Chapter 48 1. Xiang Ying, the only surviving member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee

Soon after the secretariat meeting in May 1934, Xiang Ying knew that the main Red Army would implement a "big transfer".But when to leave, who will stay and who will stay, he doesn't know.In late July of that year, Xiang Ying, as a representative of the Central Committee, went to the front lines of Fujian and Jiangxi for inspection.Previously, Zhang Wentian had toured Fujian and Jiangxi, and Xiang Ying's trip was to take over Zhang Wentian's tour to Fujian and Jiangxi to help with work.Mao Zemin, Chairman of the Central Bank of the Chinese Soviet and Chairman of the Central Bank of the Chinese Soviet, was also accompanied by Xiang Ying on his tour of Fujian and Jiangxi.Mao Zemin's main task was to supervise grain collection and military expansion.

One night in mid-September, Xiang Ying suddenly received a telegram from the Central Committee asking him to return quickly.He rode his horse and galloped, traveling day and night, to the location of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Meikeng, Ruijin. Bo Gu talked to Xiang Ying alone. "Comrade Xiang Ying, how is the situation ahead?" Contrary to Bo Gu's expectation, Xiang Ying's answer and expression turned out to be so optimistic. "The frontline soldiers are very brave and tenacious, and they are determined to defend the Soviet area to the death."

"Yes, very good." Bogu felt a little relieved. Pausing for a while, Bogu changed the topic and expressed the central idea of ​​the conversation: "In order to attack the enemy more effectively and defend the Soviet area, the main Red Army will leave the central Soviet area in the near future to seek outside operations. The central government decided to leave some troops behind. Contain the enemy, defend the Soviet area, and at the same time decide that you will stay and lead the struggle in the Soviet area." Xiang Ying was not mentally prepared.Because of the issue of who will go and who will stay among the top leaders of the central government, Bogu did not mention the discussion at the Politburo meeting, nor did he ask for his own opinion. For the past two months, he has been patrolling the front line.Xiang Ying was taken aback, it was indeed sudden.From Bogu's solemn tone, he felt that it was impossible to change.

Bo Gu looked at Xiang Ying, waiting to express his opinion. The two sides stared at each other, and there was a moment of silence. "I have no objection, I obey the party's decision." Xiang Ying said firmly.Xiang Ying's answer made Bo Gu sincerely pleased.He held Xiang Ying's hand and said trustingly: "Comrade Xiang Ying, the burden on your shoulders is heavy!" According to Bo Gu and Li De, among the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, Xiang Ying is the best candidate to stay and preside over the work. In April 1937, following Edgar Snow, Snow's wife, Nim Wells, also went to northern Shaanxi for interviews. She later wrote a book "Continued Journey to the West".She was unable to meet Xiang Ying, but Xiang Ying's comrades in northern Shaanxi introduced the legendary leader to her.

Nim Wells describes Xiang Ying in this way: Xiang Ying, a former Wuhan worker leader, is said to be one of the most interesting figures in the Communist Party.As a person with both military and political talents, he stood shoulder to shoulder with Mao Zedong.Someone told me, "He ranks second only to Mao Zedong in the Communist Party." Xiang Ying, who is now in her early forties, is one of the earliest proletarian communist parties.His father died when he was a child, leaving the widow in extreme poverty.She worked as a tailor to support her children, who went into the mountains to gather hay and firewood to sell as fuel.

Xiang Ying was a pawn apprentice at the age of fifteen. After a few years, his status rose a bit and he learned to read a little.He was keenly aware of the contradiction of being a poor man but helping rich usurers to exploit other poor people; Joined the Communist Party when the Ping-Han Railway went on strike on February 7.He immediately resigned as a pawnbroker and left the village where he was born in Huangzhi County, Hubei, in order to devote all his time to party work. Although he was said to be unattractive in appearance, he had a powerful personality and knew how to win the confidence and assistance of all the lower classes of society.From 1924 to 1925 he was a party organizer in various trade unions, and in 1926 he was secretary of the militant Hubei Federation of Trade Unions, which dominated the labor movement in the Wuhan district.Although Xiang Zhongfa was the chairman of the trade union at that time, it is said that all the plans and policies of the trade union were drafted by Xiang Ying, who was known as "Xiang Zhongfa's soul".At the end of 1926, when the labor movement in Shanghai was extremely high, Xiang Ying became the secretary of the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions and one of the executive members of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions.Since then, he has been one of the most important figures in the Chinese trade association movement, serving as Li Lisan's trusted deputy who dominated the movement until 1931.

When Xiang Ying entered the Soviet area, he was a member of the Politburo and held a responsible position in the Soviet government. After the main force of the Red Army left the South for the "Long March" in 1934, Xiang Ying stayed behind and commanded all the remaining troops. Soviet activity... Among the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, apart from Mao Zedong and Zhu De, only a few Xiangying spent a long time in the Central Soviet Area.Right now, hundreds of thousands of troops are overwhelming like dark clouds, and people's hearts are moving. Under such circumstances, who would want to stay?

Who doesn't want to go?To stay means death! However, Xiang Ying was ordered to stay in distress. The central government decided to set up a central sub-bureau consisting of Xiang Ying, Qu Qiubai, Chen Yi, Chen Tanqiu, and He Chang, with Xiang Ying serving as secretary. At the same time, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission also designated the "triangular area" between the four counties of Ruijin, Huichang, Yudu, and Ningdu as the most basic area of ​​the Central Branch and the Central Military Region and the last position that must be defended. According to the order of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, Lin Biao, Peng Dehuai, Dong Zhentang, Zhou Kun, and Luo Binghui's First, Third, Fifth, Eighth, and Ninth Army Corps withdrew from the front-line positions and assembled in Ruijin, Huichang, and Yudu.Zhou Jianping, Yang Ying's 24th Division, and the Independent 3rd, 7th, and 11th Regiments took over the defense of the main force.

On October 10, 1934, Chairman Zhu De, Vice Chairman Zhou Enlai, and Xiang Ying of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission issued the "Great Transfer" order. The order pointed out: "The General Command of the General Committee and its appropriate subordinates organize the first field column and the main Red Army to form a field army to operate at the same time, that is, Comrade Ye Jianying is the commander of the column." The first column has four echelons led by Peng Xuefeng, Luo Bin, Wu Ting, Chen Geng and Song Renqiong.Bo Gu, Zhang Wentian, Zhou Enlai, Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Wang Jiaxiang, Li De, etc. were all organized in this column, and Deng Yingchao, Kang Keqing, the radio station, and the cadre group were also organized in this column.

At the same time, the second column of the Military Commission was established, which was composed of the Party Central Committee, government agencies, logistics forces, health departments, the Federation of Trade Unions, the Youth League, and stretcher teams.Li Weihan served as the commander and political commissar of the column, Deng Fa as the deputy commander and deputy political commissar, and Zhang Zongxun as the chief of staff. The first column is code-named "Red Star Column", and the second column is code-named "Red Badge Column." At 5:00 pm on October 10, the first and fourth echelons of the "Red Star" column took the lead in marching from Meikeng, Jiubao and other places to Yudu.

The unprecedented Long March has begun! Among the "group of three", Li De was the last to leave.He also stayed at Xiang Yingzhi's appointment and had a long and deep talk. There were only three people talking: Xiang Ying, Li De, and translator Wu Xiuquan. Li De wrote in his memoirs: When the central column set off from the restricted area near Ruijin, Xiang Ying asked me to have a personal conversation.So my escort fell behind and caught up with the column the next day.The central column, like all Long March troops, marched only at night, under the veil of darkness.The conversation with Xiang Ying lasted almost all night. Wu Xiuquan acted as our interpreter. The commander of the remaining troops, Chen Yi, did not participate. No one else was present except the three of us. Xiang Ying seemed very optimistic. Although Chiang Kai-shek had already started a new "encirclement and suppression" campaign at this time, and because our independent troops could only deal with the enemy everywhere, the Cantonese army also stepped up to advance in Nanchang at this time. Under the city of Huichang, he still believes that the political and military situation is not unfavorable.There are still 25,000 to 30,000 square kilometers of contiguous Soviet areas not occupied by the enemy, and there are also some "islands" of Soviet local government that have been more or less cut off by the enemy.Counting these areas, there are still two to three million people left.Of course, it should also be estimated that this number will decrease fairly quickly, because it can be said with certainty that the attacking enemy will not only occupy and "cleanse" the few county towns and all relatively large villages and towns that are still in our hands, but will also Sweep away the villages along the way and the rich plains at the heart of the region.However, Xiang Ying was not discouraged.The evacuation of all dangerous areas has been going on for a week or two.Civil administration agencies, cadres, and stockpiles have all been moved into the difficult-to-pass mountainous areas.Those who voluntarily followed them in their retreat were the most enlightened among the common people, especially those who participated in local organizations.Of course, Xiang Ying is also quite troubled by the economic difficulties that will come sooner or later. That night, in his conversation, Xiang Ying was optimistic about the future of the struggle in the old Soviet area, but worried about the fate of the Communist Party and the Red Army.Considering that we were talking through an interpreter, he was very careful in choosing words in the conversation. He especially felt very sorry that Qu Qiubai had to stay in bed because of his serious illness. Undoubtedly, Xiang Ying's "optimism" is unrealistic.Later, when reflecting on this period of history, Xiang Ying said: At that time, we accepted the training given by the Party Central Committee and carried out the task of defending the Soviet area, but we did not have a clear and profound understanding of the current environmental conditions and the future of the entire struggle. It is estimated that the dispatch of the field army to establish a new Soviet area in western Hunan will inevitably bring about a major change in the surrounding environment of the central Soviet area, and most of the attacking enemies will be attracted to Hunan, which will make it easier for us to defeat the enemy's attack.We estimate that the enemy can only occupy large fairs and cities.At the very least, we can maintain many unconnected and rural Soviet areas, and prepare to cooperate with the field army to launch a counter-offensive under appropriate conditions to restore the cities occupied by the enemy and the lost Soviet areas.Because of such estimates and understandings, it is natural that we cannot correctly determine our overall policy. Because of a wrong estimate of the struggle situation, we cannot quickly change our military mass struggle to meet the new struggle, and we must continue to use the old large-scale combat method to oppose the enemy's new attack.Although the slogan of guerrilla warfare is loud, guerrilla warfare has not been widely launched in various places, so that under the enemy's new attacks, we have suffered constant blows and losses. In military affairs, it is precisely because of a wrong estimate of the struggle situation that it is inevitable that guerrilla warfare cannot be carried out correctly and in practice, and the leadership and launch of guerrilla warfare among the masses is even worse.Although we have abandoned positional defense warfare and transformed it into mobile warfare, and Li De's "short assault" tactics into guerrilla tactics, on the whole we still adopt the policy of fighting with large corps, which is actually a passive defense. On November 7, 1937, Xiang Ying arrived in Yan'an. On December 7, he made a report on "Guerrilla Warfare Persisted in the Past Three Years" to the Political Bureau meeting of the Central Committee.The report reported in detail the process of persisting in the guerrilla war for three years, and summed up the experience and lessons in the spirit of a Marxist who is strict with himself. On December 13, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee made the "Resolution on Guerrilla Work in the Southern Area", pointing out: Comrade Xiang Ying and the comrades in the southern guerrilla area have persisted in heroic struggle for a long time under extremely difficult conditions after the main Red Army left the South. Guerrilla warfare has basically implemented the Party's line correctly and fulfilled the tasks assigned to them by the Party, so that the guerrilla areas can be preserved and become the main fulcrum of the Chinese people's anti-Japanese war today, making the guerrilla units the best anti-Japanese army today. one part.This is a very precious victory for the Chinese people. The resolution also emphasized that: Comrade Xiang Ying and the main leading comrades in the guerrilla zones in the south, as well as comrades who have fought hard for a long time in the guerrilla zones, their spirit of long-term and arduous struggle and their determination to liberate the Chinese people are models for the entire party.The Politburo called on comrades in the entire party to follow the example of these comrades.