Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

Last year, the General Training Department went to the Lanzhou Military Region to organize a military exercise.

As a result, the two sides almost came to blows.

Initially, several military commanders of the Lanzhou Military Region, including Zhang Zongsun, Guo Tianmin, and Gao Wei, supported learning from the Soviet Union. They saw the advanced Soviet weaponry and believed that China would eventually adopt these modern weapons, which would inevitably require learning from the Soviet Union.

Therefore, the Lanzhou Military Region was very active in the wave of learning from the Soviet Union. Lanzhou Military Region Deputy Commanders Guo Tianmin and Gao Wei both studied at the Nanjing Military Academy after liberation, and were very supportive and interested in learning from the Soviet Union.

However, the military exercise plan issued by the General Training Headquarters was not in line with the actual situation in the Lanzhou Military Region. This was the northwest, and the military exercise plan was a complete imitation of the Soviet Union's tactics during World War II.

Guo Tianmin and Gao Wei both had bad tempers and expressed their disagreement on the spot.

As a result, there was a big conflict between the two sides.

The military exercises ultimately ended in disappointment. Of course, if that had been the case, Zhang Zhongxun wouldn't have been so angry. He was furious because Huang Kecheng, Secretary-General of the Central Military Commission, had previously summarized some of the opinions and issues within the General Training Department on behalf of the Central Military Commission. This was because numerous individuals from the major military regions had written to the Central Military Commission expressing their dissatisfaction with the General Training Department, believing it to be severely "dogmatistic."

Logically, Huang Kecheng's presidency of this meeting should have criticized the "dogmatism" of the General Training Department. However, instead of criticizing "dogmatism," the meeting instead criticized many troops for not following orders.

As a result, at this meeting, the Training Directorate not only did not criticize itself for others' opposition, but also named two people.

They believed that the two of them had taken the lead in opposing the regularization of the military, which had a very negative impact. The two people nominated by the General Training Directorate were Zhang Zhongxun, commander of the Lanzhou Military Region, and Wang Qiuyun, commander of the Wuhan Military Region.

In fact, several commanders of major military regions have had conflicts with the General Training Department.

But everyone knows how to leave room for maneuver and will not directly conflict with the cadres of the Training Directorate.

Only the Wuhan and Lanzhou Military Regions clashed with the General Training Headquarters. In the Wuhan Military Region, Wang Qiuyun even directly drove them away, causing a major uproar. In the Lanzhou Military Region, the instigators were Guo Tianmin and Gao Wei. But the General Training Headquarters believed that Commander Zhang Zhongxun's reluctance to speak out was the reason.

As a result, after this meeting, the General Training Department publicly criticized the two people in the name of the Military Commission.

Zhang Zhongxun held his breath.

So, at the enlarged meeting of the Military Commission, they immediately started to speak out. As soon as Zhang Zhongxun spoke, Wang Qiuyun immediately followed suit. As a result, several major military region commanders and political commissars, who had previously been relatively mild-mannered, also began to follow suit.

That's the case with many things.

It doesn't mean that anyone has to kill anyone else.

Zhang Zhongxun's outburst stemmed from his belief that the General Training Department's actions were flawed. They completely disregarded the troops' actual conditions, directly copying Soviet training plans and military exercises. Of course, there were also personal animosities involved. After all, the General Training Department's public criticism of Zhang Zhongxun throughout the entire army had left him utterly humiliated.

But after Zhang Zhongxun launched the attack, the situation was no longer under his control.

Once conflicts accumulate to a certain point, a single spark will trigger a collective attack. The commanders and political commissars of the major military regions are all senior, high-ranking military officials.

They attacked in groups, and even General Peng, who was currently in charge of the Military Commission, was unable to withstand them.

What's more, it's the Training Directorate.

This time, the criticism of the General Training Department by military and political cadres from the major military regions focused primarily on Li Da and Xiao Zijing. However, this did not mean that others were immune. Zuo Quan, director of the General Training Department, and his deputy directors, Peng Shaohui and Chen Zihe, were also criticized.

After the collective attack, various historical events were brought up repeatedly.

Who doesn’t have some historical issues?

Who dares to say that his history is clean?

Chen Zhonghe's record is the cleanest. He joined the Fourth Front Army in Sichuan in late 1933 and remained a young Red Army soldier. After the Long March ended and he arrived in northern Shaanxi, he rose from squad leader to platoon leader. He was then incorporated into the Central Red Army and became a company commander. When the Anti-Japanese War broke out, he became a platoon leader in the 115th Division.

You can't find anything by looking through history.

What happened to Zhang Guotao and the Fourth Front Army was not the responsibility of a small soldier like Chen Zhonghe.

On the contrary, it is different with Zuo Quan, Li Da, Peng Shaohui and Xiao Zijing.

General Peng and General He both supported Zhang Zhongxun's criticisms. Both believed that the development of the Chinese military had experienced some problems in recent years. While General Peng supported Zhang Zhongxun and other major military region military and political leaders, he criticized the General Staff for also bearing responsibility for dogmatism.

As a result, the General Staff Headquarters and the General Training Department became the targets of this enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission.

Being severely criticized.

Initially, the Central Committee didn't take it too seriously. Normally, the Chairman would send the Prime Minister to preside over such an expanded meeting of the Military Commission. But this time, the Prime Minister was busy sorting out negotiations with Charles de Gaulle and discussing the October Revolution commemoration with the Soviet Union.

So he did not preside over the enlarged meeting of the Military Commission.

Who could have imagined that the enlarged meeting of the Military Commission would completely get out of control in less than ten days.

"Chairman, Prime Minister."

After Wei Hongjun arrived in Beijing, he immediately contacted the Chairman.

The Chairman asked Wei Hongjun to come directly to the Chairman.

Wei Hongjun discovered that the Prime Minister was also there. After Wei Hongjun sat down, the Prime Minister said, "Did you know about the enlarged meeting of the Military Commission?"

"I heard about it on the way here."

"After word of the enlarged meeting of the Military Commission spread, many Soviet advisers reported it to the Soviet government. Khrushchev personally telegraphed the Chairman to express his concerns about the matter."

"Khrushchev found out so quickly?"

Wei Hongjun was very surprised.

Khrushchev was currently locked in a fierce battle with Malenkov and his colleagues, yet he still had time to care about China's affairs. The Prime Minister nodded and said, "Although the number of Soviet advisers in the military has decreased significantly in recent years, they are still quite large. At this expanded meeting of the Military Commission, many cadres clearly expressed their opposition to 'dogmatism.' For many Soviet advisers, this was a direct attack on them. Therefore, they reacted strongly and immediately contacted the Soviet government."

"Eugene came to me personally, and his implicit message was that China first met with Charles de Gaulle and now is criticizing 'dogmatism', which means it wants to turn away from the Soviet Union and leave the socialist camp."

Wei Hongjun frowned.

Wei Hongjun could understand the Soviet Union's concerns.

After all, it had only been six months since the Polish-Hungarian Incident, and the Soviet Union was undoubtedly quite sensitive. This was especially true after 1957, when China first met with Charles de Gaulle in a high-profile manner, and now, at the expanded meeting of the Military Commission, it launched a large-scale critique of "dogmatism."

It is entirely possible that the Soviet Union believed that China was preparing to break away from the Soviet Union.

China is not the center of the world. Everyone revolves around China and believes in China.

However, China currently has absolutely no intention of creating conflict with the Soviet Union. On the contrary, the central government has always maintained the Soviet Union's leadership over the socialist camp and maintained the stability of the entire socialist camp.

But now the enlarged meeting of the Military Commission has begun.

It's impossible to just end it.

Even if the Chairman stepped in and forcibly suppressed everyone from causing trouble, it would be useless. After all, the conflict has already occurred. If you suppress it forcefully, the conflict may explode even more seriously in the future.

Not to mention anything else, given the current relationship between the major military regions and the General Training Department, how will the General Training Department do its work in the future?

Without the cooperation of the major military regions, the training plans of the General Training Headquarters would be impossible to implement. However, if the General Training Headquarters were supported, then several prominent military and political cadres in the major military regions would have to be adjusted. The central government must consider whether to adjust the General Training Headquarters or the leadership of the major military regions.

And now General Peng is criticizing the General Staff.

The General Staff directly supports General Peng's work. General Peng presides over the work of the Military Commission, and his daily work depends on the cooperation of the General Staff. But now that the two sides have reached such a state, how can they continue to cooperate?

"Our cooperation with the Soviet Union is extensive and deep. This extends not only to the military, but also to industry, commerce, and education. If this enlarged meeting of the Military Commission really fiercely criticizes 'dogmatism' and ultimately causes a major uproar, how will our cadres continue to cooperate with Soviet advisers? Furthermore, since 1947, tens of thousands of cadres and skilled workers have returned from studying in the Soviet Union. If the 'anti-dogmatism' storm spreads to other fields, what will happen to these cadres and skilled workers? Will it result in a situation where all cooperation and relations with the Soviet Union will be affected?"

The Prime Minister expressed concern.

It was acceptable for the enlarged meeting of the Military Commission to "fight dogma," but the ferocity of the movement was something neither the Chairman nor the Premier had anticipated. Initially, the Chairman was somewhat pleased.

Unexpectedly, the military itself began to "fight dogmatism." As long as the central government did not personally intervene and allowed individual institutions to "fight dogmatism" on their own, this would both provide an explanation to the Soviet Union and prevent China from being completely ensnared in Soviet "dogmatism."

good thing.

After a few days, the Chairman began to get anxious. The "anti-dogmatism" movement was so powerful, it was completely beyond his imagination and beyond his control. The current situation was that China and the Soviet Union were still in a honeymoon period.

China needs the Soviet Union in all aspects, including military, industry, education and diplomacy.

China’s large-scale “anti-dogmatism” is actually “anti-Sovietism”.

This will seriously affect Sino-Soviet cooperation.

Ever since Wei Hongjun entered, the Chairman had been chain-smoking. After the Premier finished speaking, the Chairman spoke again, "Comrade Hongjun, we urgently called you back because of this matter. Comrade Wu Hao and I agree that while 'anti-dogmatism' in the military is fine, it shouldn't be expanded or extended to other industries. We should also limit 'anti-dogmatism' to the use of machinery, Soviet military doctrine, and tactics, and not extend it to the manufacture of weapons and equipment. We can punish some cadres, but not for things like their close association with Soviet advisors."

Wei Hongjun smiled bitterly.

How can it be possible to fulfill the Chairman's request?

Now the meeting is out of control.

Wei Hongjun had been pondering where to begin addressing this issue. After a moment, he asked, "Chairman, Premier, at this stage, is Sino-Soviet cooperation more important, or is 'anti-dogmatism' more important?"

"Sino-Soviet cooperation is important. It not only concerns the overall situation of the socialist camp, but also our current national construction and national defense. All the construction projects in our Second Five-Year Plan were inseparable from cooperation with the Soviet Union and the guidance of Soviet experts."

The chairman answered affirmatively.

Wei Hongjun roughly understood what the Chairman meant after hearing what he said.

I also have a general idea in my mind.

The "anti-dogmatism" campaign must be carried out, because it is unstoppable. Furthermore, with so many forces involved, some handling of the situation is impossible. The General Staff and the General Training Directorate involved must be reorganized.

What if we don’t reorganize?

Peng's dissatisfaction with the General Staff was already very obvious. Otherwise, he wouldn't have singled out Chief of Staff Su Yu, blaming him for the source of "dogmatism." The two sides had practically broken off relations.

How do you want the central government to choose?

What is forcing the emperor to abdicate?

It's not just that leading troops to threaten the central government is forcing the emperor to abdicate. In fact, General Peng's actions are also a different form of forcing the emperor to abdicate. General Peng took advantage of the local military region's dissatisfaction with the overly dogmatic training headquarters to add his own dissatisfaction with the General Staff.

Directly make the conflict public.

The meaning is obvious.

The Central Committee had to choose either General Peng, who was in charge of the work of the Military Commission, or Su Yu from the General Staff.

This is an alternative form of forcing the emperor to abdicate.

What choice could the central government make? General Peng was deputy commander of the Chinese Communist Army for decades and also presided over the work of the Military Commission for many years after liberation. Did General Peng contribute to the work of the Military Commission during these years?

The contribution is huge.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, issues like military downsizing and salary cuts were beyond the reach of ordinary cadres. Any of the ten marshals could not have done as well as General Peng. Did General Peng make any serious mistakes during his time at the Military Commission?

The only thing that the central government criticized was that it supported the "one-leader system" in the early years.

But this view was never mentioned again.

At this point, the Central Committee couldn't afford to replace General Peng, who presided over the Military Commission, just for Su Yu. Therefore, the General Staff had to be reorganized. However, how could the Central Committee be reassured or satisfied after General Peng had driven out two previous Chiefs of the General Staff?

Therefore, the General Staff and the General Training Department need to be reorganized, but how to reorganize them is the big problem.

Furthermore, the expanded meeting of the Military Commission must focus solely on "anti-dogmatism" and must not allow for any "anti-Soviet" voices. Wei Hongjun immediately stated, "Chairman, we must not procrastinate on the matter of the expanded meeting of the Military Commission. We must cut the Gordian knot. According to the critical spirit of the current meeting, those who need to be dealt with must be dealt with, and those who need to be reorganized must be reorganized. Then, other cadres must be appointed as soon as possible to conclude this expanded meeting of the Military Commission. These new cadres must be 'anti-dogmatism,' but they must not exclude military modernization, and they must not expand their 'anti-dogmatism' on a large scale."

The chairman nodded.

The Chairman and the Premier called Wei Hongjun back this time not just to hear Wei Hongjun's opinions.

It was also to communicate with Wei Hongjun.