Chapter 59 6. Zeng Ze turned his back on the dark and turned to the bright

Throughout the War of Liberation, under the strong political offensive and military pressure of our army, a large number of Kuomintang troops surrendered to our army.Among them, the most important event was the uprising of the 60th Army. Zeng Zesheng's uprising of the 60th Army was not a temporary decision when the army was under pressure. It had a process of gradual development and change, and it was the result of long-term hard work by our Party and our army. Zeng Zesheng is a native of Yongshan, Yunnan. He was born in the third phase of Whampoa, and later participated in the advanced political training class of Whampoa Military Academy.He participated in the Northern Expedition.After the Northern Expedition, he resigned as a major in the National Army because he "did not want to be a corrupt soldier". In 1929, he, Pan Shuodan and other 20 young soldiers were recruited by the Yunnan Army. Since then, they have served in the Yunnan Army for a long time and are one of the most important military backbones under Long Yun and Lu Han.

The 60th Army and the 93rd Army on the Northeast battlefield are both the Yunnan Army, and they are the troops run by Long Yun and Lu Han, the local military and political leaders in Yunnan for many years.Long Yun and Lu Hanben are a pair of cousins ​​of the Yi nationality in Yanshan, Zhaotong, Yunnan. They came out of the Yi family village and struggled in the army for decades, from soldiers to becoming irreplaceable and unquestionable commanders of the Yunnan Army. It is recognized as the "King of Yunnan" by the whole country.Their troops are all brought out by themselves, and their local concepts and family colors are very strong.However, although the Yunnan Army began to follow Sun Yat-sen in 1921, and accepted the command of Chiang Kai-shek in 1927, the Yunnan local government also accepted the leadership of the Nationalist Government, and obeyed Chiang Kai-shek's various orders to "clear up the party", "suppress the communist party" and block the Red Army , and under the command of Chiang Kai-shek, went to Yunnan to participate in the War of Resistance Against Japan, and made great contributions in the famous Taierzhuang Battle, Wuhan Defense Battle, and Western Yunnan Battle.However, Chiang Kai-shek, in accordance with his consistent policy of eliminating dissidents, always regarded the Yunnan army as an unreliable local force not directly related to him, and treated them differently, and was always looking for opportunities to completely eliminate Long Yun's power in Yunnan. , Let yourself completely rule Yunnan.After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Lu Han to lead the 60th Army and the 93rd Army, the main force of the Yunnan Army, to Hanoi, Vietnam to accept the surrender of the Japanese army.Long Yun and Lu Han knew that they were taking the bottom line and turning the tiger away from the mountain, but in the face of this kind of national justice, they had to go.Unexpectedly, just after Lu Han led the main force of the Yunnan Army to leave Yunnan, in October 1945, Chiang Kai-shek created the famous "Yunnan Incident" and ordered the Central Army led by Du Yuming, who was stationed in Yunnan, to surround the Yunnan Provincial Government and brutally suppress the Local forces kidnapped Long Yun to Chongqing and reorganized the Yunnan provincial government.Immediately afterwards, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the 60th Army and the 93rd Army to march to Haiphong, Hanoi, and Beihai respectively, and then directly transport them to the Northeast by sea to fight a civil war in the Northeast, allowing them to weaken each other in the battle against the Communist Party and hurt both sides.Chiang Kai-shek's method of dealing with the local power faction made the officers and men of the Yunnan army feel cold-hearted, but they were helpless in front of Chiang Kai-shek's powerful Central Army.It was under such circumstances that the 60th Army came to the front line of the Northeast Civil War.After arriving in the Northeast, the 60th Army still maintained many characteristics of the Yunnan Army. The officers above the regiment were basically Zeng Zesheng's students or old subordinates, and basically did not allow Chiang Kai-shek to insert his own people. Even the recruits were recruited from Yunnan. So Zeng Zesheng has extremely high prestige in the Sixty Army.

After the Dian army arrived in the northeast, it was divided and used.The 184th Division of the 60th Army was placed in the Haicheng area and was commanded by Du Yuming; the 182nd Division was placed in the Changtu area and was commanded by Sun Liren; A temporary 21st Division.In fact, this arrangement is to facilitate the surveillance of the Kuomintang direct troops.As for the provision and treatment, of course, they are treated differently from Chiang Kai-shek's direct line troops.Therefore, not long after the 184th Division of the 60th Army arrived in the Northeast, it was divided and used. Because it was afraid of being abandoned by Chiang Kai-shek as a miscellaneous brand in Haicheng, an uprising was held in May 1946 under the leadership of Commander Pan Shuoduan.After the uprising of the 184th Division, the 60th Army was of course treated differently, and there were constantly supervisors and imperial envoys sent to the army in the name of various assessments, inspections, and liaisons.At the same time, the 60th Army was transferred to fight in North Manchuria, and the 93rd Army was transferred to Rehe to fight, so that the two Yunnan Army units were far apart.When the newly formed 184th Division was wiped out, the original Second Zhongchang Road Traffic Police Corps was reorganized into a temporary 52nd Division and allocated to the 60th Army to replace the 184th Division.The Second Traffic Police Corps is the well-known former Loyalty and Nation Salvation Army belonging to the military system, and its combat effectiveness is not strong. It is actually used to monitor the 60th Army when it is sent to the 60th Army.Therefore, the 60th Army and Chiang Kai-shek's direct army have been at odds for a long time, and the differences are getting bigger and bigger.

As early as 1937, when the 60th Army was first formed, the Yunnan Communist Party organization sent Party members Yang Zhong and others into the army to carry out work, and established the first party branch of the Yunnan Army in the 184th Division.Our party also sent Zhou Shiying, Xue Zizheng and other comrades from Yan'an to the 60th Army to carry out work in accordance with the central government's policy of "covering up and being capable, laying in ambush for a long time, accumulating strength, waiting for the opportunity, and opposing impatience and leakage".Yang Zhong also served as Zeng Zesheng's deputy commander and special battalion commander. In the autumn of 1947, because his identity might be exposed, he decided to leave the Sixty Army according to the organization (then he was working exclusively for the Kuomintang army outside Changchun City), so he was very concerned about the internal affairs of the Sixty Army. situation is well understood.When the Yunnan Army arrived in the Northeast, the Party Central Committee made it a major task to win over the Yunnan Army. Both Zhu De and Ye Jianying personally participated in this work.Zhang Chong, a veteran of the Dian Army and the former commander of the 184th Division of the 60th Army, had contact with our party very early. After his identity was exposed, he went to Yan'an to participate in the revolution. Vice Chairman of the People's Government, participated in the work against the Yunnan Army.

According to the specific situation of the 60th Army, the Northeast Bureau has carried out various efforts to fight against the enemy. The military officers wrote letters, intending to release the officers and soldiers from Yunnan who had changed their minds after being captured to do rebellious work. In May 1947, more than 7,500 people of the Provisional 21st Division were captured by our army when they broke through the encirclement in Hailong. He is a native of the Bai nationality, and he was born in the famous Yunnan Lecture Hall) personally taught the captives, pointed out to them Chiang Kai-shek’s various crimes that harmed the country and the people and his intentions to use, divide, disintegrate, and eliminate the Yunnan army, and encouraged them to participate in the revolution and fight back to their hometowns in the future , Rescue the fathers and folks in Yunnan.Our political workers also distributed books such as "On New Democracy" and "The Inside Story of Jiang's Administration" to them.In the end, our army released more than 120 officers on the spot, let them go back, and asked them to bring back a letter to Zeng Zesheng and other senior officers of the Yunnan Army, urging them to follow the example of General Pan Shuoduan and take the road of self-renewal.In particular, Zhang Chong and Pan Shuodan, who had already revolted and served as the deputy chief of staff of the Northeast Military Region, insisted on using various methods to work with the officers and soldiers of the 60th Army.

Liu Hao, who was born in Yunnan, is an old comrade who joined the party in 1937. When he and several other comrades were sent from Yan'an to work in the Northeast, Liu Shaoqi and Zhu De personally gave them the task.Liu Hao's wife is also of Yi nationality, and is related to Lu Junquan, the commander of the 93rd Army. Liu Hao used to have contacts with Long Yun and Lu Han according to the arrangement of the party organization when he was in Yunnan.So after he arrived in the Northeast, he used various connections to carry out work in the Yunnan Army. He met Lu Junquan three times and handed over Zhu De's personal letter.According to Liu Hao's situation after many efforts, the Northeast Bureau believed after research that our party's work foundation in the 60th Army is better than that of the 93rd Army, and Zeng Zesheng's situation is better than that of Lu Junquan. The focus of the work was on the 60th Army, and two Yunnan Army working committees were established, one with Li Lisan, Liaison Minister of the Northeast Bureau, as secretary, and the other with Jilin Military Region Commander Zhou Baozhong as concurrent secretary, and Liu Hao served as deputy secretary in both committees. secretary.As early as the summer of 1947, Liu Hao discussed the issue of the uprising with Zeng Zesheng's confidant, Long Yao, commander of the temporary 21st Division. Long Yao expressed his understanding, but said that the current conditions were not mature, and he would discuss it in the future.He hoped that our army could release the captured officers and soldiers of the temporary 21st division as soon as possible, so as to prevent Wei Lihuang from placing a large number of officers directly from the Jiang army.According to Longyao's request, our army released more than 200 officers of the temporary 21st Division who were captured and educated back to the 21st Division.All the above-mentioned work had a considerable influence in the Sixty Army.

In the spring of 1948, the 60th Army was stationed in Jilin and Yongji areas.Under the strong pressure of our army, Chiang Kai-shek agreed to Wei Lihuang's plan and asked him to withdraw to Changchun.Chiang Kai-shek gave Zeng Zesheng a secret order to blow up the Xiaofengman Hydropower Station before the 60th Army withdrew.At the same time, Hu Yan, the head of the May 4th regiment stationed in Xiaofengman, also received a lot of propaganda materials from our army, asking them to seriously protect the largest and most important hydropower station in the Northeast (the power generation of the Xiaofengman Hydropower Station accounted for the entire Northeast China at that time. Half of the power generation capacity, and it was also the largest hydropower station in the country at the time).In such a situation where a serious choice must be made, Zeng Zesheng said after discussing with his subordinates: "Chiang Kai-shek wants us to be sinners like Huayuankou (Note: In June 1938, the Japanese invaded Eastern Henan. Huayuankou in the north of Zhengzhou exploded the Yellow River embankment, causing a catastrophe that flooded 54,000 square kilometers of land, drowned more than 800,000 people, and affected 12.5 million people). We are not that stupid. The Communist Party said that whoever destroys Xiaofengman He is a sinner through the ages, and is listed as a war criminal.” He withstood the pressure of Chiang Kai-shek and asked Hu Yan to detonate the ammunition depot of the regiment headquarters, giving people the illusion that the power station had been bombed and protecting the Xiaofengman Hydropower Station.This shows that in the face of such a major event, Zeng Zesheng has already stood on the side of the people.

Since the Yunnan Army had great conflicts with Chiang Kai-shek, and it can even be said that there was a deep hatred for the "Yunnan Incident" in 1945, why did they still follow Chiang Kai-shek and oppose our army, unwilling to revolt and surrender?Why does our party make great efforts to fight for it while fighting against it?Here is a very important issue. After the "Yunnan Incident", Long Yun was kidnapped by Chiang Kai-shek and taken to Chongqing. Long Yun was exempted from all military and political positions in Yunnan. In name, Long Yun was made the president of the military Senate, but in fact he was placed under house arrest. In Nanjing.Lu Han had to endure the humiliation and support others in Yunnan, clean up the mess and maintain his hometown.The two armies, the main force of the Yunnan Army, were all sent to the front lines of the Northeast Civil War.Under such circumstances, the Yunnan Army in the Northeast, especially the 60th Army, the main force of the Yunnan Army, became the collateral for political transactions between Chiang Kai-shek and Lu Han.The 60th Army was established in 1937, and Lu Han was its first commander. All senior officers in the army were single-handedly selected by Lu Han.The 60th Army is still fighting civil war in the Northeast, which shows that Lu Han is still following Chiang Kai-shek; if the 60th Army has actions to rebel against Chiang Kai-shek, it shows that Lu Han rebelled against the Chiang Dynasty. Yun would be investigated and even persecuted by Chiang Kai-shek.Also, Lu Junquan, who was in Jinzhou at that time, was Lu Han's uncle, and the situation of the 93rd Army and the 60th Army under his command was completely similar (after Lu Junquan was promoted to the commander of the Sixth Corps, the Sixth Corps actually only had the Ninety-three Army and one army, with Sheng Jiaxing, the former deputy commander of the 93rd Army, as the commander).If the 60th Army rebelled against Chiang Kai-shek, the 93rd Army would have difficulty surviving.It is precisely because of the above reasons that the generals of the 60th Army have always lived with the attitude of being kind to Lu Han and sharing weal and woe, and have always lived with the purpose of protecting Long Yun and Lu Han.As Long Yao, the commander of the 21st Division of the 60th Army's temporary formation, said himself:

Everyone held the belief that "you can betray Chiang, but not Lu". Therefore, he was squeezed and suppressed by Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army internally, and surrounded by the offensive of the People's Liberation Army externally. Dismal business.Even at the critical moment when Changchun was trapped, ammunition was exhausted, horses and dogs were killed, and barely survived, they still struggled desperately in order to maintain the political stability of Yunnan and live up to Lu Han.The righteousness of the country and the nation are ignored, and the Communist Party's struggle has gone through a long and tortuous road.However, the influence of the Communist Party's policy has already sowed the seeds of ideas in the 60th Army, and when the time is right, they will germinate and grow.

Zeng Zesheng and the leaders of the 60th Army began to think about their own way out from the siege to the very critical mid-September.It is absolutely impossible for Chiang Kai-shek to send reinforcements, it is absolutely impossible for Changchun to hold on, and it is absolutely impossible for the Yunnan army to enter the pass again.After these kinds of impossible possibilities, there are only two paths: one is to be buried for Chiang Kai-shek and be wiped out by the People's Liberation Army; the other is to revolt against Chiang and defect to the Communist Party. On the evening of September 22, Zeng Zesheng asked two of his teachers, Bai Zhaoxue and Long Yao, to have a secret talk.All three of them tended to take the latter path. Their only concern was that Lu Han in Yunnan would be killed by Chiang Kai-shek immediately after the uprising of the 60th Army, so they failed to further study the specific steps.

But after much deliberation, they estimated that Chiang Kai-shek had already been beaten so frantically that he was too busy to take care of himself, and it was difficult for him to harm Yunnan.As for the safety of the family members far behind, it is impossible to take into account at this time, and there are grievances and debts, which can only be settled later.Therefore, they gradually made up their minds to revolt. Starting from September 26, they entered the preparation period for the revolt. When the Sixtieth Army was about to revolt, the biggest problem was how to deal with the New Seventh Army and the tentatively organized 52nd Division nominally belonging to the Sixtieth Army, because this was using two of our own divisions against the other's four divisions, and we couldn't be careless.The second is whether to win Zheng Dongguo to revolt together, or at least to win Zheng Dongguo not to use force to oppose. On October 13, Zeng Zesheng, Bai Zhaoxue, and Long Yao conducted substantive research at the headquarters of the 60th Army and made the following decisions: (1) Send Zhang Bing, the head of the 551st Regiment who had been captured by the PLA, to As a representative, Li Zhengxian, the deputy head of the May 4th Regiment of Changhe, went out of the city to contact the People's Liberation Army with a letter signed by three people; At the same time, they sent letters to their military division-level officers to persuade and warn them, and shouted at their soldiers, explaining the reasons for the uprising of the 60th Army, so as to win their sympathy and support; Detain their division commanders and heads of regiments, and strive to coerce them into submission; (5) dispatch pickets to maintain social order; (6) make preparations for dealing with the wounded, sick and rear personnel. On the night of October 14th, Zhang Bingchang and Li Zheng took the letter from Zeng Zesheng and other three people out of the city to the forward position of our army.At this time, Xiao Jinguang, the commander of the First Corps, and Xiao Hua, the political commissar, were studying how to fight, because our Dongye headquarters got inside information from Shenyang, knowing that Chiang Kai-shek had ordered the Changchun defenders to break through, and ordered the New Third Army and New Sixth Army in Shenyang to respond.When they got the news that the 60th Army was about to revolt, they were very cautious, fearing that it was a trick of the enemy before breaking out.Therefore, on the one hand, he reported to the General Manager of the East, and on the other hand, he discussed with the people from the 60th Army, and put forward three conditions to the 60th Army: (1) It must be stated how the 60th Army treats the new 7th Army; (2) The assembly place and route after the uprising are designated by our army; (3) Immediately send senior officials out of the city to negotiate. On the 15th, while reporting to the Central Committee, the leaders of the Northeast Bureau called Xiao Jinguang and Xiao Hua, thinking that from the overall analysis, it is credible that the 60th Army will uprising, and we should make various preparations immediately. On the 16th, the central government called the Northeast Bureau and gave clear instructions on how to deal with the relevant issues: Your policy of fighting for the uprising of the 60th Army is correct, and the analysis and disposal of the 60th Army by the First Corps is also correct.It is only necessary that the 60th Army's attitude towards the New Seventh Army should not exceed the limits of what they can do.When Wu Huawen withdrew from the battle in Jinan, he told Wang Yaowu on the phone that I could no longer fight, but I would not fight you, etc. This is a phenomenon of warlord troops fighting.As long as the 60th Army can be dragged out of Changchun and march into my designated area, willing to join the ranks of our People's Liberation Army, send a telegram expressing opposition to American aggression, opposition to the reactionary Kuomintang rule, support land reform and confiscation of bureaucratic capital, and support the Communist Party and the People's Liberation Army, that's enough. .You should lose no time in negotiating with representatives of the Sixtieth Army and pay attention to these representatives.If Zeng Zesheng is willing to meet with Pan Shuodan, then Pan Ke will meet with Zeng in secret to negotiate.If the 60th Army can be dragged out of Changchun according to the above method, then the 1st Corps (plus the 12th Column) should attack Changchun to deal with the New Seventh Army.Even if it cannot be solved at once, it can be solved step by step. The central government's instructions were specific and clear. After receiving the telegram, Xiao Jinguang and Xiao Hua immediately informed the two regiment commanders of the Sixty Army's decision to agree and encourage the Sixtieth Army's uprising, and asked them to return to the city immediately to inform Zeng Zesheng. On the 16th, Zheng Dongguo informed Zeng Zesheng to discuss matters elsewhere.Zeng Zesheng asked Bai Zhaoxue and Long Yao to control the army, and said: "Before I come back, the sky will fall, and you two are not allowed to leave the army. If Zheng Dongguo detains me, you will still act according to the original plan." Zeng Zesheng went to Zheng Dongguo. Seeing that Zheng was downcast and haggard, he took out Chiang Kai-shek's telegram, only to realize that it was Chiang Kai-shek who insisted on breaking out of the siege in Changchun.Zheng also told Zeng that communication with Jinzhou had been completely cut off that day, and the situation in Jinzhou was unknown.Zeng Zesheng had the important matter of the uprising in his heart, and said goodbye to Zheng after a few perfunctory words.He went to Li Hong, the commander of the New Seventh Army, and wanted to persuade Li Hong to act together.But Li Hong was suffering from typhoid fever and had a high fever.Zeng Ze was afraid that if the discussion did not go well, the event would be ruined, so he failed to tell him any news, so he came back and waited for the personnel to contact the PLA.At dusk that day, Zhang Bingchang and Li Zheng came back first, told them that they had negotiated with the People's Liberation Army, and sent official representatives out of the city to discuss various specific issues with the People's Liberation Army.Zeng Zesheng immediately made the decision to revolt according to the original plan that night, and sent two deputy division commanders Li Zuo and Ren Xiaozong as official representatives to go out of the city to have specific discussions with our army's besieging troops. On the night of October 16, the 60th Army, under the leadership of Commander Zeng Zesheng, staged an uprising according to the original plan. The uprising command post was set up at the Yuchangyuan Flour Mill where the headquarters of the May 4th and 5th regiments was located. Zhao Guozhang is an underground member of the Communist Party of China. Zhu Guangyun, the head of the group, is the development target of our party's underground organization. The 54th and 5th Regiment is also actively contacting the besieging troops of our army to revolt. Our army wants the 54th and 5th Regiment to stop the independent uprising and fully support the 60th Army uprising ).Due to the good preparations in advance, the Provisional 52nd Division also accompanied the uprising when the overall situation was determined (the wife and children of Li Tairan, the younger brother of Li Song, the commander of the Provisional 52nd Division, were separated from Jiang Jun when they retreated. After our army found it in the defense zone, we sent Li's wife and children to Changchun through our underground organization. This incident shocked the Li family quite a lot. Li Tairan sent military intelligence to our army several times, and expressed his desire to fight for an early turnaround. At this critical moment, Li Tairan played a certain role in the uprising of the 52nd Division), so the uprising of the 60th Army was the entire operation of the three divisions (only one army chief of staff, Xu Shumin, was sent by Chiang Kai-shek to the 60th Division. He was a special agent of the army, so he was arrested by Zeng Zesheng before the uprising, and several people, including the temporary 52nd Division commander and regiment commander who were originally military special agents, were escorted by Zeng Zesheng to our command post for besieging the city).In order to fight for Zheng Dongguo and Li Hong for the last time, Zeng Zesheng wrote a letter to Zheng Dongguo and Li Hong on the evening of the 16th, expressing his righteousness.This letter can be regarded as a declaration of the current situation by some insightful people in the Kuomintang army at that time.The letter said: Changchun was besieged, the environment became increasingly difficult, the soldiers suffered from hunger and cold, the people died, and the cruelty of the civil war made witnesses sad.In today's situation, the government is corrupt and incompetent, and the bureaucrats are shoddy and brutal, unprecedented in history.The wealthy capital monopolizes the economy by virtue of its power and squeezes it out. The national economy collapses and the people live in dire straits.These are all the crimes committed by the Chiang Kai-shek government to harm the country and the people, and all people with lofty ideals are heartbroken.The police force is the force of the people, not a tool to satisfy personal desires, and should save the people.Today, the officers and soldiers of our army agreed to oppose the civil war with military action and overthrow the Chiang regime in an attempt to save the country from peril, atone for the sins of the people, and pull ourselves out of the mud.The public is the head of Changchun's military and political affairs, and he is in danger of the whole city.In order to prevent the soldiers and civilians of Changshi from making unnecessary sacrifices, and the locality of Changshi from being corrupted by the flames of war, the country will be lucky, and the local people will be lucky. Zheng Dongguo and Li Hong failed to accept the faithful advice and refused to revolt.However, Zheng Dongguo did not take any action to oppose or stop it by force. He just sent his deputy chief of staff Yang Youmei, Changchun City Mayor Shang Chuandao, and provincial government secretary Cui Chuiyan to dissuade them. A cutscene showing his disapproval of the uprising.The New Seventh Army did not take hostile actions, but sent two deputy division commanders to express that they would neither participate nor prevent the uprising, and only hoped that there would be no conflict between the two sides.This fact shows that Zheng Dongguo and Li Hong are already very contradictory and shaken. On October 17, accompanied by our liaison officer Liu Hao, Zeng Zesheng went out of the city to meet Tang Tianji, deputy political commissar and director of the political department of our frontline command post under the siege, and made specific arrangements for relevant matters.That night, more than 26,000 officers and soldiers of the 60th Army left Changchun City to rest in the Jiutai area. All the original defense areas of the 60th Army were defended by our army's independent sixth and eighth divisions entering the city. Zeng Zesheng led the uprising of the 60th Army. This was the first uprising of the entire army after Wu Huawen led an uprising of a reorganized division in Jinan during the War of Liberation. It was also an uprising with the largest number of uprisings since the beginning of the War of Liberation. The warm welcome of the party, our army and the people in the liberated areas also shocked the whole country.The uprising of the 60th Army turned the situation of the Kuomintang army "sticking to Changchun" to a sudden turn for the worse. It not only forced the New Seventh Army to surrender and enabled Changchun to be peacefully liberated quickly, but also brought about a very favorable change in the Northeast War situation for our army, which accelerated the entire liberation. the course of the war. According to the order of the Central Military Commission, on January 2, 1949, the 60th Army was organized and reorganized into the 50th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and entered the ranks of the people's revolution.Zeng Zesheng still served as army commander, Bai Zhaoxue and Long Yao still served as division commanders, but the commander of the temporary 52nd Division was replaced (Li Zuo, former deputy commander of the 182nd Division of the 60th Army, served as division commander).After undergoing political training, this army underwent a radical transformation and became a new type of people's army. In 1949, he went south and entered the customs, and participated in the battle of western Hubei and the liberation of Sichuan.After the founding of New China, he went to North Korea twice to participate in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and made repeated military exploits.