introduction
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Zhu De once said the following passage in a class at the Yan'an Party School:
"I have had two teachers in my life, one is Cai Yi and the other is Mao Zedong. Before joining the Chinese Communist Party, my teacher was Cai Yi. He was my guiding light in the dark, and after joining the Chinese Communist Party, Mao Zedong was my guiding light. ”
Pictured| Old photo of Cai Yi
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="90" >01 Zhu De and Cai Yi met at the Yunnan Army Martial Arts Academy</h1>
To trace the friendship between Zhu De and Cai Yi, we must start with the Yunnan Army Martial Arts Academy.
In 1908, Zhu De founded a higher school in Yilong, Sichuan. However, under the influence of Sun Yat-sen's ideas on democratic revolution, he deeply felt that running education in his hometown was not a good recipe for saving the country and the people. Thinking about it, Zhu De came to Yunnan to apply for the Wushu Academy.
Zhu De was the famous Commander-in-Chief Zhu. His real name was Zhu Yujie. When he first applied for the Wushu Academy, although he had passed the exam, because he was from another province and did not have the introduction of a large local household, Zhu De regrettably fell off the list.
Painfully aware of the pain, he officially changed his name to Zhu De, and took part in the Sichuan Army's Infantry Department as his birthplace of Mengzi County, Lin'an Province, Yunnan Province. In January 1909, due to his excellent performance during his work. Under the recommendation of the 74 standards, he successfully applied for the Yunnan Army Martial Arts School and was incorporated into the Infantry Section of Class C.
At that time, there were more than 500 students in the Martial Arts Academy, and an alliance organization was established, and many of the participants were young people who were dissatisfied with the status quo. This winter, Zhu De also secretly participated in the Alliance, and was in the same group as Fan Shisheng.
Pictured | a photo of Jude's early years
In this year, Cai Yi was also recommended to Li Jingxi by Luo Peijin and Li Gen, and became the assistant commander of the Yunnan Marching Army, 19 Towns and 37 Associations, and was still teaching military lessons in the Wutang.
Cai Yizi Songpo, formerly known as Gengyin, was born in 1882 in Shaoyang, Hunan. At the age of 14, he was admitted to the finance school founded by Liang Qichao in Changsha, Hunan Province. Liang Qichao saw that he was literate and intelligent, and his ambitions were extraordinary, so he focused on cultivating.
In 1900, Cai Yi joined the cavalry of the Self-Reliant Army, but still failed, so he came to study at the Japanese Non-Commissioned Officer School. After graduating from the school in 1904, Cai Yi successively served as the deputy of the Hunan CoachIng Office, the supervisor of the Jiangxi Military Academy, and the deputy of the Hunan Coaching Office.
In 1906, Huang Ziqiang recruited Cai Yi to join the League in Guilin. In the winter of 1909, Li Jingxi came to Kunming to serve as the governor of Yungui, and Cai Yi was transferred to Yunnan. Also in April of that year, Zhu De also came to Kunming.
Zhu De and Cai Yi met in the spring of 1911. At that time, Cai Yi was a young general trusted by the governor of Yungui, 27 years old at the time, only 4 years older than Zhu De.
But he treated himself more strictly than all his students and was calm. He lectured on Professor Wutang's Introduction to Mixed Infantry and Artillery Operations, which was rigorous in theory, concise and concise, and very personal, and was deeply loved by students.
Pictured| Yunnan Army Martial Arts School
In the Martial Arts Academy, Zhu De was diligent and diligent. After listening to his lectures, I admired him even more and always wanted to find an opportunity to ask him for advice. At that time, Cai Yi's coordinated headquarters was set up in the Shoe House Academy, and he would work until late at night every day.
Once, Zhu De went to see Cai Yi, and the guards thought he was an assassin. After Cai Yi figured out the origin of the matter, he respectfully invited Zhu De to his office. Zhu De and Cai Yi talked about their academic studies and doubts in the process of study. Seeing that he studied hard and dared to study, Cai Yi quickly fell in love with this student.
Unlike other instructors, Cai Never added any revolutionary ideas to his teaching notes. At that time, Zhu Zhi did not know that he was a member of the Alliance, only that he was a "Tiyi Alliance". Cai Yi never had any public dealings with the members of the League of Martial Arts, but only secretly kept in touch with them.
He and every member of the League said: "The time is not yet right, and when the time comes, act as soon as the time comes." In addition, Cai Yi will also secretly protect these revolutionary officers. It was precisely in this way that the forces of the revolutionary party intensified in Yunnan, and eventually formed a trend of burning the plains.
At that time, the Wushu Academy was divided into three classes, and the two classes were officer classes, and the first to graduate. Zhu De's class C was a student class, and the last batch of graduates. Due to the urgent need for new officers in the Dian Army at that time, the school selected more than 100 outstanding students from the C class to form a special class, allowing them to graduate early, and Zhu De was among them.
Pictured | old photograph of Zhu De's early years
On October 11, 1911, after graduating from the Shuowu Academy, Zhu De was assigned to Cai Yi's unit as an officer, serving as the deputy commander of the left team of the 74th Biao 2nd Battalion of the 37th Association of 19 Towns. Soon after, he served as the left platoon leader of the second battalion, awarding him the rank of second lieutenant.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="17" >02 Zhu De and Cai Yi actively responded to the Wuchang Uprising</h1>
Before the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, the army in Yunnan was very complex. In addition to the feudal landlord armed forces, there were also marching troops, the Yunnan New Army is a newly organized 19th town, with the Sichuan Army infantry in the center, stationed in Wujiaba south of Kunming City.
The 19 towns are equipped with Krupp-made machine guns, rifles, field guns, etc., most of the officers are league members and students studying in Japan, and most of the soldiers are peasants recruited from the countryside, who have long been very dissatisfied with the system of the old army and the arbitrary and corrupt rule of the Qing government.
Assigned by the branch of the League, Zhu De came to the Sichuan Army to fight for work. But this work is very dangerous, and Li Jingxi organized a large number of reconnaissance networks to search and arrest revolutionaries everywhere.
The resourceful Zhu De first entertained the friends made by the infantry, went deep into the troops to contact the soldiers, talked about family affairs with each other, helped them write family letters, established deep feelings, and talked about state affairs by the way.
Photo | photo of Cai Yi's early years
In the Lecture Hall, Zhu De was the first to stand up against the officers' arbitrary insults and scolding of the soldiers, and his ideas were also supported by the general office Li Gengen, so he was very authoritative among the soldiers.
Many of these soldiers were members of the Brotherhood of elders, a secret civilian organization, and Zhu De was also invited to join the society, which allowed him to penetrate deeper into the soldiers and carry out revolutionary propaganda and organization work extensively.
After the Wuchang Uprising was launched, Li Jingxi ordered the autumn exercises of the New Army to be stopped and all guns and ammunition to be withdrawn. He learned that the Sichuan Army infantry commander Luo Luo Peijin was suspected of participating in the Alliance, so he exiled him to the border.
At the same time, he transferred all the battalions to the provincial capital and distributed them with ammunition and new rifles. Fortifications were also hurriedly built near the Governor Yamen, and two machine gun teams were sent to guard them. As long as they suspected that they were revolutionaries, they killed them all.
Taking advantage of the relationship between his fellow villagers in Sichuan and the Brotherhood of Elders, Zhu De went deep into the guards to carry out revolutionary work, and Li Fenglou, one of the guards officials, was a member of the League who had secret ties with Zhu De.
Secretly, the Yunnan revolutionaries secretly held six meetings, and Cai Yi personally participated in four times. During this period, Yang Qin, Deng Taizhong, Dong Hongxun and others of the Yunnan branch of the League also held a meeting and decided to respond to Wuchang and decided to carry out the Kunming Uprising.
Pictured | is Cai Yi
At such a critical juncture of life and death, Cai Yi's identity has still not been exposed, and Li Jingxi still trusts him very much. In order to save his comrades-in-arms, Cai Yi advised Li Jingxi not to act hastily. He was also advised not to punish the Republicans, and advised him to distribute ammunition to the Forces nouvelles as usual, and military exercises to proceed as usual.
When Li Fenglou learned of the governor's plan to massacre the revolutionaries, he quickly informed Cai Yi and others, and the people agreed to hold an uprising on October 31, and elected Cai Yi as the commander-in-chief of the uprising and Li Gengen as the deputy commander. During the target drill, Zhu De secretly reminded everyone to save bullets.
Soon, the young officers of the League quickly took control of the troops.
After the autumn studies on 30 October, the Forces nouvelles returned to the barracks. According to the original plan, at three o'clock in the morning of the next day, Cai Yi led the New Army 74 biao in Wujiaba in the South Church outside the city, li Gen led the new 73rd Army to launch an uprising in the north of the city, and the students of the Army Elementary School and the Lecture Hall responded inside the city.
But before nine o'clock, gunshots rang out at the North Teaching Ground, and then the new army also appeared chaotic. Zhu De immediately made a decision and quickly led the soldiers to chase after the fleeing soldiers and surround them.
Pictured| Li Hongzhang's nephew Li Jingxi
Cai Yi also made a decision on the spot, and temporarily decided to advance the time of the uprising to nine o'clock. After the time turned to nine o'clock, all the soldiers of the uprising pulled up the "Han" character of the Big Red Army and jointly elected Zhu De as the soldiers of the team to attack Kunming.
In this way, Zhu De led the rebel team to attack at 12 o'clock in the morning towards the provincial capital at 12 o'clock. At dawn, an attack on the Governor Yamen began.
Zhu De had already carried out revolutionary work in depth against the guards, and with the close cooperation of Li Fenglou, the soldiers of the governor Yamen quickly surrendered, and made a great contribution to the battle to restore Yunnan.
The plan was as follows: More than 10,000 people in yunnan border defense laid down their weapons and replaced them all with the national flag of the republican government. On November 1, the Yunnan Governor's Office was officially established, and Cai Yi was appointed as the Governor of Yunnan, and Zhu De, because of his merits in this battle, only served as a platoon leader due to his lack of seniority, leading his subordinates to patrol the streets of Kunming.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="28" >03 Zhu De and Cai Yi actively discussed Yuan</h1>
After the Wuchang Uprising, the revolutionary situation in Sichuan was in crisis. Cai Yi decided to send two echelon regiments, a total of eight battalions, into Sichuan to support the Sichuan revolutionaries.
On November 15, Cai Yi led the Sichuan Aid Force from Kunming and went north in two ways to support Sichuan independence. Zhu De was still a platoon leader and followed the second echelon regiment on the expedition.
The | photo of Zhu De when he was the leader of the third detachment of the Patriotic Army
In mid-to-late December, the troops successfully occupied The House and artesian wells, and Zhu De was promoted to company commander and awarded the rank of captain. Cai E has always paid attention to morality and talent in employing people, and Zhu De is loyal and honest, bold and resolute in his work, and is deeply appreciated and valued by Cai E.
After returning to Yunnan, Cai Yi specifically mentioned Zhu De at the all-army congress, saying that he was one of the meritorious people who won the two medals of "Aid to Sichuan" and "Restoration".
After Cai Yi returned to Yunnan with his reinforcements, he reformed the Yunnan military government, abolishing some mercenary county magistrates and replacing them with some young intellectuals who embraced new ideas. In addition, Cai Yi also strongly advocates frugality and leads by example. These initial reforms in the military made Zhu De's admiration for Cai Yi even more.
In the autumn of 1912, Cai Yi ordered the reopening of the Lecture Hall in Yunnan. At this time, Zhu De was also promoted to major, and first trained soldiers in the Dian Army for two months.
Shortly after the restoration of the Yunnan Daowu Hall, Zhu De was transferred to the student team as a district captain and military instructor, responsible for teaching military courses such as tactics, field shooting, and rifle practice. In addition, he had to command troops to conduct field exercises in the field.
Picture | Zhu De (front row, first from right) with students from the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall
In 1913, Zhu De was appointed commander of the first battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the First Division of the Yunnan Army. In October of the same year, Yuan Shikai transferred Cai Yi to Beijing. After receiving the news, Zhu De saw Cai Yi and reminded him: "This transfer is probably a glass of wine to release the military power, I see you can't go!" ”
But Cai Yi said emphatically: "If anyone drags China to the road of turning back, I must cut off his head!" ”
After coming to Beijing, Cai Yi served as the superintendent of the National Economic and Boundary Bureau. On the one hand, he led the work of the Economic and Social Bureau for many years, and on the other hand, he devoted himself to military academic activities. During this period, he kept writing letters to Yuan Shikai to offer advice and suggestions for national defense construction and army building, and he informed him of his strong desire to build a strong armed force.
Unexpectedly, Yuan Shikai not only ignored Cai Yi's military reforms, but frantically carried out activities to restore the imperial system and military dictatorship.
After Cai Yi came to Nanjing from Yunnan, Zhu De also followed the troops to southern Yunnan in 1914 for deployment, and Zhu De was always concerned about the safety of General Cai Yi.
Picture | Old photo of Yuan Shikai
During the days when he had just arrived in Beijing, Cai Yi had illusions about Yuan Shikai. However, he secretly signed the "Twenty-One Articles" with Japanese imperialism to lose power and humiliate the country, which deeply stung Cai Yi's heart and made him completely see the true face of Yuan Shikai's reaction.
In August 1915, at the behest of Yuan Shikai, Beijing formed the "Preparatory Security Council" to openly gain momentum for the restoration revolution, followed by various "petition groups" and "federations" appearing one after another, singing praises for the restoration of the imperial system.
In December of the same year, Yuan Shikai officially completed the preparations for the restoration of the imperial system, announcing that he would accept the throne on the 13th, abolish the Republic of China, and change the era name to "Hong Xian".
Some of Yuan Shikai's restoration actions made Cai Yi very angry. However, he could only pretend on the surface that he did not care about politics, and mixed with Xiao Fengxian in the Bada Hutong, ostensibly hoodwinking Yuan Shikai, but in fact secretly came to Tianjin many times to discuss Yuan Yuan's plan with his teacher Liang Qichao, and initially formulated a strategic idea of rushing to Yunnan to launch an armed uprising.
In November 1915, Cai Yi secretly left Beijing for Tianjin, then came to Japan in the name of medical treatment, then to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Yunnan and other places, and finally to Kunming, Yunnan on December 19, 1915.
After Zhu De heard the news of Cai Yi's return to Yunnan, he hurried to the headquarters to visit. Just as Cai Yi came to him, he couldn't help but be surprised, his face was already thin and sagging, only one pair of eyes looked sparkling, and his voice became very weak, and Zhu De could only be very careful to hear what he was saying.
Just as Cai Yi slowly walked toward him, Zhu De's eyes were already full of tears, and he couldn't say a word with his head down. After a long time, Zhu Decai said, "You are sick now, and you can't continue to lead the team!" ”
Cai Yi said a sentence that shocked him: "I don't have much left to live anyway, and I want to dedicate my entire life to the Republic of China." ”
Pictured| old photo of the Patriotic War
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="42" >04 Zhu De in the Battle of the Protectorate</h1>
On December 25, Zhu De, according to Cai Yi's orders, led his men to attack the division headquarters as scheduled, and the officers who had originally supported Yuan Shikai fled in anticipation. Zhu De hurriedly gathered his troops and held a meeting to ask Yuan for oaths.
At the meeting, he made a generous statement, exposing Yuan Shikai's crimes in restoring the imperial system and announcing the execution of the orders of General Cai Yi. Subsequently, the officers and men responded positively, saying that they would overthrow the traitor Yuan Shikai and support the republic. On December 30, Zhu De left his original unit and was transferred to the fourth team of the Dian Army's supplementary team, specifically responsible for training new recruits.
On January 6, 1916, Zhu De was promoted to the commander of the 10th Infantry Regiment of the Dian Army, and his unit was incorporated into the 6th Detachment of the 3rd Echelon of the 1st Army of the Defending Army, and Cai Yi was the commander-in-chief of the First Army.
On January 14, 1916, In the name of commander-in-chief of the First Army of the Patriotic Army, Cai Yi ordered the main force of the First Army to depart from Kunming toward Sichuan, followed by Zhu De.
Figure | Protectorate Army
On February 15, Zhu De led his troops to Yongning and soon received news of the defeat of the third detachment. Zhu De immediately drove more than 100 miles to the Naxi front line day and night, fought against the enemy, and successfully repelled the enemy.
Postwar. He deployed his troops on the high ground on the front of the cotton slope and formed a confrontation with the Beiyang Army, which was guarding the highlands of the Red Temple.
Cotton Slope is located in the Yongning River and Jinsha River a high land, about five kilometers away from Naxi City, the river is a rolling mountain, for the two soldiers must fight, the geographical location is very important, the Beiyang Army concentrated Zhang Jingyao, Xiong Xiangsheng and other troops, constantly towards the position of the National Protectorate Army to carry out fierce shelling.
Zhu De led this team to resist the main force of the Beiyang Army. Before the war, Zhu De encouraged the soldiers of the troops before the war, organized the team and the Beiyang Army to launch attacks again and again, and finally successfully held the position.
At this time, Cai Yi ordered the Defending Army to counterattack in three ways, and Zhu De personally led two battalions, an artillery company, and a machine gun platoon to attack from the cotton slope to Lingjiaotang. After the exchange of fire between the two sides, the Beiyang Army desperately resisted with its condescending favorable terrain and strong fortifications.
Pictured| Xiao Fengxian and Cai Yi
Zhu De sent troops to reconnoiter, and after repeated research, decided to adopt a roundabout tactic, with a battalion in the front with heavy artillery fire to contain the enemy, and instead swerved most of the troops back to the enemy's flank to attack, the Beiyang Army was suddenly surprised by its unexpected attack.
Before long, they adjusted their troops and organized their forces to counterattack zhu De's troops head-on, successfully breaking through several gaps. With the support of friendly forces, Zhu De fought with the enemy to the death, and finally regained his lost position.
After three days of fierce fighting, the troops suffered heavy casualties, and Cai Yi ordered a temporary change to a defensive position. On the 23rd, Cai Yi held a meeting to discuss the battle plan, and he believed that the tactics of quick battle and quick decision should be adopted, and at the same time, the forces of the provinces should be mobilized to curry favor with Yuan, so as to change the situation. Cai Yi also particularly stressed that it is necessary to defend the main battlefield of Naxi.
After returning to the third detachment, Zhu De immediately summoned the battalion companies to a meeting and announced the plan to organize death squads to sneak attack the enemy. When everything was ready, the death squad soldiers, led by Jude, engaged the enemy. The enemy, who was caught off guard, scattered and fled in all directions, and the soldiers rushed all the way to Wu Peifu's headquarters and won a complete victory.
That's it, Cai Yi risked his life to throw himself into the Patriotic War. Despite his illness, he fought with his enemies several times, always commanded and fought on the front line, and finally won the victory of the Patriotic War.
Shortly after the end of the Great Patriotic War, Cai Yi also had to come to Japan for treatment due to overwork and exhaustion, and Cai Yi first came to Zhu De's station for a few days before leaving From Sichuan, and this was the last time Zhu De saw Cai Yi.
At this time, Cai Yi was already extremely weak, even his movements were very inconvenient, his voice became extremely weak, and Zhu De had to bend down to hear what he said.
Pictured| the ranks of the Defending Forces
At the time of the separation, Cai Yi said slowly: "This time to Go to Japan, it is both expensive and time-consuming, I don't know if I can come back." ”
After Yuan Shikai's death in the scorn of the people, Li Yuanhong succeeded him as president of the Republic of China and appointed Cai Yi as the governor of Sichuan.
However, at this time, Cai Yi's condition was deteriorating sharply. After hastily handling the relevant affairs of Sichuan Province, he came to Japan in September for medical treatment. On the morning of November 8, he died of illness in Fukuoka, Japan, at the age of 34 due to ineffective medical treatment.
When the bad news came, Judd was deeply saddened. After Cai Yi's body was transported back to Shanghai, a solemn memorial ceremony was held for him, and finally transported to his hometown of Hunan.
At the same time, Yunnan Province and various military headquarters of the Yunnan Army held a solemn farewell ceremony. In Luzhou, Zhu De held a huge memorial meeting for Cai Yi and personally wrote a bang to pin his infinite mourning:
Xunye Zhenhuan District, pain fan, to the sea to summon the soul, full of traces of charm, clean up the rivers and mountains who asked.
The spirits follow the sun and the moon, and if they go here, they will investigate the case of the Song Dynasty, and the whole people will be in a mood to be relieved, and it will be difficult to distinguish between meritorious crimes and crimes.
Pictured| Cai Ye's tombstone in Changsha
Cai Yi and Zhu De worked together for only five years, but the two were born and died together to maintain the republic and oppose the imperial system, and formed a deep friendship. In just five years, Cai Yi reused Zhu De at least four times, promoting him from a platoon commander to a brigade commander of a mixed brigade major general.
In an interview with American journalist Smedley, talking about his early experience, Zhu De said: "I have great respect for Cai Yi and admire his ability to work and his keen thinking. ”
More than a decade after Cai E's death, Zhu De's thoughts and remembrance of Cai E have not passed with time. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, Zhu De told people: "In the southwest region, no one has yet been able to catch up with the talent of General Cai Yi, and such a national hero can leave at only 35 years old." Before joining the Communist Party, he was my teacher, who was my guide and guiding light in the darkness. ”