During the Long March, the Red Army experienced many important and difficult battles and battles, such as the Battle of the Xiang River, the forced crossing of the Dadu River, the capture of the Luding Bridge, and the capture of the dangerous Lazikou. Among these four battles, the Xiangjiang Campaign was the most tragic, and the capture of the Luding Bridge was the most critical. If the bridge capture fails, tens of thousands of Red Army soldiers will be surrounded by superior enemy forces on the Dadu River, and it is likely to repeat the tragedy of Shi Dakai. However, in the end, Yang Chengwu led the Red 2nd Regiment to force 240 miles day and night, capturing the Luding Bridge, and turning the Red Army around.
Yang Chengwu
At that time, the two battalions of Liu Wenhui's department were defending Luding, and most of these two battalions were recruits, and the main task in peacetime was to collect taxes, and the combat effectiveness was very low, and many people could not even shoot. Liu Wenhui had been fighting in Sichuan for many years, and he understood the importance of luding bridge better than anyone, and he also knew that these two battalions alone could not defend luding bridge under any circumstances. Since he knew that he could not hold it, why didn't Liu Wenhui blow up the Luding Bridge in advance? Now it seems that he is really shrewd
On January 10, 1895, Liu Wenhui was born in a peasant family in Dayi, Sichuan, with five older brothers, of which the fifth brother, Liu Wencai, was the most famous. After graduating from middle school, Liu Wenhui abandoned wen congwu and was admitted to the second artillery section of the Baoding Military Academy in Hebei Province. In the summer of 1917, Liu Wenhui graduated from the Baoding Military Academy and, accompanied by his eldest brother Liu Wenyuan, went to Chengdu to meet his cousin Liu Xiang and ask him to help him find an errand in the army.
Liu Xiang
At that time, Liu Xiang was serving as a brigade commander under Zhou Daogang, and his speech was more weighty, and under his introduction, Liu Wenhui came to chen hongfan of the Eighth Division of the Sichuan Army as a captain's staff officer. Later, under the care of Liu Xiang, Liu Wenhui continued to rise, coupled with Liu Wencai's financial support, Liu Wenhui's influence continued to expand, and he also became the chairman of Sichuan Province. In the summer of 1929, Liu Wenhui defeated Li Jiajue, Luo Zezhou and Liu Yingbing, and his power was further developed, with 7 divisions, 20 brigades and 120,000 troops, and more than 70 counties. Liu Wenhui, who was strong and strong, was ambitious and prepared to unify Sichuan by force. Liu Xiang was naturally not willing to live under Liu Wenhui, and the contradictions between his uncle and nephew became increasingly acute, and war eventually broke out.
On May 26, 1933, Liu Xiang, Deng Xihou and others held the so-called "Anchuan Conference" in Lezhi to form the Anchuan Army and wage war against Liu Wenhui. The Anchuan army successively captured Rong County, Leshan, Jingyan, Renshou, Chengdu, and Ya'an, and Liu Wenhui retreated to Hanyuan, leaving only more than 20,000 people left in his army, and fell into a desperate situation. At this time, he asked his eldest brother Liu Wenyuan to persuade Liu Xiang not to fry the beans, and on the other hand, he sent a telegram to Liu Xiang to admit his mistake and support him in unifying Sichuan.
Liu Xiang, Liu Wenhui and Deng Xihou
Liu Xiang only then let Liu Wenhui go, and he said to Liu Wenyuan: My father (the honorific title for Liu Wenhui) can't be the waist bar, and something will happen if it is hard. I'm not trying to bring him down, I'm just trying to crush his arrogance. You can't write two Liu characters in one stroke, it's always a family. I still asked him to keep part of the army until he was the chairman of the western Kangjian province. Shortly thereafter, Liu Wenhui led the remnants of three brigades to the remote and backward Xikang area. After nearly two years of painstaking management, he finally gained a foothold in Xikang, which became his last base.
As soon as Liu Wenhui breathed a sigh of relief, Old Chiang's telegram came, ordering him to lead his troops to deploy along the Dadu River to intercept the Central Red Army. At that time, the entire Dadu River defense line was nearly 300 kilometers, but Liu Wenhui only had 3 brigades in his hands, not to mention the serious shortage of troops, and the weapons and equipment were still extremely backward. At the same time, he also wanted to prevent Xue Yue, who was chasing the Red Army, from taking advantage of the opportunity to seize his Xikang, and Wang Jialie was a lesson for the past. In this case, the troops used by Liu Wenhui to defend Anshun Field and Luding Bridge were naturally very weak.
Liu Wenhui
In the end, he gave the task of defending Luding to two battalions of Li Quanshan's 38th Regiment, most of which were recruits, and their main job in peacetime was to collect taxes, and their combat effectiveness could be imagined. Liu Wenhui had been fighting for many years, and he knew how important the location of Luding Bridge was, and he also knew that these two battalions alone could not defend Luding Bridge anyway. So why did he just order people to remove the wooden planks on the bridge instead of blowing up the bridge? There are two main reasons.
The first reason is that it cannot be fried. At that time, Luding Bridge was the only road passage between Xikang and the outside world, and due to geographical conditions, the construction cost of the bridge was very high. If Liu Wenhui blew up the Luding Bridge, he would only be imprisoned in Xikang, which was obviously unacceptable to Liu Wenhui, who still wanted to compete with Liu Xiang. At that time, he could only rebuild the Luding Bridge, which was undoubtedly a very huge cost, and xikang, which was remote and backward at that time, obviously could not afford it, so the Luding Bridge could not be blown up.
Liu Wenhui in his later years
The second reason is that I dare not explode. Liu Xiang and Liu Wenhui were both warlords of the Sichuan Army, and old Jiang was not at all the same heart. When the Red Army's Long March passed through Sichuan, Lao Jiang ordered Liu Xiang to send troops to intercept it, but Liu Xiang told Guo Xunqi that to give the Red Army a way to live was to give himself a way to live. Liu Xiang, who was strong and strong, did not fight hard with the Red Army, and Liu Wenhui, who only had 20,000 horses left, was naturally even more reluctant to fight with the Red Army. If he blew up the Luding Bridge, the Red Army was bound to fight him in a life-and-death battle in Xikang, which was the last thing Liu Wenhui wanted to see. So he just removed the planks and didn't blow up the bridge. This not only preserved the strength, but also made an explanation to the old Jiang, which was really shrewd. At the end of the Liberation War, Liu Wenhui declared an uprising, and after the founding of New China, he served as the minister of forestry and died of illness in 1976 at the age of 81.