Chapter 72 Commander Zhu De and Zhu De's pole

Zhu De, Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and First Marshal of the People's Republic of China. People respectfully called Zhu De "Boss Zhu", and during the Jinggangshan struggle, people called him "Junior Zhu". Commander Zhu during the Jinggangshan base area was closely linked with Committee Member Mao, and even their enemies were called "Zhu Mao". Since then, Mao Zedong and Zhu De have almost become the symbols of the Chinese revolution, "our Chairman Mao", "our commander-in-chief", people have been calling them for decades.

From Commander Zhu to Commander-in-Chief, from Jinggangshan to Beijing, Zhu De's life is full of legends. Zhu De, styled Yukai (Yujie). Born on December 1, 1886, in a tenant farmer's family in Lijiawan at the foot of Linlangzhai, Yilong County, Sichuan Province.Before he went to Jinggangshan, his experience was already rich enough. In his early years, he joined the Tongmenghui led by Sun Yat-sen and participated in the 1911 Revolution. In 1915, he participated in the uprising against Yuan Shikai's restoration of the emperor in Yunnan. In 1917, he participated in the war of protecting the law against Duan Qirui's traitorous government in Sichuan.

After the October Revolution, he gradually accepted Marxism. In 1922, he, who had served as the brigade commander and senior official of the Sichuan Army, asked Chen Duxiu, chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of China, to join the Communist Party of China, but Chen Duxiu coldly refused. In 1922, at the age of 36, like many young people, he traveled across the ocean to study in Europe, first in Germany, and then in the Soviet Union to study political and military theories. Still in 1922, he was introduced by Zhang Shenfu and Zhou Enlai, the heads of the European Organization of the CCP, and finally joined the Chinese Communist Party. However, for work needs, he was a secret party member who did not disclose his identity as a member of the Communist Party.

In 1926, Zhu De returned to China from the Soviet Union and devoted himself to the Northern Expedition. In 1927, under the instructions of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, Zhu De went to Nanchang, Jiangxi to work in the Third Army of the National Revolutionary Army.He has successively served as the head of the officer education regiment of the Third Army, the General Counselor of the Fifth Front Army, and the director of the Nanchang Public Security Bureau. When he was the director of the Nanchang Public Security Bureau, he participated in the Nanchang Uprising led by the Communist Party of China.Zhou Enlai once spoke highly of Zhu De's role in the Nanchang Uprising, calling him "a very good staff member and guide".

After the troops of the Nanchang Uprising successfully captured Nanchang City, the uprising troops still used the designation of the Second Front Army of the National Revolutionary Army and had three armies under its jurisdiction. Zhu De was appointed as the commander of the Ninth Army. From then on, Zhu De was a commander of the National Revolutionary Army led by the party. However, the Ninth Army did not have many troops, and the main force was the education regiment reorganized from part of the uprising troops of the former Third Army Officer Education regiment that Zhu De had served as the regiment leader.

The division of troops at Sanheba was an important turning point. As the commander of the army, Zhu De took on the important task of being alone.He lived up to the trust of the officers and soldiers of the army. At the critical juncture when the main force was defeated in Chaoshan, he led the rebel troops who stayed at Sanheba to escape the danger and turn the crisis into safety. Since then, the image of a military commander who is fearless, wise and brave in the face of danger has been established among the officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary Army. After that, he led the uprising troops, moved to southern Hunan, outwitted Yizhang, launched the southern Hunan uprising, and led the team to Jinggang.This fully demonstrates his talents as a staunch revolutionary and excellent military commander.

At the end of April 1928, Zhu De led the troops of the Nanchang Uprising and the Shonan Uprising to the Jinggangshan base area, and successfully joined forces with the Autumn Harvest Uprising troops led by Mao Zedong. Zhu De got acquainted with Mao Zedong, and since then began the cooperation and revolutionary friendship between the two great men for nearly half a century. The two joined forces decided to merge to form a new force. What designation should this new army use? Zhu De made a good suggestion: "I advocate using the designation of the Fourth Army. During the Northern Expedition, Ye Ting's Fourth Army was invincible and made outstanding achievements repeatedly. It was known as the 'Iron Army'. We followed the designation of the Fourth Army, showing that Our army is determined to inherit the glorious tradition of Ye Ting's army and make new contributions to the liberation of the Chinese people."

Everyone applauded unanimously, and Zhu De's proposal was approved. When electing the commander of the Fourth Army, several leaders gave way to each other.Mao Zedong advocated that Zhu Delai be the commander of the army. He said for good reasons: "Zhu De has rich experience in military struggles. He also studied military theory and received military training in the early stage. He is most suitable to be the commander of the army." Wan Xi immediately agreed: "As early as more than ten years ago, Zhu De was a brigade commander who was well-known in the Sichuan-Guizhou region. Now he is more than enough to be an army commander."

Hearing what everyone said, Zhu De became anxious: "No, no, there are brilliant stars and talents here, and many of them are outstanding military commanders. Let someone else be the commander." "Brother Yujie, those who can do more work, so don't refuse." Everyone said in unison. As a result, Zhu De was elected as the commander of the Fourth Army, and Mao Zedong was elected as the party representative of the Fourth Army.Zhu and Mao have been linked together since then. Zhu De's army commander this time is the supreme military commander of the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Base Area, and he is a veritable commander-in-chief of the Red Army.

As soon as Commander Zhu De took office, he led the troops to win several consecutive victories. In the first battle of Wudoujiang, Zhu Delue used a clever plan to attack the west from the east. He used the 29th regiment to confuse the enemy in Huangao, and set up an ambush with the 28th regiment in Wudoujiang, defeating the enemy. The Red Army not only repelled the Jiangxi enemy's second attack "Invasion and Suppression" and took advantage of the victory to occupy Yongxin City. In the Caoshiao battle, Zhu De led his troops to march 130 miles in one breath, defeated the 79th regiment in one fell swoop, and appeared miraculously at the foot of Yongxin City, scaring the enemy commander Yang Ruxuan and his men to the shit and fled in embarrassment.

The victory at Longyuankou even defeated Jiangxi's "two sheep" in one fell swoop, and achieved the biggest victory since the establishment of the Jinggangshan base.This battle not only defeated the three divisions of the Jiangxi enemy, shattered the joint "suppression" of the enemies in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces, but also laid a solid foundation for the development of the base area and the Red Army. As the commander of the army, Zhu De played a vital role in the armed struggle in the Jinggangshan base area. "The Fourth Red Army was mainly commanded by Zhu De when it was in Jinggangshan." General Xiao Ke, who served as the company commander of the Fourth Red Army in Jinggangshan, recalled: "The officers and soldiers of the Fourth Army, especially those who participated in the Nanchang Uprising and continued to fight after the failure of Sanheba, No matter what kind of danger you encounter, as long as Commander Zhu De is around, you will feel at ease." Zhu De is the commander of the Fourth Red Army. He has the majesty of a commander. He commanded the Fourth Red Army to win battles one after another. Zhu De is also a soldier of the Fourth Red Army. He is like an ordinary soldier. The principle of unity between officers and soldiers is practiced in the Red Army. The most talked about by soldiers and civilians in Jinggangshan is the well-known and well-known story of "Zhu De's shoulder pole". It was in the winter of 1928. In order to build a solid military base, the soldiers and civilians in Jinggangshan launched a vigorous movement of carrying food up the mountain. The commanders and fighters of all units of the Fourth Red Army actively participated in picking grain.No one expected that Zhu De, the army commander, also proposed to go down the mountain to pick up grain in person! At this time, Zhu De was over 40 years old, and he was considered "old" in the Fourth Red Army. As an army commander, he was busy with work.Therefore, everyone advised him not to participate.But he insisted on going, and no one could persuade him.Due to the large number of people who participated in the food picking, there was a shortage of food picking tools for a while, and all the shipping tools in the masses' homes were borrowed by the army.Zhu De asked Fan Shude, director of military supplies, to make a shoulder pole for him. Fan Shude immediately brought an orderly to Taoliao Village, bought a moso bamboo with a copper dollar, and cut it into two poles.Keep one for your own use, give the other to Zhu De, and write "Zhu De's shoulder pole" on one end of the pole with a brush, and write the words "No Mishandling" on the other end. According to the unified task, the Fourth Red Army headquarters transported grain up the mountain from the Bailu grain storage point in Ninggang.From Bailu to Jinggangshan, it is farther and steeper than from Maoping and Dalong.Generally, a strong Red Army soldier can carry about thirty to forty catties.Zhu De is older, so it should be reasonable to carry less food, but when he was carrying food, one end of the burden was three white cloth rice bags that he carried when he was marching, and the other end was a coarse cloth sewn by a northerner called "carrying a yard". The two ends of the rice bag together can hold 40 catties of rice, together with a German-made No. 3 sheller that he often wears and a leather bullet bag with more than a hundred rounds of bullets, the total is 46 to 7 catties. Seeing this, the soldiers were afraid that their commander would be exhausted, so they "stealed" Zhu De's shoulder pole to force him to rest. However, the comrades who hid the shoulder poles never expected that Commander Zhu not only did not take a break because of this, but instead found another shoulder pole.Moreover, this time he personally used a hatchet to flatten the shoulder pole, and wrote "Zhu De's shoulder pole" in five vigorous characters. What more is there to say! Since then, the soldiers have never "stealed" Zhu De's shoulder pole, and their enthusiasm for picking food has also become higher.Someone also made up a ballad to express the joy of confidence in the revolutionary struggle: Zhu De picked up the valley and went up the col, the food was absolutely reliable, and everyone worked together to smash the enemy's "conference and suppression". Whenever they are tired from carrying food up the mountain, the soldiers use this song to cheer each other up, so no one feels tired or bitter. From then on, as Fan Shude said: "The story of 'Zhu De's pole' and Commander Zhu carrying food across Huangyang'ao, spread throughout the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Base and the Central Soviet Area in southern Jiangxi and western Fujian as if he had grown wings. The whole country was liberated Later, it spread to Beijing and spread throughout China." The pole that Zhu De used to carry food is now preserved in the Jinggangshan Revolutionary History Museum, and has become a family heirloom of the hard work of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.