After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the Kuomintang regime held two so-called "National Congresses" on the mainland of the motherland, namely the "Constitutional Congress" in 1946 and the "Constitutional Congress " in 1948. The "President" of Chiang Kai-shek and the "Vice President" of Li Zongren were produced at the "Constitutional National Congress", and the period was filled with too many ridiculous plots.
Chiang Kai-shek stills
Based on Chiang Kai-shek's power and status at the time, no one in the Kuomintang could challenge his "presidential" position. However, in order to flaunt democracy and whitewash peace, and could not perform a one-man show alone, he asked Ju Zheng, the then president of the judiciary, to accompany the election. In the end, he was successfully elected with an absolute high of 2,430 votes.
Compared with the calmness of the presidential election, the vice presidential election has become a battlefield full of gunpowder. According to the so-called Constitution of the Republic of China, the "Vice President" is just a vacant position in name only. No one expected that it would cause such a huge dispute.
At that time, there were six candidates who were interested in running for vice president, namely Sun Ke, Vice Chairman of the National Government, Li Zongren, Director of Peking Branch, Cheng Qian, Director of Wuhan Branch, Yu Youren, Dean of the Supervisory Yuan, Yu Youren, Social Xianda Mo Dehui and Xu Fulin of the Democratic Socialist Party. Among them, the most powerful and most optimistic ones are Sun Ke and Li Zongren, and the chances of winning for the rest are extremely slim.
As the leader of the Guangxi clique, Li Zongren is currently serving as the director of the Peking Branch with real power. Logically speaking, he should not be concerned about the empty position of "Vice President". However, in the face of the changes in the situation of the Liberation War, he became more and more aware that Peiping would not last long. At the same time, the behind-the-scenes support of Americans was also an important factor, which ultimately prompted him to come forward to run for office.
At first, the Guangxi clique did not agree with Li Zongren's candidacy for vice president. Firstly, they were worried about losing a strategic and military important place like Peiping. Secondly, they were also worried about another rift between Chiang and Guangxi. However, Li Zongren finally persuaded Bai Chongxi and Huang Shaohong and other Guangxi bigwigs to support him, and also established a campaign alliance with two other candidates, Cheng Qian and Yu Youren.
Seeing that the situation is critical, if he continues to sit on the sidelines, Sun Ke will definitely not be Li Zongren's opponent. As a result, Chiang Kai-shek had no choice but to take off his disguise of superficial neutrality and not only publicly supported Sun Ke, but also met with Li Zongren in private to put pressure on him. According to " Memoirs of Li Zongren ":
After the greetings were completed, I reported to him my determination to run for vice president, hoping to get some instructions. But he expressed the hope that I would give up so as not to cause a split within the party.
Faced with Chiang Kai-shek's opposition, Li Zongren did not compromise, but continued to participate in the election campaign. In the end, through the continuous fermentation of the "Lani incident", he was successfully elected as the vice president with 1438 votes, defeating Sun Ke's 1295 votes.
On May 20, 1948, the inauguration ceremony of the elected president and vice president was held grandly in Nanjing. Li Zongren was notified in advance to attend in military uniform. As a result, Chiang Kai-shek attended in a long robe. After bowing three times to the portrait of the founding father Sun Yat-sen, he raised his right hand and took the oath of office:
I sincerely swore to the people of the country that he would abide by the Constitution, perform his duties loyally, promote the people's welfare, defend the country, and never Responsible for the great trust of the people. If you violate your oath, you are willing to be severely punished by the state. I swear!
When Chiang Kai-shek majestically took the oath, Li Zongren, as the vice president, could only stand upright at the back left. Not only did he not have a single "line", but the two of them had zero communication throughout the process. No wonder the outside world would describe him as an "adjutant". The conflict between Jiang and Gui has reached the point where it cannot be concealed.
In order to suppress the strength of the Guangxi clique, Chiang Kai-shek immediately dismissed Li Pinxian as chairman of Anhui Province when he took office. Immediately afterwards, he dismissed Bai Chongxi from the post of Defense Minister and replaced him as the "Suppression Commander-in-Chief" in Central China. After this series of punches, only Li Zongren, the polished vice president, remained in Nanjing and became a dispensable decoration.
Starting from September 1948, our People's Liberation Army successively launched the " three major battles" of Liaoshen Campaign , Huaihai Campaign and Pingjin Campaign , to achieve the goal of " there will be no more major battles north of the Yangtze River". At the same time, Chiang Kai-shek's direct troops have also been exhausted. Soon, the Guangxi clique set off a new round of "anti-Chiang Kailash". Li Zongren was planning in the middle, and Bai Chongxi was waving the flag and shouting outside. It can be said that they cooperated with each other tacitly.
On December 24, 1948, Bai Chongxi suddenly sent a public "Hai Jing" message from Hankou :
I hope that while Beijing, Shanghai, Pingjin and Tianjin are still under our control, we can quickly make arrangements for internal and external peace talks to buy time. Whether the above proposal is feasible or not remains to be determined by Jun.
Seeing that Chiang Kai-shek ignored him, Bai Chongxi sent another public "Hai Quan" message on December 30:
In today's situation, fighting is not easy, and unity is also difficult. Time is short and fleeting; contempt. It seems that the sincerity of the peace plan should be quickly conveyed to friendly countries and the people of the country, so that external forces can support peace and the people can support peace.
These two "Hai Jing" and "Hai Quan" telegrams are the famous "Chiang Kai-shek telegrams." Although the words "go to the countryside" or "retreat" do not appear in Bai Chongxi's entire article, everyone can see its true purpose. No wonder, Chiang Kai-shek would scold him like this:
My rebellion was not because of the Communist Party, but because of a certain faction in the party.
On January 21, 1949, Chiang Kai-shek announced his resignation for the third time after issuing the "Declaration of Sin", and Vice President Li Zongren became the "acting president" rather than the "successor president". After leaving Nanjing, he returned to his hometown of Xikou in Zhejiang for "seclusion". He still firmly controlled the Kuomintang's army and waited for changes in the current situation.
Although Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi
became acting presidents, Li Zongren did not really grasp the power, and even the presidential guard could not be mobilized. As a last resort, he had to mobilize a Guangxi army to fill the gap and stationed in Nanjing to defend himself.
In order to achieve the goal of "ruling by dividing the river", Li Zongren sent Zhang Zhizhong, Shao Lizi, Huang Shaohong and Zhang Shizhao to Peiping for peace negotiations. In the end, with the refusal to sign the "Domestic Peace Agreement (Final Amendment)", the cross-river battle became inevitable.
On April 21, 1949, Chairman Mao and Commander-in-Chief Zhu issued the "Order to March on the Nationwide", requiring " to march forward bravely, resolutely, thoroughly, cleanly and completely annihilate all Kuomintang reactionaries in China who dare to resist, liberate The people of the whole country defend the independence and integrity of China’s territory and sovereignty". On April 23, the People's Liberation Army successfully liberated Nanjing, marking the end of the Kuomintang's rule.
Nanjing Liberation
Faced with this situation, Chiang Kai-shek was already prepared to retreat to Taiwan. In addition to arranging his cronies Chen Cheng to take charge of Taiwan, he also secretly transported large amounts of gold reserves, precious cultural relics and industrial facilities to Taiwan first. As acting president, Li Zongren could only return to his base in Guangxi, hoping to continue to stick to the southwest region.
On November 20, 1949, facing the People's Liberation Army's fierce offensive to liberate the southwest, Li Zongren flew from Nanning to Hong Kong in the name of medical treatment. As the " acting president " and " constitutional orthodoxy ", he went to Hong Kong instead of Taiwan, and was also preparing to seek political asylum in the United States, which made Chiang Kai-shek very angry.
In order to retain Acting President Li, Chiang Kai-shek sent Ju Zheng, Zhu Jiahua and others to Hong Kong to visit the patient and tried his best to persuade him to go to Taiwan. However, Li Zongren had already recognized his ugly face and sinister intentions. He not only refused to go to Taiwan, but also refused to resign, with the intention of making the other party unhappy.
In order to prevent the Truman government of the United States from using Li Zongren's "presidential" status to become his enemy, Chiang Kai-shek had to step up his efforts to promote the reset.In January 1950, Taiwan's "Supervisory Yuan" passed a resolution condemning Li Zongren:
left the central government at a critical time of the war. How could he respond to the incident when he was far away across the ocean? The resulting illegal and dereliction of duty will be punished. How to absolve yourself of the blame!
Li Zongren, who was far away in the United States, immediately responded remotely. In addition to criticizing Chiang Kai-shek for "exceeding his authority," he also insisted that he had never been slack in government affairs during his medical treatment in the United States. However, Taiwan is still working hard to organize "National Congress representatives" to propose a recall.
Chiang Kai-shek's reinstatement
On March 1, 1950, Chiang Kai-shek announced his return to office in Taiwan. This move immediately met with strong protest from Li Zongren in the United States:
General Chiang Kai-shek announced his reinstatement of his position? It is absurd and laughable that an ordinary citizen can declare himself president, having treated the country as private property that can be freely thrown away or picked up.
Truman
In order to fight against the Soviet Union and New China, the Truman government finally stopped supporting Li Zongren after seeing that Chiang Kai-shek had taken control of the situation in Taiwan. However, he is still allowed to live in the United States as political asylum, but he is not allowed to participate in overt political activities.
At the beginning of the founding of New China, due to years of war, it was a devastated situation. All walks of life were in dire need, and the economy, military, and diplomacy were all in urgent need of revitalization. Against this background, Chairman Mao successively put forward the policies of " starting over from scratch", " cleaning the house before treating guests" and " one-sided ", and quickly got rid of the situation of internal poverty and external isolation.
Faced with the prosperous situation of his motherland in politics, economy, military and culture, Li Zongren, who is far away in the United States, is also very happy. Gradually, he developed great admiration from the bottom of his heart. According to "The Memoirs of Li Zongren", "The mainland's material construction is quite impressive, enough to make the Western powers look at it with admiration...". Success does not have to be mine. No matter who is in power, as long as the country's vitality is not damaged, there will always be something to be done. Thinking of this, even though I failed and left my country and was reborn in a foreign land, I still feel at ease.
Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou were both keenly aware of Li Zongren's ideological changes and inner changes, and began to actively promote his return to the country to participate in construction. Therefore, Li Jishen took the initiative to contact Cheng Siyuan who was living in Hong Kong, hoping that he could contact the other party as a former secretary and actively make contact.
Cheng Siyuan
In 1956, with the basic completion of socialist transformation, the socialist economic system, political system, and cultural and educational system were basically formed. Cheng Siyuan was invited to return to China. Not only did he visit many places in person, but he also truly felt the friendship of the Communist Party, which finally convinced Li Zongren to make up his mind to return to the motherland.
In order to increase the bargaining chip for returning to China, Li Zongren took up his identity as a "former president" and hoped to influence and improve Sino-US relations. However, his self-initiated move is obviously out of date and inconsistent with the major policies of New China.
In order to avoid unnecessary international misunderstandings, Premier Zhou expressed to Li Zongren through Cheng Siyuan that as long as the U.S. troops do not withdraw from the Taiwan Strait , as long as the United States does not end its hostile policy, and as long as the United States continues to support Chiang Kai-shek, New China will not fight with him. Establish diplomatic relations. At the same time, he also put forward the "four indispensables" and "passing five hurdles" requirements to him, and the contact between the two parties finally made substantial progress.
At the beginning of 1963, Li Zongren applied for departure from the United States government and went to Europe for a private tour. Since he was monitored by U.S. and Taiwanese agents throughout the entire journey, there was almost no secret during his trip to Europe. He only met Cheng Siyuan once and then hurriedly returned to the United States.
In April 1965, Li Zongren once again applied to the US government to leave the country, saying that he would go to Switzerland for vacation. Due to the "happy cooperation" two years ago, the Immigration Bureau approved it without reporting to the CIA, and he successfully arrived in Switzerland to meet Cheng Siyuan.
On July 12, after everything was ready, Li Zongren, Guo Dejie and Cheng Siyuan boarded a Swiss Airlines Douglas passenger plane and embarked on the road back home. After taking off from Zurich, the plane flew to Hong Kong via Geneva, Greece, Lebanon and Pakistan, preparing to transfer to the mainland.
On July 20, 1965, Li Zongren and his wife Guo Dejie finally flew to Beijing, the capital, and received a very grand welcome. Among the crowd present, in addition to party and state leaders such as Zhou Enlai, Chen Yi, He Long, Ye Jianying and Peng Zhen, there were also more than 100 democrats, without party affiliation and generals of the Kuomintang uprising.
Faced with such hospitality from New China, both Li Zongren and Guo Dejie seemed a little flattered. In the airport lobby, he excitedly read a public statement:
html In the past 2016, I have been grateful for the wise leadership of the Communist Party and Chairman Mao, which has made the country prosperous. All Chinese overseas, except for a few die-hards, are deeply honored by this. I was particularly excited and resolutely returned to China from overseas, hoping to follow the people of the country and participate in the construction of socialism.
That evening, Premier Zhou, on behalf of the party and the government, hosted a banquet for Li Zongren and Guo Dejie at the Great Hall of the People, and once again welcomed them to return to China to participate in socialist construction. A few days later, Chairman Mao cordially received the couple in Zhongnanhai. He shook hands and said cheerfully:
Anyone who has gone overseas is welcome and treated with courtesy!
After the talks, Chairman Mao personally arranged for Li Zongren and his wife to travel around the country and have a look. The location and itinerary were decided by themselves. After several months of visits, they felt the greatness of the Communist Party and the happiness of the people. During the conversation, he said from the bottom of his heart:
Today, the ideals of the Three People's Principles founded by Mr. Sun have been fully realized, and we are continuing to move forward on the road of building socialism. In fact, this has exceeded Mr. Sun Yat-sen's ideal back then.
Li Zongren returned to China and frequently accepted meetings with leaders, which naturally caused quite a stir at home and abroad. As a nurse at Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, young Hu Yousong also noticed these news, which paved the way for his future emotional experience and life destiny.
Guo Dejie and Soong Meiling
Guo Dejie belonged to the new women during the Republic of China. Although she was not Li Zongren's original wife, she was by his side for a long time and her husband and wife followed him. While living in the United States, she took meticulous care of her politically frustrated husband and actively engaged in business to make money to support her family, which led to her deteriorating health.
In 1964, Guo Dejie was diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States, and she began to undergo conservative treatment. Less than a year after returning to China, she died of illness in Beijing on March 21, 1966. She was only 60 years old.
After the death of his wife Guo Dejie, the 75-year-old Li Zongren has been depressed and his mood has become very low. In order to ensure his health and daily life, Cheng Siyuan began to actively look for a partner for him, and finally selected Hu Yousong.
Hu Die and Hu Yousong
Hu Yousong was born in 1939 and was the illegitimate daughter of Hu Die, a famous movie star in the Republic of China. When she was young, she suffered from eczema and went out to see a doctor. Since then, her mother and daughter were separated and had to be raised by her adoptive mother Shen Wenzhi. Her life was very difficult.
In 1951, Hu Die, who had already immigrated to Hong Kong, learned about her daughter's situation and prepared to take her to live in Hong Kong, but was sternly rejected by her adoptive mother. Therefore, she had to leave a lot of gold and silver jewelry for her life and study, but Shen Wenzhi quickly squandered them all.
Without the care of his parents, Hu Yousong had very low self-esteem since he was a child, despite his outstanding appearance. After graduating from middle school, she was admitted to a medical college, and was then assigned to work in Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, and later transferred to Beijing Fuxing Hospital as a nurse.
Hu Yousong
In that era of "politics taking command", in that era that paid attention to composition and class, Hu Yousong was under pressure from all aspects and could become a target of dictatorship and transformation at any time. Therefore, her outstanding appearance did not give her much points, and she still failed to get married until she was 27 years old, becoming an "older leftover girl".
Therefore, when Hu Yousong saw the gray-haired but energetic Li Zongren, he immediately expressed his willingness to get married. However, Li Zongren was hesitant about this woman who was 48 years younger than him. It was not until Premier Zhou said that " it is only consensual, and as long as it complies with the marriage law, of course you can get married", he finally made up his mind.
Hu Yousong
On July 26, 1966, 76-year-old Li Zongren married 27-year-old Hu Yousong. Many old friends such as Liu Zhongrong and Liu Fei came to congratulate him. On the day of the wedding, Premier Zhou personally arranged for a southern chef from Beijing Overseas Chinese Hotel to come and cook several Cantonese dishes. The couple toasted to the guests one by one, and the scene seemed very warm.
Because of his special status, how to arrange Li Zongren's work has become a very sensitive topic. Some people proposed to serve as vice chairman of the National People's Congress. It stands to reason that former Kuomintang generals Cheng Qian and Zhang Zhizhong have both held this position, and his qualifications do not seem to be an exaggeration. However, just before the matter was finally decided, the great movement broke out.
After the great movement began, Li Zongren's residence in Beijing also suffered many attacks. After learning about this, Premier Zhou immediately came forward and sent him to 01 Hospital for treatment, which was equivalent to secret protection.
On October 1, 1966, Chairman Mao invited Li Zongren to go to the Tiananmen Gate Tower to watch the National Day Ceremony together. This was the second meeting between the two people, and it also became the last meeting. On September 30, 1968, he suddenly fainted while attending the National Day banquet at the Great Hall of the People. After being sent to the hospital, he was diagnosed with rectal cancer.
Since then, Li Zongren has faded out of the public eye, and his life has entered a countdown. During this period, Hu Yousong stayed by her side silently until her husband died of illness on January 30, 1969, ending their two-year marriage.
During that major movement, farewell ceremonies and memorial services were usually cancelled. However, after hearing the news of Li Zongren's death, Chairman Mao specifically instructed Premier Zhou to hold an ashes laying ceremony for him. In addition to publishing an obituary in " People's Daily ", it also had to publish an obituary in " Ta Kung Pao " and " Wen Wei Po "Publish a notice in a prominent location.
At the revolutionary cemetery in Babaoshan , the burial ceremony of Li Zongren's ashes was carried out as scheduled. In addition to family members, Premier Zhou, Zhang Zhizhong, Zhang Shizhao, Cheng Siyuan and Liu Zhongrong also rushed to the scene to personally witness the last journey of this political figure with meritorious deeds.
Li Zongren's only biological son Li Youlin has been dependent on his mother Li Xiuwen since he was a child, and he hates Guo Dejie's ruthless love. Therefore, his relationship with his father was not harmonious for a long time, but he had a high opinion of Hu Yousong later:
She took care of my father in his last days, and I am very grateful to her! She is from the Li family.
After Li Zongren passed away, Hu Yousong took the initiative to hand over all his private savings and government subsidies totaling more than 200,000 yuan to the state, saying that he could fully survive on his salary. After the great movement ended, she was transferred to work in the First National Historical Archives.
After retiring in 1995, Hu Yousong converted to Buddhism at Guangji Temple in Beijing, and his Buddhist name was " Miaohui Lay Buddhist ". The next year, she visited Taierzhuang, where Li Zongren fought bloody battles, and was warmly welcomed by the local government and people. After returning to Beijing, she decided to donate all her husband's belongings to the Taierzhuang Li Zongren Historical Archives and served as the honorary director.
Taierzhuang Li Zongren Historical Archives
Hu Yousong's life in his later years was very low-key and very simple. In addition to reading, he also painted. She was diagnosed with rectal cancer in February 2008. She had long been pessimistic about life and death and said calmly before going to the operating table: "I'll sign it myself. Anyway, I'm alone."
Hu Yousong
On November 18, 2008, Hu Yousong felt that his time was running out, so he went to stay at Jinshan Temple, a famous temple in Qingyun County, Dezhou. A week later, she passed away peacefully amid the pious prayers of dozens of monks. She was 69 years old.
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