Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

"Isn't Comrade Gao Gang in charge of rectifying propaganda work now? He's identified typical cases in Guangdong, all of which involve the feudal clan system. One involves the issue of women inheriting their parents' estates, another involves chastity, and the other involves the issue of inheritance after a husband's death. He's identified these cases and is combating the feudal clan system in Guangdong."

"Did it affect the South China Branch?"

"The South China Branch is also very active." Wei Hongjun said nothing.

Marshal Nie also stopped at that point.

Wei Hongjun understood that this wasn't Gao Gang's initiative alone. It was clearly a collaboration between the South China Branch and Gao Gang, aimed at striking down the clan power in Guangdong. If it were simply a crackdown on the feudal clans, Marshal Nie wouldn't have taken it so seriously. There must be something else going on.

Wei Hongjun's first thought was that Luo Qirong was using Gao Gang's power to continue attacking the local faction headed by Marshal Ye. Wei Hongjun had a headache.

During the Korean War, although dealing with both the Soviet Union and North Korea was a headache, we had absolute military power, so we could take the initiative in many matters. However, as soon as we returned home, various problems arose, especially personnel issues and factional disputes.

The Secretariat handles the day-to-day work of the Party Central Committee. Party affairs, organizational work, and propaganda work involve ideology, all of which are prone to conflict. The State Council is much better off by comparison; after all, it's where things get done. Wei Hongjun is currently a hot commodity, and various factions are trying to win him over.

Marshal Nie, in turn, warned Wei Hongjun to be cautious. He often touched upon the issues, briefly explaining current domestic developments. However, he wouldn't directly address the deeper issues. Wei Hongjun needed to understand and comprehend them on his own.

In this way, the car came directly to the Chairman.

Marshal Nie was the only one to greet Wei Hongjun, but all the major central leaders were present on the Chairman's side. "Our hero is back."

The Chairman saw Wei Hongjun making a joke.

Other leading cadres came over to greet Wei Hongjun. After a while, everyone sat down. The Chairman asked: "Comrade Wei Hongjun, can our army capture Busan?"

The others also looked at Wei Hongjun.

Wei Hongjun said confidently without hesitation, "The chances are slim. Busan is different from other places. Since the outbreak of the Korean War, the US military has been operating the Busan defense circle. They have comprehensive defensive fortifications here. Coupled with the US military's powerful tanks and artillery, and the advantages of the navy and air force, it is very difficult to capture Busan. What's more difficult is that Busan is too far away, more than 2000 miles from the Yalu River. Not to mention logistics, it is also difficult for the heavy firepower of the troops to reach the Busan front. And even if our heavy firepower arrived at the Busan front, without air force protection, the heavy firepower would not dare to show its head. It is extremely difficult for troops without heavy firepower to overcome the fortifications built by the US military. If our main force is trapped in Busan and cannot capture Busan, we will be in a dilemma. This will be disadvantageous for our war on the Korean Peninsula, including our dealings with the Americans."

Wei Hongjun did not give any vague explanations, but spoke very directly about the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

Without air protection, how can we conquer the Busan defense circle?

Heavy firepower simply can't get through.

All those heavy weapons needed to be transported to the front lines by truck. But how could they be transported against the formidable US Air Force? Even if they were, they would simply be targets for the US Navy and Air Force. And conquering well-fortified US positions was impossible without heavy firepower. Just like the Eighth Route Army's biggest challenge in conquering cities, their lack of heavy firepower was a significant problem.

At that time, it will not be a question of how many people have to be sacrificed to capture Busan.

After a long and unsuccessful siege, how would they handle the aftermath? How would they withdraw their troops? "Look, it's not advisable to be complacent during a war."

The Chairman was very satisfied that Wei Hongjun was able to keep a clear head even in such a victorious battle.

There were times when the Chairman couldn't resist the urge to order the Volunteer Army to capture Busan. The temptation to drive the American troops into the sea was too great. Only reason allowed the Chairman to suppress this impulse. However, Wei Hongjun was a frontline general, a general who had single-handedly won two victories, but he had a very clear understanding of his own situation.

"Comrade Wei Hongjun, do you think the current battle can end now?"

The Prime Minister asked Wei Hongjun.

As long as the Korean War does not end, it will continue to affect China's diplomacy.

Wei Hongjun said, "I can't say for sure. But judging by the current situation, the US won't admit defeat. During this six-month truce, the US will undoubtedly prepare for war again and challenge us once again. As long as we don't let the US military gain an advantage in this third battle, the US will be unable to continue this war and will likely give up. That will be the time for formal armistice negotiations."

"Comrades of the Red Army, the Military Commission is discussing whether to rotate the troops. Units with the heaviest casualties should be withdrawn to the country for recuperation."

General Peng, who was in charge of the work of the Military Commission, spoke.

Wei Hongjun nodded and said, "I support the rotation of troops."

With Wei Hongjun's approval, everyone discussed and finally decided that Yang Dezhi would serve as the deputy commander of the Volunteer Army and Tang Liang would serve as the deputy political commissar of the Volunteer Army. The previously formed second-line corps, the 12th Corps, was transferred to the Northeast and began to rotate with the troops currently in North Korea.

After talking for about an hour, the Chairman said, "Red Army comrades must be tired. Go back and have a good rest for a few days."

866 Military Commission Debate

Although the Chairman asked Wei Hongjun to rest, how could Wei Hongjun rest completely? Although Wei Hongjun came back without any fanfare.

But everyone who could get the news got it. So, Wei Hongjun had just returned home, barely even spoken to his family, when a number of officials came to greet him. After all, Wei Hongjun lived surrounded by central government officials.

Some veterans also came to ask questions about the Korean War. Many of them had fought for many years, but had been transferred to the countryside after the founding of the People's Republic of China. They were also very curious about the strength of the US military.

Of course, most of them were there to say hello. I just had a few words with Wei Hongjun.

At this time, no one wanted to disturb Wei Hongjun for too long, after all, he had just returned. However, there were so many people that even a simple greeting took Wei Hongjun quite a while.

I finally got a good rest at night.

But when I suddenly returned to the country from the front line, I felt a little uncomfortable.

Wei Hongjun didn't go to work for the next few days. But he kept up to date with recent events. As a member of the Politburo, there were practically no Party documents he couldn't review, so he took advantage of this time to thoroughly examine them.

Wei Hongjun must have read the documents of the Fifth Session of the Seventh Central Committee carefully several times. The Fifth Session of the Seventh Central Committee was quite successful. It summarized the work of 1950.

In 1950, China was experiencing significant development across all sectors. Industry and agriculture had made significant progress. However, the biggest challenge remained fiscal constraints and a severe deficit. While numerous Soviet-aided projects had boosted industrial figures, they had a direct impact on the government's finances. Resolving these fiscal challenges remained the government's biggest challenge.

Then preparations were made for the upcoming First National People's Congress and the Eighth National Congress.

However, there were some contents that Wei Hongjun opposed.

The First National People's Congress, to be held in 1952, was the most important congress since the founding of the People's Republic of China. This was because the NPC would soon replace the CPPCC as the highest organ of state power. Many matters needed to be approved by the NPC.

So the government is currently preparing many things. The most important of these is the Constitution, which needs to be passed at the First National People's Congress. In his report on the drafting of the Constitution at the Fifth Session of the Seventh Central Committee, Comrade Xiu Yang stated directly: "The Soviet path is the inevitable path for human society, according to the laws of historical development. Avoiding this path is impossible."

Wei Hongjun read this sentence over and over again and always thought it was inappropriate.

In particular, it must be written into the Constitution.

China is currently learning from the Soviet Union, especially in economics, or in many respects, copying the Soviet model. There's no way around it. But this shouldn't be framed this way.

This is like the early days of the revolution, when the Soviet experience was regarded as an unbreakable truth by the then central leadership, and the city cycle was always followed.

If Chairman Mao had not proposed the new revolutionary line of "surrounding the cities from the countryside" and begun to establish revolutionary bases in the countryside, who knows where the Chinese revolution would have developed. Therefore, this artificial definition of various standards of truth is extremely problematic.

Furthermore, by including this in the Constitution, the central government easily persuaded the majority of Party members and the general public to accept the idea that the Soviet model was the true socialist model. However, if they later declared this to be wrong, it would cause ideological confusion within the Party. Even if they didn't declare it wrong, but simply wanted to make some adjustments and deviate from the Soviet model, many people would still not understand.

Therefore, the Party Central Committee cannot arbitrarily define something as truth.

Because if you want to change in the future, the price you pay will be very high.

Of course, Wei Hongjun understood that the inclusion of this statement in the draft constitution indicated that it was supported by many Party cadres, and was by no means solely the opinion of Comrade Xiuyang. This meant that since the Soviet Union's massive support for China, its influence on China in all aspects had been rapidly expanding.

This is not a good thing.

The more emphasis is placed on learning from the Soviet Union now, the more difficult it will be to reverse course from the Soviet model in the future. This is why Wei Hongjun did not attend the Fifth Session of the Seventh Central Committee.

If I participated, I would definitely oppose it.

But since this statement had already been adopted at the Fifth Session of the Seventh Central Committee, it was not so easy to change it. However, when Wei Hongjun was considering how to change this issue, the Military Commission had a serious debate on this matter.

1951 6 Month 4 Day.

—A very ordinary day.

General Peng presided over a daily meeting of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, at which they were discussing a revised draft of the "Internal Affairs Regulations." After General Peng took charge of the Military Commission, his most important task was to regularize the army.

Many Soviet military advisers who visited China believed that the Chinese military was backward in many areas. In particular, they faced numerous problems with the PLA's organizational structure and the formalization of its units, directly hindering its development into a modern force. A key role for Soviet advisers was to help the Chinese military move toward formalization and modernization. General Peng's interactions with Soviet advisers provided significant insights into military modernization.

He highly praised the strength of the Soviet Red Army.

Therefore, they were very willing to use the Soviet Red Army as a model to reform the Chinese People's Liberation Army. This meeting was to review the revised draft of the "Internal Affairs Regulations". General Peng was preparing to use the Soviet Army's regulations as a basis to rebuild the PLA's "Internal Affairs Regulations".

The current draft revision of the "Internal Affairs Regulations" was jointly submitted by the General Staff Headquarters, the General Political Department, the General Personnel Department, and the General Logistics Department. All CMC officials understand that the PLA is gradually moving toward modernization, so the wartime "Internal Affairs Regulations" will inevitably undergo some revisions.

Everyone works very hard.

He kept consulting with Soviet advisers and submitted his own department's ideas based on the actual situation. After summarizing them, they became the revised draft of the "Internal Affairs Regulations" in General Peng's hands. However, General Peng was not satisfied with the revised draft of the "Internal Affairs Regulations" and said: "The new 'Internal Affairs Regulations' must be based on modernization and formalization. We must dare to abandon some organizational structures that are not adapted to modernization. Many things in the war years are completely unnecessary in peacetime. I think there is no need to set up special political directors or political department directors at the regimental level and above. The political commissar can directly serve concurrently. In the future, the political commissar will only be responsible for specific work, which can reduce the number of political cadres. Let more political cadres learn military affairs and become military cadres. The army is fighting, and having one more military cadre is more beneficial to the troops."

"And this: the battalion and company levels also need to change. Only the battalion commander and company commander are the leaders of the battalion and company. The political instructor and political instructor are no longer the leaders of the troops. In our tank company, is there a position for a company instructor in the tanks? I think the responsibilities of the battalion and company instructors can be completely deleted, or in other words, there is no need to establish battalion and company instructor positions at the battalion and company levels."

Many Soviet advisers suggested that the army implement the "one-leader system."

Military advisers sent by the Soviet Union consistently believed that the PLA's dual-chairmanship system and the Party committee system were serious factors hindering the PLA's combat effectiveness. Warfare requires a military commander, and on the battlefield, the commander-in-chief holds full responsibility. Only a "single-chairman system" can ensure flexible military command and truly unleash the army's combat effectiveness. Both dual-chairmanship and Party committee leadership create conflicting command structures and hinder the performance of the commander-in-chief. Modern armies around the world lack dual-chairmanship and Party committee leadership.

General Peng supported the words of the Soviet military advisers.

General Peng also believed that the army was for war, and that fighting was the job of military cadres. Political cadres and the Party committee leadership system hindered the military cadres' performance. Therefore, General Peng is currently a key leader in the Central Military Commission supporting the "one-leader system."

General Peng also mentioned this idea in previous regular meetings of the Military Commission.

Of course, this trend of thought has always existed within the military. At the outset of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, many military officials supported the abolition of political cadres. Now, with the support of Soviet advisors, this voice has grown in number.

"The Party branch is established at the company level. This is the principle of our army's construction. Deleting the duties of the company instructor and abolishing the position of the company instructor is tantamount to changing the principle of our army's construction. If the internal affairs regulations are changed in this way, I think it is wrong."

Luo Shuai is in poor health.

Luo Shuai, however, has many responsibilities. He is currently the Director of the General Political Department of the Central Military Commission and also the Minister of the General Political Department. Furthermore, Luo Shuai is very busy, especially with regard to the grading of military cadres, for which he has sole responsibility. Therefore, Luo Shuai will not attend such regular meetings.

Although Luo Shuai did not attend, many officials from the General Political Department and the General Cadre Department did attend the meeting. For example, Fu Zhong, the First Deputy Director of the General Political Department, and Xiao Hua, the Second Deputy Director. Lai Chuanzhu, the First Deputy Minister of the General Cadre Department, and Xu Liqing, the Second Deputy Minister of the General Cadre Department, all attended the meeting.

They are all political cadres.

But before they could speak, Acting Chief of General Staff Yang Quanwu spoke up in opposition.

Because Yang Quanwu also came from a political cadre background. Although Yang Quanwu was criticized by many for being arbitrary and having absolute control over his work, this does not mean that he supports the military's one-man leadership system.

Back then, the Red Fourth Army was plagued by controversy, and even Chairman Mao was forced to leave the army. Ultimately, the Gutian Conference resolved many of the army's problems, the most important of which were what the army's mission was, how it should be organized, and how it should be led.

However, when the Soviet-educated faction took power, military work was disrupted again, and it was not until the Anti-Japanese War that some recovery began. Later, around the end of the war, around the Seventh National Congress, the efforts of cadres from the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei region, including Marshal Nie, Wei Hongjun, and political cadres like Tan Zheng, finally established the Party committee leadership system in the military.

But now they are trying to implement the "one-leader system", and even General Peng wants to abolish the political cadres in the army.

This is something Yang Quanwu cannot support.

General Peng wasn't surprised to see Yang Quanwu object. Of all the current Military Commission officials, Yang Quanwu had the worst temper and average interpersonal relationships. Yet, Yang Quanwu had a distinguished record of military service since the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, having served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Front Committee during both the Pingjin Campaign and the Crossing the Yangtze River Campaign. He was also the Acting Commander and Political Commissar of the Fifth Field Army.

Therefore, you have the temper and the qualifications to raise objections.

So General Peng explained: "Comrade Yang Quanwu, this is not a war era. In a war era, we need revolutionary armed forces to overthrow the counter-revolutionary armed forces. And our party, as the leading force of the revolution, must firmly grasp the revolutionary armed forces. But now that New China has been established, there are no counter-revolutionary armed forces that need us to overthrow. At this time, the mission of the army will change. Our army will now be the national defense force to protect the country. Our enemies have also changed from domestic counter-revolutionary armed forces to enemies from abroad. Therefore, the mission of our country's army has changed, and the troop structure must also change."

"Vice Chairman Peng, I remember that before the Party Central Committee moved into Beijing, the Chairman instructed the entire Party to study Mr. Guo Moruo's 'The Three Hundredth Anniversary of the Jiashen Incident.' He urged the entire Party to remember that while we have defeated the artillery shells on the battlefield, that does not mean our revolution has succeeded. He warned the entire Party not to fall prey to sugarcoated bullets. Our apparent counter-revolutionary forces have indeed vanished, but the hidden counter-revolutionaries have not. At this time, the more we must prioritize political education in our army, rather than neglecting it or even abolishing it."

Yang Quanwu was the most trusted general of Marshal Nie in Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei.

It’s because Yang Quanwu is excellent in both military and political affairs.

Yang Quanwu just has a bad temper, which doesn't mean that he has poor knowledge of political theory.

Seeing that Yang Quanwu was unmoved, General Peng said, "Comrades, if our army is to move towards modernization and regularization, we must learn from modern armies. The Soviet army is a model for us to learn from in terms of army building. Modernizing an army is not just about modernizing weapons and equipment, but more about modernizing its organizational structure. Here..."

"Vice Chairman Peng, the Soviet Army is the Soviet Army and the People's Liberation Army is the People's Liberation Army. They cannot be confused. We want to build a modern and regular army, but we are learning from the Soviet Army, not copying everything from the Soviet Army." Yang Quanwu presided over the work of the General Staff and had a lot of contact with Soviet military advisers.

But precisely because of their extensive contact, Yang Quanwu believed that there were many differences between the PLA and the Soviet Army. The PLA should learn from the Soviet Army, but it could not simply copy everything from the Soviet Army. However, Yang Quanwu was too impatient and interrupted General Peng before he could finish.

Yang Quanwu had a temper, and so did General Peng. So General Peng bluntly said, "Have you ever seen what a modern army is? We must have the courage to admit our shortcomings and the courage to learn, only then can we make progress."

"I only know that everything must be combined with China's reality. The 'Internal Service Regulations' want to change our army-building principles, and our General Staff Department absolutely cannot accept it." Yang Quanwu firmly opposed General Peng.

General Peng was so embarrassed by Yang Quanwu that he slammed the table and said, "You, the General Staff, must accept the document approved by the Military Commission even if you don't want to. Unless you decide not to resign as Chief of the General Staff?"