In 1955, the newly founded New China held a ceremony to award titles, and 10 marshals and 10 generals were evaluated. These marshals and generals were all great heroes who made great achievements in battle and saved the nation from times of crisis. In the history of the Communist Party of China, there are actually many people who are qualified to be rated as marshals and generals. Unfortunately, most of them were sacrificed, and Wang Erzhuo was one of them.
He was once the youngest chief of staff of the Red Army, the superior of Marshal Lin Biao, and the proudest disciple of Premier Zhou Enlai, who was only 25 years old when he died. Some people say that with his qualifications, if he can live to the founding of New China, he can be evaluated as a marshal by 1955. What ability did this man have, why did he stand out in the talented Red Army, and why did he die young and die heroically?
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="2" >, Zhou Enlai's proud disciple</h1>
In 1903, Wang Erzhu was born in a peasant household in Hunan Province, and his family conditions were relatively favorable, and he was able to attend private school from an early age and went all the way to high school. In 1920, at the age of 17, Wang Erzhuo was admitted to the Hunan Provincial School of Medium Industry. Faced with a devastated country, Wang Er painstakingly studied professional technology and was determined to save the country with industry.
However, at that time, there was no room for a desk that could study peacefully. In 1922, the rule of warlords and the exploitation of capitalists made the common people miserable. Several responsible persons of the Hunan Provincial Federation of Labor were brutally murdered. In order to seek justice, the Communist Party of China led the low-level people of Changsha to stand up and demonstrate against the atrocities of the warlords.
Wang Erzhuo and his classmates also joined in the struggle against the warlords. In this struggle, Wang Erzhu saw the truth of society and the decay of the ruling class, and what he saw and heard greatly impacted Wang Erzhuo, and finally made him give up the dream of industrial salvation and turn to the revolutionary cause.
In 1924, Wang Erzhuo was admitted to the Whampoa Military Academy as the first batch of students. Here he met his teacher Zhou Enlai. Zhou Enlai, then director of the political department of the Whampoa Military Academy, was very appreciative of Wang Erzhuo and took the initiative to talk to him many times and preach Marxism to him. Under the careful cultivation of Zhou Enlai, at the end of 1924, Wang Erzhu became a member of the Communist Party and became a member of the revolution.
In 1926, the Northern Expeditionary Army was established, and Wang Erzhuo was appointed director of the political department of the 3rd Division. With wang Erzhuo's efforts, this team was successfully transformed into a revolutionary team, marching all the way, and soon conquered Nanchang, Tonglu and even Shanghai. But the Northern Expedition ultimately failed because of Chiang Kai-shek's betrayal of the revolution. Soon, Chiang Kai-shek raised his butcher's knife to the Communists, and Wang Jingwei followed suit, launching the "Qing Party Movement." Where should Wang Erzhu go?
< h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="4" > second, the youngest chief of staff of the Red Army</h1>
When the Chinese Communist Party was in crisis, Wang Erzhuo firmly chose the party and led his troops to Nanchang to participate in the uprising. Here, together with Zhou Enlai, he achieved the success of the First Uprising of Nanchang. Subsequently, Wang Erzhuo went south with his troops and separated from Zhou Enlai, which no one expected. This parting is a farewell.
Wang Erzhuo came to Guangdong with the troops, and at this time, his direct leader was Zhu De. At that time, the rebel troops were surrounded and blocked by the Kuomintang army, and the situation was very bad. In order to stabilize the morale of the army and encourage the morale of the soldiers, Wang Erzhu often took the initiative to carry guns for the soldiers, carry luggage, and do ideological work for them. During the breaks, he often found some grass-roots commanders to talk. Because he was busy all day, he did not have time to take care of himself, and soon changed from a young handsome young man to a bearded uncle.
In the time that followed, Wang Erzhuo, Zhu De, Chen Yi, and others led this unit to fight against the Kuomintang army while carrying out revolutionary movements throughout Guangdong. In January 1928, this unit also successfully captured the county seat of Yizhang and reorganized the unit into the First Division of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. Subsequently, the First Division marched north, invaded Shonan, and established the Shonan Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Soviet Government.
At this time, the Party Central Committee instructed the First Division to go to Jinggangshan and join Mao Zedong to jointly establish Soviet power. On April 28, 1928, the two units met victoriously and merged to form the Fourth Army of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, with Wang Erzhuo as chief of staff. This year, Wang Erzhuo was 25 years old, which was also the youngest chief of staff in the history of the Red Army.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="6" > third, heroic sacrifice, heaven and earth are sad</h1>
After serving as the chief of staff of the Fourth Army, Wang Erzhuo gave full play to his command ability, assisted Mao Zedong and Zhu De in formulating strategies, and personally visited the front line many times to direct the battle, and won many battles. Seeing that the situation in Jinggangshan was very good, the Hunan Provincial CPC Committee made the mistake of taking the offensive and sent Du Xiujing and others to Jinggangshan to demand that the Red Army march to Shonan.
This demand will undoubtedly deal a devastating blow to the nascent revolutionary cause. Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and others justifiably and sternly rejected this request. Wang Erzhuo also had a fierce quarrel with Du Xiujing at the meeting, and finally broke up unhappily. However, Du Xiujing and others refused to give up, and took advantage of the homesickness of the soldiers of the 29th Regiment to encourage the soldiers to go to Shonan.
After Wang Erzhuo learned of this situation, he thought that it was dangerous for the 29th Regiment to go to Shonan alone, so he quickly led the 28th Regiment to chase it. Sure enough, the 29th Regiment was attacked by the Kuomintang troops. Fortunately, the 28th Regiment arrived in time and finally succeeded in rescuing it, avoiding the total annihilation of its army. Subsequently, Mao Zedong and others rushed to meet him and decided to return to Jinggangshan.
Then something big happened.
On the way, Yuan Chongquan, commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 28th Regiment, coerced the troops to break away from the large forces and surrender to the Kuomintang troops. Yuan Chongquan was born into a landlord family, and originally joined the Red Army with the purpose of promoting officials and getting rich. During the battle, he became suspicious of the future of the revolution and began to plan an escape. Fortunately, Yuan Chongquan's move aroused the suspicions of several company commanders, who managed to break away from Yuan Chongquan's control and return to the large army. But the 5th Company and the Mortar Company were taken away.
Faced with this situation, Wang Erzhu led a platoon of military guards to pursue. As soon as they saw Wang Erzhuo coming, the soldiers of the two companies also hurried back to Wang Erzhuo's side. However, Yuan Chongquan was extremely vicious, and when everyone did not pay attention, he actually fired several shots at Wang Erzhuan, which eventually led to Wang Erzhuo's heroic sacrifice, only 25 years old.
However, Wang Erzhuo's sacrifice was not meaningless; he used his life to expose Yuan Chongquan's ugly face to the soldiers of these two companies, so that they could understand that this person who claimed to be good for the revolutionary cause would shoot at his close comrades-in-arms, and the occurrence of this incident also sounded the alarm bell for the central authorities, and from then on he paid more attention to ideological and political education in the Red Army and paid attention to eliminating the impurity factors in the ranks. This change greatly increased the combat effectiveness of the Red Army and ensured the loyalty of the troops.
Therefore, after learning of this incident, Chairman Mao lamented that Wang Erzhuo's sacrifice saved these two companies, and at the same time stabilized the Red Army and saved the revolution. At Wang Erzhuo's memorial meeting, Mao Zedong was filled with grief and tears in his eyes, and personally wrote down the link of "one cry, two crying, and now that he is finished."
This pair of ties is full of affection, and the hearer sheds tears. Wang Erzhuo, who was supposed to continue to lead the Red Army and make greater contributions to the cause of the revolution, died at the hands of traitors. If he could lead the troops to persist until after the founding of the country, the rank of marshal was not a problem. In the revolutionary period, there were still many martyrs who sacrificed in the most beautiful youth, and today we can live in such a beautiful environment, and we should always remember these people who gave their precious lives for new China.
Text/Leyu
Reference source: "The Tragic and Magnificent Life of Wang Erzhuo, Chief of Staff of the Red Army", Miao Tijun Dou Chunfang