From May 10 to May 22, 1935, the Central Red Army, in the process of passing through the Yi area, proposed: "The Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army liberates weak and small nationalities; all Yihan civilians are brothers and sisters." The ideas of "establishing a Yiren government and managing the Yi nationality" laid a solid foundation for formulating ethnic policies and the system of regional ethnic autonomy after the victory of the revolution. The "Yihai Alliance" was the first manifestation and major victory of the CPC's ethnic policy in practice, and who were the contacts who contributed to this major historical event in those years? Let's slowly restore the history of that year.
Preparation of the Central Red Army in the Yimin District
At that time, there was a famous merchant named Chen Zhixi on the banks of the Anning River in Daliangshan, Sichuan, whose ancestors were from Hunan, and his grandfather Chen Jingzhai was a soldier under Shi Dakai, who was exiled to Mianning, Sichuan after the defeat of the army, and chen Zhixi's generation has been nearly a hundred years. Chen Zhixi has read private schools and has a certain culture, doing business on the banks of the Anning River 15 kilometers northwest of Mianning County, where the Han Andi people live in a mixed place, he has long-term contact with ethnic minorities, proficient in the Yi language, plus he is shrewd and capable of having a certain prestige in the local area, and he has a very good friendship with Luo Hongzuoyi, Luo Dianhong, and Xiao YeDan, Guoji, the head of the Guoji branch, xiaoye dan, guoji iron, etc. Xiao Ye dan is still his dry relatives, and his daughter Chen Wenfu once worshiped Xiao Ye Dan as a dry father.
In May 1935, the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army entered Sichuan after crossing the Jinsha River, and after Huili and Xichang defeated the troops of Liu Yuanqun of the Chuankang Border Defense Army, they went straight down to Mianning. In accordance with the spirit of the Central Military Commission's military conference at Tuguanzhuang in Xichang, the advance detachment of the Red Army led by Liu Bocheng and Nie Rongzhen crossed the Dadu River through Lugu via Dengxiang Camp and crossed the Dashu Fort from the west. When the advance detachment of the Red Army arrived in Lugu, the Mianning underground party provided a new situation for the deployment of the enemy army, Liu Wenhui's troops were already deployed on the Dadu River, Liu Xiang and Yang Sen's troops also arrived at Dashu Fort and Jinhekou, and the confession of a captured Kuomintang staff officer also verified this situation. When Liu Bocheng and Nie Rongzhen led the Red Army to the county seat of Mianning County, where the enemy army had fled into the wilderness, comrades Chen Yeping and Liao Zhigao, the local underground party, had already organized the masses to welcome the Red Army, and with the approval of the central authorities, the Mianning County Revolutionary Committee and the People's Armed Forces, the Mianning Anti-Donor Army, were established.
In order to prepare for the passage through the Yi area, Liu Bocheng proposed the need to find a guide Tongsi (translator), Comrade Liao Zhigao immediately recommended Chen Zhixi, who lived on the bridge, so Comrade Liu Bocheng sent someone to find Comrade Chen Zhixi overnight, and Comrade Chen Zhixi happily accepted the task of contacting the leaders of the Yi nationality and introduced in detail the customs and habits of the Yi area.
A section of the road from the north of Mianning County to the bridge was under the jurisdiction of the Yi leaders Luo Hongzuoyi and Luo Dianhong, and the north of the bridge was under the jurisdiction of the Yi leader Guoji Xiaoyedan, Chen Zhixi first found Luo Hongzuoyi and Luo Dianhong, and drank blood wine at the Xiaobao Lama Temple outside the city of Mianning County, and then they took Liu Bocheng and the Red Army to the bridge, so that the Red Army soldiers could enter the bridge without bloodshed and take the first step through the Yimin district.
At the bridge, Chen Zhixi sent a kitchen worker", "Long Laoyuan," to inform Xiao Yedan to come to the bridge, but Guoji Xiaoyedan did not understand the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, and did not dare to come, so he only sent his own pawn (housekeeper) Shama and each son to explore the truth, Chen Zhixi said to Shama and each son, Commander Liu of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army wanted to drink blood wine with Guoji Xiaoyedan and worship brothers, and the Red Army was a communist-led team, which was to fight Liu Wenhui, which was different from the Kuomintang team. They just borrowed the road to pass, did not enter the village, did not disturb the people, and did not hurt the wealth. He also made a promise: "You go back and xiao yedan and say that the Red Army moves a hair, and I will lose the middle pillar (the middleman)."
The next day, the Red Army's advance detachment began to enter the vicinity of Xiaoyedan's jurisdiction over Yihaizi in Guoji, but was stopped by the obstruction of the Guoji Yi masses, and through the shouting of Sitong Chen Zhixi, Xiao Yedan was invited to negotiate with xiaoye dan, and Xiao Hua and Feng Wenbin of the mass task force negotiated with him, and Xiaoyedan expressed his willingness to drink blood and wine with Commander Liu Bocheng to worship his brothers. Therefore, on the side of Yi Haizi, Commander Liu Bocheng and Xiao Yedan made an alliance with water instead of wine and blood. Since it was late at night, the Red Army temporarily returned to the bridge camp, and invited Xiao Yedan to the bridge, and bought wine to kill chickens and then drink blood wine, along with Chen Zhixi and Luo Hongzuoyi, another leader of the Yi people. During the banquet, Commander Liu Bocheng said: "The Yi people should not fight the wrongdoers within themselves, Han Baoyi, Yi Baohan, and unite to fight the Liu family (Liu Wenhui). On behalf of the Red Army, Liu Bocheng awarded Xiao Yedan a red flag with the inscription "Guoji Detachment of the Chinese Yi Red Army."
Early the next morning, Xiao Ye Dan, along with Liu Bocheng and Nie Rongzhen, led the red army advance detachment to Yi Haizi and Lama's House, and then Xiao Ye Dan sent Yi min as a guide to send the troops all the way to Xiaoji bend, and then to Chaluo, and successfully arrived at Anshun Field out of the Yi area, leaving staff officer Ding Bolin as a liaison officer for the follow-up troops, until all the large red army troops completely passed through the Yi area that the enemy thought was impossible to pass.
Liu Bocheng lived next door to Chen Zhixi's house when he was on the bridge, Chen Zhixi once killed pigs and sent wine to warmly entertain the Red Army, and in the evening Commander Liu Bocheng and Chen Zhixi had a long talk all night, and they were very close, and they wanted to mobilize him to join the Red Army together, but he had already joined the Mianning Anti-Donor Army and also served as a squadron leader, and it was rumored that Commander Liu gave Chen Zhixi a red flag. After the defeat of the Anti-Donor Army after the Red Army left, Chen Zhixi was forced to leave his hometown, and three years later he returned to his hometown from other places, where he was persecuted to death by the local gentry in 1943.
After liberation, Marshal Liu Bocheng has always been worried about Chen Zhixi and once sent someone to look for him. On June 9, 1971, Liu Bocheng wrote to the Mianning County CPC Committee: "During the Long March of the Red Army, I was appointed as the advance commander of the Red Army by the order of Chairman Mao, crossed the Dadu River through Mianning, Sichuan, and found a guide surnamed Chen at mianning bridge, who was originally from Hunan, and he helped us greatly when he was a guide,... "After investigation, the Mianning County CPC Committee affirmed with "Mianning County CPC Committee (79) Character No. 066 Document": Comrade Chen Zhixi not only actively engaged in liaison and relations on the issue of the Yi nationality area in the Red Army through the Issue of the Yi Nationality Area. Moreover, the fact that actively propagating the party's policy of 'the Red Army defending the Yi people and the Yi people escorting the Red Army' and participating in the discussion of how the Red Army passed through the Yi area shows that Comrade Chen Zhixi had made achievements in his work when the Red Army was passing through the bridge, and that he had made contributions in actively cooperating with the Red Army in passing through the Yimin area. ”
In the winter of 1982, when Liu Meng, the son of Marshal Liu Bocheng, went to Mianning for an interview, he learned that Xu Baozhen, the widow of Comrade Chen Zhixi, was still alive and had specially visited her old man's home.
As the first embodiment and major victory of the CPC's ethnic policy in practice, the "Yihai Alliance" added a glorious stroke to the miraculous Long March, and Chen Zhixi, who acted as an intermediary for this major historical event, made outstanding contributions and should be remembered by future generations. (Gong Weng)