Zunyi, Guizhou-The Great Turning Point Begins Here

Every January is the coldest season in the mountainous areas of northern Guizhou, and 1935 is no exception.

After laying Zunyi that year, the deepest memory of many Red Army soldiers was one word: cold! The winter rain was continuous, and the matches in my pocket were too damp to scratch the sparks.

At this time, the Central Red Army was forced to withdraw from the Central Soviet Area for three months. Under the wrong command of Bogu, Li De and others, the red army was reduced from 86000 to 30000, short of food and ammunition, and exhausted.

A historical record in the archives of the People's Liberation Army: "Supplies are very difficult... Every day is changed to two meals a dry a thin......"

At the insistence of Mao Zedong and other comrades, from the end of 1934 to the beginning of 1935, the CPC Central Committee held a series of channel meetings, Liping meetings and monkey field meetings, abandoning the original plan of going north to western Hunan and marching to Guizhou, where the enemy's strength was weak. This was like a clever move, which eased the crisis of losing all the games.

On January 7, the Red Army captured Zunyi, an important town in northern Guizhou. Zunyi has since become an indispensable chapter in the history of our party.
 

At this time, Comrade Mao Zedong had not yet regained his leading position in the Party. However, the vast number of Red Army officers and men have found changes in the central decision-making level from the recent changes in combat thinking. The old Red Army Fang Qiang recalled before his death: "I secretly asked the battalion commander, whose idea was it to change the plan suddenly? The battalion commander put his mouth to my ear and whispered: 'Mao Zedong...... '"

At this time, Bogu and Li De had lost their actual control over the Red Army, and Mao Zedong's correct propositions were also accepted by most leading comrades. The whole party and the army urgently needed a profound summary and reflection-this laid the foundation for the convening of the Zunyi Conference. Ideological, military and organizational foundation.
 

After dinner on January 15, the winter rain was still falling. The kerosene lamp in front of Guizhou warlord Bai Huizhang residence was lit, and the light reflected the word "comfort Lu" inlaid with broken blue tiles on the memorial arch. Yang Shilin, a Red Army soldier who was assigned to guard the South Gate, asked the company commander, "What does comfort Lu mean?" The company commander shook his head.

Yang Shilin recalled before his death that the Zunyi meeting lasted for three consecutive days from the 15th, all after dinner, and ended in the early morning of the next day. The reason for choosing the evening meeting is mainly due to air defense.

A large brazier set off a charcoal fire, and the leaders of the central government and the leaders of the various legions came one after another. The south gate where Yang Shilin was the guard was the main passage to enter the venue. He recalled before his death: "Chairman Mao came with Zhang Wentian in a coat with patches and a cigarette in his hand."

Wang Jiaxiang came to the meeting on a stretcher. He was burning and had a gunshot wound. There is a reclining chair in the room where the meeting happened, so let him lie down for the meeting. Yang Shilin still remembered that Li De came the latest, wearing bulky big leather shoes and blushing.

Defending, arguing and criticizing, the Zunyi meeting was held for three consecutive nights in a highly confidential state. Yang Shilin and Yuan Kun, who guarded the north gate, witnessed history from the cracks in the doors and windows, but more Red Army officers and soldiers did not know. Wang Daojin, an old Red Army soldier, recalled that in those days, the troops were not allowed to take off their clothes when they slept at night. They held their guns in their arms and were ready to fight at any time. But everyone didn't know what happened. Later, they went all the way to Tashi, Yunnan, and only then did they know that the Zunyi Conference was held.

During the three-day Zunyi meeting, the supreme command of Bogu and Li de was abolished, and four decisions were adopted, including "Comrade Mao Zedong was elected as a member of the standing Committee. After the meeting, a "three-person military command group" composed of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Wang Jiaxiang was established to unify the command of the Red Army and establish Comrade Mao Zedong's core leadership position in the party.

As Jin Yinan, a professor at the National Defense University, said: "after 14 years of hard work and countless blood and lives, the Communist Party of China has finally been able to decide its own line and arrange its own leaders."

Yuan Kun recalled that after the meeting, Mao Zedong went around to the north gate to visit the guards and greet everyone: "comrades have worked hard!" The officers and soldiers of Yuan Kun's Red 37th Regiment lined up and replied, "No hard work!"

After the Zunyi Conference, the whole party and the whole army entered a new historical period guided by Mao Zedong's military strategic and tactical thinking, and its results were first reflected in the strategic policy of the Red Army's Long March.
 

Crossing the Chishui River and crossing the Jinsha River, the Red Army won one victory after another. On the eve of the third crossing of Chishui, the main force of the Red Army successfully annihilated the Sichuan army, which followed rashly, in Changgan Mountain and Fengxiang Dam in Zunyi, and won a complete victory. When Mao Zedong heard the news in the confidential section, he suddenly recited it aloud in Hunan dialect: Changgan Mountain ...... Fengxiangba......

At that time, the confidential staff officer Yang ChuZhen, who was standing behind Mao Zedong, recalled before his death: "I can see that Chairman Mao is in a very good mood and wants to write a poem." This is indeed the case-after the Red Army crossed Chishui four, it finally seized the initiative of strategic transfer.

Fifty years later, the American writer Salisbury wrote, "The Zunyi Conference is over, the Long March continues, and Mao Zedong is at the helm. China's road-at least for the next half century-is thus determined."
 

Source: Xinhua News Agency