In June 1946, the Kuomintang launched an attack on our Central Plains Military Region, and the main force of our Central Plains troops broke through in two directions to the west, Li Xiannian and others went to the northwest, and Wang Shusheng led his troops to the southwest, and finally broke out of the encirclement.
Li Xiannian led the troops and the Central Plains Bureau to advance into Henan, Hubei and Shaanxi to open up new areas, and Wang Shusheng led the troops to advance to the northwest of Hubei to create a base area.
Although the troops broke through, the enemy troops continued to launch attacks, and the natural conditions in Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi, and northwestern Hubei were poor, and it was necessary to open up base areas, and the work was very difficult.
When establishing the Henan-Hubei-Shaanxi base areas, Li Xiannian and Ren Zhibin believed that they should take the initiative as soon as possible, and proposed to the central authorities that the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Border Region, and the Northwest Bureau should carry out countermeasures to contain the enemy's forces and provide an external environment for the establishment of the Henan-Hubei-Shaanxi base areas. The implication is that these two theaters of war can destroy and contain some of the enemies and reduce their military pressure, so that they can free up their hands to create base areas and gain a firm foothold.
For this reason, the central authorities attached great importance to their opinions, and demanded that the Shandong Field Army led by Liu Deng and Chen Yi and Su lead the Central China Field Army to deal with the enemy in the Central Plains. At the same time, they also proposed to their superiors the establishment of the Henan-Hubei-Shaanxi District Party Committee and the Henan-Hubei-Shaanxi Military Region, and proposed that Wang Zhen be appointed secretary of the party committee and commander of the military region, that Wang Feng, secretary of the Shaanxi Work Committee, be appointed deputy secretary of the party committee and deputy political commissar, and that Zhou Zhijian be deputy commander.
Although the higher authorities agreed to the list of the regional party committee and the military region's leading body, the rapidly changing enemy situation forced Li Xiannian and Ren Zhibin to make new adjustments. Originally, the 359 Brigade and the Cadre Brigade led by Wang Zhen were allowed to join up with the guerrillas in southern Shaanxi to carry out guerrilla operations. The enemy's army pressed the border, and the 359th Brigade entered the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Border Region, so it could not be reached, and finally Wang Zhen advanced to the Luliang Military Region to rest and expand the troops, and in 1947, the 2nd Column was formed to transfer the Northwest Field Army to fight.
As the appointed deputy commander Zhou Zhijian, he served as the deputy commander of the column in the Central Plains Military Region in the past. During the breakout, he completed the task brilliantly and prepared to catch up with the large army, but when he encountered the lone troops of the 13th Brigade, he stayed and waited, and finally waited for a battalion of troops for a few days, so that the enemy could find out and had to break through while fighting. In order not to be annihilated, the troops were scattered and broke through, and in the end, he also experienced many dangers, disguised himself to Wuhan to find the organization and was sent to Nanjing, and finally returned to Yan'an with the representatives of the Nanjing peace talks.
After returning to Yan'an, the old chief Li Xiannian hoped that he would go to the Henan-Hubei-Shaanxi Military Region to strengthen Li's leadership work, but he believed that it would not be the main battlefield in the future, and asked to fight in East China. Although Mr. Peng also did ideological work, he was very persistent, and was finally arranged to serve as the deputy commander and division commander of the military region under Xu Shiyou of the Jiaodong Military Region.
That is to say, the commanders and deputy commanders who were proposed at the beginning did not go to Henan, Hubei and Shaanxi because of external and internal factors. In order to speed up the work in Henan, Hubei and Shaanxi, Li Xiannian and others suggested that Wen Jianwu be the commander of the military region, Wang Feng should be the political commissar, and Chen Xianrui should be the deputy commander.
The troops began their work in Henan, Hubei and Shaanxi, but faced a lot of pressure, and finally the troops retreated in batches to Jincheng, Shanxi Province to rest. A few months later, as Liu Deng's army moved south to Dabie Mountain, this unit was reorganized into the 12th column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Lu-Henan Field Army and went south to Jianghan to open up a base area to assist Liu Deng's army.