History has its own life, it is like a person, both easy-going and self-respecting. ——Yu Qiuyu
January 8, 1941, the third day of the Anhui Incident. In the afternoon of the same day, Gu Zhutong, commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang Army's Third Theater, strictly ordered Shangguan Yunxiang, commander-in-chief of the 32nd Group Army, to "surround the southern Anhui troops of the New Fourth Army in the present area, limit the power to 12 hours and gather and annihilate them, and do not scatter the escape." In the evening, Shangguan Yunxiang issued a general attack order to the troops besieging the New Fourth Army: "Be sure to be before noon tomorrow. Surrounded by the present area and annihilated. ”
Upon learning of this information, the New Fourth Army headquarters immediately studied and decided to quickly break away from the spot, return to Maolin via Gaotan, and then cross north from Tongling and Fanchang directly into the river. The specific deployment was: the 1st Column continued to persist in the Pungsan area, pinning down the 40th and 52nd Divisions; the 5th Regiment held gaoling and blocked the 79th Division; the new 3rd Regiment was the vanguard, the old 3rd Regiment and the military headquarters and direct subordinate units followed, and the Special Agent Regiment followed up. The vanguard had just reached Gautan and engaged in a fierce battle with the 430th Regiment of the 144th Division.
After a night of bloody fighting, the new 3rd Regiment consolidated the Gaotan position and captured the commanding heights north of Gaotan. However, due to the heavy defense of the main force of the 144th Division of the recalcitrant army in Maolin in the front, it was difficult for the troops to continue to advance, and the plan formulated by the military headquarters to cross the Yangtze River north through Maolin and then between Tongling and Fanchang was blocked. Just when the troops were blocked in front of them, formed a stalemate with the recalcitrant army, were in a confrontation, and were besieged by the enemy on all sides, the supreme leader of the New Fourth Army, Deputy Commander Xiang Ying (although he was a deputy in the administrative post, he was the secretary of the New Fourth Army Branch of the Central Military Commission) actually ran away!
In the early morning of January 9, Xiang Ying, Yuan Guoping (director of the Political Department), Zhou Zikun (deputy chief of staff), Li Yihao (secretary general), and others rushed to Gaotan and stood with everyone on the side of the road in the rain. At this time, the New 3rd Regiment and the 144th Division of the Recalcitrant Army were fighting, and the gunfire coming from the direction of Maolin was very dense. Go? Operational staff officer Ye Chao suggested that the military commanders study it together, and Zhou Zikun was unwilling to take the initiative to find Ye Ting, but instead asked Ye Chao to ask the military commander to come over. Ye Chao came to the Xu Family Ancestral Hall a hundred meters away and saw the military commander and his adjutants, nephews, and guards roasting fire inside. Ye Chao reported on the situation, explaining that Xiang Ying and the others were on the side of the road, and suggested that the chiefs study what to do, but they did not dare to say that Zhou Zikun wanted Ye to survive.
After Ye Ting listened, he said quite angrily, "There is nothing to study, only to resolutely fight out." Ye Chao knew that this was the military commander who was not satisfied with the decision made by the Hundred Household Pit Meeting to return the same way, and did not dare to talk about it any longer, so he squatted down and roasted the fire together. After a while, Ye Chao went out on the pretext of checking the situation, and when he went to the place where Xiang Ying was standing and near them, he did not find anyone, so he returned to the Xu Family Ancestral Hall and reported to the military commander that he had not seen Xiang Ying and others.
Xiang Ying could not wait for Ye Ting on the side of the road, helpless in the face of a critical environment, and lost confidence. Therefore, he handed over the documents he carried with him to the guards Xia Dongqing to burn, and used his personal experience in three years of guerrilla warfare in the south to persuade Yuan Guoping, Zhou Zikun, Li Yihao and others to find a path with him to break out. In this way, Xiang Ying, Yuan Guoping, Zhou Zikun, and Li Yihao, with a small number of guards, gave up their command, did not quit, left the team without authorization, and deserted.
Xiang Ying and his party climbed up the hillside to the north in the darkness, in the bamboo forest between The Outer Pond Warehouse and the Inner Pond Warehouse. That night it was so dark that they couldn't see their fingers, the rain was pouring non-stop, the cold wind was howling, they were turning around in the mountains, and only at dawn did they find that they had only walked for more than a mile, and the Litan warehouse was at their feet. At this time, the gunfire on the nearby hill was constant, and the fog was thick and difficult to move, so they went into a shed, and the guards built a pile of fire to bake clothes. While roasting the fire, they discussed how to break through and the route of the breakout. Unconsciously, it was dark, and they fell asleep next to the fire, and woke up on the morning of the 10th.
At this time, he suddenly heard someone blowing a trumpet at the bottom of the mountain, and Zhou Zikun, who knew the trumpet score, said happily: "It is our trumpet, it is the tune of the 5 regiments, 1 battalion, 1 company." They looked down the hill and saw a neat procession passing by Litancang. Zhou Zikun said: "We still have so many teams, let's go down!" Xiang Ying also said happily, "Okay, let's go down!" A small group of more than a dozen people returned to Shijingkeng, where the military headquarters was located, on the afternoon of the 10th, a day and a half after leaving the troops.
After learning that Xiang Ying and others were on the verge of leaving the team, the personnel of the military department were greatly shocked and came to ye Ting one after another. Ye Ting said excitedly: "You are concerned about the breakthrough of the whole army, and this sense of responsibility is very precious." We are now in a very difficult and dangerous situation, and this is the responsibility of the military department. But now is not the time to comment on who is right and who is wrong. What is needed now is for us to unite and fight resolutely. Ye Ting said solemnly and firmly, "If I escape from the battlefield, you can shoot me at any time!" He immediately asked the headquarters to organize forces and quickly find out the position and strength of the enemy and our troops; then he summoned Rao Shushi, deputy secretary of the Southeast Bureau, Zhou Guisheng, commander of the 2nd Column, Huang Mars, political commissar, and Yu Lijin, director of the Political Department of the Teaching Corps, to explain the situation, expressing his determination to repel the enemy's attack and highlight the heavy encirclement, which won the wholehearted support of the commanders and fighters.
Next, Ye Ting and Rao Shushi reported to the central authorities through the Central Plains Bureau that Xiang Ying and others had left the army without permission: "On the morning of this (9th), they marched north and were surrounded again, and now they are concentrating all their strength to fight fiercely with the enemy, and they plan to break through to the north in batches tonight. Xiang Ying, GuoPing, Zi Kun, and Yi Hu led a small group of armed forces to present this morning, and the direction of the line was unknown. I will keep it to the end for the safety of all. After receiving the telegram, Liu Shaoqi, secretary of the Central Plains Bureau, immediately replied to Ye Ting and Rao Shushi: "Xiang Yuan Zhou And Li left without warning and separated from the troops, which was very improper, that is, in the past, many of them were mishandled and violated the instructions of the central authorities, resulting in the current difficult situation. I hope that you will give your strong support, save the crisis, go all out to break through southern Jiangsu, and directly order the two detachments to respond. ”
At the same time, Liu Shaoqi also sent a telegram to the central authorities and put forward his own suggestions on how to deal with the crisis situation in southern Anhui: "Xiang Yuan Zhou Li has left the army at an emergency moment, and proposes that the central authorities explicitly remove Xiang from his post, and make Xiao Yao (that is, Rao Shushi) politically responsible and Ye militaryly responsible, in order to save the crisis. In any case, it is no longer possible to let Xiang continue to be responsible, and it is a day early to remove from his post and a good day. ”
After receiving the telegram, the central authorities asked Liu Shaoqi: "You said that Xiang Yuan Zhou and Li have left the army, and we have not yet received this news." When they left, where they were now, what the situation of Xiyi (Ye Ting) and Xiao Yao was, and what the situation of the army was, I hope to tell us. Deye and Xiang reported on the fifth day that they had set off on the night of the fourth day and arrived in Taipingjing County on the morning of the fifth day, and after that they were unknown. Liu Shaoqi sent a telegram to the central authorities the next day: "On the 9th, Xiyi and Xiao Yao reported that Xiang Yuan Zhou Li led a small number of armed forces to present themselves, and did not say goodbye, and the direction of the action was unknown. The troops were surrounded by the enemy and fought fiercely, and broke through to the north in batches on the evening of the 9th. I don't know where they are or what the situation is. ”
When Xiang Ying returned to the military headquarters and learned that Ye Ting and Rao Shushi had reported their unauthorized departure from the army to the central authorities, he also sent a telegram to Liu Shaoqi, asking him to forward it to the central authorities, with the content of reporting the process of leaving the team and pleading guilty: "Today I have returned to the team. The day before yesterday, the breakthrough was blocked, and the troops were surrounded in the mountains, and there was a great possibility that they would be wiped out. Temporarily shaken, trying to lead the squad out of the trail. Because the time was almost dawn, he had sent someone to ask Xi Yi to discuss the future of the front, so he only looked for Comrades Guoping, Zi Kun, and Yi Yi for the time being. By the 9th, it did not feel right, and did not wait for Xiyi and other comrades to meet, and the impact was very bad. Today, the fifth regiment was nearby, and rushed to meet the military headquarters. This operation was very bad, waiting for the central government to punish, I resolutely coexisted with the troops. ”
On January 12, the central authorities sent a telegram to Liu Shaoqi and Chen Yi to Ye Ting and Rao Shushi, formally deciding that Ye Ting and Rao Shushi should bear the overall responsibility for the besieged troops in southern Anhui: "The central authorities have decided that all military and political actions will be under the overall responsibility of Ye Junchang and Rao Shushi, and all actions will be decided by Commander Ye Junshi. Comrade Xiang Ying went north with the army. "It was an extremely correct decision, but unfortunately it came too late. After a week of fighting, the New Fourth Army was under siege, food and ammunition were running out, people were trapped and exhausted, and the fate of defeat could not be changed.
After breaking through from the Shijing Pit, Xiang Ying said to the staff around him: "I am mainly responsible for the failure of the New Fourth Army this time, and I have made you like this." "After coming to Yan'an, I will check my mistakes with the central authorities, and no matter what doctrine I am accused of, I will accept it." Unfortunately, Xiang Ying did not have the opportunity to review his mistakes and make up for them. In the early morning of March 13, 1941, Xiang Ying and Zhou Zikun were killed by the traitor Liu Houzong in the Bee Cave.
When Xiang Ying was in a critical situation in the early morning of January 9 and the troops were in urgent need of strong leadership, the supreme leader of the New Fourth Army was panicked, his thinking was shaken, and he did not consult with Ye Ting on emergency measures, that is, he ignored the troops, gave up his leadership responsibilities, left his command post, led more than a dozen people to run away privately, escaped from the battlefield, deserted, and tried to find a small road to break through and save himself.
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