Chapter 48 (2) Difficult way back

On November 3, 1935, a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee was held in Xiasiwan.The meeting discussed issues such as the central government's external name and organizational division of labor.The meeting decided to use the names of the Northwest Central Bureau of the Communist Party of China and the Northwest Office of the Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic.When studying the division of labor of the Central Standing Committee, Luo Fu suggested that Mao Zedong be in charge of military work, and Zhou Enlai be in charge of the work of the Central Organization Bureau.Wang Jiaxiang suggested that Zhou Enlai had experience in military work and had been in charge of the Military Commission for a long time, so Zhou Enlai should preside over the work of the Military Commission.Mao Zedong agreed with Wang Jiaxiang's opinion that the work of the Military Commission was still presided over by Zhou Enlai, and he was his assistant.After Zhou Enlai's Zunyi Conference, Mao Zedong played a major role in the work of the Military Commission. Now he presides over the work of the Military Commission, which should be said to be expected by all.He asked everyone not to argue about this issue, and Mao Zedong was the chairman of the Military Commission, and he was the assistant.Seeing Zhou Enlai's firm attitude, Wang Jiaxiang also agreed.The meeting finally decided to establish the Northwest Revolutionary Military Committee of the Chinese Soviet Republic, with Mao Zedong as the chairman and Zhou Enlai and Peng Dehuai as the vice-chairmen.It was also decided that Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Peng Dehuai would lead the First Red Army Corps to go south to join the Fifteenth Army Corps of Xu Haidong and Cheng Zihua in order to crush the Kuomintang army's third "encirclement and suppression" of the Northern Shaanxi Soviet Area.

Shortly after the victory in the battle of Luozhi Town, Zhang Guotao sent a telegram.Zhang Guotao said in the telegram: "A, this place has published documents in the name of the Party Central Committee, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Central Government, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, and the General Command, and has had relations with you. B, you should use the Party's Northern Bureau, The Shaanxi-Gansu Government and the Northern Route Army are not allowed to falsely use the name of the Central Committee. The names of the C, 1st, and 4th Front Army have been cancelled. D, you should report the status of the Northern Bureau, the Northern Route Army, and the political organization for approval."

Zhang Guotao has issued orders in the name of the "Interim Central Committee of the Communist Party of China", instructing the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to change to the "Party Northern Bureau", "not to use the name of the Central Committee falsely", and to report the "organizational status" to him for approval. Mao Zedong read Zhang Guotao's telegram, shook his head, and said to Zhou Enlai with ridicule: "Did Zhang Guotao think that he, the party's general secretary and chairman of the Military Commission, is self-appointed?"

Zhou Enlai said: "Zhang Guotao really lost his mind this time! He even threw aside common sense. If his 'central government' is not recognized by the Communist International, it will be tantamount to opening a black shop!" Mao Zedong said: "Zhang Guotao is quite self-aware. He didn't directly declare himself the official central government, but humbly retreated to the 'temporary'. He wanted to wait for Moscow's approval before turning it into an official central government!" Zhou Enlai: "He is indeed a little self-aware. Last month he announced that we would be expelled from the party and ordered us to be arrested. Now he suddenly took a big turn and asked us to report the 'organizational status' to him for approval!"

Mao Zedong smiled and said, "He is flattering us a bit! However, his turn is obviously not big enough. We have to find a way to make him turn a bigger turn!" Zhou Enlai nodded and said, "That's right. The more we get to this point, the more we must strengthen our efforts to win over him and the Fourth Front Army." Mao Zedong said: "At first I thought he took tens of thousands of horses away, and he might have gone to extremes with arrogance. Now it seems that he still has some concerns." Zhou Enlai sneered and said, "He won't be crazy for a few days. If he goes south with his obsession, Lao Jiang's guns will wake him up soon." His prediction soon became a reality.

After Zhang Guotao led his troops to the south, he first won the victory in the Battle of Suicong and Danmao at the beginning of October of that year, conquering the two cities of Maogong and Danba, as well as the cities of Suijing, Chonghua, Fubian, Santun and Dawei, which belonged to Maogong. Rilongguan and other important towns defeated the six brigades of Yang Sen and Liu Wenhui of the Sichuan Army and wiped out more than 3,000 enemies.Zhang Guotao was complacent because of this, and was dazzled by the victory. Regardless of the fact that the troops had repeatedly crossed the grassland, were exhausted, and had a lot of downsizing, on the 20th of the same month, in the name of "Chairman of the Military Commission", he released the "Tianlu Mingyaqiong Battle Plan" , We must take advantage of the victory to dispatch to Tianquan, Lushan, and Mingshan, and obtain the vast areas of Tianquan, Lushan, Mingshan, Ya'an, Qionglai, and Dayi as bases, and open the road to the Chengdu Plain.

After the battle began, in order to prevent the Red Army from attacking, protect its occupation of the Chengdu Plain, and besiege the Red Army in the wild and impoverished areas near Sichuan and Kangxi, Liu Xiang urgently dispatched his main force, Wang Zuanxu, Tang Shizun, Fan Shaozeng and Li Jiayu. Department, assembled in Mingshan and the area to the north.When the Red Army occupied Tianquan and Lushan on November 7 and 12, respectively, Jiang's army had already concentrated more than 80 regiments of troops.However, Zhang Guotao still had to fight the dominant Jiang army in the Qionglai and Dayi areas, and ordered the Red Army to advance to Mingshan and Qionglai with all its strength, and captured Baizhang, an important town in the northeast of Mingshan County, on November 14.Baizhang is an important pass, located on the road from Ya'an to Chengdu, leaning against the Qionglai Mountains in the north and the Minjiang River network in the south, surrounded by rolling hills and rice fields, it is the center of the deep deployment of Jiang Jun's blockhouse blockade.

After the Red Army captured Baizhang, they repelled the counterattack of the six brigades of Jiang's army. Jiang Jun's superior force was blocked by the resistance.In the face of the fierce counterattack of the powerful enemy, although the Red Army fought bravely and resisted tenaciously, due to the reduction of troops and lack of supplies, they had to withdraw from the Baizhang area on November 20.In this battle, the Red Army wiped out more than 15,000 enemies, and suffered nearly 10,000 casualties, severely weakening its combat effectiveness. At this time, the area occupied by the southward troops, Baoxing is a small county, at the exit of Dashan south of Maogong, from here to Tianquan and Lushan is a relatively flat area.Fighting here will not only face the well-equipped Jiang army, but also the Jiang army's aircraft can exert greater power.Jiang Jun has built a bunker line in this area, which also blocked the advance of the Red Army.This was something that the Red Army firepower at that time could not destroy.The troops of Jiang Jun Xueyue and Zhou Hunyuan gathered in front of the Red Army and marched northward with a steady and steady approach.In addition, this area is a Tibetan area, and the food supply is insufficient, and the purchase of military rations has aroused the resentment of the Tibetans.The Tibetans not only prevented the troops from coming in, they especially did not want the troops from outside to obtain the food they thought was insufficient.

Once the Red Army has been stationed for a long time, it will compete with the Tibetans for food, which will lead to armed conflicts.It was mid-winter, and the troops were short of supplies, and they didn't even have cotton-padded clothes for the winter. The soldiers tore off the brown hair from trees and stuffed them in single clothes to keep out the cold, and wore uncooked cow and sheepskin as vests; they were so hungry that they could only use wild vegetables Allay your hunger.At this time, Zhang Guotao planned to go west to Qinghai again.But once the road was explored, the road from there to Qinghai was long, uninhabited, and a dead end.He fell into a dilemma, and he didn't have the courage to admit his mistakes in going south, let alone lead his troops to go north immediately.

At this time, Lin Yuying, the representative of the Communist Party of China to the Communist International labor movement, returned to northern Shaanxi from Moscow.Although he had a friend in need with Zhang Guotao, he firmly stood on the side of the central government after listening to the explanations of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Luo Fu and other central leaders.The central government’s attitude towards Zhang Guotao was that for the sake of the unity of the party and the Red Army, past disputes within the party could wait for the resolution of the Communist International or the party’s “Seventh National Congress”. However, in terms of organization, Zhang Guotao must still be actively united to prevent him from abandoning himself to the party.Lin Yuying supported the position of the Party Central Committee and accepted the tasks given by the Central Committee. He was responsible for advising Zhang Guotao to accept the opinions of the Central Committee and leading his troops north to join the Central Committee.

On January 24, 1936, Lin Yuying called Zhang Guotao as a member of the Communist International, pointing out that "the Communist International fully agrees with the political line of the Chinese Party Central Committee, and believes that the Chinese Party is in the ranks of the Communist International. The Communist Party and the Foreign Ministry belong to the first place. The Chinese revolution has become a great factor in the world revolution. The Chinese Red Army has a high status in the world. The Central Red Army’s Long March has won.”He asked Zhang Guotao to "establish the Southwest Bureau, directly under the delegation. In principle, the disputes between the brothers and the central government can be submitted to the international settlement." Lin Yuying was ordered by the Communist International to return to China, and he was also an old comrade in arms. He also adopted this attitude, and Zhang Guotao was greatly shaken.Could it be that he is really unjust and helpless?His stubbornness was beginning to waver. On the same day, Luo Fu called Zhang Guotao again, saying: "Unification within the party can save the colony from danger and benefit the Chinese revolution." Regarding the debate on political and organizational lines, Luo Fu, on behalf of the Central Committee, asked Zhang Guotao to follow the example of the Northeast Bureau of the Communist Party of China. The Southwest Bureau was established, directly under the Communist International delegation.At this time, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China directly contacted the Northwest Bureau, the Northern Bureau, the Shanghai Bureau, and the Southern Bureau. After Zhang Guotao received the telegram from Lin Yuying and Luo Fu, he replied on January 27. Although he expressed his agreement to "emergency seek to unify the party within the party", he also proposed "to force this party to recognize the central government and orthodoxy, but in the party history root of evil that leaves a bad mark in itsHe still insists on the "central government" he has established, and does not recognize the central government.He also said: "At this time, the international delegation may temporarily act as the central government. If seven conferences cannot be convened for a while, the international and delegation will consult with both of us to re-announce the composition and guidance of the Politburo. It is also possible to work with each other. It was changed to Northwest Bureau and Southwest Bureau at the same time." On issues of principle, the central government will not make concessions to Zhang Guotao.On February 3, Lin Yuying called Zhang Guotao and said: "There is a large Soviet area in southern Shaanxi. The first step for the Fourth Front Army is to move to Sichuan-Shanxi, Shaanxi-Gansu and southern Shaanxi." On the 14th, Lin Yuying and Luo Fu called Zhang Guotao and said: "When Yuying left, Stalin agreed that the main Red Army could develop to the northwest and north, and he did not object to approaching the Soviet Union." He also proposed three plans for the strategic action policy of the Fourth Red Army: one is to go north In Shaanxi and Gansu, the second is to develop locally, and the third is to go south to fight. It is pointed out that the first plan is the best policy, and how to implement it depends on the situation of the enemy and the terrain conditions.Zhu De, Liu Bocheng, Xu Xiangqian, Chen Changhao and others all agreed with the first plan. Zhang Guotao hit a wall when he went south, and saw that Stalin agreed that the main Red Army could approach the Soviet Union, so he changed his mind.In mid-February, he issued the "Outline of the Resolution on the Future of the Chinese Soviet Movement and the Current Urgent Tasks" with his own "Central Committee", acknowledging that it would be disadvantageous for the Red Army to stay in the Chuankang area for a long time, and pointed out that "our current revolutionary strategic policy is in the Seize the Northwest Territory and establish an anti-Japanese base in the vast Northwest.”However, at the March 15 meeting of cadres above the regiment and the April 1 meeting of party activists, he continued to attack the central government, boasting that it was "correct" for him to go south.He is not going to northern Shaanxi to join the central government, but to create another situation in the northwest. On May 20, Lin Yuying, Mao Zedong, Luo Fu, Zhou Enlai and other central leaders called Zhang Guotao, saying that "the past differences need not be discussed", and now "the only task is to unite the whole party and the whole army to oppose the Japanese emperor and Chiang Kai-shek".Regarding the relationship between the Central Committee and the Fourth Front Army, the Central Committee stated that it could "temporarily adopt a negotiation method. In short, in order to achieve the victory of the revolution, all inappropriate views and relationships in the past should be changed, any prejudices should be abandoned, and the goal of harmony and unity should be striven for."On the 25th, he called Zhang Guotao again, advising that "it is advisable to take advantage of this very favorable time and favorable weather to make a quick decision on the grand plan", "after the grand plan is decided, on the one hand, the army will dispatch to Tianshui and Lanzhou at the right time to further support." On the 30th, Zhang Guotao called Lin Yuying, expressing his intention to "temporarily adopt a consultative relationship with the army on the one hand and a horizontal relationship with the northern bureau. In principle, the dispute should be resolved by the International or the Seventh Congress." On June 2, while announcing the dissolution of the newly established "Central Committee", he demanded that the Central Committee be disbanded at the same time. The CCP delegation to the Communist International will temporarily exercise the powers of the Central Committee.