In the successive actions of the Kuomintang army to encircle and suppress the Red Army, Chen Cheng was the main force and fought with many famous generals of the Red Army, so who was most impressed by him?
In Chen Cheng's later years, a reporter interviewed him and talked about this topic, Chen Cheng did not mention Peng Dehuai, Lin Biao, Liu Bocheng, Xu Xiangqian and other marshals, but mentioned a general: Li Jukui.
It turned out that during the Battle of Sanjiazhuang in the Fifth "Encirclement and Suppression", Li Jukui had led a regiment of troops, allowing Chen Cheng's three divisions to attack for a day and a night, but they did not attack, and finally had no choice but to withdraw their troops.
This battle made Li Jukui famous in history, and chen Cheng still had a lingering feeling for him until his old age.
Among the founding generals, Li Jukui's fame does not seem to be very large, and he cannot be compared with Xiao Ke, Wang Zhen, Xu Shiyou, Liu Yalou, Yang Dezhi and others, but in fact, Li Jukui is also a fierce general in the history of our army, has fought many very important battles, and even has the reputation of "general saint".
Li Jukui joined the National Revolutionary Army in 1926, participated in the Northern Expedition, and later participated in the famous Pingjiang Uprising with Mr. Peng and became a member of the Red Army. Li Jukui joined the Communist Party of China and was also the introducer to him by Mr. Peng.
After joining the Red Army, Li Jukui fought countless battles, and Li Jukui's figure could be seen in the five "anti-encirclement and suppression" battles, especially in the Fifth "Anti-Encirclement and Suppression" Battle of Sanjiazhuang, which Chen Cheng could not forget until his old age.
After the start of the Long March, Li Jukui served as the commander of the First Division of the Red First Army, became the pioneer of the road, and killed a bloody road for the large troops of the Red Army, like the famous forced crossing of the Dadu River, which is the credit of Li Jukui's Red First Division and the Red Regiment.
Forcibly crossing the Dadu River, everyone remembered the 18 warriors, in fact, at that time, Li Jukui had been sitting in the command post on the riverbank, organizing infantry and artillery coordination, and covering for the warriors crossing the river. It can be said that without his command, 18 warriors would have a hard time crossing the river.
Moreover, Li Jukui's command post on the river bank was within the range of the enemy's artillery fire, and the enemy's single shell could take down his command post, but Li Jukui was completely unafraid, and he did not leave the command post until all 18 warriors successfully crossed the river.
However, this battle that can go down in history, everyone only knows the 18 warriors who crossed the river, and knows very little about Li Jukui's credit, because he is too low-key and never mentions these merits.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, a reporter went to interview him and asked him to talk about his merits in the forced crossing of the Dadu River, but Li Jukui declined, saying: "The success of the forced crossing of the Dadu River is not the credit of me alone, but the credit of all the Red Army soldiers." As for my name being forgotten by history, what's that? The indomitable spirit of our Red Army has been passed down through the ages, and this is the most important thing. ”
In addition, Li Jukui also saved The life of Mr. Peng, if Mr. Peng had not personally brought it up, no one would have known.
It was just after the end of the Pingjiang Uprising, and there were still many people in the ranks who had opinions, and once when Mr. Peng was presiding over a meeting, suddenly a subordinate pulled out a pistol and fired a shot at Mr. Peng!
If this shot really hit Mr. Peng, the consequences would be unimaginable! Saying that it was late and fast, at the moment when the person fired, Li Jukui pounced on it, threw the person down, and the bullet also deviated from the direction, allowing Mr. Peng to escape the disaster!
Most of the people who experienced this incident later died, and Li Jukui himself never mentioned it to anyone, so no one knew.
It wasn't until after the founding of the People's Republic of China that Mr. Peng once mentioned this matter, and everyone knew that Li Jukui still had such a great credit.
In the period of the all-out War of Resistance, Li Jukui served as the chief of staff of the 386th Brigade of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army and the commander of the anti-Japanese advance column, and fought many good battles, and the Japanese army also had a headache for him, saying that Li Jukui used "China's first-class guerrilla tactics."
At that time, Li Jukui organized the emptying of Qinyuan City, and after the Japanese army entered the city, he mobilized heavy troops to besiege Qinyuan City, and the Japanese troops in the city could not even find a grain of rice, they could not get out of the city, and the reinforcements could not come in, and finally they could only surrender.
When Chairman Mao found out, he greatly appreciated it and specially instructed the publication of an editorial entitled "Salute to the Qinyuan Soldiers and Civilians" in the "Liberation Daily," praising: "The exemplary Qinyuan and the strong and indomitable Qinyuan are a banner of the Taiyue Anti-Japanese Base Area." ”
During the Liberation War, Li Jukui served as chief of staff of the Western Manchuria Military Region, participated in such campaigns as "Three Lower Jiangnan, Four Bao Linjiang" and other campaigns, and was later named by Lin Biao as the director of the Logistics Department of the Fourth Field Army, effectively guaranteeing the logistics supply of the Four Field Army.
As we all know, during the Period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, fried noodles were a necessary field food, and the so-called "one mouthful of fried noodles and one mouthful of snow" was very arduous, but it also greatly solved the problem of supply for the Chinese volunteer army. But few people know that in fact, fried noodles were proposed and invented by Li Jukui.
In view of the situation that the logistics supply of the Chinese volunteer army could not keep up, Li Jukui remembered that on the Long March Road, the common people gave him fried noodles, so he proposed to make fried noodles, a field food, which is convenient for preservation and easy to carry, which greatly solved the problem of eating for the volunteer army.
When he was awarded the title in 1955, Li Jukui's seniority and merit were enough to award the rank of general, at least a general, but unfortunately, he was serving as the minister of petroleum at that time, and according to the regulations, he could not be awarded a military rank.
Until 1958, Li Jukui returned to the army as the political commissar of the General Logistics Department, and needed to have a military rank, and Xu Liqing, who was responsible for the evaluation of the rank, personally went to Li Jukui and said that now the "ten major generals" had already been decided, and it was not easy to change, and he wanted to hear his opinion.
Li Jukui didn't care at all, and said generously: "If it is low, it is high, and the general will do it." ”
In this way, Li Jukui became the last founding general to be awarded the title.
In 1984, when General Li Jukui was 80 years old, he wrote in his diary: "Even if I am given greater power, I will never use power for personal gain; even if I am given more money, I will never lose my hard struggle; even if I live another 80 years old, I will never stop moving forward." ”
On June 25, 1995, General Li Jukui died of illness at the age of 91.
(References: Memoirs of Li Jukui, Admiral Li Jukui, Anecdotes of the Founding General)
——To learn more about the story of the founding generals, you can check out the column of the history inn, a total of 100 founding generals.