On the eighth day of the first month of the Wuzi year of the lunar calendar, that is, on January 6, 1949 in the Gregorian calendar, less than a month after the liberation of the entire urban and rural areas of Baoying, the leaders of a so-called "congenital Tao" gathered some Taoists in Baoying, Gaoyou and other places, and threw out demagogic slogans: in front of the Confucian Temple in Baoying City, support the "true son of heaven" to ascend the throne.
On the eve of "Laba", these Taoists coaxed and instigated thousands of ignorant people in the rural areas of Gao and Bao, shouting "kill xxx and capture Baoying City", holding shovels and wooden sticks, and some of them were also wielding big knives and carrying bamboo baskets (it is said that with the fan in their hands, the bullets fired by the enemy will fall into the basket), from the south, north, and east, shouting and rushing towards the city. At that time, although many of the old city walls around Baoying had collapsed and been broken, they had not yet been demolished, and the people's government could use them to defend against the enemy for a while. Of course, the county leaders had already learned about the reactionary riot a little earlier, took precautions, and informed the vast number of cadres working in the rural areas in advance to withdraw to the county seat as soon as possible. Despite this, there were still a very small number of people who had not had time to evacuate and fell into the "mouth of the tiger" and were arrested by the reactionary feudal sect elements, suffering misery, and even a few cadres were taken to "sacrifice the flag" by those who were mad.
In the evening of Laba, I came home from school and came out of Baozhong in Zhujia Lane and went out of the city via Beimen Street, but found that the city gate was closed. Just when I was hesitating whether I could leave the city through the West Gate, my good friend Jiang Keqin, who had officially participated in the revolutionary work, appeared in front of me. He works in a compound jointly established by the Baoying District Committee of the Communist Party of China and the District People's Government on Beimen Chengnei Street. Jiang Jun told me that the chaos had happened, and asked me to stay and go home after the situation stabilized.
In the compound of the district party committee, I soon met Zhang Li, who was my old neighbor in my early years -- Zhang Dexing, a former member of the "underground party" who had been arrested and tortured by the Japanese gendarmerie, and who had been rescued by the organization, and who had become the head of the first district of our city. Zhang Li told him that he would be busy all night organizing and directing the fight against an enemy force, and that he would want me to stay in his one-room hut in the district government on the night of Laba. In the compound, I also saw another leading cadre of the big man busy, he was Yan Sheng, who had served as the head and secretary of the organization section of the district party committee, that is, he had become a close old friend of my lifelong friends in Yangzhou and Beijing.
It's freezing outside, and the candlelight is shaking indoors. I spent a sleepless night in Chief Zhangli's hut. In the first half of the night, I always heard the footsteps of people coming and going in the compound. Among them, some cadres asked, "Why did you urgently transfer us from the countryside back to the city?" and some said to themselves: "If you take a step too late, you will be beheaded by the mob and sacrifice the flag." Others sighed and said: "I did not expect that so many peasants were influenced by superstition, deceived by the sect, and used by the enemy. "About 100 cadres were summoned to the district party committee compound from 8 to 10 p.m. They had a hurried dinner or evening meal, which they ate as they came, and served it at any time, anyway, in large bowls of porridge and pickles. After eating, three or five or seven or eight people accepted the tasks assigned by the two leaders of the county party committee, Hong Ze, the propaganda director and secretary of the urban district, and Zhang Li, the head of the district, and went to defend the city. All those who had weapons were armed with live ammunition or large knives, and some even carried homemade shouting microphones to the designated places.
Since our government is a government of the people and enjoys the support of the people, the backstage planning and conspiracy of the rioters and the remnants of the reactionary forces of the Kuomintang were already under the control of the Baoying County CPC Committee and the people's government. The vast number of cadres in our rural areas returned to the cities in a concentrated manner only at the call of the county party committee in order to avoid suffering losses due to dispersion.
In the middle of the night, the situation was as expected, and it became tense. At this time, it is a critical moment for us to defend the city. The compound of the Baoying District Party Committee and District Government, where I am located, is less than 200 meters away from the North City Gate. In the middle of the day, a horn whistle began to sound outside the northern city. Immediately afterward, whistles rang out from all sides. This was accompanied by the shouts of the crowd and the chaotic sound of small drums. These intertwined waves of sound broke the silence of the night over the town. When the horn whistle stops in one place, it stops everywhere as well. Obviously, this was a signal for the insurrectionary commanders to assemble and contact in advance. After a while, the whistle started again, blowing closer and closer, gradually to the north gate, the noise and shouting loudly: ask to enter the city, greet the Buddha, and pay homage to the little king.
At this time, our armed men defending the city shouted to the crowd outside the city: "Brothers, peasants, you must not be deceived, retreat quickly, and disperse home!" "Do not be deceived by the reactionaries, but listen to the words of the people's government!" These clear shouts resounded again and again at the gates of the northern city and in the northeast corners of the city walls. This has indeed played a certain role in curbing the "siege of the city."
After a short period of "Wendou" with the other side calling and our side shouting, those reactionary Taoist leaders believed that they were outnumbered, and many Taoists who were mired in superstition called themselves "talisman protectors", and not only did not listen to persuasion, but instead encouraged their "vanguard troops" to attack the city. Some of the men climbed the city walls on foot empty-handed, and a few of the road leaders slashed the gates with swords and axes. Our defenders shouted again to persuade them, but to no avail, they fired warning shots, which frightened the besiegers away, and the noise faded away.
After a while, the riot commanders may have redeployed, louder shouts outside the city began, and in some places there were fires and loud crowds, and the riots had intensified. In this case, the defenders of the city had to be on standby. Our cadres who have been tempered by the Liberation War and our irregular armed personnel have really "used one as ten" or even "one as a hundred" to hold the position in the city. Unable to bear it and in self-defense, they had to shoot at certain points against some stubborn, wall-climbing thugs. The rabble retreated. The fallen guy is not invulnerable. They deceive themselves and deceive others, and they deserve to die!
By the fifth watch in the second half of the night, that is, on the ninth day of the lunar month and the early morning of January 7, 1949 in the Gregorian calendar, the tense situation had been significantly eased. At dawn, looking out from the north city wall, I saw that two groups of 30-40 people each had withdrawn to the Lusong Pier, and I also saw people carrying the big flags they had made themselves -- round spherical flags with red borders on a white background and "handsome" in the book, and several pennants with red backgrounds and white edges. At about 8 o'clock in the morning of the ninth day of the lunar month, some of our armed men at the north gate decided to attack. The rioters fled in fear.
Our revolutionary armed forces could have continued the pursuit, or even annihilated this group with "hot" weapons, which would have solved the problem with just a few rounds of bullets. However, our government is, after all, a people's government with an eye on the people. It is not the more numerous deceived who are to be punished, but the few planners of the riot and their main leaders. In this way, the farce directed by the Kuomintang reactionaries in some parts of the Soviet Union and Central China came to an end.
During the anti-riot struggle, there was an episode that I still remember deeply: Zhao Shoulin, a captain of the district government who was in charge of security work, captured a few prisoners and entrusted me to take care of them. In front of the cold wind, I saw these stupid guys shivering from the cold, and they were huddled together in fright. They are all dressed as peasants, and they all wear a small cotton jacket in the harsh winter. The difference was that two of them had thick cinnabar painted on the front of their heads and upper lip, and the other two had a boxy yellow "charm" sewn on their chests. In front of us, Captain Zhao raised his big knife and shouted at them: "I heard that you believe in God and are invulnerable, I have to try it on you today." Before the words fell, these captives begged for mercy in unison: "Don't believe it, don't believe it, spare your life, spare your life!" Lao Zhao's frightening action seemed to have played a certain role in driving away superstition for these innate Taoists who were deeply trapped in superstition, making them wake up and enlighten themselves.
The prisoners I managed later confessed that if the rebellion was successful, the little emperor would "ascend the throne" in front of the Confucian Temple in the city, and everyone who participated in the siege would be rewarded with 10 pieces of ocean. This dreamy remark caused a burst of laughter from those present. After hearing this, I was deeply moved: It is no wonder that the reactionary political swindlers have so easily attacked the ignorant peasant masses, and it is no wonder that the task of "educating the peasants" is so heavy! For these hungry, cold, and frightened prisoners, the urban organs not only beat or scold them, but also gave each of them a bowl of hot porridge to eat.
This is what I personally experienced and directly knew about the "Laba" counter-revolutionary uprising in 1948 in the lunar calendar. Since I live outside the north gate of Baoying County, and the seat of the CPC Urban Committee and the District People's Government where I spent this unforgettable night is located on the inner street of Beimen City, the main content of my memories is that it happened in the north and northeast of the county seat that year. As for the west gate of Baoying Town, because it is close to the Grand Canal, there are not many residents, and the west of the river is a large water network and sparsely populated, so the situation on the night of "Laba" is relatively calm. I don't know what happened in the south and east cities. I guess it's similar to the North City where I am and its surroundings.
Afterwards, I further learned that the "Laba" riot basically subsided in one day, but the city gates were closed for three days. According to investigation, the organizer and leader of the riot was named Cai Defa, whose name was Wuyunzi, and he was 42 years old at the time. He lived in Yangzhou, which had not yet been liberated. As early as a month before the riots, Cai Defa convened a meeting of 46 "handsome" in Yangzhou to set up. On December 11, 1948, the third day after the liberation of Baoying, some of the participants sneaked back to the rural area of Baoying, bringing back red and white cloth flags, symbols, wooden stamps, and letters of appointment. Each hall further developed its innate Tao members, organized sword meetings, and burned incense to open the hall. The backbone elements who participated in the riot also swore swears and cursed and bathed themselves. When they "marched" into the city, they coerced and lured some of the masses along the way to join in order to gain momentum.
As a result of the "Laba" riots, one of the main leaders, Han Gan and others, were captured. In accordance with the traditional policy of "dealing with the first evil, and cooperating in the first evil, the people who participated in the riot were finally dealt with." Before and after this rebellion was quelled, five of our cadres were brutally murdered by the innate Taoists because they did not evacuate to the city in time.
The rebellion of the reactionary Huidaomen was quelled, and the remnants of the Kuomintang who had plotted this conspiracy were dealt a heavy blow. Thousands of sails passed by the side of the sinking boat, and ten thousand trees were spring in front of the sick tree. In the sound of firecrackers, the working people of Baoying urban and rural areas celebrated the first Spring Festival after liberation, that is, in 1949, by twisting Yangge, beating gongs and drums, and singing "Follow the Communist Party".
In this year, for our "orphans and widows" family, although we still lack food and clothing financially, we have greatly relaxed spiritually. Judging from her mother's face, she has been frowning for many years, and suddenly realized that our life was not "destined" to be bad, but caused by the Japanese imperialist invasion of China and the rule of the Kuomintang reactionary regime. Since then, since the liberation, my mother has not believed in ghosts or gods in her life, but only believes in the Communist Party and Chairman Mao, and she has been more persistent in supporting me to go to school and make progress.
[Fan Chengzuo, born in April 1931 in Baoying County, Jiangsu Province. Former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Albania, poet, senior translator and professor. In the late 40s and early 50s of the 20th century, he studied at Baoying Middle School and Yangzhou Middle School, and was admitted to Peking University in 1953, majoring in journalism. As one of the first batch of students sent by the mainland after the liberation, he graduated from the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Tirana in Albania in 1957. In the same year, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was the main translator of Albanian language for Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and other leaders of the older generation, and was one of the first 50 "senior translators" awarded and commended by the People's Republic of China. 】