In the rolling river of history, one history after another is written, and learning history can make you wise and make you smarter.
In July 1934, the Red Ninth Army set out from Shicheng, Jiangxi Province, marched to Fujian territory, serving as an escort for the anti-Japanese troops going north, and a month later arrived at the town of Zhanghu ban in central Fujian Province.
There was originally a reactionary armed force in the local area, headed by an old warlord named Lu Xingbang, who was a fishy and vicious people in the minzhong area, and the people were extremely angry.
When Lu Xingbang heard that the Red Army had come, he was frightened and scattered, and immediately fled with his wife and children and gold and silver.
The Red Army was a little disappointed that it did not catch Lu Xingbang, the villain. At this time, the local people told them that Lu Xingbang had built an arsenal in the nearby mountains to manufacture weapons and ammunition. When the soldiers, led by the masses, entered the arsenal of Lu Xingbang, although they did not find any ready-made weapons, they received an unexpected and significant harvest in the warehouse.
What's the big catch? It was neither gold and silver treasure nor grain cloth, but what the Red Army lacked most at that time-gunpowder. What made the commanders and fighters of the Red Army particularly overjoyed was that this was a batch of high-quality black gunpowder, and the quantity was very impressive, there were more than four thousand boxes!
It should be known that part of the red army's sources of gunpowder depended on captured on the battlefield, and the other part also needed to be manufactured by the arsenals in the Soviet zone. However, the Kuomintang army has always imposed a strict military encirclement and economic blockade on the Soviet area, and all kinds of materials are extremely scarce, let alone the raw materials needed to make weapons and ammunition. At that time, the Red Army Arsenal could not get black gunpowder at all, and was forced to use white nitrate to make bullets, and it is conceivable that the lethality of such bullets was very small, which was one of the important reasons why the early Red Army was in a serious disadvantage in weapons and equipment.
When Lu Xingbang escaped, he took away his wife and children and gold and silver, but he could not take away the more than four thousand boxes of gunpowder. He could not have predicted that the batch of gunpowder he had purchased would become the biggest and most unexpected harvest of the Red Army in Zhanghusaka.
After the central authorities learned of this good news, they immediately issued an order to the Red Ninth Army: transport these "treasures" to the Soviet area as soon as possible. After all, pure gunpowder has little effect, and must cause bullets to truly transform into lethality on the battlefield. Every additional shipment of gunpowder to the Soviet zone increased the Red Army's combat strength by one point.
After receiving the order, the head of the regiment, headed by regimental commander Luo Binghui, political commissar Cai Shufan, and chief of staff Zhang Yi, immediately proceeded to accomplish this task from two aspects: First, a large number of carpenters were recruited at that time, and in coordination with the Red Army engineer company, they rushed day and night to produce wooden boxes for containing gunpowder (some of the original wooden boxes were already damaged and could no longer be used); second, they urgently mobilized the commanders and fighters of the whole legion to arrange for the delivery of gunpowder.
At that time, the Red Army had no advanced means of transportation such as cars, trains, and ships, and even the foot strength of war horses and mules was pitifully small, so how did these four thousand boxes of gunpowder be transported to the Soviet zone?
The solution is actually very simple: human transportation. All the commanders and fighters of the legion, regardless of their ranks, each marched with a wooden box on his back, which contained about twenty to thirty pounds of gunpowder.
In addition to gunpowder, each commander and fighter also had to carry some salt, because this thing was also extremely scarce in the Soviet area. In this way, counting their respective weapons and luggage, the weight of each person's body reached fifty or sixty pounds.
Everyone understands that if we carry more gunpowder back, our arsenal can build more bullets to defend the Soviet zone, and we can eliminate the White Bandit Army more, so although the commanders and fighters of the Red Army know that the road is long and there are too many items on their backs, which is not conducive to the marching and fighting, everyone is scrambling to carry more things back to the Soviet zone.
By mid-eighty, the Red Army had completed the task of covering the brothers' troops to go north to resist the Japanese, and instead officially began the journey back to the Soviet zone. However, the difficulty of this journey has increased a lot compared to when it came, after all, everyone has dozens of pounds of salt and gunpowder on their backs and shoulders, and the march load has increased greatly.
What was particularly difficult was that the central and northern parts of Fujian were mostly mountainous, and the roads at that time were very narrow and curved, coupled with the fact that they had already entered the battle days, the weather was extremely hot, which brought great difficulties to the commanders and fighters of the Red Army who might enter the combat state at any time.
Even so, from the head of the legion to the cook and groom, everyone carried a burden and braved the sweltering heat to march forward. They adopted the method of staying overnight, trying to avoid the peak of the sun, and could still advance fifty or sixty miles a day.
A few days later, the Red Ninth Army reached the mountainous area of Youxi County, and encountered a series of torrential rains, although there was no scorching sun, the road was muddy and slippery, making the troops' march more difficult.
Under the harsh geographical environment and weather conditions, the commanders and fighters of the Red Army fully carried forward the spirit of mutual help and mutual assistance and tided over the difficulties together. Some of the strong warriors caught up with the road first, and then they put down their burdens to help those who were weak or wounded and sick to carry them. Through this method of alternate advance, the overall advancement of the troops will be realized.
During this trip to transport gunpowder, the regimental commander Luo Binghui could be said to have suffered a lot. He was originally a big fat man, picking up such a heavy thing and marching faster than the average person's physical strength. Although his superiors gave him a war horse, he had already given up his mount to the wounded and sick, and he carried a burden like an ordinary warrior, and he did not want to lag behind anyone, always taking the lead.
Luo Binghui not only personally carried the weight forward, but also took the lead in singing military songs and mountain songs from time to time along the way. Led by the commanders, the commanders and fighters of the whole regiment were full of energy and morale.
By August 22, this special Red Army unit finally came to the Shifeng area adjacent to Yong'an, Fujian Province, which was not far from the Soviet zone. Just at this moment, a good news came from the Central Military Commission: the brother troops in the Soviet area had mobilized thousands of people and prepared the means of transportation, thus forming a migrant workers' transportation team, and were rushing to Gutian, the only way for the Red Ninth Army to go to the Soviet area, and could help the Red Ninth Army to transport gunpowder and salt. When the commanders and fighters of the whole legion learned of this news, they all cheered and rejoiced.
Six days later, the troops officially arrived in Gutian, and the migrant workers' transport team also arrived on time to meet them. The military and the people joined hands and jointly handed over more than 4,000 boxes of gunpowder, salt, and other materials to the Central Military Commission's military station in the Soviet district. The one-month-long gunpowder delivery mission was successfully completed, making a major contribution to the development and growth of the Red Army in the Soviet zone.