Chapter 37 2. The survival of the troops in the Central Plains is seriously threatened

On January 13, 1946, the truce between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party came into effect.The sound of guns and artillery on various domestic battlefields temporarily stopped, and the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan, Shandong and Central China Liberated Areas in the north were given a period of recuperation. At the beginning of January, when the troops of the Central Plains Military Region moved from Tongbai Mountain to the east of Pinghan Road, the Kuomintang army blocked and chased, and compressed our army in Guangshan, Luoshan, Jingfu (now Xinxian County) in Henan Province and Lishan (now Dawu) in Hubei Province. Xuanhuadian, Baiqueyuan and Guojiahe areas at the junction of the four counties.The radius is only a hundred miles, the population is only over 400,000, the economy is backward, and the land is barren and the people are poor.In just four months, the area of ​​the Central Plains liberated area shrunk to only one-tenth of what it was at the time of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. Sixty to seventy thousand people from the Central Plains Bureau, military region troops, and family members in the rear flooded in, and food and supplies soon fell into trouble.

The Central Plains Liberated Area was surrounded by Kuomintang troops on all sides.In the north, the 47th Army was stationed in Luoshan, Henan, and the 48th Army was stationed in Shangcheng; along Pinghan Road, the 41st Army was stationed in Queshan, the 66th Army was stationed in Xinyang, and the 75th Army was stationed in Guangshui, Hubei; in the south, the 72nd Army was stationed in Macheng.The total strength exceeds 200,000.After the truce was issued, the Kuomintang army continued to encroach on the liberated areas, blocked traffic arteries, and imposed an economic blockade on the liberated areas.They calculated: If things go on like this, without fighting, Li Xiannian's troops will soon die of starvation and sleeplessness.

The situation is indeed quite serious. On January 14, Zheng Li urgently reported to the Central Committee: Tens of thousands of people live in a small area between the four counties, and "financial supplies are precarious."Ask the central government to help solve financial difficulties, or let them move east. On the 17th, the Central Military Commission replied with instructions: "Your situation is difficult. All plans should be based on overcoming difficulties and long-term persistence in struggle. Don't place too much hope on the truce and peace. It should be based on insisting on independence and self-reliance. On the one hand, do not place too much hope on foreign aid. After the truce order is announced, the struggle situation will become more complicated. On the one hand, we must carry out legal struggles, launch peaceful and democratic political offensives, and disintegrate the opponent’s civil war conspiracy; The principle of self-defense is to prevent and attack the other party’s sudden attack." ("Selected Documents of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China" Volume 16) Can't walk and can't walk, fight and can't fight, Zheng Li is very distressed about the situation.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is very concerned about the fate of the troops in the Central Plains, and tries every means to help them tide over the difficulties.Under the urging of Zhou Enlai and Ye Jianying, the Military Dispatch Department established the 9th Executive Team stationed in Hankou to specifically solve the survival problem of our army in the Central Plains. On the 23rd, under the mediation of the 9th Executive Team, Wang Zhen, on behalf of our army in the Central Plains, held negotiations in Luoshan with Song Ruike, a representative of the Kuomintang army, and reached the "Luoshan Agreement".It is stipulated that "the armies of both sides stay in their respective areas now", and our army in the Central Plains "may transport supplies in the area where they are stationed", and the Kuomintang army agrees to "not obstruct or interfere with such transport operations".

It can be transported, but there is no money to buy food.In order to report the situation to the Central Plains Bureau, Ren Zhibin was entrusted by the Central Plains Bureau to fly to Yan'an via Hankou and Beiping in early February to report to the Central Plains Army on the financial difficulties and other issues.Liu Shaoqi and Ren Bishi listened to the report and promised that the liberated areas such as Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, and Shandong would help the Central Plains with the money needed for supplies, but asked the Central Plains to demobilize 20,000 people and streamline their administration. ("Central Plains Breakout Chronicle")

Food is the basic condition for maintaining the survival of the army.In China's past war history, there are many examples of the collapse of the army due to lack of food.The Central Plains army was composed of three troops, which were not very strong in the first place. Due to lack of food, each army sought its own way out, which caused some confusion inside the base area. On March 13, the Central Plains Bureau sent an emergency message to the Central Committee: "In the past 50 days after the armistice, more than 50,000 of our main forces have been stationed in Ludongluo (mountain) Li (mountain) and through (Fu) Guang (mountain) four counties bordering more than a hundred people. In the narrow area of ​​the ri, the food is all borrowed from the local rich households and pre-collected. In the first half of this year, calculated based on the annual land tax, 3.7 million catties were obtained, and it was used up by February 20. The average burden of each insurance is now 2 More than 10,000 catties of rice. There are 16,000 troops in the army who have no food to eat, and the other tens of thousands can only survive for a week to nine days at most." More than 600,000 catties were raised, but due to the blockade of the Kuomintang, they could not be transported to the east of the road. This small area is already in a state of poverty between the army and the people, so it is impossible to borrow any more. The purchase of rice may last for 1 to 2 months, but there is no money Buy."

The Kuomintang wanted to strangle our army in the Central Plains by means of siege. Mao Zedong saw this very clearly. In March, Wang Zhenfei went to Yan'an to report on his work and asked for instructions on the course of action. Mao Zedong said to him: Chiang Kai-shek's principle in treating us is "resolutely destroy what can be eliminated, and prepare for the future to eliminate what cannot be eliminated now."Mao Zedong asked the Central Plains troops to continue to complete the strategic task of containing the Kuomintang army, and to be prepared to make major sacrifices, even if the entire army was wiped out, to ensure the victory of the overall strategy. (Wang Zhen: "Li Xiannian and the Breakthrough of the Central Plains")

In order to maintain the survival of the Central Plains troops, Zhou Enlai negotiated with the Kuomintang in Chongqing: 20,000 tons of grain from the Jinchaji, Taihang, and Shandong liberated areas were sold to the grain management offices of the Kuomintang in Beiping, Taiyuan, Xinxiang, and Jinan, and converted into cash. We purchased grain in Wuhan and shipped it all to the 5th Division, and Comrade Dong Biwu made a special trip to Hankou to handle the matter. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China tried its best to rescue the Central Plains troops.Liberated areas in Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei, Taihang, and Shandong raised a large amount of food. On March 30, Dong Biwu, on behalf of the Central Committee, went to Xuanhuadian to condolences to the cadres and soldiers of the Central Plains.By mid-April, the Liberated Areas of the Central Plains had received a total of 800 million French currency in relief funds from various sources, which could provide the troops with two months of living expenses, temporarily relieving the urgent needs of the Central Plains troops.In accordance with the instructions of the central government, the Central Plains troops began to demobilize a large number of cadres and soldiers, with a total of more than 8,000 people.

In May 1946, Chiang Kai-shek stepped up the siege of our army in the Central Plains.In charge of the command was Liu Zhi, director of the Zhengzhou Appeasement Office of the Kuomintang.According to the information he received, he believed that Li Xiannian's troops might break out to the northeast and join the New Fourth Army in Shandong, in an attempt to preemptively wipe out our army in the Central Plains in the Xuanhuadian area before our army took action.He sent Han Wenyuan, the deputy chief of staff, to Zhumadian and Hankou to discuss with Cheng Qian, the director of the Wuhan camp, and the directors of the 6th and 8th appeasement areas, and prepare for joint military operations.

The Kuomintang troops besieging our army in the Central Plains have increased to 12 armies, 21 divisions, and about 300,000 people, five times more than our army.In particular, we strengthened our troops along the Ping-Han and Jin-Pu routes, and cut off our army's eastward and northward traffic arteries. (Hu Lincong: "The Process of Chiang Kai-shek's Violation of Peace and Attack on the Henan-Hubei Liberated Area", contained in "Cultural and Historical Data Collection" No. 18) The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China saw through the Kuomintang's conspiracy and issued a statement on April 29, "seriously request the Kuomintang authorities to take all effective measures immediately , responsible for preventing the realization of this great bloody conspiracy, and quickly allowing the safe transfer and demobilization of the Li Ministry." (Volume 16 of "Selected Documents of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China")

In order to stop the civil war in the Central Plains, under Zhou Enlai's repeated request, Marshall agreed to send representatives to Xuanhuadian for mediation by the "group of three". On May 8, Zhou Enlai and representatives of the "three-person group" from the United States and Chiang Kai-shek arrived at Xuanhuadian to listen to Li Xiannian's report.Li Xiannian exposed the Kuomintang's siege of the Central Plains Liberated Area. The Kuomintang representatives were forced to agree to stop military operations and allow our cadres, family members, and wounded to be transferred to the northern liberated area by train. The 32nd Team of the Military Adjustment Department supervised the implementation in Xuanhuadian.At the welcome meeting held by the Central Plains Military Region, Zhou Enlai delivered an inspiring speech, which made the Central Plains cadres feel the care of the Party Central Committee.Pi Dingjun wrote excitedly in his diary: "Vice Chairman Zhou, you are here. You have worked hard on the battlefield of peace. You have brought us excitement and hope!" Zhou Enlai listened to Zheng Li's report in Xuanhuadian, and discussed with them the plans for the breakout, demobilization and transfer of personnel of the Central Plains troops.He clearly told Zheng Li: Although there was hope for peace, civil war seemed inevitable.This visit can only temporarily ease the tension, and it is impossible to completely solve the problem. After Zhou Enlai left, Zheng Weisan conveyed the spirit of the central government's instructions to the cadres, pointing out that the task of the Central Plains is to prepare for the anti-civil war, and at the same time pay attention to "boiling" and striving for legal transfer.The former is the first, and the latter is the second; if a civil war breaks out, the way out of the Central Plains is to disperse guerrilla warfare and join the main force. ("Wang Enmao Diary")