After the Zhongshan incident, many outstanding members of our party were subjected to the reactionaries. But in 1933, a high-ranking general of our party did not suffer **, which made him the most headache for Chiang Kai-shek.
He is Chen Geng, so how did he fall into the hands of the enemy, and why did Chiang Kai-shek take special care of him?
In 1931, Chen Geng was appointed commander of the 12th Red Division, leading the troops to bravely resist the enemy's anti-encirclement and suppression operations in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Region.
Subsequently, he was transferred to the chief of staff of the Red Fourth Front Army, and in the fourth anti-encirclement and suppression operation in Hushanzhai in the northwest of Xinji, he was unfortunately shot in the right knee and was seriously wounded. In the following days, although Chen Geng was seriously wounded, he still insisted on taking the wounded and commanding the troops to continue fighting.
His right knee injury has never improved, but he has never given up, persevered, and interpreted the duties and responsibilities of a soldier with practical actions. It was not until October 1932, after the main force of the Red Fourth Front Army left the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet District, that Chen Geng secretly left the army and went to Shanghai to enter the Niu Huilin Orthopedic Hospital for secret treatment.
He knew very well that only by restoring his health could he better contribute his strength to the revolutionary cause.
During the period when Chen Geng was recuperating from his injuries in Shanghai, he was not idle, and in addition to exposing Zhang Guotao's wrong line, he also had two meetings with Mr. Lu Xun. During the conversation, he shared his experience of uniting the people against reactionary forces in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Region, and Mr. Lu Xun showed great interest in it.
By the beginning of 1933, Chen Geng's leg injury had basically healed, and he eagerly hoped to return to the team and continue to lead the troops to fight.
Under the arrangement of the party organization, Chen Geng was about to go to work in the ** revolutionary base area on March 25. Excited, he also decided to enjoy a pleasant evening before heading out.
On the evening of March 24, he came to the Lido Theater on Guizhou Road to watch a play. As a veteran soldier who had fought covertly against the Kuomintang reactionaries in Shanghai from 1928 to 1932, Chen Geng was extremely vigilant about his surroundings.
In the theater, he was keenly aware of something unusual.
After Chen Geng sat down, he noticed that the stranger sitting next to him seemed to be somewhat familiar. At first, he thought he had only met in everyday life. However, when he recalls it carefully, he suddenly realizes that something is not good.
Although this person had undergone a certain amount of disguise, Chen Geng was still sure that he was Chen Liansheng. Chen Liansheng used to work in ** Special Branch and was a colleague of Chen Geng. However, he later betrayed the revolution and joined the Kuomintang.
Chen Geng realized that he was being exposed, so he left his seat before the play began and walked quickly towards the outside of the theater. Seeing this, Chen Liansheng immediately followed, and Chen Geng immediately accelerated to get rid of the other party.
Unfortunately, he was healed from a leg injury, and finally failed to shake off the enemy's eyeliner and unfortunately fell into the hands of the enemy. It turned out that there were traitors within our party at that time, and Chen Geng's whereabouts were leaked, and Tan Guofu, a female Communist Party member who was in charge of connecting with Chen Geng that day, was also at the junction location**.
During the rule of the Kuomintang, Chen Geng was arrested as a communist. In the face of severe torture, Chen Geng has always been loyal and unyielding, and has not divulged any confidential information. In addition, when the enemy's supervision was lax, he took the initiative to tell the story of the Red Army to his fellow prisoners and guards, and his eloquent and infectious stories touched many people, and even made the British patrol listen to them with relish, and the enemy was helpless about it.
* After that, Song Qingling immediately launched a rescue operation and led celebrities from all walks of life to visit the prison, hoping to use his influence to protect Chen Geng. Despite this, the enemy did not dare to make a move against Chen Geng, because Chiang Kai-shek personally intervened.
Chiang Kai-shek Chen Geng** was escorted to Nanjing. In the early morning of April 2, when Chen Geng got out of the prisoner car, Gu Zhenglun, commander of the Kuomintang military police, was already waiting here. He ordered the soldiers to unload the torture instruments for Chen Geng and handed over a telegram written by Chiang Kai-shek himself.
In the telegram, Chiang Kai-shek said that he would do his best to "comfort" and "encourage" Chen Geng because of his history in Guangdong and during the Northern Expedition, and to make him "repent."
At the same time, he also promised that if Chen Geng was willing to defect to the Kuomintang, he would be given a high-level military post and a bright future.
General Chen Geng was given Chiang Kai-shek's "preferential treatment" when the Kuomintang captured our party, which dates back to the Second Eastern Expedition in 1925. In this battle, General Chen Geng once saved Chiang Kai-shek's life, and the two formed a deep life-saving grace.
In order to block the enemy's retreat, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the 4th Regiment of the 2nd Division and the 3rd Division to launch a strong attack on Huizhou, with the goal of destroying the enemy in one fell swoop.
After several days of fierce ground fighting and air raid support, the Eastern Expeditionary Army finally succeeded in opening the north gate of Huizhou City on October 13. However, the enemy set up two heavy machine guns on the city walls, and the ferocious fire inflicted huge losses on the Crusade Army.
In this case, Chen Geng's unit launched a charge under the leadership of the regiment commander Liu Xiaochen, although it was heroic and tenacious, but after all, it failed to conquer Huizhou City, and the regiment commander also died heroically in the charge.
Unfortunately, Chen Geng's left foot was also injured in the fight.
Faced with the stubborn resistance of the defenders of Huizhou, Chiang Kai-shek hesitated. He thought of giving up, or waiting for follow-up ammunition support before attacking.
However, this proposal was opposed by *** and Chen Geng. Chen Geng put forward a unique insight, suggesting infiltrating the city to sabotage the power station in order to weaken the enemy's defenses.
Chiang Kai-shek was deeply attracted by Chen Geng's suggestion, and Chen Geng also took the initiative to ask Ying, willing to take on this dangerous task. In the end, Chen Geng successfully completed the task, and the siege soldiers then launched a charge, and the Eastern Expeditionary Army successfully captured Huizhou City the next day.
Chen Geng was an outstanding graduate of the Whampoa Military Academy, and Chiang Kai-shek praised him for his outstanding performance, so he ordered him to lead the escort company with him.
After Jiang Xianyun's victory in Huizhou City, his self-confidence was bursting, and he marched impulsively, but he fell into the siege of the enemy. Chiang Kai-shek led his troops to the rescue, but it was too late, Chiang Xianyun's troops had been completely defeated, and the rout broke up the formation of the Eastern Expeditionary Army in the confusion.
At this critical juncture, Chen Geng suggested that Chiang Kai-shek's retreat should be covered by the escort company. However, Chiang Kai-shek was already carried away by this time, and he stubbornly insisted on holding his position and counterattacking, but missed the best opportunity to escape.
In times of crisis, Chen Geng always insisted on and led the troops to move first, while covering Chiang Kai-shek's movement to the nearby river. The students of Whampoa Phase 1 followed closely behind, showing unwavering loyalty and fearlessness.
However, halfway through the procession, Chiang Kai-shek was so frustrated that he sat on the ground and shouted that he had no face for the Jiangdong fathers and was unwilling to continue the retreat.
Chen Geng tried his best to persuade Chiang Kai-shek, emphasizing that he was the commander-in-chief of the army, and his safety would directly affect the course of the entire war. After some persuasion, Chiang Kai-shek was finally impressed and decided to continue with the troops.
This experience once again proved Chen Geng's wisdom and determination, as well as his deep friendship and loyalty to Chiang Kai-shek.
Chen Geng won Chiang Kai-shek's respect and trust by saving Chiang Kai-shek's life and protecting his face with his heroic actions. Chiang Kai-shek kept Chen Geng with him and allowed him free access to his official residence.
Although Chen Geng was once Chiang Kai-shek's right-hand man and had a bright future, after the Zhongshan ship incident, he stuck to his faith and left the Kuomintang. Although Chen Geng later became Chiang Kai-shek's enemy, he did not forget Chiang Kai-shek's life-saving grace.
Now that Chen Geng**, Chiang Kai-shek naturally did not dare to poison him, otherwise his reputation would be damaged. At the same time, Chen Geng attracted much attention when he was at the Whampoa Military Academy, and many Kuomintang generals were familiar with him.
Chiang Kai-shek believed that the best way to solve Chen Geng's problem was to persuade him to surrender, so that all problems could be solved and a good general could be obtained. To this end, he put a lot of effort into it, and in addition to the telegram he showed Chen Geng, he also arranged for many of Chen Geng's old classmates at the Whampoa Military Academy to visit him.
Soon after Chen Geng was imprisoned in Nanjing Prison, several of his Huangpu classmates came to visit him in prison.
The ** people in Nanjing Prison wore neat ** and shiny leather boots, and after a simple greeting with Chen Geng, they said that as long as he changed his mind, he could also be promoted and made a fortune like them.
They stressed that the Red Army's life was difficult, its equipment was backward, and it was unable to compete with the Kuomintang, and hoped that Chen Geng would see the reality clearly and give up resistance. However, Chen Geng was very disgusted by their rhetoric, and he listed the achievements of his troops in defeating the Kuomintang army, and stressed that even if the Kuomintang army was well-equipped, it could not change the fate of defeat.
In the end, these ** had to leave in disgrace.
When the rhetoric of ** failed to impress Chen Geng, the Kuomintang immediately changed its strategy. A few days later, a former friend of Mr. Chen's invited him to a lavish banquet at the Air Force Club, complete with a band and dancers.
In the process of pushing the cup and changing the lamp, the friend began his persuasion. He quoted the wisdom of the ancients and told Chen Geng that since ancient times, no one could resist money and beauty.
Chen Geng did not immediately refute his opinion, but instead raised his wine glass, making him think that he had succeeded. However, just when the other party thought that he had won Chen Geng, Chen Geng smashed the entire table of wine with the strength of the wine.
Although the other party couldn't do anything with Chen Geng because of his special status, this banquet was completely ruined.
Chiang Kai-shek decided to personally intervene in the anti-encirclement and suppression operation, and in mid-April, Chen Geng was escorted to a steamer in Nanchang. Chiang Kai-shek was commanding the Fourth Encirclement and Suppression in Nanchang at the time, and he imagined that if Chen Geng could be successfully recruited, he could use his influence to recruit Whampoa cadets from other Communist units, which would undoubtedly be a huge blow to the morale of the Red Army.
When Chen Geng arrived in Nanchang, Chiang Kai-shek did not show up immediately, and Chen Geng was not imprisoned, but was placed under house arrest in a hostel. During this period, people kept sending Chen Geng a copy of "** and telling him that as long as he signed it and did not need to make it public, he could get the command of any division."
Before Chen Geng arrived in Nanchang, he had already made up his mind to resolutely fight the Kuomintang reactionaries to the end, and he already knew all the enemy's methods, and he would not easily waver even if the enemy did everything he could.
Chen Geng's firm attitude made Chiang Kai-shek understand that the only way to convince him was to go out on his own. So, on a quiet night, Chen Geng was taken to the Nanchang Baihuazhou Scientific Instrument Museum, which was the base camp of Chiang Kai-shek's command against encirclement and suppression.
As soon as Chen Geng sat down, he heard hurried footsteps, and then, a person with a strong Jiangsu and Zhejiang accent shouted: "Chen Geng is in **? Chiang Kai-shek did this to avoid the embarrassment of the two meeting, and hoped that Chen Geng would take the initiative to get up to greet him after hearing it.
A group photo of Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Geng. Chen Geng didn't care, after hearing Chiang Kai-shek's voice, he still sat on the chair, and even picked up the newspaper next to him, and Chiang Kai-shek was embarrassed.
He had to take the initiative to go to Chen Geng, saying that although he had made mistakes politically, he would still forgive him. In order to shorten the distance between each other, Chiang Kai-shek asked with concern: "Chen Geng, you have lost a lot of weight." ”
Chen Geng immediately replied: "Although I have lost weight, I have won the world, on the contrary, you have also lost weight, principal, but the people of the world are thinner than you, isn't it your responsibility?" ”
Chen Geng and Chiang Kai-shek stills) In the face of Chiang Kai-shek's persuasion, Chen Geng resolutely said that he would not turn back, and his faith was unshakable. Chiang Kai-shek tried to learn about the Red Army by asking about the situation in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui region, but Chen Geng responded with tact, responding with a "so-so" response, apparently not wanting to reveal any information.
Chiang Kai-shek tried to win over Chen Geng again, promising to give him the command of a division. However, Chen Geng sternly refused, and fiercely criticized Chiang Kai-shek's actions, bluntly saying that Chiang Kai-shek had betrayed the revolution.
Chiang Kai-shek was speechless, and at this time someone happened to come looking for him, and he took the opportunity to leave, not forgetting to shout that he hoped that Chen Geng would repent. A few days later, Chiang Kai-shek found Chen Geng again, first apologized, and then changed his tone to continue lobbying.
He moved out of the national righteousness this time, saying that many people are now living in dire straits, and he hopes that Chen Geng can put the country first and no longer insist on his own views.
Chen Geng**) Chiang Kai-shek's nonsense made Chen Geng unbearable, and he asked: "Who is provoking the civil war under the banner of 'fighting outside must first secure the inside'?"
Can this kind of mistake still be relied on by the Communist Party? Chiang Kai-shek was furious when he heard this, but he still tried to suppress his emotions and took a sip of tea to calm himself down.
He pretended to care about Chen Geng's clothes and wanted to impress him with brocade clothes and jade food, but obviously it didn't work. In the end, he could only send guards to catch Chen Geng and threaten him: "If it weren't for what happened before, I would have killed you a long time ago." ”
He hoped to force Chen Geng to surrender through intimidation, but Chen Geng resolutely said: "If you want to kill, you must be killed, and you will listen to it." ”
Chiang Kai-shek released Chen Geng in desperation, but still held him in an interrogation detention center and a military court, and gave him certain "preferential treatment".
Faced with the resolute attitude of Deng Wenyi and Chen Geng, Chiang Kai-shek was in a dilemma. Although narrow-minded but unable to do anything, he began to seek advice from others.
He found his secretary Deng Wenyi and asked what to do with Chen Geng. Deng Wenyi once held an important position at the Whampoa Military Academy, had a good relationship with Chen Geng, and was an upright person.
Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek hoped that he would give some advice. Although Deng Wenyi did not want Chen Geng to encounter accidents, he also did not want to offend Chiang Kai-shek. Therefore, he chose to show the telegrams of some members of the society so that Chiang Kai-shek could understand their views.
Song Qingling sent a telegram, hoping to help Chen Geng get free. Although these people had no real power, their influence was not to be underestimated, and Chiang Kai-shek had to consider their proposals.
Subsequently, he consulted Deng Wenyi again, and Deng Wenyi said that Chen Geng was unlikely to surrender, but the matter should not be too big, otherwise it would be bad for us. Chiang Kai-shek thought so, and Deng Wenyi took advantage of the situation to suggest that Chen Geng be taken out of the military court and sent to the other courtyard in Nanjing to be supervised, so as to avoid further expansion of the situation.
Chen Geng and Chiang Kai-shek immediately agreed to the proposal after seeing the steps. In fact, Chiang Kai-shek already had plans to release Chen Geng. During the period of house arrest, the comrades of our party also actively worked to rescue Chen Geng, and finally with the help of the party, Chen Geng successfully escaped from the house arrest and returned to the revolutionary ranks.
Upon learning that Chen Geng had escaped, Chiang Kai-shek was relieved and decided that the best way to solve this thorny problem was to solve it.
General Chen Geng used to be imprisoned here, but now he has become the master here, and when Nanchang was liberated, he said with great emotion: "I used to be a prisoner, but now I am the master." ”
Although Chiang Kai-shek was grateful, General Chen Geng still held fast to his beliefs, his life was full of legends, he rejected **Houlu**, and fought for the revolutionary cause wholeheartedly.
His spirit is worth learning and carrying forward.