How strong is Zhou Enlai’s ability? Guo Moruo once gave a very accurate evaluation of Zhou Enlai's ability: Thinking about things is as careful as mercury, and handling problems is as quick as electric fire!
Zhou Enlai arrived in northern Shaanxi
On October 19, 1935, Central Red Army arrived in Wuqi Town, northern Shaanxi and was warmly welcomed by the military and civilians in the Shaanxi-Gansu base area. Why did Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and others choose northern Shaanxi as the place where the Red Army settled? Under the circumstances at that time, the whole country was covered with white terror, but a red base was left in northern Shaanxi and northeastern Gansu.
html In the early 30s, Liu Zhidan and Xie Zichang founded two revolutionary bases, Shaanxi-Gansu Border and Northern Shaanxi. In the later struggle, these two bases supported and cooperated with each other. In February 1935, the Northwest Working Committee and the Northwest Military Commission were established, achieving complete unification.Soon after, Xie Zichang died of illness due to his injury. Under the command of Liu Zhidan, the Red 26th Army and the Red 27th Army smashed the enemy's second "encirclement and suppression", connected the two base areas of northern Shaanxi and northeastern Gansu, expanded to 17 counties in northern Shaanxi and Longdong, and carried out a land revolution in the base areas, and distributed most of the land.
On September 15, under the leadership of Xu Haidong and Cheng Zihua, the former Hubei-Henan-Anhui base area, broke through the strict seal of the enemy, arrived in Yanchuan, northern Shaanxi before the Central Red Army, and joined forces with the Red 26th Army and the Red 27th Army. Immediately, the 3rd Army was combined into Red 15 Corps , with a force of nearly 5,000. Xu Haidong was appointed commander of the army, Liu Zhidan was appointed deputy commander and chief of staff, and Cheng Zihua was appointed political commissar.
Red 15th Legion quickly launched a battle to smash the enemy's third "encirclement and suppression" in early October. The Laoshan Campaign annihilated the 110th Division of the Northeast Army, and the Yulin Bridge Campaign annihilated 4 battalions of the 107th Division of the enemy, and captured the commander of the Northeast Army Gao Fuyuan alive. These two battles strongly cooperated with the Central Red Army to head north.
But the situation is also serious for the Red 15th Corps: on the one hand, because the Central Red Army went north, the enemy was forced to focus more on the northwest, mobilizing nearly 100,000 Central Army from Zhang Xueliang, Yang Hucheng, and the Central Army of Hu Zongnan, Mao Bingwen and other departments to carry out the third "encirclement and suppression" of the Red Army.
On the other hand, due to the serious impact of the "left" central error, the newly established Shaanxi-Gansu-Shanxi Provincial Party Committee began to "anti-counterrevolutionary" in late September, and arrested Liu Zhidan and other major leaders of the base area. Many cadres and the masses were unable to understand and felt indignant. The base area was facing a huge crisis.
Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai and others who arrived in northern Shaanxi (oil painting)
After the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Central Red Army arrived in Wuqi Town, northern Shaanxi, on November 3, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and other central leaders listened to the reports of Guo Hongtao, deputy secretary of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Shanxi Provincial Party Committee and Nie Hongjun, chairman of the Northwest Military Commission, who were rushing to welcome him, and immediately held a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee.
Mao Zedong emphasized at the meeting that the enemy's third "encirclement and suppression" of the Shaanxi-Gansu base area should be smashed this month, and we must never delay it, otherwise the enemy will be given time to build a fortress. The organization of the First Front Army was also restored at the meeting, with the 1st Army (i.e. the Shaanxi-Gansu Detachment adapted by the Central Red Army) and the 15th Army.
Politburo decided to establish an organization bureau under the charge of Zhou Enlai to undertake the party's work and be responsible for the rear military work, such as expanding the Red Army, mobilizing grain, etc.; establish an Military Commission with Mao Zedong as chairman and responsible for military work, and Mao Zedong also served as the political commissar of the First Front Army; But at this time, Mao Zedong insisted that Zhou Enlai needed the front line, so Zhou Enlai still went to the front line with Mao Zedong.
On the same day, the Northwest Revolutionary Military Committee was established, with Mao Zedong as chairman, Zhou Enlai and Peng Dehuai as vice chairman. They immediately led the 1st Legion south. On November 6, the 1st Legion and the 15th Legion. After the two legions met, they fought a major annihilation battle, that is, Zhiluo Town Battle .
In this battle, Zhou Enlai personally went to the front line to command. He instructed Xu Haidong and others to siege the remaining 109th Division of the Northeast Army who retreated to the small village without attacking, and to annihilate them when they escape. As expected by Zhou Enlai at night, Niu Yuanfeng, the commander of the 109th Division, was hopeless to wait for assistance, led the remaining troops to break through, ran 25 miles and was annihilated by the Red Army.
Zhiluo Town Battle annihilated the complete division of the 109th Division of the Northeast Army and a regiment of the 106th Division. The enemy's plan to attack northern Shaanxi was completely disrupted, and all enemy troops retreated one after another, shattering the enemy's third "encirclement and suppression" of the Shaanxi-Gansu base. made a relatively stable new situation in the base area, clearing the obstacles for the Party Central Committee to place the revolutionary base camp in the northwest.
When the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China listened to the reports of Guo Hongtao and Nie Hongjun on November 3, it noticed the serious problem of the wrong anti-counterfeiting in the Shaanxi-Gansu base area. Immediately, under the leadership of Zhang Wentian, Dong Biwu and others, the problem was quickly identified and Liu Zhidan and others were released that month. On December 8, Zhou Enlai returned to Wayaobao, Anding County, Shaanxi, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and met with comrades such as Liu Zhidan.
As soon as Liu Zhidan entered the door, he told Zhou Enbao's family that he was from Huangpu's fourth class and was a student of Zhou Enlai. Zhou Enlai said enthusiastically, I know that we are comrades-in-arms, and said that you and the comrades in northern Shaanxi were wronged! Liu Zhidan said that when the central government comes, things will be easier in the future!
Outstanding leader of the Shaanxi-Gansu base area, Liu Zhidan (oil painting)
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China immediately appointed Liu Zhidan as the deputy director of the rear office, the commander of the 28th Army, and the commander of the Wayaobao security guard. Other comrades who were wrongly arrested were also condolent and assigned their new jobs one by one. Zhou Enlai served as the director of the rear office of the Northwest Military Commission at this time, and was also responsible for the supply and military supplies in the rear. It has always been Zhou Enlai's strength to deal with such complicated and trivial matters.
At that time, the weather in northern Shaanxi had already begun to become cold, and many commanders and soldiers of the Central Red Army not only did not have cotton coats, but some even wore shorts, which made it an urgent matter for the troops to solve the problem of winter clothing. After Zhou Enlai returned to Wayaobao , he first merged the Central Supply Department and the Northwest Military Commission Supply Department into the General Supply Department of the Workers and Peasants' Red Army, and cleared the materials in stocks from the Northern Shaanxi Supply Department, and decided to focus on supplementing the Central Red Army.
At the same time, Zhou Enlai also assigned many technical cadres and management cadres of the military supplies factory preserved in the Central Red Army to the various military supplies factories in Wayaobao, which greatly improved the production capacity of these military supplies factories, and also allowed the General Supply Department to mobilize women to make winter clothes. It took only more than ten days to solve the urgent need for the Central Red Army winter clothes.
Zhou Enlai has always been forward-looking and meticulous in handling things. is in the Gannan area, and most of them live in Huimin . When the Red Army first entered Gannan, Zhou Enlai specifically told the troops to strengthen organizational discipline and respect the religious beliefs and customs of ethnic minorities. After arriving in northern Shaanxi, Zhou Enlai has always paid great attention to this issue.
Due to Zhou Enlai's effective work, the Party Central Committee and the Central Red Army had achieved remarkable results in just two months after entering northern Shaanxi: the enemy's third "encirclement and suppression" was shattered militarily; the wrong "anti-counterattack" within the base area was properly handled politically, uniting the cadres and masses of the 15th Corps and northern Shaanxi; the military's supply problem was solved economically, and the base area achieved a stable and stable environment.
is precisely because of the stable and stable environment in the base area that an enlarged meeting of the Wayaobao Politburo was held from December 17 to 25. At the meeting, Mao Zedong proposed to complete the preparations for crossing the Yellow River to the east within 40 days. At the meeting, Zhou Enlai proposed the idea of "active defense" in military affairs, which was highly agreed by Mao Zedong.
On January 2, 1936, Zhou Enlai made a report on "The Party's Organizational Tasks under the New Situation" at the Politburo meeting, proposing to unite thousands of people in a national revolutionary war against the Japanese invaders, emphasizing the problem of opposing the " shutdown ", requiring overcoming the narrow view of intellectuals and selecting cadres in a long-term struggle. Zhou Enlai made important contributions to the formation and formulation of the comprehensive anti-Japanese national united front policy.
