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In 1937, after the Xi'an Incident, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party reached a second cooperation in negotiations.
The Red Army was faced with a problem: downsizing, and many commanders, fighters, and cadres were demoted, but there were some exceptions.
At that time, General Chen Xilian was still the commander of the 769th Regiment of the 129th Division, and when most of the people were demoted and appointed, he specially promoted a squad leader to be a platoon leader.
When asked why he chose this man, he said he believed that this young man could do a good job.
In fact, the fighter lived up to his expectations, rising from platoon commander to battalion commander and also participated in many major battles.
Thirty-six years later, his old subordinate has even surpassed him in a position.
What is this squad leader's ability, and why does General Chen Xilian see that he can do something?
l Boldly promoted
The squad leader promoted by General Chen Xilian was later General Li Desheng.
At that time in 1937, he was punished and transferred to the Red 10th Division Traffic Brigade as a herald squad leader.
This experience, judging by the situation at that time, no one could have imagined that he would be promoted and even become one of the founding generals.
Regarding General Chen's promotion and care for him, General Li Desheng has always remembered it very clearly, and he also wrote this precious memory into his memoirs.
He had the impression that General Chen Xilian was a heroic image, and he was notoriously approachable in the army.
When the Red Army had not yet been reorganized into the Eighth Route Army, he served as the deputy commander of the 10th Division of the Red Fourth Army.
During the Long March, he always cared about the soldiers in the army, and after the battle, as soon as he was free, he would return to the transportation team and talk to the heralds.
General Chen will also be very patient to share his combat experience with everyone, hoping that everyone can do better in the next battle.
At first, he didn't tell General Chen about his punishment, and it wasn't until he got acquainted with it later that he told the general about his punishment for no reason.
As soon as General Chen heard this, he immediately called him for a separate conversation and comforted him to let go of his ideological baggage, that there must be a road ahead, and that he must keep moving forward.
At that time, he especially admired General Chen, and with these words of encouragement, he was much more confident.
In the later battles, General Chen also cared about and trusted him very much, and helped him grow a lot.
It was during his long battles and life that General Chen discovered that he had some talent in military affairs.
After the reorganization of the Red Army into the Eighth Route Army, General Chen decided to promote him to platoon commander.
This decision of his aroused the dissatisfaction of some comrades, and some people said: "Li Desheng is just a squad leader, and it is good if he is not demoted, so how can he still go up?" ”
In the face of doubts, General Chen calmly replied: "Now is the critical moment, whoever has the ability will be on the list, and there is no need to care." ”
They all know that the general has always been easy-going, and after saying this, everyone also reflected on whether they were a little eager for quick success.
Soon, even if some comrades were still unconvinced, few people verbally complained about such things anymore.
At the same time, General Li Desheng noticed something unusual, and some comrades criticized and squeezed him from time to time.
At first, he was a little confused, but soon figured out the situation, and he found General Chen, saying that he hoped that the general would be replaced by another person, and he was worried that he would drag everyone down.
The general knew that although he had already laid down his "baggage", he still had some concerns at a critical juncture.
So, the general again asked someone to talk to alone, saying that he would first arrange for him to take the position of platoon commander in the communications platoon and insist on fighting.
Because of General Chen's trust and support, he persevered and was gradually promoted to the commander of the communications company.
In this process, General Chen has been silently watching and supporting him behind his back.
In October 1938, in the first half of the month, they fought fiercely with the Japanese army in Taihang Mountain.
The enemy's 20th division totaled more than 3,000 people, and they also brought two planes and divided their troops into six routes to carry out a "sweep" of the Taihang base area.
As the brigade commander, General Chen commanded the soldiers to fight on a mobile basis and successfully smashed the enemy's conspiracy to continue to "sweep up".
However, in this battle, General Li Desheng was hit by an enemy bullet, which went through his head.
Luckily, the injury didn't hurt the point, but it might have to be treated.
When General Chen, who was in command, learned of the situation, he immediately arranged for medical personnel to rescue him and saved his life in time.
Later, during the battle, the general also took time to visit him in the rear, telling him not to worry and to recuperate.
Time flies, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression continues, and although the War of Resistance at this stage in 1943 was difficult, our army still won many victories.
In this year, he was promoted to battalion commander and transferred to the local Second Army Division as the commander of the 30 Regiment.
He left General Chen for the time being, and after years of fighting, as well as General Chen's teachings, he formed his own set of playing styles.
In the second division, he also played a good score, which made General Chen very pleased.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, his team was reorganized into the 3rd Column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region.
What moved him even more was that after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, General Chen immediately found an opportunity to tell his superiors about his innocent punishment.
At the same time, he also applied to transfer him to the post of regiment commander of the 769th Regiment of the Third Column, which was the main force of the Third Column.
In this regard, General Li Desheng was very grateful to General Chen and always thought about his help to him.
In fact, the reason why General Chen Xilian paid so much attention to General Li was not only from appreciation, but also from his personal experience.
He was able to become the commander of a division so early, and it was inseparable from the promotion of his old superiors.
l The grace of knowledge
In 1937, General Chen Xilian promoted General Li Desheng to the top of public opinion, and since then, the two of them have started a 60-year comradeship.
And the reason why he insisted on promoting General Li was not only appreciated, but also the influence of his old superiors.
The old superiors who influenced General Chen included Comrade Sun Yuqing, who later died heroically, and General Xu Xiangqian.
In July 1935, the Red Fourth Front Army crossed the Jialing River and began the difficult Long March.
At that time, General Chen was only 20 years old, and he served as the commander of the Red 10th Division, which can be described as young and promising.
But those who don't know may not know that when he first went to the battlefield to fight, he was also a little scared and nervous, but his old squad leader Sun Yuqing gave him great encouragement.
In June 1930, General Chen's first large-scale battle was at Yangpingkou in Yangjiazhai, and he was a little nervous, but squad leader Sun asked him not to be afraid, just rush forward.
He followed the example of the squad leader and rushed forward with a big knife, and this rush began his rapidly changing military career in the future, when he was only 15 years old.
After a few battles, he, a young man, quickly rose to prominence and became famous in the Red First Division.
Many comrades-in-arms know that there is a little soldier in the team who rushes fiercely, and they also named him "Little Steel Cannon".
Soon, General Chen became a squad leader and continued to fight, making many achievements.
Four months later, the Red Army successfully took Guangshan, Henan, and the soldiers were very happy.
Many of them had never been to the county seat, so in their free time, several warriors made an appointment to enter the city together.
Among them were General Chen and his comrades-in-arms, and coincidentally, he happened to meet the old squad leader Sun Yuqing at that time.
Seeing that the little soldiers under his command had grown up strongly, Squad Leader Sun was very happy, and General Chen was also very happy, but no one expected that this meeting would cause a big storm.
Squad Leader Sun was very happy when he saw them, but at the same time he noticed other places, and he saw that General Chen and several other comrades-in-arms were very thin, with yellow faces and thin muscles.
So, he told everyone to invite everyone to dinner early tomorrow morning. The next day, General Chen really called more than a dozen comrades-in-arms in the class.
Squad Leader Sun still had a few copper plates on him, and everyone followed suit, so that they could buy several fried dough sticks and a bowl of chicken blood soup.
In fact, where is this little thing enough for a dozen soldiers to eat, but everyone has no chance or way to eat it, so they just buy it and try it.
In this way, everyone took turns to taste a few bites with the bowl, and then took out the fritters and ate them separately.
However, because of this incident, they were beaten up as members of the "Eat and Drink Committee".
General Chen, as the squad leader, bore the brunt of the attack and was arrested.
His heart was extremely sad, because at that time, as long as he was buttoned up and arrested again, his life and death were unknown.
Fortunately, General Xu Xiangqian, who was the commander of the army at the time, learned about this, and he was more impressed by General Chen and carefully understood the situation.
After listening to this, he slapped the table directly and got angry, he said that these people are making a big fuss.
General Chen Xilian and his comrades-in-arms are all teenagers, and they came out of the mountains.
When they sit together and eat, how can they become members of the "Eat and Drink Committee".
General Xu demanded that the people be released immediately, and asked that they should not be arrested again, and in this way, General Chen picked up a life, and no one dared to arrest them again during that time.
General Chen has always kept this incident in mind, and he thinks that if General Xu hadn't protected himself back then, he might have really died.
This also greatly affected General Chen himself, who believed that he should learn more about his subordinates and help and guide him as much as possible.
In May 1937, General Li Desheng was transferred to work under General Chen Xilian.
After a period of getting along, General Chen thought that he was a malleable talent and intended to exercise.
Their relationship became closer after Li revealed that he had been punished, and General Chen lamented the similarities between this little soldier's experience and his own.
After the end of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, General Li Desheng was transferred to General Chen's subordinates to continue his work, and he made another meritorious achievement in the War of Liberation.
At that time, General Chen Xilian did not expect that this minister, who had worked under him, would have a much higher position than himself after 36 years.
l Comradeship
In 1937, the Red Army was downsized, and General Chen Xilian insisted on being promoted to Li Desheng as a platoon commander.
At that time, neither of them could have imagined that they would have a 60-year friendship with each other, nor would they have imagined that 36 years later, General Lee's position would be much higher than that of his old superiors.
In October 1950, General Chen was transferred to the position of commander of artillery, and since then General Li has not worked directly together, and they have each moved on to new jobs.
In 1960, General Li Desheng returned from military school, and after returning to the army, he summed up a set of teaching methods in his daily military training, and also popularized them to the whole army.
From here, it can be seen that General Li has good abilities both militarily and politically.
After that, General Lee went all the way and became a prominent presence on both fronts.
In 1973, he was elected to the important position of member of the Politburo Standing Committee and vice chairman.
At the same time, General Chen was elected to the Politburo, and General Li has always maintained a humble attitude towards this.
He said that if he had not been supported by General Chen, how could he have had the opportunity to achieve so much.
However, no one in politics can be smooth sailing, there are always ups and downs.
Later, General Li was ostracized by the Jiang Qing clique, and soon he resigned from his posts as vice chairman and director of the General Political Department.
From 1975 to 1980, General Chen Xilian managed national defense and sports, and held the post of vice premier, and his political status rose to the top.
But regardless of their personal political lives, their decades-long comradeship has never changed, and they firmly believe in each other.
General Li once said that for several decades, although he and Comrade Chen Xilian were separated from each other and often got together, they would always call each other and greet each other when they were on vacation.
If it's close, say hello and visit, the so-called gentleman's friendship is as light as water, probably that's what they are.
It wasn't until they retired in their later years that the two old comrades-in-arms had more time to see each other.
On August 25, 1995, they attended a symposium to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Anti-Japanese War, at which they also met many old comrades-in-arms.
Since then, they have participated in many activities together, and they have also talked about the previous war years at many symposiums.
On May 8, 1999, the United States blew up the mainland embassy in Yugoslavia.
Although the two generals have taken a back seat, they are still concerned about political events at home and abroad, and they are filled with righteous indignation and publish speeches in the People's Daily.
General Lee said that it is shameful for the United States to attack a sovereign country without any reason.
China will not be afraid of an attack by the United States, because China has a united masses of the people and a party that is always advancing, and at the moment it should strengthen national defense, actively propagate patriotic education, and be prepared for danger in times of peace.
General Chen emphatically said: In order to do a good job in the economy and national defense, only when there are tough guys in hand can we speak well and the country and the people have a sense of security.
But no one expected that just one month after General Chen's speech, on June 10 of that year, General Chen Xilian died of illness in Beijing.
As an old comrade-in-arms, General Li Desheng was filled with grief in his heart. He bothered his body and wrote an article in memory of his old comrades-in-arms.
On December 5, 2000, his article was published in the People's Daily, in which he commented that General Chen Xilian was an outstanding military strategist.
General Lee recalled the comradeship he had with General Chen, as well as the years of war they had experienced together.
He said: The departure of Comrade Chen Xilian is a sad and regrettable event for himself.
He will always remember the care and help given to him by this old superior and old comrade-in-arms, and deeply miss the time when he fought with Comrade Chen Xilian.