The founding lieutenant general Kong Qingde was born with a straight nature, liked to speak straight, and his opinions were very sharp, so he was nicknamed "Kong Cannon". During the Red Army period, he was demoted twice for "firing cannons" at his superiors. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Kong Qingde served as the commander of the 1st Battalion of the 769th Regiment of the 385th Brigade of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and under the command of regimental commander Chen Xilian, he participated in the night attack on Yangmingbao, the Shentouling Ambush, and the Xiangtangpu Ambush, and his performance was remarkable.
In January 1938, in order to meet the needs of the development of the anti-Japanese situation, the 129th Division drew three infantry companies and 1 machine gun company from the 769th Regiment of the 385th Brigade, and together with a cavalry company of the 386th Brigade, formed the Eastward Column, and Chen Zaidao, deputy brigade commander of the 386th Brigade, served as the commander of the column, led his troops into southern Hebei, opened up anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines, and Kong Qingde was still the battalion commander. At that time, the situation in the southern Hebei region was extremely chaotic, with the three forces of Japan, pseudo- and stubbornness intertwined, in addition to the miscellaneous armed forces and local security regiments under the banner of anti-Japanese resistance, who often attacked each other in order to compete for territory, and the people suffered greatly.
In the face of this complicated situation, Chen Zaidao showed a super ability to cope with changes, and in just four months, he led his troops to occupy more than 20 counties and towns such as Julu, Nangong, Qinghe, Jixian, and Xinhe, and the troops also grew from the initial 500 people to more than 20,000 people, which was expanded by 40 times, opening up a new situation in the War of Resistance in southern Hebei. So, why did the Eastward Column develop so fast? There are four main reasons. The first is the incorporation of local security regiments.
When the eastward column first arrived at Julu, it was encountering bandits Liu Motou and Shi Runan and others leading troops to attack the county town, this bandit team had more than 2,000 people, and the Julu Security Regiment only had more than 1,000 people, which was at a disadvantage in terms of troop strength. The leaders of the security regiment, Wang Wenzhen and Zhen Fuxi, had secretly accepted the appointment of the Japanese army and were preparing to prepare for the establishment of a "maintenance meeting" in Julu. The two gangs have been fighting for territory for more than ten days, and nearby villagers have had to leave their homes and flee their homes in order to escape the fighting.
Chen Zaidao first ordered Kong Qingde to lead the main force of the column to Xingjiawan overnight, launch a night attack on the bandit headquarters, and defeat it in one fell swoop. At dawn the next day, a company of cavalry was sent to deliberately pull away and gallop through the sand to the southeast of the giant deer, with dust and unpredictable troops along the way. Where has Wang Wenzhen, the leader of the security regiment, seen such a position? Thinking that the Eighth Route Army was going to besiege the city, it hastily sent people to conduct peace talks and agreed to accept the reorganization. Eventually, the Giant Deer Security Regiment was reorganized into the 5th Brigade of the Eastward Column.
The second point is to incorporate the miscellaneous armed forces. At that time, the two largest miscellaneous armies in southern Hebei were Zhao Yunxiang's Hebei Nationalist Army 2nd Route Army and Duan Haizhou's Young Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army, with a total strength of nearly 10,000 people and the latter with a total strength of more than 6,000 troops. Due to his superiority in troop strength, Zhao Yunxiang repeatedly launched attacks on Duan Haizhou in an attempt to annex his forces. In order to unite the anti-Japanese forces to the greatest extent, Chen Zaidao personally invited Zhao Yunxiang and Duan Haizhou to hold talks in Nangong County and persuaded them to cease fire and jointly resist Japan.
Duan Haizhou agreed with a full mouth, while Zhao Yunxiang was a hypocrite and a snake, but secretly he was ready to collude with the Japanese puppet army. After having sufficient evidence, Chen Zaidao took the initiative to attack and severely damaged Zhao Yunxiang with the cooperation of Duan Haizhou. After this battle, Duan Haizhou took the initiative to ask to join the Eighth Route Army, and eventually Duanbu was reorganized into a "youth anti-Japanese guerrilla column", so that the total strength of the eastward column was suddenly expanded to more than 10,000 people, and its strength was greatly increased.
The third point is to win over the puppet army anyway. After the strength of the eastward column increased greatly, it began to take the initiative to launch an attack on the Japanese puppet army, and successfully won over the Weixian puppet garrison brigade anyway, reorganizing it into an independent 2nd division. The fourth point is to recruit young and middle-aged people to join the army. After the Eastward Column advanced to the south of the wing, it successively established anti-Japanese regimes in more than 20 counties and towns, and the lives of the local people were markedly improved, and many young and middle-aged people joined the army one after another, further strengthening the strength of the Eastward Column.
For these four reasons, Chen Zaidao expanded his troops by 40 times just four months after advancing into the south of the wing, and the total strength reached more than 20,000 people. It is said that this is a very good thing, but Kong Qingde saw some drawbacks and "fired two cannons" at a meeting of cadres at and above the regimental level: First, "the troops absorbed too many miscellaneous weapons, coveted quantity, and did not pay attention to quality." These troops are not to say that they are fighting the Japanese army, or even the puppet army. ”
Second, "the troops paid too much attention to attacking important towns such as Linqing and Weixian and did not attach importance to the development of rural base areas." Although the main purpose is to expand the influence of the Eighth Route Army, in this way, the Japanese army will draw out a large number of troops in the future to focus on sweeping up our army. Before our army has gained a firm foothold in the southern wing, it will face a vicious battle, which is not conducive to the construction and development of the base areas. ”
A few days later, the order came down, and Kong Qingde was demoted from the commander of the 769 regiment to the deputy commander of the newly formed Jiyu guerrilla detachment 2nd regiment. Seventeen years later, Chen Zaidao became the commander of the Wuhan Military Region and named Kong Qingde as his deputy. After the two of them met, Chen Zaidao shook Kong Qingde's hand and said, "Old Kong, something unpleasant happened between you and me before, don't mention this later, your deputy commander is what I am going to come to the top, we are the old people of the Fourth Army, let's do a good job together." When he was awarded the rank in 1955, Chen Zaidao was awarded the rank of general and Kong Qingde was awarded the rank of lieutenant general.