Chen Xilian is one of the famous generals of our army. In the long-term revolutionary war, he was famous for his courage to fight good and bad wars and tough battles. He often wins surprises and plays an important role at critical moments.

Chen Xilian is one of the famous generals of our army. In the long-term revolutionary war, he was famous for his courage to fight good and bad wars and tough battles. He often wins surprises and plays an important role at critical moments. As a general who is good at fighting, Deng Xiaoping said, "He is open-minded and has a big belly."

In the autumn and winter of 1978, Deng Xiaoping made an appointment with Chen Xilian. Chen Xilian was both excited and nervous when he received the news from the old leader. As soon as we met, Chen Xilian reviewed sincerely: "In my life, the one I feel most sorry for is you..."

Chen Xilian

What's going on? Why did Chen Xilian feel sorry for Deng Xiaoping? How did Deng Xiaoping respond to him?

Deng Xiaoping: Chen Xilian's "little steel cannon" seized the Japanese army's mountain cannon

Chen Xilian was born in Hong'an, Hubei in 1915. At the age of 13, he found Zhan Caifang, the captain of the Huangpi County Guerrilla Brigade stationed near his home, and asked to participate in the revolution. But a pity is that because Chen Xilian was too young, Zhan Caifang did not take him in:

"Good boy, we want to accept you too, but you are too young. Let's do this, you go back first, we will definitely pick you up next year!"

In April 1929, Chen Xilian, who had been at home for a year, recalled Zhan Caifang's promise, so he took advantage of the opportunity to do farm work and secretly hid. When his mother found out that Chen Xilian was missing and shouting everywhere in front and behind the village, Chen Xilian was hiding on the top of the mountain and watching his mother, then she ran to Qiliping, north of the county, to find Zhan Caifang and officially joined the revolutionary team.

Chen Xilian participated in the Hubei, Henan and Anhui Soviet Area many anti-"encirclement and suppression" struggles . He dared to fight and was a well-known "little steel cannon". , but really made Chen Xilian famous in one battle, there is also the attack on Yangmingbao Airport at night.

In early October 1937, the Japanese army broke through the defense line of the Kuomintang army in northern Shanxi, occupied Dixian and Dixian and Dixian and Dixian and and continued to attack south. The Kuomintang army retreated near Xinkou to prevent the Japanese army from attacking Taiyuan. In order to cooperate with the Kuomintang army's operations, Chen Xilian, the commander of the 769th Regiment of the 385th Brigade of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, led the soldiers to attack the Japanese rear in the area east of Dan County, Dai County.

In mid-October, Chen Xilian led the 769th Regiment to Sulongkou and Liujiazhuang areas. Su Longkou is the best place to attack the Japanese army on the side. After Chen Xilian arrived here, he quickly sent scouts to to reconnaissance nearby. Soon after, the scouts came back to report: "Japanese cars from Dai County, Yangming Fort and other places transported troops on nearby roads all day long."

Chen Xilian observed that the planes frequently took off from the Yangming Fort and bombed the defensive positions of friendly troops in Xinkou. He concluded that the airport was near Yangming Fort, so he took Kong Qingde, the commander of the 2nd Battalion, and Zhao Chongde, the commander of the 3rd Battalion, to climb a mountain to observe carefully.

Chen Xilian saw on the hill:

The airport is located just south of Yangmingbao Town . There are many planes preparing to take off in the airport refuel and load bombs; the planes that have just landed are being towed by cars to a corner of the apron for maintenance. Not many people are active at the airport, but there are barbed wire and simple defense work around the airport.

After Chen Xilian and others learned about this situation, they found nearby people to ask about the situation. Then the facts proved to them that there were not many guards at Yangmingbao Airport, and there were about 200 guards and ground crew members, but there were many Japanese troops stationed in Yangmingbao Town. Based on these situations, Chen Xilian decisively ordered: "Attack Yangmingbao Airport at night!"

On the evening of October 19, with Chen Xilian's order, the troops quietly launched. All participants were all lightly equipped, and bayonets, grenades, were tied tightly with ropes, and then quietly advanced towards Yangmingbao Airport under the leadership of Chen Xilian.

The soldiers of the first and second battalions were prepared in the setting of positions, while the soldiers of the third battalion quickly rushed towards the enemy aircraft group under the leadership of battalion commander Zhao Chongde and stuffed the long-prepared grenades into the belly of the Japanese aircraft. When the Japanese army began to counterattack, the commanders and soldiers fought hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army at the airport, and Zhao Chongde unfortunately died in the battle.

At this time, the Japanese army was still in continuous reinforcements, and the airport was surrounded by strong fire. When Chen Xilian saw that the airport was blown up, he immediately sent a retreat signal according to the original plan. The entire battle was less than an hour, but our army completely destroyed 24 enemy planes.

After the battle ended, a deputy commander of the 769th Regiment reviewed the division commander Xu Xiangqian: "Terminal Commander, we only burned 24 enemy planes, and did not catch prisoners..." Xu Xiangqian laughed and said, "Check? You don't need to review, I still want to ask for credit for you!"

The victory of the Yangming Fort battle spread throughout Taihang Mountain . In this battle, our army killed and injured more than 100 Japanese guards, and our army only suffered more than 30 casualties.

Yangming Fort battle created a glorious example of using infantry to annihilate a large number of enemy aircraft, and achieved the first victory of the 129th Division in the fight against Japan, causing the Japanese army to lose air superiority in the battlefield in northern Shanxi, greatly alleviating the air threat to the Chinese army on the Xinkou front.

Chen Xilian won the battle without asking for instructions, which made Liu Bocheng very happy. Even Deng Xiaoping said: "Chen Xilian can fight, he is a general!"

After attacking Yangmingbao Airport at night, Chen Xilian commanded the Guangyang ambush battle, the Changshengkou ambush battle, etc., and accumulated rich experience in frequent battles. Chen Xilian's outstanding military command ability also attracted the attention of Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping. Soon after, he was appointed as the brigade commander of the 385th Brigade, with about 8,000 people in the brigade, and also became a powerful brigade of the 129th Division.

In January 1939, in Dayangzhuang, Ningjin, Shanxi, the Hebei-Henan Detachment commanded by the 385th Brigade of the New 385th Brigade annihilated more than 30 Japanese troops who were "sweeping" and seized a mountain cannon. It is worth mentioning that this is the first time that the 129th Division has seized Japanese mountain artillery after advancing into North China Plain , and this incident also caused a lot of response.

Liu Deng called for a special call to commend him. Deng Xiaoping also repeatedly said at the conference and the conference: "Is it the Japanese army's mountain cannon powerful, or is Chen Xilian's 'little steel cannon' powerful? I think it is still the ' small steel cannon ' powerful, it was him who seized the Japanese army's mountain cannon!"

Chen Xilian admired Deng Xiaoping's "political war"

Chen Xilian was born in a poor family and knew very few words, so in the tense fighting life, whenever he had the chance, he would ask his comrades for advice and write on the ground with stones, tiles and other things. After unremitting efforts, Chen Xilian was able to read books, read documents and newspapers soon.

From August to December 1940, Chen Xilian led the soldiers of the New 385th Brigade to participate in the Hundred Regiments Battle . The breaking battle was carried out in the western section of the Zhengtai Railway, focusing on breaking the Yangquan to the Yuci section. As soon as the battle was launched, Chen Xilian commanded the soldiers to occupy Shidan Mountain first with his enemy.

Shiya Mountain is located southwest of Yangquan City, guarding the throat area of ​​Zhengtai Railway, and its geographical location is very important. Whether Shiwan Mountain can be controlled is the key point of the success or failure of the 129th Division this battle, so it is also very important for the Japanese army.

In order to regain the Shiwan Mountain occupied by Chen Xilian, the Japanese military brigade stationed in Yangquan was dispatched in full swing, first bombing and strafing with the aircraft at low altitude, and then continuously releasing poison gas. Immediately afterwards, the Japanese army carried out fierce attacks on the ground, constructing fortifications every time they advanced, and engaged in repeated battles with our army.

Faced with this situation, Chen Xilian personally came to the frontier area and directed the soldiers to fight for an inch of land. He fought with the Japanese and puppet troops for seven days and seven nights, and finally successfully covered the safety of the flanks of the broken road troops and achieved the goal of intercepting the Zhengtai Railway.

From guerrilla warfare to positional warfare, Chen Xilian's troops amazed the Japanese and puppet troops: "They are getting stronger and stronger, and they are getting harder!" After the battle ended, Chen Xilian summarized the experience and shortcomings of this battle, and sorted it into text and handed it over to Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping. Liu and Deng were very satisfied after reading it. Deng Xiaoping also said: "Chairman Mao once said, 'learning from war', Chen Xilian is very good at learning. Let him organize the report well and strive to publish it for everyone to learn."

Later, Chen Xilian's combat experience of defending Shiwan Mountain was published in the "North China Edition" of " Xinhua Daily ".

Chen Xilian fought under the direct leadership of Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping for a long time. Liu Deng often taught him Mao Zedong's military thoughts and strategic and tactical principles in easy-to-understand language, which also benefited Chen Xilian a lot. He once said: "Liu Deng taught me about Chairman Mao's military thoughts, which made me think deeply and feel deeply. I can close my eyes and hear them. I will never forget it for my life!"

During the Hundred Regiments War, Chen Xilian experienced the most difficult battle in several anti-"mopping up". This battle took place in the Guanjiawan battle near Panlong Town, Wuxiang, Shanxi.

1940 On the evening of October 29, 1940, Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping commanded the New 385th Brigade, the 386th Brigade and the New 10th Brigade and other departments to defend a Japanese brigade that rushed across the Taihang base in the Guanjiadong Highlands.

Since the Japanese army's weapons, equipment and troops are above our army, and they are in danger and defend, the number of casualties among our army is heavy. At the same time, the Japanese army coming to Panlong Town to support are getting closer and closer. Are our army continuing to fight? Or retreat and find a more suitable opportunity to catch them all in one go?

At that time, Liu Bocheng advocated retreat. He said: "Now our army's forces and weapons are under the enemy. The most important thing is that the Japanese army coming to support is about to arrive. Let's retreat first, and come back and catch them all in one place when we find an opportunity."

Company Chen Xilian, who has always dared to fight tough battles, also agreed with Liu Bocheng's proposal. Just when everyone was about to retreat, Peng Dehuai sent a telegram and issued a death order: "Be sure to eliminate the Japanese army of Guanjiawu and crush its crazy words that 'one brigade can move freely in the Eighth Route Control Zone'!"

At this time, Deng Xiaoping also spoke: "This is not just a battle between our army and the Japanese army, but also a political battle. We must continue! Even if we pay some military price, it is worth the political response."

Chen Xilian heard Deng Xiaoping's words and said quickly: "Political Commissar, I will definitely not let your expectations down!" Then he led the New 385th Brigade and other troops to reinforce, and invaded 10 consecutive attacks in just one day, killing and injuring the Japanese army in large numbers and successfully curbing the Japanese army's firepower. But it is a pity that our army has never been able to conquer the Guanjiawu position.

After the battle, our army left more than 280 corpses in the Japanese army. Since then, most of the Japanese troops, the Japanese army, dared not act rashly, nor did they dare to threaten easily. Therefore, this battle also had a great political impact, and Chen Xilian admired Deng Xiaoping's foresight of "fighting political wars".

Deng Xiaoping held a meeting without handshake

Shortly after the victory of the Longhai Battle, Chiang Kai-shek gathered 300,000 troops to press the liberated area in southwestern Shandong, attempting to use its superior force to attack Liu and Deng's army in one fell swoop near Dingtao County in southwestern Shandong. Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping commanded the troops to fight with the Kuomintang army from September 3 to September 8.

Liu Deng’s army wiped out 17,000 enemy troops in just 5 days, captured the commander of the 3rd Division of the Kuomintang’s reorganized 3rd Division, and won the final victory of the Dingtao Battle . The victory in Dingtao made Chiang Kai-shek very angry, and in anger he removed his post as Liu Zhi, director of the Zhengzhou Sui Office.

But it was also the victory of this battle, which made Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping discover some more serious problems exposed by the troops, so there was a very famous "handshake meeting".

When Chen Xilian, commander of the 3rd Column, commander of the 6th Column, Wang Jinshan, commander of the 7th Column, and Yang Yong, commander of the 7th Column, received the notice of the meeting, everyone was very happy. Chen Xilian thought to himself: "Our army has been invincible for several months since its departure from Handan, and has won consecutive victories, especially in the Dingtao Battle. Today happened to be Mid-Autumn Festival . The commander and political commissar invited everyone to a meeting, and they must have rewarded us..." didn't know that the purpose of the meeting was completely opposite to what Chen Xilian thought.

YangYong

After breakfast on September 10, Chen Xilian rode his horse toward the field army headquarters 2 kilometers away. He met Yang Yong on the road and the two walked together.Yang Yong, like Chen Xilian, also had a spring breeze on his face. He said to Chen Xilian: "'Yoshi' chose to hold a meeting today. It seems that the celebration meeting and the holidays are combined. It is a foregone conclusion to invite us to eat mooncakes today!"

Chen Xilian said: "Eating mooncakes is small, and I feel that we can all drink wine today." As soon as Chen Xilian finished speaking, he and Yang Yong laughed.

The two of them just arrived at the meeting place, but they felt that the atmosphere was a little different. Not only was the busy middle-level cadres at the venue serious, but even the staff responsible for pouring water had no smiles, which made Chen Xilian feel something was wrong and felt a little scared.

The time for the meeting was up, and Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping, Zhang Jichun, deputy political commissar of the "Yanshi Department" and others entered the venue one after another. The participants stood up one after another and prepared to shake hands with them as usual. However, to their surprise, Deng Xiaoping stopped everyone before they could reach out: "This time it was a handshake meeting." For a moment, the commanders of each column looked at each other, not knowing what was going on.

Chen Xilian's heart skipped a beat: "Comrade Xiaoping has a habit of holding hands whenever he is in a good mood; whenever he wants to criticize the other party, he never holds hands. This time I don't know who is unlucky..."

At the beginning of the meeting, Deng Xiaoping said straight to the point:

"Today I invite everyone, not to celebrate the festival and celebrate the victory of the battle." , instead of holding a handshake meeting. Don’t think that you can be complacent and satisfied after winning a battle, and think more about your shortcomings. How has our work been done since Handan set out? What is the mass discipline? Is the unity between the military and civilians and officers and soldiers well? What are the problems in the command and combat style of the troops? I hope everyone can talk about these issues carefully."

As soon as Deng Xiaoping finished speaking, Liu Bocheng, Li Da and Zhang Jichun spoke one after another, pointing out the problems existing in the troops and solutions to the problems. The meeting started from morning to noon, and after dinner, it started from one or two o'clock in the afternoon. Even when they heard that the 5th Army of the enemy Ace Army and the 11th Division were approaching, they did not part.

Chen Xilian took advantage of the gap in the meeting to find Yang Yong: "The key to being self-aware. If we don't criticize ourselves today, I'm afraid this will not be disbanded!" Yang Yong nodded and said, "Yes, I didn't expect the celebration banquet to become the 'Hongmen Banquet'!"

Chen Xilian and Yang Yong both knew that Wang Jinshan, the commander of the 6th Column, fought very well in the battle between Yanghu in the Dingtao Battle, and was praised. So Yang Yong took the initiative to say to Chen Xilian: "I will make a review first when I go back."

After Yang Yong and Chen Xilian returned to the venue, Yang Yong took the lead and said: "The relationship between the military and civilians and military affairs of the 7th Column is not very good, and the war is not good. I am responsible for all these. I will go back and rectify them well and improve the fighting spirit of the soldiers!"

Chen Xilian followed Yang Yong's words and said: "I will be responsible for all the problems that happened to the 3rd Column..." Hearing this, Deng Xiaoping nodded with satisfaction, and then stood up and announced: "Today we will be here, the meeting will be over!"

Deng Xiaoping didn't say a word or a word at the meeting, but as long as it was said, it would be a huge force. Although the commanders of the columns failed to eat mooncakes and did not drink celebration wine, they were greatly shocked in their thoughts and would never forget this non-shaking meeting in their lives.

Although Deng Xiaoping has strict requirements on senior cadres and never accommodates major issues of right and wrong, he trusts these cadres who have experienced the test of war. Deng Xiaoping believed in everyone's awareness and knew that once they realized what was wrong, they would definitely bravely overcome and correct it.

Facts are also as Deng Xiaoping thought. After returning to his respective posts, the commanders of the columns who attended the meeting immediately carried out a fruitful rectification of their subordinate troops. Since then, the violations of mass discipline by each column have basically disappeared. Immediately afterwards, Liu and Deng's army devoted themselves to the new battle with a new look and achieved a series of major victories one after another.

Chen Xilian: What I am most sorry for in my life is Deng Xiaoping

From October 1950 to December 1973, Chen Xilian served as commander of the People's Liberation Army artillery and commander of the Shenyang Military Region. In December 1973, Chairman Mao proposed to exchange commanders of the eight military regions, and Chen Xilian and his old subordinate Li Desheng were transferred, and he served as commander of the Beijing Military Region.

After taking office in Beijing, Chen Xilian organized an investigation of the terrain of the North Line. He later recalled:

"After the survey, I returned to Beijing, and I quickly reported to Comrade Ye Jianying and Comrade Deng Xiaoping, and put forward new ideas and suggestions on the military region's combat defense and military deployment. Ye Jianying and Comrade Deng Xiaoping were very concerned and attached great importance to the work of the Beijing Military Region. They listened to my report in detail and gave clear instructions..." During the

, Chen Xilian also implemented Deng Xiaoping's instructions on "the army must be rectified", made great efforts to rectify the military region's troops, and strengthened the ideological construction, organizational construction and style construction of the troops.

In January 1975, Chen Xilian was promoted to member of the Standing Committee of the Central Military Commission and Vice Premier of the State Council, in charge of national defense industry and sports work.

On February 2, 1976, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued Document No. 1: "At the suggestion of Chairman Mao, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee unanimously agreed that Hua Guofeng would serve as the acting Premier of the State Council; during Comrade Ye Jianying's illness, Chen Xilian was responsible for presiding over the work of the Central Military Commission."

Not long after Zhou Enlai died, Deng Xiaoping was unable to continue working due to the situation, and the situation at home and abroad was particularly severe. The reason why Chairman Mao, who was seriously ill, handed over the command of the three armies to Chen Xilian was because at that time, he was a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and the Standing Committee of the Military Commission, only Chen Xilian, Wang Hongwen, Zhang Chunqiao and others were left.

After careful consideration, Chairman Mao decided to hand over the command of the three armies to Chen Xilian, and said: "Chen Xilian has participated in the revolution since he was a child, can fight wars, and has led the Corps and sent troops. He also has a position in the State Council, so let him take care of it."

However, Chen Xilian's work was just arranged, and a magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurred in Tangshan . After the earthquake in Tangshan, the Central Political Bureau immediately convened an emergency meeting, and then decided to form the Central Earthquake Rescue Command, led by Chen Xilian, Ji Dengkui, Wu De, Chen Yonggui and others, and immediately organized and implemented earthquake relief.

On September 9, 1976, Chairman Mao passed away. Not long after, Chen Xilian proposed to Hua Guofeng: "Comrade Ye Jianying should continue to preside over the work of the Central Military Commission." Hua Guofeng said: "Master Ye must also assist me in handling domestic affairs. You should continue to preside over the work of the Central Military Commission."

Not long after, Hua Guofeng clearly announced three items at the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee:

First, let Comrade Deng Xiaoping come out to work;

Second, let Comrade Deng Xiaoping come out to work with honor. The dignity here means that Deng Xiaoping must go out to work in this form after a formal meeting of the central government;

Third, we must do a good job in the masses for Deng Xiaoping to come out to work.

After this meeting, Chen Xilian, Li Xiannian and others rushed to Yuquan Mountain where Deng Xiaoping was recuperating and conveyed the good news to him. As soon as they met, Deng Xiaoping wanted to hold hands with Chen Xilian, which made Chen Xilian very excited. Afterwards, Chen Xilian said: "Comrade Xiaoping is willing to let me and hold hands, he didn't blame me!"

In July 1977, Deng Xiaoping made a comeback. In the autumn and winter of 1978, Deng Xiaoping took the initiative to meet Chen Xilian, and Chen Xilian went to see the old leader with a very nervous mood. As soon as he saw Deng Xiaoping, he sincerely reviewed: "In my life, what I felt most sorry for you was that I didn't come out to speak for you. I am a member of the Politburo and could speak at the Politburo meeting, but I didn't..."

Deng Xiaoping waved his hand and said: "Don't say that, no one can do anything at that time, and you can do nothing." Immediately afterwards Chen Xilian talked about his mistakes and shortcomings. Deng Xiaoping patted his shoulder and comforted him: "It doesn't matter, just correct any mistakes."

Not long after, someone had some bad views on Chen Xilian. Deng Xiaoping found out and said: "Chen Xilian is a person without ambition..."

In January 1980, Chen Xilian asked the central government to resign from his leadership position, which was approved by the central government. In September 1982, the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held in Beijing, and Chen Xilian was elected as a member of the Central Advisory Committee and a member of the Standing Committee.

On June 10, 1999, Chen Xilian passed away in Beijing at the age of 85.