Chapter 9 Enter Pingxiang by train

On September 12, 1930, the Red Army withdrew from the siege of Changsha.On the thirteenth, the General Front Committee held a meeting in Zhuzhou and decided to move the troops to the Yuanzhou (now Yichun) area in Jiangxi to prepare for mobile operations between the Xiangjiang River and the Ganjiang River. In the northern region, the enemy who blocked and reinforced Ji'an threatened Nanchang. The two armies fought mobilely between the two rivers in the Hunan-Jiangxi border area, which was conducive to the consolidation and development of the revolutionary base areas in the Hunan-Jiangxi border area.

After the three armies withdrew from Changsha, they learned that the enemy had withdrawn from Pingxiang and Anyuan, and decided to march to Pingxiang immediately.At that time, the morale of our army was still very strong, and the Changsha defenders had just been hit, so they couldn't figure out the movements of our army, and they didn't dare to pursue them for fear of being ambushed again.Our army marched to Pingxiang calmly, carrying red flags one after another, along the main road in a strict formation of multiple columns. When the vanguard of our Fifth Red Army marched to a place not far from Liling, suddenly a siren blared from a distant railway, and a faint sound of gongs, drums and military music was heard; The red flag fluttered brightly, and everyone stopped immediately, watching the approaching train in amazement and vigilance.A little closer, I saw a red cloth banner hanging on the lower end of the locomotive. On the banner was written ten eye-catching characters "Welcome to the train representing the Red Army of Workers and Peasants". !” The cheers of “The Big Brother Worker drove the train to meet us”.The cheers like a tsunami of pines spread straight from the vanguard to the rear, and the follow-up troops cheered excitedly while speeding up their pace, wanting to be the first to witness the train they had never seen in their lives.In an instant, cheering crowds were crowded everywhere beside the railway and in the fields, and the smiling faces of the Red Army soldiers were shining with youthful light.

The train stopped slowly in front of the vanguard, and a dozen representatives of the Anyuan Road and Mine Federation got off the carriage. Deng Ping and cadres from our military department rushed forward to shake hands with them warmly, thanking the railway and coal mine workers A warm welcome to the Red Army.The workers' representatives told us that the Kuomintang troops had been fleeing for several days, and the foreign devils and assistants in the road mine had also fled to Nanchang or Wuhan. Now the workers' picket team controlled the road mine, and hoped that the Red Army would enter Pingxiang and Anyuan as soon as possible.Deng Ping instructed me to inform all the troops to go back and organize. Each company sent ten representatives to Pingxiang by train first, and the rest of the commanders and fighters followed quickly.

This is an ordinary passenger car with seven or eight carriages.Red and green slogans such as "Long live the Chinese Communist Party!" "Long live the Chinese Soviet!" "Long live the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army!" In the first carriage, there was a military band and a gong and drum team from the Federation of Trade Unions, which added to the festive atmosphere.Along the way, the train driver kept blowing his whistle as if to express his love for the Workers and Peasants Soldiers and to show the military might of the Workers and Peasants Soldiers.The long sound of the siren awakened the sleeping hills and summoned the masses of workers and peasants who came to welcome the Red Army. It immediately stirred up the silent mountain villages on both sides of the railway. Hundreds of people gathered in front of the villages and at the intersections, eager to witness The spectacular scene of the Red Army of Workers and Peasants marching towards Pingxiang.

Most of the 700 or 800 fighters and I saw the train and got on the train for the first time in our lives. Everyone was excited and excited, and we were twisting with the sound of "clang, clang" wheels and the shaking carriage. Body, experiencing the comfortable feeling of being rocked in the cradle when a baby was sleeping; for a while, nervously looking at the rapidly retreating mountain villages, trees, crowds, carriages and horses outside the car window, as if watching a "diorama" when a child "Same novelty.Many young soldiers couldn't sit still with joy, bouncing and stumbling from one end of the carriage to the other, laughing and singing while dancing, laughing and singing all the way.

When the train arrived at Pingxiang Station, the railway and coal mine workers from Anyuan and Pingxiang had already gathered at the station to welcome us warmly, and there was another burst of drums and cheers.The workers' representatives jumped onto the front of the locomotive and gave a short welcome speech, and our Red Army representative also gave a reply to express his gratitude.Because we were eager to carry out the avant-garde and security tasks, we quickly left the station as a whole team. On September 15th, all our Red Army Corps entered Pingxiang and Anyuan to conduct short-term training, carry out mass work and expand the Red Army movement.A few days later, the Anyuan Road and Mine Federation and the Red Army Headquarters held a celebration meeting at Pingxiang Station. More than 10,000 workers and troops attended the meeting.At the meeting, Commander-in-Chief Zhu De, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai and representatives of the Road and Mine Federation made speeches successively.Boss Zhu and Boss Peng both called on Anyuan workers with a glorious revolutionary tradition to join the Red Army to defend the Soviet regime.This warm and grand celebration actually became a mobilization meeting to expand the Red Army.

Anyuan Road and Mine Workers have a glorious history of struggle and revolutionary tradition. From the autumn of 1921, Mao Zedong, Li Lisan, Liu Shaoqi and other comrades came to Anyuan successively. ) among the workers to carry out revolutionary work, mobilize workers, organize trade unions, and carry out strike struggles; in September 1922, the first strike struggle was won.Since then, the Anyuan workers' revolutionary struggle has never stopped. During the Autumn Harvest Uprising in 1927, the Anyuan workers' armed forces became the main force of the uprising, and the mass base was very good.This time the main force of our Red Army Corps entered Pingxiang and Anyuan, and the workers were even more elated and ecstatic.Therefore, once it was mobilized, miners, railway workers and surrounding farmers all enthusiastically joined the Red Army.During the Red Expansion Movement, what impressed me the most was that many engineers and skilled workers joined the army this time. Boss Peng was very happy and specially instructed to form a communication team to transfer the telephone switchboards seized in Changsha and Anyuan and Pingxiang. , Stand-alone machines and telephone lines are all used, and the wired telephones between the army and the divisions, regiments, battalions, and companies have been connected, and the history of relying solely on foot communication in the past has ended.

The telephone stand-alone at that time was very simple. The telephone was installed in a wooden box, and the wooden box was hung on the wall. There were two electric bells on the top of the box. When someone called, the bell would ring loudly; It is separate, the transmitter is fixed on the front of the box like a small horn, the receiver is like a "scale snake" connected to the wire, hanging on the right side of the wooden box, and the crank handle for calling is installed on the left side of the wooden box .When talking on the phone, the speaker holds a "Shengtuo"-like receiver in one hand and speaks to the horn on the front of the wooden box.At that time, most of our cadres and soldiers came from mountainous villages and had never seen a telephone. Now that the company has a telephone, as soon as the phone rings, many cadres and soldiers gather around to watch the fun.When they saw the head of the company talking to the wooden box on the wall, they felt it was amazing and funny; I thought I was bluffing, and I wanted to make a bet with him, and I would not be convinced until I heard the voice in the receiver, so I praised this "smooth ear" as a precious thing.The installation of "modern" telephones in the company was a happy event after the occupation of Pingxiang. It really made the company lively for several days, and many stories that made people laugh out loud.

On September 22, the First Red Army issued the "Order from Pingxiang to Ji'an" at the headquarters of Pingxiang, deciding that the first army would capture Ji'an in two routes; , stationed in Zhangshu, occupied the Linjiang area, cut off the Ganjiang River, and blocked the enemy's reinforcements." In accordance with the order of the headquarters, on October 4th, the First Red Army Corps captured Ji'an City, fulfilling Mao Zedong's bold statement in January that "the order was issued yesterday, and 100,000 workers and peasants will go to Ji'an".On the same day, our Red Army troops occupied Linjiang and Qingjiang (Zhangshu Town). After that, they mobilized the masses in Qingjiang, Shanggao, Gao'an, Xingan and other places with a posture of combat readiness, established political power, carried out fundraising, red expansion and Train the troops.At this time, the southern Jiangxi Soviet area and the eastern Jiangxi Soviet area had been connected together, and there was more room for maneuver, and the climax of the agrarian revolutionary struggle was immediately set off everywhere.

During the seven months from the attack on Anfu in March 1930 to the occupation of Qingjiang in October, our Third Red Army Corps fought continuously, won great victories, and greatly expanded its ranks. The ingredients accounted for a large proportion, especially a large number of road and mining workers joined the army: the backbone of the army was increased, the political quality of the army was improved, and the construction of the army, especially the company construction, was greatly strengthened.However, due to the continuous fighting, the troops were also very tired, so it is indeed a rare opportunity to have a longer rest.

In addition to carrying out military training as soon as possible due to the large number of recruits in the army, this training has another feature, that is, the political and cultural education of the army has been strengthened during the training.At that time, most of the cadres and soldiers in the army were from peasants, with a low level of education and poor scientific knowledge. Every time they captured a city, although they had received education in the three major disciplines and eight items of attention and urban discipline education, in general, the troops entered the city. The post-discipline is also very good, but due to the lack of cultural and scientific knowledge, many jokes have been made and some problems have occurred.For example, when the enemy's transceiver was seized, and when they heard the "beep, beep" on the receiver, they angrily smashed it with the butt of their gun, stomped on it and scolded: "I will let you call again, and I will let you call again." Shout!" He had to smash the transceiver to relieve his hatred; he broke into the bank in the white area and only knew how to protect gold and silver dollars. When he saw the Kuomintang banknotes, he thought they were "reactionary banknotes". They were like waste paper, torn and burned. Burning, when the garbage is disposed of, I don’t know that these banknotes can also go to the white area to buy the medicines and supplies we urgently need, and they are lost in vain.Therefore, Boss Peng, Political Commissar Teng, and leaders at all levels have deeply realized that an uneducated army is a stupid army, and a stupid army cannot defeat the enemy, and emphasized the importance of strengthening the cultural education of the troops. Mr. Peng emphasized strengthening cultural education, and set an example by himself.When he was a teenager, he had no chance to study for a few more years because of his poor family background, and his cultural foundation was poor. He began to pay attention to self-study as early as when he was the battalion commander of the Hunan Army; after the Pingjiang Uprising, he served as the commander of the Fifth Red Army. In the border area of ​​Jiangxi, he was very busy with fighting and work, but he still invited Xie Hanwen, Secretary-General of the Party Committee of the Army, as a teacher to learn culture during the fighting.Every time he arrived at the campsite, Xie Hanwen would prepare the books, paper, pens, ink and inkstones, and after the troops had rested, Boss Peng would come back from checking shops and sentries to teach him culture.At that time, paper was scarce and expensive, and it was not available in mountainous areas. Every time Mr. Peng went to the cities, he asked people to go to the street to buy some cheap straw paper and bag paper, and practice writing with a brush, learning new characters and words as well as calligraphy.With this kind of kung fu, he persisted in studying day after day, and his cultural level improved rapidly. In the future, some combat orders and documents could be revised or drafted by himself. Boss Peng took the lead in studying hard and had a great influence on the army, and the activities of learning culture in the army gradually started.There were very few people who could read at that time, and anyone who could read a few words became a teacher, which was called "a teacher who is capable".During the march, each person posted a word or two on their backpacks. Everyone learned the words while marching. When they arrived at the camp, they took a test to see if they remembered it?In this way, you can learn to read and forget the fatigue of marching, killing two birds with one stone.Literacy activities have also penetrated into daily life. Literacy quizzes are held on wall newspapers, and literacy competitions are held at evening parties; some companies even set up "literacy posts".This kind of entertaining literacy activity has improved everyone's interest in literacy and has achieved very good results.At that time, there was not much time for formal cultural classes. Sometimes political classes and cultural classes were combined. Words and sentences are written on the door panel, combined with the explanation of political literacy.In addition, sometimes comrades with some specialized knowledge are invited to tell us some common sense of weapons, scientific knowledge, and knowledge of health and disease prevention, so that everyone can increase their knowledge.Through a period of cultural and scientific knowledge education, the cultural quality of the troops has been improved to a certain extent, which also created favorable conditions for the troops to gradually transition from guerrilla warfare to mobile warfare.