In 1940, Xu Xiangqian received a notice to return to Yan'an to attend the Seventh National Congress. He never imagined that he would not work on the front line for 7 years after this departure.
In the past 7 years, what has Xu Xiangqian experienced?
As is known to all, Xu Xiangqian was the commander-in-chief of the Red Fourth Front during the Red Army period, leading the Four Fronts to open up the Eyu-Anhui base area and the Sichuan-Shaanxi base area. This unit was one of the three main forces during the Red Army period, and the founding of New China produced many generals, such as Xu Shiyou, Chen Xilian, Chen Zaidao, Wang Jian'an, Wang Jinshan, Du Yide, Zhou Xihan, and so on.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Xu Xiangqian served as the deputy commander of the 129th Division, and led his troops from northern Jin to southern Hebei and Shandong to resist the War.
In June 1939, he was ordered to work in the Shandong Column, which grew to 25,000 men under the leadership of Zhang Jingwu and Li Yu. Xu Xiangqian took a group of cadres to shandong to work, and in about a year, the army grew to 51,000. In addition, more than 30,000 people were allocated to the 115th Division, which had just arrived in Shandong, making the 115th Division develop rapidly.
In June 1940, he received a notice from the Central Committee to convene the Seventh National Congress in Yan'an. After a 6-month trek, he returned to Yan'an in January 1941. After arriving in Yan'an, the troops sent a group of cadres to Shandong, and when he went to send them off, the horse was frightened, resulting in a fracture of the leg, and had to stay to recuperate.
This time, he was unexpected, and he never returned to Shandong to work.
In 1942, after his recovery, he served as deputy commander of the newly established Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia-Jinsui Joint Defense Headquarters, with He Long as commander, with a total strength of 36,500 troops.
Because it was blockaded by the Kuomintang economy, the Economy of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region was in difficulty and could only solve the problem by relying on self-sufficiency. Chairman Mao put Xu Xiangqian in charge of production. As a result, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia developed agriculture, handicrafts, transportation, animal husbandry, and reclamation of fields, and many chiefs had their own cultivated land, and Xu Xiangqian was no exception.
In the spring of 1943, when Xu Xiangqian was busy with spring ploughing, Chairman Mao talked to him and asked him to serve as the principal of Kang University. He said that he had not yet fully understood the production of his own, and he was also engaged in education, and he had no experience. Chairman Mao said: At first we would not fight a war, but later we will not.
In 1944, in the Battle of Yuxianggui, the Kuomintang army lost a large amount of land. Chairman Mao wanted to send him to Henan to open up a base area behind enemy lines, before preparing to take office. He suddenly suffered from pleurisy and could not go, so Wang Shusheng replaced him as commander of the Henan Military Region and rushed to Henan to carry out anti-Japanese resistance behind enemy lines.
Xu Xiangqian remained in Yan'an to recuperate until the victory of the War of Resistance, when he told Chairman Mao that the Japanese devils were about to surrender, and that if he did not fight any more, he would have no more battles to fight. Chairman Mao said: Rest assured, the Kuomintang will not let you sit idle in the future.
In this way, he has been recuperating in Yan'an. By the end of 1946, when the Kuomintang army was preparing to attack northern Shaanxi, he was evacuated to Suide and then to the Taihang Mountain Liberated Area. Until 1947, after his condition improved somewhat, he served as the deputy commander of the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Military Region, responsible for the rear work.
He did not expect that in the seven years from 1940 to 1947, he would be away from the battlefield due to injuries and illness for so long.
In August 1947, Liu Deng led the field army to the south, and the military region did not have many troops, so he reorganized 51,000 local troops of the military region, insisted on fighting, and launched the Linfen Campaign and the Jinzhong Campaign. Especially in the Jinzhong Offensive, 50,000 people fought 100,000 people and achieved major victories.
In 1948, the Jin-Ji Luyu Military Region and the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region were merged to form the North China Military Region, and he served as the deputy commander of the military region and the commander of the First Corps, leading the troops to fight in Taiyuan.
The Taiyuan Offensive lasted for half a year, and after the PLA's strength and weapons had greatly improved, when the general offensive was launched in April 1949, Xu Xiangqian and other bodies were not allowed, and temporarily let Peng Dehuai command, 3 corps, 1300 heavy artillery, and 4 days to take the fortified Taiyuan City.