In 1935, more than 300 Red Army soldiers in Liupanshui died mysteriously overnight, and for a time the morale of the Red Army team was low, and everyone was grief-stricken.
More than 90,000 people followed Chairman Mao to climb the snowy mountains and cross the meadows, and there were only 7,000 people left, but on this night, more than 300 people were sacrificed for no reason!
Chairman Mao slapped the table angrily: "What is the reason?" Go all out to detect it, and if it is the enemy's next resort, we will never let it go! ”
1. Bizarre and bizarre deaths
In October 1934, the Red Army lost the fifth anti-encirclement and suppression campaign, and in order to get rid of the encirclement and pursuit of the Kuomintang army, it was forced to make a strategic transfer and join the Red Army division in northern Shaanxi, which was the "Long March".
At this time, the Red Army had already climbed over the main peak of the last mountain, Liupan Mountain, and saw that the Long March was about to be victorious, but at Qingshizui it was pursued by the Nineteenth Regiment of the Seventh Division of the He Zhuoguo Cavalry Army sent by the Kuomintang reactionaries.
"Lin Biao and Zuo Quan, you two will lead the soldiers to knock out this nasty tail, and it will be very troublesome for them to follow us to northern Shaanxi."
"Yes, Sir!" The two men received the order and immediately led a small column and pounced on it like a fierce tiger descending the mountain.
In less than an hour, He Zhaoguo's cavalry regiment was successfully defeated by Lin Biao and Zuo Quan.
"Chairman of the report, this battle was successful, killing more than 200 enemy troops, capturing more than 100 enemy soldiers, and capturing more than 150 warhorses."
"Good, good." Chairman Mao smiled and ordered, "Distribute these horses to the reconnaissance company, so that we can also have our own cavalry company." Chairman Mao grabbed Lin Biao's hand and said happily.
"The sky is high and the clouds are light, and I look at the flying geese in the south." Less than the Great Wall is not a good man, the itinerary is twenty thousand. The peak of Liupan Mountain, the red flag swept the west wind. Today the long wisp is in hand, when will it tie the dragon? ”
Seeing that victory was about to be won and the enemy's encirclement and suppression plan was about to be completely smashed, Chairman Mao stood on the peak of Liupan Mountain, and Shi Xing wrote this poem "Qing Ping Le • Liupan Mountain" with great enthusiasm.
The Red Army soldiers who had escaped the pursuit came to a place called Gengwan Town, and thinking of the upcoming victory, their spirits were completely relaxed, and the fatigue slowly struck.
The long journey left them hungry and thirsty, and everyone was looking for water to drink. "Come, there is water in this ditch, it is so clear." A small warrior shouted. Some people saw that there was water and followed it.
"Oh, how is this water bitter and salty?" It's so hard to drink. The little warrior who arrived first took a sip, followed by a flat mouth, a look of doubt.
"It's good to find water, you can drink it, and you'll have to hurry tomorrow." The older warriors took a few sips, washed their faces, and returned to the camp.
After everyone drank the water, they were too tired to open their eyes, so one by one, they slept deeply. The moon hid under thick clouds, and there was no sound around it. The silent night, as if opening its big mouth in pitch black, shrouded the Red Army soldiers in darkness.
The next day, something strange happened.
The early morning military trumpet sounded, and the large troops were about to assemble and set off. But the commander found that this number was much smaller. The commander suddenly felt bad and trotted all the way to the place where they had rested last night.
I saw a large group of Red Army soldiers holding guns in their arms, lying there quietly "sleeping." The commander 'shook his head' as he reached out his hand and probed the sniffles of the soldiers. Sure enough, as expected, they were all sacrificed.
These warriors, there was no pain on their faces, no scars on their bodies, but they did not breathe. The enraged commander summoned the soldiers on duty yesterday and inquired about the situation.
"Report to the commander, who was on duty yesterday, did not find any anomalies." The soldier's answer filled the commander's heart with doubts.
Could it be the poison cast by the clever Kuomintang reactionaries? Why didn't everyone find suspicious people and anomalies? At this moment, the situation did not allow the commander to think much, and he reported it to Chairman Mao in a hurry.
2. A suspenseful case caught in a fog
When the chairman read the urgent telegram, he was furious. "Our Red Army soldiers have gone through all kinds of hardships and died nine times before they came here, and only seven thousand people remained. Yesterday, we did not wound a single soldier in the battle with the enemy, but here, before even the shadow of the enemy was seen, we lost the lives of three hundred soldiers. ”
Sadness spread through the ranks, and yesterday they fought side by side with themselves, and comrades who talked and laughed became a cold corpse today. Everyone shed tears of sadness.
Because the incident was too bizarre, everyone believed that this must be a secret agent sent by the Kuomintang to buy the murderer and poison it. However, they had just arrived in Gengwan Town, and they had also deployed strict vigilance patrols. If there really was a secret service, how could it escape the eyes of the Red Army?
Receiving Chairman Mao's strict orders, the Red Army began to carry out a detective investigation. However, not a single valuable clue was found on the bodies of the sacrificed warriors or in the camp. There is still no progress in the case.
At this time, the enemy's pursuit of troops had arrived, and Chairman Mao had no time to mourn the dead Red Army soldiers, so he was going to continue his departure. He asked the soldiers to bury their dead comrades on the spot, and then left Liupan Mountain.
However, the bizarre death of these three hundred soldiers was like a huge stone pressing against Chairman Mao's heart.
"Mr. Peng, now our soldiers don't walk much every day, please ask the ministries to use their time to educate and try their best to improve their supplies." Chairman Mao sent an emergency telegram to Peng Dehuai.
After peng Dehuai received the telegram, he immediately ordered Yang Lisan, minister of logistics, to pay attention to the safety of food and drink during the next marching camp. Warriors cannot drink raw water or eat raw food casually, and those who violate the order must be dealt with severely.
In fact, it can be seen from this telegram that Chairman Mao seems to have sensed the root cause of the problem, but because there is no clue, it is impossible to make a final judgment. Only let the soldiers pay more attention to food safety.
On the second day of arriving at Papaya City, Mao Bing's Wenbu and Ma Jiajun in Ningxia pounced on the Red Army. Peng Dehuai ordered: "We must strike at the enemy fiercely, the lives of three hundred soldiers cannot be sacrificed in vain, and we want the enemy to pay for their blood debts." ”
In his self-report decades later, Mr. Peng also wrote: "Our Red Army fighters, more than three hundred people, did not fall in the encirclement and blockade of the Kuomintang reactionaries, but died silently when the Long March was about to be victorious. ”
In fact, the death of a Red Army soldier due to a full meal when he was hungry has also happened, and Chairman Mao and General Peng Dehuai have also speculated that it was caused by improper diet. However, after months of visits and investigations, nothing was found.
In the years that followed, the silent sacrifice of these more than three hundred soldiers became an eternal pain in the chairman's heart.
"Enlai, these three hundred lives, can not be confused sacrifice, I am worried, because the conditions at that time, our investigation has been missed, please be responsible for re-investigation of this unresolved case, so that we can rest in peace."
After liberation, Chairman Mao specially assigned Premier Zhou to investigate the case, but Premier Zhou went through all the files of the secret agent and espionage cases throughout the country and found no information related to this matter. This case, completely plunged into the fog, became a pending case.
3. The truth comes out
Time flies, fleeting, and half a century has passed. In 1989, a certain water supply regiment of the Lanzhou Military Region stationed in Ningxia was ordered to conduct water quality exploration and investigation in Huanxian County.
"Little comrade, come, sit, have some tea." The staff of the government department warmly welcomed the officers and men Wang Xueyin and Wang Lin, who were ordered to investigate.
"Little comrade, we have a big unsolved case during the Long March period here, which has passed more than 50 years ago, and to this day, it has not been solved."
"What's the unsolved case?" The curiosity of the two was immediately suspended. The staff told the story of the suspense case fifty years ago from beginning to end.
"Three hundred? All dead in one night? Wang Xueyin and Wang Forest both inhaled a cool breath. With years of exploration experience and a unique professional sensitivity, the two of them immediately guessed that there would be no problem with the water here.
The leaders of the water supply group were determined to give it a try and unveiled this unsolved case that had been pressed on the chairman's heart and had been sealed for more than half a century.
They walked through the ditches and ridges of Liupan Mountain, carefully sampling the water of each river and stream. While searching for the truth, they also visited many elderly people who learned the truth of that year.
With little by little fragment information and water sample investigation, they slowly pieced together the scene of that year.
Based on their knowledge of the historical data of that year, the researchers of the water supply regiment roughly determined the drinking water places of the three hundred Red Army soldiers.
After surveying and analyzing the water samples of the water source, the researchers of the water supply group were surprised. The water quality in this place is very different from other places, which contains a large number of potassium ions.
Normal surface water, potassium ion content is usually 300-500 grams per ton. And the water here, the potassium ion content is ten times or more than the normal water source, not only that, the sodium ion content in this water is also ridiculously high.
No wonder the little warriors of the year said that the water here was bitter and salty.
"Did you smell anything bad?" Choking gives people a headache. "A researcher asked the people around him." Yes, I smell it. "Me too, and I smell it too."
During the survey of the water sample, the researchers of the water supply group also smelled a strange and unpleasant smell. And this smell is emitted from the blisters that are constantly bursting under the water.
Through this unpleasant smell, everyone roughly deduced that the underground here contains rich oil.
In the following three years, Wang Xueyin and Wang Forest kept going back and forth between Liupanshui and Yinchuan, running through all the petrochemical scientific research units and hydrogeology departments in Yinchuan, and finally found the answer to the mysterious death of three hundred Red Army soldiers.
Originally, Gengwan Town was an area with very frequent geological movements, almost every ten years. At this time, the cyanogen contained in the oil will gush out, combined with a large number of potassium ions in the water to become the "king of poisons" potassium cyanide.
That night, the exhausted Red Army soldier drank poisonous water containing a large amount of potassium cyanide and died of poisoning.
After half a century of confusing Chairman Mao's unsolved case, the truth finally came out to the world.