Chapter 12 Premier Zhou in my eyes

As the seasons turn and the stars move, winter turns to spring, and it has been more than 30 years since the beloved Premier Zhou Enlai left us, but his old man's voice and smile are always reflected in my mind, making me full of thoughts, and it is difficult to calm down and forget for a long time. During my more than 7 years of service in the Beijing Garrison, I have experienced the last 5 springs and autumns of Premier Zhou's life; I have witnessed the scenes of my beloved Premier Zhou participating in various state affairs in the heart of the capital. It is Premier Zhou's consistent work style not to put on an official position and be approachable.I remember that when I first joined the army, even the veterans called a Henan soldier who joined the army in 1968 "Xiaobalu".It was only later that I learned that this was the nickname given to this little soldier by Premier Zhou.The thing is like this, on the night before the National Day in 1968, Premier Zhou personally went to Tiananmen Square to inspect the security work. When he came to the Jinshui Bridge, he saw Gao Jinzhong, a small soldier standing guard here with a childish face, and walked up to it. I went to pat Xiao Gao on the shoulder, and kindly asked him where he was from, how old he was, whether he was suitable for life in the army, and whether he wanted to go home.It was the first time Xiao Gao had a direct conversation with the Prime Minister, and he was very restrained at first. Later, when he saw that the Prime Minister was like a kind old man and the younger generation's parents, he immediately dispelled his worries and chatted with the Prime Minister naturally.The Prime Minister saw that although Xiao Gao was small, he was very clever, so he told the leading comrades of the garrison who accompanied him that this kid was like our "Little Eight Road" back then.In this way, a "Xiaobalu" appeared in our company.Among the company's many duty stations, there is a hotel duty station that is exclusively for foreign party and state dignitaries to live in.For example, the former Pakistani President Bhutto lived here every time he came to China from his foreign minister to prime minister.Sometimes, out of courtesy, the prime minister comes to the hotel to visit these foreign leaders.Every time the Prime Minister comes, he warmly greets the staff on duty and never puts on the airs of the Prime Minister. One day in the summer of 1973, Vietnam’s Le Duc Tho (then an advisor to the head of the Vietnam’s Chun Shui team negotiating with the US in Paris, and later an important leader of the Vietnamese party and state) passed through Beijing after participating in the Paris negotiations and stayed in our guard hotel. Considering the extraordinary relationship between China and Vietnam, the Prime Minister made an exception and came to the hotel to visit this Vietnamese comrade who was not prominent at the time.When the prime minister's car came to the gate of the hotel, our three concierge sentries saluted the prime minister at the same time, and the prime minister asked the driver to drive the car very slowly, opened the window, and greeted the sentries with a smile, which made our sentries feel shocked A warm current surged into my heart.

It is very appropriate to evaluate Premier Zhou's busy work every day with "many opportunities every day". No matter it is hot summer or winter, no matter it is noon or late at night, we can often see the Premier's car rushing past Tiananmen Square.He either went to the airport to greet foreign guests, or went to the Great Hall of the People to handle various state affairs or participate in foreign affairs activities... Sometimes the prime minister's car came out of the Great Hall of the People in the early hours of the morning.Every time we see this scene, our comrades who are guarding the route will give affectionate attention to the prime minister's car passing by.Once in the middle of the night, Premier Zhou, who was busy with work, drove back to Zhongnanhai from the Great Hall of the People. When the Premier’s car passed by Chang’an Avenue in front of Tiananmen Square, the chief of staff of the regiment who came to check the security work found that there was no route post. , When a platoon cadre who neglected to press the notice was woken up by the chief of staff, he broke out in a cold sweat, burst into tears, and blamed himself for being sorry for the prime minister who worked day and night, and demanded punishment.Whenever there is a major foreign event, the Prime Minister has to go to the first floor of the Beijing Hotel where the guards of another company of our camp have a haircut.Every time he gets a haircut, he asks his secretary to read the documents to him while he gets a haircut.Because he was too busy and tired at work, he sometimes fell asleep after cutting his hair.The barber couldn't bear to scratch him, so he had to let him sleep in the barber chair for a while, and every time the prime minister woke up, he always blamed himself for falling asleep and delaying work.

The uninformed always think that being a prime minister often lives in comfort.In fact, it is not always true, and sometimes it is very difficult.I remember one day in the cold winter of 1973, when Pakistani President Bhutto was having talks with Premier Zhou in the Great Hall of the People. Since Bhutto’s visit was relatively successful and he was an old friend of the Chinese people, the Chinese government broke the policy of only welcoming foreign heads of state. The custom of holding a farewell ceremony is to hold a grand farewell ceremony in Tiananmen Square after the last meeting between Premier Zhou and President Bhutto in the Great Hall of the People, and then escorted by the Premier to the Capital Airport to return home.It was extremely cold at that time, and the north wind made us sentinels in cotton coats want to shiver.The tens of thousands of people waiting on the square were also slightly disorganized by the cold wind.At this moment, the signal car drove by.All the garlands and ribbons in the square danced immediately.I saw Premier Zhou wearing a woolen overcoat and a woolen hat, riding in a cabriolet with President Bhutto and waving to the crowd frequently.This is the first time I've seen a prime minister wearing a hat.Looking at the prime minister walking in the cold wind, we are really worried about the health of this 75-year-old man.

Another thing is that in the winter of the year when the Beijing Hotel was about to be completed in the 1970s, we had just completed the task of guarding Premier Zhou to see off President Mobutu of Zaire at the Capital Airport, and we suddenly received an order to perform tasks at the construction site of the Beijing Hotel. Order.The jeep quickly pulled us from the west side of Tiananmen to the Beijing Hotel.As soon as the post was posted, Premier Zhou, who came back from the airport, drove to the construction site of the New Beijing Hotel. Accompanied by several relevant comrades, he stood on the tall elevator used for construction and went directly to the top floor of the hotel for inspection.Looking at the gradually haggard figure of the Prime Minister rising slowly with the elevator, I felt a mass of indescribable respect and love in my heart.

The people's premier loves the people, and the people's premier loves the people.These two words from the heart of the people deeply reveal the flesh and blood relationship between the Prime Minister and the people. In 1975, Premier Zhou was admitted to the hospital due to illness. Since then, we have never seen his car or figure again. On January 8, 1976, the bad news came that Premier Zhou resigned from us. What a blow to us!Tiananmen Square was crowded with people, and there were wreaths all over the place. All of us guards and soldiers wore black armbands to express our infinite grief for his old man.We have never seen such a scene when Premier Zhou's body was escorted from Beijing Hospital to Babaoshan Cremation Ground through Tiananmen Square.The black and unorganized crowd automatically lined up in multiple rows, no one moved, no one spoke, and everyone seemed to be able to hear their breathing, and people were crying silently.It seems that the air is frozen, the crowd is frozen, and everything is frozen.After Premier Zhou's ashes were escorted to the Working People's Cultural Palace, people from all walks of life came to express their condolences, and we finally took on the task of guarding Premier Zhou's condolences.Due to limited time, the number of condolences is strictly controlled.Most people could not participate in the condolences, so people gathered outside the gate of the Cultural Palace to cry.Some were unable to restrain their emotions and tried their best to rush in, but we pulled them aside to persuade them.Groups of foreign friends sent wreaths to express their condolences, especially when we saw the wreaths made of flowers sent by Kim Il-sung, chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, by a special plane, all of our security personnel present felt a burst of emotion. sorrow and grief.A Japanese friend was going to fly to Tokyo in two hours, and rushed to the Cultural Palace with a condolence ticket, but because it was too late, the admission was stopped. This friend lingered at the door for a long time, even expressing regret and helplessness, I had no choice but to bow deeply three times at the door to express my deep memory of the Prime Minister.

Although Premier Zhou has left us, his amiable voice and smile will remain in our hearts forever.