In 1954, the Central Committee decided to put the liberation of Dachen Island on the agenda. The operation was jointly commanded by Xu Shiyou and Zhang Aiping.
However, when it came time to deploy the battle plan, the two had a huge disagreement. Xu Shiyou was short-tempered, and finally slapped the table and said, "How many bowls of dry rice have you eaten?" ”
What really happened between Xu Shiyou and Zhang Aiping? How was it solved in the end?
Xu Shiyou's anger
In 1954, a phone call from the central government called Xu Shiyou back to Beijing. After Xu Shiyou arrived in Beijing, Mr. Peng personally met with him.
Mr. Peng told Xu Shiyou that the central authorities had decided to appoint him as the second deputy commander of the East China Military Region and put him in charge of commanding the Battle of Dachen Island.
Xu Shiyou happily accepted the order, he only cared about one thing, that is, who was the chief of staff who was his partner?
Mr. Peng told him that it was Zhang Aiping.
Xu Shiyou frowned after hearing the name. As we all know, there are two "bold" generals in the army, one is Han Xianchu and the other is Zhang Aiping.
Xu Shiyou has been in contact with Han Xianchu, and he also understands Han Xianchu's personality.
Although Han Xianchu often "disobeys orders", he basically acts at the opportunistic level, and he can successfully complete the strategic goal every time.
Afterwards, he will also sincerely admit his mistakes to the leader. The leaders also understood that "the generals will not be subject to military orders," and seeing that his apology was sincere, they would not be held accountable.
But this is not the case with Zhang Aiping. Zhang Aiping is stubborn, as long as it is something he believes, he will continue to do it.
He dared to choke with his superiors in person, and he also dared to overstep his command. Although most of his decisions were correct, he made others unable to step down every time.
Even Premier Zhou said with a smile that Zhang Aiping likes to "commit".
Xu Shiyou and Zhang Aiping have relatively little contact, and the two have never cooperated. The key is that Xu Shiyou's temper is also very hard, and he is not sure if the two can cooperate smoothly.
As expected, Xu Shiyou's worries came true.
When they first met, the two were fine. As a result, when the battle plan was officially deployed, the two had a huge disagreement.
Xu Shiyou suggested attacking Dachen Island.
Because he had just returned from the Korean battlefield, he knew that as long as our army concentrated five times the enemy's strength, it would be possible to annihilate the enemy in a short time.
As long as Dachen Island is captured, then the remaining islands will be self-defeating.
However, Zhang Aiping did not agree with this point of view, and he suggested attacking Yijiangshan Island first.
Because he had learned the painful lessons of the previous Battle of Kinmen, he believed that the battle of crossing the river was still very different from the battle on land.
A soldier crossing the river needs five or six support soldiers. Therefore, in terms of combat strength, our army actually does not have much advantage.
Moreover, this is the first time that the mainland's navy, land, and air forces have fought together, and they can first test the water with a river and mountain island. The forces here are weak, and the casualties of our troops are small.
Moreover, capturing Jiangshan Island can also have a deterrent effect on the enemy forces on Dachen Island.
Xu Shiyou did not veto Zhang Aiping's plan, but he had other concerns in his heart.
An important military base was built on Dachen Island. Once our army first attacks Yijiangshan Island, it will leave time for the enemy to destroy military bases.
Therefore, he is still more inclined to attack Dachen Island first, to take the enemy by surprise, so as to keep the military base.
Zhang Aiping was unmoved, he was unwilling to take risks. They faced not only the national army on the other side, but also American warships at sea and American fighter planes in the air.
If something goes wrong, the Battle of Kinmen will repeat itself.
Two people have their own opinions, and neither will let the other.
In the end, Xu Shiyou slapped the table directly: "You kid ate a few bowls of dry rice!" I have beaten 100,000 people, and 20,000 people in Dachen Island can still scare me? ”
After that, Xu Shiyou brushed his sleeves and left.
In fact, Xu Shiyou is not a leader who insists on going his own way, and he often adopts the opinions of his subordinates. The reason why he said something heavy was completely because of Zhang Aiping's temper.
After calming down, Xu Shiyou submitted both plans to the central government for a decision.
After a period of time, the central government replied: adopt Zhang Aiping's suggestion, attack Yijiangshan Island first, and appoint Zhang Aiping as the commander of the eastern Zhejiang front command.
The central government spoke, and Xu Shiyou had no objections. The crowd began to prepare in full swing.
By 1955, Zhang Aiping thought that everything was ready to attack. But Xu Shiyou thinks that he is not fully prepared and wants to postpone it for a while.
Zhang Aiping couldn't sit still, he directly crossed the level and asked the central government, but Xu Shiyou rarely didn't get angry this time.
After receiving an accurate reply from the central authorities, our army officially launched an attack on Yijiangshan Island. With the tacit cooperation of the navy, land and air force, our army liberated all the islands of Dachen Island in one go.
The battle was a great victory, but Xu Shiyou was not immersed in the joy of victory, he directly called the Military Commission and asked to be transferred.
The reason he gave was that he thought Zhang Aiping was too proud and the two were not good to work together.
The central government also knows that the two of them do not deal with each other. So after thinking about it, the central government transferred Zhang Aiping to Beijing.
For many years afterward, the two had no contact, and they always had a pimple in their hearts.
Zhang Aiping's stubbornness
In fact, Xu Shiyou didn't blame Zhang Aiping, but just thought that the two were not suitable partners.
Although on the surface, Xu Shiyou's temper is more irritable, but he has not done anything out of the ordinary.
Since Xu Shiyou joined the army, he has always adhered to his duties and absolutely obeyed the orders of his superiors.
During the Red Army, he participated in battles in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet region.
At that time, Lao Chiang mobilized 200,000 troops to "encircle and suppress" the Hubei-Henan-Anhui revolutionary base area, and sent the Kuomintang "Shengwei General" Yue Weijun to take command.
Under the double crush of the enemy's strong forces and firepower, our army suffered heavy losses.
Xu Xiangqian, the commander of the Red Fourth Army, came up with a plan in a hurry: send a death squad deep into the enemy's interior to plan the actions of the large army.
Xu Shiyou was the first to stand up and expressed his willingness to go. Xu Xiangqian asked him with a solemn face if he had thought it through, and there was no turning back.
Xu Shiyou only said firmly: "Either you succeed or you sacrifice!" ”
He was worried about the task given to him by his superiors, so he did not flinch in the face of the enemy's strong artillery fire.
He led his team into the enemy camp smoothly, disrupted the enemy's position, and finally succeeded in capturing Yue Weijun alive.
After that, Xu Shiyou participated in the death squad many times in a row. He was on the brink of death four times, but even when he was seriously wounded, he never shirked the task given to him by the Order.
During the anti-Japanese period, he was transferred to fight under Chen Geng.
Chen Geng was not familiar with him, only knew that he was impatient. Therefore, Chen Geng did not reuse Xu Shiyou at the beginning, and often asked Xu Shiyou to serve as an auxiliary task.
Although Xu Shiyou was a little unhappy, he never slacked off, and conscientiously completed the work assigned to him by his superiors every time.
During the Battle of Xiangchenggu, Chen Geng sent Xu Shiyou to the periphery to ambush to prevent the remnants of the enemy from escaping.
This task is not difficult, but Xu Shiyou attaches great importance to it. When he received the assignment, he immediately urgently built the fortifications.
After the battle began, Xu Shiyou closely followed the movements in the city. But what everyone didn't expect was that the main force of the enemy army saw that our army was menacing, and immediately chose to abandon the city and flee.
Seeing that most of the enemy troops were running in the direction of Xu Shiyou, Chen Geng was anxious.
However, when he arrived with people, he was surprised to find that Xu Shiyou had already led people to annihilate all the enemy troops.
It was precisely because Xu Shiyou fulfilled his duties and built the fortifications impermeable that he did not give the enemy a chance to take advantage of them.
Afterwards, Chen Geng called Xu Shiyou a "big knife general" and began to slowly reuse Xu Shiyou.
During the Liberation War, Xu Shiyou was ordered to attack Jinan. At that time, the enemy's strength was too strong, and as soon as the battle began, most of our army's strength was instantly reduced by half.
Xu Shiyou asked his superiors for instructions to retire, but his superiors gave a death order: no matter what, you can't retreat!
Xu Shiyou's heart was crossed, he directly picked up a machine gun and left the command headquarters. Xu Shiyou came to the battlefield and personally led everyone to rush into the enemy's artillery fire.
He led his troops to fight eight days and nights of fierce fighting before he captured Jinan.
There are many more such things. It is not difficult to see from Xu Shiyou's experience that he is a person who is absolutely loyal to the organization and the country.
No matter what orders his superiors order, he will obey them absolutely, even at the cost of his own life.
But Zhang Aiping is not such a person. Zhang Aiping has his own ideas, and he will never do things that he is not sure of, even if he disobeys the orders of his superiors. Such a character can be said to be both conservative and stubborn.
But in fact, when Zhang Aiping first joined the army, his personality was not so tough, and he would also listen to other people's ideas and suggestions.
He became the way he was because of a defeat he had experienced before.
It was in the Red Army, and he was serving as the commander of the 1st Cavalry Regiment.
At that time, he had just led his troops to a victorious battle. On the way back, they encountered an enemy force with several Red Army cadres tied behind them.
Zhang Aiping immediately led his troops forward and beat them to the ground and fled. They also managed to save several Red Army cadres.
After the cadres were rescued, they were still furious, and they asked Zhang Aiping to arrest those people.
Zhang Aiping was a little hesitant. Because the troops have just gone through a couple of battles and are already very tired. But under the strong demand of everyone, Zhang Aiping was still convinced.
Zhang Aiping led the soldiers to chase in the direction of the enemy. But when they arrived at the enemy's lair, they found that the main force of the thieves had not returned. So after Zhang Aiping destroyed their nest, she returned with her troops.
Coincidentally, a thief escaped and sent a message to the leader. After the leader of the thieves knew that the nest was destroyed, he ambushed Zhang Aiping in the place where he had to pass, wanting to take revenge on him.
When Zhang Aiping reached the middle of the journey, she was besieged by the enemy. After continuous battles and treks, the soldiers were exhausted and unable to resist at all, and in the end our army suffered heavy casualties.
This incident also left a shadow in Zhang Aiping's heart.
He believes that if it weren't for his impulsiveness, he wouldn't have caused such a mistake. So in the battles that followed, he became more and more cautious.
In fact, both Xu Shiyou and Zhang Aiping are heroic revolutionary heroes. Their original intention is also all to be able to win the battle, and there is no one right or wrong.
It's just that the two have different personalities, and there will be contradictions.
Ice release suspicion
In 1960, Zhang Zhen invited Xu Shiyou to his home. Xu Shiyou went to Zhang Zhen's house and found that Zhang Aiping was also there.
Zhang Zhen pulled Xu Shiyou to the dining table and sat down. Zhang Zhen held the hands of the two and said, "The contradiction between the two of you should be over." ”
Only then did Xu Shiyou react that Zhang Zhen was here to be a peacemaker.
Before Xu Shiyou could speak, Zhang Aiping stood up directly and toasted him with a glass of wine: "Comrade Xu Shiyou, I was wrong before, and this glass of wine should be used to make amends!" With that, he drank the wine down.
Xu Shiyou also stood up and saluted him: "Everyone is a revolutionary comrade, and if a family doesn't talk to two families, the previous things will be turned over!" ”
The two looked at each other and smiled after drinking, and since then they have released their suspicions.