Chapter 44 "Almost captured Deng Xihou alive"

After the first phase of the Jialing River Campaign ended, the remnants of the 29th Army of the Sichuan Army retreated to the Shehong, Yanting, and Santai areas.Deng Xihou's part retreated to Guangyuan and the area to the north, and the other three brigades and military headquarters led part of the mobile force to deploy in the Zitong, Weicheng, Jiangyou, and Zhongba areas.The above-mentioned enemies set up defenses at key points along the right bank of the Fujiang River to prevent the Red Army from crossing the Fujiang River. The question that the enemy is most concerned about is where the Red Army will develop next.Liu Xiang, Deng Xihou, and Sun Zhen unanimously judged that the Fourth Red Army might abandon the Tong, Nan, and Ba base areas, go north to Han and Mian, and go south to the Western Sichuan Plain along the Sichuan-Shanxi Highway.The Red Army's march to the upper reaches of the Fujiang River was nothing but the Red Army's historical "turning the mountain" operation.

Chiang Kai-shek was also somewhat worried about whether the Red Army would go south to the Western Sichuan Plain. On April 4, he personally ordered the construction of blockade blockades in Chengdu and the Fujiang River Basin to prevent the Red Army from going south to the Western Sichuan Plain. 1. Commander Zhu Kang led a squadron of the Rangers to Chengdu and the counties listed above. Together with the local military and political chiefs, they will guide and supervise the mobilization of all the soldiers and civilians, and rush to build the city defenses in the area and the fortifications between the towns.

2. Chengdu must first complete the crenels on the city wall and the city walls and defend the equipment.For the second time, blockhouses were built around the outside of the city to form an outline. 3. Utilize the Fujiang River along the lines of Shehong, Santai, Mianyang, Zitong, Zhongba, Jiangyou, and Pingwu. First, build stronghold-style blockhouses for each county and important towns, and then build more blockhouses between each stronghold. Connect the dots into a line.Its density is based on the fact that the eyesight and firepower of the two blockhouses can cross each other.The two cities of Zitong and Changming in front of this line should complete the city walls, build blockhouses, and form strongholds to shield the Fujiang River.

4. The two cities of the south and Yanting and the line between the south and Santai also constitute the blockade blockade according to the above-mentioned method. 5. Zhongjiang, Luojiang, Mianzhu, Deyang, Jintang, Guanghan, Xindu, Shifang, Anxian, Beichuan, Peng'an, Nanchong, Xichong and other counties behind the above two lines, as well as important towns and road hubs in between, are all According to this method, a group of bunkers should be built to form a stronghold. 6. After the city defenses and bunker groups are completed, food, ammunition and fuel should be stored, and the army or team should be firmly defended to hinder the actions of bandits.If bandits come and invade, they will move people and materials into it, and carry out fortification and clearing of the wilderness.

7. The county magistrates are responsible for directing such measures immediately. If there is an army stationed in the area, the garrison will assist them. 8. The county magistrates and defenders must live and die with the city. If anyone abandons the city, he will do so according to military law. 9. Notification of compliance. Kang Ze's Ranger Corps was Chiang Kai-shek's military secret service organization. When Chiang Kai-shek dispatched the Camp Staff Group, he also dispatched Kang Ze's Ranger Corps. The Ranger Corps then sent action teams to various cities and counties in Sichuan to control local officials.In addition to ordering Kang Ze's ranger to act immediately, He Guoguang of the battalion staff group also issued an order to build bunkers to prevent the Red Army through Liu Xiang to the warlords of all walks of life and through them to the magistrates of the counties. On April 8, Deng Xihou immediately forwarded an urgent telegram to the county magistrates, ordering civil and military officials in all counties and districts to quickly build blockhouses, and clearly planned the work to be done by each region and militia.

After a few orders, the enemy immediately launched an operation to overhaul the bunkers in various towns and river defenses. In addition to the enemy's speculation about the next move of the Red Fourth Front Army, the Central Red Army is also extremely concerned about the direction of the Red Fourth Front Army's actions.Long before the Red Fourth Front Army launched the Jialing River Battle, on March 5, Zhu De called the Red Fourth Front Army to learn about the movements of the Red Fourth Front Army:


At this time, the Red Fourth Front Army was in full swing to prepare for the forced crossing of the Jialing River. Perhaps for the sake of secrecy, these few replies from the Red Fourth Front Army did not reveal a single word about the upcoming battle of the Jialing River.

After the Battle of Jianmen Pass, the main leaders of the Red Fourth Front Army held an important meeting in the name of the Northwest Military Commission in the Jianmen Pass "Jiexiao Temple" to discuss and decide the next step of the army's development plan.Xu Xiangqian, Chen Changhao, and Li Xiannian did not attend the meeting because they went to the front lines of Pingwu and Qingchuan. Other leaders of the Fourth Red Front Army Zhang Guotao, Wang Shusheng, Zhou Chunquan, Zeng Chuanliu, Zhang Qinqiu, Fu Zhong, Wang Weizhou, Wang Hongkun, Yu Hongyuan and others attended the meeting.Due to time constraints, the meeting was only held for one night.

The meeting summarized the situation of the Southern Shaanxi Campaign and the Battle of Crossing the River, and spoke highly of it.The meeting focused on discussing and determining the next direction of action for the troops.After discussion.It was finally decided that the entire unit of the Red Fourth Front Army would continue to develop westward and northward, with Xu Xiangqian and Li Xiannian leading the way to the north, first capturing Pingwu and Qingchuan, and then capturing Tianshui by camera, preparing to establish the Sichuan-Shaanxi-Gansu base area. The main target of the battle was Hu Zongnan; The troops entering the front lines of Jiange, Cangxi, Nanbu, and Langzhong are the West Road, continue westward, capture Zitong, Jiangyou, Zhongba, and Beichuan as soon as possible, and then advance to Maoxian County to meet the Central Red Army.

The meeting criticized and corrected the mistake of burning houses indiscriminately when the troops implemented the policy of "strengthening the walls and clearing the fields".At the meeting, Zhang Guotao proposed the idea of ​​establishing the Northwest Federal Government after arriving in Maozhou.The meeting decided to change the original Soviet government of Sichuan-Shanxi Province into the General Logistics Department of the Red Fourth Front Army, with the external name unchanged, and Yu Hongyuan was determined to be responsible for the logistics work. After the meeting, the entire Red Fourth Front Army launched the Sichuan-Gansu border battle and the Zhongba battle according to the meeting's decision.It can be considered that this meeting is the specific and detailed "Sichuan-Shaanxi-Gansu Plan".

Open the map of Sichuan, look westward from Cangxi and Langzhong, you will see Zitong, and then to the west is Jiangyou, an important town in western Sichuan, and if you go to the southwest, you will find Mianzhu, Deyang, and Guanghan. Western Sichuan Plain.The Western Sichuan Plain has a mild climate, dense water network, rich things and abundant people. It is known as the land of abundance, and the famous "City of Comfort" Chengdu is located here.Liu Xiang was most worried that after the Red Army broke through the Jialing River and occupied Jianmen Pass, it would go southwest and enter the most affluent western Sichuan Plain. Chiang Kai-shek was also worried about this, but Chiang Kai-shek had obtained the latest information. The purpose of the Central Red Army's current actions was to "open up the international "route" to establish a base near the Soviet border.For this reason, he judged that if the Fourth Red Army wanted to "open up the international route," then Songpan and Maoxian in northwestern Sichuan were the only way to go. On April 8, Chiang Kai-shek sent an urgent message to the various armies in Sichuan to prevent it:

1. The main force of Xu bandits gathered two swords in an attempt to open up the international route. 2. Teams have been dispatched to pursue and suppress the south and east; guard Fujiang River in the southwest; Guangyuan and Bikou in the north; 3. The Hu division should take over the defense of Guangyuan and Baihe, and the replacement will be completed within a limited steaming day.It sent Qingchuan and Pingwu troops to reach Bikou and Yaodu within nine days.Heavy troops should be stationed. 4. After the 28th Army handed over the defense, they detoured Qingchuan in the starry night and went to Nanba to assemble... While Chiang Kai-shek and the Sichuan warlords were busy mobilizing troops and generals, the second phase of the Red Fourth Army's Jialing River campaign had already begun, with troops directed at Zitong, Jiangyou, Beichuan, Pingwu, and Qingchuan. Zitong is located in the west of Jianmen Pass, with the undulating Longmen Mountains in the northwest, the West Sichuan Plain in the south, and adjacent to Mianyang, Jiangyou, Jiange, Yanting and Santai on all sides.Zitong is named because it is adjacent to Zilin in the east and Tongshui in the west. Further west from Zitong is Jiangyou.Jiangyou is an important town in northern Sichuan, and Jiangyou can enter the south of Gansu in Xu Qianqian's "Sichuan-Shaanxi-Gansu Plan" further north.Jiangyou means that the water of Fujiang River is as clear as oil.Jiangyou has fertile land and rich products. At the same time, Jiangyou is also Deng Xihou's lair. Zitong and Jiangyou are the strategic passages from Sichuan to Gansu. The task of the second phase of the Jialing River Campaign is to capture Zitong and Jiangyou and wait for the opportunity to develop to Gannan.According to the deployment of the campaign, the main force of the 31st Red Army advanced to the third rock pile area of ​​Yangmoba and besieged Guangyuan again.The 89th Division of the 30th Red Army attacked Qingchuan and Pingwu to divide the enemy forces in Guangyuan and Jiangyou, and blocked Hu Zong's southward movement to ensure the safety of the right wing.The main forces of the Ninth Red Army, the Fourth Army, and the Thirty Army attacked Zitong County and Jiangyou County (now Wudu Town, Jiangyou) respectively. The divisions of the 30th Red Army and the 9th Red Army assembled in the Qinglinkou area were ordered to reach Zitong and Jiangyou at a rapid speed. On April 10, the Ninth Red Army crossed the Fujiang River and surrounded Jiangyou to defend the enemy Yang Shaoxuan's brigade. The forward reached Zhongba (now Jiangyou City). The Fourth Red Army attacked fiercely, captured Zitong in one day, and the defending enemy collapsed.Deng Xihou and Sun Zhen were at a loss, especially Liu Xiang. He was most worried that the Red Army would go south to the western Sichuan plain, so he urgently ordered Deng Xihou and Sun Zhen to lead their troops to relieve the siege of Jiangyou and Zitong, so as to block the Red Army on the Zitong line and stop going west. On April 9, the Red Army besieged Jiangyou troops and began to attack the two brigades of Deng Xihou's You Guangju Division. After a day of fierce fighting, the enemy retreated to Qingliandu, and Yang Shaoxuan, who defended the enemy in Jiangyou City, became a lone army.Yang Shaoxuan had three regiments. He left one regiment to guard the city, and sent two regiments to set up defenses at Guanwu Mountain, Gongziping, Chentangguan, and Tazi Mountain outside the city. The two regiments were not enough to defend the enemy. The "side dishes" of the Red Army in the city were wiped out and defeated in just half a day.Seeing that the situation was not good, Yang Sunxuan in the city immediately closed the gate of Jiangyou City.Jiangyou City faces the Fujiang River in the west, and there are only three gates in the south, south, and north. Yang Shaoxuan closed the east and south gates first, and left a north gate to communicate with the troops outside the city. The north gate had to be closed quickly, and Jiangyou City's outbound passages were all cut off, making it an isolated city.Yang Shaoxuan's brigade headquarters, a pistol company and nine infantry companies remained in the city.Trapped in the isolated city, Yang Shaoxuan was terrified and even called Deng Xihou for help.Deng Xihou asked him how many days he could stay.Yang Sunxuan also wanted to act as a hero: "The city has enough food and ammunition, and it can be guarded for ten days." Hearing Yang Sunxuan's answer, Deng Xihou also got excited. He hoped to use Yang Sunxuan in Jiangyou City as a bait to attract the siege Red Army, and then mobilize heavy troops to surround the Red Army and fight against it.Deng Xihou immediately ordered the 18 regiments of You Guangju and Tao Kai to send reinforcements to Jiangyou via Zhongba. Sun Zhen urgently ordered the troops of Yanting and Santai to go to Zitong for rescue. On April 11, Chiang Kai-shek also sent an urgent telegram to Deng Xihou, ordering him to stick to the Fujiang River: 1. Since the rise of Xu bandits, they have rushed to attack the upper and lower reaches of Zitong, Weicheng, and Jiangyou.Forcibly cross the Fujiang River.Another hundreds of bandits captured Qingchuan.It is judged that the bandits used one part to attack Zi and Wei and contain the national army. Their main force seems to be crossing the river in Jiangyou to harass Beichuan and Pingwu. 2. With the aim of annihilating the bandits between the Jia and Fu rivers, the national army plans to attack the bandits in three directions, north, east, and south, in addition to guarding the Qingchuan, Pingwu, and Fujiang rivers. 3. The 1st and 2nd Route Armies should firmly defend the Fujiang River and the cities and towns currently being defended.The troops in the lower reaches of Mianyang should move upriver as much as possible to increase the defense of the upper reaches, and Mianyang should quickly send powerful troops along the right bank of the river to Jiangyou to attack the bandits crossing the river.The troops in the Guangyuan area, after switching the defense of Guangyuan on the same day, all turned to Nanba at a high speed, and they must arrive at the latest by the next day.That is to say, look for bandits to attack the area east of Jiangyou and west of Qinglinkou. On April 6, You Guangju and Tao Kai under Deng Xihou launched an attack on the Red Army crossing the Fujiang River. Xu Xiangqian was at the Jiangyou frontline headquarters at this time. When he received the news that Deng Xihou was coming to help, he immediately staged a good show of encircling the spot and fighting for aid. He ordered the 27th Division of the Ninth Red Army to continue to besiege Jiangyou. The Eighth Division, the Tenth Division and the Eleventh Division of the Fourth Red Army were distributed in Tazi Mountain and Zhiguan Mountain in the south of Jiangyou, waiting for enemy reinforcements.He wants to fight a big battle outside Jiangyou City to wipe out the main force of Deng Xihou's troops.In order to further mobilize the enemy, some troops were also sent south to harass Mianyang and other places, creating the illusion that our army really wanted to go south to the Western Sichuan Plain. On April 14, the battle started as scheduled. The Eighty-eighth Division of the Thirty Red Army, the Twenty-fifth Division of the Ninth Red Army, and enemy reinforcements fought in the bitter bamboo forest between Jiangyou and Zhongba, Baita Mountain, Shuikou Temple, Dongyue Temple, and Erlang Temple. After meeting and confronting the enemy for a while, the troops retreated to Tazi Mountain. On the afternoon of April 17, the enemy began a large-scale attack on the Red Army's Tazishan position.The Red Army holding on to Tazi Mountain took advantage of the favorable terrain to kill and injure the enemy from a high position. The battle started from morning to evening.Deng Xihou personally commanded the enemy troops of 18 regiments, and under the cover of the air, they forcibly advanced towards Jiangyou.As the enemy used aviation to attack our ground forces in turn, the battle was extremely fierce.In the air, enemy planes swooped down with ear-piercing screams. After each bomb exploded, smoke columns tens of meters high were raised. The explosion shock wave unscrupulously threw people and guns on the ground into the air. Thick smoke was billowing, and under the cover of machine guns that were dense like bullets, the enemy launched a group charge in the scale of three regiments. Thousands of Sichuan soldiers rushed forward with their guns in their waists, roaring and screaming.Suddenly, a wave of enemies broke through the junction of the 30th Regiment of the Fourth Red Army and the 88th Division of the 30th Red Army.If the enemy's continuous breakthroughs cannot be stopped, the consequences will be disastrous.Xu Shiyou, who had just been transferred to the commander of the Fourth Red Army, turned red-eyed. As the commander, he was no longer allowed to fight in front of the battle with his sword. He hurriedly ordered: "Hurry up, call Wang Jin on the mountain!" Wang Jinshan, formerly known as Wang Wenshan, was born in Huang'an, Hubei Province. He joined the Red Army in March 1930. When he entered Sichuan, he was the commander of the first battalion of the 10th Division and 30th Regiment of the Red Fourth Front Army, the commander of the 29th Regiment and the 28th Regiment of the Tenth Division. Deputy Commander of the 10th Division, Commander of the 93rd Division, and later served as the commander of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army. In October 1949, he served as the deputy commander of the Third Corps of the People's Liberation Army, the commander and political commissar of the 12th Army, and the Chongqing Garrison Commander after the founding of New China. Commander and political commissar of the Ministry, deputy commander of the Beijing Military Region, and deputy minister of the Ministry of Public Security. He was awarded the rank of lieutenant general in 1955. At that time, Wang Jinshan was the head of the 28th Regiment of the 10th Division of the Fourth Red Army. Like Xu Shiyou, he was known for his fearless generals in battles.In one battle, Wang Jinshan led his troops to counterattack the enemy. He fought hand-to-hand with a big enemy.The enemy fell to his death on the spot, and Wang Jinshan miraculously survived with a hole poked in his head by a stone.Since then, his comrades have called him "Crazy King". Before the war, Xu Shiyou used the 28th Regiment as a reserve team. Seeing the fierce fighting ahead, Wang Jinshan was anxious like a cat scratching, and kept walking around in front of Xu Shiyou.Now that the commander ordered his generals, he didn't wait for the political commissar beside him to speak, and immediately shouted: "The first battalion obeys the order: all bayonets; the second and third battalions cover with machine guns and mortars. Follow me up rush!" Wang Jinshan was always accompanied by a few buglers. As soon as his voice fell, the buglers immediately blew the troop horn. As soon as the troop horn sounded, dozens of charging horns on the field responded one after another. The blow made people's blood boil, Wang Jinshan held a shell gun in his left hand and a bright sword in his right hand, and jumped out of the trench. More than a dozen flag-bearers followed closely behind. It exploded together like ignited gunpowder.The sound of shouting and killing shook the heavens and earth, and more than a thousand people rushed into the enemy's formation like a hurricane, and fought hand-to-hand with the enemy who rushed into the junction.Wang Jinshan's eyes were wide open, his hair stood up like steel needles, and he ran amok among the enemy group, like a tiger descending the mountain. When the enemy was far away, he used a pistol to "call names", and when the enemy was close, he rushed up and stabbed him.After a while, he was covered in blood, whether it was the enemy's or his.Wang Jinshan was killing freely, when suddenly a bullet hit his head, and he fell to the ground, his face was instantly covered with blood.The guards put him on a stretcher and sent him to the rear. At this moment, Xu Xiangqian came to the front line. Seeing the urgency of the battlefield, he shouted, "Wang Jinshan! Where is Wang Jinshan?" The commander-in-chief's shout awakened Wang Jinshan from his coma. After learning about the situation on the front line, he immediately ordered: "Bring me back!" Wang Jinshan, who was like a bloody man, returned to the front line, sat on a stretcher and directed the troops to fight back.Hearing that Wang Jinshan had returned to the command post, Xu Xiangqian felt relieved: "As long as Crazy Wang is here, the position will definitely not be lost." Wang Jinshan's presence at the front boosted the morale of the officers and soldiers, and the soldiers finally repelled the enemy.At this moment, a bullet hit his head again, and Wang Jinshan fell down again.During the Jiangyou war, Wang Jinshan was shot twice in the head, but life favored him so much that Wang Jinshan returned to the team after recovering from injury two months later. During the fierce battle, the 88th Division once again displayed the power of "iron fist". In order to avoid the enemy's aircraft and artillery, Xiong Houfa commanded the troops to drill into the enemy's pile with all their strength, mingled with the enemy, and then exerted the power of our army's broadswords and bayonets After two days of fierce fighting, the black tiger of the Eighty-eighth Division pierced its heart and went straight into the center of the enemy. Thousands of people from the three regiments of the Eighty-eighth Division rushed into the enemy's line. I broke my nerve. The Sichuan Army has been repeatedly beaten by the Red Army, and has long been fearful. This time, tens of thousands of enemy troops came to help. Because Deng Xihou pressed them hard, they rushed on the road day and night for two days. On the battlefield, from the afternoon of the 17th to the morning of the 18th, I fought with the Red Army for more than ten hours. These Sichuan soldiers did not eat a bite of food. They were already hungry and tired. Seeing the brothers around them being killed by the Red Army was like killing chickens. They fell down, and there were corpses all over the mountains and plains. Morale had already collapsed, and many soldiers simply stopped fighting. When they saw the Red Army rushing over, they lay down and pretended to be dead. When the two armies are fighting, the heart is the highest; when the two armies are fighting, the morale is the highest.Once the morale is lost, even if the equipment and numbers are superior, the battle will undoubtedly be lost.Seeing that the enemy was timid and afraid of fighting, the troops guarding the main position of Tazi Mountain immediately launched a counterattack against the enemy. The Red 25th Division at the foot of the mountain also took advantage of the momentum and quickly circled and surrounded the enemy's right wing. , The Red Army soldiers rushing down the mountain and surrounded by the mountain fought together with the enemy. The scene was spectacular. At this time, the enemy's machine guns, cannons, and plane bombings all lost their effect.Hand-to-hand combat is the style of fighting that the Red Army is best at and the enemy is most afraid of. Tens of thousands of people fight together, swords and guns are facing each other, blood and flesh are flying, screaming and roaring, it is really a spectacle in the history of war.Many enemy soldiers couldn't bear the dual stimulation of swords and guns and spirit, so they turned around and ran away. And at this time, the 31st Regiment of the 11th Division of the Fourth Red Army was originally ordered to rush to the vicinity of Zitong to fight for reinforcements. Halfway through, they received an order to rush to the east of Jiangyou to fight for reinforcements. The 31st Regiment ran dozens of miles to the battlefield. , Another fatal blow to the enemy who was already on the verge of collapse.This caused the enemy to be attacked from the front, rear, and right sides. Several divisions and tens of thousands of people suddenly collapsed. The officers could not find the soldiers, and the soldiers could not find the officers. All around immediately knelt down in unison. The rout soldiers who fled from the position went straight to Zhongba. Seeing tens of thousands of rout soldiers rushing over, Deng Xihou in Zhongba City also panicked, and immediately asked Sun Zhen and Huang Yin in Mianyang for emergency, asking them to come to rescue quickly.Sun Zhen was worried that he would be ambushed by the Red Army on the way after leaving Mianyang, so he refused to come to help on the grounds that the Red Army blocked the road and asked Deng Xihou to withdraw from Zhongba, while he supported him.At this time, the situation is extremely critical. After the Red Army defeats the reinforcements, they will conquer Jiangyou and Zhongba at any time. If they don't withdraw at this time, it may be too late.Deng Xihou had no choice but to order Yang Shaoxuan in Jiangyou City to stand firm, and he led his troops out of Zhongba City. The Red Army reinforcements had already surrounded Zhongba. Under the protection of the guard battalion, Deng Xihou fled quickly. He first rode a horse and then changed to a car to flee to Mianyang. The Red Army troops were chasing after him. Suddenly there was intense gunfire in front of him. Deng Xihou thought he was cut off by the Red Army and lost his soul in fright. He stood beside the parked car with his face turning blue and his legs trembling.It was only later that I found out that the Eighth Regiment of the Third Brigade, which Sun Zhen had sent to pick him up, had a misunderstanding with his defeated soldiers, so they boarded the car again and fled to Mianyang. In this battle, Deng Xihou's three regiments were wiped out, 3,000 people were captured, and several divisions were dismantled.Xu Qianqian surrounded the point to fight for aid and won the victory.As soon as the reinforcements collapsed and Deng Xihou ran away, the defenders in Zhongba immediately lost their fighting spirit. On April 18, the Red Army captured Zhongba, an important town in Sichuan.After the capture of Zhongba, the Red Army did not directly attack Jiangyou County. Except for a part of the troops to continue to surround Jiangyou County tightly, a large force bypassed Jiangyou County and began to cross the Fujiang River continuously. Douyi Mountain, Guanwu Mountain, Gongziping Mountain, Tazi Mountain and other commanding heights on the right bank of the Fujiang River. Before Deng Xihou led his troops to solve the siege of Jiangyou, he once gave a lecture to the officers and soldiers: "I will go out this time personally and lead you to fight the Communist bandits. You can see how I use my troops." Drop the laughing stock.Deng Xihou cast a wave of grievances on Chiang Kai-shek's staff. When the battle was most tense on the 17th, Deng Xihou asked the staff group for air force support many times, and the staff group also promised, but there was no sign of a plane until the next day.When he was defeated like a mountain, the planes came and dived and bombed aimlessly in the air. At this time, the Red Army was already mixed with his troops, and the bombing and strafing had no effect.Deng Xihou called it "bringing an umbrella after the rain".Deng Xihou was also angry with the other Sichuan troops. When he was most nervous and asked for help everywhere, Sun Zhen refused to come; he asked Wang Yanxu to come, but Wang Yanxu said that he had not received an order and could not move without authorization.Wang Yanxu's practice of watching the fire from the other side at a critical moment made Deng Xihou form a beam with him. In Sichuan, Deng Xihou is also a figure. The Sichuan warlords have fought for more than ten years. With his scheming and strength, he has gradually become one of the four major warlords comparable to Liu Xiang, Liu Wenhui, and Tian Songyao.But in the fight against the Red Army, Deng Xihou was defeated repeatedly.In dealing with Chiang Kai-shek and other Sichuan warlords, all he saw was intrigue and intrigue, with no future or bright future to speak of. However, the Red Army was deeply supported by the people of Sichuan. After entering Sichuan for only two years, it defeated the Sichuan warlords. It has also grown to 80,000 people.Comparing the two, Deng Xihou began to understand the Communist Party and the Red Army. After the outbreak of the all-out Anti-Japanese War, the 14 divisions of the Sichuan Army that went out to fight against Japan were organized into the second reserve army, Liu Xiang was the commander-in-chief, and Deng Xihou was the deputy commander-in-chief and commander of the first column.Deng Xihou led his troops to resist the Japanese and fought desperately against the Japanese invaders. Wang Mingzhang's 122nd Division, which was stationed in Teng County and fought until the entire army was wiped out, was the unit he led.After the end of the Anti-Japanese War, Deng Xihou was dissatisfied with Chiang Kai-shek's civil war and passively dealt with it. Chiang Kai-shek deprived him of military power, so Deng Xihou resigned to "recover his illness". In 1949, Chiang Kai-shek was defeated like a mountain. Deng Xihou, Liu Wenhui and others were unwilling to be buried for Chiang Kai-shek. On December 9, Liu Wenhui, Deng Xihou, Pan Wenhua and others jointly sent an uprising telegram to Chairman Mao Zedong, Commander-in-Chief Zhu De and the people of the whole country at Longxing Temple in Peng County .A large number of military and political personnel such as Tian Songyao and other generals of the Sichuan Army participated in the Pengxian Uprising together.Liu Wenhui, Deng Xihou, and Tian Songyao all stood on the side of the people in the end. Although the reasons for this were complicated and profound, they were inseparable from the fact that they fought against the Red Army and had a deep understanding of the Red Army. Jiangyou is only a hundred miles away from Chengdu. Deng Xihou Jiangyou's defeat shocked Chengdu.The enemies, especially the wealthy people in the city, were terrified and ran to Shanghai and even Hong Kong, and those with less money also ran to Chongqing and Wanxian. In order to transfer assets, Chengdu sold properties at low prices everywhere. It's thirty yuan now. At the same time that Jiangyou Weidian was fighting for aid, the 89th Division of the 30th Red Army made great strides northward. On April 10, Qingchuan County was captured, Pingwu County was captured on April 14, Zhangming was captured on April 18, and Beichuan was captured on April 21, laying the foundation for joining forces with the Central Red Army. In the second phase of the Jialing River Campaign, the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army triumphed all the way, but lost in the battle northward into Gannan, which resulted in the failure of the "Sichuan-Shaanxi-Gansu Plan" to be realized. In early April, the 30th Red Army and the 31st Red Army, which were responsible for the main task of attacking the Northwest Road, arrived at Qingchuan County on the Sichuan-Gansu border. plan".Xu Xiangqian set up the headquarters of the Red Army in Gongbei, Kuoxi, Qingchuan County. Beginning in the early morning of April 6, the Red Army divided into three groups and marched in three directions: Platform Mountain, Xuanmaguan, and Motianling in Wenxian County.The first battle of the Fourth Red Army's advance to Gannan was launched in Wulong Mountain.The towering Wulong Mountain is the barrier to the northeast of Qingchuan and the only way to enter Gannan.The advance team of the 271st Regiment of the 91st Division of the 31st Red Army rushed from Chaba via Tianhuang to Longbazui near Shazhou, and seized the commanding height of Wulong Mountain.After occupying Wulong Mountain, the 91st Division split into two groups on April 11 to seize Platform Mountain, the gateway to Gannan.Ding Delong's Department of Hu Zongnan Army stationed at Bikou learned that the Red Army had occupied Platform Mountain and was approaching Bikou, and hurriedly dispatched a force and local militia to rush to Platform Mountain, forming a group with the 91st Division. On April 10, a part of the Thirty Red Army entered Qingchuan from Jiangyou Qinglinkou, passed Liangshui, Guanzhuang, and the ancient city to Qingxi, seized Motianling, a strategic highland at the junction of Sichuan and Gansu, and marched towards Xuanmaguan.Xuanma Pass borders Wenxian County, Gansu Province, with precipitous cliffs and high peaks reaching into the clouds. There is only one narrow path at the pass, which is another channel to enter Gannan.After the 90th Division of the 30th Red Army arrived at Xuanma Pass in Wen County, the plainclothes reconnaissance team of the 90th Division crossed Xuanma Pass, went deep into Wen County for more than 20 miles, and went to Shanwang Temple and Yaochangping for reconnaissance. There was an encounter in the south.Hearing that the Red Army had arrived in Wenxian County, Hu Zongnan was extremely shocked. He hurriedly transferred 12 regiments from Tianshui to Bikou to block the Red Army's passage to Gansu. The 49th Division, Wang Yaowu's Central Supplementary Brigade, and Zhong Song's Second Division Supplementary Brigade successively entered Bikou to strengthen the defense of Bikou.Due to the gathering of enemy troops, Xu Xiangqian's plan to attack Bikou via Xuanma Pass could not be realized.In order to prevent the lone army from going deep, the Red Thirty Army retreated to Motianling. Motianling is located at the junction of Sichuan and Gansu, and its strategic position is very important. If the Red Army controls Motianling, it will open the Sichuan-Gansu gateway and go straight to Gannan.Knowing that the Red Army had occupied Motianling, Hu Zongnan urgently sent Wu Chengren's Department of the 49th Division to approach Motianling from the west, and deployed two additional brigades to set up defenses along the way to Wen County.The enemy's 49th Division Wu Chengren's Department and the 1st Division's Hu Zongnan attacked Motianling from both sides.The east and west battlefields of Motianling stretch for hundreds of miles, and the enemy and us have invested a total of 30 regiments with tens of thousands of troops.This is the first large-scale long-term frontal fight between the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army and Hu Zongnan.The motianling area is surrounded by deep mountains and deep ditches, sparsely populated, and difficult terrain. The tens of thousands of reinforcements outside Hu Zong's south are far superior to the Red Army in terms of number, equipment, and logistical supplies. Heavy casualties and heavy sacrifices, the situation on the battlefield is deteriorating day by day. On the afternoon of April 28, the entire Fourth Front Army of the Red Army was ordered to advance westward, and the Red Army who stood firm at the positions of Platform Mountain, Xuanma Pass, and Motianling voluntarily withdrew. The Battle of Motianling failed to eliminate Hu Zongnan's troops and open the passage to Gannan, which made the "Sichuan-Shaanxi-Gansu Plan" to enter the Gannan base area through northern Sichuan failed to be realized. In a sense, this defeat even affected the Chinese revolution. process.Since southern Gansu and northwestern Sichuan were always controlled by the enemy, especially Songpan, a strategic town in northwestern Sichuan, was first occupied by the southern part of Huzong. When analyzing the reasons for the defeat in the Motianling battle, Xu Xiangqian believed that the main reason was the lack of attack power of the Red Fourth Front Army and the lack of backup.He recalled: ... I sent telegrams to urge left and right, proposing to concentrate the southern troops to the north, detour around Bikou, follow Hu Zongnan's back route, and advance into Gannan.But Zhang Guotao kept silent, which made people anxious... Later he said that he was watching the movements of the Central Red Army at that time, and he couldn't make up his mind about going west or north.This dragged on for a month, which aborted our plan to attack Hu Zongnan. Xu Xiangqian regretted that the Sichuan-Shaanxi-Gansu plan could not be realized. He recalled in the article "Recalling the Creation of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Revolutionary Base Area": The Sichuan-Shaanxi-Gansu plan failed to be realized, and it was very wrong, which is a matter of the fate of the entire revolution.If this plan had been realized at that time, the Central Red Army would have gained a foothold after going north, and the situation would have been very different. The Battle of Jialing River lasted 24 days, annihilating 12 enemy regiments successively, capturing nine counties including Langzhong, Nanbu, Jiange, Zhaohua, Zitong, Qingchuan, Pingwu, Zhangming, and Beichuan, and controlling the Jialing River from the east to the west. Beichuan, from Zitong in the south to the vast area bordering Sichuan and Gansu in the north, has a tendency to leave Shaanxi and Gansu in the north and go to Chengdu in the south.Chiang Kai-shek and Liu Xiang hurriedly mobilized heavy troops to encircle the Red Army and defend Chengdu. Liu Wenhui, who was far away in Xikang, also mobilized troops from Xichang, Liangshan, and Ya'an to help in the battle.The mass mobilization of enemy forces on the Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan border relieved the pressure on the Central Red Army and effectively supported the Central Red Army's actions on the Sichuan-Yunnan-Guizhou border. The purpose of initiating the Jialing River Campaign was to rely on the old areas, develop new areas, break the enemy's "Sichuan-Shanxi Campaign", establish a "Sichuan-Shanxi-Gansu Base Area", and respond to the actions of the Central Red Army.However, judging from the results, the Sichuan-Shanxi base area to rely on was withdrawn, the Gannan New Area to be developed failed to be realized, and the final goal of establishing the "Sichuan-Shanxi-Gansu base area" failed to be realized.In this sense, the Jialing River Campaign failed to achieve the intended purpose of the campaign. Withdrawing from the Sichuan-Shaanxi base area is also a major event in party history and military history.With the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army winning successive victories, why did they withdraw from the Sichuan-Shaanxi base area?To this, Xu Xiangqian gave an extremely objective answer: The Red Fourth Army withdrew from the Sichuan-Shaanxi base area due to various reasons. First, there is the joint oppression of the superior enemy.When our army entered Sichuan, the Sichuan warlords were still fighting fiercely, and opposed Chiang Kai-shek's forces getting involved in Sichuan's "suppression of the Red Army".The disintegration of the enemy's camp is one of the basic conditions for the Red Army to survive and grow stronger.However, since Liu Xiang organized the six-way siege, this condition has changed.From civil strife to unity, the Sichuan warlords began to unite against the Red Army.The soldiers and civilians in our Sichuan-Shaanxi base area spent ten months of arduous and hard fighting before smashing the joint siege of the Sixth Route Warlords. What followed was the alliance between Chiang Kai-shek and the Sichuan Warlords.Liu Xiang and other warlords not only agreed to Chiang Kai-shek's forces entering Sichuan, but also willingly obeyed Chiang Kai-shek's unified dispatch in the military.Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek couldn't wait to unite his direct troops and the warlord forces in Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces, gathered heavy troops around our base area, deployed and launched the "Sichuan-Shanxi Campaign", in an attempt to put the Red Army to death in one fell swoop. Conditions determine situations.The temporary stability and unity of the enemy's camp created a serious situation in which all sides jointly oppressed our army.Chiang Kai-shek deployed more than 200 regiments of troops around the Sichuan-Shanxi base area, with layer upon layer of blockhouses and tight blockades. Once the "Sichuan-Shanxi Campaign" begins, the enemy will block from east to west and attack from north to south. Disadvantageous situation of losing data.This is obviously different from our previous anti-three-way siege and six-way siege, when we relied on Bashan and only dealt with the Sichuan enemy's one-sided, two-sided, or three-sided attacks. In this case, where is the way out?The first is to break through, stick to the base area, and prepare to fight the enemy with all our strength; the second is to break through the enemy's "Sichuan-Shanxi Campaign" deployment in advance, hit outside lines, and preserve and develop viable forces.Weighing the pros and cons and thinking twice, we chose the latter way out during the Qingjiangdu meeting and formulated the "Sichuan-Shaanxi-Gansu Plan" to rely on the old areas, shrink the front line, and develop new areas.Although this plan needs to be revised in practice, there is no doubt that the main Red Army will move to the Sichuan-Shaanxi-Gansu border to attack Hu Zongnan and develop new base areas. . . . If you want to gain something, you must lose something.Under the heavy oppression of the surrounding enemies, if we want to concentrate our main force to attack Gannan and develop new areas, we must prepare to abandon part or most of the Sichuan-Shaanxi base area, or even temporarily turn the base area into a guerrilla area, and wait for an opportunity to restore it in the future.It's impossible not to make up your mind.This is the need to break through the enemy's "Sichuan-Shanxi Joint Suppression" plan, to preserve ourselves and destroy the enemy.From the perspective of strategic guiding principles, it should be allowed.On the contrary, disregarding the enemy's situation and our own strength, trying to stick to one place and fighting recklessly, the result can only ruin the strength of the Red Army, which is really a taboo for military strategists. ... Second, the people in the Sichuan-Shanxi base areas are exhausted.To support the war and support the existence and development of the Red Army, the revolutionary base areas cannot do without the necessary human, material and financial resources.When the Red Army fights, it first needs food, second needs clothing, third needs soldiers, and fourth needs weapons and ammunition.Without these, the so-called preservation of oneself and destruction of the enemy is just a dream.The situation in the later period of the Sichuan-Shaanxi base area can be summed up in four words: the people are destitute.There is no food, no clothes, no replenishment of soldiers, not to mention the troops fighting, even survival has become a problem. ... In short, as a result of the interaction between the destruction of the war and the "left" policy, the Sichuan-Shaanxi base area was brought to the point where the people were destitute.It's like a pond, if the water is drained, can the fish still live?Can't live.The human, material and financial resources of the base areas were exhausted, and the Red Army had to find another way out in order to survive and develop. Third, responding to the strategic needs of the Central Red Army... Breaking Chiang Kai-shek's division and siege, and fully supporting the Central Red Army's northward movement is the unshirkable responsibility of all commanders and fighters of the Fourth Red Army.All our plans and arrangements must obey this overall situation. From the day the Central Committee received a call in January 1935 to order the Fourth Red Army to cross the Jialing River to the west and cooperate with the Central Red Army in combat, we worked closely to break through Chiang Kai-shek's "Sichuan-Shanxi Campaign" plan and to support the Central Red Army's strategic tasks.结合，变成这一时期全军的战略行动方针……尽管中间因敌情变化，中央红军的行进路线有些曲折，但全力策应中央红军北上的方针和任务，我们是明确的，毫不动摇的。强渡嘉陵江战役的主要企图，就在这里。假如不是为了策应中央红军的战略需要，我军实现“川陕甘计划”，就没有必要渡江西出，同川敌作战，而是应当直接出西北方向，寻歼胡宗南部。对此，稍懂战略问题的人，不难一目了然。嘉陵江战役结束不久，我军转而进军川西北，终于实现了一、四方面军的胜利会合，更是有力的证明。 整个说来，红四方面军退出川陕根据地，有它的复杂原因。优势敌人的压迫，长年战争和“左”的政策造成的困难，策应中央红军的紧迫战略需要，凑到了一起。在这个意义上说，是历史的必然。