In 1985, Cheng Zihua, former commander of the Red 25th Army, and Liu Huaqing, chief of the Political Department, jointly compiled the "Combat History of the Twenty-fifth Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army", which was published and distributed.
This memoir details the creation of the Red 25th Army and the course of its battles, and how the revolutionary ancestors persisted in the revolution to the end under the heavy encirclement and suppression of the Kuomintang reactionaries.
However, in this war history of the 25th Army, more than three hundred words are used to record the deeds of an ordinary peasant, and this peasant is also known as "the first person in military history!" ”
Who is he and why is he recorded in the history of the 25th Army? What kind of story happened between him and the 25th Army? What is the end result?
monument
Let's take a closer look at this "first person in military history" and understand why Commander Cheng Zihua searched for people six times.
In 1927, when the Great Revolution failed, Chiang Kai-shek's reactionaries, in alliance with local reactionary warlords, raised their butcher knives to the Chinese Communist Party and began to kill communists on a large scale.
In order to resist Chiang Kai-shek's reactionaries, our Party decided to launch an armed uprising, and on August 1, 1927, the Nanchang Uprising broke out, and the agrarian revolution began.
However, in the early days of the uprising, because of blindly learning from the revolutionary experience of the Soviet Red Army, the rebel army was severely damaged and the rebel army was forced to withdraw.
However, under the correct theoretical guidance of Comrade Mao Zedong, the insurrectionary troops successfully met at Jinggangshan, and then the troops were renamed the "Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army".
Since the founding of the Red Army, the seeds of revolution have been spread throughout the country, the spark of stars has become a burning force, and Soviet power has been formally established in Ruijin.
However, chiang kai-shek's reactionaries have never given up strangling our party and the Red Army, so after consolidating their own power, Chiang Kai-shek began to gather heavy troops to launch encirclement and suppression against our army.
In the fifth anti-encirclement and suppression war, Chiang Kai-shek personally led more than 500,000 Kuomintang troops to pounce on our revolutionary base areas in an attempt to overthrow our Party and the Red Army in one fell swoop.
The most crucial thing is that in the fifth anti-encirclement and suppression war, our party mistakenly believed in the guidance of Wang Mingbogu and others, causing the Red Army to fight a large-scale battle of positions and a war of attrition with an enemy army ten times that of itself.
This caused heavy losses to the Red Army, but fortunately our Party promptly corrected the chaos, and the Zunyi Conference enabled our Party to successfully turn the crisis into safety and brought about new development in the cause of the Chinese revolution.
After our Party made a decision to temporarily abandon the Ruijin Soviet government and begin a great strategic shift to the north, the red army departments, under the unified leadership and command of the party, began to withdraw from the base areas in an orderly manner, and the Long March began.
The Red 25th Army also received instructions from its superiors to withdraw from the Eyu-Anhui Su District and advance all the way to the northwest, targeting the Shangluo area in southern Shaanxi.
The Red 25th Army was founded in October 1931 and was subordinate to the Red Fourth Front, and its main force was transferred by the Front in October 1932 to fight on the front.
Therefore, in October 1934, when the Red 25th Army began the Long March after holding the Eyu-Anhui Soviet District for 22 months, the unit had 3 infantry regiments, 1 pistol regiment and the soviet district government staff, a total of more than 3,000 people.
Cheng Zihua, then commander of the Red 25Th Army, Xu Haidong, deputy commander, Wu Huanxian, military political commissar, and Liu Huaqing, section chief of the Political Department,
With more than 3,000 people of the Red 25th Army, they set out from Luoshan, Henan in November of that year.
On November 16, more than 3,000 soldiers of the Red 25th Army set out on the road under the banner of "the Second Advance Detachment of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army To The North to Resist Japan," but in front of them was the layered blockade line set up by the Kuomintang reactionaries.
evacuate
In order to break through the enemy's blockade, the Red 25th Army and the enemy troops who came to encircle and suppress fought several hard battles, and finally successfully broke through the siege after paying a relatively large casualty price.
Three days later, the Red 25th Army went west to the Tongbai Mountains, and Zhang Xingjiang, who was then the Working Committee of the Border Region, rushed to join the 25th Army after receiving the news of the 25th Army, and stayed behind to lead the way for the 25th Army.
Zhang Xingjiang suggested that the Tongbai Mountains were located in mountainous areas and were not suitable for the development of the Red Army, and that the population here was sparse, and the logistics supply of the troops was difficult to sustain.
Coupled with the heavy pursuit of the Kuomintang army, Zhang Xingjiang suggested,
The troops continued to march westward into the Funiu Mountains to escape the enemy's heavy encirclement.
Cheng Zihua adopted Zhang Xingjiang's suggestion and immediately led his troops to continue to the west, preparing to temporarily avoid the front, not to fight against the superior enemy forces, and to save themselves as the main task at present.
However, what Cheng Zihua did not expect was that Chiang Kai-shek was extremely angry with this "dare to take the lead" of the Red Army, so on the one hand he gathered the troops of the Concubine clan to pursue, and on the other hand, he forced the local warlords to surround the Red 25th Army.
On November 26, the Red 25th Army had just arrived at the front line of Fangcheng County, and it fought an encounter with the 40th Army of the Kuomintang Pang Bingxun's army, and the 40th Army, as Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army, was extremely well-equipped.
tombstone
Fortunately, in the end, relying on the bravery of the soldiers and the flexible command of Commanders and Fighters such as Cheng Zihua, the Red 25th Army finally bypassed the blockade of Pang Bingxun's troops and successfully broke through.
On December 4, 1934, the 25th Army finally arrived at Lushi County in the western Henan region after breaking through the blockade of Pang Bingxun's troops and marching rapidly for three days.
According to Zhang Xingjiang, if you want to enter Shaanxi from Funiu Mountain, you must pass through two passes, one is Zhuyang Pass, and the other is the Wuli River in Lushi County.
When the reconnaissance troops of the 25th Army quietly went up the mountain to check, they found that the Wulichuan River had been occupied by the enemy army, and a large number of fortifications had been built.
It turned out that as early as half a month ago, Chiang Kai-shek had mobilized the 60th Division of the Kuomintang 19th Army stationed in Kaifeng to march west along the Longhai Line, and when he arrived at wulichuan and Zhuyangguan, he built fortifications on the spot and blocked these two key passes.
Chiang Kai-shek believed that these two passes were the only way for our army to enter Shaanxi, so he was ready to intercept our army here in an attempt to wipe out the Red Army troops marching here in one fell swoop.
After the 25th Army found out about this situation, before Cheng Zihua and other army leaders could discuss it, they received another bad news.
That is, the second pursuing army of the Kuomintang is only 35 kilometers away from here, and the strength is as high as tens of thousands!
commemorate
At the same time, in the south, there are more than 10,000 people in the Beiting Fangbu, known as the "King of Neixiang", and in the north, there is the Yellow River Natural Danger.
In other words, at this time, the Red 25th Army was already "embattled", with blockades in the front and pursuit of soldiers in the back, and the Red 25th Army suddenly fell into a situation of life and death.
In his memoirs, Cheng Zihua described it this way, "The Red 25th Army was attacked by the enemy on its back, and the situation was extremely critical. Even Chiang Kai-shek was optimistic that the Red Army would not be able to escape by inserting its wings! ”
In the face of such a desperate situation, the Red 25th Army was not intimidated by this, but also aroused the flames in the hearts of many soldiers.
They are in a strong position to fight the enemy to see whose fists are harder and whose bayonets are sharper!
As a result, many commanders and fighters at the middle and grass-roots levels asked Cheng Zihua and other army leaders for orders, hoping to let their company be behind the palace or be used as the main attack.
Although Cheng Zihua's heart was infected by the enthusiasm of the soldiers, Cheng Zihua did not "go to the top of his blood" because of this, but was very calm.
Because he understood one point, that is, the more he faced the crisis, the calmer he was, and he absolutely could not be emotional, otherwise the more than 3,000 people in the 25th Army would probably be completely destroyed here.
So Cheng Zihua came forward to appease the soldiers on the one hand, and on the other hand, he urgently consulted with other leaders to solve the current dilemma.
At the meeting, military commander Cheng Zihua, deputy commander Xu Haidong, military political commissar Wu Huanxian, and others knew very well that in the face of the enemy army that occupied absolute superiority, hard fighting was the next strategy, so it was necessary to bypass the current enemy's blockade.
So they decided to change the original marching route, temporarily avoiding the front, and at the same time looking for the local people familiar with the terrain to lead the way, from the small road into Shaanxi.
After the adoption of this resolution, the 25th Army immediately sent reconnaissance units among the local population, looking for people who knew the terrain well, hoping that they would help them.
However, after some searching, Cheng Zihua and others received a disappointing return, because it was in the border zone, so the local warlords were particularly frequent.
There were no more young people in the village, even half-grown children were forcibly recruited as soldiers, and all that remained were old people and children.
And the key point is that our Party has no mass base here, the Kuomintang government and local warlords,
In order to contain our Party, widespread propaganda has vilified our Party's image, and Chiang Kai-shek has even slandered our Party as a "bandit."
Therefore, for a long time, the local people have always regarded the Communist Party of China and the Red Army as "bandits", and as soon as they heard that the Red Army was coming, the only remaining old people rushed to take their children and hid in the village built by the landlords.
memoir
At this point, Cheng Zihua and the others were embarrassed, seeing that the Kuomintang's pursuing troops were about to arrive, but there was no progress on this side, was it really necessary to attack the pass?
Cheng Zihua's mood was extremely low, but at this critical moment, Cheng Zihua suddenly received a report from a soldier of the pistol regiment, claiming that he had found a fellow who was willing to lead the way for the troops!
This news made Cheng Zihua overjoyed, and this fellow was Chen Tingxian, who was mentioned in the opening paragraph and was known as the "first person in military history".
Chen Tingxian was born on November 15, 1911 in Changyin Village, Jincheng, Shanxi, with six brothers and sisters, and Chen Tingxian was the third oldest.
Chen Tingxian's family was very poor, and in order to maintain the life of a large family, his parents worked greedily and dark all day long, so that they died prematurely after accumulating labor.
The death of both parents left the family in a desperate situation, and the elderly grandmother was unable to support a large family, so she had to take everyone to beg for a living.
After that, the group went into exile all the way to beg, and finally settled near Lushi County, when Chen Tingxian was 12 years old, two younger sisters died of illness, and then in order to survive, the grandmother took the initiative to pass on the younger brother to another family.
Red army
Later, grandma also because of years of trekking, the body is really unbearable, died, so that the original family of nine people, only Chen Tingxian and two brothers are left to rely on each other.
When he grew up, Chen Tingxian did everything in order to survive, and worked short-term jobs for the landlord's family, but he was deducted by the landlord.
Coal was dug for coal, but the wages were greedy by the foreman, and several of the leaders were beaten to death!
Later, Chen Tingxian learned to walk the streets and alleys like a seller, and began to be a salesman in a mountain village, carrying a small basket all day on the mountain trail.
However, this still could not support his family, so Chen Tingxian began to think of ways to make a little more money, and then Chen Tingxian found that selling illegal salt was an extremely profitable industry.
In small talk with his peers, he learned that because the "official salt" issued by the National Government and local warlords was too expensive and had a very poor taste, private salt was very "interesting".
In fact, in ancient times, Jin merchants started by selling private salt, so since ancient times, there have been many unknown paths in the local area.
These are all figured out by salt merchants who sell smuggled salt.
However, the sale of smuggled salt was not recognized by the authorities in both ancient times and in modern times, so both the national government and local warlords were extremely strict in investigating and punishing smuggled salt merchants.
However, Chen Tingxian's family could not even eat at that time, where could they still manage this, so after some thought, Chen Tingxian resolutely agreed to this method.
At first, Chen Tingxian was not familiar with the "doorway", so he followed experienced people through the mountain trails and traveled back and forth to and from each mountain village.
Later, Chen Tingxian became familiar with it, so he gradually became independent and "went it alone", Chen Tingxian's boldness was particularly large, and he often dared to enter those deep mountains and old forests alone and open up new trails, just to avoid the checkpoints set up along the way.
Therefore, after years and months, Chen Tingxian is very familiar with the surrounding mountain paths.
Therefore, after Cheng Zihua received this news, his heart was full of surprises.
So Cheng Zihua hurriedly invited Chen Tingxian into his command post to talk, and in the process of talking, Cheng Zihua knew the reason why Chen Tingxian was willing to help the Red Army.
Because after the 25th Army came to Lushi County, Chen Tingxian was also afraid at first, but walking in the mountains for many years made Chen Tingxian's courage grow bigger and bigger.
In addition, if he did not go out to sell goods, the family would run out of grain, so Chen Tingxian walked out of the house with the basket and prepared to continue to sell goods.
It was at this time that Chen Tingxian saw the "bandits" propagated by the Kuomintang, who were dressed in tattered clothes and looked hungry, which made Chen Tingxian feel sad in his heart without thinking of his brother who had already passed on to others.
Just at this time, suddenly a small soldier of the Red Army stepped forward and asked Chen Tingxian how to sell things, and Chen Tingxian saw that the soldiers were coming.
Therefore, he took the attitude toward the Kuomintang army and the local warlord soldiers, smiled with a smile on his face, but did not dare to speak.
This little soldier of the Red Army looked at Chen Tingxian, who was smiling but did not dare to speak, and his heart may also be a bout of mist, but there was no ambiguity in his hand, and he directly took out his only two silver dollars, handed them to Chen Tingxian's hand, and then picked up a bag of food and left.
It wasn't until the warrior left that Chen Tingxian returned to his senses and quietly looked at the silver dollar in his hand, but his heart fell into the "terrifying waves".
In so many years, this is the first time chen Tingxian has seen a soldier who is willing to spend money to buy something to eat! In the past, those soldiers, whether it was Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army or the soldiers of local warlords, all of them took it for nothing, never gave money, and if they were in a bad mood, they were likely to be beaten!
However, today was the first time in the "unprecedented world", and he actually received money, so Chen Tingxian immediately thought that the unit in front of him must be a good army!
Therefore, his heart no longer resisted the Red Army, especially after Chen Tingxian witnessed the later incident, his heart was full of admiration for the Red Army.
Cargo Lang
When Chen Tingxian was walking through the streets and alleys, he suddenly saw a Red Army soldier kneeling on the side of the road, surrounded by a crowd of people, and when he walked in to see the liveliness, he learned from other people that this soldier who was about to be shot had made a mistake.
It turned out that it was because he was so hungry that he wanted to eat the persimmon cakes made by his fellow villagers, but he did not give money, but gave all the money on his body.
However, when stealing persimmon cakes, she accidentally alarmed the surroundings, and an old lady, after seeing this soldier, mistakenly thought that the Red Army was like those local soldiers.
So he shouted loudly, "Someone has come to grab something!" Hearing the old lady's shout, the surrounding villagers immediately rushed out and surrounded the warrior.
Although they later figured out the origin of the matter and also determined that the soldier had given enough money, Cheng Zihua and others considered that this kind of thing happened when the troops first arrived, and the impact was too bad, so they decided to severely punish him and ordered him to be shot.
After Chen Tingxian learned of this, his heart was full of shock, because this was also the first time in Chen Tingxian's life that he saw a soldier stealing two persimmon cakes.
And in the case of giving enough money, he was still ordered to be shot!
After personally experiencing these two events, Chen Tingxian recognized the Red Army from the bottom of his heart, believing that the Red Army was indeed the ranks of our common people!
Chen Tingxian
Therefore, when Chen Tingxian learned that the 25th Army was looking for a guide, he took the initiative to stand up and said that he was willing to show the Way to the Red Army, and he knew that there was a small road here that could be detoured.
Under a warm conversation, Chen Tingxian once again felt the enthusiasm of the Red Army, so he was very excited, especially after learning that Cheng Zihua was a native of Yuncheng, Shanxi.
As mentioned earlier, Chen Tingxian was also born in Shanxi, so the two are both Shanxi compatriots, and the more Chen Tingxian talks, the happier he is, and the more excited he is.
Cheng Zihua talked about his experience in joining the army, while listening to Chen Tingxian's past, after learning about Chen Tingxian's tragic life experience, Cheng Zihua couldn't help but shake Chen Tingxian's hand and said, "Little fellow, you have suffered. ”
A sentence put Chen Tingxian in tears, and then immediately got up and said, "Over the years, I have carried the basket all over Lushi County.
So know a small road that the locals take when they go up the mountain to herd sheep, and others don't know. ”
After hearing this, Cheng Zihua was also very happy in his heart, and immediately decided to ask Chen Tingxian to lead the way, but Chen Tingxian immediately said, "Although this road can bypass Zhuyang Pass and Wulichuan and go directly to Luonan, the trail is extremely thrilling and may take three days of work." ”
Cheng Zihua did not care about this at all, as long as he could bypass the enemy army, wasting a few days of time was nothing, so Cheng Zihua ordered the whole army to pack its bags and prepare to pull out at any time.
Moreover, in order to ensure the safety of the troops' whereabouts, Cheng Zihua also specially ordered the pistol regiment to continue marching near Zhuyang Pass, posting slogans everywhere and drumming up noise to attract the attention of the enemy.
The pistol regiment was ordered to set out, and sure enough, the enemy was attracted, and more troops were sent to garrison here, and a special force was sent to search the nearby countryside.
After the 25th Army was ready, Chen Tingxian took the 25th Army on the road, this trail was in the middle of the mountains, and it was not a "road" at all.
Along the way, the soldiers of the 25th Army, after a three-day and three-night march, successfully bypassed the enemy troops at the pass and appeared in Shaanxi.
There were no heavily guarded Kuomintang regular troops, only a local militia regiment, which was quickly defeated by the 25th Army, after which the 25th Army marched all the way east and successfully met the division at Yan'an.
In order to express his gratitude to Chen Tingxian, Cheng Zihua wrote a letter by hand and told Chen Tingxian that you are a member of the party from now on! This also made Chen Tingxian very happy in his heart.
When Chen Tingxian returned home, he hid the letter under a stone wall in his home, and later someone in the village reported that Chen Tingxian had shown the Way to the Red Army, which caused Chen Tingxian to be arrested by the local vigilante group.
However, although Chen Tingxian was severely tortured, he never admitted it, and the vigilante group did not find evidence, and then released Chen Tingxian.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Japanese army invaded Chen Tingxian's hometown and burned Chen Tingxian's home in a big fire, so the letter was also burned.
After liberation, Chen Tingxian became an employee of a food company with his own craftsmanship, because Cheng Zihua's sentence "You are already a party member" at that time.
Therefore, Chen Tingxian has always demanded himself by the standards of party members, and later when paying the party fee, he talked about this matter, but because the letter had been damaged, it could not be proved.
During the special period of ten years, some people used this as an excuse to criticize Chen Tingxian many times, and since then Chen Tingxian has never mentioned this matter.
After the liberation, Cheng Zihua searched for Chen Tingxian six times when he was in charge of Shanxi, but in the end there was no result, because the recorder at that time misheard "Chen Tingxian" as "Chen Tingxian".
It was not until 1985, when the Party Central Committee began to search again, that Chen Tingxian was restored through the history of the time, but it was discovered at this time that Chen Tingxian had died in January 1984.
When the news came, Cheng Zihua felt infinite sadness in his heart, and later Chen Tingxian was buried in the cemetery next to the party school of the county party committee.
In 1996, the Lushi County Party Committee and the county government specially erected a tombstone for this cargo man, and the tombstone was engraved with a red five-star, and the inscription inscribed Chen Tingxian's life's exploits.