Founding General Chen Bojun was one of the founders who followed Mao Zedong to participate in the Autumn Harvest Uprising in 1927 and open up the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Base Area. The flames and smoke of war and the world changed, but the history of Qing Yin recorded the deep friendship between him and Mao Zedong that lasted for many years and was little known.
In 1910, Chen Bojun was born into a peasant family in Daxian County, Sichuan Province, and in 1923, he was admitted to the Wanxian Provincial Fourth Normal School, where he was expelled for participating in the progressive student movement, and at the end of 1926, he was admitted to the Wuhan branch of the Whampoa Military Academy.
Former site of the Wuhan branch of the Whampoa Military Academy
Here, Chen Bojun not only received strict military training, but also received serious political education, and Mao Zedong, who was then a member of the CPC Central Committee, once went to the school to give a lecture on the peasant issue, which was the first time Chen Bojun met Mao Zedong. Although this young student, who had just turned 16, did not attract Mao Zedong's attention, in Chen Bojun's mind, he already had the initial impression of "Member Mao."
In 1927, when Chiang Kai-shek, who represented the interests of the big landlords and big bourgeoisie, betrayed the Great Revolution, the young Chen Bojun felt bitter and confused, but he soon realized that if he wanted to overthrow the powerful and establish an equal regime, only the Chinese Communist Party could do it.
On May 17, 1927, Xia Douyin rebelled in Yichang and led his troops to attack Wuhan, and the students of the Wuhan Branch School were ordered to join the Central Independent Division to participate in the battle, Chen Bojun showed great bravery in the battle, attracted the attention of the organization, and soon joined the Communist Party of China on the Xianning front.
Chen Bojun
After that, Chen Bojun participated in the Nanchang Uprising with his troops, and in mid-August 1927, he arrived with his troops in Tonggu to prepare to participate in the Autumn Harvest Uprising on the border of Xianggan and Gansu.
On September 10, Mao Zedong came to Tonggu to plan the uprising, and Chen Bojun quickly attracted his attention, and after learning about Chen Bojun's situation, he said kindly: "Well, I went to the Whampoa Military Academy and joined the party, and our party needs cadres like you very much!" ”
After that, Chen Bojun followed Mao Zedong to participate in the Autumn Harvest Uprising and went up Jinggang mountain, after which he successively served as a platoon commander and company commander, and when the Red Fourth Army established a teaching team, Mao Zedong appointed him as deputy captain and secretary of the party branch, and told him to study well and lead the team well.
In a battle in the spring of 1928, Chen Bojun captured a pistol, because the gun had rust spots and could not pull the bolt, the leader of the teaching team, Lu Chi joked: "What a broken gun, 'half a pound of iron', throw it away!" But Chen Bojun was reluctant to throw it, disassembled the parts of the pistol, found kerosene to wipe it repeatedly, and finally drummed it up.
One day, after Chen Bojun saw Lü Chi, he smiled and took a gun and compared it to him, saying, "My gun is not 'half a pound of iron'." Then he pulled the bolt.
But he never expected that the bolt of the gun drove the firing pin, firing a bullet that had not yet withdrawn, and with a "bang" sound, the bullet just hit Lü Chi's head, and Lü Chi fell to the ground in response.
Chen Bojun was horrified and kept calling Lü Chi's name, but he was no longer breathing. Lü Chi and he are fellow villagers in Sichuan, also students of the Whampoa Military Academy, and they went to Jinggangshan with him, and the relationship between the two is also very good. After Chen Bojun broke into the catastrophe, he was extremely depressed and was immediately imprisoned and waited for his superiors to deal with it.
After the news spread, there was a lot of discussion, and the soldiers' committee members twisted Chen Bojun to see Mao Zedong and repeatedly demanded that he be shot. Mao Zedong was also very sad about Lü Chi's death, but instead of making a decision immediately, he summoned Zhang Lingbin, director of the Soldiers' Committee, and asked him: "You Captain Lü were killed by Chen Bojun by mistake. ”
Mao Zedong during the Red Army
Zhang Lingbin said: "Many people have asked to be killed. ”
Mao Zedong then gathered his troops and said to everyone: "Lü Chi is a good comrade, Chen Bojun is not a bad person, he is joking with Captain Lü, and he killed people by mistake." One of them came from the Whampoa Military Academy, and the other came from the Wuhan Branch of Huangpu, and they all performed well, and they also had a set of military skills. We are very short of such people! Can we mourn only one person? Otherwise, another person is not good to mourn! ”
Someone below asked, "Did Chen Bojun kill someone and then it would be over?" ”
Mao Zedong said solemnly: "Of course, we can't stop it, we won't let him pay for his life, but we will punish him." The work that Comrade Lü Chi failed to accomplish must be doubled down by Chen Bojun alone. In addition, hit him a hundred boards, everyone agrees or disagrees? ”
Mao Zedong saw that the people below had no objections, so he asked his guards to personally hit the board, but after only 20 hits, he stopped it, and Chen Bojun did not shout or shout, and accepted the punishment with satisfaction and sincerity. Afterwards, he was transferred out of the teaching team and demoted to deputy company commander.
This incident also made Chen Bojun and Mao Zedong a life-and-death relationship, and in the days that followed, he fought more heroically and improved his position rapidly, and by December 1930, he had become the commander of the Seventh Division of the Red Third Army.
In the first anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign, Chen Bojun and his troops first fired the first shot of the encirclement and annihilation of Zhang Huizhan's division at Longgang, and together with the brother troops, won a major victory of completely annihilating the division and capturing Zhang Huizhen alive, and captured more than 2,000 rifles and 46 machine guns, which was commended by Mao Zedong.
Zhang Huizhen
In June 1932, Chen Bojun was appointed commander of the Red Fifteenth Army, but at this time Mao Zedong was attacked by the erroneous "Left" line represented by Wang Ming, and Chen Bojun was also dismissed from his post as commander of the Red Fifteenth Army and transferred to the Red Army School for firmly supporting Mao Zedong's ideas.
After that, Chen Bojun was infuriated by the "Left" leaders because he insisted on putting forward his opinions on the erroneous play method of opposing "encirclement and suppression", and he was not only criticized, but also demoted to the commander of the Red Thirteenth Division.
In October 1934, the Central Red Army began the Long March, and the Central Committee ordered Chen Bojun to command the Red 13th Division to be responsible for the rear of the palace. At this time, he had been swinging, but still took the lead, gave up his war horse to the wounded and sick, personally led his troops to fight with the enemy for a day, and covered the central Red Army through the Xiang River. Marshal Liu Bocheng later commented: "The Thirteenth Division is my most assured division! ”
Liu Bocheng
After the Zunyi Conference, Mao Zedong regained the command of the Red Army, Chen Bojun was also appointed chief of staff of the Red Fifth Army, and after the Long March, the marching sequence of the Red Fifth Army was always at the end, always fighting with an enemy several times its own, ensuring the safety of the main force of the Red Army and the central organs, and being called the "iron guard" by the Red Army, and Chen Bojun also won the reputation of "iron butt".
After the Central Red Army and the Red Fourth Front Army met the division, they were divided into left and right routes and went north, Chen Bojun followed Zhang Guotao's left route army, but Zhang Guotao wanted to split the Red Army and decided to let the left route army return to Aba without authorization. ”
Zhang Guotao said falsely: "The Politburo of the CPC Central Committee also has many controversies that have not been thoroughly resolved, and the headquarters organs are not consistent. ”
Zhang Guotao
Chen Bojun righteously and sternly said: "In all incidents in the Party, Party members in the Red Army should be able to put forward opinions, but until they are resolved, they are absolutely not allowed to make random disturbances and split and unite!" ”
The conversation eventually broke up, and Zhang Guotao, in retaliation, instructed his cronies to take down Chen Bojun's warhorse and telescope, and beat his groom and guards, but Chen Bojun never gave in.
In July 1936, Chen Bojun was transferred to the commander of the Red Sixth Army, and marched north, and on October 15, when Mao Zedong learned that the Red Sixth Army was about to meet with the Red Army, he was very happy and wrote him a letter:
"Comrade Bo Jun:
Smell that you are in the Sixth Army, and celebrate the talent of the Red Army! Is your body okay? Comrades miss it. We are all good, the time to meet is not far away, willing to work together!
A tribute to the revolution! ”
Being called a "competent talent" by Mao Zedong can be said to be a very high evaluation.
Group photo after the victory of the Red Army's Long March, Chen Bojun on the second from the right
Chen Bojun developed a good habit of keeping a diary during the long revolutionary war years. During the two-year march of the Red Army's Long March, he insisted on keeping a diary every day except for the two months of the end of 1935 and the beginning of 1936, when he was seriously ill, and took a few days to concentrate on writing one article. These words have become important materials for recording the glorious history of our party and our army.
On August 25, 1937, Chen Bojun's Red Sixth Army was reorganized into the 359th Brigade of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army, with Chen Bojun as the brigade commander and responsible for garrisoning Luochuan.
"In the past, because I was only responsible for simple military work, I did not think deeply enough about political issues, and I lacked the kung fu of precise examination, so my work was not in-depth enough and I tended to be impetuous. Personality is also not calm, and political study should be strengthened in the future. ”
But not long after, Chen Bojun was in trouble because of his violent temper, on October 17, 1937, Luochuan Motorcycle School wanted to send a car to Yan'an to do business, Chen Bojun asked the driver to carry the accountant of the 359 Brigade to Yan'an to lead the fee, but the other party never agreed, Chen Bojun finally caught fire after many times of ineffective persuasion, raised his hand and slapped him.
But after beating people, Chen Bojun regretted it, and he wrote in his diary that day:
"What recklessness! But the driver's attitude of having neither a political stance nor a sense of organization is hateful! ”
The matter quickly spread in Yan'an and quickly reached the ears of Mao Zedong, who made a serious criticism of Chen Bojun, saying: "First, the subjectivity of this matter is too strong and the objectivity is too poor; second, because all problems have not yet fully mentioned the principle of view, and to be more specific, the relationship between one-sidedness and comprehensiveness, and the relationship between the part and the whole, the relationship between the part and the whole, has not been truly understood and unified." ”
Mao Zedong
Chen Bojun accepted Mao Zedong's criticism with satisfaction, and soon after, Chen Bojun was transferred to the Central Party School to study. In June 1938, Chen Bojun was appointed minister of the Anti-Japanese War Training Department.
When Chen Bojun grasped school teaching, he always worked hard to make the education and training work sound and colorful. The strategy he taught was the "signature dish" of Kang Da. He could write, he was very eloquent, he was good at speaking, and it was common for him to give a speech for two or three hours at kang da, and once he spoke for 8 hours in a day.
In the late autumn of 1938, a message began to circulate in Yan'an: Mao Zedong had fallen in love with Jiang Qing, an actor from Shanghai, and some said that they were already together.
Mao Zedong and Jiang Qing
The matter later reached Chen Bojun's ears, and he felt that he could not accept it, and specifically talked to Guo Huaruo about it, and the more they talked about it, the more inappropriate it was, so Chen Bojun decided to write a letter to Mao Zedong and advise him not to do so.
Chen Bojun quickly wrote the letter, he wanted to find a few old comrades to join him, but no one else was willing to do so, so he sent the letter in his own name.
A few days later, Luo Ruiqing, vice president of kang da, transmitted Mao Zedong's reply to Chen Bojun, and Mao Zedong did not blame him, but said in the letter:
"Dear Comrade Bojun, thank you for your concern for my private life, the sky can't fall..."
Mao Zedong and Chen Bojun (center)
At noon on May 22, 1942, Chen Bojun had something to talk to Mao Zedong, and as soon as he walked outside the cave, he heard the sound of him and Jiang Qing arguing, which made him very emotional, so he wrote in his diary that night:
"Woohoo! A woman's fantasy is over here! As the commander-in-chief, Gai will command countless generals, millions of soldiers, and the major events of the whole country, and the solitary and one woman and woman are so difficult to deal with, can't we be more vigilant here! ”
Decades later, it turned out that Chen Bojun's ideas at that time were by no means unfounded.
Mao Zedong was also well aware of Chen Bojun's problem of being outspoken and quick-witted, and on October 1, 1941, he wrote a letter to him, instructing him to "take the 'three noes' of not floating, revealing, and impetuous as a precaution, coupled with a profound and practical spirit, and focusing on implementation, then it will be easy to change it."
After Chen Bojun saw the letter, he was deeply inspired, and he specially warned himself in his diary: "The old problems of being straightforward and quick-talking and talking about should be paid attention to at any time in the future on the agenda of self-cultivation." ”
Under the supervision of Mao Zedong, Chen Bojun also became more mature, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he assisted Liu Bocheng in establishing the Nanjing Military Academy, serving as deputy director of the Ministry of Training, deputy director of education and director of the Military Academic Research Department, and in 1955, he became the vice president of the college and was awarded the rank of general.
In 1957, Chen Bojun was wrongly criticized along with Liu Bocheng because of his work experience at the Nanjing Military Academy, to which he explicitly expressed reservations, but was regarded as "dissatisfied and seriously resistant."
Despite this, Chen Bojun continued to work diligently, and on April 14, 1960, he published the book "Military Thought for Studying Mao Zedong Thought" to actively promote Mao Zedong Military Thought. In 1962, he wrote the article "Chairman Mao Led Us to Jinggangshan", recalling the experience of following Mao Zedong to participate in the Autumn Harvest Uprising, and making public his "general's feelings" of sharing hardships with Mao Zedong.
After the outbreak of the "Cultural Revolution", Chen Bojun was also affected, but Mao Zedong still actively protected his beloved general, and on May Day in 1967, he was invited to the Tiananmen Tower to watch the ceremony, and Mao Zedong saw him and said: "Bo Jun, I heard that you are sick? ”
Chen Bojun in his later years
Chen Bojun replied: "Yes, thank you Chairman for your concern. In just a few words, they have exhausted their 40 years of friendship.
In October 1968, at a meeting, Mao Zedong asked a representative where he was from Daxian County, Sichuan, and Mao Zedong said, "Oh, that is Comrade Bo Jun's hometown?" ”
The deputy did not hear Mao Zedong clearly and asked, "Which comrade is it?" ”
Zhou Enlai, who was present, immediately understood that Mao Zedong wanted to protect Chen Bojun, who was being straightened out in this way, and he immediately explained: "Comrade Chen Bojun, whom the chairman spoke of, was an old comrade of the Jinggangshan period and the president of the Higher Military Academy. ”
Mao Zedong's words were indeed useful, and no one would dare to rectify Chen Bojun in the future.
On February 6, 1974, Chen Bojun died in Beijing at the age of 64. Mao Zedong specially entrusted the leaders of Deng Xiaoping, who was in charge of the work of the central authorities at that time, to attend his memorial service and farewell ceremony.
Reports of Chen Bojun's death
After Chen Bojun's death, his good friend General Mo Wenhua wrote a tribute to him: "For half a century, I have followed the chairman, conquered the north and the south, and begged the west and the east. Blood sprinkled with grass and green onions..." This can be said to be the best description of the handsome love that Mao Zedong and Chen Bojun have described in the past 40 years.
In June 1987, the "Selected Diary and Writings of Chen Bojun" was officially published, and Nie Rongzhen said in the preface to the book: "This is a precious historical material left by a veteran soldier of the Red Army on the battlefield filled with gun smoke and the difficult and dangerous journey. Xu Xiangqian's inscription: "Comrade Chen Bojun's brilliant achievements are indelible. ”
"Chen Bojun's Diary"
General Chen Bojun is immortal!