At two o'clock in the afternoon of April 1, 1949, a plane taking off from Nanjing slowly landed at Beiping Nanyuan Airport. When the plane stopped, a man wearing the uniform of a second-class general of the Kuomintang Army took the lead in walking down, and then more than twenty people walked down one after another behind him, some of them wearing the uniforms of Kuomintang officers, some of them wearing the uniforms of Zhongshan suits, and the expression on their faces was very grim.
At this time, Xu Bing, vice mayor of Beiping City, who had long been waiting at Nanyuan Airport, Liu Yalou, chief of staff of the Northeast Field Army, and Qi Yanming, secretary general of the United Front Work Department, greeted them with smiles and welcomed the arrival of the group on the plane. It turned out that the group on the plane was a peace negotiation delegation sent by the Kuomintang side from Nanjing, and the person wearing the uniform of a Kuomintang general was Zhang Zhizhong, the head of the Kuomintang peace negotiation delegation.
Zhang Zhizhong,Chinese character 文白, is a native of present-day Chaohu, Anhui, born in 1890. Among the many Kuomintang generals, Zhang Zhizhong's seniority was very high, and he participated in the Xinhai Revolution, the Dharma Protection Movement, the Northern Expedition, the Central Plains Warlord War, and the All-Out War of Resistance Against Japan in his early years. After the victory of the All-out War of Resistance, Zhang Zhizhong was awarded the second rank of general of the Kuomintang Army, and successively served as the director of the Political Department of the Kuomintang Military Commission and the chief of the Northwest Military and Political Chief's Office.
As the head of the Kuomintang delegation for peace talks, Zhang Zhizhong was very unhappy from the moment he stepped off the plane—because in Zhang Zhizhong's view, they were clearly deliberately treated coldly. Zhang Zhizhong held that according to the practice of previous negotiations between the two sides, the person who should greet them at the airport was a member of our peace negotiation delegation with Zhou Enlai as the chief representative. Why didn't the "old friend" Zhou Enlai go to the airport to greet him? This made Zhang Zhizhong really want to understand.
Zhou Enlai and Zhang Zhizhong, who is 8 years older than him, are old acquaintances, and although they have different positions, they have formed a deep friendship in more than 40 years of exchanges. As early as 1924, Zhou Enlai became acquainted with Zhang Zhizhong, who at that time served as the director of the political department of the Whampoa Military Academy, and Zhang Zhizhong served as the chief of the general team and the chief of education at the Whampoa Military Academy.
During their time at the Whampoa Military Academy, Zhou Enlai and Zhang Zhizhong saw each other as they were, and the two felt sorry for each other and often discussed the prospects of revolution together. At that time, in the period of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communists, Zhang Zhizhong once proposed to Zhou Enlai to join the party organization. Listening to Zhang Zhizhong's request, Zhou Enlai was very happy, and while introducing the procedures for joining the party organization to Zhang Zhizhong, he told Zhang Zhizhong: "Brother Wen Bai (Zhang Zhizhong), don't worry about it first, I need to ask the organization before I can give you a reply!" ”
Zhang Zhizhong looked at Zhou Enlai solemnly and said, "(Zhou) Enlai, I understand, I can wait!" After a while, Zhou Enlai secretly found Zhang Zhizhong and said with regret: "Brother Wen Bai, I very much welcome you to join us, but considering that your identity and position are relatively special, I am afraid that it will be inconvenient to join us." We have agreed before that we will not recruit senior Kuomintang cadres to join, so I think it is better to wait until the right opportunity to talk about it! I assure you that we will secretly support you! ”
Although Zhang Zhizhong failed to join the party organization as he wished, this did not hinder his friendship with Zhou Enlai, but made their relationship closer. On August 8, 1925, Zhang Zhizhong set up two tables of banquets at the Western Restaurant of the TaipingGuan in Guangzhou to arrange the wedding of Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao. At that time, the guests who came to congratulate him, He Yingqin, Qian Dajun, Deng Yanda, Yun Daiying, Chen Geng and others, Li Fuchun and Cai Chang, who had studied with Zhou Enlai in France, just came to Guangzhou that day, and they also came to congratulate him.
The wedding banquet scene was very lively, when everyone heard that Deng Yingchao had been the leader of the speech team during the May Fourth Movement, so they coaxed the "bride" to stand on the small bench to talk about the love affair with Zhou Enlai. At this time, Zhou Enlai was worried that Deng Yingchao would not be able to cope with such a scene, and intended to "forgive" everyone on behalf of Deng Yingchao. However, what people did not expect was that Deng Ying stood on a small bench and began to speak. Deng Yingchao told the story of his love affair with Zhou Enlai vividly, which caused warm applause from everyone from time to time.
After this little episode, Zhang Zhizhong praised in front of everyone: "Madame Zhou (Deng Yingchao) is indeed worthy of the name, and like Director Zhou (Zhou Enlai), she is an excellent orator. With that, Zhang Zhizhong and everyone let out a hearty laugh. At this time, Deng Yingchao began to protest, and she said to Zhang Zhizhong: "Brother Wen Bai, what Lady Zhou! I have a name—Deng Yingchao. ”
At the lively wedding banquet, Zhang Zhizhong and everyone took turns to toast the bride and groom one by one. At that time, Deng Yingchao could not drink, so Zhou Enlai thoughtfully drank all the wines presented to the bride, one by one. Deng Yingchao stood by Zhou Enlai's side, looking at her husband painfully, but he could not stop Zhang Zhi from taking turns to toast. As the saying goes, people have fewer cups every time they have a happy event, and on this day, Zhou Enlai was drunk...
Until more than thirty years later, Zhang Zhizhong's younger son Zhang Yichun came to Deng Yingchao's home as a guest, and Deng Yingchao recalled the past of the wedding banquet that year. Deng Yingchao said to Zhang Yichun: "In 1925, your father attended my wedding banquet with your Uncle Zhou, don't look at your father who is 8 years older than your Uncle Zhou, but at that time, your father was the most noisy, and he took everyone to get your Uncle Zhou drunk when he was making a lot of fun!" ”
Zhang Zhizhong's close relationship with Zhou Enlai soon aroused Chiang Kai-shek's suspicions. At that time, Chiang Kai-shek also secretly asked his close associate Wang Maogong: "Zhang Wenbai (Zhang Zhizhong) is very close to Zhou Enlai and others, did he join the Communist Party?" "Wang Maogong and Zhang Zhizhong's friendship is not shallow, and he has said a lot of good things for Zhang Zhizhong - rumors are not credible, and Wen Bai (Zhang Zhizhong) is loyal to the principal (Chiang Kai-shek)! In this way, Chiang Kai-shek did not have trouble finding Zhang Zhizhong!
During the agrarian revolution, in order to avoid meeting many old friends on the battlefield, Zhang Zhizhong took the initiative to choose to retreat to the second line and went to the Kuomintang Central Army Officer School as the director of the training department and the chief education officer. It was not until 1937, after the outbreak of the All-out War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, when the nation was in danger, that Zhang Zhizhong took the initiative to ask for help and led troops to kill the enemy on the anti-Japanese battlefield. During the period of the All-out War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Zhang Zhizhong and Zhou Enlai exchanged letters from time to time, and he actively supported the joint resistance against Japan, especially after the "Anhui Southern Incident", Zhang Zhizhong also wrote to Chiang Kai-shek - advocating continued cooperation and jointly defending foreign humiliation!
In May 1945, Zhang Zhizhong was also entrusted by Zhou Enlai to go to Xinjiang to successfully rescue more than 100 comrades who had been imprisoned by Sheng Shicai for many years, and arranged for them to return to Yan'an safely. However, after the victory of the all-out War of Resistance Against Japan, the haze of war did not dissipate, and the Kuomintang reactionaries headed by Chiang Kai-shek plotted to launch a civil war. It should be said here that later, during the Liberation War, Zhang Zhizhong was the only Kuomintang general who did not fight with the people's army, because he was called "General of Peace" by people.
Obviously, as in the period of the agrarian revolutionary war, Zhang Zhizhong was unwilling to fight a civil war, and even more unwilling to meet with his "old friends" on the battlefield, and even Zhang Zhizhong repeatedly proposed a coalition to Chiang Kai-shek. Once, Zhang Zhizhong's suggestion made Chiang Kai-shek furious, and he said to Zhang Zhizhong: "Wen Bai (Zhang Zhizhong), I talk to you exactly like talking to a Communist Party representative!" ”
Chiang Kai-shek did not take any action against Zhang Zhizhong, who had a "different attitude," and the main reason was that he thought that Zhang Zhizhong could be used as a microphone, after all, Zhang Zhizhong had a lot of friendship with Zhou Enlai. Chiang Kai-shek's idea was, let Zhang Zhizhong appear at the negotiating table, why not enjoy it? Under such circumstances, Zhang Zhizhong, as the chief representative of the Kuomintang side, repeatedly "confronted" Zhou Enlai at the negotiating table.
Zhang Zhizhong and Zhou Enlai are two of the most famous negotiations, the Chongqing negotiations in 1945 and the Beiping peace talks in 1949. At the time of the Chongqing negotiations in 1945, Zhou Enlai came to Chongqing in advance to discuss and arrange related matters. After meeting Zhou Enlai, Zhang Zhizhong was very happy, not only because of his reunion with his "old friend" Zhou Enlai, but also because he saw the prospect of negotiations in Chongqing - peace. However, Zhang Zhizhong did not know at that time that the so-called negotiations were just a cover for Chiang Kai-shek to fight a civil war.
After Zhou Enlai arrived in Chongqing, Zhang Zhizhong, in order to welcome and entertain "old friends", on the one hand, gave up his residence for Zhou Enlai to live, and on the other hand, specially arranged guards to ensure Zhou Enlai's safety. According to Zhang Zhizhong's son Zhang Yichun, when discussing Chairman Mao's security work in Chongqing, Zhang Zhizhong said to Zhou Enlai: "In order to protect the safety of Mr. Mao (Chairman Mao), I am going to send a pistol platoon to serve as a guard. Rest assured, most of them are from my hometown, reliable..."
Zhou Enlai was very touched after listening to it, and he said to Zhang Zhizhong: "Brother Wen Bai, thank you! But I don't think that's good, if anything happens, you have to take responsibility, and maybe become a scapegoat. I think it is better to let the Chongqing Garrison Command send someone to guard it, and the people you arrange can change into plain clothes as internal guards! Zhang Zhizhong listened to it and nodded continuously, and then smiled and said, "(Zhou) Enlai, or you think about Zhou Dao!" ”
Later, after 43 days of arduous negotiations, the two sides reached the famous "Double Tenth Agreement". The day after the signing of the Double Tenth Agreement, Zhang Zhizhong accompanied Chairman Mao back to Yan'an from Chongqing. That evening, Zhou Enlai, who remained in Chongqing, borrowed Zhang Zhizhong's residence and set up a banquet to thank the staff who were responsible for guard duties. According to the recollection of Zhang Zhizhong's son Zhang Yichun, he also attended the banquet that night, during which Zhou Enlai took Zhang Yichun's hand and asked him about his study.
Later, Zhou Enlai also wrote a line in Zhang Yichun's homework book - "The light is in sight, the future is long, and new China belongs to your young generation!" After writing this line, Zhou Enlai left another drop - "a pure brother, Zhou Enlai." Shi Brother is the title of the younger generation of the shijiao. After the young Zhang Yichun read it, he asked incomprehensibly: "Uncle Zhou, how do you write 'Brother Yichun Shi'?" At this time, Zhou Enlai took Zhang Yichun's hand and said affectionately: "This means that I am your father's brother!" ”
Zhou Enlai's words were by no means polite, at this time he and Zhang Zhizhong had been in contact for more than twenty years, and he had already regarded Zhang Zhizhong as a true "Wen Bai Brother"! During the Chongqing negotiations, although Zhou Enlai and Zhang Zhizhong were always tit-for-tat at the negotiating table, in private they were like brothers. However, after Chongqing negotiated and reached the "Double Tenth Agreement," no one expected that the Kuomintang reactionaries headed by Chiang Kai-shek would soon tear up the "Double Tenth Agreement" and a civil war that would determine the future and destiny would break out!
Fast forward to the beginning of 1949. At this time, with the victory of the three battles over, Chiang Kai-shek's dictatorial government was in a state of turmoil. In order to save his decadent rule, Chiang Kai-shek also retreated into the field, announced his resignation and pushed Li Zongren to the front. Under such circumstances, in April 1949, the two sides launched another peace negotiation based on eight conditions. At this time, zhang zhizhong was the head of the kuomintang peace negotiation delegation, and it was Zhou Enlai who served as the chief representative of our side's peace talks.
In this way, there is the scene we mentioned at the beginning of the article - at two o'clock in the afternoon of April 1, 1949, Zhang Zhizhong led the Kuomintang side to fly from Nanjing to Beiping Nanyuan Airport. After getting off the plane, Zhang Zhizhong looked at the personnel who had come to greet him, and his heart was very unhappy -- because Zhang Zhizhong felt that whether it was public or private, Zhou Enlai should personally go to the airport to greet him.
In this way, Zhang Zhizhong took his peace talks representatives with a heavy heart and came to the hotel where he was staying. At the dinner party that day, Zhang Zhizhong met with Zhou Enlai, and it was only then that he understood that the reason why Zhou Enlai broke the convention and did not go to the airport to meet him was because Zhou Enlai learned a message that affected the peace talks--Zhang Zhizhong had personally gone to Xikou, Zhejiang Province, to meet Chiang Kai-shek before coming to Beiping. Zhang Zhizhong's behavior made Zhou Enlai feel that the Kuomintang side did not have the sincerity of peace talks, so he gave the Kuomintang side a "demotion" by lowering the greeting standards!
After the dinner, Zhou Enlai and Zhang Zhizhong warmly pulled up the family routine, and the two talked happily, and from time to time came a hearty laugh. As in the Chongqing negotiations of 1945, Zhou Enlai and Zhang Zhizhong confronted each other at the negotiating table and privately identified Zhang Zhizhong as brothers. At this time, Zhang Zhizhong's heart was full of mixed feelings, and he admired Zhou Enlai's distinction between public and private in his heart. However, in the eyes of the discerning, the 1949 Peking Peace Talks, like the 1945 Chongqing Talks, could not achieve a satisfactory outcome for both sides – because the Kuomintang side would not accept the eight peace conditions at all.
At that time, Chiang Kai-shek shot the case in Xikou, Zhejiang Province, and scolded: "Wen Bai (Zhang Zhizhong) is incompetent, 'losing power and humiliating the country'!" On April 20, 1949, the Kuomintang issued a statement stating that the eight peace conditions could not be accepted. The next day, Chairman Mao issued an order to the people's army to march into the whole country, and the Battle of Crossing the River officially began. The Peiping peace talks broke down, and the question of Zhang Zhi's whereabouts and retention was inevitably placed in front of him.
At that time, Zhang Zhizhong was confined to the idea of ending from one end and decided to return to Nanjing to resume his life. At that time, considering Zhang Zhizhong's safety, many people on our side persuaded Zhang Zhizhong not to return to Nanjing to resume his life, but to stay in Beiping to work. However, Zhang Zhizhong said: "I was sent by the Kuomintang side to negotiate peace, and since the peace talks have broken down, I should go back to my life, this is my mission and duty!" Seeing this, Zhou Enlai decided to personally persuade Zhang Zhizhong to stay.
At that time, Zhou Enlai said frankly to Zhang Zhizhong: "Brother Wen Bai, you should abandon the stupid 'loyal jun' idea in your heart!" Speaking from the heart, why do you think only of one person and not of the revolution and the people of the whole country? After the peaceful settlement of the 'Xi'an Incident', we are already sorry for a friend surnamed Zhang, and today we can no longer be sorry for your friend surnamed Zhang! Brother Wen Bai, in public and private, I hope you can stay! ”
Looking at Zhou Enlai's sincere eyes, Zhang Zhizhong couldn't help but be moved, he tightly held Zhou Enlai's hands, recalled the scenes of interaction with Zhou Enlai, and tears instantly poured out. At that time, Zhang Zhizhong did not directly express his position, but his thinking changed greatly. On April 24, 1949, a special plane sent by the Kuomintang side to pick up the peace talk delegation landed at the airport in the western suburbs of Beiping. At this time, a scene that Zhang Zhizhong did not expect at all appeared - his wife and children stepped down from the plane, and the family was reunited in Beiping, and the scene was moving.
It turned out that all this was carefully arranged by Zhou Enlai, because the careful Zhou Enlai had already relieved Zhang Zhizhong of his worries and secretly brought Zhang Zhizhong's family from Shanghai to Beiping. According to zhang zhizhong's son Zhang Yichun, the whole family lived in Shanghai at that time. At two o'clock in the morning on April 24, a phone call came home, and it was Mr. Deng Shizhang. Mr. Deng Shizhang said to Zhang Yichun's mother on the phone: "Mr. Zhang (Zhang Zhizhong) sent a telegram to let your whole family fly to Beiping!" ”
Deng Shizhang, who was then the director of the sales team of Shanghai Central Airlines, received instructions from Zhou Enlai to secretly take Zhang Zhizhong's family to Beiping and reunite with him. Deng Shizhang also said on the phone: "You should prepare as soon as possible, and someone will pick you up at 6 o'clock in the morning to take you to the airport!" According to Zhang Yichun's recollection, the family came directly to the airport by car, and without any formalities, the car was parked in front of a plane. As soon as the family boarded the plane, it was quickly started.
In the afternoon of the same day, the plane landed at the airport in the western suburbs of Beiping. When the family stepped off the plane, their father, Zhang Zhizhong, was surprised. However, his father Zhang Zhizhong quickly reacted, his eyes were moist, and he said to Ye Jianying, who came with him according to Zhou Enlai's instructions: "Thank you, thank you!" At this time, Ye Jianying said, "Your family is reunited, you should be happy." All this was arranged by Comrade Zhou Enlai, and in order to keep you here, Comrade Zhou Enlai tried his best! ”
In this way, Zhang Zhizhong finally chose to stay in Beiping and began a new work and life. The news of Zhang Zhizhong's decision to stay in Beiping spread quickly, and when the origin of the matter was learned, everyone could not help but praise Zhou Enlai for handling it so cleverly. After the founding of New China, Zhang Zhizhong successively served as vice chairman of the Northwest Military and Political Committee, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, and vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee, and made very important contributions to promoting national unity, promoting the cause of new China's construction, and the great cause of the peaceful reunification of the motherland.
During this period, Zhou Enlai, who was full of opportunities, often took time to sit at Zhang Zhizhong's home and talk with his old friends. Whenever they recalled their previous scenes, Zhou Enlai and Zhang Zhizhong laughed loudly. In his later years, Zhang Zhizhong suffered from leg diseases, and from time to time, in order to cure Zhang Zhizhong's leg diseases, Zhou Enlai had to carefully select every time he went abroad, and brought back some precious medicines to send to Zhang Zhizhong.
On April 6, 1969, Zhang Zhizhong died of illness in Beijing at the age of 79. After Zhang Zhizhong's death, in view of the situation at that time, some people proposed not to carry out a farewell ceremony for the remains. Zhou Enlai, however, instructed the authorities to conduct a ceremony. At the same time, Zhou Enlai also instructed: "I will personally participate, and at the same time inform Zhang Zhizhong's other old friends inside and outside the party and invite them to participate together."
On April 9, 1969, at the farewell ceremony of Zhang Zhizhong's body, Zhou Enlai bowed deeply with a deep heart and bid a deep farewell to Brother Wen Bai, who had been in contact for more than 40 years and was as close as a brother! At this moment, Zhou Enlai's memory may be stuck at the wedding banquet in Guangzhou in 1925, at the time of the Chongqing negotiations in 1945, and during the Peking Peace Talks in 1949! Let us pay tribute to "General of Peace" Zhang Zhizhong! Greetings to premier Zhou and Zhang Zhizhong for their deep friendship!