Chapter 26 7. Organize the East Henan Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Command to carry out guerrilla warfare and join the Communist Party of China

In the spring of 1938, after the Japanese army invaded Taierzhuang and suffered heavy losses, the Japanese warlords mobilized the armed forces of the sea, land and air to invade Xuzhou on a large scale. The Chinese and Japanese armies launched the Xuzhou General Battle. On May 24, 1938, the Chinese army retreated, Xuzhou fell, and northern Jiangsu and eastern Henan fell.The Yellow River is artificially breached at Huayuankou, east of Zhengzhou.The commander-in-chief of the first war zone moved from Zhengzhou to Luoyang.Of the 40 pro-democracy instructors sent to eastern Henan, 39 of them withdrew to the west of the Yellow River Flooding Area with the army, and I was the only one who remained in the Shangqiu area of ​​eastern Henan.The Kuomintang party affairs commissioner in the Shangqiu area and the county party secretaries of the counties have all fled.Together with Song Kebin, the pro-democracy commissioner in Shangqiu area, and Cai Hongfan, the magistrate of Yucheng County, I mobilized the anti-Japanese self-defense forces of the people in each county and launched a guerrilla war.The East Henan Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Command was established, with Song Kebin as the commander, Cai Hongfan as the commander, and I as the director of political training.We collected the guns and ammunition left behind when the Kuomintang troops retreated, absorbed a group of young farmers and patriotic students, and the team quickly grew; after more than a month of organization, it developed into a team of five or six thousand people. The Anti-Japanese Guerrilla was the only anti-Japanese armed force active in the east of the Yellow Flood Area at that time.The political situation in Shangqiu area at that time was: the Kuomintang regime had collapsed, the enemy and puppet regime had not yet been established, and the local tyrants and evil gentry in various counties were preparing to organize "maintenance meetings" to welcome the "imperial army".I invited those local tyrants and evil gentry to the headquarters by means of "armed treats", showed them the flag "Welcome the Imperial Army" and asked them: Are you Chinese or Japanese?They all said: They are Chinese.I said: Since you are Chinese, why do you welcome the "imperial army"?They were speechless, and a little scared, afraid that I would treat them as traitors.I changed my tone and said: Since you are Chinese, things will be easy to handle.First, you are not allowed to use the power of the Japanese to harm the common people; second, you are not allowed to report the activities of the guerrillas to the Japanese; third, you are required to report the activities of the Japanese army to the guerrillas at any time.They all agreed to the above three conditions.I invited them to dinner, drank wine, and sent them home.Treating the local tyrants and evil gentry with such a united front strategy reduced resistance to guerrilla activities.With the cooperation of the workers and peasants, we won several victories, pulled out several defensive strongholds of the Japanese army on the Longhai railway line, recovered two counties occupied by the Japanese army, and obtained a batch of spoils, mainly shells, machine guns, Military knives, telephones, etc.

In late June, we sent our secretary, Comrade Li Hong (underground party member), to Luoyang to report the situation to the First War Zone Commander's Department.At the same time, I asked him to get in touch with the Henan Provincial Committee of our party, and asked him to convey my application for joining the party to Comrade Liu Zijiu. In early July, we received a telegram from Chief Cheng Qian sent by the administrative commissioner of Huaiyang District, asking me and Song Kebin to go to Luoyang as soon as possible.The two of us took a few guards and some trophies, took a small wooden boat, passed through the 60-mile-wide yellow flood zone, and arrived at Zhoujiakou (now Zhoukou City). We traveled day and night to Luohe, and then took a train to Luoyang via Zhengzhou .He was personally received by General Cheng Qian, praised by the Minister's Department, and sympathized by the Political Training Department; he participated in the welcome party held by the Political Training Department.We held an exhibition of spoils of war, and Luoyang newspapers reported on our war of resistance in eastern Henan.

One night, Comrade Li Hong accompanied Comrade Liu Zijiu to the hotel where I was staying.Comrade Liu Zijiu officially announced to me: "The organization has officially approved your application for joining the party. Since you are a veteran pioneer, you will be exempted from the waiting period and directly converted to a full-fledged party member." My wish has finally come true, and I feel extremely honored!I am determined to fight for the revolutionary cause all my life.I reported to Comrade Liu Zijiu about my meeting with Chief Cheng, and explained that the Chief Command and the Henan Provincial Government planned to change the "Eastern Henan Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Command" to "Eastern Henan Security Command", with Song Kebin as the administrative commissioner of Eastern Henan I am also the commander of security, and I still serve as the director of political training.Comrade Liu Zijiu agreed.To avoid accidents, Comrade Liu Zijiu and Li Hong left soon.

At that time, Comrade Liu Zijiu was a member of the Henan Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Special Committee of Western Henan, and his public identity was the director of the Luoyang Office of the Eighth Route Army.Before leaving Luoyang, I went to visit Comrade Liu Zijiu. He gave me a task: "Do a good job in the united front work of Song Kebin and the officers and soldiers. For the New Fourth Army Comrade Peng Xuefeng to lead a team to the east of Henan, establish an anti-Japanese base area, and create conditions." Comrade Liu Zijiu wrote He sent a letter of introduction and asked me to hand it over to Comrade Xuefeng.

The Chief of the First War Zone gave us 200,000 rifle bullets, 10,000 pistol bullets, two radio stations, and 50,000 French currency.After Song Kebin and I returned to Eastern Henan with this batch of military supplies, many local armed forces that were formed automatically asked to be recruited, and the troops quickly expanded.According to the establishment of guerrillas, it was reorganized into three columns: the commander of the first column Wei Fenglou and the head of Luyi County, the commander of the second column Song Zigang and the head of Yucheng County, and the commander of the third column Cai Hongfan and the head of Yongcheng County.With a total of more than 15,000 people, it became the largest anti-Japanese guerrilla group in eastern Henan.

In the winter of 1938, Comrade Peng Xuefeng led a guerrilla detachment of the New Fourth Army from Zhugou Town in southern Henan to Luyi County in eastern Henan via Xihua County.First stationed in Wang Piliu, Zimayi, and then moved to Taiqing Palace (the hometown of Lao Tzu).Welcomed by Song Kebin and others.I met with Comrade Peng Xuefeng alone, reported to him the situation of the war of resistance in eastern Henan, and passed on the letter written by Comrade Liu Zijiu to him.He praised my work and asked me to continue to do a good job in the united front work and contact him directly if I have anything to do.

In the spring of 1939, Comrade Peng Xuefeng led his troops into Yongcheng County and sacrificed several soldiers while fighting the Japanese army.A memorial service was held for the fallen soldiers at the Bookstore in Yongcheng County, and I went to attend on behalf of the East Henan Commissioner's Office and the Security Command.After the meeting, Comrade Peng Xuefeng asked me to talk alone, and I asked to be transferred to work in the New Fourth Army.He said: In order to develop the work of the Anti-Japanese National United Front, staying in Song Kebin's department will play a greater role than being transferred to the New Fourth Army.