Chapter 302 Chapter 32 Battle of Pingjin: A Combination of Military Strikes and Political Struggles

With the elimination of the Northeast Wei Lihuang Group, solving the problem of the North China Kuomintang Army became the central issue of Mao Zedong's consideration in advance.The solution to North China is mainly to eliminate the two strategic groups of the Kuomintang army, one is the Fu Zuoyi Group and the other is the Yan Xishan Group, and liberate the cities of Peiping, Tianjin and Taiyuan. Mao Zedong originally envisioned that, Yan first and then Fu (hit Yan Xishan first and then Fu Zuoyi), that is, take Guisui first, then take Taiyuan, eliminate Yan Xishan's clique, and after the liberation of Suiyuan and Shanxi, concentrate the main forces of the North China People's Liberation Army and the Northeast Field Army. Seize Beiping and Tianjin, and eliminate the Fu Zuoyi Group.

For this reason, Mao Zedong decided to fight three campaigns in North China. In the autumn of 1948, he ordered Yang Chengwu to use the 3rd North China Corps as the main force to form a westward marching corps, cooperate with the Northeast Field Army to eliminate the Wei Lihuang Group, restrain the Fu Zuoyi Group from sending aid from the Kanto, and march to Suiyuan at the same time, liberating Chahar and Suiyuan. In a large area, soldiers are coming to Suicheng. At the same time, Mao Zedong also deployed Taiyuan to fight, ordering Xu Xiangqian and Zhou Shidi's North China 1st Corps to launch the Taiyuan Campaign on October 5, "strive to capture Taiyuan before December 15."

The third battle is the Battle of Pingjin.According to this deployment, two days before the end of the Liaoshen Campaign, Mao Zedong sent a telegram to Lin Biao, Luo Ronghuan, and Liu Yalou, requesting the Northeast Field Army to send two columns of the advance corps to go south and enter Jixian and Zunhua areas to rest and wait. "The rest should rest for about a month after the battle on the Shen (yang) Ying (kou) line, and start dispatching in early or mid-December to attack the Pingjin area." On November 6, 1948, the two field armies of the Central Plains and East China launched the Huaihai Campaign. On the 7th, Mao Zedong judged that the Fu Zuoyi Group might adopt three policies based on various intelligences: stick to Pingjin; The troops of the direct line withdrew to the Nanjing area; abandoning Pingjin, Chiang Kai-shek and Fu Zuoyi's troops all retreated south.Mao Zedong considered that if Fu Zuoyi adopted the policy of sticking to Pingjin, it would be beneficial to me; if he adopted the policy of retreating, it would be beneficial to me. I have to fight in the future.In this way, Mao Zedong focused his command on preventing the enemy from retreating, and began to consider changing the original plan and launching the Pingjin Campaign at an appropriate time.

By weighing the pros and cons, Mao Zedong proposed to "retain Fu bandits in (Peking) Ping, (Tianjin), Zhang (Zhangjiakou), and Bao (ding) areas, waiting for the main force of our Northeast to enter the pass, and cooperate with the forces of North China to completely annihilate the enemy." The general policy, and emphatically emphasized that "the emphasis is on keeping the enemy in Beiping, Zhangjiakou, Tianjin, and Baoding so that they do not retreat westward or escape by sea." In order to keep the Fu Zuoyi Group in the Pingjin area, Mao Zedong began to consider the withdrawal of the 3rd North China Corps to return to Sui. First, he concentrated the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd North China Corps to quickly attack Taiyuan.Regarding the attack on Taiyuan, Xu Xiangqian and Zhou Shidi also proposed to increase the number of troops in a telegram to the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China on November 8.

However, Lin Biao, Luo Ronghuan, and Liu Yalou put forward different views on the increase of troops in Taiyuan based on Mao Zedong's general intention of suppressing the Fu Zuoyi Group and annihilating it on the spot in North China.They believed that stopping the attack on Guisui was a major step to contain Fu Zuoyi's clique, but it was not enough. On November 15, they called the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China and suggested "not attacking Taiyuan for the time being." The suggestion of Lin Biao, Luo Ronghuan, and Liu Yalou was immediately adopted by Mao Zedong, and the next day, he sent electricity to Xu Xiangqian and Zhou Shidi on the front line in Taiyuan to ask for opinions on delaying the attack on Taiyuan.

The next day, Xu Xiangqian and Zhou Shidi replied to the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, expressing their full agreement with the policy of not attacking Taiyuan temporarily.