On September 9, 1927, the autumn harvest uprising led by the 34-year-old Mao Zedong broke out on the border of Xianggan and Gansu. 10 days later, the 3rd Rebel forces assembled in Wenjia City, an important town in southern Liuyang, Hunan.
Early the next morning, when more than a thousand rebel officers and men were assembling in a whole group on the playground of Liren Academy, Hu Yaobang and a group of other students watched the bustle on the opening of the school wall and saw Mao Zedong standing in front of the line and speaking to the commanders and fighters.
Among the friends who met Mao Zedong with Hu Yaobang was a later famous general, Yang Yong.
Yang Yong and Hu Yaobang are cousins, two years older than their cousin Hu Yaobang. Both were Liuyang people, and later both became big figures in the military and political circles.
In 1964, the all-army military training competition. Chairman Mao and Yang Yong (right) Yang Dezhi (left)
When he met Chairman Mao while studying at the Liren Academy, Yang Yong was only 14 years old, and later refined steel in the melting pot of the revolution. During the Red Army period, Yang Yong served as the political commissar of the Tenth Regiment of the Fourth Division of the Third Red Army, and his military achievements were outstanding. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he fought more and more courageously, repeatedly created miracles, and made immortal contributions to the struggle for national independence and freedom.
At the beginning of 1938, Yang Yong, commander of the 686th Regiment of the 343rd Brigade of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, led his troops with the main force of the 115th Division to Fenyang and Xiaoyi in Shanxi to mobilize the masses and open up the anti-Japanese base area of Lüliang Mountain.
Yang Yong during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression
In September, in order to launch a large-scale offensive, the Japanese invading Japanese army sent Major General Yamaguchi, commander of the 18th Brigade, to lead his troops into the central area of the Lüliang area, Lishi, and concentrated a large number of ammunition, grain and other materials in Fenyang City, ready to be transported at any time.
Yang Yong decided to ambush rikou.
A few days later, Yang Yong received intelligence that the enemy convoy was about to move, so he set up an ambush in advance. At dawn on September 14, Yang Yong led the 686th Regiment into the Xuegongling area southeast of Wucheng Town in the middle of the Fenli Highway. When the Japanese entered the ambush circle, Yang Yong first ordered the mortars to bombard the Japanese bunkers set up on the mountain ridge to cover the passing vehicles, and all 3 shells hit.
The soldiers quickly launched a charge, fought fiercely for an hour, destroyed more than 20 cars full of military supplies, and more than 200 Japanese troops were annihilated except for 3 people who surrendered.
The next day, the Japanese army went out and pounced, pulling only away 5 cars of corpses.
The Japanese troops on the front line could not get ammunition and supplies, so they had to kill horses to fill their hunger. After a few days, the Japanese ventured again to begin transporting. More than 100 Japanese troops were divided into several cars and only sent one cart of grain for testing, and Yang Yong saw through the enemy's ruse and released this cart of grain to confuse the Japanese army.
The next day, the enemy was really bold, and more than 200 Japanese troops were dispatched to escort 18 truckloads of supplies, and when they reached the area of Oil Fangping, they were ambushed by the 686 regiment and the supplementary regiment led by Yang Yong, and all of them were annihilated and none of them survived.
The Japanese army, which had been ambushed twice, suddenly became a bird of fright, so it sent heavy troops to set up a stronghold in the key part of the highway to protect its transportation line.
Yang Yong resolutely changed his tactics, placing ambush points on both sides of the road near Wangjiachi in Fenyang County, southeast of Xue Gongling, and lurking under the enemy's nose, intending to fight another ambush battle. At about 9 o'clock on the 20th, more than 800 Japanese infantry and cavalry entered the ambush area, Yang Yong commanded the troops to suddenly open fire, immediately launched an attack, with a force to block the head, hit the tail, with the main force from the middle of the division, together with the 685th Regiment fierce battle for one hour, annihilating most of the Japanese army.
In this ambush, he also killed the Japanese commander, Major General Yamaguchi, on the spot, which was very gratifying.
In the same year, Yang Yong also created a miracle of blocking the attack of 800 Japanese troops with a company, making Wei Lihuang shout "impossible".
Who is Wei Lihuang? The second-rank general of the Nationalist army is the "tiger general" of Chiang Kai-shek's "five tiger generals", a very good person. At the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, after Wei Lihuang served as the deputy commander of the Second Theater and the commander-in-chief of the former enemy, the Eighteenth Group Army (i.e., the Eighth Route Army) belonged to the battle sequence of the Second Theater.
The second from the left is Wei Lihuang, and the third from the left is Mao Zedong
In March 1938, the 686th Regiment of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army fought three battles and three victories in the area of Puxian and Wucheng, annihilating nearly a thousand enemy troops, and the commander of the Japanese division was so angry that the throat of the commander of the Japanese division smoked.
In order to avenge, thousands of Japanese troops counterattacked, and as a result, near Daning, they met with the troops led by Wei Lihuang, deputy commander of the Kuomintang Second Theater of Operations, and the two sides immediately engaged.
However, Wei Lihuang's troops were defeated by the Japanese army, and after three hours of fierce fighting, they could not resist it, and the whole army fled all the way. The Japanese army was in hot pursuit. Wei Lihuang had to urgently call for help from the nearby 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army.
Therefore, the 686th Regiment of the 343rd Brigade of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army was ordered to attack and cover the breakthrough of friendly Wei Lihuang and others.
Yang Yong, commander of the 686th Regiment, sent Fang Guonan, an instructor directly under the regiment, to lead the soldiers of the 3 battalions and 10 companies to quickly occupy the favorable terrain near Baierling and build fortifications to block the Japanese army.
The 10th Company of the 3rd Battalion is a special agent company with strong combat effectiveness. They occupied the positions at an astonishing rate and built fortifications with the help of the cliffs in front of the positions.
The Japanese attacked frantically again and again under the cover of aircraft artillery, but under the stubborn resistance of the 10 companies, none of the Japanese troops could pass through the mountain pass. The position soon became a sea of fire, and the bodies of Japanese soldiers were piled up in ravines.
Yang Yong accompanied Wei Lihuang at the headquarters to observe the battle. Holding a telescope in his hand, Wei Lihuang witnessed the thrilling battle scene between the two warring sides, and asked in surprise: "The battle is so fierce, may I ask Commander Yang, how many regiments of your army are fighting in front of you?" ”
Yang Yong replied, "There is only one company of our 686 regiment." ”
"Impossible! Commander Yang, how can a company withstand the continuous onslaught of so many Japanese troops? Wei Lihuang didn't believe it.
"Commander Wei, this is true. If you don't believe it, when they pull down, you can check the number of people. Yang Yong smiled slightly.
The fierce fighting lasted for more than 3 hours, and the 10 companies with a very small cost of more than 20 casualties had to block the repeated fierce attacks of more than 800 Japanese troops.
After the battle, Yang Yong gave the order to the 10th Company to withdraw from the battle. Wei Lihuang actually waited there to count the number of people.
When his staff officers carefully verified the number of people and reported to him that there was indeed only one company of the Eighth Route Army that was blocking the attack, Wei Lihuang couldn't help but exclaim: "The Eighth Route Army is really capable!" If I had a regiment like your company, I am afraid that I would fight invincible hands all over the world! ”
Yang Yong said solemnly: "General Wei, the ability of a company and a regiment is limited, and the real invincible force is millions of people. ”
Among the ruyun generals of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Yang Yong was one of the famous "Three Yangs" (Yang Yong, Yang Dezhi, and Yang Chengwu). He was deeply loved by Chairman Mao Zedong and praised him many times, calling him "honest and resolute."
American General Clark, who signed the Korean armistice agreement, once said helplessly: "I became the first general in American history to sign a document without defeating an opponent." At that time, it was Yang Yong who served as the commander of the Chinese Volunteer Army.
In 1955, Yang Yong was awarded the rank of founding general.
Admiral Yang Yong
In 1964, British Marshal Montgomery visited a certain unit of the Beijing Military Region to visit a shooting performance, accompanied by Yang Yong, who was then the commander of the Beijing Military Region. At the end of the performance, Montgomery took a semi-automatic rifle, shot in a reclining position, shot consecutive shots, and then handed the gun to Yang Yong.
Yang Yong smiled and took the gun, standing in a remote position, and hitting everything. On his way home via Hong Kong, Montgomery warned Western countries at a news conference: "Don't fight chinese troops on the ground." ”
When the news came, Mao Zedong laughed and said with a pun: "General Yang Yong, General Yang Yong!" (Liu Jixing)