Chapter 3 Martial law

The People's Liberation Army has entered the city.From time to time, sporadic artillery and gunshots still came from the direction of Tiexi District.The soldiers wore cloth shoes with shy expressions, and their gray cotton military uniforms were a bit bulky.The car team with red flags was full of happy faces, and several female soldiers even unbuttoned their chests to let the babies in their arms breastfeed.At that time, Bo Yang, a 28-year-old young man who was passing by the entrance of the "Dadong Newspaper" in Shenyang, saw this scene. He also saw tanks, jeeps, and artillery passing by one after another, "almost all of them were American."

"Chiang Kai-shek is the captain of our transportation brigade." Mao Zedong once said jokingly.Now, his words have come true.The troops entering the city included the first, second, and sixth columns of the Northeast Field Army, and the Liaobei Independent Division.The army entered the urban area of ​​Shenyang from four directions: east, west, north, south, and north. When entering the city from the north, it was necessary to have a letter of introduction from the party, government, and army. The portrait of Mao Zedong was held up high.A loudspeaker tried its best to shout the slogan: "Congratulations to the people of Shenyang for their liberation!" Mimeographed leaflets with the words "New China" and "Welcome the Chinese People's Liberation Army" were pasted everywhere on the walls and telephone poles.The publications of Chiang Kai-shek's news organization, "Xinbao" and "Daily News", became the "Shenyang Times" of the Communist Party overnight.The emphasis on newspapers and propaganda is not only the consistent attitude of the new regime towards public opinion, but also reflects the understanding of the city by the leaders of the new regime.In the report that Chen Yun wrote to the Northeast Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and transferred to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, one of the important experiences summarized on how to quickly restore order and prevent major fluctuations is: "People in cities have the habit of reading newspapers, and they cannot live without it for a day. "Newspapers", "Newspapers in big cities are the largest organs for disseminating policies, and people's hearts are stabilized mainly by newspapers."The Shenyang Military Control Committee prepared several newspaper manuscripts in advance, and the newspapers were distributed to the streets and alleys of the city on the third day after entering the city.

The content and layout of the first issue of "Shenyang Times" were very simple. It only published some basic policy documents. Some pages could not find the author for a while, so they filled in with big articles that had been published in the past.The new paper had a mediocre response within the party members but sparked discussion among the masses.Chen Yun later demanded, "All announcements must be carefully worded and every sentence must be carefully reviewed. The big picture must be reviewed, and the advertisements must be carefully reviewed." "All kinds of announcements and general news in the Liberated Area should not be demanding that the content is vivid and suitable for the tastes of the people in the new area, but reprint old documents. You have to choose.” Due to the shortage of takeover manpower, there are only five or six cadres who are responsible for the typesetting and proofreading of the newspaper, and Chen Yun and Tao Zhu have to read the big sample of the newspaper in person.The newspaper and the Foreign Reporting Committee sent one person each, and they often lived in the Military Control Committee to attend meetings in the first half month.

In addition to newspapers, the military control committee also prepared a large number of Anmin bulletins for distribution.A secretary of the Northeast Administrative Committee Secretariat named Han Huaping recalled that these notices written on bright paper were packed in four big sacks. In the shortest period of time, Shenyang has become popular, but the largest city and industrial and commercial center in Northeast China has not yet fully regained its vitality.Compared with the big city with a population of 1.88 million before the war, Shenyang, with a population of only 100,000 at the end of 1948, seemed much deserted.Since the People's Liberation Army isolated Shenyang in the winter of 1947, only 7,000 of the more than 20,000 shops in Shenyang remained.The small businessmen who remained kept their shops closed, until the seventh day of liberation on November 8, 1948, these shops still did not open.In order to mobilize the atmosphere in Shenyang City, a performance troupe formed by some young people began to perform "The White-haired Girl" and "Blood and Tears" in public.Unlike the masses in the border areas, Shenyang people are still a little unfamiliar with this form of performance.

In the empty city, a large number of Kuomintang captives, scattered in small groups, became the most conspicuous group in Shenyang City.Chen Yun and the Shenyang receivers entered the urban area of ​​Shenyang at dusk on November 2, 1948, and met these soldiers wearing Kuomintang military uniforms.Many people recalled this scene afterwards. Yu Jianting, who served as Chen Yun's secretary, had the impression of these loose prisoners of the enemy: "Judging from their expressions, they were depressed, but they didn't feel panicked." Shenyang is a large city in the nature of the Kuomintang's rear base, with many government agencies and complex personnel.It is estimated that the number of officers and soldiers of the Kuomintang logistics troops stranded in the city is more than 30,000.The speed of Shenyang's liberation exceeded many people's expectations. The takeover personnel did not prepare in advance the airs of several liberation regiments that could accommodate loose prisoners. In this way, even though they entered Shenyang, they spent a lot of money at the places designated by the district governments and the garrison headquarters. Efforts are made to register and inspect these loose prisoners, but this can only regulate part of it.At least 5,000 loose prisoners were scattered in every corner of the city, and their composition was so complex that it was impossible to count them.

Loose prisoners are not just a security issue. On November 3, the second day after the People's Liberation Army entered the city, there was news that the Shenyang station had been vandalized and looted. Some small warehouses and residences of KMT officials who were not heavily guarded were also in trouble.It is said that the Kuomintang loose prisoners participated in these sabotage incidents.On the other hand, at the time of severe cold in Northeast China, there were 50,000 loose prisoners and military captives officially accepted in Shenyang City, and the takeover personnel needed to provide them with cotton clothes and food. pour oil on the flame.The best way is to send these people to other rear cities.But the situation was not that simple. Shenyang, as an intermediate city of national liberation, assumed the function of connecting the north and the south. Not only could it not be evacuated in a short time, but a large number of new prisoners were sent from Changchun to Shenyang one after another.In principle, it will be sent to Pingjin after the liberation of Shenyang; after the liberation of Pingjin, it will be sent to the south.

The Communist Party's own forces also need to be restrained and managed. "There were too many troops entering the city at that time." Li Rui concluded a few years later, "The phenomenon of 'grabbing a hand' is not easy to manage. Going to the bank to get money, sharing public shoes, and buying supplies in the warehouse in Tiexi District, we must try our best to stop it. " After large numbers of troops entered the city, the problems of discipline and coordination became more acute. In the middle of 1948, Mao Zedong had already realized that this army, which was about to win the armed struggle, needed to be vigilant against falling to the ground in the war of pure ideas.He wrote the article "On Establishing a Reporting System" for this purpose.A few months ago, the violations of discipline that occurred in Gaojiapu, Jingxing, Yangquan, and Shijiazhuang were only individual phenomena in the army and were not enough to affect the whole, but they somewhat embarrassed this army, which has always been known for its strict discipline. By the end of 1948, the Communist Party had 3 million members and an army of 2.5 million. This was already one of the five largest armies in the world, and its command and management methods were naturally different from those in Jinggangshan.

Dealing with these complicated matters obviously requires a large number of takeover cadres, and a limited number of cadres seems powerless to deal with a huge and complex urban system and constantly emerging new situations.Both Tao Zhu and Wang Shoudao, who was in charge of industrial reception, mentioned this issue in their memories. "The cadres transferred from all over the country come in threes and fives, and they are uneven." In addition, "the city is different from the countryside. It can't be a package like the countryside. The cadres go to the countryside to form work groups. Instead, they must first establish departmental work. Leading bodies have been enriched."

How to maximize the efficiency of limited cadres?How to make order from the chaos at the beginning of the takeover?The new city seemed to require a regime with both military and strong administrative functions.The receiving personnel in Shenyang referred to the receiving method of the Soviet Army and the Kuomintang Xiong Shihui three years ago, that is, under the military control committee, according to the system from top to bottom, intact, first receiving and then dividing, all received units are only responsible to the military control committee, and finally At the end, the representative sent by the military control committee is responsible for signing and accepting.For the appointment of the director of the Urban Military Control Committee, each central bureau proposed a list, which was then approved by the central government. Members of the Military Control Committee were selected from both the military and the local government.The military control committee is one of the most important experiences Shenyang provides for the future national city takeover.

The "military control committee" model was quickly copied to other liberated cities. On February 8, 1949, the request to "turn the army into a work force" was first put forward in the telegram drafted by Mao Zedong to restore the Second Field Army and the Third Field Army.In the telegram, Mao Zedong said: "All military cadres should learn to take over and manage cities, know how to be good at dealing with Kuomintang reactionaries in cities, be good at dealing with the bourgeoisie, be good at leading workers and organizing trade unions, be good at mobilizing and organizing youth, be good at uniting and training The cadres in the new area are good at managing industry and commerce... good at adjusting the relationship between the city and the countryside, solving the problems of food, coal and other necessities, and good at dealing with financial and financial problems." "Now we are asked to propose tasks like this. If we do not Putting forward such a task, and making up our minds to do it, we would make a huge mistake."This telegram emphasized to the commanders of the field armies who were about to enter the south of the Yangtze River: We are preparing 35,000 cadres to go south with the army, but this number is very small.The occupation of eight or nine provinces and dozens of large cities requires a huge number of working cadres, which are mainly resolved by the army itself.Mao Zedong said in his usual tone that the army is a school, and 3.1 million field troops are equal to thousands of universities and middle schools.

Five days before the People's Liberation Army entered Shenyang, the first political institution in the country to take over the city, the Shenyang Military Control Commission, was established in the shortest period of time, and a total of 4,000 cadres were transferred.Many of these cadres later formed a special team to take over the big cities in the south.In addition to the Municipal Party Committee, the Military Control Commission has five divisions under its jurisdiction, including economics, finance, logistics, railways, and government affairs, as well as units such as the municipal government, public security bureau, office, and garrison headquarters.When the Shenyang takeover work was coming to an end, Chen Yun, who also served as the director of the Shenyang Military Control Commission, wrote to the Northeast Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and transferred it to the Central Committee’s report "A Briefing on the Experience of Taking over Shenyang", saying, "Based on the existing experience, this time the Military Control Commission itself accepts institutions. It still lacks the four departments of diplomacy, military affairs, society and culture.”