Chapter 5 1. Instructing Yang Chengwu

Although the Battle of Laishui was a complete victory, it was regarded as revenge for the defeat by the 35th Army that year, but from the overall point of view, the Liaoshen Battle, the first decisive battle since the beginning of the War of Liberation, was still an important battle at that time. The top priority, so Mao Zedong's top priority at this time is how to fight the Liaoshen Campaign, and Nie Rongzhen's top priority is how to cooperate with the Northeast to fight the Liaoshen Campaign. In July 1948, on the big issue of how to fight the Liaoshen Campaign, neither Mao Zedong nor Lin Biao in the Northeast had a mature plan, but it was roughly decided that the main force of the Northeast Field Army should go south to Jinzhou and Shanhaiguan, and close the gates. beat the dog.And if there is a big fight in this area, a big problem is that the Fu Zuoyi Group in North China may go out to support, which will cause great difficulties for the plan to close the door and fight dogs. On July 22, Lin Biao, Commander of the Northeast Field Army, Luo Ronghuan, Political Commissar, and Liu Yalou, Chief of Staff, called the Central Military Commission, suggesting that the North China Military Region besiege Datong and transfer part of Fu Zuoyi's main force to the west so that it could not support the Northeast Field Army in the east. pressure.In fact, this idea has long been in Mao Zedong's plan.In order to fight the big battle in Northeast China first, the North China Military Region has been carrying out the task of containing Fu Zuoyi for more than half a year, but now the task is clearer and the burden is heavier.

Mao Zedong decided to hand over this important task to Yang Chengwu. On July 23, Mao Zedong sent a telegram to Nie Rongzhen, the commander of the North China Military Region, and Bo Yibo, the political commissar, and to Yang Chengwu, the second political commissar of the Second Corps of the North China Military Region. The telegram said: Immediately organize the Westward Corps to fight against Suiyuan. (1) The battle of Yang Chengwu's troops in the current area should end before the 25th, and the main force of the whole army should withdraw to the mountainous area west of the Pingbao Line to hide and rest, and one part should rest close to the Pingbao Line.

(2) Yang Chengwu immediately began to organize the westward marching corps to undertake the task of fighting against Suiyuan. This corps was composed of the entire first column, two brigades in the second column, and two brigades in the sixth column, with a total of three columns and seven brigades. Commander and Political Commissar of the Corps.A total of 15 days from the 26th to the 9th of August is the time for rest and recuperation. On August 10th, it will start westward, take the south of Datong, and arrive at the vicinity of Guisui around August 25th. The camera attacked Baotou, Wuyuan, and Linhe areas, occupied the entire Suixi grain-producing area, or maneuvered east of Guisui to attract at least one of Fu Zuoyi's troops to the west to facilitate the battle in the east.

(3) The Yang, Luo, and Geng divisions (note: referring to the former Second Corps of the North China Military Region led by Yang Dezhi, Luo Ruiqing, and Geng Biao) will end their on-site operations at the end of this month, and will rest and reorganize until August 15th. Around the 20th, he directly accepted the combat missions of Lin, Luo, and Liu (note: referring to Lin Biao, Luo Ronghuan, and Liu Yalou). (4) Yang Chengwu Corps was directly under the command of the Military Commission from Wuyou (note: this was the time code commonly used in telegrams at that time, Wuyou was July 26), and its rear supply was provided by the North China Military Region, with the assistance of the Jinsui Military Region In other words, with Northwest Shanxi as the rear, we must be prepared to fight throughout Suiyuan for a long time.The North China Bureau should immediately organize a group of local working cadres to follow the army westward.

(5) One brigade of the Sixth Column and all the Seventh Column will stay in the areas west and south of the Pingbao Line to fight in the area to the west and south of the Pingbao Line, under the command of the North China Military Region. On August 3, Mao Zedong received Nie Rongzhen and Yang Chengwu in Xibaipo. The "Five Secretaries" of the Central Committee, namely Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, and Ren Bishi, jointly explained to them the important task of the Central Committee to "strike the Northeast and lead North China".At the same time, it was announced that the Central Military Commission had decided that the Second Corps of the North China Field Army would be divided into two corps, with Yang Dezhi, Luo Ruiqing, and Geng Biao commanding a brigade of the Third Column, the Fourth Column, the Eighth Column, and the Second Column as the new Second Corps; Yang Chengwu He and Li Tianhuan commanded the two brigades of the first column and the second column and the sixth column, forming the third corps.The task of the Third Corps is to go west to the west of Suiyuan, the old base where Fu Zuoyi started his career, open up a new battlefield, and liberate Suiyuan.During this period, the two cavalry divisions and local troops already in the Jinsui area were also commanded by Yang Chengwu.Suiyuan was an important base that Fu Zuoyi would never give up anyway. In this way, Fu Zuoyi's main force could be dragged along the Pingsui line, mobilized to transfer to Guisui, so that it was impossible or possible to leave the customs as little as possible.

At the same time, one part of the Second Corps was in the Chengde area to cooperate with the Northeast, and the other was in the Zhangjiakou area to cooperate with the Third Corps in Suiyuan.The First Corps, under the command of Xu Xiangqian and Zhou Shidi, was still fighting Yan Xishan in Shanxi.The whole of North China will be fought, and Fu Zuoyi is firmly tied to North China, which will ensure the victory of the decisive battle on the Northeast battlefield. After assigning the task, Mao Zedong asked Nie Rongzhen and Yang Chengwu if they had any opinions.Both Nie Rongzhen and Yang Chengwu said they had no objections.Mao Zedong asked Yang Chengwu if he had any difficulties, and Yang Chengwu replied that there was no difficulty.Mao Zedong laughed. He criticized Yang Chengwu and said: "No, there are many difficulties in sending troops to Suiyuan!"

Mao Zedong carefully analyzed the various difficulties he would encounter for Yang Chengwu: (1) This is going to Duan Fu Zuoyi’s lair, digging out Fu Zuoyi’s lifeblood, Fu Zuoyi must fight to the death, this battle is not easy; (2) Fu Zuoyi has been operating in Suiyuan for many years, and the common people trust him. The regime at the grassroots level is relatively strong, so the Suiyuan authorities are likely to adopt a method of fortifying the walls and clearing the wilderness, making it difficult for our army to obtain food. If our army's logistics supply cannot keep up for a while , you have to be prepared to go hungry.

Mao Zedong said: "Chengwu, if you want to stand firm in Suiyuan, you have to be prepared to starve for three days and eat grass for two days!" Liu Shaoqi stood up and further emphasized: "Be prepared to starve for four days and eat grass for three days!" In order to help Yang Chengwu solve his difficulties, Mao Zedong asked Zhou Enlai to explain to Bo Yibo that he would prepare 100,000 cash for Yang Chengwu to buy grain when it was really difficult. When Yang Chengwu said how many people would be needed to pick the 100,000 yuan, Boss Zhu said: "You can use the method of the Red Army period. The company commander carries 50 yuan, the platoon leader carries 50 yuan, and everyone carries it."

That night, Nie Rongzhen and Yang Chengwu carefully and carefully studied the important tasks assigned by the central government, and sorted out the notes.Yang Chengwu made a suggestion to Nie Rongzhen. He thought that this task was very heavy. It is best for the commander and political commissar of the Corps to be served by two people respectively. .The next day, they presented this proposal to Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, which was approved immediately. Mao Zedong said: "This opinion is very good. I immediately ordered Li Jingquan to be the political commissar of the Third Corps. Now that he is in Shuo County, let him wait there for the troops of the Third Corps."