Chapter Fifteen: Western Expedition and Training (Three)

  After the troops finished their training and reorganization, it was time for the Red Army to leave the mountains. According to historical development, next would be the occupation of the pass by one army corps. Considering the heavy combat tasks of the Red Army, the serious casualties among its backbone forces, and the urgent need to improve its tactical level, Liu Yimin, Cai Zhong, Liu Jianli, and Li Qing decided to establish a divisional training detachment after consultation.

  The instructor team was led by Liu Yimin, with Cai Zhong in charge of cultural and ideological education, and Liu Jian responsible for military training. In Liu Yimin's words, the instructor team would become the backbone of the 18th Regiment, tasked with training platoon, company, and battalion cadres, so their training and education had to be ahead of the rest of the regiment. Especially in terms of cultural knowledge, each team member had to learn at least 1,000 characters, basic arithmetic, and map-reading skills. If possible, they would also study specialized subjects, with four majors initially available: artillery, infantry, engineering, and politics, using Red Army school materials as standards. They would study while on the march, fight while learning, and not be assigned combat tasks until the regiment faced a life-or-death situation.

  According to Liu Yimin's request, Liu Jian and Cai Zhong searched for talents throughout the regiment, selecting instructors for the instructional team. They really found a few instructors who were originally from the Red Army school and had made mistakes, but had been reorganized on the banks of the Xiangjiang River. Cai Zhong asked Liu Yimin if he dared to use them, and Liu Yimin said that these people were all steadfast revolutionary fighters, and what they violated was the wrong line of Li De and Bo Gu, in fact, they were correct.

  Cai's eyes widened as he stared at Liu Yimin: "How dare you say that the central leadership is wrong?"

  Liu Yimin said: "The sole criterion for testing truth is practice, and the practice since the Fifth Encirclement Campaign has already proven that Li De and Bo Gu's line is incorrect. The blood of the Red Army soldiers on both banks of the Xiangjiang River has declared the bankruptcy of Li De and Bo Gu's line. Facts have proved that Comrade *'s line is correct. Our Red Army can only choose Comrade * as its commander to move from victory to victory."

  Cai Zhong said: "Aren't you afraid of being caught?"

  Liu Yimin said: "We may die at any moment, what's there to be afraid of being caught? Besides, this isn't the Soviet area anymore, their methods of catching people won't work. Don't worry, just boldly do it."

  After the teaching team was established, Liu Yimin took out an afternoon to concentrate all the deputy squad leaders and above cadres for short-term tactical training, focusing on infantry offense, defense and anti-artillery, anti-aircraft tactics. The infantry company's offensive route formation, triangular formation, ladder formation, defensive one-word array, triangular array, ladder array, reverse slope position construction, artillery cave construction, air shooting, camouflage position and other detailed explanations were carried out.

  Looking at the cadres listening with rapt attention, Liu Yimin further explained the six major tactical principles of the Fourth Wild, including one point and two sides, three-three system, three fierce and three kinds of situations, four fast and one slow, and four groups in one team. Especially when it came to the three-three system, Liu Yimin's explanation was different from the Red Army's prisoner policy, emphasizing the immediate replenishment of prisoners of war against the National Army.

  There was a cadre report that this did not conform to our army's mobilization policy of prisoners of war volunteering to join the Red Army and giving travel expenses to those who were unwilling to join the Red Army.

  Liu Yimin said that this question is well raised, our Red Army's prisoner policy is not bad, it has played a role in promoting the Red Army and dividing and disintegrating the enemy. However, practice has proven that many prisoners who were released and returned to their original units continued to be conscripted and participated in the Nationalist army fighting against the Red Army. These people surrendered quickly when our army won, but when our army suffered a setback, they would also turn against us. I believe comrades all have experience with this. Therefore, the best approach is to utilize the strong political and ideological work advantage of our army, directly transforming these prisoners into Red Army soldiers, fighting together with us in revolution. Many Nationalist army prisoners are well-trained soldiers, once their ideology is transformed, they can be immediately deployed into battle. This way, we can rapidly expand the Red Army's forces and weaken the enemy. To achieve this, every cadre must be both a commander and an ideological and political work instructor, every Red Army soldier must be both a fighter and an ideological and political worker. Our "speak bitterness" and "three investigations" activities have already found a good approach for "capturing and recruiting".

  Another cadre reported after investigation that most of the Red Army soldiers were illiterate and unable to conduct ideological and political work.

  Liu Yimin said that if you don't know how to read and write, learn to recognize characters. From then on, all squad leaders of the 18th Regiment must be able to recognize 1,000 characters, read maps, write summaries, use rifles, light and heavy machine guns, and mortars. Platoon leaders must be able to write combat summaries, company commanders must have a level equivalent to graduation from Red Army school, and battalion commanders and above must have a level equivalent to graduation from Red Army university. We must learn while marching, learn while fighting, and know that an army without culture has no future. Our Red Army soldiers are not afraid of death, so why should they be afraid of learning to read and write? Everyone remembers, we must not only be heroes on the battlefield but also heroes in learning. After each battle, summarize the gains and losses as a class unit, and companies, battalions, and regiments must all produce written combat summaries. After one battle, individual soldiers' tactical skills should improve by one step, cadres' command ability should improve by one step, and the overall tactical level of the troops should improve by one big step.

  After the tactical training was over, the cadres began to take the soldiers on a march and drill, experimenting with Liu Yimin's brand new tactical ideas.

  Considering the poor morale of the troops after the defeat at Xiangjiang, Liu Yimin thought about whether to come up with a military song or something earlier. After some thought, he still felt that singing "The Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention" was best. Especially for a reorganized unit like the 18th Regiment, it was urgent to use the Red Army's discipline to restrain them.

  Liu Yimin called over Cai Zhong and shared his ideas with him. Cai Zhong said, "You sing it for me to hear, then we'll talk." Liu Yimin sang a song, and Cai Zhong thought it was good, but the lyrics were slightly different from our "Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention". It seemed like they had been revised for the better.

  Liu Yimin said, "Of course! Haven't you seen me thinking about it for several days? Our team will learn to sing first. If we sing well and the effect is good, the Red Army troops will spread the song."

  Cai Zhong said, "I didn't expect you could compose music."

  Liu Yimin said the tune was not written by me, it is a Prussian military song "Emperor Wilhelm's Drill Song", during the late Qing dynasty when the New Army was being trained, Zhang Zhidong, the Governor-General of Huguang, used this tune to fill in lyrics as a marching song. After the Republic of China was established, various factions of the Beiyang warlords and the Northern Expeditionary Army all used this tune with new lyrics as military songs. I revised our Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention and filled them into the tune, aiming to strictly enforce military discipline and enhance troop cohesion.

  Cai Zhong said you little devil is really capable, can't see what kind of thing makes you slightly stir up, it's completely different.

  Thus, the famous "Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention" was formulated in the Red 18th Division two years earlier than history.

  After the troops finished reorganizing, it was time for the Red Army to leave the mountains. According to historical development, next came the occupation of the pass by the army corps and the convening of the famous Pass Conference. Since the original radio station of the 18th Regiment had been damaged in the New Village blocking battle, Liu Yimin had no choice but to set out early on foot to report to the army corps headquarters on the reorganization of the troops and request instructions.

  The headquarters of the three armies was temporarily set up in a mountain temple. When Liu Yimin arrived, General Peng and Chief of Staff Deng were crawling on a map analyzing and studying.

  It's been a few days since I've seen them, and both Director Peng and Deng Ping look thinner. Director Peng is still doing alright, he was originally quite sturdy, and having come from the grassroots military, although he has lost some weight, his spirit hasn't changed much. But Adjutant General Deng looks like he's lost a lot of weight, with deep eye sockets and especially bright eyes.

  After listening to Liu Yimin's report, Peng Dehuai was very satisfied. Regarding the equipment of radio stations and weapons proposed by Liu Yimin, Peng Dehuai said that nothing was available, and if there were any, it would not be necessary for Liu Yimin to serve as the commander of the 18th Regiment, as there were many people in the Red Army who could serve as regiment commanders. In the end, Peng Dehuai still allocated a radio station from the military division to Liu Yimin.

  Then, pointing at the map, Peng Dehuai said to Liu Yimin: "The Central Revolutionary Military Commission has ordered the Third Red Army Regiment to be on the left wing, the Second Division of the First Red Army Regiment, the First Column of the Military Commission, and the Ninth Red Army Regiment to be on the right wing. The First Division of the First Red Army Regiment and the Second Column of the Military Commission are in the middle, with the Fifth Regiment leading the Eighth Regiment as the rear guard, advancing towards the Tongdao area. The target is to march into western Hunan.

  Currently, the Second Division of the First Red Army Regiment is marching along the Chengdu-Chongqing line towards the Tongdao area. My Third Regiment will also enter the Tongdao area today. Considering that the main force of the Red Army suffered heavy casualties and difficulties in supplying food and ammunition during the Xiangjiang Battle, and your regiment has won several victories since the New Yuan blocking battle, with sufficient ammunition and high morale, and the newly formed companies need to be tempered in battle, so I order your regiment to be the vanguard of the military division, advancing towards Tongdao, with the goal of occupying the county seat of Tongdao. After completing the task, organize defenses on the spot, dispatch powerful troops to scout and guard northward and westward, and pay attention to responding to the First Red Army Regiment and the Military Commission Column.

  Do you understand?

  "Complete the task resolutely!"

  Liu Yimin replied and saw that General Peng's expression was neither surprised nor angry, then carefully said: "Report to the Army Commander, I want to make a suggestion, is it okay?"

  Mr. Peng said: "Speak your mind."

  "Report to the Legion Commander, our army's occupation of the passage is not a problem, but we cannot advance towards Western Hunan. Now even three-year-old children know that Chiang Kai-shek has set up a pocket on the road where the Red Army advances towards Western Hunan, which may be bigger than the one at Xiangjiang and more sinister in plot. Especially since the Hunan army has built fortifications along the line of Western Hunan to prevent the Central Red Army from joining forces with the Second and Sixth Army Corps. Don't say that the current Red Army is powerless to break through, even if it breaks through, I estimate that the Central Red Army will not die but will have to shed another layer of skin. Therefore, the Red Army absolutely cannot advance towards Western Hunan and should quickly change its route. It is suggested that after occupying the passage, we should change direction and advance towards the Guizhou border."

  Comrade Peng said: "I will report this proposal to the Central Revolutionary Military Commission."

  Liu Yimin suggested: "Can't we report these situations separately to Chairman Mao, Commander-in-Chief Zhu and Vice-Chairman Zhou? We can't push the Red Army into the enemy's gunfire."

  General Peng's eyebrows jumped up and he thought for a moment before saying, "Don't consider other things, pay special attention to strengthening the guard after occupying the passage, and do not attack north without orders."

  "Yes, resolutely complete the task!"

  After leaving General Peng, Liu Yimin rushed back to the unit and gathered several team leaders and battalion commanders to assign tasks. He ordered the reconnaissance platoon to set out immediately and scout in the direction of the pass; the 1st Battalion's 1st Company and sniper platoon served as the vanguard and searched forward in the direction of the pass; the 1st Battalion's 2nd and 3rd Companies, and the 2nd Battalion's firepower support platoon formed the second echelon, advancing closely behind the vanguard; the 3rd and 4th Battalions served as the supporting echelon, keeping a distance of no more than 2000 meters from the second echelon. The remaining cadres and soldiers of the new recruit battalion, along with the instructional team, formed the covering echelon, following behind the third echelon. To avoid misunderstandings and misfires, all troops wore Red Army uniforms when setting out; after leaving the Red Army's sentry range, the reconnaissance platoon and vanguard changed into Xiang Army uniforms, while the second echelon changed into Gui Army uniforms to disguise themselves as enemy forces. The regiment commander followed the vanguard, the chief of staff followed the second echelon, the political commissar followed the third echelon, and the director of the political department followed the covering echelon. Commissar Cai suggested that as the military leader, the regiment commander should not follow the vanguard. Liu Yimin said that in dealing with the enemy, he had more experience than them; following the vanguard would allow him to grasp the situation early and minimize losses. He told them not to argue, and ordered the entire regiment to prepare for 1 hour, bringing a day's worth of dry rations, and set out immediately after, aiming to have dinner in the city that evening.