After Shao Lizi pondered it again, he prepared a telegram draft.

Luo Ronghuan took a look and saw that Shao Lizi's energization had a total of three meanings. The first meaning is that he is safe now, and please do not worry about Chairman Lin, Chairman Chiang, and his relatives and friends in Nanjing. The second layer means that China is speeding up the pace of aggression and advancing step by step, while China is currently divided and is not yet ready to resist Japan in an all-round way. If this continues, once the Kou invades China in an all-round way, it will inevitably lead to the complete defeat of the army and the loss of a large part of the country. Now that the Red Army has captured Shaanxi, it is willing to hold talks with the state government to settle the dispute between the two parties by peaceful means, unite and unite to resist the war. It is hoped that the Kuomintang will stand in the angle of national interests and national interests, start negotiations with the Red Army, stop internal strife, and make early preparations for resistance. The third level means that he himself is willing to work for the negotiations between the two parties and do his part to achieve peace in the country.

Luo Ronghuan thought about it, as Shao Lizi, it was already very good to be able to say this, so he held Shao Lizi's hand to express his gratitude and invited him to visit Lintong.

Shao Lizi thought to himself, people with a little common sense want to stop the civil war, why are you thanking me? Lintong is good, but now is not the time to play. Besides, I am the chairman of Shaanxi Province of the National Political Axe, where can I invite you? said to Luo Ronghuan: "Lintong won't go, today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, presumably the families of Yang Hucheng and other generals of the Seventeenth Route Army are now frightened." This person misses the old when he is old, and I want to meet them and entertain them for a meal, which can be regarded as a little bit of my heart for the officers and men of the 17th Route Army. I wonder if your army can make it convenient? ”

Luo Ronghuan was overjoyed, this Shao Lizi was simply too cooperative, he would do whatever he wanted, and hurriedly said to Shao Lizi: "Mr. Shao is polite, I will arrange it immediately, and strive for everyone to get together in the evening." By the way, Mr. Shao has any other requirements, just mention it. As long as it is conducive to unity and resistance, we will obey our orders. ”

Shao Lizi said: "I know that you really want to unite and resist, and you really think about the country and the nation. If the colleagues of Nanjing Political Axe could think like you, things would be easier. It's a pity that everyone's views are different, and unity and resistance are easier said than done! ”

Luo Ronghuan said categorically: "Our determination to fight for liberation, freedom, and reading power for the nation can be demonstrated!" No matter how difficult it is, we have to work hard to do it. I believe that the Kuomintang is not all monolithic, and there are not a few people with lofty ideals like Mr. Shao who understand the overall situation and take the overall situation into account. As long as all of us unite and work hard, I believe that sooner or later Chiang Kai-shek will change his ways. Otherwise, he is not worthy to lead a [***] people! ”

Shao Lizi talked and said: "Chairman Jiang, hey, it's not that he doesn't want to resist, the key is that the measurement is a little smaller." However, looking at the current situation, your Red Army is in full swing, and if it can't fight and fight, it may accept the idea of unity and resistance. When Mr. Enlai comes, I have to ask him, although it is a negotiation, the asking price must not be too high, otherwise, no agreement can be reached. After all, the strength of the national political axe is far greater than that of your Red Army! ”

The two talked for a while, and Luo Ronghuan went to power up.

At this time, in Guangyuan, Liu Bocheng, chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, was also talking with Yang Hucheng's representatives.

The representative sent by Yang Hucheng was Yan Yuyao, a member of the [***] of the 38th Army. Yan Kuruo was a native of Jia County, Shaanxi, graduated from the first phase of Huangpu, joined the party in 1926, and participated in the Qingjian Uprising in 1927. Later, he was ordered to enter the Gao Guizi army to do military transportation work, and is currently the commander of the 17th Route Army Guard Regiment.

It had been a few days since Yan Kui had been in Guangyuan, and he was particularly happy to return to the ranks of the Red Army. In the past few days, except for Zhou Enlai and Liu Bocheng to report Yang Hucheng's thoughts, he spent the rest of his time in the First Legion.

The commander of the First Legion [***] is a graduate of the fourth phase of Huangpu, and the political commissar Nie Rongzhen is a political instructor of the Huangpu Military Academy and his teacher. Therefore, to the first regiment he felt very cordial.

Seeing that the Red First Army was strong and strong, and its weapons and equipment were much better than those of the 17th Route Army, Yan Kuo was in a very good mood. In the past few days, he has eaten and lived in the First Army, and when he has nothing to do, he will talk about the Whampoa Military Academy, the 17th Route Army, and the Central Soviet Region with Nie Rongzhen and [***]. On the evening of the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, Yan Huanyao also attended the gala of the First Red Army and had a party with his comrades, and his mood was completely relaxed, and he forgot about Yang Hucheng's appointment of him to negotiate with [***].

In Yan Yuyao's heart at this time, he had forgotten his identity as the head of the guard of the 17th Route Army, and only remembered that he was a member of the Red Army. He was ready to propose to the central leadership that he would not return to the 17th Route Army and would stay in the 1st Army Corps.

On the morning of the first day of the new year, after eating dumplings in the First Army, I originally wanted to follow Political Commissar Nie Rongzhen to visit the soldiers with various units, but the correspondent of the Red Army Headquarters came to him and said that Chief of Staff Liu was looking for him.

When he arrived at the Red Army General Staff, Liu Bocheng asked him to return to Ankang immediately and explain the position of the Red Army to Yang Hucheng, and he could choose three routes: the first was to reorganize the 17th Route Army into the 10th Army Corps of the Red Army, with Yang Hucheng as the commander, the political commissar appointed by the Central Committee, and the troops to be transformed according to the Red Army units; The second is to reorganize the 17th Route Army into the Shaanxi People's Anti-Japanese Self-Defense Army, the Red Army's corps-level establishment, under the leadership of the Red Army Headquarters, can be stationed in the Ankang or Tongchuan areas, the troops retain a certain reading surname, except for sending political cadres, the military chief officers are all appointed by Yang Hucheng; The third way was to withdraw from Shaanxi and to Henan, and not to attack the Red Army again. One of the three roads must be chosen as soon as possible, because Comrade Liu Yimin, commander of the Red Seventh Army Corps, had already ordered the Red 11th Division of the Red Seventh Army to move in the direction of Ankang and prepare to solve the 17th Route Army by force.

Yan Kuo was a little unconvinced, although the 17th Route Army lost a brigade in Wanyuan, but there were still four brigades and 14 regiments, more than 30,000 horses, and a Red 11th Division wanted to solve the 17th Route Army by force, I am afraid it was a bit unrealistic.

Yan Kuo wanted to report to Chief of Staff Liu that if he wanted to solve the 17th Route Army by force, one division would definitely not work, and the Red Seventh Army Corps would not be a bit too big. If the central government really wants to solve the 17th Route Army by force, will it consider sending more troops and let the Red First Army pull it up?

Chief of Staff Liu Bocheng shook his head: "Comrade Yan Kui, you don't know our Seventh Army Corps, nor do you know our Red 11th Division. Let me tell you, He Jian's three divisions, Xue Yue's 40,000 people, and Hu Zongnan's first division were all solved by the Seventh Army Corps, and the casualty ratio was all within 1:10. This Red 11th Division was the first-class main division of the Red Seventh Army Corps. You must know that the Red Seventh Army also has a second division in Weinan, and in Xi'an, there are also artillery regiments, heavy machine gun regiments, cavalry regiments, guard regiments, engineer regiments, and baggage regiments, all of which have been carried on horseback and move very fast. I estimate that if Yang Hucheng does not accept our three conditions, Commander Liu Yimin will soon personally lead the Xi'an troops south to support the 11th Division. At that time, the history of the 17th Route Army may be completely over. ”

Yan Kui wanted to ask Chief of Staff Liu, could there be a more powerful corps in the Red Army than the First Legion?

Liu Bocheng smiled: "Whether it is troops or equipment, the Red Seventh Army is much stronger than the Red First Army. Let me tell you, the Red Seventh Army not only has three main divisions, but has recently been newly organized into four reading divisions. If they were to go up together, the Seventeenth Route Army would probably not even have the ability to fight back. Hu Zongnan's troops were so well equipped that they were destroyed with just a little resistance. Therefore, the Central Committee wants you to quickly rush back to the 17th Route Army and explain the situation to General Yang Hucheng, and we sincerely hope that he will join the Red Army and fight with us. If he really does not want to, for the sake of the relatively good discipline of the 17th Route Army and the sympathy of General Yang Hucheng himself, we will order the Red 11th Division not to attack lightly, so that the 17th Route Army can safely withdraw from Shaanxi. ”

Yan Kuo asked: "Chief of Staff, if Yang Hucheng does not accept the reorganization and is unwilling to withdraw from Shaanxi, but is willing to sign an armistice agreement and promise not to confront the Red Army, can he be allowed to be stationed in Ankang?" ”

Liu Bocheng shook his head again: "That's impossible, you can go north from Ankang to attack Xi'an at any time, and the threat to our base area is too great." The Red Seventh Army was in charge of Shaanxi's defense, and they would not sit idly by and watch the Seventeenth Route Army stay in Ankang like this. ”

Yan Kui should feel that the current situation is very unfavorable to Yang Hucheng and the 17th Route Army, and it is possible that he will choose the second article and be reorganized into the Shaanxi People's Anti-Japanese Self-Defense Army, but it is not ruled out that he will choose to withdraw from Shaanxi, and the key is to seize the front of Chiang Kai-shek to win over Yang Hucheng and exert pressure to urge Yang Hucheng and the officers and men of the 17th Route Army to accept the reorganization of our party.

After Yan Kuan wanted to tell Liu Bocheng his thoughts, he also proposed that if Yang Hucheng chose to withdraw from Shaanxi, could he withdraw the forces controlled by our party in the 17th Route Army? At the same time, he also proposed that he wanted to return to work in the main force of the Red Army, and did not want to return to the 17th Route Army.

Liu Bocheng replied in a clear and unequivocal manner that if Yang Hucheng chooses to withdraw from Shaanxi, the forces controlled by our party will immediately withdraw, return to the main force of the Red Army, and take advantage of his favorable conditions as a native of Shaanxi to participate in the construction and development of a new Shaanxi.

As for the matter of exerting pressure on Yang Hucheng, there is no need for it militarily, Wanyuan has troops from the Four Fronts, and I believe that the Seventh Army Corps will inevitably make proper arrangements.

Regarding Yan Kuyao's question about his reluctance to return to the 17th Route Army, Chief of Staff Liu Bocheng said affectionately: "Comrade Yan Kuyao, before you raised it, the Central Committee had already considered this issue. Originally, I wanted to arrange your work directly and let Yang Hucheng send a negotiator over. But considering your influence in the Seventeenth Route Army Guard Regiment, it was decided that I would still send you back. However, this is a pre-dawn operation, and the light is at hand. If Yang Hucheng accepts the reorganization of our army, you will still have to play a role in Yang Hucheng's department. If he does not accept the reorganization, you and your comrades will withdraw, the current situation is very good, we don't need to waste time and energy there, Shaanxi needs a large number of cadres who are familiar with the situation, and there is more important work waiting for you! ”

Yan Kui was extremely happy to hear Chief of Staff Liu say this, so he said goodbye to the chief and rode back to the 17th Route Army.

As soon as Shao Lizi's telegram was announced, Zhang Qun drove to find Chiang Kai-shek.

Although it was the first day of the Lunar New Year, due to the war, Chiang Kai-shek was not in the mood to accompany the dignitaries from all walks of life to greet him as in previous years, so he took Soong Meiling to hide in the Tangshan villa and quietly study the materials of Liu Yimin's press conference alone.

The more I study, the more annoyed I become, this [***] is really capable of coming out in large numbers, and one [***] can't be cleaned up, and now this Liu Yimin has popped up again. Judging by his remarks at the press conference, it is simply to build Shaanxi into a large rear base with a developed economy and a strong military. If he really does it, won't Shaanxi be [***] forever?

Chiang Kai-shek knew that since Liu Yimin could think of this, he must do so. If he is given time and let him deploy calmly, I am afraid that Shaanxi will become a magnet, which will attract a large amount of capital and technical talents to Shaanxi. When the time comes, it will be difficult to say who will have more appeal and authority between [***] and the national political axe.

It seems that Chen Cheng, Yang Yongtai, and He Guoguang have been frightened by the red bandits, and they are afraid that it will not work to rely on them to plan and command the bandits. It was necessary to change generals, and it was necessary to adopt the method of dealing with the Jiangxi Soviet region, using pillboxes and highway networks to trap the red bandits to death in Shaanxi, and finally using a large army to line up and roll iron barrels to completely crush the red bandits.

Just when Chiang Kai-shek was racking his brains and thinking of ways to deal with the Red Army, Zhang Qun came.

After Zhang Qun came in, he first went to say a good New Year to Song Meiling, and then entered the study of Chiang Kai-shek's Tangshan villa.

After the two old classmates exchanged New Year's greetings, Zhang Qun directly handed over the transcribed Shao Lizi's telegram.

Chiang Kai-shek read it again and was silent for a long time.

Zhang Qun saw that Chiang Kai-shek did not reflect, so he said: "If the commissioner is willing to negotiate with [***], this Shao Lizi is a suitable candidate." Xinhai veteran, famous of the Northern Expedition, chairman of Shaanxi Province, and known as a clear name, the Communist Party did not have much hostility towards him. ”

Chiang Kai-shek snorted and said, "You can let Shao Lizi build a bridge, and you still have to do the work." I'll give you an answer today, I won't negotiate with [***], you have to make a false deal with them, try to paralyze them, and buy time for me to straighten out the military. ”

Zhang Qun couldn't imagine that Chiang Kai-shek still had to use force to solve the problem in his heart, so he persuaded: "Commission, instead of us fighting to the death with [***] and wasting national strength, it is better to let [***] fight with Yu himself, and use his own hand to destroy them, this is a plan to kill people with a knife." ”

Chiang Kai-shek's eyes widened, and his gaze pierced Zhang Qun, making Zhang Qun a little out of breath.

Chiang Kai-shek saw sweat on Zhang Qun's forehead, so he smiled: "Yue Jun, you don't understand, [***] will not be fooled, so they will not fight to the death with Yue himself!" [***], Zhou Enlai, are all a generation of heroes, very cunning. What they want is territory, they want time, and with territory and time, they will soon grow stronger. When the time comes, they will rely on the help of Red Russia to redify the whole of China, so that the cultural system that has been inherited in our country for thousands of years will be wiped out. For [***] and the red bandits, there is only one word, that is, suppression. ”

Zhang Qun was indeed puzzled, how could the main focus on talks, which had just been agreed on last night, become murderous today?

Just as he was about to persuade Chiang Kai-shek to consider it carefully, he heard Chiang Kai-shek say: "There is still something to worry about Yue Jun, when you go to Xi'an to negotiate with the communist bandits, you must first go to Taiyuan, meet Yan Xishan, and tell him that you must go all out to defend the Yellow River and strictly prevent the red bandits from flowing eastward." In addition, it was necessary to form a westward marching corps, cross the Yellow River, and attack Xi'an. I have a letter here, and you have to hand it over to Yan Xishan in person. After the New Year, I will personally go to Yucheng and Luoyang to make arrangements for the suppression of bandits. ”

Zhang Qun felt that Chiang Kai-shek was simply dreaming, and would Yan Xishan listen to his dispatch and attack westward? If Yan Xishan could listen to his orders, there would be no Central Plains War.

Zhang Qun felt that whether as an old classmate or as a subordinate, he had the obligation to persuade Chiang Kai-shek. Just said: "Commission, whether it is Yan Xishan or Li Zongren, they will not obey the orders of the central government now." Now that the situation has changed, it is not the time for us to encircle and suppress the Jiangxi bandit area, these powerful warlords are afraid of losing the war, and they will no longer follow the central government to muddy the waters. Instead of spending energy and money on Yan Xishan and the like, it is better to concentrate on compiling and training our moral mechanics. Time waits for no one, and I think that the incident I provoked in Chadong this time is far from over, and it is difficult to say how the situation will evolve. We should still get a good grasp of negotiations with [***], spare time and energy to organize and train troops, and guard against the occurrence of major incidents. ”

Chiang Kai-shek was a little impatient, and directly waved his hand and reprimanded: "Don't say it again, Yang Yongtai, He Guoguang, Chen Cheng, you, you have been frightened by the red bandits." Last night, for the sake of keeping the year, I didn't criticize you, but you became more and more arrogant, and you dared to criticize the country's major policies. You must always remember that [***] is our natural enemy, and if we do not get rid of it, the country will have no peace. Your task is to negotiate with [***], to convince them that the political axe is sincere, and to let their guard down. At the same time, they were required to return the occupied northern Sichuan region and not to expand beyond Shaanxi. In any case, buy three months for my military deployment. When I finish the deployment, I will wave my army to Shaanxi and capture [***], Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and other bandit leaders. ”

Zhang Qun thought to himself, it was you who asked for our opinions last night, and this morning it became a major national policy criticized by a few of us, which is simply inexplicable. Fight, fight, you won't look back if you don't touch your head and break the bloodstream!

Zhang Qun, who was well aware of his old classmates' methods, didn't dare to persuade him anymore, so he had to ask if he wanted to send an announcement or something like that, in response to [***]'s negotiation proposal and Shao Lizi's call?

Chiang Kai-shek said lukewarmly: "Yes." ”

Zhang Qun had no choice but to take Chiang Kai-shek's handwritten letter to Yan Xishan, leave Tangshan Hot Springs in the dusty land, and go back to prepare to send a telegram and organize a negotiation team.

After Zhang Qun left, Chiang Kai-shek stopped reading the materials of Liu Yimin's press conference and began to study military maps.

Liu Yimin took Ni Hua to prepare to go to the garrison of the baggage regiment first, because Liu Yimin estimated that the gate of the baggage regiment must be crowded with victims of rations at this time, and he wanted to let this noble lady, who had read a belly of foreign books and never knew how to worry about food and clothing, experience the suffering of the people, and truly feel from the bottom of his heart why he wanted to make a revolution.

Unexpectedly, before arriving at the garrison of the baggage regiment, he met a team of hungry people receiving rations at the garrison of the engineer regiment.

On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, the sun shone lazily on the long contingent of people with their rations, unable to offset the cold brought by the tattered clothes, and many people were holding the pockets of rations in their arms, their hands in their sleeves, their noses were runny, and their whole body was shivering.

Because there are too many people who want rations, even if there is a lot of grain in the axe grain warehouse in Xi'an Province and the municipal government, it can't stand so many people to receive it. Therefore, Wu Zheng stipulated that everyone was only allowed to receive 20 catties of rice or flour, and he would find a way after the New Year.

When Liu Yimin arrived, the engineering regiment had already set up three tables at the gate of the station, and the soldiers commanded the hungry people who received rations and distributed rations at the same time in three ways. Even this speed is not fast, and the queue behind is still very long.

He Mingming, commander of the engineer regiment, had just been transferred to the post of chief of staff of the Third Independent Division, and now he was leading the whole regiment with political appointee Chao Ran. I saw the regiment commander and Dr. Ni coming, and they hurriedly came up to report.

Liu Yimin asked Ren Chaoran to organize the distribution of rations, and he led Ni Hua to stand aside, silently looking at the people receiving rations.

An old man in the team couldn't support himself anymore and fell to the ground. Ni Hua hurriedly walked over, touched his forehead with his hand, felt a very high fever, and called a few soldiers to take him to the Red Army Hospital for treatment.

After the soldiers carried the old man away, a man with rations said: "This wife of the commander of the Red Army is really kind-hearted, blessed is this old man!" ”

Ni Hua said: "The old man is hungry and faint, he should be saved and it is nothing." We can't watch him starve to death. ”

The man said: "The Red Army is so good, before the Red Army came, there were not 180 starving people in this Xi'an city one day?" This is still good, when Liu Zhenhua besieged Xi'an the year before last, there were many people starving to death in Xi'an. Miserable! ”

Ni Hua opened a pair of beautiful big eyes and asked in surprise: "Isn't the national political axe carrying out disaster relief?" Didn't they transport a lot of food and raise a lot of money? ”

The man shook his head: "I don't know what the national political axe is, nor have I seen the food of the national political axe, I only know that in the eighteenth year of the Republic of China, two million people starved to death in Shaanxi, and the people of Xi'an gnawed up the bark on both sides of the road." Starved to death in the streets, some people carried out to dig a pit and buried it, and if they starved to death in a remote place, they were directly fed to wild dogs. ”

Ni Hua was speechless for a long time after hearing this, and silently walked to Liu Yimin's side and said let's go.

Liu Yimin saw that Ni Hua was shaking a lot, and felt that it had already had some effect, so he took her out of the residence of the engineer regiment to see the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.

The Big Wild Goose Pagoda was built in the 22nd year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty, standing in the Great Ci'en Temple, and was famous for the Tang Dynasty monk Xuanzang who presided over it here. The Great Mercy and Grace Temple is the holy place of Mahayana Buddhism, but unfortunately the war was damaged, and the Great Mercy and Grace Temple at this time is the west garden of the Great Mercy and Grace Temple in the Tang Dynasty, which was rebuilt in the Ming and Qing dynasties. However, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda is indeed a Tang Dynasty building, which has experienced more than 1,000 years of wind and rain and is still majestic and upright.

On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, the front of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda still looks very lively. Jugglers, vendors selling snacks, citizens with their families, and Red Army soldiers are mixed in, and it does look like a Spring Festival atmosphere.

(To be continued)