Chiang Kai-shek commented on Marshal Zhu De: "His greatest ability is to make people unable to see his ability!" This sentence aroused our curiosity and questions. As the founding father of the People's Republic of China, Marshal Zhu De made tremendous efforts and contributions in the process of the revolutionary war and the construction of New China. But why did Chiang Kai-shek evaluate him in this way? What was so outstanding about Marshal Zhu De that made Chiang Kai-shek so highly admired? What are the aspects in which his outstanding leadership ability and philosophy of life are embodied? Let us find out.
1. The determination to abandon the pen and join the army to save the country
In 1909, 20-year-old Zhu De came to Kunming, Yunnan Province, ready to devote himself to the great cause of saving the country. At that time, China was poor and weak, surrounded by foreign powers, and the people were struggling to make a living, and Zhu De was worried about the future of the country. He originally planned to help the poor through the road of the imperial examination, but seeing that the country was in dire straits, Zhu De resolutely put down the pen in his hand and chose the road of armed revolution.
Zhu De joined the army of the Penghu naval lord, hoping to save the country in distress by force. However, after several successive battles, Zhu De gradually discovered that these wars were nothing more than warlords fighting each other for power and interests, and could not solve the fundamental problems of the country at all. Watching the war rag and the displacement of the people, Zhu De had deep doubts and disillusionments about this practice of relying solely on force.
Just when Zhu De felt confused and helpless about his future, he was given the opportunity to study in Germany. In Berlin, Zhu De became acquainted with Zhou Enlai and other revolutionary predecessors, and began to contact and study Marxist theory. Zhou Enlai pointed out that in order to completely solve China's problems, force alone is not enough, and a thorough social revolution must be carried out. After repeated thinking and study, Zhu De finally established the revolutionary belief in communism and joined the Communist Party of China in 1926.
Since then, Zhu De has closely linked his personal future and destiny with the cause of the party and the people. He firmly believed that only through the armed revolution led by the party could we truly liberate the oppressed and exploited masses of the people and realize the independence of the country and the rejuvenation of the nation. In order to achieve this goal, Zhu De was willing to abandon his comfortable life and embark on the arduous revolutionary road.
Second, the Nanchang Uprising retains the wisdom of the fire
On August 1, 1927, the city of Nanchang was in flames. This was the first armed uprising led by the Communist Party of China, the Nanchang Uprising, which fired the first shot.
The rebel troops were personally led by Zhu De and Zhou Enlai, with a total of more than 30,000 rebel soldiers. At the beginning of the uprising, it went smoothly and soon captured the city of Nanchang. However, due to the frenzied repression of the Kuomintang reactionaries, coupled with the strategic mistakes of the insurrectionary leadership, the insurrectionary forces fell into a passive predicament.
On August 5, the Kuomintang reactionaries mobilized more than 100,000 heavy troops and began a general attack on the city of Nanchang. In the face of an overwhelming inferiority in troops, Zhu De made a decisive decision and led more than 3,000 people to block the enemy in the west of Nanchang City and open a retreat channel for the main force.
In the blocking battle, Zhu De used superb guerrilla tactics to make the enemy unable to attack. He ordered his troops to hide in the dense forest and wait for an opportunity to attack, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy. After several maneuvers, the enemy did not dare to go deep into the mountains and forests, but the 3,000 men and horses led by Zhu De were also exhausted.
At the critical juncture, Zhu De encouraged all the officers and men: "Comrades, thanks to our efforts, the large army has escaped a large number of encirclements, let's hold on a little longer, and when our friends are safe, we will go back." Hearing Zhu De's call, everyone regained their fighting spirit and persisted in the resistance battle for two days and two nights.
After the main force withdrew, Zhu De also led the remnants of the army out of the enemy's encirclement. Although the Nanchang Uprising failed, Zhu De's wise decision-making and excellent command preserved the precious revolutionary fire.
After evacuating Nanchang, Zhu De was faced with the daunting task of regrouping his troops. This small detachment, with only more than 1,800 people left, is demoralized and may disintegrate at any time. Zhu De immediately made a decision, summoned all the officers and men to mobilize, and said: "I am a member of the Communist Party, I have the responsibility and confidence to keep the flame of the Nanchang uprising and revolution, and I am determined to lead this team to break through the enemy's encirclement, and I want to unite with my comrades and carry out the revolution to the end!"
3. Skillfully Resolving Contradictions and Stabilizing the Army's Morale
After the Liberation War began, Zhu De, as the commander of the Central Plains Military Region, was responsible for commanding the Central Plains Liberation Campaign. However, in the early days of the war, the Central Plains Military Region encountered a serious crisis.
In November 1947, Nie Rongzhen served as the commander of the Central Plains Military Region, and in order to strengthen the strength of the army, he decided to conduct large-scale conscription of the military region. However, in the specific implementation, Nie Rongzhen's subordinate generals made serious work mistakes, not only wrongly laying off a large number of veterans, but also indiscriminately paying military salaries, resulting in overspending on military spending. These problems have directly led to a sharp decline in the combat effectiveness of the Central Plains Military Region.
At the critical moment, the Central Plains Military Region was taken by surprise by the enemy in the Battle of Zhangjiakou and retreated one after another. The situation was critical, and Nie Rongzhen hurriedly convened a military meeting to study countermeasures. At the meeting, Guo Tianmin, deputy commander of the Central Plains Military Region, bluntly pointed out Nie Rongzhen's leadership mistakes, and the scene was very embarrassing for a while.
After Zhu De learned of this situation, he rushed to the venue as soon as possible. He first criticized Nie Rongzhen's mistakes, but also pointed out that Guo Tianmin's actions violated military discipline and were "guilty of committing crimes below". Then, Zhu De skillfully mediated the contradictions between the two sides and eased the tense atmosphere in the venue.
After the meeting, Zhu De interviewed Nie Rongzhen and Guo Tianmin respectively. He first pointed out Nie Rongzhen's negligence in specific work, which led to serious consequences. But Zhu De also persuaded Nie Rongzhen not to be discouraged, to study modestly, and correct his mistakes in time.
Regarding Guo Tianmin, Zhu De patiently explained: "You are an excellent military strategist, and we have high hopes for you. But this time, you are inappropriate to criticize the superior leaders in public. What the revolutionary army needs most is strict discipline and unified command, otherwise it will not be able to concentrate its forces on winning the war. ＂
Zhu De's wise persuasion made Nie Rongzhen and Guo Tianmin take warning, thus effectively resolving the crisis.
In addition to Nie Rongzhen and Guo Tianmin, Zhu De also focused on channeling the dissatisfaction of another important general, Zheng Weishan. Zheng Weishan was an excellent military commander, but he was deeply dissatisfied with the fact that he had not been able to command important battles for a long time. When Zhu De learned about it, he made a special appointment to meet with Zheng Weishan and solemnly said to him: "The military region will not always lose the battle, and we will definitely win the battle." When the time comes, you will be given important command. ＂
Zhu De's remarks regained Zheng Weishan's confidence and strengthened his determination to continue to fight for the revolutionary cause. Through skillful guidance and mediation, Zhu De successfully resolved major contradictions within the Central Plains Military Region, stabilized the morale of the army, and laid a solid foundation for the victory of the subsequent campaign.
Fourth, the philosophy of excellent leadership
In the process of the revolutionary war and the construction of New China, Zhu De showed outstanding leadership wisdom and excellent philosophy of life. He not only paid attention to the overall situation and the principle of fairness and justice, but also understood that unity and unity were the prerequisite for winning the war, and skillfully resolved many contradictions and differences with wisdom.
In the Central Plains Liberation Campaign, Zhu De embodied a high degree of overall concept. He understands that the strength of a single military region alone cannot achieve ultimate victory, and it is necessary to coordinate the forces of the whole country and achieve strategic coordination. Therefore, Zhu De adhered to the policy of actively attacking in the Central Plains, and held and expanded the base areas to the greatest extent possible, so as to lay a solid foundation for the general offensive.
At the same time, Zhu De also attaches great importance to the principle of fairness and justice. In the building of the army, he opposed any form of privileged thinking and insisted on treating everyone equally, so that there would be no estrangement between commanders and fighters with the same fate. He also personally reviewed every military discipline case to ensure absolute justice and never engage in favoritism.
It is precisely this high degree of fairness and justice that has won Zhu De the support and love of the whole army. Under his leadership, the Central Plains Military Region became a united and high-spirited revolutionary armed force.
Zhu De knew very well that only by uniting and having a solid military spirit could he win victory in the war. Therefore, he attached great importance to channeling and resolving contradictions and differences in the military. Whether it was the struggle for leadership authority between Nie Rongzhen and Guo Tianmin, or Zheng Weishan's personal dissatisfaction, Zhu De used great wisdom and patience to mediate and guide them one by one to ensure the stability of the army's morale.
In Zhu De's view, the army is like a whole, and any problem in any link will affect the overall combat effectiveness. Therefore, he not only pays attention to solving big contradictions, but also pays special attention to some seemingly small problems. Once, Zhu De found that the soldiers of a small detachment were not well fed and clothed, and he immediately took measures to ensure that the logistics of this detachment were in place.
It was precisely through this style of treating everyone equally and meticulously crafting that Zhu De won the heartfelt love of the whole army, ensured the unity and unity of the army, and laid a solid foundation for the final victory in the war.
Perhaps, it was precisely because of Zhu De's outstanding leadership wisdom and philosophy of life that Chiang Kai-shek sincerely admired "his greatest ability is to make people unable to see his ability." Zhu De has indeed quietly completed many remarkable deeds with a simple and unpretentious style, but behind this, there is extremely high leadership wisdom and excellent philosophy of life.