<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="1" > "heroes from all walks of life" gathered in Ganzhou, Ye Jianying instructed Lei Tieming: You must be ready to take over Guangzhou</h1>
On April 20, 1949, the People's Liberation Army launched the Battle of Crossing the River, which completely destroyed the ruling center of the Nationalist Government in the Jiangnan region of Nanjing, and liberated major cities under the people's liberation army's "autumn wind sweeping away leaves". In mid-May, after the liberation of Hankou and Wuchang on both sides of the Yangtze River, the Fourth Field Army was ready to continue south to liberate Hunan and Liangguang and regain Guangzhou, a city with great influence in the south.
Pictured: Ye Jianying in his later years
At the same time, in order to do a good job in taking over the liberated cities, the Central Military Commission decided to transfer a group of Guangdong cadres from all over the country to accompany the army to the south and prepare to take over the relevant urban work. In this case, Lei Tieming, who had previously worked in the army, was transferred out of the army and came to Hankou to wait for distribution in the hot summer. After coming to the Central China Bureau, Lei Tieming learned from Deng Zihui, who was then the secretary of the Central China Bureau, that Comrade Ye Jianying was also in Hankou, which made him feel very excited, because Comrade Ye Jianying already had a high reputation inside and outside the whole army, and how honored it was to meet him!
One morning, Lei Tieming, with a nervous and expectant mood, came to the Deming Hotel in Hankou where Ye Jianying was staying, in a simplely arranged conference room, he met Comrade Ye Jianying, just entered the door, he saluted Ye Jianying, and then said loudly: "Report Ye Sanzao, Lei Tieming is looking for you to report!" ”
Pictured: Ye Jianying's casual clothes photo in Beiping in 1946
At this time, Ye Jianying was wearing a pair of black-framed eyes, and was seriously looking at a question in his hand on the sofa, when he heard his voice, he put down the newspaper with a smile, and then nodded happily: "Good, good..." Then waved his hand to let him sit on the sofa opposite him. After Lei Tieming sat down, he seriously looked at Ye Jianying and found that although his figure was not tall, he had a righteous and magnificent military temperament under his body, and his speech was also radiant and charming.
Seeing that Ye Jianying talked about the troops' march with an optimistic attitude, he then turned sharply and pointed out that one of the focuses of their cadres' work in the south was to take over Guangzhou: "Comrade Tieming, Guangzhou is the southern gateway city of our new China, it is close to Hong Kong, and all kinds of situations are very complicated. ”
Then Ye Jianying said: "This time in the south, our cadres come from all directions, in order to adapt to the long journey, we have divided them into several squads, Comrade Tieming, you go and lead a team, and I will ask the secretary to hand over the list of cadres to you." ”
Photo: Marshal Ye Jianying photo
When Lei Tieming asked when they would leave, Ye Jianying humorously replied, "No hurry, no hurry." We can wait for the 'heroes' to gather and then we can set off. "In fact, it was because the Progress of the Four Wilds Army was very fast at that time, and which way to take it still needed Ye Jianying and the other leaders of the Four Wilds to discuss before deciding...
Soon after, the South China Bureau of the CPC Central Committee was established, and Ye Jianying served as the secretary of the South China Bureau, and at the same time, he also served as the director of the Guangdong Provincial Military Control Commission and the chairman of the province. Under Ye Jianying's arrangement, a large number of cadres gathered in Ganzhou, Jiangxi, and before going south to Guangzhou, they had to structure the leading bodies of government agencies here in advance, so that once Guangzhou was liberated, they could follow the army into the city and quickly carry out their work.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="52" > Lei Tieming grabbed the Guangdong-Han Railway, Ye Jianying clapped his hands and praised: We have won another big battle</h1>
On October 2, 1049, under the unified deployment of the Central Military Commission and under the command of Chen Geng, the Battle of Guangdong was officially launched. On the evening of October 14, the People's Liberation Army's Zhonglu Army made rapid progress and quickly liberated Guangzhou, and Ye Jianying led the comrades of the Guangzhou Military Control Commission to quickly enter the city of Guangzhou with the troops, and began to prepare for the reconstruction work after the war, regardless of the fatigue of the long journey.
Pictured: On November 11, 1949, the citizens of Guangzhou celebrate the liberation of Guangzhou
At that time, Ye Jianying appointed Lei Tieming to be in charge of the work of the Traffic Takeover Committee and responsible for the restoration of transportation in Guangzhou. After initially sorting out the work, Lei Tieming first focused on the railway, because the railway is the main mode of transportation, and it plays an indispensable role in both military operations and people's livelihood.
However, before the Kuomintang Yu Hanmou clique withdrew from Guangzhou, they put forward the slogan of "general retreat, total sabotage, and general strike" and carried out orderly blasting of Guangzhou's basic transportation facilities and important material reserve sites. As early as early September 1949, Li Jilan, who was the commander of the Guangzhou Garrison Command, had decided that once Guangzhou was occupied by the People's Liberation Army, it would destroy Guangzhou before retreating. On October 14, when the People's Liberation Army entered Guangzhou, the defeated kuomintang troops blasted a number of important bridges on the Guangdong-Han Railway, resulting in the inability of the Guangdong-Han Railway to be opened to traffic, so the repair of the Guangdong-Han Railway became an urgent task after entering Guangzhou.
After entering Guangzhou, Ye Jianying, despite his daily opportunities, also regarded the railway repair work as very important. One morning shortly after entering Guangzhou, he called Lei Tieming to his office and stressed to him the importance of the railway's opening:
Pictured: Ye Jianying, Zhu Guang, Li Zhangda, and Liang Guang taking photos in front of the municipal government
"I said Comrade Tieming, the role of the railway does not need me to say, you also know in your heart, you must organize the greatest force as soon as possible, as soon as possible to seize the Guangdong-Han railway, if you want to say that something is a top priority, this is a major matter of urgency! If this matter is not done quickly, the schadenfreude of the Kuomintang reactionaries and the imperialist countries will still be a small matter, and the long-term non-operation of the Guangdong-Han Railway will affect the lives and travel of the masses of the people, and the masses of the people will of course be dissatisfied with us..."
Pictured: Propaganda slogan for the emergency repair work of the Cantonese-Hankou Railway
Comrade Ye Jianying's high hopes made Lei Tieming feel that he had a heavy responsibility on his shoulders, so he conveyed Ye Jianying's words to the workers responsible for rushing through the railway, and the result was that the venue immediately boiled. In order to speed up the process of rush repairs, the railway department decided that, in addition to the construction team originally responsible for road construction, a large number of railway workers and technicians had been transferred from other places, who took turns to repair the railway day and night, and even soviet experts helped.
Pictured: The opening ceremony of the Cantonese-Hankou Railway in 1949
After more than a month, several important bridges in Guangdong Province have returned to normal, and the plan for the opening of the Guangdong-Han Railway by the end of the year has finally been realized. When the news of the resumption of the opening of the entire Guangdong-Hankou Railway reached Meihua Village, where the South China Branch of the CPC was stationed, Ye Jianying clapped his hands and applauded when he heard the news, and he excitedly said to the other comrades: "The Guangdong-Han Railway is fully opened, and we have won another big victory before the end of the year!" ”
Photo: Reports of the official opening of the Cantonese-Hankou Railway
On December 29, 1949, the first bus from Guangzhou to Hankou was preparing to depart from Guangzhou Railway Station, Ye Jianying wore a military uniform to attend the celebration ceremony, under the cheers of the people of Guangzhou, Ye Jianying came to the front desk of the passenger train along the platform of the station, and with a smile on his face, he picked up scissors to cut the ribbon for the first train from Guangzhou to Hankou. Suddenly, the whole audience resounded with stormy applause, echoing endlessly between heaven and earth...
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="53" > the Kuomintang blasted the Haizhu Bridge, threatening that the Communist Party would not repair it well within three years, Ye Jianying: In 1950, it must be rushed</h1>
On October 14, 1949, on the eve of the retreat of the Kuomintang troops, they completely destroyed important bridges and material warehouses in Guangzhou, including Baiyun Airport and military supply warehouses in Shipai, Huangpu and other areas, but the most serious damage was the Haizhu Bridge, which has a history of decades. At 17:50 on the same day, the Kuomintang troops forcibly blew up the Haizhu Bridge in two with only 5 minutes' notice to blow up the bridge, causing a tragic tragedy in which more than 200 people were killed and injured in Guangzhou and more than 300 houses collapsed. Since Haizhu Bridge is an important traffic artery connecting Guangzhou's urban area, Ye Jianying and Lei Tieming are very concerned about the situation of Haizhu Bridge, and organized personnel to prepare for the repair of Haizhu Bridge as soon as they entered Guangzhou.
Pictured: The bombed Haizhu Bridge sinks in the water
For Ye Jianying, there were two main considerations for grabbing the Haizhu Bridge: First, the bridge was an important bridge connecting Henan (present-day Haizhu District) and Hebei, and the purpose of rushing through the Haizhu Bridge was to ensure the people's transportation needs and living needs; second, it was in response to the rumors of the Kuomintang opposition, and the Kuomintang reactionaries threatened before blowing up the bridge: "The Communist Party will not want to repair this bridge in three years." But Ye Jianying's determination was to completely repair the Haizhu Bridge in 1950.
Pictured: The former Haizhu Bridge
Since the repair of the Guangdong-Han Railway, the main leaders of Guangzhou Have focused most of their energy on the important task of grabbing the Haizhu Bridge, for this reason, Comrade Zhu Guang, who is the vice mayor of Guangzhou, personally led the Municipal Construction Bureau to repair the Haizhu Bridge, and Lei Tieming often needed to assist the Municipal Construction Bureau in its work because he was in charge of transportation.
However, repairing the Haizhu Bridge is not an easy task. Since March 1950, the city has been organizing manual inspections of the four sets of piers left on the surface of the Haizhu Bridge. Probably due to the small power of the explosives used by the Kuomintang troops when they retreated, after professional assessment, the original four sets of piers of the Haizhu Bridge can still be used normally, but it is difficult to rebuild the middle section of the bridge.
Pictured: Haizhu Bridge
Since New China had just been established at that time, there was no steel for the construction of the bridge in the national treasury, and if it was to be imported from abroad, according to the estimates of experts at the time, the cost of repairing the Haizhu Bridge would be as high as 40 billion yuan (old currency, equivalent to about 4 million yuan in new yuan). Therefore, soviet experts who were serving as bridge consultants at the time suggested temporarily abandoning the repair of the Haizhu Bridge and instead building a temporary wooden bridge for traffic, which could cost up to 12 billion yuan (old currency, equivalent to about 4 million yuan in new yuan).
Just when the Municipal Construction Bureau was struggling with which plan should be adopted for the reconstruction of the Haizhu Bridge, one day in about May 1950, Lei Tieming, who was in charge of the repair work of the Haizhu Bridge, received a call from Ye Jianying, inviting him to visit Meihua Village, the station of the South China Branch. When he saw Ye Jianying in the courtyard, he saw Ye Jianying put down the documents in his hand and said to him bluntly: "Comrade Tieming, today I invite you to come over and talk to you only about one thing: we must repair the Haizhu Bridge as soon as possible!" ”
Pictured: Ye Jianying is having a cordial conversation with comrades
Such a blunt word suddenly made Lei Tieming stunned, not knowing what to say.
Seeing that Lei Tieming was completely unprepared, Ye Jianying's tone became slightly more relaxed: "What, you didn't expect it?" But this matter is really urgent. Subsequently, Ye Jianying's gaze at Lei Tieming became bright and energetic, and Lei Tieming knew that this was a sign of confidence in himself.
"I see our new China, as long as the workers have the strength, they can do anything. You see, the Kuomintang army destroyed so many railway bridges, railway workers can grab the Guangdong-Han railway, a small road bridge should not be a problem, so I will now entrust you with the task of repairing the Haizhu Bridge, how? By the end of 1950 at the latest, the Haizhu Bridge must be opened to traffic... Also, I heard Soviet experts say that it is recommended to build a temporary wooden bridge for passage, what does it look like! If you want to repair it, you must fix it completely! ”
Pictured: Ye Jianying is giving a speech at the conference
But in fact, Lei Tieming's heart had no bottom for this task, and he could see Ye Jianying's expression, but he had to accept it. However, before leaving, Ye Jianying walked to his side, patted his shoulder and said in a serious tone: "As the saying goes: 'There is nothing difficult in the world, only afraid of people with hearts', the so-called 'no difficulty' does not mean that there is no difficulty, but encountered difficulties, relying on our technical personnel, our hard-working workers, can always be solved; even if it cannot be solved at that time, it can be solved slowly, even if there is really something that cannot be solved in the end, it can be reported to me in the end." Finally, Ye Jianying said aloud: "There is nothing that the Chinese Communist Party cannot accomplish." ”
With the full support of Ye Jianying, on May 25, the second phase of the restoration of the Haizhu Bridge in Guangzhou was in full swing, and the fifth bridge team responsible for the repair of the main body of the bridge was temporarily transferred from Hengyang, at that time, the main problem of bridge repair was the lack of steel, because the imperialist countries implemented a strict material blockade on New China at that time, so it was extremely difficult to obtain steel from underwater salvagation of the bridge body or import steel from abroad.
Pictured: Haizhu Bridge under reconstruction
If steel is salvaged underwater, the main problem is that the tools required for underwater cutting are insufficient. In the early stage, the engineering team mainly used electrode carbon rods imported from Hong Kong for cutting, but later, the British government was forced by the pressure of other imperialist countries to ban this item, and the helpless bridge team could only find a way to imitate this key item on its own, step by step, the old steel cut into pieces under the water was salvaged out of the water.
On the other hand, the steel needed to repair the bridge was ordered by Leung Chi Cheung, a technician in charge of bridge repair, to go to Hong Kong in disguise for secret procurement. During this period, Hong Kong patriots donated money and materials, but unexpectedly the steel was already consumed halfway through the construction of the bridge. In a hurry, Leung Chi-cheung heard that a seven-storey building was about to be demolished in Hong Kong, so he used his status in Hong Kong to buy all the remaining scrap of the building.
Pictured: Haizhu Bridge, rebuilt in November 1950
Encouraged by the victory in the War of Liberation, the progress of repairing the Haizhu Bridge was very fast, and all the workers of the bridge work team heard that the repair of the Haizhu Bridge was a task personally assigned by the chairman of Ye Province, and they were immediately full of enthusiasm. Although the level of industrialization in China was low at that time, and many of the work of repairing bridges needed to be completed by hand, everyone was not afraid of hardships, gave full play to the spirit of the Chinese nation to bear hardships and stand hard work, and fought selflessly on the construction site for more than 100 days and nights, and finally snatched the Haizhu Bridge before the end of 1950.
On November 7, 1950, the Haizhu Bridge was opened to traffic, and on the north bank of the bridge, the staff temporarily set up a podium, which was located exactly opposite the newly repaired Haizhu Bridge. On this morning, Ye Jianying appeared on the rostrum and made an important speech amid the enthusiastic cheers of the masses, first enumerating the facts and refuting the rumors of the Kuomintang reactionaries that "three years cannot be repaired"; then he happily gave a thumbs up and awarded the golden trophy to the members of the bridge team in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the repair of the Haizhu Bridge; finally, he personally cut the ribbon for the bridge, and then drove his own car and led a team of convoys through the wall smoothly...
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="54" > guangzhou-kowloon railway directly opened to traffic, the British side shouted negotiations, Ye Jianying calmly: do not take a stand for the time being</h1>
In January 1950, the British government officially recognized the People's Republic of China, and Hong Kong was still under the control of the British government. Due to unequal treaties in the past, the railway from Guangzhou to Kowloon, a section of railway about 40 kilometers after the end of the entry into Hong Kong, was under the jurisdiction of the British government in Hong Kong, which was called the "British section" at that time. Although the British had recognized the People's Republic of China, the trains on the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway at that time still could not reach Hong Kong directly, and the trains from Guangzhou to Kowloon could only go to Shenzhen, and the trains from Hong Kong could only reach Luohu. After getting off the train, passengers from both sides had to cross the border iron bridge on foot to change trains opposite, when New China had just been established, the passenger flow from Hong Kong and the mainland was very large, and every time the bridge was bustling, this situation caused some burden to the border management of both sides.
Figure: Schematic map of the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway route
Soon after, out of its own interests, the British government of Hong Kong authorized Du Lihua (a British) in charge of its "British section" railway to call for negotiations with our side and asked the Chinese side to discuss the issue of direct opening of the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway; on the other hand, the Hong Kong and British governments also intended to buy people's hearts and minds through the opening of the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway, and its purpose was very complicated.
Under these circumstances, Comrade Ye Jianying showed an unusually cautious attitude towards this issue of the British side, and after listening to Lei Tieming's report on this matter, Ye Jianying smiled calmly and said:
"Since the UK wants to deal with us, we welcome it at any time. However, this matter is not as simple as it seems on the surface, this matter we must carefully consider, the purpose of our resumption of traffic is not to collect revenue from that point, we must focus on the current overall situation and analyze. ”
Pictured: Passengers and pedestrians near the Luohu Bridge of the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway in the 1950s
Comrade Fang Fang, Ye Jianying's deputy, who was then the third secretary of the South China Branch of the CPC Central Committee, then analyzed the current situation in detail for everyone, and he finally believed that the time for the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway to connect the train to the train was not yet ripe, and if the train was directly allowed to drive past, I was afraid that there would be more harms than benefits, so he did not hesitate to take a sip of tea from his tea cup, and then said to everyone: "In this matter, we may as well drag it out first and not take a stand for the time being, so that we can further understand the situation of the Hong Kong-Kowloon government and know ourselves and know each other." ”
Ye Jianying also nodded in agreement: "My opinion is also the same, let's give the British government a 'temporary no stance'." However, after thinking about it for tens of seconds, Ye Jianying seemed to have suddenly thought of something, and hurriedly added a sentence: "However, this matter involves diplomacy after all, and we must report to the central authorities for approval before we can act, so we can buy time by delaying, and there is no harm." ”
Pictured: Ye Jianying in his later years is writing study notes
In this way, in the face of the issue of the opening of the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway, our side has always maintained a non-impatient attitude and dragged on for several weeks, during which the relevant departments have seriously analyzed and discussed the issue of whether to open the railway to traffic. After deciding to negotiate with the British government, Lei Tieming wrote a letter to Du Lihua, the head of the "Ying Duan" who had been waiting impatiently, and he immediately said that he would personally cross the border with an assistant to Shenzhen for negotiations.
Out of the need for reception, Lei Tieming decided to go to Shenzhen Railway Station with Comrade Liu Chuanshu, former deputy director of the Guangdong-Han Railway, to negotiate with the British side. Before leaving, Comrade Ye Jianying specially sent a letter to Lei Tieming, which was signed by Ye Jianying and Fang Fang, which indicated the reception attitude of the two British representatives:
Pictured: A bronze statue of Marshal Ye Jianying standing in Jianying Park in Meicheng
Comrade Tie Ming:
Agree to take Liu Chuanshu out tomorrow, if someone in the English section comes to negotiate, try to adopt an attitude of listening, write down the talking points, and wait for instructions; your identity is preferably as a railway worker, try not to involve the "official" attitude, not to involve political issues. After you have figured out their intentions, you should report them immediately and write to you for advice based on the specific materials.
In short, the principle is this: do not rush to negotiate well, careful wording.
Attached is a letter of introduction, please check it.
Ye Jianying
Square
Sixteen days
The letter of more than 100 words fully embodies Comrade Ye Jianying's cautious and steady overall attitude and shows the high degree of principle he has shown in the organization; this style of "seeing letters is like seeing people" allows Lei Tieming to accurately understand the goal and direction of this negotiation, and it is Ye Jianying's letter that finally opens the door to the guangzhou-Kowloon railway through train negotiations.