In May 1940, in order to open up a new base area, the commander-in-chief of the Jiangnan Command of the New Fourth Army ordered Ye Fei to lead his troops across the Yangtze River to Yangzhou for development.
The headquarters was temporarily located in Guocun, north of the Tongyang Canal.
* An agreement was reached with Li Changjiang: Ye Feibu was stationed in Guocun and the anti-Japanese construction was carried out simultaneously. The issue of the garrison of the New Fourth Army: ** Reached a consensus with Li Changjiang, warmly welcomed the New Fourth Army to cross the river to resist Japan, and promised to strengthen cooperation.
The New Fourth Army was stationed in Guocun: ** Obtained the promise of Li Changjiang and ordered Ye Feibu to enter Guocun to start anti-Japanese and construction work. Li Changjiang's attitude: It belongs to the middle line in the Kuomintang, and hopes to maintain a balance between the New Fourth Army and the Kuomintang.
Li Changjiang's courtesy: warm hospitality**, expressing his welcome to the New Fourth Army crossing the river to resist Japan, and promising to strengthen cooperation.
After the New Fourth Army crossed the river, Li Changjiang chose to report to Han Deqin, chairman of the Kuomintang Jiangsu Province, that Ye Fei's troops had been stationed in Guocun, but did not disclose the verbal agreement reached with **.
When Han Deqin, who was hostile to the Red Army and despised them, heard of this, he severely accused Li Changjiang of being incompetent and demanded that he immediately make a plan to encircle and annihilate Ye Fei's troops in Guocun.
In order to ask Chiang Kai-shek for credit, Han Deqin reported directly to Chiang Kai-shek after the completion of Li Changjiang's plan, and received hints and support. Han Deqin was overjoyed and promised Chiang Kai-shek that he would find good reasons to act.
Han Deqin was discussing the issue of Li Changjiang with **, although the two had agreed verbally, but after receiving the order, he began to secretly assemble 13 regiments to prepare to attack Ye Fei's troops, and reported the specific battle plan and time.
Han Deqin was quick to reply. At this time, Ye Fei had already noticed that Li Changjiang was mobilizing troops, and the reconnaissance personnel also quickly passed on the news that Li Changjiang was preparing to attack the New Fourth Army.
Ye Fei immediately reported the situation to ** and asked for a response plan. However, ** still proceeded from the overall situation and believed that Li Changjiang's support should be enlisted at this time, so he strictly ordered Ye Fei not to act without authorization, but to continue to do persuasion work.
In accordance with the instructions of the first person, Ye Fei tried his best to win Li Changjiang's support, and for this reason, he specially sent Chen Tongsheng, deputy director of the political department of the detachment, to negotiate with Li Changjiang, hoping that he would proceed from the overall situation of resistance against Japan and reduce the behavior of sabotaging peace as much as possible.
However, Li Changjiang was worried that Han Deqin would trouble him and that his verbal agreement would be exposed, so he insisted on attacking the New Fourth Army. Chen Tongsheng visited him twice, but he found an excuse to excuse himself, and even sent assassins to assassinate Chen Tongsheng on the last occasion.
Ye Fei was very angry about this, thinking that Li Changjiang was determined to take action against the New Fourth Army, and there was no point in fighting hard. In addition, he also calmly analyzed the current situation and held that it was necessary to be tough on the Kuomintang, otherwise the development of the New Fourth Army in Jiangbei would be seriously hindered.
After careful consideration, Ye Fei decided to conduct a blocking battle in Guocun to defeat the morale of the Kuomintang.
After Ye Fei received the telegram, he immediately replied**, expressing his determination and reason to fight this battle. **After reading it, I don't think it should be hit. He noted that the enemy's strength was ten times greater than that of the detachment, which was a huge disadvantage in terms of troops.
In addition, time is already running out, according to intelligence, the offensive may begin in a few days, and our preparations are not sufficient. **Strictly ordered Ye Fei, without his order, he could not act without authorization under any circumstances, and he could return to Jiangnan if necessary.
However, Li Changjiang had already blocked the retreat, and his intention was obviously to eliminate Ye Fei's troops. Despite the disparity in strength, Ye Fei believed that Li Changjiang's 13 regiments were all rabble, and he was confident that he would carry out counter-annihilation.
Therefore, he sent electricity again and strengthened his determination to fight.
After receiving two calls from **, Ye Fei insisted on carrying out his orders to win Li Changjiang's support. However, when Ye Fei saw that Li Changjiang's 13 regiments had been defeated, he decided to take action and command his troops to meet the enemy.
Under his firm leadership, all the officers and men of the detachment successfully defeated Li Changjiang's troops. Worried about Ye Fei's actions, he immediately rushed over with reinforcements.
However, by the time he arrived at the battlefield, the battle was over. After seeing Ye Fei, he loudly scolded him for being a daredevil. Ye Fei felt a little embarrassed, but he still firmly told ** that he had to do this to get out of the predicament.
* After listening to Ye Fei's explanation, he burst out laughing, he appreciated Ye Fei's courage and determination, and said that he would support him in taking such actions in the future. Ye Fei was very happy when he heard **'s words, and he smiled happily.