Northwest Years 西北岁月 Episode 13

The 28th Army crossed the Yellow River eastward to Shanxi to open up the anti-Japanese road. On April 14 of the same year, during the battle with the enemy, Liu Zhidan continued to take command and reconnoiter the enemy's situation. Unfortunately, he was shot and died. He was only 33 years old. After learning the news, Xi Zhongxun rode his horse eastward and stood on the top of the mountain watching Liu Zhidan being buried in a thin coffin and being carried back to the security guard by the soldiers and civilians. He felt extremely sad in his heart. In June of the same year, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to change Baoan County to Zhidan County. Mao Zedong wrote an inscription praising Liu Zhidan as a "mass leader and national hero."

When Mao Zedong learned about Xi Zhongxun and others, he learned that they had been labeled as right-leaning and imprisoned unjustly. He couldn't help feeling that the Shaanxi-Gansu base area had given the Party Central Committee and the Red Army a foothold. It was all the credit of these cadres. It was a pity that Liu Zhidan and Xie Zichang died. Many comrades have suffered too many grievances. They are all outstanding talents, and they must not overuse their talents.

In September 1936, Xi Zhongxun was selected by Mao Zedong to attend the meeting as an exception and met with Mao Zedong. Now the Kuomintang mobilized eleven divisions to frantically "encircle and suppress" the Guanzhong Soviet Area. Xi Zhongxun was sent to Xunyi by the central government to serve as the secretary of the Guanzhong Special Committee. On the way, he was surrounded by bandits. Ma Laosan heard that Xi Zhongxun could talk slander and treated him badly. I had heard about it a long time ago, so I decisively made him a friend and let him go quickly.

After arriving in Xunyi, Xi Zhongxun called everyone to a meeting to discuss the current situation. Qin Mulan said that the enemy implemented the Baojia system where every family sits together to disintegrate their party organizations and guerrillas, so that many comrades have gone into hiding and their weapons and guns are buried on the spot. Therefore, the overall situation in Guanzhong is that there are no people and no guns. , fell into an embarrassing situation.

However, Xi Zhongxun believes that many comrades are hiding, which shows that they have not surrendered to the enemy and trust the party organization. The top priority is to contact party members in various places as soon as possible, and to mobilize all comrades to pick up guns to restore the organization and fight against the enemy. In addition, Xi Zhongxun persuaded some reactionary militia groups to surrender and turned enemies into friends, opening up the situation within a few months.

On December 12 of the same year, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng launched military remonstrance in Xi'an to detain Chiang Kai-shek. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China sent Zhou Enlai and others to Xi'an to promote a peaceful settlement of the Xi'an Incident. Because of this, this incident became a turning point in the current situation. The ten-year civil war basically ended, domestic peace was initially achieved, and the Kuomintang and the Communist Party cooperated for the second time to jointly resist Japan.

Then Xi Zhongxun went to meet Peng Dehuai and learned that the Eighth Route Army was preparing to cross the Yellow River eastward, and that he would recruit a reserve battalion of 300 people within a month to supplement He Long's 120th Division. But the problem is that most of the Guanzhong Soviet Area is located in mountainous areas, and there are too few local soldiers. Guo Bingkun only recruited 30 people even after breaking his leg while running. Moreover, these 30 people were mixed, and their physical fitness was not good.

At this time, Li Sanwa took the initiative to come to Xi Zhongxun and expressed that she wanted to serve as a soldier to fight the Japanese. However, Xi Zhongxun thought that he was too young and arranged for Guo Bingkun to send him back, telling him to study knowledge and culture well and there would be many opportunities to contribute in the future. After listening to Xi Zhongxun's words, Li Sanwa no longer insisted. In the end, with Xi Zhongxun's unremitting efforts, he finally recruited enough people from Guanzhong, and even added a regiment of people. He Long was very happy and gave him his favorite pistol.

In August 1937, the Revolutionary Military Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued an order to reorganize the main force of the Red Army into the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army. From August to October, various units of the Eighth Route Army set out from Jingyang and Fuping respectively, crossed the Yellow River eastward, and headed for the front line of the Anti-Japanese War. When Xi Zhongxun returned to Fuping, he first visited his former school and then came home, where he met his second sister Xi Dongying, his younger sister Xi Yanying, and his third uncle Xi Zongren.