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Text: Canghai
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introduction
One day in July 1946, less than a month after the outbreak of the Liberation War, Yan'an, located on the border between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, welcomed a Kuomintang convoy.
After Liu Yazhe, a major general of the national army, got out of the car, he returned the 131 communists in the convoy to our army.
Why did the Nationalist Army kindly send our soldiers back after the outbreak of the civil war? What are the stories behind these people?
(Some of the comrades who were sent back and their families)
1. A thrilling journey home
In the early morning of June 10, 1946, Zhang Zhizhong, then chairman of Xinjiang Province, entrusted 131 Communist Party members to Liu Yazhe, a major general of the National Army, to escort them back to Yan'an.
At this time, the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party had not yet broken out, and the Kuomintang agreed to release the arrested Communists in Xinjiang in order to do a good job of superficiality.
As a result, I didn't expect that as soon as the group was halfway through, the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party broke out, and Chiang Kai-shek began to transfer troops to attack the liberated areas.
At this time, Hu Zongnan sent a secret telegram, ready to attack this group of communists.
(Hu Zongnan in the middle)
As soon as Liu Yazhe escorted these communists to Shaanxi, he received a secret telegram from Hu Zongnan, who asked him not to enter Xi'an and take this group of communists to Xianyang.
Liu Yazhe knew very well that Hu Zongnan had old grudges with our army, and Liu Yazhe would definitely not let him get his wish.
But because Xi'an is the only way back to Yan'an, Liu Yazhe must go here if he wants to send people back.
In order to stabilize Hu Zongnan, Liu Yazhe replied with the word "compliance", and on the other hand, he reported the matter to Zhang Zhizhong by telegram, hoping that Zhang Zhizhong could think of a way to save these comrades.
(Group photo of the released persons)
At this time, a comrade had a high fever that did not go away, and Liu Yazhe used this as an excuse to declare that the situation was urgent and he needed to go to the hospital, so he went to the city of Xi'an overnight, and then placed the others in an office of our army here. prevented this group of comrades from falling into the hands of Hu Zongnan.
Hu Zongnan, who learned the truth over there, was half angry, and in a fit of anger, Hu Zongnan didn't care about doing anything superficial, and directly played a scoundrel: Xi'an is under his own control, and no one wants to leave without his approval.
After Zhang Zhizhong learned of Hu Zongnan's actions, he was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, because at this time, the civil war had already started, and if it dragged on any longer, none of these people might survive!
(Zhang Zhizhong)
Fortunately, after Zhang Zhizhong's efforts and finding Song Meiling to help, these communists left Xi'an and were finally able to return to Yan'an.
After these comrades returned to Yan'an, they received the key attention of Chairman Mao, President Zhu and other leaders. Soon after, this group of communists immediately rushed to the battlefields all over the country to continue the struggle for the liberation of the country. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, these people still served in various military and government units, and made a lot of contributions to the construction of the country.
At a banquet in 1961, when Premier Zhou met with party members who had been rescued from Xinjiang, he once again mentioned the rescue operation that year, and even sighed: "Mr. Wenbai (Zhang Zhizhong) is your life-saving benefactor." ”
(Premier Zhou)
What happened in between, and why were these communists trapped in Xinjiang?
2. Premier Zhou entrusted the generals of the National Army to save people
In September 1945, during the Chongqing negotiations, the Kuomintang general Zhang Zhizhong received a task from Chiang Kai-shek to rush to Dihua (now Urumqi) in Xinjiang to resolve the riots that had arisen there.
Before he left, Premier Zhou Enlai and his wife Deng Yingchao went to see him off.
Zhang Zhizhong has always been committed to maintaining good relations with our army, so he has had more contacts with Premier Zhou and others, and his relationship can be regarded as close.
Premier Zhou specially came to send Zhang Zhizhong, in addition to the good relationship between the two, he also wanted to ask Zhang Zhizhong to help.
(Zhang Zhizhong and Premier Zhou)
It turned out that as early as during the Anti-Japanese War, in order to build Xinjiang well, our army established a cooperative relationship with Sheng Shicai, a local "number one" figure. He sent about 200 people to Xinjiang, including Chairman Mao's younger brother Mao Zemin and Chen Tanqiu.
It was not until 1942 that Sheng Shi suddenly reversed course and chose to side with Chiang Kai-shek, and began to arrest and kill local party members in Xinjiang.
In August of the same year, Sheng Shicai arrested and imprisoned more than 100 Communist Party members, including the families of these people.
(Sheng Shicai)
At first, the matter did not reach our army, and it was not until half a year after the incident that the organization received accurate information about the arrest of the comrade.
In order to rescue these imprisoned comrades, Chairman Mao thought of many methods, but the results were not ideal, and Chiang Kai-shek dragged them again and again, but he did not let them go.
Until 1945, during the Chongqing negotiations, Premier Zhou accompanied Chairman Mao to negotiate with the Kuomintang in Chongqing, and after several efforts, he finally asked Chiang Kai-shek to write the release of the people into the "Double Tenth Agreement".
In order to prevent Chiang Kai-shek from continuing to drag on, when Zhang Zhizhong was preparing to rush to Xinjiang in 1945 to deal with the Xinjiang issue, Premier Zhou finally found a suitable opportunity, hoping that he could coordinate and save people.
(Zhang Zhizhong)
After giving a general account of what had happened, Premier Zhou instructed Zhang Zhizhong to check whether Mao Zemin, Chen Tanqiu, and others were safe after arriving in Xinjiang. In addition, Premier Zhou also mentioned that if people can be rescued, the terrain of Xinjiang is too complicated, and he hopes that special personnel can be arranged to escort them.
Regarding Premier Zhou's request, Zhang Zhizhong naturally agreed. He soon arrived in Dihua, Xinjiang, where he dealt with local issues while searching around for the whereabouts of the detainees.
3. 10 large trucks set off with more than 100 people
In June 1946, because Sheng Shicai, who was previously in charge of Xinjiang, had already been transferred to Chongqing by Chiang Kai-shek two years earlier, Chiang Kai-shek let Zhang Zhizhong take charge of Xinjiang and be in charge of military affairs in the northwest region at the same time.
(Zhang Zhizhong)
After Zhang Zhizhong arrived in Xinjiang, he began to inquire about information and think about how to send more than 100 people back to Yan'an safely. At this time, he thought of a person, and this person would definitely be able to complete this task.
The person Zhang Zhizhong thought of was Liu Yazhe, the director of Xinjiang's transportation department.
The stakes are high, and if something goes wrong, it's a displeasure. And Zhang Zhizhong knew that Liu Yazhe had always been very sympathetic to our army, and was very dissatisfied with Chiang Kai-shek's passive resistance to Japan and suppression of compatriots, so letting Liu Yazhe escort him would have a lot less problems on the way.
At the same time, because of his position, Liu Yazhe is more familiar with the routes of Xinjiang and Yan'an, and he also has the rank of major general, so it is more convenient to deal with anything even if he encounters something.
(Chiang Kai-shek)
There are escort candidates, but when they can be released back to Yan'an, Zhang Zhizhong does not dare to guarantee. Because this matter is very important, Zhang Zhizhong does not have this right in his hands, and he still needs the consent of Chiang Kai-shek in Chongqing.
Zhang Zhizhong explained in the telegram that when Chairman Mao went to Chongqing to negotiate earlier, he had told Chiang Kai-shek to release these people, and Chiang Kai-shek agreed to it at that time, and this article was also written into the agreement signed by the two sides. If Chiang is still unwilling to release the people, I am afraid that it will arouse bad public opinion and make the people have a negative impression of the Kuomintang.
(Group photo of Chairman Mao and Chiang Kai-shek during the Chongqing negotiations)
This time, Chiang Kai-shek called back, but did not say whether he would release the people, but asked Zhang Zhizhong to hand over the list of detainees to him. Zhang Zhizhong knew that Chiang Kai-shek wanted to find out whether any of these people held important positions in the Communist Party, so when he attached the list, he also explained again that these were ordinary people.
At this time, Mao Zemin, Chen Tanqiu and others had been secretly killed, and the others had used pseudonyms, so Chiang Kai-shek could not see their true identities and could only agree to release them.
Liu Yazhe immediately arranged 10 large trucks, allowing every 10 people to take one, and at the same time equipped with medical and liaison personnel, and brought a guard team to travel together.
(Picture and text are not related)
More than 6,000 miles, they walked for a total of 40 days, the situation on the way was not optimistic, the mountains were high and the roads were dangerous, and there were often bandits who haunted and robbed, and later encountered Hu Zongnan's difficulties in Xi'an.
Fortunately, Liu Yazhe responded wittily, and with Zhang Zhizhong's help, the 131 Communist Party members finally returned home safely.
(Xi'an)
But because of Hu Zongnan's strict order, Liu Yazhe had to go back immediately after sending people to the junction, and he couldn't set foot in Yan'an.
In the past month or so, whether it is Liu Yazhe and the escorts, or these more than 100 Communist Party members, they have already formed a deep friendship. But for various reasons, they had to separate.
On the occasion of parting, many leaders in Yan'an came to see off Liu Yazhe and others. They excitedly and enthusiastically shook Liu Yazhe's hand and expressed their heartfelt thanks to him and Zhang Zhizhong, who was far away in Xinjiang.
Resources:
[1] Chen Hongming.The thrilling journey of the communists from Xinjiang to Yan'an[J].Party History,2008,(01):46-47.
[2] Xu Renjun.Zhang Zhizhong Xinjiang Rescue CCP Personnel[J].Party History,2007,(07):46-49.
[3] Zhang Zhizhong's Xinjiang Rescue of CCP Personnel, Communist Party of China News Network, 2007-06-04