Chapter 31 "United Front" Northeast Army

After the Central Red Army arrived in northern Shaanxi, it faced a military siege, and the situation was very unfavorable.At that time, in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, the Kuomintang established the "Communist Suppression" headquarters in the border areas of the four provinces of Shanxi, Shaanxi, Suining, mobilizing Yan Xishan's troops in the east, Ma Hongbin, Ma Hongkui, and Ma Bufang's troops in the northwest, and the Northeast Army in the south. The violent invasion and suppression of the Soviet Area in Northern Shaanxi. In October 1935, the Red Fifteenth Army won two consecutive victories in the Laoshan and Yulinqiao battles, killed the enemy division commander He Lizhong, captured the regiment commander Gao Fuyuan, and wiped out more than 5,500 enemies. On November 21, the main force of the First Red Army and the 15th Red Army jointly launched the Zhiluo Town Annihilation War. They wiped out one division after another and captured more than 5,300 enemies. The danger of the attack smashed the Kuomintang army's third "encirclement and suppression" campaign against the Northern Shaanxi Soviet Area.The victory in the battle of Zhiluo Town held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Party Central Committee's task of placing the Chinese Revolutionary Base Camp in the Northwest!

The situation in the Shaanxi-Gansu base areas initially stabilized, but the domestic situation changed suddenly. The Japanese aggressors established a puppet regime in eastern Hebei, triggering the vigorous 129th Movement, and the Chinese people's anti-Japanese and national salvation sentiment rose rapidly.In northern Shaanxi, the Northeast Army, the main force of the Kuomintang's campaign against the Red Army, suffered heavy military losses many times and received cold treatment from Chiang Kai-shek. In addition, they were exiled in the interior after the fall of the Northeast, and their soldiers all had a strong desire to resist Japan.How to deal with the Northeast Army and establish an anti-Japanese national united front has become a practical problem that must be seriously resolved to consolidate and expand the Soviet Area in northern Shaanxi.

Previously, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China had emphasized in the "Secret Instruction Letter for the Present Anti-Japanese and Against Chiang" that the anti-Japanese national united front should not only have a lower-level united front, but also an upper-level united front, and should unite with all anti-Japanese and anti-Chiang groups and individuals. In mid-November, Zhang Hao (Lin Yuying), who participated in the Seventh National Congress of the Communist International, came to Wayaobao from Moscow to convey the spirit of the Communist International on establishing an anti-fascist united front.All of these played an indispensable role in promoting the theme of the expanded meeting of the Politburo in Wayaobao in December.

On December 25, an enlarged meeting of the Politburo passed the "Resolution of the Central Committee on the Current Political Situation and the Party's Tasks" drafted by Zhang Wentian, stating: "Our task is not only to unite all possible anti-Japanese basic forces, but also to unite all The possible anti-Japanese and anti-alliance is to make the people of the whole country contribute their strength, money, guns, and knowledge, so as not to prevent a patriotic Chinese from participating in the anti-Japanese front.” The Wayaobao meeting was A meeting of the Party Central Committee at the important turning point from the Second Civil Revolutionary War to the Anti-Japanese War timely formulated the anti-Japanese national united front strategy and opened up a new path for the future.

However, where to look for the opportunity of the united front? The opportunity really arose.Gao Fuyuan, the commander of the Northeast Army who was captured in the Battle of Yulin Bridge, lived in the Red Army for two months, and his thinking has changed a lot. He proposed to Li Kenong, director of the Central Liaison Bureau: He is willing to go back and persuade Zhang Xueliang to join the Red Army to fight against Japan.Zhou Enlai immediately agreed with Gao Fuyuan to return to the Northeast Army when he knew about it.Under Gao Fuyuan's matchmaking, on January 20, 1936, Li Kenong went to Luochuan and had a three-hour discussion with the Northeast Army coach Zhang Xueliang. Regarding the proposal of "establishing a national defense government", Zhang Xueliang expressed his willingness to run for it.

In February 1936, the central government sent Li Kenong to Luochuan again to negotiate with the Northeast Army. He first negotiated with Wang Yizhe, commander of the Sixty-seventh Army of the Northeast Army, and reached five partial oral agreements: (1) The Red Army and the Sixty-seventh Army were not mutually exclusive. (2) The Red Army agrees to resume the transportation, economic and commercial trade of the 67th Army on Fuxian, Ganquan, and Yan'an roads; (3) The needs of the troops of the 67th Army currently stationed in Yan'an and Ganquan Grain, firewood, vegetables, etc. can be purchased from the local Soviet area; (4) The Red Army agreed to change defenses in the two battalions of the Northeast Army that were besieged in Ganquan; , the Red Army and the Sixty-seventh Army have the responsibility to protect.

On March 5, Li Kenong had another meeting with Zhang Xueliang. Zhang Xueliang frankly expressed his opinion that Chiang Kai-shek had the possibility of resisting Japan, so to resist Japan, he must unite with Chiang.The two sides negotiated that the CCP would send Mao Zedong or Zhou Enlai as representatives to Yan'an for further interviews with Zhang Xueliang. At the same time, Wang Shiying of the Northern Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China also brought good news.Introduced by Nan Hanchen (communist member and former secretary of Yang Hucheng), Wang Shiying met Yang Hucheng, a powerful leader of Shaanxi local faction.Yang Hucheng served as the commander-in-chief of the 17th Route Army and the director of Xi'an appeasement. He had friendly relations with some Communist Party members in the past. His thinking was progressive and he was in favor of resisting Japan. After discussions, the two also reached a preliminary agreement on cooperation.

On April 9, Zhou Enlai and Li Kenong brought the radio to meet Zhang Xueliang in a church in Yan'an. The talks between Zhou Enlai and Zhang Xueliang were harmonious and frank.Zhang Xueliang expressed his unwillingness to fight the Red Army, but he could not leave Jiang now, and he had to rely on Jiang financially, so he was in depression.He said: "For important people in the Kuomintang, he only admires Chiang's national sentiment and leadership ability, so he hopes that Chiang will resist Japan." the way. The talks continued until 4:00 a.m. the next day. The next day, Zhou Enlai called Zhang Wentian, Mao Zedong, and Peng Dehuai: "Stop the civil war and unite in the resistance against Japan. He (Zhang Xueliang) fully agrees, but he must not be ordered by Chiang to enter the Soviet area before openly resisting Japan." Jiang (Jiang had a telegram to reprimand him, and relayed a telegram to Yan saying that he was watching the fire from the other side)." "The Four Fronts marched north, and he could make way for the Shaanxi-Gansu troops." "The National Defense Government and the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces believed that this was the only way to resist Japan, and he was willing to brew This matter." "On the issue of Jiang, he believes that Jiang's subordinates are divided, and Jiang is now on a different path. He thinks that it is impossible to oppose Jiang. If Jiang does surrender, he should leave him."

After the Yan'an talks, the relationship between the Chinese Communist Party and the Northeast Army and the Seventeenth Route Army entered a new stage. In May, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held several meetings to discuss the work of the Northeast Army, and decided to focus the work of the united front on the establishment of a local anti-Japanese united front, so that the Northeast Army, the Seventeenth Route Army, and the Red Army would form a "trinity" to strive for the first Establish the "Northwest National Defense Government" and realize the "Northwest Anti-Japanese War".In the name of Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic, and Zhu De, the Revolutionary Military Commission of the Chinese People's Red Army, the "Armistice Agreement, Unified Anti-Japanese Power", clearly stated: The Communist Party of China proceeded from national righteousness, abandoned anti-Chiang slogans, and openly proposed to the Kuomintang government and Chiang Kai-shek to establish an anti-Japanese united front.

After the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China established the capital of Zhidan, a Politburo meeting was held on July 27. At the meeting, Zhou Enlai reported on the "United Front" work against the Northeast Army, and the hearts of the participants were excited.Mao Zedong said: "Due to the progress of work in this area, the entire work arrangement of the party should be changed accordingly: the original order of work was to first establish a base area in the west, second to establish a guerrilla zone in the east, and third to establish a united front; Change to put the expansion of the united front first.” The meeting decided to set up the White Army Work Department, with Zhou Enlai in charge.