Chapter 18 Northeast Volunteer Army and Secret Association
1. Preface The "September 18th Incident" in 1931 was a major event in modern Chinese history.This incident not only exposed Japan's ambition to annex China by force, but also ignited the fierce fire of the Northeast Volunteer Army against Japan, which opened the prelude to China's long-term resistance war against Japan, making it an important factor affecting the outcome of the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in the future.Studying the Northeast Volunteer Army is an indispensable link in order to deeply understand the modern history of China and the formation, development and further invasion of China by Japanese imperialism.The study of the history of Japanese imperialism cannot be separated from the colonial issue; and the study of modern Chinese history cannot ignore the issue of the War of Resistance Against Japan.When talking about the Anti-Japanese War, we should first understand the issue of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army that developed after the "September 18th Incident".
After the "September 18th Incident" in 1931, more than 300,000 people joined the Northeast Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army. Its components included ordinary people, the Northeast Army, bandits, and Koreans. aggression.Among them, secret societies are very active and occupy a very important position.There are many kinds of secret associations, such as the Broad Sword Society, the Red Spear Society, and the Black Spear Society. However, when it comes to their activities and organizational structure, they are generally collectively referred to as the Great Sword Society. Of course, sometimes their original names are used as needed.The question to be explored in this article is how did secret societies take root in the Northeast?What is the specific content of its organizational structure and rules?
How exactly did these secret societies participate in the Anti-Japanese Movement?In addition, in a difficult environment, how did you persist in the anti-Japanese activities?How should their historical status in the Anti-Japanese Movement be evaluated?etc.
2. The origin of the Great Sword Society originated in the Northeast. The Great Sword Society is a branch of the White Lotus Sect. civil armed organizations.The earliest Red Spear Society was formed in Henan Province to defend against bandits and resist tyranny.Among the provinces in China, the most serious disasters were in Henan and Shandong provinces (Shandong Shanxian, Jiangsu Fengxian, Tongshan and Anhui Xiaoxian, etc.). In 1886, farmers in these areas, in order to resist the aggressive forces of foreign churches, Organize the Broadsword Association to arm. After the outbreak of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, the members of the Broadsword Club participated in the anti-imperialist struggle. "After the failure, they turned to secret activities, and some members escaped from outside the customs." This is the origin of the Broadsword Club in Northeast China.The secret associations such as the Big Sword Society and the Red Spear Society that were originally in the customs have also developed to all parts of the Northeast as farmers in these areas leave the customs to make a living.Therefore, when the "September 18th Incident" was in chaos, the rise of the Red Gun Society was no accident.
The Northeast has not been a peaceful place since the late Qing Dynasty.There were not only the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, but also "the towns were full of horsemen and bandits, and the towns were tyrannized by the government."Harassment by the army, extortion by the police, exploitation and extortion by various tax collectors, coupled with the inflation of the bills, many farmers went bankrupt and turned into bandits.In order to defend the village and prevent horse thieves from harassing, the people of the Northeast organized the Broadsword Club. In the autumn of 1927, Lu, the leader of the Shandong Broadsword Association, led two subordinates from Andong along the Yalu River to Linjiang, Tonghua and other counties to implement a kind of psychotherapy and recruit members.By the end of 1927, the Daohui in Dongbian Road had grown to "more than 25,000 members."
The main purpose of the Broad Sword Society and the Red Spear Society is to protect their own right to life. They are religious secret associations established through independent association or call based on religious creeds.They have two characteristics. First, the secret society itself absorbs members through strict initiation ceremonies, and its guiding power is controlled by powerful and influential people in the village. The village as a whole has a strong color of secret association.Second, the scope of secret societies is determined by the personal relationships of their leaders, so it is possible to transcend geographical and administrative constraints and combine in a wider range.
3. The organizational structure and rules of the Great Sword Club The general organization of the Great Sword Club is that the great master is the most respected, followed by the senior brother, and the next is the dharma boy (each dharma boy manages 10 people). The members under the dharma boy are members.The names of the various organizational structures of the Dasaohui are different, but the basic organizational form and activity content are the same.Let’s take the organizational structure of the Sage Society to see the general organization of the Great Sword Society.After the "September 18th Incident", its organization was modeled after the army. The archmage was called the commander, or the brigade commander, and there were regiments, battalions, companies, and platoons.The organizational structure of the Sages Society can be referred to Table 1.
Table 1 Organizational Structure of the Sages Association※
(Continued)
※Source: Office of History and Chronicles of Xinbin County, Liaoning Province.
The Daohui has a flag, which is square, and there are four big characters "broad daylight" written on the flag.The color of the flag varies according to the name of the Broadsword Association.The flag of the Red Spear Club, the fringes of spear tassels, and the ribbons tied by members are all red, the white spear clubs are all white, the yellow gun clubs are all yellow, and so on.Each member wears a colored ribbon with the words "Shenbing Daohui" written on it to show his might.
The basic characteristics of the Daohui organization include the following points: 1. Based on natural villages, it is an armed self-defense organization established with the village as a whole.In some counties there will be several chapters.2. The center of gathering is the earth temple and other places that symbolize the common interests of the village.
3. This kind of organization communicates with various figures such as martial arts teams, entertainers, and folk religious organizers who are active in temple fairs and gatherings, so that the Daohui itself has a diversified aspect.4. On the basis of the formation of a network of secret associations with established mutual relations, the organization can be further expanded, even beyond the scope of individual villages. In some cases, huge organizations across counties have also been formed in order to resist powerful external forces. .5. In order to promote the unity of the villagers and enhance their fighting spirit, the Great Sword Society consciously used religious etiquette and the belief of invulnerability.6. Most of the members are peasants, with 20 to 39 people as a unit, and five buckets of rice a day during the battle can basically maintain their lives.
In order to maintain its organization, the Daohui also stipulates strict precepts: Anyone who participates in the Daohui must not kill innocent people, steal property, tell lies, or rape and molest women.Violators will not only be dealt with severely, but also cannot resist swords and guns.Because of this, all members of the Great Sword Society obey discipline and fight bravely.The following are the detailed rules of the Northeast Broadsword Association in 1927: 1. The association is named the Broadsword Special Association.
2. Members of the Association must receive two months of training.
3. Five members form a class, and ten members form a row.Each class and platoon has a class and platoon leader, and a teacher who is responsible for the guidance of member education.
4. Special members were dispatched to various counties for the purpose of mobilizing farmers to achieve the following: A. Assassinate the county governors, police chiefs, and other major figures in various government departments.
B. Disrupting social order, attacking, setting fire, destroying county governments, etc.
C, plundering officers and soldiers' weapons and food.
Ding, to block the route of the crusading army.
E. Sabotaging telecommunications, telephones and other communication institutions.
5. Before starting the operation, each town gathers to distribute and carry weapons, etc.
6. Bonuses for members with special merits: A, assassinate the governor and police chief, and receive 5,000 yuan as votes.
B. For the assassination of the company commander, customs chief, police district chief, security chief, etc., a ticket of 3,000 yuan will be given.
C, the assassination of the inspector and the head of the customs, and a ticket of 2,000 yuan.
Ding, who killed police armor and soldiers, received a ticket of 1,000 yuan.
Based on the above rules, the members of the Daohui bravely face the contradictions in reality.When there were only domestic class contradictions in the Northeast, the targets of the Broadsword Society were officers, soldiers, landlords and other classes that exploited peasants; The Japanese aggression army after the Eighth Incident.
In addition to the above strict precepts, the Big Sword Club also has to train hard at ordinary times.But in an emergency, "it takes a day to learn."Members of the Great Sword Club are taught by "the teacher the invulnerability spell every day. Everyone has braids hanging down, chanting spells, drawing symbols, and writing bullets to remove treasure chests."The weapons they use are "the mage carries a sword on his back, the senior brother carries a ghost head knife, members use red guns, and some use new rifles."Wearing a red cloth on the left wrist, it is the symbol of the Great Sword Society.
Wearing a red cloth means auspiciousness, and it also means that after joining the association, they will fight bravely with the Japanese army.Draw a talisman on the puppet with 7 faces at the same time, burn it, eat it, and recite the spell.When chanting a mantra, while chanting "Infinite Buddha", wave your left hand left and right.Due to the effects of swallowing amulets, chanting mantras, and chanting sutras, it can last for 2 hours.Before every battle, the mage holds a sword in one hand and a triangular command flag in the other hand, and comes to supervise the battle in person.Each team member needs to close their eyes and fingers, silently recite the "mantra" and then, under the leadership of the senior brother, shout loudly, raise their guns and wield their knives, and charge into battle. The "Manchurian Daily" records the training situation of the Daohui: "They pray silently in front of the altar three times a day and receive God's training. They have two pieces of yellow and red paper on their chests. On the yellow paper is written: Cheng Ye elements Burning talismans with swords and guns; written on the red paper: Master Quanshou, Lafayette, abide by the law, and Xie Tian, the emperor, the emperor, the emperor, the emperor, the emperor, the emperor, the emperor, the gold, the gold, the incense, the green smoke, put it away, the holy master, the cloud field, and the martial arts, come and go."
After receiving this kind of training, the members of the Big Sword Club were very brave. They were not afraid of anything and dared to rush out to attack the Japanese army.Its elusive appearance is recorded in the "Manchuria Daily": "The big knife bandits who attacked Qingyuan County were very brave and amazing because they believed in superstitious cults. They waved red guns and kept attacking over the dead bodies. , its appearance scares even ghosts to death."
Although the training of the Broadsword Association was superstitious, the ordinary peasants who were basically uneducated believed in the teachings of the mage and rushed to the battle bravely, with an aura that even the Japanese army was afraid of.
4. Anti-Japanese activities of secret associations after "September 18th" After the "September 18th Incident", farmers in all parts of the Northeast were unable to engage in farming under the ravages of the Japanese invaders, and many miners and loggers were unemployed and unable to make a living. Once called, Secret organizations among these people quickly developed and joined various volunteer armies.Master Li, a native of Lu, took advantage of his fellow villagers in Shandong to gather coal mine workers from Benxi, Fushun and other places and iron mine workers from Anshan to form the Southern Red Spear Association, which was active in Qingyuan County, Qinghegou, Beishan Township, and Hailong County.The public and the old Broadsword Club and Red Spear Club also joined in "protecting the countryside and defending the people" because they could not bear the oppression of the Japanese army.Master Du (from Shandong) was active in Wangkui County, Luobei County, Tangyuan County, and Heli County in Heilongjiang, and Master Yu (from Shandong) was active in Linkou, Boli, Yilan, Baoqing, and Fujin counties The activity is for the Northern Red Gun Club.They use the slogans "Defend the country, defend the people, protect the hometown", "Down with Japanese imperialism", "Overthrow Manchukuo", "Expel the Japanese invaders and restore China" as their slogans; Conduct a property investigation, fearing that traitors will sneak in and expose secrets.After investigation, those who are considered loyal and reliable have to find another introducer, named as the introduction of new juniors, and get rid of the low-level (1, beat the dog, 2, steal the cow, 3, pedicure, 4, shave the head, 5, scale, 6, fight , Seven, prostitution, eight, excellent, nine, bragging), all can join the club.
The development of the Broadsword Clubs and Red Spear Clubs in Northeast China is based on the crisis in life and national consciousness, rather than relying solely on temporary superstition. Although the participants are very superstitious, they basically feel that there is a crisis in the living space , also understood the seriousness of ethnic conflicts, so they rose up and joined the anti-Japanese team.This kind of big knife society and red gun society first appeared in Yanji and Longjing Village. Later, when Wang Delin's army came to the west, Ning'an, Dongning, Mishan, Lishu Town, Yanshou, Niaozhuhe, Xiaosuifen, Xilinhe The area has also been organized successively.Nine out of ten of those who join such groups are landless peasants from Zhizhi and Shandong provinces: they are partly inspired by patriotic zeal, partly because they cannot cultivate the land, and face persecution at a critical moment of life and death, so they organize the Big Sword Club and the Red Spear Club. Yes, so there are many farmers.
The following discusses the organization of the Great Swords Volunteer Army.
First of all, the establishment of the General Broadsword Association is free to participate once called.Most of the people who freely joined the Volunteer Army were members of the original Broadsword Association.Members of the Great Swords Club bring their own red-tasseled guns. The gun head is more than a foot long, sharpened on both sides, and shines sharply. It is tied with a long red tassel and fitted with a hardwood gun shaft. It is very majestic to carry.When each regiment was established, a mage was invited to teach the mantra, draw amulets, chant mantras, and train martial arts.Members fold the drawn talismans into special red pockets and carry them with them.Every night, I have to recite mantras and practice guns and martial arts.It is also stipulated to be a vegetarian and not to beat or scold the common people.When fighting, first kneel down to eat the talisman and chant the mantra, then shout and kill, and rush forward.
Secondly, the mage calls on the general public to show everyone the invulnerable martial arts. Those who believe in the mage's performance will join the volunteer army of the Great Sword Association, which will expand the organization.When the Zhuanghe Broadsword Association established the Volunteer Army Organization, a teacher Ma was invited from Dalian City. He is a Taoist master of Taoism.He set up a rehearsal field in Changling Temple (the members of the Great Sword Society shot at them with a gun after eating amulets and chanting mantras) to test their invulnerability.There were no casualties in the test, as proof.Thus borrowing the influence of the Broadsword Society among the masses, it actively organized the people to fight against Japan.The general public set up Daohui in their hometowns, and invited more than a dozen Daohui teachers from Dalian and Shandong. They used Wuji Dao's talisman in their spells. The basis of its superstition is the same.
Members of the Great Swords Club usually return to their respective homes, and when they have something to do, they send orders to gather by chicken feather letter. On December 15, 1932, the Broadsword Association received news that the Japanese army had arrived from Fuxian County. The headquarter immediately informed the other regiments, assembled the teams, and arrived at Wangjiatun and Xuancheng respectively in the afternoon of the same day.After investigating the situation that night, they surrounded Tuchengzi.As a result, half of the Japanese cavalry battalion was defeated, killing 5 Japanese army major general Mori Hideki and army cavalry captain Kinoshita Kenichiro, stabbing dozens of Japanese soldiers, and seizing 30 long and short guns, 1 sword, 30 horses and Some ammunition, food, etc.After organizing the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army through the above methods, the Broadsword will develop rapidly.
In the anti-Japanese activities of the Daohui, the most organized one was at the end of 1931. Wang Fengge came to Hongtuya, the birthplace of the Daohui, to carry out anti-Japanese propaganda, and brought the Daohui organized by more than 200 people to Tonghua.
From February to May 1932, Liu Gang (nicknamed Liu Fo) also formed a Daohui with more than 500 people in Hongtuya.Zhang Baotai, the famous leader of the first Daohui, organized a Daohui with more than 400 people in the Banshigou area, trained by masters Liu Qingshan, Li Pilin, and Li Zhaoping.Majiaohe, led by Wang Haiqing, Li Fenglou, and Ma Qingyuan, established the "Iron Armored Army for Saving the Nation and Love the People" Wuqi Club, with a total of more than 110 people.Banjiegou, headed by Chen Tianpeng, organized the Wuji Daohui with more than 40 participants.Cuocaodingzi established the Qingqi Club headed by Liu Jingshan (Liu Dabai), Liu Yuxue, and He Shuti, with more than 200 people.Wu Jiaying, headed by Jin Chuan, organized the Wuqi Club of more than 80 people.Sidaogou organized the Yellow Banner Society headed by Xu Hongmei, with a total of more than 100 people.Liudaogou also organized a tape meeting with more than 80 participants.In addition, there are Red Flag Club, Red Gun Club, Lanqi Club, White Flag Club, etc. By the end of May 1932, there were more than 2,000 Dao members in the county.
Liu Tong first organized the Anti-Japanese Self-Defense Force, which mainly attacked the village office. He handed over some guns.Liu paid great attention to the discipline of the team and formulated four disciplines: 1. The purpose of the National Salvation Army is to fight the Japanese devils and eliminate local traitors and lackeys.
Second, it is not allowed to hold the purpose of getting promoted and getting rich.
3. It is not allowed to ask for good food from the common people. You must go to a house with food to eat, and you are not allowed to go to a poor house.
4. Don't make things difficult for people, beat and scold people, don't molest women, don't take people's money and things.
Any violations of the above-mentioned disciplines shall be punished once they are found out, and those who are serious will be brought to justice on the spot.Because of the strict discipline of the anti-Japanese army he led, he was popular with the masses.There was a soldier named Gao Mingxiang who raped women, robbed and defrauded property in the Lijiapuzi south of Kumazi. When Liu Tongxian learned about it, he immediately sent someone to investigate the situation and executed Gao Mingxiang on the spot.
Wherever the Anti-Japanese and National Salvation Army went, guns from the surrounding village offices would be seized, and the number would increase to two or three thousand.Later, in June 1932, the Peking National Salvation Association sent people to the triangle area in southern Liaoning to reorganize the National Salvation Army into the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army. Liu Tongxian was the commander of the 40th Route Army.The headquarters is divided into eight divisions: Chief of the Secretariat: Li Yonghong (from a bungalow in Maquanzi Village) Deputy Director: Yuan Liewu (from Huangtukan) Chief of the Military Law Division: Wang Yaokai (from Daluoban) Director of Inspection: Wu Haoran (from Xibian Gaozi) ) Director of Medical Affairs: Liang Chengkuan (from Dongtuanshanzi) Chief of Staff: Shi Zicao (from Xiuyan County) Director of Military Supplies: Gao Rujiu (from Yanggou, Gaoxiwei) Director of Clothes: Zhang ×× (from Xiuyan County ) Liu's troops used various methods to maintain the original organization and expand the organization to carry out anti-Japanese activities vigorously.But around the winter of 1933, many units that cooperated with Liu were gradually defeated. In addition, the Japanese army carried out a large-scale encirclement and suppression. , the power is gradually weakened.
Later, the Great Swords Association realized that there were many disadvantages in using only individual organizations to fight against Japan. Not only were the forces scattered, but they were also unable to effectively deal with the Japanese army. The best way was to unite some scattered forces.In order to unite in the anti-Japanese war and strengthen the anti-Japanese armed forces, the Broadsword Society cooperated with Xu Dasan, the captain of the public security team in Linjiang County, who has anti-Japanese thoughts.
In September 1932, the Daohui of the three regiments of Changling, Qiujiagou, and Caojiatun joined forces with the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army to fight the Japanese army in Majiagou and Weiziyu at the junction of Zhuang and Gai.The Great Sword Society killed more than 50 people with red-tasseled guns and captured 90 people without any casualties. Since then, the reputation of the Great Sword Society has become more prominent and spread throughout Zhuang and Gai counties.By October, the original 3 regiments of the Daohui quickly developed to 16 regiments.In order to meet the needs of the development of the situation, a meeting of the head of the regiment was held in Changling Village in October, and the Daohui was named the Lianzhuang Self-Defense Regiment, and the headquarters of the regiment was established.At that time, the three leaders of the headquarters were all intellectuals, and most of the leaders of the sub-groups were also intellectuals.
In November 1932, the Zhuanghe Broadsword Association established the "Zhuanghe Lianzhuang Self-Defense Regiment" for the purpose of "expelling the Japanese army and recovering China".
Table 2 Zhuanghe Lianzhuang Self-Defense Regiment※ (continued)
※Data source: Zhang Peng, Lin Shulan, Wang Baoren: "Zhuanghe Daohui Organizational Structure", "Zhuanghe Literature and History Materials" Volume 1, internal publication, 1985, refer to pages 58-62 for tabulation.
According to the news in early June 1932, "Only in the east section of the Middle East Road, the number of the People's National Salvation Army (Dadaohui) has reached more than 100,000. Yanbian and Jidun Road along Jiaohe, Emu, There are also 60,000 to 70,000 people in Dunbei and other places, and 40,000 to 50,000 people along the Huhai Road, Keshan, Baiquan, etc.
The combat method of the Volunteer Army of the Great Swords Club "mainly relies on sneak attacks at night. If you want to attack a certain town, you first put red guns, rifles, bullets, etc. into the bundles of firewood in the name of selling firewood, and mix into a few people in the city (called the vanguard, also known as the vanguard team). The so-called Death Squad) was assembled by fake firewood sellers to sneak attack the Japanese army at night, using fire as a sign to attack from inside and outside.”Afterwards, the Japanese army used heavy weapons to hit it, and the red guns would disperse.
Some of them no longer stayed in the camp of the Volunteer Army; even some factions of the Volunteer Army fought against each other due to different political goals, which greatly damaged their vitality.
In the past, the Broadsword Association in the guerrilla zone was very famous, and had a heroic record in fighting the Japanese Manchurian Army.But later, after some big swords were bought by the Japanese army, they actively attacked the army of the Volunteer Army.They attacked the Volunteer Army, handed over their weapons, and burned many weapons or let the Japanese Manchurian Army surrender them.The reason why these Daohui no longer insist on anti-Japanese activities is that their anti-Japanese activities are not based entirely on patriotism. Most of the Daohui members are forced to participate in anti-Japanese activities due to difficulties and crises in life. Therefore, seeing Immediate interests and warm things make it difficult to stick to the original idea of anti-Japanese.This is not only a problem with the Big Swords Association, but also a phenomenon among most ordinary people or the Hu Bandit Volunteer Army.
However, some members of the Great Swords Club persisted in the War of Resistance to the end. It can be said that members of the Great Swords Club played an important role in the anti-Japanese activities.Take the Red Spear Brigade, the vanguard of the Volunteer Army, as an example. No matter how many times it fought the Japanese army in a day, the Red Spear Brigade always took the vanguard.People thought that the Red Spear Club would increase their courage by eating the "Dafa" (qi swallowing talisman), and they could charge with the spirit that bullets could not beat.
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