At the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1938, Chairman Mao proposed: "The Communist Party does not fight for individual military power. However, it is necessary to contend for the party's military power and the people's military power. ”
Later, the principle of the party's absolute leadership over the army was vividly expressed by him as "Our principle is that the party commands the gun, and the gun is absolutely not allowed to command the party."
Since then, Chairman Mao has constantly paid attention to the internal situation of the army and maintained his thinking on the leadership of the army, which is also a historical factor in the reassignment of the commanders of the eight major military regions in 1973.
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Chairman Mao realized that in order for the country to be stable, the leading body of the army must maintain unity and loyalty to the party and the state.
At this time, the army needed a leader, and Chairman Mao turned his attention to Ye Jianying. Ye Jianying was loyal and loyal, rarely made enemies, and was highly respected in the army. If he came forward to lead the army, it would be difficult to receive objections from others.
At the same time, Wang Hongwen became the object of Chairman Mao's key training. He was a worker by birth and later a soldier; his gentle personality, less likely to offend, could serve as a buffer bridge between the two factions.
Deng Xiaoping returned to the people's field of vision after the turbulent period passed, and he was once again highly valued by Chairman Mao. Relying on his own tough political means, Deng Xiaoping perfectly handled Sino-US relations and began leadership of the army at the behest of Chairman Mao.
In the spring of 1973, thanks to the efforts of Premier Zhou and others, Deng Xiaoping resumed his inner-party organizational activities and the post of vice premier of the State Council. In August of the same year, at the "Tenth National Congress" of the Communist Party of China, Deng Xiaoping was elected as a member of the Central Committee.
In the middle of 1973, Chairman Mao thought that most of the commanders of the 11 major military regions of the army had been in the same place for more than 10 or even 20 years. Presumably, they have established a fairly well-established network of local relationships.
The people around them are old subordinates, so when assigning tasks and giving orders, these people must think twice, so it is easy to be constrained by others when working. All kinds of problems here are not conducive to the stability of the country's armed forces and national defense and security.
In the process of listening to a work report, Chairman Mao took the initiative to talk to Deng Xiaoping about the fact that the commanders of the major military regions had not been transferred for a long time, and asked him how to deal with it.
After a little thought, Deng Xiaoping reversed the teacup in front of him with the teacup in front of Chairman Mao, which caused Chairman Mao to laugh and say, "Well, the hero sees the same thing." ”
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On December 12, 1973, Chairman Mao convened a politburo meeting among the members of the Politburo. Chairman Mao first severely criticized the Politburo and the Central Military Commission on the situation that "the Politburo does not discuss politics, and the Central Military Commission does not discuss the military": "The Politburo wants to discuss politics. The Central Military Commission wants to discuss the army, not only the army, but also the government. ”
He also said, "The Politburo does not discuss politics, and the Central Military Commission does not discuss the military. If you don't change, I'll have a meeting and come here. I have nothing to do, nothing more than to hold a Politburo meeting, blow it with you, and talk to your face. ”
The meeting lasted for four consecutive days, and the content basically revolved around how the commander of the Grand Military Region was transferred. Later, the thinking of the members of the Politburo was basically unified, and the specific adjustment plan was also determined.
On December 15, the CPC Central Committee and the Central Military Commission jointly issued a secret notice to bring the responsible comrades of the major military regions to Beijing and attend the meeting.
On December 20, Chairman Mao's study was crowded with people, responsible persons from the Eight Military Regions, who were here to accept orders from the military regions. 46 commanders and political commissars of military regions from different places were all sitting precariously, waiting for Chairman Mao to start talking.
"I didn't sleep all night and wanted to see my comrades." As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere that had been somewhat tense was instantly diluted by warmth. Chairman Mao first spoke of Zhu De, calling him "our good commander, a red commander, not a black commander." ”
Then, he shook hands with the four senior generals Xiao Jinguang, Chen Shiyu, Tian Weixin and Maning, who were standing on the sidelines, and asked them about their recent physical condition.
When asked about the third general, Tian Weixin, Chairman Mao's words turned sharply and said, "Comrade Tian Weixin, where are you from?" Then he asked him, "Where is Cao Zhi buried?" ”
Although Tian Weixin did not understand his meaning, he still replied that it was Yushan. "What is the lake on the left?"
Tian Weixin replied: "If you want to talk about the lake, it is far from yushan mountain, it is Dongping Lake." "The General Political Department will be entrusted with the responsibility of you!"
Tian Weixin was shocked to hear this, and after thinking for a moment, he said: "Comrade Desheng is gone, and the General Political Department is a deputy director of me." It is necessary for me to remain in the general administration, and I would like to ask the Chairman to appoint a director. I am not qualified or experienced enough, please ask the chairman to send a director! ”
Chairman Mao ignored his prevarications and turned his head and began to shake hands with Air Force Commander Ma Ning.
Later, Chairman Mao began to speak to all the personnel, and halfway through the speech, he asked Xu Shiyou, who was sitting in the front row, "I want you to read "Dream of the Red Chamber.", have you read it?" ”
Xu Shiyou said he only read it once. Chairman Mao immediately shook his head, "One time is not enough, you have to read it three times." ”
After saying that, he casually recited a large part of the plot of the first episode of "Dream of the Red Chamber". At that time, Chairman Mao was already an 80-year-old man, and he could still remember large passages of text so clearly, and the generals present all admired him in their hearts.
On 22 December, Chairman Mao officially announced the order to transfer the commanders, and he once again brought the commanders together. After the meeting began, Chairman Mao deliberately wanted Wang Hongwen to establish his prestige in front of the generals, so he put him in charge of roll call.
At this time, Wang Hongwen was entrusted by the chairman, and on weekdays, he was taken care of by the chairman, and without thinking, he grinned and named him.
When Xu Shiyou's name was read, no one in the room answered. Wang Hongwen looked at Xu Shiyou, only to see that his face was iron blue, and his two eyes were only fixed on the ceiling, ignoring himself.
As early as August 21, 1972, Xu Shiyou proposed at the politburo meeting that "as long as Premier Zhou has 1 vice chairman, or as long as 3 old comrades are enough." ”
Two days later, at a meeting of responsible persons of the central party, government, and military organs directly under the central government and the military and the provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions presided over by Premier Zhou, the premier conveyed Chairman Mao's intention to train Wang Hongwen as his successor.
Xu Shiyou also interjected many times at the meeting, causing Zhang Chunqiao to accuse him in person, and Xu Shiyou also asked Zhang Chunqiao: "What is so great about you?" ”
Therefore, when Wang Hongwen had the courage to pronounce Xu Shiyou's name again, Xu Shiyou slammed his teacup on the tea table and made a loud noise.
At this moment, Wang Hongwen woke up like a dream, his face flushed, and he looked at Chairman Mao with help. After witnessing all this, Chairman Mao was already furious, his face quickly sank, and although he did not say a word, it gave the impression that he was already on the verge of eruption.
Premier Zhou saw that the atmosphere at the scene was too stiff, and with tact he took the roster and did not follow the order, but randomly named it: Li Desheng, Chen Xilian, Xu Shiyou...
This time, the previously arrogant generals lost their momentum in an instant, and they answered Premier Zhou one by one. After the roll call, Premier Zhou announced the specific details of the transfer of the commanders of the eight military regions:
Li Desheng, commander of the Beijing Military Region, and Chen Xilian, commander of the Shenyang Military Region, were in tune; Yang Dezhi, commander of the Jinan Military Region, and Zeng Siyu, commander of the Wuhan Military Region, were in tune;
Xu Shiyou, commander of the Nanjing Military Region, and Ding Sheng, commander of the Guangzhou Military Region, were reversed; Han Xianchu, commander of the Fuzhou Military Region, and Pi Ding, commander of the Lanzhou Military Region, were both reversed.
At that time, there were 11 major military regions in China, but only the commanders of 8 of them were required to be transferred, and the remaining commanders of the Xinjiang Military Region, Chengdu Military Region and Kunming Military Region were not transferred.
After the order was issued, Chairman Mao required that each commander must arrive at his new post within 10 days and that no more than 10 staff members could be brought with him.
This military personnel transfer not only has a great impact at home, but has also attracted tremendous and extensive attention abroad. Rozman, a well-known American scholar on China, pointed out:
"This is a conscious demonstration that civilian officials control state power. As a result, many commanders leave areas where they have worked and networked for more than 20 years. This order is a major sign of the decline of local militarism in China. The sheer scale of the transfer shows that everyone involved is aware that the forces of tradition have been broken. ”
Deng Xiaoping's appraisal of this poll was "very necessary," and he pointed out: "Chairman Mao knows very well the art of leading the army, that is, no leading cadre in the army is allowed to have a regiment or a sphere of influence. ”
During this transfer, the two key leaders in the army —Li Desheng, who had been transferred to the Shenyang Military Region, and Chen Xilian, who was the commander of the Beijing Military Region—had both served in Deng Xiaoping's Second Field Army, and they would certainly listen to Deng Xiaoping's dispatches.
It can be said that Chairman Mao had a far-sighted vision of the leadership of the army and the selection of qualified personnel.
Text/Yu Xin