Chapter 20 the leaders are here

After Zhang Wentian, Mao Zedong, and Zhou Enlai evacuated Wayaobao, they were anxious.Although the Western Expedition achieved consecutive victories after more than a month of hard work, it occupied a vast area on the border between Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia, and began to establish base areas.However, Chiang Kai-shek forced nine divisions of the Northeast Army's infantry and cavalry to launch a new attack on the Red Army in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region.In addition, although the Fourth Red Army continued to march northward, the development of the situation was unpredictable. As early as October 1935, Zhang Guotao, relying on more soldiers and more guns, started a split and established a separate "central government".The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has always adopted a persuasive and salvage attitude towards Zhang Guotao, and has repeatedly exchanged views through telegrams to encourage him to go north to join the Red Front Army. In late November, Lin Yuying (ie, Zhang Hao), the CCP’s representative to the Comintern, returned from the Soviet Union and came to northern Shaanxi. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to seize this favorable condition and Lin Yuying came forward to do Zhang Guotao’s work.Lin Yuying actively supported the decision of the Party Central Committee, and kept calling Zhang Guotao, criticizing his mistake of splitting the Red Army, asking him to put the overall situation first, accept the instructions of the Communist International, and go north to join the Red Army.Coupled with the fact that the Fourth Red Army was facing a wall in the south, food shortages in the Sichuan-Kangzhou area, and difficulties in working with ethnic minorities, the mood of the majority of commanders and fighters became increasingly depressed. In May, Zhang Guotao led his troops northward when he could not do so. Arriving in Luhuo in early June, after persuasion by Zhu De, Liu Bocheng, Xu Xiangqian and others, they announced the cancellation of the second "Central". On July 1, the Fourth Red Army, the Sixth Red Army and the Second Red Army joined forces in Ganzi.68 party, government and army leaders including Lin Yuying, Zhang Wentian, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Qin Bangxian, and Peng Dehuai in the Shaanxi-Gansu base area warmly sent a congratulatory telegram.

On July 5th, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission issued an order: the Second Red Army, the Sixth Red Army, and the Thirty-two Red Army formed the Second Red Front Army, with He Long as the commander-in-chief, Ren Bishi as the political commissar, Xiao Ke as the deputy commander-in-chief, and Guan Xiangying as the commander-in-chief. Deputy political commissar.The Red Second Front Army is under the leadership of the Party Central Committee and has a parallel relationship with the Red Fourth Front Army.After the meeting, Ren Bishi and He Long urged Zhang Guotao to abandon the plan to go south and implement the central government's policy of going north. With the cooperation of Zhu De and Liu Bocheng, Zhang Guotao had no choice but to continue going north.However, it is still unknown whether Zhang Guotao can join the Central Red Army, whether he can obey the unified leadership of the Central Committee in the military, and whether there will be extra problems.

From July 5th to 7th, Zhang Wentian, Mao Zedong, and Zhou Enlai stayed in Ansai County and held a meeting to listen to Liu Ding's report on the situation of the Northeast Army. On July 6, Mao Zedong telegraphed Peng Dehuai: "The central government and the Red School are in Bao'an, and the rear departments of the Military Commission are in Wuqi Town. Luo Fu, Enlai, and I are temporarily in Ansai, and will go to Bao'an in a few days." Afterwards, Zhang Wentian left Ansai and arrived at Zhidan County before Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai.His arrival was greeted simply and solemnly by comrades from the central government agencies in Baoan City, students from the Red Army University, and comrades from the local Soviet government.Outside the south gate of Baoan City, the crowd stood in two long lines. When they saw the party general secretary walking, they immediately rang out slogans one after another: "Victory of the Red Army" and "Long live the Soviet Union."Encouraged by the high morale of the comrades, Zhang Wentian smiled and waved to everyone, saying loudly: Hello, comrades!thank you all!At this time, Bogu, Luo Mai (Li Weihan) and other leaders who had arrived in Baoan City a few days ago stepped forward and shook hands with Zhang Wentian enthusiastically. The joy of meeting was overflowing on everyone's faces.Zhang Wentian and his wife Liu Ying were arranged in the Hongshi cave dwelling at the foot of Paolou Mountain in Baoan City, and it was the only two-hole suite cave dwelling, which was relatively spacious.

On July 10, Zhang Wentian presided over a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Zhidan County to discuss the policy of the new area liberated during the Western Expedition.Attendees at the meeting included Bo Gu, Luo Mai, Zhang Hao, Wu Liangping, Lai Dachao, Zhou Xing, Zhang Xinyu, Liu Ying, etc.At the meeting, Zhang Xinyu made a report on the situation in the "trilateral" area.After the discussion, Zhang Wentian made a concluding speech, pointing out: First, the situation in the "trilateral" area is complicated. Now we should try our best to carry out guerrilla warfare, eliminate militia groups, and not propose a plan to expand the red; second, we need to be more flexible in solving the land issue. Because there are many lands, rich peasants can not confiscate the land and divide it equally At the same time, the rich peasants can be distributed equally, and the landlords can divide the bad land and the wasteland. If they behave well, they can be given citizenship rights. It is not necessary to make the local tyrant clean, but at the same time, attention should be paid to allowing him to solve his own life problems; Third, you can write a document on the guiding principles of Mongolian people’s work. It is not appropriate to casually say “traitored” and this issue should be placed before the special committee seriously; If you don’t oppose us, you can also absorb them to participate in the work of the Soviets. Even the leaders can work in the Soviets and separate them from the reactionary leaders. It is possible to organize them, and good members of the Hui people can be recruited into the party. It is possible to organize a Hui self-government, but it is inappropriate to only organize a Hui self-government and not to organize district and county governments in areas where Hui and Han live together; People's work can be broken into and carried out, just like the work in the white areas, its upper-level activities should not be abandoned, and what can be used should be used as much as possible; seventh, the policy towards traitors must be changed now, and those who killed us in the past may not necessarily To eliminate him, revolution comes first, revenge comes second.In the old place of Bianzui, Mao Zedong lived in the cave on the left, that is, on July 10th, Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai broke up.Zhou Enlai stayed in Ansai County, waiting for the American reporter Edgar Snow who came to interview.Mao Zedong and his entourage set off from Ansai to Zhidan County.

That afternoon, Mao Zedong, who was lying on a stretcher, passed Wang Yao and went up the Xingzi River. When he arrived at Niuyuanzi in Xinghe Town, it was already dark.Gan Shao, who had been waiting here for a long time, greeted Mao Zedong and his party, and turned to Bianzui Village, where there were only a few families.The villagers in Bianzui have been notified by the government cadres: "Today the leader of the Red Army is coming, and he will pass by here to stay overnight. There are important matters to discuss, so don't make noise." The stone kiln courtyard was cleaned up, and each family brought out the best quilts.There is a square stone kiln courtyard at the highest point of Bianzui Village, which was built by the great businessman Li Linfang. There are 11 cave dwellings in the courtyard, 5 openings in the middle, and 3 facing stone kilns on each side.Mao Zedong lived in the westernmost kiln in the middle row.

Although the harvest has been poor for several years, the life of the people in Bianzui is very difficult. They only have some beans and millet, and they eat bitter vegetables dug from the mountains.But the villagers regard the Red Army as their relatives. The women are busy in the pots and stoves. Those who cook rice make rice, those who cook bitter vegetables boil bitter vegetables, and those who peel potatoes peel potatoes. It is a dinner of potatoes boiled with bitter vegetables.The night was very dark, a lot of wool felt was spread in the yard, and many people slept in a mess.Mao Zedong's cave dwelling was still lit with oil lamps, and his pacing figure was reflected in the windows from time to time.After eating millet porridge and steamed yams the next day, Mao Zedong and his party walked up the hillside road to the county seat.

At noon on July 11, Mao Zedong and his party climbed down Xiaoshishan and walked into Zhidan County.On both sides of the main road outside the city, there were crowds of people waiting to welcome them. Among them were students from the Red Army University, cadres from central government agencies, and local people. Immediately, slogans rang out: Welcome Chairman Mao!Long live the Red Army!Mao Zedong greeted everyone with a smile and waved, saying in Hunan dialect: "Hello, comrades! Hello everyone!" Bogu, Li Weihan and others greeted Mao Zedong with a handshake and a smile of reunion.Standing in the welcoming crowd, Wang Hai from the military department of the county government immediately recognized Chairman Mao who had commanded the Zhiluo campaign, and excitedly told the people around him, "It's Chairman Mao, he is Chairman Mao!".It turned out that Wang Hai was injured in his leg while participating in the Battle of Zhiluo, and the stretcher could not be loaded for a while, and the wounded were all waiting in the tunnel.Unexpectedly, Chairman Mao, Vice Chairman Zhou and Luo Ruiqing came over to observe the battle situation. After seeing the wounded, they hurried down to the tunnel to visit the wounded one by one, took off their water bottles, fed them to the seriously wounded, and comforted them: "Drink some Drink some water and you will feel better, and I will send you to the hospital as soon as the stretcher comes up." Wang Hai remembered that experience, and now he happily joined the welcoming crowd, talking and laughing, following Chairman Mao and his party, walking When we arrived at the residence of the central leadership in Hongshi Courtyard, we reluctantly left.

Mao Zedong, who arrived in Zhidan City, called Peng Dehuai the next day: I went to security yesterday, and Zhou Shang is in Ansai. In order to take care of He Zizhen who is pregnant in daily life, the staff arranged a large stone cave dwelling for them, which is wide but not deep.There are two doors in this cave dwelling, and a wall is built inside the cave dwelling, which divides the cave dwelling into two small cave dwellings, with a hole in the middle of the wall.On the roof of the kiln, you can still see the traces of the stubble left by the hammer and chisel. There is a natural-shaped stone niche on the north side of the kiln wall, and a small earthen kang is built under the stone niche.The staff knew that Mao Zedong was too tall to lie down, so they dug the stone niche and asked the local people to re-pan the kang and put up mosquito nets. It was considered the place where Chairman Mao Zedong of the Soviet Central Government slept.They also borrowed tables and chairs and put them in front of the small window, placed a few wooden pier for sitting on the ground, and hung a map on the wall.In this extremely simple small cave dwelling, as soon as Mao Zedong settled down, he continued to write "Strategic Issues in China's Revolutionary War", a work that guided the development of the Chinese revolution.

The main leaders of the Central Committee and the confidential office of the Military Commission all live in this small red stone courtyard. The radio station is set up on the cliff cellar 100 meters away from the small courtyard to the north. The cellar runs from the entrance below to the stone cave surrounded above. , a secret passage with 18 steps, which is called "Eighteen Terraces" by the locals.On the courtyard gate facing Mao Zedong's cave dwelling, a watchtower for guards on duty was built with wooden boards.Zhang Wentian, Bogu, Lin Boqu, Wang Jiaxiang, Ye Zilong, etc. lived in this small red stone courtyard. In addition, there were also the Military Commission meeting room, the Military Commission confidential room, the writing and printing group, the guard room, and the stove of the central government.There are three old tile-roofed houses on the open space to the west of the confidential room of the Military Commission, reserved for Zhou Enlai who will come to Baoan City on July 25 to live.