The Xi'an Incident at the end of 1936 caused Chiang Kai-shek to change his war strategy, and the two parties began to negotiate matters related to the national united front.
However, in Lao Chiang's heart, the biggest enemy has always been the CCP, and the peace talks are also a helpless move forced by the situation. Therefore, he desperately wanted to weaken the independence of our party and reduce the living space of our army, and the two sides discussed the details for a long time.
It was not until July 17, 1937, ten days after the Lugou Bridge Incident, that Chiang Kai-shek agreed to reorganize the Red Army into the Eighth Route Army and give the establishment of three divisions.
However, when negotiating with Zhou Enlai, Lao Chiang still said that the Communists would hand over the command, that the commanders of the Eighth Route Army would be appointed by the Nationalist Government, and that the Communists could only serve as deputies.
Premier Zhou asked rhetorically on the spot: Are you doing this because you suspect that our army does not have excellent commanders?
Lao Jiang thought about it and said that Liu Bocheng, Chen Geng, Lin Biao, and Zuo Quan of your army are all rare generals, and their command ability is very strong. However, the anti-Japanese resistance must be subordinated to the overall situation, and the command can be carried out smoothly only after being uniformly appointed by the national government. Naturally, our party cannot accept this approach.
On July 20, Chairman Mao sent a telegram to Zhou, Bo (Gu), and Lin (Boqu), "We have decided to adopt the policy of not making concessions to Chiang and not talking with each other again."
Later, the situation in North China deteriorated too quickly, and Chiang Kai-shek asked Chiang Dingwen to convey a message on July 27: The Red Army quickly reorganized and dispatched to resist Japan.
Finally, on August 22, the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government announced that the main force of the Red Army would be reorganized into the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army. There is too much information about the subsequent anti-Japanese deeds, so I will not repeat it here.
However, Chiang Kai-shek said that sentence is quite interesting, and it can be seen that in his heart, the four famous generals of the Red Army are Liu, Chen, Lin, and Zuo, and there are three Whampoa students among them.
Why did Lao Jiang look at these four people differently?
Chiang Kai-shek's evaluation of Liu Bocheng has always been very high, after all, Liu Shuai was already a famous general of the Sichuan army long before he participated in the revolution.
In December 1926, our party launched an uprising in Luzhou, Shunqing and other places in Sichuan, known as the "Lushun Uprising", which was the first attempt of our party to independently lead an armed uprising, and the commander-in-chief of the uprising was Liu Bocheng.
In the more influential Nanchang Uprising in August 1927, Liu Bocheng was also the chief of staff. With such a high-level general, the enemy will definitely try to find out his information.
Later, Liu Bocheng went to the Soviet Union and studied at the Moscow Higher Infantry School and the Frunze Military Academy, and had a wealth of military theoretical knowledge.
After returning to China and entering the Soviet zone, Liu Bocheng also served as the principal of the Military and Political School and the chief of the General Staff of the Red Army.
Although Liu Bocheng did not directly command any outstanding achievements during the Agrarian Revolution, Chiang Kai-shek, who also served as a principal, was clear about the credit for the overall increase in the combat effectiveness of the Red Army.
Later, Lao Jiang also gave a very high evaluation: In terms of the wonder of tactics, Liu Bocheng is a must in China's military circles. It is no wonder that he will rank Liu Bocheng in the position of the first general of the Red Army.
Chiang Kai-shek's second thing to say was Chen Geng, in fact, the two have a very deep relationship. is not only the friendship between teachers and students in Huangpu, Chen Geng also has a life-saving grace for Lao Jiang.
In 1925, Chiang Kai-shek sent troops to the east to conquer Chen Jiongming, and personally went to the Third Division to supervise the battle. When the Eastern Expeditionary Army broke through Huizhou, Chen Jiongming's old nest, Chiang Kai-shek was very happy and ordered his troops to continue the pursuit.
However, chasing and chasing, the Third Division was surrounded by Chen Jiongming's main force in the Huayang area, and suffered heavy losses, and Chiang Kai-shek hurriedly rushed to Huayang when he heard the news in an attempt to save the situation of the war. Before leaving, he specially brought Chen Geng.
The 3rd Division was reorganized from the Cantonese Army, its combat effectiveness was not strong, and its morale had declined after being ambushed, even if Chiang Kai-shek organized three successive resistances in the headquarters, it did not change the situation.
Just as Chiang Kai-shek was deploying again, Chen Jiongming's Lin Hu Division defeated the Third Division, and the situation was quite bad. When those routs fled, they all wanted to have two more legs, and they didn't care about Chiang Kai-shek at all.
He wanted to gain some military exploits to establish his prestige, but the army was defeated, Chiang Kai-shek was ashamed and angry, and when the enemy soldiers approached, he was ready to shoot himself.
At this time, Chen Geng, who was on the side, hurriedly pulled him down. Seeing that the situation was urgent, Chen Geng had no time to persuade him, so he forcibly carried Chiang Kai-shek on his back and ran all the way, and finally broke out of the encirclement.
After arriving at a safe place, Chen Geng found the first division led by He Yingqin and brought reinforcements to pick up Chiang Kai-shek.
With this affection, Chiang Kai-shek also wanted to reuse Chen Geng, but the two were not in the same realm and eventually parted ways.
At the end of 1932, Chen Geng went to Shanghai for treatment of a leg injury, but was unfortunately recognized and arrested by a traitor. If it was another "red criminal", Chiang Kai-shek would definitely kill him without saying a word, but for Chen Geng, he still wanted to win him over.
He first asked Huangpu classmates to help lobby, and when it didn't work, he came forward himself, and he also played the emotional card: You are my good student, although you made mistakes, I can forgive you after you change.
Chen Geng replied coldly: I didn't make a mistake, and I don't need your forgiveness. Chiang Kai-shek saw that this road was useless, so he changed his strategy and promised to be a high-ranking official:
"You became the division commander of the communist army in Dabie Mountain, and the battle was very good, and many Huangpu classmates suffered from you. As long as you want, you can come and command a division at any time, and it will not be a problem to command an army in a few hours. ”
Chen Geng was very disdainful of these, and only said that he would never betray his beliefs. As you can imagine, the two finally broke down. However, even at this point, Chiang Kai-shek still didn't think about what to do to Chen Geng, and finally acquiesced to him to escape.
With such feelings, it is normal to be in second place.
As for Mr. Lin, Chiang Kai-shek had wanted to win over him in school. At the fourth phase of the Huangpu Outstanding Cadet Tactical Analysis Meeting, Mr. Lin and dozens of other students came to the stage one after another to analyze a battle of Chen Jiongming in the Eastern Expedition.
However, most of the students only talked about the surface for a long time, and only Lin Biao pointed out the key to victory in just a few words against the map.
This battle was the first battle after Lao Jiang had his own lineage, and seeing that this student could fit his heart, he asked the attendant to bring people to the office after the analysis meeting.
As a result, after Lin arrived at his office, before he could talk a few words, Chen Lifu came in and reported a news, saying that Wang Jingwei had sent someone over to take the position of party representative.
Lao Jiang scolded after hearing this, and immediately went out with Chen Lifu and put Lin Han aside. Mr. Lin waited in the office for a long time, so he was not embarrassed, and finally withdrew, and Chiang Kai-shek's actions also left him with the impression of fickleness.
Later, on another occasion, Chiang Kai-shek suddenly remembered Mr. Lin, so he called him to his side and asked: Would you like to come to the General Headquarters and work by my side? Mr. Lin did not immediately agree, but said that he would wait until he graduated to take up his post.
The matter had already been decided, but someone said to Chiang Kai-shek: Lin is the person on the left, and this kind of dangerous element staying with the principal is not equivalent to planting a time bomb. As soon as Lao Jiang heard the reason, he ignored Mr. Lin after that.
What the reactionaries did not expect was that Mr. Lin performed extremely well in the ranks of the Red Army, and later led the main force of the Red Army for a long time, defeating the descendants of the Kuomintang Central Army many times.
For this student whom he missed, Chiang Kai-shek naturally always kept it in mind, so he ranked him third.
As for Zuo Quan, many people probably won't associate him with Chiang Kai-shek, but he is also a student of the first phase of Whampoa, and Lao Chiang pays great attention to him.
In May 1936, Zuo Quan served as the acting head of the Red First Army, and after the three main forces met, he and political commissar Nie Rongzhen commanded the Red 1st Army and the Red 15th Army to annihilate the two regiments of Hu Zongnan's 78th Division in the Battle of Mountain Castle.
When Chiang Kai-shek saw the war report, he was so angry that he scolded: the three Hu Zongnan could not deal with one Zuoquan.
With such a comment, it is normal for Lao Chiang to include Zuo Quan among the four rare generals of the Red Army.
Some people may wonder why Chiang Kai-shek did not mention Xu Xiangqian in the first issue because he did not have a good impression of Xu Shuai.
When he was still in Huangpu, Lao Jiang once talked with more than a dozen Shanxi students, including Xu Shuai. When the other students were faced with Lao Jiang's questioning, they couldn't wait to express themselves, only Xu Shuai, he would answer whatever he asked, and never say a word.
This appearance made Lao Jiang very unhappy, and he didn't put him in the cultivation object. Facts have proved that Chiang Kai-shek has lost his eyes, Xu Shuai just doesn't like to express, his personal ability is extremely outstanding, and after entering Hubei, Henan and Anhui, he has led his troops to defeat the national army many times.
At this time, Chiang Kai-shek regretted a little and asked people to go to Xu Xiangqian's hometown to find Xu Shuai, in a vain attempt to use this relationship to win over the former students. Xu's father is also a smart person, and he said that his son never came back after applying for the Huangpu exam, and I don't know if he was arrested by the principal.
After hearing this, Chiang Kai-shek just said "I don't know how to lift", and he never looked for Xu Xiangqian again.