Chapter 9 09. The "conspiracy" of the "three-person group" on the stretcher

In the year of the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign, although Mao Zedong had fought resolutely against the central leaders who practiced the "left" wrong line, his original intention was still to hope that the central government would accept his correct ideas and correct their mistakes.However, after the bloody battle on the Xiangjiang River, the Red Army faced the danger of annihilation. At this time, most people were dissatisfied with the leadership of the central government. Mao Zedong began to launch a struggle to replace the "Left" dogmatic leaders.He first fought for Wang Jiaxiang and Zhang Wentian.

Before the Central Red Army started to set off, in order to enhance the mobility of the strategic transfer of troops, the top "Three-member Regiment" of the Central Committee decided to take only a small number of government staff and disperse the personnel who had to be taken away to the various legions for the convenience of marching and fighting. At the same time, the personal safety of these leading comrades of the party and the government is guaranteed.Zhang Wentian agreed without much consideration, but Mao Zedong expressed a different opinion.He believes that leading comrades walking together during the march can communicate with each other, exchange views on some issues, and use their own thoughts to influence some comrades and win sympathizers, which is conducive to the implementation of correct opinions.If they are scattered among the various legions and they do not meet each other, it will be difficult to communicate and form a consensus.Therefore, Mao Zedong resolutely opposed the dispersal of the leaders of the party and the government to the various army regiments, and advocated the concentration of organs and organizing them into combat units.

Mao Zedong told Wang Jiaxiang his thoughts, and Wang Jiaxiang thought it made sense, so he asked Bogu to express his opinion. Although Bo Gu and Li De were always wary of Mao Zedong, they believed that if Mao Zedong was placed in the column, Mao Zedong would not be able to directly contact the troops and would not have the opportunity to carry out activities in the army.Moreover, even if Mao Zedong was with Zhang Wentian and Wang Jiaxiang, Mao Zedong and Wang Jiaxiang were both wounded and ill. Under the continuous artillery fire of the army marching westward, it would be good if they could complete their daily marches. How could they still have the ability to carry out political activities!

But the facts were beyond their expectations.During the Long March, Mao Zedong, Zhang Wentian, and Wang Jiaxiang not only walked together, but also camped together. Whenever they had time, opportunities, and conditions, they talked with each other, discussed problems, and exchanged opinions.Mao Zedong marched on a stretcher because he was recovering from a serious illness and was in poor health. Wang Jiaxiang also marched on a stretcher due to an injury. The stretchers of the two often met together, and Mao Zedong and Wang Jiaxiang could chat on the stretcher.Although Zhang Wentian was riding a horse, he could slow down and join their conversation.When there is no war, they can still recharge their energy during the day, and lie in bed at night and talk all night long.

Wang Jiaxiang was injured during the fourth campaign against "encirclement and suppression". At the beginning of 1933, the first Red Army won the battles of Huangpi and Caotaigang, and the team directly under the General Political Department moved to Gugang Village, Le'an County. On April 28, Zhou Enlai, Wang Jiaxiang and others held a meeting in an ancient temple to study the issue of military expansion.At about 9 o'clock, suddenly two enemy planes flew over, and there were explosions outside.Seeing that the momentum was wrong, Wang Jiaxiang said to the participants: "Follow me outside to hide!" He was the first to step out of the gate and looked up at the planes in the sky.At this moment, another bomb fell, Wang Jiaxiang had no time to dodge, and fell to the sound of the bomb explosion, and the shrapnel flew into his right abdomen, causing serious injuries.He was sent to Ruijin Hospital by the medical team led by He Cheng, Minister of Health of the Military Commission.

Attending doctors Peng Zhen and Wang Bin consulted Wang Jiaxiang. After examination, it was found that the shrapnel had penetrated his lower right abdomen, pierced the ascending colon, embedded the shrapnel into the abdomen, and the ascending colon had been perforated and infected. There was a risk of diffuse peritonitis.Due to limited conditions, it was impossible to perform major surgery to remove the shrapnel, so the doctor could only treat him conservatively-incision and drainage.The root cause of the disease was not cured, and Wang Jiaxiang's abdominal wound kept bleeding, so he had to sit on a stretcher during the Long March.Before the start of the Long March, Wang Jiaxiang was worried that he would be left in the Soviet area like a burden, because he knew that he was a "left" dogmatist and an unpopular figure; later, at the Ningdu meeting, he resisted the demands of everyone Retaining Mao Zedong's command of the Red Army also offended Li De and others.Later, when he learned that it was Mao Zedong who fought for him, he was able to transfer with the main force of the Red Army, and he was very grateful to Mao Zedong.

Regarding the stretcher situation in the special environment on the Long March Road, Wang Jiaxiang recalled in an interview with Snow in Yan'an: "If it is an achievement to say that I was the first to support the correct proposition of the Chairman at the Zunyi Meeting, it is first of all Chairman Mao's respect for Chairman Mao. The result of my education and enlightenment. At the beginning of the Long March, Chairman Mao was sick and sat on a stretcher, and walked with me. Whenever we went to the camp to rest, we often talked together. Because of my rich armed struggle and one, two, three of Chairman Mao: I admire the great victory of the anti-'encirclement and suppression' campaign very much. Therefore, I frankly expressed my worries about the current situation to Chairman Mao, thinking that this will not work, and that Bo Gu and Li De should be "bombed" out. Chairman Mao agreed with me very much. In view of the actual situation, I said that China’s revolution cannot rely on foreigners, cannot copy the experience and models of other countries, and the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism must be combined with China’s revolutionary practice. This gave me a lot The enlightenment also made me more determined to support Chairman Mao."

Another person Mao Zedong fought for was Zhang Wentian.At the beginning of the Long March, he also walked with Mao Zedong, but not on a stretcher but on a horse.The casual conversation and full discussion along the way also made Zhang Wentian and Mao Zedong closer emotionally, and gradually agreed with Mao Zedong in thought and viewpoint.He began to realize that the reasons for the failure of the fifth counter-campaign against "encirclement and suppression" were mainly subjective and were caused by strategic and tactical mistakes in military leadership.When Zhang Wentian later described this experience, he said: "After the Long March, I lived with Comrades Mao Zedong and Wang Jiaxiang. Comrade Mao Zedong began to explain to us the mistakes made by the Central Committee in military leadership during the anti-five 'encirclement and suppression' campaigns. I quickly accepted his opinion, and started the struggle against Li De and Bo Gu in the Politburo until the Zunyi Conference.”

Among the "three-person group" of Mao Zedong, Wang Jiaxiang, and Zhang Wentian, Mao Zedong was the oldest in terms of age, and Zhang Wentian was the highest in terms of position. He was the only member of the Politburo Standing Committee among the three, and Zhang Wentian was supposed to be his "teacher".But Zhang Wentian believed in "whoever holds the truth, follow him." At this time, he believed that Mao Zedong was right and respected Mao Zedong very much.Therefore, among the three of them, Mao Zedong is actually the "teacher", the soul and the banner.

Their conversation together was described by the American writer Harrison?Salisbury humorously described it as "a 'conspiracy' on a stretcher".Indeed, these conversations should not be taken lightly.It is these long and short conversations that have played a magical role, triggering resonance and leaps in thinking and understanding.The central content of their conversation was Wang Ming's "Left" line of serious mistakes in military theory and military command.For example, why did the counter-campaign against "encirclement and suppression" fail?What is the main reason?What are the experiences and lessons in strategy, tactics and military command?Wang Jiaxiang sometimes criticized Li De's wrong military command very angrily. Zhang Wentian talked about the dispute between him and Bogu many times. Mao Zedong used the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism to analyze the "Left" adventurism in the military The mistakes and harms of the line, expounding the reason why Marxism-Leninism must be combined with the specific reality of China's revolutionary war.

In this way, the "Central Team Group of Three" with Mao Zedong as the core was formed on the Long March.Although it does not have a definite form of organization, it is just a political alliance against Li De and Bogu's "Left" erroneous line, and it is not a sectarian organization that existed in the Central Soviet Area as Li De said, but This loose "three-person group of the central team" grasps the truth better than the highest "three-person group" in the center, and has more combat effectiveness. After the Xiangjiang bloody battle, the "Central Team Trio" challenged the Central Committee's highest "Trio" with the banner of discussing the reasons for failure.And this leads to the discussion of the direction of the Red Army's Long March.