This story takes place during the battle between the Fifth Red Army and Shuiquanbao.
On November 24, 1936, heavy clouds were gathering, and the Hongshan Yao Shuiquan Castle in the western region of Yongchang County presented a desolate scene. Dong Zhentang, commander of the Fifth Red Army, set up a pocket formation in Shuiquanbao to ambush the cavalry regiment of the enemy's Ma Pu Brigade and Ma Zhongyi's cavalry to avenge the Chinese Red Army commanders and soldiers who died heroically in the battle of Wangxinbao.
After Ma Zhongyi's cavalry regiment entered the ambush circle, Army Commander Dong Zhentang raised his gun, and there was a "bang!" sound. The horse running at the front jumped its front hoof, and the enemy cavalry was hit and rolled off the horse. In an instant, the machine guns , rifles, and pistols in the hands of the Red Army soldiers opened fire, and grenades flew into the enemy group one after another. The explosion caused the enemy cavalry to fall on their backs, cry for their fathers, and immediately turned into a mess. Relying on the castle walls, the Red Army commanders and fighters took advantage of their commanding heights and did not allow the enemy cavalry any chance to breathe. Seeing that the situation was not good, Ma Zhongyi tried to escape. How could the red-eyed Red Army commanders let the cooked ducks fly? The Red Army warriors jumped out of their bunkers, brandished swords and spears and rushed into the enemy cavalry. They chopped off horses' legs and stabbed enemy soldiers, killing the enemy cavalry until they cried for their fathers and mothers and ran away with their heads in their hands. At the end of the battle, the enemy cavalry abandoned more than 300 corpses and more than 30 horses, and fled in the direction of Shapotou like defeated wild wolves.
This exciting ambush ended with the victory of the Fifth Red Army. The army originally planned to go to Shandan County to take over the defense of the vanguard of the 30th Red Army after a short period of repair and improvement of food. However, due to the tight combat schedule, the military decided to replenish dry food bags as a reward for the commanders and soldiers. Before departure, the Logistics Department of the Military Headquarters prepared dry food bags for all officers and soldiers, and the commanders and soldiers tied up the dry food bags and prepared for the expedition.
Dong Zhentang took the dry food bag from his orderly Lin Bingcai and tied it to his chest. He seemed to feel that this dry food bag was a little different from usual. The standard of fried noodles distributed by the army to each commander and combatant is 5 kilograms. The fried noodles are all fried and processed with wheat, highland barley, soybeans and other grains produced in Yongchang County. These fried noodles are life-saving rations. If there is something to eat, I will never stir-fry noodles. Dong Zhentang took off the dry food bag from his body and opened it. He found that the color of his fried noodles was a little better than before, which meant that the fried noodles contained more wheat flour, while the highland barley noodles and soybean flour contained less.
Dong Zhentang asked the orderly Lin Bingcai with a serious expression what was going on. When Lin Bing saw that the leader had seen the clues, he was so frightened that he lowered his head and said nothing. Under Dong Zhentang's criticism and education, Lin Bingcai told the truth. It turned out that when distributing dry food, Lin Bingcai asked the cooking squad leader to put more wheat flour and less other miscellaneous grains in the dry food bag given to the army commander, which was an extra pound. The reason why Lin Bingcai did this was for no other reason than to let the commander eat better and eat more. He did not expect that this kind of "special care" would not escape the commander's eyes.
Dong Zhentang severely criticized Lin Bingcai and asked him to immediately take back all the dry food bags distributed to the leading cadres of the military department and hand them over to the cooking squad for redistribution. The standard of fried noodles should be the same as that of the soldiers. Dong Zhentang made a profound self-criticism to the leaders attending the meeting at an impromptu military meeting. He said that this is not just a matter of a few kilograms of fried noodles, but that there is a violation of discipline behind the fried noodles. Communist Party cadres are not allowed to be special. If he eats a few more bites of fried noodles, the soldiers will inevitably eat a few fewer bites of fried noodles. If things go on like this, the Fifth Red Army will become corrupt and lose its combat effectiveness. Fortunately, he discovered it in time and no adverse consequences were caused. However, such evil trends must be resolutely stopped to prevent such incidents from happening again.
Through this fried noodle incident, Army Commander Dong Zhentang set an example of the virtue of integrity, which not only became the motto for orderly Lin Bingcai to live an aboveboard life, but also became a widely circulated story of integrity in the Fifth Red Army.
References:
1. Reminiscence article by Lin Bingcai, a veteran of the Ninth Red Army and a servant of Dong Zhentang.
2. Oral information written by He Jinyuan, a veteran of the Ninth Red Army and an attendant at the Military Medical Center.
3. "Investigation Materials" compiled by the Party History Office of Yongchang County Committee of the Communist Party of China in June 1986.
Author: Yuan Yongtao
