In 1985, several staff members of Jiuquan discovered a secret in the history of the West Route Army while consulting historical archives. It turned out that the veteran Red Army soldier "Zhang Bingnan", who died in the winter of 1960, was a senior general who had never been found in the Western Route Army, xiong Guobing, the former chairman of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Soviet and a member of the Military and Political Committee of the Western Route Army.
In the Red Fourth Front, Xiong Guobing has always been a legendary presence. He was born in 1898 to a poor peasant family in Bashan, Sichuan, and attended a private school, and was a well-known local "xiucai". When Xiong Guobing was 32 years old, his adoptive parents passed away one after another, and his family moved back to Xiongjiawan, his birthplace.
Xiong Guobing
Xiong Guobing was tall and strong, upright, and a good fight, because he offended the local magnates, he was forced to run to the Daba Mountains as a hunter. During a hunt, Xiong Bingnan shot a tiger, so he became famous in the local area and was known as the "Hero of Bashan".
In December 1932, Xiong Guobing met a man named Liu Zicai at the market, and it was this person who changed the fate of his life.
At this time, the Red Fourth Front army moved from Eyuwan to Sichuan, preparing to establish a base area here. Liu Zicai was a native of Lu'an County, Anhui Province, a member of the Communist Party, who was assigned by the organization to go to the Tongjiang River and Daba Mountain in northern Sichuan to mobilize the masses to respond to the Red Army's entry into Sichuan.
Liu Zicai established contact with Xiong Guobing by purchasing mountain goods. After the two became acquainted, Liu Zi revealed his true identity and briefed Xiong Guobing on the situation of the Red Army, asking him to help the Red Army reconnoiter the terrain and collect intelligence.
Liu Zicai
With the help of Xiong Guobing, the Red Fourth Front advanced to northern Sichuan, successively occupying Tongjiang, Bashan and other areas. It was precisely because of Xiong Guobing's fruitful work that by January 1931 the Red Army had created the Soviet regimes in Chibei, Chijiang, Nanjiang, and Pakistan.
In February 1933, Xiong Guobing was unanimously elected chairman of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Soviet Government and became one of the top leaders of the Sichuan-Shaanxi revolutionary base area.
In April 1935, Xiong Guobing was ordered to lead the government agencies to withdraw from the base area and march west with the Red Fourth Front. After he left, two teenage sons were brutally killed by the landlord's homecoming group, his wife starved to death, no one dared to collect the body, and the kind neighbor secretly wrapped it in straw mats and buried it behind the house.
In October 1936, Xiong Guobing crossed the Yellow River with the Western Route Army and began a tragic journey of conquest of the Hexi Corridor. Xiong Guobing was one of the 11 members of the Military and Political Committee of the Western Route Army at that time, mainly responsible for logistical support and mobilizing the masses to create base areas.
Former site of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Soviet
In March 1937, the wind in Qilian Mountain was still bitterly cold, and in the night, Xiong Guobing led more than 200 logistics personnel to break through with the left detachment led by Li Xiannian. At dawn, the logisticians led by Xiong Guobing were intercepted by the "Ma Family Army", and after a fierce bloody battle, he finally led a small number of fighters to break through the siege.
The enemy was in hot pursuit, the guards were shot and fell off their horses, Xiong Guobing's horse rushed up the snowy mountain, the bullets roared in his ears, the war horse was shot and fell to the ground, and he was thrown into the 10,000-year-old snow pit under the cliff.
The snow was falling endlessly, I don't know how long it took, Xiong Guobing slowly opened his eyes, the silence around him like death, he tried to move his body, his legs hurt violently.
"You have to go, or you'll freeze to death here," Xiong Guobing's eyes widened, and he crawled forward with force. After climbing for a long time, he found a bonfire in front of him, so he crawled toward the fire, crawled and fainted.
Xiong Guobing woke up again and found himself lying in the arms of his comrades-in-arms. It turned out that two red army soldiers who had been scattered had saved him while collecting dry firewood around him, and by the fire, Fang Zhen of Bi Zhanyun's detachment and several other soldiers.
Qilian Snow Mountain
After dawn, Fang Zhen arranged several fighters to help Xiong Guobing continue to chase the team. However, at the foot of the snowy mountain, they encountered more than a dozen "Ma JiaJun" soldiers, and in order to cover the retreat of their comrades, Xiong Guobing fought alone to the end, and was cut to the ground by the enemy.
Xiong Guobing, who woke up again, found himself lying in a tent, and it was an old Yugur man who saved him. After Xiong Guobing's injury improved significantly, the old man told him to keep going west and not to go out of the mountain.
The setting sun caressed the snowy mountains, and Xiong Guobing limped west. The whole world froze in the bitter cold, and he walked through the peaks and valleys, "Out of the mountains!" Mountain! In his numb walk, there was only one thought in his head.
There was a smell of rice wafting in the distance, and there seemed to be a village in front of it, and Xiong Guobing was afraid that there were enemies living in the village, so he waited until dark before knocking on the door of a courtyard.
A great uncle surnamed Zhang took in Xiong Guobing, where he lived for more than a month, and the frostbite on his feet was almost better. After much deliberation, Xiong Guobing decided to leave and continue to search for troops.
Xiong Guobing hit the road again, his pseudonym Zhang Bingnan, "Zhang" is his wife's surname, "Bing" is the last word of his name, and the word "Nan" is the name his father gave him. This pseudonym is also a memorial to his past, he said to himself in his heart.
The sun was about to set, the figure of Jiuquan City was still faintly visible, and Xiong Guobing couldn't help but speed up his pace. There was a notice posted at the city gate, and he looked over to see that it was Ma Bufang's wanted arrest warrant for the leader of the Western Route Army.
Xiong Guobing pulled the old felt hat down and left without a sound. At night, with nowhere to go, he found a broken temple to live in. The next day, taoist priests in the temple found Xiong Guobing. Under the guidance of the governor, Xiong Guobing worked in a nearby vinegar factory, working during the day and returning to the temple at night to rest.
After a while, Xiong Guobing continued to look for troops. But the governor told him that there were "Ma Jia Army" soldiers everywhere, and he heard that the remaining hundreds of Red Army soldiers had been defeated in Anxi City.
Xiong Guobing's heart trembled, and he immediately thought of the left detachment led by Li Xiannian and Cheng Shicai, but he did not dare to say anything in his mouth.
Li Xiannian
After some consideration, Xiong Guobing chose to stay and started a family with a local widow again. His remarried wife, Bai Yuxian, has 3 children.
Xiong Guobing's life settled down, everyone called him Zhang Bingnan, in order to support his family, he set up a stall, worked as a cargo man, and worked as a worker in the Yumen oil mine, but the family's life was very difficult.
In September 1949, Jiuquan was liberated and the People's Liberation Army entered the city. At this time, Xiong Guobing's heart was extremely confused. He waited in anonymity for more than ten years, and finally looked forward to the return of his team.
He thought of the Military Control Commission to explain his identity, which could be a thought of the defeat of the Western Route Army, thinking that so many of the sons and daughters he brought out of northern Sichuan were spilling blood in the Hexi Corridor, he hesitated, will the party forgive me? He himself felt that he did not have the face to see the people of the Military Control Commission.
In the spring of 1951, when the local government investigated the red army's scattered personnel, Xiong Guobing plucked up the courage to admit his true identity. But at that time, because of the qualitative problem of the failure of the Western Route Army, no one went to check on this matter, and he only received some material care.
In 1960, successive natural disasters led to food shortages, and hunger devoured everyone in Jiuquan like a giant beast. Xiong Guobing was old and sick, and he had not eaten the grain of the Eight Classics for more than a year. Xiong Guobing was so hungry that he couldn't stand it, so he went into the city to ask for relief, but due to lack of physical strength, he died on a windy and snowy night next to a small bridge outside the gate of JiuquanQuan lake park.
In 1985, after organizing an investigation, it was finally cleared that he was Xiong Guobing, the chairman of the famous Sichuan-Shaanxi Soviet and a former member of the Military and Political Committee of the Western Route Army.
At this time, it had been 25 years since Xiong Guobing's death. Only a sigh can be left!