Chapter 45 Chapter 44 Ye Jianying and Xu Xiangqian questioned

The "Central Cultural Revolution" wanted to cover up the problems of Chen Boda and Jiang Qing, so they only held a group meeting without outsiders on February 14, 1967, intending to make big things small and small things small.Even Zhou Enlai was not allowed to participate in the group meeting criticizing Chen Boda and Jiang Qing. However, on February 10, when Mao Zedong criticized Chen Boda and Jiang Qing at the enlarged meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee, not all the members of the "Central Cultural Revolution" were present, Li Fuchun and Ye Jianying were also present.Mao Zedong's criticism of Chen Boda and Jiang Qing made Li Fuchun and Ye Jianying happy.

Li Fuchun, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and vice premier of the State Council (he was also the leader of the "deputy prime minister's group" appointed by Zhou Enlai), conveyed Mao Zedong's criticism of Chen Boda and Jiang Qing to the members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and the vice premiers of the State Council. The crowd is jubilant.It should be noted that the anger towards the "Central Cultural Revolution" and Chen Boda and Jiang Qing had long been pent up in the hearts of the old generals and vice premiers, and all of a sudden burst out.They discussed at Li Fuchun's house.

They were members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee Tan Zhenlin, Chen Yi, Ye Jianying, Li Fuchun, Li Xiannian, Xu Xiangqian, Nie Rongzhen, and Yu Qiuli and Gu Mu who were in charge of production at the State Council. Taking advantage of Mao Zedong's criticism of Chen Boda and Jiang Qing, they launched a powerful offensive against the "Central Cultural Revolution". On February 14, just after the lukewarm criticism meeting of the "Central Cultural Revolution", Chen Boda went to Huairen Hall in Zhongnanhai to attend the meeting of the Central Committee hosted by Zhou Enlai.The so-called "central meeting" is a meeting composed of comrades responsible for the daily work of the central party, government, and military, and members of the "central cultural revolution" to study and deal with the daily work of the central government.On this day, Jiang Qing did not go, and Chen Boda almost became a defendant at the meeting.As soon as he sat down, Chen Boda said: "Comrade Jiang Qing is not in good health and cannot come to the meeting. Please let me bring you an opinion: the Military Commission has issued eight orders. Discussion, why send it to the chairman for approval?" Immediately, a series of questioning, like a series of howling shells, fell on Chen Boda's head.

Marshal Ye Jianying was the first to fire at the "theoreticians": "You messed up the party, the government, the factories, and the countryside. You still think it's not enough. You must also mess up the army? Do you want to do this? What do you want to do?" Marshal Xu Xiangqian patted the table and asked Chen Boda face to face: "The army is the pillar of the dictatorship of the proletariat. If the army is in chaos like this, do we need a pillar? Are we not good enough? We need people like Kuai Dafu command the army?" The two marshals were talking about the meeting of the Central Military Commission held at the Jingxi Hotel in Beijing between January 19th and 30th. The "Central Cultural Revolution" advocated great democracy in the army. As a result, the metacarpal bone of his right hand was shattered. This time, the two of them stared at Chen Boda again and kept criticizing him.It's just that Chen Boda was criticized by Mao Zedong, and now he looked very embarrassed, not as majestic as before.

Xu Xiangqian brought up the matter of Liu Zhijian being overthrown, and asked Chen Boda angrily: "You say that Liu Zhijian is a traitor, it's a complete fabrication! Don't I know Liu Zhijian yet? Comrade Liu Zhijian is not a traitor at all. The people who lead our troops, the cadres of the army follow us to fight After so many years, don't we know them?" Chen Boda muttered, and said: "The case of Liu Zhijian's traitor has been settled, and it cannot be changed." At this time, Ye Jianying went on to fire the cannon.He questioned Chen Boda: "Shanghai seized power and changed its name to the Shanghai People's Commune. Such a big issue involves the national system. Why did it change the name without discussing it with the Politburo? What do you want?"

Chen Boda was speechless, because Mao Zedong had already criticized him for this matter, which made him unable to resist. Ye Jianying took the opportunity to laugh at this "Old Master": "We don't read books, we don't read newspapers, and we don't know what the principles of the Paris Commune are. Please explain, what are the principles of the Paris Commune? Can revolution be without the leadership of the party? Don't you want an army?" Chen Boda's face was red and white for a while.Although he gritted his teeth with hatred, he was at a disadvantage and was being criticized by Mao Zedong, so he had to swallow his anger.

According to his secretary's recollection, when Chen Boda returned home, without saying a word, he lay down on the bed and closed his eyes...Only one day later, on the afternoon of February 16, Zhou Enlai held a meeting of the Central Committee again in Huairen Hall.With prior notice, the meeting discusses economic issues.Attending the meeting were members of the Politburo, members of the "Central Cultural Revolution" and Comrade Yu Qiuli of the State Council.Chen Boda and Kang Sheng attended the meeting as Politburo members. The "Central Cultural Revolution" attended the meeting was Wang Li.Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan attended the meeting because they were related to Shanghai's economic work.Jiang Qing will not go.Guan Feng and Qi Benyu were not notified, so they did not attend the meeting.In addition, Nie Rongzhen and Gu Mu did not attend the meeting.During the meeting, Zhou Enlai was in the middle.On Zhou Enlai's right, facing south, Chen Boda, Kang Sheng, Li Fuchun, Chen Yi, Tan Zhenlin, Li Xiannian, Ye Jianying, Xu Xiangqian (all are full members of the Politburo).

On Zhou Enlai's left, sat Xie Fuzhi (alternate member of the Politburo), Yu Qiuli, Wang Li, Zhang Chunqiao, and Yao Wenyuan.Because of being criticized, Chen Boda didn't dare to take the first seat on Zhou Enlai's right, and hid in the corner of the table behind.Zhou Enlai ordered him to sit back.