1932: Playing with the Japanese Communist Party with a doll

"Yes, Chairman."

It seemed that his answer was not too far off. Wang Jiaben breathed a sigh of relief and continued to explain:

"In my opinion, past armies, even Yue's famous army, known for 'not demolishing houses even if they freeze to death, not looting even if they starve to death,' were only traditional armies, essentially no different from most armies around the world today..."

This is not flattery, but Wang Jiaben's true thoughts.

He graduated from the Yunnan Military Academy in 1918. He fought from south to north, from the Eastern Expedition to the Northern Expedition, and served in the National Army for nearly 15 years. He had basically come into contact with domestic and foreign armies, and saw too many people and things.

In his view, whether it was the National Army's troops or foreign troops, whether it was his own troops or someone else's troops, they were essentially the same:

An army, no matter what form it takes, no matter what the character and behavior of its leader, is nothing more than a tool for internal and external suppression.

In the past, although Wang Jiaben realized this, he didn't care too much about it. He thought that this was how the world was. As long as he did his best and made his army a little stronger, it would be fine.

Therefore, whenever he went to war, he would lead the troops himself, often going to the grassroots companies, talking to the soldiers, caring about their food, treating them kindly, and even giving his own warhorse to sick soldiers;

He was an honest man who never withheld military pay, forbade soldiers from disturbing the people, and even executed several officers who had oppressed the people and soldiers and violated discipline and laws excessively...

He thought he had done well enough and was close enough to the historical "Yue Family Army", until he met the Red Army led by Li Desheng, and discovered the essential differences between the two sides.

For example, last night, because there were too many Red Army soldiers entering the city and there were not enough houses to accommodate them, Fan Shisheng and Wang Jiaben planned to requisition houses in the city for them to stay in, but they were rejected.

Aside from a few rooms allocated for the wounded and sick and the drunk Li Desheng, all other officers and soldiers slept on the floor, never disturbing anyone!

To be honest, although the 151st Brigade where Wang Jiaben is located also advocates not disturbing the public as much as possible, it is impossible to do so. The starting point of everything is still to ensure its own interests and then consider others.

But the Red Army is different.

Have you ever seen a troop that was clearly starving and drooling, yet refused to steal food from street vendors or farmers?

Anyway, Wang Jiaben and his troops can only guarantee not to rob by force.

Have you ever seen any army unit that, after entering a city, proactively cleans the streets, helps the people with their work, or apologizes and compensates people when they knock them down?

Anyway, Wang Jiaben and his troops can only guarantee not to actively harass.

Have you ever seen a military unit where officers and soldiers are almost identical, wearing the same clothes except for their shoulder straps, and where officers are even supervised by soldiers?

Anyway, the most Wang Jiaben and his troops can do is to ensure that officers do not beat or scold soldiers too harshly.

Anyway, when Wang Jiaben saw that some people, out of fear or other psychological reasons, offered food to the Red Army but were politely rejected, he finally understood why the Red Army sang "Three Disciplines and Eight Points for Attention" into the city;

That's iron discipline!

Most importantly, Wang Jia instinctively felt that the vast majority of soldiers were actively abiding by discipline, rather than (simply) being intimidated by the strict orders and punishments of their superiors.

This made him very puzzled.

Are all the Red Army soldiers born saints?

It was not until today, when he attended this "grievance meeting" and thought about the "class theory" that the Communist Party members in the army had once told him, that Wang Jiaben vaguely understood something.

"...In the past, no matter what kind of army it was, it was ultimately the army of those in power. Everything was done for the benefit of those in power. Therefore, unless they were paid generously, they would have no fighting power.

“But the Red Army is different. By completely distinguishing between classes, it can become a force that serves the general public, rather than just those in power;”

"They no longer need to be motivated by money. As long as they have ideals and beliefs, they can maintain a strong fighting spirit even in the absence of good material conditions... That's my opinion."

After Wang Jiaben finished speaking, he looked at Li Desheng with some trepidation. However, the latter clapped his hands and smiled with satisfaction.

"Great, great! Comrade Wang Jiaben, you've truly learned a lot from Marxism, having realized this. And that phrase, 'serving the masses,' is truly well said!"

UMP45 chimed in:

"I think serving the people is a better way of putting it."

Li Desheng was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter and clapped his hands:

"Good, good! As expected of Comrade Shiwu! Serve the people! Serve the people!"

As if stimulated by these five words, Li Desheng stood up, looked at the bustling meeting hall in the distance, and then glanced at his subordinates and Kuomintang officers. Suddenly, an idea came to him:

“We, the Communist Party of China, are the party of the proletariat, the party of the poor, and the party that shoulders the great revolutionary struggle of the proletariat;”

“Our army is the army of the proletariat, the army of the poor, an armed group determined to carry out the political tasks of the revolution;”

"In the final analysis, the Red Army is a people's contingent, the people's army. Red Army soldiers must be the people's soldiers who protect the people, serve the people, and are supported by the people!"

“Therefore, in addition to destroying the enemy’s military forces, the Red Army must also shoulder the important tasks of liberating the masses, educating the masses, organizing the masses, helping the masses establish revolutionary regimes, and building Communist Party organizations!”

"To achieve this, we must strictly enforce military discipline, political discipline, and mass discipline, and be brave enough to carry out self-revolution, so that the Red Army can truly become a fighting force, a propaganda force, a work force, and a production force!"

"On this journey north, the Red Army must not only fight the Japanese, but also spread the seeds of revolution along the way, so that every place we pass through will become a revolutionary base!"

Watching Li Desheng passionately and enthusiastically expounding on his political ideas, Wang Jiaben finally understood what the other party meant by "self-revolution" yesterday, and also understood the weight of that statement.

If he is merely helping the Communist Party as a "friendly person outside the Party," then the requirements can be lowered. It can even be said that Wang Jiaben is now qualified or even excellent.

But if he wanted to join the Communist Party of China, his awareness was not enough, and his understanding of Marxism, communist thought and the historical mission of the Red Army was not thorough enough.

Obviously, being a "non-party member" is much easier than being a member of the Communist Party of China.

But, if I want to take it easy, wouldn't it be easier for me to be a Kuomintang officer? Since I'm not qualified, I'll work hard to be qualified!

Wang Jiaben clenched his fists and made up his mind. Fan Shisheng sighed secretly.

If Li Desheng's idea can be fully realized, then this country will definitely not belong to anyone else, but only to the Communist Party of China.

Because, if that were the case, wherever the Red Army passed, there would inevitably be a revolutionary wave. Apart from the landlords and gentry, would there be ordinary people who would support the Kuomintang?

Will not.

As the atmosphere of the grievance meeting became more and more heated, and as they saw light in the eyes of the Kuomintang soldiers who had been listless under their command, many Kuomintang generals became frightened.

For they seemed to see a wild dragon of fire, a fiery red monster, leaping before them and lighting up the whole sky;

Then, it spread from south to north, burning all over China.

On August 3, the reorganized 100,000-strong Red Army left Xiangyang and officially began its march north.

Target, Xi'an.

331 Yang Hucheng, Why Don’t You Dare to Fight the Communist Party?

Wang Erleng, who was only 18 years old, will never forget the scene of the neatly dressed troops holding red flags coming down from the sandy ridge and entering their village.

Almost immediately, the village was filled with the shrill sounds of Guanzhong horns, gongs, and cries:

"Oh no! Soldiers are passing by! Soldiers are passing by! Run! Run!"

Then, almost everyone dropped what they were doing in an instant, quickly grabbed the valuables at hand (in fact, they were too poor to have any valuables), and slipped away.

It can be seen that they are quite familiar with this process. Even the youngest child can "complete the task" in just one minute.

There was no way around it. Wars and conscriptions happened too often, forcing the people to adapt.

If you don't adapt, you will die.

However, only Wang Erlang, who was not very smart, wanted to escape, but in his panic he bumped into a wooden beam and fainted.

When he woke up, he found himself lying on a stretcher and a female soldier was applying something on his head with a cotton swab.

"Are you awake?"

He spoke with an accent from other places, a bit like someone from Hubei, Hunan or Sichuan.

"We don't call you 'junye' here. We call you 'comrade'. We are the Red Army, the army of the poor."

ee3,

Wang Er was stunned.

Comrade?

Red Army?

Let’s not talk about what the Red Army is, what does the poor people’s team mean?

Although he couldn't understand anything, he could sense the other party's kindness. Seeing that the female soldier and the male soldier guarding nearby had no intention of doing anything to him, Wang Erleng's temper flared up, and he boldly asked:

"Military... pain system."

"Why!"

"Which commander's soldiers are you?"

"We are not the Marshal, we are the Red Army led by Li Desheng."

"Oh, Marshal Li, right? Where are you from? Where are you going?"

"...We are from Hubei and are going to Xi'an." "Xi'an..."

At this time, a tall, thin man walked in and asked with a smile: "Little comrade, are you awake?"

"This...this is..."

"I am the commander-in-chief of this team. My name is Xu Xiangqian."

“,,

Half an hour later, Wang Erlang, chewing the pot cake given to him by the Red Army soldiers, ran to the place where the villagers were hiding and shouted:

"Guys! Come out! These are not bad soldiers! They are our soldiers! They are our soldiers!"

In Wang Erlang's opinion, he was not beaten or scolded, because he was short and shabby.

The soldier who gave him the pot-cake must be a good person.

But the other villagers were not as stupid as him.

A middle-aged man jumped out from the bushes, grabbed Wang Erleng's collar and growled:

"You didn't hide when you saw the soldiers, but you actually approached them. Are you crazy?!"

"No...no...they are so friendly!" Wang Erleng held up a half-eaten pot cake:

"The leader, Xu Xiangquan, the Great Marshal, was talking to me! He even had someone feed me pancakes!"

,

After repeated explanations from fellow villagers, the villagers finally selected a few elderly people to investigate the situation with some doubts.

This is considered a "tradition" in the village - when a disaster occurs, the elderly take risks first to let the young people and children survive.

After a while, the elders came back with the news: You can go back!

Although the soldiers entered the village, they did not enter any of the houses, and did not even touch the food bags that had been left at the door.

They had lived from toothless to toothless, but they had never seen such soldiers!

The villagers returned to the village with trepidation, and were surprised to find that their houses had not been set on fire, their food had not been stolen, and even their doors had not been opened!

A group of dusty but energetic soldiers kindly expressed their desire to collect some supplies from them, and took out silver or copper coins to indicate that they would buy them at the market price.

After the transaction was completed in a daze and Marshal Xu, who was dressed almost like an ordinary soldier, left with the Red Army, the villagers suddenly realized:

It turns out that the Red Army was not what the county magistrate described as "green-faced, fang-toothed soldiers who loved to eat children"!

Aren't these just a bunch of good-tempered young people who treat others kindly, pay for their meals, don't disturb others, don't rob, don't rape, and don't kill?

This... this is completely different from what the government is promoting!

While everyone was discussing this, they also had an indescribable feeling in their hearts;

It was as if the Red Army was not an army in the traditional sense, but was as close to them as brothers, fathers, and sons.

At this time, someone noticed something was wrong: "Huh? Where did Erleng go?"

i,,

"...Your name is Wang Erleng, right?"

Xu Xiangqian had a headache facing this little boy who had sneaked behind the team for fifteen miles, was caught by the rear guard, but refused to leave no matter what.

Although he knew why Wang Erleng wanted to join the Red Army, Marshal Xu was not very willing to accept him.

He was too short, too thin, and too young, I couldn't tell if he was even 14 years old.

Although there were actually quite a few such children in the Red Army, most of them were orphans or descendants of military families;

Besides, the Red Army was not short of people, and he couldn't bear to send such a child to the battlefield.

"Yes, sir!"

"Call me comrade, you little brat."

Although he was only less than 31 years old, Xu Xiangqian acted like an elder. He reached out and knocked Wang Erleng's head, emphasizing again: