Beginning in December 1975, Premier Zhou entered a state of coma at any time, at this time it has been three and a half years since he was diagnosed with bladder cancer, and seeing that time is running out, the experts of the medical team have conducted a comprehensive examination and diagnosis of Premier Zhou's body, judging that Premier Zhou is already in critical condition, and there may be an accident at any time and cannot be rescued.
In this regard, on the one hand, the medical team wrote a report to the Party Central Committee and made a detailed report to Deng Yingchao to make psychological preparations; on the other hand, the medical team also made preparations for the rescue plan in all aspects.
The medical team has made adjustments to the arrangement of medical staff, especially the doctor on duty, which is directly attended by well-known experts in various departments such as cardiology, urology, general surgery and anesthesiology, and is guarded in shifts to facilitate 24-hour uninterrupted monitoring of the development of the disease.
For various treatment measures such as infusion and antimicrobial infusion, there is also expert guidance or direct personally carried out, in order to accurately know the changes in Premier Zhou's condition at the first time to ensure that it can be accurately and timely responded to.
If it is detected that Premier Zhou's condition has changed and needs to be rescued, the rescue work also needs to be carried out in an orderly and rapid manner, in this regard, the medical team joint guards and service personnel held a special meeting and made a special division of labor, specifically:
- First, once rescue is needed, the security personnel are responsible for calling all the personnel of the medical team to the ward;
- Second, it is necessary to report to the Party Central Committee and Deng Yingchao by telephone;
- Third, it is necessary to put those objects at the head of Premier Zhou's bed, such as wind shields and nightstands, so that they cannot hinder the rescue work;
- Fourth, try to keep the ward quiet, and people who are not needed for work cannot enter the ward. Access to wards is strictly restricted, and non-medical staff need to determine the list in advance. Whoever wants to enter the ward needs to wear isolation gowns, masks and hats to enter with full force;
- Fifth, keeping the ward clean may reduce bacterial pollution in the near future, so as to prevent Premier Zhou from aggravating the condition due to respiratory infections, and so on.
It can be said that since Premier Zhou was critically ill, everyone has been waiting in a strict line in order to prolong Premier Zhou's life as long as possible.
At this time, Premier Zhou could only rely on nasal feeding, infusions and blood transfusions to maintain his life, more and more time in a coma, whenever he woke up from the coma, if the spirit is OK, he can also have a brief conversation with the people who come to visit, or ask the medical staff to read him international briefings, domestic dynamics and reference materials, and sometimes listen to the radio.
Learning about major events at home and abroad was something he had to do every day, and he used to see it himself, but later he could only listen to the staff read it to him.
On January 1, 1976, Premier Zhou woke up from his coma again, and vaguely heard the radio broadcasting the New Year's Day editorial, and two newspapers and one issue ("Poetry Journal", "People's Daily", and "Red Flag") published two poems written by Chairman Mao in 1965, "Water Tune Song Head, Re-shang Jinggangshan" and "Nian Nu Jiao Bird Q&A".
These two poems were composed by Chairman Mao in 1965. On May 22 of that year, Chairman Mao, accompanied by Zhang Pinghua and Wang Dongxing, went to Jinggangshan and then left on May 29, the first time Chairman Mao returned to Jinggangshan after the founding of the People's Republic of China.
After the autumn harvest uprising in 1927, Mao Zedong's army went south to Jinggangshan to create the Jinggangshan base area 38 years ago.
The artillery fire and bullet marks have long passed, but the spirit of Jinggangshan has been deeply rooted in the hearts of revolutionaries, and now that the old appearance has changed into a new look, why not let Chairman Mao, who opened up the Jinggangshan revolutionary base area, be full of pride? Standing at the end of the mountain, the soles of his feet are the land of the revolution, and he put the excitement in his chest into a poem, so he had these two words.
The first reader to talk about these two words is Deng Yingchao, and there is a story in it. After Chairman Mao left Jinggangshan, he inspected the office in Hangzhou, Shanghai and other places, and did not return to Beijing until June 22. Seven days later, Chairman Mao met with a Tanzanian women's delegation led by the wife of Second Vice President Kawava in Hall 118 of the Great Hall of the People, and Deng Yingchao and others were present.
After the event, Deng Yingchao told Chairman Mao that he had not read his new works for a long time and hoped to read his new works. At that time, Chairman Mao immediately thought of two new poems written on Jinggang Mountain, but because he had only written a first draft and had not yet revised it properly, he did not mention it, but just smiled and said that he would let Deng Yingchao teach one or two when he wrote the new poem.
After Chairman Mao returned, because he had been very busy, he did not have time to deal with these two words, until one day in September, he finally took some time to study them carefully, and on September 25, Chairman Mao asked the staff to send the two words printed out to Deng Yingchao, and he also wrote a letter specifically for this purpose:
Sister Deng:
Ever since you forced me to write poetry, there was no way but to obey my fate, and I spent two nights without sleeping and wrote two poems. Changed a few times, has not changed well, now send it for advice. If there is something wrong, please change the pain to hope!
Thus, these two words had their first readers, but perhaps Chairman Mao felt that there was still room for revision, or perhaps he felt that it was not the best time to publish them, in short, Chairman Mao did not publish them.
It was not until January 1, 1976, that Chairman Mao finally published these two new words, of course, and the version that Deng Yingchao saw had changed a lot.
On the first day of 1976, the publication of these two words was naturally of great significance, and the New Year's Day editorial said: "The publication of these two words has great political significance and practical significance. "There may be another meaning, that is, to motivate Premier Zhou to fight against the disease."
Although Premier Zhou's People's Liberation Army 305 Hospital and Chairman Mao's Zhongnanhai Swimming Pool are close by, there are few opportunities for the two to meet.
When Premier Zhou was critically ill, Chairman Mao's situation was also very serious, his speech was already unclear, his feet were puffy, and without the support of the staff, he himself could not walk at all, and his eyes could not see clearly;
The third reason is also that the Central Committee did not agree to Chairman Mao's visit to Premier Zhou, the illness of the two great men is so serious, if the two people see each other, they will inevitably be sad to see each other, they will inevitably be stimulated, and they are likely to aggravate their condition.
However, Chairman Mao has always known about Premier Zhou's condition, Premier Zhou will regularly personally write his own examination report and treatment plan into a report and send it to Chairman Mao, the medical leading group will also report to Chairman Mao on Premier Zhou's situation, and Chairman Mao himself will often let the staff around him visit Premier Zhou in the hospital, so Chairman Mao knows where Premier Zhou's condition has gone.
Seeing that Premier Zhou was increasingly in a coma, how could Chairman Mao not be in a hurry? But he had no other way, not even to visit in person, and what he could do was probably to give Premier Zhou an encouragement, which was not necessarily one of the reasons why Chairman Mao published these two poems on New Year's Day in 1976.
He also circled the New Year's Day editorial, titled "There is nothing difficult in the world, as long as you can climb it", which is the last sentence of "Water Tune Song Head : Re-entering Jinggangshan".
After listening to the editorial, Premier Zhou hurriedly asked the staff around him to bring the latest People's Daily to read these two poems to him. When the secretary Zhao Wei read these two words to Premier Zhou, Premier Zhou listened carefully, occasionally heard excitement, and would pull the corners of his mouth in spite of the pain, tearing open a seemingly innocent smile, and after listening to it, he asked Zhao Wei to put the newspaper next to his pillow.
Premier Zhou liked these two words very much, and through these two words, he remembered the turbulent revolutionary years in the past, remembered the revolutionary years that were full of gunfire, and remembered the revolutionary years shrouded in white.
Although there was a possibility of sacrifice at any time during those years, there were still countless benevolent men and women who embarked on the road of revolution without hesitation, they went all the way, and there were people on the road who fell continuously, and the blood stained the earth red, and those who survived went through countless hardships, rubbed shoulders with the god of death several times, still got up and moved forward, and then broke a hole in the darkness, let the light penetrate, and the dawn finally came.
Through Chairman Mao's words, Premier Zhou seemed to have returned to those revolutionary years, leaving him spiritually radiant. In the following days, as long as he was awake, he would always let the staff around him read these two words to him, and if the staff made a mistake in the pronunciation of the words when reading, he would also seriously point them out, and if he heard the excitement, he would also pull out a smile and say a few words of discussion.
I have to say that this should be a rare warm moment in the ward, which is a great luxury for Premier Zhou, because he is waking up for less and less, his illness is getting worse and worse, and he is already in danger.
In the early morning of January 5, he underwent another treatment operation, Deng Xiaoping, Li Xiannian and others were waiting outside the ward, everyone was hoping that Premier Zhou would survive, and he did survive, but it did not mean that the length of his life would increase.
On the contrary, from this day on, most of the members of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee in Beijing received a notice that Premier Zhou was critically ill, and they began to visit Premier Zhou in batches in the hospital, also saying goodbye.
On January 7, Premier Zhou's condition further deteriorated, his breath was weak, and he was in a coma most of the time, until 11 o'clock in the evening, he woke up from the coma, saw the attending doctor Wu Jieping standing by his side, he said slightly apologetically: "I have nothing to do here, you still go to take care of other sick comrades, where you are more needed..."
This was Premier Zhou's last words to the world, and after he said it, he kept looking in the direction of the door, as if he was waiting for someone. The doctor on duty thought that he was waiting for Deng Yingchao, and quickly asked Premier Zhou, and said that Deng Yingchao had already returned home.
Premier Zhou just shook his head and continued to stare at the door, just like that for more than an hour before he went to sleep again.
Premier Zhou's soberness this time made the people in the hospital have diametrically opposite ideas, the doctors were not optimistic about this, they frowned tightly, knowing that Premier Zhou's life was afraid of entering the countdown, while the guards saw that Premier Zhou was in good spirits, thought that his condition had improved, and his mood was inexplicably relaxed.
Where did they know that it was Premier Zhou's last sober moment, because it was late at night, and he could not see the most familiar figure in front of the hospital bed, which became his last regret.
On the morning of January 8, Wu Jieping presided over the shift meeting, the medical staff conducted detailed communication on Premier Zhou's condition, and soon, a new round of duty began, and everyone threw themselves into intense work, at this time, Zhang Zuoliang, a health doctor who knew most about Premier Zhou's condition, found a slight abnormality in Premier Zhou when he observed Premier Zhou's condition in the ward.
The rescue work began rapidly, and this rescue work was more difficult than any previous rescue work, because the doctors found that no matter what they did, it seemed to be in vain, they were all superb doctors in their respective fields, they had done countless successful operations, and treated countless patients, but at this moment, their proud medical skills could not play a role at all.
All the medical staff's brains are constantly running, the movements in their hands are not stopping, and their hearts are always struggling, but Premier Zhou's life is still passing little by little, and no one can stop it.
At 9:57, Wu Jieping looked at his watch, exchanged views with several experts, and had to announce a most sad decision: the rescue work could be stopped and all those things removed.
His voice was full of pain, the tone was not high or low, enough for everyone in the ward to hear, but it seemed that few people heard, there were still doctors in vain, did not believe that Premier Zhou was gone, still trying to wake up Premier Zhou, and some people were already sitting in the corner crying.
When Deng Yingchao rushed from the West Flower Hall, what he saw when he entered the ward was a chaotic situation, the ward had long ceased to be in order, some people fell to the ground crying, some people stood there silently, some people were quietly withdrawing their instruments, some people were still trying to rescue, Deng Yingchao looked too chaotic, chaotic to the point that she saw Premier Zhou lying quietly on the bed.
With a buzz in her head, she almost fell down, but she still ran to the front of the ward, threw herself on Premier Zhou, and cried: "Enlai, Enlai, I'm late..."
Her cries completely woke up the people in the ward, and more cries rang out.
The ward was crying and shouting, the cold wind outside the ward was raging, whimpering, there was the sound of branches breaking, the clicking sound was blown away by the wind, on this cold windy morning, not many people knew that their beloved Premier Zhou had left, that is, Chairman Mao, who was only a few hundred meters away, did not know.
To many people, the morning of January 8, 1976 seems to be no different, it is still cold, the north wind is still raging, but it is also different, because this day is the eighth day of the first lunar month, that is, the eighth festival of The Eighth Lunar Month.
It has been said that Lapa Is the Year, Lapa Ba's morning drink a bowl of Lapa Porridge, and then you can wait for the arrival of the New Year, all the busyness of the year has begun to bear fruit, everyone is busy for the New Year, that is a rare busyness, but also a rare happiness.
For Chairman Mao, the day of Lapa Ba was no different from usual, and he did not sleep all night again, which was a habit he had developed during the revolutionary years, either sleeping very late at night or staying up all night. When Premier Zhou's heart stopped beating, Chairman Mao was lying on his side in bed reading a book, he was not ready to sleep, and nurse Meng Jinyun was on duty next to him.
The news of Premier Zhou's death was passed to the swimming pool by Zhang Yaoci, deputy director of the Security Bureau, and considering Chairman Mao's physical condition and work and rest time, he did not go inside, but only passed the message to the nurse on duty outside, and xiao wrote a note on the table in the hall.
This is also a very common way to communicate things in the swimming pool, mainly to ensure Chairman Mao's rest, when the less than put the note on the table, Meng Jinyun in the bedroom immediately noticed the movement outside, she knew that there was some news or something sent, so she gently put down the book in her hand, looked at Chairman Mao, and then quietly walked out.
When she saw what was written on the note, her pupils shrank suddenly, and she did not expect that Premier Zhou had actually died of illness, and this bad news made her eyes red in an instant, and the tears were about to fall.
But she did not have time to grieve, she could not leave Chairman Mao's side for too long, so she had to quickly pack up her mood, then put the note in her pocket, and quietly returned to the bedroom, sitting in her original position and continuing to read.
On the one hand, the bad news of Premier Zhou's death was difficult for her to accept, and on the other hand, how would she tell Chairman Mao this news?
Chairman Mao's physical condition is there, if so, what if his mood fluctuates too much and causes a heart attack? But it is impossible not to tell him that such an important matter must be told to Chairman Mao. Privately, they were comrades-in-arms who had fought side by side for half a century, and their feelings were extremely deep, and Chairman Mao should have known about this matter; Yu Gong, the premier had died of illness, Chairman Mao must know, and there were still many things to be done in the future.
Therefore, Meng Jinyun could only decide when to tell Chairman Mao, she thought that Chairman Mao had not slept all night, and at this time told him that the possibility of being stimulated was very high, so she finally decided to wait until the afternoon when Chairman Mao was in good spirits to find an opportunity to tell, that is also the latest time to inform this news.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee sent someone to send a sample of Premier Zhou's obituary of his death, and Meng Jinyun knew that he could not delay it any longer; at this time Chairman Mao had already eaten and slept, and it was the time to listen to the newspapers and documents, and his spirit was still good, and Meng Jinyun knew that this was the best time.
She first picked up the newspaper and read some content to Chairman Mao, then took out a sample of the obituary mixed in with it and read it in a low voice:
"Comrade Zhou Enlai, a great proletarian revolutionary of the Chinese people and a communist fighter who came into contact with him, died on January 8, 1976, because of cancer and ineffective medical treatment..."
Chairman Mao, who had been listening to the newspaper with his eyes closed, suddenly felt a little strange when he heard Meng Jinyun's voice reading the newspaper change, and later when he heard Zhou Enlai's long resignation, he suddenly felt that his brain could not turn, how could he read that Zhou Enlai had passed away? How did Zhou Enlai die of illness?
It was not that he did not know About Premier Zhou's illness, nor was he not mentally prepared for Premier Zhou's death, but when Premier Zhou really died of illness, he still couldn't accept it.
He slowly opened his eyes and looked at Meng Jinyun sheepishly, as if to confirm whether what he heard was wrong, but Meng Jinyun's expression clearly told him that he had not heard wrong, and Premier Zhou really died of illness. He didn't know how to react for a while, but just nodded to Meng Jinyun, indicating that he knew, and then closed his eyes again without saying a word.
Meng Jinyun didn't know what Chairman Mao was thinking at that moment, but she saw tears rolling out of the closed eye sockets, and the tears ran down her cheeks to the corners of her mouth and into her neck.
He listened motionlessly to Meng Jinyun read the obituary, locked his brows, and the tears did not stop. In the days that followed, Chairman Mao's mental state was not good, and most of the time he was silent, eating, sleeping, reading books, and reading documents in silence.
On January 14, Chairman Mao asked the staff around him to read to him the draft eulogy of Premier Zhou, which Had been approved by The Politburo meeting by Deng Xiaoping on January 12, a eulogy of nearly three thousand words, and Chairman Mao was able to control his emotions when he first listened, but later when he listened, he could no longer control the feelings in his heart, and he lost his voice and cried bitterly.
The staff had to stop again and again to try to soothe Chairman Mao's emotions, but Chairman Mao's cries did not stop, and the staff could only choke up and read the nearly 3,000-word eulogy while shedding tears.
After reading it, the crying in the bedroom continued for a long time, and finally Chairman Mao gave instructions: "Agree." In addition to the draft eulogy, a document on Premier Zhou's memorial service was also sent for review, and Chairman Mao also gave instructions.
Just when Premier Zhou's memorial service was being arranged intensely, many people had a question in their minds, that is, whether Chairman Mao would attend Premier Zhou's memorial service, knowing that just four years ago, on the afternoon of January 10, Chairman Mao suddenly decided to participate in the memorial service more than an hour before the start of Chen Yi's memorial service, which surprised everyone.
Because of this incident, after Premier Zhou died of illness, although the CPC Central Committee did not arrange for Chairman Mao to attend Premier Zhou's memorial service, many people still wondered whether Chairman Mao would also attend.
The existence of this kind of thinking is very common, the swimming pool staff have this question, and Zhang Yufeng, the life secretary, once asked Chairman Mao directly: "Do you want to attend the premier's memorial service?" ”
Chairman Mao was silent for a while, patted his slightly upturned leg with his hand, and said painfully and laboriously: "I can't walk." "He really couldn't walk, and without the support of the staff, he couldn't walk at all, and he couldn't even stand up and sit down on his own."
It was four years ago to attend Chen Yi's memorial service, when he left the car, he did not step into the car several times, or the staff helped him to the car, and now four years later, his health is even worse, and he is no longer allowed to go out.
Zhang Yufeng was bold and asked Chairman Mao directly, and if he did not dare to ask Chairman Mao and ask others, Meng Jinyun called and asked Wang Dongxing: "Do you want to tell the chairman to attend the premier's memorial service?" ”
Wang Dongxing thought about it and said: "If the Politburo has not issued a notice to invite the chairman to attend the memorial service, you should not ask the chairman whether he will participate or not." ”
Although Wang Dongxing made such a command, the swimming pool was actually all prepared for Chairman Mao's participation in the memorial service, and the corresponding guard protection work needless to say, that is, wheelchairs, oxygen bags and other rescue measures were also prepared, afraid that Chairman Mao would suddenly participate as he did four years ago.
But this time was obviously different, Chairman Mao was obviously weak in heart, and he was unable to attend Premier Zhou's memorial service.
At three o'clock in the afternoon of January 15, Premier Zhou's memorial service was held in the Great Hall of the People, and Chairman Mao sent someone to send a wreath and asked Zhang Yaoci to attend the memorial service on his behalf. That night, the staff found that Chairman Mao was silently weeping while watching television, that he was sending farewell to his comrades-in-arms in his own way, and that he himself knew that there was not much time for him.
At 00:10 on September 9, eight months after Premier Zhou's death, Chairman Mao also left the country and people he loved forever.