<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="114" > preface</h1>
Picture left Zhang Lan Right One Mao Zedong
When Chairman Mao was negotiating in Chongqing, he visited Zhang Lan, chairman of the China Democratic League, three times.
Chairman Mao said that he was worthy of being a saint in northern Sichuan and that he was really an old man who had become a conspirator.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="118" > from official to principal</h1>
Figure Zhang Lan
Zhang Lan, born in 1872, is a native of Nanchong, Sichuan. Born into a poor and talented family in the countryside, he became an official student and was sent to Japan in 1903 because of his excellent grades. During his studies, he witnessed the progress and prosperity of Japan. Japan became rich and strong because of the Meiji Restoration, which made him even more sad and indignant about the failure of our country's Reform Law. At the celebration of the 70th birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi by Japanese students, he shouted "The Emperor abdicates", and then, unsurprisingly, he was detained by the Qing Embassy in Japan and later released with the interference of the academy.
After Zhang Lan returned to China, he served as the provost of the government middle school in ShunqingFu, Nanchong County, vigorously reforming the subject content and introducing advanced Western courses, which made this school that was originally unloved suddenly become famous.
In 1911, the mighty Road Preservation Movement broke out, and the people of Sichuan took to the streets to collectively protest the Qing government's traitorous behavior of intending to nationalize the Sichuan-Han Railway and mortgage the right of way to borrow foreign debt from the great powers. Zhang Lan, as the leader of the Baolu Movement in Nanchong County, was arrested during the campaign and released after the victory of the Xinhai Revolution.
Figure Sichuan Baolu Movement
After the victory of the Xinhai Revolution, Zhang Lan was famous and successively served as an envoy to northern Sichuan, a Daoyin of Jialing, and the governor of Sichuan Province. His title of "Sage of Northern Sichuan" stems from his six years of official experience in Sichuan.
After he arrived at Jialing Province and seized the real power of Dao Yin, he adopted a series of rectification measures to severely punish corruption and corruption, eliminate bandits and thieves, and prohibit the opium trade. Jialing Dao changed the bad atmosphere before it, and formed a new situation of "officials are not allowed to commit adultery, people are self-motivated, the Tao is not left behind, and the weathering is solemn."
In the end, although he was the head of a province, his life was always miserable. He is dedicated to the public and the people, never uses the power in his hand to seek personal interests, and the huge social entertainment expenses should be taken from himself. After six years of being an official, he was heavily in debt. The political enemy wanted to seize his handle, and specially sent someone to his house to inspect, and the situation of the visit was, "The ring is blocked, the house is empty, the family is vegetarian, and there is nothing to steal." Political enemies all sighed admiringly: "The reputation of the saints of northern Sichuan is worthy of the name." ”
In the dirty official environment at that time, he was nothing more than a clear stream, and he never favored selfishness. The fourth brother asked him for a position, and he refused:
"I can't appoint relatives, you farm at home and serve a mother for the elderly."
Therefore, Zhang Lan was deeply loved by the common people, and even the fierce bandits also missed his kindness. In 1920, Zhang Lan was ordered to go to Beijing, with only two retinues, and encountered bandits robbing him halfway through. As soon as the spirited bandit leader saw Zhang Lan, he immediately changed his triumphant expression, respectfully dismounted, and said, "Governor Zhang, we will escort you over." Zhang Lan asked him incomprehensibly, "Why did you do this?" The bandit replied, "Because you are the governor of the common people!" ”
Although Zhang Lan was the governor of Sichuan Province, he did not have much real power in the years when warlords were divided and war-torn, and nine months later he was forced to step down and go to Beijing.
After returning to Sichuan from Beijing, he retired from the treacherous politics and the official arena of open and secret struggle, and regained the education industry he loved.
In 1931, the September 18 Incident broke out, and the Kuomintang did not resist the Japanese army, but instead ceded the three eastern provinces. This made Zhang Lan deeply disappointed with the Kuomintang authorities. The balance in his mind was increasingly tilted in favor of the Communist Party.
Figure Kuomintang troops
In 1933, the Red Fourth Front entered Sichuan, and Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army also followed into Sichuan and seized the opportunity to seize Sichuan territory. He urged his student, the Sichuan warlord Liu Xiang, to join forces with the Communists and other local warlords to resist Chiang Kai-shek, and Liu Xiang adopted Zhang Lan's advice. He funded 200,000 taels of silver from the Communist Party in northern Shaanxi and actively contacted the Gui warlords. The three sides reached a secret anti-Chiang Kai-shek anti-Japanese agreement in 1936.
In 1936, chiang kai-shek, in the face of foreign tiger vision, still pursued the so-called policy of "foreign countries must first be at home", personally came to Xi'an to sit in the battlefield, urged his generals Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng to launch an attack on the CPC base areas in Shaanxi, forcing Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng to carry out military advice on him, and only after persuasion from many parties did he accept the civil war and unite with the communists to resist Japan. This made Zhang Lan see Chiang Kai-shek's face thoroughly, and he hated him deeply from then on.
Figure Zhang Xueliang and Chiang Kai-shek
After the outbreak of the All-out War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chiang Kai-shek carried out party-oriented education in the Kuomintang areas, and whenever students heard the words "Chairman Chiang Kai-shek," they had to immediately stand up and stand upright. Zhang Lan told the students at the school he founded:
"In the future, you should not stand up to this, just sit and listen, now is the national interest, the survival of the nation is supreme. This kind of upright behavior is to engage in the supremacy of personal authority. ”
He very brazenly refused the 100,000 yuan funded by Chiang Kai-shek and Kong Xiangxi. Zhang Lan's daughter advised her father: "Kong Xiangxi has money, instead of giving it to his second miss to spend randomly, it is better to let him take some money to benefit the school." Zhang Lan said sternly:
"How can I take the money of such a person?" When I wanted his money, I shut my mouth, and I must not lose my position because of small favors. ”
Figure Kong Xiangxi
Because of the propagation of democratic, free and progressive ideas, the school was closely watched by the Kuomintang authorities. Once, three female students of the school were unjustifiably detained, and the presiding judge asked them to give the names of the secretaries of the communist party branches of the school. This is ridiculous, there is no Communist Party at Jianhua Middle School, and the Kuomintang has actually heard so much. Zhang Lan angrily rebuked the chief interrogator for violating the spirit of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and forcibly detained them without giving evidence that they were communists. Under the strong argument, the chief interrogator had no choice but to admit that he was in the wrong, and he slipped away and let people go.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="129" > Chongqing negotiations, Chairman Mao visited Zhang Lan three times</h1>
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chiang Kai-shek sent three urgent telegrams in a row, urging Chairman Mao to come to Chongqing for peace talks. In fact, everyone knows that Chiang Kai-shek's gracious invitation is nothing more than a big drama he made for the people of the whole country. The Chongqing negotiations are tantamount to a feast at the Hongmen Gate. However, for the sake of peace and for the sake of the people, Chairman Mao chose to brave the sky and resolutely go there.
Chairman Mao leaves Yan'an
On August 28, 1945, Chairman Mao arrived in Chongqing from Yan'an by special plane. He stepped out of the plane and was warmly welcomed by Chinese and foreign journalists and democrats, Chairman Mao smiled and waved in greeting, and from the crowd, he recognized Mr. Zhang Lan, who was the chairman of the NLD at the time, with a long beard. In fact, he and Zhang Lan had never met, but somehow they had a sense of the same at first sight.
Chairman Mao held out his hand to Zhang Lan, who clasped his hands tightly and said happily:
"Hello Mr. Runzhi! Welcome to Chongqing! ”
Pictured Chairman Mao and Zhang Lan
Chairman Mao smiled and replied:
"In the hot weather, you still come to the airport yourself, don't dare to be, don't dare to be!"
"Yes, you are running for state affairs, it is really hard!"
"Where, where!"
There were too many people waiting for a handshake, and Chairman Mao finally had to reluctantly let go of Zhang Lan's hand and agreed to have a long talk on another day.
Chairman Mao came two days later to fulfill his promise. When Chairman Mao arrived by car, Zhang Lan waited happily in front of the door of his residence. Inevitably, the partition wall has ears, and the place where they talk has been deliberately changed from the living room to the bedroom.
Zhang Lan's bedroom decoration is very simple, and after welcoming Chairman Mao, he smiled and said:
"Si is the Burrow."
Chairman Mao replied:
"But Wu Dexin, what a ugliness!" Cousin, your people are good, your morality is good, you are making progress with each passing day! ”
After sitting down and greeting each other, Zhang Lan asked Chairman Mao:
"Mr. Runzhi, what do you think the future of this negotiation will be?"
Chairman Mao knew that Zhang Lan had always been friendly to the Communist Party, so he did not hide what he really thought in his heart:
"Now Chiang Kai-shek has played the sign of 'democracy' and wants to play the fake play of 'democracy'. I came this time to make a fake play and real performance, so that the people of the whole country could be the audience to see who was engaged in fake peace and real civil war. Let the people be educated from it, see the true and false, and distinguish between right and wrong, and I Mao Runzhi will be worth the trip! ”
Chairman Mao and Chiang Kai-shek touch a glass
Chairman Mao then told him about the terms of the negotiations that the Chinese Communists had proposed to Chiang Kai-shek. Zhang Lan nodded approvingly and said:
"Very fair, very fair! If Chiang Kai-shek's conscience is not clear, he should adopt it all. You just said that the fake play is really acting, it seems that this play is very interesting! ”
Chairman Mao also briefed Zhang Lan on the specific conditions of the Liberated Areas, and Zhang Lan praised the Liberated Areas as being like Wulingyuan.
Subsequently, Zhang Lan said to Chairman Mao with admiration:
"Mr. Runzhi, we didn't expect you to come to Chongqing this time!" You are here now, and we can't help but worry about your personal safety! ”
Chairman Mao smiled frankly and said:
"Thank you for your care! Thank you all for your concern! Before coming to the meeting, we made a full study and estimation, and according to the current situation, it can be said that there is no danger, or there is no danger. Am I not very good now? Unscathed, I got off the plane and didn't detain me! I am Zhuge Liang to Eastern Wu, in the tiger's mouth, An Ru Taishan! ”
Chairman Mao and Chiang Kai-shek
"Mr. Runzhi, if the Kuomintang and the Communist Party want to negotiate, you can still talk like in the past, Mr. Pai Enlai, plus Mr. Ruofei, why should you move your big car?"
"Cousin, this time they sent me three telegrams in a row to invite me, and they did a good job, and if I don't come, I will spread rumors that we don't want peace." Now that I'm here, they're dumbfounded, the rumors are self-defeating, they're all gone, and they can't be created again. ”
Chairman Mao was going to attend a banquet in the evening, and the guards knocked on the door and came in to remind them that this pleasant and cheerful chat could only be interrupted, but they were still unsatisfied.
Soon after, Zhang Lan invited Chairman Mao to a banquet for the Democratic League, and Zhou Enlai and Wang Ruofei were also invited. At the feast, ten people raised their glasses and drank happily. Chairman Mao rarely drank alcohol, and in such an atmosphere, he did not drink heavily, and his face turned red.
Figure Wang Ruofei
Chairman Mao said passionately at the banquet:
"Today, we gather in the 'House of Democracy', and in the future, we will work together to live in the 'Democratic Nation.'"
Chairman Mao also used the metaphor of falling in love to his current negotiations with Chongqing.
"If one side has shown great sincerity, it will already have half the hope, and now it is up to the Kuomintang side." Our Communist Party sincerely hopes for peace. ”
Before leaving, Chairman Mao looked out to bid farewell to the members of the NLD and repeated what he had said at the wine table:
"Today, we gather in the 'House of Democracy'; in the future, we work together to live in the 'Democratic Nation.'"
During Chairman Mao's negotiations in Chongqing, there were occasional times when it was difficult to think and anxious. On this day, Zhou Enlai and Wang Ruofei went to negotiate with the Kuomintang representatives, and Chairman Mao could not get rid of his nervous mood and once again came to the special garden to visit Zhang Lan.
Figure Zhou Enlai
As soon as he entered the door, Zhang Lan asked Chairman Mao with concern:
"Mr. Runzhi, looking forward to the negotiations, what will happen in the end?"
Chairman Mao told Zhang Lan all the facts of the negotiations, and Zhang Lan's eyebrows were loosened and twisted. When she heard Chairman Mao say that Chiang Kai-shek was secretly preparing for a civil war, she asked in surprise:
"Mr. Runzhi, the civil war has reached an inevitable day, what should Sichuan do?"
Chairman Mao solemnly said:
"Elder, if civil war is inevitable, on behalf of the CPC, I would like to solemnly ask for two major matters: the first major matter, please use your prestige to influence the local powerful factions to cooperate fully with our Party; and the second major matter, please assist our underground Party in developing its armed forces and organizing guerrilla groups. A few days ago, I discussed with Enlai and decided to send Jia Ziqun and others to organize the Northern Sichuan Democratic United Army in Nanchong, open up Huaying Mountain, Daba Mountain, Funiu Mountain to Wutai Mountain, and open up an underground passage connecting Sichuan with the Liberated Areas of North China. Cousin, this is what I have to ask you to help. ”
Zhang Lan immediately expressed his position and said firmly:
"I shall do my best to live up to the king's command!"
Chairman Mao shook Zhang Lan's hand tightly again, and he clasped it tightly and added:
"Elder, if the Kuomintang and the Communists succeed in negotiations and establish a coalition government, the Chuankang issue may be resolved by the localities themselves as the situation permits; if the negotiations fail and a civil war breaks out, and Chuankang has enough strength, it will revolt early, and the strength will not be enough, and it will be possible to coordinate operations when our army enters Sichuan."
Zhang Lan focused on his head.
Zhang Lan was well aware of Chiang Kai-shek's ruthlessness in turning his face, and he told Chairman Mao that the contents of the negotiations should be made public so that Chiang Kai-shek would not be able to settle the account afterwards. Chairman Mao deeply agreed, saying that he was worthy of being a saint in northern Sichuan. That night, Zhang Lan wrote an "Open Letter to the Leaders of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party", which was published in Chongqing Newspaper on September 18.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="138" > Zhang Lan vowed to follow the Communist Party to the death</h1>
Chairman Mao's concerns and judgments were not wrong. In 1946, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the Kuomintang troops to attack the Liberated Areas of the Central Plains on a large scale, and the War of Liberation broke out.
In October 1947, the NLD was classified as an illegal organization by the Kuomintang authorities and ordered to be dissolved immediately. The Kuomintang authorities threatened that if Zhang Lan did not comply with the order, the members of the NLD would be imprisoned. Faced with the naked threat of the Kuomintang, Zhang Lan disbanded the NLD in desperation.
He said bitterly:
"I am not afraid to kill the head, and the reason why I do this is for the lives of all the members of the League in the Kuomintang District."
At the same time, he issued a statement:
"On November 6, Yu was forced to announce to all the members of the Democratic League to stop political activities and announce the dissolution of the headquarters of the NLD, but my personal belief in the peace, democratic unity and unity of the country and my determination to work for this purpose will never change. I hope that all the members of the league in the past will stand on the stand of loyalty to the people, abide by the scope of the law, and continue to work for the peaceful, democratic, and unity of the country in order to achieve their goals. ”
Figure Member of the Democratic League (Zhang Lan in the front row)
Zhang Lan became a key concern of the Kuomintang, which the Kuomintang authorities called him "colluding with the CCP and defecting to Soviet Russia," restricting his personal freedom, not allowing him to leave the country, and withholding funds provided to Zhang Lan by other NLD figures.
Poor and destitute, Zhang Lan also fell seriously ill. Fortunately, the Shanghai Hongqiao Sanatorium treated him free of charge.
The War of Liberation ended with the defeat of the Kuomintang and the victory of the Communists. On the eve of the victory, the Kuomintang side hoped that Zhang Lan would be the mediator to promote the peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Republic of China, but Zhang Lan sternly refused: "Now that there is a dispute between revolution and counter-revolution, I am on the side of the Communist Party and will no longer be a mediator." Zhang Lan was unwilling to mediate between the Kuomintang and the Communists, and the Kuomintang immediately changed its face and no longer respected him.
After Chairman Mao entered Beiping, he invited Zhang Lan to come to Beiping. The Kuomintang did not want Zhang Lan and Luo Longji to go north, and even prepared to take Zhang Lan, who was seriously ill, directly from the nursing home and detain him in prison. The vice-president of the nursing home desperately tried to stop such atrocities, pleadingly:
"I can't take him away, because he is already very ill and will die when he leaves, and I am willing to guarantee with my life that Zhang Lan will not escape."
They didn't succeed. Since then, the nursing home has become Zhang Lan's detention center.
Figure Zhang Lan and Chairman Mao
One day, Shanghai Police Chief Mao Sen ordered Yan Jinwen, deputy commander of the Third Brigade of the Shanghai Police Command, to escort Zhang Lan to a boat on the Huangpu River, which sailed to Taiwan. Zhang Lan resolutely protested after learning about it, and he said emotionally that he would never go to Taiwan, please shoot him directly here. What Zhang Lan didn't know was that this was a play made by Yan Jinwen, and Premier Zhou Enlai had already arranged everything. Yang Hu, the kuomintang commander of the Shanghai garrison, had already submitted to the new government, and was entrusted by Premier Zhou Enlai to instruct his close associate Yan Jinwen to rescue Zhang Lan and others.
Yan Jinwen quietly told them that he had come to save them. In order to prevent deception, Luo Longji asked Yan Jinwen to show his credentials. Yan Jinwen was in a hurry and made a phone call to Yang Hu's wife. Zhang Lan and Luo Longji followed Yan Jinwen out of the sanatorium.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhang Lan served as vice president of the country. He is still hard and simple, and he is dedicated to justice. He refused the large courtyard assigned to him by the state and chose a simple courtyard to live in with his wife and children, often working late into the night.
Chairman Mao saw that he was old, frail and sickly, and tired at work, and told him that he did not need to go to work every day and could rest more at home. Zhang Lan refused Chairman Mao's kindness and continued to work hard and tirelessly.
Whenever a foreign leader or emissary gave him a valuable medicine, he would send some to Give Zhang Lan some, but Zhang Lan often refused to enjoy it. Chairman Mao once gave him two hundred-year-old ginseng, and until his death, both ginseng were intact and had no signs of passivity.
On February 9, 1955, Zhang Lan died at the age of 84. Chairman Mao guarded Zhang Lan's soul.
In his later years, Zhang Lan made a life motto, exhorting himself and exhorting the world, which is actually a portrayal of his life's personality.
"One cannot fail to love oneself, one cannot fail to cultivate oneself, one cannot fail to exercise self-respect, one must not fail to strengthen oneself, and one must not deceive oneself."
Mr. Zhang Lan has been self-loving, self-cultivating, self-respecting, and self-reliant, and the value of other people's character is obvious to everyone.