Chapter 60 7. Peaceful Liberation of Changchun

When Zheng Dongguo first heard the news of the uprising of the 60th Army from Ouyang Wu, the deputy commander of the 52nd Division of the 60th Army's provisional division, on the night of October 16, he already understood how bleak the prospects for Changchun were. wonderful.He had no choice but to report to Wei Lihuang.When Zeng Zesheng sent him a letter the next morning, Jiang Biwu, the head of the political affairs department, urging him to join the uprising, of course he couldn't agree because of his position as Chiang Kai-shek's confidant.But in the reality of the siege at that time, he was powerless to stop it, so he had no choice but to let it go.Therefore, he said to Jiang Biwu:

"Trust me to stay, and I will not retaliate. Please go back and tell Commander Zeng that he wants to revolt, and ask him to think for himself; if you want me to go with him, I can't do it!" But what should we do next?He has no bottom in his mind.After Zeng Zesheng led the uprising of the Sixty Army, there was only one New Seventh Army left in Changchun City.In desperation, Zheng Dongguo had no choice but to convene a meeting of officers above the division commander of the New Seventh Army to study countermeasures.Unexpectedly, there was silence at the meeting, only the two inspectors sent by Chiang Kai-shek and the chief of the military reunification agent spoke empty words at the meeting, expressing their intention to go to Changbai Mountain to fight guerrillas.

On the evening of the 17th, Zheng Dongguo received a call from Zeng Zesheng. This was the last call Zeng Zesheng gave him when he left Changchun, and told him that a representative of the People's Liberation Army wanted to talk to him.During the phone call, Liu Hao from our side said to Zheng Dongguo: "I am a representative of the People's Liberation Army. You are aware of the situation in Changchun now. Our policy is that laying down weapons can guarantee the safety of life and property. I hope you will think about it and stop Make unnecessary sacrifices." Zheng Dongguo replied: "Since we have failed, there is nothing left to say but death in battle. You can't do it by laying down your arms." Zheng Dongguo rejected our army's last fight.

According to the book "Zhou Enlai's Chronicle", when the central government received a telegram from the Dongye headquarters at 17:00 on the 17th, knowing that the 60th Army had risen and our army was "forcing Zheng to surrender", Zhou Enlai thought that Zheng Dongguo could still be fought for. Because if Zheng Dongguo, a general who was born in the first period of Whampoa, can revolt, it will have a considerable impact on the entire Kuomintang soldiers of the Whampoa faction.That night, Zhou Enlai wrote a personal letter to his former Whampoa student and sent it to the front line in Changchun by telegram.Zhou Enlai said in his letter:

Brother is now in danger in a lonely city, and the morale of the people has been deviated for a long time. Chiang Kai-shek has repeatedly ordered his brother to break through, but he has been heavily surrounded by the People's Liberation Army, how can he escape.Commander Zeng's act of righteousness this time has opened a door for his brother to perform meritorious service for the people and redeem himself.At this time when misfortunes, fortunes, honors and disgraces are at stake, I think back to the original intention of the Huangpu revolution, resolutely raised the banner of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism, led the entire Changchun garrison, declared anti-imperialism, anti-Chiang, opposed the reactionary rule of the Kuomintang, and supported the land. Revolutionary, join the ranks of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, then I can guarantee that the Chinese people and its Liberation Army will follow the lenient policy of the Chinese Communist Party, let go of the past, welcome the uprising of brothers, and treat Commander Zeng and his troops equally.

Regrettably, after this telegram was copied by our besieging troops, it was handed over to Shi Shuo, the deputy commander of the New Seventh Army when our army entered Changchun, asking him to hand it over to Zheng Dongguo immediately.Shi said that a staff officer was sent to send it.Since Zheng Dongguo's headquarters was still resisting at that time, the order was very chaotic, so the staff officer could not go in to deliver the letter, nor could he report the result to Shi Shuo.By the time Shi said he knew, it was too late.Therefore, Zheng Dongguo failed to see this important letter. Zheng Dongguo didn't know about this letter, but at this time he believed that the most reliable New Seventh Army might also be seeking a way to survive.

Li Hong, the commander of the New Seventh Army, fell ill, and Shi Shuo, the deputy commander of the military affairs, acted on his behalf.Shi Shuo and Chief of Staff Long Guojun saw that the entire army was about to be annihilated. In order to save the lives of the entire army (there were more than 3,000 wounded and more than 1,000 family members in the New Seventh Army at the time), they had no choice but to revolt or surrender. The New Seventh Army was separated from the New First Army, and they were regarded as the direct line of Jiang Jun. They felt that they should listen to Zheng Dongguo and act together with Zheng Dongguo.Zheng Dongguo didn't speak, and they always felt that it was inconvenient to take action first.After discussing with Zheng Dongguo's deputy chief of staff, Yang Youmei, Shi Shuo and Long Guojun decided to invite Zheng Dongguo to the New Seventh Army to attend a meeting of officers above the battalion level.In order to save Zheng Zheng's face, he said to the outside world that he was coerced by the New Seventh Army.However, when Long Guojun went to Zheng Dongguo to invite Zheng to the New Seventh Army for a meeting on the afternoon of the 17th, Zheng Dongguo not only refused to go to the meeting, but instead sternly reprimanded Long Guojun, saying: "Long Guojun, you and Shi Shuo did as much as I did." Years (Shi Shuo and Long Guojun used to be the Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff of Zheng Dongguo when they were in the New First Army of India), I have not treated you badly. Why are you imitating Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng today and selling me for glory?" Long After Guojun knew Zheng Dongguo's attitude, he didn't dare to insist on asking Zheng Dongguo to go to the meeting, and hurriedly withdrew.In this way, the plan of the New Seventh Army to hope that Zheng Dongguo would lead the uprising fell through.

It could be considered an accident, or it could be said to be inevitable. At this time, thanks to the kindness of a reporter, the idea of ​​the New Seventh Army was brought into reality. On the evening of the 17th, a reporter named Yang Zhixing who was very close to Zheng Dongguo visited the historian.Yang asked Shi: "Under such circumstances, do you intend to lead the New Seventh Army to withdraw from the fighting between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party and negotiate an armistice with the PLA?" Shi asked Yang: "What is Commander Zheng's opinion?" Yang said: "Yes, It is inconvenient for him to say so.” Afterwards, it was learned that Zheng Dongguo did not instruct Yang Zhixing to come to talk with Shi Shuo, but Shi Shuo believed that Zheng Dongguo sent Yang Zhixing to express his position indirectly. In the early morning of the 18th, Shi Shuo dispatched Wang Jiren, the artillery commander of the New Seventh Army, and three others out of the city to contact the besieging troops.Our army asked the New Seventh Army to send official representatives to conduct formal negotiations.

That night, Shi said that after seeking the opinion of Li Hong, the commander of the army, he sent five people, including Peng Keli, the deputy commander of the 38th Division, and Ning Wei, the deputy commander of the temporary 61st Division, out of the city as official representatives. Long as our representative, the two sides conducted formal negotiations. After negotiations between the representatives of the two parties, it was agreed that the New Seventh Army had to deal with various problems in accordance with the requirements of the uprising, and there were many difficulties (mainly because the 38th Division, the main force of the New Seventh Army, was Sun Liren's old unit, and many officers were quite hostile to Sun Liren. Superstition. At this time, Sun Liren had already gone to Taiwan. If he declared an uprising, there might be turmoil), he could only surrender by laying down his arms.The two sides also reached agreement on how to deal with several issues after laying down their arms.When the representatives of both parties signed, the peaceful liberation of Changchun was a foregone conclusion.

On the night of the 18th, the Northeast Bureau reported to the Central Committee the New Seventh Army's willingness to lay down its arms and our army's specific opinions on dealing with related issues. On the 19th, according to the plan agreed upon by both parties, our army entered Changchun to take over the New Seventh Army defense area.The New Seventh Army, including the 38th Division, which was once known as the "No. Few people joined the ranks of our army, and part of the artillery was immediately incorporated into our artillery unit and participated in the battle after the Liaoshen Campaign).

At this time, Zheng Dongguo was still in his headquarters in the bank building, with only Deputy Chief of Staff Yang Youmei and a spy battalion beside him, not to mention that even Yang Youmei advocated laying down his arms.When Yang Youmei told Zheng Dongguo the latest situation, he was completely desperate and completely collapsed.Because his 100,000 army failed to fight a decent battle, it was trapped to death, dragged to death, and collapsed piece by piece.As a Whampoa first-class student and professional soldier who has fought for decades, one can imagine his mood.Up to this time, he still refused Yang Youmei's advice to lay down his arms, but made a truthful report to Wei Lihuang, the Northeast "suppression general".At this time, his old superior and colleague Du Yuming had been sent to Shenyang by Chiang Kai-shek again to clean up the mess.After Du Yuming arrived in Shenyang, he sent a telegram to Zheng Dongguo, saying that he was going to send a helicopter to Changchun to pick him up, and asked if there was any place for him to land.Facing this telegram, Zheng Dongguo could only smile wryly, because the city of Changchun was completely controlled by the People's Liberation Army.Therefore, he called Du Yuming back: "It's too late, and Kuang also can't bear to abandon his subordinates and leave. The only way to repay him is with death." Zheng Dongguo did not expect two things: (1) Du Yuming’s telegram was sent in accordance with Chiang Kai-shek’s opinion, but there were no helicopters in Shenyang at that time, and even if there were, the pilots did not dare to fly in the whole city except the bank building. Landed in Changchun under the occupation, so Du Yuming himself said that this telegram was "just a trick to deceive Zheng Dongguo"; (2) He and Du Yuming would meet again, and they spent a lot of time together, but That is in the future War Criminals Management Office. For an army like the New Seventh Army, which was neither an uprising nor a surrender, and surrendered by laying down its arms, how to deal with many important issues. To be honest, our army really didn't have much experience at that time.For this reason, after research, the Northeast Bureau made the following decision on the 19th and immediately reported it to the Central Committee: (1) organize it in the name of the Liberation League; Go; (3) Treat Zheng Dongguo and others with courtesy, and try to let them issue a declaration or send a telegram, but not reluctantly; (4) Let Zheng Dongguo and Zeng Zesheng come to Harbin; (5) Temporarily transfer a group of cadres from the Military and Political University Organize deliveries.After the above opinions were reported to the central government, the central government responded by calling back on the 20th to express its full agreement. According to the above decision, our army has not launched an attack on the bank building, but once again worked for Zheng Dongguo through Yang Youmei.Yang Youmei hopes that Zheng can change his stubborn attitude as soon as possible, so as to prevent the bank building from being destroyed by artillery fire and save Zheng Dongguo's life.But Zheng Dongguo just refused. On the afternoon of the 20th, Yang Youmei came up with a solution, which was to ask our army to show some face, and on the morning of the 21st, let their secret service battalion fire a symbolic shot for a while, as if they had resisted, and then the secret service battalion surrendered. The army entered the bank building again, and announced to the public that Zheng Dongguo was injured and captured during the resistance.After the political commissar Zhu of the Ninth Independent Division of our army entered the bank building to negotiate, he reported this opinion to his superiors, and the superiors really agreed to this rare combat method, which really gave Zheng Dongguo a little face.However, since Zheng Dongguo was indeed not even injured at all, our army has never said that he was "wounded and captured" in publicity. On the morning of the 21st, he was going to be a prisoner.On the 20th, the last day when Zheng Dongguo was the deputy commander-in-chief of the Northeast "Suppression General" of the Kuomintang, the commander of the First Corps and the chairman of Jilin Province, he felt sad, full of thoughts, mixed feelings, and couldn't sleep all night.That night, the city of Changchun was peaceful.His last farewell telegram to Chiang Kai-shek is worth reading: At 7:00 p.m. on October 19th, I would like to submit an email.Yang Youmei, deputy chief of staff of the Headquarters, and all the officers and soldiers of the headquarters and the special task force (two battalions), as well as Cui Chuiyan, the secretary general of the provincial government, had a total of about 1,000 people. They stuck to the central bank and fought fiercely all day long on October 19. More than a hundred officers and soldiers were killed or injured.It became silent at night, but the small bandit troops continued to approach in groups, trying to make a surprise attack, but they were all repelled.As of 5:00 pm this morning, there were only sporadic fighting. After dusk, the bandits launched a fierce attack, taking advantage of their superior artillery fire, and occupied the field fortifications dozens of steps away from the central bank building.My peripheral guards are all heroic and benevolent.For a moment, they only guarded the building, the soldiers were exhausted, and although the morale was strong, they could not continue.I'm afraid it will be difficult tonight.Reminiscing about the hardships and dangers of being ordered, only lacking moral authority, Zeng Bu suddenly changed, Li Jun was destroyed, the overall situation was irreversible, and he left the shame of the revolution and hated himself.The duty should be to follow the instruction, fulfill the bounden duty of a soldier, preserve the integrity of the nation, and not disgrace the life.However, the country's affairs are so difficult that I deeply regret not being able to continue to follow the left and right, to share the worries of Junzuo, and to pursue the great cause of the revolution.The opportunity is urgent, I would like to inform you by telegram.Worked in Zheng Dongguo. At 23:00 on October 20. We can know from reading this telegram that Zheng Dongguo told a lot of lies here in order to gain a good reputation in front of Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang army.But then again, among Chiang Kai-shek's group of arrogant and arrogant "students of the son of heaven", Zheng Dongguo is indeed one of the few lieutenant generals who can be loyal to Chiang Kai-shek in the end. It was early morning when Zheng Dongguo sent this telegram.According to the tacit agreement reached between our army and Yang Youmei, at 4 o'clock in the morning, there was a burst of gunshots and grenade explosions outside the bank building. It seemed that our army was heading towards the last stronghold of the Kuomintang army in Changchun City. The bank building where the Ministry is located launched a violent "offensive".However, this was the only real "false attack" in the Chinese People's Liberation Army's decades of war history. The real guns and live ammunition of both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party (which were basically fired by Zheng Dongguo's spy battalion) were all directed towards the sky. As a result of the "battle", there were no casualties on both sides, and more than 400 officers and soldiers in the spy battalion all put down their weapons.The only exception was that when the car in which Pan Shuodan, who was sent by our army commander Xiao Jinguang to pick up Zheng Dongguo, was driving on the street, the driver was accidentally injured by a stray bullet. The "battle" on the street is going on fiercely, and Zheng Dongguo has reached the moment of "Success" in the basement of the building.When he was anxious because he couldn't find a weapon, the guards who had already prepared surrounded him and rushed to the lobby on the first floor, where the Chinese People's Liberation Army brought by Pan Shuodan was already waiting here.What else can Zheng Dongguo say at this point?He had to be escorted into a car and sent out of Changchun. It is worth mentioning that three days later, the KMT's mouthpiece "Central Daily" published the following news on the front page: Central News Agency, Shenyang, 23rd: It is reported that General Zheng Dongguo, the deputy commander of the "bandit suppression" headquarters in the northeast of Changchun and the chairman of Jilin Province, led his troops to stick to the stronghold of the central bank building since the urban battle, fought bravely with the bandits, and ran out of ammunition. Absolutely, finally the last bullet was sent out on the morning of the 21st, and it was heroic.All 300 officers and soldiers under him died in the line of duty.On the 18th, Cheng called his wife, Ms. Chen Zelian, saying: Please take care, goodbye! On the 20th, a telegram was sent to Du Yuming, Zhao Jiaxiang and other friends saying: Although the general situation is over now, we should fight to the end, in order to protect the loyalty and integrity of our party's revolutionary soldiers, and hope to relieve the pain. Because the "Central Daily" spread such rumors, even after seeing the news, Zheng Dongguo's relatives ventured to the Northeast to attend the funeral.Immediately afterwards, our "Northeast Daily" also published the important news of the surrender of the First Corps of the Kuomintang Army and the New Seventh Army under the banner headline "Great Changes in China's War Situation" on the front page, and also specially published Zheng Dongguo and Li Keqiang. A photo of Hong arriving at Harbin Station. Changchun, one of the three major cities in Northeast China, has completed the peaceful liberation of the whole city by this time.The time was the morning of October 21, 1948.However, there is one thing that must be mentioned. During the peaceful liberation of Changchun, there was also someone who caused a lot of disasters to Changchun. This is Chiang Kai-shek.When the 60th Army moved out of the city after the uprising and after the New Seventh Army decided to lay down its weapons, Chiang Kai-shek sent the air force to Changchun to carry out indiscriminate bombing in the name of "bombing the disobedient troops in Changchun".Even Zheng Dongguo felt that this kind of behavior was indiscriminate killing of civilians. He once contacted the Air Force and told them not to let the common people suffer like this. Just that night, in a small village called Sijiazi on the outskirts of Changchun, which is also the headquarters of the First Corps of the Northeast Field Army, Xiao Jinguang, Xiao Hua and other leading cadres of our army met Zheng Dongguo at a feast.At first, Zheng drank in silence, without saying a word.Later, I was moved by our sincerity, so I said something like this: "I have worked in the Kuomintang for more than 20 years, and now of course I will be punished if I fail. As for the officers and soldiers under my command, if anyone is willing to go home, I hope to let them go back. "He also put forward two requirements, one is not to broadcast, and the other is not to participate in public banquets and other activities.In view of his situation, we all agree. In view of the fact that Zheng Dongguo did not prevent the uprising of the 60th Army and the surrender of the New Seventh Army at the critical moment of the peaceful liberation of Changchun, our army has always treated him and the 1st Corps he led as surrenders and gave them considerable preferential treatment (Mao Zedong in The telegram to the Northeast Bureau specifically pointed out: "Zheng Dongguo is a senior officer in Huangpu, and this time he led his troops to surrender...he should be treated with courtesy").After studying for a period of time, Zheng Dongguo participated in the construction of New China. He has successively served as a counselor of the Ministry of Water Resources, a member of the National Defense Committee, a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Chinese Revolutionary Committee, and the vice chairman of the Whampoa Military Academy Alumni Association. After he died of illness in Beijing in 1991, a farewell ceremony was held in the hall of Babaoshan Cemetery. At the same time, a memorial ceremony was also held in Taiwan.Among the many Whampoa generals, Du Yuming and Zheng Dongguo were the only two who held condolence ceremonies on both sides of the Taiwan Strait at the same time. Our military used a three-pronged approach of military siege, economic blockade, and political disintegration, and basically solved the 100,000 Kuomintang troops without fighting a big battle, and tens of thousands of them joined our revolutionary ranks with weapons.The peaceful liberation of Changchun brought a great city of national renown intact back into the hands of the people, and it will soon be able to exert its great influence in the struggle for the liberation of the whole country.In addition, this method of peacefully liberating large cities has provided some useful experience for the liberation of other cities across the country, enabling more large cities to follow this road of peaceful liberation in the future.Here, the peaceful liberation of Changchun was a good start.