The corps of the Central Red Army, moving in the direction of Zunyi, marched smoothly. The Red 1st Army of the Right Column passed through the Jianhe River on the 20th, attacked Shi Binghe and Zhenyuan on the 25th, attacked Yu Qing by the 1st Regiment of the Red 1st Division on the 28th, and attacked Lao Huangping by the 2nd Division. The Red Ninth Army crossed the Qingshui River from Lao Jinping and followed the Red First Army forward and cooperated with the action. Around 24, the Red Third Army of the left column had reached the area south of Taigong (present-day Taijiang). The CMC column also reached the vicinity of the southern outpost. As usual, the Fifth Red Army followed the rear of the column of the Central Military Commission and served as a rearguard cover for the entire Central Red Army. At this point, the Central Red Army was less than 150 kilometers away from Zunyi.
The 4th Division of the Red Third Army was the vanguard of the Regiment, the 10th Regiment was the vanguard regiment of the 4th Division, and the 2nd Battalion was the Vanguard Battalion, which was blocked by a Qian army at a mountain pass less than 20 kilometers away from Wongan, and the 2nd Battalion dispersed it with only one charge. The task of the 2nd Battalion was to capture the county seat of Wong'an. When attacking the county town of Yong'an, because of the fog, when the Red Army began to attack the county seat, both sides were almost blind shooting, searching in the fog for about an hour, the Red Army approached the city gate, but did not find the shadow of the Qian army, almost no fighting occurred, the Qian army abandoned the county seat, and actually escaped from the County town of Yong'an in parallel in the thick fog, and actually neither side found each other.
At the same time, another unit of the Red Third Army marched north from the arch of the platform to occupy Zhenyuan, and the enemy of zhenyuan was Baihui Zhangshi (the master of the Zunyi meeting site), which only symbolically resisted, and the Red Army quickly occupied the county town after killing the leader of the militia regiment. At the same time, the 535th Regiment of the 90th Division of the Kuomintang Central Army Wu Qiwei also arrived at the city, because the Red Army had occupied the county seat, they did not understand the situation of the county seat, and they were ambushed by the Red Army and retreated. When they were ready to attack the city the next day, they found that the Red Army had already withdrawn.
The Central Red Army began to march toward the Wujiang River in the northwest, but Li De did not leave, and he still hoped that the Central Red Army would not cross the Wujiang River, but from here to the north, to join the Second and Sixth Armies. Obviously, he was dissatisfied with the resolutions of the Liping Conference. After the Central Red Army set out from the Soviet Zone, the route of conquest did not exceed the expectations of the Kuomintang army in the slightest, and it has always been on the road that the Red Sixth Army once walked. After entering Guizhou, the route taken by the Central Red Army almost overlapped with the route taken by the Red Sixth Army two months ago. In the current position of the Central Red Army, the Red Sixth Army received a telegram from Bogu criticizing him, and Xiao Ke had originally wanted to cross the Wu River in view of the current enemy situation, but because he had abandoned the west according to the telegram requirements and turned north, he had sacrificed too many officers and men in the Battle of Ganxi.
The year 1934 was coming to an end. Liu Bocheng was also appointed chief of the general staff, and after he reported to Zhou Enlai, Zhou Enlai asked Liu Bocheng to quickly formulate a plan for the Central Red Army to forcibly cross the Wu River. Thus, on December 31, the last day of the year, according to the plan, the Central Red Army arrived at the Monkey Farm (present-day Caotang) in Wong'an County, and the Qian army and the militia regiment heard that the Red Army was coming and ran away early. But the ordinary traders and the "dry people" were very happy, because they had seen what kind of team the Red Army was two months ago. At the Monkey Farm, the Politburo of the Central Committee once again held a politburo meeting, known in history as the "Monkey Farm Conference". The meeting was held at the suggestion of Mao Zedong, who suggested to Zhou Enlai that it would be dangerous to continue to place the Red Army under the arbitrary command of Bogu and Li De, and that a resolution must be made to resolutely curb the practice of arbitrarily revising resolutions after the Politburo had made them. At the meeting, Bogu put forward two suggestions: first, do not cross the Wu River, nor should you try to establish a base area in Zunyi; second, kill a horse gun and join the Second and Sixth Armies. Li De also went on to say that the Wujiang River is likely to be another Xiang River, and the forced crossing is likely to fail or pay a huge price. Mao criticized Bogu and Li De's proposals and expressed his position of adhering to the decisions of the Liping Conference. Most of the participants agreed that the Liping meeting was correct and should be implemented unconditionally. Finally, the meeting made the "Decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee on the New Course of Action After Crossing the River."
At present, in front of the Red Army, the Wujiang Graben, the Qian army has built strong fortifications, equipped with the main force and strong firepower, the Kuomintang Central Army is advancing at full speed in the direction of the Wujiang River, encircling it, Wu Qiwei's 4 divisions and Zhou Hunyuan's 4 divisions are already less than 100 kilometers away from the Wujiang River. The Central Red Army must cross the Wujiang River before the main Kuomintang forces reach it, otherwise the tragedy of the Xiangjiang Campaign may repeat itself.
At the same time, the Qian army received Xue Yue, commander of the Central Army, as well as Wu Qiwei and Zhou Hunyuan, and Wan Yaohuang, commander of the 13th Division, at Machangping, only a few dozen kilometers south of the monkey farm. However, the purpose of Xue Yue's visit was to take Chiang Kai-shek's will and take the opportunity to enter Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou Province.
On the first day of 1935, Geng Biao led a reconnaissance detachment to set off, disguised as salt merchants, and headed for the Wujiang River. It was learned from reconnaissance that on the opposite bank of the river crossing, there was only one company of the Qian army guarding it, commanded by a regimental commander. Geng Biao immediately organized his troops to prepare for a strong attack, and with great fanfare cut bamboo and tied bamboo rafts on the south bank. Let people shout loudly and run back and forth, so that the enemy troops on the other side feel that thousands of troops and horses have come.
When it was dark, Commander Chen Guang organized 4 regiments to formulate a new plan. First smuggle some of the soldiers to the opposite shore, and then force the crossing after dawn. The strong crossing of the Wujiang River is already on the string.