Chapter 1: Recovery
After the Long March, Mao Zedong's influence in the CPC rose greatly. Having barely survived the KMT's crackdown, Mao knew that the CPC had no chance to resume offensive operations, but instead must fight for its very survival. The location of Yan'an in northern Shaanxi gave the CPC an excellent defensive position, which combined with popular local support could allow the CPC time to recover from its near-death experience. After all, there are many instances in Chinese history of generals retreating to this very area only to later gain control of China itself.
Machine gunners resting
The first step in resuming the revolution was to transform the People's Liberation Army from a defensive focus to an offensive one. The transformation would take time, however, as the CPC was cut off from the Soviet Union and could expect little to no assistance from the Communist International. As Yan'an's heavy industry and local resources were minimal, it would take years to construct the necessary field artillery pieces required to go on the offensive, as the bulk of the PLA was composed of troops equipped with rifles and old machine guns, with very little heavy weapons to spare.
Turning defensive "garrison" troops into offensive infantry will take time, both in terms of equipment and training
1936 was a mostly quiet year, as the PLA was too dug into the mountains of Shaanxi for the National Revolutionary Army to even attempt to dislodge them. Not a single major battle occurred between the CPC and KMT for quite some time. The most noteworthy event during the first half of 1936 was the death of KMT co-founder, governor of Guangdong, and fierce critic of Chiang Kai-shek Hu Hanmin passed away after suffering from a stroke. His death sparked an internal crisis in the KMT, which was divided into two major factions. Wang Jingwei's left-leaning faction, based in the south, wished to end the war against the CPC and focus on regaining land lost to Japan. Chiang Kai-shek's right-leaning faction vowed to remove all "destabilizing" elements in China before confronting Japan. Hu Hanmin's successor would tip the balance of power between the two factions, and thus both sides vied to place their own candidate as governor of Guangdong.
After a brutal internal struggle, the governorship of the birthplace of the Republic of China was awarded to a supporter of Chiang after Chen Jitang's and the Guangxi Clique's failure to remove Chiang from office as a result of the so-called Liangguang Incident, in which Chiang bribed Chen's officers to betray Chen.
However, the Liangguang Incident was a mere precursor to Chiang's ultimate fate. On December 12, 1936, Chiang Kai-shek was arrested by generals Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng while touring the armies slated to attack Yan'an. Zhang and Yang both desired to join forces with the CPC against Japan, but Chiang refused. As a result they arrested Chiang during his visit in an attempt to force Chiang to change his mind. However, before Mao and the other CPC leaders were informed of the circumstances, a botched rescue attempt resulted in Chiang's death. However, the peace Yang and Zhang wished for was not to come; the KMT continued to surround and harass PLA positions in Shaanxi.
A photo of Chiang (center front row) and other KMT party members shortly after their arrest. Few would survive the rescue attempt.
As 1937 came, the PLA was still rearming and retraining. The communist leadership felt that preparations for an offensive would likely not be ready until 1938 at the earliest, and more troops would need to be trained in addition to the Long March survivors. However, on March 5, 1937, an event occurred that would prompt Mao to act; the Uighur Uprising. Xinjiang, China's western frontier, was home to a mix of indigenous Turkic Muslim Uighur and Han settlers, and was often the site of secessionist movements. Xinjiang's current governor Sheng Shicai, who was both a member of the KMT and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, had regularly abused his Uighur soldiers, resulting in them rebelling against his authority. Sensing an opportunity to expand their influence, the Ma Clique took up arms against Sheng and invaded Xinjiang with the pretext of "restoring order" to the restive province. With the withdrawal of the Ma Clique's Muslim troops from their border positions against the CPC, Mao sensed that the civil war in the west was too good an opportunity to pass by. Mao gave the order to attack, starting the first open hostilities in years between the KMT and CPC.
The opportunistic Ma Clique invades Xinjiang to "restore order". Sheng's Soviet allies abandon him to his fate.
After the Long March, Mao Zedong's influence in the CPC rose greatly. Having barely survived the KMT's crackdown, Mao knew that the CPC had no chance to resume offensive operations, but instead must fight for its very survival. The location of Yan'an in northern Shaanxi gave the CPC an excellent defensive position, which combined with popular local support could allow the CPC time to recover from its near-death experience. After all, there are many instances in Chinese history of generals retreating to this very area only to later gain control of China itself.
Machine gunners resting
The first step in resuming the revolution was to transform the People's Liberation Army from a defensive focus to an offensive one. The transformation would take time, however, as the CPC was cut off from the Soviet Union and could expect little to no assistance from the Communist International. As Yan'an's heavy industry and local resources were minimal, it would take years to construct the necessary field artillery pieces required to go on the offensive, as the bulk of the PLA was composed of troops equipped with rifles and old machine guns, with very little heavy weapons to spare.
Turning defensive "garrison" troops into offensive infantry will take time, both in terms of equipment and training
1936 was a mostly quiet year, as the PLA was too dug into the mountains of Shaanxi for the National Revolutionary Army to even attempt to dislodge them. Not a single major battle occurred between the CPC and KMT for quite some time. The most noteworthy event during the first half of 1936 was the death of KMT co-founder, governor of Guangdong, and fierce critic of Chiang Kai-shek Hu Hanmin passed away after suffering from a stroke. His death sparked an internal crisis in the KMT, which was divided into two major factions. Wang Jingwei's left-leaning faction, based in the south, wished to end the war against the CPC and focus on regaining land lost to Japan. Chiang Kai-shek's right-leaning faction vowed to remove all "destabilizing" elements in China before confronting Japan. Hu Hanmin's successor would tip the balance of power between the two factions, and thus both sides vied to place their own candidate as governor of Guangdong.
After a brutal internal struggle, the governorship of the birthplace of the Republic of China was awarded to a supporter of Chiang after Chen Jitang's and the Guangxi Clique's failure to remove Chiang from office as a result of the so-called Liangguang Incident, in which Chiang bribed Chen's officers to betray Chen.
However, the Liangguang Incident was a mere precursor to Chiang's ultimate fate. On December 12, 1936, Chiang Kai-shek was arrested by generals Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng while touring the armies slated to attack Yan'an. Zhang and Yang both desired to join forces with the CPC against Japan, but Chiang refused. As a result they arrested Chiang during his visit in an attempt to force Chiang to change his mind. However, before Mao and the other CPC leaders were informed of the circumstances, a botched rescue attempt resulted in Chiang's death. However, the peace Yang and Zhang wished for was not to come; the KMT continued to surround and harass PLA positions in Shaanxi.
A photo of Chiang (center front row) and other KMT party members shortly after their arrest. Few would survive the rescue attempt.
As 1937 came, the PLA was still rearming and retraining. The communist leadership felt that preparations for an offensive would likely not be ready until 1938 at the earliest, and more troops would need to be trained in addition to the Long March survivors. However, on March 5, 1937, an event occurred that would prompt Mao to act; the Uighur Uprising. Xinjiang, China's western frontier, was home to a mix of indigenous Turkic Muslim Uighur and Han settlers, and was often the site of secessionist movements. Xinjiang's current governor Sheng Shicai, who was both a member of the KMT and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, had regularly abused his Uighur soldiers, resulting in them rebelling against his authority. Sensing an opportunity to expand their influence, the Ma Clique took up arms against Sheng and invaded Xinjiang with the pretext of "restoring order" to the restive province. With the withdrawal of the Ma Clique's Muslim troops from their border positions against the CPC, Mao sensed that the civil war in the west was too good an opportunity to pass by. Mao gave the order to attack, starting the first open hostilities in years between the KMT and CPC.
The opportunistic Ma Clique invades Xinjiang to "restore order". Sheng's Soviet allies abandon him to his fate.
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You'll find out next chapter if things go well or not. At the time Xibei San Ma declared war on Xinjiang I was still in the middle of turning garrisons into infantry and had maybe 2 or 3 garrison divisions left to convert. In hindsight, I should've just build more infantry and militia, but I hadn't planned on the RoC abandoning Chiang and continuing the war. That said, my troops are far better than the KMT soldiers and my officer ratio is maxed out while their ratio is probably around 80% or so at best.
