Author: Mast
The author said in a previous article that the exodus of Zhong Wei, a four-field general and "militant" from Dabie Mountain, has attracted the attention of many friends. In fact, in that era, similar exodus incidents were not isolated. To tell the truth, in the several incidents of cadres at and above the regimental level who fled, Zhong Wei and Chen Kang were the luckiest, and neither received further punishment after leaving, and later they all made many military achievements, and were awarded the titles of major general and lieutenant general in 1955. Other exodus incidents were not so lucky, and even had serious consequences. Today, let's talk about two private departure incidents and their handling.
Zhong Wei
(1) The exodus of Xu Shiyou and others is a blessing in misfortune
In mid-March 1937, after the failure of the Red Army's western expedition, the criticism of Chairman Zhang began to escalate, and the process deviated, expanding to the cadres of the Red Fourth Front (hereinafter referred to as the Red Fourth), and even rumors were that a number of people were to be shot. Xu Shiyou was also studying at kang da at that time, and was very depressed, and fell ill because of it.
Feeling that there was no way out, he said to the Red Fourth cadres who had come to visit him, "Let's go back to Sichuan." After the Red Fourth Long March, Liu Zicai left an armed force in the Sichuan-Shaanxi base area that persisted in the struggle, Xu Shiyou meant, went to Sichuan to find this unit, and said, "Here every day we say that we are not good, we want to be shot, we will go to Sichuan!" If you want to go, go, and if you don't want to go, don't tell them. ”
As a result, more than 30 cadres at or above the regimental level (including 5 divisional, 5 military, and 2 battalion-level cadres) were willing to leave. Xu Shiyou planned everything about his departure and prepared to leave on the night of April 4.
In 1944, Xu Shiyou (a close-up) spoke
Wang Jian'an, who had been the political commissar of the military and planned to flee with him, after careful consideration, believed that such an escape was a serious violation of principle, and he realized the serious nature of the problem, so he reported the situation to his superiors on April 3. Subsequently, Xu Shiyou and others were arrested.
In the war years, "running away with a gun" was a serious crime and was punishable by death. Later, under the intervention of the Chairman, the matter was properly resolved and given leniency: because the above-mentioned personnel had repeatedly made meritorious achievements in battle, although the law was not pardoned, the situation was excusable, and the criminal act was still an attempt, and the punishment should be mitigated. In the end, Xu Shiyou, Wang Jian'an and 6 others were sentenced separately, in fact, they did not go to prison, but continued to study and reform while resisting the university. That is to say, the behavior of Xu Shiyou and others is "excusable", but the law is not merciful, and they are still dealt with accordingly.
Commander of the Shandong Corps Xu Shiyou
The exodus of Xu Shiyou and others is a blessing in disguise; first, Wang Jian'an's timely report and second, the chairman's far-sightedness. For this period of history, the author believes that Xu Shiyou and others should thank Wang Jian'an. Why? If Wang Jian'an had not made a report on this matter based on organizational principles, once the exodus incident was "completed," the consequences would have been unimaginable, at least not among the founding generals.
As for whether Xu Shiyou and others will think so in their hearts, it is unknown. It has to be said that from the height of maintaining unity, the chairman's handling of this matter is extremely high:Neither was he overly punished by "the law is not pardoned" (at that time, some people thought that Xu Shiyou had a bad attitude and should be shot), nor was he "excusable" and did not give it away, but gave appropriate punishment, vigilance, and also gave the way.
In 1979, when he returned fire against Vietnam, Xu Shiyou, commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front, surveyed the battlefield
(2) The exodus of Ye Daozhi and others is a huge tragedy
Similar to Zhong Wei, Ye Daozhi, Chen Kang, and Xu Changsheng, who were sent by the Eighth Route Army to work in the New Fourth Army, ran away from the Southern Anhui Army headquarters privately and went north to look for the Eighth Route Army. As a result, they were caught up by the military pursuit, one person was killed on the spot, and one person was captured and shot, resulting in a huge tragedy. Only Chen Kang escaped luckily, similar to Zhong Wei, who traveled thousands of miles from southern Anhui to the Taihang Mountains, found the 129th Division of the old unit, and later made many military achievements under Chen Geng, and was awarded lieutenant general in 1955, and then retired as deputy commander of the Lanzhou Military Region.
Ye Daozhi, Chen Kang, and Xu Changsheng were all born in The Red Fourth. During the Red Army period, Ye Daozhi successively served as division commander and division political commissar, and was once partnered with Chen Xilian. Chen Kang's highest position was regimental commander, and Xu Changsheng's highest position was deputy regimental commander, both of whom had been Ye Daozhi's subordinates.
After the establishment of the New Fourth Army, cadres were urgently needed. To this end, Yan'an sent a large number of cadres to support the New Fourth Army, such as Wang Bicheng and Tao Yong in the famous "Ye Wang Tao" of the New Fourth Army, all from Yan'an. At the beginning of 1938, Yan'an appointed Ye Daozhi as the temporary branch secretary, leading Dozens of cadres such as Chen Kang and Tao Yong to work in the New Fourth Army. It should be said that Ye Daozhi's ability is good, and he was assigned to 2 detachments and 4 regiments as deputy regiment leader, and later as political commissar. Chen Kang served as the commander of the supplementary battalion, and Xu Chang was qualified as the staff officer of the special service battalion of the military department.
The New Fourth Army was reorganized from the Red Army guerrillas who remained in the southern provinces after the Long March. Its composition was originally local troops or guerrilla units, but at that time, at the beginning of the founding of the army, all aspects were not perfect, the work style of the troops was very different, and some cadres from the Eighth Route Army were not accustomed to their work for a while. Moreover, in terms of scale, the regiment of the New Fourth Army was only equivalent to the battalion of the Eighth Route Army, and Ye Daozhi was quite disappointed in the job arrangement and work, and it was reflected in the work. After his superiors learned of this, he demoted him to the military headquarters as the commander of the special service battalion, which made Ye Daozhi even more dissatisfied. Therefore, as soon as Ye Daozhi consulted with Chen Kang and Xu Changsheng, he prepared to return to the Eighth Route Army. At the end of July 1938, only a few months after working in the New Fourth Army, three men left the unit with self-defense pistols.
When Ye Ting, commander of the New Fourth Army, learned of this, he ordered Li Zhigao, chief of the reconnaissance section, to lead people to pursue and arrest them, and ordered that "if you refuse to return, you will be killed on the spot." Li Zhigao chased after 1 platoon and blocked 3 people in the mountains of Jingdezhen. As a result, Xu Changsheng was killed on the spot, Ye Daozhi was captured, and only Chen Kang escaped.
At that time, Xiang Ying happened to go to Yan'an for a meeting, and was not in the military department. After Ye Daozhi was caught, Ye Ting thought, "Take a gun and desert, and if you catch it, you will be killed." This is iron military discipline." It is said that the cadres who went south with Ye Daozhi at that time also wrote a joint letter to the military department, requesting that people be retained under the gun. Ye Daozhi himself also defended: I was wrong to leave the army with a gun without authorization, and I was willing to accept any punishment from the organization; but I did not defect to the enemy, but had an opinion on the distribution work, so I wanted to go back to the Eighth Route Army.
In the process, Tao Yong, who went south with Ye Daozhi and also from the Red Fourth Army Front, directly interceded with Ye Ting for guarantees, and cited the example of Xu Shiyou trying to pull away a group of people, saying that "at that time, the chairman did not shoot Xu Shiyou." But Ye Ting's attitude was resolute, and Tao Yong was criticized for this. On August 30, Ye Daozhi was shot. To add: Shortly thereafter, Tao Yong was transferred to the 4th Regiment commander and went to the anti-Japanese front in southern Jiangsu. The 4th Regiment later developed into the 4th Column and the 23rd Army of Huaye.
From left: Ye Ting, Lai Chuanzhu, Luo Binghui, Zhang Yunyi (1939)
If he could persist until after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Ye Daozhi should normally be awarded the title of lieutenant general, and his tragedy would be regrettable. Of course, the tragedy of Ye Daozhi and Xu Changsheng was first of all their mistakes, but compared with the chairman's handling of Xu Shiyou and others, Liu Deng's treatment of Chen Kang, and Chen Yi's treatment of Zhong Wei, it has to be said that Ye Ting broke away from the organization since the Guangzhou uprising, did not experience the harsh and cruel environment of the Red Army period, and had a layer of emotional separation from cadres from the Red Army, which is still the style of traditional soldiers. On the issue of the shooting of Ye Daozhi and the subsequent execution of Gao Jingting, Ye Ting was not wrong to use "military law to deal with it," but in terms of overall strategy and revolutionary feelings toward comrades-in-arms, there seemed to be more than enough principle and lack of flexibility.
It should be explained that in 1983, the organization restored Ye Daozhi's reputation.
【Deeply cultivate the history of war, carry forward positive energy, welcome to submit, private messages will be restored】