Chapter 38 The earliest Americans who dealt with Deng Xiaoping——Deng Xiaoping and Carlson (1)

Do you know who was the first to write an article introducing Deng Xiaoping overseas?Do you know what Deng Xiaoping's first impression was on this man?The man's name was Evans F. Carlson. Born in the family of a Congregational priest in 1896, he dropped out of school early and joined the army at the age of 16. He served as the guard of President Roosevelt's apartment in Hot Springs, Georgia. When he came to China for the first time in 1927, he quickly fell in love with China.From his first visit to Shanghai in February 1927 to his return to China in September 1929, Carlson "began to embark on a politically minded path" and in June 1929 served as a staff member of the U.S. Navy Admiral Brisdorf. Attended the funeral of Mr. Sun Yat-sen. In Beijing from 1933 to 1935, he was the editor of "News of Legation Guards", and then returned to China. In July 1937, Carlson came to China for the third time as an intelligence officer of the US Navy.At this time, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident broke out.Mao Zedong sent a guard with a lantern to lead Liu Baiyu to his apartment at the foot of Phoenix Mountain, and said to Liu Baiyu: "Now an American named Carlson is going to the guerrilla zone in North China. You organize several people to accompany him." On July 7, 1937, a gunshot at the Marco Polo Bridge shocked China and the world, and opened the prelude to the Chinese nation's all-out war of resistance. On August 25, Chairman Mao Zedong, Vice Chairman Zhou Enlai, and Zhu De of the Revolutionary Military Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued an order announcing that the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army would be reorganized into the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and that the former enemy general headquarters of the Red Army would be changed to the Eighth Route Army general headquarters, with Zhu De as the general commander. Commander, Peng Dehuai as deputy commander in chief, Ye Jianying as chief of staff, and Zuo Quan as deputy chief of staff.The General Political Department of the Red Army was changed to the Political Department of the Eighth Route Army, with Ren Bishi as the director and Deng Xiaoping as the deputy director. On September 6, Commander-in-Chief Zhu De led the Eighth Route Army Headquarters to set off from Yunyang Town. Deng Xiaoping, Ren Bishi, Zuo Quan and others traveled with him, passed through Pucheng, Chengcheng, and Quanyang in Shaanxi Province, and crossed the Yellow River in Zhichuan Town, Hancheng.When the Eighth Route Army headquarters passed through Taiyuan, Zhou Enlai approached Deng Xiaoping and asked him to serve as the Eighth Route Army representative of the newly established "National Revolutionary War Field General Mobilization Committee" in the Second Theater to mobilize the masses to carry out guerrilla warfare.After Deng Xiaoping was ordered, he led Fu Zhong, Lu Dingyi, Huang Zhen and others to march towards Fenyang and Xiaoyi in southwest Shanxi immediately.Soon, Taiyuan fell, and the Kuomintang Central Army and other local troops retreated from Taiyuan one after another.At this moment, under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, an Eighth Route Army wearing armbands with white letters on a blue background and a team of cadres from the "Field General Assembly" wearing red "Field Mobilization" armbands were still marching on the road in the southwest of Taiyuan.Subsequently, the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China appointed Deng Xiaoping as the political commissar of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and together with the division commander Liu Bocheng led this powerful force to gallop on the anti-Japanese battlefield.In December of this year, Carlson and the famous reporter Edgar Snow witnessed the tragedy and tragedy of the Songhu War of Resistance in Shanghai.He also learned from Snow about the heroic deeds of the army under the leadership of the Communist Party in the war of resistance. He was very eager to see the Communist Party Mao Zedong and his army in person like Snow wrote "Red Star Shines on China".The brave Marine Corps officer said to Snow: "In Nicaragua, I spent two years chasing the guerrillas led by Sandinista everywhere, so I did not underestimate the fact that in a country as vast as China Possibility of guerrilla warfare, but the key is to have good leadership and high morale. I personally have not seen Chinese people like Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and Peng Dehuai generals you mentioned so far. They may be different ...if they are truly morale and discipline, if their leaders are as resourceful as you say, if...if...then there is reason to believe that China's future may be theirs." "Well, why don't you Why don't you go and see for yourself?" Snow said.Carlson narrowed his blue eyes, touched his high nose, and grinned, "I thought about that too. But what will they do to me if I show up at Judd's headquarters?" Will they regard me as a spy of the old imperialism?" Snow said, "I don't think so." According to Epstein's memory in "Reminiscences of Evans F. Carlson": "December 1937 A tall, lanky American with calm, deep-set eyes, wearing a sheepskin-lined leather jacket and carrying a canvas bag on his back, walked into my Associated Press newsroom in Wuhan, a city in the Yangtze River Basin. Office... The man who came introduced himself: Captain Carlson, U.S. Marine Corps, Assistant Naval Attaché, U.S. Embassy. He brought a note from my friend Edgar Snow, introducing him as a fair-minded , an officer with a strong demand for resistance against Japan, he wanted to see the anti-Japanese struggle of the Eighth Route Army led by the Communist Party in person. Snow asked me if I could help Carlson find the office of the Eighth Route Army in Wuhan. Snow also wrote a letter of introduction to the Eighth Route Army in Wuhan Office. I took him to meet Ye Jianying and Dong Biwu. After they contacted Yan’an, they quickly arranged for him to travel to the guerrilla bases behind enemy lines.” Regarding this trip, Liu Baiyu wrote in “A Noble American—— ——Evans Fa. Carlson recalled in the article: "It was 1938, on a cold May night in Yan'an, Comrade Mao Zedong sent a guard with a lantern to find me at his apartment at the foot of Phoenix Mountain. Said: "Don't you want to go behind the enemy lines? Now there is an American named Carlson who is going to the guerrilla zone in North China. You organize a few people to go with him...So, the five 'boys' whom Carlson called— ——Ouyang Shanzun, Wang Yang, Jin Zhaoye, Lin Shan and I have formed an indissoluble bond with Carlson, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps military observer.” Half a century later, in 1988, memories and At the first meeting with Carlson, Liu Baiyu, who was the team leader at the time, was still clearly moved: "How did this simple and intelligent American look at us strangers with questioning eyes, and asked:' Can you walk 30 kilometers a day?' But during the 80-odd days and nights from May to August, we braved bombs, smoke, wind and rain, and rushed through three Japanese blockades. We depended on each other for life and death , A deep fighting friendship is intertwined between the hearts of several Chinese and an American."