Chapter 8 1. To defend North China or withdraw from Jiangnan

Just as Fu Zuoyi's plan to attack Shijiazhuang and Xibaipo was being implemented and went bankrupt, the decisive battle on the Northeast battlefield ended. On November 2, Shenyang was liberated. The result of the 52-day Liaoshen Campaign was: our army wiped out about 480,000 Kuomintang troops, and the entire Northeast was liberated. Anyone with a right mind will understand that the Northeast Army is about to enter the customs, and the next move is undoubtedly that the Northeast Field Army and the troops of the North China Military Region will jointly destroy the Fu Zuoyi Group in North China and liberate Peiping and Tianjin.

The war situation should have developed like this, because Mao Zedong had already made it very clear in his telegram to Lin Biao and Luo Ronghuan in the Northeast on October 31: ... (2) After the 4th, 11th, Dusi, Duliu, Duqi, and Duba divisions have advanced to the vicinity of Beiping, the Jinyu (press: Yu, that is, Yuguan, refers to Shanhaiguan) line and Rehe are empty. Please After occupying Shenyang, several independent divisions in the north were selected to go south first to deal with the enemies of Jinxi and Chengde, so as to prevent them from flooding the remnant people. (3) Except for the 4th and 11th verticals that will go south immediately, the main force of the Northeast should rest for about a month after the battle on the Shenying line, and start dispatching in early or mid-December to attack the Pingjin area and prepare for the war. In the second half of the third year, that is, from January to June next year, cooperate with the North China forces to wipe out Fu Zuoyi's main force, capture Pingjin and the Beining, Pingsui, Pingcheng, and Pingbao lines, and complete the unification of Northeast China and North China, so as to facilitate the fourth phase of the war. In the first quarter of this year, that is, next autumn, it is possible to dispatch the main force to the Yangtze River Basin and enable the Political Consultative Conference to hold its meeting in Beiping next summer. ...

Of course, Chiang Kai-shek and Fu Zuoyi understood this situation, and in the midst of this, of course Fu Zuoyi himself had the hardest time.The reason why he is said to be the saddest is not only because he knows that his armed forces are no match for the People's Liberation Army, he can neither beat Lin Biao nor Nie Rongzhen, but also because he thinks of what will happen to him if he is defeated.Just at the beginning of November, he received a top-secret telegram from Chiang Kai-shek: "Wei Lihuang was hesitant about the command and deployment, which delayed the fighter plane, fell into the Northeast, dismissed him for investigation, and detained him immediately. Zhongzheng sent an order." That is to say, Chiang Kai-shek wanted to In Beiping, Fu Zuoyi detained Wei Lihuang, the commander-in-chief of the Northeast "Suppression General" who had lost the battle in the Northeast.

Who is Wei Lihuang?He was born as Sun Yat-sen's guard platoon leader, one of the most famous "five tiger generals" in the Kuomintang army. He served as the former enemy commander of the Eastern Route Army as early as the Northern Expedition. Central Executive Committee, General of the Army.Back then, he fought a civil war under the command of Chiang Kai-shek. Because he captured Jinjiazhai, Anhui, the military and political center of the Hubei, Henan, and Anhui Soviet areas, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the Jinjiazhai area to be converted into a county, named "Lihuang County", which was in the Republic of China The era is an honor that no other general has ever received.During the War of Resistance Against Japan, he served as the commander-in-chief of the Second Theater (according to the establishment at that time, the Eighth Route Army, or the Eighteenth Army, belonged to the Second Theater and should be commanded by him), the commander-in-chief of the First Theater (which was the largest in the country at that time) The theater can mobilize a total of 2 million troops in four adjacent theaters). In 1943, he served as the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Expeditionary Force. He went to India and Burma for his outstanding military exploits and won the highest award of the Kuomintang government.It is such a top-level famous general of the Kuomintang army who has made great contributions to the Chiang Kai-shek regime, and because of his defeat in the civil war in the Northeast, he is now about to be detained and asked to execute it by Fu Zuoyi.Fu Zuoyi is the commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang army in North China. The North China battlefield is adjacent to the Northeast battlefield. He is quite familiar with the situation on the Northeast battlefield. The second time I went to Shenyang, I bypassed Wei Lihuang and took direct command. What was particularly bad was that I once instructed several Whampoa disciples who served as deputy commanders-in-chief to be directly responsible to Jiang. Everyone in the army knew that the real commanders of the Northeast battlefield were Chiang Kai-shek and Du Yuming.However, now that Wei Lihuang is being detained, Fu Zuoyi can't bear to do it, because he can't help but hurt others. He sees his own shadow in Wei Lihuang, and Wei Lihuang's today may be his tomorrow .

When Fu Zuoyi received the telegram from Chiang Kai-shek, he replied truthfully, saying that Wei Lihuang would come to Peiping.Unexpectedly, as soon as his reply call was sent, Wei Lihuang flew to Peiping and came to meet him as soon as he arrived.Fu Zuoyi had no choice but to hand over the telegram Chiang Kai-shek gave him to Wei Lihuang himself for review. Wei Lihuang was so conscious that he had to live in seclusion in Beiping, but was still under house arrest by Kuomintang agents. After the Kuomintang failed in the Northeast battlefield, what did Chiang Kai-shek plan for North China? Just two days after Shenyang was liberated by the Northeast Field Army, on November 4, 1948, Chiang Kai-shek called Fu Zuoyi to Nanjing to participate in a high-level military meeting dedicated to the study of North China issues, and had repeated discussions with He Yingqin and Gu Zhuping on the issue of the North China battlefield .Chiang Kai-shek knew very well that the Great War in the Central Plains was inevitable. The Central Plains Field Army of Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping and the East China Field Army of Chen Yi and Su Yu were not vegetarians. It is the gathering place of Chiang Kai-shek's direct troops after the defeat in the Northeast. If the decisive battle in the Central Plains fails, Chiang Kai-shek's main force will no longer exist, the Yangtze River defense line will be open, and the Kuomintang regime will not be preserved.Therefore, in Chiang Kai-shek's heart at this time, the highest interest was to preserve the Central Plains and the Kuomintang troops in the Central Plains.

Based on this overall consideration, Chiang Kai-shek made it clear at the meeting that he would abandon North China, and asked Fu Zuoyi to lead all the main forces in North China to retreat to the south of the Yangtze River, assume the post of military and political officer in the southeast, and continue to command the four corps.However, how to withdraw hundreds of thousands of troops?If North China is abandoned, how can the Central Plains hold on?Chiang Kai-shek could not come up with a convincing arrangement. Of course, Fu Zuoyi also has his own considerations about what to do in North China.If he wants to retreat to the south, he is determined not to do it. His starting army and relying force are the 35th Army. His base is in Suiyuan. Most of the 35th Army are from Suiyuan. He is asked to leave North China and abandon Suiyuan Not to mention Fu Zuoyi, even his subordinates can't do it.Also, if he goes to the south of the Yangtze River, he will become a force dependent on others, and he is not a direct descendant of Chiang Kai-shek. He may be squeezed out, cut down, or even annexed at any time.Therefore, the path of southward withdrawal cannot be taken anyway.The best way for Fu Zuoyi himself is to retreat to Suiyuan, spy on the direction, and see the next move of the Communist Party.However, it is impossible for the 400,000 central military system troops in North China to go to Suiyuan, which is bitterly cold.In this case, the only option is to maintain the status quo and temporarily stay in Pingjin.

Based on this consideration, Fu Zuoyi resolutely rejected Chiang Kai-shek's suggestion that he withdraw to the south of the Yangtze River.His reason is simple: defending North China is the overall situation, and retreating to the south of the Yangtze River is partial security. What's more, without North China, the Central Plains cannot be kept. If North China is abandoned, Lin Biao's army from the northeast will enter the pass and Nie Rongzhen's North China Corps will go south together. The four major field armies of the Jiang family fought together in the Central Plains. May I ask which general in the Jiang family's army dared to deal with this big battle?

Jiang Jieshi saw that Fu Zuoyi's attitude was very firm and his opinions were very reasonable, so he couldn't stick to his own opinions anymore, so he had to ask him to come up with a plan to guard Pingjin. Lin Biao will soon enter the customs, how should North China guard it?Fu Zuoyi had considered this a long time ago, and his policy was to shrink the front line and focus on defense.The specific plan is to concentrate the troops in the big cities along the railway lines such as Beiping, Tianjin, and Zhangjiakou, control the Tanggu exit, and fortify layers of defenses on the way to the customs to prevent Lin Biao from entering the customs and prevent Lin Biao and Nie Rongzhen from entering the customs. The two armies join together so that North China can be kept, and the Central Plains can be defended and supported.

According to Fu Zuoyi's estimation, it is not a problem to use his strength to deal with Nie Rongzhen's three corps, so North China is safe in the near future.After the Battle of Liaoshen, Lin Biao had to rest for at least three months. Therefore, Lin Biao entered the customs and Lin Nie joined forces, at least a few months later.If we withdraw now, wouldn't we hand over North China to the Communist Party a few months earlier!After a few months, if it is really impossible to fight, let's talk about withdrawing to the south. Anyway, the railway and sea routes are all in our own hands, and the initiative to defend and withdraw is in our own hands.This plan can be called "temporarily guarding Pingjin, maintaining Haikou, expanding strength, and observing time changes".

Fu Zuoyi's plan should be said to be a plan acceptable to all parties at the time, so it was passed at the military meeting and approved by Chiang Kai-shek.In order to implement the plan, Chiang Kai-shek also decided that from now on, North China will enter a state of emergency, and Fu Zuoyi will be in charge of all the party, government, military and financial power in North China. Obtain the support of the US military. The Nanjing Military Conference was a success for Fu Zuoyi.After he returned to Peiping, he prepared to stick to Pingjin according to the guidelines set at the meeting: first, to expand the army, and planned to expand the army by 200,000 people in the near future; fortifications; the third is to seek aid from the United States. On November 10, U.S. President Truman issued an order: "The U.S. naval garrison will continue to stay in Qingdao, and follow the established steps to provide weapons to the Chinese troops still fighting the Communist Party in North China."

In order to be able to defend Pingjin, Fu Zuoyi also adjusted the deployment of the army.The center of the adjustment is to strengthen the focus and give up the general. He gave up Chengde, Baoding, Shanhaiguan and other places in North China without setting up heavy troops, and put the main force in three key defense areas: (1) In the Tianjin Tanggu defense area, 19 divisions (or brigades) were deployed, headed by Hou Jingru, Commander of the 17th Corps, and Chen Changjie, Commander of Tianjin Garrison; (2) In the Beiping defense area, 26 divisions were deployed, headed by Li Wen, commander of the Fourth Corps, and Shi Jue, commander of the Ninth Corps; (3) In the Zhangjiakou defense area, 7 divisions (or brigades) were deployed, headed by Sun Lanfeng, commander of the 11th Corps. These arrangements of Fu Zuoyi showed two obvious characteristics: one was to place the troops of the Central Army system in the Pingjin area, so that it would be convenient to withdraw to the south when necessary, and it also gave the troops of the Central Army system a way out; The troops of the system were placed in the Beiping and Zhangjiakou areas in order to return to Suiyuan if necessary.The second is that he arranged the main force in a long snake formation from east to west, which was a misstep in military deployment. The above two characteristics not only reflected the contradiction between Jiang and Fu on the North China battlefield, but also reflected the contradiction between abandoning and defending on the North China battlefield. These two contradictions were the important factors for the defeat of Fu Zuoyi Group in the future.