In April 1944, the Japanese army launched the Henan Campaign to force the Kuomintang to surrender. The Kuomintang troops stationed in Tang Enbo and other units in western Henan, claiming 400,000 Nationalist troops, fled without a fight, losing 38 county towns in just 37 days. In the blink of an eye, tens of millions of people were thrown under the iron hooves of the Japanese army.
To this end, the Party Central Committee issued an urgent order to draw a unit from the Taihang and Taiyue base areas in the north of the Yellow River to advance into western Henan and open up anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines.
The unit was named the Western Henan Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Detachment, with pi Dingjun as its commander and Xu Zirong as its political commissar.
The Yuxi people are very strong. They hated the Nationalists, chased after the fleeing Nationalists, and handed over their guns. On this day, Pi Dingjun and they walked in the middle of Yanshi. The sky was just numb, turning over a mountain pass, coming to TaoJiazhai, coldly preventing a gunshot, and the noise was loud. Looking up, the cottage was darkly full of people, blocking the way.
Pi Dingjun had no choice but to stop advancing and shouted to them:
"Fellow villagers, we are the Anti-Japanese Eighth Route Army!"
"The Eighth Route Army? No, it's a good team. Unfortunately, they are all in the north of the Yellow River, and we do not have them in Western Henan. ”
"We really are the Eighth Route Army!" Only from the north of the Yellow River. ”
"Who knows if you're real or fake, who doesn't have a letter on their face!"
The warriors tried to explain again, but the other side shouted, dancing knives and guns to use force. It turned out that the person who took the lead in closing the gate of the village was a bully township chief. Seeing the Eighth Route Army's repeated explanations, he instead ordered the machine gun to be mounted on the wall, shouting:
"Don't take a step forward, or the machine guns will strafe."
Pi Dingjun ordered the big cover gun to be raised and explained to them: "This is three or eight big covers captured by the devils in the Taihang Mountains, you see?" Then explain to them: "We are only borrowing the road, and we will never disturb the people." ”
However, the villagers still did not believe it at the instigation of the bully township chief. The situation is tense. The warriors are not in, nor are they retreating.
Just in the middle of the stalemate, a young man suddenly came running, standing on the wall of the village, waving, and shouting: "Folks, this is really the eighth way coming!" ”
"How do you know they are the Eighth Route Army?" Some people say.
"They are the Eighth Route of Dengfeng Airport, and there will be no fake..." The young man said, "I guarantee that they are the Eighth Route Army, and I have seen them!" ”
It turned out that this young man had been captured by the Japanese army and sent to Dengfeng to repair the airport. More than a month ago, when Pi Dingjun passed through Dengfeng, he broke into this airfield, annihilated the japanese troops guarding it, and liberated 20,000 or 30,000 civilians. This young man is one of them. After he returned, he told all what he had seen and heard to the villagers in the village.
As a result, his words worked better than anything else.
When the fellow villagers heard the news that it was the real Eighth Route Army, they shouted and threw the bully township chief's machine gun down the wall of the village and rushed out to meet the Eighth Route Army. Pi Dingjun sighed and said, "I didn't expect this young man to solve our big problem!" ”