Chapter 40: The new commander of the Red Seventh Army
Li Jiansheng seemed to have been immersed in his own thinking, and did not notice the situation of the great man, thought about it, and said: "Vice Chairman Zhou, there is one more article. As you know, most of my former troops were corrected from the original Kuomintang troops, and I ask the leaders to treat them well. As for the backbone of the corps, divisions, regiments, and even battalions under my original jurisdiction, most of them were rescued by me from the Central Soviet Region in those years, and the other part was rescued by myself from the edge of the Xiangjiang River, and it may not be suitable for them to return to work in the Red First Army, and there are indeed many old Red Army members of the Red First Army, so I request that all these cadres be retained in the Red Eighteenth Army Corps. As I said earlier, it is proposed that several divisions of the Red XVI Army Corps should also be left to the Red XVIII Army Corps, and the focus is also here, and the purpose is to protect these people! "Vice Chairman Zhou's heart is overturned at this time! You know, this stroke is not small, and to be able to make such an idea, this person's mind is not unbounded!
Vice Chairman Zhou looked at Li Jiansheng seriously again, wanting to say something, but when he confirmed that Li Jiansheng did not have any abnormalities, his eyes were once again full of relief, and he patted Li Jiansheng on the shoulder: "Comrade Jiansheng, when I first heard it, I thought you were acting rashly. However, look at your eyes, you mean it! Well, your ideas have their own thoughts. However, this is a big problem, and I can't be the master yet. In this case, you can make a written report yourself, and when the Politburo meets, we will discuss it again! Li Jiansheng nodded. I had a little exchange with Zhou Weiren and acted separately. Zhou Weiren went back, and Li Jiansheng drafted the document.
Li Jiansheng's suggestion report was handed over to the Provisional Central Committee that evening. That night, the Provisional Central Committee also held an all-night meeting. In the afternoon of the next day, the latest order was finally issued. The content is generally the same as Li Jiansheng's suggestion, but it has also been slightly modified.
New orders were issued to the troops that night:
First, at the suggestion of Comrade Li Jiansheng, former commander-in-chief of the Red Third Front Army and current deputy commander of the Red Eighteenth Army Corps, the number of the Red Third Front Army was revoked. The Red Front Army was integrated into the Red Front Army as a whole.
Second, the Red 15th Army Corps of the former Red Third Front Army had jurisdiction over four divisions: the Red 15th Division, the Red 34th Division, the Independent Division, and the Guards Division. The number of the Red 15th Army is now revoked. The original International Division of the Young Communist Party, the Red 15th Division, was returned to the Red First Army, and the Red First Army was restored to the status of three divisions: the Red 1st, Red 2nd, and Red 15th Divisions; The Red 34th Division was reorganized into the Red Fifth Army Corps, and the Red Fifth Army Corps was restored to the state of having jurisdiction over the Red 13th and Red 34th Divisions. The independent division, which was jointly expanded by the Red 18th Regiment of the former Red Fifth Division, the remnants of the original Red Eighth Army Corps, the former Red Third Front Army Guards Division, and the former Red Third Front Army Artillery Division, was renamed the Red 5th Division. At present, the 16th Regiment and the 17th Regiment of the Red 5th Division were merged to produce the new Red 17th Regiment, which was merged with the Red 5th Division, which was renumbered, to form a new Red 5th Division, which was incorporated into the Red Third Army Corps. The 3rd Army Corps of the Red Army was also restored to the state of having three divisions under the jurisdiction of the 4th, 5th, and 6th Red Divisions. The Guards Division, which was originally under the jurisdiction of the Red 15th Army Corps of the Red Third Front Army, was renamed the Red 21st Division and merged into the Red Eighth Army Corps as a whole. The Red 21st Division and the rest of the Red 23rd Division under the jurisdiction of the original Red Eighth Army Corps were unified and reorganized into the new Red 23rd Division, and the Red Eighth Army Corps was retained.
Third, the Red 17th Army Corps of the former Red Third Front Army had four divisions under the jurisdiction of the Red 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Divisions. The number of the Red 17th Army is now revoked, and the Red 12th Division is renamed the Red 24th Division and merged into the Red Eighth Army Corps. The Red Eighth Army became a new corps with three divisions, Red 21, Red 23, and Red 24. The Red 11th Division of the Red 17th Army of the Red Third Front Army was renamed the Red 25th Division and merged into the Red Fifth Army Corps. The Red Fifth Army also became a corps with three divisions.
Fourth, the original Red 11th Division of the Red 17th Army of the Red Third Front Army was renamed the Red 7th Division and merged into the Red First Army. The Red 12th Division was renamed the Red 8th Division and merged into the Red Third Army Corps. The engineering division and baggage brigade directly under the former Red Third Front Army were dispersed, leaving one engineer regiment and one baggage regiment, and the remaining two regiments of the engineer division and one regiment of the baggage brigade, and the troops directly under the engineer division and the troops directly under the baggage brigade were reorganized into a new regiment, a total of four regiments, which were reorganized into the new Red 9th Division and merged into the Red Fifth Army Corps. At this point, the Red Fifth Army Corps had jurisdiction over the Red 13th, 34th, 25th, and 9th divisions.
Fifth, the original Red Eighteenth Army Corps was under the jurisdiction of the Red 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th divisions, and the Red 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th divisions under the Red 16th Army Corps, which were unified and combined, and every two divisions were combined into a new standard division of 10,000, and a total of 4 fully equipped divisions were reorganized, numbered Red 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th Divisions, which were still built in the Red Eighteenth Army Corps. The new Red Eighteenth Army was called the Red Seventh Army. The original Red 16th and Red 18th regiment numbers, the same as the Red 15th and Red 17th regiment numbers, were revoked. The engineer regiment and baggage regiment left behind after the disbandment of the Engineer Division and the Baggage Brigade of the former Red Third Front Army were also merged into the New Red Seventh Army Corps.
Sixth, the original artillery division of the Red Third Front Army has transferred one regiment and another battalion to the Red Eighth Army Corps and the Red Third Army Corps, and this artillery division has now become an artillery brigade with six battalions under its jurisdiction. The number of this division was also revoked, and the six artillery battalions of the division were transferred to one battalion each of the Red 1st, 5th, and 9th Red Army Corps, and the Central Military Commission Column, and the other two battalions were still reserved for the Red 18th Army Corps, that is, the new Red Seventh Army Corps. At this point, each corps of the Red Army had at least one battalion of artillery, and the firepower was unprecedentedly increased.
Seventh, considering that there are many old Red Army members of the Red Front Army, there are few old Red Army and backbone members of the former Red Third Front Army. All the backbones of the former Guards Division, the Red 9th Division, and the Red 10th Division, including more than 700 cadres at the corps, division, regiment, battalion, and company levels, all returned to the Red Seventh Army Corps.
Eighth, the principal cadres of the former Red First Front Army and the Red Third Front Army have been adjusted to a certain extent. Comrade Li Jiansheng was appointed commander of the New Red Seventh Army Corps, Comrade Luo Ronghuan was appointed political commissar of the Red Seventh Army Corps, Comrade Zeng Zhongsheng was appointed chief of staff of the Red Seventh Army Corps, Comrades Yun Tian, Ji Zhentong and Peng Zhi were appointed deputy commanders of the regiment, Zhou Pei was appointed deputy political commissar, Wang Hanying and Liu Qiao were appointed deputy chiefs of staff, and Zhao Boping was appointed director of the Political Department. The principal personnel of the departments directly under the corps, the divisions, and the regiments under their jurisdiction shall be agreed upon by Li Jiansheng, Luo Ronghuan, and other comrades after consultation, and shall be reported to the Central Committee for the record. Comrade Huang Su was transferred to the Eighth Army of the Red Army as political commissar, and Comrade Gan Weihan, the former political commissar of the Eighth Army of the Red Army, was appointed as the head of the organization of the Eighth Army of the Red Army.
Li Jiansheng also received a notice. After reading the announcement, he didn't say anything for a long time. You must know that according to the meaning of this notice, although he has been demoted, although his strength has also decreased on a large scale, his elite strength is still there. The Red 1st to 8th Divisions, which were the starting troops at the beginning, are still under their own control according to the current meaning. The troops that have been reorganized are not the most elite forces in their own divisions! What he couldn't understand even more was that he was the commander of the Red Eighteenth Army yesterday, and now he has become the commander of the Red Seventh Army!