On January 5, 1975, after Chairman Mao reviewed it, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued Document No. 1, , officially appointing Deng Xiaoping as Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China and Chief of Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. This was followed by the Second Plenary Session of the 10th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. , Deng Xiaoping was elected as a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Chairman of the CPC Central Committee.
Since Deng Xiaoping was busy with many affairs after his comeback, he decided to resign as Chief of General Staff in June 1979. At this time, the Central Military Commission had selected Yang Yong to take over as Chief of General Staff.
However, due to various reasons, he was ultimately unable to take up the position. Xu Shiyou and Yang Dezhi were selected as suitable candidates. So why was Yang Dezhi chosen in the end?
From appointment to resignation
On February 3, 1973, Deng Xiaoping and his family spent a lively Spring Festival in Jiangxi. However, on the eve of the Spring Festival, Deng Xiaoping received the news from the central government that he would return to Beijing in the near future. Of course, Deng Xiaoping was very happy about this.
After the Spring Festival, Deng Xiaoping came to Jingdezhen to have a look, and met his old secretary Wang Ruilin, and then said goodbye to the workers of the Xinjian County Tractor Repair Factory.
htmlOn February 19, Deng Xiaoping and his family set off from Nanchang, China, and took a bus to Yingtan, China. Finally arrived in Beijing on February 22.Deng Xiaoping had no money to return to Beijing. Ye Jianying had repeatedly suggested to Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai to quickly improve Deng Xiaoping's situation and resume his work.
Deng Xiaoping
When Deng Xiaoping returned to Beijing, Ye Jianying paid a visit in person, and later specifically suggested to Chairman Mao on his behalf that Deng Xiaoping be invited to participate in and preside over the work of the Military Commission.
After careful consideration, Chairman Mao and Zhou Enlai decided to agree to Ye Jianying's request to reinstate Deng Xiaoping as Vice Premier of the State Council.
On March 10, 1973, the day the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the decision on Deng Xiaoping's reinstatement, Zhou Enlai asked for two weeks' leave from the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and handed over the daily work of the Central Committee to Ye Jianying.
This move by Zhou Enlai also fully demonstrated the importance of Deng Xiaoping in Zhou Enlai's heart. At the same time, this move was also a signal released by Zhou Enlai to people within the party.
html At the end of March, Zhou Enlai's health showed signs of improvement, so he, Li Xiannian and others met with Deng Xiaoping.After that, Zhou Enlai had close contacts with Deng Xiaoping, and even took Deng Xiaoping with him in subsequent important activities.
On April 2, Deng Xiaoping and Zhou Enlai appeared at the same time at the banquet of the Great Hall of the People. At this event, Deng Xiaoping returned as the Vice Premier of the State Council, and this was also his first public appearance after his comeback.
Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping
After this event, Deng Xiaoping began to formally participate in the business meetings of the State Council. At the same time, Zhou Enlai also proposed that Deng Xiaoping participate in important activities of the party and the country.
After Deng Xiaoping resumed his duties, he immediately threw himself into intense work. In order to stabilize Deng Xiaoping's position as soon as possible, Zhou Enlai deliberately met Deng Xiaoping when meeting with foreign guests and said: "I want you to meet someone who will become an important figure - —Vice Prime Minister Deng Xiaoping. "
Zhou Enlai's move not only allowed the international community to understand Deng Xiaoping after his comeback, but also enhanced Deng Xiaoping's prestige at home and abroad.
In order to strengthen the construction of the leadership teams of major military units, Chairman Mao presided over a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee to discuss the issue of the exchange of commanders of major military regions across the country, and decided to reuse Deng Xiaoping. At this meeting, Mao Zedong Said:
"Comrade Ye Jianying and I asked Comrade Deng Xiaoping to join the Military Commission and become a member. Should he become a member of the Political Bureau, he will ratify it after the Second Plenary Session of the Central Committee."
Ye Jianying and Deng Xiaoping
In mid-December, at the subsequent meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee , Chairman Mao also announced loudly in front of all the members of the Political Bureau:
"Comrade Xiaoping was invited by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, not by me alone. Comrade Xiaoping's entry into the Politburo has added a new dimension to the Politburo." Secretary General."
Later, when Chairman Mao announced the transfer of orders, Chairman Mao pointed at Deng Xiaoping and said: "I want to add a secretary-general to the Politburo. If you don't want this title, then be the chief of staff. "
On January 5, 1975, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China appointed Deng Xiaoping as Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China and Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. At this time, Deng Xiaoping already held multiple positions.
After taking office, Deng Xiaoping first carried out drastic rectification and rectification. The work also achieved obvious results in a short period of time, so it was praised by Zhou Enlai.
In October 1975, Premier Zhou's condition was very serious, and the medical team performed another surgery on Zhou Enlai, perhaps because they were worried that he would not be able to get out of the operating room. , Zhou Enlai was lying on the operating cart, holding Deng Xiaoping's hand and said seriously: "You have done a good job this year, much better than me..."
Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping
And this was Zhou Enlai's trust and affirmation of Deng Xiaoping.
Deng Xiaoping held multiple positions for four years. Although he was busy with affairs, he did everything by himself. However, he was not a tough person and could not handle the work of the General Staff, so he decided to resign as Chief of the General Staff.
1979-6. In March, the Central Military Commission decided to adjust the leadership teams of the three major headquarters, major military regions, and major units, and consider candidates for the replacement of the Chief of General Staff.
Yang Yong was proposed to be appointed
. When considering the candidate for the Chief of General Staff, it was Nie Rongzhen who took the lead. First of all, I thought of the former acting commander-in-chief Yang Chengwu.
At that time, Yang Chengwu was 65 years old and had left Beijing to serve as deputy chief of staff and commander of the Fuzhou Military Region for more than two years. Yang Chengwu, who was many years old, was relatively young, in good health, and had considerable work experience.
But when he submitted his application to the Military Commission, there were objections to Yang Chengwu within the military, so Yang Chengwu failed.
At this time, Deng Xiaoping failed. After soliciting the opinions of some old comrades in the party, they thought that Yang Yong was not bad.
Yang Yong
Yang Yong was a general with both military and political talents under Deng Xiaoping. He had served as the political commissar of the Red Division , the Second Red Division and the Fourth Red Division. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, he served as the commander and political commissar of the 686th Regiment of the 115th Division of the 343rd Brigade, the brigade commander and political commissar of the 115th Division Independent Brigade, and the commander of the Western Shandong Military Region. During the War of Liberation, Yang Yong successively served as Shanxi-Hebei-Lu. Commander of the 7th and 1st Column of the Henan Military Region, he also participated in some important battles, and performed outstandingly in the Huaihai Campaign, cooperating with his brothers to annihilate more than 120,000 people in the Huangwei Corps. When he was the commander of the Fifth Corps, there were initially two candidates. One was Yang Yong, and the other was also the commander of the column. The two people had similar qualifications. Both had served as military and political officers at the division level. After the Red Army was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army, They have also served as military and political officers at the regiment and brigade levels.
When Deng Xiaoping was considering the candidate for the commander of the Fifth Corps, he discovered the different strengths of the two men.
That commander had outstanding combat command but was not very good at uniting comrades. Yang Yong’s combat command was comparable to that commander, but he was good at uniting comrades and was more experienced in thinking about problems. At that time, Deng Xiaoping decided to appoint Yang Yong as the commander. Corps Commander.
Deng Xiaoping
Later, when the corps commander came to Deng Xiaoping and asked why he was not selected, Deng Xiaoping pointed out his weaknesses realistically.
In the subsequent War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Yang Yong successively served as the commander of the 20th Corps of the Volunteer Army, deputy commander, chief of staff, and commander of the Volunteer Army . He commanded the Jincheng Battle and won victory. After returning to China,
served in important positions such as commander of the Beijing Military Region and deputy chief of general staff.
After Deng Xiaoping came back, Yang Yong assisted Deng Xiaoping in presiding over the daily work of the General Staff. Because Deng Xiaoping was busy with many affairs, Yang Yong had become the head of the General Staff.
In diplomatic exchanges, Yang Yong was treated differently because he did not understand the situation in the Chinese military community.
In June 1978, Yang Yong led a Chinese military friendship delegation to visit Yugoslavia . However, the President of Yugoslavia believed that Yang Yong was just a deputy chief of general staff and looked down upon him. Therefore, in the end, only the General Staff of the Yugoslav People's Army received him.
In September of this year, when the Chief of General Staff of the Yugoslav People's Army led a delegation to visit China, Yang Yong was also responsible for daily reception when Deng Xiaoping met. During the visit, the Chief of General Staff learned of Yang Yong's status , felt very sorry, so he said guiltily : "I understand your status in the Chinese army, but my reception standards for you are not enough!"
Chairman Mao and Yang Yong
Yang Yong's work as Chief of General Staff was criticized He was affirmed by Deng Xiaoping and the leaders of the Central Military Commission, so when Deng Xiaoping resigned as Chief of General Staff, it was decided to appoint him as Chief of General Staff.
At that time, several old comrades believed that Yang Yong had always been a commander and was not very familiar with the staff business, so they decided to transfer Zhang Zhen as the first deputy chief to assist him in his work.
At this time, some people were unwilling to let Yang Yong serve as chief of general staff, so they sent anonymous letters to the Military Commission and other departments.
Because of this incident, Deng Xiaoping was cautious in choosing the chief of general staff, fearing that it would once again cause dissatisfaction among others.
To this end, Deng Xiaoping solicited opinions from many parties. At the end of November, Deng Xiaoping also discussed with Geng Biao and Ye Jianying to solicit opinions.
Nie Rongzhen and Xu Xiangqian
Afterwards, they came to the homes of Xu Xiangqian and Nie Rongzhen to exchange opinions on the chief of general staff. The final candidate was Yang Dezhi.
In fact, when selecting the candidate for the Chief of General Staff, Xu Shiyou and Yang Dezhi were already identified as suitable candidates. But why was Yang Dezhi selected instead of Xu Shiyou in the end?
Yang Dezhi served as the General Staff
Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, Yang Dezhi and Xu Shiyou were like two parallel lines without intersection. But after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the intersection between the two gradually became closer. The length of time the two served as commanders of the Chinese military region was the longest among the founding generals.
After the outbreak of 's self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, , the two finally had the opportunity to fight side by side. The commander on the eastern front was Xu Shiyou, and the commander on the western front was Yang Dezhi.
Xu Shiyou and Yang Dezhi
As to the record of the two leaders, the eastern and western fronts are about the same,but the military generally believes that the record of the western front is better than that of the eastern front.
Why do you say that?
If we only look at the results, the performance of the Eastern Front is better than that of the Western Front, because during the battle, the Eastern Front completely wiped out the enemy's ace 13th Division in the Lang Son Battle , which was also the largest victory since our army participated in the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam. victory.
But in terms of casualties, the casualties on the Western Front were much less than those on the Eastern Front, because the Eastern Front not only suffered serious casualties, but also saw an entire company being wiped out.
Although Xu Shiyou is more famous than Yang Dezhi among the people, in fact, their command and combat capabilities are almost the same.
During the Red Army's Long March, Yang Dezhi served as the commander of the 1st Regiment of the Red 1st Division and led the regiment to serve as the vanguard. He then commanded the 1st Red Regiment to forcefully cross the Wujiang River, and then organized the 17th Warrior Commando to forcefully cross the Dadu River, for Follow-up troops opened the passage.
Chairman Mao praised Yang Dezhi's work at that time: "You, the Red 1st Regiment, have made contributions in this great transfer. You have always been ahead of me and know more about the situation than I do."
Yang Dezhi Old photos from the Red Army period
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Yang Dezhi led his troops to participate in the Battle of Pingxingguan. When he served as brigade commander, he worked together with Huang Kecheng to mobilize the masses to launch guerrilla warfare, established the anti-Japanese democratic regime, consolidated and expanded Ji Shandong Anti-Japanese Base Area.
In the subsequent Liberation War, Yang Dezhi continued his efforts and won a classic battle, creating a miracle of large-scale annihilation of enemies on the plain battlefield, which was recorded in the annals of military history.
On July 7, 1947, the War of Liberation entered an important turning point. One year after the War of Liberation, our army decided to establish the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Field Army, with Yang Dezhi as its commander.
Our army has won successive victories on the battlefield in North China, but this is just an itch for the Kuomintang. At that time, the enemy's forces were relatively concentrated, and it was very difficult for our army to encircle and annihilate the enemy group in a short period of time. Therefore, our army's commanders and fighters were eager to fight a large-scale annihilation war and change the combat situation.
So, in September of this year, our Northeast Field Army suddenly emerged and won consecutive battles. At this time, in order to contain the enemy, Nie Rongzhen ordered Yang Dezhi to launch an offensive on the North China battlefield and led the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Field Army to look for opportunities to annihilate the enemy. .
Nie Rongzhen
In North China, the enemies gathered on the east and west sides of the railway north of Baoding to defend the strategic locations in the triangle of Ping, Tianjin and Baoding.
Yang Dezhi knew very well that if he wanted to win the North China battlefield, he had to disrupt the enemy's deployment and annihilate the enemy on the move. Therefore, the first step Yang Dezhi made was to besiege the city and mobilize reinforcements.
Here, Xushui is not only the south gate of Beiping, but also an important place on Pinghan Road, so Yang Dezhi selected Xushui as the starting battlefield. After thorough analysis, he believed that the attack on Xushui should be fast and fierce.
At the same time, he also considered that after Xushui was besieged, the enemy might support from two directions, namely Baoding and the enemies of Gucheng and Rongcheng.
But what makes Yang Dezhi uncertain is whether the Shijiazhuang area where Luo Lirong is stationed will come for support. He thought that if he was annihilated during the movement, there would be no harm at all and it could reverse the passive situation of our army.
After careful consideration, Yang Dezhi determined that Shijiazhuang would be in great danger if Xushui was captured. Therefore, it is very possible for Luo Lirong to send troops to support, and our army can just use this to let Luo Lirong infiltrate our army. pocket.
Luo Lirong
But here, there is a problem. How can make our actions create the illusion of Luo Lirong and let him walk out of Shijiazhuang?
This battle tests the commander's wisdom and courage. The most important thing is to create a fighter opportunity and seize it in time.
At dusk on October 5, under the order of Yang Dezhi, our army began to attack Xushui. When the enemy defenders in Xushui saw the menacing attack of our army, they immediately notified surrounding reinforcements for support, and Luo Lirong was already ready to go north.
Why do we say we must seize the opportunity to annihilate the enemy?
Our army was besieging Xushui at that time, and reinforcements from all directions arrived. A considerable part of our army was going to be used to block the enemy's reinforcements. If our army could not resist the enemy's attack, our army would soon be devoured by the enemy. But if Our army immediately seizes the opportunity to annihilate Luo Lirong, and then we can make a comeback. Therefore, this battle is very dangerous, but Yang Dezhi decided to take the risk and carry out the operation.
After Xushui was besieged, Shijiazhuang defender Luo Lirong soon led his troops northward.
Yang Dezhi
Yang Dezhi also saw that Xushui's enemies wanted to attack him and annihilate them all, but how could Yang Dezhi let the enemies succeed, so he immediately issued a combat order to capture Luo Lirong and annihilate him as soon as possible. After studying with Yang Chengwu, he immediately decided to The main force blocked Luo Lirong's troops and concentrated 6 brigades to annihilate them.
But where to type?
Geng Biao looked at the map for a while and chose the location Qingfeng Store .
Luo Lirong is in Xinle, south of Qingfengdian. If our army rushes over, it will be very beneficial for our army to annihilate Luo Lirong's tribe.
It’s just that our army is still 200 miles away from Qingfengdian. It is very risky to transfer the main force 200 miles south in more than 20 hours.
Yang Dezhi calculated that our army must cover a distance of more than 200 miles within 24 hours. Just do it without further delay. Yang Dezhi immediately ordered some troops to turn around and go south immediately and arrive at Qingfengdian within 24 hours.
Qingfengdian Battle Memorial Hall
The development of the battle situation was under Yang Dezhi's control. Six brigades of our army arrived at Qingfengdian on time and surrounded Luo Lirong's Third Army, catching Luo Lirong by surprise.
Luo Lirong just woke up from a dream. He never imagined that the main force of our army was still attacking Xushui yesterday. How could it be in front of him today, but now he knows that it is too late to regret.
He kept looking forward to the arrival of reinforcements as soon as possible, but as the encirclement gradually narrowed, his hope became increasingly slim. In the end, Luo Lirong was captured by our army and annihilated 17,000 people of the Third Army.
The Battle of Qingfengdian was fought cleanly, without any delay, and no one of the enemy troops escaped. After this battle, our army took the initiative on the battlefield in North China, and Yang Dezhi was also praised by the Party Central Committee.
Therefore, in terms of combat and command capabilities, Yang Dezhi is no worse than Xu Shiyou.
Yang Dezhi
In fact, when considering candidates for the Chief of General Staff, everyone analyzes not only their combat command capabilities, but also their age.
Yang Dezhi was six years younger than Xu Shiyou. When choosing the candidate for chief of general staff, Xu Shiyou was already 75 years old and obviously no longer qualified for such a job. Therefore, Deng Xiaoping and several veterans decided after repeated discussions that Yang Dezhi should be the general manager. chief of staff.
After Yang Dezhi took office, he was faced with troubled times, but he still lived up to expectations and completed his tasks perfectly.
Yang Dezhi served as Chief of General Staff for eight years. During this period, he generally did three things. First, he commanded the border defense troops to protect the country and defend the territory. Second, he vigorously carried out downsizing and reorganization. Third, he devoted himself to the modernization of the army.
Especially in strengthening the modernization of the army, Yang Dezhi did everything possible to improve the modernization level of our army's weapons and equipment. In order to strengthen the border guards, he traveled across mountains and rivers, covering all corners of the domestic border defense.
Yang Dezhi
Everyone also recognized Yang Dezhi’s work during his tenure at the General Staff. They said:
“During Yang Dezhi’s tenure as the general secretary, the team of the General Staff was very united and harmonious, and the work was very dynamic. We all felt very comfortable. Whenever we interacted with him Everyone who has come into contact with him thinks he is easy to get along with and work with, and there is a sense of trust.”
