"What's so urgent?You don't even miss the time to untie your hand. ”Seeing that Chen Geng actually went directly to the toilet to find him, ** was very puzzled.
"Didn't you tell me to hurry?”Chen Geng said as he handed over the document to ***.
After taking the document and reading it carefully, he immediately gave instructions and said with a smile: "You really have a way, find a toilet to ask me to work, this is your great invention." ”
Such a scene appeared many times later between *** and Chen Geng. The reason why Chen Geng often goes to the toilet to "block" ** is also helpless.
At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, as the prime minister and the chief of the government, he was busy holding meetings and meeting foreign guests every day. So Chen Geng had to wait outside the conference room every time, and when he went to the toilet between meetings, he hurriedly asked him to sign.
So, what is Chen Geng so urgent to go to the toilet to block ***?
In June 1952, the war on the Korean Peninsula had not yet been completely resolved and the situation was still unclear. At this time, Chen Geng, who served as the first deputy commander of the Chinese People's Volunteers, received a telegram from **, and he was holding a meeting with the officers and men of the Chinese People's Volunteers at this time.
After carefully reading the contents of the telegram, he walked straight into the venue, glanced at the officers and soldiers under the **, raised the telegram in his hand, and said to everyone with a smile: "Comrades, there is a new situation, I have just received a telegram from the ** Military Commission, and I am going to go into the wilderness!”
After receiving the order, Chen Geng left for China without stopping for a moment. It took him three days to break through the blockade of the U.S. Air Force and reach Dandong, where he immediately returned to Beijing without stopping.
The war in Korea is in a stalemate, and it seems a little unreasonable for Chen Geng, who is now urgently adjusting to command the operation, to return to China.
But it does happen for a reason. At this time, a new and more important task awaited him - the creation of a military engineering school.
As a matter of fact, as early as the founding of New China, Stalin suggested to the Chinese leaders that a comprehensive military academy be set up in China to train military personnel in the land, sea, and air fields.
Statue of General Chen Geng in front of the Kazakh Military Industry Memorial Hall).
After the outbreak of the Korean War, because China's military industry was still relatively backward at that time, the aircraft, tanks and other equipment used by the volunteers were all made in the Soviet Union. In addition to the weak production capacity of the military industry, China also lacked professional maintenance personnel at that time.
At this time, the need and urgency to modernize the army was felt. Especially after submitting a report on the comparison of the strength of our army and the US army on the Korean battlefield, we realized the importance of military equipment and modernity, and decided to start cultivating our country's military talents.
In March 1952, ***, who served as the chief of the General Staff, submitted the "Report on the Establishment of the Military Engineering Academy" to ***. The chairman immediately agreed, and entrusted the important task to Su Yu, deputy chief of the General Staff.
It was against this background that the "Kazakh Military Industry" came into being. At Su Yu's suggestion, it was decided that Chen Geng would be specifically responsible for the construction of the Military Academy.
U.S. tanks on the Korean battlefield).
Soon after returning to Beijing, Chen Geng went to Zhongnanhai to meet *** and others, and reported in detail about the situation on the Korean battlefield.
During this period, when he said that "although our army is politically strong, it is impossible to defeat the enemy with modern equipment without technical equipment, and technical weapons are indeed the final factor that determines the victory or defeat of the war".
"If we have modern equipment and skilled cadres, it will not be a problem to drive the enemy out of North Korea. We have decided to solve this problem of backward technology and equipment, and we have transferred you back to create a higher military engineering and technical college, and you will be the president and political commissar. ”
At this time, Chen Geng was not mentally prepared at all, and when he heard that the chairman was going to hand over such an important task to him, he quickly stood up and shirked and said: "No, no, I was born in the army, and running a school is separated from fighting, I'm afraid I won't be able to do it well." ”
Old photo of Whampoa Military Academy).
And *** said: "If you can't do it, who can do it?"If you have any difficulties to solve with the prime minister, and with the assistance of the Soviet Union, with your intelligence and energy, you will definitely be able to do a good job. ”
You have lived in the Whampoa Military Academy, run the Red Army Infantry School, and led the Red Army cadre regiment. You can't do it, and no one else even has any experience with you. Seeing Chen Geng's resignation, ** also encouraged him.
With the encouragement of the two leaders, Mao and Zhou, Chen Geng dispelled his worries, no longer shirked, and happily accepted the order.
In fact, when he fought with the US army on the Korean battlefield before, Chen Geng witnessed the huge gap between the equipment of our army and the US army. Volunteer soldiers used grenades to hit enemy howitzers, and incendiary bombs against heavy armored vehicles and tanks of the US army. At this time, he already had the idea of building a modern army in his heart.
U.S. military during the Korean War***
In order to make the college land as soon as possible and invest in running the school and cultivating talents as soon as possible, he personally came forward and finally decided to approve the campus of Harbin Medical University to Chen Geng through multi-party coordination, which was taken as the foothold of the college and expanded on this basis.
During the early war years, Chen Geng suffered a leg injury that caused him to suffer from a lifelong leg disease. Chen Geng, who suffered from a serious leg disease but resolutely took over the responsibility, pointed out that due to the urgency of timeHe decided to adopt a three-pronged strategy of building a school, inviting professors, and recruiting students
Despite the strong support of the first and the great help of Soviet experts, there were still many difficulties. In order to solve these problems, Chen Geng could only bite the bullet and "dig into the corners of the wall everywhere", and for a time he became an uninvited guest boycotted by major colleges and universities.
What if there is no research building?How to solve the shortage of teachers?Experts and professors have been brought in, how can they be better retained?How to do a good job of cooperation between experts and military cadres?
The former site of the Kazakh military industry).
These are just a few of the most difficult problems in front of us, and there are still many difficulties that need to be solved in the actual process. To break through these predicaments, Chen Geng decided to show a fighting spiritEach break down, and implement various measures
On the evening of Chen Geng's return to Beijing, his old subordinate Li Maozhi hurried to visit. Knowing that Li Maozhi hadn't finished eating, Chen Geng asked his wife to simply fry two dishes for entertainment.
During the banquet, Chen Geng suddenly said to Li Maozhi, who was eating with his head down: "Don't go back to North Korea, I'll arrange another job for you, how about it?"”
At this time, Li Maozhi was a little surprised, stopped his chopsticks, looked at Chen Geng in amazement and asked, "What should I do?"”
Li Maozhi's costume photo).
Chen Geng deliberately sold Guanzi, just blindly smiled at Li Maozhi, and did not speak, so anxious that Li Maozhi's forehead was sweaty. After a while, Chen Geng opened the conversation: "Help me run a school." ”
Hearing this, Li Maozhi's eyes widened, and he stared at the old chief sitting opposite. So, Chen Geng told Li Maozhi about the situation when he met with *** in Zhongnanhai, 1510
The task is urgent!Chen Geng put away the smile on his face, frowned slightly, and said seriously: "We are empty-handed now, one has no teachers, two has no school building, three has no teaching materials and equipment, four has no university management experience, in short, there is nothing!."”
But communists are not afraid of difficulties!This sentence made Li Maozhi suddenly become serious, put down the dishes and chopsticks in his hand, and looked at Chen Geng silently.
Groundbreaking ceremony of the Kazakh military engineering project).
Subsequently, Chen Geng immediately changed his mind and explained in detail the method of "simultaneous development of three sides" that he had formulated, and emphasized that it was decided to transfer some cadres from various schools through the adjustment of military academies to form the basic team of the Military Engineering Academy, and the site of the school was initially selected in Harbin.
Finally, Chen Geng raised his voice and said: "The divisional, political, and post-cadres of the Third Corps should be transferred to work in the academy as much as possibleSo, you must go to the academy。Hearing this, Li Maozhi hurriedly excused himself and said: "I, my education level is not high, I am afraid that I can't do school work, commander, you still let me go back to North Korea." ”
At this time, Chen Geng had already made up his mind: let this old subordinate come down to support him!Li Maozhi once served as the dean of education at the Taiyue Kang University Branch, and he will definitely be able to do it. So, Chen Geng further encouraged:"I don't want to go to school, I dare to do it".
In the next few days, Chen Geng went to the Military Commission almost every day to exchange views with Su Yu, who was in charge of the construction of the military academy, and constantly refined the specific construction plan of the academy.
General Su Yu picked up while looking at the map**).
Subsequently, under the coordination of the Central Military Commission, several experts named by Chen Geng arrived in Beijing one after another. Since there is no office location,Chen Geng summoned everyone to his home, which became the temporary headquarters for the establishment of the college.
With the help of Xu Lixing, Li Maozhi, and Zhang Shuzu, all the work was carried out in an orderly manner. On the one hand, they distributed people from all over the country who were ordered to come to support them to Beijing and HarbinOn the other hand, we will find and transfer talents from the three corps and set up a working team.
After more than two busy months, the Preparatory Committee of the Military Engineering Academy was finally formally established on September 1 of that year. Subsequently, Chen Geng presided over the first meeting of the preparatory committee, at which he assigned specific tasks to everyone.
Chen Geng constantly encourages everyone to work hard and boldly. He himself is mainly responsible for the construction of teachers and school buildings, which are also the most difficult and urgent tasks facing them at present.
*** in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China
In order to solve the problem smoothly, Chen Geng kept coordinating with the leaders and seeking their support and help.
In June 1952, ** sent a letter to the Minister of Defense of the USSR Bulganin, hoping to receive assistance from the Soviet side for the construction of the Military Academy. More than a month later, a five-member expert group led by Lieutenant General Orekhov arrived at Beijing's Xiyuan Airport by plane.
As soon as the expert group arrived in Beijing, it immediately threw itself into the preparatory construction of the military academy. Lieutenant General Orekhov believes that in order to establish a qualified higher military academy, in addition to site selection and constructionThe most important thing is to solve the faculty**, and all this needs to be done through the efforts of the Chinese themselves.
At the same time, he said that the Soviet side could help China develop the teaching plan of the academy. But you can't do everything, because this university is going to be used by China in the future, and it should accumulate its own experience in running schools.
Statue of Orekhov on the site of the former Kazakh military industry).
In the days that followed, Chen Geng stayed with a group of Soviet experts every day, discussing with them the details of the preparation for the construction of the academy. Through a few days of spending time together, they developed a deep friendship
Although the Central Military Commission had preliminarily selected Harbin as the site of the military academy when it decided to establish it, Chen Geng still proposed to the Soviet experts that he wanted them to go to various places to inspect and finally determine the location for the establishment of the school.
On August 5 of the same year, Chen Geng personally accompanied a delegation of Soviet experts to Nanjing, Shanghai, Dalian, Beijing and other places to carry out inspections. In the end, experts have always believed that none of these places have the conditions to run schoolsBecause it does not meet the conditions of confidentiality and security
In the end, Chen Geng led the expert group to Harbin, the site originally selected by the Military Commission. At this time, Xu Lixing had been waiting here for many days and had carried out a lot of preliminary preparations. He gave Chen Geng and other Soviet experts a detailed account of the various aspects of Harbin City.
Harbin in the early days of liberation).
First of all, Harbin was the first batch of large cities to be liberated during the Liberation War, and it belonged to the old liberated areaTherefore, the political foundation and the mass base are very good
In addition, the Northeast region has been China's industrial and agricultural production base since the first year, especially after the defeat and retreat of the Kwantung Army that yearA large amount of military-industrial equipment was left behind. Relying on these equipment, our army established many military-industrial enterprises here during the War of Liberation.
Most importantly,There is also a high-level engineering school, Harbin Institute of Technology.
Subsequently, when the experts heard this, the Soviet expert group nodded their heads again and again in satisfaction.
The delegation came to Harbin Institute of Technology for an in-depth inspection of the university, where they held discussions with Soviet experts and Chinese faculty members who supported the university to gain an in-depth understanding of this key engineering university, which is famous throughout the country for teaching in Russian.
Harbin ** Street).
After visiting several large military-industrial complexes in the area, the Soviet expert group agreed that Harbin had all the conditions for the establishment of the university, especially secrecy and security. In addition, the Songhua River, which flows through Harbin, has abundant water, which can facilitate the teaching of the Naval Engineering Department, and the final site of the school is set in Harbin!
The school site was finally determined, but Chen Geng encountered a new problem at this time. Because the establishment of a military academy requires a large space. According to the pre-planning, the campus area has reached 3,500 acres, and where to find such a large vacant land has become a very difficult problem.
After repeated selection and careful consideration, the expert group finally recommended that the college be built in Nangang District. But the first problem was that two of the hospitals would have to be demolished to build such a large schoolMoreover, it is necessary to "encroach" on part of the dormitory area of Harbin Medical University
The rest of the land is all wasteland overgrown with weeds. It is difficult to build a school covering an area of more than 3,000 acres in such an environment.
Building 21 of Kazakhstan Military Industry).
After the specific address was chosen, Chen Geng immediately called the Northeast Military Region, hoping to get their approval, but he did not receive a reply for a long time. The subsequent news made Chen Geng a little restless - Harbin Medical University did not agree with their proposed relocation plan.
Chen Geng, who was so anxious, had to call the Ministry of Health. But the other party always flashed his words and did not make any promises. In desperation, Chen Geng had no choice but to call He Jinnian, deputy commander of the military region: "The construction time of the Kazakh military industry is short, the task is heavy, and the land has to be approved for him!"”
But He Jinnian was also very embarrassed, and only said that the superior leaders had some ideasIn the end, Chen Geng found *** and hoped that he would come forward to coordinate, and finally got special approval, and the matter was successfully resolved
In November of the same year, Xu Lixing called Chen Geng, saying that the problem of the school buildings of Soviet experts and old professors had not been well resolved. After hanging up the **, Chen Geng, who was anxious, immediately left for Beijing.
Group photo of early cadets of Kazakhstan's military industry).
When he learned that the prime minister was receiving foreign guests, he rushed to Zhongnanhai without stopping.
At this time, *** had just sent off the foreign guests and was going to the toilet. Chen Geng has been standing outside the toilet and waiting, and when he saw *** coming out of the toilet, he immediately took out the documents and greeted him and asked him for instructions.
humorously said: "You really have a way, find a toilet to ask me to work, this is your great invention." "Eventually, the school building problem was solved.
In running a school, the biggest problem is how to solve the problem of teachers. By asking for advice from many parties, Chen Geng finally boldly proposed:Bring in experts and professors from universities from all over the world.
However, at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, there were only a handful of professors and experts in the country, and every unit regarded them as treasures, so how could they be easily released.
At this time,Chen Geng started his "crooked brain" again. He made a list of the backbone talents with real talents and real learning that he carefully screened, and asked *** again for special approval.
General Chen Geng spoke).
Like last time, he still blocked *** at the door of the toilet directly between the meetings, handed over the list and asked for instructions. He also said that these 62 people are his minimum standard, and he must not leave any of them, otherwise he will not let the prime minister go.
Listening to his words, ** couldn't help laughing, so he had to take the pen and give him instructions, otherwise he would really have to stay in the toilet all the time.
The Military Engineering Academy is a top-secret unit, and in principle, some intellectuals with bad backgrounds or historical problems and overseas connections are not suitable to work in the academy. However, Chen Geng emphasized that it is okay to have an ingredient theoryBut you can't just talk about ingredients, you still have to look at your usual performance
The security department of the academy reported to him that the elder brother of a professor was an important member of the Kuomintang in Taiwan and could not stay in the academy to work.
The Great Retreat of the Kuomintang).
Chen Geng said: "Although she has an elder brother who is an important member of the Kuomintang and went to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek, at the same time she also has an elder brother who is a member of the ** committee." She chose to stay in the mainland instead of following that brother to Taiwan, which shows that her thinking is advanced enough to come to our hospital to work. ”
After inviting experts and professors, in order to retain talents, Chen Geng even stood in the perspective of intellectuals and military cadres to solve a series of problems for them, such as housing, food, and children's education, and eliminated many practical problems that plagued the experts, so that they could work with peace of mind without worries.
He vividly compared the school to two pillars, one is an expert transferred from all over the country, and the other is a military cadre drawn from the army. No matter which side it is, Chen Geng tries his best to provide the best treatment.
In addition to *** and others, other CCP leaders also strongly supported Chen Geng's military academy and gave him a lot of help.
*vs. ***Since he assumed the heavy responsibility of preparing for the establishment of the Military Engineering Academy, Chen Geng has often been in and out of Zhongnanhai and has repeatedly pursued the relevant leaders. Especially for ***, it is almost to the point of seeing the stitches.
In the end, it was decided to personally preside over a joint meeting attended by major military and political leaders in New China. This increases the efficiency of problem solving.
After taking a seat, ** hurriedly beckoned Chen Geng, who was sitting in the back row, to sit beside him. ** joked: "Oh, Chen Geng is our 'cutest person', please take a seat!."”
Hearing the words of the ** marshal, everyone laughed and applauded. Chen Geng, who was a little embarrassed, got up, gestured to everyone with a notebook in both hands, and walked to sit down next to the prime minister.
At the meeting, both Chen Geng and *** emphasized the necessity and urgency of establishing a military engineering college.
Group photo of the first batch of students at graduation).
Then, ** agreed with the decision of the Military Commission to establish a military engineering academy and proposed:"In the future, after our children graduate from high school, we must take the lead in applying for the military industry, which will affect the society, so that young students will also apply for the military industry, and let the whole society know the great significance of building a modern national defense. Of course, we can't rely on influence alone, but mainly rely on the military engineering academy itself to be able to train technical officers with good military and political quality and strong professional ability. ”
After an impassioned statement, take the lead in applauding the recommendations they make. There was thunderous applause in the venue, and Chen Geng was also deeply pleased at this time.
After nearly 18 months of intense preparation, on September 1, 1953, the Kazakh military industry held the opening ceremony of the first batch of trainees.
Kazakh Military Industry Opening Ceremony).
The Kazakh military industry has always responded"March to Science".The vast majority of its students were assigned to various military regions after graduation. They quickly became the backbone of all fronts, and many of them also held senior leadership positions in state organs or the military.
In 1960, Chen Geng was already sick. However, he was still thinking about the Kazakh military industry he had established, and he endured the pain and wrote a letter to the leaders of the collegeThey are instructed to always adhere to the principle of "less and fine, short and less".
General Chen Geng displayed the revolutionary heroic spirit of having the courage to look at the world and dare to accept challenges. He is one of the three heroes of Whampoa and is our heroic and exemplary figure. In just a few years, generations of military industry leaders with President Chen Geng as the core have continuously created a new military science and technology teaching, research and training system.
Teaching Building of the Department of Engineering of the Air Force of Kazakhstan).
We must inherit the spirit of Kazakhstan's military industry, build the foundation of modern national defense education, build a military science and technology research and training system, and complete the shaping of communist ideals. Keeping in mind the historical mission of the founding and initial construction, the merit will be recorded in the annals of history forever