Tucheng is only called Tucheng, because at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the local people found a large number of earthen city walls when building houses, and since then they have called this place Tucheng.

In fact, Tucheng was called Pingmai County in the Western Han Dynasty, and Zizhou in the Northern Song Dynasty, and governed Renhuai and Chishui counties. Whether it is called Pingmai or Zizhou, it is not as loud as the name "Tucheng" that was later chirped.

Historically, the Red Army's Long March fought a tragic "Tucheng Campaign" here, the Central Red Army and the Sichuan Army fought on the ground of two square kilometers of Qinggangpo, three kilometers east of Tucheng, and the three presidents of the Republic, the four ministers of national defense, seven marshals, and many generals, generals, lieutenant generals, and major generals all participated in this struggle.

The idea of the battle of Qinggangpo was to concentrate the main forces of the 3rd Army Corps and the 5th Army Corps to set up an ambush at Qinggangpo and destroy the four regiments of Guo Xunchu's brigade, a model division of the Sichuan army, and the Panzuo brigade under his command. During the battle, the Liao Ze (Liao Haitao) brigade of the Sichuan Army arrived to join the battlefield, and the big net of the Red Army was broken by fish. At the critical juncture, Chen Geng and Song Renqiao led the cadres to charge desperately, repelled the Sichuan army, stabilized the position, and the Red Second Division also returned from Yuanhou to help, and the Red Army was able to retreat calmly, cross the Chishui, and began the wonderful four crossings of Chishui.

The battle of Qinggangpo in the Battle of Tucheng was tragic, with losses of around 2,000 men on both sides. For the Sichuan army, 2,000 or 3,000 people are just a casualty figure that can be quickly replenished. For the Red Army, it was an irreparable elite of more than 2,000 Red Army, and after the Zunyi Conference, the Red Third Army Corps, which was reduced to four regiments, and the Red Fifth Army Corps, which was reduced to three regiments, made matters worse, and the main force was seriously damaged. After the second crossing of Chishui to eliminate Wu Qiwei's two divisions and eight regiments of the Guizhou Army, the Third Army Corps was basically disabled. By the time the Eighth Route Army was reorganized at the end of the Long March, there was not one out of ten brave Red Third Army Corps, and only one regiment was reorganized.

The Battle of Tucheng was the first battle of Zunyi's comeback, and it was also one of the few battles in [***] military career that did not win. In the past, the battle of Tucheng was generally not mentioned in military history, and it was relatively taboo. However, the Battle of Tucheng made two people famous all over the world, one was the famous general Guo Xunchu of the Sichuan Army, who was so desperate that he wanted to commit suicide during the battle, and was promoted to the commander of the Sichuan Army Model Division after the war. The second is Chen Geng, the founding general of the Republic. Speaking of General Chen Geng, I have to say a few words here. Chen Geng's life is full of legends, graduated from Whampoa, rescued Chiang Kai-shek in the Eastern Expedition, saved Zhou Enlai in the Long March, and Chiang Kai-shek was reluctant to kill Chen Geng, who was caught in Shanghai for treatment of injuries in the Soviet area. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chen Geng participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Vietnam, and was the first general in New China to go abroad to fight. When he was the president of the Kazakh military industry, he summoned Qian Xuesen and was the first to write a letter to [***] to request the development of missile nuclear weapons.

In fact, it was only during the Battle of Tucheng that Chen Geng's military talent was discovered. As early as [***] when he wrote the "Hunan Peasant Movement Investigation Report", he had lived in Chen Geng's house, and knew from Chen Geng's parents that Chen Geng was also [***]. Before the Long March, [***] had never known Chen Geng, but during the Long March, he was introduced by Zhou Enlai to meet Chen Geng, then the head of the confidential section of the Military Commission. After the Zunyi meeting, [***] made a comeback, and Chen Geng was transferred to the head of the cadre group. At the most critical moment of the battle of Qinggangpo, Chen Geng led the cadres to reinforce and repel the enemy army. Since then, Chen Geng has been unimpeded in our army from the commander of the Red Army cadres to the brigade commander of the Eighth Route Army to the column commander, corps commander, and general of the Liberation War.

Now history has changed, and the main force of the Red Army has moved to southern Sichuan a month earlier than in history. The tragic Battle of Tucheng was impossible, but the Red Ninth Army, which was tasked with confusing the enemy, was now in a very dangerous situation.

The alarm first came from across the Chishui River.

Tucheng should not be called Tucheng, but should be called Wine City.

On the night of the 30th, after the Red Ninth Army easily attacked and occupied Tucheng, the soldiers found that this was not only an important wharf for Sichuan salt to enter Guizhou, but also a lot of wine. The Red Army soldiers were elated, drank a good meal of wine as if they were celebrating the New Year, and then camped and rested.

Luo Binghui, He Changgong, and Guo Tianmin woke up at about 10 o'clock in the morning. After waking up, the confidential staff officer sent a telegram from the Military Commission.

After reading the telegram, the three of them understood that the original Military Commission ordered the Ninth Army Corps to harass the enemy all the way, with the purpose of attracting the Sichuan army out of northern Guizhou and covering the main force to march into southern Sichuan.

Luo Binghui was about to order his troops to prepare to set off for Chishui to further attract the Sichuan army, when he received a report that a Sichuan army had appeared on the other side of the Chishui River, about the strength of a brigade.

Luo Binghui, He Changgong, and Guo Tianmin rushed to the entrance of the town to see that the Sichuan army on the other side of the river really felt it, and it seemed that there were about five or six thousand people, and the sappers were setting up rafts, apparently trying to cross the river to seize the ferry on the wharf and seize Tucheng.

Luo Binghui thought to himself, this is not a good sign, our army just occupied the territory city last night, and the enemy arrived this morning, and it seems that he should have arrived from southern Sichuan, and the posture put on is not to block along the river, but to attack actively. Now that the enemies in southern Sichuan have arrived, the enemies in the direction of Chishui are probably also coming. It is not possible for the Sichuan army to leave the Qijiang River and rush through Tongzi in the direction of Tucheng. If that is really the case, it means that the Sichuan army wants to concentrate its forces to fight a war of annihilation in Tucheng.

As if to confirm Luo Binghui's judgment, the 9th Division served as the unit on guard in the direction of Chishui, and the Chishui direction found a large force of the Sichuan army, which was very large, and the forward was less than 6 miles from Tucheng.

You can't hesitate, you must retreat immediately, otherwise you will be dumplings by the enemy.

Luo Binghui ordered Chief of Staff Guo Tianmin to lead the 28th Regiment of the 9th Division to immediately occupy the commanding heights west of the territorial city and block the pursuit of the enemy in the direction of Chishui; ordered the 25th Regiment of the 8th Division to set off immediately, occupy positions to the east, and cover the retreat of the main forces; ordered the whole corps to set up positions with 3 75 mortars and 12 60 mortars to bombard the enemy on the other side of the Chishui River and force him to retreat; ordered the engineer company to sabotage the ferry, and to delay the enemy's pursuit across the river as much as possible; The main force retreated along the main road in the direction of Xishui County.

After the order was issued, Guo Tianmin led the 28th Regiment to establish a blocking position on the hillside west of Tucheng, and the artillerymen began to fire on the opposite bank.

This was the first live firing of the artillery of the Ninth Army Corps, and to be honest, it was not very good, and the shooting level of the artillery battalion of the Central Military Commission and the artillery regiment of the guard division could not be compared, and it could not hit the power of the platoon artillery at all. However, the effect of the artillery bombardment was good, and the Sichuan army itself was preparing to cross the river, and it was even more chaotic as soon as it was blown up by the shells, it was like herding sheep, running around on the opposite bank, just so that the artillery of the Ninth Army Corps, who was not on the road very much, caught the dead mice, and the flying shells could also kill and injure some unlucky people.

Seeing that the Sichuan army on the other side was already in chaos, and it would take a while to put the team in order, Luo Binghui ordered the shelling to stop, and the artillery immediately retreated, and he pulled out his legs and went to the blocking position of the 28th regiment.

Hearing the sound of artillery coming from Tucheng, Pan Zuo, the brigade commander of the Sichuan Army, knew that the friendly troops and the red bandits were in fire, and reported to Guo Xunchu on the one hand, and urged the troops to advance quickly and flank the red bandits.

When the vanguard battalion of the Panzo Brigade approached Tucheng, it was full of footsteps and began to form a battle formation, searching and advancing.

Examining the miscellaneous troops during the Republic of China, sometimes you will find that those miscellaneous armies are mainly poor in weapons and equipment, poor treatment, and poor discipline, but they have rich combat experience and combat skills. Many veterans are rolled out in blood and fire, and although the guys in their hands don't take advantage of it, their vigilance is very high. The battalion commander of the vanguard battalion of the Sichuan army was such a person.

Just when Guo Tianmin was anxiously looking at the enemy's vanguard battalion and almost shouted to hurry up, the commander of the vanguard battalion of the Sichuan army also realized that something was wrong, and he always felt that there was danger ahead. He decisively ordered his troops to halt their advance along the road, and sent a company to search the hill on the east side of the road, with one company to support and one company to stand by on the road.

This made Guo Tianmin's plan to annihilate this vanguard battalion in one fell swoop.

Seeing that one of the companies that the enemy searched for came up, and could only eat one share, Guo Tianmin ordered to open fire. A regiment fights a company, naturally there is no suspense, if this company can escape, it is absolutely a fabrication.

But in this fight, the vigilance of the Sichuan army was beaten out. The main forces of the Panzo brigade, which had followed up, began to occupy the hills, build fortifications, and organize a confrontation with the Red Army.

When Luo Binghui came up, the two armies had already begun to stalemate. After a brief meeting with Guo Tianmin, Luo Binghui ordered a quick break away from the enemy and a retreat to the east.

After the reinforcements of Guo Xunchu's brigade came up, he ordered the artillery to establish positions and shell the positions of the Red Army. After shelling for a while, and there was no movement, it was known that it was broken, and the Red Army ran away. Guo Xunchu ordered his troops to quickly occupy the territorial city.

After occupying Tucheng and receiving a brigade of Sichuan troops on the other side of the river, Guo Xunchu reported to Pan Wenhua that Tucheng had been recaptured, and the red bandits fled in the direction of Xishui.

If Pan Wenhua had ordered the troops to stand by in Tucheng, the battle of Tucheng would have ended, and the Sichuan army would not have suffered any subsequent losses. However, there is no assumption in the war, and after Pan Wenhua received the call, he ordered Guo Xunchu to command three brigades to pursue Xishui, and the camera occupied Xishui. The four brigades that were rushing from the direction of Tongzi were ordered to speed up and flank the main force of the red bandits. The rest of the instructor, model division, 1st division, and 5th division were ordered to advance quickly to reinforce Guo Xunchu.

After Guo Xunchu rested for a while in Tucheng, he led three brigades to pursue and advance to Xishui County. The marching sequence was that the Pan Zuo Brigade was in front, the Guo Brigade was in the middle, and the brigade of the 5th Division from southern Sichuan was behind.

About half an hour after the departure of the Pan Zuo Brigade, there was a fierce sound of gunfire, Guo Xunchu knew that it was bad when he heard it, and the Pan Brigade was ambushed, so he hurriedly ordered the two brigades to run forward to reinforce the Pan Brigade.

It turned out that after He Changgong led the main force to retreat, he walked about six miles to Qinggangpo Village, and when he saw that this was a typical gourd formation, he had an idea in his heart.

To say that this is a long worker, but he is an old qualification. When [***] led the Autumn Harvest Uprising troops to Jinggangshan for the first time, He Changgong was one of the most trusted generals of Commissar Mao. Incorporated Wang Zuo and Yuan Wencai's department, He Changgong made great contributions. It should be said that He Changgong witnessed the development of the Central Red Army and the Central Soviet Region, and had a certain say in the Red Army. Therefore, after the Zunyi Conference, considering the heavy losses in the Xiangjiang Battle of the Ninth Army Corps, Luo Binghui was also an uprising general, and [***] named He Changgong and Cai Shufan, who were good at ideological work, had a firm position, and had rich experience, and were replaced as the political commissar of the Ninth Army Corps.

He Changgong knew that if he didn't fight and let the Sichuan army know the strength of the Red Army, he was afraid that the enemy would chase after him and would not be able to get out if he wanted to. Seeing that the terrain here is good, and it is the only way for the enemy to pursue, He Changgong decided to fight an ambush for the Sichuan army here. Although the corps commander and chief of staff did not come up after blocking the enemy, He Changgong still decisively ordered the troops to stop advancing and quickly seize the favorable terrain.

By the time Luo Binghui and Guo Tianmin arrived with the two regiments leading the blocking and covering, the main force had already been deployed. Luo Binghui saw that there were valleys on both sides, which was an ideal terrain for ambushes. Fortunately, after the transfer to Guizhou, the Ninth Army continued to expand its popularity, and obtained 1,000 Hunan Army prisoners, 2,000 Central Army prisoners and 1,000 lightly wounded from the prisoners supported by the guard division. Thinking about the appearance of the Ninth Army Corps when there were groups of recruits and insufficient weapons when it was first established, Luo Binghui was full of pride, so let's take the Sichuan Army to evaluate the combat effectiveness of our Ninth Army Corps after resting in Zunyi.

Thinking of the day when he drank with Liu Yimin, the kid said that he hated fighting a war of attrition the most in his life, and then thinking about the tactical thinking that [***] has always advocated, Luo Binghui decided that this ambush war was just an ambush war, because the Sichuan army was coming, and a long war was not good for me. Only by limiting the scale of the battle to the scope of the ambush and leaving with one blow can we avoid being entangled by the Sichuan army. Therefore, the 28th Regiment was ordered to be on alert in the direction of Xishui, and the remaining five regiments all occupied the ambush position, concentrated their forces and firepower, and caught the enemy by surprise. At the same time, the troops were ordered not to pursue the enemy, and to withdraw after the ambush.

After the troops were ambushed, two regiments of the Panzuo Brigade of the Sichuan Army and another Reading Battalion entered the ambush circle. Under Luo Binghui's order, the Red Army condescended, and mortars, light and heavy machine guns, and rifles opened fire together, firmly nailing the two regiments of the Sichuan Army to the bottom of the valley and accepting the baptism of bullets.

At this time, compared with the Red Ninth Army in history, the Red Ninth Army not only had much more troops, but also much better weapons, complete mortars, light and heavy machine guns, sufficient ammunition, and the tactical literacy of the soldiers was also much higher. In particular, the prisoners of the Hunan Army and the Central Army, who were supplemented by the guard division, were all well-trained veterans, and their combat effectiveness was extremely strong after the ideological transformation.

There are three main reasons why the battle of Qinggangpo in history was so difficult: First, the enemy situation was misjudged, and the original reconnaissance was more than 6,000 people from four regiments of the enemy, but the result was more than 10,000 people in six regiments, while the Red Army's strength was scattered, and the most elite regiment was not on the battlefield. The Red Army thought that the Sichuan Army and the Guizhou Army were almost the same, and they were both ordinary miscellaneous armies, and they were defeated at the first blow, but they did not expect that the Sichuan Army would fight to the death, and they fought repeatedly for each hill. According to the recollection of a staff officer of Guo Xunchu's unit who participated in the battle after the liberation, he picked up a Red Army propaganda leaflet on the road, and the slogan printed on it was to eliminate Guo Xunchu's division. After reporting to Guo Xunchu, Guo was alerted, and knowing that there were bad pockets of the Red Army waiting for him to drill, he ordered the troops to slow down the march, and not to go to the bottom of the valley and to go to the mountain beams, and to consolidate a hill by occupying a hill, so that the ambush of the Red Army turned into a battle for positions between the two sides. However, [***] was a strategic person, and when they saw that something was wrong, they immediately decided to withdraw from the battle and cross the Chishui River to the west. In fact, fortunately, the Red Army withdrew early, and if it was delayed any longer, or if it insisted on destroying Guo Xunchu's troops, the main force of the Sichuan Army behind would be pressed up, and the fate of the Red Army would probably be much more difficult.

The current situation is different from history, first, the Ninth Army did not have the idea of completely annihilating Guo Xunchu's troops, so it would not fall in love with the war, and leave if it was cheap. Second, Guo Xunchu did not receive any warning, did not know that the Red Army would set up an ambush here, and did not take any precautions. Therefore, when Guo Xunchu led two brigades to reinforce him, the sound of guns and cannons stopped, and the valley was full of corpses and wounded soldiers of the Sichuan army.

Guo Xunchu said angrily: "Brigade Commander Pan, don't scold, the red bandits have withdrawn, hurry up and gather the troops, we still want to pursue the red bandits?" ”

Pan Zuo became angry when he heard this, and immediately jumped to his feet and scolded: "Turtle son, open your eyes and see, more than half of Lao Tzu's troops are killed and wounded, what kind of pursuit?" Ge Laozidi, you fucking stand and talk without backache, just now put it on the head of your troops? It's all his mother's blind command, and if the enemy situation is not clear, he dares to let the troops pursue, isn't this letting the old men get shot? ”

Guo Xunchu can't help it, they are all brigade commanders, who can drop whom? Besides, Guo Xunchu knew in his heart that Liu Xiang and Pan Wenhua had long suspected that he was sympathetic to [***], and the reason why he was allowed to lead the army to battle was to test him to a large extent. Therefore, he didn't bother with Pan Zuo, and ordered his own brigade and the brigade of the Fifth Division to seize the hill to prevent the red bandits from coming again to expand the results of the battle, and let Pan Zuo gather his troops, and then follow up.

Seeing that Guo Xunchu led the troops to occupy the mountain, Pan Zuo suddenly fell to the ground. What the fuck is this fighting? The red bandit hid at the top of the mountain, and he was at the bottom of the valley, only to be beaten, and he didn't even have a chance to fight back!

When the troops were gathered, Pan Zuo howled and cried when he saw it, the two regiment commanders were killed and wounded, the seven battalion commanders were dead, the soldiers suffered even heavier casualties, and there were not even a third of them who could fight with guns. Fortunately, it was the turtle son surnamed Guo who was reinforced in time, and the red bandits failed to eat themselves completely, otherwise I am afraid that today would be Lao Tzu's sacrifice.

After crying enough and scolding tired, Pan Zuo directly sent a report to Pan Wenhua, reporting the ambush situation and asking the troops to withdraw to the rear to rest.

Pan Wenhua was taken aback after receiving the report, he knew the combat effectiveness of the Pan Zuo Brigade, and he didn't know how it compares with the Central Army, he hadn't fought it, but it was the absolute main force in the Sichuan Army, and he didn't expect to suffer such a big loss when he came up.

Pan Wenhua also simply ordered the Pan Brigade to withdraw to Chishui to rest and recuperate, and then withdraw to Central Sichuan for rectification and replenishment when the battle was over.

Thinking that the red bandits were so cunning and had to be careful, Pan Wenhua ordered Guo Xunchu to be cautious, slow down the pursuit, and increase the search intensity.

After sending a telegram to Guo Xunchu, Pan Wenhua was still not at ease, so he sent several telegrams in a row, urging all troops to advance rapidly and join forces with Guo Xunchu's troops to attack Xishui.

The Red Ninth Army, which took advantage, did not go far.

After the troops withdrew, they quickly advanced about 20 miles along the main road to Xishui County, and when they were about to reach Guanjing Bay, the enemy's reconnaissance plane flew in, and Luo Binghui had to give the order to disperse and hide.

At this time, Guo Tianmin put forward a bold plan: "reoccupy Tucheng".

Guo Tianmin's reason was: Since the Sichuan army from Chishui has arrived, and the Sichuan army from the south of Sichuan on the other side of the river has also arrived, the Sichuan army and the Qianjiang army in the direction of the Qijiang River will definitely come to Xishui. It was broad daylight, and the sky was full of enemy planes, and there were enemy troops in front of them of an unknown size, and pursuers in the back, and it was very dangerous for the troops to go this way, and it was easy for the enemy to find out and surround and attack. It's better to find a place to hide and rest, and then jump out of the encirclement after dark. This place is Tucheng, the enemy has just occupied, and then pursued our army to the east, it is estimated that Tucheng currently either has no defenders, or only a small number of defenders. After our army reoccupied Tucheng, if the enemy's main force was not discovered, we would rest in Tucheng; If the enemy's main force discovers it, we can set up another ambush for him, so that the enemy can completely lose sight of our reality and reality, and then cross the Chishui River and go to the south of Sichuan.

When Luo Binghui heard this, Guo Tianmin's judgment of the enemy situation was the same as his own, that is, the idea of going to slaughter the city was a bit unbelievable, and he had to think about it.

He Changgong said: "As the saying goes, it's dark under the lamp, that's the truth. I agree to reoccupy the earthen city. We first hid up and let the Sichuan army that was chasing us advance towards Xishui, and then return to Tucheng. As long as we wait until dark, it will be the world of our Red Army, and we will not be afraid of anything. ”

Luo Binghui thought that it made sense, so he decided to act according to the plan.

So, the Red Ninth Army left the road, turned south, and disappeared into the reckless mountains.

Guo Xunchu led two brigades, crossed mountains and mountains, and cautiously searched and advanced. After walking for two hours, there was not a single figure of the red bandits, and the troops were tired. Guo Xunchu thought that if he advanced at this speed, he would catch up with the red bandits in the Year of the Monkey. As soon as they contacted the instructor's troops, the Liao Brigade, the Mu Brigade, the Jiang Brigade, and the Reading Brigade cooperated with the Third Division of the Guizhou Army and the Wan Regiment to come to Xishui in two ways, which was only a few dozen miles away from the county seat. Guo Xunchu thought that he had to speed up and attack Xishui County with several brigades of the instructor. Therefore, he ordered to stop searching along the mountain and advance along the main road to Xishui County.

The scouts in charge of monitoring the enemy's movements saw that the large army of the Sichuan army was heading straight for Xishui County along the main road, so they hurriedly reported to the chiefs, and Luo Binghui immediately ordered the troops to return to Tucheng.

At this time, there was only one battalion of the Sichuan army left in Tucheng, and the officers and soldiers were frolicking and drinking in the "six, six, and five leaders", where could they have thought that the Red Army would go and return, and obediently became prisoners.

The Red Ninth Army arranged a guard and quietly rested in Tucheng.

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Guo Xunchu led the army to Xishui County, and found that everything was normal in Xishui, and the red bandits had never been to the county seat at all.

By the time the instructor's brigades arrived, it was already getting dark, and the brigade commanders were puzzled and couldn't figure out where the red bandits would flee.

Jiang Zaizhen, commander of the Third Division of the Guizhou Army, boldly speculated whether the red bandits would return to Zunyi.

Guo Xunchu, Liao Haitao and others couldn't make a clear judgment, so they had to report to Pan Wenhua: "Our army has occupied Xishui. Only Xishui is normal, and the red bandits have not entered Xishui County. It is not known where the main force of the red bandits is located. Ming said that troops would be sent to reconnoiter and advance in the direction of Zunyi. ”

When Pan Wenhua received the report, he was also confused. This red bandit is simply incredible, he just ambushed the Pan Brigade in Tucheng, obviously he went to Xishui along the main road, why did the troops chase after him and lose it? That's tens of thousands of people, how can you say that if you don't see a trace, you won't be able to see a trace? Could it be that the red bandits are doing the same trick again, ambushing somewhere, ready to ambush again?

Pan Wenhua was puzzled, so he had to ask Liu Xiang.

As soon as Liu Xiang saw the heavy losses of the Pan Brigade, he was very distressed, and after thinking about it carefully, this was definitely not the main force of the red bandits. If it was the main force of the Red Bandits, it would be impossible to let go of the two reinforced brigades. This must be the vanguard of the Red Bandits sent to reconnoiter the road into Sichuan, and they will leave with one blow. The main force of the red bandits is definitely still in Zunyi.

After Liu Xiang's judgment was reported to Nanjing, it was recognized by Chiang Kai-shek. On the one hand, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Liu Xiang to increase his troops to northern Qianbei, and on the other hand, he strictly ordered the Central Army to speed up the advance to Zunyi.

Seeing that his judgment was consistent with that of the chairman, Liu Xiang strictly ordered Pan Wenhua to urge the follow-up troops to catch up quickly, cooperate with Guo Xunchu and other troops, advance to Tongzi and Suiyang, and threaten Zunyi from the north.

At this time, the 3rd and 5th Army Corps and the Central Column of the Red Army had already arrived at Renhuai after a day's march, joined up with the troops directly under the 1st Army Corps and the 2nd and 3rd Divisions, and prepared to secretly cross Chishui at night and rush to Gulin and Xuyong to rest and recuperate. Zunyi has long been an empty city.

The army gathered in the small city of Renhuai, and the town became lively all of a sudden. Fortunately, the First Army has occupied Renhuai for a few days, and the military supply has already been arranged, which basically guarantees the food needs of the army.

After dinner, [***] asked if there was a telegram from the Central Guard Division.

Liu Bocheng reported that the guard division entered Xuyong at half past five in the afternoon and is now resting in Xuyong. The first regiment and the first division left the third red regiment to guard Gulin to meet the main force, and the division commander led the first and second red regiments to Xuyong just now, and it is estimated that Tianming will take over Xuyong. The guard division left a small force to guard Xuyong, and the main force marched to Yibin at night.

[***] asked again where the Ninth Army had been?

Liu Bocheng reported: "According to the report of the Ninth Army Corps, this morning, the Sichuan army attacked Tucheng, and the Ninth Army Corps shelled a brigade of the Sichuan enemy that rushed from southern Sichuan, and then blocked the enemy's vanguard west of Tucheng. After completing the blockade, he retreated to Qinggangpo, three kilometers east of Tucheng, to ambush the enemy and inflict heavy losses on a brigade of the Sichuan army. After that, it turned into concealment, and the main force of the Fangchuan Army advanced to Xishui County, and the Ninth Army returned to the division to reoccupy Tucheng, and now Tucheng is resting. ”

[***] said with a smile: "Our Red Army is becoming more and more able to fight, in a short period of time in the morning, it has fought three times, and the results are good." ”

After thinking for a while, [***] turned his head and asked Zhou Enlai and Zhu De: "Enlai, boss, what do you think of the actions of the Sichuan army." ”

Zhou En said: "I just deciphered the telegram of Liu Xiang and Pan Wenhua, Liu Xiang judged that the vanguard of our army preparing to enter Sichuan to explore the road ambushed them, and strictly ordered the follow-up troops to speed up their actions, cooperate with the six brigades that have occupied Xishui County, advance to Tongzi and Suiyang, coerce Zunyi, and prepare to cooperate with the Central Army to attack Zunyi." ”

[***] said: "It seems that the Sichuan enemy knows nothing about the actions of our army, and he knows nothing about the emptiness of Zunyi. In this case, there was no need for the Ninth Army to stay in Qianbei any longer, and ordered them to secretly cross the Chishui River tonight and insert directly into Xuyong. However, it is necessary to take all the prisoners away, not to cross the river in Tucheng, but to choose a remote place to cross the river, so that the enemy will not be able to find out the traces of our army. ”

Mr. Zhu said, "I agree." Let the enemy know the movement of our army as late as possible, not only the Ninth Army Corps must act secretly, but also the main forces must act secretly. The 1st Army should be ordered to set off immediately with the 2nd and 3rd Divisions and join up with the 1st Division as soon as possible. The rest of the troops also moved immediately, crossed the Chishui River according to the predetermined plan, and must enter the county town of Gulin tomorrow morning, and after resting, they will march to Xuyong in a hurry tomorrow night. The guard division should be ordered to advance quickly, and no longer leave the troops waiting for the main force and delay time. After the occupation of Yibin, the guard division acted alone and no longer considered the issue of coordination with the main force. The main forces could not drag the Guards Division back. ”

[***] nodded: "The guard division has opened the passage for the main force to march into southern Sichuan, and the mission of cooperating with the main force has been completed." It's time for them to play alone. Blindly cooperating with the main force, it is easy to expose intentions, and it will not play the role of a surprise soldier. Enlai, Bocheng, I will read the telegram and send it according to what I just discussed. ”

Zhou En said: "Agreed. We've got off to a good start, and victory is in sight. Guys, get ready to go. ”

After receiving a telegram from the headquarters, Luo Binghui, He Changgong, and Guo Tianmin knew that the mission of the Ninth Army Corps in northern Qianbei had been completed, and they were going to secretly march westward and rush to Xuyong to join the main force.

Guo Tianmin was a little regretful, he originally planned to wait for the evening or tomorrow when the follow-up troops of the Sichuan army passed by and then set up an ambush before leaving, but this could not be done, looking at the meaning of the headquarters telegram for fear that the ambush in Tucheng would arouse the suspicion of the Sichuan army about the movement of our army, forget it, let's cheapen them!

Luo Binghui ordered the troops to finish their rest and recuperate, and the 25th Regiment accompanied the engineers on board the boats and immediately advanced upstream to build a pontoon bridge. The troops quietly left Tucheng in three batches and prepared to cross the river.

The 25 regiment and the engineer company, which accepted the task, immediately moved into action, and after more than an hour's march, at a distance of 10 miles from Tucheng, they found a river crossing point, as well as three ferry boats.

Fortunately, the hillside was full of woods and bamboo, and the 26th Regiment was responsible for cutting and carrying rafters and bamboo, and the engineer company learned the method of the Fifth Army Corps to build a pontoon bridge on the Wujiang River, pulled up two ropes, fixed the ferry, and soon the pontoon bridge was built. More than 9,000 people from two divisions and six regiments of the Red Ninth Army Corps, escorting the prisoners, stepped across the pontoon bridge, and rushed to the direction of Xuyong along the mountain road in the vast night.

(To be continued)