Author: He Changgong
Source: Memoirs of He Changgong
He Changgong (何昌工; born He Kun, December 8, 1900 – December 29, 1987) was a native of Huarong, Hunan, a proletarian revolutionary, military strategist, and military educator.
In his early years, he went to France as a work-study student and joined the Communist Party of China in France in 1922.
After the 1927 April 12 counter-revolutionary coup, he joined the Guard Regiment of the General Headquarters of the Second Front of the National Revolutionary Army, and later served as a representative of the Company Party. In September of the same year, he participated in the Xiangganbian Autumn Harvest Uprising, and later went to Jinggangshan.
In early 1928, he was sent by Mao Zedong to Wang Zuo's army to do political work. He successively served as a party representative of the Second Regiment of the First Division of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, a party representative of the Thirty-second Regiment of the Red Fourth Army and secretary of the Central County Committee of the CPC Ninggang, the commander-in-chief of the Peasants' Self-Defense Army, a member of the Xianggan Special Committee of the CPC, and a member of the Standing Committee of the Committee of Former Enemies. He Changgong was also a key figure in Zhu Mao's division, and he went to Shaoguan on Mao Zedong's orders to find Zhu De's troops.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, He Changgong served as vice president of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University, and then went to the northeast to establish a military industry. After the founding of New China, he successively served as acting minister of the Ministry of Heavy Industry, vice president of the PLA Military and Political University, vice president of the Military Academy, and vice chairman of the Fifth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. In December 1987, he died of illness in Beijing.
One
In September 1927, Comrade Mao Zedong personally led the great autumn harvest uprising on the border of Xianggan and Gansu, and later led the rebel troops to march into Jinggangshan, carry out guerrilla warfare, go deep into the agrarian revolution, establish the red regime, establish China's first rural revolutionary base area, ignite the fire of "armed division of workers and peasants", and open up a glorious road to encircle the city with the countryside and finally seize the city. The red flag of Jinggangshan illuminated the voyage of victory of the Chinese revolution and aroused the yearning of countless revolutionaries.
Comrade Mao Zedong has always been very concerned about the Nanchang uprising led by Zhu De, comrades Zhou Enlai, He Long, Ye Ting, Liu Bocheng, and other comrades. Soon after I went up the mountain, he asked me to contact the Hunan Provincial Party Committee and the Hengyang Special Committee, and asked me to inquire about the whereabouts of the Nanchang uprising troops, and to get in touch with the revolutionary forces in neighboring areas.
I set off from Jinggangshan on October 5 and arrived in Changsha on the 10th. After arriving in Changsha, in accordance with Comrade Mao Zedong's instructions, he reported the autumn harvest uprising to the provincial party committee. At that time, the provincial party committee instructed that there was no need to go to the Hengyang Special Committee anymore, and that they should contact me, and asked me to take a detour to northern Guangdong to contact the revolutionary forces. Following the instructions of the provincial party committee, I moved to Guangzhou in mid-December, where I was ready to return to Jinggangshan via northern Guangdong. It just so happened to coincide with the Guangzhou Uprising. The enemy was frightened by the momentum of the revolution and immediately mobilized the troops from Jiangxi and Hunan to Guangdong to suppress them. The train from Guangzhou to Shaoguan was also out of place, and the situation was very chaotic. Under the cover of the hotelier, I escaped the counter-revolutionary manhunt, and ten days later, Fang boarded the train and arrived at Shaoguan at night.
After months of running around, my body was very dirty, and as soon as I got out of the car and stayed in the hotel, I was busy taking a shower. Shaoguan garrisoned the Sixteenth Army of the Yunnan warlord Fan Shisheng. There happened to be a few officers bathing with me, and the water was so thick that no one could see who. Only to hear them talking: "Wang Kai's team has reached the head of the plough." I heard that his original name was Zhu De, and he was an old classmate of Fan Junchang. Another said: "Classmates are classmates, but it is a unit of mob concentration." We are on close guard against him. "This overheard news really excited me, stepping on the iron shoes is nowhere to be found, and it takes no effort at all." The troops retained by the Nanchang Uprising were originally here! I hurriedly took a shower, checked out, looked at the clock, it was already one o'clock in the second half of the night, anxious as a fire, I couldn't care about the dark road, and immediately left Shaoguan and walked to the northwest.
The head of the plough is between Shaoguan and Lechang, more than forty miles away from Shaoguan. Dressed in a suit, a yellow tweed coat, and yellow leather boots, I dressed like a well-off boy, carrying a bag of plainclothes in my hand, and hurried along the road. Fortunately, it was late at night, and there was no one to interrogate and check along the way, and it reached the head of the plough safely.
The sentry of Comrade Zhu De's troops transferred me to the headquarters. The first person to meet me was a young man with long hair and a big beard draped over his shoulders. He took me into the inner room, and I saw Comrade Cai Xiemin at a glance, so I couldn't shout a word, jumped up and shook hands with him: Old Cai, I didn't expect to meet you here! Comrade Cai Xiemin was also taken aback and shouted: Old Ho, how did you come? It turned out that we had done secret and public work together in Dongting Lake in Xiangxi Province, and we were very familiar with it. Through his introduction, I learned that the young man was Comrade Wang Erzhuo, the chief of staff of Comrade Zhu De. I joked: Your beard is almost like Marx's. Comrade Cai Xiemin said: Comrade Wang Erzhuo has made an oath that if the revolution is not successful, he will not shave his head and not shave his beard!
Everyone was talking lively, and a man came out of the back room, full of spirits, a kind smile, and a strict military dress. Comrade Cai Xiemin introduced me to him. He shook hands with me tightly and said his name softly and modestly: Jude. At the same time, Comrade Chen Yi, who happened to be familiar in Paris. I took Comrade Mao Zedong up Jinggangshan until this time I escaped from Danger from Guangzhou, accidentally found the passage from here, and reported to him. Comrade Zhu De said happily: Excellent. I saw the news of Jinggangshan in the enemy newspaper. We were running around, and we had no place to stand, and we were looking for Comrade Mao Zedong, and just a few days ago we sent Comrade Mao Zeqin (Comrade Mao Zedong's brother) to Jinggangshan to make contact. Then he inquired in detail about the autumn harvest uprising and the Guangzhou uprising, and asked what was the environment of Jinggangshan? How many people? ...... During the conversation, people kept coming to him, one moment the secretary of the county party committee, the other the red guard captain, people coming in and out, the river was endless, it seemed that there was going to be some big action. Our conversations were intermittent. From time to time, Comrade Zhu De turned back to me, smiled apologetically at me, and then asked Comrade Chen Yi to greet me to rest.
The next day, Comrade Zhu De gave me a letter of introduction and some money, shook my hand, and said: I hope you will return to Jinggangshan quickly and contact Comrade Mao Zedong. We are instigating the Shonan rebellion.
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In early January 1928, I returned to Jinggangshan. Soon after, he heard the news that Comrade Zhu De had launched a rebellion in Shonan. Within a month or so of the Shonan uprising, the five counties of Yizhang, Chenzhou, Zixing, Yongxing, and Leiyang established and strengthened local armed forces, and counties, districts, and townships generally set up workers' and peasants' Soviet governments to beat up local tycoons and divide up the land. The vigorous Shonan rebellion frightened the Kuomintang reactionaries. The enemies in The two provinces of Hunan and Guangdong immediately dispatched "will suppress." The enemy's former enemy headquarters in Xiang Province was located in Hengyang, and the enemy's former enemy headquarters in Guangdong Province was located in Qujiang, forming a north-south attack along the Guangdong-Han line, directly approaching Chenzhou, where the general headquarters of the riot was located. The enemy in Jiangxi also went out to contain the actions of our Workers' and Peasants' Red Army at Jinggangshan Mountain. Because Shonan is the main road between Xiangnan and Guangdong provinces and a place where the enemy must contend, it also failed because the Shonan Special Committee was influenced by blind activism in its policy and partially separated from the masses. In early March, he received instructions from the Shonan Special Committee to appoint Comrade Mao Zedong as the commander of the division and ordered him to move his troops to Shonan to support the Shonan rebellion. The troops immediately assembled at The Mouth of The Village in Zhongcun County, and Comrade Mao Zedong, after announcing his assumption of the post of division commander, said to everyone: One fence has three piles, one good man has three gangs; three cobblers have come together to form Zhuge Liang. We have so many cadres, everyone is the chief of staff, everyone is the division commander, and they don't have to worry about fighting a bad battle. After that, the army was divided into two routes: Comrade Mao Zedong took the Thirty-first Regiment as the left wing and wedged between Guidong and Rucheng; ordered our Thirty-second Regiment to advance in the direction of Penggongmiao and Zixing.
The Thirty-second Regiment was the combined troops of Wang Zuo and Yuan Wencai, about a thousand men, under the leadership of Comrade Mao Zedong, who fought several small victories, but had not yet fought far away. After everyone knew the significance of this operation, the mood was very high. When I drove to the vicinity of Zixing, I encountered a team, holding all the earthen guns and darts, about a battalion or so. Upon asking, I learned that the Seventh Division under Comrade Zhu De was an uprising peasant in the Areas of Zixing, Yongxing, and Leiyang, and the division commander was named Deng Yunting. After we met, we held a meeting of cadres and studied the enemy's situation: The contingent of the Xiang enemy He Jian assembled in Hengyang and did not move, probably because our army in eastern Hunan was active frequently, and did not dare to go south easily. We then decided to continue our march south, blocking the Cantonese army in the north from the Jiufeng Mountains, preventing them from approaching Chenzhou, and even if they could not win, we could cover the retreat of Comrade Zhu De's general headquarters of the rebel army. At the meeting, it was also decided that the Seventh Division would be under our unified command.
We passed through the old county overnight, crossed the Chu River, and met Fan Shisheng's Sixteenth Army at Chukou. Chukou is only a hundred miles away from Chenzhou. The enemy had also just arrived at Chukou, and before he could do the fortifications, he was surrounded by us. At that time, although the troops in Jinggangshan were still neatly dressed in gray uniforms, the guns in their hands were not very good, especially without heavy weapons; the comrades of the Seventh Division did not even have military uniforms. The enemy probably looked down on us a little, fought very tenaciously, and quickly built the fortifications while fighting. We fought hard for two days and two nights, and the enemy finally softened. When we launched the general attack, the enemy collapsed and immediately retreated south. We followed the pursuit, straight south to the place of the Civilization Division, and suddenly, the main force of the enemy appeared in the front, pressing towards us, and we had to retreat at once.
After getting rid of the pursuit of Fan Shisheng's troops, we retreated to Zixing. At this time, the troops who heard he jian had also been dispatched to force Chenzhou. He wrote a letter, inserted chicken feathers, and handed it over to the party's transportation organization to be quickly transmitted to Chenzhou overnight, and the report recommended that Comrade Zhu De quickly withdraw from the north and south to avoid being caught between the north and the south. When we retreated northward, we unexpectedly encountered Comrade Chen Yi near Zixing, who withdrew from Chenzhou with some of the rebellious peasant army and some local party organs. We hurriedly asked him: What about Comrade Judd? Comrade Chen Yi said: He and the general headquarters are still in Chenzhou, and may soon withdraw to the northeast with the main force to the area of Anren and Chaling. We calculated the date: When Comrade Chen Yi withdrew from there, it was the time to fight chukou.
At this time, we had no contact with Comrade Mao Zedong, but only knew that he was fighting guerrillas in the area of Maqiao, west of Rucheng. We arranged the team on the outskirts of Zixing City, prepared to block the pursuing enemy, and then, together with Comrade Chen Yi and Yang Zaifu, secretary of the Xiangnan Special Committee, and other comrades, we held a meeting at penggong temple, which is seventy or eighty miles north of Zixing City, to study the next action.
Who knows, as soon as the meeting was held, Yang Zaifu and Xi Kesi, secretary of the Xiangnan Special Committee of the Communist Youth League, proposed to go to Hengyang. Yang Zaifu said: We are the Shonan Special Committee, not the Jinggangshan Special Committee, and we should not leave our own region. Xi Kes said passionately: Communists should not avoid hardships and dangers. It is a shameful act for us to hide in jinggangshan by the organs of the Shonan Special Committee. Comrade Chen Yi painstakingly persuaded them: Seventy or eighty of you, men, women, and children, with all kinds of accents, all kinds of clothing, carrying mimeograph machines, this road vigilante group is very tightly investigated, how can you go through? Comrades, do not make senseless sacrifices, after going to Jinggangshan, we will try to send you away one after another. At that time, I was also very angry at their stubborn attitude, but I was so vigilant that I could not use my status as a military cadre to subdue them, so I said: Comrade Mao Zedong is a member of the Central Committee, and we can ask Comrade Mao Zedong to make a decision.
They ignored this proposal at all, and in the afternoon, after packing up their things, they set out with the special committee organs. Comrade Chen Yi and I gave them a ride, and along the way continued to persuade them to stay, but their idea was already decided, and it was useless to say anything more.
Later, I heard that they were indeed on the border of An Ren and Leiyang, and they were all caught by the enemy and killed miserably! The loss of a special committee organ of the Party and the Regiment was an extremely painful lesson in the early days of guerrilla warfare.
When we returned to Penggongmiao, we received instructions from Comrade Mao Zedong to immediately withdraw to Jinggangshan, where he led his troops to take cover in the rear and was retreating from Rucheng to Yuxian County.
Three
When we were approaching The crossing in Shuxian County, the plainclothes scouts came back and reported: Comrade Zhu De's team has arrived at Qiudu! As soon as everyone heard about it, they were all happy to speed up their pace and hurry away. After entering the street, I saw some soldiers coming and going, some of them wore military uniforms, most of them wore plain clothes, the colors were black and gray, and the hats were not consistent, but they were all energetic and very energetic.
I came to Comrade Zhu De's house with Comrade Chen Yi, Comrade Deng Yunting, and several secretaries of the county party committee. He was dressed in a modest gray military uniform, but his leggings were still so strong, and his face was much darker than when he was in the plough. He smiled and shook hands with us. We asked him: Didn't you lose this time? He said: Very good, no loss suffered. It was too busy to get a haircut, and the beard was very long. The housework is still very large, the weapons have been surrendered, the ranks have been expanded, and the cadres have been enriched. I said: We are fighting hard to the south, and I didn't expect you to withdraw so sharply. Comrade Zhu De smiled and said that your actions directly covered our retreat. Then he asked: Where was Comrade Mao Zedong? I reported that he would have to wait about three or four days to arrive as a defender.
The Seventh Division returned, and Comrade Chen Yi also stayed with Comrade Zhu De. On 24 April, our Thirty-second Regiment returned to the city of Lynch, placed its troops in the east, alerted jiangxi, and then mobilized the rear organs near Ninggang and the broad masses to prepare houses and supplies for the welcome of the fraternal troops.
Two days after returning to the city, Comrades Zhu De and Chen Yi also went into the mountains with some of their direct subordinate troops and lived in several small villages near the city. On April 28, Comrade Mao Zedong returned with the 31st Regiment; Comrade Zhu De's main force also came from the area of Anren and Chaling. The tranquil mountain plains suddenly appeared lively. On April 28, 1928, the weather was very clear, and the majestic Jinggang Mountain looked particularly fresh as if it had been washed with water; the green rice fields were full of fragrance; the sun hung happily in the sky, shining on the stream. What a wonderful day! We followed Comrade Mao Zedong and watched his tall and steady figure. Everyone was excited. After the defeat of the Great Revolution, he established the first rural revolutionary base area in Jinggangshan, erected the first bright red flag, and illuminated the voyage of the Chinese revolution. Today, the two revolutionary armed forces have met in victory! The forces of the revolution will grow even stronger on this solid foundation. The revolutionary base areas will further consolidate their development, and the revolutionary tide will be pushed more forcefully throughout the country from here...
The meeting place between Comrade Mao Zedong and Comrade Zhu De was at Longjiang Academy in Ninggang City. Comrades Zhu De and Chen Yi first arrived at Longjiang Academy, and when Comrade Mao Zedong arrived, Comrade Zhu De hurriedly accompanied Chen Yi and other comrades to the door to greet them. When I saw him from a distance, I reported to Comrade Mao Zedong that the one standing at the front was Comrade Zhu De, and on the left was Comrade Chen Yi. Comrade Mao Zedong nodded, smiled and waved to them.
When approaching Longjiang Academy, Comrade Zhu De grabbed the first few steps, and Comrade Mao Zedong also quickened his pace and stretched out his hand early. After a while, their two powerful palms were tightly clasped together, shaking each other's arms vigorously, so warm and affectionate.
Entering the longjiang academy, Comrade Mao Zedong introduced us to Comrade Zhu De; Comrade Zhu De also introduced the cadres around him to Comrade Mao Zedong.
Comrade Mao Zedong said with a congratulatory tone: This time the enemies of The two provinces of Hunan and Guangdong have not been able to bring you in order!
Comrade Zhu De said: We are moving quickly, and it all depends on your cover.
After talking about the military situation for a while, Comrade Mao Zedong said enthusiastically: On the anniversary of the "May Fourth", the fraternal troops and the nearby masses held a lively party, and the responsible comrades of the two sides met with everyone. As he spoke, he turned to me and said, "Comrade He Changgong, you are responsible for making preparations." He instructed in detail what to prepare, and finally stressed in particular: More masses should be mobilized to participate!
When he had finished his instructions, a few of our comrades who had come with him resigned so that Comrade Mao Zedong and Comrade Zhu De could quietly discuss more important matters.
We walked out and saw the fields, the hillsides, the surroundings of the villages, full of clusters of people. The soldiers and masses of Jinggangshan have become very acquainted with the fighters brought by Comrade Zhu De, and they pour out their hopes for each other, brief each other on the situation, talk about revolutionary experiences, look forward to the future future, express their determination for the future, and everywhere they laugh and laugh, and there is a lively scene.
Four
The city of Tong, which has beautiful mountains and rivers, is more beautiful and lovely today, with redder camellia flowers, more yellow rape flowers, clearer streams, and greener rice fields. On a lawn on the south side of the city, there is a podium made of door panels and bamboo poles, surrounded by countless red flags like clouds. The rostrum was lined with placards with the words "Celebrating the Victory of the Two Revolutionary Forces and Meeting the Division" and "Down with the Kuomintang Reactionaries."
Early in the morning, people walked endlessly toward the venue, and before ten o'clock, the troops twenty miles away also arrived. The venue was crowded with people, about 10,000 troops and shonan peasant army, and there were many people, people's mountains, flag seas, songs, laughter, and a noisy wave.
At ten o'clock, the presidium, composed of the party, government, military, industry, agriculture, academia, and businessmen, took to the rostrum. As the emcee of the Assembly, I declared: The Assembly has begun! Set off firecrackers! The firecrackers hanging from the top of the trees to the ground immediately sounded and lasted for a long time; hundreds of trumpeters lined up in front of the rostrum sounded their military trumpets in unison, and the trumpets were neatly loud and loud, mighty and majestic, resounding through the clouds, and echoes were heard from the peaks near and far.
After the military music was played, Comrade Chen Yi, executive chairman of the conference, made a speech. He said: Today is the anniversary of the "May Fourth", and it is of particularly great significance that we have come today to celebrate the victory of the two units and the division... Then he announced: According to the decision of the Military Commission of the Fourth Red Army, all the troops will be reorganized into the Fourth Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, the commander of the army is Comrade Zhu De, and the party representative is Comrade Mao Zedong...
Comrade Zhu De went on to speak, saying: The confluence of the two revolutionary armed forces under the leadership of our Party means a new starting point for the Chinese revolution. The comrades attending this victory meeting must have been very happy. But the enemy was sad there. So let the enemies be sad, we can't take care of their emotions, we will completely eliminate them in the future! With this victory meeting, our strength has expanded, and with Jinggangshan as our base area, we can constantly strike at the enemy and constantly develop the revolution. Finally, he hoped that after the two units met, they would strengthen their unity; he also assured the masses that the Red Army would certainly defend the Red Base Areas and protect the interests of the masses in dividing up the land. As soon as his words were finished, there was a loud applause.
Then Comrade Mao Zedong spoke. He pointed out that the meeting was of historical significance, and at the same time analyzed the bright future of the Red Army troops. He said that our Red Army not only wanted to fight a war, but also mobilize the masses and organize the masses. At present, although we are inferior to the enemy in terms of numbers and equipment, we have Marxism-Leninism and the support of the masses, and we are not afraid of defeating the enemy. The enemy does not have the ability of Sun Wukong, and even if we have the ability of Sun Wukong, we have a way to deal with them, because we have the ability of the Buddha. They can't escape the palm of the Buddha's hand! We must be good at finding the enemy's weaknesses, and then concentrate our forces on this part. Ten fingers have the length and length, the lotus flower has a high and low water, the enemy is also weak and strong, and the distribution of troops is difficult to ensure that there is no place that is not thoughtful. We grasped the enemy's weakness and fought hard; when we won the battle, we immediately dispersed and hid behind the enemy to play "hide-and-seek" play. In this way, we can take the initiative and put the enemy in the palm of our hands. Comrade Mao Zedong's remarks made everyone feel full of excitement and confidence. There was a storm of applause and enthusiastic cheers.
After Comrade Wang Erzhuo, chief of staff of the Fourth Red Army, gave some talks on the issue of military-civilian relations, deputies from all walks of life also spoke. Everyone enthusiastically congratulated the newly established Red Fourth Army, congratulated this contingent on its great victory in the future struggle against the reactionaries, and congratulated the base areas on their smooth development and consolidation.
The news of the victory of Comrade Mao Zedong and Comrade Zhu De quickly spread throughout China. The Red Army in the Jinggangshan area has become more vigorous, and the Revolutionary Base Area in Jinggangshan has been further consolidated and developed. After the meeting, under the leadership of Comrade Mao Zedong, "various military victories and the development of mass division in the four months from April to July" were achieved. In particular, on June 23, the Great Victory at Longyuankou annihilated one regiment of the enemy, crushed two regiments, surrendered more than a thousand guns, and broke the enemy's attack in Jiangxi for the fourth time, achieving the biggest victory since the establishment of the Jinggangshan base area. The Jinggangshan base area was expanded to "three counties of Ninggang, Yongxin and Lianhua, a small part of Ji'an and Anfu, the north of Suichuan, and the southeast of Suixian County, which was the heyday of the border." The red flag on the border of Xianggan and Gansu gradually aroused the hopes of the workers, peasants, and soldiers in the nearby provinces. At this time, many students and Anyuan coal miners overcame many difficulties and came to Jinggangshan. Liling also had a group of revolutionary peasants and students who traveled a long way up Jinggang Mountain. Later, Comrades Peng Dehuai, Teng Daiyuan, Deng Ping and other comrades led the Fifth Red Army to Jinggangshan. Jinggangshan became the center and strong fortress of the Chinese revolution.
March 1977