In 1973, before the Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held, it was considered that the position of Vice President was vacant. Chairman Mao, who was sitting in his seat, looked at everyone and said, "I have been sitting in the position of Chairman for a l

In 1973, before the Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held, it was considered that the position of Vice President was vacant. The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee convened a meeting to discuss the selection of national president and candidates for voting and approval at the Ten Congresses.

The meeting was chaired by Zhou Enlai, who solemnly announced:

"Let's start the nomination of the President first."

Members of the Politburo below all said that the position of President of the State must belong to Chairman Mao.

Picture | Chairman Mao

Chairman Mao, who was sitting in his seat, looked at everyone and said arrogantly:

"I have been sitting in the position of Chairman for a long time, and everyone is tired of it. It is better to follow the instructions given by Comrade (Deng) Xiaoping in the past The proposal suggested that I quit the front line and become the chairman of the advisory committee. However, if I become a consultant, I will keep a close eye on it."

Everyone quickly advised:

"Chairman Mao, please don't shirk it." Do you want me to be the one? "

" Yes, the people trust you the most. "

"Okay, what position will be nominated next? "

Zhou Enlai told Chairman Mao: "There is also a vice chairman to choose."

"Who do you think is the best vice chairman?"

The committee members recommended Zhou Enlai, Kang Sheng, Ye Jianying and others.

Chairman Mao nodded one by one:

"Well, there are some reasons for the people you choose. However, I think there are any shortcomings in these people?"

Chairman Mao thought for a while and continued:

"I used to suggest that leaders should According to the three age groups of 'old, middle and young', you see, I, Enlai, Kang Sheng, and Jianying are the old generation, there are no two generations of 'middle' and 'young'!"

At this time, someone suggested Wang Hongwen! :

"Chairman, I think Hongwen can be considered a relatively capable member of the 'young' generation."

Someone objected at this time:

"I am opposed to Wang Hongwen being elected as vice chairman. He is too young and not suitable."

Chairman Mao Said:

"He has been a farmer, a worker, and a soldier. I think he is quite suitable. He can be counted among the 'green'."

Chairman has expressed his position, and no one below has raised any questions.

Zhou Enlai reminded Chairman Mao:

"Chairman, what about the 'Chinese' generation?"

"Well, the 'Chinese' generation, my suggestion is to choose from the army."

Picture | Zhou Enlai

Zhou Enlai recalled that Chairman Mao in 1971 A person mentioned in the speech during the southern tour in 2016.

"Chairman, Comrade Li Desheng is 57 years old this year. He is just in the middle age group and is from the military. I suggest that he be nominated as vice chairman."

"I agree!"

Li Desheng listened in a daze on his chair. , suddenly stood up and said:

"No, Chairman Mao. I can't do it. I have only been in the Central Committee for a few years and I am not very skilled at work. I suggest Comrade Li Xiannian..."

Zhou Enlai interrupted his suggestion:

"Desheng Comrade, the chairman has agreed, don’t say anything else.”

In this way, Li Desheng was successfully nominated as the vice chairman candidate.

So, what ability does Li Desheng have to win the love of Chairman Mao and Zhou Enlai?

Please allow me to explain it slowly.

1. Born in Red Army

Li Desheng joined the Red Army at the age of 14 and served as the leader of the Children's Corps. He was willing to endure hardship and was good at learning military theory. Soon after

joined the Red Army, he served as a messenger in the communications class of the battalion headquarters, regiment headquarters, and division headquarters.

In the war years, order soldiers were one of the branches with the highest casualties. They were responsible for risking their lives to convey the commander's instructions to the front line. There was no room for any mistakes, let alone the kind of news in TV dramas. Halfway through it becomes a different meaning.

At the same time, if the commander is killed or injured, the orderly soldiers must quickly replace him, take over the commander's tasks, and continue to guide the army's actions.

Li Desheng's company was often attacked by the enemy in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Area, and the messengers had little rest time. However, Li Desheng was able to overcome difficulties and complete the task well.

In the autumn of 1932, the Red Fourth Front began the Long March. Because they had to avoid Chiang Kai-shek's pursuit, they could only walk on mountain roads and no-man's land along the way. The army's logistics could not keep up. The soldiers ate chaffy vegetables every day. Too full.

At this time, 16-year-old Li Desheng was already an old Red Army veteran with military service . He is very smart and often eats a little of his rations and hides a little in order to cope with the crisis of food shortage.

There was a soldier named Hao Erlin in Li Desheng's class. He was tall, ate more than others, and often complained that he was hungry.

One night, Li Desheng heard Hao Erlin crying aside, and he understood that Hao Erlin must be hungry.

So, Li Desheng took out a carrot from his backpack and handed it to him. Hao Erlin burst into tears of gratitude, held his hand and kept saying thanks.

In August 1935, the Red Army began to cross the grass . This time, the soldiers' backpacks were filled with fried highland barley grains and highland barley noodles, , but Li Desheng felt that the grassland could not be seen at a glance, and these grains were probably not enough.

He consciously scrimped on food and clothing, saving food for emergencies.

Later, when the soldiers in the class had finished their food, Li Desheng stepped forward and gave them his half bag of highland barley grains.

The grassland is more than 3,000 meters above sea level, and the weather changes rapidly. The sun can be shining brightly during the day and the temperature can plummet to below zero at night. The soldiers huddled together to keep warm, but Li Desheng always sat on the outer edge to protect everyone from the wind and cold.

When he crossed the grass for the second time, Li Desheng was already very weak. At that time, the heavy troops of Ma Bufang of the Kuomintang were pursuing the Red Army. Chen Xilian, the commander of the 10th Division, ordered Li Desheng and two other soldiers to go out and move reinforcements.

The three of them cleverly avoided the enemy's detection, found the main force, and successfully rescued the 10th Division.

When Chen Xilian mentioned this incident in 1983, he was still full of praise for Li Desheng.

Picture | Li Desheng

Chairman Mao must have heard of Li Desheng's spirit of not being afraid of hardship and death, otherwise he would not have agreed to Zhou Enlai's nomination before the Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

2. Don’t take credit for outstanding achievements in the Anti-Japanese War

During the Anti-Japanese War, the Liberation War and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea , Li Desheng always maintained the character of a humble, responsible, hard-working Communist Party member.

Starting in 1937, he rose from platoon leader to corps commander and participated in countless battles.

When he was a platoon leader, he participated in the Battle of Yangmingbao and destroyed 624 Japanese fighter jets.

When he was the company commander, he commanded the Xiangtangpu ambush battle . He personally led the soldiers to throw grenades at the enemy, fought with them, and successfully annihilated the Japanese military supply convoy.

In May 1942, the Japanese army surrounded the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army. Li Desheng, as the battalion commander, took the initiative to stand up and lead two companies of soldiers to attract the enemy's attention and successfully cover the evacuation of the agency leaders and radio equipment.

When he was the leader, he completed a "typical annihilation battle" that was praised by Yan'an Liberation Daily in a column:

He led the soldiers to sneak into the Japanese stronghold and put the Japanese in charge of commanding the special agent formations in six nearby counties. All annihilated. At the same time, their top leader Shimizu Riichi was captured alive.

During the Liberation War, he was promoted to the commander of the 17th Brigade of the 6th Column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Luyu Field Army. He followed Liu and Deng's army to break through the Kuomintang's Yellow River defense line, approach the Dabie Mountains, and fight decisively in the Central Plains.

In the battle of Xiangfan, he led the 17th Brigade to capture the Kuomintang spy Kangze alive, and was commended by the Central Committee for his great achievements.

Later, he led the 35th Division of the 12th Army of the 3rd Corps of the Second Field Army to cross the Yangtze River from Anhui and penetrate into Zhejiang. He captured Jinhua , Hangzhou and other cities respectively, and later joined the battle to liberate the Southwest.

In March 1951, he was sent to fight in Korea and served as the commander of the 35th Division of the 12th Army of the Volunteer Army, and later became the deputy commander of the 12th Division.

On the Korean battlefield, he commanded the famous Shangganling Battle, annihilating more than 25,000 enemies, and won the first-class National Flag Medal issued by the North Korean leader.

However, in his personal memoirs, he rarely mentioned his own contributions, but focused on describing the battle process and telling stories about soldiers and other commanders.

In peacetime, he has become a military commander, but still maintains a hard life style.

During the difficult period of the national economy, his family of 7 or 8 members only had a quota of more than 20 kilograms of food stamps a month. The children were in the developmental stage and could eat, so this food was certainly not enough.

After the army learned about the situation, they decided to allocate some food stamps from the military department to subsidize his family.

Li Desheng said righteously:

"The people are still hungry! What's more, we still have food to eat. Leave these food stamps to the soldiers!"

He strictly requires his wife and children at home not to be special. , we should tighten our belts and get through the difficult times with the people of the whole country.

Such a communist fighter with outstanding military exploits and never taking credit for himself has no reason not to be valued by Chairman Mao.

3. Chairman Mao inspected Li Desheng twice

The first inspection was on October 13, 1968, at the opening ceremony of the 12th Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Zhou Enlai read out the attendance list to Chairman Mao. When he read Li Desheng of the East China Group, Chairman Mao interrupted:

"Who is called Li Desheng here?"

Chairman Mao remembered the name 'Li Desheng' that had appeared many times in documents before. He knew that Li Desheng served as The commander of the Twelfth Army accomplished the task of " three branches and two armies " very well in Anhui, but I had never seen him in person, so I wanted to take this opportunity to get to know this person.

Zhou Enlai recognized Li Desheng. He once explained the task of "three branches and two armies" to Li Desheng face to face, and later met him many times. He introduced Li Desheng to Chairman Mao:

"Chairman, Comrade Li Desheng is the commander of the 12th Anhui Army."

Then, Zhou Enlai motioned to Li Desheng to stand up. The people around him also became interested in the person Chairman Mao was paying attention to, and they all turned their heads to look at Li Desheng.

I saw that Li Desheng was of medium build, with a tall forehead and broad face, and he did have the posture of a leader.

Picture | Chairman Mao

Chairman Mao greeted Li Desheng:

"You are a very unfamiliar comrade. It is your first time to attend the party congress!"

Li Desheng nodded and said:

"Chairman, this is indeed my first time to attend."

"Where is your hometown?"

"Report to the Chairman, I was born in Xin County, Henan Province."

Zhou Enlai on the side added:

"Xu Shiyou is also from that county."

After hearing this, Xu Shiyou said:

"It turns out Comrade Li Desheng We are fellow villagers, no wonder you are so friendly!"

Chairman Mao nodded and continued: "Your county has a general! By the way, Comrade Desheng, are you 52 years old this year?" Come on! "

" How come you have forgotten your own age? "

" I grew up in a poor family and never celebrated my birthday. I found out the exact date of my birth from my uncle and aunt from far away, who said it was May 1916. I can’t tell which day it was. "

" What a miserable child! "

Chairman Mao praised Li Desheng to everyone again: "

" The incident in Wuhu, Anhui was handled well! "

" It was all well led by the chairman. "

" How did you do it? Let's teach everyone your experience! "

" Contact the masses! "

Everyone was waiting for Li Desheng's next words. Unexpectedly, the venue burst into laughter when he finished speaking.

Chairman Mao also laughed. He first affirmed Li Desheng's experience, and then added:

"It's all about contacting the masses! How did our Communist Party's army come from? Isn't it expanded by absorbing the masses of the people? What about the Red Army, the Eighth Route Army, New Fourth Army , the People's Liberation Army cannot be promoted if it does not contact the masses. If we do not contact the people and do mass work, our Communist Party will have no foundation. What will happen if the house collapses without a foundation? That’s right!”

’s second inspection was in April 1969, at the First Plenary Session of the Ninth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.This meeting elected members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and alternate members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, and Zhou Enlai announced the election results.

When Zhou Enlai read about alternate member Li Desheng, Chairman Mao said:

"Comrade Li Desheng is at the meeting again! I want to see him again!"

Picture | Li Desheng

Li Desheng saluted the chairman in response. Zhou Enlai said to him:

"Comrade Desheng, can you take off your military cap so that the chairman can see more clearly?"

Chairman Mao looked at Li Desheng carefully and asked:

"How old are you this year?"

"You are 53 years old. Chairman. "

" Let's figure it out this year! "

" Let's figure it out! "

said the whole room burst into laughter.

When Chairman Mao asked Li Desheng's age twice, he was actually preparing to re-appoint him. It can be seen that the Chairman was already considering the issue of "old, middle-aged and young people" in the central leadership team. It was obvious that Li Desheng was one of the "middle" candidates in the Chairman's mind. one.

4. Meeting with Chairman Mao alone

After the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Li Desheng returned to Anhui and conveyed the spirit of the Ninth National Congress to the Provincial Party Committee.

In late July 1969, Zhou Enlai called Li Desheng:

"The central government has decided to transfer you to work in Beijing. Please transfer the job in Anhui as soon as possible and report to Beijing!"

Li Desheng has worked in the local area for decades and has never imagined himself. Can be transferred to the center.

Before leaving, the Anhui Provincial Standing Committee wanted to invite Li Desheng to have a meal, but he declined the invitation, saying:

"I will come back, and we will meet again then!"

On July 28, Li Desheng took his secretary to the central office The dispatched IL-14 aircraft flew directly to Beijing.

In the afternoon, Zhou Enlai talked with him in Huairen Hall, Zhongnanhai.

"Comrade Li Desheng, the central government suddenly transferred you to Beijing and decided to let you participate in the work of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, the Working Group of the Military Commission and the State Council Business Group . You must participate in these jobs. At the same time, the work in Anhui You also have to take on the role."

Li Desheng made a mistake:

"I am very grateful for the central government's attention to me, but..."

Before he could finish speaking, Zhou En glanced at his watch and said:

"The time is almost up. , I have to hand over other tasks. Work hard and contribute more to the party and the country!" After

said this, Zhou Enlai left quickly, leaving only Li Desheng sighing with a bitter look on his face.

Picture | Zhou Enlai

Chairman Mao had already considered this matter that Zhou Enlai announced to Li Desheng.

Later, Zhou Enlai, in accordance with Chairman Mao's instructions, decided at a relevant meeting of the Central Committee:

"Alternate members of the Political Bureau Ji Dengkui and Li Desheng were transferred to the Central Committee."

After the meeting, Zhou Enlai twice proposed to Chairman Mao in writing:

"Except It was confirmed that Ji Dengkui and Li Desheng, in addition to participating in the central collective meeting and accepting temporary tasks, were also required to join the State Council's business group and retain their original positions."

A few days later, Chairman Mao asked Zhou Enlai to inform Li Desheng to go to his room.

When Li Desheng first walked into the room, Chairman Mao was reading a book. Zhou Enlai reminded the chairman:

"Chairman, Comrade Li Desheng is here!"

He quickly greeted the chairman:

"Hello, Chairman!"

After hearing this, the chairman squinted his eyes and looked at it. him and let him sit on the couch.

"Hello Comrade Li Desheng, I was also called Li Desheng (Desheng)!"

Chairman once used the pseudonym Li Desheng to avoid being arrested by the Kuomintang. In the dialect of the chairman's hometown, "Li Desheng" and "Li Desheng" have the same pronunciation.

It was the first time for Li Desheng to speak to the chairman at close range. You can imagine his nervousness.

So, the chairman picked up Zhou Enlai and took off his reading glasses and said:

"I guess you also need to wear glasses?"

Li Desheng's nervousness eased when he was asked this question.

"Report to the Chairman, I will also use it when I read a book."

"Talk to me, don't bring in the military style, report from the left, report from the right, I don't like it."

" OK, Chairman! "

" is so ridiculous! By the way, you just mentioned reading. Do you read often? "

"My cultural level is not high and I haven't read many books, only a little more about military matters. "

" Just reading military books is not enough. Now is the peaceful era. You need to improve your own literacy. You must read history, literature, and technology in order to keep up with the times. Have you watched " Dream of Red Mansions "? "

" I have read a few chapters, but have not finished them all. "

" "A Dream of Red Mansions" is a good book, it can teach you how to behave. I read it 5 times before I got the idea. "

" Chairman is right! "

" You can also take a look at "Tianyan Lun" and "Tongjian Chronicles". "Tianyan Lun" is the Western " Biological Evolution Theory ". This theory is also the theoretical source of Marxist philosophy! "

...

Then, Li Desheng said to the chairman:

"Chairman, Premier Zhou has assigned me a lot of work, and I'm afraid I won't be able to do it. Can I get rid of several positions? "

Li Desheng's work arrangements were approved by Chairman Mao. As for why the Chairman made such arrangements, he may just want to train him.

Picture | Zhou Enlai

Zhou Enlai encouraged Li Desheng:

"Do it boldly and confidently, the Chairman and I will help your.

Chairman thought for a while and said meaningfully:

"Your task now is to study while working." One-third work in the central office, one-third study and study at home, and the last third go to local areas to contact the masses. "

From then on, Li Desheng, who held multiple positions, began to work in the Central Committee.

During his work in the Central Committee, he still maintained a hard-working style of work and life.

After finishing his work, he returned to the Political Department and never took the elevator. Instead, he climbed the stairs to his office on the 7th floor and stopped by the duty room of each department to ask about the work and living conditions of the duty staff. The office on the northeast side of the

7 floor is where the secretary handles documents and telegrams. When he comes back from a business trip, he will go inside to review documents. After reviewing, he will personally affix a "no one else to touch" seal. He is very strict in his work.

Because he often works in the office late at night, the logistics department specially arranged a chef to cook for him. The standard for late night snacks was 50 cents (Chairman Mao's monthly salary was about 400 yuan at that time).

Li Desheng asked the chef to lower the standard, so the chef had to buy a steamed bun from the canteen every day, and add some gruel and pickles for him as a late night snack. Sometimes I would change my taste and buy a few small fish and fry them.

Now it seems that Chairman Mao responded to Zhou Enlai’s proposal that Li Desheng be the vice president at the Politburo meeting before the 10th National Congress of the Communist Party of China:

“I agree. ! "

is far-sighted, and Li Desheng can indeed shoulder the heavy responsibility of serving the people of the country.

(Note: The dialogue in the article is the author's free creation based on the situation and known information, and is not an actual dialogue. Please be informed.)