Chapter 24 2. The death of the teacher

The Battle of Xiangjiang was gradually reaching a climax. At this moment, Lin Biao led the First Red Army Corps to fight fiercely with the four divisions of the Hunan Army at Jiaoshanpu on the west bank of the Xiangjiang River. In the attack of the three divisions of the Guangxi Army, the main force of the Red Army insisted on pouring a narrow passage with blood.The Central Column finally crossed the Xiangjiang River at noon on December 1. After the 13th Division completed the cover task, it also crossed the Xiangjiang River at an emergency. Not so lucky. On November 29, the 34th Division was still blocking the enemy at the Huluyan position south of Dao County.After receiving the order from the Legion Headquarters, the head of the division was asked to rush to Jiangjialing, the Legion Headquarters, to accept the new combat mission.Division commander Chen Shuxiang and political commissar Cheng Cuilin rushed to the army to point out.At this time, the chiefs of the legion were anxiously waiting for the two of them.Chief of Staff Liu Bocheng took them to the prepared map, and said sternly: "At present, the enemy's attempt is to block the front and chase after it, and attack from the north and the south, encircling and annihilating our army on both sides of the Xiangjiang River. The situation is very unfavorable to us." After finishing speaking, Liu Bocheng looked up. Glancing at them, he pointed to the map and said, "The current task of your 34th Division is to resolutely block the pursuers and the flanking Gui army, and cover the brother troops to cross the river. You will become the last barrier of our army."

Chen Shuxiang and Cheng Cuilin replied in unison: "Don't worry, chief, we will resolutely complete the task!" Dong Zhentang knew these two favorite generals very well, and he always spoke concisely and to the point: "Now Chiang Kai-shek's 400,000 troops are pressing on me step by step. The situation is very serious. Serious. Commander-in-Chief Zhu ordered us to stop the enemy with all our strength and cover the Party Central Committee and the main Red Army to cross the river smoothly. Your task is very difficult! I hope you will return to the team quickly after completing the task. Of course, we must also prepare for the worst, remember If you are intercepted by the enemy and unable to cross the river, try to return to southern Hunan to develop guerrilla warfare." Dong Zhentang's eyes became hot after he finished speaking, and he tightly held the hands of Chen Shuxiang and Cheng Cuilin and said again: "The 34th Division is a team with Honorable and traditional troops, Commander-in-Chief Zhu and Political Commissar Zhou asked me to tell you that the Military Commission believes that you will be able to complete this great and arduous task!"

Back at the division command post, Chen Shuxiang immediately called together the three regiment leaders under him and held a short combat meeting. Commissar Cheng first conveyed the cover mission.Subsequently, Chen Shuxiang ordered Han Wei, the head of the 100th regiment, to lead his troops to set off immediately to take over the position of the Sixth Division of the Red Army in Guanyang direction.He led the 10th and 1st Regiment plus the division headquarters to walk in the middle, and Cheng Cuilin, the political commissar, led the 102nd Regiment to follow up. The whole division established new positions in Wenshi and Shuiche, and tried their best to block the pursuing Kuomintang army.

After the meeting was over, everyone went back to the various ministries to mobilize for combat. The division commander and the political commissar sat quietly at the table, speechless for a long time.Cheng Cuilin lit two cigarettes and passed one to Chen Shuxiang. Chen Shuxiang took the cigarette, took a deep puff, and said after a moment of silence: "Old Cheng, we are all from the Autumn Harvest Uprising. Jinggangshan fought in southern Jiangxi and western Fujian, and won many battles to establish this base area. But since the five anti-'encirclement and suppression' campaigns, we have basically not fought any decent battles!"

Needless to say, both of them felt very heavy. Chen Shuxiang went on to say: "In the end, not to mention losing our base, the team fought less and less, and the more we fought, the more tired we became. We couldn't eat well and sleep well. We beat dogs with sticks. Walking while fighting, being chased by the enemy and fighting every day, and then walking slowly like this..." Cheng Cuilin is the political commissar. Out of organizational principles, he did not complain too much. Instead, he enlightened Chen Shuxiang: "Although the troops have suffered some losses, there are also some doubts, dissatisfaction and complaints from below, but we are the troops led by the party. For the revolutionary cause, our lives can be sacrificed at any time... I think the situation will always get better. What is important now is this blocking battle. We must go all out to ensure that the Party Central Committee and the main force Cross the Xiangjiang River safely..."

Chen Shuxiang nodded and said nothing more. In the early morning of December 1st, before the heavy fog cleared, the Red Army soldiers were lying on the ground covered with hoarfrost, and a fierce battle was about to come.Zhou Hunyuan's Department of the Central Army of the Kuomintang, which was chasing the Red Army, rushed from the north, Li Yunjie's Department pressed from the east, and the four divisions of the Guangxi enemy's Xia Wei Department slowly advanced from the south, and the Red Thirty-fourth Division was attacked on three sides.At this moment, the front of the position seemed surprisingly quiet, but the enemy was just the opposite. The neighing of war horses, panting while running, the clinking of weapons, and the yelling of the enemy supervising officers all mixed together and seemed so noisy.

Chen Shuxiang leaned against the side of the tunnel, unhurriedly took out a small butt of a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, took two puffs beautifully, and waited steadily, he would wait until the enemy was completely within the range of fire, and then hit him hard pause. It's getting closer, it's getting closer, and it's time to attack. Chen Shuxiang threw the cigarette butt hard, stomped his feet and shouted: "Hit! Hit me hard!" Immediately, there were violent gunshots, the explosion of grenades, accompanied by the sound of charging horns, and the sound of bayonets fighting.Under the fierce firepower of the Red Army, the enemy quickly retreated.However, the enemy's troops were strong and well-equipped. After the infantry attack was frustrated, they immediately organized artillery fire to attack the Red Army's position, and dispatched several planes to bomb and straf in turn. The battlefield was full of gunpowder.

Chen Shuxiang and political commissar Cheng Cuilin have been fighting on the front line, calmly commanding the troops to repel the enemy's crazy attacks again and again.The fighting continued until evening, when the enemy stopped their attacks.Chen Shuxiang covered his ears, which were almost deafened by the artillery fire, and staggered back to the division command post.At this moment, he knew very well in his heart that this was only the first day, and as long as he did not see the retreat order from the head of the legion, he had to stick to this place.Even if the entire division is fighting off, these enemies must be held back to buy time for the main Red Army to cross the river safely.

Not long after, political commissar Cheng Cuilin also came in. His clothes torn by shrapnel and his face blackened by gunpowder smoke were not much different from Chen Shuxiang's.After looking at each other and smiling, the two held hands tightly together, silently encouraging each other. The next day, the Kuomintang Central Army launched a frantic attack on Jiangdong, the last blocking force. All the commanders and fighters of the 34th Division, who were in charge of the general cover task, resolutely responded to the call of the Party Central Committee, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, and the General Political Department of the Red Army, and carried forward their bravery and tenacity. With the fighting spirit, they fought fiercely with the Kuomintang army, using bayonets and grenades to destroy the enemy's entire company and battalion. The morale of the soldiers can be described as shocking.

After completing the covering task, the Red Thirty-Fourth Division was blocked by the enemy on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River, and the road to the west was cut off by the enemy. The troops were surrounded by layers of Kuomintang troops, and the situation was extremely grim. At 3:00 p.m. on December 2, the 34th Division, which was temporarily freed from the enemy, received a telegram from the Military Commission, ordering the 34th Division to advance from Banqiaopu to Bailuyuan, and then cross the river from an appropriate area south of Jieshou.So the 34th Division immediately entered the sparsely populated mountains and continued to advance towards the Xiangjiang River with difficulty.At the same time, the Guangxi army on the flank also discovered the large Red Army unit entering the mountain, and immediately mobilized four regiments and local militia groups to catch up, and the two sides fought fiercely in the mountain again.The division commander Chen Shuxiang commanded the troops calmly and retreated while fighting. He arrived at Jianjianjing that night, preparing to wade across the river through Fenghuangzui.At this time, there were still more than 3,000 troops in the army.

At three o'clock in the morning, the radio transceiver of the Third Bureau of the General Staff finally searched for the radio signal of the 34th Division. Wept sadly: "Amazing! Chen Shuxiang and the others are still there! The 34th Division is still there! They are still fighting!" Zhu De immediately discussed with Zhou Enlai and others, and sent an enemy situation report to the 34th Division: "The first part of the enemy in Guizhou occupied the frontier from Guanghuapu. The first division of Xia Wei chased our Eighth Army to Fenghuangzui. They planned to withdraw from Xing'an on the 2nd, and another division was stationed in Longsheng. The 19th and 2nd Divisions pursued me to Damaoling and Nanzhai to the west of Xianshuiyu. The rest of Tao, Zhou, and Li's enemies all had news from Kaixinning, Wugang, Chengbu, and Suining. Our military orders issued a copy on the third day Guarding the road Jiangyu, one part has already arrived at Jianghua. In view of this, if the 34th Division crosses the river from Fenghuangzui via Datang in three days today, it is possible to return to the main force. If it is impossible in time, it should be based on your own determination. Change to the south of Xing'an and advance. But you need to pay attention, the enemy in Gui is moving westward, and there are fewer westward routes south of Xing'an, and the Guilin River cannot be waded in vain. You must be prepared to develop guerrilla warfare for a period of time when you cannot join the main force. determination and deployment." In the telegram, Zhu De also asked the 34th Division to report on the current situation in detail, but the telegram was quickly interrupted.Intuitively, Zhu De judged that the troops must have encountered a serious enemy situation, and Chen Shuxiang and the others were making emergency transfers.Therefore, everyone's hearts soon sank again. At this moment, under the guidance of two Yao people, the Red Thirty-Fourth Division marched to Neijian Township in Quanzhou, and was suddenly ambushed by two divisions of the Xiawei Division of the Gui Army. Extreme fatigue and so on, fell into an extreme predicament for a while, and the troops suffered heavy casualties. Lu Gongyin, the head of the 102nd regiment, and Cai Zhong, the political commissar of the regiment, died one after another. At noon, an enemy attack had just been repelled. Cheng Cuilin, political commissar of the division, was hit by a shell beside the radio station and died a heroic death.Teacher Chen Shuxiang leaned against a simple fortification, with chapped lips, and slowly unbuttoned his padded jacket.At this moment, his mood is indescribable, bitter, tragic, and numb.But he is very clear about one thing: he must do his best to break out of the encirclement, cross the river to catch up with the main force, and complete the task entrusted to him by the chief.Thinking of this, he stood up with difficulty, called Chief of Staff Wang Guangdao, and ordered the team to gather and prepare to break through.The soldiers are exhausted at the moment, and they are too tired from continuous fighting these days. Chen Shuxiang couldn't help feeling sad when he looked at these soldiers who were alive and well in the past. He shouted in his hoarse voice full of tears: "Comrades, cheer up! We are the 34th division, we are the unbeatable steel division! Let's charge again, and we may be able to break through the encirclement!" Hearing the commander's call, the soldiers stood up one after another, and staggered to the front of the division commander : "Teacher, give the order! We will follow you." Chen Shuxiang waved the saber in his right hand, and solemnly announced two decisions to the whole division: "Comrades! We have completed the task of entrusting the superiors. But in front of us, we can't stay here. We must get rid of the enemy's entanglement. Victory! Now I declare: 1: burn all the documents, find the enemy's weak points to break through, and fight for guerrilla warfare in southern Hunan; 2: if the breakout fails, I swear to shed the last drop of blood for the Soviet Republic!" In this way, under the leadership of the division commander Chen Shuxiang, the Red Thirty-Fourth Division miraculously highlighted the enemy's encirclement. On the night of December 4th, the troops withdrew to a small village in Guanyin Mountain. When the exhausted soldiers saw the village, their legs went limp like a conditioned reflex, and they could no longer walk. Chen Shuxiang decided to let the troops stay here temporarily. Take a break. Late at night, the soldiers snored one after another. Han Wei, the head of the 100th regiment, got up quietly. Although a sentry post had been arranged, he was still worried. This was also an old habit for many years in the state of battle.When he came to the sentry post, he saw that the sentry soldiers had fallen asleep, he couldn't help but feel sore, and couldn't bear to wake up the sleeping soldiers.Han Wei continued to move forward and came to the edge of the village. In front of him was a dense jungle. Just as he was about to sit down against a low wall, he heard a few birdsong.Where does the bird chirping in the middle of the night?Did I hear wrong?Or a hallucination in exhaustion?Alert, he immediately hid himself.Soon, there was a conversation with a Guangxi accent in the woods. There was no Guangxi native in the 34th Division, so they must be enemies!what to do?That's too late!The enemies swarmed together, getting closer and closer.Han Wei decisively raised his pistol and shot at the enemy. The sound of the gun awakened the sleeping soldiers and also the enemies in Soushan. After hearing the news, the soldiers came to confront the enemy at the entrance of the village.Neither side knew the reality of the other, so they dared not attack rashly. It was almost dawn, and Chen Shuxiang was very anxious. He had to get rid of this enemy as soon as possible, otherwise he would be surrounded again.Thinking of this, Chen Shuxiang changed his tone of discussing everything with Han Wei in the past, and ordered Han Wei to lead the 100th and 102nd regiments to break through, and he led the 101st regiments to stay and cover.Han Wei understands the good intentions of the teacher. The teacher is keeping the hope of life for himself. Han Wei is the old head of the 34th Division. As early as 1933, he was the head of the 100th Regiment. At that time, Chen Shuxiang was also in the division and served as the head of the 101st Regiment. The two became close and fought. It also cooperates with each other very tacitly.At this critical moment, Han Wei refused Chen Shuxiang's order, and Master Chen couldn't resist him, so he had to lead his troops to break through the encirclement with Chief of Staff Wang Guangdao. Han Wei led a regiment of 100 to stand firm in the village. At this moment, the strength of the whole regiment is less than one battalion.It was getting brighter, and the enemy attacked tentatively several times, but was pushed back by my heroic Red Army soldiers.Han Wei estimated that the enemy was about to launch a bigger round of attack, and also estimated that the troops led by the division commander had gone far, so he and the second battalion commander Hou Dekui gathered the soldiers and organized them into three companies to act first and start to break through.The troops fought and left, and when they reached Mao'eryuan, they were once again trapped by the chasing enemies.The soldiers of the 100th regiment used up all the remaining ammunition and fought the enemy hand-to-hand. In the end, there were only more than 30 people left in the regiment.In order to preserve the revolutionary fire, Han Wei reiterated the Red Army's spirit of preferring death to surrender, and announced the disbandment of the troops with great sorrow. Each person was given two oceans, and immediately dispersed and sneaked among the local people, and then tried to find party organizations or troops.Han Wei took five soldiers, collected all the ammunition, dragged the enemy tightly, and gradually led them to the mountain.In the end, these six warriors jumped down from the cliff with the determination to die.Due to the resistance of the vegetation on the mountainside, Han Wei and two comrades survived a catastrophe, but unfortunately, the three met the militia again. Han Wei escaped by luck, but the two soldiers were killed.After going through hardships, Han Wei returned to his hometown of Wuhan. While looking for a local party organization, he was unfortunately betrayed by a traitor and imprisoned in the Hankou Army Prison. He was not released until Zhou Enlai negotiated after the "Xi'an Incident" and returned to the embrace of the party. Han Wei was awarded the rank of lieutenant general in 1955 and served as deputy commander of the Beijing Military Region. He died in 1992 at the age of 86. Under the leadership of Chen Shuxiang, the rest of the 34th Division broke through the siege, but they paid a heavy price. Su Daqing, the commander of the 101st Regiment, and Peng Zhufeng, the political commissar, were killed one after another. More than 200 commanders and fighters fell on the road to break through. On December 9, more than 300 people who successfully broke through the encirclement arrived at Kongshuyan in Dao County, Hunan Province, and then encountered the enemy's security forces in Shangmuling. After repelling the enemy, the troops did not stop, and then rushed to Gu On the side of the Zijiang River, he was ambushed by the enemy's security forces during the halfway crossing. Commander Chen was shot in the abdomen. Facing the swarming enemies, Commander Chen decisively ordered the troops to march towards Jizi Mountain.Under the blockade of the Dao County Security Corps, Master Chen was unable to walk due to serious injuries and was unfortunately captured. When the enemy found out that a Red Army commander had been captured, he tied the seriously injured Chen Shuxiang to a stretcher with a rope, and prepared to carry him to the county seat to ask for credit.At this moment, Chen Shuxiang passed out.At night, he was jolted awake by a stretcher, and the severe pain hit him one after another. Chen Shuxiang gritted his teeth and stood upright.I was captured, so many familiar comrades around me fell down, and more than 5,000 Red Army soldiers from the 34th Division were buried on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River.Thinking of this, Chen Shuxiang closed his eyes in pain.After a while, he quietly tore off the bandage around his waist with trembling hands, then reached into the wound with his hands, pulled out his intestines, bit them off with his teeth, and sprinkled them on the road... In the darkness, an enemy finally felt something sticky and slippery entangled his feet. When he stopped to check, Chen Shuxiang had died heroically. Later, according to the recollection of Han Wei, then head of the 100th Regiment of the Red Thirty-Fourth Division: When the enemy security commander He Xiang heard that he had captured a Red Army division commander, he was so happy that he ordered his minions to carry Mr. Chen to ask for credit and reward from his master.Taking advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness, Master Chen twisted his intestines from the abdominal wound with his hands, and sacrificed heroically. At the age of 29, he fulfilled his oath of "shedding the last drop of blood for the new Soviet China".The enemy brutally cut off Comrade Chen Shuxiang's head and hung it on the city wall of Xiaowu Gate in his hometown, Changsha... After the death of Master Chen, more than 100 people from the remaining troops of the 34th Red Division were transferred to Niulandong under the leadership of Chief of Staff Wang Guangdao, and reorganized into a brigade, commanded by the head of the 10th and 1st regiment.Empress Wang Guangdao hid with several other wounded people because of his serious condition.The rest of the troops moved to the mountains between Ningyuan, Lanshan, Jianghua, and Daoxian to carry out arduous guerrilla struggles. Later, the number of troops grew to more than 300, and three guerrilla teams were formed.Until the winter of 1935, this army was once again surrounded by the Kuomintang army. They fought until they ran out of ammunition and food, and most of them died heroically.So far, the story of this heroic unit has ended tragically. The Battle of Xiangjiang was the most heroic battle since the Long March of the Central Red Army.According to historical records, the Central Red Army lost more than half of the entire Xiangjiang Battle.In order to cover the central column crossing the river, the Third Army lost its 18th regiment, the 34th division of the Fifth Army was wiped out, and the Eighth Army was even worse, with only a thousand soldiers left. people.All in all, the Red Army lost more than 30,000 people in breaking through the enemy's fourth blockade of the Xiangjiang River.Although the battle suffered heavy losses, the Central Red Army still crossed the Xiangjiang River and won a strategic victory.At the same time, this battle also gave the commanders and fighters of the Red Army a major and profound revelation, that is, the wrong command of the "Left" adventurist military line must be changed, so that the Red Army can take the initiative and the Long March can win. Convocation provides the ideological basis.