On November 2, 1928, the 4th Red Army received the instruction letter issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on June 4, 1928. Due to the inconvenient transportation and Guanshan barrier, this letter was delayed for five months.

On November 2, 1928, the Red Army received the instruction letter issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on June 4, 1928. Due to the inconvenient transportation and Guanshan barrier, this letter was delayed for five months. Nonetheless, this is still a major event for the Hunan-Jiangxi border and the 4th Red Army, which have not received instructions from the central government for a long time. In a letter sent to Mao Zedong and Zhu De on June 4 and forwarded to comrades, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China clearly instructed the Fourth Army of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army: "As for your army, you can officially change its name to Red Army ." This is the "Red Army" Official recognition of a formal title.

Before that, in June 1928, the Fourth Red Army broke the Gan Army's fourth "suppression campaign." The Jinggangshan revolutionary base developed to include Ninggang, Yongxin, and Lotus counties. The northern part of Suichuan , the southeastern part of Lingxian , and a small part of Ji'an and Anfu brought the Hunan-Jiangxi border into its heyday.

But in early August of this year, the Gan Army stationed in Yongxin learned that the main force of the 4th Red Army had failed in southern Hunan and that the troops on the Hunan-Jiangxi border were very weak, so they unhesitatingly attacked the 31st Red Regiment in the Yongxin area and Jinggangshan A fierce attack was launched in the hinterland of the base, and Lianhua and Ningang were captured.

In order to preserve his strength, Mao Zedong had to command the exhausted Red 31st Regiment and local armed forces to retreat to the Jiulong, Lujiang, Boyang, and Jiupi areas of Xiaojiang Mountain District in Yongxin County; the Red 32nd Regiment and Ninggang, Suichuan, and Party organizations and local armed forces in Lianhua, Lingxian, and Chaling counties also retreated to the mountainous areas. In addition to the West and North Districts of Ninggang, Tianlong District of Yongxin Beixiang, Xiaoxijiang District of Xixiang, Wannian Mountain District of Nanjiang, Upper West District of Lianhua, Qingshigang District and Dayuan District of Lingxian County, and Xiaowujing District Outside the mountainous areas, the border counties and plain areas were all occupied by the Gan army. The Red Army was in a desperate situation and could only survive in the cracks of the Jinggang Mountains during the encirclement and suppression of Hunan and Jiangxi. However, Mao Zedong became more courageous as he became more frustrated, and still encouraged everyone to stick to the base areas, rely on the masses, and fight resolutely, and gradually recovered a lot of lost ground.

1. The reason why the Red Army was able to survive in the cracks

After the failure of the 1927 revolution, the new warlords of the Kuomintang formed five major factions, including Chiang Kai-shek Central Faction, Li Zongren Bai Chongxi's New Gui Faction, Feng Yuxiang The Northwest Clan of Yan Xishan of the Jin Clan, and the Feng Clan of Zhang Zuolin . Chiang Kai-shek was named the Central Committee, but he could not command the whole country. In addition to the local warlords, there were also small warlords such as Hunan Army, , Gan Army, Guizhou Army, Guangdong Army, Yunnan Army, , Sichuan Army... Several major factions and warlords from various places interacted with each other. They dislike each other and attack each other, which provides convenience for the Red Army's extreme survival.

In early 1928, the so-called National Government nominally unified most of the country, and the four major factions jointly attacked Fengjun. Before Beijing and Tianjin were conquered, there was a temporary unity against Zhang Zuolin. After Beijing and Tianjin were captured, this unity immediately disintegrated and turned into a situation of fierce internal struggle among the four factions. The Jiang and Gui factions were brewing war. As the domestic agents of British, American, German, French, Japanese and other imperialists, warlords of various factions cannot compromise for a long time in any case, and all compromises are temporary. Today's temporary compromise is also fermenting tomorrow's greater war.

The Fourth Red Army, surrounded by white political power, has a small or several small areas of red political power that have existed for a long time. This is something that has never happened in other countries in the world. This kind of thing cannot happen in a unified country, nor can it happen in a completely colonial country, but can only exist in a semi-colonial country. Because in an independent country, no matter where you establish political power, you are rebelling, and the country will soon destroy you. In a completely colonial country, the imperialists are powerful and can mobilize unified forces to destroy you. Only in semi-colonial countries, there are warlords fighting in several provinces or even every province. You can survive and develop by taking advantage of the criss-crossing mountains and rivers, in the mountainous areas where warlords have nothing to do, and rely on the barriers of mountains and rivers.

The divisions and wars among the warlords will definitely continue, and the development and growth of the Red Army will also continue.According to Mao Zedong's vision, the Jinggangshan base area was gradually expanded from the mountains to the plains, occupying Ping, Liu, and Li, and finally occupied the big cities of Ji'an, Ganzhou, Nanchang, and Changzhutan, and finally captured Wuhan and reddened the entire Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi. Based on these three provinces which had a mass base during the great revolution, we will then advance to the whole country. Of course this is a long-term process. This was Mao Zedong's good idea of ​​ the new democratic revolution and overthrowing the Chiang Kai-shek reactionaries during the Agrarian Revolutionary War. Unfortunately, it was interrupted by the "August fiasco" before it developed.

2. The August fiasco under " opportunism "

On June 30, 1928, the Jinggangshan base area received instructions from the Hunan Provincial Party Committee , and the Provincial Party Committee decided that the Fourth Red Army Immediately develop to southern Hunan. Comrade Yuan Wencai will guard the mountain, and the 28th Regiment will deploy 200 guns to arm Lotus and Yongxin farmers. They will try their best to expand the organization of the Red Guards, implement red martial law, and use the power of mass combat to Preventing the invasion of enemy troops will correct the view of dependence on the Red Army among comrades. The self-confidence and creativity of the masses should be actively improved.

Mao Zedong firmly opposed this instruction. He tried his best to convince the party committee, government, and commanders and fighters in the base area that they must not go to southern Hunan.

First of all, at this time, the warlords in Hunan, Jiangxi, and Guangdong were not fighting, and they could all use their full strength to encircle and suppress the Red Army. The Red Army could not rashly leave the favorable terrain of the base area to fight on the outside. Secondly, counties such as Chenzhou, Yongxing, Zixing, Guiyang, Yizhang and other counties in southern Hunan implemented the policy of burning and killing during the previous occupation by Zhu De and Chen Yi’s troops, and they did not have a mass base, and Fan Shisheng, who was stationed in Chenzhou , had a close friendship with Zhu De and had a deep conflict with Chiang Kai-shek. He was the target of the revolution, not the target of attack. The revolution must also distinguish between the main contradiction and the secondary contradiction. Chiang Kai-shek is the main contradiction, and other forces must unite with each other if they can. Finally, the policy of relying on local organizations like the Red Guards to resist encirclement and suppression is also very wrong. If the masses can fight, why should the Red Army do it? The encirclement and suppression by the regular armies of the Hunan Army and the Gan Army is no small matter. How can we mobilize large units and rely on mass organizations to prevent the enemy from invading? The Hunan Provincial Party Committee demanded that "comrades correct their view of dependence on the Red Army." Isn't this nonsense? Who can we rely on if we don't rely on the Red Army? Talking about war on paper is like child's play to the military, how can we not fail?

Although Mao Zedong strongly opposed the march to southern Hunan, the troops led by Zhu De and Chen Yi were coerced by soldiers and arrived at Chenzhou. The 28th and 29th Red Regiments they led, especially the 29th Regiment, were composed of the Yizhang Peasant Army. Many people in this team had a strong sense of small farmers and hometown concepts. They just want to fight back to their hometowns, fight against the local tycoons to divide the world, remove their armor and return to their fields to live a good life. Sun Tzu said: When the princes fight for their own land, it is the scattered land. To disperse the land, the soldiers stay close to home, they rely on the soil, they are pregnant with their wives, they advance without the intention of dying, and when they retreat, they have a place to return to. If they are in a hurry, they will disperse. Therefore, if the land is dispersed, there will be no war. Therefore, we must not let soldiers who have no political awareness and have not been fully instilled with the party's liberation thoughts to fight in familiar places close to their hometowns, but in raw places far away from their hometowns. Otherwise, the soldiers were close to their hometowns, thinking about their wives and children at home, and had no intention of fighting. They would all run away and go home, and the battle would be a waste.

When Zhu De, Chen Yi and others were under threat from the 29th Regiment, the most effective way to control the situation was to pull out all the stops and do everything possible to work for the upper-level regimental commanders and battalion commanders of the 29th Regiment one by one, and to persuade on a small scale. But not only did they not pull the trigger, but they also wanted to implement democracy at the beginning of the war. They fail to realize that complete democracy means no democracy. Democracy is not absolute but relative.

Not to mention that the soldiers are a bunch of mobs, but their understanding is indeed very shallow and ignorant. They can only see their wives and children returning to their hometowns, but they do not see that it is a dead end. What else is there to talk about democracy here and now? Even if we want to talk about democracy, we should first do a good job in the ideological work of the cadres of the 28th Regiment, so that they can cooperate well with the Military Commission to persuade the 29th Regiment, and at the same time strictly control the number of people participating in democratic meetings.Unfortunately, these correct methods were not adopted.

After the Fourth Red Army captured Chenzhou, Fan Shisheng's troops launched a massive counterattack. Zhu De ordered an emergency withdrawal from Chenzhou and retreat to the old county of Zixing. More than 1,000 people from the 29th Regiment dispersed as soon as they left Chenzhou, shouting "Let's go back to Yizhang!" "Go home, go home!" and fled towards Yizhang. Under the pursuit of Fan Shisheng 's troops, most of the 700-800 people in the regiment were wiped out, and a few of them collapsed. The Red 28th Regiment also suffered some losses during the retreat. Xiao Ke later recalled: "The order from the military and regiment headquarters came through the correspondent, ordering the 29th Regiment to move to Zixing Jiuxian County, but they did not listen. The orders were given three times in succession, but instead accelerated their running towards their hometown in companies and rows. In the process, they carried the foreign wealth they received in Chenzhou on their guns and headed for death and disintegration. "

3. Develop and grow again after failure.

After the failure in August, Zhu De and Chen Yi led their troops to return to Jinggangshan . . Everyone has unified their thinking: Don’t be too high or too big for Jinggang Mountain. It doesn’t matter if you get tired of climbing mountains. Don’t be tempted to move to a big city.

Mao Zedong pointed out that although the Jinggang Mountains wear out our feet and hurt our legs from climbing, they store food for us and serve as a base for us to maneuver and attack the enemy. Every time we climb it, we win a battle and destroy some enemies. If we climb it more times, we will win more battles and destroy more enemies. Therefore, this mountain is revolutionary. This mountain is a mountain of revolution.

The Red Army is a "little strong force" that cannot be defeated. The Jinggangshan base area has grown again by building fortifications, storing food, and building hospitals. The base area learned the lesson of the August failure. Mao Zedong demanded that attention should be paid to establishing a solid base area in the central area at all times and not to divide the military forces and advance rashly. He criticized the use of mass armed forces to defend base areas, saying that some people seemed completely unaware that the enemy, in addition to house-to-house regiments, also had formal troops concentrated to fight.

After the failure in August, the Red Army realized that when they are weak, they must do everything possible not to make mistakes. Once they make mistakes, it will be very dangerous. The Red Army must be based on the principle of concentration, and the mass armed forces should be based on the principle of decentralization. There is almost no time when we divide our forces without failure. If we concentrate our forces to attack the enemy who is smaller than us, equal to us, or slightly larger than us, we will often win.

The Red Army must constantly win battles. Losing a battle will be very dangerous, so any action must be taken with caution, and one must never make any rash moves without being completely sure. Only after gaining power in one or even several counties, defeating the reactionary army several times, and demonstrating the power of the Red Army several times, can the swing elements of the middle class in the countryside be frightened. The middle classes such as rich peasants and traders did not dare to stick to the reactionaries when the revolution was on the rise. But if the Red Army fails and the White Terror comes, they will immediately rebel and lead the reactionary army to burn down the houses of revolutionary farmers.

The base faced a tight blockade by the enemy. Due to the shortage and high price of daily necessities such as salt, cloth, and medicinal materials, farmers could not transport agricultural products such as wood and camellia oil. Not only will the rich farmers and traders rebel, but the middle peasants and down to the middle peasants will continue to cut off their income, which will be unbearable for everyone.

Therefore, we must unite the middle class, expand the base area, and collect land tax. We cannot always attack local tyrants in white areas. To solve the problem of Red Army supplies, we must ultimately develop and grow the base areas themselves. After the defeat in August, the Red Army promptly adjusted its policy, eliminated the Jingwei Group, united businessmen in counties and towns, and won the support of all farmers and small and medium-sized businessmen.

Under the guidance of Mao Zedong's correct principles and policies, from September to November 1928, the Fourth Red Army took advantage of the favorable conditions of fighting in the base area, avoiding the strong and attacking the weak, and mobilizing the enemy to fight four battles in a row. , a total of about 500 officers and soldiers below the enemy's battalion level were captured, and more than 450 guns were handed over. The enemy troops were forced to go on the defensive. The "suppression" in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces was immediately broken, and the original areas of the Jinggangshan base area were basically restored. The Fourth Red Army The strength has also returned to nearly 5,000 people, and it has grown stronger again.