Chapter 12 (1) Luring the enemy deep

The headquarters of the Red Front Army is located in Jianning, a village surrounded by mountains and verdant trees.Zhou Enlai's office and bedroom is an ordinary house.There is a square table, a low table for primary school students, and a few low stools in the room.On the table is an oil lamp made of a bamboo tube, and the light is cooking oil.He only uses the lantern when he is reading a map.Because there is little kerosene, the lights are usually not lit in the house.The bed he slept in was temporarily erected with door panels, with a few handfuls of straw spread on it, covered with an old gray blanket, and a brick as a pillow.There was no towel to wash his face, so he used a rag as a towel just like the guards.

It was in such a simple headquarters that he and Zhu De strategized and commanded the Central Red Army to resist the "suppression" of Chiang Kai-shek's hundreds of thousands of troops. For several years, as the main person in charge of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, Zhou Enlai has been in Shanghai directing the national domestic revolutionary war and the construction of the Soviet area.After entering the Central Soviet Area, he was also in the position of guiding and supervising the war. Together with Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Wang Jiaxiang, etc., he led the Central Soviet Area to fight against Jiang's army.This was the first time that Zhou Enlai was in charge of presiding over the entire anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign.

Prior to this, under the auspices of Mao Zedong, the Red Front Army had smashed Jiang Jun's "encirclement and suppression" of the Central Soviet Area three times. In November 1930, after the end of the Central Plains war with Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan, Chiang Kai-shek mobilized about 100,000 troops from 11 divisions, and Lu Diping, chairman of the Jiangxi Province of the Kuomintang and commander-in-chief of the Ninth Route Army, was the commander-in-chief of the "encirclement and suppression" army. Division commander Zhang Huizan was the commander in chief of the former enemy, and adopted the combat policy of "divided into joint attack, long-term drive straight in", and launched the first "encirclement and suppression" to the Central Soviet Area.The enemy army was divided into three columns and attacked Ji'an, Yongfeng, Le'an, Yihuang Nancheng and other places respectively.

At that time, the Red Army had about 40,000 people. Under the command of Mao Zedong, the Red Army adopted the strategic policy of luring the enemy to go deep, and moved to the central part of the Soviet area one by one. In the middle of December, the enemy began to attack the central area of ​​the Soviet area. In the second half of the year, five divisions went deep into the Huangpi, Xiaobu, and Matian areas north of Ningdu. On the 29th, Zhang Huizhan led the 18th Division and two brigades to go deep into Longgang.Mao Zedong decided to concentrate the main force to attack Longgang, and first ambushed the main force in the mountains near Longgang.

On the morning of the 30th, the Red Army suddenly launched a siege to the enemy who had entered the ambush circle with superior forces. The fierce battle continued until dusk, and wiped out more than 9,000 people from the headquarters of the 18th Division and two brigades of the enemy, and captured the division commander Zhang Huizan alive.The Red Army won the first battle, and other Kuomintang troops who had penetrated into the Soviet area retreated one after another.Taking advantage of the victory, the Red Army pursued eastward, and on January 3, 1931, they chased to the Dongshao area, annihilating more than one brigade of the enemy's 50th Division, thus successfully crushing Chiang Kai-shek's first "encirclement and suppression" campaign against the Central Soviet Area.In this anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign, a total of about 15,000 people from one division and three brigades were wiped out, and more than 10,000 guns were handed over.

At the beginning of April 1931, Chiang Kai-shek appointed He Yingqin as the commander-in-chief, mobilized 20 divisions and 4 independent brigades with a total of 200,000 people, and launched the second "encirclement and suppression" against the Central Soviet Area.The Red Army in the Central Soviet Area basically participated in the war. On May 16, Wang Jinyu's 28th Division of the Fifth Route Army was surrounded and wiped out by the Red Army at the foot of Baiyun Mountain near the Eastern Regiment, and then Guo Huazong's 43rd Division, which cooperated with them, was also wiped out by the Eastern Regiment.At the same time, Shangguan Yunxiang's 47th Division was defeated by the 4th Red Army at Jiucunling. In mid-May, Gao Shuxun's 27th Division was wiped out in Nakamura.

On May 29, Liu Heding's 56th Division was defeated at Jianning.The Red Army won the second victory against "encirclement and suppression".On June 21 of the same year, Chiang Kai-shek personally served as the commander-in-chief of the third "encirclement and suppression" campaign, commanding from Nanchang, and transferred his elite Chen Cheng's 18th Army from Wuhan to Fuzhou as the main force of the "encirclement and suppression" Red Army.This "encirclement and suppression" took He Yingqin as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy, and under the jurisdiction of He Yingqin's left-wing group army, Chen Mingshu's right-wing group army, and Wei Lihuang general reserve army, a total of 19 divisions, 2 brigades, and 5 air force brigades totaled 300,000 people.Chen Cheng's 18th Army was organized in the Left Wing Army, with Chen Cheng as the commander-in-chief of the Third Attack Army, under the jurisdiction of the 11th and 14th Divisions.

On July 1, Jiang's army launched an attack on the Soviet area from all directions. The attack was ferocious, but it could not capture the main force of the Red Army and was attacked everywhere.The two sides started a hide-and-seek battle among the mountains and mountains in southern Jiangxi.After three months of guerrilla warfare, Jiang's army lost 30,000 soldiers and surrendered 14,000 guns to the Red Army. Just when Jiang's army was in a dilemma, Guangdong and Guangxi sent troops to oppose Nanjing.It turned out that on the eve of the end of the Central Plains War, Chiang Kai-shek called the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang on the front line of Lanfeng, Henan Province on October 3 last year, advocating the convening of a national meeting to formulate a "law for the training period."Hu Hanmin opposed the formulation of the New Covenant Law, and published an article in the Kuomintang's "Central Daily", which received nationwide response, and the dispute between Jiang and Hu over the Covenant Law broke out.

Chiang Kai-shek couldn't compete with Hu Hanmin, so on the evening of February 28 this year, he trapped Hu Hanmin in the name of having a banquet and discussing matters, and imprisoned Hu Hanmin in Tangshan, Nanjing.Hu Hanmin was imprisoned by Chiang Kai-shek, which immediately caused an uproar. On April 30, Deng Zeru, Lin Sen and others of Guangdong Central Supervisory Committee jointly sent a telegram to impeach Chiang Kai-shek. On May 27, the anti-Chiang forces gathered in Guangzhou formed the KMT Central Committee and the National Government, and issued a declaration against Chiang. At the beginning of September, Guangdong and Guangxi sent troops to the north, attacking Jiangxi and Hunan respectively, and occupying Chenzhou, Hengyang and other places.Chiang Kai-shek ordered to stop the "suppression of communism", and transferred part of the main force to southern Jiangxi and southern Hunan, preparing to fight against Guangdong and Guangxi.Soon, the "September 18th Incident" broke out, which shifted Chiang Kai-shek's attention to the issue of whether to resist Japanese aggression, and the "encirclement and suppression" of the Red Army was forced to stop.

In the third "encirclement and suppression" campaign against the Central Soviet Area personally commanded by Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Cheng was ordered to take the lead, but due to the "September 18th Incident", his efforts were in vain.Now, for the fourth "encirclement and suppression", he was once again ordered to take the lead.If it was said that last time he was ordered in a crisis and rushed to Jiangxi from Wuhan with his troops in a hurry to meet the battle, this time, he came prepared and insisted on showing off his skills in front of Lao Jiang. Chen Cheng, the district captain of the Whampoa Military Academy at that time, his current opponent is Zhou Enlai, director of the Political Department of the Whampoa Military Academy.In Zhou Enlai's lineup, some brave generals Chen Cheng are naturally familiar with.Ye Jianying, Chief of Staff of the First Red Army and Deputy Director of the Professor Department of the Whampoa Military Academy; Nie Rongzhen, Political Commissar of the 1st Red Army and Secretary of the Political Department of the Whampoa Military Academy; up.

In the past few days, it has been raining and cold. Just after dawn, the translator sent an urgent telegram from the front line.Guard Xiao Guo held the telegram and wandered anxiously in front of Zhou Enlai's door.Last night, the General Political Commissar and Commander-in-Chief studied the enemy's situation and arranged for troops to move. They worked all night, and they only lay down for less than an hour!He had the heart to wake him up?But Xiao Guo is very clear about the strict requirements of the chief in this regard.As long as there is an emergency, no matter when, he must be woken up.Alas, blame this telegram, no matter how urgent you are, it's better if you come an hour late! Xiao Guo sighed helplessly, but still rushed into the house and woke Zhou Enlai from his sound sleep.Zhou Enlai rubbed his sleepy eyes, looked at the telegram, and was refreshed.He got up from the bed, put on his clothes very quickly, and walked to the map.At this time, Xiao Guo had already lit the lantern and brought it over. While withdrawing from Nanfeng, Zhou Enlai and Zhu De, in order to mobilize the enemies stationed in Le'an and Yihuang to move southward, ordered the Red Army outside Nanfeng City to continue to attack Nanfeng. Regional campaigns were carried out to attract Jiang's army, while the main force of the Red Army secretly assembled in Dongshao, Luokou, and Wucun areas in the southwest, waiting to wipe out the enemy. At this time, Chen Cheng mistook that the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Army Corps of the Red Army retreated to Lichuan, Zhangshu, and Hengcun on February 16 after besieging Nanfeng, so he ordered the third column to leave Lichuan from Jinxi to attack the front of the Red Army; Nancheng headed east to block the Red Army; the first column from Le'an and Yihuang attacked Guangchang to cut off the Red Army's retreat. At this time, the Red Army was secretly transferred to the concentrated Red Army in Dongpi and Hekou. With the Red 5th Army and the Red 22nd Army as the right wing, they entered Huangpi and attacked westward; , Zhuping line, to meet the north.The 52nd and 59th Divisions of Chen Cheng's 1st Column, originally stationed in Le'an, were attracted by the actions of the Red 11th Army, which was pretending to be the main force, and followed it to advance eastward, preparing to cooperate with its main force to encircle and wipe out the Red Army in the Lichuan area.The two divisions were on the march, and the right flank was completely exposed to the Red Army. Zhou En came to look at the map, exhaled excitedly, and said: "A few days ago, we ordered the 11th Army to cross the Fuhe River and move towards Lichuan, just to let Chen Cheng follow them. This Chen Cheng really listens to our command!" Xiao Guo looked at Zhou Enlai in confusion. "Boss, since Chen Cheng is willing to listen to our transfer, we don't have to be polite. Let's give orders to the troops according to the original plan!" Xiao Guo hurriedly said: "General Political Commissar, I am Xiao Guo!" Zhou Enlai opened his eyes. "Oh, I took Xiao Guo as Boss Zhu!" He laughed out loud. Xiao Guo couldn't help but smiled, and said, "Commissioner General, shall I call the Commander-in-Chief?" "No. The boss is too tired, let him sleep for a while." "I can't sleep!" Before Zhou Enlai could finish his sentence, Zhu De stepped into the door. "Boss, why are you getting up?" Zhou Enlai looked at Zhu De and asked. Zhu De said: "I just had a dream. A nightmare! I dreamed that Chen Cheng was chasing us. There were planes in the sky, tanks and cannons on the ground, all equipped by the United States, Germany and Japan..." "People say that the results of dreams are exactly the opposite of the results of reality!" Zhou Enlai handed the telegram to Zhu De. Zhu De put on his presbyopic glasses, looked at the telegram with the light of the horse that Xiao Guo moved over, and couldn't help but smile.He dusted off the telegram with one hand, and said, "Chen Cheng, Chen Cheng, I didn't expect you to be obedient to old Jiang, but you are also quite obedient to us!" Zhou Enlai said: "Old Jiang will be unhappy if he finds out that his proud disciple obeys our transfer!" Zhu De said with a smile: "It's not just unhappy, I'm also worried that Lao Jiang will vomit blood with anger!" Zhou Enlai sat down at the low table and quickly wrote the draft telegram.He drew up the manuscript, signed it, and asked Zhu De to sign it, and handed it to Xiao Guo to send to the dispatch room.At this time, the cook brought breakfast.The so-called breakfast is just a small basket of steaming sweet potatoes.The two chatted comfortably while eating sweet potatoes. Chen Cheng is a good-looking man and quite scheming.When I was still the captain of the district at the Whampoa Military Academy, I went out to visit friends one night and came back. It was almost dawn and I couldn’t sleep anymore, so I lit the lamp and read "Three People's Principles".When he was the head of the 21st Division, the division commander belonged to Deng Yanda's faction. Fearing that the division would be disbanded by Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Cheng was appointed as the division commander.This guy has transformed from the head of the regiment to the head of the teacher.Later, in less than a year, he was promoted to the commander of Nanjing garrison and jumped to the rank of lieutenant general. Zhu De said humorously: "Enlai, you are the director of the political department of Whampoa, you have only 50,000 to 60,000 troops, and Chen Cheng, the captain of a small community, has 80,000 to 90,000 regular troops under your command!" Zhou Enlai also jokingly said: "The green out of the blue is better than the blue!" "I don't know how capable this district captain is, who started out by reading "Three Principles of the People" at night?" "This guy is quite smart and capable. We should not underestimate him. During the war between Jiang, Feng, and Yan, he was the one who led the troops to attack Jinan and Zhengzhou first." "So, Chen Cheng has the potential to be defeated by his apprentice this time?" "Who wins the deer, we will see the outcome soon!" According to the orders of Zhou Enlai and Zhu De, the main force of the Red Army on the one hand braved the rainy days and overcame obstacles, secretly went northward from Dongshao, Luokou, and Wucun in the starry night, and hid in the Huangpi mountainous area in the south of Yihuang.Bewildered by the Red Army's feigned movements, it rained continuously for several days, and the public blocked the news. Chen Cheng had no knowledge of the deployment of the Red Army. His 52nd and 59th divisions marched between the mountains and fog, and they never noticed the main force of the Red Army. Where they are, they move eastward without any scruples. At 1:00 noon on February 27, the two divisions confidently and boldly entered the Red Army's ambush circle with high mountains, dense forests and difficult roads.The main force of the Red Army, which had a superior force, unexpectedly launched a fierce attack.Due to false information, Chen Cheng's 52nd and 59th divisions did not expect to be ambushed.They thought that the Red Army did not dare to fight on the edge of the White Area, and especially the 52nd Division brigade commander Jian Yun was the most arrogant. When he received the order to advance to Huangpi, he didn't care. For a long time, he did not study the enemy's terrain at all, and was separated from a brigade of the vanguard for dozens of miles. The 52nd Division entered the ambush circle of the Red 1st and 3rd Army Corps in Jiaohu. When the division headquarters and 4 regiments and their luggage entered, the Red Army ambushed soldiers on the high mountains on the north and south sides. The 52nd Division was cut into several sections and fought fiercely for two days. He was quickly wiped out, and the division commander Li Ming was captured.Chen Shiji led the 59th Division into the pass at the west end of Xiyuan. Seeing that there were high mountains on both sides and the terrain was dangerous, he was worried about ambush, so he ordered the avant-garde to stop advancing and sent troops to search. The Red 5th Army and the Red 22nd Army ambushing here immediately launched an attack, and the 59th Division was divided and surrounded.Chen Shiji still didn't know that Li Ming's 52nd Division was wiped out, so he wrote to Li Ming asking for help.He wrote in the letter: "My brother is incompetent. I fell at 1 o'clock in the afternoon this afternoon. Now the army has been disbanded. I only lead dozens of soldiers in a mountain villa seven or eight miles away from Jiaohu Lake. Please help quickly." Red 1, The 3rd Army soon came to participate in the battle to encircle and wipe out the rest of the 59th Division. The division was almost wiped out that night, and Chen Shiyi was captured. When Chen Cheng's 52nd and 59th Divisions were ambushed by the Red Army in Huangpi, their 2nd and 3rd Columns hurriedly turned around to help. On March 1, after the main force of the Red Army encircled and wiped out the 52nd and 59th divisions, they secretly withdrew to Dongshao, Luokou, and Xiaobu areas to assemble and waited to continue to wipe out the enemy.