In 1968, Chen Mingren suddenly received a notice from his superiors, asking him to retire and return home to recuperate. Chen Mingren was still a little stunned when he received the notice. After reacting, he immediately packed up his military uniform, cap badge, etc. and sent th

On September 27, 1955, the uprising general Chen Mingren was awarded the rank of general by the Military Commission . Chen Mingren touched the stars on his shoulders and couldn't help but sigh: "I have been in the army for 30 years, and this is the first time I have won the rank of general. I am very grateful to the Communist Party and the People's Liberation Army for their trust and care in me!"

In 1968, Chen Mingren suddenly received a notice from his superiors, asking him to retire and return home to recuperate. Chen Mingren was still a little stunned when he received the notice. After reacting, he immediately packed up his military uniform, cap badge, etc. and sent them back to the military headquarters. However, when Zhou Enlai learned about this, he quickly explained: "You misunderstood..."

What on earth is going on? What did Chen Mingren misunderstand? How did Zhou Enlai solve this matter?

During the Battle of Huizhou, Zhou Enlai saved Chen Mingren's life.

In 1903, Chen Mingren was born in a wealthy family in Liling County, Hunan Province. He was very smart since he was a child, and in 1920, he was admitted to Duize Middle School in Changsha, Hunan Province with very excellent results. In 1924, Chen Mingren came to Guangzhou to apply for the Army Lecture School. However, it was a pity that when he arrived in Guangzhou, the school had stopped recruiting students.

Chen Mingren, who wanted to join the army, took his excellent transcript in Changsha and found Cheng Qian, a fellow villager and principal, and Li Minghao, who served as the chief of education. Cheng Qian and Li Minghao saw that Chen Mingren had an extraordinary appearance and excellent grades, so they wanted to admit him. However, they did not know how to admit him due to "the suspicion of being from the same hometown".

After some discussion, Cheng Qian and Li Minghao decided to change Chen Mingren's household registration to "Liuyang County" and then enrolled him into the first student team with a relatively high level of education.

In September of the same year, Jiangwu School merged with Huangpu Military Academy, and Chen Mingren also transferred to the first phase of Huangpu Military Academy. After graduating from Huangpu Military Academy in January 1925, Chen Mingren stayed in the school's teaching corps as a trainee platoon leader.

At the same time, the warlord Chen Jiongming entrenched in Dongjiang became rebellious and decided to attack Guangzhou. In order to consolidate the revolutionary base in Guangdong, Sun Yat-sen decided to start an Eastern Expedition to quell the Chen Jiongming Rebellion. This was also the famous first Eastern Expedition .

In the first Eastern Expedition, Chen Mingren dared to fight and commanded a platoon of troops in Dongguan City, and successfully captured a battalion of guns. He was praised by the regiment leader Liu Yaochen: "Originally I thought I was the most fearless person in the world, but I didn't expect to know until I met Chen Mingren that he was even more fearless than me." Liu Yaochen liked Chen Mingren very much, and immediately made him the company commander of the third company of the first battalion of the Provincial Party Committee Teaching Group.

After Chen Jiongming was defeated, he unexpectedly received foreign aid, so Mr. Sun Yat-sen decided to launch the second Eastern Expedition. The commander-in-chief of the Second Eastern Expedition was Chiang Kai-shek , and the director of the General Political Department was Zhou Enlai. They set out from Guangzhou in October 1925 and attacked Huizhou in mid-October.

The person stationed in Huizhou was a division commander named Yang Kunru of Chen Jiongming's department. Yang Kunru was a famous general of the Guangdong Army. In addition, Huizhou was surrounded by water on three sides and was an easy-to-defend but difficult-to-attack place. This also led to the battle lasting for a long time without a winner.

Chiang Kai-shek was very angry when he saw this, and immediately ordered Liu Yaochen's regiment to be the main attacking group. The first and second battalions were to attack the north gate, and the third battalion was the reserve battalion, mainly responsible for monitoring the west gate. He completely ignored the fact that Huizhou was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and focused on victory.

In this way, Liu Yaochen led his troops to launch another attack on Huizhou under Chiang Kai-shek's order. Before noon, the commander of the first battalion and the commanders of the first and second companies were wounded, and the attack failed to meet expectations. Liu Yaochen thought that this style of play was not feasible, so he suggested changing the tactics to He Yingqin. However, He Yingqin did not intend to change the tactics on the grounds that "Huizhou must be captured within the time specified by Principal Jiang". Liu Yaochen had no choice but to order the third company to go into battle.

Chen Mingren was the company commander of the third company. After receiving the mission, he immediately led his troops to attack fiercely. At this time, Liu Yaochen also came to the forward position in person to lead the charge of the third company. Who would have thought that an accident would happen at this moment. Liu Yaochen was accidentally shot and sacrificed while climbing the ladder to attack.

After Liu Yaochen's death, the deputy regiment commander took charge of the command. Although Chen Mingren's troops fought hard to kill the enemy, they still could not capture the enemy for a long time. That night, He Yingqin issued Chiang Kai-shek's final order: "The Fourth Regiment must capture Huizhou that night, otherwise military law will be dealt with!" The deputy commander had no choice but to hand over this task to Chen Mingren, who was most capable of completing it.

Chen Mingren knew that Chiang Kai-shek's decision could not be changed easily, not to mention that He Yingqin did not dare to disobey Chiang Kai-shek's order, so he asked Zhou Enlai, who was on the front line in person, to forward a report and request a suspension of the attack. At Zhou Enlai's request, Chiang Kai-shek agreed to temporarily stop the attack and immediately convened a military meeting.

At the meeting, Zhou Enlai analyzed the current situation: "The defender Yang Kunru is a fierce general under Chen Jiongming. Although he fights bravely, his troops are not very large, only two or three thousand people. In addition, Yang Kunru's troops have not been paid for seven months. As long as we adopt the method of 'encircling the army, we must leave' and open up a wide area, we can capture Huizhou and reduce our army's casualties."

Zhou Enlai paused and continued: "We can also change the method of dispersing firepower and concentrate the limited firepower on the north gate and west gate to destroy the enemy's firepower points and cover the troops to continue to attack and climb the city."

Chen Mingren followed this decision and successfully captured Huizhou on the afternoon of October 13th. This scene was witnessed by Chiang Kai-shek and Zhou Enlai, who were on the scene. Chiang Kai-shek asked: "Who is the first person to climb the city wall holding the big flag?"

Li Minghao replied loudly: "It's your student, Chen Mingren!" Chiang Kai-shek beamed with joy: "This, this must be a meritorious service!"

Three days later, Chiang Kai-shek held a celebration meeting in Huizhou City. He took the lead in shouting the slogan: "Learn from Chen Mingren!" and then promoted Chen Mingren to the commander of the third battalion. Later, the Huizhou battle example was always publicized by the Kuomintang army, but little did they know that all of this was Zhou Enlai's credit.

Chen Mingren later recalled:

"If Zhou Enlai had not visited the front line in person, learned the specific situation, believed that my report was reasonable, dissuaded Chiang Kai-shek from correcting his wrong tactics, and proposed the correct plan, I, Chen Mingren, would have died in Huizhou City long ago, and even more so. Not to mention future honors."

From "anti-communist general" to uprising general

After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Chen Mingren frequently made meritorious service in the Battle of Southern Guangxi, , and Northern Burma in Western Yunnan, and was later promoted to army commander by Chiang Kai-shek.

In 1944, Chen Mingren led soldiers to join the Chinese Expeditionary Force to encircle and suppress the remnants of the Japanese army on the Yunnan-Myanmar border, and completely open the Yunnan-Myanmar International Highway. In the Battle of Huilongshan, Chen Mingren calmly commanded and used tactics flexibly to annihilate the Japanese troops in western Yunnan, and he has become famous ever since. When the good news reached the country, Chairman Mao praised Chen Mingren as a famous anti-Japanese general and admired his performance in the battle of Huilongshan very much.

During the War of Liberation in China, Chiang Kai-shek admired Chen Mingren's bravery and loyalty very much, and immediately transferred him to the Northeast and came to the front line of the civil war. However, Chen Mingren was a little depressed when he came to the Northeast. He could not understand why Chiang Kai-shek did not give the people the peace they longed for, but instead provoked a civil war.

But Chen Mingren could not resist Chiang Kai-shek's order. After all, the idea of ​​"absolute loyalty to President Chiang" had long been ingrained in his mind. He once said: "Soldiers only obey military orders. If the principal gives an order, I will complete it even if I die in the Northeast!" In this way, although he was no longer willing in his heart, Chen Mingren led his troops to the Northeast.

On June 11, 1947, the Northeastern Democratic Alliance launched an offensive against Siping. After the battle started, Chen Mingren supervised the battle day and night and resisted desperately. When the battle was at its fiercest, Chen Mingren used all his guard regiment, and the guard regiment suffered heavy casualties.

Just when Chen Mingren was unable to hold on to Siping, the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army misjudged the current situation and did not launch a fierce attack on the enemies in Siping. Instead, they ordered a retreat, which also solved Chen Mingren's siege.After the Siping siege was rescued, Chen Mingren instantly became a great hero of the Kuomintang. Not only was he promoted to the commander of the 7th Corps, he was also awarded the Medal of the Blue Sky and White Sun.

When Chen Mingren vowed to continue to be loyal to the party and the country, something happened that made him doubt himself and even more doubt whether his allegiance was correct.

In September of this year, Chen Cheng came to Siping for inspection accompanied by American consultants. Unexpectedly, the American consultants immediately resisted on the grounds that "Chen Mingren used food aided by the United States to build fortifications." At the same time, Liu Handong, chairman of Northern Liaoning Province, also took the opportunity to accuse Chen Mingren of "conniving his soldiers to snatch food, causing harm to the country and the people." It turned out that Liu Handong wanted to escape when Siping was surrounded, but was stopped by Chen Mingren, and he has held a grudge ever since.

Chen Cheng was originally dissatisfied with Chen Mingren's frequent meritorious service. This time, an American consultant and Liu Handong complained, so he immediately reported these two incidents to Chiang Kai-shek and requested that Chen Mingren be dismissed and investigated. Chiang Kai-shek regarded Chen Cheng as a confidant and naturally believed his words. However, the dismissal and investigation were a bit too unkind. After all, Chen Mingren had made a lot of contributions to the party and the country. So he decided to find a compromise, remove Chen Mingren from his post without investigating, and appointed him as a lieutenant general in the presidential palace to join the army.

After Chen Mingren received Chiang Kai-shek's dismissal order, it was like a bolt from the blue. He couldn't react for a while. He couldn't help but think: Is this the reward he got for working for Chiang Kai-shek through life and death for more than 20 years? In this way, Chen Mingren left the Northeast battlefield where he had fought so hard with full of confusion...

From September 1948 to January 1949, in less than 5 months, the People's Liberation Army successively won the three major battles of Liaoshen, Huaihai and Pingjin. Chiang Kai-shek's main force was basically eliminated by our army, and the defeat of the Kuomintang was a foregone conclusion.

Under this situation, Chen Mingren came to Changsha with the 29th Army and the 71st Army. During his stay in Changsha, Chen Mingren saw with his own eyes that the atmosphere for the peace movement in Hunan was getting stronger and stronger. Slowly, his thoughts began to lean toward peace.

At this time, the Hunan Provincial Working Committee of the Communist Party of China was also paying close attention to the development of the current situation. Based on the peaceful performance of Cheng Qian and Chen Mingren, it decided to focus its work on instigating rebellion. It also established a rebellion group and invited Cheng Xingling to return to Hunan to help our party in instigating rebellion. Cheng Xingling was Cheng Qian's younger brother. Because he often had contact with Communist Party members, he was suspected of being a Communist by the Kuomintang and was arrested. He was not released until 1947.

In the following period, members of the rebellion group and Cheng Xingling continued to do ideological work on Cheng Qian. Gradually, he made up his mind to revolt. While doing a good job in Cheng Qian's work, the Hunan Provincial Working Committee of the Communist Party of China also started to instigate Chen Mingren's rebellion in the same way.

In April and May 1949, Cheng Qian submitted a "Memorandum" to our party and expressed his determination to revolt. However, Chen Mingren did not sign it because he was "worried that this "Memo" would be leaked."

In fact, Chen Mingren's mood at that time was extremely complicated. He was a famous "anti-communist general" and won the trust of Chiang Kai-shek. Especially in the battle between Siping and Lin Biao, he liberated many people. All the soldiers in the army lost their lives. He was worried that if he cooperated with the Communist Party at this time, the Communist Party would settle accounts with him in the future...

Just when Chen Mingren was entangled, Cheng Xingling returned to Hunan from Hong Kong. When he was in Hong Kong, he met Zhang Shizhao. During the conversation, Zhang Shizhao talked to Cheng Xingling about Chairman Mao's greatness and said:

"As far as I know, the CCP will not settle accounts after the fact, and will never pursue Chen Mingren's problems in the Siping War. Chairman Mao once said to me that at that time, Chen Mingren was sitting on their boat, and everyone Everyone wants to win, this is normal, we will understand, as long as he comes over, and we will reuse him."

Cheng Xingling was very excited after hearing Chairman Mao's attitude conveyed by Zhang Shizhao, and asked Zhang Shizhao to write a letter to Cheng Qian and Chen Mingren to tell them Chairman Mao's attitude in writing. When Chen Mingren learned about Chairman Mao's attitude towards him, he was very excited, as if he had taken a reassurance, and he made up his mind to revolt.

On the afternoon of August 4, 1949, Cheng Qian and Chen Mingren, together with more than 30 KMT military and political officials, signed the "Electrification of the Uprising" which was officially released. For a time, more and more Kuomintang troops rebelled and surrendered.

htmlOn August 13, Chen Mingren sent a telegram to Chairman Mao and Zhu De in his own name, expressing his willingness to accept the leadership of the Communist Party of China in order to repay the favor.

Chen Mingren was informed that he was going to retire and return to his hometown. Zhou Enlai quickly explained: You misunderstood. On September 3, 1949, Chairman Mao invited Chen Mingren to Beijing to attend the first meeting of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. During the meeting, Chairman Mao invited Chen Mingren to visit Temple of Heaven and other places of interest, and also took photos with him. At that time, many media in Taiwan said that Chen Mingren was under "house arrest" by our party, so Chairman Mao smiled and said to Chen Mingren:

"General Chen, you need to wash more photos of the two of us. Wash them 50 times, and then send them to your relatives and friends at home and abroad. In this way, the rumors will be self-defeating. Who said that we two are fellow villagers!"

Chen Mingren quickly replied: "Okay, okay, okay. , I will definitely take care of it. If it’s not enough, just wash it! "In order to eliminate Chen Mingren's worries in work and life, Chairman Mao also chatted with him about daily life: "Other insurrectionists have the conditions, and it will be easier for us to handle them if they have the conditions. But you didn't set any conditions. Without conditions, it made things difficult for us. "

Chen Mingren sat, holding the cigarette that Chairman Mao handed him in his hand without speaking. Upon seeing this, Chairman Mao said: "As long as the Communist Party's army has food to eat, you will have food to eat; as long as the Communist Party's army has clothes to wear, you will have clothes to wear!"

After Chen Mingren returned to Hunan, he vividly described the courtesy he received from Chairman Mao in Beijing to his relatives, friends and revolting subordinates. He said with tears in his eyes more than once: "I have been born and died for Chiang Kai-shek for most of my life, but it is difficult to hear a sincere word from him. Chairman Mao and I met for the first time, but we are so approachable. What a world of difference!"

On November 1, more than 100,000 people under Chen Mingren were reorganized by the Military Commission into two armies and six divisions, and were renamed the 21st Corps of the People's Liberation Army. Chen Mingren served as the commander of the corps. Subsequently, he personally drew up a training plan, personally inspected the site, went to the classroom to listen to lectures, and vowed to train the 21st Corps into a steel team.

In October 1950, with the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Chen Mingren sent telegrams to Chairman Mao many times, requesting to lead his troops to North Korea to participate in the war. At that time, Guangxi had just ushered in liberation, and there were still many remnants of the Kuomintang, especially the remnants of President Bai Chongxi, who were secretly colluding with local bandits. In this case, Chairman Mao did not agree with Chen Mingren to lead his troops to fight in North Korea. Instead, he asked him to lead the 21st Corps to Guangxi to suppress bandits.

Chen Mingren was very excited when he received this task. He immediately said to political commissar Tang Tianji: "I will successfully complete the tasks assigned to me by Chairman Mao just like I stormed Huizhou City and returned to Longshan in the battle!" Immediately afterwards, Chen Mingren held a meeting, at which he said:

"Our Corps is ordered to be responsible for Guilin, Guangxi, Liu Although the task of suppressing bandits in prefecture and other places is arduous, it is extremely glorious. We must complete this arduous and glorious task. This is a good opportunity for us to make achievements! "

After five months of war, Chen Mingren's troops annihilated more than 36,000 bandits and successfully completed the task of suppressing bandits assigned to him by the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao.

In January 1952, the 21st Corps Headquarters was reorganized into the Water Conservancy Engineering Force Headquarters and invested in the construction project of Jingjiang flood diversion. In October of the same year, the 21st Corps was reorganized into the 55th Army, with Chen Mingren serving as the commander and responsible for guarding the southern gate of the motherland.

On September 27, 1955, the People's Liberation Army held a conferring ceremony at Zhongnanhai . Premier Zhou Enlai awarded Xiao Ke and other 57 generals the rank of general. Among these 57 generals, three were former Kuomintang uprising generals, and one of them was Chen Mingren.

In 1968, in that special era, Chen Mingren suddenly received a notice from his superiors, asking him to retire and return to his hometown to recuperate.Chen Mingren was a little surprised to receive this notice, but after he realized it, he quickly packed up his military uniforms, cap badges and other items and asked the guards to return them to the military headquarters. After making these preparations, he wrote a letter to his children, saying that he was going to return to Hunan and become a common citizen.

Just when Chen Mingren was about to leave, Zhou Enlai learned about it. He rushed to Chen Mingren's home and explained to him: "General Chen, you misunderstood." It turned out that the comrade did not ask him to leave the People's Liberation Army establishment, but asked him to go home to recuperate. After all, Chen Mingren's physical condition was really not good at the time.

In 1972, Chen Mingren's condition became worse and worse. Zhou Enlai and Ye Jianying were very concerned about his condition and took him to the People's Liberation Army General Hospital for treatment. Unfortunately, cancer was incurable at the time. On May 21, 1974, Chen Mingren died of cancer at the age of 71.

html On May 25, the central government held a memorial service for Chen Mingren at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery Auditorium. Central leaders such as Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, and Ye Jianying sent wreaths. Chinese and foreign public opinion said: Chen Mingren is a general of the Chinese army and a treasure of the national spirit.