At that time, in order to cooperate with the Ningxia Battle Plan of the main force of the Red Army, open the international land northwest passage contact line, and ensure the safety of the main force in Hedong, the superior ordered about 21,800 people from the Red Fifth Army, the Red Ninth Army, and the Red Thirty Army to form a team to break through the enemy's blockade line, cross the Yellow River from the tiger and leopard mouth, and enter the Hexi Corridor of Gansu, which was called the "Red West Road Army."
After nearly half a year of bloody fighting, this heroic unit was chased and intercepted by the reactionary warlord Ma Bufang's troops who were entrenched here; due to their remoteness from the base areas, coupled with the huge disparity between the enemy and ourselves, the harsh natural environment, the lack of logistical supplies, the lone army fought alone, the corpses were covered in snow, and finally they suffered heavy losses and sacrifices because they ran out of ammunition and food. In particular, the battle history of the Fifth Red Army was the most tragic.
The Red Fifth Army was reorganized from the Units that participated in the Ningdu Uprising in December 1931, and the Red Fifth Army, known as the "Iron Stream Rear Guard" during the Long March, was led by Commander Dong Zhentang, Political Commissar Huang Chao, Chief of Staff Li Pingren, and Political Commissar Xie Liang of the 23rd Division of the Third Column of the Western Route Army. After the Red West Road Army crossed the Yellow River, Dong Zhentang commanded the Red Fifth Army to fight a number of victorious battles in succession, and on January 2, 1937, it captured Gaotai City in one fell swoop, but then fell into the siege of the Ma family army.
The Ma family army gathered several times the strength of the Red Fifth Army and violently attacked the city. Regardless of his personal safety, Dong Zhentang calmly and calmly commanded the fighters to fight back. The fierce fighting lasted from the 12th to the early morning of the 19th, a brutal street battle after several hours of hand-to-hand combat, the enemy was terrified, the corpses piled up, our side also suffered heavy casualties, and few people were alive. In this case, Dong Zhentang had to lead the remaining fighters and retreat to dongcheng, drilling into a double-decker bunker in the southeast corner to hold on, trying to stop the enemy, but failed. In desperation, he had to jump out of the city with a few warriors around him, and then fell into the siege. He supported his scarred body, held up two box guns in his hand, and engaged in a final fight with the enemy, killing several enemies and unfortunately being shot in the thigh. He could not stand and crouched down to continue fighting until all the fighters around him were killed, at which point he had only one bullet left in his hand. In order not to let the enemy capture himself, he gave himself the last bullet... Commander Dong Zhentang died heroically.
Subsequently, under the leadership of Chief of Staff Li Pingren and others, the remnants of the Fifth Red Army moved to Yongchang, Gansu Province, and were attacked by two cavalry regiments of the enemy's Ma Bufang, who commanded the guard battalion to fight the enemy cavalry and cover the breakthrough of the troops. At this time, Li Pingren's old comrade-in-arms during the Long March of the Red Army and xie Liang, who was also the political commissar of the Twenty-third Division of the Western Route Army at the same time, was also attacked by the cavalry brigade of the Majia Army when he was blocking the enemy in Shandan Shilipu, Gansu, and the troops suffered heavy losses.
In order not to affect morale, Xie Liang did not speak up until he repelled the enemy again, only to find that his left foot was already bleeding. Because the bullet was deeply embedded in the foot, and the medical conditions of the Legionnaires' Health Department were extremely poor, not only could not be removed, but even the anti-inflammatory drugs were not available, the doctor had to watch his wounds become inflamed and suppurative. Soon, the injury deteriorated sharply, and Xie Liang suddenly developed a high fever. In order to get him out of fever, doctors brought a basin of ice from the wild, put Xie Liang's injured left foot on the washbasin, and placed ice cubes on his feet to cool down. After more than 10 days, Xie Liang's fever finally subsided, but his foot was necrotic. In order to prevent scurvy, in the absence of anesthesia, the doctor used a large pair of scissors to cut off Xie Liang's toes and forefoots, and Xie Liang fainted in pain. When he woke up, his left foot was largely gone.
Both were treated in the hospital at the same time, but at this time, the headquarters of the Western Route Army decided to divide the troops into shiwo, break into pieces, and break through separately. Due to the severe situation, the scattered Red Army soldiers were forced to march in the direction of Qilian Mountain. In the vast Qilian, covered with snow, endless horizons, hunger, cold, and pain... Li Pingren, chief of staff, Xie Liang, political commissar of the division, and guards Xiao Ding and Xiao Li, were already running out of food and medicine; at this time, the ferocious Ma Jia army continued to search the mountains, and the casualties of the troops continued to increase, and in order to preserve the revolutionary forces to the greatest extent, Li Pingren and Xie Liang let the guards and feeders eat the last bit of fried noodles, and ordered them to disperse and break through.
For three consecutive days, the fierce wind and snowflakes raged in the forest, the abacus of hunting and feeding was also in vain, the contents of the bag were decreasing with the day, Li Pingren's wounds were deteriorating, and the high fever had not receded. Li Pingren first proposed to let Xie Liang and the other three go first, and if it went well, he would pick him up again, and as soon as this proposal came out, it was naturally denied by everyone. On the fourth day, Li Pingren patiently persuaded Xiao Li and Xiao Ding to go down the mountain to find troops or food. However, five days later, Xiao Li and Xiao Ding were no longer seen.
For several days, Li Pingren had a high fever and was already emaciated, taking the opium rationed when he was hospitalized again and again to relieve pain, or curled up in pain. At about 8:00 a.m. on March 18, 1937, Li Pingren was finally starved by hunger and cold, and his injuries were extremely worse, and unfortunately he died at the age of 29. His body was buried in the Qilian Mountains by his comrade-in-arms Xie Liang with snow, becoming the "Snow Lotus on the Qilian Mountains".
Majestic snow-capped mountains, thousands of years tall, crystal jade, frank and flawless. When I die, please use the snow on this Qilian Mountain to bury me. Let me accompany it for a long time. Dear Party, dear comrades, farewell forever! This is Li Pingren's last words to his comrade-in-arms Xie Liang. The hero was gone, so calm, so peaceful, no flowers, no eulogies, no funerals.
Because Li Pingren left home in his early years and joined the Red Army, he has never been in contact with his family, and there is no way to know about his life deeds. It was not until 1980, after the publication of General Xie Liang, Li Pingren's old comrade-in-arms and old partner and deputy political commissar of the Artillery Corps of the People's Liberation Army, "Tieliu Defender", that the hero's deeds were revealed to the world, the hero's martyr status was revealed to posterity, and his relatives in his hometown knew that he had died.
Xie Liang, the political commissar of the division, was later found captured by ma jiajun's cavalry and tortured. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Lanzhou Eighth Route Army Office asked Ma Jiajun for captured cadres of the Red Army and above, and Xie Liang was immediately released and sent to Lanzhou for treatment. As his injuries worsened, the hospital had to saw off his already frozen left foot in order to save Xie's life. Xie Liang, who returned to Yan'an, was rescued by the management and rescue, and entered the Kang Da to study, and later served as the director of the Remaining Office of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army (stationed in Yunyang, Shaanxi). After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as deputy political commissar of artillery and other positions. In 1955, he was awarded the rank of major general and was awarded the Order of August 1, Second Class, the Order of Independence and Freedom, Second Class, and the Liberation Medal, Second Class.