Wake up（153）

 

153

 

When He Jiafu and Li Tiandao were chatting about the past of the Great Leap Forward and the "communist style", Chai Jianmin and Pan Guangfu came to He Jiafu's house. To Li Tiandao's surprise, he did not expect that Pan Guangfu in front of him was the son of Mai Shu and Pan Renshu. Mai Shu once had a brief history of first love with Li Tiandao. Because Mai Shu's father, Mai Changhong, was a veteran cadre of the Red Army, he prevented their marriage.

Li Tiandao asked with concern: "Guangfu, after Lin Biao's accident, your grandfather Mai Changhong was hit hard. How did your mother Mai Shu live at that time?"

Pan Guangfu sighed:

In carrying out the "Four Clean-ups" campaign, Mao Zedong also requested that it be propagated and implemented in the army. On December 14, 1963, he said in a letter to Lin Biao: "I have received your letter a long time ago. I am very happy that my health has improved. After the beginning of spring, it is advisable to go for a walk outdoors.  … On the two issues of the Socialist Education Movement in the Rural Areas This document, if the army can handle it like this, it will be good. The theoretical military and political cadres at the regiment and battalion levels and all the company personnel will read it out, explain it, and discuss it several times. The masses will put forward their opinions, and the explainer will answer difficult questions. , it will become a large-scale socialist education movement. The army and division levels can also send some strong cadres there.”

Mao Zedong not only asked for the promotion of the Four Cleans documents in the army, but also asked military cadres to help localities carry out the Four Cleans Movement. On December 16, 1963, Mao Zedong wrote another letter. This letter was not addressed to Lin Biao alone, including Nie Rongzhen and others. The letter raises the question of learning from the PLA. The National People's Liberation Army has launched vigorously. Lin Biao also proposed that the whole army learn from the Air Force. The Party Committee of the Nanjing Military Region made a decision that the entire region responded to Chairman Mao's call to learn from the "Good Eighth Company", and the military region organs learned from the Ordnance Department.

In 1964, Lin Biao issued "Instructions on the Current Work of the Army". In the "Instructions", he clearly pointed out that in 1964, the achievements of all aspects of the army's work were the main ones, but there were also cases where military training impacted politics and neglected political and ideological work. And other issues. He demanded that in the work in 1965, we must "emphasize politics" and focus on the study of Chairman Mao's works, setting off a climax of studying Mao's works in the whole army.

Pan Guangfu said: At that time, my grandfather Mai Changhong was an active promoter of the army's learning of Mao's style, and he was commended many times. But at that time, inside and outside the party, inside and outside the army, a view was formed: Lin Biao followed Chairman Mao closely, but Liu Shaoqi failed to do so; there were conflicts between Mao and Liu, and there were also conflicts between Liu and Lin. The focus of this contradiction is "following closely" and "not following closely".

In order to set off a climax of military training, the headquarters of the Central Military Commission decided that on June 15, 1964, an army-wide military skill report performance meeting would be held in Xikou, Pingfang and Ming Tombs in Beijing. The troops participating in the exercise are the best selected from the whole army, mainly the Beijing Military Region and the Jinan Military Region. In fact, these so-called "top talents" are carefully cultivated and cannot represent the true general level of the entire army. In modern language, "big martial arts competition" later became "playing acrobatics" and "putting on airs". Of course, there are also practical ones. Such as: chemical defense soldiers, engineering soldiers, automobile soldiers, railway soldiers, cooking soldiers, etc. The big contest promoted the "technical innovation" of these arms.

The contest was initiated by General Luo Ruiqing, Secretary-General of the Central Military Commission and Chief of Staff, and approved by the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission. At 8:30 a.m. on June 15, 1964, party and state leaders Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Chen Yun, Deng Xiaoping, Dong Biwu, Peng Zhen, He Long, Chen Yi, Nie Rongzhen, in the presence of Chief of General Staff Luo Ruiqing, commander of the Beijing Military Region Accompanied by Yang Yong, commander of the Jinan Military Region, and Yang Dezhi, commander of the Jinan Military Region, came to the training ground.

Mao Zedong asked Yang Yong, "Is there any unit of Yang Chengwu's?"

Yang Yong said, "Chairman, the performance of the 196th Division will start in a while." Mao Zedong looked very happy, and looked around with a telescope from time to time.

During the performance, the 196th Infantry Division sang the leading role. This division has won many entries. The 196th Division was originally a brigade of the Three Corps and Three Columns of the North China Field Army, under Yang Chengwu's command. It is a heroic unit capable of fighting tough and vicious battles, and made outstanding contributions in the Korean War. This division is the only division of our People's Liberation Army open to the outside world. Chairman Mao Zedong personally signed the order. Over the years, all heads of state, heads of government, party chairman, general secretary, and foreign military commanders who have visited our country have visited this division. This division is a window that embodies the "mighty division, benevolent division" of our People's Liberation Army.

There are many events in the big competition, including individual submachine gun bursts. The four soldiers of the 196th Division entered the field with guns, and they were as agile as leopards running and tigers leaping. The clear gunshot of "da da da da" resounded through the shooting range. The four Pixiu fired 20 bullets in just 10 seconds. Luo Ruiqing took this gun and reported to Mao Zedong, "This is the latest submachine gun developed by ourselves. It can be fired in bursts and bursts. It is easy to operate and has a high hit rate."

Mao Zedong said enthusiastically, "The Red Army is good at night combat and melee combat. Only by doing more night combat melee combat training can we defeat the enemy."

Luo Ruiqing nodded and said "yes". Three mortars are lined up in front of the formation and ready to fire. Luo Ruiqing said to Chairman Mao: "These are three incomplete mortars, one without a shooter, one without a shell, and one without a sight."

Mao Zedong asked strangely, "Why is this?"

Luo Ruiqing replied: "When the Long March crossed the Jinsha River, Zhao Chengzhang was on the incomplete mortar, and used only three mortar shells to wipe out the enemy at the bridgehead on the other side, ensuring that 17 warriors crossed the Jinsha River." Chief Luo also said: "During the Long March, Yang Dezhi also served as an artilleryman. He competed with Zhao Chengzhang, and Zhao Chengzhang won." Mao Zedong and Yang Dezhi both burst out laughing. Mao Zedong was delighted by the three broken cannons on the training ground, all of which fired without fail.

After dinner, as night fell, Yang Dezhi said to Mao Zedong: "The night battle is about to begin. A 3,000-meter cross-country raid." When watching the night attack, Mao Zedong was very excited. He stood up for the second time and picked up the binoculars to find out where the attacking soldiers were. When he saw that the "red dots" succeeded in attacking the enemy's target in the distance, he praised him greatly and shouted "I saw it, I saw it"!

After Liu Shaoqi and Zhou En came to watch the warrior climbing performance, he said, "It's amazing, it's amazing"! Liu Shaoqi said, "Ask the General Logistics Department to order some shoes with nails on the soles for the scouts."

Yang Dezhi replied: "Our soldiers wear rubber-soled liberation shoes."

On the training ground, there was a lot of excitement and joy, Luo Ruiqing was elated, and Boss He was also very happy.

When Pan Guangfu said this, he paused for a moment and then said: "My grandfather Mai Changhong once told me that what was inexplicable at that time was that Lin Biao, who was the first vice chairman of the Central Military Commission and presided over the work of the Central Military Commission, was not present. The reason for Lin Biao's absence did not come to light until December 8, 1965. Who would have known that Lin Biao had already set up a trap to kill Luo Ruiqing and He Long at the time when their generals were happy."

On December 28, 1964, Mao Zedong severely criticized Liu Shaoqi's above-mentioned formulation at the Central Work Conference. At the same time, the "17 Articles" presided over by Liu Shaoqi were rejected, and the "23 Articles" were re-enacted.

At the Central Work Conference, the participants never expected such serious differences and conflicts between Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi. After this struggle, Mao Zedong completely changed his view and attitude towards Liu Shaoqi, and made up his mind to overthrow Liu Shaoqi.

Pan Guangfu sighed: "Therefore, the conflict between Mao and Liu was not accidental, and Lin Biao's actions were greatly praised by Mao Zedong. Lin Biao's succession was not accidental. At that time, like my grandfather, many veteran cadres in the army chose to stand there. Mao Zedong and Lin Biao. No one would have thought of what happened afterwards."