Relationship with Wang Zhen

Relationship with Wang Zhen

Looking back on my years in Xinjiang, there are two main lines. One is my work situation, and the other is the relationship with Wang Zhen. In fact, these two main lines are inseparable, and many historical facts are intertwined, which constitutes my understanding and evaluation of Wang Zhen.

Wang Zhen arrived in Dihua on November 7, 1949, and came to Ili on November 12. In Ili, I met with Wang Zhen. After this meeting, we spent three unforgettable years in Xinjiang.

1. First acquaintance with Wang Zhen

Before Wang Zhen arrived in Dihua, I had received a telegram from the central authorities informing me that after the work of the liaison officer of the CPC Central Committee was completed, he would stay in Xinjiang and participate in the leadership work in Xinjiang as a member of the sub-bureau. After receiving this telegram from the Central Committee, some staff members said to me: Old Deng, you are the boss, but it is very difficult to deal with, and your temper is very big.

When I was in Yan'an before, I had met Wang Zhen, and although I had not spoken, I knew him early on that he was a general with outstanding military achievements and heard many legendary stories about him.

Wang Zhen's life, according to his revolutionary contributions, can be divided into two periods, with the establishment of a new China as the boundary. For the first twenty years, in addition to a short period of underground work, a longer period of time was battlefield life. He was a hero who grew up in the war. As early as the period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chairman Mao said that Wang Zhen was already a famous general. He fought a lot of beautiful battles and made a lot of important contributions. The most prominent battle is the return from the south to the north. At that time, when Chairman Mao gave him orders and assigned tasks, he said that you must be prepared not to come back. Therefore, when Wang Zhen led his troops from Yan'an, it could really be said that "the wind is cold, the water is cold, and the brave soldiers will not return once they are gone.", which was a very tragic and magnificent atmosphere. Wang Zhen was such a person, he was willing to accept orders, even if he sacrificed. Many people said that if it were not for him, the troops might not be able to bring them back. Chairman Mao spoke highly of the return from the south to the north, saying that it was equivalent to the second Long March. Wang Zhen himself, on the other hand, consciously made the time and distance for returning from the south to the north shorter. Some people once compared Wang Zhen to Xia Boyang of the Soviet Union, but in my opinion, Wang Zhen is much higher than Xia Boyang.

I remembered that when I was at the Marxist-Leninist College in Yan'an in 1940, the secretary of the general branch was named Zhang Qilong, one of the leaders who came from Xianggan. He once invited Wang Zhen to the Marxist-Leninist Academy to give a report, and introduced me to me that Wang Zhen was a very strong political general among the generals of the army. I was deeply impressed by this sentence.

At the beginning of the rectification in Yan'an, Wang Shiwei posted a big poster in the party school, setting off an extremely democratic and absolutely egalitarian trend of thought among young students, and many old cadres were very dissatisfied with it. At this time, Wang Zhen went to see the big character newspaper, and after reading it, he scolded Wang Shiwei, saying that we were fighting in the front, and you Wang Shiwei was doing this in the rear, what do you mean? Soon, a delegation of Chinese and foreign journalists came to Visit Yan'an, and the central authorities arranged for Wang Zhen to receive him. I remember that at a meeting, Premier Zhou said that some of your intellectual youths are not satisfied with Wang Zhen, but do you know that chinese and foreign journalist groups came to us, and Wang Zhen went to receive them and fought another victorious battle. Some of you say that he is not highly educated and reckless, but many people in the press corps cannot but admire him without being impressed by him. At that time, the plot of Wang Zhen's meeting with Chinese and foreign reporters, what I felt most deeply was Wang Zhen's frank and honest attitude towards each other. People ask, do you have deserters in this unit? He replied: Yes. Where did it go? A: I went to the Kuomintang. Why go? A: The Kuomintang seduced them with official titles and money. Wang Zhen did not regard this kind of thing as an ugly thing or a kind of unseemly thing, but he talked about it how it was and sought truth from facts.

One more thing. When the Second Front army met with Zhang Guotao, Zhang Guotao sent people to take out a large number of materials opposing Mao Zedong as the core of actual leadership for propaganda. After Wang Zhen saw it, he immediately burned it off, and his eyes were red with anger. At that time, Zhang Guotao's strength was large, and the strength of the Second Front Army was small. Some people are confused by superficial phenomena and think that Zhang Guotao's power is great, so he is right, and there is a future for following the powerful people. Wang Zhen is different from these people, he sees the essence, he sees the power of justice, and he sees that even if the correct route is frustrated for a while, it will still achieve victory in the end.

There is a widely circulated true story about Wang Zhen. Probably after the Battle of Wuwei, the troops were on their way to Jiuquan on the way to Xinjiang, and the more desolate they went, the desert and the Gobi Desert were everywhere. At this time, some people complained and thought that other troops were going to a good place, but we followed Wang Beard to this place where there were no people for hundreds of miles. After hearing this reaction, Wang Zhen summoned cadres and the battlefield to a meeting. On the podium of the venue, an old map of China was hung. Wang Zhen pointed to the map and said that this was the original map of our country, like a mulberry leaf, and a few years ago, the Kuomintang agreed to the independence of Outer Mongolia and was dug up in a large piece. Wang Zhen also pointed out that Xinjiang accounts for one-sixth of China's current territory. US imperialism and the national reactionaries in Xinjiang have been plotting to split this area. If their plot succeeds, what will our country look like! In such a way, Wang Zhen shocked all the commanders and fighters present at the meeting. After listening, everyone's hearts burst out with a strong sense of mission, and they all said: As soldiers, we must fulfill our duty of defending the territory and defending the country, and if we want to safeguard the unity and integrity of the motherland, we must march into Xinjiang as soon as possible!