Chapter 25 Chapter 24 Zhang Guotao Runs Away

After the July 7th Incident, China began an all-out war of resistance.The formation of a new situation of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party has reduced domestic class contradictions to a secondary position. In August 1937, according to the agreement negotiated between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, it was decided that the Red Army would be reorganized into the Eighth Route Army and divided into three divisions to go to the front line of the Anti-Japanese War.The government of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region was formed in the rear, with Lin Boqu as the chairman and Zhang Guotao as the vice-chairman.Because Lin Lao went to Xi'an to engage in united front work, Zhang Guotao became acting chairman again.The struggle to criticize Zhang Guotao's line has come to an end for now.

Zhang Guotao was in charge of some rear work in the Border Region Government.Such as the collection of public grain, pensions for martyrs and disabled soldiers, and management of financial affairs in the border area.Zhang Guotao was depressed and rarely took care of things.Life is boring.Although he is still a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, he does not go to many meetings.It should be noted that his living conditions were quite good.The seat of the border area government is the best house in Yan'an - built by missionaries back then.Zhang Guotao lived in a room with a floor and a spring bed.At that time, there were only some dilapidated small houses in the streets of Yan'an.The vast majority of people, from Mao Zedong to ordinary people, live in cave dwellings and sleep on kangs.Next door to Zhang Guotao lived Secretary-General Wu Xiuquan, and Zhang Guotao always suspected that Wu Xiuquan was sent by the central government to monitor him.Later, Wu Xiuquan did not deny this in his memoirs. He said: "This was assigned by Comrade Li Fuchun, the head of the Central Organization at the time, and there was indeed such a meaning in it. It depends on whether Zhang Guotao is playing tricks.... At that time, I still did my best. And those who let go of work, also maintain a certain degree of vigilance against Zhang Guotao. He is the same with me, mutual wariness, tacit understanding."

Politically, Zhang Guotao was a loser, but he was compensated in his personal life. In September 1937, after learning about Zhang Guotao, his wife Yang Zilie, who had been separated from him for seven years, rushed all the way from Shanghai to Yan'an to reunite with Zhang Guotao.Yang Zilie was an early member of the Chinese Communist Party.After Zhang Guotao went to Hubei, Henan and Anhui, they lost contact.After Shanghai Central moved to Jiangxi Soviet Area, Yang Zilie had no source of income, relied on labor to support himself, and learned obstetric nursing.Over the past few years, she has been evading the Kuomintang's search and arrest, and has gone through untold hardships.But she has been waiting for Zhang Guotao and has not remarried.Her arrival was undoubtedly a great comfort to Zhang Guotao, and also enabled Zhang Guotao to live a stable family life.Soon, their 9-year-old son also came to Yan'an from his hometown, and the family was reunited.

In Yan'an, Zhang Guotao and his family shared the happiness of family.Mao Zedong was busy commanding the Eighth Route Army's anti-Japanese struggle.Zhang Guotao thought that the storm had passed, and they were more polite to each other in public.Zhang Guotao still sits at the top of the party. On July 25, 1936, when Mao Zedong met with the visiting American writer Edgar Snow, he talked about the reasons for the victory of the Long March, and pointed out in particular: "Another reason why the party is invincible is that there are talents and a group of revolutionary leaders. Cadres. They have extraordinary talents, wisdom and courage. Zhu De, Wang Ming, Luo Fu, Zhou Enlai, Bogu, Wang Jiaxiang, Peng Dehuai, Luo Mai, Deng Fa, Xiang Ying, Xu Haidong, Chen Yun, Lin Biao, Zhang Guotao, Xu Xiangqian, Chen Changhao, He Long, Xiao Ke Comrades, and many other outstanding comrades who gave their lives for the revolution, through the cooperation of all these comrades, created the Red Army and the Soviet movement. These comrades, together with a new generation that is growing up, will lead us to the final victory." Nuo explained: "Because these nominations seem to be contrary to the main reference of the Long March, I have not used them before. But today, these words may have some historical value. There is no need to draw the reader's attention to the order in which Mao listed these names. , nor need to call attention to the fact that it includes those whom Mao had fought just a short while ago and will fight again, not to mention the names of those who were deleted."

Snow refers to the people who were praised by Mao Zedong and then defeated here, including Zhang Guotao.This also shows that Mao Zedong's handling of Zhang Guotao was cautious.He has not yet been classified as an enemy. At the end of 1937, the struggle to criticize Zhang Guotao's line started again in remote Xinjiang.This was carried out among the former West Route Army personnel stationed in Xinjiang under the auspices of Deng Fa, the representative of the Central Committee. In May 1937, more than 400 surviving cadres and soldiers of the West Route Army, led by Li Xiannian and Li Zhuoran of the West Route Military Industry Committee, arrived in Xinjiang.They arrived in Dihua (Urumqi) for a rest.Comrade Chen Yun was very concerned about the comrades of the West Route Army, so that they had enough food and warm clothes.They also check their bodies and treat their diseases.In order to live in Xinjiang with peace of mind, Chen Yun discussed with Sheng Shicai, the supervisor of Xinjiang, and organized the personnel of the West Route Army into the "New Barracks of Supervisor Sheng".Sheng Shicai had a close relationship with the Soviet Union and received a lot of aid from the Soviet Union. At this time, his attitude towards the Red Army was still good.After having the organization and title, Chen Yun organized everyone to study.He personally gave lectures on the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism and current political events.Most of these comrades of the Red Fourth Front Army who have fought for many years have a low level of education.Chen Yun's class made them feel very novel, and it was the first time they heard of many truths.For example, what is the proletariat and what is the bourgeoisie, some people will only say: "The proletariat is the poor, and the bourgeoisie is the rich." Comrade Chen Yun used the theory of Marxist-Leninist political economy to explain class theory to everyone.As for what is "Left" deviation, what is Right deviation, and what is the line, it is even more unclear.When it comes to two-line struggle, many people misunderstand that the enemy is fighting on one side, and we are fighting on the other side are two lines.Chen Yun felt that Zhang Guotao's policy of ignoring the people was really harmful. Only by educating these comrades well could they raise their awareness of the wrong line.Chen Yun paid close attention to political study, but he grasped a boundary: he did not talk about Zhang Guotao's line, nor did he accuse the Fourth Front Army and the West Route Army of making mistakes.Therefore, the relationship between him and the comrades of the West Route Army is quite harmonious, and everyone respects Chen Yun very much.

While studying political theory, Chen Yun also organized everyone to study culture.It turned out that in the Fourth Front Army, being educated was regarded as a dangerous thing.Zhang Guotao had always been skeptical and distrustful of intellectuals, and would brutally attack those who disagreed, and even be accused of "reorganization faction" and "third party" and killed.Therefore, such a concept has been formed among the majority of commanders and fighters: "It is better to have no education than to have education", and "It is better to win a battle without education."Chen Yun patiently taught everyone that learning culture is the foundation of learning all knowledge, and only by learning culture well can one master military technology.Everyone has cleared their minds and studied hard.They choose their own teachers and compile their own teaching materials.Officers teach soldiers, soldiers instructors.Political commissar Li Xiannian did his best to answer difficult questions for the soldiers.Later, several cadres came to Yan'an, and some cadres who returned from the Soviet Union also came to give cultural lessons to everyone.In order to go to the front line of the Anti-Japanese War in the future, they also learned some practical Japanese on the battlefield, such as "preferential treatment of prisoners" and "hand in your guns and don't kill them".Learning culture has formed a craze in the "boot camp".

In the autumn of 1937, Comrade Chen Yun read out the telegram instructions of the Party Central Committee: "Strictly observe discipline and study with peace of mind." According to the results of negotiations between Chen Yun and Sheng Shicai, the Red Army soldiers were divided into several groups to learn military technology.According to statistics in 1939, there were 67 people who studied automobiles, 50 people who studied armored vehicles, 87 people who studied artillery, 24 people who worked in radio, 42 people who worked in the air force, and 10 people who were veterinarians.There were also more than 20 people sent to the Soviet Union to study intelligence work.Under the guidance of Soviet advisers, they overcame various difficulties and mastered a military technology.After returning to Yan'an, most of them were sent to the Northeast, and became the founders of the first batch of artillery, tank and aviation troops in the Chinese People's Liberation Army during the War of Liberation.Having special forces in the Chinese People's Liberation Army is really like adding wings to a tiger.These achievements are also attributable to the hard work of comrades of the West Route Army in Xinjiang.

It is a pity that Chen Yun and the comrades of the West Route Army separated after less than half a year. On November 14, 1937, an aircraft from the Soviet Union flew to Dadihua.Sitting on it were Wang Ming and Kang Sheng who had returned from the Soviet Union.Wang Ming met with comrades from the West Route Army, and briefly talked about the united front, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China working together to fight against Japan, and asked Chen Yun to board the plane back to Yan'an with them.Everyone bid farewell to Chen Yun. Not long after, Deng Fa, a representative of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and an alternate member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, came to Dihua to take over Chen Yun's job.One of Deng Fa's main tasks in Xinjiang was to carry out a struggle to criticize Zhang Guotao's line among the personnel of the West Route Army.He conveyed to everyone the resolution and main spirit of the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, which caused a great shock in everyone's hearts.Although they knew that Zhang Guotao had been criticized in Yan'an, they did not expect it to be so serious.After all, Zhang Guotao has been their leader for many years, and his influence cannot be eliminated at once.The person in charge of the West Road Military Industry Committee conducted a study discussion in accordance with the resolution of the Central Committee.They are aware of Zhang Guotao's usual wrong behavior and style. On November 27, the West Road Military Industry Committee passed a resolution, criticizing Zhang Guotao's line for the first time.

The "Resolution" pointed out: The development of all political events in the past two years has completely proved the correctness of the Party Central Committee's line.At the same time, it proved that Comrade Guo Tao's assessment of the situation of the Chinese revolution was opportunistic.At that time, he believed that the revolutionary situation in China was "between two high tides", so he asked the Red Army to retreat to remote areas and wait for the revolutionary situation to arrive.Because his opportunistic estimation completely violated the line of the Party Central Committee, he ended up publicly not implementing the Party's resolutions and instructions, leading part of the Red Army to retreat south to Xikang to hide.

Due to Comrade Guo Tao's political mistakes, he went all the way to splitting the party in the organization, leading to the establishment of the Second Central Committee.This kind of behavior completely violates the party's organizational principles, which has never happened in the history of the Chinese Communist Party.Under the leadership of Comrade Guo Tao's wrong line of opportunism, many non-Bolshevik methods of inner-Party struggle were adopted.In particular, they publicly put up slogans against the leading comrades of the Party Central Committee, spread rumors to slander the comrades in charge of the Central Committee, and abused their power to remove Comrade Zhu De, Chairman of the Military Commission.They even used the method of eliminating counter-revolutionaries instead of ideological struggle within the party to deal with comrades who supported the central line, such as the arrest of Wang Tou and Hu Di.

The "Resolution" believes that Guotao's southward retreat route and the establishment of the Second Central Committee violated the principles of party organization, which are very serious.Comrade Chang Hao was also one of the main responsible persons at that time.The result of this mistake was to directly weaken the strength of the Red Army at that time.The failure of the West Route Army is closely related to the mistakes of Comrade Guo Tao. For example, the West Route Army did not resolutely implement the instructions of the Central Military Commission of the Party on the concentration of troops and the work of winning over the enemy. This is also one of the reasons for the failure of the West Route Army. .We all agree that the Party Central Committee's leadership and decision to launch a struggle against Comrade Guotao's retreat line and mistakes are completely correct.Everyone resolutely and unanimously supported this decision of the Party Central Committee, and demanded that this struggle be continued and deepened. But Deng Fa was very dissatisfied with this "Resolution".Because on some major issues, the comrades of the West Road Military Industry Committee are silent, or do not admit it at all.For example, when the central government said that Zhang Guotao sent a secret message in an attempt to endanger the central government, no one said a word.The problem of Zhang Guotao's banditism can only be said to be the wrong way of working.Regarding the West Route Army, no one said that Zhang Guotao asked the Fourth Front Army to cross the river.This shows that the comrades in Xinjiang only partially accepted the opinions of the central government.On the issue of going south and the route of retreat, they drew conclusions from practice, and they also opposed Zhang Guotao.But they did not regard Zhang Guotao as an enemy, they regarded him as a comrade who had made mistakes, and held an attitude of criticizing and helping him.After asking for instructions, in early December, Deng Fa announced the decision of the central government: Li Xiannian, Li Zhuoran, Cheng Shicai, Li Tianhuan, Zeng Chuanliu, Guo Tianmin and other West Route Army commanders returned to Yan'an.The troops were handed over to Comrade Deng Fa for management.The only senior cadres of the West Route Army who stayed in Dihua were Li Te, chief of staff of the West Route Army, and Huang Chao, political commissar of the 5th Army. At the end of December 1937, Li Xiannian and his party returned to Yan'an.A few days later, Mao Zedong received them.Mao Zedong said: The failure of the West Route Army was mainly due to Zhang Guotao's failure to implement the correct line of the Party Central Committee.The West Route Army failed, but this does not mean that the vast number of cadres and soldiers of the West Route Army did not work hard. They were brave and tenacious.Mao Zedong comforted them well and asked them to recuperate and study in Yan'an. Cheng Shicai and others wrote the experience of the West Route Army into "Materials About the West Route Army" for the central leaders to review.Soon, they were sent to the front line of the Anti-Japanese War and started a new battle. In January 1938, Deng Fa organized everyone to conduct a second study of criticizing Zhang Guotao's wrong line in Dihua, and made a long report on Zhang Guotao's problems.This caused a huge shock among comrades in the West Route Army.The person involved recalled: "At the beginning, most people couldn't turn their minds around. Some only admitted that the failure of the West Route Army was a military mistake, and did not admit that the political line was wrong. Comrade Deng Fa personally gave political lectures to cadres above the platoon twice a week. He explained the issue of the anti-Zhang Guotao line and the party's declaration on the current situation, and gave party lectures to all comrades to carry out ideological education. As a result, comrades' political awareness was greatly improved. Although some people doubted the seriousness of Zhang Guotao's mistakes, after explaining and studying , most people already have a correct understanding". The specific process of this study is no longer clear.However, we can still see Deng Fa's conclusions at the party cadre meeting on January 20, 1938.This is a very long speech, the main issues of which are the same as the content of the Yan'an Criticism of Zhang Guotao Conference, from which we can also see some understanding problems of comrades in the West Route Army at that time and Deng Fa's evaluation. In the first part of his speech, Deng Fa emphasized that the Guotao line was right opportunist retreat, warlordism, and banditism.He said: At the Shawo Conference, the Central Committee pointed out that strengthening the Party's absolute leadership in the Red Army will give the Party Central Committee its prestige in the Red Army.Criticized the Fourth Front Army for not implementing the political commissar system, having poor relations with the masses, failing to establish conscious political discipline, weak political work, and the development of remnants of warlords.At the same time, it also pointed out the bravery and resoluteness of the commanders and fighters of the Fourth Front Army, and the vigorous attacking spirit.Zhang Guotao, on the other hand, believed that the Red Army belonged to him and could not be criticized.Not only did he not accept his criticism of the central government, but he used it to incite in the army.Said that the Central Committee looked down on the Fourth Front Army, "The Central Committee said that we are all bumpkins, and they want to replace the cadres of the Fourth Front Army."He put military power above party power, cultivated a system of messengers, replaced conscious discipline with beatings and scolding, ignored party work and political work, and created many behaviors that were divorced from the masses. Deng Fa said: Comrade Zhang Guotao thought that the Fourth Red Army was not a team of the Central Committee, but Zhang Guotao's personal team.He may not implement the resolution of the Central Committee. The Central Committee decided to go north, and Zhang Guotao wanted to go south.Some comrades said that it is right to go north and south, which is completely against the meaning of the central government!However, we are not to blame, because Guotao lied and said: "Going south, there will be rice to eat." But the central problem is not here. A party member should obey the will of the party, and the Red Army must absolutely obey the party's leadership.However, Zhang Guotao hung the party and politics on the bayonet of the barrel of the gun. If there are more guns, a second "central government" can be established, and the "Northwest Federal Government" can be established without the central Soviet government. When it comes to party building, Deng Fa said: Originally, personal beliefs and party beliefs were inseparable, but Zhang Guotao separated them.Therefore, Guotao can establish a second "Central Committee", and everyone supports him as the secretary.He scolded the central government and scolded very fiercely. Among the eight members of the Central Political Bureau during the Long March, he scolded four.Comrade Mao Zedong, the leader of our party, the leader of the people of the whole country, and well-known throughout the Red Army, can also slander and put up slogans to oppose it.This is not what the Communists do, it is a criminal act! The second part of the report is about the central government's struggle against Zhang Guotao's line.Deng Fa said: Guotao has already admitted the mistakes he made.He was an anti-Party, anti-Central, and anti-international line mistake.However, the central government has not made any organizational conclusions about the mistakes made by Guotao, because the central government’s criticism of Guotao’s line is not Guotao’s personal problem. Against the center.Therefore, the central government estimates that it is trying to win over and educate those cadres who blindly obey and support Guotao's line and blindly oppose the central government, especially for those cadres who have been deceived by Guotao. Thoroughly understand the nature of Guotao's mistakes and crimes. Finally, Deng Fa explained several issues.He said: Why didn't the resolution of the last meeting fully expose the essence of Guotao's line?The reason is that, on the one hand, we have not received any materials from the central government, and on the other hand, we have estimated that the environment for the struggle is not very smooth, because several leading cadres here did not voluntarily expose the essence of the Guotao line, so no one dared to raise their own opinions. criticize.Although the last resolution contained many imperfections, they cannot be blamed too much.The cadres under Guotao's leadership are moving towards the central line step by step, and Guotao himself admitted his mistakes step by step.The Party knows that there is a certain process for uniting comrades to understand mistakes, and in the end they can fully understand them.I am very satisfied with this meeting. Comrades have made up their minds to oppose Zhang Guotao's line and have united around the line of the Party Central Committee. In the end, Deng Fa said sternly: "We should carry out a resolute struggle against those who still want to split the first and fourth armies today and firmly support the Guotao line. To eliminate the remnants of Guotaoism, we must achieve absolute unanimity within the party." !" Some of Deng Fa's reports were based on the caliber of the Central Committee, but there were also many words that completely negated the Fourth Front Army.He named a string of leading cadres of the Fourth Front Army, saying that the central government did not give them any organizational conclusions, which meant that the central government was already very tolerant of the Fourth Front Army.Regarding the failure of the West Route Army, he only said that local interests must obey the overall situation, and simply attributed the failure of the West Route Army to Zhang Guotao's escape route.Looking back today, the conclusions of Deng Fa's report on several major issues obviously do not conform to historical facts.But this was caused by the specific historical environment at that time. It is still doubtful how many people supported Deng Fa's speech.Deng Fa himself admitted that the reason why the first criticism could not be in-depth was because the senior cadres of the West Route Army did not understand their ideas.Therefore, Deng Fa dared to criticize Zhang Guotao's line only after the central government transferred all the main leaders of the West Road Military Industry Committee back to Yan'an.The comrades who stayed behind listened to Deng Fa's report and thought of the sufferings they had endured in the South and the West Route Army. They believed that they were under the leadership of the wrong line and cried bitterly. However, Li Te and Huang Chao disagreed with Deng Fa's negation of the Red Fourth Front Army and the West Route Army, and put forward different views.The central government ordered Li Xiannian to wait to return to Yan'an, but for some unknown reason kept the two of them.Around January 1938, Li Te and Huang Chao were labeled as "Trotskyites" and executed in secret.This matter was done in the utmost secrecy, and none of the cadres of the West Route Army in Dihua knew about it at the time.I only heard that the two of them went to the Soviet Union. The deaths of Li Te and Huang Chao are still a mystery.Who gave the order?Who did it?Where are their remains buried?To this day there is no way of knowing.Some say they were killed in the Soviet Union, others don't believe they were killed.Two senior cadres of the Fourth Front Army disappeared in such a mysterious and silent manner. When Zhang Guotao learned of the execution of Li Te and Huang Chao from Wang Ming, his spirit was greatly shaken.After returning to Yan'an from the Soviet Union under the instructions of the Communist International, Wang Ming regarded himself as the imperial envoy and the leader of the CCP.Zhang Guotao suffered from Wang Ming's punishment and expressed indifference to him.But Wang Ming was not self-reliant. When he attended the Politburo meeting for the first time, he did not discuss with anyone and produced a draft list of members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, asking for additional personnel.Wang Ming's domineering behavior disgusted both Mao Zedong and Zhang Guotao.But because of the face of the Communist International, he agreed with Wang Ming's opinion.Afterwards, Wang Ming spoke separately with the leaders of the central government in a condescending attitude. When Wang Ming and Zhang Guotao talked alone, they asked about the crux of the dispute in the grassland.Zhang Guotao said: "In addition to criticizing the political line of the Party Central Committee, it can be said that it is a struggle for military leadership." Wang Ming said: "This is not the case. The other main reason is that the Trotskyites are secretly doing trouble." He told Zhang Guotao: "Li Te, Huang The Chaos are Trotskyites. They were interrogated by Deng Fa in Dihua, and they have confessed to being Trotskyites and have been shot." When Zhang Guotao heard that his trusted subordinates were executed, he said sadly: "Li Te and Huang Chao are Trotskyites, so anyone can be accused of being a Trotskyite!" Wang Ming quickly explained: "You are not a Trotskyist, but Entrusted to use." Zhang Guotao couldn't bear it any longer, and sternly accused Wang Ming of treating his comrades as entrusted to eliminate them. Isn't this helping the enemy?Seeing Zhang Guotao's angry expression, Wang Ming said, "Let's talk about this matter another day." Then he left in a hurry. From this day on, Zhang Guotao was restless and restless.If we talk about the struggle and criticism of the central government against him in the previous period, he can still accept it after all.Wang Ming's return made him fear of death.He will never forget that after the Fourth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in January 1931, He Mengxiong, Lin Yunan and others were arrested by the Kuomintang authorities under Wang Ming's attack and framed, and Yu Longhua was killed.Recalling that I campaigned against counter-revolutionaries in the Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Soviet areas, and killed many Red Army generals.If the central government liquidates his crimes, the consequences can be imagined.From then on, Zhang Guotao planned to betray the revolution. Soon, Wang Ming left Yan'an to Wuhan to preside over the work of the Yangtze River Bureau of the Communist Party of China.Zhang Guotao is still the acting chairman of the Border Region Government.Mao Zedong and other leaders of the central government were busy directing the Eighth Route Army's war of resistance, and no one paid attention to Zhang Guotao.On the surface, Zhang Guotao was leisurely and contented, but secretly he was looking for an opportunity to escape from Yan'an. April 4, 1938 was the day when both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party paid homage to the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor.Zhang Guotao went to Zhongbu County as the acting chairman of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, and met Jiang Dingwen, director of the Xi'an Appeasement Office of the Kuomintang, in front of the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor.After the worship, Zhang Guotao told the escorts that he had something to do in Xi'an and asked them to go back first, and then he took a guard and boarded the Kuomintang car and drove away.After arriving in Xi'an, he lived in the Xijing guest house of the Kuomintang, but did not contact the Eighth Route Army's Xi'an office. On April 7, the Kuomintang was preparing to arrange for Zhang Guotao to go to Wuhan (the residence of Chiang Kai-shek's government at that time), so Zhang Guotao called Lin Boqu and asked him to come to the station to talk.Zhang Guotao vented his dissatisfaction with Mr. Lin and said that he was going to Wuhan.Mr. Lin advised him to go to the Eighth Route Army office to discuss it, but Zhang refused.Mr. Lin had no choice but to go back to the office and send a report to the Central Committee and the Yangtze River Bureau to report Zhang Guotao's situation. On the morning of April 8, after the Yangtze River Bureau received the telegram from the Central Committee and Xi'an, Zhou Enlai immediately discussed with Wang Ming, Bogu, Li Kenong and other responsible persons that Zhang Guotao must be sent to the Yangtze River Bureau before the Kuomintang.Zhou Enlai entrusted this task to Li Kenong, and asked him to take Tong Xiaopeng, chief of the confidential section, Qiu Nanzhang, and Wu Zhijian, the adjutants, to Hankou Railway Station to wait for Zhang Guotao. The train from Xi'an to Hankou runs every day, and they waited for three days in a row, but it was empty. At 19:00 on the 11th, they picked up the train from Xi'an for the fourth time. After arriving at the station, some were watching at the station entrance, and some got on the train to look for it.Qiu Nanzhang found the last carriage and finally found Zhang Guotao.Li Kenong got into the car and said politely to Zhang Guotao: Comrade Wang Ming and Vice Chairman Zhou sent us to pick you up.Zhang Guotao seemed very frightened, and the two secret agents who escorted him did not dare to do anything when they saw that Li Kenong had brought armed adjutants.Li Kenong accompanied Zhang Guotao in a car to the office of the Yangtze River Bureau. Two spies followed, and the other went to report the letter.Zhang Guotao insisted on living outside and refused to go to the Yangtze River Bureau.Li Kenong had no choice but to find him a small hotel to live in, leaving Qiu Nanzhang and Wu Zhijian to "take care" of Zhang Guotao. At night, accompanied by Li Kenong, Wang Ming, Zhou Enlai, Bogu, Kaifeng and other heads of the Yangtze River Bureau came to the hotel to talk with Zhang Guotao.Zhang Guotao's expression was tense, and he spoke incoherently, saying that the border area was like "chicken ribs", which was tasteless to eat and a pity to discard.Wang Ming did not want him to discuss these issues, but only criticized his mistake of leaving without reporting to the central government, and hoped that he would return to the office and discuss everything.No matter what everyone said, Zhang Guotao just refused to go.In the end, Zhou Enlai asked Zhang to send a telegram to the central government to admit his mistake, so Zhang Guotao had no choice but to write a draft telegram: "Mao and Luo: My younger brother arrived in Han tonight and left without warning. I am very sorry. I hope to send some work in Han. Guotao. "Give it to Zhou to take it back and send it.Zhou Enlai: Since you have come to Wuhan, wait here for the instructions of the central government.After Zhou Enlai returned to the office, he reported to the central government and asked for instructions on how to deal with it. On the 12th, the Secretariat of the Central Committee replied to Wang Ming, Zhou Enlai and other comrades: "In order to show our benevolence and righteousness, we decided to send another telegram to Zhang Guotao, please pass it on." In this national crisis, our party should be united and be a model for the whole party and the people, so as to unite the whole country and save the country from peril. My brother loves the party and the country, so he should be able to clearly understand this. The government's work is important, and I hope to return as soon as possible. Younger brothers Mao Zedong, Luo Fu, Kang Sheng, Chen Yun, Liu Shaoqi." Zhou Enlai took the telegram from the central government to the hotel to show Zhang Guotao, and patiently advised Zhang Guotao to live in the office, everything can be discussed.Zhang Guotao couldn't say anything, but insisted on refusing to go.Zhou Enlai gave him two days to think about it, only to see that he called the Kuomintang, showing no intention of repentance at all.So on the evening of the 14th, Zhou Enlai, Wang Ming, Bo Gu, and Li Kenong went to Zhang Guotao again, but the persuasion was ineffective. Li Kenong used his skills in underground work in Shanghai to half-pull Zhang Guotao into the car and drag him back to the Yangtze River Bureau office. After Zhang Guotao moved to the office, he always found excuses to go out.He repeatedly asked Zhou Enlai to see Chiang Kai-shek and report to Chiang on the work of the border region government.Because Zhang Guotao had not been dismissed, Zhou Enlai could not refuse. On the morning of the 16th, he accompanied Zhang Guotao to Wuchang to meet Chiang Kai-shek.When Zhang Guotao saw Jiang, he said: "Brother has been confused for many years." Zhou Enlai immediately said tit-for-tat: "You are confused, but I am not." When Chiang Kai-shek saw this scene, he couldn't say much, and ended the interview with a few perfunctory words.Back at the office, Zhou Enlai severely criticized Zhang Guotao for losing his position.Zhang Guotao said negatively: "The Kuomintang has nothing to do, the Communist Party has nothing to do, and China has very few ways to do it." He also said: "I feel negative, please allow me to go back to my hometown in Jiangxi, I still have food at home. I will never do it again. I asked about politics." That afternoon Zhang found an excuse to go out again, and Zhou sent Wu Zhijian to follow him.Zhang Guotao turned to dark on the street and proposed to cross the river again.At the ferry terminal, when the guests were about to close the iron gate after leaving, Zhang suddenly jumped on the boat, trying to get rid of Wu Zhijian.Wu Zhijian had been prepared for a long time, and followed Zhang Guotao into the boat.When Zhang Guotao arrived in Wuchang, he refused to go back and insisted on finding a hotel to stay.Wu Zhijian took Zhang Guotao to rest and quickly called the Yangtze River Bureau.The office was looking for Zhang Guotao, and immediately sent someone to pull Zhang Guotao back to Hankou after getting the news.This time Zhang Guotao refused to go back, so he had to arrange him to live in the Pacific Hotel. Zhou Enlai and others listened to Wu Zhijian's report and believed that Zhang Guotao was determined to rebel against the party. On the morning of the 17th, Zhou Enlai, Wang Ming, and Bogu came to the hotel together to have a final talk with Zhang Guotao.Zhou proposed three options to Zhang for him to choose: 1.Correct mistakes and return to party work; this is what we hope for. 2.Ask the party for leave and take a break for a period of time. 3.He automatically declared his separation from the party, and the party announced his expulsion from the party.Zhang Guotao said that the first item is impossible, and the second and third items can be considered.And asked to think about it for two days before replying.Shortly after Zhou Enlai and others left, Zhang Guotao called Dai Li, the head of the military reunification spy, to come to the hotel to talk, expressing his intention to join the Kuomintang.The military command quickly sent two cars and several spies, two stepped forward to hug Adjutant Qiu Nanzhang who was guarding Zhang Guotao, and one pulled Zhang Guotao into the car.After Zhang Guotao left, he let Qiu go.Qiu Nanzhang returned to the room and saw the note Zhang Guotao had left for Zhou Enlai and others.It said: "Brother has decided to adopt the third method and has moved to another place. Please don't send someone to look for it. It is necessary." Qiu Nanzhang immediately returned to the office to report to Zhou Enlai and others.The Yangtze River Bureau held a meeting that night to study, and Zhou Enlai drafted a telegram to the Central Committee, reporting Zhang Guotao's rebellion, and suggested that the Central Committee publicly announce Zhang Guotao's expulsion from the party. On April 18, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China made a decision to expel Zhang Guotao from the party. On April 22, "Xinhua Daily" publicly published the Party Central Committee's "Decision on Expulsion of Zhang Guotao from the Party".The full text is as follows: The announcement of the decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was a heavy blow to Zhang Guotao.Zhang Guotao did not expect that the central government would deal with him so decisively, so he hurriedly wrote to Zhou Enlai and others.In the letter dated April 24, he said: "Because the apartment is not ready for several days, I have not sent a letter to my brothers. I wrote a letter last night and planned to send it this morning. Suddenly, I read the newspaper. The decision to expel my brother from the party I am deeply saddened by the announcement. I pray that we will maintain a calm and bright political discussion, and if the decision cannot be changed, I also hope that we can maintain the best friendship with each other." However, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has already kicked Zhang Guotao out, and no one pays attention to him anymore.From the day when the central decision was announced, extensive publicity and education was carried out among organizations and troops at all levels.After a brief shock, the comrades expressed great indignation and contempt for Zhang Guotao's rebellious behavior. On May 5, 1938, the "New China News" in Yan'an published Order No. 7 of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Government. The full text is as follows: In order to show contempt for traitors, this order was not published on the front page of the newspaper, but was published in a small inconspicuous place in the advertisement column at the bottom corner of the third page.Zhang Guotao's 18-year revolutionary career began as the founder of the Communist Party of China, and finally ended with the name of "traitor".