After the First Front Army of the Red Army (i.e. the Central Red Army) and the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army joined forces, a heated debate arose between the two sides over whether they should go north or south. Although in the end everyone basically decided to go north, Zhang Guotao still Do small things in private.

Under his strong support, the Red Army was divided into left and right armies. The left army was led by the Red Army General Headquarters (commander-in-chief Zhu De, general political commissar Zhang Guotao, chief of general staff Liu Bocheng), and the right army. Led by the former enemy headquarters of the Red Army (Commander-in-Chief Xu Xiangqian, Political Commissar Chen Changhao, Chief of Staff Ye Jianying).

The Maoergai Conference established the deployment of the Right Route Army as the main force to open the northward passage, and the Left Route Army should move closer to the Right Route Army. However, Zhang Guotao still insisted on going south, and at the same time continued to generate electricity for the former enemy headquarters. He emphasized the advantages of going south and the disadvantages of going north.

Chen Changhao, political commissar of the Right Army, also agreed at the Maoergai meeting that he should go north, but later he changed his mind under the influence of Zhang Guotao's telegrams.

Chen Changhao is one of the "Troika" (Zhang, Chen, Xu) in Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Sichuan-Shaanxi Soviet Area. He has made important contributions in history, but one of his characters is The characteristics or shortcomings are also very obvious: hesitant, timid, and lack of opinion. This shortcoming was not only a major reason for the "split" of the Red Army, but also an important reason for the subsequent failure of the West Route Army.

Chen Changhao changed his mind and agreed to go south. Commander-in-Chief Xu Xiangqian also changed his mind because he did not want to see the Red Army split.

Xu Shuai recalled in his memoirs that after Chen Changhao changed his mind, It would be inappropriate to separate. It would not be good if the Four Front Army were divided into two halves." Handsome "regrets for life".

Since both Chen Changhao and Xu Xiangqian expressed their approval to go south, the central government decided to lead the 1st and 3rd Red Army Corps alone to go northward. They set off secretly at night without notifying Chen, Xu and others. people. The next day, the subordinates hurriedly reported that Chief of Staff Ye Jianying was missing, and the Central Red Army also left overnight.

At that time, the entire former enemy headquarters was in an atmosphere of confusion and panic. Xu Shuai "was stunned and sat on the bed, speechless for half an hour."

At this time, there was a call from the front, saying that the Central Red Army had left, and that they were on alert, asking for instructions on whether to fight. Regarding this question with an obvious answer, Chen Changhao hesitated again. Finally, he asked Xu Shuai for his opinion, and Xu Shuai said : "How can there be any reason for the Red Army to fight the Red Army? No fight under any circumstances!"

Xu Shuai's attitude was resolute. Seeing this, Chen Changhao agreed to Xu Shuai's decision, thereby avoiding a tragedy.

The Central Red Army marched north alone, which was a huge blow to Xu Shuai. He "couldn't help crying secretly" and even thought about "bringing a guard and riding a horse to chase." Central” thoughts.

According to Xu Shuai, his cooperation with Zhang and Chen over the years has not been pleasant, and there have been disagreements and quarrels from time to time. Xu Shuai said frankly that Chen Changhao had high prestige in the army. If he didn't nod, he wouldn't be able to lead the team. Moreover, he watched the Red Fourth Front Army develop from childhood to adulthood. "It is difficult for me to accept it, whether intellectually or emotionally, to be divided into two halves and each side goes one way." Xu Shuai said, "This may be my weakness. Where are you..."

Before the First and Fourth Front Armies joined forces, Xu Shuai agreed with the policy of heading north. However, due to his own difficulties and his honest and honest character, Xu Shuai failed to He fought hard and even "made a mistake that I will regret for life."

When Xu Shuai reflected on this matter in his later years, he wrote: "Because my level was not high, I did not look at the problem from a principled and strategic perspective at the time." I placed my hope on the central government to persuade Zhang Guotao, "It was really not possible. If so, I would rather wait, otherwise I would have to go south all the way." "In the end, I fell down."

Xu Shuai's reflection is sincere and profound, and we should not be too harsh on it.

After he stayed, he united with Mr. Zhu, Liu Shuai and other comrades, and played an important role in promoting the Fourth Red Army's final march northward. Moreover, since the army's march south has become an irreversible established fact, even if you disagree with Zhang Guotao's separatism, you should still try to find vitality for the army and try your best to play your commanding role. This is also a manifestation of caring for the Red Army.

After the comrades of the Fourth Red Army and some of the First Red Army went south, they suffered a series of sacrifices. Among them, the Battle of Baizhang was the most tragic. Thousands of people. In addition, the weather that winter was extremely cold, and there was a heavy snowfall that had not happened in more than ten years. The troops suffered a lot of losses, and supplies became increasingly difficult. As a result, everyone became more and more aware of the error of the southward route.

At this time, Zhang Hao (Lin Yuying) returned from the Soviet Union and brought instructions from the Communist International. Zhang Guotao therefore became a "lonely man" and was finally forced to agree to go north to Shaanxi and Gansu.

On the way north, Zhang Guotao once shed tears in public and said: "I can't survive. I will go to prison in northern Shaanxi...". It can be seen that Zhang Guotao knew at that time that he was guilty of serious crimes.

As a result, Chen Changhao was burdened with heavy ideological baggage. It was this ideological baggage that made Chen Changhao even more hesitant when commanding the West Route Army. In order to "cleanse himself, he jumped from one extreme to the other." To the other extreme", that is, from the extreme of supporting Zhang's separatism to the extreme of being supreme in everything, blindly following everything, asking for instructions in everything, and being timid. When things happen, they only follow orders, never act arbitrarily when the situation arises, and are not willing to take any responsibility.

It should be said that the West Route Army lost precious opportunities again and again, and in the end almost the entire army was wiped out. Comrade Chen Changhao cannot escape the blame.

After the failure of the West Route Army, Chen Changhao and Xu Shuai returned to Yan'an. On the way, he met a fellow countryman of his and decided to "rest for a few more days before leaving." Xu Shuai then embarked on his return journey alone. After experiencing many ups and downs and hardships along the way, I finally returned to Yan'an. Even though the journey was difficult, Xu Shuai still kept the travel expenses (a dozen gold rings) given to him by the organization and refused to spend them casually. His steadfast character is touching.

After arriving in Yan'an, Comrade Zhang Wentian severely criticized Xu Shuai. Xu Shuai did not say anything. He felt that since the West Route Army had suffered a defeat, "it should be criticized, dismissed, and beheaded." But X comforted him: "If you keep the green hills, you won't have to worry about running out of firewood. Where there are chickens, there are eggs." This moved Xu Shuai deeply.

On the other side, Chen Changhao fell seriously ill at a fellow villager's home, and then returned to his hometown in Hubei to recuperate. It was not until some time after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War that he returned to Yan'an.