The Flames of Resistance Against Japan in Jiangnan

Upon hearing this, He Yaohua immediately found Bianjing, Zhang Dingsheng, and Zhang Yikuang, and said to them:

"Do you know that Hu Dama from Zhangjiawan has been very active lately? What exactly is he planning to do?"

"I've heard about it too, but I don't know what he's up to!"

Zhang Dingsheng said.

"Whatever he's up to, it's not good anyway. I know this guy, he's ruthless!"

Zhang Yikuang also said.

"We need to teach him a lesson!"

He Yaohua said.

"Alright, shall we go and investigate tonight?"

Zhang Yikuang said.

At night, several local landlords and tycoons gathered at Hu Dama's house to play mahjong. While playing mahjong, they discussed how to raise money to buy guns in order to organize their own militia to deal with the plainclothes police.

The main room was brightly lit, filled with the clatter of mahjong tiles. The men were engrossed in their lively conversation, while several elegantly dressed women sat around them, each holding a water pipe. They would occasionally light the tobacco from the pipe's opening, letting the men take a puff during their mahjong game. The men would then take a few puffs in return, the water pipes making a clicking sound as smoke swirled around them. As they smoked, they couldn't resist sending flirtatious glances to the men opposite them.

"Don't move!"

In this operation, the border detachment did not participate; it was mainly the guerrillas who took action. Each guerrilla was armed with a pistol and surrounded them.

The men stared in astonishment at the sudden appearance of the guerrillas, while the women screamed in terror.

"Don't move! Anyone who moves will be killed!"

The men stood there, trembling like leaves, not knowing what to do; the women quickly covered their heads with their hands.

"Listen up, all of you! We are the Red Army guerrillas, and we've come here specifically for you. If anyone dares to oppose the guerrillas or sabotage the revolution, don't blame me for not letting this weapon of mine get away with it!"

"That's it, that's it!"

Hu Dama Zi echoed in agreement.

"I heard you had a secret meeting to plan how to deal with the Red Army guerrillas. Is there something going on?"

"No, no, we were just playing mahjong together!"

"Alright, if you've only been playing mahjong and haven't done anything to betray the Red Army guerrillas, we can let you go, but there are a few conditions you must agree to!"

"We agree, we agree! As long as the officer doesn't kill us, we'll agree to any conditions!"

"Alright, listen up: First, don't oppress the villagers; second, from now on, you must proactively pass on intelligence to us; third, our future activities must be protected, and if the guerrillas need to stay at any of your homes, you must provide them with accommodations; fourth, if you really want to form a militia, that's fine, but you can't deal with the Red Army's plainclothes teams and the masses. You can openly work for the Kuomintang, but secretly you must do more for us..."

"Of course, of course..."

"Alright, since you're all here today, to prove you'll keep your word, you must sign a written agreement today. If you break it, this thing in my hand won't let you get away with it!"

He Yaohua then raised the gun in her hand.

"Don't dare, don't dare!"

So all the landlords and tycoons present signed a written agreement. He Yaohua looked at the agreement and then said:

"I'll let you off this time, but I hope you'll behave yourselves in the future!"

After saying this, he put away the document and said to his guerrilla fighters:

"let's go!"

After the guerrillas left, the landlords and local tyrants were all terrified and stood there dumbfounded for a long time.

Some of these landlords who were taught a lesson later became informants for the guerrillas, passing on intelligence to them. When the guerrillas went out, they would sometimes provide them with lodging at night.

The guerrillas also planted informants among the village chiefs and local militia leaders, some of whom even infiltrated local militia organizations and took on important positions within them, passing on intelligence for the guerrillas' activities.

Furthermore, after the main force of the Red Army in Hubei, Henan and Anhui, the 25th Red Army, embarked on its westward expedition, the White Army intensified its suppression and destruction of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui base area.

The White Army's 57th Army quickly penetrated into the Luoshan and Guangshan areas, arresting people everywhere, almost searching every household. Wherever they went, chaos reigned and people were filled with fear.

Those small security teams and spies also secretly moved around, trying to find out the whereabouts of guerrillas and wounded Red Army soldiers.

The White Army also adopted measures such as dividing areas into garrisons, building fortifications and stockpiling grain, strictly investigating household registrations, and implementing a system of collective punishment based on household registration. They even resorted to setting fire to mountains, forcing people to cut down trees and destroy forests, building fortifications and bunkers, in order to sever the connection between the people and the Red Army.

The revolutionary situation in Hubei, Henan, and Anhui provinces became extremely severe.

When the White Army's 103rd Division was searching for wounded Red Army soldiers in Dingjiazhai, eastern Hubei, they herded the entire village, young and old, to the rice threshing ground at the village entrance. They then set up several machine guns on the edge of the threshing ground, and a White Army officer stood on a stone roller on the ground, shouting:

"Fellow villagers, we're here today to arrest a communist bandit. Someone reported that you're hiding a wounded communist in your village. If you hand him over, we'll release you immediately; otherwise..."

The hundreds of people present remained silent.

"Fellow villagers, please don't be so stubborn. This won't do you any good!"

The crowd formed a human wall, remaining silent.

Enraged, the White Army officer ordered the burning of all the houses in the village, killing and wounding dozens of villagers on the spot. However, the villagers never revealed the whereabouts of the Red Army soldiers, protecting the safety of the wounded Red Army soldiers with their lives.

Due to the White Army's frenzied search and arrest, some local party cadres were arrested and killed, some wounded and sick Red Army soldiers were also found and killed, many Red Army families were sold to other places by the Kuomintang army, and many revolutionary masses were arrested and imprisoned.

At this time, the Northeast Hubei Regional Committee had to move to the White Area to operate, shuttling between the base area and the White Area, which also hindered the guerrillas' activities.

Wang Xiaoming, a high-ranking official in the Northeast Hubei region, immediately convened an emergency meeting of the district committee and decided to reorganize the more than 30 soldiers left behind by the Luoshan Training Battalion and the Northeast Hubei Independent Regiment, as well as some Red Army wounded and sick soldiers who had recovered, into a new Northeast Hubei Independent Regiment with a total of more than 300 people.

After deliberation, the Northeast Hubei Regional Committee appointed Xiong Xianyun, a Red Army cadre left behind, as the commander of the Independent Regiment, and Xu Hongji, the deputy secretary of the Northeast Hubei Regional Committee, as the political commissar.

After its establishment, the Northeast Hubei Independent Regiment maneuvered against the enemy in the mountains between Luoshan and Guangshan, continuously striking them.

However, due to the exceptionally fierce searches and mopping-up operations by the White Army, the area of ​​operation for the Northeast Hubei Independent Regiment became increasingly smaller. Under these circumstances, Wang Xiaoming, a high-ranking official in the Northeast Hubei region, discussed the matter with Fang Shuihua, the secretary of the Northeast Hubei Communist Youth League:

It was decided that he, along with Chen Wendong and Xu Hongji, would lead the Northeast Hubei Independent Regiment to western Anhui to find Cao Jingting, a member of the Standing Committee of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Provincial Committee and a high-ranking official in western Anhui.