Chapter Thirty: The Third Battle of Little Water (Part Two)
On the empty land at the entrance of Xiaoshui Village, 1,400 Xiang Army captive soldiers were divided into three squares by Red Army soldiers. One hundred people who were willing to join the Red Army stood on the east side, some eating dry rations and others drinking water. The middle square consisted of those who refused to join the Red Army, all squatting on the ground, surrounded by Red Army soldiers with bayonets at the ready. On the west side was a group of newly captured prisoners from the third ambush battle. When Liu Yimin arrived, comrades from the instructional team were individually mobilizing this group, and artillery company commander Li Chang was also inside pulling people in, it was a bit chaotic.
Seeing Liu Yimin and several team leaders arrive, the instructor team leader Li Yimei and political commissar Han Qianjin hurried over, both slapping their hands together in a loud salute. Li Yimei shouted loudly: "Report to Team Leader and Political Commissar, the instructor team is currently doing prisoner conversion work, please instruct."
Liu Yimin raised his hand in response and said: "Please take a break. Captain Li, how is the work of transforming prisoners going?"
Li Yimo replied: "Report to the team leader, it's difficult. The first and second batches have secured 100 people, and the third batch is working on it."
Liu Yimin said: "You separate the enemy officers and lock them in a house, gather the soldiers together, and I'll talk to them."
Li Yimo immediately stood at attention and saluted: "Yes", turned around and shouted: "The entire 10th company of the training regiment is present, immediately line up the prisoners and await the commander's instructions."
Soon, the warriors took Zhang Liangji and 20 other officers to a civilian house, where they lined up the captured Xiang Army soldiers. After all the captives were in place, Li Yimou reported back, and Liu Yimin stood before them: "All present, attention!"
The Xiang Army prisoners of war unconsciously obeyed orders and stood at attention.
Liu Yimin looked satisfied and said, "Take a break! Please sit down."
"Comrades, I am Liu Yimin, the commander of the Red 18th Regiment that annihilated the 16th Division of Hunan this time." He paused for a moment. Seeing the shocked faces of the captives, Liu Yimin continued: "It was our regiment and the Red 34th Division working together to wipe out two regiments of the Guangxi 24th Division at Gulingtou, and another regiment of the Hunan Army on the banks of the Xiangjiang River. And today we annihilated your 16th Division of Hunan."
Looking at the Hunan Army soldiers who were all silent and speechless, Liu Yimin said: "I'll ask you brothers a few questions. First question, those with 30 mu of land, two or more cattle, mules, horses, please raise your hands. Renting land from landlords doesn't count."
No one raised their hand.
"Those who have 10 mu of land and a cow or a mule at home, please raise your hands."
No one raised their hand.
"Those who have a family business, please raise your hand."
No one raised their hand.
"Those who have read books and have a high school education or above, please raise your hands."
No one raised their hand.
"Those with primary school education, please raise your hands."
No one raised their hand.
"A Hunan army captive shouted loudly: 'Officer, don't ask any more questions. Who among those with land, money and literacy would become a soldier?'"
Liu Yimin smiled, "This brother said it well. Those with land, money and knowledge do not join the army. Only the poor join the army. My second question to everyone is, why don't the rich join the army but let the poor join? Who can say something about this?"
No one answered.
Liu Yimin smiled and said: "The brother who just spoke up, yes, you, tell me, why do the rich not become soldiers while letting the poor become soldiers?"
The soldier stood up and said, "Sir, I don't think it's right, but I know that the rich people are always in good terms with the officials. When recruiting soldiers, they usually don't recruit the sons of rich families. Even if they accidentally catch one, they just make a phone call or pay some money to let them go. But when they catch poor people, without money, they have no choice but to become soldiers."
"This brother said it well, the rich and government officials have a good relationship, in fact they are not just in a good relationship, but actually they are in cahoots. The National Government is the spokesperson for the wealthy. Everyone has seen that the village head and local officials in your hometown often arrest poor people to be soldiers or put them in prison, who has ever seen them arrest the young masters of rich families to be soldiers or put them in prison? My third question is: We are all human beings, why are they rich while we are poor?"
Many people stood up to answer. Some said that the rich are blessed, some said that the rich can do it, and others said that the ancestors of the rich were also rich. It was a mess, with all sorts of opinions being expressed.
Liu Yimin watched as the prisoners all chattered and argued, a sly smile spreading across his face. He coughed once, waiting for everyone to fall silent before beginning to speak: "Everyone's words have some reason to them, but they're not correct. For example, when you say that rich people are blessed with good fortune, why is it that poor people aren't? You should know that great sages have long since said that all people are born equal, everyone is human, and fate is the same for all. Again, some of you say that rich people are capable, well, let's think about this: if we all go to work in the fields, will it be the rich or the poor who do a better job? And again, when some of you say that rich people have always been rich, then ask yourselves another question: how did their ancestors become wealthy in the first place?"
Another new recruit stood up, saluted and said: "Brother, you speak." Liu Yimin returned the salute and said.
"Reporting to the superior, I've been thinking that nothing is impossible in this society, it's just that poor people are not allowed to become rich. Because if all poor people became rich, wouldn't they also be able to hold official positions and become masters? Wouldn't the rich then not be able to beat or kill at will?"
Liu Yimin nodded in approval: "This brother is right. The root cause is that the social system is unreasonable. People are born equal, so everyone should have land to farm, everyone should have books to read, everyone should have work, and everyone should have food to eat. But now the National Government's policy is that those with money get more money, those with land get more land, those without money can only suffer, and those without land can only do hard labor. Is this fair? We are also human beings, we also want to have land, we also want to read books, we also want to eat food. Since Chiang Kai-shek's National Government does not give us land, since this social system is so unfair, why don't we overthrow it and establish a new society where everyone is equal, everyone has land to farm, everyone has food to eat, everyone has books to read, and everyone has work? My fourth question is that the National Government drafts us poor people into the army, who are they going to make us fight against? Which brother can answer this?"
The atmosphere was lively. The soldiers began to discuss, some said they were fighting Japan, others said who was rebelling against whom, and others directly said they were fighting the Red Army.
Liu Yimin said: "Everyone says it makes sense. For example, when fighting Japan, the Japanese occupied our Northeast, we should fight them, this is a soldier's duty. But why doesn't the National Government send troops to fight? Tens of thousands of Northeastern Army didn't fire a shot and retreated. The Red Army wants to go north to resist Japan, you don't go to fight the Japanese devils, instead you fight the Red Army that resists Japan, what kind of logic is this? Isn't it just who resists Japan and who fights whom? Moreover, who rebels against whom, historically those who rebelled were poor people, those who became soldiers were poor people, those who rebelled were also poor people, isn't this just letting poor people fight poor people? Our Red Army is a team of poor people, representing the interests of poor people, fighting the Red Army is also fighting poor people. Now everyone understands, right? The National Government drafts you into the army, not to protect your home and country, or to fight against evil landlords, but to let us poor people fight poor people, what kind of stupid thing is this, can we do it?"
After a while, seeing that the Xiang Army soldiers had all fallen into deep thought, Liu Yimin said: "Brothers, I want to tell you two secrets. Do you want to hear them?"
Looking at the Xiang Army captives with their ears perked up, Liu Yimin said: "The first secret is that a few days ago, we occupied the pass and searched the homes of the county magistrate, police chief, and security team leader, and found hundreds of thousands of silver dollars. Hundreds of thousands of silver dollars! A peasant can't even earn a few silver dollars in a year by farming at home. How much money do you brothers get as military pay for a whole year? Even a small police chief or security team leader has so much money, how much more would your division commanders, regimental commanders, army commanders, and commanders-in-chief have? And those high-ranking officials of the National Government must have even more! But only our Red Army can confiscate their wealth, you can't, you're the national army, you have to protect them. If you dare to take a single copper coin from their homes, they'll shoot you dead. Brothers, don't be this stupid national army anymore, follow me to wipe out these bad eggs, divide up their land and money, how about it? Are you daring enough to go? Those with guts shout out!"
"Good!" The prisoners responded with uneven voices.
Liu Yimin continued to say: "The second secret I said is that 10 days ago, I just joined the Red Army and was promoted from a new soldier to a platoon leader, company commander, acting regimental commander, and regimental commander. Is there such a promotion speed in your Hunan army? Can ordinary soldiers become officers without giving gifts? Can they do it without a backstage? Especially in the Central Army, if you are not a graduate of Huangpu or the Central Military Academy, you can't make it, and if you're not from Zhejiang, you can't make it either. Brothers, only our Red Army doesn't ask about your background, as long as you have ability, made achievements, you will quickly become a squad leader, platoon leader, or even regimental commander or division commander. Everyone thinks about it, when we win the revolution and establish a new China, at that time, not only will every Red Army soldier be a general or officer, but also the manager of national administrative power. Those who sacrificed themselves will have their names engraved on monuments, and the country will worship them on festivals every year, that is truly leaving a name in history; those who were injured and disabled, we can build sanatoriums in scenic areas to let glorious Red Army soldiers recover. Brothers, when our revolution succeeds, every Red Army soldier will be a meritorious citizen of the people and the country! Brothers, do you think it's good to join the Red Army?"
The captives shouted loudly: "Good!" One captive ran directly to Liu Yimin, knelt down with a thud, and cried out: "Commander, take me in, I want to join the Red Army, to avenge my parents!" Another captive also ran over and said: "Commander, I'll follow you to join the Red Army, to fight those turtle-shell bastards!" The political commissar of the instructional regiment, Han Qianjin, took advantage of the opportunity to lead the Red Army soldiers in shouting slogans such as "It's glorious to join the Red Army!" and "Long live the Red Army!", and the atmosphere suddenly became lively.
Liu Yimin took the opportunity to strike while the iron was hot: "Comrades, welcome you to join the glorious Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. Everyone, don't be disorderly, stand still on the spot, let the cadres help you register one by one. Those who can use machine guns go to the machine gun company, those who are artillerymen go to the artillery company, those who are engineers go to the engineer company, those who can ride horses go to the cavalry company, and those who like to charge forward go to the combat battalion! Li Yimei, Han Qianjin!"
Two people took a step forward: "Here!"
"Organize the new soldiers according to their individual specialties as soon as possible, excluding those who have been assigned to the heavy machine gun company, artillery company, engineer company, cavalry company and logistics team. The remaining personnel will be organized into teams of 150 people each."
"I guarantee completion of the task!"
Soon, the formation of captive soldiers was completed. The artillery company went to 120 people, the heavy machine gun company went to 80 people, the logistics team went to 200 people, the engineer company went to 40 people, the cavalry company went to 30 people, 16 medical personnel went to the division's first-aid station, and 14 telephone soldiers went to the communication platoon. The remaining 900 people were divided into 6 teams waiting for orders.
