preface
Zeng Shi'e was one of the most valued generals when Chairman Mao led the revolution in the early days, in 1927 he participated in the Autumn Harvest Uprising, became Chairman Mao's staunchest supporter, after the Sanwan reorganization, he served as the commander of the special agent company of the First Regiment of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, at that time, Luo Ronghuan was the party representative of the special service company, and the deputy company commander Zhang Zongxun later became a general; at the age of 25, Zeng Shi'e served as the chief of staff of the Red Fourth Army, the commander of the Eleventh Division, and when Lin Biao was out, he served as the acting commander;
Admiral Xiao Hua once said: "If Zeng Shi'e does not sacrifice, it is enough to award the marshal." ”
Chairman Mao's senior counselor, founding lieutenant general Guo Huaruo, commented on Zeng Shi'e: "He was the best Red Army division commander at that time. ”
He Changgong also had a similar evaluation: "If Zeng Shi'e had lived until now, he would have been at least a great general, and perhaps he would still be a marshal." ”
Why did Chairman Mao attach so much importance to Zeng Shi'e, and how could he win the approval of many party elders? Today I will take you to understand the story of this outstanding general in the early days of our party;
From an early age, he was talented and admitted to university
Zeng Shi'e, born in 1904 in Yiyang, Hunan Province, came from a poor family; in order to let him study, the family lived a tight and tight diet life, Zeng Shi'e had shown intelligence and hard work from ordinary people during his study, and had the ability to never forget knowledge, but the poverty of the family led to his dropout;
The relatives and friends around him all felt that Zeng Shi'e was a piece of reading material and did not want him to be buried, so they funded him to return to school, so with the strong support of his relatives and friends, he successfully finished high school from the Proverbs College, and lived up to the instructions of the clan and was admitted to Yiyang Xinyi University through his own efforts.
In college, Zeng Shi'e came into contact with advanced ideas, and the flame of revolution remained in his heart from then on;
In November 1924, a vicious incident occurred at Xinyi University in which foreigners openly bullied Chinese female students, arousing the anger of students, and Zeng Shi'e led hundreds of students to automatically withdraw from the university, which caused Xinyi University to directly suspend operations for half a year.
After dropping out of school, Zeng Shi'e went to Jianghua County to do clerical work.
Join the organization and start a revolutionary career
In 1926, the Northern Expeditionary Army entered Hunan, Zeng Shi'e felt that the time had come, so he resolutely abandoned his pen and joined the student formation of the Independent First Division of the 8th Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and then entered the Whampoa Army Principal Sha Branch to continue his studies, where the 22-year-old Zeng Shi'e was introduced to join the Communist Party of China and officially began his revolutionary career.
In 1927, the raging fire of the revolution was ignited all over the country, and Zeng Shi'e, who had lofty ambitions, joined the autumn harvest uprising led by Mao Zedong on the border of Xianggan and Gansu.
At that time, Chairman Mao reorganized the insurrectionary troops into the First Division of the First Army of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, with 3 regiments under its jurisdiction, a total of more than 5,000 people, and Zeng Shi'e served as the chief of staff of the three regiments and three battalions;
During this period of the journey, the revolution encountered major ideological differences, with the commander of the First Division, Yu Shandu, arrogantly believing that the enemy's large counties and major cities should be concentrated, while Mao Zedong believed that it was necessary to turn to the Luoxiao Mountains, where the garrison was weak, and then wait for the opportunity to move to Jinggangshan;
Yu Shandu, Su Xianjun and others led some of the fighters to defect because they did not obey Mao Zedong's theory, while Lu Deming, Zeng Shi'e, Luo Ronghuan, He Changgong and others did not hesitate to stand by Chairman Mao's side and became his staunchest supporters;
The establishment of the Jinggangshan revolutionary base area ignited the spark of "armed division of workers and peasants", and it was here that Chairman Mao put forward the great slogan of encircling the cities from the countryside and seizing power by force;
Emerge as a company commander of secret agents
After the reorganization of Sanwan, the rebel forces were reduced by Chairman Mao into a regiment with 7 companies under his jurisdiction, and Zeng Shi'e became the commander of the elite special agent company responsible for defending Chairman Mao's safety, and Luo Ronghuan was the party representative of the special agent company at that time;
Having just arrived at Jinggangshan, it was very difficult to build troops, and Zeng Shi'e had always followed Chairman Mao around and was a pioneer in any kind of war, big or small.
Soon Chairman Mao began a revolutionary counteroffensive and proposed to attack Xiangdong, and on November 18, 1927, Zeng Shi'e led his troops to seize Chaling and established the first county-level workers' and peasants' and soldiers' regime here; however, it was also here that the regimental commander Chen Hao revealed his intention to betray the revolution and encouraged the fighters to defect to Chiang Kai-shek and completely betray the revolution; Zeng Shi'e soon discovered Chen Hao's plot and quickly informed Chairman Mao of this matter, under the leadership of Chairman Mao. Zeng Shi'e and Luo Ronghuang and others defeated the counter-revolutionary acts of the 4 traitors led by Chen Hao, and successfully rescued the revolutionary compatriots and the future of the revolution;
With less to win more, the Yellow Ocean Boundary defense war
At the end of August 1928, Zeng Shi'e led less than one battalion of troops to defeat the attack of an enemy division in the Huangyang Boundary Defense Battle, creating a rare battle miracle of winning more with less since the establishment of the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Base Area, and making great contributions to the creation, consolidation and development of the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Base Area.
Chairman Mao, who learned of the victory news, could not suppress the joy in his heart, and improvised the famous "Xijiangyue Jinggangshan", which has since become a famous battle known to the world;
At the age of 25, he became an acting military commander
In a letter to his relatives and friends, Zeng Shi'e wrote: "Shi'e has been away from home for more than four years in the revolution, and although he has traveled from the north and the south and experienced hardships, he has always felt invisible happiness and refreshed his spirit for the sake of the masses. ”
Zeng Shi'e's strict rule of the army, his belief deeply infected the soldiers of the troops, even Chairman Mao said that Zeng Shi'e's troops are the most spiritual in the whole army! From the chairman's words, we can see his recognition and love for this upright and elite cadre;
In 1929, Zeng Shi'e successively served as the chief of staff of the Red Fourth Army, the commander of the Eleventh Division, and the acting commander. He was only 25 years old that year, and he could be described as a teenager.
In the first "anti-encirclement and suppression campaign," Zeng Shi'e and Luo Ronghuan cooperated with each other, calmly coped with the battle, captured Zhang Huizhen, commander of the enemy's Eighteenth Division, and completely annihilated more than 9,000 enemy troops, creating huge battle results, known in history as the "Great Victory of Longgang."
In the second "anti-encirclement and suppression campaign", Zeng Shi'e also commanded the troops to completely annihilate a brigade of the enemy's 43rd Division at Donggu Jiuzhiling, inspiring the whole army.
Zeng Shi'e, with his outstanding ability, achieved fruitful results, and at the same time made him one of the top generals in our Party position in the early days of the revolution, when the commander who was half a rank higher than him was the founding marshal Lin Biao, Lin Biao often went out because of his duties, and Zeng Shi'e was the acting commander, who was fully responsible for the command of the troops.
In fact, according to Zeng Shi'e's qualifications, he can fully assume the post of military commander; Zeng Shi'e was the main participant in the Autumn Harvest Uprising and the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Base Area, with a high level of education, fought bravely, and achieved fruitful results; however, with the growth of the revolutionary contingent, benevolent people from all over the world began to gather at Jinggangshan, and Mao Zedong deliberately suppressed the rank of Zeng Shi'e, an old revolutionary comrade around him, to half a level in order to unite the forces of all sides to carry out revolution.
In fact, for Zeng Shi'e himself, he didn't care what level it was, as long as he could go to the battlefield to kill the enemy, he was satisfied, but unfortunately, as a senior general, his spirit of being a pioneer eventually made him lose his incense, and a generation of generals fell;
He died at the age of 27
In August 1931, Chiang Kai-shek mobilized 100,000 troops to adopt the operational policy of "attacking in parts and attacking in a long drive" and launched a comprehensive "encirclement and suppression" campaign in an attempt to eliminate the Central Red Army in one fell swoop.
Zeng Shi'e led the 11th Division from western Fujian to the central battlefield, participated in the three major battles of Liantang, Huangpi, and Liangcun, three battles and three victories, completely annihilated the 44th Division of the Shangguan Yunxiang Department of the Kuomintang Army, killed more than 5,000 enemy troops, and the enemy army collapsed in its entirety, basically crushing Chiang Kai-shek's third "encirclement and suppression."
After the enemy was defeated, he took the road and fled to the area of Futian and Ji'an, Zeng Shi'e was ordered to go to the blockade and engage in a fierce battle with the enemy army on a hill near Gaoxingwei in Xingguo County, Jiangxi, the troops suffered heavy casualties in the pursuit, during the battle, Zeng Shi'e took the lead in charging regardless of the danger, and was continuously hit in the abdomen by stray bullets, and died heroically, at the age of 27.
After the news reached the headquarters of the Red Army, Luo Ronghuan could not believe his ears, and with a sad mood, regardless of the purulent wound on his feet, he rushed to the front line, in order to avenge his old partner, he commanded his troops to continue to pursue the enemy, and successfully annihilated more than 5,000 enemy troops;
Chairman Mao burst into tears when he learned of Zeng Shi'e's sacrifice, and said to Lin Biao in a rare rage: "Are you red-eyed?" In the future, some battles will be fought, and who can agree to let the senior cadres go down and fight, and the cadres are all finished fighting, who will command the revolution? Who's going to do it? ”
Lin Biao also knew that he had made a big mistake and made a profound review to the headquarters of the Red Army.
Chairman Mao was the first to stand up and call on everyone to pay tribute to and observe a moment of silence for Comrade Zeng Shi'e at the "Third Anti-Encirclement and Suppression" celebration meeting, and said bitterly at the meeting: "Comrade Zeng Shi'e's sacrifice was heroic and heroic; he was still fighting bravely and fiercely at the most dangerous and urgent time; he personally led the troops to charge, changed the situation of the battle, and minimized losses to the greatest extent." Afterwards, Chairman Mao issued a circular order to all the Red Army to "learn from Comrade Zeng Shi'e."
Later, Zeng Shi'e's relatives wrote to the central government asking where he was going.
The Revolutionary Military Committee of the Central People's Government replied with regret: "Comrade Zeng Shi'e is an outstanding cadre of our Party and our army, and it is indeed a heavy loss to sacrifice for the revolution. ”
After the founding of New China, Zeng Shi'e's remains were transported back to his hometown of Yiyang and buried at the top of Huilong Mountain.
The deeds of General Zeng Shi'e are regrettable, and a generation of generals has fallen like this, but on the road of revolution, there are thousands of talents like General Zeng Shi'e, who have thrown their heads and spilled their blood, worked hard all their lives, did not seek returns, and dedicated their great lives to the revolution, and their deeds are always worthy of our study and always worth remembering. Pay tribute to all revolutionary martyrs