Among the various stories about the Red Army’s Long March, there is one word that appears most frequently, and that is “hungry”.
To a certain extent, every Red Army soldier who completed the Long March was comparable to Shennong who tasted all kinds of herbs, or even worse - after all, belts, cotton wool and other things, even if Shennong saw them I'm afraid I don't have the idea to say anything.
Food is in such short supply, and hobbies such as tobacco and alcohol are even more scarce. Even people like Chairman Mao and Deng Xiaoping, who smoked all year round, had to rely on tree leaves to survive. Others could only "reliance".
However, under such circumstances, Liu Bocheng, the then Chief of General Staff of the Red Army, specifically approached Chairman Mao and asked for cigarettes and alcohol for a company commander.
Liu Bocheng must be confident: "As long as Wang Yaonan has cigarettes to smoke, there will be no slope that the Red Army cannot cross; as long as Wang Yaonan has wine to drink, there will be no river that the Red Army cannot cross!"
This sounds like Who is Wang Yaonan, a man with great supernatural powers? Today I will tell you his story.
In October 1921, a tall and thin young man lived in the shed of the Anyuan Coal Mine in Jiangxi Province.
From the mouth of this young man who spoke Xiangtan dialect, these miners who had worked all year round and whose faces were covered with soot heard the word "Communist Party" for the first time, and for the first time they were shocked. You know, it turns out that their fate is not destined by God, it turns out that they should be the masters of this world.
Friends who know something about modern history will naturally know that this young man is Mao Zedong, who just attended the first year of the Chinese Communist Party.
But what many people don’t know is that among the miners sitting around Mao Zedong at that time, there was a child worker under the age of 11 whose nickname was Dong Yazi.
Many years later, he had a resounding name - Wang Yaonan.
At the same time, he also has a more resounding nickname: "The King of Engineers".
In current terms, Wang Yaonan is a "third generation coal worker".
In 1898, in order to solve the problem of insufficient fuel in the Hanyang Iron and Steel Works, the famous "red-top businessman" Sheng Xuanhuai organized the Anyuan Coal Mine in Pingxiang, Jiangxi. Wang Yaonan's grandfather was one of the first miners to enter the Anyuan Coal Mine.
In the coal mines at that time, not only were the working conditions shockingly bad, but safety was almost zero. Every time from the ground to the tunnel face, for the miners, it is a circle in the world of yin and yang.
In the eyes of the miners at that time, being able to die in their own bed was already a blessing acquired over several lifetimes.
However, Wang Yaonan’s grandfather was not so lucky. After working hard in the Anyuan coal mine for half his life, a gas explosion left him in the dark underground forever.
What’s even more cruel is that Wang Yaonan’s father didn’t even have much time to express his condolences. The more pressing question before him was: Without one person to make money, how should the remaining people survive?
As a result, his father’s eyes fell on the young Wang Yaonan, and he became a "tangu man" (a contemptuous name for miners at the time)
Come to Not long after he started working in the coal mine, his father discovered something special about his son: Although he could not do much physical work, Wang Yaonan was not only not afraid of explosives that could break open rocks, but also seemed to have a natural affinity for them, and he quickly mastered the basic operations of explosives. , became a well-known "blasting expert" in the mine.
Apart from being a little worried about his safety, his father didn't have any too many plans for this bold son.
But what he didn't know was that the words of that young man from Hunan had already planted a bolder seed in Wang Yaonan's heart -
In September 1927, Mao Zedong instigated the famous uprising on the border of Hunan and Jiangxi. During the Autumn Harvest Uprising, the First Division of the First Corps of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was established at the same time.
The main members of the second group of this legendary team are miners from Anyuan Coal Mine. Wang Yaonan joined the demolition team of this regiment together with more than 60 miners with demolition experience, and Wang Yaonan, who was skilled in skills, naturally became the deputy captain of the demolition team.
In the next few years, Wang Yaonan grew up step by step. By the spring of 1930, he was already a platoon leader in the special agent battalion of the Fourth Red Army, and he also officially became a A member of the Communist Party of China.
Shortly after this, Wang Yaonan received an order from the commander of the special agent battalion, asking him to report to the legion headquarters as soon as possible.
After receiving the order, Wang Yaonan was a little confused and asked: "What does the headquarters want me to do?"
The battalion commander said with a straight face: "Where do so many problems come from? This is an order given by Commander-in-Chief Zhu personally!"
After hearing the battalion commander's words, Wang Yaonan did not dare to neglect and rushed to the legion headquarters immediately. In Zhu De's mouth, Wang Yaonan heard a brand-new term: "engineer".
Seeing Wang Yaonan's half-comprehensive look, Zhu De smiled kindly and said: "Let me tell you about the role of forming an engineering corps. To put it simply, it is to open roads in the mountains and build bridges in the water!"
Although Wang Yaonan has not read many books, he still understands this sentence. He puffed up his chest and said loudly: "Commander-in-Chief, don't worry, I promise to complete the mission!"
After careful selection, Wang Yaonan selected a capable force of less than 100 people to form the Red Army. The Engineer Company of the First Army Corps thus became one of the founders of the Engineer Corps of the People's Liberation Army.
As the leader of the first engineering team of our army, Wang Yaonan left his mark in many historical moments: the first bridge of the Long March on the Yudu River, the bamboo raft pontoon bridge when forcibly crossing the Wujiang River, emergency repairs The Luding Bridge with only a few iron cables left, and the way for the entire army to cross Jiajin Mountain...these are all miracles achieved by Wang Yaonan and the Red Army engineers with extremely crude equipment.
At the beginning of this article, the reason why Liu Bocheng asked for cigarettes and alcohol for Wang Yaonan was also for work needs: During the Long March, the engineering company often had to soak in the cold river water to build bridges, relying on wine to keep out the cold; With a series of fuses, cigarettes are naturally much more convenient than matches.
It is no exaggeration to say that during the entire Long March, Wang Yaonan and his engineering company truly achieved "opening roads across mountains and building bridges across rivers." Chairman Mao also praised Wang Yaonan endlessly: "You are not a simple engineer king!"
The Long March was victorious. While Wang Yaonan was rejoicing, he couldn't help but feel a little regretful - since the establishment of the engineer company, he The main job is to build various bridges, but the blasting skills he is proud of are somewhat useless.
This is not surprising: from the beginning of the anti-encirclement and suppression operations in the Central Soviet Area until the end of the Long March, the main force of the Red Army was basically engaged in defensive and mobile warfare, and there were very few battles to launch strong attacks on cities with heavy fortifications. , Wang Yaonan naturally had no chance to perform.
However, Wang Yaonan's regret did not last long, because the all-out war of resistance soon began, and he was going to let the Japanese invaders experience firsthand what the "art of explosion" was.
On the night of August 20, 1940, deafening gunfire suddenly rang out at important strongholds in the North China Plain, and the "Hundred Regiments War" that will go down in history began.
The offensive, like a storm, instantly overwhelmed the Japanese troops stationed there, and telegrams for help flew to the Japanese headquarters like a snowflake, requesting the mobilization of troops for support.
However, when the Japanese troops boarded the train in a hurry and rushed to various areas under attack, they were dumbfounded by the scene in front of them: the originally flat rails were twisted into twists, and a giant railing appeared on the roadbed. The big crater left by the explosion seemed like a big mouth, waiting to swallow them.
Seeing that the mobility advantage they relied on had vanished into thin air, the Japanese army was furious but helpless. They lamented: "(Railway transportation) has suffered huge losses, and it will take a long time and huge sums of money to restore..."
The person who laid the foundation for all this was Wang Yaonan.
It turns out that as early as 1939, Wang Yaonan, then the engineer director of the 129th Division, followed the instructions of Commander Liu Bocheng and participated in formulating a combat plan to destroy the Japanese army's mobility advantage and focus on attacking the enemy's railway lines. .
After this plan was sent to the Eighth Route Army General Headquarters, Peng Dehuai attached great importance to it. After continuous expansion and improvement, the combat plan for the Hundred Regiment War was finally formed.
As one of the original organizers of this plan, after the Hundred Regiments War began, Wang Yaonan was appointed as the chief engineering commander of the campaign and became the director of this "explosion show".
According to historical records, during the Hundred Regiments War, under the overall planning of Wang Yaonan, various units of the Eighth Route Army destroyed more than 470 kilometers of Japanese railway lines and more than 260 bridges and tunnels, inflicting severe blows to the arrogant Japanese army. A lesson was learned.
Wang Yaonan's outstanding performance quickly attracted Peng Dehuai's attention. Therefore, shortly after the Hundred Regiments War ended, Peng Dehuai gave him a crucial task: to build a defense system for the Huangyadong Arsenal.
As the largest arsenal with the strongest production capacity of the Eighth Route Army during the Anti-Japanese War, Huangyadong Arsenal has always been the darling of the leadership of the Eighth Route Army headquarters. Wang Yaonan, who received this task, knew that he had a heavy responsibility and immediately took several key members to Shuiyao Mountain in the north of Licheng County, Shanxi, where the arsenal is located.
When Wang Yaonan walked into Shuiyao Mountain and carefully surveyed the terrain here, he couldn't help but secretly admire the vision of the leaders at the headquarters - this place is surrounded by mountains and is surrounded by narrow paths, making it difficult for the Japanese tanks, artillery and other heavy weapons to attack Shi Zhan is indeed a good place that is easy to defend but difficult to attack.
However, while sighing, Wang Yaonan felt a faint sense of danger. He walked up and down Shuiyao Mountain several times before he suddenly realized: This treasure land, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack, is actually a double-edged sword!
Different from the army station, in addition to a large number of technical personnel lacking combat experience, the arsenal also has 40 pieces of machinery and equipment gathered here from various base areas. The rugged terrain near Huangyadong makes the equipment and The transportation and transfer of personnel are extremely difficult.
In other words, when the Japanese army attacked in a large scale, once it broke through the outer defense line, the Huangyadong Arsenal was like a baby that could not move and could only be restrained.
Thinking of this potential danger, Wang Yaonan suddenly felt that the burden on his shoulders was heavy. He thought hard for several days and finally came up with a clever trick - landmines.
Wang Yaonan himself is no stranger to landmines. As early as when he was in the Central Soviet Area, he had played with the landmines captured from the enemy, and he was soon fascinated by the power of this iron lump. However, the seizures at that time were limited, and the Central Soviet Area's arms manufacturing capacity was insufficient, so Wang Yaonan was not provided with them. Space for skill.
At the beginning of the All-out Anti-Japanese War, when Wang Yaonan witnessed the Japanese army using motorized equipment to deal with our army, the idea of ??using landmines to attack the Japanese invaders came up again. Now that he finally seized the opportunity, he was naturally eager to try it. , I want to practice it on the spot.
But when Wang Yaonan put forward the suggestion of laying mines at the front of the position, many commanders raised objections - in their view, landmines are expensive weapons, and they do not distinguish between ourselves and the enemy, or who steps on them. It is far less convenient to blow up anyone than to hit wherever you point with a grenade.
The two sides could not settle the dispute, and the lawsuit went all the way to Zuo Quan, the chief of staff who was in charge of the construction of the Huangyadong defense project.
As a top student trained by the two major military academies of Huangpu and Frunze, Zuo Quan naturally understood the role of landmines. After thinking for a while, Zuo Quan agreed to Wang Yaonan's suggestion, and also gave him a difficult problem - landmines can be laid, but in order to find a way to crack the Japanese army's demining methods, special care must be taken not to accidentally injure civilians!
After listening to Zuo Quan's words, Wang Yaonan slapped his chest loudly: "Don't worry, Chief of Staff! If there is a problem, I will come to see you with my head!"
Soon, it was proved that Wang Yaonan was so powerful The opportunity to speak out came - in early November 1941, more than 2,000 Japanese troops poured out from Licheng County and rushed towards the Huangyadong Arsenal.
However, when they just approached the outer edge of the arsenal's defensive position, they stepped into a pre-laid minefield. After a series of earth-shattering noises, the Japanese forward was blown to pieces, crying for his father and mother.
While the Japanese army was still in shock, the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army's special agent regiment who had already ambushed them opened fire together. Without any effort, they drove the Japanese army back to Licheng County.
The Japanese army, which had suffered heavy losses, refused to give up. A few days later, they gathered more than 5,000 troops and continued to attack Huangya Cave. They had the momentum to not stop until Huangya Cave was wiped out.
Different from the last time, the Japanese army, who had suffered from landmines, learned a lesson and caught up with a large group of sheep at the front of the army, hoping to use them to deal with the mine array.
Driven by the Japanese army, the sheep quickly poured into the mine array, but the big explosion expected by the Japanese army did not happen. Everything was quiet, as if all the mines had disappeared.
Seeing that everything was safe and sound, the Japanese army felt relieved and walked in with great swagger. But then, there was a series of "clicks", sending countless Japanese soldiers with question marks on their faces back to their hometowns.
The confused Japanese commander was furious and came up with an extremely vicious idea - they used bayonets to intimidate the common people and let them serve as human deminers.
However, the familiar script played out again: the same road, the common people were safe when walking on it, but as soon as the Japanese army stepped on it, it was a violent explosion.
At this point, the Japanese army was completely confused - what technology did the Eighth Route Army master? !
In fact, all of this is a "series" preset by Wang Yaonan in advance -
When arranging the mine array, Wang Yaonan considered that the Japanese army was likely to use animals Clear mines by force.
In Shanxi at that time, the most common animal was sheep. Wang Yaonan adjusted the strength of the fuse in advance so that small animals such as sheep could not trigger the fuse. Only humans or larger animals could cause an explosion.
At the same time, in view of the possibility that the Japanese army would drive ordinary people to mines, Wang Yaonan specially selected a group of dexterous soldiers in the special agent regiment for training, so that they could skillfully change the pressure fuse into a The technique of pulling a fuse.
In this way, when the special agent team detects the situation where the Japanese army forces civilians to clear the way, they can quickly replace the fuse, wait until the civilians pass the minefield, and then use the method of pulling fire to detonate the mines.
This method of combat, after being circulated everywhere, finally condensed into a classic line: "If you don't see the enemy, don't hang the string!"
With the help of Wang Yaonan's ever-changing mine formations, the Eighth Route Army secret agents With more than 1,300 troops, the regiment successfully withstood the attack of more than 5,000 Japanese troops. It not only bought time for the smooth transfer of the Huangyadong Arsenal, but also eliminated nearly a thousand Japanese troops at the cost of 166 casualties (of which more than 40 were killed). The casualty ratio was 1:6, which can be called a classic defensive battle.
After this battle, the commanders who originally had doubts about Wang Yaonan were convinced and gave thumbs up: "Director Wang is worthy of having been engaged in blasting for ten or twenty years. He has become a master even if he is not a god. ! ”
However, these words of praise did not reach Wang Yaonan’s ears immediately. Because at this time, he had already left the 129th Division headquarters and went to the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area.
The reason why Wang Yaonan left the division headquarters was the words of Zuo Quan’s chief of staff——
After the Huangyadong defenses were completed, Wang Yaonan, who had never forgotten about mine warfare, found Zuo Quan again , and wanted him to help promote landmine warfare at the Eighth Route Army headquarters.
After listening to Wang Yaonan's story, Zuo Quan said: "Your idea is very good, but have you ever thought about why some commanders did not support your approach in this project?"
Zuo Quan's question stunned Wang Yaonan. He was speechless for a long time, but he didn't say anything.
Seeing Wang Yaonan embarrassed on the spot, Zuo Quan smiled: "You are the king of engineers, and landmines are nothing to you. But our commanders are different. Some of them have never even seen landmines. Can they be convinced by your empty talk?"
Then, Zuo Quan said in a more serious tone: "In my opinion, you have to show the facts before they can be convinced!"
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Zuo Quan's words immediately awakened Wang Yaonan - If you want to convince the frontline commanders and soldiers of the role of landmines, what better way is there than to show up in person to explain it?
So, after returning to the 129th Division headquarters, he immediately reported to his superiors and requested to go to the front line in person to promote mine warfare.
Just at this time, Nie Rongzhen, the commander of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, who had long admired Wang Yaonan's name, came to ask for help. The two hit it off immediately, and Wang Yaonan immediately took office. Carrying his luggage and a box of landmine samples, he came to Shanxi. Chaji Military Region.
At that time, the all-out war of resistance had entered its fourth year. A large number of recruits and militiamen joined the anti-Japanese ranks. Although they strengthened their own strength, they also caused the overall combat capabilities of the troops to decline to a considerable extent.
According to historical records, in 1938, not long after the beginning of the All-out War of Resistance, the hit rate of soldiers from the main regiment of the Eighth Route Army when shooting from a prone position within 100 meters was basically around 80%, which shows that there were a considerable number of excellent shooters.
Only two years later, General Qin Jiwei, then commander of the Shanxi-Hebei-Luyu First Military Division, discovered that in his own guard platoon, about 40 soldiers had failed shooting scores, and some even failed. The young squad leader couldn't even use the sight on the rifle.
With the gun in their hands, the operation level of these recruits is still so unsatisfactory. If they are allowed to use more dangerous landmines, the effect will be unimaginable.
In the process of promoting landmine warfare, every time he visited a village, Wang Yaonan led the technical backbone to the stage. Some people played the role of the Eighth Route Army, and some played the role of Japanese soldiers, and vividly performed the Japanese soldiers stepping on landmines in various scenarios. scene.
Not only the soldiers like to watch this fresh teaching, but also the common people. Whenever the "Japanese soldiers" are "killed", the soldiers and common people will applaud and ask for " Japanese Army” died again.
After such repeated performances, coupled with "real-time explanations" by Wang Yaonan and technical backbones, the soldiers and militiamen of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region quickly eliminated their fear of landmines and gradually mastered Learned various techniques of laying landmines.
Not only that, Wang Yaonan also mobilized the militia to make their own thunder shells based on the lack of pig iron resources in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region. For a time, oil cylinders, teapots, large rocks... and even chamber pots They have all been transformed by the militia into weapons for defeating the enemy.
Under the leadership of Wang Yaonan, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region set off an upsurge of "explosion movement". Everyone from 6 to 70-year-olds to children in their 10s would bury their names. Landmines, every village knew how to make landmines, which plunged the Japanese invaders into a sea of ??landmines, and a series of heroes and models such as the explosive hero Li Hunzi emerged.
At the same time, the landmine warfare in Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei quickly spread to various base areas such as Shanxi-Suiyuan and Shandong. The loud explosions one after another made the death knell of the Japanese invaders even louder.
Behind all this, Wang Yaonan played an indispensable role.
Although the title of "King of Engineers" has brought infinite glory to Wang Yaonan, it has also witnessed his blood-soaked dedication-in the long process of dealing with landmines and explosives, Wang Yaonan has both He lost his hearing, was seriously injured five times, and suffered many disabilities...so much so that shortly after he was awarded the rank of major general, he had to recuperate due to illness for five years.
Although he was in pain, General Wang Yaonan stood up without hesitation when the motherland needed him. During the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, he visited the front line as an engineering expert and put forward suggestions for relying on tunnel fortifications to defend the U.S. military. , after returning to China, he dragged his illness and served as the commander-in-chief of the Engineering Construction Headquarters of the North China Military Region. He established strong permanent fortifications in the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan area, and created an unbreakable shield for the capital...
More importantly, when the Bayi Film Studio started filming the military educational films "Tunnel Warfare" and "Landmine Warfare", as a witness to this period of history, General Wang Yaonan served as the film consultant, bringing these Precious memories turned into images, influencing and educating generations of Chinese youth.
On November 3, 1984, General Wang Yaonan, who had been sick for several years, closed his eyes forever. As he was dying, his last words to his family were to donate his body to a medical institution for research. ......
This is our founding fathers, this is the backbone of our nation!
I would like to use this short article to pay tribute to General Wang Yaonan, the "King of Engineers" of the People's Liberation Army!