A Brief History of the Tujia: Anti-Imperialist and Anti-Feudal Struggles Under CPC Influence and Leadership (Part 3)
III. The Tujia During the Second Revolutionary Civil War — (1) Establishment of the Hunan-Hubei-West Revolutionary Base: After the failure of the Great Revolution, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, He Long, and Ye Ting led the Nanchang Uprising, firing the first shot against the KMT reactionaries.
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III. The Tujia People During the Second Revolutionary Civil War
(1) The Establishment of the Hunan-Hubei-Western Revolutionary Base Area
After the failure of the Great Revolution, the revolutionary situation was at a low ebb. Comrades Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, He Long, Ye Ting and others led the Nanchang Uprising, which shocked China and the world, fired the first shot of armed resistance against the Kuomintang reactionaries, and from then on the people's army led by the Party was born, opening a new page in the Chinese people's revolutionary war. In the troops led by Comrade He Long and others, there were many brave and battle-skilled Tujia soldiers.
In January 1928, based on the situation of peasant movements rising one after another in western Hunan and Hubei, the fact that the area was on the border of four provinces and relatively far from cities with strong reactionary forces such as Changsha and Wuhan, that enemy forces there were comparatively weak and revolutionary forces could easily develop, and the natural conditions of high mountains and steep ridges, dense forests, commanding heights, and easy defense against attack, the Party Central Committee sent Comrades He Long and Zhou Yiqun to western Hunan and Hubei to establish a revolutionary base area and carry out armed struggle.
He Long, Zhou Yiqun, Lu Dongsheng, He Jinzhai and more than 10 others returned to their hometown, Hongjiaguan in Sangzhi County, where many Tujia residents lived. This news spread like lightning through the mountain villages near and far; relatives and friends spread the word to one another and gathered to welcome them. Comrade He Long analyzed the situation at the time for relatives, friends and the masses, explained revolutionary principles, and called on everyone to organize revolutionary armed forces and establish workers' and peasants' political power. Thus the once quiet revolutionary movement in Sangzhi County became active again. Comrade He Long's elder sister He Ying, younger sisters He Mangu and He Ronggu, and Liu Yujie and other relatives handed over more than 1,000 peasant armed personnel under their respective control to Comrade He Long's command; his former subordinates Wang Bingnan, Li Yunqing, Zhong Shenwu and others also came with men and guns to join. In a very short time, the Hunan-Hubei Border Front Committee organized more than 3,000 armed personnel, and many Tujia sons and daughters enthusiastically joined the revolutionary ranks. Soon the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was proclaimed, with He Long as commander. After its establishment, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army swept forward irresistibly, captured Sangzhi County town in one stroke, and established the Sangzhi County revolutionary political power and the CPC Sangzhi County Committee.
In April of the same year, taking advantage of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army's unstable footing, the Kuomintang sent Long Yuren's brigade of the 43rd Army to launch a sudden attack on Sangzhi and Hongjiaguan. After two fierce battles at Hongjiaguan and Kuzhuping, our army suffered defeat in battle, and Sangzhi County town and Hongjiaguan fell. Comrade Zhou Yiqun moved to the two banks of the Jingjiang River to lead the armed struggle in western Hubei, while Comrade He Long retreated to the area of Hongtuping in Hefeng County to gather the scattered troops. When Long Yuren's brigade withdrew from Sangzhi, Comrade He Long led his troops to ambush the enemy's rear guard, captured Hongjiaguan again, and restored the army's prestige; the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army grew again from three or four hundred people to more than 1,500. In July, the Party's Western Hunan Front Committee was established, with Comrade He Long as secretary, to unify leadership over military and local Party work. At the same time, the troops were reorganized, and the Fourth Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was formally established. Party members were developed among the soldiers, Party representatives were set up at the battalion level, Party leadership and political work among the soldiers were strengthened, and the combat effectiveness of the troops was greatly enhanced.
In August of the same year, according to instructions from the Hunan Provincial Committee, Comrade He Long led his troops east to Shimen to support the revolutionary struggle in the Lixian and Changde areas and to pin down the enemy's attacks on the Red Army in eastern Hunan. When the troops reached the borders of Shimen County, the peasant uprising in southern Shimen had already failed; the troops lacked coordination from mass struggle in combat and were attacked twice by Li Wenjie's brigade of the enemy's 14th Army and by local militia. More than 200 were killed or wounded, and the troops were forced to withdraw to the Yanya area of Hefeng County to persist in struggle. At this time, the Kuomintang sent a large number of troops, in coordination with the local militia of Sangzhi, Hefeng and other counties, to encircle and suppress them along the Sangzhi-Hefeng border. They occupied towns and villages and blockaded roads, creating serious difficulties for the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army in replenishing personnel, ammunition and food supplies. With firm belief in the inevitable victory of the revolution, the revolutionary army fighters of the Han, Tujia, Miao and other ethnic groups moved through high mountains and steep ridges, enduring wind and dew in the open, filling their stomachs with wild vegetables, and fending off the cold with thin clothing. Under such extremely difficult circumstances, Comrade He Ying, fearing neither hardship nor danger, sent timely help in the snow—cotton, cotton cloth, bullets and silver dollars—making a great contribution to supporting the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army.
Under the unfavorable situation in which the enemy was strong and we were weak, Comrade He Long believed that "the counter-revolutionary forces greatly exceeded the revolutionary forces, and the revolutionary armed forces had no room for maneuver locally." After contacting the Party Committee of the Shihe Department of the CPC, he decided to develop revolutionary armed forces and establish a base area in the Enshi, Xuan'en, Xianfeng and Lichuan area, where counter-revolutionary forces were relatively weak. After reorganization, apart from leaving part of the forces to continue the struggle along the Sangzhi-Hefeng border, Comrade He Long led a crack force of 91 men to western Hubei at the end of the year. They completely eliminated the local armed forces of Wang Xijiu at Heidong in Xianfeng County and Li Changqing at Wangjiaying in Lichuan County, and won over some of the masses to join the revolution; the troops quickly expanded to more than 300 men. Then they led the army to capture Jianshi County town and captured the puppet county magistrate alive. The poor Tujia people of Jianshi County joined the revolutionary ranks one after another. The troops then moved to Banzhuyuan near Wuyangguan in Hefeng County. Through the long-term work of Communist Party member Comrade Xu Xiru, more than 200 "divine soldiers" led by the Tujia Chen Lianzhen and his son at Wuyangguan formally joined the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army and were reorganized into the "Special Service Battalion," with Chen Zongyu as battalion commander and Qin Su (a Communist Party member) as deputy battalion commander. Incorporating the "divine soldiers" rapidly expanded the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army to six or seven hundred men. After reorganization and consolidation, these "divine soldiers" became a brave and battle-skilled red "divine soldier" force.
In January 1929, Comrade He Long led his troops from Banzhuyuan at Wuyangguan and, with the speed of a thunderbolt, suddenly captured Hefeng County town, killed the puppet county magistrate, wiped out the reactionary armed forces stationed there, and established the county workers' and peasants' democratic political power. The Tujia, Han and other ethnic peoples of Hefeng County were all elated and jubilant, celebrating their own liberation. At the same time, the CPC Changyang County Committee was established at Duzhenwan and actively organized revolutionary armed forces. In March of the same year, Wang Wenxuan, head of the Hefeng County militia, in the name of commander-in-chief of the Hunan-Hubei-Western militia, gathered more than 4,000 militia from Wufeng, Sangzhi, Enshi, Badong, Jianshi and other counties to attack Hefeng County town. Comrade He Long led the main force to concentrate on striking Wang Wenxuan's unit, killed Wang Wenxuan in the Hongyuxi gorge, and the other militia units fled in panic upon hearing the news. After occupying Hefeng, Comrade He Long, in accordance with the resolutions of the Party's Sixth National Congress and Comrade Mao Zedong's experience in the Jinggangshan struggle, while reorganizing the troops
In the company, Party and League organizations were established, political organs were set up, and Party leadership over the army was strengthened; the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was renamed the Fourth Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. At the same time, they went deep into the masses, launched the agrarian revolution, and established revolutionary base areas. In May of the same year, they liberated Sangzhi county town and established the county Soviet regime, while incorporating over 300 men of the local armed force under Qin Fuchen. The People's Self-Defense Regiment of Changyang County captured the county town in June and killed the county magistrate, but later failed under attack by Zhang Fakui. After the workers' and peasants' democratic regimes were established in Hefeng and Sangzhi counties, cadres were immediately sent deep into the countryside to mobilize the masses, strike at the power of landlords and local tyrants, establish grassroots regimes in districts, townships, villages, and towns, set up peasant associations, and arm the peasants to form Red Guard units. Of the 10 districts in Hefeng County, 7 districts and 87 townships successively established democratic regimes. The broad masses of Tujia people actively participated in building the democratic regime, joined peasant associations and Red Guards, and many became leaders and backbone forces within them. The peasant associations led the peasants in struggle against landlords and local tyrants, sweeping away the prestige of the landlord class, and from then on the broad poor peasants held their heads high. Red Guard members carrying spears and broadswords patrolled day and night, coordinating with the main Red Army in battle; organized Children's Corps stood guard and sentry to prevent enemy sabotage. Hefeng and Sangzhi counties were linked into one area, and the construction of the base area began to take shape. The construction of the Hefeng and Sangzhi base areas laid the foundation for the development of the Fourth Red Army and the gradual expansion of the red region.
(2) Smashing the Enemy's Encirclement and Suppression Campaigns and Expanding the Base Area
The rapid development of the revolutionary situation along the Hunan-Hubei border greatly alarmed the Kuomintang reactionaries. Chiang Kai-shek ordered Hunan Provincial Chairman He Jian to organize the "Sangzhi-Hefeng Communist Suppression Command," and He Jian urgently ordered Chen Qüzhen, commander of the Independent 19th Division, to serve as commander-in-chief and launch a counterattack. In July 1929, Chen Qüzhen mobilized more than 2,000 men from Xiang Ziyun's brigade and various county militia forces, pressing directly toward Sangzhi county town. Comrade He Long adopted the strategy of avoiding the enemy's edge and luring the enemy in deep, "letting the enemy cross the Lishui River and forcing them to fight with their backs to the water." He organized small units to resist step by step, feigning defeat and retreat, luring the enemy deeper, while concentrating the main force near Sangzhi County to wait at ease and prepare for a counterattack. When the enemy troops advanced to Wujiapo near Sangzhi county town, the main Red Army force launched a fierce counterattack. The enemy was caught off guard, unable to fight back, and retreated in panic; the Red Army pursued victoriously, annihilating most of the invading enemy at the banks of the Lishui River and killing enemy regiment commander Zhou Hanzhi.
But Xiang Ziyun was not willing to accept his defeat. Relying on his numerical superiority, in mid-July he personally led more than 3,000 men to attack Sangzhi county town again. Xiang Ziyun appeared powerful but was actually very weak. Intimidated by the might of the Red Army and the "Divine Troop Corps," and to bolster his subordinates' courage, before setting out he prepared many bamboo tubes filled with black chicken and dog blood, telling his troops: "With this stuff, if we sprinkle it on those divine troops, their magic won't work." Facing a situation of enemy numerical superiority, Comrade He Long decided to set up an empty-city trap, withdrawing all of the Fourth Red Army from the county town and ambushing them in the Meijiashan and Badouxi areas north of the town, waiting for the enemy to enter; at the same time, he divided off a portion of troops to guard the south of the town and cut off the enemy's escape route. After Xiang Ziyun's troops crossed the Chixi River, they pressed directly toward Sangzhi county town and found it an empty city. Fully believing the Red Army had already been frightened away, they swaggered in boldly. When the enemy entered the town and had not yet established a foothold, Red Army ambushers rose from all sides and charged into the town, with battle cries shaking the heavens. When the Fourth Red Regiment led by Chen Zongyu reached the east gate, the defending enemy was terrified and fled in disorder, abandoning their weapons and shouting as they ran: "The divine troops are coming!" The enemy trampled each other in chaos, and most were annihilated. Xiang Ziyun led the remnants in breaking out of the town and fled desperately. The Red Army pursued closely, disarming most of the enemy at the banks of the Chixi River. Xiang Ziyun clung to a mule's tail to cross the river and escape. While swimming to the middle of the river, he drowned in the flood. The great victory at Chixi River was the first major victory won by the Fourth Red Army, annihilating more than 2,000 enemy troops and capturing over a thousand guns. The Red Army's prestige soared, and it grew to more than 4,000 men. To expand revolutionary influence, the Red Army detached part of its forces to develop toward the Dayong and Yongshun areas, annihilating the reactionary armed force of the big landlord Xiong Xiangxi of Xijiao Township in Dayong County, and establishing a workers' and peasants' democratic regime at Wanmingang in Yongshun County.
The great victory at Chixi River made the Kuomintang reactionaries even more alarmed. He Jian assembled more than 20,000 men from Wu Shang's Fourth Division and the forces of Chen Qüzhen, Zhou Xieqing (nicknamed "Zhou the Short"), Luo Xiaozhi, and Zhu Jikai (nicknamed "Zhu the Scarred"), launching another large-scale attack on the Hunan-Hubei border region. Given the enemy's strength and their own weakness and the great disparity in forces, the Fourth Red Army voluntarily abandoned Sangzhi county town and moved northwest of Sangzhi County. When the Red Army moved to Zhang'erping, due to reconnaissance errors and unclear enemy intelligence, they were attacked by the enemy; compounded by the defection of Wu Qinpu's unit from within, the battle was lost. Regiment commanders Chen Zongyu and He Guiru died heroically, and the troops suffered three to four hundred casualties, forcing a retreat into Hefeng County. After a brief rest and reorganization at Hongyanping in Hefeng County, the Fourth Red Army marched out through Wuyang Pass and successively captured the county towns of Wufeng and Changyang, establishing revolutionary regimes at county, district, and township levels, while restoring peasant associations, Red Guards, and other organizations. When the main force of the Fourth Red Army moved on, the Central Independent Division, formed from local Red Army units of Changyang and Wufeng, continued to persist in struggle. Subsequently, the main force of the Fourth Red Army successively captured Hongtuping in Enshi County, Shihuiyao, Jinguoping in Badong County, and Dahuangkou in Jianshi County, establishing revolutionary regimes in these areas. With the strong support and close cooperation of the Tujia, Han, Miao, and other ethnic peoples, after more than two years of arduous struggle, the Hunan-Hubei border base area was gradually established with Hefeng as its center, including Wufeng, Changyang, Sangzhi, and parts of Enshi, Badong, and Jianshi.
In July 1930, according to instructions from the Party Central Committee, Comrade He Long led the main force of the Fourth Red Army eastward and joined forces with the Sixth Red Army led by Comrade Zhou Yiqun at Gong'an in Hubei. The two armies were merged and reorganized as the Second Army Group of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, totaling more than 20,000 men, with Comrade He Long as commander-in-chief and Comrade Zhou Yiqun as political commissar.
The victorious meeting of the Fourth and Sixth Red Armies connected the previously separated small base areas of the Hunan-Hubei border, Honghu, and northwestern Hubei. From Qianjiang in the north to Honghu in the south, along the Qingjiang and Lishui rivers westward to the Wuling mountain region, the red flag of revolution flew over hundreds of square li of land.
When the main force of the Fourth Red Army advanced east to Honghu, a group of backbone personnel was drawn from the Fourth Red Army to form an Independent Regiment, with He Bingnan as regiment commander, coordinating with the Sangzhi-Hefeng guerrilla detachment and the Fifth Route Command under Chen Lianzhen, totaling more than 2,000 men, to defend the Hunan-Hubei border revolutionary base area. The Kuomintang reactionaries and local militia forces from nearby counties, taking advantage of the main Red Army's departure, frantically counterattacked the base area. The Independent Regiment and guerrilla units of various routes, with the support of all ethnic peoples, successively smashed multiple encirclement and suppression campaigns by Zhu Kainan's forces and the security regiment of Li Peinan, the puppet county magistrate of Xuan'en, consolidating the Hunan-Hubei border revolutionary base area.
In October 1930, the Hunan-Hubei Western Special Committee meeting and the Second Workers', Peasants', and Soldiers' Poor People's Congress of Hunan-Hubei Western Region adopted a resolution to carry out the agrarian revolution. The broad masses of poor peasants of all ethnicities in the Hunan-Hubei border base area actively threw themselves into the vigorous agrarian revolution movement. Land rented out by landlords, churches, ancestral halls, and rich peasants was uniformly confiscated and distributed to poor peasants who had no land or little land; debts owed by peasants to landlords were uniformly cancelled. In Hefeng County alone, land rent grain exempted amounted to more than 10 million jin. The poor peasants of all ethnicities who received land were all elated, holding meetings and parades everywhere to celebrate the victory of the agrarian revolution. The carrying out of the agrarian revolution further consolidated the Hunan-Hubei border revolutionary base area. The broad masses of peasants worked hard in production, provided grain to the Red Army and guerrillas, actively participated in the construction of democratic regimes at all levels and organizations such as peasant associations, and enthusiastically joined the Red Guards to defend the base area and defend the fruits of victory they had won. In Hefeng County's Chengguan District alone, before the agrarian revolution each township's Red Guard had only about 100 members; after the agrarian revolution it surged to more than 500. In all 10 districts of the county, guerrilla units and Red Guards were established, and armed forces rapidly expanded to more than 4,000 men.
Just as the Second Red Army Group was developing victoriously and the Hunan-Hubei Western revolutionary base area was continuously expanding, the Party Central Committee under the rule of the second "Left" deviationist line erroneously ordered the Second Red Army Group to leave the Hunan-Hubei Western base area and cooperate in attacking Changsha, causing the Red Army to suffer heavy losses midway. In March 1931, the Second Red Army Group moved to Zhizheping in Changyang County and was reorganized as the Third Red Army, with Comrade He Long as army commander. Soon after, Xia Xi arrived at Honghu and served as secretary of the Hunan-Hubei Western Central Sub-bureau, vigorously promoting Wang Ming's "Left" deviationist line. He completely negated the achievements of the Hunan-Hubei Western Party organization's long and arduous struggle; in base area construction he seriously violated the interests of middle peasants, driving rich peasants out of the Soviet area; within the Party and army he created splits, carried out cruel struggle and ruthless attacks, causing large numbers of outstanding cadres to be tragically killed. As a result, the Honghu base area was lost. Chiang Kai-shek mobilized more than 100,000 troops for a large-scale encirclement and suppression of the Hunan-Hubei Western region, and the Third Red Army was forced to evacuate Honghu and fight across the north and south.
The implementation of the "Left" deviationist line caused the Hunan-Hubei border base area to suffer severe setbacks and find itself in an extremely difficult situation. Many outstanding cadres loyal to the revolutionary cause were wrongly killed, greatly weakening the revolutionary armed forces. In July 1931, the Kuomintang mobilized the forces of nine regiments under Zhou Xieqing, Luo Qijiang, Luo Xiaozhi, and Zhu Jikai, as well as county militia from Enshi, Xuan'en, Jianshi, Sangzhi, and other counties, totaling more than 15,000 men, advancing in layered defense toward the Hunan-Hubei border. Facing the frenzied attack of a powerful enemy, the Red Army Independent Regiment and guerrillas, under extremely difficult conditions, maneuvered against the enemy among the high mountains and steep ridges. In the fierce struggle against encirclement and suppression, the Tujia, Han, Miao, and other ethnic peoples of the Hunan-Hubei border base area actively supported and closely coordinated with the Red Army Independent Regiment in battle. In Sangzhi County alone, 4 Red Guard battalions were organized, with 12 squadrons under them, totaling more than 1,500 men. The Red Guards raised the slogan "Drive out Zhu the Scarred (Zhu Jikai), wear out Zhou the Short (Zhou Xieqing), capture Luo Xiaozhi alive," and fought heroically against the enemy. When Zhu the Scarred attacked Maoya Township, Red Guard members who had already obtained intelligence set up an ambush and killed more than 40 enemy soldiers. Soon after, Zhu the Scarred prepared to attack again, and Red Guard members of Maoya Township, before the enemy could set out, suddenly launched a surprise attack on the enemy's station, catching the enemy off guard.
In order to break the Kuomintang's encirclement and suppression and seize opportunities to destroy the enemy, the Red Army Independent Regiment and guerrillas fought across more than 10 counties along the Hunan-Hubei border. Although they won some victories and destroyed part of the enemy's forces, due to the harm of the "Left" deviationist line, the revolutionary forces suffered serious losses and found it difficult to smash the enemy's large-scale attacks. By July 1932, the Hunan-Hubei border base area was successively lost, Sangzhi and Hefeng county towns were occupied by the enemy, and the revolutionary forces suffered even more severe devastation. Only a small number of guerrillas remained, led by Comrades He Ying, Xu Huanran, Liao Hansheng, and others, forced to retreat into the deep mountains and dense forests along the Sangzhi-Hefeng border, continuing to persist in struggle under extremely difficult conditions.
After Kuomintang troops and local militia from various counties occupied the Hunan-Hubei border area, they brutally suppressed and bloodily massacred the people of all ethnicities in the base area. Under the cry of "Better to kill a thousand by mistake than let one Communist Party member go," they created white terror, massacring large numbers of Party and League members, cadres at all levels, peasant association members, and Red Guard members. Some entire families were killed, and relatives and friends were implicated and persecuted; even the elderly and young children could hardly escape.
Following the Kuomintang's encirclement and suppression, landlords and local tyrants who had previously fled in fear of the revolutionary power returned one after another. They carried out massive counter-revolutionary retaliation, seizing land back from poor peasants, forcing peasants to repay "debts" at double rates, and cooperating with Kuomintang troops to arrest revolutionary cadres and masses. Pingshan in Hefeng County, where a democratic regime had been established relatively early and where more than 200 households of poor Tujia peasants lived, saw local landlords lead Sichuan troops in a bloody massacre of Pingshan: 78 of 85 houses were burned down, and more than 10 Tujia peasants were tragically killed. Facing the Kuomintang's frenzied massacres and the landlord class's counter-revolutionary retaliation, many Tujia revolutionary cadres and masses kept their mouths shut, faced death unflinchingly, and would rather sacrifice themselves than betray their comrades, displaying lofty revolutionary integrity.
(3) Opening Up the Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan-Guizhou Revolutionary Base Area
After Comrades He Long, Guan Xiangying, and others led the Third Red Army in breaking out of Honghu, they fought across 7,000 li and in December 1932 crossed the Wu Mountains, crossed the Yangtze River from the southwest of Badong, captured Badong county town, and returned to the Hunan-Hubei border. Later, at Maoba in Hefeng County, they joined forces with the guerrilla unit led by Comrade He Ying. After frequent battles and long marches, the Third Red Army was reduced from 15,000 to more than 9,000 men. In January 1933, the Third Red Army successively recovered Hefeng and Sangzhi county towns. However, Xia Xi, who held a leadership position in the Central Sub-bureau, stubbornly went his own way and continued to promote the "Left" opportunist line. Under the pretext of "suppressing counter-revolutionaries," large numbers of long-tested outstanding cadres were killed; on the pretext of "purifying the Party," Party and League organizations were dissolved and political organs in the army were abolished; work to develop and consolidate the Hunan-Hubei border base area was abandoned; and the Third Red Army was forcibly ordered to "attack on all sides," attacking Yongshun County where the enemy's defenses were solid. As a result, the battle was lost, and they were forced to withdraw from Sangzhi and Hefeng, long wandering in the border areas of Xuan'en, Badong, and Jianshi. Because Comrades He Long and Guan Xiangying resisted the destructive interference of the "Left" deviationist line, the main force of the Third Red Army opened up new Soviet areas in Xuan'en, Xianfeng, Lichuan, and other counties. When the Third Red Army passed through Heidong in Xianfeng, more than 200 people joined the Red Army; in the Qingyan and Jiabei areas of Lichuan County, more than 300 people also joined the Red Army. In this area, more than a thousand poor Tujia and Han peasants joined the Red Army, making the Red Army strong again. Democratic regimes were established in Xianfeng and other counties, with regimes established in 29 districts and more than 100 townships, and local armed forces were restored and established in these counties. The Tujia people, who had suffered cruel persecution by Kuomintang troops and landlords and local tyrants, enthusiastically joined guerrilla units and Red Guards, coordinating with the Red Army to defend the base area. Many poor Tujia peasants served in leadership positions in regimes at county, district, and township levels.
In the summer of 1933, the Kuomintang sent 14 regiments to intensify attacks on the Hunan-Hubei border. With a large enemy force bearing down on them, Xia Xi continued to adhere to Wang Ming's "Left" line, incorporating all local Party and government cadres and local armed forces into the Red Army, carrying out long-range raids on exterior lines, and wandering everywhere, causing the base area's struggle against the enemy to lose its support and leadership. With the Kuomintang's large-scale encirclement and suppression and the destruction and interference of the "Left" deviationist line attacking from inside and outside, by the end of the year the Third Red Army had sharply dwindled from 9,000 to more than 3,000 men and was forced to transfer.
At the end of 1933, a Central Sub-bureau meeting was held at Dacun in Xuan'en County, deciding to abandon the Hunan-Hubei border Soviet area and develop toward the Sichuan-Guizhou border. In the spring of 1934, Comrades He Long and others led the Third Red Army in evacuating the Hunan-Hubei border base area. In April they captured Lichuan county town, and then held a Hunan-Hubei Western Central Sub-bureau meeting at Shizilu in that county. Subsequently, the main force of the Red Army successively captured and then withdrew from Youyang, Qianjiang, Pengshui, and other county towns. After a long march, in May they entered Guizhou from Youyang and Xiushan, opening up a new base area in southeastern Sichuan and northeastern Guizhou. Comrades He Long and others drew a group of cadres from the troops to engage in local work. In the border area of Sichuan and Guizhou—in Yanhe, Yinjiang, and Dejiang in Guizhou and parts of Youyang and Xiushan in Sichuan—they went deep into the countryside, mobilized the masses, struck at local tyrants, and distributed land. The Tujia, Miao, Han, and other ethnic peoples of Youyang, Xiushan, and other counties actively participated in workers' and peasants' democratic regimes at all levels, formed guerrilla units and Red Guards, coordinated with the Third Red Army in destroying Kuomintang troops and landlord armed forces, and established the Qiandong base area stretching more than 200 li in length and breadth.
In August of the same year, in order to smash the Kuomintang's fifth encirclement and suppression campaign against the Central Soviet Area and carry out a strategic transfer, the Party Central Committee ordered Comrades Ren Bishi, Xiao Ke, and Wang Zhen to lead the Sixth Red Army Group on a westward expedition. The Sixth Red Army Group broke through the enemy's defense line along the Hunan-Jiangxi border and in October entered Muhuang in Yinjiang County, Guizhou, joining forces with the Third Red Army. Later, at Nan Yaojie in Youyang County, Sichuan, a grand meeting was held to celebrate the joining of forces. The Third Red Army was reorganized as the Second Red Army Group, and a general command for the Second and Sixth Army Groups was formed, with He Long as commander-in-chief and Ren Bishi as political commissar. They decided to mobilize the masses in Yongshun, Dayong, Longshan, Sangzhi, and other counties, deepen the agrarian revolution, expand the armed forces, and open up base areas in order to coordinate with the Central Red Army's Long March.
At the end of October, the main forces of the Second and Sixth Army Groups set out from Nanyaojie in Youyang County and advanced toward Xiangxi. On October 30, they captured Youyang County town, and on November 7, they occupied Yongshun County town. Chen Quzhen hastily assembled the troops of three brigades under Gong Renjie, Zhou Xieqing, and Yang Qichang, attempting to wipe out the main Red Army forces in Yongshun County town. Comrades Ren Bishi, He Long, and others decided to voluntarily withdraw from Yongshun County town and ambush the main Red Army forces in the Shiwanping area, ninety li north of Yongshun County, using a portion of their troops to engage the enemy, fighting while retreating to lure the enemy deeper. When the enemy entered the ambush zone, the hidden troops rose from all sides and launched a fierce attack on the enemy, annihilating most of Gong Renjie's and Zhou Xieqing's two brigades. The main Red Army forces pursued the enemy fleeing toward Yongshun County town by starlight, and at Bazong River defeated the attack of Yang Qichang's brigade, recovering Yongshun County town. In the great victory at Shiwanping, over 2,000 enemy troops, including the chief of staff and below, were captured, more than 2,200 rifles and pistols were seized, along with various other military supplies. Subsequently, with the support of the people of all ethnic groups in Xiangxi, the Red Army crushed the enemy's second "encirclement and suppression" campaign with 50,000 troops, and successively occupied Dayong and Sangzhi county towns and parts of Longshan County.
The news of the Red Army's successive victories quickly spread through villages large and small, and the long-suffering Tujia peasants were all elated and jubilant. They brought their young and old, traveling dozens of li to welcome the Red Army soldiers they had longed for day and night, offering warm greetings. Young people of the Tujia, Miao, Han, and other ethnic groups eagerly signed up to join the army, and the Red Army rapidly expanded. On November 26, 1934, the CPC Xiang-E-Chuan-Qian Provincial Committee, Military Area, and Revolutionary Committee were established in Dayong County, with Ren Bishi as secretary, He Long as commander and chairman of the Revolutionary Committee. Later the capital was moved to Tawo in the Tujia-concentrated area of Yongshun County, forming the Xiang-E-Chuan-Qian Revolutionary Base Area based on Longshan, Yongshun, Sangzhi, and Dayong, including parts of Cili, Hefeng, Laifeng, Xuan'en, and other counties. In order to crush the Kuomintang's "encirclement and suppression" and step up the construction of the base area, cadres were drawn from the main Red Army forces to go deep into the vast rural areas, mobilize the masses, and establish revolutionary regimes at all levels. The revolutionary enthusiasm of the vast Tujia people was extremely high; they raised red flags, held mass meetings, beat gongs and drums, and actively participated in governments at all levels, celebrating the birth of the revolutionary regime. In less than half a month, county soviet governments were established in Yongshun, Longshan, Sangzhi, Dayong, and other counties, and red regimes were established in 33 districts and 308 townships. For example, in Tawo, Longjiazhai, Shouche, Shiti, Fengqi... in Yongshun County; Longche, Zhenghe, Matizhai, Xiche, Laoche in Longshan County; and Chenjiahe, Liangshuikou in Sangzhi County; Dongliusi in Laifeng County; Shadaogou in Xuan'en County, and other Tujia-concentrated areas, district and township soviet regimes were all established. In the construction of these county, district, and township regimes, large numbers of Tujia cadres took leadership positions and made great contributions to the revolution. With the establishment of democratic regimes at all levels, various mass organizations such as peasant associations, Red Guards, women's associations, and children's corps were also established in each district and township. Under the leadership of democratic governments at all levels, the vast Tujia cadres and peasants threw themselves into the vigorous agrarian revolutionary movement. They struck down local tyrants, divided the land, and confiscated landlords' property to distribute to peasants with no or little land. In the process of land reform, the poor and hired peasants were the most resolute in struggle; most of them became the backbone of peasant associations and Red Guards at all levels, actively publicized the land laws, paid attention to uniting with and protecting middle peasants, and concentrated the target of struggle on the landlord class. For those landlords who resisted land reform, the masses were organized to struggle against them and deal them heavy blows. Wherever landlords took the opportunity to attack peasant associations, kill peasant association cadres, and hide in caves, the peasant associations led Red Guard members to search the mountains and caves, tracking them down to eliminate future troubles. After more than two months of fierce struggle, land reform was carried out in the four counties of Longshan, Yongshun, Dayong, and Sangzhi, as well as parts of Hefeng, Enshi, Xianfeng, and other areas, destroying the rule of the landlord class and liberating the vast poor peasants from feudal exploitation and oppression, making them masters of the land. According to incomplete statistics, in the four counties of Yongshun, Longshan, Dayong, and Sangzhi alone, more than 140,000 poor peasants of Tujia, Miao, Han, and other ethnic groups received land.
The implementation of land reform continuously consolidated the revolutionary base areas, and the Red Army ranks rapidly expanded. Filled with revolutionary passion to defend the base areas and the fruits of victory, large numbers of Tujia people joined the Red Army and guerrilla forces. Peng Wucai, a Tujia peasant from Bansai Ping in Ciyan Tang, Longshan County, had all five members of his family join the Red Army. Moving scenes of fathers sending sons and wives sending husbands could be seen everywhere, and villages large and small were filled with songs of joining the army:
All around, kin and clan,
I take the lead to join the revolution.
If you have a son, send him after,
Shed your blood for the poor.
Send my man to the Red Army,
With one heart, march forward,
Strike down local tyrants, kill evil gentry,
Show no mercy to a single one.
Heyo! My brother!
With one heart, march forward.
In a short period of time, more than 4,000 people of the Tujia, Miao, Han, and other ethnic groups joined the Red Army, quickly expanding it by more than two times. While young people joined the army, the elderly and women also organized themselves to support the Red Army in battle. In peacetime, women mended clothes and made shoes and socks for the Red Army; in wartime, they carried stretchers and transported grain. Local armed forces at all levels were also universally established and grew stronger day by day; in the Tujia-concentrated area at the border of Longshan and Yongshun alone, a guerrilla force of more than 3,000 people was organized. Local armed forces at all levels closely coordinated with the main Red Army forces to strike the enemy and defend the revolutionary base areas.
(4) Heroically Defending the Revolutionary Base Areas
The Red Army's successive military victories in Xiangxi and the establishment of revolutionary base areas greatly alarmed the Kuomintang ruling group, which had to concentrate large numbers of troops in the Xiang-E border region. In mid-January 1935, Chiang Kai-shek mobilized more than 10 divisions and county militia forces, totaling about a hundred thousand troops, to launch the third large-scale "encirclement and suppression" campaign against the revolutionary base areas. Relying on their superior forces, the Kuomintang adopted the policy of layered defense, advancing step by step, gradually pushing forward, and tightening the encirclement, successively occupying Dayong, Yongshun, and Sangzhi county towns. Under the command of Comrades Ren Bishi, He Long, and others, the main Red Army forces voluntarily withdrew from Tawo and Longjiazhai in the center of the base area, concentrated superior forces, chose favorable opportunities, broke through the enemy encirclement, shifted to outer lines, and destroyed the enemy in mobile warfare. On April 13, at Chenjiahe in Sangzhi County, the Red Army used superior forces to annihilate one brigade of the enemy's 58th Division that had penetrated deep in isolation, killing the enemy brigade commander. After the great victory at Chenjiahe, the Red Army made a feint to the east while attacking in the west, spreading word that they would attack Sangzhi County town, but instead shifted westward. At this news, the enemy column commander Chen Yaohan, stationed in Sangzhi County town, fled south. On April 15, the Red Army launched a sudden surprise attack at Taozi Creek, attacking fiercely and annihilating one enemy brigade and one division headquarters. Chen Yaohan fled with his own special agent company, and our army took advantage of the victory to recover Sangzhi County town.
After the Chenjiahe and Taozi Creek battles, the main Red Army forces took advantage of the victory to press toward Dayong, besieging the enemy's Li Jue Division, annihilating one regiment of Zhang Liangji's reinforcements at Shiti West in Yongshun County, and then entered Wangcun. In May, they recovered Tawo and annihilated two regiments of Zhong Guangren's brigade. In June, the Red Army besieged Longshan County town and annihilated more than a thousand men of Zhou Xieqing's forces at Zhaotouzhai. With the support of the people of all ethnic groups in Xiangxi, the Red Army crushed the enemy's "encirclement and suppression" and shifted from defense to offense. After besieging Longshan, the Red Army suddenly swung its forces to attack the weakly defended western Hubei region, adopting the strategy of besieging a city and striking at reinforcements, surrounding Xuan'en County town with a small force while ambushing the main force along the Zhongbao line in Xianfeng County to block enemy reinforcements. On June 12, the enemy's 41st Division commander Zhang Zhenhan led nine regiments to reinforce Xuan'en. When they reached Zhongbao, our ambush troops suddenly attacked, annihilating one enemy brigade and one division headquarters, and captured Zhang Zhenhan alive. In early August, the Red Army annihilated the enemy's 85th Division at Banliyuan in Xuan'en County, and routed 10 regiments of the enemy's Tao Guang column at Bajiaozhai. In September, the Red Army took advantage of the victory to march east, broke through enemy blockades, and rapidly captured Shimen, Li County, Jinshi, and other cities and vast areas. During the Red Army's campaigns, young people of the Tujia, Han, Miao, and other ethnic groups along the way joined the army one after another, expanding the Red Army by more than 3,000 new soldiers. Tujia soldiers in the Red Army fought bravely and tenaciously in the frequent counter-"encirclement and suppression" wars, fearing neither bloodshed nor sacrifice; many outstanding sons and daughters gave their precious lives for the liberation cause of all ethnic groups in China. In order to win victory in the counter-"encirclement and suppression" struggle, the vast Tujia peasants provided large amounts of grain, passed on information, risked their lives to shelter Red Army wounded and revolutionary cadres, organized guerrilla forces and Red Guards to closely coordinate with the Red Army in battle; on the battlefield, they braved enemy gunfire, carried stretchers, rescued the wounded, and took them home for care. Nearly every household became a field hospital for the Red Army, making important contributions to consolidating the revolutionary base areas.
Crack! Bang!
Raise your guns, kill forward.
Kill all reactionaries, consolidate the Soviets,
Hey! Let our Soviet red flag fly across the world!
This popular folk song of the time fully reflects the revolutionary heroism of the people of all ethnic groups in the Xiang-E-Chuan-Qian border region in defending the base areas and bravely sacrificing themselves.
After a year of arduous and outstanding struggle, the Red Army crushed the siege of more than 140 enemy regiments, killing and wounding over 10,000 enemy troops, capturing over 8,000, and seizing more than 10,000 guns. These successive victories not only defended the Xiang-E-Chuan-Qian base area but also tied down large numbers of enemy forces, effectively coordinating with the First Front Army's strategic transfer. In the struggle to establish and consolidate the Xiang-E-Xi and Xiang-E-Chuan-Qian revolutionary base areas, the Tujia people made great sacrifices and enormous contributions, which will forever be recorded in the annals of history.
In October 1935, the First Front Army victoriously reached northern Shaanxi. The Kuomintang mobilized 140 regiments to launch an even larger-scale "encirclement and suppression" campaign against the Xiang-E-Chuan-Qian base area, attempting to wipe out the Second and Sixth Army Groups in the narrow strip of Longshan, Yongshun, Sangzhi, and other counties. In mid-November, the Red Army set out from Liujiaping and other places in Sangzhi County, broke through the enemy's heavy blockade lines with lightning speed, detoured through southeastern Hunan, entered western Guizhou, and set off on the Long March northward. Many Tujia young people followed the Red Army, marching north to resist Japan, standing at the forefront of defending the motherland. They contributed their strength to opposing Japanese imperialist aggression and striving for national liberation. With reluctant hearts and firm belief in victory, the Tujia people saw off their sons and brothers marching north to resist Japan.
After the Red Army marched north, Kuomintang fascist rule once again shrouded the Xiang-E-Chuan-Qian border region. They carried out frenzied massacres of Tujia cadres and poor peasants; more than 400 people were killed in Longjiazhai, Yongshun County; within three days after the Red Army left, more than 150 people in Ciyan Tang, Longshan County, sacrificed their lives under the butcher's knife of the Kuomintang reactionaries; in Laifeng County, Hubei, more than 700 guerrilla members, Red Guards, and revolutionary masses were killed in a single massacre. The Kuomintang connived at the landlord class's economic retaliation against poor peasants, using forms such as "fines," "auctioning rebel property," and "confiscation" to plunder the people's property on a large scale. However, the Kuomintang's bloody rule did not make the Tujia people submit. Amid the white terror, disregarding personal safety, they sheltered and took in Red Army wounded, preserved revolutionary forces, and continued to persist in struggle.