It turned out that Chen Mo mentioned in an open letter that the predecessor of the Jianghuai First Division was indeed true. The relevant documents of the Communist Party in the past mentioned www.biquge.info history of the First Division, and only said that it was born in the first independent regiment of the rebel army during the Nanchang Uprising, but when this independent regiment was established, I will not say. After Feng Tao joined the New Fourth Army, he once heard Political Commissar Luo say that the First Independent Regiment was established in April 1926, and the first commander of the Independent First Regiment was Chen Mosong. In order to make this regiment a veritable Chiang family's army, Chiang Kai-shek stipulated that Chen Mosong was not allowed to recruit a Communist Party member and a member of the Communist Youth League, and Chen Mosong really did it. Soon after the establishment of the First Regiment, it participated in the Northern Expedition and made several exploits in the battle, and Chen Mosong was promoted to division commander by Chiang Kai-shek.

On April 12, 1927, Chiang Kai-shek openly betrayed the revolution by massacring the Communists and the revolutionary masses in Shanghai. At that time, the 1st Independent Regiment was stationed in Hubei Province, which was controlled by the Kuomintang leftists, and was not in the area controlled by Chiang Kai-shek. After Chiang Kai-shek's mutiny, Chen Mosong, who was already the commander of the division, wrote a letter to Wang Jin, the commander of the first regiment, asking him to pull the team to the area controlled by Chiang Kai-shek, and also promised Wang Jin the rank of major general. But Wang Jin refused, and led the whole regiment to issue a telegram, condemning Chiang Kai-shek's betrayal of Sun Yat-sen's three major policies of uniting with Russia to support peasants and workers, and will continue to support the three major policies. Later, Wang Jin led the Independent Regiment to participate in the Nanchang Uprising.

"Why didn't that head Wang go with Chiang Kai-shek?" Liang Yongquan interjected, "Isn't he Lao Jiang's person?" Besides, if he wants to go with the Communist Party alone, will all the officers and men of the regiment be willing? ”

Feng Tao smiled, "Chiang Kai-shek has always been the principal of the Whampoa Military Academy, and all the Whampoa students are his students. All the officers of the regiment, including Comrade Wang Jin, had this relationship with Chiang Kai-shek. Therefore, Wang Jin and the others also supported Chiang Kai-shek. So why didn't Commander Wang and the officers of the First Regiment go with Chiang Kai-shek? Because people are always changing. During the Northern Expedition, the masses of workers and peasants gave a lot of support and help to the Independent Regiment, and some of the workers and peasants made heroic sacrifices on the line of fire to rescue the wounded, all of which deeply touched the vast number of officers and men, including Wang Jin. ”

At this time, Feng Tao saw the three enemy planes flying over the garrisons of friendly and neighboring troops to drop leaflets, so he pursed his lips contemptuously, and continued, "The first regiment lost a lot of troops in the Northern Expedition, and during the period of going to Hubei for recuperation, Comrade Zhou Enlai, through Mr. Deng Yanda, the leader of the left wing of the Kuomintang and then director of the General Political Department of the National Revolutionary Army, supplemented the regiment with a group of communists and activists of the workers' and peasants' movement. Although Chen Mosong was reluctant, he did not dare to refuse because Mr. Deng was his teacher and the troops were not in the area controlled by Chiang Kai-shek. Soon after, Chen Mosong went to Lao Chiang to take up his post and took with him twelve officers and thirty sergeants, all of whom were rightists who supported Chiang. After they left, our Comrade Ishikawa was sent to be the party representative again. In this way, the troops became the domain of the leftists. Therefore, after Chiang Kai-shek's open betrayal of the revolution, the independent regiment immediately broke with the old Chiang. Later, after Wuhan Wang Jingwei and his gang also betrayed the revolution, the independent regiment immediately left Hubei and rushed to Jiangxi to participate in the August 1 Nanchang Uprising led by our party. ”

"Did all the officers and soldiers of the Independent Regiment follow the Communists?" Xiao Jiang interjected.

"Of course not," Feng Tao smiled heartily, "When Chen Mosong went to be Chiang Kai-shek's division commander, he specially brought some people from the independent regiment. After the failure of the Nanchang Uprising, the Independent Regiment suffered great losses. Some officers and men were pessimistic and desperate about the future and ran away, and some even ran to Chiang Kai-shek. Of course, most of the officers and men followed the party, and due to the harsh environment at that time, the 1st Independent Regiment was reduced to the 1st Independent Battalion three times. The first time was after the failure of the Nanchang Uprising in October 1927, when the remnants of the rebel army moved to the Dayu area on the border of Jiangxi and Hunan. After the Shonan Rebellion in January 1928, due to the rapid development and growth of the army, the independent regiment was restored. The second time was in August 1928, due to the severe situation of the struggle in Jinggangshan, the troops were again reduced to an independent battalion. In January 1930, the situation improved and it was reverted to independence. The third time was in August 1935, due to the large attrition on the Long March, the unit was reduced to an independent battalion, and it was not until January 1938 that the independent regiment was restored. ”

Speaking of this, Feng Tao noticed that the soldiers were all wide-eyed, and they were obviously surprised by the strange experience of the troops. He then waved his hand heroically, "Although our troops have been down and up three times, no matter what, the ranks of the independent regiment have never collapsed, and the flag has never fallen. Now you understand why our regiment and battalion are called the old regiment and the old battalion, right? ”

"Then how is Comrade Wang Jin now?" Liang Yongquan asked.

"He joined the Chinese Communist Party after the Nanchang Uprising, and in 1929 he died!" Feng Tao's face turned gloomy when he said this. "The veterans of the former Independent Regiment, except for those who defected and fled, most of the comrades sacrificed their lives for the revolutionary cause, and now there are less than 10 people alive, including Commander Gu and Division Commander Chang, and a few others in the fraternal units are now also responsible for leading the work."

At this time, Guo Lin interjected and said: "I heard Political Commissar Luo say that during the Red Army period, our old battalion had a tradition, and the battalion commander and instructor were transferred to other units, and they were all regiment commanders and regimental political commissars, while the cadres of other units had to be demoted to the old regiment and the old battalion. There was a battalion commander who was transferred to the old battalion and was assigned to be a company commander, and he was very unhappy. said that when I arrived in the old battalion, I couldn't be the battalion commander, so I had to be a deputy battalion commander, so why did I make myself a company commander? Political Commissar Luo told him that the old 1st Battalion was an old unit with outstanding achievements, specializing in fighting tough battles and gnawing hard bones. You don't have the experience to fight tough battles, so you can only be a company commander. ”

When Liang Yongquan and several other newly recruited soldiers heard this, their eyes immediately widened and their tongues were sticking out. Only then did they discover that the arrangement of the demotion of the regiment-level cadre Feng Tao to the old regiment was still traditional.

At this time, Xiao Mao asked, "Is there an old group of old people who are still alive who have never been officials?" ”

Feng Tao smiled, "Of course there is, there was a thirty-year-old man in the old group at the time, and he had been in charge of cooking since he participated in the revolution. In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, he was seriously injured on the battlefield and was sent back to Yan'an for treatment. He is an old revolutionary, and everyone calls him the old squad leader. When many red imps first joined the army, they were first arranged to do chores under the old squad leader, but now these people are not only sacrificed, but also alive have become cadres, and some are regiment commanders and division commanders, but our respected old squad leader is still a soldier! (To be continued.) )