Guilinqi’s struggle to persist in the Dabie Mountains

In the struggle to hold on to the Dabie Mountains, Comrade Guilinqi showed the fearless spirit of Communists who dare to fight and are not afraid of sacrifice. After the Japanese surrendered in August 1945, our party represented the interests of the people across the country and put forward the three slogans of peace, democracy, and unity. Chairman Mao also went to Chongqing to negotiate with Chiang Kai-shek in person, forcing the Kuomintang to sign the "Double Ten Agreement." In order to conscientiously implement the "Double Ten Agreement", our party agreed to cede the base areas of the people's army in eight provinces and autonomous regions, including Guangdong, Zhejiang, southern Jiangsu, southern Anhui, central Anhui, Hunan, Hubei, and Henan (excluding northern Henan). The Seventh Division of our New Fourth Army said goodbye to millions of brothers and sisters since September 1945, and withdrew from the Wanjiang Liberated Area in batches. In order to continue to maintain and expand the influence of our party and persist in the people's revolutionary struggle, the Wanjiang District Party Committee, after many studies, decided to retain employees who have a firm stance, a high level of leadership and policy, a strong ability to work independently, and are good at unity. Comrade Guilin Qi, who also had some experience in armed struggle, led a capable team of 200 to 300 people consisting of the 7th Company, the 9th Company and a pistol team to advance into the Dabie Mountains and persist in guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines.

The Dabie Mountains stand majestically at the junction of Hubei, Henan and Anhui provinces between Nanjing and Wuhan, the den of Kuomintang rule. The terrain is very important. After the main force of the New Fourth Army withdrew, the reactionary Kuomintang government stationed a brigade of regular troops in western Anhui, plus 10,000 people from the local security regiments 3, 4, 7, 8 and various county national militia regiments. The power is very different. During the so-called "clearance and suppression" campaign, the enemy carried out large-scale demolition of houses and merging villages, and joint security measures in the Dabie Mountains. They adopted reactionary policies such as burning everyone, killing everyone, looting everyone, and creating no-man's land. They built a large number of bunkers, set up numerous latent posts, and Inspection posts were carried out, and extremely vicious "combing grate" tactics were carried out in an attempt to trap, starve to death, and eliminate our guerrillas behind enemy lines. Some local tyrants and spies in the Dabie Mountains also became arrogant and helped the evildoers. Individual cadres and members of our guerrilla army could not withstand the test of struggle, and their thoughts became wavering. Some left, some fled, and some even rebelled. At the same time, due to the enemy's raid, the motor of our radio station was lost, and the contact with the superior party was temporarily interrupted. The situation was extremely difficult and the fighting situation was very dangerous.

"The more the wind and rain damage the more beautiful we become, we must hold on to the green world." These two lines of poems written by Comrade Guilin Qi express his firm stance and indomitable fighting spirit in the dangerous situation. In October 1945, he led his troops into the Dabie Mountains and joined more than 100 people from Zhang Weiqun's department who had persisted in the struggle there to establish the Wanxi Working Committee. The unit was called the Wanxi Brigade. Comrade Guilin Xi serves as secretary and political commissar, and Comrade Zhong Dahu serves as captain. In a difficult environment, he often repeatedly told everyone the task of persisting in the guerrilla war behind enemy lines in the Dabie Mountains, describing the arduousness, durability, necessity and importance of this struggle, so that comrades made it clear to develop armed forces, establish organizations, and fight against the enemy in the Dabie Mountains area. It is the sacred duty of the guerrilla fighters in western Anhui to contain the enemy's main force and reduce battlefield pressure in the liberated areas, which strengthens their strong belief in persisting to final victory. In order to break the enemy's "clearance campaign" and enable our side to gain a foothold in the Dabie Mountains, Comrade Guilinqi and other comrades boldly broke into the enemy's heartland - Qingcaoyu after careful investigation and research. Qingcaozhang has a Kuomintang special zone, a "clearance and suppression" command branch and a spy center group, where a regiment of enemy troops is always stationed. One day in November 1945, he led his troops to raid Qingcaoshang after a 50-mile night march. After more than two hours of fighting, the enemy's effective forces were eliminated and a large number of guns, ammunition and supplies were seized. This tactic, which was similar to the "encircling Wei and rescuing Zhao" mentioned in ancient battle records, shocked the enemy and hurriedly transferred a large number of suppression troops from the Dabie Mountains down the mountains, allowing us to calmly establish a base in the mountains. Just as Comrade Guilin Qi said in his poem "Night Raid on the Green Grass": "The enemy was stationed in Guanzhuang and I went out from the mountains. At night, I surrounded the green grass and attacked Yuantan. The sound of gunshots drew the monkeys out, and I returned to the mountains to expand my territory." . At the same time, Comrade Guilinqi studied with other guerrilla brigade leaders Zhang Weiqun, Zhong Dahu and others, and decided to carry out a campaign of eradicating rape and harm during the Spring Festival of 1946 when the enemy went home for the New Year. Comrade Zhang Youdao led his team to raid nearly a hundred miles overnight, executed three spies who had committed heinous crimes and suffered heavy blood debts, and announced their charges. This move frightened the enemy, dampened their arrogance, and greatly facilitated the smooth development of our guerrilla work.

In the struggle situation where the enemy is strong and we are weak, Comrade Guilinqi applied Comrade Mao Zedong's military thinking to the Dabie Mountains. The troops were divided at different times to mobilize the masses and concentrated to deal with the enemy. He always implemented Comrade Mao Zedong's "the enemy advances and we retreat" The sixteen-character policy of "when the enemy is stationed, we harass, when the enemy is tired, we attack, when the enemy retreats, we pursue" caused the enemy to burst into flames and smoke in eight places, and he had to admit his plan to "completely eliminate the *** army in three months" Bankruptcy.

After Comrade Guilinqi arrived in the Dabie Mountains, a working committee was established in the western Anhui region, consisting of four county committees: Yuebei, Qantai, Shu (Cheng) Liu (An), and Tong (Cheng) Lu (Jiang) . The unit was renamed Wanxi Detachment and was affiliated to four brigades and two directly affiliated companies. Soon, the Wanxi People's Self-Defense Army was established with the two units of the Second Division and the Fifth Division of the New Fourth Army that had arrived here successively, with Comrade Liu Changyi as the commander and Comrade Guilinqi as the political commissar. A new situation quickly emerged in the Wanxi Revolutionary Base Area, and there were successive Winning the battles at Guantang, Yuantanpu, Shiguankou, Xiangxingdi, Maodanchang, Zhangjiawu, Huanggang, Huangnigang, Cuchong, Dong Family Ancestral Hall and other battles not only wiped out a large number of the enemy's effective forces, but also made our side It quickly grew to about 3,000 people, and the struggle situation changed dramatically.

On November 3, 1947, "People's Daily" published an article "On the Current Situation in the Dabie Mountains" by the spokesperson of our Hubei-Henan-Anhui Frontline Command, which spoke highly of it: "The Hubei Province is rich in twenty-year revolutionary tradition. The masses of Henan and Anhui and the comrades who have persisted in the guerrilla war in the Dabie Mountains for the past two years are important forces that enable our army to quickly establish a foothold and quickly integrate with the people." Since August 1947, the three columns of Liu and Deng's armies and a large number of their cadres have gone south to fight. After the successful reunification of the Wanxi People's Self-Defense Forces, the Wanxi revolutionary base expanded day by day. In November, the Wanxi District Party Committee was established, with Comrade Peng Tao as secretary and Comrades Guilin Qi and Yu Yichuan as deputy secretaries. There were three prefectural committees, one, two and three, and later a fourth prefectural committee was established in Chaowu area. For the enemy, this was like a sharp sword in their chests. They hurriedly transferred a large number of troops from the northern front to the south. In western Anhui alone, there were the Seventh Army, the Fourth Army, the Forty-sixth Army of the Guangxi Clan, and the direct line of the Chiang Kai-shek. Regular troops such as the 25th Army, the 202nd and 203rd Divisions of the Youth Army, plus the security corps and local militia groups, with a total strength of no less than 200,000, frequently and repeatedly carried out crazy raids into the mountainous areas. , making the struggle in the Dabie Mountains greater in scale, cruelty, and hardship than in any historical period. During the struggle, Comrade Guilinqi, like everyone else, persevered tenaciously in the difficult situation of not having enough food to eat and not having enough clothing to cover his body. He also adopted the method of collecting taxes from the Kahe River in the fourth prefecture committee to solve the biggest problem of food and clothing for the troops at that time. This ensured the supply of materials to the army and helped the army survive extremely difficult years. During the persistence process, more than 300 cadres including Liang Cheng, Wu Wanyin, Li Tang, Bai Tao, Gu Zhengjun, Hou Zhendong, Li Kun, Yao Shouyong, Liu Jianmin, Huang Liuqiang, Peng Nian, Wu Doushan, and Yu Chengyu died heroically. It reflects the noble quality of Communist Party members who do not hesitate to sacrifice their personal lives for the cause of the people. Thanks to the efforts of all comrades, the main revolutionary force in western Anhui has always been preserved, and a clean base area with a population of 500,000 in Shu Liutong has been maintained. The people's revolutionary struggle in western Anhui has always persisted until it joined forces with the main force of our army and until the liberation of all Jiangbei. , insisted on the unification of all northern Anhui, and was praised by the Central Plains Bureau. When Comrade Liu Bocheng stayed in Lu'an at the end of 1948 for the purpose of crossing the Yangtze River, he once said in front of Comrades Ma Fangting and Zeng Qingmei: "Compared with other base areas, your Wanxi base area has the best persistence." Although this is mainly due to the Central Plains. The correct leadership of the bureau and the unity and bravery of all cadres and the masses, but Comrade Guilinqi also poured a lot of effort into it and made a considerable contribution.

In the struggle to hold on to the Dabie Mountains, Comrade Guilinqi showed the excellent style of the Communists in keeping close contact with the masses. Comrade Guilinqi never forgot the instructions given by the superior party organization to the guerrillas to protect the interests of the masses. , resolutely protect activists and the families of martyrs. For those who are living in difficulty, they provide timely relief every time something is captured in battle; for those who are persecuted by the enemy, they do everything possible to provide cover and comfort, and take the opportunity to give the enemy a tooth-for-tat counterattack, so that these comrades feel that there is a strong support behind them. The backing strengthened the belief in revolution. In response to the enemy's white terror policy, Comrade Guilin Qi not only organized secret party branches, farmers' associations, and party sympathy groups throughout the Dabie Mountains, but also organized a large number of gray mass organizations to use legal and illegal means to fight against the enemy. Promote the party's ideas to them during the struggle, explain the national situation, and make the masses' hearts turn toward the party and the revolution.

The reactionary Kuomintang troops "cleaned up" the Dabie Mountains, demolished shacks and merged villages everywhere, grabbed people to distribute food, and tortured the masses. On behalf of the masses, comrades such as Guilin Qi drafted many propaganda slogans, such as "Cleaning up, cleaning up, the people will be in trouble", " Houses were demolished, and the people cried bitterly." "The poor are so pitiful. They have no firewood and no salt. The Kuomintang collects half a penny in taxes." It was first discussed and approved by the troops, and then handed over to the masses for discussion. Then it was printed into leaflets, written into slogans, distributed and posted everywhere, and won the support and welcome of the masses. Many people took risks to obtain them and then returned to their local areas to distribute them. Some were also packed into township offices and enemy organizations, which greatly boosted the aspirations of the masses, destroyed the enemy's prestige, and effectively promoted the development of the anti-Ding, grain, and village annexation struggle. Comrade Guilin Xi was also very concerned about the young intellectuals who demanded progress. He often had heart-to-heart talks with them and guided them to embark on the revolution. For example, there was a young teacher in Lu'an who sympathized with my revolutionary cause and hoped to meet the leading comrades of the guerrillas. When Comrade Guilinqi learned of this situation, he immediately asked him to have a heart-to-heart talk. Under his training, this comrade took advantage of teaching to often deliver newspapers and intelligence to our side, and did useful work for the revolution. Comrade Guilinqi adheres to the party's style of keeping close contact with the masses, which is also reflected in his ability to admit and correct mistakes from the standpoint of the party's interests. In the second half of 1947, acute land reform was implemented in the Dabie Mountains, which violated the interests of some middle peasants and industrial and commercial people. When attacking enemy agents, there was a tendency to expand and make a "left" mistake. Once Comrade Guilinqi and other leading comrades discovered it, they could accept the opinions of the masses with a good attitude and correct them accurately. For example, in a place called Fenshuiling at the junction of Qianshan and Yuexi, when attacking enemy agents, some people who should not be imprisoned were imprisoned in the ancestral hall and some people who should not be attacked were attacked. After hearing this reaction, Comrades Guilin Xi and others immediately went here. After investigation and research, we not only released these people, but also publicly admitted our mistakes to the masses, and won the understanding and praise of the masses. The masses said, if you make mistakes, correct them. You are all good-hearted and we can understand. Because of these, Comrade Gui Linqi has a high prestige in the Dabie Mountains, and everyone affectionately calls him "Lao Gui" or "Mr. Zhao". Precisely because our guerrillas have always stood for protecting the interests of the masses, the masses have been of great help to our party. They often protect our sick and wounded, carry stretchers for us, actively provide us with intelligence, and analyze the situation in extremely difficult situations. They clothed me, shared food with me, and even sacrificed their own relatives to protect our guerrilla commanders and fighters. This fully reflects the relationship between the army and the people. This is also an important guarantee for our party to persevere in the Dabie Mountains.

In the struggle to hold on to the Dabie Mountains, Comrade Guilin Qi actively carried out united front work, divided and disintegrated the enemy, and strengthened his own strength. At that time, the general situation in the Dabie Mountains was that the enemy was strong and we were weak. We had no base and could only carry out Guerrilla warfare in enemy-occupied areas is like crawling through a grid without establishing political power, supplies cannot be replenished, and there are serious difficulties in medical treatment for the wounded. Faced with this struggle situation, Comrade Guilinqi, as the main person in charge of the Wanxi Working Committee, conscientiously implemented the party's united front policy, divided and disintegrated the enemy, and used all available forces as much as possible to benefit our party and the army. survival and development. The struggle life in Dabie Mountain for more than three years was very difficult. For a period of time, the enemy cut off our contact with the masses, putting us in an extremely difficult situation. We were in very short supply of food, clothing, quilts, and medicines. We often couldn't even eat salt. We could only sleep in the mountains and fields at night, and we had to go into battle at any time. , even the straw sandals cannot be taken off. There were several times when we had obtained food and were cooking, the enemy came upon us, and the food was not cooked yet and we were urgently moved. Once, in Itakun, the junction of Qianshan and Shucheng, our troops hid for seven days and nights. We couldn't eat a mouthful of food, so we bought pickles from fellow villagers and gave each of us one plant to satisfy our hunger. Later, I got some food and had no pot, so I used the enemy's steel helmet to cook the rice. Before it could be eaten, the battle started. In such a tense and arduous fighting life, Comrade Guilinqi was firm, tenacious, and full of belief in victory. He strictly demands himself to share life, death, and hardships with the vast number of cadres and soldiers, and to have the same clothing, food, housing, and transportation. There is never anything special about him. He often shares a bowl of rice with the guards and shares the same lid. A quilt is used to let the warriors ride the animals. For a period of time, he was very weak and had an attack of hemorrhoids. He was dripping with pus and blood every day. In winter, his cotton pants were wet with blood and frozen into ice cubes. After marching day and night, his skin was cracked, but he did not say a word or let the guards do anything else. Something to eat. In between battles, he also took the time to read books and newspapers.

He is also very approachable. When people call him political commissar, he always says: "Don't call me political commissar, just call me Lao Gui. Aren't we about the same age?" Once when he was camping, he and the soldiers lived next to each other by a wall. The soldiers said Joking and joking affected his work and rest, and the guards went to stop him. When he found out, he criticized the guards and said: "The soldiers do not fight, but have entertainment. How can you hinder them?" Everyone was deeply moved.