Out of the tomb of the Marquis of Wu, on the road from Xi'an to Hanzhong, all the way through the basin more hills, the more north the terrain is higher, to the Liuba Wuguan Station, it is already night.

Seeing that he was about to cross the mountain, Liu Yimin ordered the troops to camp and turn on the radio to contact the divisions.

The 11th Division reported that Meixian had been occupied at 10 p.m., and that two regiments of the enemy defending Qinling had been annihilated.

Liu Yimin ordered the plateau and Huangsu that the troops should not stay after occupying Zhouzhi, they should overcome fatigue, rest for a while, and set off immediately, regardless of the enemy along the road, the whole division has one goal: to attack Xi'an! Before the enemy reacts, capture Xi'an at a small cost to avoid destruction when the defenders flee. After occupying Xi'an, rest for a day, leave a small army to defend Xi'an, and the main force immediately marched to Weinan to control Tongguan. The troops spent the New Year and rested in Weinan.

The 12th and 13th divisions reported that they had rushed to Hanzhong.

Liu Yimin ordered the 13th Division to capture Baoji and the surrounding counties and celebrate the New Year in Baoji. The 12th Division accelerated its speed, crossed the Qinling Mountains, and directly captured Xianyang, where the troops were deployed and rested on the spot for the New Year.

After giving orders to the divisions, Liu Yimin and Luo Ronghuan discussed and decided to reinforce the second echelon of the Xi'an operation with a cavalry regiment, a guard regiment, an artillery regiment, a heavy machine gun regiment, and an engineer regiment, led by Liu Yimin and Cai Zhong, to set off early tomorrow morning, cross the Qinling Mountains, and quickly advance to Xi'an. Luo Ronghuan and Wu Zheng led the baggage regiment and the new regiment to escort the supplies.

Calling several regiment commanders of the second echelon, Liu Yimin said directly to them: "I know that the troops are already very tired, but we are competing for time with the enemy, so we have to shorten the camping time. The troops rested here for 4 hours, and then advanced to Xi'an to reinforce the 11th Division. After occupying Xi'an, it is time to rest. How's that, is it going to work? ”

Hu Laohu, whose eyes were already red, said: "The troops are too tired, they go to Tongjiang from Guangyuan, and then come back, and continue to march forcibly, and the horses are tired." However, as long as you can enter Xi'an City, it's worth it to be tired. ”

Liu Yimin shook his head: "I don't want you to die, I want you to deal with the cavalry of the devil in the future." You control the speed of the march for me, as long as you cross the Qinling Mountains, enter the Weihe Plain, and take a little rest, the speed will go up. ”

Several other regiments received a short rest in Hanzhong, their physical strength was okay, and several regiment commanders reported that there were no problems and that they could march continuously.

Liu Yimin asked the regiments to go to Wu Zheng to ask for some wine, and on the way to refresh the soldiers and ward off the cold.

After the cadres left, Liu Yimin hurried to sleep and recover his strength.

That night, Zeng Zhongsheng, escorted by a company of cavalry, rushed to Guangyuan.

As soon as he saw [***], Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Zhang Wentian, and Chen Yun, Zeng Zhongsheng cried like a child.

Zhou Enlai saw that he was crying sadly, so he persuaded: "Comrade Zhongsheng, don't cry, tell me about the situation!" ”

Zeng Zhongsheng wiped away his tears, choked up and said: "Vice Chairman Zhou, I almost didn't see you, but fortunately, Captain Liu went quickly, if he was half an hour late, Zhang Guotao would have executed me." After they arrived, they asked the cavalry regiment to protect me, and Commander Liu went to negotiate with Zhang Guotao, but Zhou Chunquan, Huang Chao, and Li Te, with people from the Political Security Bureau, found me in the cavalry regiment and insisted on taking me away to continue the examination. In the end, it was the cavalry commander of the Seventh Army who threatened them and said that if they dared to pester the chief of staff of the Seventh Army Corps, they would arrest them and take them back to the Seventh Army for review, and they would let me go to the Legion Commander. After that, he started crying again.

Zhou En said: "Don't cry anymore, you are a student of Whampoa, and you have also studied at Sun Yat-sen University, a famous general in China, why are you so fragile, you can cry if you don't understand!" Don't cry, talk about the situation! ”

[***] interjected: "Comrade Zeng Zhongsheng, tell me, how did Liu Yimin say that Zhang Guotao was moved to release people?" ”

Zeng Zhongsheng wiped away his tears again and said, "Report [***], I don't know the details. Commander Liu roughly told me about it, and he mainly emphasized three points, one is that the Seventh Army Corps now has more than 40,000 people and horses, and there is a shortage of cadres, so he asked the Fourth Front Army to support cadres. Second, if I did not report to the central authorities, and if a cadre of my level was examined without reporting to the central authorities, the central authorities would hold him accountable. Third, he asked to go to work in the Fourth Front Army, transfer with Xu Xiangqian or Chen Changhao, or pick up my chief of staff, and let Zhang Guotao report to the Central Committee on important people. If it is inconvenient for Zhang Guotao to report to the central authorities, he is willing to ask the central authorities himself. ”

Mr. Zhu laughed: "It turned out that Zhang Guotao was afraid that the central government would transfer Liu Yimin to the Fourth Front Army!" Liu Yimin, this little guy, can really say anything. ”

Mr. Zhu smiled, and the heavy atmosphere eased a little, and Zhou Enlai asked Zeng Zhongsheng to report in detail on the situation in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui base area, the Four Front Army, and Zhang Guotao.

Zeng Zhongsheng began to talk about the first anti-encirclement and suppression campaign in Hubei, Henan, and Anhui, and first reported on the construction of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui base areas and the situation of breaking through the encirclement and transferring to open up the Sichuan-Shaanxi base areas, and then began to talk about Zhang Guotao's methods and harms in carrying out the suppression of the rebellion in Hubei, Henan, and Anhui. After talking about the Baiqueyuan Massacre and the tragic deaths of Xu Jishen, Zhou Weijiong, Xiong Shouxuan, Jiang Jingtang, Wang Peiwu, Chen Hanxiang, Wu Jingchi, Xiao Fang, Guan Shuyi, Pang Yongjun, Cheng Shaoshan, Ke Baiyuan, Wei Mengxian, Pan Guanfo and others, [***] and others were unable to cry. When talking about Zhang Guotao's use of pouring chili pepper water, nailing bamboo sticks to his fingers, standing on fire bricks, tying up and beating him, etc., to force confessions, so that many people bite each other, Zhou Enlai shouted "Zhang Guotao!" His left hand slapped on the table, and he broke his little finger.

[***] asked Zeng Zhongsheng to suspend the report and call the doctor to bandage Vice Chairman Zhou.

After the doctor came to bandage, [***] asked Zhou Enlai to rest. Zhou Enlai endured the pain and said, "Don't get in the way, let Comrade Zeng Zhongsheng continue to report." ”

Zhang Wentian said hatefully: "If you don't kill Zhang Guotao, you can't fight the martyrs!" ”

[***] lit a cigarette and said in a deep voice: "Comrade Zhongsheng, you continue!" ”

This report lasted until dawn, Zeng Zhongsheng basically cried and said, [***] cigarette butts were also thrown to the ground. At the end of the report, Mr. Zhu told Zeng Zhongsheng not to rest, to hurry up and catch up with the troops, and the battle in Xi'an was critical.

When Zeng Zhongsheng went out, Zhou Enlai told him not to see anyone, and not to tell anyone about what he had reported to the Central Committee, and to tell the guard troops that it would be kept strictly confidential. All the way without stopping, directly back to the Seventh Legion. After going back, a written report is formed, waiting for orders.

That night, the headquarters of the 17th Route Army, which was far away in Wanyuan, was also full of people.

Yang Hucheng, commander-in-chief of the Seventeenth Route Army, sat on a chair and said nothing. The officers around him were noisy and noisy, and none of them seemed to have anything to do with him.

Yang Hucheng was born in Pucheng, Shaanxi Province in 1893. This person's historical position is to resist the patriotic general. Originally, in June 1933, Yang Hucheng had reached a non-aggression agreement with the Red Fourth Front Army. Unexpectedly, due to the arrival of Liu Yimin, the situation changed too much, and Chiang Kai-shek strictly ordered him to lead the main force of the 17th Route Army south to northern Sichuan and besiege the Red Army.

At this time, Yang Hucheng was calm on the outside, but he was already in turmoil on the inside. In fact, among the powerful factions in various places at that time, Yang Hucheng was relatively progressive. There were [***] members in his troops, and he had repeatedly advised Chiang Kai-shek to stop suppressing the Communists and unite to resist. Helplessly, Chiang Kai-shek's orders could not but be carried out. This led the main force south, and Shaanxi's defense was extremely empty, allowing Liu Yimin to take advantage of the loophole.

Yang Hucheng's 17th Route Army said that there were two armies, but in fact there was only one division in each army. Among them, the 38th Army has only one 17th Division, and the army commander and division commander are Sun Weiru, and the Seventh Army also has only one 42nd Division, and the army commander and division commander are Feng Qinzai. There are also three garrison brigades, three special regiments and one cavalry regiment.

When he went south to northern Sichuan, Yang Hucheng thought that fighting with the Red Army was treacherous and that it was a hard nut to crack, and that it would definitely not work if there were fewer troops, so he brought all 17 regiments, including two main divisions, a cavalry regiment, and a special service regiment, to northern Sichuan, leaving only 11 regiments of garrison troops stationed in various parts of Shaanxi.

Before going to bed tonight, Yang Hucheng sent a telegram to the Third Garrison Brigade stationed in Hanzhong to inquire about the situation, but he could not be contacted. They also contacted the two garrison regiments of the Third Garrison Brigade in charge of the Qinling Garrison, but they were still unable to get in touch. At this time, Yang Hucheng panicked and hurriedly contacted Xi'an, Xianyang, and Baoji, but fortunately, all three places reported that everything was normal. Could it be that the purpose of the Red Army was only to attack Hanzhong and control the Qinling Pass?

It is also possible to think about it, and it is very likely that the Red Army wants to expand their Sichuan-Shaanxi base area a little and improve the defense. Controlling the Qinling Mountains can block the passage from Shaanxi to Sichuan and ensure the safety of Guangyuan and Mianyang.

Called Sun Weiru and Feng Qinya to discuss, Feng Qinya was immediately annoyed, Lao Tzu encircled and suppressed the Red Army here, and the Red Army ran to his back garden. What is Hanzhong? It was a strategic place and a granary, how could it be occupied by the Red Army? Feng Qinzai immediately proposed to withdraw his troops immediately and recapture Hanzhong.

Sun Weiru also agreed with Feng Qinzai's opinion and suggested that the troops be withdrawn to recapture Hanzhong.

Yang Hucheng thought, is this Red Army easy to fight? Since you dare to occupy Hanzhong, you must be waiting to save yourself. Didn't you see Hu Zongnan's fate? Hu Zongnan's equipment is very different from the 17th Route Army, and the red bandits even dare to clean up Hu Zongnan, are they afraid of the 17th Route Army?

Sure enough, without waiting for the three of them to discuss what to do, the forward troops reported that the Red Army's four front armies had launched an offensive reconnaissance on our army's defensive grounds.

Yang Hucheng was born in a green forest, and he fought a lot of small battles. After receiving this report, he immediately realized that the Red Army was ready to attack him. Now it is the Red Fourth Front Army, and there may be other troops joining soon, and if you don't make a decision sooner, you may be in big trouble. Don't encircle and suppress yourself, and finally encircle and suppress yourself into a captive like Hu Zongnan.

Thinking of this, Yang Hucheng immediately ordered the commanders of each brigade to go to the headquarters for a meeting to study the combat plan. Who knew that after the officers arrived, as soon as they heard that Hanzhong was lost, the Red Army attacked their front line again, and it was bombed at once. Some said that they should carry out a counterattack to dispel the Red Army's attack, some said that they should retreat and recapture Hanzhong, some said that it was easy to be ambushed by the enemy and should retreat to Ankang, and there was one who asked to retreat to the east to join Wang Lingji and Zhang Xueliang. It was a mess, and it was a mess, and Yang Hucheng, who listened to it, was upset, so he simply didn't say a word and let them quarrel.

The bad news came one after another, and this night was destined to be a sleepless night for the 17th Route Army. The surveillance post sent by the flank cover unit reported that on the west side of Wanyuan, it was found that there were Red Army units active, and it was not clear at night, and the accent was not from northern Sichuan.

Yang Hucheng couldn't sit still any longer, stood up, walked to the map and looked at it in detail for a while, then turned around and shouted: "Don't make any noise, listen to me!" ”

The officers fell silent as soon as they spoke, their eyes glaring at the commander-in-chief, waiting for orders.

Yang Hucheng raised his voice: "Hanzhong is lost, the Qinling defense line is lost, although there is no situation in Baoji, Xianyang, and Xi'an, but it is difficult to predict what the situation will be tomorrow and the day after tomorrow." The main forces of our army are all in northern Sichuan, and if the main force of the Red Army penetrates deep into the hinterland of Shaanxi, our remaining troops will not have the ability to hold on. That is, the main forces of our army are all in the hinterland of Shaanxi, and according to the method of stationing at different points, they will still be broken by the Red Army. Shaanxi, we alone can't hold it. ”

The officers were dumbfounded, now that they are saying so clearly, what did they do earlier?

How could Yang Hucheng have the heart to consider the thoughts of the officers? Then he said: "If the Red Army takes Qinling and goes straight to Xi'an, when we rush back, I am afraid that the Red Army has already dug a pit and is waiting to bury people." Therefore, it is not feasible to take Hanzhong or withdraw to Xi'an. Only to find a place, to avoid the momentum of the Red Army's attack, to see what the situation is talking about. However, no matter how it changes, we cannot leave Shaanxi. We are from Shaanxi, and if we leave Shaanxi, we will have no roots, and we will become called Huazi, and the fate of the Northeast Army will be our end. ”

After a pause, seeing that the officers were listening very seriously this time, Yang Hucheng nodded with satisfaction and said: "We tens of thousands of people want to eat and drink, the place is too small to accommodate, and the place is too big to hold." Therefore, I want to retreat to Ankang, if the Red Army does not attack anymore, and there is no enemy situation in the Weihe Plain and Baoji, we will withdraw to Xi'an and hold the Qinchuan for 800 miles. This Hanzhong and Ankang, let the Red Army and Chairman Chiang fight. If the Weihe Plain and Baoji are lost, and the Red Army attacks again, we will retreat to Shangluo. When we got there, the terrain was prominent, and no matter who came to fight, we were not afraid. I don't think Chairman Chiang has anything to do with the Red Army, and sooner or later he will have to sit down and negotiate. When the time comes, see how the situation changes, see the right time, and then recapture Xi'an. ”

The officers couldn't imagine that the commander-in-chief, who was usually silent, still had so many ways in their hearts, and they were surprised and admired, and they all expressed their obedience to the order.

Yang Hucheng saw that the thinking of the officers was basically unified, so he ordered the 38th Army to be in front and the 7th Army to be in the rear, abandon the position, and move to Ankang overnight.

After the officers dispersed, Yang Hucheng thought about it and called an officer he knew to be [***], asking him to leave the unit and contact the Red Army to reaffirm the non-aggression pact.

The officer said: "Commander-in-chief, it's not that I don't want to go, the key is that the 17th Route Army should not go south to encircle and suppress the Red Army, when the Red Army was in crisis, we came to fight people, and now Chiang Kai-shek has suffered a loss, we go to talk to people, I don't know if they still ignore us." ”

Yang Hucheng said: "This is Chiang Kai-shek's trick, but you also know that our strength is weak, we do not have the capital to confront Chiang Kai-shek, and if we do not obey orders, we may be cleaned up by Chiang Kai-shek at any time, and this must be understood by the Red Army." I'm not familiar with other [***], but I'm very familiar with Xuanxia's father, and that's definitely a friend. Go ahead, I'm sure [***] won't kill them all. ”

When the officer heard Yang Hucheng say this, he asked, "Commander-in-chief, how can you talk about it?" ”

Yang Hucheng thought for a while: "If the Red Army does not cross the line of the Qinling Mountains, our army will not attack the Red Army." Stop the civil war and unite to resist. That's what they stand for, too. ”

The officer asked, "What if the Red Army has already crossed the Qinling Mountains?" ”

Yang Hucheng was a little upset and waved his hand: "You look at it, if you can't handle it, report it to me." ”

Then the officer saluted and went out.

When Yang Hucheng came out of the general headquarters, he saw that Wanyuan City was in chaos, and his troops were retreating with torches.

Looking back at the small city of Wanyuan in the night, Yang Hucheng's expression was gloomy, this trip to northern Sichuan was regarded as a big loss, the Red Army did not succeed, but Hanzhong was compensated, maybe even eight hundred miles of Qinchuan could not be saved, and many years of hard work were ruined. Forget it, let's go quickly, it's too late, when the main force of the Red Army comes up, I'm afraid it won't be so easy.

Just as he was about to beat his horse and leave, Feng Qinya, the commander of the Seventh Army, caught up and said, "Commander-in-chief, we can't withdraw like this, right?" Do you want to send a telegram to Chairman Chiang in Nanjing to report it? ”

Yang Hucheng's eyes were bright and faint under the torches, flashing with a trace of stubbornness, and when he opened his mouth, he said, "Fucking shit!" ”

After saying that, he beat the horse and chased after the team.

Feng Qinzai shook his head and chased after him.

It was indeed the troops of the Red Fourth Front Army who were engaged in attack reconnaissance at the front line of the 17th Route Army, and they had received orders from the Red Army Headquarters to cooperate with the Red Third and Fifth Army Corps to storm the 17th Route Army. Therefore, the commander-in-chief, Xu Xiangqian, made a careful plan and got in touch with Peng Dehuai, planning that the Red Fourth Front Army would attack from the front, and send another army to make a detour from the east side of Wanyuan; The Red Third and Fifth Army Corps carried out a flank attack from the west side of Wanyuan, in order to completely annihilate the 17th Route Army in one fell swoop.

This would have been a perfect plan, once the troops attacked, the 17th Route Army could not withdraw even if it wanted to, and the defense line would soon be torn apart. But neither Xu Xiangqian nor Peng Dehuai expected that Yang Hucheng, who was full of tiger strength, would suddenly retreat quickly. Therefore, after receiving the report, Xu Xiangqian immediately ordered the troops to pursue.

The Red Third and Fifth Army Corps, which had not fought a single enjoyable battle all the way, were already screaming at the cadres and soldiers who were operating on the west side of Wanyuan. Especially after knowing that the Red Seventh Army eliminated the First Division, these old Red Army soldiers applauded, but they were really unconvinced, and they all secretly sighed that their luck was not good, how could they run away from the enemies they met! Just as he was thinking about how to take more weapons and prisoners after the battle began, he saw that the enemy suddenly withdrew. And it's a quick retreat! How can this work! How can a boiled duck fly?

Therefore, as soon as the pursuit order came, the five main divisions pounced, and soon stopped the three regiments of Liu Yanbiao's division of the 126th Brigade of the 42nd Division of the 17th Route Army.

It's a pity that the results of the battle are only so little, Feng Qinzai, the commander of the 7th Army of the 17th Route Army and the commander of the 42nd Division, who is retreating, saw the scale and formation of the Red Army's attack team, where did he dare to wave his division to save the 126th Brigade! He kept urging the troops to withdraw quickly, for fear that the Red Army would catch up if the withdrawal was slow.

The two large armies of the Red Army met near Wanyuan.

The soldiers rushed together, shouting and jumping, torches all over the mountains, and Red Army all over the mountains. The night of Wanyuan has become a sea of joy.

Peng Dehuai took Yang Shangkun, Deng Ping, Dong Zhentang, He Changgong, and Guo Tianmin to Wanyuan Town, and Chen Changhao, the political commissar of the Fourth Front Army, and Xu Xiangqian, the commander-in-chief, greeted them at the gate of the city.

When the distance was 200 meters, Mr. Peng jumped off the war horse, shouted "Comrade Qian" in his mouth, and ran over.

Xu Xiangqian, who usually does not smile, was also full of excitement, shouted "Comrade Dehuai", and greeted him, and the two hugged each other tightly.

Later, people erected a stone tablet at the gate of Wanyuan City, which engraved the meeting place of the two main forces of the Red Army. Some scholars pointed out that it was wrong to erect a monument in Wanyuan, in fact, a few days ago, Liu Yimin, the commander of the Red Seventh Army, led the cavalry regiment to realize the rendezvous in Shahe Town. However, because the parties did not respond positively, the Shahe Town Huishi was completely replaced by the Wanyuan Huishi.

After receiving a telegram from Peng Dehuai that it had joined forces with the Fourth Front Army, that Yang Hucheng's troops had retreated in the direction of Ankang, and that only one brigade of the enemy had been destroyed in the Battle of Wanyuan, the Red Army Headquarters ordered the Red Third and Fifth Army Corps and the Fourth Front Army to attack the base of Liu Xiang's group in the east, seek out and annihilate Zhang Xueliang's troops, and completely repel the enemy's siege of the Sichuan-Shaanxi base area. He also ordered Peng Dehuai, Xu Xiangqian, Yang Shangkun, Chen Changhao, and He Changgong to form a committee of former enemies in eastern Sichuan, with Peng Dehuai as commander-in-chief and secretary of the former enemy committee, Xu Xiangqian as deputy commander-in-chief, and Yang Shangkun, Chen Changhao, and He Changgong as committee members, to unify the command of the Red Third and Fifth Army Corps and the Red Fourth Army, the Red 30th Army, and the Red 31st Army, the main forces of the Fourth Front Army. Ordered Wang Shusheng, deputy commander-in-chief of the Red Fourth Front Army, to command the Red Ninth Army to deploy along the Wanyuan line, monitor the movements of the 17th Route Army, and order the Red 33rd Army of the Red Fourth Front Army to go south to Yilong and Yingshan, contact the Red 14th Division, and consolidate the first-line defense line in Nanchong.

After receiving the telegram from the headquarters, Peng Dehuai was inexplicably excited, took Xu Xiangqian and Chen Changhao's hands and said: "Lao Mao's courage is great, our two front armies join forces, this time we must defeat this Wang Lingguan and Zhang Shaoshuai." Let them pee their pants at the mention of the word Red Army. ”

After speaking, he didn't look at Xu Xiangqian and Chen Changhao's reaction, and directly pulled them to look at the map with torches and study the battle plan. It wasn't until the rooster sang white that several people withdrew their gaze from the map. Peng Dehuai, who was still in high spirits, immediately announced the convening of the first enlarged meeting of the front committee, laid out the battle plan, and organized the attack sequence of the troops.

When the cook brought the hot breakfast, the leaders attending the meeting realized that they had stayed up all night with Mr. Peng.

After eating, Peng Dehuai ordered the headquarters of the Third Army Corps and the General Headquarters of the Fourth Front Army to be merged to form the headquarters of the Sichuan East Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, and appointed Deng Ping, chief of staff of the Third Army Corps, as the commander of the headquarters, responsible for the safety and normal operation of the headquarters. Then he urged the divisions of the Third Army Corps, the Fifth Army Corps, and the units of the Fourth Front Army to quickly advance to the designated places. He and Xu Xiangqian, Yang Shangkun, Chen Changhao, and He Changgong led the headquarters to advance to the east of Sichuan. In the words of Mr. Peng, it is "when the leaders are together, there are things to discuss, and it is convenient to command." ”

(To be continued)