Chapter 9 2. Hold is to eliminate

When Fu Zuoyi formulated the plan of "temporarily guarding Pingjin, maintaining Haikou, expanding strength, and observing changes in time", and deployed 600,000 troops into a long snake formation, the Huaihai Campaign in the south had already begun. In Xibaipo, Mao Zedong and several heads of the Central Military Commission conducted further research on how to solve the Fu Zuoyi Group in North China.They agreed that the situation on the Huaihai battlefield was crucial to the fate of Chiang Kai-shek's regime. Only by guarding the Huaihe River could the Jiang Jieshi regime be defended, and only by guarding the river could the Chiang Kai-shek regime be preserved. This was the consensus of military strategists.Chiang Kai-shek wants to withdraw the Fu Zuoyi Group to the south of the Yangtze River. From Chiang Kai-shek's point of view, it should be said that it is the best strategy among the various options that can be adopted at present, because doing so can not only preserve a large amount of strength, but also greatly strengthen Jiang's defense.If Fu Zuoyi obeys Chiang Kai-shek's decision, it will cause great difficulties for our army to cross the river south and delay the time to eliminate the Chiang family dynasty.Fu Zuoyi's reluctance to withdraw to the south was due to the preservation of his own strength and territory.If he sees that there is no hope of keeping his own strength and territory, he may retreat to the south, and the retreat route must be from Tianjin and Tanggu by sea, because most areas of the Pinghan Line and Jinpu Line are now our territory. It is absolutely impossible for hundreds of thousands of troops plus their entourage and family members to pass through the liberated areas controlled by the military.And Tianjin and Tanggu have always been Fu Zuoyi's key fortification areas. In addition, the enemy's 17th Corps withdrew from the Liaoshen battlefield.Therefore, this is the only possible way for Fu Zuoyi to withdraw to the south.Of course, it is not easy for Fu Zuoyi to make up his mind to withdraw southward, or to make Fu Zuoyi determined not to withdraw southward, because there are both military and political factors in this.Starting from our strategic intention, we will try to keep it in North China again.The last time Fu Zuoyi was restrained, it was to prevent him from going out to support the Northeast battlefield; this time, Fu Zuoyi was restrained again, so that he would not retreat to the south, and all of them should be wiped out in North China, so as to ensure that our army liberated Jiangnan. The plan came true.

Based on the above judgments and considerations, the Central Military Commission has taken a series of important measures.When we look back on the ever-changing and very flexible command and deployment made by Mao Zedong and the Central Military Commission on the main battlefields in North China and the entire country during this period, we cannot help but admire the command art of the older generation of military strategists headed by Mao Zedong. admire. First of all, Mao Zedong asked the North China Military Region to hold Fu Zuoyi so that it would be difficult for him to escape.The action of dragging him this time is bigger than the last time when the Third Corps was sent west to Suiyuan.

At this time, the Three Corps that marched westward to Suiyuan had already liberated most of the entire province of Suiyuan, leaving only a few areas such as the provincial capital Guisui. Yang Chengwu had already submitted a report to the Central Military Commission to attack Guisui.Attacking Guisui was tantamount to destroying Fu Zuoyi's lair in the north, and Fu Zuoyi had to send troops to rescue him.Therefore, the Central Military Commission decided that the Third Corps would attack Guisui, and let the Second Corps cooperate with the Third Corps. To this end, Mao Zedong sent the following telegrams to Nie Rongzhen, Bo Yibo, and Teng Daiyuan of the North China Military Region, Yang Dezhi, Luo Ruiqing, and Geng Biao of the Second Corps, and Yang Chengwu, Li Jingquan, and Li Tianhuan of the Third Corps:

(1) Agree with Yang, Li, and Li (of the Three Corps) that at 24:00 on the 24th, Xu Hui (press: that is, November 10) began to fight back to Sui. (2) Yang, Luo, and Geng (of the Second Corps) immediately ordered the three verticals to move to the Xinghe and Jining areas, with the main force located in Jining to defend against the enemy, and one part in Xinghe to block the advance of the aid enemy. Xuwei (press: that is, November 5) arrived in Xingji area before. (3) Yang, Luo, and Geng led the Four Columns and other ministries to go southward across the road, preparing to follow up with the Three Columns to the Xingji area to serve as a resistance.Please inform Yang, Luo, and Geng about whether one should be left in the north or south of the road to be responsible for the attack on the Pingzhang section.

(4) Nie, Bo, and Teng are responsible for the supply of food and ammunition needed by Yang, Luo, and Geng. (5) Where are the two artillery companies in the military region now, and whether Xu Hui (November 10) will be able to go to Guisui, Pan Nie, Bo, and Teng will tell you immediately. According to the deployment of the Central Military Commission, Yang Chengwu led his troops to make various preparations to attack Guisui. Anhua was conquered on October 31. On November 5, the subordinate troops had entered the front position of the siege. At the same time, because Fu Zuoyi suddenly planned to launch a surprise attack on Xibaipo under the plan of Chiang Kai-shek, the "Aid to Jin Operation", according to the emergency order of the Central Military Commission, the Second Corps in North China went south from the Pingzhang Line Starry Night, while Fu Zuoyi was on the Pingzhang Line There are still two armies in strength, which makes the strength of our army on the flat line suddenly look weak.In order to ensure that the Three Corps would not allow the enemies on the Pingzhang Line to advance westward when the Three Corps attacked Guisui, and affect the Three Corps' attack on Guisui, Mao Zedong ordered the Northeast Field Army led by Cheng Zihua and Huang Zhiyong to enter Rehe on November 5. The advance corps immediately marched towards Zunhua and Jixian in the east of Beiping, threatening Beiping from the north.The advance corps of the Northeast Field Army included Dongye's Four Columns and Eleven Columns, as well as three independent divisions and a cavalry division, with a total of 120,000 people. This powerful force could launch an attack on Peiping at any time.The placement of the 120,000 troops on the east side of Beiping will make Fu Zuoyi afraid to send troops to the west, which will make Yang Chengwu's attack on Guisui even more worry-free.According to various situations, Mao Zedong had telegraphed Yang Chengwu: "The specific time for launching a general offensive can be set around the 15th" and "strive to conquer Guisui in about 10 days."

In this way, the battle of the Three Corps to attack Guisui has already been unsheathed, arrows are drawn, and it is about to start.However, on November 9, the North China Military Region and the Three Corps suddenly received a telegram from Mao Zedong: "Yang Chengwu stopped attacking Guisui, that is, rested in Guisui, Zhuozishan, and Jining areas, and then attacked when our army in the northeast went south to attack Pingjin." Return to Sui." This confused the soldiers of the Three Corps, and if they wanted to attack Suiyuan in the west, the main goal should be to capture Guisui, the capital of Suiyuan Province.In order to fight back to Sui, it can be said that I don't know how much effort and preparation I have made.Why didn't you fight again all of a sudden?However, as soon as the order comes, it must be carried out immediately.The Three Corps had to stop and rest.

Why did the Central Military Commission's plan to attack Guisui suddenly change?This is not the reason on the North China battlefield, the problem lies on the Huaihai battlefield. On November 6, the Battle of Huaihai started, and its progress was quite smooth. Our army quickly divided and surrounded the hundreds of thousands of troops of Liu Zhi and Du Yuming's group.The Kuomintang troops on the Huaihai battlefield are basically the direct descendants of Chiang Kai-shek. The so-called "five trump cards" in the Kuomintang army, except for the three that have been eliminated, are all here.If this battle hurt Chiang Kai-shek, he would probably force Fu Zuoyi to transfer the Kuomintang troops from the North China battlefield to the Huaihai battlefield to strengthen their strength.Not to mention all 600,000, at least the 400,000 belonging to the Central Military System is entirely possible to be transferred.Because, in Chiang Kai-shek's mind, guarding the Huai River and guarding the river is much more important than guarding North China.If Chiang Kai-shek really wants to do this, since the main force of the Northeast Field Army has not yet entered the customs, our army has not yet formed a complete blockade of Tianjin and Tanggu areas, and has no control over the sea, it is entirely possible for Chiang Kai-shek's army to withdraw south from the sea .As a result, these enemies could not be eliminated in North China, but also greatly increased the burden on our Central Plains Field Army and East China Field Army on the Huaihai battlefield.Therefore, in order to resolutely retain the 600,000 enemy troops in North China, Mao Zedong and the Central Military Commission decided to take further measures.One of these is to temporarily abandon the attack on Guisui, because there are not many enemies defending Guisui, Fu Zuoyi may think that Guisui is impossible to defend, and the meaning of western aid is not very significant, so he simply does not go to rescue.

Mao Zedong could not allow this possibility at this time, what he wanted was absolute certainty.At the same time, if our army attacks and returns to Sui, another situation may arise, that is, Fu Zuoyi withdraws his troops from the Jinsui system to Suiyuan to the west and sticks to their old nests, while allowing Chiang Kai-shek’s troops from the Central Army system to withdraw to the south. Mao Zedong did not allow it.Therefore, he decided to change the plan of the Three Corps to attack Guisui to attack Zhangjiakou and encircle the Sun Lanfeng Corps, Fu Zuoyi's only direct descendant Corps.The Sun Lanfeng Corps is Fu Zuoyi's lifeblood, and Fu Zuoyi has to send troops to rescue anyway.In order to keep his lifeblood, it is impossible for him to retreat to the south.The Three Corps' turning to the Zhangjiakou area also had another effect, which was to block the way for the troops of Fu Zuoyi's system to retreat westward.

In short, Mao Zedong's plan was to prevent the enemies in North China from fleeing westward or southward, that is, to keep them in the Pingjin area so that they could be completely wiped out after the main force of the Northeast Field Army entered the pass. On this point, Mao Zedong made it very clear in a telegram to the Northeast Field Army and the North China Military Region on November 13: "The focus is on keeping the enemy in the Ping, Zhang, Tianjin, and Bao areas, not to retreat to the west, nor to make them We have to withdraw from the sea to the south.” Proceeding from the above considerations, Mao Zedong sent the following telegram to Yang Chengwu on November 24:

Cheng Wu led three columns of the main force to set off from the local area on the 25th of tomorrow, and arrived near Zhangjiakou in six days (the sooner the better), and then surrounded the enemies at Zhoujiahe and Huai'an in the southwest of Zhangjiakou with two columns (210 Division and the 11th Cavalry Brigade), with one column inserted between Zhangjiakou and Xuanhua, cutting off the connection between Zhangjiakou and Xuanhua (Zhang and Xuan each have an enemy division), so that the three enemies of Zhoujiahe, Huai'an, and Zhangjiakou cannot escape. If the enemies of Zhoujiahe and Huai'an quickly retreat into Zhangjiakou, or the enemy of Zhangjiakou quickly shrinks to the east, then you should quickly go east and encircle Zhangjiakou, Xuanhua (one division) or Xiahuayuan (one division).In short, the principle is to capture a group of enemies and prevent them from fleeing eastward.After capturing and encircling the enemy, do not attack. Wait for the main force in the Northeast to enter the pass and encircle the enemy before attacking with a camera.

At the same time, Mao Zedong ordered Xu Xiangqian and Zhou Shidi, who were besieging Taiyuan, to stop the offensive of the North China First Corps under their command, so that the enemies in North China would have a chance to breathe, so as not to frighten North China after the capture of Taiyuan. The enemy made up his mind to retreat south to escape for his life. For this reason, Mao Zedong sent the following telegram to Xu Xiangqian and Zhou Shidi on November 16: It is estimated that the premature conquest of Taiyuan would make Fu Zuoyi feel isolated and voluntarily abandon Ping, Tianjin, Zhang, and Tang to retreat to the south, or retreat to the west and south respectively, which will increase the difficulty of annihilation later.I ask you to consider whether the following policy is feasible: fight for another week or two, capture some of the peripheral points and securely control the airport, that is, stop the attack and carry out a political offensive.The troops stuck to their positions and rested on the spot.When our army enters the Northeast to attack Ping and Tianjin in early January next year, you will attack Taiyuan again. Xu Xiangqian carried out the deployment of the central government, stopped the attack on Taiyuan, and gave the enemy in North China a sigh of relief. In order to interfere with Chiang Kai-shek's mentality and make him unable to make up his mind to transfer the North China Army to the south, Mao Zedong also took a rare measure, which was to order Liu Bocheng, Chen Yi, Deng Xiaoping, Su Yu and Tan Zhenlin of the Huaihai Front Front Committee to wipe out the Huangwei Corps. Afterwards, the enemies of the three corps of Qiu Qingquan, Li Mi, and Sun Yuanliang who surrounded the Du Yuming Group in the Chenguanzhuang area temporarily refrained from launching a general offensive, giving Chiang Kai-shek the illusion that Du Yuming's Group could still stand up and stand out.In this way, Chiang Kai-shek is unlikely to make up his mind to abandon North China.This is also a manifestation of Mao Zedong's accurate understanding of Chiang Kai-shek's mental state.From the perspective of military deployment alone, abandoning North China and sticking to the Jianghuai River should be the best choice.However, if Chiang Kai-shek does this, he will show to his American master that he has lost half of his country, and that his regime can no longer exercise legal power in China, and that it is already precarious and about to collapse. Members of Parliament who lack confidence in him as a lackey will oppose further assistance to him.And without American aid, it would be impossible for the Chiang Kai-shek regime to survive, and it would be impossible for the civil war to continue.Therefore, from the perspective of political strategy, Chiang Kai-shek has been unable to make up his mind to abandon North China.This is the main reason why he can keep North China for one more day.Mao Zedong saw this clearly, and suspended the offensive on the Huaihai battlefield, "surrounding but not fighting", showing a false appearance, and adding "separation but not encirclement" on the North China battlefield, it was possible to temporarily stabilize Chiang Kai-shek's wavering heart. However, all the above-mentioned measures are aimed at preventing the 600,000 troops of the Fu Zuoyi Group from fleeing south or going west, but to completely wipe them out in the Pingjin area in the shortest possible time.The key to this is to intercept and surround them in the Tianjin and Tanggu areas, so that they have no escape route and can only be captured or wiped out by me.To achieve this, the North China Military Region's military strength is not enough, and the key is to quickly enter the customs with hundreds of thousands of troops from the Northeast Field Army.As long as the Northeast Field Army enters the customs and goes straight from Shanhaiguan to Tianjin and Tang, completely cutting off Fu Zuoyi's sea retreat, the enemy in North China will become a turtle in the urn.