After the three major battles of Liaoshen, Huaihai, and Pingjin, as well as other battles carried out by the People's Liberation Army in the strategic decisive battle stage, the elite main force of the Kuomintang army has been basically wiped out, thus fundamentally shaking the reactionary rule of the Kuomintang.With the military failure, the Kuomintang ruling group is also on the verge of extinction in terms of politics and economy. (1) Military situation From the end of June 1946 to February 1949 when the Kuomintang ruling clique launched a full-scale civil war, after two years and eight months of fighting, the Kuomintang army lost a total of more than 4.95 million troops.Although it has been constantly replenished, its total military strength has dropped from 4.3 million at the outbreak of the civil war to more than 2.04 million.Among them, although the regular army of the army has the designation of 71 armies and 227 divisions, there are only more than 1.15 million people, more than 175,000 irregular troops, more than 135,000 special forces, more than 450,000 people in rear service units, agencies, and schools; 100,000 people in the air force More than 30,000 people in the Navy.Among the above-mentioned troops, there are more than 1.46 million army troops that can be used for combat, and they are distributed in a vast area from Xinjiang to Taiwan and on a long front. It is no longer possible to form an effective defense strategically.

Among the more than 1.46 million army combat troops, there are more than 385,000 troops in southern Jiangsu, southern Anhui, Shanghai, and Hangzhou in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River under the command of Tang Enbo, commander-in-chief of the Beijing-Shanghai-Hangzhou Garrison, and more than 328,000 regular troops in 19 armies and 60 divisions There are more than 23,000 irregular troops and more than 32,000 special forces; there are more than 10,000 people in the Fujian area under the command of Zhu Shaoliang, director of the Fuzhou Appeasement Office, including more than 8,000 regular army divisions and more than 2,000 irregular troops;

There are a total of more than 23,000 people in Taiwan under the command of Chen Cheng, the commander-in-chief of the Taiwan Garrison, including more than 12,000 people in two regular army divisions, 3,000 irregular troops, and more than 8,000 special forces; Located in Wuhan and Yichang in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, there are more than 240,000 people under the command of Bai Chongxi, the commander-in-chief of the "bandit suppression" in Central China, including more than 208,000 people from 12 regular armies and 37 divisions, more than 11,000 irregular troops, and special forces. 2. More than 10,000 people;

There are a total of more than 39,000 people in Hunan and Jiangxi under the command of Cheng Qian, director of the Changsha Appeasement Office, including more than 33,000 people from 3 regular armies and 9 divisions, 4,000 irregular troops, and 2,000 special forces; Located in Guangdong Province, there are more than 65,000 people under the command of Yu Hanmou, director of the Guangzhou Appeasement Office, including more than 46,000 people from 2 armies and 8 divisions of the regular army, more than 17,000 people from the irregular army, and more than 8,000 special forces; There are more than 17,000 people in Guangxi Province under the command of Li Pinxian, director of the Guilin Appeasement Office, including 12,000 people in three regular army divisions and more than 5,000 irregular troops;

There are more than 105,000 people in Sichuan, Xikang, Guizhou, and Yunnan under the command of Zhang Qun, director of the Chongqing Appeasement Office, including more than 86,000 people from 6 regular armies and 16 divisions, 11,000 irregular troops, and special forces. More than 8000 people; There are 199,000 people in Guanzhong and southern Shaanxi under the command of Hu Zongnan, director of the Xi'an Appeasement Office, including 163,000 regular troops, 13 armies and 33 divisions, more than 12,000 irregular troops, and 24,000 special forces. others; Located in Qinghai, Ningxia, and Gansu, there are more than 93,000 people under the command of Ma Bufang and Ma Hongkui, the deputy chiefs of the Northwest Military and Political Office, including more than 80,000 people from 3 armies and 12 divisions of the regular army, more than 12,000 people from the irregular army, and special forces. More than 1000 people;

There are more than 81,000 people in the Xinjiang region under the command of Tao Zhiyue, the commander-in-chief of the Xinjiang Garrison, including more than 60,000 people in 3 reorganized divisions and 16 brigades of the regular army, more than 12,000 people in the irregular army, and more than 9,000 special forces; There are more than 71,000 people in the Taiyuan area under the command of Yan Xishan, the director of the Taiyuan Appeasement Office, including more than 42,000 regular troops from 6 armies and 14 divisions, more than 22,000 irregular troops, and more than 7,000 special forces;

Located in the west of Suiyuan and the Yulin area of ​​Shaanxi Province, there are more than 56,000 people under the command of Dong Qiwu, director of the Suiyuan Command Post of the Northwest Military and Political Commissioner's Office, including more than 30,000 people from 1 regular army and 7 divisions, and more than 23,000 irregular troops. , more than 3,000 special forces; Located in Xinxiang and Anyang, Henan, there are more than 25,000 people under the command of Li Zhenqing, the commander of the 12th appeasement area, including more than 7,000 people from one army and one division of the regular army, more than 15,000 people from the irregular army, and more than 3,000 special forces;

Located in Qingdao, Shandong, there are more than 53,000 people under the command of Liu Anqi, the commander of the 11th Appeasement Zone, including more than 35,000 people from 2 regular armies and 7 divisions, 3,000 irregular troops, and more than 15,000 special forces. Not only has the number of the Kuomintang army decreased sharply, but its quality has also declined day by day.Among the above-mentioned army combat units, except for the individual troops of Bai Chongxi and Hu Zongnan's group and the Ma Bufang and Ma Hongkui groups that were not seriously attacked by the People's Liberation Army and still had a certain combat effectiveness, most of the rest of the troops were newly built or were wiped out by the People's Liberation Army many times Afterwards, it was supplemented many times, the establishment was extremely insufficient, and there were many shortages of personnel.According to the establishment of the Kuomintang army, one army should govern three divisions of 35,000 people, but except for the individual armies of Ma Bufang and Ma Hongkui, which can basically reach the number of establishments, and the number of personnel is about 33,000, the rest of the armies generally have 33,000 people. There are around 15,000 to 20,000 people, and some even have less than 10,000 people.At the same time, because a large number of weapons and equipment were seized by the People's Liberation Army on the battlefield, the army's weapons and equipment, especially heavy weapons, were seriously insufficient.Coupled with the decrease in veterans, the increase in recruits, low morale, lack of systematic and formal military training, and a significant decline in combat effectiveness.

(2) Economic situation With the continuous expansion of the civil war, the military expenditure of the Kuomintang government is increasing, coupled with the monopoly of the Chinese economy by the four major families of Chiang Kai-shek, Song Ziwen, Kong Xiangxi, and Chen Lifu, the cruel plunder of the working people, and the economic aggression of the United States, making the The economy of the Kuomintang-ruled areas deteriorated rapidly, finances were exhausted, inflation was rampant, a large number of industrial and commercial enterprises went bankrupt, and agricultural output declined year after year.

In 1948, the Kuomintang government had a fiscal deficit of 900 trillion yuan.Faced with a huge fiscal deficit, the Kuomintang government had to repeatedly increase the issuance of banknotes. For example, at the end of 1945, the issuance of French currency was 1.03 trillion yuan, and by August 1948, it had increased to 663.69 trillion yuan.Under such circumstances, the Kuomintang government was forced to implement the "currency system reform" on August 19, 1948, issuing gold round notes instead of legal tender, stipulating that 2 billion yuan of gold round notes should be issued as the local currency to circulate in the market, and at a ratio of 1:3 million Receipt of legal tender; private holding, trading and circulation of gold, silver, and foreign currencies and bonds in the market are prohibited, and privately held gold, silver, and foreign currencies are exchanged for gold round bonds according to the prescribed price comparison; registration and management of Chinese citizens stored in Foreign exchange and assets abroad; price restrictions, stipulating that prices are frozen at the level of August 19, 1948.

However, due to the corruption of the entire Kuomintang government officials, these measures did not have any effect on the improvement of the Kuomintang government's financial and financial situation except for more brutal plundering and looting of people's property.The issuance of golden round coupons quickly exceeded the limit of 2 billion yuan. By November, 3.394 billion yuan of golden round coupons had been issued.The Kuomintang government was forced to announce the "Revision of the Issuance Measures of Gold Yuan Notes" on November 11, withdrawing the "limited issuance" order.Since then, the issuance of gold-dollar coupons has been like a flood breaking a bank, out of control, reaching 8.32 billion yuan in December, 20.822 billion yuan in January 1949, 196.06 billion yuan in March, and 196.06 billion yuan in April. It reached 5.16 trillion yuan. Due to the excessive issuance of banknotes by the Kuomintang government, the value of the currency dropped sharply, coupled with the speculation of bureaucratic profiteers, resulting in continuous inflation, and prices rose rapidly without restraint like wild horses.Taking the purchasing power of 100 yuan of French currency as an example, in 1945 it could buy 2 eggs, but in 1949 it could only buy 1/500,000 one or two rices.In Shanghai, where the Kuomintang government implemented the price limit center, from the end of August 1948 to the end of April 1949, the price index increased by 135,000 times.In April 1949, the price of grain in Guilin was 360,000 times higher than that of August 1948 when the golden round coupons were issued, and 2.7 billion times higher than in July 1945.The golden round coupons have completely lost their credibility.Local authorities in Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Sichuan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang, etc., in order to reduce the impact of gold round coupons, issued local coupons and auxiliary currency coupons, and refused to use gold round coupons. Under the above circumstances, the Executive Yuan of the Kuomintang government held a government affairs meeting on February 23, 1949, and passed the "Financial and Financial Reform Plan", which decided: the military expenditure and military pay should be calculated in silver dollars; the customs import tax should be changed to a dollar equal to The so-called "Guanyuan" at 40 cents of the US dollar is the unit of calculation. In the commodity tax, cotton yarn, matches, cement, cigarettes, sugar, etc. are levied in kind. In addition to the collection of salt tax, the government stipulates that the government "must handle part of the government's closing and official transportation." ; The central government stopped financial subsidies to the provinces, cities and counties, and assigned 30% of the land tax, tobacco and alcohol tax, and special business tax that originally belonged to the central government to the local government; allowed silver dollars to circulate freely.So far, the "currency system reform" based on gold-dollar coupons has completely failed. Due to hyperinflation and soaring prices, industrial and commercial funds cannot be turned over, and loan interest rates continue to rise with currency depreciation. In addition, raw materials are expensive, products are unsalable, and factories and stores have closed down one after another. In 1948, only 20% of the more than 3,000 large factories in Shanghai were operating; only 25% of the more than 1,000 factories in Qingdao were able to maintain a half-operating state; by February 1949, more than 60 of the 150 factories in the machinery manufacturing industry in Chongqing had closed down. In order to meet the manpower and financial needs of the full-scale civil war, the Kuomintang government implemented heavy land tax collection, exclusive purchase policies and unified purchase policies in the countryside, and recruited troops in the countryside. For example, the tax rate in Guangxi Province in 1949 was higher than that of the previous year. The number of recruits increased by 70% from 60,000 in the previous year to 130,000.Under the oppression of the Kuomintang government's various tyranny in the countryside, the majority of farmers lacked the necessary production funds to engage in reproduction. A large number of young and middle-aged people were arrested as soldiers or escaped military service and fled. The productivity of rural labor dropped sharply, and the phenomenon of land abandonment was very serious. severely damaged. In 1948, the number of farm animals in the Kuomintang-ruled areas decreased by 15-20%, and the main farm implements decreased by 30%. The abandoned cultivated land in each province accounted for 20-40% of the total cultivated land area.Coupled with successive years of severe natural disasters, agricultural output has declined year after year. In 1948, compared with 1946, the output decreased by more than 40%. The above situation shows that the economy of the Kuomintang-ruled area is in a state of total collapse. (3) Political situation The Kuomintang government suffered successive defeats in the military and faced a general collapse in the economy, but also fell into a deep crisis in politics.Under the cruel exploitation and oppression of the Kuomintang government, the people in its ruled areas could no longer continue to live.In order to survive and fight for freedom, the patriotic and democratic movement of the people in the Kuomintang-ruled areas rose further, wave after wave.Strikes, school strikes, and strikes held by students, teaching staff, and workers spread throughout the country's large, medium, and small cities, demanding peace and democracy. Urban workers successively set up trade unions at all levels to organize workers to go on strike and other forms of struggle. On November 14, 1948, employees of nine newspaper offices in Xiamen went on general strike, demanding better living conditions; on December 3, Chongqing 1000 More than cloth workers went on a general strike, demanding wage increases; in February 1949, workers from the Liuzhou Railway Locomotive Depot and the hydroelectric power plant surrounded the Railway Bureau four times successively, launching a massive wage strike, forcing the Railway Bureau to resend workers on February 16, the workers of six major utility companies, including Shanghai Bus Company and French Commercial Electric Company, held a general strike, demanding better living conditions and increased rice rations. Faculty, staff and students in universities and middle schools around the world have set up various organizations to organize strikes and strikes. On November 16, 1948, 12 municipal middle school teachers in Shanghai went on strike. On the 25th, more than 17,000 private middle and primary school teachers went on strike; on November 17, 29 municipal primary schools in Chengdu held a strike. General school strike; on November 19, students and faculty members of Wuhan University, Wuchang Sports College and Huazhong University held a "survival auction" to sell clothes at a low price. The Kuomintang authorities demonstrated and petitioned; on December 25, the Shanghai Student Union issued a statement opposing the US military invasion and stationing in China; on March 10, 1949, primary school teachers in Chongqing announced an indefinite general strike and demanded that the government pay wages based on actual living standards From the 11th to the 14th, teachers and staff of 22 middle schools and universities announced an indefinite general strike and demanded an increase in wages. On the 17th, more than 4,000 students held a petition process, demanding an increase in public funds. Increased rations; on March 30, more than 1,000 teachers, students, and employees of Guangxi University shouted slogans such as "to eat and to live" and surrounded the Guilin branch of the Central Bank of the Kuomintang government, forcing the bank to pay the arrears of wages and other payments on the spot. In the countryside, as the massive struggle against the Kuomintang government's military conscription, food collection, and tax collection continued to deepen, various political mass organizations were born.For example, in the rural areas of Guangxi, poor and hired peasants associations, anti-"Three Requisitions" groups, "Liberation Comrades Associations", "Revolutionary League Associations", "Desert Soldiers Associations", "Anti-Three Requisitions Struggle Committees", "Liberation Committees", "Brotherhoods", "Sisterhood" and other mass organizations.These organizations often ambushed the Kuomintang security forces, district and township offices, punished reactionary tax officials and township security chiefs, and robbed them of weapons and food. At the same time, with the successive military defeats of the Kuomintang and the further deterioration of the economic situation, the contradictions within the Kuomintang ruling group became more and more intensified, and the strife among them became more and more fierce, and they were already falling apart.Chiang Kai-shek's position was even more isolated and unstable, and even many of Chiang Kai-shek's cronies lost confidence in their future. On November 13, 1948, Chen Bulei, a close friend of Chiang Kai-shek and acting secretary-general of the Kuomintang Central Political Committee, committed suicide in Nanjing; Dai Jitao, member of the Standing Committee of the committee and curator of the National History Museum of the Presidential Palace, committed suicide in Guangzhou. On November 16, 1948, the first "administrative cabinet" of the Kuomintang government with Weng Wenhao as the executive president, which had just been formed for less than half a year, submitted its "resignation" to Chiang Kai-shek.Because many people in Chiang Kai-shek's ruling group saw that the fall of Chiang Kai-shek's rule was inevitable, no one dared to take Weng Wenhao's post as executive president. Chiang Kai-shek had no choice but to force Sun Ke to be the head of the administration and ordered Sun Ke to form a new cabinet as soon as possible. However, when Sun Ke invited some core figures in the Kuomintang to serve as cabinet "cabinet members", he was repeatedly rejected. , It was only on December 20 that the cabinet formation was barely completed. In late December, Bai Chongxi, one of the leaders of the Guangxi faction and the commander-in-chief of the "Suppression General" in Central China, first attacked Chiang Kai-shek and forced Chiang to step down.Cheng Qian, director of the Changsha Appeasement Office and chairman of the Hunan Provincial Government, Zhang Zhen, chairman of the Henan Provincial Government, and the chairman of the Senate Council of the four provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Henan, and Guangxi also demanded that Chiang Kai-shek "resolutely step down" and Li Zongren be in power. At the same time, Li Zongren and Gan Jiehou also proposed that Chiang Kai-shek go to the field.Regarding the situation of the Kuomintang government, the U.S. Ambassador to China Leighton Stuart admitted in his report to Secretary of State Marshall: "Except for the immediate confidants of Chairman Chiang and some senior military officers, not many Chinese people continue to support him wholeheartedly. The Generalissimo, in particular, has become even more unpopular and deserted than ever." "It is heartbreaking to see how in recent months he has completely lost the confidence of the people and how widespread the hope of his retirement is. Heartbroken. This sentiment is shared by most officials at all levels of government and is almost universal among politically conscious people." Chiang Kai-shek "retired" on January 21, 1949. After Li Zongren became the acting president in Nanjing, a group of Chiang Kai-shek's cronies, including Premier Sun Ke, did not take Li Zongren seriously. None of the orders issued by Li Zongren could be obtained. implement. On February 5, 1949, Sun Ke moved the Executive Yuan to Guangzhou on his own. Soon, the Legislative Yuan also left Nanjing, leaving only a few legislators in Nanjing.The Kuomintang government formed the separation of Nanjing and Guangzhou, and the two parties even publicly scolded each other.Although under Li Zongren's repeated persuasion, Sun Ke returned to Nanjing on February 28, but soon submitted his resignation on March 7.After several considerations, Li Zongren decided that He Yingqin should be the successor of the Executive Yuan, but He refused. After Li Zongren's repeated pleas, He Cai reluctantly agreed to serve as the Executive Yuan.The entire Kuomintang government is already in a precarious state. After two and a half years of fighting, the People's Liberation Army has won a decisive victory, and the Chinese revolution is about to win nationwide. (1) Military situation In the past two and a half years of combat, the People's Liberation Army has liberated the entire territory of Northeast China, most of North China and the vast areas north of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. 27%; the population is about 200 million, accounting for 42% of the total population of the country; there are 776 cities above the county level, accounting for 38% of the total number of cities above the county level.The front of the People's Liberation Army has advanced to the north bank of the Yangtze River. Compared with the Kuomintang army, the People's Liberation Army not only has long been superior in quality, but also has turned from a long-term disadvantage to an advantage in quantity. After the three major battles, the majority of commanders and fighters have accumulated richer combat experience and their morale has risen even higher. In January 1949, the total strength of the People's Liberation Army had increased from 1.27 million at the beginning of the war to more than 3.58 million.Among them, the field army has 56 infantry columns, 180 divisions (brigades), 2 special forces columns, 2 artillery command posts, 2 artillery brigades, a total of 50 artillery regiments, 3 cavalry divisions, a total of 10 regiments, and 1 armored force command There are 4 armored regiments, 1 engineering command post, and 5 engineering regiments, with a total of more than 2.18 million people. Among the 2.18 million field troops, the Northwest Field Army in the Guanzhong area of ​​Shaanxi has 7 infantry columns, 19 brigades, 2 cavalry divisions, 6 regiments, 1 artillery regiment, and 1 engineering regiment, with a total of more than 156,000 people; The Central Plains Field Army resting in Shangqiu and Luohe, Henan has 9 infantry columns, 26 brigades, 1 special forces column, 5 artillery regiments, and 1 engineering regiment, with a total of 389,000 people; The East China Field Army, which is resting in Xuzhou and Haizhou, Jiangsu, has 16 infantry columns and 49 divisions, 1 special forces column, 13 artillery regiments, 1 engineering regiment, and 1 armored regiment, with a total of more than 551,000 people; The Northeast Field Army, which is resting in Beiping and Tianjin, has 13 infantry columns, 52 divisions, 1 engineer command post and 2 regiments, 1 anti-aircraft artillery command post, 2 ground artillery command posts, a total of 23 artillery regiments, 1 There are 3 regiments in the armored command post, with a total of more than 818,000 people; The field troops of the North China Military Region, located in Beiping and Taiyuan, consisted of 11 infantry columns, 34 brigades, 2 artillery brigades and 6 artillery regiments, with a total of more than 265,000 troops. The local army has 5 first-level military regions, 2 second-level military regions, 29 third-level military regions, 110 military divisions, a total of 38 infantry divisions (brigades), 5 cavalry divisions, a total of 20 cavalry regiments, and 1 artillery regiment. There are more than 1.34 million people.Among them, there are 9 infantry regiments, 1 artillery regiment, 1 second-level military region, 3 third-level military regions, and 17 military divisions in the Northwest Military Region, with a total of more than 55,000 people; The Central Plains Military Region has 8 infantry brigades, 61 regiments, 1 cavalry regiment, 1 second-level military region, 6 third-level military regions, and 34 military divisions, with a total of more than 229,000 people; The East China Military Region has 4 infantry divisions, 62 regiments, 1 cavalry regiment, 5 third-level military regions, and 26 military divisions, with a total of more than 427,000 people; There are 11 infantry divisions and 63 regiments in the Northeast Military Region, 5 cavalry divisions and 18 regiments, 6 third-level military regions, and 9 military divisions, with a total of more than 399,000 people; There are 15 infantry divisions (brigades) and 45 regiments in the North China Military Region, 9 third-level military regions, and 24 military divisions, with a total of more than 224,000 soldiers. Due to the continuous replenishment of captured weapons and equipment, the weapons and equipment of the People's Liberation Army have been greatly improved.According to incomplete statistics in January 1949, the entire army possessed 20,800 artillery pieces of various types, including 1,934 heavy artillery pieces such as mountain artillery, field artillery pieces, howitzers, and cannons, and 161 antiaircraft guns, an increase of 1.5% over the end of the second year of the war. 080,000, 955 and 103; 863 rocket launchers, an increase of 356 over the end of the second year; more than 1,316,000 guns of various types, including 83,000 submachine guns and 59,000 light machine guns There were more than 10,000 heavy machine guns and 263 anti-aircraft machine guns, an increase of more than 205,000, 44,000, 13,000, 3,421 and 165 respectively compared with the end of the second year; There were 313 tanks, an increase of 267 over the end of the second year; 139 armored vehicles; and 103 aircraft. The guerrilla forces in the southern provinces of the Kuomintang-ruled areas led by the Communist Party of China have made great progress after long and arduous struggles. According to incomplete statistics in January 1949, the total force has grown to more than 53,000, with more than 39,000 long and short guns and more than 870 light and heavy machine guns.The activity area covers more than 200 counties in Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan and other provinces. The specific distribution is: 350 people were active in southern Jiangsu and the junction of Zhejiang and Jiangsu; More than 2,620 people were active in southern Anhui, northeast Jiangxi, and the border areas of Jiangsu, Anhui and Zhejiang; There are more than 2,300 people active in southern and western Zhejiang, northeastern Fujian, central Fujian, and eastern Jiangxi; There are more than 7,000 people active in 24 counties on the border of Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi; More than 13,000 people were active in 41 counties in the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong, northern Guangdong, southern Hunan, and southern Jiangxi; More than 8,000 people were active in 24 counties in southwestern Guangxi, southeastern Yunnan, and southern Guizhou; There are more than 3,000 people active in more than 80 counties centered on Guangning and Huaiji, north of Xijiang River, west of Guangdong-Han Railway, and east of Guilin; There are more than 3,500 people active in 11 counties in the south of the Xijiang River; 4,000 people participated in activities on South Guangdong Road and 16 counties in southeast Guangxi; There are more than 7,200 people active in the Hainan Island area.These guerrilla armed forces actively carried out armed struggles in the rear of the Kuomintang army, especially during the strategic decisive battle between the main force of the People's Liberation Army and the Kuomintang army, they launched offensive operations against the Kuomintang army one after another. For example, the guerrilla armed forces on Hainan Island wiped out a total of 626 Kuomintang troops during the offensive from September to November 1948, captured 11 light and heavy machine guns, and destroyed 42 Kuomintang army strongholds.The guerrilla troops in southern Yunnan, during the battle from mid-November 1948 to mid-January 1949, wiped out 3 and a half battalions of the Kuomintang Army with a total of more than 700 people, captured 3 600 artillery pieces, 45 light and heavy machine guns, and more than 500 rifles There were more than 1,000 artillery shells and more than 60,000 bullets, connecting the three guerrilla bases in southeastern Yunnan, southern Yunnan, and eastern Yunnan that were originally divided into one piece.The guerrilla armed struggles in the southern provinces have contained a large number of Kuomintang troops and have become an important force to cooperate with the People's Liberation Army in frontal battlefield operations. (2) Economic situation Contrary to the deteriorating economic situation in the Kuomintang-ruled areas, the economy in the liberated areas is booming, with steady development of industrial and agricultural production, balanced fiscal revenue and expenditure, prosperous market and stable prices. In rural areas, over 100 million farmers in liberated areas have obtained land since the promulgation of the Outline of Land Law.By the end of 1948, land reform had been basically completed in the Northeast Liberated Areas and the old Guannei areas, and the land reform movement in the newly liberated areas had also been fully launched.The land reform abolished the feudal exploitation system that ruled China, and the peasants truly got rid of the feudal shackles for thousands of years. They generally received the land they dreamed of for generations, and got houses and production tools, thus liberating labor productivity and increasing the production enthusiasm of the peasants. generally improved. In order to further mobilize the production enthusiasm of the broad masses of farmers, the party organizations and people's governments at all levels in the liberated areas, in accordance with the spirit of the relevant instructions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, formulated a series of specific measures conducive to the development of agricultural production and encouraged farmers to work hard to get rich. Determine and consolidate farmers' private property rights, implement fair and reasonable burden policies, formulate production incentive policies, and actively carry out mutual aid and cooperation campaigns, and organize mutual aid and cooperation groups and societies in accordance with the principle of voluntariness and mutual benefit. According to statistics from 18 counties in the Liberated Area in central Hebei, the number of mutual aid groups had grown to 35,000 in 1948.In order to help farmers develop production, democratic governments at all levels issued a large amount of loans to farmers to solve their difficulties in lack of production funds. For example, the Northeast Administrative Committee issued a total of 15 billion yuan in loans to various places in 1948 for livestock, immigration, water conservancy and special crops. .Widely popularize and advocate reclamation of wasteland, intensive farming, construction of water conservancy, increase of fertilizer, and improvement of seeds in rural areas.Due to the adoption of the above-mentioned policies and measures, the agricultural production in the liberated areas has been restored and greatly developed, the area of ​​cultivated land has continued to expand, and the per unit area and total grain output have generally increased. In 1948, in addition to planting all the original arable land with crops in the Northeast Liberated Area, more than 770,000 mu of wasteland was newly added, exceeding 25.6% of the original plan; more than 90,000 paddy fields were built, more than double the original plan, and the total grain The output reached more than 11.87 million tons, nearly double that of 1947. Industry and commerce in the liberated areas, under the guidance of the Communist Party of China's policy of "developing production, prospering the economy, giving consideration to both public and private interests, and benefiting both labor and capital", has achieved unprecedented rapid development.From blind production and decentralized management, many industrial and mining enterprises have gradually embarked on planned production and management under unified leadership, and gradually implemented enterprise-oriented and scientific management. At the same time, set up management committees in factories, implement the system of employee representative conferences, carry out extensive production competitions among employees, reward model workers, and mobilize the enthusiasm of the broad masses of employees. All these have played a major role in promoting the state-owned industrial production in the liberated areas. In 1948, the Northeast Administrative Committee invested and borrowed 355.9 billion yuan in the industrial and mining enterprises under its jurisdiction, which promoted the development of production. The annual production of raw coal was more than 5.4 million tons, which was 108.2% of the plan and an increase of 123% over 1947. More than 55,000 taels of red gold, 110% of the plan completed, 360 million kilowatt-hours of power generation, 1.485 million cubic meters of wood, 6,598 tons of paper, more than 37,000 pieces of cotton yarn, more than 620,000 feet of cotton cloth, and 1.5 million tons of cement. More than 70,000 tons, and more than 350,000 tons of salt. The continuous development of industrial and agricultural production has promoted the further prosperity of commerce.Sales operations and sales continue to expand. In 1948, under the leadership of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of the North China People's Government, the North China Liberated Area established the North China Trading Company, and established branches in major cities, counties and towns in the region; the Northeast Trade Department was also established in the Northeast Liberated Area, and a total of commercial outlets were established in the region. 637, with more than 30,000 employees. According to incomplete statistics, compared with 1948 in 1947, the grain sales volume of the Northeast Trade Department increased from 109,000 tons to 258,000 tons, and the sales volume of gauze increased from 259,000 pieces to 355,000 pieces. Coal sales increased from 19,000 tons to 147,000 tons.At the same time, various cooperatives were also established. According to incomplete statistics in November 1948, there were 2,224 cooperatives in the Northeast Liberated Area, including 1,845 rural supply and marketing cooperatives and comprehensive cooperatives.In addition, the Northeast Liberated Area's trade with the Soviet Union also increased significantly, with the total export value increasing from 28.5 billion yuan in 1947 to 65.6 billion yuan in 1948. The liberated areas also attached great importance to the development of private industry and commerce. In November 1948, the number of private industrial and commercial households in Shijiazhuang increased from 2,296 before liberation to 3,532, of which commercial households increased from 1,571 to 2,136, and industrial households increased from 725 to 1,396, an increase of 92%.With the strong support of the people's government, more than 90% of the private factories in Tianjin started production two months after liberation. The economic development of the liberated areas has promoted the improvement of the financial situation and the basic stability of prices. In 1948, the unified work of the currency system in the liberated areas was preliminarily completed.For a long time, due to the severe blockade and division of the Kuomintang in the liberated areas, the currency system had to adopt the policy of regional issuance and regional circulation.With the gradual integration of the liberated areas and the increasingly close economic exchanges, there is an urgent need to unify the currency system. However, due to the differences in the degree of administrative and financial unification of the liberated areas, and the ongoing war, it is impossible to completely unify the currencies of the national liberated areas immediately. . Therefore, we took the step of gradual unification. First, we implemented currency unification within the liberated areas, that is, the currencies in each liberated area were mixed and circulated at a fixed rate first, and one currency was gradually unified.In the Northeast Liberated Area, the issuance of the Great Wall Coin and the Kanto Coin was suspended, and the three currencies were mixed in circulation, mainly the Northeast Coin, and the Great Wall Coin and the Kanto Coin were gradually cancelled; The Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Currency was stopped, and the Northwest Peasant Currency was the main one; the Central Plains Liberated Area unified circulation of Zhongzhou Currency; host. On the basis of the above, in order to further develop trade in the liberated areas, exchange materials, prosper the economy, and provide more powerful support for the War of Liberation, on November 18, 1948, the governments of the liberated areas of North China, East China, and Northwest China decided through consultation that the North China Bank, Beihai The bank merged with the Northwest Farmer's Bank to form the People's Bank of China, which began to issue Chinese renminbi on December 1 as the standard currency of the above-mentioned liberated areas, and circulated in a unified manner. The original old currency was stopped and gradually withdrawn. On December 24, North China and Central Plains reached an agreement again, stipulating that from February 15, 1949 (actually from March 10), the Central Plains Liberated Area will also officially issue RMB and stop issuing Zhongzhou coins.So far, except for the Northeast Liberated Area, all other liberated areas have realized the unification of currency.The unification of financial currency has laid the economic foundation for the complete victory of the new democratic revolution and the restoration and development of the national economy. With the continuous recovery and development of the economy in the liberated areas, the military production in the liberated areas has also made great progress.According to incomplete statistics in March and April 1949, there were 160 ordnance enterprises in the liberated areas of the country, employing more than 102,000 people.Among them, there are 54 in North China liberated areas, 49 in Northeast China, 37 in East China, 14 in Jinsui liberated areas, and 6 in Central Plains.Among the above-mentioned enterprises, there are 51 mortar shell factories, 10 mountain howitzer shell factories, 12 artillery shell subsidiary factories, 19 explosive factories, 7 gun factories, and 10 bullet detonator factories.In addition, there are some semi-finished raw material factories and power plants that serve ordnance production.The monthly output is 2,643 rifles, 130 light and heavy machine guns, 360 submachine guns, 14 infantry guns, 5 mountain guns, 8 field guns, 1,050 chasing guns, more than 440,000 rounds of various mortar shells, and 40,000 reloaded mountain shells 15,000 rounds of infantry shells were transformed, 4.479 million to 4.7 million rounds of rifle ammunition were produced, and 1.25 million hand grenades were produced.The development of ordnance production has provided certain material conditions for the People's Liberation Army to march across the country. (3) Political situation While the Chinese Communist Party has achieved great victories and achievements on the military and economic fronts, it has also achieved great victories on the political front. In April 1949, the Communist Party of China had more than 3 million members.After the Party Consolidation Movement in 1948, it overcame the influence of various non-proletarian ideologies and bureaucratic styles in the party, and firmly established the idea of ​​serving the people wholeheartedly. The democratic style has been further developed; Those landlords, rich peasants, and hooligan opportunists who insisted on the position of the exploiting class were eliminated from the party, which purified the ranks of the Chinese Communist Party, and the whole party further united around the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.In particular, the grassroots party organizations in rural areas have made great progress ideologically, politically, and organizationally. The Chinese Communist Party has become more closely connected with the masses. experience.At the same time, after taking over large and medium-sized cities such as Shijiazhuang, Luoyang, Jinan, Xuzhou, Changchun, Shenyang, Beiping, and Tianjin, the Communist Party of China and the People's Liberation Army have rich experience in urban work.These provided guarantees for the People's Liberation Army to march to the south, northwest, and southwest regions and take over the new areas. The construction of political power at all levels in the liberated areas has made great achievements.Following the establishment of the North China People's Government in 1948, at the beginning of 1949, the Central Plains Liberated Area held a provisional people's representative meeting and established the Central Plains Provisional People's Government. Deng Zihui served as the chairman of the Provisional People's Government. In April 1949, the Northeast Administrative Committee decided to divide the Northeast administrative region into 6 provinces and 4 municipalities directly under the Central Government, that is, the original Liaoning and Andong provinces were merged into Liaodong Province; the original Liaobei and Liaoxi provinces were merged into Liaoxi Province; the original Nenjiang and Heilongjiang provinces were merged into Heilongjiang Province; the original Hejiang and Songjiang provinces were merged into Songjiang Province; Jilin Province and Rehe Province remained unchanged.Municipalities directly under the Central Government include Shenyang, Fushun, Anshan, and Benxi. According to the instructions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, from the autumn of 1948 to March 1949, people's representative meetings at the township (village), district, and county levels were generally held in the old liberated areas, and three-level government committees were elected.The establishment of the people's representative conference system has further mobilized the enthusiasm of the broad masses of the people to be the masters of the country, ensured that the rural grassroots political power is truly in the hands of reliable people, improved the relationship between cadres and the masses, raised the production mood of the masses, and promoted the production process. Further development. The national democratic united front led by the Communist Party of China expanded rapidly.In the "May 1st Labor Day Slogan" issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1948, the call for a political consultation meeting to be held by various democratic parties, people's organizations, and social elites to form a democratic coalition government was well received by all democratic parties, democrats, and patriotic overseas Chinese. warm response and support.From the autumn of 1948 to January 1949, more than 350 patriotic democrats who were originally in the Kuomintang ruled areas and overseas entered the North China and Northeast Liberated Areas one after another, preparing to participate in the Political Consultative Conference. On November 25, 1948, representatives of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China negotiated with democrats who arrived in Harbin, and reached a common understanding on issues such as the establishment of a new CPPCC preparatory meeting and the nature and tasks of the new CPPCC. On January 22, 1949, 55 people including Li Jishen, Shen Junru, Ma Xulun, Guo Moruo, Tan Pingshan, and Peng Zemin, representing various democratic parties and democrats without party affiliation, jointly published "Opinions on the Current Situation", expressing "willing to , Contribute our modest resources, and work together to carry out the plan, with a view to the rapid success of the Chinese people's democratic revolution and the early realization of an independent, free, peaceful, and happy New China." "We must not tolerate the hypocritical peace offensive instigated by Jiang and the United States." Destruction of love." 随后，中国国民党革命委员会，中国民主同盟、中国民主建国会、中国民主促进会、中国农工民主党、中国致公党、中国人民救国会、三民主义同志会等，也纷纷发表声明，揭露国民党政府的假和平阴谋，拥护毛泽东提出的八项和平条件，宣布接受中国共产党的领导，与中国共产党共同建立民主联合政府。北平和平解放后，各民主党派领导人和民主人士先后从哈尔滨等地到达北平，直接参加新政协的筹备工作。 1948年秋到1949年上半年，在中国共产党的领导下，全国各人民团体的队伍迅速扩大，有些过去被分割在各解放区和国民党统治区的团体也开始统一起来。在此基础上，全国第六次劳动大会于1948年8月在哈尔滨召开，参加会议的代表，不仅有解放区职工联合总会、各解放区职工会，还有国民党统治区的中国劳动协会，及各地民主工会和海外华侨的代表。 会议决定恢复中国工人阶级统一的全国组织——中华全国总工会，选出了以陈云为主席，朱学范、刘宁一、李立三为副主席的第6届执行委员会。1949年上半年，全国的妇女、青年、学生以及文学艺术工作者，先后在北平召开代表大会，宣布成立中国新民主主义青年团、中华全国学生联合会、中华全国民主妇女联合会、全国文学艺术界联合会等群众团体，选举产生了各自的领导机构和领导人。这些人民团体纷纷发表宣言，一致表示：愿在中国共产党的领导下，为彻底推翻国民党反动统治、建立新中国而奋斗。 同时，中华全国自然科学工作者代表会议筹备会议、中华全国新闻工作者协会筹备会议、中华全国社会科学者代表会议的发起人会议、中华全国教育工作者代表会议筹备会议等，也相继在北平举行。上述全国性人民团体的组成和全国性会议的召开，是人民民主统一战线扩大和巩固的标志之一，也为新的政治协商会议的召开打下了群众基础。