Chapter 48 21. Bitter struggle between white mountains and black waters - General Li Du in Heilongjiang

In January 1933, a reconnaissance plane of the Japanese Kwantung Army was flying in the cold wind of the Sanjiang Plain, searching for the target stubbornly. Finally, the pilot found some small black spots appeared on the frozen ground and were rapidly dispersing.So, there is the photo below.In the Japanese army's internal document "Army Aviation Operations in Manchuria" (1934) that included this photo, the Japanese added a label to this photo: "Anti-Japanese Army under Li Du's Department", which may also be the same as the once powerful man. The last trace of the main force of the famous volunteer army.

1932 was the year when the Chinese resistance forces were most active throughout the Northeast. Japanese reconnaissance planes could often see large groups of volunteers marching forward without hesitation.Li Du and other generals of the Volunteer Army commanded troops to resist the Japanese attack tenaciously, trying to retain a piece of land on this black land.However, in the winter of this year, the situation is completely different.By the end of 1932, the Japanese army had invested five divisions and four brigades in the Northeast, supported 31 brigades of the puppet army, and dispatched a large number of aviation troops to support them. , then Ding Chao, Li Du, then Tang Juwu, and then Su Bingwen, made full use of the resistance forces' lack of unified command, fighting independently and insufficient equipment and training, and defeated them one by one.

Under the large-scale offensive of the Japanese army, the Volunteer Army began to fall into trouble.Following Ma Zhanshan in December 1932, Su Bingwen retreated from Manchuria to the Soviet Union. When the time entered 1933, among the former senior generals of the Northeast Army, only those who had retreated to Lishu Town in the Sanjiang Plain were still fighting on the black soil. Li Du, the former guardian of Yilan. Li Du, formerly known as Li Yinpei, styled Zhichu, also known as Xuancun, Lisu. Born in Yi County, Liaoning Province in 1880.Unlike Ma Zhanshan, who often claimed to be illiterate, Li Du was a student. He joined the army and graduated from the Northeast Military Academy. He was trusted by Zhang Zuolin for his repeated military exploits. During the "September 18th" Incident, Li Du served as the guard envoy of Yilan and the brigade commander of the 24th Brigade of the Northeast Army. After hearing the news, he refused to be solicited by the traitor Xiqia, and led three regiments of his subordinates to unite with Ding Chao, Zhao Yi and other Northeast Army generals to fight against Japan. , is an important general of the Volunteer Army.

However, if you look at Li Du's resume, some readers may mistake him for a big traitor. There is a 19-episode TV series called "Firework Girl Carrying a Dragon" that has attracted the attention of the audience.The content of the play is that Zhang Shuzhen, a beautiful circus artist, is persecuted by the president of the Chamber of Commerce and sold into a brothel.Despite all the suffering and devastation, he escaped from the tiger's mouth and joined the green forest, where he married the bandit leader Dalong as his wife. In the "September 18th" Incident, Dalong was defeated and killed in a bloody battle with the Japanese invaders.Zhang Shuzhen swears to take up the flag of righteousness and declare the name "Packed Dragon", and gallops across the rivers and lakes to fight against Japan and save the country. In a surprise attack on Japanese arms, she is unfortunately rounded up by the Japanese puppets and sacrificed heroically.

Historically, Zhang Suzhen, the "female bandit pack dragon" in TV dramas, did exist. A few days ago, a photo of her before she was shot was found in Japan. She looked calm and beautiful.At the same time, a photo of Zhao Qingji, an anti-Japanese hero in southern Liaoning, was also found.However, "Packed Dragon" Zhang Suzhen was executed by shooting under Li Du's order. What is Li Du's position on shooting the "anti-Japanese heroine"? In fact, this is a historical misunderstanding.The real Zhang Suzhen is a well-known female bandit in Liaoning. Although her background is obsolete, her actions are not so worthy of sympathy. In 1924, "Packed Dragon" led bandits to attack Luanshishan Town. "Packed Dragon" rode a tall horse, wore a purple woolen cloak, and carried two guns across his shoulders. Squeeze (charge)! Open the town, and everyone will find their father-in-law's family!" The bandits were so excited that they screamed.After the town was opened, property was looted and women were brutally raped.Therefore, after she was caught, ordinary people did not like her. There was a song saying: "Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha The officers and soldiers come and run with beards. You buy whips I buy cannons and the pack dragon's locks are pulled out." The most important thing is that Li Du captured and shot "Packed Dragon" in 1925, before the Northern Expedition even started.

However, the death of "Packed Dragon" has something to do with Li Du's ability to raise troops from Yilan to fight against Japan. After the "Packed Dragon" was arrested, Zhang Xueliang and Wu Junsheng were both very interested in it because of its beautiful appearance, so they successively sent electricity to Li Du and sent it to their residences.Li Du, who was in a dilemma, simply shot "Packed Dragon", and then told the two that "Packed Dragon" was dead when the telegram arrived.Therefore, Wu Junsheng held a grudge and found an excuse to arrest Li Du.And Li Du's wife, Wang Wangpei, was also a woman with amazing marksmanship. After hearing the news, she rushed to Shenyang and asked Zhang Zuolin to call the shots.Zhang Zuolin appreciated Wang Wangpei's bravery, cleared up Li Du's grievances and transferred him to Shenyang to meet him. During the conversation, he found that Li Du was outstanding in talent, so he appointed him as the guard of Yilan, in charge of the military and political power of 13 counties in Xiajiang, and a arsenal.These have become the capital for Li Du to organize the war of resistance.If Li Du's attitude against the civil war did not dissatisfy the general, his position might be even higher.

On the land of "Northern Manchuria" described by the Japanese army, the two most active volunteer armies were Ma Zhanshan, and the coalition forces of Li Du and Ding Chao, the guard envoy of Binjiang and commander of the 21st Brigade. For these two troops, as the acting chairman of Heilongjiang Province, Ma Zhanshan's army has repeatedly launched offensives around Qiqihar, the provincial capital of Heilongjiang Province, while Li Du's eyes are more focused on Harbin. In January 1932, the Japanese army drove Xiqia to send a puppet army to force Zhang Jinghui, the chief executive of Harbin Eastern Province Special District, to secretly collude with the Japanese army and wait for an opportunity to surrender.Harbin was in jeopardy for a while, Li Du resolutely led the main force westward, and arrived in Harbin suddenly on January 16. He contacted some patriotic generals to organize the Jilin Self-Defense Army, and organized two defense battles for Harbin.

Li Du is quite good at using soldiers.In the First World War, France had a wonderful troop movement at the Battle of Verdun.At that time, the front line urgently needed reinforcements, and taxis from all over Paris were dispatched together to transport a division of the French army to the position quickly, stabilizing the battle situation.On the way to Harbin, Li Du entrusted his friend Wang Zhiyou, the head of the Harbin police administration, to mobilize a large number of civilian vehicles to pick up Li Du's troops into Kazakhstan.The sudden arrival of Li Du's troops stunned Zhang Jinghui and others who were about to surrender, and stabilized the morale of the soldiers.For a time Li Du was nicknamed "The Parachutist".

After fierce fighting, Harbin finally fell, and Li Du returned to Yilan and continued to organize resistance.Fighting against the Japanese invaders in Fangzheng, Yilan, Mishan and other places. On February 3, the Japanese army approached Harbin with heavy troops. In order to defend Harbin, he personally went to the front to command. The army suffered heavy losses, and the defense lines fell one after another. He was heartbroken and unable to save the mess. He withdrew from Harbin on February 5 and led his army to retreat to Yilan. Li Du, who retreated to Yilan, summoned the gentry and merchants of the thirteen counties in the lower river to take the lead in destroying their homes and donating all their bank deposits and the flour company they operated personally to fill their armaments.Driven by him, local gentry and businessmen actively assisted in the war of resistance, and Li Du's troops quickly recovered.

In April 1932, the Japanese army dispatched the main force to attack Ma Zhanshan's department. Li Du took the opportunity to take the initiative to attack and concentrated his forces to counterattack Harbin, trying to promote the Litton investigation team of the "League of Nations" to support China's position.In this offensive, Li Du commanded the troops to advance towards Harbin in three ways, and the operation went smoothly, alarming the Quartet.Its left column attacked the Tieling River, preparing to advance to Harbin along the Sui-Harbin line.The middle column captured Zhuhe, and the right column occupied Bin County.The vanguard of the troops has arrived at the Shanghao on the outskirts of Harbin City.But at the moment when Harbin was about to be conquered, the Japanese army urgently mobilized the Murai Brigade and the Nakamura Detachment of the 10th Division to attack Ma Zhanshan. They raided Yilan, captured the headquarters of Li and Du's self-defense forces, and failed to counterattack Harbin.Li Du was defeated in Yilan, and the rest of his troops were transferred to Lishu Town via Boli, and the power generation was "Only kill Li Du, to honor our Chinese nation; never surrender Li Du, to taint our Chinese war history", still continue to organize war of resistance.

In the winter of 1932, the Japanese army concentrated three divisions to attack Li Du's remnant army in the Lishu area. After more than two months of fighting, Li Du's troops in Ning'an, Mishan, Xiachengzi and other places successively fell. Super desperate to drop the enemy.Li Du led the remaining troops to resist steadily and retreated into the depths of the Sanjiang Plain. By the beginning of 1933, Li and Du's troops were finally unable to support them anymore, and led their troops from Hulin to retreat to the Soviet Union on January 9, and then failed to return to the battlefield to lead troops.However, General Li Du continued to make contributions to the Anti-Japanese War—the earliest contact between Zhang Xueliang and the CCP was realized through Li Du. Li Du can say that he contributed a lot to the outbreak of the Xi'an Incident. When the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Forces were established in 1936, there was no commander-in-chief. According to Zhou Enlai's suggestion, this position was reserved for General Li Du.