Chapter 10 Chapter 9: The Decisive Battle on the Yellow Earth

The elite army of North China marched into the Great Northwest.Clamping horses and beating tigers, our army in the northwest wants to defeat them one by one.Specializing in beating old enemies, Peng Dehuai dared to eat Hu Zongnan's five troops in one bite. The three armies were encircled, and none of Hu Zongnan's generals knew about it.The great victory of Fumei, a turning point in the Northwest War.Ma's army retreated across the board, and Peng Dehuai's plan to fight Pingliang fell through. In the summer of 1949, as the 18th and 19th Corps of the North China Field Army crossed the Yellow River, the Loess Plateau, which had been dormant for hundreds of millions of years, was awakened by the sound of marching footsteps and trembled in the sound of rumbling guns.

In the summer of 1949, our First Field Army, under the command of Commander and Political Commissar Peng Dehuai, won the victory in the Battle of Central Shaanxi to crush the Huma joint counterattack against Xi'an. Dumbbells" formation, in an attempt to compete with our army again. The southern end of the "dumbbell" is the main force of the Hu Zongnan Group and the Longnan Corps.On both sides of the Longhai Railway, which is located south of Fufeng and north of the Weihe River, is Li Zhen's 18th Corps. The Corps is located in Meixian County and Yabai Township south of the Weihe River with 4 armies.The Wang Zhiqi Army of the Longnan Corps is close to the Eighteenth Corps, located on the line from Wugong to Fufeng.In addition, there are about 2 enemy corps defending the fortress area at the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains from the south of Xi'an to the opposite of Baoji.The total force is about 70,000, under the unified command of Pei Changhui, commander of the Fifth Corps and director of the Baoji Command Post.

The northern end of the "dumbbell" is the Two Horse Group, and in the sub-county and Changwu area north of Xi'an are the 82nd Army and the 129th Army of Ma Bufang's Longdong Corps, led by Ma Bufang's son Ma Jiyuan. Immediately to the west of the Longdong Corps are the Eleventh Army and the 128th Army of the Shaanxi Corps aided by Ma Hongkui, led by Ma Hongkui's son.Although these two groups of enemies were fierce and brutal and were not fatally hit by our army, they had serious ideas about preserving their strength, and they were in the same bed as the Hu Zongnan Group on the southern front.

On July 6, 1949, the First Field Army held a meeting of the former committee in the ancient city of Xianyang.The main leaders of the field army and corps, as well as the commanders and political commissars of each army participated in the meeting. It was midsummer at this time, the heat wave was rolling, and the participants were all wet. Before this meeting, Peng Dehuai had exchanged opinions with Xibaipo many times, and decided to carry out the Fu (Feng) Mei (County) campaign, and first wipe out Hu Zongnan's main force. At the meeting, Peng De couldn't help wiping the sweat off his forehead.He analyzed: "After the two North China corps came to the northwest, the strength of the First Field Army increased to 12 armies and 35 divisions, with a total of 340,000 people. Compared with the total strength of the Hu and Ma armies, the number is similar. The strength of our army can Concentrated use, the enemy is scattered all over the northwest, and the main enemy army concentrated under our army has only 150,000 people. Therefore, I think the conditions for a decisive battle on the northwest battlefield are ripe!"

Peng Dehuai picked up the cup, took a few sips of "gudong gudong", and continued: "Our army only has a relative advantage on the northwest battlefield. Although Hu Zongnan is in the doldrums, he still wants to fight a trapped beast. The two horses of Qing and Ning have not yet He was hit hard by me, especially the Qingma's combat effectiveness is relatively strong. Therefore, it is difficult to wipe out the main forces of the Hu and Ma groups in one battle. They must be separated, differentiated, concentrate their forces, and annihilate them individually." After a pause, Peng Dehuai thought for a while, and then said: "Although Hu and Ma have put on a joint combat stance now, there have been deep contradictions between Hu and Ma, and between the two horses for a long time. Be wary, pretend to be detached, in joint operations, they all try to preserve themselves, sacrifice each other, intentionally keep a certain distance, grab a profit when it is beneficial, and run away when it is not good. Whoever is attacked will be unlucky, and no one will take his own The old capital went to rescue the other party."

"Then," Peng Dehuai said in a more emphatic tone, "should we clamp the horse and beat the horse first and then the horse, or should we clamp the horse and beat the horse first and then the horse? This is the primary issue in our upcoming battle. Whether it can be correctly selected The goal of the campaign is the key to the smooth development of the entire campaign." In fact, the Central Committee and Peng Dehuai have some different views on whether to clamp horses and beat Hus, or to clamp Hus to beat horses.As early as after the Battle of Central Shaanxi, Chairman Mao and Peng Dehuai began to consider the next steps of our army in the northwest battlefield, and exchanged telegrams and consultations many times. On June 26, Chairman Mao called Mr. Peng: The horse bandit ministries are already preparing to retreat to Fenxian and Changwu, and the horse bandit ministries are bound to retreat to Bao and Feng (i.e. Baoji and Fengxiang) at the same time. No matter how much we move forward, we will not stay conservative.Under such circumstances, you should concentrate the full force of the Wang and Zhou corps (i.e. Wang Zhen's 1st corps, Zhoushi 18th corps) and the main force of Xu corps (i.e. Xu Guangda's 2nd corps) to encircle four or five armies of the Hu bandits. And go around to the enemy's rear with heavy troops, cut off their retreat, and then annihilate them.Xu Bingtuan left the necessary troops to monitor the two horses, waiting for Yang Bingtuan (i.e. Yang Dezhi's 19th Brigade) to arrive to take over...

Judging from the telegram, Chairman Mao mainly considered two issues at that time: First, since the 18th and 19th Corps entered Shaanxi, our army in the Northwest has greatly increased its strength to 360,000.The total strength of the Hu Zongnan Group and the Two Horse Corps in the Guanzhong area is about 150,000.In the Guanzhong area, the ratio of enemy forces to our own is 1 to 2.4, and we do not have an absolute advantage.Therefore, we should not divide our forces to fight against each other, but we should concentrate our forces to wipe out the Hu and Ma cliques one by one.Under this policy of annihilating the enemy, I have a greater certainty of victory.If I use 1/4 of my troops for clamping and 3/4 of my troops for attacking, then the ratio of fighting against the enemy and us is 1:5, and the ratio of fighting horses against us is 1:4.Concentrating superior forces to annihilate the enemy one by one has always been emphasized by Chairman Mao, and the Northwest battlefield is no exception.

Second, Mao Zedong mainly put forward the combat policy of "leading horses to defeat Hus, first Hus and then horses" mainly from the overall strategic situation and the Northwest War situation.The basic standpoint of this policy is: the focus of our army's comprehensive offensive in the northwest is the northwest rather than the southwest. After the first annihilation of Hu Zongnan's main force in the Guanzhong area, the threat of Hu Zongnan's group to our subsequent operations in the northwest can be basically eliminated.Then He Long led the Eighteenth Corps to chase the remnants of Hu Zongnan's group into Sichuan, and together with the Second Field, wiped them out in Sichuan.Our army in the northwest can free up its hands and march to the northwest without hesitation with three corps, completely destroying the two horse groups and the remaining enemy forces in the northwest.As for Hu Zongnan, although he is the main force of Chiang Kai-shek's direct lineage, he has been annihilated by our army by 200,000 people, and his combat effectiveness has been greatly weakened.

After Peng Dehuai received Chairman Mao's telegram, he repeatedly weighed and considered again and again, and he called back to the Military Commission on the same day, and put forward two suggestions on the issue of the target: 1. If the two horses gather in Qianxian, Yongshou, Fenxian, and Changning Townships, use the 19th Corps to clamp down on the enemies in Baoji, Fufeng, and Meixian areas, and use the 1st, 2nd, and 19th Corps to gather and wipe out the main forces of the two horses. 2. If the two horses retreat far away from Changwu and Pingliang, use the 19th Corps to contain the two horses, concentrate the 1st, 2nd, and 18th Corps to encircle and wipe out the southern part of Hu Zong and Wang Zhiqi, and then take advantage of the victory to go south to Hanzhong and Guangyuan.

Apparently, Peng Dehuai's first plan is to "clamp the horse and beat the horse, first the horse and then the horse".As an all-powerful military strategist in the history of our army, he naturally has his own considerations for thinking so, mainly based on the actual situation in the Northwest battlefield. The key to the northwest battlefield is the two-horse group. If the two-horse group is resolved, the northwest can be basically stabilized and the process of liberating the Northwest can be accelerated.The two horses of Qing and Ning are far away from their lairs, living in a sparsely populated area and with long supply lines, while our army is backed by the Guanzhong Plain, which is rich in specialties and densely populated.At the same time, the two horses have always been different, and their command has their own systems, which is beneficial for me to defeat each of them.

The next day, that is, June 27, the central government sent a telegram stating that Ruqing and Ningma would only make a small retreat, and would be located in the Qian, Yong, and Changning areas, instead of making a major retreat to Chang, Jing, and Liang. The plan to fight Hu and Wang later with two horses is correct, but it takes more effort to fight two horses than to fight Hu and Wang. You have to be prepared to sacrifice tens of thousands of people in order to completely wipe out the two horses or their main force, and you can basically solve the Northwest problem.If the two horses make a large retreat, it is better to implement the second plan. Regarding the plan to go south to Hanzhong proposed by Mr. Peng in the second plan, the Central Military Commission emphasized in the telegram: "In order to make the puppet government feel at ease and move to Chongqing instead of Taiwan... and to prevent the bandits from entering Sichuan as soon as possible, you temporarily It is not advisable to occupy Hanzhong, it is more beneficial to keep Hanzhong in the hands of the bandits for a few months." In late June, the situation changed again. The main force of the Two Horse Group continued to retreat, and had retreated into the Linyou mountain area, and its forces were dispersed.what to do?Whether to clamp the horse to beat the barbarian, first the barbarian and then the horse, or to pinch the barbarian and beat the horse, first the horse and then the barbarian, this question was once again put before Mr. Peng. The Central Military Commission has agreed to these two plans, and the final decision is now in the Northwest In the hands of Peng Dehuai, the supreme commander of our army. Peng Dehuai was lost in thought. What will happen if you clamp down on the horse and beat the horse first and then the horse?Now the two horses are constantly retreating, and the troops are spread out and deployed on the broad front, but in order to fulfill the agreement between Hu and Ma, they will not retreat far away from Pingliang for the time being.Although the configuration of the two-horse group is convenient for our army to intersperse and divide and annihilate each of them, it also has a disadvantage: if I attack with three corps head-on, the enemy will resist steadily. , If I use the two wings to outflank, because the front is wide and the movement distance is long, it is easy to be discovered by the enemy, and it is not easy to wipe out the enemy quickly.Under such circumstances, if our army pursues the two horses, there are several possibilities for the actions of the Hu Zongnan Group: one is to fully assist the horses, attack our flanks and rear, and cooperate with the two horses; Surround Wei and save Zhao"; the third is to retreat to Hanzhong to preserve its strength.Regardless of which of these possibilities arise, they are not conducive to my next step of combat.If the horses cannot be completely wiped out, and then turn around and fight the Hus, then the Hu Zongnan Group will not dare to fight me decisively.Our army's southward pursuit will give the two horses a chance to respite and invade Shaanxi again.In addition, fighting horses is better than fighting Hu Feili. My 18th and 19th corps rushed to face a strong enemy and were not well prepared, which is a taboo for military strategists. After repeated weighing, Peng Dehuai himself overturned his first plan.He knew that Hu Zongnan mistakenly concluded that it would be difficult for our army to eat his 5 armies in one bite, and deployed the 5 armies in the Weihe River into a group. This deployment has a fatal weakness, that is, there is no combat reserve.The few troops remaining in Qinling and Baoji can only play a defensive role. For example, the enemy supporting the eyebrows is surrounded by us, and the enemy has no soldiers to help.Moreover, Hu Zongnan had 3 armies in the north of the Weihe River and 2 armies in the south of the Weihe River, and he did not have large-scale crossing equipment. When attacked by our army, the enemies across the river from the north to the south could not support each other; However, there is a large gap between Hu and Ma, and our army can calmly detour to the side of Hu Zongnan's group from its junction and cut off the enemy's retreat; Slow in action and uncooperative.If the Hu Zongnan Group is attacked by me, the two horses will never come to help easily. Thinking of this, Peng Dehuai blurted out: "The enemy will change and we will change. We must first go after the horse, and implement the second plan!" Immediately reported to the Central Military Commission the policy of "clamping horses and beating barbarians, first barbarians and then horses" to the Central Military Commission and got approval. The meeting between the former committee of the First Field Army and the head of the Northwest Bureau is still in progress.Peng Dehuai clenched his fist and slammed it on the table, all the participants stared at him. "According to the situation on the battlefield and our army's strategic intentions, we decided to clamp down on the horses and attack the Hu Zongnan. We ordered the 19th Corps to restrain the Qing and Ning horses, and the first, second, and eighteenth corps to gather and annihilate Hu Zongnan's main force." In the Fumei area!" Peng Dehuai's firm and decisive voice resounded in the room. It is a major strategic step made by Peng Dehuai after careful consideration and the approval of the Central Military Commission.At that time, Peng Dehuai's main opponents were: Ma Hongkui of Ningxia, Ma Bufang of Qinghai, and Hu Zongnan, the direct descendant of Chiang Kai-shek. After losing Xi'an, Hu Zong's southern part suffered a heavy blow and he became a frightened bird. He hid in Hanzhong, Shaanxi, and would no longer pose too much threat to Peng Dehuai. Ma Bufang and Ma Hongkui are two strong opponents that cannot be ignored.The ferocious Majia cavalry once made the West Route Army of the Red Army hate the desert. The Majia cavalry is well-trained, strong and extremely cruel. The First Field Army is facing a huge test. Ma Bufang was born in 1903. During the Chiang Kai-shek regime, the forces of local warlords were either eliminated or weakened. However, Ma Bufang expanded the family's armed forces that were not firmly established and became the "King of Qinghai". In 1930, Ma Bufang completely surrendered to Chiang Kai-shek, thus actively fighting against the Communist Party. In 1936, when he met the Red Army for the first time, Ma Bufang instructed his subordinates to massacre more than 1,000 Red Army wounded and sick people in the Qinghai and Sichuan border areas, and brutally killed the captured Red Army. In April 1937, the West Route Army of the Red Army was brutally slaughtered by Ma Bufang's troops.He killed 3,267 prisoners of the West Route Army in Zhangye, among whom 2,609 were buried alive, 575 were shot, 56 were burned to death, and 27 others were heart-picked and tongue-cut.His brother Ma Buliu also took out more than 30 gallbladders from the Red Army to make eye drops.In addition to being shot and buried alive, the captured Red Army female soldiers were raped starting with Ma Bufang, and then distributed to their subordinates as wives and maidservants, causing them to suffer all kinds of abuse.Dong Zhentang, the famous Red Army general and commander of the Fifth Red Army, died at his hands. Ma Bufang's hands were stained with the blood of the Communists, and he almost became the most hated figure by the Communist Party. Ma Hongkui was born in 1892. He first attached himself to Feng Yuxiang and then to Chiang Kai-shek. He served as the chairman of Ningxia Province for 17 years and was known as the "Emperor of Earth" in Ningxia.When Ma Hongkui was 8 years old, he was able to meet Cixi, Guangxu, Longyu, Li Lianying, Xiaode Zhang and other former Qing dignitaries in the Xi'an Palace. In his early twenties, he worked as an attendant military officer for Yuan Shikai and Li Yuanhong in Beijing. In 1932, Ma Hongkui was formally appointed Chairman of Ningxia Province by Chiang Kai-shek.His credo is a saying he often says: "If you have soldiers, you have power, and if you have power, you have money." Ma Bufang was called "Qingma" and Ma Hongkui was called "Ningma".The two horses of Qing and Ning are collectively called Ma Jiajun. But the two horses are not convinced by each other, they seem to be in harmony with each other, and the two horses have been fighting each other for a long time. In the spring of 1949, Zhang Zhizhong, the military and political chief of the Northwest, went to Beiping to participate in the peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. The post he left behind became the target of competition between Ma Bufang and Ma Hongkui. conditions. The "fighting in the nest" among the Kuomintang is really a kind of internal river for them to destroy themselves.Peng Dehuai and the Central Military Commission considered taking advantage of the contradictions between the enemies to eat up the enemy forces in the northwest and change the balance of power between the two sides. Decades later, General Zhang Zongxun, the deputy commander of the First Field Army at the time, wrote in his memoirs: "Both Hu and Ma hoped that the other side would be attacked by our army first, so the deployment of the two armies is both capable of joint operations. , and can save themselves. The difference is that Hu Zongnan was afraid of being wiped out and concentrated his troops, while Ma Jiajun was afraid of being wiped out and dispersed his troops. "...Commander Peng Dehuai, with the approval of the Central Military Commission, put forward at the meeting the strategic policy of 'clamping horses and attacking barbarians, first barbarians and then horses'. Because our army only has a relative advantage, the two horses have not yet been annihilated by our army. The combat effectiveness is relatively strong, and the two enemies of Hu and Ma cannot be dealt with separately, but must be concentrated and wiped out one by one." As the commander of the battle, old general Zhang Zongxun naturally still has a fresh memory of the key decisions. After the meeting, Peng Dehuai called Yang Dezhi, the commander of the 19th Corps, and Li Zhimin, the political commissar, and said to them: "You have just entered Shaanxi, and it has been very hard. It is best to give you a month to rest. But the northwest region will enter the rainy season in August. It ended in early October, and the harvest of summer wheat in the Guanzhong area has begun. If the battle does not start in July, not only will it be difficult to fight in the rainy season, but the summer wheat will also be robbed by the enemy. More importantly, the reason why the Hu Zongnan Group dared to fight with our strong troops One of the reasons for the confrontation is that we believe that we cannot launch an attack immediately, and the enemy may flee if time delays. Although starting an attack immediately seems hasty, but the situation does not allow us to wait any longer. Fortunately, the main attack force is ready. You deal with The two horses are directly related to whether our main attacking force can complete the mission. The two horses must not blindly underestimate the enemy, and must strictly prevent the enemy from attacking from behind. This is the usual method of the two horses. As long as they are not attacked, they will be invincible That's it." After finishing speaking, Mr. Peng showed them a telegram sent by Mao Zedong 10 days ago: Yang Corps should immediately move westward, approaching the construction workers of the two horses, take on the task of restraining the two horses, and strictly prevent the two horses from attacking back. .This point should be strictly told to Yang Dezhi, and the two horses must not be underestimated, otherwise they will suffer losses.Yang Dezhi and others are inexperienced in dealing with two horses. Mao Zedong was really thoughtful. Sometimes Chiang Kai-shek was very thoughtful, but Mao Zedong guessed what he was thinking, and what he thought was meaningless.Sometimes it not only loses its meaning, but also falls into the trap set by Mao Zedong. This is exactly the difference between the two on the battlefield. On July 10, the unprecedented Battle of Fumei on the Northwest battlefield started. The 19th Corps, which was in charge of restraining the two horses, acted first, went to Qianxian County opposite Ma's army, and the highland north of Liquan, built fortifications, and threatened to launch an attack in order to confuse the Ma's army and cover the main action. In the evening of the same day, Xu Guangda's Second Corps secretly detoured to the south side of Hu Zong from the gap between Hu Jun and Ma Jun. Zhou Shi's 18th Corps, along the Longhai Railway and the Xianyang-Fengxiang highway, went straight into the depths of Hubu from east to west. Wang Zhen's First Corps attacked the enemy westward from the south bank of the Weihe River and the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains. Within a day, Hu Zongnan's three reorganized armies were suddenly surrounded by the People's Liberation Army regiments, which made him turn pale with fright.What surprised him even more was that Peng Dehuai personally commanded the troops to launch a fierce attack on the enemy without giving him time to breathe. Hu Zongnan never expected that Peng Dehuai would attack him so soon.He originally thought that the People's Liberation Army would have to rest for at least a month before launching an attack on Erma, because his five armies were gathered together, and the People's Liberation Army didn't have such a big appetite to eat them all in one bite.When Hu Zongnan woke up from his dream, his main force was already in danger of being wiped out. There have been many times like this, and Hu Zongnan was always confused by Peng Dehuai, and he couldn't figure it out.In terms of war wisdom, Peng Dehuai is at least two grades higher than Hu Zongnan. When I was in Huangpu, Hu Zongnan was also a great figure, with a great reputation, far surpassing his classmates Xu Xiangqian, Zuo Quan, Chen Geng and another famous Red Army general at the same time.There used to be this saying: Wen has He Zhonghan, and Wu has Hu Zongnan. Hu Zongnan also won many victories during the Huangpu Army's eastern expedition against Chen Jiongming and Jiang, Feng (Yuxiang), and Yan (Xishan) in the Central Plains, but unfortunately they were only short-lived.But because of the honor of being a fellow villager with Chiang Kai-shek, Hu Zongnan was promoted the fastest among Huangpu students, far surpassing his classmates. When fighting the Japanese during the Anti-Japanese War, Hu Zongnan didn't work very hard, so naturally he couldn't taste the taste of victory. Fighting against the Communist Party in the future was even worse. Except for a few days of glory when occupying the empty city of Yan'an in 1947, there were all defeats, one defeat after another, and the more they fought, the more embarrassing they became.Chiang Kai-shek did not know how many times he scolded, "Hu Zongnan is incompetent, he has failed my expectations."You can scold him, but Chiang Kai-shek still uses him. The main reason is that he is obedient and regards the principal as a god. Hu Zongnan is indeed loyal to Chiang Kai-shek.Regarding the progress of the Battle of Fumei, General Zhang Zongxun wrote in his memoirs: "The enemy never expected that our army would turn back to its side so quickly and encircle all the troops in the Fumei area. When our army came from the enemy When the 119th Army's position was passing covertly, Wang Zhiqi, the commander of the enemy army, thought it was just a small group of our local troops; Li Zhen, the commander of the 15th Army, also believed that it was the armed forces team left behind when we liberated Fufeng, and attacked them at night; this situation was reported to Pei Changhui (deputy director of Xi'an Sui Department and commander of the Fifth Corps) who was in charge of the general command in Baoji. He also does not believe that there will be troops of the People's Liberation Army running behind the 38th Army and attacking the headquarters of the 38th Army. In this way, the enemy is in a very passive position. When our army is fighting in the depths of the enemy, the enemy did not expect It was a large-scale attack by our army; when it was judged that it was a large-scale attack by our army, I did not expect to be completely surrounded by our army." Hu Zongnan was confused, and his generals were also confused. Before the battle started, they made mistakes again and again. How can this battle be fought?Failure seemed preordained.Hu Zongnan was so anxious that he was sweating all over, and hurriedly ordered to retreat. The three besieged troops fought against trapped beasts, desperately breaking through, attacking in turn, and corpses littered the field.This also caused great casualties to the Fourth Army of Xu Guangda's Second Corps, which was blocking the front. Among them, there was a company of more than a hundred people. In the end, only five people were left, but they still stood firm and did not retreat half a step! At noon on the 12th, Yesi ordered a general offensive.By midnight, the fighting was largely over.By the 14th, the sound of guns and artillery in the Fumei area was completely silent.In this battle, with the cooperation of the North China Field Army, a total of 44,000 enemies were wiped out. This is an unprecedented victory on the Northwest battlefield.The victory in this battle has fundamentally changed the balance of power between the two sides. Peng Dehuai's side has changed from a relative advantage to an absolute advantage! Since then, Hu Zongnan has been devastated.After he retreated to the Southwest under Chiang Kai-shek's order, he tried to defend the southwestern half of the country, waiting for the outbreak of World War III, and then cooperated with Taiwan's Chiang Kai-shek to counterattack the mainland.But that day never came. There is no wind in Xibaipo in the scorching heat.Mao Zedong was sweating profusely. He picked up a piece of watermelon and ate a few mouthfuls thoughtfully. Zhou Enlai rushed into Mao Zedong's room excitedly: "Chairman, the battle of supporting eyebrows has been a complete victory!" Mao Zedong's eyes immediately released a strange brilliance. He put down the watermelon in his hand, stood up happily, and immediately felt a little cooler. The victory of the Fumei Battle was undoubtedly a big and sweet watermelon that Peng Dehuai sent to Mao Zedong and others during the dog days! At this time, Mao Zedong sent another telegram to Peng Dehuai, and Zhou Enlai made a record: "The victory in fighting Hu was great, and I am very relieved. Regardless of the heat, it is very good to take advantage of the victory to hold a battle against horses." Mao Zedong knew very well that beating Ma Bufang and Ma Hongkui was much more difficult than beating Hu Zongnan.So he specifically called Peng Dehuai: "Horse fighting is a more serious battle, and you must be prepared to pay a higher price. You must not be careless." The impatient Peng Dehuai decided to launch a horse fighting campaign immediately. On July 19, at the high-level military meeting in Wenguang Village, he pointed to the map hanging on the wall and said: "The second round on the Northwest battlefield will be launched on the Pingliang front line!" He analyzed that after the Qing and Ning horses retreated to the Longdong area, if they continued to retreat, they would lose Pingliang, the throat of Gansu and Ningxia, which would inevitably lead to a situation where our army would go straight to Lanzhou and Yinchuan.It is estimated that the two horses will rely on the natural dangers in Pingliang to resist... According to Peng Dehuai's arrangement, the 18th Corps restrained Hu Zongnan's remaining troops, and the remaining three corps went straight to Pingliang. In late July, a mighty army of more than 200,000 marched towards Pingliang to attack. But to Peng Dehuai's surprise, Qing and Ning Erma actually gave up Pingliang, the throat of Gansu and Ningxia, and led the army back all the way into the desert. It seems that Ma Jiajun is going to set up a battlefield in Lanzhou City.Peng Dehuai's hope was in vain, and he couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed.But he knew that in the Great Northwest, the final decisive battle with Ma's army would be inevitable.