Chapter 23 5. Peace talks are not waiting

In order to strive for a peaceful solution to the North China issue, the Chinese Communist Party did not wait passively, but did a lot of work through various channels.On the one hand, it is to do Fu Zuoyi's own work; on the other hand, it is to make comprehensive preparations for the peaceful liberation and takeover of Beiping and Tianjin. On December 13, 1948, the Central Military Commission issued an order, ordering Nie Rongzhen and Bo Yibo to serve as the commander and political commissar of the Pingjin Garrison respectively in order to liberate and take over Pingjin and Tianjin. Peng Zhen was the secretary of the CPC Beiping Municipal Committee, and Ye Jianying Deputy secretary of the Beiping Municipal Committee, director and mayor of the Military Control Commission; ordered Huang Kecheng to be secretary of the Tianjin Municipal Party Committee and director of the Military Control Commission, and Huang Jing to be the mayor of Tianjin.

On the same day, the North China Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued instructions to the underground organizations of the Communist Party of China in Pingjin to actively cooperate with the People's Liberation Army in combat and prepare to take over the city. On December 14, the day when our army completely surrounded Beiping, Lin Biao, Luo Ronghuan, Liu Yalou and Tan Zheng issued an important order and an important instruction.Order the 3rd, 6th, and 10th Columns of the Dongye First Corps under the command of Xiao Jinguang and Chen Bojun, and the 7th Column of North China to build a blocking position on the east side of Beiping. While Yizong built a blocking position in the south of Beiping, it also issued policies and disciplines on effectively protecting schools, factories, cultural relics, and warehouses in the areas where the troops are located, and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of foreigners, making preparations for the next step.

At that time, the biggest reality was that our army had formed a complete encirclement of Peiping, but our army adopted the "encirclement without attack" approach to Peiping.This kind of siege is also different from our army's siege of other cities in the past. It is not to trap Beiping to death, but to allow residents to enter and exit after necessary inspections, to allow various living materials to enter the city, and to continue to send electricity to the city. , to ensure the normal life of residents in the city.Anyone with a discerning eye will understand that the Chinese Communist Party advocates a peaceful solution, so the implementation of siege rather than attack is entirely waiting for the awakening of Fu Zuoyi and others, and it depends on their actual actions.During this period, the suburbs of Beiping have been controlled by our army, especially the western suburbs. In universities such as Tsinghua University and Yanjing University, various parties and symposiums are held almost every day, and it is already a lively situation.Many democrats in Beiping also left the city to participate in various activities.The content of these activities was passed on to all citizens in Beiping City, including Fu Zuoyi, through various channels.

In order to help Fu Zuoyi change as soon as possible, our party's underground organizations do Fu Zuoyi's work through various channels.Among them, the most direct is his eldest daughter Fu Dongju, as well as Ji Chaoding, an underground party member and director of Fu Zuoyi's economic department, and Su Kaiyuan, an underground party member and director of Fu Zuoyi's senior staff office.In addition, several important subordinates around Fu Zuoyi, such as Wang Kejun, Li Tengjiu, and Yan Youwen (who is also Fu Zuoyi's confidential secretary and press spokesman), have all stood up through various relationships in our party. On the side of our party, we are running for a peaceful solution.These people have all played a major role in Fu Zuoyi's transformation.

At that time, our party still had a measure that ordinary people could not understand, that is, why Fu Zuoyi was included in the list of war criminals announced on December 25, 1948.Many people believe that Fu Zuoyi is already negotiating peace with the Chinese Communist Party. Doesn't this push him towards Chiang Kai-shek? When Fu Zuoyi himself heard that he was on the list, he didn't understand and was very nervous.Even the shrewd Mr. Liu Houtong couldn't understand it, saying, "Isn't this against the CCP's lenient policy? It must have been done by a group of young CCP cadres, and Mr. Mao must not have known about it."It was precisely for this reason that Fu Zuoyi asked Li Tengjiu to send a telegram the next day to call back Cui Zaizhi who was negotiating in Balizhuang.After he heard some analysis from a man of insight who had a close relationship with our party, he fully understood that it was Mao Zedong's special arrangement for Fu Zuoyi's safety.Although the negotiations between Fu Zuoyi and our party were carried out under very secret circumstances, there are still many Kuomintang agents inside and outside Beiping who are monitoring Fu Zuoyi's activities day and night.In fact, Chiang Kai-shek already knew about his contacts with our party.Chiang Kai-shek is ruthless and poisonous. In order to get rid of dissidents, he may kill Fu Zuoyi at any time. Not only can he get rid of Fu Zuoyi, but he can also let his direct troops completely eat up Fu Zuoyi's few troops. control has been completely taken over.This is not only very detrimental to Fu Zuoyi himself, but also very detrimental to our army's solution to the North China issue.Now that our party has included Fu Zuoyi in the list of war criminals, it has protected Fu Zuoyi to a large extent and restricted Chiang Kai-shek's actions to get rid of Fu Zuoyi (on this point, Mao Zedong gave Lin Biao, Luo Ronghuan, and Nie Rongzhen on January 1, 1949 stated in the telegram, which is quoted in full below).At that time, there was another person who was included in the list of war criminals with Fu Zuoyi, and it seemed that he should not be included, that is, Wei Lihuang, whom we talked about earlier, and his purpose was also for this.It was because Wei Lihuang was included in the list of war criminals that Chiang Kai-shek's spies relaxed their surveillance on him, and he was able to escape the spies' clutches.

In order for Fu Zuoyi to understand this painstaking arrangement of our party, Mao Zedong specially arranged for Xinhua News Agency to deliberately add the following words in an article on the broadcast: "It is impossible for Fu Zuoyi to avoid war crimes and avoid punishment, but if he wants to It is still possible to reduce the punishment, and that is to order the troops to surrender and promise not to kill revolutionary people and destroy public property and weapons." Soon, according to the instructions of the underground party, Fu Dongju explained the matter to his father, and Fu Zuoyi had a strong opinion of him. had a great impact.

Are the above measures of the Chinese Communist Party necessary?The He Siyuan incident that occurred not long after is a good illustration. In Beiping at that time, under the mobilization of the underground organization of the Communist Party of China, many political figures and university professors also actively participated in the peaceful and democratic movement.Among them, He Siyuan, the former mayor of Peking, is an important figure. He Siyuan is the father of He Luli, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Ninth and Tenth National People's Congress and former chairman of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee.A native of Heze, Shandong, he entered the Philosophy Department of Peking University in 1915. He was an active participant in the May 4th Movement. He not only participated in actions such as burning Zhaojialou, but also often published articles in "New Youth" and "New Tide". He went abroad to study in 1919 and studied in Chicago, Germany, Berlin, and Paris for seven years before returning to China. He was a famous professor at that time and a well-known figure in the cultural and educational circles of North China. He entered the political circle from the cultural and educational circles. From 1928 to 1946, he successively served as the director of the Shandong Provincial Department of Education and the chairman of the Shandong Provincial Government. In November 1946, he became the mayor of Peiping.After the end of the Anti-Japanese War, he gradually became dissatisfied with the perverse actions of Chiang Kai-shek's traitorous government, and he secretly protected progressives and revolutionary youth students many times. In April 1948, he was shot by a Kuomintang agent on Jingshan East Street, but luckily missed. In June 1948, he was removed from the position of mayor of Beiping.Because he publicly expressed his support for the democratic movement, he was awarded the title of Lifetime Honorary Citizen of Peiping City by the Peiping City Council.

When the peaceful liberation of Peiping became the general trend, the CCP’s underground organization also wanted to use He Siyuan’s reputation and status to contribute to the process of promoting the peaceful liberation of Peiping. An important dinner party was held on the 1st, and the speakers of the parliaments of the seven provinces and cities in North China, celebrities in the business circles, cultural and educational circles, and several generals of the "General Suppression" in North China were invited to discuss the state affairs.The purpose is to persuade these generals at the meeting, hoping that they can support Fu Zuoyi's peace process.The dinner party was quite successful, and the participants unanimously advocated peace, which made it inconvenient for the generals to object and express their support.Therefore, the participants unanimously agreed to send telegrams to Chiang Kai-shek of the Kuomintang and Mao Zedong of the Communist Party, appealing for peace, and elected 11 people including He Siyuan, Lu Fu, and Kang Tongbi as peace representatives to go out of the city to discuss peace plans with the PLA.These actions of He Siyuan had long been known by Chiang Kai-shek, so he ordered Mao Renfeng, the head of the secret service of the Kuomintang Secrecy Bureau, to assassinate He Siyuan.Mao Renfeng and Shen Zui, another spy chief of the military reunification, called Ye Xiangzhi, director of the Second Division of the Secrecy Bureau (that is, the Operation Division), and Liu Shaofu, director of the Special Technology Research Office, to conduct research and determine the best plan.

Duan Yunpeng, a special agent known as the "Snitch" sent by Ye Xiangzhi, planted two time bombs on the roof of He Siyuan's apartment at No. 12, Xila Hutong, Beiping (the news that the Kuomintang agents were going to murder He Siyuan has been reported by our underground party. Zhang Shi and other two comrades specifically informed He Siyuan on the afternoon of the 17th, asking him to be on guard, but He Siyuan did not make any preparations). At 3 o'clock in the morning on January 18, 1949, that is, late at night when He Siyuan held a dinner party, a bomb exploded, killing six members of the He family and injuring five. He Siyuan's second daughter, He Lumei, was killed on the spot. The French wife He Yiwen was seriously injured, and He Siyuan was injured in an arm.The atrocities committed by the Kuomintang agents aroused people's more violent anti-Chiang actions. On January 19, He Siyuan, who was still wounded, left Xizhimen directly with Lu Fu, Kang Tongbi and other peaceful people, and expressed to the PLA the peaceful wishes of the people from all walks of life in Beiping.Mo Wenhua, the commander of my East Field Four Columns, cordially received these representatives.Although He Siyuan did not affect peace operations due to the explosion, his family was murdered by Chiang Kai-shek after all.If our party hadn't taken certain measures at that time, it would have been difficult to guarantee that similar incidents would not have happened to Fu Zuoyi (Duan Yunpeng, the "snitch" who assassinated He Siyuan, fled Peiping and went to Taiwan at that time.

After the founding of New China, he was sent back to the mainland by Chiang Kai-shek's secret service to engage in the criminal activities of assassinating the leaders of our central government.As soon as he arrived in the mainland, he was arrested by our public security organs and received the punishment he deserved). After a period of observation, Mao Zedong decided to intensify his work on Fu Zuoyi. At 2 o'clock in the morning on January 1, 1949, Mao Zedong sent a telegram to Lin Biao, specifically arranging how to carry out the work against Fu Zuoyi: (1) After the enemies of Xinbaoan and Zhangjiakou were wiped out, the status of Fu Zuoyi and his direct subordinates in Beiping has changed. Only at this time can we really talk about our win over Fu Zuoyi and use Fu Zuoyi for our use.Therefore, you should carry out Fu Zuoyi's work seriously.

(2) You should directly inform Fu Zuoyi of the following points through the Beiping City Party Committee: (a) Do not send electricity at this time.As soon as this telegram is sent, he will lose his legal status, and both himself and his subordinates may be oppressed by the Jiang faction, or even eliminated. We also cannot accept Fu's approach. Fu's approach is very impractical and dangerous. (B) Fu has been anti-communist for a long time, and we have to list him as a war criminal along with Liu Zhi, Bai Chongxi, Yan Xishan, Hu Zongnan and others.As soon as we announced this, Fu's position in front of Chiang Kai-shek and the Chiang's army was immediately strengthened. Fu Ke used this to make a fuss, saying that there was no way out except to fight resolutely.But in reality, they negotiated with us to cooperate internally and externally to liberate Peiping peacefully, or to liberate Peiping after not very intense fighting.Fu made such a great contribution, we have reason to pardon his war crimes and preserve his subordinates.All the troops directly under the Fu family in Beiping City are not allowed to disarm, and are allowed to form an army. (c) Fu sent a telegram to Chairman Mao, Chairman Mao has received it.Chairman Mao believes that Fu's attitude in the telegram is unrealistic and should be carried out in accordance with the above two methods A and B to be realistic and acceptable to our side. (D) Mr. Cui, the negotiating representative sent by the Fu family, had a very good attitude. Afterwards, Cui Ke went out of the city to communicate and communicate the intentions of both parties.However, we hope that the Fu family will send a competent and responsible representative to go out of the city secretly to negotiate with Mr. Cui and Mr. Zhang Dongsun (note: about Zhang Dongsun, which will be introduced below). (e) Mr. Fu was right not to go to Nanjing this time, and he should not go to Nanjing in the future, otherwise he would be in danger of being detained by Chiang Kai-shek. (3) For the above five points, it is best for a reliable comrade appointed by the Beiping City Party Committee to directly tell Fu Zuoyi face-to-face after being introduced by someone close to Fu Zuoyi (such as Cui who went out of the city to negotiate), and to tell Fu to keep the secret.If Zhang Dongsun can't keep a secret when he goes out of the city, then Zhang doesn't have to come out. After Lin Biao received Mao Zedong's telegram, the Pingjin Front Command conducted research and believed that the content of the telegram must be faithfully conveyed to Fu Zuoyi as soon as possible in accordance with the requirements in the telegram.The communicator chose Li Bingquan, who was still at the Pingjin front headquarters at this time, because Li Bingquan was both an underground member of our party and a representative of Fu Zuoyi, so he was the most suitable candidate.After Li Bingquan entered the city, he communicated to Fu Zuoyi in person (Li Bingquan also told Fu Zuoyi according to the instructions of the Central Committee that Peng Zexiang, who was active around him during this time, was a traitor to the CCP and could not be trusted).After hearing this, Fu Zuoyi was immediately relieved, and his mood improved greatly.However, Fu Zuoyi, who was cautious, did not express to Li Bingquan his clear attitude towards Mao Zedong's specific requirements, but only said: "In order to preserve the ancient cultural city of Beiping, negotiations must continue, and I hope to talk more specifically." According to the spirit of Mao Zedong's instruction "You should earnestly carry out Fu Zuoyi's work", Lin Biao and Luo Ronghuan also publicly issued the "Letter to the North China Kuomintang Generals" on January 5, 1949 in the name of the commander and political commissar of the Pingjin Front Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army , and solemnly pointed out to all Kuomintang generals in North China: Beiping, Tianjin, and Tanggu have all been besieged, and your land retreat has been completely cut off. Even if a few escape by sea and air, the vast majority of you still cannot escape the fate of being annihilated.Now Chiang Kai-shek is too busy to take care of himself, and the United States is powerless.If you want to wait for help, there is no help; if you want to wait for change, you will become more and more dangerous; if you want to break through, the lessons of Zhangjiakou and Xuzhou are right in front of your eyes.You have only one way to survive now, and that is to follow the example of General Zheng Dongguo in Changchun and immediately order the entire army to surrender to our army.As long as you promise not to kill prisoners or people, and hand over all weapons, material warehouses and resident industrial and transportation equipment to our army intact, we can also treat you with lenient treatment in the same way as our army treated General Zheng Dongguo. The life and property of all your generals, officers, soldiers and families shall be protected. Although Fu Zuoyi himself is a war criminal, as long as he can lead all of you to surrender, our army will allow him to pay off his merits and save his life and property.If you agree with this method, you can send representatives to our headquarters to contact Wangsu. No matter what level of generals or officers they are, we welcome them all.Our army's attack is imminent, so we hope to make a decisive decision immediately, and don't say that it is unexpected. Prompted by the above-mentioned reasons, Fu Zuoyi's attitude towards the peaceful settlement of the North China issue has improved, and he decided to hold a second peace talk with our party.