Chiang Kai-shek The third blockade line arranged east of the Guangdong-Hankou Line was broken by Central Red Army , and the fourth blockade line was immediately laid out east of the Xiangjiang River.
Chiang Kai-shek believes that Red Army has "drifted thousands of miles, being controlled from all sides, and the tiger fell into Pingyang (referring to the Red Army giving up its base), so it is not difficult to surrender." Chiang Kai-shek also instructed He Jian, commander-in-chief of the army, and commander-in-chief of the front enemy, to hold a military meeting in Hengyang , to divide the "chasing and suppression" army into five routes: commander-in-chief of the first route, Liu Jianxu , led four divisions to deploy defenses on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River in Quanzhou, Guangxi, contacted the 15th Army led by Xia Wei, and intercepted them; commander-in-chief of the second route, Xue Yue led four divisions and one detachment to carry out side attacks along the Hunan-Guangxi Highway, maintaining maneuverability, and preventing the Central Red Army from being north. The commander of the third line of the second and sixth legions was joined by the Red Army; the commander of the third line of the third line of the Zhou Hunyuan led four divisions to chase the Red Army, and took the route of the Ningyuan to occupy Dao County, preventing the Red Army from going south into northern Guangxi; the commander of the fourth line of the fourth line of the Li Yunjie led two divisions, took Guiyang , Jiahe , and Ningyuan, and chased along the route of the Red Army; the commander of the fifth line of the Li Yunheng led one division, took linwu and Lanshan, and chased along the route of the Red Army. Chiang Kai-shek's plan to block the front and chase back and attack left and right is to concentrate superior forces and rely on favorable terrain to annihilate the main force of the Red Army in the area east of the Xiangjiang River.
At this time, whether the Central Red Army, which is strategically in a disadvantaged situation, can overcome the area of Xiaoshui and Xiangjiang River become the key to success or failure. At the beginning, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission prepared to fight against the four divisions and detachments commanded and pursued by Xue Yue and Wu Qiwei in a vast area in southern Hunan with the support of the revolutionary masses and a good foundation for the party's work. Later, due to changes in the situation, he decided to advance westward, taking Daoxian along the way and Jianghua along the way. The Red Nine Army occupies the left back position.
On November 15, Luo Binghui led the Red Ninth Army to start a marching westward. The officers and soldiers seemed to have wings and moved forward rapidly in southern Hunan. Due to the urgent situation of the enemy, people have to seize time. In addition to walking or fighting, they seem to have forgotten to eat, sleep, and the difference between day and night. Every day, I run more than a hundred miles, and sometimes I walk 160 or seventy miles a day, which is really a journey day and night! This brought three major difficulties to the army:
First, there is no time to cook or eat. As the saying goes, people are iron and food is steel. If you don’t eat, you can’t march or fight. Commander Luo Binghui's army went to the Supply Department to find Minister Zhao Rong, and asked about the situation in this regard. He asked the Supply Department how the emergency marching in the past few days was, and whether he was exhausted? How many people are behind? I also asked if those who fell behind a few days ago kept up? He also studied and solved the problem of eating in the army with Minister Zhao, and emphasized that we should do everything possible to make the army able to eat. To this end, as long as the troops stop and rest for an hour, they will urge the cooks to cook quickly; if they can cook, they will cook once, and if they have time, they will cook two meals, eat one, and bring one more meal, and you can eat while walking on the road; if possible, buy some sweet potatoes and other things on the road to satisfy your hunger.
Second, there is no time to sleep. After several days of marching, people were trapped and exhausted. After camping, people didn't care about boiling water, washing their feet or drying their clothes. Some didn't even care about finding the beds. They fell asleep in the corner of the wall, by the stove or in the open space. Due to exhaustion, people feel that eating is worse than sleeping, and they can't wake up when the rice is ready; some pick up their bowls and fall asleep again; some sleep while walking on the march.
Third, it is difficult to supply the server. The lost dry food bags, leggings, military caps, etc. cannot be replenished in time. I had no shoes to wear, so I had to walk barefoot. The clothes were wet. When the temperature was already very low, I couldn't change the baked thousand, so I could only rely on my body to warm the clothes.
All these difficulties were overcome by the steel-like Red Army soldiers. From November 15 to 21, Luo Binghui led the commanders and fighters of the Red Ninth Army to march for 7 consecutive days, and traveled more than 800 miles to Lanshan County. Blue Mountain is a large county at the southern end of Hunan. Local Kuomintang officials and militias heard that the Red Army was coming, and they all fled after hearing the news.
On November 22, the Red Ninth Army received a telegram from the Military Commission: In order to facilitate marching, and to smoothly pass through the fourth blockade line set up by the enemy, and cross the Xiangjiang River, the marching should be evacuated, attract and disperse the enemy, create an illusion for the enemy, and facilitate our army to act, and avoid a decisive battle with enemies several times ours in the plains on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River, so as to maintain our vitality. The Military Commission asked the Ninth Army to advance south with lightning speed, peeking towards Lianxian in northwestern Guangdong, and occupy it with cameras, and then bypass the Xiangjiang River from the northeastern part of Guilin. The Military Commission also ordered: the first legion goes west from Dao County to cross the river; the third legion attacks Quanzhou, seizes Taipingxu, Shitang Village (now Tangcunxu), and other strongholds along the river, and covers the Central Column, the Military Commission Column and the Eighth Legion across the Xiangjiang River. At 7 o'clock that night, Luo Binghui urgently assembled the troops and advanced rapidly towards Northern Guangdong .
A marching all night, walking 90 miles, at 10 a.m. on November 23, the 9th Regiment of the 3rd Division, the vanguard of the Red Ninth Army, arrived at Shuanghewei on the Guangdong border.
At this time, the army received another telegram from the Military Commission: In order to enrich the main force and reduce the organs, it was decided to abolish the 22nd Division and be incorporated into the First, Fifth and Ninth Corps respectively, and the 65th Regiment and part of the division headquarters were returned to the Ninth Corps.
On the afternoon of November 23, scouts sent to Lianxian County came back to report that there were heavy troops guarding Lianxian County. Luo Binghui then changed his deployment and led his troops back to Lanshan City that night.
At 9 a.m. on November 24, when Luo Binghui led the Red Ninth Army back to Lanshan City on the same road, the enemy situation changed drastically: the cover troops of the 14th Division of the Red Fifth Army had retreated; the heavy machine gun bullets of the enemy who were pursuing behind "swooshing" around the Red Army's operation team, and the mortar shell exploded from time to time on both sides of the road; five or six enemy planes in the air reconnaissance and strafing. The Red Army advanced many roads on the hillside, on the ridges, and on the avenues, with extremely crowdedness. With the enemy intercepting and chasing from behind and attacking from both sides, the Red Ninth Army did not have time to rest in Lanshan, so they continued to go west in the wind and rain. They walked for another day and two nights, traveling 160 miles, and arrived at the front line of Shuangcun, leaving the Ninth Regiment of the Third Red Division to occupy the position behind to block the enemy's pursuit.
On November 25, Luo Binghui received a telegram from the Military Commission:
The Eighth and Ninth Legion were left-wing columns, and at all costs, they occupied the two counties of Jianghua and Yongming (now known as Jiangyong ) to cover the advancement of the Central Column and the Military Commission Column.
Luo Binghui then led the Red Ninth Army to set off at 4 pm, advancing in line with Red Eighth Army , and advancing towards the county towns of Jianghua and Yongming. At this time, the Red 1st Army was occupying Dao County in southern Hunan and annihilated an enemy regiment, and together with the Red 3rd Army, they went to the front line of Quanzhou and Wenshi in northern Guangxi to fight fiercely with the enemy, covering the advance of the Red 5th Army, the Central Column, and the Military Commission Column. The Red 8th and Red 9th Army were in the south, 280 miles away from the Red 1st and Red 3rd Army near Quanzhou.
Luo Binghui ordered the 7th Regiment of the Red Third Division, which was responsible for the mission of occupying Jianghua, to set out in advance, and other units followed up. The troops climbed the mountains and crossed the river, marched 14 hours in a row, and marched for more than 160 miles, and arrived at Jianghua County on the morning of November 27. More than a thousand enemies guarding Jianghua were afraid of being annihilated by the Red Army, so they fled with the Kuomintang county magistrate without resisting.
Jianghua is located at the southern end of Hunan, adjacent to Guangdong and Guangxi provinces. It is a region where compatriots of ethnic groups such as Yao, Zhuang, Miao, and Han live together. The Political Department of the Red Ninth Army issued Order , and the education army strictly implemented the Party’s ethnic policies and did a good job in ethnic minorities. It also issued a letter to the Red Army’s Zhuang, Miao and Yao compatriots, which were widely posted.
On November 28, the Red 1 and Red 3rd Army fought fiercely with the enemy invading in Quanzhou north of Wen City. The Red 5th Army, the Central Column, and the Military Commission Column crossed the Guanjiang in the middle, advancing towards Shitangwei; a brigade of the Gui Army approached the Red 9th Army and fought fiercely with the 9th Regiment of the Red 3rd Division on Guniuling and Qingtang. The Military Commission ordered the Red Ninth Army to try its best to restrain the enemies in the southeastern part of Yongming. Given the tense enemy situation, the battle in Guniuling was extremely fierce, and the Ninth Regiment of the Red Third Division was difficult to resist. Luo Binghui ordered the Seventh Regiment to go for reinforcements, and other troops continued to advance towards Yongming County.
On November 29, the Red Eighth Army entered 15 miles east of Yongming City and launched a fierce battle with the enemy. The Eighth Regiment of the Third Division of the Red Ninth Army ran to reinforce, defeated the enemy, and seized the victory to conquer Yongming County. This news of victory inspired the Red Army that was fighting, and the morale of the troops increased greatly. At that time, thousands of Gui army who were advancing towards the Red Ninth Army fled south when they saw that the situation was not good. Because the Guangxi warlords had serious conflicts with Chiang Kai-shek, their chasing troops were not willing to pursue the strong chasing, and were also afraid of being beaten by the Red Army and being beaten to the Red Army. They often adopted "sending off passengers and knocking against the clapper".
Yongming is located in southern Hunan, with spring all year round, adjacent to Guangxi and only 180 miles from Guilin. The serious enemy situation made Luo Binghui unwilling to appreciate the beautiful scenery of Yongming Mountain and Water, but led the Red Ninth Army to continue advancing northwest.
On December 1, the Red Ninth Army crossed Dupangling and entered Guangxi. In order to speed up the speed of the journey, the columns were divided into multiple routes to advance in parallel. The bombing and strafing of enemy planes and the dull guns and cannons in the distance prompted the soldiers to speed up their pace. At 4 pm, the Red Ninth Army arrived at Shitangwei, Dashi Town, on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River. At this time, the situation on the battlefield suddenly became dangerous: the enemy in the whole province was in a rush to attack south, and the pursuing enemy in Daoxian was coming quickly. Tens of thousands of Guangxi troops heading north from Guilin had passed Xing'an, and more than 20 enemy aircraft were bombing and firing in turn. The Military Commission ordered: The Ninth Army crossed the Xiangjiang River at 11 o'clock that night; when crossing the river, it was covered by a unit of the Red Second Division; after crossing the river, the Red Ninth Army occupied the highlands on the west bank of the Xiangjiang River with elite troops to cover the Red Thirteenth and Red Fourteenth Divisions who were responsible for the rear guard mission across the river.
It was nearly 5 pm when the Red Ninth Army received the order, and it was still 90 miles away from the crossing of the river. It took at least 15 miles per hour to complete the task. After brief discussions between Luo Binghui and Cai Shufan and others, in view of the urgent task, they ordered to gather immediately and share the prepared food with everyone while walking. If they were not prepared, they would give it to the common people. The troops were divided into ten columns and ran along the road towards the Xiangjiang River. Such many teams are crowded together, and some chaos will inevitably occur, but the Red Army commanders and soldiers can consciously keep up with their own teams and find their own ranks. At this time, the Red Fifth Army followed behind, and after hard fighting, the pursued enemy broke through. stray bullet roared past the Red Ninth Army marching column, but the soldiers could not care about these, and had only one idea, to cross the Xiangjiang River as soon as possible! Protect the security of the Party Central Committee and protect the victory of the Chinese revolution!
(provided by Jianghua County History and Archives Office)
