In March 1935, the Central Northern Bureau and the Shanghai Provisional Central Bureau sent Zhu Lizhi, director of the Organization Department of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee, and Nie Hongjun, director of the Organization Department of the Shanghai Provisional Central Bureau, to northwest China to strengthen the management of the northwest region. After the two arrived in northern Shaanxi, they formed the "Delegation of the Central Northern Bureau and the Shanghai Provisional Central Bureau to the Northwest", a special agency of the central government, which actually became the highest administrative body in the northwest region. Before Zhu Lizhi was ordered to go to the northwest region on a mission, Kong Yuan, who was in charge of the work of the Central Northern Bureau at the time, wrote him a 35,000-word letter, demanding that after he arrived in the northwest, he "must ruthlessly oppose right-leaning cancellationism and hidden right-leaning elements." Zhu Lizhi left in May and arrived in Yongping Town in early July, and in order to understand the situation in the northwest, he quickly found Guo Hongtao, secretary general of the Northwest Work Committee, to discuss in detail. Guo Hongtao joined the party for 25 years and participated in the leadership work in the northwest region for a long time, and when the general headquarters of the guerrilla army in northern Shaanxi was established in 1934, Xie Zichang was the commander-in-chief, he was the political commissar, and He Jinnian was the chief of staff.
With many years of local work experience, it stands to reason that Guo Hongtao should be said to be very familiar with the situation in northern Shaanxi, but it turns out that this is not the case. Liu Zhidan once said: "Guo Hongtao is really a student doll, he doesn't understand anything." Indeed, as Liu Zhidan said, many of the things Guo Hongtao described to Zhu Lizhi were not the actual situation, which actually further misled Zhu Lizhi and made him have a wrong judgment about the situation in northern Shaanxi. "Central representatives" were very common at that time, that is, Chairman Mao said, "the ministers of Qincha flew all over the sky." They were appointed by the central government and suddenly parachuted into a region to lead local work. This is how Zhang Guotao came to parachute into the Red Fourth Front, and Bogu and others also parachuted into the Central Soviet Region in this way. Because they do not understand the specific local conditions, they are often prone to deviations in their work, even serious deviations. Regarding Zhu Lizhi, the "representative of the Central Committee", General He Jinnian later jokingly recalled his mood at that time: "At that time, I didn't know who came, but I only said that Zhu Lizhi came, saying that it was a representative of the Central Committee. In the past, a fat man came and said that he was a central representative. Later, Nie Hongjun was also said to be a representative of the Central Committee.
I said bad, all represent. At that time, my mind was in a mess, you also represented, he also represented, go on behalf of your watch!" Zhu Lizhi arrived at Yongping Town in early July, and by September 15, the Red 25th Army also arrived in Yongping Town. It didn't take long for them to merge with the Red 26th Army and the 27th Army in northern Shaanxi to form the Red 15th Army, with Corps Commander Xu Haidong, Political Commissar Cheng Zihua, Deputy Corps Commander and Chief of Staff Liu Zhidan, and Political Department Director Gao Gang. At the same time, the Corps Department asked everyone: The commanders and fighters of the Northwest Red Army were asked to learn from the Red 25th Army the experience of fighting big and hard battles and the spirit of not being afraid of sacrifice. Replenish the Red 25 Army. Give all captured best weapons and equipment to the Red 25 Army. Support for the Red 25th Army was loaded. In fact, it means that the Red 25 Army is the main force. He Jinnian very vividly explained the reason in his recollections: After the 25th Army came, Comrade Gao Gang said: "The 25th Army is coming." People are part of the regular army, the Central Red Army, and the system is good in all aspects. In this case, we should learn from the style of the 25th Army.
"Our Red Army in northern Shaanxi was a mess, wearing civilian clothes, carrying a gun, without a backpack or a bowl. The 25th Army is neatly dressed, indeed, the 25th Army system is regular, much more regular than ours, and everyone carries a jar. Our Red Army in northern Shaanxi, without shoes, ran around. It is not that there are no shoes, some of the Red Army, that is, there are shoes they are reluctant to wear. It seems that in the degree of daily discipline and regularization, the Red 25th Army is indeed much better than the native troops in northern Shaanxi, with the 25th Army as the main force, everyone is also convinced, after all, they will unite next to break the third encirclement and suppression of the enemy. He Jinnian said: "The 25th Army is a good unit for the revolution, but there are remnants of warlordism in the leadership leadership, and it is true that Zhang Guotao's warlordism has been brought about." In his impression, the 25th Army was neat and disciplined, but there were also many problems of beating and cursing. Therefore, when the organization proposed to transfer him to the 25th Army as a deputy division commander, He Jinnian refused, with the excuse: "We cadres in northern Shaanxi have little experience and cannot be a cadre."
The real reason is: "I'm afraid to go to the 25th Army, and the 25th Army is very fierce, and I really can't scold me." Once, He Jinnian went to Liu Zhidan to report the situation, and as soon as he entered, he said: "Old Liu! The army has arrived, you can't go" Xu Haidong on the side glanced at him and said: "Call Lao Liu" He Jinnian had a "guerrilla" hat before he saw that the situation was wrong, and quickly left. Liu Zhidan later told him: "People are regular troops. In the future, if you want to call the deputy corps commander, don't you dare to call Lao Liu!" In the end, suspicion turned into action, and Liu Zhidan, Gao Gang and other leaders of the Shaanxi-Gansu border Soviet region were mistakenly arrested. On 24 February 1984, the "Opinions on the Examination of Several Historical Issues Concerning Comrade Zhu Lizhi" said: "At that time, Comrade Zhu Lizhi was the person in charge of the delegation sent by the central representative to northern Shaanxi and the secretary of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Jin provincial party committee. The rest of the personnel, such as Nie Hongjun, Guo Hongtao, Dai Jiying and others, are also considered to have varying degrees of responsibility. Thankfully, their misjudgment did not trigger irreversible consequences. Of course, the northern Shaanxi troops did not understand the result of this treatment, and dangerous emotions were brewing because of this.
Since Liu Zhidan's arrest occurred after the arrival of the Red 25th Army, many people believed that the incident was the Red 25th Army He Jinnian was worried about the leaders of the provincial party committee in the rear, and he wrote three letters requesting that he be transferred back to the rear, even if it was to go back to work as an ordinary propagandist or agricultural association worker. It is gratifying that after the arrival of the central delegation, good news came one after another. Liu Zhidan and Gao Gang and others were soon released. He Jinnian said happily, hurry up and cook, usually I can't eat two bowls a day, but this time I ate four bowls for one meal. Two days later, Peng Dehuai, Ye Jianying and others also came. When receiving comrades from northern Shaanxi, they spoke highly of their work achievements in northern Shaanxi, which moved everyone. At this time, the worries of He Jinnian and his comrades were completely lifted. He felt that the central government was still good, a life-saving bodhisattva, otherwise, there would be chaos, and there was even a possibility of fighting. The arrival of the central delegation promptly resolved the contradictions and crises among the comrades in northern Shaanxi and prevented even greater turmoil, which made He Jinnian and the comrades full of confidence and gratitude to the central authorities. He Jinnian said happily, hurry up and cook, usually I can't eat two bowls a day, but this time I ate four bowls for one meal.
This sentence vividly depicts He Jinnian's joyful mood at that time. Two days later, Peng Dehuai, Ye Jianying and others also came. When receiving comrades from northern Shaanxi, they spoke highly of their work achievements in northern Shaanxi, which moved everyone. This made He Jinnian and comrades full of confidence and gratitude to the central authorities.