Chapter 69 1. "Little Zhuge" parted ways with Li Zongren

After the People's Liberation Army occupied Nanjing, Tang Enbo retreated to Shanghai, and Li Zongren had no choice but to flee to Guangzhou under the sound of gunfire. Since then, the two major military blocs in South China, Bai and Tang, have been divided by the People's Liberation Army, completely cutting off their connection. At this time, the contradictions among Chiang Kai-shek, Li Zongren, and Bai Chongxi were also fully exposed. When the People's Liberation Army crossed the river on April 21, under Chiang Kai-shek's instructions, Li Zongren called He Yingqin, Bai Chongxi, Gu Zhutong and others to the presidential palace for an emergency military meeting, but at that time they had their own ulterior motives and had no intention of fighting.

It was a breezy night. Sitting indoors, the sound of cannons outside the city could be faintly heard. Li Zongren looked at them with a pale face and said: "The current situation is changing rapidly, and the date set by the Communist Party for signing has come. Crossing the river, this is not to scare us, they can do it. Of course, this agreement is not good for us, they insist on crossing the river, how can this be agreed? The chairman will not agree, what do you say?" He Yingqin shook his head and said: "If you don't sign, it means war. There is no benefit in bringing the war to the south of the Yangtze River. It is not good for us!"

Gu Zhutong stroked his shiny forehead and said, "We can't sign this surrender document. If they don't cross the river temporarily, half of our country in the south of the Yangtze River can be preserved. There will always be a day of comeback. On the road to no one, we still need to strengthen the defense along the Yangtze River, and use force to prevent the communist army from crossing the river." Bai Chongxi's mood is very complicated. Since Li Zongren came to power, the situation has changed suddenly. Jiang is still behind the scenes to control the military affairs. He has long been dissatisfied, but Li Zongren is too weak and has no ability to reverse this situation.At this time, he had lost confidence in Li Zongren, and planned to pull his team back to his hometown in Guangxi, where he would fight against the People's Liberation Army.

Sitting there, he kept bowing his head and smoking a cigarette, with no expression on his face, Li Zongren asked: "My dear brother Jiansheng, why don't you express your opinion!" Bai Chongxi held more than half of the cigarette in his hand, and said, "What else do you want me to say? You are all too incompetent. In the past few months, if Mr. Jiang hadn't been playing tricks in the dark, would the situation have become like this?" Li Zongren explained: "Don't worry about these, we have to take care of our immediate interests!" "How do you care?"

"This battle must be fought. The Communist army is coming so fiercely. If we can hold the Yangtze River for a few months, the US government's attitude towards us will change drastically. South China is still ours." "Brother Delin is right, but can we stop the communist army from crossing the river? No, it's not impossible to fight hard. Mr. Jiang wanted us to collapse a long time ago. Now he keeps sending people to seize gold and silver from Shanghai. Smuggling goods and materials to Taiwan, can this battle continue? How much money and weapons do you have?" This question made Li Zongren speechless. What Chiang Kai-shek has done has completely exceeded the authority of a retired president, but who can stop all this?

People's emotions were not very high. Gu Zhutong stood up and said, "Nanjing is already under artillery fire from the communist army. In my opinion, it is not easy to defend!" Bai Chongxi went on to say: "If Nanjing can't hold it, there is no need to stick to it. You have to think about countermeasures in advance." He Yingqin asked, "What's your opinion?" "I don't think the communist army can stop it from crossing the river. We can give up Beijing and Shanghai, let Tang Enbo's main force retreat to the front line of Zhejiang and Jiangxi, and form horns with our Central China troops to hold on to Hunan and Jiangxi. If we can do this, the common It is impossible for the army to continue to invade south."

"If this is the case, of course it is very good, and we can preserve the situation we had during the War of Resistance." Li Zongren was very interested in Bai Chongxi's idea. He said: "It is our victory to protect one side. I agree with this suggestion. Minister He and Chief of Staff Gu will handle this matter." He Yingqin didn't express his opinion, but Gu Zhutong shook his head and said, "This matter is very difficult!" Li Zongren asked: "You are the chief of staff, can you mobilize the army?" "The acting president made a good point, but who can mobilize Commander Tang's troops now? Without the president's order, it is impossible for him to mobilize every single soldier."

Bai Chongxi interjected: "If this continues, what power do you, acting president, have?" Li Zongren was also in pain. He sat there and smoked two cigarettes, and said: "Well, now the president is in Hangzhou, let's go to see him tomorrow and tell him this idea. If he doesn't support it, I will have a showdown. Just walk away." The Hangzhou route is not peaceful anymore, and the vanguard of the People's Liberation Army has begun to cross the river in small groups. The cauliflower is yellow, and the fragrance is floating for thousands of miles. The south of the Yangtze River is obviously hot, and the breath of spring can be felt everywhere. This is the season that people yearn for travel, but this beautiful land is facing the cruelest thing for human beings—— -war.

Can Chiang Kai-shek care about the lives of the people? He resigned. On the surface, he has announced to the world that he has put down the butcher knife, but this is just a very false action. He does not want peace. At this time, he came to Hangzhou from his hometown to direct the war behind the scenes. On the morning of the day when the People's Liberation Army crossed the river in a big way, Li Zongren and several fellow party members rushed here to meet with Chiang Kai-shek to discuss how to deal with the major issue of the People's Liberation Army crossing the river. When they came to the designated reception room, the atmosphere was very cold, and no one came to receive them. At this time, a young secretary of Chiang Kai-shek's attendant appeared.

Li Zongren sat for a while, very resentful, and said to the secretary: "The president asked us to come, but it seems that he is also very busy here, we have to go back." "Please wait a little longer," said the secretary. A few of them were sitting on the sofa drinking tea and smoking. This secretary seemed to be very familiar with Bai Chongxi. As for our president, he likes to sit at home and command the army to fight, but how many times has he won? He is too stubborn to listen to other people's opinions. Now that the Communist army is overwhelming the country, our Kuomintang has painstakingly managed the natural danger of the Yangtze River for decades. It's over now, what can I do?"

The secretary smiled without answering, looking very cautious.At this time Chiang Kai-shek came in, he waved to people, did not shake hands with Li Zongren and others, but sat on the big wooden chair, giving people the feeling that he was still the same as before. He looked at everyone and said weakly: "Thank you for coming to see me. Now that the Communist army is going to cross the river, you will have a heavy burden on your shoulders." Li Zongren said: "We are here to see you today, and we need to discuss with you about something." "Yes, it's okay, and it's impossible for you all to come to me." "You asked me to come to power in the first place for peace talks. Now peace talks are impossible. The communist army has begun to cross the river, and Nanjing will fall. I can't deal with this situation. It's better for you to come to power." "No, it's up to you to continue leading." "How can I lead, who else in the army obeys me now?" "You can't have an idea. I will support it. What's so terrible about the Communist Army? The Yangtze River is a natural barrier and they can break through? I don't think so. As long as you work together to fight, the problem will be solved." "This is difficult. We have to be more realistic. The communist army is not easy to resist." "Then what's your plan?" "I discussed with Jiansheng and the others. Now we can't fight head-on with the communist army. If we lose all this family property, it will be more difficult in the future. We should abandon Nanjing and pull all the teams to Zhejiang, and take advantage of the geographical advantages there. Let’s fight the communist army again.” "No, how can you give the capital to the Communist Party!" Li Zongren stopped talking.Panting heavily, Chiang Kai-shek looked at He Yingqin, Bai Chongxi, and Gu Zhutong and asked, "Do you all agree with this plan?" They all nodded, and Chiang Kai-shek said: "You are all the pillars of the party and the country. How can you have such an idea? In short, I don't agree with this." Li Zongren was silent for a while, and said: "Of course I can continue to lead, but in the current situation of one country and three publics, no one can do things, how can I lead?" "Don't be angry, I always support you." The conversation was unsuccessful, and they left Hangzhou that night to go their separate ways.Bai Chongxi was disappointed with Li Zongren and did not show his cards to Chiang Kai-shek. He was still commanding the army behind the scenes. The battle could still be fought, so he went to Wuhan angrily. He Yingqin also ran back to Shanghai, and Li Zongren returned to Nanjing as a loner. At this time, Nanjing was even more chaotic, and the People's Liberation Army had already begun to cross the river.Many retired Kuomintang troops were running around on the street, and the social order was very bad. Li Zongren wept sadly, and finally ran away by plane. The PLA's next target is Wuhan. At this time, Bai Chongxi also made preparations to escape.Nanjing was lost and Li Zongren ran away. How much money can he have to fight recklessly with the People's Liberation Army. The Xiao Jinguang Corps of the Fourth Field Army was in charge of encircling and suppressing the Bai Chongxi Group.Their actions were synchronized with Erye and Sanye who were crossing the river.The Central Military Commission sent instructions to Lin Biao: "In order to cooperate with the dispatch of the two field armies in the Central Plains of East China in March and a half, and the operation of crossing the river at the end of March, it was decided that Lin Luo would first dispatch two armies of about 120,000 people, and they would arrive in Yancheng and Xinyang before March 20. Seize Xinyang and Wushengguan, seize Huayuan and Xiaogan before April 15, approach Hankou, rest and wait for orders, and restrain Bai Chongxi's troops from sending reinforcements to Nanjing, so that Liu Deng can seize Nanjing." At that time, Lin Biao's Four Fields were still near Beijing. In order to implement the instructions of the Central Military Commission more quickly, they immediately decided that Xiao Jinguang, the commander of the 12th Corps, would lead two armies of more than 120,000 people and rush to Henan to prepare to attack Wuhan. Soon after the army set off, it arrived in Henan. The 7th Army of the Bai Chongxi Group was still setting up defenses in the Xinyang and Zhumadian areas in an attempt to prevent our army from going south. Xiao Jinguang made a decisive decision and ordered Hong Xuezhi to lead the 43rd Army to approach the enemy. At this time, Bai Chongxi panicked. Before the troops fired a few shots, he ordered them to retreat to Hubei. At the end of March, the vanguard of the Siye Xiao Jinguang Corps entered Hubei.Small battles continued along the way, and Bai Chongxi's troops still suffered a lot of losses. At this time Li Zongren flew back to Guilin, and the national government withdrew to Guangzhou to support the endgame. What can a government do without a president?Of course, Chiang Kai-shek still did not give up, and sent someone to invite Li Zongren to Guangzhou to be the acting president who had no real power. Why did he do this?Another reason is that he is afraid that he and Bai Chongxi will join forces to pull the Guangxi army back there to throw off him and fight the world by himself, or cooperate with the Communist Party to deal with him. In fact, his worries were superfluous. At this time, it was impossible for Li and Bai to cooperate. Bai Chongxi's anti-communist stance was very firm, and he would not agree with some of Li Zongren's actions. It cannot be denied that after the fall of Nanjing, Bai Chongxi had other plans. He was going to take his little army to Guangxi to fend for himself. His will be an inescapable battle.