History has its own life, it is like a person, both easy-going and self-respecting. ——Yu Qiuyu
One day in the summer of 1945, there was not a single cloud in the azure sky. The sun had just come out and the weather was cool. At this time, on the main road leading to the town of Yongcheng County, Henan Province, several people were hurrying to the road.
The leader of these people is a middle-aged man in his 40s, wearing a light blue woven silk pants, a large straw hat, and a folding fan, looking like a "big man". In front of and behind him, followed by several retinues, bulging in the waist, obviously carrying weapons.
This "big man" is not an ordinary person, this person is named Wang Ziguang, and he is the minister of enemy industry of the Political Department of the Fourth Division of the New Fourth Army. He had a secret mission on this trip, that is, to go to the original puppet army's Fourth Front, and after the victory of the War of Resistance, the eighteenth division of the newly formed Third Route Army, which was ordered by Chiang Kai-shek to meet with the division commander Du Xinmin and discuss the issue of uprising.
Who is Du Xinmin? Why did you agree to the uprising? It turned out that this Du Xinmin was not an ordinary person, but a legendary figure. This man was born in the army, and at the age of seventeen, he joined the team of Feng Yuxiang of the Northwest Army. In Sun Lianzhong's department, he successively served as a district captain, staff officer, battalion commander, and regimental commander.
In 1930, Feng Yuxiang was defeated in the Central Plains War, Sun Lianzhong led his troops to chiang kai-shek, and Du Xinmin was also incorporated into the 26th Route Army and became the regimental commander.
In 1933, Feng Yuxiang organized the Anti-Japanese Allied Army in Chahar. Du Xinmin left the Twenty-sixth Route Army and resolutely went north to join the Allied forces in the form of a short vacation and no return. It was during this period that he became acquainted with a group of Communists, and also read some Marxist-Leninist books, which opened his eyes and further improved his thinking. Later, the anti-Japanese allies failed, and he returned to Sun Lianzhong's department again.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance, Du Xinmin participated in the Battle of Niangziguan and commanded his troops to annihilate most of a Japanese wing. Soon after, he led his troops to participate in the Battle of Taierzhuang, and with outstanding military achievements, he was transferred to the commander of the 80th Regiment and obtained the rank of major general.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Du Xinmin saw the great rout of the Kuomintang army and the fall of the great rivers and mountains into the hands of the enemy. In connection with the reality of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he became more aware of the truth that only the Communist Party could save China, and ideologically he had a strong desire to join the Communist Party of China. In March 1939, with the help of underground party members Qu Ru, Liu Dingjiu and other comrades, Du Xinmin joined the Communist Party of China and became a glorious secret party member.
The task given to Du Xinmin by the party organization was to lay an ambush for a long time and wait for the opportunity to move. He was disciplined and well concealed. In 1939, Xiang Naiguang, a member of the party's Northwest Hubei Provincial Committee and in charge of the work of the Nationalist Army, defected and confessed a number of secret party members in the Northwest Army, including Du Xinmin.
Sun Lianzhong detained Du Xinmin for examination in October 1940 and interrogated him personally. However, Du Xinmin insisted on not telling the truth, and Sun Lianzhong could not grasp the real evidence, and after dredging by all parties, Du was finally released.
At the end of 1940, after his release, Du Xinmin moved from Wuyang to Shangqiu. Zhang Lanfeng, commander of the First Army of the Pseudo-Peace Salvation Army stationed in Shangqiu, had relations with him in the old department of the Northwest Army, so he was appointed as the head of the military teaching regiment. Du Xinmin took this opportunity to secretly cultivate progressive forces while actively searching for party organizations. Soon after, he contacted Chen Zhensheng and Chen Ziliang, enemy cadres sent by the Jiluyu Military Region of the Eighth Route Army who were hiding under Zhang Lanfeng.
In June 1942, Du Xinmin was introduced to the party by Chen Ziliang and Chen Zhensheng. And a party branch was formed. In March 1944, Du Xinmin became the commander of Zhang Lanfeng's Eighteenth Division. Du Xinmin, who had mastered the military power and had long had the intention of uprising, thought of the uprising, so he contacted the Jiluyu Military Region to discuss the uprising.
After Ji Luyu received Du Xinmin's request for an uprising, considering that the pseudo-Eighteenth Division was more than two hundred miles away from the Jiluyu Military Region, and separated by the Longhai Road in the middle, the enemy was tightly sealed, which not only was it inconvenient for transportation, but once the Eighteenth Division revolted, it would be difficult for the Jiluyu Military Region to send troops to respond, and it would be difficult for thousands of people in the division to be drawn to the Jiluyu Liberated Area. The forward of the Fourth Division of the New Fourth Army was already in the city at this time, and in this case, it was better to transfer the work of the Eighteenth Division to the Fourth Division.
Therefore, one day in the late autumn and early winter of 1944, two uninvited guests suddenly came to the headquarters of the Fourth Division of the New Fourth Army, namely Chen Zhensheng and Chen Ziliang, the enemy work cadres sent by the Jiluyu Military Region of the Eighth Route Army who were hidden in the Zhang Lanfeng Department of the Fourth Front of the Puppet Army. They reported their work to Deng Zihui, political commissar of the Fourth Division, Wu Zhipu, director of the Political Department, and Wang Ziguang, minister of enemy industry, and talked about Du Xinmin's uprising. At this time, Du Xinmin had firmly grasped the Eighteenth Division, and was bending his bow and waiting for the opportunity to revolt.
Near noon, Wang Ziguang saw the city gate tower in the distance, and a man dressed as an officer was looking left and right, as if he was waiting for someone. When The prince looked closer, he recognized at a glance that the officer was Li Jie, an underground party member he had sent into the Eighteenth Division. He now assumes the pseudonym Li Junyan and is the captain of the reconnaissance team of the divisional special service battalion. There were already eight underground party members in this reconnaissance team. Seeing that Li Jie had personally come to greet him, a stone fell to the ground in Prince Guang's heart.
As soon as Li Jie saw Prince Guang, he strode over, greeted the sentry, and led Prince Guang into the city. After walking through the long street, turn into a compound, this is the Du Shichang Mansion.
The gatekeeper saw that it was Captain Li, nodded and let them both enter the courtyard. Lee said a few words to the messenger on duty, and the messenger went in to report. After a while, the bamboo curtain rang, and a man of about forty years old, with a large and strong figure, wearing a Chinese-style white silk shirt and pants, a bald head, and under the two sword eyebrows was a pair of big eyes with bright eyes, and this person was Du Xinmin, the commander of the pseudo-Eighteenth Division.
Du Xinmin was full of smiles, took a few quick steps, tightly held Wang Ziguang's hand, and said enthusiastically: "Mr. Wang, I have long looked forward to your visit, but I have not been able to greet you far away, and I am disrespectful!" Disrespectful! ”
Wang Ziguang also said enthusiastically: "I heard about Master Du's name earlier, and today I am lucky to meet, and I am very relieved." First of all, on behalf of Division Commander Zhang Aiping, Political Commissar Deng Zihui, Chief of Staff Zhang Zhen, and Director Wu Zhipu, I would like to express my respect and greetings to Master Du! Wang Ziguang then said, "Master Du, the ancients praised the lotus flowers for coming out of the mud without staining, and for being clean and not demonized, you are a Communist Party member with such a noble character!" ”
Du Xinmin was deeply moved by his words. He tightly held Wang Ziguang's hand and said excitedly, "Minister Wang, thank you so much!" Thank you for the understanding and trust in me in the organization. ”
Du Xinmin then gave a detailed report on the preparations for the uprising, saying that he had fully grasped human rights, financial power, and the right to move troops. But there was also a deputy division commander and a Kuomintang agent, who was a stumbling block to the uprising and had to be removed. There are also some dependents of the backbone of the uprising who are still in the city and have yet to be arranged. The time of the uprising was planned to be placed at 2 o'clock in the middle of the night after the Mid-Autumn Festival, hoping that the Fourth Division would send troops to meet it, and the soldiers would come to the city, and the inside and outside should be combined, and it would be successful in one fell swoop.
After listening to it, Prince Guang said happily, "Well, it has been decided that I will immediately return to the division headquarters to report to the commander, and I will definitely bring the instructions of my superiors on August 14." ”
After the secret talks, Li Jie sent Wang Ziguang out of the city. After sending off Wang Ziguang, Du Xinmin and a dozen Communists lurking in the ministry began to discuss solving the problem of the secret agents. At this time, in the pseudo-Eighteenth Division, many underground Party members have now seized real power. Xing Jianwu, an underground party member, is the leader of the 70th Regiment. Liu Lumin (pseudonym Wang Bolie), who was sent in by the Fourth Division not long ago, is the director of the division cooperative, who does big business and has money in cars. Li Jie, the plainclothes reconnaissance captain, was even more free to enter and exit, move conveniently, and grasp internal intelligence. With these favorable conditions, they decided to act in time to solve the secret service.
The Agent of the Kuomintang to the Eighteenth Division was easy to handle, and he was originally just a major staff officer. Du Xinmin promoted him to lieutenant colonel and made him the director of the left-behind office. This man loved money as much as his life, and Du Xinmin asked him to command more than a dozen horse-drawn carriages to do business between Boxian and Shangqiu and make a lot of money. He saw that although he could not get close to Du Xinmin and could not complete the surveillance task assigned by his superiors, he lost the east corner, collected the mulberry yu, and made enough money, so he rubbed the oil on the soles of his feet and said goodbye.
However, that deputy division commander Liu Wenyao was a little difficult to handle, this person was sinister and the biggest obstacle to the uprising, what to do? Du Xinmin and the underground party members were thinking hard about countermeasures, and they had no way to start for a while.
To confuse and paralyze the enemy. He sent his cronies to constantly "exchange fire" with the units of the Fourth Division of the New Fourth Army. Zhang Lanfeng was overjoyed after receiving the report, and also called to commend him. Of course, this was a tacit agreement with the Fourth Division in advance.
After Wang Ziguang returned to the unit, he reported the situation to Zhang Aiping, commander of the Fourth Division, Deng Zihui, political commissar, and others, and the chiefs said with satisfaction: "It seems that Comrade Xinmin has handled things very decisively and carefully, and the preparations for the uprising have been very thoughtful. In order to ensure the success of the first move, the commander of the Fourth Division decided to send two infantry regiments, a cavalry regiment and local troops to respond, and organized the militia to destroy the enemy's telephone lines in a timely and complete manner, and to protect the telephone lines from the Fourth Division to the Eighteenth Division. Everything is ready, only the east wind is owed, and it is waiting for the Mid-Autumn Festival night to raise righteousness.
Pseudo-Eighteenth Division. The day before the Mid-Autumn Festival. Du Xinmin came to the residence of Liu Wenyao, deputy commander of the division, and asked with concern, "Tomorrow will be the festival." When will Deputy Division Commander Liu return home during the festive season? ”
Liu Wenyao smiled flatteringly and said, "I was thinking of asking the Master for leave!" ”
Du Xinmin smiled heartily, "Brothers to each other, please take a leave of absence!" Well, you'll leave today, I bought some gifts for Lord Lingtang, and I'll send someone to send them later. You will take my car to Shangqiu, and I will send an entourage of staff officer Jiang Xianhe to send you, and ask him to pick up my two schoolchildren by the way for the festival. Military busy, I can't leave! After saying that, Du Xinmin took out a check for 100,000 yuan from his pocket and handed it to Liu Wenyao.
Liu Wenyao took the check, and the amount of money made him ecstatic in his heart, so grateful that he didn't know what to say, but just said in a loud voice: "Good, good, I will come back immediately after the festival, and you will be hard at the division seat." ”
Du Xinmin shook hands with him to say goodbye, and couldn't help but smile in his heart after going out. In this regard, the plan of killing two birds with one stone and turning the tiger away from the mountain was actually in the dark, unsuspecting, and it was estimated that the hundred thousand yuan had smashed him into the circle. But where did he know that Jiang Xianhe was an underground worker sent by the Fourth Division of the New Fourth Army to accompany him to Shangqiu, just to monitor him, and if there was any wind and grass, he directly disposed of him.
At this time, everything is ready, just waiting for the arrival of the Mid-Autumn Festival. The night of the Mid-Autumn Festival has finally arrived. At noon on this day, all officers above the battalion level of the division met for dinner at the division headquarters. In the afternoon, officers at and above the regimental level were invited by the division commander to celebrate the festival at the Du Mansion. Everyone played mahjong, pushed card nine, and was very excited and had a lot of fun. Of course, dinner must be eaten at the division headquarters, of course, it must be treated by Master Du. The wine feast was very sumptuous, the officers drank freely, guessed the order of the fist, and many officers were drunk.
As the night grew darker, two infantry regiments, a cavalry regiment, and local armed forces sent by the Fourth Division of the New Fourth Army outside the city, under the leadership of Zhang Zhen, chief of staff of the division, had quietly advanced around the city and laid an ambush. The warriors watched the movements of the city closely, ready for all unexpected situations.
At midnight, the Du Mansion is bustling with joy. Suddenly, the rapid ringing of the telephone made everyone suddenly quiet. At this time, there must be an emergency on the phone. Sure enough, several forward strongholds outside the city reported one after another: "The New Fourth Army has been found outside the city!" ”
One by one, the officers were all drunk, shaking their heads, and looking at Du Xinmin.
Du Xinmin looked at ease and took the phone to instruct the various strongholds: "Wait in a strict position, find out the situation, report at any time, listen to orders, and are not allowed to shoot indiscriminately." ”
As soon as Du Jianxin's voice fell, the cannon outside the city rang out, "Boom! rumble! rumble! "Five mortar shells were fired. Then, there was the sound of heavy machine gun fire, and after 4 long shots, it came to an abrupt end.
The officers were all dumbfounded, and one by one they looked at each other and looked at the division commander with anxious eyes. Du Xinmin was secretly happy in his heart at this time. It turned out that this was the contact code agreed between him and Wang Ziguang, which meant that the receiving troops of the New Fourth Army had been arranged, and if the enemy of Shangqiu sent troops to stop him from revolting, he would be met with a strong counterattack from the New Fourth Army.
Du Xinmin was relieved, pretended to be serious, and issued an order to the radio captain: "Quickly telegraph headquarters, report the enemy situation, and request the headquarters for support." ”
At this time, the radio captain had already stared at the fans, he looked at his watch, cried and said: "Report to the division commander, the contact time at 12 o'clock in the morning has passed, and the contact will wait until 6 o'clock in the morning." ”
Du Xinmin was furious and reprimanded: "If you can't send a telegram and miss the military plane, this is a serious dereliction of duty. The underground staff of the division reconnaissance team next to them had long been ready, and they waited for Du Xinmin's words, and when they heard this, they rushed up and tied up the radio captain like a rice dumpling and took him down. Immediately, all the personnel of the radio station were detained, and the telecommunications contact with the headquarters of Zhang Lanfeng in Shangqiu was completely cut off.
Subsequently, Du Xinmin summoned all the officers above the battalion level of the division to the division commander's mansion for an emergency meeting. Du Xinmin made a generous statement: "The New Fourth Army has arrived at the city. I have been with you for several years, sharing weal and woe, and being like brothers. Patriotism and saving the people is the glorious tradition of our Northwest Army, but in the past, although we had the heart to save the country, we had no way to repay the country, and we had no choice but to turn to the Japanese and the hypocrites as a temporary shelter. I can't imagine that after the surrender of Little Japan, Chiang Kai-shek incorporated us into the nationalist army, and don't think that he has sealed us any generals and colonels, but in fact, it is entirely to drive us to fight a civil war with the New Fourth Army, and to push us into the fire pit. The New Fourth Army has been kind to people and has repeatedly asked us to abandon the dark and turn to the light. Where to go, please think twice! ”
After listening to Du Xinmin's words, someone immediately stood up and responded, saying loudly: "Chiang Kai-shek's words that he wanted to punish the traitors were nothing more than taking advantage of the opportunity to eliminate the miscellaneous army raised by our harems." Don't look at the number of our national army that has been sealed now, it is not used for a while. He is not even half as good as the 'fourth master' to us. The 'four masters' are the real team that serves the country and the people! "Fourth Master, I mean the New Fourth Army."
Then someone shouted, "Resolutely follow the division commander!" Agree to the uprising! Li Fuyuan, the leader of the Seventy-first Regiment, also stepped forward and stood up and said: "The division commander treats us like brothers, all for the sake of our group and the brothers of the whole division, and we must not do anything to be sorry for our friends." ”
Du Xinmin saw that the fire had arrived, pushed the boat along the water, pointed out the words, and said: "Since you have agreed to the uprising, we will invite the representatives of the New Fourth Army to meet with you." Accompanied and protected by Reconnaissance Captain Li Jie and others, Prince Guangguang, the Minister of Enemy Industry of the Fourth Division, came to the Du Mansion with great enthusiasm.
Wang Ziguang glanced at the whole scene and said enthusiastically: "Everyone has a clear understanding of the future and is willing to revolt gloriously, on behalf of the New Fourth Army, on behalf of the Fourth Division Commander Zhang Aiping, Political Commissar Deng Zihui and other chiefs, I extend a warm welcome to everyone!" As for the problems after the uprising, after the fourth division has studied, your troops will not be scattered and will maintain the original structure, and the name will be called 'Henan People's Self-Defense Army', and Commander Du will be the commander. Please rest assured that our friends in the uprising have always respected their personality, provided for excellence, and properly arranged the issue of dependents. ”
The audience applauded Wang Ziguang's speech warmly and expressed their satisfaction and gratitude. Du Xinmin immediately solemnly announced: "All the officers and men of our Eighteenth Division have a glorious uprising today and join the New Fourth Army!" ”
Early the next morning, the sun was shining brightly and sprinkling on the earth. On the road from Yucheng to Yongcheng, more than 4,000 officers and men of Dubu marched toward the Liberated Areas in a mighty way, hundreds of large and small vehicles full of supplies and dependents, and followed closely behind the team, which has since gained a new life.
Later, this rebel force merged with the Ninth Column of the Central China Field Army, and Du Xinmin served as the second deputy commander and participated in the Great Liberation War. After the founding of New China, Du Xinmin served as the commander of the Nanjing Air Defense, and later successively served as the vice president of the 12th Infantry School of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the deputy director of the Forestry Department of the Shandong Provincial People's Government.