Chapter 38 "Sichuan-Shaanxi-Gansu Plan"

Maoyu Ancient Town is located in the hinterland of Daba Mountain, 12 kilometers north of Tongjiang County, the capital of Sichuan-Shaanxi Soviet Area, where the Datong River and Yuanchi River meet.Maoyu Town faces water on three sides and Jiziding Mountain in the north. The whole town is a small alluvial plain in the shape of a peninsula, shaped like a tongue. It was called Longtongba in Tang Dynasty, and Maoyu Town was built later. It was called Maoyu Town in Ming Dynasty and Maoyu Town in Qing Dynasty. Maoyu Town.In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Maoyu Town was an important military town in Northeast Sichuan. Due to its location at the hub of water and land transportation, Maoyu Town is one of the most prosperous water terminals in Tongjiang, where merchants gather, and it is known as "Little Chongqing".After the victory against the "six-way siege", the Red Fourth Front Army held an extremely important meeting here.This meeting has two major contents, one is to commend the officers and soldiers who participated in the war, and the other is to arrange and deploy to smash the enemy's "Sichuan-Shanxi Conference and Suppression".

The anti-"six-way siege" is a typical case of fighting more with less. In order to commend the troops with outstanding achievements in the course of the battle, from November 1 to 9, 1934, the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army held an unprecedented party and government work in Maoyu Town. At the meeting, more than 800 representatives from various ministries attended the meeting.At the meeting, the 73rd Regiment of the Ninth Army was awarded the award banner of "attacking like a tiger" and the 75th regiment of "defending like Mount Tai"; The award flag of "Night Tiger"; the award flag of "Night Attack Ever-Victorious Army" awarded to the 274th Regiment of the 31st Army, and the award flag of "Hundred Shots and Hundred Hit" to the 269th Regiment of the 33rd Army.At the same time, other meritorious teams and individuals were commended.

Chen Changhao made a report on party and government work at the meeting, and Xu Xiangqian made a report on military work.The meeting summed up the party and government work experience since the anti-"six-way siege", and passed and formulated the "Resolution on Political and Party Affairs Work of the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army", "Provisional Work Rules for the Political Department of the Regiment", "Temporary Work Rules for the Political Department of the Military Division", "The Revolutionary Contest Regulations. In order to unify the thinking and educate the troops, this meeting standardized the precepts of the military training of all the troops of the whole army, and unified them as "smart and courageous, firm in solving difficulties, innovating, united and struggling, invincible", and solemnly organized the whole army to participate The military training oath with "precepts" as the basic content.

Another topic of the Maoyu meeting was to study how to smash the enemy's "Sichuan-Shanxi Conference and Suppression".The "Red Fourth Front Army Political and Party Affairs Resolution (Draft)" passed at the meeting stated: At present, our central task is to use all our strength to consolidate this victory, and to prepare for a bigger and more cruel war without stopping while continuing to attack resolutely, in order to achieve the complete annihilation of the enemy, break through the "congregate suppression" of Sichuan and Shaanxi, and "redify the whole Sichuan." ", strive for the first victory in the Northwest.

The anti-"six-way siege" achieved unprecedented victories, and the Red Army also suffered great losses.Although the battle against the "six-way siege" lasted for more than ten months, although significant results were achieved, the Red Army was also exhausted and suffered heavy casualties.During the entire campaign, the Red Army suffered more than 20,000 casualties, leaving only more than 60,000 troops.Compared with the 80,000 Red Army before the war, it is equivalent to one casualty for every four people.On the various battlefields in northern Sichuan, corpses are strewn all over the field, which is horrible; thousands of villages are full of scorpions, thousands of households are sparse, and ten rooms are nine empty.In addition to the heavy casualties, the base area also suffered heavy losses.Especially during the shrinking period, the base areas were basically lost, and the political power and normal production and management activities in the base areas suffered heavy losses, especially agricultural production.Due to the long duration of the war, in order to maintain the war, the enemy forced nearly 100,000 people to deliver ammunition and supplies for them. The grassroots governments at all levels in the base areas also mobilized a large number of people to ensure the logistics supply of the Red Army.A large number of laborers went to serve the war, and only the old, young, women and children stayed at home. Large areas of land were barren, and the people had no food or clothing.The Sichuan-Shanxi border area was originally sparsely populated, the land was barren, and the people were poor. After several years of continuous "encirclement and suppression" and counter-"encirclement and suppression", the living environment in the base area has deteriorated day by day. Also increasingly cramped.After the anti-"six-way siege" war, there is both the joy of victory and the urgent need to deal with the wounds left by the war, rest and reorganize the troops, restore the grassroots political power, and prepare to deal with the next "encirclement and suppression" by the Kuomintang Chiang Kai-shek and the Sichuan warlords. The difficult situation in the base area increasingly prominent.Xu Xiangqian recalled:

Although the ten-month anti-six-way siege ended with the victory of our army and the defeat of the enemy, the vitality of the Sichuan-Shaanxi base area was seriously damaged.In front of us, there are ruins and difficulties.After the battle, I returned from the front to the rear.What you see along the way is a scene of disaster brought about by war damage.The fertile land has been deserted for a long time, ten rooms and half are destroyed, new graves are everywhere, and mourners are everywhere, which is shocking. . . . the people's desire for the land has diminished.One is that there is a serious shortage of food, and many places do not even have seeds; the other is that it is difficult to guarantee a harvest if planted, and that once the "encirclement and suppression" comes, it will fall into the hands of the enemy; the third is that there is a shortage of labor.The soldiers were exhausted.Young and middle-aged people in the base areas have already joined the Red Army in large numbers.In the areas occupied by the enemy during the war, another batch was captured or killed.Some people fled to enemy-occupied areas under the influence of reactionary propaganda.The source of Red Army soldiers has reached the point of exhaustion.Supplies are in short supply and supplies are difficult.The salt wells in the south and Tongjiang were completely destroyed by the enemy, and it is difficult to restore them in the short term.The enemy's economic blockade is getting worse day by day.Salt, food, clothing, medicine, etc., which are urgently needed in the base area, cannot be solved.As the hunger became more and more serious, infectious diseases such as typhoid fever and dysentery spread rampantly, killing many people.The order in the base area is not as good as before.Fleeing, robbing, and being a bandit happened frequently.This situation not only puts us in extreme embarrassment at the moment, but also makes it difficult for us to survive the spring famine in the following year and deal with the enemy's new "encirclement and suppression".

Zhang Guotao described the base area as a squeezed lemon. The situation at that time was indeed not optimistic. The failure of the Central Red Army's fifth counter-campaign against "encirclement and suppression" was greatly publicized by the Kuomintang, who even used planes to drop leaflets to the Soviet area in northern Sichuan.I heard that the red capital of the Communist Party fell, and the defeated warlords seemed to have been given a shot in the arm, and they made a comeback one after another.The "Sichuan-Shanxi Campaign" plan formulated by Chiang Kai-shek himself has been implemented. The staff group that had previously entered Sichuan has further enriched its strength, strengthened the supervision of the generals of the Sichuan Army, and participated in the coordination and command of the Sichuan Army's campaign.Jiang also mobilized Hu Zongnan, Xiao Zhichu and other direct line troops and Sun Weiru's troops of the Shaanxi Army to enter Sichuan, forming a situation of encircling the Sichuan-Shaanxi Soviet Area on all sides.

In a serious situation, what should be the next move.During the meeting, Zhang Guotao had a conversation with Xu Xiangqian. Zhang Guotao asked: "What do you think we will do in the future? The material and financial resources in the Soviet area are very difficult now. If Liu Xiang launches a new attack, what should we do? Can we go to Hanzhong?" Xu Xiangqian replied: "The opportunity to cross the Jialing River in the west has been lost. The enemy has built towers for defense. We will have great difficulties in developing to the south. The Hanzhong area is a basin, with the Bashan Mountains in the south and the Qinling Mountains in the north. There is not much room for maneuver. No way. I think it’s better to rely on the old areas to find a way.”

After a period of thinking, Xu Xiangqian proposed his own "Sichuan-Shaanxi-Gansu Plan".The focus of this plan is to attack Hu Zongnan who is entrenched in southern Gansu, seize Wenxian, Wudu, Chengxian, and Kangxian, wait for the opportunity to develop to Minzhou and Tianshui, and connect with the Sichuan-Shanxi base area, so as to break the enemy's "Sichuan-Shanxi" "Congress and Suppression" plan, and tried to cooperate with the Central Red Army who left the base area for the Long March. "Sichuan-Shaanxi-Gansu Plan" can be summed up as follows: Relying on the old districts, shrinking the front line, and developing new districts.

In addition to solving the problem of how to develop the base area at the Maoyu town meeting, there was another extremely important issue, which was to support the Central Red Army. In October 1934, the Red Fourth Front Army was at the moment of final victory against the "six-way siege". The leaders of the Red Fourth Front Army learned an important news through the enemy's radio station: On October 16, the Central Red Army withdrew Under the frantic pursuit and interception of the enemy, the Jiangxi Ruijin base began a difficult strategic shift. Ruijin is the seat of the Party Central Committee and the Central People's Government of the Chinese Soviet. The abandonment of the red capital shows the criticality of the situation.The central government withdrew from Ruijin and did not report to other bases. When they got the news, Zhang Guotao, Chen Changhao, Xu Xiangqian and others were shocked.From a general perspective, Ren Bishi's Second Red Army was once active in Fengjie, Wanxian County, and there were signs of joining forces with the Fourth Front Army. However, under the interception of the enemy, it moved to the borders of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan and Guizhou, and continued to fight hard against the "encirclement and suppression" enemy forces. ; Xu Haidong's Red 25th Army was also forced to withdraw from the Hubei, Henan and Anhui base areas and move westward.Facing the grim situation, the headquarters of the Fourth Red Army immediately convened a meeting of senior cadres within the party and the army to discuss the situation after the Central Red Army withdrew from the Jiangxi base.

In mid-November 1934, the Red Fourth Front Army held a military meeting in a primary school in Qingjiangdu, Bazhong County, with the participation of cadres above the division and some regiments. The meeting was chaired by Xu Xiangqian.Xu Xiangqian formally proposed the "Sichuan-Shaanxi-Gansu Plan" at the meeting: First, Hu Zongnan, who occupies southern Gansu and the Sichuan-Shanxi-Gansu border, is Chiang Kai-shek's direct descendant and the main force of the "Sichuan-Shanxi Campaign".Although the Ministry has strong combat effectiveness, it has conflicts with the Sichuan warlords and the Northwest Army in southern Shaanxi, and is isolated.The Sichuan warlords were feared by the Red Army, while the Northwest Army kept the Red Army at a respectful distance.The Red Army concentrated its main force to attack Hu Zongnan, and they might stand still and watch from the sidelines.The elimination of Hu Zongnan is an important move to smash Chiang Kai-shek's "Sichuan-Shanxi Confederacy" plan.Second, Bikou and Wen, Wu, Cheng, and Kang areas are located in the Hanshui and Bailong River basins, surrounded by mountains and rivers, and have a large population, which will help our army solve the problem of supplies and soldiers and get rid of the immediate difficulties.Third, it is relatively safe and reliable to rely on the old areas and enter Gannan.Our army can advance and retreat freely, with room for maneuver, so as not to cause the danger of fighting without a rear. The meeting focused on the "Sichuan-Shaanxi-Gansu Plan" proposed by Xu Xiangqian.Everyone believed that although the anti-"six-way siege" was victorious, the human, material and financial resources of the base areas were also severely damaged. There were thousands of wounded alone, and it was difficult to replenish soldiers. The warlord's troops have blocked the base area layer by layer, and the next "encirclement and suppression" is brewing. The grim situation has not fundamentally changed.In order to develop the base area, there must be a broader strategic space. The next step is to actively cooperate with the actions of the Central Red Army and strive to develop outward, without having to stick to the Soviet area in northern Sichuan.According to this idea, the meeting unanimously agreed to Xu Xiangqian's "Sichuan-Shaanxi-Gansu Plan". The south of Hu Zong is the direct line of Chiang Kai-shek's army. The troops are well-trained and equipped with the best equipment. They are Chiang Kai-shek's fist troops.When the enemy is strong and we are weak, why should such a force be targeted as a key target?The Qingjiangdu meeting designated Hu Zongnan as the main target for two purposes.First, Hu Zongnan was stationed in Tianshui, Gansu, and his troops controlled the Longnan area. If the Red Fourth Front Army wanted to implement the "Sichuan-Shaanxi-Gansu Plan" to develop to Longnan, it must fight Hu Zongnan's south; the second was to solve the problem of army weapons and equipment.Zhang Guotao recalled: Our army...although the number of troops is around 50,000, there are less than 20,000 guns that can actually fight. Most of them are home-made goods, which are inferior goods brought in from the Sichuan warlords. Moreover, the guns are easily damaged in battle. .Therefore, comrades are often worried, thinking that only by fighting against Chiang's direct troops can they capture better ammunition to supplement themselves. At the beginning of the establishment of the Red Army, there was no arsenal. Even if there was an arsenal in the future, it could only be repaired and repaired. It was far from large-scale mass production. Come and arm yourself.Whether in Hubei, Henan, Anhui or in Sichuan and Shaanxi, the opponents of the Red Fourth Front Army are mainly Chiang Kai-shek's miscellaneous troops. The equipment of these local warlords is also based on the production of their own arsenals, supplemented by a small amount of imports. Therefore, the Red Army Whoever is hit, the equipment is seized, resulting in miscellaneous, chaotic, and poor equipment. In addition to uneven quality, a large number of rifles, machine guns, and guns have different calibers, which brings great difficulties to logistics supplies.When a unit was blocking the enemy, it ran out of ammunition and food. The regiment leader ordered to find ammunition on the dead body of the enemy. After finally finding a lot of bullets, they found that most of them could not be used after loading the guns. In the end, the soldiers had to use big knives And stones desperately with the enemy.So, what about the weapons and equipment of the Red Fourth Front Army?According to the requirements of the General Political Department of the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army, before the Battle of Jialing River, all departments of the army counted weapons and equipment to evaluate combat effectiveness.The Liu Shimo Department of the Tenth Division of the Red Fourth Army is the main force of the Red Fourth Front Army. Its 28th and 36th regiments are the two iron fists of the tenth division, but the equipment of these two iron fists is less than A gun, a grenade, a bayonet, the guns and bullets made by all countries have different calibers.The equipment of the main force is still like this, and other non-main forces can be imagined.This is also the reason why warriors always deal with the enemy with broadswords in every battle.The southern part of Hu Zong is all equipped with German-style equipment. Because of this, the implementation of the "Sichuan-Shanxi-Gansu Plan" to attack the southern part of Hu Zong who is entrenched in the Sichuan-Shanxi-Gansu border and obtain good weapons and equipment has always been an important idea of ​​​​the leadership of the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army. .Xu Xiangqian thinks: Judging from various conditions, this plan is achievable.As long as we concentrate the elite troops of more than three armies to attack suddenly, take the strategically important Bikou in Gannan at a high price, open the battle situation, and get rid of Hu Zongnan, our army will be able to seize a batch of automatic rifles, artillery, and equipment. Greatly strengthened, ammunition can also be greatly replenished.With new base areas, it can not only reduce the burden on the people in the old areas, but also solve the difficulties of food and soldiers.It is much easier to smash the enemy's "Sichuan-Shaanxi Conference to Suppress". The meeting decided to adjust the troop establishment. After the adjustment, the Red Fourth Front Army had the Fourth, Ninth, Thirty, Thirty-first and Thirty-third Armies under its jurisdiction. Fourth Army: Ten Divisions (28th, 30th, 34th, and 36th Regiments); Twelve Divisions (31st, 32nd, and 33rd Regiments). Ninth Army: 25th Division (73rd, 74th, 75th Regiment); 27th Division (79th, 80th, 81st Regiment). Thirty Army: Eighty-eight Division (263, 265, 268 Regiments); 89 Division (262, 264, 266 Regiments); Ninety Division (267 Regiments) , 269, 270 regiments). Thirty-first Army: 91st Division (272nd, 273rd, 275th Regiment); 93rd Division (271st, 274th, 279th Regiment). Thirty-third Army: 98th Division (294th, 295th Regiment); 99th Division (296th, 297th Regiment). After reorganization, the Red Fourth Front Army had a total of five armies, eleven divisions and thirty-two regiments.In addition, the women's independent regiment still retained the original organizational system, and the artillery battalion of the front army was expanded into an artillery regiment with five companies under its jurisdiction.The local armed forces affiliated to each guerrilla headquarters were combined into the Independent First Division and the Independent Second Division.Pengyang Military and Political School was changed to the Red Army University, with senior cadre classes, intermediate cadre classes, political companies, military companies, special weapons classes and teaching teams. In order to implement the "Sichuan-Shaanxi-Gansu Plan", leading agencies such as the Northwest Military Commission, the Fourth Red Front Army Headquarters, the Sichuan-Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee, and the Provincial Soviet Government also moved from Tongjiang and Bazhong West to Wangcangba. Wangcangba is a small town under the rule of Guangyuan, surrounded by water on three sides and backed by mountains. It has a history of 1580 years.Wangcang is the westernmost county in the Sichuan-Shanxi base area. The Red Army was going to cross the Jialing River to enter Shaanxi-Gansu. From the perspective of geographical situation, Wangcang was the most ideal advance base.The name of Wangcang Dam can be traced back to the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, the dam was still a river beach with reeds everywhere, stretching for dozens of miles.On the occasion of Qianlong and Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty, the eight local Wang clans named Yuan, He, Jiu, Zhao, Gu, Yin, Zhan, and Zhang jointly built a market here and named it "Wangcang Bachang", hoping that the market will prosper .For more than two hundred years, the names of "Wangchang", "Wangcang" and "Wangcang" have been changed several times.Wangcangba is a flat land among the mountains, surrounded by mountains. When you climb up and look around, you can see green pines and cypresses everywhere. From November 1934, in order to implement the "Sichuan-Shaanxi-Gansu Plan" and prepare to move westward, the Northwest Military Commission, the Headquarters of the Fourth Red Front Army, the Sichuan-Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee, and the Provincial Soviet began a major relocation from Tongjiang and Bazhong.After operating in Sichuan and Shaanxi for more than two years, the Red Fourth Front Army and the Sichuan-Shaanxi Soviet Area also bought a lot of property, except for the Red Fourth Front Army General Command, the Red Fourth Front Army General Political Department, the Political Department of the Northwest Military Region, the Sichuan-Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial Soviet Union In addition to the government headquarters, there are also large and small logistics agencies, arsenals, clothing factories, mints, and the Red Army General Hospital that have been transferred to Wangcangba one after another. and cultural center. Wangcang Ancient Town is ancient and fragrant, with a small area of ​​less than one square kilometer. The narrow streets and alleys in the small town are winding and intertwined, like an irregular chessboard. Simple, with blue bricks and black tiles.I don’t know when, the faithful men and women of Wangcang built many temples and ancestral halls in a small town. They shy away from building their own houses, but they are very particular about building temples and ancestral halls. They are spacious and tall. This just provided housing for the party, government and military organizations that moved here.On Wangmiao Street and Wenchang Street, the Northwest Revolutionary Military Committee, the Political Department of the Northwest Military Region, the General Command of the Fourth Front Army, the General Political Department of the Fourth Front Army, the General Hospital of the Fourth Front Army, the Military Headquarters of the 31st Army, the Sichuan-Shaanxi Revolutionary Committee, the Sichuan-Shaanxi Provincial The provincial Soviet government and other major institutions fought one by one, and Wangcang became a city of the Red Army.The current No. 168 Wenchang Street is the headquarters of the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army. Chen Changhao and Xu Xiangqian live in this courtyard.The yard is not big, a patio of 10 to 20 square meters, surrounded by several wing rooms.The top military leaders of the Fourth Red Front Army strategized here. The Guang (Yuan) Zhao (Hua) Campaign, the Southern Shaanxi Campaign and the Jialing River Campaign were all planned and commanded here. When there are too many people, the market will be lively, and tens of thousands of Red Army troops will be stationed here, and the originally quiet town will suddenly become "busy".In the narrow streets and alleys, the crowd is packed shoulder to shoulder, and three people in a row cannot walk away.More than a dozen large and small restaurants and noodle restaurants on the streets of the town have been open from dawn to midnight. Most of the people who come in and out are Red Army officers and soldiers in gray cloth military uniforms. The Political Department of the Northwest Military Commission also issued a document stating that The old name of Wangcang was abolished and changed to "Lenin City", but the local people were not used to this name, so it failed to be adopted in the end. The river that circles most of Cangcheng City is called Dengjia River. The clear water reflects the mountains in the distance and is full of aura. People also call this river Lingxi.There is a temple called Lingxi Temple on the other side of Lingxi. The building of the temple is majestic, with vestibule and back hall, left and right side rooms, everything is available. The Pengyang Military and Political School with a large number of people is stationed here. There is a hill next to Lingxi Temple. On the hillside of the hill There is also a small temple, surrounded by green bamboos, with a quiet environment. This is the place where the main leaders of the Northwest Military Commission such as Zhang Guotao, Chen Changhao, and Xu Xiangqian held meetings, and it is also the front-line command post of the Red Fourth Front Army. Outside the city of Wangcang, there is a mountain called Nanfeng Mountain, which has dense forests and green bamboos.Among the green trees on the half-wall of the mountain, there is a temple called Guanyin Pavilion. The Guanyin Pavilion has upturned eaves and corners.On the four large pillars in the pavilion, four lines of poems written by Huang Chao, then secretary-general of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Soviet, were engraved: Because of the high terrain here, Song Kanfu, the director of the Radio Station of the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army, chose this place as the location of the radio station of the Front Army Headquarters.The soldiers erected high antennas on the Guanyin Pavilion. There are two houses in the Guanyin Pavilion, one is the sending and receiving room, and the other is the secret room. The rattle of telegrams was endless. The headquarters of the Red Fourth Front Army and various agencies, especially the logistics department, moved from Tongjiang and Bazhong to Wangcang. At the beginning, they were like rural people moving house. If you want to talk about streamlining and lightly packing, you will be criticized by a lot of people, especially military factories and mints, who are reluctant to lose even a screw.Chen Changhao and Zheng Yizhai were in a hurry. They were doing work for leaders at all levels, and they were sternly criticizing others. They set a time limit to leave and finished the move.Even so, workers in many factories would rather move less food than lose equipment, and they just moved everything they could.But I didn't expect to evacuate Wangcang after the battle of Jialing River.The troops had to march long distances to join the Central Red Army, and the headquarters ordered to pack lightly on the road. Many heavy equipment could not be moved and had to be thrown away.The machinery and equipment of the mint and military factories were either sunk or buried. Some workers planted bamboo and trees in the places where the machines were buried so that they could be easily found when they came back later.An old military worker of the Red Fourth Front Army recalled: At that time, we produced so many rifles and grenades that we couldn’t take them away.Especially the sweet potato-shaped braided grenade produced by myself, piled up like several mountain bags.This thing was developed by engineer He Boyang. It is very effective on the battlefield. It is more powerful than the wooden handle grenade used by the Sichuan Army.Everyone is reluctant to throw away these precious bumps, but they don't have the strength to take them all away.At that time, the troops were withdrawing from the front line after receiving the order to retreat. Twenty-four hours a day, there were troops on the stone road, and an army would spend several days.The headquarters organized us to pile up rifles and grenades on the side of the road, encouraging passing soldiers to take as many as possible.