In late April 1934, the 25th Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, led by commander Xu Haidong and political commissar Wu Huanxian, moved to northwestern Anhui and northwestern Hubei.
On May 16, Xu Haidong and Wu Huanxian led the whole army after a long-distance attack, and suddenly launched a surprise attack on the enemy in Luotian County, Hubei Province. The enemy never expected that the Red Army would come like a divine soldier from heaven, and the army was in great confusion, and it almost did not organize a decent resistance before declaring a rout.
The Red Army not only annihilated the enemy in the city, but also captured a considerable number of weapons and equipment. What is even more gratifying is that the soldiers also seized more than 7,000 silver dollars in the enemy's warehouse, and gave the Red Twenty-fifth Army, which lacked clothing and food and was difficult to supply, a "charcoal in the snow."
The great victory of our army made the troops rejoice, so much so that at the post-war summary meeting, almost one-sided praises were sung, mostly affirming that the troops had fought well, and everyone's face was filled with a satisfied smile.
Unexpectedly, at this moment, a small cadre with a small head and a childish face suddenly spoke a surprising language.
"The victory in the Battle of Luo Tian is gratifying, but the scale is not large, and the results are not particularly brilliant, and I hope that everyone will not be carried away by this small victory!" As soon as he opened his mouth, he poured a basin of cold water on the crowd.
In the astonished eyes of everyone, the small cadre calmly continued: "In this battle, we do have some good places to fight, but there are many problems, and if we do not pay attention to it now, it may bring serious disasters to the troops in the future!" ”
As soon as this remark came out, everyone in the audience was not happy, and they all felt that the word "disaster" sounded extremely harsh, so they accused the small cadres of openly "singing the opposite tone" and for a while there was a clamor and chaos in the venue.
"Let's be quiet! Don't worry, everyone has the right to speak, let this little comrade finish his words! Military Commander Xu Haidong saw the situation and quickly stood up to rectify the order of the venue.
The small cadre looked at Commander Xu gratefully, cleared his throat, and continued: "My words may sound uncomfortable to everyone, but I remember a sentence that the political commissar said to me before -- as a revolutionary fighter, whether you face defeat or victory, you must be calm and objective, and you can't 'blind your eyes and see Mount Tai; two ear plugs and beans, and don't smell thunder'. ”
It can be said that this sentence is said at a very high level, although it is a quote from Wu Huanxian's political commissar, it is just right, and everyone is silent.
"For this battle, I think there are three very obvious deficiencies, all of which cannot be avoided!" Although the face and voice of the small cadres were still childish, when they said this, their eyes were firm and their tone was resolute.
"First of all, there is a problem with the fire organization, our light machine guns and heavy machine guns have strong firepower, although they fought happily, they did not give full play to the role of providing cover for the assault troops, and it was a bit upside down, so that there were some unnecessary casualties during the assault.
"Secondly, when we withdrew from the city after the victory, we did not make reasonable arrangements, resulting in a relatively chaotic order, and if the enemy organized troops and firepower at this time to kill a 'return gun', it would not be possible to give the victory that had already arrived to the enemy!"
"Third, our pistol regiment took the enemy's warehouse half an hour later than the original plan, resulting in some of the materials and salaries being transported away by the enemy in a disorderly manner, which is undoubtedly a major loss for us..."
As soon as these words were uttered, everyone in the audience was very surprised, and they did not expect that a small cadre who was inconspicuous would stand at such a high angle and analyze the problems so thoroughly. What is even more admirable is his courage, and it does not matter whether his opinion will offend the chief, like a bamboo tube pouring beans, speaking without bending the bend.
Military commander Xu Haidong and political commissar Wu Huanxian listened to the speeches of the dismissed small cadres, looked at each other, and nodded their heads frequently in unison.
"What's your name?" What is your current position? How old is this year? Xu Haidong smiled and said to the small cadre.
The young cadre immediately saluted and replied: "Report commander, I am Liu Zhen, the deputy squad leader of the first squad of the first detachment of the pistol regiment, and I just turned eighteen two months ago!" ”
"Well, Comrade Liu Zhen! I remember! Xu Haidong said with some excitement, "Comrades, Liu Zhen just said very well!" I am very happy to see that among our grassroots cadres, there are people like Comrade Liu Zhen who can calmly and rationally look at successes and failures! ”
He went on to say: "Although he did not talk about much, he summed it up very well, and every deficiency was a fact, and everything was said to the point!" I hope that everyone will seriously think about the few issues he just talked about, and according to their performance in the battle, they will change them if they have them, and encourage them if they have none! ”
In addition, from Comrade Liu Zhen's speech just now, it is not difficult to see that he has full potential to become a combat commander. Although he was still young, he had a calm and wise mind that was not commensurate with his age. After consulting with Political Commissar Wu, I decided to promote Comrade Liu Zhen to the instructor of the 224th Regiment, The First Battalion, and the First Company, and congratulate Comrade Liu Zhen! ”
Liu Zhen, relying on a speech in the style of "singing the opposite tone," was directly promoted from deputy squad leader to company-level cadre, achieving a three-level promotion in a row, which not only proved Liu Zhen's ability, but also fully embodied Xu Haidong's wisdom and boldness in "using talents in an eclectic manner."
The venue suddenly erupted into thunderous applause, and Liu Zhen, who had only half a day to return to his senses under the surprise, laughed with some embarrassment.
Xu Haidong did not look away, and it turned out that Liu Zhen was indeed a good seedling worth cultivating, and he was a general.
In the revolutionary war that followed, Liu Zhen was constantly tempered and tested, and gradually grew into an excellent military commander in the history of our army, and made outstanding meritorious contributions in his agrarian revolutionary war, the War of Resistance Against Japan, the War of Liberation, and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and was even praised among the people as "the first fierce general of the four wildernesses" (the specific ownership is different).
In 1955, Liu Zhen, who was already the deputy commander of our army's air force and commander of the air force of the Northeast Military Region, was awarded the rank of general, while Xu Haidong, who had the insight to see people and promoted Liu Zhen to three consecutive grades 21 years ago, became the founding general.