In 1934, the merchant saved 3,000 Red Army, and many years later learned that 97 of them were founding generals.
Browsing the combat history of the Red 25th Army, page after page of stories is vividly displayed, and each image is vivid and three-dimensional. However, in this concise history of the war, we note a detailed account of a merchant. He is Chen Tingxian.
FigChen Tingxian has a very high evaluation of Chen Tingxian in the history of the war, he is known as a turning point in the history of the Red 25th Army, without him, the existence of the Red 25th Army may be in vain.
So, what exactly happened back then?What kind of secret is hidden in Chen Tingxian?(1) The early experience of Chen Tingxian, the founder of the Red 25th Army, is not well known, except that he was born in November 1911, his parents died when he was very young, and he was raised by his grandmother.
In order to make ends meet, he worked hard in Jiezhou, Shanxi Province when he was very young, and lived a difficult life. Later, when he encountered a natural disaster, he and his grandmother were forced to live in Lushi County in western Henan.
In Lushi County, he rented a place to live with his only savings and learned the craft of making pastries. He carried the goods on his shoulders every day, walked the streets and alleys, and sold the pastries he made, which laid the groundwork for his life change.
FigThe turning point in the life of the merchant Chen Tingxian occurred in 1934, and the other side of this event was the Red 25th Army on the Long March. If the Long March is a feat in the history of the Red Army, then the Red 25th Army is the brightest star in this feat.
Not only were they the first to reach northern Shaanxi in the Long March, but they were even the youngest of all the Long March teams. It can be said that this army has too many legends, and the story of Chen Tingxian happened with them.
In the early days of the Red Army's Long March, the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China organized the Red 25th Army in order to protect the troops remaining in the Soviet area. However, as soon as this nascent unit was formed, it faced the frenzied encirclement and suppression of Chiang Kai-shek's army.
Chiang Kai-shek's "Iron Bucket Plan" aimed at destroying the main forces of the Red Army in one fell swoop, so they were extremely cruel in encircling and suppressing the Soviet area, and carried out "purging" and "encirclement and suppression" many times, which brought huge losses to the Red 25th Army.
Nevertheless, they persevered and bought time for the transfer of the Red Army units. When the Red Army began its Long March on October 10, 1934, more than 3,000 soldiers of the Red 25th Army in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Revolutionary Base Area also began their Long March in November.
In the Long March, the Red Army was called the "Second Advance Force of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army to the North to Resist Japan", and they faced the enemy's carefully prepared "iron bucket encirclement", but the Red Army did not give in, but mobilized the Kuomintang troops to block it.
However, the situation of the Red XXV Army in the Red Army was worrying, and after several sieges and defensive battles, its vital strength was sharply reduced to more than 3,000 men. At the same time, the senior leadership of the Red XXV Army was faced with a difficult decision: whether to remain in the Soviet zone and persist in guerrilla warfare, or to move ahead of schedule
If so, in which direction?** also considered this problem, so he sent Cheng Zihua, the former commander of the 22nd Division of the Red First Army, to lead the Red 25th Army together with Wu Huanxian, Xu Haidong and others.
Cheng Zihua is an experienced fighter who has great trust in him and believes that he can protect the living forces of the Red 25th Army. **The order given to Cheng Zihua was to lead the local guerrilla war as much as possible, and if the situation did not allow, to move immediately, and not hesitate.
Therefore, when the guerrilla war in Hubei, Henan, and Anhui lasted for a month, Cheng Zihua decisively decided that the Red 25th Army must be transferred immediately. At that time, heavy troops were hoarded in three directions around Hubei, Henan, and Anhui, but the west was relatively weak.
Therefore, the first direction of strategic transfer of the Red 25th Army was to the west. Moreover, the leaders of the Red 25 Army took into account that the western part was mountainous and suitable for guerrilla warfare. For the tenacious Red 25th Army, with mountains, guerrilla warfare could continue and the Red Army could survive.
At that time, the commander of the Red 25th Army was General Xu Haidong. But he learned that Cheng Zihua was the master commander of the Red Army and was sent by **, so he offered to let Cheng Zihua serve as the commander of the Red 25th Army and himself as the deputy commander.
Three days later, the Red 25th Army entered the Tongbai Mountains westward as planned, but the enemy discovered that the Red Army had suddenly moved north.
FigThe Kuomintang was taken aback by the surprise victory of Xu Haidong's Red 25th Army, and when they arranged the encirclement and suppression plan, they deliberately left a gap in the west, and then secretly assembled heavy troops in the Zaoyang area, so that as long as the Red Army broke through from the west, they could take advantage of the fishermen and eliminate the "red bandits" in one fell swoop.
However, what the Kuomintang never expected was that with such an obvious choice to break through, how could Cheng Zihua and Xu Haidong and other battle-hardened generals not see it?They were ready to move to the west at the beginning, but in the next second they judged the enemy's intentions.
Therefore, Cheng Zihua and others thought that it was more likely that the enemy would set up an ambush, so they decided to plan their plans, first pretending to march westward to confuse the enemy, and then suddenly marching north to open up a new base area.
When the Kuomintang was in battle in Zaoyang, the Red Army had already managed to escape and left the enemy far behind. Although the Red Army managed to escape from the enemy's encirclement, they encountered an unexpected turn of events on the way.
In the Tongbai area, the mountains were stacked, the roads were intricate, and the Red Army soldiers were in a difficult situation. Zhang Xingjiang, secretary of the local CPC Hubei-Henan Border Work Committee, quickly summoned underground party organizations to find reliable masses to guide the Red Army.
However, after several days of field research, Cheng Zihua found that Tongbai was not suitable as a base for the development of the Red Army. Although this is a mountainous area with complex terrain and suitable for guerrilla warfare, the area is narrow, and it is next to the Han River and the railway.
More importantly, the development of base areas need to rely on the masses, and the rural situation in Tongbai area is completely different from that of Hubei, Henan, and Anhui Soviet areas, with high mountains and dangerous roads, bandits breed, and the villagers have built strong city walls and equipped a large number of ** in order to defend against bandits.
FigBandits (stills) These villages were controlled by the landlords and gentry, and if the Red Army wanted to develop here, it would inevitably be resisted by them, and they might even be encircled and suppressed by the diehards in collusion with the Kuomintang when carrying out the peasant ** movement.
Therefore, in order to establish a base here, it is necessary to first sweep away these landlords' armed forces, but this will undoubtedly bring losses to our army and waste a lot of time, which is extremely precious for the Red Army.
In addition, Zhang Xingjiang, who served as a guide for the troops, also suggested that although the Tongbai Mountains are dangerous in the mountains and high grounds, the territory here is small and the room for maneuver is narrow, and it is difficult for large troops to gain a foothold and develop.
Therefore, he suggested avoiding the enemy interception and heading west into the Funiu Mountains, where the environment was much better than that of Tongbai, and it was possible to open up a larger base area. In December 1934, the Red Army officially entered the Funiu Mountains.
Although conditions here have improved, the enemy has become more urgent.
When the Red 25th Army entered Funiu Mountain, it experienced dozens of battles, and the troops also suffered considerable losses. However, when they arrived at Funiu Mountain in western Henan, they realized that there was a gap between their ideals and reality.
Although the situation in the Funiu Mountains is better than the previous Tongbai, it is sparsely populated, supplies are scarce, and this is the territory of the warlord Bei Tingfang, so there are bandits.
Most of the people here are guarding against danger, which is not suitable as a base for long-term development. The two originally planned transfer destinations were now not working, and the morale of the Red Army units was somewhat low, because there was no turning back.
The commanders of the Red 25 Army realized that they had to develop a new plan and lead the fighters out of the situation, otherwise the situation could get worse. Cheng Zihua learned that the main force of the ** Red Army would advance to northern Shaanxi, and considering the current situation of the Red 25th Army, he decided to lead his troops to advance to Shangluo in southern Shaanxi.
Deep in the northwest, the homeland of the Shangluo people, because of its special geographical location, became a refuge for the Red Army. It is rich in resources, the number of troops is scarce, and at the same time it is the junction of Shaanxi, Sichuan, Henan and other places, and there are many contradictions between the warlords, so that the Red Army has a chance to survive here.
In addition, Yang Hucheng of the Northwest Army, which occupied Shaanxi, had a completely different attitude towards the Red Army than Chiang Kai-shek, and had private contacts with the Red Army. Therefore, the Red 25th Army decided to continue westward, into southern Shaanxi, in search of a better place to survive.
However, the journey from western Henan to Shaanxi is fraught with difficulties, with undulating mountains and requires someone familiar with the local environment to guide you to move forward smoothly. When the Red Army had just set foot on the Henan-Shaanxi border, it was ambushed by Chiang Kai-shek.
FigChiang Kai-shek had already reached the route of the Red 25th Army and set a trap on the path that the Red Army had to pass. At that time, the Red Army had to pass through the two important passes of Zhuyang Pass and Wulichuan to enter Shaanxi from Funiu Mountain, but when the Red 25th Army arrived, it found that these passes had been occupied by the Kuomintang and a large number of fortifications had been laid.
When Cheng Zihua saw the scale of these fortifications, he couldn't help but shudder, because the Kuomintang had obviously been prepared. Indeed, when the Red 25th Army had just set off, Chiang Kai-shek mobilized tens of thousands of elite troops in advance and deployed them in the areas of Wulichuan and Zhuyangguan.
It can be said that when the Red 25th Army took the initiative to advance in this direction, it had already fallen into the encirclement of the Kuomintang, and they did not have any chance of escaping, as long as the defenders of the pass could wait for their work and wait for the pursuing army behind to seal the encirclement, then the Red 25th Army would become their bag.
The situation at that time was indeed very dangerous, and the Kuomintang troops chasing after were only 70 miles away from the Red 25th Army. After the soldiers of the Red 25th Army knew about this situation, they asked for battle, they said that since there was no escape, then they would fight hard with the enemy, and the brave would win when they met on a narrow road, as long as they could tear a hole, there would be a chance that someone would be able to escape and save the fire of the Red 25th Army.
Many sick people also wrote blood letters, expressing their willingness to die for the troops, and many soldiers also expressed their unyielding will to fight.
At the moment of crisis, Red Army soldiers Cheng Zihua, Xu Haidong and others knew very well that they could not act impulsively. In a situation where the enemy is strong and we are weak, and the enemy occupies favorable terrain, it is absolutely undesirable to fight hard.
Although the situation looked bad, they did not despair. They believed that in the mountains, in addition to the passes, there must be other paths leading to Shaanxi. As long as the enemy's edge is avoided, it is possible for the troops to be safely evacuated.
Therefore, all the reconnaissance squads of the Red 25th Army were trying to find civilians who were familiar with the path. Despite their hopes, the situation has become dire again.
When the people in the vicinity heard that a "large army" had arrived, they hid in the stockade and did not dare to come out. Although the reconnaissance team searched for a long time, they still did not find anyone who could lead the way.
Just when they were feeling desperate, on December 4, 1934, several small Red Army soldiers of the pistol regiment of the Red 25th Army happened to meet Chen Tingxian, who was walking the streets and alleys to sell goods.
They knew that the troops were looking for the people who were leading the way, and when they saw Chen Tingxian, they immediately stepped forward to greet them.
Chen Tingxian was surprised when he saw the Red Army soldiers, because the propaganda of the Red Army by the Kuomintang and the local militias was negative, which distorted the image of the Red Army in the minds of the locals, and the people were afraid to meet them.
However, Chen Tingxian was not worried, because he had traveled a lot and seen a lot of things, and he knew better than anyone the real situation of the Red Army. For example, he once sold things to the Red Army, and the Red Army not only bought, but also paid for it, which was very different from what the Kuomintang called "** behavior."
Therefore, Chen Tingxian did not believe in the propaganda of the Kuomintang, and he believed that the ranks of the Red Army were much better than those of the Kuomintang. Under the explanation of several Red Army soldiers, Chen Tingxian learned that the Red Army troops were surrounded by the enemy and urgently needed someone to lead the way into Shaanxi from the path.
When Chen Tingxian heard this, he immediately expressed his willingness to help, and told the Red Army soldiers that he knew the path and could immediately lead the troops into action. The Red Army soldiers were very happy when they heard the news, and after repeated confirmation, they immediately took Chen Tingxian to the headquarters of the Red 25th Army.
Chen Tingxian also knew that the situation was urgent, he looked at the load on his body, and was about to throw it away to reduce the weight, but when the Red Army soldiers saw it, they immediately took it and took him and rushed towards the headquarters.
After the army commander Cheng Zihua and political commissar Wu Huanxian learned the news, they personally received Chen Tingxian. Chan told them about his ordeal many years ago.
Chen Tingxian led the way for the Red 25th Army on the Henan-Shaanxi border, successfully bypassed the heavily guarded Wulichuan and Dongyang Passes, broke through the enemy's third blockade line, and successfully jumped out of Chiang Kai-shek's encirclement.
He not only led the way, but also probed the enemy for the Red Army and bought salt and medicines. On the way to Shaanxi, the Red 25th Army fought dozens of battles, one of which was that General Xu Haidong was hit by a stray bullet, but fortunately several Red Army soldiers risked their lives to save his life.
FigShaanxi: The Red 25th Army in Shaanxi finally got a respite after a difficult march. At that time, Yang Hucheng in Shaanxi Province did not send heavy troops to encircle and suppress them.
After the Red 25th Army got through this crisis, Chiang Kai-shek had no way to do anything about them, and there was nothing he could do. Because the Red 25th Army had already entered the border between southern Shaanxi and Henan, where there was a natural barrier, the enemy could not carry out effective clearance.
Moreover, the cliffs there are steep, the transportation conditions are poor, and it is almost impossible for the enemy to increase his forces to encircle them. Later, on the border of Hubei, Henan, and Shaanxi provinces, Wu Huanxian, political commissar of the Red 25th Army, mobilized the masses and put forward the slogan of "five resistances", and the revolutionary wave quickly swept the locality.
Revolutionary activities such as cracking down on local tyrants and dividing up land were in full swing. Soon, the Red 25th Army established a base area in the area. What is even more gratifying is that in more than five months, the Red 25th Army has doubled its size from 3,000 to 6,000.
At that time, more than 300 villages established Soviet power.
Chen Tingxian was appreciated by the Red Army for saving 3000 Red Army troops and was invited to join the Communist Party of China. He resolutely refused to accept the 10 oceans he had been given, and carefully hid the Red Army's proof note.
However, the note was burned during the Sino-Japanese War, but he still held on to his beliefs and wandered around, eventually settling in Lushi County, Henan Province.
Cheng Zihua has always been grateful to Chen Tingxian in his heart, although so many years have passed, Cheng Zihua still remembers what led the way back then, and he always remembers that they agreed to come to him.
However, New China has been established, but Chen Tingxian has not waited for him. Cheng Zihua deeply regretted it, but he did not give up, he increased the scope of the search, from Shanxi to Shaanxi, almost all nearby provinces, are vigorously searching for Chen Tingxian's traces.
However, after looking for a long time, Cheng Zihua still did not find him. Cheng Zihua knows that now is a critical moment to resist Japan and cannot be distracted by these things, but he still hopes to find Chen Tingxian and thank him.
It turned out that the truth of the matter was that Chen Tingxian introduced himself with a strong Shanxi accent, which caused the army commander Cheng Zihua to mishear his name, which led to the fact that he was never found.
For various reasons, Chen Tingxian did not publicize that he had saved the Red Army, which also made both sides regret missing this history. However, it is worth mentioning that Chen Tingxian has always been very concerned about the Red 25th Army, and many years later, he learned that 97 of the 3,000 Red Army soldiers he saved that year had become the founding generals, and Chen Tingxian was shocked and happy because he did something beneficial to the party organization.
In 1985, when compiling the military history of the Red 25th Army, the ** Military Commission noticed the story of Chen Tingxian, they searched everywhere, mobilized the forces of several provinces, and finally found Chen Tingxian's family in Lushi County, Henan Province.
However, at this time, Chen Tingxian had already passed away.
The tomb of Chen Tingxian is located next to the Party School of the Lushi County Party Committee, and many people come to pay their respects every year. Cheng Zihua and some generals of the Red 25th Army deeply regretted Chen Tingxian's failure to join the party after hearing the news.
They submitted a letter to the party organization, hoping to approve Chen Tingxian to join the party in order to fulfill his last wish. Although he did not achieve his wish, the spirit of Tan Tingxian lives on, and his deeds will be remembered forever.