Author: Wu Zhi Dongxu.
On October 5, 1940, at midnight, the ancestral hall of Chenhe Town, Yingcheng, Hubei Province, where the New Fourth Army company was staying, suddenly heard a burst of screams.
In the chaos, Xiao Jianzhang, the commander of the 3rd platoon, picked up a machine gun, set it up at the door of the ancestral hall, and said: "No one is allowed to go out, and whoever dares to go out will be killed!"”
At noon on October 1, the 5th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 9th Regiment of the Henan-Hubei Advance Column of the New Fourth Army set off from Jingshan to Chenhe Town, Yingcheng to escort the money, and by the way, Shen Shaohua, director of the Political Department of the column, and Li Xiuzhen, the director of the hospital, and his wife.
At dusk, they brought money and a batch of Western medicine to protect Minister Shen and Dean Li to Maohe Village, a few kilometers northwest of Chenhe Town.
In fact, the distance from the Bazi Gate of Jingshan to the Chen River in the southwest of Yingcheng is not far, only dozens of kilometers.
However, due to the need to pass through the enemy's two road blockades, the troops could not act openly during the day, so there was a considerable delay.
The troops marched day and night, and after several days of marching, they returned and rested in a large ancestral hall in the west of Zhouyu Village.
In order to prevent accidents, during the break, the company commander Hu Tingyou arranged a sentry at the entrance of the ancestral hall.
For the sake of safety, Minister Shen Shaohua and Dean Li were arranged in a small village next to the ancestral hall, where money and Western medicine were also placed, and a squad was assigned to be in charge of guarding.
After several days of marching, everyone was very tired, and soon after dark, they all lay down and soon fell asleep.
The ancestral hall was very quiet, except for the snoring of the warriors.
At midnight, there was a sudden scream in the ancestral hall, mixed with noisy scolding.
Xiao Jianzhang, the commander of the 3rd platoon, was awakened by the sudden sound, and he got up with a bone.
Xiao Jianzhang, a native of Anlu, Hubei, was born in Xiaoxu Village, Lidian, in 1924, and joined the New Fourth Army at the age of 15.
At this time, he had just passed his 16th birthday.
Because he is thin, fair-skinned, handsome, and soft-spoken, no matter where he goes, people call him "baby soldier".
But he was bold, brave, and performed well, and joined the organization that year, which was rare at the time.
After Xiao Jianzhang was awakened by the noise, his face was confused, and he didn't know what was going on.
But his intuition told him that something must have happened that was unfavorable to the New Fourth Army, because the Japanese 16th Division was stationed in Yingcheng, and the distance was only ten miles away.
And a wing of the Japanese army was entrenched in the area of the Chen River, and it was likely that the Japanese army came to attack.
Of course, there is also a possibility that the danger is from within.
He rolled over and grabbed a machine gun mount, strode to the door of the ancestral hall, and set up the machine gun.
If the danger comes from the outside, it is possible to strike at the attacking enemy. If the enemy is coming from the inside, it also prevents the bad guys from rushing out from the inside.
After setting up the machine gun, Xiao Jianzhang carefully observed the outside of the ancestral hall and wondered: there was no figure outside, only dogs barking one after another.
Xiao Jianzhang thought to himself, the ancestral hall is in a mess, why don't you see the company commander and instructor?
He shouted "company commander, instructor" several times, but there was no response.
Then he shouted "Secretary" again, but no one answered.
Xiao Jianzhang was anxious, and beads of sweat the size of beans oozed from his forehead, how could this be good.
At that time, the 1st platoon commander Huang Zhenggui had something at home and asked for leave to go home;Zhang Dejin, the commander of the 2nd platoon, was wounded in the battle and was admitted to the rear hospital, and only he was the 3rd platoon commander Xiao Jianzhang who could come out to control the situation.
Thinking of this, Xiao Jianzhang shouted to the machine gunner, and got the remaining two machine guns to the gate of the ancestral hall, and asked the soldiers to go to the various windows of the ancestral hall to be on guard.
Xiao Jianzhang found a flashlight by himself and carefully checked the situation inside the ancestral hall.
If you don't look at it, you will be surprised: the instructor is gone, and his correspondent is gone. Company commander Hu Tingyu fell to the ground, his flesh and blood blurred, with multiple knife wounds on his body, unconscious.
When Xiao Jianzhang checked the number of people, he was even more stunned: of the company of more than 120 people, only more than 60 people remained, and the remaining more than 40 people (a squad that went out to guard) did not know where to go.
In addition to the instructor and his communicator, the missing people also included Huang Zhengyao, deputy platoon commander of the first platoon, Qiu Zhongding, deputy platoon commander of the second platoon, and Zhu Guangyi, secretary general.
Eyewitnesses said that it was exactly what cut down Commander HuA platoon deputy platoon leaderHuang Zhengyao andSecond platoon deputy platoon commanderQiu Zhongding, Zhu Guangyi is in charge of looking at the wind.
They took more than 40 people, including several squad leaders.
The company commander was seriously wounded, the instructor was gone, the two platoon commanders were absent, the deputy platoon commander fled, and the morale of the army was in turmoil.
If the Japanese attack again at this time, the company will be finished.
At this time, Xiao Jianzhang, the young platoon commander, took the initiative to take responsibility and showed amazing composure.
He said to the machine gunner: "No one is allowed to run out, and whoever runs will kill whom!".”
Then, Xiao Jianzhang turned to everyone and said, "Now that the company is under my command, everyone should not panic, cheer up, and be ready to deal with the enemy's attack." ”
Under the command of Xiao Jianzhang, everyone sealed all the doors and windows of the ancestral hall and held on until dawn.
Thankfully, there was no hostility.
After dawn, Xiao Jianzhang first sent the seriously injured company commander to the rescue.
After that, he analyzed and judged that the people who left the company had gone
If it is to surrender to the enemy, the enemy should come one after another and come to the ancestral hall to search.
Could it be that they attacked Minister Shen and rushed for that money?
No, you have to send someone to Minister Shen to take a look, Xiao Jianzhang made a decision.
At this moment, a few fighters returned, and they said that the two deputy platoon commanders and the secretary general had taken people to Yunmeng County, 40 kilometers away, to surrender to the enemy.
The Japanese army in front of him did not defect, but he was willing to seek the near and farXiao Jianzhang said, "It's also thanks to their stupidity, otherwise, the consequences will be unimaginable." ”
At this time, the soldiers who went out to investigate came back and said that Minister Shen was safe and sound, and the money had not been lost.
It turned out that the few people who defected did go for the money, but after they attacked the company commander, there was a movement in the ancestral hall, and the surrounding dogs also barked.
When the dogs in this village barked, the dogs in the nearby villages barked non-stop.
They felt that Minister Shen was on guard at this time, and it would be difficult to succeed if he attacked again, and maybe he would suffer a loss, so they dispelled the idea of robbing money.
As for them, it is because they are not familiar with the Japanese army in Yingxian County, and they have acquaintances in Yunmeng's puppet army.
Unexpectedly, in this way, the company of the New Fourth Army had vitality.
At noon, the instructor and communicator also returned.
It turned out that when Huang Zhengyao attacked Company Commander Hu, the instructor did not command the staff to fight back, but left quickly with his own communicator and hid in the nearby woods to watch.
By noon, he saw that the company was all right and came back.
The instructor also said: "I will go after Huang Zhengyao and them and beat them away, otherwise, Minister Shen and them will be in danger." ”
For his words, don't say that Xiao Jianzhang doesn't believe it, and the soldiers don't believe it either: Since you are here to protect Minister Shen, why aren't you there for him?
At this time, Minister Shen also came, and instead of exposing the instructor, he said: "The instructor is just going to protect me, don't think about it." ”
After that, under the leadership of Minister Shen and Xiao Jianzhang, the troops successfully completed the task, returned to the logistics office of the Shuiyangquan Column Headquarters, handed over the money and Western medicine in full, and successfully completed the escort task.
Upon learning of the adventure of the 5th Company, regiment commander Wu Linhuan, political commissar Li Renlin, chief of staff Shi Jianjin, and director of the Political Department Yu Qian immediately brought the cadres of the organ to express their condolences and praise Xiao Jianzhang.
Upon learning of this news, the commander of the column attached great importance to it, and came over in person early the next morning, severely criticized the instructor, and wanted to punish him.
For the few people who defected, ** was furious: "They must be arrested and brought to justice!".”
Half a year later, the two deputy platoon commanders and division chiefs were brought back by the hoe and rape team of the New Fourth Army and executed in public, paying the due price for their crimes.
** praised Xiao Jianzhang, turned to Commander Wu Linhuan and said, "Xiao Xiao, don't be a platoon leader, come and work beside me." ”
The regiment commander was a little unhappy when he heard this, and the political commissar Li Renlin was also reluctant, and said to ***: "Commander, we have already discussed, and we plan to let Xiao Xiao be the instructor, can you take love with a knife." ”
** had to give in, and Xiao Jianzhang stayed as a company instructor.
In fact, ** saw that Xiao Jianzhang had great potential, and planned to transfer him to his side to cultivate.
Soon, Xiao Jianzhang was transferred to the agency.
He started as an operational staff officer and successively served as chief of staff of the regiment, deputy political commissar of the regiment, and political commissar of the regiment. After liberation, he served as deputy commander of the 23rd Air Division, chief of intelligence, chief of staff of the 7th Air Force, chief of staff of the Guangzhou Air Force, and deputy commander of the Air Force of the Wuhan Military Region, and died of illness in 2002.
1."Portraits of the New Fourth Army in the Hubei-Henan Border Area", Hubei People's Publishing House.
2.Memories of Reflections, Xiao Jianzhang, Hubei People's Publishing House.
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