After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party began to cooperate in the anti-Japanese resistance, the main force of the Red Army in the north was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army, and the Red Army guerrillas in the eight southern provinces were reorganized into the New Fourth Army. At that time, the total strength of the Eighth Route Army was more than 40,000 people, equivalent to a group army, while the total strength of the New Fourth Army was only more than 10,000 people, equivalent to a division. Compared with the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army not only has a small number of troops, but also has a slight shortage of military cadres. To this end, the superiors sent many cadres from the Eighth Route Army to work in the New Fourth Army, including Ye Daozhi, Xu Changsheng, and Chen Kang.
Born in 1910 in Huang'an, Hubei Province, Ye Daozhi joined the Red Army at the age of 18, and then followed the troops to fight the enemy many times in the revolutionary base area of Eyuwan and the Sichuan-Shaanxi Soviet Region. Because of his bravery in battle, courage and strategy, Ye Daozhi was promoted quickly, and in just a few years, he grew from an ordinary warrior to a senior general of the Red Fourth. During the Red Army period, Ye Daozhi successively served as the commander of the Red 92nd Division, the commander of the Red 93rd Division (Political Commissar Ye Chenghuan), and the political commissar of the Red 10th Division (Division Commander Chen Xilian).
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Ye Chenghuan and Chen Xilian, who had partnered with Ye Daozhi, both entered the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, with Ye Chenghuan serving as the commander of the 772nd Regiment and Chen Xilian as the commander of the 769th Regiment. Ye Daozhi thought that he could also serve in the 129th Division, but unexpectedly he was sent by his superiors to work in the New Fourth Army as the deputy commander of the fourth regiment of the second detachment. At that time, most of the soldiers of the 4th Regiment were Fujianese, and Ye Daozhi could not understand The Hokkien dialect at all, and it was difficult to communicate.
In addition to the language barrier and the difference in living habits, Ye Daozhi also believed that his position was low, and the cadres at the level of the main division during the Red Army period had now become a deputy regimental commander, which made him a little confused. Ye Daozhi, who was depressed, made some complaints in private, but was unexpectedly reported to the military department. Based on this, the military department believed that Ye Daozhi had a problem with his thinking, so he demoted him to a post and transferred him to the special service battalion as a battalion commander. In this way, Ye Daozhi was even more depressed, at this time he met two subordinates Xu Changsheng and Chen Kang when he was the commander of the Red Fourth Division.
Chen Kang
Chen Kang once served as the regimental commander under Ye Daozhi, and Xu Changsheng served as the deputy regimental commander. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Chen Kang and Xu Changsheng were also transferred to the New Fourth Army, Chen Kang's position was the battalion commander of the supplementary battalion, and Xu Changsheng was the staff officer of the special service battalion of the military department. After Ye Daozhi was demoted to the commander of the special service battalion, the three of them often talked together. Once, when talking about their current situation, Ye Daozhi's mood was very low.
When Xu Changsheng saw this, he said: Division Commander, this place is too angry, let's go back to the original troops. The original unit he was talking about was the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, because the division was formed with the Red Fourth as the backbone. Ye Daozhi thought for a while after listening to Xu Changsheng's words, and felt that what he said was reasonable, and he was in a smooth mood when he returned to the old troops to resist Japan. Chen Kang also supported Xu Changsheng's proposal. Later, the three men discussed several more times and finally decided to return to the Eighth Route Army.
At that time, when the War of Resistance was at its most intense, if you want to return from the New Fourth Army to the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, there were not only obstacles from the Japanese puppet army along the way, but also many bandits and rogue robbers, and if there were no self-defense weapons, it was almost impossible to return to the 129th Division safely. Because of this, the three decided to run away with guns. On July 31, 1938, Ye Daozhi, Chen Kang, and Xu Changsheng, in the name of inspecting the terrain, were led by Yang Shaoliang, deputy squad leader of the communications squad of the special service battalion, and each left the unit with a short gun and came to a large mountain in Qimen County, southern Anhui Province.
After arriving in the mountains, Ye Daozhi said to Yang Shaoliang: We are going back to the Eighth Route Army, and if you are willing to go with us, if you do not want to go back. Yang Shaoliang was shocked after hearing this, he knew that he had brought it privately
The gun was a very serious matter, and he immediately told Ye Daozhi that he did not want to go with him. Ye Daozhi saw the situation, and there was no difficulty for Yang Shaoliang, so he let him go back. After Yang Shaoliang returned to the military headquarters, he thought that the matter was very important and did not dare to conceal it, so he reported to the military department that Ye Daozhi and the three men had fled with guns.
When Ye Ting learned of this, he was furious and mistakenly thought that the three men were going to defect with their guns, so he immediately ordered Li Zhigao, the head of the reconnaissance section, to lead people on horseback to chase, and made it clear that if the three people refused to return, they would be killed on the spot. In the end, Li Zhigao and his men caught up with Ye Daozhi and the three in Jiangxi, Xu Changsheng was killed on the spot, Ye Daozhi was captured, and Chen Kang luckily ran back to the 129th Division. Soon after Ye Daozhi was arrested, he was reported by Ye Ting to Gu Zhutong, commander of the Third Theater, for approval of the shooting, on the grounds of "defection from the battlefield", and was only 28 years old, and Ye Daozhi was rehabilitated in 1983.
Lieutenant General Chen Kang
Chen Kang was severely criticized for returning to the 129th Division, but was not punished in any way. Soon after, he joined the 386th Brigade, followed Chen Geng in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, made numerous military achievements, and was awarded the rank of lieutenant general in 1955. If Ye Daozhi had not been killed by mistake, judging by his seniority, he would have been at least a lieutenant general in 55 years.