In 1949, the question of where China should go was clear, the Kuomintang edifice would fall, and Chiang Kai-shek would push Li Zongren to acting president. At this point, under the manipulation of Li Zongren, the Kuomintang decided to promote the peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Republic of China, and then realize the "rule of the river.".
In order to achieve this goal, the Kuomintang appointed Zhang Zhizhong as the chief negotiator, as Chairman Mao once praised as "a good friend of the three to Yan'an" and "a person who really hopes for peace", for Zhang Zhizhong, Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi placed high hopes on him.
To this end, Zhang Zhizhong and the Kuomintang people tried their best to eliminate all kinds of difficulties and strive to promote the success of this peace talk. However, what everyone did not expect was that at the second formal meeting of the Kuomintang-Communist peace talks, Zhang Zhizhong's remarks made Zhou Enlai, a close friend with whom he had been friends for many years, angry, and Zhou Enlai, who was very disapproving of this, immediately responded after Zhang Zhizhong expressed his "personal feelings", which also made Zhang Zhizhong look embarrassed after listening to it.
What exactly did Zhang Zhizhong, who has always maintained friendly relations with our party, say? Why did it attract such a rebuttal from Premier Zhou?
In 1949, under the overwhelming momentum of the Communist Party of China, the Kuomintang regime in Nanjing was crumbling, and in order to "make a comeback," Chiang Kai-shek, in the midst of a clamor for peace, decided to repeat the "Chongqing Negotiations" drama again, in order to delay time and reorganize the troops.
However, Chairman Mao had already seen through the hypocrisy behind Chiang Kai-shek's "request for peace, and first published a "Commentary on The War Criminals seeking peace" to refute it, and then further used the "Statement on the Current Situation" to debunk Chiang Kai-shek's illusion of "hypocritical peace seeking, and at the same time pointed out that Chiang Kai-shek's peace talks were "a condition for continuing the war, not a condition for peace talks."
In the end, Chiang Kai-shek failed to succeed in his plot and went into the wilderness, with Li Zongren as acting president of the Kuomintang. At this time, Li Zongren knew that the best outcome of today's Kuomintang was nothing more than "crossing the river and ruling the country." Therefore, unwilling to continue fighting, when he first came to power, he could not wait to issue a peace offensive and vigorously strive for peace talks.
At the same time, our Party also concluded negotiations with Fu Zuoyi on the peaceful liberation of Peiping. In order to point out the direction for Li Zongren, our party clearly stated in this that "we warmly welcome Peking-style peace, and we have no choice but to use the Tianjin method to solve any reactionary forces that refuse to accept the Peking way to achieve peace."
Soon, the "First Example of Implementing Chairman Mao's Eight Conditions for Peace -- Accepting War in a Peaceful Manner" was published in the People's Daily, and the Peking Peace Talks between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China were officially put on the agenda.
In order to promote the success of this peace talk, the Kuomintang made a series of efforts to this effect. Among them, Li Zongren had asked his secretary Cheng Siyuan to make a special trip to Taiwan, hoping to release Zhang Xueliang in order to show the sincerity of the Kuomintang, but because Chiang Kai-shek had made preparations early, the matter eventually ended in failure.
During this period, the Kuomintang personalities became more and more aware that the biggest obstacle to the peace talks was none other than Chiang Kai-shek, so Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi wrote a special letter to Chiang Kai-shek, hoping that he would be able to "understand" and go abroad.
Chiang Kai-shek and Zhang Zhizhong
After Chiang Kai-shek ignored this, Zhang Zhizhong and Wu Zhongxin also rushed to Xikou to act as lobbyists to persuade Chiang Kai-shek to go abroad.
However, Chiang Kai-shek did not know what happened to Zhang Zhizhong and others when they came, so after a little greeting, without waiting for Zhang Zhizhong to explain the purpose of their coming, he scolded with his head covered in his face: "I know what your purpose is here this time, the newspaper has published it yesterday, and you just want me to go abroad!" ”
As soon as Chiang Kai-shek's words came out, Zhang Zhi and the others all looked embarrassed, but Chiang Kai-shek did not give the two a chance to speak, and once again angrily said, "It is okay to force me to go to the wilderness, but it is impossible for me to die!" After I got out of the wilderness, I was just a commoner, and where I lived was my freedom. And this is my hometown, and you have no right to interfere! ”
Chiang Kai-shek's words left Zhang Zhizhong and others with nothing more to say. In the end, we can only take the matter of the peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Republic as the topic of the next chat. After learning of the plans of Li Zongren and others, Chiang Kai-shek was very much in agreement and said that if the peace talks were successful, he was willing to step down from the wilderness and never come to power again.
But in fact, this is nothing more than Chiang Kai-shek's desire to cover up, and he still wants to maintain the power of the Kuomintang and wait for the right time to go to war with our Party again and win victory.
Therefore, before learning that Zhang Zhizhong was in the peace talks, he rushed to Xikou to meet Chiang Kai-shek, which made our party very angry, and believed that this peace talk was likely to still be Chiang Kai-shek behind the scenes, not by Li Zongren and others.
In addition, when Zhang Zhizhong and others had just arrived in Beiping, there was a bloody massacre in Nanjing because the students marched and demanded that the Kuomintang accept the eight peace conditions put forward by our party, and everything was marked with a huge question mark on the sincerity of the Kuomintang peace talks, and this also increased the difficulty of the peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Republic of China.
When Zhang Zhizhong had just arrived in Beiping, Premier Zhou, after greeting Zhang Zhizhong and others, said disapprovingly, "Brother Wen Bai, I would like to ask you, since you came to Beiping to peacefully resolve the problems between the two parties, why did you personally go to Fenghua Xikou beforehand to ask the war criminal leader for instructions?" ”
Premier Zhou's words made Zhang Zhizhong stunned, and without any mental preparation, he said with embarrassment, "Brother Enlai, I am also bitter!" In order not to let this peace talk die for various reasons, we must clear all the obstacles, and I went this time to find out the bottom! ”
However, our Party is not satisfied with Zhang Zhizhong's answer, because what Chiang Kai-shek really wants to do and whether this time going to the field is just a cover-up, all these matters concerning China's future peace cannot be taken lightly until the dust settles.
On April 13, in Zhongnanhai, the two sides held their first formal talks, in which the two sides held several consecutive rounds of talks, and finally put forward more than 40 opinions on behalf of the Representatives of Nanjing, and the Chinese Communists accepted more than 20 opinions, completing the initial negotiations on the Draft Internal Peace Agreement.
Subsequently, the two sides exchanged views again on the entire contents of the draft, and on April 15, our Party sent the final draft of the "Internal Peace Agreement" to the Nanjing government delegation.
Among them, our party has shown great sincerity in order to promote peace talks. Subsequently, the Kuomintang delegation transmitted the progress of the peace talks to Li Zongren in the form of a telegram, as long as he agreed, Li Zongren could go to Beiping to sign it, and if there was still any objection, it could continue to discuss.
In this regard, Zhang Zhizhong and Li Zongren pushed their hearts and minds on this matter, and clarified all the interests and stakes in this matter, as well as the various contradictions in the early years, hoping to promote peace talks in this regard.
However, as the negotiations deepened, Li Zongren also gradually realized that although he was bent on replacing Chiang Kai-shek, in its present form, their contradiction with Chiang Kai-shek was far less than that with our Party.
Therefore, after the start of the second formal meeting held on April 15, although our party made huge concessions, the negotiations also reached an impasse under the opinion of Li Zongren and others.
Zhang Zhizhong and Premier Zhou
At this formal meeting, the deputies of the two parties had no room for words and phrases. Premier Zhou solemnly announced that a decision needs to be made before April 20 on whether the Kuomintang in Nanjing will sign this document, and if the agreement cannot be signed by then, our party will have to cross the river and there will be no other results.
Among them, Zhang Zhizhong said: "I can't say anything more about this issue, but I would like to put forward a little personal idea, which is only my personal idea, not the delegation's idea." ”
Then Zhang Zhizhong took a look at Premier Zhou and said, "There is an old saying in China that Mr. Enlai may feel feudal, this sentence is 'brothers, friends and brothers', I think this sentence is not unreasonable, for example, the dispute between the two parties of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, just like the dispute between brothers, is Chinese, are compatriots of one nation." Whoever loses, who takes advantage, this does not have to be too real. ”
After a pause, Zhang Zhizhong continued:
"In the past, my brother was wrong, I was ashamed of my past mistakes, if my brother could take care of my family, my brother would still be happy for it, and try my best to support my brother... The above is just my personal opinion, if there is anything wrong, please Mr. Enlai and the representatives to tolerate. ”
Premier Zhou and Zhang Zhizhong have been friends since the time of the Whampoa Military Academy, so the friendship of more than 20 years has made the relationship between the two very deep. Moreover, Zhang Zhizhong himself is a person who is very divided into the national community and strives for the cause of national peace, and Premier Zhou has great respect for him.
However, Premier Zhou did not agree with Zhang Zhizhong's own "brother theory," so as soon as Zhang Zhizhong's voice fell, Premier Zhou said, "As for Mr. Wen Bai's words, I would like to make a few remarks, if both sides are fighting for national peace, there is nothing wrong with saying this, and in the future everyone can abandon their previous suspicions and cooperate together." But as far as the Kuomintang has said over the past 20 years and more that Chiang Kai-shek's leadership is concerned, this is not a brotherly struggle, this is revolution and counter-revolution, and even if this is said to Dr. Sun Yat-sen, I think he will not agree. Just like in those days, Dr. Sun Yat-sen's crusade against the Qing government and Against Yuan Shikai was not a brotherly struggle, it was all revolution and counter-revolution..."
After the meeting, although the attitude of the Nationalist government in Nanjing was already obvious, Zhang Zhizhong hoped to persuade him to sign this and promote the success of the peace talks, and for this, Premier Zhou and other Communists also expected the same.
However, the contents of the "Internal Peace Agreement" are still far from the expectations of Li Zongren and others, and after Chiang Kai-shek saw this document, he even slapped the table and scolded Zhang Zhizhong for being incompetent and "losing power and humiliating the country." At this point, the Peking Peace Talks between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China broke down with the refusal of the Nationalist government in Nanjing to sign it.
On April 21, Chairman Mao and other central leaders launched an order for a nationwide march, marking the countdown to the arrival of Red China.
After the failure of the peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Republic of China, Li Zongren and others repeatedly called Zhang Zhizhong to ask him to return, but Zhang Zhizhong refused. As Zhang Zhizhong, who has maintained good relations with the Communists for a long time, has always been campaigning for peace in China, and whether it is during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression or the Liberation Period, Zhang Zhizhong participated in the peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Communists, so Zhang Zhizhong was very much in agreement with the revolutionary ideas pursued by the Communists.
Not only that, as a "Kuomintang soldier who never fought a war with the Communist Party," Zhang Zhizhong had a good relationship with the CCP. In 1945, china's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression ended, and the people who had just endured several years of war hoped to rebuild their homes and have a long-lost peace.
However, Chiang Kai-shek's ambitions have put the two parties in a state of tension. However, Chiang Kai-shek had no suitable reason to start a civil war, and he did not want to be condemned by public opinion, and at Hurley's suggestion, he decided to invite Chairman Mao to Chongqing by telegram to negotiate.
At this point, Chiang Kai-shek invited Chairman Mao to Chongqing to "jointly make a big plan." Chairman Mao was well aware of the intentions behind Chiang Kai-shek's actions, so after making all the preparations, Chairman Mao, accompanied by Zhou Enlai and Wang Ruofei, arrived in Chongqing with "great courage" to open the first peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.
However, Chiang Kai-shek's thoughts were well known, and Chongqing was the territory of the Kuomintang at that time, so Premier Zhou was very worried about Chairman Mao's safety. When Zhang Zhizhong and Hurley took over the communist delegation on behalf of the Kuomintang, Premier Zhou opened his heart and said to Zhang Zhizhong, "Chairman Mao's visit to Chongqing this time, security is my greatest concern. ”
After some thought, Zhang Zhizhong replied, "The leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union, they both guarantee Chairman Mao's freedom to come and go, and Chairman Mao is absolutely safe in Chongqing." ”
However, Premier Zhou was not entirely assured of the guarantees of the United States and the Soviet Union, so in order to ensure that there was no mistake, Premier Zhou hoped that Zhang Zhizhong would be able to protect Chairman Mao's safety while in Chongqing, so he cautiously stated: "Brother Wen Bai, the guarantees of the United States and the Soviet Union are theirs, but we must not be careless about Chairman Mao's safety, we must be foolproof." ”
After learning of Premier Zhou's concerns, Zhang Zhizhong, who has always advocated "peace," immediately showed his friendly sincerity. In the Chongqing Tiger's Den, there are all the Kuomintang agents everywhere, and residence is an important problem that everyone has to face.
In order to provide Chairman Mao with a safe place to live, Zhang Zhizhong immediately moved his family to a simple and cramped bungalow and gave up his residence to Chairman Mao.
Not only that, when entering Chongqing, chairman Mao's guards were not many and could not cope with various things that might happen, in this regard, Zhang Zhizhong, after several discussions with Premier Zhou, was decided by Premier Zhou to let the gendarmes take on this heavy responsibility, while Zhang Zhizhong was responsible for finding the commander of the gendarmerie and repeatedly explaining, which ensured the reliability of protecting the manpower.
Among them, Zhang Zhizhong was very concerned about Chairman Mao's safety and asked many questions. Soon, in the later stages of the Chongqing negotiations, the two parties basically completed their deliberations on the agreement, but among them, Premier Zhou's secretary, Li Shaoshi, was suddenly shot.
At this time, when Chairman Mao was preparing to leave Chongqing, such a thing suddenly appeared, and for a time the surrounding environment became complicated, and many people urged Chairman Mao to leave as soon as possible.
In this regard, Premier Zhou also communicated with Zhang Zhizhong on this matter, and Premier Zhou said, "We are not at ease to let Chairman Mao leave alone." ”
Zhang Zhizhong immediately reacted, and then said, "Brother Enlai, you can rest assured, since I personally took Mr. Mao to Chongqing, of course I am responsible for sending him back." ”
Therefore, under the escort of Zhang Zhizhong, Chairman Mao was able to get along without incident during the dangerous journey back to Yan'an. On Zhang Zhizhong's return journey, Chairman Mao praised Zhang Zhizhong as a person who really hoped for peace, and it was precisely because of Zhang Zhizhong's many journeys to Yan'an during the Chongqing negotiations that his already deep friendship with our party was further enhanced, and he was also widely praised in our party.
On October 1, 1949, on the occasion of the founding of the People's Republic of China, at the invitation of the Party Central Committee, "General of Peace" Zhang Zhizhong stood on the tower of Tiananmen Square and witnessed the birth of New China.
Since then, this general, who has been pursuing peace all his life, has been campaigning for the reunification of new China.
Unfortunately, in 1969, Zhang Zhizhong died in Beijing at the age of 79.