Peng Dehuai and Duan Dechang's Garrison Site at Yuquan Temple

Peng Dehuai and Duan Dechang's Garrison Site at Yuquan Temple

Peng Dehuai and Duan Dechang's Garrison Site at Yuquan Temple is located in the Yuquan Scenic Area Management Office of Dangyang City. In February 1982, it was designated as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level by the State Council.

In July 1926, after the Northern Expeditionary Army vowed to launch the Northern Expedition, it swiftly swept through the regions of Hunan and Hubei like a thunderbolt. During the campaign to capture Wuchang, Political Department Secretary of the 1st Division of the 8th Army of the National Revolutionary Army, Duan Dechang, and the Battalion Commander of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment, Peng Dehuai, met for the first time. Duan Dechang, a native of Nan County, Hunan, joined the Communist Party of China in 1925. He was loyal, courageous, upright, and straightforward. Peng Dehuai, from Xiangtan, Hunan, was brave, resolute, and hated evil. These two fearless Hunanese men, both driven by the ideals of saving the nation and its people, had joined the Northern Expedition. As a result, they hit it off immediately and felt they had met too late. Soon after, as the Northern Expeditionary forces entered the Hubei campaign and moved into the western expedition phase, their troops advanced from northwestern Hunan toward central and western Hubei. In November, the Western Expedition forces under Ye Qi and He Jian of the Northern Expedition attacked the remnants of Wu Peifu’s forces in Dangyang and successfully captured the city. On November 14, Duan Dechang and Peng Dehuai, along with the Western Expedition forces of the National Revolutionary Army, entered Yuquan Mountain. That night, they stayed in the main hall of Xiaoguan Temple, sitting face to face by candlelight, engaging in an earnest conversation deep into the night.

Peng Dehuai once wrote in his memoir “Peng Dehuai’s Own Story”: “At that time, Duan asked me what I thought of Guan Yu. I said: Guan was a tool of the feudal rulers and is still used as a tool by the ruling class today — it’s meaningless. Duan replied: A true revolutionary should not be content with the idea of 'land to the tiller,' but should transform private ownership of the means of production into public ownership, and develop from distribution according to work to distribution according to need — the communist system. The Communist Party strives for this ideal. After the Russian Bolsheviks led the victory of the October Socialist Revolution, they had already implemented distribution according to work and eliminated class exploitation. The task of the Communist Party is to realize socialism and communism, and Communists must strive for such an ideal society throughout their lives.” This conversation had a profound impact on Peng Dehuai.

In the years that followed, Peng Dehuai eagerly read the progressive publications Duan Dechang gave him, such as Guide, New Youth, ABC of Communism, and Popular Capitalism. His inner aspirations quickly evolved into a burning desire to dedicate himself. After the failure of the Great Revolution in 1927, Duan Dechang participated in the Nanchang Uprising on August 1st, led by the Chinese Communist Party. He successively served as a company commander of the Hubei-West Guerrilla Unit, Chief of Staff of the Hubei-West Column, Commander of the Hubei-West Independent Division, Deputy Commander, and later Commander of the 6th Red Army. He achieved remarkable successes in the struggle against “encirclement and suppression,” becoming one of the principal founders of the Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan Soviet Base and a renowned military leader of the People's Army. Meanwhile, Peng Dehuai, in the face of the revolution's downturn — when numerous Communists and revolutionary masses were openly suppressed and massacred — resolutely chose the revolutionary path of fighting for the liberation of the working masses and striving for communism throughout his life.

In 1928, introduced by Duan Dechang, Peng Dehuai resolutely joined the Communist Party of China. Throughout his long revolutionary journey, he faced life and death with unwavering loyalty to the Party, eventually becoming one of the founding fathers of the People's Republic of China.