Legend among the Ten Marshals: Why can Two Kitchen Knives Cause a Revolution?
He Long in his youth
Among the ten marshals of the Republic who were awarded the title in 1955, the most legendary is probably He Long.
He Long's origin is very legendary, he is famous, and his grandfather is a martial artist of the Qing Empire. The "academic qualifications" of lifting people are already very remarkable for ordinary people, and if it is said that jinshi is "one in a thousand miles", then it is at least one in a thousand. Although it is true that people cannot be enfeoffed and appointed to the territory, it is still very possible to be a small official who dominates one side, and the protagonist Fan Jin in "Fan Jin Zhongju" is crazy because of the excitement of the people who have won the lift.
He Long's grandfather was a martial artist, and his status was slightly inferior to that of Wenju, because the emperor Lao Er had to prevent the military generals who held military power from rebelling, and deliberately suppressed Wu Yangwen. But even so, Grandpa He Long was already a local leader, and it was said that he was highly skilled in martial arts, could swing a spear, pull a hard bow, and immediately stepped down very well.
But by the time He Long was born, the He family had fallen into the middle of the road and had become an ordinary poor peasant family. He Long only studied private school for five years, and was forced to break into society very early, at the age of 13, he joined the Brotherhood of elders, and he followed Dr. Sun Yat-sen to join the Chinese Revolutionary Party at an early age, and later joined the National Revolutionary Army. The young He Longxia was bold, arrogant, and intimidating, and became a well-known leftist general in the Kuomintang army!
Marshal He Long
Although Chiang Kai-shek also followed his eldest brother Chen Qimei in his youth in the Shanghai Youth Gang, the most authoritative figure in China at that time did not like the person who "mixed on the road" the most, but the old Chiang Kai-shek favored He Long and never hid his admiration for the young and promising He Long. Many times instructed his subordinates to draw He Long over.
When "Ning and Han were opposed," Chiang Kai-shek, who was in Nanjing, was always thinking about digging the corners of the Wuhan side, and he called Secretary General Li Zhonggong: "You go and dig up a dragon from xiangxi on the other side of Wuhan!" Li Zhonggong looked at Chiang Kai-shek with a confused face and asked, "Who is a dragon in western Hunan Province?" ”
"Niang Xipi!" Chiang Kai-shek was angry, "I don't even know who the Xiangxi Dragon is?" How did you become the Secretary-General? ”
Old Chiang's persuasion did not go well, and Li Zhonggong went to see He Long, and by the way brought He Long the high position of chairman of Jiangxi Province. Unexpectedly, He Long was furious, and not only threw out the letter of appointment of the provincial chairman, but also almost invited Li Zhonggong to eat a peanut rice: "When I He Long made a revolution with two kitchen knives, was it for this wusha hat of the chairman of Jiangxi Province?" You go back and tell him jiang someone, who betrays the revolution, who is the enemy of my He Long! ”。 When Li Zhonggong crawled back with a rolling belt, Chiang Kai-shek was not only not angry, but sincerely admired He Long's loyalty!
Chen Qimei
He Long later participated in the Nanchang Uprising, which shocked China and foreign countries, and fired the first shots of the Communists' armed resistance to Kuomintang rule. At that time, He Long was not yet a member of the Communist Party, but the Party gave him great trust, and Zhou Enlai, the former secretary of the Committee of Enemies, appointed He Long as the commander-in-chief of the uprising on behalf of the Party, and from then on, he began the history of fighting for the Party and formed an unusually deep revolutionary friendship with Zhou Enlai.
Later, He Long withstood various tests on the revolutionary road, including the sacrifice of his comrades-in-arms, the tempering of war, and even the death of as many as 78 people in the whole family under Chiang Kai-shek's butcher's knife. During the Long March, He Long successively became the commander-in-chief of the Red Second Army and the commander-in-chief of the Red Second Front, commanding one of the three main forces to reach northern Shaanxi and meet the victorious division of the Central Red Army; in the War of Resistance Against Japan, He Long served as the commander of the 120th Division, one of the three main divisions; and in the Liberation War, he presided over the northwest war for a long time. He made immortal contributions to the cause of the liberation of the Chinese people.
After the founding of New China, in 1955, the Central Military Commission awarded the rank of marshal to ten senior generals who had made great contributions to the cause of the independence of the Chinese nation, and He Long became one of the top ten marshals, ranking fifth, after Liu Bocheng and before Chen Yi.
The Nanchang Uprising led by Zhou Enlai, He Long, and others
In He Long's long revolutionary career, the massacre of his family relatives by Chiang Kai-shek was his lingering pain. On December 12, 1936, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng launched the "Xi'an Incident" and detained Chiang Kai-shek. He Long couldn't hide his excitement when he heard the news, and said with great joy: "Jiang Guangtou also has today!" But later, after study, the Party Central Committee decided not to kill old Chiang Kai-shek and force him to resist Japan. He Long was very able to understand the decision of the central authorities, saying: "From a personal point of view, of course I want to kill Old Jiang and avenge my relatives. However, the Party Central Committee considered the overall situation of the Anti-Japanese Resistance, and it was right not to kill him, but for the sake of the forty million compatriots in china, and that is also our relatives! ”
After He Long became the commander of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army, he met Chiang Kai-shek at a meeting of senior generals in the Second Theater. Although Chiang Kai-shek tried to win over He Long many times and killed 78 people, he never met, and this was the first time the two met. Although He Long had bitter hatred in the face of the ultimate murderer who killed his closest relatives who had a blood feud with him, after all, he was the committee of the Military Commission, the nominal superior, and he was leading the nationwide War of Resistance, so He Long showed extreme calmness and generosity.
Chiang Kai-shek asked, "It is really admirable that Yun Qing is loyal and righteous and not moved by the high-ranking official Houlu. But why did the good military commander go to Nanchang to participate in the riot? He Long said lightly: "I make a revolution for the people, poor is a little poor, but worthy of their own conscience." Chiang Kai-shek was very embarrassed to hear this, so he changed the subject: "How is the situation at home?" He Long sneered, "Thanks to Chairman Jiang's blessing, 79 members of my family, 78 members of the committee have been killed by the chairman of the committee, and I am left alone with He Long." There was no way but to pick up a gun and confront the chairman of the committee. ”
He Long in "The Great Undertaking of Building an Army"
The most legendary story in He Long's life is that he made a revolution with "two kitchen knives" when he was young. He himself wrote on his resume: "
At the end of 1917, he used two kitchen knives and developed into a team of more than 100 people, serving as the guerrilla commander of the first road commander-in-chief of the Hubei Army.
”
In 1916, Yuan Shikai, the president of the Republic of China, brazenly declared himself emperor and turned his history backwards. Cai Yi, who had been close to him, used the cover of Xiao Fengxian to successfully escape Yuan Shikai's heavy surveillance and return to his base camp in Yunnan, launching a national army to denounce Yuan Shikai. The story of He Long's two kitchen knives making a revolution happened in this historical context.
He Long had already joined the Chinese Revolutionary Party after the defeat of the "Second Revolution" the previous year, and after Cai Yi launched the Patriotic Movement, he was entrusted by the Revolutionary Party to prepare for an armed uprising in the area of his hometown in Hunan. On the way, he met his descendant, Wu Yulin, who was the nephew of his brother-in-law and called him "Uncle He". The only weapons the two men had were the two polished kitchen knives that Wu Yulin had brought.
He Long tried the unusually sharp blade, weighed the weight of the kitchen knife, and smiled: "Yes, it seems that you are a person with a heart!" ”
Cai Yi and Xiao Fengxian in "The Great Cause of Party Building"
At this time, a group of armed men and horses came from the front, surrounded by a palanquin, which was the enemy county magistrate who was about to take office, and several soldiers in front of and behind him were lazily dragging guns to "protect" his safety. He Long and Wu Yulin and the others walked to a secluded place, and when the two people behind them fell farther away, they suddenly jumped out, slashed two soldiers with knives, grabbed their guns and ran. Later, He Long's team slowly developed and grew by relying on these two guns, and He Long also developed from a single fight to a "commander" with a team of more than one hundred people.
This is just one version of the legend, and another version is more widely known, that is, the story of the Balmouth Creek Salt Bureau grabbing guns. The story is much the same as the previous one, which is the legend of He Long robbing the tax police of the Bamaoxi Salt Bureau with two kitchen knives. Only this time, He Long's companions were a little more, as many as twenty people, and more guns were robbed, a total of fifteen rifles and two pistols, and nine thousand pounds of salt.
There is also a theory that He Long's so-called two kitchen knives to make a revolution is a memory deviation, in fact, there is only one kitchen knife; there is also a saying that He Long used a kitchen knife to rob the enemy's gun to make a revolution a total of three times... Regardless of the narrative or version, the story of He Long's self-made and two kitchen knives making a revolution has been passed down as a permanent legend and will be passed down forever.
Mao Zedong in "The Great Cause of Building an Army"
In 1927, following the "Nanchang Uprising", Mao Zedong and Lu Deming and others led the "Autumn Harvest Uprising" left by Qingshi, and after the attack on Changsha was frustrated, Mao Zedong refused to continue to attack the large city of Changsha unrealistically according to the actual situation, but instead attacked the enemy's weak area - the countryside. In the famous "Three Bays Reorganization", Mao Zedong mentioned this legendary Hunan fellow: "
He Long started with two kitchen knives, and now he is a military commander, bringing out an army. We now have more than two kitchen knives, we already have two battalions of troops, are we afraid that we will not be able to do it?
In fact, at that time, Mao Zedong and He Long, two figures who were also from Hunan who frightened the enemy, had not yet met each other, even when Mao Zedong regained military leadership at the Zunyi Conference and He Long became the commander-in-chief of the Red Second Front, and the first handshake between the two giants was in October 1936, when the victory of the Long March and the victory of the three main forces of the Red Army met.
On June 9, 1969, He Long died. Exactly six years later, on June 9, 1975, He Long's memorial service was held in the auditorium of Babaoshan Cemetery in Beijing, and Zhou Enlai, who was seriously ill, bowed to He Long's portrait seven times in a row with tears to show his deep condolences and great sorrow for this old comrade-in-arms.
Mao Zedong and He Long