Biography of He Long

Author: Editorial Department of the Series "Contemporary Chinese Biographies"
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1995-09-01
Features: He Long joined the (Protecting the Republic of China) uprising in 1916. He served as the commander of the 20th Army of the National Revolutionary Army during the Northern Expedition. He was the commander-in-chief of the (Nanchang Uprising). He joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in September 1927. He was the founder of the Xiang-E Border Region base area. He led his troops in the Long March. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, he successively served as the commander of the 120th Division and the commander of the Northwest Military Region. During the War of Liberation, he served as the commander of the Jin-Sui Military Region, the Jin-Sui Field Army, and the Northwest Military Region. After the liberation of the country, he served as the commander of the Southwest Military Region. He led his troops to liberate Changdu, promoting the peaceful liberation of Tibet.
1. Unwavering Pursuit of Justice
He Long was born on March 22, 1896, in Hongjiaoguan, Sangzhi County, Hunan Province, into a poor peasant family. His great-grandfather had passed the military examination, and the He family had a tradition of practicing martial arts. He Long loved practicing martial arts from a young age and often played war games with village children. Once, a local bully wanted to test He Long's courage and placed a gun under the table while he was eating with the He family. He Long expected the sudden gunshot to scare him half to death, but at the age of seven, he remained calm, not even blinking an eye. From then on, He Long's bravery became known in the village. Due to his impoverished background, He Long only received a few years of education. At the age of fourteen, he was so angry at the tyrannical behavior of the son of a local bully that he swung a knife and injured his foot. Afterward, He Long left and joined a mule caravan, traveling to Sichuan and Hubei, making a living by trading salt, tung oil, and medicinal herbs. In an era of darkness and banditry, the life of a mule caravan was both arduous and dangerous, with the constant risk of death. But He Long had always been born with a character that feared neither hardship nor death. He grew from a teenager to a young man among the mule caravans. Through his travels, he not only tempered his will and courage but also learned that the poor everywhere were accompanied by poverty and oppression. In the harsh trials, his sense of right and wrong became clearer, and his desire to pursue justice grew stronger. He also spontaneously developed a sense of saving the country and its people. The waves of the Xinhai Revolution influenced He Long, inspiring him to seek truth. In 1914, he joined the revolutionary party led by Sun Yat-sen. In 1916, when Cai E organized the anti-Yuan Shikai (Protecting the Republic of China), it had a great impact and spread across the country. He Long followed the party's instructions and organized armed forces in places like Shimen County. At the age of twenty, He Long organized twenty or more farmers in his hometown to form a team, but they had no weapons. When he heard that the tax police of the Bamaxi Salt Bureau had just equipped themselves with more than ten foreign guns, he was immediately happy. He knew that the salt bureau exploited and harmed the people, and the tax police were even worse. He Long borrowed two cleavers from his uncle and, with about twenty farmers, broke into the salt bureau at night. He personally beheaded the tax police commander, seized fifteen rifles, two pistols, and nine thousand pounds of salt. He ordered that all the salt be distributed to the poor and freed the captives, arming his team with these (more than ten guns). The story of He Long "starting the revolution with two cleavers" spread far and wide. Mao Zedong, during the "Sanwan Reorganization," used this example to encourage the uprising troops. He said, "He Long started with two cleavers and now serves as an army commander, leading an army. We no longer have just two cleavers; we now have two battalions of troops. Do we still fear not being able to fight?" He Long destroyed the salt bureau, seized the weapons, and formed his own team. He led his troops back to Sangzhi County to eliminate the tyrannical landlord Zhu Haishan, who had committed countless crimes in the village. Then he left Sangzhi County and joined the (Protecting the Republic of China), being appointed as the commander of the Xiangxi (Protecting the Republic of China) regiment. In 1918, He Long was transferred to the position of commander of the Jingguo Army regiment and later the commander of the Jinxiang Army division. In 1922, he was ordered to fight in Sichuan and was promoted to the commander of the (Garrison Brigade) of the East Sichuan Border Defense Army. Although the National Revolutionary Army was more advanced than the old warlords, it was still fundamentally an exploiting class. However, He Long was very strict with his troops and absolutely forbade them from harassing the people. In August 1926, the CPC sent Zhou Yiqun to He Long's army to promote democracy and communism. Based on his simple progressive ideas, He Long quickly accepted the revolutionary principles. He decided to let Zhou Yiqun establish a political training school to strengthen the political education of the army and train qualified cadres. Soon after, He Long announced his entry into the National Revolutionary Army. When the Northern Expedition began, He Long was ordered to join the Northern Expedition Army. He successively served as the commander of the 15th Division and the commander of the 9th Army's division. Due to his bravery and repeated victories, He Long was promoted to the commander of the 20th Army. By this time, he had accepted communist ideas and welcomed the CPC to send cadres to his army. The CPC formed the backbone of the 20th Army, significantly enhancing its combat effectiveness. Among all the Nationalist Party generals in the Northern Expedition Army, He Long was the most (close to the CPC) senior general. Although he was not yet a member of the CPC, he acted according to the CPC's opinions in practice. During the Northern Expedition, He Long led his troops to capture Shimen, Lizhou, and Gong'an, breaking through the Yangtze River defense line of the Beiyang warlord and capturing the important city of Yichang. After capturing Wuhan, he continued to fight and captured the enemy's important stronghold Wushengguan. He achieved a brilliant victory after defeating the Fengtian warlord in Linying. From "starting the revolution with two cleavers" to becoming the commander of an army in the passionate Northern Expedition military actions, He Long had completed a ideological transformation from (spontaneously pursuing justice) to accepting Sun Yat-sen's bourgeois democratic ideals. On this basis, he was deeply attracted to communist ideas and began to accept Marxism.
2. Arming the Revolution and Fighting for Freedom
After the failure of the Great Revolution, the two parties of the Kuomintang (KMT) and the CPC broke apart. The KMT seized state power, while the CPC was forced to go underground. The CPC decided to seize weapons and engage in armed struggle. In July 1927, Zhou Enlai found He Long and introduced the fact that Chiang Kai-shek's KMT had turned against the Republic of China. He Long immediately declared that he would break with the KMT and firmly obey the CPC's leadership in the proletariat revolution. Afterward, he followed the CPC's instructions and led his troops from Wuhan to Jiujiang and then to Nanchang. The CPC decided to organize the Nanchang Uprising. On July 28, 1927, Zhou Enlai met with He Long again. At this time, although He Long had not yet joined the CPC, he told Zhou Enlai, "The CPC tells me to do what I do!" Zhou Enlai ordered him to lead the 20th Army to participate in the uprising. He Long declared his firm execution of the order. He Long was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the uprising forces and worked together with Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Ye Ting, and Liu Bocheng to lead the uprising activities. At dawn on August 1, the uprising began, and He Long led his troops to attack Zhu De's headquarters. He stood at the forefront, commanding the battle. After fierce fighting, the KMT Nanchang garrison was destroyed, and the Nanchang Uprising was successful. After the uprising, the uprising forces withdrew from Nanchang in an organized manner, preparing to establish a revolutionary base in Guangdong. During the southward journey, they were surrounded and blocked by reactionary forces. In early September, the uprising forces arrived in Ruijin. At He Long's request, he joined the CPC here, introduced by Zhou Yiqun and others, and Zhou Enlai attended his membership ceremony and spoke. He Long declared that he would follow the CPC forever and fight for communism all his life. The troops of the Nanchang Uprising suffered repeated setbacks while attacking the Chaoshan region and were defeated and scattered by the powerful reactionary forces. According to Zhou Enlai's instructions, He Long and others went around Hong Kong to Shanghai to seek the CPC Central Committee. After finding the CPC Central Committee in Shanghai, He Long learned that the Central Committee was determined to engage in armed struggle and take the path of seizing power through arms. He voluntarily requested to carry out armed uprisings in the Xiang-E-Chuan-Qian area. The Central Committee agreed to He Long's request, and he immediately rushed to the battlefield of blood and rain. The failure of the Great Revolution and the repeated setbacks of armed uprisings led the revolutionary struggle into a low ebb. In areas that had been active during the revolutionary high tide, the blood of martyrs was everywhere. In this situation, engaging in armed struggle was no easy task. But He Long never feared difficulties or setbacks and was not afraid of war or death. Originally, the organization had arranged for him to go to the Soviet Union to study military science with Liu Bocheng, but he felt that he had been a member of the CPC for a short time and needed to be tempered in the storm. He requested to stay and engage in armed struggle. In January 1928, He Long entered the Honghu area to organize revolutionary armed forces. In a year, he experienced "three rises and three falls." When he arrived in the Honghu area, he quickly organized a team of hundreds of people and raised the banner of the "Workers' and Peasants Revolutionary Army." He carried out the "Five County New Year Uprising," which weakened the arrogance of the reactionary forces and inspired the revolutionary enthusiasm of the peasants, and the team quickly grew to over a thousand people. However, due to the lack of timely attention to the construction of the army and the establishment of a base area, it quickly failed, and the struggle was forced underground. In March, He Long returned to his hometown to organize a team, and in less than a month, he established an armed force of over three thousand people. This team had a complex composition, with some relatives who were summoned and others who were former subordinates of the old army. The team had not yet been disciplined or trained when it was attacked by the KMT regular army. This loose team could not withstand the attack of the powerful enemy and quickly failed, leaving less than a thousand people. He Long led the remaining people into Western Hunan and, after (reorganization), continued to fight in armed struggle, attacking wealthy landlords and mobilizing the masses. The Red Army grew again. In a ambush at Xiaobutou, they achieved a victory of killing hundreds of enemies and killing the enemy division staff officer. Afterward, the team was officially reorganized as the Fourth Army of the Workers' and Peasants Revolutionary Army, with He Long as the commander. However, from August to October, the team suffered repeated attacks from KMT regular forces, suffering heavy casualties. The battles continued to fail, and in the end, only more than one hundred people remained. Faced with difficulties and setbacks, He Long's revolutionary heart remained firm. He summarized the lessons learned from the failures. After (reorganization), only ninety-one people remained, and a party branch was established. In the coming year, He Long led this team of less than a hundred people to achieve several victories in the western part of Hubei. In He Feng County, they completely destroyed the county team of self-defense forces, seized more than one hundred guns, and established a red county government here. After more than a year of hard struggle, the team led by He Long continued to expand. In July 1930, He Long merged his troops with the Sixth Red Army in Gong'an to form the Second Red Army Corps, with the team growing to over ten thousand people. The Xiang-E Revolutionary Base Area was connected. Later, Wang Ming's "left" opportunism took control of the CPC Central Committee and promoted its erroneous line to all base areas. Wang Ming's representatives entered the Xiang-E Revolutionary Base Area, squeezed He Long, and promoted "left" (adventurism), which led to the destruction of the base area. He Long, who had experienced hardships, was not afraid of failure or setbacks. He again led the Third Red Army with Guan Xiangying to advance southwestward, won several victories, reversed the passive situation, and established the Xiang-E-Chuan-Qian Revolutionary Base Area. In November 1935, He Long was ordered to lead his troops on the Long March. In July 1936, he arrived in Ganzi and met the Fourth Red Army Corps. At the Ganzi conference, he and Zhu De firmly opposed Zhang Guotao's splitism and forced Zhang Guotao to agree to the northern advance. Upon arriving in Shaanxi, Mao Zedong highly praised He Long's revolutionary spirit, calling him the banner of the Second Red Army Corps.
3. Fighting Against Japanese Aggression and Advancing into Jizhou
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, He Long was appointed as the commander of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army. He was ordered to go to the northern front of the War of Resistance Against Japan in Jinbei. On September 10, 1937, He Long led his troops to participate in the Xinkou battle. A week later, he set an ambush at Yanmen Pass, destroyed more than one hundred Japanese transport vehicles, killed more than five hundred enemies, and recaptured Yanmen Pass. In February 1938, he launched an attack on the Japanese airport in Taiyuan, destroyed the Beiping-Tongpu Railway, and temporarily interrupted the Japanese transportation and supply line. Later, in Jinbei, he fought against the Japanese again, killing more than 1,500 enemies and recapturing seven cities. By the end of 1938, He Long led his troops to advance into Jizhou. The Jizhou Plain was the heart of a series of important Japanese strongholds. To the north were Beiping, to the east were Tianjin, Cangzhou, and Dezhou, and to the west were Baoding and Shijiazhuang, all of which were important Japanese strongholds. If a force was inserted into Jizhou, the Japanese forces in the surrounding cities would always feel uneasy. He Long led his troops into Jizhou in February 1939 and soon faced the Japanese sweep. The Jizhou Plain was a vast, open field, making it difficult for the troops, accustomed to mountain guerrilla warfare, to hide during spring and winter. He Long, facing this new situation, adopted a strategy of avoiding the enemy's main force, engaging in a protracted struggle, weakening the enemy first, and then defeating them piece by piece. In late April, a part of the Japanese army attacked Qiqiao Village in the northeastern part of Hejian County. He Long believed this was an opportunity to eliminate the enemy. He used the enemy's desire for a decisive battle to set an ambush with a company of troops to hold the enemy, while organizing several other regiments to quickly encircle and eliminate them. At the same time, he sent troops to block the enemy's reinforcement. The battle of Qiqiao lasted three days and nights, killing more than seven hundred Japanese elite troops and setting a precedent for large-scale enemy elimination in the plains. In summer 1939, heavy rains fell on the Jizhou Plain, and floods from the Taihang Mountains flowed down, and the Japanese invaders attempted to use the floodwaters to destroy the Red Army in the Jizhou Plain. They dug open the Hutuo River, the Ziya River, and the Zhuoling River, turning the North China Plain into a vast sea of water. But He Long, who was from a water country, had always liked water, and he immediately ordered a swimming activity for the entire army and called for swimming training. The veteran Red Army soldiers from the water country immediately became training instructors. In a short time, the soldiers from the arid areas and mountain villages also learned to swim. After learning to swim, they vigorously carried out swimming training and quickly formed water combat capabilities. With the support of the masses, the 120th Division built many wooden boats and rafts, carried out water reconnaissance and water guerrilla warfare, and used the floodwaters to fight against the Japanese. The Japanese had intended to use the floodwaters to destroy the Red Army, but they gained nothing. In late September 1939, He Long led his troops to encircle the eighth mixed division of the Japanese army in Chenzhuang west of Xingtang, and after several days of fierce fighting, they killed more than 1,400 Japanese soldiers. In November, he coordinated with Nie Rongzheng's forces to eliminate more than 1,500 enemies in Huangtuling and killed the Japanese major general and division commander Abe Kunitake. He Long fought against the Japanese in the Jin-Jizhou War of Resistance Against Japan for more than two years, participating in hundreds of battles, killing and injuring more than 20,000 Japanese and puppet soldiers, and expanding and consolidating the Jizhou War of Resistance Against Japan base area. In June 1942, He Long was transferred to the position of commander of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia-Jinbei Joint Defense Army, concurrently serving as the vice chairman of the Financial and Economic Committee. At that time, the enemy was implementing an economic blockade against our base area, and the economic difficulties were very prominent. He Long led the people and carried out a large-scale production movement, using the enthusiasm of the army in fighting to engage in labor production, and implemented Mao Zedong's principle of "doing it yourself, being well-dressed and well-fed." He broke the economic blockade and overcame the economic difficulties, ushering in the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan.
4. during the War of Liberation
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, He Long led the Jin-Sui Field Army to coordinate with the Jin-Cha-Ji Field Army to achieve the victory of the Suiyuan campaign, killing more than 12,000 enemies and liberating places like Dongshan. After the outbreak of the civil war, He Long served as the commander of the Jin-Sui Military Region, the Jin-Sui Field Army, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia-Jinbei Joint Defense Army, and the Northwest Military Region, leading his troops to fight in the northwest battlefield. He coordinated with Peng Dehuai to withstand the pressure of hundreds of thousands of KMT troops and shattered the KMT army's multiple attacks on the Jin-Sui liberated area, connecting the Jin-Sui, Jin-Cha-Ji, and Rehe liberated areas. In July 1946, He Long led the Jin-Sui Field Army to fight the Jinbei campaign, capturing eight cities, including Shuoxian, Ningwu, and Fanzhi, which greatly shocked the Shanxi warlord Yan Xishan. In March 1947, the KMT gathered heavy troops to attack the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia border area. Peng Dehuai commanded the Northwest Field Army to fight stubbornly against the enemy, and He Long closely coordinated to organize support, concentrating all human, material, and financial resources to give full support, effectively supporting the fighting of our army on the northwest battlefield. While organizing logistical support, He Long also organized his troops to participate in battles. At the end of 1949, He Long led the Eighteenth Corps and the Seventh Army to enter Bashu to fight in coordination with the Second Field Army. Seizing the opportunity when the enemy was panicked and fleeing toward Chengdu, he achieved a victory of killing more than 80,000 enemies. Soon after, he led his troops to coordinate with the Second Field Army to launch the Chengdu campaign, liberating Chengdu and destroying the KMT army led by Hu Zongnan, ushering in the liberation of the country. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, He Long served as the commander of the Southwest Military Region, leading and completing the transformation of the 900,000 KMT troops who rebelled and surrendered. He also led, together with Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping, the suppression of bandits in the Southwest. In more than a year, they eliminated 850,000 bandits, stabilizing the situation in the Southwest. In October 1950, He Long led his troops into Tibet, liberating Changdu through military force and destroying the main force of the reactionary Tibetan army. Then, he went to the Tibetan local government to promote the CPC's united front policy. Impressed by the policy, the Tibetan local authorities sent representatives to Beijing to sign the "Seventeen Articles Agreement." Tibet was peacefully liberated, and the People's Liberation Army peacefully entered Lhasa. During the country's peaceful construction period, in addition to serving as the deputy premier of the State Council and the director of the General Administration of Sport, He Long also served as the vice chairman of the Central People's Government Military Commission, the vice chairman of the Defense Committee, the vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, and the director of the Defense Industry Commission. Especially in 1964, when he presided over the daily work of the Central Military Commission, he attached importance to combat readiness training and emphasized standardized and modernized construction, actively working for the construction of the army. After the beginning of the "Cultural Revolution," He Long suffered persecution from Lin Biao, Kang Sheng, Jiang Qing, and others. Facing cruel blows, He Long remained upright and hated evil, and died of persecution on June 9, 1969. Before his death, in excruciating pain and intermittent delirium, he still believed that truth and justice would prevail, and that the people were just. He said, "The people are just judges. Whoever does good for the people will not be forgotten; whoever commits crimes in front of the people will never be forgiven." After He Long died with grievances, Mao Zedong once said, "I think He Long made a mistake; I will take responsibility." Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Deng Xiaoping once instructed to exonerate He Long. On September 29, 1974, the Central Committee issued the "Notice on Restoring the Reputation of Comrade He Long." In October 1982, the Central Committee of the CPC made the "Decision to Completely Exonerate Comrade He Long." The decision fully affirmed the immortal contributions He Long made to the Chinese revolution. His main works have been collected in "He Long's Military Writings."