"I ordered your general, and I hope you will go to Kaesong to sit down!"
In the summer of 1951, Chairman Mao said these words with ease in the Juxiang Bookstore, smoking a cigarette and drinking tea. Opposite him was a somewhat old man, with a round face, a beard, a pair of black-rimmed glasses, and a painful paleness in his face. When he heard the chairman's words, he immediately stood up and said, "I'm ready to go!" ”
This person is Li Kenong, a very famous red "King of Agents"!
A native of Chao County, Anhui Province, Li Kenong joined the Communist Party of China in 1926. In the first two years after joining the party, he has been engaged in propaganda work, founded revolutionary publications, and served as a propaganda committee member of the Central Shanghai District. At the end of 1929, together with Qian Zhuangfei and Hu Di, he infiltrated the Investigation Section of the Kuomintang Secret Service Organization and secretly established a special intelligence group. At that time, Li Kenong was the leader of the group, responsible for the straight-line contact with the central special branch, and the direct leader was Zhou Enlai.
Due to their superior work ability, comrades Li, Qian, and Hu soon took up important posts within the enemy. Due to the needs of the work, Li Kenong was transferred back to the Central Special Branch in 1930. Since then, a large amount of classified Kuomintang intelligence has been transmitted back to the central authorities through his connection with Gu Shunzhang and Chen Geng, and has played a great role in successive anti-encirclement and suppression battles.
In April 1931, Gu Shunzhang, then head of the Central Special Branch, was arrested and defected, and Xu En, director of the General Affairs Section of the Enemy Organization Department, was preparing to sweep away the party organizations in Shanghai along this line. This information was obtained by Qian Zhuangfei and quickly passed on to Li Kenong. Li Kenong quickly reported the matter to the central government and activated the emergency handling method, so that most of the party members and senior party leaders were saved. After this incident, Li Kenong, together with Qian Zhuangfei and Hu Di, had a resounding name: Longtan Sanjie.
Of course, with Gu Shunzhang's rebellion, all the intelligence personnel on his line withdrew to the Soviet area. Later, Longtan Sanjie participated in the Long March together, but on the way, Qian Zhuangfei mysteriously disappeared, Hu Di was killed for opposing Zhang Guotao, and Li Kenong became the only one left in Shuoguo. After the end of the Long March, Li Kenong began to engage in the protection work of the central authorities, and achieved remarkable results. Later, when Chairman Mao talked about Li Kenong, he once said with emotion: "Without Comrade Kenong, Neither Vice Chairman Zhou Nor nor I would have lived today." ”
In June 1951, with the end of the fifth campaign, two obvious characteristics appeared in the situation of the battlefield: First, the initiative of the war had been firmly grasped in the hands of the volunteers! The United Nations army, led by the American Army, has become unlikely to break through the frontal defense line or land on the flank and rear; the second is that both sides of the battlefield are exhausted and no one can end the war in a short period of time. And to consume it is a great test for the economy of new China.
This created an awkward situation: the Americans could fight, but they could not defeat the volunteers; the volunteers could beat the Americans, but they were economically constrained. If you continue to fight, it will be difficult for anyone!
So what to do? negotiation! Only negotiations are acceptable to both sides. And according to international practice, it is indeed time to negotiate.
But how to negotiate and who to let talk about it is a question. I have to say that from World War I to World War II, the Americans used the means of fighting and talking very skillfully. These sophists who graduated from military academies and have received modern higher education are best at saying black into white, relying on strong words to seize reason, and grabbing benefits that cannot be obtained on the battlefield at the negotiating table. And at this point, it is true that China's generals are not good at it. In the entire volunteer army, the only one who stood out in terms of eloquence was the chief of staff, Xie Fang. If there is no large think tank team in the rear to guide, the negotiations will be difficult.
So who will this think tank team choose to sit in the host? Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou thought of Li Kenong at the same time. Thus happened the scene at the beginning of this article, when the chairman personally ordered the general at the Juxiang Bookstore and asked Li Kenong to go to the main venue of the negotiations, Kaesong, to sit down.
Why did you choose Li Kenong? In fact, in addition to the title of "King of Secret Agents", Li Kenong also has another identity: an extremely rare negotiator in the Chinese Communist Party.
Li Kenong has been engaged in intelligence work for a long time, which makes him very sensitive to the trend and details of the situation. At the critical moment, he can also go to Longtan alone and use his eloquent eloquence and perseverance to negotiate. In January 1936, Li Kenong negotiated with Zhang Xueliang in Luochuan. During this period, he was not humble, courteous, and courteous, and thoroughly won over Zhang Xueliang, who had intended to cooperate with the Communist Party, thus laying the foundation for the Xi'an Incident in one fell swoop.
Another was the Chongqing negotiations in 1945, when Chairman Mao of the Party Central Committee hesitated after receiving Chiang Kai-shek's invitation. After all, it is a matter of breaking into the Dragon Pond Tiger's Den, and it is not allowed to be sloppy. At this time, it was Li Kenong who, from the vast sea of telegrams, found out the fundamental purpose of Chiang Kai-shek's fake negotiations and really marrying the evil, and came to the conclusion that Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou would not be forcibly detained, which allowed the negotiations to proceed smoothly.
It was precisely because of Li Kenong's outstanding performance in the previous negotiations that Chairman Mao decided to make him the head of the support group for the negotiations between China and the DPRK. In order to avoid hitting the grass and startling the snake, Li Kenong also gave himself a code name: Captain Li. When Li Kenong's plane took off, Chairman Mao excitedly said to others: "If Li Kenong goes, we will not suffer losses if we quarrel again." ”
After Li Kenong arrived in North Korea, it can indeed be said that it was a blockbuster. Many of his guidance sounds bizarre, but it works.
At that time, the Americans were not willing to accept their own failure, confused right and wrong at the negotiating table, and made many unreasonable demands. However, on the battlefield, they do not have enough achievements to support their ambitions, so they often use procrastination and silence to strive for formal initiative. After Li Kenong became aware of this, he made a bold suggestion to the Chinese and DPRK delegations: Since they are dragging, we will also delay; they will not speak, and we will not speak. So there is a very strange scene, the two sides of the negotiation hold their own information, no one looks at anyone at the table, and makes small moves of their own. Some people sharpen their pencils, some people write and draw, some people whisper, but no one talks about serious things. Sometimes the US side will propose to adjourn the meeting, and in a few days the Chinese and DPRK sides will also propose to adjourn the meeting. This makes the negotiations very long, and there seems to be no end in sight.
Li Kenong's drag has confidence, and this confidence is given by the volunteer army. When he first arrived in Korea, he once said to the commanders of the volunteer army that only when you fight well can I talk well. On the battlefield, the volunteers supported the negotiations perfectly with their bravery and fierce performances. Although the negotiations have not been going well, Li Kenong is not worried at all. He firmly believes that as long as the battlefield is effective, our advantages at the negotiating table will be more obvious. Later, the reason why the two sides were able to sign an equal armistice agreement in 1953 was directly related to Li Kenong's insistence.
Of course, Li Kenong's ability is not only a defensive technique when the negotiation is deadlocked, but also a grasp of the rhythm that is difficult for others to do. At that time, the US military saw that the volunteer army could not win the conventional war, so it secretly used biological weapons and airdropped a large number of rats, fleas, and other things containing germs to the rear of our army, causing no small loss of personnel. But when the negotiators wanted to question the Americans on the table, Li Kenong immediately stopped it. He knows Americans well, and in order to engage in so-called "value exports," they must put themselves in a position of absolute justice. The use of biological weapons on the battlefield is contrary to international conventions. Once this matter is made public, the Americans will never admit that an ordinary local conflict war will turn into an ideological struggle, and the truce will become far away, which is obviously contrary to the specific interests of China and north Korea. Therefore, Li Kenong decided not to take this matter out and say it publicly, so as to save some face for the US side. The U.S. side knew that it was wrong, and later did not use biological weapons on the battlefield.
Mr. Lee's daily job in North Korea is to meet non-stop to discuss countermeasures. Throughout the negotiations, he experienced a total of 58 major conferences and more than 700 small and medium-sized meetings. Coupled with the daily receipt of telegrams and the guidance of the central government, the workload is very huge. In addition, he himself suffered from severe asthma, and he was tired several times, and the situation was very dangerous. But Li Kenong, with his own willpower, has been gritting his teeth and insisting. The Party Central Committee tried several times to change him back, but he refused. He has always adhered to a principle: do not change the general! Li Kenong once said: "Compared with those sacrificial warriors, what do I get from this pile of old bones?" ”
The high intensity of work and physical pain are just one of the tests that Li Kenong encountered. The most unbearable thing is to say goodbye to the life and death of a loved one. Just when the negotiations were at their most critical moment, news came from the country that Li Kenong's father had died of illness. When he received the telegram, he chose to conceal it. He didn't mention it to anyone, but worked as usual. When at three o'clock in the morning, when all the work was done, Li Kenong came to the courtyard alone and bowed deeply to the east three times.
In July 1953, the armistice negotiations were successfully signed, and Li Kenong finally returned to his homeland. But by this time, his health had been seriously harmed. The damage to the brain, in particular, is irreparable. In 1957, Li Kenong died of illness, ending his legendary life.
On the road to the re-emergence of the Chinese nation, it is not only those heroes who have spilled their blood on the battlefield that have been struggling, but also some people who have never been on the battlefield have contributed everything for the national ideal. Like those heroes who fought, they deserve to be remembered and remembered forever.