Four Field Generals Series 70: Lü Zhengcao (I)
Author: Mast
When I was a child, I read a novel called "Agni Golden Steel", and when I watched it, my blood was boiling. From this novel, I know General Lü Zhengcao and deeply admire him.
Among the many generals in Siye, Lü Zhengcao's experience was very special: he was once a close confidant of Zhang Xueliang, deeply trusted and respected, and had a strong friendship throughout his life; after the July 7 Incident, when the Northeast Army retreated south, he resolutely led his troops to break away from the Northeast Army and join the Eighth Route Army. It should be said that the general made outstanding achievements in his lifetime, but the most famous thing was the anti-Japanese base area in Hebei and Central Hebei, which became a "model of guerrilla warfare on the plains." The movie "Tunnel Warfare" tells the story of the anti-Japanese resistance in the Jizhong Plain. Starting from today, we will talk about some things about General Lü Zhengcao.
(1) He was once a close confidant of Zhang Xueliang, and the two had a deep friendship throughout their lives
Lü Zhengcao was born in Haicheng, Liaoning in 1905 and was a compatriot of Zhang Xueliang. Due to his family's poverty, he only attended primary school for less than 4 years, and then dropped out of school to become an apprentice. At the age of 17, he became a soldier in the Northeast Army Guard Brigade, where Zhang Xueliang was the brigade commander, and began his lifelong military career. About half a year later, Lü Zhengcao was admitted to apply for the brigade headquarters and entered the deputy officer of the Guard Brigade, where he had frequent contact with the brigade commander Zhang Xueliang.
Zhang Xueliang is the eldest son of Zhang Zuolin, only 4 years older than Lu Zhengcao, and is considered to be a peer. Zhang Xueliang had the heart to cultivate his own forces, and seeing that Lü Zhengcao was smart and capable, and his writing was good, he recommended him to apply for the Northeast Lecture Martial Arts Hall. During the study period of the Lecture Hall, on the occasion of the First and Second Zhifeng Wars, the trainees were suspended from classes to participate in the war. Lü Zhengcao went down to the front line as a platoon leader and acting company commander, and was wounded in the battle. After recovering from his injuries, the Zhifeng War was over, and the wutang resumed classes, so he returned to school to continue his studies. In December 1925, Lü Zhengcao graduated from the Lecture Hall, and Zhang Xueliang summoned him to his side as a major aide-de-camp for four years.
During this period, Lü Zhengcao repeatedly asked to go to the front-line troops, which made Zhang Xueliang very unhappy. However, he still fulfilled his request, and in early 1929 arranged for Lü Zhengcao to serve as the chief of staff of the 16th Brigade and later as the commander of the 647th Regiment. In October 1936, on the eve of the Xi'an Incident, Lu Zhengcao, who was studying in the senior class of Nanjing Army University, was urgently summoned to Xi'an by Zhang Xueliang to participate in confidential affairs and lived in the East Building of Zhang Mansion.
During the Xi'an Incident, Zhou Gong and his party arrived in Xi'an and lived in the East Building of the Zhang Mansion. At that time, Lu Zhengcao was working as an internal affairs officer at the Zhang Mansion, responsible for receiving our delegation and other affairs.
After the Xi'an Incident was peacefully resolved, Zhang Xueliang sent Jiang back to Nanjing and was detained. It was not until 1991 that the two met in New York, 55 years later. In the past few decades, although the two have lost contact, their feelings of longing have increased day by day.
In October 1937, Lü Zhengcao led the 691st Regiment to break away from the Northeast Army in Hebei and join the Eighth Route Army in the north. Zhang Xueliang, who was imprisoned by The Jiang clan, learned of this news and asked his younger brother Zhang Xuesi to find an opportunity to tell Lu Zhengcao: "This road is right. ”
In June 1984, Zhang Xueliang, who was on Taiwan Island, learned that his niece Zhang Luyu often went to the mainland to do business, and told her: "I miss two subordinates on the mainland very much, one is Lu Zhengcao and the other is Wan Yi, and I have the opportunity to visit on my behalf. The two have since connected again, and letters have been exchanged continuously.
In March 1991, Zhang Xueliang was allowed to leave Taiwan to visit his relatives in the United States, creating conditions for the two to see each other again. On May 29, 1991, Lu Zhengcao went to New York to visit Zhang Xueliang. When Lu Zhengcao took the elevator to the apartment floor, Zhang Xueliang, who was 90 years old, was already waiting at the elevator entrance early, recognized him at a glance, and held out his hand from a distance. More than 50 years later, the hands are clenched and the eyes are full of tears. The family said to Lu Zhengcao: "I heard that you are coming, he did not sleep well last night, just waiting to see you." ”
In the ensuing conversation, Zhang Xueliang lamented to Lu Zhengcao, "The biggest regret in my life is that I was unable to directly participate in the anti-Japanese resistance" and "The troops you led insisted on fighting Japan, which is also a comfort to me."
Both of them have experienced hardships in their lives, are optimistic and open-minded, and have lived past the age of 100 years.
(2) After the July 7 Incident, he resolutely broke away from the Northeast Army
During the meeting in New York, the two had endless words. In the meantime, Zhang Xueliang specifically asked Lu Zhengcao, "How did you run to Zhou Enlai's side?" ”
In fact, Lu Zhengcao has had a strong hatred for Japan since he was a child. Since the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, Japan has continued to infiltrate into the northeast according to unequal treaties. As a child, Lu Zhengcao witnessed countless times the Japanese bullying Chinese. When he was 13 years old, once on the road, a Japanese child deliberately stood in the way and kicked him hard. He immediately beat up the Japanese child. The Japanese went all the way to the county magistrate. Fortunately, the county magistrate was fair and did not favor the Japanese, so the matter was not resolved. This was Lu Zhengcao's first "anti-Japanese" action.
After the September 18 Incident, our side carried out activities in the Northeast Army and had some contacts with Lu Zhengcao. On May 4, 1937, Lu Zhengcao secretly joined the organization.
After the peaceful settlement of the Xi'an Incident, at the end of December 1936, the internal contradictions in the Northeast Army intensified, and Lü Zhengcao immediately rushed back to the 647 regimental headquarters in Xushui, Hebei Province, and took control of the troops. Since he was not a fellow soldier with Wan Fulin, the commander of the 53rd Army, in May 1937, Wan Fulin split up the 647th Regiment and mixed with other units, and Lü Zhengcao became the commander of the 691st Regiment of the 130th Division.
After the July 7 Incident, the Northeast Army was defeated and retreated to the south. Since they were not welcomed by Commander Wan Fulin, the 691st Regiment was ordered to cover the retreat of the 53rd Army, and remained at the end, in the most dangerous position. On October 10, when the troops retreated to the area around Gaocheng in Hebei Province, the 1st Battalion of the 691st Regiment was surrounded by Japanese troops in Meihua Town, and the battle was extremely fierce. At this time, the 53rd Army withdrew all the way, and Zhou Fucheng, commander of the 130th Division, ordered Lü Zhengcao to abandon the rescue of the 1st Battalion and immediately lead the direct subordinate team and the 3rd Battalion to pursue the 53rd Army. Lü Zhengcao resolutely disagreed, and organized 3 battalions to fully receive 1 battalion, and finally highlighted the siege.
Lü Zhengcao had personally experienced the policy of non-resistance after the September 18 Incident, and when he saw Jiang Jun fleeing all the way, he had the idea of taking the opportunity to break away from the Northeast Army and stay in Jizhong to resist Japan. After the troops were transferred to safety, Lü Zhengcao consulted with Shaq (awarded major general in 1955) in advance, and called a meeting of party members and cadres at and above the battalion level of the 691 Regiment that night to discuss the next move. At the meeting, Lü Zhengcao was familiar with the old army's tradition of stressing righteousness, and adopted the method of agitation commonly used in the jianghu: First, he took out a telegram from Zhou Fucheng asking him to "drop the 1st battalion" to chase them, arousing the strong indignation of the participants against the top brass of the 53rd Army.
Subsequently, he analyzed the difficulties and dangers of continuing to pursue the 53rd Army, and took advantage of the strong anti-Japanese sentiment of most of the northeasterners in the army to understand the great righteousness. In the end, everyone agreed to return to the north and stay in Jizhong to fight guerrillas. The troops marched to Xiaoqiao Town, Jin County, that night.
On October 14, Lü Zhengcao held a representative meeting in Xiaoqiao Town, which was attended by representatives of soldiers. He said: "Since the 53rd Army has dumped us and does not want us, the situation has not allowed us to have any other choice, and there is a way, that is, to return to the division and go north, like the Red Army, to fight guerrillas behind enemy lines." I wonder what everyone thinks? After fierce discussion and debate, the meeting decided to stay in Hebei to resist Japan, break away from the Northeast Army, no longer use the name of the 53rd Army, and change its name to the People's Self-Defense Army.
Lu Zhengfu
After the meeting, Lü Zhengcao immediately cut off radio contact with the 53rd Army, reorganized the troops, and sent people to contact our local organizations. This incident caused a lot of repercussions at the time. Later, Wan Fulin also sent a telegram through the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, asking Lü Zhengcao to lead his troops south to return to the army. After being rejected, Wan Fulin, in order to maintain his face, also appointed Lü Zhengcao as the commander of the first guerrilla detachment through Cheng Qian, commander of the First Theater. This name objectively helped Lu Zhengcao in the early days of the establishment of the Jizhong base area and in the later anti-friction.
At the end of October, Lü Zhengcao led the People's Self-Defense Army to Gaoyang, connected with the people sent by Nie Rongzhen to contact him, communicated with the radio station of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, and officially joined the ranks of the Eighth Route Army. Since then, under the leadership of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, the process of creating the anti-Japanese base area in the Jizhong Plain has begun.