At the enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission in 1958, Commander Su was wrongly criticized for "individualism", and although he was formally rehabilitated by the organization more than 30 years later, he was very affected by the end of the 50s. At this criticism meeting, Commander Su made eight reviews before he barely passed, and he cried several times during this period, and the grievances suffered by a generation of "God of War" can be imagined.
At the criticism meeting, the mainstream voice was naturally to expose and criticize Commander Su's individualism, such as asking for power from the Ministry of National Defense, cultivating a descendant army, and asking the Soviet Union for power. The main force of criticism was President Peng, Nie Shuai and several founding generals. Due to the very high position and status of the critics, even if the generals present sympathized with Commander Su, few dared to criticize the leaders without echoing the mainstream voices.
However, in 1958, there were different opinions on the theme of the criticism meeting, and some generals who had little to do with it could choose to keep silent and not necessarily take a clear position. Like Lin Shuai, Mr. He and others, their status in the army was very high at that time, and they did not agree with criticizing Commander Su. In particular, Mr. Lin believes that people who have a large number of military exploits before liberation should not be criticized. Therefore, at the enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission in 1958, he never spoke, and some of the generals present also maintained such an attitude.
Of course, there are also some people who are not allowed not to speak, because they were named by the leaders to criticize Commander Su, including Ye Fei, a senior general of the former Sanye. However, what was surprising was that although Admiral Ye Fei was under great pressure from the organizers and was even talked to alone, he insisted on not saying a word at the meeting and remained silent throughout the meeting. His performance was also privately recognized by many generals, and indirectly supported the isolated Commander Su.
Why does Admiral Ye Fei have to speak at this criticism meeting? The most direct reason is the working relationship between Commander Su and Ye Fei. During the Liberation War, that is, the era when Commander Su's military exploits were the highest, Ye Fei was Commander Su's direct subordinate. He once served as the commander of the first column of the East China Field Army, and had the most records in destroying the enemy among Commander Su's favorite generals, and later he was promoted to the commander of the corps of Sanye because of his outstanding military achievements, and he was also promoted and reused after the founding of the People's Republic of China.
If you want to criticize a high-ranking general, who will speak most credibly? Of course, he is the colleague who has the best relationship with him. Therefore, several major generals of the original Third Field Army system were named and asked to speak, including Ye Fei, Wang Bicheng, Tao Yong and others. If Ye Fei insists on not "criticizing Su", then he will not be able to get rid of the relationship with the object of criticism, and in this situation, it is not that he can remain silent if he wants to. Ye Fei dared to adopt a confrontational attitude when the facts were unclear, which shows how righteous this person is and treats his old boss with all sincerity.
Ye Fei's refusal to speak ill of Commander Su also has a deep background, which is the Battle of Kinmen in 1949. The Battle of Kinmen was a vicious battle in which our army suffered the heaviest losses in the War of Liberation, not because the loss of more than 9,000 people set a record, but because this battle took place when the overall situation of the War of Liberation had been decided, and it was a battle that Sanye lost unexpectedly. Moreover, it was the formation that lost the strength of three regiments, which was very rare in the course of previous wars. Although Ye Fei was not a direct commander, the 28th Army and the 29th Army were both subordinate to Ye Fei's corps. It is said that demotion, or even a lower rank, will be handled normally.
In October 1949, Mr. Chen concentrated on sorting out the government affairs in Shanghai, and Sanye was completely controlled by Commander Su militarily. Faced with the huge pressure of the defeat in the operation, Commander Su did not really deal with Ye Fei, but regarded the Battle of Kinmen more as a lesson in the battle to seize the island, and summarized it more afterwards and used it to prepare for a more difficult battle to attack Taiwan. The Battle of Kinmen provided valuable experience for the Fourth Field Army to seize Hainan Island, and under the protection of Commander Su, Ye Fei was not demoted, for which he was very grateful to the chief. When the title was awarded in 1955, Ye Fei was not affected by this incident and was still awarded the rank of general.
Having said that, only nine years have passed since 1958 and 1949, and if Commander Su made an "individualistic mistake" and Ye Fei refused to expose and criticize it, then it is entirely possible that his own responsibility for the heavy losses caused by his command mistakes in the Kinmen Battle would be turned over at the meeting and used to suppress it. In this case, Ye Fei was grateful for Commander Su's cultivation, withstood the huge pressure of personal problems, insisted on not opening his mouth, and lent a helping hand to the old chief when he was in a difficult situation. And Ye Feiqing was self-purifying, and he was not held accountable after the meeting.
General Ye Fei was the only senior general who was asked to speak by name at the enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission in 58, but refused to say a word from beginning to end, and his character left a deep impression on people. In addition to Ye Fei, Wang Bicheng and Tao Yong stood up to speak and actively defended Commander Su. In the end, under the active activities of Ye Shuai, Premier Hui, Senior General Xiao Jinguang and others, although Commander Su was demoted, he still played a residual role in the Academy of Military Sciences, and played an important role as a staff officer during the war against Vietnam in the 70s. In the 90s of the last century, the old general was finally completely rehabilitated.