Chapter 7 7. Liberation

At two o'clock in the afternoon on December 14, Ji Zhentong notified a meeting at his residence in the brigade headquarters.In addition to several officers from the first regiment, the deputy brigade commander Cao Jinsheng (also the head of the second regiment), Wu Zihan, the deputy commander of the second regiment, and several battalion commanders also attended the meeting.Everyone was drinking water and smoking cigarettes, and the room was filled with smoke.After everyone arrived to announce the opening of the meeting, Ji Zhentong said solemnly and excitedly: "Everyone, the Japanese imperialists are now occupying our northeast and peeping at North China. The fate of our motherland is in a precarious state. Everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the country, let alone ours. They are all regular soldiers! We demanded to resist Japan and fight back to the north, but Chiang Kai-shek was keen to fight civil war, disregarding the interests of the country and the nation. We can’t go on like this anymore, we insisted on going north to fight against Japan, but Chiang Kai-shek refused, so we detoured to Guangdong , and then fight back to the north.” He spoke very bluntly and provocatively, and the people present at the meeting exchanged glances with each other, or smiled at each other knowingly, and said in succession: “Okay! There is no other way out. Do what the brigade commander says!"

Then, Ji Zhentong began to issue specific tasks: Before 4:00 p.m., the second regiment will replace all the sentry posts in the city and guard the city gates. Before 6:00 p.m., cut off the telephone lines from inside the city to the outside of the city. It is not allowed to come in and out casually.The troops of the first regiment were commanded by Su Jin, and they gathered in the yard of the county government before six o'clock to stand by.At four o'clock in the afternoon, the third battalion sent some troops to take over the security of the special service battalion of the general headquarters.In the end, he glanced at everyone majestically, and said decisively; "The handover of each department must be completed on time, and there must be no mistakes. If everyone has clarified their tasks, let's divide up and start to carry out!"

At this meeting, Ji Zhentong did not clearly announce that he was going to serve in the Red Army, because he was afraid that some people were unprepared and would raise objections on the spot, causing extra problems and affecting the implementation of the uprising plan. The mission of one of the regiments had been issued the day before yesterday, in order to keep it secret However, none of this was conveyed at the meeting. Although the officers of the Second Regiment didn't know about it, they had nothing to say. After accepting the task, they led the troops to defend the city separately.Afterwards, Ji Zhentong called Wang Bingzhang, the squad leader of the guard, to come in and told him: "The banquet tonight will be held on the second floor of the headquarters, and the messengers brought by the brigade leaders will sit downstairs. You will lead the team to deal with these people. Remember, the action signal is sent by the adjutant Chai of the regiment. When you are seated, each choose a target. If the back of the soldier's gun is on the left, you will sit next to him on the left side. If the back is on the right side, sit next to his right side. , so that they can lower their guns at that time. The rest of the people guarded a few corners and used guns to force them to surrender their guns..."

At the same time, the brigade headquarters of the 73rd Brigade next to the 74th Brigade was also holding the same mobilization meeting. A few people, the small building of the brigade headquarters is surrounded by guards with live ammunition.At this meeting, there was no further discussion. Dong Zhentang said calmly: "We will act tonight. We will revolt and join the Red Army. The 74th Brigade and the General Headquarters will act together with us. We must prepare for various emergencies." Li Qingyun led the student company to take care of the east and north gates no matter what, and reported any accidents in time; Guo Ruyue went to the special agent company and led a squad to solve the radio station of the 25th Division; Yuan Xuezu and Yang Luyuan organized a special agent team, At the beginning of the operation, all telephone lines in the city were destroyed, and the streets were inspected and patrolled; Liu Zhenya led a special agent platoon to control the traffic lines reaching the Soviet area; Li Su and Wang Mingwu were responsible for publicizing the wounded and sick in the ward and promoting slogans in the city... .”

Dong Zhentang finished the mission and asked Chief of Staff Zhao Bosheng to speak. Zhao Bosheng stood up and said earnestly: "Everyone knows the situation, and the tasks of each regiment are also clear. The future and destiny of the 16th Route Army is in the hands of each of us. If something goes wrong, don’t be chaotic, but withdraw to the east gate in an orderly manner, and gather outside the south gate. Troops respond." At four o'clock in the afternoon, the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Regiment of the 74th Brigade came to the headquarters under the leadership of battalion commander Yan Tuge. As it had been explained in advance, the 3rd Battalion took over the security there smoothly, and the special agent battalion of the headquarters quietly assembled back to the station standby.Before six o'clock, those regiment leaders and brigade commanders arrived one after another to attend the "feast" held by the headquarters for them.I heard that brandy, Fort cigarettes, and American fruits were shipped from Shanghai, and mahjong would be played after the banquet.Standing at the gate of the headquarters, Yan Tuge watched them pass by arrogantly one by one, just like a hunter watching his prey fall into a buried trap, and he couldn't say how happy he was.

Zhao Bosheng stood in the courtyard and greeted them to go up to the second floor, while the accompanying guards were arranged to eat on the first floor, and Adjutant Chai of the 1st Regiment of the 74th Brigade was in charge of "reception".Due to the large number of people, Wang Bingzhang didn't care which side the opponent's gun was on, and adopted the method of arranging flowers and sitting, two against one. At six o'clock, the banquet began, and the guards downstairs also began to eat. They toasted each other and ate the dishes, and the whole scene immediately became lively.Adjutant Chai stood at the gate of the headquarters, looked at his watch, saw that the time had come, and with a gesture of his hand, the soldiers beside him quickly closed the gate.Then, he went back to the house, took out a white handkerchief and wiped his mouth (this is the signal to do something), only to hear a series of deep and powerful voices shouting: "Don't move!" One of the guards reacted quickly and moved quickly. , Get rid of the soldiers on the left and right, jump up and reach out to draw their guns.Wang Bingzhang rushed up, kicked him to the ground, and then firmly restrained him.

The guards downstairs were dealt with neatly. At the same time, Company Commander Jiao of the Nineth Company rushed to the second floor with more than 20 people. During the process of going up the stairs, a soldier fell due to excessive nervousness. The submachine gun in his hand went off, and a stream of bullets flew into the air. .As soon as the gunshot rang out, the officers who were drinking upstairs immediately became confused and asked, "Where is the shooting? Where is the shooting?" Li Jinting, the commander of the 27th Division, and the other commander reacted quickly, feeling that there had been a change. Strong, with quick legs and feet, he jumped from the window one after another, but was captured by Yan Tuge and others who had already been guarding in the yard.

Zhao Bosheng made a decisive decision, stood up and said loudly: "Everyone! In the face of a national crisis, what plans do the generals have for the future of our army?" All the officers were surrounded by soldiers rushing up. Although they knew there was a change, they didn't know the inside story. When asked by the chief of staff, they didn't know how to answer.At this time, Zhao Bosheng simply jumped onto the dinner table and made a generous statement: "On September 18, the Japanese devils occupied the three eastern provinces of our country, and tens of millions of compatriots became subjugated slaves. We are all regular soldiers of the country. If we want to fight, we must fight the devils first! It's a pity that we were dragged to Jiangxi by Chiang Kai-shek to fight the Red Army and our own brothers. Chiang Kai-shek wanted to use our sacrifices and the blood of the Red Army to clear his territory. The Japanese devils are about to invade the pass, our hometown in the north We are about to fall, and we call ourselves revolutionary soldiers, but we are invincible with guns, so what kind of soldiers are we? How will we face our northern elders in the future?"

The audience suddenly fell silent.Later, Zhao Bosheng continued to speak: "We are currently trapped in Ningdu, surrounded by the Red Army on three sides. You have all seen the only way out. It is blocked by Chiang Kai-shek's direct troops. If this continues, there will be a dead end! Now, I I am willing to lead the generals to walk a bright road, revolt to join the Red Army, and return to the north to fight Japan!" After hearing this, most of the officers agreed with the uprising. Zhang Fangzhao, commander of the 75th brigade, Wang Enbu, commander of the 81st brigade, and three or four regiment commanders were more reactionary and firmly disagreed. They all shouted:

"I agree with fighting Japan. If you want to be a '**', shoot me, I won't do it!" "There is a riot! I won't go with you! You can be violent, I won't be violent!" ... These people were immediately tied up by soldiers from the third battalion and locked in a room.Then Brigadier Dong came and spoke to the people in the room: "I'm sorry, everyone, who is willing to do this? The Japanese devils occupied our three eastern provinces, and Chiang Kai-shek ignored them, but asked us Chinese to fight the Chinese here, three or four times. We didn’t pay for a month, and asked Zhu Shaoliang’s team to watch us from behind. What’s his intentions! Now we respond to the CCP’s call to resist Japan and stop fighting the Red Army. Let me lend you your team and send you over there. Please Rest assured, your safety is absolutely guaranteed!"

After dealing with the affairs of the general headquarters, Zhao Bosheng, Dong Zhentang, Ji Zhentong, Huang Zhongyue and others immediately rushed to the 74th Brigade Headquarters and began to direct the uprising of the entire army. Ningdu's external communication mainly depends on the radio station. Therefore, it is particularly important to control the radio station while the uprising is in progress.Guo Ruyue's task is to lead a part of the student company to control the radio station of the general headquarters. At dusk, Staff Officer Guo led his operatives to the Zongzhi radio station early, pretending to chat and take a walk, and approached the station.Hearing the gunshots from the headquarters, Guo Ruyue waved, and soldiers rushed in from all directions.There were only four people inside, three of them were sitting on the bed chatting, and one was wearing earphones, sitting in front of the radio and "tick, tick" to practice sending a report.Guo Ruyue stepped forward and said, "You don't want to send or receive a report!" The telegraph operator gave him a disapproving glance, and replied proudly, "It's okay, no report was sent." Guo Ruyue didn't know, so he pulled out a pistol from his waist and pointed it at him. , The radio operator panicked, quickly took off the earphones, and shouted: "Brother! Misunderstanding! Misunderstanding!" After the four of them sat down side by side, Guo Ruyue solemnly announced: "Turn off the radio, install the machine, and stay in the house , waiting for orders, no one is allowed to go out!" Under the leadership of the deputy squad leader Tan Zhigang, the second platoon and the fourth squad of the 73rd Brigade's student company surrounded the headquarters of the second radio station.There is a pistol squad serving as guard here.The soldiers sneaked in, and the people inside were asleep, and when they were woken up one by one, they were still in a haze.Seeing so many armed soldiers rushing in and the gunshots coming from the direction of the headquarters, he didn't know what happened, so he asked anxiously, "What's going on? Brothers, what are you doing?" Tan Zhigang Solemnly declared: "We execute the order! Take over the radio station, from now on, stop contacting and put the radio station away!" At the same time, Liu Xiangsan (captain rank), a member of the senior law enforcement team of the General Headquarters, led a platoon of secret service battalions into the confidential radio station (Chiang Kai-shek's secret service radio station). When I was stunned and at a loss.Liu Xiangsan announced: "Shut down the machine immediately, and you are not allowed to leave your post. All actions are under my command!" When Li Jinting, the commander of the 27th Division, was taken into custody, he saw Yan Tuge, the commander of the 3rd Battalion, standing in the yard, and then saw that the soldiers who arrested him were all from the 74th Brigade, so he reacted and shouted: "I I'm old friends with your Brigadier Ji and Captain Huang! I want to see them!" In fact, Ji Zhentong and Huang Zhongyue had already given instructions on how to deal with him personally.The soldiers took him to the headquarters of the 74th Brigade. After seeing Ji Zhentong and Huang Zhongyue, he said dissatisfiedly, "What are you doing? Why are you keeping it secret from me? Why don't I do it?" Ji Zhentong Quickly explained: "Brother! We can't go north, we have to find another way out, we can't sit here and wait for death!" "Then why didn't you tell me earlier?" After speaking, he turned his head and shouted at Huang Zhongyue angrily: "Huang Benchu! Tell me! Did I have this idea a long time ago? Did I tell you in front of you? Huh! You despise me. Ouch! My legs." Ji Zhentong hurriedly ordered the military doctor to look at his wounds, and Li Jinting smiled and shook his hand and said, "No, no, fortunately the building is not high." Huang Zhongyue was also on the sidelines, explaining that he was shocked by his lack of consideration, and took the opportunity to do his ideological work, showing righteousness, and hoped that he could stand with everyone and go back to pull the troops over.Li Jinting knew the whole story, so he readily agreed. Hearing the gunshots, the adjutant office of the 25th Division was in a mess, and everyone climbed onto the roof to observe the situation.One-armed major general Zhao Zhiqi (former brigade commander of the Northwest Army, wounded in battle, sawing off one arm) of the Division Headquarters was walking back and forth anxiously between the front and back doors with a few orderlies, and he did not know what had happened. what's the situation.Soon, the captain's adjutant Guan Shoushan climbed down from the roof and reported that the division headquarters had been surrounded by soldiers with live ammunition.Zhao Zhiqi estimated that there was a mutiny, and was about to go out when the headquarters called and asked Zhao to go to a meeting.When I came back more than half an hour later, everyone gathered around. Zhao Zhiqi said solemnly: "The army is in an uprising! It was led by Chief of Staff Zhao Bosheng, Dong Zhentang of the 73rd Brigade, and Ji Zhentong of the 74th Brigade. If you want me to express my opinion, I agree. How about you?" When all the staff in the adjutant's office heard the news of the army uprising, they raised their hands in approval without hesitation. Zhao knew what was going on, so he told everyone: "From now on, you stay in the house and don't go out. Gather tomorrow morning and follow the arrangement... ..." The 1st Battalion of the 74th Brigade was led by Battalion Commander Lu Shouchun. Under the pretext of an emergency run, they rushed to the headquarters of the 25th Division in Sujia Temple, preparing to arrest the division commander Li Songkun.Hearing gunshots from the direction of the headquarters on the way, Battalion Commander Lu became impatient and ordered with a wave of his hand: "All speed up! Surround the division headquarters immediately!" Li Songkun said he was unwell and did not attend the banquet.When they heard gunshots from the direction of the headquarters, they temporarily added double posts at the gate of the division headquarters, two outside the gate and two inside the gate.When Lu Shouchun's action team controlled the two sentries at the door, and the rest were rushing in, the two sentries hiding inside the door opened fire, sweeping down the five people who rushed at the front (two dead and three injured), and the rest of them rushed in. The people in the room hesitated for a while, and the sentinel inside clicked and closed the two gates.Lu Shouchun and the others were locked outside the door, and no one dared to shoot again, and the two sides remained in a stalemate.Hard work is not enough, grenades and gunshots will alarm the peripheral troops and affect the entire uprising plan.Battalion Commander Lu was so anxious that he simply stood at the gate and shouted: "Listen to me, the people inside, you are already surrounded. As long as you hand over Li Songkun, we will guarantee your personal safety. Otherwise, we will destroy you on the spot!" No one hummed inside. "If you don't open the door, set fire to the house and blow it up with dynamite!" "Quick! Bring the kerosene can!" "Hand over the gun, hand over Li Songkun, and everyone else will be fine!" .... This confrontation has been going on for a while, but there is still no result.At the critical moment, Deputy Commander Zhao Zhiqi rushed in with a pistol and several staff officers. After learning about the situation, Zhao Zhiqi stood at the gate and rushed inside and shouted: "I am Deputy Commander Zhao Zhiqi! If there is an emergency, talk to Mr. Li and open the door." I'll go in alone." Soon, the door opened a crack, and Adjutant Zhao entered. Under his mediation, after another hour or so, Zhao Zhiqi came out and said: "The people inside don't want to hand in their guns. They say it's too embarrassing. Where will everyone save face in the future! But there is a tactful way—— The firing pin of the gun." Lu Shouchun couldn't help laughing, the firing pin was removed from the gun, what's the difference between it and a fire stick, it's really a hangman's powder - desperate to save face. After a while, a large bag of firing pins was thrown out, and the door opened.It was almost one o'clock in the morning, everyone rushed in and searched everywhere for Li Songkun, but unfortunately this guy had already slipped out of the city in a mess. After Lu Shouchun finished his mission, he returned to the regiment headquarters to report to Su Jin. The regiment health captain Ji Pengfei (captain military doctor) led the medical staff to rescue the injured soldiers.The operation of the 73rd Brigade was very smooth, but when they seized the radio station of the 25th Division, they encountered stubborn resistance.Upon hearing the news, Dong Zhentang personally rushed to the scene to command, and the battle was resolved in just ten minutes. So far, the battle in the county has ended victoriously.An interesting incident happened during this period, that is, the soldiers of the communications platoon of the 1st Regiment of the 74th Brigade made their own claims and imitated the Red Army to fight against local tyrants.They had only seen the slogan of the Red Army before, "Beat the local tyrants, divide the fields." In fact, they didn't know what it was to fight the local tyrants, thinking it was just a robbery.So I ran to the street and smashed open the storefront, picked up good things and took them casually. If there were too many things, I tied them up and tied them at the door of the store.The shop owner and the clerk were so frightened that they stood aside and dared not say a word. Su Jin, the deputy head of the regiment, rushed over upon hearing the news, and severely reprimanded him, "What are you doing?" "Isn't it a... revolution? I... let's fight... the local tyrants!" The soldiers stammered. Su Jin didn't know whether to laugh or cry, shook his head and said: "Is this a local tyrant? Who told you to do it? It's really playing the piano! Put your things down and go back!" The soldiers obediently put down their things and went back to the station in despair. As the sky was getting brighter, Dong Zhentang called Bian Zhangwu and told him: "Your brigade commander Zhang Fangzhao and the two regiment leaders have been detained, you take their private seals and leave the city immediately (the 75th Brigade is stationed outside Ningdu City) ), stabilized the troops after returning, and gathered under the White Pagoda outside the south gate at 9:00 am." On the morning of the 15th, the bright red sun shone on both sides of the Meijiang River. Under the old white pagoda on the bank, there were uprising teams from all over the world. Brigade officers and soldiers.With the cooperation of Wang Hongzhang, Chief of Staff of the 27th Division, Li Jinting not only brought his own regiment, but also brought over another regiment of the 79th Brigade. The rebel officers and soldiers kept cheering and jumping under the White Tower. After counting, except for Li Songkun, the escaped division commander of the 25th Division, who took away a regiment from outside the city, the remaining one army, two divisions, six brigades, and eleven regiments totaled more than 17,000 people. , took part in the uprising with more than 20,000 weapons. Dong Zhentang strode up to the highest point of the White Tower and announced loudly: "Our uprising has succeeded! We will no longer be angry with the Kuomintang!" The flag of the blue sky and white sun was torn apart and trampled under the feet: "Brothers! From now on, we will say goodbye to these things forever! We will drive to the Red Army right away! Fight shoulder to shoulder with the Red Army..." Immediately there was an earth-shattering slogan in the team: "Down with Chiang Kai-shek!" "Down with the Kuomintang reactionaries who have brought disaster to the country and the people!" "Down with the warlord!" "Down with Japanese imperialism!" ... At the same time, Chief of Staff Zhao Bosheng announced: Brigadier Dong will lead the 73rd brigade as the vanguard, go out of the east gate, cross the Meijiang River, and drive to the Central Revolutionary Base. The one in the capital is a regiment led by Huang Zhongyue and Su Jin. According to the order, the detained brigade and regimental leaders were released on the spot after the troops left. The busiest person at the moment is the health captain, Xi Pengfei. There is an X-ray machine in the brigade, which weighs several hundred catties in addition to the heavy packing box. If you don’t go, it’s a pity to leave it behind, what should you do? Yan Pengfei trotted all the way to the regiment headquarters. At this moment, Su Jin and his entourage were about to set off. Seeing Ji Pengfei who was dripping with sweat, Su Jin asked, "Is the packing done? We are about to leave." Yan Pengfei panted heavily. He replied: "Commander Su, do me a favor and take the X-ray machine away!" Su Jin heard it and understood that the machine was imported from Germany and it was a treasure.So he ordered the soldiers in the guard platoon to carry the machine to the Soviet area no matter what. After this X-ray machine entered the Soviet area, it played a huge role.Wang Jiaxiang, Chen Yi, Luo Ruiqing and many other officers and soldiers have used this machine after being injured.In the rain of guns and bullets, it arrived in Zunyi along with the Red Army's Long March. Until the end of the Zunyi meeting, the troops had to throw away their burdens and march forward lightly.So far, it has completed its sacred and glorious mission.