Chapter 8 (4) Supervising the battle ahead

After the Battle of Zhangzhou, two divisions of Chen Jitang's Cantonese Army marched northward from Guangdong and occupied a large area in the western part of southern Jiangxi.At the same time, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the 19th Route Army with strong combat effectiveness to go to Fujian. On May 29, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission telegraphed the East Route Army to withdraw from the Zhangzhou and Longyan areas. On June 5, the Provisional Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, far away in Shanghai, issued a military instruction: "The main forces of the 1st and 5th Army Corps should first respond to the Hexi 3rd Army Corps to deal with the enemies entering Jiangxi and Guangdong. Occupy Meiling Pass under possible conditions, and then go north along the river. Occupy Zhangzhou, Ji'an, and Zhangshu, with the goal of fighting for Nanchang."

Two days after the Provisional Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the above-mentioned military instruction, Zhou Enlai called Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Wang Jiaxiang, etc. who were attending the military meeting in Shanghang from Ruijin, emphasizing: "I hope to stick to the active offensive line and strive for complete victory in this battle with all my strength. Take a major blow." The Shanghang Military Conference followed Zhou Enlai's instruction telegram and decided that the 1st and 5th Red Army Corps would pass through Meixian, Guangdong, and return to southern Jiangxi.

In order to strengthen the organization and leadership of the war, Zhou Enlai presided over a meeting of the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area in Ruijin on the 25th, and decided to follow the example of the Soviet Civil War under the People's Committee of the Soviet Government and organize a labor and war committee. All military, economic, financial, and labor mobilization matters in the Revolutionary War. When Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and Wang Jiaxiang led the Eastern Route Army to southern Jiangxi, the 12 regiments of the Cantonese Army had already occupied Ganzhou, Nankang, Dayu, Shangyou, Yangmeisi, Xinfeng and other places in southern Jiangxi. In addition, 6 regiments were deployed near Nanxiong, Guangdong, under the command of Yu Hanmou, commander of the 1st Army.In the north of Ganzhou, there are still 5 divisions of the Guangdong Army.There are two divisions of He Jian in southern Shonen.The deployment of Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and Wang Jiaxiang's troops was that the 1st and 5th Red Army Corps and the Independent Division approached Nanxiong from the south of Xinfeng, making the Cantonese army mistakenly think that the Red Army might attack Shaoguan or even attack Guangzhou, thus mobilizing various Cantonese troops to return to Nanxiong , the Red 1st, 3rd, and 5th Army Corps, the Red 12th Army, and the Independent 3rd and 6th Divisions were on the move to encircle and wipe out Yu Hanmou's headquarters near Nanxiong.After the deployment was completed, the 1st and 5th Red Corps braved the scorching heat and marched hurriedly, arriving in Wujing, Guangdong in early July.

After getting rid of the siege of the 6 divisions of Jiang Jun He Yingqin on the border of Hunan, Guangdong and Jiangxi, the Red 3rd Corps of the West Route Army led by Peng Dehuai withdrew from Shangyou and Chongyi, and encountered 4 regiments of the Cantonese Army in Chijiang. Dayu. In order to prevent Dayu's Cantonese army from fleeing to Nanxiong, Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and Wang Jiaxiang ordered the 1st and 5th Red Army Corps to rush to the front line of Meiguan and Zhongzhan, and prepared to cooperate with the 3rd Red Army Corps to encircle and wipe out the Cantonese Army who fled Dayu in the Zhongzhan area.The 1st Red Army defeated the Cantonese Army stationed at Meiguan, and when it occupied Meiguan, the Dayu Cantonese Army still couldn't hold on. On July 7, the 4th Division of the Cantonese Army arrived at Wujing.Chen Jitang ordered his independent 3rd and 5th divisions to rush to Nanxiong to join the 4th division, and attack in the direction of Zhongzhan with a force.The soldiers and horses of this route had reached Xinjing that day.

In response to the dynamics of the Cantonese Army, Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and Wang Jiaxiang ordered the Red 3rd Army and the 12th Army to be responsible for annihilating the Nanxiong Cantonese Army, and ordered the Red 5th Army and the Independent 3rd and 6th Divisions to be responsible for annihilating the 4th Division of the Cantonese Army. In the early morning of the 8th, the 5th Red Army Corps, on the way to Wujing, discovered that the 4th Division of the Cantonese Army was fleeing from the south bank of Zhenshui to Nanxiong, and immediately rushed to Shuikou to stop it.In the afternoon of the same day, the Red 5th Army used the 13th Army as the frontal attack, and the 3rd Army crossed the river from the left wing to the back of the Cantonese Army, defeating the two regiments of the Cantonese Army.Seeing that the way of retreat was cut off, the 4th Guangdong Division retreated to the Shuikouwei Highland that night, waiting for reinforcements to rescue them.

Because it was difficult to see the situation under the night, the 5th Red Army Corps mistakenly believed that the Cantonese Army had fled to Nanxiong, and reported this judgment to Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and Wang Jiaxiang, which made Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and Wang Jiaxiang change their original plan to redeploy the 1st Army Corps and the Red Army. The Second Army's plan to reinforce Mizuguchi. On the 9th, Yu Hanmou received a telegram from the 4th Division asking for help from Shuikou, and immediately ordered his 3rd Division and the 2nd Brigade to rush to help.In this way, the strength of the Shuikou Cantonese Army suddenly increased to 9 regiments, and quickly organized a counterattack against the Red Army.The Red 5th Army still thought that the Cantonese Army was only three regiments of the original Cantonese Army's Fourth Division, so they fought fiercely with the Cantonese Army.Although the 5th Red Army fought bravely, due to the obvious superiority of the Guangdong Army, the 5th Red Army suffered heavy casualties.At this critical time, Chen Yi led the Jiangxi Independent 3rd and 6th Divisions to Shuikou, and cooperated with the Red 5th Army to repel the Guangdong Army.

After Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and Wang Jiaxiang learned that the 5th Red Army was in trouble in Shuikou, they urgently ordered the 1st Red Army and the 12th Red Army to rush to Shuikou for reinforcements at dawn on the 10th.The two sides fought fiercely on the banks of the Zhenshui River.After several hours of fierce fighting, corpses were strewn across the river beach, and the Zhenshui River was stained red with blood. The Battle of Shuikou was a vicious battle.Since the Red 3rd Army failed to arrive at the start of the war and its troops were scattered, although it defeated 20 regiments of the Cantonese Army, it failed to achieve the expected goal of annihilating the Cantonese Army, and it became a war of attrition.

After the Battle of Shuikou, Zhou Enlai was stationed at the front to supervise the battle as a representative of the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area, and Ren Bishi acted as the secretary of the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area.At this time, the troops were resting on the border of Guangdong and Jiangxi east of Nanxiong.At this time, according to the needs of the development of the war situation, the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area decided to revoke the designations of the East Route Army and West Route Army and restore the organizational system of the First Front Army. Zhu De, chairman of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission and commander-in-chief of the Red Front Army, proposed that Zhou Enlai And general political commissar.

Zhou Enlai believed that this discussion was inappropriate, and on July 25, Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and Wang Jiaxiang jointly called the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area: On the 29th, Zhou Enlai personally wrote a letter to the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area, insisting that Mao Zedong be the general political commissar of the Red Front Army.In his letter, he emphasized that "if Zhou is the chief political commissar, there will be multiple commanders and the chairman of the government will have nothing to do." If you are not careful, you must try your best to develop Mao Zedong's experience and strengths." "With Mao Zedong in charge, it may be appropriate to direct."

The Provisional Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has taken a distrustful attitude towards Mao Zedong, accusing him of being a representative of rightist ideas, and has a long history of trying to exclude him from the military leadership.As early as October last year, when Wang Ming left Shanghai for Moscow, he told Zhou Enlai, who was going to the Central Soviet Area, that after he arrived in the Central Soviet Area, Mao Zedong would only take care of government work. Before Zhou Enlai left Shanghai, Bogu, the provisional head of the CCP Central Committee, told Zhou Enlai that after arriving in the Central Soviet Area, Zhou Enlai was the Secretary of the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area, Mao Zedong was in charge of the government, and Zhu De was in charge of the military.

After Zhou En came to the Central Soviet Area, he did not act according to the intention of the Provisional Central Committee. Instead, he adopted Mao Zedong's opinions on military strategy and tactics based on his own investigation and knowledge, and pushed Mao Zedong to the front desk of military command. Just as the Battle of Zhangzhou was in full swing, the Provisional Central Committee far away in Shanghai issued the "Letter to the Party Headquarters in the Soviet Areas to Oppose the Imperialist Attack on the Soviet Union and Carve up China" on April 14. The most important task in the Soviet area at present is to "carry out a resolute revolutionary offensive" and "to wage the most resolute and ruthless struggle" against the Right deviation. On May 20, the interim Central Committee criticized Zhou Enlai by name, saying that after Comrade Wu Hao arrived in the Soviet area, although he "has made considerable changes in some work", he "has not consolidated the leadership of the proletariat" and "all work has gone deep into the grassroots. The transition has either not begun or has not achieved the necessary grades".In the letter, the Provisional Central Committee asked them to seize one or two central cities to develop the victory of the revolution in one province and several provinces. Zhou Enlai made a review of this, but in actual work, especially in military command, he still reused Mao Zedong, which made the Provisional Central Committee and the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area very dissatisfied. The Central Bureau of the Soviet Area of ​​the Communist Party of China appointed Zhou Enlai to the front to supervise the battle precisely because of distrust of Mao Zedong.Now that Zhou Enlai tried his best to recommend Mao Zedong as the general political commissar of the Red Army, how could the members of the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area accept it? Xiang Ying hurried to the front to discuss with Zhou Enlai the candidates for the general political commissar of the Red Front Army.Xiang Ying straight to the point talked to Zhou Enlai about the views of the leaders behind the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area, and believed that it would be difficult to fully implement the central government's offensive line policy by relying on Mao Zedong's methods.This is what some comrades in the rear are worried about. Zhou Enlai argued that the worries of comrades in the rear were groundless and unnecessary.Point out that they do not know enough about the situation ahead, and they are more or less prejudiced against Mao Zedong.For a front-line commander, one should not judge whether he is implementing the central line based on his performance in a certain battle.The situation on the battlefield changes rapidly. If the commander does not adapt to the situation, how can he win the battle? Xiang Ying insisted that the comrades in the rear did not agree that Mao Zedong was in charge of presiding over the entire war.He can only assist in the front, and cannot be the main decision-maker, that is to say, he cannot be the general political commissar.Zhou Enlai asked: "Comrade Mao Zedong is not the general political commissar, so what is he doing in the front? You probably have forgotten that this team was drawn by him!" Xiang Ying said: "Comrade Enlai, you are so stubborn! If you are the chief political commissar, the interim central government will definitely have no problem. If you call Lao Mao, the interim central will definitely not agree!" Zhou Enlai said: "Then I will personally write a letter to the interim Central Committee to explain the actual situation here to the Central Committee." Seeing Zhou Enlai's resolute attitude, Xiang Ying had a sad face.After thinking hard for a long time, his tone softened: "If this is the case, then I will go back and discuss with them." The Central Bureau of the Soviet Area finally respected Zhou Enlai’s opinion. On August 8, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission issued an order: “According to the order of the Central Government, Comrade Mao Zedong was specially appointed as the General Political Commissar of the First Front Army of the Red Army. Comrade Mao Zedong has now joined the army to work. All the soldiers of our First Front Army should resolutely work together to develop the revolutionary war and strive for the first victory of the revolution in Jiangxi and the neighboring provinces under the leadership of Commander-in-Chief Zhu and Political Commissar Mao.” At the same time, the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area decided to organize the highest military meeting in the front, which was composed of Zhou Enlai, Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and Wang Jiaxiang. Zhou Enlai was the chairman and was responsible for handling the action policy and combat plan ahead.