"For many years, I have never forgotten this small village in the southeast of SuXian County."
This is a line in General Zhang Zhen's memoirs.
In 2007, the elderly Kong Xiuying in this small village passed away. Zhang Zhen, who was 93 years old at the time, could not go to the scene to mourn due to physical reasons, expressed condolences to the family by telephone, and sent a gold.
Kong Xiuying's family was embarrassed at first, and repeatedly refused Zhang Zhen's money.
Zhang Zhen explained:
"Sister-in-law Kong is my savior. I can't send it off in person, but the money represents my heart."
One is a woman who has lived in the countryside of Anhui all her life, and the other is a founding lieutenant general, so why did she become the savior of General Zhang?
Tracing back to the roots, all this is related to the fact that Chiang Kai-shek did a lot of things that harmed national interests and undermined cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.
I. Chiang Kai-shek changed his strategy toward Japan and ignited the flames of war in East China
After the Lugou Bridge Incident, the Pingjin area fell one after another.
At that time, Chiang Kai-shek insisted that from the perspective of long-term combat, the Japanese army should be guided to change the direction of the invasion from north to south to east to west.
Therefore, he ordered the Active Counter-Attack on the Japanese Army in the Shanghai area, known in history as the "Battle of Songhu".
This battle was the first general battle between China and Japan in the War of Resistance Against Japan. Both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party invested a large number of elite troops, which lasted for 3 months.
The Chinese army suffered 300,000 casualties, making it the largest and most tragic battle in the entire Sino-Japanese War.
("Battle of Songhu" map)
Later in the battle, Chiang Kai-shek still took chances in favor of foreign invaders, which led to our side missing out on fighters and soon Shanghai fell.
The Japanese army traveled north along the Yangtze River, and after occupying Nanjing, continued to march north on a large scale.
On June 12 of the following year, Anqing, the then capital of Anhui, fell
。
Second, the Japanese army bombed indiscriminately and brutally killed the people
After the Japanese army entered Anhui, it first attacked the Chinese air force that had participated in the "Battle of Songhu" at Guangde Airfield.
After that, they even bombarded indiscriminately, setting fire to Jiangcheng County and letting the fire burn for more than 20 days.
The Japanese army was murderous and began to carry out large-scale "sweeps", burning houses and property, bloody massacres, abuse of women and children, and even pregnant women and old women were also tragically killed, creating many tragic cases such as the Massacre of Fengyang County, the Massacre of Xuyi County (Xuyi belonged to Anhui at that time and was assigned to Jiangsu in 1955), and the Zhouzhai Massacre in Lishan County.
(Martyrdom of compatriots killed in the Massacre of the Japanese Army in Xucheng Dimu'an)
The Japanese used the drug trafficking network they controlled, and soon set up more than 200 drug production and sales points throughout East China.
In various ways, they lured Chinese to take drugs, destroyed Chinese bodies, and destroyed the will to resist Chinese, and extracted huge wealth from them.
In addition to the above viciousness, they also use chemical weapons.
It is important to know that chemical weapons are a means of warfare that is expressly prohibited under public international law.
After the Japanese army invaded and occupied Anhui, it ignored international public law and fired a variety of poison gas bombs and poisonous gases that could induce tears, suffocation, and sneezing, resulting in the poisoning of thousands of officers and men of the Chinese army, and some people died immediately.
According to the National Electoral District Household Registration Statistics of the Statistics Department of the Ministry of the Interior of the National Government,
The population of Anhui has decreased by 8.823 million from 23.265 million in 1936 before the war to 14.442 million in 1944 after the war
From the Japanese invasion of Anhui in 1937 to the retreat in 1943, for more than 6 years, the Japanese military dropped a total of 18,779 bombs in Anhui, destroying 128351 houses and causing immeasurable property losses.
(Promulgated by the Anhui Provincial Government in 1943)
At this time, General Zhang Zhen was not in Anhui, but in Qishan, Henan.
As chief of staff of the guerrilla detachment of the New Fourth Army, he and political commissar Peng Xuefeng launched an anti-Japanese guerrilla war, opened up the anti-Japanese base area in the Yuwan-Anhui-Suzhou Border Region, and won the first victory in advancing behind enemy lines in eastern Henan to resist the Japanese Kou.
After that, he served as chief of staff of the 6th Detachment of the New Fourth Army and commander of the Security Command of the Yuwan-Anhui Soviet Border Region and chief of staff of the 4th Column of the Eighth Route Army.
He led the warriors,
At Banqiao, it thwarted the large-scale attack of the Japanese army, shot down 1 Japanese plane, and annihilated more than 1,000 enemy personnel, creating a precedent for the Japanese aircraft to be laid behind enemy lines in central China
The Communists, represented by Zhang Zhen, led the army and have always been actively resisting the war.
The Diehard Kuomintang faction, represented by Chiang Kai-shek, began to act in violation of the yin and yang again, turning the muzzle of the gun on its own people.
(Peng Xuefeng)
III. The Kuomintang Disregards the People and Launches the "Anhui Southern Incident"
The Japanese army was violent and wanton, lost every conscience, and the people were in a deep and fiery situation.
At this time, the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party should be unanimous to the outside world, resist the Japanese army, and stop killing.
In fact, from the very beginning, Chiang Kai-shek did not put all his mind on the anti-Japanese resistance.
Especially from 1940 onwards, Chiang Kai-shek no longer concealed his thoughts, and asked his close associate He Yingqinhe to issue military transfer orders to Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, and others.
The Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army south of the Yellow River were ordered to be transferred to the north of the Yellow River within a month
Why was this transfer order issued?
Chiang Kai-shek lived in the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain, and he believed that Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, and others were as untrustworthy as he was and did not focus on the War of Resistance.
Therefore, he ordered that the army under the command of the Communists be transferred to the area north of the Yellow River, away from his main force, to avoid the future enemy of the Kuomintang army.
(Zhu De)
Zhu De saw through Chiang Kai-shek's careful thinking and immediately called back, criticizing the absurd orders of Chiang Kai-shek and others, and refuting their slander against the Communist Party, the New Fourth Army, and the Eighth Route Army.
At the same time, he proposed that in order to take into account the overall situation of the anti-Japanese resistance, the New Fourth Army in southern Anhui could be moved to the north of the Yangtze River.
The New Fourth Army was ordered to move north in January 1941
However, Chiang Kai-shek did not let go of his mustard for the New Fourth Army.
When the New Fourth Army marched to the Maolin area of Nanjing County, Anhui Province, it was suddenly attacked by the troops of Gu Zhutong and Shangguan Yun of the Kuomintang Third Theater of Operations.
Faced with more than 80,000 Nationalist divisions totaling more than 80,000 men, General Ye Ting commanded all commanders and fighters to deal with the surprise attack.
Outnumbered, coupled with the suddenness of the incident, two days later it was still under siege.
General Ye Ting led everyone to continue to resist, and fought a bloody battle with the Kuomintang army for seven days and nights.
Most of the people died heroically because they ran out of ammunition and food, and the number of people was disparity, and Yuan Guoping, director of the Political Department of the New Fourth Army, also died.
In the end, only 2,000 people dispersed to break through successfully, and Xiang Ying, deputy commander of the New Fourth Army, and Zhou Zikun, chief of staff, were unfortunately killed by traitors after the breakthrough.
Ye Ting, the commander of the New Fourth Army, was detained on the spot by the Kuomintang during the negotiations.
(Anhui South Incident Martyrs Cemetery)
Chiang Kai-shek's behavior seriously undermined the norms governing the unity and resistance of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.
Ten days later,
Instead, Chiang Kai-shek framed the New Fourth Army for launching a military coup, wanted to cancel the new Fourth Army's designation, and also claimed that he would hand over General Ye Ting to a military tribunal for trial
Soon, Chairman Mao, on behalf of the Central Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee, issued a speech to counter the Kuomintang's remarks one by one, exposing the Kuomintang's deliberate sabotage of the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in the War of Resistance, carrying out anti-communist conspiracies, and putting forward demands such as abolishing the Kuomintang's one-party dictatorship.
Fourth, he holds several positions and fights against many armies
After the Anhui Incident, the original Fourth Column of the Eighth Route Army was formed as the Fourth Division of the New Fourth Army, and Zhang Zhen served as chief of staff and chief of staff of the Huaibei Military Region
The main force of the Fourth Division fought against the Kuomintang army for three months, basically completed the "westward defense", and successfully prevented Chiang Kai-shek from ordering the Kuomintang to move east into northern Jiangsu and shandong in the north.
While countering the Kuomintang forces, most of Anhui was still occupied by the Japanese army.
Under the attack of the two sides, the three main regiments of the Fourth Division of the New Fourth Army led by Zhang Zhen suffered serious losses.
The area of the base area that was previously established so hard is shrinking sharply.
As a result of this vicious battle for a long time, many soldiers are very tired, coupled with the lack of ammunition and materials, the situation is particularly difficult.
(Zhang Zhen discusses battle plans with his comrades-in-arms)
Afterwards, Zhang Zhen analyzed the reasons for the defeat of the struggle:
Mainly underestimating the contradictions between the Japanese army, the puppet army and the Kuomintang diehards, there is no vigilance;
The troops lack experience in large corps combat, and the old methods of the past do not apply to the present;
Guerrilla warfare is mobile, cannot be fixed on one front, and must be flexibly maneuvered and shifted, concentrated and dispersed.
After that, Peng Xuefeng and Zhang Zhen received orders from the Headquarters of the New Fourth Army to lead the main force of the Fourth Division to move, leave the area west of Jinpu Road, and move to northeast Anhui, where they created revolutionary base areas to prevent the Kuomintang army from continuing to advance eastward.
After that, Zhang Zhen went all out to assist the division commander Tun Bing Huaibei, vigorously trained the troops, and strived to return to the area west of Jinpu Road as soon as possible.
Fifth, leave Xiaoqinzhuang and stay at Kong Xiuying's house
In mid-November of the same year, the Party of suwan border region sent Zhang Zhen to Sudong to hold a joint meeting of anti-Japanese armed forces in Sudong.
Zhang Zhen led everyone through the Japanese blockade line and entered the Sudong area.
(Former site of the Suwan Border District Government)
In Xiaoqinzhuang, on the south bank of the Tuo River in Suling County, Zhang Zhen organized a meeting to analyze the battle situation according to the situation between the enemy and us, and formulated the next battle plan.
It was very late, and some people proposed to stay here, but Zhang Zhen considered that everyone had been staying in Xiaoqinzhuang for too long, and if they were discovered by the Japanese army, the people in the village would be affected, and ordered them to move quickly at night.
At the suggestion of Yao Yunliang, the leader of the Sudong guerrilla detachment, they moved to Shengxuzi, ten kilometers away from here.
Arriving at Shengweizi at midnight, the whole village was silent, and there was no light in sight.
The guards knocked on the door of their fellow home, knocked a few times, and then there was no response.
Since the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Communist Party has always advocated the policy of "the military and the people are united in their efforts to resist Japan."
Because of the implementation of this policy, it has received strong support from the people.
Tonight knocking on the door to spend the night, the villagers do not open the door not to say that the Communist army is not welcome to spend the night, but because the place is close to the railway occupied by the Japanese army, there are Japanese troops stationed.
The Japanese army invaded the people at will in peacetime, causing the lives of the villagers to be restless. At night, I certainly don't dare to open the door casually. After all, if it was the Japanese army, it would be trouble.
No one opened the door, and they could not walk around the village, and if the dog of the fellow villager woke up, the barking of the dog would definitely attract the attention of the Japanese army.
Constantly circling in place will not solve the problem, in case of encountering Japanese troops "patrolling" at night, it is also very troublesome.
Zhang Zhen decided to try again. This time he stepped forward alone and knocked on the door.
At first, there was still no movement in the house.
Zhang Zhen
Just as he was about to turn around and leave, a very wary voice suddenly came from the courtyard, "Who? ”
There is hope for this overnight stay, Zhang Zhen thought to himself. He replied, "Fellow, we are the New Fourth Army and want to spend the night at your house."
The courtyard door opened, and in front of Zhang Zhen was a man and a woman.
The two men were husband Sheng Weifan and wife Kong Xiuying.
The two looked at the people who came and whispered to them to hurry in and close the courtyard door.
Entering the courtyard, Zhang Zhen saw that the courtyard was clean and clean, with red happy characters posted everywhere, and quickly realized that these two people were newlyweds, and quickly expressed his apologies: "Disturb you."
After the bride said she would not disturb them, she beckoned them into the house.
Kong Xiuying's younger brother joined the army, also in the ranks of the New Fourth Army, so she was very clear about the discipline of the army, and did not ask Zhang Zhen which division and which regiment they were, nor why they appeared in the village in the middle of the night.
Kong Xiuying's house is not very large, the largest room is her marriage room, and there is a side room in the west.
Considering that the family was a newlywed couple, it was inconvenient to disturb the couple too much, Zhang Zhen immediately proposed that the soldiers should make a bed in the side room, and everyone would sleep together at night and spend the night together.
Kong Xiuying knew that the New Fourth Army was very hard to fight, so he arranged for some people to live in the side room, and the rest of the people arranged to live in their own marriage rooms and make floors.
Kong Xiuying in her youth
When I met such a good fellow, plus there were sentries arranged in the yard, everyone went to sleep not long after lying down.
Kong Xiuying got up early and went out early, ready to go outside to collect some firewood and come back to cook on the fire.
While collecting firewood, she suddenly heard the rumbling of cars, getting closer and closer to her, and quickly threw down the firewood and ran home.
She did not dare to shout, for fear that the Japanese army would directly know that the New Fourth Army was in her home, and she could only do her best to run home as quickly as possible.
Yao Yunliang, who was in charge of standing guard, saw her running home from a distance, and judged that something should have happened.
The whole village was quiet at the time, and the most likely scenario was that the Japanese army was coming.
He rushed into the room and reported the incident to everyone.
Zhang Zhen, who was still asleep, was awakened by his subordinates: "104! The enemy is coming! Come on! ”。
(Yao Yunliang)
Sixth, Kong Xiuying led the way to get rid of the Japanese pursuit
A group of Japanese troops, riding in several cars, were rushing to the village.
The reason why they came was that the New Fourth Army had exposed its whereabouts when it entered the village last night.
The Japanese army wanted to do it while everyone was still asleep.
When everyone saw this, they quickly adjusted to a state of readiness for war, and the soldiers divided into two roads, one running all the way to the west of the village to lure away the ghosts; the other passerby escorted Zhang Zhen away.
Kong Xiuying heard the soldiers call him the code name "104" and judged that he was not an ordinary soldier.
Seeing that everyone was still discussing how to protect Zhang Zhen, the time was not waiting for anyone, Kong Xiuying quickly said to Zhang Zhen, "Follow me, I will take you out."
There was a person who was familiar with the environment to take them out, it must be the best, Zhang Zhen agreed: "Okay."
She led the way in front, and in order not to be discovered by the Japanese army, she signaled Zhang Zhen and others to bend down like her and walk along the courtyard wall.
They came to a small road with a ditch at the end of the path.
Fortunately, it was a dry winter period, and there was not much water in the ditch, so everyone quickly walked through the ditch and walked along the reeds by the river.
Kong Xiuying pointed ahead and said to Zhang Zhen, "This is the Tuo River, as long as you can quickly cross the Tuo River, the devils will not be able to catch up with you."
(Location and direction of the Tuohe River)
In order not to let the Japanese army find out that she had left the village, Kong Xiuying could only send Zhang Zhen and others to this place and hurry home.
Before Zhang Zhen and the others could say thank you, her figure had already disappeared into the reeds.
With the help of Kong Xiuying, Zhang Zhen and the communication squad of the guerrilla detachment who came to meet him were able to meet smoothly.
He led everyone to avoid the enemy's sight by taking advantage of the thick fog of the winter morning and following the route Kong Xiuying had just said.
They crossed the Tuo River, successfully moved to the north bank, and successfully escaped the danger.
The guards of the Sudong guerrilla detachment were responsible for the hard work of the rear, after all, everyone was not familiar with the environment of Sheng weizi.
When the incident occurred suddenly, the soldiers of the guard company had no time to discuss the battle plan, nor did they know how to use the surrounding environment to fight.
Some warriors directly use their own bodies as shields to occupy a favorable position for their comrades-in-arms.
The warriors adopted the strategy of prolonging the battle time as long as possible, winning valuable time for Zhang Zhen and others to leave.
In the face of more and more Japanese attacks, in order to reduce casualties, the guards chose to fight and retreat.
In this battle, Li Wenzong, who had grown from Xiucai at the end of the Qing Dynasty to a detachment counselor, and Shi Xiuliang, commander of the guard company, and 31 others were killed.
(Li Wenzong Martyrs' Square)
The Japanese army found that our army was divided into two routes, and then they also sent two routes of troops, one way to continue to pursue the west, all the way to the village with guns to conduct carpet searches.
When Kong Xiuying's home was searched, the interpreter questioned her husband and wife: "Hurry up and hand over the people, last night, someone saw the New Fourth Army enter your house."
Kong Xiuying knew that the New Fourth Army had gone far, and his answer was very confident: We don't have the New Fourth Army at home, if you don't believe it, you can search at will.
Where the palm is big, it is unlikely that the New Fourth Army will be hidden.
The interpreter began to doubt the authenticity of the news, casually perfunctorily, and directly told the Japanese army that no New Fourth Army had been found here. And the people who came into their house last night were people from the village, who had come to celebrate their new marriage.
The Japanese army left, and Kong Xiuying could finally breathe.
She knew that this showed that the Japanese army had not captured Zhang Zhen and their men, and they were now out of danger.
Kong Xiuying did not take this matter to heart. She believed that the New Fourth Army risked her life to fight the war, and the little thing she did was not enough to remember it all the time.
However, Zhang Zhen remembered for forty years and returned to his hometown twice before his death.
7. Sheng Kong and his wife insisted on sweeping the graves of the martyrs
After the Japanese retreated, Kong Xiurong, Sheng Weifan and his wife and villagers helped collect the remains of the martyrs, and 18 of them were buried in the west of Shengxu Village.
After that, every Spring Festival and Qingming, they would add soil to the graves of the martyrs and plant some trees.
Due to the low-lying terrain of the cemetery, water will accumulate during the rainy season, and people in the village take the initiative to drain the tomb.
Later, more and more outsiders spontaneously came to visit the grave.
Sheng Weipan became a receptionist and a docent, telling everyone about the battle.
(Kong Xiuying's son Sheng Zhixi explained the battle process to the martyrs who came to pay homage to the martyrs)
After liberation, General Zhang Zhen was too busy to leave and never been able to go to Shengxuzi.
Until 1981, the 67-year-old Zhang Zhen, then deputy chief of general staff of the People's Liberation Army, went to the Suxian area to inspect and guide the work.
After the work was over, he couldn't take a break and went straight to Shengxu Village in Luling Town.
Eighty or forty years later, we will meet again and pay respects to the Martyrs' Cemetery
It has been 40 years since the rescue of Shengxuzi Village, and great changes have taken place in the village, as have the houses in my memory.
Zhang Zhen said: "I have fulfilled the promise of 40 years ago. ”
But for a moment, Zhang Zhen couldn't be sure where the family he had stayed with was now.
The incident was too sudden, and when I left, I was too hurried to ask the name of the woman who had saved her life.
Fortunately, there are many elderly people in the village, and Zhang Zhen described his experience to them in the hope of getting clues.
Someone told him that the person who saved him was kong Xiuying, and she was still alive.
Zhang Zhen was led by enthusiastic villagers and walked to the door of Kong Xiuying's courtyard.
At this time, Kong Xiuying heard movement outside the courtyard, stopped the needlework in his hand, and walked out to see what was happening.
An old woman with white hair came out of the courtyard, just as Zhang Zhen remembered when the young woman opened the door and let them in for the night.
After 40 years of not seeing each other, both men's faces were covered with wrinkles, and neither was young anymore.
Zhang Zhen was a little afraid to recognize each other for a while.
Zhang Zhen asked the woman a few questions, and the old man Kong Xiuying did not react for half a day.
She never thought that the New Fourth Army, which had been rescued, would come to see her one day, and that she had just done what she should have done as a Chinese.
(Zhang Zhen with the boatman in 1981)
Zhang Zhen realized that his problem was a bit abrupt, and he followed the woman into the house first.
The furnishings in the house are also very different from the appearance in Zhang Zhen's memory.
In view of the old man's surprised reaction just now, Zhang Zhen thought of talking to her about home first and letting her relax.
In the course of the subsequent exchange, he inadvertently mentioned the rescue of that year, mentioning some details.
At this time, Kong Xiuying remembered and hurriedly replied: "The person who called you is me." ”
In order to confirm his words, Kong Xiuying took Zhang Zhen to the former "new house", pointed to the location of a cabinet cabinet, and said: "I am here to call you."
Zhang Zhen finally found his own savior, and his happy mood was self-evident.
At the same time, he remembered his comrades who had died outside the village.
Accompanied by local cadres, he came to the tombs of 18 martyrs outside the village to pay tribute.
At the suggestion of General Zhang Zhen, the local government renovated the cemetery, improved the drainage system, and built houses.
Kong Xiuying and her husband were invited to take charge of the health protection of the cemetery.
After the expansion of the Martyrs' Cemetery in 1985, the area reached 15,000 square meters.
In the same year, Kong Xiuying's husband made a special trip to Beijing and asked Zhang Zhen to write an inscription for the martyrs' cemetery.
General Zhang Zhen waved a large pen and generously wrote down the next line: Shengwei Battle Martyrs Monument.
In May 1999, the 85-year-old General Zhang Zhen came to Shengwei Village again with his family to pay homage to the martyrs' mausoleum and donated 4,000 yuan.
(Shengwei Battle Martyrs Monument)
epilogue:
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, there were many, many people like Kong Xiuying and his wife who vigorously supported our army and actively participated in the War of Resistance, just as Chairman Mao mentioned in "On Protracted War" that "soldiers and civilians are the basis of victory."
The people are united in one heart and one against the enemy, patriotic soldiers fight with blood and regard death as a homecoming, and the unity and progress of the army and the people have finally achieved the great victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan! National independence has been realized, and the country is rich and strong!
Edit: Peter Pan
Editor-in-Charge: Thalia