The patriotic poet of the Southern Song Dynasty has a famous sentence Cloud: "On paper, I finally feel shallow, and I absolutely know that this matter must be carried out." "Most of the founding generals of the People's Liberation Army pay attention to reconnaissance, obtain accurate information about the enemy, and know each other and each other in order to be able to survive a hundred battles." For example, when General Su Yu was the commander of the Red 65th Division at the end of 1930, he personally disguised himself as an enemy platoon commander and found out the situation of the enemy Zhang Huizhen, and the Red Army set up an ambush at Longgang, annihilated Zhang Huizhan's 18th Division and captured Zhang Huizhan alive. Another example is Lieutenant General Nie Fengzhi, who after becoming a division commander and a military commander, also personally reconnoitred, or a farmer, or a peddler, or a disaster victim, dressed as who to look like, providing accurate intelligence for battle decisions.
Admiral Zhang Aiping is also such a person who likes to do it herself. But his reconnaissance was not for a certain battle, but for the purpose of creating an anti-Japanese base behind enemy lines.
In October 1938, the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Sixth Central Committee was held in Yan'an, at which the mistake of right-leaning capitulationism was corrected and it was decided that the main task of the Party was to mobilize and arm the masses in the theater and behind the enemy lines, and to expand the people's army and the anti-Japanese base areas behind the enemy lines.
In the spring of 1939, Zhang Aiping, then secretary of the Yudong Provincial CPC Committee, proposed to the Central Plains Bureau according to the spirit of the Sixth Plenary Session: Cross the Jinpu Road, enter the east of the road, and then advance into the vast area of northern Jiangsu to develop guerrilla warfare.
At this time, comrade Liu Ziwu of the CPC's SuXian County, Anhui Province, located east of Jinpu Road, sent Comrade Liu Ziwu to report on the situation: Due to insufficient troops, the Japanese army only set up strongholds in some important towns along and along the road, but the vast countryside on the east side of the road, and even the entire Hongze Lake area, were still in the hands of Chinese.
Zhang Aiping was very excited after hearing this, and he thought: Ludong is a rare gap zone that is not controlled by several forces, and it is a good stage for our army to show its skills and show its grand plans. Therefore, he asked Peng Xuefeng, chairman of the party, government, and military committee, commander, and political commissar of the guerrilla detachment of the New Fourth Army: He first took a small unit to reconnaissance and reconnaissance, felt the situation, and made a front stand.
Peng Xuefeng agreed with Zhang Aiping's idea, but he did not approve of Zhang Aiping, who had just become the secretary of the provincial party committee, going there in person.
Zhang Aiping felt that there was nothing more important and urgent than truly grasping the situation in Ludong, and it was worth taking a trip by herself, even if it was worth taking some risks. So he proposed: bring a person, and then bring a radio station, so that if there is a situation, you can report it at any time, so as not to go back and forth in vain.
Peng Xuefeng said, "Of course, it is good for you to go, but your actions must be reported to the Central Plains Bureau, and I personally cannot decide." But he thinks it's easier to expose and less secure to bring a radio.
Zhang Aiping then took only Liu Zuofu, the head of the guerrilla detachment's democracy movement section, and set out with Liu Ziwu.
Zhang Aiping and her party crossed the Jinpu Road blockade line late one night and came to the Sixian area the next day, which is the heart of northeast Anhui. They found the Kuomintang Sixian County Government.
Li Chunyi, the county magistrate of Sixian County, is Zhang Aiping's Fellow Villager in Sichuan, where Zhang Aiping and his party were warmly received, and Li Chunyi set up a banquet. From Li Chunyi's mouth, Zhang Aiping inquired about the military strength of the various factions of the Kuomintang in northeast Anhui, their political attitudes, and their mutual relations.
But the surprise came.
Just as the cup was being pushed and exchanged for a cup, there was a sudden gunshot outside. Li Chunyi's men rushed to report in panic: The devil is coming! When Li Chunyi, who had just been polite and chatty, heard the word "devil" and was terrified, he hurriedly took a few people and sneaked away, leaving Zhang Aiping, a distinguished guest of friendly troops and fellow villagers, aside.
Zhang Aiping has been in the battlefield for a long time and is calm and self-assured. After listening carefully to the sound of gunfire for a while, he asked Liu Ziwu if there were any regular Kuomintang troops in this area.
Liu Ziwu replied: I have not heard of regular troops.
Zhang Aiping felt strange, because listening to the sound of gunfire, this shot was very methodical, and it was definitely not done by ordinary guerrillas or self-defense forces. So I beckoned Liu Ziwu and Liu Zuofu to go and see it together. Following the sound of gunfire, Zhang Aiping and they walked north, and after about 20 minutes, they saw an earthen mountain, and the sound of gunfire came from the earth mountain. At the foot of the mountain, they encountered a group of soldiers, dressed in earth-yellow uniforms.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in addition to the uniformity of the Central Army, whether it was the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army, or the kuomintang's local miscellaneous troops, the dress was varied. Therefore, Zhang Aiping couldn't recognize which way this group of soldiers was.
After questioning, the soldiers' answer was unexpected by Zhang Aiping: they belonged to the Suluyu detachment of the Eighth Route Army.
Ask who is the leader of the team here, and the name spoken by the other party makes Zhang Aiping even more excited - it turned out to be an old acquaintance Liang Xingchu!
Zhang Aiping hurried up the mountain and saw Liang Xingchu. Liang Xingchu was also surprised to see Zhang Aiping. Liang Xingchu told Zhang Aiping that the 685th Regiment entered the area west of Weishan Lake from Shanxi in the second half of last year, and later merged with the local anti-Japanese forces to form the Suluyu Detachment of the Eighth Route Army, with Liang Xingchu as deputy commander. This time, we are going south to do strategic reconnaissance to advance behind enemy lines, and we will return to Lunan tonight.
A few days later, Liang Xingchu sent troops to escort Zhang Aiping to "travel around" the counties and towns in northeastern Anhui. During this reconnaissance, Zhang Aiping visited figures from all walks of life in northeast Anhui, searched for guerrillas scattered in all corners, and also visited Sheng Zijin, a representative figure of the Kuomintang in northeastern Anhui.
Then, Zhang Aiping and his men took root in the Ludong area, established the Offices of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army on the hongze Lake, united the anti-japanese forces of all sides, and in this strategic land where battles were complicated, in only 3 months, they established an anti-Japanese base area behind enemy lines in northeast Anhui, including 5 counties and 16 districts.