Chapter 65 The mystery surrounding the death of Liu Zhidan 1936

Journalist: “Was the Yan’an Red Base established by Liu Zhidan?”

Mao: “Yes, the Yan’an Red Base was indeed established by Liu Zhidan.

When I arrived, Liu had a force of 5,000 troops, even more than mine. In the eyes of the local people, Liu was a hero who feared nothing.

On the way to the Yan’an base, on September 12, 1935, I told party leaders that Liu ‘might not be correct in his political leadership.’ In mid-September, the CCP North Bureau, responsible for the base, was ordered to conduct a “rectification campaign.” As soon as the North Bureau members arrived, they started purging Liu and his comrades. Liu did not resist. When he was called back from the front and learned that he was going to be arrested, he voluntarily walked into the prison cell.

The leaders of the rectification campaign accused Liu Zhidan of being ‘consistently right-leaning and labeled’ him as a ‘counterrevolutionary who created the base to destroy the Red Army.’ Despite his obedience to the party, it was twisted and used as evidence against him. They claimed that his decision to stay and not escape when he knew he would be arrested showed his cunning and a means to gain the party’s trust.”

Journalist: “Liu Zhidan was arrested and imprisoned. What measures did you take in response?”

Mao: “At that time, I arrived in the region and needed to rely on the Yan’an base for survival. I played the role of a wise mediator and ordered the cessation of arrests and executions. By the end of November, Liu Zhidan and others were released. I became their savior. The brutal rectification campaign had severely damaged Liu Zhidan and his associates, leaving them without positions or power. It was easy for me to exclude them from the leadership circle. Liu Zhidan, as the founder of the base, only served as the commander of the newly formed Red 28th Army. I appointed a trusted associate as the political commissar to hold the real power. Liu Zhidan had no complaints and publicly expressed support for my authority. Those who had suffered under the rectification campaign all followed the central directives.

I intended to use Liu Zhidan’s significant prestige to rule over Yan’an.

However, I didn’t want to keep him around. Liu was a local leader, and I knew that the Central Red Army would need to extract food, money, soldiers, and labor from the locals, which would inevitably lead to resistance. Local cadres with deep-rooted connections to the region would easily become leaders of the opposition, just like Li Wenlin in Jiangxi. I needed to get rid of Liu Zhidan, but the approach would be more discreet than how we dealt with the Jiangxi base.”

Journalist: “Oh, so you wanted to use Liu Zhidan, but then you became suspicious and wanted to eliminate him?”

Mao: “Yes. Shortly after we settled in Yan’an, we began to establish communication with the Soviet Union and receive military supplies. I planned to cross the Yellow River and go to the wealthy Shanxi province, where I could recruit soldiers and raise funds. If possible, I would establish a base there and then proceed north to the Soviet-Mongolian border.

The eastward expedition began in February 1936. We propagated the idea that it was aimed at fighting the Japanese. However, we didn’t even come close to the Japanese border. We recruited some soldiers and plundered some resources, but before reaching Outer Mongolia, we were driven back west of the Yellow River by the forces of Chiang Kai-shek. During the expedition, Liu Zhidan died, and we claimed that he was killed by the enemy.”

Journalist: “Wow, Liu Zhidan died? How did he die?”

Mao: “On the day of his death, April 14, 1936, at the Three Crossings of the Yellow River. It was said that he was hit in the heart by an enemy machine gun while the Red Army was under attack. Liu Zhidan was not in the advancing Red Army ranks nor in the crossfire between the two forces. He was on a small hill 200 meters away, observing the battle with a telescope. The machine gun, while firing in the opposite direction, took a sharp turn and a single bullet accurately struck his heart.”

Journalist: “That’s really strange! A single bullet hit his heart?”

Mao: “When Liu Zhidan was hit, there were two people beside him: Pei Zhouyu, a special envoy from the Political Security Bureau, and Liu’s bodyguard. After Liu Zhidan was hit, Pei asked the bodyguard to find a doctor. When the doctor arrived, Liu had already ceased to breathe. This kind of death, with a single bullet from a machine gun hitting Liu’s heart from 200 meters away while others remained unharmed, raised suspicions that Liu Zhidan was killed by either Pei or the bodyguard. Assassination was one of the tasks of the special envoys from the Political Security Bureau, and the bodyguards assigned to “unreliable” leaders were usually members of the security department.”

Journalist: “So people suspected your special envoy?”

Mao: “Yes. The events leading up to Liu Zhidan’s death also made people suspicious of me. Eight days before his death, I issued an order: ‘The 28th Army will henceforth be directly commanded by the headquarters.’ This meant that once Liu Zhidan died, reporting to the higher authorities would be directly reporting to me. Two days later, I appointed Liu Zhidan as a member of the ‘Military Committee,’ entering the military decision-making body. After his death, he would be treated as a hero, and his subordinates wouldn’t say anything. Then, on the 13th, I personally ordered Liu Zhidan to go to the Sanjiao, and the next day he died.”

Journalist: “Oh, so you made careful arrangements in advance, and Liu Zhidan died like that?”

Mao: “Yes. After Liu Zhidan’s death, I ordered a solemn burial. To stabilize the base, it was necessary to utilize Liu Zhidan’s name. I renamed Bao’an County to Zhidan County, and I personally wrote the inscription: ‘Bravely sacrificed, an accident occurred.’”

Journalist: “So you successfully wrapped things up?”

Mao: “But people still had doubts. In the history of our party’s warfare, Liu Zhidan was the only highest leader of a base area who died on the frontlines. Both his right-hand and left-hand men in Yan’an died within a few weeks before and after his death: Yang Qi died in March, and Yang Sen died in early May. In this way, within a few months of my arrival in Yan’an, the three highest commanding officers of the local Red Army had all died.”

Journalist: “People suspected that you arranged for the death of all three leaders?”

Mao: “Yes, with these three individuals gone, the potential threats to me no longer existed. Although there were some small-scale resistances from the people of Yan’an later on, they were not enough to pose a threat. I safely stayed in Yan’an for 11 years.”

Journalist: “Three people, including Liu Zhidan, died, and you were at ease in northern Shaanxi?”