Chapter 64: Annexation
In May and June 1940, the Japanese army in North China, which had suffered heavy losses in the spring raids, launched a massive summer mop-up.
Except for the three divisions of the 15th Army which were in direct confrontation with China's two war zones in Henan, namely Hebei-Henan and Hubei-Henan-Anhui, the Japanese troops in various places used their elite forces and sophisticated weapons to fight against various anti-Japanese forces operating behind enemy lines.
During the Japanese army's frenzied sweeps, various anti-Japanese armed forces behind enemy lines with varying degrees of combat effectiveness were either eliminated or forced into hiding. Of course, some also surrendered to the enemy and became traitors and running dogs.
In view of the fact that the Japanese army had successfully established large and small strongholds on nearly 90% of the land in the plain occupied area and organized five levels of puppet regimes at the provincial, prefectural, county, township and village levels, on October 27, 1940, the Hebei Provincial Government held a military and political meeting at Heishigou, Longquanguan, Fuping, the temporary provincial government seat, to discuss solutions to the current critical situation.
Those who attended the military meeting included Hebei Provincial Chairman He Oucai, Hebei Provincial Government Secretary-General Du Lusan, Provincial Government Military Counselor and Hebei-Chahar War Zone Liaison Commissioner Colonel Ma Zhongying, Provincial Gendarmerie Commander Colonel Bao Qin, Deputy Commander of the 2nd Cavalry Division Major General Wang Zhaokun, Commander of the Hebei-Chahar Guerrilla Column Lieutenant Colonel Zhao Dong, Commander-in-Chief of the Hebei People's Army Major General Wang Changjiang, Commander of the 1st Regiment of the Hebei People's Army Lieutenant Colonel Su Liang, Commander of the 2nd Regiment of the Hebei People's Army Colonel Xu Jingyuan, Commander of the 3rd Regiment of the Hebei People's Army Colonel Zhang Zhonghan, Commander of the Hebei-Western National Salvation Corps Yang Xiufeng, Commander of the Northern Henan People's Army Major General Qiao Mingli, Commander of the Hebei-Central Guerrilla Army Lieutenant Colonel Wu Xiuxian, and Deputy Commander of the Shanxi East Anti-Japanese Corps, among more than 20 military and political cadres.
Since this meeting also involved a series of issues such as the payment of military salaries, supply of military funds and weapons of the participating departments, three other people also attended the meeting, including Lieutenant Colonel Jin Keyi, acting chief of staff of the Hebei Joint Logistics Command, Liang Xuantong, member of the Hebei Provincial Government and director of the Provincial Finance Department, and Lin Taiming, manager of the Hebei Branch of the Northwest Frontier Industry Bank.
At the beginning, the progress of the meeting was extremely normal. The participants conducted a series of useful discussions on how to develop and strengthen the anti-Japanese armed forces behind enemy lines under the control of the Japanese army. Many effective ideas emerged, including "long-term lurking", "attacking the puppet regime instead of the Japanese", "establishing a two-sided regime", and "hit-and-run harassment war". However, with the news of the Southern Anhui Incident on October 29, the tone of the meeting took a 180-degree turn.
Although the provincial governor He Guangfu came from the Northwest system, and the Northwest also criticized the Chiang faction's actions to eliminate dissidents in the newspapers as atrocities that "hurt the friends and pleased the enemies", in fact the Northwest has never given up its vigilance against the Communists. This is even more profound than all the actions of the Chiang faction that were revealed on the surface.
Therefore, He Oucai, who followed Dai Jiliang's will, cursed the Chiang faction's foolish behavior at the meeting, which resonated with Colonel Xu Jingyuan, commander of the 2nd Regiment of the Hebei People's Army, Colonel Zhang Zhonghan, commander of the 3rd Regiment of the Hebei People's Army, Yang Xiufeng, commander of the Jixi National Salvation Corps, and Major General Qiao Mingli, commander of the Northern Henan People's Army.
In fact, Xu Jingyuan and others were not members of the Communist Party at that time, but most of them were disciples of Zhang Yinwu.
As a member of the Shanxi clique , although Zhang Yinwu had long fallen out of favor with Yan Xishan, he still felt the same way about the Northwest's annexation of the Shanxi clique.
Under his influence, Xu and others naturally had some resistance to the Northwest, and were therefore used and attracted by the Communist Party.
Since these people had long been dissatisfied with the Northwest, they were naturally deceived by He Oucai's actions. Just when they were having fun talking about other people's affairs, He Oucai suddenly mobilized part of the 1st Regiment of the Hebei People's Army to rush into the meeting place and arrested Qiao Mingli, Xu Jingyuan and eleven others on the spot. This is the so-called "Longquanguan Incident."
"Chairman He, what are you doing?"
Seeing his comrades being dragged away by soldiers armed with live ammunition, Wang Changjiang, the angry and anxious commander-in-chief of the Hebei militia, could no longer sit still.
"Captain Xu and General Qiao just said a few angry words, but you resorted to such shady tactics. Is this how you treat anti-Japanese heroes in the Northwest?"
"How dare you say such and such things about Mr. Jiang?"
Lieutenant Colonel Wu Xiuxian, commander of the Ji-Zhong Guerrilla Army, was also an old acquaintance of Zhang Yinwu, so it was natural for him to stand next to Wang Changjiang and speak at this moment.
"It's just the pot calling the kettle black."
Seeing the suspicious eyes of Zhao Dong and others, He Ou chuckled: "Brother Lu Guan and Brother Bao Min, do you think I am a vindictive person who will not tolerate any injustice? No, no, I can still bear a few insults. The reason why I arrested them is because they are plotting to split the provincial government."
"Nonsense, that's impossible."
Wang Changjiang spoke up for his comrades.
"Captain Xu fought a battle with the Japanese before coming to the meeting. I am the first one who doesn't believe that they will surrender to the enemy."
"Commander-in-Chief Wang, Chairman He did not say that they surrendered to the enemy."
Bao Qin took over the conversation.
"Instead, they are said to be plotting to split the anti-Japanese government."
Having said this, he pulled out a few documents from his briefcase and pushed them over. Since this incident was not premeditated, it can be seen that Bao Qin had actually prepared the black material for a long time.
"Commander-in-Chief Wang, Commander Wu, and Commander Zhao can all take a look. This is some intelligence collected by the Military Police Headquarters. It can prove that what Chairman He said is true."
Wang Changjiang read the intelligence from the Liaison Office at a glance, and handed it to Wu Xiuxian with a strange look on his face. Wu Xiuxian just glanced at it and immediately shouted, "This is a false accusation. How could Commander Qiao and Commander Xu accept the leadership of the Communist Party and lead their troops to surrender?"
"In my opinion, even if Captain Xu and his men really want to join the Communist Party, it's no big deal. If they join the Communist Party, they will also fight against Japan."
Wang Changjiang said with a gloomy face.
"With insufficient food and ammunition, we can't fight the Japanese with firewood sticks. It's okay to find another way out. Besides, I just heard Chairman He scolding Guiyang for infighting in southern Anhui. It's stupid. How come he changed his mind and went back on his words now?"
"Brother, I did say that it was foolish for Gu Zhutong to withdraw seven divisions from the front line of the anti-Japanese war to deal with the New Fourth Army, but!"
He Guangfu glanced at the two people from Zhang's group with a gloomy face.
"But I do not disagree with Guiyang's actions against the Communist Party. It is just that in the face of external enemies, it is extremely undesirable for Guiyang to use force."
He Oucai's position has been laid bare before everyone, that is, he is firmly anti-Japanese and anti-communist, and will never tolerate the development of the Communist Party.
"The Japanese invaders are wreaking havoc in North China right now. At this moment, I, the brothers, do not want to kill each other, so I detained these people to prevent the situation from getting out of control."
Wu Xiuxian had a hot temper. He sneered and said loudly, "So Chairman He does have good intentions."
"That's right."
He Oucai answered without any modesty.
"The Chairman's meaning is very clear. While Qiao and Xu's troops are leaderless, we should immediately reorganize them. This may solve the problem without bloodshed and preserve the anti-Japanese forces to the greatest extent possible."
"Chairman He, you have a very good plan."
Wang Changjiang asked grimly.
"But if you want to annex our Jin Army, I wonder if Chairman He has discussed it with Lanzhou Commissioner Zhang beforehand."
"The chairman naturally does not need to report to Zhang Yinwu for what he does."
He Oucai's words further irritated Wang and Wu, but before Wang and Wu could react, He Oucai had already sent someone to bring a telegram draft that he had received many days ago.
"But Chairman Yan has agreed to the provincial government's resolution to reorganize the Hebei militia, and the Northwest Military Commission has also agreed to reorganize the Hebei militia into the 30th Reserve Division."
"Chairman Yan?"
Wang and Wu gasped. If Zhang Yinwu was the Black Stone Mountain in front of them, then Yan Xishan was the continuous Taihang. As the head patriarch of the Jin faction, he had spoken. If they did not listen, the consequences would be serious.
"I do not believe!"
"If you don't believe me, you can send a telegram to ask yourself."
He Oucai generously pointed to the confidential room next to him, which immediately stunned Wang and Wu.
"Why, are you worried about the password being leaked? Then I can order all the confidential staff to evacuate and let you use the room. That should be fine, right?"
Wang and Wu looked at each other in bewilderment. Although they understood that He Oucai was pretending to be generous because he knew he didn't bring a signalman, He Oucai's self-righteous attitude made them hesitate about the authenticity of the telegram.
But while they were still hesitating, the deputy commander of the 2nd Cavalry Division, Wang Zhaokun, stood up and congratulated Wang Changjiang: "Brother Lu Guan, this is a blessing in disguise. The number of a regular division, although it is still in the reserve word, is enough to deploy tens of thousands of people. By then, the soldiers and horses will be strong. If the Japanese invaders attack, remember to lend a hand to your brother."
Wang Changjiang couldn't laugh. Although a reserve division could not compare to a newly formed or reorganized division, it was still a regular unit. How could a jack-of-all-trades like him be appointed as the division commander? The most likely possibility was that someone from the Northwest would be sent to be the division commander, and he would only be squeezed aside and become a deputy in name only.
Wu Xiuxian did not have such worries, so he said directly: "Since Chairman Yan has agreed, we will just execute it. But I want to know how Chairman He will deal with Captain Xu and Chief Captain Qiao."
Having said that, the eyes of several collateral generals present turned. Yes, perhaps in their view, the entire "Longquan Pass Incident" was just a farce of the Northwest's annexation of miscellaneous brands. However, soldiers could be lost, but heads could not be lost with them. Therefore, how He Guangfu dealt with Xu, Yang, and Qiao was related to their respective futures.
He Oucai certainly didn't want to force people to become traitors, so he smiled faintly: "Although Xu and Yang secretly colluded with the Communist Party to split the provincial government, they are different from those who surrendered to the enemy. After all, they have shed blood for the anti-Japanese war. Therefore, the provincial government has arranged to escort them to Shanxi and hand them over to the Jincha War Zone for disposal."
Wang and Wu Chang breathed a sigh of relief, and the others also smiled, but then He Guangfu said, "How to rectify the Hebei militia is of great importance. Everyone, let's discuss it carefully!"
After the military meeting, Bao Qin watched Wang Changjiang and Wu Xiuxian leave on horseback. He took two puffs of his cigarette and ordered his men, "Wang and Wu may waver. The people we send in should keep a close eye on them."
