Chapter 18 3. Nie Rongzhen has only 3,000 people in his family

On the second day after the "separation" of the 115th Division, Nie Rongzhen came to the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army not far away, hoping that the headquarters could help solve the problem of the shortage of cadres. Zuo Quan, deputy chief of staff of the Eighth Route Army, was very close to Nie Rongzhen. In 1925, when he was a platoon leader and company commander in the teaching regiment of the Whampoa Military Academy, Nie Rongzhen was the secretary and political instructor of the Political Department of the Whampoa Military Academy. In 1933, Zuo Quan was transferred to the chief of staff of the 1st Red Army, and Nie Rongzhen was already a political commissar of the 1st Red Army.Therefore, Zuo Quan was very supportive of his old superior.He suggested: "Should Tang Yanjie be transferred to be the chief of staff of the Jinchaji Military Region? He was the chief of the combat department at the headquarters, and now he is the deputy chief."

Nie Rongzhen said: "I know Tang Yanjie. He used to be a miner in Anyuan. During the Great Revolution, I assigned him to be a soldier in the Independence Regiment. Later, he will be the chief of staff of the Red 28th Army. This person is fine." Zuo Quan quickly called Tang Yanjie and told him to take on a new task. Tang Yanjie felt a little embarrassed: "I'm afraid I won't be qualified for the position of chief of staff." "Why can't you be qualified? You used to be the chief of staff of the army, but now you are short of people, so let's do it first!" Nie Rongzhen said trustingly.With the chief of staff, Nie Rongzhen proposed the lack of a director of the political department.So he found Ren Bishi, director of the General Political Department of the Eighth Route Army, and Deng Xiaoping, deputy director.

Ren Bishi discussed with Deng Xiaoping: "Should Shu Tong be transferred to take up this position? He is now the Secretary-General of the General Political Department. He can write very well. He was once praised by Chairman Mao as a 'horse-backed calligrapher'. He is currently leading the working group. Carry out work in Wutai and Dingxiang." Then he asked Nie Rongzhen: "What do you think?" Nie Rongzhen fully agreed. The problem of cadres gradually became clear, and Nie Rongzhen felt that there were too few troops, and his "family property" was only 3,000 people.To establish a base in such a large area, this "family property" is far from enough.He discussed with everyone: "To establish a base area, we must first develop armed work. Without armed forces, nothing can be discussed. Now we can only use the 'snowball' method to develop. Look at how these 3,000 people 'snowball' roll." ?”

Shu Tong said: "In September, I led a working group to mobilize the masses in Wutai and Dingxiang. Comrades such as Wang Yiqun, Hong Hong, and Luo Yijing mobilized the masses in Fanshi. I saw that the people here were very enthusiastic about the war of resistance. Gao, the Sacrifice League has done a lot of work, and in some places there are grassroots party organizations, as long as there is a main force as the backbone, guerrilla warfare can be carried out." Nie Rongzhen nodded in agreement.He thought for a while and said, "Didn't Comrade Zhao Erlu lead the special task force directly under the Eighth Route Army headquarters and some troops to stay? Let him work there to open up the Hebei-Shanxi border area. Comrade Yang Chengwu's independent regiment has recovered in the northern region." Guangling, Lingqiu, Hunyuan, Yuxian, Yixian and other places can be used as a lump to open up work in the Hebei-Chahar border area. Comrade Luo Ronghuan told me that when he was active in Fuping, Fuping also established Comrade Wang Ping is the director of the Field Mobilization Committee, which already has a preliminary foundation, and it can also become a lump. We can first decide on these three major areas and start working.”

He went on to say: "I heard from Comrade Zuo Quan that the Eighth Route Army headquarters has sent Zhou Jianping and Comrades Liu Daosheng to lead a small force to the area at the junction of Pinghan Road and Zhengtai Road on the Pingshan and Shouyang lines. It's a lump. Let's 'snowball' it like this first." After repeated discussions, everyone agreed with Nie Rongzhen's opinion. On November 7, 1937, the day before the fall of Taiyuan, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region was officially established in Puji Temple in Shizui, Wutai County. On this day, notices on the establishment of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region were posted everywhere in the streets and alleys of Wutai County, and small colorful paper flags surged in the venue of the Puji Temple celebration meeting. 38-year-old Nie Rongzhen, with a tight grip on discipline, is reading the order of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China with a strong Sichuan accent: Nie Rongzhen will be the commander and political commissar of the military region, Tang Yanjie will be the chief of staff, Shu Tong will be the director of the Political Department, and Zha Guozhen will be the chief of staff. Minister of Supply, Ye Qingshan as Minister of Health.Then, he delivered an impassioned speech, mobilizing everyone to fight against Japan.

The villagers looked at this tall, majestic and kind general of the Eighth Route Army known as "Commander Nie" with enthusiastic and novel eyes, and whispered excitedly. After the establishment of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, various ministries stepped up the collection of guns and ammunition, mobilized the masses to join the army, and reorganized the motley armed forces. On November 13, with the approval of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region established the 1st Military Division, the 2nd Military Division, the 3rd Military Division and the 4th Military Division based on the troops and working regiments in the north, west, south and east. Military divisions, the main forces of each military division are reorganized into detachments, each detachment (equivalent to a regiment) governs 3 brigades, and each brigade (equivalent to a battalion) governs 3 to 4 squadrons.

The 1st Military Division and 1st Detachment, under the jurisdiction of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Brigades, Commander Yang Chengwu, Political Commissar Deng Hua.The military division was established with the original 115th Division Independent Regiment as the backbone.The scope of activities includes 27 counties including Laiyuan, Guangling, Yuxian, Yixian, Fanzhi, and Lingqiu, which are called Northwest Hebei. The 2nd Military Division and the 2nd Detachment, under the jurisdiction of the 4th, 5th, and 6th Brigades, the commander and political commissar Zhao Erlu.The military division was formed with the Special Task Force of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters as the backbone.The scope of activities includes 9 counties including Wutai, Daixian, Naoxian, Dingxiang, Xinxian, and Yuxian, which is called Northeast Shanxi District.

The 3rd Army Division and 3rd Detachment, with jurisdiction over the 10th, 11th, and 12th Brigades, Commander Chen Manyuan, and Political Commissar Wang Ping.The military division is formed with the 115th Division Cavalry Battalion as the backbone.The scope of activities includes seven counties including Fuping, Tangxian, Wanxian, Quyang, Xinle, Dingxian, and Wangdu, which is called the central area of ​​western Hebei. The 4th Army Division and 4th Detachment, with jurisdiction over the 7th, 8th, and 9th Brigades, Commander Zhou Jianping, Political Commissar Liu Daosheng.The military division was formed with the 6th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 685th Regiment of the 115th Division as the backbone.The scope of activities includes areas such as Northeast Shanxi, Yanbei, Zhixi and Hebei-Chaba border areas.