In 1973, when Deng Xiaoping returned to Beijing from Jiangxi, he called an old subordinate who was serving as deputy commander of the Beijing Military Region, but the old subordinate avoided suspicion and did not dare to see him. At that time, You Taizhong was also serving as deputy commander of the Beijing Military Region, and when he heard that the old political commissar had returned, he was determined to see him, and he also did one thing that made Deng Xiaoping very moved.
It was February, and You Taizhong heard that the old chief, Admiral Li Da, was ill and was admitted to the 301 Hospital. Li Da was the chief of staff of Liu Deng's army, called the "living map" by Marshal Liu Bocheng, and was also the old chief of You Taizhong. You Taizhong rushed to the 301 Hospital to visit him.
Seeing that You Taizhong was coming, Li Da revealed a message to him,
Did you know that Commissar Deng is back?
You Taizhong was surprised and replied,
Are you sure? I do not know.
Li Da asked You Taizhong,
Are you going to see him?
You Taizhong replied,
I don't know where he is, how to see him?
Li Da asked again,
I ask you, would you like to go?
Of course, I would like to, Commissar Deng is my old chief, I haven't seen him for many years, I am very grateful to him, and I miss him very much.
Li Da said happily,
With your words, I was relieved, I made an appointment with Su Zhenhua to go to see him, you take my car, or take Su Zhenhua's car.
You Taizhong replied without any doubt,
I'll go in your car.
Why did Li Da ask You Taizhong if he wanted to go? At that time, although Deng Xiaoping returned to Beijing, but his political fate was not clear, at this time to see him is to take risks, Li Da and Su Zhenhua are already old comrades who stand on the sidelines, they don't have to worry, there is not much to worry about, You Taizhong is not the same, he also serves as deputy commander of the Beijing Military Region, and also has an important part-time job in Inner Mongolia.
It is said that Deng Xiaoping specifically greeted an old subordinate who also served as deputy commander of the Beijing Military Region, but this old subordinate did not dare to look at him for fear of being implicated. You Taizhong is You Taizhong, the word "Taizhong" is as its name suggests, and at the crucial moment, he does not hesitate and is unambiguous.
As an old subordinate, You Taizhong had too deep feelings for Deng Xiaoping, that is, the comradeship forged since the war years, higher than the sky and deeper than the sea. Leaping thousands of miles into the Dabie Mountains was a great test of life and death for all the soldiers of Liu Deng's army.
In particular, after the forced crossing of the Ru River, there was a big river in front and a pursuing army in the back, and after Liu Deng's chief ordered You Taizhong to break off, he must cover all the main forces to cross the river. You Taizhong was then the commander of the 16th Brigade of the Sixth Column. Chief Liu Deng came to you Taizhong's command front, it was too dangerous, and You Taizhong asked them to hurry into the bunker. They don't listen.
Suddenly, a shell landed near them, and You Taizhong's hat was swept away, and he forcibly pulled Chief Liu Deng into the command post. Liu Deng finally told You Taizhong that he must persist until the end and wait until all the men and horses had crossed the river before retreating south, and You Taizhong kept replying yes, only hoping that they would leave this dangerous place quickly.
Where to go? You Taizhong said loudly,
Just take the sorghum field, the wheat field, and step out of the sorghum field wheat field to step out of a road.
Liu Deng walked in the direction that You Taizhong was pointing, took a few steps, Liu Bocheng was not at ease, suddenly turned around, walked to You Taizhong's side and instructed,
Comrade Taizhong, do you know the location of the meeting?
A warm current welled up in Yuta's heart and replied,
Got it.
He thanked Chief Liu Deng for his concern. Liu Bocheng was relieved to move forward, took a few steps, and turned back to You Taizhong and shouted,
Pengdian, Pengdian, don't forget.
Liu Bocheng they went first, and after You Taizhong decided, in the future, they would meet at Pengdian. If You Taizhong can rush to Pengdian, it means that he broke out alive, and if he can't catch Pengdian, he may have died for the revolution.
What made You Taizhong very angry was that the above ordered that the heavy artillery, field artillery, and cars should all be blown up. This is all a treasure, You Taizhong is reluctant to do it, the soldiers are reluctant to let the battalion commander blow up, the battalion commander cried. You Taizhong had to endure the pain and gave the order to die,
Don't blow up, I'll shoot you.
The explosion of equipment was decided by Deng Xiaoping, and the brave man broke his wrist, which was a very wise decision, and if he did not go into battle lightly, he would definitely be finished at that time.
After covering all his troops to cross the Ru River, You Taizhongcai finally withdrew south, but fortunately, he retreated and rushed to Pengdian to meet with Liu Deng. Hearing that You Taizhong had returned, Deng Xiaoping took the initiative to come over, looked at the young general who was covered in dust, shook You Taizhong's hand, and said,
Comrade Taizhong, you have worked hard!
Many years later, when compiling the history of the Second Field Army, Deng Xiaoping mentioned twice,
You Taizhong is a warrior and a meritorious soldier.
Crossing the Ru River by force, You Taizhong led his troops to "escort" and played a vital role.
In order to cover the troops crossing the river, You Taizhong's brigade suffered more than 2,000 casualties. Liu Deng, the chief of the Dabie Mountains, often marched with the Sixth Column, which was a high degree of trust in You Taizhong and other soldiers of the Sixth Column.
Chief of Staff Li Da specially told You Taizhong, saying,
You should make more suggestions to Commissar Deng.
For example, during a march, the troops detected that there was an enemy situation in front of them, and Li Da said to You Taizhong,
When it comes time to eat, you should advise the chief that the command headquarters should not advance for the time being.
You Taizhong did as instructed by Li Da's chief of staff, who told Deng Xiaoping,
Commissar Deng, there is no situation here now, so don't leave the command headquarters for the time being.
Deng Xiaoping thought for a moment and replied,
Good.
If It was Li Da's suggestion, Deng Xiaoping might not have listened, but every time You Taizhong made a suggestion, Deng Xiaoping would generally adopt it. Maybe because You Taizhong is a front-line general, he is more familiar with the situation on the front line. This also shows that Deng Xiaoping had more trust in You Taizhong.
There was another thing that made You Taizhong very moved, the troops passed through Guangshan County, and You Taizhong's home was nearby. Deng Xiaoping specifically called You Taizhong over and asked him where his home was and who else was in his home.
When he heard that there was an old mother in You Taizhong's family, Deng Xiaoping immediately said to You Taizhong,
You can go back and have a look, but be sure to be safe.
Deng Xiaoping also specifically instructed Li Da, chief of staff,
Take 10 silver dollars to You Taizhong and ask him to take home.
After Liu Deng's army entered dabie Mountain, it was very difficult, and these 10 silver dollars were a huge amount of money. You Taizhong went home in the morning, saw his old mother, and returned to the team at 12 noon. These 10 silver dollars played a big role.
You Taizhong's gratitude and affection for Deng Xiaoping are incomprehensible to ordinary people, so when Chief of Staff Li Da said that he was going to visit Deng Xiaoping, You Taizhong was determined to go together. At that time, Deng Xiaoping lived in a courtyard in Xishan, and the guard on duty was originally a staff officer of the 27th Army, who was transferred to be a company commander.
You Taizhong had been the commander of the 27th Army and knew him. Seeing that the old military commander was coming, he quickly gave You Taizhong a salute and let them in. Seeing Deng Xiaoping's political commissar, You Taizhong lizheng, saluted a standard military salute.
Deng Xiaoping was surprised and said,
Ah, how come you are here, do you dare to come to see me?
You are my old commissar.
There was nothing to entertain, and Deng Xiaoping took a cigarette from his pocket and handed it to everyone to smoke.
You Taizhong took the cigarette, and his heart was very sad, this smoke was very bad. The old commissar smoked this kind of cigarette, which was really a shame for his subordinates. You Taizhong had a good cigarette in his pocket, but he was a step slower, and under the circumstances at that time, he was embarrassed to take it out again.
After coming out of Deng Xiaoping, You Taizhong's heart was very unhappy, and instead of going home directly, he drove to the Jingxi Hotel and found the commissary, whose manager had once been an old subordinate of You Taizhong. You Taizhong split his head and asked,
Is there a good cigarette?
The old subordinate replied,
Yes, Zhonghua.
At that time, Chinese tobacco was the most popular high-end commodity, limited to purchase, and needed to be purchased with a ticket or distributed according to grades. You Taizhong is the deputy commander of the Beijing Military Region, of course he can buy it, he said,
Get me a few.
The old subordinates looked at him, usually Commander You does not buy this kind of high-grade cigarettes, even if he buys, it will not be so much, he will buy a few at once, or Chinese cigarettes, obviously to give people. The old subordinate asked one more question,
You buy so many good cigarettes, for whom?
You Taizhong did not answer directly, said,
Send someone.
The old subordinate asked a question,
To whom?
You Taizhong felt that he was not an outsider either, so he said quietly,
I tell you, don't tell others, Deng Xiaoping came back from Jiangxi, he smoked a very poor cigarette, he could not smoke at all.
After buying 5 Chinese cigarettes, You Taizhong drove back to Xishan and came to Deng Xiaoping's residence again. When Deng Xiaoping saw that it was You Taizhong, he asked very strangely,
How did you get here again?
I'll bring you some good cigarettes.
Deng Xiaoping's addiction to smoking was very large, but he had not smoked a good cigarette for a long time, and when he saw that it was Chinese tobacco, he immediately unwrapped a pack, drew out one, took out a match, lit it, took a deep breath, and said,
I haven't smoked such a good cigarette in years.
At that moment, You Taizhong's eyes were moist. Deng Xiaoping looked at his old subordinate with great gratitude, just like the general in the fierce battle at the Ru River, You Taizhong was worthy of You Taizhong, You Taizhong was still You Taizhong.
General You Taizhong, the son of a simple peasant, who lost his father at an early age and joined the revolution at the age of 13, was raised by the army, and it was the army that cultivated his noble personality and sentiments. Especially when the old comrade-in-arms is in danger, he will bravely lend a helping hand.
The commander of the Sixth Column, Wang Jinshan, who was You Taizhong's immediate superior, was demoted to the position of deputy director of the farm because of the divorce storm. With the help of Xu Shiyou You Taizhong and other old comrades-in-arms, Wang Jinshan returned to work and took up a post in the Nanjing Military Region.
The work was resumed, but Wang Jinshan was after all a comrade who had made mistakes, and many comrades-in-arms avoided him and did not dare to pick him up. You Taizhong, on the other hand, rushed to the train station in the middle of the night with Xiao Yongyin and others to welcome the arrival of the old chief Wang Jinshan. The moment he saw You Taizhong and other old subordinates, the iron-clad Hanzi Wang Jinshan's eyes were moist.
Later, You Taizhong was promoted to commander of the Chengdu Military Region and commander of the Guangzhou Military Region, and became the commander of the Great Military Region for the side of the national shubian and mighty earthquake, and was awarded the rank of general in 1988.