1985 I visited Xu in Nanjing and took out Moutai for his birthday.

Xu is a very special one among the founding generals. He has always been known for his daring to fight and fight. There are two things widely circulated in him. One is martial arts. He used to do odd jobs in Shaolin Temple and learned some kung fu, so he is a master boxer. It's wine now. Maybe he is famous for drinking, especially Maotai. However, drinking is harmful to his health. It is estimated that because of long-term drinking, I developed liver cancer in my later years.

Chairman Mao knows that Xu loves to drink, but he is not afraid of drinking himself. Xu reciprocated by making a promise to Chairman Mao, saying "three don't drink": not before the war, not after the war, and not after the defeat. During the period of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Xu opened up the situation and gained a firm foothold in Shandong. Chairman Mao praised: "Xu Youshi is a famous warrior, who played half the sky in Jiaodong, amazing!"

In addition, Xu also forged a deep friendship with. Xu was born in the Red Fourth Army. After the failure of the fifth counter-campaign against "encirclement and suppression", the Central Red Army had to start the Long March. After entering Sichuan, he joined the Red Fourth Front Army. After a period of fighting, he joined forces with the Central Red Army in Huining, successfully ended the Long March and finally arrived in Yan 'an.

After the outbreak of the All-round Anti-Japanese War, the Red Fourth Front Army was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army129th Division, with Deng Xiaoping as the political commissar of129th Division. In 1938, Xu became the deputy brigade commander of the 386th Brigade under 129 Division, and they formally became affiliated. 1939, 129 division headquarters and 386 brigade entered southern Hebei and northwestern Shandong to establish anti-Japanese base areas. During this period, the Eighth Route Army smashed more than 30,000 Japanese puppet raids.

Soon, Liu Bocheng led his troops back to Taihang Mountain base area, and Xu continued to open up base areas in Shandong and organize anti-Japanese activities behind enemy lines. Although they are no longer on the same battlefield, they are still firmly resisting Japanese aggression.

During the war of liberation, our army marched thousands of miles into Dabie Mountain, and then formed the second field army, while Xu served as the commander of the ninth column of the East China Field Army and was incorporated into the third field army.

1973, in order to prevent mountainism in the army, Chairman Mao decided to exchange personnel with the leaders of the eight military regions at that time, and Xu, then commander of the Nanjing Military Region, and the commander of the Guangzhou Military Region exchanged posts.

At that time, some people were upset when they heard that they were going to change careers, and they didn't want to leave their original units. Chairman Mao had a special talk with the officers and men. When he and the generals finished singing "Three Disciplines and Eight Notices", the atmosphere gradually became stronger. Chairman Mao said: "It is no good to stay in one place for a long time. Long time no see. Where is the oil? In several major military regions, the political commissar has no role, and the commander has the final say. I've been thinking about it for years. The main problem is the intermodulation of the political commissar, and the commander of the military region will not leave. "

Later, at the meeting, all participants unanimously passed and agreed to change careers.

Shortly after Xu became the commander of the Guangzhou Military Region, the South Vietnamese regime used the armistice agreement just signed with North Vietnam to send warships and troops to occupy the Xisha Islands.

1974 65438+ 10, when Xu Gang was transferred as the commander of the Guangzhou Military Region, a naval battle broke out between the China Navy and the South Vietnamese Navy, and our navy sank an enemy ship under a huge equipment gap. The victory at sea also supported the victory of landing on the island and successfully recovered the occupied island.

After reunification, Vietnam colluded with the Soviet Union. Especially after Du?n came to power, Vietnam began to oppose China. Vietnamese troops often cross the border between the two countries and occupy our territory.

China has been assisting Viet Nam since 1950. In order to counter the French colonial war, General Chen Geng was sent to train and train the North Vietnamese troops and command them to capture the occupied big cities. Until the United States launched the Vietnam War, China spared no effort to support it, supporting 20 billion dollars of materials and equipment in 20 years.

But Vietnam broke with China after reunification, and 20 billion yuan was fed to a baiwenhang. Deng Xiaoping was so angry that he couldn't help being angry even when he mentioned Vietnam to foreign diplomats. According to brzezinski, an American diplomat, when he negotiated the normalization of relations with Deng Xiaoping in May 1978, he was surprised by Deng Xiaoping's treachery in severely condemning the Vietnam War.

Deng Xiaoping ended his visit to the United States and went to Japan. When he met with tanaka kakuei in Tokyo, he said: "If the aggressors are not punished, there will be a chain reaction." When talking about whether to prepare to fight against Vietnam, Deng Xiaoping said: "I am considering taking action to punish."

Vietnam's military action in Indian zhina Peninsula caused Deng Xiaoping a great headache. The Central Committee has also discussed for a long time whether to fight Vietnam. Hua Guofeng said helplessly: "In this case, then fight."

Although most leaders agree to fight back against Vietnam, there are still people who are worried. At that time, Vietnam and the Soviet Union had formed a military alliance, and the Soviet Union had millions of soldiers in the northern border area. If Vietnam is attacked, the Soviet Union may wage war against China. What's more, at that time, China had just finished the "Ten Years of Unrest", and 10 had not fought for more than 20 years. If the PLA encounters an experienced Vietnamese army, it is likely to suffer.

Deng Xiaoping believes that after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and the Vietnamese made such a sound, the Soviet Union actually formed an encirclement on the land of China. If Vietnam's ambitions are not contained, they will push their luck, the Soviet Union will expand to the whole Indochina Peninsula, and the Vietnamese will be even more unscrupulous and push their luck.

Therefore, the Central Military Commission decided to launch a self-defense counterattack against Vietnam.

At this time, Xu had been the commander of the Guangzhou Military Region for more than five years, and he was specially instructed to complete the preparations for the Vietnam War as soon as possible.

Xu was in charge of the command of the Eastern Front. On June 1979 and 1, the relevant preparations of four field armies and other affiliated artillery and engineering units were completed, and all of them entered the site.

On February 17, under the command of Xu, 200,000 PLA troops on the eastern front launched an attack on the Vietnamese positions. In just nine days, it broke into Vietnam for at least 20 kilometers. On March 5, under the command of Xu, lang son, the most important big city in northern Vietnam, was captured, and Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, was greatly shaken. Immediately, under the command of the Central Military Commission, the PLA stopped fighting back and began to retreat.

This less than a month's war has set Vietnam back at least 10 years, and in the subsequent debate, it contains a lot of energy from Vietnam. It was not until the late 1980s that relations between the two countries began to improve.

However, Xu was not satisfied with this battle, and the casualties on the Eastern Front were very heavy. Xu later summed up several reasons: first, our army has not fought for nearly 30 years and lacks operational experience; Second, the troops have no combat experience in tropical areas, and the terrain and climate have not experienced it; Third, a large number of cadres are mobilized, which makes the cooperation between personnel poor and the operation efficiency relatively low; In addition, the combatants' supplies are all carried with them, and the soldiers are burdened with a lot of materials unrelated to the battle, which is very tiring.

Shortly after the end of the war, Xu retired from the front line of military command, and his health was not enough to support him to continue to command at the front line.

1982, at the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Xu was elected as a member of the Central Advisory Committee. At this time, he is 78 years old and his health is not as good as before. He could no longer take on too much work, so he returned to the residence of Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing to recuperate.

1985, Deng Xiaoping was preparing to make a southern tour and passed by Nanjing. There were very few founding generals alive at that time, so Deng Xiaoping wanted to visit this old comrade-in-arms when he was in Nanjing.

He told Han Peixin, secretary of jiangsu provincial party committee, that he would visit Xu when passing through Nanjing. Han Peixin put the phone down and rushed to No.8 Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum. Xu Youshi was very happy when he learned that. Obviously, he was glad that Deng Xiaoping could take time out of his busy schedule to visit his old comrade-in-arms and insisted on meeting Deng Xiaoping himself.

Han Peixin beat him and reported it to the Central Office. At this time, I already knew that Xu was in poor health, so he replied, "Please call Comrade Xu. Although he is younger than me, his health is not as good as mine. Besides, it's still cold. Don't meet him at the station, just wait at my residence in Nanjing! "

Han Peixin told Xu Youshi what Deng Xiaoping said. After hearing this, Xu still felt a little guilty, so Han Peixin told him his residence after he arrived in Nanjing and asked him to pick him up in person.

On February 1, when he arrived in Nanjing, Han Peixin called Xu's secretary and told him that Xu shaved that morning, put on his hat and tied up his discipline at once, and hurried from No.8 Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum to No.5 Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum.

After getting off the bus, the two men shook hands and greeted each other.

After entering the room, Deng Xiaoping also specifically asked: "How did you write your memoirs?" Xu wrote a memoir to describe the revolutionary course of our party from the perspective of a revolutionary soldier. At that time, the writing of memoirs had not been formally completed, because General Xu's cultural level was not high, so it was very difficult to write.

Later, General Nie had an idea, which was dictated by Xu and arranged by his secretary. After the manuscript was completed, Xu was very satisfied and wrote a big "Xu" on the cover with a red pencil, indicating that he agreed to go to press. By July 1985, General Xu's memoirs were finally published, and his valuable combat experience was handed down.

In the afternoon, invite Xu to dinner. It's only over half a month before General Xu's eightieth birthday. Deng Xiaoping took out Moutai and said, "I wish you your eightieth birthday today." Xu was very happy and repeatedly said, "Great, I like to drink Maotai."

19851On the afternoon of October 22nd, General Xu died in Nanjing. His funeral was different from other founding generals. As early as 1956, at the meeting in Huairentang, Chairman Mao proposed that people working in state organs should be cremated after death. The leaders at the meeting agreed, but General Xu did not stand up.

China people always pay attention to "being buried underground". Burial has been popular in China for thousands of years, and the traditional inertia is still very strong. On the other hand, Xu has been on the run since he joined the revolution, and he has never been able to be filial to his mother. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), he asked his eldest son, Guang Xu, who had become a naval officer, to return to his hometown to serve his mother, but her mother died only six months later.

Therefore, General Xu has always felt sorry for his mother. 1969, when he went back to his hometown to worship his mother, he knelt in front of the grave and cried, "Damn it! Loyalty and filial piety cannot be balanced. I can't serve you while you are here. I will be buried next to you after I die and do my filial piety for you! "

Xu has already made up his mind to be buried next to his mother after his death. At that time, he was still in his prime and didn't have to think too much about life and death, so even if he didn't sign the cremation agreement, Chairman Mao and other leaders didn't care.

However, after the 1979 counterattack against Vietnam, Xu felt that his health was not as good as before, and he needed to think about what was behind him. So he wrote to his son Guang Xu:

Guang Xu: I sent cash from 50 yuan, which is for my descendants. Use this money to buy me a coffin. I won't be cremated after I die. I will be buried in my hometown, beside my parents. I will live faithfully, serve my country, and honor my parents after I die. I am seventy-four years old and in good health. I will live to be eighty or ninety years old. I have only ten years left. You can make preparations first. "

1985 Shortly after New Year's Day, Xu found himself getting worse and worse. He often has a dull pain in his right upper abdomen and feels bloated from time to time.

So he sent a report to the Central Committee, thinking that he might not have much time. I hope the Central Committee will agree that he should not be cremated after his death, but should be buried in a coffin and let him go to the grave to do filial piety for his parents.

After receiving Xu's report, the organization is also very difficult. The leaders of the Central Committee were basically cremated except for those who died at 1950. Even Premier Zhou Enlai, who occupies a high position in the Party, was cremated after his death and scattered his ashes on the land of China. Not to mention the top ten marshals and generals, the ashes after cremation are basically scattered in the places where they have fought. After cremation, General Su Yu even found three shrapnel embedded in his head in his early years.

The report finally reached Deng Xiaoping. Deng Xiaoping thought for a long time and finally instructed: "It won't happen again!" Acquiesced in Xu's burial.

Soon after, Xu was diagnosed with liver cancer, which is undoubtedly because he has been drinking all the year round. In October, General Xu died of illness. After the memorial service, due to special circumstances and fear of local people coming, Xu's body was transported back to his hometown in Xinxian County, Henan Province and buried at night.

After Xu's death, Deng Xiaoping commented on his life like this: "Xu was a special person with special personality, special energy and special dedication during his 60-year military career."