On November 22, Liu Zhong, chief of the reconnaissance section of the Red First Regiment, led the plainclothes team of the regiment and the reconnaissance platoon of the Red Fifth Regiment into Quanzhou City in disguise and found that the Gui army had retreated south. At noon on the 25th, Liu Zhong reported the situation to Li Tangxu, chief of staff of the Second Division, who led the Red Fifth Regiment to garrison Yong'an Pass on the Hunan and Guizhou borders.

Li Tangxu immediately reported to the corps headquarters via radio. Lin Husan, the commander of the corps, sent another telegram to the Central Military Commission asking for instructions. At 5 p.m. on 25 November, the Central Military Commission issued an order for the "Operational Deployment of Our Field Army to the Huangshan Area in the Northwest of Quanzhou and Hung Yen." After discovering the Red Army's attempt to advance westward from the Quanguanxing Triangle, the main force of the Gui Army began to move north from Gongcheng on November 26, and the Hunan Army entered Quanzhou City on November 27.

On the afternoon of November 27, the 1st Red Army seized all the Xiangjiang crossings south of Quanzhou and north of Jieshou. In the early morning of November 28, the Gui army launched an attack on the Red Third Army in Xinwei, and the Xiangjiang Campaign officially began.

The 1st Red Army blocked the repeated attacks of the four divisions of Liu Jianxu of the Hunan Army in the area of Jiaoshanpu; The 4th and 5th Divisions of the 3rd Army Corps blocked the 7th Army and the 15th Army of the Gui Army at Xinwei and Jieshou respectively; After the Young Communist Division crossed Xiaoshui, Chiwen City and the waterwheel blocked the attack of the four divisions of the Zhou Hunyuan Division of the Central Army.

Under the condition that all the enemy troops had planes and artillery to help them fight, and in the midst of the roaring guns and cannons of the war, the huge column of the Central Military Commission walked out of Wenshi Town, and from Wenshi Town, on the road leading to the Xiangjiang River ferry, tens of thousands of Red Army troops marched slowly, and the narrow and crowded path was filled with gray rolling people, heading towards the Xiangjiang River far to the west.

At this time, Zhang Cheng sat at the headquarters of the Wenshi Town Division and pondered the way out of the Young Communist Division, and the information of the various units of the Young Communist Division continued to appear in his mind, and last night, the First Brigade and the Sixth Brigade of the Young Communist Division, as the vanguard troops, had occupied the waterwheel area, opening a passage for the Young Communist Division to go to the Xiangjiang River.

In the early morning of the 28th, the 5th Division of the Zhou Hunyuan Division of the Central Army launched a tentative attack on the waterwheel area, and was met by the 1st Brigade, and then the enemy's 99th Division and the 6th Brigade of the Young Communist Division also entered the battle one after another, and the two armies are currently in a standoff.

The enemy's 13th and 96th divisions were approaching Wenshi Town, and the 15th Division of Li Yunjie's division of the Hunan Army intended to take revenge after replenishing its troops, and it would also arrive at the waterwheel area on the evening of the 28th.

After a little pondering, Zhang Cheng immediately found that the enemy's five divisions were rushing towards the Young Communist Division, and its left flank was also threatened by the 24th Division of the 7th Army in Xinxu Town, and the situation became extremely dangerous again.

Zhang Cheng immediately called Xiao Hua, Zhang Fengming and others to hold a small division meeting, and he went straight to the point and said to everyone: "Ladies and gentlemen, the situation is very grim for our Young Communist International Division, if we are passive and defensive, not only will we always be surrounded and intercepted by the enemy, but also will consume a lot of our strength, and at that time, even if our Young Communist International Division finally crosses the Xiang River, it will sacrifice most of it, which is unacceptable to me." ”

Xiao Hua asked: "Since the situation is so sinister, what good way do you have to solve it, division commander?" ”

Zhang Cheng pointed to the map and continued: "The method is the same, it is better to cut off one of its fingers, concentrate on destroying the enemy all the way, and then break through each one to completely break the enemy's encirclement." ”

Zhang Fengming said: "The division commander's method is good, but at present, our Young Communist Division is stationed in Wenshi and Watermill Towns, and on the left side of our division is Xinwei Town, which is defended by the Third Army Corps and the Fifth Division, which is located in the northwest of Guanyang County, and the terrain is easy to attack and difficult to defend. At present, our army has only 3,900 troops of the Third Army Corps and Five Divisions in Xinwei, and there is a serious shortage of ammunition and a lack of heavy weapons.

The Gui Army of the enemy in front of him had 7 regiments deployed in the direction of Xinwei, with Xia Wei, commander of the 15th Army, as the commander, the 44th Division of the 15th Army (Wang Zanbin) as the main attacking force, the 134th Regiment of the 45th Division of the 15th Army (Ling Pressixi) as the reserve of the 44th Division, and the 24th Division of the 7th Army as the reserve of the 15th Army. These units are the descendants of Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi, and their combat effectiveness is on a par with our army.

In addition, the Gui army is well armed and equipped with a large number of planes and artillery, and I estimate that the Fifth Division will definitely not be able to hold on, and once the Xinwei position is broken through, the Gui army will be able to drive straight in, which can not only stop the waist and flank the column of the Central Military Commission, but also cut off the road for our division to retreat to the Xiangjiang River crossing, outflank our division from behind, and put our division in a desperate situation surrounded on all sides. Therefore, I think that the top priority of our Young Communist Division is not to destroy the Kuomintang Army, but to immediately rush to Xinwei to rescue the Third Army Corps and the Fifth Division. ”

Xiao Hua also nodded in agreement: "The chief of staff's concerns are very reasonable, if we don't pay attention to the Gui army in Xinwei, it is likely that we will be bitten hard by it, and then we will be even more passive." ”

Of course, Zhang Cheng also agreed with Zhang Fengming's judgment, but Zhang Fengming didn't know that Zhang Cheng still had a cheating device, and he knew that Bai Chongxi had made an operational principle of "not blocking the head, not cutting the waist, and only hitting the tail" for the Red Army in the Long March in the early days, and this operational principle was undoubtedly very beneficial to the Young Communist Division who was currently in a difficult situation.

Zhang Cheng couldn't say it clearly, but he said with some strong words: "The Gui Army is the Gui Army, the Central Army is the Central Army, as long as we go to fight the Central Army, then the Gui Army will definitely stand by and watch, listen to me, that's right." ”

Xiao Hua shook his head: "Division Commander, your reason is too far-fetched, and we are not roundworms in Bai Chongxi's stomach, how do you know that he will not rescue the Central Army." ”

Not only did Xiao Hua oppose Zhang Cheng's opinion, but Zhang Fengming, Feng Wenbin, and Feng Shaojie also disagreed, and the meeting suddenly reached an impasse.

Zhang Cheng did not forcibly order everyone to carry out his suggestion, but calmed down and thought about countermeasures, and suddenly he had an idea, remembering that there was not an incident in history between the Central Army and the Gui Army? It seems that a battalion of the Central Army and a regiment of the Seventh Army of the Gui Army met in a narrow way, and as a result, the Gui Army strictly implemented Bai Chongxi's order to "refuse the Central Army to be outside Gui Province" and opened fire on the Central Army, and the two sides fought for nearly an hour, with the result that this battalion of the Central Army was captured by the Gui Army.

Thinking of it, Zhang Cheng immediately proposed this idea to everyone in the conference room, and everyone was very surprised by Zhang Cheng's whimsical idea, but this idea is still feasible.

Everyone thought that they could use this incident to make some fuss, provoke the contradiction between the Gui Army and the Central Army, make the two sides hold grudges, and when they fought with the Red Army, they would not be able to unite sincerely, so as to provide an opportunity for the Red Army to break through their encirclement and suppression.

After everyone reached a consensus, they continued to improve this plan to sow discord, and called Zhang Sanhe, the new leader of the "Sharp Blade" special operations team, to hand over this latest task to the special operations team to carry out.

After Zhang Cheng gave Zhang Sanhe a face-to-face lecture, Zhang Sanhe's eyes lit up when he heard it, and he was eager to try: "Yes!" Resolutely complete the task. ”