In 1937, after the July 7th Incident, the Anti-Japanese War broke out in an all-round way. Based on the second cooperation between the two parties, the left-behind Red Army in the eight southern provinces was reorganized into the New Fourth Army. Ye Ting served as the first commander of the New Fourth Army. The person we are going to talk about today assisted Ye Ting in forming the New Fourth Army and served as the Secretary-General of the New Fourth Army. His name is Li Yimeng. So, what’s the story about Li Yimeng?
Li Yimeng was born in 1903 in Pengzhou City, Sichuan Province. In his early years, Li Yimeng mainly studied in his hometown. When he grew up, he was admitted to Shanghai Datong University and Hujiang University . He was a senior intellectual of that era. It was also while studying in college that Li Yimeng gradually came into contact with progressive ideas, awakened the consciousness of the country and the nation, and began to participate in various student movements.
In 1926, Li Yimeng joined our party, which happened to be during the first cooperation between the two parties. Li Yimeng was also able to join the National Revolutionary Army and participated in the Northern Expedition with the National Revolutionary Army. In 1927, after the failure of the great revolutionary movement, Li Yimeng participated in the Nanchang Uprising. After the setback in the Nanchang Uprising, Li Yimeng moved to Shanghai, entered the Central Special Branch of the Central Military Commission, and worked in the Central Special Branch of the Central Military Commission for a period of time.
In 1929, Li Yimeng was transferred to the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. After that, he stayed in Shanghai for a long time to engage in propaganda work. During that period, Li Yimeng translated many Marxist-Leninist works, which played a huge role in promoting Marxism-Leninism. In 1931, after Gu Shunzhang rebelled, underground activities in Shanghai were almost impossible to carry out. Against this background, our party escorted Shanghai cadres to Ruijin, Jiangxi in batches, and allowed them to work in the Central Soviet Area.
Li Yimeng arrived in Ruijin in 1932. After that, under the leadership of our party, he experienced the anti-"encirclement and suppression" battle in the Central Soviet Area, and participated in the 25,000-mile Long March and successfully arrived in northern Shaanxi. In 1937, when the Anti-Japanese War broke out, Li Yimeng was also sent back to the south and appointed Secretary-General of the New Fourth Army. He assisted Ye Ting in reorganizing the left-behind Red Army in the eight southern provinces and forming the New Fourth Army.
After the establishment of the New Fourth Army, Li Yimeng was mainly active in southern Anhui, fighting with the local Japanese and puppet troops. However, in early 1941, the Kuomintang launched the Wannan Incident and surrounded the headquarters of the New Fourth Army. In December 1940, before the Wannan Incident, Li Yimeng was ordered to lead the non-combatants of the military department to move to Jiangbei, and he also escaped. However, after the Wannan Incident, Li Yimeng was quickly criticized. What happened?
The main reason why Li Yimeng was criticized was related to Xiang Ying. After the establishment of the New Fourth Army, Xiang Ying served as the deputy commander and political commissar of the New Fourth Army. He was an excellent political cadre and could share the joys and sorrows with the soldiers. However, Xiang Ying was at odds with Ye Ting, and the two had many conflicts. Before the Wannan Incident, Li Yimeng, as the Secretary-General of the New Fourth Army, was mainly responsible for mediating the conflicts between him and Ye Ting, but had little effect.
If things only ended here, Li Yimeng might not be criticized. During the Wannan Incident, Xiang Ying chose to leave the main force and break out on his own. In the end, he returned to find the main force because he was unable to break out. After Xiang Ying left the army, Yan'an deprived him of his command, and the New Fourth Army was also commanded by Ye Ting and Rao Shushi.
Because of Xiang Ying, after the Wannan Incident, Liu Shaoqi criticized Li Yimeng in person and gave Li Yimeng a verbal warning. After that, Li Yimeng continued to devote himself to the construction of the Anti-Japanese Base Area. Under the leadership of our party, he experienced the Anti-Japanese War and the War of Liberation, and achieved the victory of the new democratic revolution .
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Li Yimeng was mainly engaged in diplomatic work. He successively served as deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the State Council and vice president of the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs. He did a lot of work for my country's diplomatic career in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. During the Ten-Year Special Period, Li Yimeng was also persecuted and imprisoned for six years. He did not return to work until 1974.
After the "Gang of Four" was crushed, Li Yimeng gradually received more attention. After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee, Li Yimeng was elected as deputy secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and did a lot of work in bringing order to chaos.In his later years, Li Yimeng also joined the Central Advisory Committee of and served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Advisory Committee. In 1990, Li Yimeng died of illness at the age of 87.
