At the welcome meeting in the town, all the commanders and fighters of the Red Front Army stood on the field in the rain and waited for a long time. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

But the heavy rain could not extinguish their enthusiasm, and everyone sang revolutionary songs one after another, waving their arms and cheering slogans one after another, and the atmosphere was extremely warm and solemn.

After inspecting the troops, the commander-in-chief, deputy commander Zhou, Zhang Luofu, and Mr. Zhu accompanied Zhang Guotao and Xu Xiangqian to the rostrum, and the singing at the venue was suddenly replaced by thunderous applause.

After a while, Deputy Commander Zhou walked to the front of the stage, pressed down with both hands, signaled everyone to be quiet, and then he loudly announced the official start of the welcome meeting.

After that, the commander-in-chief, waving his powerful arm, delivered a welcome speech on behalf of the Party Central Committee in the pouring rain: "Comrades! On behalf of the Central Committee and all the comrades of the First Front Army, I warmly welcome the heroic Red Fourth Front Army led by Comrade Zhang Guitao and Comrade Xu Xiangqian! The convergence of the two main forces was an unprecedented victory for the cause of the Chinese revolution and provided a reliable foundation for us to implement the strategic policy of the central authorities, establish the Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu base areas, and finally realize the northward march to resist Japan......"

Then, Mr. Zhu delivered a welcome speech on behalf of the Central Military Commission, in which Mr. Zhu fully affirmed the heroic achievements of the Red Fourth Front Army in repeatedly defeating strong enemies and developing and growing from the Hubei-Henan-Anhui base area to the Sichuan-Shaanxi base area.

Mr. Zhu said loudly: "Comrades! The meeting of the two main forces of the Red Army, not only us, but also the people of China and the oppressed of the whole world are there to celebrate and cheer! This was the victory of the anti-Japanese agrarian revolution of the whole Chinese and the victory of the party's Lenin strategy. ”

The speeches of the commander in chief and Mr. Zhu were clear and concise.

However, Zhang Guitao, who was behind the stage, had no intention of listening to the lecture, and only cared about asking Deputy Commander Zhou about the strength of the Central Red Army.

Deputy Commander Zhou was annoyed by the questioning, so he had to reply nonchalantly: "We still have 80,000 horses." ”

Zhang Guitao was a little surprised when he heard this, the Central Red Army was much stronger than he expected, but it still did not have as many soldiers and horses as he owned, so he proudly showed off to Deputy Commander Zhou: "We have 100,000 people. ”

At the end of the conference, Zhang Guotao gave a speech of thanks, his appearance is undoubtedly excellent, he is tall and burly, his speech is very loud, and his speech is also very vivid, which attracts laughter from the audience, and the atmosphere is very warm.

However, towards the end of his speech, he suddenly shouted "Comrades! There are a large number of weak and small nationalities here, with superior terrain, we have better conditions to create a new situation in Chuankang! ”

These words were like a bombshell, and suddenly the few people in the audience who understood the reason were dumbfounded, before the commander said that he wanted to go north, but now Zhang Guitao said that he wanted to go south, isn't this a clear show of singing against the central government!

However, the commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief Zhou calmly completed the final procedure of the congress and, on behalf of the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission of the Central Revolution, awarded Xu Xiangqian, commander-in-chief of the Fourth Front Army, a gold "five-star" medal in recognition of Comrade Xu Xiangqian's outstanding contribution to the establishment and maintenance of Soviet power.

At the same time, this move also sent a message to the comrades of the Fourth Front Army that the central authorities fully trusted Comrade Xu Xiangqian.

In the evening, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission suddenly ordered Shaozong to fight Hu Zongnan's "first division under heaven" in the Songpan area. The moment he received the order, Zhang Cheng immediately understood that this was the commander's love and protection for him.

Due to Zhang Cheng's "abnormal" performance during the day, the commander-in-chief and deputy commander Zhou were very worried that Zhang Cheng would do something that would affect the unity of the two armies under impulse, so they deliberately separated Zhang Cheng and ordered him to do what he did best, that is, to fight!

Before leaving, the commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief Zhou specially summoned Zhang Cheng and the political commissar, and told Shaozong to make full preparations, overcome all difficulties, and be sure to control Songpan and the large area north of Songpan before Hu Zongnan, and dare to launch a decisive battle against Hu Zongnan's "First Division of the World" and annihilate one or most of it.

Zhang Cheng and the political commissar conveyed the commander-in-chief's instructions to all units, and Zhang Cheng deliberately emphasized that the commander said that Hu Zongnan's troops were "the first division in the world." Immediately all the officers and men shouted with excitement, and everyone was gearing up and saying that they would teach Hu Zongnan a good lesson, and see how good he was, and how he dared to be called "the first division in the world."

Seeing that all the soldiers were screaming excitedly, Zhang Cheng, who had achieved his goal, and the political commissar looked at each other and smiled, and everything was silent.

For the Battle of Songpan, Zhang Cheng had long known it.

Historically, due to Zhang Guitao's obstruction and single-minded delay, the Central Red Army's plan to seize Songpan and open up the road to the north was aborted, forcing the Red Army, which lacked food and clothing, to cross the Songpan steppe, which was full of death swamps, resulting in a significant reduction in the Red Army's personnel and heavy casualties.

In order not to be influenced by Zhang Guitao and repeat the mistakes of his previous life, Zhang Cheng took precautions as early as when he entered the Lianghekou area, and after obtaining the consent of the commander-in-chief, he ordered the second and third divisions to continue to move north, planning to seize and control Heishui County, and lay a good front station for the main force to capture Songpan.

At the same time, he was also worried that Zhang Cheng was young and impulsive, and that he would have a direct conflict with Zhang Guitao and affect the unity of the First and Fourth Front Armies, so he decided that Zhang Cheng's Shaozong would launch the Songpan Campaign in advance, completely capture and control the Songpan area, open up the passage to northern Shaanxi, and open the way for the whole army.

In order to avoid Zhang Wei's quarrel, the commander-in-chief and the Central Revolutionary Military Commission decided to independently hand over the task of attacking Songpan to Shaozong, which is undoubtedly a great trust in Shaozong.

Zhang Cheng discussed with the political commissar and decided that even without the cooperation of other brother troops, the Shaozong would complete the task of capturing Songpan alone and open the passage for the whole army to go north.

At present, the key to the battle of Songpan is to gain time, and whoever captures the county seat of Songpan first will be able to establish a huge advantage in the initial stage of the campaign.

There was no time to discuss the battle situation with the members of the party committee of the headquarters, Zhang Chengqian was arbitrary, and immediately ordered the 2nd Division, which had already made a good position in the front, to overcome the difficulties of continuous marching, make persistent efforts, enter Songpan with a forced march, and seize the Songpan area before the enemy; The 3rd Division stayed in Heishui and was responsible for receiving the main force of the column and guarding the surrounding area.

Then Zhang Cheng ordered the 1st Division to immediately pack up and rush to the Songpan battlefield with light equipment at the speed of a rapid march, and the political commissar led the troops directly under the column to follow.

At twelve o'clock at noon on May 25, Zhang Cheng led the first division to Heishui City. Subsequently, Zhou Weiguo, commander of the Third Division, briefly reported to Zhang Cheng that the whole army had made all the preparations and was ready to go.

Zhang Cheng felt very satisfied after listening to the report, so he ordered the third division to start first, and immediately rushed to Songpan to reinforce the second division; The first division followed after a half-day rest.

Heishui is located in the eastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, bordering Songpan in the north, and the distance from Songpan is not too far, only two or three hundred miles away.

However, due to the location on the plateau, the road is extremely difficult to travel, the climate is complex, the four seasons are unknown, the road of the march is either snow-capped mountains or rivers, rain and snow alternately, the road is deserted, there are almost no people, and the supply is very inconvenient.

Fortunately, when Zhang Cheng set out, he brought enough dry food, so he didn't have to go hungry, just to travel lightly, and did not bring tents, and the soldiers had to eat and sleep in the open.

These are small difficulties, but what is even more worrying is that they have to climb a snow-capped mountain several kilometers high, which brings great difficulties to the marching troops.

Fortunately, the troops already had the experience of crossing the Jiajin Mountain, and after making sufficient preparations, our army was still in high spirits, and it took only one day to cross the Daxue Mountain safely. (To be continued.) )