Four Fields Top Ten Main Force Legends

Author: Wei Bai
Editor-in-Chief: Cheng Peng
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-05-01
Features:
Excerpt:
1. The sound of gunfire from the Pingjiang Uprising marked the birth of another Red Army unit, but why it was named the Fifth Red Army remains a mystery. This unit joined the Red Army led by Zhu and Mao at Jinggang Mountains, igniting the flames of the Chinese Revolution.
In late November 1928, around early January 1929, Peng Dehuai led the First Regiment with the division headquarters to Pingjiang. The regimental headquarters was stationed in the city of Pingjiang. At that time, Peng Dehuai’s regiment was still subordinate to the Hunan Army, with Zhou Pan as the division commander. Although Peng Dehuai was already a Communist, his identity had not yet been exposed. When he entered Pingjiang with the division headquarters, the reactionary forces in the city came out to greet him, even going out more than ten miles. Division Commander Zhou Pan was hailed as the "rebirth parent" of Pingjiang, and he was overjoyed, holding a grand banquet to thank the local rich and powerful. Peng Dehuai was also invited to attend the banquet.
At the banquet, a fat landlord, who looked like a pig, stood up to toast Zhou Pan. His name was Zhang, and he was the head of the suppression committee. He flattered Zhou Pan excessively and implied that he had killed too few "Communists," urging him to kill more. He said, "Outside Pingjiang City, five miles away, you can pick up anyone and kill them without making a mistake."
Hearing this, Peng Dehuai was filled with righteous indignation and stood up, saying, "If Mr. Zhang says so, then 700,000 out of the 750,000 people in Pingjiang could be killed. Are you really planning to? This would be a lasting disgrace for your family! If there are really so many Communists in Pingjiang, it must be your suppression efforts. The civilian suppression teams you lead, under the guise of suppression, have been arresting and killing people, looting wealth, and terrorizing the people, leaving ten out of every ten households ruined. They are even fiercer than bandits. Can you escape responsibility for this?"
His words left over 100 rich and powerful landlords in the hall pale with fear, staring at Peng Dehuai in terror. They kept saying, "Mr. Zhang, you were speaking out of turn! You were speaking out of turn!" Even Zhou Pan had to admit, "The real rich and powerful must be overthrown, but the common people must be protected!"
The banquet ended unhappily, and the rich and powerful in Pingjiang began to fear Peng Dehuai. Peng Dehuai could no longer tolerate this oppressive life or the chaotic environment filled with demons. The long-suppressed anger in his heart was about to erupt. Just then, his relatives rushed to find him from Changsha, saying that the Communist organization in Changsha had been cracked down on, and Huang Gonglu, the principal of the army school, had been discovered. The reactionaries were preparing to arrest Huang Gonglu.
Hearing this, Peng Dehuai couldn’t even eat his meal and quickly gathered his colleagues to discuss a plan. Coincidentally, at that moment, Teng Daiyuan, the special envoy of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, arrived. With Teng Daiyuan’s help, the Communist Party members of the First Regiment held a secret meeting and decided to launch an armed uprising in Pingjiang immediately.
At the preparation meeting before the uprising, the issue of the army’s designation and cadre allocation was also discussed. Peng Dehuai proposed calling it the Workers’ and Peasants’ Revolutionary Army, while Teng Daiyuan proposed calling it the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. After discussion, it was decided to call it the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. The designation was the Fifth Army. Why was it named the Fifth Army at that time? Some said that the Fourth Red Army already existed on Jinggang Mountain, so why not follow the previous sequence of the First, Second, and Third armies? It might have been to avoid repetition, so they simply chose "5" as the designation first. The original First Regiment’s First, Second, and Third Battalions were expanded into the First, Fourth, and Seventh Regiments.
It was decided that the Fifth Red Army would operate under the Party Representative system, with officers elected by the soldier committee. Soldiers and officers were equal, with the same treatment, and each person would receive an additional 12 yuan after the uprising.
Postscript:
In the history of the People’s Liberation Army, the three-year War of Liberation was the most glorious period. Under the wise leadership of the Communist Party of China and with the support of the broad masses of the people, the People’s Liberation Army shifted from strategic defense to strategic counteroffense and eventually engaged in a decisive battle with the Nationalist forces, completely defeating the Nationalist regime and establishing New China. The vast and tumultuous War of Liberation had a profound impact on Chinese history and even the world. During this war, the forces of the People’s Liberation Army in various liberated areas grew from small to large, from weak to strong, gradually developing into multi-service armies. The "First Field Army," "Second Field Army," "Third Field Army," and "Fourth Field Army" formed during that time left their heroic legacies and glorious achievements etched in history. To this day, these units are revered by the people as honors, models, and sources of pride.
This book depicts the story of one such field army—the Fourth Field Army. The Fourth Field Army shocked the world with its glorious deeds during the War of Liberation. This unit fought in Northeast China, advanced into Beijing and Tianjin, crossed the Yangtze River, and pushed into South China, fighting from the northern white mountains and black waters of the motherland to the southernmost. Its achievements were brilliant, its deeds glorious, its heroes outstanding, and its legends vivid—worthy of singing, weeping, reading, and learning, leaving countless stories for later generations to pass down.
This book only selects and describes four of the most distinctive units from the Fourth Field Army. Even for these ten heroic units, only a few of their glorious moments are briefly presented. As a war chronicle, this book primarily focuses on the ideological depth, storytelling, and completeness of the work. In the face of the greatest epic of war completed by millions of heroic predecessors with their flesh and blood, and the magnificent drama on the grand stage of war, this book can only offer a few short chapters and excerpts as a tribute to the predecessors and a gift to the later generations.
There is one point to note: to more vividly introduce these ten main units of the Fourth Field Army, we have emphasized their most distinctive traditions and styles, as well as their most influential battles and achievements. This inevitably involves the author’s personal and tendencies. Some of the descriptions of the characteristics of these units also adopt traditional sayings from the units and the people, such as the title "Three Iron Armies," which was not an official designation. With a heart full of reverence and deep emotion, the author praises the heroes. That is enough.
—Author