Chapter 83 6. The friendship between Zhu De and Wei Lihuang

In the later period of the Ciwu Shelin campaign, Wei Lihuang, the commander of the Kuomintang's first war zone, interceded with Commander-in-Chief Zhu De and asked the Eighth Route Army to stop pursuing.The Eighth Route Army Headquarters focused on the overall situation of the Anti-Japanese War and agreed to Wei Lihuang's request. Defeating Zhu Huaibing repelled the Kuomintang's first anti-communist upsurge and greatly improved the situation of the War of Resistance in North China.In this regard, the Eighth Route Army headquarters made no noise.Zhu De said: "They kept silent, and neither did we. They lost the battle and kept silent, but we won, so why bother to publicize like that!"

Maintaining such a "normal heart" in the face of victory is a strategy and a superb fighting skill. The first meeting between Zhu De and Wei Lihuang was during the Luoyang Conference in mid-January 1938 two years ago. At that time, when the battlefield in Shanxi was relatively calm, Chiang Kai-shek held a meeting of the generals of the first and second theaters in Luoyang, Henan. The Eighth Route Army was attended by Zhu De, Peng Dehuai and three division commanders. Zhu De and his party first arrived in Linfen, and then on January 13, they took a train southward via Fengling and crossed the Yellow River to Luoyang.In Linfen, Zhu De and Wei Lihuang met for the first time.

Wei Lihuang was born in the army. He followed Sun Yat-sen in revolutionary activities in his early years, and later became a capable general of Chiang Kai-shek.However, he was born in poverty, integrity, and patriotism. After the Anti-Japanese War began, Wei Lihuang saw that so many Chinese troops on the front line in North China were defeated, and only the Eighth Route Army was victorious. He was very impressed.He had admired Zhu De for a long time, and Zhu De also appreciated his positive attitude of resisting Japan.In the Battle of Xinkou, they commanded troops to fight together and dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese invading army. They had a deep impression of each other, but they had never met each other.

This trip to Luoyang in the same car provided them with a chance to have a long talk.The two talked very congenially.Wei Lihuang was very impressed by Zhu Demin's plain and simple appearance, sincere and humble attitude, his extraordinary experience from being a senior general of the old army to the commander-in-chief of the Red Army, and the principles of resisting Japan and saving the country.Zhu De also had a good impression of Wei Lihuang.Since then, a friendship has developed between these two Chinese soldiers with similar backgrounds but very different paths. At the Luoyang meeting, it was decided to counterattack Taiyuan.According to this plan, the Eighth Route Army was tasked with cutting off the northern section of the Tongpu Railway and the Zhengtai Railway, as well as cutting off traffic behind the Japanese army.But the plan to counterattack Taiyuan was not implemented.After the Luoyang meeting, Peng Dehuai went to Wuhan once, and Chiang Kai-shek asked him if the Eighth Route Army could send troops to attack the Jinpu Railway when the Qingsha tent was up, in solidarity with the Xuzhou battle.After Peng Dehuai came back to study with Zhu De, they believed that they could cope with the Xuzhou battle and develop eastward, and decided to "send a powerful detachment to the east of the Ping-Han line to attack the Jinpu line." (Zhu and Peng's Order to Coordinate Operations in the Fifth Theater, February 5, 1938)

In order to strengthen the power to harass the Pinghan Railway and Jinpu Railway, Wei Lihuang transferred 6 regiments from his subordinates to Zhu De to command.Zhu De assigned 2 regiments to the 120th Division and 4 regiments to the 129th Division. (Zhu and Ren sent telegrams to Mao Zedong and others regarding Wei Lihuang's selection of 6 regiments to command the Eighth Route Army, January 26, 1938) Zhu De ordered the 129th Division to lead a detachment led by Song Renqiong after the four regiments arrived at the designated location, and take advantage of the emptiness of enemy troops on Pinghan Road and Jinpu Road to go deep into southern Hebei for activities.In addition to cooperating with the Xuzhou Battle, the task of this detachment was to "launch the people's anti-Japanese struggle and organize armed guerrillas" in this plain area to prepare for the establishment of anti-Japanese base areas in the future.

Zhu De repeatedly asked Liu Bocheng and others to correctly use the friendly troops assigned to the command of the 129th Division, give them the necessary care and assistance, and not let them be accidentally attacked by the enemy, and not use them in too difficult and complicated situations. In this environment, all ministries are required to treat friendly troops with enthusiasm, humility, and sincerity, and they must not be arrogant and look down on friendly troops; road. January 31, 1938 is the Lunar New Year.On this day, Wei Lihuang, Li Mo'an, commander of the 14th Army under him, and Guo Jiqiao, commander of the 9th Army, went to Mamu Village, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, to pay New Year's greetings to Zhu De and others.

It was a sunny day, and the earthen walls of Mamu Village were plastered with slogans such as "Welcome to the hard-working Commander-in-Chief of the Guards", and banners were hung at the entrance of the village.At the welcome meeting, Zhu De spoke highly of the performance and achievements of Wei Lihuang and his men in the Battle of Xinkou. In his speech, Wei Lihuang also expressed his admiration for the bravery of the Eighth Route Army.He said: "I know that the Eighth Route Army is indeed anti-Japanese, and it is the most elite unit for rejuvenating the nation. In particular, the methods and experience of anti-Japanese are very rich. Fight Japan." (Ren Tianma, Yuan Bo: "A Grand Gathering on the Western Front", "The Masses", Volume 1, No. 9, February 1938) Wei Lihuang also asked Zhu De to introduce some people to his army Going to work, Zhao Rongsheng (Ren Tianma), who was a reporter in the Northwest Field Service Corps at the time, was asked by Wei to be his secretary. (Zhao Rongsheng: "Reminiscences of Mr. Wei Lihuang", Literature and History Data Publishing House, January 1985 edition, pp. 54-60)

After that, the friendship between Zhu De and Wei Lihuang developed day by day.Every time they met, the two always had a long talk, sometimes behind closed doors, even for days on end.Kang Keqing said: "Boss Zhu said that Wei Lihuang is reliable. On the surface, it seems that the relationship between Boss Zhu and Wei Lihuang is unusual, and they talk about everything. Before the Sixth Plenary Session, Boss Zhu passed by Wei Lihuang. Give him a pen and a watch. Boss Zhu cherishes these two gifts very much, until they can’t be used later, and specifically told him to keep them for safekeeping.” (Interview with Kang Keqing’s records, July 2, 1988)

Zhu De also often sent progressive books to Wei Lihuang.After that, Wei Lihuang always insisted on progress, unity and resistance in the War of Resistance Against Japan, and his friendship with Zhu De deepened day by day.Therefore, when Wei Lihuang asked Boss Zhu to stop the pursuit at the later stage of the battle, Boss Zhu took full care of his friendship with Wei Lihuang while considering the overall situation of the Anti-Japanese War.