Chapter 65: The Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi Base Area

  In addition, it must be explained that the loss of the bandit suppression was so great, in fact, because the scope of the Yuexi Su district expanded further, the scope of the bandit suppression naturally followed. It is worth mentioning that after the 15th Red Army arrived at Luxi County, they made contact with the remaining troops of the 74th Division of the 25th Red Army, which was left behind during the second Long March. Since the 74th Division had lost contact with the 25th Army, it naturally agreed to join the 8th Red Army Corps. However, contrary to the expectations of Zheng Weisan, Secretary of the E-Shan Special Committee, Chen Xianrui, Commander of the 74th Division, and Li Longgui, Political Commissar, Hu Weidong, this young leader did not disband or downgrade the 74th Division because of its small number of troops. Instead, he retained the division's designation and supplemented it with personnel and equipment, increasing its strength to over three thousand men, and its firepower increased tenfold. This was a windfall for the current 74th Division, which had less than a thousand people. The officers and soldiers of the 74th Division immediately had a very good first impression of Hu Weidong: "This leader is a kind-hearted person!"

  It turns out that Hu Weidong did this mainly because he is a "number control freak" in his subconscious mind. For those heroic troops with glorious history, he always wants to let the number be inherited. At this time, the Red 74th Division was still very weak, but historically they were able to develop from an initial 300 people to several thousand people in just over a year, and their equipment was greatly improved due to seizures, and even had a surplus of guns. This is something that many main force troops of the Red Army cannot do. Chen Xianrui's military talent, at least his guerrilla warfare level, can be seen from this. Even if he can't compare with Gao Jingtang, the master of guerrilla warfare, he is still an excellent Red Army general.

  (Note: Historically, Chen Xianrui only had outstanding achievements during the Red Army period, and was not very impressive afterwards. But personally, I think it's not a problem of ability, but rather bad luck, especially after becoming a political work cadre, it's even harder to exert his military talent. It's worth noting that famous generals like Su Yu were also delayed in their careers because they held positions as political work cadres.)

  After learning about the strong strength of the Red Eighth Army, Chen Xianrui immediately suggested that the main force send troops to restore the Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi base area, which had almost all become guerrilla zones. Hu Weidong agreed, but only allowed the occupation of six core counties in the original Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi base area, so as not to spread too thin and lose control of the banditry in the base area. Of these six counties, only Lushi County was in Henan, while the other five were Shangnan, Xunyang, Zhen'an, Shanyang in Shaanxi, and Xixiang in Hubei. As a result, the scope of the Western Henan Soviet Area expanded to 23 counties, spanning three provinces. Logically, it should have been renamed the Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi Base Area, but since the western Henan part was far inferior to the five counties in the other two provinces in terms of population, area, and economy, people still habitually referred to it as the Western Henan Soviet Area...

  Expansion based on the ground is a good thing, but it also triggered a controversy. Should the Red Eighth Army develop westward, capture Xi'an and connect the Henan-Shaanxi-Sichuan Soviet area with the Shaan-Gan-Ning border region? Or should it develop southward and eastward to connect with Gao Jingting's Dabie Mountains base area?

  In Hu Weidong's personal opinion, it was better to develop southward. He was very clear that although the Red Eighth Army Corps was strong, they did not have the confidence to capture Xi'an. The city of Xi'an was heavily fortified, and at present, the main force of the Northeastern Army in Shaanxi Province had a strong will to fight, with many cannons, and an aviation brigade stationed within the city walls. As long as they were determined to defend the city, it would be difficult for the Red Eighth Army Corps to capture it, despite its strong strength and expertise in attacking fortifications. Moreover, what was more crucial was that Xi'an, although famous, had no money, no industry, and no resources, making it not worth the risk for the Red Eighth Army Corps.

  In addition, Hu Weidong also had a small "private heart". He can now fully implement his own industrial construction plan in the western Henan Su district to a large extent because no one interferes with him. However, once he is connected with the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia border region, there will be countless higher-ranking officials who may question Hu Weidong's plans. If some outsider leader raises objections to Hu Weidong's plan, it would be a headache. Therefore, before achieving great results and proving himself correct, Hu Weidong did not want to accept the direct leadership of the Central Committee too early. However, this was something that could never be said out loud. If someone used this as evidence to label him with the "self-reliance" hat, it would be a big trouble. What troubled Hu Weidong even more was that most of his subordinates were thinking about joining forces with the Central Red Army...

  Fortunately, at this time, the great man saw that the expansion of the Western Henan-Shaanxi Soviet area was too rapid, and he did not dare to completely believe that the Red Eighth Army Corps was as powerful as it was said in the telegram. He was worried that its scope would be too large and cause problems, and also feared that it would act rashly and disrupt the central government's plans. At the end of November, he sent a telegram to the headquarters of the Red Eighth Army Corps, instructing them to first consolidate their base in Western Henan before doing anything else. If they had any remaining strength, they should focus on developing the Central Plains region, rather than recklessly entering Guanzhong. This was because the Red Army had already reached an unspoken understanding with Zhang and Yang, and if the Red Eighth Army Corps were to advance into southern Shaanxi, the two men would likely be forced to change their attitude and fight the Red Army to the death, no longer obstructing the central government's army from entering Shaanxi in full force.

  Hu Weidong, who had let out a sigh of relief, immediately ordered the 74th Division to march south and engage in guerrilla warfare in the Nanyang area. When the time was ripe, they would capture Nanyang City and establish a base there, after which they could join forces with the 28th Army in the Dabie Mountains to attack Ru'nan, linking up the Western Henan Soviet Area with the Dabie Mountains. The backbone of the 74th Division were mostly from the Dabie Mountains, and everyone was very excited when they heard the news. Hu Weidong also took into consideration that Gao Jingting's 82nd Division had become too bloated, and since the 28th Army and the 74th Division came from the same roots, he decided to place the 74th Division under the command of the 28th Army, further strengthening its forces.

  At this time, Luoyang and Mengjin County to its north had already been surrounded on three sides by the Western Henan-Shaanxi Soviet Area, but Hu Weidong did not send troops to capture Luoyang. The Nationalist Army in Luoyang was also calm and not worried about the Red Army's arrival. It turned out that the commander-in-chief of the 30,000-strong garrison in Luoyang was an old acquaintance from Jiangxi days - "Central Plains Old Thief" Zhang Feng.

  Due to his past experiences, Hu Weidong deeply understood that although Zhang Fei's troops were not numerous, their combat effectiveness and morale could not be underestimated. However, their equipment was not impressive (meaning they wouldn't gain much from capturing them). With the current strength of the Red 15th Army, taking Luoyang might not be difficult, but Hu Weidong definitely didn't want to play the trick of "conquering through surrender" again, as this kind of battle would be unprofitable.

  Moreover, Zhang Fen had a high reputation in both the black and white ways of the Central Plains. Since he had established good relations with him from the beginning, he was an important object to be won over by the Red Party's United Front Department. Hu Weidong naturally didn't need to fight against him anymore. Zhang Fen also returned the favor, using his prestige in the Green Forest to persuade some bandit leaders to surrender to the Red Army voluntarily, greatly reducing the losses of the Red Army and the Soviet government. Later, when Hu Weidong asked Zhang Fen why he didn't recruit those bandits himself, Zhang Fen sighed, "Can't afford it..."