On July 20, 1962, the gongs and drums of Beijing Airport were noisy, and the ribbons fluttered. Premier Zhou, Marshal Chen Yi, Marshal He Long, Marshal Ye Jianying, and many other leaders of our Party were already waiting here. For a time, many people speculated: Who has such a big face that can let so many national leaders pick up the machine together?
At 10:00 a.m., a plane landed slowly, and as the hatch opened, a white-haired old man walked out trembling, and Premier Zhou immediately led the crowd to rush forward. When the old man and Premier Zhou's hands were clasped together, he was already in tears, and Premier Zhou said excitedly: "Mr. Li Zongren, welcome back to China!" "Yes, this old man is none other than Li Zongren, the former kuomintang elder and acting president of the Republic of China.
Premier Zhou greeted Li Zongren at the airport
On July 27, Chairman Mao personally hosted a banquet for Li Zongren in Zhongnanhai, and after the banquet, Chairman Mao asked Li Zongren with concern: "Mr. Li, I don't know what your plans are for returning to China?" Is there any demand? ”
In the face of Chairman Mao's personal banquet, coupled with such a concerned inquiry, Li Zongren said: "Chairman Mao, I must make contributions to the reunification of the motherland in my lifetime. After saying this, Li Zongren suddenly stopped, but Chairman Mao obviously felt that he was not finished with his words, and then he smiled and said: "Mr. Li, if you have anything to say, just say it!" Don't worry! ”
Chairman Mao received Li Zongren and his wife
After listening to Chairman Mao's remarks, Li Zongren immediately said: "Chairman Mao, I have a small 'request' and hope that the Central Committee will approve me as vice chairman of the National People's Congress!" ”
In fact, Li Zongren's request was not excessive, because before that, Zhang Zhizhong and Cheng Qian, who were born in the Kuomintang, had all held this post, and these people had all been Li Zongren's subordinates, but his request was rejected by Chairman Mao, and after learning of Chairman Mao's three major reasons, Li Zongren's admiration for Chairman Mao deepened a few points.
Chairman Mao and Li Zongren
Li Zongren's request to become vice chairman of the National People's Congress was reasonable, but why was chairman Mao rejected? What are the three main reasons that Chairman Mao has spoken of? Today, the director will take you to understand the wonderful dialogue between Li Zongren and the leaders of our party. Interested friends may wish to pay attention to the historical curiosity, which is convenient for reviewing the wonderful past periods and will not miss the latest content.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="12" > the motherland, throw stones to ask for directions</h1>
The day after Li Zongren returned to China, the People's Daily and many overseas newspapers published Li Zongren's speech at the Beijing airport, accompanied by a group photo of him and Premier Zhou and others. When this news reached Taiwan Province, Chiang Kai-shek was furious, knowing that he had worked hard to prevent Li Zongren from returning to China over the years.
Although Li Zongren was a Kuomintang, he was extremely dissatisfied with Chiang Kai-shek's dictatorship, and even clashed with Chiang Kai-shek face-to-face on many occasions. At the end of the Liberation War, Chiang Kai-shek's ineffective command led to the gradual defeat of the Kuomintang troops, and the dissatisfaction within the United States and the Kuomintang reached its extreme, and finally decided to replace Chiang Kai-shek as acting president of the Republic of China.
Chiang Kai-shek and Li Zongren
Li Zongren, who was very clear about the situation on the battlefield, intended to negotiate peace with our party after he took office as acting president, but he had more than enough and insufficient strength when he had no real power. After Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan, Li Zongren went to the United States on the pretext of "recuperating from illness", and then spent 16 years in the United States.
During his illness in the United States, although Li Zongren was far away from politics, due to his special status and the malicious provocation of Chiang Kai-shek, Li Zongren seemed to be living a leisure life, but in fact he was invisibly imprisoned.
Li Zongren
In August 1955, during a period of tension between the two sides of the strait, Li Zongren publicly published his "Specific Proposals on Resolving the Taiwan Issue" in the United States, in which he mentioned: "Since the founding of New China, the scale of construction and the speed of achievements have been unprecedented, and the increasing revitalization of national strength has attracted the attention of the whole world. It is an indisputable fact that Taiwan has been China's territory since ancient times. ”
With the change of age, Li Zongren's nostalgia for the motherland and homeland has become more and more intense. What really made him think of returning to China was a promise made by Premier Zhou in 1956.
In 1956, Premier Zhou delivered the following speech at the Political Consultative Conference: Anyone who is willing to go to the mainland to meet his relatives and friends in the mainland provinces can return to the mainland; anyone who is willing to return to the mainland to study and visit can come to the mainland; and anyone who is willing to take the road of peaceful liberation of Taiwan, no matter how big a mistake he has made in the past, Chinese can be lenient and not blamed for the past.
Since Premier Zhou made this series of promises, some overseas people have continued to return to the embrace of the motherland. But Li Zongren knew that his identity was special, so at this time, he still had a little concern in his heart.
In 1958, Li Zongren first got in touch with his former secretary, Cheng Siyuan, and then expressed his willingness to donate 12 boxes of antique calligraphy and paintings collected in the United States to the motherland. After receiving this news, Premier Zhou attached great importance to it, and when these cultural relics were transported to Hong Kong several times, Premier Zhou personally sent special personnel to be responsible for transporting them.
When the cultural relics were transported to Beijing, Premier Zhou immediately sought out relevant experts for identification, but after repeated appraisals, he found that most of the cultural relics sent back by Li Zongren were fakes, worth only 3,000 US dollars at most, which is far from the 110,000 US dollars worth of Li Zongren said.
Although Li Zongren made it clear that these cultural relics were donated to the motherland, Premier Zhou decided to pay Li Zongren at the beginning, but now in this situation, Premier Zhou does not know how much money to pay Li Zongren. After careful consideration, Premier Zhou decided to pay 30,000 US dollars, which not only expressed the sincerity of our party, but also lived up to Li Zongren's patriotic heart.
Premier Zhou welcomed Li Zongren back to China
When Premier Zhou reported the final decision to Chairman Mao, Chairman Mao quipped, "Enlai! Hello stingy! Then he continued: "Li Zongren's sending cultural relics back to China is actually 'throwing stones and asking for directions', and he wants to see our attitude." Since he said these things are worth $110,000, let's give him $120,000, be generous, and let him see the sincerity of our Communist Party! ”
At Chairman Mao's behest, Premier Zhou had Li Xiannian, then minister of finance, spend $120,000 from the state treasury. In order to prevent Li Zongren's intention of returning to China from being detected by the United States or the Kuomintang, Premier Zhou also specially instructed that this money should not pass through the bank or pass through the hands of outsiders, and that special personnel must be sent to Li Zongren.
Among the US dollars paid to Li Zongren, Premier Zhou also put in a note that read: "The calligraphy and paintings donated by Mr. Li are true and false, but Mr. Li's patriotic enthusiasm deserves respect, and the Chinese government has decided to send you a travel expense to make a grand appearance." ”
When he received this money, Li Zongren was very excited and sighed: "The Communist Party is indeed not simple, it is knowledgeable!" I have to admire Chairman Mao's foresight and Premier Zhou's linguistic wisdom, and it is the sincerity of these two leaders that made Li Zongren completely determined to return to China. However, his way back to China was not smooth, and he almost lost his life on the way home.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="52" > the way back home, full of dangers</h1>
Because Li Zongren's identity was too special, all his actions were closely monitored by the US Intelligence Agency and Kuomintang agents. In order to allow Li Zongren to return to China smoothly, since 1959, Premier Zhou proposed that Li Zongren travel to Europe regularly and then return to the United States on time, which lasted for several years, and the United States and the Kuomintang gradually relaxed their guard against Li Zongren's move to Europe.
In 1963, on behalf of the motherland, Premier Zhou conveyed the "four kes" to Li Zongren:
First, Li Zongren can return to China to settle down;
Second, Li Zongren can come back, or he can go to the United States again;
Third, Li Zongren can temporarily live in Europe for a period of time, and then decide whether to return to the motherland at that time;
Fourth, Li Zongren can go out again when he returns to China, and he can come back again when he goes out, without any constraints.
When Li Zongren learned about it, he was very excited and said: "I don't need so much, I just need 'first can' is enough." "The most urgent time for Li Zongren's return to China was in 1964, when China's first atomic bomb was successfully detonated. When Li Zongren learned of this news, he excitedly called every relative and friend to announce the good news, and he was even more excited in an interview: "I am happy for my original failure, we have never had such a strong motherland!" ”
Our first atomic bomb exploded successfully
On July 12, 1965, Li Zongren officially began his long journey back to China, according to the plan, Li Zongren first used tourism as an excuse to go to Switzerland, then flew from Switzerland to Pakistan, and flew to China after connecting flights in Pakistan. However, during Li Zongren's transfer in Pakistan, a thrilling scene occurred.
When Li Zongren disembarked from the plane in Pakistan, Our ambassador to Pakistan, Ding Guoyu, had been waiting here for a long time, and an ambulance was sent. It turned out that after Li Zongren left Switzerland, the United States and the Kuomintang sensed his intention to return to China, and then Chiang Kai-shek ordered Kuomintang agents to take action against Li Zongren at the airport building in Pakistan. However, Chiang Kai-shek still lost, lost to bad luck, and even more lost to the great wisdom of Premier Zhou.
Premier Zhou
When Premier Zhou learned of the news that Chiang Kai-shek had sent agents to assassinate Li Zongren, he immediately instructed Ding Guoyu not to use an embassy vehicle to greet Li Zongren. After some thought, Ding Guoyu borrowed an ambulance from Pakistan, which allowed Li Zongren to escape the disaster.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="54" > wanted to be vice chairman of the National People's Congress, Chairman Mao declined for three reasons</h1>
When Mr. Li's plane landed in Beijing, he was immediately overwhelmed by the booming scene in front of him. For a moment, excitement, pride, and joy poured in together, and then looked at Premier Zhou, Chen Yi, He Long, and others in front of them, who had once been their opponents on the battlefield, but now welcomed themselves so sincerely. While Li Zongren was excited, he also secretly made up his mind: He must make a contribution to the development of the motherland.
Soon after returning to China, Li Zongren received a notice from Chairman Mao that he was going to entertain him. At the banquet, Chairman Mao and Li Zongren talked a lot, until the banquet was over, the two were still a little bored, and then sat in Chairman Mao's office and chatted.
During the chat, Chairman Mao very naturally asked Li Zongren if he had any needs, and Li Zongren was very careful to say that he wanted to be vice chairman of the NPC.
In fact, before Proposing this position, Li Zongren also made a very comprehensive consideration, he knew that his identity was extremely special, although he had returned to China now, he was still the Kuomintang, plus he was already old, and his former subordinates had also served as vice chairman of the People's Congress, so Li Zongren made this request to Chairman Mao.
However, when he heard Li Zongren's request to become vice chairman of the National People's Congress, Chairman Mao did not agree, which made Li Zongren feel both lost and confused in his heart, but soon after, Premier Zhou's words made Li Zongren completely untie the knot.
After Li Zongren returned, Chairman Mao felt that he should tell Li Zongren his true thoughts, otherwise it would easily lead to his wild thoughts. Chairman Mao then expressed to Premier Zhou the three reasons for rejecting Li Zongren and instructed Premier Zhou to convey them to Li Zongren.
First, Chairman Mao believes that although Li Zongren no longer holds the post of acting president, after all, he was once the supreme leader of the Kuomintang, and if he were only given the post of vice chairman of the National People's Congress, wouldn't it be too wronged?
Second, Chairman Mao believed that Li Zongren did not hold a post in the CPC Central Committee, but on the contrary, it was more conducive to him using his status as a Kuomintang elder to do ideological work smoothly with his former subordinates or old comrades-in-arms. If he is really allowed to assume the post of vice chairman of the National People's Congress, it will be easy for his old subordinates to be wary of him, but it will not be very favorable to the Kuomintang patriots who will later win over Taiwan and overseas.
Premier Zhou led the crowd to greet Li Zongren
Third, Chairman Mao believed that by taking advantage of Li Zongren's return to China, he could convey the sincerity of the Communist Party to the Kuomintang officials in Taiwan Province, so that they could more clearly understand that the conditions on the mainland are now very good in all aspects, and if they want to come back, they can freely choose whether to continue to be officials. As long as they are willing to return, the door of the motherland is always open to them.
After learning of Chairman Mao's three considerations, Li Zongren not only had the confusion in his heart instantly solved, but his admiration for Chairman Mao became even stronger.
Since then, Li Zongren has never asked Chairman Mao for any position, but even if he did not have any position, he still did his best to contribute to the development of the motherland, and Chairman Mao still often mentioned this "old friend." Later, a reporter asked Li Zongren: "Mr. Li, you are obviously not a Marxist-Leninist, why did you have to choose to return to China?" Li Zongren replied without hesitation: "Because I am a patriot." ”
Time has passed, and now Chairman Mao and General Li Zongren have left us for many years, but The contributions made by General Li Zongren to defend the family and defend the country at a time of national crisis are still vividly remembered; Chairman Mao's great wisdom and spirit of single-mindedly serving the people will also be remembered by all Chinese forever. Our country has always been protected by these bravest people, and it is with their presence that our country will stand tall in the east of the world.
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