The battle of Xu Beng became increasingly tight, Huang Botao committed suicide, the 120,000 troops of the Seventh Corps were annihilated, and the 90,000 troops of Huang Wei's Corps were besieged in Suxian County, Anhui Province, and it was only a matter of time before they were annihilated.

At the same time, the Northeast Field Army of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) moved south into the pass, approaching Pingjin, and the North China Suppression General Fu Zuoyi Department contracted its front and trapped several large cities, making North China precarious.

In such a critical situation, Chen Bei, as an ace pilot of the national army, could not continue to take a vacation, he was urgently recalled to the troops, piloted a plane to support the Xu Beng battlefield, and covered the airdrop of grain and straw by the transport plane.

Chen Bei sat in the cockpit of the P51 Mustang fighter, looking down at the vast land under his feet, as far as the eye could see, the endless white snow, mixed with the earthy yellow of the surface and the black of the dead trees, as well as ant-like soldiers and countless trenches, this large-scale battle scene far exceeded any battle during the Anti-Japanese War, and it was shocking but also deeply desperate.

The C47 transport plane began to airdrop flour, parachutes fell with the wind, and many of them floated to the position of the first place, triggering a shootout, because the PLA captured many American weapons, the air defense capability was greatly strengthened, and the escort fighters did not dare to fly low, and hurriedly returned to the base after performing the airdrop mission.

After arriving at the base, Chen Bei and a group of flying officers ran to the club to drink and complain, and before they could rest for ten minutes, the order came again, and they flew to the Xuhai battlefield again to be airdropped.

Chen Bei asked casually: "What materials are airdropped this time?" ”

The other party replied: "Firewood." ”

Chen Beiqi said: "What do you do with firewood?" ”

Again: "The flour that was airdropped earlier could not be used to burn the pot without firewood, so I had to throw firewood again." ”

Chen Bei couldn't cry or laugh: "What is in the minds of these staff officers in the headquarters, can they be more stupid when they use airplanes to airdrop firewood, they can't directly airdrop baked flatbread, or compress cookies or something." ”

The other shrugged: "We carry out the order." ”

So the pilots went to work again and flew to the battlefield to drop a batch of firewood.

After flying back, the pilots were demoralized and silent, and suddenly the commander-in-chief of the Air Force, General Zhou Zhirou, came and personally promoted several officers to military ranks, and Chen Bei was also among them, and was promoted to major in the Air Force.

Wearing a plum blossom rank, Chen Bei couldn't be happy.

……

Xu Beng battlefield, Chen Guanzhuang, snow fluttering, mourning everywhere, discarded Dodge ten-wheel cards and 105 howitzers can be seen everywhere, the national army has no gasoline, no shells, these equipment have become decorations, the field hospital is full of dead people, frozen very hard, a few wounded soldiers slowly peel off the military coats on the dead people, the weather is too cold, can wear one more piece.

In the wood-made headquarters, the fire was blazing, and a group of officers were gloomy, with their necks bent and their hands folded, lifeless, and empty cans and wine bottles were placed on the table in front of them, and everything they could eat was gone, and everything they could wear was wrapped around their bodies, still hungry and cold.

Lieutenant General Chen Qilin, director of the Jiangdong Pacification Office, led a dissatisfied division under his command to support the Battle of Xu Beng, but he was besieged and could not protect himself.

Chen Qilin had to drag his heavy steps to the headquarters to find Du Yuming, the tragic situation along the way made him unbearable to see, the soldiers gathered in groups of three or five around the gasoline barrel to roast the fire, a burst of gunfire in the distance, it was the soldiers slaughtering the war horse, no one had to eat, the war horse had long run out of forage, it was better to kill and eat meat.

An officer whispered: "I heard that the ** loudspeaker broadcasts, you can go over and eat meat buns, and come and go freely." ”

Another officer said: "The artillery fire of ** is too fierce, more powerful than the American 155 Long Tom, I heard that it is called a conscienceless cannon, a cannon comes over, and those lying on the ground can be shocked to death." ”

Chen Qilin turned around with a straight face and said, "Don't talk nonsense!" ”

When he came to the headquarters, Du Yuming was also at a loss, didn't speak for a long time, and finally said: "Success is benevolent, you can do it yourself." ”

Qiu Qingquan shouted: "It's a big deal, what is terrible, fight with ** to the end!" ”

Chen Qilin saw that they couldn't come up with a formed plan, so he went to Li Mi, the commander of the 13th Corps, and Li Mi said quietly: "Surrounded by regiments, there is no chance of victory, Fu Zuoyi in North China and Bai Chongxi in Central China will not come to rescue us, only by retreating into pieces can there be a glimmer of life." ”

"Lao Li, call me when you leave." Chen Qilin said.

……

Jiangdong, Fenglin Road Residence, a dusty guest came to visit Chen Zikun, he came with a pass from the Jiangbei Pacification Zone, so the road was smooth.

Chen Zikun heard that there were guests arriving in the "north", and he personally received them, and the person who came was dressed in a gray gown, a tweed hat, and a businessman's dress, but he couldn't hide his military temperament, and it was clearly Ye Xuefeng, the political commissar of the People's Liberation Army Zhongye Jiangzong.

After many years, Ye Xuefeng is no longer the young man he was in the wind and fire of the past, but a steady and wise political cadre, he smiled and stretched out his hand to Chen Zikun: "General Chen, meet again." ”

Chen Zikun invited him to sit down, served tea, and greeted him.

Ye Xuefeng said: "I came this time on the order of Comrade Deng Xiaoping, the first secretary of the Central Plains Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and the political commissar of the Central China Field Army, to contact General Chen to discuss the peaceful liberation of Jiangdong. ”

Chen Zikun took the letter and read it at a glance, and said with emotion: "In the early twenties, on my way back from studying military affairs at West Point in the United States, I met Mr. Zhou Enlai and Mr. Deng Xiaoping in Paris. ”

Ye Xuefeng was stunned for a moment, and then understood, no wonder Deng Political Committee personally wrote to Chen Zikun, and he replied calmly: "Deng Political Commissar is in good health, insists on taking cold water baths, and exercises every day. ”

Chen Zikun said: "That's good, I want to meet him when I have the opportunity." ”

As soon as Ye Xuefeng heard this, he knew that he had eyebrows, and he stood up and said, "General Chen, on behalf of Jiangbei Father, I thank you for your choice. ”

Chen Zikun said: "Now I have limited power in my hands, I have to be careful in doing things, you go back first, and we will establish channels and contact at any time." ”

Ye Xuefeng shook hands with Chen Zikun again, and then left from the back door, as soon as he went out, he was targeted by the spy reading the newspaper under the telephone pole across the street, and left the newspaper and followed.

The spy reported to Shen Kai, the head of the Jiangdong Station of the Secret Bureau.

Shen Kai said: "Send more people, keep an eye on me, and then follow the military law." ”

……

The wheel of time rolled into 1949, on January 10, news came from the battlefield of Xu Beng, Qiu Li's corps was completely annihilated, Du Yuming was captured, Qiu Qingquan committed suicide, Li Mi disappeared, the remnants of 70,000 troops were wiped out, and the 90,000 people of Huang Wei's corps were also annihilated, Huang Wei was captured, the battle of Xu Beng ended, the national army ended in defeat, and the loss of more than 400,000 soldiers.

The losses in the Northeast Battlefield and the Huaihai Battlefield were all Chiang Kai-shek's descendants, the elite of the national army, the 1 million army was wiped out in just a few months, and Chiang Kai-shek's cards were exhausted.

The situation of Fu Zuoyi's department in North China was also very bad, Zhangjiakou lost 50,000 people in the first battle, defended Tianjin, and the 130,000 army was annihilated, although Fu Zuoyi still had 250,000 people left, but he had no ability to fight.

At this point, the overall victory of the Chinese Communists was a foregone conclusion, the people of Nanjing and Shanghai were panicked, the government led by Sun Ke of the Executive Yuan to move south to Guangzhou, the families of the US military delegation to China also began to evacuate, high-ranking officials and huge wealth fled to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the United States, and the Xiaguan wharf in Nanjing was busy with evacuated ships, and thousands of boxes of cultural relics from the Palace Museum were loaded and shipped to Taiwan.

Chiang Kai-shek proposed peace negotiations, but at this time the initiative of war or non-war was no longer in his hands.

The CCP issued a statement that it was willing to hold peace talks, but the demands were very harsh, punishing war criminals, abolishing the old constitution, reorganizing the old army in a unified manner, confiscating bureaucratic capital, reforming the land system, abolishing the traitorous treaty, convening a political consultative conference without the participation of reactionary elements, establishing a coalition government, and taking over the power of the Kuomintang at all levels of government.

The first place on the list of war criminals was Chiang Kai-shek, and almost all other senior military and political officials of the Nationalist Government were listed.

Chiang Kai-shek naturally would not agree to such conditions, and he instructed the foreign ministers to send a note to the ambassadors of the United States, Russia, Britain, and France to China to mediate peace talks, but the four countries refused to mediate.

Chiang Kai-shek announced his resignation and handed over power to Vice President Li Zongren.

The Gui family finally grasped the power, and Li Zongren became the acting president, and he couldn't help but think of the words of Hu Banxian in the northern parallel, and he was full of emotion and ambition.

……

Liu Zhi, the former commander-in-chief of Xuzhou, led the remnants to retreat to Jiangdong, trying to regroup, he is an old qualification in the party, although he is a guest army, his strength should not be underestimated, Chen Zikun has a small banquet on the third day, and a big banquet on the fifth day, which shocked him.

The Fenglin Road Mansion welcomed another mysterious guest, dressed in a suit and leather shoes, with a good demeanor, he is also an old acquaintance of Chen Zikun, Zheng Zeru, who had dealt with as early as the Shanghai Jingwu Association.

Zheng Zeru said: "My identity does not need to be introduced, I was entrusted by Comrade Rao Shushi, first secretary of the East China Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, and General Chen Yi, commander of the East China Field Army, to persuade General Chen to throw himself into the light. ”

Chen Zikun did not show shock or anger, and calmly entertained Zheng Zeru, and did not discuss anything in detail, but only agreed on contact methods and channels with him.

Zheng Zeru left the official residence, got into a car with a government license plate and galloped away, and the secret service of the Secrecy Bureau wrote down the license plate number, took out a small notebook and checked, and it was actually the car of the Party Member Communications Bureau.

In the car, Xu Tingge asked Zheng Zeru: "Is it smooth?" ”

Zheng Zeru said: "It's going smoother than expected, the Kuomintang is falling apart, who is not in a hurry to find a way back, not to mention that Chen Zikun is originally a wall grass, whoever is strong he will fall to." ”

Xu Tingge said: "Although our army won a big victory on the battlefield, it is still very dangerous behind the enemy, and the spies are raging, you have to be careful." ”

Zheng Zeru said: "With you, the spy of the Central Union, what am I afraid of." ”

The two laughed, hearty laughter echoing inside and outside the car.

Another day later, a passenger plane flying from the north landed at the provincial airport, and there was only one passenger on board, Chen Zikun's brother-in-law Yan Qingyu.

Yan Qingyu, who had disappeared for a long time, seemed to have changed as a person, and the feeling of gestures was very different from before, less frivolous, more mature and steady, he came to the Fenglin Road Mansion to meet Chen Zikun and present him with a letter.

"This is a handwritten letter that Mr. Zhou Enlai entrusted me to bring to your brother-in-law."