Chapter 2 Chapter 1 Shenyang Model of Urban Redevelopment

When Chiang Kai-shek flew away from Shenyang on October 15, 1948, he felt that the figure of this leading industrial city in China was moving away from him. In the previous six months, the stronghold in the Northeast had lost control to the Kuomintang.The Kuomintang troops withdrew from Jilin on March 12, explaining in military clichés that this was to shorten the transportation lines.The withdrawal of the Kuomintang army to Changchun put a great burden on the besieged city at that time. The People's Liberation Army blocked all food supply routes leading to Changchun.After fierce competition, Siping fell three days after losing Jilin, but the People's Liberation Army could launch an attack on Shenyang at this time.

This is the second time Chiang Kai-shek has gone to Shenyang to "personally" guide the war this month. The first time was in early October.His days in Shenyang were not happy. Apart from the fact that the war situation was becoming more and more unfavorable to him, there were also more and more things that his subordinates had to do with him. He lacked trust in several important generals.The difference between Wei Lihuang, acting director of the "bandit suppression" commander-in-chief of the Northeast Region, and him on whether the main force of the national army should withdraw from Shenyang to rescue Jinzhou made him extremely angry.Enduring his anger, Chiang Kai-shek flew to Shenyang, emptied Wei Lihuang, and directly ordered the main force of the New 1st Army, New 3rd Army, New 6th Army, 71st Army, 49th Army and three cavalry brigades to form the "West Marching Corps", commanded by Liao Yaoxiang, Attack Zhangwu and Xinlitun, cut off the logistics supply line of the PLA, and then advance to Jinzhou.

Due to the constant running around, trying to control all forces in his own hands, Chiang Kai-shek suffered from severe insomnia in mid-1948.Sleeping pills gave him little solace.Night is no longer the time for him to sleep. He mostly makes long-distance calls with field generals to discuss military situations.Later, Chiang Kai-shek found that drinking a glass or half a glass of whiskey before going to bed every night could help him fall asleep. Despite being defeated, Chiang Kai-shek still insisted on keeping a diary every day, and he often included clippings of important current events and military developments in the diary.But the tone of the diary is no longer as frank and unscrupulous as before. After May 1948, the font of Jiang's diary has also changed significantly, which is related to his mood.He mentioned "Shenyang" many times in his diary, but he obviously tried his best to hide his depression.

As early as April of this year, the head of the US Military Advisory Group, David G.Boer begged Chiang Kai-shek to withdraw from Shenyang, abandon the Northeast, and use Beiping as the rear.The futile proposal was of course completely ineffective, and Chiang Kai-shek's self-esteem did not allow him to be willing to give away China's largest industrial center without firing a shot.Everyone knows the significance of the Northeast to the overall war situation. If the Kuomintang occupies this area, it will cut off the connection between the Communist Party of China and the Soviet Union, and use the strong industrial base of the Northeast to cause a north-south attack on the liberated areas of East China, North China, and Northwest China.On the contrary, if the Communist Party controls the Northeast, it can change its weak material foundation, form a highly productive strategic base, and get rid of the passive situation of being surrounded by the Kuomintang for a long time.

After the end of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, Northeast China was a difficult "bone" for the Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang.Li Zongren admitted in his memoirs, "After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the CCP hurriedly trained a large number of cadres in the pass, but the Northeast was the most difficult area for the CCP to penetrate after the war. 15 years long".The situation after the Kuomintang took over the Northeast is also not optimistic. The Soviets have always been the Kuomintang’s worries in the Northeast. Once the regime in the occupied areas is taken over, the puppet army and Japanese war criminals must be dealt with, and millions of Japanese soldiers and their families must be repatriated to Japan.

As a result, in less than two years, the situation of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in the Northeast showed a dramatic contrast.The Communist Party of China's rich experience in rural work has enabled the People's Army to gain a huge mass base in the Northeast.In Bin County in "Northern Manchuria", a county party secretary named Ma Bin is as close as a family to farmers, and farmers come and go from his office incessantly.Ma Bin's experience in mass work was summarized by Chen Yun, deputy secretary of the Northeast Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, and extended to the entire party. "Whether the peasants can be mobilized is the key to the success or failure of the Northeast struggle," Chen Yun asked the cadres in the Northeast to "do small things for big officials."When Mao Zedong responded to American journalist Anna Louise Strong's evaluation of "Yan'an fell", he also confidently said, "The people's war does not depend on the gains or losses of a city, but on how to solve the land problem."

On the contrary, in order to firmly grasp the control of the Northeast, Chiang Kai-shek's series of policies had the opposite effect: he arbitrarily divided the former three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang into Liaoning, Liaobei, Andong, Jilin, The nine provinces of Hejiang, Songjiang, Heilongjiang, Nenjiang, and Xing'an, the new officials sent by Nanjing have supreme power over these newly divided areas, which intensified the local people's antagonism against the Kuomintang government. Occupying most of the important positions, this is simply "occupation of the Northeast".

Factional rivalry has made Shenyang a loose, headache-inducing place.As the economic center of Northeast China, its officials are corrupt to an astonishing degree.A large number of factories left behind during the Japanese and Puppet period became tools for Kuomintang officials to accept bribes and seek rent after they took office. Almost every factory has an official figure behind it. In 1947, Chen Cheng, the chief of staff of the Kuomintang, who was appointed concurrently as the director of Northeast Xingyuan, complained that what he took over was "a mess", "there is no cure", and "the dead horse can only be used as a living horse doctor". "Everything is too abnormal." Chen Cheng wrote in his memoirs, "After the restoration of the Northeast, there were many agencies and redundant staff. Many people were idle and mercenary, so that right and wrong, merits and demerits, work and rest were all irrelevant." Military officers neglect their duty of leading troops to fight, but are busy opening newspapers, schools, even dance halls, factories, smuggling, and doing business.”

"The Communist Party mobilized all the energy in the countryside, but the Kuomintang was choked up by the cities." At that time, a foreign war reporter commented on the Communist Party's policy of "clearing the road and occupying the hatchback" when it entered the Northeast. From a military point of view, the Kuomintang has grasped the "point", while the Communist Party has controlled the "surface". "Points" can be isolated and surrounded, but the Kuomintang failed to level the entire "surface". What they can do is to connect these "points" by protecting "lines" (railway lines and highway lines). As a result, their numbers The limited military power was brought to the brink of collapse.For the Kuomintang, the more fatal thing is that: 100% of the country's coal resources, more than 80% of the wheat production areas, and more than 80% of the cotton production areas are in the "noodles". The Communist Party has successfully used the countryside to pinch the cities lifeblood.In the Northeast, the Chinese Communist Party began to take the initiative and never lost it.

The alarming rate of inflation has accelerated the loss of the Kuomintang's popularity in the cities.Within a few days, the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the fiat currency rose from 1:2 million to 1:4 million.A few weeks later, the unofficial exchange rate reached 1:8 million, and the value of the fiat currency was reduced by half. In August, the ratio rose to an unbelievably high 1:11 million. In response to this collapse-like economic crisis, Chiang Kai-shek issued a presidential decree on August 19, 1948, to issue a new national currency, gold-dollar notes.At that time, the value of the old money had practically dropped to zero.On this day, the Chiang couple spent the summer in Mount Lushan. Chiang Kai-shek also confidently wrote down his outlook on the effectiveness of the listing of the gold round bills in his diary: "Last night it was decided to reform the currency system and control the economy. I focused on cashing out coins to increase The credit of the new currency may prolong the fate of the new currency.” The Kuomintang government wanted to carry out economic reforms when the economy was empty, but this approach could neither increase revenue, reduce expenditure, nor increase production.It didn't take long for the market value of the gold circle bonds to drop rapidly, and prices began to spiral up again.Woe to those who believed the government's proclamation to be true and exchanged their dollars for gold bills.By July 1949, the notorious gold-dollar notes had lost more than 20,000 times their value in 10 months.

Shenyang fell into a predicament of chaos without a fight. Chaos and depression filled every corner of this big city.Shenyang's average price index rose three to four times in five months, and grain prices rose nine times.The real income of about 70,000 workers in public enterprises who were fully paid in money fell sharply. By October 31, people's salaries could not buy daily necessities at all.The number of people on the streets of this old city is decreasing day by day. After the end of the Anti-Japanese War, the prospect of the war was unclear. Many Shenyang people tried their best to leave this turbulent city. The first to flee were some Kuomintang officials and wealthy businessmen, and later the bosses and employees of some companies. Common people.In order to catch the plane leaving Shenyang, many people sold their belongings.In the last two years of the Civil War, the "North China Bandit Suppression Headquarters" in Beiping hired planes from civil aviation companies to transport large quantities of military rations and weapons to the Northeast. staff.When the employees were almost evacuated, some speculative businessmen began to book empty cabins and sell air tickets to citizens to earn commissions.Ticketing is not only a private business, but it is also controlled by the Shenyang Kuomintang government. No matter who applies to buy a ticket, it must be approved by the "Northeast Bandit Suppression Headquarters". Made a fortune. After several major battles in the spring of 1948, in the eyes of most people, there was no suspense about the outcome of the war.The tide of history has turned.The suspense now is: Can a city left by Chiang Kai-shek with inflation and production depression be swept away by the new regime and regain its vitality?For the Communist Party, which has won the armed struggle, this is a new test. "We have won the battle ahead, and it's our turn to take over. This is not a joke, or to have fun, but to bear a lot of worry. The task of taking over is a heavy responsibility." At the mobilization meeting to take over Shenyang, Chen Yun said, " After two or three years, more than half of the new cadres went with us to take over Shenyang, which shows that we have roots in the Northeast."