One thing that has always been close to his heart is that in November 1975, he specifically instructed that Gao Jingting's case be re-examined and that he be rehabilitated as soon as possible. Although Gao Jingting died as early as 1939, *** has never forgotten this person, because Gao Jingting was valued by *** before his death. ** Gao Jingting was ordered to leave his post and return to the Yan'an headquarters to study Xi, instead of shooting him.
However, because the leaders of the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army miscalculated the internal contradictory situation, they shot Gao Jingting in a public trial without waiting for the final confirmation of Yan'an. ** Gao Jingting has not been forgotten for decades, and it was not until the 70s that he was officially proposed to be rehabilitated. Gao Jingting performed prominently during the Red Army period, and if he had not been wrongfully killed that year, it is entirely possible to become a revolutionary hero at the level of the founding general.
Gao Jingting is a native of Xinxian County, Henan Province, where many famous generals have been bred, and many of them are dedicated to the revolutionary cause. The Red Fourth Front Army had important base areas in the old areas of Hubei, Henan, and Anhui, and in the Sichuan-Shaanxi-Soviet region after the Western Expedition. Most of the famous generals of the four fronts moved to Sichuan and Shaanxi with the large army, but some people stayed in the old area and insisted on fighting, and Gao Jingting was one of them.
He was good at organizing and developing the ranks and enjoyed a high reputation among the remaining cadres of the Red Army. Gao Jingting led the Red 28th Army, which maintained a strong combat force during the three-year guerrilla war, and the size of the unit always remained above 1,000 people. After the Red Army's Long March, as the main force left the southern region, the troops in the guerrilla areas were relatively scattered and their equipment was very lacking.
However, Gao Jingting's troops became "outliers", and when they were reorganized into the New Fourth Army in 1937, his team had more than 3,000 people, so it was established separately as the fourth detachment of the New Fourth Army, which had the strongest strength and combat effectiveness among all units of the New Fourth Army in the early days. At this time, Gao Jingting became the best "celebrity": outstanding meritorious, good at fighting, and monopoly of military power.
The remnants of the Red Army in more than a dozen guerrilla zones in the south later formed the New Fourth Army, which was initially in charge of military and political affairs by Ye Ting, Xiang Ying and others. However, due to the peculiarity of guerrilla warfare, the ranks were scattered and difficult to unify, so Gao Jingting played a very important role in the southern guerrillas.
Despite this, his military concepts often clashed with those of his superiors, causing Xiang Ying, Ye Ting and others to complain about him. As we all know, Gao Jingting is arrogant and disobedient to management. Although the actual situation was not as serious as reported by the military department, ** still sent people to understand the situation and communicated with Gao Jingting. After patient education, Gao Jingting's attitude has improved.
However, in 1939, the 4th detachment had a mutiny and defected to the Gui army, making it difficult to argue that Gao Jingting was implicated. Against this background, Xiang Ying and others detained Gao Jingting and asked Yan'an and Chiang Kai-shek to approve his execution. However, this situation revealed Xiang Ying's obvious mistake at that time.
Although the New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army were nominally under the leadership of the Nationalists, they still needed to consult Chiang Kai-shek, which obviously violated the overall situation of the Anti-Japanese War. Chiang Kai-shek quickly approved the execution of Gao Jingting. After learning about this, ** was very anxious and resolutely stated that Gao Jingting must not be executed. The final decision was to cancel Gao Jingting's military power and send him back to Yan'an to re-study Xi, showing the chairman's expectation for Gao Jingting's correction.
Regrettably, however, under Yan'an's final instructions, Gao Jingting was executed on the morning of June 24, 1939. ** Angry at this incident, but because the theater of the New Fourth Army was far away from Yan'an, in order to maintain the overall situation of the Anti-Japanese War and the stability of the ranks, the chairman ordered General Xu Haidong to take over Gao Jingting's position, and did not hold others responsible. Therefore, the matter was put on hold for the time being.
Gao Jingting Incident: After the incident in southern Anhui, Xiang Ying's sacrifice caused shock at home and abroad, and at the same time exempted Gao Jingting from accountability. **Always concerned about Gao Jingting's experience, which laid the groundwork for the follow-up development. For a long time, Gao Jingting's descendants have been applying for the rehabilitation of the general's case.
However, in view of the involvement of revolutionary fathers such as Ye Ting, ** and others, the trial of the Gao Jingting incident proceeded slowly. **In his later years, he analyzed that "this matter may be mainly related to Xiang Ying", and finally asked the relevant departments to retry the case. In 1977, Gao Jingting, as an outstanding general of the New Fourth Army, was finally completely rehabilitated and posthumously recognized as a revolutionary martyr.
Although some mistakes were made during the Anti-Japanese War, this was not a mistake of principle, and it was obviously too heavy to deal with him at that time.