"I'm busy at work, and the same is true for the deputy minister's approval."
One day shortly after the founding of New China, Premier Zhou Enlai suddenly discovered a strange thing:
The notes of other ministries and commissions have the instructions of the minister himself, and the ministry of independent water resources has signed the signature of the vice minister several times in a row.
Where is the name of the minister? In this way, has the position of chief minister established by the government become a decoration?
The more Zhou Enlai thought about it, the more wrong he became, and he hurriedly asked the minister of water resources in person, but he did not expect that the other party actually agreed to the vice minister's "overhead" approach, and said that "I am busy with my work, and the vice minister's instructions are the same."
As soon as this remark came out, he thought of a strange incident that happened not long ago, and Zhou Enlai suddenly realized something.
The minister in Premier Zhou's mouth was General Fu Zuoyi, who had just recently revolted peacefully.
Soon after the peaceful liberation of Peiping, Fu Zuoyi was entrusted by Mao Zedong with the heavy responsibility of minister of water resources.
(Fu Zuoyi)
(1) Fu Zuoyi mao voluntarily recommended mao zedong entrusted him with a heavy responsibility
Fu Zuoyi and our party can be said to be each other without fighting or knowing each other. During the civil war, Fu Zuoyi was a powerful pawn under Chiang Kai-shek, and he once made our army suffer a lot in Suiyuan, Zhangjiakou and other places in the early days.
At the height of the Kuomintang's momentum, the arrogant Fu Zuoyi openly "beckoned Mao Zedong", as long as the CCP laid down its arms and surrendered, Fu Zuoyi guaranteed that Mao Zedong could come to the government, and if the other party did not dislike it, he could serve as a small clerk under Mao Zedong.
Unexpectedly, more than two years later, the Nationalist army was completely defeated on the battlefield, and in the face of Lin Biao's million-strong taishan offensive, Fu Zuoyi had to lead his troops to surrender, and Peiping was peacefully liberated.
In February 1949, Fu Zuoyi, with anxiety and uneasiness, personally came to Xibaipo to plead with Mao Zedong for jing.
"I'm guilty!"
Having just met Mao Zedong, Fu Zuoyi confessed to Mao Zedong as a criminal figure for the mistakes he had committed against the party and the people in the past in the civil war.
Who knew that Mao Zedong had scattered the doubts deposited in Fu Zuoyi's heart between three words and two words, and he said with a heavy heart:
Although Fu Zuoyi had committed mistakes in the past, with the merits made in the past in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the peaceful liberation of Peiping, General Fu "has done more than he has done!" The people will not forget you!"
(Xibaipo, Zhou Enlai and Fu Zuoyi)
Zhou Enlai next to him also added the meritorious deeds made by this "Seven-and-a-Half- Road" during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, whether it was jointly fighting with the Eighth Route Army in northwestern Jin, transporting materials to help our army, or insisting on introducing Communist political cadres to carry out army transformation despite the opposition of Kuomintang agents, all of which are examples of sincere cooperation with our party.
Watching Fu Zuoyi's spirit relax slightly, Mao Zedong began to talk to him about his plans for the new regime in the future.
Fu Zuoyi volunteered to participate in the water conservancy work in the Hetao area of Inner Mongolia.
Mao Zedong gladly agreed, but not just for the water conservancy in hetao, but for entrusting the water conservancy undertakings throughout China to Fu Zuoyi, appointing General Fu as minister of water resources.
Some people in later generations thought that the Ministry of Water Resources was just a fictitious post without real power, and Fu Zuoyi was excluded.
In fact, on the contrary, in 1949, the mainland's North China Jianghuai and other places were in a period of flooding, and the reduction of grain production and the displacement of the victims brought about a crazy rise in prices, and the construction of water conservancy has become an urgent and important event in New China.
As Zhou Enlai said, water conservancy and missile satellites are a cause that he attaches equal importance to. Therefore, the Ministry of Water Resources is by no means a idle Qingshui Yamen.
Mao Zedong saw Fu Zuoyi's valuable experience in managing the Suiyuan water conservancy project, so he handed over such an important position to Fu Zuoyi.
(In 1952, Mao Zedong inspected the Yellow River)
At the CPPCC meeting that announced fu Zuoyi's appointment, something happened that moved the participants.
When the presidium of the congress read Fu Zuoyi's name, he suddenly stood up and cried loudly, shocking all the comrades in the audience.
"I was born and died under the Kuomintang for so many years, and even if the ministerial position I dreamed of was bought with money, Chiang Kai-shek was unwilling to give it to me, and I did not expect that now the Communist Party would let me achieve a high position of a long department."
Fu Zuoyi was full of emotion, originally thinking that he was more than half a hundred years old, but he could get better treatment under the people's power than the original Kuomintang, and suddenly under his leadership, an incomparably loud slogan sounded in the audience - "Long live the Communist Party of China!" Long live Chairman Mao! ”
(Fu Zuoyi speaks at the CPPCC meeting)
(II) "The Old Revolution Is Not As Good as the New Revolution" Fu Zuoyi was sidelined by a small number of people
Before and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, in order to unite non-party democrats and uprising generals such as Fu Zuoyi and Li Jishen, the CCP deliberately gave quite favorable conditions in terms of treatment, for example, in official positions, 14 of the 34 full-time responsible persons of the Government Council were non-party figures.
In terms of food, they were given one kilogram of pork a day, far exceeding the standard of one kilogram a month for party comrades.
This made some old comrades with long revolutionary experience mentally unbalanced, knowing that these people were still Kuomintang war criminals on their front feet, and how they suddenly climbed on their heads at the moment, so it was inevitable that they would feel resentful and complain that "the old revolution is not as good as the new revolution."
(Zhang Zhizhong, Zhou Enlai, Fu Zuoyi, Qu Wu)
"Since they have come from the counter-revolution to the side of the revolution, we should not regard them as counter-revolutionaries."
Although Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai repeatedly explained why they should give preferential treatment to non-party democrats, not all of them had such a high level of consciousness.
Within the newly established Ministry of Water Resources, a few old comrades were secretly dissatisfied with this former General Of North China and decided to secretly wear small shoes for the minister.
Once, Fu Zuoyi wanted to go home after a meeting, the car in front of him actually disappeared, looking for a long time and disappearing, Fu Zuoyi, who was anxious, simply took the tricycle home. The secretary on the other side finally found the car in a very remote corner, but found that the minister was missing.
Since Fu Zuoyi was the target of Chiang Kai-shek's key assassination at that time, the secretary was very worried about whether there would be an accident, so he was frightened to hurry to report to the prime minister, and later found out that it was a false alarm.
This small storm made Zhou Enlai's psychology plant a question mark, who mischievously removed Fu Zuoyi's bus?
Coincidentally, the document approval mentioned at the beginning occurred around this time. After linking the two events, Premier Zhou, who was familiar with intelligence work, immediately found out the ins and outs of the whole thing.
It turned out that someone in the Ministry of Water Resources had deliberately caused harm, not only intending to empty Minister Fu's power, but also moving vehicles during his work to embarrass Fu Zuoyi.
(Fu Zuoyi)
On the basis of ordinary people, they may have resigned or passively confronted each other long ago, but Comrade Fu Zuoyi also remained silent, and without complaint buried himself in chores to concentrate on serving the people, fighting with others for power and profit was small, and serving the people was a big thing.
He once said privately: "Think less about personal gains and losses, and think more about the interests of the country and the people, so that the mood will be much better." ”
Zhou Enlai, who understood everything, immediately criticized the relevant personnel of the Ministry of Water Resources, conducted serious ideological education for these people, and in order to prevent similar things from happening again, he strictly ordered: "From now on, without Minister Fu's instructions, all will be invalid!" ”
In the following twenty years of ministerial career, Fu Zuoyi proved with practical actions that he was no worse than the old revolution.
(3) Not afraid of 40 degrees of high temperature and heat, the illness fell on the front line of water treatment
Fu Zuoyi was more than half a hundred years old when he was minister of water resources, and his body was no younger than when he was younger.
However, he had a natural fear of the comfortable office, perhaps because he was accustomed to marching and fighting, and he continued to trek tirelessly through the mountains and rivers in the years to come, and traveled all over the Yellow River, huai river, and yangtze river.
(Fu Zuoyi often goes out on foot to investigate)
In 1950, the state initially had an idea to build a hydropower station on the Yellow River.
However, there is no precedent for the establishment of a power station on a large river covered with sediment, especially over whether to build a dam on the main stream or a tributary.
Fu Zuoyi, who could have enjoyed qingfu in his room, did not say a word and personally led people to Shanxi, Henan Province, for a field investigation.
At that time, Yuxi, Jinnan and other places were in the middle of the summer heat, and the 40-degree heat almost roasted the entire land, and standing still was full of sweat, not to mention running every day.
(Sanmenxia Hydropower Station)
Fu Zuoyi went deep into the field to survey the terrain, hiked the mountains and waded through the water, in the wilderness without hotels and restaurants, he would eat two bites of the steamed bun he carried when he was hungry.
Thanks to the efforts of Fu Zuoyi and others, the first large-scale water conservancy project on the mainland successfully broke ground in 1957 and was officially put into use four years later, making a major contribution to the stability of the people's production and life in the lower reaches of the Yellow River on the mainland.
General Fu Zuoyi, who had worked so hard for this, finally fell tired, his body was not iron after all, and he was sent to a nearby hospital for treatment after a heart attack caused by overwork during an inspection.
After Zhou Enlai found out, he immediately sent someone to beijing for treatment, and also personally came to visit Zhu De and others, which made Fu Zuoyi very moved.
(The simple former residence of Fu Zuoyi)
In the following years, Fu Zuoyi's illness has not been able to stop well, and he often goes out with people with medicine to investigate the work, and the guards around him can't stop it.
In August 1963, a super-large-scale flood occurred in the HaiHe River Basin of Tianjin, mainland China, causing tens of millions of people to be displaced, and Fu Zuoyi, who was still in a hospital bed, was anxious, constantly calling and dispatching relevant disaster relief work, and then disregarded the illness and personally went to the front line to fight the flood.
Until his death, he was still obsessed with building water conservancy projects, and asked about the planned Yellow Irrigation Project in The Northwest of Shanxi.
As the saying goes, the king regards his subjects as brothers and sisters, and his subjects regard him as his confidants. In addition to his sense of responsibility for the people of the country, Fu Zuoyi's dedication to the new China's water conservancy is also inseparable from his meticulous and meticulous gratitude to Zhou Enlai.
Once, Zhou Enlai visited Fu Zuoyi's home, saw a pile of waste and debris on the road blocking the car, and had to walk around to Fu's house.
When he learned that Fu Zuoyi had to waste time to commute to work every day because of this pile of debris, he ordered people to clean up the debris and at the same time, open a newly built road near the door of Fu's house to facilitate Fu Zuoyi's commuting.
Looking at the dynasties and dynasties, most of the former dynasty's important ministers inevitably ended up being suspicious of the new dynasty and ended up desolate, and it was rare for a former Kuomintang general like Fu Zuoyi, who held a high position in the general position of the North China Suppression Force, to receive such courtesy.
(Mao Zedong awarded Fu Zuoyi the Liberation Medal of the First Class)
This contrasted with the many celebrity generals in the Kuomintang who followed Chiang Kai-shek to escape to Taiwan, forming a double heaven of ice and fire.
(4) Present Speech Campaign for Cross-Strait Reunification
Not all Kuomintang generals remained on the mainland with the foresight and foresight of Fu Zuoyi, and a considerable number of former high-ranking generals and warlords followed Chiang Kai-shek to Taiwan with fear of the new regime, and some of them continued to be favored because they were Chiang Kai-shek's concubines.
But more commonly, he was liquidated and snubbed because he had once made a vendetta against Chiang Kai-shek, and some people even died secretly, which made people lament.
In 1949, Bai Chongxi overturned the negotiating table, insisted on being an enemy of the People's Liberation Army, and was completely annihilated in Guangxi, Hunan Province, and the Gui clan was overthrown, and Bai Chongxi was faced with two roads of fleeing overseas and retreating to Taiwan.
(Bai Chongxi and Chiang Kai-shek)
At this time, Chiang Kai-shek suddenly threw an olive branch to his former enemy with ill will, claiming that as long as Bai Chongxi came to Taiwan, he would immediately appoint himself the high position of "chief executive" and be above ten thousand people.
Bai Chongxi believed it to be true, moved to Taiwan with his family and cronies, and he was actually calculated by Chiang Kai-shek and all his promises after coming to Taiwan.
Not only is there no so-called position of chief executive, but even basic personal freedom is restricted, and there must be spies following and monitoring in and out, as if they were prisoners.
After Li Zongren returned to the mainland to meet with Mao Zedong, Chiang Kai-shek spilled the sullen breath in his chest on Li's old partner Bai Chongxi, and the secret service organization of the Mind Spirit Association stepped up the monitoring of the dialogue.
On December 2, 1966, Bai Chongxi mysteriously died at the head of the bed, his whole body was reddish green, and his death was extremely tragic, and the cause of death is still widely disputed.
If Bai Chongxi had been able to lay down his arms and stand with the people like Fu Zuoyi, he could at least spend the rest of his life in peace and stability.
In addition to Bai Chongxi, the famous anti-Japanese general Sun Liren was also suspected of planning a mutiny because he was jealous of Chiang Kai-shek, and was placed under house arrest until 1988, when his hair was white, and he died a few years later.
And Fu Zuoyi's old superior, Yan Xishan, was only slightly better, and in his later years, he had three meals a day and vegetables, and lived alone on Yangming Mountain, because he missed Shanxi too much and transformed the interior of the house into a cave style.
(Yan Xishan)
It can be said that looking at the Kuomintang generals and political leaders who went to Taiwan, as long as they have fought against Chiang Kai-shek in the past, or who are not of his concubine's lineage, they are either derogatory and ostracized or extremely harsh in their living treatment, and some of them have died, and being able to land and retire safely has become a luxury.
Fu Zuoyi naturally saw the situation of these former colleagues in his eyes, and he repeatedly appeared on the occasion of the preferential treatment given to him under the new regime, and urged the military and political personnel of the Taiwan Kuomintang to have a clear understanding of reality and turn to the right path at an early date.
He said: If Taiwan wants to counterattack the mainland, it is simply not self-sufficient, and the Americans have repeatedly betrayed their allies at all, which is not reliable at all.
He has repeatedly hoped that Taiwan compatriots can come to the mainland more often to take a look and learn about the rapid changes that are taking place on the mainland, rather than being blinded by the Kuomintang's false propaganda.
epilogue
On April 19, 1974, with the regret of not being able to see the reunification of the two sides of the strait, Fu Zuoyi passed away due to illness, and Zhou Enlai personally presided over the memorial service.
(Fu Zuoyi's later years)
Fu Zuoyi's life can be said to be condensed in the key words of anti-Japanese resistance, water conservancy, uprising, and reunification; he joined the army at a young age, gradually rose in the warlord melee, resisted Japan in middle age, made outstanding military achievements, changed course and joined the people's camp after half a hundred years, worked for the mainland water conservancy for more than twenty years, and devoted himself to the cause of the reunification of the motherland in his later years.
Hu Yaobang commented: Fu Zuoyi is a well-known patriot who has made important contributions to the revolution on the mainland.