In 1965, under the careful arrangement of Premier Zhou and the efforts of all parties, Li Zongren and his wife, Ms. Guo Dejie, finally returned to Beijing from the United States and returned to the embrace of the motherland.
At the Beijing airport, 111 celebrities from all walks of life led by Premier Zhou Enlai are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Li Zongren.
Among the 111 were He Long, Chen Yi, Ye Jianying, and other party figures; responsible persons of various democratic parties, such as Li Jishen and Zhang Shizhao; and zhang Zhizhong, Huang Shaohu, and other former Kuomintang uprising generals.
Li Zongren returned to China
On July 27, the last president of the Republic of China met with the founding leaders of the People's Republic of China. At the welcoming banquet, Chairman Mao cordially asked Li Zongren: "Duke Delin, do you have any thoughts on coming back this time?" ”
After thinking about it, Li Zongren told Chairman Mao that he wanted to be vice chairman of the NPC.
Li Zongren made this request after careful consideration, and before he returned to China, many of his subordinates had held this position, so it should not be too much for him to make this request now. However, to his surprise, Chairman Mao politely refused.
Why did Chairman Mao refuse? What kind of impact did Li Zongren's return to China have on China at that time?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="10" > from fame to loneliness</h1>
Premier Zhou once commented on Li Zongren: "Li Zongren has two major merits in his life, the first is the Battle of Taierzhuang, and the second is the choice to return to the motherland and support national reunification. ”
Li Zongren
In 1924, Li Zongren united with Bai Chongxi and Huang Shaohu, who integrated their forces and developed their armies, defeating the veteran warlords Lu Rongting and Shen Hongying, who were then entrenched in Guangxi, and completely unifying Guangxi. After the completion of Guangxi's reunification, the Iron Triangle vigorously engaged in development, actively promoted reform, and built Guangxi into a well-known model province in the country.
Chairman Mao once commented: "That place in Guangxi has always been very poor, and the situation is also very complicated. Li Zongren not only completed the unification of Guangxi, but also developed Guangxi into a model province, which is a very remarkable thing. He not only fought fiercely, but also had a good hand in governing the country. ”
After taking care of Guangxi, Li Zongren did not stop the pace of revolution. After that, he actively promoted the Northern Expedition of the Two Provinces and made great contributions to China's reunification.
Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi
When the Northern Expedition was about to be victorious, contradictions within the Kuomintang intensified, and under the persecution of Li Zongren and other powerful factions, Chiang Kai-shek "stepped down for the first time," and the relationship between Jiang gui and Gui deteriorated. After that, Chiang Kai-shek and Li Zongren fought a great battle between Chiang Kai-shek and Li Zongren, which ended in li Zongren's defeat.
The most glorious moment in Li Zongren's combat career was the Battle of Taierzhuang. He led his troops to annihilate more than 10,000 Japanese troops in the Battle of Taierzhuang, which was the first battle in which China defeated the Japanese army head-on since the War of Resistance Against Japan, dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese invaders, greatly boosted morale, and enhanced the confidence of the people in victory in the War of Resistance.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Li Zongren served as vice president of the Republic of China, and later became acting president of the Republic of China, personally presiding over peace talks with the CPC during his acting presidency. However, Chiang Kai-shek engaged in various small moves behind his back, resulting in the two sides of the Kuomintang and the Communists, unable to fight, and unable to make peace.
Li Zongren and Chiang Kai-shek
Li Zongren was disheartened under Chiang Kai-shek's overhead, the peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party failed, Nanjing fell, and the Gui army he led along the way was also swept away. Li Zongren burst into tears when he mentioned the troops he had brought with him for decades, saying that the Seventh Army, which had swept through China for decades, ended up with no piece of armor left behind.
Dreams and the past were in vain, and Li Zongren, who was full of thoughts, flew to the United States with his wife.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="89" > homecoming concerns</h1>
After leaving the motherland, Li Zongren still paid close attention to the domestic situation and the development of the mainland and Taiwan. He believes that Taiwan has been China's territory since ancient times, which is an indisputable and undeniable fact. Seeing the rapid development after the founding of New China and the growing strength of the country, Li Zongren was very happy.
In 1956, Premier Zhou delivered a speech: "The mainland is very welcome to come to the mainland to meet relatives and friends in the province, to study and visit. As long as they are willing to take the road of peacefully liberating Taiwan, no matter who they are, no matter what previous office they hold, and who have made too many big mistakes, they can be unpunished in the past and tolerated. ”
Premier Zhou
Seeing the attitude of the CCP, Li Zongren was somewhat moved. Li Zongren, who is a stranger in his hometown and is wandering abroad, misses the motherland more and more deeply, and as he grows older, the idea of returning to the roots of fallen leaves is becoming more and more urgent.
After the CPC Central Committee and Government learned of this situation, they intended to win Li Zongren's return to China, and after careful consideration, finally decided to let Cheng Siyuan, who had served as Li Zongren's secretary, do his ideological work.
When Li Zongren received a letter from Cheng Siyuan, he understood the willingness of the CPC Central Committee to win his return to China. However, as a former senior Kuomintang general and acting president of the Republic of China, Li Zongren wanted to return to China and needed to consider many issues.
First, Li Zongren was unsure of the attitude of the CCP Central Committee at that time.
Li Zongren thought about it for a long time, and finally decided to "throw stones and ask for directions" to test it first. Li Zongren told Cheng Siyuan, who was a lobbyist, that he very much wanted to return to China, and at the same time wanted to bring back a batch of cultural relics collected before to the country and donate them to the country.
After cheng siyuan received li zongren's news, he personally flew to Beijing to meet premier Zhou and reported to premier Zhou what Li Zongren meant.
Premier Zhou and Chairman Mao were very happy when they learned of this, and they expressed their great welcome to Li Zongren's return to China, and they were also very grateful to Li Zongren for his donation of national cultural relics, and the motherland was willing to accept these cultural relics.
Therefore, Li Zongren, who received a reply from the central government, sent all the calligraphy and paintings to Be donated to Cheng Siyuan, and told Cheng Siyuan that these cultural relics were collected by him before and were worth 110,000 US dollars.
Cheng Siyuan returned to Beijing with calligraphy and paintings, and Premier Zhou also attached great importance to them, but when the cultural relics were handed over to the Palace Museum in Beijing, the problem came out.
After the appraisal of this batch of cultural relics, the best cultural relics appraisal experts in the Forbidden City clearly stated that most of these calligraphy and paintings are fakes, and only a very small number of them are authentic. At the same time, experts have assessed the value of these calligraphy and paintings: the maximum value is 3,000 US dollars.
110,000 changes 3,000, Li Zongren What does this mean? Isn't that a joke?
Although Li Zongren said that he had donated it to the motherland, in order to show his sincerity in welcoming Li Zongren back to China, Premier Zhou was ready to pay Li Zongren according to the price. But now, how to deal with this situation?
The premier felt that Li Zongren would certainly not be bored to tease them, and Li Zongren's desire to return to China was true, but he had a lot of concerns. After much thought, the premier also understood Li Zongren's meaning. Understanding is understanding, but can not let Li Zongren go too far, Premier Zhou decided to give Li Zongren 30,000 US dollars.
Chairman Mao smiled and said to Premier Zhou after learning of this: "I understand what Li Zongren means, isn't it just throwing stones and asking for directions?" Since he asked, we might as well be a little more atmospheric, he wants 110,000, we simply give him 120,000. Show him the arrogance of our Communists and show us our sincerity, and he will naturally see this path clearly. ”
Li Zongren, who is far away on the other side of the ocean, received $120,000 from the Central Government of the Communist Party of China to thank him for donating cultural relics. The $120,000 has fully demonstrated the sincerity of the Communist Party. Li Zongren felt this sincerity and temperament, relieved his concerns, and decided to return to China.
However, another serious problem lies ahead.
When Li Zongren was in the United States, his every move was closely monitored by the U.S. Intelligence Bureau and Kuomintang agents. If he returns to China, it will certainly have a great impact on the situation on the mainland and Taiwan. Chiang Kai-shek would not let Li Zongren return to the mainland alive, and once he discovered that Li Zongren had intentions of returning to the mainland, he would arrange for Kuomintang agents to assassinate him.
This is not a malicious speculation about Chiang Kai-shek, but because he did have a previous conviction. In 1948, Feng Yuxiang, a high-ranking Kuomintang official, was preparing to return to China to attend the CPPCC meeting, and when he was riding a Soviet steamship abroad, he was tragically assassinated by Chiang Kai-shek's agents.
Feng Yuxiang
How to safely return to the motherland during the overwhelming assassination operations of Kuomintang agents? Premier Zhou carefully considered this and formulated an extremely thorough plan.
First of all, Li Zongren was active in the United States, constantly releasing smoke bombs to interfere with the judgment of the United States and Taiwan.
Li Zongren said that he was ready to go to Europe and the United States to investigate, and he and his wife first went to Switzerland, preparing to fly from Switzerland to Pakistan, and then fly back from Pakistan.
Before Li Zongren's plane arrived at Pakistan's Karachi airport, Premier Zhou arranged for Ding Guoyu, the Chinese ambassador to Pakistan, to take Li Zongren safely to the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan.
Ding Guoyu received the task assigned by the central government, considering that the customs and airport passages would be more chaotic, and the crowd was likely to be mixed with Kuomintang agents waiting for an opportunity to assassinate, he decided to pick up Li Zongren directly on the runway where the plane landed.
To this end, Ding Guoyu found a good friend who was the general manager of Pakistan Airlines at the time. With the help of his friends, Ding Guoyu successfully used his private car to pick up Li Zongren directly from the special passage for special circumstances. At this time, the Kuomintang agents were still struggling to find Li Zongren's figure at the exit of the airport.
Ding Guoyu
After returning to the embassy, the CPC Central Committee informed Ding Guoyu that Kuomintang agents had laid down a network of heaven and earth in various places along the way, vowing to assassinate Li Zongren on the way back to China. Under Chiang Kai-shek's instructions, the Kuomintang agents even decided that if Li Zongren returned to China by plane, they would blast the plane down with cannons!
The road back to China is fraught with dangers, and one careless person will die on the road and will never be able to return to the embrace of the motherland. To this end, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to enlist pakistan's help.
China and Pakistan have a deep friendship, and Pakistan said it would do its best to help Li Zongren return to China. Pakistani Fangjia sent manpower to closely monitor the actions of Kuomintang agents and protect Li Zongren, who was in the embassy. At the same time, the Pakistani side and the CENTRAL Committee of the Communist Party of China carefully studied and analyzed various routes and plans for returning home, and finally decided to adopt the plan of flying back to China.
After the plan was determined, Ding Guoyu took people to the airport through a private car with the help of Pakistan, boarded the plane directly from the secret passage, and flew back to China, so that Li Zongren successfully escaped the assassination of the agents.
From the United States to Switzerland, from Switzerland to Pakistan, and then from Pakistan to China, after several twists and turns, after many dangers and obstacles, Li Zongren finally returned to the mainland of the motherland. When the plane flew to China, Li Zongren looked excitedly at the motherland under the plane and burst into tears: "I'm back, I'm finally back!" ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="90" > rejected triple consideration</h1>
In 1965, Li Zongren and his wife, Ms. Guo Dejie, returned to China, and Premier Zhou led 111 celebrities to hold a grand welcoming ceremony for them.
Li Zongren and his wife Guo Dejie
After returning to China, Li Zongren soon met with Chairman Mao, and the last president of the Republic of China sat down with the founding leader of the People's Republic of China to talk and rejoice, which was a very historic scene. At the welcome banquet, Chairman Mao cordially asked: "Duke De, welcome back to China, do you have any ideas for coming back this time?" ”
This question had been pondered for a long time when Li Zongren decided to return to China, and after hesitating he proposed to Chairman Mao that he wanted to be vice chairman of the NPC.
To his surprise, however, Chairman Mao politely rejected him and did not mention the matter again.
When he was "throwing stones and asking for directions," he obviously already felt the sincerity of the Communist Party, and after returning to China, he also truly understood the Communist Party's welcome and importance to himself, but why did Chairman Mao reject him this time?
Chairman Mao and Li Zongren
Li Zongren was puzzled, and later, Premier Zhou visited him, which allowed him to solve his doubts.
It turned out that the reason why Chairman Mao was reluctant to let him serve as vice chairman of the NPC was based on three considerations.
First, after Li Zongren returned to China, he was more conducive to national reunification than to become a vice chairman of the National People's Congress, and not being a senior official of the Communist Party.
As a senior Kuomintang general, Li Zongren's return to China can send a clear signal to other Kuomintang generals in Taiwan. The Communist Party of China welcomes everyone back, and the mainland is now developing very well, and it is precisely the time when talents are needed. Don't worry about anything, the Communist Party is very sincere, you can be an official when you come back, and you don't want to be an official and come back to the pension.
Second, Li Zongren was the acting president of the Kuomintang government, and by using this position, he was able to do better work for his former old subordinates, promote the return of The Kuomintang generals to the mainland, and speed up the process of cross-strait reunification. If he becomes a high-ranking official of the Communist Party, it will not be conducive to carrying out this work and to the reunification of the two sides of the strait.
The third is that Li Zongren's previous achievements were remarkable, and his status was too high, so he became the vice chairman of the National Committee, but he was wronged.
Li Zongren was relieved after listening to Premier Zhou's explanation, and at the same time he also lamented Chairman Mao's thoughtful consideration for the reunification of the motherland. In fact, from the time he decided to return to China, he had already looked down on it, and after wandering abroad for so long, his greatest wish was to return to his motherland. And after a lifetime of conquest, wasn't the original ideal of hoping that the country would be stable and the people would live and work in peace and contentment? Now that the ideal has been realized, there is nothing to regret.
The tree is thousands of feet tall, and the fallen leaves return to the roots. May the motherland be peacefully reunified and prosperous!