Chapter 10 riot

In 1949, Huang Renyu, who was already a young staff officer in the Ministry of National Defense of the Kuomintang government, spent most of his later time in the United States thinking about why the Kuomintang failed.In his view, the modern U.S.-configured equipment possessed by the Kuomintang army, as well as the modern government established by Chiang Kai-shek, were so far away from Chinese civil society that they were "more like foreign intervention forces against Chinese society." Chu Anping, a 40-year-old liberal intellectual, echoed Huang Renyu's observations in Observation, a popular political magazine at the time, stating that the KMT regime was losing its original supporters: "The supporters of the current regime were originally urban citizens, Including civil servants, intellectuals, and business people. No one in this group of people has a good opinion of the Nanjing regime." In Nanjing, the capital at that time, the confrontation stemming from this antagonism was more profound than in any other city.

As Li Zongren and He Yingqin left the Ministry of National Defense building on April 22, and the last members of the Kuomintang government stationed in Nanjing left the Ming Xiaoling Airport, the capital, which was in a short-lived regime vacuum, began to fall into unstoppable riots. First, the poor in the old residential area in the south of the city became the main body of the robbery. Later, unemployed railway workers, incense factory workers, and stragglers of the Kuomintang soldiers also joined the rioting crowd.People first ransacked the residences of Kuomintang officials, and Li Zongren and He Yingqin were not spared either.The sky in Nanjing was filled with fire and thick smoke from the time bombs detonated by the Kuomintang in the arsenals and oil depots on the north and south banks of the Yangtze River.The danger did not calm the angry crowd.Because the U.S. embassy area occupies a huge area and is guarded by the Marine Corps, the crowd used General Barr's residence south of the embassy as a punching bag. They removed all door panels, window sashes and pipes in this uninhabited mansion. , and smashed the wooden floor into pieces and took it home as firewood. "A few high-flyers hang around the Texas Oil depots near the train station just outside the north wall. Most of these depots have been looted, though."

After his house was burned down by rioters, Deng Jie, the mayor of Nanjing of the Nationalist Government, tried to escape by car with 300 million gold yuan notes from the city treasury. He was beaten up by his personal driver and guards and broke his legs. Lulu was captured by the People's Liberation Army entering the city.The next day, the gold circle coupons on the market in Nanjing were devalued to 1.5 million to 1 US dollar. The riots were not quelled until the People's Liberation Army entered the city. The People's Liberation Army established a "Peace Preparatory Committee" to deal with the takeover. Liu Bocheng was appointed chairman of the Nanjing Military Control Committee and then the mayor.The citizens of Nanjing watched the victorious Communist army. "They had strict discipline and high morale, in stark contrast to the indifferent expression and chaotic command of the Kuomintang army," Stuart wrote in his memoirs.Except for a small part of the troops of Chen Yi's ministries who remained in Nanjing, most of the rest turned around and marched eastward, invaded Hangzhou, cut off the connection between Shanghai and Hangzhou, and surrounded Shanghai.

The communication between Nanjing and Shanghai was quickly cut off by the People's Liberation Army. On April 23, the only newspaper still in circulation in Nanjing was the Christian Yishi Bao, which was full of articles welcoming the Communist Party. "Xinhua News Agency" began to operate, and many of the editorial staff were journalists who were still working for the Kuomintang "Central News Agency" two days ago. The whole world was waiting for the release of the symbolic news that "the People's Liberation Army conquered Nanjing and occupied the presidential palace", but something happened to the Sanye General Branch of Xinhua News Agency.From the beginning of the preparations for the Battle of Crossing the River, Xinhua News Agency was equipped with 1 head office, 4 branches, and 26 branches with hundreds of people reporting to follow the Third Field Army. However, almost all of these reporters followed the main force and did not care about going to Nanjing. , and headed towards the Lang (Xi) Guang (De) mountainous area. On April 23, the radio station of the main branch following the southward advance of the Eastern Route Army was unable to communicate with the branches and branches, so that although the 35 branches entered Nanjing late at night on the 23rd, the manuscripts could not be issued.At 5 o'clock in the morning on the 24th, Mao Zedong, who was anxiously waiting in Beijing, could not wait any longer. He dictated a message "Nanjing Kuomintang reactionary government declares its demise".

At 9 o'clock on April 24, after Xinhua News Agency officially announced the liberation of Nanjing, more than 60 political prisoners in Nanjing were released.One day later, the water supply and power supply were restored, and the Nanjing Branch of the People's Bank of China began to open to the outside world, and some gold round coupons were redeemed within a limited time limit.Others were imprisoned by the new government, including Deng Jie, the crippled KMT mayor of Nanjing, Shen Qingcheng, director of the KMT social welfare bureau, and Xu Xinnong, director of the city health bureau.Deng Jie was charged with "attempting to flee with city government employee salary grants".