Chen Cheng basically did not win any victorious battles during the Liberation War, which was very different from his performance during the Northern Expedition and the War of Resistance, but Chen Cheng's luck was also bad enough, he first encountered Chen Yi and Su Yu's East China Field Army in the Shandong battlefield, Su Yu defeated Chen Cheng three times in a row, and annihilated more than 300,000 Chen Cheng's troops.
Chen Cheng photo
In the later stages of the Northeast War, Chen Cheng, as Du Yuming's successor, went to the northeast to preside over the overall situation, and the unfortunate Chen Cheng met another famous general of our army, Lin Biao, who was then the commander of the Northeast Field Army, and Lin Biao annihilated Chen Cheng's 150,000 men and horses with only one victory in the winter offensive, which was regarded as a complete attack on Chen Cheng into Chiang Kai-shek's cold palace.
Su Yu and Lin Biao, both belonged to the level of commanders of the God of War, and the major battles they commanded throughout the Liberation War combined, the number of annihilated enemies exceeded one million, chen Cheng had fought against such famous generals as Su Yu and Lin Biao, how could he possibly win?
Chen Cheng returned from defeat in the northeast, and Chiang Kai-shek completely lost confidence in him militarily, and Chen Cheng's old rival He Yingqin said sarcastically: "Chen Cheng alone has lost the elite of the party-state, and now our war situation is in such a passive situation, Chen Cheng is half responsible!" ”
When He Yingqin said this, he was holding the post of director of the Chongqing Xingyuan Office, which was actually an idle post, because Chongqing was not a major theater in the first and middle periods of the Liberation War, and He Yingqin's post in Chongqing was actually removed from all important posts, because He Yingqin had previously held the two important posts of commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang army and chief of staff.
After He Yingqin lost the battle with Chen Cheng, his position as commander-in-chief of the army fell into gu Zhutong's hands, and the post of chief of staff was taken away by Chen Cheng.
If we talk about seniority, whether it is Chen Cheng or Gu Zhutong, the two of them and He Yingqin are incomparable, when He Yingqin was the commander-in-chief of the army, Gu Zhutong was only a division commander, and Chen Cheng's company commander was not yet mixed.
So how exactly did Chen Cheng defeat He Yingqin in the power struggle? Today's article will explore this process.
In fact, the process of Chen Chengdou winning over He Yingqin was not easy, and Chen Chengxing's goal took a full 18 years, just as Chairman Mao later said when he evaluated Chen Cheng: "Chen Cheng, a man of great ambition and talent, is not as good as Su Yu and Lin Biao militarily, and he also knows the art of power and strategy, but just this little bit of power strategy will drive He Yingqin, the old fox, out of power!" ”
First of all, there are many concubines of Chiang Kai-shek, and there are a total of eight people who can rank up, and these eight people are called the "Eight Great King Kongs" under Chiang Kai-shek, and these eight people are: He Yingqin, Chen Cheng, Gu Zhutong, Liu Zhi, Zhang Zhizhong, Qian Dajun, Jiang Dingwen, and Chen Ji.
These eight people were the first people Chiang Kai-shek trusted after he became the head of the Kuomintang, and with the passage of time, various things happened, and the ranking of this list slowly changed, and He Yingqin, who was originally ranked first, slowly lagged behind Chen Cheng and Gu Zhutong.
In addition to these eight people, Chiang Kai-shek also trusted Hu Zongnan and Tang Enbo, and although these two people did not enter the list of the "Eight Great Kongs," among the senior generals on the Kuomintang front, these two men commanded the army for the longest time and participated in the most battles, which belonged to the two trump cards that Chiang Kai-shek had always trusted in his heart.
However, in the face of Peng Dehuai and Su Yu, Hu Zongnan and Tang Enbo faced only defeat, Hu Zongnan's army was beaten to pieces by Peng Dehuai in the northwest battlefield, and Tang Enbo, as Su Yu's old opponent, was defeated by Su Yu in the Shandong Battlefield, the Huaihai Battlefield, the Battle of Crossing the River, and the Shanghai Campaign.
Chen Cheng and He Yingqin's fighting method began in 1926, this period was in the period of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communists, and the joint Northern Expedition, Chen Cheng had not yet become a division commander during the first Northern Expedition, and He Yingqin was already the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition East Road Army.
After the failure of the first crusade against Chen Jiongming, Chiang Kai-shek immediately launched the Second Northern Expedition, this time Chiang Kai-shek, Li Zongren, and He Yingqin served as the commanders of various large armies, and just before the Northern Expedition began, Chiang Kai-shek was ready to promote Chen Cheng to be the commander of the reorganized 11th Division, but this matter was opposed by He Yingqin.
Photo of He Yingqin
The contradiction between Chen Cheng and He Yingqin began from here, and the reason given by He Yingqin was: "Chen Cheng is only 30 years old, and the accumulation of battle merit is not enough, and this matter makes it difficult for him to convince the public as a division commander, so let's wait until he makes meritorious contributions later!" ”
Chiang Kai-shek was not good at dismissing He Yingqin's face to face, so he said in a vague manner: "Chen Cheng's troops have exceeded four regiments before, in fact, he already has the experience of being a division commander, and he is almost a chance to be justified, but you are also right, it is better to let him become a deputy division commander of the reorganized 11th Division, and the division commander will let Cao Wanshun serve as it!" ”
Why was Chiang Kai-shek able to suppress He Yingqin all his life? From this incident, we can see the subtlety of it, Chiang Kai-shek's words are equivalent to giving both sides a step down, you He Yingqin does not agree with Chen Cheng as a division commander, I give you this face, then I let him be a deputy division commander, has taken a step back, you always have to give me a face!
He Yingqin had no choice but to agree to Chiang Kai-shek's decision to appoint Chen Cheng as the deputy commander of the reorganized 11th Division, so what was the role of Cao Wanshun, the commander of the 11th Division?
Cao Wanshun was born in the old army, was formerly the head horse of the Fujian warlord Li Fengxiang, and later led his troops to join the Nationalist army, gaining the trust of He Yingqin, but Chiang Kai-shek saw that this Cao Wanshun would not be Chen Cheng's opponent.
Indeed, after Chen Cheng came to the reorganized 11th Army, he installed his trusted Huangpu concubines into the 11th Division, including Hu Lian, who later gave Su Yudu a headache, and Cao Wanshun gradually lost control of the 11th Division, at this time Chiang Kai-shek casually found a reason to transfer Cao Wanshun to another place, and Chen Cheng naturally became the commander of the reorganized 11th Division.
The reorganized 11th Division later became the unit on which Chen Cheng started, so why was Chen Cheng's faction in the Kuomintang called the Civil Engineering Department? The earth characters are split into eleven, and the wooden characters are broken up into eighteen, which means that the troops on which Chen Cheng started were the reorganized 11th Division and the reorganized 18th Army, so most of Chen Cheng's concubines were from these two units.
After Chen Cheng became the commander of the reorganized 11th Division, He Yingqin was greatly dissatisfied, and often embarrassed Chen Cheng in the distribution of military supplies, and Chen Cheng's contradiction with He Yingqin deepened day by day, but at this time, Chen Cheng was still only a small division commander, and with Chiang Kai-shek's moodiness, Chen Cheng knew that he had to make Chiang Kai-shek trust himself more.
Soon after the end of the Second Northern Expedition, Wang Jingwei established a separate National Government in Wuhan, and he joined forces with Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi to openly oppose Chiang Kai-shek and force Chiang Kai-shek to step down, and he Yingqin at that time carefully considered and thought that Chiang Kai-shek had made too many enemies over the years and was unable to return to heaven, so he secretly supported Wang Jingwei, Li Zongren, and Bai Chongxi.
When Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi asked Chiang Kai-shek to step down at the meeting, Chiang Kai-shek looked at He Yingqin several times and three times, and he meant to let He Yingqin speak to support himself, but He Yingqin made up his mind at this time to stand on Li Zongren's side and never said a word, and finally Chiang Kai-shek had no choice but to electrify him and go to the field.
After Chiang Kai-shek left, Chen Cheng immediately added fuel to the fire and said: "Why didn't Minister He Yingqin speak at the meeting, why didn't he openly support the principal!" ”
Chen Cheng's reminder made Chiang Kai-shek greatly annoyed with He Yingqin, and he said angrily: "If He Yingqin had just openly supported me, I would not have left the wilderness, and he would have already committed adultery with Li Zongren and others!" ”
This incident became the beginning of the contradiction between He Yingqin and Chiang Kai-shek, and Chen Cheng seized this opportunity to make full use of the contradiction between He Yingqin and Chiang Kai-shek, knowing that Chiang Kai-shek only stepped down from office as president, while the post of head of the Kuomintang party was still firmly in the hands of Chiang Kai-shek, that is to say, Chiang Kai-shek was only a nominal inferior, and he still held real power in his hands.
Group photo of Chen Cheng and Chiang Kai-shek
After Chiang Kai-shek left the wilderness, he went to live in Japan, Li Zongren and He Yingqin and others gradually controlled some of the military and political power, but these two people were really incompetent, the warlords from all over the country united, Sun Chuanfang and others launched a counterattack against the Kuomintang troops, and after several battles, the warlords' troops won one victory after another, and even approached Nanjing, the capital of the Kuomintang at that time.
The changes in the situation always came quickly, and even Chiang Kai-shek himself did not expect that Li Zongren and He Yingqin would be so useless, and when the opportunity came, Chiang Kai-shek instigated important figures within the Kuomintang to unite against Li Zongren and He Yingqin, and at this time He Yingqin was faced with an embattled situation, and finally Li Zongren and others had no choice but to invite Chiang Kai-shek back to command the overall situation again.
As soon as Chiang Kai-shek returned, he pointed the finger at He Yingqin, who removed All He Yingqin from his posts, and He Yingqin asked many people to intercede, and Chiang Kai-shek gave He Yingqin the post of chief of staff of the Eastern Route Army.
At this time, Chen Cheng, because he always supported Chiang Kai-shek, gained chiang kai-shek's trust, Chen Cheng began to hold many important positions, Chen Cheng was promoted by Chiang Kai-shek to be the commander of the national revolutionary army headquarters guard, this position is very important, can directly command Chiang Kai-shek's guard, including four gendarmerie regiments, two guards directly controlled by Chiang Kai-shek, that is to say, Chiang Kai-shek gave all his life to Chen Cheng's protection.
When the Central Plains War broke out in 1930, Chiang Kai-shek faced the joint challenge of Wang Jingwei, Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan, and Li Zongren, and he decided to fight to the death, and this great chaos lasted for a year.
Chen Cheng was highly valued by Chiang Kai-shek during this period, promoted to commander of the 18th Army, and led his troops to the front to participate in the Central Plains War, before leaving Chiang Kai-shek said to Chen Cheng: "This battle will determine my future fate, if I win this battle, the four seas will surrender, if we lose this battle, I am afraid that all of us will die and die!" ”
Chen Cheng remembered Chiang Kai-shek's words, and under the unfavorable situation of Chiang Kai-shek's various units fighting in the early stages, Chen Cheng led the 18th Army to start his own highlight performance.
Chen Cheng personally led the reorganized 11th Division of the 18th Army to the front line, when Feng Yuxiang's troops attacked Luoyang in divisions, Chen Cheng stationed in Xiangyang with the strength of one division to block Feng Yuxiang's troops, and in this battle Feng Yuxiang used the strength of four divisions to go straight to Luoyang, and Chen Cheng only garrisoned the outskirts of Xiangyang with the strength of one division.
The two sides soon began an encounter, and Chen Cheng set up his headquarters within the range of Feng Yuxiang, which greatly boosted the morale of the reorganized 11th Division, and after two days of fierce fighting, Feng Yuxiang's main force was defeated.
Chen Cheng turned the tide of the battle, and then Chiang Kai-shek's side entered the counter-offensive stage, and when attacking Jinan, Chen Cheng led his troops to make another meritorious contribution, defeating the combined forces of Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan in one fell swoop.
In the end, the Central Plains War ended with Chiang Kai-shek's victory, and after this war, Chen Cheng officially became Chiang Kai-shek's most trusted person, and there was no one. And what happened during the Central Plains War made He Yingqin completely hate Chen Cheng.
At that time, He Yingqin had a close associate who was serving as a regimental commander under Chen Cheng, this person was also Liu Zhi's nephew, his name was Liu Tianduo, this person violated the military order, Chen Cheng ordered him to be shot, Chen Cheng's subordinates said: "Li Tianduo is He Yingqin's close confidant, do we want to say hello to He Yingqin?" ”
Chen Cheng said, "Don't say that he is a close confidant of He Yingqin, even if he is He Yingqin's own son, I dare to kill him!" You just have to shoot this person, and if He Yingqin has an opinion, let him come to me!" ”
Chen Cheng's words reached He Yingqin's ears, He Yingqin jumped like thunder, he vowed to destroy Chen Cheng, He Yingqin realized at this time that he could no longer idle, must regain Chiang Kai-shek's trust, at this time he began to actively plan for his own efforts.
He Yingqin was an old fox, and he decided not to miss the opportunity to show loyalty to Chiang Kai-shek in the Central Plains War, he took the initiative to help Chiang Kai-shek eliminate dissidents, and helped Chiang Kai-shek contact Zhang Xueliang at a critical moment.
Zhang Xueliang's sudden appearance changed the situation of the Central Plains War, when Chiang Kai-shek and Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang were in a state of confrontation, and Zhang Xueliang stepped in to greatly increase the strength of that Chiang Kai-shek, which also led to the final defeat of Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan.
He Yingqin regained Chiang Kai-shek's trust because of this incident, and soon after He Yingqin made a formal comeback and held the two important posts of army commander-in-chief and chief of staff.
Chen Cheng was at a disadvantage in the struggle against He Yingqin at this time, but Chen Cheng had a key advantage, that is, he gained a little more trust in front of Chiang Kai-shek.
Because He Yingqin had previously rebelled against Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Kai-shek always had a hand on him, but He Yingqin learned the lessons of the last time, and in several subsequent incidents, he firmly sided with Chiang Kai-shek, such as after the September 18 incident, Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi once again wanted to force Chiang Kai-shek to step down.
He Yingqin's performance allowed Chiang Kai-shek to slowly let go of the psychological defense line, when Chen Cheng and He Yingqin became the two most trusted people of Chiang Kai-shek, but in 1937, the outbreak of the Xi'an Incident made He Yingqin make another wrong judgment, and this time it would make He Yingqin completely unable to catch up with Chen Cheng.
After Chiang Kai-shek was detained by Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng, the Kuomintang was in chaos, and at that time various factions engaged in fierce discussions, Chen Cheng, Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, and others advocated waging war and attacking Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng, while Song Meiling and Chen Cheng, who were concerned about Chiang Kai-shek's safety, advocated peaceful negotiations to resolve the matter.
He Yingqin's actions were tantamount to falling into a well, he once again turned against him at a crucial moment, and formed a camp with Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi; if He Yingqin launched a war, Chiang Kai-shek would definitely be executed by Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng. What do you know! ”
Later, Song Meiling and Chen Cheng rushed to Xi'an, and with the efforts of our Premier Zhou, Ye Jianying and others, the Xi'an incident was resolved peacefully, and He Yingqin realized that he had made a big mistake again.
After Chiang Kai-shek returned to Nanjing, he ostensibly praised He Yingqin's spirit of not yielding at a critical moment, but in fact he already hated He Yingqin in his heart, and Chiang Kai-shek gave He Yingqin a solid black account in the small book in his heart.
However, at this time, Chiang Kai-shek could not overthrow He Yingqin at once, because in the past six years, He Yingqin had installed many of his own cronies in the army and had absolute control over the army.
At this time, Chen Cheng once again played an important role, and the 18th Army he directly led had now grown to 90,000 people, which was equivalent to the strength of two normal integrated armies, and Chen Cheng appointed all his cronies as direct commanders in the 18th Army, which had become the most powerful unit under Chiang Kai-shek at that time.
Chen Cheng was very clever, Chiang Kai-shek proposed to reorganize the troops at that time, Chen Cheng took the initiative to reduce the strength of his own 18th Army, Chiang Kai-shek was very happy that Chen Cheng set an example, but Chen Cheng installed the various generals who withdrew from the 18th Army into each unit, so that Chen Cheng drove away many of He Yingqin's original cronies.
Therefore, Chen Cheng's strength in the army increased greatly, and more and more troops could be controlled in his hands, and He Yingqin was gradually squeezed out by Chen Cheng and had no place to stay.
When the War of Resistance was close to victory, Chiang Kai-shek found a way to clean up He Yingqin, when the Nationalist army wanted to send an expeditionary force to Burma to fight, and at the same time the United States asked Chiang Kai-shek to send a prestigious person to the Security Council to serve as the head of the military regiment, and Chiang Kai-shek asked He Yingqin to go to the United States to take up this post.
He Yingqin could not say that he wanted to seek the help of Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi, but was rejected by Bai Chongxi, who saw through He Yingqin's personality and had twice fallen to Chiang Kai-shek at critical moments.
Moreover, at that time, Bai Chongxi's power was very large, and in order to win over the Gui troops, Chiang Kai-shek made Bai Chongxi take up the position of newly established minister of national defense, which had supreme power, and Bai Chongxi had a certain good feeling for Chiang Kai-shek.
As soon as He Yingqin left, Gu Zhutong immediately took over the post of commander-in-chief of the army, and Chen Cheng immediately took over the post of chief of staff, and judging from the situation at that time, Chen Cheng had already won He Yingqin, which was already 1945, and it had been 18 years since Chen Cheng and He Yingqin first fought.
Chen Cheng's photo
It is true that Chen Cheng had already won He Yingqin at this time, but Chen Cheng's next luck when he became the object of verbal criticism, after the outbreak of the Liberation War, Chen Cheng first encountered Su Yu in the battlefields of Central Suzhou and East China, and the first attack commanded by Chen Cheng was defeated by Su Yu, who created a war myth, that is, the famous Seven Battles and Seven Victories in Central Jiangsu.
Subsequently, General Su Yu's Battle of Laiwu, the Battle of Lunan, and the Battle of Eastern Henan completely brought Chen Cheng back to his hometown, and Chen Cheng's defeat made him the most despised figure within the Kuomintang, and many people said directly in front of Chiang Kai-shek: "Chen Cheng is really incompetent!" He had no military talent at all! ”
Chen Cheng's poor performance also caused Chiang Kai-shek to gradually lose military trust in him, and Du Yuming and Tang Enbo even publicly stated that they would not obey Chen Cheng's command.
Du Yuming had a kidney attack in the northeast, Chiang Kai-shek decided to give Chen Cheng one last chance, in early 1948, Chen Cheng was sent to the northeast to command the overall situation, Lin Biao annihilated Chen Cheng's 150,000 elites in a battle, this time Chen Cheng himself was desperate, Chiang Kai-shek recalled Chen Cheng, let him take up the post of leaving the army.
At that time, there was constant controversy within the Nationalist army, and in order to consolidate the people's hearts, Chiang Kai-shek invited He Yingqin back to serve as the minister of national defense, but Chiang Kai-shek took back the power of the minister of national defense a lot, and He Yingqin fell into a well and publicly criticized Chen Cheng's incompetence, resulting in the loss of 3 million troops of the nationalist army.
This was He Yingqin's most relieved counterattack, but He Yingqin could not change anything after he returned, and his talent was not much better by Chen Cheng.
With the victory of our army in the Battle of Huaihai and the Battle of Crossing the River, the general trend of the Kuomintang was gone, and Chiang Kai-shek began to arrange his own retreat, Chen Cheng lost Chiang Kai-shek's trust militarily, but in other respects he still won Chiang Kai-shek's trust, so Chiang Kai-shek asked Chen Cheng to go to Taiwan to arrange his own retreat.
Chen Cheng spent 18 years fighting with He Yingqin, and finally successfully drove away He Yingqin, but his own talent was average, he was repeatedly defeated by our army, and finally fled to Taiwan as a lost dog.
Just like Chairman Mao's appraisal of Chen Cheng: "Chen Cheng is a general who is often defeated, and this person cannot fight a war, so he just knows how to plot!" ”