine how difficult it should be for the central government.
"We are very difficult, but it is much better than the Central Red Army. Now the revolution needs us, but it needs the Party Central Committee even more! Chairman Mao is needed even more! Even if we freeze to death and starve to death, we must ensure that the central government can survive this winter! ”
The next day, Xu Haidong directly took out 5,000 yuan and sent more than two-thirds of the family to the Party Central Committee.
At the same time, many important materials and firearms were drawn out and sent to the Central Red Army, and it was specially explained: "Firearms must be given to the best."
Xu Haidong also wrote a special letter saying: "Whether it is to send or borrow, the 15th Army is completely subordinate to the leadership of the central authorities."
Xu Haidong
At this time, it was not long before Chairman Mao and others led the Central Red Army to go north alone, and Zhang Guotao established another Central Committee.
The Red 15th Army led by Xu Haidong was subordinate to the Red Fourth Front, and Xu Haidong himself was also an old subordinate of Zhang Guotao.
In this political background, Xu Haidong's approach made Chairman Mao feel a little warmth in the "darkest time."
These 5,000 silver dollars may not seem like much, but in the hands of the Party Central Committee, which has fallen to northern Shaanxi, materials have been cut off, and is on the verge of collapse, it is a gift of life.
At that time, the 15th Army had a total of thousands of well-equipped soldiers, which was only a drop in the ocean in the million army in 1949; but in 1935, among the only more than 10,000 remnants of the army, that is, sending charcoal in the snow, greatly increasing its strength, and being the absolute main force.
In particular, the 15th Army was only stronger than the main forces of Zhang Guotao's Red Fourth Front at that time.
Xu Haidong
Xu Haidong's generous support enabled the Party Central Committee to smoothly tide over the difficulties and effectively restore and strengthen the strength of the Central Red Army.
Chairman Mao has always kept this matter in mind and has always believed that Xu Haidong has made great contributions to the revolution; Peng Dehuai believes that Xu Haidong's five thousand oceans are charcoal in the snow.
Xu Haidong safeguarded the party's discipline and the authority of the party Central Committee at the most crucial moment of the party, swept away the bad influence brought by Zhang Guotao, and can be said to have saved the fate of the party and the revolution.
Calm down and recuperate, the sky will fall
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Xu Haidong led his subordinates to participate in the famous Battle of Pingxingguan, but due to physical reasons, he had to retreat to the rear to recuperate.
In 1939, After a period of recuperation, Xu Haidong found Chairman Mao and strongly demanded to go to the battlefield and drive out the Japanese invaders.
In 1940, Xu Haidong suddenly vomited blood and fell ill at once, and due to his aggravation of his condition, Xu Haidong could only lie on a stretcher and follow the troops.
Xu Haidong
Forbidden to go to the battlefield and forbidden to read documents, Xu Haidong's illness was aggravated again. After the founding of the Country, Soviet experts were surprised to find that most of his lungs were invalid.
When Chairman Mao learned of this, he personally sent him a 200-word telegram, which ended with eight words: "Calm down and recuperate from illness, and the sky will collapse."
Because Xu Haidong was too badly wounded, he could not return to the battlefield until the victory of the Liberation War.
When the title was conferred in 1955, Chairman Mao decided that Xu Haidong, the tenth general, would be ranked second.
When Xu Haidong learned of this, he felt that he had not been on the battlefield for more than ten years and was ashamed of it, so he wrote a letter to the central authorities and asked to resign from the rank of general.
Chairman Mao said firmly: "The great general gives you no high nor low, it is appropriate!" He also sent Zhou Enlai to do his ideological work.
Chairman Mao
In 1960, Xu Haidong and Chairman Mao were neighbors, and in order not to disturb his illness, Chairman Mao would ask the driver to slide from uphill to downhill every time, and then the engine.
When the Ninth National Congress was convened in 1969, Chairman Mao found that Xu Haidong's name was not on the list, so he personally nominated him as a deputy to the Ninth National Congress and served as a member of the presidium.
After Xu Haidong learned about it, he said excitedly: "Chairman nomination, even if it is crawling, I will have to go on my stomach!" ”
On March 25, 1970, Xu Haidong died at the age of 70, and before his death, he repeatedly said:
"I want to see Chairman Mao, and I believe chairman Mao ... I want to see Chairman Mao, and I believe in Chairman Mao! ”
Xu Haidong