Chapter 12 Seven hundred miles drive fifteen days

In January 1931, after Chiang Kai-shek's first "encirclement and suppression" campaign against the Central Soviet Area failed, he retreated to Nanfeng, Yihuang, Le'an, Yongfeng, Ji'an, Taihe, Xingguo and other key points, forming an arc formation to prevent our The army expanded outward, while continuing to mobilize troops, actively preparing for the second larger-scale "encirclement and suppression".In February, Chiang Kai-shek appointed He Yingqin, his minister of military and political affairs, as "acting commander-in-chief and director of Nanchang camp".He accepted the lessons of the failure of the first "encirclement and suppression campaign", and determined that the second "encirclement and suppression campaign" would first "gather thick troops and encircle them tightly" around the Soviet area, implement an economic blockade, and then adopt the strategy of "steady and steady, step by step" strategy in an attempt to wipe out our army. The main force is to destroy the Central Soviet Area.

In order to smash the enemy's second counter-revolutionary "encirclement and suppression", our Red Army, according to the deployment of the General Front Committee of the Front Army, rested in the Yihuang and Nanfeng areas, summed up the experience of the first counter-revolutionary "encirclement and suppression", and carried out the second anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign. "Encirclement and Suppression" political mobilization, and divide troops to carry out mass work, raise food and funds, expand the Red Army, mobilize and arm the masses, organize local armed forces and support troops, and make good pre-war preparations.At the end of March, the enemy army was assembled and there were signs of invading the Soviet area. The General Front Committee of the Front Army and Comrade Mao Zedong still decided to adopt the strategic policy of "luting the enemy to go deep" and ordered our Red Army to retain one division Yu Xiaotian to continue to monitor the South. In addition to the enemies of Feng and Le'an, the main force moved south to the Lai Village, Chengyao, and Gulonggang areas north of the Yudu River. Together with the Red First Army and other fraternal troops, they gathered in Guangchang, Ningdu, and Shicheng to lure the enemy south. Continue to prepare to fight back against the enemy.At this time, in order to better concentrate our forces and unify our command, our Red Army Corps revoked the establishment of the Fifth Army and the Eighth Army. The first and third divisions of the Red Fifth Army and the fourth and sixth divisions of the Red Eighth Army Directly under the command of the Legion Command.Deng Ping, Chief of Staff of the Army Corps and Commander of the Fifth Red Army, remains the Chief of Staff of the Army Corps, Zhang Chunqing, Political Commissar of the Fifth Red Army, was appointed Director of Organization of the Front Committee of the Army, I was appointed Member of the Organization Department of the Organization Department, and He Changgong, Commander of the Eighth Army of the Red Army, was appointed Propaganda of the Front Committee Minister; some of the cadres of the two armies work in the front committee of the corps, and some enrich the grassroots, so that the troops will be more capable, the command will be more flexible, and the cadres will be strengthened.

On April 1st (February 14th in the lunar calendar), the enemy concentrated 200,000 troops and divided into four groups to attack the Central Soviet Area. By April 23rd, the enemy successively entered Jiangbei Cave, Longgangtou, Futian, Shuinan, Recruiting and Guangchang, while the main force of our Red Army secretly moved to the retreat terminal Longgang, Shanggu, and Donggu to assemble and wait to wipe out the enemy.At this time, in the face of a powerful enemy, the General Front Committee and Comrade Mao Zedong were confident and remained calm.They carefully analyzed the enemy's situation, and considering the actions to smash the enemy's "encirclement and suppression" this time, weighed the pros and cons, and decided to advance to the enemy's Fifth Route Army Wang Jinyu's Department in Futian first, and then counterattack from west to east after winning the first battle .Because the invading enemies Jiang Guangnai's Department of the 19th Route Army, Sun Lianzhong's Department of the 26th Route Army, and Zhu Shaoliang's Department of the 6th Route Army were all the strongest or stronger troops, while Wang Jinyu's Department of the Fifth Route Army was mostly northern troops. , Fear of our army, and they just arrived in the south, the people are unfamiliar, the climate is uncomfortable, the water and soil are not acclimatized, the number of patients is increasing day by day, the morale is not high, and the combat effectiveness is relatively weak.Our army avoids the strong and stays weak. If we fight the enemy first, we will easily win the first battle. At the same time, our army will start from Futian and sweep eastward, so we can expand in the Jianning, Taining, and Lichuan areas where the enemy forces at the border between Fujian and Jiangxi are weak. The base area collects funds to facilitate the next "encirclement and suppression".If we fight from east to west, we will be blocked by the Ganjiang River in the west, there will be cities defended by the enemy, and there will be strong enemies all the way to Guangdong. And time-consuming.Therefore, it is most suitable for Wang Jinyu's department to fight Tomita first.

In late April, just a few days after our Red Army Corps arrived in Donggu, Comrade Mao Zedong came to the regiment headquarters. Together with Peng Dehuai, he and Peng Dehuai led military commanders above the regiment to inspect the terrain in the Baiyun Mountain area between Donggu and Futian. The position built by the enemy Wang Jinyu's troops in Futian, studied the specific combat plan to lure the enemy to attack and set up an ambush, deployed troops to set up an ambush in Ziyun Mountain, and lured Wang Jinyu's troops to leave their solid position in Futian, so as to eliminate it during the movement.

At that time, the cadres of our regiment headquarters often went to the companies of the divisions to check and help with work.In the first few days of setting up an ambush, the troops went up to the mountain to hide and wait before dawn, and returned to the camp at night. They were very emotional, thinking that they could win a big battle in a few days like they did when they fought against Zhang Huizan in Longgang.Unexpectedly, five days, one week, and ten days passed, and the enemy still did not come out in Tomita, and the troops began to grow bored; "The living wait for the dead", "wait until the rooster lays eggs and the hen crows".At that time, it was Qingming, the cold spring season of Grain Rain, and the rainy season, and it was also the season of spring famine. We retreated to the end, and there were not many base areas left, and there were few people. The army concentrated more than 30,000 people, which was smaller than the population of the people. A large amount of food is needed every day, coupled with the enemy's economic blockade, waiting for a long time for the enemy to come out, the food is particularly difficult, and the supply of oil and salt is even more difficult.Although the local Soviet government tried its best to do a good job in the support work, it was still unable to raise so much food and materials for a while.At that time, the people in Jiangxi had a habit of cooking. They boiled the rice first, dried it in the sun, removed the husk with grain biscuit, and ground it into brown rice.The cooked rice grains of this kind of brown rice are very large, a bit like "popcorn", and the center is hollow. It seems that there is a lot of rice, but it does not make you hungry after eating.

In May, the days are getting longer and the nights are getting shorter. The latent time is long and the physical strength is exhausted. In addition, in the continuous rainy weather, everyone's clothes are wet all day long, and they are cold and hungry, making it even more uncomfortable.In order to solve the stomach problem, the troops thought of many ways. They went up the mountain to dig bamboo shoots, went down the river to catch loaches, and touched field snails;Originally, there was less oil and water in the stomach, and it was easier to get hungry after eating bamboo shoots. But at that time, food was so difficult, and I tried to gather and eat everything that could fill my stomach temporarily, so as to overcome this difficulty.During the twenty-five days of living against the enemy, ideological and political work was particularly arduous.Our political cadres cooperate with military commanders to introduce the enemy's situation to the troops in a targeted manner, analyze the situation of the enemy and ourselves, and use sand and stones to set up a "sand table" underground with the enemy's construction of fortifications to show everyone. , They are not used to climbing mountains and running, but they are good at building fortifications and sticking to them.They used the mountain to build a circular fortification, with trenches connecting blockhouses, and blockhouses connecting trenches, from the half-hillside to the top of the mountain. There are several layers of circular fortifications inside and outside, which can be hit in all directions. The fortifications are very strong.And we don't have heavy artillery to destroy its fortifications, so blindly attacking its strong positions will inevitably suffer a big loss.Therefore, we must avoid the enemy's strengths, overcome the enemy's weaknesses, draw the enemy out, let it break away from Tomita's solid "tortoise shell" position, and destroy it during the movement.At the same time, we also guided everyone to recall the situation of the first counter-campaign against "encirclement and suppression". At the beginning of the strategic retreat, everyone was unhappy. In the end, they "lured the enemy to go deep" into Longgang and wiped it out, and everyone was convinced.This time the ambush was on standby for more than 20 days. Although the enemy has not yet come out, everyone is hungry and raining, and has suffered a lot, but we must trust the General Front Committee, the command of the General Political Committee of Mao Zedong, and the General Front Committee and Chairman Mao. The political commissar has made up his mind that the enemy will not fight unless he leaves the Futian position. He is starving and suffering today in order to catch big fish and win big battles.After repeated mobilization, the mood of the troops gradually stabilized, and we conducted in-depth education on latent discipline, requiring everyone not to expose the target when ambush. If someone exposes the target and makes the enemy aware, the entire plan to lure the enemy will be destroyed, and all previous efforts will be wasted.

In order to improve the mood of the troops, in addition to shouting slogans during mobilization and education, the propaganda cadres of the Legion also made up a song "Destroy He Yingqin" and taught everyone to sing. The fellow (referring to the northern army) is here, annihilate it, annihilate it!" The mischievous soldier also imitated He Yingqin's limping and jumping, which made everyone laugh and swept away the dull and irritable mood of the army. mood. Our army lived close to the enemy for twenty-five days, and finally drew the enemy out.On May 13, a brigade of the 28th Division Gong Bingfan Division and the 47th Division Shangguan Yunxiang Division under the enemy King Jinyu's Division began to advance from Futian to Donggu in two routes. On the front line of Longkeng, it is about forty miles away from the consolidated position in Futian.According to the order of the front army to "destroy the enemy from Tomita", our three army regiments were responsible for the task of outflanking the left side. The enemy fled to Ji'an's retreat.At midnight that day, he suddenly launched an attack on the enemy, and fought fiercely until the early morning of the 17th. With the cooperation of the Fourth Red Army, nearly a brigade of the 47th Division of the enemy was wiped out, and more than 3,000 enemies were captured.At the same time, the various units of the Red First Army quickly wiped out the enemies of Zhongdong, Guanyinya, and Jiucunling, captured Gong Bingfan, the commander of the 28th Division of the enemy, and captured a 100-watt radio station.At that time, the Red Army newspaper published a good news about the complete annihilation of the enemy's 28th Division. The subtitle of the news vividly marked "Screaming" and "Don't do it", and described when our army entered the headquarters of the enemy's 28th Division. Wang Jinyu also communicated with Gong Bingfan through the radio station, but the division headquarters has been captured by me, and Gong Bingfan has disappeared.At that time we thought that Gong Bingfan had been shot dead, but later we learned that he was very cunning, he disguised himself as a soldier and mixed in the group of captives without being noticed. Together with other captives, we paid three yuan for travel expenses and let him go. What a pity .

Victory in the first battle.When the commanders and fighters saw the good news in the Red Army newspaper, their morale was greatly boosted.Together with our brother troops, our Red Three Army Corps took advantage of the victory to chase and annihilate the fleeing enemy and swept eastward.On May 19, at Baisha, they wiped out most of the Guo Huazong Department of the 43rd Division and a brigade of the Shangguanxiang Department of the 47th Division that were trying to flee north.At the same time, the Twelfth Red Army captured Shaxi.The enemy troops from all walks of life fled after hearing the news. A brigade of Shangguanxiang Department of the 47th Division of the enemy and Hao Mengling's Department of the 54th Division fled to Yongfeng overnight; retreat.

After the victory in the Battle of Baisha, on May 21st, the Sixth Division of our Red Army Regiment chased to Zhongcun. The reconnaissance learned that there was a brigade from Gao Shuxun of the 27th Division of the enemy in Zhongcun. This enemy was reinforced by the Southern Regiment to Shaxi After the Red Twelfth Army captured Shaxi, the troops retreated hastily to Zhongcun in an attempt to cover their weak retreat.The General Front Committee of the Front Army issued the "Order to Attack Zhongcun" at 7:50 p.m. according to the report of the Three Army Corps, ordering our Red Army Corps to act as the left wing and attack the northeast of Zhongcun along the three roads of Panyuan, Dingjialing and Xiyuanlong Edited; the Fourth Red Army served as the right wing, attacking the southern end of Zhongcun; the Third Red Army and the Twelfth Red Army were the general reserve.

At 3 o'clock in the morning on the 22nd, the Third Red Army set off from near Shima, and arrived at the attack reserve position at 6:30, closely coordinated with the Fourth Red Army. After a morning of fierce fighting, they occupied Zhongcun at 1 p.m. and wiped out the enemy's 27th Division The 81st Brigade captured the enemy brigade commander Wang Enbu alive, and captured more than 3,000 enemy officers and soldiers.The remnant enemy fled back to Le'an.That night, our army chased to the southern regiment, and Sun Lianzhong led the 25th division to retreat back to Yihuang in a hurry.

On the 23rd, Zhu Shaoliang, the commander-in-chief of the enemy's Sixth Route Army, was intimidated by the prestige of the Red Army. He left four regiments of Hu Zuyu's Department of the Fifth Division to guard Guangchang. .In order to expand the results of the war, the General Front Committee of the Front Army ordered the 10th Division of the Fourth Red Army to go north to Nanfeng on the 28th. The Legion and the 12th Red Army (less than the 34th Division) raided Jianning City.The Third Red Army was the siege force and the Twelfth Red Army was the reserve force. On the 31st, taking advantage of the enemy's unstable foothold, they launched an attack from the enemy's left and right wings.The Red Army Corps attacked the west and north of Jianning, and first captured the Xikou and Longbi Mountain highlands outside the north gate of Jianning, and sent a division to forcefully cross the Suixi from the bottom of the Xikou Tower, and outflank the east of Jianning. Annihilated the defending enemy at Dongshantou, seized two mountain cannons, immediately turned the guns around, and blocked the Wan'an Bridge outside the east gate.After fierce fighting, Jianning City was captured at 6 pm, and three regiments of the Liu and Ding Department of the 56th Division were wiped out.So far, our army has swept 700 miles in 15 days, fought five battles in a row, wiped out more than 30,000 Kuomintang troops, handed over 20,000 guns, and successfully smashed the enemy's second counter-revolutionary "encirclement and suppression".As Comrade Mao Zedong vividly described in the poem "The Proud of the Fishermen Against the Second Great "Encirclement and Suppression"": "Seven hundred miles were driven for fifteen days, the rivers of Gansu were vast and the mountains of Fujian were green, and thousands of troops were swept away like a mat. There is a person, for What a shame it is to step by step!" It took fifteen days to drive seven hundred miles from Jiangxi to Fujian. Due to the consolidation of the position for forty miles, when the troops were ordered to attack, the majority of commanders and fighters were overjoyed, and they were all very happy.After winning the first battle, the morale is higher, and they chase the enemy fiercely without waiting for a breather.During the pursuit, everyone walked quickly and discussed: Some said: "General Political Commissar Mao is really a man of genius, with clever calculations, the enemy will leave Tomita's 'tortoise shell'!" Some said: "The enemy is under the command of our Political Commissar Mao, and if he is told to enter the urn, he dare not come! Others said: "I can't hold it anymore, I have lice all over my body. Haha, this kid Gong Bingfan has been caught, and I'm so sullen!" This kind of discussion while attacking , In fact, it is also a mass battle summary, a method of self-education of the masses, which makes the strategic thinking of "luting the enemy to go deep" more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.This kind of discussion not only does not affect the marching speed, but also virtually becomes a mass political agitation, which makes the fighting spirit higher, the pace faster, and the confidence and determination to chase and wipe out the enemy are greater. On the way of chasing and annihilating the fleeing enemy, because the enemy ran fast and the enemy's situation was changeable, we were afraid of losing our fighter, so we really pursued them non-stop.Often the troops stop to rest and cook, and when they receive an order from their superiors to continue the pursuit, they set off immediately without even caring about eating; No one ate the food, so they had to give it to the migrant workers and stretcher teams in front of the support, and the troops had to go hungry, but no one complained. When we wiped out Gong Bing Fan's division, we seized a batch of "guokui" that they used as dry food. This kind of flatbread made of flour, the small ones are as big as tea trays, and the big ones are as big as Xiaoyuan tabletops. They are cut into pieces and distributed Food for our troops.However, we southerners are not used to this kind of "guokui". It is too hard to chew, and there is no water to drink, so many people throw it away, and would rather go on the road hungry than eat it.At that time, we also seized a lot of mules and horses and a few camels, because most of them were seeing camels for the first time, and they all surrounded and looked at the "giant monster" curiously, wanting to see but afraid of being kicked or bitten by it. some jokes.These camels died soon because they did not adapt to the climate in the south. The mules and horses in the north were tall, fat and strong, carried a lot of load, and ran fast, but they all had horseshoes on them. After a period of time, the horseshoes were worn out. People don't know how to shoe horses, and mules and horses can't move, so they are useless, so they have to kill meat to eat, which is a pity. In the second anti-"encirclement and suppression" battle, due to the rapid development of the battle and the changeable situation, there was no radio communication between the army and the divisions and regiments at that time, and it was too late to set up a telephone, and there was no time to send a messenger to convey the order. Draft combat documents.Peng Dehuai was eager to gain wisdom, and sent the division and regiment cadres of the army organization to the various units to convey orders.These "cadre correspondents" have combat experience and can easily understand President Peng's combat intentions. When they go to various divisions and regiments, they can not only convey the orders of the army regiment, but also serve as staff advisers to the leading cadres of the division and regiment; Being able to come back and report to Mr. Peng immediately is really killing three birds with one stone.At that time, I was a member of the Organization Department. On May 16, the troops annihilated the Gongbingfan division in the Donggu area, and immediately pursued and wiped out the fleeing enemy in the direction of Shuinan.The enemy who fled to Shuinan turned east and fled to Baisha because the temporary bridge erected on the Xiaolong River was demolished by our Red Guards. On May 17, the front army urgently ordered the Red Army to go straight to Baisha, and cooperated with the Red Ninth and Eleventh Divisions to intercept the fleeing enemy.Mr. Peng immediately wrote a note: "Comrade Li Zhimin is here to convey the military mission to you. Peng Dehuai." Send me to the first, third, and fourth divisions to convey.I rode on a fast horse to catch up with the fast-moving troops, and successively conveyed President Peng's orders to Li Shixing, the commander of the first division, Wu Jizhi, the political commissar, Peng Ao, the commander of the third division, Huang Kecheng, the political commissar, Guo Bingsheng, the commander of the fourth division, and Peng Xuefeng, the political commissar. Insert white sand and destroy the enemy.Since then, I have also run back and forth to deliver orders when we hit Nakamura and Jianning.This method of "cadre correspondent" was Mr. Peng's creation, and it really played a role in the poor communication conditions at that time. In the battle against Jianning on May 31, the Seventh Regiment of the Second Red Division took on the task of sharp knives, and was frantically resisted by the enemy during the attack.The Seventh Regiment is an old unit of the Pingjiang Uprising, with strong combat effectiveness and a very good style of work.At the critical juncture, Political Commissar Chen of the Seventh Regiment personally led the "Death Squad" to the front and broke through the enemy's position. The follow-up troops quickly followed up and entered the city. Unfortunately, Political Commissar Chen was shot in both legs and was seriously injured.The next day, Peng Dehuai learned that Commissar Chen of the Seventh Regiment was seriously injured, so he immediately asked me to go to the Seventh Regiment to serve as the political commissar and lead the troops to continue to complete the combat mission. In the afternoon, I rushed to the station of the Seventh Regiment, and the head of the regiment, Long Changhan, received me warmly.This regiment originally belonged to the Sixth Division of the Red Eighth Army, and I was not very familiar with Long Changhan. This meeting left a deep impression on me.He was born in a poor peasant family of the Miao nationality in Guizhou Province. He served as a soldier in the Kuomintang army and later became a platoon leader. In 1928, his army was stationed in Wanzai County, Jiangxi Province. He was influenced by the Red Army politically. He resolutely led a platoon to revolt and joined the Fifth Red Army. Because he was brave and tenacious in combat and good at leading troops, he fought many battles and was wounded many times. long.Although he is very good at fighting and has great prestige among soldiers, he is very humble, cautious, and honest with others; he is good at uniting comrades. We have worked and fought together for two or three years, and forged a deep fighting friendship.It is a pity that he died heroically in the fifth battle against "encirclement and suppression".That day, after we met for the first time in Jianning City, he briefly introduced to me the situation of the Seventh Regiment and the battle situation of the attack on Jianning, and then took me to a nearby company to visit the cadres and soldiers. The enemy's "encirclement and suppression" was smashed, and all the cadres and soldiers were elated.They took the initiative to collect money, 30 cents or 50 cents per person, and put together to play "Pinghuo" (that is, dinner), bought chicken, pork, vermicelli and other dishes, and brought a catty or two of wine. The pots and bowls at home, stir-frying dishes for "tooth-making festival", talking while eating, very lively.Everyone drank a little wine with restrictions, but they didn't dare to drink too much, for fear that some combat missions would be missed.Jianning City is small, there are not many shops, and the food is not rich. Those who go to buy vegetables first can buy chicken and pork, and those who go to buy vegetables later cannot buy good dishes, so they buy eggs, peanuts or tofu, dried tofu, and dried bamboo shoots. , Anyone who can buy a drink is fine, and everyone "drinks freely" to celebrate the victory.Long Changhan and I also had fun with the soldiers. This company ate a little, that company ate a little, and drank a glass of wine to express our intentions.I mainly want to meet with you and get to know each other so that we can carry out work in the future.Shortly after dinner, as soon as we returned to the regiment headquarters, the division came with an order: "Leave early tomorrow morning and transfer to the Ninghua area to carry out mass work." Early the next morning, our Red Seventh Regiment left Jianning and headed towards Ninghua.It was foggy after the rain, the blue sky was like washing, and the air in the mountains was moist and fresh. Everyone felt very comfortable. They sang and laughed while marching without feeling tired.Two days later, I arrived at the outskirts of Ninghua for a battle summary and celebrated my victory. In the early days of the Fifth Red Army, because the troops and local armed forces were in urgent need of a large number of weapons, they followed the practice of the old army. All weapons captured were rewarded with oceans, 10 yuan for rifles, 50 yuan for light machine guns, and 100 yuan for heavy machine guns.It is inconvenient to move and fight with captured guns during the war. Therefore, it is stipulated that after the guns are handed over, the guns can be removed and carried on the body or put in the bag. After the battle is over, rewards will be given according to the number of guns.At the beginning, the battles were small, and the seizures were not many each time. After cleaning the battlefield, I took the trigger to identify the guns, and most of them were able to match the numbers;At that time, the brands of the guns were very complicated, and some bolts and guns did not match the numbers, and they were all scrapped.This kind of reward method gradually does not adapt to the development of the situation.During the first counter-campaign against "encirclement and suppression", tens of thousands of guns and cannons were handed in. Not only was it difficult to check, but there were not so many oceans to distribute prizes, so the prize money was reduced.In the second campaign against "encirclement and suppression", more than 20,000 guns were handed over, and a bonus of 200,000 to 300,000 yuan was required. Where did so much money come from?Therefore, it can only be a symbolic reward of two or three yuan per gun to show encouragement.Since then, the General Front Committee of the Front Army has officially announced the cancellation of the bonus for surrendering guns, and replaced material rewards with spiritual rewards such as opening celebrations, wearing safflowers, and issuing medals, eliminating the disadvantages of "discharging guns".In this way, not only did it not affect the enthusiasm of the troops to kill the enemy and hand in their guns, but also commended the brave warriors who fought bravely through the celebration activities (there was no formal merit evaluation system established at that time), and awarded the first, second and third "red stars" to outstanding combat heroes. Medal", which set off a revolutionary competition movement to kill the enemy and hand in the gun, so as to better complete the combat mission. After the victory of the second anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign, on June 3, the Sixth Division of the Third Red Army took advantage of the victory to capture Taining City. The relatively small Jiangle, Shunchang, Shaxian, Guihua (now Mingxi), Yong'an, Ninghua, Qingliu, Changting and other vast areas in western Fujian carried out mass work in a scattered manner, further consolidating and expanding the Central Soviet Area.