Northwest Years 西北岁月 Episode 30

After the Xifu Campaign, the Xiye Front Committee held a training meeting in Tuji. First, Peng Dehuai affirmed the achievements of Zhang Zongsun's troops, and secondly criticized the mistakes of Wang Shitai and Zhang Zhongliang. They were originally ordered to cover the 1st and 2nd columns to attack Baoji, seize Nanzhuang Lijia, ensure the assembly of the entire army, and cover the retreat of the main force. As a result, they evacuated without understanding the enemy situation, causing serious losses to other troops, exposing the entire army to the enemy's attack, and causing the entire army to be passive.

Wang Shitai explained to Peng Dehuai that the real situation at that time was that the communication was repeatedly lost, and it was completely unclear about the next task, but in Peng Dehuai's view, it was just a farfetched argument. Seeing the deadlock in the situation, Xi Zhongxun, Zhang Zongsun and others quickly put Wang Shitai in solitary confinement. The two sang the same tune in front of Peng Dehuai and spoke well for Wang Shitai and Zhang Zhongliang to avoid them being punished by military orders.

On the other hand, even if Wang Shitai was put in solitary confinement, he was still unconvinced, thinking that the 4th column was not wrong at all and should not be accused of such a big hat. Xi Zhongxun heard the content outside the door and pushed the door open directly. He was angry that Wang Shitai had not yet realized his mistakes. Wang Shitai insisted on making things clear, and Xi Zhongxun asked him to write a self-criticism. The whole army also summed up the experience and lessons.

Then Xi Zhongxun went to see Peng Dehuai and saw that he did not really want to punish Wang Shitai and Zhang Zhongliang. Peng Dehuai took the initiative to assume the main responsibility for the failure of the Xifu Campaign, which made Xi Zhongxun very admired. No wonder Mao Zedong and others praised Peng Dehuai as "a man of virtue".

After Huanglong was liberated, Xi Zhongxun was preparing to go to the new district for research. The township head Jia Kaiming secretly colluded with bandits to sell grain, and reminded the other party to be quiet recently to avoid being exposed. The next day, Jia Kaiming summoned the villagers to warmly welcome Xi Zhongxun and first engage in a set of formalism, but the villagers did not buy it at all.

On the other hand, when Xi Zhongxun arrived in Huanglong, he went to the fields to find farmers to understand the situation. He learned that most of the local people did not have extra food to fill their stomachs, and he also found that the retained cadre Jia Kaiming had problems such as increasing grain and colluding with bandits. When Xi Zhongxun was talking to his fellow villagers, Jia Kaiming interrupted him. Many villagers did not dare to tell the truth under Jia Kaiming's tyranny.

Seeing this, Xi Zhongxun understood the situation and took Qiang Zixiu, secretary of the Huanglong Prefectural Committee, to understand the situation. Through secret investigation, he confirmed that Jia Kaiming colluded with bandits, oppressed the people, collected grain twice a year, made the people hungry, and made a fortune. He directly ordered people to arrest him. Jia Kaiming wanted to quibble until he saw that the bandits were also arrested. He was so scared that he knelt on the ground and begged bitterly. Xi Zhongxun insisted on severely punishing such people.

Qiang Zixiu told Xi Zhongxun that the local staff was not enough and there was a serious shortage of cadres. People like Jia Kaiming who stayed from the Kuomintang government still had many bad habits. They could only be observed and retained. Unexpectedly, such a big problem occurred. It was for this reason that Xi Zhongxun urgently convened a meeting of cadres in the Huanglong District to rectify discipline, increase cadres from the old district, and strengthen organizational strength.

Because Wang Shijian was arrested and defected in Xi'an last September, the underground intelligence system of the Communist Party was devastated and has not recovered until now. Therefore, Zhao Boping of the Provincial Working Committee consulted with Xi Zhongxun and wanted to send Qin Mulan to Xi'an to lead the secret front work. Qin Mulan readily agreed after knowing it.

Mao Zedong and others greatly appreciated Xi Zhongxun's work report on the new liberated areas and decided to distribute it to all central bureaus immediately. Now that the Liaoshen Campaign is coming to an end and the Huaihai Campaign is in full swing, Fu Zuoyi has gone from a frightened bird to a caged bird. Mao Zedong also plans to establish a central government as soon as possible and express on the radio that the Chinese people will win the final victory in the great war of liberation.