In 1950, under the command of commander Zeng Zesheng, the 50th Army struck the enemy on the Korean battlefield, annihilated all the British Royal Heavy Tank Battalions, and fought a beautiful battle, which Wasu Peng praised.
Korean
When Zeng Zesheng was personally received by Chairman Mao on his return to China, Chairman Mao asked him a question, and when Zeng Zesheng returned home, he packed up his luggage and actually said to his wife: "Beijing, I can't stay any longer!" ”
So, what question did Chairman Mao ask Zeng Zesheng when he met him?
Why would Zeng Zesheng want to leave Beijing?
If you want to answer these questions, you must start with Zeng Zesheng's life.
In fact, during the war years, Zeng Zesheng was an enemy of the People's Liberation Army for a long time. As a native of Yunnan, he first joined the Dian Army. At that time, the Dian army was the army of the Yunnan warlord Tang Jiyao, and Zeng Zesheng was 20 years old when he joined. Later, because of his outstanding performance, the 23-year-old Zeng Zesheng went to the Whampoa Military Academy in 1925 and joined the National Army during his schooling, which gave him the opportunity to truly display his talents.
Zeng Zesheng's experience as a teenager was quite bumpy. He was born into a prosperous landlord family, but after his father's early death, his mother had to take him and his brother to remarry his uncle in the clan, and was bullied by the clan. Zeng Zesheng was smart and studious, but the clan refused to let him study. For this reason, Zeng Zesheng stole money and ran out to school, but he was caught by the clan on the way and taught a lesson.
When he reached the age of 20, he could not stand the bullying of his clan, and Zeng Zesheng escaped again. He had no money to pay the tuition, so he had to give up studying and join the Yunnan Army instead, but the desire to study was always hidden in his heart. This time, Zeng Zesheng was able to get the opportunity to study at the Whampoa Military Academy, which Zeng Zesheng cherished very much and worked hard during his time at the school.
Whampoa Military Academy
The experience of his youth tempered Zeng Zesheng's mentality, and also made him jealous and hateful since he was a child, and he cherished righteousness. When he graduated from the Whampoa Military Academy, Zeng Zesheng originally had the opportunity to fly Huang Tengda, but he was still worried about the Dian army that had taken him in. Therefore, when Long Yun, the leader of the Dian army who defeated other Yunnan warlords and successfully became the "King of Yunnan", issued an invitation to Zeng Zesheng, Zeng Zesheng did not hesitate to agree and returned to the Dian army again.
Dragon Cloud
At that time, within the national military government, corruption was already very serious. Such a bad atmosphere even affected the instructors and students of the Whampoa Military Academy and the students who had not yet graduated. During his time at the Whampoa Military Academy, Zeng Zesheng witnessed the nationalist troops spending their days drinking wine, bullying low-level soldiers, and deducting military salaries and embezzling and paying bribes. He cleaned himself up and tried to persuade the people around him to pay more attention, but at that time, others were soft-spoken, and no one paid attention to him at all.
Dian Army
When Zeng Zesheng returned to the Dian Army and held a certain position, he wanted to correct this phenomenon, but unexpectedly offended the Chiang Kai-shek clique, and Zeng Zesheng was soon imprisoned. He originally had a passion for blood, but when he was poured a basin of cold water on his head, Zeng Zesheng did not despair of this, but instead conducted self-reflection, and then became very cautious. But his dissatisfaction with Chiang Kai-shek and other high-level officials was also deeply buried.
In 1937, when the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out, Zeng Zesheng led the Dian Army to the front line of the war and actively resisted Japan. Later, he served as the commander of the 1085th Regiment of the 60th Army of the Nationalist Army, leading the soldiers of the Dian Army to participate in the Battle of Taierzhuang in 1938. At that time, the Japanese army fighting with them was well-equipped and occupied a great advantage, but the soldiers of the Dian Army, under the command of Zeng Zesheng, fought bravely and swore to hold their positions to the death, and after paying a huge price, they insisted on defending the defensive line.
Battle of Taierzhuang
Later, Zeng Zesheng also led the Dian army to participate in important battles such as the Battle of Nanchang and the Battle of Changsha, and was wounded many times, but he also made great achievements. Chiang Kai-shek, who originally disliked him very much, also had to praise him. Later, Zeng Zesheng was promoted to the commander of the 60th Army, but he saw more of the selfishness of the Nationalist troops, the behavior of their colleagues who could not save them, and their dissatisfaction with the Nationalist troops did not decrease, but increased more and more.
Battle of Nanchang
Chiang Kai-shek, for the sake of his own selfish desires, ignored the call of the people of the whole country for peaceful nation-building and unilaterally launched a civil war, which made Zeng Zesheng unable to agree with this behavior. But his loyalty made it impossible for him to completely cut off the nationalist forces for a while, and he could not achieve it if he wanted to be alone. Zeng Zesheng gradually raised anti-Jiang thoughts in his heart.
When the Battle of Liaoshen broke out in 1948, Zeng Zesheng's 60th Army was surrounded in Changchun by a million People's Liberation Army led by Lin Zong, and could not wait for support for a long time. Zeng Zesheng's dissatisfaction with the Nationalist troops reached its peak, and he decided to lead the 60th Army to revolt against Chiang Kai-shek and surrender to the PLA troops. After that, Zeng Zesheng saw a very different side of the Nationalist army in the PLA troops, this unit is not corrupt, nor does it bully others, not only treats the people well, but also treats prisoners preferentially, showing a very high humanitarian spirit, which Zeng Zesheng admires very much.
Zeng Ze grew a spring uprising
Soon after, his 60th Army was incorporated into the 50th Army of the People's Liberation Army, and Zeng Zesheng was appointed commander of the army, and his partner political commissar Xu Wenlie was his fellow Yunnan compatriot. Upon learning of Zeng Zesheng's uprising, Lu Han, the chairman of Yunnan, who was good friends with him, also revolted in response to him. This series of chain reactions accelerated the process of liberating China.
Zeng Zesheng
The Central Military Commission did not guard him, a former enemy, and at his request, allowed the 50th Army to retain its original structure, and the 50th Army thus became the only people's army to be built on the basis of the original units of the Nationalist Army. Zeng Zesheng was very touched by this trust, and he always wanted to make a record and repay the Central Military Commission well.
In October 1950, after the founding of New China, the Korean War broke out, and Zeng Zesheng received orders to lead the 50th Army to the Korean Peninsula. Because he had just entered the battlefield and was not suitable for combat, the performance of the 50th Army was not good, but Mr. Peng, who was the commander-in-chief of the Volunteer Army at the time, did not accuse Zeng Zesheng, but comforted him. However, Zeng Zesheng found that Liang Xingchu, the commander of the 38th Army, who also performed badly, was scolded mercilessly by Mr. Peng.
Mr. Peng
Instead of being scolded, Zeng Zesheng was not very comfortable in his heart, thinking that this was the reason why their 50th Army was not well born, and it had not yet been fully accepted by the troops. He was very ashamed, and he held his breath in his heart, and he must show a good record to Mr. Peng and other comrades-in-arms.
In 1951, the 50th Army received an order from General Peng to block the enemy at the Han River. This enemy army was composed of American troops and British troops, not only well-equipped, but also far more adequate than the 50th Army, bombers bullied the volunteers without powerful air superiority weapons, frequently cooperated with ground artillery fire, poured ammunition on the volunteer positions, and once caused great casualties to the volunteers.
British troops on the Korean battlefield
Zeng Zesheng led the soldiers of the 50th Army to dig many trenches and anti-artillery holes in the position, so that the soldiers hid in them, effectively reducing the lethality of the enemy's artillery fire. Zeng Zesheng also divided the entire army into three parts, two of which attacked during the day, and the remaining part was left as a reserve. If the troops lost their positions during the day, they were taken by the reserves at night.
The soldiers braved the fierce artillery fire, endured the hunger, vowed not to retreat, paid a heavy price, and saved the Han River Bridge, not only defeating the elite troops of the American army, but also annihilating a royal tank battalion of the British army. Zeng Zesheng followed the front line of the 50th Army the whole time, and when he went to see General Peng after winning the battle, General Peng could hardly recognize this yellow-skinned, very gaunt man as the commander of the 50th Army.
Mr. Peng solemnly respected this unit and bowed to Zeng Zesheng, hoping that he would convey to him the respect of the volunteer army headquarters. At this moment, Zeng Zesheng felt that he and the soldiers from the Dian Army had finally been accepted, and they were almost moved to tears. He emotionally told General Manager Peng: "Our 50th Army can finally raise its head in front of the brother troops!" ”
Only then did General Manager Peng realize Zeng Zesheng's previous heart knot, and he couldn't help but feel very guilty, and seriously and sincerely told Zeng Zesheng that the PLA troops had never looked down on the 50th Army because of their origins, and that the 50th Army had fought a wonderful battle, and when replenishing supplies later, the Volunteer Army Headquarters would definitely give priority to satisfying the 50th Army.
Chairman Mao, who was far away in China, was also very happy when he learned the news, and when Zeng Zesheng returned to China to recuperate due to injury, Chairman Mao also specially received him in person. Zeng Zesheng was still seeing Chairman Mao himself for the first time, and he was excited and nervous. He also remembered the bureaucratic style of those superiors in the nationalist army in the past, and he was very restrained in the face of Chairman Mao's inability to change for a while.
Chairman Mao, of course, saw at a glance that Zeng Zesheng was unnatural. In order to ease Zeng Zesheng's tension, Chairman Mao took the initiative to talk to him about the operations of the 50th Army on the Korean battlefield. When Zeng Zesheng heard Chairman Mao talk in detail about the details of the battle, he was immediately astonished; he did not expect that Chairman Mao was so far away in China that he had such an understanding of the war situation.
Chairman Mao
When Chairman Mao asked him about the details of the garrison of a detachment, Zeng Zesheng could not remember anything, and he was embarrassed and annoyed, and felt that he had lost someone in front of Chairman Mao. Chairman Mao was sympathetic and relieved him, and praised them one after another for the beautiful fighting of the 50th Army, which made Zeng Zesheng breathe a sigh of relief.
But when Zeng Zesheng returned to his temporary home in Beijing, he didn't say a word and immediately began to pack his bags. His wife, Li Lusheng, asked him what was wrong, and Zeng Zesheng was ashamed and told his wife: "Beijing, I can't stay any longer!" ”
Then, Zeng Zesheng explained his embarrassment in front of Chairman Mao for his wife. He had been a general for so many years, and it was the first time he had seen someone who could control the war situation thousands of miles away, and he admired and ashamed, and he just wanted to hurry back to the Korean battlefield and take on the responsibilities of a military commander.
In 1954, Zeng Zesheng returned to the motherland with the 50th Army, which had made great achievements in the Korean battlefield, and was spontaneously greeted by the local people. Among the lively applause, cheers, and bouquets of flowers, Zeng Zesheng and the soldiers were moved to tears. Feelings that they could not experience when they were in the national army, now, many years later, they can finally have it.
The volunteers returned home
At the 1955 award ceremony, Zeng Zesheng, who had not joined the party, was awarded the honorary rank of lieutenant general, took a group photo with Chairman Mao under the glorious auditorium, and enjoyed the applause of his comrades-in-arms.
Throughout his life, Zeng Zesheng has always been worthy of the country and the people. No matter which party he comes from, as long as he can sacrifice his life and death for this country and the nation, and build meritorious deeds, he is a well-deserved national hero.