Before the start of the battle to cross the river, there was a negotiation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party - the 1949 Beiping Peace Talks between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. Zhang Zhizhong was the chief representative of the Kuomintang delegation to the peace talks, but at the negotiating table, he gave an inappropriate example, which made *** very angry.
What examples did he give? Why did the KMT-CPC peace talks end in failure? Let's take a look.
After the three major battles of Liaoshen, Huaihai, and Pingjin, the balance of military strength between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party was completely reversed, and the struggle between the Kuomintang and the factions was also intensifying. On the New Year of 1949, the People's Message was published, looking forward to the prospect of the victory of the people's liberation and stimulating the morale of the revolution.
On the other hand, Chiang Kai-shek, his life was not easy, the three major battles were defeated one after another, and he suffered heavy losses, so he had to retreat to the second line to "lead the blame to the wilderness", so that Li Zongren sat on the throne of "Dai **".
On New Year's Day in 1949, Chiang Kai-shek issued a proclamation of "seeking peace and negotiations" in an attempt to "divide the river and rule the country" with our party. However, the struggle between Chiang Kai-shek and Li Zongren to "hide but not retreat", as well as the-for-tat confrontation between the "main war faction" and the "main peace faction" within the Kuomintang, made whether or not to negotiate a matter of endless controversy.
After some debate, Zhang Zhizhong was elected chief negotiator. Zhang Zhizhong is a staunch "Lord-peace faction", and although he belongs to Chiang Kai-shek's faction, he can also eat openly in front of Li Zongren, and at the same time, he also has a lot of connections with our party.
During the Whampoa Military Academy, Zhang Zhizhong formed a deep friendship with ***. At that time, Zhang Zhizhong served as the chief of staff, and the director of the political department of the Whampoa Military Academy.
Zhang Zhizhong listened to ***'s speeches many times, admired him very much, and even had the idea of joining the Communist Party for a time. However, due to the cooperative relationship between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party at that time, in order to maintain unity, the organization did not approve his wishes.
Different parties and factions all think about the country and the people. Zhang Zhizhong maintained a confidant relationship between **, and at the moment of crisis, Zhang Zhizhong also specially asked someone to send a message to *** to remind him to pay attention to safety.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Chiang Kai-shek, in order to cover up his ambitions, invited Chairman Mao to Chongqing three times for negotiations. At this time, Zhang Zhizhong and U.S. Ambassador to China Hurley flew to Yan'an on a special plane to welcome President Hurley to Chongqing to discuss state affairs.
Zhang Zhizhong eagerly awaited the outcome of the peace talks, but *** was worried. He believes that Chiang Kai-shek will definitely set traps and obstacles in the negotiations, and what is more worrying is the personal safety of the people.
After learning of ***'s worries, Zhang Zhizhong resolutely said that ***'s safety does not need to be worried. In order to eliminate ***'s concerns, he also took the initiative to vacate his mansion - Guiyuan as a place to stay.
Guiyuan has a superior geographical location and convenient transportation, and at the same time, there is a reinforced platoon of pistols who are responsible for daily security, and the soldiers are all from Zhang Zhizhong's hometown, so the security is very reliable.
**After moving in, Zhang Zhizhong specially assigned a platoon of plainclothes guards to strengthen the security around the mansion, and told all the guards to put the protection of safety in the first place.
When *** left Chongqing, Zhang Zhizhong personally saw him off and accompanied him to fly back to Yan'an. When Zhang Zhizhong left Yan'an, he personally sent him to the airport and held his hand tightly, saying, "You are sincere in running for peace." ”
Despite the wealth of experience accumulated during the Chongqing negotiations, the upcoming battle of crossing the river made Zhang Zhizhong clearly aware that the challenges of the negotiations would be even more daunting.
He understood Chiang Kai-shek's "strategy" and was willing to accept the challenge if peace was really valued. However, the Kuomintang was fundamentally not seeking lasting peace.
Under multiple pressures, Zhang Zhizhong still decided to fly to Peking with the draft peace agreement and other members of the delegation for peace talks. On April 13, 1949, the first round of peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party officially began.
The atmosphere at the negotiating table was full of tension and conflict, and the words of the two sides were fiercely exchanged.
Despite our pursuit of peace, Zhang Zhizhong shouldered the heavy responsibility of fighting for the rights and interests of the Kuomintang, so he put forward a number of demands during the negotiation process. However, ** stands firmly on a principled position and makes no compromises on issues involving principles.
The handling of war criminals and whether or not the PLA crossed the river were the two major issues of contention between the two sides. Our party advocated severe punishment for war criminals, including Chiang Kai-shek, Li Zongren, He Yingqin, and Bai Chongxi.
At the same time, our party made it clear that the PLA will cross the river regardless of the outcome of the peace talks. Zhang Zhizhong understood that the issue of war criminals needed to be further discussed, because if Chiang Kai-shek and others were really treated as war criminals, how could he return to the leaders of Nanjing?
After several rounds of discussions, our party made some concessions on the issue of war criminals, but there was no room for compromise on the issue of crossing the river and reorganizing and integrating the ** troops. Crossing the Yangtze River to directly take power in Nanjing is a fundamental question concerning whether the revolution can persist to the end, and as for the first-class troops, they can first be centralized and sorted out according to their original establishment, and then gradually reorganized into PLA troops.
Although the form of the negotiations is unclear, in the second round of peace negotiations, Zhang Zhizhong's inappropriate metaphor annoyed *** and made him slap the table present.
Towards the end of the discussion on the relationship between the KMT and the CPC, Zhang Zhizhong directly expressed his views. He used "brothers, friends, brothers, brothers" as a metaphor for the relationship between the KMT and the CPC, believing that the struggle between the KMT and the CPC is like a dispute between brothers, and that everyone is a country and a nation.
Although the elder brother is at fault, the younger brother is the housekeeper, but the elder brother knows that he is wrong, and there is no need to be harsh, and the elder brother can also help the younger brother to take care of the housekeeper in the future. This view represents the thinking of some "centrists" who aspire to serve the country but are still ideologically imprisoned or have illusions about the party.
However, there are different views on this argument. He believed that the struggle between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party was by no means a brotherly dispute, but a struggle between revolution and counter-revolution.
Although he admires Zhang Zhizhong's contribution to peace, he cannot agree with this statement. So, ** pointed out this seriously. Zhang Zhizhong realized that he had expressed himself inappropriately, and hurriedly apologized, emphasizing that this was just his personal opinion and should not affect the overall situation.
Subsequently, the peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in Beiping came to an end, and Zhang Zhizhong returned to Nanjing with the "Amendment to the Domestic Peace Agreement" that had been discussed and negotiated.
Although Zhang Zhizhong had tried his best to fight for it, Chiang Kai-shek could not approve of the question of our party's resolute opposition to the crossing of the river and the retention of troops, so he bitterly criticized Zhang Zhizhong's incompetence and considered the agreement to be tantamount to unilateral surrender.
In addition, Li Zongren also sent a telegram to our party on the evening of 20 April, clearly opposing the PLA's crossing of the river and refusing to sign the amendment to the agreement. Even he gave up the pretense of welcoming when he accepted the eight conditions before.
Since then, the Kuomintang has completely abandoned the peace talks and began to accelerate the deployment of the Yangtze River defense line. Subsequently, the battle of crossing the river broke out, and our army bravely and fearlessly smashed Nanjing, and the Kuomintang's dream of sticking to the moat and ruling the river was completely shattered.
accept the arrangement and renounce reactionary rule; Or stubbornly resist, and finally be completely defeated. For the failed peace talks, Zhang Zhizhong felt both powerless and guilty. After all, the building is about to fall, and he is just a small boat in the stormy seas, how can he change the situation?
However, he did not give up, but made an appointment with *** again to express regret and apologies that the peace talks failed to succeed. Expressed deep sympathy and comfort for his situation.
During the Peiping peace talks, our party leaders tried to win over some people through talks and communication, and Zhang Zhizhong was among them. Although his visit to Peking failed to fulfill his mission, he was deeply moved by the revolutionary determination of our party, the courage of the People's Liberation Army, and the resolute support of the masses of the people, and resolved to break with the Kuomintang.
In September 1949, Zhang Zhizhong attended the first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference as a specially invited representative, and his remarks at the meeting directly affected the determination of the country's name.
** Proposed to use "People's Democratic Republic of China", Zhang Zhizhong pointed out that the word "republic" already contains the meaning of "democracy", and suggested that "People's Republic of China" should be used directly.
Soon after, according to the arrangement, Zhang Zhizhong and Mr. Peng went to Xinjiang together, personally promoted the Xinjiang uprising, and participated in the formation of the Northwest Military and Political Commission.
On April 6, 1969, Zhang Zhizhong died of illness in Beijing at the age of 79.
In the magnificent modern history, there have been countless revolutionaries groping their way forward in the dark, and whether they reach the end point or not, their roars and efforts are worthy of respect, and Zhang Zhizhong, the "General of Peace," is no exception.