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chairman mao is a universally recognized military strategist, and even his enemies have to admit this fact. some people speculate that there must be "experts" around the great man, and there must be more than one. i fully agree with this speculation. the question is: what kind of people can have this qualification? chairman mao said: "in ancient times, there was sun tzu, and now there is guo zi." chairman mao had a "expert advisor" who could be compared with "sun tzu" by his side.

chairman mao's "senior advisor" was not among the ten marshals, nor was he one of the ten generals. he was a founding lieutenant general named guo huaruo. who was guo huaruo? zhou enlai said: he was not guo moruo's brother. during the anti-japanese war, vice chairman zhou enlai worked in chongqing for a long time. some kuomintang officers asked him: "is guo huaruo the brother of director guo (moruo)?" vice chairman zhou enlai replied: "guo huaruo is guo huaruo, guo moruo is guo moruo, they are not brothers." vice chairman zhou enlai proudly said: "guo huaruo is a great scholar of our party. he is chairman mao's senior military advisor. his status in the military theory community is equivalent to mr. guo moruo's status in revolutionary literature."

guo huaruo was born in fuzhou, fujian province. he was gifted and studious since childhood. however, due to his poor family background, guo huaruo dropped out of school after finishing high school. in 1925, guo huaruo was admitted to the fourth term of the whampoa military academy and secretly joined the party organization that year. he participated in the eastern expedition and the northern expedition. after graduating from the whampoa military academy, guo huaruo served as the acting captain of the second artillery team. guo huaruo was an excellent student of the fourth term of the whampoa military academy. chiang kai-shek talked to guo huaruo twice, hoping to keep him by his side, but guo huaruo was unmoved and refused with the words "soldiers should die on the battlefield." in july 1927, the teaching group where guo huaruo was prepared to participate in the nanchang uprising, but the teaching group was detained as soon as it arrived in jiujiang.

later, guo huaruo managed to escape and caught up with the uprising troops in late september. after the uprising army failed to move south, guo huaruo was sent by the central committee to study at the moscow artillery school. in order to return to china as soon as possible, guo huaruo happily squatted in the confinement room for 7 days. in 1928, zhu de and mao zedong successfully joined forces in jinggangshan, and the workers' and peasants' revolution was in full swing. upon hearing the news, guo huaruo immediately submitted an application for withdrawal from the artillery school to the principal. the principal of the artillery school asked guo huaruo: "why do you want to drop out of school?" guo huaruo said: "i want to return to china to participate in the revolutionary struggle!" the principal of the artillery school said in confusion: "your studies have just begun, and i cannot approve your application for withdrawal." the principal not only did not approve guo huaruo's withdrawal, but also severely reprimanded guo huaruo and put him in the "confinement room."

even so, guo huaruo still did not change his mind. he asked the guard to tell the principal: "i must go back to china, unless you keep me in the solitary confinement room." seeing that guo huaruo was determined to go, the principal of the artillery school had to make concessions. he wrote on the penalty slip: release after one week of solitary confinement. after receiving the penalty slip, guo huaruo was in a very happy mood. in the solitary confinement room, guo huaruo sometimes sang loudly, and sometimes chatted with the guard with a smile on his face. being so happy after being put in solitary confinement was something the guard had never encountered before. for the sake of caution, the guard reported to the principal: "the chinese student may have a mental problem." the principal knew this very well, and he told the guard: "i can guarantee that guo huaruo will definitely not have any mental problems." seven days later, guo huaruo walked out of the solitary confinement room. another day later, guo huaruo packed his bags and happily embarked on the road back to china.

guo huaruo "tried his hand", and in just 23 days, he was promoted directly from a small staff officer to chief of staff. in the spring of 1929, guo huaruo returned to shanghai as he wished, and the central committee of the communist party of china sent him to the revolutionary base in western fujian. at that time, chiang kai-shek mobilized 30,000 troops to besiege jinggang mountain. in order to preserve the revolutionary spark and break the enemy's "encirclement and suppression", the zhu-mao red army decisively evacuated jinggang mountain. in longyan, guo huaruo found the third column of the red fourth army led by wu zhonghao, and accompanied by wu zhonghao, he came to the front committee and met zhu de, the commander of the red fourth army. upon learning that guo huaruo was a graduate of the whampoa military academy and had studied in the soviet union, commander zhu de was very happy and said: "you came at the right time. the second column needs an effective staff officer. you should go to the second column first." guo huaruo set off overnight and arrived at the second column the next afternoon. as the saying goes, "if a staff officer is not accompanied by a chief, his farts are silent." staff officers are part of the staff, and they have neither decision-making power nor the opportunity to personally fight in battle. their work is tedious and dull. moreover, there are several staff officers like him in the "second column" who "do not keep their word." just when guo huaruo was worried about this, an opportunity to show his talent suddenly fell upon him.

in late august, the second column fought a "cowardly battle". in the battle to attack zhangping, the fourth detachment of the second column, which was responsible for the main attack, actually ran in the wrong direction, causing all officers and soldiers to return without success and exposing their combat intentions. at this time, liu angong, the chief of staff of the second column, handed the task of attacking the city to guo huaruo, who had just arrived. guo huaruo knew that this was an opportunity for chief of staff liu angong to show his talents, and it was also an exam for himself. guo huaruo had attended the whampoa military academy and studied in the soviet union. liu angong wanted to see guo huaruo's true ability. guo huaruo didn't think too much about it. he readily accepted the task and set off with the officers and soldiers of the fourth detachment. before leaving, guo huaruo asked liu angong for a mortar and two shells. at dawn on august 31, guo huaruo led the officers and soldiers of the fourth detachment to quietly rush to heping town on the outskirts of zhangping. while the enemy was still unaware, guo huaruo commanded his troops to use the north gate as a breakthrough point, catching the enemy off guard. according to chief of staff liu angong, the enemy stationed in zhangping had only one company, but guo huaruo soon discovered that judging from the intensity of the enemy's firepower, the enemy's strength was far more than one company.

therefore, guo huaruo immediately interrogated a captured kuomintang officer, and then he learned that the enemy defending zhangping actually had a regiment plus a battalion, and also a mortar company. the difference in strength between the enemy and us was huge. should we advance or retreat? at this time, the battle had been going on for a while, and the fourth detachment had been entangled with the enemy. if the troops were withdrawn at this time, the fourth detachment would not only fail to complete the mission, but also cause greater passivity. when he was in a dilemma, guo huaruo made a decisive decision. while sending people to report the situation to the column, he lifted the mortar to the commanding heights. then, guo huaruo destroyed the enemy's command post with two shells, killing the enemy commander and other officers on the spot. once the commander died, the enemy in the city suddenly became a mess. guo huaruo took advantage of the situation to command his troops to rush into the city, and soon wiped out the kuomintang defenders in the city and seized a large number of weapons and equipment. after learning that guo huaruo had won a great victory despite the strong enemy, army commander zhu de personally rushed to the second column and praised guo huaruo generously. that evening, at the suggestion of army commander zhu de and with the approval of the front committee of the fourth red army, guo huaruo, who had only been in the second column for 23 days, was promoted to chief of staff of the second column.

chairman mao specifically requested the staff officer to come

in his later years, general guo huaruo once said, "when i dropped out of school in the soviet union and returned to china, i came here for the zhu-mao red army." however, guo huaruo only saw commander zhu de in the red fourth army, but did not see mao zedong, whom he had admired for a long time. in fact, when guo huaruo arrived at the red fourth army, chairman mao had already lost his leadership over the army. guo huaruo saw that due to mao zedong's absence, the red fourth army had some unhealthy phenomena such as ideological confusion and inconsistent pace.

so, guo huaruo and another comrade wrote a joint letter to chairman mao. at the same time, zhu de and chen yi also wrote a letter to chairman mao. the themes of the two letters were exactly the same: they begged chairman mao to come back to preside over the work. on november 26, 1929, chairman mao returned to tingzhou from shanghang sujiapo and resumed his post as secretary of the red fourth army front committee. that night, chairman mao asked zhu de about guo huaruo's whereabouts. zhu de said, "guo huaruo is a very capable young man and is now the chief of staff of the 'second column'." two days later, guo huaruo met chairman mao in tingzhou. chairman mao shook guo huaruo's hand and said, "are you the guo huaruo who wrote to me? your letter is very well written. our red fourth army has one more scholar." chairman mao said humorously, "i know you are from fujian, but your insights are not 'superficial insights' (fujian), but 'deep insights'." chairman mao continued, "the ancients said, 'a scholar can know all the world's affairs without leaving home.' in my opinion, this sentence should be changed to 'mr. guo can lead troops and not only explain the truth clearly, but also win battles.'" guo huaruo said modestly, "no, no, compared with you and commander zhu, my knowledge is still very shallow and not worth mentioning." chairman mao said seriously, "what i said is the truth. you just came back from the soviet union, but you understand the national conditions better than many comrades in china. you have a clear mind, and many of your analyses and judgments are very insightful. it is really rare."

this was the first time chairman mao and guo huaruo met. from then on, guo huaruo's life was closely connected with chairman mao.

shortly after the ninth national congress, at the suggestion of chairman mao, guo huaruo became the director of the general staff department of the red fourth army. when the red fourth army was reorganized into the red first army, guo huaruo became the director of the general staff department of the red first army's "general front committee". from then on, guo huaruo officially followed chairman mao and gradually became the staff talent that chairman mao valued and appreciated the most. guo huaruo created four "firsts" in our army. guo huaruo participated in the establishment of the first engineering corps of the red army. in september 1930, when the red first army withdrew from changsha and passed through anyuan, many miners enthusiastically signed up to join the red army. guo huaruo found that many miners who signed up to join the army knew blasting technology, and some of them also knew how to make "earth explosives". guo huaruo immediately reported this situation to chairman mao, and guo huaruo suggested: "we can gather these comrades together and let them specialize in blasting." chairman mao immediately adopted guo huaruo's suggestion and appointed guo huaruo to be in charge of this matter. so, not long after, the first engineering corps of the red army was born. this engineering corps was directly commanded by guo huaruo. in the battle to attack ji'an, jiangxi province, this engineering corps made great achievements in its first appearance. they set up ladders and blew up bunkers, playing an important role in the battle.

guo huaruo was the first principal of the yan'an artillery school. at the whampoa military academy, guo huaruo studied "artillery courses", and during his study in the soviet union, guo huaruo still studied "artillery courses". therefore, when our army established an artillery school in yan'an, guo huaruo was the most suitable candidate for the principal in the entire army. during his tenure as the first principal of the yan'an artillery school, guo huaruo devoted himself wholeheartedly and did his best to train a large number of outstanding artillery backbones for our army. guo huaruo initiated the establishment of the first militia. in the early stage of the war of liberation, according to the needs of the war, guo huaruo seized the time to train the militia and command the militia to perform combat tasks. based on his experience in leading the militia work, guo huaruo launched a "meritorious campaign" among the militia, which played a very important role in boosting morale, and was therefore called "a pioneering effort in the people's self-defense war" by chairman mao.

guo huaruo participated in the creation of the first radio team. while serving as the chief of staff, guo huaruo found that the staff office lacked equipment such as radio stations and maps. therefore, guo huaruo made a request to the combat troops: whenever the enemy's radio stations were captured, the troops must properly protect them and not damage them. after the longgang battle, the participating troops sent the captured radio stations to the staff office, and also sent a dozen prisoners. after interrogation, guo huaruo learned that the dozen prisoners were all signalmen, so guo huaruo talked to them one by one, hoping that they would stay and serve the red army. finally, wang zheng and 10 other personnel voluntarily joined the red army. next, guo huaruo used these personnel as the backbone and successfully formed the first radio team of our army.

from then on, chairman mao had "clairvoyance" and "super hearing".

mao zedong was very satisfied with guo huaruo, a "senior adviser". once, chairman mao personally said to guo huaruo: "you can definitely become a military genius!" because of his firm support for chairman mao's military line, guo huaruo was repeatedly excluded and attacked, and was even expelled from the party. however, these failed to shake guo huaruo's revolutionary will, and chairman mao always cared about him. in a personal letter to guo huaruo, chairman mao said, "in the future, i still hope that you will be my adviser in military education." on july 12, 1938, under chairman mao's personal concern, guo huaruo resumed his party membership, and the historical burden he had carried for 7 years was finally unloaded. after that, chairman mao appointed guo huaruo as the first director of the general staff of the military commission. the first bureau of the general staff, also known as the "operation bureau of the central military commission", has four departments: operations, intelligence, confidentiality, and management. it is the highest military command organization in the entire army. chairman mao entrusted such an important department to guo huaruo, which shows how important guo huaruo was in chairman mao's mind and how much he respected and trusted guo huaruo.

guo huaruo's works are hard to come by

guo huaruo was "the first person in our army to study mao zedong's military dialectics". in the early days of the anti-japanese war, the second war zone of the kuomintang army was defeated repeatedly and retreated step by step. one day, chairman mao said to guo huaruo with concern: "look, the kuomintang's strategies and tactics are so rigid and inflexible. how can they not be defeated in such a war!" chairman mao said: "comrade huaruo, can you write some articles about ancient military tactics to promote mobile warfare?" chairman mao explained: "you can't talk to these kuomintang officers about marxism-leninism and dialectical materialism, because they don't want to listen and can't listen. you talk to them about ancient military tactics, they are willing to listen, understand, and listen." after receiving the task, guo huaruo successively wrote two important articles, "the battle of chibi and its enlightenment to the national war of resistance" and "a preliminary study of the battle of qi, yan and jimo". after reading these two articles, many kuomintang generals wrote to the editorial department of the magazine, saying, "mr. guo huaruo's masterpiece hits the mark and is thought-provoking." some kuomintang officers were deeply inspired and became interested in "mobile warfare" and "guerrilla warfare."

chairman mao also asked guo huaruo to "study the "art of war"". according to chairman mao's request, guo huaruo wrote "a preliminary study of the art of war". in this article, guo huaruo carefully interpreted the strategic thinking contained in the "art of war" and combined it with reality to systematically and scientifically explain the laws of war that should be followed in the war of resistance against japan. guo huaruo's article was published in the "military and political magazine of the eighth route army", which once again caused a strong response in the whole army. "military and political magazine" is an internal publication of the eighth route army, and it is difficult for the kuomintang to obtain this magazine. therefore, some kuomintang generals wrote letters one after another, asking for the magazine that published guo huaruo's articles by name. in order to expand publicity, the eighth route army also responded to their requests and tried its best to meet their requirements. later, some middle and lower-level officers in the kuomintang army also wrote letters to ask for this magazine, so that "paper is expensive in luoyang" and it is difficult to find a book. chairman mao happily said to guo huaruo: "this is a great thing. whether the article is well written or not, the standard is whether the readers like it or not."

in order to make more people understand "the art of war", guo huaruo began to translate and annotate "the art of war" from the mid-1940s. he spent nearly 20 years to finally translate "the art of war" into easy-to-understand vernacular. some people may say that "the art of war" only has 13 chapters and more than 6,000 words. did guo huaruo need to spend 20 years? in fact, guo huaruo did not translate "the art of war" literally. he re-arranged 13 of them, combined with reality, referred to battle examples, and added his own views and opinions. guo huaruo has made outstanding achievements in studying "the art of war", and has won widespread praise and high evaluation from academic circles at home and abroad. guo huaruo is therefore unanimously regarded as the most prestigious contemporary expert on "the art of war".

chairman mao's "senior adviser" was not only good at "talking about war on paper", but also good at leading troops to fight! on june 6, 1946, after guo huaruo's repeated applications, chairman mao agreed to his request to "go to the front line to fight". chairman mao said: "theory and practice are combined. if you have such an idea, i must support you unconditionally." so guo huaruo left yan'an and arrived in the shandong liberated area, serving as the deputy commander of the lunan military region. when welcoming guo huaruo, fu qiutao, the political commissar of the lunan military region and a famous general of the new fourth army, said happily: "during the eight-year war of resistance, you have always been by chairman mao's side to make plans. now, chairman mao has sent you, a senior adviser, to lunan, which shows his concern for lunan." in august 1947, guo huaruo was transferred to the deputy commander of the sixth column of the east china field army and became a partner with general wang bicheng. wang bicheng dared to fight hard battles and was able to fight hard battles. in the battle of shatuji, the "sixth column" wiped out an enemy division and captured the enemy division commander alive. after the battle, the officers and soldiers of the sixth column were jubilant, but wang bicheng could not be happy because of the heavy casualties. at the celebration party, wang bicheng sincerely said to guo huaruo: "comrade huaruo, you are the chairman's senior advisor. i believe you stand higher and see farther than us. please evaluate this battle." wang bicheng emphasized: "speak freely, talk more about the shortcomings, don't talk about the advantages, and don't save face for me."

as a result, guo huaruo bluntly pointed out the three major problems of the "sixth column": first, the communication between the command and the combat troops was not smooth, resulting in delayed orders and delayed actions; second, the troops fought independently and lacked the awareness of "cooperative operations"; third, the tactics were conservative and unchanging. guo huaruo pointed out that "the war has developed to this stage, and our combat style must keep up with the development of the situation." guo huaruo said: "our current weapons and equipment have been greatly improved, but we still follow the previous fighting style. for example, the firepower cover is not in place, and the offensive formation is too dense, which has increased unnecessary casualties." general wang bicheng later said that guo huaruo's words sounded a bit harsh, but after thinking about it carefully, every word made sense. general wang bicheng said, "we originally held a celebration meeting, but it turned into a review meeting without realizing it. comrades realized the seriousness of the problem and discussed many good ways to solve these problems." wang bicheng said happily: "guo huaruo always sees what most comrades can't see."

in january 1949, the people's liberation army launched a general offensive against du yuming's group. du yuming tried to escape in disguise but failed and became a prisoner of the people's liberation army. the soldiers escorted du yuming to his "younger brother" - guo huaruo, a graduate of the fourth term of huangpu military academy. seeing that du yuming was injured in the head, guo huaruo asked about his injury with concern, but du yuming ignored him and put on an arrogant and unwilling look. a pla cadre said loudly: "don't think you are so great. do you know who our leader is?" the pla cadre said proudly: "our leader is chairman mao's military adviser!" guo huaruo said to du yuming: "my name is guo huaruo, from the fourth term of huangpu military academy. so, i should call you 'senior'." hearing the three words "guo huaruo", du yuming was surprised, and then said awkwardly: "i have read mr. guo's masterpiece. i am sorry, i am sorry..."

chairman mao said: "guo huaruo's level is no less than mine." in january 1939, the central military commission opened the first staff training class of our army in yan'an, with more than 130 trainees participating in the training. "strategy" is a major course in the training class. the heads of relevant departments found chairman mao, hoping that chairman mao could teach this course. however, chairman mao could not spare the time for a while, so chairman mao said to the heads of relevant departments: "i recommend comrade guo huaruo to teach this course." the heads of relevant departments said: "'strategy' is not easy to explain clearly, and we are worried that comrade guo huaruo will not be able to explain it well." chairman mao said confidently: "don't worry, comrade guo huaruo's level is no less than mine."

conclusion

in 1955, the chinese people's liberation army began to implement the military rank system. so, what rank should chairman mao's "senior advisor" guo huaruo have? according to guo huaruo's various conditions, the relevant departments included his name in the "list of generals to be awarded". after learning the news, guo huaruo made a special trip to chairman mao's office and insisted on crossing his name off the list of "generals to be awarded". guo huaruo's reason was, "i have never fought a big battle, and i have no military exploits. it's good to give me a rank of 'lieutenant general'." guo huaruo was eventually awarded the rank of "lieutenant general" and was awarded three first-class medals: the first-class august 1st medal, the first-class independence and freedom medal, and the first-class liberation medal. in 1988, general guo huaruo was awarded the first-class red star medal of merit. at 4:14 on november 26, 1995, guo huaruo, a generation of red confucian generals and mao zedong's military senior advisor, ended his glorious journey at the age of 91.