Chapter 31 9. There are many hardships on the way to the south

On October 5, Zhang Guotao held a meeting of senior cadres in the Baisha Lama Temple in Zhuomu. method, the establishment of a "temporary central government" headed by him, blatantly raised the banner of separatism.Because Zhang's establishment of another "Central Committee" came so suddenly, some cadres at the meeting were dumbfounded. Even his main follower, Chen Changhao, seemed unprepared and did not immediately express his position, especially Xu Xiangqian.The atmosphere at the venue was extremely dull, and no one spoke. Zhang Guotao asked Zhu De to express his position. Zhu De did not agree with this approach at all. He reiterated: "We cannot oppose the Central Committee, but must accept the leadership of the Central Committee. Now, the enemy is facing us, we must talk about unity! The Red Army of the world is one family, and the Red Army of Chinese Workers and Peasants Under the unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, it is a whole. Everyone knows that our "Zhu and Mao" have been together for many years and are well-known all over the country and the world. I can't do it if I want this "Zhu" to oppose "Mao". ah!……"

Zhang asked Liu Bocheng to express his position again, and Liu Bocheng stood unequivocally on Zhu De's side.Seeing that Zhu, Liu and others did not support him, Zhang's face darkened, but he was not good at attacking.They directly announced the long-prepared "temporary central" list, and formed the "Resolution" in the name of majority approval. The "Resolution" announced the expulsion of "Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhang Wentian, and Bogu's party membership", "revocation of work, expulsion of members of the Central Committee, and orders for arrest", and the general secretary of the "interim Central Committee" was naturally Zhang Guotao. Zhang's anti-Party behavior has now come to an end. developed to its peak.

The resolution made at this meeting aroused strong dissatisfaction among the cadres and soldiers of the former Red Front Army. Even many comrades in the Fourth Front Army found it ridiculous.Xu Xiangqian, commander-in-chief of the Fourth Red Front Army, did not speak at the meeting, nor did he show his hands to vote, because he neither understood nor felt very sad about what happened before him.After the meeting, Zhang Guotao had a talk with him, hoping to get Xu Xiangqian's support.Xu Xiangqian made it clear that he disapproved of this approach. He said: "There are differences in the party, who is right and who is wrong, you can talk slowly, and it will eventually reach a conclusion. To scold the central government for nothing, to expel this one, and to arrest that one can only be done." Make loved ones hurt and enemies happy. Even if the central government has done something wrong, we can't do it like this. Now that there are two central centers, if the enemy finds out, what good is it?"

Comrade Luo Nanhui, Deputy Commander of the Fifth Army (formerly Commander of the 33rd Army), once said in private: "This approach is wrong. He (Zhang Guotao) has two central governments. If it is not a split, what is it? How can the Communist Party make such a decision? Such a thing comes!" Comrade Li Xiannian, political commissar of the 30th Red Army, did not attend the meeting. Afterwards, he found Xu Xiangqian and Chen Changhao and made it clear: "We have a central government now, why should we establish another central government? One country cannot have two masters." Li Xiannian disagreed with this matter. I understand that Zheng Weishan, the political commissar of the 88th Division under him, found it even more absurd. He said to Li Xiannian: "Political commissar, how is it easier to set up a central committee than we set up a branch."

Li shook his head helplessly, and told Zheng Weishan: "Pay attention to educating the troops, master the troops, and educate party members and cadres to strengthen unity." In November 1935, Zhang Guotao opened the passage to Tianquan and Lushan in order to implement his southward policy, and realized the plan to establish a base in Chuankangbian.Immediately in the name of "Chairman of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission", the "Suichong Danmao Campaign Plan" was released.The plan divided the more than 80,000 members of the Red Fourth Front Army into two columns, left and right, and marched to the coasts of Jinchuan and Jinchuan successively.The big and small Jinchuan areas have complex terrain, easy to defend but difficult to attack.There are deep mountains and cliffs along the way, canyons and torrents, which are inconvenient for large troops to fight.At the beginning of this battle, the Red Army seemed very passive, while the Sichuan Army exploded with amazing combat power.The commanders and fighters of the Red Army who had crossed the grass twice were not afraid of fatigue and difficulties, and fought the enemy bravely and tenaciously.A total of six brigades of the enemy's Sichuan army were defeated, and more than 3,000 enemies were killed and captured.But he also suffered heavy casualties, and the gains outweigh the losses.

Zhang Guotao had always been optimistic about going south. In 1932, when the Fourth Red Army retreated from the Hubei, Henan, and Anhui bases into Sichuan, it never experienced defeat in the fight against the Sichuan Army, which was several times its own. More than 10,000 people have grown to 100,000 people, and the second largest base area after the Central Soviet Area has been established.What prompted the warlords from all walks of life in Sichuan to unite unprecedentedly and fight the Red Army at all costs?It turned out that before the Red Army entered Sichuan, Liu Xiang, the warlord who took over the power in Sichuan, was received by Chiang Kai-shek. , It is to help Lao Jiang; if I am defeated, Lao Jiang will seize my power, and defending against Chiang is far more important than preventing the Communist Party.

But now, the spearhead of the 80,000 Red Army going south is directed at Chengdu, and wants to take away his lair.This forced Liu Xiang, who had always been in harmony with Chiang Kai-shek, to wake up, because Zhang Guotao's southward attack endangered the fundamental interests of all the warlords in Sichuan. Then, the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army launched the "Battle of Tianlu Mingyaqiong". In this battle, more than 10,000 enemies were killed and captured, and one enemy plane was shot down.The victory in the early stage of going south shocked Chiang Kai-shek so much that he immediately dispatched Xue Yue's troops for reinforcements and ordered his air force to dispatch frequently to cooperate.The main force of the Sichuan Army, Wang Zanxu, Tang Shizun, and Fan Shaozeng, also rushed to help.The enemy's strength gathered here has reached more than 80 regiments. On November 19, the two sides launched a bloody battle at Baizhang Pass.Under the cover of aircraft and artillery, more than a dozen enemy brigades launched a fierce attack on the Red Army positions in the Baizhang area from the east, south, and north.On this day alone, our Fourth Army, Ninth Army, and Thirty-first Army all went into battle one after another, and the intensity was unprecedented.The vast number of Red Army commanders and fighters endured hunger and were not afraid of the severe cold.In the bloody battle with the Sichuan army for seven days and seven nights, our army killed and wounded more than 15,000 enemies and nearly 10,000 people.Both the enemy and us have been exhausted, and the enemy's reinforcements are still coming in.Under such circumstances, the Red Fourth Front Army Headquarters had to decide to withdraw from the Baizhang area and shift from offense to defense.At this time, it is the middle of winter, the climate is cold, and the wind and snow are continuous.For the Red Army in trouble, this is tantamount to making matters worse.The Red Army was oppressed by the enemy in the mountainous area of ​​western Sichuan, and it was impossible to go south or east, so they were very passive.

The harsh reality since going south has deeply educated the vast number of Red Army commanders and fighters. Among them, there is growing doubt and dissatisfaction with Zhang Guotao's southward route. In December, the enemy's Xueyue Department relied on its superior firepower and troops to approach the Red Army steadily. The Red Army retreated while fighting, and then retreated to the Tianquan and Zishiguan areas, and the front was relatively stable. Just when Zhang Guotao led the Fourth Red Army to the south and hit a wall and was in a difficult situation, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China led the First and Third Red Armies to northern Shaanxi successfully, and quickly opened up the situation.Compared with reality, Zhang Guotao was extremely distressed. On December 24, Zhang Hao, as the CCP's representative to the Communist International, called Zhang Guotao to ask Zhang to cancel the "Second Central Committee" and set up the Southwest Bureau of the CCP, directly under the CCP's delegation to the Communist International.After receiving the call, Zhang Guotao convened a meeting in Renjiaba to discuss the resolution of the Wayaobao Conference of the Communist Party of China and the instructions of the Communist International conveyed by Zhang Hao.At the meeting, Zhu De, Xu Xiangqian, Zhou Chunquan, Fu Zhong and others unanimously supported the resolution of the CPC Central Committee.Under such circumstances, Zhang Guotao could only express his agreement with the central government's new strategy.The troops began to march north one after another, and under extremely unfavorable circumstances, they once again climbed Jiajin Mountain and Dangling Mountain.These snow-capped mountains are all thousands of meters above sea level, and it is also in the cold winter season. Hunger, fatigue, cold, and disease have caused a large number of red army reductions.So far, Zhang Guotao's policy of going south has completely failed, and the majority of Red Army commanders and fighters are increasingly dissatisfied with Zhang's actions.

When the troops arrived in Ganzi after all kinds of difficulties and dangers, the number of the Fourth Front Army had dropped from more than 80,000 at the beginning to more than 40,000, including the Fifth Army and the Thirty-two Army of the original Front Army.Zhang Guotao was extremely depressed at this time, and he clearly felt that the authority that overshadowed the sky with one hand in the past was gradually disappearing.Due to the implementation of his southward strategy, the heroic Fourth Front Army lost more than 40,000 troops in less than half a year. Mao Zedong once said in front of him: "There is no way out for going south! Going north is the only choice for the Red Army!" Thinking of this, Zhang Guotao couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

In June 1936, Zhang Guotao was forced to cancel the "Second Central Committee".Soon, the Red Second and Sixth Army Corps and the Fourth Front Army successfully joined forces.On July 5, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission issued an order regarding the establishment of the Second Red Front Army and the appointment of its leaders.The command is as follows: It was decided to organize the Second Front Army with the Second Army, the Sixth Army, and the Thirty-second Army, and appointed He Long as the commander-in-chief and commander of the Second Army, Ren Bishi as the political commissar and political commissar of the Second Army, Xiao Ke as the deputy commander-in-chief, Guan Xiangying as the deputy political commissar, and Chen Bojun as the sixth commander. The commander of the army and Wang Zhen as the political commissar took office respectively.

According to the telegram of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, the Red Army was formally established.Li Da, the former chief of staff of the Red Sixth Army, was transferred to the chief of staff of the Second Front Army.After the two armies joined forces, a joint meeting of senior cadres was held in Ganzi. Ren Bishi took the lead in firing at Zhang Guotao at the meeting, criticizing him for leaving the Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Sichuan-Shanxi bases without reporting to the Party Central Committee. It is even more wrong to lead the troops to the south of the Second Central Committee, which violates the decision of the Central Committee at the Maoergai meeting.He Long, Guan Xiangying, and Zhang Qinqiu, then director of the Political Department of the Fourth Front Army, also spoke one by one, all with the same argument.Coupled with the instructions of the comrades present at the meeting, the lonely Zhang Guotao reluctantly agreed to the northward policy. The second and fourth front armies began to make active preparations, and the Fifth Red Army was no exception. Commander Dong Zhentang was extremely excited in recent days, sweeping away his formerly sad face.Shortly before the reorganization, the original 33rd Army of the Fourth Front Army was reorganized into the 5th Red Army (the former 5th Red Army was reorganized into the 13th Division, which governed the 37th and 39th Regiments; the former 33rd Red Army It was compiled into the fifteenth division, governing the forty-third and forty-fifth regiments.), and the strength of the fifth army doubled.Now, it was time to cross the grassland and go northward to the anti-Japanese battlefield, and it was time to join forces with the Party Central Committee and the First Army. Dong Zhentang stepped up the deployment of cadres and soldiers of the whole army to raise enough food and prepared to cross the grassland for the third time.It just so happened that Li Da, chief of staff of the Second Front Army, came to visit him with a bag of yak jerky. Dong Zhentang excitedly stepped forward and held Li Da's hand tightly and said, "We were the commander of the student company back then, but now we are the famous chief of staff of the Second Front Army." !" Li Da was also very happy, and he said affectionately: "Commander, you have won the award. It has been four years since we parted, and you have lost a lot of weight!" Dong Zhentang smiled wryly and said, "How can you not be thin! Follow Zhang Guotao to toss Toss and go, and pass the snow-capped mountains and grasslands three times. Fortunately, the thinking is unified now! Now the whole army is full of energy, how about you? I remember that there were many comrades who were transferred to work in the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet Area!" Li Da thought for a moment, and then said heavily: "We won many battles in the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet Area, our team developed and our base area expanded, but they died one by one. The strategic shift suffered a lot along the way. Many good comrades were sacrificed. But no matter the difficulties and dangers, we still survived..." Dong Zhentang listened carefully, and then he said: "You have never walked through the grassland, so you don't know the difficulties and dangers there. We have experience, but there are still many soldiers who fell behind and died. In my opinion, each of you must at least be prepared More than 30 catties of food are enough, and after walking out of the grass, all comrades should be warned to eat in moderation. It happened here, we ate so much that we accidentally got sick or even died, you Watch out for things that shouldn't happen." Li Da listened carefully, and Dong Zhentang said again: "We are about to join forces with the Party Central Committee. Since we set out from the base area, we have suffered a lot. As the rear guard of the whole army, we are often tightly bitten by the enemy. We are on the sidelines day and night." He retreated while fighting, couldn’t eat well, didn’t sleep well, couldn’t replenish, and was often in a very passive position. He even lost a whole construction engineer when he crossed the Xiangjiang River.” At this point, Dong Zhentang’s eyes became hot, and he couldn’t continue.Li Da comforted him emotionally: "Old chief, don't be sad! Sacrifice is inevitable, and you are not responsible. More than 5,000 soldiers from the 34th Division spilled blood on the Xiangjiang River in exchange for the safe transfer of the central government and the main Red Army. They have defended the Chinese revolution with their flesh and blood, and their blood was not in vain. I think we all participated in the Ningdu Uprising under your leadership and devoted ourselves to the revolutionary ranks without hesitation. We have embarked on a path of truly saving the country and the people. Now, the rest are the backbones that have been tempered and tempered. We will definitely develop and grow stronger. I will prepare carefully according to your words when I go back. See you after crossing the grassland! Commander-in-Chief, I'm leaving, you have to take care!" After saying goodbye to the old chief, Li Da stepped on his horse and returned to the headquarters of the Second Front Army.How did he know that this meeting was actually a farewell to Dong Zhentang.