Chapter 4 Chapter Four: The Turning Point of Life and Death—Zunyi Meeting

It was too dark to see anything, and the road was as slippery as if it had been splashed with oil.The wrestling sounds of "Bu Tong" and "Bu Tong" sounded from time to time in a hurrying team.After the wrestling, the marcher was completely a clay figurine. Some straw sandals were stuck in mud and couldn't be pulled up.In order not to fall behind, many people simply went on barefoot. There are more than 100 people in this team, all in uniforms and firearms of the Kuomintang.It was difficult to tell which part of the army was due to muddy water covering hands, faces and bodies.In fact, this force is mainly composed of the third company and the reconnaissance platoon of the sixth regiment of the Red Army, twenty or thirty buglemen of the whole regiment, and more than a dozen educated captives. .

After the Red Army broke through the Wujiang River, they took sudden actions and tightly surrounded an outlying enemy stronghold 30 miles away from Zunyi.After a short battle, a battalion of the enemy was wiped out and captured, and none slipped through the net.Among the prisoners, there was a company commander, a platoon leader, and a dozen poor soldiers. After education, they explained to the Red Army how Zunyi defended the enemy, and were willing to lead the Red Army to attack Zunyi.Liu Bocheng, chief of the general staff, resorted to tricks and used this team to outwit Zunyi. After marching in a hurry for more than two hours, the heavy rain gradually stopped.Through the night, they saw a little light in mid-air, "Here we are, in front of us is the light of the watchtower in Zunyi City," the captured soldiers quietly told the leading battalion commander Zeng Baotang.As a result, the team scattered in disorder, pretending to retreat in success or failure, and ran to the root of the city in a panic.

"What are you doing?" A fierce shout came from the tower, and at the same time, the sound of a gun bolt was heard "crack". "My own people!" The captive soldier replied calmly in Guizhou dialect. "Which part?" the tower asked again. "We are from the outlying battalion. We were surrounded by the 'communist army' today, and the battalion commander was also killed. I am the commander of the first company, and I led some brothers to escape." The prisoner company commander followed the words taught to him by the Red Army. , Said sadly, "Now the 'communist bandits' are still chasing us, please open the door quickly and save us!" "What's the name of your battalion commander?" The enemy still wants to ask.The prisoner company commander answered without hesitation.There was no sound from the tower, as if they were studying the situation.

In order not to let the enemy think too much, the Red Army soldiers organized another "offensive".Everyone shouted in disorder: "Quickly open the door!" Some pretended to beg: "Please, please!" Some shouted as if in a hurry: "The 'communist bandits' will come after you soon, and you guys will come back soon!" Hurry up!..." "What are you arguing about!" Probably an official scolded the city, and everyone fell silent for a while.At this time, a few flashlights were shot down from the city tower, dangling on the people below the city, trying to confirm whether they were "our own people".When they saw that the people below the city were all wearing their own clothes and big hats, they said loudly: "You wait, the door will be opened for you." After a while, the city gate bolt "crashed". It was unloaded, and with two sounds of "squeak, squeak", the tall and thick city gate opened.The Red Army soldiers swarmed in, and the two enemy soldiers who opened the door asked the crowd in panic: "Why did the 'communist bandits' come so fast!" "Yes, they have entered Zunyi City now!" Several members of the reconnaissance platoon The soldier immediately put the muzzle of the gun on the temples of the two door-openers, and said sharply: "I tell you, we are the Red Army of Chinese Workers and Peasants!" "Ah!" The two enemy soldiers collapsed to the ground in fright.

The Red Army brigade who followed the vanguard also quickly rushed into the city.The reconnaissance platoon cleaned up the enemies on the tower and cut the telephone line.Twenty or thirty trumpeters blew the charge horn together.All of a sudden, the military horns in Zunyi City were loud, gunshots rang out everywhere, shouts of rushing and killing, and horrified cries rang out.Many enemies were captured before they had time to put on their clothes, and a few who moved quickly fled from the north gate in a panic. In the early morning of January 7, Zunyi City was declared liberated before the sun came out.Zunyi is the capital of northern Guizhou and the second most famous city in Guizhou. It is a gathering place for business travelers of the Han, Miao and Li ethnic groups, as well as a distribution center for various local products in northern Guizhou.Rows of shops and buildings on the street show the prosperity of the market and the abundance of products.This is the first prosperous medium-sized city captured by the Red Army since the Long March.

On the afternoon of January 9, the leaders of the Red Army and large troops entered the city.When Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, Bogu, Luo Fu, Wang Jiaxiang, etc. walked up Fengle Bridge (now renamed Yinghong Bridge) at the southern end of Wanli Road, Zunyi workers, farmers, students, residents and businessmen crowded at the bridgehead, Beating gongs and drums, setting off firecrackers, and shouting slogans of "Welcome to the Red Army" and "Welcome to Commander-in-Chief Zhu Mao", presented a jubilant scene. Subsequently, the Red Army carried out extensive propaganda and mobilization of the masses, cracked down on local tyrants, divided land, abolished exorbitant taxes, organized trade unions and peasant associations, and established a temporary government of workers, peasants and soldiers, the Revolutionary Committee of Zunyi County, which elected 25 members.

On January 12, the largest mass gathering in Zunyi's history - the Ten Thousand People's Assembly was held on the playground of the No. 3 Provincial Middle School in Zunyi City.A huge banner reading "Only the Soviets can save China" was hung on the venue.Inside and outside the venue, tens of thousands of heads gathered, and the flags were like a forest.Mao Zedong, Zhu De and Li Fuchun, acting director of the General Political Department, delivered speeches successively.Using concise and popular language, they clarified the political views of the Chinese Soviet government and the Red Army, and exposed Chiang Kai-shek's counter-revolutionary deceitful propaganda.This meeting won the "people's hearts" and inspired the Zunyi people's enthusiasm for revolution with the Communist Party.

No. 80 Yin Road (now Hongqi Road), Laocheng, Zunyi City, is the private residence of Bai Huizhang, commander of the Second Division of the 25th Army of the Guizhou Army.A two-story building made of blue bricks inside the high wall and heavy gate was the leading building in Zunyi City in the 1930s. The main building faces south and is a combination of Chinese and Western buildings. The main building retains the structural style of ancient Chinese architecture "built on top of Ming".After the Red Army entered Zunyi, the General Command of the Military Commission was stationed in this building.This became the site of the Zunyi Conference.

From January 15 to 17, 1935, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held an enlarged meeting of the Politburo in the living room on the second floor of the main building. Attending the meeting were Politburo members Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, Chen Yun, Bo Gu (Qin Bangxian), Luo Fu (Zhang Wentian); alternate members Wang Jiaxiang, Deng Fa, Liu Shaoqi, Kai Feng (He Kequan); Red Army commanders Liu Bocheng, Li Fuchun, Lin Biao, Nie Rongzhen, Peng Dehuai, Yang Shangkun, Li Zhuoran; Central Secretary General Deng Xiaoping; military adviser Li De and translator Wu Xiuquan. The meeting was chaired by Bo Gu.The central topic is: to decide and review the issue of the Liping Conference to establish a Soviet base area centering on northern Guizhou; to review the experience and lessons learned in military command during the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign and the breakout transfer.

According to the prior arrangement, Bogu first made a main report on the fight against the fifth "encirclement and suppression" at the meeting. Although he reviewed the military mistakes to a certain extent, he only brushed them off and emphasized the objective reasons.He said that the reasons why the fifth "encirclement and suppression" campaign could not be smashed in the Central Soviet Area were mainly that the reactionary forces of imperialism and the Kuomintang were too strong, the material conditions in the Soviet Area were poor, and the party's leadership over the workers and peasants in the White Areas in the struggle against imperialism and the Kuomintang was not strong enough, which led to the collapse of the Communist Party. The work of the White Army was weak, and the Red Army in the various Soviet areas did not cooperate closely enough.In his view, the enemy's fifth "encirclement and suppression" campaign cannot be smashed objectively, nor can it be smashed subjectively.

While listening, Mao Zedong took out a stack of raw-edged paper from his coat pocket, jotting down something from time to time, and jotted down several pages in a short while.Obviously, he was very dissatisfied with Bogu's report.The other participants also showed dissatisfaction on their faces. Next, Zhou Enlai made a sub-report on the military issues of the fifth counter-campaign against "encirclement and suppression".Due to Zhou Enlai's status and authority at the time, his report and his attitude would have a decisive impact on the meeting, so the participants listened very carefully.Zhou Enlai explained the strategy and tactics of the Central Red Army in detail, and analyzed the reasons for the failure of the fifth counter-campaign against "encirclement and suppression" and the reasons for leaving the Central Soviet Area.Unlike Bogu, he pointed out subjective mistakes and criticized Bogu and Li De without naming them.What's more valuable is that he bravely and sincerely criticized himself for his mistakes in military command.Finally, he said calmly and frankly: "I am responsible for these mistakes, and everyone is welcome to criticize." After listening to Zhou Enlai's report for 40 to 50 minutes, the participants suddenly felt a kind of respect and their emotions were lifted.But Li De was very uncomfortable after hearing this.He already felt that Zhou's report put the cause of the error on the subjective side, and clearly drew a line between Bogu and him.Undoubtedly, he and Bogu would be the main targets of attack by the participants, so they kept smoking cigars to vent their dissatisfaction.Bogu and Kaifeng also frowned after hearing this, feeling very uncomfortable. After the main and sub-reports are finished, everyone will speak and discuss the two reports.Luo Fu stood up first, took out the outline of the speech he had discussed with Mao Zedong and Wang Jiaxiang from his pocket, and said solemnly: "About Comrade Bogu's report just now, I would like to express my own views. If it is wrong, please criticize it." Then, starting from the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" struggle, he analyzed that the purely defensive line and the "short assault" theory made the Red Army change from mobile warfare to positional warfare, which caused disadvantages in combat. The move-like action, talked about Li De's extremely bad leadership style, and talked about the main responsibility that Bogu should bear, etc.Luo Fu presented the facts and reasoned, explained the mistakes of Bogu's report layer by layer like peeling bamboo shoots, and put it on the line, thinking that Bogu's report was an opportunistic report.Luo Fu's speech lasted more than an hour, and the smell of gunpowder was very strong. He brought out all the dissatisfaction with Bogu and Li De that the commanders and fighters had accumulated for many days at once, which aroused the shock of the participants, and at the same time felt very thirst-quenching.Therefore, everyone believes that Luo Fu's report is a very good counter-report against Bo Gu, and it is undoubtedly a heavy shell to attack the left-leaning putschist military line. After the three reports were finished, the night was already deep.During the daytime of the next day, the leaders of the Military Commission had to deal with the war and daily affairs, so the meeting came to an end temporarily.Everyone went back to rest, think and brew, and then continue the meeting the next night. Shortly after dinner the next day, the meeting began.Meetings in the past were not as formal and grand as they are now. There was neither ranking nor fixed seats. Everyone just found a chair and sat down, basically around a long table in the center of the venue, with distances ranging from distance to distance.Only Li De, because he was in a bad mood, was sitting near the door near the corridor.In this way, Wu Xiuquan had no choice but to sit next to him for translation. At the very beginning of the meeting, Mao Zedong changed his usual practice of "launching strikes later" and was the first to stand up and speak.He first stated that solving military issues is the most important thing at present, so he only talked about military affairs.Following up on Luo Fu's speech yesterday, he deeply criticized the passive defense strategy of left-leaning dogmatism, and listed its manifestations, namely, adventurism when attacking, conservatism when defending, and escapeism when transferring.He vividly compared these to "a beggar beating a dog and walking while beating".He pointed out that Bogu's emphasis on objective reasons in the report was wrong, and sharply criticized Li De for not understanding the characteristics of China's revolutionary war and only knowing what to do on paper. Mao Zedong especially emphasized that the first mistake in the strategy and tactics of the left-leaning leaders was fortress against fortress, which made the enemy's fortressist strategy and tactics achieve their goals; In the military, they did not know how to take advantage of the contradictions between the enemies, and gave up the great opportunity to use the 19th Route military detachment to crush the "encirclement and suppression"; they panicked when the strategy shifted and broke through the encirclement, such a major action was neither seriously discussed in the Politburo, nor Without political mobilization in the whole army, it turned into a hasty escape and a "big move"... Mao Zedong made a speech, which lasted an hour and a half.He only had a few pages of outline in his hand, but he spoke in great detail.His speech was sharp, factual, merciless and humorous, and left a deep impression on the participants. When Mao Zedong was speaking, Bo Gu was highly focused and took notes carefully.Li De was not so calm. He stood up twice and attempted to defend himself, accusing Mao Zedong of retaliation, but Mao Zedong sneered back. Most of the participants appreciated and supported Mao Zedong's speech.The atmosphere of the venue was also active. Some people talked calmly, while others spoke sparks. As the tone of voice increased, disputes and arguments appeared.Sometimes the guards came in to pour boiling water, and some leaders were even seen blushing. Wang Jiaxiang was the first to express his opinion. He said: "We have made serious mistakes in the military, and we cannot attribute them to the objective reasons. Revoke his military command and allow Comrade Mao Zedong to participate in military command." This was the main purpose of his proposal to hold the Zunyi Conference before the meeting: to "bomb" Li De from power. Luo Fu stated again: Mao Zedong's analysis is reasonable and logical.Therefore, it is suggested that Mao Zedong should come out to lead. Zhou Enlai, who was a member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo, secretary of the Secretariat, vice chairman of the Military Commission, general political commissar of the Red Army, and member of the Central "Three-member Group", at this time, as Li De said, "openly turned to Mao Zedong."His statement is very important: Comrade Bogu's report yesterday, I also think it is basically incorrect.It is a fact that we have lost one after another due to mistakes in command by the Party Central Committee.I completely agree with Mao Zedong, Luo Fu, Wang Jiaxiang, Zhu De and other comrades who criticized the mistakes made by the Party Central Committee.Therefore, as a person in charge of conducting this war, I have no doubt to accept the responsibility to remove the commander who caused the defeat and replace it with the commander who won the victory.I ask the central government to remove me from my post, and Comrade Mao Zedong should return to the leadership position of the field army.He finally emphasized: "Only by changing the wrong leadership, can the Red Army have hope and the revolution succeed." The participants reacted very strongly to Zhou Enlai's speech, thinking that he was an upright and true revolutionist with noble ideology and morality. I feel forgiven for my mistakes. Subsequently, Zhu De, Nie Rongzhen, Peng Dehuai, Liu Bocheng, Li Fuchun, Li Zhuoran, Lin Biao and other military commanders all expressed a clear attitude, hoping to quickly change the military leadership.Chen Yun and Liu Shaoqi also made it clear in their speeches that they supported Mao Zedong and supported and criticized Li De.Bogu's left-leaning putschist military line. Only 3 people at the meeting were against it.One is Bogu himself, who did not fully admit his mistakes; the other is Li De, who does not criticize himself at all, and believes that the mistakes belong to the Chinese himself; He also criticized Mao Zedong's leadership of the Red Army. But in any case, the attitude of the participants was very clear.Right and wrong, the vast majority and the minority, have to be judged clearly. On the evening of the third day, the meeting entered a late stage, turning to the review of the Liping Conference’s resolution on creating a Soviet base area centered on northern Guizhou, discussing the direction of future actions, and making corresponding resolutions for this meeting. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China's understanding and determination of the direction of action of the Red Army's Long March has an evolutionary process, and it is constantly changing as the situation and circumstances change.At the beginning of the Long March, the central government decided to go to Xiangxi to join up with the Second and Sixth Red Army Corps, and then fight back to the central base.After the disastrous defeat on the Xiangjiang River, the channel began to shift troops, but in fact it did not change direction. The Liping Conference made a resolution to establish a base area on the border of Sichuan and Guizhou.The Houchang meeting proposed to first focus on Zunyi, and then develop to the south of Sichuan to create a new base in Sichuan and Guizhou. Now the Zunyi Conference is re-examining the direction of the Red Army's actions.Nie Rongzhen and Liu Bo admitted that Guizhou is sparsely populated and has many ethnic minorities, so it is quite difficult to establish a base in Guizhou.Sichuan is the richest man in the Southwest, with convenient transportation, rich products, numerous warlords, and long-term xenophobia. Chiang Kai-shek’s deployment of troops to Sichuan is not good, and the Sichuan-Shanxi base established by the Red Fourth Front Army can respond, which is conducive to the establishment of new bases.Nie and Liu suggested: go across the Yangtze River and go to Northwest Sichuan to establish a base. Zhu De first supported the proposals of Nie and Liu.Everyone discussed this and compared the advantages and disadvantages. Most of the participants agreed with this suggestion.So the meeting decided that the Central Red Army would go to western Sichuan or northwestern Sichuan to join the Fourth Red Army and establish a new revolutionary base. The Zunyi Conference was held for 3 days. After intense debate, the reasons and responsibilities for the military failure from the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign to the Zunyi Conference were initially clarified, the wrong military line was denied, and the future direction of action of the Red Army was clarified. At the final stage of the meeting, the following decisions were made: add Mao Zedong to the Standing Committee of the Central Committee; appoint Luo Fu to draft a resolution after the meeting, entrust the Standing Committee to review it, send it to the branch for discussion, and the Standing Committee will separately convey the spirit of the meeting to the commanders and fighters of each unit; Appropriate division of labor will be carried out among the Standing Committee; the "three-person regiment" established before the Long March will be abolished, and the top military chiefs Zhu De and Zhou Enlai will still be the military commanders. After the meeting, the Standing Committee of the Central Committee divided the work, with Mao Zedong as Zhou Enlai's helper in military command. The above decision is the biggest achievement of the Zunyi Conference.It solved the organizational problem of military command, revoked Bo Gu and Li De's leadership and command over the military, and fundamentally ended the rule of leftist putschism in the center.Therefore, historians call the Zunyi Meeting a vital turning point in the history of the Chinese Communist Party. During the Zunyi Conference, the Red Army troops rested, trained, and carried out mass work.As soon as the meeting ended, the Military Commission deployed the Red Army to march north from the Zunyi area, preparing to enter Sichuan and cross the Yangtze River north. On January 19, the Central Red Army divided into three groups, marching from Songkan, Tongzi, and Zunyi to Chishui.Subsequently, several battles were fought in the border areas of the three provinces of Guizhou, Sichuan, and Yunnan. Around February 5, the Military Commission column arrived at a place called "Jiming Three Provinces" (now Shuitianzhai Township, Weixin County, Yunnan Province) at the junction of the three provinces to camp. On this day, members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee held a meeting in Gaokan Village to clarify the division of labor.In view of Bogu's mental state, Luo Fu proposed to replace the general manager.Zhou Enlai proposed that Mao Zedong be in charge, but Mao Zedong refused to do so. He recommended Luo Fu to replace Bogu, and a consensus was reached. Although Bogu made serious mistakes and did not fully admit his mistakes at the Zunyi Meeting, he has the organizational discipline that a Communist should have, is willing to abide by the resolutions of the meeting, and is willing to loyally work for the realization of the resolutions of the Zunyi Meeting. cooperating.Therefore, at the Standing Committee of Gaokan Village, he willingly handed over the position of the Party Central Committee to Luo Fu. In fact, the general responsibility of the Party Central Committee has neither a big seal nor a letter of appointment.During the Long March, the symbol of supreme power was a pair of picks from the Party Central Committee, which contained important documents and related items of the Party Central Committee.When camping in Gaokan Village, the pickets were carried by Bogu's servants.When the Party Central Standing Committee left the village the next morning after the division of labor, Luo Fu's servants carried the picks.That's it, the picker changed his master, and the transfer of supreme power was realized peacefully. Around March 11, the Central Red Army came to the Gouba area.At the meeting of the Politburo and the Military Commission, a dispute arose over whether to attack Daguxinchang.Most people said they wanted to fight, and only Mao Zedong opposed it. As a result, there was an unpleasant scene.Later, Mao Zedong asked Zhou Enlai to re-examine and convene a military committee to persuade most people to give up the idea of ​​playing drums in a new field, and the problem was finally resolved.From this incident, Mao Zedong and Luo Fu believed that military leaders should change their methods.The situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly, and the Liping meeting decided that the central government should hold a meeting to decide the time and place of the battle, which would delay the opportunity of the battle.Therefore, Mao Zedong and Luo Fu proposed to set up a military three-person team to unify the command.Therefore, the Party Central Committee decided to set up a three-person military command group of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Wang Jiaxiang to be fully responsible for military decision-making and military command.Mao Zedong began to become the commander-in-chief of the Red Army again. As Liu Ying, the wife of Luo Fu (Zhang Wentian), later recalled: "Since then, the military operations of the Long March have been carried out under the command of Chairman Mao. Crossing the Chishui River four times, crossing the Golden Sands skillfully, interspersed with detours, and fought very proactively... Practice has proved Chairman Mao's command was correct, and it can be called entirely wise."