Chapter 37 4. Powerless reinforcements

On the morning of January 20th, at Nijiayingzi, where the headquarters of the West Route Army is located, Song Kanfu, director of the Third Bureau of the headquarters, deciphered an enemy telegram. They are storming Gaotai County, and have already broken into the city, and fierce street fighting is going on!" Chen Changhao was shocked, and together with Xu Xiangqian, they decided to send a cavalry division to the high platform for reinforcements, although both of them knew in their hearts that relying on these hundreds of troops would be like a drop in the bucket.But I couldn't come up with any better ideas, because in this vast desert, it would be extremely dangerous for the infantry to attack rashly, and the main force of the two horses were all elite cavalry, otherwise the whole army would be in danger of being wiped out.

Dong Junyan, the commander of the cavalry division, received the order and immediately set off as a whole team.Along the way, he and Chief of Staff Li Caiyun rode horses and ran at the forefront of the team.Both of them came from the Fifth Army. They were Dong Zhentang's old subordinates as early as in the Northwest Army. Now that the high platform is in danger, they have no choice but to spread their wings and fly over to resist the enemy side by side with the old chief. The predecessor of the Cavalry Division of the West Route Army was the Cavalry Division of the Red Fourth Front Army. It was established in April 1936. The first division commander was Xu Shiyou, the second division commander was Ma Liangjun, and Dong Junyan was the third division commander.As a surprise soldier, after crossing the Yellow River, the division fought in Jingtai, Gulang, Yongchang, Shandan and other places. Yu rode away.

Dong Junyan turned his head and looked at his team.Although the 500 troops are a little small, they seem so thin in this vast Gobi, but relying on surprise, they may be able to scramble the horse bandits who are besieging the city, or rely on a violent assault to stun the enemy and reduce the pressure on the high platform. .The cavalry division rushed to Nanhua Town, fifteen miles outside Gaotai City, Dong Junyan ordered the troops to stop and rest for a while to prepare for the battle, and then climbed to the high place to observe the movement ahead with binoculars.I saw gunpowder smoke filling the sky above the high platform, and the flames soared into the sky.

You must act quickly, or it will be too late.Thinking of this, Dong Junyan quickly stepped on the horse and ordered the team to advance at full speed. As soon as the cavalry division arrived at Mingshuitan, yellow dust was seen billowing from the left, right and in front. The enemy cavalry seemed to have been prepared and rushed towards the cavalry division.Dong Junyan didn't know that the opponents this time were Ma Bufang's elite——Mabuluan Cavalry Regiment and Xining Rushal Cavalry Regiment. They had ambushed here early on, eyeing a tiger, ready to deal with the West Route Army who might come to help.It was no longer possible to delay, Dong Junyan drew his saber, turned around and shouted to his soldiers: "Comrades! We must not embarrass the cavalry division and let the horse bandits see how powerful our cavalry division is! Kill!"

Five hundred cavalrymen plunged into Ma Bufang's elite cavalry like a sharp sword.In an instant, dust was flying outside Gaotai City, and the shouts of killing shook the sky. After a fierce fight, Qin Daoxian, the political commissar of the cavalry division, and Li Caiyun, the chief of staff, were cut off by the enemy one after another, and more brave soldiers fell on the road of charge.The only one who rushed out of the encirclement of the enemy cavalry was Dong Junyan who waited for more than a dozen people. At this time, he was already bruised and blood was flowing all over his body, almost turning into a blood man.He gritted his teeth and continued to rush forward. He wanted to rush into Gaotai City, even if he died, he would die in the city.How could the ferocious horse bandits let them go and chased after them, and the dozen or so soldiers behind them were chopped off their horses one by one.Dong Junyan didn't care about that much, he kept beating the horse with his saber, but the horse couldn't run fast, the horse bandit galloping behind raised his saber and slashed at the back of his head, Dong Junyan instinctively stretched out his left arm to block it, " Kacha!" With a sound, his arm flew into the air, and Dong Junyan screamed and fell off the horse.

Then four or five enemies surrounded him.Dong Junyan was lying on the snow, spitting blood. Amidst the ridicule of the horse bandits, he moved his body in pain. The pistol without bullets was cut off along with his left arm. The high platform was so close!It's a pity that I can't do it.He struggled to stand up from the ground, slowly picked up the saber with his right hand, exerted his last strength, and slashed at both sides of his body with a standard cavalry saber, and fell headfirst on the Gobi Desert. superior…… It was night, and on this road leading to the high platform, the corpses of both the enemy and the enemy were intertwined.In the bitter cold wind, a figure slowly stood up.He is Li Caiyun, Chief of Staff of the Cavalry Division, a character who has to be mentioned in this book.

Li Caiyun was born in Chengguan Town, Lintao County, Gansu Province in 1908.He once studied in Gansu Provincial No. 1 Middle School, and joined the National Army during the Northern Expedition of the Kuomintang-Communist Cooperation.Soon he entered the cavalry team of the National Army Officer Academy to study. After graduation, he served successively as platoon leader and deputy company commander of the cavalry. Participated in the Ningdu Uprising in December 1931, and soon joined the Communist Party of China. He served successively as company commander, battalion commander, commander of the Fifth Red Army, commander of the First Independent Division of the Fourth Red Army, commander of the Second Army of the Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army, and cavalry of the Red West Army. Division chief of staff and so on.

At this moment, holding back the pain, he crawled out from the dead, and with tenacious perseverance, rushed back to the headquarters of the West Route Army——Nijiayingzi.Soon, the headquarters decided to form a cavalry division again. The division commander was Du Yide, the political commissar Liu Qingnan, and Li Caiyun, who had recovered from his injury, was still the chief of staff of the cavalry division.Soon, the West Route Army was completely defeated. He retreated into the Qilian Mountains with Wang Shusheng, deputy commander-in-chief of the West Route Army, Du Yide, commander of the cavalry division, and others, preparing to cross the desert and cross the Yellow River east to return to northern Shaanxi.But he was shot dead by his own people on the way. The reason was that "Li Caiyun might defect."

Is history really like this? According to the memories of Li Caiyun’s subordinate, Comrade Li Xinguo, then chief of the combat section of the cavalry division (after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, he served as the deputy commander of the East China Sea Fleet Aviation): That day, he and Li Caiyun found a sheltered rocky cliff and soon fell asleep. "Bang! Bang!" Two gunshots sounded, and Li Xinguo woke up from his sleep, only to see Li Caiyun beside him lying in a pool of blood.Not far away, the pistols of Wang Shusheng and Du Yide were still in their hands. Li Xinguo didn't understand what was going on, and when he was about to ask a question, Wang Shusheng said first: "We wiped the gun and misfired, it's none of your business!"

Li Xinguo knew it in his heart, so he didn't want to say more, so he silently buried Li Caiyun together with a few soldiers. Since then, he has been terrified when he sleeps, for fear that he will suffer the same ending as Li Caiyun.Because he knew that he and Li Caiyun were both from the Fifth Red Army, and they often expressed some complaints and opinions to Zhang Guotao when they were defeated by the Fifth Red Army and later by the West Route Army. , Du Yide) heard it, and they were all Zhang Guotao's old subordinates, so Li Caiyun died in such an unclear manner. In 1985, Comrade Du Yide (commander of the Lanzhou Military Region, lieutenant general) admitted that Li Caiyun was wrongly killed by Wang Shusheng and him.

It finally came to light that one side was the father of the Republic—the founding general and lieutenant general; the other side was the early senior cavalry commander of our army who had been wrongly killed for 48 years and was accused of being a traitor.If there was no such thing, he should have galloped on the anti-Japanese battlefield, would have become a brave general of the Eighth Route Army who made the Japanese invaders fearful, and would have become a senior general of our army who can stand alone; if he had not sacrificed, he would have been a general.But there is no such word in history. What can I say?In the face of the facts, I may only be helpless and sigh.But at least our hearts are heavy, so heavy that it's hard to breathe.Another general from the Ningdu uprising died unjustly. They were all the same. They were born and died for the Chinese revolution, but they were treated extremely unfairly. They were even insulted for a long time after their death.History often makes people worry like this. It is like this in war years, and it is not much better in peace times.It is not surprising that Li Caiyun died prematurely due to the hilltopism of the army. Even Chairman Mao later said: "There are no factions in the party, and there are all kinds of strange things!" In the previous campaigns, will there be fewer generals who were displaced or even destroyed? In June 1992, Comrade Li Xiannian, the political commissar of the 30th Army of the Red West Route Army and the former president of the country, issued a certificate of martyr to Comrade Li Caiyun in person on his sickbed ten days before his death. In June 2001, the Lintao County People's Government of the Communist Party of China built a monument to Martyr Li Caiyun in the Yuelu Mountain Martyrs Cemetery.