Chapter 29 Chapter 7 Breaking Through the Darkness Before Dawn

In February 1943, the Party Central Committee and the Military Commission, based on the struggle situation at that time, decided to put the second year of the Anti-Japanese War in order to train and reserve cadres in a relatively stable environment, prepare for the counter-offensive, and also to reduce the burden on the people in the Jinchaji Border Region. The branch school team and its affiliated army middle school and attached middle school were transferred to the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, where they merged with the main school of the Anti-Japanese University (Suide) and the seventh branch school (Heshui, Gansu) to continue training.After the No. 2 Branch School of the Anti-Japanese University and the attached middle school were transferred away (the Army Middle School did not arrive in Suide until 1944 because it participated in the anti-"sweeping" battle in the autumn, and was incorporated into the Second Brigade of the Anti-Japanese University General School), Principal Sun Yi and I stayed Working in the Jinchaji Military Region, I was assigned to the first division as a deputy political commissar.Because of the unified leadership of the army and localities at that time, he also participated in the leadership of the First Prefectural Committee of the Communist Party of China.At that time, I left the army to work in the Anti-Japanese University for more than six years, which was a relatively long time. On the one hand, I felt fresh and vivid about the army and local work, and on the other hand, I also felt a little unfamiliar. Take advantage of the daily opportunities to participate in research and discuss military work and local work, actively study, and strive to adapt to new jobs as soon as possible.However, I had only been working in the first division for three or four months. When I started to get familiar with the situation, in June, I was suddenly ordered by the Jinchaji Military Region to transfer me to the Political Department of the Military Region as the head of the organization, and then returned to work in the government.The Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region transferred me to work in the Organization Department, mainly because I was specifically responsible for the study and daily work of the rectification class.After the Yan'an rectification movement began in 1942, from August to November, the cadres in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region also studied the rectification literature in their respective posts in accordance with the instructions of the Party Central Committee. , forming a climax of rectification and study.

The first phase of rectification came to an end in April 1943.Through the rectification, the majority of party members and cadres have improved their political thinking and greatly strengthened their organizational discipline; the phenomenon of sectarianism, liberalism, egalitarianism, and egotism among some cadres, as well as unprincipled disputes among cadres, have greatly improved. reduce.Army cadres and local cadres have generally strengthened their overall concept, and their mutual solidarity has also been strengthened.These advances are all conducive to realizing the unified leadership of the party, strengthening the struggle against the enemy, overcoming current difficulties, and enhancing confidence in victory.

In May 1943, the party organizations in the border area continued to carry out the second phase of rectification.This phase of rectification is based on the results of the first phase of rectification, focusing on studying actual struggles and solving problems in the work. Therefore, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Branch Bureau and the military region decided to gather senior cadres from the entire army and localities in stages and in batches. Get up, study the rectification documents in depth in the form of a rectification class, connect with the reality of the struggle in the border areas in the past few years, sum up experience, and study problems to improve the level of Marxism-Leninism and military and political quality of senior cadres.

The first batch of senior cadre rectification classes began to study in July.Under the direct leadership of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Branch Bureau and Commander Nie Rongzhen, the senior cadres who participated in the study were all serious about their studies and discussions, and their discussions and speeches were also very enthusiastic. Everyone combined theory with practice, studied and summarized the experience of fighting against the enemy over the past few years, and gained a lot.However, when the rectification team was studying in depth, on August 8, the enemy suddenly launched an attack on Pingbei with more than 6,000 troops, implementing the so-called "iron wall encirclement" strategy, in an attempt to completely "destroy" our Pingbei Beishan area in one fell swoop.In the face of the enemy's large-scale "mopping up", and Commander Nie Rongzhen was notified by the Party Central Committee that he was about to go to Yan'an to attend the Seventh National Congress of the Party in late August. Fight against "mopping up".

On September 15th, the Japanese and puppet troops around Beiyue District mobilized more than 17,000 troops to carry out the so-called "destruction and mopping up". On September 18th, in order to hold back the enemy, the troops from the 9th division of Jizhong set up an ambush in the village of Beicaokou in Renqiu, destroyed two enemy vehicles, and captured the Japanese army's 63rd Division "mopping up" our first and third divisions. Order one.From the enemy's document and the intelligence analysis obtained by the military region from other sources, we have a general grasp of the enemy's "mopping up" general attempt and the time and steps of the action.Aiming at the criminal purpose and ferocious plan of the enemy's "sweep" to achieve the destruction of the anti-Japanese base areas and cut off the material basis for the survival of the soldiers and civilians in the border areas, the military region decided to combine internal lines with external lines, the main force with the militia, and military strikes with political forces. The principle of comprehensive struggle against the enemy is the combination of offensive, armed struggle and other struggles.The rear of our base area and the grain production area are the main targets of the enemy's "mopping up".The area between Shahe, Tanghe and Hutuohe is where the leading organs of the border region are located, and there are also some important military factories.After the enemy split into the base areas in Beiyue District, the total force gradually increased to 40,000, and the main force attacked the key areas between the three rivers.

Shenxian Mountain, located between these three rivers, is about sixty miles northeast of Fuping City.The mountain area has a radius of 40 miles. The main peak, Grandma Peak, is 1,800 meters above sea level. It stands among the mountains. There are also natural dangers such as Tiaoma Liang, Tiantizi, Jiuli Shibawan, Yan Wang's Nose, and Jinlong Cave. Don't dare to enter easily.This time, because our army adopted the method of dispersing and leading the militiamen to carry out mine warfare and sparrow warfare in units of companies when we started to fight against "mopping up", ignoring the relative concentration of some troops to form fists and focusing on attacking the enemy's "clearing and suppressing" troops, the enemy did not encounter us. That's why they dared to "search and suppress" the main force of the army, and broke into the Shenxian Mountain with part of the main force, in an attempt to destroy my hidden command organization that was transferred to the Shenxian Mountain.Fortunately, five days before the enemy besieged Shenxian Mountain, the sixth division reported urgent information.On the one hand, the military command notified the government of the border region, the North China United University, and the Bethune Health School hiding here to quickly leave the area; At the same time, the second regiment and the cavalry regiment cooperated with the mountain guards to attack the enemy from the outside to the inside; the sixth regiment guarded the enemies in Shangzhai and Xiaguan in the northwest, and combined internally and externally to smash the enemy's "search and suppression" conspiracy.

The Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region Government planned to hide in the Shenxianshan area to deal with the enemy.At this time, the military region saw that the enemy was encircling Shenxian Mountain, and the border region government could not hold on here, so it sent several of our cadres to the border region government office, organized them into several brigades, and dispersed them for transfer.Most of the brigade I led were cadres from the finance and production departments of the local government, and I was going to lead them out of the enemy's attack circle and move towards Wutai.After I accepted this task, I was going to lead the team to set off immediately. The time was very short. At that time, my newly married wife, Liu Ping, was ill and could not act together with the military region. Nanzhuang, Fuping County, "fortified the wall" to prevent her from suffering and suffering by my side and affecting the actions of the brigade.

The decision was so hasty, so thoughtless!After our brigade left the enemy's combined attack circle, I heard a shocking news: When we left Shenxian Mountain, the 42nd Regiment guarding Shenxian Mountain fought fiercely with an enemy several times larger than mine. On the 29th of January, 500 or 600 Japanese troops entered and occupied Fuping County.Although Fuping was an empty city at this time, as soon as the enemy stepped into the city gate, they fell into the minefields set up by our militia and guerrillas.After the enemy withdrew from Fuping City, unwilling to fail, they became even more annoyed, and immediately turned to Chengnanzhuang, the original residence of our military region, to "clear and suppress".The enemy has successively mobilized more than 3,000 troops in Chengnanzhuang and its surrounding areas with a radius of less than 30 miles, and established more than 20 temporary strongholds. Digging out the food and materials I buried, the struggle between the enemy and ourselves was very sharp and cruel.I want to inquire about some more detailed information, but I can't find any. I can't help worrying about Liu Ping's safety from time to time.

Liu Ping's original name was Liu Ruzheng, and he was introduced to him by Comrade Wang Ping in the spring of 1942.She was born in an urban poor family, and all six of her brothers and sisters participated in the revolution: the elder brother Liu Zhenwen was an intellectual cadre who participated in the revolution in his early years. Quite close, Comrade Wang Ping is very familiar with Liu Zhenwen's younger brother and younger sister.Later, Liu Zhenwen worked as a secretary next to Commander Nie Rongzhen of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region. He served as the Secretary and Section Chief of the Military Region. On the way to carry out the mission during the month, he encountered the Japanese army in Huazui Village, Yuxian County, and died heroically in the battle.Under the education and training of Liu Zhenwen, after the July 7th Incident in 1937, Liu Ping participated in anti-Japanese propaganda. When he just turned 18 in November, he joined the army to do pro-democracy work, and soon joined the party. worked.Her eldest sister, Liu Ruqin, worked in the Nanzhuang Women's Rescue Association in Fuping City. Her younger brother, Liu Ruzhou, joined the "Anti-Enemy Theater Club" when he was less than twelve years old in 1937. I moved to northern Shaanxi with the school (the younger brother Liu Ruyi and the younger sister Liu Ruling were still young at the time, and they also participated in the revolution later), and the whole family participated in the revolutionary work, which left a very good impression on me.After several months of correspondence and communication, I gradually fell in love with her sincere and enthusiastic personality, studious, progressive, and active work vigor.

On the Mid-Autumn Festival of this year, we got married at the second branch of the Kangda University.That night, the moon was very bright and clear, and the comrades from the school came to congratulate them. They sat around several square tables. In those difficult years, although there were no candy, peanuts and other things to entertain guests, each guest had only A glass of white water and a handful of red dates, but everyone was talking and singing, and it was still lively.Principal Sun Yi dictated impromptuly and gave us a pair of couplets. The title of the first couplet was my name, and the content of the first four characters was forgotten for the meaning of "Farewell to the people"; the title of the second couplet was Liu Pingyuan's name Ruzheng. "The iron tree is blooming and clanging like it is", the whole couplet is catchy and meaningful to read.Thinking of this simple but lively wedding brought back many memories of my past. In the past, for the sake of the revolutionary cause, I seldom considered taking care of my small family. There was no cure, and my life was taken away by a serious illness, which destroyed my happy family.During this marriage, I made up my mind that I must take good care of Liu Ping, and wish that our revolutionary husband and wife can fight side by side and grow old together.After we got married, in order to take care of our family life, the organization transferred Liu Ping to the Military Region Headquarters Administration as the deputy instructor of the agency. However, we had only lived together for a year before we encountered such crazy "destruction and mopping up" by the enemy. Leaving her in Chengnan Village again, thinking about it, how can it not make people worry?

The days and nights of anti-"mopping up" were mostly spent on horseback.The news came from horseback, passing by like the wind; immediately, it was drowned in the sound of horseshoes.In the first month of the anti-"mopping up", the bad news came from the horse's back like gusts of wind, and was submerged in the rapid and noisy hooves of the horses.The enemy wantonly burned, killed, looted and retaliated wildly in the area around Chengnanzhuang, where the military region was originally stationed, and in various sub-districts, causing one appalling tragedy after another: On October 18, a member of the Women's Rescue Committee of Loudi Village, Luancheng was found by the enemy. She would rather die than surrender, jumping off a cliff to make a heroic sacrifice; a woman in Shuiyu Village in Pingshan stabbed the throat of the enemy who was going to rape her with an awl, and the enemy tied her hands and feet, so she bit her teeth and was cut. Gouged out her eyes with her tongue and burned her to death with fire; a female security officer in her twenties in Luojiayu Village, Quyang, was stripped naked by the enemy and hung from the door frame. She burned her body and forced her to confess, but she endured the severe pain and was upright, refusing to reveal any secrets. Later, she took the opportunity to escape, reported the enemy's situation and the name of the traitor to the guerrillas, and died a heroic death.In the Pingyang District of Fuping County alone, more than 1,000 cadres and people were massacred, and many villages were littered with corpses, which was horrible.The bad news hit my heart like a whip. I thought: If Liu Ping falls into the clutches of the enemy, I believe that she will fight bravely and die generously like a real Communist. There is no problem with that. But what about me?I have lost such a good comrade-in-arms and good partner, and I will regret my negligence for the rest of my life. The more ferocious the enemy, the more intense the anti-Japanese military and civilian resistance.The troops are closely integrated with militias and guerrillas, sometimes scattered and sometimes concentrated, using ambushes, attacks and other means to attack the "cleaning and suppressing" enemies. On September 20, a militia squadron in Hejiawa and a squad of the army cooperated to ambush the enemy. They killed 38 enemies with grenades and thunderbolts, wounded 90 enemies, and seized a large number of weapons and ammunition without any casualties.On October 24th, 400 enemy troops from Xiazhuang, west of Fuping, invaded Luyigou. Two platoons from the Army Middle School of the Second Branch of our Anti-Japanese War ambushed on a nearby hill. .These two platoons carried out four such ambushes near Lingshou Chenzhuang, all of which were victorious, and were commended by the military command.On October 29th, more than 500 enemies invaded our Yujiazhai in Quyang. Upon hearing the news, the second regiment immediately set up an ambush on Danli Nanshan Mountain, and launched a surprise attack with 14 light machine guns and more than 500 rifles. Injured more than a hundred enemies. On November 10, the Second Regiment also reached out to the fringe area and stormed the Chenhou stronghold in Wanxian County, killing and wounding the head of the 14th Regiment of the Puppet Security Army and more than 50 Japanese advisers, which greatly shocked the enemy.After the arrival of the autumn harvest season, grain grabbing and anti-grain grabbing became the focus of this anti-"mopping up" struggle.Especially in the grain-producing areas along the Tang River, Sha River, and Hutuo River, the struggle was even more intense.At that time, our army immediately organized the masses to harvest all the areas that the enemy did not tightly control.Every time it gets dark, people take sickles and rush out from the valley path, and under the cover of disciple soldiers and militiamen, they harvest until dawn.Sometimes the enemy snatched food during the day, and we took it back at night.In the areas under the tight control of the enemy, we also tried every means to disrupt the enemy's looting and prevent the grain from falling into the enemy's hands.For the grain stored in the cellar, the masses consciously organized protection, would rather sacrifice than reveal any secrets of the stored grain, and thought of various ways to prevent the enemy from poaching it.In this way, 85% of the crops along the river basin were taken back by us. The enemy lost troops and lost their generals. With the development of the anti-"mopping up" struggle, the success stories are increasing day by day.Because our local cadre team is rooted in the masses, breathes with the masses, shares fate, is protected by the masses, has good news, clear information, and quick action, deals with the enemy in the mountainous areas, and fights with the masses wherever they go. Combined, stick to the struggle, so you can move freely without loss. In mid-November, I took the team to Wutai Mountain.On this day, the sky was full of snowflakes, the sky was endless and pure white; the towering five platforms looked more pure and straight, but I had no intention of admiring this charming snow scene on horseback. I just thought hard about how to find out Liu Ping's name I didn't expect to meet the team of the military security department here.Li Fang, the section chief of the security department, saw me and shouted to me happily: "Minister Li, I have found you now. Comrade Liu Ping is in our team." When I first heard it, I was stunned and couldn't believe myself. ears.Then, I heard him explain to the guard beside him: "Come and find Comrade Liu Ping!" she. At this time, Luo Ming, the instructor of the Administration Bureau of the Military Region Command, said to me in a somewhat complaining tone: "Minister Li, the 'fortified wall' always sends people to hide in the 'no man's land' that the enemy has 'mopped up'. It's safer, how are you? Send Comrade Liu Ping to Chengnanzhuang. This is the place where our military region was stationed. It must be the key area where the enemy "mopped up". If you send her there, doesn't it mean sending her to the tiger's mouth? It would have been too dangerous if we hadn’t met us.” Liu Ping is the deputy instructor of the Military Region Command Administration Bureau, and usually cooperates with the instructor Luo Ming in work and has a good relationship. They often visit my house, so they are compared with me. Familiar, and the speech is much more frank.Over the past few days, I have realized that my original decision was hasty and thoughtless, and I was always uneasy. After Luo Ming said it, I felt even more guilty.Fortunately, Liu Ping was out of danger, how difficult it was to meet this time! Liu Ping was also overjoyed to see me.Although she has lost weight, she is in good spirits.From her tear-filled eyes, there was only joy and excitement, and she didn't mean to blame me at all, so I smiled apologetically.However, "It's hard to say goodbye when we meet." The two of us just met and were about to talk about the situation after we left, when we suddenly received a report from the enemy and had to move immediately.I could see from Liu Ping's eyes that she really wanted to go with me; from my inner feelings, I also really wanted to take her along. The two of them took care of each other during this difficult journey.But I considered that what I was leading was a team of local cadres, and no one was accompanying her family members. If I took her away, I was afraid that the influence would be bad.In the end, he said cruelly to Liu Ping: "Our anti-'sweeping' is about to win, and we will meet again soon. You should go with Comrade Li Fang. Comrade Li Fang is my old comrade-in-arms. What difficulties do you have?" He'll help." Then he mounted my brown mule and hurried away.Liu Ping seemed to understand my feelings, she suppressed the feeling of farewell in her heart, nodded, and stood there blankly, but the big and big tears couldn't help rolling down. Soon, our two teams met again and camped in a village at the same time. Liu Ping came to my residence, and the two were very happy to meet.At this time, the struggle against "mopping up" was close to victory, and the Wutai Mountain area was relatively stable.In order to celebrate the victory of the anti-"mopping up" and the reunion of the two of us after the catastrophe, I wrote a note to the management section chief, which said: "I have a customer, please buy me some dates." That night, we ate dates and talked until late at night.Only then did I figure out what happened after the farewell: It turned out that Liu Ping went to the area where Liu Ruqin, the elder sister of Chengnanzhuang in Fuping, worked. In a poor farmer's family in Baicha Village in Balidi, there are two girls in this family, about the same age as Liu Ping. Said to her as if: "Sister, don't worry, my two daughters will live and die with you, and if they are here, you will be here!" The girl's brother is the self-defense captain of the village. I heard that the devils searched the mountains in this area, and when it got dark, they immediately went to the cave to see Liu Ping with something to eat, told her the enemy's situation, and took Liu Ping and the three of them to Baichazi Village in the dark. Together, the Self-Defense Forces are always ready to deal with unexpected situations.As expected, before dawn, the devil came again, and they immediately followed the girl's brother up the mountain. At this time, an enemy appeared on the top of the mountain on the right, and they hurried down the mountain, but unexpectedly, another enemy appeared in front of them, so they ran along the valley to the side of the main road outside the valley, which was only one mile away from Baicha Village. Hearing the noise of people shouting and horses in the village, Liu Ping didn't expect to run around in the dark all night, still circling around Baicha Village. It was already daylight, and they had to hide in the reeds beside the road.It was stuffy and hot in the reeds, and mosquitoes and moths bothered people.They hid in the reeds for a whole day, but fortunately they were not noticed by the devils, so they survived.Liu Ping felt that this could not go on like this any longer, so he had to go to the army.The next day, Sister Ruqin led Liu Ping over a high mountain, and just happened to find Wu Bicheng, the Minister of Security of the military region, leading a team of government personnel to fight guerrillas. His wife and two children were also in the team, so they took Liu Ping stayed. Afterwards, Liu Ping went through mountain valleys, drilled caves, and fought guerrillas with the team of the security department.The only thing she was worried about was my safety. Every time she met her team, she would always inquire about my whereabouts, but how could it be so easy to inquire when the war was everywhere! During the conversation, I learned about Liu Ping's several adventures. At the same time, I also learned that in this anti-"mopping up" struggle, during the encounter in Baiyan, Minister Wu Bicheng's wife Zhang Li and his youngest daughter who was only three months old were all dead. I was killed by the Japanese devils, and some familiar comrades also died, which made me feel even more guilty and sorry for not fulfilling my responsibility as a husband.However, in those days when the Japanese bandits were so brutal and their lives were devastated, how many villages and families were destroyed every day, and how many people were stained with blood!According to statistics, in the "destruction sweep" launched by the enemy this time, 8,080 people in Beiyue District died, 845 were injured, 49,785 houses were lost, and 300 people lost food. Thousands of loads, more than 70,000 livestock, and more than 170,000 pieces of agricultural implements; in addition, our army and militia suffered 2,427 casualties during the battle, and the losses suffered were unprecedented. "A tooth for a tooth, blood for blood; blood debts must be repaid with blood!" The soldiers and civilians in the border area chanted slogans of revenge and waged a tenacious struggle against the enemy. In three months, there were more than 5,600 battles in total, more than 11,000 Japanese and puppet soldiers were killed and wounded, and one mountain cannon, seventeen light and heavy machine guns, seven grenadiers, and more than eight hundred rifles were seized. Conquer and force back 204 enemy blockhouses, blow up 18 enemy trains, 3 tanks, and 244 cars, destroy 13 iron bridges, 5 kilometers of railways, and 950 roads Ten kilometers, blocked the ditch wall for more than 50 kilometers, shot down an enemy plane, and achieved brilliant results.The Japanese invading army started by shouting "destroy and sweep" and ended with being destroyed in the "mop and sweep".This is the conclusion of historical justice.