Chapter 274 11. Yan Xishan's Suicide Lie

After our army surrounded the enemy of Taiyuan in a narrow area of ​​less than 30 miles centered on Taiyuan, Yan Xishan's situation became more and more difficult.He personally flew to Nanjing to report the difficult situation to Chiang Kai-shek: "Taiyuan has been besieged for three months, and it is extremely difficult to supply food and ammunition." To stick to it, he was required to quickly retreat to Xi'an and serve as the director of the Northwest Camp; to pick up important cadres by plane, and the troops tried to break through to the west; before abandoning Taiyuan, the arsenal must be completely destroyed and not left to the Communist Party.But Yan Xishan expressed that he was unwilling to give up Taiyuan and would stick to it to the end.

Chiang Kai-shek asked Yan Xishan to give up Taiyuan, but Yan Xishan still asked his subordinates to stick to the end and live and die with Taiyuan City, but he secretly stepped up his search for opportunities and prepared to escape from Taiyuan. One day during the Battle of Pingjin, several American reporters came to Taiyuan to interview Yan Xishan's defense of Taiyuan.When interviewing Yan Xishan, John Dan, a reporter from American magazine "Collia", asked in a tentative tone: "General Yan, how long do you expect to last for the defense of Taiyuan?" "Can support until the restoration of Jinzhong, the recovery of the entire province, the complete annihilation of the Communist Party, and the cooperation with the government's friendly forces to restore the land of the whole country!"

John Dan asked: "The Communist Party now occupies more than half of China and is so powerful. If Yan Jun has no foreign aid, how long can he support it?" Yan Xishan replied casually: "I can't tell you a definite date now, but at least I can support it until after the reversal of Peking." John Dan asked again in a questioning tone: "If you can't succeed after supporting Beiping's reversal, what should you do?" Yan Xishan did not answer right away, but ordered his guards to bring 501 bottles.Once John saw these many bottles, he felt very strange and said, "General Yan, what are these bottles used for?"

"The substance in these bottles is the answer to your 'can't make it'." "And what are the substances in these bottles?" "This is the 501 bottles of suicide potion that I pre-prepared at the request of my 500 anti-communist colleagues. If the defense of Taiyuan fails, we will all drink these potions and commit suicide!" John Dan asked again with a surprised expression: "You suicide potions, why don't you make 500 bottles, or 499 bottles, but must make 501 bottles?" Yan Xishan explained to the American reporter: "The 500 bottles are prepared at the request of my 500 anti-communist core colleagues, and the other bottle is reserved for my own use, so there are 501 bottles in total."

Does Yan Xishan really want to live and die with Taiyuan City?This is nothing but a lie.He had already prepared to escape, but he was just looking for an opportunity. On January 21, Chiang Kai-shek was forced to step down and retreated behind the scenes, with Li Zongren acting as president.Yan Xishan felt that this was an opportunity, so he ordered Yang Aiyuan, deputy director of the Taiyuan Appeasement Office in Nanjing, to play tricks in front of Li Zongren, intending to ask Li Zongren to appoint him as the executive director of the Kuomintang government, but his intention failed. At this time, the People's Liberation Army's encirclement of Taiyuan became smaller and smaller.The fighting progressed from the periphery to near the outskirts of Taiyuan City.The airports in the southern and northern suburbs have been controlled by our army, and the newly opened Honggou temporary airport in Ximenwai is also within the artillery range of the PLA.The entire air transportation line was about to be completely cut off by the People's Liberation Army. Yan Xishan was irritable all day long, and sent three telegrams to Fang Wen, the director of his Nanjing office, asking Fang Wen to "do various activities, especially to get close to Acting President Li, and try to transfer me to the Out of Taiyuan".Especially when he learned that my 19th and 20th Corps were advancing towards Taiyuan and preparing to launch a general attack on Taiyuan City, he felt that Taiyuan's fate would not be too long, and he was even more panicked, unable to eat, sleep, and anxious. In an uneasy state, he loses his temper when he sees people, swears when he approves official documents, his eyes are so red that he is afraid of people, and his anger is particularly strong.

Li Zongren called Yan Xishan on March 28: "The envoy of peace will be flattened on the 31st. Regarding the peace talks, I would like to discuss with my brother in advance. I respectfully pray that I will drive to Beijing on the same day and learn from it." Yan Xishan received the telegram and approved it. "Go as soon as you have a plane" 5 words. On the afternoon of March 29, Yan Xishan convened a meeting of important officials and read out Li Zongren's telegram, telling everyone that this trip to Nanjing "maybe three or five days, maybe ten or eight days, and I will come back when the peace talks come to fruition."He also announced that Liang Huazhi, Wang Jingguo, Sun Chu, Zhao Shiling, and Wu Shaozhi would form a five-member team to be in charge of all affairs in Taiyuan during his departure from Taiyuan.Afterwards, he hurriedly boarded the plane and fled Taiyuan.

After Yan Xishan fled to Nanjing, he continued to control Taiyuan remotely.Every day in Nanjing, he contacted Taiyuan by radio, strictly urging the five-member team to resist to the end, rejecting peace talks, and resolutely becoming an enemy of the people.