Chapter 19 19. Hit the East and the West

At the end of March, the main force of the Red Army crossed the Chishui River twice within a week.At this time, Chiang Kai-shek believed that the actions of the Red Army were erratic and chaotic, and that they were already a turtle in the urn, with only one breath left to die. On March 24, accompanied by Australian advisers Duanna and Soong Meiling, Chiang Kai-shek flew from Chongqing to Guiyang, where he personally sat in the "suppression of bandits". He was also accompanied by more than a dozen senior Kuomintang generals such as Chen Cheng and Yan Daogang, and government officials such as Chen Bulei.During the first few days when Chiang Kai-shek arrived in Guiyang, he and a group of close officials were mainly busy discussing how to solve the problem of Wang Jialie.Chiang Kai-shek had long wanted to take over the real power of the three provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, and Southwest Guizhou to Nanjing, but he couldn't find a better excuse to start.Taking advantage of the opportunity of chasing down the Red Army, it is a brilliant idea to clean up Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou by the way, killing two birds with one stone.Wang Jialie was dealt with within a month. At the end of March, on the pretext of Wang Jialie's ineffectiveness in "suppressing bandits", Chiang Kai-shek removed him as the chairman of Guizhou Province and deprived him of his military and political power.

However, wanting to subdue the Red Army is not as simple as subduing Wang Jialie.When he first arrived in Guiyang, Chiang Kai-shek bragged: The Communist bandits are at the end of their strength and are now forced to flee to Guizhou. The place to cross the river has not yet been determined. Just wings, otherwise you won't be able to escape our net... Indeed, Chiang Kai-shek opened a large net and waited for the Red Army to drill into it.He deployed an army of 500,000 to 700,000 troops in this area, with tight defense in four directions: east, west, it is impossible for the Red Army to break through and return to Hunan and Jiangxi; , it is impossible to enter Sichuan or Yunnan; to the north, the surging Yangtze River blocks the way of the Red Army.This time, Chiang Kai-shek believed that Mao Zedong was really hooked-the only thing he probably didn't take into account was Mao Zedong's extraordinary courage and cunning, and Mao was using his trip to Guiyang at this time.

After Mao Zedong led the troops across the Chishui River for the fourth time, the main force quickly marched southward to the Wujiang River, and at the same time sent a small force to pretend to go north.The enemy was confused by the tactic of attacking the west from the east. When they rushed north, the large Red Army troops were heading south in the opposite direction. On March 31, the Red Army crossed the Wujiang River at three crossings.During the break, Mao Zedong opened a one-hundred-thousandth map of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan under a big tree beside the road.Holding a red and blue pencil, he drew a red line on the map. This red line went southeast from near Zunyi, then turned west, and then went southwest, entering near Kunming, Yunnan, and extending to the Jinsha River. ——This is a marching plan for jumping out of Chiang Kai-shek's encirclement in half a circle.To realize this plan, the Red Army must transfer out the Yunnan warlords stationed on the Yunnan-Guizhou border.

Mao Zedong repeatedly emphasized: "As long as the Yunnan Army can be transferred, it is a victory." In order to transfer the Yunnan Army, the key is to pretend to attack Guiyang and force Chiang Kai-shek to mobilize reinforcements. In order to continue to confuse the enemy, after crossing the Wujiang River, the Red Army sent another team to build a bridge on the Qingshui River, pretending to go east and return to Hunan (Chiang Kai-shek had to mobilize troops to strengthen the defenses on the borders of Hunan, Guangxi and Guizhou).The main force of the Red Army rushed southward, approaching Guiyang.Mao Zedong separated the First Red Army and the Third Red Army, and sent them to move along the avenues and small roads around Guiyang, pretending to attack Guiyang to capture Chiang Kai-shek alive, and really staged a good show.

At that time, Chiang Kai-shek dispatched his troops to four or five directions to intercept the Red Army. There were only four regiments guarding the outskirts of Guiyang City.Wang Tianxi, chief of the Guiyang police station, was appointed as the commander of the police, responsible for the security of Guiyang City.Chiang Kai-shek never expected that the Red Army would dare to advance to Guiyang under heavy siege. At the beginning of April, traces of Red Army activities were discovered one after another in a place more than ten kilometers southeast of Guiyang, showing signs of attacking Guiyang under false pretenses.Chiang Kai-shek ordered that all party, government, and military personnel must stick to their duties and must live and die with the city. Those who hear the wind and abandon the city will be killed without mercy. The gains and losses of Guiyang "relate to international audio-visual."

Chiang Kai-shek was restless all night, so he went to inspect the city defense fortifications in person.On the edge of the city wall not far from the south gate, hundreds of soldiers gathered in the open space, smoking, playing cards, chatting and bragging, only a few people were building fortifications.Furious, Chiang Kai-shek lost his temper at the officer in charge, reprimanded him for neglecting his duties, and ordered him to complete the construction task within a day. On the night of April 6, Chiang Kai-shek received news that there were Red Army guerrilla activities outside Guiyang.Chiang Kai-shek repeatedly inquired about the fortifications and city defenses in important areas such as Lingshan, Dongshan, Luoshan, Zhaobishan, Tuyunguan, Daxiaoguan, etc. He also asked about the situation of Qingzhen Airport with special attention.Wang Tianxi was ordered to strengthen the city's defenses. He organized a battalion of military police, two companies of firefighters, and some policemen, a total of more than 400 people, and spent 24 hours building a new fortification along the city wall.Chiang Kai-shek couldn't believe the speed of construction was so fast. In the early morning, he, Song Meiling, and Duanna came out to inspect the newly built fortifications. Gu Zhutong came to report that the Red Army had reached the northeast of Guiyang, only six or seven kilometers away from the city.

Chiang Kai-shek finally couldn't hold back, and gave an order: Sun Du, commander of the Yunnan Army, led three elite brigades to rescue Guiyang quickly. ——This just fell into Mao Zedong's arms, and by mobilizing Sun Du's Yunnan Army, the biggest obstacle on the way for the Red Army to rush to the Jinsha River could be removed.Chiang Kai-shek believed that the three brigades rushed to aid were enough to resist Mao Zedong's attack on Guiyang by the Red Army.But he was wrong, Mao Zedong had no intention of attacking Guiyang at all, he just hoped that Chiang Kai-shek would fall into the trap.Happily, Chiang Kai-shek just fell into the trap designed by Mao Zedong.

Sun Du, who was ordered to rescue Guiyang, worked very hard. He traveled day and night, and traveled more than 400 miles in three or four days.But he was a long way from Guiyang, which the Red Army could reach within two hours. Chiang Kai-shek began to consider ways to retreat.He asked garrison commander Wang Tianxi how far it was from the airport. Before Wang could answer, another express report came that the Red Army had been spotted near Qingzhen Airport.Chiang Kai-shek remained silent, and after wandering for a while, he asked Wang Tianxi if there was an easy way to reach Anshun without passing through Qingzhen.Wang Tianxi told him that going out from the south gate, passing through the Huaxi Racecourse to Pingba, it is only more than 60 miles from Pingba to Anshun.Chiang Kai-shek asked Wang Tianxi to prepare more than 10 good horses, two sedan chairs, and find some faithful and reliable guides. The faster the action, the better. ——Wang Tianxi guessed that Chiang Kai-shek was preparing to flee for his life, but he still ran quickly to collect the fleeing team.

After Wang Tianxi left, Chiang Kai-shek asked Gu Zhutong and Chen Cheng when Sun Du's troops would arrive.He got a rather unpleasant answer: I'm afraid it will be noon tomorrow at the earliest. The next day, Chiang Kai-shek, who had been suffering all night, finally got some good news: the Red Army bypassed Guiyang and was heading east towards Longli; —— The performance of the Dian army satisfied Chiang Kai-shek.Less than a day after Sun Du arrived in Guiyang, he was ordered to pursue the Red Army in Longli, and fought several fierce encounters with the Red Army.On one occasion, a bullet from the Red Army penetrated the car in which Sun Du was riding, and Sun Du was lucky not to be hit.Chiang Kai-shek soon got another intelligence: the Red Army turned to the southwest and galloped, leaving all the pursuing Kuomintang troops behind.So far, Guiyang is all right, but what is intriguing is, where is the Red Army going?Chiang Kai-shek took Xue Yue, Gu Zhutong, Chen Cheng, and Duan Na to study for a long time, and finally he came to the conclusion that the Red Army was returning to Hunan or Jiangxi.

At this time, the Red Army was rapidly marching southwest, crossing the Beipan River, and heading west into Yunnan. Chiang Kai-shek was so confused by the Red Army that he couldn't predict the real intention of Mao Zedong's military command, so he had to be led by the nose. On April 10th, Chiang Kai-shek delivered a speech in Guiyang, and had to admit that "(the Red Army) was advancing or retreating from east to west, making it difficult for us to judge his intentions."Some generals of the Kuomintang also expressed a lot of emotion. The Red Army "pretended to be a plan to flee eastward, but it was actually a plan to spy westward."