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122 chapter 5 The Attacks on Bagor District and Nyemo County By June 1969, Rangjung and Zhang Yongfu were ready to eliminate the external enemies—the remaining pro-Nyamdre cadres, the Department of Armed Forces, and the Military Squadron, the last two of which were then effectively in charge of the county. However, as the time to attack neared, a platoon of fourteen PLA soldiers arrived unexpectedly in Bagor to carry out a propaganda campaign called “cherish the masses and support the army” (tib. maggur mangje; ch. yongjun aimin), which was aimed at persuading the masses to forsake factional discord. Rangjung decided to attack those troops before moving on the county forces. Several factors led to this decision. First, if this PLA campaign were to succeed in persuading villagers not to support factions, Gyenlo could lose part of its membership and power. Second, and related to this, these troops criticized the nun and “superstition,” saying such things as it was ridiculous for the nun to say she went into a trance (and that she was the right hand of Chairman Mao), because it was impossible for Chairman Mao to depend on superstition.1 The troops’ telling the villagers that the nun was a fraud obviously also threatened Gyenlo’s support base. Third, Gyenlo’s leaders, as mentioned earlier, harbored deep resentment toward the army for the murder of their comrades in the Jokhang and, in their eyes, for consistently siding with Nyamdre, even in Nyemo. As one activist villager from Phusum put it, “After the whole area became Gyenlo, within the Department of Armed Forces some people acted like the Red Guards who had come to suppress us. . . . At that time . . . we slowly began to feel that they were more likely to support Nyamdre than Gyenlo, . . . and in Bagor District some army soldiers were making the masses suffer.”2 Fourth and equally important, Gyenlo’s Army of the Gods was badly in need of modern weapons, and Rangjung saw this as a possible opportunity to seize some, since he had received a message saying that these troops were armed. His hope was to use the weapons he would seize in the main attack.3 On 9 June, Zhang Yongfu and Rangjung set this attack in motion by calling a meeting of Gyenlo’s village representatives in Nyemo xiang and informing them that the time to strike had come and that they should go home and get their weapons ready.4 Two days later, the representatives of Nyemo, Ritsho, Nyima, and Phusum took their spears, swords, and Tibetan guns to the nun and asked her to go into a trance and bless the weapons. One representative who was present that day said that when the nun went into a trance, Ani Gongmey Gyemo said, “It is the second time for me to come to Tibet to liberate this region. You should fight hard to defend religion. From now on, all power belongs to the Buddha.”5 Another Tibetan villager who was there had a similar recollection : “When we arrived, we were divided into several groups of thirteen people each. We handed our swords and Tibetan rifles to the nun, who chanted sutras and spit on them [a type of standard mantric blessing ]. The nun told us, ‘You should believe in the gods. We are a collection of gods (tib. lha) that are the army to defend religion, so we are unbeatable. All power now belongs to us, the group of gods. . . . These bayonets and rifles [matchlocks] are to kill the demons and protect ourselves.’”6 On the next day, 12 June, Zhang Yongfu and Rangjung held another meeting of Gyenlo’s representatives and gave them specific tactical instructions . Rangjung also sent a bunch of protective talismans to Phusum to have Ani Gongmey Gyemo bless them for the coming battle. When the nun sent them back, she sent Rangjung a message: “Kill all the people wearing yellow or blue without mercy. With the help of so many protective talismans, we will win the battle in Bagor.7 Rangjung’s battle plan—using superior numbers to overpower and kill the troops—was feasible because the villagers believed that the nun/Ani Gongmey Gyemo and the other mediums were supernaturally protecting them. Gyenlo’s Army of the Gods, therefore, blithely marched off to attack the PLA force, although armed with only swords, spears, slingshots , Tibetan matchlock rifles, and some home-made explosives. One villager explained, “We knew they had guns...

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