On December 20, 1973, Chairman Mao held a special meeting to promote the exchange of commanders of the Eight Military Regions. Tian Weixin, then deputy director of the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army, was also one of the participants.

On December 20, 1973, Chairman Mao held a special meeting to promote the exchange of commanders of the Eight Military Regions. Tian Weixin, then deputy director of the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army, was also one of the participants.

This is the first time that Tian Weixin has seen Mao Zedong since he was transferred from the local government to the central government in 1969.

On the afternoon of 21st, Mao Zedong deliberately asked Tian Weixin some intriguing "strange" questions, such as: Where is Cao Zhi buried?

So, how did Tian Weixin answer these strange questions from Mao Zedong? Can he become the director of of the General Political Department of ?

Speaking of which, it is not an exaggeration to describe Tian Weixin as "winning all the way".

1916, Tian Weixin was born in Dong'a County, Liaocheng, Shandong Province.

Dong'a Since ancient times, people have been outstanding in history. There are Hi Dynasty , one of the founding fathers of the Wei Dynasty Hi Yu, Hi Tang Dynasty , and the right Jinwu general Cheng Chubi (son of Cheng Yaojin ), and in modern times, there are Beiyang warlord , one of the twenty-four generals of Zhang Huaizhi , acrobatic artist Zhang Zhengzhen, etc.

Of course, Tian Weixin later became one of the celebrities of Dong'a County .

The turning point of Tian Weixin's life was in 1937.

That year, the Japanese completely exposed their wolf ambitions and launched a full-scale war of aggression against China. After occupying , the three eastern provinces of , they rushed south, heading straight to Hebei, Shandong and other regions, and successively attacked cities and villages, making the situation quite tense.

Where is the country’s destruction? At this time when it was related to the life and death of the country, in order to resist the invaders, Tian Weixin, who was originally a mountain village teacher, resolutely put down his job and joined the troops of Kuomintang general Fan Zhuxian, becoming an anti-Japanese warrior.

and Fan Zhuo first beat the Japanese, and Tian Weixin was the right person.

Fan Zhuxian was originally a subordinate of Feng Yuxiang. After Central Plains War, was incorporated by Chiang Kai-shek and became the major general of the Third Route Army of Han Fuju (jǔ).

However, Tian Weixin followed the right leader, but Fan Zhuxian's new leader Han Fuju was not very good. Because, compared with Feng Yuxiang, who dares to fight and rush, Han Fuju is just a coward.

In the early days of the outbreak of the full-scale anti-Japanese war, Han Fuju retreated without fighting many times, and successively gave up important military cities in Shandong such as Jinan, Tai'an, Jining , and became the infamous as a "escape general".

Later, he completely angered Chiang Kai-shek and ended up being shot.

leader is not good, Fan Zhuxian's determination to fight against Japan has not been greatly affected. He has made his reputation as a patriotic general, national hero, anti-Japanese martyrs and other good names for his death.

In November 1938, Fan Zhuxian led his troops to fight against the Japanese attack on Liaocheng . But the leader Han Fuju had no intention of fighting and issued a retreat order as early as October. Most of the Han Fuju troops left the front line, leaving Fan Zhuxian and more than 700 anti-Japanese soldiers in an isolated situation. In less than two days, Liaocheng was lost due to the huge gap in strength between the enemy and us.

After this battle, Fan Zhuxian and most of the soldiers died bravely and helplessly.

Tian Weixin also participated in this very tragic battle, but fortunately, the guitarist had his own appearance, so he did not die in the battle and survived. Subsequently, he inherited the anti-Japanese spirit of national heroes such as Fan Zhuxian, first joined the peripheral organizations of the Communist Party of China, continued to participate in the anti-Japanese war, and then joined the Eighth Route Army, embarked on the road of revolution.

Because of his education and corresponding combat experience, Tian Weixin quickly became the key training target of the Eighth Route Army.

During the further study at the Taihang Mountain Anti-Japanese University First Branch, while Tian Weixin was learning military knowledge, he further came into contact with Marxist thoughts and understood the situation of the Communist Party of China, and had the idea of ​​joining the party. Finally, he submitted an application for joining the party to the party .

1939, the party organization approved his application, making him a party member.

Joined the Eighth Route Army and became a party member again. Tian Weixin has his own destination and strong backing, and then devotes his whole life to the Party and the people.

During the entire War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Tian Weixin led the way and resolutely carried out struggles with his comrades-in-arms, anti-blockade, and anti-sweeping. He successively won the battles such as the surprise attack on Lu Village, Zihongkou ambush, and the raid on Guxian, which dealt a considerable blow to the invaders.

In addition, he also participated in a series of famous battles with his comrades, such as the Hundred Regiments Battle , the Battle of Taiping, and the strong attack on Xiangyuan.

During the War of Liberation, the trajectory of Tian Weixin activities began to spread to Henan, Hebei and other regions. In many battles, he shared an important role and became one of the leaders of the main offensive forces.

He fulfilled his mission and ultimately made indelible contributions to the War of Liberation and the later founding of New China. During the period of resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea, like many troops who came out of the War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation, Tian Weixin also followed the team to participate in the War of Resistance Against U.S. aggression and aid Korea. It was not until the end of the war that he ended his life of fighting everywhere.

If "putting the pen to join the army" in 1937 and joining the Eighth Route Army later was the first turning point in Tian Weixin's life, then 1969 was the second turning point in his life - he was transferred from the local area to the central government and became the deputy director of the General Political Department.

In 1969, Beijing held a grand commemoration event for the 20th anniversary of the founding of New China. As one of the important leaders of the Shenyang Military Region, Tian Weixin also had the opportunity to participate in this event.

What Tian Weixin did not expect was that he could not go back to Beijing once he arrived.

After the National Day celebration, the leaders of major military regions have not returned to their respective jurisdictions and are still staying in Beijing to participate in the event.

On one day, a cadre from the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army suddenly found Tian Weixin and kept calling one "chief" and one "chief" and one "chief" that made Tian Weixin feel very puzzled.

Because, according to the division of departmental responsibilities, the General Political Department is the political work organ of the Central Military Commission, responsible for managing the work of the entire army, and is regarded as the upper-level leadership organ of the local military region. A cadre in a leading organ actually calls the leaders of the military region from local areas "heads", which is inevitable that it is confusing.

After careful understanding, Tian Weixin learned that he had been transferred from the local government to work in the central government and became the deputy director of the General Political Department, so he was called the head of the General Political Department by the cadres of the General Political Department. He knew nothing about this.

Just like that, after a sudden change in personnel, Tian Weixin was "forced" to stay in Beijing and no longer returned to the Shenyang Military Region. All handover work will be completed through meetings.

In the position of deputy director of the General Political Department, Tian Weixin worked for four years, which laid the foundation for his later appointment by Mao Zedong to be responsible for the work of the General Political Department.

1973, two major events that attracted the attention of the world occurred in China's political arena. First, the central government restored Deng Xiaoping's organizational life and work, and Deng Xiaoping returned to Beijing; second, Mao Zedong decided to transfer the commanders of the Eight Major Army to make major personnel adjustments.

, the second major event, also directly affected Tian Weixin.

In August 1973, after Deng Xiaoping officially entered his job, Mao Zedong had a conversation with him and mentioned the issues related to commanders of major military regions.

This matter is quite important, involving a series of complex political issues and concerning the stability of Chinese society. Deng Xiaoping fell into deep thought, but he quickly came up with the answer, and did not speak, but just changed his teacup with Mao Zedong's. The heroes had the same views. Mao Zedong smiled and determined that Deng Xiaoping was consistent with his own views: he believed it was necessary to transfer local military commanders.

On December 12, 1973, the Central Committee held a meeting of the Politburo, and Mao Zedong officially brought the issue of the commander of the Military Region to the table to discuss.

At the beginning of the meeting, Mao Zedong criticized Military Commission and the Politburo. The venue was silent and the atmosphere was a little nervous. After the atmosphere eased a little, he mentioned the theme of the meeting. There were two main contents: one was to propose to the participants the opinions of adding Deng Xiaoping as a member of the Politburo; the other was to discuss the transfer of the commander of the military region.

He said: "I propose to discuss a military issue, and commanders of major military regions across the country will mobilize each other..."

raised the topic of the meeting. Before everyone could enter the discussion session, Mao Zedong put forward another request to the participants and sang "Three Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention" together. After singing

, Mao Zedong explained the reason for communicating the commander of the military region. He said meaningfully: "A person has been in the same place for a long time, but it's not OK. After a long time, it's been a good thing!"

is not for the Politburo and the Military Commission, but for the commanders of the major military region attending the meeting. Of course they knew what Mao Zedong was talking about, and then they all agreed to the personnel transfer.

On December 22, after the Politburo meeting ended, based on Mao Zedong's opinion, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued a notice, deciding to let Deng Xiaoping serve as a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee; on the same day, the Central Military Commission also issued an order to exchange commanders of the Eight Military Regions based on Mao Zedong's opinion.

In addition to the personnel changes of the military commander, the personnel changes of the General Political Department have also undergone tremendous changes.

During the Politburo meeting, Mao Zedong not only put forward the opinion of "the commanders of various military regions across the country to mobilize each other", but also said: "The Military Commission does not discuss the military, and the Political Bureau does not discuss the politics, so it will be changed in the future!"

Mao Zedong said "change", and the General Political Department is directly under the Military Commission, so it must also be "change". This "change" has both authority and personnel transfer.

On the afternoon of December 21, Mao Zedong had a conversation with cadres of the General Political Department, namely Hotan Weixin and others on personnel issues of the General Political Department.

Li Desheng, who was also the director of the General Political Department at the time, recalled that Mao Zedong gathered members of the Politburo, commanders of major military regions and cadres of the General Political Department to discuss the final issue of personnel transfers, and 46 senior generals were received.

After receiving the meeting, Mao Zedong patted Zhu De on the shoulder at everyone and said very seriously: "This is a good commander, it is our Red Commander, not a Black Commander!"

Then, he turned his gaze to Xiao Jinguang, Chen Shiju, Tian Weixin and Ma Ning who were standing on one side, and began to shake hands and talk with them one by one.

At that time, Tian Weixin had the lowest rank among the generals, only the major general (awarded in 1964), but this did not affect Mao Zedong's attention. As soon as Mao Zedong came to him, he began to inquire about his situation.

Mao Zedong asked: "Comrade Weixin, where are you from?"

has worked in Beijing for 4 years. This is the first time he has had face-to-face contact with Mao Zedong. Tian Weixin is both excited and nervous. Faced with Mao Zedong's question, he calmed down and replied: "Dong'a people in Shandong."

When he heard the word "Dong'a", Mao Zedong's eyes lit up, and then asked a question that everyone was confused: "Oh? Where is Cao Zhi buried?"

For people outside Dong'a, they generally do not associate Cao Zhi, the son of Cao Cao , with Shandong Dong'a, and they did not think about the question of where Cao Zhi was buried. But for Dong A, this is simply a "score question".

During the Three Kingdoms period, the Dong'a area in Shandong was under the jurisdiction of the Cao Wei regime. Cao Zhi was once named Dong'a King , and his fief was in the Dong'a area, Tian Weixin's hometown. After Cao Zhi died, he was buried on the western foot of Yushan, 20 kilometers southeast of Dong'a County. Therefore, the locals have always been aware of Cao Zhi’s affairs.

Tian Weixin answered without hesitation: "Yushan!"

Mao Zedong nodded and asked again: "There is a lake on the left of (Yushan). What kind of lake is it?"

This seemed to stump Tian Weixin. He thought for a while before saying: "If you want to talk about lake, it is still far from Yushan. It is Dongping Lake ."

"Oh, that's right!" Mao Zedong nodded with satisfaction.

At this point, many people can’t help but wonder, Cao Zhicheng was enthroned in Dong'a, Tian Weixin is from Dong'a. It’s not surprising that he knows that Cao Zhi and Dong'a have a relationship. How could Mao Zedong know about Cao Zhi, Dong'a, and Dongpinghu?

In fact, it is not surprising that Mao Zedong knew these things. He loved reading History of the Three Kingdoms all his life. He studied literati like Cao Zhi who is as famous as " Jian'an Seven Sons ". Of course, he had some understanding of the relationship between Cao Zhi and Dong'a and the terrain of Dong'a.

After chatting with Tian Weixin, Mao Zedong suddenly changed his subject and said, "The General Political Department will leave you to the responsibility!"

Tian Weixin was a little surprised by Mao Zedong's sudden decision, just like he suddenly received news of personnel transfer in 1969, looking confused.

So, why did Mao Zedong suddenly decide to let Tian Weixin take charge of the General Political Department?

Tian Weixin was appointed by Mao Zedong to be in charge of the General Political Department. The first prerequisite is that "if someone takes office, someone must give way."

During this major personnel change, the personnel changes of Li Desheng, director of the General Political Department, also took place. He was elected as a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and Vice Chairman of the Central Committee at the Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China. More importantly, after the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee in December, he was transferred from Beijing to Shenyang, and from commander of the Beijing Military Region to commander of the Shenyang Military Region.

After his departure, the position of the director of the General Political Department will naturally be empty, and someone will need to fill it.

Who should take over as the director of the General Political Department?

According to common sense, in order to avoid power struggles between superiors and subordinates and maintain internal unity, it is best to avoid internal promotion and choose "airborne leaders" in a position like the leader of a certain unit or department.

However, the General Political Department is directly under the jurisdiction of the Military Commission, so there is obviously no need for "airborne leaders". Promoting from within and choosing someone who is "familiar with business" to lead the General Political Department is the best choice.

As for the personnel affairs of the General Political Department at that time, Li Desheng was the director of the General Political Department, and Tian Weixin was the only deputy director. After Li Desheng left, it was reasonable for Tian Weixin to replace him.

More importantly, in addition to the "ranking", Tian Weixin is also capable of being responsible for the work of the General Political Department.

Since the Anti-Japanese War, what Tian Weixin has been doing is ideological and political .

He started from the grassroots level and served as the political instructor of the Shanxi Guerrilla Detachment Company and the director of the Political Department of the Detachment. Later, he rose step by step. He successively served as acting director of the Political Department of the Third Detachment of the Third Military Sub-district of the Taihang Military Region and a political commissar of the Qi County Independent Battalion, political commissar of the 22nd Regiment of the 8th Brigade of the Third Column of the Shanxi Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region, director of the Political Department of the Brigade Political Department, director of the Political Department of the 23rd Division of the 11th Army of the Second Field Army, director of the Political Department of the Dazhu Military Sub-district of the East Sichuan Military Region, deputy director of the Political Department of the Shenyang Military Region, deputy political commissar of the Military Region, and so on.

It can be said that Tian Weixin spent most of his entire revolutionary career dealing with political work.

From this we can understand why Mao Zedong wanted him to be the director of the General Political Department.

At this point, someone has questions: Since it is reasonable for Tian Weixin to be promoted to the director of the General Political Department, why did Mao Zedong ask him such a strange question as "where is Cao Zhi buried?" before expressing his desire to let Tian Weixin come to take charge of the General Political Department?

For this issue, it can only be explained by Mao Zedong's style of conduct and the way of using people.

Mao Zedong has always attached great importance to political work and regarded it as the "lifeline of the revolutionary army", "central link of the great political struggle" and "lifeline of all economic work". The establishment of the General Political Department and its subsequent development are largely combined with Mao Zedong's thought.

In 1930, the General Political Department of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China was established in Yangxi Village, Ruijin, which is the predecessor of the later "General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army".

As soon as the General Political Department was born, Mao Zedong served as the first director and personally controlled the ideological propaganda level.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the General Political Department was independent of the Central Military Commission and renamed the "General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army" (the military reform was carried out in 2016, and the name was changed to the "Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission"); with the efforts of Luo Ronghuan and others, the system and functions of the General Political Department were further improved, and together with the General Staff, General Logistics Department, and General Equipment Department, they were collectively called the "Four Headquarters".

Because of these reasons, whether from reality or with "personal feelings", Mao Zedong would personally inquire about personnel changes in the General Political Department, forming a style of inquiries about everything. The fact that Tian Weixin was promoted to the General Political Department in 1969 can also be said to be arranged by Mao Zedong.

From Mao Zedong's style of employing people, Mao Zedong will test him whenever he decides to use someone.

For example, before deciding to appoint Peng Dehuai as commander of the Volunteer Army in 1950, Mao Zedong personally met with Peng Dehuai, asking about Peng Dehuai's attitude towards Korean War , and then officially decided that he would be the commander.

This time, Mao Zedong asked Tian Weixin about strange problems, which was also a test for Tian Weixin.

Although Mao Zedong had never been to Dong'a, he learned about the local terrain from historical materials and books. Therefore, he not only examined the historical figures of Tian Weixin, but also his understanding of the local situation.

The main purpose is to see if Tian Weixin is a realistic person.

When Mao Zedong asked these questions, Tian Weixin did not know his intention, but he still answered some situations cleverly and realistically.

The "trap" here is the question of whether there is a lake on the left side of Yushan.

In fact, there is no lake on the left side of Yushan.

How to answer?

Tian Weixin gave a very clever answer, that is, there is indeed a lake not far from Yushan, and he did not say what direction it is.

This way, the problem of no lake on the left side of Yushan is avoided, and the leader is given a step. Which leader would not like such subordinates who have no flattery, deceiving superiors and subordinates, and have a high emotional intelligence?

In Mao Zedong's view, Tian Weixin's test was considered qualified, so he publicly expressed his idea of ​​asking him to be in charge of the General Political Department.

was transferred from the local government to the General Political Department in 1969. Tian Weixin was not prepared in advance, and now he was sent by Mao Zedong with such a surprise, and he couldn't help but be caught off guard again.

In his opinion, as the deputy director, all he does is auxiliary work. If he goes from deputy to chief, he has to be alone. He seemed not ready for this matter, so he said to Mao Zedong: "Comrade Desheng is gone. I will continue to do a good job in the General Political Department, but I am the only deputy director of the General Political Department. It is too short of staff. Please appoint a director as soon as possible."

Mao Zedong did not answer the question of appointing the Director, but said quite seriously: "You will be the Director of the General Political Department in the future. You are fully responsible for the work of the General Political Department!"

Seeing that Mao Zedong had made up his mind, Tian Weixin stopped saying anything and had to go back and wait for the official appointment letter.

However, after this meeting, for some reasons, Tian Weixin was unable to become the director of the General Political Department.

Although he did not become the director of the General Political Department until his retirement after 1973, this did not prevent Tian Weixin from making contributions to the revolution and the people. Based on practice, in-depth research, he has devoted his life to the modernization, regularization and revolutionary construction of our army and has also achieved brilliant achievements.

Compared with the prominent figure, he may not be so dazzling, but he cannot be forgotten by the people.

Conclusion:

Tian Weixin has always been the pride of the people of Dong'a. When the Japanese invaders came, he put down his job, decisively joined the army, and participated in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression; during the War of Liberation, he worked diligently in his post and made important contributions to the cause of liberation and the construction of the New China; after the founding of the People's Liberation Army, he made important contributions to the construction of the People's Liberation Army.

In addition to these, Tian Weixin has also made certain contributions to the history of the army. He returned to his hometown many times to promote the revolutionary spirit and participated in the editing and review of "History of the 16th Army of the People's Liberation Army of China".Later, the memoir of more than 220,000 words he wrote was also an important reference material for the history of our army.