Memoirs of Liao Hansheng - "Four" He Minying Guerrillas (1)

The He Minying guerrillas are a revolutionary detachment that does not have the official name of the Red Army but is really engaged in the armed struggle of workers and peasants, a red armed force that has no Communist Party members but is indeed under the leadership of the Communist Party. He Minying's guerrillas have been active in the xiang'e border mountains for many years, and under the circumstance that the Red Army has left several times and the White Army has frequently "encircled and suppressed", it has persevered hard together with the people of the Soviet region, fought tenaciously, and guarded this place where the Red Army could advance and retreat.

　　I experienced guerrilla life in the He Minying guerrillas, a harsh life full of fierce struggles between life and death, blood and fire, revolution and counter-revolution.

　　§ Adhere to the Xiang'ebian

　　In the spring of 1930, the Xiang'ebian Red 4th Army led by He Long was ordered by the party to descend from Hefeng east to Honghu Lake and join the 6th Red Army in western Hubei led by Zhou Yiqun and Duan Dechang.

　　Regarding this operation, He Long, commander of the Red 4th Army, and Party representative Er Daiying (who did not arrive at his post) jointly signed the name and issued a notice in Hefeng City.

　　This is the first time I have seen He Long publicly sign a notice since he founded the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army in 1928. I felt very fresh, looked at it very carefully, and remembered that there were two sentences in the notice:

　　"Join our Sixth Army and go straight down to the three towns of Wuhan."

　　Before leaving, the Red Army made arrangements for upholding the work of the Xiang'e Border Soviet Zone, perfected the central county party committee and the Soviets, and left an independent regiment with He Wenyuan as the regimental commander, as well as the "Fifth Route Army" and he Minying guerrilla forces led by Chen Lianzhen, the father of the martyr Chen Zongyu, the former leader of the Red 4 regiment. He Minying took us up the mountain Simen Rock at the junction of Sangzhi and Hefeng.

　　After the main force of the Red Army went east to Honghu Lake, the Kuomintang reactionaries took the opportunity to "encircle and suppress" the Xiang'e Border Soviet Area. The party, government, military, and people of the Soviet Union persisted in guerrilla warfare and heroically resisted the enemy's "encirclement and suppression." After the enemy army withdrew, the situation eased somewhat, and He Minying led us down the mountain to live in Dongchang Bay, east of Hefeng Taiping Town.

　　At the end of 1930, the Red Army returned to Hefeng from Honghu Lake. At this time, it was no longer called the Red 4 Army, but the Red 2 Army. It turned out that in July of that year, He Long led the Red 4th Army and the Red 6th Army led by Zhou Yiqun and Duan Dechang to achieve a division in Gong'an County, Hubei Province, and formed the 2nd Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, creating a large-scale Honghu Su District. Then, the Red 2 Corps was ordered to cooperate with the 1st and 3rd Armies to attack Changsha, and halfway to the road, the 1st and 3rd Armies stopped fighting Changsha and withdrew to the Xianggan Su District, and the Red 2nd Army also withdrew, and in Yanglin City, Shishou County, it was besieged by the enemy army, and the troops suffered heavy losses, Duan Dechang returned to Honghu Lake with some of his men, and He Long led the main force to the Xiang'e side.

　　Just when the Red 2nd Army had just entered the Zomaping in Hefeng territory, an armed force of 2,000 or 3,000 people came from eastern Sichuan, and the leader was called Gan Zhanyuan, collecting grain and distributing money in the Soviet area, which made the chickens and dogs restless. The town of Taiping, where our guerrillas lived, was exactly where Gan Zhanyuan's troops had to pass through to enter Hefeng City, and He Minying sent people to contact Gan Zhanyuan first, asking me to send a letter to Zoumaping to report the situation of the cadres to He Long, who had just arrived there. According to the situation reported by the Central County Party Committee and He Minying, the former committee of the Red 2 Corps forcibly incorporated Gan Zhanyuan's troops at Zoumaping, executed several leaders who refused to obey, and the Red Army suddenly expanded more than 2,000 guns.

　　When the Red Army returned this time, it already had something "left" in the leadership of the Party. In January 1931, the person in charge of the Xiang'e Border Special Committee mistakenly killed Chen Lianzhen, commander of the "5th Route Army", and others in the name of "disobeying the party's leadership", and revoked the "5th Route Army" name. In the middle of the month, Sister Gu, who has always supported the revolution, was wrongly killed. Gu Dajie's name is Gu Detao, a native of Sangzhi County. She and her husband, Deng Renshan, were armed with He Long at the same time. Like He Minying and Gu Jiting, Sister Gu and his wife had participated in the Brotherhood of Elders, Deng Renshan was the master of the dragon head, and Gu Detao was the big sister of the limelight, and there were also several guns.

　　In 1928, He Long organized the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, and Sister Gu and his wife sympathized with the revolution and supported He Long. Soon Deng Renshan was killed, and Sister Gu took a gun to Qilangping in Hefeng County, and successively sent supplies to the Red Army, treated the wounded, and cared for their families, thus contributing greatly to the revolution. When I went to Zoumaping to report to He Long on Gan Zhanyuan's situation, He Minying asked me to go to Sister Gu first, and I stayed at her house for two nights, but I did not expect that a month later, Sister Gu, a sympathizer and supporter of the revolution, was killed on the charge of "collaborating with the enemy and plotting rebellion."

　　In the spring of 1931, the Red 2nd Army was ordered to go down to Honghu Lake and leave the Xiang'e Border Soviet Area again. The Red Army left an independent division, with Wang Bingnan, commander of the 4th Division, as the commander of the independent division, and Chen Xieping as the political commissar, and soon the independent division was changed to an independent regiment. In addition, there was a guerrilla brigade in Sangzhi County, and the brigade leader He Bingnan. The military and people of the Soviet union continued to persist in the struggle under the leadership of the CPC Xiang'e Border Special Committee.

　　I accompanied He Minying to bid farewell to the Red Army at Zoumaping and re-ascended the Four Gate Rock.

　　Simen Rock is a high mountainous area at the junction of Sangzhi and Hefeng. We stayed here for most of the time from late 1929 to early 1933. The place where you started living is called the ear cutting table.

　　Our team is led by He Minying, so people also call us He Dajie's team. The deputy was Xu Huanran, who was originally a benefactor of He Minying's husband Gu Jiting, who followed He Minying after he was killed. Most of the other members were relatives of the He family, including Xu Huanran's younger brother Xu Wusheng, my wife Xiao Genggen and me, Tang Xiaoyang, a benefactor during He Long's Northern Expedition, He Long's second sister He Pengjie and sister He Ronggu, He Long's third sister's daughter Gu Damei, Mangu's mo son Xiang Xuan, Peng Jie's mo son Xiao Qingyun, as well as more than ten soldiers who cooked and washed clothes, including Tian Shujie, Zhang Yueyuan and Lei Liansheng, Xiang Liansheng, Wang Huazheng, and Liu Liehuang, with a total of 20 or 30 men, women, and children.

　　It is not easy for such a small contingent to persist in the enemy's "encirclement and suppression." Under the leadership of He Minying, we, both adults and children, can take up guns, guns in one hand, hoes in the other, while fighting, while producing. Cut down the bushes and thatch on the rocks, burn them with fire, open up a few rock shell fields, plant buds and pumpkins, and raise pigs and feed chickens. Since Xiao Qingyun, Gu Damei, Xiang Xuan, and others were all underage children, He Minying said that they could not just follow a dance knife to get a gun, but also learn some culture, so he invited them to a teaching gentleman, Gu Boru, and later called me to be a teacher, teaching them to recognize and sing.

　　In 1931 and 1932, the Kuomintang reactionary government mobilized a large army to launch the third and fourth "encirclement and suppression" in various Soviet regions of the country. On the Xiang'e side, the enemy army began to come from the south to the north, and the north to the south. Subsequently, the enemy forces in the two provinces held a joint "meeting and suppression", and all parts of the Soviet area were occupied by the enemy one after another, and the county town of Hefeng also fell into the hands of the enemy several times, and the struggle became more and more brutal and more and more arduous.

　　We are in the Four Gate Rock Mountains, and the enemy can't take us. The brigade did not come at once; a small group of enemy troops climbed up, and we could fight as long as we could, and run if we couldn't. The enemy army in Hunan came from the south, and we ran to the side of Hefeng; the enemy in Hubei came from the north, and we ran to the side of Sangzhi, running from this mountain to that mountain, and circled back and forth with the enemy.

　We have food and shelter here, and we can fight and hide. When the situation was tense, the personnel of the Xiang'e Border Special Committee and the Soviets also went up to the Four Gate Rock, and when the enemy retreated, they went down the mountain and returned to Hefeng City, and the situation was tense and came up again. The wounded and sick of the Red Army and some family members also often came to our place to recuperate and take shelter, and Yang Ying, member of the special committee and secretary of the Sangzhi County CPC Committee, lived in the ear-cutting platform for a long time.

　　We have always maintained close ties with the Party organizations and the Soviets in the mountains. He Minying sometimes went in person, sometimes sent me to go on her behalf, looking for Zhou Xiaokang, secretary of the special committee, Guo Tianming, secretary of the Hefeng County CPC Committee and vice chairman of the Soviet, and Liu Zhiwu, a commissioner of the Peasants' Association and a grade teacher when I was studying in the primary school attached to the Second Division of Changde, to find independence

　　Wang Bingnan, head of the regiment, and Gu Rongnian, director of the manager's office, took the initiative to accept their leadership, informed each other of news, and helped each other.

　　In June 1932, just when the enemy's "encirclement and suppression" was becoming more and more frantic, a serious incident occurred within the Soviet district: a rebellion broke out in the Sangzhi County guerrilla brigade led by He Bingnan, and He Peiqing and Wang Xiangquan were also wrapped up in it.

　　He Bingnan was a native of Sangzhihong's family, who had served as the commander of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army and the guerrilla commander of the Red 4th Army, but was later dismissed for violating discipline, and he returned to the Sangzhiqi armed forces with some guns, and when the Red Army went down to Honghu Lake, he was appointed as the guerrilla brigade leader of Sangzhi County.

　　He Peiqing was a native of SangzhiLuoyu, a platoon leader during He Long's Northern Expedition, who returned home after the failure of the Nanchang Uprising. When He Long returned to Hong's house and Guan Juyi, He Peiqing had two guns, he and his brother-in-law Wang Xiangquan each carried one, and several others under his command joined the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, and later followed He Long's side, from the special agent company commander to the battalion commander and regiment commander. The Chixi River victory annihilated Xiang Ziyunbu, and He Peiqing was rumored to be a magical figure who "fanned the enemy down the river with one fan". When the Red 2Nd Army was stationed in Zoumaping, he and Wang Xiangquan took leave to return to Sang zhi's home. After the Red Army left, I accompanied He Minying back from Zoumaping back to the ear cutting platform, and halfway I ran into them in a hurry to catch up with the team, and then they did not catch up and returned to the guerrilla brigade in Sangzhi County.

　　He Bingnan, He Peiqing, and Wang Xiangquan all fought in the Red Army for many years and were very capable of fighting, and He Peiqing and Wang Xiangquan also joined the Communist Party, and they made great contributions to the creation of the Red Army and the Soviet Zone in the Xiang'e Border Region. However, after leaving the main force of the Red Army, He Bingnan and others had differences with Zhou Xiaokang, secretary of the Xiang'e Border Special Committee, and Yang Ying, secretary of the Sangzhi County CPC Committee, and the special committee and the county party committee did not trust them, and they did not obey the command of the special committee and the county party committee.

　　There was also a conflict between the guerrilla brigade in Sangzhi County and the Xiang'ebian Independent Regiment operating in Hefeng County. At first, the relationship between the two armed forces was good, and they informed each other of the enemy situation and cooperated with each other. Later, when the guerrilla brigade asked the independent regiment to cooperate, the independent regiment could not rush to the independent regiment because of the battle, He Bingnan and others resented the independent regiment, and when the independent regiment was oppressed by the enemy troops in Hubei and retreated to Sangzhi to borrow grain and ammunition from the guerrilla brigade, He Bingnan and others retaliated and refused to support, and the independent regiment was unfavorable in several battles, untenable, and had to withdraw from Hefeng.

　　He Bingnan and others, under the pretext that the special committee did not trust them and wanted to hand over their guns, went so far as to carry out a rebellion, shouting the slogan of "anti-communism and no anti-congratulations," killing Yang Ying, secretary of the Sangzhi County CPC Committee and political commissar of the guerrilla brigade, and Li Shaodong, member of the county party committee. After the incident, the special committee merged with the independent regiment and went to Honghu Lake to find the main force of the Red Army. This incident was he Bingnan's mastermind, and He Peiqing and Wang Xiangquan also followed suit.

　　The rebellion of He Bingnan and others was a very serious incident. No matter what kind of excuses they have, they actually embarked on a road of resisting the party's leadership by force and destroying the revolution, causing undue losses to the Xiang'e Border Soviet Region and bringing themselves to ruin. After the rebellion, He Bingnan dragged the Sangzhi guerrilla brigade to the Fangtou Mountain to stand on its own mountain, only to be surrounded by the Kuomintang regiment and eliminated, and He Bingnan was cut off after his death, and Sang Zhicheng was mentioned to show the public. He Peiqing and Wang Xiangquan escaped with more than a dozen people, climbed up the Four Gate Rock and hid, and there was no longer any major activity.