In 1949, the remnants of the Kuomintang fled to the remote northwest region and colluded with the local bandits, forming a formidable bandit force. These bandits have committed all kinds of evil, repeatedly clashed with the people's power, and disrupted social order. In view of this grim situation, the new Chinese government sent Wang Zhen to lead a large army of the People's Liberation Army to the northwest region to suppress bandits. In the process of suppressing bandits, Wang Zhen found that these four bandit forces were quite tenacious and could not be easily eliminated. So, he asked Peng Dehuai for advice on how to deal with these bandits. Peng Dehuai did not hesitate to order: "Kill!" As the iron fist of the new regime, Peng Dehuai is ruthless and unrighteous to these bandits who endanger the interests of the people. However, what kind of heinous crimes did these four bandits do that made Peng Dehuai so resolute? What kind of harsh measures did Wang Zhen take to wipe them out? The mystery of all this remains to be revealed......
The first signs of banditry appeared: the remnants of Chiang Kai-shek made a comeback
The smoke of the civil war had just dissipated, and the matchbox-like territory of New China had just been reunified, but the remnants of Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang had begun to play tricks in the shadows. In 1949, after Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan, the remnants of the Kuomintang began to operate in the northwest at his behest. They skillfully took advantage of the complex terrain and environment in the local area, colluded with bandits, and formed several "anti-communist national salvation forces."
These so-called "National Salvation Army" were nothing more than the remnants of a warlord of Chiang Kai-shek, including some former Kuomintang officers and generals. They co-opted local bandit leaders and lured them in with money. Soon, many local bandits were incorporated and became the backbone of the "National Salvation Army."
These bandits are often veteran bandits who have been on the battlefield for a long time, and their hands are stained with the blood of countless innocent people. They are ferocious and murderous, and they have become accustomed to committing evil in their own territory. Now they are confused by the money of the Kuomintang high-level, but they are given a glamorous coat - the "National Salvation Army".
The most outrageous thing is that the top level of the Kuomintang also specially set up so-called "guerrilla cadre study classes" for these bandits in Chengdu and Guiyang, and ruthlessly politicized and militarized them. For a time, the entire northwest region was full of these "National Salvation Army" figures, who, by virtue of their familiarity with the local terrain, carried out guerrilla sabotage everywhere and seriously disrupted the local social order.
They often intercepted major traffic routes and plundered the belongings of passing merchants. What is more, they did all kinds of evil, directly attacking the local people's government institutions and massacring revolutionary cadres. In southern Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and other places, similar tragedies have occurred, shocking the whole country.
For a time, the situation was precarious, and the fruits of revolution in the northwest region could be wiped out at any time. Seeing that the remnants of the Kuomintang had made a comeback in the northwest, the new Chinese government had no choice but to take decisive action......
Wang Zhen took action to suppress the bandits and encountered stubborn resistance
In view of the serious banditry in the northwest region, the new Chinese government took resolute action. At the beginning of 1950, Wang Zhen, commander of the First Corps of the People's Liberation Army, was ordered to lead 140,000 troops to the northwest to suppress bandits. The target of the battle was the four most ferocious and powerful "anti-communist national salvation troops" -- the Zhou wolf bandit army in southern Shaanxi, the Zhang Hailu Guo Shuzi bandit army in Ningxia, and the Ma Yunshan bandit army in Gansu.
At first, Wang Zhen was still a little cautious about dealing with these country bandits. However, after being transferred to the northwest, he was shocked to find that the strength of these four "National Salvation Army" was far from what he expected.
Zhou Wolf, a bandit in southern Shaanxi, made Wang Zhen speechless. This man is cunning and ferocious, and his hands are stained with the blood of innocent people. He started out as a poor bandit and made a living by robbing passing merchants. But then, with the financial support of the rest of Chiang Kai-shek, he quickly grew in strength and became known as the "commander of southern Shaanxi". What is even more outrageous is that Zhou Wolf has repeatedly engaged in frontal clashes with the People's Liberation Army, deliberately destabilizing the situation in the northwest.
The bandit army of Ma Yunshan in Gansu is even more fearful. Ma Yunshan has deep roots in the local area, and I don't know how many villagers collude with him. has been repeatedly encircled and suppressed by the People's Liberation Army, and Ma Yunshan can always escape. The reason is that the local people worked for him and reported the news for him. Even after Ma Yunshan took charge of the local side, he even beat and even killed cadres of the local people's government in front of him.
As for Ningxia's Zhang Hailu and Guo Shuzi bandits, the two joined forces to create incidents in the local area. Relying on their familiarity with the local terrain, they often set up ambushes to attack the PLA transportation lines, and plundered most of the military supplies on several occasions. On one occasion, Zhang Hailu was so bold that he directly attacked the local armed forces.
In the face of these four stubborn bandit forces, Wang Zhen felt a headache at first. According to his original idea, it only took a small force to arrest them in one fell swoop, but he did not expect them to be so difficult. Wang Zhen did not have enough knowledge, and the troops he sent were obviously insufficient.
In view of this, Wang Zhen sent a telegram to Peng Dehuai at the front, requesting more troops. He reported in detail to Peng Dehuai the seriousness of these four bandits and the fact that they had deep roots in the local area. After hearing this, Peng Dehuai did not hesitate to order the uprooting of these four "National Salvation Army". He told Wang Zhen that although these four bandits seemed to fight alone, they were secretly inextricably linked with Chiang Kai-shek's remnants, and they must not be soft-hearted. If it is not extinguished, the consequences will be endless.
Instructed by his superiors, Wang Zhen immediately mobilized people and began to carry out operations. In order to extinguish these four stubborn bandit forces, Wang Zhen made full preparations......
The People's Liberation Army launches a "warm offensive"
In order to extinguish these four stubborn bandit forces as soon as possible, Wang Zhen decided to launch a "warm offensive". He ordered the officers and men of the People's Liberation Army to influence the local masses with boundless enthusiasm and patience while suppressing the bandits.
After the People's Liberation Army (PLA) settled in the northwest, the first thing it did was to completely change the relationship between the military and the people. In the past, the Kuomintang army looked like a tyrannical crusade everywhere, and the people just wanted to flee when they saw it. The People's Liberation Army (PLA), on the other hand, takes the initiative to care for the people's weal and woe and does their best to solve practical difficulties for the people.
Soon, a wave of positive energy spread among the masses. Countless local people have seen the new style of the people's army from the PLA, and they have expressed their support for the PLA's anti-bandit action.
Subsequently, the People's Liberation Army patiently explained to the masses the crimes and harms of bandits through extensive publicity. They enumerated in detail how the four "National Salvation Army" were arrogant and domineering in the locality, and how they were inferior to pigs and dogs. Soon, the eyes of the broad masses were completely opened, and there was an infinite hatred for those notorious bandits.
After that, the masses in various localities took the initiative to become "informants" and disclosed to the PLA the footprints and whereabouts of these four bandits. With the vigorous assistance of the masses, Wang Zhen quickly grasped the general scope of activities of the four bandits.
The next step is to carry out encirclement and suppression. Due to his early preparations, Wang Zhen divided and conquered these four forces and broke them individually. The first was the Zhou Wolf bandit army, and with the close cooperation of the masses, the People's Liberation Army quickly locked the Zhou Wolf base camp in southern Shaanxi. Zhou Wolf thought that he could fight for a long time with the unfamiliar terrain, but he was unexpectedly tightly surrounded by the People's Liberation Army and the back road was cut off.
Soon, the accomplices of the Zhou Wolf Bandit Army surrendered one after another, and the only remaining backbone force was only a few hundred people. Faced with the pressure of the People's Liberation Army, Zhou Wolf had to make a desperate bet, so he decided to fight guerrilla ......
The People's Liberation Army ambushed four bandits in three holes
Hard work pays off. After careful deployment, the PLA finally locked down the hiding places of the four bandits. Wang Zhen ordered the mobilization of two and a half legions of troops to carry out a decisive ambush on the four bandit dens.
The first is to deal with the Ma Yunshan bandit army. As early as after learning the location of Ma Yunshan's hideout, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) began to deploy control in the nearby area. Soon, Ma Yunshan's bunker was surrounded layer by layer, and Ma Yunshan completely lost the ability to fight back. In the face of pressure, Ma Yunshan wanted to fight to the death, but was isolated by other bandits, and in the end he could only be arrested.
The next step is to deal with Zhang Hailu and Guo Shuzi's bandit army. The whereabouts of these two people are secretive, and there are many outlaws hidden under them. In order to avoid casualties, Wang Zhen decided to use all his forces and annihilate them in one fell swoop. He arranged for his troops to surround the hiding places of Zhang Hailu and Guo Shuzi, and took advantage of the terrain to completely cut off their retreat. In the end, after a stubborn battle, Zhang Hailu and Guo Shuzi were captured alive, and the rest of the party was annihilated.
As for the Zhou wolf bandit army, it was completely defeated in a decisive battle. Although Zhou Wolf was surrounded by the People's Liberation Army, he never gave up the idea of guerrilla. Once, he took advantage of the night to escape from the encirclement, intending to fly away. Who knew that the People's Liberation Army had premeditated and had set up many ambushes on the route from which he might escape. In a valley, the Zhou wolf bandit army was suddenly attacked by the People's Liberation Army. In an instant, Zhou Wolf's troops were heavily damaged. In the end, in the passive defense, the main force of the bandit army was annihilated, and Zhou Wolf himself was captured alive.
As the four bandits were defeated one after another, the entire northwest region gradually returned to calm. Those bandits who once did all kinds of evil were finally brought to justice and put on trial. Among them, Zhou Wolf and four others were finally sentenced to death by hanging because their crimes were too heinous.
Since then, the four major bandits have been completely eliminated and no longer exist. And the price paid by the PLA, except for some minor injuries, is almost zero casualties. This is inseparable from Wang Zhen's careful deployment, he used the encirclement and annihilation tactics to break the four bandits, which can be described as extremely clever. In this way, Wang Zhen smashed the conspiracy of Chiang Kai-shek's remnants to restore in the northwest with the momentum of thunder, and cleared the last obstacle for the birth of New China.
Mr. Peng personally went to the scene of the bandit suppression to supervise the army
Although the four major bandits in the northwest were completely wiped out, the new Chinese government still attached great importance to the situation at the scene of the suppression of bandits. Soon, Peng Dehuai personally went to the northwest to inspect and understand the local post-war environment.
After Peng Dehuai arrived, his first stop was southern Shaanxi. The local people had already heard of Mr. Peng's name, and they flocked to the founding father of New China. Peng Dehuai spared no effort to reassure the masses and sympathize with their hard life under the shadow of banditry.
Subsequently, Peng Dehuai came to the base camp of the Zhou wolf bandit army after the war. This was once the territory where Zhou wolves were rampant, but now it has turned into a mess. The wolf's lair was razed to the ground, and the remnants of weapons and ammunition were scattered everywhere. Seeing all this, Peng Dehuai was extremely pleased, and in his eyes this symbolized the complete victory of the people's power.
Next, Peng Dehuai went to Ningxia. There, he saw the scene when Zhang Hailu and Guo Shuzi were captured. Rows of bandits were tied up and taken to court-martials, while the criminals Zhang Hailu and Guo Shuzi were deliberately shackled and handcuffed. In the face of the former bandits in distress, Peng Dehuai did not have the slightest sympathy, but just said "should" coldly.
In Gansu, Peng Dehuai inspected the battlefield when Ma Yunshan's bandit army was encircled and suppressed. It used to be full of steep peaks, but now it has been destroyed beyond recognition by artillery fire. The cave where Ma Yunshan was hiding has been reduced to ruins, and his last stronghold no longer exists. Seeing all this, Peng Dehuai highly appreciated the results of the troops.
At the end of his journey to the northwest, Peng Dehuai finally came to the last battlefield in the local area. This is the key area where Zhou Wolf was captured alive, and the scene at that time is long gone, replaced by a scorched earth.
When he was about to leave, Peng Dehuai spoke highly of Wang Zhen's results. He said: It is not easy to completely annihilate the four stubborn bandits in such an environment with complex terrain and strong folk customs. He also highly appreciated Wang Zhen's practice of mobilizing the masses and sincerely cooperating with various armed forces.
end
After returning to Beijing, Peng Dehuai personally reported to Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai the whole process of suppressing bandits. He said: Although the four major banditry in the northwest have been extinguished, the revolutionary cause still needs to advance arduously. The remnants and class enemies are still lurking everywhere, and our generation should always be on high alert. Only by thoroughly eliminating all reactionary forces can the revolutionary cause achieve final victory.