At 8 p.m. on January 16, 1976, the cold wind was bitter and the cold air was imminent. An aircraft numbered "7225" took off from the suburban airport in Beijing, and soared into the sky with the rumbling sound of the engine.
In a short while, the plane flew from Beijing toward Tianjin Haihe, Miyun Reservoir , and the estuary of the Yellow River in Binzhou, Shandong.
7225 aircraft
Less well known is that this aircraft carries an extremely important mission, and that is to fulfill the final wish of Comrade Zhou Enlai, the good Prime Minister of the people.
Premier Zhou firmly believes that scattering his ashes into the rivers and land to make fertilizer is another manifestation of serving the people and the last thing Premier Zhou does for the country and the people.
At 9:57 am on January 8, 1976, Premier Zhou, the great proletarian revolutionary and one of the main leaders of the Party and the country, passed away. At that moment, a shining star fell, and hundreds of millions of Chinese people were heartbroken.
Prince Zhou
Among them, the most sad thing is Chairman Mao, who has worked closely withPrince Zhou for more than 40 years.
The day before Premier Zhou’s memorial service, Chairman Mao, who had been plagued by illness, didn’t care about his body at all. He specially reviewed Premier Zhou’s eulogy and made people add three words to the eulogy , and then he couldn’t help but burst into tears.
Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou
So, what three words did Chairman Mao add to Premier Zhou’s eulogy? When did Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou meet each other and what thrilling revolutionary moments have they experienced together?
Today, let us walk behind this golden partner together and feel the deep friendship between the two great men!
The good Prime Minister of the People and the Death of the World
Premier Zhou was born in Huaian, Jiangsu in March 1898. He has been diligent and studious since childhood. His intelligence is famous for his country, which makes Premier Zhou's parents very bright.
Prince Zhou
1917, in order to pursue more diverse cultural knowledge, the 19-year-old Premier Zhou bid farewell to his parents and went to Japan to study alone. Then, by chance, he came into contact with Marxism, which laid a solid ideological foundation for him to become a great proletarian revolutionary in the future.
Since officially joining the Communist Party of China in 1921, Premier Zhou has devoted himself to revolutionary work. Although he faced many difficulties and setbacks during this period, he responded calmly and always regarded serving the country and the people as his lifelong belief. has continuously contributed his wisdom and talent to the establishment and development of the new China.
Years of hard work have made Premier Zhou's body light up a red light in his later years, especially in 1972, Premier Zhou's body became thinner and he suffered from bloody stools and many times. After examination, was unfortunately diagnosed with bladder cancer .
Prince Zhou
Usually, when you are sick, you have to go to the hospital for treatment and have more rest, but Premier Zhou is not. In order to complete the national affairs, he insisted on not going to the hospital, and even begged the doctor to let himself work for a while. The doctor was helpless and worried about this.
Later, even Chairman Mao and Deng Xiaoping, who are Premier Zhou's close friend, could not bear it anymore. They repeatedly persuaded Premier Zhou to receive treatment in time, but Premier Zhou always used comforting words to perfunctory : "I know my own body, don't worry."
About Premier Zhou knew in his heart that his illness was an incurable disease, and even if he went to the hospital, it would not be cured. It would be better to spend the rest of his time doing something for the country and the people.
Prince Zhou
That's it, Premier Zhou was still busy with work day and night. Except for promised his wife Deng Yingchao to take medicine on time, he refused any other treatment.
But this is not a long-term solution, and the disease eventually defeated Premier Zhou's body.
In February 1974, one night after the Fourth People's Congress, Premier Zhou reviewed documents in the office as usual. Perhaps because he did not get enough rest the first two nights, Premier Zhou suddenly fainted, which really scared the staff around him.
Prince Zhou
Later, after the doctor's rescue, Premier Zhou saved his life.
Looking at the weak Premier Zhou on the hospital bed, Deng Yingchao couldn't help but complain, "Why are you so stupid? Do you want your life for work?"
Premier Zhou smiled, held Deng Yingchao's hand tightly, and said softly : "Don't worry, I can't die!"
Retirement for a few days, and after his body recovered a little, Premier Zhou started his work regardless of persuasion, using Premier Zhou himself In other words, : "I am racing against time. If I run ahead, I can do one more thing."
Premier Zhou
In May 1974, the cancer cells in Premier Zhou's body began to spread and spread to the whole body. The pain also came with it. People around him often saw Premier Zhou's face turned pale. Once, he almost fainted from the pain.
For this reason, the relatives, close friends and doctors around Premier Zhou really couldn't bear it, so they used all kinds of methods to send Premier Zhou to the 305th Hospital of the People's Liberation Army of China.
On June 1, 1974, Premier Zhou, who was plagued by illness, underwent the first operation arranged by a doctor. Although the operation was successful, it seemed that it could not prevent Premier Zhou from further deteriorating his condition.
Later, at the suggestion of the doctor, Premier Zhou underwent many surgical treatments, but in the end, all of them were useless, and everyone could only watch Premier Zhou's body collapse day by day.
Premier Zhou
January 8, 1976 at 9:57 am, the skinny and bone-skinned Premier Zhou finally couldn't resist the torture of the disease and left us forever. At that moment, he was so peaceful and so distressing.
Chairman Mao’s closest comrade-in-arms
After Premier Zhou’s death, Deng Yingchao once told the central leaders that Premier Zhou’s last three requirements during his lifetime:
does not keep the ashes, and scatter the ashes on the rivers and lands of the motherland;
does not hold memorial services, and does not say goodbye to the body;
does not treat special treatment, and does not exceed anyone.
Prince Zhou
Prince Zhou is such a selfless country leader who serves the country and the people. Even if his life is over, he does not want to cause trouble to the country and the people. How can such a clean style not be admired?
However, Chairman Mao objected to Premier Zhou’s request, especially the fact that he did not hold a memorial service or said goodbye to the body. Chairman Mao refused to agree. After all, Premier Zhou’s position in the hearts of the people is high, and if he does as required, he naturally cannot explain it to the broad masses of people.
So, after unanimous agreement from the central government, Chairman Mao finally approved Premier Zhou’s request for cremation, and at the same time rejected the request to not hold a memorial service and not to say goodbye to the body.
Chairman Mao
It is reported that when Chairman Mao signed this document, his body was no longer in control, especially those already blurred eyes, which had long been filled with tears.
January 14, 1976, the day before Premier Zhou’s memorial service, Chairman Mao, who was resting in the room, suddenly woke up from his sleep, "Yufeng, come here!" Chairman Mao shouted in his greatest voice as confidential secretary Zhang Yufeng.
Zhang Yufeng quickly opened the door and asked the chairman: "Chairman, are you calling me? Are you planning something?"
Zhang Yufeng
Chairman Mao said : "Tomorrow is Comrade Enlai's memorial service. I have to do something for him. You go and bring the eulogy for the memorial service, and I will confirm it again."
"Okay, I'll go right away!" After that, Zhang Yufeng hurried out.
About half an hour passed, and Zhang Yufeng, who was so cold that her face was flushed, was holding Premier Zhou's eulogy in her arms, and trotted back to Juxiang Bookstore .
Then, Zhang Yufeng helped Chairman Mao up from the bed, put on a coat and covered him with a blanket, and then read the eulogy of Premier Zhou for Chairman Mao word by word.
Zhang Yufeng
At the beginning, Chairman Mao was still in good mood, but when Zhang Yufeng read the sentence "Mao Zedong's comrades-in-arms", Chairman Mao suddenly became excited, "Stop for a moment, this sentence is inappropriate."
Zhang Yufeng was a little confused in the face of Chairman Mao's doubts.
Chairman Mao continued to say : "Enlai fought side by side with me for nearly half a century. He is my closest comrade-in-arms. No one can surpass it. The three most intimate words must be added."
After saying that, before Zhang Yufeng could write it down, Chairman Mao couldn't help but burst into tears, and even the blanket on his legs was wet.
Chairman Mao
The next afternoon, Premier Zhou's memorial service was held as scheduled, but Chairman Mao's body did not allow it, and his legs were swollen and could not stand at all, so he could not go to the scene to send Premier Zhou's last journey.
So, in Juxiang Bookstore, everyone saw a moving scene, That is Chairman Mao sitting alone in a corner of the room, a beam of warm sunlight shone on Chairman Mao's face through the window, and the crystal tears flashed against the sunlight.
Chairman Mao
Then Chairman Mao lowered his head slightly, staring at the photo with Premier Zhou who was holding tightly in his hand, and said nothing for a long time until dark.
Mao and Zhou fought side by side for nearly half a century
As we all know, Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou are the golden partners on China's anti-imperialist and anti-aggression revolution. They have worked closely for nearly half a century and are the most admired by hundreds of millions of Chinese people.
How did Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou meet, and what thrilling revolutionary moments have they experienced together?
Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou
Chairman Mao was born in 1893, 5 years older than Premier Zhou, but the two did not create any generation gap due to the age difference of 5 years. Instead, they both have the common belief of saving the nation and serving the country.
Of course, it is this belief that has brought two strangers together and become partners and friends for decades.
In March 1926, the Zhongshan ship incident was about to break out. In order to achieve his evil purpose of ruling China, Chiang Kai-shek launched a series of actions to "suppress the Communist Party and clear the Communist Party". Among them, the Communist Party member and the captain of the Zhongshan ship Captain Li Zhilong was arrested by Chiang Kai-shek.
Li Zhilong
Under such a severe situation, Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou came to the home of Hunan fellow villager Li Fuchun to discuss countermeasures, which just led to the first meeting between Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou.
"You are the famous Comrade Enlai, you have long admired it." Chairman Mao took the lead in greeting Premier Zhou.
Premier Zhou responded politely to : "I have also heard of a lot of political propositions about you and extraordinary military talents. It is a great honor to be able to meet you today."
Li Fuchun
During this period, Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou looked at each other more and became more pleasing to each other, as if they had found a soulmate. Then the two sat down together and talked passionately with Li Fuchun about the current situation.
Although the first meeting time was short, Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou had a further understanding of each other and appreciated each other's talents more. After the failure of the Great Revolution, Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou insisted on the armed idea of raising guns to seize power. The two led the Nanchang Uprising and the Autumn Harvest Uprising.
Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou
Although both of them were affected by special reasons afterwards, they were not frustrated because of this, but always paid attention to each other's thoughts and actions. is also looking forward to working together one day.
Finally, in 1931, Premier Zhou left Shanghai and moved to Central Revolutionary Base , and took up the position of Secretary of the Central Bureau of the Central Soviet Area. This was the direct cooperation between Premier Zhou and Chairman Mao.
At that time, although the Central Soviet Area was filled with two different and opposite guiding ideologies, Premier Zhou was clear-headed and clear. He knew the correctness and advanced nature of Chairman Mao's political propositions. Even if he was not able to directly support him due to his poor identity, Premier Zhou would silently take care of him.
Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou
1935 Zunyi Conference , Chairman Mao was elected as a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee with the absolute support of Premier Zhou, and since then he has become the actual leadership core of the Party and the Red Army . It is also from this time that Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou have become close golden partners, and has started close cooperation for nearly half a century.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chairman Mao adhered to the principle of independent independence of the united front and worked hard to mobilize the masses to carry out guerrilla war behind enemy lines. Premier Zhou represented the central government in Chongqing and other places for a long time, cooperated with Chairman Mao to unite democratic parties and patriots from all walks of life, and finally won a comprehensive victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
In 1946, Chiang Kai-shek launched a full-scale civil war. Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou met with a perfect match to lead the Chinese People's Liberation Army to defend stubbornly, and eventually overthrew the Kuomintang government and drove Chiang Kai-shek and others out of mainland China.
Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou
On October 1, 1949New China was founded , Chairman Mao served as Chairman of the Central People's Government, and Premier Zhou served as Premier of the State Council. Since then, the two have played their respective advantages to devote themselves to the economy, culture, science and technology of the New China.
Someone once described the cooperation between Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou like this, saying that they both have me and I have you. Although their personalities and methods of dealing with things are different, they have always depended on each other, understood each other, and worked together to fight for a better tomorrow for China.
But unfortunately, time is unforgiving. On January 8, 1976, Premier Zhou and the world passed away, and the cooperation between the two great men came to an end.
Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou
It is reported that for a long time after Premier Zhou's death, Chairman Mao was unable to emerge from his sadness. After all, in Chairman Mao's heart, such a brother-in-law partner has gone through too many ups and downs with him. The deep friendship between them will never disappear because of one person's early departure.
On September 9, 1976, the great leader Chairman Mao also left forever, and boldly guessed whether Chairman Mao, before leaving, was looking forward to re-cooperation with Premier Zhou in another world?
Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou
Finally, let us pay tribute to the beloved Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou. You are the pride of the Chinese people and the outstanding representatives of the Chinese people. Thank you for your close cooperation, which has created the glorious and glorious new China today.
