In April 1943, Su Yu, who was commanding the "anti-Qingxiang" struggle in the Soviet Union and China, received a telegram:
Tang Jingyan, head of the Tonghai People's Anti-Japanese Self-Defense Regiment, led his troops to defect to the enemy!
Tang Jingyan was originally a general of the Nationalist Army, but because he was very close to the Communists and was ostracized, he angrily broke away from the Kuomintang.
Later, he was developed into a secret member of the CCP and accepted the leadership of the New Fourth Army.
Because of Tang Jingyan's early experience, after learning that he had defected to the Japanese puppet government, many people insisted that he must be willing to act as a traitor lackey for the sake of glory and wealth.
After all, it is not uncommon for such old-style officers who are volatile and have changed camps several times to not take a firm stance.
The whole New Fourth Army has an extremely shameless attitude towards this person.
However, what is surprising is that after receiving the telegram, Su Yu was not angry but happy, and said to the people around him with a meaningful smile: "Okay, this is very good!"
"Troy" in the War of Resistance
Tang Jingyan is a native of Rugao, Jiangsu.
He has a bold personality and a firm will, and has the spirit of "Mount Tai collapses in front of him and his color remains unchanged".
Tang Jingyan had a unit under his command, known as the "Tang Tuan", the full name of which was the Anti-Japanese Armed Tonghai Self-Defense Regiment.
Although the "gnocchi" was born to resist the Japanese, its positioning is very special.
The New Fourth Army used it as an intermediary force, acting exclusively in enemy-occupied areas and striking at the enemy in the cracks between the Japanese and the puppet, and was a "gray" local armed organization.
After the outbreak of the Pacific War, in order to eliminate the threat of the New Fourth Army to Nanjing and Suzhou, the Japanese puppet authorities gathered troops in early 1943 and launched a frenzied clean-up operation against the central Soviet Union.
And the "soup balls" that have insisted on fighting guerrillas with devils in the Tonghai area for a long time have naturally become a thorn in their eyes and a thorn in their flesh.
The Japanese puppet knew the power of the "soup ball", and in order to reduce their own casualties, they decided to adopt the method of appeasement and persuade Tang Jingyan's troops to surrender.
One day, a traitor named Jiang Songping came to the door and persuaded Tang Jingyan to surrender to the Japanese army, which would benefit greatly in the future.
This was the usual method used by Japanese puppet spies at that time. Relying on their incorruptible tongues, they lobbied and encouraged friends, fellow villagers, or acquaintances with old ties to participate in the so-called "peace movement" in order to achieve the goal of dividing and striking at the anti-Japanese armed forces.
Tang Jingyan saw that a traitor came to the door, and immediately reported it to Su Yu, the commander of the First Division of the New Fourth Army.
Su Yu had been on the battlefield for a long time, and he knew that the enemy was strong and we were weak at that time, and the Japanese army's "clean-up" momentum was very fierce, and there was not much chance of winning a hard battle. Instead of fighting head-on with the Japanese army, it is better to take this opportunity to penetrate into the enemy's puppet interior, collect enemy information, and then make plans.
Therefore, he and Tang Jingyan said their plan: "Lead the troops to surrender to the enemy".
Tang Jingyan was taken aback when he heard this: "Surrender to the enemy, isn't that a traitor?"
"Of course it's a fake defection!" Su Yu smiled.
He talked about the current situation, and then made a vivid analogy: "To be like Sun Wukong, to get into the belly of the princess of the iron fan." ”
And just like that, a bold "Trojan horse" plan began.
endure humiliation and be a traitor
On April 15, 1943, Tang Jingyan led 634 "soup dumplings" to "surrender" to the Japanese puppet.
When he asked everyone to wear the yellow clothes of the puppet army, many unknown soldiers were filled with grief and indignation, and even shed tears.
They said: "I joined the army to fight devils in the Anti-Japanese War, but I can't imagine that now I have to wear yellow clothes and become a traitor!"
In desperation, Tang Jingyan had no choice but to order that all party members who were politically guaranteed could know the truth.
However, there are still many grassroots fighters who have been kept in the dark, and a few of them have left in anger because they can't bear it.
The soldiers who stayed behind couldn't figure it out, so they flocked to the regimental headquarters and asked sharply: "Why do you surrender to the Japanese devils? Why do you want to be traitors?"
Faced with this situation, several regiment leaders who knew about it were sad for a while, and tears rolled in their eyes.
They are well aware of how risky this move is, not only to bear the infamy of "traitors", but also to lose everyone's lives if the plan is leaked.
But for the sake of the revolution of the whole situation, they have no choice!
On the other hand, in the face of the "enlightened" Tang Jingyan, Ri Pseudo was very happy. Kobayashi, commander of the Japanese division, also specially hosted a banquet for entertainment.
At the banquet, Tang Jingyan deliberately made an impassioned speech: "I joined the Communist Army because I was confused by the Communist Party, and I was really blind." It's only five yuan a month, which is not enough to smoke! Joining the imperial army is a promising career. ”
After the "soup ball" openly "surrendered to the enemy", Tang Jingyan naturally became a "big traitor".
He understands that bringing the team out is only the first step to success, and there is still a long way to go to gain a foothold in the devil's cave.
Of course, the Japanese puppet enemy forces did not fully believe in the "soup dumplings", but constantly changed their methods to test them.
They often conduct air raid inspections to check the homes of the "soup dumplings," and they often send spies to frequently go in and out of the troops' garrisons to inquire about the soldiers in an attempt to find suspicious signs.
These were all seen by Tang Jingyan, he knew that the Japanese puppet spies were extremely cunning, and in order to gain the trust of the enemy, he was forced to learn to "eat, drink, prostitute and gamble".
At that time, in order to show the sincerity of their "recruitment", the Japanese army issued a sum of funds to the "soup dumplings".
Tang Jingyan took the money, invited guests to dinner every day, and soon got along with the "new colleagues".
He hung up the sign of "Tang Mansion" in Haimen and Nantong City, and there were guards standing guard at the door, and the servants inside were like clouds, which looked very magnificent.
And Tang Jingyan himself dressed neatly all day long, with shiny leather shoes, and every day he either invited the puppet army leaders to dinner, or got together with these people to gamble, smoke a lot, and spend all day drinking, so as to win the paralysis and trust of the enemy with "corruption and degeneration".
In fact, these tricks were all taught by Su Yu: "You used to be a guerrilla fighter, and now you work in the Japanese puppet army, so you have to look like them...... It's called white skin and red hearts. ”
Over time, the comment that "Captain Tang is righteous enough" spread among the Japanese puppet army, and he soon became "his own people".
Even Li Shiqun, a big traitor and puppet chairman of Jiangsu Province, treated him as a buddy, because Tang Jingyan gave him 20 bottles of Moutai and 15 catties of sausages at one meeting......
The "gnocchi" that breaks out of the belly
During the undercover period, Tang Jingyan took advantage of the opportunity of "joint defense" with the Japanese puppet to obtain a lot of important military information. Relying on this information, the New Fourth Army repeatedly attacked and dealt heavy blows to the enemy.
In addition, Tang Jingyan also set up the "Xieji Public Bank" on the pretext of solving the problem of providing supplies for the troops, and trafficked grain, yarn and cotton, eight fresh food, poultry and livestock, and other materials.
He was called a businessman, but in fact he was the "transport captain" of the New Fourth Army, who secretly transported arms, medicines, and other materials to the base areas, and truly realized "doing both revolution and business, and both hands are hard!"
Gradually, the "soup ball" fighters realized the true purpose of defecting to the Japanese puppet, and their mood was much lighter.
However, in the tiger's den, there are also many "helpless" times. Every time they go to the countryside to "sweep", they inevitably have to cooperate.
Some veterans who had participated in the "soup dumplings" later recalled this thrilling undercover drama and said: "The most uncomfortable thing was that sometimes I saw the enemy torture and even beat our cadres, militiamen, and masses to death, and I had no choice but to burn in my heart. ”
What made Tang Jingyan's heart hurt even more was that some junior officers couldn't resist the temptation, did fake shows, and became infected with the vice of eating, drinking, prostituting and gambling, and finally went to corruption and degeneration. In order to ensure the safety of Operation Dumpling, he had to take measures to execute these dangerous elements.
In September 1943, the New Fourth Army's struggle against the "clean-up" was close to victory, and the latent work was basically completed, and it was time for the entire "soup ball" to return to the team.
On the evening of September 29, Tang Jingyan held a banquet in the name of the marriage of Zhou Xiancai, the commander of the second battalion, and took the leaders of the puppet army and police to eat, drink, play cards, and have a lot of fun.
When the time came, he shouted, and the commanders and fighters who had already been ambushed immediately came out, killing all the leaders of the Japanese puppet army present. Then, they rushed out of the barracks and destroyed the command center of the puppet army's action brigade.
At the same time, the "soup group" fighters in other garrisons also launched riots, destroying local bunkers, secret service stations, police stations, and district offices with lightning speed, and then quickly retreated to the designated places.
At 2 o'clock in the morning of the next day, Tang Jingyan commanded the whole regiment to move to the defense area of the 18th Brigade of the New Fourth Army.
Received by the Nantong Guard Regiment, they crossed the blockade line and smoothly entered the base area.
The moment they returned to the base area, all the officers and men couldn't help but cry and cheer: "Go home!"
Yan'an's "Liberation Daily" soon released the news that the soup group "broke out of its belly": More than 600 officers and soldiers of a special unit endured humiliation and burdens for 167 days and nights, and finally returned victoriously!
This battle is known as the "belly-breaking battle" of the Soviet-Chinese puppet army, and it is a rare battle in the history of our army in which the whole regiment was formed to "fake surrender".
The New Fourth Army sub-division held a welcoming meeting for the "soup dumplings."
Tang Jingyan, who was captured in the Liberation War
Su Yu made an enthusiastic speech at the meeting, praising the fighters of the "Tangtuan" for their unflinching loyalty to the revolution and their superb art of struggle! Their "undercover operation" played an important role in smashing the Japanese puppets in the Tonghai area.
Tao Yong, the commander of the division, also said humorously: "When the soup dumplings entered the enemy camp, some people were worried that the meat buns would not return to the dogs, but you see, the dogs not only did not eat them, but were beaten up instead.
When the officers and men of the "soup ball" sitting in the audience heard this, they had proud smiles on their faces.
After that, the regiment was organized into the second regiment of the "United Resistance" and continued the new battle under the leadership of Tang Jingyan.
However, it is regrettable that Tang Jingyan did not wait for the victory of the revolution in the end.
On the afternoon of February 9, 1948, he was captured by the Nationalist army for the betrayal of a traitor and imprisoned.
On the afternoon of May 14, this famous hero of the Anti-Japanese War died heroically in Jiangwan, Shanghai, at the age of 44.