Chapter 41 41. Incoming call from "Second Center"

When the Party Central Committee and Mao Zedong led the main force of the Red Army to go northward, Zhang Guotao stubbornly insisted on going south. He put forward the slogan of "going south in a big way, and hit Chengdu to eat rice", and ordered the Left Army and the Fourth Army in the Right Army to go south. Turn around and go south, retreating to the Chuankang area. The Fourth Red Army, the Thirty Red Army, and some students of the Red Army University in the Right Route Army turned back from the Baozuo area and crossed the grassland again.When the vast number of Red Army commanders and fighters went south to re-cross the grass this time, the situation was very different from the first time they crossed the grass, and the natural conditions were even worse.On the grasslands in northwest Sichuan, it is already late autumn, the yellow grass is long, the cold air is bitter, the skin is frosty and snowy, and the chill atmosphere of late autumn is everywhere.Chen Bojun, former chief of staff of the Fifth Red Army Corps, described this change in a poem written by Aba:

What is even more unbearable is that the traces of marching and camping left by the grassland last time are still very clear. Many "person" sheds made of branches are piled with corpses of the Red Army that cannot be buried. Everyone has a question mark in their hearts: Why not go north with the Party Central Committee?The whole army fell into an atmosphere of confusion and depression.The lack of clothing and food is naturally a more serious problem. The edible grass and wild vegetables have been picked last time, and it is more difficult to find them now.In this harsh natural environment, more Red Army soldiers fell silently, and their precious lives became victims of Zhang Guotao's separatist activities.

In late September, the Red Army's southward troops joined forces in the Matsuoka area.Zhang Guotao was eager to realize his dream of usurping the party and power. On October 5, a senior cadre meeting was held in a lamasery in Zhuomu Diao (Jumuzu). Zhang Guotao, Zhu De, Liu Bocheng, Xu Xiangqian, and Chen Changhao attended the meeting. , Wang Shusheng, Luo Binghui, Yu Tianyun, Zhou Chunquan and other cadres above the army level, about 40 people.At this meeting, Zhang Guotao blatantly announced the establishment of a separate central government, flaunting the banner of separatism. Zhuomu Village is located 40 kilometers west of Malkang County, Sichuan.The entire stockade is on a high cliff close to the top of the mountain, and there are no more than a few dozen families scattered here and there.The iconic building of this village is a hexagonal bunker.It is quite different from common bunkers, with a thick bottom and a thin top, about fifty or sixty meters high, rather like a tall chimney.Not far from the bunker is a rather large lamasery.On the day of the meeting, red flags were planted outside the Lama Temple, and there were guard posts all over the place. There was a different tension than usual.

The meeting was chaired by Zhang Guotao.He has a self-possessed expression and no smile.He always spoke slowly, but this time he spoke even more slowly, as if he himself was fully aware that today was a historic speech.His words started with the counter-campaign against "encirclement and suppression" in the Central Soviet Area.He said that the central government failed to smash the enemy's fifth "encirclement and suppression campaign" and implemented a strategic retreat, which was a "mistake in the political line", not simply a matter of the military line.The meeting of the First Red Army and the Fourth Front Army stopped this retreat, but the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was stubborn and refused to admit its mistakes. Instead, it accused the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army for no reason.Going south is a strategic counter-offensive to terminate the retreat, and it is an offensive route. The leaders of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China were frightened by the enemy's planes and artillery, and lost confidence in the future of the revolution. He led the first and third Red Army regiments to leave secretly", which was "the greatest crime to split the Red Army". He attacked the leaders of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China as "bloggers" and "'Left' leaning empty talkers".He said that they came to the revolution only when they played basketball, went to restaurants, read good news, smoked cigarettes, and had someone to wait for them.He announced that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China had "lost its prestige" and "lost its qualifications to lead the entire party", and advocated following Lenin's method of breaking with the Second International and forming a new "temporary central committee".

The establishment of another central government came so suddenly that people couldn't help but look at each other, dumbfounded.Zhang Guotao felt that his speech was a bit out of line, but he was pretentious. He thought that the moving speech that had been brewed after many days of hard thinking would be supported by people, but he didn't expect that no one responded now, and he felt somewhat embarrassed.He took out a pack of cigarettes, knocked out one and put it in his mouth, but forgot to light the cigarette, struck the matches one after another, and threw them on the ground again.After striking four matches in a row, he suddenly realized his gaffe and lit the cigarette.

At this meeting, Zhang Guotao illegally established the "Second Central" organization, and established a whole set of institutions such as the so-called "Central Committee", "Central Political Bureau", "Central Secretariat", "Central Revolutionary Committee" and "Central League Central Committee"; Zhang Guotao "added a yellow robe" and proclaimed himself "Chairman of the Central Committee" and "Chairman of the Military Commission".In order to deceive the public, Zhang Guotao also forcibly pulled Zhu De, Ren Bishi, Chen Yi, Peng Dehuai, etc. into this "second central government", and in the name of this "central government", announced the expulsion of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhang Wentian, and Bogu from their positions as members of the Central Committee and from the party, and ordered "wanted".In order to show the wise policy of the "temporary central government", Ye Jianying and Yang Shangkun were dismissed and investigated.Obviously, Zhang Guotao's anti-Party behavior had reached its peak by this time.The meeting forcibly passed the "resolution" based on Zhang Guotao's personal will.

Later, Zhang Guotao sent a telegram to the Party Central Committee in northern Shaanxi, declaring arrogantly: (1) To publish documents in the name of the Central Committee, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Central Government, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, the General Command, etc., and have relations with you; (2) You should be called the Northern Bureau, the Northern Shaanxi Government and the Northern Route Army, and you must not falsely use the name of the Party Central Committee; (3) The names of the First and Fourth Front Army of the Red Army should be cancelled;

(4) You should report the status of the Northern Bureau, the Northern Route Army, and the political organization for approval. The content of the telegram made people laugh, and even called the real Party Central Committee the "Northern Bureau".Zhang Guotao's "central government" is completely self-proclaimed and illegal.Neither according to party rules and laws, democratically elected, nor reported to the Communist International, was approved.At that time, the Communist Party of China was one of the branches of the Communist International, and all decisions on major issues must be approved by the Communist International before they can take effect.

Zhu De, Liu Bocheng and others expressed great resentment against Zhang Guotao's anti-party and separatist activities of setting up a new "Central Committee", and resolutely opposed it.Zhu De solemnly declared: He absolutely does not agree with the establishment of a "second central government". To have two central governments is to split, and this is not acceptable.In accordance with the party's regulations, withhold opinions and do revolutionary work in the name of an individual.When he was speaking, he also made a fierce gesture, slashing violently from top to bottom with one palm, and said firmly: "You can split me in half, but you will never cut my relationship with Mao Zedong!" This thunderous language shocked the people present.People were stunned. At this time, Zhu De was no longer the kind Zhu De who was like an old mother that they usually saw all day long, but a giant who stood upright and powerful.

Zhu De resolutely opposed the establishment of a separate central government, which played a strong restrictive role on Zhang Guotao.Zhu De had a high prestige in the party and the Red Army. At that time, only the commander-in-chief of the Left Army could sit on an equal footing with Zhang Guotao, the chief political commissar of the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army.Therefore, when Zhang Guotao's "Second Central" put up its signboard and was blocked by Zhu De, he felt somewhat timid in his heart.He has repeatedly weighed Zhu De's weight in the party and the Red Army, knowing that without Zhu De's support, the "Central Committee" and "Military Commission" he illegally established are just castles in the air.Although Zhang Guotao announced the establishment of the "Second Central Committee" privately, he never dared to announce it to the outside world.He waited for the opportunity, and decided to reveal the "Dragon and Tiger List" after he had a sensational record in the south.

After the meeting, the Red Fourth Front Army of the Left Route Army and the Right Route Army could only obey the order of Zhang Guotao, the top leader of the "Second Central Committee", and went south.The two fundamentally opposed policies of going north and going south finally produced completely different results in the harsh practice of struggle.