Chapter 66 16. Hidden under the Nine Lands——Why General Wei Zhengmin Persisted Until 1941

On February 23, 1940, General Yang Jingyu, Commander-in-Chief of the First Route Army of the Anti-Union Army, died in battle in Lujiang.The Japanese army once thought that the law and order in the southeast Manchuria could be "completely clarified."However, the Japanese army, which had consumed huge manpower and material resources, soon discovered that things were completely different from what they had imagined.The rest of the Anti-Union First Route Army launched an almost crazy counterattack in order to avenge the commander-in-chief.In the First Battle of Damalugou, the command post of the Anti-Union General Jin Chengzhu wiped out more than 100 Japanese soldiers. At the end of the battle, the Anti-Alliance issued a call to the Japanese army to surrender. Knowing that there was no hope of breaking through, the Japanese commander Stabbed to death with his subordinates.When the reinforcements arrived at the evening of the next day, most of them were terrified when they saw the tragic scene of the annihilation of their kind, leaving behind the emotion of "seeing this scene, I can't help but sigh for returning home".

In February 1941, the Japanese army invited reporters from the "Osaka Daily News" to visit Ji'an, Tonghua and other places, intending to publicize the situation of "restoring law and order" in the local area after Yang Jingyu's death in battle. Union is still active locally.In its report there is this paragraph: しかしながら Remnants するこれら Bandit こそ The most excellent equipment をThere is するWei Chief of Staff をFirst ClassとするCommunist Bandit がMost of the stubborn niもOpen work の hindrance をReturn そうとするのだ、しばしば东辺道会社のトラックを打撃、このA few days ago nimo Badaogou North side でその was killed があった, これら悪骚なる bandit に双し太队の组织する Crusade team および日満店队队队は day and night brave naru crusade に従事している, またこうした public security workがあればこそ mentioned above せるsuch as き big construction がhe ら ぅ stagnant na くくくくいいいいいいいいいてくてとくくくかしたい、らくここのかいいいしていいいいいてんわがにいあろううすいてうすかういういういういういういういういういいかかかのContinuous のActivityあわんばこそ私もまたEverything を信頼して明日はさらに奥地に向わんとするのである

The translation is: However, among the surviving bandits (the Japanese army's depreciation of the resistance forces——Translator's Note), the most well-equipped Communist bandit troops headed by Chief of Staff Wei (that is, the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Forces——Translator's Note) are still stubborn They attacked the trucks of Dongbiandao Company from time to time, and even a few days ago, such a battle that caused losses occurred in the north of Badaogou.Against these ferocious bandits, the provincial police department's crusade team and the Japanese and Mann advance teams carried out brave crusades day and night.It must be emphasized that if such efforts are effective, the above-mentioned large-scale development and construction can be carried out without hindrance under the premise of ensuring public order.However, after nearly a year of continuous crusade, these tenacious bandits are about to perish. My brave military and police are still dispatched. Based on our trust in them, tomorrow we will continue to march deep into the interior...

Although Japanese journalists gave a pretty description of the Japanese and puppet military and police, one year after Yang Jingyu died, the First Army of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Forces was still tenaciously surviving and resisting, which made the Japanese feel embarrassed. The "Chief of Staff Wei" in the article refers to General Wei Zhengmin who succeeded Yang Jingyu and was in charge of commanding the First Route Army. Wei Zhengmin was one of the important leaders of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Forces. His original name was Guan Youwei, and he was born in Tunliu, Shanxi in 1909.In his early years, he was expelled from school for participating in the student movement. Joined the Communist Party of China in January 1927 and was an old party member before the National Congress. After the "September 18th" Incident, Wei Zhengmin was sent to work in the Northeast. He successively served as Secretary of the Harbin Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, Secretary of the East Manchurian Special Committee of the Communist Party of China, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Director of the General Political Department of the First Route Army of the Anti-Japanese War, and Deputy Chief of the First Route Army. Commander in Chief.Participated in leading the establishment of the Second Army of the Northeast People's Revolutionary Army (the predecessor of the Second Army of the Anti-Japanese Army), and went north to the Mudanjiang area and the southern Manchurian area with the commander Wang Detai's command post to open up connections with Jidong and Southern Manchuria.He and Yang Jingyu's command post attacked the puppet army in Huinan, Fusong, Mengjiang (now Jingyu), Jinchuan, Huadian and other places, defeating many large-scale "crusades" by the Japanese and puppet army.

After the death of Yang Jingyu in February 1940, the burden of the work of the First Route Army and the Provincial Party Committee fell on Wei Zhengmin's shoulders.Wei Zhengmin, who was engaged in military and political work, showed outstanding military talent at this time. He commanded the First Route Army to continue fighting in the encirclement of the enemy for a year, which forced the Japanese army to reserve a large number of troops to deal with the First Army that they thought had fallen with the sacrifice of Yang Jingyu. The Route Army strongly supported the War of Resistance Against Japan in the Pass.

Wei Zhengmin was physically weak when he was a student and had to leave school due to illness.During the command of the Anti-Japanese War, due to the extremely difficult environment, he fainted many times during the transition. In the winter of 1940, his condition worsened and he was unable to join the army, so he had to go to Mudanling Anti-Union secret camp in Huadian County, Changbai Mountain to recuperate.Here, despite the torment of the disease, he still drafted documents, wrote reports, and summed up experience around the clock.Under extremely difficult conditions, he wrote in his report: "The enemy cannot occupy our motherland forever, and one day we will drive the devils out of China!"

Wei Zhengmin wrote a report to the Party Central Committee and the Communist International in the secret camp. He analyzed in detail the situation of the Northeast Anti-Japanese War and the difficult situation faced by the Anti-Union. Command the forces and open up a new situation for the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Forces. On March 8, 1941, Wei Zhengmin died of illness in Erdaohezi secret camp in Huadian. During his lifetime, although the Japanese army deployed heavy troops in the southeast Manchurian area, no trace of him could be found.It was not until he died of illness that the Japanese army claimed his hiding place because of betrayal by traitors, and attacked and captured the Erdaohezi secret camp.Because of their deep hatred for Wei Zhengmin, the Japanese army dissected Wei Zhengmin's coffin and killed him.

Around 1940, the Japanese army spent a lot of manpower and material resources in order to extinguish the resistance of the Anti-Japanese Alliance in the southeast Manchukuo area. The funds spent on rounding up Yang Jingyu's troops directly amounted to 1% of Japan's gross national product in that year.The Japanese army not only overhauled the roads in the mountainous areas, returned them to the villages and merged households, but also continuously dispatched planes to patrol the forested and mountainous areas, searching for the activities of the Anti-Union personnel at any time.At the same time, the Cheng Bin advance team composed of traitors from the Anti-Union Alliance and other enemy and puppet special forces cooperated with the Japanese army's crusade team, and often went deep into the areas where the Anti-Union activities were active.Yang Jingyu sacrificed under such a harsh environment.It is a miracle that Wei Zhengmin was able to lead his troops to persist for a year after Yang Jingyu died.

Why Wei Zhengmin can persist for such a long time? In 1996, the painter Yuan Wu visited the last hiding place of Wei Zhengmin. His records may explain some problems.Yuan Wu wrote: After breakfast today, Factory Manager Li took us to the martyrdom site of Wei Zhengmin, a famous anti-coalition general in Jiapigou, and took some photos on the way.Arrive at Huangni River in Jiapigou near noon, eat at a small restaurant first, then find a guide, take a car to the foot of the mountain, and then walk along the mountain road for transporting timber to the top of the mountain. The snow opened the way.The snow on the top of the mountain is waist deep and sometimes spreads to the chest.Although we made some preparations before going up the mountain, we bought some cloth strips, made leg cloths, and wrapped the shoes and pants together with tape, but we still kept getting snow into the shoes.The roadless distance was only more than 300 meters, but after walking for more than an hour, thanks to a guide, I finally found Wei Zhengmin's monument and two secret camps buried in the snow.A burnt tree stands at the back of the monument, and the trunk still has traces of being smoked that year.It is said that Comrade Wei Zhengmin died of illness here, and his guards and entourage buried his body in the secret camp.Later, the Japanese soldiers collected the mountain and found the body, and burned it next to the big tree. We can't understand the psychology of the Japanese back then, but today we can see the body of the tree that was "sacrificed" because of the anti-Japanese warriors. Maybe You can feel the soul of the Anti-Union League from it.

In fact, in 1961, Lu Yingjun, Wei Zhengmin's bodyguard, went through a more difficult search for his remains, although there was a guide who had lived in a secret camp leading the way.But I still got lost several times, and finally found the ruins with the help of the four big trees in my impression. Such a secret base, if the traitors did not lead the way, it would have been difficult for the Japanese army to find it. Under the command of General Wei Zhengmin, the First Route Army was able to persist for a long time in an environment full of enemy troops in the southeast, and was good at using hidden secret camps to preserve itself, which is an important reason.

In April 1941, in order to fight the Anti-Japanese War more efficiently, the Japanese army organized a crusade training class in Gongzhuling to train mountain and guerrilla warfare.Suzuki, a Japanese officer stationed in Baoqing, was ordered to participate and took some photos.Among them, when he visited the secret camp of the Anti-Union Army that was captured by the Japanese army in the northeast of Huadian, the photos he took seemed to be able to reproduce the style of the secret camp of the First Route Army. The two secret camps photographed by Suzuki are closely connected, less than one person is tall and very low, one side rests on a natural rock wall, and the other three sides and the roof are made of logs.The ground inside the secret camp is lower than the outdoors, with an area of ​​about 15 square meters. Except for the front, no doors and windows are opened. The top is covered with thick soil and semi-natural vegetation is planted on it. On the top of the secret camp, it will also be regarded as a natural hillock.The front of the secret camp is on the most hidden side from the surroundings.One of the secret camps had two small windows due to the dense vegetation in front, while the other simply had a door made of logs.In addition, there are traces of sentry posts near the secret camp.In fact, when the Japanese army attacked this secret camp, it was probably because the sentry had discovered and called the police in advance, and there was a fierce battle between the two sides.In Suzuki's photo album, there are also photos of the tomb of the horses killed by the Japanese army at the time of the battle presented to him by members of the crusade team.Suzuki recorded that it took five hours to walk from the road to the secret camp. Unfortunately, there is no further description of the surrounding environment and the internal conditions of the secret camp.However, the investigation of General Wei Zhengmin's secret camp can make up for this shortcoming. According to records, the secret camp of General Wei Zhengmin is located in Xiaoerdaohezi on the west side of Hongshi Forestry Area. The terrain is dangerous, with high mountains and dense forests, making it extremely hidden.The secret camp was built in Tiaoshitang surrounded by mountains, surrounded by high mountains, forming a natural barrier.There are two secret camp houses in the camp, and the remaining stone walls are 1 meter high and 7.5 meters wide.Indoors, slab stones are used to build a heated kang, and the heated kang part remains intact.The door and stove are still vaguely discernible.The flues are all facing the hillside. After the smoke comes out, it can disappear naturally along the hillside and is not easy to be discovered by the enemy.The No. 1 secret camp is located on the west side of the mountain. The door opens to the south. It is 4.2 meters long and 3.4 meters wide. The kang is 3 meters long and 1.9 meters wide. The east and west corners are connected, 4.2 meters long and 3.6 meters wide, with the door facing southwest and 7 meters wide.The outer room is the kitchen, which is 1.6 meters long and 1.5 meters wide; the south side of the inner room is a heated kang, which is 3.5 meters long and 1.9 meters wide. It is Wei Zhengmin's living room.Beside the door, there is a red pine tree whose roots were dead after being roasted by fire. It is more than 20 meters high and 3.35 meters in diameter.Back then, this tall pine tree was not only an important symbol of the secret camp, but also could tightly cover the two secret camps. Under the slope 30 meters southwest of the secret camp, there is a well spring, which is the source of drinking water for Wei Zhengmin and the Anti-Union fighters. On the small hillock beam on the south side of the No. 2 secret camp, there are three guard posts, and there are underground traffic trenches leading to secret camp.On the west side of the secret camp is the jumping stone pond. About five meters away from the secret camp, there is a pile of small elm poles that have been peeled off. It is judged that it was left by the anti-union fighters who used bark to satisfy their hunger when there was no food. The martyrdom site of General Wei Zhengmin is also in the northeast of Huadian, but it was destroyed when it was attacked, and the top is gone, so it should not be the same as the secret camp that Suzuki photographed.However, according to the records of those who went to investigate, the camp was "fifty meters long from east to west and 40 meters wide from north to south. The stone walls are carved with logs, the roof is covered with soil, and the soil is covered with pheasant arms (a kind of shrub), weeds, vines and other plants, camouflaging like a natural mountain. It is not easy to be discovered.” This point is very similar to the secret camp that Suzuki saw. Therefore, based on the time and characteristics, it can be speculated that what Suzuki saw was also a secret resistance base used by officers and soldiers of Wei Zhengmin’s 1st Route Army in the later period. Judging from this information, the secret camp of the Route Army at that time was very different from the early days.The secret camp in the southeast Manchurian area was first created by General Yang Jingyu, and its biggest feature is the large amount of supplies.Considering that the Japanese army would use blockade tactics to wipe out the anti-union armed forces, General Yang Jingyu asked the secret camp to reserve food for 400 people for seven months.This early secret camp of the First Route Army greatly supported the local struggle of the Anti-Japanese Federation.However, after Cheng Bin's rebellion, 200 such secret camps of the Anti-Union were destroyed successively, causing the First Army of the Anti-Union to fall into a situation of lack of food and clothing, forcing the Anti-Union to change the law of operations.In the days when General Wei Zhengmin led the First Army, the secret battalion of the Anti-Japanese League paid more attention to concealment in order to survive and continue the cause of resisting Japan and saving the country. However, they had to face the harsh environment of lack of food and ammunition, and had to rely on birch bark, mushrooms and acorns for food.And the Japanese aircraft hovering overhead from time to time made it impossible for the Anti-Union fighters to start fires in the severe cold of minus 30 degrees.It was this harsh environment that made General Wei Zhengmin's condition worse and led to his early death. However, it was also in such a difficult environment that General Wei Zhengmin commanded the First Army to successively win victories such as the Antu ambush and the Halbaling attack, and persisted under the nose of the enemy. According to the law of war, good hermits hide under the Nine Lands, which is probably General Wei Zhengmin.