Chapter 52 The Red Army gave preferential treatment to prisoners

On February 18, 1928, the Revolutionary Army of Workers and Peasants achieved a great victory in Xincheng.This was the first major victory since the establishment of the Jinggangshan base area. Not only did they capture Ninggang County, but they also seized a large number of weapons and ammunition and captured more than 100 prisoners. When the soldiers escorted more than 100 captives and returned to Shimaoping mighty and mightily, they were so happy in their hearts!The soldiers of the Revolutionary Army of Workers and Peasants and the peasants who had recovered from Ninggang had never seen so many prisoners of war.Thinking of the long-term oppression of the common people by these Kuomintang troops, everyone is angry.As a result, the soldiers of the Revolutionary Army of Workers and Peasants urged, pushed and shoved the captive soldiers along the way, yelling and cursing loudly.Some people also searched for watches, pens and other things of the captured soldiers.Some were so angry that they shot and killed the captives.

This phenomenon has aroused Mao Zedong's serious concern. The next day, Mao Zedong held a military-civilian meeting in front of Yan Xiandian in Maoping.He also deliberately asked the captured soldiers to be brought to the meeting.Whether it was the soldiers and civilians in the base area or the prisoners under custody, they all guessed that a few reactionaries must be killed at the meeting, even if it was killing chickens for monkeys to see! The meeting was held, and Mao Zedong first summarized the experience of the Xincheng battle on behalf of the former committee, and praised the brave fighting spirit of the revolutionary soldiers and peasants who participated in the war.

Then, Mao Zedong specifically put forward the policy of the Revolutionary Army of Workers and Peasants on the issue of captives. He said: "Captive soldiers cannot be abused, let alone killed. They are also workers and peasants, and they are also forced to serve as soldiers. As long as they lay down their weapons, they must be treated equally and receive preferential treatment." Finally, Mao Zedong publicly announced several specific regulations for the preferential treatment of prisoners by the Revolutionary Army of Workers and Peasants: (1) no beatings; (2) no scolding; (3) no pocket searches; (6) Those who are willing to go back will be given travel expenses and sent home.

After hearing Mao Zedong's words, the soldiers and civilians attending the meeting couldn't understand: "The captives are still 'prisoners' anyway, how can they be treated as 'guests'?" The captive soldiers who participated in the meeting were even more dumbfounded after hearing this.Didn’t the KMT’s chief say that the Communist Party has “blue-faced fangs” and “communist wives” who will be killed if caught?They all thought that today was the time to die, but they didn't expect the revolutionary army to be so lenient to the prisoners. It's hard to believe, but some people are willing to give it a try.Therefore, many captives signed up to join the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army on the spot.One of the prisoners, named Tan Furen, joined the revolutionary army in this way, and continued to grow in the revolutionary ranks. Later, he became a lieutenant general of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and served as the deputy commander of the Guangzhou Military Region.

This unheard-of captive policy adopted by the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army immediately had a huge impact on the border areas of Hunan and Jiangxi. "It has attracted the attention of enemy soldiers and lower-level officers and soldiers who have no way out, and more and more people are returning from defection." Yang Zhicheng, commander of the 1st Battalion and 4th Company of the 28th Regiment, accompanied Zhu De to Jinggangshan.At first, he didn't quite understand Mao Zedong's policy of preferential treatment of prisoners.During an attack on Yongxin's Yang Chisheng Department, many prisoners were captured.He found that among the captives was a big soldier of the White Army, who had just refused to hand in his gun during the bayonet fight, so he stepped forward and asked, "What's your name?"

The prisoner was trembling all over, and answered with great difficulty: "My surname is Cao...and my name is...Fuhai." "It was you just now, a few people held you back." "Sir, no it's not me!" "Why it's not you, look, you scratched my hand, and you still want to deny it." A soldier interjected beside me. This sentence was like a death sentence for him.He begged bitterly: "Sir, good deeds, the whole family depends on me, if you spare my life, you will save my whole family." From the conversation, Yang Zhicheng knew that Cao Fuhai was also an exploited peasant who had been captured by the Kuomintang as a soldier, so he explained to him the nature and mission of the Red Army, and finally asked him if he would like to join the Red Army.But he insisted on not wanting to be a member of the Red Army, and begged repeatedly: "Sir, you have done good deeds" and "If you forgive me, you will save my whole family."The same is true for other prisoners, who seem to be particularly afraid of being a member of the Red Army.

Yang Zhicheng, who was skeptical about whether he could win the prisoners, saw that the fight was ineffective, so he sent people to send the prisoners to the regiment headquarters for disposal. The regiment headquarters took very good care of the prisoners.Although the life of the Red Army was very difficult, they tried every means to make them live well and eat well. Before leaving, they paid each of these captives a few yuan in travel expenses according to the regulations, and distributed some leaflets to them.The content mainly includes: "Brothers in the White Army, don't give your life to the landlords and capitalists. You shed your blood and die, and your family will still be poor."After distributing the items, the Red Army sent the captive soldiers far away by beating gongs and drums.Seriously injured prisoners were also sent to carry away on stretchers.

The prisoners were deeply moved. Some of them wept bitterly, patted their chests and said: "In the future, if I touch a hair of the Red Army in a war, I will not be a human." Cramp', what a fart!" After witnessing this scene, Yang Zhicheng suddenly understood.Preferential treatment of prisoners is indeed beneficial. Aren't these people good propagandists when they return to the White Army?Let them expose the lies of the Red Army's "skinning and cramping", and the soldiers of the White Army will not be so desperate in battle in the future, and it will be much easier to defeat the enemy.

But things didn't go so smoothly. On June 23, the Red Army blocked the enemy at Laoqixi Ridge. The battle was very fierce and many soldiers were sacrificed.After the battle was won, the Red Army captured hundreds of enemies.Many soldiers were very angry, pointing to the noses of the captive soldiers and said: "This time I will not release any of them, and I will be a reactionary when I return it!" "Revenge for the sacrificed comrades!" After Mao Zedong discovered this abnormal emotion in the Red Army, he gave a special speech to the troops, emphasizing the policy of preferential treatment of prisoners again.He said, vent your anger, take revenge, you have found the wrong person.Most of the soldiers of the White Army were not landlords and gentry.You kill him, the landlords and gentry don't even frown, and immediately go find a new one, but the poor people are still unlucky.Isn't the Red Army going to liberate the working people?Some comrades forget it as soon as their brains get hot.You have to be patient in everything you do. The more the soldiers of the White Army don’t understand us, the more we replay it and let them go back to promote it for us. Once it’s not enough twice, twice it’s not enough three times. One day they will wake up Those who came over, if you put one back, you can fight for ten, isn't that a good deal?

After listening to Mao Zedong's words, everyone became calm and brightened. So, this time, everyone handled the work of the captives more carefully. Coincidentally, Cao Fuhai was among the prisoners again, but this time he was not as embarrassed as last time, nor did he show the slightest fear. Yang Zhicheng walked over and asked, "Why are you here again?" He lowered his head and smirked sheepishly. "Why didn't you go home?" "My home is in Yunnan, how do I go back?" "Let's be the Red Army, defeat the reactionaries and go home!" However, he looked around and said hesitantly: "Let me go back, this time I only shot twice, and I still shot into the sky."

Once again, the fight was unsuccessful. Like last time, the Red Army still gave him some travel expenses and sent him away enthusiastically. In the autumn of this year, the enemy launched a new "encirclement and suppression" campaign against the base area.As soon as the two sides came into contact at Qixi Ridge, a large number of enemy troops ran over with their guns dragged. After the battle, Cao Fuhai became a prisoner again.He came specifically to look for Yang Zhicheng, and said with a proud face: "I will never go back this time, so as not to keep being a prisoner. You see, I brought a dozen brothers with me." Sure enough, there were fourteen or fifteen White Army soldiers standing straight behind him, all of whom had come to join the Red Army. Yang Zhicheng asked Cao Fuhai, "How did you figure it out?" Cao Fuhai sighed: "Oh, I used to think this way earlier, bear with it, the family is in trouble, and I have a few dollars a month, and I can send them to my family for some important things. Who knows that the money I earn every month is not enough. This person who paid that tax has been a soldier for several years, and the elderly and children are still starving and freezing. After thinking about it, I think you are right. The power is in the hands of others, and the poor can’t even think about living a good life.” After reporting to their superiors, these captives were incorporated into Yang Zhicheng's company. The soldiers of the Red Army treated the captives who were newly incorporated into the company as brothers, boiled water for them to wash their feet, found door panels for them, spread hay, and gave them better places to sleep on the ground for the captured soldiers.These captured new fighters were very touched, and as soon as they were incorporated into the company, they fought bravely.As Mao Zedong said in the article "The Struggle at Jinggang Mountains": "Especially the newly arrived captive soldiers, they feel that the Kuomintang army and our army are two worlds. Although they feel that the material life of the Red Army is not as good as that of the White Army, their spirit has been improved." Liberation. The same soldier, who was not brave in the enemy army yesterday, is very brave in the Red Army today. This is the influence of democracy. The Red Army is like a furnace, and the captured soldiers will be melted immediately when they come.” After Cao Fuhai joined the Red Army, he was completely changed.In the White Army, he seemed ignorant, but in the Red Army, he became a soldier who could speak well and understood many revolutionary principles, and his performance was particularly outstanding.He worked hard and fought bravely, and soon became a platoon leader, and finally died heroically in the Battle of Dayu. During the Jinggangshan struggle, the Red Army has always adhered to the policy of preferential treatment of prisoners.In this way, it not only weakened and disintegrated the enemy army politically, but also won a large number of white troops to join the Red Army, supplementing and expanding the revolutionary forces.Mao Zedong said in the "Report of the Jinggangshan Front Committee to the Central Committee": "The most effective method of propaganda against the enemy is to release prisoners and heal wounded soldiers. The enemy's soldiers and battalion, company, and platoon leaders are captured by us. They carry out propaganda work, divided into two types: willing to stay and willing to go, and those who are willing to go will be given travel expenses and released. This will immediately break the enemy's so-called "communist bandits kill people on sight". This method of ours has the exclamation of 'poisonous'!" Preferential treatment of prisoners has been done by the Red Army since the Jinggangshan struggle.It has been done for decades, and it has become a powerful weapon to disintegrate and defeat the enemy.