At the end of October 1934, He Long, Xiao Ke and others led the Red Second and Sixth Armies to prepare to return to western Hunan from Guizhou to create a new revolutionary base area. When Lao Jiang learned of this news, he ordered the Guizhou warlord Wang Jialie to lead the Qian army to pursue, and at the same time ordered the Sichuan warlord Liu Xiang to lead the Sichuan army to intercept it. At that time, the total strength of the Two Red Ii and Red Six corps was only more than 8,000 people, which was not as large as the strength of an elite division of the Sichuan Army. Faced with the unfavorable situation of the enemy being outnumbered, He Long, Xiao Ke, and others decided to leave a force behind to confuse the enemy, and the main force changed course and moved eastward, jumping out of the enemy's encirclement.
So which unit should be left behind to take on the heavy responsibility of the queen of the palace? In the end, the two legions of red two and six drew more than 800 people to form the Qiandong Independent Division, appointing Wang Guangguang as the division commander and the 18-year-old Duan Suquan as the political commissar. Duan Suquan, a native of Chaling, Hunan Province, joined the revolution at the age of 14, first working in the local area and serving as the secretary of the Chaling County Party Committee. In 1932, at the age of 16, Duan Suquan led a part of the Young Pioneers to join the Red Army and served as the chief of the Youth Section of the Political Department of the Red Eighth Army in the Xianggan Soviet District.
In the following two years, Duan Suquan participated in many anti-encirclement and suppression operations with the troops, and accumulated battle merits and was promoted to the director of the Propaganda Department of the Political Department of the Red Sixth Army. The capable and courageous Duan Suquan left a deep impression on Xiao Ke and Ren Bishi and others, so he entrusted him with the task of this palace. Duan Suquan only had about 800 people in his hands, and he was certainly unable to complete the heavy task of covering the breakthrough of the Red Second and Red Sixth legions by fighting hard. So what to do?
After consulting with the division commander Wang Guangguang, Duan Suquan decided to disguise the Qiandong Independent Division as the main force and go in the opposite direction with the Red Second and Sixth Armies. In order to confuse the enemy, Duan Suquan ordered his troops to fly many banners, which were written the names of the main forces of the Red Second and Red Sixth Armies. At the same time, he also deliberately lengthened the ranks of the army, and constantly publicized along the way, saying that he was the main force of the Red Second and Sixth Armies. In this way, the enemy was indeed deceived, and turned around to catch up with the independent division, and the Red Second and Red Army regiments took the opportunity to jump out of the encirclement.
When the enemy discovered the plan, he became angry and launched a fierce siege of the independent division. Duan Suquan and Wang Guangguang commanded the troops to engage in a bloody battle with the enemy, and in the fierce battle, Duan Suquan was shot in the right ankle, and the soldiers broke through with him on their backs. Because the enemy was in hot pursuit, the more the troops delayed for one minute would be more dangerous. In order not to affect the transfer of troops, Duan Suquan took the initiative to ask to stay and recuperate on the spot. Although Wang Guangguang could not bear to leave the political commissar behind, there was no better way, and finally he sent two soldiers to carry Duan Suquan to Toyota Village in Yajiang Township, Xiushan County, and handed it over to a poor tailor Li Mufu, a poor tailor.
Due to the rampant activities of the reactionary vigilante groups, it was very risky to take in the wounded of the Red Army at that time. When Li Mufu saw that Duan Suquan was young but so badly injured, his heart was very unbearable, so he risked his life to leave him behind. Li Mufu did not dare to hide Duan Suquan at home, but found a small cave in the mountain, and his wife Yang Guihua brought a large bundle of straw to spread on the ground as a mattress, put the injured Duan Suquan on it, and then covered him with an old quilt, and the couple went back with tears.
After that, Li Mufu and his wife came to duan Suquan every day to send a little sweet potato porridge and herbs. Half a month later, Li Mufu's own home was almost unable to open the pot, and Duan Suquan knew that he had to leave. Li Mufu's neighbor Su Shihua, a carpenter, was very sympathetic to Duan Suquan's situation and made him a pair of crutches. In this way, Duan Suquan begged all the way to his hometown on crutches. On July 17, 1935, Duan Suquan came to Huangtuling Station in Youxian County, where he had been begging for more than half a year, dressed in rags and with a haggard face.
At this time, a chaling fellow named Liu Weichu helped Duan Suquan a lot, he opened a small tofu shop at the station, this day Duan Suquan came to beg, Liu Weichu heard his chaling township tone, and gave Duan Suquan a little food. Then asked him why he fell into this step, Duan Suquan did not hide it, and told his experience again. After hearing this, Liu Wei admired Duan Suquan very much, so he left him behind, gave him a haircut, bought a new dress, and invited a doctor to treat his foot injury.
After living in Liu Weichu's home for more than a month, Duan Suquan's injuries were basically healed, and he wrote a letter to his father explaining his situation. The father borrowed more than a dozen oceans, and the servants came to Liu Weichu's home, thanked him very much, and then led his son back home. Duan Suquan, who returned to his hometown, was concerned about the troops and inquired about the news of the Red Army from many sources. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Duan Suquan learned from the newspaper that the main force of the Red Army had been reorganized into the Eighth Route Army, and he could not contain his excitement, and immediately bid farewell to his parents and took a train to Taiyuan.
In Taiyuan, Duan Suquan met his old superior Ren Bishi. Ren Bishi said in surprise: "We all thought you had sacrificed, the memorial service was held for you, but I didn't expect you to be alive!" Well, the great difficulty does not die, there must be
After the blessing! From Ren Bishi's mouth, Duan Suquan learned that shortly after he had left him to recuperate, the Qiandong Independent Division was completely destroyed in the enemy's siege, and he was sad for a long time. After that, Duan Suquan successively participated in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, and made many military achievements. In 1955, he was awarded the rank of major general at the rank of quasi-corps.
At that time, among the 57 quasi-corps-level cadres, only Duan Suquan, Xie Fang, and Yuan Yelie were major generals, the remaining 53 were lieutenant generals, and He Bingyan, who was at the rank of quasi-corps, was a general. From this point of view, Duan Suquan's military rank was obviously lowered, which may have been affected by his departure from the team due to a foot injury. After the founding of New China, Duan Suquan served as the deputy commander of the Fuzhou Military Region. For the several life-saving benefactors of that year, Duan Suquan has not forgotten.
In 1950, Duan Suquan, then commander of the Air Force of the Northeast Military Region, sent someone to Chaling to visit Liu Weichu, and also took his son to Shenyang, sent him to Dalian Engineering College to study, and trained him to become an engineer. For the elderly Li Mufu, Duan Suquan sent money and goods many times. In the 1980s, he once sent 1,000 yuan to the elderly Li Mufu, which was a very large amount at that time, and these funds were all saved by Duan Suquan's thrift, which shows how much he is a person of great affection. In 1993, General Duan Suquan died of illness at the age of 78.