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Hu Yihua: The revolutionary friendship between the Red Army General Zeng Shi'e and the great Mao Zedong of a generation

Hu Yihua: The revolutionary friendship between the Red Army General Zeng Shi'e and the great Mao Zedong of a generation

Zeng Shi'e (1904-1931) was an outstanding general of our party and our army who was both excellent in military and government, brave and good at war, loved soldiers and knew soldiers, and made outstanding achievements in battle, and was also one of the famous generals who died heroically during the revolutionary struggle in Jinggangshan. In his short but magnificent revolutionary career, in those glorious years when blood and fire were intertwined, he fought for the "life of the masses" with his golden original heart, unswervingly supported, followed, and supported Mao Zedong, not only deeply trusted, appreciated, and relied on by Mao Zedong, but also received Mao Zedong's guidance, cultivation, and praise, and even formed a deep revolutionary friendship with Mao Zedong, leaving us with a period of sincere, singable, and respectable historical stories.

Zeng Shi'e was the staunchest follower of Mao's early military career

The Autumn Harvest Uprising of 1927 was an armed uprising of workers and peasants led by Mao Zedong himself, marking the beginning of Mao Zedong's military career. From the failed dilemma of the Autumn Harvest Uprising to the successful opening of the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Base Area, this can be said to be a unique and legendary stroke of Mao Zedong's early military career, which fully embodies Mao Zedong's profound strategic vision and superb political wisdom. The reason why Mao Zedong, a young man who was full of books and was in charge of the marshal's seal for the first time, was able to bring the remnants of the rebel army to Jinggangshan to a large extent because he won the support and support of a large number of young talents in the army with his personality charm. Among them, Zeng Shi'e, who is also a fellow Hunan villager, is one of the most staunch followers.

Zeng Shi'e graduated from the Shasan Branch of the Whampoa Army, joined the Communist Party of China in 1926, participated in the Northern Expedition, served as a company commander in the Guard Regiment of the General Headquarters of the 4th Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and participated in the Autumn Harvest Uprising with the Guard Regiment in September 1927 and served as the chief of staff of the battalion. After the rebel army suffered successive major setbacks, faced with the difficult choice of where to go from the revolution, the wounded Zeng Shi'e, Wan Xixian, Zhang Ziqing, Wu Zhonghao, Luo Ronghuan, and a number of young officers with full of enthusiasm stood up at the first time and openly expressed their resolute support for and follow Mao Zedong, thus helping Mao Zedong stabilize this team. Subsequently, Mao Zedong personally led the famous "Three Bays Reorganization", which can be said to have saved the insurrectionary troops at a critical moment and laid the foundation for the creation of a new type of people's army, Zeng Shi'e was an important witness, participant, and supporter of the "Three Bays Reorganization", of which two major events were directly related to him.

First, the troops were drawn down and reorganized. Mao Zedong reduced the original division into a regiment, under the jurisdiction of seven companies, of which the most elite forces into a special service company, as the name suggests, the special service company is a company that performs special tasks in marching operations, its main tasks include exploring the enemy's situation, serving as a sharp knife, serving as a guard, and so on. Mao Zedong had a discerning eye and selected Zeng Shi'e, who was very good in military and political quality, from a contingent of nearly a thousand people to serve as the company commander.

Second, the branch is built on the company. In order to effectively realize the party's absolute leadership over the army, Mao Zedong summed up lessons and lessons, lowered the party organization setup from the original regimental level to the company, pioneered the method of "building branches on the company" to build the army, set up party representatives in the company, served as the secretary of the party organization, and specialized in ideological and political work. Among the first party deputies was Luo Ronghuan, who later became the "founding marshal." One night more than 20 days after the Sanwan reorganization, Mao Zedong personally presided over the joining ceremony of the first batch of 8 soldiers of the Special Agent Company, explained the party's tasks and the significance of joining the party, and led everyone to take an oath in front of the party flag. After the meeting, the three branch committees of the company, namely Luo Ronghuan, the party representative, Zeng Shi'e, the company commander, and Zhang Zongxun, the deputy company commander, huddled in the same red blanket with excitement and held a "quilt branch committee." Afterwards, the party branch led the officers and men of the company to unswervingly follow Mao Zedong up JinggangShan.

From Yongxin Sanwan to Jinggangshan, the road was not smooth, and the rebel troops were again suddenly attacked by the enemy on the way, so they had to disperse and retreat. Zeng Shi'e and Luo Ronghuan led two platoons of the special agent company to cover Mao Zedong's transfer together, and after reaching The Yellow Pass in Suichuan, they stopped to rest while collecting the scattered personnel and served as a grouping task for a battalion. At that time, there were only thirty or forty soldiers left in Mao Zedong's entourage, sitting scattered on the ground, hungry, because they lost their cooking burdens during the retreat and could not bury the pot to cook, so everyone had to go to the homes of the nearby masses to buy a little leftover rice and pickle peppers, there were no dishes and chopsticks, and Mao Zedong also grabbed and ate with his hands like everyone else. In this regard, Luo Ronghuan recorded such a clear scene in detail in a reminiscence article entitled "The Autumn Harvest Uprising and the Initial Period of Our Army" in his later years: "When everyone is full, Comrade Mao Zedong stood up, took a few steps toward the middle open space, put his feet together, his body was straight, and he said to everyone with great energy: 'Now come to the line!'" I stand first, please shout the password of the company commander! His strong, composed spirit immediately infected the warriors strongly. One by one, they all raised their heads, mustered up the courage to fight, full of confidence, and stood up with their guns in hand, looking at his tall body. The "Zeng Company Commander" mentioned in the article was none other than Zeng Shi'e, a tall and mighty company commander who actively responded to Mao Zedong's orders, stood up first in his entire coat and hat, strode forward, quickly assembled the team, joined the battalion that came later, and followed Mao Zedong toward Jinggangshan.

In particular, when the contingent reached jingzhu mountain at the foot of Jinggang Mountain, Mao Zedong made an important speech in the special agent company led by Zeng Shi'e, announcing for the first time three marching disciplines: "First, obey the command of action; second, fight the local tycoons and return to justice; third, do not take a sweet potato from the peasants." He also particularly stressed: "We are an army led by the Communist Party, and only by strictly abiding by these three disciplines can we do a good job in our relations with the masses on the mountain and Wang Zuo's troops." This was the source of the "three major disciplines and eight points of attention" of the people's army later.

Hu Yihua: The revolutionary friendship between the Red Army General Zeng Shi'e and the great Mao Zedong of a generation

Zeng Shi'e Martyrs Exhibition Hall.

Second, Zeng Shi'e was the most trusted loyal guard chief of Mao Zedong's first shangjinggangshan

During the revolutionary war years, the security of the leading organs of the armed forces and the supreme commanders was of paramount importance. From the reorganization of sanwan to the initial shangjinggangshan, the situation faced by the workers' and peasants' revolutionary army was very grim, the internal situation of the contingent was complicated and changeable, the external environment was also very sinister, and all kinds of enemy situations and dangerous situations could occur at any time. Judging from the relevant historical data, in the ranks of the rebel army at that time, Zeng Shi'e, the company commander of the special agent company, and Luo Ronghuan, the party representative, were undoubtedly the people Mao Zedong knew earlier, had the most contacts, and trusted the most, so Mao Zedong was assured and bold to entrust his own security work to the special agent company.

From the reorganization of Sanwan at the end of September 1927 to the establishment of a revolutionary base area in Jinggangshan to the "Zhumao Huishi Division" in April 1928, during which Mao Zedong basically connected with Zeng Shi'e's agents, especially when he first went to Jinggangshan, Mao Zedong's station was the place where Zeng Shi'e's secret service company camped, and the four things that Zeng Shi'e personally experienced were worth commemorating.

First, send troops to escort Mao Zedong to Jinggangshan. Starting from Yongxin Sanwan, passing through the ancient city, Ninggang, Maoping, and then going to Jinggang, during the march for more than 20 days, Zeng Shi'e and Luo Ronghuan ordered deputy company commander Zhang Zongxun to lead a platoon of soldiers to serve as Mao Zedong's personal guards. Finally, we arrived safely at Jinggangshan. Zhang Zongxun was thus praised as Mao Zedong's "first chief guard", and later Mao Zedong himself also expressed such an exclamation: "Ten years ago you escorted me to Jinggangshan, and now you escort me to Yan'an.

Second, he accompanied Mao Zedong to meet Yuan Wencai for the first time. On October 6, 1927, after the enlarged meeting of the Former Committee of the Ancient City, Mao Zedong came to Lin Fenghe's home in Dacang Village, Ninggang, at the foot of Jinggang Mountain, to meet for the first time with Yuan Wencai, the leader of the local peasant armed forces. In the face of Yuan Wencai's "Hongmen Banquet" set up out of alarm, in order to gain his trust and support, Mao Zedong neither brought a guard unit nor a weapon with him, and only six people accompanied Mao Zedong to the appointment with bare hands, including Zeng Shi'e. During the talks, Mao Zedong understood the reason and moved with affection, impressed and conquered Yuan Wencai with his true feelings, sincerity, great wisdom and courage, and turned the "Hongmen Banquet" into a "Concentric Banquet," thus opening the door for the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army to successfully walk on Jinggang Mountain.

Third, support the resolute struggle against the betrayal acts of Mao Zedong and Chen Hao and others. After going to Jinggangshan, at the behest of Mao Zedong, Zeng Shi'e led a special agent company to send troops with a battalion to Xiangdong, and on November 18, 1927, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army established the first county-level workers' and peasants' and soldiers' regime in Chaling, but what was unexpected was that Chen Hao, then the regimental commander, and four others became corrupt and degenerate after entering the city, and tried to secretly pull away the troops to defect to the Kuomintang reactionaries. Under the correct leadership of Mao Zedong, Zeng Shi'e, Wan Xixian, Zhang Ziqing, Luo Ronghuan, and others waged a resolute struggle against this act of rebellion; at a critical juncture, Zeng Shi'e led a company of special agents to rescue Wan Xixian, Zhang Ziqing, and others who were detained, and personally arrested Chen Hao and four other traitors, assisting Mao Zedong in bringing the troops in danger back to Jinggangshan safely.

Fourth, he led the ministry to serve as the defense work of the Zhumao meeting of Longjiang Academy. On April 25, 1928, the Shonan Uprising troops led by Zhu De and Chen Yi and the remnants of the Nanchang Uprising arrived at Xialong City, Jinggangshan, and on April 28, Mao Zedong, who served as a cover task, led the Autumn Harvest Uprising team back to Changcheng City, realizing the "Jinggangshan Victory Meeting" of great historical significance. According to Mao Zedong's instructions, Zeng Shi'e led his troops to defend the entire venue.

Hu Yihua: The revolutionary friendship between the Red Army General Zeng Shi'e and the great Mao Zedong of a generation

3. Zeng Shi'e was a highly regarded and highly praised military general whom Mao Zedong relied on

After arriving at Jinggangshan, under the personal cultivation and careful teaching of Mao Zedong, Zeng Shi'e grew up rapidly in actual combat. From 1927 to 1931, he led his troops to jinggangshan, Gannan and western Fujian, and successively experienced dozens of major wars, vicious battles, and bitter battles, was wounded many times, made outstanding military achievements, and was repeatedly promoted, from company commander, battalion commander, and detachment commander to column commander, division commander, and army chief of staff, especially in the Red Fourth Army, whenever the commander Lin Biao was out of the country, Zeng Shi'e acted as the commander. He loves soldiers and knows soldiers, is good at leading soldiers, can share weal and woe with soldiers, leads the way in battle, charges ahead, and enjoys high prestige among soldiers. He himself was both excellent in military and political affairs, talented, thoroughly understood the strategic intentions of his superiors, had a high military command ability and the ability to unite and cooperate; the Second Column of the Red Fourth Army and the 11th Division that followed, which he brought out, were strictly disciplined, well-trained, militarily competent, brave and tenacious, and created a series of classic examples of winning victories with few victories and winning by surprise; he was one of the most powerful brigades in the Red Army at that time who could fight hard battles, was called the "steel army," and was also the main force that Mao Zedong most assured, relied on, and liked to use the most. Mao Zedong always fully trusted and loved Zeng Shi'e, a young general with blood, liver and gallbladder, and a brain, and praised the classic battle examples and outstanding achievements he created on many occasions.

First, he was one of the specific commanders of the Huangyang Boundary Defense War. On August 30, 1928, when the large red army led by Mao Zedong and Zhu De had not returned to Shonan and the rear of the base area was empty, the Kuomintang enemy troops in Xianggan and Gansu provinces attacked Huangyangjie, one of the five major outposts of Jinggangshan, with the strength of one division, and only two companies of the Red 31st Regiment were stationed in Huangyangjie, including Zeng Shi'e's three companies, and the balance between the enemy and us was very large. At the critical juncture, Zeng Shi'eqiang, the commander of the third company who was recuperating from his wounds, endured the pain of his wounds, quickly rushed to the Huangyang Boundary to observe the terrain, and together with other comrades and local armed leaders, organized the Red Army and the masses to repair fortifications and clear the fields. Under the deployment of He Tingying, the party representative of the 31st Regiment, and Zhu Yunqing, the regimental commander, Zeng Shi'e participated in and specifically commanded the huangyang boundary defense battle, and finally with less than one battalion of troops, defeated the enemy's attack of one division and won a major victory in the yellow ocean boundary defense battle. This was one of the classic examples of the Red Army winning more with less during the Jinggangshan period, which successfully smashed the second "encirclement and suppression" of Jinggangshan by the Kuomintang reactionaries and effectively defended the security of the revolutionary base areas. After Mao Zedong learned of the victory report on the way to lead the main force of the Red Fourth Army to Jinggangshan, he was extremely excited, and his poems flourished, and he wrote the famous epic poem "Xijiangyue Jinggangshan": "The flag under the mountain is in sight, and the drums and horns at the top of the mountain are heard." The enemy was besieged for thousands of times, and I stood still. Barriers have long been tightened, and more united in will. The cannons on the Huangyang Boundary roared, reporting that the enemy was at night. The last two sentences are widely circulated and almost household names, and it is through these two poems that people remember the famous "Huangyang Boundary Defense War" in history, but many people do not know that one of the specific commanders of this campaign is Zeng Shi'e.

Second, he was one of the main generals of the Red Army who "countered encirclement and suppression" for the first time. In December 1930, Chiang Kai-shek gathered 100,000 troops of the enemy army in the three provinces of Xiang'e, Hubei, and Gansu, and launched the first large-scale "encirclement and suppression" of the Central Soviet Region, in an attempt to eliminate the Red Army in one fell swoop. Under the personal command of Mao Zedong and Zhu De, the Red Army adopted the operational policy of enticing the enemy to go deep, first completely annihilating Zhang Huizhan's two brigades and division headquarters totaling more than 9,000 people in One fell swoop at Longgang, and capturing Zhang Huizhen alive, the commander-in-chief of the enemy's front line and commander of the Eighteenth Division, and then annihilating half of Tan Daoyuan's division in Dongshao, capturing more than 3,000 enemy personnel, and winning a complete victory in the first anti-encirclement and suppression war. This battle caused a great shock within the Kuomintang, and Mao Zedong himself was also proud of it, and for this reason he also wrote a magnificent poem: "Fisherman's Pride and Anti-First Great "Encirclement and Suppression": The sky is red with frost, and the heavenly soldiers are angry. The fog was full of Longgang Qianling, and the head was called out, and Zhang Huizhen was caught in front of him. Two hundred thousand troops re-entered Gansu, and the wind and smoke rolled in for half a day. Arouse millions of workers and peasants, work with one heart, and do not make red flags and chaos under the mountains. One of the famous sentences , " Zhang Huizhen was caught in the front " , later led to a debate in the field of historiography about " who caught Zhang Huizhen " . Judging from the relevant historical data, it is certain that Zeng Shi'e, then commander of the Eleventh Division, and Luo Ruiqing, the political commissar of the division, led the Red Eleventh Division, the main force of the Red Fourth Army at that time, to participate in the first "anti-encirclement and suppression war" throughout the whole process, and played an important role in the "Longgang Victory" and the "Dongshao Pursuit Battle".

Third, he is one of the faithful practitioners of the spirit of the "Gutian Conference". From December 28 to 29, 1929, the Fourth Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army held the Ninth Party Congress in Gutian Village, Shanghang County, Fujian Province, which is the famous "Gutian Conference" in history, which reaffirmed the principle of the Party's absolute leadership over the Red Army, established the basic principle of people's construction, and was an important milestone in the construction of our Party and our army. At this meeting, Mao Zedong made a political report and was re-elected as the former secretary of the party committee. According to the "Chronicle of the Figures of the Gutian Conference" published by the People's Liberation Army Publishing House in 2006, Luo Ronghuan, as one of the members of the former enemy committee, and Zeng Shi'e, as one of the representatives of the Third Column, both attended the Gutian Conference. At the beginning of January 1930, Mao Zedong reorganized the leading body of the Second Column in accordance with the principle of political army building, and transferred Zeng Shi'e and Luo Ronghuan to the Second Column as commanders and political commissars respectively, which was the second time that the two had cooperated and worked together since the reorganization of Sanwan. The old base of the second column, the special service battalion of the military department, was first reorganized by the Kuomintang rebel troops, and the ideological style of the old army was relatively strong, and the phenomenon of emphasizing the military and neglecting political work was widespread. Under the personal guidance of Mao Zedong, Zeng Shi'e and Luo Ronghuan vigorously grasped the ideological and political work of the troops, resolutely implemented the spirit of the Gutian Conference, gave full play to the role of the party branches of the company, organized party members and ordinary soldiers to inspect, discuss, and rectify and reform in light of the resolutions of the Gutian Conference article by article, and at the same time made great efforts to strengthen military training and strictly enforce military discipline and military orders, so that the appearance of the entire unit was completely renewed in just four or five months, and it became a main force with high morale and strong combat effectiveness, thus being highly praised by Mao Zedong and the front committee of the Red Fourth Army In May 1930, the Former Committee of the Fourth Red Army made this assessment in the report of the Central Committee: "In the past, the second column had no center in military and political affairs, so its combat effectiveness was inferior to that of the first and third columns. Recently, the higher-level cadres have been replaced, and the second column has been revived. In a certain sense, the Second Column led by Zeng Shi'e and Luo Ronghuan was the first "experimental field" in the history of our army to comprehensively and successfully implement the spirit of the Gutian Conference. Shortly after the End of the Gutian Conference, the Kuomintang reactionaries mobilized the strength of 14 regiments from the three provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, and Gansu to launch a second "encirclement and suppression" campaign against the revolutionary base areas in western Fujian. Mao Zedong and Zhu De led the Red Fourth Army from western Fujian to Gannan by separate routes, and using the strategy of "encircling Wei to save Zhao," they not only broke the enemy's plot to encircle the Red Fourth Army in one fell swoop, but also successfully created the Gannan base area by carrying out guerrilla warfare. Where today is, pointing directly to the bottom of Wuyi Mountain. Down the hill, the wind shows the red flag like a picture. It should be pointed out that the unit led by Mao Zedong at that time was the second column of the Red Fourth Army led by Zeng Shi'e, and it is no wonder that some people later commented: "The second column of the Red Fourth Army and the later Eleventh Division were the main force that Mao Zedong relied on the most and liked to use the most."

Zeng Shi'e was the first person mao zedong instructed the headquarters of the Red Army to study on the order

On September 8, 1931, just as the third anti-"encirclement and suppression" war in the Central Soviet Region was coming to an end, the Red Army launched an attack on the Kuomintang enemy in the Gaoxingwei area of Xingguo County, Jiangxi, which was also the most tragic confrontation in the entire third anti-"encirclement and suppression" war. The main forces of the enemy army were two divisions of the Kuomintang Nineteenth Route Army, which were mainly soldiers of two Cantonese nationalities, well-armed and well-equipped, fierce and fierce in combat, known as "wolf soldiers" and "iron troops", and the commanders were Cai Tingkai and Dai Ji, who were later known as "famous anti-Japanese generals". The battle was extremely fierce, and for a time it was in a state of stalemate, and Zeng Shi'e led the Eleventh Division of the Red Fourth Army to fight bravely, fighting and fighting with a strong enemy with flesh and blood and inferior weapons, and he repeatedly encouraged the soldiers: "We are the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, which is made of steel, and it is a steel army." Be sure to eat the 'Iron Army'!". At the most critical juncture, in order to protect the safety of the command post of the Red Fourth Army, Zeng Shi'e organized a death squad of the whole division with party members and cadres above the platoon level as the backbone, personally led the team to charge at the enemy army, and finally repelled the enemy, but he was unfortunately shot in the chest by the enemy's submachine gun and died heroically, at the age of only 27. Cai Tingkai later wrote in his memoirs that "seeing this scene, he was in great danger, and he was indignant and wanted to commit suicide to be martyred", and afterwards "for three days, day and night could not close his eyes..." At the same time, this battle was also the biggest loss of the Red Army since its inception, with more than 2,200 casualties, and the next day, Lin Biao and Luo Ronghuan specifically mentioned in their reports to Zhu De and Mao Zedong: "The losses in this battle are relatively large... Zeng Shi'e, commander of the Eleventh Division, was killed. ”

Hu Yihua: The revolutionary friendship between the Red Army General Zeng Shi'e and the great Mao Zedong of a generation

The news of Zeng Shi'e's death caused a great shock in the Red Army, many soldiers cried out for their division commanders, and the local villagers chose the best coffin to bury. Hearing this bad news, his old comrade-in-arms, old partner, and then political commissar of the Red Fourth Army, Luo Ronghuan, was extremely sad, and in spite of the suppuration on his feet and the inability to move, he ran to the front line in pain, and on September 15, he and Lin Biao commanded the Red Fourth Army and friendly neighboring troops to launch a pursuit of the Kuomintang army in the Fangshiling area of Xingguo County, encircling and annihilating a division and a regiment of the enemy army, capturing more than 5,000 enemy people, thus successfully smashing the kuomintang army's third "encirclement and suppression." After the war, Luo Ronghuan said emotionally: "The Red Eleventh Division was developed from the Second Column... The division commander was sacrificed, and I commanded the troops to repay the enemy a little blood debt...".

The saddest and most sorrowful person for Zeng Shi'e's sacrifice was Mao Zedong. He severely criticized Lin Biao: "Where did you hit the red eyes?!" In the future, some battles will be fought, and how can we agree to let the senior cadres fight and fight, and if the cadres fight out, how can the revolution still be grined? He said bitterly: "Zeng Shi'e's sacrifice is heroic, heavier than Taishan." He was sacrificed at the most critical moment. He personally led the troops to charge, changing the situation of the battle. Zhu De was also very sad and said emotionally: "Zeng Shi'e's politics and military are all good, and he has courage and insight in commanding operations." At the subsequent victory meeting of the Red Army's third anti-"encirclement and suppression" victory, Mao Zedong first stood up on the rostrum and proposed that all of them stand up and observe a moment of silence for the martyr Zeng Shi'e, commander of the Red Eleventh Division. According to Mao Zedong's instructions, the General Political Department of the Red Army issued a special circular to commend Zeng Shi'e for his "firm revolutionary stand, bravery in combat, and not afraid of sacrifice," and called on the commanders and fighters of the Red Army to learn from Zeng Shi'e. In the history of our army, the General Political Department ordered the whole army to learn from individuals, and Zeng Shi'e was the first person.

After the founding of New China, Zeng Shi'e's brother Zeng Shubin wrote to Chairman Mao and Commander-in-Chief Zhu of the Central People's Government inquiring about Zeng Shi'e's whereabouts, and the General Cadre Management Department of the Revolutionary Military Commission of the Central People's Government replied to Zeng Shubin on November 21, 1950: "Comrade Zeng Shi'e is an outstanding cadre in our party and our army, and it is a great loss to sacrifice for the revolution. At the same time, a martyr's certificate was issued to Zeng Shi'e's family and a maximum pension of 5 million yuan (equivalent to 500 yuan) was given.

Hu Yihua: The revolutionary friendship between the Red Army General Zeng Shi'e and the great Mao Zedong of a generation

For this legendary Red Army general, his old comrades-in-arms have never forgotten. Luo Ruiqing, then political commissar of the Red Eleventh Division and later the "founding general," said in August 1977: "Comrade Zeng Shi'e was a good comrade, he was very capable, he was brave in battle, and his education was also very high; he was wounded several times, he died while fighting Happy Wei, and at that time he also made great military achievements and was a heroic figure." Xiao Hua, a young member of the Military Commission of the Fourth Army and later a "founding general" who was in charge of mimeographing the circular order of the General Political Department of the Red Army at that time, said on July 9, 1983: "Zeng Shi'e's death was greatly shaken in the Red Army at that time. In 1931, the General Political Department of the Red Army issued a circular calling on the whole army to "learn from Comrade Zeng Shi'e" and that if Zeng Shi'e was there, he should be a marshal. In June 1987, Guo Huaruo, then chief of the Staff Department of the General Headquarters of the Red Army and later a "founding lieutenant general," wrote a paragraph in his own handwriting, calling Zeng Shi'e the "commander of the main division of the Red Fourth Army (the main force and core of the Red Army) at that time participated in the first, second, and third counter-encirclement and suppression campaigns, with good leadership and command, outstanding combat achievements, and the best division commander in the Red Fourth Army."

Hu Yihua: The revolutionary friendship between the Red Army General Zeng Shi'e and the great Mao Zedong of a generation

(The author is dean and professor of the School of Marxism of Hunan Agricultural University, postdoctoral fellow of the School of Philosophy of Wuhan University, and special researcher of the Beijing Institute of Culture of Beijing Normal University)

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