Northwest Years 西北岁月 Episode 11

Now that Xi Zhongxun has become the chairman, Liu Zhidan brought many military and political cadres to salute him and asked him to give instructions on work, which made him flattered. But at Liu Zhidan's insistence, Xi Zhongxun admired Liu Zhidan's modesty and prudence even more. He sat aside and watched the trainees train, feeling very pleased.

Wang Shitai, the leader of the Third Red Regiment, wanted to select ten outstanding talents from the military and political cadre school, but the manpower was limited. The vice principal in charge of daily tasks looked embarrassed and told him that he still needed to pass Liu Zhidan and Xi Zhongxun. As expected, Xi Zhongxun did not agree and left Qin Mulan, Lu Jiande, Wang Xingyi and others in order to let them build a Lenin Primary School to popularize education and culture among the people in the border area. Liu Zhidan acquiesced to Xi Zhongxun's suggestion, and his only objection was to leave other people behind, which scared Wang Shitai and ran away.

Soon, Nanliang Lening Primary School officially opened. Qin Mulan taught children songs in class, attracting many people to watch. Liu Zhidan and Xi Zhongxun are discussing ten major policies that will allow the common people to be the masters of their own affairs without forcing the landlords and gentry to survive. They are full of hope for the future and believe that one day everyone will be able to eat meat-filled dumplings regularly.

A few days later, Xie Zi fell seriously ill and was bedridden. On his deathbed, he was still worried about the Central Red Army. He believed that the reactionaries would inevitably launch a large-scale attack on the Shaanxi-Gansu Red Army without worrying about the south. He told Liu Zhidan to be prepared to move northern Shaanxi and the Shaanxi-Gansu border areas as soon as possible. The two base areas united to strengthen the Shaanxi-Gansu Red Army and the base area.

Seeing his eldest son Xie Shaoming bringing the soup and medicine sensibly, he felt reluctant to give up. He held Liu Zhidan's hand and told him that he would have to shoulder the burden alone in the future and could no longer accompany him. Liu Zhidan promised Xie Zichang that he would hold the base no matter what, until Xie Zichang closed his eyes and was filled with grief.

On February 21, 1935, Xie Zichang, one of the main founders of the Shaanxi-Gansu Revolutionary Base and the Shaanxi-Gansu Red Army, passed away in Dengzhanwan, Anding County, Shaanxi Province. He was only 38 years old. In May 1942, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region government renamed Anding County Zichang County. Mao Zedong wrote an inscription for Xie Zichang, "National hero, although dead, still alive."

Not long after, the Kuomintang army launched a large-scale "encirclement and suppression" campaign against Nanliang. Xi Zhongxun single-handedly attracted the enemy and cooperated with Liu Zhidan to divert the masses and contain the enemy. In the end, Liu Zhidan repelled the Kuomintang army, and Xi Zhongxun was only slightly injured. His only distress was that the cotton-padded jacket his sister-in-law made for him was in disgrace.

Gu Lin, the special commissioner of the Northwest Working Committee of the Communist Party of China, brought a working group to Xi Zhongxun. However, because he was influenced by the "Left" line, he carried out a land inspection campaign in the Nanliang area, and there was a problem of misidentification of ingredients. Team leader Fang Yijiang conveyed instructions to the Red Guards. The Red Guards robbed Li Laoshuan's family of food like bandits, and even pointed a gun at his youngest son's head. It happened that the soldiers came back from outside. Seeing this scene, they rushed over. He grabbed the pistol and angrily criticized the behavior of the Red Guards.

Xi Zhongxun and Liu Jingfan learned of this and came to stop the wrong behavior of Gu Lin and others. As a result, they were criticized by Gu Lin for being right-leaning. Fang Yijiang claimed that Li Laoshuan had dozens of acres of land, but Xi Zhongxun told him that he had not investigated thoroughly. The real reason was that Li Laoshuan had worked hard to reclaim the slopes from the barren mountains and rivers ten miles away. Lila water was used for irrigation in the mountains, and the food grown was given to the government. The remaining food was used for his own home, but it was looted by the Red Guards.

Because this incident was so egregious, Xi Zhongxun and Liu Jingfan were aggrieved and demanded that this farcical land inspection campaign be stopped immediately and Fang Yijiang be dismissed from his post. Gu Lin did not agree and angrily criticized the two people's right-leaning ideas and threatened to report the problem to the Northwest Working Committee and the Northern Bureau. The two parties broke up unhappily.

Liu Zhidan brought two pieces of news to Xi Zhongxun. The bad news was that Chiang Kai-shek established the Bandit Suppression Headquarters in Xi'an and personally served as the commander-in-chief, using hundreds of thousands of heavy troops to "encircle and suppress" the Shaanxi-Gansu Red Army; the good news was that Xu Haidong and Cheng Zi The 25th Red Army led by Hua Hua is about to arrive at Yongping Town in Yanchuan. In September of the same year, the Shaanxi-Gansu Red Army and the 25th Red Army joined forces to form the 15th Red Army and won the Battle of Laoshan.