Chapter 35 1. The sound of guns hastened peace

After the liberation of Tianjin, Beiping became the focus of much attention.The guns of our Northeast Field Army and the 900,000 troops of the North China Military Region are all pointing at this ancient city.The process of peaceful liberation of Peiping was accelerated by the sound of cannons that captured Tianjin. When the siege of Tianjin was in full swing, Deng Baoshan and Zhou Beifeng were still in Wuliqiao to continue peace negotiations on the Peking issue.The sound of artillery siege in Tianjin prompted Fu Zuoyi to send Deng Baoshan the crucial telegram on January 14, 1949, "handle as appropriate".

On January 15, the two sides continued to negotiate.Our side is still attended by Lin Biao, Luo Ronghuan, and Nie Rongzhen in person.The negotiations on this day made a lot of progress. This is because: on the 14th, the sound of artillery in Tianjin destroyed Fu Zuoyi’s original line of defense for the negotiations; A new basis for negotiations was built.Under the impetus of these two important factors, Fu Zuoyi's attitude has changed, and Deng Baoshan has been authorized to "handle as appropriate". Therefore, after three hours of negotiations, the two sides reached a basic agreement on the following specific issues: The location where the Kuomintang troops in Beiping City moved out of the city for reorganization; the basic plan for the reorganization of the Kuomintang army; the basic principles for the arrangement of the former North China "Suppression General" headquarters and the officers above the regiments; Receive method.The day's negotiations were recorded by Su Jing, our reception representative, director of the staff department of the Dongye Command, and Deng Baoshan's entourage, and former section chief of the political work department of the "Suppression General" in North China.After the meeting, the two of them sorted out more than a dozen specific clauses.

At 4 o'clock in the morning on the 16th, our receptionist Li Bingquan came to Zhou Beifeng's bed and told him the latest news that "Tianjin has been liberated".Although the official news of the liberation of Tianjin has not yet been announced, Wuliqiao has received reliable information from intercepted phone calls from the enemy.Soon, Su Jing formally notified Deng Baoshan: "The war in Tianjin has come to an end, the Kuomintang troops have all disintegrated, and the commander of the city defense, Chen Changjie, has been captured." This time, the peace negotiations in Peking went more smoothly.

On the afternoon of the 16th, negotiations continued.During the negotiation, Nie Rongzhen told Deng Baoshan: "The issue of Suiyuan, the Party Central Committee instructed to discuss it slowly. However, if the peaceful liberation of Beiping can be successfully completed, so that the cultural relics of China's centuries-old capital can be returned to the people's embrace, Suiyuan It is easy to discuss the issue. Chairman Mao said that a more moderate method will be used, which we call the "Suiyuan method." Nie Rongzhen asked Deng Baoshan to convey this opinion to Fu Zuoyi.Deng Baoshan and Zhou Beifeng were very happy after hearing these words, because they knew that Suiyuan was the place where Fu Zuoyi started his family, and it was the place where Fu Zuoyi was most concerned. not worried.

This afternoon, in a relatively friendly atmosphere, the two sides reached an agreement on a number of specific issues based on the collation of the negotiation records on the 15th, and initially signed 14 articles in the "Preliminary Opinions on the Peaceful Liberation of Peking".These 14 preliminary opinions were immediately sent to Peiping by telegram, and Fu Zuoyi was very satisfied after reading them.Therefore, the two parties agreed that Deng Baoshan would return to Beiping the next day to report to Fu Zuoyi face-to-face, and study related matters in the next step; Zhou Beifeng would stay in Wuliqiao to be in charge of the liaison between the two parties.For the convenience of communication, Deng Baoshan hoped that our side could also send representatives into the city with him, and said that this was Fu Zuoyi's own wish.Lin Biao immediately decided that Su Jing and Deng Baoshan would go to Peiping.

When Lin Biao, Luo Ronghuan, and Nie Rongzhen were about to leave Wuliqiao and shook hands with Deng Baoshan to say goodbye, Lin Biao handed a letter to Deng Baoshan and asked him to pass it on to Fu Zuoyi.This letter was written in the name of Lin Biao, commander of the Pingjin Front Command, and Luo Ronghuan, political commissar, but it was actually written by Mao Zedong himself.Since the letter was not sealed, Deng Baoshan was eager to understand the contents of the letter, so she opened it and read it after Lin Biao and others left.Deng Baoshan was very surprised after reading the letter, so she said to Su Jing and Zhou Beifeng: "This letter is too unexpected, and the wording is very harsh. Fu Zuoyi may not be able to bear it." He asked the two for their opinions, saying that he was going to reply The queen of the city did not hand over this letter to Fu Zuoyi, so as not to cause extra complications, make the matter stalemate, or even overturn the agreement, so that the results of the negotiations fell short.Su Jing didn't know the content of the letter, but seeing Deng Baoshan's attitude, she also thought it should be given enough attention.So immediately after dinner, I went to the Pingjin Front Command to report to Lin Biao, Luo Ronghuan, and Nie Rongzhen.After thinking for a while, Lin Biao said to Su Jing: "That letter is a bit harsh, and it's okay if he doesn't hand it in for a while." Said: "You can decide, it's okay not to hand it in for the time being." In this way, the letter written by Mao Zedong has not been handed over to Fu Zuoyi for the time being.This situation, no matter at that time or in the future, should be said to be extremely rare.