Xue Yue has been in a good mood these days, and the troops that have suffered losses in the battle of Yangping Town, such as the 90th Division, have been replenished very smoothly, at least in terms of numbers. At the same time, Wang Jialie was driven away, and the whole training of the Qianjun was also progressing smoothly. After Bai Huizhang's division was reorganized into the 102nd Division with two brigades and four regiments, and He Zhizhong's division was reorganized into the 103rd Division with three regiments, the Judah National Materials Department was also reorganized and organized into the 121st Division with three regiments. Jiang Zaizhen's 3rd Division of the Guizhou Army had also agreed to be reorganized, and Xue Yue was ready to issue an order to reorganize it into a new 8th Division with a three-regiment system after meeting Jiang Zaizhen in Zunyi. In this way, in addition to the instructor who waited for the burden of being completely annihilated, the remaining four divisions of the Guizhou Army were organized into four new reading divisions, which were under the unified command of the central government. Since then, the Qianjun, as one of the local warlord forces, has become a historical term.

On the morning of the 30th, Xue Yue ordered the 102nd, 103rd, and 121st Divisions to be under the command of Wu Qiwei's column, and the Sun Du Division of the Yunnan Army to be under the command of Zhou Hunyuan's column, to advance along the north bank of the Wujiang River to Zunyi, and cooperate with the 100,000 Central Army on the south bank of the Wujiang River and the Sichuan Army entering northern Qianbei, and prepare to take Zunyi in one go and encircle and annihilate the main force of the Red Bandits.

Xue Yue himself led the 90th Division to follow behind the two columns as the general reserve. At this moment, Xue Yue had a feeling of commanding Ruyi and waving the wind and rain in all directions.

From Guiyang to Zunyi, although it is said that there is a highway, the road condition is too bad, and after walking for two days, the troops arrived at the border of Zunyi County. Considering the lessons of Yangping Town and Qingxi Town last time, Xue Yue ordered the troops to camp, turn on the radio, and contact Tang Enbo and other units of the Central Army reinforced on the south bank of the Wujiang River, as well as the Sichuan Army.

With this connection, Xue Yue felt that there was a problem. The Sichuan army reported that the 30th Red Bandits captured Zheng'an and Tongzi, and then abandoned them without defending, and waved their troops to attack Xishui, occupied Tucheng, and shelled a brigade of the Fifth Division of the Sichuan Army marching from southern Sichuan to Tucheng in Tucheng, and then retreated after a little blocking Tucheng. When the three brigades of the Sichuan Army pursued with their divisions, they were ambushed by the Red Bandits, causing the Panzuo Brigade to lose its combat effectiveness. The red bandits immediately retreated towards Xi Shui. However, when the six brigades of the Sichuan Army cooperated with the 3rd Division of the Guizhou Army and the 103rd Division of the Wanshijiong Regiment to attack Xishui, there was no trace of the red bandits.

Unlike Liu Xiang and Pan Wenhua of the Sichuan Army, who had not fought with the Central Red Army, Xue Yue could see at a glance that the ambush of the Sichuan Army was by no means the main force of the Red Bandits, nor was it the Red Bandit Central Guard Division that ambushed him in Yangping Town and Qingxi Town last time. If it is the guard division led by the bandit Liu Yimin, it is estimated that the three brigades of the Sichuan Army are not enough for him to plug his teeth!

The question is what is the purpose of this detachment sent by the Red Bandits to wander this circle.

According to common sense, the red bandits gathered in Zunyi at this time, and if they planned to divide their territory in northern Qianbei, it was normal to send partial divisions to sweep the surrounding areas, or even send troops to occupy Zheng'an, Tongzi, Xishui, and Chishui, so as to facilitate the establishment of a defensive line and eliminate the potential forces of the enemy.

If the red bandits did not intend to divide their territory in northern Qianbei, but continued to wander for fear of being annihilated, the role of this partial division was likely to be as judged by the commission: to explore the way. After all, there were 100,000 central troops on the south bank of the Wujiang River, and He Jian's troops on the Hunan and Guizhou borders, and their main forces were also advancing rapidly from west to east.

Could it be that the red bandits have sensed that the armies of all walks of life are about to attack Zunyi, and they are preparing to escape?

You can't run, the 11 main brigades of the Guizhou Army have already pressed towards Zunyi, and the north road is blocked.

After pondering on the map for a long time, Xue Yue found that there was a gap in the defense line of the Sichuan army, that is, Gulin. Since there are large armies blocking the direction of Qijiang and Chishui in the north, will the red bandits turn from Renhuai to enter southern Sichuan through Gulin? Judging from the report of the Sichuan army, a brigade stationed in Xuyong has turned to capture Tucheng and joined the Zunyi attack group. Isn't the defense line from Gulin to Xuyong a virtual reality? If once the red bandits enter the river, it will simply enter a no-man's land!

The passage from Zunyi to Renhuai must be blocked!

Xue Yue immediately called Zhou Hunyuan and ordered him to command his troops early tomorrow morning to capture Renhuai, attack from Renhuai to Zunyi, and draw the encirclement to Zunyi.

It should be said that Xue Yue's strategic vision is indeed extraordinary, he saw the hidden dangers of Gu Lin at a glance, but unfortunately, he saw it too late.

After making the call, Xue Yue sat down to write a march note, but he didn't know why, his heart always couldn't calm down, and he always felt as if something was wrong.

Wait, will the Red Bandits' partial division be a smoke screen to cover the actions of the Red Bandits' main force?

If the red bandits have any major strategic actions, they will generally send a partial division to divert [***] attention, which is vividly manifested in the red bandits' breakthrough from Jiangxi.

Looking at it now, the way for the red bandits to escape has been basically blocked, is there no third way for the red bandits to go except for the two roads of holding and escaping in Zunyi?

Zhan Yan in the West, Suddenly in the East? This sentence suddenly jumped into Xue Yue's mind, thinking about the encounter of the three divisions of the Hunan Army and his fiasco in Yangping Town and Qingxi Town, a cold air came out of Xue Yue's backbone, the red bandits would not be cunning, they would entangle with the Sichuan army with a partial division, and the main force was hidden somewhere, waiting for themselves and the main force of the Central Army to come up with reinforcements to send them to the door, and take a hard bite!

If this idea was placed before the battles in Qingxi Town and Yangping Town, Xue Yue didn't believe that the red bandits would have such a big appetite anyway. But now it is different, Xue Yue knows how many guns and ammunition he has lost and how many well-trained soldiers he has lost, and he knows that the strength of the Red Army is not what it used to be, and it is entirely possible to give himself another fiasco like Qingxi Town and Yangping Town.

Xue Yue finally understood the reason for his uncertainty, and immediately ordered the divisions of Zhou Hunyuan's column and Wu Qiwei's column to advance in unison, and none of them should stand out alone, and they should run forward like a rolling iron bucket, leaving no chance for the red bandits to ambush or attack.

After arranging his troops, Xue Yue thought about it, and still sent a telegram to the reinforced Central Army and the Sichuan Army, hoping that their forces would be concentrated and advance towards Zunyi in the form of a dense cluster of large corps, so as not to let the red bandits take advantage of it.

After the telegram was sent, Xue Yue had no more worries and went to bed with peace of mind. This night, Xue Yue slept very soundly, and returned to his hometown in Jiufeng Mountain in his dream, it seemed that the loquat in the yard was ripe again, and his father was pulling his little hand to pick loquat for himself to eat, so fragrant and sweet.

Unlike Xue Yue's sweet sleep, on the night of the 31st, when 1935 was approaching, all units of the Red Army marched under the cover of night. The Central Guard Division advanced from Xuyong to Yibin, the 1st Army Corps, the 1st Division, and the 9th Army Corps advanced to Xuyong from two directions, and the 1st Army Corps, 2nd Division, 3rd Division, 3rd Army Corps, and 5th Army Corps crossed the Chishui River and advanced towards Gulin.

Renhuai Xiaohekou Ferry. The pontoon bridges left by the 1st Army and 1st Division were still intact, and the sappers erected three more pontoon bridges nearby. The 2nd and 3rd Divisions of the 1st Army Corps took the lead in crossing the bridge and went straight to Gulin. The Red Third Army and the Red Fifth Army also crossed the bridge one after another. When it was the turn of the central column to cross the bridge, the speed slowed down all of a sudden. The reason was that there were too many bulky things, and some of the fighters were carrying boxes full of local books.

The X-ray machine in the Red Army hospital was too heavy, and there were not many people on the pontoon, so five or six soldiers could not lift it, so they had to move step by step on the pontoon, and the movement was very slow.

Seeing that the main force had already crossed the river and left, and the central column was still slowly crossing the river, [***] was heartbroken, and ordered all the bulky things to be thrown into the Chishui River, and the troops advanced lightly.

The soldiers of the cadre regiment immediately went up to push the X-ray machine. Fu Lianhuan, the director of the Red Army Hospital, was anxious when he saw it, and personally came to beg [***], saying that without an X-ray machine, he could not do difficult operations, and he had to bring it anyway.

[***] was a little annoyed, and yelled at Fu Lianyan: "Have you forgotten the tragedy of Xiangjiang? If you do an operation to save a man, if the speed of the march cannot be increased, and when the enemy catches up at dawn, the number of dead people will not be two, ten or eight, but tens of thousands. Execute the order, throw away all the bulky luggage, move forward lightly, what do you want when you get to Sichuan, what are you afraid of? ”

Fu Lianhuan left in a daze, watching the X-ray machine being pushed into the Chishui River.

Since [***] gave the order to throw away bulky things, what else did the Red Army cadres and fighters hesitate about? The people carried the coinage equipment, the gun repair equipment, the heavy bookcases, and so on, all of which were thrown into the boiling Chishui River. The troops were lightly armed at once and quickly passed the pontoon bridge.

After crossing the river, the cadres and regiments destroyed the pontoon bridge, and the central column rushed to the front along the road where the main forces had walked.

On the morning of January 1, 1935, the Central Red Army all entered the southern Sichuan camp.

[***], Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Zhang Wentian, Chen Yun, Wang Jiaxiang, and Liu Bocheng were stationed in Gulin County.

After a night of marching, the men and horses were sleepy, and the Red Army officers and men soon entered the dream.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, the staff officer on duty woke up Liu Bocheng, chief of the general staff, and reported that Pan Wenhua, the commander-in-chief of the South Sichuan Bandit Suppression Road, had called and asked for instructions on what to do with the county magistrate and the head of the security regiment.

Liu Bocheng knew that this was because the staff officers could not speak Sichuan, and they were afraid of revealing their stuffing. I quickly got up and ran to the county magistrate's office to answer the phone.

Picking up the phone, Liu Bocheng yelled into the receiver: "Which turtle son is it?" ”

A majestic Sichuan voice came from the phone: "I'm Pan Wenhua." ”

Liu Bocheng hurriedly pretended to be frightened, confessed again and again, and asked Commander-in-Chief Pan what was the matter.

Pan Wenhua asked if any enemy situation had been discovered. Liu Bocheng replied: "Report to Commander-in-Chief Pan: I didn't have any enemy situation, and yesterday I sent a battalion of the security regiment to guard the Chishui River crossing, where it was quiet, and there was not a single ghost." ”

Pan Wenhua told him to be vigilant and defend tightly, and finally told Liu Bocheng that Zhou Hucheng's guard brigade had been sent south from Chishui last night, and it was expected to arrive at Gulin at noon, strengthen the defense of Gulin, and strictly prevent red bandits from disturbing Gulin. All the security regiments and militia regiments in Gulin are uniformly under the command of the guard brigade.

Liu Bocheng hurriedly said that Commander-in-Chief Pan was wise and promised to obey the command of Captain Zhou of the Guard Brigade to ensure the safety of Gulin.

Putting down the phone, Liu Bocheng's drowsiness was completely dispelled, and he immediately ordered all troops to leave the area around the road from Chishui to Gulin, so as to avoid alarming the Sichuan Army Guard Brigade that rushed over, and prepare to put the guard brigade into Gulin City to catch turtles in an urn.

It turned out that after receiving Xue Yue's telegram, Pan Wenhua thought about the map repeatedly, and found that Xuyong and Gu Lin were really empty. Thinking about it, Xue Yue was still clever, and the loopholes in his defense line made him see it at once, and he hurriedly ordered the Zhou Hucheng Guard Brigade under his command to go south under the stars and nights to strengthen the defense of Gulin. This guard brigade is Liu Xiang's personal guard brigade, which is actually a reinforced regiment, the elite of the Sichuan army, and with them guarding Gulin, it is estimated that it is impossible for the red bandits to escape from Gulin.

Fortunately, the Sichuan Army Guard Brigade received an order to come from Chishui at night, and if it had been a little earlier, it was likely that the Ninth Army Corps had been spotted advancing from Tucheng to Xuyong. Of course, if the two armies meet, the unlucky one must be the Sichuan Army Guard Brigade with few troops, but in that case, the intentions of the Red Ninth Army will be exposed in advance.

At one o'clock at noon, the Sichuan Army Guard Brigade finally arrived at Gulin County. The soldiers of the security regiment at the gate of the city just wanted to interrogate, and a company commander of the leading guard brigade went up and kicked him: "Turtle son, open your eyes and see clearly, Lao Tzu is Chairman Liu's personal guard brigade, check it?" No matter how verbose you are, be careful that Lao Tzu collapses you. Take them to rest. Ge Laozi, after running all night and all morning, was exhausted to death. ”

The soldiers of the security regiment at the gate of the city were divided into a part and led the guard brigade to camp at the various stations of the security regiment in battalions and companies.

When the soldiers of the guard brigade, whose eyes were almost open, entered the camp of the security regiment, they found that there were already people waiting for them with guns.

Zhou Hucheng, the captain of the guard brigade, and the deputy captain were led to the county office by the soldiers of the security regiment. Zhou Hucheng was about to ask why he didn't see the county magistrate and the head of the security regiment? I saw Liu Bocheng walking out of the house wearing a Red Army uniform. Zhou Hucheng thought he was dazzled, rubbed his eyes, and then took a closer look, this is not the Red Army, so he hurriedly went to pull out the gun, and the soldier of the security regiment next to him poked the gun, and the muzzle of the gun was directly aimed at his forehead: "Don't move, I'll kill you if you move!" ”

Zhou Hucheng is honest, he doesn't want the deputy captain to practice martial arts since he was a child, he is extremely fierce, his head is lowered, he dodges the muzzle, and as soon as he stomps his feet, he jumps towards Liu Bocheng, and actually wants to stage a trick of catching a thief and capturing the king.

Liu Bocheng turned out from behind him, and with two shots, he hit the deputy captain of the Sichuan Army Guard Brigade who was rushing forward. Liu Bocheng saw that it was Zhu De's guard squad leader, a famous double-gun hero at the Red Army headquarters, and said with a smile: "Is this guy quite brave!" ”

Liu Bocheng was about to ask the soldiers to interrogate Zhou Hucheng, but before he could speak, Zhou Hucheng said: "Let Lao Tzu sleep for a while, it's too sleepy." ”

In this way, Pan Wenhua gave Liu Xiang's most elite guard brigade to his Sichuan countryman Liu Bocheng.

The sound of gunfire woke up all the [***] and others who were resting, and when they got up and asked, they learned that when they were resting, Liu Bocheng skillfully used his skills to clean up the strength of a reinforced regiment of Liu Xiang's elite guard brigade. [***] is overjoyed, praising Liu Bocheng's wisdom like the sea. Mr. Zhu said: "Bo Cheng's beautiful hand made Pan Wenhua completely relieved, and it is estimated that he will not ask about Xuyong and Gu Lin anymore." We can confidently and boldly move forward to Yibin. ”

Zhou Enlai thought for a while and said, "Do we leave a regiment behind, disguise Zhou Hucheng as a guard brigade, and hold on to Gulin for two days, maybe there will be an unexpected gain." ”

Zhu De agreed, and Liu Bocheng suggested leaving a regiment of the Fifth Army Corps to hold on to Gulin for three days, responsible for answering the phone, converting the prisoners, and then chasing the main force.

[***] hesitated for a long time and said: "There are too few regiments, and it is easy to fall into danger when encountering the enemy." Ordered Chen Shuxiang to lead the 34th Division to stay, and when the Sichuan army pursued, a brigade against the enemy could also escape. Tell Chen Shuxiang that you have to learn Liu Yimin's methods, disguise if you can, sneak attack if you can, and don't fight hard. ”

Seeing that Liu Bocheng was about to leave, Mr. Zhu confessed: "The prisoners of the guard brigade are particularly reactionary and bloody in accordance with Liu Yimin's method of dealing with prisoners, and the others are distributed to various units. ”

Liu Bocheng said with a smile: "Commander-in-chief, I'm afraid it's a little late for you to give this order, the guard division has left about 1,000 prisoners of the Gulin Security Regiment, which has been fully digested by the first army and one division." There are more than 1,800 people in this guard brigade, and when I arranged the battle, I made it very clear that the guard brigade is the elite of the Sichuan army, and whoever captures it will belong to whomever it is, so although the scale of the battle just now was small, I used the first, third, and fifth regiments. There is no way, as soon as I heard that it was Liu Xiang's personal guard brigade, the three army commanders had to complete the task alone, and it was not okay to let anyone participate, so the task had to be divided equally, and whoever was captured was captured. It is estimated that these captives are now famous. ”

Zhang Wentian, who did not participate in military command and listened silently on the side, said: "It was all Liu Yimin's fault."

Now, it made a few people laugh.

After resting and feeling better, I proposed to go around Gulin Street and take a look at this famous county in southern Sichuan.

A few people took the guards out of the county office and walked to Gulin Street, and at a glance they knew that this was indeed a small mountain town.

The county seat is built on the mountain, most of the houses on both sides of the street are built up with stone walls, the roofs are basically covered tiles, and there are also wooden roofs, which look very old and dilapidated, and there are few more elaborate buildings like some counties in Hunan and Jiangxi.

The scale of the county is also very small, and the effort will be completed in a while. Zhang Wentian was a little deflated, so he asked [***]: "Lao Mao, you are well-read, do you know the origin of Gu Lin's name?" ”

[***] said: "The word Lin of Gulin is the name of a grass, that is, rush, and the common name is rush grass. In the past, the locals used rush grass to weave straw mats, and after coming and going, the reputation of rush grass went out, and Lin became the name of this place. During the Tang and Yuanhe periods, the state of Lin Prefecture was set up here, which means the place where the ethnic minorities are controlled. Later generations have changed the name to Yongning, which is another meaning of the word Lin, hoping for eternal peace. In fact, where can there be peace under reactionary rule? A few years ago, when the county seat was changed here, they took the meaning of the land of Gulin Prefecture and called it Gulin. ”

Zhou En said: "There are many Miao compatriots here, the ancestors of the Miao people are the Chi You who fought with the Yellow Emperor, the legend is that Chi You was killed by the Yellow Emperor after the defeat, and the Miao people were led by the general Quaf to move south, and on the way to the battle, the Qua Fo was killed by an arrow, and the Miao people buried Chi You and Quaf together. At the funeral, people blow trumpets and beat war drums in order to drive away jackals, tigers and leopards and let the souls of the deceased rest in peace. I didn't want to alarm the war horse of Quafo, thinking that I was going to go on an expedition again, so I broke the reins and ran over, and when I saw the body of Quafo, the war horse neighed a few times and fell to the ground, not eating or drinking and dying. Later, the Miao people felt the loyalty of the war horse, and after the death of the person, they killed the cow and buried the horse, and entrusted the cow to lead the owner's soul to the ancestors to reunite. ”

[***] lamented: "Many ethnic minorities have a long-standing culture, mainly because most feudal dynasties discriminate against and oppress ethnic minorities, so that ethnic minorities cannot be developed. By the way, have you heard of the Miao people's custom of stealing relatives? ”

Several people shook their heads.

Since the Red Army moved to Guizhou, it has won all battles, and everyone's mood is relatively happy, especially [***]. He glanced at everyone, lit a cigarette, took a puff, and said with a smile as he walked: "Young men and women of the Miao nationality are happy to sit with each other, that is, the man goes to the woman's house to talk to the girl and make love. After the two lovers are happy, if the woman's parents object, the two young people make an appointment to steal kisses. In the evening, the young man went to the woman's house to sit with his sister, and when he said goodbye, the young woman pretended to send off the guests, and walked with the young man to the outside of the village, took out the hidden things, and went to the man's house together. The next day, the woman's parents did not see their daughter come back, so they knew that they had been stolen. On the third day, the man finds a prestigious elder and brings three gifts of chickens, ducks, and eggs to the woman's house to apologize. If you don't agree, you don't have to have a wedding. ”

Zhang Wentian said: "Isn't this similar to the free love we advocate? ”

Zhou Enlai quipped: "Yes, I think our Comrade Luo Fu also needs to steal relatives." ”

[***] smiled and said: "No, no, I see that Comrade Luo Fu doesn't need to steal, the object will take the initiative to come to the door." ”

Zhou En said: "Isn't it the same as stealing relatives from the person you are talking about? However, we are revolutionaries, and the organization will agree, Comrade Luo Fu, you should be bold and steal relatives. Don't forget to treat us to a good drink when the time comes. ”

A few people talked and laughed and returned to the county office.

Seeing that several leaders had returned, Liu Bocheng reported that the 34th Division had been arranged to stay behind, and that the enemy radio station had just been intercepted, and today the two columns of Xue Yue's division were advancing in parallel, and Zhou Hunyuan's column had entered the territory of Huairen, preparing to attack Zunyi from Huairen, and Wu Qiwei's column was less than 50 miles away from Zunyi, and Tang Enbo and other units of the Central Army had also crossed the Wujiang River and rushed to Zunyi. The heavy army group of 11 brigades of the Sichuan Army has occupied Loushan Pass and advanced towards Zunyi. However, the enemy is very cautious, all heavy groups are advancing in unison, and the speed is not fast, it is estimated that they will attack Zunyi together.

Zhou En said: "Xue Yue has learned well, and he no longer divides his troops and ventures, it seems that he is still scared." ”

[***] said: "The road is facing the sky, and each one goes halfway." He went to fight his Zunyi, and we went to occupy our Yibin. Enlai, boss, and Bo Cheng ordered the troops to get ready, and as soon as it got dark, they made great strides towards Xuyong. The 1st Legion, the 1st Division and the 9th Legion should be fast, try to keep up with the pace of the Guard Division, and the task is to take over Yibin. ”

The headquarters of the Red Army began to get busy again.

(To be continued)