In February 1939, the New Fourth Army formulated a strategic plan of "consolidating to the south, fighting to the east, and developing to the north" in order to break through the limitations of the Kuomintang and develop itself.
The task of carrying out this major strategy fell on Chen Yi's shoulders.
Marshal Chen Yi was in the middle, and his eyes were all murderous.
At that time, the New Fourth Army in southern Anhui had 6 regiments and some directly subordinate units of the military headquarters, with about 6,000 people (there were four detachments in Jiangbei, Gao Jingting, 4 regiments, about 4,000 people).
Chen Yi immediately led the "Eastward Column" composed of four main regiments of the 1st and 2nd Regiments and the 3rd and 4th Regiments of the 2nd Detachment to the Maoshan area. Later, in order to protect the headquarters of the New Fourth Army in southern Anhui, the 1st and 3rd regiments were successively transferred back to southern Anhui, and the 6th Regiment of the three detachments that lacked one battalion was assigned to the leadership of Chen Yi.
Therefore, at that time, Chen Yi had 3 main regiments under him, including 2 regiments, 4 regiments, and 6 regiments, and the number of the New Fourth Army in southern Anhui was basically not much different.
As soon as Chen Yi arrived in southern Jiangsu, he immediately launched a campaign against the Japanese and the puppets, and achieved great influence. But this also caused panic among the Kuomintang diehards even more, and Gu Zhutong, commander of the Third Theater, ordered Chen Yi's troops to operate only in the Maoshan area.
Of course, Chen Yi could not and would not follow the instructions of the Kuomintang, and the second step in his firm standing was to break through the restrictions and hit the troops to the enemy-occupied areas of Xi, Tai, Chang, and Jia, east of the Beijing-Shanghai railway, where there was a lot of money, more grain, and more people and a lot of guns.
Who will open up this important area east of the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway? Chen Yi thought of Ye Fei.
Ye Fei was one of the regimental commanders of Chen Yi's three main regiments at that time
Throughout his life, Ye Fei was loyal to the party and loyal to the people
Ye Fei was a returned overseas Chinese from the Philippines, thin and tall, but he had a high level of education and bravery in battle; during the three-year guerrilla war, he single-handedly opened up the base area in eastern Fujian and pulled up the independent division of the Red Army in eastern Fujian, and he was a well-known fierce general.
Ye Feixing rushed to take the 6 regiments to set off, but was told that the troops would be renamed the "Third Route Army of the Jiangnan Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army", referred to as "Jiang Kang 3".
Ye Fei did not understand the change of the name of the troops, so he ran to Chen Yi and asked, "Commander Chen, why don't we use the number of the 6th Regiment, which makes the enemy very afraid, but instead use a new number that no one knows?" ”
Chen Yi patted Ye Fei's shoulder and said, "It's not that I don't want to use it." The Kuomintang would not let us develop to the east of the road, and we still nominally belonged to the jurisdiction of the Third Theater; if you still use the name of the 6th Regiment, won't Gu Zhutong and Leng Xin seize the handle of our disobedience to the command? This also exposes our strategic intent. We must learn to keep a low profile and make a fortune in a muffled voice. ”
Chen Yi's words made Ye Fei very impressed, and it also affected his life, and he did everything in the future to be very low-key.
So the question is, Ye Fei's 6 regiments are gone, won't the Kuomintang find out? Of course, it would, because Leng Xin of the Kuomintang would come to "see Chen Yi" in a few days.
However, Chen Yi had already prepared countermeasures.
There is a memorial hall of the Eastward Movement of the Jiangsu Resistance in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, commemorating the Old River Resistance and the New River Resistance
This countermeasure was that at the same time that Ye Fei's 6 regiment incarnated as Jiang Kang 3 marched eastward, Chen Yi also formed a 6th regiment in Maoshan, mainly guerrillas, and the regimental commander was Duan Huanjing and deputy regimental commander Chen Shifu.
In order to distinguish, within the New Fourth Army, everyone called Ye Fei's unit the Old 6 regiment, and Duan Huanjing's unit the New 6 Regiment.
Duan Huanjing, the leader of the New Sixth Regiment, was awarded the rank of major general in 1955
The "Jiangnan East Road" east of the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway is a plain water network area, the river is wide and deep, the highway, railway, and waterway are crossed, and the main lines of communication are controlled by the Japanese army and the Kuomintang Loyal Salvation Army, so it is not easy to carry out the battle.
However, after Ye Fei's 6 regiments advanced eastward, it was like a dragon entering the sea and an eagle on the blue sky, and they completely let go of their hands and feet to develop rapidly, hitting the Hushuguan Railway Station and burning the Hongqiao Airport, playing a prestige, and confiscating a large amount of grain and weapons and ammunition, of which there were especially many light machine guns, and in addition to being completely sufficient for their own use, they also allocated a large number of troops in Maoshan and even to the New Fourth Army headquarters in southern Anhui.
The Kuomintang Third Theater soon discovered the phenomenon of Jiang Kang 3 east of the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway, and although Gu Zhutong suspected that there were troops of the New Fourth Army inside, the specific situation was not clear, so he sent Lieutenant General Leng Xin, deputy commander-in-chief, to investigate.
Leng Xin was the most active anti-communist cadre in the Kuomintang
Leng Xin personally took people to Chen Yi's various units to conduct overt and covert visits and focused on the investigation of the 6 regiments, and it turned out that Chen Yi's troops were all neatly training and fighting in the Maoshan area, and the 6 regiments were also there, which was very dumbfounded. So I had to ask Chen Yi to send someone to the East Road to investigate, why is there a Communist Party-led Jiang Kang 3 in activities?
Chen Yi said to Leng Xin with a clear pretense in his heart: "You can ask me to send someone to Ludong to investigate the specific situation, but I must at least go to a battalion and have a radio, so please ask the Third Theater to give me a battalion of supplies and a radio station." ”
After hearing this, You Chen Yi still want radio and supplies? Dream about it! Therefore, the investigation of Jiang Kang 3 had no choice but to be solved.
Less than 4 months after the 3rd (old 6th Regiment) of Jiang Kang marched eastward, the troops grew from less than 500 to more than 5,000, the number of people and guns exceeded the original 10 times, and a large amount of funds were continuously transported to the headquarters of Maoshan, and Maoshan also developed rapidly.
Of course, the story of Chen Yiqiao's use of the number has follow-up: the new 2 regiment, the new 4 regiment, the Jiang Kang 2, the independent regiment, etc., which are dazzling, Gu Zhutong and Leng Xin are confused and dumbfounded!
Chen Yi took a group photo with the main generals of the New Fourth Army