Chapter 17 4. Jiang Qing lost his "cars, horses, and guns"

Looking at the entire history of the "Cultural Revolution", the "seizure of power" and the "burning of the British agency" in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the summer of 1967 had a "profound impact" on the development of a series of events that cannot be underestimated.In particular, it played a "historical role" that those leading figures who instigated the ultra-left thought trend had never expected, that is: forcing the "source of disaster" that has caused chaos in the party, country, and army for more than a year - the Central Cultural Revolution Group Condensed his arrogance and began to go downhill; it became an important "starting point" for Zhou Enlai's struggle to criticize ultra-left ideological trends that he insisted on and personally led in the middle and later stages of the "Cultural Revolution".

The "Central Cultural Revolution Group" was established in accordance with the provisions of the "May 16th" circular passed at the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee in May 1966.This special organization that is nominally "subordinate to the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee" actually holds the power to "kill and kill" senior party, government and military leaders (including a considerable number of members of the Political Bureau and the Standing Committee of the Central Committee). Not long after the "Cultural Revolution" began, Jiang Qing, Chen Boda, Kang Sheng, Zhang Chunqiao and others repeatedly attacked, slandered, and framed Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, Zhu De, Tao Zhu and a large number of highly respected revolutionaries of the older generation. This is a strong proof of the "privilege" that belongs to him.

It is precisely because of this that those upright revolutionaries and so-called "royalists" are absolutely not tolerated within the Central Cultural Revolution Group.In just over half a year, Jiang Qing, Chen Boda, and Kang Sheng successively overthrew Tao Zhu, Wang Renzhong, Liu Zhijian and other "royalist" figures who had served in the Central Cultural Revolution; Several members of their gang persecuted them and pushed them out of the "group" one by one.In this way, the "Central Cultural Revolution Group" became composed of "big three" (i.e. Jiang Qing, Chen Boda, Kang Sheng) plus "military division" (Zhang Chunqiao) plus "knife and pen official" (Yao Wenyuan) plus "junior three" (i.e. Wang Li, Guan Feng, Qi Benyu) ) is a "poisonous carbuncle" entrenched in the top ranks of the party for its basic lineup.After the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1969, the "Central Cultural Revolution Group" "disappeared" on its own, but it was "dead but not dead."At the 1973 Party Congress, the "backbone forces" in the original "group" pulled together Wang Hongwen, the leader of the Shanghai rebels, and formed the "Gang of Four" sectarian group. The history of the 10-year "Cultural Revolution" shows that if this harm is not eliminated, the party will have no peace, the country will have no peace, and the people will have no peace.

Before and after the "seizure of power" in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the various struggles Zhou Enlai and Chen Yi fought over a series of foreign affairs issues were, in the final analysis, a struggle with the Central Cultural Revolution Group headed by Jiang Qing.As Zhou Enlai later pointed out: "If the development of the 'Cultural Revolution' movement only produced ultra-left ideological trends among young people, it could be persuaded and corrected. The problem is that some bad people took advantage of this opportunity to manipulate the mass movement, split the A mass movement that undermines our foreign relations. This kind of people can only be discovered when things are fully exposed."

As mentioned above, the "seizure of power" by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the summer of 1967 and the subsequent burning of the British Agency in China did cause unprecedented damage to the diplomatic cause of New China; but on the other hand, this The act of extreme anarchism also exposes the bad guys who use it to "manipulate the mass movement" and "undermine our foreign relations".Zhou Enlai took this as an opportunity to decisively "dispose" those invincible figures in the Central Cultural Revolution, and demolished a corner of the "Hall of Hell" in the Central Cultural Revolution.In the process of "destroying the temple", Wang Li and Guan Feng were the first to bear the brunt, followed by Qi Benyu. The successive downfall of the "Little Sans" (Wang, Guan, and Qi) caused Jiang Qing's group to lose their "carts," "horses," and "cannons." This marked the beginning of the "bad luck" of the monster of the Central Cultural Revolution.

The following is the process of the direct or indirect contest between Zhou Enlai and the Central Cultural Revolution within a week after the "burning" incident: In the early hours of August 23, more than two hours after the fire at the British Agency in China was extinguished, Zhou Enlai immediately summoned the heads of various rebel organizations in the Foreign Affairs Office and announced to them on behalf of the Party Central Committee and the State Council: 1. The "seizure of power" by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is illegal and does not count.The Party Central Committee has stated many times that the power of foreign affairs, national defense, and finance rests with the Central Committee and cannot be taken away. You "seize power" in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs without the Party Central Committee and the State Council.

2. The slogan "Down with Liu, Deng, and Chen" is wrong, and it is even more wrong to spread this slogan to foreign agencies in the name of the "Operation Supervision Team of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs". 3. Sealing the offices of the vice ministers, calling names and issuing "orders" at will, causing the diplomatic work to get out of control for several days, and even "beheaded but not played".We shall be committing a crime if we do not point this out to you again! 4. The burning of the British agency shows that the situation cannot be controlled now, which is typical anarchism.Any major steps in foreign relations, such as protests and warnings, are actions that should be decided by the government and cannot be decided by the masses; burning the British agency will make us lose our diplomacy.

5. If some of you "cannon" me and use my materials, I am not afraid of "knocking down"!Even though I criticize you now, the central government still needs to be responsible for the mistakes in diplomatic work these days. I will not shirk this responsibility.To report to the chairman, we made a mistake and did not lead well... Even during this summons, some rebel leaders still seemed very unconvinced. They even publicly contradicted and interrupted the Prime Minister’s criticism of them. Extremist behavior justified and covered up, which attracted Zhou Enlai's attention.

In the early morning of August 27, the rebels continued to make a fuss about Chen Yi's "problem", repeatedly and unreasonably obstructed Zhou Enlai from attending the "criticism" of Chen Yi, and threatened to organize "the masses" to attack the venue.Zhou Enlai was extremely angry about this!He sternly pointed out to the rebels: "You are all putting pressure on me, you are messing with me! You are taking turns, from 2 pm (26th) to now, it has been 18 hours, and I have one minute. Without rest, my body can't take it anymore!..." Before that, Zhou Enlai's heart was already aching.He didn't get better even after taking the medicine twice.His health doctor once wrote the prime minister's illness on a note and handed it to a rebel leader face to face, but he was ignored.After hearing the prime minister’s denunciation and exposure of the rebels, and even those who planned and connived behind the scenes, the health doctor couldn’t bear it anymore, and rushed to the rebel leader and warned loudly: “If the prime minister has an accident today, you must bear all responsibilities!” Said Forget it, he helped the Prime Minister leave the venue.At this time, the rebels were still shouting from behind: "We just want to stop Chen Yi's car!" "We have to rush to the venue again!"

At this moment, Zhou Enlai, who was walking to the door, turned around suddenly, with angry flames in his eyes: "Whoever you want to intercept Comrade Chen Yi's car, I will stand up immediately! Whoever wants to attack the venue, I will stand at the door of the Great Hall of the People and let you Step over me!" In the car, the health doctor gave emergency oxygen to the prime minister who was seriously ill.Due to a heart attack, Zhou Enlai was unable to work for a full 36 hours from this time to 5 pm on the 28th. The fanatical rebels didn't know at the time that just before Zhou Enlai fell ill, a major decision to solve the problem of Wang Li and Guan Feng after his repeated deliberation had already been matured; Wang Li's "August 7 The speech and relevant materials such as the slogan "Take out a small group of people in the army" concocted by Guan Feng and Wang Li have also been reported to Mao Zedong who is in the field.For that "Wang Baqi" speech, Mao Zedong criticized 5 words: "big, big, big poisonous weed"!Mao Zedong also said that even I cannot say what Wang Li said casually!I didn't ask him to take care of the affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs!At the same time, Mao Zedong also approved Zhou Enlai's report, and implemented separate inspections on Wang Li and Guan Feng, and dealt with Qi Benyu depending on his performance.

When he learned that Zhou Enlai had a heart attack due to overwork, Mao Zedong suggested telling the Prime Minister to sleep more, not to hold long meetings, and not to talk too much. August 30th is the day to deal with Wang Li and Guan Feng.According to Wang Li's later recollection: On this day, he and Guan Feng were announced to be quarantined and inspected at the Diaoyutai (Central Cultural Revolution station) at the same time, while Qi Benyu remained on the stage for the time being.At the meeting to end Wang and Guan's political lives, Jiang Qing and Kang Sheng, who turned their hands into clouds and turned their hands into rain, charged Wang Li as a "KMT spy" and at the same time slandered his wife Wang Pingquan's family as "a nest". black goods".Immediately, Wang and Guan were sent to Qincheng Prison. On September 4th, Qi Benyu, who was still "on stage," wrote to Mao Zedong to "review" his own mistakes. Among them, he also reported to Mao Zedong the violent shock caused by the handling of Wang and Guan within the Central Cultural Revolution Group: "Recently, everyone's heart has been very heavy. Comrades Guan Feng and Wang Li have made serious mistakes, manifested in the form of 'Left' blind moves... Comrade Wang Li's mistakes on diplomatic issues are related to me ( It started from me)...I haven't been sleeping well these days, thinking about many problems;...I'm really afraid that when I don't live up to it, I leave the chairman's revolutionary channel and cause losses to the revolution....Something happened in the group , Comrade Jiang Qing felt sad. She asked Comrade Chunqiao and me to go to see Guan Feng and Wang Li, and enlighten them..." On August 31, Zhou Enlai once again summoned the rebel leaders and party committee members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and reiterated: the foreign affairs authority belongs to the central government, and the central government authorizes me.At this meeting, he severely criticized the rebel leader who acted as the "foreign minister" after the "seizure of power" in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: You have been speaking and giving reports everywhere recently, spreading the slogan "Down with Liu, Deng, and Chen", you Doing so is tantamount to standing in the center of the confrontation!Regarding the countercurrent of "bombarding Zhou Enlai" in the previous period, Zhou Enlai was not polite, and pointedly pointed out: This is a plot to sabotage the proletarian headquarters by creating extraneous plots out of nothing, and it is an act that makes loved ones hurt and enemies happy.He also pointed out: At present, the ultra-left thoughts and actions in China have affected our diplomatic work, damaged our international reputation, and made me unable to speak. The next day, at the enlarged meeting of the Beijing Municipal Revolutionary Committee, Zhou Enlai pointed out sharply in front of Jiang Qing, Chen Boda, Kang Sheng, Zhang Chunqiao and other members of the Central Cultural Revolution: I know that some people specifically study me. Find out everything from the year.I thank them if it was "kindly" to bring it up to me.Counting it now, it has been 46 years since he joined the party in 1922 (Note: According to the report of the Central Organization Department approved by the party central committee in 1985, Zhou Enlai joined the party in 1921).In the past 46 years, I have made many mistakes, said many wrong words, and written many wrong articles.However, I followed Chairman Mao in the end!Today, I always have to do my job and the work I am responsible for. I can't rest for a moment, and I can't stand by.So, I still have to go on.Now I declare that I welcome the "help" of certain people, as long as they are well-intentioned; however, if you use problems that do not exist to threaten, fan the wind, light will-o'-the-wisps, and engage in conspiracy activities, then I firmly oppose ! After the loss of the "Little Three" (although Qi Benyu stayed and was no longer reused), the most serious crisis occurred within the Central Cultural Revolution since the launch of the "Cultural Revolution".Although Jiang Qing and others hated Zhou Enlai and other revolutionaries of the older generation from the bottom of their hearts, they gritted their teeth with hatred, but Mao Zedong had already spoken, and Wang Li, Guan Feng and the others had caused such a catastrophe.In the face of Zhou Enlai's powerful counterattacks, Jiang Qing and his gang, who had just been hit hard, could only parry, and had no power to fight back.On such occasions, they can only go along with it and push their responsibilities away.Therefore, a very abnormal phenomenon appeared in the public opinion propaganda controlled by the Central Cultural Revolution during this period: since Shanghai "seized power" in January, they have been shouting "down", "smash", "seize power" and "reverse The writers of "reversing the verdict" and "anti-restoration" suddenly changed their tone, and twitched back "extreme left", "anarchism" and "doubt everything" and "overthrow everything".Yao Wenyuan, the "sword and pen official", also took the lead in proposing to "thoroughly expose" the so-called "May 16 counter-revolutionary group" and arrest the counter-revolutionary "black hands". In September of this year, Mao Zedong, who was on a tour of the field, successively met with the garrisons of various places and the heads of relevant provinces and cities, and pointed out to them: Now it is important to criticize the "ultra-leftist" ideology; to say that Ye Jianying and Xu Xiangqian are "black hands" I don't think so, the "black hand" is mainly Wang Li; there is a conspiracy group, it concentrates on attacking the prime minister, and after the prime minister is taken down, it attacks others; foreign affairs talk about bad guys, "black hands", and counter-revolutionaries.It was Mao Zedong who made it clear. At the same time, Zhou Enlai continued to personally intervene and deploy diplomatic work, demanding to completely eliminate the adverse influence of extreme leftist thoughts on the foreign affairs system for more than two months, and to "seize power" against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, put forward the slogan "Down with Liu, Deng, and Chen", Extremist words and deeds such as "burning the UK agency" will be investigated organizationally.As a result, the veteran cadres who were once "downed" and imprisoned resumed their work, and a small number of rebels were also examined and dealt with one after another.The entire diplomatic power is once again in the hands of the Party Central Committee and the State Council... In fact, Chen Yi, who was criticized many times by the rebels before and after the "seizing power" of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, did not really "silence" after that.Under the careful arrangement of Premier Zhou, he still boldly appeared on various internal and external occasions as Vice Premier of the State Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs: On the evening of September 30, 1967, Chen Yi appeared at the 18th National Day reception hosted by Premier Zhou; On the morning of October 1st, Chen Yi boarded Tiananmen Square together with other vice premiers and veterans of the "February Countercurrent"; On the afternoon of November 6, Chen Yi accompanied Premier Zhou to Beijing Dongjiao Airport to welcome our foreign aid experts who had returned; On November 30, Foreign Minister Chen Yi and Premier Zhou jointly sent a telegram congratulating the independence of the South Yemen People's Republic; ... It can be said that in the "winter season" when the political climate was still cold, every public appearance of the two revolutionaries, diplomats and old comrades-in-arms was a great compliment to thousands of people with a sense of justice who were worried about China's future and destiny. Consolation; at the same time, it is also a bitter satire on those few political clowns who are uneasy and kind, and only have a hobby of pranking people! "The heavy snow presses the green pine, and the green pine is straight and straight; you must know that the pine is noble and clean, and wait until the snow melts." -- This famous poem inscribed by Marshal Chen Yi in the winter of 1960 is precisely in the "severe cold years" a few years later Zhou Enlai, It is a true portrayal of the great personality of Chen Yi and many revolutionaries of the older generation who are selfless, fearless, and high-spirited.Like this immortal line, Zhou Enlai and Chen Yi, the two historical giants who created a new foundation for China's diplomacy, will always be with the People's Republic and the diplomatic cause of the People's Republic.