On June 12, 1935, the Central Red Army met with the Red Fourth Front in Victory in Dawei. At this time, the Red Fourth Front army had 80,000 troops, while the Central Red Army experienced the bloody battle of the Xiang River, the four crossings of the Red River, and the rush to cross the Dadu River, the strength of the troops was less than 20,000, and it was a tired division.
As a result, Zhang Guotao's ambitions began to swell, and he jumped out of the Lianghekou Conference on June 26 and the Shawo Conference on August 4 to challenge the central authorities and ask for a higher position. Zhou En: "This is the first time since the founding of the Communist Party of China that someone has reached out to the central authorities for power. ”
Zhang Guotao wanted to be chairman of the Central Military Commission, and this position was held by Zhu De, who had no qualifications or reason to replace Zhu Laozong; only as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, he was unwilling to sit on an equal footing with Zhou Enlai and Wang Jiaxiang, who were also vice chairmen.
Zhang Wentian only thought of promoting the four fronts to go north, and he wanted to cede his position of general responsibility within the party to Zhang Guotao.
Chairman Mao categorically rejected Zhang Wentian's suggestion, saying that what Zhang Guotao wanted to grasp was military power, and if you gave him this position, he may not be satisfied, but if he really let him sit on this throne, he would be in trouble again.
In his later recollections, Peng Dehuai was full of admiration for Chairman Mao's strategy and foresight.
After repeated deliberations, the Central Committee decided to cede Zhou Enlai's post as General Political Commissar of the Red Army to Zhang Guotao. Zhou Enlai did not care about his personal position and agreed to give it up. Having obtained this important position, Zhang Guotao was also satisfied.
The Shawo Conference decided that the First and Fourth Fronts would jointly move north under the unified leadership of the Central Committee, and that the First and Fourth Fronts would be mixed into the Right Route Army and the Left Route Army. The Right Route Army included the First Army, the Third Army, the Fourth Army of the Red Fourth Front, the Thirty Army, the First Column of the Central Military Commission, and the Red Army University (formed by the cadre regiment of the Central Red Army and the Military Academy of the Red Fourth Front), led by Xu Xiangqian, Ye Jianying, and Chen Changhao, and accompanied by Chairman Mao, Zhou Enlai, and other central leaders. The Left Route Army included the Ninth Army and the Thirty-first Army of the Red Fourth Front, the Fifth Army, the Ninth Army of the Red Front, and the Column of the Central Military Commission.
The central authorities ordered the four fronts to divide into two roads to the left and right and go north according to the needs. At that time, Zhu De remained in the Four Fronts Army, leading the Left Route Army with Zhang Guotao and others, and Xu Xiangqian and Chen Changhao leading the Right Route Army.
But Zhang Guotao was very reluctant to go north in his heart.
Zhu De's guard Pan Kaiwen said in "Remembering the Beloved Commander-in-Chief Zhu": On the second day of encampment by the Kaqu River, Commander-in-Chief Zhu, Zhang Guotao, Secretary General Huang Chao, and Dong Zhentang, commander of the 5th Army, discussed the direction of the army's attack in Zhang Guotao's tent, and the debate was fierce. Dong Zhentang agreed with Zhu Zong's opinion and went north, and Huang Chao slapped Dong Zhentang several times. Zhang Guotao did not stop it, and Zhu Zong was extremely angry in his heart, but he did not open his mouth and returned to his tent with Dong Zhentang.
At that time, Luo Binghui, commander of the Red Ninth Army in the Left Route Army, and He Changgong, the political commissar, had already fallen to Zhang Guotao's side. Zhu De's strength in the Left Route Army was very small, and his inner pain could be imagined.
In the end, after various struggles with Zhang Guotao, the highly respected Zhu De still took the Red Fourth Front army north.
Slaps can only happen in the Red Army in the Red Fourth Front. Zhang Guotao ruled the army and was far from Chairman Mao.
Huang Chao really went too far. A native of Guizhou, he was born in 1906 and was the same age as the founding generals Tan Zheng, Luo Ruiqing, the founding generals Li Zhimin and Peng Shaohui, as well as Wang Jiaxiang, Wang Shoudao, He Chang, Cai Shenxi, Deng Fa, Chen Guang, Pan Hannian, and the last emperor Puyi.
In 1925, Huang Chao joined the Party, and after the defeat of the Great Revolution, he was organized and sent to the Soviet Union to study at the Eastern University, graduated and returned to China in 1930, was sent to the Eyu-Anhui Soviet District in the autumn of 1931, and soon served as Zhang Guotao's secretary, and in the winter of the same year served as the secretary-general of the Eyu-Anhui Revolutionary Military Committee. In 1932, Huang Chao concurrently served as the secretary general of the Political Department of the Red Fourth Front, and later became the director of the Political Department of the Red 25th Army and the director of the Political Department of the Red 31st Army. After 1934, he served as secretary general of the Northwest Revolutionary Military Commission, and later secretary general of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Provincial Soviet Government.
In September 1935, Huang Chao was transferred to the Political Commissar of the 5th Army of the Red 5th Army, went north with the Red Fourth Front army in June 1936, and led the Red 5th Army to cross the Yellow River in October, and was incorporated into the Western Route Army, still serving as the political commissar of the Red 5 army.
In early January 1937, Dong Zhentang led four regiments of the Fifth Red Army to capture Gaotai County in Gansu Province. On January 12, the enemy Ma Bufang sent Ma Biao, Ma Lu, and Han Qi to surround Gaotai with about 20,000 troops, cutting off the red fifth army and Linze City.
In order to repel the enemy's attack, Dong Zhentang mobilized the entire army and people of the city to strengthen the defense of the city, fill in the earth and build fortifications, splash water and ice, and create large spears to supplement the shortage of weapons. At that time, the temperature in Gaotai reached minus tens of degrees Celsius. The officers of the Fifth Red Army who insisted on it only had a single coat on their bodies, and each person had only 5 bullets.
Under such harsh conditions, Dong Zhentang led his troops and fought fiercely for 7 days and 7 nights with more than 8 to 10 times more enemy troops than our army. On the morning of the 19th, Dong Zhentang and more than 50 cadres and fighters swore an oath to the party: they would shed the last drop of blood.
In the early hours of the next day, the enemy rushed to the city walls. Dong Zhentang was shot in the left leg, fell from the city wall, knelt on one leg, raised his gun in both hands and continued to shoot at the enemy... With the last bullet in his hand, Dong Zhentang kept it to himself.
Dong Zhentang's head was cut off by the inhumane Ma Jiajun, hung at the Gate of Gaotai City to "show the public", and finally transported to Nanjing. Ma Bufang's cousin, Ma Ying, was one of the executioners who killed officers and men of the Red Army and was later arrested by the people's government. On August 4, 1978, he confessed in prison: "Dong Zhentang's head was sent by Liu Chengde and soaked in alcohol, which I saw with my own eyes." ”
Dong Zhentang's heroic sacrifice, Huang Chao should bear a certain responsibility. At that time, Dong Zhentang knew that there was a huge gap between the enemy and us, and wanted to break through with the camera, but because the only radio station in the whole army was left in the hands of Huang Chao, the military political commissar in Linze, he could not ask the headquarters for instructions. Finally, at the moment of crisis, the hole in the city wall has been dug and prepared to break through, but he received the order of the political commissar Huang Chao to guard the high platform! The political commissar has the final decision, and Dong Zhentang can only obey! A generation will star, fall high platform!
In March, Huang Chao was appointed as a member of the Working Committee of the Western Route Army of the Communist Party of China. After the defeat of the Western Route Army in April, Huang Chao led the rest of his army to Xinjiang.
In the winter of 1937, Huang Chao was arrested by Wang Ming and others on his way back from the Soviet Union via Urumqi on charges of "Trotskyism" and executed in early 1938.
Along with Huang Chao, he was executed, as well as Zhang Guotao's other concubine, Li Te.
After Zhang Guotao arrived in Yan'an, he was still a member of the Politburo, and a series of important documents and telegrams of the party had their signatures.
Zhang Guotao expressed obedience to Mao Zedong's leadership position in the party, and also partially realized his mistake: he had vainly tried to split the party and the Red Army.
At the end of November 1937, Wang Ming came from the Soviet Union to Yan'an with the latest instructions of the Comintern on China's War of Resistance, and Chairman Mao, Zhang Wentian, Zhou Enlai, and others "braved the heavy snow" to greet him at the airport. It is a great joy for you to return to Yan'an. This is called 'joy descending from heaven'. ”
At the welcome meeting, Wang Ming also spoke in response, and there was a somewhat anti-guest tone in his words, saying: "We were sent by the Communist International and by Comrade Stalin. Several of us are representatives of our Party to the Communist International, and there is nothing to welcome, but Comrade Mao Zedong, who should be welcomed. ”
There is a feeling on both sides that I am the master.
Less than a month after returning to Yan'an, Wang Ming eagerly proposed that the Central Committee convene a politburo meeting (that is, the December meeting). At the meeting, many of the leaders attending the meeting supported Wang Ming, and Chairman Mao was isolated. On the last day of the meeting, when discussing the organizational issue, Wang Ming did not consult with anyone, but suddenly proposed a list of members and alternate members of the Politburo of the Central Committee, and made a trick on the arrangement. He also knew that this move would inevitably arouse suspicion, so he repeatedly stated that there was no intention of "seizing the seal of the marshal".
Zhang Guotao later recalled, "The list proposed by Wang Ming only added two people, Zhao Yun (that is, KangSheng) Chen Yun, who returned to China with him, and the rest were mostly old people, but the number of seats was slightly adjusted, so Mao was in favor of principle. Mao's displeasure seemed to have not consulted him in advance... Zhang Wentian's ranking was lowered to seventh on Wang Ming's list. Wang Ming's performance seems to have the intention of replacing Zhang Wentian. Zhang Wentian, however, did not say a word there, never making any indication of practical issues except to express his approval of the political ideas that Wang Ming brought back from Moscow..."
From left: Zhang Wentian, Kang Sheng, Zhou Enlai, Kaifeng, Wang Ming, Chairman Mao, Ren Bishi, Zhang Guotao
Zhang Guotao and Wang Ming had a contest in Moscow, but it ended with Wang Ming winning zhang Guotao's defeat.
Unexpectedly, the road was narrow, and they met again in Yan'an.
Zhang Guotao hated his former nemesis Wang Ming in his heart, and he wrote in his later memoirs: "Wang Ming was like an 'angel' of Moscow holding the sword of Shangfang, and his attitude seemed to convey the 'holy will'. However, he was still an inexperienced young man, appearing to be ambitious and talented, fond of speaking highly, not examining the actual situation, and lacking the ability and method to implement his ideas, and his first few days of performance caused some uneasiness in the head department. ”
He secretly resolved that he must find Wang Ming's weakness to get out of the evil spirit of that year.
However, to his surprise, Wang Ming preemptively attacked and actually took the initiative to come to the door. Wang Ming first told Zhang Guotao that the former Western Route Army generals Huang Chao and Li Te, who had been heavily relied upon by Zhang Guotao, had been secretly executed as Trotskyists.
Zhang Guotao was suddenly terrified.
Wang Ming, like he was in Moscow, was still arrogant and domineering, constantly telling Zhang Guotao in a critical tone that he must profoundly examine and understand his mistakes, and clearly pointed out that Zhang Guotao had made the mistake of right opportunism and was particularly suspicious of Trotskyism. Subsequently, Wang Ming publicly named Zhang Guotao on various occasions, criticized Zhang Guotao, and further theoretically characterized his mistakes.
From this day on, Zhang Guotao was unsteady and restless. If we say that the Central Committee has struggled and criticized him in the previous period, he can still accept it after all. Wang Ming's return gave him the horror of death. Wang Ming's heart was fierce, and Zhang Guotao knew it well.
The deaths of Huang Chao and Li Te deeply stimulated Zhang Guotao. From this point on, Zhang Guotao planned to betray the revolution.
In April 1938, a terrified Zhang Guotao took the opportunity to pay homage to the Yellow Emperor's mausoleum and fled from Xi'an to Wuhan, where he openly defected to the enemy. Defecting to the Kuomintang, he was quickly abandoned by the Kuomintang, and he was once reduced to a member of the military command, living a very difficult life, and then went to Hong Kong, then to Canada, and finally died a miserable death in a foreign country.
Beginning with the December meeting of the Politburo in 1937, Wang Mingchun was triumphant and Chairman Mao was in the ascendant. It was not until the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee in October 1938 that Chairman Mao was highly recognized by the whole party.
Finally, let's talk about what happened behind Huang Chao. In 1978, 40 years after Huang Chao and Li Te were executed, they were rehabilitated by the Party Central Committee and posthumously recognized as revolutionary martyrs. (Liu Jixing)