Northwest Years 西北岁月 Episode 33

On May 20, 1949, Xi'an was liberated. Until the end of May, the Northwest Bureau of the CPC Central Committee entered Xi'an. On June 8, in order to stabilize the situation and the people's hearts, a new Northwest Bureau was formed with Peng Dehuai as the first secretary, He Long and Xi Zhongxun as the second and third secretaries respectively, unifying the leadership of the party, government and army in the Northwest, which was of great significance for ensuring the complete victory of the Northwest Liberation War and building a new Northwest.

On the other hand, Wei Hai led the spies to lurk in Xi'an City, believing that Peng Dehuai's main force was deployed in Xifu, and the Communist Army's defense in Xi'an City was still weak. As long as Hu Zongnan and the two Ma, they could recapture Xi'an in one fell swoop. So Wei Hai arranged the tasks of each spy. Captain Jiang was responsible for leading people to blast and make some noise whenever there was something wrong; Lao Luo, an assassination expert trained by the Security Bureau, naturally took orders to assassinate some important figures. In addition, Wei Hai asked Chunping to lead people to create panic in public opinion and incite the opposition between Xi'an citizens and the Communist Party, and they must not be allowed to get the support of the people.

That night, Xi Zhongxun discussed the situation in the city with everyone, hoping that the 18th Corps could arrive as soon as possible, and that food supplies should be replenished in time to keep prices down to avoid causing unrest among the people. As soon as he finished speaking, the spies destroyed the city's circuits, causing the entire city to fall into darkness. Xi Zhongxun was so angry that he notified Wang Chaobei that these spies must be eliminated.

The next day, the people were instigated by the spies and ran to the grain and oil stores to smash, loot and buy, and the scene was in chaos. Wei Hai judged that the PLA troops had not entered Xi'an, and immediately passed the information to Hu Zongnan. Although Xi Zhongxun and others obtained the information and confirmed that it was Wei Hai himself, he strictly controlled the length of the telegram every time, and the specific location could not be accurately obtained at present.

In the days that followed, the chaos in Xi'an became more and more serious, and the food reserves could still support a week. Xi Zhongxun ordered everyone to continue to actively transport and ensure the normal supply in the city. The security forces arrived in advance according to his deployment. He found that Yang Deliang's troops had taken action, and he guessed that Yang Deliang was just sent by Hu Zongnan to test and had not made up his mind to counterattack Xi'an.

After receiving the news from Wei Hai, Hu Zongnan continued to wait and see the attitude of the two Ma. In order to protect himself, Ma Bufang decided to take the lead in attacking Xianyang. On the other hand, Peng Dehuai readjusted his strategy, only defending but not attacking Hu Zongnan, concentrating the main force to deal with the two Ma, and entering Xianyang to build fortifications to block the Ma family army.

At the critical moment, the 181st Division finally arrived in Xi'an, and the division commander Wang Chenghan reported to Peng Dehuai. Peng Dehuai immediately told Wang Chenghan about the current situation. Because Hu Zongnan and the two Ma had assembled 170,000 troops, they attempted to counterattack Guanzhong while the 18th Corps and the First Field Army had not fully joined, so the enemy they were about to face was the very fierce two Ma cavalry.

Now Ma Jiyuan's 82nd Army and the 8th Cavalry Brigade have arrived near Bin County, less than 200 miles away from Xianyang. The mission of the 181st Division is to hold the periphery of Xianyang. Wang Chenghan ordered everyone to dig trenches and set up ambushes. Chief of Staff Wang Qingshan sent Lao Zhang to lead a few people to scout nearby. As a result, they found Ma Jiyuan's vanguard, which meant that thirteen people had to deal with a cavalry battalion. The task was very difficult.

As the enemy got closer and closer, the thirteen people immediately opened fire, causing the enemy to fall and temporarily evacuate. Wang Qingshan knew that these people would continue to counterattack and block the enemy's advance with their flesh and blood. In the end, there were no bullets, but they could still fight hand-to-hand, just to buy time for the rear to build fortifications. Because of the dense firepower in the rear, the cavalry battalion could not advance and evacuated again.

Immediately afterwards, the 18th and 19th Corps arrived together. Peng Dehuai, He Long and others held a meeting to deploy the battle plan and decided to hand over the important task to Wang Shitai's Fourth Army, which made Xi Zhongxun see his good intentions. The First Field Army commander Xu Guangda led his troops to launch the Fumei Campaign and won the battle, forcing Hu Zongnan to retreat to Sichuan.