In 1936, when the Red Fourth Front entered Kangbei, there were more than 40,000 people, most of whom were concentrated in Luhuo County, nearly 100 kilometers from Yalazong to Kasha. From mid-March to the end of July, although it is the season from spring to summer, spring in the Kangbei Plateau is often late. For the large army of tens of thousands of people, there are great difficulties in life, and raising food is the first major problem, not to mention that this unit is already in the midst of hunger and cold. Under extremely difficult circumstances, Comrade Zhu De showed superhuman wisdom and tenacious will, gave great encouragement to the troops, and established a high prestige among the Tibetans.
When Zhu De first arrived in Huohuo, he could not see the Tibetan masses, and everywhere was desolate. He knew that this was due to the misunderstanding and misgivings of the Tibetan masses about the Red Army. The headquarters immediately made a number of regulations on the activities of the troops in Tibetan areas in view of the special local conditions, emphasizing respect for the customs and habits of the Tibetan people, and requiring strict implementation of the three major disciplines and eight points of attention.
In order to mobilize the masses to go down the mountain as soon as possible so as not to get frostbite and frostbite, the headquarters sent people with Tongsi (translator) to go to the Tibetans separately. Before leaving, Zhu De personally talked to Tongsi and asked them to help do a good job in propaganda and explanation work and mobilize the masses to go home. The Red Army also dispatched a large number of cadres to invite patriotic upper-class people and mass activists to go deep into the villages to publicize the policies of the Party and the Red Army and to point out the correct development path for the minority nationalities. To the masses who had difficulties in their lives, the Red Army sent them grain, salt, beef and mutton. After a period of work, the Tibetan masses gradually realized that the Red Army was the best army, an army that had never been seen before, so they relieved their worries and went home.
In early April, the Kangbei Plateau is the sowing season. But at that time, there were many people who were still on the mountain and did not return. Spring ploughing did not wait for anyone, so Zhu De consulted with the head of the headquarters and asked the troops to help the masses in spring ploughing. The next day, the headquarters organ held a mobilization meeting, and Zhu De said in a speech: "People mistakenly for a while, and the ground mistakenly for a year. The Tibetan compatriots do not understand us for the time being and cannot come back to plant. We can't watch the good season of spring sowing slip away from under our eyes, this season can't be planted, and Tibetans won't eat in the coming year. We and the Tibetans are brothers and one family. We're going to help them plant the land... Today, when we help Tibetans plant good land, we have done a very important practical mass work. Although we will leave here soon, we must leave the influence of the Party and the Influence of the Red Army behind, and let it take root, sprout, blossom and bear fruit in the hearts of the Tibetan compatriots like a seed. Zhu De and other leaders participated in the spring ploughing labor of that year. From these practical actions, the Tibetan masses saw the "heart of gold" of the Red Army, so they supported the Red Army and loved the Red Army.
Red army
Life in the Red Army in high-altitude areas such as Daofu, Luhuo, and Ganzi was extremely difficult, and they basically relied on wild vegetables to fill their hunger. In order to avoid the poisoning of wild vegetables, the headquarters once had Zhu De as the chairman, recruited Tibetan farmers and medical personnel to participate, and organized a wild vegetable committee to collect varieties of highland wild vegetables and help commanders and fighters identify wild vegetables. When the climate warmed up and wild vegetables grew, Zhu De personally led the team to dig wild vegetables and asked the local people for advice, knowing a lot of edible local wild vegetables, such as dog old hemp (wild rapeseed), Zawu (live hemp), Qiangba (winter cold vegetables), horn twisting (wild celery) and so on. A total of 20 kinds of edible wild vegetables were found, and he also organized people to compile the "Instructions for Eating Wild Vegetables" and distributed them to the troops to guide people to understand wild vegetables, eat wild vegetables, and prevent wild vegetable poisoning. Zhu De took the lead in eating wild vegetables and adding wild vegetables to the grain, encouraging everyone to build confidence in overcoming difficulties and tide over difficulties together. Once, when a lightly wounded man went to Shouning Temple to carry food, he saw that the steamed buns eaten at the headquarters were filled with many wild vegetables, and he felt that he should not eat such a thing for the chief. So, after coming out, he wrote a poem on the wall of the temple: "Open the furnace Huo County, the grain is tens of thousands of stones." Oops, the steamed buns eaten at the headquarters, wild vegetables plus half! ”
The Tibetans on the plateau generally do not grow vegetables, and when the troops first arrived, it was the season when they could not grow vegetables, and it was very difficult to eat vegetables. In June, Zhu De asked the guards to buy rapeseed, borrowed a wooden plough from his fellow villagers, put on a livestock, and personally helped the plough to open a vegetable field in the open space outside the wall of the station. Ding Xiande, commander of the second guard company, did not let Zhu De plow the ground, and Zhu De smiled and said, "I can plow myself, you don't know, ploughing the land and planting vegetables, I am an expert!" "The next day he and everyone put the ground in order and sowed the seeds. After that, Zhu De worked day and night, inspecting, watering, fertilizing, weeding, and very carefully serving the seedlings, watching the seedlings grow day by day. Like the young warriors, he smiled as soon as he arrived at the head of the vegetable field. Later, he told the guards: "Comrades have night blindness, mainly because they cannot eat green vegetables, lack a vitamin, vegetables contain this kind of thing, to cure this disease, you have to eat more vegetables; to solve the problem of eating vegetables you have to grow themselves." Whatever you do, the leader takes the lead, and everyone will follow suit. "In late June, just as the green seedlings were growing, some troops went to Ganzi to meet the Red Second and Sixth Armies. Before leaving the furnace, Zhu De asked everyone to fertilize and water the vegetable field. The guard said, "Let's pull out some vegetables and take them with us." Zhu De said: "Can't pull, the vegetable seedlings are still too small, it is a pity to pull it." Leave it to the follow-up troops! Even if the troops don't go from here, they can still leave it for their fellow villagers to eat. "In doing things, we Communists must have the spirit of the former people planting the seeds and the future generations harvesting, and the predecessors planting trees and the latter taking a cool breath." Isn't it good that we grow vegetables for the needs of the troops, for the people to think, and leave them for the follow-up troops to eat? ”
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After the Red Army was stationed in Luhuo, despite the difficulties, Zhu De held that the more difficult the time, the more important it is to boost the fighting spirit of the troops and enhance the quality of the troops, and carrying out mass sports and recreational activities has a special significance for the entire revolutionary cause. Therefore, Zhu De devoted a lot of energy to grasping the cultural and sports activities of the troops, and he often participated in the basketball games of the troops. On 16 April 1936, a "Red Square Committee" was established in Luho, and the first meeting of the committee decided to hold a games on International Workers' Day on May Day. Jude personally served as a judge on the judging committee, and also personally began to prepare and organize. As soon as the news of the Games came out, the whole army was excited, and even young Tibetan men and women were elated.
On the morning of May 1st, the sky was clear, the sun was shining on the body, the spring was bright, the sky was blue, the air was fresh, there was no fiber dust, and there was a plateau spring weather. The soldiers, dressed in washed and neatly sewn uniforms, lined up in a neat line and in a neat pace, arrived at the designated place early to assemble. Tibetans from nearby villages, men, women and children, came to watch, and the sports field was already crowded with people. Dressed in a neat old military uniform and a wide belt around his waist, Zhu De walked up to the rostrum with great energy and vigor. At the opening ceremony, Zhu De said: "Today is May Day International Labor Day, which is the anniversary of the unity and struggle of working people all over the world. On such a day, on the Long March Road, we held this sports meeting, which is very meaningful. Then, he analyzed the current situation and the tasks we are facing, and called on everyone to continue to invigorate the revolutionary spirit, bravely and tenaciously struggle against all kinds of difficulties, and carry the road of the Long March to the end. He concluded: "We must unite as one to carry out this Games, and with our actions, declare to the whole world that the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, founded and led by Chairman Mao himself, is always full of vitality and cannot be conquered by any force." "After the speeches of the representatives of the parties, the troops held a military parade and a sorting ceremony.
After the opening ceremony, ball races, races, identification and use of topographic features, tenting, lectures, map drawing, assassination, ranging, horse racing, jumping over obstacles, identification of enemy and enemy troops, cattle dung collection for fire, the use of leather torches (bellows) competitions, and sapper bridge performances were held. Zhu De participated in the competition with great enthusiasm, and also personally participated in the competition of drawings and other projects. On the afternoon of 3 May, the last event competition was held. The project was added by Jude himself and is called the "Cow Dung Burning Competition". Because Jude considered that the troops would soon cross the meadow. According to past experience, the vast grassland not only has no food to replenish, but also cannot even find firewood, and can only use cow dung as fuel. Burning cow dung is not a big deal, but it can't be underestimated. One is that cow dung is not easy to ignite, and the other is that cow dung cannot be burned, and even rice and boiling water cannot be eaten or drunk. The game was a lot of fun, as soon as the signal gun sounded, thousands of Red Army soldiers drew matches almost at the same time, and after a while, wisps of green smoke rose everywhere in the vast arena. The green smoke grew longer and longer, rolling bigger and bigger, and thousands of smoke dragons converged together, flipped and soared, straight up to the blue sky. The south wind blows slowly, the smoke dragon floats towards the north, countless pairs of eyes stare at the smoke dragon going north, and countless hearts also fly to the north. The cattle dung burning competition mainly looks at the flames lit by cow dung, and the first flame wins and is ranked in turn.
Zhu De said in his final speech: "This Games is a great test, a big drill, and a big review of our Red Army's ideology, will, military, and life, and the comrades have done a good job, which once again proves that our Workers' and Peasants' Red Army is a contingent of steel and steel, and it can never be defeated, crushed, or dragged out." "The Games ended with cheers that shook the valley. When the Tibetan compatriots say that the Red Army is "Yamo fever," that is, the Red Army is a good one, it can ride a horse and shoot a gun, climb over obstacles, can burn cow dung to cook rice, can run, jump, fight, and do everything, such a well-trained army, any enemy will not want to crush it, it is really remarkable!
Since the Headquarters of the Red Army learned that the Red Second and Sixth Armies were about to meet the Ganzi Division, Zhu De considered that these two troops would come from the south, and soon they would enter the sparsely populated grassland and changeable climate to go north, and they were in urgent need of cold supplies. At the same time, as the troops moved north, the commanders and fighters of the Four Fronts also needed cold items. So he instructed the supply department to distribute the wool previously captured from the White Army and the reactionary toast to each commander and fighter as soon as possible, and to mobilize the whole army to carry out the activity of knitting sweaters. The knitted sweaters, sweaters, socks, gloves, etc. were given as a greeting gift to the comrades of the Red Second and Sixth Armies who had come to the war, and they also had to add some cold protection for themselves. Zhu De's call was well received by everyone, so the whole army quickly launched a movement of twisting yarns.
However, things are not as easy as imagined. When preparing wool fabrics for the Red Second and Sixth Fronts, because the vast majority of the commanders and fighters were "big men" from peasant origins, everything had to be learned from scratch to weave wool from raw wool. Under the direct care and guidance of Zhu De, they learned to boil the dirty and smelly raw hairs through boiling water, alkali blisters, rinsing and other processes, and then ejected the wool that was both soft and white; learned to twist out a uniform and qualified wool thread; and finally learned to weave wool, making beautiful sweaters, sweaters, wool vests, socks, gloves and other products. This process is soaked with Jude's painstaking efforts.
Before the commanders and fighters straightened out the wool and loosened the wool, Zhu De held a meeting, at which he repeatedly stressed the need to carry out mutual learning and exchange of experience activities, to ensure quality, and strive to twist the wool thread loosely and properly, and the thickness and fineness were uniform. Zhu De also personally invited a female comrade to the headquarters as a teacher and gave a demonstration on the spot. Subsequently, the commanders and fighters themselves used wood or mud as spindles and practiced repeatedly. In order to do this well, Jude often went around to make rounds and stayed around for a while, taking the spindle from others and twisting it himself. One day he went to the place where the wool was twisted in the staff headquarters, and after greeting everyone, he grabbed the freshly twisted wool to check, and then smiled and said: "The twist is not slow, it is not home!" You see, one is thick and one is thin. Later, it will be woven in a thin piece, a thick piece, and it will not fit closely when worn. Saying that, Jude took the spindle from the warrior's hand and twisted it, and explained the essentials to everyone. He also said: "The work should be done a little more delicately, and in the future, it will be made into a wool vest and woolen socks, and the comrades of the Second and Sixth Armies will be warm and comfortable to wear on their bodies." ”
In the stage of knitting yarn, Zhu De personally sent teachers to various departments. It turned out that Zhu De had investigated in advance and learned that there were too few people in the army who could weave yarn. Therefore, the people who could weave wool were gathered in advance, and then they were uniformly arranged to be assigned to each unit, and they were taught separately. In this way, the troops themselves used local materials to make "sweater needles" (mainly stone needles, wooden needles, and the lack of bamboo in Northern Kang), and the commanders and fighters quickly changed from unskilled to skilled, from slow to fast, and all learned to knit wool, and quickly set off a boom in knitting wool. Because of Zhu De's foresight and personal organization, the troops knitted their own woolen clothes and pants and other cold supplies in a short period of time, and also knitted more than 20,000 pieces of woolen clothes and pants for the Red Second and Sixth Armies, which were given as gifts to comrades who came from afar to fight. This incident naturally left a very good impression on the hearts of the comrades-in-arms of the Red Second and Sixth Armies.
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Before the troops were about to enter the meadow for the third time, Zhu De knew very well that crossing the meadow was a long march, and ten thousand difficulties were blocking our troops in front. He anticipated that, due to the shortage of food, the troops would still be fed with wild vegetables, tree bark and belts. The rear guard and the Red Second Front were in the rear, and the grass roots and bark were eaten by the front, and they were more difficult. So he decided: All the units should leave all the yaks in their car to the Red Second Front. Zhu De asked the guards to hand over the yaks given to him in the tent and luggage, and instructed the person in charge of the station to say: Remember, tell the comrades in charge of the troops that the cowhide, sheepskin, and intestines cannot be lost. We must cherish every piece of cowhide and not waste it; this concerns the lives of tens of thousands of comrades of the Rear Guard Of the Red Fourth Front and the Red Second Front! In order to cross the grass for a large army, he was thoughtful and well-deployed, and spent a lot of energy and effort.
After the basic situation improved, in late July 1936, Zhu De led the Second and Fourth Fronts north and entered the meadow for the third time. After overcoming one difficulty and twist and turn, Zhu De finally led the Red Second and Fourth Fronts, and on October 9, 1936, together with the Red Army that came to greet him, he achieved three main Red Army divisions in Huining County, Gansu Province, achieving a great victory and making great contributions to the Chinese revolution.
From October 1934 to October 1936, Zhu De's Long March lasted for two years. Now we often say "the Long March of the Red Army is twenty-five thousand miles", which refers to the itinerary of the Red Army. Zhu De, on the other hand, said in his speech "On the Question of the New Stage of the Red Army": "The Long March is twenty-five thousand miles, but I personally have traveled ten thousand miles. "With his iron will and stoic heroism, he overcame all kinds of difficulties and dangers and made immortal contributions to the Chinese revolution. Mao Zedong spoke highly of his move, praising him for "not being humiliated on the eve of the great festival." In March 1937, Mao Zedong wrote an inscription for the second team of cadets of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University: "To learn from Commander-in-Chief Zhu: Measurement is as big as the sea, and will is as strong as steel."