The secret behind "the flower of the famous general withered on Taihang Mountain".
Lieutenant General Norihide Abe
From November 5 to 8, 1939, the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region of the Eighth Route Army surrounded and annihilated the main force of the 2nd and 4th Independent Infantry Brigades of the 2nd Brigade of the Japanese Army in the Sanchakou and Loess Ridge areas of Laiyuan County, Hebei Province, which was known as the "Loess Ridge Battle" in history. In this battle, a total of more than 900 Japanese troops were annihilated, and a large number of military materials were captured, and more than 500 casualties were suffered by the Eighth Route Army. Although the scale of this battle was not large, the biggest gain was that Lieutenant General Norihide Abe, then the commander of the Second Independent Mixed Brigade of the Japanese North China Front Army in Mongolia, died of mortar shells in the battle, becoming the highest-ranking Japanese general killed by the Eighth Route Army in the War of Resistance Against Japan.
The head of the 1st Division of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region of the Eighth Route Army is directing the battle
From left: Commander Yang Chengwu, Deputy Commander Gao Peng, and Political Commissar Luo Yuanfa
The courtyard where Norihide Abe was shot
On the battlefield in North China, the Japanese army tightly sealed the news of Abe's death. However, the Japanese domestic media reported on the death of Norihide Abe. On November 20, the Asahi Shimbun reported the details of his death: "A shell suddenly flew to his side and exploded, wounding Lieutenant General Abe in the right abdomen and in several legs,...... About 3 hours after being wounded, that is, at 9:50 p.m. on the 7th, the lieutenant general died a heroic death......" Subsequently, the Asahi Shimbun took "The Flower of Famous Generals Withered on Taihang Mountain" as the column title, and boarded it for 3 consecutive days to express mourning.
On 24 November, Mao Zedong and others sent a congratulatory telegram to congratulate the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region on its major achievements. The then chairman of the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government also sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek to Zhu De, commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army, to commend him, praising the battle as "a great reward for the bravery of our officers and men in killing the enemy."
The propaganda reports about this "Loess Ridge Battle" seen today can be described as full of rumors, especially the major result of the killing of Lieutenant General Norihide Abe. However, the unsung heroes who fought on the hidden front and provided vital intelligence support for the battle are rarely mentioned. In fact, the combat operation launched by the Eighth Route Army and the "flower of famous generals withering on Taihang Mountain" are all related to an underground intelligence agent named Ji Cheng. This article is the story of this unsung hero.
In 1916, Ji Cheng was born in a poor family in Laiyuan County, Hebei Province. He participated in the revolution in 1937 and joined the CCP in March 1938. In August of the same year, he was assigned by Ru Guxiang, the minister of enemy engineering of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, under the pseudonym Yao Jigang, and came to Laiyuan County with 28 yuan of Mongolian Xinjiang coins and began his "hidden" career. In order to get close to the Japanese soldiers, he set up a peanut stand opposite the compound of the Japanese intelligence department. With a good fried peanuts, they soon attracted many Japanese "patronage". Yoshio Nakata and Domae of the Intelligence Department are the "regulars" of the peanut stall, that is, the owners who often eat for nothing. In order to please them, Ji Cheng had to greet them with "Antarctic Mamai's new handicap" (Japanese "eat peanuts"), and the two of them also patronized with food and land...... As they grew up, they became friends and learned Chinese and Japanese from each other. Inadvertently in the exchange of languages, some Japanese military movements continued to spread to the enemy engineering department of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region......
Laiyuan County (1938)
In April 1939, Yoshio Dozen approached Ji Cheng and said that his minister, Keio Yamamoto, wanted to build a bathhouse in the courtyard, and he could recommend Ji Cheng to work there for 9 yuan a month. Under the recommendation of Fang Fu in front of the hall, Ji Cheng entered the courtyard of the Japanese Army Intelligence Department in this way. Because of burning the bathhouse and scrubbing the bath, Ji Chengke surrounded the Japanese military intelligence minister every day. At first, Keio Yamamoto was wary and rarely spoke to Ji Cheng, and he was not allowed to run around in the department. Ji Cheng made a fuss about taking a bath, and he built a stove in the bathhouse to ensure that the temperature of the bathhouse was neither hot nor cold. He also helped Keio Yamamoto with laundry, cleaning up chores, etc. The service was in place, and Ji Cheng was not found to have any "bag inquiry" behavior, and Keio Yamamoto's wariness of him gradually relaxed.
In the courtyard of the Ministry of Intelligence, Ji Cheng not only waited for the "burning bathhouse", but also greeted him with wine and meat from time to time. After a long time, seeing that Ji Cheng was easy to call, the spies sent him to run errands, and naturally when he entered and exited the county, the sentry post no longer checked.
On October 25, 1939, when Ji Cheng entered the city gate from his home in Xiaobeiguan outside the city to get the intelligence department, he found that the guard at the city gate had been replaced by members of the gendarmerie. When he entered the compound of the Ministry of Intelligence, he found that the office was also extremely busy, and he had a keen premonition that something big must be happening. He hurriedly went out of the city to inquire about Cui Fu, an underground party who served as the leader of the pseudo-police squad, but did not get any useful information. So, Ji Cheng took the pretext of holding a "dinner" to entertain a group of gendarmerie spies. After "three rounds of wine and five flavors of food", he mentioned what he had heard during the day. Between the staggered planning and the exchange of cups and lamps, the spies said a word to me, and unconsciously made clear the troop deployment, departure time, and specific route of this "sweep".
In order to further verify the Japanese army's "sweeping" plan, on October 27, Ji Cheng went to the "water translator" who knew the inside story to drink and explore the wind. However, the "water translation", which has always been a heavy drinker, is now a bit abnormal. Ji Cheng saw that he was mimeographing a map in the house, and when he got closer, he saw that it was the "road map" of the Japanese army's "sweep," which was handed over by the intelligence minister Keio Yamamoto to the water interpreter to print and send to the special agents accompanying the Japanese army. Shui Translator glanced at him and asked, "Do you know what it is?" Ji Chenghan replied with a smile: "It knows me, I don't know it." You know, Translator Water, I'm blind. How did the water translator know that Ji Cheng, who seemed to be "blind", had already memorized the "road map" in his heart. When leaving, the "water translator" told him in a matter-of-fact manner: "Don't run around in the last two days, I heard from the boss that a big official from Chanan is coming today!" Chanan refers to the area of Zhangjiakou, where the Japanese army established a puppet Mongolian regime, and Abe Guixiu served as the commander of the puppet Mongolian Xinjiang garrison. At that time, it took half a day to get from Zhangjiakou to Laiyuan, and the street in front of the intelligence department was the only way to enter Laiyuan City.
In order to confirm whether the statement of the "water translator" was true, it was close to noon, and Ji Cheng went to the photo studio opposite the intelligence department under the pretext of observing the movement there. Sure enough, a convoy of military vehicles drove from north to south. One, two, three...... Ji Cheng counted the melon seeds and remembered that a melon seed represented a machine gun, and a melon seed skin represented an enemy soldier. In this way, the number of enemy troops and the number of weapons that entered Laiyuan City that day were clearly recorded. The senior official mentioned by "Water Translation" was in the fifth car, and Ji Cheng saw an officer in a yellow tweed coat sitting in the driver's building, which was Abe Norihide. He also became the only person in the Eighth Route Army who had seen this "flower of famous generals".
After returning home, Ji Cheng immediately sorted out the information obtained from various channels as follows:
The Japanese army planned to divide the troops into three routes to "sweep" Laiyuan County in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area. One route led more than 500 people by Kenyoshi Osa Tsujimura and went south from Shiraishikou to Yinfang. In the second route, Zuo Di led more than 500 soldiers, and went south to commit Yinfang through the Arrow Ridge. More than 200 people on the third road attacked the water fort. The Three-Route Japanese Army will eventually encircle the command of the Eighth Route Army and the anti-Japanese government in Yinfang.
Insert the arrow ridge to close the middle gate
Once the information is there, it's a matter of how to send it out. Ji Cheng wrote down the information he had obtained in pencil on a piece of paper, and rushed to the secret contact point early the next morning, Guo Ji Leather Shop, located on Shahe Street, the most prosperous street in the county. Unexpectedly, the door of the leather shop was closed, and when he inquired, he learned that the men inside had been arrested. Just when Ji Cheng was anxious, he saw Yang Laowan, the liaison who came to get information. He dragged Yang to a secluded place and told him that there was urgent information to be sent. However, Laiyuan City has been under martial law, so how can we send the information out? Ji Cheng had an idea and thought of the mill in Qianquanfang Village, which he frequented outside the city, so he moved two bags of grain and put them on Yang Laowan's mule pack, and hid the information in the grain in his pocket. When they arrived at the city gate, although the gendarmes checked strictly, fortunately they saw Ji Cheng following, and after asking a few words, they were released.
Yang Laowan, known as the "Scud", worked non-stop, and on the same day, he transferred this 100,000 urgent information to Liang Zhengzhong, secretary of the Laiyuan County Party Committee, through the intelligence station in a timely manner. At that time, the Northern Branch of the CPC Central Committee was holding an organizational work meeting in Fuping, and Yang Chengwu, commander of the First Subdivision of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, who was attending the meeting, received this information from Liang Zhengzhong. Yang Chengwu immediately made a report to Nie Rongzhen, commander of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region. When Nie asked if the information was reliable, Yang replied affirmatively: "The information sent by the Wuhuiling Intelligence Station has always been relatively timely and accurate. The "Wuhuiling Intelligence Station" mentioned here is precisely for Ji Cheng to transmit information. Nie immediately said to Yang Chengwu, who was asking for battle: "I agree, you don't want to participate in the meeting, and immediately rush back to the division to organize and command this battle."
Yang Chengwu (then commander of the first division of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region)
In the early morning of 1 November, Yang Chengwu left Fuping and returned to Guantou Village, where the headquarters of the 1st Division was stationed, and on the way he made a special detour through Yinfang Town, Yansu Cliff, Sanchakou, Baishikou, Jiaojian Ridge, Loess Ridge and other places. A section of the road from Baishikou to Yansu Cliff is a dry river beach about 40 meters wide, with steep mountains on both sides, such as ambushing both sides, and luring the enemy here with a force, and then blocking Baishikou with firepower, cutting off the enemy's retreat, then the enemy will be unable to escape, and can only be buried in the rocks...... Operational deployment was formed in his mind.
The troops of the 1st Division of the Eighth Route Army rushed to the Loess Ridge (November 6, 1939) Photo: Sha Fei
Previously, our side was completely ignorant of this "sweep" of the Japanese army, but fortunately, Ji Cheng's information came in time. It was this information that enabled the Jin-Cha-Ji Laiyuan base area to get rid of the crisis, it was this information that enabled Yang Chengwu, who "knew himself and knew his enemy," to calmly "arrange his troops," it was this information that ensured the victory of the "Loess Ridge Battle," and it was this information that enabled Abe Guixiu, the "flower of a famous general, to wither on the Taihang Mountain...... Just like Zeng Xisheng and others of the Second Bureau of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission deciphered the enemy's telegram, Mao Zedong had Mao Zedong's proud pen "Four crossings of the Chishui surprise soldiers"
In the "Detailed Report on the Battle of Loess Ridge" after the war, Yang Chengwu clearly regarded "intelligence certainty" as one of the reasons for the victory of the battle.
The unknown Ji Cheng continued to fight in the heart of the enemy. However, his "lurking" is by no means safe and sound, but full of dangers. In March 1940, the Japanese army suddenly arrested Ji Cheng. The reason for this is that we have just intercepted the intelligence of our army and learned of the existence of a liaison officer codenamed "Beitian Gong", and the three characters "Beitian Gong" together are the "Ji" character of Ji Cheng. In addition, Ji Cheng has been "walking" in the courtyard of the Japanese Army's Intelligence Department, so he thinks that he is the Eighth Route Intelligence Officer codenamed "Kitada Gong". However, Ji Cheng was convinced that he had always only used the pseudonym of "Yao Jigang" to transmit information, so he only shouted that he was wronged and refused to admit it. For 18 days, he was tortured with sticks, poured chili pepper water, burned with cigarette butts, and branded with iron bars. It wasn't until a month later that the Japanese army finally confirmed the true identity of the "Beitian Gong" and released Ji Cheng. Perhaps it was the Japanese army's guilt for Ji Cheng's grievances, or perhaps Ji Cheng's good "popularity" in the Japanese army, he was not only not "marginalized" by the Japanese army, but was transferred to the gendarmerie and was reused.
Ji Cheng
Note: This is a photo of Ji Cheng when he was in the Japanese gendarmerie. The photograph was taken between March 1940 and August 1944, the exact date is unknown.
In the Japanese gendarmerie, Ji Cheng is even more comfortable in work. Using this identity and power, in addition to providing intelligence, he also plotted against the pseudo-police, and raised and transported medical equipment, telescopes, ammunition and other scarce materials for the base area.
In August 1944, after Ji Cheng received the news that the enemy was preparing to attack the intelligence station of Jianling, he immediately passed it on to the intelligence station. Unfortunately, the intelligence station personnel did not retreat in time after receiving the report, resulting in some classified documents falling into the hands of the enemy, and Ji Cheng was "exposed", but he himself was completely unaware of it. Fortunately, the puppet security chief, who had received Ji Cheng's benefits, reported to him in time, allowing him to escape before the gendarmerie arrived. At this point, Ji Cheng's nearly seven-year latent career came to an end.
Ji Cheng after retirement
Ji Cheng (second from left), Ru Guxiang, Minister of Enemy Engineering of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region (second from right)
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Ji Cheng served as the chief of the security section and the party secretary of the Laiyuan Asbestos Mine and Lingshan Coal Mine. Ji Cheng's only illness in his later years came from the respiratory system. On February 7, 1993 (the sixteenth day of the first lunar month), Ji Cheng died at the age of 77 in Laiyuan County People's Hospital due to emphysema and heart disease. The root cause of this lung disease was attributed to the torture inflicted on the Japanese army.
*The picture is from the Internet, if there is an infringement dispute, it will be deleted