Chapter 2 Chapter One

On June 12, 1935, in Maogong at the foot of Jiajin Mountain (now Dawei Town, Xiaojin County, Sichuan Province), a young Red Army commander, Han Dongshan, commander of the 25th Division of the 9th Army of the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army, led his soldiers in the Waited here for five days. Ten days ago, Han Dongshan was urgently summoned to the General Command of the Front Army in Lifan (now Li County).As soon as he entered the door, the emaciated commander-in-chief Xu Xiangqian said to him energetically: "Mr. Han, we are about to join the Central Red Army!" "Really?" Han Dongshan was overjoyed and couldn't believe it.

"Really." Xu Xiangqian began to issue instructions to him solemnly: "The Central Red Army has occupied Luding Bridge, and now it is rushing towards Baoxing via Tianquan and Lushan, and plans to join us in Maogong. Prepare for battle immediately, for The Central Red Army entered Maogong to open the passage. After joining forces, we reported our situation to the head of the Central Committee and covered the Central Red Army to safely pass through Jiajin Mountain. The specific actions in the future will be commanded by Comrade Li Xiannian, the political commissar of the 30th Army." Finally, Xu Xiangqian specifically instructed: " The Central Red Army has been marching for almost a year, and the troops are suffering. We must humbly learn from comrades in the first army and pay attention to unity."

Han Dongshan returned to the army excitedly. Under the command of Li Xiannian, the 25th Division, as the vanguard, quickly advanced from Wenchuan to Maogong.All the way, they beat off a few remnants of the Sichuan warlord Deng Xihou, and occupied Dawei Town on June 7.Li Xiannian set up a headquarters in Maogong County, and they all eagerly looked forward to the arrival of the Central Red Army. In the early morning of June 12, thick fog filled the foot of Jiajin Mountain.Yang Chengwu, political commissar of the 2nd Division and 4th Regiment of the First Army of the Red Army, and Wang Kaixiang, the head of the regiment, led this vanguard force, which had just crossed the Daxue Mountain.The weary procession was advancing along the path, looking for a resting place.Suddenly gunshots sounded ahead, and the soldiers immediately clenched their weapons vigilantly, ready to charge forward.

Yang Chengwu recalled the situation at that time and said: "The head of the regiment and I ran to the vanguard squad to observe the situation ahead. From the binoculars, we saw a rather large village not far down the mountain. In the woods around the village, there were many people coming and going. Walking around, they carry guns on their backs and wear military caps on their heads. They are obviously an army. Are they from our own? We are an avant-garde regiment, and there are no troops of our own in front. This situation really puzzles us. The regiment leader and I studied After that, immediately sent three scouts to find out the situation, and tried to ask the trumpeter to communicate with them with the sound of the horn. They answered. But from the sound of the horn, it was impossible to judge whether it was the enemy or us. We had to use the fighting posture Pushing forward, suddenly, the mountain wind brought a very faint voice, so we accelerated forward. Gradually, the voice became louder and louder, as if we heard 'We are the Red Army!'”

Zong Guozhi, a former soldier of the 25th Division, recalled that at that time, "the fog was very thick, and we couldn't see anything outside. We were joking and walking, and suddenly we heard gunshots in front of us, and everyone's spirits became tense. The fog gradually thinned. Now, we can vaguely see things outside. At this time, we unfolded the military flag used for the charge and planted it on the ground. But we saw that the other party also planted the same military flag as ours, with the same sickle and arrow drawn on the flag. At this time, we began to realize that there was a misunderstanding. After inquiries from both parties, it was indeed a misunderstanding. It turned out that the Central Red Army led by Chairman Mao came to join us."

The scouts sent by Yang Chengwu rushed back, shouting as they ran: "It's comrades of the Red Fourth Front Army!" Suddenly, there was a burst of cheers in the valley, and the two Red Army swarmed down, gathered together and shook hands tightly, tears streaming from their eyes , indulging in joy for a long time. Was this historic meeting on the Long March a coincidence, or was it a planned and organized action by both sides?Scholars are arguing about this.The American writer Salisbury wrote in "The Long March - An Unheard Story": "Obviously, neither side knew where the other was. Around the beginning of June, both sides roughly estimated where the other was. position." He believed that Mao Zedong's decision to cross Jiajin Mountain was an adventure, "he was not sure whether he could reunite with Zhang Guozhen after crossing this mountain."

In fact, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Zhang Guotao have been waiting for a long time for this meeting. When the Central Red Army entered Guizhou on the Long March in December 1934, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission called on the 19th the leaders of the Red Fourth Front Army who were fighting fiercely with the Sichuan warlords in the Sichuan and Shaanxi revolutionary bases in Tong (Jiang), Nan (Jiang), and Ba (Central) areas. They were asked to "re-prepare to attack so that when the field army continued to advance northwest, the Fourth Front Army could pin down the entire army in Sichuan." After the end of the Zunyi meeting of the Party Central Committee on January 22, 1935, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission called the headquarters of the Fourth Red Front Army to report the situation of the Zunyi meeting and give instructions on the next course of action.

Zhang Guotao recalled: "In mid-January 1935, we received a call from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in the Ningqiang area, telling us the outline of the resolution of the Zunyi Conference. The content was to confirm that the political line of the Soviet Movement of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was correct, but the military line was contrary. Serious mistakes were made, mainly because the Central Red Army misused the slogan of defending the Soviet Area in the Jiangxi Soviet Area, adopted a conservative military defense strategy, and abandoned the fine tradition of guerrilla warfare, thus incurring military defeat. In addition, this telegram also Tell us that the Political Bureau of the Central Committee elected Mao Zedong as a member."

The Central Revolutionary Military Commission’s telegram to the Fourth Red Army stated: “In order to choose good conditions and strive for greater development prospects, it has been decided that our field army (referring to the Central Red Army) will transfer to western Sichuan and plan to cross the river from the upper reaches of Luzhou. If there is no obstacle, about 2 In the middle of the month, we will be able to cross the river to the north.... In order to enable the Fourth Front Army and the Field Army to closely coordinate operations before the Chiang Kai-shek enemy completely enters Sichuan to carry out the "encirclement and suppression" campaign, and to defeat the Sichuan enemy first, we suggest: You should use mass armed forces and independent divisions The regiment is active on the eastern front to pin down the Liu (Xiang) enemy, while concentrating the full force of the Red Army to attack on the western front. Therefore, you should quickly assemble your troops to complete the offensive preparations, and in the near future, carry out the offensive to the west of the Jialing River."

After receiving the telegram from the Central Committee, the Red Fourth Front Army headquarters immediately held a meeting to study it.The three decision-makers—Zhang Guotao, Chairman of the Northwest Revolutionary Military Commission, Xu Xiangqian, Commander-in-Chief of the Fourth Red Army, and Chen Changhao, Political Commissar—all believed that the Central Committee would not have made such a decision if it hadn’t been for the difficult situation of the Central Red Army.Therefore, advancing westward to support the Central Red Army's operations is a top priority.Everyone unanimously decided to abandon the plan to fight Hu Zongnan and Yang Hucheng in southern Shaanxi, cross the Jialing River west, go to northwest Sichuan, and join the Central Red Army.In order to join forces, the Red Fourth Army abandoned the newly established Sichuan-Shanxi Soviet Area, concentrated 80,000 troops, broke through the blockades of Chiang Kai-shek and the Sichuan warlords, and arrived in Song (Pan) and Li (Northwest of Sichuan) in mid-May 1935. County), Mao (county) area, rest there, waiting for the arrival of the Central Red Army.

At this time, the Red Army on the one hand was marching northward from the Huili and Mianning lines.The news came that the headquarters of the Fourth Red Army held a meeting in Mao County to study how to welcome the arrival of the Central Red Army.First of all, it was determined that Li Xiannian, the political commissar of the 30th Army, would lead the troops to the Maogong area to wipe out the enemies and meet the Central Red Army.The second is to require the troops to make good ideological and material preparations for the two main Red Army forces to join forces.This remote area with lofty mountains and sparsely populated land suddenly had an unprecedented bustling scene. Marshal Xu Xiangqian recalled: At that time, the Fourth Red Army was vigorously raising various items for the Central Red Army. "The climate in the Northwest Plateau is changeable, the day is warm and the night is cold. We need to raise more wool and sheepskin to make sweaters, wool socks, and leather vests. According to our army's experience in the western expedition, cooking utensils are easy to lose, cooks are not enough, and the troops are often unable to cook. , will directly affect marching and combat. It is estimated that the army on the one hand in transition will encounter the same difficulties, so I propose to draw a group of cooks from each army, bring food, salt, and cooking utensils, and move with the 88th Division to join forces Immediately after that, it was added to the First Army, and the food problem was solved first.... In some important locations, the general manager's department set up grain stations to store grain, and some grain stations had accumulated more than two million catties. Some people went to the mountains to choose stones and boil salt (that kind of white stone can boil salt). Commanders and fighters generally know how to make sandals, and learned to cut leather clothes, tear wool, twist wool, and make sweaters, wool vests, and wool socks. From the front to the rear, from the headquarters to the company, from the local government to the people, everyone is busy to welcome the Central Red Army, and the atmosphere is warm and tense, which is very touching." On the other side of the Daxue Mountain, Mao Zedong is leading the Central Red Army to march northward with difficulty in the rugged and desolate deep mountain canyon. At this time, Mao Zedong's mood was not as bold and unrestrained as he declared after the Long March that "the Long March is a manifesto, the Long March is a propaganda team, and the Long March is a seeding machine."Since the Zunyi Conference at the beginning of the year restored his leadership in the party, the burden of saving the Central Red Army has been on his shoulders.He knew very well that in the eight months since he left the Jiangxi Soviet base area, the fate of the Central Red Army was always in danger.After the Battle of Xiangjiang last year, the Central Red Army dropped sharply from 100,000 at the start to less than 30,000.Marching for a long time, without a base, without rest, exhausted by the Kuomintang army's siege and bombing every day, the mood of the troops was quite low.The loss of personnel caused by falling behind and fleeing far exceeds the casualties in battle. How to clean up the mess left by Bo Gu and Li De, restore the morale and combat effectiveness of the Red Army, and stand out from the siege of the Kuomintang army and local warlords is Mao Zedong's top priority. The blind command of the "Left" adventurist leaders made the internal situation of the Central Red Army very chaotic.It can be seen from the series of orders to rectify the troops issued by Director Wang Jiaqiang (Xiang) and Deputy Director Li Fuchun of the General Political Department after the Zunyi Meeting. On February 18, 1935, "Instructions on Political Work from South Sichuan Returning to the East to the East" stated: "Since the departure from Zunyi, due to fatigue, insufficient supplies, and especially the lack of in-depth political work, except for a few units, the The phenomenon of laxity and fatigue is increasing, and military discipline is quite lax. The class line and the mass line cannot be strictly observed. The slack sense of responsibility among cadres, the growth of remnants of warlords, and the reduction of class vigilance are more likely to facilitate the growth of individual elements' dissatisfaction and counter-revolution. Molecular activities, downsizing, and more damage and loss of weapons than before January. These phenomena are incompatible with the consolidation of the troops, the maintenance of discipline, and especially the promotion of fighting spirit." The "Instructions on Containment Work" on February 19 pointed out: "Recently, there are some outdated elements in various troops. They often fall behind on a daily basis or even on purpose. They do not want to be contained or return to the team. Falling behind again. These people are generally depressed, unwilling to go to the front to fight, and unwilling to serve in the army." The General Political Department solemnly ordered: While doing a good job in political and ideological work and shelter and resettlement work, "specially for falling behind and violating the masses Those who are stubborn and unwilling to return to the army must choose specimens and carry out extensive struggles in the army, and give due punishment, even serious ones up to execution." After Chiang Kai-shek learned that the Red Army had occupied Zunyi, he immediately adjusted his deployment and opened up the big net surrounded on all sides.Order He Jian's First Route Army to encircle and suppress the Red Second and Sixth Army Corps led by He Long and Xiao Ke in western Hunan, and prevent the Second and Sixth Army Corps from joining forces with the Central Red Army on the Hunan-Guizhou border; The troops of twelve divisions surrounded and intercepted the Central Red Army; Long Yun of the Dian Army, Wang Jialie of the Qian Army and other local warlord forces cooperated in an attempt to wipe out the Central Red Army in the areas south of the Yangtze River, east of Hengjiang, and west of Xuyong.Facing the siege of a powerful enemy army, Mao Zedong had only two choices: Either fight head-on with the enemy and fight to the death; Mao Zedong was a master of guerrilla warfare. When the enemy was strong and we were weak, he would never go head-to-head with the Kuomintang army. He would rather choose the method of mobile warfare, fight if he wins, and leave if he can't win.At the Zunyi Conference, he put forward the policy of "resolute and rapid transformation from the tactics of positional warfare (short assaults) to the tactics of mobile warfare".Although the Central Red Army is currently exhausted and depressed, they still have to walk in order to survive. So, after leaving Zunyi, Mao Zedong began his first major move in command of the Red Army - crossing Chishui four times.For two months, the Red Army walked almost every day.German Li De recalled: "In order to avoid fighting as much as possible, the Red Army marched on a tortuous route. The road is long and endless. The team sometimes runs parallel, sometimes advances and retreats, sometimes detours and feints, and sometimes even circles. Forced marches of forty to fifty miles a day are commonplace. Once, the central column, which usually took fewer detours than the combat troops, walked seventy kilometers at once. Most of the marches were at night, because during the day when the weather was good, the Kuomintang Airplanes flew, bombed and strafed almost non-stop all day.  … Fatigue increased dramatically in the ranks, and I would like to relate my own experience. If we were marching during the day, it was always in small units, kept close to each other A certain distance, camouflaged with twigs and weeds. If the enemy plane flies overhead, we lie down on the side of the road, instead of looking for cover as before. If we sleep in a village or yard during the day, and bombs fall nearby, I wouldn't wake up at all, even if the shells went off next to me, I'd just roll over and go back to sleep." Li De went on to write: "From this, one can imagine what the situation of the army is. There are more sick and exhausted people than dead and wounded, and the losses are increasing day by day. Although, since the beginning of the year, our army has recruited thousands of volunteers in Guizhou, But many divisions were noticeably downsized. I would like to emphasize here that it is admirable that, despite all this, the discipline and morale of the troops remained undamaged." Today's historians have spent a lot of energy to restore the marching route of "crossing Chishui four times" on the map.That messy line records the process of Mao Zedong dealing with the Central Army of the Kuomintang and the warlords of Sichuan and Guizhou.A Chishui River is the boundary between Sichuan and Guizhou provinces, and the Red Army shuttled back and forth between the siege of the Sichuan Army and the Guizhou Army.You wait for me in formation, but I won't come; you want to fight with me, and I will leave with a feint.Those "two-handed soldiers" with rifles and bongs on their backs were not stupid either. As long as they drove the Red Army out of their territory, they would stop pursuing them.The abacus of preserving their respective strengths made it impossible for the Sichuan Army and the Qian Army to work together to fight a deadly battle with the Red Army.This is how Mao Zedong led the Central Red Army out of the siege of the Kuomintang army, crossed the Jinsha River, and entered the territory of Yunnan.Even Li De, who had a deep prejudice against Mao Zedong, admitted: "After crossing the Jinsha River, a new and more favorable situation has been formed strategically. First of all, we have got rid of Chiang Kai-shek's chasing troops, and the road to the north is unimpeded. gone." But outside Huili, a small county in Sichuan near the Yunnan border, Mao faced challenges both from the enemy and from his own men.The Red Army surrounded Huili City on all sides, and the Military Commission handed over the task of capturing Huili to Peng Dehuai's Red Army.Unexpectedly, Liu Yuantang, the commander of the Sichuan Army defending the city, did not escape and was determined to stand by and wait for help.He burned down the houses outside the city and shrank his troops into the city. On the evening of May 10th, the three armies began to attack the city, but under the blockade of enemy firepower, the attack failed. From the 11th to the 14th, the Red Army engineers dug tunnels under Huili City to prepare to blast the city wall. On the evening of the 14th, there was a loud noise, and a big gap was blown in the city wall of Huili, and the Red Army launched a charge.Liu Yuantang personally led troops to stop the attack, but the Red Army failed.Mao Zedong was soberly aware that the current crude weapons and equipment of the Red Army were not suitable for urban battles.So he ordered to stop the siege and advance northward instead. After several months of intense marching, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee did not even have a leisurely time to sit down and hold a meeting with the commanders of the various legions.The marching instructions issued often go around and around, and some villages pass by two or three times.The slogan of the central government also changed again and again. For a while, it talked about establishing a base in northern Guizhou, then it changed to the border of Sichuan and Guizhou, and later it changed to northwestern Sichuan.Some commanders will inevitably have questions: where are we going?Lin Biao, head of the First Red Army Corps who had always been loyal to Mao Zedong, also complained that Mao Zedong had taken the "backward road" (referring to the unnecessary wronged road), and wrote a letter to the Military Commission, suggesting that Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and Zhou Enlai follow the army to preside over the grand plan, and let Peng Dehuai be the commander-in-chief of the former enemy . On the afternoon of May 12, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee held an enlarged meeting at the Huili Suburban Iron Works to discuss strategic guidelines and unify the understanding of the leadership.Mao Zedong taught Lin Biao a lesson at the meeting: "You are a baby, what do you know?" Then, Mao Zedong explained to everyone: It is not possible to stand up to the enemy at present, and it is necessary to go around and walk more.The meeting emphasized the need to unite as one, overcome difficulties, fight tenaciously, continue to go north, and join the Fourth Front Army in western Sichuan.An internal turmoil subsided in this way.However, Mao Zedong put this account on Peng Dehuai's head, believing that he had encouraged Lin Biao to attempt to usurp the throne, and forged a grudge. At present, we have not been able to find reliable documents that can indicate that the Central Red Army and the Fourth Front Army had already started communication links at this time.But they are likely to learn about each other's whereabouts through the KMT's radio stations and newspapers.After the Central Red Army left Huili, it began to stride northward.Soon after passing through the Yi nationality area in Liangshan, we came to the Dadu River.Chiang Kai-shek was determined to wipe out the Red Army by the Dadu River, and let Zhu and Mao be Shi Dakai's second.Helplessly, Sichuan warlord Liu Wenhui only cared about preserving his own strength, and his Sichuan army subordinates were also a bunch of idiots who could only smoke opium and could not fight.As soon as the Red Army attacked, they fired a few shots indiscriminately before scrambling to escape.Therefore, the Red Army has successively won victories in forcibly crossing the Dadu River and flying over the Luding Bridge. After Mao Zedong and other central leaders arrived in Luding, they held a meeting.The meeting analyzed the situation of the Central Red Army after crossing the Dadu River, and decided on two things: one is to avoid densely populated areas and go north to the snow-capped mountains and grasslands; the other is to send Comrade Chen Yun to Shanghai to restore the party organization in the white areas.Whether it can join forces with the Fourth Front Army, the Central Committee is still not sure at this time. Starting from Huili to Luding, in just over half a month, the Central Red Army trekked thousands of miles in the mountains, fighting all the way, and the troops were exhausted to the extreme.Chen Bojun, then chief of staff of the Fifth Army Corps, wrote in his Long March Diary: The revolution is like a big wave washing the sand. After passing the Luding Bridge and entering the Han residential area facing the village, some weak-willed elements and speculators began to flee one after another.The "Instructions on Overcoming the Left Behind" issued by the General Political Department on June 13 stated: "In the past half a month, the backwardness of the legions has been very serious, and sometimes groups of three or four deliberately hide in the homes of residents." Some of the people were deserters (mostly recruits, peasants recruited during the Long March. They had no revolutionary education, and after a period of marching, they could not bear hardships and ran back to their hometowns), and some were soldiers left behind due to injuries The wounded soldiers are the most miserable in the marching battles. After the general soldiers are injured, as long as they can move around, they grit their teeth and insist on marching. They really can't keep up. Author's note).To this end, the General Political Department instructed all units to: do a good job in sanitation and containment work, and reduce the prevalence of diseases.For sick soldiers, we should carry forward class friendship, care for and help them, and alleviate their suffering.On the other hand, "We must immediately seize the standard elements of deliberately lagging behind in the army, carry out a broad and cruel struggle, make the opposition to the shameful phenomenon of deliberately lagging behind a mass movement, and create public opinion against deliberately lagging behind. Even conduct public trials and shoot the bad elements who lead the laggards and lag behind the experts". By the end of May 1935, the Central Red Army had gone through ten months of long-distance marches and battles. In their own words, "only a skeleton was left behind."Of the remaining 20,000 Red Army troops, the vast majority were veterans from the Jiangxi Soviet Area.They have experienced many battles and have high political awareness, and they have long tied their destiny to the revolution.They are the spark of revolution and the most precious wealth. "Mountains and rivers are full of doubts, and there is no way out, and there is another village with dark willows and flowers." On June 2, the vanguard of the Central Red Army suddenly received a telegram from the Red Fourth Front Army on the other side of the snow mountain: This call was like a gust of spring breeze, and quickly spread throughout the Central Red Army units, causing cheers.Chen Bojun's Fifth Army Corps served as a guard at the time, and also learned of the news on June 5.He excitedly wrote in his diary: "Now the Fourth Front Army is reorganizing its banners in Maozhou, and I will be based on the lines of Tianquan, Lushan and Maogong, echoing each other and cooperating with the counterattack. The revolutionary movement of the Chinese Soviet will lay the foundation again. In the northwest of Sichuan." After the communication between the First Red Army and the Fourth Front Army was smooth, Zhang Guotao immediately sent an enthusiastic telegram to the Central Committee: On the same day, Xu Xiangqian received instructions from Zhang Guotao, asking him to write a report on behalf of the leaders of the Fourth Front Army, and quickly send people to Maogong and forward it to the Central Committee.Xu Xiangqian drafted a "Report to the Central Committee on the Situation of the Enemy and Ourselves in Northwest Sichuan" overnight, together with two maps, and sent someone away early the next morning. In the report, Xu Xiangqian gave a detailed introduction to the enemy's deployment, troop strength, and mobilization, and reported the deployment and combat tasks of the various units of the Red Fourth Front Army.Xu Xiangqian then wrote: Comrade Li Xiannian, political commissar of the 30th Army, has come to Maogong and brought a radio station.Please let me know how Mao Gong's troops should cooperate with your brother's actions at present. In the future, regarding how the party, government, and army should organize their actions, and how the general policy should be decided, please let me know immediately when you draw people to Mao or our side, and the coded version is also compiled to inform you so that you can keep informed.Finally, the Red Fourth Front Army and tens of millions of workers and peasants in Northwest Sichuan are preparing to warmly welcome our invincible Central Western Expeditionary Army with 120,000 points. On June 14, Mao Zedong and Zhu De led a column of the Military Commission over Jiajin Mountain and arrived at Dawei Town at the foot of the mountain.Han Dongshan led the commanders and fighters of the Red Fourth Front Army, waiting in line to meet the head of the Central Committee.According to Zhang Guotao's instructions, "You must show your full style and don't lose your face."The soldiers of the Fourth Front Army were neat and energetic, and warmly welcomed the brothers of the Central Red Army.When Mao Zedong saw Han Dongshan, the first sentence he asked was: "Is Chairman Zhang (Guo Tao) okay?" Dawei town was immersed in a joyful atmosphere. Greetings cordially, seeing the tattered clothes of the comrades of the Central Red Army, the comrades of the Fourth Front Army immediately took out their better clothes and gave them to them.Some even sent water and dry food, and would rather camp by themselves at night, and let the comrades of the Central Red Army live in the house.After seven days in the ranks of the Central Red Army, such touching scenes of unity, friendship, and brotherhood can be seen anytime. On June 16, after Mao Zedong arrived in Maogong, he met with Li Xiannian, political commissar of the 30th Red Army who greeted him there.The 26-year-old military and political commissar was very excited when he saw Mao Zedong for the first time.Mao Zedong kindly asked him how old he was and how many people there were in the 30th Army.Li Xiannian answered one by one, and reported the situation of the Fourth Red Front Army. He also said that due to the short time, the preparations for meeting the Central Committee were not done enough. Please forgive me. Fifty years later, Li Xiannian, who was the President of China, recalled the situation to Salisbury and said: "After we arrived, they followed. I didn't expect them to come so fast. We tried our best and even gave them a supplement. There are thousands of people. There is nothing to quarrel between the first and fourth front armies." Li Xiannian's sincere and modest attitude left a good impression on Mao Zedong. That night, comrades from the First and Fourth Front Armies held a grand party to celebrate their reunion.Li Bozhao (wife of Yang Shangkun, political commissar of the Three Army Corps) and the art troupe led by her were very busy in those few days, and there were condolence performances wherever they went.Tonight she went on stage again in person and performed the well-known Soviet sailor dance, which aroused applause and cheers from the audience.Tong Xiaopeng (a cadre of the First Red Army) who was present wrote all this in his diary: "On June 16, I went to Maogong City. I had a party with one of the Fourth Front Army in the evening. Everyone was very happy. The comrades of the Fourth Front Army treated Our army is very kind and admirable, and the military discipline, discipline, etc. are better than our army, it can indeed be learned!" On the same day, the central government also sent an enthusiastic reply to Zhang Guotao: The joy of joining forces immersed the Red Army in joy and excitement from top to bottom.From the perspective of the two main Red Army forces that had traveled long distances and fought hard, the joining forces was a historic turning point, and the revolutionary situation would inevitably move forward in great strides.At that time, who could have predicted that there would be a serious struggle between the Central Committee and Zhang Guotao, the leader of the Red Fourth Front Army.