Chapter 29 2. Cold lips and teeth

The rumble of cannons in the Battle of Xiangxi shook the land of Guizhou and Qiandong. The Qiandong area of ​​Guizhou is closely related to Xiangxi.Geographically speaking, they both belong to the Wuling Mountains, and Fanjing Mountain, the main peak of Wuling Mountains, is located in Tongren.From the perspective of cultural origin, both places are in the Bachu cultural circle, and the Chu style and Basu have closely linked the two places for thousands of years.The cultures, languages, living habits, folk customs, and even personalities of the two places are almost the same.The people of the two places have lived in friendship from generation to generation, are neighbors and harmonious, learn from each other, promote each other, and do not even distinguish between you and me. This kind of friendship is invaluable.

To be precise, Qiandong, Guizhou should be located in the northeast of Guizhou. It is adjacent to the entire area of ​​western Hunan in the east, Southeast Guizhou in the south, Zunyi in Guizhou in the west, and Chongqing in the north. It is the east gate of southwest China to the Central Plains.Here belongs to the subtropical monsoon humid climate zone. Fanjing Mountain, the main peak of Wuling Mountain, can be called the source of Wuling Mountain, the ancestor of the famous mountain, and the treasure of the earth and human beings.Due to the abundant precipitation and dense rivers in the territory, the rivers in the territory are divided into two major water systems from Fanjing Mountain to Foding Mountain.To the east of the mountains is Yuanjiang Chenshui, the main rivers are Jinjiang, Songtao River, Cheba River, Wuyang River and so on.To the west of the mountains is the Wujiang River system, the main tributaries of which are Liuchi River, Shiqian River, Yinjiang River, Mashoe River, Batuo River and Hongdu River.There are 221 rivers with a total length of more than 10 kilometers and a drainage area of ​​more than 20 square kilometers in eastern Guizhou, 103 in the Yuanjiang River system, and 118 in the Wujiang River system.

The border of mountains, streets and rivers in eastern Guizhou, where the water connects with the Chu River, has always been an area for Miao, Dong, Tujia, Gelao and other ethnic minorities to recuperate and live for generations.For thousands of years, the customs belong to Sichuan, the customs are Chu, the long-standing local culture and the foreign Confucianism and Buddhist culture have bred a unique marginal cultural landscape.Therefore, the folk customs in this area are simple, bold and unrestrained, and the people are hardworking and brave. The people of Eastern Guizhou have a glorious and fine tradition.After the failure of the first great revolution, Zhou Yiqun in eastern Guizhou and He Long in western Hunan were appointed by the Party Central Committee to open up the Honghu Revolutionary Base in western Hubei, and then moved to eastern Guizhou.Opened up a base area in eastern Guizhou and established the first red regime on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau.After the Red Sixth Army led by Ren Bishi, Xiao Ke, and Wang Zhen joined forces in eastern Guizhou, they opened up the revolutionary base areas in Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan and Guizhou, and closely connected eastern Guizhou with western Hunan.

Due to the unique geographical location in eastern Guizhou and the water transportation extending in all directions, after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, it was the most convenient water channel from mainland China to Chongqing.At that time, the Jiangzongmen Wharf on the Jinjiang River was very busy, with hundreds of large ships berthed on the water every day, brightly lit and full of people's voices.Thousands of boatmen and migrant workers transported rice from Hunan, tung oil, rapeseed oil, peanuts, Chinese medicinal materials from eastern Guizhou, and rich cinnabar and mercury through the Jinjiang River to Minxiao, the mouth of the river, and then crossed the mountains and went down to the Wujiang River. , Dejiang, Wujiang River along the river to Chongqing Pengshui, Fuling, arrived in Chongqing.This is a material transportation line away from the Japanese blockade and enemy bombing.

After the Battle of Xiangxi began, thousands of students moved from the front to Tongren National No. 3 Middle School. Thousands of students spontaneously organized anti-Japanese propaganda teams to propagandize and mobilize the masses to support the Xiangxi Battle.Anti-Japanese patriotic and progressive organizations and associations organized and mobilized a large number of young and middle-aged migrant workers to go to the anti-Japanese front line in western Hunan.The American Church Hospital stationed in Tongren also organized a group of nurses and field ambulance teams to go to the battlefield.

Xiangxi is full of devastation and scorched earth. The beautiful and picturesque homeland in the past was bombed by the Japanese invaders into ruins.Come on Xiangxi!Compatriots work hard!Progressive young students and anti-Japanese patriotic progressive organizations chanted resounding slogans.Xiangxi can't be lost!Western Xiangxi and Eastern Guizhou are separated by a strip of water, and they are closely related. If Xiangxi is lost, Eastern Guizhou, the rear of the Anti-Japanese War, will be difficult to protect, and the southern gate to Chongqing will be open without hindrance. Together with the people of Xiangxi, the Qiandong detachment, which went to western Hunan, carried food and ammunition for the Chinese army, and sent the strategic materials needed by the front line to the Chenshui and Ruanjiang areas on the front line of western Hunan by water.Tens of thousands of wounded Chinese soldiers on the battlefield were lifted from their positions and transferred by boats to Zhenyuan, Tongren, Chongqing and other places in Guizhou.

Songtao County in eastern Guizhou is a gathering place for Miao compatriots. More than 200,000 Miao compatriots in eastern Guizhou have a family relationship with the Miao people in western Hunan.As early as the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Songtao Miao people staged many large-scale armed uprisings, which shocked the government and the public. Life defends its own existence. When the iron hooves of Japanese imperialism trampled on the homeland of the Miao brothers in Xiangxi, the Songtao Miao people immediately organized and mobilized to fully support the resistance struggle of the Miao brothers in Xiangxi.After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War in Songtao County, tens of thousands of people walked out of the mountains to participate in the Anti-Japanese War and defend their homes.This is mainly due to the influence of two Kuomintang generals, one is Luo Qijiang and the other is Ou Baichuan.

Luo Qijiang, a native of Songtao County, graduated from the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall. In 1926, he served as the head of the 1st Regiment of the 10th Army and participated in the Northern Expedition.Because of his outstanding military exploits, Chiang Kai-shek, the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition Army, ordered him to be promoted to be the head of the major general. Ye Ting and Huang Qixiang were the only three who were promoted to the head of the major general with him. Later, Luo Qijiang was appointed by Li Zongren as the commander of the 2nd Independent Division.When the new warlords were fighting, Luo Qijiang's independent 2nd division became Li Pinxian's troops again, and marched to Songtao County, Guizhou.At that time, Songtao County was a first-class county in Guizhou Province, ranking seventh in the province in economics, culture and population.

Luo Qijiang was well received in Songtao. He expanded his team in Songtao County. Based on the two regiments he had recruited, he organized them into the 700th Regiment and the 701st Regiment, designated the 34th Independent Brigade, stationed in the west of Hubei.When the Anti-Japanese War broke out, the 34th Brigade went to the Songhu Battlefield in Shanghai, where a large number of Songtao Miao officers and soldiers bravely killed the enemy on the Songhu Battlefield.Due to his meritorious service in the Anti-Japanese War, Luo Qijiang was appointed as the commander of the 82nd Division of the Kuomintang Army. He participated in all major battles against the Japanese army after the Battle of Wuhan, which greatly encouraged the people of Songtao County.

Now that the Japanese are coming to Xiangxi, isn't this coming to our door?The lips are dead, the teeth are cold, the Miao compatriots understand this truth, and they are all mobilized.Making military shoes, embroidering insoles, and sewing dry food bags, women use their housekeeping skills to send the best cloth shoes and insoles to the front line; The wounded Miao medicine was transported to the front line in western Hunan by ship. Songtao Miao youths also organized a volunteer army to support the Miao brothers in western Hunan to defend their homes.For a time, on the ground in western Hunan, apart from the regular Kuomintang army, there were also people's armed forces organized in various villages, including the Miao Nationality Volunteer Army, and even bandits from the mountains and green forest heroes participated.Their goal is the same, that is to attack the Japanese invaders, but the purpose may be somewhat different. Most of the bandits and green forest heroes are to snatch Japanese guns and use them to arm themselves.Therefore, after the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, almost all the bandits in western Hunan and eastern Guizhou, and the gangs of green forest heroes, changed their guns and armed themselves.Until 1950 and 1951, this area has not been completely wiped out. This cannot be different from the weapons discarded by the Japanese army in the Xiangxi Battle.These things happened after the establishment of New China. The TV series "The Story of the Bandit Suppression in Western Hunan", "The Story of the Bandit Suppression in Wulong Mountain", and the novel "The Story of the Bandit Suppression in Wuling Mountain" all truly reflected that period of history.