Chapter 41 Grasp the future (3)

Every upcoming action was explained to the troops with slogans that could move people's hearts. Many villages held mass meetings to publicize the sacred mission of the Red Army and recruit new soldiers. Soldiers with literary and artistic talents even sang and danced to the masses.All this was Mao's idea. On one occasion, a company was placed on a prominent hill, exposing itself deliberately scattered, as if there were many people there.The Kuomintang army really regarded these busy soldiers as the main force of the Red Army. The victory news released by the Kuomintang radio station tapped by the Red Army said: "The main force of the Red Army has fallen into a tight siege." attack.

This typical Maoist tactic of smacking east and west is very well done.A general recalled: "The whole battle was like a monkey juggling a cow in a narrow alley."⑤ This tactic enabled the Red Army to cross the 220-meter-wide Wujiang River, which has fast-flowing waters, rough waves, and steep, rocky banks.Chiang Kai-shek seemed to have sensed that his real opponent was advancing upstream, so he flew to Guiyang and personally deployed 200,000 special troops to intercept and prevent them from passing through Guizhou to the prosperous Sichuan.The situation of Mao Jiang contending for supremacy began to take shape.

The Red Army occupied the rich ancient city of Zunyi.Zhu Mao began to enjoy the reputation of a magician with clever tricks (the Red Army had to use this method, because the ratio of the strength of the patchwork Nationalist army to the Red Army was 100:1). The Red Army first occupied a village ten miles east of Zunyi and captured a group of prisoners who were crucial to the execution of the plot.The Red Army interrogators took turns coercing and intimidating these prisoners, gave them silver dollars, and patiently and sincerely explained to them the superiority of the "Soviet road" (Chinese socialism with the characteristics of the time).

Using this method, the Communists quickly obtained all the information on the Zunyi garrison, as well as their uniforms.The scene that follows them belongs not so much to the history of Chinese war history as to the history of Chinese theater. That night, the Red Army disguised themselves as Kuomintang troops returning from battle. Wearing Kuomintang military uniforms, they approached Zunyi noisily, speaking the local dialect, and even blew their horns brazenly to announce their arrival. In the dark night, they spoke the local dialect with the defenders on the castle, and they were regarded as their own family.They also explained that the company commander had been killed in a fight with the Red Army.Before the defenders had time to suspect, they had already entered the city, holding bayonets and shouting: "We are the Red Army of Chinese Workers and Peasants!"

Mao slept that night in an elegant upstairs bedroom of a small local warlord, and woke up very late the next morning. For the past twelve days, Mao slept on a soft bed in the beautiful city full of gardens and palaces, and got a good rest.Much of Guizhou had been "liberated" (that's a new term) from the warlords by the Red Army, which was now ready to enter Sichuan. In Zunyi, Mao also became the leader of the Communist Party of China.At the warlord's compound, where he was well rested, Mao lost no time in calling a meeting.At the meeting, he reversed the situation brought about by the power of 28 Bolsheviks and gave new meaning to the Long March.

Mao did not control the powerful clique that belonged to him, nor did he belong to the two factions that already existed; the 28 Bolshevik and Whampoa Military Academy factions (Zhou Enlai being the most famous of them). Mao was a trustworthy leader because he had a brilliant record with Zhu De in the anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign in Jiangxi.However, his actions were successful because the 28 Bolsheviks clearly failed.Some key figures in the Communist Party saw this, and they would withdraw their doubts about Mao at any time. Zhou Enlai played a key role in the Zunyi Conference.After Mao and Zhu De spoke, and after Bo Gu yelled and defended himself, Zhou made an extremely important speech.He turned to Mao and made this assessment of Mao: "He is always right and we should listen to him." He also relinquished his position on the Military Council and urged Mao to succeed him.