Chapter Forty-six: Unexpected Turn of Events
But the news of Wei Lihuang's troops slaughtering party members, cadres and revolutionary masses after entering the Soviet area shocked Hu Weidong. Due to the influence of later propaganda, Hu Weidong had always thought that Wei Lihuang was "pro-communist", but he didn't know that it was only after witnessing the broad-mindedness and selflessness of Chinese communists in the "Xi'an Incident" and later during the war of resistance that Wei Lihuang changed his ways. Before this, Wei Lihuang may have seen them as tools for the Soviet Union to split China, and he was extremely anti-communist, with hundreds of thousands of party members and masses being slaughtered by him...
Originally, the troops stationed in Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong and Suzhou could not confront the enemy head-on, but by using familiar guerrilla tactics, they could still make Wei Lihuang anxious. However, Wei Lihuang's cruel methods made Hu Weidong somewhat hesitant to use guerrilla warfare, fearing that it might provoke Wei Lihuang into doing something even more extreme. What if the guerrilla war enraged Wei Lihuang and led him to do something even more outrageous? Withdrawing the villagers into the mountains was a solution, but given Wei Lihuang's cautious and steady military style, he would definitely stay in the Soviet area for a long time, and when that happened, the economy and people's livelihoods in the Soviet area, which had not yet recovered from their original wounds, would inevitably suffer another heavy blow. Not to mention other things, just one season of food shortages would be enough to cause tens of thousands of people to die of starvation...
"No, we must lure him away!", Hu Weidong thought to this point and couldn't help but feel anxious, but Wei Lihuang had always been very independent in his military decisions. As long as he thought it was wrong, even if it was an order from Chiang Kai-shek, he would often refuse to comply. So just having the 15th Red Army move north wasn't enough; they needed to fight a big battle, one that could shake the foundations of Chiang's rule, in order to force him to strongly order Wei Lihuang to move north and provide reinforcements, or even relieve him of his duties for disobeying orders.
On June 12, 1935, the main force of the Fifteenth Army and non-combat personnel totaling 180,000 people marched east from Kaihua County, Zhejiang Province, thus truly beginning the bloody journey later known as the "Eastern Route Long March" by historians. Before leaving, considering that Tan Zhenlin's military talent may not be enough to use, Hu Weidong was approved by the Central Committee to appoint Ye Fei as the commander of the Fujian-Gansu-Zhejiang-Guangdong-Anhui Military Region, and Tan Zhenlin as the political commissar. The arsenal located at the junction of Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi provinces was left to the Soviet area. Although the backbone, young students, and some important equipment (most of which were dismantled into parts for easy carrying) were taken away by Hu Weidong, making the arsenal basically lose its ability to develop new products, but relying on the remaining production line, there is still a considerable military manufacturing capacity...
Before departure, Hu Weidong demanded that the invaded Su County conduct a resolute defense and lay many landmines. As a result, the already slow marching speed of Wei Lihuang's troops would become even slower, and the area that could be harmed before the main force of the Red 15th Army lured them away would be much smaller. Although this would cause greater harm to the eastern counties of Su County, from the perspective of the entire Su County, such sacrifices were worthwhile. Hu Weidong, who was forced to make a ruthless decision, did not realize that he had begun to gradually possess the awareness that a general should have...
Because the Red Fifteenth Army was really planning to leave the Soviet area, Hu Weidong sped up the march and didn't even go near those county towns on the way. As a result, he unintentionally misled the enemy. After his last defeat, Liu Zhen had been collecting information about the Red Fifteenth Army and found that his bitter enemy liked to occupy cities and towns, almost every county town they passed through was not spared. Therefore, when he received reports from those counties that the Red Fifteenth Army had passed through, he naturally thought it was just a feint by the enemy and adopted an approach of "remaining unchanged to respond to all changes", gathering heavy troops in Wenzhou to wait for the impending great battle. But Liu Zhen didn't think, no, almost everyone didn't think that Hu Weidong's target this time would be one of China's top cities, the provincial capital of Zhejiang - Hangzhou...
When Hu Weidong said he was going to attack Hangzhou, even Su Yu, who was known for his bold military tactics, thought he was joking. When he realized Hu was serious, he immediately tried to dissuade him, but Hu told everyone that from the beginning of the repair, some special forces had already infiltrated Hangzhou City (at that time, they just wanted to gather intelligence). With their cooperation, this time the Red 15th Army would use a brand new urban warfare tactic. Another group of special forces was responsible for cutting off the Shanghai-Hangzhou-Ningbo railway line when necessary. As long as they could delay the reinforcements for three days, Hu Weidong was confident that he could take Hangzhou. This was just the most pessimistic scenario. If luck wasn't too bad this time, there would likely be multiple opportunities to encircle and annihilate the enemy, and Su Yu, who was best at annihilation battles among Chinese famous generals since modern times, would have a chance to show off his skills...
Chiang Kai-shek had to withdraw a large number of troops from various places to surround the Soviet area on three sides, and even the garrison in his most core ruling area, Shanghai-Nanjing-Hangzhou, was greatly reduced. Now there is only one under-strength second-class division in Hangzhou, and even with the surrounding counties' garrisons and the city's police, the total number of troops does not exceed 20,000. Chiang Kai-shek did not expect that someone would dare to attack Hangzhou, but with the Shanghai-Hangzhou-Ningbo railway as a major artery on land, and Hangzhou being a coastal city, once Hangzhou is attacked, reinforcements from Nanjing and Shanghai will arrive quickly, making Hangzhou a perfect trap in normal circumstances.
However, relying on the new tactics he had been wanting to use for a long time, Hu Weidong believed that the Red 15th Army had the ability to defeat the main force of the National Revolutionary Army stationed in Hangzhou within one day and occupy the entire city within three days. Even if reinforcements arrived, they would only provide an opportunity for the Red 15th Army to receive "dumplings". Due to the low efficiency of the National Revolutionary Army's mobilization and assembly, it would take at least ten days to half a month to dispatch more than 100,000 troops, even in the transportation-convenient Shanghai-Nanjing-Hangzhou region. By that time, the Red 15th Army had already captured Hangzhou. If they wanted to arrive faster, they would have to come in batches, which would naturally give the Red 15th Army the opportunity to concentrate its superior forces and defeat them one by one. Moreover, Hu Weidong could also use special troops to sabotage the railway to delay the enemy's land reinforcements. As for the sea route, the largest caliber of the National Revolutionary Army's warships was only 150mm, and Chiang Kai-shek, who was stingy with his own hometown and foundation, might not be willing to destroy it. Moreover, "even you think that attacking Hangzhou is unrealistic, how can the enemy expect us to attack this big city?"
After listening to Hu Weidong's analysis, Su Yu and Mao Zedong, who were not small in courage, no longer opposed it as before. They were willing to risk their lives to follow Hu Weidong and take a gamble together. However, Su Yu still strongly requested that the non-combat personnel be left in the Soviet area for the time being. After all, this battle was not trivial, and bringing these burdens would be a waste of energy and a dangerous thing. It would be better to waste some time and come back to pick people up after the Hangzhou campaign ended. Hu Weidong accepted this reasonable suggestion, but in order to improve efficiency, he specially left behind a division of troops to escort the students, technicians, and experts out of the Soviet area and join forces with the main force of the Red Fifteenth Army upon receiving his orders.
