At half past two o'clock in the afternoon of September 27, 1955, in the Ziguang Pavilion of Zhongnanhai, the first all-army award ceremony of the Chinese People's Liberation Army was solemnly held in the *** auditorium.
Under the attention of the public, in the solemn national anthem of the audience, the prime minister awarded the "order of the rank of general" to Su Yu, Huang Kecheng, Tan Zheng, Xiao Jinguang, Wang Shusheng, Chen Geng, Xu Guangda, Zhang Yunyi 9 generals.
They and Xu Haidong, who was recuperating in Dalian, were the top ten founding generals of New China.
After the ceremony, the auditorium was still full of people, and everyone gathered together to congratulate each other, talk and laugh.
However, in the crowd, Chen Geng, who was originally cheerful and talked endlessly, just exchanged a few words with the same person and left in a hurry.
He went straight to the West Flower Hall, came to ***'s house with a familiar way, grabbed Deng Yingchao's arm as soon as he entered the door, and said to the secretary excitedly:
"Quick, take a picture of me and Xiaochao! ”
Seeing this, ** couldn't help laughing on the side, and the atmosphere was harmonious.
Such a memorable moment, why did Chen Geng choose to spend it with the *** couple? What is the special friendship between the three people?
** and Chen Geng met in the autumn of 1924. At that time, *** had just returned from studying in France and served as the director of the Political Department of the Whampoa Military Academy.
He came to the cadet dormitory and was preparing for an inspection. Suddenly, there was a burst of laughter in my ears.
** Follow the sound to the outside of a dormitory, look closely, and see a student performing noodles eating. He was first hungry and sad, and then smiled when he saw the noodles. He craned his neck and swallowed, picked up the bowl in front of him, and sucked it eagerly.
Unexpectedly, this noodle is beyond imagination, and I can't suck it all up. He was so anxious that he put the bowl on the floor, and simply climbed onto the table and lowered his head to suck. As a result, there were several strange noises of "hiccup" and "hiccup", and the noodles suddenly stuck in his throat, and he scratched his neck desperately, and his face was flushed and fell backwards.
A lively and wonderful performance made everyone lean back and laugh. And this performer is Chen Geng.
Chen Geng was born in 1903 in Quanhu Village, Longdong Township, Xiangxiang City, Hunan Province, his grandfather Chen Yiqiong defected to the Hunan Army at the age of 12 due to his poor family.
Thanks to his background in Jiangmen, Chen Geng has practiced martial arts since he was a child, and learned kung fu from his grandfather. He is jealous and hateful, flexible and shrewd, and often leads a group of "child soldiers" to punish evil and help the weak.
Not only that, but his grandfather's true temperament, which is skillful, humorous, and open-minded, has also been vividly inherited in Chen Geng. All these have laid a solid foundation for his future career in the army.
Like his grandfather, Chen Geng, who was concerned about the battlefield, resolutely gave up school at the age of 13 to join the army and joined the 2nd Battalion of the 6th Regiment of the Lu Diping Department of the Hunan Army as a soldier.
At that time, Chen Geng was very small. He carried a big gun higher than himself and charged, and participated in the crusade against Wu Peifu, the expulsion of Zhang Jingyao, the ** Movement and the Battle of Hunan and Hubei.
It's just that physical suffering and tiredness, blood and sweat can be fully overcome; The thorn that pierced Chen Geng's heart was getting deeper and deeper, and he couldn't pull it out.
Because the Hunan army is essentially a feudal warlord, it is a part of the people, extremely corrupt, preying on the people, and bullying the township, which is the existence that the people fear and hate. This is fundamentally different from Chen Geng, who dreams of punishing evil and promoting good, and supporting justice.
So in 1921, Chen Geng decisively broke away from the Hunan army and came to Changsha alone. He got a job as a clerk in the Hunan Bureau of the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway, worked hard to earn money to support himself, and then used his spare time to make up for his studies.
It was also during this period that Chen Geng read a lot of progressive books and got acquainted with Cai Hesen, He Shuheng and others. Under their influence, Chen Geng established communist ideals and officially joined the Communist Party of China in December 1922.
In order to improve his ability, Chen Geng was admitted to the Guangzhou Army Martial Arts School the following year to receive military training. In May 1924, he stood out from more than 2,000 candidates and became the first cadet of the Whampoa Military Academy.
Although Chen Geng is only 21 years old, he has been on the battlefield to kill the enemy, entered the society to support himself, and has a lot of experience. Coupled with his cheerful and talkative personality, he soon became a man of the hour in the military school.
Back at the beginning, a group of students gathered in the dormitory to cheer for Chen Geng's performance. Outside the dormitory, ** also watched with relish.
**He has always had the reputation of "the premier of art", and he loves and attaches great importance to literary and artistic work, especially the dialogue plot. As early as when he was in Nankai Middle School in Tianjin, he played the female role and starred in many new dramas such as "Grievances" and "Qiu Da Niang".
Seeing Chen Geng such a good seedling now, ** was overjoyed, and immediately praised it:
"You're doing so well! I also acted in Nankai, but I didn't act like you! You can enter the troupe at your level! ”
If you have an idea, you can do it! Soon, ** personally guided the establishment of the "Blood Flower Drama Club", and named Chen Geng as the main person in charge of the drama club.
In the process of exchanging literary and artistic work with each other, Chen Geng and *** have become more and more familiar.
Because of this relationship, as well as his outstanding performance during the military academy, Chen Geng was assigned as the first-class guard adjutant just after graduation, and the two formed an indissoluble bond.
In 1927, Chiang Kai-shek brazenly launched the "April 12 Counter-Revolutionary Coup" that shocked China and the rest of the world, and aimed the butcher's knife at the Communist Party members.
In the bloody white terror, revolutionary martyrs such as Li Dazhao, Chen Yannian, Zhao Shiyan, and Wang Shouhua died heroically one after another. In just half a year, the number of members of the Central Committee dropped sharply from nearly 60,000 at the height of the Great Revolution to more than 10,000, and the revolutionary forces suffered a devastating blow.
In the face of such a crisis, it was proposed to the CCP that a special intelligence security department should be established to defend the security of party organizations and organs. This is exactly what the famous ** Teko is.
As a matter of fact, as early as March 20, 1926, after the "Zhongshan Ship Incident," Chiang Kai-shek's indiscriminate imposition of emergency martial law, surveillance, and house arrest of a large number of Communists had already made our Party aware of the importance of intelligence work -- if our Party had intelligence officers who had known about Chiang Kai-shek's conspiracy in advance and prevented it in time, the situation would not have been so serious.
So in September of the same year, ** carefully selected a group of party members and sent them to the Soviet "Cheka" organization for study. Among them are Chen Geng and Gu Shunzhang.
You must know that the Cheka is the predecessor of the "KGB (Soviet Committee)" of the "four major intelligence agencies in the world".
In the following 5 months, Chen Geng and others learned the knowledge and skills of secret warfare in an all-round way, including not only the theoretical knowledge of intelligence and security work, but also a large number of first-class skills such as makeup, tracking, eavesdropping, secret writing, unlocking, assassination, and blasting.
With high emotional intelligence and high speech skills, flexible and adaptable response ability, and perfect acting skills, Chen Geng is like a fish in water in intelligence work.
It is precisely because of this that on November 14, 1927, after the establishment of the **Special Branch, ** personally appointed Chen Geng as the head of the Intelligence Section, and at the same time served as the deputy of Gu Shunzhang, the main person in charge.
So far, Chen Geng has started a hidden front career fighting side by side with ***.
Chen Geng, alias Wang Yong, has been engaged in underground work in Shanghai for a long time. What is special is that Chen Geng did not go undercover to lurk inside the Kuomintang, nor did he hide in the crowd in a low-key manner. On the contrary, he followed the principle of "darkness under the lamp" and relied on his strong affinity to successfully mingle with some Kuomintang figures, not only collecting a large amount of valuable information from them, but also helping Yun Daiying, Peng Pai and others to get out of danger.
In addition, Chen Geng also opened a training class and personally compiled first-class teaching materials. By imparting relevant theories, skills, and personal experience, we strive to develop intelligence personnel and expand the organization's capabilities.
It can be said that it was Chen Geng who single-handedly established the CCP's intelligence network and wrote the "red **" legend in history.
In 1931, with the rebellion of Gu Shunzhang, the "number one traitor of the Communist Party of China", in order to avoid leaking his whereabouts and being poisoned by the enemy, Chen Geng urgently left Shanghai and entered the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet District to serve as the commander of the 318th Regiment of the 13th Division of the 4th Army of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.
So far, Chen Geng has gone from the underground hidden front to the front line of the battlefield to fight bloodily. He first participated in the struggle against "encirclement and suppression" in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Region with the army, and then embarked on the 25,000-mile Long March with the main force in October 1934.
It is worth mentioning that during the Long March, Chen Geng also saved *** life.
It was August 1935, when the Red Army troops passed through Maoergai, Sichuan, ** suddenly developed a high fever and fell into a prolonged coma.
Subsequently, the military doctor diagnosed ** with liver abscess. This is a purulent lesion of the liver caused by a variety of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, and amoeba histolytica, and if not timely**, the mortality rate is high.
But on the Long March, the soldiers climbed snow-capped mountains and crossed meadows, and at the most difficult time, they could only eat snow when they were thirsty, and they had to gnaw on tree bark when they were hungry. Not to mention the puncture and surgery**, even antipyretics and other drugs are in short supply, and the military doctors are a little helpless for a while.
Seeing that ***'s condition was getting worse day by day, and at the critical moment, Chen Geng stepped forward and took the initiative to take on the burden of guarding.
During the period when he led the intelligence work of ** special science, Chen Geng opened a clinic in Shanghai. In order to achieve a perfect disguise, he also studied medicine and has a lot of practical experience.
Chen Geng clearly pointed out:
"First of all, we have to cool down, so that the high fever can't go on. Hurry up and get some snow and apply a cold compress to his liver area and forehead, maybe it will be saved. ”Under his instructions, the warriors sewed several bags out of tarpaulin, then hiked to the shade of the hill 60 miles away, where they succeeded in getting snow.
Subsequently, Chen Geng applied snow to the position of the liver, and while lowering the body temperature, he controlled inflammation, reduced edema, and relieved pain as much as possible. After applying ice repeatedly for several hours, ** miraculously woke up.
In fact, as early as the battle of Huichang in 1927, Chen Geng was shot three times in his left leg and almost amputated, and finally left with lifelong sequelae.
But this time, Chen Geng insisted on ignoring the inconvenience of his legs and feet, and kept following the stretcher of ***, taking care of him and paying close attention to the changes in his condition. Until he walked out of the meadow, ** was properly placed to recuperate. At that time, this was a good story that spread throughout the army.
Chen Geng and *** have similar interests in literary and artistic work, and they are teachers and students with close exchanges; They fought side by side in the revolutionary cause and were comrades-in-arms who shared weal and woe; Now that they have a lifelong friendship, there is no doubt about the depth of the relationship.
It can be said that the two are very trustworthy and reliable for each other. It is the kind of friend who will be the first to think of whenever he encounters a difficult or happy event.
As for the relationship between Chen Geng and Deng Yingchao, their first acquaintance is actually very interesting.
In 1925, Deng Yingchao, then the head of the Women's Department of the Tianjin Prefectural Committee of the Communist Party of China, was wanted by the Kuomintang for leading the rally of the "May Thirty". Subsequently, under the arrangement of the party organization, he rushed to Guangzhou, where *** was located.
** Met Deng Yingchao in the May Fourth Movement in 1919, and because of their common and firm revolutionary ideals, the two had feelings for each other.
Although in November 1920, ** went to France to work and study, the hearts of the two crossed the ocean and were always closely connected.
During this period, ** also wrote a very special love letter to Deng Yingchao:
"May the two of us, like the two of them (Liebknecht and Luxembourg), go to the guillotine together in the future. ”In short, after a few years of absence, they were finally able to reunite, ** and Deng Yingchao were very excited.
On August 7th, ** got up early in the morning, cleaned up the room, and specially bought two pots of flowers to put on the windowsill. Because he was really busy with official business, **took out a long-cherished Deng Yingchao** and entrusted Chen Geng to help greet him at the dock.
Unexpectedly, because ** is really old and blurry, Chen Geng stretched his neck and waited for a long time, until the passengers who got off the ship were **, and he couldn't find Deng Yingchao.
It turned out that Deng Yingchao thought that *** would pick him up at the dock in person. After getting off the boat, he looked around and saw no one, and realized that the other party had something behind him, so he directly found the Whampoa Military Academy.
Chen Geng returned to the military academy, and after learning the ins and outs, he immediately came to apologize sincerely, and then stood up with his feet upright, raised his right hand, and made a beautiful military salute. That serious and witty appearance made Deng Yingchao laugh.
Then, before *** came back, Chen Geng had been accompanying Deng Yingchao. arranging meals for her; Briefing her on the local situation; And all the preparations made to welcome her, and the excitement that could not be concealed, all of them appeased Deng Yingchao's feelings of small loss due to "being left out".
Not only that, in order to make up for his previous carelessness, Chen Geng also took the initiative to ask Ying, saying that he would help with the wedding of *** and Deng Yingchao.
It's just that ** and Deng Yingchao unanimously decided that the wedding should be simple, and on August 8, two tables were set up in the Taiping Restaurant, even if the wedding banquet was held. So Chen Geng didn't help much.
On the contrary, Chen Geng's marriage was facilitated by *** and Deng Yingchao.
At the end of 1922, Chen Geng came to the Shanghai Workers' Night School as a member of the Communist Party to give lectures and propagate communist ideas.
When Chen Geng spoke about "the importance of the peasant class", Wang Genying, a 17-year-old worker leader at a local spinning mill, suddenly stood up to voice his objections, emphasizing the "power of the working class".
In the back-and-forth controversy, Chen Geng had a good impression of Wang Genying. And when the Fifth National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held in Wuhan in 1927, he unexpectedly reunited with him, Chen Geng's buried love completely turned into love.
He mustered up the courage and wrote 3 small notes in a row, showing his love to Wang Genying and proposing marriage. Unexpectedly, they were all rejected by Wang Genying in the form of public posting.
In fact, Wang Genying is not unimpressed. It's just that she threw herself into the revolutionary cause of the Communist Party and didn't want to be distracted by her children's private affairs, so she ruthlessly refused.
However, the rule of "no more than three things" does not apply to Chen Geng. He spoke directly and publicly:
"If any of you go to Comrade Wang Genying and say, 'Chen Geng is a good person, not a bad person,' and persuade her to marry me, I will kowtow to that person. ”understood Chen Geng's sincerity with Deng Yingchao, so he personally came forward to talk to Wang Genying, and used himself as an example to answer her questions, successfully dispelling Wang Genying's concern that "revolution and love are difficult to balance".
After becoming a matchmaker, Deng Yingchao also personally arranged the wedding room for Chen Geng and Wang Genying and organized the wedding, which successfully contributed to this beautiful marriage.
From talking about drama together to getting married and starting a family; From the Whampoa Military Academy to the underground front; From the long march to the battlefield of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, and then to the tower of Tiananmen Square at the founding ceremony. Chen Geng and *** have known each other for more than 30 years, and have spent almost all important moments in their lives together, and the glorious moment of the great award is naturally no exception.
So on September 27, 1955, the front foot had just received the "Order for the rank of General" from ***, and Chen Geng followed behind *** and ran to the West Flower Hall to take a photo with Deng Yingchao, wanting to share his joy with the pair of close relatives and friends in private.
It's a pity that just 6 years later, on March 16, 1961, Chen Geng died suddenly in Shanghai due to a heart attack at the age of 58.
Hearing the bad news of the death of his best friend, the *** who was on a business trip in Guangzhou instantly collapsed.
According to **Recollection:
"After the prime minister learned of the death of General Chen Geng, he stayed alone in the room for a long time, and I kept hearing the prime minister's sobbing sound outside the door! ”That day, ** cried for a long time, and after his mood finally stabilized, he called *** office and said:
"Comrade Chen Geng's memorial service must be held when I go back, and I will personally preside over his memorial service! ”Then the next day, ** put down his work, took a special plane to Beijing, and personally greeted Chen Geng's ashes at the airport. You must know that ** has only welcomed the ashes of two generals in his life, which is enough to show that Chen Geng is special and important to him.
On March 25, General Chen Geng's public memorial meeting was held in Zhongshan Hall in Zhongshan Park, Beijing. After the ceremony, his ashes were escorted to the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery for burial.
It is worth mentioning that the note "Comrade Chen Geng's ashes" on the urn of General Chen Geng was also written down by Prime Minister with tears in his eyes. This can be regarded as the eternal continuation of the friendship between the two.