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After the Xi'an Incident, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party reached an agreement to stop the civil war and cooperate to resist Japan. For this reason, the Red Army accepted the reorganization of Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Government, and the Red Army remaining in northern Shaanxi became the Eighth Route Army, while the Red Army that participated in guerrilla warfare in the provinces of East and South China was unified and reorganized into the New Fourth Army, and there were three main leaders of the New Fourth Army, one was the army commander Ye Ting, the other was the deputy army commander Xiang Ying, and the other was Chen Yi.
However, what is puzzling is that the actual leader of the New Fourth Army is not Commander Ye Ting, but Deputy Commander Xiang Ying, and Chen Yi is not in the Military Commission, what is going on?
The deputy commander is the number one, why is the New Fourth Army special?
After the Lugou Bridge Incident, Japan began a full-scale invasion of China, and the Nationalist Government was forced to reorganize the Red Army in eight southern provinces, including Anhui, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Henan, into the New Fourth Army.
In this regard, the Central Committee of our Party decided to let Xiang Ying serve as the commander of the New Fourth Army, and Chen Yi assisted Xiang Ying as his deputy. However, Chiang Kai-shek did not allow the leaders of the New Fourth Army to be Communists, fearing that the strength of the Communists would be strengthened, so he first decided to recommend Bai Chongxi of the Gui family to serve as the leader.
However, Bai Chongxi, known as "Little Zhuge ", naturally understood Chiang Kai-shek's xenophobic methods, and knew that Chiang Kai-shek's purpose was to let the Gui family balance the Communist Party and take this hot potato, so Bai Chongxi politely refused.
After Bai Chongxi refused, Chiang Kai-shek proposed to appoint Tang Enbo or Zhang Fakui, who were descendants of Zhejiang villagers, to serve as the post, but these people were once sworn enemies of the Red Army, and our party naturally did not agree, so the two sides had a disagreement on who would be the leader of the New Fourth Army.
But soon, a new plan came out, that is, Ye Ting. Ye Ting is a person without party affiliation, and it is most suitable for him to be the person in charge of the New Fourth Army.
Ye Ting was the head of Sun Yat-sen's Guards in the National Revolutionary Army, participated in the Northern Expedition, and was a member of the Communist Party.
In this way, Ye Ting became the commander of the New Fourth Army, and Xiang Ying, a member of the Communist Party, became the deputy commander of the New Fourth Army. Since the Kuomintang army abolished the political commissar, the political commissars of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army were renamed "deputy commanders."
Since the New Fourth Army is a unit led by our party, the command must be on Xiang Ying's side, and Ye Ting also agreed. Therefore, the New Fourth Army is also the most unique of all the anti-Japanese forces, led by the deputy commander.
In addition to Xiang Ying, Zhang Yunyi and Zhou Zikun are the chief and deputy chiefs of staff, and Yuan Guoping and Deng Zihui are the chief and deputy directors of the political department respectively, and they are all generals of our party. However, another question arises, why did Chen Yi, another leader who participated in the guerrilla war in East China, not enter the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army?
Chen Yi insisted on not going to the military department, but to go to the front-line troops
In fact, our party and Marshal Chen Yi himself have plans for Chen Yi's arrangement. In the New Fourth Army, Xiang Ying's status is the highest, second only to Xiang Ying is Chen Yi.
At that time, Xiang Ying was a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee at the Third and Sixth National Congresses of the Communist Party of China, and also served as the commander and political commissar of the Central Soviet Region, and participated in the decision-making of many major political activities of our party, and his status was indeed higher than Chen Yi. However, why did Chen Yi not join the Military Commission of the New Fourth Army but instead assume the command of the front-line troops?
First, Chen Yi's military command ability is excellent, and he is suitable for leading troops to the front line to resist Japan. There was such a saying in the New Fourth Army, Xiang Ying was the main writer, Chen Yi was the main force, Xiang Ying was suitable for political work, Chen Yi was rich in tactical theory, had stayed abroad, and was suitable for leading troops to fight.
During the Red Army, in the face of Chiang Kai-shek's repeated encirclement and suppression, Chen Yi was able to turn danger into a disaster, and it can be said that Chen Yi was a member of the New Fourth Army. And Chen Yi himself is also willing to command the front-line troops and give full play to his advantages as much as possible.
Second, the Kuomintang did not want Chen Yi to be the leader of the New Fourth Army Military Commission, because there were too many Communist Party members in the New Fourth Army, and Chiang Kai-shek did not want too many Communist Party members in the New Fourth Army Military Commission, especially key generals like Xiang Ying and Chen Yi to control Ye Ting and the Kuomintang forces in the army.
Third, there is another reason why Chen Yi does not want to stay in the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army, that is, there are enough decision-makers in the military department, in the military, there is Ye Ting, a famous Kuomintang general, who is in charge of the war, and Zhang Yunyi and Zhou Zikun, two top staff officers in the army, are definitely enough to resist Japan, and if Chen Yi is added, there will be more people.
In terms of politics, Xiang Ying is in charge of the overall situation, and he will not let the troops be corrupted and swallowed by the Kuomintang diehards or the Japanese puppet army, nor will he let the team break away from the organization.
Bai Chongxi said frankly: Chen Yi is not easy to deal with
Through the prudent arrangements of the party organization and Chen Yi and Xiang Ying, Chen Yi really made a lot of gains in the guerrilla areas of northern Jiangsu, and Chen Yi sent a steady stream of materials and booty to the headquarters of the New Fourth Army, thus strengthening the power of the New Fourth Army.
However, the growing strength of the New Fourth Army attracted the attention of Chiang Kai-shek, and under the arrangement of the Kuomintang diehards, Chiang Kai-shek mobilized eight divisions to encircle and suppress the New Fourth Army, and the New Fourth Army was caught off guard, and several leaders of the New Fourth Army, including Deputy Army Commander Xiang Ying and Chief of Staff Zhou Zikun, were killed in battle or betrayed by traitors, and the whole army was wiped out by the Kuomintang Army except for a few units that successfully broke through the encirclement.
Chen Yi led his army to defeat the 11,000 Kuomintang troops who came to round up and successfully returned to the base area.
At that time, Gu Zhutong and Bai Chongxi of the Kuomintang Army once lamented that Chen Yi was like a fish in the sea, once he returned to the sea, it was difficult to catch, and it was difficult to deal with. Chen Yi, who walked to safety, decided to accumulate strength and find an opportunity to avenge his comrade-in-arms Xiang Ying.
Soon after, Chen Yi became the commander of the New Fourth Army and the commander of the Shandong Military Region, and in a few years he trained a large number of outstanding cadres, and the total number of troops also came to more than 100,000 people.
As Chen Yi wrote in "Three Chapters of Meiling": I went to Quantai to recruit the old department, and I beheaded Yama with a banner of 100,000. In the War of Liberation, Chen Yi and Su Yu were perfect partners, and they successively won victories in the East China and Southeast Battlefields.
In Laiwu, Chen Yi and Su Yu commanded several columns to defeat Li Xianzhou, in the Battle of Menglianggu, it was the East China Field Army that completely eliminated Zhang Lingfu of the 74th Division, and in the Huaihai Campaign, Huaye and Zhongye defeated Huang Baitao's Corps, Huang Wei's Corps and Qiu Qingquan's Corps together, and captured Du Yuming.
Under the command of Chen Yi and Su Yu, Huaye crossed the Yangtze River, liberated the capital of the Kuomintang, Nanjing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and other big cities, chased all the way to Fujian, forced the Kuomintang army to retreat to Taiwan, and Chen Yi also became one of the ten founding marshals of the mainland by virtue of his military exploits.