Chairman Mao's love will be many, such as Lin Biao, Su Yu, Chen Geng and so on, which everyone knows, but the chairman's first love will not be them, but Wu Zhonghao, who died young.
Even Nie Rongzhen, who ranked among the top ten marshals, once said something like this: "If Comrade Wu Zhonghao had not sacrificed, then the current top ten marshals would probably have to change seats." ”
From the above two paragraphs, it is not difficult for everyone to see the position of Comrade Wu Zhonghao in the Party and in chairman Mao's heart.
So who is Wu Zhonghao? How did he become Chairman Mao's first favorite general? Why did Marshal Nie Rongzhen say such a thing?
Wu Zhonghao
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > became the "first general" under Chairman Mao</h1>
Born in 1905 in Leiyang, Hunan Province, Wu Zhonghao was admitted to Peking University in 1922, joined the Socialist Youth League shortly after, and became a member of the Communist Party two years later.
After graduating from Peking University, Wu Zhonghao returned to his hometown to participate in revolutionary activities, and even participated in the establishment of the first party branch in Leiyang County, in which he served as the secretary of the branch. In 1924, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party achieved their first cooperation and founded the very famous Whampoa Military Academy, where a large number of Communists entered the school to study and work.
At the beginning of 1925, Chen Duxiu and Chairman Mao signed a joint signature, and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued Announcement No. 62, requiring all departments to quickly send party and league members to Guangzhou to report to the Whampoa Military Academy. Wu Zhonghao was one of these people, he was successfully admitted to the fourth phase of the Whampoa Military Academy, and because of his strong ability and eloquent eloquence, he became one of the most eye-catching figures in the fourth period.
He Yingqin, the chief instructor of the Whampoa Military Academy, admired Wu Zhonghao, saying that once he graduated from the school, he would invite him to be his aide-de-camp. From here, everyone can see that Wu Zhonghao's ability is really super, so good that the instructors must "book" in advance.
During his studies at the Whampoa Military Academy, Wu Zhonghao achieved very good results and finally graduated from the Whampoa Military Academy with the second place in the whole regiment. The CCP was very concerned about this outstanding party member, and as soon as Wu Zhonghao graduated, he talked to him organizationally and sent him to the Guangzhou Peasant Movement Training Institute as a military instructor
During his time in Guangzhou, Wu Zhonghao met Chairman Mao, which also affected his later life.
Chairman Mao
The Guangzhou Peasant Movement Training Institute was a school founded by the Communist Party of China to train peasant movement cadres, and in May 1926 Chairman Mao hosted the Sixth Training Institute and served as its director.
Chairman Mao attached great importance to military training, so he admired Wu Zhonghao, who was a military instructor, and often talked to him and sometimes slept in the same bed.
In Chairman Mao's view, Wu Zhonghao saw the future, fate, and hope of the Chinese revolution, and most importantly, Chairman Mao and Wu Zhonghao were both humorous and cheerful, and the two were very able to talk.
Chairman Mao liked this Hunan compatriot who was 12 years younger than himself, and Wu Zhonghao also admired Chairman Mao's thorough analysis of the current situation, and he once sincerely said to Chairman Mao: "Brother Run, I have followed you all my life!" ”
On July 15, 1927, Wang Jingwei openly rebelled against the revolution, and Wuhan was shrouded in a terrible "white terror", and countless Communist Party members and revolutionary comrades were arrested and killed. On July 30, Wu Zhonghao, who was the commander of the 10th Company of the Guard Regiment of the Second Front of the National Revolutionary Army, followed the troops to Nanchang and joined the 24th Division of the 11th Army commanded by Ye Ting to participate in the uprising.
On August 5, when the large army entered Fengxin, it was learned that it was too late to catch up with the Nanchang rebel forces, and the regimental headquarters had no choice but to abandon the plan to meet with the Nanchang rebel army and command the troops to advance west.
Zhu Peide
When the troops reached Xiushui at the junction of the three provinces of Xiang'e, Hubei, and Gansu, after Zhu Peide's negotiations, they temporarily stationed themselves in Xiushui in the name of the Provisional 1st Division of the Jiangxi Provincial Defense Army for rest.
At the end of August, the Guard Regiment and the Independent Regiment of the 20th Army from Tonggu met at Yamaguchi, and the two regiments held a joint meeting and decided that the Guard Regiment would transfer 3 companies to the Independent Regiment and form it into the 3rd Battalion, with Wu Zhonghao as the battalion commander.
Shortly thereafter, Chairman Mao came to the troops to convey the spirit of the 87th CPC Conference and the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, and announced the plans for the Autumn Harvest Uprising. Wu Zhonghao and Chairman Mao had known each other as early as the Guangzhou Peasant Movement Training Center, and when they met again this time, they naturally felt very cordial.
Wu Zhonghao confided to Chairman Mao his distress about not knowing what to do after the Ma-Ri Incident, and Chairman Mao said after hearing this: "The reason why the Great Revolution failed was first, it did not grasp the barrel of the gun, and second, it did not gain political power. ”
Wu Zhonghao only felt that his eyes lit up after listening, as if he had found a solution in the lost way. Chairman Mao unified the insurrectionary forces into the First Division of the First Army of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, with four regiments below it, with Wu Zhonghao as the deputy commander of the 3rd Regiment.
On September 9, the Autumn Harvest Uprising broke out, and Wu Zhonghao's 3rd Regiment was ordered to start from Tonggu and develop westward after capturing Liuyang, preparing to capture Changsha. Wu Zhonghao led the 3rd Battalion of the 3rd Regiment as the forward force, and Baisha won the battle. Chairman Mao, who followed the 3rd Regiment, was very happy to learn of this incident, and he came to the 3rd Battalion and praised: "Your 3rd Battalion fought this battle very well!" ”
After the failure of the Autumn Harvest Uprising, the Third regiment and the first regiment met, and on September 19 the rebel forces retreated to Wenjia City, where Chairman Mao held a meeting that evening to discuss what to do next.
Chairman Mao analyzed the current situation and advocated changing the original plan for attacking Changsha and marching toward the Luoxiao Mountains, where the enemy's forces were located. However, Chairman Mao's proposal was strongly opposed by the division commander Yu Shandu and the deputy division commander Yu Benmin, and the two sides once quarreled.
When the quarrel was fierce, Yu Benmin even said to Chairman Mao: "If you are my soldier, I will definitely shoot you!" Wu Zhonghao was furious when he heard this, and he shot up and pointed a shell gun at Yu Shandu's head, making him obey Chairman Mao's arrangement and command.
Lu Deming, who was the commander-in-chief of the uprising at that time, also agreed with Chairman Mao's proposal, which played an important role in the formation of the resolution. The meeting lasted late at night, and finally the meeting adopted Chairman Mao's correct propositions.
On September 25, under the command of Chairman Mao, the large army conquered the county town of Lianhua in one fell swoop, but without knowing what was going on, they were suddenly besieged by the enemy, and Lu Deming died heroically while covering the retreat of the troops.
That evening Chairman Mao convened a committee of former enemies and decided to reorganize the troops, and Chairman Mao first cut off the structure of the division and reorganized the troops into one regiment, with two regiments under its jurisdiction, a special service company, and so on.
Chairman Mao appointed Wu Zhonghao as the commander of the first battalion, and the former regimental commander Yimin served as the deputy battalion commander, and the members and people were very dissatisfied with this, after all, the official position was suddenly demoted. Wu Zhonghao did not get angry after learning this, but took the initiative to find Chairman Mao and hoped that he would demote himself to a deputy post.
Chairman Mao knew that Wu Zhonghao was doing this to put the overall situation first, so he agreed with him and appointed Wu Zhonghao as the deputy battalion commander of the third battalion, and later as the battalion commander.
Later, because the regimental commander Chen Hao and the chief of staff Han Zhuangjian surrendered to the enemy one after another, the members did not know where to go because of their injuries, and by the time Chairman Mao and others went to Jinggangshan, Wu Zhonghao had become the first "general" under Chairman Mao!
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="102" > saved Chairman Mao twice in times of crisis</h1>
In fact, when Chen Hao and others surrendered to the enemy, a very dangerous thing happened, and if it were not for Wu Zhonghao's timely report on the situation, then the safety of Chairman Mao, Zhu De, and others would be threatened.
At that time, Chen Hao was the commander of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Corps, but because he was not firm in his will, he had the heart to defect to the enemy at a critical moment, and they secretly sent people to find Wu Shangshi, a reactionary force of the Kuomintang, and wanted to defect before the battle.
Wu Zhonghao, who was the commander of the third battalion, realized that the situation was not right, and he intercepted the secret letter that Chen Hao and others had surrendered to the enemy halfway and immediately sent it to Chairman Mao for inspection. Chairman Mao was so shocked after reading this secret report that he immediately decided to arrest Chen Hao and others for execution, and then led his troops out of the enemy's encirclement.
Afterwards, Chairman Mao clasped Chen Hao's hands tightly and said, "Haozi, you have saved the seeds of our revolution!" ”
Chairman Mao led his troops up Jinggang Mountain, and then began to prepare for the construction of political power in the middle section of the Luoxiao Mountains.
In November 1927, when Wu Zhonghao commanded his troops to attack Xincheng, he was accidentally injured by shrapnel in his leg, and for a time blood continued to ooze from the wound, and Wu Zhonghao also fell to the ground due to lack of physical strength.
At that time, Luo Rongheng and others advised Wu Zhonghao to go to the hospital for treatment as soon as possible, but if it was delayed, it would be very unfortunate, but Wu Zhonghao refused to seek medical treatment, and he did not want to delay the progress of the troops because of this small injury. When Chairman Mao learned of this, he hurried to the scene, and as soon as he entered the door, he asked, "Haozi!" What happened to your legs? ”
Wu Zhonghao heard Chairman Mao's voice, quickly got up from the camp bed, limped close to Chairman Mao, smiled and said: "It doesn't matter if you bite the evil dog!" ”
Chairman Mao helped Wu Zhonghao to sit on the camp bed, rolled up his trouser legs, and said: "You hurry up and sit down and let me see the injury!" Chairman Mao carefully looked at Wu Zhonghao's wound and said with great pain: "Your injury is not light, you must be hospitalized immediately for treatment!" ”
Wu Zhonghao shook his head and said, "I'm fine, I just scratched the skin, no big deal." Chairman Mao frowned when he heard Wu Zhonghao's words and said, "Haozi, don't hide from me, I have seen your injuries and must be hospitalized." ”
After a while, the cadres of the battalion even came to Wu Zhonghao's room, and Chairman Mao solemnly announced: "Now, on behalf of the military department, I have decided that your battalion commander Wu Zhonghao must be sent to the hospital for treatment because his injuries are too serious, and his work will be taken care of by the deputy battalion commander, and I hope that you can manage your own troops well!" ”
After Chairman Mao said these words, two soldiers carried a pair of stretchers, and Chairman Mao leaned down and instructed: "You must be treated well when you go to the hospital, and only when you are well can you continue to do things for the organization. ”
Wu Zhonghao nodded, and a few crystalline tears overflowed from his eyes.
In February 1928, Wu Zhonghao led a battalion of fighters, using the method of siege and ambush, liberated Ninggang New Town, annihilated the strength of 1 regiment of the enemy army, and won the victory of annihilating the enemy's first regiment since the establishment of the Jinggangshan base area.
In June, Wu Zhonghao led the third battalion to Xia You Village, Tianzhen Town, Yongxin County, to divide the troops to do mass work, and established the Xia You Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers Government and the Special Branch of the CPC.
Xia You became a banner for the base areas, providing material for Chairman Mao to write the Yongxin Investigation. Chairman Mao repeatedly praised Wu Zhonghao at meetings of cadres in the base areas for his ability to fight wars, for being able to do mass work, and for being an all-rounder in literature and martial arts.
On January 4, 1929, the Committee of Former Enemies of the Red Fourth Army held a meeting in Bailu Village, Ninggang, to study how to smash the enemy's large-scale "encirclement and suppression" of Jinggangshan by the enemy forces in Xianggan and Gansu provinces. The meeting decided that the Red Fifth Army and the 32nd Regiment of the Red Fourth Army would remain at Jinggangshan, and the remaining troops would develop to the periphery of more than 3,600 troops in order to contain the enemy.
Solving the problem of the left behind, the next step is where the troops who broke through should develop, which also became the focus of controversy in the second half of the meeting. Some people advocate the development of northern Gan, some advocate sending zhang to eastern Gandong, and some advocate going to Shonan, everyone has different opinions, so there is no dispute.
Wu Zhonghao, who was the commander of the 31st Regiment, also attended the meeting, and he profoundly analyzed the situation around Jinggangshan, advocated the development of Gannan, and said: "Gannan has a vast area and many high mountains, and can maneuver with the enemy, not to mention that the enemy's strength is weak, it is not difficult to deal with, so developing to Gannan is the best policy." ”
Chairman Mao and Zhu De agreed very much after hearing this, and Chairman Mao looked at Wu Zhonghao with an appreciative eye, and the meeting finally decided to adopt Wu Zhonghao's opinion and develop toward Gannan Province.
On January 14, Chairman Mao and Zhu De led the main force of the Red Army to break out of the enemy's encirclement and prepare to advance towards Gannan Province. On 1 February, the troops arrived in a small village in Xunwu County in the evening, and since the soldiers were already exhausted, they decided to rest here for the night and continue their journey the next day.
Lin Biao
The next day, before dawn, the troops were attacked by 4 enemy regiments, and Lin Biao heard the sound of gunfire and fled the position with several regimental commanders, which also caused the 28th Regiment to lose command and fail to organize a counterattack in time.
After 20 minutes, the enemy took advantage of the situation from here and surrounded the place where the military headquarters was located, and Chairman Mao and Zhu De were in a very dangerous situation. Fortunately, at this time, Wu Zhonghao led the 31st Regiment to rush to the enemy, and he shouted while rushing: "Defend Commissar Mao!" Defend the Army Headquarters! ”
In the end, under the protection of the 31st Regiment led by Wu Zhonghao, Chairman Mao, Chen Yi and other talents were able to safely highlight the enemy's encirclement and smoothly get out of the dangerous situation. Zhu De also escaped from danger under the cover of his wife Wu Ruolan and the guards.
However, it is a great pity that Jude's wife Wu Ruolan was captured because of her injuries and was eventually brutally killed by the enemy.
History will always remember that in the zhenxia counterattack, it was two People of Leiyang, Wu Zhonghao and Wu Ruolan, who fought bravely in the face of danger and saved the red army headquarters and the red army.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="103" > Chairman Mao to celebrate the wine for Wu Zhonghao</h1>
In early February 1929, the Red Fourth Army jumped out of Jinggangshan and advanced towards gannan and western Fujian. At that time, the weather was still relatively cold, and the warriors had to endure the cold brought by the fierce wind while fending off the enemy behind them.
Chairman Mao and Zhu De
In order to cut off this tail of unremitting pursuit, Chairman Mao and Zhu De, after consultation, decided to lead the enemy deep into the former village of Dabaidi and then exhaust the net, and this task was entrusted to Wu Zhonghao and the party representative Cai Xiemin.
Wu Zhonghao had long wanted to eliminate Liu Shiyi's unit, and after accepting the task, he was very happy to say to Chairman Mao, Zhu De, and other military leaders: "This time I will definitely fight a beautiful battle and celebrate the New Year to you!" ”
Chairman Mao looked at Zhu De, nodded, and said, "If Haozi wins the battle, old Zhu and I will offer you a celebratory wine!" ”
After Wu Zhonghao and Cai Xiemin left the military headquarters, Chairman Mao quietly said to the guards around him: "You go to the nearby liquor store to make me a pot of wine, remember to ask for fine wine!" ”
When the guards heard Chairman Mao say this, they were also rather confused; usually Chairman Mao was never willing to spend a penny on wine and drinks.
When the guards handed the purchased wine to Chairman Mao, Chairman Mao explained to him: "Are you wondering how I can make an exception to buy wine and drink it?" This wine is for Haozi and Xiemin to come back from the battle to celebrate and drink! ”
It turned out that Wu Zhonghao had two major hobbies, drinking and playing chess, and every time he won a battle, he would invite people to drink, and only Chairman Mao, who was familiar with Wu Zhonghao's living habits, would think so thoughtfully.
In the early morning of the 10th, the battle officially began, and the 31st Regiment led by Wu Zhonghao, with the cooperation of the Red 28th Regiment of the brother troops, launched a fierce attack on the enemy, and the enemy retreated to the bottom of the valley, and the encirclement circle was gradually reduced.
At this time, Wu Zhonghao saw that the time for a decisive battle had arrived, so he ordered a charge. The soldiers of the Red Army, who had long been holding their breath, rushed towards the canyon like a flood, and the enemy could not resist and all abandoned their guns and surrendered.
In this battle, more than 800 people under Xiao Zhiping and Zhong Heng, the deputy commanders of the enemy's regiment, were captured, and more than 800 guns were captured, successfully reversing the passive situation of the Red Fourth Army being chased by the enemy since it came down from the mountain.
After the battle, the military department held a celebration meeting, and Chairman Mao asked the guards to take out the wine they had already prepared, and even personally added wine to Wu Zhonghao and others to celebrate the victory of the war. From here, everyone can also see that the relationship between Wu Zhonghao and Chairman Mao is really good, that Wu Zhonghao has not failed to live up to Chairman Mao's expectations of himself, and that Chairman Mao is also full of concern for Wu Zhonghao.
On January 3, 1930, Chairman Mao stayed in Gutian with the 2nd Column and attacked Liu Heding's forces from the eastern front. In March, in accordance with the decision of the Former Committee of the Red 4th Army to divide the troops to guerrilla attack and expand the red area, Wu Zhonghao led the 3rd Column from Jiangkou in Ganxian County to contact the YUDU District Committee of the Communist Party.
At the mass meeting held in Buqianwei, Wu Zhonghao called on the peasants to unite to fight the local tyrants, divide the land, join the army and participate in the war, and establish their own political power. At the end of March, the 3rd Column advanced to occupy the county seat of Yudu County. At the beginning of April, the first congress of workers, peasants, and soldiers was held in the county seat, which was established in the Soviet government of the capital county.
Jin Handing, who was entrenched in Ganzhou, sent two regiments to Yudu in an attempt to eliminate the patriotic party members in Yudu. When Wu Zhonghao learned the news, he summoned a meeting of the responsible persons of the local organizations and guerrilla groups of the Yudu Communist Party to discuss ways to annihilate the enemy completely.
When the guerrillas and Red Guards introduced the enemy into the ambush circle of the Red Army, with the order of Wu Zhonghao, the Red Army, which was ambushed on all sides, quickly launched an attack on the enemy, and the enemy rushed to battle and was beaten by our army.
In the end, our army won the war, killing more than 400 enemy troops, capturing nearly a thousand people, and capturing more than 700 long and short guns and 2 mortars.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="105" > Wuzhong heroically sacrificed, Chairman Mao lost his voice and wept bitterly</h1>
In the cruel environment of revolutionary war, Wu Zhonghao and Chairman Mao fought bloodily and forged a profound revolutionary friendship.
In the spring of 1930, Chairman Mao said at a meeting: "The Red Army has developed in Gannan today, and Wu Zhonghao should be credited with the first merit, and he strongly advocated coming to Gannan." ”
On March 20, the Red Fourth Army was reorganized into three columns, with Wu Zhonghao as the commander of the third column.
In order to expand the revolutionary base area, the Red Fourth Army ordered Wu Zhonghao to attack Longyan in western Fujian and launch a peasant uprising.
On May 18, Wu Zhonghao led the Third Column of the Red Army into western Fujian, and from May 23 to June 9, Wu Zhonghao led his troops to attack Longyan three times, annihilating more than 2,000 people in Chen Guohui's brigade, and then launched a peasant uprising in 7 counties in the Longyan area and established Soviet power.
After wu zhonghao fell ill with pneumonia and went to the hospital for treatment, Chairman Mao was very anxious after knowing this, and came to the hospital to visit him almost every day, sitting next to Wu Zhonghao's bed every time, showing a very concerned look.
In addition, Chairman Mao touched Wu Zhonghao's head from time to time to see if he had a fever, and even took the temperature himself. Everyone knows that pneumonia is contagious, but Chairman Mao did not take care of this, he only hoped that Wu Zhonghao would get better.
Chairman Mao's move left a deep impression on many people, and long after the dean Fu Lianzhang recalled: "Chairman Mao really cared for the comrades and treated them as family. ”
On June 22, the day before the Red First Army set out for the north, Chairman Mao came to the hospital to visit Wu Zhonghao. At that time, Wu Zhonghao was still in a coma, and he struggled to say to Chairman Mao intermittently: "I am trying to go north... Seems inappropriate... Hope to take care..."
Before leaving, Chairman Mao repeatedly instructed the doctors in the hospital to cure Wu Zhonghao's illness.
In August, because of the influence of Li Lisan's adventurism, Chairman Mao and Zhu De had to lead an army to attack Changsha against their will. The war was fought very hard and fiercely, and although the commanders and fighters fought bravely and carried out two general offensives in a row, they were ineffective.
At this time, the Red Army was facing the danger of being annihilated, and in order to replenish the troops, Chairman Mao wrote to Wu Zhonghao, who was recuperating in the rear, hoping that he would do mass work as soon as possible, so as to replenish the troops and quickly rush to Changsha to provide support.
After Wu Zhonghao received Chairman Mao's letter, although his body had not yet recovered, he still insisted on rushing to Ji'an, Jiangxi Province, formed a 5,000-strong Red Guard, and then went to Changsha to support Chairman Mao and Zhu De.
However, at this time, due to the failure of the attack on Changsha, the Red Army had withdrawn to Zhuzhou. Later, Chairman Mao saw Wu Zhonghao, who had hurriedly arrived, took his hand and said, "Haozi, how is your body?" Can it stand it? You've worked hard! ”
Wu Zhonghao shook his head and said, "These hardships are nothing." ”
Later, the Red First Army decided to capture Ji'an, and Wu Zhonghao still served as the commander of the Red 12th Army. On September 26, the Soviet government in southwest Jiangxi issued an "Emergency Circular" at Potou, calling on the broad masses to make rapid preparations, organize various detachments and combat teams, and cooperate with the Red Army to seize Ji'an.
In October 1930, Wu Zhonghao led a guard platoon from Jishui to mobilize independent regiments from the counties in southwestErn Jiangxi to prepare for the march to Zhangzhou.
However, when Wu Zhonghao and others went to Anfu County, they were suddenly attacked by the reactionary anfu Jing Guard Regiment, and Wu Zhonghao rushed to the battle, and finally died because he was outnumbered, and was only 25 years old at the time of his death.
When the news of Wu Zhonghao's death came, all the officers and men of the Red 12th Army cried bitterly, and Chairman Mao even bit a towel and refused to come out of the room for several days, crying bitterly: "The sky has damaged my arm!" ”
After Peng Dehuai learned of this incident, he gritted his teeth and sent more than 5,000 Red Troops to surround the Anfu County Jingwei Regiment and annihilate them in one fell swoop!
The young death of Wu Zhonghao has caused Chairman Mao to lose a capable general and an outstanding young general to the Red Army, so it is no wonder that Luo Rongheng said: "If Comrade Wu Zhonghao is still alive, I am afraid that the Ten Marshals will have to change their seats!" ”