Chapter 46 Grasp the future (8)

Now, when he thought gloomily of his rendezvous with Zhang Guotao, anxiety was once again a precursor to illness*. ----------------------------------- *In Yan'an in 1938, Mao admitted to Liang Shuming that he was plagued by neurasthenia from time to time. One day, a stone thrown ferociously by the tribesmen rolled to the feet of a Red Army soldier.A note was tied to the stone, on which was scrawled: "We are the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army. There is a suspension bridge made of ropes 40 miles upstream of the Isne River. You can cross there." rejoice. Mao is not.Because he was facing the challenge of a person who thought he should be the leader of the Communist Party, even though he did not attend the Zunyi meeting.

Mao hadn't seen Zhang in eight years, but he wasn't avoiding him.Neither was like the 28 Bolsheviks, although Zhang had been to Moscow but did not know much about the Soviet Union.Both of them were more experienced than the 28 Bolsheviks, and their mutual distrust also predates the 28 Bolsheviks. When they first met in 1918, their styles and backgrounds were clearly far apart.The landlord's son Zhang is a registered student at Peking University, while Mao is an unemployed auditor.Long after Mao was involved in the rural movement, Zhang became involved in the urban labor movement.

The Long March brought new divisions, and Zhang believed that Mao was sliding toward "guerrillaism."He criticized the idea of ​​the Communist Party leading the nation to resist Japan as wishful thinking, and believed that the Zunyi meeting was "arbitrary and arbitrary, so the decision of the Zunyi meeting should be revised. Mao stood on his own ground, thinking that Zhang doubted the idea of ​​​​establishing a Soviet base area.He judged that Zhang had twice disappointed Mao Zhu's troops by "fleeing" from the base.In his eyes, Zhang's Fourth Front Army did not have the slightest communist spirit, but it had a sense of superiority over others.

On the side of a road in a place far in the west of Sichuan, Red Army soldiers set up a podium, set up flags and slogans.Mao stood in the heavy rain and waited for Zhang to arrive.After a while, a horse team with thirty entourages came galloping. The essential roots of the tension between Mao and Zhang are vividly represented in these beautiful horses.Zhang's army (50,000 men) was larger than Mao Zhu's army (45,000 men). Zhang Zhang's troops were neatly dressed and well-equipped. Compared with the life of the entire Long March, their hidden life seemed to be on vacation. ------------------------------

* There is an error in the original text.At that time, the First Front Army had less than 20,000 troops; the Fourth Front Army had 70,000 to 80,000 combat troops, and tens of thousands of non-combatants. —— Annotation As Zhang approached, Mao suddenly laughed and said to someone nearby: "Don't envy those horses." He may recall that his men often ate horse meat as a supplement from time to time. Zhang gave a different description of the meeting: "As soon as I saw them, I immediately dismounted and ran over to hug and shake hands with them." A pro-Mao military officer recalled: "Zhang Guotao came on horseback accompanied by 30 of his entourage, just like an actor performing on stage. Zhu De and Mao ran forward to meet him, but he waited where he was, even Didn't take half a step forward."

Such is the case.It is safe to say that Mao and Zhang were suspicious of each other and each other's troops. In the evening, Mao, Zhang and other main characters had a meal together.Zhang noticed with the attention of a man out of favor that no serious conversation was taking place at the dinner table, he recalls. "They weren't even interested in listening to my briefing on the situation of the Fourth Front Army." The resourceful Mao irritates the clumsy Zhang with little conversation.A chili lover himself, he boasted that liking chili was associated with being a revolutionary.Zhang may not have liked chili, and his memoirs contain an uninteresting moment of disagreement: “Mao was rebutted by Bogu . . . he didn’t like chili.”

If this is the lowest point of the Long March, there are reasons for it.The two forces are trying to merge together, each with its own characteristics, history and purpose.After a few months, problems finally emerged: clashes of personalities, habitual indulgences, poor soldiers' dreams of the future. Mao and Zhang each commanded their armies in their own way, and neither wanted to lose control of his own army. For the future, Mao hopes to continue to go north to fight against Japan; Zhang prefers to stay in the west to accumulate strength, because he is more familiar with this place.

In August, the Politburo held an important meeting in Maoergai.The residents in this area are mainly Tibetans, and Mao lives in a Tibetan family's home.This is a two-story wooden house, with livestock on the first floor and people living on the second floor.Politburo meetings are held in a lamasery. Mao clearly had the support of the majority, but Zhang commanded the best units in the Red Army, so a compromise was struck, and the two armies burst north separately. However, problems have arisen in the implementation of this resolution.The deterioration of the relationship between Mao and Zhang made Zhang find an excuse - the terrain was bad - and instead of heading north, he turned around and headed west.Mao led his troops suddenly north from western Sichuan, as if fearing that Zhang's troops would surprise his men from behind.In any case, like many critical moments in his life, what happened in Maoergai put Mao at the most critical juncture in his career.After all, he couldn't compete with Zhang Guotao.

What is puzzling is that Zhu De went west with Zhang and did not go north with Mao at this time, which also shows the seriousness of the split.Mao must have been shaken at this turning point. He later said that Zhu De did so under the threat of gunpoint.Zhang insisted that it was his own wish that Zhu De be with him, because he was dissatisfied with Mao's conceit of military genius. The truth is somewhere in between.