Chapter 25 6. Went to the Anti-Japanese War

In early January 1938, more than 100 of our male students were transferred out of the combat training class.Take a small wooden boat from Jingdezhen, go along the Changjiang River to Nanchang via Poyang Lake, transfer to Jiujiang by train, and take a Yangtze River ship to Wuhan.Stationed in the two buildings left by the Japanese on Shanzhi Street in the former "Japanese Concession", waiting for work assignments. After arriving in Wuhan, we got in touch with the Wuhan Office of the Eighth Route Army.Reported the situation to Comrade Bogu, the head of the Yangtze River Bureau of our party, and studied our whereabouts.At that time, Nanjing had fallen, and Wuhan had become the wartime capital, gathering party, government and military dignitaries from all walks of life and exiled students from all over the place. The "Wuhan Pingjin Exile Alumni Association" was also established.Old comrades-in-arms Yang Xuecheng, Jiang Jichang and others who originally engaged in the "12.9" movement in Beiping have organized the "Wuhan Youth National Salvation Corps", with its headquarters at No. 39, Sandao Street, Wuchang.This place became a contact station for students in Peking, where I met old comrades in arms Jiang Nanxiang, He Li, Yang Yunqing, Liu Jiangling, Wang Huilan and others.Liu Jiangling and I went to visit Mr. Shen Junru together.

After the Spring Festival of 1938 (January 29), Huang Zhongxiang, the deputy director of the combat training class, said that we would be assigned to work in the First War Zone in Henan.I asked Comrade Jiang Nanxiang to solve the problem of the party's organizational relationship for me.He said: You go to Henan with the brigade first, and the organization can transfer your materials and requirements to the Henan Provincial Party Committee.I asked: Who should I contact when I go to Henan?Jiang said: Someone will look for you. On February 14, 1938, we took a train from Wuhan to the north, and the next day (the 15th day of the first lunar month) we arrived at Zhengzhou, where the commander-in-chief of the first war zone is located.This place is close to the front line, and is bombed by Japanese planes every day; the road is riddled with bullet marks, and bombed-down houses abound.But some shops still hang red lanterns to celebrate the Lantern Festival.A few classmates and I walked into a snack bar and ate a few Lantern Festivals to satisfy our hunger. We lived in the Town God's Temple at night and slept soundly.At that time, General Cheng Qian was the commander-in-chief of the first theater and the chairman of Henan Province. Our 100 students from the combat training class were under the leadership of the political training department of the commander-in-chief of the first theater.The office organized us to study for two weeks.Commander Cheng Qian appointed us as pro-democracy instructors and assigned us to work in 29 counties in western and eastern Henan.Forty people, including Communist Party members Wang Zhenhong and Liu Yeliang, and I volunteered to work in 12 counties in the Shangqiu area of ​​eastern Henan, which were close to the front line of the Anti-Japanese War.The central tasks are: according to the principle of "people never leave their guns, guns never leave their hometowns", organize people's anti-Japanese self-defense forces in various counties; gather anti-Japanese forces, protect the security of the theater, and support the front-line anti-Japanese war, mainly supporting the Xuzhou battle.

At the beginning of March 1938, we set off from Zhengzhou and went to various counties. Before departure, Comrade Liu Zijiu, member of the Henan Provincial Party Committee of our party and director of the Kaifeng Office of the Eighth Route Army, talked to me.He asked me to contact him if I had something to do. The main job in eastern Henan was to catch the armed forces. When we arrived in the counties, the Kuomintang county magistrates and county Party secretaries welcomed us verbally, but actually opposed us, especially against us arresting armed forces.They said: The local armed forces have already formed a joint defense team (an organization that restricts the activities of the Communist Party) by the director of the joint protection, and there is no need to organize the people's anti-Japanese self-defense force.The Ministry of Ministers stipulates that the living expenses of pro-democracy instructors are 20 yuan per person per month, which will be paid by the local finance.They excused "financial difficulties", delayed payments, and so on.We reported this to Chief Cheng Qian.In mid-April, Chief Cheng held a democracy movement meeting in Kaifeng with the participation of county democracy movement instructors, county heads, and county Party secretaries.In his speech, Chief Cheng pointed out that all counties should give top priority to the work of the democracy movement, and the county magistrate and the secretary of the party department of the county should give great assistance.Anyone who obstructs the pro-democracy workers should be dealt with severely.After the meeting, General Cheng Qian, in the name of the chairman of Henan Province, removed six county heads in Shangqiu area, and asked our pro-democracy movement instructors to recommend new county heads.I was working in Yucheng County at that time, and I recommended Cai Hongfan (from Yucheng), who had been the head of Feng Yuxiang's regiment, as the head of Yucheng County, which was approved by Chairman Cheng Qian.