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In February 1954, Chairman Mao received a report on the appointment of Comrade Huang Kecheng as acting chief of the General Staff. Chairman Mao did not hesitate to instruct: Agree.
Please note that this is the most interesting moment in the history of the General Staff of our army, because there were as many as four leaders in name or in fact at that time. Which four? General Staff Chief Xu Qianqian, Acting Chief of General Staff Nie Rongzhen, Deputy Chief of General Staff Su Yu, and then Huang Kecheng.
Why is it that with so many leaders, Huang Kecheng, who is slightly lower, should be responsible for acting as president? It turned out that Xu Niesu and everyone at that time had their own difficulties.
Xu Qianqiang was the first chief of the general staff after the founding of New China, but he suffered from exhaustion and illness during the revolutionary war, and his health was very poor; he did not take up his post for most of the year after serving as general commander, and he was in a state of recuperation. In May 1951, when the situation in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was tense, Xu Qianqian dragged his sick body to the Soviet Union for negotiations and asked the Soviet side to provide some military assistance. This trip to a foreign country aggravated Xu Qianqian's illness, and after returning to China, he fell ill again and was directly unable to work. The post of chief of the general staff was taken over by Nie Rongzhen.
During Nie Rongzhen's tenure as acting chief general, he coincided with the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. Fighting a war is not only a matter of operational command; it is a matter of recruitment, training, replenishment of equipment, military industry, national defense in all directions, and other affairs. Nie Rongzhen was so busy for more than two years that he had no time to rest, and often could not sleep for two or three days in a row. For a while, Nie Rongzhen would close his door to thank guests as soon as he arrived on Sunday (it was a Sunday single holiday), unless there was an extremely important matter, and everyone else was seen, and the secretary handled the small matters on his behalf. What about him? After breakfast, I fell asleep and slept until four or five o'clock in the afternoon. Later, because the military affairs of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea were too heavy, the Central Military Commission canceled the public holidays of major organs. The high-intensity exertion destroyed Nie Zong's body, and once he returned to the office after eating, wanted to sit down and rest, and before he could sit down, he fell down as soon as it was dark.
After examination, Mr. Nie's disease was brain balance nerve disorders, high blood pressure, heart disease, and he had to be strictly bedridden. Nie Rongzhen half-rested and half-worked, and insisted on it for more than a year, and by the spring of 1953, the pressure on the Korean battlefield had eased, and Chairman Mao personally asked Nie Rongzhen to go to rest and recuperate, and Nie Rongzhen went to Hangzhou for recuperation.
What about Su Yu? After the war in East China was completed, Su Yu's health was no longer good, various diseases, and the pressure of combat command exceeded the standard for many years, and once the major event was over, Su Yu also entered a state of recuperation. By December 1951, because the General Staff lacked a leader who was skilled in operational command, Chairman Mao and Mr. Zhu had always pinned their hopes on Xu Qianqian, but Xu Qianqian's health did not improve, so he asked Su Yu to work in the Central Military Commission and made him the second deputy chief of the general staff. After Su Yu took office in early 1952, he was in charge of operations, training, and the work of the navy, air force and various special forces. At that time, Huang Kecheng was the third deputy commander-in-chief.
Although Su Yu is said to be the second deputy chief of the general staff, his area of responsibility is at the top of the general staff ranking, and according to the general practice, the chief of Nie Dynasty is unable to take up his post due to illness, and Su Yu should be in charge. However, Su Yu's health is still not optimistic, and he went to the Soviet Union for treatment for half a year, and he still could not insist on working for a long time.
Therefore, in February 1954, the General Staff Department held a meeting on the adjustment of the division of labor among the leaders, which further clarified the division of labor among the deputy commanders, and Su Yu was still in charge of the original work, but did not act as the chief when Nie Rongzhen was recuperating. and represented by Huang Kecheng.
When Huang Kecheng heard this, he cried bitterly and said to Nie Rongzhen that I can't do it to Mr. Nie. Huang Kecheng was not modest; in June 1953, he had already written to Chairman Mao, requesting that some more young and powerful comrades be transferred to the General Staff to assist Nie and Su, but Chairman Mao somehow did not reply to Huang Kecheng.
Nie Rongzhen knew the reason, so he made an application with confidence, and after General Peng's approval, he submitted it to the Central Military Commission and submitted it to Chairman Mao for approval, and Chairman Mao really agreed very happily. In this way, none of the top three leaders of the General Staff Department is actually responsible for the overall work, and it is really interesting that Huang Kecheng, who ranks fourth, is acting as an agent.
What's the mystery? In fact, Mao, Peng, and Nie all had far-reaching considerations, but they did not tell Huang Kecheng.
Seeing this, everyone should be able to roughly guess that Xu Niesu and the three could not perform their duties due to illness, although it was a major reason for asking Huang Kecheng to be responsible, but not all of the reasons, not even 50%.
So what is the reason for the other half? This also starts with Huang Kecheng leaving Hunan.
In July 1952, Huang Kecheng presided over the work in Hunan for almost three years, which was probably the happiest time in Huang Kecheng's life, ending the war, the people finally began to live a peaceful and stable life, and all sectors of society were prosperous. Especially in the hometown to preside over the work, do your best to make some contributions to the hometown fathers, this is probably everyone's wish.
Just when Huang Kecheng was doing a hot job, the central authorities suddenly issued an order to let him go to Beijing to serve as deputy chief of general staff and chief of general logistics. Huang Kecheng had not received any greetings from the central leaders before, and he was about to leave suddenly, and he was inevitably reluctant in his heart. However, Huang Kecheng was a good cadre with great organization and discipline, and as soon as his superiors called him, he immediately obeyed his orders.
The transfer of provincial responsible persons is very important and will have a great impact on the work of one province and one place. The central authorities are willing to pay such a price, which naturally has a reason.
It turned out that in the early 50s, our army's logistics support work was at a moment of historic change, and it needed a person who was extremely responsible, visionary, and very good at organizing and coordinating to serve as the chief of general logistics.
What is the historic shift? Before the founding of New China, our army's logistical support work had several characteristics: poverty, scatteredness, and destruction. Small means that the system is small and the plate is small, the logistics system is weak in manpower and material resources, there is no money, and it is impossible to build a military industry. For example, the logistics materials of the East China Field Army are up to the East China Bureau itself, and the central authorities cannot manage it, nor can it afford it, and there is no money. Moreover, at that time, the operational zones of the central authorities and the major field armies were isolated from each other, and even if they had money and food, they could not send them, so it was not systematic, and the major military regions had their own methods.
At that time, Huaye relied purely on the common people and migrant workers, so Marshal Chen Yi said that the victory in the Huaihai Battle was pushed by the masses of the people with small carts. Because Siye occupied a developed industrial zone in the northeast, it was already possible to rely on railway transportation for logistical support during the Liaoshen Campaign.
Not to mention broken, most of the weapons and equipment could not be manufactured, heavy weapons were all taken from the enemy, when New China was founded, military parades were held, and the guns used by the troops were all made by all countries, and some were even captured during the War of Resistance and were tattered.
After the founding of New China, the logistics support cannot still be like this, Chairman Mao, Mr. Zhu and Mr. Peng discussed that they would not be able to learn now, so they would follow the model of Big Brother in the north, what systems and departments people have, let's first follow the cat and draw tigers, and establish a modern logistics system step by step. This thing starts almost from scratch, it is difficult, very tiring, and it will definitely offend people, who is most suitable to do this kind of thing? The central government searched around, and it really had to be done by Huang Kecheng.
During the war years, Huang Kecheng was famous for adhering to principles and daring to speak out, and the most important thing was that he was extremely insightful and able to judge the law of an event before others and put forward the correct strategy before others.
After Huang Kecheng took office, he did not rush to standardize the work of the General Logistics Department step by step in accordance with the steps of investigation, judgment, integration, and breakthrough; he understood that this was a groundbreaking thing in New China, and it was no easier than engaging in socialist modernization; the more severe the situation and the heavier the tasks, the more calm he became; Zhou Enlai especially praised him for being able to do things and grasp the general situation.
Soon after taking office, Huang Kecheng began to do things that offended people.
There are many problems in the operation of the old logistics support model and the construction of the new logistics system, such as the reclassification and attribution of materials; the surplus of a certain military region must be transferred to the central authorities; the surplus of a certain military region must be transferred to a military region in short supply, and many military region leaders are reluctant to give it. Huang Kecheng spent a lot of energy to find them to do work, they are all old comrades who came over during the war years, born and died, everyone has friendships, but the more friends there are, the more difficult it is to say, and Huang Kecheng has not offended people in this process.
What offends people the most is dealing with waste. At the beginning of 1953, Huang Kecheng received a report that the units issued by the East China, North China, Central South China, and the Armored Corps Command had common problems such as wood being soaked and scrapped, improper oil storage deterioration, bombs and mines rusting, and furniture damage.
Huang Kecheng understands very well that one or two problems may be the responsibility of the custodians at the bottom, but a large number of common problems arise and are the responsibility of the leadership. What to do? It's tricky. The leaders of the Eastern, Northern, and Central South regions are all highly respected commanders, and Huang Kecheng did not care about 3721 and sent letters to the commanders and political commissars of major bureaus and regions, reminding them that they must properly rectify their own systems. In particular, the widespread problem of attaching importance to wealth over material and goods, whether or not those things were seized from the Kuomintang troops, is now the property of the people and cannot be wasted at will.
After his vigorous rectification, this phenomenon has been effectively reversed.
The rectification of the Ministry of Health of the General Logistics Department highlights Huang Kecheng's spirit of responsibility. For a long time, the Ministry of Health has had a dual subordinate relationship, reporting to the Central Military Commission on operational work and subordinating itself to the General Logistics Department in peacetime. In fact, there is no substantive right or wrong in dual subordination, this is a command relationship that has been formed for a long time during the revolutionary war years. However, after the establishment of a formal system, the Ministry of Health will be prone to chaotic wars if it asks for more instructions.
When Huang Kecheng inspected the work of the troops, he found that the troops were organizing an all-army health appraisal competition, in which grass was not allowed to exist in the barracks of the troops, 1 to 3 rodents were exterminated per capita, and 5,000 to 8,000 insects were killed per person in summer and autumn.
Huang Kecheng asked strangely who was responsible for this work, and the troops below said it was the Ministry of Health. Huang Kecheng was very annoyed, because General Manager Peng had already instructed that the whole army did not have to hold a big sanitation competition this year, but should focus on military training, and sanitation and cleaning work could be regarded as daily work.
When I went back and asked, it turned out that the Ministry of Health was in the habit of double reporting, and sometimes some operational work was ordered without the consent of the General Logistics Department. The Ministry of Health's starting point is good, and engaging in public hygiene is also conducive to the health of officers and men, but we must pay attention to unity in everything we do, otherwise it will be chaotic. Huang Kecheng immediately suggested to the Central Military Commission and Chairman Mao that the subordination of the Ministry of Health must be thoroughly sorted out, otherwise the more this continues, the more chaotic it will become.
Chairman Mao personally reviewed Huang Kecheng's report and deeply agreed with his vision, and thereafter, the Ministry of Health was exclusively subordinate to the General Logistics Department and no longer under dual subordination. Similar problems were solved and never recurred.
Breaking the old and building the new is the work of offending people, and it is also the work of water mills, and ordinary people really can't do it. Therefore, in 1954, when the General Staff Department decided on the candidate for acting chief of the General Staff, Chairman Mao and Nie Rongzhen unanimously chose Huang Kecheng.
Discerning people may see that Huang Kecheng's main task is not to grasp the work of the General Rear Guard? Why did you let him be in charge of the work of the General Staff and take care of it? It is certain that Chairman Mao has other deep concerns.
It turned out that around 1954, all major branches and arms and various systems of the whole army were engaged in large-scale construction, and the responsible persons of all major services and arms and departments were generals who had experienced a hundred battles, and they were very ambitious and confident, and they were determined to push the construction of their own system and field to a very high level in the shortest possible time.
This is a good thing, but a good thing needs the greatest support: financial resources.
At that time, all branches and departments of the armed forces drew up ambitious construction plans and submitted them to the Central Military Commission. Chairman Mao was very embarrassed after reading it, and asked Huang Kecheng if he could do it, but Huang Kecheng shook his head and said that the amount of funds was too large. When I asked Premier Zhou again, Premier Zhou was also embarrassed, and he would definitely not be able to do so many big things in a short time.
But it has to be done. For example, the navy proposed to develop a large-scale naval fleet as soon as possible, which must be done. But spending too much money and reporting the budget to the Central Military Commission feels too difficult to start.
Similar things abounded at the time. Chairman Mao put Huang Kecheng in charge of the work of the General Staff Department, and was also in charge of the General Staff, which actually blessed Huang Kecheng's identity and allowed him to solve and balance these problems with stronger qualifications.
Huang Kecheng quickly understood. Soon after the acting General Staff Department, a high-level meeting of responsible leaders of various services and arms and major regions was held to discuss the construction tasks. His core idea is to spend the least amount of money to do the fastest and most effective things, but also to take into account the long term, and start doing the things that should lay the foundation.
This kind of matter is more difficult than rectifying a few departments and promoting and dismissing a few cadres; it is necessary to have the vision and mind to take the overall situation into account and to have the responsibility to dare to offend people. Even Huang Kecheng, who is accustomed to breaking mountains and stones, also feels very embarrassed. Whose budget is it going to compress? It's too hard.
At this time, Mr. Peng unexpectedly gave Huang Kecheng an assist.
It turned out that after General Peng inspected the border defense construction in Liaodong and Shandong, he felt that it was relatively weak and did not meet the basic requirements of national defense, so he instructed various departments to carry out major repairs to the national defense fortifications in Liaodong, Shandong, Shanghai, Zhoushan, Hainan, and other places, which were planned to be completed within five years.
After learning of this plan, Huang Kecheng felt that the project was too vast, so he instructed the relevant departments of the General Staff Department and the General Logistics Department to conduct comprehensive research and evaluation, mainly to come up with an accurate budget and construction period. Huang Kecheng did this at the risk, because Mr. Peng had already set the tone to do it, and when he went to investigate at this time, he obviously did not agree with Mr. Peng's opinion. But Huang Kecheng insisted on completing the research, and later formed a comprehensive report and presented it to General Manager Peng. When Mr. Peng saw it, it was really too big and too urgent, and he blamed himself for not making a good estimate at the beginning, if so many manpower, material and financial resources were invested in national defense projects within five years, I am afraid that other fields would not even be able to uncover the pot.
Mr. Peng is also a very pragmatic person, and immediately ordered the relevant departments to compress and reduce the construction project, extend the time, and do what they can.
This incident spread and won the praise of the whole army. With this incident as a foundation, Huang Kecheng sought various services and arms and departments to reduce their budgets and adjust and control construction projects, and it was even smoother.
After that, Huang Kecheng was in charge of the work of the two departments of the General Staff Department and the General Logistics Department, especially in charge of the finances of the whole army, and no one could say anything anymore. Chairman Mao was really right to use Huang Kecheng as this "official."