What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
Speaking of Xia Xi, the political commissar of the Red 3 Army, friends who are familiar with history know him well, and due to his policy of suppressing and expanding the Army, the Red 3 Army has been sharply reduced to more than 3,000 people, and the old base area that has been operating for many years has been lost, and its mistake can be described as very serious. Recently, when I browsed the internet articles, I found that when Xia Xi was mentioned, many people said that his sacrifice was because "the guards refused to save each other after falling into the water and watched him drown".
The picture shows Lin Han (left) based on Xia Xi in the movie "Dawn"
1. He was reappointed as the director of the Political Department of the Sixth Red Army
In December 1934, after the Red Second and Sixth Armies won the Great Victory of Longjiazhai, they restored the Xiang'echuanqian base area. In order to unify thinking, in January 1935, Ren Bishi convened cadres at and above the regimental level of the two armies to hold a meeting in Ding Jiarong, Dayong County, Hunan Province, to settle xia Xi's mistakes. However, because the cadres of the Red Second Army still have some doubts, it is the cadres of the Red Sixth Army who speak freely and speak freely. At this time, the Zunyi Conference of the Central Red Army had not yet been convened, which also brought some difficulties to the criticism process of this meeting.
For example, everyone criticized Xia Xi for making a mistake in the line, saying that he did not implement the resolutions of the Fourth Plenary Session, but Xia Xi himself made a mistake because he had implemented the "Left" line of the Fourth Plenary Session, so naturally he did not understand, saying: "I did make a serious mistake, but I resolutely implemented the resolution of the Fourth Plenary Session!" For another example, everyone criticized him for abolitionism, and Xia Xi retorted: "I did not want soviets and red army like Chen Duxiu. ”
Of course, Xia Xi's rebuttals at this time were meaningless, and the final resolution of the Ding Jiarong Conference was to criticize Xia Xi according to these two issues and decided to remove him from all his posts. Although Xia Xi did not understand logically, she still took the initiative to admit her mistake and said, "I should bear the main responsibility for all mistakes and evil consequences, and I am guilty." But at the same time, he also stressed: "I am not sent by the enemy, I am not deliberately sabotaging the revolution, but I am a mistake in implementation." ”
Pictured is Xiao Ke, Xia Xi and Wang Zhen (front row left third, fourth, fifth)
At this time, the Central Committee also sent a telegram, demanding that Ren Bishi, He Long, and others should focus on unity with Xia Xi, and that he should continue to work in the leading organs so that he could correct his mistakes in practical work. So Xia Xi was transferred to the Red Sixth Army as the director of the political department of the legion, and Xiao Ke, the commander of the Red Sixth Army, Wang Zhen, the political commissar, and Xia Xi were all fellow Hunan compatriots, so they were very polite to him. The soldiers of the Red Second Legion were different, every time they saw Xia Xi, they were staring at Xia Xi with a straight hook and a bulge.
2. Retreat to find the task force
In February 1936, after the Red Second and Sixth Armies on the long march entered the areas of Guizhou's Qianxi, Dayong, and Bijie, they incorporated several local anti-Chiang Kai-shek armed forces. One of them was a Yi armed force commanded by Xi Daming, and Xia Xi personally came forward to negotiate with Xi Daming and granted him the title of the first detachment of the Guizhou Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army, and Xi Daming also signed the cooperation agreement. In order to strengthen the combat effectiveness of this unit, Xia Xi also sent a task force of dozens of people led by Li Yunhui, director of the Army's Political Department, to Xi Daming to guide him.
Soon, due to the gathering of Chiang Kai-shek's army, the Red Second and Sixth Armies decided to withdraw from the Qiandabi area and take away the local armed forces they had incorporated, but only Xi Daming's unit refused to obey. Because the hundreds of guns in Xi Daming's department were all purchased by thousands of local Yi households, if Xi Daming just walked away, these people would suffer. When Xia Xi heard the news, he ordered Li Yunhui's team to return to the team as soon as possible.
Xia Xi waited left and right, seeing that the troops were about to leave, and had not yet seen the figure of the task force. The members of the task force are all veteran cadres from the Xianggan Soviet District, and they have rich local work experience, so it would be a pity if they were to lose it in this way. Xia Xi then decided to go to the task force herself, along with two guards and a civil servant.
The picture shows the former site of the headquarters of the Guizhou Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army
To get to the place where Xi Daming was active, they had to cross the rushing WuJiang River, and Xia Xi and the others found a small boat, crossed the river, and climbed up the mountain on the north bank of the Wujiang River, and finally found some of the fighters of the task force, but did not see Li Yunhui, the leader of the task force. Xia Xi gave them the order to evacuate the emergency team, and then took the guards down the mountain.
Third, the disciples waded across the river and were washed away by the water
In Guizhou during the Republic of China period, bandits were constantly plagued, and there was a bandit nest on the mountain on the north bank of the Wujiang River, and Xia Xi and others met this group of bandits on the way down the mountain. Some people say that this gang of bandits was sent by Xi Daming to kill Xia Xi, but Deng Zhige, chief of staff of the National Salvation Army, denied it in his 1985 article "Years of Working in the Underground Party in Guizhou". Besides, Xia Xi and the other four people ran while fighting, and they ran to the edge of the Wu River and found that the small boat carrying them across the river had been led away by bandits. Seeing that the bandits behind them were about to catch up, Xia Xi and the others decided to cross the river in vain.
Xia Xi and the guards, civil servants, and others held hands and walked into the Wujiang River to slowly advance, when they waded into the waist-deep center of the river, they suddenly rolled into a rapid, and all four of them fell down and were swept away by the water of the Wujiang River. One of Xia Xi's guards struggled to get out of danger and struggled to climb up the south bank of the Wu River. He Qingji (1955), chief of staff of the Red 17th Division and commander of the 51st Regiment, who was stationed nearby, received the notice from the guard and immediately brought He Zhankui (colonel in 1964) and more than 20 other fighters to the rescue.
The picture shows He Qingji and Deng Zhige
He Qingji selected more than a dozen strong and watery young warriors to search for them in the area where Xia Xi fell into the water, because it was winter and the cold wind was cold, and the warriors often had to go ashore to roast the fire after a few minutes of underwater search. After two hours of searching, everyone finally found the bodies of three people under the water 200 meters from the place where Xia Xi fell. The hands of the three corpses were clasped tightly together, and they had to be broken hard before they could be broken.
Fourth, the Red Sixth Army simply mourned Xia Xi
Facing the remains of Xia Xi and the others, He Qingji and the other warriors bowed their heads in pain. At this time, Li Yunhui appeared on the other side of the river with his big mule, and it turned out that he was ready to go down the mountain. A nameless fire suddenly rushed into He Qingji's heart, and he shouted at Li Yunhui: "How did you do it, and you still swung wildly, Director Xia drowned in the river!" Li Yunhui rode a mule across the river, and when he learned what had happened, his face was frightened. He Qingji asked him to use a mule to drive Xia Xi's body and return to the army to report together.
At this time, the headquarters of the Red Sixth Army had been transferred to a temple in Qixingguan on the border between Guizhou and Yunnan, and Xiao Ke and Wang Zhen had already received the news of Xia Xi's death and were anxiously waiting there. As soon as He Qingji and the mule stepped into the temple, they greeted them together. When Wang Zhen saw that Li Yunhui was also there, he was immediately angry, grabbed a rifle next to him and threw it at him, Li Yunhui flashed by, and he was so interested that he hid elsewhere.
Because the troops were on the way to transfer and the military situation was urgent, the Red Sixth Army department held a simple memorial service, buried Xia Xi on the hillside next to the Qixingguan Stone Bridge, and then left in a hurry. Xiao Ke, commander of the Red Sixth Army, commented afterwards: "It is inevitable that revolutionaries will make mistakes, and we should make a realistic and fair evaluation of a comrade's merits and deeds on the basis of historical facts. I think Xia Xi's life is two good and the middle is wrong. ”
The picture shows the monument of the three provinces of Jiming in the Qixingguan District of Bijie
For the remark that "Xia Xi's falling water guards refused to rescue", even if you have not read this article, it should be easy to guess that it is just a matter of assumption by posterity. During the period of the Red Army, the guards of the chiefs of the troops were carefully selected, requiring them to be brave and good at fighting, not afraid of sacrifice, and at the same time they had to be simple teenagers from poor families, who performed well in peacetime and could listen to commands without saying strange things. Under such a strict selection mechanism, there will be no greedy people who do not save the chief and fear death. More importantly, Xia Xi's guards were all red six legion soldiers, and he had no grudge, and the red six legions also had great respect for him. Therefore, Xia Xi's sacrifice can be said to be a complete accident.