At 9:57 a.m. on January 8, 1976, Premier Zhou Enlai, beloved by hundreds of millions of people, passed away due to illness.
When Zhang Yaoci, then head of the Central Guard Corps, learned about it, he immediately wrote a note and handed it to The nurse on duty next to Chairman Mao is Xiao Xiao.
Xiao Yu did not dare to delay and handed the note to Meng Jinyun.
Meng Jinyun burst into tears after reading the content of the note. However, considering that Chairman Mao had not slept all night and was already old, she did not wake Chairman Mao immediately.
After lunch, Chairman Mao had eaten. Meng Jinyun saw that Chairman Mao was in good spirits, so he read out the obituary of Zhou Enlai's death: "Comrade Zhou Enlai, the great proletarian revolutionist of the Chinese people and an outstanding communist fighter, suffered from cancer. The treatment failed, and in 1976..."
Chairman Mao was closing his eyes to rest. After hearing the obituary, he suddenly opened his eyes, stared at Meng Jinyun, and asked : What does "passing away forever" mean? "
Before Meng Jinyun could reply, Chairman Mao seemed to realize something. Then he closed his eyes again, but this time, tears shed from the corners of his eyes.
Chairman Mao knew that Premier Zhou Enlai was seriously ill. , but what he did not expect was that Premier Zhou Enlai passed away so suddenly.
The day before the central government held a memorial service for Premier Zhou Enlai, Chairman Mao suddenly asked his secretary Zhang Yufeng to show him the eulogy about Zhou Enlai written by the central government. .
At this time, Chairman Mao was in poor health, so Zhang Yufeng had to read to the Chairman.
Chairman Mao cried while listening. When Zhang Yufeng read "Comrade Mao Zedong", Chairman Mao said: "Stop." . "
Zhang Yufeng was a little confused. Chairman Mao continued : "Add three words. "
Zhang Yufeng quickly wrote it down.
When did the intersection between Chairman Mao and Zhou Enlai begin? Which three words did Chairman Mao add?
In 1932, Chairman Mao personally visited the front line and commanded the Zhangzhou Campaign, The final victory was achieved.
In many military materials of our party, the Battle of Zhangzhou is not positioned as a battle with far-reaching influence. However, this battle was the first close military cooperation between Chairman Mao and Zhou Enlai. .
Zhou Enlai’s military support and assistance to Chairman Mao actually did not begin at this time.
In 1924, our party cooperated with the Kuomintang for the first time. In 1927, Chiang Kai-shek launched the "Fourth Movement". "One and Two Counter-Revolutions" lasted for a total of three years.
After the failure of the Great Revolution, Chiang Kai-shek set off a nationwide "White Terror", and many Communists died for their beliefs.
At such a critical moment, Chairman Mao first He put forward the famous assertion that "seizes power at the barrel of a gun" Zhou Enlai studied in France, worked in the Guangdong District Committee after returning to China, and later served as the director of the political department of Huangpu Military Academy. Within the party at that time, his His status was much higher than that of Chairman Mao.
However, Zhou Enlai gave the greatest support to Chairman Mao's assertion of "seizing power with the barrel of a gun"
On August 1, 1927, Zhou Enlai, as Secretary of the Front Committee, led the Nanchang Uprising. , fired the first shot of our party against the Kuomintang reactionaries. As a result, August 1st also became the " Army Day" of our army.
After the Nanchang Uprising, due to many reasons, it ultimately failed. 20,000 There were only more than a thousand people left to fight guerrillas under the leadership of Zhu De, Chen Yi
html On September 9, Chairman Mao led the troops to launch the Autumn Harvest Uprising. After that, he fought vigorously under the leadership of Lu Deming, Wu Zhonghao and others. With the support, he led his troops to Jinggangshan , and during this period, he carried out " Sanwan ", established the party branch at the company level or above, and made it clear that " the party commands the gun "Not long ago, Chairman Mao led the team to Jinggangshan established the first rural revolutionary base area under the leadership of our party, which kicked off the ten-year Agrarian Revolutionary War.
The establishment of the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Base deeply inspired Zhou Enlai. In October 1928, Chairman Mao formally proposed the idea of "an armed separatist regime of workers and peasants" at the Hunan-Jiangxi border conference.
When Zhou Enlai, who was far away in Shanghai, learned about it, he immediately gave Chairman Mao the greatest support, because in Zhou Enlai's opinion, Chairman Mao's suggestions and opinions were completely correct.
After the Sixth National Congress in 1929, Zhou Enlai successively served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, Secretary-General of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee, and Secretary of the Central Military Commission, actually presiding over the work of the Central Committee.
It was at this time that Zhou Enlai adopted Chairman Mao's suggestion.
In March 1929, when Zhou Enlai wrote to He Long and the Western Hunan and Hubei Front Committee of the Communist Party of China, he clearly stated: "What we should pay attention to at present is not occupation." In addition, Zhou Enlai also emphasized: "In the armies of Zhu and Mao, the party organization is based on companies, and each company establishes a branch. , below the company are divided into groups, and above the company there are battalion committees, youth league committees and other organizations... This experience can be used as a reference for your army's party building in the future. "
It can be seen that Zhou Enlai fully understood the strategic thinking proposed by Chairman Mao at this time. Agree.
However, just when Zhou Enlai thought that the revolutionary work in Jinggangshan would flourish under the leadership of Chairman Mao, something unexpected happened.
In May 1929, at a meeting of the Fourth Red Army, serious disagreements occurred within the Fourth Red Army regarding the organizational guiding principles of the Front Committee. Even Zhu De had different opinions from Chairman Mao.
In the end, Chairman Mao lost the post of Secretary of the Front Committee of the Fourth Red Army and left the Fourth Red Army he had founded. Chen Yi took over the post of Secretary of the Front Committee.
Chairman Mao was hit hard by this incident. He took Jianghua , Su Yu and others to western Fujian to investigate.
The conclusions of the internal meeting of the Fourth Red Army were quickly sent to the Party Central Committee in Shanghai through secret transportation.
As the actual leader of the Central Committee, Zhou Enlai presided over the Politburo meeting, which finally formed a resolution: Regarding the debates within the Fourth Red Army, some are correct and some are incorrect.
At the same time, in order to further explain the facts clearly, Chen Yi went to Shanghai in person and truthfully reported to Zhou Enlai the situation of the Fourth Red Army.
At the Politburo meeting, Li Lisan asked Chen Yi: "What do you think of Mao Zedong?"
Chen Yi replied: "I am not as good as him."
Zhou Enlai was very angry that Chairman Mao was forced to leave his leadership position in the Fourth Red Army and criticized Chen Yi , and then he wrote a letter, "Letter of Instructions from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to the Front Committee of the Fourth Army of the Red Army" (known as the September Letter in history).
In this letter, Zhou Enlai clearly instructed: "First there is the rural Red Army, and then there is the urban political power. This is the characteristic of the Chinese revolution, and this is the product of China's economic foundation."
Secondly, Zhou Enlai's views on Chairman Mao's participation in the Fourth Red Army status in the Central Committee, and also emphasized: "Comrade Mao is still the Secretary of the Front Committee and must be understood and accepted by all comrades in the Red Army."
Chen Yi accepted Zhou Enlai's criticism. When he left with the letter, as a fellow student in France Zhou Enlai, an old comrade-in-arms, said to him sincerely: "Every party and army needs its own core figures. If we want to choose the leader of a nationally influential Red Army like the Fourth Red Army, Mao Zedong is of course the best candidate."
Chen Yi is convinced.
In October 1929, when Chen Yi secretly returned to the Soviet Area from Shanghai, he immediately conveyed the spirit of the Central Committee, including the Central Committee's criticism of him.
Later, Chen Yi found Zhu De: "We must invite Mao Zedong back no matter what."
Zhu De nodded in agreement.
After saying that, Chen Yi had three people send messages to Chairman Mao by fast horse, asking him to come back, return to the Fourth Red Army, and continue to serve as Secretary of the Front Committee.
Chen Yi's attitude made Chairman Mao very satisfied. He wrote back saying that he would soon return to the Fourth Red Army.
At the end of 1929, at the Ninth Congress of the Fourth Red Army (Gutian Conference), Chairman Mao's leadership position in the Fourth Red Army was correctly established.
Chairman Mao's ability to return to the Fourth Red Army and lead the military was actually due to Zhou Enlai's strong support for him.
Starting from Jinggangshan, Zhou Enlai became Chairman Mao's most powerful supporter under the circumstances at that time.
Unfortunately, the close cooperation between the two at this time did not last long.
After 1931, Chairman Mao's correct thinking was constantly criticized and attacked due to some "Left" issues.
Zhou Enlai also became Bogu 's deputy at this time. Therefore, in this situation, the Central Red Army repeatedly failed in the "counter-encirclement and suppression" battles against the enemy.
Zhou Enlai wanted to change this situation, but Bogu could no longer listen to what he said.
In October 1934, the fifth counter-campaign against "encirclement and suppression" failed, and the Central Red Army was forced to the Long March. After passing through the enemy's first, second and third blockades and the Xiangjiang Battle, Zhou Enlai could no longer bear it.
Especially in the Xiangjiang Battle, the Central Red Army was directly reduced from more than 80,000 people at the beginning of the Long March to more than 30,000 people.
Zhou Enlai clearly determined that Bogu and Li De did not understand military affairs at all and had always commanded blindly.
At the critical moment, Zhou Enlai trusted Chairman Mao very much. For this reason, Zhou Enlai insisted on his choice.
After the Battle of Xiangjiang, the Party Central Committee held Channel, Liping, and Houchang Meetings one after another. At these three meetings, there were two different debate groups, one headed by Bo Gu and Li De, and the other headed by Chairman Mao. headed by Zhou Enlai.
Bogu, Li De insisted that the Red Army go north and join forces with the Second and Sixth Red Army Corps.
Chairman Mao suggested transferring troops to Guizhou and heading north to Zunyi.
Zhou Enlai was completely impressed by Chairman Mao's military commanding ability at this time, so he did not hesitate at all and fully supported Chairman Mao.
Zhou Enlai's leading role also affected others. In the end, after a vote, the Party Central Committee decided to proceed in accordance with Chairman Mao's ideas.
It was precisely because of Zhou Enlai's persistence that important preparations were made for the subsequent Zunyi Conference held by the central government.
On January 15, 1935, the Zunyi Conference was held.
At this meeting, Zhou Enlai analyzed the reasons for the failure of the fifth "anti-encirclement and suppression campaign". He was very guilty, took the initiative to take responsibility, requested to be removed from his leadership position, and fully recommended Chairman Mao to lead the Red Army.
Within the party, Zhou Enlai had a high status and seniority. His statements had a certain impact on those who participated in the meeting.
After the Zunyi Conference, Chairman Mao was co-opted as a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau. At the same time, he, Zhou Enlai and Wang Jiaxiang formed a new " three-person regiment" to command and lead the Red Army.
Among the three, although Zhou Enlai still has the highest status, it is obvious that Chairman Mao has become the core.
The Zunyi Conference confirmed Chairman Mao's leadership position within the party. At the same time, it also represented the official beginning of his close cooperation with Zhou Enlai.
In the next 40 years, Chairman Mao and Zhou Enlai became 's closest comrades .
Before the founding of New China, in his speech at the First National Youth Congress of China, Zhou Enlai clearly said: " We must have a leader that everyone recognizes. Such a leader can lead us forward. This leader is Mao Chairman."
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhou Enlai became the Prime Minister, leading the work in diplomacy, the united front, science and technology, etc.
Zhou Enlai was able to do everything with ease, and Chairman Mao's support was naturally indispensable.
In their many years of revolutionary career, the two men's approaches can be said to be a perfect match.
In his decades of political career, Zhou Enlai has always placed himself in a "deputy" position, and is willing to act in the overall interests of the country and the revolutionary cause. This is also what makes the Prime Minister great as Chairman Mao's "executor". He always puts others first and himself second.
In 1972, Zhou Enlai was diagnosed with bladder cancer. Chairman Mao was very concerned about his physical condition and wrote to him many times, asking him to pay attention to his health and rest.
In September 1975, Zhou Enlai's condition deteriorated rapidly and the cancer cells spread wildly. After undergoing the fifth major operation, Zhou Enlai did not get out of bed again.
At 11 o'clock in the evening on January 7, 1976, Zhou Enlai saw Doctor Wu Jieping and said slowly: "I, there is nothing going on here. You should go and take care of other sick comrades, who need you more." .”
At 9:57 a.m. on January 8, Premier Zhou Enlai passed away at the age of 78.
Later, when Chairman Mao heard the sentence "comrade-in-arms of Comrade Mao Zedong" in Zhou Enlai's eulogy, he immediately said: "Add three words, the closest"
From this, the sentence was changed to "The closest to Comrade Mao Zedong" "Comrade-in-arms"
On the day of the memorial service, Chairman Mao actually wanted to go, but his own health was not good and his legs could not walk, so he ultimately failed to go.
After Zhou Enlai passed away, Chairman Mao was in a very bad mood, irritable and unwilling to speak. He tried hard to read books and documents with his newly healed eye. In the eyes of others, Chairman Mao did this in order to get rid of The pain in my own heart.
