In August 1946, the Hejiang Military Region changed its commander-in-chief, Fang Qiang no longer served as the commander of the military region, but was changed to political commissar, and He Jinnian was parachuted as the commander.
Fang Qiang served as the commander of the Hejiang Military Region for eight months, and his main job was to expand the armed forces and eliminate bandits in the area under his jurisdiction. In terms of data, it is a good achievement, such as the expansion of the army from the original 800 to more than 9,000 people; There were also more than 7,000 bandits. When He Jinnian took up his post in Hejiang, Chen Yun wrote a letter to Zhang Wentian, secretary of the provincial party committee, He Jinnian, commander, and Fang Qiang, political commissar, pointing out that Fang Qiang's work in the Hejiang Military Region has fundamentally brought about changes in the situation that are beneficial to us and has made great achievements.
Since he was recognized by his superiors, how could he be changed to political commissar?
The Hejiang Military Region is the place where bandits are most seriously affected, and geographically speaking, it is in the rear. Although there was no regular Kuomintang army here, there were 20,000 bandits in the area, and all of them were political bandits who were appointed by the Kuomintang. This is also the rear of our army, and after the troops entered the northeast, the focus was on developing the construction of base areas, and if the base areas were not consolidated and the support of the common people was not obtained, there would be instability in all aspects.
Even if North Manchuria is controlled by our army, the front-line troops will fight, and the rear will also need stability, and the most urgent task in 1946 is to get out of the way, occupy both sides, and establish a base area.
At that time, Zhang Wentian was appointed secretary of the provincial party committee, and Fang Qiang was the commander of the military region. Because of the serious banditry problem, Zhang Wentian stayed in the Mudanjiang Military Region first, and Fang Qiang led some cadres to Jiamusi to carry out work.
There are the former cadres of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Federation who arrived in advance, and there are also those he brought, and some other cadres have reported one after another, and the Provincial Working Committee, the Provincial Government, and more than 800 people from the Sanjiang People's Autonomous Army have been established.
The strength of the troops is weak, and the most important task is to develop the troops, expand the armament, and concentrate forces against the enemy. As for how to suppress the bandits, because Zhang Wentian was not in Hejiang, Fang Qiang was entrusted by the Provincial Working Committee to draft the Hejiang strategy and military construction guidelines, and the document was approved after discussion. As for how to build the army, it is recorded from the memoirs of He Jinnian and the memoirs of Zhang Wentian's wife Liu Ying, that is, the "policy of fighting and pulling" during the Anti-Japanese War was adopted, and some people who surrendered ostensibly stood in the revolutionary camp, but in fact they got into our interior and took advantage of the opportunity to rob and did not abide by discipline.
For example, Sun Jingyu, in order to expand his power, gave up his principles, mistakenly recruited bandits in large numbers, gave them legal status, and looked at another bandit leader, Sun Rongjiu, differently, and the two were uncles and nephews. These people waited for the time to be ripe and defected one after another, and they also harmed the cadres sent by our party.
At that time, the Hejiang Military Region had to fight many times in conjunction with the 359 Brigade before it annihilated 6,000 or 7,000 bandits, recovered many bandit control points, and strengthened local propaganda, and only then did it begin to change the serious situation in Hejiang.
When the work in Hejiang was in a state of emergency, Zhang Wentian came to Jiamusi to preside over the work, and he had different views on the policies and guidelines for suppressing bandits. In August, He Jinnian landed in Hejiang. Zhang Wentian and He Jinnian reformulated the policy of suppressing bandits and the method of expanding the army, that is, they repudiated the previous principles and policies. Because the enemy is very cunning, although some achievements have been made in 8 months, there has been no fundamental change.
As an experienced commander in suppressing bandits, He Jinnian carried out the third reorganization of the military region, set up four military subdivisions, divided the troops to strengthen the military strength, and transferred the main force of the 359 Brigade and other units to cooperate in the operation. That is to say, when suppressing bandits, we mainly rely on the main force of our army, and the troops of the military region are in the military sub-districts.
In the past, to suppress bandits was to drive the enemy away, but now it is to chase after them relentlessly, so that the enemy has no breath to breathe, and finally destroys them. This made the bandits feel uncomfortable, in the past, once the bandits were passively run, now they can't get rid of the pursuit if they want to run, and the captured bandits once said that they have been running for six days and six nights in a row, and they dare not stay in the village for more than an hour. Not only that, but also mastered the enemy's food supply, cut off the food supply, and these bandits panicked.
After He Jinnian became the commander, he has been on the front line to suppress bandits, focusing on the work of suppressing bandits, while political commissar Fang Qiang is in charge of other work in the military region. It can be seen from the memoirs of the two that He Jinnian and Tan Youlin, deputy commander of the 359 Brigade, have been on the front line, without political commissar Fang Qiang. And Fang Qiang did not specify what work he was responsible for after becoming a political commissar in his recollections.
Because Fang Qiang was also wronged in the process, some cadres who worked with him thought that he was meritorious. However, the work of suppressing bandits was victorious after He Jinnian commanded him in the second half of the year.
In 1949, both of them became commanders of the four fields, one commanding the 44th Army and the other commanding the 48th Army.