Editor's note: In September 1932, under the white terror of the Kuomintang reactionaries, in order to support the anti-"encirclement and suppression" struggle in the Hubei-Yu-Anhui-Soviet region, the party organizations in the two counties of Yubei and Qinji led an armed uprising that shocked the Central Plains and launched a guerrilla war on the Yu-Jin-border side. This glorious feat is a major historical event that can be sung and wept in the history of the Jiyuan Party and even in the history of the Henan Party. Today, 90 years later, in order to look back on this heroic and tragic history and remember the revolutionary martyrs, Duan Dewen, former director of the Party History Research Office of the Provincial Party Committee and associate researcher, wrote an article entitled "A Glorious Feat -- Commemorating the 90th Anniversary of the Qinji Armed Struggle", which is now published for readers.
Make riot plans and prepare for riots
In early 1932, faced with the Songhu War provoked by the Japanese army invading China, the Nanjing government of the Kuomintang, which had flattered and humiliated the country, moved its capital to Luoyang and stubbornly pursued the reactionary policy of "bringing in foreign countries before securing the interior." Chiang Kai-shek was bent on turning Henan into a strategic base for encircling and suppressing the Hubei-Yu-Anhui Soviet region, that is, holding military conferences in Kaifeng and Zhengzhou, and transferring a large number of troops to gather in various parts of southern Henan. In June of the same year, Chiang Kai-shek launched the fourth major "encirclement and suppression" of the revolutionary base areas, personally appointed commander-in-chief of the Hubei-Yu-Anhui Communists, sat in Wuhan, commanded 24 divisions and five brigades, and murderously attacked the Hubei-Yu-Anhui-Soviet region.
Under this serious situation, in accordance with the spirit of the central directives, the Henan Provincial CPC Committee actively mobilized the people of the White District to support and cooperate with the anti-"encirclement and suppression" struggle in the Soviet Region. In northern Yubei, in order to contain the enemy's Shang Zhen troops from moving south, the provincial party committee decided to launch a guerrilla war on the Yujin border. As early as early March, the provincial party committee decided to "wage guerrilla warfare" in Jiyuan. Central Inspector Li Baoyi and Luoyang Central County Party Secretary Wan Shoushan personally arrived in Jiyuan to arrange a guerrilla plan. In April, the provincial party committee designated "Jiyuan, Wenxian, Wuchen, and Jiaozuo as a guerrilla zone"; at the same time, the central county party committee of Jiaozuo was established to lead it. After the defeat of Jiyuan's first guerrilla war, the head of the county party committee, the party party committee, went to the province to report, and then was sent back to the county as an inspector of the provincial party committee to restore the organization and open up the work in Qinyang.
In mid-June, in order to implement the spirit of the meeting of representatives of the northern provinces convened by the central authorities and to support and cooperate with the fourth anti-encirclement and suppression struggle in the Soviet region, the provincial party committee promptly formulated a guerrilla war plan on the Yu-Jinbian region, decided to launch armed riots in Jiyuan, Qinyang, Jiaozuo, Wuchen, Daokou, and other places, set up seven Red Army guerrilla brigades, and opened up a new Soviet region on the Yu-Jinbian border, echoing the north and south of the Hubei-Yu-Anhui Soviet region, and pinching the enemies of Zheng and Bian. Li Xinmin, the propaganda director of the provincial party committee (who later rebelled against the revolution), was sent to northern Yubei to inspect the work. In Jiyuan, he formulated a guerrilla plan for the western region of northern Yu, linking "Qinyang and Jiyuan as the core of the launch of the western region of northern Yubei". Soon after, Zhang ××, special commissioner of the provincial party committee, went to Jiyuan to hold an important meeting in Shihe Village, attended by seven people, including Dang Jixin, Guo Dafo, and Zhai Maolin. The meeting conveyed instructions from the provincial party committee, focusing on the deployment of armed insurrection. After the meeting, these comrades quickly returned to various places and stepped up their preparations.
At that time, the Qin and Ji counties were regarded as the central areas for carrying out armed struggle, mainly because they had quite favorable conditions.
Qinji and Ji counties are located at the junction of Yu and Jin. It is bordered by the mighty Yellow River in the south, the majestic Taihang in the north, the Wangwu in the west, Meng County and Wen County in the southeast, and Boai and Jiaozuo in the northeast.
Under the dark rule of the Kuomintang, the economic and cultural situation of Qinji and other counties was very backward. Heavy land rents and usury, as well as exorbitant taxes and taxes, squeezed out the blood and sweat of the poor peasants. At that time, it was recorded that Jiyuan's "exploitation of land rent was generally more than 70 to 80 percent" and "usury interest was as high as 10 percent." In the spring of 32, the warlord Liu Zhenhua forcibly distributed 24,000 yuan in military salaries in Jiyuan alone, and the county public donated 14,000 yuan plus 280,000 jin of grain and socks and an additional donation of one or two silvers, causing the people to be poor and their resentment boiling. In the summer and autumn of the same year, it was hit by water, insects, and hailstorms, and the gravity of the disaster was "unheard of in history", and "the cry of crying on the side of the field was miserable." The vast number of peasants sold their children and daughters, were displaced, and struggled to die. At this time, the Qinji people, who were rich in a glorious revolutionary tradition, rose up one after another to carry out a struggle against the landlord gentry and against donations and taxes.
The foundation of the party in Qin and Ji counties is relatively good. As early as the period of the First Civil Revolutionary War, communists Yang Jieren, Dang Jixin, Shi Shifu, Niu Xiuzhi, and others engaged in revolutionary activities in Qinji and Ji counties. As soon as the Great Revolution failed, the party working in the Provincial Federation of Trade Unions resolutely returned to Jiyuan and established the Jiyuan Special Branch. After 1930, under the direct leadership of the Luoyang Central County CPC Committee, six people, including Xue Zizhong and Dang Jixin, formed the Jiyuan County CPC Committee to lead the county normal students and the vast number of peasants in Northwest Township to carry out revolutionary struggle. By the spring of 32, nine party branches, one district party committee, and four league branches had been established in the county, with a total of more than 100 party members; Fourteen township poor people's committees were established, with more than 300 members and about 1,000 basic masses directly under the influence of the revolution.
At that time, Li Baoyi, a central inspector of the work of the Jiyuan Party, said after inspecting it: "In Henan, it is relatively sound and powerful," "the party county party committee and the regiment county party committee are relatively sound," and "branches and mass organizations can indeed perform their work." Although the first guerrilla war was defeated and some comrades were forced to flee or go underground, the revolutionary forces suffered little loss. In May, after the party returned to Jiyuan (one of the responsible persons of the Jiaozuo Central County CPC Committee), soon after the party held a meeting at the Daming Temple in Xucheng to set up a "mobile county party committee," with Zhang Jinglu as secretary, Du Payne in charge of the organization, Zhang Hanshan in charge of propaganda, and comrades Miao Jiping and Zhang Hanshan in the committee. After that, it resumed its organization in the county seat, northwest township and Daheli and other places, carried out work, and expanded the revolutionary forces.
At the same time, Dang Jixin and Miao Jiping went to Hua Village at the junction of Jiqin and found Guo Xiaokun (one of the leaders of the Daheli branch) to carry out the work of opening up Qinyang. They got in touch with the Qinyang Guo Buddha through their merits. At that time, Guo Dafo was the head of the party department of Biyang County of the Kuomintang, and his ideology was on the left side, and the contradiction with the diehards of the county party department was becoming increasingly acute. In 1928, he and Guo Jianzhong launched an anti-feudal struggle among students and peasants in the Ziling area, which provoked reactionary forces to suppress it, resulting in the "Ziling Massacre". In order to fight the diehards, Guo Dafo assassinated Wang Xiangchen, the director of the puppet county education bureau, and then fled to Beiping.
After the "918 Incident," he returned to Qinyang and actively carried out the anti-Japanese rescue movement with Li Guanzhi and Ren Jianzhang, established the Student Anti-Japanese Salvation Association in the county normal and various middle schools, and organized the Student Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army. At the same time, Guo Dafo concurrently served as the deputy head of the militia group of the sixth district, and sent Guo Shunren as the leader of the civilian team of the sixth district to master the armed forces of the sixth district. According to Guo Dafo's situation and requirements, the party introduced him to the provincial party committee to report on the situation in Qinyang. After he returned to the county, he immediately recruited Li Guanzhi, Ren Jianzhang, Guo Shunren, and Huang Benkun into the party and established the Qinyang County Party Group Branch. At the same time, he used his legal status and influence in the county party department to carry out work in various schools, district vigilante groups, and some rural areas. Soon, under the leadership of the party, the county normal students defeated the reactionary principal, and poor people's groups were established in the countryside around Ziling, "In terms of arming, with the sixth district as the center, three districts can be captured with certainty." ”
In July, the provincial party committee sent Guo Xiaotang back to Qinyang to assist Guo Dafo in preparing for the riot, and handed him two pamphlets "On the Art of Rioting" and "How the Guerrillas Moved." After Guo Xiaotang arrived in Qinyang, he conveyed the instructions of the provincial party committee, and then held a "summer reading club" with Guo Dafo at Zilingjian Primary and Middle School, organizing more than 20 young people from the party group to study Marxism-Leninism and guerrilla warfare and arm their thinking, thus cultivating a number of backbone forces for the upcoming Qinji riot.
At this time, Zhang Jun, the former head of the Provincial Mutual Masonic Association, and Li Shouzheng, the provincial committee of the Youth League, defected to the enemy. On 23 July, the provincial party committee organs were damaged with unprecedented seriousness. More than 20 principal responsible persons, including Secretary Ji Guozhen, Secretary General and Minister of Women Yang Siping, Secretary General and Secretary of the Youth League Committee Wang Boyang, and Propaganda Director Zheng Manshi of the Provincial Party Committee, were arrested, a large number of important documents were confiscated, and many secrets, including the "Plan for Building the New Chi District of Jiyuan," were exposed. Liu Zhi, chairman of the puppet province, immediately ordered military and political organs in various localities to carry out a large-scale search and arrest throughout the province. Party organizations at all levels suffered one after another, and dark clouds shrouded the entire Central Plains.
At this time, Liu Zhi was overjoyed and advocated: "The bandit lost contact after this blow, that is, knowing that the important organs were cracked, it would inevitably be shaken, all previous military plans were bound to change course, and the traffic obstruction was by no means recoverable in the short term, but the future of the bandits (referring to the "encirclement and suppression" of the Soviet region) was of great benefit" Liu Zhi went on to petition the Kuomintang government to reprint the written evidence of the Communist Party that he had seized and "promulgate it throughout the country" in an attempt to make all localities celebrate his achievements.
Qin and Ji armed riots
At a time when the reactionaries were in full swing, from 6 to 9 September 1932, the party Jixin and Guo Dafo led the Qin and Ji riots in the Yujin border region. The loud gunfire under the Taihang Mountain struck hard at the reactionary arrogance of Liu Zhi and his gang and greatly encouraged the people of Henan in the white terror.
In this great destruction of the province's organization, Qin and Jier counties were not spared. At the end of July, Zhang Hanshan, the propaganda director of the Jiyuan County Party Committee, was arrested and imprisoned. On 15 August, the enemy surrounded the Mazhai School, Zhang Jinglu and Hao Peien walked over the wall, and Sun Zhuxiao and Gao Shangzhi were arrested. At the same time, Qinyang County dispatched a company of enemy troops to surround Ziling Town and Guo Dafo's house. At this time, Dang Jixin (pseudonym Li Tiande) lived in Jianzhong Primary School, and Guo Dafo was mourned at home. Under the cover of comrades, they escaped and sneaked to Zhengzhou to report to the provincial party committee, knowing that 14 people, including Ji Guozhen, secretary of the provincial party committee, had been brutally killed on 20 August, and that the provincial party committee organs and joints were gone.
The party and Guo went to Kaifeng again to find Li Xinmin, the propaganda director of the provincial party committee, who had survived, but Li had lost confidence in the riot plan, and the result of the conversation was "finally not decided what to do." Guo Dafo went to Heda to discuss with Guo Xiaotang. After that, the two went to Xuchang and found Zhang Zhenya, secretary of the Provincial Military Commission, just in time for Xu Chang's big search, and Zhang was nowhere to be found. At this point, the party and Guo witnessed the destruction of party organizations in various places, comrades moving in all directions, and the arrogance of the enemy, which aroused incomparable indignation. They wanted not to let the provincial party committee's planned riot plan "silently be destroyed." Therefore, he immediately made a decisive decision: quickly return to Qin and Ji, launch a riot, and reply to Liu Butcher (Liu Zhi) with the red terror of Yu and Jin: "The Communist Party in Henan has not been slaughtered"!
On September 5, in the vast night, the party and Guo returned to Ziling Town, Qinyang. Soon found Ren Jianzhang, Guo Shunren and others to study decision-making. They analyzed the current situation: the enemy army in northern Yubei went to besiege the Soviet region, and the remaining enemy was weak and unexpected, pulling out the team of the sixth district commanded by Guo Shunren, and there was a possibility of success in one fell swoop. Moreover, at this time, Guo Shunren was suspected of being removed from the position of captain, and a new appointment was about to take office. Therefore, the meeting decided: quickly riot, and then pull the team to the Qinji border to carry out a guerrilla war. Immediately sent Guo Shunren back to the team to do internal response; Zhang Shigang of Song Zhai was sent to inform Zhang Shigang and others of the uprising to make up the red banner of the uprising and wear a marker: Zhang Qiliang of Zhao Zhai was notified to organize the peasant masses in his village.
The prelude to the Qin and Ji riots has begun!
On the night of 6 September, more than 10 young farmers, including Ren Jianzhang, Zhang Shigang, and Zhang Qiliang, led by Dang Jixin and Guo Daofo, led by Dang Jixin and Guo Daofo, as well as Zhang Chongtian, Zhang Qien, and Li Daofa of Zhao Zhai, armed with machetes and wooden sticks, went straight to Yiyizhuang, where the office of the sixth district and the team were located. When he arrived at the edge of the village, with the red light as the signal, Guo Shunren opened the door to answer, and then divided into two ways: Guo Dafo and others rushed into the regiment headquarters, summoning the whole team from their dreams, and the peasant comrades broke into the district office, burned all the official document books, smashed the electric living machine, tied up the pseudo-staff who had committed evil, and rushed to the regiment headquarters to assemble. At this time, Guo Dafo announced an armed riot, and the "Yujin border Red Army guerrilla" was established. All the group members were poor peasants, and they were usually instilled with revolutionary consciousness by the captain Guo Shunren, and at this time they enthusiastically supported going up the mountain to fight guerrilla. More than 40 people on the spot were fully armed, wearing red cloth bands, shouting slogans, raising red flags, and left Yizhuang and marched west along the Taihang Mountain in the night.
At dawn on the seventh day, the team marched to Ziling Town, which coincided with the market. The fighters immediately put up slogans everywhere and carried out propaganda. The party took the new table to give a revolutionary speech, and Guo Dafo burned all the account books and title deeds in his house in public. Suddenly, it caused a sensation in the entire market. Hundreds of people from all over the world came to listen to the propaganda, all rejoicing.
After breakfast, the insurgent team continued to march west, spreading propaganda along the way, and reached Luzhai Village at the junction of Qinji at noon. Not far west of the village is the mouth of the Qin River, and the Taihang Mountain is close behind it. The original plan was to open up a base area in this area, so as soon as the team arrived, it announced that it would distribute grain and eat large households, and mobilize the masses in their own village and neighboring villages to divide the grain and property of landlords Li Jianzhong and Ning Zhaofeng.
Qinyang rioted, shaking the enemy. In the morning, the Qinyang puppet county government sent a large number of vigilante groups to surround Ziling and Zhao Zhai, and arrested Zhang Qiliang and Zhang Chongtian who remained behind. At 4 p.m., the militia groups of Qinji and the two counties set out to encircle the village. The rebel team immediately moved to the Taihang Mountains north of Luzhai Village. A meeting was held to study the next action plan. In the end, it was decided that the rebel team would temporarily evade the mountains, and Lü Cunliang (Tuan Ding, the leader of the first shift) would be in charge: Dang Jixin, Guo Dafo, Guo Shunren, Ren Jianzhang and other five people would go west to Jiyuan to launch a riot.
The party and Guo and their entourage of five crossed the Qin River at night, hurried 70 miles, and arrived at Xinzhuang Village, Northwest Township, Jiyuan, at dawn on the 8th, to find the original letter of the peasant party member. It has been learned that the vigilante groups in this area have also been transferred to Suzhai to "suppress bandits," and comrades who were previously forced to flee have returned. Dang Jixin and others made a quick decision and decided to surprise the five district offices and vigilante groups in Wushan Town. Immediately sent Yuan Xin and Wang Mincheng to Xunzhang, Beishe and other villages to inform the relevant personnel and prepare for action.
On the afternoon of September 9 (8 August of the lunar calendar), the people who participated in the riot gathered outside Xinzhuang Village, including Yuan Xin, Wang Mincheng, Cheng Shouqian, Zhang Jinglu, Miao Hongfang, Xue Zuozhi, Fan Congzhe, Liang Zhuyun, and others, plus Guo Dafo, under the leadership of the party Jixin, and rushed straight to Wushan Town. After entering the town, the party, Guo, and others wore military uniforms and pistols pinned to their waist; after entering the town, they immediately went straight to the district office in the name of "recruiting new soldiers," took advantage of the enemy's defenselessness, first solved the problem of the remaining regiment, and then killed Wang Zongrun, a pseudo-employee and Li Chuanxing, the puppet village chief, and others, a total of seven people, seized more than 10 guns, more than 300 rounds of bullets, more than 300 yuan in foreign countries, one horse, and burned all the official document books. The surprise attack was successful, and the team pulled to the Erxian Temple in Beishe Village. Dang Jixin, Guo Shunren, and others took advantage of the victory to capture the enemy's secret agent Li Zhongxin and two bailiffs urging grain.
The area around Northwest Township is located in the foothills of the Taihang Mountains, the land is barren and mostly temple property, there are many tenant farmers, and the life is extremely poor. After 1930, the peasant struggles led by the Communist Party in this area were vigorously carried out, and "poor people's associations" and party branches were set up in the villages of Beishe, Xunzhang, and Xinzhuang, and the mass base was very good. After the party arrived at Beishe, he immediately decided to mobilize the masses overnight and divide more than 100 stone grain from three wealthy households including Cheng Yuanming in his village. Early the next morning, the grain of several landlords such as Miao Qitai and Jiao Ruihai of Xunzhang Village was distributed. The flames of the riot were lit, and the vast number of poor peasants flocked to the masses. A mass meeting was held in Xunzhang Village, and the party took the stage to make a speech, calling on the vast number of peasants to arm themselves and participate in guerrilla warfare and create a new Soviet region on the border of Yujin and Jin. So far, the Qinji riots have been realized one after another, which has greatly inspired the broad masses of the people.
After the Jiyuan riot, the leaders were eager to pull out the team and march east to meet the division, which happened to encounter heavy rain, so that the riot did not spread out in the northwest township, and only in the villages of Beishe and Xunzhang, more than 50 young and middle-aged peasants were gathered to brave the rain in Xunzhang village to rectify. After study, it was decided to reorganize the riot teams in the two counties in accordance with the original "guerrilla war plan on the Yujin border." The Qinyang side was named the "Fourth Group of the Red Army Guerrilla Brigade on the Yujin Border", with Ren Jianzhang as the leader of the brigade (who had returned to lead the team); Here is the seventh brigade, with five squads, headed by Guo Shunren: the party succeeded as the new director of the political department of the Red Army guerrilla group in Yujin and Jinbian and Guo Dafo as the military director. After that, Dang and Guo immediately led the team along the Taihang Shandong, intending to join the Fourth Brigade.
Late at night, the team came to the Qin River. Flash floods and swollen waters, making it difficult to cross, that is, camping near Yutian on the west bank. At this moment, deeply afraid that Ren Jianzhang would lead the team to make a mistake, the party Jixin and Guo Shunren detoured across the river to meet them.
At dawn on the 11th, the Qin and Ji reactionary militia groups went up the river again to pursue the Seventh Brigade. Guo Dafo led the troops, fought and retreated, and moved northwest. When they arrived at the mountain pass on the border of Yu and Jin provinces, they captured four officers and soldiers of the Sun Dianying Department of southern Jinnan who had gone out, obtained three mules and four or five hundred yuan in banknotes, and when the rebel team retreated to Guan Pass on the border of Yangcheng County, Shanxi, they executed Li Zhongxin, an enemy agent who was detained by the army, to warn the enemy who was chasing them. Afterwards, the team entered Xiaolishuzhuang in Shanxi.
On this side, the party Jixin and Guo Shunren made a detour to Ma'anshan, met Ren Jianzhang and Li Leji of Luzhai, and informed them that the Fourth Brigade had been besieged by a strong enemy, and all the guns were scattered. So they returned to Hexi together. Comrade Zhang Jinglu, who was left behind by Guo Dafo, was waiting, and everyone hurried to catch up with the brigade. Guo Shunren, Ren Jianzhang, and Li Leji entered Shanxi and were arrested on the spot by the reactionary vigilante group in Qianyangcheng County. The two members of the party, who were walking behind, had to hide for the time being.
On the night of the 11th, Guo Dafo led the team back to Henan and camped at the mid-level col near Dalingtang at Jiaodikou. At dawn the next day, gunfire erupted, and the team was surrounded by Shanxi security forces, so they had to quickly withdraw into the mountains. As the guide panicked, he led the team into the desperate Zhibai ditch. Facing the deep cliff in front of the cliff, and then being attacked by the enemy, the rebel team that encountered the danger at the beginning quickly chaotic, and most of the team members risked their lives by jumping off the cliff and breaking through. After the battle, only Guo Dafo, Yuan Xin and two other comrades remained on the mountain, who hid in a remote col for three days. Guo Dafo was very disappointed when he saw that the team had collapsed, so he asked the other two comrades to go first, and he and Yuan Xin also prepared to find another way.
Just as Guo and Yuan were about to leave the mountain, the two team members who broke out and a farmer went up the mountain to find them. It turned out that after the team broke up that day, Wang Mincheng, Xue Zuozhi, Liang Xiaobao, Zhang Tiezhu, Miao Ruixiang, Miao Hongfang and more than ten other people ran into the western mountains and gathered in Qi Bone Ping, but a few days later Guo Dafo and others were still missing, so they sent people to look around. Guo and Yuan were overjoyed and immediately went to Qi Bone Ping.
To be continued