Chapter 40 At the end, the soul is the Great Northwest

In March 1950, when the bandit suppression troops of the Xinjiang Military Region were gearing up for the expedition, Peng Dehuai was making two long speeches at the administrative meeting of the Northwest Military and Political Committee. Corruption".This is also the basic spirit of the relevant meetings of the Central People's Government Committee. Also in this month, Chiang Kai-shek, who went to Taiwan, accepted the "request" of the "Legislative Yuan" and became the "President".The first thing he did after his reinstatement was to accept Yan Xishan's resignation, and push Chen Cheng, who was in his prime, to the position of "Executive President".And started to guide Chen Cheng to implement "reforms" on this limited island starting from agriculture bit by bit.Of course, as for the "reorganization" of the Kuomintang itself, it has to be done by himself.

Chiang Kai-shek's blueprint is to "counterattack the mainland."He declared that Taiwan would be used as "a base for counterattacking the mainland, as a vanguard in the struggle of free nations in Asia, and as a heroic fighter for world peace."This is the last sip of water that all the Kuomintang bandits who are still fighting needlessly against the Communist Party in the mainland are waiting for. Wang Zhen, Luo Yuanfa, etc., while chasing and suppressing the stubborn bandit Usman in northern Xinjiang, another wave of vicious waves rose in Gansu and Ningxia. Manipulated by Ma Yunshan, a special agent who had just returned from Sichuan, they huddled together and played the banner of the so-called "Loyalty and National Salvation Army". They put together 2 brigades and 19 regiments with a total of more than 8,000 people, threatening more than 5,000 people, and made a big fuss in 1950. In May, armed riots took place.

It took two months to quell the riot.Two months later, on July 7, the United States manipulated the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution to form a 16-nation "United Nations Army" headed by the United States to use large-scale troops on the Korean Peninsula.The next day, MacArthur accepted Truman's appointment as "Commander-in-Chief of the United Nations Forces."He will "command the United Nations Army to assist the South Korean government forces in their operations." This incident had a great shock to the baby-like new China.According to the instructions of Chairman Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, presided over the "First Meeting of National Defense Defense" on the day when the "United Nations Army" was established, and decided to immediately form the Northeast Frontier Defense Force, which is bound for the area north of the Yalu River adjacent to North Korea. Standby in readiness to support North Korea and secure the Chinese border.

Northwest China has gradually calmed down.Peng Dehuai is immersed in implementing the spirit of the fifth meeting of the Central People's Government Committee in January, and is devoting himself to "healing the wounds of war".That's what he said at the Northwest Military and Political Committee: "The general task is to carry out democratic reforms and develop production, improve culture, and build a new Northwest." The Northwest Territories are so poor!Industry is not good, agriculture is not good, and animal husbandry is not good. In terms of transportation, especially roads and railways, there are too many construction projects to be grasped.As early as the beginning of 1949 when he marched into the Northwest, Peng Dehuai fought all the way with emotion and made up his mind all the way.Now, the big picture is set, it's time.He has always regarded the Northwest as his second hometown, and loves this land deeply.

Building a second hometown is the most resounding slogan of the First Field Army and the units under the Northwest Military Region during this period.Peng Dehuai's small meeting repeatedly emphasized: "The army is not only a national defense force, but also a production force" and "should be as brave and resolute as in war, be active and responsible, and act as the vanguard of the Northwest." In Qinghai, the "pioneering action" of the First Army was prominently reflected in the two projects of repairing the Qinghai-Tibet Highway and Xining Airport. In early May 1950, while suppressing bandits, the army mobilized more than 9,000 people into the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Road from Xining to the Yellow River, and another 2,500 people were mobilized to repair the airport.After several months of hard work, the road and the airport have been repaired. The Qinghai Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial Government and the Provincial Military District have made a decision to build new roads on the most difficult and dangerous sections such as Riyue Mountain, Santala, Ela Mountain, Changshitou Mountain, and Daban. Mountains and other places have to erect stone tablets with inscriptions to educate future generations and let them know how this heroic army opened up a golden passage from the ancient wasteland in just 4 months.This year, the First Army also drew more than 9,000 people to participate in agricultural production, reclaimed more than 77,000 mu of wasteland, and laid down 38,000 shi of grain.In addition, four canals with a total length of 63 kilometers were built.

Peng Dehuai arrived in Xining in April.He came to inspect as the chairman of the Northwest Military and Political Committee.As soon as he met Army Commander He Bingyan and Political Commissar Liao Hansheng, he said: "Now Qinghai is our own, we must build it well! The troops have guns in one hand and pickaxes in the other, so that the cadres and soldiers can rest assured and take root. , How meaningful it is to build the Great Northwest with brothers and nations!" Liao Hansheng reported: "Many cadres have brought their family members here, planning to settle down and live in Qinghai!"

Peng Dehuai even said, "Tell comrades, if the construction of Qinghai is not good, you can't leave. Why should you leave when Qinghai is well built?" This sentence has become a "classic" sentence that the commanders and fighters of the first army must quote when they write letters to their distant relatives. Peng Dehuai still had another important task in Xining—to receive the “Delegation from Monasteries in Qinghai Province to Advise on the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet”.This is a group organized by the Qinghai Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Qinghai Provincial Military Command. It is attended by Dangcai Living Buddha, Xia Ricang Living Buddha, Hutuktu, Gele Gyatso and Chi Yurui, who are well-known in Qinghai.

Obviously, the Northwest Military and Political Committee also shoulders a heavy responsibility for the liberation of Tibet, the last bastion on the mainland. Mao Zedong had a vision for the peaceful liberation of Tibet.As early as August 1949 during the Battle of Lanzhou, he called Peng Dehuai, Xi Zhongxun, and Zhang Zongxun, asking them to protect the Panchen Lama who was said to have arrived in Lanzhou when they attacked.Because of this note, in mid-May 1950, Ji Jinmei, director of the Panchen Lama's Xingyuan Office in Nanjing, and others were ordered to go to Xi'an and Lanzhou to convey the Panchen Lama's request to Peng Dehuai: "Send volunteer soldiers quickly to liberate Tibet." .

The First Army of the First Field Army built the section from Xining to the Yellow River along the Qinghai-Tibet Highway in Qinghai, and mobilized more than 700 cadres and soldiers from the cavalry regiment and troops to form the Qinghai Cavalry Detachment. Sun Gong led a long-distance raid of 830 kilometers to Yushu. During the same period, more than 4,500 people were transferred to build Xining-Xiangtang, Dabanshan Highway and other major initiatives, which can be regarded as important preparations for the First Field Army and the Northwest Military Region to enter Tibet. After the Qinghai cavalry detachment arrived in Yushu on July 24, it immediately cooperated strongly with the Qamdo campaign launched by the Southwest Military Region.Starting from Yushu, they captured Nangqian at a speed of 60 kilometers a day, seized Angqujiasangka, and marched for 36 hours to occupy Leiwuqi, the northwest pass of Qamdo, and wiped out the seventh generation of the Tibetan army in one fell swoop.Then, he galloped 85 kilometers every day, exhausting more than 500 horses along the way. In the end, there were more than 100 cavalry and more than 100 people who abandoned their horses and walked. Qamdo Tibetan Army's retreat westward to Lhasa.

Two months before this thrilling fight in eastern Tibet, the Xinjiang Military Region Independent Cavalry Division 1 was ordered to form an "advanced company into Tibet" with 137 people in southern Xinjiang, and marched towards Ali in northern Tibet.From Yutian in southern Xinjiang to Zamamangbao in Ngari in northern Tibet, the distance of more than 600 kilometers is almost all on the top of Kunlun Daban at an altitude of 4,000 meters. restricted life".At the cost of the lives of 63 comrades-in-arms, they gained contact with the Ali Kabun government, and after negotiations, they reached five agreements on peacefully resolving the northern Tibet issue.

Until one year later, the 280-member reconnaissance detachment of the Second Regiment of the Independent Cavalry Division of the Xinjiang Military Region once again climbed over 11 ice peaks at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters above sea level, and the Gangdise Mountains at an altitude of more than 6,700 meters. When the main force entered Kardak, the capital of Ngari, the five-star red flag was really planted on the 310,000 square kilometers of the northern Tibetan plateau. The nascent regime of Ngari in northern Tibet was thus established.This is another important mission that Mao Zedong entrusted to the People's Liberation Army - the task force.Peng Dehuai's requirements for a field army are: where the battle is fought, the cadres will be scattered.In the past, in the customs, He Long and Xi Zhongxun followed behind to complete this work for a long time. After leaving the customs, the family has a big business and a big business, and the major policies of the founding of the country have also become clear, and gradually formed a mechanism for each army to complete it by itself.From 1949 to October 1950, in addition to mobilizing a large number of cadres to participate in local Party building and administration or to hold concurrent positions, a field army also selected more than 3,000 cadres from organizations above the regiment and transferred to local work in one step.These cadres went to the local area and successively formed two southern and northern Xinjiang district committees equivalent to provincial party committees, 23 prefectural committees and 296 county committees. At the same time, according to the unified deployment of the provincial people's governments, on the basis of convening symposiums for people from all walks of life, national friendship associations, representatives of workers and peasants, and people's congresses, special (states, leagues), counties (banners), districts, and townships are formed. The people's government has trained and promoted more than 40,000 local cadres, 13,000 former employees have been repurposed, and 400,000 representatives of county, district, and township farmers' congresses have entered the democratic political arena for participating in and discussing state affairs. In an ethnic region such as the Great Northwest, the cultivation of minority cadres is naturally a major event with far-reaching significance.Especially in Xinjiang, Mao Zedong sent a telegram in mid-October 1949, asking the Xinjiang branch of the CCP to establish a party organization in Xinjiang.Later, he called Peng Dehuai, Wang Zhen and the Northwest Bureau to further reiterate the same meaning.At that time, some cadres felt that the ethnic minorities all believed in their own religion, and some did not even eat pork. They were too superstitious and backward. How could they be recruited into the party?Peng Dehuai explained a lot of rationale idealistically and materialistically, and finally said: "Chiang Kai-shek is a counter-revolutionary if he eats pork, and Ma Bufang is a counter-revolutionary if he doesn't eat pork. Whether he can join the party depends on whether he eats pork or not." That said, it works anyway, and is an unwritten policy. Soon, several leaders of the Fifth Army took the lead in joining the party.In the four months from March to July 1950, the number of Communist Party members in the region grew to 520. March 1950 was the period when Peng Dehuai worked the most for Xinjiang.After his suggestion was adopted by the central government, the Chinese and Soviet governments negotiated and signed three agreements related to Xinjiang in Moscow.The first is the "Agreement on the Establishment of the Sino-Soviet Petroleum Joint-Stock Company in Xinjiang", the second is the "Agreement on the Establishment of the Sino-Soviet Nonferrous and Rare Metal Joint-Stock Company in Xinjiang", and the other is the "Agreement on the Establishment of the Sino-Soviet Civil Aviation Joint-Stock Company", This kind of fighting for foreign aid and exchanging needs with a standing posture really smashed the rusty lock on the gate of Xinjiang. Then, Mao Zedong himself said: Within 10 years, the Northwest Railway will be repaired to Dihua.At that time, the oil production of Yumen Oilfield, the only oilfield in China, had fully recovered and started to operate at full capacity, and the Ministry of Railways was doing its best to help build the Tianshui-Lanzhou railway.With such an instruction from Mao Zedong, the construction of the railway on the Northwest Artery put a heavy burden on Peng Dehuai.He mobilized 80,000 troops from the three armies of the Nineteenth Corps of the First Field Army and the Fourth and Seventh Armies of the Second Corps to build roads, and gave orders to die that he would not stop until the roads were repaired!This incident was very eye-catching to Mao Zedong. When he successfully laid the track on October 1, 1952, he specially inscribed the eight characters "Founding the country and starting a business, making the first contribution" as a commendation. The so-called "show merit" means very real.The railway was built to Lanzhou, and the situation where the northwest and the hinterland of the Central Plains were separated by thousands of mountains and generations was finally over.If you can get to Lanzhou, you can get to Yumen, and if you can get to Yumen, you can go to Dihua. This is much more prominent than the "Zuo Gong Liu" back then. Leaving aside the long-term economic development, the whole of China is running on wheels. The problem of drinking oil after getting up, and the problem of food and clothing for 200,000 officers and soldiers in Xinjiang are imminent. Indeed, in Xinjiang at that time, the roads had not been repaired, and the underground treasures had not been dug out. It can be said that there was no traffic or products, and people's hearts were chaotic, and the garrison could not be loosened for a while. 200,000 mouths have three meals a day waiting for rice noodles to be cooked.Even if there is grain in Lanzhou, if it is shipped to Hami, the shipping price is 7 times the price of grain!Importing 300 rubles and 1 ton of grain from the Soviet Union is a huge expense, not counting the shipping fee, and the annual import of 100,000 tons of military grain will cost more than 30 million rubles!Gan Zuchang, the head of logistics of the Xinjiang Military Region, has graying hair.He had to fly to Beijing every month to transport silver dollars to buy grain. Zhou Enlai really couldn't see it, and said: "The People's Liberation Army is stationed and defending the frontier. It has been relying on others for food for a long time. It is impossible not to produce it yourself." Military reclamation is imperative. The order to launch mass production in the Xinjiang Military Region was issued in January 1950.Wang Zhen made a report, stipulating that the annual garrison needs to reach 600,000 mu of land reclamation and farming, 50 million kilograms of grain production, 1.8 million kilograms of cotton, 1 sheep, 1 chicken, 10 people, 1 pig, and 1 cow per person. Wang Zhen showed the enthusiasm of Nanniwan's large-scale production in the past and mobilized all the agencies and troops. Except for the most tense period of suppressing bandits in the Barkol grassland, they basically stayed in the fields.Except for border checkpoints and troops participating in the suppression of bandits, there are 110,000 commanders and fighters in production in the entire military region. The 15th and 26th Divisions marched into the Junggar Basin, the Ninth Army came from Kashgar via Yanqi to Jinghua for reclamation and production, and the Fifth Army set up a battlefield on the banks of the Yili River. It is said that it is engaged in production, but the troops actually have nothing in their hands.There are no agricultural tools, no seeds, fertilizers, and water sources are all problems.Everything has to be done by yourself!The shell shells are returned to the furnace, broken open and modified, and they become furniture; the seeds can only be saved from the rations of the commanders and soldiers, and each person eats less than two taels of food per day. After a month, the problem of the acres of land will be solved.For water and fertilizer, there is no other way except to open canals for irrigation or carry around with dung baskets. It is not that simple to ask for food from the uninhabited Gobi wasteland. In March, the snow in Xinjiang is still thick, and the soldiers can hardly even secure a tent. They can only dig a nest in the ground and build a firewood shed.I didn't eat any vegetables, and I had to rely on salt water and chili for several months.There is no stone mill, and the raw grain cannot be processed. The commanders and fighters can only rely on boiled wheat grains and corn to satisfy their hunger.At that time, the hero everyone admired was a plant called red willow, because only red willow could take root and sprout in this Gobi wasteland. All the divisions of the 22nd Corps have just complained and cleaned, and the spirit of the troops has taken on a new look. The production is full of energy. Before and after the snow melted, more than 3,000 reed sheds were built and more than 3,000 nests were dug in the ground.By the end of June, more than 230,000 mu of land had been reclaimed, 30,000 mu more than the assigned task of 200,000 mu. In addition, more than 100 large and small canals were excavated and repaired.This year, regardless of vegetables, meat and food, they have achieved self-sufficiency or partial self-sufficiency. At the end of the year, the first production summary and model worker commendation meeting of the 25th Division was held in Xiaoguai, where it was stationed.Tao Zhiyue, Li Quan, and Zhang Zhonghan all spoke at the meeting.Tao Zhiyue was in a particularly good mood, and he became interested as he talked, and he also came up with two impromptu lines for the two witty poems written by soldiers during the food shortage period in the past, "Xiaoguaixiaoguai is really good, people have no food, horses have no grass". Work: "Xiaoguai Xiaoguai is really good. Model workers are better than the original grass, and the grain, oil, melons and vegetables can't be eaten. Next year will be even better than this year." Peng Dehuai laughed from ear to ear when he read these lines of poems.He said to Wang Zhen: "If this year is 'wonderful' next year, we will still be able to deliver food to the country after autumn!" He is currently immersed in reviewing the three-year economic recovery plan for the Northwest region, and is preparing to go to Beijing to report to the central government.Tao Zhiyue's "wonderful" really touched his heart. But at this moment, Mao Zedong sent two cadres to Xi'an by plane, eager to ask Lapeng Dehuai to go to Beijing for a meeting, and he couldn't delay for a moment. He didn't even have time to say hello to the authorities or explain his work.Peng Dehuai wondered, is the central government's three-year economic recovery plan report meeting still so tense?I had no choice but to ask the secretary to take all the economic planning plans, investigation reports and other materials submitted by various units in the Northwest region, and take the overnight train to Beijing to forget it. Unexpectedly, after entering Beijing, Peng Dehuai could no longer think about the economic development of the Northwest. To Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea—a fight at the international level, waiting for his first order... The following history is well known. Peng Dehuai took command of the expedition, crossed the Yalu River, commanded the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth battles of the magnificent mountains and rivers, and drove the mighty "United Nations Army" to the south of the "38th Parallel". Had to sit down at the negotiating table in Panmunjom and sign a surrender. In this great war, Peng Dehuai transferred the three armies of the 19th Corps from the First Field Army and the First Army, which was later merged and fought by the first and third armies, went to North Korea to fight.The 63rd, 64th, and 65th armies of the 19th Corps were ordered to fight for the second round; while the first army entered the DPRK on October 25, 1952, and finally confronted the enemy on the "38th Line". The class teacher returned to China on October 24. In June 1952, in order to adapt to the development of the country's economic construction and combat readiness, the Central Military Commission decided to revoke the designation of the First Field Army and its affiliated corps, and streamline and reorganize the Northwest People's Liberation Army. The First Corps was reorganized into the Xinjiang Military Region. The Second Corps was reorganized as the Armored Forces Command of the Central Military Commission. The Nineteenth Corps entered North Korea to fight. The 22nd Corps was reorganized into the Xinjiang Military Region Production and Construction Corps. The First Army and the Third Army merged into the First Army of the Army, under the jurisdiction of the First Division (jointly compiled by the first and third divisions of the original First Army), and the second division (jointly compiled by the original Eighth Division of the Third Army and the second division of the original First Army) ), Seventh Division (formerly the Seventh and Ninth Divisions of the Three Armies were jointly compiled). The First Army Headquarters was reorganized into the Heavy Armed Army Headquarters. The Third Army Command, Cadre Department and Logistics Department were reorganized into the 11th Aviation Academy of the Air Force; the Political Department was reorganized into the Military and Political Cadre Academy of the Northwest Military Region.The Seventh Division was reorganized into the Heavy Armor Division, the Ninth Division was reorganized into the Fifteenth Artillery Division, and the Eighth Division was reorganized into the Twenty-seventh Division of the Air Force Fighter Aviation Division. The Second Army Headquarters was reorganized into the Southern Xinjiang Military Region, the Fourth Division was reorganized into the Fourth Infantry Division, the Fifth Division was reorganized into the First Division of Agricultural Construction, and the Sixth Division was reorganized into the Second Division of Agricultural Construction. The Military Headquarters of the Fourth Army was reorganized into the Military Commission’s City Defense Anti-aircraft Artillery School, the Tenth Division was reorganized into the Tenth Artillery Division, the Tenth and Eleventh Divisions were reorganized into the Eleventh Division, and the Twelfth Division was reorganized into the Second Public Security Division. Ten divisions. The Military Headquarters of the Fifth Army was reorganized into the Yili Military Region.The Thirteenth Division was reorganized into the Kashgar Army Division, the Fourteenth Division was changed to the Third Agricultural Construction Division, and the fifteenth Division was changed to the Fourth Agricultural Construction Division. The Sixth Army Headquarters was reorganized into the Northwest Air Force.The sixteenth division was reorganized into the fifth division of agricultural construction, the seventeenth division was reorganized into the sixth division of agricultural construction, and the eighteenth division was reorganized into the fourth division of public security. The First Division of the Seventh Army was supplemented by the First Advanced Infantry School, and the rest was merged with the Aviation Department of the Northwest Military Region to form the Air Force Command of the Northwest Military Region.The 19th Division was reorganized as the Fifth Railway Division, the 20th Division was reorganized as the Headquarters of the Seventh Artillery Training Base, and the 21st Division was reorganized as the Headquarters of the Fourth Artillery Training Base. The Eighth Army was merged with the Suimeng Military Region in May 1949 to form the Suiyuan Military Region, which was organized under the North China Military Region. The Ninth Army and the Twenty-Second Corps merged into the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.The 25th Division was changed to the 7th Division of Agricultural Construction, the 26th Division was changed to the 8th Division of Agricultural Construction, the 27th Division was changed to the 9th Division of Agricultural Construction, and the 7th Cavalry Division was changed to the 10th Division of Agricultural Construction , The Eighth Cavalry Division was changed to the First Division of Gongjian. The headquarters of the Nineteenth Army was merged into the Shaanxi Military Region.The fifty-fifth division was transferred to the leadership of the Northwest Military Region, and the fifty-seventh division was reorganized into the first division of the petroleum industry. The First Independent Army was reorganized into the First Independent Division of the Northwest Military Region in late November 1949. It was later led by the 62nd Army and moved south with the Eighteenth Corps. The designation of the First Independent Army of the Northwest was revoked. The Second Independent Army was changed to the First Division of Agricultural Construction (formerly adapted from the uprising of the 81st Army of the Zhongwei Kuomintang in Ningxia), and it was still stationed in Ningxia. The Third Independent Army was reorganized into the Seventh Independent Division of the Northwest Military Region (formerly adapted from the 119th Army of the Kuomintang in the Uprising in Wudu, Gansu). The billowing yellow dust is exhausted by gunpowder smoke, and the blood of hunting red flags is soaked.How many magnificent lives and flowery youth have been silent in the depths of the years together with this glory and brilliance!It will be included in the glorious history of the Chinese nation together with Weiwei Kunlun, Baiqilian, Youyou Hequ, and Mangtian Mountain, and will be left to the eternal latecomers.