Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

Commander-in-Chief Zhu delivered a military report entitled "On the Battlefields of the Liberated Areas" and concluded the discussion on military issues. Commander-in-Chief Zhu's report primarily addressed the current situation on the anti-Japanese battlefields and the status of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army. It also included an international section on the current state of the international anti-fascist war. Essentially, it assured the delegates that the current international situation was excellent.

On the European battlefield, the German army was losing ground, and the Soviet Red Army began to gain the upper hand. Then there was the situation in the Pacific battlefield, where the Japanese army was already in an absolutely passive position.

They have been suppressed by the US military.

After Commander-in-Chief Zhu made his report, Comrade Xiuyang made a report on "Revision of the Party Constitution" and the conclusions of the discussion on organizational issues.

This report and his previous report "On the Cultivation of Chinese Communist Party Members" became a complete report.

Then there was Comrade Wu Hao's report, "On the United Front." In this report, Comrade Wu Hao gave a detailed introduction to the issues concerning the united front and criticized some of the Central Committee's erroneous ideas of previous years.

Of course, the main focus was on criticizing Imperial Commissioner Wang Ming's erroneous view that "everything should be subordinated to the united front." Comrade Xiu Yang and Comrade Wu Hao's reports both pointed the finger at Imperial Commissioner Wang Ming.

Comrades Ren Peiguo, Chen Yun and others later gave reports.

Afterwards, the leaders of each military region began to report on their respective regions' work. Marshal Nie, representing the Jin-Cha-Ji Branch Bureau and the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, delivered a report titled "The Lessons Learned from the Party's People's War Line in Jin-Cha-Ji," summarizing the six years of work in Jin-Cha-Ji.

These reports are not simple.

A report could take several hours. Each person would give a report, and then everyone would discuss it. This could take several days.

Over a month had passed just for the central leadership and the various military region leaders to make these reports. After the reports were completed, the formal agenda began. This Seventh Congress summarized the problems that had arisen since the founding of the Party.

In fact, it was the first time that the Party was free from external interference, especially from the Soviet Union and the Communist International, and independently summed up lessons and solved China's problems.

Of course, the most important topic was summarizing the achievements of the Yan'an Rectification Movement, which culminated in the adoption of the "Resolution on Certain Historical Issues" at the Seventh National Congress. This resolution holds a crucial place in the history of the Communist Party of China.

After the Zunyi Conference, the political line remained unresolved for nearly a decade. The Zunyi Conference was held under extremely difficult circumstances. It was a compromise forced upon them by both the Soviet-educated factions and other factions, who were unable to resolve the Red Army's predicament. At the time, the entire Red Army could have been annihilated by Chiang Kai-shek, so they reluctantly relinquished power and allowed Chairman Mao to return to command the army.

However, they only wanted the Chairman to come out and command the army, and did not intend to make him the core of the party. Therefore, the Chairman only became a member of the Standing Committee, and the division of labor within the party was to assist Wu Hao in commanding the army.

Because it was a compromise, the only option for the organizational structure was to choose Zhang Wentian, a figure acceptable to all parties, as the overall leader. The Chairman's situation at the time forced him to compromise. Being able to regain command of the army was a remarkable achievement for the CCP, which had always been under the command of the Communist International.

Therefore, the Zunyi Conference only solved military problems and criticized only military line issues.

But the real issue of political line has not been resolved.

This question is incredibly complex. If you were to settle the political line, all the central leadership at the time would be held accountable. Not just those who studied in the Soviet Union, but also central leaders like Wu Hao. The then-chairman didn't have the power to resolve the political line issue. But times have changed.

Eight years had passed since the Zunyi Conference. The Chairman was now confident enough to launch the Yan'an Rectification Movement and convene the Seventh National Congress. This truly resolved the long-standing political line issue.

That’s why there was the “Resolution on Certain Historical Issues”.

Of course, this is only one aspect.

The Seventh Congress resolved many issues. Otherwise, it would not have become such a crucial meeting in the history of the Communist Party of China.

The party's political line for the current stage was proposed as "to mobilize the masses, strengthen the people's power, and under the leadership of our party, defeat the Japanese invaders, liberate the people of the whole country, and establish a new democratic China." The meeting also determined what a new democratic China was. A program for the new democratic state in politics, economy, and culture was formulated, and for the first time in a party document it was clearly stated that "the impact of the policies and practices of all political parties in China on the Chinese people, in the final analysis, depends on whether and to what extent they help the development of the productive forces of the Chinese people, and whether they restrict or liberate the productive forces."

It also proposed for the first time the "three magic weapons" for the Party to lead the revolution.

These are armed struggle, the united front, and Party building. In terms of Party building, the Party's fine traditional style of work was highlighted, encompassing three major styles: the style of integrating theory with practice, the style of maintaining close ties with the masses, and the style of self-criticism.

To put it simply, it means seeking truth from facts, the mass line, and self-criticism.

The new Party Constitution explicitly proposed Li Desheng's Thought and incorporated it into the Party Constitution. If Zunyi marked the first time our Party began to move towards independence, then the Seventh National Congress truly enabled our Party to achieve independence.

Li Desheng's thought represents the unification of Marxist-Leninist theory with the practice of the Chinese revolution. Its inclusion in the Party Constitution eliminated the dogmatism and empiricism that had long existed within the Party. Primarily, it eliminated the tendency of many Party leaders to apply the Soviet experience wholesale to the Chinese revolution.

Then came the formation of a new Central Committee.

By secret ballot, 44 members of the Central Committee and 35 alternate members were elected. On this basis, 14 members of the Political Bureau were elected, with Comrade Li Desheng elected as Chairman of the Central Committee, Secretary of the Political Bureau, Chairman of the Central Secretariat, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Comrades Li Desheng, Zhu Jiande, Wu Hao, Liu Xiuyang and Ren Peiguo were elected as secretaries of the Secretariat, forming the historically famous pattern of five secretaries.

The meeting lasted for four months.

The meeting was not concluded until the end of March 1944.

Afterwards, the Politburo meeting, the enlarged Politburo meeting, and various other central meetings were held one after another. Personnel adjustments were made to various central agencies and the various military regions of the Eighth Route Army, and Jinchayi was no exception.

After the Seventh Congress, the status of Jin-Cha-Ji suddenly rose. Or rather, Jin-Cha-Ji enjoyed immense prominence at the Seventh Congress, surpassing all other first-level military regions.

It is really because Jin-Cha-Ji’s achievements are so outstanding.

Among the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, the Jin-Cha-Ji region ranked first in terms of combat achievements, base area development, and troop size. Currently, the Jin-Cha-Ji region boasts the largest base area, the largest population, the largest number of troops, and the most Japanese and puppet troops annihilated within the Eighth Route Army. In recent years, the Jin-Cha-Ji region alone has fought against half of the North China Front Army. The Jin-Cha-Ji region has defeated more active Japanese generals than the other Eighth Route Army and New Fourth Army units combined. It can be said that the Jin-Cha-Ji region's contributions to the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression have garnered worldwide attention.

Of course, Jin-Cha-Ji also had the advantage of doing the best political work. Although there were some problems, compared with other bases, Jin-Cha-Ji did a good job in both military and local political work.

With so many dazzling achievements, how could the status of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region not be improved?

Marshal Nie's position within the Party rose rapidly, becoming a member of the new Central Political Bureau alongside Chen Yun, Kang Sheng, Gao Gang, Peng Zhen, Dong Biwu, Zhang Wentian, and Peng Dehua. Furthermore, he ranked eighth in the Central Committee elections, even receiving more votes than Wu Hao and Peng Dehua, and the same number as Chen Yun. This demonstrates just how impressive Marshal Nie's performance was in Jin-Cha-Ji.

Among the current military leaders, only the Commander-in-Chief, General Peng, and Marshal Nie were members of the Politburo. This shows how rapidly Marshal Nie's position within the Party rose during this Seventh Congress.

Of course, it was not just Marshal Nie who had his status within the party improved.

At this Seventh Congress, a large number of alternate members of the Central Committee emerged from the Jin-Cha-Ji region. Luo Qirong, Cheng Zhihua, Liu Huafu, and Zhao Zhensheng, four deputy secretaries and members of the Jin-Cha-Ji branch, all became alternate members of the Central Committee.

Of course, they themselves have a lot of experience and high status within the party, so becoming alternate members of the Central Committee is a natural progression. Furthermore, none of them can be considered the most prominent military stronghold in the Northern Yue region of the Jin-Cha-Ji region.

Luo Qirong was sent to Jin-Cha-Ji by the Central Committee and the Eighth Route Army Headquarters, Cheng Zhihua came from the Hebei-Central Military Region, and Liu Huafu and Zhao Zhensheng were both local cadres.

The reason why Jin-Cha-Ji was so noteworthy was that, in addition to these four people, there were two more candidate members of the Central Committee from Jin-Cha-Ji. They were military cadres who had fought in the Beiyue District of Jin-Cha-Ji, one was Yang Quanwu, the commander and political commissar of the Yi-Central Military Region, and the other was Deng Guo, the commander and political commissar of the Ji-Re-Liaoning Military Region.

These two were the commander and political commissar of the Second Military Region of the Eighth Route Army, and both were alternate members of the Central Committee. It could be said that, with the exception of experienced military cadres like Chen Geng, they had surpassed most of the leaders of the Second Military Region.

Although Yang Quanwu was severely criticized at the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Rectification Conference, his contributions were still mentioned several times.

Seventy to eighty percent of the development of the Jin-Cha-Ji base area is inseparable from the contributions of the Independent Regiment and the First Division. The Eighth Column, for example, was derived from the Independent Regiment and the First Division. The rapid growth of the Eighth Column also enhanced the influence of Yang Quanwu of the First Division. At the Seventh National Congress, after the Jin-Cha-Ji work report, Yang Quanwu's name was mentioned several times.

The Central Committee also recognized Yang Quanwu's contribution to Jin Cha Yi.

While many criticized Yang Quanwu, many also admired him. After all, Yang Quanwu began with little capital, yet he rose to prominence. With Marshal Nie now a member of the Politburo, the leadership of Jin-Cha-Ji was naturally poised to rise as well. Despite his modest qualifications, Yang Quanwu forged his way through the War of Resistance against Japan to become a reserve member of the Central Committee.

Deng Guo has much more experience than Yang Quanwu.

Because Deng Guo was a party member during the Great Revolution, and he was a veteran Red Army revolutionary who had participated in the Southern Hunan Uprising and came down from Jinggangshan. When Yang Quanwu had just joined the Red Army and the Party, Deng Guo was already a veteran party member and a regimental-level cadre of the Red Army.

Of course, Deng Guo was able to become an alternate member of the Central Committee this time mainly because he won a series of victories in the Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning Military Region. In particular, he fought several successful mobile battles in conjunction with the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Military Region, annihilating an astonishing number of Japanese and puppet troops.

At present, other military regions of the Eighth Route Army are still in the stage of guerrilla warfare. Even though some military regions have begun to show some signs of mobile warfare, they are still in their infancy.

However, Deng Guo had already begun commanding tens of thousands of troops to wage mobile warfare in the Jireliao Military Region.

Let everyone see Deng Guo’s outstanding ability to command large troops.

These brilliant battles rapidly elevated Deng Guo's standing in the eyes of the central leadership. Combined with his experience, he and Yang Quanwu were selected as representatives of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Army and alternate members of the Central Committee.

Don't underestimate this alternate member of the Central Committee.

Because the Central Committee members and alternate members of the Seventh National Congress are of high quality.

Just as many later debated the marshal title, seven key factors were already clear. The cadres eligible for the marshal title were all among the current Central Committee members. Furthermore, of the new Central Military Commission, aside from the Chairman, Xiu Yang, and Wu Hao, the remaining nine were all marshals of the People's Republic of China. The only missing member was Marshal Luo of Shandong.

The situation at the Seventh Congress was clear: the so-called marshal controversy was essentially nonexistent. The Seventh Congress essentially determined the future marshals. In other words, the Seventh Congress had already determined the military and political landscape of the early New China.

Among the ten generals, besides Zhang Yunyi, who is a member of the Central Committee, six are alternate members of the Central Committee, and three were not selected as alternate members this time. This shows the value of alternate members of the Central Committee.

The fact that Yang Quanwu and Deng Guo were able to become alternate members of the Central Committee gave them enough confidence within the party and the military.

After the Seventh National Congress, the Central Political Bureau convened a meeting and decided to upgrade the Jin-Cha-Ji Branch Bureau to the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau. Although the Jin-Cha-Ji Branch Bureau had always been independent and directly responded to central government orders, it was still nominally subordinate to the Northern Bureau and, in terms of rank, was lower than the Northern Bureau.

But this time is different.

The Jin-Cha-Ji Branch Bureau was upgraded to the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau, officially separating from the Northern Bureau's leadership and becoming equal to the Northern Bureau. From then on, the Northern Bureau was responsible for the 129th Division's base area, while the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau managed the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region.

The so-called local central bureaus were actually branches of the central government. They were local agencies that could represent the central government. Historically, after the Liberation War, when the Five Horsemen came to Beijing, the so-called Northeast Bureau and Northwest Bureau were actually the Northeast Central Bureau and Northwest Central Bureau, abbreviated as the Northeast Bureau and Northwest Bureau.

Marshal Nie was elected as the secretary of the newly established Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau by the people.

In addition, the Politburo decided to establish the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China's Urban Work Committee. This Urban Work Committee was not responsible for urban management, but rather for training urban cadres in enemy-occupied areas. In fact, it was the leading body for managing work in enemy-occupied urban white areas.

Comrade Xiuyang, who had been responsible for work in the North China White Area for many years, was appointed to the Central Committee's Urban Work Committee, leaving the actual work to Comrade Peng Zhen, who served as its Director. However, thanks to the achievements of the Jin-Cha-Ji region and the high hopes placed on it by the Central Committee, the Central Committee needed close cooperation between the Jin-Cha-Ji forces and the Party in the White Areas. Therefore, the Politburo appointed Marshal Nie as Deputy Director of the Central Committee's Urban Work Committee, giving him full responsibility for work in the urban White Areas of Chahar, Hebei, and Rehe.

The Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau also began a new round of adjustments.

Yang Quanwu and Deng Guo, both alternate members of the Central Committee, were appointed members of the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau. Yang Quanwu also served as Deputy Commander of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, concurrently Commander and Political Commissar of the Ji-Central Military Region. Among the leaders of the Jin-Cha-Ji Second-Level Military Regions, or indeed, the Second-Level Military Regions of the Eighth Route Army, Yang Quanwu truly rose to prominence. In terms of seniority, Yang Quanwu could not compare to Huang Yong, Zhao Erlu, Deng Guo, and others within Jin-Cha-Ji. However, Yang Quanwu, relying on his seven years of experience in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, carried the banner of Jin-Cha-Ji and, with it, overwhelmed them all, becoming the first to become Deputy Commander of a First-Level Military Region.

This is truly a position that has been earned through hard work.

There were many criticisms of Yang Quanwu, but no one criticized his performance in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Campaign.

Because no one can question this.

The record of the first division is there.

Deng Guo also benefited from being selected as a reserve member of the Central Committee this time, so he was appointed as the deputy political commissar of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region. Of course, like Yang Quanwu, he also served as the commander and political commissar of the Ji-Re-Liaoning Military Region.

Of course, Yang Quanwu and Deng Guo weren't the only two to receive promotions. Following the Jin-Cha-Ji Branch Bureau's elevation to the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau, several former Jin-Cha-Ji Branch Bureau officials were also promoted to the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau. The Central Bureau also added a deputy secretary and two committee members.

The newly added deputy secretary of the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau was Zhou Bin, who used to work in Xinjiang.

Zhou Bin left Xinjiang to attend the Seventh Congress and was elected an alternate member of the Central Committee. Instead of returning to Xinjiang, he was assigned to the Jin-Cha-Ji region, where he served as deputy secretary of the Central Bureau. He began overseeing the economic affairs of the Jin-Cha-Ji region, primarily taking over its financial institutions. This was because the Jin-Cha-Ji region controlled the most cities and financial institutions within the Eighth Route Army.

More cities will be conquered in the future, and there will be more complex economic situations.

At the Politburo meeting, Wei Hongjun was appointed a member of the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Committee. Although Wei Hongjun had not been a member of the Central Committee nor a candidate member at the Seventh Congress, his appointment to the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Committee and his formal appointment as Political Commissar of the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Military Region dramatically elevated his position within the Party. Within the entire Eighth Route Army, and even within the Party, Wei Hongjun was the fastest-rising cadre.

The last newly added member of the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau was Liu Ren, who was previously in charge of the work in the Jin-Cha-Ji white areas.

In this way, the composition of the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau became that of Marshal Nie as secretary, Cheng Zhihua, Luo Qirong, Liu Huafu, and Zhou Bin as deputy secretaries, and Zhao Zhensheng, Yang Quanwu, Deng Guo, Du Liqing, Wei Hongjun, and Liu Ren as members.

The Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau elected Nie Shuai, Cheng Zhihua, Luo Qirong, Liu Huafu, Zhou Bin, Zhao Zhensheng, and Yang Quanwu as Standing Committee members of the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau. Thus, the Jin-Cha-Ji region now had one Politburo member and seven alternate members of the Central Committee.

The Politburo meeting approved Marshal Nie's proposal to remove Wang Qiuyun's title of acting commander of the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Military Region, officially making him the commander of the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Military Region. It can be said that after the Seventh National Congress, the cadres of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei region were truly rewarded according to their merits.

Cadres who performed outstandingly during the War of Resistance were promoted one after another.

In addition to these Jin-Cha-Ji cadres, Comrade Lü Zhengchao, the former commander of the Hebei-Central Military Region and the current commander of the Jinsui Military Region, who came from Jin-Cha-Ji, was also elected as an alternate member of the Central Committee.

In late April 1944, Jin-Cha-Ji cadres received orders to return immediately to Jin-Cha-Ji, with the exception of a small number who remained in Yan'an. Wei Hongjun also received orders to follow Marshal Nie and his men back to the Ji-Re-Cha Military Region. Wei Hongjun remained in Yan'an for a year, attending classes at the Central Party School. He also found time to attend Jin-Cha-Ji Branch cadre meetings and participate in labor.

Occasionally I would go to the Chairman's place to eat.

During the year, Wei Hongjun's greatest improvement was in his theoretical knowledge. During his year at the Party School, he had time to read the works of Marx and Lenin, which helped him to make up for his theoretical deficiencies.

At the same time in Yan'an, Wei Hongjun exchanged combat experiences with the central leadership and leaders of various military regions.

Met a lot of people.

In Yan'an, or within the Party, no one is talking about Wei's seniority in the Red Army anymore, because the Red Army no longer needs it.

On April 1944, 4, Wei Hongjun officially ended his one-year life in Yan'an.

Chapter 547 The Eighth Route Army's Great Development

After the Seventh Congress, all local cadres returned home, save for some central officials who remained in Yan'an for the meeting. Wei Hongjun also returned to the base area with Marshal Nie and the others. Originally, Marshal Nie and several other alternate members of the Central Committee had been expected to remain in Yan'an for a while. The Seventh Congress had just concluded, and there were many central work meetings to come. As a new member of the Central Political Bureau and Secretary of the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau, Marshal Nie also had a lot of work to do at the Central Committee. Suddenly, however, turmoil began to rise in North China. The frequent movements of Japanese and puppet troops in Northeast China, Rehe, Shanxi, Shandong, Hebei, and other areas left the Central Committee unsure.