Preface
After the end of the Eastern Henan Campaign, Liu Shaoqing, chief of staff of the Shandong Corps, was transferred.
Since this position was extremely important, Su Yu thought about it for a long time and decided to transfer Li Yingxi, the former commander of the 22nd Division, to fill the vacancy.
Li Yingxi was hospitalized for a period of time and was ready to go to a new job. Su Yu considered that Li Yingxi was very suitable for this position, so he transferred him to "cut off his beard".
The commander of the Corps is Xu Shiyou, and Li Yingxi and Xu Shiyou worked together in the early years. He admired Xu Shiyou and had concerns.
As we all know, during the war years, Xu Shiyou was a fiery person, and Li Yingxi himself was also a violent temper. If there is a conflict, the two may not be able to do it.
So, what will happen in the follow-up relationship?
Xu Shiyou sent Li Yingxi to report the situation to the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao
As early as the early days of the Red Army, Li Yingxi and Xu Shiyou's positions were similar. Later, in the "Suppression ~ Anti" movement, Li Yingxi was demoted.
In 1933, Li Yingxi served as chief of staff in the 4th Army. At the end of 1934, Wang Hongkun was transferred, and Xu Shiyou served as the commander of the 4th Army.
In 1935, after the 1st and 4th Front armies converged at Maogong, they formed two columns, left and right, and went north. The right column was the central organ, and the 4th Army acted as the rearguard and was responsible for the security of the central organ.
On this day, Commander Xu Shiyou came to Li Yingxi and said: "The central government has asked the Fourth Army to send people to contact and communicate the situation, and you should immediately set off and rush to the central station." ”
After Li Yingxi heard this, he nodded in agreement.
After Li Yingxi received the task, he immediately rode his horse forward, and caught up with the team of the central organ the next day.
Not long after Li Yingxi arrived, the staff found him and said, "Comrade Mao Zedong wants to listen to your report." ”
When Li Yingxi heard that he wanted to see Chairman Mao, he was very excited.
As early as the early days of participating in the revolution, Li Yingxi had heard that there was a Vermilion Red Army in Jiangxi. At that time, he didn't know if Zhu Mao was one person or two people.
But he knew that the Vermilion Red Army often won battles.
Later, he learned that Zhu De was the commander-in-chief of the Red Army, and Mao Zedong was a great figure. Not long ago, he heard that Mao Zedong was already the leader of the party.
Under the leadership of the staff, Li Yingxi met Chairman Mao. Li Yingxi gave Chairman Mao a military salute.
Chairman Mao cordially asked Li Yingxi "what is his name" and "what position he holds", and so on, and Li Yingxi answered them one by one.
Chairman Mao asked about the situation of the 4th Army, and Li Yingxi immediately took out a map and spread it in front of Chairman Mao, and reported to Chairman Mao the location of the 4th Army and the enemy situation he had.
After Chairman Mao listened to the report, he asked Li Yingxi to rest.
Later, when Li Yingxi recalled the past, he said:
Although Chairman Mao's clothes were shabby and his body was thin at that time, his eyes revealed sensitivity and wisdom, and he was kind and cordial, unlike Zhang Guotao, who ate well and dressed well, and often sat on the march with his son, domineering and domineering, and oppressed people with power. ”
Li Yingxi was reluctant to be chief of staff
During the Anti-Japanese War, Li Yingxi always wanted to go to the front line to fight.
A comrade from the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee asked him, "Where do you want to work?" Li Yingxi said: "Wherever there is a war, I will go!"
At this time, someone behind him took his words: "If you want to fight, go to Shandong." ”
Li Yingxi looked back and saw that he was an elderly soldier.
Comrades from the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee told him that this was Comrade Zhang Yunyi, deputy commander of the New Fourth Army and deputy commander of the Shandong Military Region.
Li Yingxi immediately stood up and saluted.
Zhang Yunyi said with a smile: "Shandong is going to have a big battle, you go to Shandong, don't care if you fight enough." ”
Some people later said that the reason why the East China Field Army was strong and strong was inseparable from Zhang Yunyi's unique vision of selecting generals.
It was also a coincidence that Zhang Yunyi happened to come to the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee to pick a capable cadre, and he took a fancy to Li Yingxi at a glance.
Suffice it to say, Maxima met Bole.
The Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee confirmed that Li Yingxi would go to Shandong to work, and agreed that he would take his wife and children to Shandong with him. Before leaving, the Central Organization Department arranged two guards and two mules for Li Yingxi.
Li Yingxi asked for a mule with fellow countryman Zhang Xian. The mule I wanted, in the left and right baskets, with luggage on one side and son on the other.
In this way, Li Yingxi's family rode three mules and set off from Yan'an to Shandong for almost one month. Every time they arrived in a liberated area, Li Yingxi's family made supplies and then continued to move forward.
Later, Li Yingxi recalled this past incident and sighed with emotion.
After Li Yingxi's family arrived at the place, he first went to the East China Bureau to report for duty. The opinion of the East China Bureau was to let Li Yingxi go to a column to be the chief of staff.
Li Yingxi directly refused:
"I don't want to be the chief of staff, you can give me a lower position, just don't let me be the chief of staff. ”
As a result, the East China Bureau assigned Li Yingxi to the 4th Division of the Luzhong Military Region as the deputy division commander. The division commander of the division was Liao Rongbiao.
Interestingly, when Su Yu assigned Li Yingxi a task later, he wanted him to be the chief of staff of the Shandong Corps. Li Yingxi also refused at first. Su Yu had no choice but to say that after performing the important task, he would let Li Yingxi choose another position, which made Li Yingxi the chief of staff.
Why is Li Yingxi reluctant to become chief of staff? The main reason is his personality.
Due to Li Yingxi's stubborn personality, although he is good at listening to the opinions of the below, he is often stubborn when there are differences of opinion with the chief officer.
If there is no dispute, when the chief of staff says "I am responsible for the mistake", the chief of staff has nothing to say. This is unpleasant for Li Yingxi, who has the courage to take responsibility.
However, personality cannot be higher than party spirit, and Li Yingxi has always strictly adhered to the principles of the organization.
Later, when he was the chief of staff of the Shandong Corps, he asked Xu Shiyou for advice when he encountered operational problems, and Xu Shiyou sometimes said, "You can make up your mind," and Li Yingxi said, "This is not good, and if I do this, I will exceed my authority."
Li Yingxi originally thought that he would be out of tune with Xu Shiyou, but he didn't think it would be unexpectedly suitable
Before the Jinan Campaign, Xu Shiyou was at the Corps Headquarters and got together with Political Commissar Tan Zhenlin, Deputy Commander Wang Jian'an, and Chief of Staff Li Yingxi to discuss the situation.
When Li Yingxi was in the Red Army, although Xu Shiyou was his direct leader, Li Yingxi only carried out the orders of the military headquarters and Commander Xu Shiyou.
Now that he is the chief of staff of the Corps, he is responsible for the operations of the Corps, and whether he can get along with Xu Shiyou is still a little worried about Li Yingxi at first.
At the meeting, Xu Shiyou proposed that the attack on Jinan should adopt the tactics of "cattle knife", concentrate troops, and go straight to the city of Jinan.
When Xu Shiyou asked Li Yingxi for his opinion, Li Yingxi said:
"I very much agree with Commander Xu's 'bull knife' tactics, our army's 140,000 troops, not much more than Wang Yaowu's 110,000 troops, in the case of Wang Yaowu has strong fortifications, our army can not fight with him, but must concentrate forces, break through a little, and dig Wang Yaowu's heart like a bull knife. ”
When Xu Shiyou heard this, he said happily: "The hero sees the same thing. ”
When the battle broke out, Xu Shiyou and Li Yingxi had the same operational views on many major issues. So much so that sometimes, Xu Shiyou directly asked Li Yingxi to get an idea.
In getting along with Xu Shiyou, Li Yingxi found that Xu Shiyou would defend himself in many places.
For example, once, a column commander called Xu Shiyou, lost his temper on the phone, and said, "What did the chief of staff do?"
It turned out that before the start of the war, Li Yingxi, in the name of the chief of staff of the Corps, issued a "circular" to all participating units in light of the situation in various aspects.
I don't know if the situation is inaccurate, or if there is a change in the enemy's situation, so that the troops led by the commander of the column hit a nail when they captured an area.
Xu Shiyou said on the phone: "I know about this matter, and I can't blame the chief of staff." ”
What Xu Shiyou said on the phone, Li Yingxi heard everything. He immediately made self-criticism to Xu Shiyou.
Xu Shiyou said: "The principal leaders of the Corps should bear responsibility for all kinds of problems that arise in the work of the Corps. The first thing should be that I am responsible. ”
originally thought that Li Yingxi and Xu Shiyou were both hot-tempered, and dry firewood could burn when it encountered a little fire. But in the battle against Jinan, many of the two had similar ideas. They work together and are inexplicably suitable.
This may also be a major reason why Su Yu takes a fancy to Li Yingxi as the chief of staff of the Corps. Despite Li Yingxi's rough personality, at critical moments, he must have been led by organizational principles.
Reference: "The Biography of General Li Yingxi"