In April 1949, after our army won the victory in the Battle of the Crossing River, everyone understood that the defeat of the Kuomintang had been decided, and it was only a matter of time before the Communists won the victory of the whole country. However, Chiang Kai-shek was not dead-hearted, and tried in vain to use the complex terrain of the mountains of the Great Southwest to continue to struggle to the death with the more than 1.5 million troops still in his hands, waiting for the outbreak of The Third World War.
On August 29, 1949, Chiang Kai-shek personally flew to Chongqing to hold an emergency military conference, determined the "strategic purpose" of "ensuring Sichuan and dividing the southwest", and made corresponding military arrangements. Since Chiang Kai-shek focused his defense on our First Field Army, which was wringing winds on the northern flank of Qinling, about 200,000 men of The 13 armies of Hu Zongnan's group were deployed on the Qinling front to prevent our army from moving south from Shaanxi; the 8 corps and 22 divisions under the command of Song Xilian, director of the "Chuanxiang-E-E Appeasement Office," and more than 100,000 people were deployed on the front line of Badong, Enshi, and Xianfeng in Hubei Province, in order to prevent our troops from suddenly turning westward and building forward positions for defending the southwest; and the "Sichuan-E Border Region Appeasement Office" Director Sun Zhen's unit was used to defend along the Yangtze River and deployed in Wushan, Wuxi, Wanxian, Zhongxian and other places, in order to gradually block our army with the help of the mountains and mountains in the Daba Mountains. At the same time, more than 40,000 remnants of Sun Yuanliang's 16th Corps, who escaped from the Huaihai battlefield, as well as Zhao Zili, chairman of the Henan Provincial Government, and Zhu Dingqing, commander-in-chief of Hubei Appeasement, who fled into Sichuan, were also strengthened to the eastern counties of Xiachuan. Chiang Kai-shek's defense of the three directions of the great west, south, north, east, and southeast can be described as painstaking.
However, history is by no means the abacus on the table, left to The Manipulation of Chiang Kai-shek.
It is true that the historical attacks on Sichuan have almost always turned over the Qinling Mountains and followed the Shu Road that is "difficult to go to the Qingtian". But Mao Zedong unexpectedly chose to "do the opposite." In order not to allow Chiang Kai-shek's heavy army group to merge south to Chuankang and Yunnan to merge with Longyun in Yunnan, Mao Zedong formulated the strategic principle of "great detour, great encirclement, and great annihilation" and was determined to "suffocate" the Kuomintang's Sichuanqian defenders on the spot. In late October 1949, while our army had finished the "Battle of Heng (Yang) Bao (Qing)" and the "Battle of Guangdong" and the "Four Wilds" were vigorously swinging their divisions in Guangxi, Mao Zedong "fired three arrows at the same time." On the one hand, he ordered our First Field Army to march along the Jianmen Ancient Road toward Chengdu as Chiang Kai-shek "wished" and "drag" Hu Zongnan's clique; on the other hand, the Second Field Army and its subordinate First Corps of the North China Military Region and one unit of the First and Fourth Field Armies, under the command of Erye Commander Liu Bocheng and political commissar Deng Xiaoping, Under the unified leadership of He Long, commander of the Northwest Military Region, the soldiers came to the Chongqing area in two ways.
On November 1, our army launched the "Battle of Chuanqian", launching an all-out offensive against the Kuomintang defenders on a 500-kilometer-wide frontal frontal front from Badong in Hubei in the north to Tianzhu in Guizhou in the south, liberating Padang on November 2 and occupying Yesanguan east of Jianshi on november 3.
Subsequently, the "Right Road Group," composed of the main forces of our 50th Army and the 42nd Army, and the Independent First Division and the Independent Second Division of the Hubei Military Region, continued to advance along the Sichuan-Hubei Highway and successively occupied Jianshi, Enshi, Xuan'en, and other places in Hubei; the "Left Road Group," composed of the 11th Army, the 12th Army, and the main forces of the 47th Army, and their respective 47th Army, advanced along the Longshan and Laifeng fronts under the leadership of Chen Xilian, commander of the Third Corps, and Xie Fuzhi, political commissar, and successively occupied Youyang, Xiushan, Xianfeng, qianjiang, and other places, completing the strategic assembly of marching into the southwest. It also began the process of liberating Wanxian County, an important town in eastern Sichuan, that is, Wanzhou in Chongqing.
After annihilating the main force of the enemy Song Xilian's troops in the area east of Pengshui, our Right Road Group immediately divided its troops and sent the Independent First Division of the Hubei Military Region (code-named "West Lake Troops") directly into Fengdu to cut off the road of the enemy defending eastern Sichuan and fleeing to Chongqing along the jiangxi river. On December 3, after a fierce battle, our independent 1st Division seized the hilltop position in Jiangnan and successfully crossed the Yangtze River and liberated the county seat of Fengdu. At this time, our army received information that Sun Zhen, commander of the appeasement of the enemy's Sichuan-Hubei Border Region stationed in Wanxian County, had led his troops to leave Wanxian and prepare to flee to the northern Sichuan region, so in addition to sending a third regiment to attack Liangshan (that is, Liangping, Chongqing, which belonged to the Dazhu area at that time), it was ready to block the way for The enemy to flee north in Wanxian County, and intercept Sun Zhenwai, and its main force was prepared to go down the river and liberate Zhongxian and Wanxian according to the original plan.
At the same time, the 124th Division of the Siye 42nd Army (code-named "Tangshan Unit"), which was serving as a reserve of the whole army and was resting in Luoyang and ready to maneuver to the northwest and southwest, arrived in Yichang in early November after receiving orders to prepare for operations in Sichuan on October 20. Then, after storing mountain artillery, field artillery, and large vehicles in the local area, under the leadership of Acting Division Commander Zhai Yidong and Political Commissar Ding Guojue, along the route that Zhang flew into Sichuan that year, while suppressing bandits, while establishing a government, on the north bank of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, toward the east of Sichuan. On November 26, our 124th Division finally received the order to march into eastern Sichuan at Zigui.
On November 29, our army arrived in Wushan County, the gateway to eastern Sichuan, and launched an attack on the defense system of Wushan Sanhuipu, which was guarded by the enemy's 311st Division, the Third Brigade of Hubei Security, and the Anti-Communist Salvation Army in eastern Sichuan, which was a key defensive hub in the enemy's eastern Sichuan region, and occupied Sanhuipu on November 30. In this battle, our army killed and wounded hundreds of enemy troops and captured more than 1,400 enemy troops! In addition, Wang Ziyun, commander of the Third Brigade of Hubei Security, led more than 1,300 people to surrender. Unfortunately, due to the terrain, our army could not deploy its strength, and it failed to complete the encirclement, allowing most of the enemy troops to escape.
The great victory of the Three Gorges means that our army has successfully broken through the blockade line constructed by the enemy using the natural dangers of the Three Gorges and opened the door to march into eastern Sichuan. Next, our army broke through the momentum and liberated the two counties of Wushan and Fengjie on December 2 and 3, respectively. At dawn on December 6, the headquarters of our 124th Division and the main force of the 372nd Regiment to which it belonged, with the cooperation of Zhan Tingju, deputy commander of the Yunyang County People's Self-Defense Corps, who had been plotted by the underground party organization, waded through the cold and bone-chilling Wuyang Creek and liberated the county seat of Yunyang.
At this time, Wanxian was already surrounded on all sides by our army.
Wanxian county is connected to Chongqing and the lower three gorges, and since ancient times it has been an important material distribution center in eastern Sichuan, western Hubei, southern Shaanxi, eastern Qiandong and western Hunan Province. Therefore, the Kuomintang gathered heavy troops here and established a very strict reactionary rule, not only stationing the two corps of Sun Yuanliang and Luo Guangwen and the regular army of the newly organized Seventh Brigade, as well as the local armed forces of the Security Command, the Self-Defense Corps, the Basic Cadre Regiment of the Anti-Communist Salvation Army, and the Chuandong Division, but also the location of the Kuomintang's Appeasement Office in the Sichuan-Hubei Border Region.
However, how can we completely hand over a city of Wanxian that has not been destroyed by war to the embrace of the people? In accordance with the request of the Chuandong Linlin Committee to "encircle the urban and rural areas, greet liberation, and cooperate with the takeover," the underground party organization in eastern Sichuan timely shifted the focus of its work from the organization that had little significance at this time to the work of mobilizing the masses and armed struggle, which was no longer of much significance, to the work of united front and rebellion against key figures at the upper levels, and successfully promoted the uprising of Chen Xibai, chairman of the Wanxian Senate and acting county magistrate, and Li Hongtao, administrative inspector and security commander of the Ninth District of the Kuomintang Sichuan Province, so that Wanxian could be peacefully liberated.
After graduating from the Baoding Army Officer School, Li Hongtao served under the Sichuan warlords Xiong Kewu and Deng Xihou, and was promoted to brigadier general because of his bravery in fighting on the front line of the Shanxi War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and his serious wounds. However, after all, it belonged to the local warlord troops and was not welcomed by Chiang Kai-shek, so Li Hongtao's journey to join the army was not smooth. In 1940, Chiang Kai-shek took the opportunity of reorganization to appoint Li Hongtao as the deputy commander of the newly organized Ninth Division, "overhead", and since then, Li Hongtao has been idle at home. It was not until 1945, when the "old leader" Deng Xihou became the director of the Chuankang Appeasement Office, that Li Hongtao was reinstated and appointed deputy chief of the Appeasement Office, and in 1946, with Deng Xihou's promotion to chairman of Sichuan Province, Li Hongtao was also appointed as the commissioner of the fourth district and the commander of security, and in 1947 he was transferred to the ninth district commissioner and security commander of Wanxian County. It is precisely because Li Hongtao's "Deng family" color is too strong, so in 1948, after Deng Xihou was forced to step down by Chiang Kai-shek, Li Hongtao often harbored a rabbit dead fox and a sad relative, and deeply felt that the future was uncertain. Our underground party organization seized on Li Hongtao's wavering mentality and arranged for Li Maojun, the son of Li Hongtao, a progressive young man who was studying at the Economics Department of West China Union University in Chengdu, to rush back to Wanxian County and cooperate with our underground party organization in li Hongtao's struggle work. After arduous efforts and even more useful our army's steady victory on the battlefield of liberation, Li Hongtao finally decided to throw himself into the side of the people in mid-November 1949. However, don't look at what Commander Li Hongtao claims to be, in fact, he only has one security battalion and two security brigades in his hands, while the three armies of Sun Yuanliang and Luo Guangwen are stationed on all sides of Wanxian County. Therefore, the specific time of the uprising depends on the timing.
On December 2, Sun Zhen fled Wanxian County, and Sun Yuanliang and Luo Guangwen's troops had fled to the northern Sichuan region as early as late November, and the enemy's strength in and around Wanxian Had been greatly weakened. Seeing that the time had come, Li Hongtao led the staff of the Ninth Special District and two security regiments totaling more than 1,000 people on December 3, on the pretext of supervising the defense of Yunyang, left Wanxian County, got rid of the constraints of other Kuomintang military and police xian specials, and on the 4th, came to Shuangjiang Town, Yunyang County, to garrison. Early in the morning of December 6, Li Hongtao's liaison representatives, Chief of Staff Liu Changyan and son Li Maojun, met with Zhai Yidong, acting commander of the PLA's 124th Division, and Ding Guojue, political commissar, in the newly liberated county seat of Yunyang, and reported to them about Li Hongtao's waiting for the uprising.
When Zhai and Ding learned of the situation, they immediately welcomed Li Hongtao's uprising and spoke to Li Hongtao in Shuangjiang by local telephone, ordering him to immediately lay down his arms and surrender to the people.
On the morning of the 7th, Li Hongtao took only a few retinues and took a wooden boat to Yunyang County on an appointment, where he was warmly received by the head of the 124th Division. After more than an hour of negotiations, the two sides quickly reached an agreement. After the agreement was signed, Li Hongtao immediately sent a telegram to the whole country, announcing that he would lay down his arms and stand by the side of the people.
On December 8, the headquarters of the 124th Division and its 372nd Regiment boarded four passenger ships sent by the Wanxian side according to Li Hongtao's arrangement, and sailed up the river in the direction of Wanxian. Ding Xuece, chief of staff of the division, led some of his personnel and a part of the 371st Regiment to board three passenger ships of the Minsheng Company, also sent by Wanxian County, and under the guidance of Li Maojun, went to Shuangjiang to receive Li Hongtao's team.
Here, after Li Hongtao led his troops to leave Wanxian County, Zhu Dingqing, who had taken over the defense from Sun Zhen, saw that the situation was not right, and also fled to the Houshan Township area of Wanxian County on December 5. Party, political, and military leaders in the city have all fled, leaving only Chen Xibai, chairman of the county senate, and Ma Zuji, county magistrate.
Although Chen Xibai's status was not as high as that of Ma Zuji, Ma Zuji had already decided to flee to the Houshan Township area of Wanxian County at this time, and Chen Xibai was still a local power figure, and his brother-in-law, cousin, and son-in-law all held important positions in the People's Self-Defense Force, and he himself was also appointed by Li Hongtao and Sun Zhen as deputy commander of the First Route Army of the Ninth Column of the Anti-Communist Salvation Army (Commander Ma Zuji) and commander of the Tenth Division of the Anti-Communist Salvation Army. Although these are all reactionary local militia units that only have institutions and not many soldiers, after all, it shows that Chen Xibai still has some influence in the local area and is considered a leading figure. Therefore, since the beginning of November, the central county party committee of our underground party, Wanxian County, has persuaded and instigated rebellion against Chen Xibai through some social relations.
On the evening of December 3, after the underground party once again sent people to explain the situation and interests to Chen Xibai, Chen Xibai finally made up his mind to change his ways, abandon the dark and throw in the light, and on December 4, he convened a meeting of the commanders of the Anti-Communist Salvation Corps and the leaders of the People's Self-Defense Force, announcing the reorganization of these two teams, removing the "anti-communist" color in the name, and establishing the "Wanxian Garrison Command" to fully safeguard local public order. After the meeting, Chen Xibai also drew up a plan that "Sun Zhen's corps has withdrawn, Zhu Dingqing's troops have taken over the defense, and the city of Ten Thousand Cities has become a vacuum." Order was maintained by the Self-Defense Forces, and the Senate decided to welcome the People's Liberation Army to the ministry and send troops to garrison. The draft telegram was sent to the Radio Station of the Wanxian Minsheng Company, which had been secretly in contact with the People's Liberation Army stationed in Yichang, for distribution to the People's Liberation Army.
After being welcomed by the People's Liberation Army and ordered to maintain order and guard all kinds of public and private property and archives, on December 5, Chen Xibai called a meeting of relevant military and political personnel, the faluntary group, and the leaders of local gangs such as the Green Gang and the Red Gang, and publicly announced his intention to lead the uprising. At this time, the general trend of the Kuomintang regime has gone, and none of the "leading figures" present here are fools, and seeing that Chen Xibai's idea has been decided, of course, no one will say the word "no" anymore. Therefore, with the unanimous approval of the participants, the meeting decided to set up a "Wanxian Local Temporary Maintenance Committee", with Chen Xibai as the director and acting county governor, to make comprehensive arrangements and preparations for welcoming the PEOPLE's Liberation Army into the city.
On December 6, Chen Xibai did not know that Li Hongtao in Shuangjiang Town had also decided to revolt, and did not dare to send people down the river to meet the PLA 124th Division troops advancing westward, but instead sent people to contact the Eighth Regiment of the Independent Second Division of the Hubei Military Region, which had arrived in Changtan Town via Baitu and Longju, and brought back a large number of PLA notices to be posted in the city. At this time, Wanxian was already immersed in a strong atmosphere of welcoming new students.
On December 7, the whole situation suddenly became clear. On the one hand, Chen Xibai received a call from Liu Changyan from Yunyang and knew that Li Hongtao had telegraphed the uprising. At the same time, through the arduous efforts of the underground party organizations, Luo Xinyuan, head of the Zhongxian Standing Self-Defense Regiment, also sent a telegram on this day in the name of the county magistrate Huang Youfu in response to Li Hongtao's uprising in Yunyang. Zhong County was peacefully liberated. On the other hand, Chen Xibai also received a call from Qi Yong, commander of the Independent First Division of the Hubei Military Region, from Zhong County on this day, accepted the order of the People's Liberation Army to surrender, and according to Qi Yong's request on the phone, dispatched the landing ship "MinShan" to Zhong County to meet the PEOPLE's Liberation Army.
On December 8, more than 40,000 people from all walks of life organized by our underground party organization and Chen Xibai, armed with colorful flags of various colors, waited early at the Yangjiajiekou Wharf. On the dock, the sound of slogans, gongs and drums, and firecrackers rose and fell, and the scene was extremely warm and spectacular. At 9:50, under the leadership of division commander Qi Yong, the headquarters of our Hubei Independent Division and its Second Regiment finally arrived at the Yangjiajiekou Wharf in Wanxian County on the "Minjiang River" and two other warships captured in ZhongXian County, becoming the first PLA unit to enter the urban area of Wanxian County. The meeting of the two armies in Wanxian marks the peaceful and complete return of Wanxian to the hands of the people.
On December 9, in an article entitled "Lofty Tribute", China Democracy Daily enthusiastically confided the voice of the liberated people of Wanxian County: "The people's liberation army of Chinese people who are looking forward to seeing has officially entered the city, and we welcome the people's army from the standpoint of the people. Since then, five thousand years of autocracy have been denied, and the people are no longer exploited and oppressed, no longer enslaved. Since then, we have embarked on a new era. ”