In 1974, in addition to the torture of illness in the last time of life, Marshal Peng Dehuai was more psychological torture. He is strictly supervised in the hospital and is not allowed to have any contact with the outside world. He has not been complained about the wrongs for a long time, and often sits on the chair with a blank expression, staring at the snow-white wall with a dull and helpless look.
As the condition worsens, the old coach also feels that he is in his life. However, he did not want to confess his life here just like this, and often said to the guards and medical staff in grief and anger: "I die like this, and I will die with my eyes open!"
In the end, Peng Dehuai accepted all this. Before leaving, he still had many unfulfilled wishes.
At that time, the guards guarding Peng Dehuai did not convey it because of the particularity and sensitivity of his identity, so that the old coach died in hatred.
And one of his last wishes was to meet his old friend Zhu De for the last time...
1. The friendship between the two bosses Zhu Peng during the war
The revolutionary friendship between Zhu De and Peng Dehuai can be traced back to the Jinggangshan struggle period, and Peng Dehuai was the right-hand assistant of "Zhu Mao".
Zhu De and Peng Dehuai have completely different personalities. Zhu De is amiable, calm and steady person; Peng Dehuai has a very hot temper, and sometimes he will curse people when he is anxious.
Two people who should be incompatible with each other have a very harmonious relationship with each other and have become an excellent and good partner.
With Peng Dehuai's activeness, the Party Central Committee later made remarks that "only Zhu, Mao and Peng's troops can be called Red Army ", leading him alongside Zhu De. The Kuomintang also has the saying "Zhu Mao Peng Huang", and regards Peng Dehuai as one of the four major leaders of the Central Red Army, which is as famous as Zhu De.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War , Zhu De became the commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army, and Peng Dehuai naturally became the deputy commander-in-chief.
later. With the fierce attack of the Japanese army, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army often had to move everywhere. During the evacuation process, the head of the headquarters will face a series of matters that need to be resolved. For this reason, Zhu De often forgot to eat and rest because of his busy official duties.
After Peng Dehuai learned about the situation, he often hid Zhu De from the first time. He first studied the combat plan with Deputy Chief of Staff Zuo Quan, and told Zhu De after he had a preliminary plan so that he could have time to rest and eat.
In addition, at that time, at that time, the Japanese and puppet troops often sent spies to mingle into the base areas for assassination and sabotage. In order to ensure the safety of the head of the headquarters, Peng Dehuai held a special temporary security meeting to strengthen security work.
Even so, Peng Dehuai himself was still worried, so he went to Zhu De's yard to check security every day and also checked the surrounding guard posts.
It was late autumn at this time, and Peng Dehuai's clothes were so thin that he had to pace back and forth to warm his body. The guard on guard felt uncomfortable when he saw this scene, so he advised him to go back and rest.
Peng Dehuai shook his head after hearing this and said, "Commander-in-Chief Zhu is old and needs a good rest. It doesn't matter if I sleep less myself. I can still make up for my sleep when riding on a horse during the day! The most urgent thing is to ensure the safety of General Manager Zhu and the headquarters."
Zhu De saw Peng Dehuai's goodness in his heart. For this reason, he specifically instructed the office staff: "Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng has been busy with official business recently and has not had a stable sleep for many days. Find a quieter house and let him have a good rest."
In addition, Peng Dehuai does not smoke or drink on weekdays, but he only has a special liking for drinking tea. Due to the harsh conditions at that time, he often had to use sour jujube leaves instead of tea.
When Zhu De found out, he transferred the tea that others gave him specifically to Peng Dehuai, and said jokingly: "The commander-in-chief drinks tea, but the deputy commander drinks sour jujube leaves. Where can I put my face when it is heard?"
Peng Dehuai was very moved when he received the tea. He regarded this bag of tea as a treasure. He only put a little bit of it every time he brewed tea, and each pair had to brew it several times in a row, which was quite saving.
shows that the two bosses not only support each other on the battlefield, but also take good care of each other in life.
2. The storm of Lushan Conference
As mentioned above, Peng Dehuai has a hot temper when he goes out, and things he doesn't like to be with it often blurt out. This laid the groundwork for his subsequent drastic changes in his life.
In 1959, Peng Dehuai wrote a letter to Chairman Mao during the Lushan Conference, in which he expressed his strong dissatisfaction with the "Great Leap Forward" and the People's Commune Movement.
In his opinion, he was just telling the truth about the ills brought to the people and the country by these movements, but he didn't know that this not only changed the direction of the Lushan Conference, but also changed his destiny.
In fact, Chairman Mao did not point the finger at Peng Dehuai at the beginning, but instead adopted a calm attitude, hoping to put his opinions on the spot for the time being. However, Peng Dehuai was angry and refused to give in at the meeting, pointing the finger at the "three red flags" and the front-line leading cadres behind it.
In addition, after Peng Dehuai returned, he complained to Huang Kecheng and others who also advocated "leftism" to the opinions that Chairman Mao did not support them in private and said some taboo words.
After these things were exposed at the meeting, the party comrades who were deeply influenced by the left-leaning thoughts accused Peng Dehuai of attacking Chairman Mao and had great problems with his ideological position, so he criticized him for half a month. During the meeting, Peng Dehuai's words in the past were criticized and expanded by some comrades in the party because of his straightforward and blunt speech, and all became his own "evidence of crime".
Chairman Mao could no longer control the progress of the meeting at this time. In order to avoid division within the party, he had to accept the status quo.
Finally, the meeting passed a resolution, incorrectly characterizing Peng Dehuai. Chairman Mao recalled afterwards: "I was not satisfied with the Lushan Conference. They had the final say, and I had no choice."
It was in the situation of sudden changes at that time, but there was still someone who dared to go against the current. He was Peng Dehuai's old friend Zhu De!
Zhu De saw the honest Peng Dehuai being treated like this at the meeting, and he was very sympathetic to him. He was a firm and upright person and did not want to change his mind like some people, and attack Peng Dehuai in a group. However, he also clearly knew that he could not change the direction of the meeting and the opinions of the majority of the party. Therefore, except for repeatedly defending Peng Dehuai in the early stages of the meeting, he never made any statements and remained silent. When the party comrades in the later party voted on the resolution to criticize Peng Dehuai, Zhu De did not raise his arms high like others to show his "revolutionary determination", but bent his arms and raised his hands only half the height of others.
Anyone with discerning eyes knows this. Zhu De is showing that he raised his hand under extreme reluctance.
After the Lushan Conference, Chairman Mao also said meaningfully to Zhu De: "Boss, you raised your hand and only raised half of the vote."
Zhu De replied: "Anyway, I raised my hand, and I don't know how I raised my hand." After the meeting, Peng Dehuai was removed from all positions, and he moved to the western suburbs of Beijing to start his own down-and-out semi-seclusion life.
Soon, the Central Military Commission also began to "clean" Peng Dehuai's influence in the army, which made many comrades in the military who had close ties with Peng Dehuai were implicated.
Peng Dehuai felt very sad when he found out. In order to avoid involuntizing more people, he set a rule for himself that no one can see.
However, what Peng Dehuai did not expect was that many people still came to visit him regardless of the risks. Among them, Zhu De and President Zhu are naturally indispensable. It is worth mentioning that he was the only marshal who visited Peng Dehuai after the Lushan Conference.
After returning from Lushan, Zhu De moved to Yuquan Mountain to live in order to facilitate visiting Peng Dehuai. Since then, Zhu De often visited Peng Dehuai by the name of taking his family to climb Xiangshan. Every time he comes, he always brings great comfort to Peng Dehuai, who is in grievances and depression.
Peng Dehuai's biggest hobby is playing chess. Therefore, every time Zhu De visited Peng Dehuai, he would play chess with him calmly, and then leave quietly.
Peng Dehuai, who is in a hot temper, can be unexpectedly silent when playing chess. Zhu and Peng are constantly deepening their deep understanding of each other in special periods in the silent chess game.
Although Zhu De himself did not avoid suspicion, Peng Dehuai later was worried about implicating his old friend and tried his best to stop Zhu De from visiting him. The frequency of interactions between the two decreased.
3. The two old coaches who were unable to meet the last time
In September 1965, Chairman Mao took the initiative to invite Peng Dehuai, who had been unemployed for a long time, to go to the southwest to carry out the construction of third-line . The two have not been in contact for a full six years since that unpleasant meeting.
After Chairman Mao gave the task to Peng Dehuai, he pondered for a moment, and then slowly said, "I still remember what you said, maybe the truth is on your side, let history make a conclusion!"
Just when Peng Dehuai thought he was going to make a complete comeback, a year later, he once again involved in the cruel political struggle.
In December 1966, Peng Dehuai was captured by the "Cultural Revolution Group" and was criticized and suffered inhuman torture.
Zhu De was not having a good time at this time, and because of his special relationship with Peng Dehuai, he was often criticized at meetings.
After the "Cultural Revolution" began, Zhu De never saw Peng Dehuai again because Peng Dehuai was imprisoned, and he had been in the middle of the barrier for eight years! Although the two of them did not meet because of the current situation, their hearts remained in touch with each other.
In 1969, when the task force asked Peng Dehuai about the Ninth National Congress after the Ninth National Congress ended, he himself replied: " Chen Yi , Zhu De is placed there, it is not good to put it."
And both of them were criticized and fought at the Ninth National Congress meeting, which shows how Peng Dehuai's attitude was.
Just as Zhu De believed and supported Peng Dehuai at the Lushan Conference, Peng Dehuai also had the same trust and support for Zhu De during this period.
In April 1973, Peng Dehuai, who was in custody, was transferred to the hospital because his stomach disease in was worsened.
Zhu De was 88 years old at that time. Considering the health of his old friend, Peng Dehuai specifically told the people around him not to tell him about his hospitalization. Therefore, Zhu De even knew nothing about Peng Dehuai's condition.
Peng Dehuai originally thought that he would go out to reminisce about his old friend Zhu De when he recovered. However, he did not expect that what he had was not an ordinary stomach disease, but it was confirmed that it was rectal cancer.
In addition, he thought he had been out of the sea of suffering of custody in a sense, but he did not expect that during this period, he would not only suffer from illness, but also continue to endure strict control of his injustice. He was confined to a ward of more than ten square meters where doors and windows were always closed. There was a squad of soldiers who were on the ground and on the ground took turns guarding him by the bed and outside the house.
In this ward, he had no freedom, cut off all contact with the outside world, and had no freedom to read newspapers and listen to radio.
After more than a year of treatment in this deadly hospital, Peng Dehuai finally passed away on November 29, 1974, which may be a relief for him.
Two or three months before his death, Peng Dehuai, whose condition had begun to deteriorate, perhaps because he realized that his life was about to come to an end, he expressed his wish to see Zhu De for the last time to the guards.
However, at this time, the guards were still as if they were facing a great enemy when they were in danger. They turned a deaf ear to his requests over and over again, and no one would want to do this or dare to help him.
No one expected that this would become Peng Dehuai's last wish, and Zhu De had been kept in the dark.
Zhu De didn't know about this until after Peng Dehuai's death.
This old coach, who has always been known for his calmness and calmness, could no longer suppress the grief and anger in his heart, and cried bitterly: "Why don't you tell me? It's almost dead, what else can he do? What's scary about this!"
On July 6, 1976, Zhu De passed away in Beijing. The two old coaches who were unable to meet for the last time during their lifetime were finally reunited in another world...
