How Deng Xiaoping handled the Red Army's first rebel

"Century Style" published an article "The Red Army's First Rebel General Gong Chu's Repeated Life". The article states that Gong Chu was a leader of the peasant movement on par with Mao Zedong, but he became a traitor after the Long March, attempting to arrest Xiang Ying and Chen Yi, causing heavy losses to the Red Army. When the People's Liberation Army liberated Guangdong and Guangxi in 1949, he surrendered to Lin Biao's troops. Subsequently, the CPC Central Committee...

"Style of the Century" published an article "The First Life of the Red Army" Gong Chu's Repeated Life. The article states that Gong Chu was a leader of the peasant movement on par with Mao Zedong, but he became a traitor after the Long March, attempting to arrest Xiang Ying and Chen Yi, causing heavy losses to the Red Army. When the People's Liberation Army liberated Guangdong and Guangxi in 1949, he surrendered to Lin Biao's troops. Subsequently, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China sent Gong Chu via Hong Kong to Hainan to fight against the Kuomintang army and guard Xue Yue, but Gong Chu was stranded in Hong Kong until he settled in the mainland again after more than 40 years. The excerpt is as follows:

Gong Chu, Fuchang, also known as Gong He Village, was born in November 1901 in Changlai Village, Changlai Town, Lechang County, Guangdong Province. He joined the Chinese Socialist Youth League in Guangzhou in 1924 and became a member of the Communist Party of China in 1925. In June, Gong Chu was dispatched by the Guangdong District Committee of the Communist Party of China to go to the Beijiang Office of the Provincial Farmers Association to work as a peasant movement as a special agent of the Central Peasant Department of the KMT. In the winter of the same year, Gong Chu participated in the establishment of the Kuomintang Party Committee in Lechang County, and was elected as the county party committee executive and supervisory committee member. The following summer, he served as the commander of the Peasant Self-Defense Forces in Lechang County.

After the Ning-Han split in 1927, Gong Chu led more than 500 Lechang farmers in Shaoguan in early May, and joined the Beijiang Workers and Peasants Army to form a "Beijiang Workers 'and Peasants' Army". Cruel Chiang Kai-shek. The troops arrived in Puyang, southern Hunan, and were reorganized into the 13th Army Supplementary Regiment, with Gong Chu as the commander. In mid-July, Gong Chu pulled his troops to Jiangxi and participated in the Nanchang Uprising on August 1. After the uprising, most of the supplementary regiment was incorporated into the 3rd Battalion of the 6th Regiment of the 3rd Division of the 20th Army of the Rebel Army. Gong Chu served as the instructor of the battalion. Soon after, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China dispatched Gong Chu to Changsha to lead the Autumn Harvest Uprising. He was forced to go to Hong Kong to liaise with the underground party because he was attacked by enemy forces on the way.

On January 12, 1928, Zhu De and Chen Yi led a Nanchang Uprising Army to organize a Yizhang riot. The Yizhang peasant army was organized as the Third Division of the Workers and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. Gong Chu was the party's representative. On April 28, Zhu De and Mao Zedong met in Jinggangshan. On May 4, a celebration meeting was held in Sakai, announcing the establishment of the Fourth Red Army. Gong Chu served as the Standing Committee Member of the Fourth Red Army and a representative of the 29th Regiment of the Tenth Division. Together with Mao Zedong and Zhu De, he was called the "Three-member Group of the Red Fourth Army." At that time, the letter from the Hunan Provincial Party Committee of the CPC Central Committee to the former members of the Fourth Army called the Fourth Army "Zhu Maogong." Since then, Gong Chu has participated in the Jinggangshan counterattack of the Kuomintang army's "advance" and "commission". In November, Gong Chu was ordered to go to Changsha to restore and rebuild the municipal party committee. During the attack by the KMT army, he was transferred to Hong Kong by the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee for underground work. Participated in organizing the "Justice News" and "Hong Kong Daily" and held military training courses.

In May 1929, Gong Chu was appointed as a member of the former Guangxi Committee of the Communist Party of China. He served as the secret secretary of the provincial government office in the government of Yu Zuobai, the chairman of the Guangxi Provincial Government, and Li Mingrui, the special dispatcher of the Guangxi government.

After the Baise uprising, the Red Seven Army was established, with Zhang Yunyi as the army commander, Deng Xiaoping as the political commissioner, and Gong Chu as chief of staff. On November 7, 1930, more than 7,000 members of the Red Seven Army gathered in Hechi to organize a reorganization conference. The reorganized Red Seven Army under the jurisdiction of the 19th, 20th, and 21st divisions. Gong Chu continued to serve as Chief of Staff and concurrently the most effective nineteen division and division commander. The political commissar was Deng Xiaoping.

As Gong Chu was familiar with the army building experience and political work system of the Jinggangshan Red Army, he played a significant role in the process of building the Red Seven Army. In January 1931, the Red Seven Army entered southern Hunan, entered Yihua County, Meihua Market, Ruyuan County, Guangdong Province, and attempted to establish a base in order to integrate with the Central Soviet Area of ​​Jiangxi. From the Lianzhou side, they chased the rear of the KMT Guangdong Army Chen Jitang from the Red Seven Army, and the Hunan Army Nineteenth Division from Yizhang, Hunan, went straight to Meihua Market from Xiping Bridge in the direction of Lao Pingshi, with twice the force. , Joint Siege of the Red Seven Army. The Red Seven Army suffered heavy losses when the enemy was strong and weak. Gong Chu was also injured in the hip. In order to save the revolutionary forces and avoid more serious casualties, the Red Seven Army decided to implement a strategic transfer. In April, Gong Chu was transferred to Shanghai for treatment. In August, he left Hong Kong and passed through the Central Soviet Area.

After Gong Chu entered the Central Soviet Area, he was assigned to be the 34 division commander of the Red Twelfth Army. Two months later, he took over as Chief of Staff of the Red Twelfth Army. Only 7 days after taking office, because Li Mingrui was killed in the anti-rebellion, he was transferred to Huichang, Jiangxi, where he took over as the commander of the Red Army. Participated in various battles to expand the Central Soviet Area, such as the Battle of Ganzhou and the Battle of Shuikou.

At the end of 1932, Gong Chu was revoked as the "right-opportunistic mistake", and he was successively re-appointed as the commander of the Red Army Model Regiment, the 22nd Division and Political Committee, and the commander of the Guangdong-Jiangxi Military Region.

In 1933, in accordance with the instructions of the Comintern, a campaign to eliminate landlords was launched in the Central Soviet Area. Successive liquidations have even killed the family members of Red Army cadres, such as the parents and uncles of Yang Yuchun, a Jiangxi independent teacher and teacher, who have been arrested and liquidated, and all the house properties have been confiscated. Gong Chu expressed objection to this policy of indiscriminate killing. At the meeting of senior cadres of the party, government and army held in late May, he was once again put on the hat of "right opportunism" and was severely criticized and educated, and was expelled from the party for one year. The punishment was transferred to the Advanced Research Class of the Senior Training Team of the Red Army University. Gong Chu, discouraged by the revolution's future, had doubts about the revolution for this reason, which was also one of the main reasons for his future rebellion.

In mid-April 1934, because of the severe anemia of the Chief of Staff of the Military Commission, Liu Bocheng was convalesced in Tingzhou Hospital. Gong Chu was transferred to the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Red Army Command to participate in the fifth anti- "encirclement and suppression" in the Central Soviet Area. After the failure of the fifth anti-encirclement and suppression, the Guangdong-Jiangxi Military Region was changed to the Gannan Military Region on September 5th. Gong Chu was appointed as the commander, and one month later he was re-designated as the chief of staff, responsible for the deployment of breakout preparations, and strictly urged the 60th military region. The five regiments took active action to launch guerrilla warfare in Longbu and Changhe areas to eliminate bandits and the Guangdong army in this area. On September 21, Gong Chu reported to Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, and Xiang Ying the deployment to fight and destroy the enemy. Subsequently, the county and district military departments were reorganized into guerrilla headquarters to carry out guerrilla activities.

In October 1934, the fifth defeat of the Central Soviet Area against "encirclement and suppression", the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the CMC led the Central Red Army main force to leave the Central Soviet Area and implement strategic transfer. On the eve of the transfer, the CPC Central Committee decided to set up a branch of the CPC Central Committee in Ruijin, with Xiang Ying serving as secretary. At the same time, the Chinese Soviet Central Government Office was established, with Chen Yi as the director. On the 22nd, the CMC announced the establishment of the Central Military Region, with Xiang Ying as commander and political member, and Gong Chu as chief of staff, commanding the five military regions in Jiangxi, Fujian, Fujian, Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi and their local independent forces. The Twenty-fourth Division, the Red Ten Army, continued to uphold the struggle in the Central Soviet Area and its neighboring Soviet Areas.

At the beginning of 1935, the Kuomintang army stepped up its "clean-up" against the Red Army remaining in the Central Soviet Area, in an attempt to block off the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and other agencies and the Red Army troops in the small areas in the south, and the situation became increasingly serious. In February, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China sent an urgent telegram to the Central Branch, asking the Central Branch to immediately change the way of organization and struggle, and insist on guerrilla warfare in the Central Soviet Area and its adjacent areas. According to the instructions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Central Branch immediately convened an emergency meeting and decided to organize the Red Army troops and staff of the government to break through in 9 lanes. Among them, Gong Chu led about 9 companies of the 71st Regiment of the 24th Division of the Red Army. , Transferred to southern Hunan, to accommodate the Red Army's thirty-fourth division personnel lost during the battle of the Xiangjiang River in the Long March, and opened a guerrilla zone in the area. Later, Gong Chu led a team of 1,200 people in the name of the Red Army Commander in Hunan, Guangdong, and Guizhou Border Areas, and avoided the enemy ’s main blockade. He broke through from Yudu, Jiangxi, and passed Maring, Niuling, and Xinfeng's iron shovel. After passing through Youshan, turned out between Guangdong Meiguan and Nanxiong, entered Beishan, and passed through three battles along the way, breaking through the blockade of small enemy forces and local teams. In mid-March, it arrived in Yixian County, Linwu, Hunan to conduct guerrilla activities. Discontinued with the containment Red Thirty-fourth Division.

In 1935, Gong Chu was ordered to lead a part of the Red Army to go to southern Hunan to conduct a guerrilla war. The guerrillas not only suffered heavy losses in the process of countering "encirclement and suppression", they also lost contact with the central government. The Kuomintang authorities adopted a policy of "boiling and giving" while military "cleaning up" the Red Army and guerrillas. They used money and senior officials to lure weak-willed members of the Communist Party and the Red Army to surrender in order to divide and disintegrate the Communist Party organization. And Red Army troops.

Gong Chu couldn't stand the test of failure, hardship, life and death, felt that his future was slim, he lost confidence in the revolution, and the Kuomintang seduced him, intending to rebel and turn into an enemy. On May 2, 1935, Gong Chu took a company from Linwu Base to Huangmao Village, Li County. That night, he pleaded ill and went to bed after dinner. While the guard was asleep, he fled Huangmao Village in the middle of the night and returned to his hometown, Changlai Village.

Shortly after Gong Chu returned to his hometown, he was introduced by Zhang Zhaoqin, Secretary-General of the Guangzhou Appeasement Office, and served as commander of the Communist Party of Guerrilla in Yu Hanmou, commander of the bandit in the Xiangxiang border area, and director of joint defense in the five counties of northern Guangdong. Because Gong Chu held many important positions in the Red Army, he was also the chief of staff of the Central Military Region, and was the highest position among a number of traitors, so people gave him a title-"the first general of the Red Army."

After Gong Chu's rebellion, he went astray with the Kuomintang army and savagely ransacked the Red Army, guerrillas, local cadres of the Communist Party, and underground Chinese who broke into the enemy army, causing them to suffer major losses or serious threats.

On October 13, Gong Chu led more than 30 members of the KMT Guangdong Army, disguised as a Red Army guerrilla, and arrived in Beishan from Guangdong Renhua. He fought with the bandit Zhou Wenshan for a while, and then came to look for local organizations posing as the Red Army in southern Hunan. He Minxue, the captain of the Beishan Guerrilla Brigade, heard that the old chief Gong Chu was here, and quickly sent any Chang Lin, the master of the special committee of the Gansu-Guangdong border, to contact him. He Changlin immediately rebelled under the inducement of Gong Chu. In order to arrest Xiang Ying and Chen Yi, Gong Chu wrote a letter to Xiang Ying and Chen Yi under the name of taking them to Xiangnan to strengthen their leadership, and signed by He Changlin. The secret transporter of the special commission quickly sent the letter to Xiang Ying and Chen Yi. Xiang Ying was overjoyed when he saw the letter and immediately wanted to meet Gong Chu. However, Chen Yi was very skeptical of this, because Gong Chu claimed to be old and proud and arrogant as early as during the struggle in Jinggangshan, except for Mao Zedong who had no one in his eyes. Why are you suddenly humble now and ask them to "strengthen leadership"? Then he suggested Xiang Ying meet Gong Chu again. Gong Chu, based on Xiang Ying and Chen Yi, did not reply. He was worried that there would be more night dreams. He decided to start with the strength first, and to wipe out the guerrillas in Beishan. Then in Longshi Stone, in the name of convening a meeting of the Red Army guerrillas, they lured the Beishan guerrillas into a set ambush circle and forced the guerrillas to surrender. The guerrillas rose up and resisted. In addition to He Minxue's three bullets, he just rolled down the mountain and rushed out of the siege. Eighty-nine people rushed out of the meeting with injuries, and the remaining 50 people died violently. This is the "Beishan Incident" with the greatest loss and the most serious nature after the troops left by the Long March broke through to the border between Gan and Yue.

On October 20, Gong Chu led the Guangdong Army to "copy" Xiang Ying and Chen Yi. On the way, I encountered Wu Shaohua, a Red Army scout who went out to buy food and goods. He then asked Wu Shaohua to lead the way to Xiang Ying and Chen Yi. Fortunately, Wu Shaohua saw Gong Chu's conspiracy, climbed the mountain before reaching the camp, and notified the sentry to fire the gun. Talents such as Xiang Ying, Chen Yi, Li Letian, Yang Shangkui, and Chen Yixian were quickly transferred and escaped.

At the end of October, Gong Chu guided three Kuomintang divisions to attack the southern Hunan guerrilla zone, causing serious losses to the Hunan-Guangdong-German guerrilla detachment. Fang Weixia, the Propaganda Minister of the Special Committee of Hunan-Guangdong-Gansu Province, was on the spot. Cai Huiwen, a member of the Special Committee of the Gansu Special Administrative Region, was severely sacrificed after being seriously injured. Chen Shan, the secretary of the Special Committee of the Communist Party of China, Hunan, Guangdong, and Jiangxi, was wounded and captured.

After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Gong Chu served as the Colonel's Chief of Staff in the Sun Lianzhong Department of the Five War Zones and was stationed on the Longhai Railway west of Xuzhou, Jiangsu. When the Japanese invaded Guangdong, he served as commander of the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla in the First Column of the Seventh Theater District, fighting fiercely with the Japanese in Conghua Mushell Ridge, and defending Shaozhou. After 1942, he served as Chief of Staff of the 46th Army in the Fourth Theater, Chief of the Officer Training Corps, and Major General of the Military Commission.

After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Gong Chu was the mayor of Xuzhou, the Kuomintang, and soon returned to Guangdong. In 1946, he was elected as a member of the Senate of Guangdong Province. In March 1949, he served as the head of Renhua County, and in May he served as the Commissioner and Security Commander of the Fourth District of Guangdong Province.

In October 1949, the People's Liberation Army marched into Beijiang, and Gong Chu led the security group to flee to Yaoshan, Lechang County. Huang Songjian, director of the CPC Beijiang Office, wrote to persuade Gong Chu to surrender. Gong Chu felt that the KMT had gone, and in November he had to surrender the remnants to surrender to Lin Biao, his former subordinate. In December, the People's Liberation Army was preparing to liberate Hainan Island. Ye Jianying, then governor of Guangdong, asked the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China to agree to send Gong Chu to Hong Kong to go to Hainan to counter the Kuomintang army general Hainan defender and Gong Chu's fellow Xue Xue. Gong Chu promised, but when he arrived in Hong Kong, he was stranded in Hong Kong because he was worried that "there is no good fruit to eat after returning", and he did not persuade Xue Yue.

During his stay in Hong Kong, Gong Chu was invited to Taiwan to meet Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek appointed him to secretly compile the remnants in Hong Kong to form the "Anti-Communist Salvation Army" to cooperate in opportunistic counterattacks to the mainland. However, Gong Chu knew that the KMT had gone and remained unmoved, and decided to leave the political vortex from now on, and renamed Gong Songzhang to return to Hong Kong to start an industry. Gong Chu spent more than 40 years in Hong Kong.

In the late 1980s, after the Supreme People ’s Court and the Supreme People ’s Procuratorate issued an announcement that they would no longer prosecute Kuomintang military and political personnel for their criminal actions before the founding of the People ’s Republic of China, nearly 90 Gong Chu heard the idea of ​​returning home. Relevant departments promptly reported the incident up to the news, and requested the specifications for the reception and how to deal with it in the future. The United Front Department's final reply: Gong Chu's return to his hometown was settled according to the internal problems of the people, and he was treated as a former KMT mid-level military and political officer.

On the evening of September 13, 1990, Gong Chu and his wife came to Shaoguan from Shenzhen by train. At the reception hosted by the leaders of the United Front Work Department of Lechang County Party Committee, the County Government Office, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, and Changlai Town, Gong Chu handed over three letters prepared to Deng Xiaoping, Yang Shangkun, and Wang Zhen and sent them on behalf . The contents of the three letters are roughly the same, mainly greeting and asking his old colleague for permission to return to his hometown. At the same time, a telegram was sent to Deng Xiaoping in the name of Gong Chu, reporting that he had returned home from Hong Kong.

When Deng Xiaoping called Gong Chu in Beijing, nearly blind Gong Chu held the handset and listened to Deng Xiaoping's greetings.

On July 24, 1995, Gong Chu died at his home in Changlai Town, Lechang County, at the age of 95.