Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

It's impossible for the Chairman and the Premier to not have their own opinions on this matter. However, the matter is so huge that it's not enough for the Chairman and the Premier to have their own opinions. They also need the support of other important officials. Wei Hongjun is now the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, and many things still require consensus with him.

Wei Hongjun’s current opinion is roughly consistent with the Chairman and the Premier’s ideas.

The Chairman said to the Premier and Wei Hongjun, "I think Comrade Deng Guo is a good person. What do you think of letting him go to the General Staff Headquarters and cooperate with Lao Peng?"

"Deng Guo can."

The Prime Minister nodded.

Yang Quanwu had a bad temper and slammed the table with General Peng. Su Yu had been involved in the revolution in the more complex East China region, but because he was mainly responsible for military work, he was not at all used to working in the government.

Just like someone later analyzed Su Yu's way of doing things.

During the Battle of Jinan, Chairman Mao sent a telegram to Su Yu, asking if it was possible to allow Xu Shiyou to temporarily rest and recuperate, and to invite him to come out and fight the Battle of Jinan first. Chairman Mao used a negotiating tone and directly asked if Comrade Xu Shiyou could be invited back.

But Su Yu later sent a telegram to the Chairman, directly stating that he had ordered Xu Shiyou to rush to the front line.

Xu Shiyou responded immediately to Chairman Mao's telegram, but didn't respond to Su Yu's order at all. Later, Chairman Mao sent telegrams directly to the East China Military Region or Xu Shiyou, no longer communicating through Su Yu or Xu Shiyou. Some speculate that Su Yu had some issues handling these matters. Chairman Mao used the word "please" in a consultative tone. However, Su Yu directly ordered Xu Shiyou to rush to the front.

After Su Yu came to the Central Committee, the relationship between General Peng and Su Yu has always been bad.

Su Yu was very depressed.

I don't understand why General Peng gets angry at everything I do. Speaking of which, the Ministry of National Defense hasn't been established yet. This department will be established at the Second National People's Congress in September or October. Therefore, there are no historical conflicts between the Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff.

At present, General Peng is the first vice chairman in charge of the daily work of the Military Commission, and Su Yu is the chief of staff of the General Staff.

They are serious superiors and subordinates.

But there are still many conflicts between the two people.

Peng had always favored Huang Kecheng, but it was clear that both the Chairman and the Premier had some concerns about Peng's dominance. After Yang Quanwu, it was Su Yu, and after Su Yu, the Chairman chose Deng Guo, commander of the Shenyang Military Region.

The Prime Minister also supported Deng Guo's entry into the Military Commission.

Wei Hongjun was worried about Deng Guo. The position of Chief of General Staff wasn't a comfortable one. But the Chairman and the Prime Minister had already discussed the matter tomorrow, so Wei Hongjun nodded and said, "I also think Comrade Deng Guo is suitable."

"Where's the Training Directorate?"

1020 Cutting the Gordian knot

After Wei Hongjun returned to Beijing, the Chairman, the Premier, and Wei Hongjun exchanged views on the enlarged meeting of the Military Commission and ultimately reached a consensus that the timing was extremely bad, as the Second National People's Congress would soon be held and it would also be the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution in the Soviet Union.

During the Second National People's Congress, the central government will conduct a large-scale cadre reshuffle, leading to a significant number of officials leaving politics. In particular, many core cadres from democratic parties will be forced to retire. Stability is crucial at this time; we cannot allow anyone to seize upon this opportunity and cause trouble, potentially disrupting the overall situation. If this large-scale retirement process is not handled properly, it will impact the normal retirement process that follows.

The 40th anniversary of the October Revolution is even more important.

The Soviet Union wanted to use this opportunity to reorganize the socialist camp. The recent events in Eastern Europe, triggered by the 20th Congress of the CPSU and the "Secret Report," had left the socialist camp unstable. Following the Polish-Hungarian Incident, Eastern European countries were ambivalent about the Soviet Union and even more skeptical of Khrushchev. China now needed to help the Soviet Union stabilize the socialist camp while strengthening cooperation with the Soviet Union.

Either of these two items is more important than the current enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission, so the influence of the enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission cannot continue to expand.

What needs to be dealt with must be dealt with, what needs to be resolved must be resolved, and the enlarged meeting of the Military Commission must be concluded as soon as possible. Historically, when the enlarged meeting of the Military Commission took place in 58 to fight against dogmatism, the Chairman supported it because Sino-Soviet relations were beginning to have some problems.

Although there was no rupture, it was not far from it. Therefore, the Chairman hoped that the entire army would carry out "anti-dogmatism" to start the process of decoupling the army from the Soviet Union. Therefore, the Chairman not only supported it, but also sent Deng Xixian to attend the enlarged meeting of the Military Commission to add fuel to the fire.

But that’s not the case in 1957 in this time and space.

It is not yet time to decouple from the Soviet Union. On the contrary, China and the Soviet Union need to cooperate more closely.

So the Chairman’s attitude is that “anti-dogmatism” is acceptable, but it cannot be generalized.

After reaching a consensus, the Chairman, the Premier, and Wei Hongjun spoke separately with the various groups at the enlarged meeting of the Military Commission. The Chairman primarily spoke with General Peng, General He, and Marshal Luo, the three marshals who presided over the work of the Military Commission.

The Chairman needs to know the attitudes of these three people.

To put it bluntly, the Chairman needed to know which cadres to deal with, and to what extent, to satisfy the three of them. The Chairman had been absent from the CMC for many years, so within the CMC, General Peng, General He, and General Luo held considerable influence.

Peng Dehuai and He Zhijun jointly presided over the Military Commission for many years, while Marshal Luo directly managed the General Political Department and the General Political Department. After liberation, countless transfers of middle and senior cadres were orchestrated by these three individuals.

If the three of them are unwilling to end it, then this matter will not be so easy to end.

More importantly, the Chairman has no intention of changing the CMC leadership structure anytime soon. This means that for the next few years, the CMC will still be led by General Peng, General He, and General Luo.

Therefore, the Chairman attaches great importance to the opinions of these three people.

The three were relatively unanimous in their opinions, including General Luo, who believed that dogmatism was rampant within the military. He called for restructuring the Nanjing Military Academy and the General Training Department. General Peng again expressed his dissatisfaction with the General Staff, arguing that the General Staff should be at the forefront of opposing and correcting dogmatism, but instead, it was fueling it.

The three people have the same general requirements, but they have their own ideas on some specific issues.

General Peng believed that the current expanded CMC meetings were still too small. More cadres should be invited to attend. Not only military and political officials from the major military regions, but also cadres from the provincial military regions and the various field armies should be invited to thoroughly eradicate "dogmatism" throughout the army. This was the experience General Peng had drawn from his practical work.

In the early days, General Peng also supported comprehensive learning from the Soviet Union. However, in actual work, General Peng found that the Soviet experience and the PLA were incompatible on many issues. So he gradually began to criticize "dogmatism."

In fact, many cadres in the military have begun to realize that blindly learning from the Soviet army is problematic.

But the Chairman opposed General Peng’s idea.

I believe such a large-scale, army-wide meeting is unnecessary at this stage. The current CMC expanded meeting is already quite large. While the Chairman did not agree to expand the CMC's membership, he did express support for the three individuals' opinions on many other fronts. The Nanjing Military Academy and the General Training Directorate will both undergo adjustments. As for the General Staff, we'll hear everyone's opinions.

The Premier primarily met with officials from the General Staff, the General Training Directorate, and the Nanjing Military Academy who had been impacted by the incident, to calm their emotions and encourage them to be less defensive about the criticism. While affirming their achievements, he also criticized their work shortcomings. The Premier hoped they would actively reflect on their mistakes.

Then meet with cadres from the General Political Department and the General Cadre Department.

Because of the large-scale cadre reshuffle, the General Cadre Department and the General Political Department were top priorities. Furthermore, cadres from these departments were at the forefront of this criticism. In the process of studying the Soviet Army, the General Political Department was the department most severely impacted.

Therefore, Tan Zheng, Fu Zhong, Xiao Hua and others from the General Political Department were very active.

Wei Hongjun met with military and political cadres from the major military regions.

Wei Hongjun conveyed the Chairman and Premier's message, which was that criticism and self-criticism should be directed at the matter, not the individual. Criticism of specific cadres for specific mistakes was acceptable, but historical battles should not be brought up.

The three people each do their own work.

On the third day after Wei Hongjun returned to Beijing, he attended an enlarged meeting of the Military Commission with the Premier. The Chairman once again chose to pay attention rather than attend the meeting in person.

The Prime Minister chaired the meeting.

The Prime Minister is very capable of controlling the rhythm of the meeting.

Following the majority of cadres, the Premier also criticized the problems of the General Training Department. Wei Hongjun also spoke out, arguing that the General Training Department did have a problem with "dogmatism."

Previously, everyone had been criticizing the General Training Department, and its cadres had refuted them. But then the criticism intensified, and not only did the frontline cadres of the major military regions join in, but also the General Political Department and the General Cadre Department. The criticism was so intense that the cadres at the General Training Department had no time to refute it. Many people even dug up their history. Even so, the meeting still didn't make a final decision on their actions, as their self-criticisms were still unsatisfactory. But after the Premier and Wei Hongjun attended the meeting, they immediately made their final decision.

There is something wrong with the Training Directorate.

There is the problem of dogmatism.

Since the General Training Department did indeed have a problem with dogmatism, the next step was to consider how to deal with its personnel. However, before anyone could address each of its personnel individually, Wei Hongjun proposed abolishing the department. Wei Hongjun stated that the work of the General Training Department overlapped significantly with that of the General Staff Headquarters, and that establishing a dedicated General Training Department was unnecessary.

The Eighth General Headquarters was originally established based on the advice of Soviet advisors. However, after years of operation, the Eighth General Headquarters encountered numerous problems. Wei Hongjun believed that the General Training Headquarters could be incorporated into the General Staff Headquarters.

Many people were very surprised to hear Wei Hongjun's words.

Is this going to mean the end of the General Training Department? People criticized the General Training Department, but no one considered eliminating it. However, after Wei Hongjun proposed it, the Premier quickly expressed his support, as did the three marshals who presided over the Military Commission.

As a result, the Training Directorate was gone.

Many cadres were even preparing to fire artillery at several officers in the General Training Department, but now they're stuck. The General Training Department is gone, and so are those officers' positions. The specific arrangements still require the Central Military Commission to make.

After the training directorate meeting, the Premier continued to preside over the meeting. Then it was the Nanjing Military Academy, and the spearhead was directed at General Liu.

This is no small matter.

Because Marshal Liu was a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Military Commission, a Marshal of the Republic, and Commander of the Second Field Army.

The weight is not comparable to that of the Training Directorate.

However, Marshal Liu held the highest position and received the most criticism, and the historical issues exposed were the most serious, including his active support for the "Soviet faction" during the Central Soviet Area period and his opposition to Chairman Mao at the Ningdu Conference.

Then there was General Peng's criticism of Liu Bei, who accused him of forcing the death of Yu Tianyun, the youngest commander of the Fourth Front Army. Liu Bei had no way of defending himself against Peng's criticism, so he could only offer a self-criticism.

After these historical facts were uncovered, Coach Liu was under great pressure.

These days, he's been constantly criticized, especially by General Peng, who presides over the Military Commission. This has put General Liu in a very difficult position. His health isn't great, and he'd been recuperating. But now he's having to attend meetings every day and accept criticism. As a result, his health is worsening.

After the Premier presided over the meeting, the Chairman addressed General Liu through him. He said that General Liu had a serious case of "dogmatism" in his early years in the Central Soviet Area. However, he discovered the dangers of dogmatism in practice and began to criticize it. Furthermore, General Liu had made significant achievements in military command during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation.

Including information about the Nanjing Military Academy.

The Chairman’s evaluation was that the Nanjing Military Academy had problems and was “dogmatistic”, but its overall achievements needed to be affirmed.

This wasn't something the Chairman said casually. The issue of "dogmatism" at the Nanjing Military Academy has been going on for quite some time. The Military Commission sent two working groups to the academy to investigate.

The first working group criticized the Nanjing Military Academy for its "dogmatism." Later, General Political Department Director Tan Zheng and Deputy Chief of General Staff Chen Geng visited the academy and wrote a report severely criticizing the academy. General Peng and General He summarized this report and rewrote it for the Central Committee and the Chairman.

It is said that there are problems with the Nanjing Military Academy led by Marshal Liu, and that "dogmatism" is very serious.

General Peng and General He hold great importance.

Zhang Zhongxun was the first to criticize Liu, and Peng immediately followed suit. Liu quickly became the target of the meeting. But seriously, Liu wasn't exactly a "dogmatist" figure.

On the contrary, Liu Shuai has been working hard to combine the Soviet Army's experience with that of the People's Liberation Army. Compared with the Training Directorate, Liu Shuai has been working on the implementation of the Soviet Army's experience in China.

The results are also very good.

It's a pity that although Liu Shuai is the head of Nanjing Military Academy, he has been recuperating for many years due to health reasons, so Nanjing Military Academy has many problems.

But the same thing still applies. Now that the enlarged CMC meeting has reached this point, with such a heated debate, even if General Liu isn't a "dogmatist," he must become one. It's simply a matter of intentional or unintentional dogmatism. At this point, even the Chairman can't stand up and say General Liu isn't a "dogmatist." If General Liu isn't a "dogmatist," then the vast majority of cadres who have been criticizing him for his "dogmatism" are wrong.

General Peng, General He, General Luo, the General Political Department, the General Cadre Department, and all the major military commands have all spoken out. If you were to say there's nothing wrong with General Liu, these cadres wouldn't agree. So General Liu must be a "dogmatist." But the Chairman's comments will temper criticism of General Liu, which is a good thing for him.

As expected, after the Premier conveyed the Chairman's assessment of Liu Shuai, Liu Shuai made a self-criticism, and the public stopped pursuing Liu Shuai. However, Liu Shuai was no longer president of the Nanjing Military Academy. After Liu Shuai's departure, Chen Bojun was supposed to take over the Nanjing Military Academy.

But Chen Bojun was also among the critics.

Fortunately, Liu Shuai passed, and Chen Bojun was no longer held accountable. After Chen Bojun's self-criticism, he was also required to leave the Nanjing Military Academy. There was also a long list of Nanjing Military Academy cadres implicated in this "dogmatism" incident, all of whom would receive varying degrees of punishment.

Finally, the Military Commission decided to split the Nanjing Military Academy.

The Air Force Academy, Naval Academy, and Armored Forces Academy were established with different departments. At the same time, some of them were moved to Beijing and merged with the North China Military University to form the Chinese People's Liberation Army Higher Military Academy. The Nanjing Military Academy will continue to be retained in Nanjing.

Although the Nanjing Military Academy still exists, it can no longer compare to the academy of the early years of the People's Republic of China. The Military Commission transferred Comrade Liao Hansheng, who had just graduated from the Nanjing Military Academy and was appointed Deputy Commander of the Lanzhou Military Region less than a year earlier, back to the Nanjing Military Academy as its president. They also appointed Comrade Zhong Qiangguang, Deputy Political Commissar of the Nanjing Military Region, as Political Commissar of the Nanjing Military Academy.

The newly established PLA Higher Military Academy was headed by Marshal Ye as president, Li Qingchuan, former president of the North China Military University, as vice president, and Li Zhimin, political commissar of the Beijing Military Region, as political commissar.

After the founding of New China, the Nanjing Military Academy, which had always been the center of the PLA’s military education work, completely disappeared into history.

The biggest problem is still the General Staff.

If we really start a debate, it will take days and nights to end.

Therefore, the Premier did not drag his feet on this issue. He cooperated with Wei Hongjun and directly stated that the General Staff was also responsible for the issues of the General Training Headquarters and the Nanjing Military Academy.

Chief of General Staff Su Yu should be held responsible.

The Premier specifically tried to appease Su Yu. After the Premier and Wei Hongjun expressed their opinions, Su Yu also came forward and actively admitted his mistakes. After Su Yu admitted his mistakes and was dismissed from his position as Chief of the General Staff, others had no excuse to continue to hold him accountable.

However, after Su Yu was removed from the post of Chief of the General Staff, the General Staff Headquarters also had to be reorganized.