The deputy commander and the political commissar commanded the troops, and the deputy commander: Militarily, I am in charge! The political commissar did not speak again
The close cooperation between Ye Changgeng and Xu Wenlie became a good story in the Liberation War, just like Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang in "Bright Sword", no matter how good the relationship between comrades-in-arms is, there will be differences in some specific military command actions.
At that time, at the end of the Liberation War, Ye Changgeng, as the deputy commander of the army, decided to fight without finding the political commissar Xu Wenlie, and the battle also achieved brilliant results.
Two generals from the same period
General Ye Changgeng has a poignant past.
Due to the poverty of his family in his early years, he helped herd cattle from the age of 8 and went out to do odd jobs at the age of 12, even so hardships could not escape the fate of leaving his hometown, and in February 1926, he was arrested by the local landlord as a porter from Tonglu to Shaoguan.
Guangdong is the base camp of the National Revolutionary Army, and Ye Changgeng also decided to join the army.
After going to the battlefield, he found that the barracks was his home, and with his style of daring to fight and rush, he made miraculous contributions in the two battles of conquering Nanchang and Nanjing, and was promoted to platoon commander all the way.
But Chiang Kai-shek's betrayal of the revolution made Ye Changgeng think more about his life, he was ordered to go to the Gujiang River in December 1929 to ambush the Red Army, after thinking about it, he believed that the Red Army was the real army for the happiness of the toiling masses, even if the conditions were good, he should not work for the high warlords.
So, he took 22 fighters plus 2 heavy machine guns to the Red Army, and according to the rules of the Red Army at that time, he could also get 300 oceans.
When the Red Army cadres handed them the ocean, Ye Changgeng took the lead and said: "We defected to the Red Army, not for money!"
The news quickly reached Peng Dehuai's ears, and he specially arranged a time to meet Ye Changgeng and recruit him as a member of the Communist Party of China.
Ye Changgeng found a home, his fighting spirit became even more high, he participated in all the struggles against "encirclement and suppression" from one to five, and he also completed the 25,000-mile Long March, and at this stage, he fought all tough battles.
The Central Military Commission has commended him many times, but these have not made this outstanding general proud.
During the Anti-Japanese War, Ye Changgeng worked in 9 counties in Shanxi, Chahar and Hebei, and the Japanese puppet army shuddered when they heard his name, and he also made outstanding achievements in expanding the army and annihilating the enemy.
Therefore, at the beginning of the Liberation War, he was transferred to the Heilongjiang Provincial Military Region as commander, and the struggle against bandits in the province was also led by him.
During the Liaoshen Campaign, after vigorous efforts from all sides, Zeng Zesheng of the 60th Army of the Kuomintang decided to revolt, and the Central Military Commission awarded them the number of the 50th Army of the People's Liberation Army.
Xu Wenlie's life past is also extremely brilliant.
In April 1935, when the Long March team entered Yunnan, Xu Wenlie was overjoyed, he asked around for the leaders of the troops, and finally met Luo Binghui.
Xu Wenlie immediately asked to join the Red Army, and offered to show the way for the Red Army and do mass work; then he went out into the streets, led the students to propagate the party's policies, denounced the crimes of the Kuomintang reactionaries, and called on the people to unite to fight the local tyrants and divide the land and seek liberation.
Later, he became one of the few veteran Red Army soldiers who participated in the march and combat of the troops of the Three Front Army.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Xu Wenlie followed He Long to the anti-Japanese front, and he successively served as the chief of the Propaganda Section and the director of the Political Department of the 120th Division, assisting He Long in opening up the anti-Japanese base area.
It was also at this stage that the talent of this Confucian general was fully reflected, and he also worked in the Seventh Branch for two years, turning it into a feng shui treasure land for teaching, fighting, and production, and cultivating a large number of military and political cadres to be sent to the anti-Japanese front.
In the autumn of 1945, the central government instructed Xu Wenlie and others to cross the Yellow River to the northeast, and Xu Wenlie embarked on a new "Long March" from then on, and he finally arrived in Bei'an, Heilongjiang after half a year across five provinces.
Kang Da, which originally cultivated cadres, became the Military and Political University of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army in the northeast, with the president being Lin Biao, a well-known general, and Peng Zhen, the political commissar, while Xu Wenlie held the position of director of the political department in the school.
One of the main aspects of his work at that time was to use his experience to preside over the transformation of the insurrectionary Kuomintang troops, which was by no means an easy task.
At the end of May 1946, the 184th Division of the Kuomintang 60th Army stationed in Haicheng, Liaoning Province, decided to revolt because of dissatisfaction with Chiang Kai-shek's exclusion.
Because this division was a Yunnan army, they announced the uprising most likely to indicate their position of withdrawing from the civil war, and they opposed Chiang Kai-shek, not Long Yun, the commander of the Yunnan army.
So, at Xu Wenlie's suggestion, the unit was named the Democratic Alliance, because Long Yun had already joined the China Democratic League at that time, and such a title could ease the ideological baggage of the rebel fighters and make them feel that they were still on the same front as their "King of Yunnan".
Xu Wenlie also went to preside over the transformation of this unit, and he carried out three officer training classes to "complain about the old society and the old army" and achieved results, and the results of the transformation were also affirmed by Chairman Mao.
After the Liaoshen Campaign began, Zeng Zesheng rebelled in Changchun, so Xu Wenlie, who had rich ideological and work experience, became Ye Changgeng's partner.
Ye and Xu Jinjin partnered
Ye Changgeng is good at commanding operations, Xu Wenlie is good at ideological mobilization, and their pair soon showed a strong tacit understanding.
On the issue of cadres, Xu Wenlie had the final say on all major and minor matters, and he treated the insurrectionary officers equally, and repeatedly exhorted that we must do a good job in the unity of cadres in all fields, and even if they were not originally the PLA, they must be trusted, educated, and loved and used in the same way.
The 60th Army of the uprising originally had 2,714 officers, including even six Kuomintang generals.
Xu Wenlie adopted the method of "purging a small number of people, transferring most of them to schools, and some of them staying in the team" to redivide the officers and soldiers, and many former Kuomintang cadres went to study at the Northeast Military and Political University.
After the relevant work was almost done, Ye Changgeng led the troops to march to the southwest, and the situation at this time was very good.
In Sichuan, he worked closely with political commissar Xu Wenlie and participated in the Western Hubei Campaign, and they cooperated with his brother troops to form a north-south pincer attack on Song Xilian's group, forcing Song Xilian to abandon the "Left Route Army Plan".
In this battle, the People's Liberation Army annihilated more than 40,000 Kuomintang troops and opened the door to Sichuan from the east.
This also means that the Kuomintang army's "southwest joint defense line" has been cut off, and from the perspective of the overall situation, the command of Ye Changgeng and Xu Wenlie has effectively cooperated with the Guangxi campaign.
In Ziyang, Sichuan, Ye and Xu's troops successfully annihilated more than 1,000 Kuomintang troops and captured tens of thousands.
In the major battle to liberate the two key cities of Chongqing and Chengdu, Ye and Xu always served as the main attacking force.
It is precisely because of the need to carry out the main attack mission that the commander is more required to be able to react quickly at the first time.
When the troops arrived near Jianyang, Sichuan, news suddenly came back from the front that they had encountered the enemy's situation, and Ye Changgeng, as the deputy commander of the army, immediately convened a military meeting.
However, Ye Changgeng sent people to look for a long time, but found no trace of Xu Wenlie.
The other division commanders were waiting for the combat deployment in the conference room, Ye Changgeng looked at his watch, and knew that it was very likely that the fighters would be delayed if he did not give an order, so he immediately deployed the operation, and the rest of the division commanders also returned to the division headquarters to give specific instructions after taking notes.
Soon after the meeting, Xu Wen came back in a hurry, it turned out that he was a little tired when he saw that the soldiers were already a little tired from continuing to fight, so he made a special trip to condole.
Ye Changgeng saw the political commissar coming, and told Xu Wenlie about the operational deployment just now.
After hearing this, Xu Wenlie thought that there was something wrong with the specific plan, and he wanted to renegotiate the deployment with Ye Changgeng.
Ye Changgeng disagreed, thinking that the preparation and deployment had been issued, and the battle was about to start, and it was too late to call everyone back.
Xu Wenlie was a little anxious and shouted: "I am the political commissar!"
Ye Changgeng also raised his voice: "I am the deputy army commander! In the military aspect, I am the acting army commander to exercise my duties, and I am fully responsible for any problems!"
Considering that the battle was about to start, Xu Wenlie did not continue to argue, and he reluctantly agreed to Ye Changgeng's plan.
Fortunately, the commanders and fighters on the front line were very flexible and achieved major victories.
The situation on the battlefield is fleeting, and no one can really control the overall situation, if they do not attack decisively at that time, then the group of enemies who are fleeing abroad will have to flee to Chengdu, so the situation will be more passive.
In hindsight, Ye Changgeng and Xu Wenlie's starting point is to be responsible for victory, and it is normal for disagreements to occur, just like Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang in "Bright Sword", even if there have been quarrels, they are still the closest and best comrades-in-arms.
After Zeng Zesheng gradually gained attention, he also led the glorious 50th Army to fight in Korea twice in October 1950, participated in the first to fourth battles, and won fruitful results in anti-landing defensive operations on the west coast and the capture of enemy islands.
Chairman Mao and Peng Dehuai both commended the commanders and fighters of the 50th Army.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Ye Changgeng also successively served as deputy director of the Transportation Department of the Logistics Department of the Central and Southern Military Region and deputy commander of the Jiangxi Provincial Military Region.
It is worth mentioning that General Ye has been wounded 10 times in his nearly 60-year revolutionary career, which can be described as a hundred battles.
He and Xu Wenlie were both awarded the rank of major general in 1955, which is also the best affirmation of their military careers.
Resources
Ye Changgeng From porter to general Tonglu News
Confucian general Xu Wenlie, Qu Dingguo, Party History Expo