On July 20, 1965, under the spotlight, Li Zongren returned to China, a major event that was a major victory in the Decision of the Chinese Communist Party's United Front.
Under the situation at that time, Li Zongren returned to China and experienced many difficulties and obstacles, if he had not met a person, Li Zongren might not have been able to return to the motherland, so who was this person?
Speaking of this person, he used his wisdom and wisdom to plan the "anti-Chiang Kai-shek" activities step by step, and even became the biggest help for Li Zongren's return to China under the very severe situation, and even Mao Zedong very heroically gave him a hundred thousand huge funds.
This person is Li Zongren's secretary, Cheng Siyuan, one of the core figures of the Gui clan.
What kind of person did he plan to "oppose Chiang Kai-shek" between Him and Jiang Li? And how did he persuade Li Zongren to return to China? Why did Mao Zedong give Cheng Siyuan a huge sum of 100,000 yuan? Let's take a look at this "not simple" Cheng Siyuan.
Cheng Siyuan was born in 1908 in a village in The Town of Binyang Bridge, Guangxi. Like many heroic stories, Cheng Siyuan's family is not very wealthy.
In Dacheng Village, most of the families are like Cheng Siyuan's family, very poor. How a poor family can support a reader, many people think that they can't afford to support it, at least the people in Chengjia Village think so.
But Cheng Siyuan's parents have different opinions, they not only send Cheng Siyuan to study, but also very support any decision of Cheng Siyuan.
The young Cheng Siyuan had his own ideals, and he wanted to become a talent useful to the country. Therefore, he studied very hard and his grades were very good.
Later, in middle school, he heard about the northern expeditionary army Li Zongren's recruitment documents, and he rushed to carry a bag of rice with great interest.
There were many people who went to the exam, and among a group of people, Cheng Siyuan was the youngest, and everyone did not pay attention to the small children of this age.
However, the result was unexpected, and the youngest Cheng Siyuan became the first place in this exam with his beautiful writing. Without any background, Cheng Siyuan was admitted as he wished, and since then, Cheng Siyuan has embarked on the road of throwing pens from Rong.
Cheng Siyuan's talents were later discovered, and Li Zongren also noticed this clever young man. In 1930, Cheng Siyuan was appointed as Li Zongren's secretary, and since then he has formed an indissoluble relationship with the Gui clan.
In 1931, Cheng Siyuan planned the "anti-Chiang Kai-shek" activities and secretly participated in the "Anti-Chiang Kai-shek Conference" in Guangzhou with Li Zongren and other forces. After that, various forces simultaneously exerted pressure on Chiang Kai-shek, who was overwhelmed and was eventually forced to step down.
In 1934, Li Zongren was about to go to the anti-Japanese front, and before leaving, he decided to send Cheng Siyuan to Italy for further study, he patted Cheng Siyuan's shoulder and said, "Siyuan, in the anti-Chiang Kai-shek plan, I saw that you have different thoughts and consciousnesses from ordinary people, you are a material that can be created." With Li Zongren's expectations of him, Cheng Siyuan resolutely embarked on the road to Study in Italy.
During his studies in Italy, Cheng Siyuan obtained a doctorate in political science with excellent results, and also learned a lot of foreign political strategies, which made Cheng Siyuan have a different view of the domestic situation.
In 1937, the July 7 Incident broke out, and Cheng Siyuan immediately left for China, became Bai Chongxi's secretary, and actively participated in the War of Resistance Against Japan. At that time, the Gui Department was in urgent need of overseas students such as Cheng Siyuan, so Cheng Siyuan became the wisdom of the Gui Department.
Therefore, Cheng Siyuan and the Gui family formed an indissoluble relationship. However, the subsequent development of events did not develop smoothly, and in the failure of the War of Resistance Against Japan again and again, people began to doubt the decision-making of the Guizhi think tank, and also wrote articles and couplets to mock the Guizhi because of the failure of the War of Resistance.
What's more, he wrote a "Repeated Defeats" and sent it to Bai Chongxi's hands, which was infuriating to Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi, who were ready to let people publish statements opposing this remark with a big wave of their hands.
However, Cheng Siyuan said, "This look is the result of Chiang Kai-shek's promotion, and instead of explaining it to the masses, it is better to publish an editorial to boost the morale of the masses." ”
Bai Chongxi and Li Zongren, who understood Chiang Kai-shek's means, looked at each other, turned their heads and laughed loudly: "It is better to think far and witty, otherwise we will have to be attacked by the old Chiang Kai-shek." ”
Subsequently, Cheng Siyuan issued an article entitled "Repeated Defeats and Repeated Battles", in which Cheng Siyuan emphasized the role played by the local army in the war, and the tone was passionate, expressing the heroic bloodiness of our army in fighting bravely to protect the mountains and rivers of the motherland and not fearing life and death. Chiang Kai-shek's set was so easily cracked by Cheng Siyuan, which made Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi praise him.
Although Cheng Siyuan was in the Kuomintang, he was very displeased with Chiang Kai-shek's policies, so he planned anti-Chiang Kai-shek activities. Cheng Siyuan believed that the Kuomintang's policies were not in line with the actual domestic situation, while the Communist Party's political policy was in line with the actual domestic situation and considered by the masses, so Cheng Siyuan has been actively opposing Chiang Kai-shek.
Especially after Cheng Siyuan returned from his further studies in Italy, he clearly realized that Chiang Kai-shek's political policy was not conducive to the development of the country and the nation, and after thinking about the differences between the Communist Party and the Kuomintang, he began to favor the Communist Party.
In the political situation at that time, the contradiction between the Gui clan and Chiang Kai-shek was very fierce, and Chiang Kai-shek always wanted to hold the power in his own hands, so many decisions issued made Bai Chongxi and Li Zongren feel disgusted, especially after Cheng Siyuan joined them, their anti-Chiang sentiment became more and more intense.
In 1949, the peace talks failed, Chiang Kai-shek has been unsuccessful, after returning to Taiwan, ordered the Gui troops to resist in Guangzhou and other areas, in November, Li Zongren's Gui troops were annihilated, Li Zongren lost the last bottom card, and had no choice but to go to Hong Kong with Cheng Siyuan.
During this time in Hong Kong, Li Zongren has been thinking about the question of where to go, in fact, his heart is to surrender to the People's Liberation Army, but his name is impressively listed in the list of war criminals, he can only put down this idea, if he goes to Taiwan, the Gui clan no longer exists, Chiang Kai-shek has no reason to be jealous of Li Zongren, naturally can not tolerate Li Zongren.
Cheng Siyuan saw Li Zongren's concerns, so he arranged for Li Zongren to go to the United States, which was sixteen years. In the past sixteen years, Li Zongren has lived every day like a fugitive on the run, living in a stable place and physically and mentally exhausted, which makes him want to return to the motherland.
In 1956, Li Zongren published "Suggestions on the Taiwan Issue", and Li Zongren, who had been the core figure of the Kuomintang, had different views on the Taiwan issue, and at the same time, coupled with his understanding of the Kuomintang, his remarks naturally attracted domestic attention.
In April of this year, Premier Zhou, under the inquiry of many parties, finally connected Cheng Siyuan and wanted to catch Li Zongren through Cheng Siyuan. Premier Zhou invited Cheng Siyuan to visit Beijing and told Cheng Siyuan what he had in mind, and after hearing Premier Zhou's meaning, Cheng Siyuan immediately expressed his willingness to help Premier Zhou and complete this matter.
Cheng Siyuan had visited Shandong, China, and he saw the new momentum of development in Shandong, which had once become a war zone, and all this was due to the leadership of the Communist Party. After that, Cheng Siyuan told Li Zongren what he saw and heard in Shandong, which led to what happened later.
After promising Premier Zhou, Cheng Siyuan began to think about how to secretly take Li Zongren back to China, at this time, Cheng Yueru, a daughter who was far away in the United States, called Cheng Siyuan and said: "Father, Mr. Li has always said recently that he is not used to staying in the United States, saying that people live for a lifetime, and finally they still want to return to the roots, father, Mr. Li wants to go back." ”
In fact, at this time, Li Zongren still had great concerns in his heart, he was worried that he would become a turtle in an urn when he returned to China, after all, in the list of war criminals at that time, Li Zongren's name ranked second, except for Chiang Kai-shek, who was the first, Li Zongren's status could be imagined.
Cheng Siyuan, as his former secretary, naturally knew what he had in mind, and after many second contacts with Premier Zhou, he knew that Li Zongren's return to China this time was in line with changes in the domestic situation, and it was also beneficial and harmless to Li Zongren.
However, Premier Zhou wrote to tell Cheng Siyuan that although it is good to return to China, now is not the best time to return to China, and Premier Zhou hopes that Cheng Siyuan will go to Europe to talk to Li Zongren in person.
After the US election began, Li Zongren hoped that Sino-US relations could be reconciled, so he wrote to the American Kendini, expressing China's goodwill, and Li Zongren also wrote in the letter that he hoped that the relations between the two countries would be restored and that he could return to China to visit.
However, in Kendini's reply, there was no reply to Li Zongren, but only said that this matter should be reconsidered, to put it bluntly, that is, it is impossible. Li Zongren believes that there is still hope, and he insists on his position, hoping that one day the United States can change its attitude and ease Sino-US relations.
To this end, Cheng Siyuan went to Beijing for the third time, he told Li Zongren's attitude of wanting to return to China, and also told Premier Zhou what happened to Li Zongren in the United States, and after Premier Zhou listened, he told Cheng Siyuan not to have too many illusions about the United States, they took a different path from our country.
Cheng Siyuan told Li Zongren about Premier Zhou's words, and Li Zongren did not take it seriously at first. Until later, Li Zongren was getting older, and he always had the idea of returning to China, and the United States never gave him a chance.
Cheng Siyuan came to Beijing again and asked Premier Zhou about Li Zongren's return to China, and this time Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou said, "When Mr. Li returns to China, we welcome him, and we will not stop him from going to Europe for a while in the future, and when it is convenient to come back, we appreciate Mr. Li's patriotism, we do not force Mr. Li, and we welcome mr. Li when it is decided to return to China." ”
Mao Zedong attached great importance to Li Zongren's return to China, and asked Zhou Enlai to formulate the "four cans" and "four noes" policies, so that he could return to the motherland to settle down, could go to Europe for a temporary residence, could go out after returning to China, and could return to China after he went out. At the same time, there are four must-haves: we must not meddle in Sino-US relations, we must not intervene in the Taiwan issue, we must not have ties with the Kuomintang, and we must not get entangled with third-party forces.
Cheng Siyuan still told Li Zongren about the conversation between Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou, and Li Zongren did not hesitate this time and immediately said that he wanted to return to China. He wrote to Cheng Siyuan that he still had a lot of cultural relics in his hands and wanted to use these cultural relics to express his heart.
Cheng Siyuan told Premier Zhou all of Li Zongren's words, and Premier Zhou expressed great support.
Li Zongren immediately began to prepare for the donation of cultural relics, and loaded all the cultural relics in his hands into the car and sent them to Hong Kong. After Cheng Siyuan received it, he immediately contacted Premier Zhou, and Li Zongren donated a total of twelve boxes of cultural relics, many of which were everyone's paintings.
At the same time, the Kuomintang also clearly knew the importance of Li Zongren, and even if Chiang Kai-shek could not tolerate Li Zongren, he could not deny Li Zongren's influence on the Kuomintang. Bai Chongxi had been writing letters hoping that Li Zongren would return to the Kuomintang and guarantee Li Zongren a series of conditions.
In the face of the temptation given by the Kuomintang, Li Zongren was not moved, he directly rejected Bai Chongxi, and also told Bai Chongxi about the good of the Communist Party, and he hoped that Bai Chongxi would also abandon the dark and cast light.
On July 20, 1965, a plane slowly stopped at The Beijing Airport. As soon as the cabin door opened, a trembling old man came out, this person was 74-year-old Li Zongren.
As soon as Li Zongren came down, he saw Zhou Enlai and other big figures of the Communist Party standing on the edge of the airport and warmly receiving Li Zongren. When Zhou Enlai took Li Zongren to meet Chairman Mao, when Mao Zedong saw Li Zongren, he went forward and tightly held Li Zongren's hand and said, "Mr. Li, you have boarded my 'thief ship', and the motherland welcomes you." ”
Earlier, Chairman Mao was very generous about Li Zongren's return, and he specifically instructed Zhou Enlai that Li Zongren's determination to leave the United States had been decided, and he was ready to return to the house where he had settled. He also told Zhou En, come back and stop pursuing his mistakes, he has already published a newspaper to confess his mistakes to the motherland, this matter does not affect the overall situation, there is no need to criticize him anymore, he has already admitted his mistakes.
A smile overflowed on the faces of Li Zongren and his wife Guo Dejie, and under the joint conspiracy of Cheng Siyuan, Zhou Enlai and others, Li Zongren finally stood on the land of the motherland and planned for 10 years to return to China, and finally the dust settled at this moment.
More than ten years after leaving the motherland, Li Zongren's days in the United States, every word and deed was monitored, ten years of return to China, at this moment finally came to an end, saying that it is impossible not to be excited.
Li Zongren made an oath of gratitude to contribute to the country, and when he returned to China before, he excitedly issued a statement, he spoke passionately about the good domestic situation and the happiness of returning to the motherland with tears.
In Li Zongren's life, he may have only done two major things right, one was to win the Battle of Taierzhuang and add a strength to the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, and the other thing was to return to the motherland.
Li Zongren's journey back to China was very difficult, the most important of which was cheng Siyuan's plan before and after running, in order to let Li Zongren return to the motherland, he came to Beijing five times to meet with Premier Zhou, in order to let Li Zongren better understand our country's determination to let him return to China, he went to Europe twice, unremittingly advised Li Zongren, Cheng Siyuan can be said to be indispensable.
In other words, without the help of Cheng Siyuan, it would be very difficult for Li Zongren to return to the motherland, of which Chiang Kai-shek and the United States were both very resistant, and for this reason, Cheng Siyuan constantly detoured in order to accomplish this task, and it is easy to see that Cheng Siyuan's maintenance of the motherland and the party and his firm belief in his heart.
As an important figure in the Gui clan and a non-partisan patriot, Cheng Siyuan's influence can be imagined, especially for Hong Kong. He has made many remarks praising the advantages of China's policy and more of an expectation of the Communist Party.
Cheng Siyuan's return to China is positive and positive for many patriots. Cheng Siyuan constantly advised his former friends, hoping that they would return to China and contribute to the development of the country. Therefore, after being persuaded by Cheng Siyuan, many patriots actively returned to the motherland and threw themselves into the cause of the motherland.
Mao Zedong also cordially gave Cheng Siyuan a nickname, "near", and Cheng Siyuan quickly understood the meaning of the word That Chairman Mao had given him, near, which meant close, referring to China, and Chairman Mao wanted Cheng Siyuan to work hard to bring in the relations between some patriots and the motherland, so as to facilitate the future reunification of the motherland.
Therefore, Cheng Siyuan actively wooed the patriots in Hong Kong, his old knowledge, he knew in his heart that the Chinese Communist Party was worth doing, so he also settled in Beijing, expressed his position, and unswervingly defended the Communist Party.
In 1966, Mao Zedong took 100,000 yuan from the manuscript fee and gave it to Cheng Siyuan, 100,000 yuan was a very large amount at that time, and Mao Zedong did not hesitate to give it directly to Cheng Siyuan. Cheng Siyuan did not understand why Mao Zedong wanted to give him a large amount of money after thinking about it.
Until later, Cheng Siyuan found that Chairman Mao had just returned from abroad to sympathize with him and Li Zongren, and the cost was very large. Even the previous assets would be used up little by little, and Chairman Mao was worried about the difficulties in their lives, so he gave Cheng Siyuan such a large amount of money.
There is another aspect, that is, Cheng Siyuan himself is a writer, but after returning from Hong Kong, he will selflessly publish editorials to China every time, never taking anything too far. Cheng Siyuan insisted on pulling away patriots for the motherland, so how could Chairman Mao let him suffer losses?
Chairman Mao's generosity not only reassured Cheng Siyuan and more firmly defended the Communist Party, but also made those wandering patriots see the dawn of hope, and it was worth returning to China and safeguarding the Communist Party.
Cheng Si foresaw that Chairman Mao treated himself so kindly, and naturally he could not be left behind; he used this part of the money given by Chairman Mao to often entertain some old acquaintances from Taiwan and some of his old subordinates, and constantly worked hard to realize the united front.
Cheng Siyuan is a very self-disciplined person, he gets up early and goes to bed every day, does not drink alcohol, does not play cards, has no bad habits, therefore, his daily expenses are very small, and most of his money is used to entertain guests from Taiwan and the revolutionary cause.
When Chairman Mao saw this, he took great care of sending some living expenses to Cheng Siyuan, just to prevent Cheng Siyuan from spending all his savings at the banquet. Chairman Mao has always been helping those who are struggling on the road of the revolutionary cause, and he has proved with his own deeds that he will not forget anyone who has a kind affection for the revolution. With mao zedong's support, Cheng Siyuan's mood of dedication to the revolution was even more surging.
Why did Chairman Mao give Cheng Siyuan this hundred thousand yuan? In fact, from a historical point of view, Cheng Siyuan's former status has allowed him to have a lot of savings, plus his big star daughter Lin Dai (Cheng Yueru), his life can only be said to be good. Chairman Mao exchanged this huge sum of 100,000 yuan for his unswerving intention to think about the revolution.
There are many revolutionary ancestors like Cheng Siyuan, who have been favored by Chairman Mao to a greater extent, and Chairman Mao has been able to observe their difficulties in detail, solve them for them, and enable them to better devote themselves to the revolutionary cause.
Perhaps Cheng Siyuan understood Chairman Mao's painstaking intentions, after all, he was also a doctor of political science, and he used Chairman Mao's high hopes for himself completely and without regret in the revolutionary cause, and he knew that the best reward for Chairman Mao was to unify the front line on both sides of the strait for him.
After Li Zongren returned to the motherland, Cheng Siyuan was more determined to stabilize the issue of the two sides of the strait, and has been working hard to this end.
In 1990, Cheng Siyuan was appointed president of the China Association for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification, and he spared no effort to promote cross-strait relations, during which time he also insisted on writing every day, writing "Jiang-Li Relations with China", "Mr. Li Zongren's Later Years", "The Secret Fortune of Zhenghai" and so on.
Mr. Cheng Siyuan's works record what happened at that time, and he made his own remarks on these matters, most of which were just and in line with the actual changes in the domestic situation.
As a man of letters, Mr. Cheng Siyuan devoted his life to fighting the Kuomintang with his pen, and in his pen, he insisted that the development of the Communist Party was truly in line with the domestic situation.
As a doctor of political science, he was able to objectively judge the difference between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party and find the right path that best suited the country's development, so Cheng Siyuan chose the Communist Party as the cornerstone for realizing his ambitions.
In 2005, Cheng Siyuan died in Beijing at the age of 97.
Cheng Siyuan's life is a legendary life and a life of pursuing political truth. He was born in a feudal dynasty, but he did not engrave feudal ideas in his mind. He used his life to break the feudal society, break the corrupt rule of the Kuomintang, and usher in a new era of the Communist Party.
He witnessed the demise of the old China and the rise of the new China, and he embraced the great cause of the motherland and contributed his lifelong wisdom to the rejuvenation of the nation. Perhaps, Mr. Cheng Siyuan's only regret is that he has not been able to see the reunification of the two sides of the taiwan strait.