Chapter 27 Three or five giants negotiated for burial

The city of Tianjin is not peaceful either.Especially Chen Changjie, the highest military and political officer in Tianjin. Chen Changjie graduated from the Baoding Army Military Academy and was a classmate with Fu Zuoyi two semesters apart.Because of his classmate relationship with Fu Zuoyi, after he came out of the military academy, he accepted Fu Zuoyi's invitation to join the Jin army in Shanxi, and was promoted from platoon leader to division commander.After the failure of the Jin army in the Central Plains War, he was reorganized. He served as brigade commander in Fu Zuoyi's thirty-fifth army.During the War of Resistance Against Japan, he served as the commander of the 61st Army. He fought many vicious battles under the command of Fu Zuoyi. In the Battle of Tuanchengkou, one of his regiments was reduced to only one platoon; In half a month, three enemy regiments were wiped out. In May 1938, he was promoted to the commander-in-chief of the Sixth Army, becoming the highest-ranking commander-in-chief of the Jinsui Army alongside Fu Zuoyi.But because he was not from Shanxi, he was dissatisfied with Yan Xishan's reuse of Shanxi's "Wutai Gang" and some military and political measures, and his conflicts with Yan Xishan gradually deepened. In 1940, he was finally dismissed by Yan. Chiang Kai-shek's relationship with Fu Zuoyi was also devoted to Chiang Kai-shek's subordinates, and he went to Suiyuan to serve as the commander-in-chief of the garrison of the Ikezhao League (now Ordos City).After that, he also served as the commander of the Lanzhou Supply Zone and the captain of the 20th Corps of Officers.

When Fu Zuoyi agreed at the end of 1947 to be the commander-in-chief of the "Suppression Command" in North China, according to Fu Zuoyi's consideration, of course he was in charge of Beiping, and he spent a lot of painstaking efforts on who would be in charge of Tianjin.Later, Chen Changjie was chosen because although Chen Changjie was his old classmate and colleague, he was not from Jinsui but from Fujian, so it was easier to establish a good relationship with the southern generals of the Central Military System.Chen Changjie's qualifications are older than all the corps commanders in the North China Kuomintang army at that time. He was the commander-in-chief of the group army 10 years ago.Therefore, Fu Zuoyi asked Chiang Kai-shek to transfer Chen Changjie, an old North China man, from Lanzhou to Tianjin, and Chiang Kai-shek appointed him as the Tianjin Garrison Commander, the Deputy Commander of the Tanggu Defense Zone, and the Commander of the Tianjin Defense Zone.

It may also be a coincidence that the main generals on both sides attacking and defending Tianjin were Liu Yalou from the CCP and Chen Changjie from the Kuomintang, both of whom were Fujianese. After Chen Changjie arrived in Tianjin, he really wanted to do something. He gradually squeezed out the power of the military commander in Tianjin, established the Tianjin Garrison Brigade formed by himself to maintain social order, and spent a lot of effort building fortifications.Due to Tianjin's flat terrain, there is no terrain to use, so many city defense fortifications have been built during the Japanese occupation.Before Chen Changjie, Shangguan Yunxiang, commander of the 11th war zone of the Kuomintang stationed in Tianjin and director of the Tianjin command post of Baoding Suiyuan, continued to build it. At that time, he raised a huge sum of 25 billion yuan to build the bunker and began to dig the moat.After Chen Changjie took office, on the basis of Shangguan Yunxiang, he not only built a moat, but also pulled several barbed wire fences outside the moat, and arranged deer villages and minefields tens of meters deep, with a total of tens of thousands of mines buried.All houses and trees within 2,000 meters of the positions along the moat were demolished or burned to form a no-man's land.On the inner side of the moat, a trapezoidal inner wall with a bottom width of 7 meters, a top width of more than 1 meter, and a height of more than 3 meters was built with the soil dug out when the river was dug. A road with a width of 5 meters can be used to transport various ammunition and supplies by car.In particular, ring-shaped blockhouses were built along the inner walls, one every 30 meters, among which there are more than 380 large blockhouses, and each blockhouse also has electric lights and telephones.There are three bunkers within this bunker circle. There are a total of more than 1,000 bunkers of various types, all of which are built of reinforced concrete, unlike other bunkers that are dominated by civil engineering. They are called "Tianjin's armor".From the perspective of the entire Tianjin city, moats and blockhouses are the mainstays, plus barbed wire fences, foxholes, shelters, and traffic trenches, forming a complete defense system that has been comprehensively planned.It is precisely because of this that Chen Changjie dared to boast to various media: "Great Tianjin is fortified! Great Tianjin is as solid as gold!"

The Kuomintang defenders in Tianjin had only two regular armies, the 62nd Army and the 86th Army, plus other troops, a total of only 130,000 people.Chen Changjie dared to boast so much because of Tianjin's city defense fortifications.In his own words, it is called "do not dislike the list of soldiers, but rely on the solidity of the formation".However, regardless of whether Chen Changjie is bragging or not, if it is a matter of fact, Tianjin’s fortifications are indeed the most solid fortifications that our army has encountered since attacking enemy cities. No other place can compare with Tianjin.It is precisely because of this that my Dongye siege army made serious tactical preparations for attacking Tianjin.Among them, the main drills are to blow up the enemy's fortifications by means of blasting and shelling, to cross various river ditches and trenches by means of reed bridges, springboards, and boat bridges, and to eliminate enemy mines by blasting and raking mine rods.Just like the jingle compiled by the commanders and fighters of the Sixth Column and Seventeenth Division: "Assault the tough tiger, the tiger makes the wind. Practice blasting, perform siege. Practice street fighting, practice climbing. Train with all your strength today, and make a big fuss in Tianjin tomorrow."

Chen Changjie is quite confident in Tianjin's city defense, and he is the most confident of all the generals of the Kuomintang army in Tianjin, because he believes that Tianjin's terrain is not convenient for attacking, and there are several layers of fortifications. The construction of siege fortifications is approaching step by step, and it is very difficult to break through, and it is impossible to break through by means of a sudden attack.On this point, he had a heated argument with the other officers. On December 18, 1948, Chiang Kai-shek followed his usual practice of writing a personal letter to the front-line army commanders when the military situation was urgent, and wrote another personal letter to the front-line commanders in Pingjin. , It is to ask everyone to unite sincerely and "loyalty to the party-state" in the decisive battle "related to the survival of the party-state" when "North China is dying".He sent Li Jilan, the deputy chief of staff of the Ministry of National Defense, to fly to Peiping, but the plane dared not land, so it flew to Tianjin.Li Jilan gathered Chen Changjie, Lin Weichou, commander of the 62nd Army stationed in Tianjin, and Liu Yunhan, commander of the 86th Army, and asked them to read Chiang Kai-shek's personal letter. There was a heated debate on the spot whether to stick to Tianjin.Both army commanders believed that Tianjin was difficult to defend, and advocated not defending Tianjin but defending Tanggu in order to withdraw southward.Only Chen Changjie thinks that Tianjin has a very solid city defense fortification, which can be defended.At the end of the debate, Chen Changjie even said something like this: "If you gather Tianjin troops to Tanggu without authorization, then I will commit suicide."

Does Chen Changjie have no military knowledge, and he doesn’t know that our Dongye army is ready to attack Tianjin. If there is a fight, his 130,000 horses cannot be the hundreds of thousands of our army (the troops used by our army to attack Tianjin are 340,000) opponent?Doesn't Chen Changjie know that Fu Zuoyi in Beiping may take the road of peace, and he will definitely contradict Fu Zuoyi?None of this.Chen Changjie thought about it this way: no matter from which point of view, it should be "one of Pingjin and Tianjin". Fu Zuoyi put him in Tianjin, and he would try his best to keep Tianjin; Then make plans.If Peiping had not been peacefully settled safely, and Fu Zuoyi had not given him an order for a peaceful settlement, it is entirely possible for him to stick to Tianjin for a month.The basis for sticking to it for a month is Tianjin's solid city defense fortifications.

Chen Changjie said many times in Tianjin that he would be loyal to the party-state and resist desperately, which was his original intention. It was precisely because of this mentality that Chen Changjie showed a very impassioned gesture.For example, Chen Changjie issued such an order to the troops: All the troops defending the city must stick to the city.If I die in battle while defending the city, my deputy commander Lin Weichou will succeed me in command; if the chief officers at all levels die in battle, they will be commanded by a pre-designated person.Resolutely defend Tianjin and live and die with the position.At the same time, Chen Changjie also issued a battlefield discipline that is rare in the entire Kuomintang army to the troops: if a soldier retreats, the squad leader can shoot the soldier on the spot; if the squad leader retreats, the platoon leader can shoot the squad leader on the spot. If the platoon leader retreats, the company commander can shoot the platoon leader on the spot; if the company commander retreats, the battalion commander can shoot the company commander on the spot; if the battalion commander retreats, the regiment commander can shoot the battalion commander on the spot; Otherwise, the division commander can shoot the regiment leader on the spot.

Although Chen Changjie was determined to yell the slogan of burying the Kuomintang so loudly, in order to protect Tianjin, the largest industrial and commercial city in North China, our party still made every possible effort to resolve it peacefully.In the city of Tianjin, there are also some insightful people who hope for peace and are actively working for the road of peace. Yang Yizhou, chairman of the Tianjin Municipal Council, is one of the representatives running for peace in the city.Yang Yizhou is the manager of the Tianjin branch of China National Textile Corporation. For many years, he has had contacts with Yang Xiufeng, Huang Songling, Ruan Muhan, and He Songting, the underground party leaders of our party in North China. Views.Beginning in 1947, the underground organization of our party designated Liu Yiwen, an underground party member (publicly known as the director of the Tianjin Social Bureau Relief House), to contact Yang, so many of his social activities were based on the opinions of my Tianjin underground party.During this period, the general public in Tianjin deeply hoped that Tianjin would not suffer from the war, and that their lives and properties would not be lost.At the end of 1948, the People's Liberation Army had surrounded Tianjin, and there were already rumbles of artillery inside and outside the city (our army had fought many battles with the defenders in order to clear the strongholds outside the city. Chen Changjie learned that the frontline headquarters of the People's Liberation Army was located in After Yangliuqing, he ordered the artillery in the city to continue shelling the Yangliuqing area), the war was imminent, but it was difficult for the general public to fully express their opinions to the leaders of the two warring parties.Therefore, on New Year's Day in 1949, Yang Yizhou specially invited more than a dozen city senators to study together, and decided to make efforts to peacefully resolve the Tianjin issue on behalf of the public.They decided to elect four senators, Ding Zuoshao, Yang Qingyun, Kang Xiangjiu, and Hu Jingxun, to represent the citizens of Tianjin to go out of the city to seek peace from the People's Liberation Army. , I asked Chen to take immediate action to negotiate a peace with the People's Liberation Army.

However, Chen Changjie is very cunning. He himself does not want to make peace, nor does he openly oppose civil peace. His answer to Yang Yizhou and others is: "Peace is a matter for the people, and the military will not intervene." The four representatives of the Tianjin Municipal Council went out of the city from Wangchuan City in the north of Tianjin on January 5th, according to the method announced by our side to the citizens of Tianjin on the radio broadcast, and went out of the city from Wangchuan City in the north of Tianjin, and arrived at the front line of our army The position was immediately warmly received by our army. Under the leadership of our liaison personnel, they met our army's frontline commander Liu Yalou in a village.

After carefully listening to the statements of the four representatives, Liu Yalou encouraged them for their peaceful wishes. He then formally expressed five points to the four representatives: (1) Our army hopes for a peaceful settlement so that Tianjin will not be destroyed; (2) All troops under Chen Changjie will lay down their weapons and must not be damaged; (3) Our army guarantees the safety of all officers and soldiers who lay down their weapons; (4) Our army guarantees that Chen Changjie (5) In order to show leniency and sincerity, the shelling of Tianjin was stopped for 6 days (from January 6th to 11th), and a clear reply was required within the time limit (12th), and the shelling began immediately after the deadline.

The four senators brought Liu Yalou's five opinions back to the city, and immediately reported to Yang Yizhou, and Yang Yizhou immediately went to Chen Changjie to convey it.After contemplating for a while, the cunning Chen Changjie still used the same way he answered Yang Yizhou last time, and gave this answer: "I am not against peace. My army can accept five points, but I cannot command the direct troops of the central government. If I can Make way for the Central Army to go to Tanggu, and I can do it." Chen Changjie did not say this, because among the troops in Tianjin, the 62nd Army and the 86th Army belong to the Central Army system. Chen Changjie himself didn't have any regular troops at all.If you want to count his direct descendants, the only one that can be counted is a guard battalion that he brought from the northwest.After he arrived in Tianjin, he set up a Tianjin Police Brigade, also known as the Tianjin Local Armed Security Brigade, which was reorganized from the original security team, and all of them were local armed forces in Tianjin. Under such circumstances, Yang Yizhou and the four senators had no choice but to seek the opinion of Lin Weichou, the commander of the 62nd Army (he also served as the deputy defense commander of Tianjin).Lin Weichou rejected the road of peace with a silent attitude. For the sake of peace in Tianjin, Yang Yizhou and others went to Chen Changjie again and tried hard to persuade him. Chen Changjie still insisted that the troops must be withdrawn to Tanggu, otherwise there would be no peace talks. On January 9, when the four senators went out of the city again, they reported Chen Changjie's position to Liu Yalou. Chen Changjie's stubborn position was rejected by Liu Yalou.Liu Yalou once again worked on several representatives. He said: "In order to protect Tianjin, an industrial city, our army sincerely hopes to resolve the Tianjin issue peacefully. As long as we lay down our weapons automatically, our army can guarantee the safety of their lives, property and freedom of movement. Otherwise , we will attack the city as originally planned." Under the guidance of the general principled position of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, our Pingjin Front Command has patiently waited for Chen Changjie and others in Tianjin.In order to educate the Kuomintang troops in Tianjin for the last time and strive for them to take the road of peace, on November 11, 1949, Lin Biao and Luo Ronghuan of our Pingjin Front Command signed a letter to Chen Changjie, Lin Weichou and Liu Yunhan. The letter was sent, and communications and liaison personnel were sent to enter the Kuomintang army defense area through the contact line between the two sides, and personally delivered the letter to Chen Changjie, Lin Weichou and Liu Yunhan. The full text of the letter signed by Lin Biao and Luo Ronghuan is as follows: Generals Chen Changjie, Lin Weichou, and Liu Yunhan: We are about to start the battle of Tianjin. Zheng Dongguo is an example. If the general follows suit, he will make great contributions to the people. If he resists, he will only suffer death.I hope you will send representatives to negotiate before our general offensive, and you can find our army headquarters anywhere, and then escort you to negotiate with us. This letter, signed by Lin Biao and Luo Ronghuan, was regarded by the Kuomintang authorities in Tianjin as an ultimatum from the People's Liberation Army to them, so it caused a strong shock.The five top leaders of the Tianjin Kuomintang authorities had to get together to discuss countermeasures.In addition to the three recipients, there are Du Jianshi, the mayor of Tianjin, and Qiu Zongding, the deputy commander of the police.Among these leaders, Du Jianshi was a very important figure. Du Jianshi was born in Yangcun, Wuqing, Hebei, and was born in the Beijing Branch of the Northeast Academy of Martial Arts.Chiang Kai-shek opened the Army University. Du Jianshi ranked first in the entrance examination and graduation selection examination. He was selected by Chiang Kai-shek to send him to the United States for further study. After graduating from Kansas Army University, he went to the University of California to study international relations according to Chiang Kai-shek's will and obtained a doctorate. In 1939, he returned to China after studying and became the only "doctoral general" in China at that time. He successively served as the deputy chief of staff of the Ninth Theater, the director of the Academic Affairs Division of the National Defense University, the director of the National Defense Research Institute, the senior staff officer of the chairman's attendant, and the National Government's military service department. A senior lieutenant general joined the army and was highly valued by Chiang Kai-shek.At that time, Chiang Kai-shek was an important entourage in the high-level negotiations with other countries. He was also a member of the Chinese delegation that participated in the establishment of the United Nations in 1945. Soong Meiling even introduced her secretary to him as his wife.Chiang Kai-shek sent him to Tianjin, first as the commander of Beining Road, and later as the mayor of Tianjin. He was an important confidant of Chiang Kai-shek in North China. All kinds of situations, especially the situation of Fu Zuoyi Group (in Du Jianshi's eyes, Chen Changjie also belonged to Fu Zuoyi's people), he often reported directly to Chiang Kai-shek.It can be considered that Chen Changjie did not dare to gradually embark on the road of peace like Fu Zuoyi. Apart from the fact that he did not have his own army at all, Du Jianshi, Chiang Kai-shek's close monitoring was also an important factor. Now, the five giants in Tianjin sat together and all read the autographed letters of Lin Biao and Luo Ronghuan.what to do?They dare not express their views first.Among the five giants, each of them is wary of the others deep in their hearts.Chen Changjie was the supreme commander in name, but he didn't have his own troops, and was regarded as Fu Zuoyi's by others. He was afraid that Du Jianshi and the two army commanders would find fault with him.Although Du Jianshi was Chiang Kai-shek's confidant, he himself did not hold military power, and he had never been able to figure out what medicine Chen Changjie was selling. He is extremely cautious about the issue of peace, has not made a final decision, and cannot have a very direct attitude, so he has not had any contact with Chen Changjie on the issue of peace talks), so he cannot express his position.The two army commanders, Lin Weichou and Liu Yunhan, are clear about their own strength and know that they cannot be Lin Biao's opponent. action.In particular, they knew very well in their hearts that Du Jianshi was Chiang Kai-shek's confidant, and Chen Changjie was Fu Zuoyi's man. The two people had different opinions. It was difficult for them as subordinates, so they were unwilling to express their views.As for Qiu Zongding, he was an empty-headed deputy commander, and he didn't want to talk about his own opinions first.In this way, none of the five people made a final choice on the big issue of peace and war, and none of them embarked on the road to peace.When Du Jianshi once again asked Chen Changjie how long Tianjin could last, Chen Changjie still said that he could last for a month.Therefore, Du Jianshi asked Chen Changjie to reply to Lin Biao and Luo Ronghuan, in fact, he wanted Chen Changjie to express his position to Chiang Kai-shek.So, dictated by Chen Changjie and written by Qiu Zongding, a Chen Changjie-style reply letter was written: "Weapons are the second life of soldiers, and laying down weapons is a shame for soldiers. If you want to seek peace, please send representatives to the city to discuss." In this way, Chen Changjie and others lost their last chance to resolve Tianjin peacefully.After the liberation of the whole country, Chen Changjie wrote in his memoirs: "During the liberation war, I resisted the People's Liberation Army in Tianjin, brought the flames of war into the urban area, disregarded the lives and properties of the people, and committed a very serious crime to the people." This passage can be described as telling the truth, without any exaggeration. A few years later, someone once analyzed the Tianjin issue in early 1949 in this way, thinking that if Tianjin at that time had not been caused by the above-mentioned situation, "there are too many dragons and no floods", but if only one person held the military and political power and could make decisions, there would be a great deal of trouble in Tianjin. In the case of a large army pressing down on the border, it is also possible for Tianjin to resolve it peacefully.This analysis makes sense.Unfortunately, it is impossible to repeat historical phenomena according to "if". A few years later, Chen Changjie said in his memoirs that there was another reason why people knew that they could not fight but fought resolutely at that time, and there was another reason that ordinary people didn't understand, that is, the Kuomintang secret agents secretly monitored the Kuomintang army.He said: On January 11, he received an ultimatum to "lay down arms peacefully" from the People's Liberation Army.At the beginning, each had their own ghosts, looked at each other, and remained silent.Liu Yunhan is the confidant of Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Cheng's direct line. Although he has concerns about the war, he keeps silent.Both Lin Weichou and Qiu Zongding were frightened by the surveillance of the spies, and they wanted to say something, but they hesitated. Neither of them said that they should and could lay down their weapons.Everyone is also willing to negotiate, nothing more than to delay the attack and wait and see. Chiang Kai-shek has so-called "inspectors" dispatched directly from his attendant's room in each army and military organization to participate in all military affairs and military aircraft, and to send telegrams directly to Chiang from time to time.Cheng Zijian, an inspector, was sent to Tianjin. At that time, Cheng reported the situation every night during the battle and guided the military aircraft. He had to participate.And behind him, there are so-called "communicators" who are obsessed with code books and are monitoring him.Jiang's spies were controlling the Tianjin operation in many ways. This kind of spies' terror overwhelmed the commanders of the army, and they were at a loss. Regardless of the reasons, in short, the Tianjin defenders rejected the road to peace at the last moment.Since the defenders in Tianjin were unwilling to lay down their arms and refused to make peace, Mao Zedong must of course make up his mind to attack Tianjin first.As has been analyzed above, the purpose of attacking Tianjin at this time is not only to liberate Tianjin, but also a very important purpose, which is to use the iron fist of the People's Liberation Army to smash part of the Kuomintang army to pieces and smash Tianjin's strong city defenses to pieces. The smashing made Fu Zuoyi quickly and completely lose his illusions, accept the peaceful adaptation, and resolve the Peking issue peacefully.In Mao Zedong's words, it is to "call Tianjin to Fu Zuoyi to have a look."