Bright Sword: Construction starts from southeastern Shanxi

Background of the Incident

After the fall of Taiyuan, Yan Xishan began to waver, preparing to surrender and compromise. After Wang Jingwei's surrender, Yan Xishan convened another meeting of senior cadres to explore peace. He said, "The War of Resistance and peace are political issues. We cannot say that advocating resistance is right and advocating peace is wrong." During the meeting, Comrade Bo Yibo said, "The enemy has invaded our country and is demanding national independence. We must fight to the end. Peaceful compromise is surrender and treason." Yan Xishan remained silent.

Yan Xishan made this argument more than once, each time debunked and opposed by the Sacrifice Alliance and the Shanxi New Army. However, Yan Xishan's preparations for surrender never ceased. The Sacrifice Alliance and the Shanxi New Army advocated the implementation of democracy and mobilization of the masses to achieve victory in the War of Resistance. Yan Xishan opposed democracy and abolished the elected county, district, and village heads, as well as the county's public opinion organs. He said, "Political power is a knife handle. In our hands, we can rule over others, but in the hands of the people, it will harm us. Therefore, democracy cannot be practiced."

Yan Xishan opposed the establishment of organizations such as the Peasants' Anti-Japanese National Salvation Association and the Self-Defense Army. He said, "The peasants are like tigers. If they are mobilized, they will cause chaos (we fear they will fight to the end and disobey orders). If they are not mobilized, they will be vulnerable (we fear the Communists will mobilize them). Now it's not a question of whether to mobilize or not, but a question of how to control the electric whip (the electric whip is the whip to control the tiger)." His opposition to democracy and the mobilization of the masses was motivated by a desire for surrender and compromise. He also said, "Survival is everything; resistance is only a means." During the July 7 Incident, he needed to fight for a few days to survive. Later, when he realized the war was protracted and difficult, he considered surrendering, also for the sake of survival. Justice, righteousness, and national identity were not in his vocabulary.

While making these preparations, he outwardly insisted on resisting the Japanese invasion, but secretly had already been collaborating with the enemy and engaging in anti-communist activities. He had already convened meetings with the enemy, such as the Liucun and Anping Conferences. Envoys collaborating with the enemy were constantly arriving on the Xingji-Taiyuan Road. The leaders of the Death Squad repeatedly stated, "We are here to cooperate with you to fight the war to the end, not to surrender or compromise. We will oppose anyone who attempts to surrender or compromise." Therefore, Yan Xishan viewed the New Army as the greatest obstacle to surrender and compromise. Unable to persuade the Death Squad, he resorted to his "magic trick," "unnoticed" the New Army as "rebels" and launched a "punitive attack."

The incident

On December 1, 1939, Yan Xishan ordered the Communist-led Second Column of the Anti-Japanese Death Squadron to attack the Japanese on the 5th. This move would have placed the unit under attack from both sides. Consequently, the Second Column refused to comply. Yan Xishan then declared the Second Column a "rebel" and ordered a "punitive attack." Six corps of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army attacked the New Army in Xixian and Xiaoyi counties. On December 3 of the same year, Wang Jingguo's 19th Army and Chen Changjie's 61st Army surrounded the headquarters of the 196th Brigade of the Second Column of the Anti-Japanese Death Squadron.

The Second Column of the Anti-Japanese Death Squad fought hard to break through, with some units moving into northwestern Shanxi. Yan Xishan then attacked the Eighth Route Army's rear hospitals, brutally slaughtering over 1000 wounded and sick soldiers from the Democratic Government and the Sacrifice Alliance in six counties, including Xixian County, Shanxi Province. At the same time, Yan Xishan ordered Zhao Chengshou's troops from the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army to attack the Northwest Shanxi Anti-Japanese Death Squad and the 358th Brigade of the 115th Division.

In southeastern Shanxi, Sun Chu's troops of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army secretly colluded with the Japanese and puppet troops to attack the Third Column of the Anti-Japanese Death Squadron, killing over 600 Communist-led troops and kidnapping over 1000. Anti-Japanese regimes in Qinshui, Yangcheng, Jincheng, Fushan, and Changzhi counties were destroyed.

On December 4 of the same year, Sun Chu attacked the Xinsheng Daily newspaper office of the National Salvation Alliance in Yangcheng County, and buried editor Wang Liang alive. This was the "Jinxi Incident" that shocked the whole country.

On December 1, 1939, Yan Xishan ordered the Second Column of the Communist-led Anti-Japanese Death Squadron to attack the Japanese on the 5th. This action would have placed the Second Column between the Japanese and puppet forces. Consequently, the Second Column refused to carry out the order. Yan Xishan immediately declared the Second Column a "rebel" and ordered a "punitive campaign," mobilizing six armies to attack the new troops in Xixian and Xiaoyi. On the 3rd, Wang Jingguo's 19th Army and Chen Changjie's 61st Army surrounded and eliminated the headquarters of the 196th Brigade of the Second Death Squadron. After a bitter battle, the Second Column broke through the encirclement, with some personnel moving to northwestern Shanxi.

Subsequently, Yan Xishan attacked the Eighth Route Army's rear hospitals, brutally killing over a thousand government officials, cadres of the Sacrifice Alliance, and wounded soldiers of the Eighth Route Army's 115th Division in six counties, including Xi County. Simultaneously, Yan Xishan ordered Zhao Bingshou to attack the Anti-Japanese Death Squad and the 358th Brigade of the 115th Division in northwestern Shanxi. In southeastern Shanxi, Yan's Sun Chu unit, secretly allied with Japanese and puppet forces, attacked the Third Column of the Death Squad, killing over 600 Communist-led troops and kidnapping 1,000. Anti-Japanese regimes in Qinshui, Yangcheng, Jincheng, Fushan, and Changzhi were destroyed. On the 4th, Sun Chu destroyed the Xinsheng Newspaper, run by the Sacrifice Alliance in Nanyang City, and its editor, Wang Liang, was buried alive.

The Shanxi-West Shanxi Incident, also known as the December Incident, occurred in December 1939. During the first wave of anti-communist activity during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, instigated by Kuomintang diehards, Yan Xishan, then commander-in-chief of the Second War Zone and director of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Pacification Office, mobilized nearly his entire Shanxi-Suiyuan Army (old-style troops) to attack the Shanxi New Army and suppress the Sacrifice for the Nation Alliance, which was integrated with the New Army. The New Army, supported by the Eighth Route Army, rose up in resistance. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, adopting a "reasonable, beneficial, and restrained" approach, properly handled the incident, thwarting the Shanxi anti-communist diehards' plot for compromise and surrender, strengthening anti-Japanese armed forces, and consolidating Shanxi's anti-Japanese war situation. Yan Xishan was also persuaded to remain in the anti-Japanese camp, thus maintaining the CCP's united front relationship with Shanxi and Yan.

In December 1939, in an effort to expel progressive elements from the Shanxi New Army's Death Column, Shanxi warlord Yan Xishan instructed some diehard officers to launch an offensive against the Column on both internal and external fronts. After a month-long struggle, the First, Second, and Fourth Death Columns, along with three other brigades of the New Army, successfully crushed Yan's offensive and moved into northwestern and northeastern Shanxi. The most dramatic and gruesome anti-diehard struggle occurred within the Fourth Death Column, with two brigade commanders and three regimental commanders defecting or being arrested.

The Fourth Death Column was originally formed in January 1938 by merging the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Death Corps. Its commander was Liang Hao, a veteran officer; its political commissar was Lei Renmin, a member of the underground organization; and its political director was Liu Yuheng, an activist. This gave progressive forces a two-to-one advantage in leadership. However, because diehards firmly controlled the three commanders, the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighteenth Guerrilla Regiments, controlled by the underground organization, were subsequently incorporated into the column to shift the balance of power within it.

The 10th Corps, formerly the First Young Pioneer Training Regiment, was established in August 1937. Its members were workers, peasants, and students mobilized from across Shanxi as volunteers by the Sacrifice Alliance. In a short period of time, it grew into a mainstay infantry regiment of over 2500 men. Its first commander was veteran officer Wu Yushan. Since the 10th Corps was operating independently in southwestern Shanxi, Wu Yushan proposed separating it from the main force to form a security brigade, a move that drew resistance from the officers and soldiers.

After inspecting the troops, Political Commissar Lei Renmin, acting in accordance with the officers' and soldiers' opinions, promptly expelled Wu Yushan. Lu Yinglin, a team adjutant who had been very active in the anti-Wu campaign, was promoted to commander. However, the conflict between Lu Yinglin and Wu Yushan was merely a power struggle. Lu Yinglin was still a stubborn veteran officer, and Lei Renmin, unfamiliar with the troops, was deceived by him. Following the Qiulin Conference of 1939, the 10th Corps was renamed the 33rd Regiment of the 7th Independent Brigade of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, and the political commissar system was abolished.