Chapter 1046
Follow-up Reactions: Fu Huabei's Final Verdict!
In the turbulent city of Beiping, a heavy aerial bomb suddenly fell:
Zhang Anping was captured by the Sui Army!
When the news spread, the five major systems of Beiping—military, political, police, gendarmerie, and secret service—were all in an uproar.
Some people thought this was a sign that Fu Huabei wanted to negotiate, while others gritted their teeth and lit firecrackers to celebrate the event, and still others were uneasy and completely gave up on the situation.
At this time, all the newspapers and reporters in Beiping received an invitation from the North China Suppression Headquarters—the North China Suppression Headquarters was to hold a press conference regarding the detention of Zhang Anping, deputy director of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics.
Reporters, sensing the news, quickly flocked to a certain sea where the North China Suppression Headquarters was located.
The press conference was hosted by Director Yan, the head of the Second Division of the North China Suppression Headquarters. Facing the surging crowd of reporters, he dropped his bombshell:
Two telegrams from Zheng Yaoquan!
Of course, Director Yan's explanation was:
These three treacherous spies, Zheng Yaoquan, Mao Renfeng, and Zhang Anping, instead of focusing on stabilizing morale in the face of such a dire situation in Beiping, actually used the names of their respective chief aide and department head to plot the assassination of senior generals of the Sui Army and highly respected patriotic democrats.
This action was against the will of Heaven and provoked a fierce reaction from the Sui army and the central army in the city.
The North China Suppression Headquarters has already reported this matter to Nanjing. As for the temporary detention of Zhang Anping, it was purely to protect him—to prevent him from being torn apart by the enraged Sui army.
Despite the rhetoric used by Director Yan at the press conference, the reporters weren't fools. After the press conference, they made inquiries and quickly pieced together the facts:
The brain-dead Mao Renfeng entered the game, falsely claiming an imperial edict and intending to use the Sui Army to kill Deputy Director Zhang Anping.
The shrewd Zheng Yaoquan outmaneuvered Mao and Zhang, but his plan backfired. Two telegrams proved his wolfish ambitions and tore apart the pretense of peace and civil war between his long-serving attendants.
Zhang Anping, a staunch loyalist to the Kuomintang, remained stubborn and inflexible. He was betrayed by his own forces and plotted against by the CCP, ultimately ending up in prison.
Although the content published by various newspapers is not so explicit, the subconscious message is the same for all three points mentioned above.
As newspapers across the country reprinted the story, it inevitably caused a great uproar.
……
Nanjing.
In a basement.
A haggard middle-aged man flipped through the newspaper in his hands, and a strange ripple gradually appeared in his lifeless eyes.
"he……"
"Was it really a scheme orchestrated by Zheng Yaoquan and Mao Renfeng?"
The middle-aged man slowly folded the newspaper, muttering to himself:
"It's always the same, always the same, always... always the same!"
"Is everything we see truly... the truth?"
Nanjing, headquarters of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics.
Looking at the newspaper in her hand, Mao Renfeng plopped down in a chair and remained silent for a long time.
Suddenly, as if he had gone mad, he began tearing the newspaper apart until it was reduced to tiny pieces, at which point he stopped this pointless act.
"Zheng Yaoquan! You heartless bastard! You...you truly have the ambition of a wolf!"
"Shrewd—screw your shrewdness!"
"If I, Mao Renfeng, ever cooperate with you again, may I be struck by lightning!"
Mao Renfeng vented his anger with all his might. Killing someone is like killing their spirit! He, Mao Renfeng, was in charge of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, but he ended up being called a brainless idiot!
GFB Hall 2
Zheng Yaoquan, who was also facing the newspaper, looked completely dazed.
"shrewd?"
He suddenly burst into mocking laughter. If he were truly shrewd, he wouldn't be praised for it by all the newspapers!
"Yan Wu, you...you have betrayed my trust..."
Zheng Yaoquan abruptly stood up after muttering to himself:
"wrong!"
"He had no reason to betray me!"
"But he betrayed me!"
"why?"
At this point, Zheng Yaoquan slumped down on the coffee table.
An even more terrifying conjecture—or rather, judgment—emerged in his mind:
Yan Wu, this key official of the Second Department, the confidant he pulled out from Zhang Anping, the trusted subordinate entrusted with important responsibilities, his true stance...
Is it the Communist Party?
"He's a Communist!"
Only if Yan Wu were a Communist would he have done something so "unwise".
Zheng Yaoquan felt a sudden darkness before his eyes. My God, what had he done?
This time, it's probably all over!
Zheng Yaoquan was terrified, his whole being filled with regret and hatred.
Director's Office.
The section chief stared at the newspaper with a gloomy expression, and after a long while, he slammed his fist heavily on the newspaper.
Despite the pain in his fist, he seemed oblivious to it.
"Zheng Yaoquan!"
"Mao Renfeng!"
The section chief gritted his teeth and shouted out those two names. How hateful!
That's truly hateful!
"You two deserve to be torn to pieces!"
The section chief was furious. The chief of staff had just issued a "letter to the people and soldiers of the whole country" on New Year's Day, which "appealed" for peace. As a result, these two idiots completely crushed the chief of staff's face.
Now everyone knows how utterly ridiculous the so-called "Letter to Compatriots" is.
Besides that, what worries the section chief the most is Zhang Anping.
Damn infighting!!
Beiping is at such a critical juncture, but these two idiots have ruined Anping, causing him to be detained by Fu Huabei.
If Fu Huabei ultimately uses Zhang Anping as a sacrifice...
"You bastard!"
The section chief slammed his fist on the table in anger again.
It hurts, it hurts like hell.
But it wasn't physical pain; it was pain for Zhang Anping, whom he valued most.
Under no circumstances should Zhang Anping be sacrificed!
Absolutely not!
Attendant's Room.
The head servant continued to curse, throwing newspaper after newspaper to the ground.
"idiot!"
"What a complete idiot!"
His overwhelming rage made the chief attendant want to order the arrest of the "utter fool" he had been calling out, but reason stopped him once the order was on the tip of his tongue.
Given the current situation, if the heads of the two key agencies, the Second Department and the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, were to be arrested, the consequences would be unimaginable!
But his emotions made him want to take both of them immediately.
Just then, a servant entered with a solemn expression and reported:
"Chief Attendant, Ambassador Stuart is here to see you."
The valet swallowed the order that was on the tip of his tongue, and said with a gloomy expression, "Let's give him a break first—the American has gone too far. What right does an American have to point fingers at us! What gives him the right!"
"What right does an American have to interfere in the affairs of the Party-state president?"
He kept shouting "Why should I?", but the reason that forced him to swallow the order was quite honest:
The Guangxi clique's offensive has come like a tidal wave, and his resignation is now a foregone conclusion. At this moment, the heads of the Second Department and the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics must not be moved, must not be moved...
……
Yandu Hotel.
Ironically, Zhang Anping was "forced" away by Zheng Yaoquan and started his own business at the Modielin Hotel. After Zheng Yaoquan ran away, Zhang Anping seemed to still be disgusted by the incident, so he did not return to the Yandu Hotel.
As a result, he is now under house arrest by the Sui army.
But the place where he was placed under house arrest was none other than the Yandu Hotel.
It has a rather absurd feeling of going around in circles and ending up back where we started.
Of course, now that he has "taken over" the Yandu Hotel, he is not as free as before—he is "taken care of" by the Sui Army, and his only space for movement is the top floor of the Yandu Hotel.
Fortunately, although the Sui Army placed him under house arrest, they still admired his character and didn't pressure Zhang Anping too much, even granting him freedom of communication.
I could see all kinds of newspapers from Beiping every day.
At that moment, Zhang Anping was flipping through the newspaper in his room. When he saw the words "brain-dead" and "shrewd" mentioned in the newspaper, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.
These journalists have a sharp tongue! They say you shouldn't expose someone's weaknesses when you're criticizing them, tsk tsk, tsk tsk...
Zheng Yi brought in breakfast, and seeing the smile on Zhang Anping's lips, her steps became lighter.
"District Chief, let's have breakfast first."
Zhang Anping took the breakfast she handed him and casually pushed the newspaper in front of Zheng Yi: "Take a look at the newspaper, it's quite interesting."
interesting?
Zheng Yi curiously took it and started flipping through it.
As she looked at it, she suddenly realized something.
Before being arrested the night before last, Zhang Anping told her:
Everything is under control!
She believed, unconditionally believed. But now, she finally understood Zhang Anping's scheme.
What a clever escape!
What a brilliant move to go with the flow!
What a brilliant move to shift the blame!
With an almost submissive feeling, she folded the newspaper, composed herself, and then said meaningfully:
"Director Qu, Director Yan is likely to become a thorn in Zheng Yaoquan's side next."
Just then, Zhang Anping finished his breakfast at a leisurely pace, wiping his hands as he spoke:
"Zheng Yaoquan probably won't have the time or the opportunity to deal with Yan Wu."
No time?
Zheng Yi naturally understood such a clear hint.
She paused for a moment, and after about half a minute, she said:
"Can't we go back?"
Zhang Anping countered, "Want to stay?"
Zheng Yi replied matter-of-factly, "Wherever you are, I will be there."
Zhang Anping paused noticeably, his gaze shifting to the empty window:
"We will still go back."
Zheng Yi laughed. Yes, if he didn't go back, why would the district chief go through all this trouble?
……
Zheng Yaoquan had fled—although everyone in the intelligence system knew he had fled, the intelligence system did not fall into chaos.
Because they knew that the real pillar of stability was still in Beiping!
But now that Zhang Anping has been arrested, it's like the disappearance of a stabilizing force for the intelligence system in Beiping.
The entire intelligence system was in complete chaos.
In the past, the spies were always arrogant and showed no fear when facing the Sui Army:
Our inspection team has even entered your Sui Army. Try having five or six people from your Sui Army stand in front of me and see what happens!
But after Zhang Anping was placed under house arrest by the Sui Army, the secret agents lost their anchor and their backbone seemed to have broken.
They lived in constant fear!
The intelligence system has three powerful agencies:
The Bureau of Secrecy, the Bureau of Party Communications, and the Second Division.
Since Zhang Anping was imprisoned, the Beiping Station of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics has completely "disappeared." That's right, it disappeared. The spies no longer appeared, and the entire Beiping Station was "gone."
The Beiping branch of the Communist Party's Information Bureau also began to keep an unusually low profile. A spy encountered an underground party member on the street who should have been in prison. However, after the report was submitted, there was no news at all. In addition, the spy who reported the news was reassigned to guard the gate.
As for the second office, they have become even more low-key.
The most direct result of the three powerful agencies' "lying low" is—
On the street, a group of police officers in black uniforms who were patrolling suddenly stopped a group of craftsmen.
The lead police officer asked, "Stop! What are you doing?"
"Bricklayer, get to work."
"A bricklayer? What's in the box? Open it and see!"
"Okay, check it. These are our livelihoods, don't break them."
Before the inspection, the police noticed that several of the so-called bricklayers were touching their lower backs.
The police officer in charge immediately gave up the search: "Alright, alright, no need to look anymore—it's all over, you can go! The east intersection is blocked, go west. If you have your family with you, don't cause trouble for yourselves."
After watching the group of "bricklayers" leave, one of the police officers asked, puzzled:
"Master Duo, these people look suspicious. They're probably... underground Communist Party members."
The police officer in charge glanced at his officers and said, "I'm not blind."
"Then why don't you arrest them?"
"Arrest my ass!" the policeman in charge said irritably. "Who cares if we arrest them? The Bureau of Investigation and Statistics? The Party's Intelligence Bureau? Or those guys from the Second Division of the General Headquarters for Suppression of Bandits?"
"Do you know what state they're in right now? The underground party members can walk right past them and they won't even care!"
Besides, even if they were willing to manage it, we don't need to get involved—Beijing is about to change hands!
This scene is a microcosm of what happened in Beiping at that time.
The underground Communist Party members in Beiping have been operating openly these past few days, with some even daring to reveal their identities in front of the police.
What's truly unbelievable is that the police not only dared not arrest people, but sometimes even specifically sent people to protect the underground party members during their activities. They called this behavior:
Leave behind a legacy of love and connection...
In this atmosphere, Fu Huabei's negotiations with our army also came to a final stage.
At this time, the Central Army generals in Beiping had already seen and even realized the “collusion” between the underground party and the Sui Army. Since they knew, Nanjing should also know, right?
But then something outrageous happened!
Nanjing was indeed "in the know".
What they knew was that Fu Huabei was negotiating with the People's Liberation Army, but both sides were asking for exorbitant prices. Fu Huabei's negotiations were a process of observation, delaying, and bargaining.
Of course, they also knew that the fall of Tianjin would be a heavy blow to Fu Huabei's morale, so they were also trying their best to make Fu Huabei tougher.
They had no idea that Fu Huabei's negotiations with the People's Liberation Army had entered their final stage!
In this self-righteous state, the date arrived at January 21, 1949!
Nanjing, 10:00 AM, Attendant's Residence.
An emergency meeting was convened.
This meeting lasted only fifty minutes, but it produced a startling result:
The chief attendant admitted defeat in military, political, and economic matters, and decided to retire!
The result seemed earth-shattering, but for the attendees, it felt like a natural and inevitable outcome.
The loss of a million troops in Liaoxi and Xuzhou-Bengbu is a huge blow. With such a perfect hand, who else but the chief attendant can bear the blame?
Therefore, holding this meeting was a natural progression.
Of course, the future will prove them wrong for underestimating the chief squire, but for now, they believe they have achieved their goal.
After the emergency meeting, the chief attendant did not return to his residence, but went straight to the airport—he took a private plane to Xikou.
To outsiders, this behavior was nothing more than a loser's retreat.
History often has an unbelievable, ironic quality.
Just after this meeting in Nanjing, which was considered a power struggle, an agreement was also officially signed in Beiping.
……
March 1949, 1 AD.
In the afternoon, in Beiping, at Jurentang.
The garrison commanders in the city arrived one after another for the meeting. Since the General Headquarters for Suppression of Enemy Soldiers moved to a certain sea area, the military commanders have become accustomed to holding meetings here. They believed that this gathering, like in the past, was still a military affairs meeting.
Until they saw an unexpected person:
Zhang Anping!
Zhang Anping, who should have been under house arrest at the Yandu Hotel, appeared in front of Jurentang at this moment, but instead of being accompanied by the fierce special operations team members, he was accompanied by several Sui Army officers.
Upon seeing Zhang Anping, the Central Army commanders present initially showed delight, believing that Fu Huabei had finally chosen to compromise in the face of pressure from Nanjing. However, when they quickly approached Zhang Anping, they found that Zhang Anping's face was extremely gloomy, and he did not show the slightest reaction to their arrival.
Commander Yuan was the first to greet him: "Brother Anping, what brings you here?"
Zhang Anping seemed to snap out of his daze. Facing the military commander who had given him considerable help, Zhang Anping forced an awkward smile, then said with a pale expression:
"Commander Yuan, I have a bad feeling."
Commander Yuan's pupils contracted sharply. He tried to pull Zhang Anping aside, but at this moment, the Sui Army officer behind Zhang Anping stepped forward and separated the two like a barrier.
An officer said politely, "Commander Yuan, please come in for the meeting!"
Commander Yuan glanced at Zhang Anping and noticed that Zhang Anping had closed his eyes in despair.
click
Like a bolt from the blue, a thunderclap exploded in Commander Yuan's mind.
This...this...
He looked blankly at Zhang Anping, only to see Zhang Anping being "escorted" into Jurentang by the Sui Army generals.
Has that day really come?
Commander Yuan looked dazed and didn't even know how he got into Jurentang.
Inside the meeting room, a group of military commanders were already seated. The Central Army generals were whispering among themselves, wondering why none of the Sui Army generals, who usually arrived earlier than them, had come this time.
As they were whispering to each other, Commanders Li and Shi arrived together. Upon entering the conference room, they were struck by the emptiness opposite them and felt a sense of unease.
The two men stepped forward, intending to sit down, but then noticed something unusual on their side:
Behind one of the generals stood several Sui Army officers.
Upon closer inspection, the two realized that this person was actually Zhang Anping, who should have been at the Yandu Hotel!
"what's the situation?"
The two commanders exchanged a glance, and an indescribable sense of dread arose within them.
Why was Zhang Anping brought to this meeting room?
Commander Shi instinctively wanted to walk up to Zhang Anping to ask, but Commander Li stopped him. Facing Commander Shi's questioning gaze, Commander Li shook his head slightly and gestured for Commander Shi to sit down first.
Commander Shi asked in a low voice, "Brother Zuobin?"
Commander Li shook his head, his gaze incredibly profound.
Just then, the meeting room door was pushed open, and the Sui Army generals filed in.
These people were high-ranking officers of the Sui Army. In the past, they would usually enter in small groups for meetings, but at this moment, they filed in together.
This scene was already puzzling, but what happened next made the doubts even greater.
because,
Fu Huabei, the commander-in-chief of the North China Suppression Headquarters, followed the Sui Army generals who filed in and entered the conference room.
Without any announcement, we simply followed the Sui army generals into the territory.
Commander Shi's gaze narrowed slightly. The Sui Army had actually held a meeting first before attending this military affairs conference.
He observed the expressions of each Sui army general, and the more he looked, the more disheartened he felt.
Because these Sui army generals had a visible sense of relief in their expressions, and the anxiety they used to have was no longer visible on them.
Faced with this scene, a chilling thought exploded in his mind.
However, Fu Huabei, who was in the main seat, did not give him time to think deeply.
A deep but clear voice came from Fu Huabei's mouth:
"Today, I have summoned all officers of the rank of colonel and above to announce an important matter:"
This morning, we formally signed the "Agreement on the Peaceful Settlement of the Beiping Issue" with the PLA Pingjin Front Command. A ceasefire will begin at 10:00 AM on the 22nd; all troops within the city will, in accordance with the agreement, withdraw from the city and undergo reorganization. (End of Chapter)