The Long March across the vast grassland was a risky move and a strange move that Chiang Kai-shek expected.
At that time, Chiang Kai-shek, who had completely figured out the Red Army's intention to move north, mobilized 300,000 troops, arranged three blockade lines, and blocked almost all the main roads northwest of Maoergai. He expected that this time the Red Army would be unable to fly.
At this time, the only access in front of the Red Army was the Songpan Meadow to the north. In the eyes of Chiang Kai-shek and his subordinates, this was a natural barrier, and the Red Army would never go to death.
It is not an exaggeration to say that Songpan grassland is a dead end, it is 600 miles longitudinal and horizontal, with an area of about 1520,000 square kilometers. There are no people, no homes, no herders, not even cattle and sheep. The meadows are covered with colorful flowers, but beneath them hide terrible swamps. If people don't pay attention to it, they will be swallowed up in a few minutes, not to mention that the grassland climate is unpredictable, and the sky will be clear for a while, and the lightning and thunder will roar for a while, not to mention people, even wild beasts are afraid of this grassland.
However, he did not play his cards according to Chiang Kai-shek's line of thought, and wanted to take this road that the enemy did not dare to take. He pointed to the map and assigned tasks to Yang Chengwu, political commissar of the Red Fourth Regiment of the First Regiment, and explained to him the relevant matters of the grassland very carefully, asking him to try to find a way to prepare more food and clothes to reduce the difficulties of the grassland.
The Red Fourth Regiment, as a pathfinder force, marched towards the formidable meadow. The follow-up troops did everything possible to raise food. But the land here is barren, and even the local people can't eat enough, so there is no surplus food. As a last resort, the troops had to harvest some barley and radish from the Tibetan fields. Later, *** has never forgotten this "foreign debt". When he was in Yan'an, he once said to **: "This is our only foreign debt, and in the future we must repay the Tibetans for the supplies that we have to take from them." ”
Of course, this little thing is far from enough, and it will be eaten up in a few days. The soldiers could only eat cow belts, gun belts, and old leather shoes, and in the end they had nothing left, so they had to dig wild vegetables to fill their stomachs. Some fighters ate poisonous wild herbs and never got up again.
However, the harsh natural conditions and unbearable hunger of ordinary people did not deter the ranks of the Red Army led by ***, who finally defeated the meadows and once again created a miracle in the history of world marches.