On November 8, 1937, Taiyuan, an important city in North China, was lost, and Chiang's troops fled south, and the situation in North China was critical. The 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army received an order from the headquarters to rely on the Taihang Mountains to establish an anti-Japanese base area on the Shanxi-Hebei-Henan border.
On December 17, according to the telegram instructions of Commander-in-Chief Zhu, the 129th Division drew three infantry companies, one machine gun company, and one cavalry company to form an eastward column.
Chen Zaidao, deputy commander of the 386 Brigade, served as the commander, and Li Jingyu, secretary of the Jin-Hebei-Henan Brigade, served as the political commissar.
Chen Zaidao and Li Jingyu went to Weijiazhuang in Longping County together and found that the Julu Security Regiment in the neighboring county and the local Liu Motou bandit unit were engaged in a fierce fire, which had lasted for more than ten days.
Julu County is the gateway to southern Hebei, and the relationship between bandits and security regiments must be properly handled in order to carry out the work in southern Hebei. So Chen Zaidao, as the commander of the East Column, wrote a mediation letter to the two sides, persuading them to stop the infighting and jointly resist Japan.
After the patient persuasion of Chen Zaidao and Li Jingyu, both sides expressed their willingness to cease fire. However, Wang Wenzhen, the head of the Julu County Security Corps, and others still refused to enter the city under various excuses.
In order to deter Wang Wenzhen and others, Chen Zaidao decided to move his troops to the west of Julu City, causing a situation of troops approaching the city. The next day, the cavalry company pulled away and kicked up a sky full of smoke and dust around Julu City.
The frightened battle on the city wall made Wang Wenzhen, the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army, realize that Julu City was facing a possible attack from the east vertical, and the firepower of the security regiment was not enough to defend the city. He decided to take the initiative and join forces with Julu dignitaries and celebrities to invite Chen Zaidao to the city for a banquet.
However, Chen Zaidao politely declined the invitation twice on the grounds that the war was busy. Wang Wenzhen fell into a panic and personally came forward for the third time to ask Chen Zaidao to discuss the anti-Japanese plan. Li Jingyu suggested that Chen Zaidao should accept the invitation, otherwise the dignitaries and celebrities in Julu County would panic.
Chen Zaidao finally brought several guards into the city for a banquet, and his one-handed attendance surprised and admired the dignitaries and celebrities in Julu County. At the banquet, Chen Zaidao reiterated the anti-Japanese united front policy, expounded the position of the Eighth Route Army, and demanded that Julu County accept the leadership of our party and the Eighth Route Army, and listen to Hou's adaptation.
In Julu County, in the face of the warm welcome of celebrities and dignitaries, Dongzong successfully incorporated the security regiment, and established the semi-political "Julu County Field Mobilization Committee" and reorganized the security regiment.
In this incident, the bandit leader Liu Motou also expressed his willingness to accept the incorporation of the Eighth Route Army, and successfully mediated the fire between the security group and the bandits. Chen Zaidao's influence on the peaceful settlement of this incident was very great in southern Hebei, and subsequently, representatives from nearby counties sent representatives to ask Dongzong to stabilize society and lead the anti-Japanese struggle.
Under the leadership of Chen Zaidao, the Eastern Column troops grew rapidly, with Nangong as the center, actively assisted local organizations in establishing people's political power, reorganized the miscellaneous armed forces, and transferred part of the troops to form two advance detachments, which operated along the Pinghan Road and Jinpu Road, actively attacked the Japanese puppet army, uprooted the enemy's strongholds, and greatly encouraged the anti-Japanese enthusiasm of the people in southern Hebei.
However, in the process of absorbing the miscellaneous armed forces, the Eastern Column also encountered some stubborn reactionary elements, and Chen Zaidao did not show mercy and severely cracked down on these elements.
After Chen Zaidao heard the news, he repeatedly ordered Qiu Qingfu to return to the station, but Qiu Qingfu turned a deaf ear and even intensified his looting of the people. After receiving the cries of the local people, Chen Zaidao was furious and determined to eliminate Qiu Qingfu's bandits.
In the name of reviewing the troops, he asked Qiu Qingfu's headquarters and the two companies of the East Column to go to the Dachangzi of Nangong Fanjiazhuang to assemble. This large field is flanked by ditches, with a dry ditch on one side and a deep ditch on the other.
Two companies of the eastern column arrived first, they stood on the side of the dry ditch, and the machine gunners took control of the nearby commanding heights. However, Qiu Qingfu still had luck and led his troops to Fanjiazhuang slowly.
When Qiu Qingfu's bandit troops arrived at the big field in Fanjiazhuang, the parade commander asked them to stand on the side of the deep trench. After the assembly, Chen Zaidao sent someone to invite Qiu Qingfu to the headquarters for deliberations.
The East Column Headquarters was a three-in, three-out courtyard, and when Qiu Qingfu entered the first two gates, the soldiers guarding him blocked out more than a dozen of his guards. Qiu Qingfu did not suspect it, and stepped into the third gate alone, but was captured by the soldiers who were lying in ambush on both sides.
He tried to call for help, but was knocked unconscious by a soldier with the butt of his gun. At the same time, Qiu Qingfu's guards who remained in the outer courtyard were also disarmed by the East Column guard platoon.
Chen Zaidao ordered a meeting of officers above the squadron leader level of Qiu Qingfu's department, which aroused the alarm of the traitors hiding in Qiu Qingfu's department. He shouted: "Brothers, Commander Qiu must have been captured, they only have two companies, let's go and destroy them and then save Commander Qiu." ”
As soon as the words fell, the two companies of the East Column quickly retreated into the dry ditch, taking the lead, and the machine guns in the ambush also began to roar. As a result, the bandits lost their command and suddenly became chaotic.
In an instant, the stubborn bandits were killed, and the rest raised their hands to surrender. After exterminating Qiu Qingfu's bandits, Chen Zaidao commanded the troops to eradicate the bandit Liu Motou and other armed forces who did not fight against Japan and specialized in doing bad things.
Under the powerful military attack of the Eastern Column, some of the remnants of the bandits in southern Hebei chose to surrender, while others disappeared without a trace.
In just three months, General Chen Zaidao assisted the establishment of 20 anti-Japanese regimes in the local area, and the team grew rapidly from the initial 500 to more than 10,000 people.
In August of the same year, in order to contain the Japanese army, the 129th Division launched the Zhangnan Campaign. Chen Zaidao was ordered to lead the Eastern Column, the Youth Column, the 689th Regiment, the New 1st Regiment and other troops, first to destroy the Guo Qing bandit department in Linzhang, and then with the cooperation of the 386th Brigade, successfully annihilated the puppet army Cheng Ximeng and Wang Ziquan.
Subsequently, in the Huaxian area, the puppet army was completely annihilated and the Quanlu division was completely annihilated, and a major military victory was achieved.
After a month of fierce fighting, the Battle of Zhangnan came to a successful conclusion. In this battle, more than 7,000 enemy troops were defeated, more than 3,200 guns were successfully captured, and a large area of northern Henan was liberated, making southern Hebei and Hebei, Shandong, and Henan regions closely connected.