Chapter 5 05. Break through the second and third blockades

In late October 1934, after the Central Red Army broke through the first blockade, the Kuomintang army had not yet figured out the strategic intention of the Red Army's transfer.The Guangdong Army has withdrawn its main force to the Jiangxi-Guangdong border, and is still preventing the Red Army from entering Guangdong.The He Jian troops of the Hunan Army were not stationed on the border between Jiangxi and Hunan for a while, and there were only local armed guards in southern Hunan.Therefore, the Red Army advanced along the Jiangxi-Guangdong and Hunan-Guangdong borders to Rucheng in southern Hunan.The Red First Army, acting as the left forward, entered the territory of Guangdong and advanced along the southern side of Jiangxi and Guangdong to southern Hunan.The right forward Red Army Corps entered Dayu territory and advanced to southern Hunan.Although the main force of the Kuomintang army is not located in southern Hunan, it has ordered the Guangdong Army and the Hunan Army to deploy troops quickly, and set up a second blockade line between Rucheng, Renhua, and Lechang in the Hunan-Guangdong-Jiangxi border area to prevent the Red Army from advancing westward. . In late October, the Cantonese Army flanked the Red Army from the north and the south.After the Red Army counterattacked in Dayu and other places, they turned to Rucheng and Chengkou, preparing to break through the second blockade.

Rucheng is located at the southern tip of Hunan Province, at the junction of Nanling Mountains and Luoxiao Mountains, and is the junction of Hunan, Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces.There are many hills and mountains in the county, which is generally called "eight mountains, half water, one field, half road and manor".This county has a long history, and the county system has been established since the Eastern Jin Dynasty.The county seat is high-lying, surrounded by mountains on all sides, and the surrounding altitude is getting lower and lower. The entire county has a "mountain"-shaped structure.The well-developed water system has formed a landscape where "streams are heavy and streams are repeated, and thousands of schools flow backwards, actually occupying the upper reaches of the three provinces of Hunan, Guangdong, and Jiangxi".There are more than 60 water systems in the east, south and west of the county leading to the three provinces.Due to the abundance of mineral deposits and hydropower resources, the county is rich in geothermal heat. It has the hot springs with the widest area, the largest flow rate, the shallowest burial, and the highest water temperature in Hunan Province, known as "Lingquan" in history.The relics of the Red Army's arrival here still exist, and some pools are engraved with words such as "Red Army Pool".

Rucheng is a county with many historical relics of the activities of the Communist Party and the Red Army, and it is one of the famous revolutionary bases in Hunan.Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping, Peng Dehuai, etc. have all led troops here, and Zhu De has also been here many times.One year, Zhu De went here to carry out revolutionary activities and was attacked by bandits. Zhu De cleverly pretended to be a "gangster" to deceive them, and jumped out of the window to escape the danger. In August 1934, the Red Sixth Army Corps, which first explored the way for the Red Army, also entered the county.It is precisely because of Rucheng's special geographical location and a good foundation for revolutionary activities that at the end of October 1934, the Central Red Army, which broke through the first blockade line, entered Rucheng in three ways, breaking through the Kuomintang army's establishment at the entrance of the city in northern Guangdong. The second blockade line.Chengkou belongs to Renhua County, Guangdong.From Chengkou to Rucheng, there are blockhouses built along the 80 miles along the line, and there are more than 200 in Rucheng County alone.In order to pass the second blockade, the Red Army marched and fought in Rucheng for 16 days, covering more than 20 towns and villages in southern Hunan, and engaged in 13 large and small battles.Among them, the life extension blocking battle is the most intense.The 80,000 Red Army Ma Xijin marched on the Yangchang Trail in the Wuling Mountains. Due to carrying a large number of heavy weapons and equipment, including equipment and a large amount of supplies from the five factories of ordnance, coinage, printing, clothing, and pharmaceuticals, more than 10,000 people were mobilized. Carried by civilian husbands, it was extremely crowded and moved very slowly, sometimes only walking more than ten miles a day.This huge and bloated logistics force brought a great drag on the combat march.In order to cover the smooth passage of this supply unit, the 34th Division fought bloody battles for three days and nights, and many soldiers died because of this.Although there was no particularly large battle in this breakout, more than 9,700 people were lost, mainly due to long-distance rapid marches, colder weather, and unsuitable water and soil.

After the Central Red Army broke through the second blockade line, the highest "three-member regiment" officially issued a notice. The main purpose of this march was to join the Red Second and Sixth Army Corps in western Hunan, establish a new revolutionary base there, and divide Hunan, Hubei, and Sichuan The Soviet areas in Guizhou were integrated into a larger red area.In order to prevent the Red Army from advancing westward, the Kuomintang set up a third blockade line along the Yizhang Line connecting Hunan and Guangdong on the Guangdong-Han Railway, built 114 blockhouses, and stored tens of thousands of jin of grain, 10,000 jin of coal, and 10,000 dan of water in the central blockhouse , ready to put the Red Army to death.The Central Revolutionary Military Commission adopted the suggestion of Peng Dehuai and others. In order to quickly break through the third blockade line, it decided to divide the troops into two groups. One group took the Red Army as the vanguard and marched to the north of Yizhang, and the other group used the Red Army as the vanguard to march to the south of Yizhang. .The Red Army marched day and night in the torrential rain. After the Red Army defeated the local armed forces, it destroyed the enemy's central bunker and occupied Yizhang County on the 11th.After a day of fierce fighting, the Red First Army Corps on the South Road occupied Baishidu Town, more than 20 miles south of the county seat.The town is the Yizhang Station of the Guangdong-Han Railway, an important traffic artery.

Baishidu is a small town on the Guangdong-Han Railway. Because the railway was being repaired, three or four thousand road construction workers gathered here at that time.In addition to the locals, there are many foreigners, most of whom are bankrupt farmers.Tan Zheng, director of the Political Department of the First Division, ordered the troops to rest on the spot, and while raising funds, mobilized these road construction workers to join the Red Army, and soon recruited more than 300 people.After the forwards of the Red Army occupied Yizhangcheng and Baishidu Stations, two important support points on the third blockade line of the Kuomintang, they provided important conditions for the whole army to pass through the Guangdong-Han Railway smoothly.The bravery and bravery of the commanders and fighters of the Red Army were commended by the Central Revolutionary Military Commission. On November 11, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission sent a telegram to praise "the heroic and exemplary fighting role of the heads of the three armies Peng and Comrades Yang and all the commanders and fighters of the three armies when they broke through the two blockades of Rucheng and Yichen".However, because Li De, Bo Gu and others adopted the policy of avoiding battles during the march, they did not seize the favorable opportunity when the enemy's forces were not yet concentrated and coordination was difficult, and fought several battles of annihilation, but only ordered the Red Army to be exhausted. The unfavorable situation of being chased.The Red Army was walking on a mountain path, and the road was slippery when it rained. The soldiers moved slowly, while the enemy was walking on the main road, very fast, chasing and blocking the Red Army at all times, so that the Red Army was always in a passive position and could not walk. If you move, you can't hit it.As a result, when the Red Army broke through the third blockade, more than 8,600 people were reduced.

After breaking through the third blockade, the Red Army entered the Lanshan, Ningyuan, Daoxian, and Jiangyong areas of Lingling along the route of the Sixth Red Army Corps, and advanced into Guidong, Guangxi.In the territory of Lanshan, "the mountains and ridges overlap, the luxuriance is green, the sky is blue", and the county system was established in the Tang Dynasty.On the evening of November 19, Zhou Enlai personally led a part of the First Red Army Corps to capture the county seat, and confiscated more than 10 catties of gold and more than 5,000 silver dollars from the puppet county government.Ningyuan has established a county system since the Qin Dynasty. Jiuyi Mountain is located 60 miles south of the county seat, with a length and width of 200 miles.It has nine strange peaks with similar shapes. The peaks stand tall, not connected to each other, tall and straight, competing for height.Beyond the Nine Peaks, there are vast mountains, many mountains and green hills, rolling up and down, and there is a tendency of Wanshan towards Jiuyi.The various units of the Central Red Army passed through Ningyuan in mid-November and defeated the encirclement of the Kuomintang army. Zhu De passed the Meicui Octagonal Pavilion and wrote the poem "Ode to the Octagonal Pavilion": "The octagonal three gates and four holes, one ladder goes straight up to two floors. It took a lot of effort to build it, and it relies on future generations to build it again." Jianghua is the largest county in Lingling area and the county with the largest population of Yao people in the country.The county seat has the largest Panwang Temple at home and abroad (referred to as "the first hall of the Yao nationality in China") dedicated to the ancestors of the Yao nationality.After the Red Army captured the county seat, it protected the hall.

After breaking through the third blockade line, it was cloudy and rainy all the way, and the Red Army had a difficult journey. The troops walked on rugged paths without villages or people. The commanders and fighters endured hunger, cold, and fatigue.The artillery battalion was even more miserable. At that time, there were more than ten mountain cannons in a column. The commanders and fighters dragged these cumbersome guys into Guangdong. In the Miaoshan and Daxiaowangshan areas of the Wuling Mountains, the peaks overlapped and the trees were lush. There was no way to go. It is very difficult for people to walk, not to mention carrying more than a hundred cannons.The top leader of the Red Army also shared weal and woe with the soldiers. Liu Bocheng came to the front line to climb mountains and march with the boys.Mao Zedong discovered that the guard Wu Jiqing was suffering from malaria, so he gave him his stretcher and told him to recuperate with peace of mind.Relying on this spirit of unity for the revolution and courageous sacrifice, the Red Army has become an unbreakable and unbreakable steel army.Thanks to the heroic struggle of the Red Army, the vanguard of the Central Red Army entered Dao County on November 17, and rushed 200 miles long distance. In the middle of the next day, they rushed to the south bank of the Xiaoshui River in the county seat, grabbed a pontoon bridge more than 100 meters long, and besieged the county seat for three days. Firmly controlled the main road leading to northern Guangxi and covered the main force going west.

The Red Army will face a more powerful enemy-Bai Chongxi, known as "Little Zhuge", and his "Iron Army".