At the end of 1943, Chen Geng returned to Yan'an from the front.
Chen Geng was a famous "Lotte Faction" general in our army, and in his spare time he sought out his comrades-in-arms in Yan'an. One day, Chen Geng was talking with a few comrades-in-arms about Chiang Kai-shek in the cave, when Kang Sheng just walked past the cave.
Hearing that someone in the room was talking about Chiang Kai-shek, he immediately concentrated his attention, stopped and listened to a few words, and then walked in.
Entering the door and seeing that Chen Geng was also in the room, Kang Sheng asked, it turned out to be about Chen Geng saving Chiang Kai-shek's life.
After Kang Sheng listened, he asked Chen Geng with ill will: If you had killed Chiang Kai-shek back then, where would you have fought so many battles now?
After Kang Sheng finished asking, the room was suddenly quiet, because it was in the sensitive period of rectification, and everyone turned their eyes to Chen Geng.
Chen Geng also did not expect that Kang Sheng would suddenly ask about this matter, but he was a person with a high emotional intelligence, and he also knew that Kang Sheng was a person, and skillfully answered Kang Sheng, and finally Kang Sheng was speechless and turned away.
Why, then, would Kang Sheng ask Chen Geng this question, what story did he have with Chiang Kai-shek in the past?
Chen Geng was born in a family of generals in Xiangxiang, Hunan Province, and his ancestors had participated in the Xiang Army formed by Zeng Guofan, step by step, gradually becoming a general in the Xiang Army, and making great achievements in the battle against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
Although Zeng Guofan later disbanded the Xiang Army, the Chen family has always retained a fine tradition, and Chen Geng will not treat his subordinates like the young masters of other landlord families.
Chen Geng had a subordinate named Lu Dongsheng in his family, who was similar in age to Chen Geng. Although there is a distinction between master and servant, Chen Geng will never bully him, and the two have become good brothers and confidants. Later, under the influence of Chen Geng, he participated in the revolution, and was also sent to the Soviet Union for further study in Frunze, and returned to the motherland after the victory of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, serving as the garrison commander of Harbin.
Unfortunately, one night at the end of 1945, when Lu Dongsheng was out, he saw several Soviet troops on the street robbing the property of ordinary people, so he went up to stop it, and was killed by these Soviet troops.
Chen Geng's father told him the heroic story of his ancestors since he was a child, although there were good conditions to read, but under the influence of his ancestors, he always had the idea of "abandoning literature and following the martial arts", but his father always advocated that he study well first.
At the age of 14, the family arranged a marriage for Chen Geng, and the door was right, but Chen Geng, who had received a new education, advocated free love, so he was very opposed to this marriage and ran away from home in anger. Due to the small amount of money brought out, it was soon spent, and it coincided with the time when the Xiang Army was recruiting, and in order to have a bite to eat, Chen Geng signed up for the Xiang Army.
It was also here that Chen Geng first met Peng Dehuai, who was also in the Xiang Army.
Chen Geng was assigned to the unit that Zeng Jun had hired as the regimental commander, and Peng Dehuai was the company commander at the time. The warlord forces are corrupt and incompetent, and the salaries are often deducted layer by layer, and finally in the hands of the soldiers, there is not much, and they are often not distributed on time, resulting in poor food for ordinary soldiers, and sometimes they have to go to the field to pick some wild fruits to eat.
One day, Chen Geng saw Peng Dehuai, the company commander of a company, digging in the field. Peng Dehuai never withheld the military salaries below, so Chen Geng was ready to come to Peng Dehuai for help, after all, he was a company commander, and he was perhaps able to let him speak for himself and let the company commander send him military salaries.
Peng Dehuai saw Chen Geng coming, "Why are you still here, why don't you go to the Wu Tang?" ”
Chen Geng pointed to his rank and shook his head.
"You don't even do the right thing, you've been a soldier for so many times, you haven't been promoted," Peng Dehuai said.
"Hey, to make a long story short, my relationship with him is very bad, and I haven't paid him for almost a year," Chen Geng said helplessly.
"You should get up and make trouble, you can't let him drink the blood of a soldier, you don't have to be afraid, in case you don't make a fuss, you will come to my company as a soldier, and I will give you a squad leader." Peng Dehuai said.
With Peng Dehuai's words, Chen Geng did indeed go to make a fuss, although at first the company commander gave in: "Brother, everyone looks up and does not look down, I know that it is wrong, everyone will be paid this month's military salary, and everyone will be paid five oceans." ”
He had not received military pay for nearly a year, Chen Geng smiled. But the next day, a friend of Chen Geng who was working in the regimental headquarters ran up to him and said, "Chen Geng, your company commander is going to take revenge on you, so you should go..."
After receiving the news, Chen Geng was ready to "defect" to Peng Dehuai, but he did not expect that Peng Dehuai was wanted for executing a landlord bully and had left the Xiang Army to escape for his life.
Just when Chen Geng was desperate, the Communist Party of China was founded, Mao Zedong founded a self-study university in Hunan, chen geng read the organizational outline published in the "Ta Kung Pao", the first time to register, it was here, embarked on the revolutionary road.
In 1924, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party carried out the first cooperation, under the advice of the Communist Party, Sun Yat-sen established the Whampoa Military Academy, according to the organizational arrangement, Chen Geng was admitted to the Whampoa Phase I, because he had been a soldier for several years in the past, coupled with humor and fun, soon became the best among hundreds of students, together with Jiang Xianyun and He Zhihan and known as the "Whampoa Three Masters".
The following year, Chiang Kai-shek led his troops to attack Chen Jiongming, and Chen Geng led his troops to take on the task of general command, and it was at this time that Chiang Kai-shek was saved from the line of fire.
After the victory of the First Crusade, the revolutionary army quickly returned to Guangdong and suppressed Yang Ximin and Liu Zhenhuan, who had taken advantage of the opportunity to rebel, without eliminating the remnants of Chen Jiongming in one fell swoop, and preparing for a comeback with the support of Western countries and some reactionary forces.
At that time, some of Chen Jiongming's old troops defected to Xu Chongzhi's department, which continued to expand their strength, in order to seek a way out, and stationed themselves in the Dongjiang area.
Because Chiang Kai-shek wanted to monopolize power, after the assassination of Liao Zhongkai, he forced Xu Chongzhi away, causing a commotion among the former Xu troops who remained in Chaoshan Province, Chen Jiongming thought that this was a good opportunity to counterattack, and arrived in Hong Kong in mid-September to contact his former subordinates to attack Guangzhou.
Chen Jiongming advanced quickly, and after chiang kai-shek studied it, decided to carry out the Second Crusade. According to the deployment, Chiang Kai-shek divided the troops participating in the battle into three columns, the first column led by He Yingqin, the second column led by Li Jishen, and the third column led by Cheng Qian, with a total strength of about 30,000 people, advancing in different directions.
At that time, Chen Geng was responsible for the security of the commander-in-chief. Shortly after the start of the operation, the Third Division, which was closest to the General Headquarters, encountered Chen Jiongming's main force, Lin Hubu.
The Third Division was reorganized from the old Cantonese Army, and the division commander was Tan Shuqing; this unit was relatively untrained in peacetime, and Tan Shuqing's command ability was relatively average, and after the battle began, it soon collapsed into an army and was surrounded by regiments along with the general headquarters.
At this time, the First Division led by He Yingqin and Zhou Enlai had already marched in the direction of Jieyang, and it would take time to return, and Chiang Kai-shek became the "Commander of the Light Pole" for a time.
As the sound of gunfire drew nearer and closer, the people in the headquarters were all confused, and Chiang Kai-shek was helpless for a while.
He said to Chen Geng next to him, "Chen Geng, you should quickly go and convey my order to Master Tan, and you are not allowed to retreat one step, otherwise the military law will be engaged." ”
"Yes." After Chen Geng finished speaking, he descended the mountain as fast as he could and conveyed Chiang Kai-shek's orders.
After receiving the order, Tan Shuqing immediately organized a counterattack, but because Lin Hu's attack was very fierce, he was quickly blocked by artillery fire, and all this was clearly seen by Chiang Kai-shek in the telescope.
After conveying the order, Chen Geng returned to the headquarters. "Chen Geng, I order you to act as the commander of the Third Division and immediately organize troops to take back the position!"
Chen Geng rushed down the hill again and said to the fleeing officers and men, "Don't retreat, I am now your division commander, and I will rush up at my command..."
However, everyone couldn't care who was the division commander, and there was only one thought in their heads, so no one listened to Chen Geng's orders, and in desperation, Chen Geng returned to the headquarters again.
As the enemy's artillery became closer and closer, Chen Geng saw that if he did not evacuate quickly, he would be wrapped in dumplings, so he kept urging Chiang Kai-shek to break through.
However, Chiang Kai-shek thought that retreating in such a mess would make him look very faceless, and in front of the generals, he put on a posture of preferring to die rather than retreating, and said loudly: "I can only commit suicide to become a benevolent person, and I have no face to go back to see Father Jiangdong." ”
Chen Geng's emotional intelligence was very high, and seeing that Chiang Kai-shek could not put his face down, he hurriedly found a step for him.
"Principal, you are the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Crusade, there are still tens of thousands of people waiting for your command below, we have just lost only one division, and this division is reorganized from the old Cantonese army, not our Huangpu troops, and it will not affect the war situation and the reputation of Huangpu." Chen Geng said.
Seeing that Chiang Kai-shek did not speak, Chen Geng said: "If you stay in Qingshan without worrying about firewood, we still have tens of thousands of troops, and after breaking out, we can reorganize the troops and fight back..."
Seeing that there were steps to descend, coupled with the persuasion of the people, Chiang Kai-shek finally agreed to retreat. Maybe he was tired or frightened, and after walking for a while, Chiang Kai-shek stopped: "Chen Geng, I really can't walk."
Chen Geng saw the situation and hurriedly squatted down: "Principal, I will carry you away", and then he picked up Chiang Kai-shek on his back and ran all the way, and after crossing the Qin River, he finally got out of danger temporarily.
Because during the retreat, everything in the headquarters was lost, Chiang Kai-shek thought of the First Division, but because there was no radio and could not be contacted, he said to everyone: "We want to get in touch with the First Division, there is no radio now, who wants to send a letter?" ”
None of the officers who had just escaped from danger said a word, and Chiang Kai-shek looked unhappy. Chen Geng saw this and said, "Principal, I'll go deliver the letter." ”
Chiang Kai-shek smiled: "You are worthy of being my good student, let you work hard again, I will definitely reuse you in the future." ”
Chen Geng took Chiang Kai-shek's handwritten letter and dressed up as a peasant, did not dare to stop for a moment, and ran in the direction of the First Division.
From here to the station of the First Division, there were one or two hundred miles to pass through the Lotus Mountain, which was surrounded by many bandits, and Chen Geng had not walked through it before. When it was dark, someone shouted loudly, and Chen Geng was also startled, and he slid down the hill in a nervous air, and when the reaction came, the muzzles of several black hole holes were facing him.
Chen Geng had a premonition that he must have encountered bandits.
"Say, what are you doing?" The bandit asked aloud.
"I'm a revolutionary, what do you want to do?" Chen Geng replied.
At this time, Chen Geng found that these were peasants who had been cornered, "Since you are a revolutionary army, then we will let you go," the bandit said.
These bandits were also more sympathetic to the revolutionary army, because Chen Jiongming's troops had burned and looted before, causing their family to be destroyed, and after taking half of Chen Geng's money, they let him go. A bandit leader also gave Chen Geng a "pass symbol", indicating that with this charm, he could be unimpeded.
In this way, Chen Geng hurried to catch up, and finally arrived at Jieyang.
After He Yingqin and Zhou Enlai saw the letter, they learned of Chiang Kai-shek's "predicament" and immediately sent a troop to follow Chen Geng to take Chiang Kai-shek to Jieyang.
In Jiang Xianyun's pen, He Zhihan's mouth, and Chen Geng's legs, "Chen Geng's legs" came from here.
After the battle, Chiang Kai-shek discussed the reward for his merits, and at the meeting, he said: "What is the Whampoa spirit? Chen Geng is the spirit of Huangpu!
Because of his meritorious efforts in saving Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Geng not only received the reward he deserved, but also became a staff officer in Chiang Kai-shek's attendant room, allowing him to freely enter and exit Chiang Kai-shek's official residence.
Although he received supreme honors, Chiang Kai-shek was bent on opposing communism. By chance, Chen Geng saw a roster on Chiang Kai-shek's desk and found that all the people who were Communists on it had been circled separately, and chen Geng's name was also there, and Chiang Kai-shek also commented on it: "This person is a Communist, and he must not be allowed to lead troops." ”
Chen Geng knew that Chiang Kai-shek was ready to start a comprehensive anti-communist campaign, and after reporting to Zhou Enlai, he casually found a reason to take a leave of absence to go home, and from then on he parted ways with Chiang Kai-shek.
In the spring of 1933, Chen Geng was cured of his leg injury in Shanghai and prepared to return to the Soviet zone; however, due to the betrayal of traitors, Chen Geng was unfortunately arrested before leaving.
When Chiang Kai-shek learned of Chen Geng's arrest, he immediately ordered him to be taken to Nanjing.
After Chen Geng arrived in Nanjing by train, the gendarmerie commander Gu Zhenglun personally came to "pick him up" and, at Chiang Kai-shek's request, removed the handcuffs and ankles on Chen Geng's body, and then took Chen Geng to prison.
Gu Zhenglun began to do "ideological work" for Chen Geng and asked him to "submit", but after several days of continuous talking, there was no effect, gu Zhenglun wanted to "torture to extract a confession", but was stopped by Shangfeng. Can't fight, can't scold, still can't get what he wants, Gu Zhenglun is in a hurry.
Seeing that Gu Zhenglun "can't do it", Chiang Kai-shek sent several classmates who had a good relationship with Chen Geng in the past during the Whampoa period to persuade Chen Geng.
"Chen Geng, are the living conditions of the Red Army comparable to those of the Nationalist Army?" Why are you suffering? ”
Although these classmates had become regimental commanders and division commanders and enjoyed superior living conditions, Chen Geng was still unmoved, saying: "Although our troops are not as equipped as you, they have beaten you to the ground, we have captured Zhao Guanying and Yue Weijun alive, and no matter how good your equipment is, you cannot save the fate of failure." ”
Chen Geng's words made these Huangpu classmates who came to persuade him dumbfounded for a while.
Seeing that Huangpu's classmates were also ineffective in persuasion, Chiang Kai-shek decided to personally go out on horseback, and he had Chen Geng take Chen Geng to Camp in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province.
"Chen Geng, you are still young, as long as you come back, you will not be blamed for the political mistakes you made in the past," Chiang Kai-shek said.
"I don't need your forgiveness," Chen Geng said coldly.
"Don't be obsessed, as long as you can publicly announce it, I can make you a division commander, you can go to any division you want, and if you want to be a military commander, it is not impossible." Chiang Kai-shek said.
Hearing this, Chen Geng said with a straight face, "I will not be any official of yours..."
For a time, the conversation between the two fell into a "stalemate", and Chiang Kai-shek was helpless for a while, and could only find a reason to leave first.
A few days later, Chiang Kai-shek took Chen Geng to his office and prepared to "persuade" Chen Geng again.
This time, Chiang Kai-shek also promised Chen Geng a high-ranking official Houlu, but Chen Geng was also unmoved.
Chiang Kai-shek was furious and said to Chen Geng: If you hadn't taken into account your past relationship, you would have been executed a long time ago.
Chen Geng replied emphatically, "It is up to you to fight or kill." ”
Chiang Kai-shek saw that he could not persuade Chen Geng to move his horse, and left in anger, and then used many ways to try to make Chen Geng submit, but there was no effect.
At the same time, our party was also actively rescuing Chen Geng and even used Sun Yat-sen's wife, Soong Ching Ling, and finally under all kinds of pressure, Chiang Kai-shek was forced to release this student who opposed him at every turn.
After his release from prison, Chen Geng returned to the Soviet zone and soon joined the Long March. After the outbreak of the All-out War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chen Geng served as the brigade commander of the 386th Brigade of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and during the ambush battle in Qigang Village, Chen Geng took advantage of the weakness of the Japanese Kou's arrogance and arrogance to set up two ambushes in the same place to strike at the arrogance of the Japanese Kou. As a result of repeatedly annihilating the Japanese, Chen Geng became a thorn in the enemy's eye and a thorn in the flesh, and even put up the slogan "Specially attacking the 386 Brigade." Colonel Carlson, the US military attaché in China, once said: "The 386 Brigade is the best brigade in China." ”
At that time, Kang Sheng was one of the people in charge of rectification, and many cadres did not want to see him, and they also knew about Chen Geng's past relationship with Chiang Kai-shek. When asked: When you were going to kill Chiang Kai-shek, where do you have to fight so many battles now? When this sentence was uttered, Chen Geng knew the meaning of the words outside the words.
In this special period, if you say a wrong word, you may bring unnecessary trouble to yourself. Chen Geng smiled and said: Then chiang kai-shek has become a martyr like Liao Zhongkai? Have I not become a counter-revolutionary?
Hearing Chen Geng's answer, everyone laughed.
Because it was still in the first period of Kuomintang-Communist cooperation, although Chiang Kai-shek was secretly anti-communist, he did not openly show that during the period of the Crusade, many Communists participated in the action. As we said earlier, after Chiang Kai-shek broke through, it was Zhou Enlai who took him to Jieyang before he was completely out of danger.
If Chen Geng had really "killed" Chiang Kai-shek at that time, then Chiang Kai-shek would have really become a "martyr," and Chen Geng, as the "murderer" who killed the commander-in-chief, would not have escaped the fate of being shot.
Kang Sheng originally wanted to take advantage of Chen Geng here, but he did not expect Chen Geng to answer like this, and he could not find a suitable reason to refute it for a while, feeling that he was bored with himself and turned away.
End of this article
Past Articles:
In 1957, Mao Zedong ordered that Wang Shengrong be directly promoted from the deputy department level to the deputy provincial level.
Bai Xin: The great traitor before Gu Shunzhang, which led to the murder of 4 high-ranking officials, zhou Enlai ordered it to be eradicated
Ye Ting plane crash, Zhou Enlai firmly believed that behind the conspiracy, 50 years later the mastermind frankly: I did it
bibliography:
"Chen Geng and Chiang Kai-shek's Interaction", Literature and History World 2010-03-03
"The Second Crusade, Chen Geng Saved Chiang Kai-shek" Military Camp Cultural World 2006-01-15
"Legendary General Chen Geng" Military Digest 2020-01-01