Northwest Years 西北岁月 Episode 27

Liu Kan and Dong Zhao's troops approached the location of the central organs. Mao Zedong led the central organs to fight hard and passed by the pursuing enemy. Fortunately, there was no danger. During the central organs' fight, Mao Zedong learned that Liu Deng's army had successfully crossed the Yellow River. He believed that Chiang Kai-shek would definitely change his deployment in the near future and try his best to prevent the Huaye Army from joining Liu Deng. Therefore, the Huaye Army had to seize the areas north and south of Tai'an as well as the west and southwest as quickly as possible to open up the road to join Liu Deng.

In addition, good news came from the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army. The summer offensive that just ended wiped out more than 80,000 Kuomintang troops and captured 42 cities, forcing the Northeast Kuomintang Army to shrink to the narrow strip of the Zhongchang Railway. Mao Zedong was overjoyed and decided to hold a meeting as soon as possible, and the location was in Xiaohe Village.

Originally, Peng Dehuai did not want to attend this meeting, but under the persuasion of Xi Zhongxun, he set off immediately. On the other hand, Chen Geng traveled day and night, and was extremely excited when he approached Xiaohe Village. Everyone was also happy when they learned that they were going to meet Chairman Mao. On the other hand, He Long came to see Mao Zedong in person and briefly told him about the situation in Shanxi. Mao Zedong told He Long to lead both the Jinsui and Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia regions to form a unified rear area to support the Northwest Field Army, hold back Hu Zongnan, and coordinate the national battlefield.

In addition, Mao Zedong told He Long about the second plan, which was to let Chen Geng cross the Yellow River to the south and go directly to western Henan. This would not only force Hu Zongnan to split his troops from northern Shaanxi and go south, but also play a very important role in supporting Liu Deng's leap from the Yellow River to the Dabie Mountains. He Long felt that Chen Geng's burden was heavy, and suggested that Xu Guangda take the third column to cross the Yellow River to the west to reinforce Peng Dehuai. In order to let He Long let go and do a great job, Mao Zedong gave him Xi Zhongxun as his partner.

From July 21 to 23, 1947, the Xiaohe Village Enlarged Meeting was held as scheduled. The Central Committee decided to continue to stay in northern Shaanxi and lead the national battlefield, changing the original deployment of the Chen Xie Column to cross the river to support the battlefield in northern Shaanxi. At the same time, He Long and Xi Zhongxun unified the rear work of the two liberated areas of Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia and Jinsui.

Then Mao Zedong talked to Xi Zhongxun and asked him to be personally responsible for the land reform work. There was a problem of how to treat rich peasants and middle peasants. When he arrived in the rear, he and He Long unified the work of the Northwest Bureau and Jinsui, and both the front and rear had to be taken care of.

On the other hand, on the Kuomintang side, Commander Liu was empty in Xiaohe Village. Wei Hai told Hu Zongnan his guess that the Communist Party had sneaked back. Soon, Liu Kan led his troops into Xiaohe Village again, and Mao Zedong led the central organs to secretly advance eastward into Jiaxian in the heavy rain, leaving the enemy empty.

Peng Dehuai, Wang Zhen and others gathered to drink. Xi Zhongxun introduced the situation in Yulin to everyone and said that there were two most important people at present, one was Deng Baoshan and the other was Ma Hongkui. According to what Xi Zhongxun knew, Deng Baoshan did not want to fight a civil war, but Yulin was the only capital of the other side. There was no way to retreat, and he would definitely fight to the death. As for Ma Hongkui's troops, they were powerful and would never be taken lightly. Because Xi Zhongxun could not continue to fight Yulin with everyone, this wine and food was a farewell banquet, and they agreed to meet again in the future.

Soon, Xi Zhongxun went to meet He Long and others alone, announcing that the Central Committee decided to re-incorporate the Jinsui Military Region into the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia-Jinsui Joint Defense Army, with He Long as the commander and him as the political commissar. The two jointly coordinated the rear work and fully supported the field army's operations. Just as He Long and Xi Zhongxun were discussing land reform and other issues, they suddenly received news that Yulin had not been taken. Peng Dehuai turned around to attack Hu Zongnan's reinforcements. The Central Committee asked He Long and Xi Zhongxun to move to Jinsui immediately to create the illusion for the enemy that the central organs had crossed the Yellow River to the east.