Chapter 9 Chapter IX Red Twenty-Five Army's Independent Expedition——Combined Forces in Northern Shaanxi

This is a letter from Zheng Weisan, member of the Standing Committee of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Provincial Party Committee, secretary of the Northeast Hubei Provincial Party Committee and commander-in-chief of the guerrilla, to the leaders of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Provincial Party Committee and the Red 25th Army.When Chen Jinxiu, a disguised traffic officer, went through all kinds of difficulties to deliver the letter to the leaders of the Provincial Party Committee, it was already more than a month later, on November 4th. Xu Baoshan, secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Xu Haidong, commander of the army, and Wu Huanxian, political commissar, were very excited after receiving the letter, and they were really indescribably happy.Because not long ago, the 25th Red Army fought a battle with the 47th Division of the Kuomintang Shangguan Yunxiang Department in Taojiahe between Taihu Lake and Qianshan in western Anhui. The fierce battle lasted two days and one night, and the Red Army suffered heavy casualties.

At this time, the troops were moving to Lu'an and Huoshan for rest and reorganization, and they had no idea what to do next.Now that they have heard that the Central Committee sent people to send important instructions, how can they not be excited and unhappy when they see hope in their setbacks. The provincial party committee and the leaders of the 25th Red Army immediately held a meeting to arrange the work in western Anhui and organize the army's left-behind office. On the evening of the 6th, he led the 25th Army of the Red Army to march westward, marched more than 200 miles a day in two nights, broke through the enemy's four blockade lines, and arrived at Xieshanzhai 50 miles southeast of Guangshan County, Henan Province at dawn on the 8th.

Less than 2 hours after the troops ate and rested, gunshots rang out at the same time in Zhaidong and Zhainan.It turned out that the "chasing and suppressing teams" of the 10 enemy regiments chasing our army had followed up from Zhaidong and Zhainan respectively, and launched an attack when we were not prepared.Faced with the unfavorable situation of rushing to the battle, army commander Xu Haidong and political commissar Wu Huan first considered that the troops were very tired and could not get rid of the enemy by "walking", so they decided to defeat the enemy's attack first, and then march westward.They commanded the troops guarding the northeast of the village and the top of the mountain, resolutely resisted the enemy's attack, withdrew a regiment from the south of the village, concealed and detoured to the enemy's side in the northeast of the village, and suddenly launched a fierce attack, repelling the attacking enemy in the northeast of the village first.Then, the two troops diverted back to attack the enemy's side on the top of the mountain and launched a fierce attack. The three battalions holding on to the top of the mountain also took advantage of the momentum to launch a counterattack.Under attack from three sides by the Red Army, the enemy was routed and fled one after another.The battle ended before dusk. The Red Army won more with less, killed, wounded, and captured more than 4,000 enemy troops, and seized a large number of weapons, ammunition, and other military supplies.

The battle in Hu Shanzhai hit the arrogance of the enemy, displayed the military might of the Red Army, and played the prelude to victory for the Hubei, Henan and Anhui Provincial Committees to successfully hold the Hua Shanzhai meeting. On November 11, 1934, the Hubei, Henan and Anhui Provincial Committees of the Communist Party of China held a meeting of the Standing Committee in Huashanzhai, Guangshan County (known as the Huashanzhai meeting in history).This is an important turning point in the battle history of the Red Twenty-Fifth Army.The meeting carefully analyzed the struggle situation in the Hubei, Henan and Anhui revolutionary base areas in the past two years.Since the main force of the Fourth Red Army withdrew from the Hubei, Henan and Anhui bases, the Red Twenty-fifth Army was reorganized in November 1932.In the extremely difficult and difficult years, the Red Twenty-Five Army experienced the fourth and fifth counter-campaigns against "encirclement and suppression", independently persisted in the armed struggle in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui border area, and wiped out tens of thousands of enemy troops.However, under the danger of Wang Ming's leftist putschism and the cruel "encirclement and suppression" of the enemy, the base area became smaller and smaller, and the situation became more and more serious.Whether to continue the struggle or implement a strategic shift, the Party Central Committee has issued two instructions, and the Provincial Party Committee has been deliberating for more than half a year, but it has not been able to make a decision.This time, Zhou Enlai, vice chairman of the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission, sent Cheng Zihua from the Central Soviet Area to the Hubei, Henan and Anhui bases in September with new instructions, which provided an important basis for the decision-making of the Provincial Party Committee and the Red 25th Army.

The meeting conveyed important instructions from the Party Central Committee and Zhou Enlai: "The main force of the Red Army must make a strategic shift to establish a new base area. In this way, the army can be developed, and at the same time the main force of the enemy army can be drawn away... the remaining part of the armed forces will be If we can persevere for a long time, we will be able to preserve the old base.” The meeting unanimously decided: the Provincial Party Committee immediately led the Red 25th Army to implement a strategic transfer and create a new base area; the Tongbai Mountains to the west of the Ping-Han Railway and the Funiu Mountains in the west of Henan were the initial targets; Comrade Gao Jingting and some armed forces were left to rebuild The Red Twenty-Eighth Army persisted in the armed struggle in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui border area.At the same time, it was decided that Cheng Zihua would be the commander of the 25th Red Army, Wu Huan would be the political commissar first, and Xu Haidong would be the deputy commander.

The Huashanzhai meeting opened the prelude to the Long March of the 25th Red Army. On November 16, more than 2,980 commanders and fighters of the 25th Red Army, holding high the banner of the second advance team of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army going north to resist Japan, set off from Hejiachong, Luoshan County, Henan Province, and began to march towards Tongbai Mountain. On the 17th, they repelled the attack of the fifth detachment of the enemy's "chasing and suppressing team" in Luoguzhai. That night, they crossed the Ping-Han Railway between Dongshuanghe and Liulin, south of Xinyang, and headed westward at the fastest speed. Go forward, and you will enter Tongbai Mountain in one fell swoop.

The Red Army entered the Tongbai mountain area with lightning speed, and took the first step of strategic shift.This sudden action surprised Chiang Kai-shek and scolded his subordinates for being "too careless". The Xiaozhi Chu Department of the 44th Division in Laohekou, Hubei, intercepted it head-on, trying to encircle and annihilate our army in one fell swoop with the absolute superiority of more than 30 regiments when our army was alone and far away and its foothold was not stable. The Tongbai mountain area is small, too close to the Ping-Han Railway and the Han River, so there is little room for maneuver, and the enemy army is overwhelming, making it difficult to gain a foothold in development.So the Provincial Party Committee decisively decided: immediately turn to the Funiu Mountains to open up a foothold.

In order to confuse and mobilize the enemy and conceal our army's intentions, the army leaders sent a small number of troops to rush westward, pretending to attack Zaoyang County, Hubei, and attracting the enemy to concentrate in Zaoyang. Block it, detour to the east of Biyang City, and take advantage of the virtual to go north. The terrain to the north of Biyang is flat, with dense villages and many fortified villages.Many walled villages stood tall with overlapping barriers, occupied by landlords and gentry, and possessed a considerable number of armed forces, which became obstacles on the way forward for the Red Army.According to the instructions of the provincial party committee, Wu Huan, the military and political commissar, first held a meeting of cadres above the company level, preached relevant policies and precautions, launched a political offensive against the feudal forces in each encircled village, publicized the principles of anti-Japanese, and understood the righteousness of the nation so as to make way for the Red Army. Gaining time, on November 25, they arrived at the Xu (Chang) South (Yang) Highway, which is only 50 miles away from the eastern foot of Funiu Mountain.The troops were preparing to cross the Xunan Highway near Dushu Town in the northeast of Fangcheng County the next day.

On the morning of the 26th, the army leaders set off with the Red 224th Regiment, the 225th Regiment and the Army Straight Unit as the front echelon, and the Red 223rd Regiment as the rear echelon to prevent the enemy from tailing and cover the advance of the whole army.Unexpectedly, when the front echelon of the Red Army arrived near Dushu Town, it was suddenly attacked by Pang Bingxun, the 40th Army of the enemy who had arrived here earlier and set up an ambush.On this day, just as the cold snap came, with heavy rain and snow, and poor visibility, the vanguard of the Red Army found the enemy late.When the enemy attacked suddenly, many commanders and fighters' fingers were too cold to pull the bolts of their guns, and they were forced to retreat.The enemy took the opportunity to attack and surrounded them from both wings. The vanguard had no support on the flat terrain and was completely exposed to the enemy's firepower.

"Comrades! Lie down on the spot, stand firmly against the enemy, and never retreat!" With a loud shout, I saw a heroic young general riding a chestnut mule like an arrow from the string, rushing forward. Before arriving in battle, he stabilized the troops at a critical moment. He was military political commissar Wu Huanxian.The panicked commanders and fighters quickly lay down in the muddy water, gearing up and moving their fingers, using the terrain to fight.Facing the aggressive enemy troops, Wu Huan first took out a big knife from the traffic officer and shouted: "Communists come with me!" Braving the enemy's intensive artillery fire, he led the troops to counterattack, rushed into the enemy's formation and started hand-to-hand combat .Fortunately, at this time, Deputy Army Commander Xu Haidong led the Red Second, Second and Third Regiments to the front from behind, and immediately threw themselves into the fight.This is a life-and-death battle, full of dangers and dangers: the hysterical enemy troops are rushing in like a tide, and the Red Army commanders and fighters who dare to see the red with bayonets are not afraid of danger, pushing the enemy back time and time again, and finally suppressing the enemy's crazy attack.However, when the Red Army organized two, two and three regiments to launch three attacks and tried to open the gap and rush across the road, they were all pushed back by the enemy who relied on fortifications to resist, forming a stalemate.After dark, the Red Army took the opportunity to withdraw to the village 10 miles away. They didn't care about eating and resting, and braved the wind and rain. The highway arrived at the eastern foot of Funiu Mountain at dawn on the 27th, breaking the enemy's blocking and chasing plan.

The fierce battle in Dushu Town was a battle that related to the life and death of the Red 25th Army during the Long March.The Red Twenty-fifth Army, galloping alone in the Central Plains, drove straight into Funiu Mountain, causing the enemy to panic.The enemy's 40th Army and the main force of the "Third Pursuit and Suppression Team" followed and chased them one after another.Since the Funiu Mountain area is narrow, sparsely populated, and food and supplies are scarce, it is difficult to establish a base.Therefore, the provincial party committee decided to continue westward and go straight to the Shangluo Mountains on the border between Henan and Shaanxi. In order to prevent the 25th Red Army from entering Shaanxi, Chiang Kai-shek hurriedly transferred the 60th Division from Kaifeng to Zhuyangguan and Wulichuan, south of Lushi County, and controlled the Red Army's entry into Shaanxi.The Red Army changed its route and chose another small road to advance rapidly westward between the south of Lushi County and the Luohe River. On December 8, it entered the Shaanxi territory from Tiesuoguan (also known as Jianganling), and wiped out one Shaanxi army in the Sanyao Division. camp, and entered Yujiahe on the 9th. On the morning of the 10th, just as the Provincial Party Committee held a meeting in Yujiahe to study the issue of establishing a new base, the 60th Division of the enemy suddenly rushed in.The Red Twenty-Fifth Army immediately fought another desperate battle in the Long March.The commanders fought the enemy with bayonets, grenades, and broadswords. After more than 20 repeated charges, they finally defeated the enemy and killed and wounded more than 800 enemies.The Red Army also suffered more than 200 casualties. The commander Cheng Zihua and the deputy commander Xu Haidong were both seriously injured.The Yujiahe battle finally broke the enemy's continuous pursuit from Hubei, Yuwan, Tongbai Mountains to Funiu Mountains and Shangluo Mountains, and successfully completed the first strategic shift of the Red 25th Army's long drive of more than 1,800 miles in the Central Plains. During the nearly eight months from mid-December 1934 to early July 1935, according to the statement made by the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Provincial Party Committee at the Yujiahe Conference, "immediately establish the Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee and strive for the establishment of the Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi Soviet Area" The Red Twenty-Five Army opened up base areas while fighting, and combined the crushing of the enemy's "encirclement and suppression" with the establishment of base areas, and achieved gratifying results.The Red Army successively conquered Zhen'an, Ningshan, Foping, Luonan and other counties. Within a dozen counties, the Soviet government of the Hubei-Shaanxi border area and the Soviet regime of 10 districts, 46 townships, and 314 villages were established, resulting in armed forces. A new situation of separatism.The 25th Red Army has also grown to more than 3,700 people, and has also developed a local armed force of more than 2,000 people. The establishment of the base area provided a guarantee for the victory of the battle.The Red Twenty-Five Army fought dozens of battles, large and small, in eight months.Among them, the famous battle in Gepai town wiped out 5 battalions of the enemy Liu Yanbiao's brigade; Eliminate 5 battalions of Zhang Hanmin's Brigade, and capture the brigade commander Zhang Hanmin (an underground member of the Communist Party of China, who was killed by mistake); in the battle at Jingziguan, the chief of the enemy's military supplies was captured alive, and a large amount of supplies were seized; in the battle at Yuanjiagoukou, the enemy's first security brigade was wiped out 2 The first and second "encirclement and suppression" campaigns were shattered by capturing the brigade commander Tang Sitong and others alive.After that, the Red Army took advantage of the victory and went north to Zhongnan Mountain to threaten Xi'an. ... After the 25th Red Army withdrew from the Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Soviet Areas, it lost contact with the Party Central Committee.Later, I learned from newspapers that the Central Red Army of the Long March had joined forces with the Red Fourth Front Army in western Sichuan and was moving north.At the same time, it was learned that Chiang Kai-shek was mobilizing hundreds of thousands of troops to gather in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu in an attempt to encircle the main force of the Red Army.The Red Twenty-Five Army is once again facing a new major strategic choice. Coincidentally at this time, Shi Jianmin, the former traffic officer of the Hubei, Henan and Anhui provincial committees, arrived at Ziwu Town, where the 25th Red Army was stationed, via Xi'an. Get ready for the exact news of going north. On the evening of July 15, the Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee held an emergency meeting in Fengyukou, Chang'an County, and decided to lead the Red Twenty-Five Army to march northward, "cooperate with the main Red Army's actions in the northwest", and decided to merge the Hubei-Shaanxi and Henan The two Shaanxi Special Committees formed a new Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi Special Committee to lead all guerrilla armed forces in a unified manner and persist in the revolutionary struggle in the Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi base areas.This was an independent strategic decision made by the Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee. It fully complied with the strategic intention of the Party Central Committee and Mao Zedong to lead the main force of the Red Army to the north to fight against Japan, and it was also in line with the earnest desire of all the commanders and fighters of the 25th Red Army to join the main force of the Red Army. On July 16, 1935, nearly 4,000 commanders and fighters of the 25th Red Army embarked on the road to continue the Long March.After repelling the two regiments of the Shaanxi Army in Zhouzhi County twice, the army leaders turned south from Xinkouzi into the Qinling Mountains on the morning of the 22nd, passing through Qinggangbian, Houzhenzi, Erlangba, etc. ground, pretending to attack Hanzhong. On the 27th, in Jiangkou Town, Liuba County, the Provincial Party Committee decided to rest for two days and reorganize the troops, and then secretly marched northwest. On August 1, the Red Army took the 1st Battalion of the 2nd, 23rd Regiment as the vanguard, marched lightly for more than 20 miles, occupied Shuangshipu, an important place on the Sichuan-Shaanxi Highway, and wiped out part of the enemy.The third company of the battalion captured an enemy major general from Fengxian County three miles northeast of Shuangshipu that night, and seized many documents and newspapers.Combining the enemy's documents, the statement of the enemy's major generals, and the information provided by the newspapers, the army leaders confirmed that the main Red Army was marching north, and that Hu Zongnan, Lu Dachang, Wang Jun, Deng Baoshan, Ma Hongbin and other large numbers of Kuomintang troops were deployed in northwestern Sichuan and the borders of southern Gansu and the Weihe River. Along the line and on the West (An) Lan (state) highway, the main anti-blocking Red Army went north.Based on this, the leaders of the 25th Red Army decided to immediately lead the troops into Gansu, threaten the enemy's rear, and cooperate with the main Red Army's northward movement. The Red Army sneaked into Liangdang County, Gansu Province in disguise with a pistol regiment, and cooperated with the main force to capture the city on August 3, then turned from Liqiao Town to the northwest, and captured the North Pass of Tianshui County in one fell swoop on the evening of the 9th, and went straight to the enemy's rear, forcing the enemy to urgently move The twelfth division of the third army returned to aid.The Red Army took advantage of the victory to cross the Weihe River again, entered Qin'an County on the 11th, boldly advanced deep into the enemy, and arrived at Jingning County on August 14, cutting off the Xilan Highway, the main traffic artery that traverses the two provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu, and defending the enemy's new land. The 11th Brigade of the First Army was extremely panicked and urgently called Lanzhou for help. The bold penetration of the 25th Red Army and its rapid westward advance shocked Chiang Kai-shek.As early as June, he was helpless with the actions of the 25th Red Army, lamenting that "Bandit Xu (Haidong) has been running rampant for several months, which is really something to worry about." On July 21, he sent a telegram from the "Xingyuan" in Chengdu to the Xi'an Appeasement Administration to reprimand: "The mere bandits have not been wiped out so far. It can be seen that the campaign is not effective and the order is not sincere. I will clear it before August 15th. If we can’t follow the order to clear them up, then only the chief in charge will punish the bandits.” On August 10, Chiang Kai-shek telegraphed again, saying: “The reason why Xu Haidong’s bandits fled westward is to support Zhu Mao. Quickly deal with the bandits Xu, and then fight back against Zhu Mao with all your strength." He telegraphed Xue Yue, Wang Jun, Yu Xuezhong, Yang Hucheng, etc. to draw part of their troops, "return to Zhu Shaoliang to take charge of the unified command", and concentrate on dealing with the 25th Red Army . On August 17, after the Red Army attacked Klond County in one fell swoop, they crossed Liupan Mountain overnight, continued to advance eastward along the Xilan Highway, and approached Pingliang County on the 19th.Ma Hongbin, commander of the 35th Division defending Pingliang, ordered the 105th Regiment to reinforce Pingliang, and at the same time ordered the Cavalry Regiment and the 104th Brigade and the 28th Regiment to gather in Jingchuan County in an attempt to drive the Red Army out of Longdong.Ma Hongbin personally supervised the battle, took a "Wanguo" car, and led three infantry battalions of the 105th Brigade, closely following the Red Army.The Red Army seized the high ground of Dahugou easily in the evening, braved the rain to stop the enemy, defeated all the enemy troops, wiped out more than one battalion of the enemy, and the division commander Ma Hongbin was almost captured alive. At this time, the situation facing the Red Army was also very grim.The long-distance raid and combat made the troops very tired. There were enemies blocking the front and chasing troops behind. In addition to the heavy rain for two consecutive days, the Jing River north of the Xilan Highway rose violently. Blocked by the wide plateau, there is no room for maneuver.At this critical moment, the army leaders resolutely decided to temporarily leave the road, cross the Wangmu Palace plateau in the south, cross the Ruihe River, a tributary of the Jinghe River, and pretend to attack Lingtai and "take the road into Shaanxi", but actually went west to attack Chongxin. In the county seat, they still hold on to the Xilan Highway, and continue to inquire about the actions of the main Red Army. Unexpectedly, when the troops climbed from Wangcun to Wangmu Palace, the third life-threatening battle of the Red 25th Army's Long March took place. Wangmu Palace Plateau is a high loess slope located between the Jing River and the Rui River.Under the ten-odd-zhang cliff in the south is the Youhe River flowing eastward. Usually, the water flows slowly and is not as deep as knees.Due to the torrential rain for several days, the river is now soaring, causing great difficulty in crossing the river. On August 21, military political commissar Wu Huanxian commanded the Pistol Regiment and the 225th Regiment to cross the river first and occupy the high ground on the south bank to prevent the Jingchuan enemy from raiding; the 223rd Regiment served as the rear guard.Just as the military supply department and the military hospital were crossing the river, a flash flood suddenly broke out. Unfortunately, several soldiers were swept away by the flood peak and had to suspend crossing the river.At this time, mule and horse stretchers, luggage loaders, medical medicines, ordnance equipment, wounded and sick, etc. of the whole army were crowded on the north bank of the Ruihe River.There was a sudden burst of gunfire on the palace of the Queen Mother.It turned out that more than 1,000 people from the 28th Regiment of the 104th Brigade of the enemy came in a surprise attack with the cooperation of the 1st Company of Cavalry, in an attempt to defeat the Red Army while the Red Army was halfway through. The 3rd Battalion of the 223rd Regiment, which served as a cover, immediately started a fierce battle with the enemy by virtue of houses, earth walls, and cave dwellings.The first two regiments had already crossed the river and were unable to return for reinforcements. The second, second and third regiments, which served as the rear guard to cover the military supply agency, were in a dangerous situation of fighting against the water.If the enemy's attack is not resolutely repelled, the consequences will be disastrous.The army leader immediately ordered the first and second battalions of the second, second and third regiments to go into battle to prevent the enemy from attacking.Political commissar Wu Huanxian led the military traffic team and 150 or 60 soldiers, took a hidden path, climbed up the top of the source from the river in one go, inserted into the enemy's tail, cut off the enemy's retreat, and attacked the enemy from the side and rear . "Comrades, suppressing the enemy is victory, and the enemy must not be allowed to approach the river!" Political Commissar Wu shouted, while fighting the enemy hard with the soldiers.The three battalions of the Red Second, Second and Third Regiment, under the cover of several heavy machine guns, took the opportunity to launch a fierce counterattack against the enemy.The enemy troops who were only besieging the Sipo Village by the Ruihe River did not expect that a surprise soldier would suddenly appear from behind, and they were in a mess, fleeing for the road.The commanders and fighters of the second, second and third regiments took advantage of the momentum and rushed forward to start a hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, and finally pressed the enemy into a mud ditch, wiped them all out, and killed the enemy regiment leader Ma Kaiji. After the fierce battle on the plateau of the Queen Mother's Palace, although the Red 25th Army turned the corner, it paid a huge price.Military political commissar Wu Huanxian, who personally led the commanders and fighters to cut off the enemy's rear and charge to kill the enemy, was shot and died at the age of 28.The commanders and fighters were in great grief, all beating their chests and feet, with tears in their eyes. After the fierce battle at Wangmu Palace, the 25th Red Army continued to actively seek information about the actions of the main Red Army in the triangle area between Lingtai, Chongxin, and Longxian County.Wherever the troops went, the army leaders sent pistol regiments to collect newspapers, visit merchants, and tried their best to find out the northward movements of the Party Central Committee and the main Red Army.However, due to the lack of radio communication, the information on the Huangtugou Plateau was blocked, and there was no information on the actions of the main Red Army after crossing the grassland. At this time, the enemy's situation also underwent a major change.The enemy's 12th Division, 113th Division, 6th Division, 17th Brigade, and 35th Division of the Third Army are mobilizing to the triangle area of ​​Ling (Taiwan), Chong (Xin) and Long (county).Considering that the enemy army is encircling the Red Army and it is difficult to obtain the real news of the main Red Army at the moment, the army leaders decided to go to the Northern Shaanxi Soviet Area immediately to join the Northern Shaanxi Red Army. On August 30, the 25th Red Army went north through Ankou Kiln in Huating County.Cross the Jing River at Sishipu in the east of Pingliang City, pass through Zhenyuan and Qingyang, turn the ditch and cross the source, and go northward. On September 4, the third battalion of the Red 225th Regiment, which served as the rear guard, was suddenly attacked by the enemy cavalry regiment.Xu Haidong commanded the second battalion to go into battle and cover the third battalion to break through. But because the enemy was outnumbered, the Second Battalion was also surrounded, and the situation was very critical.Fang Bingren, the head of the regiment, led the first battalion to quickly seize a hill, stopped the enemy's attack with fierce firepower, and covered Xu Haidong's flying horse to break out of the encirclement. More than 200 commanders and fighters under the head of Fang died heroically.Subsequently, the troops continued to advance north along the high mountains on the Shaanxi-Gansu border. The people along the Shaanxi-Gansu border are poor, sparsely populated, and have no food to raise. The whole army is in serious threat of starvation.Many battalion cadres had no choice but to kill horses so that the commanders and fighters could eat and eat.Just at this time, a sheep driver happened to pass by, and four or five hundred sheep were bought by the troops. Only then did the threat of hunger for the whole army be relieved, and they were able to move on. On September 7, they arrived at the Shaanxi-Gansu Revolutionary Base. Sichuan.The Provincial Party Committee held a meeting here and decided that Xu Haidong would be the commander of the army, Cheng Zihua would be the political commissar of the army, Dai Jiying would be the chief of staff, and Guo Shushen would be the director of the Political Department.The army leaders made a political mobilization for the troops to join forces with the Northern Shaanxi Red Army, requiring the troops to observe discipline, pay attention to unity, and learn from the Northern Shaanxi Red Army.Subsequently, more than 3,400 people in the whole army continued to march northward, and arrived at Yongning Mountain on September 9, where they got in touch with the Shaanxi-Gansu Party Organization.Xi Zhongxun and Liu Jingfan immediately reported the news to the Northwest Working Committee.The Northwest Working Committee of the Communist Party of China immediately issued the "Urgent Notice to Party Branches at All Levels to Welcome the 25th Red Army to the North", demanding to mobilize the masses and send condolences to welcome the 25th Red Army. After a short rest in Yongning Mountain, the 25th Red Army arrived at Yongping Town, Yanchuan County on September 15 after a 4-day march, where they joined forces with the 26th and 27th Red Army led by Liu Zhidan and others.In this way, the 25th Red Army successfully completed the Long March and became the first Red Army unit to reach northern Shaanxi early in the Red Army's Long March. On September 18, 1935, a grand party was held in the square of Yongping Town to celebrate the victory and commemorate the 4th anniversary of the "September 18th" Incident.A large slogan "Welcome the 25th Red Army" was hung across the venue, and countless red flags were waving in the wind.The Red Guards and the masses from dozens of miles around came to attend the meeting. At the party, Liu Zhidan, Xu Haidong, Guo Shushen, Nie Hongjun, and Zhu Lizhi made speeches successively, representing the people of the northern Shaanxi base area and the Red 25th Army, the Northwest Military Commission, and the Northwest Working Committee of the Communist Party of China, etc., congratulating the Red 25th Army and the Northern Shaanxi Red Army Join forces in victory, calling on all soldiers and civilians to learn from each other, strengthen unity, and strive to consolidate and expand the revolutionary base in northern Shaanxi. After joining forces, the 25th Red Army, the 26th and 27th Red Army were jointly organized into the 15th Red Army, with Xu Haidong, the head of the army, Cheng Zihua, the political commissar, Liu Zhidan, the deputy head of the army and chief of staff, and Gao Gang, the director of the political department.The whole army has 3 divisions under its jurisdiction, with a total of more than 7,000 people. They are strong and powerful, and have effectively strengthened the armed forces in the northern Shaanxi base. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek established the "Northwest Communist Suppression Headquarters" in Xi'an. He served as the commander-in-chief and commanded 4 armies and 11 divisions of the Northeast Army, 2 divisions and 5 brigades of the Shaanxi Army and the Jin Army. The tactics of combining east and west launched the third "encirclement and suppression" against the revolutionary base areas in northern Shaanxi.The leaders of the 15th Red Army Corps carefully studied this situation, and decided to seize the favorable opportunity for the enemy's 67th Army to advance alone on the southern front, and took advantage of the favorable terrain in the Laoshan area in southern Yan'an to patiently set up an ambush for 3 days. On October 1, the enemy's 110th Division entered the Red Army's ambush circle.The commanders and fighters of the Red 75th and 78th Divisions in ambush launched a violent attack on the enemy's marching formation from both sides of the road at the same time. After more than 5 hours of fierce fighting, they wiped out the two enemy regiments and the division's direct team that entered the ambush circle. Killed and wounded enemy division commander He Lizhong, division chief of staff Fan Yuzhou, regiment commander Yang Dexin and more than 1,000 people, captured enemy regiment commander Pei Huancai and more than 3,700 people, and seized a large number of weapons and ammunition, causing the enemy's third "encirclement and suppression" of the northern Shaanxi base area to suffer serious damage. frustration. The rendezvous of the 25th Red Army and the Red Army in northern Shaanxi and the victory in the Laoshan battle played a welcome song for the party Central Committee and the main Red Army to go northward.