Just when Zhang Qun, Zhang Zhizhong, and Chen Cheng were thinking about their hearts, Shao Lizi spoke: "Yue Jun, do you want to ask Nanjing for instructions to see what situation they have?" When necessary, ask the chairman to give Ma Bufang an order to withdraw the siege first. Can everything be negotiated and settled? Can't we talk here and kill him there, can't we make sense! ”

Zhang Qun hated and rejoiced. What I hate is that this Shao Lizi lacks roots in his brain, what do you ask the chairman for? Don't you think that this is the deployment of the chairman? Although Ma Bufang was cruel, but there was no order from the chairman, he was well fed, and he had nothing to do to fight the Red Army? The good thing is that the atmosphere in the five halls is tense now, and the two sides are tense, Shao Lizi's statement finally gave both sides a step, and he also had a ladder to speak.

So, Zhang Qun followed Shao Lizi's words and said, "Mr. Enlai, I suggest that the meeting be adjourned in the afternoon. Our side immediately reported to Nanjing, and asked Chairman Chiang to strictly order Ma Bufang to stop the attack, and if necessary, send personnel to Gansu to mediate. In any case, these negotiations cannot be interrupted, and we will continue them tomorrow morning. I wonder what Mr. Enlai thinks? ”

Zhou Enlai nodded in agreement. Then he said: "Please report to Nanking as soon as possible until the civil war." We must hold a press conference to explain the situation to the people of the whole country. Let the people of the whole country understand who is provoking the civil war and who is sabotaging the peace talks. We soldiers cannot shed blood or sacrifice in vain. ”

Zhang Qun knew that it was impossible to prevent Zhou Enlai from holding a press conference, but he did not insist, so he said: "Mr. Enlai, please pay attention to proportions when you speak at the press conference, and you must not pull Ma Bufang and Chairman Jiang together." This matter has nothing to do with Chairman Chiang, nor does it have anything to do with the Nationalist Axe. This should not affect the overall situation of the negotiations. ”

Zhou Enlai was extremely angry and said: "Okay, since you say so, it is Ma Bufang who provoked the civil war, and he is the culprit who sabotaged the peace talks!" We want to expose him so that the people of the whole country can see his face. ”

Zhang Qun sighed in his heart, no matter whether this Ma Bufang wins or loses, I'm afraid it will become smelly. But sighing and sighing, Zhang Qun no longer answered Zhou Enlai's words, stood up and politely arched his hand, and Shao Lizi, Zhang Zhizhong, and Chen Cheng came out.

Seeing the Kuomintang representatives rushing out, [***] said to Zhou En: "Vice Chairman Zhou, you should immediately suggest to the Central Committee that you send powerful troops to meet the Tianshui defenders to break through, I'm afraid you won't be able to come out if it's too late." ”

Before Zhou Enlai could speak, Ye Jianying said: "Don't worry, it is the 13th Division of the Seventh Army Corps stationed in Tianshui, which is the main force, and Ma Bufang will not be able to please him for a while." However, in the direction of northern Sichuan and Tongguan, it is necessary to be vigilant, and it is necessary to strictly guard against Chiang Kai-shek's surprise attack. ”

Dong Biwu said: "That's what I said, but after all, we have too few troops, and Ma Bufang is a murderer who doesn't blink an eye, I think it's better to hurry up to the chairman and the boss, and quickly let Liu Yimin and [***] them go to the rescue, I'm afraid it's too late." ”

Ye Jianying said: "How to save? The mountain is high and the road is far away, and when the rescue force arrives, the daylily is cold. Rest assured, since Liu Yimin dared to put the 13th Division there, he must have a backhand. Ma Bufang, this guy was confused, he was willing to be a lackey, and he actually attacked the Red Seventh Legion, and he didn't inquire about what Liu Yimin's kid was doing! I think Ma Bufang is afraid that he is not far from death this time. ”

Zhou En said: "In military affairs, the chairman, the boss, and the uncle admit that they have their own considerations, and our task is to negotiate. Let's go back to Xi'an to hold a press conference, don't let the reporters wait. ”

Just when Zhou Enlai walked out of the five halls of Huaqing Pool, Ma Yuanhai, the former enemy commander of Qingma, was already squatting on the ground and crying.

No wonder Ma Yuanhai wept bitterly, in just this hour, the three cavalry regiments he sent to prepare to enter Tianshui City lost one-third. Seeing that the city gate was wide open, and seeing the cavalry of the three cavalry regiments lined up in a long line, shouting and waving their sabers, they rushed towards the city gate, and seeing that the vanguard of the cavalry regiment had entered the doorway. Ma Yuanhai was about to excitedly order to report to Ma Bufang to capture Tianshui, at this time, a sudden burst of gunfire knocked Ma Yuanhai unconscious, and on the Tianshui city wall, heavy machine guns, light machine guns, rifles, submachine guns, and countless guns suddenly came out and opened fire on the cavalry regiment of Qingma. In particular, none of the cavalry who entered the doorway ran out. Fortunately, the cavalry had a large target, and when they entered the city, they were two columns, and the marching army was relatively long, and the troops behind saw that it was not a show, so they hurriedly turned their horses' heads and trampled each other to death before fleeing back to the starting position.

Watching the Red Army in the city gate carry out the corpses of cavalry in the door hole, put them outside the city, and then closed the city gate in a hurry, Ma Yuanhai knew that he was afraid that he would run into hard stubble at this time, and he would even break his head and bleed.

But Ma Yuanhai can make Ma Bufang appreciate it so much, and he must have his own hills and valleys in his heart. He's not just murderous!

Wiping his tears and stopping the shouts of revenge from his subordinates, Ma Yuanhai ordered all the cavalry to dismount and build a position to prevent the red bandits from taking advantage of the situation to counterattack, and wait for the infantry to come up before deploying the attack.

Guarding Tianshui County was the 38th Regiment of the Red 13th Division, and the 13th Division's heavy machine gun battalion, engineer battalion, and baggage battalion were under the command of the 38th Regiment. According to Li Qing's deployment, the 38th Regiment guarded the county seat, the 39th Regiment and the Supplementary Regiment guarded the mountain behind the county seat, the 2nd Regiment guarded the north wing of the mountain, and the 3rd Regiment guarded the southern flank of the mountain. The heavy machine gun battalion and engineer battalion of the 1st Division reinforced the 2nd and 3rd Regiments respectively. The artillery of the two divisions was concentrated and commanded, and positions were established in the back mountains, and the artillery fire could cover the perimeter of the county town and provide fire support for the regiments. The 37 regiment and the only regiment were assault regiments.

Hou Sanxi, commander of the 38th Regiment, and Yu Qingshan, political commissar of the 38th Regiment, were both company commanders and instructors of the 18th Red Regiment during the reorganization by the Xiangjiang River, and now they have grown into regiment-level commanders. After accepting the task, in accordance with the requirements for setting up defensive positions in the Red Army infantry training outline compiled by Liu Yimin, a large number of land mines were laid in the open space outside the county seat, sapper electric explosive packs were buried on several major roads, pillboxes were added under the city wall, and shooting holes were dug out of the city wall. In this way, the entire Tianshui City has become a large fortress, with land thunder arrays and explosives bags outside the city, a triple fire network on the city wall, in the middle of the city wall, and at the root of the city wall, and street battle fortifications inside the city. Just wait for the main forces of Qingma and Ningma to come and attack the city.

When the Qingma cavalry entered the city just now, Hou Sanxi did not order the explosives, the reason was very simple, the cavalry formation was too loose, which affected the killing effect. The flying thunder cannons on the city wall were also not fired, and the pillbox fire points at the base of the city wall were not fired. Hou Sanxi and Yu Qingshan had to carry out the order of the corps commander to control the rhythm of the battle, attract the main force of Qingma to besiege, and when they formed a dense formation to besiege on all sides, let them taste the taste of attacking the Red Army.

The first battle was won, and the mood of the cadres and fighters was high. Hou Sanxi and Yu Qingshan went to the battalions to take a look, and saw that the cadres and soldiers were eager to fight, so Hou Sanxi repeatedly explained that they should pay attention to saving ammunition and aiming at it. Because of the strong fortifications, the fighters did not have a sense of panic and were prone to play to the level of shooting. Besides, everyone knows that the Red Seventh Army advocates attacking, attacking and attacking, and this kind of defensive battle is the first time in the history of the Legion War, and it will not encounter too many in the future, so you can't miss the opportunity to train troops.

After returning to the headquarters, Hou Sanxi said to Qingshan: "Commander, they don't know where they have been, it seems that this time the main force of Qingma is pouring out, and I am afraid that this day the water city will become a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood." ”

Yu Qingshan said: "No matter where the legion commander goes, we just need to guard Tianshui." I think the meaning of the legion commander is to consume the main forces of Qingma and Ningma under this Tianshui City. Otherwise, if we had captured so much ammunition from Hu Zongnan, the corps commander would have ordered it to be shipped to Xi'an. All stay with us, I'm afraid that's for this day. Think about it, regiment commander, you said that the regiment commander is younger than us, how can he know that Qingma will definitely come to attack Tianshui, and he also strictly ordered the only division to reinforce it. It's ridiculous that Ma Bufang doesn't know anything about the situation of our army, not to mention that the only division has arrived, but there is no only division, with this sufficient ammunition and excellent weapons, Qingma can't conquer this Tianshui City. Could it be that there are really characters like Zhuge Liang in this world? ”

Hou Sanxi smiled and said: "There must be people like Zhuge Liang, I think our [***] and Commander-in-Chief Zhu are more powerful than Zhuge Liang." ”

Yu Qingshan took off his military hat, touched his bald head, and said with a smile: "This battle is a tough battle, Qingma will definitely attack desperately, I don't know if there are many of their artillery." If there is heavy artillery, it will be troublesome, and this wall cannot withstand heavy artillery. ”

Hou Sanxi said: "Ma Bufang is a local warlord, where did he get the heavy artillery!" At most, two mortar batteries would be good. I think you're stupid to learn the infantry training syllabus, and many of the things in the corps commander's book are for dealing with himself, where do these local warlords have those things! ”

Yu Qingshan thought about it, smiled embarrassedly, and went to look at the map.

Two hours later, the Green Horse infantry finally arrived. Ma Yuanhai adjusted his deployment and was determined to occupy the arc-shaped mountain behind Tianshui first, and then bombard Tianshui City with mortars.

Considering that all the elites were lost when he entered Tianshui City just now, Ma Yuanhai had a lot of eyes and ordered the Qinghai Security Regiment to lead two militia regiments to attack the north flank of the Arc Mountain, and the Second Security Regiment to lead two militia regiments to attack the south flank of the Arc Mountain. The three regiments of the 100th Division were ordered to lead two militia regiments, bring explosives bags and ladders for siege, and attack the north, west, and south gates respectively.

After the deployment stopped, Ma Yuanhai left the three commanders of the 100th Division and the commanders of the 1st and 2nd Security Regiments behind, and told them to let the militia rush in front and the elite troops in the rear to maintain combat strength.

Several regiment commanders naturally understood and immediately organized their troops to enter the attack position.

At half past five, Ma Yuanhai ordered the security group to attack. As a result, the two main security regiments of Tsing Ma drove the militia to rush towards the arc-shaped mountain. Seeing that there was no gunfire on the hill when they reached the foot of the mountain, the militia went crazy, some wielding knives and some holding guns, and began to rush towards the hillside.

With a boom, the ground mines buried at the foot of the mountain began to explode one after another, and the severed limbs flew up, and the wails rang out. Strangely, although these militias had never seen landmines, they were bloodthirsty, and when they smelled blood, they shouted and roared in their mouths, and continued to rush up on the corpses of their comrades. Even the soldiers of the security regiment who pressed the formation behind them were furious, and unconsciously joined the charging team, carrying the militia to rush upward.

Cheng Baocheng, the commander of the Duer Regiment guarding the north flank of the arc-shaped mountain, looked at the frantically charging security regiment and militia regiment with binoculars in the command post, and a sentence popped out of his mouth, "Stupid!" He ordered to open fire. All of a sudden, the hillside was filled with the sound of gunfire and grenade explosions. The fierce security regiments and bloodthirsty militias threw down hundreds of corpses and retreated.

Ma Yuanhai saw through the telescope that the security regiment and the militia group attacking on both wings retreated, and finally saw the situation clearly. It turned out that on this day, Water City was already in full battle, and the fortifications were quite complete. If you want to win it, I'm afraid you have to give up your capital. He decided to attack again, if it was naturally good, if it couldn't be captured, he would report the situation to Ma Bufang, and wait for the main force of Ma Hongkui's Seventh Division to arrive and attack again.

This time, Ma Yuanhai used all the mortars and more than 50 heavy machine guns that could be mobilized to provide fire cover. The 1st and 2nd Bao regiments each reinforced one cavalry regiment, one cavalry brigade, three security regiments, and three militia regiments were put into the middle of the arc mountain, and the three regiments of the 100 divisions each reinforced one cavalry regiment of the 5th cavalry division to launch an attack on the three city gates and the entire arc mountain.

Tens of thousands of horses attacked together, and from the air, the black pressure was overwhelming, which was very spectacular.

With Ma Yuanhai's order, the various troops of Qingma rushed towards their respective attack targets.

Li Qing and Feng Dafei, who were standing at the command post on the top of the mountain, had already seen that Qingma was desperate, so they immediately ordered the troops to put the enemy close and fight, and ordered the artillery to open fire and destroy the enemy's artillery and heavy machine gun fire.

This Qingma army is a force that is maintained by clans, blood relatives, and faith, and it will not die in a war. But it is very cunning, always let the militia and the security regiment go on the road first, and the elite maintains combat effectiveness, and when the militia and the security regiment are almost fighting with the opponent, the elite troops are rushing up in one go, which is easy to defeat the opponent at a critical moment, and can maintain the strength of the elite troops. Today, Ma Yuanhai is still playing this hand.

Many people in later generations did not understand that the troops of Qingma had no military salary, and even the war horses and uniforms had to be provided by the soldiers, so why could they still maintain such strong combat effectiveness? Historically, Qingma has been fighting with our army has a good record, until the Northwest Field Army defeated Hu Zongnan's attack on Yan'an during the Liberation War, Qingma also tried to fight with the already very powerful Yiye, in a vain attempt to recapture Xi'an.

In fact, the combat effectiveness of the Tsing Ma troops is overestimated. On the whole, this unit is tactically rigid, its commanders are of poor quality, and its equipment is not good. The problem is that in the past, his opponents were relatively weak, so he has always been the king of the northwest. Historically, when he was 35 years old, Hu Zongnan once wanted to clean up Ma Bufang, but Ma Bufang's gold worked, so Hu Zongnan couldn't clean him up. Later, Chiang Kai-shek supplemented Ma Bufang with equipment, and his firepower was slightly stronger.

During the time of the Western Route Army, the soldiers of the three main armies, one army averaged more than 20 rounds of ammunition, one army averaged 15 rounds of ammunition, and one army averaged 5 rounds of ammunition.

Now, Qingma has met the Red 13th Division and the Only Division, and the Red Army's tactical thinking is not known how many years more advanced than the Qingma troops, and the weapons are much better than theirs.

Ma Yuanhai watched the troops rush towards the arc-shaped mountains of Tianshui City like a tidal wave, muttering "Allah forbid" in his mouth, his eyes full of longing, hoping that tens of thousands of troops would break through the Red Army positions in one fell swoop.

Qingma's mortars and heavy machine guns opened fire on Tianshui City, and the shells exploded one after another on the city wall and inside the city, and the heavy machine guns also beat the Red Army on the city wall to the point that they could not raise their heads. Ma Yuanhai was overjoyed, now, the babies can finally rush up.

Soon, Ma Yuanhai's praying mouth couldn't close, and the green horses who flocked to the city wall attacked the formation, and they were blown up by something I don't know, and flesh and blood flew everywhere. The road leading to the city gate was even more terrifying, and entire squads and rows of soldiers were thrown high, falling to the ground with broken arms and legs.

The explosion finally stopped, and before Ma Yuanhai had time to rejoice, the nightmare came again. Machine guns stretched out from the base and middle of the city walls, and opened heavy fire on the green horse charging team, knocking the screaming soldiers carrying ladders to the ground.

Then the Red Army artillery on the arc-shaped hill opened fire, and it was actually mountain artillery, a group of six shells, and smashed into the mortar position of Qingma. After a few rounds of shelling, Tsing Ma's mortar position was destroyed. Then, the Red Army's mountain artillery began to hit the heavy machine gun position in Qingma, and the machine gunners who were engaged in it threw down the machine guns and ran, and the slow ones were lifted into the sky along with the heavy machine guns. The Red Army's mortars were aimed at the dense formation of the Tsing Ma troops, and each round of artillery fire could blow up an empty field in the middle of the ranks.

Ma Yuanhai didn't know that Hu Zongnan had hoarded a large amount of weapons, ammunition and materials in Tianshui. Six of the mountain guns were not unpacked and assembled. After the 13th Division was captured, Liu Yimin directly ordered Li Qing to equip the 13th Division's artillery battalion and set up a mountain artillery company to make meritorious contributions in the first battle.

Ma Yuanhai was in great pain, he couldn't figure out what kind of army this was, the firepower was so powerful, and the defensive tricks were endless, and he didn't know what more vicious tricks were waiting for him next.

really let Ma Yuanhai guess correctly, as soon as the mortar position of Qingma was destroyed, the Red Army's light and heavy machine guns went up to the city wall again, condescendingly, and began to splash bullets like water on the Qingma charging team. What's even more terrifying is that more than a dozen thunderbolts began to fire, and the thrown explosives package fell on the top of the Qingma troops and exploded, and groups of soldiers fell down in unison, bleeding to death.

Ma Yuanhai couldn't bear to look at it anymore, and hurriedly ordered the withdrawal of troops, and the whole line attack died in this way.

Ma Yuanhai was puzzled, how could this Red Army unit be different from other troops! If he wins, he will not take advantage of the victory to pursue, and the cavalry strangulation plan he arranged will completely fail.

The remnant sun is like blood. The battlefield was littered with the corpses of men and horses, and the air was filled with the smell of blood.

Ma Yuanhai sat on the ground of the temporary headquarters and said nothing. The brigade commanders and regiment commanders of the Qingma units around him also didn't say a word. What is there to say, in a full-line attack, under Tianshui City and on the slope of the arc mountain, more than 4,000 corpses were thrown down, plus the loss of the cavalry entering Tianshui City and the tentative attack of the security regiment on the arc mountain, more than 6,000 people died in the first battle, not including the wounded soldiers. And the mortars were basically destroyed, and the heavy machine guns were almost blown up. When has the Qingma army suffered such a loss!

Ma Yuanhai decided to report Ma Bufang truthfully and asked him to make a decision. This former enemy commander-in-chief, it seems that he can't do it anymore, please choose another master!

At this time, in the conference room of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, Zhou Enlai was holding a press conference.

Zhou Enlai briefed reporters on the results of the KMT-CPC negotiations, which were mainly three: First, a consensus was reached that "it is time to unite and resist." The second is to complete the negotiations on the exchange of prisoners of war, and now all the Red Army prisoners and generals have been concentrated in Xi'an, and they can be exchanged after the Red Army prisoners of war are sent to Tongguan. Third, the two sides fully exchanged views on the northern Sichuan issue and formed preliminary views on certain aspects.

After briefing on the situation, Zhou Enlai changed the topic and said: "It is regrettable that when the negotiations between the KMT and the Communist Party were about to achieve major results, some people were willing to be national sinners regardless of the overall situation of resistance and salvation, and brazenly launched a civil war to sabotage peace negotiations. At two o'clock this afternoon, Ma Bufang, acting chairman of the Kuomintang Qinghai Province and commander of the New 2nd Army, dispatched 70,000 elite troops of the Qinghai Majia Army to launch a surprise attack on our Tianshui base area, encircling our army heavily. Tianshui City is in danger, and my troops defending the city are in danger! Who is Ma Bufang? How dare he be so bold as to violate the armistice order and attack the Red Army, which was in a state of armistice? Here, I lodge a strong protest with the Nanjing Nationalist Axe, demanding that the Nanjing Nationalist Axe immediately order Ma Bufang to stop attacking the Red Army, stop the civil war, and maintain the original defensive line. Otherwise, in the hearts of the people of the whole country who love the motherland, Ma Bufang will be a sinner who sabotaged the armistice negotiations, and those who support him in fighting the civil war will not be able to get rid of it. ”

A reporter asked: "Which Red Army unit is defending Tianshui, and can they resist Ma Bufang's attack?" ”

Zhou Enlai replied: "The number of the unit involves military secrets, and there is nothing to comment. However, our army is brave and good at fighting, and Ma Bufang will inevitably hit his head and bleed. Of course, it cannot be denied that because the enemy's forces are too strong, our defenders are limited, and their weapons and ammunition are insufficient, it is still difficult to answer whether Tianshui can hold it. ”

Another reporter asked: "Mr. Zhou, is the Tianshui incident an isolated incident or the fuse of a major incident?" As far as I know, at present, the Central Army is stationed in Tongguan and northern Sichuan, will they take the opportunity to launch an attack on the Red Army? ”

Zhou Enlai replied: "I can't answer this question, only the national political axe can answer it." However, I can tell you that now that foreign enemies are invading, the people of the whole country are eager for the Kuomintang and the Communist Party to stop the civil war and unanimously resist it. I do not believe that the people in power in the Nanjing Nationalist Axe will be so short-sighted and cannot see the domestic situation clearly. If they really want to fight a civil war, China will unite all patriotic forces and patriotic people and lead the people of the whole country to stop the civil war. Whoever fights a civil war will be defeated! ”

After the press conference, Zhou Enlai hurried to the General Staff of the Red Army to study the military situation.

(To be continued)