Chapter 25 1. Chiang Kai-shek did not sleep

While Fu Zuoyi was negotiating peace with our party, the North China battlefield was not only about negotiations, but the struggle in all aspects, including the military front, was quite fierce.Why has Fu Zuoyi been negotiating peacefully with our party, and why has he been unable to make a decision on the peaceful negotiation?This is also inseparable from the struggles in various fields at that time. When our party was doing all kinds of work to get Fu Zuoyi to take the road of peace, Chiang Kai-shek was not asleep, and neither was the US government that supported Chiang Kai-shek. The People's Civil War.

When the course of the war developed to the point where the CCP had taken the initiative, Chiang Kai-shek knew very well that although his Du Yuming Group on the Huaihai battlefield had made the greatest efforts, it was still tightly surrounded by Su Yu, and there was no possibility of victory, and it was already wiped out. It's a matter of time.The Fu Zuoyi Group on the North China battlefield has also fallen into a situation of isolation and helplessness. If it continues to drag on, it will either be wiped out by Lin Biao and Nie Rongzhen, or they will all surrender to the Communist Party.However, Fu Zuoyi still has more than 500,000 troops under his command. If he is eaten by the Communist Party, it will be even more difficult for Chiang Kai-shek to keep half of the country.Therefore, the best way is to ask Fu Zuoyi to withdraw his army to the south. Even if he loses part of it in the process of withdrawing to the south, it is much better than being wiped out completely.For this reason, he sent telegrams to Fu Zuoyi several times, but Fu Zuoyi refused for various reasons.He also planned to call Fu Zuoyi to Nanjing for an interview to put pressure on him. If he failed, he would be placed under house arrest and another senior officer would be sent to Beiping to command.If he directly sent high-level officials to Beiping to take over Fu Zuoyi's military power, he was afraid of stirring up trouble and it would be impossible to deal with it.After many considerations, Chiang Kai-shek had only one way, which was to send the most appropriate personnel to Peiping to persuade and exert pressure at the same time, to see if he could persuade Fu Zuoyi.Chiang Kai-shek's idea was basically the same as that of the US government that was still supporting him at that time.To this end, Chiang Kai-shek and the U.S. government successively sent four special figures with different identities.

The earliest one was on December 15, 1948, when Chiang Kai-shek sent Xu Yongchang, then head of the military order, to Beiping to do the work of Fu Zuoyi. Sending Xu Yongchang and Chiang Kai-shek went through some choices. Xu Yongchang is from Yuanping, Shanxi, and he is from the same hometown as Fu Zuoyi.He served as regiment commander and brigade commander under Sun Yue, the Zhili warlord, and finally served as the acting commander of the Third Army. He entered Shanxi and became a general under Yan Xishan. His troops also became part of the Jinsui Army. From then on, Xu Yongchang and Fu Zuoyi became good friends. In 1928, Xu Yongchang served as the chairman of Suiyuan Province. In August 1931, Xu Yongchang was transferred to the chairmanship of Shanxi Province, and Fu Zuoyi took over the post of chairman of Suiyuan Province.At the same time, Xu Yongchang was the commander of the 33rd Army, and Fu Zuoyi was the commander of the 35th Army. In 1934, Xu Yongchang left Yan Xishan and joined Chiang Kai-shek. In 1938, Fu Zuoyi also left Yan Xishan and joined Chiang Kai-shek.Therefore, Xu Yongchang and Fu Zuoyi not only have similar experiences, but also have a close friendship.

Among the military and political officials around Chiang Kai-shek, Xu Yongchang is the one who has the deepest relationship with Fu Zuoyi.It is for this reason that Chiang Kai-shek specially let Xu Yongchang go to Beiping. This time Chiang Kai-shek gave Xu Yongchang a very clear task, which was to persuade Fu Zuoyi to lead the troops to withdraw southward.Chiang Kai-shek arranged two routes for Fu Zuoyi to retreat to the south: one part took the sea route, boarded a ship from Tanggu New Port, first drove to Qingdao, and then entered the battlefield between East China and the Central Plains; Into the East China and the Central Plains battlefield.At this time, Fu Zuoyi considered that his troops were all from the north and could not get used to the life in the south at all. He also considered that he was not a direct descendant of Chiang Kai-shek. When he arrived in the south, he would be completely under Chiang Kai-shek's control. Chiang Kai-shek's scapegoat might be Wei Lihuang second, or even worse than Wei Lihuang, because he is a miscellaneous brand, and Wei Lihuang is a direct descendant.Even if he did not lose any battles in the south, if Chiang Kai-shek accuses himself of losing North China all at once, he will become the biggest scapegoat that the whole country will mobilize and attack, and he will not be able to bear the blame.In any case, he still controls hundreds of thousands of people, and even if he negotiates with the Communist Party, he still has some capital.

So Fu Zuoyi made up his mind not to withdraw southward, no matter how Xu Yongchang persuaded him, he would not do it.The reason he stated to Xu Yongchang was: Pingjin has been completely surrounded by Lin Biao and Nie Rongzhen, and it is impossible to break out now.Even if they try their best to break out, the way to the sea has been cut off, not to mention that there are not enough ships on the sea road, and the road must be surrounded by layers of Communist-controlled areas. How can the troops and their families get out?Fu Zuoyi's reasons are indeed reasonable. Xu Yongchang knew what Fu Zuoyi was thinking, but he couldn't argue with Fu Zuoyi and persuade Fu Zuoyi.Therefore, Xu Yongchang had no choice but to take what Fu Zuoyi said, "Brother Cichen (note: Xu Yongchang's word Cichen) to report to the committee. Stand by and wait for changes, and serve the committee" and went back to Nanjing.

A week later, on December 23, Chiang Kai-shek sent again.This time it was not some high-ranking official or famous general, but Jiang Weiguo, the second son of Chiang Kai-shek.Jiang Weiguo came to see Fu Zuoyi with Chiang Kai-shek's personal letter, saying in the letter: Looking back, I was fooled by the Communist Party during the "Double Twelve Incident" in Xi'an, and agreed to cooperate with the Communist Party for the second time. Great lesson. Now, because of your situation, you also advocate cooperation with the Communist Party, and you may be fooled.So I want to take this as an advice.Today, the second son Weiguo is specially sent to come to interview, please check the interview matters yourself.

What did Jiang Weiguo tell Fu Zuoyi?It was still the same thing that Xu Yongchang came to talk about last time, asking Fu Zuoyi to lead the army to retreat south to Qingdao.He also said that as long as he arrives in Qingdao, the US Navy fleet will assist in withdrawing to the south of the Yangtze River.Fu Zuoyi's reply to Jiang Weiguo was similar to Xu Yongchang's reply when he came last time.Jiang Weiguo was sent to Germany to study military affairs, and he was a major general commanding armored forces. From a military point of view, he could not refute Fu Zuoyi. Chiang Kai-shek had already considered this point.However, Chiang Kai-shek sent Jiang Weiguo this time and threw a big hydrangea ball to Fu Zuoyi: After Fu Zuoyi withdrew to the south of the Yangtze River, he would be appointed as the military and political chief of the southeast to command all the Kuomintang troops in the south of the Yangtze River. "A thousand soldiers are easy to get, but a general is hard to find." Chiang Kai-shek's words were very sincere, and he hoped that Fu Zuoyi would definitely go to Jiangnan to take office.

At this time, Fu Zuoyi was already planning to have peace talks with the Communist Party. What's more, in today's situation, who would believe that he was appointed as the military and political chief of the southeast and commanded all the Kuomintang troops? Who else would be interested in this?The failure of the Huaihai battlefield is a foregone conclusion, and more than half of the elite forces of the Kuomintang have been wiped out by the People's Liberation Army.Now there are two remaining main forces, one is Bai Chongxi, which is the Guangxi army, which even Chiang Kai-shek cannot command; .Therefore, the so-called "military and political chief in the southeast, commanding all Kuomintang troops" is completely empty talk. If it is to command all the Kuomintang troops in the southeast region, there are not many troops in the southeast region; if it is to command all the Kuomintang troops in the south of the Yangtze River, it is impossible.Fu Zuoyi had no choice but to verbally express his gratitude to Chiang Kai-shek for his deceptive tricks.But when it came to leading the army to withdraw to the south, he replied resolutely: "Now I am besieged on all sides, and it is impossible to go south. I can only live and die with the ancient city in order to repay the kindness of the committee."

Jiang Weiguo had no choice but to return to Nanjing. On January 6, 1949, the day that Fu Zuoyi sent Zhou Beifeng and Zhang Dongsun out of the city for the second peace negotiation, Chiang Kai-shek sent a third official.This person has a bigger background than Xu Yongchang. He is the well-known and feared spy chief Zheng Jiemin during the Kuomintang period. Chiang Kai-shek sent a spy chief to Peiping, of course he had some intentions.On the surface, he was still here to persuade Fu Zuoyi to retreat south.In fact, both Chiang Kai-shek and Zheng Jiemin knew that it was impossible for Fu Zuoyi to withdraw southward at this time.Zheng Jiemin came to Peiping for the following purposes: First, he threatened Fu Zuoyi by means of military secret agents.He blatantly said to Fu Zuoyi: "The military commanders in Beiping can closely cooperate with Commander-in-Chief Fu to direct the army to retreat south." The implication is that if you don't withdraw southward and don't listen to Chiang Kai-shek, the military commander will show you color.The second is to talk to the generals of the Central Army to learn about the peace talks between Fu Zuoyi and our party, and to arrange actions to sabotage the peace talks.The third is to arrange military reunification agents to assassinate democrats who have called for peace talks.

When Zheng Jiemin came to Peiping, he put a lot of pressure on Fu Zuoyi.After Zheng Jiemin arrived in Peiping, before he met Fu Zuoyi, he had a secret talk overnight with Yang Qingzhi, chief of the Beiping Police Department under him, Wang Puchen and Xu Zongyao, station chiefs of the Military Command Beiping Station, and Mao Tiyuan, director of the inspection department of the Garrison Command.Based on the information in his hands, Zheng Jiemin was sure that Fu Zuoyi was already in peace talks with the Communist Party, and he also knew that the calls for peace in Beiping were very loud.So he repeatedly pressured Fu Zuoyi to admit the truth about the peace talks.But Fu Zuoyi refused to admit it no matter what, and even threatened him with the words "If the president is worried, I can resign immediately", because Zheng Jiemin has no direct evidence in his hands.And when Fu Zuoyi finally said that he was willing to accompany Zheng Jiemin in the investigation in Beiping, Zheng Jiemin did not dare to agree, because although he had a military spy network in Beiping, he could only do some shady things in the dark, and he wanted to do it publicly. The investigation cannot compete with Fu Zuoyi who completely controls Beiping.

If something goes wrong, it is unknown if Fu Zuoyi will detain him or even take more severe measures.Helpless, Zheng Jiemin had no choice but to stop talking about whether Fu Zuoyi was in peace talks with the Communist Party.Regarding the issue of withdrawing to the south, Fu Zuoyi insisted on his stance of never withdrawing to the south.Therefore, when Zheng Jiemin returned to Nanjing to report the results of his trip to Peking to Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Kai-shek knew that Fu Zuoyi would never follow him anyway. During this period, another important person came to Beiping to visit Fu Zuoyi, but it was not sent by Chiang Kai-shek, but by American President Truman.He is Vice Admiral Berger, commander of the US Western Pacific Fleet. The U.S. government at that time had clearly seen that Chiang Kai-shek’s rule was precarious and irretrievable, but the U.S. government did not want to see the rapid failure of Chiang Kai-shek’s government, and did not want to see the revolutionary forces led by the Communist Party of China take over the Chinese regime.Therefore, some people in the U.S. government advocated to find other capable figures to replace Chiang Kai-shek while preserving the vitality of the Kuomintang army as much as possible, or to form a new ruling group with a group of people, so as to maintain at least half of the Kuomintang’s rule over China.In particular, a small number of Republicans in the U.S. Congress attacked the Democratic Party's China policy implemented by U.S. President Truman very fiercely.Truman sent Bai Jier to Peiping to find out about Fu Zuoyi.Because Fu Zuoyi was still the highest military and political officer in North China at that time, and he still controlled hundreds of thousands of troops. Bai Jier came to Peiping with another excuse. At the beginning of November 1948, Berger clearly declared that the U.S. Navy could participate in the defense of Shanghai.When Du Jianshi, the mayor of Tianjin, told Fu Zuoyi the news, Fu Zuoyi once asked Du Jianshi to contact Baijier who was stationed in Qingdao, hoping that the US Western Pacific Fleet would send troops to Tianjin on the grounds of protecting the overseas Chinese, and use the strength of the US military to support the Kuomintang troops against Tianjin. defense.At that time, after asking the U.S. State Department and the Department of Defense for instructions, Baijier replied to Du Jianshi, saying that this matter could be considered.However, when Du Jianshi contacted Bai Jier again in mid-December and asked Bai Jier to take specific actions, Bai Jier said in a letter to Fu Zuoyi: "On the order of the government, I would like to inform you that under the current circumstances, it is useless to take any action." .” However, this time Baijier came to discuss military assistance. When Bai Jier came to Peiping and met Fu Zuoyi, he told Fu Zuoyi clearly: Not only could the U.S. military support Fu Zuoyi, but the U.S. government was also willing to bypass Chiang Kai-shek and directly support Fu Zuoyi in the future.The U.S. Navy will deploy forces in relevant ports along the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, and the East China Sea to help the North China "suppressing general" troops withdraw southward, so as to preserve the strength of these hundreds of thousands of troops. At this time, Fu Zuoyi also knew very well that at such a dangerous moment when the army was approaching the city, it was impossible for the US military's assistance to have any practical significance.So he answered Baijier tactfully: "I am the local military and political chief under the leadership of the Nanjing National Government, how can I directly accept your country's aid?" At this time, Bai Jier could only say bluntly: "Mr. Chiang Kai-shek is no longer useful, and China needs soldiers like General Fu. Fu Zuoyi was extremely cautious about such remarks that mattered to the overall situation. Although he had heard about the internal debates in the American political circles, he did not know what the intention of Baijier's remarks was, and whether it had something to do with Chiang Kai-shek.Therefore, he did not make any statement on Baijier's words, and still said, "I am the local governor of China, and I cannot directly accept assistance from your country." Bai Jier further emphasized: "In the future, we will bypass Chiang Kai-shek and directly support General Fu. This is President Truman's intention." It would be better for the Nanjing side to discuss." Bai Jier knew that Fu Zuoyi was unwilling to express his position on this sensitive issue, so he pointed the topic to more specific issues. He said: "General Fu, the current situation in China, more specifically, the situation in North China is already very serious... " Fu Zuoyi followed Baijier's words: "The situation in China, the situation in North China, is very serious. Therefore, no matter what action your government takes, it will be useless. However, this is the Chinese people's own business, or it is the Chinese people's business. Solve it yourself." What Fu Zuoyi said here, "It is useless to take any action", is the exact words of Bai Jier in a letter to Fu Zuoyi not long ago.This kind of answer, of course, is to tell Bai Jier: The United States still wants to do something in North China, and there is no hope. Fu Zuoyi's attitude has changed a lot. Bai Jier didn't want to make fun of himself any more, so he had to fly back to Qingdao very disappointed. From the above four visits to Fu Zuoyi alone, we can see that Fu Zuoyi's situation at that time was quite complicated and difficult.When an old friend came, he used persuasion; when Mr. Jiang came, he sent high-ranking officials;The ultimate purpose of their coming to Peiping is to prevent Fu Zuoyi from turning to the Communist Party and taking the bright road of peaceful uprising.Under such circumstances, Fu Zuoyi remained unmoved and insisted on not cooperating with Chiang Kai-shek and the United States, which should be said to be commendable.Under such circumstances, it is understandable that although he has delayed the peace talks process, has doubts and cannot make a decision. Fu Zuoyi's teacher, Liu Houtong, after many conversations with Fu Zuoyi, once concluded that Fu Zuoyi had five fears on the road to peace: first, he was afraid of being regarded as a rebel; second, he was afraid of not being truly understood by the Communist Party; I am afraid that I will be sorry for the Central Army, and five are afraid that I will not be able to control the Central Army.After contacting and negotiating with the Chinese Communist Party during this period, Fu Zuoyi eased the first two fears, but the latter three fears still exist.The reason here is very simple, because he has a big heart problem, that is, the three main forces belonging to him have been destroyed, and most of the 20 or so divisions belonging to him have been wiped out. The existing troops basically belong to Chiang Kai-shek’s Central Army system.As far as the army in Beiping alone is concerned, the Central Army of Li Wen's Corps and Shi Jue Corps has more than a hundred thousand people, while his troops only have four divisions in total.If the troops of the central military system are unwilling to follow him on the road of peace, not only will his peace process be difficult, but even his own life will be in question. Fu Zuoyi was considering this issue, and Mao Zedong and the Pingjin Front Command were also considering it.