From the second half of 1946 to the first half of 1947, the People's Liberation Army had repelled the frenzied attack of millions of Kuomintang troops and wiped out more than a million Kuomintang troops, forcing Chiang Kai-shek to turn to a comprehensive defense. At this time, the internal contradictions of the Chiang Kai-shek clique were also deepening day by day, and various senior generals and unit commanders such as Gu Zhutong, Liu Zhi, Xiong Shihui, Tang Enbo, and I all expressed dissatisfaction with Chen Cheng. Because since Chen became the chief of staff, he has been flying high, appointing private individuals, excluding dissidents, replenishing equipment, and paying more attention to his concubines, such as the Eighteenth Army. However, other units were given more difficulty in detaining and detaining, so that public resentment boiled over, there was a lot of discussion, and some unemployed senior generals "cried" in front of Sun Yat-sen's spirit in Nanjing's Purple Mountain.
At that time, the social order in the Kuomintang-ruled areas was disorderly, military discipline was in ruins, and the so-called five poisons such as "officer general," "youth," "wounded soldiers' hospital," "National Congress," and "news records" were popular everywhere. Chiang Kai-shek also gradually discovered that Chen Cheng was neither popular with the army nor incompetent in command, so he blamed him for all the shortcomings and failures of the Kuomintang army. First he withdrew his personnel power, and then he withdrew his military command, under Chiang's personal command. Therefore, Chen Cheng felt that he could only manage supplies and not personnel affairs as chief of staff, and he also complained privately to Chiang Kai-shek. I remember that once when I asked Chen Cheng for instructions, Chen Cheng complained bitterly: "You ask the old man (referring to Chiang Kai-shek) for instructions, and I am only a supply commander, and I can't control the rest." At this time, there were rumors from all sides that Chen Cheng would go to the northeast. Xiong Shihui, the director of the Northeast Xingyuan, said to me in April 1947: "Chen Cheng, this guy is extremely bored and has a bad idea. According to reliable sources, Chen Cheng's command of the operation in Guannei has failed, and he wants to come out of the northeast to save his face, and now he is thinking of fighting my idea. I'm gone, you can't stand him, the two of us have to think of ways to deal with this little ghost. ”
Subsequently, the People's Liberation Army launched a summer offensive and besieged Siping Street, and the wind rumors that Chen Chenglai's voice in the northeast was depressed. However, on July 7, Chiang Kai-shek issued a mobilization order to "suppress the rebellion," and on the eighth day I left the northeast due to serious illness (I planned to go abroad for medical treatment, but I did not go there later), Chen Chengyi went to Shenyang on the twelfth day, convened a military conference in the northeast, and went to Tieling to "award the medal" to the newly organized Sixth Army in order to win over him. At this time, Xiong Shihui, director of the Northeast Xingyuan, believed that Chen Chengshi would pick him up in the northeast in the future, that is, he would be connected with seven resignation letters from Chiang Kai-shek. Later, Xiong told me in Shanghai that Jiang had repeatedly replied to the letter of comfort, and he was reluctant to put state affairs first, continue to preside over the northeast, and never change the personnel affairs of the northeast. Xiong also said: "After I received these handwritten letters from Chiang Kai-shek, I was preparing to reorganize the army and use force, when suddenly Chiang Kai-shek ordered Chen Cheng to come and pick me up and poured cold water on me. I have always thought that Jiang was a strategist, but I did not expect that I would be rectified like this, and who would fight for him in the future? You see I got a good message in April, I originally prevented Jiang's hand but did not prevent it, alas! He also said: "Chen Cheng wanted to fight a few victorious battles in the northeast in order to regain the trust he had lost in front of Chiang Kai-shek." The Northeast Communist Army was not as easy to fight as Chen Cheng had thought. As soon as Chen arrived in the northeast, he replaced Chen Mingren, the defender of Siping Street, which made the northeast generals very cold, you wait to see Chen Cheng's good play! The bear talked very indignantly.
This is indeed the case. In early August, Chen Cheng succeeded Xiong as the director of the Northeast Expedition and abolished the Headquarters of the Northeast Security Commandery, taking sole control of the Northeast Party's military and political power. On August 7, Wei Demai, the leader of the US invasion of China, went to Shenyang to talk with Chen Cheng all night. At this time, some people in the Kuomintang military and political circles who opposed Chen Cheng believed that he had received strong support from his American master Wei Demai in the northeast, and it was expected that in the future, with US aid to economic materials and ammunition, Chiang Kai-shek would first supply the northeast, let Chen Cheng fight several victorious battles in the northeast, and then hand over the northeast to Luo Zhuoying, and Chen Cheng would still return to Nanjing as chief of staff. But no one believed that he could do better than Xiong Shihui in the northeast, and at the same time, he also talked about the fact that China at that time was indeed the Chiang family dynasty, the world of the Zhejiang people, and chiang kai-shek would not be completely trusted by anyone except the Zhejiang people.
When Chen Cheng first arrived in the northeast, he really held some ambition and boasted that "we must eliminate the communist army and build a new northeast of the Three People's Principles." He vigorously reorganized the army and expanded the troops in a big way, expanding the original nine security districts and eleven security detachments and traffic police corps and other units in the northeast into four corps (the New Third Army, the New Fifth Army, the New Seventh Army, and the New Eighth Army), expanding the cavalry detachment into a cavalry division (three brigades), and expanding the youth army to the second. The Seventh Division was expanded into the Sixth Army, and wang tiehan of the Forty-ninth Army was transferred from northern Jiangsu to the northeast, and Chu Xichun was transferred to the commander of the Shenyang defense. Together with the New First Army, the New Sixth Army, the Thirteenth Army, the Fifty-second Army, the Fifty-third Army, the Sixtieth Army, the Seventy-first Army, the Ninety-third Army, and other eight armies in the northeast, there are as many as fourteen armies. He also added artillery, chariots, automobiles, and other units, in a vain attempt to concentrate superior forces to fight a decisive battle with the Plakmen. On the other hand, to eliminate dissidents, he replaced Xu Zhen, chairman of Liaoning Province, Chen Mingren, commander of the 71st Army, Liang Kai, commander of the 52nd Army, Liu Yuzhang, deputy commander and commander of the Second Division, and commanders of various security detachments in the northeast, and replaced them with Chen's confidants. According to Zhao Jiajun,who came to Shanghai in March 1948 and told me, at that time, some people from the northeast kindly suggested to Chen: "I heard that the commander-in-chief has replaced the commanders of the security detachments in the northeast, and many troops will defect to the Communist Party." Chen retorted: "Whoever wants to vote, let him vote." He cast today, I'll hand in his gun now! "The tone is really not small.
Of course, Chen Cheng not only had ambitions in the northeast, but also did some things that others could not do in favor of the Chiang family dynasty. After he expanded the regular army of the Kuomintang in northeast China to fourteen armies, he vigorously straightened out military discipline, punished corrupt party, government, and army personnel (such as Feng Kai, head of the auto corps, and Li Xiuye, director of the japanese overseas Chinese management department, arrested Li Xiuye, former director of the Japanese Prisoner of Overseas Chinese Management Department, and so on), and banned scattered soldiers and guerrillas everywhere, imprisoned and brought to justice Tian Xiangfan, a boring soldier in the northeast, and expelled Gao Liren. For a while, the people of the northeast were also somewhat excited, believing that Chen Cheng had a way.
In October, the Northeast People's Liberation Army launched the Autumn Offensive, which eliminated 100,000 of Chen Cheng's troops, frightening Chen Cheng and confused. At this time, the people of Shenyang circulated a song that satirized Chen Cheng: "Chen Cheng is really capable, and the South Railway Station passes through the North Railway Station." When the Autumn Offensive of the People's Liberation Army was over and was "taking advantage of the gap between each campaign to rest and reorganize the troops, and the winter offensive had not yet been launched on a large scale (in fact, the Winter Offensive of the People's Liberation Army had already begun on December 15), Chen Cheng's arrogance rose again, and on January 1, 1948, he issued a New Year's Day message to the northeast military and civilians, impersonating that "the nationalist army has completed its combat preparations and the dangerous period has passed." They also prepared to send troops from Tieling, Shenyang, and Xinmin to sweep the liberated areas. Unexpectedly, as soon as Chen Cheng's plan began, the People's Liberation Army annihilated one of Chiang Kai-shek's elite troops in the northeast, the New Fifth Army, at Princess Tun in western Liaoning on January 7 with a surprise attack that could not be concealed, and captured the commander Chen Linda alive, the division commander Xie Daisheng, and Liu Guangtian.
At this time, Chen Cheng was frightened, his hands and siblings were confused, he was bedridden and trembling, and the starry night telegraphed Chiang Kai-shek to be anxious. Jiang personally flew to Shenyang on the 8th. It is said that at that time, Chen Cheng completely pushed the responsibility for the destruction of the New Fifth Army to the generals disobeying the orders of the public, and requested that Liao Yaoxiang, commander of the Ninth Corps, and Li Tao, commander of the New Sixth Army, be punished. On the same day, Chiang Kai-shek convened a meeting of the commanders of the Northeast Division and above, and scolded Liao Yaoxiang and Li Tao for disobeying orders and disregarding the interests of the "state and the nation" in not lifting the siege of the New Fifth Army. In fact, according to Chen Cheng's deputy chief of staff, Zhao Jiajun, told me in February 1948: Since the People's Liberation Army launched a powerful autumn offensive in 1947, Chen Cheng's heart has been terrified, and he did not expect the People's Liberation Army to launch continuous attacks in early January.
When Chen Cheng's so-called sweeping plan was about to begin, it was attacked by the People's Liberation Army against Gongzhutun. At this time, Chen Cheng no longer had the arrogance and personal arbitrariness of his arrival in the northeast in the early autumn of 1947, but hurriedly convened a meeting of staff to study countermeasures.
Zhao said: "I once drew up a plan to abandon the strongholds such as Gongzhutun on the outskirts of Shenyang, concentrate my forces on defending the Shenyang stronghold south of the LiaoHe River, and use offensive defense to break the people's liberation army attack." Chen Cheng saw that Lian said it was very good. However, Chen Cheng sometimes wanted Chen Linda to keep, and sometimes he wanted Chen Linda to retreat, hesitating and not giving orders to carry them out. It was not until the evening of the 6th that Chen Linda was surrounded by the People's Liberation Army on all sides that he was determined to make Chen Linda retreat to Shenyang. However, Chen Cheng's next order was relatively simple, and the action of an army was not to talk about soldiers on paper, and to draw an arrow to transfer the army to Shenyang. As soon as the New Fifth Army began its operations, it was intercepted by the People's Liberation Army in separate ways and wiped out in one night."
In the case of Chen Cheng's indecisive and indecisive move, Chen Linda's army was shaken, undetermined, and had no basis for retreating, and of course, it was impossible to prepare Liao Yaoxiang's corps to cooperate with Chen Linda's army to break the powerful offensive of the People's Liberation Army. Therefore, after Chiang Kai-shek scolded Liao Yaoxiang and Li Tao during the meeting, Liao and Li Tao were not convinced, and stepped forward to say that they had not received the order to rescue Chen Linda, forming a deadlock that could not be distinguished from merit or wrong. Jiang and Chen felt that their trick of punishing Liao and Li to maintain Chen Cheng's "face" could not be carried out, and they were embarrassed. At the end of the quarrel, according to Zheng Tingji, who was attending the meeting at the time, Chen Cheng had no choice but to stand up and say: "The annihilation of the New Fifth Army is completely my own command and no way, and I do not blame the generals, please ask the 'president' to punish me according to party discipline and state law, so as to suppress military discipline." Chiang Kai-shek went on to say: "The battle is being fought, and we will evaluate the merits after the war is over." "That's how the meeting ended.
After Chiang Kai-shek left the table, Chen Cheng then said to the generals: "I am determined to defend Shenyang, and if the 'communist bandits' attack Shenyang, I am determined to coexist and die with Shenyang, and finally commit suicide with a pistol." This is an expression of his "loyalty to the party-state."
After the meeting, Chiang Kai-shek summoned the generals and encouraged them to obey Director Chen's orders and properly accomplish the task of "suppressing bandits" in the northeast.
After Chiang Kai-shek left, Chen Cheng saw that the northeast PEOPLE's army's winter offensive had not stopped, and then asked his wife Tan Xiang (also known as Tan Manyi) to go to Nanjing to ask Song Meiling to ask Chiang Kai-shek to transfer him back to Nanjing. Tan Xiang really touched Chiang Kai-shek's heart through Soong Mei Ling in Nanjing, and wanted to transfer Chen Cheng back and replace him with someone else. Jiang instructed Wei Lihuang to summon Wei From Shanghai. At that time, Wei said that he would not go, and Chiang Kai-shek instructed Zhang Qun, Gu Zhu and others to persuade Wei to go to the northeast. Zhang Qun once said to Wei: "With personal relations, I do not approve of you going to the northeast; in terms of the future of the country, I hope that you will go to the northeast to save the overall situation." At the same time, tan xiang, in order to rush to save his husband, also ran to the Wei family to urge Wei Lihuang to go to Shen as soon as possible, and said: "The 'communist bandits' in the northeast fought very badly, drilling everywhere in the snow and ice, and drilling into the rear at night could not be seen." Ci Xiu was too sick to deal with, and only Mr. Wei could have a way to go, and asked Mr. Wei to go to Shen as soon as possible to take care of things. Mrs. Wei, Han Quanhua, later told me that when she heard this, she felt that "you will fight for the advantage and power, and when you get out of control, you will ask people to go." What is this psychology? ”
After Wei Lihuang arrived in the northeast, Chen Cheng quietly left Shenyang on February 5, 1948 and flew back to Nanjing. Chen Cheng was scared away by the People's Liberation Army in the northeast, and for a time became the central material for the jokes of senior Kuomintang party, government, and military personnel in the northeast. Some said: "Chen Cheng's momentum when he first came to the northeast was fierce, it turned out to be a straw bag, and when he reached a critical moment, he fled." Some said: "Chen Chengren is a big devil, he said that he coexisted and died with Shenyang, and finally committed suicide with a pistol, that is to deceive the generals into committing suicide, so why did he not commit suicide?" It's a liar, who believes this liar? At this time, within the Chiang regime, especially in the northeast, chen cheng was attacked very badly. Chen Cheng initially wanted to scare these people with his teeth and claws, but later he saw that the voices of opposition were growing louder and louder, and he changed his means and wanted to meet with people in the northeast and win them over. On 16 July, he was ordered by Chiang Kai-shek to invite the northeast army generals Zhang Zuoxiang, Wan Fulin, Ma Zhanshan, and Zou Zuohua, as well as the northeastern officials Zhang Yuanfu, Wang Shuchang, Zhai Wen ringworm, Mi Chunlin, and Yu Jichuan to discuss the northeast issue, and to defend and cover up his own failure. However, chen Cheng saw that the people in the northeast could not be frightened or pulled, and still attacked him, so he took a leave of absence and wanted to go to the United States for medical treatment, so as to avoid public opinion rebuke.
Chen Cheng lived in Nanjing for more than a month and sneaked to Shanghai to prepare to go abroad. In April, during the meeting of the Kuomintang National Assembly, it was rumored that Chen Cheng was going to the United States to rule The Country, and bai Chongxi made a military report at a congress, and all the deputies (including me) shouted in unison: "Kill Chen Cheng to thank the people of the country!" "Don't let Chen Cheng flee to the United States!" "Go to Shanghai and detain Chen Cheng to solve the beijing law!" Bai laughed happily when he heard his political enemies scolding him. Then the representative of the Northeast shouted: "We should not listen to the food of the army, we should listen to how the battlefields were fought!" Zhao Yongfu, a representative of Shandong, shouted: "After the victory, do not collect the Shandong puppet army, force 300,000 guerrillas to Liangshan, and ask the government to kill Chen Cheng to thank the people." ”
Zhang Zhenlu, a representative of the Northeast, said: "Zhuge Liang was tearful and chopped off horse rumors, and we asked Chairman Jiang to perform this play. Yu Gui said: "If the central government's strategy of 'suppressing bandits' and picking rats is lost, if the northeast is lost, the north China is lost, and the south China is not protected, will they all want to flee to the United States like Chen Cheng?" ”
When Chen Cheng was preparing to go abroad in Shanghai, when he heard these news of losing his "dignity," he had no face to go abroad, and he was afraid that someone would really come to Shanghai to "make trouble," so he quickly moved to the Shanghai Army Hospital, the headquarters of the joint logistics department, and went into hiding in the name of treating duodenum.
Author: Du Yuming
EDIT: Wei Zhong
*The picture shows the stills of the movie "Liaoshen Battle"
*This article is excerpted from the China Literature and History Publishing House "The Battle of Liaoshen (Battlefield Memories of Former Senior Kuomintang Generals)"
![Chiang Kai-shek gave 800,000 people to Du Yuming, why du Yuming said: Going to Xuzhou to command is like going to the execution ground[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)