Chapter 26 Zhu De announced: "This army is led by Chen Yilai and me!"

The main force of the Nanchang Uprising was defeated in Chaoshan, and the force led by Zhu De suddenly became a lone army. Without the slightest hesitation, after the Maozhi meeting, Zhu De and others led troops to move northward, break through the encirclement of the Kuomintang reactionaries, and move to the border of Hunan, Guangdong and Jiangxi. The rebel army moved north and was quickly discovered by the Kuomintang reactionaries.Qian Dajun, who got some cheap money in the Sanheba area, quickly mobilized a division of troops to follow closely.When the rebel army passed through Dapu, Yongding, Jiaoling, and Fengshi in Fujian, and arrived at Wuping County at the junction of Fujian and Jiangxi on October 16, the 18th Division led by Qian Dajun caught up.

The rebel troops were going to rest here for a day before heading west.Unexpectedly, just as the whole army settled down in the city, Qian Dajun's troops had already arrived outside the city. A fierce battle is inevitable! Because the rebel army was unprepared and rushed to the battle, coupled with lack of food and ammunition, and low morale, it was really inconvenient to fight head-on with the enemy for a long time.Therefore, after two hours of fierce fighting, Zhu De ordered the troops to withdraw from the battle and move to the northwest of Wuping. When the troops retreated to a very dangerous pass in Shijingling, 5 miles northwest of the city, the local reactionary militia that had ambushed here in advance had already occupied a favorable terrain and blocked the way of the rebel army.Qian Dajun's heavy troops chased after him, and the troops got stuck on a narrow mountain road.The enemy attacked back and forth, and the situation was extremely dangerous.If you don't rush out of the pass as soon as possible, the consequences will be disastrous.

At this critical juncture, Zhu De, as the supreme commander, stepped forward and appeared in front of the troops.He ordered the troops who opened the way to evacuate and hide first to reduce casualties. He led a few guards around him to climb up the cliffs covered with bushes, and suddenly appeared behind the militia on the pass.The militia militia who were attacked suddenly panicked and fled without knowing how many people there were.This gave the troops a way out of the dangerous situation. When the officers and soldiers of the troops passed through the pass in a hurry, they all clearly saw Zhu De standing on a broken wall holding a shell gun and commanding.This scene is deeply engraved in the minds and hearts of the rebel soldiers.Decades later, Su Yu, who was the squad leader at the time and was injured in the battle, recalled affectionately: "In this battle, I saw with my own eyes the heroic posture of Comrade Zhu De climbing the steep cliff and the cliff, and I felt infinite admiration and respect for him spontaneously in my heart." Trust. After this battle at the Shijingling Pass, I realized that Comrade Zhu De is not only a magnanimous, kind and kind elder, but also a brave general who is brave and good at fighting and takes the lead.”

Indeed, through this battle, not only Su Yu but also most of the other people got to know Zhu De again.He began to win the admiration and trust of the officers and soldiers with his heroic image, which laid the initial foundation for him to command this army with ease in the future. After rushing out of the pass, the rebel troops entered the mountainous area of ​​southern Jiangxi, and finally got rid of the powerful enemy's pursuit.At this time, the rebel army "survived about 1,500 people, with less than 1,000 guns and two machine guns." In mid-to-late October in the mountainous area of ​​southern Jiangxi, the weather has gradually turned cold, but the officers and soldiers of the troops are still wearing single clothes and shorts, and even barefoot.Cold, hunger, and disease tormented everyone and confused everyone's thinking. More and more people left the team, and when they encountered a fork in the road, some people left without saying goodbye.

At this moment, some officers from the Whampoa Military Academy, including Lin Biao, commander of the seventh company of the 73rd Regiment, approached Chen Yi and expressed their intention to leave the team and find another way out.They mobilized Chen Yi to go together: "You are an intellectual, you have never fought a war, you have never built a team, we have built a team, and now the team is no good, you can't touch it, and it will collapse if you touch it. Instead of being a prisoner, it is better to wear Go in plain clothes." Chen Yi shook his head: "I won't leave. Now that I have a gun, I can kill the local tyrants and evil gentry. As soon as I leave the team, the local tyrants and evil gentry will kill me. If the team exists, we can exist too. If you want to go, go, take the gun Stay and we will continue the revolution."

Seeing that Chen Yi couldn't be persuaded, the officers had no choice but to "slip away" by themselves.According to people's recollection, Lin Biao also left the army on his own at that time, but returned to the army automatically a few days later, followed the army to fight in southern Shonan and went to Jinggangshan. If Lin Biao hadn't changed his mind at that time, and had just left like this, there would not have been Lin Biao, the Marshal of the Republic who later shocked the enemy, and there would not have been the "Deputy Commander" Lin Biao who was defeated.However, history cannot be assumed!

In late October, when the troops arrived at Tianxinxu in Anyuan County, there were less than 900 troops.The only division-level political cadre is Chen Yi.The revolutionary armed force independently led by the Communist Party of China is on the brink of collapse and is facing a severe test of life and death. At this extremely difficult moment, Zhu De and Chen Yi stepped forward.They held a general assembly of soldiers in a col. Zhu De first announced: "Comrades! I sent your division commanders to carry out their missions. From today on, this team will be led by me and Chen Yi."

Then, he said righteously: "Whoever wants to make a revolution, follow me. Those who don't want to continue to struggle can go home without forcing it. As long as I have ten or eight guns, I still want to make a revolution." He took the Russian October Revolution As a metaphor for the tortuous road it traveled: "The Russian Revolution was dark after its failure in 1905, but the darkness was temporary. In 1917, the revolution finally succeeded. The Chinese revolution has failed now, and China is also dark now, but the darkness covers Can't live in the light. As long as we preserve our strength, the revolution will find its way and succeed."

Chen Yi also spoke at the meeting.He said: The Nanchang Uprising failed.But the failure of the Nanchang Uprising does not mean the failure of the Chinese revolution.The Chinese revolution will still succeed.We all have to stand the test of a failure situation, and it is easy to be a hero when a victory develops.In the case of failure and retreat, it is much more difficult.Only heroes who have passed the test of failure are real heroes. These sonorous and powerful words greatly encouraged and educated the officers and soldiers of the army.It was from this military meeting that Zhu De truly became the leader of this team, and Chen Yi also gained prestige.

At this critical juncture, there is another person who has made great contributions to assisting Zhu De in controlling this team. He is Wang Erzhuo, chief of staff of the 74th regiment. After the Nanchang Uprising, Wang Erzhuo, who made the oath of "If the revolution fails, you will not shave your beard and hair", although he is only in his twenties, has a beard and long hair.He graduated from the first phase of the Whampoa Military Academy, and he is very loyal. He has always been called "Big Brother Whampoa" in the 25th Division, and is respected by those battalion and company commanders who graduated later than him.Especially when almost all the officers at the division and regiment levels left the army, he became the oldest and highest-ranking "local householder" in this army.His words and deeds have a decisive role in the army.After the military meeting, as the big brother of Whampoa, he talked to the officers of the battalion and company one by one, asking everyone to resolutely obey Zhu De's leadership.

It can be said that in the days to come, Zhu De was able to successfully bring the remaining troops of the Nanchang Uprising to Jinggangshan, mainly relying on Chen Yi politically and Wang Erzhuo militaryly. In order to consolidate the troops and preserve the fire of the revolution, after arriving at Dayu on the border of Guangdong and Jiangxi at the end of October, Zhu De and Chen Yi led the troops in a timely manner to carry out the famous Dayu reorganization.The military division system, which had become empty, was abolished, and the remaining more than 800 people were unified into a column. In order to conceal it, it was known as the "Fifth Column of the National Revolutionary Army". Wang Erzhuo served as chief of staff.Under its jurisdiction are 7 infantry companies, 1 mortar company and 1 heavy machine gun company. At the same time, under the auspices of Chen Yi, the party organization was also rectified, the party members were re-registered, the party branch was established, and some party members were sent to the company to strengthen the party's work at the grassroots level. After this reorganization, "the troops have moved towards unity and unity, their discipline has been strengthened, and their combat effectiveness has also improved." In early November, led by Zhu De and Chen Yi, the remnants of the revived Nanchang Uprising Army entered the Chongyi and Shangyou mountainous areas at the junction of the three provinces of Hunan, Guangdong and Jiangxi to carry out campaigns against bandits and bullies, publicity and mobilization of the masses, and in Chongyi The Shangbao carried out military training again. Firstly, discipline was emphasized, and all funds collected and seized should be returned to the public; secondly, military training was carried out, and new tactics were proposed, starting from regular warfare to guerrilla warfare. When winter was approaching, the weather was deteriorating day by day, but soldiers in the army were still wearing single clothes and trousers, and there was a serious shortage of food, ammunition, and medicine.How to solve the problem of supplies has become the primary issue facing this army. While Zhu De and other leaders were worrying about this matter, Fan Shisheng, the commander of the 16th Army of the Kuomintang stationed in Shaoguan, Guangdong and Rucheng, Hunan, and Zhu De's former classmate in the Yunnan Lecture Hall, sent someone to contact him, hoping to communicate with the troops led by Zhu De. The rest of the Nanchang Uprising Army cooperated.In order to solve the problem of military supplies, Zhu De and Chen Yi decided after research that they were willing to cooperate with the Communist Party under the principle of maintaining the independence of the Communist Party's armed forces. In late November, Zhu De led his troops to Rucheng, Hunan Province, which is more than 90 miles away from Shangbao, and under the escort of a small number of armed personnel, he personally negotiated with Fan Shisheng.After two days of negotiation, Fan Shisheng accepted Zhu De's conditions and agreed: (1) Zhu De is a team of the Communist Party, all actions are subject to the mobilization of the Communist Party, independent in organization, independent in politics, and free in military affairs. (2) Zhu De's Department was renamed the 140th Regiment of the 47th Division of the 16th Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and Zhu De still served as the General Counselor of the 16th Army, Deputy Commander of the 47th Division and the 140th Regiment in the name of Wang Kai head. (3) One month's military salary will be paid first, and a certain amount of guns, ammunition, clothing and other military supplies will be provided. Through the establishment of a cooperative relationship with Fan Shisheng's Ministry, the uprising troops were supplemented with food, clothing and ammunition, and temporarily got rid of the predicament. During the negotiations in Rucheng, Zhu De and Chen Yi got in touch with more than 200 people from the First Regiment of the Second Division of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Revolutionary Army composed of Rucheng and Yizhang’s peasant army through the introduction of Fan Shisheng’s underground party members of the Communist Party of China. From March 28th to 28th, a joint meeting of the heads of party organizations in counties in southern Hunan and northern Guangdong was held in Rucheng to discuss the arrangements for holding the New Year's Day Riot in southern Hunan. In early December, Zhu De and Chen Yi led their troops to move to Shaoguan with the headquarters of the Sixteenth Army.When passing through Renhua, they got in touch with the Beijiang Special Committee of the Communist Party of China and received instructions from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to lead their troops south to participate in the Guangzhou Uprising.When they led their troops to Shaoguan, news came that the Guangzhou Uprising had failed.Therefore, the troops stationed in Liputou, 40 miles northwest of Shaoguan, and carried out intense military training activities, making various preparations for future armed uprisings. After the failure of the Guangzhou riot, Chiang Kai-shek discovered that the rest of the Nanchang uprising army was hidden in Fan Shisheng's army, so he secretly ordered Fan Shisheng to disarm him.Fan Shisheng did not forget the old friendship, not only did not carry out the order, but also secretly notified Zhu De to lead his troops to leave quickly, and presented tens of thousands of silver dollars and a batch of bullets.Therefore, Zhu De and Chen Yi quietly left Liputou and headed northward on January 4, 1928, in the name of an exercise, planning to detour through Nanxiong and Wengyuan to Hailufeng in Beijiang.When they arrived in Renhua, they found that a large number of Kuomintang troops were marching towards Nanxiong.Obviously, if the troops continue to advance in the direction of Hailufeng, they will inevitably fight with them, and the consequences will be disastrous.Under such circumstances, Zhu De adopted the suggestion of Gong Chu, who had been introduced to the army by the Beijiang Special Committee of the Communist Party of China not long ago to serve as the deputy of the regiment, and turned back to the northwest to go to southern Hunan, where the masses had a better foundation, to realize the long-planned armed uprising in southern Hunan. Going north to southern Hunan and then going to Jinggangshan, history provided a rare opportunity for the remaining team of the Nanchang Uprising.If you really went to Hailufeng, then what you will encounter in the future is likely to be like the rest of the 24th Division led by Dong Lang and the teaching group after the Guangzhou Uprising, who ended up in a small area with the mountains behind and the sea. All were eaten by the Guangdong warlords.Now I have gone to southern Hunan and the border regions of Hunan and Jiangxi, where there is a wide room for maneuver, and that is a world with great potential.