In November 1940, General Hong Xuezhi led two brigades of the Anti-Japanese War, the Shandong Brigade and the Central China Brigade, to Shandong, and because of its difficulties, the trip was later called the "Little Long March" by military history experts. They had only a platoon of more than 30 guards, the remaining 300 men were bare-handed, and some were horses and mules, carrying books, food, luggage, and so on.
They entered Shandong from southern Hebei and arrived in Guantao County, where they prepared to cross the Wei River.
However, the water surface of the Wei River is very wide, the water depth is steep, and there are Japanese strongholds along the river. This is another blockade line for the enemy to cut off the base areas of Southern Hebei and Luxi.
At this time, the Japanese army had destroyed the ferry port, and there were often Japanese motorboat patrols on the river, and there were many incidents of Japanese attacks on the eighth route army crossing troops.
Hong Xuezhi personally led people to the river to reconnoiter, and found that there was a section of the river with dense woods along the coast, which could cover the troops to approach the Wei River. He and Nie Feng, the captain of the Shandong cadre brigade, decided to get a few boats from the common people, hide the troops in the village not far from the woods, and use the gap patrolled by enemy motorboats to cross the river.
The two agreed to cross the river in two batches, with the Shandong brigade crossing first and the central China brigade following.
On one night, two brigades gathered not far from the Wei River, preparing to cross the river in batches. The Shandong brigade had planned to rush to the Wei River at six or seven o'clock in the evening and then board the boat, but by ninety o'clock, the boat had not yet arrived. Nie Fengzhi was anxious: "Will something unexpected happen?" ”
The ship could not arrive and could not be contacted, so the team had to return to their original residence.
In the middle of the night, Hong Xuezhi got a report that the boat could arrive at one o'clock in the evening, but there were only a few small paddles and a few wooden boxes, and people could pass, but livestock could not pass.
However, the cattle carry a lot of luggage and teaching books, and they can't cross the river, so how can they do it?
While everyone was anxious, someone reported that a group of cadres from the Shandong sub-bureau wanted to come from the other side of the Wei River to Yan'an.
"Yes!" Hong Xuezhi suddenly had an idea, summoned Zhang Xingfa, the captain of the Central China Brigade, and said, "You should cross the river first to see if the comrades of the Shandong sub-bureau have any livestock." If so, consult with them that the boat is small and cannot cross the cattle, and whether to exchange the livestock of both sides for each other, -- to exchange one horse, so that it will not only solve the problem of crossing the river, but also will not affect the future march. ”
The others immediately assembled urgently and quickly reached the river.
After waiting for more than an hour, we finally waited for 4 small boats to transport the people of the Central China Brigade to the opposite bank, and then transported the people of the Shandong Brigade across the river.
At this time, Zhang Xingfa returned and reported to Hong Xuezhi: "The comrades in Shandong think that the method of exchanging livestock is good, but they have a large number of livestock, and our central China brigade has few livestock and is not enough. ”
"This is a good idea to ask Nie Fengzhi to give them all the livestock of the Shandong brigade."
In this way, the Central China Brigade and the Shandong Brigade all crossed the Wei River, and then marched rapidly, trotting all the way through the Japanese blockade line. Decades later, when Lieutenant General Nie Fengzhi mentioned this matter, he also said with admiration:
"Lao Hong's brain is so flexible, no wonder he became a military leader at the age of 21."