We know how important Zhou Enlai’s role is from Mao Zedong’s rise on the way to the Long March !
Zhou Enlai during the Red Army
At the beginning, Mao Zedong had a disagreement with Zhu De and others on the issue of building the army in . Chen Yi went to Shanghai to report to the Party Central Committee on the development of the Red Fourth Army and asked for help to resolve the differences between the Red Fourth Army. As one of the main leaders of the central government, Zhou Enlai clearly supported Mao Zedong.
After Zhou Enlai arrived in the Central Soviet Area, facing the mistake of spared no effort to implement the "left" trait of Wang Ming, and desperately suppressing and excluding Mao Zedong's Bogu and others, Zhou Enlai fought for Mao Zedong's correct proposition, but Bogu was in power. No matter how hard Zhou Enlai tried, he could not resolve the suppression and exclusion given by the "left" central government.
Bogu and Li De's blind command led to the complete failure of the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" of the Central Red Army , and had to implement a major strategic shift. This is the Long March. On October 10, 1934, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Red Army Headquarters led the main force of the Red Army and There were more than 86,000 people in the rear, and they set out from Ruijin to start the Long March.
When breaking through the enemy's fourth line of defense, Xiangjiang, it was surrounded by heavy enemy troops, and an unprecedentedly tragic and heavy losses broke out Xiangjiang Battle . Zhou Enlai had been insisting on commanding troops to cross the Xiangjiang River at the ferry crossing the east bank of the Xiangjiang River. He anxiously asked Mao Zedong if he had crossed the river?
When Zhou Enlai saw Mao Zedong strode over, he quickly met him and asked Mao Zedong to cross the river quickly. Mao Zedong said, let’s cross the river together. Zhou En said, you pass first, and I will explain the task later.
The Xiangjiang Battle broke through the enemy's blockade line at a heavy price of more than 50,000 people, and finally broke out of the enemy's heavy army encirclement. But the situation of the Red Army is still extremely dangerous, because Chiang Kai-shek has predicted the Red Army's intention to operate and deployed heavy troops on the road to western Hunan and Hubei in advance.
Chiang Kai-shek's intention was very obvious, which was to make a concerted effort to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Red Army here. If it is still implemented as planned at this time, will be equivalent to letting all the main forces of the Red Army fall into the enemy's pockets. The consequences can be imagined. Apart from the annihilation of the entire army, there is no second possibility.
The tragic consequences of the Xiangjiang Battle have made more and more Red Army commanders and soldiers strongly realize that they can no longer obey Bogu and Li De's blind command. If this continues, the Red Army will be ruined in no time! We can no longer follow the original plan, we must change it!
bloody battle in the Xiangjiang River (stills)
At the moment of life and death of the Red Army, Mao Zedong strongly advocated giving up the original plan and instead march towards Guizhou area where the enemy is weak. Mao Zedong's proposal was approved by Zhou Enlai, and at this time Bo Gu and Li De were discouraged due to their successive defeats. Bo Gu even tried to commit suicide to apologize.
Under such circumstances, the Red Army's command responsibility has actually fallen on Zhou Enlai's shoulders. On December 12, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee held an extraordinary meeting in the channel. Li De's proposal to move according to the original plan was opposed by the majority. Zhou Enlai chose to stand firmly on Mao Zedong's side.
In fact, "heroes have similar views." From the eve of Ningdu meeting to the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression", Zhou Enlai had many debates with Li De. Zhou Enlai's opinions were actually highly consistent with Mao Zedong's proposal. They all advocated concentrating superior forces. Grasp the enemy's weaknesses in the movement and annihilate the enemy.
This channel meeting , as well as the later Liping meeting , Zunyi meeting , Zhou Enlai firmly chose to stand with Mao Zedong. He fully agreed and firmly supported Mao Zedong's proposal. Because Zhou Enlai has proved through so many practices that Mao Zedong's proposition is completely correct and is the only way out for the Red Army.
On December 17 and 18, under the leadership of Zhou Enlai, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee held a meeting in Liping. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the strategic direction of the Red Army in the future. Zhou Enlai fully adopted Mao Zedong's opinion. The meeting finally gave up the original plan and decided to go to the Sichuan-Guizhou border area to establish a base.
Channel Conference was an extremely critical meeting of the Red Army during the Long March. The decision of this conference was later called "channel transfer". Marshal Nie Rongzhen later commented: The meeting decided to head to Zunyi , so that it would take more than 100,000 yuan at once The enemy was left behind in Xiangxi , and we fought for the initiative.
After this meeting, Zhou Enlai gave Li De the translation of the decision of the Liping meeting to Li De. After reading it, Li De was furious and had a big fight with Zhou Enlai in English. Zhou Enlai, who had always been gentle, became completely popular this time. He criticized Li De harshly. , and slapped the table, and the lanterns on the table jumped up and went out. The staff next to him quickly lit it again.
The next day, Zhou Enlai and Zhu De personally made specific actions and arrangements for the resolution. It can be said that the resolution of the Channel Conference was quickly put into action, and enabled the Central Red Army to get rid of the passive situation and resurrect from the verge of despair.
Oil painting "Zunyi Conference"
January 1, 1935 Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a meeting in Monkey Field. The meeting reiterated the decision of the Liping Conference and proposed that the direction of action after crossing Wujiang is Zunyi as the center of Guizhou North. The area will then develop into southern Sichuan, and it is believed that this is the most central task of the Red Army at present.
After the Red Army conquered Zunyi City, the Zunyi Conference was held from the 15th to the 17th. This meeting was proposed by Wang Jiaxiang after discussing with Mao Zedong, and was supported by Zhang Wentian, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and others. Marshal Nie Rongzhen later recalled that Zhou Enlai and Wang Jiaxiang's attitudes played a key role in holding the Zunyi Conference well.
An important purpose of the Zunyi Conference is to check the experience and lessons in military command since the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression". At the meeting, Bogu's report still used various objective reasons to cover up and embellish the mistakes in military command. Zhou Enlai clearly pointed out that the fundamental reason for the failure of the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" was the mistakes in military leadership in strategic and tactical aspects.
Zhou Enlai took the initiative to take responsibility, criticized himself, and criticized Bo Gu and Li De without hesitation. Zhang Wentian's report also clearly opposed the "left" military line. Then Mao Zedong made a long speech, He made a thorough analysis and criticism of the wrong military line, and pointed out the direction of the Red Army's future actions.
Mao Zedong's correct proposition was supported by Wang Jiaxiang, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, Li Fuchun and Nie Rongzhen. , especially Zhou Enlai, in his speech, fully recommended the future actions of Mao Zedong to lead the Red Army. Zhou Enlai's proposal was supported by the majority. At the end of January, when Mao Zedong talked about the Zunyi Conference with Li Jukui, the commander of the Red First Division, and emphasized that "Comrade Enlai played an important role."
In other words, at the Zunyi Conference, Zhou Enlai had a clear support for Mao Zedong and Referral played a key role in the victory of Mao Zedong's correct propositions.
Not long after, a "New Three-man Group" composed of Zhou Enlai, Mao Zedong and Wang Jiaxiang was established to direct the Red Army's operations, and thus began a wonderful cooperation between Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai with perfect and seamless nature. Winning battles depends on Mao Zedong's strategic guidelines and routes, but every battle arrangement and victory depends on Zhou Enlai's specific command.
Zhou Enlai is energetic and meticulous, and is familiar with the military intelligence between the enemy and us. Zhou Enlai knew which enemy was a direct line, which was a miscellaneous army, and how good the combat capabilities were, and he knew clearly about these situations; Zhou Enlai knew exactly which division of the Red Army had strong combat power and which division had weak combat power. Therefore, Zhou Enlai was able to use his respective expertise in command.
The Red Army commanders and soldiers admired Zhou Enlai very much, because Zhou Enlai knew exactly how many people, guns, bullets, casualties and replenishments the troops.If some commanders and fighters do not grasp the changes in the troops in a timely manner, they will be asked by Zhou Enlai on the spot. Therefore, Zhou Enlai had extremely high prestige in the Red Army.
To sum up, Zhou Enlai played an extremely critical role in the reason why Mao Zedong was able to rise during the Long March. It was not only because Zhou Enlai was the actual supreme leader of the Red Army at that time, but also because Zhou Enlai enjoyed extremely high prestige in the Red Army. With his strong support, it is reasonable that Mao Zedong, who has correct opinions, can rise rapidly.
References:
"Biography of Mao Zedong": Jin Chongji's Central Documents Publishing House Publishing House
"Why is Mao Zedong": Ren Zhigang Guangming Daily Publishing House Publishing House Publishing House
"Biography of Zhou Enlai": Jin Chongji's Central Documents Publishing House Publishing House Publishing House
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