young marshal spring and autumn

The Northeast is vast and sparsely populated, and the troops of the Suppression Headquarters are extremely limited, and most of the bandits are scattered in remote mountains and old forests. "Wild fire, in spring".Now with the great turmoil in the international situation, the Middle East Road, the Russian Civil War, the new actions of the Intervention Army in the Northeast, as well as the brewing of the New Deal in the Northeast and the establishment of the People's Party, etc., Zhang Hanqing still has a lot of work to do, and he cannot spend too much money. I spend a lot of time playing hide-and-seek with the bandits in the vast Northeast; but once the situation is hard-won, the bandits will make a comeback once they relax.

How to do?

While the members of the Fengjun Headquarters and the Suppression General Headquarters were having headaches, Zhang Hanqing had already conceived an idea that would have a far-reaching impact on China in the future: to launch a large-scale people's war and completely submerge the bandits in the vast ocean of people's war.

In the name of the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Northeast Suppression Command, Zhang Hanqing issued the "Decision on Bandit Suppression Work", pointing out:

[-]. Each division and brigade must allocate one-third of its troops to carry out the task of suppressing bandits, and require each unit to carry out the task of suppressing bandits to make a comprehensive plan, distinguish between priorities, implement a combination of concentrated forces to encircle and chase, and eliminate all evils, so as to avoid the past. The phenomenon of banditry.

Second, we must strive to resolutely and thoroughly eliminate bandits in the shortest period of time, mobilize the broad masses of peasants, use land reform to establish a solid rear, and make the environment that bandits rely on for survival no longer exist.Those who collude with internal and external collusion and collusion with bandits (especially food and medicine) will be severely punished—at least, the family members will sit and confiscate their property, and at worst, they will be sentenced to severe punishment or even shot after a struggle.

[-]. Combining political offensive with military raids, organizing work teams to carry out political offensives, at the same time investigating the family members, relatives and friends of the bandits, propagating Zhang Hanqing's land reform policy, and mobilizing bandits to repent and rehabilitate.He also enlisted the bandits to turn against them, and provided intelligence to the Feng army to suppress the bandits, so as to make up for their mistakes.

[-]. After eradicating a large group of bandits, we must resolutely put our military strength on the settlement of the local situation. Each region must form a large militia team based on this, which is affiliated to the People's Armed Forces Department of each place; the police station must set up dispatched agencies in each township, namely police station.In order to make up for the shortcomings of these two forces that focus on people's livelihood, the idea of ​​setting up paramilitary troops in important strongholds in counties and rural areas - the Armed Police Force has also come to mind.In this way, the main combat troops can free up their hands.In the future, these paramilitary troops can also be used as the first line of buffering with the Japanese-occupied territory in the country.

While dividing troops to suppress bandits, the Northeast Bandit Suppression Headquarters issued the instruction "Mobilize Cadres to the Countryside and Mobilize the Masses" to organize a large number of military and political cadres to go to the countryside to carry out campaigns against hegemony, rape and land reform.In a very short period of time, the General Headquarters of the Northeast Bandit Suppression mobilized tens of thousands of cadres, formed a large number of rural work groups, went deep into the vast countryside, mobilized the masses, and carried out the "anti-rape and liquidation" campaign to realize the "land to the tiller". ".The common people, who are deeply troubled by banditry, warmly welcome the gentlemen of these working groups (because most of these cadres are political cadres composed of Zhang Hanqing's student army, the common people are curious about these doll gentlemen who can read and write, The second is awe, and the third is gratitude, because the dolls really did not take the people's needles and threads, but also helped them solve practical difficulties, guided and supervised the operation of the land reform, so that the turned farmers really got the land).

The development of the three tasks of suppressing bandits, land reform, and "anti-good liquidation" and the success of military policies and policies have enabled the bandit suppression unit with Zhang Hanqing as the main leader to pass the most difficult stage and gain great prestige in the Northeast. .More importantly, these cadres based on the local area became an important cornerstone of the Fengjun's control of the area, and later became the backbone of the People's Party, adding strength to the talent pool.

Since the formulation of a new policy of suppressing bandits, the struggles of various units have achieved great results.During the battle in the Tonghua area, the 27th Division organized a capable bandit suppression squad, adopted a combination of non-stop pursuit and siege with nails and wedges, pursued fiercely, and finally wiped out Liu Jiayi, Fang Yutang, Li Guixin and other bandits. .Among them, the battle to exterminate Li Huatang was a vicious battle of relentless pursuit. In October, the 10th Brigade of Fengjun moved to Baishan, Jiangyuan, Liuhe and other places in Jilin Province after annihilating Liu Jiayi to suppress Liu Jiayi.During the battle for more than a month, more than 54 people in Liu Jia's first unit were wiped out, and Liu fled with only more than 1000 people with him.In order to completely eradicate the remaining bandits, the 40th Brigade dispatched a capable team to follow and pursue them, perseveringly, and pursued them for more than 54 miles. Finally, in late November, Liu Jiayi, who was in Bandu, was shot to death by the Xinkai River.When besieging and suppressing Fang Yutang, the bandit suppression army carried out a long-term siege to the Fang bandits who had fled into the deep mountains, and set up bright posts and secret posts.

In the practice of hunting and suppressing, each unit has created two experiences of tracking and breaking the mystery.Tracking is an important means of hunting down bandits, just like a skilled hunter uses clues to find the direction of wild animals.Tracking includes two methods: the first one is the method of tracking in the forest at the end of autumn.This method is to judge the whereabouts of the bandits by observing the traces of trampled leaves in the forest at the end of autumn.When the fallen leaves are crushed or rubbed, and there is a relatively wide area, it proves that someone has walked by.On the contrary, if the traces are narrow and deep, and the road surface is uneven, it proves that it was trampled by wild animals.

The second method is the meadow tracking method in spring and autumn.Generally speaking, when people and horses pass by on the meadow, they must leave traces due to their walking and trampling.And often the direction in which the grass falls is the direction in which the bandits escape.If some grass stands up in the path you walk on, it means that the people and horses have passed by for a long time; if there is no grass standing up, it means that the bandits have just passed by.Breaking the mystery is a way to see through the traps set by bandits.When the bandits are pursued and attacked, they often break up into pieces and flee in different directions to confuse their opponents.Therefore, when encountering such a situation, one should pursue the largest group of fugitives, and after annihilating them, you can often find out their contact signs and assembly locations, and then annihilate them one by one.

Among the vast areas of Heilongjiang Province, Jiamusi is the hardest hit by banditry.The south and two south of Jiamusi are high mountains, and primeval forests block out the sun.The east and north of Jiamusi are large swamps and meadows.In Meadows, wormwood is taller than people, and mosquitoes are rampant.Those who are not familiar with the path, don't even think about coming out after entering.Such a barren land, with few people, has become the habitat of the "beards".However, under the leadership of Wu Junsheng of the 29th Division, after half a year, the banditry here was basically eliminated.Wu Junsheng said: "According to the specific situation in Jiamusi, we have adopted the following tactical measures:

([-]) When the enemy is concentrated, we must start to concentrate our superior forces to deal a fatal blow to the enemy. This will easily create a chance to destroy the enemy, and at the same time, it will also make the enemy lose the will to fight.

([-]) When the enemy flees into the mountains and forests, they should immediately follow up and pursue them, and strive to fight and pursue continuously so that the enemy has no chance to breathe.

([-]) When the enemy flees into the mountains and forests, they should quickly surround them and drive nails around them.On the road that the bandits must pass, a superior blocking force should be set up, and then a capable force should be dispatched to camp in the mountains with dry food and pots to carry out repeated suppressions.Although this cannot completely annihilate the enemy, it can easily cause the enemy to disperse, disintegrate, and surrender.

([-]) In order to cut off the enemy's food, it is necessary to fortify the walls and clear the fields so that the bandits have no food to find and they will collapse on their own.

([-]) If the enemy loses the will to fight and collapses, our troops can boldly disperse and search the mountains, sometimes disguised as plainclothes to search.

([-]) When suppressing scattered bandits in the mountains and forests, it is not advisable to use large troops, and try to suppress them in small units. "

This action caused more than 50 of the more than 3000 bandits in the Bei'an area to surrender and rehabilitate.

In addition to areas such as Bei'an and Jiamusi in Heilongjiang where banditry is serious, progress has also been made in the suppression of bandits in northwest Jilin Province and southern Fengtian Province.By the end of 1919, more than 100 bandits had been disintegrated in these two provinces, and more than 3000 habitual bandits under Wang Naikang, the largest bandit leader in the Northeast, had been killed.

The achievements brought about by the suppression of bandits are not only reflected in political prestige.Since the bandits have basically disappeared in the Northeast, the security situation in various places has improved greatly, which makes it possible for the police and armed police to replace the military to maintain the local area. Law and order has become a real mobile force.

It is also because of the achievements of suppressing bandits, and the purpose of purely serving the non-commissioned officers of the army. In the work of expanding the number of soldiers in the Fengjun, the patrol envoys of the three eastern provinces and the Northeast Bandit Suppression Headquarters all held meetings successively, summing up the conclusions of the establishment of the Fengjun army. After the lessons learned from the initial recruitment of bandit troops and impure personnel, new regulations were made.These regulations include: in the expansion of the army, the basic masses should be the main force, and a large number of peasants who have undergone mass struggles should be recruited into the army. Only those who are pure, whose origin and family are clear can be absorbed and registered in detail, and they must be sloppy without review. ; Those with unknown origins and family circumstances are not allowed to take in.

With the help of the power of land reform, the work of military expansion has affected every poor peasant household.According to statistics, in this vigorous campaign of land reform and military expansion, more than 5000 people joined the Fengjun in the sparsely populated Jiamusi alone.In the densely populated Liaozhong area, etc., the number of soldiers joining the army reached more than 3.Due to the favorable policy and the vigorous propaganda of "defending the fruits of victory", the broad masses of farmers joined the army enthusiastically, which greatly supplemented the main force of Fengjun.By the end of 1919, Fengjun had supplemented more than 5 soldiers, bringing the average number of each division to about 1 to 8. Some divisions also added supplementary regiments, and the equipment of each unit was also improved.The expansion of troops has strengthened the mobile combat force and brought fresh blood and sufficient manpower for future expansion.