In the following months, the southern Anhui incident that Zhuang Jihua was worried about did not happen, but the conflict between the two armies of Shandong and North China intensified, [***] defeated, Zhu Huaibing only took a few hundred people to survive, Shandong 115th Division and the second detachment of the guerrilla detachment of the Sulu Theater clashed in Ezhuang, the Eighth Route Army won again, but the real war broke out in Jiangsu, Chen Y Su Y commanded more than 8,000 people of the advance column of the New Fourth Army and Han Deqin commanded the 89th Army Reading Force Fourth Brigade with a total strength of more than 30,000 people in the decisive battle at Huangqiao, Han Deqin was defeated, and more than 20,000 soldiers were lost, Huang Shaohong sent an urgent telegram to Chiang Kai-shek accusing Han Deqin of not listening to the dispatch and raising troops without authorization, and Han Deqin also complained to Chiang Kai-shek, accusing Huang Shaohong of supporting the army and respecting himself and watching the defeat of friendly forces. With this defeat, the political situation in Jiangsu was chaotic again.

After the decisive battle of Huangqiao, the New Fourth Army took the opportunity to capture Hai'an, Dongtai and other places and gained a foothold in northern Jiangsu. Chiang Kai-shek was furious and ordered Han Deqin to be dismissed from his post and demoted from deputy commander of the Sulu Theater to director of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Civil Affairs. Zhou Rong was appointed commander-in-chief of the defense on the north bank of the Yangtze River.

Shandong, Jiangsu, and North China were defeated everywhere, but in Anhui won a small victory, Li Pinxian was transferred out of the Sulu theater in October to serve as the chairman of Anhui Province, and Liao Lei cooperated with the New Fourth Army in Anhui Peng Xuefeng Division, Liao Lei concentrated the elite Seventh Army of the Gui Department to attack the six detachments, and after a little contact with the New Fourth Army, it disengaged and retreated to the border of Henan and Anhui.

The conflict behind enemy lines intensified, the propaganda war in the Kuomintang region intensified, the GMD suffered losses, and the propaganda was even more unwilling to make concessions, and the Xinhua newspaper resolutely demanded 1 million on the issue, and the publications of the three departments began to be strictly investigated, He Jinhan took over the three departments, and Guo Moruo was demoted to deputy director.

When the side was preparing to counter Chiang Kai-shek's series of actions, Wang Jingwei's puppet political axe was announced in Nanjing, with Wang Jingwei as the chairman of the puppet political axe, Chen Gongbo as the premier, Zhou Fohai as the propaganda minister, and Zeng Zhongming as the secretary general of the Executive Yuan.

For the sake of this new political axe, Wang Jingwei can be said to have taken great pains, personally went to Yuben to meet with Mitsumasa Yonechi and other political leaders, accepted extremely harsh conditions, and finally got Yue himself to agree to the formation of the new political axe by him.

Unexpectedly, before the new political axe was established, the peace heroes Gao Zongwu and Tao Xisheng absconded to Hong Kong with the secret agreement reached with Yue, and then announced all the secret agreements in Hong Kong. This move made Wang Jingwei angry, and the announcement of this treaty completely lost the market for his so-called peaceful salvation theory.

After the New Fourth Army withdrew from the base area in central Anhui, the Kuomintang occupied this area, and Chiang Kai-shek felt that the combat effectiveness of Jiangsu's troops was still relatively poor, and it was necessary to increase the number of elite troops into Jiangsu, so he ordered the 47th Army to be transferred from the Fifth Theater to the eastward into Jiangsu.

In order to let Li Zongfang advance eastward, Chiang Kai-shek promised to replenish his ammunition and food, and the troops were restored to the formation of a type of army, with a total army of 50,000 people, but they could only expand in Jiangsu, Li Zongfang hesitated again and again, and finally agreed to go eastward, crossed the Pinghan line on the first day of the new year, entered the Dabie Mountains, and continued to advance eastward after half a month of correction in the Dabie Mountains, and arrived in central Anhui just before the Spring Festival.

The 47th Army fought more than 30 battles along the way, defeating more than 3,000 Yue troops, destroying more than 1,000 Yue troops, and losing more than 2,000 of its own. The arrival of Li Zongfang gave Huang Shaohong confidence in his heart, the 47th Army was prestigious, fought in Songhu, covered the whole army after the break, Jining counterattack, Yucheng counterattack, there were five meritorious certificates for the troops, and Li Zongfang himself was awarded the Gancheng Medal.

Although Chen Su's advance team grew to more than 10,000 people, the Kuomintang troops in Jiangsu had nearly 100,000 people, especially the newly added 47th Army, which was brave and good at fighting, and was not much better than the Yue army.

Then Chiang Kai-shek once again proposed to move the entire New Fourth Army to the Second Theater and subordinate it to the Eighteenth Group Army, but Zhou Enlai once again refused, but this time Chiang Kai-shek insisted, saying that if he did not want to go to the Second Theater, he could stay in the Third Theater, but all the troops in Jiangbei must be withdrawn to the south of the Yangtze River, and the New Fourth Army could not fight across the border at will. This proposal was once again rejected by Zhou Enlai.

The negotiations between the two parties reached an impasse, Chiang Kai-shek had the intention of launching a full-scale war against the New Fourth Army in northern Jiangsu and southern Anhui, but lacked a suitable excuse, after the decisive battle of Huangqiao, the New Fourth Army released all the captured generals, returned most of the weapons and equipment, Huang Shaohong and Chen Y reached an agreement, and the two sides each defended the defense area and fought together. The ink on this agreement has not yet dried, and it is too politically passive to tear it up now.

Zhou EN came to feel Chiang Kai-shek's pulse, and felt that it was very unfavorable to himself to continue in such a stalemate, although the New Fourth Army developed rapidly, but the troops were scattered, the military headquarters was in southern Anhui, there were more than a dozen Kuomintang divisions around, Chen Su was in northern Jiangsu, and there were also a large number of Kuomintang troops around, once Chiang Kai-shek was determined to [***], these two troops would become very dangerous.

In addition, in the Kuomintang region, especially after retreating to the southwest, the party's work was extremely difficult, Guizhou was slightly better, Sichuan, especially Yucheng, hardly made the slightest progress, and Li Knong had only completed the work of screening the former Yucheng and Sichuan underground parties for more than a year in Yucheng, and there was no progress in organizational development and propaganda. The Central Committee attributed this to the fact that Xinhua Bao failed to publish and did not take advantage of the contradictions within the Kuomintang, and demanded that the Southern Bureau further mobilize the masses and open up the situation as soon as possible. In addition, the central authorities were also very dissatisfied with the work of the New Fourth Army, and according to the agreement with the Kuomintang, the New Fourth Army in southern Anhui could not establish local political power, so the New Fourth Army in southern Anhui never had a consolidated base area, and demanded that the New Fourth Army advance eastward and northward as soon as possible and establish a base area in northern Jiangsu, central Anhui, and central Zhejiang.

With the telegram from the Central Committee, Zhou En was full of worries, and at the negotiation table between the two parties, the attitude of the Kuomintang became more and more tough, which was a very bad signal, and from the information obtained, Chiang Kai-shek sent representatives to Hong Kong to negotiate with Yue himself, and now Chiang Kai-shek's [***] wave is likely to be to show his attitude to Yue himself.

"E come, the instructions of the Central Committee are very clear, Xiang Ying should not hesitate any longer, his party surname is still very strong." When Dong Biwu saw Zhou EN's expression, he thought that he was worried about the different opinions in the New Fourth Army.

The New Fourth Army was adapted from the Red Army's Jiangnan guerrillas, and after discussion between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, it was agreed that Ye Ting would be the commander, and Xiang Ying, the former commander-in-chief of the Jiangnan New Fourth Army, would be the deputy commander.

Xiang Ying and the central authorities had a different judgment on the situation, and Xiang Ying believed that the army would invade the south on a large scale, and that the troops staying in southern Anhui could take the opportunity to destroy the army and gain room for development, and advance eastward and northward, which was a plain water network zone, which was not conducive to guerrilla warfare, while southern Anhui was mountainous, which was conducive to guerrilla warfare.

Ye Ting thought that he should immediately go east and go north, and the troops should stay in southern Anhui, surrounded by Kuomintang troops, and there was no room for development, so he had a contradiction with Xiang Ying, and at the same time the two of them also had contradictions in the handling of regular affairs in the army, Ye Ting submitted his resignation to the central government twice for this reason, and in the 39th year, he also broke away from the army and ran from southern Anhui to Wuhan, and resigned from Zhou En in person, and later Zhou En came to personally send him back to southern Anhui, so Zhou En came to stay in southern Anhui for a week, which was to solve the contradiction between Ye Ting and Xiang Ying.

Hearing Dong Biwu's words, Zhou Elai sighed in his heart, he shook his head gently, Xiang Ying's prestige in the New Fourth Army is very high, and the central government has asked him to go east and north more than once, but he refuses to carry it out, this time, whether he can execute it or not is still between the two.

"Elder Dong, has there been any abnormal transfer in the Third War Zone recently?" Zhou ENLAI didn't tell him the doubts in his heart, but Dong Biwu felt his worry from this question.

"No," a heavy worry also filled Dong Biwu's old face: "Do you think Chiang Kai-shek will go public [***]?" Will the united front be completely broken? ”

Although there is constant friction between the two parties, it has not yet reached the point of a complete rupture, but if Chiang Kai-shek takes action against the headquarters of the New Fourth Army in southern Anhui, it will mean that the relations between the two parties will be completely broken and the entire anti-Japanese united front will completely collapse.

"This danger does not not exist," Zhou EN said solemnly: "Chiang Kai-shek created friction in various places and [***] on a large scale in the news, just to prepare public opinion." ”

Dong Biwu thought about it and smiled faintly: "Now is different from the past, it's not that he just wants to."

Dong Biwu's confidence is reasonable; in the past three years, the Eighth Route Army in North China has grown to 200,000 people, and the New Fourth Army, although it has been a little slower, has also grown from more than 10,000 to more than 50,000, and in North China, especially in the Taihang Mountains, the strength of the Eighth Route Army is stronger than that of the Kuomintang, which is also the reason for the frequent friction failures of the Kuomintang.

Zhou EN came to see it this way: "If the Kuomintang increases its troops on a large scale in Taihang Mountain, as well as Shandong, Jiangsu, and Jiangnan, once it breaks down and the civil war breaks out again, the strength of the War of Resistance will be weakened, and the benefit will be the surrender faction of Yue himself and Wang Jingwei." ”

"There is only one way, to unite all the Ming cooking parties, expose Chiang Kai-shek's conspiracy, and make him have some scruples." Dong Biwu said resolutely, Zhou Enlai thought about it, nodded, and then said: "Telegraph to the New Fourth Army that it is necessary to resolutely implement the decision of the Central Committee, immediately draw up a plan of action for going north and east, and report it to the Central Committee and the Southern Bureau. ”

Zhou En did know Chiang Kai-shek very well, and when they were discussing, Chiang Kai-shek was summoning Chen Cheng, He Yingqin, Bai Chongxi and Chen Lifu, as well as Lin Wei, Chen Bui, and Yang Yongtai to discuss the GCD issue, the most critical of which was the New Fourth Army issue.

Chiang Kai-shek would never allow Jiangnan to become a second North China, especially the development of the New Fourth Army to Jiangbei, northern Anhui and northern Jiangsu, which was the traditional core ruling area of the Kuomintang, and once occupied by the GCD, the future situation could not be imagined.

"The New Fourth Army must be prepared to be resolved by force," Chiang Kai-shek opened his mouth, which made everyone present feel a murderous aura: "The situation in North China cannot be allowed to occur in Jiangnan, so if the New Fourth Army does not obey the order, then destroy him." ”

(To be continued)