Chapter 14 Chapter 13 Chiang Ching-kuo sent Li Cibai to Shanghai to test the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. Chen Yi said: "Let Taiwan rot!"

Chiang Ching-kuo secretly sent Li Cibai to Shanghai to explore cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. Chen Yi replied: "Let Taiwan rot!" (Kaohsiung-Shanghai, May-June 1950) At the beginning of May 1950, the weather in Taiwan was already very hot, and the mood of the people had suddenly cooled down a lot these days. In the "Vaigegui" restaurant in Kaohsiung City, several frequent customers were quietly panicking Discuss the topic of "the national army lost Hainan Island". Originally, half a year had passed since Chongqing fell last winter, and at least there was no news of any loss of troops or territory. It seemed that the situation in Taiwan had gradually stabilized.Unexpectedly, at the beginning of May, the "Central Daily" reported that "the national army won a great victory and wiped out more than 10,000 bandits and withdrew from Hainan Island."The few customers were whispering. During the Kinmen Guningtou victory, they said that "the communist army will not fight at sea." Now China's second largest island, Hainan Island, has also been captured by it. Will the remaining Taiwan Island last longer? !

Li Cibai, the owner of the "Vaigegui" restaurant, is about fifty years old.Although he also read the newspaper, he pretended not to hear the customers' comments.He is an old soldier from the Whampoa Military Academy. He just read the news about the fall of Hainan Island in the newspaper, especially Jiang Jingguo's explanation at the government spokesman's tea party as the director of the General Political Department. He couldn't help laughing.Chiang Ching-kuo said—— Judging from the current situation, since the national army withdrew from Xichang, Haikou has lost its role as a springboard. At the same time, our highest strategy for anti-communism and anti-Russia is to concentrate all forces, consolidate the stronghold mainly in Taiwan, and prepare for a counter-offensive mainland.Therefore, the dispersion of military power is the failure of strategy.In the past, the government has done its best to deploy the necessary defenses on Hainan Island, so the abandonment of Haikou is a measure decided based on the requirements of the overall strategy.

Li Cibai knew in his heart that if he couldn't hold it, he couldn't hold it. After fighting for a week, he couldn't hold Hainan Island, but he still wanted to talk big about him openly.As Jiang Jingguo said, when Xichang fell, "Haikou has lost its role as a 'springboard'." Why didn't Xue Yue's troops retreat after the fall of Xikang?And to drag Lin Biao's army to the beach and land on Hainan Island before leaving in a hurry? Li Cibai just muttered in his heart, he didn't join in the discussions of these regular guests. Not long after these regular customers left, a small military vehicle drove up to the entrance of the "Vic Song Gui" restaurant, and three uninvited guests got out.The boss, Li Cibai, hurried up to greet him. Two of them he knew were old classmates of the sixth phase of the Whampoa Military Academy in mainland China. Now they follow Jiang Jingguo, and they are the directors of the Political Department of the Army Command and the Chariot Command. .After greetings and introductions, Li Cibai learned that the leader was Hu Weike, the head of the department under Chiang Ching-kuo.

As soon as he sat down, Hu Weike cut straight to the point and talked about the situation: "To be honest, the current situation of the party-state is very difficult, and US President Truman took advantage of the danger and said 'no protection for Chiang' and left him to fend for himself. Americans want to see President Chiang’s joke. Right now we are on top of a volcano. Director Jingguo is of course even more disturbed by being placed on the Great Wall.” Those two old classmates clarified the truth to Li Cibai: "Brother Cibai, Lingmei is Chen Yi's sister-in-law. This is the capital for you to have a dialogue with the Communist Party. If you can go out of the mountains and go to the mainland, it will save the life of the Communist Party. Our lives. No, it should be said that it is the fate of the entire party-state."

Li Cibai was very surprised: "I...can play such a big role?!" Hu Weike said: "Brother Li, although you have taken off your military uniform, you are still a child of Whampoa. We made a special trip from Taipei to find you, of course we hope you can serve the party and the country." Li Ci had no reason to refuse. Entrusted by Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Ching-kuo flew to the Zhoushan Islands on May 3 to investigate the withdrawal of the Kuomintang troops guarding the island from Zhoushan. After returning to Taipei, he summoned Li Cibai. Jiang Jingguo said to Li Cibai, "Mr. Li, now we talk about the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. I don't think there is much hope. The Communist Party swept the mainland and was full of ambition. Fortunately, the Kinmen battle wiped out the communist army that landed on the beach. It shows the potential power of the national army. It should not be underestimated. You and Chen Yi are close relatives, and I think we can talk about it in depth. At the very least, I hope that Taiwan will not be attacked."

Li Cibai had no choice but to tell the truth: "If I go this time, whether I can achieve my goal or not, to be honest, I don't have a clue in my mind, of course I will try my best to fight for it." After Li Cibai agreed, Jiang Jingguo said again: "Brother Li, it is not my intention to ask you to come out this time, but the design of the three of Hu Weike and the others. From now on, you will contact Hu directly for everything." Li Cibai was very dissatisfied when he heard this: Jiang Jingguo wanted to engage in contacts between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, but he dared not take responsibility.But he didn't show his dissatisfaction.

They promised to provide living allowances to Li Cibai's family members while Li Cibai went to the mainland. Now that you have been ordered, you have to go.This mission really made Li Cibai complain endlessly.He bid farewell to his wife's family and the restaurant he had run for several years, and left Taiwan by boat in late May.When the ship sailed across the sea to Hong Kong, he leaned on the railing on the deck feeling like waves.Like Tang Enbo, he graduated from the sixth phase of the Whampoa Military Academy. He was favored by Zhang Zhizhong, the head of education. He himself is considered a member of the Chinese Communist Party.Terrible entanglements made him in a state of misfortune for the first half of his life.The victory of the Anti-Japanese War and the negotiations between Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek in Chongqing also brought him new hope.Unexpectedly, after the negotiations, the flames of war broke out again and spread across the country, and he became discouraged.In the second half of 1946, he left the army.Crossed the sea and went to Taiwan, where there was no war at that time, and opened the "Vaigegui" restaurant in Kaohsiung. He abandoned the military and went into business, and escaped the vortex of political disputes.Now, because of his relationship with Chen Yi, he was suddenly selected by Chiang Ching-kuo to "go to the mainland".Li Cibai knew very well that he would be involved in politics again.Although I have a little use value, it is hard to say whether I can get my wish.However, he can also take this opportunity to go to the mainland to see the reality, visit relatives and friends, and see if he can live and work in peace.

During the few days at the end of May 1950, Mayor Chen Yi was in a particularly good mood. It happened to be the first anniversary of his taking over the city government from Zhao Zukang, the acting mayor of the Kuomintang, and Mao Zedong called a few days ago to invite him to the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Before the Third Plenary Session of the Central Committee and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, he came to the Central Committee once on June 1. Mao Zedong said, "Some issues must be discussed with you in advance."

He told his secretary that before going to Beijing to meet Chairman Mao, he had to shave his head and adjust his outfit.The "some problems" Mao Zedong mentioned meant that the severe economic and political relations faced by Shanghai in recent months had basically passed. The upcoming Third Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee will discuss the fundamental improvement of the national financial and economic situation and the adjustment of industrial and commercial policies. After the disaster caused by the bombing of the Kuomintang planes on February 6 of this year was basically over, the spring of March, April, and May was an extraordinary spring, and major contradictions and struggles occurred on the economic front. The mayor of Shanghai, where the bourgeoisie is most concentrated, is on the cusp.

In March, in order to completely reverse the situation of out-of-control inflation for more than ten years, the central government implemented financial unification, and prices began to stabilize and dropped sharply.When prices drop, people are less likely to rush to buy things. The false purchasing power caused by inflation disappears, products are unsalable, and entrepreneurs suffer serious losses. , the burden on capital increased, and a serious economic crisis began to threaten Shanghai.In February, 53 factories were closed, 349 stores were closed, and there were 592 labor disputes.Workers and clerks are not paid wages.The money from the state's tax payment and tax increase cannot be collected, and capitalists cry poorly, renege on debts, commit suicide, and fake suicide.Liu Hongsheng, a big entrepreneur, said: I bought more than 100,000 shares of public bonds, and now I have to pay, pay taxes, pay taxes, and pay wages. Forget it for the country!Every day in Shanghai, factories and stores close down.The capitalists were surrounded by workers demanding wages, and some capitalists incited: "All my money has been paid in taxes to buy public bonds and taken to the government. You can go to the government to get it." Incidents such as looting pastry shops, demonstrations, and tearing up portraits of leaders took place.

The situation is indeed very serious! Chen Yi made a special note to the cadres of the United Front Work Department of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee who are about to go to Beijing to attend the National United Front Work Conference: "The capitalists should pay taxes and buy government bonds. It is the highest interest of the people to balance the country's financial revenue and expenditure. It must not be ambiguous. However, milking a cow cannot kill the cow. Now that class relations are tense, if you go to Beijing for a meeting, you will To reflect the real situation in this regard.” In March, the tax amount in Shanghai increased to 500 billion, but the actual tax amount collected reached 580 billion, which was 16% more than the excess. Obviously, the force was excessive.A few tax cadres advocated "heavy penalties for auditing accounts" and "picking the bones in the egg", and even said: "It doesn't matter what the policy is or not, and it doesn't matter if we wipe out the capitalists. Sooner or later we will take these companies over!" Chen Yi was very angry when he heard this, and made a severe and sharp criticism: "Expropriation and extortion, crushing people, this is not called socialism, it is called 'Left' leaning childish disease! In the past, the national bourgeoisie and our party cooperated to resist Japan and cooperate Anti-Chiang, now people don’t run away and cooperate to restore the economy, why should they be crushed? This is called crossing rivers and demolishing bridges, and it’s called not wanting friends and people’s support. It’s very unfavorable politically, and the economy will also cause great damage. , social chaos! Some people are very brave to oppose the right, but they dare not oppose the 'left', the left in the quotation marks, why can't you oppose it? The 'left' deviation of the Lisan line and the first Wang Ming line in the history of our party is not Has our party suffered a lot! I think that if you only dare to oppose the 'right' but not the 'left', you are not a good Communist!" The situation in Shanghai made Chen Yi feel that it was necessary for him to personally report to Mao Zedong and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to request relief from the tax debt.He thought over and over again, feeling unsure about how to write the report.Does this represent the bourgeoisie?According to his own words, "I was in a trance, and my spirit was very disturbed." However, after ideological struggle, he finally decided: "Tell the truth, the sky will not fall." Therefore, from March 12 to May 10, Chen Yi personally drafted and sent six telegrams in his own name to Chairman Mao Zedong and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, reflecting the difficult situation and opinions in Shanghai.During this period, he and Tan Zhenlin successively attended symposiums for business people in Shanghai and listened to capitalists "actively complaining about their grievances".They also think that the management's proposal to ask the government to replace spinning and weaving and to improve the specific methods of taxation should be properly considered.In his sixth telegram on May 10, he requested that Shanghai's tax collection in June be reduced from 400 billion to 300 billion based on the actual situation. Mao Zedong wrote a telegram in his own handwriting, saying: "The report was received on May 10, and I am very pleased. The policy adopted is correct." The issue of tax reduction "will be answered by Chen (Yun) and Bo (Yibo) after study. "And told Chen Yi to convene the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in mid-June to discuss the adjustment of industrial and commercial issues. "You are not a member of the National Committee, but some issues need to be discussed with you in advance. Please come to the Central Committee on June 1st." So far, the serious situation has basically passed.Tax cuts were agreed.In May, the number of state processing private textile factories in Shanghai increased by more than 100 times compared to March, reaching 60,000 pieces. More than 40 commercial enterprises have applied for opening and resuming operations, and it is estimated that nearly 300 will resume operations in June. Before Chen Yi was called by Mao Zedong to Beijing at the end of May, he had his head shaved and looked radiant.Just as Chen Yi was preparing to go to Beijing, his brother Chen Mengxi in Shanghai called: "My brother-in-law Li Cibai recently came over from Taiwan by way of Hong Kong and wants to visit you." Chen Mengxi was Chen Yi's brother who got along well when he was a teenager. The two went to France to study together on the freighter "Mailang" and worked in the same factory in France.Later, Meng Xi returned to the Whampoa Military Academy as a student of the fifth batch. After the Northern Expedition, he joined the Kuomintang army and served as a major general in the Sichuan Army. During the Liberation War, the soldiers revolted. After Shanghai was liberated, Meng Xi was assigned to work in Shanghai as an uprising general.Meng Xi felt that Li Cibai's visit this time was related to the great cause of national unification, and he should arrange to have a heart-to-heart talk with Chen Yi. Chen Yi heard that some relatives came from Taiwan, and he welcomed Meng Xiling to his home as a guest.Chen Yi personally moved the chairs, brought cigarettes and fruits, and warmly entertained them.After getting back to the topic, Yu Xi said: "Ci Bai has a mission to come here this time." Chen Yi was startled: "What mission?" Li Cibai said: "Taiwan wants me to talk to you about the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and to follow the path of the two-party democracy in the United States. At the very least, it requires not to attack Taiwan." He hoped that Chen Yi would pass this on to Beijing. Chen Yi was quite surprised when he heard this.He has the best understanding of the situation within the party and the situation in the Taiwan Strait, which is the most sensitive issue.After the liberation of Hainan Island and the Zhoushan Islands, how to cross the Taiwan Strait and attack Taiwan has become the focus of research by the Central Military Commission and the East China Military Region under his charge.On the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, he served as the seventh in the task of crossing the sea and attacking Taiwan.The troops of the Ninth Corps were carrying out large-scale military training activities at sea, while the East China Navy troops attacked the islands occupied by the Kuomintang army in eastern Zhejiang one by one, clearing the obstacles on the channel for the large army fleet to go south to Fujian.The ever-growing air force is equipped with Soviet-made aircraft that have been transported in a steady stream, which has deterred the Kuomintang military aircraft from entering the Shanghai area again.Chen Yi is also very familiar with the situation in Taiwan. Since Hainan Island was captured and Zhoushan was withdrawn, Taiwan’s Kuomintang authorities were extremely panicked. A considerable number of party-state officials had no hope of defending Taiwan and fled overseas.Chiang Kai-shek’s two most powerful economic pillars and relatives left when he was in the mainland: Kong Xiangxi went to South America to run a rubber plantation, Song Ziwen went to the United States to become an apartment, and Li Zongren, the second leader of the Kuomintang, flew to the United States and said he was ill.Even the military generals of Chiang Kai-shek's direct lineage have a considerable number of them who went overseas or lived in Hong Kong.When he learned that Liu Zhi, the former commander of the well-known Xuzhou "Suppression General", went to Indonesia to become a teacher of Huaqiao Middle School regardless of his respect as an admiral, he couldn't help laughing.The Kuomintang army has only more than 300,000 people left. Among them, only the few troops retreated from Zhoushan and the two new troops trained by Sun Liren are still intact, and the rest are dilapidated. The military defeat is irreversible with Chiang Kai-shek La. Chen Yi felt that it was not the right time to talk about the cooperation between the KMT and the Communist Party.Chen Yi said categorically: "Let's not mention the topic of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. It is too early to mention it now. There will be opportunities in the future." The economic situation is beginning to improve. He finally said: "Brother Meng Xi and Cibai need to study at the Revolutionary University immediately. They will go tomorrow, and all your relatives and friends will go. Please open the list and I will tell the United Front Work Department of the Municipal Party Committee tomorrow. Oh , I would like to welcome Bai back again and treat you to dinner, as for Taiwan, let it rot!" After meeting with Chen Yi, Li Cibai immediately sent a letter to Hong Kong according to the predetermined contact address, forwarded it to Hu Weike, and replied according to Chen Yi's words of "let it rot". Soon, the Korean War broke out, and the Seventh Fleet of the United States entered the Taiwan Strait, and Taiwan felt that it had a backer again.Hu Weike sent an urgent letter to Li Cibai, informing him that "the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party is unnecessary." From then on, the Taiwan side ignored the secret envoy sent to the mainland, and no longer paid living expenses to his family members who stayed in Taiwan. Li Cibai's fate in the mainland was also quite rough. In 1955, he was examined and sentenced to four years in prison and underwent reform through labor. More than 20 years later, the mainland implemented reform and opening up, and the policy was loosened. Li Cibai was approved to settle in Hong Kong.After Li arrived in Hong Kong, he asked to return to Taiwan to reunite with his long-lost wife, but was rejected by the Taiwan authorities.It is said that Jiang Jingguo's opinion was: "Li Cibai has been in the mainland for many years, and he has a sense of united front in every word and deed. What's more, he also advocates a third cooperation with the Communist Party. It is impossible to come to Taiwan."