In 1949, the war of liberation entered its final year, the defeat of the Kuomintang reactionaries was decided, and Chiang Kai-shek and others prepared to flee to Taiwan in an attempt to "
Comeback
During the retreat, they plundered gold, silver, porcelain and other treasures throughout the country, and all of them that could be packed into boxes were carried to ships and transported to Taiwan, and those that could not be transported were buried on the spot or even smashed and burned, leaving no property for the CCP.
Figure | Oil paintings from the founding of New China
After the founding of New China, the country was poor and white, rubble everywhere, lack of technology, lack of funds, lack of talent, and could not even build a single screw; there were blockades and sanctions imposed by the United States and other Western countries abroad, and it was difficult to move forward, but under the leadership of the Communist Party, the people of the whole country twisted into a rope, made concerted efforts to overcome difficulties, eliminated the remnants of the Kuomintang forces and bandits at home, actively broke the US blockade abroad, and won the diplomatic initiative.
Within a year of the founding of New China, 18 countries have established diplomatic relations with China, providing a lasting and stable development environment for domestic economic construction, and among these 18 countries, a small number of Western countries have established diplomatic relations with us, of which Sweden is the most typical, as a permanent neutral country, it has opened up a bridge between China and the Nordic countries, and then showed China's greater influence in the region.
In 1950, when China and Switzerland established diplomatic relations, according to the custom, the two countries were to send ambassadors to each other's embassies and consulates, and our ambassador attended the reception for the first time, during which a Swedish general walked around the crowd as if looking for someone.
Heard that Mr. Ambassador, was a general before?
”
When our ambassador was suddenly asked this question, he nodded his head in affirmation. The Swedish general did not spare, and with his inherent impression of old China, there were few generals in China who could fight, so he asked in a contemptuous tone: "Then how many soldiers have you brought?" ”
Figure | Geng Biao
Our ambassador responded in a low-key tone: "I have brought more than 100,000!" ”
After hearing this answer, the Swedish general's expression immediately became serious, and his attitude was different, only to see him retreat all the way back, salute our ambassador with a standard military salute, and say: "Disrespectful, you lead more troops than the entire Swedish army!" ”
The next day, the Swedish news media front page position, one after another published the news of the meeting between the two people, the Swedish people could not help but praise:"
What an outstanding ambassador from a great country!
So who is this ambassador to Sweden, what legendary experience did he have during the revolutionary years, why did he change from general to ambassador, and what interesting things happened during that time? With these questions, we enter his wonderful life:
This person was Geng Biao, deeply influenced by his father, with a good martial art, in the early years he personally hunted jungle beasts to give to Chairman Mao, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he was the only defense minister without a military rank.
In 1909, Geng Biao was born in a poor family in Liling County, Hunan Province, his father Geng Chunan was originally a military escort in the Forbidden City of the Qing Government, very prestigious in the army, when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China, the Guangxu Emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi and others fled west, Geng Chunan all the way to defend their safety, deeply trusted by Cixi, obtained a tiger head double hook weapon, people gave the nickname "Double Hook Hero".
However, at this time, the Qing government was already weakening day by day, the internal corruption was dark, and the suppression of the people in the country was humiliating to the foreigners, and Geng Chu Nan was discouraged by such a court, so he resigned his official position and returned to his hometown.
At that time, China was in a state of revolution, the revolutionaries were fighting with the Qing army, a scorched earth, the people had no harvest, although Geng Chunan was married, but his life was relatively poor, Geng Biao's life did not change in essence after he was born, but he knew that China's hope was in the hands of the next generation, so he vigorously cultivated Geng Biao, personally supervised him to learn martial arts, and hoped that if Geng Biao grew up on the battlefield and had a good body, he would not become a foreigner to laugh at."
sick man
”。
Geng Biao learned fist and foot kung fu with his father when he was a teenager, practicing his father's tiger head double hook, and after years of practice, among his peers, kung fu was already a leader.
In 1916, geng biao, who had reached the age of 7, had to follow his parents to Changning County in Shonan because of the war in his hometown, they were not familiar with the place of life here, everything had to start from scratch, Geng Biao knew that the family was difficult, took the initiative to go outside to find a job, went around and went to a lead and zinc mine as a child laborer, the capitalists of the old society were "cannibals", ruthlessly squeezing the surplus value of each laborer, Geng Biao and many laborers were often deducted for no reason every month, and if they did not do well, they would be scolded by the management.
Under the long-term influence of the party organization, Geng Biao gradually accepted the Marxist concept, and with the ideological change from being born for himself to living for countless compatriots throughout the country, he made a vow that he would find ways to save the people of Li from water and fire and fight for the cause of communism in his heart for the rest of his life.
He followed his co-workers in the strike movement, and later became a leader, planning and organizing a series of riots, and because of his positive performance, he joined the Chinese Communist Youth League in 1925.
In September 1930, Geng Biao came to the revolutionary base area to join the Red Army, and served as the chief of the combat education section of the Red 1Staffle Army, he participated in many anti-encirclement and suppression campaigns, in which he bravely went forward, the tactics were changeable, and led the soldiers to bite down many pieces."
Hard bones
He has made outstanding contributions to the defense of the revolutionary base areas.
According to Geng Biao's memoirs in his later years, the Battle of Xiangjiang was the most thrilling and brutal battle he encountered in his life. When our army lost one after another in the fifth anti-encirclement and suppression campaign, the Party Central Committee had to make a strategic shift (later called the Long March) decision, at this time Geng Biao was very weak due to injury and illness, and the leaders of the Party Central Committee hoped that he could stay, hide in the homes of the common people, and wait for his health to improve before keeping up with the large troops, but he was stubborn and stubborn, and he persuaded his superiors, hoping that he could follow the large troops and coexist and die with the soldiers.
Figure | Long March oil painting
The superiors saw that he had a very great determination, but he could not help him, so he had to agree, so Geng Biao served as the commander of the Red Fourth Regiment of the Red First Army and became the pioneer of the main army, when they came to the Xiangjiang area in northern Guangxi, the Nationalist army had already set up a fourth blockade line here, Geng Biao led his troops to fight the enemy to the death, the enemy came like a tide, how to fight could not be fought, and our fighters fell one after another, and on the Xiangjiang front, the corpses of our soldiers could be seen everywhere, and the Xiangjiang suddenly became the "Red River". The enemy took advantage of his numerical and firepower superiority to continuously squeeze the space for our army to cross the river, and it seemed that it was about to sneak in front of our command post.
Our soldiers immediately threw grenades frantically in the direction of the enemy, trying to delay the enemy's attack, but the enemy seemed to be unable to kill them, and after fighting a batch of them, a batch appeared, and our ammunition was obviously insufficient, and they shouted angrily to the guards around them: "
Take my sabre!
Subsequently, Geng Biao took up the saber and led the soldiers into the enemy ranks, where the sabre was wielded, the enemy fell down after a groan, after all, Geng Biao had practiced martial arts when he was a child, he could easily cut off the enemy's head, and the saber alone was cut down several times, in this battle, Geng Biao's courage and courage can be proved, although our army has experienced serious combat attrition, but Geng Biao has let the enemy army see different Red Army soldiers, as long as they see the sword that has been cut in Geng Biao's hand, they are chilled and frightened to retreat, and our main force takes advantage of the situation to cross the river.
Figure | Blood Battle Xiangjiang film and television drama photos
According to Geng Biao's eldest daughter Geng Ying, "
In the Battle of Xiangjiang, my father showed extreme bravery, he only relied on the strength of one regiment to firmly block the enemy's 15 regiments, which was a miracle in the history of military warfare at home and abroad, he used several sabers to fight the enemy, afterwards, full of blood plasma, a bloody smell made him constantly vomit! Father is full of guts, put into ancient times, must be as good as that Zhao Yun!
Geng Biao, on the other hand, felt very sad about this battle, although this battle was a battle related to the life and death of the Central Red Army, and a way of life was created for the Central Red Army, but too many soldiers paid the price of their lives for it, and since then the water of the Xiang River has been stained red by the blood of my comrades-in-arms, and I will never eat the fish in the Xiang River again, and I will never drink the water in the Xiang River again!
Figure | Blood Battle Xiangjiang Oil Painting
During the period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, Geng Biao also showed heroism, not only fighting against the Japanese army and defending the country, but also fighting against the actions of the Kuomintang reactionaries in sabotaging peace and provoking civil war, and making important contributions to the cause of the revolution throughout the country.
To put it differently, in his military career, there are two interesting things that are widely circulated in the army, and people directly boast that Geng Biao really "has two brushes", and he is skilled.
One is the taming of horses
When the Central Red Army passed through the Gansu region during the Long March, our army saw that there were herdsmen's areas and hoped to buy a good colt from the common people. Geng Biao took on this heavy responsibility, when he came to the herdsmen's area, he expressed his demands to the people, and was told that there were many good horses here, but you must not buy the brown-red horse, Geng Biao asked the reason to know that the unique horse personality was very grumpy, completely did not recognize the owner, and when he saw someone approaching, he made a hissing sound.
After Geng Biao heard this, he did not believe in this evil, there was no horse that could not be subdued, he was eager to try, came to the horse, only to see that the horse saw the common people and Geng Biao coming from a distance, he kept fiddling with his hooves and making a cry, and the common people did not dare to come close, so he let Geng Biao think of his own way.
Geng Biao took the leather whip in his hand and strode toward the horse, it was strange to say, the horse became unusually quiet after seeing Geng Biao coming, Geng Biao stepped on the horse and pulled up the reins, the horse not only did not throw him down, but listened to his call, galloped quickly, the people saw this scene, directly stunned, exclaimed: "
What a god, and such a person!
After Geng Biao rode the horse back, he said, "Your horse is very good, I will decide!" ”
This is the horse obedient, in fact, one thing drops one thing, the horse is purely impressed by Geng Biao's aura, the so-called good horse with a good saddle, a good colt with a hero, Geng Biao deserves to have this good foal.
The second is to fight the beast
During the period of large-scale production in Nanniwan, the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army, under extremely difficult circumstances, held a hoe in one hand and a gun in the other, were self-sufficient and overcame difficulties.
Geng Biao stepped forward, formed a hunting team, personally trained the fighters in round-up skills, in a few months, he caught thousands of wild boars, hares, and dozens of wild wolves, 8 leopards and 4 tigers with his good marksmanship and prepared traps in advance, among which Geng Biao also sent a tiger to Chairman Mao and Commander-in-Chief Zhu, chairman Mao saw Geng Biao eliminating harm for the people (not protecting animals at that time), very happy, and said to Commander-in-Chief Zhu: "Can you move this tiger?" ”
Commander-in-Chief Zhu smiled, tried it out, and said, "Chairman, I can't do this!" ”
After speaking, the two laughed, and Chairman Mao continued:
Comrade Geng Biao is really amazing, fighting a war, fighting a tiger, not a single one will fall!
After the founding of New China, the leaders of the Cpc Central Committee announced the abolition of all unequal treaties in the old ones, and we could communicate with or even establish diplomatic relations with any country that was friendly to China and respected China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Figure | Chairman Mao
Now that New China wants to establish its own diplomatic institution and diplomatic corps, the Party Central Committee has decided after many rounds of discussions to have Premier Zhou concurrently serve as the first foreign minister.
First, the backbone elements of the platon's major field military commissions and military regions, although they have killed the enemy on the battlefield for many years and have little experience in diplomacy, if they can devote themselves to active study in new fields, it is worth "a good piece of steel used on the blade of a knife."
Second, the comrades who were originally engaged in underground intelligence work and united front work for a long time have accumulated a lot of experience in the secret front and the Longtan Tiger's Den, and they are not alarmed by the world, and are suitable for talking and laughing on various diplomatic occasions;
Third, young students from major universities or who have studied abroad can be given due consideration, they are well educated, understand foreign languages, have a certain professional quality, and can inject fresh blood into the diplomatic team.
Of course, Geng Biao was included.
Figure | Li Zhimin
On New Year's Day 1950, Li Zhimin, political commissar of the 19th Corps, and Yang Dezhi, commander of the 19th Corps, found Geng Biao and announced an important news to the latter, the three of them had not met for a while and were preparing to say a few words of greeting, but Li Zhimin turned the topic around and smiled and said to Geng Biao: "Old Geng, I bring you good news this time, the Party Central Committee issued a secret order to let you quickly return to Beijing to become a diplomat!" ”
Geng Biao couldn't believe his ears, stretched out his neck and asked, "What do you say, say it again, what do you want me to be?" ”
Yang Dezhi next to him smiled and said:
I have heard it all, let you be a diplomat, old Geng, I will have to call you Ambassador Geng in the future!
Geng Biao's facial expression at that time was very complicated, he had fought half his life on horseback, how many hard battles he had fought, he thought he would wear this military uniform for the rest of his life, but he did not think that his superiors would suddenly let a person with no diplomatic experience to be a diplomat, the more he thought about it, the more he couldn't figure it out, and he went straight to Beijing by car overnight.
When Geng Biao came to Zhongnanhai in Beijing, Chairman Mao happened to be working inside, and after Geng Biao knocked on the door and got permission to enter, he directly expressed that he might not be suitable for the position of diplomat. Chairman Mao had long guessed that he would definitely find himself, walked up to Geng Biao's body, took the initiative to shake hands with him, and said: "Speaking of which, we are still fellow countrymen, decades of revolutionary career have passed, and now you are asked to take off this military uniform, you will indeed be reluctant to do so, but as a revolutionary soldier, the most important thing is to obey orders, to achieve high political awareness, to take a firm stand, to go wherever you need to go, you are serving as ambassador is fighting on another front, it is a silent battle, and it represents the image of our new China. You have to investigate and learn more! ”
Geng Biao was convinced by Chairman Mao's words and said: "Chairman, I resolutely obey the order, but you also know that I only know how to march and fight, and I have no clue about diplomacy at all!" ”
Figure | Premier Zhou
At this time, Premier Zhou also came over and said to Geng Biao: "
To be an ambassador, first of all, we must not panic and be calm and calm, this point, we are ten thousand assured of you, secondly, we must be sincere, after all, as a key person in communication between the two countries, the mission is great, representing our Attitude of China, and finally, we must be careful in doing things, no matter which country you are transferred to as an ambassador, you must be careful of enemy elements! Tomorrow, I will take a few of you ambassadors who are preparing to take office to observe the process of submitting your credentials!
The next morning, the prospective ambassadors came to HuaiRen Tang and watched as the ambassadors of some countries in China presented their credentials to Chairman Mao, and the people carefully observed every detail of the ambassadors to China, and when they themselves were training, they first discussed what time period to shake hands, what time period to hand over the letter, what time period to take a group photo, and so on. After repeated practice, the crowd learned a lot.
This alone was not enough, they also had to make up for the theoretical knowledge of diplomacy and understand the etiquette and customs of the country they were about to go to, so at that time the Ministry of Foreign Affairs urgently set up an ambassador training class, specifically from the major universities in Beijing to invite some foreign professors to teach them foreign etiquette knowledge, and to understand the local laws and prohibitions.
In addition to knowing astronomy and geography, the prospective ambassadors must also learn ballroom dance, otherwise at the receptions held abroad, they will not be able to get off the stage, some of these people are generals who cross the battlefield, that encountered this kind of scene, their wives did not support them to dance, and later Premier Zhou personally came forward to do the ideological work of the people, so that they could let go of the burden, the prospective ambassadors and their dance partners danced more and more freely, and the crash course was quite effective.
On September 19, 1950, Geng Biao came to Sweden to submit his credentials, this day he will never forget, in order not to make any mistakes, he repeatedly recited The official positions of Swedish officials, political achievements, customs and customs, leaders' preferences, etc. A few days ago, when they came to Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, Geng Biao and his wife Zhao Lanxiang strolled to the Chinese Embassy in Sweden, along the way, there were Swedish citizens to see Geng Biao and his wife, they wanted to see the style of the first ambassador of New China in Switzerland.
Paradoxically, the Swedish media did not blindly accuse and denigrate Geng Biao, but instead reported in the mainstream media at this length:"
The appearance of the newly appointed Chinese ambassador Geng Biao with his wife is very different, they do not carry gems and gold like ambassadors of other countries, Geng Biao is a general in China, he did not wear his medal, which is unimaginable in other countries, they are showing the world with a new diplomatic image, socialist China is striding onto the world stage with its head held high!
Figure | The first on the right is Geng Biao
On the day of September 19, Geng Biao stood at the entrance of the embassy, waiting for the special car sent by the Swedish crown prince, his psychological quality was excellent, standing upright on the steps and watching the distance, soon, the luxury car drove to the entrance of the embassy, Geng Biao and the accompanying interpreter sat on the car and went straight to the Swedish palace, when Geng Biao entered the palace, he saw that the Swedish king was nearly 100 years old, but still standing to greet himself, he was very moved, in accordance with diplomatic etiquette to submit the letter of state, the two after a simple exchange, Geng Biao found that the original submission of the national certificate is not an overly serious thing, The atmosphere is relaxed and there is no sense of depression.
This was a small step for Geng Biao, but it was a big step for New China's diplomacy.
On October 1, 1950, on the first anniversary of the founding of New China, the country was holding a celebration, Geng Biao and others also held a reception in the embassy, Sweden in order to deepen the friendship between the two countries, also sent a large number of people to the Chinese embassy, during which a total of 500 people were invited to attend, here are basically representatives of the Swedish military and political circles and social elites, some of them maintain a friendly attitude towards New China, some people want to take this opportunity to better understand the development of New China, and a small number of people are hostile to our country. Contempt for attitudes.
As the host of the reception, Geng Biao held a brief welcome ceremony on the stage, and he behaved not humble throughout the whole process, trying to show the best side of New China to everyone.
In the second stage of the reception, when everyone raised a glass of celebration, a Swedish admiral came to Geng Biao's side, wanted to embarrass Geng Biao at the reception, and said in a contemptuous tone: "Mr. Ambassador, I heard that you were also a general before, how many soldiers have you brought?" ”
Geng Biao knew that the visitors were not good, and replied: "
I've also brought more than 100,000 horses!
When the general listened to the translator next to him say the words "just", he was shocked to take a step back, this number can be worth the total number of troops in Sweden, he asked this question as if he was very ignorant, he immediately saluted Geng Biao in a military manner to show the highest respect, and then he said: "Ambassador Geng, you are really modest, I hope we will communicate more in the future, I want to hear about your experience in leading troops to fight!" ”
Geng Biao responded: "We learn from each other and learn from each other! ”
At this reception, Geng Biao not only perfectly demonstrated the dual identity of Chinese soldiers and ambassadors, effectively safeguarded the dignity of the country, but also made friends and built a bridge for people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.
Afterwards, the Swedish media made a big report on the matter: "The first ambassador of the socialist country of China to Switzerland, appeared in our country, conquered every guest at the reception with a humble and low-key style, and exchanged the guns in their hands for champagne, as if to show us that this new regime country is in line with the world!" ”
In the following 20 years, Geng Biao has been shining in the diplomatic field, laying a solid foundation for the creation and development of the diplomatic pattern of new China, and establishing the artistic style of China's older generation of diplomats for those who come after him.
In 1981, Geng Biao took up the post of Minister of National Defense, and it is worth mentioning that he is the only minister of national defense in China without a military rank.
In 2000, at the turn of the old and new centuries, Geng Biao died of illness at the age of 91, and the life of this comrade can be summed up in a short sentence: "
Put on a military uniform and settle down in the rain of bullets and bullets; put on a suit and create a new situation in the field of China's diplomacy!