In 1959, because of a "letter of opinion", the army caused a major earthquake, and Mr. Peng, who was in charge of the work of the Military Commission, became an idler, and many senior cadres were affected.
Mr. Peng raised the Red Third Army during the Agrarian Revolution, and in the development of history, he had the deepest relationship with this army, so it was difficult for the generals of the Red Third Army to deal with themselves at that time.
Some people have said things against their will in order to protect themselves, but many more people are still impartial, such as Zhang Zhen, the founding lieutenant general of the People's Republic of China.
Faced with the pressure from above to "expose", Zhang Zhen never attacked and slandered, and only said something that was in line with reality.
Zhang Zhen was born in Pingjiang, Hunan Province in 1914, although he did not participate in the Pingjiang Uprising led by Mr. Peng, he did become a Red Army in the first place.
In July 1930, Mr. Peng led the Red 5th Army to attack Changsha on the way to Pingjiang to expand the Red Army, and the uprising two years ago sowed the seeds of revolution in Pingjiang, at this time there was a great harvest, including Zhang Zhen, more than 5,000 enthusiastic young people enthusiastically joined the army, greatly enhancing the red armed forces.
Throughout the Red Army stage, Zhang Zhen basically fought under the command of Mr. Peng, and successively served as a propagandist of the Special Service Brigade of the 2nd Column of the Red 5th Army, a political instructor of the 4th Company of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Division of the 5th Army of the Red Third Army, and the commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 10th Regiment of the 4th Division of the Red Third Army Corps.
After the Russian boundary meeting in the Long March, the Central Red Army in the north revoked the number of the regiment and was newly reorganized into the Shaanxi-Gansu detachment, and after arriving in northern Shaanxi, the number of the Red First Army was restored, but the Red Third Army was not established again, so Zhang Zhen became the chief of staff of the 12th Regiment of the 4th Division of the Red First Army.
In the following War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, Zhang Zhen mainly fought in East China and had relatively little contact with Mr. Peng. However, he had gradually made a name for himself, and in the later stage of the agrarian revolution, he was only the chief of staff of the regiment, but in the later stage of the Liberation War, he became the chief of staff of the field army.
In March 1952, Zhang Zhen was transferred to the head of the Operations Department of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army, and spent a lot of time every day processing documents and war reports to resist US aggression and aid Korea.
After working for several months, he felt that since he was in the War Department, he should go to the front line to study operations instead of sitting in his office and reading materials, so he made a report to the Central Military Commission and applied to go to North Korea.
At this time, the commander of the Volunteer Army and the person who presided over the work of the Military Commission were Mr. Peng, who returned to China for treatment due to illness in April 1952, and was left in China by Premier Zhou after recovery.
Mr. Peng saw that his old subordinates had an enterprising and exploratory spirit, and Mr. Peng happily approved it, and specially summoned Zhang Zhen to tell him some details about the Korean war situation, so that Zhang Zhen could have a foundation.
After going to the front line to inspect for a period of time, Zhang Zhen became more and more eager to participate in the war in person, so when he returned to China, he immediately sent a report to the Central Military Commission, expressing his desire to be a consultant, not to conduct visits and apprenticeships, and to directly command the troops to fight.
It happened that Pi Dingjun, the commander of the 24th Army of the Volunteer Army, was going to return to China, and Mr. Peng decided to let Zhang Zhen go to replace him. On May 5, 1953, Chairman Mao issued an order appointing Zhang Zhen as the acting commander of the 24th Army of the Volunteer Army.
Before leaving, Mr. Peng had another interview with Zhang Zhen and taught him a lot of his experience in fighting in North Korea, which benefited Zhang Zhen a lot.
Later, Zhang Zhen led the 24th Army to fight more than 40 times with the enemy in the summer counterattack operation, annihilating more than 13,000 enemies, which was also a very bright record.
At the end of November of the same year, there was an armistice on the peninsula, and Zhang Zhen was ordered to hand over the work of the 24th Army to the new commander Liang Jinhua, and then returned to the General Staff Operations Department.
In those years, Zhang Zhen still often had to report to Mr. Peng, many people said that Mr. Peng was always a rough person, but Zhang Zhen did not agree with this point of view.
Through frequent contact, he felt that Mr. Peng considered the problem very carefully and meticulously, and had a view of the overall situation, but occasionally he would do something reckless because of his emotions.
When the letter was sent in 1959, Zhang Zhen was a little surprised at first, but later admired Mr. Peng's bravery. At that time, some people saw that he had walked out of the Red Third Army, thinking that he was more familiar with Peng, and it would be more convincing to come out to "expose", so they put pressure on him.
Zhang Zhen was unwilling, but he couldn't be silent in that situation, so he had to vaguely say a few words:
Although I am his old subordinate, my position in the Red Third Army is relatively low, I am only a cadre at the battalion and company level, and I have no direct contact at all, and I do not know about the high-level decision-making of the Red Third Army Corps, so I have nothing to expose.
Later, he also said fairly: As a subordinate, I really didn't see any "anti-party" problems in Mr. Peng in history. If this is the case, why did Mr. Peng abandon the high-ranking officials of the Kuomintang army and participate in the revolutionary wave full of hardships and dangers?
At this time, Zhang Zhen served as the vice president of Nanjing Military Academy, which did not belong to the core power position, and he did not stand firmly with Mr. Peng, so no one embarrassed him.
During the later Great Movement, Zhang Zhen was also affected and was sent to work in the Machinery General Plant of Wuhan Iron and Steel Company, and did not return to serve as deputy commander of the Wuhan Military Region until the end of 1970.
Due to the great changes in personnel at that time, many positions were vacant, and Zhang Zhen, who was capable and relatively young, continued to be promoted, and was appointed deputy director of the General Logistics Department of the People's Liberation Army in 1975 and promoted to director of the General Logistics Department in 78.
Zhang Zhen himself has been subjected to unprovoked shocks, and he is deeply sympathetic to those who have similar experiences to himself, so after he took charge of a department, he devoted himself to matters related to the rehabilitation of veteran cadres.
On November 22, 1978, the General Logistics Department held a rehabilitation meeting at the Capital Gymnasium, Zhang Zhen was the person in charge, and he publicly announced the rehabilitation of 829 people, including Li Jukui, Hong Xuezhi, He Cheng, Tang Ping, Li Yao, Li Xuesan, and Fu Lianzhang. Many cadres and family members wept with joy on the spot.
Later, Zhang Zhen also made great efforts to rehabilitate several old leaders, such as when the Central Committee held a meeting to discuss the restoration of Mr. Peng's reputation, he strongly agreed.
There is also Su Yu, Zhang Zhen got along with Su Yu a lot during the war in East China, and the relationship was very high, after 1958, Su Yu retreated to the second line, and Zhang Zhen's attitude towards him remained unchanged.
In 1981, Su Yu suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, and his health deteriorated. People will be extremely homesick in their old age, not to mention that Su Yu has not been back since he participated in the revolution, so he asked to be discharged from the hospital and go back to his hometown to see.
However, considering his physical condition, the hospital had no choice but to report the matter. After repeated discussions and studies, the central authorities still did not agree.
However, Zhang Zhen, Zhu Ying, and the other three took the opportunity of the investigation of the troops to arrive at their hometown in Hunan via Guangxi to visit Su Yu's relatives who were still alive, and took a lot of photos in front of his former residence.
Later, Su Yu saw the souvenirs sent by the villagers and the house he had lived in front of the sickbed, and finally showed a relieved smile on his face.
In 1994, Zhang Zhen and Liu Huaqing jointly published an article "Remembering Comrade Su Yu", which clearly mentioned that the criticism of Su Yu in 1958 was wrong and a historical mistake. finally restored Su Yu's innocence.
It is worth mentioning that Zhang Zhen also served as the vice chairman of the Central Military Commission in the later part of his military career, which is the same as Mr. Peng's original position, which is the glory of the Red Third Army!