Yimeng Mountain was the three most important old revolutionary base areas during the Chinese Revolutionary War, and later, Yimeng was praised by countless revolutionary descendants as "the holy land of the two wars, the red Yimeng".
"Holy Land of World War II" - War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and War of Liberation
Linyi has a long history and profound cultural heritage, red tourism resources are diverse, widely distributed, rich in connotation, praised by tourism experts as the "Holy Land of the Two Wars" (War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation), in China's modern history, Yimeng Mountain and Jinggang Mountain, Taihang Mountain, Dabie Mountain are equally famous, is the country's five famous old revolutionary areas, where the story of "Yimeng Mother", "Yimeng Hongsao", "Yimeng Six Sisters" has been passed down from generation to generation.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, the old area of Yimeng was a famous revolutionary base area, the capital of the liberated area of Shandong and the command hub of the revolutionary struggle in East China, and was known as the "Holy Land of Revolution" in East China. Liu Shaoqi, Xu Xiangqian, Luo Ronghuan, Chen Yi, Su Yu and other proletarian revolutionaries of the older generation fought and lived here, leaving a large number of revolutionary relics.
In the early days of the founding of the party, Wang Jianmei, the founder of the party and a representative of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China, sowed the seeds of revolution in Linyi. In the spring of 1927, the first party branch in Yimeng Mountain, the Yishui branch of the Communist Party of China, was established. In the early 30s, the leaders of the local party organizations of the Communist Party of China launched several major armed uprisings in Yishui, Cangshan, and Longxugu, and carried out an attempt at revolutionary armed struggle.
In 1938, according to the new situation of the national revolutionary struggle after the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Party Central Committee successively dispatched Xu Xiangqian and Luo Ronghuan to lead the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army into Shandong and opened up the Yimeng Mountain Revolutionary Base Area. During the 12 years from this time to the liberation of the whole country, the Yimeng Mountain Area served as the headquarters of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, the Shandong Branch of the CPC Central Committee, the Military Headquarters of the New Fourth Army, the East China Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, the East China Military Region, the East China Field Army, the Shandong Provincial People's Government and other party, government and military organs. In this land of heroes, a large number of revolutionary relics of the older generation of revolutionaries and leaders such as Liu Shaoqi, Xu Xiangqian, Luo Ronghuan, Chen Yi, Su Yu, Xiao Hua, and Gu Mu have been left behind. These red cultural resources (including 2 national patriotic education bases, 13 provincial patriotic education bases, and 36 municipal patriotic education bases).
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, almost all the anti-Japanese armed forces in Shandong went to the northeast to seize the strategic places in the northeast and lay the first cornerstone of the Liberation War. The Battle of Menglianggu in the War of Liberation was even more well-known at home and abroad, crushing the key offensive of the Kuomintang army in one fell swoop. The Huaihai Campaign, launched from Yimeng Mountain, sounded the death knell of Kuomintang rule. From the battle of crossing the river to the liberation of the whole country, Yimeng Mountain has always been a powerful strategic rear base. The 38th Army, which was called "Long live" by Commander Peng Dehuai and "Who is the cutest person" by writer Wei Wei, was also composed of the 1st Division, the 2nd Division and the Binhai Detachment that persisted in the eight-year War of Resistance in Yimeng.
The dedication and sacrifice of the people of Yimeng Mountain is well-known in China. Yimeng Hongsao is the glory and pride of Yimeng Mountain. In the era when the fighting situation was extremely harsh and the material conditions were extremely difficult, in order to resist the enemy, destroy the enemy, and win the victory of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, thousands of Yimeng women paid tremendous sacrifices. With their youth and enthusiasm, they composed heroic and tragic moving movements, and shaped the glorious image of Chinese women in the new era with extraordinary practical actions. The holy milk of Yimeng Hongsao has fed the revolutionary aspirants, and the noble image of Yimeng Hongsao is condensed in the immortal monument of New China!
During the years of the revolutionary war, the heroic Yimeng people went forward one after another, made selfless dedication, and made outstanding contributions to the founding of New China. One-third of the generals of the Chinese People's Liberation Army who were awarded the title in 1955 had galloped on the battlefield in Yimeng Mountain.
From the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1937 to the strategic counteroffensive of the War of Liberation in 1948, the old area of Yimeng as an old area has left more than 60,000 martyrs with names, plus nearly 100,000 martyrs who have not left their names, and a total of more than 200,000 people have joined the army to participate in the war, China's large-scale war can continue until the end of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea in 1953, and the time for Yimeng people to participate in the war from 1937 to 1953 is 16 years.
When the Anti-Japanese War was won, more than 30,000 people from the first and second divisions and the coastal detachment were transferred from the old area of Yimeng to advance into the northeast to form the first column of Dongye, which was later the famous Chinese number one ace army, the 38th Army that won the title of "the loveliest man" for the People's Liberation Army and the reputation of "Long Live Army". During the War of Liberation, the Yimeng Mountains were the two places where the Kuomintang focused on attacking, and it was also the battlefield where the Kuomintang invested the largest number of troops and the most elite descendants. During the Liberation War, there were a large number of Yimeng people in the Sanye and Siye troops, which had the strongest troops. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Linyi, located in the hinterland of Yimeng, was the capital of the anti-Japanese base area in Shandong and the liberated area of Shandong, and was the residence of the East China Branch of the CPC Central Committee, the Shandong Provincial Wartime Administrative Committee, the Shandong Column of the Eighth Route Army, the Headquarters of the 115th Division, the First Branch of the Anti-Japanese University, and the Dazhong Daily. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the East China Bureau of the Communist Party of China, the East China Military Region, the East China Field Army, and the Shandong Provincial Government were also established in Linyi, and Linyi became the strategic command center of East China. The older generation of revolutionaries Liu Shaoqi, Chen Yi, Luo Ronghuan, Xu Xiangqian, Su Yu and others have all worked, lived and fought in the Yimeng Mountains. Among the 1,614 founding generals of the Republic awarded from 1955 to 1965, 3 marshals, 2 generals, 13 generals, 64 lieutenant generals and 349 major generals fought in Mengshan Yishui.
It is precisely in the long-term revolutionary practice that the Yimeng spirit of blending water and milk, life and death together, was born. The Yimeng spirit is the concrete bearing, display and sublimation of the revolutionary spirit of the Chinese communists in the red fertile soil of the Yimeng Mountains, and is the great spirit jointly forged by the party and the people, which vividly demonstrates the friendship and flesh-and-blood ties between the party, the army and the people.
Serving the people wholeheartedly is the nature and purpose of the party. In the Yimeng revolutionary base area, the Communist Party of China and the people's armed forces under its leadership have unswervingly and sacrificed their lives to fulfill the party's purpose. This has become the premise and foundation for the party and the masses of the people to share weal and woe and share a common destiny.
All for the masses. First of all, we should give the people visible material welfare. The party, government, and military organs at all levels in the Yimeng base area resolutely implement the party's purpose, establish the concept of putting the people first, always keep the well-being of the masses in mind, and show concern for the masses' weal and woe. In September 1940, the "Shandong Provincial Wartime Governance Program" adopted by the Provisional Senate of Shandong Province stipulated: "Implement the principle of people's livelihood and improve the people's livelihood." In 1943, at the most difficult moment of the Anti-Japanese War, Li Yu, then director of the Shandong Provincial Wartime Work Committee, demanded in his report to the mass work conference that the work of party members and cadres in the base areas should be combined with the vital interests of the masses, and that the masses should be mobilized by improving their lives. During the years of the revolutionary war, the party lightened the burden on the peasants in Yimeng through a series of policies and measures, such as reducing rents and interest rates, the large-scale production campaign, and streamlining the administration of the army, so that the people in the base areas could truly feel that the party was earnestly seeking benefits for the masses, and the material life of the masses of the people was greatly improved.
Second, the political rights of the masses of the people should be realized. In the Yimeng base area, the Communist Party of China attaches great importance to the dominant position of the masses of the people, so that the masses can gain the dignity of being masters of their own country. In January 1940, the anti-Japanese democratic government of Tancheng County was established in the Tan (Cheng) Ma (Tou) area, which was the earliest county-level democratic government established in the Yimeng area. Following the Tancheng democratic government, Feixian, Linyi, Yishui, Yinan, Mengyin, Juxian, Rizhao and other places also established anti-Japanese democratic regimes in accordance with the principle of the "three-three system." The "Shandong Provincial Wartime Governance Program" clearly stipulates that the masses of the people enjoy the four rights of "election, recall, creation, and referendum" and "freedom of speech, press, assembly, and association", and proposes special protection measures for women, stipulating that they must "improve women's lives and remove feudal oppression", that women enjoy the same rights as men politically, economically, and educationally, that abuse and humiliation of women are prohibited, and that a monogamous free marriage system is implemented. Through the construction of democratic politics in the Yimeng revolutionary base area, the broad masses of the people have changed the situation of being oppressed, exploited, and humiliated in the past, and have felt freedom and equality that they have never felt before.
Third, the cultural rights and interests of the masses of the people should be protected. The Yimeng base area attaches great importance to the cultural education of the people, and the "Shandong Provincial Wartime Governance Program" proposes to "universally implement new democratic education and develop cultural undertakings." At that time, primary schools, secondary schools, cultural night schools, and literacy classes were widely opened in the base areas. All students in school are exempt from tuition, and those who are from poor families and cannot afford to purchase textbooks and supplies are also subsidized or provided by the village education fund or the village public property. The democratic government has vigorously promoted education so that the Yimeng people can understand the revolutionary principles and enhance their political consciousness while learning cultural knowledge, which has greatly stimulated the revolutionary enthusiasm of the people, especially the ideological concepts and spiritual outlook of the vast number of Yimeng women. At that time, reporters from several newspapers in Hong Kong went to the Yimeng countryside to conduct interviews, and were surprised to find that the girls in the literacy class were not only fluent in writing and ink, but also able to explain the principles of the Communist Party's all-out war of resistance in political terms and criticize the Kuomintang's one-sided policy of resistance against Japan.
Everything depends on the masses.
The Communist Party is rooted in the masses of the people, and its strength also comes from the masses of the people. Only by relying on the masses of the people can the victory of the revolution be achieved, and this is the source of the strength of the Communist Party.
In November 1939, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "Decision on Going Deep into the Work of the Masses," calling on the party organizations in all base areas to take practical and effective measures to organize the masses. In accordance with the instructions of the central authorities, mass organizations and organizations at all levels have been set up in the Shandong base areas, such as the Farmers' Rescue Association, the Workers' Relief Association, the Women's Relief Association, the Youth Rescue Association, and the Children's League. In August 1943, the Shandong Sub-Bureau wrote in the "Five-Year Work Summary and Future Tasks": "Historical experience tells us that we must conscientiously carry out the mobilization and organization of the basic masses, and we must place our anti-Japanese war cause on the basis of millions of people who have gained consciousness and superiority, so that we can rely on it, our party and our army can have combat effectiveness, the base areas can be consolidated, and we can win." ”
It is precisely on the basis of doing everything for the masses and relying on the masses that the Yimeng base has formed a benign interaction in which the party seeks the interests of the people and the people truly follow the party. The Communist Party and the Eighth Route Army ate the grain raised by the villagers, lived in the houses let by the common people, wore the clothes sewn by the red sisters-in-law, and lay on stretchers carried by the villagers when they were wounded. With a good relationship between the party and the masses, "water and milk, life and death together" will be natural and unbreakable.
The spirit of Yimeng was conceived in the war-torn revolutionary war period. On the battlefield filled with gunpowder, the Yimeng people used their participation in the army to support the front and selfless dedication, composing a vivid picture and touching chapter of "Mengshan is high, Yishui is long, and the hearts of the army and the people are towards the Communist Party".
To follow the party, it is necessary to actively participate in the party's army. In Yimeng, there were 4 times during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. The first time appeared in 1938-1939, when the base area had not yet been established, but the enthusiastic young people who were determined to serve the country threw themselves into the anti-Japanese armed forces led by the Communist Party of China, showing an unprecedented upsurge of joining the army. For example, more than 100 young people from Zhujiazhuang in Yiwen Township and Shiquanzhuang in Gegou Township in Yinan County each joined the Eighth Route Army. The second wave of joining the army took place in the most difficult years, 1941 and 1943. At that time, joining the army often meant sacrifice, but the enthusiasm of the masses did not diminish but increased. Model families of "one door and two English", "one door and three English" and "one door and four English" are commonplace, and there are even model families with "one door and seven English".
If joining the army is the true embodiment of direct participation in the revolution, then what is even more spectacular is the actual action of the Yimeng people to devote all their resources to support the revolution. Su Yu described the Yimeng masses as follows: "They are so firm and brave, not afraid of difficulties, desperate for themselves, and do their best to support the people's soldiers. The Yimeng people have written a touching chapter in the history of the Chinese revolution with practical actions, and a large number of well-known models of supporting the army have emerged, such as "Yimeng Six Sisters", "Yimeng Mother" and "Yimeng Hongsao".
"Yimeng Six Sisters" is a group of heroines who emerged in the old area of Yimeng during the revolutionary war years. They live in Yanzhuang Village, Yedian Town, Mengyin County, and are Zhang Yumei, Yi Tingzhen, Yang Guiying, Yi Shuying, Ji Zhenlan, and Gong Fanglian. In the 1947 Laiwu Battle and Menglianggu Battle, the six Yimeng sisters took the initiative to take up the heavy burden of supporting the army in the village and mobilizing the men, women and children of the whole village to serve as guides, send ammunition, send grain and grass, make pancakes, wash military clothes, make military shoes, and care for the wounded and sick for the troops. During the battle, the six sisters and their fellow villagers only ate one meal a day, and they were busy and tired all day long, going back and forth more than 20 miles of mountain roads every day.
"Yimeng's mother" Wang Changyu risked her life many times to cover the chiefs and soldiers, skillfully protected the party's top-secret documents, and was entrusted by the party to establish the underground nursery school of the Eighth Route Army. She mobilized lactating women in the neighborhoods to donate milk to raise the offspring of the revolution. She also took the martyr's child home and let her daughter-in-law feed it with milk, but let her grandchildren eat coarse grains. She said: "The children of the martyrs starve to death, and their roots will be cut off, and our children will starve to death, and you can still have children." For three years, from the autumn of 1939 to the end of 1942, 41 children in the underground nursery of the Eighth Route Army thrived under the careful care of her and her family. After 1943, Wang Changyu raised another 45 revolutionary offspring.
"Yimeng Hongsao" Ming Deying is an ordinary rural mute girl in Mamuchi Township, Yinan County. When encountering a young soldier of the Eighth Route Army who was chased and killed by the Japanese army and was seriously wounded, Ming Deying resolutely hid the soldier regardless of the danger and wittily evaded the search of the Japanese invaders. When she found that the little warrior was unconscious, dying, and desperately dehydrated, she did not hesitate to untie her shirt and squeeze the milk into the warrior's mouth. Later, Ming Deying killed the only hen in the family and boiled it into chicken soup to nourish the wounded. In fact, Ming Deying was only one of the many sisters-in-law who used milk to save the wounded in the Yimeng Mountains at that time.
For the victory of the war, the Yimeng people made every effort to support the front, comprehensively support the front, and support the whole process. All-out support for the front means that all the human, material, and financial resources that can be used to support the people's army and the front line are used; comprehensive support for the front means that the Yimeng people will support whatever is needed for the war; and full support means that they will be supported wherever the war is fought. In the "Together for the Frontline" movement, the Yimeng people have created countless touching deeds. During the Battle of Menglianggu, in order to win the victory, the people of Mengyin not only devoted everything they had to provide food and clothing for their soldiers, but also resolutely stripped off the grass on the newly built houses and fed the horses for the East China Field Army.
During the Huaihai Campaign, 3.4 million women in the Yimeng region participated in the work of supporting the front in the rear. In the coastal district alone, hundreds of thousands of women process 10 million kilograms of grain in a month. In Pingyi County, there are 4,000 stone mills running around the clock, and the number of people participating in the grinding of military rations in the county is as high as more than 200,000. Shandong also dispatched more than 2.18 million migrant workers to participate in the front support, of which 340,000 migrant workers from the Standing Army and the second line of transfer were organized and transferred from the central and southern districts of Shandong, and more than 1.4 million temporary migrant workers, totaling more than 1.74 million people, and the vast majority of them were migrant workers in the Yimeng Mountains. Under the organization of the local government and the army, they formed transport teams and stretcher teams to transport food and clothing to the front line by carts and donkeys, and transported and rescued the wounded on stretchers. The people of Juyi County pushed 400 carts to transport 55,000 kilograms of white noodles to the front line, they set off from their hometown in Yimeng, passed through Jiangsu and Anhui, traveled thousands of kilometers, and after eating the dry food and pickles they brought with them, they would never eat the white noodles on the car. After the victory of the Huaihai Campaign, Chen Yi once said affectionately: "The victory of the Huaihai Campaign was pushed by the people with a small cart. He also said: "Even if I lie in the coffin, I can't forget the Yimeng Mountain people." They fed the revolution with millet and pushed the revolution across the Yangtze River with a small cart!"
The Yimeng spirit, which has come from the suffering of the nation, from the flames of war, and from the tenacious struggle, is the precious spiritual wealth of the party and the country. It has the significance of transcending time and space, and is a kind of historical inheritance that never ends. The practical actions of the Yimeng military and civilians to share life and death have erected a towering historical monument, showing and inspiring that the Communist Party of China must be rooted in the people and always breathe the same breath, share the same destiny and be heart-to-heart with the people.
