Introduction
This article is excerpted from the sixth volume of "Selected Literary and Historical Materials of Wuhou", written by Ding Chenbin and Zhang Ren, and the original title is "Chen Mengxi's Uprising in the Western Sichuan Division".
Chen Mengxi (1899-1986), a native of Sichuan Lezhi, ** brother. In 1919, he was admitted to study in France on official scholarship, and went to France for work-study in August of the same year. He returned to China in September 1921. The following year, he joined the Chinese Socialist Youth League. In 1925, he was admitted to the fifth phase of the Whampoa Military Academy and participated in the Northern Expedition. After 1929, he was sent to work in the Sichuan Army, and served as the director of the Political Department of the 26th Division, the chief of staff of the 1st ** Division, and the deputy commander of the Major General of the Western Sichuan Division. During his tenure in the Sichuan Army, he supported and covered the revolutionary activities of the first country. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he advocated cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party and the joint resistance against Japan. In December 1949, he led an uprising in Leshan, Sichuan. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as a member of the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a member of the ** Unity Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang. In April 1986, he died of illness in Chongqing, Sichuan.
Body
General Chen Mengxi, a patriotic general in Sichuan, was the eldest brother of the first marshal, and had the ambition to serve the country in his early years, but he was difficult to succeed because he served in the Kuomintang troops. The relevant circumstances are described below.
Chen Dunhou, a musician in Sichuan, married his wife Huang and had three sons, the eldest son Chen Shilu, the second son Chen Shijun, and the third son Chen Shixun.
In 1908, their family moved to Hexinzhou, outside the east gate of Chengdu, rented tenant land to engage in agriculture, and the three brothers studied in the Pei Yetang teacher's hall. Teacher Pei valued them very much, and changed their "scientific names" according to the order of Meng, Zhong, and Ji. Since then, Chen Shilu has changed his name to Chen Yan, with the word Mengxi; Chen Shijun changed his name to **, the word Zhonghong (according to the "Four Books Collection)"), the scholar must not be Hongyi, and the responsibility is heavy and the road is long", so the name is Zhonghong; Chen Shixun changed his name to Chen Jirang. Chen Mengxi went to France in 1919 with his brother ** for work-study, participated in the labor movement in France, and organized the Paris workers' strike; He also participated in anti-imperialist patriotic activities, and actively carried out revolutionary activities with Chinese students in France, becoming an active member of the revolution, which caused dissatisfaction in France, and was later forcibly escorted back to China. After returning to China, he became more determined, continued to make revolution, and joined the Chinese Communist Youth League in 1922.
After the Xinhai Revolution, in order to oppose the warlord secession, oppose the invasion of foreign powers, and rejuvenate China, Mr. Sun Yat-sen founded the Army Military Academy (referred to as the Whampoa Military Academy) in Huangpu, Guangzhou. Chen Mengxi was admitted to the fifth phase of the Whampoa Military Academy, and while he studied military knowledge, he continued to keep in touch with revolutionary patriots. When I graduated, it was the Northern Expedition. At that time, it was the first period of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and Chen Mengxi was sent to Wuchang City to organize armed forces to respond internally.
Regardless of his personal safety, after infiltrating Wuchang in disguise, he used to carry water and sell water to cover his identity, secretly reconnoiter the enemy's situation, and did everything possible to do counter-plot work, so as to reap the effect of internal and external cooperation. On the day of the siege, Chen Mengxi kept in mind the enemy's terrain, position, troop allocation, communication post, and command headquarters, and sneaked back to the troops to report, which played an important role in formulating the battle plan for the battle. At the height of the siege battle, Chen Mengxi resolutely joined the death squad regardless of his personal life and death, bravely entered the battle with the determination to die, and made contributions to the battle of the Northern Expeditionary Army to conquer Wuchang City.
Brother Chen and the Whampoa Military Academy have an indissoluble bond with each other in the Northern Expedition, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation. He served as the political instructor of the student team of the Wuhan branch of the Whampoa Military Academy (the general was his student), the leader of the New Fourth Army during the Anti-Japanese War, the commander of the Third Field Army during the Liberation War, and was awarded the rank of marshal after the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Chen's cousin Chen Xiuhe graduated from the fourth phase of the Whampoa Military Academy, studied in Germany, specialized in weapons manufacturing, became an ordnance expert, and was the director of the Kuomintang's ** Chongqing Yangtze River Arsenal. In August 1945, after Japan's defeat and surrender, he was sent to take over the Shenyang Arsenal and served as the factory director. When Shenyang was liberated in 1948, he worked hard to protect the integrity of the equipment and the safety of the workers. He is now the counselor of the Counselor's Office. Chen Mengxi graduated from the fifth phase of the Whampoa Military Academy, and was promoted to the staff officer of the 126th Division for his military merits in the Northern Expedition and the Anti-Japanese War. Chen Jirang graduated from the sixth phase of the Huangpu Military Academy, returned to his hometown after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War to work and engage in agriculture, and also contributed to the revolution.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, Chen Mengxi's troops were reduced and transferred to the deputy captain of the Chongqing 26 Officer Corps. Guo is a native of Luzhou, Sichuan, and served as the commander of the Kuomintang army and the commander-in-chief of the group army. After the victory of the war, Chiang Kai-shek did not start to build the country, develop production, and improve the people's livelihood, but was extremely dissatisfied with the brazen launching of a civil war. But under the monitoring of many spies, even if they have plans, they can't do anything, so they can only stand by and know each other.
After 1946, some of the officers on duty in the officer corps were transferred to the formed units to fight the civil war, and some were transferred to the administrative, police, agricultural reclamation, transportation and other departments, and the corps was later abolished. At this time, Chen Mengxi was transferred to the deputy commander of the major general of the western Sichuan Division. The commander is Lieutenant General Huang Zhanchun (graduated from the eighth phase of Baoding Military Academy).
The division headquarters is stationed in Yueertang, Leshan County, and its task is to recruit soldiers, train recruits and send soldiers to combat units. After the abolition of the Ministry of Military Service, it was transferred to the Ministry of National Defense, and the jurisdiction was expanded from the original 1-2 counties and cities to 2-3 prefectures. The divisional area consists of a headquarters, a police force and three regimental districts. Due to the wide station, including the western Sichuan region, the contact area is wide, and the formed troops, security teams and local ** have contact, and assist the local city defense. Chen Mengxi believed that the geographical location of western Sichuan was very important, the water and land transportation was convenient, and it was connected to the mountainous areas of Moth (Bian), Lei (Wave), Ma (Bian), and Ping (Mountain), and it was also staggered with the Sichuan army station, which was conducive to the work of plotting a rebellion and uprising.
In the summer of 1949, Chen Mengxi met after receiving Guo Xunqi's secret letter, and rushed to Chengdu from Leshan with his cronies Major Ding Chenbin, and met Guo Xiangxi at the Heming Tea House in Shaocheng Park (now People's Park) on time.
At that time, Guo Xunqi had just returned to Sichuan from the liberated area, and before returning to Sichuan, he had met with comrades such as *** and **, and they instructed him that after returning to Sichuan, he could organize forces and do the work of the Sichuan army to make contributions to the revolution. ** also sent a special message to Chen Mengxi and Chen Jirang, actively carry out the work of rebellion, launch the Sichuan army uprising, and welcome the liberation. Guo and Chen were like-minded to each other in their early years, and they were very happy to meet each other this time.
In September of the same year, Brother Chen went to visit his son Pei Xianzhang at the home of Pei Yetang, a teacher who had been taught in Wangjianglou Hexinzhou in his early years, and it turned out that Pei Xianzhang was also a student of the 10th phase of the Whampoa Military Academy, and after graduation, he served as the colonel of the Kuomintang Ministry of National Defense. Because the Kuomintang insisted on continuing the civil war, and the US representatives had always favored their ancestors and supported the Kuomintang, they fought while talking, but finally mediation was ineffective and the negotiations broke down. Pei Xianzhang was transferred back to the army as a senior officer and was captured on the battlefield, and successively met with leading comrades of the People's Liberation Army, and through study, he was educated and inspired, recognized the situation, raised his consciousness, and was willing to make contributions to the revolution, and was sent to fly back to Sichuan from Hong Kong. Before leaving, ** asked him to go back to Sichuan to find Chen Mengxi, Chen Jirang and Guo Xunqi to discuss the counterplot. After Chen Mengxi had a secret discussion with Pei Xianzhang, he and Chen Jirang got in touch with the Sichuan underground party of the Communist Party of China, and received support and cooperation, so they strengthened their determination to rebel against the uprising.
In November 1949, the situation in western Sichuan changed abruptly, the army was in chaos, and the people were panicked. At this time, Hu Zongnan sent the commander of the 335th division and child Xuechun to lead his troops to the Leshan area to deploy defenses, announcing that the whole region had entered a state of war, and at the same time invited Xu Guangpu, chairman of the Senate of Leshan County (formerly the commander of the Kuomintang Major General), (the third brother of Wang Lingji, chairman of Sichuan Province and commander of security, who lived in Futang Lane of Leshan County and had local armed forces), Liu Zhizhou, the chief helmsman of Leshan, and Lu Xingqun, senator of Leshan County (general manager of Mojiang Coal Company), and other diehards, actively organized local armed warfare and made three-handed contingency preparations: First, relying on the dangerous terrain of Leshan, Stubbornly defended; the second is to go to Taiwan with the troops after destroying the factory; Third, as a last resort, they went to the mountainous areas to fight guerrillas.
In the face of this situation, Chen Mengxi first got through the work of Commander Huang Zhanchun and Deputy Commander Li Yansheng of the Western Sichuan Division, and they all agreed to stand by for the uprising. Huang Zhanchun is a native of Meixian County, Guangdong, and is a fellow villager and classmate, so he has a certain sense of selfishness, so he fully supports the uprising proposed by Chen Mengxi. But at this time, Zhu Rong (a member of the Democratic League), the secretary of Commander Huang Zhanchun, was suddenly arrested by the special high group of the Third Regiment of the Chengdu Military Police, and Huang Zhanchun was also removed from his post. Deng Xihou, commander of the Sichuan Military Region, sent his chief of staff, Xie Chongjie, to take over as commander of the Western Sichuan Division. At the beginning of his tenure, Xie Chongjie also did something, organizing the three regimental districts of Jianyang, Qionglai, and Jiading into infantry regiments, organizing the recruits into two supplementary regiments, and appointing Zhang Jiyin, the former chief of staff of the division district, as the head of the supplementary regiment; Fu Lekang was the commander of the Second Regiment and Ding Chenbin was the deputy commander of the Lieutenant Colonel (not yet in office), the purpose of which was to expand into five formed regiments and gather the troops in Leshan so as to resist stubbornly. As a result, inside and outside Leshan City, large armies gathered, and war was about to break out, and Chen Mengxi's rebellion and uprising work became more busy.
On November 27, 1949, Yan Xishan and Zhang Qun held a contingency meeting in Chengdu, and Ding Chenbin, a close confidant of Chen Mengxi, took this opportunity to find Yan Xishan's (then the premier) Adjutant Zhang to understand the current situation and the war situation. Zhang attached great importance to his hometown, treated him warmly, and gave him two plane tickets to Taiwan, telling Ding: "Now that the war is tight, Shangfeng has decided that Taiwan will be the base for the first mainland and rejuvenation, and you should have a future when you go to Taiwan to find President Yan to be promoted." : These two tickets are very difficult to obtain, and they must be used the next day to Xinjin Military Airport. Ding Chenbin took the ticket to ask Chen Mengxi to accompany him, Chen Mengxi laughed at it, and said to Ding Chenbin earnestly: "Brother Ding, the liberation of the southwest is just around the corner, the liberation of the whole country is a foregone conclusion, the Kuomintang is defeated like a mountain, and fled to the small island of Taiwan, how can it succeed," and said: "Taiwan is just a small island compared to the whole country, there are many factions within the Kuomintang military and government, and they are intriguing with each other, and it will be difficult to keep Yan Xishan's position in the future. In the end, he said to Ding Zhanbin: "You are only 28 years old this year, and you know some military technology, after the uprising, the People's Liberation Army will be reused, and only then will you really have a future if you serve the revolutionary cause"! Ding did not waver any longer, dispelled the idea of going to Taiwan, and continued to carry out the work of rebellion under the leadership of Chen Mengxi.
Liu Shucheng, commander of the 17th Division of the Sichuan Army, was originally Liu Xiang's old unit, but because the disparity between the treatment of the local army and the first-class troops was too great and the contradictions were very deep, Chiang Kai-shek repeatedly made reorganization, but because the unit was stationed far away in the mountainous areas of Lei, Ma, and Ping, and the terrain was dangerous and complicated, so it was not reorganized. But they have a deep grudge against each other. Chen Mengxi was familiar with the situation of the Sichuan army and had considerable contacts with Liu, so he personally went to the headquarters of the 17th Division in Qingshuixi, Qianwei County, to secretly discuss the uprising plan with Liu Shucheng, the division commander, and agreed that when the PLA did not arrive, he would first maintain local law and order, protect the safety of industrial and mining enterprises and people's lives and property, and as soon as the PLA arrived, he would immediately announce the uprising. Liu later succeeded in the uprising.
Sichuan Provincial Security Regiment 3rd Battalion Commander Yang Wei stationed in Leshan Wutong Bridge Zhugentan area, this is Leshan to Zigong, Neijiang, Luzhou, Yibin throat place, the geographical location is very important, Chen Mengxi also through persuasion and writing a letter to mobilize Yang Battalion Commander camera uprising, Yang Wei and Ding Chenbin are classmates of the Whampoa Military Academy at the same time, their thinking tends to be progressive, and later when the People's Liberation Army is on the border, they have also led their troops to revolt (now a member of the Civil Revolutionary Party).
5 regiments in the western Sichuan division (3 regiments were reorganized from the regimental district, and two regiments were expanded by recruits). By this time, it was already equipped. Chen Mengxi had already done the rebellion work to the four regiments separately, but he could not rest assured about the infantry regiment reorganized from the Jiading regimental management area. The regiment is stationed in Niuhuaxi, southeast of Leshan, which is the hub of Leshan and land leading to central and southern Sichuan, and is only 20 miles away from the urban area and the division headquarters, and is also responsible for the defense of the first line of the southeast periphery of the city. There are positions in the area of the Big Buddha Temple, Wuyou Temple, Guibang Mountain, and Xujiawan, and their defense areas are only separated by a river from the headquarters of the division management area. Chen Mengxi first called Zhao Huijia, commander and head of the regiment, and after inquiring about the military situation, he was more interested in understanding his views and thoughts on the current situation. Commander Zhao seemed to be a lost horse, and was exploring the direction, and immediately said: "I am willing to follow the old commander's action, please send someone to strengthen the connection." The next day, Chen Mengxi wrote a secret letter asking Ding Chenbin to send it to Commander Zhao to read in person. When Ding went, Commander Zhao was convening a meeting of officers at and above the battalion and company level to talk about the current situation and the battle situation, and to discuss contingency measures. When Commander Zhao saw Chen Mengxi, he instructed his camera to mobilize officers and soldiers, increase vigilance, strictly guard against annexation and sudden incidents, and at the same time strengthen ties and listen to orders to stand by for an uprising. After seeing the letter, Zhao made clear the direction, doubled his determination, and was overjoyed, and immediately made a mobilization speech at the meeting to prepare for the uprising. Unexpectedly, as soon as the words fell, the commander of the first battalion Gao (formerly the captain of the first battalion, known as Gao **zi) suddenly pulled out a powerful pistol, rushed out of the venue, and ran to Ding Chenbin, who was waiting for the echo in the next room, and pointed the gun at Ding Chenbin and scolded: "The surname is Ding, you are the tail of the Communist Party, don't want to pull our team away......Seeing this, the other battalion and company commanders also poured out of the venue to Ding's room, and shouted in unison: "Don't come here, listen to Zhao Si's orders!" Commander Zhao, who came into the house from the crowd, first ordered the battalion commander Gao to put his pistol on the table and asked the guards to drag him to another room to "rest" (in fact, surveillance and house arrest): then he asked the battalions, and the company commanders each returned to the barracks, stuck to their posts, and acted according to orders; In the end, he drafted a secret letter to Ding Chenbin and submitted it to Chen Mengxi. Chen Mengxi read the reply letter in detail, and after listening to Ding Zhanbin's report, he said with great satisfaction: "Commander Zhao is willing to go the same way with us, and I am more at ease!" Later, the regiment really revolted as scheduled under the leadership of Chen Mengxi and accepted the arrangements and deployments of the People's Liberation Army.
Leshan rivers and rivers, convenient transportation, developed economy, people's health and abundant goods, has always been a place for soldiers. Hu Zongnan knew that Leshan's strategic position was very important, and quickly dispatched the 335th Division, which was well-equipped, had sufficient troops, and had combat experience, to gallop to Leshan to deploy defenses. After the division commander Tong Xuechun led his troops to Leshan, he immediately built fortifications at the peripheral ferries, bricks, traffic arteries, and commanding heights, and dug deep battlefield soil around the city, and also established a defense system at the Gaobei Gate, Jiale Gate, Shuixi Gate, Xiao Gongzhongzui, and Lao Xiaoding. The whole city was controlled during wartime, and a battlefield was set up in Leshan. At that time, the 335th Division was very arrogant, and it had notified the western Sichuan Division to move to the suburbs to prepare for the peripheral war. In order to prevent conflicts between troops, it was agreed that Commander Xie Chongjie and Deputy Commander Li Yansheng would lead the headquarters of the division and various regiments to move to Qianwei, while Deputy Commander Chen Mengxi and Ding Chenbin and a few other personnel would be transferred to the Big Buddha Temple to stay behind and liaise with them. This kind of decision is exactly what Chen Mengxi wants, because he is between urban and rural areas, between the first army and the local army, and between the forward position and the rear defense position, and he is just carrying out the work of plotting rebellion.
The 335th Division was originally stationed in the Jin and Shaanxi regions, and participated in the Taiyuan Campaign, but it was defeated in five battles, suffered a large loss of soldiers, and replenished five times. Every time the troops are handed over, the two troops have contact, and the more contacts they have, the more familiar they are, so Deputy Commander Chen Mengxi and Division Commander Tong Xuechun also have a certain friendship, and when they meet, they inevitably have to talk about the current situation, but every time Chen hints to Tong that it is advisable to abandon the secret and raise the flag to revolt, Tong looks forward to Chiang Kai-shek's army, and his heart is lucky, and he wants to make a desperate bet. Later, the People's Liberation Army marched into the west bank of the Minjiang River, and sporadic gunfire could be heard in the Big Buddha Temple. Second, if there is indeed difficulty, it can also feign a battle and then surrender; The third is not to engage in destruction, do not disturb the people, and should quickly spread out of the city The letter was sent by Ding Chenbin across the river, the day after Tong Xuechun received the letter, the 335th Division really evacuated the city, the People's Liberation Army took advantage of the situation to cross the Luojiang River, the Tonghe River, and the Qingyi River, liberated Leshan City, and also cut off the Chengjia Highway and the Lexi Highway, the 335th Division was surrounded by the People's Liberation Army, and the division commander Tong Xuechun was finally forced to lead his troops to surrender to the city.
On the afternoon of December 13, 1945, Leshan City was liberated, and Chen Mengxi connected with the leader of the 30th Division of the People's Liberation Army on the same day. At that time, because some of the rebel troops did not understand the policy, they fled when they saw the PLA. Chen Mengxi and Ding Chenbin jointly wrote a letter to the former division management area, the regimental management area, and the 1st Security Regiment to explain the policy. After reading the letter, Zhang Lixing instructed that each letter should be attached with the propaganda documents of the People's Liberation Army. After it has been delivered to the above-mentioned recipients. Basically, there were no major battles in the liberation of Leshan, and there was no major damage to the urban and rural areas of Leshan, which reflected the wisdom and greatness of the CPC's policy. In particular, the teaching and inspiration of Zhang Lixing played a great role.
After the liberation of Leshan, all the officers and soldiers who rebelled or surrendered to Cheng were given a way out and were properly resettled. Later, Chen Mengxi was a member of the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the director of the Chongqing Municipal Museum of Culture and History; Ding Zhanbin is the vice chairman of the Butuo County CPPCC. As for the reactionary diehards, they were punished by the people.
Original note:This article has been provided by Zhang Lixing, Chen Mengxi, Pei Xianzhang and other comrades, and I would like to thank you!
Source**: Selected Literary and Historical Materials of Wuhou Sixth Edition.