In the early morning of April 23, 1949, the 104th Division of the 35th Army, the vanguard of the People's Liberation Army, which crossed the Yangtze River, took the lead in attacking Nanjing, the capital of the Nationalist government.
The streets of Nanjing were empty, and gunshots rang everywhere, which was very dangerous, but at this dangerous moment, an unbelievable scene occurred: a group of Europeans and Americans risked danger, carrying lanterns, standing on Shanxi Road, the main road of Nanjing, as if greeting vips.
This incident was quickly reported by the soldiers to Zhang Shaoan, chief of staff of the 104th Division.
Zhang Shaoan also felt very strange, so he went over to ask what the situation was, at this time, an interpreter came out and said with a flattering face: "We are the personnel of the US Embassy, and we have come to welcome your army into the city." ”
Then, the translator pointed to a tall old man behind him and said, "This is Mr. Stuart Layden, the US ambassador to China." ”
The old man said in Chinese: "Welcome to the army." As he spoke, he walked over and wanted to shake hands with Zhang Shaoan.
Zhang Shao'an was a little confused by the second monk, but the sensitivity of the soldiers told him that he must be highly vigilant, and he took a closer look and found that there was a guy hiding behind these people, holding a camera, preparing to shoot him shaking hands with Stuart Redden.
Zhang Shaoan immediately understood, he did not shake hands with Stuart Redden, but sternly warned: "I don't know what ambassador, in my eyes, you are just foreign nationals, now you are fighting, but you are staying on the battlefield, this is very dangerous and stupid, please return to the garrison immediately, otherwise, all the consequences will be borne by you!" ”
After speaking, Zhang Shaoan left with the warriors. The U.S. embassy personnel touched a nose of ash and had to get on the car and leave.
As we all know, the United States has always been the big boss behind Chiang Kai-shek, and has been continuously providing Huge amounts of military and economic assistance to Chiang Kai-shek, and even after the outbreak of the War of Liberation, there has always been a voice in the United States, demanding that the United States send troops and directly intervene in China's civil war.
It can be said that the Americans have always stood with Chiang Kai-shek, so why did such a strange scene appear this time?
In fact, this is also the law that Americans have been following all along, that is, seeing the wind and making the rudder, whoever has the greatest interest in him will stand on the side of whom, and there is no "morality" at all.
In the War of Liberation, with the overwhelming victory of the People's Liberation Army and the turbulent regime of the corrupt and incompetent Chiang Kai-shek, the Democratic And Republican Parties in the United States launched a great discussion, for example, in the 1948 general election, they attacked each other with the stick of "who lost China" as the big stick, and attacked each other with great responsibility.
In short, the successive victories of the Communist Party of China in the War of Liberation have had a tremendous impact on the political arena of the United States, and the United States has to rethink the changes in its China policy, which is first of all reflected in the appointment of the US ambassador to China.
The "fortunate" to accept this task was Situ Leiden, who was known as a "China expert" and a "sinologist."
Born in China, Stuart Redden returned to the United States to study at the age of 11, came to China at the age of 28, co-founded the famous Yenching University, and served as the president of Yenching University, making great contributions in the field of education and being praised by the Chinese Communist Party, so at this moment of great historical change, the United States felt that it was the best of both worlds for him to serve as an ambassador.
After the end of the three major battles, although the victory and defeat of the Nationalist Communists were clear, many international and domestic people had a fantasy that they would "rule by drawing the river", and even Stalin once supported this view.
After Chiang Kai-shek stepped down, Li Zongren became acting president and began to step up negotiations with the Communist Party to strive for the so-called "rule by river." However, in the negotiations with the Kuomintang, the Communist Party found that the other side had no intention of true peace, and Chiang Kai-shek actually still controlled the Kuomintang's power, so Chairman Mao decisively made a call to "fight across the Yangtze River and liberate all of China."
In the face of the People's Liberation Army's fierce offensive, Li Zongren had to move the government to Guangzhou, as a diplomatic practice, and the consulates general of various countries in Nanjing should also be relocated to show support for the Nationalist government.
But what Chiang Kai-shek did not expect was that Stuart Layden chose to leave the US Consulate General in Nanjing, which would be conquered by the People's Liberation Army at any time, and the embassies of Britain, France and other countries also followed suit, which actually showed the attitude of these countries at this time, they were ready to withdraw from the ship of the "Chiang Kai-shek" that was about to be destroyed, and looked for an opportunity to establish diplomatic relations with the Communist Party, so the scene at the beginning of this article occurred.
However, their wishful thinking was still frustrated, because the little ninety-nine in their belly had long been recognized by the Communist Party, and they knew that these imperialist countries, which had always been enemies of the Chinese people, would never change their course overnight.
All the seemingly "friendly" moves they have made are nothing more than the purpose of continuing to deceive the Chinese people in a vain attempt for New China to recognize the series of benefits and privileges they have gained through successive aggressions, which our Party resolutely cannot agree to!
As the People's Liberation Army swept through half of China, the United States became more and more aware that the original illusions would not work, so it had to announce the recall of the American ambassador.
On August 2, 1949, Stuart Leiden boarded the plane with great sorrow and left China, where he had lived for decades.
On August 18, 1949, Chairman Mao published the famous article "Farewell, Stuart Layden", which wrote: "The People's Liberation Army crossed the Yangtze River, and the American colonial government in Nanjing scattered like birds and beasts. Ambassador Stuart Layden sat still, his eyes open, hoping to open a new store and fish for a handful. What did Stuart Redden see? In addition to seeing the People's Liberation Army marching in groups and workers, peasants, and students rising up in groups, he also saw a phenomenon in which Chinese liberals or democratic individualists also shouted slogans and revolution in large groups with workers, peasants, soldiers, and students. In short, no one paid any attention to him, so that he was 'standing alone, hanging on to each other', and there was nothing to do, so he had to pick up his purse and walk. ”
In addition, Chairman Mao also wrote such a sentence in this article: "Blockade, blockade for ten years and eight years, all problems in China have been solved." Chinese death is not afraid, are you still afraid of difficulties? ”
This sentence still applies today, look at the space station built by Chinese himself, is it not the product of the US "blockade"? Who are Chinese afraid of?
(References: "Liberation War", "Party History Expo", "Literature and History Expo", "Farewell, Stuart Redden")