December 1949, Guilin. It was a clear winter morning, and Li Tianyou, who had just been appointed deputy commander of the Guangxi Military Region, returned to his hometown after 20 years of absence.
More than a month ago, Li Tianyou, a senior general who had made great contributions to the republic, attended the first session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Beijing and climbed the Tiananmen Tower to witness the grand scene of the founding ceremony. At that time, he had mixed feelings, and his face was always full of bright smiles.
It was the knowing smile of a victor as he tasted the fruits of victory. For the smile of this day, Li Tianyou and his comrades-in-arms have paid too much effort. Too many sacrifices have been made.
But when he stood in front of his parents' graves, there was a sour taste that spread across his heart. People in his hometown told him that 7 years ago, his parents and his youngest brother Lao Geng died one after another due to infectious diseases, and it was the villagers who took him to the graves of his relatives. Looking at the trembling grass on the grave, Li Tianyou did not feel the slightest surprise. Having been baptized by fire, he is no longer the little boy who ran away from home, although emotionally he has always hoped that his parents can live a good life, and intellectually, he knows that in that era, a good life can only be an unattainable dream. Even from the year when his younger brother Tianbao died and his second sister and little sister disappeared, he had already predicted that disaster would sooner or later fall on his parents.
Li Tianyou restrained the surging tide in his heart, silently surrounded his parents' graves, pulled the grave grass one by one, and talked to his parents in his heart while pulling: Abba, Auntie, You Cub came back to see you coming. You Cub did not lose his word, You Cub finally brought you back a good life, but unfortunately you can't see it, you can't enjoy it, but millions of poor people have already tasted happiness. Abba, Auntie, the good days are still ahead, rest in peace!
Li Tianyou pulled the grave grass clean and cultivated a thick layer of grave soil for the grave head. When Li Tianyou did these things, he seemed meticulous and calm, as if he was constructing a grand project.
At that time, he was indeed sketching a grand project, that is, to make every effort to make a better day, to comfort the people who were buried in the disaster, including his parents and family!
Li Tianyou, who was full of ambition, bid farewell to his parents' graves and quickly rushed from Guilin to Nanning to take up his post, where he happily met the old commander of the former Red Seventh Army and many old comrades-in-arms.
In a sense. This can be regarded as a victorious division in every way: Zhang Yunyi, former commander of the Seventh Red Army, is now secretary of the Guangxi Provincial CPC Committee, chairman of the Provincial People's Government, and commander and political commissar of the Guangxi Military Region; Chen Manyuan is deputy secretary of the Guangxi Provincial CPC Committee, Lei Jingtian is the vice chairman of the Provincial People's Government; Mo Wenhua is the deputy secretary of the Provincial CPC Committee and deputy political commissar of the Guangxi Military Region; and a number of veteran soldiers of the former Seventh Red Army are respectively holding leading posts in various departments of the party, government, and army in Guangxi Province.
"Welcome, welcome, god bless comrade." In the conference room of the provincial military district headquarters, Zhang Yunyi held Li Tianyou's hand tightly and said. The 57-year-old chief is still so approachable and enthusiastic. He said, We have a lot of fate, and when I saw you in Nanning that year, you were still a. ”
Zhang Yunyi's demeanor and strong Hainanese voice made Li Tianyou recall the unforgettable years. At that time, it was Zhang Yunyi who lifted the fog for him and made him see the light of the sun. He was grateful to the old chief from the bottom of his heart. He said: "If it weren't for the words of the old chief, the revolutionary side of me, I really wouldn't have figured out where to stand." ”
Li Tianyou's words are full of true feelings. Everyone present could not help but be moved, and everyone involuntarily recalled the course of the battle over the past 20 years, spoke straight and rushed with enthusiasm, and soon focused on the cause of building a new Guangxi.
Li Tianyou said: "Old chief, how to deploy the next step? "Don't worry, I invite Comrade Jingtian and Comrade Wenhua to come together, that is, to let everyone have a good talk." Comrade Man Yuan went to Yulin, and we first discussed and discussed. ”
The conversation turned to reality, and everyone became serious in unison. This is because everyone knows in their hearts that although the whole territory of Guangxi has been liberated, the political and military situation in which guangxi is located is still very grim: Guangxi is the lair of the Warlords of the Gui clan who have painstakingly operated for decades; they have long pursued reactionary policies such as "autonomy, self-sufficiency, and self-defense" and "educating soldiers in the peasants, studying in school, and recruiting for recruitment," and have trained more than 300,000 administrative personnel from villages and above, and have generally established vigilante groups in the rural areas and organized joint defense. They were powerful officials and bandits, so that "commanders walked all over the streets, and bandits were as many as hairs." Chiang Kai-shek's retreat from Taiwan also attempted to take advantage of Guangxi's characteristics of "many mountains, many caves, many soldiers, many bandits, and many guns" as a base for counterattacking the mainland.
On October 16, 1949, Bai Chongxi held an emergency meeting in Guilin, arranged for the implementation of the so-called "general war", and infiltrated a part of the Kuomintang regular army, pseudo-administrative personnel, and secret agents in the province, and with them as the backbone, recruited bandits and scattered soldiers from all over the country, set up five military and political districts in northern Guizhou, western Guizhou, eastern Guidong, southern Guizhong, and Guidianbian, launched the so-called "one first, one soldier, one shot" movement, and created territory in the 100,000 Mountains, 60,000 Mountains, Darong Mountains, Daming Mountains, and The Great and Small Yao Mountains to carry out the so-called "extensive guerrilla warfare." At that time, there were more than 30,000 kuomintang regular troops lurking. They have united bandits and landlords and bullies to continuously develop reactionary forces, generally established intelligence networks between specialty, county, district, and township, levied harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, stockpiled grain, spied on the opportunity, and tried at any time to subvert the newly established people's revolutionary regime in Guangxi.
"There are many wastes to be rebuilt, and the tasks are arduous, but the most urgent task at the moment is to consolidate the newly established local people's power and restore the order in urban and rural areas, and military work has great responsibilities and is of extraordinary significance." The burden of Guangxi's military work will be picked up by Comrade Tianyou! Zhang Yunyi's tone was full of trust and expectation, and he paused for a moment and said, "Comrade Tianyou, talk about your ideas." ”
Li Tianyou pondered for a moment, raised his head, and said: "We must reorganize the local armed forces in Guangxi and make all kinds of preparations to deal with banditry." The initial idea is: in the province, Nanning, Baise, Qinzhou, Guanzhou, Guilin, Longzhou, Guiping Military Subdistrict, each military sub-district to set up an independent regiment of 1500 people as the basic armed force. ”
"Good!" Zhang Yunyi waited for Li Tianyou to finish speaking, and then he slapped his thigh hard and applauded, and he took over the conversation and said: "Moreover, there may be a county brigade in the county and a district squadron in the district, so that we can resolutely, thoroughly, cleanly, and completely annihilate all The Kuomintang reactionaries in China who dare to resist in accordance with Chairman Mao and Commander-in-Chief Zhu's "Order to March to the Whole Country" of April 21. ”
Zhang Yunyi ripped open the collar button, walked to the window and pushed it open, and the cold wind outside the window rushed in, blowing his frosted hair like a strong grass. Zhang Yunyi quietly looked at the scenery outside the window, turned to Li Tianyou and said, "I heard that you have been learning about the basic situation of bandits in Guangxi along the way. ”
Li Tianyou took out his notebook and said with a serious expression: "According to investigation and preliminary statistics, there are 218 bandits in public activities, with a total of about 90,000 people. First of all, we should proceed to deal with the regular armed forces, administrators, and agents that were systematically and organized on the eve of the Kuomintang's collapse. As far as the distribution of bandit forces is concerned, more than 5,000 people from the headquarters of Zhou Zuhuang, commander of the enemy's northern Guizhou army, and Huo Guannan, deputy commander of the northern Guizhou army, are active in the Baishou area of northern Guizhou; more than 1,000 people in the unit of the commander of the northern Guibei column, more than 1,000 people in the Yongfu area of northern Guizhou; more than 2,500 people in the unit of Mo Shujie, commander of the guixi military and political region, are active in the nandan, Hechi, and Yishan areas in northwest guizhou; more than 1,000 people in the headquarters of Gan Lichu, commander of the guidong military and political forces, and more than 700 people in the unit of Wang Jingzong, commander of the Guizhong military and political forces, are active in the Pingle and Mengshan areas More than 1,000 people from luo huo, commander of the Guinan Military and Political Region, were active in Da Rong Shan; more than 2,000 people from the headquarters of Zhang Guangwei, commander of the Yunnan-Guizhou Border Region, were active in the northwestern region of Baise; more than 1,000 people from Yao Huai's unit of the 'Longzhou Flood Supervision Office' were active in the Gubian and Jiute areas of the Sino-Vietnamese border; Lin Xiushan, commander of the second guerrilla detachment of Guisui, Jiang Xiong, commissioner of the Eighth Special Region, Luo Shaohui, commissioner of the Tenth Special Region, and Lai Huipeng, commissioner of Jingxi, were active in the border areas or mountainous areas. These regular armed bandits have about 30,000 people and are the backbone of the bandits in Guangxi. ”
Zhang Yunyi did not expect that Li Tianyou would grasp so many situations not long after he arrived in Guangxi, and he looked at his old subordinates approvingly and said, "You have experience in suppressing bandits in the northeast, talk about how to solve them." ”
"To step up the political offensive and take advantage of the fact that the Kuomintang is shrinking Taiwan and the general trend has gone, we should first break through their psychological defense line and persuade them to abandon the dark and throw themselves into the light, and peacefully reorganize them." Li Tianyou closed his notebook and said confidently.
"As far as I know, some of them still swore allegiance to Chiang Kai-shek to the death, in the delusion that Chiang Kai-shek would counterattack the mainland, I think." Zhang Yunyi walked from the window sill to Li Tianyou and sat down, twisted his beard, and said: "To choose the right one, shake a batch, talk about it, who is most likely to take the lead in surrendering?" ”
"Zhou Zuhuang." Li Tianyou replied confidently. Zhang Yunyi nodded and said, "I also feel the same way, Zhou Zuhuang is the commander of the Kuomintang Lieutenant General, and it is of great significance to get rid of him, so I think in the name of the Guangxi Provincial Military Region, I will issue a notice to clean up bandits and suppress special forces, highlighting the policy of 'the first evil must be done, the threat is never asked, and meritorious service is rewarded'!" ”
Speaking of this, Zhang Yunyi shook Li Tianyou's hand and said, "The burden of suppressing bandits is not light!" I am in the light, he is in the dark, and when I do work, I must be vigilant and guard against cold guns and dark arrows. You are a tiger general who has experienced hundreds of battles, and the great battles and vicious battles have rushed over. ”
Li Tianyou's heart was hot, and he also squeezed his hand and said, "Rest assured, Commander, we will carry out our work cautiously and steadily!"