Chapter 23 Zhu De will plan

Zhu Peide, commander-in-chief of the Fifth Route Army, was as subtle as Zhang Fakui in his attitude towards the situation.He had conflicts with Chiang Kai-shek, and the Wuhan government had just appointed him to replace Li Liejun as chairman of the Jiangxi provincial government.The revolutionary forces formed a sharp confrontation in Jiangxi, and Zhu Peide wanted to remain neutral in the middle, "not opposing the revolution, nor leaving the counter-revolution." Zhu De, the head of the officer education regiment of the Third Army of the National Revolutionary Army and a Communist, took advantage of this contradiction. In just a few months, he led the officer education regiment. After a while, together with the picket team of workers and peasants, they handed over the guns left by Chiang Kai-shek's gendarmerie regiment at Niuxing Station in Nanchang. Even the deputy head of the regiment, Guan Linzheng, was captured alive.

For this reason, Chiang Kai-shek sent an urgent telegram from Nanjing to reprimand Zhu Peide.This made Zhu Peide anxious.But he was also afraid of offending the Wuhan government, and Zhu De's relationship with him made him unable to save face for a while, but secretly, he was always looking for a way to get the best of both worlds. Zheng Tianlong, the chief of staff under Zhu Peide, is a man with many ideas.He heard Zhu Peide talk about the troubles in his heart, and heard Nanchang Mayor Wang Jun say that he would dismiss Zhu De from his post, and then disband the military officer education group that caused trouble.He has his own ideas.Zhu Peide listened attentively, and couldn't help clapping his knees to applaud.Zheng Tianlong's idea was to ask Zhu De to lead troops to suppress bandits in eastern Jiangxi.This is a "kill with a borrowed knife" approach.There are real and fake "bandits" in eastern Jiangxi. In Zhu Peide's eyes, those peasants who rioted are also "bandits".

If Zhu De leads troops to go, Zhu Peide can use the hands of the officer corps to suppress the local peasant movement.If Zhu De refuses to go in violation of the order, he can be dismissed from his post on the grounds of disobeying the military order.So Zhu Peide immediately issued a warrant and sent someone to send it to Zhu De.He said happily to Zheng Tianlong and Wang Jun: "Let them beat their own people. I want to see how Zhu De will deal with those peasant association ruffians." Zhu De received the warrant, and saw the content and knew that things had changed.Immediately send people to invite party representative Wei Jinjun, chief of staff Liu Jiemei (Chen Qihan), instructor Li Zhengyi and others to discuss.The meeting lasted for nearly two hours, and the result of the debate was: resolutely not going.

Chief of Staff Liu Jiemei said: "No! We can't point our guns at the peasant brothers!" Party representative Wei Jinjun felt a little embarrassed: "It's not good if you don't go. This is disobedience to the military order. It's not okay to insist on it. I think the head of the Zhu regiment should ask Zhu Peide for leave, saying that he is sick and can't go." Some people also said : "Pretend to be sick? Can you pretend to be sick today, and tomorrow? What if he waits for the head of the group to recover from his illness?" Everyone looked up at Zhu De.Zhu De already had an idea: "Go! Is there anything wrong with going to Gandong?"

Wei Jinjun became anxious: "Old Zhu, this is a dilemma, you have to think about it." "I've thought about it several times." Zhu De stroked his stubble and said, "The matter of suppressing bandits is a test of whether we can distinguish right from wrong, clarify right and wrong, distinguish between the enemy and ourselves, and stand firm. If we are consistently oppressing the people We will relentlessly attack counter-revolutionaries who exploit the masses. If powerful and wealthy people curse others, we should give more consideration to it and investigate and study it more. If it is a class enemy who framed the poor, Then they must be punished and support the workers and peasants, and the poor, why don't we go?"

After a long journey, the military officer education group successfully arrived in Linchuan County, the prefecture of Eastern Gansu.As soon as the troops entered the town, there was a burst of gongs, drums and firecrackers.The front of the county government office is also full of people, a lively scene. Zhu De looked up, and saw that the leader was an old man, wearing a brand-new satin robe and mandarin jacket, reflecting a fluffy white beard that was particularly conspicuous.He took a step forward and bowed his hands together: "Welcome, welcome. Commander Zhu led a benevolent and righteous army to come to this poor village to suppress bandits for the people. It will definitely be a success!"

Zhu De exchanged pleasantries with him.From other people's mouths, Zhu De knew that this old man named Zheng Jingzhong was none other than the father of Zhu Peide's Chief of Staff Zheng Tianlong. Zhu De had heard about Zheng Jingzhong for a long time.Don't look at this old man's sanctimonious appearance, but he is actually a well-known big local tyrant in eastern Jiangxi. He not only kills people and steals money, runs rampant in the village, but also is an old pervert who is "old at heart", and often rapes women for pretexts.The local villagers hated him deeply, but because his son was in the National Revolutionary Army, he dared not speak out.Now that Chiang Kai-shek has rebelled, he seems to have received a signal, and he also organizes landlords' armed forces in the village to counterattack the peasant association.This is not the first time Zhu De has suppressed bandits. He has done it in the Yunnan Army in the past. For this reason, there is a stele in recognition of his meritorious deeds in Yunnan.He knows what a thief is and what a bandit is.

But now, Zheng Jingzhong has escorted more than a dozen "gangsters", and ordered his subordinates to beat and scold: "You want to rebel, okay, let you turn over, beat me! Beat, let you turn over!" Association member.Not only was she tied up, but she was already bruised all over. All the people who were tied up were dissatisfied, and forced themselves up and cursed: "Old Zheng Coffin, don't be complacent, we are waiting for you on the road to the underworld!" Zheng Jingzhong urged his subordinates: "Bury alive! Quickly, don't let them talk nonsense!"

Dozens of regiments rushed forward like wolves and tigers, pushing the bound people towards the dug earth pit.Zhu De already saw something strange, and waved his hands for his subordinates to stop him. Zheng Jingzhong was puzzled, and hurried over to ask for advice: "Commander Zhu, you want to..." Zhu De didn't look at him directly, but said: "There is an order from above, whoever catches the bandits, they are not allowed to kill them indiscriminately. They will all be arrested and reported to the provincial government for credit." "Oh, that's it." Zheng Jingzhong was unwilling and couldn't get angry, so he had to let Zhu De do his own thing.

Knowing the situation, Zhu De untied the peasant association members who were escorted that night, and comforted them: "Old cousin, you can go home now. We are here to fight real bandits, not poor brothers." According to the information provided by the farmers, there are indeed bandits here—there is a group of bandits in the nearby Yunshan area, and the leader is Ma Laoqi, who does many evils and must be eliminated.Zhu De organized the team and swung his horse to the mountainous area where banditry was serious.After encirclement and suppression, the bandit leader Ma Laoqi was killed on the spot.Originally, Zhu De's troops marched to Linchuan, Guixi, and Chongren in eastern Jiangxi, and the masses had misunderstood them. At this time, when the news came, the farmers in eastern Jiangxi were rejoicing.Soon, the storm of peasant associations extinguished by Zheng Jingzhong blew up again.When angry farmers rushed into the Zheng family compound, Zheng Jingzhong fell out of bed in fright and died immediately.

The banditry victory is over.When the troops were ordered to transfer back to Nanchang, Zhu De sent Li Su, the party secretary of the education regiment, to serve as the head of Linchuan County, left the platoon leader Ran Guoping as the captain of the Linchuan Peasant Self-Defense Army, and Zhuo Lianshi, the deputy, as the head of the Fuzhou County Public Security Bureau. Zheng Tianlong, Zhu Peide's chief of staff, failed to offer a plan and instead lost his father. He was so angry that he beat his chest and feet, and spoke ill of Zhu De in front of Zhu Peide every day, insisting on getting rid of Zhu De. However, as the chairman of Jiangxi Province and the commander-in-chief of the Fifth Front Army, Zhu Peide still has many concerns.As a local powerful faction, he is unwilling to attach to any kind of political force.But in order to consolidate his position, he had to find a political backer.Right now, although Chiang Kai-shek was dismissed from the position of commander-in-chief by the Wuhan Nationalist Government, Jiang's power is not only strong, but also growing. This is the key point that he must consider.Of course, on the issue of anti-Chiang, he could not go against the will of the Wuhan Nationalist Government for a while.Therefore, he pondered over and over again, trying to find an alternative method that would allow him to retain sufficient room for maneuver. On May 29, through the Chief of Staff of the Third Army, Zhu Peide relayed his meaning to the Communists: At present, there are conflicts among the military and political personnel in the army, and the political personnel are asked to leave Jiangxi temporarily to avoid unfavorable results.At the same time, Zhu Peide also issued a notice, saying: The disposal of political workers this time is to adapt to the environment and has no other purpose; he has always supported the national government and insisted on overthrowing Chiang Kai-shek; .This is Zhu Peide's so-called "gift" of Communist Party members to leave the country. On June 6, dozens of political workers were forced to leave Jiangxi.At the same time, Zhu Peide ordered all civil groups in the province to stop their activities under the pretext of endangering the interests of the army. At this time, Zhu De, who was in Linchuan, heard the news that Zhu Peide had "gifted" the Communists to leave the country, so he immediately called Zhu Peide and proposed to resign from the post of Public Security Bureau Chief. In mid-June, Zhu De returned to Nanchang.At this time, the streets of Nanchang are like a pool of stagnant water, and the exuberant scene of the past has long since disappeared.Although the walls along the street have been washed by rain, only the words "Welcome Mr. Communists to leave the country" and "Stop the excessive worker-peasant movement" can be vaguely seen graffitied on them.As soon as he returned to the education group, Zhu De got the news that Zhu Peide was going to disband the officer education group.After discussion, Zhu De, Chen Qihan and others decided that more than 700 students from the first and second battalions would graduate early, and more than 400 students from the third battalion would stay and continue their studies.In addition to some of the graduates returning to the original army, some were sent to counties in the Ganjiang River Basin and Nanxun Railway Line to work in trade unions and peasant associations, or as cadres of workers' pickets and peasant self-defense teams. One day in late June, Zhu De came to Zhu Peide's mansion in Gaosheng Lane. He wanted to find out Zhu Peide's attitude. Zhu Peide received him very politely.After exchanging pleasantries, Zhu De asked about what happened in the previous paragraph.Zhu Peide told Zhu De with a look of embarrassment that in the face of the current situation, he had no choice but to do so. If the political workers did not leave, he would be the only one to leave. Otherwise, this team would not be able to carry on.As for the suspension of the activities of mass organizations, he explained that this decision was made out of helplessness due to the strong reaction of his subordinates.Regarding Zhu Peide's excuse, Zhu De had no intention of arguing with him, but only advised Zhu Peide to think twice.Zhu Peide looked at his old classmate who was known as the "model second Zhu" with him, and expressed to Zhu De tactfully that he hoped that he would leave Jiangxi temporarily under the current situation, so that no one would make a fuss about his close relationship with public groups. Zhu De crossed his arms in front of his chest, his head stuck to the wall behind the chair, his eyes stopped moving, and he sat quietly for a while without saying anything.Zhu De was very aware of Zhu Peide's state of mind at this time. After all, they had an unforgettable classmate friendship, so he followed suit, saying that he happened to be going to Wuhan for business and left Nanchang immediately. The next day, Zhu Peide sent Zhu De to the train bound for Jiujiang. With the sound of the whistle, the wheels started to move slowly, and Zhu Peide felt relieved immediately. When Zhu De arrived in Jiujiang, he was welcomed by Jin Handing, who had shared adversity.Jin Handing was then the commander of the Ninth Army and the commander of the Jiujiang garrison. Jin Handing invited Zhu De to Lushan Mountain for a few days, and then sent him to the riverboat bound for Wuhan. By July, the situation became more severe, and the confluence of Ninghan and Han was a foregone conclusion.The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China announced the withdrawal of the Communist Party members who joined the Nationalist Government; Deng Yanda, a leftist of the Kuomintang, went abroad angrily; On the 15th, the Wang Jingwei Group proposed the "Unification of the Party's Policies" and openly betrayed the revolution.So far, the first Kuomintang-Communist cooperation has completely broken down.