The target plane, Yan'an, Shaanxi Province, Yanhuang Continent, is a heavily guarded cave, where the Red Party's highest intelligence agency, the Sparrow, sits and lands. At this time, the staff in the cave are skillfully using the mouse to operate various command buttons on the screen. After an initial period of surprise and rustiness, they are now able to face the high-end electronic devices of the 21st century calmly. Of course, now they only know how to use it, the principle is what they think, and everyone is told that this is overseas technology, which needs to be kept strictly secret, and cannot be told to anyone, not even their own immediate family, and this secret will rot in the stomach for the rest of their lives.

"Huh?" Zhao Shuhe, who was operating the system, immediately enlarged the maps of Qinghai, Ningxia, and Gansu in turn after seeing the suspicious areas automatically prompted by the system, and watched them carefully.

If there is a major change in the map of the same area within a few days, such as the long flow of people and the convoy after tens of thousands of people are assembled, it will automatically alarm the operator, although there will be a lot of false alarms, but it is very beneficial to make up for human error.

"Report, Director!" After more than ten minutes of careful identification and confirmation, Zhao Shuhe immediately picked up the red phone on the table and said: "I am Zhao Shuhe, and the sparrow has found that the 'Ma Jiajun' in Qinghai, Gansu, and Ningxia has gathered on a large scale for unknown reasons!" ”

"Okay, I'll come right over!" There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line, and then he replied.

An hour later, after careful analysis and judgment, a copy of the latest peripheral military intelligence was sent to the top command level of the Red Party army.

Inside the small hall of Zaoyuan.

"You say, what do they want to do with this Ma Jiajun?" After Zhu de saw the information, he carefully compared the large-scale Yanhuang map on the wall and said to himself.

"I can't see it now, but they're all gathering troops, looking at the photos, like they're preparing for an expedition!" Nie Rongzhen, commander-in-chief of the sixth column, replied.

"Comrade Jianying (Chief of Staff of the Military Commission of the Red Party), what do you think?" Lao Mao smoked while asking Ye Jianying, who was sliding his hand around the map, at this time he was the chief of staff of the Military Commission and the chief of staff of the Eighteenth Group Army, and he had a lot of experience in staff analysis.

"Chairman, now the entire northwest, except for Yan Xishan, which is already in a corner of Suiyuan and does not have much territory and strength, and the Sheng Shicai forces in Xinjiang, belong to our party and the Ma Jiajun in the northwest. Since the Ma Jiajun did not act alone, but assembled at the same time, and according to our years of intelligence collection and analysis, the 'four horses' were not close to each other, but suspicious of each other. It is only when they are confronted with a common external enemy that they join forces. Therefore, if the three provinces are linked, more than eighty percent of them are likely to use troops in unison. And now the only area directly bordering their sphere of influence, except for Sichuan, which is geographically southern, is our party's base area! Ye Jianying analyzed.

"Could it be that they want to fight Yan Xishan?" Wang Fan, who was also sitting in the room, interjected and asked.

"Unlikely." After Ye Jianying heard Wang Fan's question, he shook his head, and then explained: "Yan Xishan's territory only borders us with Ningxia Ma Hongkui and Ma Hongbin, if the 'four horses' attack him together, then the benefits after the war are very difficult to distribute, it must be the Ningxia Wang Ma Hongkui and Ma Hongbin brothers who get the greatest benefits, and the Gansu Wang Ma Buqing and Qinghai Wang Ma Bufang may not do this kind of great good deed that harms themselves and others!" ”

"Since it won't be Yan Xishan, plus now Sichuan occupies the great righteousness after all, and the terrain there is also surrounded by lofty mountains and mountains, which is not suitable for the advantage of the cavalry of the Ma family army at all, then the goal is already very clear, rushing towards us!" Lao Mao frowned for a while, thought for a while, and said.

"Do they really have the guts? You know, our current strength is getting stronger and stronger! Wang Fan didn't expect the other party to have the courage to smash stones with eggs, and wondered.

"Only we know our strength best, and outsiders may not be sober and understand!" Zhu De also agreed with Lao Mao's analysis and nodded.

"If that's the case, then our six verticals can finally open this time~~" After Nie Rongzhen heard the news, not only was he not unhappy, but rubbed his hands and said very excitedly.

"Hehe, Lao Nie, I'm afraid you've been suffocated for the past half a year, right?" Ye Jianying quipped.

"Haha, those who know me, Jian Ying also!"

"However, judging from the opponent's strength, there are about 15~180,000, it seems to be a posture of the main force, with your six columns, plus the 16th support column, it is easy to defeat the enemy, but if you want to make dumplings and annihilate them all, I am afraid that the strength is still a little insufficient. After all, the cavalry of the Ma family army accounted for nearly half, with a large range of activities and strong mobility ability, so it was easy to jump out and escape before the encirclement was formed! Zhu De has been thinking about the combat power of the enemy and us in his mind, and reminded.

"What happened to our newly reorganized troops?" Lao Mao also nodded when he heard this, and asked Ye Jianying, who was in charge of this work.

"That's right, what is being reorganized is the 7th column, 8th column, 9th column, 10th column and the independent Xingmeng Army, the Xingjiang Army, the Xingzang Army, and a large number of expanded reserve troops, once the training is completed in the future, they will be filled into each column, expanding from 60,000 to 150,000, and the support column will be expanded to 100,000, so that the total strength of each of our column groups (main column + support column) will reach 250,000, and 9 will be 2.25 million, and then counting the Xingmeng Army, etc., With a strength of 150,000 each, the total strength can reach 2.7 million field troops. This should be initially enough for us to recover the provinces of the whole country, after all, we still have more than 2 million militia and reserve troops in our plan, which can cooperate with the operation and be responsible for the garrison of the recovered areas. Ye Jianying replied in detail.

"And which of them are the troops that can be immediately put into battle now?" Lao Mao asked.

"It is the 7th column and the 8th column, and the training work of these two columns was carried out relatively early, and their combat effectiveness has been basically formed!"

"I remember that Fu Zuoyi was assigned to the 9th Column Armored Division, right?" Zhu De interjected and asked.

"Yes, because the 35th Army that they surrendered to Cheng needs to be disorganized, so many of them are now arranged in the 10th Column and the Xingmeng Army. However, including the 7th and 8th columns, the commander-in-chief of the newly reorganized units has not yet been finally confirmed. Ye Jianying added.

"Lao Mao, if Ma Jiajun really dares to attack this time, let's simply solve the problem of the three northwestern provinces once and for all, and take back Qinghai, Gansu, and Ningxia!" After hearing this, Zhu De nodded, and at the same time suggested.

"This is a good idea, that is, to destroy the incoming enemy, and to expand the base area, but if this is the case, the commander-in-chief of the 7th and 8th columns must think carefully, not only to be able to fight, but also to be familiar with the three northwestern provinces. After all, there are six columns, and we have no problem in frontal defense and counterattack, but the oblique insertion, outflanking, and encirclement on both sides require the cooperation of the troops of the 7th and 8th columns, so that we can not let go of an enemy and clear all obstacles for the subsequent advance into the three northwestern provinces. I suggest that the 7th column is under the command of Comrade Ye Jianying, who has been in charge of the reorganization of the army these days, and at the same time is familiar with the situation in Ningxia. Lao Mao replied.

"Yes, I agree!" After Zhu De heard it, he thought for a while and nodded.

"Thank you for the trust you have in me!" Hearing that he could personally lead the troops to the front line to fight, Ye Jianying was very excited, after all, the real achievements on the battlefield are the wishes of a good son.

"Your abilities are there, don't be humble. It's 8 longitudinals, who will it hand it over......" Lao Mao said in the end, a little hesitant.

When the others heard this, they also began to think, and for a while no one in the room spoke.

"Ahem~~ Uncle Mao, uncles and uncles, I have a proposal about the 8 verticals, you see if it's okay!" Wang Fan suddenly broke the silence and spoke.

"Oh~~ Comrade Xiao Wang has a crush on whom, let's listen!" Nie Shuai quipped.

"Where is it, where is it, I just mix it blindly and throw bricks and bricks for everyone." Wang Fan was a little embarrassed, and then said: "I propose that Comrade Xu Xiangqian be the commander-in-chief of the 8th Column!" ”

"Xu Xiangqian?" Zhu De's expression was stunned when he heard this, he nodded and shook his head, and then looked at Lao Mao.

"Wang Fan, what do you think, tell you in detail!" When Lao Mao heard Xu Xiangqian's name, he guessed something in his heart and encouraged.

"Because of the Western Route Army, the story of the Western Route Army in 1936 is known to everyone, and I will not repeat it. To be honest, there were many reasons for the annihilation of the Western Route Army, including Zhang Guotao's ambition to establish a separate central government at that time, the overall consideration of hoping to open up the passage connecting the Soviet Union, and the strategy to respond to the Eastern Route Army and resolve the encirclement and interception of hundreds of thousands of bald party troops at that time, as well as the momentum and support needs of Zhang Xueliang after the outbreak of the Xi'an Incident. However, the final result was the heroic sacrifice of more than 20,000 Red Party soldiers of our Party's Western Route Army. A small number of them may have obeyed Zhang Guotao's orders, but I believe that the vast majority of the soldiers of the Western Route Army are revolutionary, so if I can, I propose that Comrade Xu Xiangqian be the commander-in-chief of the 8th Column, personally destroy the main force of the Ma Jiajun, and avenge those lost comrades! Wang Fan said word by word.

"Revenge?" Lao Mao muttered a sentence, pondered for about half a minute, and then said: "Just like Comrade Xiao Wang, what you said in later generations, the Western Route Army is the Western Route Army, and Zhang Guotao is Zhang Guotao, and they can't be confused." In this case, Wang Shusheng (deputy commander-in-chief of the Western Route Army at the time, who later returned to Yan'an disguised as a beggar), Du Yide (director of the Fourth Bureau, returned to Yan'an with a beggar), and Chen Mingyi (operational staff officer, who walked back to Yan'an after four months) were all transferred! ”

"Good! I agree! Zhu De was the first to say.

"I'm for it too!" Nie Shuai said.

At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Xu Xiangqian, who was working in the university town as the president of the Yanhuang Anti-Japanese War Military and Political University, received a call from the senior secretary of the Red Party, asking him to report to Yan'an immediately.

After arriving in Yan'an, Xu Xiangqian was led into a cave by the reception staff.

"Huh? Old chief, why are you here too? To Xu Xiangqian's surprise, his old acquaintance was already sitting in the room, and the person he knew was Wang Shusheng.

"Shusheng, Yide, Mingyi, you have also been notified?" Xu Xiangqian was stunned for a moment, and after looking around, he found that they were all old comrades of the Western Route Army in the past, and asked suspiciously.

"Yes, old chief, all of the things we were told this afternoon have all come from the troops!" After Chen Mingyi replied, he continued: "Old chief, come, sit down!" ”

"Don't shout about the old chief, I am now the president of the Yanhuang Anti-Japanese War Military and Political University, the influence is not good, and it is not good for your development!" Xu Xiangqian glanced out of the door, and when he saw that there was no one standing guard at the door, he breathed a sigh of relief and whispered.

"It's okay, we secretly shouted in private, outsiders are coming, just call you Comrade Xu Xiangqian. By the way, old chief, do you want to investigate some historical issues again? The people in my opinion are all the high-ranking members of the Western Route Army who returned to Yan'an that year. Du Yide asked in a low voice.

"I don't know, I didn't hear anything beforehand, wait and see!" Xu Xiangqian was also confused and replied.

At 5 o'clock in the afternoon, just as several people were chatting and waiting in the house. Lao Mao and Zhu De walked into the house from the outside.

"Comrade Qianqian, Comrade Shusheng, you have been working hard lately!" Lao Mao said hello.

"It's not hard, it's not hard!" The people who were doing it in the room quickly stood up after seeing several of the top members of the Red Party enter the house.

"Sit, sit down, don't be too restrained, this time I came to discuss something with you." Lao Mao sat down and waved his hand. At the same time, a secretary who followed him distributed materials to several people in the room.

Five minutes later.

"So, the Northwest Ma Jiajun is going to attack Shaanxi?" After browsing through the information, Xu asked Qian.

"Yes, intelligence shows that the 'four horses' in the northwest are going to jointly attack our Shaanxi base area." Zhu De replied.

"I didn't think they would have the courage to go east!" Although I don't know what the total strength of the Red Party is now, a few people living in Shaanxi still deeply feel that the changes in the surrounding environment and the substantial improvement of the Red Party's military strength in the past six months have made them worry about Ma Bufang's hitting the stone with an egg.

"Hehe, we brought you here this time to ask, do you have any experience in fighting against the Ma family army in the past?" Lao Mao asked.

"This ~~ The other party is mainly cavalry, with strong mobility, and when it starts, it is not afraid of death, when it is charged, even if the people around him are shot, the rest of the people will still keep rushing forward until they die or rush into the defenders' positions." Xu replied to Qian.

"And because the other party is an army composed of relatives, clans, and old departments, the centripetal force is extremely strong, and it is difficult for us to convert the prisoners in a short period of time!" Wang Shusheng added.

"To fight with them, you need to form a firepower network with light machine guns and heavy machine guns, and it is best to have some flat-fire guns and mortars, relying on the county city wall and other buildings, so that you can restrain the opponent's cavalry charge and thwart the opponent's spirit." Chen Mingyi also advised.

"Well, it seems that several comrades have seriously thought about Ma Jiajun's tactics and weaknesses. Then I will give an order to the Central Military Commission! Lao Mao finally stood up, and all the people in the room stood up when they saw this.

"Xu Xiangqian, Wang Shusheng, Chen Mingyi, Du Yide!"

"In, in!"

After discussion, the Central Military Commission decided to appoint Comrade Xu Xiangqian as commander-in-chief of the 8th Column, Comrade Wang Shusheng as deputy commander, Comrade Chen Mingyi as chief of staff, and Comrade Du Yide as deputy chief of staff. Responsible for commanding the 8th Column, and together with the 7th Column, he cooperated with the 6th Column to encircle and annihilate the attacking Northwest Majia Army. I hope that you will inherit the heroic fighting spirit of the Western Route Army and continue this spirit well! ”

"Yes, thank you for the party's trust in us and guarantee to complete the task!!" After several people in the room heard the content of the order, they first couldn't believe it, and were stunned for a moment, and then their eyes were red, and their faces were red and replied loudly.

Late that night, Xu Xiangqian slept in his clothes in the temporary headquarters of the 8th Column after finishing the handover of the troops and sorting out the army structure, and in his sleep, he seemed to hear the unwillingness and roar of the former comrades-in-arms who died in the land of Gansu 7 years ago, and tears could not stop dripping from the corners of his eyes, and he said in a dream: "The deceased entrusted with the unfinished business, and he must take revenge!" ”