Chapter 38 (5) Meeting the storm

On the evening of May 12, 1935, in a temporary hut in Tiechang Village outside Huili City, Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong attended an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee chaired by Luo Fu.This meeting was dedicated to discussing the issues raised by Lin Biao's letter and the telegram of the Red 3rd Army. On May 2, in the name of Zhu De, the three-person group sent a telegram to Peng Dehuai, Yang Shangkun, Dong Zhentang, and Li Zhuoran for the deployment of the Central Red Army to cross the Jinsha River. According to the telegram, according to the investigation, only more than 300 people from Liu Wenhui's department will be dealt with.In addition to crossing the river along Yuanmou and Longjie Avenues, Kunming Tonghuili Road has two other business routes: one passes through Jiba, Houjie, Kazitang, Malutang, Dasongshu and crosses the river at Hongmenkou (about two kilometers from Jiba to Hongmenkou). One hundred and ninety miles); one passes through Xiaocang Street, Longhaitang, Shiban River, and Jiaoxi to Jiaoping to cross the river.There are two ferry boats at Hongmenkou and Jiaopingdu, each of which can accommodate more than 20 people or six or seven horses.The narrow part of the river is more than ten feet, and the flow is fast.The width is more than thirty feet, the flow is slow, and it is possible to build a bridge.The mountains on the west bank are steep and there are no bamboos, but there are logs on the south bank that can be used as rafts.In case the bridge fails, it can be crossed by water.There are ferries at Baitan and Xiaolu downstream of Hongmenkou and Naping and Luche upstream on the left.

The operational deployment of our army: the 1st Corps decided to pass through Wuding, Yuanmou crossed the river from Longjie, and led the enemy to the west. The column of the Military Commission, led by Liu Bocheng, led a battalion of cadres and engineers, and led the 29th team to Jiaopingdu on the morning of the 4th. Build the bridge and scout the crossing points upstream of it. The 13th Regiment should pass through Laowuying, cross the Pudu River by the river, turn to Tongmalutang Road, and rush to Hongmenkou to build a bridge on the morning of the 4th, scout the river crossing points downstream, and keep in close contact with Chief of Staff Liu. Call at least twice about the bridging situation. The main force of the 3rd Army advanced behind the 13th Army, and its rear guard stepped up its left rear guard when the enemy of Kelang was chasing after the 5th Army.

Prior to this, in response to the pursuit of Jiang's army with more than 70 regiments, the Red Army could not conduct mobile operations in Yunnan, and the banks of the Jinsha River were empty. Starting from the base area of ​​the Soviet area".For this reason, the three-person regiment sent Liu Bocheng to lead a cadre group to Jiaopingdu, Luquan County.Zhou Enlai personally went to the cadre group to understand the situation and made arrangements for crossing the river.At the same time, the 1st Red Army captured Longjie, and the 3rd Red Army occupied Hongmendu. On May 3, Liu Bocheng and Chen Geng led a cadre group to seize the Jiaopingdu of the Jinsha River.The next day, Zhou Enlai crossed the river and, together with Mao Zedong and Zhu De, commanded the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Red Corps to cross the Jinsha River before the 9th.At the same time, the 9th Red Army crossed the river at Qiaojia in Yunnan.At this point, the Central Red Army finally got rid of the chasing and intercepting of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses of Jiang's army.

During the process of the Red Army crossing the Jinsha River, the three-member regiment, in the name of the Field Army Command, proposed to the entire army on May 5 the task of marching northward to eliminate Liu Wenhui's Department of the Sichuan Army.According to this instruction, after the Red Army crossed the Jinsha River, it approached the city of Huili on the 8th.Because the siege was not conquered, they rested, expanded their army, and raised food funds in the suburbs of the city. Chiang Kai-shek flew from Guiyang to Kunming on the 10th and ordered the Sichuan Army Yang Sen and Liu Wenhui to guard the Dadu River and Xikang, and the main force was in Fulin; he ordered Xue Yue, Zhou Hunyuan and Sun Du of the Dian Army to pursue the Jinsha River.

On the evening of May 12, in a temporary hut in Tiechang Village outside Huili City, Luo Fu presided over an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee to discuss the issues raised by Lin Biao's letter and the telegram of the 3rd Red Army.This is another unusual meeting held by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee after the Zunyi Meeting. Because the three-person group composed of Bogu, Li De, and Zhou Enlai was cancelled, and the newly established three-person group composed of Zhou Enlai, Mao Zedong, and Wang Jiaxiang had only been in operation for two months, and internal differences emerged.So, from the very beginning of the meeting, the atmosphere was tense.

After Luo Fu announced the opening of the meeting, Wang Jiaxiang was asked to speak first.Wang Jiaxiang hesitated for a moment, but asked Luo Fu to speak first.After Luo Fu made his opening remarks, the participants were asked to express their opinions on Lin Biao's letter and the telegram of the Red 3rd Army. Peng Dehuai spoke first.He speaks straight to the point, without detours.He said that before Lin Biao wrote the letter to the Central Committee, he had exchanged views with him, and he also felt the same about Lin Biao's views.Regarding Lin Biao's suggestion that he be in charge of the battlefield command, he thought that such a formulation was inappropriate.

Mao Zedong stared at Peng Dehuai and said, "Your old Peng encouraged you to write Lin Biao's letter, right?" Peng Dehuai stared and said, "Aren't you wronging someone? Comrade Lin Biao is here. You ask him, did I encourage him to write it?" With a straight face, Lin Biao looked at Mao Zedong and said, "I was just exchanging opinions with Comrade Dehuai when I was writing letters." Mao Zedong said: "That's right! Without your old Peng Ding's tune, how could Lin Biao play this trumpet?..." Peng Dehuai stared again, and said, "Don't tell me, my old Peng doesn't even have the right to exchange opinions with Comrade Lin Biao?"

Lin Biao echoed Peng Dehuai's words: "I just have opinions on strategy and tactics. Just go around in circles with the enemy, don't fight, and even give up the good opportunity to attack Drum Xinchang. What else can we fight?" As soon as Mao Zedong heard Lin Biao mention the matter of attacking Peng Xinchang, he became angry.He pointed to Lin Biao and said: "I have said this many times. Even if we win against local warlords, it is a war of attrition, which will have little effect on the overall situation of the war. Our confidant is the main force of Jiang's army. Only by defeating them can we boost morale and turn the tide of the war. "

Lin Biao said in a sarcastic tone: "What about Luban's first battle? We lost so much, did we turn the tide of the battle?" Mao Zedong glared at Lin Biao, but held back his breath and said, "After the first battle at Lubanchang, Zhou Hunyuan hid in the fortifications and did not dare to pursue him. Is this true?" Lin Biao said: "Zhou Hunyuan didn't dare to chase us anymore, but we kept running. We avoided the enemy like this and ran all day long. If we keep going around in circles like this, it's no wonder we don't wear down the troops. !" Wang Jiaxiang nodded to Peng Dehuai and Lin Biao, and said: "Our strategy and tactics should be changed. We can't walk so many roads, and we shouldn't just go around in circles and not fight. The troops really can't bear it if this continues!"

Seeing that Wang Jiaxiang publicly supported Lin Biao and Peng Dehuai's views, Mao Zedong threw the cigarette butt to the ground, stood up and loudly stated his views to everyone.He has repeatedly emphasized that now it is not a decisive battle with hundreds of thousands of powerful enemies, but doing everything possible to get rid of their siege and interception.In this case, how can we get rid of the enemy without using mobile warfare and running more in circles?Of course, there are losses in running more.But it is worth it, this kind of loss is much smaller than the loss caused by blindly attacking a strong enemy.Are the troops now equipped to attack the enemy?Conversely speaking, the troops move more and confuse the enemy, on the one hand to get rid of them, and on the other hand to create conditions to find opportunities to attack them with confidence.

Wang Jiaxiang shook his head, and refuted Mao Zedong's words: "Using mobile warfare to get rid of the enemy is a correct strategy. However, we can't always move without fighting. This will not only cause a large number of downsizing, but it may not pose any threat to the enemy. The troops complained a lot. , the mood is very low, how can we fight a good battle in the future?" Mao Zedong argued: "Getting rid of the enemy's siege and interception is the greatest threat to the enemy! What's wrong with exercising instead of fighting? As long as we don't exercise for a day, we will fall into the enemy's siege, just like falling into a quagmire! We are running more now. It's good, you can get rid of the enemy by running more." "I agree with Comrade Mao Zedong's opinion." Zhou Enlai expressed his attitude as soon as he spoke. "We must get rid of the siege and interception of enemies dozens of times stronger than us. There may be many ways to do this, but judging from the current situation, I don't see anything better than going around in circles with the enemy. Method." Everyone looked at Zhou Enlai, but no one made a sound. Zhou Enlai went on to say: "After the Zunyi Conference, Comrade Mao Zedong participated in the military command. He played a major and decisive role in our three-member regiment. I think Comrade Mao Zedong's strategy and tactics of avoiding the truth and pretending to be false, and attacking the west by pretending to be the best. It is the only feasible way at present. It is precisely because of Comrade Mao Zedong’s strategy and tactics, and precisely because of Comrade Mao Zedong’s correct command, that we can confuse the enemy, get rid of the enemy, and cross the Jinsha River.” Everyone listened to Zhou Enlai's speech, but no one interrupted. Zhou Enlai glanced at Lin Biao and Peng Dehuai, and said in a serious tone: "It has only been two months since the central government established the new three-member regiment. The central government entrusted the three-member regiment with full authority to command the military. Now it proposes to set up a former enemy command organization. I don't think it is necessary. In the face of the great enemy, it is not serious and wrong to make such a suggestion.” Lin Biao blushed and bowed his head in silence.Peng Dehuai's face was gloomy and he didn't say a word.The others looked at each other without speaking.At this time, the Red Army had crossed the Jinsha River, jumped out of the encirclement of Jiang Jun's heavy troops, and achieved the expected goal, which shows that Mao Zedong's military command was correct with the full support of Zhou Enlai.Lin Biao criticized Mao Zedong's command method at this time, and proposed to set up a front-enemy command organization to weaken the military command of the three-member regiment, especially Mao Zedong, which was obviously out of date. Seeing that Zhou Enlai was firmly on the side of Mao Zedong, Luo Fu changed his tone and said: "During this period of time, the fatigue and downsizing of the troops were indeed serious, but this was unavoidable. As Chairman Mao Zedong and Comrade Enlai said, we Only in this way can we get rid of the siege and interception of powerful enemies. It seems that many of our comrades do not understand this point enough, and the propaganda and education of the troops is not enough, so..." "This is actually a right-leaning concept, a manifestation of a loss of confidence in the revolution!" Mao Zedong cut off Luo Fu's words and said sharply. "You keep saying that you will wear down the army if you just go around in circles without fighting. I think your wavering emotions will bring down the army! If you fall behind and reduce your numbers, you think our strategy is wrong, and you want to change the command if you run too much and suffer. organization, isn’t this downright right-leaning opportunism?…” Peng Dehuai curled his lips, and said unconvinced: "Criticize as long as you criticize. Why do you give people such a big hat?" Lin Biao also contradicted angrily: "I cannot accept this kind of crude criticism!" Seeing that both parties in the debate were extremely jealous, Luo Fu quickly relieved himself and said, "Comrade Chairman Mao, your words have gone too far. Criticism is fine, but how can you label it indiscriminately?" Mao Zedong also felt that he was angry for a while, a little impulsive, and his words were too much.He smoked hard and fell silent. "Comrade Mao Zedong's words were a bit too much, but his criticism is correct." Zhou Enlai looked at everyone, and his tone was irrefutable.He pointedly pointed out that during this period, from the central leadership to the grassroots of the army, the concept of right opportunism has indeed emerged.Dealing with a strong enemy and walking more, resulting in some downsizing, fatigue and fear of difficulties, and some complaints. As a commander, you will lose confidence in your future. This is very dangerous.We should not only see the fatigue and downsizing of the troops, but also see that after the Zunyi meeting, especially after the establishment of the Sino-Singapore three-member regiment, command the troops to attack Zunyi for the second time, cross the Chishui River four times, and cross the Jinsha River skillfully, leaving hundreds of thousands of powerful enemies behind of these achievements.The strategy and tactics of the past few months have been correct, and the request to change the command organization at this time is a denial of the strategy and tactics of the past few months, and it also disrupts the entire strategic deployment of the central government. Luo Fu showed shame, and admitted that the troops were not fighting in circles, and that fatigue and downsizing were serious. He was also critical at first.After listening to the speeches of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, I have a deeper understanding of these situations.It seems that the opinions of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai are correct. Wang Jiaxiang also pointed out that reporting to the central government the fatigue caused by continuous long-distance marches should of course be taken seriously.But it is wrong to propose changing the highest command organization at this time.This kind of thinking is indeed a rightist opportunist concept, which must be eliminated in the army.He felt guilty for hastily supporting the views of Peng Dehuai, Lin Biao and others. Finally, Luo Fu criticized Lin Biao's idea of ​​changing the supreme command organization as wrong, and agreed with Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai's views to strengthen internal unity and maintain the authority of the three-member group. Peng Dehuai stopped arguing.In fact, he has a stomach full of grievances.Mao Zedong accused him of encouraging Lin Biao to write a letter, thinking that he had power and aspirations, and wanted to be the former commander-in-chief of the Red Army, which obviously wronged him.But he also thought that if he tried his best to argue at this time, the matter would only get worse and worse, which would not only be detrimental to the solution of the problem, but would also affect internal unity. "My old Peng has always been frank and upright, and this kind of thing will become clear after a long time!" He murmured in his heart. Lin Biao's activities were criticized as opportunism along the military line and damaging to the unity of the military leadership.But he was not convinced by everyone's criticisms, especially those made by Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai.He has always believed that Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and other leaders of the Military Commission should preside over major plans, and Peng Dehuai is in charge of battlefield command.It's a pity that he can't do it alone, and even Peng Dehuai didn't support his view of changing the command organization.After Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai made criticisms, and Luo Fu and Wang Jiaxiang changed their original intentions and expressed their stance, the turmoil provoked by him has actually subsided. The Huili meeting also discussed the action plan of the Central Red Army after crossing the Jinsha River, and decided to continue northward, cross the Dadu River, and join the Fourth Red Army.After the meeting, the three-member regiment issued an instruction in the name of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, deciding that the troops would pass through Mianning to Anshunchang, cross the Dadu River, enter the northwestern part of Sichuan, and establish a new base.