After compiling "Ten Thousand Miles of Battles Have Not Been Returned", we are unsettled, and we are still unsettled, more than 2,000 soldiers of the Red 15th Army and more than 1,000 soldiers from Wuxue, where do their souls return after thousands of miles of battle?
Under the leadership of Lan Zhichao, president of the Wuxue Red Culture Research Association, Jiang Gancheng, Zhu **, and Hu Qing decided to follow the route of the Red 15th Army to Hubei, Henan and Anhui to conduct on-the-spot visits.
Early in the morning of November 30, 2023, we drove out of the city from Wuxue South Station, unfortunately due to heavy fog, the expressway was temporarily closed. On the highway, the leaders of the Yingshan County Archives called many times to inquire about the itinerary, and they felt their enthusiasm before they arrived. At around 10 o'clock, we arrived at the Yingshan County Archives and saw a tall building.
The fifth- and sixth-storey office buildings with gray and white exterior walls are majestic and imposing. The outer walls on both sides of the gate are made of cyan stone blocks to form two huge traditional Chinese characters "蘭" and "臺", which are quite ingenious.
In the exchange, we learned that after the Red 15th Army and the Red First Army were merged into the Red Fourth Army at Futian River in Macheng, in August of the following year, under the leadership of the army commander and political commissar Zeng Zhongsheng, some officers and men of the original Red 15th Army returned to Yingshan and Wuxue, and on September 4, the famous Jiminghe Conference was held in Yingshan.
After the Red Fourth Army left Yingshan, Liu Deli, a soldier from Wuxue, stayed in the local troops in Yingshan, and was promoted from the commander of the special service company to the commander of the special service battalion, commanding a series of battles and showing outstanding military ability. In the Yingshan County Martyrs Memorial Hall, we also found the relevant information of the former head of the First Regiment of the Red 15th Army and the Yingshan Zha Ziqing (Cha Zhiqing).
At half past four in the afternoon, we rushed to the Macheng Archives, where the leaders of the museum and the seventy-year-old President Li Min of the Macheng Red Culture Research Association were waiting for our arrival. Since she was young, President Li has been studying the history of the Red Army in obscurity for decades, and she is a rare female expert in party history and military history. Although she is old now, she is still stoic and persistent on the road of exploring red culture, and she is an example for us to learn from Xi.
Chairman Li, with the support of President Lan Zhichao, led us to visit the "Dabie Mountain Revolutionary History Memorial Hall"."with"Wang Shusheng Memorial Hall", and accompanied the commentary throughout the process.
In the memorial hall, we saw the main responsible persons of the Red 15th Army and the operational roadmap of the Red 15th Army, as well as the situation after the first and third regiments of the Red 15th Army were combined. I stood for a long time in front of the oil painting where army commander Cai Shengxi was seriously injured and his wife Zeng Guanglan and his comrades-in-arms said their final goodbyes. In the fourth anti-"encirclement and suppression" battle, in the face of a strong enemy several times his own, Commander Cai personally fought on the front line with a gun, unfortunately he was shot in the abdomen and his intestines flowed out, and he still commanded the battle on a stretcher, and finally died due to excessive bleeding, and was the highest general who died on the battlefield in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Region. Before he died, he affectionately instructed the guards and warrior Wang Youjun to protect his daughter Cai Pingji. After the Red Fourth Front Army was forced to conquer Sichuan and Shaanxi in the west, along the way, Wang Youjun arrived in Sichuan with Cai Pingji, who was only two or three years old. However, what is sad is that two years later, Commander Wang Youjun unfortunately died on the battlefield of Baozuo Qiuji Temple in Songpan County, Sichuan.
In the general's hall, the portraits of the five founding generals of Wuxue are impressively listed.
We walked around the memorial hall for more than two hours, and when we walked out of the gate, the sky was full of stars and thousands of lights in the city.
Early the next morning, we rushed to the next stop, Xinxian County, Henan.
Checking history, the new county is a veritable "new", and the county has not been established for a long time. Before November 1932, it was the capital of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Region and the headquarters of the Red Fourth Front Army. In October 1933, in order to strengthen the rule of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui border region, the Kuomintang ** set up Jingfu County with Guangshan, Huang'an (Hong'an), and Macheng Ministries, with Liu Zhi (Zi Jingfu), chairman of the Kuomintang Henan Province, as the county name, and the county seat was Xinji Town. After the arrival of Liu Deng's army in December 1947, it was changed"Jingfu County"for the "new county". In many materials, there are often Jingfu County, Guangshan County, Xinxian County, etc., which make people confused, and often put on a crown and Li Dai. Xinxian County belongs to Xinyang City, Henan Province, in the hinterland of Dabie Mountain, and is located at the junction of Hubei and Henan provinces.
Under the leadership of the Xinxian County Archives, we first visited the "Martyrs Cemetery of the Capital of Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet District" inscribed by the original ****"and the "Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet District Revolutionary Museum". We saw Cai Shengxi's seriously injured ** again in the museum, which made people cry. A generation of war gods fell in Dabie Mountain and was buried in Huang Caijia, Hong'an Hekou Town; And the most sad thing to cry is that Chen Qi, the military political commissar, was deceived by Zhang Guotao from the front line to Xinji and killed on the mountain at the west gate of Xinji Town. We came to the foot of the mountain that was still bare in Baishi, and our mood could not be calm for a long time, a generation of war generals and good sons and daughters of the party did not die in the enemy's bullets and bullets, but were ruthlessly killed by Zhang's butcher's knife.
The mountains and rivers choked, and the earth screamed.
According to a briefing by a cadre of the Xinxian County Stalls, at that time, it was stipulated that cadres at and above the division level should be killed in Xinji Town, and cadres below the regimental level would be killed in Guangshan Baique Garden. This new information made us decide to change our itinerary and go to Baique Garden, Guangshan County, Henan Province to find traces of the officers and soldiers of the Red 15th Army. Following the navigation, I found the White Bird Garden in Guangshan County, where a tall monument stood high on a small hillside.
Inscribed by Marshal ***"Monument to the martyrs of the White Bird Garden", solemn in the afterglow of the setting sun, the whole hillside cypress forest, more show a kind of solemn atmosphere, rows of neatly placed tombstones along the slope, countless. We carefully searched for the martyrs of the 15th Red Army among the cypress trees, and found the tombs of four martyrs: Chen Qi, the political commissar of the army, Huang Gang, the division commander and commander of the Third Regiment, Zha Ziqing, the commander of the First Regiment, and Li Xishi, the political commissar of the First Regiment. They lie quietly on the White Sparrow Mountain, under the cypress trees.
I took out my cigarette, lit a fire for each of them as a man would Xi, and burned quietly on the tombstone. However, there are many more unknown martyrs below the regimental level, and even the names and graves cannot be checked.
General Du Guoping recalled: "There was a Cheng Jingui in Cheng Pengyuan near us, who was an adjutant in the battalion at that time, that is, an administrator, and later regarded as a reorganization faction, and was killed by mistake during the first rebellion"; Chen Liushun (the younger brother of General Chen Kang) of the old Red Army recalled: "The company commander's name is Tao Rong, he is not tall, he is from Guangji, he is an intellectual, and the company commander was later killed by mistake. "There is no way to verify how many of the Wuxue soldiers were killed by mistake, they sacrificed their lives and forgot to die on the battlefield, but they were killed by Zhang Guotao. Relatives are painful, enemies are happy, what a painful lesson!
The remnant sun is like blood, and the mountains are like the sea.
We turned back one step at a time, silently descended the mountain, and rushed to the next stop"Jinzhai County, the hometown of the Red Army and the cradle of generals, continues to look for the footprints of the officers and men of the 15th Red Army.
Jinzhai County, like Xinxian County, has not been established for a long time. In October 1932, Lihuang County was set up from Lu'an, Huoshan, Huoqiu in Anhui Province and Gushi and **5 counties in Henan Province, which belonged to the Ninth Administrative Supervision District of Henan Province and was named after Wei Lihuang, a Kuomintang general. In September 1947, a democratic regime was established and renamed Jinzhai County, which was under the jurisdiction of Anhui Province.
Early in the morning of the third day, we came to the Jinzhai County Archives. Hu Zunyuan, vice president of Jinzhai County Cadre College, Ma Xianjun, deputy director of the history office of the county party committee, Hu Benchang, deputy director of the history office of the county party committee, and other leaders and experts waited early. In the museum, we carefully checked the brief deeds and sacrifice of Commander Liu Deli. It proves that the sacrifice of Division Commander Liu Deli in the "Chronicles of Guangji County" in "Xiaonanjingyuan, Huoqiu County, Anhui" is wrong, and it will be discussed in detail later.
At the entrance of the martyrs' cemetery, on a huge wall of martyrs' lists, the black marble is densely engraved with a list of more than 10,000 martyrs, and what is even more shocking is the huge, cold number "90,000", more than 90,000 unknown martyrs.
On the top of the hill stands a huge monument, the inscription "Liaoyuan Spark" and "Jinzhai Revolutionary Martyrs Monument" are inscribed by Marshal ***.
The right front of the monument is the famous Meishan Reservoir in Jinzhai County, the big and small Meishan mountains are heavy and the water is restored, the Shi River that originates here has been meandering to the Huai River more than 100 miles away, and is an important tributary of the Huai River. On August 7, 1933, Liu Deli, commander of the Red Army from Wuxue, led the 82nd Division, with the cooperation of local guerrilla divisions, to fight fiercely for a day and a night, annihilating two battalions of the enemy, and seizing more than 1.4 million catties of rice and a large number of military rations, pork, oil and salt, canned food, cigarettes and other materials.
During the exchange with Director Hu of Jinzhai County, we learned that the grave of Master Liu Deli was in Nanxi Town, which is more than 120 miles away from the county seat, so we decided to change our itinerary again and resolutely went to pay our respects despite fatigue.
Jinzhai County is located in the hinterland of the Dabie Mountains, with overlapping mountains. Accompanied by the enthusiastic Director Hu, he finally arrived at Nanxi Town at half past three in the afternoon. Director Jiang, who has always talked a lot, was speechless all the way and fell silent, maybe he was tired, or maybe he was still immersed in the martyrdom of the martyrs of Baiqueyuan in Guangshan County.
At 3:50 p.m., we came to the service station for veterans in Nanxi Town, because Director Hu informed in advance that Shu Pengpeng and Zhang Ling, the head of the town's Party Committee and Ministry of People's Armed Forces, were already waiting. We bought some incense paper and a bottle of liquor in the town, but because the weather was dry and dry, it was not suitable to set off firecrackers on the mountain, so we didn't buy firecrackers.
Under the leadership of Minister Shu and Stationmaster Zhang, we saw the gatehouse of the "Red Army Martyrs Cemetery in Nanxi Town".
Entering the cemetery, there is a staircase in the middle of the road to climb the stairs and lead to the top of the mountain. There is a rest platform halfway up the mountain, and in the middle stands a relief of the portrait of the Red Army, engraved with black marble"Iron-blooded loyalty"Four gilded characters, the bronze Red Army relief wall is built on the hillside on the left, and then there is a row of gray marble tombstones, and there is only one red on the single-door tombstones" "Stationmaster Zhang said that these are unknown martyrs; On the upper level is a huge red party flag, which means that these martyrs are under the command of the party flag!
We continued to climb the stairs, and at the highest point of the hillside, we came to the tomb with three tombstones, and the middle stone tablet was engraved with the words "Tomb of the Red Army Commander Liu.""Large characters and"In 1932, he died in the Battle of Kattenyama"Division Commander Liu is the hometown soldier we are looking for, Liu Deli, a soldier of the Red 15th Army, who has been lying quietly in the mountains thousands of miles away from home for nearly a hundred years.
The cemetery is high on a hillside, facing southwest, with an open field in front of it and Nanxi Street not far from the foot.
I asked, "Where is Kudzu Mountain?" Director Hu pointed to the north and said, "More than 20 miles away, Chaoyang Mountain in Artillery Ridge."
Let's pay a moment of silence to Master Liu, and I will read the eulogy. Director Jiang said, no wonder he was silent all the way, it turned out that he was brewing a eulogy.
After the three kowtows, the curator's voice sounded: Hubei Huanggang Wuxue (Guangji) Red Army Liu Division Commander Deli and the unknown martyrs, today we come to visit you on behalf of the people of your hometown, 90 years ago, you for the people's liberation cause, throw your heads, spill blood, fight bravely, and die generously, your heroic deeds are earth-shattering, crying ghosts and gods, the cause you are fighting for has been successful, for the benefit of the people, Ze is the pride of the hometown, your great achievements The people of your hometown have been missing to this day, Your heroic deeds will be used as a red educational resource to educate the party members and cadres in your hometown and the next generation of young people, and strengthen your ideals and beliefs and original mission.
This mountain is fortunate to bury the bones of the faithful, so why should the body of the horse leather be returned. We were deeply moved to see that the people in the old revolutionary base areas spontaneously built cemeteries with love and reverence for the Red Army. Surrounded by green mountains and green waters, surrounded by peaks, seeing this quiet environment and lively bazaar, as relatives in our hometown, we feel relieved that you have set up a high monument in the hearts of the people in the old revolutionary area!
Today, we are entrusted by the people of our hometown to bring the martyrs' souls home, and compile a list of martyrs' deeds to commemorate forever, the people of our hometown miss you, and may the Red Army martyrs who are buried here and the martyrs of the Red Army from Wuxue (Guangji), and the unknown martyrs of the Red Army who shed their last drop of blood for the cause of people's liberation, rest in peace!
Now China, as you wish!
The martyrs of the Red Army are immortal!
A long eulogy, one thought at a time. Director Jiang exhaled several times, and we held back our tears, grief continued to rise in our hearts, and our throats became hard. Although we are all gray-haired and weather-beaten, we still can't help but cry.
After the silence, we burned incense paper for Master Liu, opened the cap and poured the liquor in front of the grave, "Master Liu, please take a sip of the old man's bar", took out a cigarette and lit one for Master Liu, and the wisps of white smoke circled the grave three times in the autumn wind. I asked, "Has Master Liu's family been here?" Stationmaster Zhang said: "This is your first time", and suddenly a casual inquiry regained our emotions that had just calmed down and aroused sadness.
Winter nights come early, and the sun is sinking into the mountains. "You don't have to be sad, for nearly a hundred years, the sacrifices here have not stopped, and the people here have a special feeling for the Red Army, and the locals have always called this place the tomb of Master Liu. Minister Shu comforted us and said, "You see, the red lanterns and red candles placed in front of the tomb are all spontaneously sacrificed by the people here. ”
Thank you very much for your love, it is quiet and clean, we are very satisfied". Director Jiang sincerely thanks!
This place is called Swallow Land, which was originally a desolate point, but Nanxi Town has now developed, and it has become the edge of the town, people come and go, Master Liu is not lonely, and the people of Nanxi will guard the Red Army Martyrs Cemetery. "Minister Shu comforted us and said, "Please rest assured that the people of my hometown!" ”
Thank you to the people of Jinzhai County, thank you to the people of Nanxi Town, and welcome you to Wuxue. President Lan thanked him again with emotion.
Twilight was falling, and it was already dark. Our group finally made a wish, to rush home! Jinzhai friends repeatedly asked to eat, President Lan said: "If you get your heart, you won't eat the meal, so let's take a photo together and keep a forever memorial."
At 10:00 p.m., the people of Hubei and Anhui provinces took a group photo!
Trek 3,000 miles and shed tears in Hubei, Henan and Anhui
Author: Lan Zhichao (President of Wuxue Red Culture Research Association).
Hu Qing (Wuxue Civil Artists Association).