In the spring of 1943, the Japanese puppet army organized 20,000 troops to launch a "sweep" of the base areas of the New Fourth Army in northern Jiangsu.
In the face of the invasion of the Japanese puppet army, the New Fourth Army resisted step by step, covering the withdrawal of the masses and organs. Another army in northern Jiangsu was the Han Deloitte Department of the Nationalist Army. Han Deqin was the deputy commander of the Lusu Theater at that time, and also the chairman of Jiangsu Province, although his name was very large, but in the eyes of the New Fourth Army, he was a sinister "rice barrel general".
As early as 1940, Han Deloitte led his unit to carry out a sneak attack on the New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army, and finally our army had to carry out self-defense counterattack to break out the "Yellow Bridge Campaign", which finally annihilated 11,000 enemy and captured 3,800 prisoners to achieve a great victory, laying the foundation for the anti-Japanese base area in northern Jiangsu in World War I.
In this "sweep", Han Deloitte's troops were quickly defeated by the attack of the Japanese puppet army, and some troops also surrendered voluntarily, and the area they originally controlled soon fell into the hands of the enemy.
Han Deloitte approached the 3rd Division of the New Fourth Army and hoped that the 3rd Division would open up the defensive zone to allow its troops to enter and rest.
Han Deloitte
The New Fourth Army itself was not welcome, after all, Han Deqin had a bad record, had too many previous convictions, and did not know how many traitors there were in his defeated troops, but adhering to the principle of "anti-Japanese united front," Chen Yi, commander of the New Fourth Army, still decided to open the defense zone and provide materials to help him rest and recover as soon as possible.
Chen Yi's perspective was considered under the overall situation of the national war of resistance, but he never expected that Han Deloitte would stab himself in the back.
After Han Deloitte was defeated, the New Fourth Army undertook all the pressure of the Japanese puppet army's sweep, and the main strength and resources of the New Fourth Army were invested in the front line.
However, at this moment, Han Deqin received a secret telegram from Chiang Kai-shek and, in the name of transferring troops, immediately after resting, gathered his forces to launch a sneak attack on the base area of the New Fourth Army, occupied two strategic places in Lirenji and Chen Daokou in the northwestern region of Siyang County, the Huaihai base area, and then led more than 4,000 people across the canal to occupy Jinsuo Town, Jietouji, and Shanzitou in the Huaibei Anti-Japanese Base Area.
The New Fourth Army was suddenly caught in a situation of two-sided attack.
New fourth army
At this time, the New Fourth Army had been fighting for more than a month, the whole was very tired, and when it heard that it was being attacked by "friendly troops" behind it, all the righteous indignation was filled with indignation, and Chen Yi also made up his mind to teach this Han Deloitte a lesson!
On March 17, Peng Xuefeng, commander of the 4th Division of the New Fourth Army, commanded the main force of the 4th Division, as well as the 2nd and 3rd Divisions each launched a self-defense counterattack against Han Deloitte's main force stationed at Shanzitou.
The main offensive force was handed over to Wei Guoqing's 9th Brigade, targeting Han Deloitte's headquarters at a landlord's estate, as well as the 3rd Security Column. In order to achieve the effect of the surprise attack, Wei Guoqing set the troops to attack the position relatively far, and after the attack was launched, he used a long-distance attack to catch the enemy by surprise.
In fact, after the battle began, Han Deloitte was completely unprepared, and when the shells fell, he still thought of going to Hongze Lake to feed the fish, and even the sentries were not set up.
Since Han Deloitte organized almost no decent defense, the New Fourth Army achieved a comprehensive victory after only one night of fighting, annihilating most of Han Deloitte's troops and capturing more than 1,000 people, including Han Deloitte.
On the 25th, Chen Yi rushed to the 4th Division to discuss how to deal with the follow-up matters.
Chen Yi
Although the battle was won, things were very tricky. Because it is reasonable to say that he can be shot for the crime of "undermining the united front", but if Han Deloitte is shot, he is also a high-ranking official, and the Nationalist army in the northern Jiangsu region is leaderless, and Chiang Kai-shek is likely to take the opportunity to transfer the more difficult Tang Enbo to take charge of Jiangsu, and may even bite the New Fourth Army and launch a civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communists.
The purpose of punishment has been achieved, in order to avoid the escalation of the situation and sabotage the overall situation of the War of Resistance, so Chen Yi still wants to release Han Deqin, but the matter is very important, Chen Yi still decided to ask Yan'an first to listen to Yan'an's opinion:
"Han Deqin was captured on the morning of the 19th, and we pretended not to know each other and planned to be released among the captives. How is it? ”
Yan'an also quickly replied:
"Agree!"
Chen Yi not only did not shoot Han Deqin, but also gave preferential treatment to the captured officers, and the general prisoners were also released with travel expenses, and a farewell party was held before the release.
As for Han Deloitte's capture, Chen Yi also announced that he would keep it strictly confidential both internally and externally, and released him among ordinary prisoners.
However, the funny thing came, the New Fourth Army wanted to pretend not to know Han Deloitte, but Han Deloitte himself jumped out and admitted his identity, and not only refused to leave, but also shouted to see Chen Yi.
"Chen Yi must see me!"
The cadre in charge of the custody could not drive him away, and there was no way but to report to the chief for instructions on what to do next.
Chen Yi was worried that Han Deloitte wanted to make trouble, so he asked Peng Xuefeng and Deng Zihui to discuss, and finally everyone decided to see each other, and there was nothing to be afraid of in the face of the lost dog.
As a result, Han Deloitte really came to admit his mistake, and he was forced by Chiang Kai-shek and Tang Enbo to admit that the conflict was his own fault first.
"Man wants a face, and a tree wants bark." I have now fallen to such a point that I have no face to see. ”
"Blame me for being obsessed with ghosts, it's all self-inflicted."
Chen Yi saw that his attitude was sincere and began to educate: "I hope that you will accept the lesson, stop taking a reactionary stand, and make enemies of the people to the end." ”
Han Deqin saw that Chen Yi was actually still worried about asking, afraid that Chen Yi would let himself go back and beat himself, after all, this time he was really scared, so he asked very cautiously: "After letting me go back this time, will you still beat me?" ”
Chen Yi saw this funny look on his face and said humorously: "Whether you fight or not depends on your attitude." ”
Before leaving, Han Deqin carefully asked if he could let the New Fourth Army return some of the captured weapons to him, after all, it was difficult to give Chiang Kai-shek an account of "naked" return; at the same time, he wanted the New Fourth Army to draw a territory for himself; the hat of the chairman of Jiangsu Province also let him continue to wear it, so that his face would also be passable.
Chen Yi had actually thought about it long ago and basically agreed to Han Deloitte's request, first, to prevent Chiang Kai-shek's other forces from entering Jiangsu and bring greater uncertainties to the War of Resistance; second, this time he also took this opportunity to let Han Deloitte provide intelligence for the New Fourth Army as a half-underground party; third, Han Deloitte's ability was like that, which posed a great threat to the New Fourth Army, and it would be different to replace it with Tang Enbolai.
On April 1, under the guidance of Yan'an, the New Fourth Army signed a secret agreement with the Kuomintang Sulu Theater to return more than 300 guns and a radio station, while giving 80,000 yuan.
Han Deloitte retained his face and position, and was extremely grateful to the New Fourth Army, not only never looking for trouble for the New Fourth Army again, but also secretly passing on some of Chiang Kai-shek's plans to the New Fourth Army, which can also be regarded as making some contributions to the development of the New Fourth Army.
When it came to the Huaihai Campaign of the Liberation War, what Chen Yi may not have expected was that this Han Deqin actually became the deputy commander-in-chief of the "Xuzhou Suppression General" by relying on "sweet mouths", and the results of the Huaihai Campaign were naturally known to everyone.