Chapter 79 Mao Zedong's first secretary Tan Zheng

At the beginning of 1928, the 23-year-old Tan Zheng was selected by the organization to serve as the secretary of the former committee. When Tan Zheng greeted the rising sun and rushed to Long City, the seat of the former committee, Mao Zedong, who had worked at his desk all night, was smoking and resting. "Report!" "Please come in!" Mao Zedong hurriedly opened the door, "Is this Comrade Tan Zheng? You came back from Caolinxu!" "Yes! Committee Member Mao." At that time, Tan Zheng led a work team and had just returned from mobilizing the masses and beating local tyrants to raise money from Caolinwei in Suichuan.

"Is your old father-in-law, Mr. Chen Shaochun, okay?" Tan Zheng was stunned!Although he heard from his father-in-law that he knew Mao Zedong, how did Mao Zedong know about their relationship as a son-in-law?Besides, he changed his name. Mao Zedong explained to the suspicious Tan Zheng: "Isn't your original name called Tan Shiming? I have already learned that. Last year when I went to my hometown in Hunan to investigate the peasant movement, I met Mr. Chen Shaochun in Xiangxiang. He said, Only when the morals of this world are so chaotic can we distinguish between high and low, good and bad. He said it so happily! He mentioned it to me at the time, saying that he sent his eldest son, Chen Geng, and that his second and third sons also went out to revolutionize. No. No, even my son-in-law Tan Shiming recently went to Hankou to join the National Revolutionary Army!"

Tan Zheng's original name was indeed Tan Shiming. During the Great Revolution, he went to Hankou, participated in the revolution with the help of his wife and brother, and changed his name to Tan Zheng. After the failure of the Great Revolution, he entered the security regiment of the Second Front Army Headquarters of the Fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and served as a secretary and secretary in the secret service battalion.Later, he participated in the Autumn Harvest Uprising, and was incorporated into the officer corps when Sanwan was reorganized.After the troops went to Jinggangshan, they were first introduced by Liao Chunfang and Wan Xi to join the Communist Party of China during the training camp in Dajing.During the second attack on Chaling, the captain of a propaganda team was transferred.

"Commissioner Mao, I'm here to report to the Front Committee. Where is the Front Committee?" Tan Zheng asked. "Where is it?" Mao Zedong laughed: "It's right here, I am a secretary, and you are a secretary." Only then did Tan Zheng take a closer look at Mao Zedong's residence, and he saw that in the simple room, the most conspicuous thing was the desk full of books, the brush on the inkstone, and a few pages just written next to an oil lamp. of the manuscript. Seeing Tan Zheng's suspicious face, Mao Zedong said to him, "You bring your luggage here and live in the outer room. I need your help very much now, look—" Mao Zedong pointed to the newly written manuscripts on the table, "These manuscripts haven't been transcribed yet. When you come, do this first."

In this way, Tan Zheng came to work with Mao Zedong. The front committee organization is very simple, but the work of the front committee is very busy. Tan Zheng later recalled: I worked as a secretary in the front committee. Don't imagine that the front committee has any offices and desks. As it is now, how does an organization organize and divide labor? , not to mention.The front committee is just a few writers and mimeographers.There is no telephone, no radio transmission, no correspondents, etc. To write a letter, you have to run and rely on your own two legs.The drafting of the document was done by Comrade Mao Zedong himself. After the document was drafted, it was just a matter of discussion with several people. There was no such thing as circled text.Pencils are used for writing, and there are very few writing brushes. Only Comrade Mao Zedong has writing brushes.

In May 1928, the Hunan-Jiangxi Border Special Committee was established. Mao Zedong served as the secretary of the special committee. As secretary, Tan Zheng assisted Mao Zedong in a lot of paperwork, including the copying and copying of the important manuscript "The Struggle in Jinggangshan". Tan Zhengqing clearly remembers: "Comrade Mao Zedong's report to the Central Committee, that is, the article "The Struggle in Jinggangshan", was finished in Longshi. He drafted it for a long time, and it was not drafted in one place. I was the secretary at the time, and I was asked to copy it. Copied... I still remember clearly that I copied the report of "The Struggle in Jinggang Mountains" on very thin bamboo paper. The characters were written very small and densely. The set was transferred from the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee to the central government, and it was issued in Long City. The central government sent a traffic officer, who was a worker in Shuikoushan, Hunan. The central government sent him to Jinggangshan to live in Long City. When we sent him away , rolled up the documents in the umbrella handle and took them away."

Working beside Mao Zedong, Tan Zheng personally felt Mao Zedong's leadership art. When the troops were in Zhongcun, Lingxian County, one day, the 31st Regiment reported that Chen Bojun shot and killed Lu Chi, the leader of the teaching team, and asked for instructions on how to deal with it. Tan Zheng was surprised when he heard this.He was transferred from the 31st Regiment, and he knew Lu Chi and Chen Bojun well.He quickly learned what happened: Chen Bojun was very young at the time, only about 20 years old.He did not know where to get a broken small pistol, which was indeed more precious when there were not many guns at that time.He messed around and managed to fix the gun.He was very excited about it.

At this time, it happened that the leader of the teaching team, Lu Chi, and others came back from the outside. Chen Bojun ran out of the room happily, shouting: "Captain, captain, I have repaired the gun." trigger. With a "bang", the gun rang, and Lu Chi was shot and fell to the ground and died. Killing the teaching captain Lu Chi was no small matter. Although it was an accidental mistake, it was an officer who was killed after all!At that time, the army did not have clear regulations on how to deal with things like guns going off fire. The Red Army had strict discipline. Would it be severely punished?Tan Zheng sweated for Chen Bojun.

Sure enough, when the Soldiers Committee was discussing this issue, many people believed that although the gun went off by accident, if the leader of the teaching team was killed, he must be severely punished; some even proposed to shoot Chen Bojun. At that time, the soldiers' committees in the Red Army participated in democratic management. Matters that violated military discipline were to be handed over to the soldiers' committee for decision.But the gun goes off and kills people, but it has never been encountered before, and they have not made a final decision. The issue was submitted to Mao Zedong for a decision.

Mao Zedong said: "Don't! He was shot to death by accident, not on purpose. One has already been shot to death, and the other will be shot. Isn't there two missing?" When Mao Zedong said this, the Soldiers Committee felt that it was reasonable, and discussed and agreed not to shoot Chen Bojun.However, the palm still has to be played. In the end, Chen Bojun was punished for playing 50 hands. Tan Zheng witnessed the whole process of Chen Bojun's gun misfire incident. He was worried at the beginning, worried that Chen Bojun would be shot to death. Because the Red Army had not many personnel, young cadres like Chen Bojun were even more precious. It would be a pity if they were sentenced to death for negligently wounding others, and it would not be conducive to the cause of the revolution.Fortunately, Mao Zedong did not act emotionally, but proceeded from the interests of the revolution, and cleverly punished him lightly, saving Chen Bojun's life.

Tan Zheng very much agreed with Mao Zedong's approach and learned a lot from it. After Tan Zheng served as secretary for a period of time, Mao Zedong sent him to the 31st Regiment to inspect and rectify the discipline of the troops. This happened after the troops captured Yongxin City.At that time, the Red Thirty-one Regiment was stationed in Yongxin City. Its foundation was the First Regiment of the Workers and Peasants Revolution during the Autumn Harvest Uprising, and its foundation is supposed to be good.However, building a new type of army that is completely different from the old one will not happen overnight.Just when the troops were about to withdraw from Yongxin City, some people reverted to their old ways, and the old habits of the old army emerged again, especially a few cadres who were former officers. Some went to kilns and played cards; The performance of these cadres directly affected the discipline of the troops. Therefore, some soldiers "confiscated" all merchants, grabbed and grabbed things in the shops, and did not let go of small merchants and peddlers, even haircuts. Pick out the city with a clatter! When Mao Zedong learned about it, he was very angry. He sent Tan Zheng to the 31st Regiment to inspect the troops who had withdrawn from Yongxin for their violation of discipline, violation of urban policies, and infringement of the interests of the masses, in order to strengthen the political work of the troops. . Tan Zheng did not disappoint Mao Zedong's trust. He conducted a serious and responsible inspection and rectification of the 31st Regiment's violation of policies and disciplines in Yongxin, as well as some problems in the political work of the army, and wrote a special topic to the former committee Report.Mao Zedong read the report, approved the words "Military discipline is the lifeblood of the army", and reiterated the three major disciplines and six points of attention to the Red Army troops. Tan Zheng's political level and work ability were appreciated by Mao Zedong.Soon, He Tingying, the representative of the 31st Regiment, died, and Mao Zedong sent Tan Zheng to take over He Tingying's job.Before leaving, Mao Zedong and Tan Zheng talked about the importance of political work and how to do it well.At the end, Mao Zedong said to him as if joking and encouraging: "Tan Zheng, this time we are really talking about politics." At this time, Tan Zheng was only 23 years old.Since then, he has formed an indissoluble bond with the political work of the People's Army. After leaving the Jinggangshan base area, Tan Zheng basically never left the people's army, and most of his work was in the political work of the army. During the period of the Red Army, he served as Secretary-General of the Military Commission of the Fourth Red Army, Director of the Training Department of the Political Department of the Army, Director of the Political Department of the Twelfth Red Army, Political Commissar of the First Division of the First Red Army, Director of the Organization Department of the Political Department of the First Red Army, and participated in the Long March. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, he served as director of the Political Department of the Eighth Route Army, director of the General Political Department of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, deputy political commissar and director of the Political Department of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia-Shanxi-Sui Joint Defense Army. During the War of Liberation, he served as director of the Political Department of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army, deputy political commissar and director of the Political Department of the Fourth Field Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. After the liberation of the whole country, he served as the third political commissar of the Central South Military Region, director of the General Political Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, deputy minister of national defense, and member of the Standing Committee of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China. In 1955, Tan Zheng was awarded the rank of general of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.