In the later period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Eighth Route Army in Shandong Province was the most powerful, almost the world of the CCP.
The formation of this situation is inseparable from the heroic battle of the Eighth Route Army against Japan and the great wisdom of Shandong leader Luo Ronghuan.
Why?
Because from the summer of 1943, Chiang Kai-shek completely abandoned the occupation of the Shandong guerrilla zone.
In fact, at the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Shandong had a Kuomintang army.
The Kuomintang army in Shandong was mainly the Northeast Army led by Yu Xuezhong.
In 1939, Yu Xuezhong led his troops into shandong behind enemy lines. However, the Japanese puppet army "swept up" for many years, and its strength was constantly weakened, and many subordinates successively defected to the enemy as puppet troops. Yu Xuezhong repeatedly asked Chiang Kai-shek for reinforcements. Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek secretly ordered Li Xianzhou, a concubine, to lead the 92nd Army into Lu to strengthen Yu Xuezhong's strength.
In January 1940, Li Xianzhou led his troops to Fuyang in northern Anhui Province. Unexpectedly, Chiang Kai-shek launched the Anhui Southern Incident, and afterwards was under tremendous pressure from the international community, including the United States, and the people of the whole country, so in order to avoid further friction with the New Fourth Army, he had to order Li Bu to suspend his entry into Lu.
As a result, Li Xianzhou stayed in northern Anhui.
In 1942, Yu Xuezhong's department was really difficult to insist on in Shandong, and he called Chiang Kai-shek several times to request withdrawal from Shandong. In early 1943, Chiang Kai-shek proposed to the Chinese Communist representatives negotiating with the Kuomintang in Chongqing that Yu Xuezhong withdraw from Shandong in exchange for the withdrawal of the 5th Division of the New Fourth Army from Hubei. However, due to the difficulty of the 5th Division's transfer, Li Xianzhou's troops were already approaching Shandong. The negotiations were not successful. Chiang Kai-shek simply tore his face and urged Li Xianzhou's troops to quickly enter Lu.
Li Xianzhou's vanguard troops entered Huxi and established a foothold. Subsequently, Li Xianzhou personally led the main forces of the 21st Division and the Provisional 56th Division into Huxi.
After Li Xianzhou entered Shandong, he immediately contacted the Japanese army through the puppet army in order to seek the understanding of the Japanese army. However, Li Xianzhou's ministry was different from Yu Xuezhong's and was a concubine of Chiang Kai-shek, and Li's entry into Lu caused a great shock in the puppet army. In order to calm the uneasiness of the puppet army, the Japanese army did not buy the contact signal sent by Li Xianzhou. When Li Bu entered Shan County, the Japanese army mobilized more than a thousand troops to attack Li Bu. Li Bu suffered heavy casualties and was forced to retreat to Weishan Lake.
When Li Xianzhou was attacked by the Japanese army, the Eighth Route Army immediately provided support, attacked the Japanese army from the flank, treated the wounded officers and men, and then sent them back to the original troops on stretchers. The "Rusi Daily" published an editorial expressing condolences to the 92nd Army, which fought fiercely with the Japanese army, and posted a large slogan that read, "Welcome the 92nd Army to Enter The United States to Resist Japan."
However, Li Xianzhou was very unfriendly to the Eighth Route Army, cursed the Communists, and joined forces with bandits to attack Lunan.
On March 26, Luo Ronghuan instructed the Lunan Military Region to resolutely strike at the invading enemy in accordance with the principle of self-defense.
Before Li Xianzhou entered Lu, there was a contradiction with Yu Xuezhong. After Li led his troops to Fuyang, he sent people around to dig into Xuezhong's corner. The local powerful factions, diehard factions, and even puppet armies in Shandong have sent people to Fuyang, hoping to lean on the big tree of Li Xianzhou. When Yu Xuezhong heard that Chiang Kai-shek had sent Li Xianzhou into Lulu, he was suspicious and fearful, and when he saw that Li had not yet arrived in Shandong, he dug a big corner for himself, and immediately, in the name of provincial chairman Mou Zhongheng, unified all the small local armed forces in Shandong into the security forces of the county and the special office to prevent Li Xianzhou from interfering. At the same time, the 2nd Division of Zhang Buyun's security guards, who sent Qiu Bo to Li Pin, killed chickens to show monkeys.
Chiang Kai-shek saw that Li and Yu were full of contradictions and it was difficult to cooperate, so in the name of adjusting the nationwide anti-war deployment, he was transferred to Shandong for rectification and training in the Xuezhong Department.
This invisibly deposed the officer-in-chief of the Xuezhong Sulu Theater.
After Yu Xuezhong led his troops into Lu, he maintained a good front relationship with the Eighth Route Army. Now, when Li Xianzhou entered Lu, he first did not want to resist Japan, but to engage in friction with the Chinese Communists, and once he entered The Yimeng Mountains and took over Yu Xuezhong's defense, the Eighth Route Army would be attacked by the Japanese and Li Bu, and the enemy would be attacked on the abdomen and back. On the other hand, if Li Xianzhou, who had entered The Lulu and anti-communist forces, could be stopped and the Eighth Route Army could take over Yu Xuezhong's defenses, it would greatly improve the strategic posture of the Eighth Route Army in Shandong.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and Luo Ronghuan immediately invited Wan Yi, Guo Weicheng, and others who had previously worked in the Northeast Army to come and jointly analyze the situation and study countermeasures. In the end, he decided to take advantage of the contradiction between Li and Yu to prompt Yu Xuezhong to evacuate without waiting for Li Xianzhou to arrive, Yu Xuezhong to leave, and the Eighth Route Army to send him out. As for Li Xianzhou, he resolutely resisted and never allowed him to reach Mount Yimeng, and formulated a countermeasure of "sending Li Xianzhou to the top."
A few days later, Li Xianzhou's troops were still wandering in Lunan, and the various departments under Yu Xuezhong's jurisdiction began to withdraw. In advance, the Eighth Route Army agreed with the Ministry that when the Ministry withdrew, the Eighth Route Army would go to take the defense with the ignition as a sign. When Yubu passed through the Eighth Route Army's defensive ground, the Eighth Route Army gave it grain and grass to welcome and send it.
In mid-July, Yu Xuezhong led all his troops to the west of Jinpu Road.
At the same time, the Eighth Route Army west of Jinpu Road counterattacked the main force of Li Xianzhou's troops, severely damaging Li Bu and killing and wounding more than 2,000 of his men. Li Xianzhou saw that there was no hope of advancing north, and the general trend had gone, so he had to withdraw to northern Anhui in a gray and slippery way.
When the good news came, Luo Ronghuan let out a long sigh and said, "This is what we have been thinking about for many years." Then he said excitedly:
"This is the masterpiece of the people of Shandong."
Chiang Kai-shek gave up control of Shandong in one move, and Luo Ronghuan cleverly made the Eighth Route Army take over Yu Xuezhong's defense. Subsequently, the Japanese puppet army fought against the Eighth Route Army, and it was impossible to win the fight, but it could not fight, and in the end it was completely helpless. In this way, the Shandong military and civilians led by Luo Ronghuan controlled the overall situation of Shandong, and Shandong became the world of the Eighth Route Army.