- [Foreword]
In December 1971, Chairman Mao, who was nearly eighty years old and almost blind, fell into trouble in Zhongnanhai.
The reason is that a few days ago, when Chairman Mao personally inspected the People's Liberation Army troops, he discovered some serious problems existing in the military regions: the power of the commanders in the military regions "covers the sky with one hand", and the problem of forming gangs is even more common. Chairman Mao Realize: A person cannot stay in the same place for too long. If you stay for a long time, you will become stale, it will be difficult to accept new things, and you will become uncreative. This will undoubtedly affect the security of national defense and even the construction of the entire military.
Chairman Mao felt that serious security risks existed among military regions, and reform was urgent.
But at that time, there were eleven military regions in the country, and the people in charge of the military were all veterans who were on the battlefield. How to change it? Who should start the change? Thinking of this, Chairman Mao couldn't help but feel embarrassed.
So Chairman Mao called in his old comrade-in-arms Comrade Deng Xiaoping. During the conversation, Chairman Mao told Deng Xiaoping a series of his worries and confusions, and asked Deng Xiaoping what he thought about this.
After Deng Xiaoping thought for a moment, he switched the teacup in front of him with the teacup in front of Chairman Mao.
Chairman Mao immediately understood and said with a hearty laugh: "Heroes see the same thing!"
So, what is the deep meaning behind this small move of Mao, Deng and Mao exchanging their teacups? Why did Deng Xiaoping's action make Chairman Mao feel that "heroes think alike"?
In this issue, let’s talk about the story behind Chairman Mao’s transfer of commanders of the eight military regions in 1973.
- [On the eve of decision-making, careful consideration]
The exchange of military region commanders is actually a kind of "official replacement system" in essence. Similar cases occurred as early as the Song Dynasty . At that time, the founding emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin, , ordered the implementation of the "Modern Garrison Law" in order to prevent military generals from gathering troops in local areas. The generals were moved between regions as usual.
However, the "replacement of garrison method" in the Northern Song Dynasty was a common practice. The disadvantage was that the generals who had just been transferred were transferred to the next area before they had time to get familiar with their generals.
Chairman Mao’s exchange of commanders of the eight military regions was carefully considered.
After the commanders of major military regions are transferred out of their original places, it can not only prevent the commanders from being tied up with the political commissars and subordinates, but also allow the commanders to become familiar with the armies in other places. In this way, even if an unexpected situation occurs in future operations and the commander accepts troops that are not familiar to him, he can still deal with them calmly.
There is an old saying in China that goes, "Easier said than done." Although it only took one sentence to propose the decision of "replacement of military region commanders," Chairman Mao had to weigh it repeatedly.
Because at that time, judging from the domestic and foreign situations, the Chinese Military Region was in urgent need of making some changes.
From the perspective of the foreign situation, since the 1960s, Sino-Soviet relations began to break down, and the conflicts between the two formerly friendly countries have become increasingly intensified. After the former Big Brother broke his skin, he even ignored the old feelings and tried to impose his desire for military expansion and land resources on the Chinese people.
Although negotiations on territorial issues between the two countries have been ongoing, there has been no progress at all. After the Zhenbao Island incident in 1969, the relationship between the two countries dropped to a freezing point.
In this regard, Chairman Mao proposed: The entire army has entered a state of emergency alert and is always on guard against a sudden attack by the Soviet Union.
Faced with the Soviet Union's growing military strength, Chairman Mao was also feeling stressed at this time. He clearly knew that our country's military strength at this time would definitely not be able to compete with the Soviet Union. Therefore, military rectification was imminent.
However, judging from the domestic situation at that time, there were also certain problems among the major military regions.
When Chairman Mao personally inspected the People's Liberation Army troops, he discovered some shortcomings: most of the leaders have stayed in the military regions for too long, some even as long as ten or twenty years, and the deputies and executive officers around them have also been It's an old subordinate. As a result, not only is it easy to feel passive and indifferent and not seeking innovation, but it is also easy to form "small circles" of cliques.
But at that time, there were eleven major military regions in the country, and the people in charge of military power were all old cadres. How to change it? Who should start the change? Thinking of this, Chairman Mao couldn't help but feel embarrassed.
So Chairman Mao called in his old comrade-in-arms Comrade Deng Xiaoping.
During the conversation, Chairman Mao told Deng Xiaoping a series of his worries and confusions, and asked Deng Xiaoping what he thought of the matter. After thinking for a moment, Deng Xiaoping did not speak, but smiled slightly, and then switched the teacup in front of him with the teacup in front of Chairman Mao.
Sure enough, the two have the same mind and coincide with each other. Chairman Mao immediately understood and said: "Heroes see the same thing."
After this exchange, Chairman Mao became more determined to swap military region commanders, and he also understood that Deng Xiaoping was worthy of the big job. Therefore, Chairman Mao planned to convene a Politburo meeting to take the opportunity to announce this important decision.
- [Announcing the swap, the final word]
The time came on December 12, 1973. In Chairman Mao’s study in Fengze Garden, Zhongnanhai, members of the Politburo and commanders of the major military regions gathered together, and the Politburo meeting was held as scheduled. Shortly after the meeting began, Chairman Mao put forward the decision to exchange the commanders-in-chief of the eight military regions straight to the point.
Chairman Mao said: "The purpose of coming to you today is to talk about this issue of transfer. A person cannot stay in the same place for too long. If he stays in the same place for too long, he will become fat and it will be difficult to accept new things. , and became uncreative."
Chairman Mao continued: "I have been brewing this matter for a long time. There are several military commanders who can only make decisions with one hand, so the political commissar cannot play a controlling role at all. It was decided that the commanders of the eight military regions should be transferred among themselves, and the political commissars should not move around more, as it would be easy to have a negative effect if they were oily. "
At that time, there were eleven major military regions in the country, but Chairman Mao only mentioned the transfer this time. Among the eight major military regions, the three major military regions such as Kunming, Chengdu, and Xinjiang were not involved. The main reason was that the commanders of these three military regions had just been transferred out at that time, and the longest commander had only been in office for less than four months. Therefore, Not included in the next transfer plan.
Just after announcing this important decision, before everyone could react, Chairman Mao directly announced the decision to appoint Comrade Deng Xiaoping as the Chief of General Staff of the People's Liberation Army.
The chairman naturally had his own reasons for choosing Deng Xiaoping to hold this position:
Firstly, Comrade Deng Xiaoping coincided with him and was a strong supporter of the swap of military region commanders;
Secondly, it was because of Comrade Deng Xiaoping They have relatively high seniority in the military, and most of the more than 40 political commissars and commanders present here were once former subordinates of Deng Xiaoping.
The exchange of military region commanders is a major task related to the stability of the domestic situation and involves a wide range of people. In order to ensure that the needs of every veteran comrade can be taken care of, Chairman Mao, who is over eighty years old and nearly blind, And Premier Zhou, who had been diagnosed with late-stage bladder cancer, regardless of his physical condition, privately talked to relevant old comrades and asked them for their thoughts and opinions.
The veterans were deeply moved by the concern of the Chairman and the Prime Minister. They couldn't help but think of the days when they had fought together in the South and North, and couldn't help but burst into tears.
On December 15, the Central Military Commission held another meeting. The meeting mainly discussed the implementation plan and specific details of the preparations for the exchange of commanders of the eight military regions. During the discussion, they unified opinions and initially determined the list and candidates for the exchange.
On December 17, all military region leaders arrived in Beijing to await their appointment.
On December 22, after careful consideration, the transfer plan was finally issued, and the specific situation of the transfer area and related matters were announced in public, including:
Li Desheng, the former commander of the Beijing Military Region, and Chen Xilian, the former commander of the Shenyang Military Region Swap;
Yang Dezhi, formerly the commander of the Jinan Military Region, was swapped with Zeng Siyu, the former commander of the Wuhan Military Region;
Xu Shiyou, the former commander of the Nanjing Military Region, was swapped with Ding, the former commander of the Guangzhou Military Region Sheng swapped;
Han Xianchu, the former commander of the Fuzhou Military Region, was swapped with Pi Dingjun, the original commander of the Lanzhou Military Region;
In addition, the transferred commander of the military region must also abide by two guidelines: The first is the attaché No more than ten, and the second must be completed within ten days.
- [Military orders are overwhelming, everyone is at their posts]
What is unexpected is that within ten days, all commanders of the major military regions arrived at their posts ahead of schedule, and the transfer work among the eight military regions was successfully completed. The commanders of these eight military regions all have outstanding military exploits and have made great contributions to New China.
Former Beijing Military Region Commander Li Desheng--has made great achievements in battle throughout his life. It only took him 18 years to go from platoon leader to army commander.
In 1955, Li Desheng was awarded the rank of major general. In 1967, at the recommendation of Premier Zhou, Li Desheng served as deputy commander of the Nanjing military flag and first secretary of Anhui Province. During his tenure in Anhui Province, Li Desheng vigorously developed Anhui's economy and stabilized Anhui's chaos with tough measures.
Because of his outstanding contributions, he was appointed commander of the Beijing Military Region in 1970. His important position in the 11th Military Region is self-evident. After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held, Li Desheng, who also served as the commander of the Beijing Military Region, was elected as the vice president of the country, and thus ushered in the pinnacle of his political career.
After Chairman Mao proposed the exchange of commanders of the eight military regions, the first one was to talk to Li Desheng.
Li Desheng
Chairman Mao said: "Desheng! I have decided to swap the commanders of your eight military regions. What do you think?"
Li Desheng replied firmly after hearing this: "This is a good thing! I support Chairman Mao's decision. Decision! I am also willing to take the lead. I will go wherever the chairman asks me to go. ”
Chairman Mao was very pleased. Li Desheng made a good start for the exchange of commanders of the eight military regions. The chairman later commented: "Li Desheng knows the general situation and takes the overall situation into consideration. He is a good comrade!"
Li Desheng
The day after his conversation with the chairman, Li Desheng took the initiative to write a letter to resign as vice president of the country. Soon after, Then he went to Shenyang Military Region to serve as commander.
Chen Xilian, the former commander of the Shenyang Military Region - General Chen Xilian has experienced hundreds of battles in his life, and is especially good at fighting tough battles, bad battles and bitter battles. People give him the nicknames "Modern Zhao Zilong" and "Little Steel Cannon".
In 1955, Chen Xilian was awarded the rank of general, and four years later he served as commander of the Shenyang Military Region.
In December 1973, after the order to exchange the commanders of the eight military regions was issued, Chen Xilian, who had served as commander of the Shenyang Military Region for 13 years, was ordered to exchange with his old subordinate Li Desheng, who had been the commander of the Beijing Military Region.
During Chen Xilian's military career, he was seriously injured four times: first, his left thumb was injured by a blast; second, a bullet penetrated his chin and flew out from the back of his neck, causing his right ear to become disabled; The third time, the bullet entered from the chest and exited from the back, almost killing him; the fourth time, the bullet passed through the waist, entering from the left and exiting from the right.
Faced with his multiple injuries, Chen Xilian once joked: "There are four holes in my body, front, back, left, and right, so I can breathe out quickly and have a broad mind."
Chen Xilian
was formerly the commander of the Jinan Military Region. Yang Dezhi—— Yang Dezhi once served as Commander of the Chinese People's Volunteers, Minister of Defense, Chief of General Staff, and Deputy Secretary-General of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China. In 1955, he was awarded the rank of General and Commander of the Jinan Military Region.
Although Yang Dezhi looks gentle and humble in appearance, he is like a tiger roaring and a dragon roaring in battle, commanding thousands of miles. He is known as the "Three Yangs" together with Yang Chengwu and Yang Yong, and was even called "a loyal and brave general of the generation" by the Central Committee members.
Yang Dezhi
Zeng Siyu, the former commander of the Wuhan Military Region - Zeng Siyu, born in Xinfeng County, Jiangxi Province in 1911, is an outstanding military commander of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and a senior general of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. In 1955, he was named the Founding Central Committee Will.
Compared with the outstanding achievements of several other military region commanders, Zeng Siyu is more widely known as the "Fortunate General". In his decades of military career, Zeng Siyu has had more than 50 adventures, but none of them has endangered him. life. In 1973, Zeng Siyu was ordered to be transferred to Jinan to replace Yang Dezhi and became the commander of the Jinan Military Region.
Zeng Siyu
Xu Shiyou, the former commander of the Nanjing Military Region - Xu Shiyou is a very "special" general in the People's Liberation Army.
He was born as a handyman in the Shaolin Temple. He has strong martial arts, can fly over walls and climb over walls, and is proficient in everything, so he is called the "Monk General"; he is brave and good at fighting, has a hot temper, and takes the lead when things happen. He has served as the captain of the death squad eleven times; he has been unruly throughout his life. He is tame, wearing straw cloth shoes, informal, and refuses to change into a suit even when meeting foreign guests.
In 1955, Xu Shiyou was awarded the rank of founding general and served as the commander of the Nanjing Military Region. There has been no change since then. He has held this position for 17 years until he was transferred to Guangzhou in 1973.
Xu Shiyou
Ding Sheng, formerly the commander of the Guangzhou Military Region - Ding Sheng, nicknamed "Ding Bold" by people, was originally the deputy commander of the Xinjiang Military Region, and was later transferred to the Guangzhou Military Region as the commander. In 1955, Ding Sheng was dismissed He was awarded the rank of major general and was also the first founding major general in our country to serve as the commander of a military region.
In the military region commander exchange in December 1973, Ding Sheng was ordered to exchange with Xu Shiyou and serve as the commander of the Nanjing Military Region. But unfortunately, four years later, Ding Sheng was dismissed from his post due to "irregular style" and expelled from the party. Since then, he has become a civilian.
Ding Sheng
Han Xianchu, the former commander of the Fuzhou Military Region - Han Xianchu, was awarded the rank of founding general in 1955. During the Liberation War, Han Xianchu was known as the "Commander of the Tornado". Later, he played a leading role in the Hainan War. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he led the army southward to Seoul, where he became the deputy commander of the Volunteer Army who was deeply loved by the military and civilians.
General Han Xianchu is a very famous "militant". Even in peacetime, he can't rest at all. Compared with the work of the central organization, General Han Xianchu hopes to go to places where the national defense situation is more urgent, so as to exert his military skills. effect.
It is precisely because of this that in 1957, Chairman Mao fulfilled his wish and sent him to the newly established Fuzhou Military Region as the commander of the large military region. The biggest role of the Fuzhou Military Region was to liberate the base stations of Taiwan. Han Xianchu It lasted 16 years.
General Han Xianchu did play a role in deterring the Taiwan Strait. During his tenure as the commander of the Fuzhou Military Region, there were no problems in the southeast of my country, and Han Xianchu was rated as one of the most stable military region commanders in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Han Xianchu
Pi Dingjun, the former commander of the Lanzhou Military Region - from a cowherd boy to the founding lieutenant general, Pi Dingjun's life is full of legend.
In 1929, Pi Dingjun, who was only 15 years old, joined the fire and smoke and continued to exercise his military talents in the war.
During the War of Liberation, Pi Dingjun led a brigade of only 7,000 people and contained the 300,000-strong Kuomintang army with three attacks to the east and west. After dealing with the enemy for 24 days, he led 5,000 soldiers to completely break out of the Kuomintang army's pursuit and interception.
During the Anti-Japanese War, Pi Dingjun led his troops into western Henan, annihilated the Japanese and puppet troops, and liberated more than 20,000 enslaved Chinese migrant workers in one fell swoop. He has made great contributions, and his deeds have become a household name.
It is precisely because of this that in the 1955 conferment ceremony, Pi Dingjun, who was originally reported as a major general, was promoted from a major general to a lieutenant general because of Chairman Mao's words, "With meritorious service, he will advance from a minor to a middle rank."
Pi Dingjun
- [The merit lies in the present, the benefit lies in the future]
This is an unprecedented large-scale transfer of military region commanders in the history of New China. Chairman Mao's wise decision not only prevented some local military regions from engaging in "small groups" , and firmly placed the military power of the major military regions in the hands of the central government, which played a positive role in stabilizing the domestic political situation at that time.
The style of the commanders of the eight military regions working in unison and resolutely executing orders once they are given has set an excellent example for the entire military, and also provided a model precedent for China's future senior cadre exchange system.
At the same time, this major adjustment of military regions has also attracted worldwide attention, especially the Soviet Union, which has always been eyeing China. In their view, the large-scale adjustments of the Chinese military are likely to be actively preparing for war, and China's move is a demonstration and warning against the Soviet Union's frequent offenses.
Therefore, Chairman Mao’s move can be said to be a success for the present and a benefit for the future!
Finally, I would like to pay tribute to Chairman Mao and the ancestors who made great contributions to New China!
