In the early morning of September 20, a round of morning sun sprinkled the light of the Road, and the playground of Liren School was bathed in a golden glow. More than 1,500 people of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army gathered under the fiery red war flag and waited with great excitement and eagerness to listen to Chairman Mao's speech.
"Commissioner Mao is here! Commissioner Mao is here! Suddenly someone shouted.
I saw a burly middle-aged man with a red face, wearing a blue cloth robe, a black striped white checkered native cloth scarf tied around his neck, and grass shoes on his feet, accompanied by commander-in-chief Lu Deming, walking towards the team with a smile. As he walked, he waved to the warriors.
The warriors cheered in unison. Chairman Mao had already walked to the front of the line. Lu Deming loudly announced to the soldiers: "Now I invite Member Mao of the Central Committee to speak to everyone!" ”
Chairman Mao's excited face, with his characteristic kind smile, said, "Comrades, please sit down!" ”
With a "whoosh, the soldiers sat down neatly and looked at Chairman Mao with reverent eyes.
Chairman Mao first announced to the commanders and fighters of the whole division on behalf of the Committee of Former Enemies of the CPC that "changsha should not be attacked and transferred to the countryside." He said: "Not long ago, the CPC Central Committee held the 'Eighty-Seven Conference,' corrected Chen Duxiu's mistakes, and decided to seize power by force and carry out the agrarian revolution. At present, our strength is not very large, and under the situation that the enemy is strong and we are weak, we cannot continue to fight Changsha, and when the people's armed forces grow stronger, we will definitely fight Changsha. ”
Then, he stretched out his left hand and squeezed his index and middle fingers, smiled and said, "I have counted eight characters for the Chinese revolution." At present, the Chinese revolution is at a low ebb, but the climax will surely come. This depends on our work and the development of the situation. Because China is a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country, it is poor and backward, the people are in deep trouble, and life is very difficult. The historical tasks of the Chinese revolution have not been accomplished, and the mountain that weighs down on the people — the warlords, bureaucrats, landlord classes, and comprador classes that collude with imperialism — has not yet been overthrown, and contradictions are intertwined. These contradictions have not been resolved, and the land of China is like a pile of dry firewood, and as long as a fire is lit, it will burn. The Chinese revolution has been followed by predecessors and successors, and has never been interrupted; our revolutionary difficulties are also many, but they are not isolated; we have the sympathy and support of the Communist International and the people of the world, and the support of our brothers of all nationalities in the country; as long as we do a good job and develop the revolutionary forces, the difficulties are temporary, and the victory of the revolution is inevitable. ”
Chairman Mao's words turned sharply: "This autumn harvest riot has suffered some setbacks, and this is nothing. Victory or defeat is a matter of the soldiers, and our struggle has only just begun. Our military strength is still small, and we cannot yet fight in the large and medium-sized cities where the enemy is heavily garrisoned, but first go to the countryside where the enemy's rule is weak, so as to accumulate strength and launch a peasant revolution. We are now like a 'small stone', and the Kuomintang reactionaries of Chiang Kai-shek are like a 'big water tank', but one day, our 'small stone' must destroy Chiang Kai-shek's 'big water tank'! 'Failure is the mother of success', and it is nothing that some people who cannot stand the test have escaped from the revolutionary ranks. Without these half-hearted people in the revolutionary ranks, it will only be more consolidated. As the saying goes, 'Everything is difficult at the beginning', if you want to be revolutionary, don't be afraid of difficulties. ”
Chairman Mao waved his right hand vigorously and continued: "We must go to the place where the enemy's strength is weak, stand firm, mobilize the masses, accumulate grain and grass, nourish our strength, develop and strengthen the revolutionary forces, and continue to fight with the enemy for a long time." Now we are about to set out to the middle section of the Luoxiao Mountains on the border between Hunan and Jiangxi to establish the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Base Area! ”
At this time, Chairman Mao's eyes shone with brilliance, and he said humorously: "You young people, there is no hair on your mouth, I am older than you, and I want to see the victory of the Chinese revolution, let alone you young people!" I hope that after the victory of the revolution, everyone will be alive and well, and we will celebrate our victory together! ”
These words, like a dazzling light shooting out of the darkness, illuminate people's hearts. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, under the leadership of Chairman Mao, immediately held high the banner of "armed division of the workers and peasants," left Wenjia City, and embarked on a mighty journey.
The decision to lead troops to Jinggangshan was difficult, and the journey south was also full of dangers. The autumn sun in Jiangnan, Yan Wei Shanglie, through the mountains and jungles, the road is rough and difficult, malaria, dysentery spread, fatigue and disease seriously threaten the lives of soldiers. The Kuomintang authorities in Hunan Province have dispatched troops to the Liuyang area to "pursue and suppress," and the Jiangxi authorities have also sent troops to the areas of Tonggu and Pingxiang to "block the attack."
After Zhou Huan learned that the rebel army was "presided over by Chairman Mao, a well-known communist leader in the whole country," he "immediately dispatched the commander of the 1st Regiment of the 8th Army, Che Binglian, to Liuyang on the 24th to assist in the suppression, while ordering all the armies to reward 5,000 yuan if they were defeated by Mao." The encirclement and blockade of the Kuomintang army and the landlords' armed forces caused great difficulties in the transfer of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army.
Chairman Mao was always concerned about the situation of the troops, using his horse to carry military goods and the wounded and sick, while he himself wore bamboo straws and straw shoes, walked among the ranks of the soldiers, today to this battalion, tomorrow to that company, and talked with the soldiers wherever he went. He often asked the fighters what they had been doing at home, how they had joined the revolutionary ranks, to understand their understanding of the revolution and their views on the current situation, and to encourage them to move forward courageously.
At first, a few warriors did not know him, thought he was a fellow countryman, and wanted to pull him to pick up the burden. Chairman Mao smiled and said, "I have been picking for you for several days, and today your company commander told me to rest." The warrior who saw him said, "He is a Maoist commissar sent by the Central Committee!" The warriors all gathered around him in amazement, looking at his kind smile, naturally very close to him, and told him their own experiences and heartfelt words.
This made his relationship with the warriors very harmonious. The march was very arduous, and Chairman Mao's feet were torn by straw shoe ropes, and his steps were difficult. The warriors temporarily tied a pair of bamboo pole stretchers and tried to carry him away, but he refused.
The leak in the house coincided with the overnight rain, and the sail broke and encountered the wind. On September 22, the troops who were struggling to advance came to Shangli Village in Pingxiang County, Jiangxi Province, and learned that there were heavy Kuomintang troops stationed in Pingxiang County, so they changed their route and camped in Luxi. The next morning, head in the direction of the lotus. At this time, Zhu Peide's special service battalion and the Jiangxi Fourth Security Regiment set up an ambush in the area of Yamaguchi Rock, more than 10 miles from Luxi, preparing to ambush the rebel troops.
Under the cover of oil tea and miscellaneous woods wrapped in the morning mist of the mountains, the enemy's guns were aimed at the rebel troops who were marching. The crisp sound of gunfire broke the silence of the morning, and the mountains were filled with smoke and leaves.
Commander-in-Chief Lu Deming saw that the front team had been ambushed, quickly observed the surrounding terrain, and shouted: "Come with me in a row!" "With a shake of the reins of the horse, he rushed to a small hill bag on the side of the road with a company of soldiers, and quickly seized the mountain bag, shooting to suppress the enemy fire and cover the transfer of the main force. Just then, a bullet hit Lu Deming, who stared ahead angrily, his hand holding the shell gun pulled down, his body twisted, and he fell to the ground from his beloved war horse...
Chairman Mao greatly deplored the sacrifice of this young general and angrily rebuked Su Xianjun, the commander of the 3rd Regiment, who was ineffective in reconnaissance and in commanding mistakes: "Return me Lu Deming!" Some people say that during the revolutionary war years, Chairman Mao rarely wept bitterly because of the loss of comrades-in-arms, but Lu Deming's sacrifice was an exception.
Due to setbacks and setbacks, the commander-in-chief was sacrificed, and a negative mood permeated the troops, the people's hearts were scattered, and the ranks were getting smaller and smaller. Continuous marching, long journeys, some people because of fear of hardship and farewell, a few people because of lack of medical treatment and short medicine died on the side of the road. Some platoons set out with 30 people, marched for dozens of miles, and when they reached their destination, there were only a few people left.
Many intellectuals and people from the old military officer background, in an extremely difficult environment, still linger on the special treatment of the past, and there is an old military habit of beating and cursing soldiers. Some officers, led by division commander Yu Shandu, 3rd Regiment Commander Su Xianjun, and 1st Regiment Commander Chen Hao, were pessimistic and disappointed with the revolution and left the ranks under various pretexts. Some of them are superstitious and go to the central city to riot, some run home, and some defect to the enemy.
At that time, the escape became a public matter, and the speculators asked each other: "Can you go?" "Where are you going?" This is a serious test.
Just as the so-called big waves are sandy, after the rainstorm, the mud and sand fall, and only those who firmly believe in the victory of the revolution are like mainstays, fighting in the wind and waves.
The wind knows the grass, and the fire sees the real gold. Faced with the question of the life and death of the troops, Chairman Mao, with his characteristic firmness and keen insight, quickly found out the root cause of the defeat of the troops and decided to speed up the rectification of the troops; otherwise, the combat effectiveness of the troops would not be maintained and it would be difficult for them to continue to advance.
On September 29, troops gathered under a thousand-year-old maple tree, facing the beautiful scenery of Sanwan Village surrounded by mountains and streams, but the depressed people remained silent. Fortunately, there were no local armed forces here, and for the first time since the Autumn Harvest Uprising, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was given the opportunity to rest calmly. The sunset erased the last piece of brilliance, the mountains gradually disappeared into the twilight, and the windows of more than 50 households in Sanwan Village were lit up one after another, and then extinguished one after another.
Only the "TaiHe Xiang" grocery store has always been brightly lit. Chairman Mao convened an enlarged meeting of the Committee of Former Enemies of the CPC here to discuss the current situation of the troops and the measures to resolve them, and decided to rectify and reorganize the troops. First, the troops, which already had less than 1,000 men, were downsized to 1 regiment and renamed the 1st Regiment of the 1st Division of the First Army of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army.
In view of those who were panicked and discouraged in the face of setbacks, dangers, and difficulties, Chairman Mao declared: To carry out the revolution depends on self-consciousness, to stay if you want to stay, to insist on walking reluctantly, to pay 5 yuan for the road, to issue a certificate to allow them to leave the army, and to hope that they will return to the local area to continue the revolution, and they are willing to come back and welcome them when the revolutionary situation improves. In this way, all that remains after the rectification are tested revolutionaries, who, although fewer in number, are much more vigorous.
Chairman Mao then announced that the whole army would be under the unified leadership of the Party's Committee of Former Enemies. Units at all levels shall establish Party organizations separately: squads and platoons shall be set up in small groups, branches shall be established on companies, battalions and regiments shall establish Party committees; and Party representatives shall be set up at or above the company level, with the secretary of the Party organization at the same level serving as the secretary. In order to sweep away all the unhealthy systems and habits in the army, to implement a democratic system, to make officers and men equal, and to be treated the same, a soldiers' committee was set up to participate in the administrative and economic management of the troops, stipulating that officers and men were equal, and that officers and men were not allowed to beat and scold soldiers, and were supervised by the soldiers' committee. These three measures began to change the habits of the old-style army and the free and loose style of the peasants, and were a remarkable reform with great boldness.
As Luo Ronghuan said:
The sanwan reorganization, in fact, was a new birth of our army, and it was from this time that the party's leadership over the army was established. At that time, if Comrade Chairman Mao had not wisely solved this fundamental problem, then this unit would not have had a political soul, would not have had a clear programme of action, the habits of the old-style army and the free and loose style of the peasants could not have been transformed, and the result would have been to become a rogue, even if it was not destroyed by a powerful enemy.
The cuckoo is red, and the autumn breeze is refreshing. After resting for 5 days in Sanwan, the troops were about to continue their march towards the Luoxiao Mountains.
Before leaving, Chairman Mao once again encouraged the team. He glanced firmly at the newly reorganized army, and the venue immediately fell silent, and even the sound of leaves falling on the ground could be heard.
He said humorously: "Comrades, the enemy is just putting cold guns behind us, which is nothing remarkable. Everybody is born of a woman, the enemy has two feet, and we have two feet. Comrade He Long started with two kitchen knives, and now he is a military commander with a soldier. We now have more than two kitchen knives, we have two battalions, more than 700 guns, are we afraid that we will not be able to do it? You are all revolted, one can be an enemy of ten, ten can be a hundred. Now there are hundreds of troops, what are you afraid of, without setbacks and failures, there will be no success! ”
These words were very encouraging in the difficult situation at that time and the depression of many people. Using popular metaphors to explain the great truth is a major specialty of Chairman Mao. From the outbreak of the Autumn Harvest Uprising to the foothold of Jinggangshan, Chairman Mao used such a metaphor many times to boost morale.
Once, when he talked about the meaning of beating a local tycoon, he held a bowl in one hand and a cup in the other, and said in comparison: "In the past, the cup covered the bowl, and now it is going to be turned over, and the bowl is going to cover the cup." Fighting the local tycoons is like cutting down a big tree, cutting down a big tree to have firewood, and the Red Army has brought down the big tree of the local tyrant, so there is no worry about no food, no clothes and clothing. ”
In a speech, Chairman Mao also compared the enemy and us to Sun Wukong and Rulai Buddha, and no matter how powerful the enemy is, he is only Sun Wukong, while we are Rulai Buddha, and Sun Wukong cannot fight Rulai Buddha no matter what. This wisdom of Chairman Mao was always inadvertently revealed, drawing the soldiers and the masses around him like a magnet.
The rebel army arrived at the ancient city of Ninggang County on the same day, held a two-day enlarged meeting of the former committee, that is, the ancient city meeting, focusing on the issue of establishing a foothold in the middle of the Luoxiao Mountains and carrying out guerrilla warfare, and believing that Jinggangshan was an ideal foothold.
On October 13, Chairman Mao led the main force of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army to Shuikou Village in Yanxian (present-day Yanling County), where a group of party members were recruited and social investigations were carried out. Soon after, Chairman Mao learned that the Xiang army was coming from Chaling in two ways to attack the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, so he sent Wan Xixian, a party representative of the 1st Battalion, to chaling to guerrilla attack the Xiang army's rear and break its offensive; Chairman Mao led the regimental headquarters, the 3rd battalion, and the 1st battalion company into Suichuan County, Jiangxi Province, on the 22nd.
In the town of Dafen, Suichuan, the troops were suddenly attacked in the early morning by more than 300 people of the Suichuan County Landlords' Armed Jingwei Regiment; because of their sparse life and the rush to fight, the 3rd Battalion of the Vanguard lost contact with the regimental headquarters and went south, and then joined the remnants of the Nanchang rebel army led by Zhu De; Chairman Mao led the regimental headquarters and the special agent company to retreat to Huang'ao in the southern foothills of Jinggang Mountain, and initially only collected more than 40 scattered personnel of the 3 battalions, and the situation of the troops was very bad.
Many people say that whenever they hear Chairman Mao's speech, fatigue and depression are swept away, and their bodies are full of strength. Without Chairman Mao's firm belief in the victory of the revolution, and if he had not consistently infected people with his fortitude, it would have been hard to imagine the mighty and courageous division that later jumped on Jinggang Mountain!