97 years ago today, on February 29, 1928 (February 9, 1928 in the lunar calendar), the Sangzhi Uprising. After the failure of the Nanchang Uprising, He Long, the commander of the Second Front Army of the National Revolutionary Army and the commander of the 20th Army, and Zhou Yiqun, the commander of the Third Division of the 20th Army, came to Shanghai to form a special committee of the Communist Party of China in the northwest of Hunan. Soon, they went to the Hunan-Hubei border area to lead the armed struggle. On February 29, 1928, He Long and Zhou Yiqun of the special committee of the northwest of Hunan led He Jinzhai, Lu Dongsheng and Zhang Haitao to Hongjiaguan, Sangzhi County, Xiangxi. After the special committee arrived in Sangzhi, they began to mobilize the masses, organize revolutionary armed forces, and prepare for the armed uprising. As early as during the First Civil Revolutionary War, the peasant movement in Hunan Province flourished. Under the leadership of the party, Sangzhi peasants organized peasant associations and peasant self-defense forces in various townships, suppressed the local reactionary bully Zhu Yunong, and attacked the arrogance of the local tyrants and evil gentry. However, after the "Ma-ri Incident", the reactionary forces regained control and destroyed the party organization, and Communist Party members Gu and Feng were brutally killed by the enemy. Without the leadership of the party organization, various indigenous armed forces rose up. The eight townships in Sangzhi County were armed. They had guns and power, and they refused to obey each other. They often fought and were known as the "Eight Great Vassals". Some of He Long's old tribes and relatives also had several armed forces, each of which controlled a certain area, occupying the mountain as the king as its own sphere of influence. These local armed forces, except for some in the hands of the gentry, became a tool to maintain the rule of the feudal forces of the landlords, most of them were for the purpose of fighting the rich and helping the poor and resisting the landlords and bureaucratic oppression. In response to this situation, the Special Committee of the North West Hunan Province decided to win them over to create revolutionary armed forces. In order to absorb them into the revolutionary ranks, He Long promoted to his relatives, friends and old departments the Communist Party's revolutionary policy of armed insurrection, overthrowing the new warlords, and liberating the toiling masses, and called on his relatives and subordinates to put aside their old suspicions and unite for the revolution. The rapid development of revolutionary armed forces in the northwest of Hunan greatly alarmed the reactionary government of the Kuomintang. In April 1928, the 43rd Kuomintang Army, Long Yuren Brigade, took advantage of the revolutionary army of workers and peasants to enter the city and launched an attack on Sangzhi City and Hongjiaguan. The revolutionary army of workers and peasants, which had not had time to rectify and reform, met the enemy on the front line of Lishuya. Due to the disparity between the power of the enemy and ourselves, after a fierce battle, the revolutionary army could not resist the enemy's attack, and Sangzhi City and Hongjiaguan fell. After the enemy army occupied Sangzhi County, it continued to pursue the revolutionary army and fought again in Kuzhuping. The enemy army launched a fierce charge on the central part of the revolutionary army, and the revolutionary team was scattered. In early May, the revolutionary army of workers and peasants had gathered more than 400 people in Hongtuping. Under the leadership of He Long, they were active in the border of Sangzhi and Hefeng to carry out guerrilla warfare. In June, the 43rd Kuomintang Army, Long Yuren Brigade, withdrew to the west. He Long commanded the troops to ambush a company of enemy guards at the small quay, annihilating more than 100 enemies, seizing more than 100 guns, as well as a batch of silver dollars and materials, and then occupying Hongjiaguan. At this time, the separated troops returned one after another, and He Long's old army, Wen Nanfu, led the army to join, and the workers' and peasants' revolutionary army quickly recovered to more than 1,500 people. In the process of the rise of the workers' and peasants' revolutionary army again, the reactionary forces also increased their suppression of the revolutionary armed forces. On April 27, the Qingxiang Supervision Department of Hunan Province was established, with Cheng Qian as the supervisor and He Jian as the manager. The province is divided into 11 districts, each with a division of troops stationed in each district; "Township-clearing committees" are established in each county; and the minions of the landlords are selected to form reactionary armed militia groups, with groups ranging from hundreds to thousands in each county. The 19th Independent Division of the 14th Army (Chen Quzhen Department) commanded by Chen Jiayou was responsible for encircling and suppressing 20 counties in western Hunan, including Sangzhi County. He Long's Revolutionary Army of Workers and Peasants was listed as a key target by Chen Quzhen's division. On July 1, two regiments of the Chen Quzhen Division of the Kuomintang and the militia of Sangzhi County, led by Jiang Wenzhou and Chen Cexun, launched a surprise attack on the Revolutionary Army of Workers and Peasants stationed in Hongjiaguan. Because there are too many enemies, He Long decided to break through from the right wing. He Long and He Jinzhai led a part of the revolutionary team members to seize the highlands and successfully cover the safe retreat of the troops to Le Yu. In this battle, the head of the team, Li Yunqing, unfortunately died. In mid-June, Chen Xieping, a representative of the Xiangxi Special Committee of the Communist Party of China, came to Sangzhi and brought the decision of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China on the merger of the Xiangxi North Special Committee and the Xiangxi Special Committee. According to the instructions of the Provincial Party Committee, the Xiangxi North Special Committee was abolished, and the Xiangxi Former Enemy Committee was established in the Revolutionary Army of Workers and Peasants to govern the work of the Revolutionary Army of Workers and Peasants and the party in the area where it is located. He Long served as the former secretary of the Party Committee, and He Jinz Soon, the former committee reorganized the troops into the Fourth Army of the Chinese Revolutionary Army of Workers and Peasants. He Long served as the commander, Yun Daiying served as the party representative, Huang Ao served as the chief of staff, and Chen Xieping served as the secretary general. There were more than 1,500 people in the army, under the jurisdiction of a division and detachments such as Wen Nanpu, Wang Bingnan, and Wang Xiangquan. After the army's reorganization and training, under the leadership of He Long, the masses were actively mobilized to carry out guerrilla warfare, laying the foundation for the establishment of the revolutionary base area on the Hunan-Hubei side.