1. Plan the "July Seventh" commemoration

Taierzhuang's empty victory, although we made a propaganda week, did not frighten the enemy. The enemy attacked Xuzhou according to its predetermined plan, and on 19 May finally captured this important town on the Longhai line. The enemy's original plan was rumored to be to adopt a roundabout encirclement strategy, advance westward along the Longhai Road, and then capture the southern section of the Pinghan Line to carry Wuhan's back. However, this strategy, due to the bursting of the Yellow River on 11 June, made eastern Henan a Zeguo, and it came to naught.

At that time, the embankment of the Yellow River burst at the same time in Wuzhuang, Jingshui Town, and Xujiadi in the northwest of Kaifeng, and our propaganda to the outside world said that it was due to the enemy's wild bombing, but in fact it was actually dug up by our front-line generals on order. This is our traditional art of war - "flooding the Sixth Army". But the enemy was submerged in very limited, and the lives and property of our people suffered unimaginable sacrifices. The enemy's roundabout strategy suffered a setback, but it adopted the tactics of frontal attack, and directly attacked Wuhan by land and water from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River with the troops of the Five Routes, so that the authorities in Gou An for a while had to raise a call for "defending Wuhan."

Now the opportunity for us to do the work has come again.

It was after the fall of Anqing on June 12. At a propaganda meeting, the issue of commemorating the anniversary of the "77th" was discussed.

This propaganda conference is a regular gathering since the establishment of the three departments, and is attended by the Central Propaganda Department, the International Propaganda Department, the Central News Agency, the Garrison Headquarters, the Military Command Department, the Political Department, and important personnel of the three departments. It is held once a week to exchange information, decide on work policies, and issue weekly propaganda outlines, and all work is probably done by the three agencies.

This time, the commemoration of the "July Seventh" was discussed, and as usual, it was presumed that I would draw up a plan. The plan is divided into two parts, one is the general method of commemoration, and the other part is the compilation policy of the "Anti-Japanese War Yearbook". The first part was drafted by me, mainly stipulating that "July 7" was the anniversary of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and that a nationwide meeting was ordered to hold a meeting to commemorate the occasion, to hold a ceremony to lay the foundation stone of the monument to the fallen soldiers, to observe a three-minute silence throughout the country at 12 o'clock at noon, to issue a letter to the people, to the front-line soldiers, and to the international community, and to carry out plans for recruiting winter clothing, medicine, and donations. Expand the consolation movement, comfort the front, comfort the rear, comfort the wounded, comfort the conscription and so on. The latter part was mainly drafted by Zhou Gong, and the scale was very large, and the materials of the department were provided by ** and the various departments of the Military Commission, and it was completed within a time limit. (This part was not successfully realized later, because many organs were not responsible, so only the Third Department edited "One Year of the Anti-Japanese War" as a replacement, and we edited it until three years.) I combined the two parts of the plan and presented it to Chen Cheng that night. At that time, Chen Cheng, Zhou Gong, Huang Qixiang and I all lived in the dormitory of the professors of Wuhan University in Luojia Mountain. The "highest" sometimes lived in the official residence here. Chen Cheng submitted the plan that night, and when we met in the ministry the next day, he handed me the original plan with instructions: "Everything will be carried out according to plan." Because when I wrote the proposal, I used the original paper printed on foreign paper, so there is an eyebrow comment on the compilation plan of the second part: "In the future, all books will be printed on clay paper." "Maybe this is a warning to me about using foreign paper, right?

In this way, the plan was approved, and the work could not be delayed, and it naturally fell on the shoulders of the third hall.

2. Special summons

With regard to the preparations for the anniversary of the "7 July" anniversary, we have still adopted the method of "doing everything but not covering everything," and we have invited all the official party, government, and military organs and nongovernmental organizations to come. But this time, Chen Cheng was punished for the excesses of the previous expansion of the publicity week, but he refused to pay more. The previous time he generously allocated 10,000 yuan, but this time he was only willing to give 3,000 (I don't remember the amount exactly, I'm afraid it's even less). If this is not enough, it will be very difficult for us to ask other organs and organizations to gather together.

When the preparations were beginning, one morning, I suddenly received a call from the chamberlain's room, saying: The chairman has summoned me and asked me to go immediately.

I was amazed by this particular way of summoning. The usual "summons" is usually a notice from the communication office two or three days in advance, informing the time and going to answer the call. At that point, there are probably a lot of people, and you have to wait in the side room, get to the turn, and then be called in.

Why did you summon me alone? I was really surprised: Did he get some information that he thought I had gone wrong?

I rushed to Hubei Province** and was immediately ushered into the living room, to my surprise, the person who summoned me was already sitting inside and waiting.

He got up, shook hands, exchanged pleasantries with me, and asked me to sit next to him. He began to speak.

"What you have proposed, oh, about the method of commemorating the 'July Seven', I think it is, very thoughtful, oh, very thoughtful. Have you started preparations recently? ”

I reported to him that preparations had begun.

"How much did the rhetoric give you?"

At that time, Chen Cheng was also the commander of the Ninth War Zone, and in order to arrange the fortifications, he had already gone to the Yangxin Commander's Headquarters.

And I told him the real number.

"Oh, that's too little, that's too little! Om, look, oh, how much does it cost to be enough? ”

"It's hard to say, more money to do, less money to do, I really can't say a standard." I replied like this.

"You might as well make it bigger, how much money did you use when you were in Taierzhuang last time?"

"At that time, the resignation was given 10,000."

"So be it." He picked up a thick red and blue pencil on the coffee table and was about to write on the note, "Fifteen thousand yuan, is it enough?" Huh? ”

"If we add in the printing cost of the Yearbook, I am afraid it will not be enough."

"No, the Yearbook will be published later." He had already written on the slip: "The special fee for the third hall is 15,000 yuan, and the quartermaster is Zhou." And then he said, "That's enough, huh?" Probably enough, huh? ”

I took the slip and was ready to go. He kept me again: "Ah, one more thing. Om, those three kinds of proclamations, hey, are to the people, to the former enemy soldiers, to the international, please prepare them for me, eh? After you prepare it, send it to me to see. You can come to me at any time in the future. If you want money, feel free to tell me, eh? ”

Whenever I was summoned, I always wanted to leave as soon as possible. But this time, when it came to drafting a proclamation, I had to ask him for some instructions. He also instructed some advice and finally let me go.

3. "Ordered to go out of the court"

"When I was ordered to go out of the court, the earth shook the mountains. Open the road in the mountains and build bridges when encountering water. ”

Contemptible people obey the imperial decree and handle the anniversary of "77" - someone has already publicized it for me - it should be a majestic thing, isn't it?

Indeed, the majesty is not small, and it does not move the earth and the mountains from being shaken.

Who's to say it doesn't work? In the past, I always fought for the second hall and the first hall for this and that, but this time I don't fight. The four secretaries, who are usually in the way, are not in the way this time.

With the special fee, all party, government, and military organs other than the Political Department have been exempted from the funds that have been recognized. Those who have taken up the job can also go to the preparatory office to receive the work fee. Therefore, the general attitude towards work seems to be more of a conversion to the Dharma.

What is particularly interesting is Chen Cheng's attitude.

He rushed back from Yangxin a few days before "Seventy-Seven". There were a few big scenes that he had to attend, so why didn't he rush back?

The $3,000 pledged by the Department of Political Affairs was also exempted at first, but he automatically asked the General Affairs Office to take it out. He also said to me: Do it as grandly as possible, the special fee is not enough, and the Political Department can get more money.

On the evening of the 5th, after I can't remember what the meeting had been, Chen Cheng and I, along with others, chatted in a corridor facing the garden in Hankow, under the brilliant electric light. Huang Qixiang and Wu Guozhen are here, I remember this clearly.

Naturally, the conversation began with the various arrangements for the commemorative meeting, and everyone was eagerly looking forward to it, believing that the situation would be very warm.

I'm talking about the arrangement of the altar. There are five fixed gold offering platforms in the three towns of Wuhan, three in Hankou, one in Wuchang and one in Hanyang. Each one invited a dignitary's wife (I don't know whose proposal it was) to be the host, and Wu Guozhen and Huang Qixiang's wives agreed to participate. There are also three mobile gold offering platforms, which are placed on trucks, two in Hankou and one in Wuchang.

As soon as I told me about these situations, it was surprisingly Chen Cheng who did the opposite. He said, "No! This one is bound to fail! Where will anyone come and give you money? People with money won't come to your stage to offer, and people without money won't come to offer at all. ”

"But the 'donation' is the original plan." I argued.

"I'm saying that your plan to donate money doesn't work, the 'donation' is okay, we find rich people to apportion, that's okay, but if you want everyone to donate automatically, who will come? You're going to fail. ”

"I can't say it's going to work, but I might as well give it a try."

"No," Chen Cheng was resolute, "the results are too bad, so it's ugly." There are a lot of foreign journalists here, and this is related to the international perspective, and I think it is very problematic. ”

After Chen Cheng's talk, everyone fell to his side like a hyacinth. In particular, the words "international view" seem to have a great deal of magic.

"What to do?" Chen Cheng asked me, a little anxious for me, "Is it okay to cancel this project?" ”

"That's not going to work!" I replied firmly, "It was held by the preparatory meeting through a resolution of everyone, and it has been advertised in the newspaper for several days, so there is no reason to cancel it at the moment." I don't dare to say that I will succeed, but I dare to believe that I will not fail greatly. The enthusiasm of the general people for the war of resistance is very high, and the accumulation of a small amount is bound to be considerable. But what we focus on is not the amount of money, but the height of enthusiasm. ”

Chen Cheng saw that I was also stubborn, but he relented, and he considered other remedies. He said generously: "Then let's do this, and the Political Department will donate 10,000 yuan as a donation to all the colleagues." As he spoke, he took care of Huang Qixiang.

At the same time, Wu Guozhen was also instigated, and he promised to raise 30,000 yuan from the Sanye Club (which is the brothel industry, the theater industry, and the tea tavern industry).

In this way, there is already a foundation of 40,000 yuan, Chen Cheng and everyone can feel at ease, thinking that the face is not too bad-looking.

Yes, they should be thanked for their help, but what is the motivation for this help? Can anyone say that it wasn't because I was "ordered to go out of the court"?

4. Commemorative Congress

The commemorative meeting began on July 6 and was held for three consecutive days. Every day, a grand rally is held in the three towns of Wuhan, and there is a torch procession in the evening, and the enthusiasm is no less than when celebrating the victory of Taierzhuang.

I can't remember the details now, but there are a few things that I remember very clearly.

Although the three towns held their respective conventions at the same time, the venue in Hankou was in fact in a leading position, and the scale here was naturally the largest.

On the opening day, in Hankow, we invited Mr. Zhang Yilin to be the chairman and deliver the opening speech. Readers may be surprised: how could Zhang Zhonglao suddenly be invited to such a commemorative meeting?

Zhang Yilin served as Yuan Shikai's secretary general, but he resolutely opposed Yuan Shikai's claim to be emperor, so he broke with him. When the Anti-Japanese War occurred, this old gentleman was very active and once proposed to organize the "Lao Tzu Army" in order to kill the enemy and achieve results. The most amazing thing is that he is also a very enthusiastic person to promote new words! Isn't it not easy to approve of the new script with an old Hanlin who is over the age of an old, and it is very enthusiastic about implementing it?

Therefore, I have respect for this old man. During the Battle of Songhu, I visited him in Suzhou, and I praised him in writing, although a few "leftist" people at that time wrote anonymous articles to curse me, saying that I was "blindly praising local tyrants and inferior gentry".

Another major event was the opening of the National Council for Political Participation on the same day. Zhang Yilin is one of the members of the political council, and with the oldest senior member, it is presumed that he will address the political participation meeting. Therefore, I would like to link this "organ of public opinion" with the "July 7" commemorative meeting that we are hosting. With this in mind, we invited Elder Zhang Zhong to preside over the meeting in Hankou. And asked Chen Cheng to preside over the venue in Wuchang.

It was a sunny day, and in order to avoid air raids, the meeting was scheduled for 8 o'clock. Zhang Zhonglao arrived at the venue on time. But after all, the time was too early, the scale of the rally was too large, and it was a mass gathering, so it was inevitable that there would be a little delay, and it would not be possible to start the meeting on time. This made Zhang Zhonglao anxious, because the meeting of the political participation meeting was held at half past eight o'clock, and he had to rush there.

The short Zhang Zhonglao turned his childish face redder and redder, his starry eyes became more and more round, and the crane hair seemed to be about to stand upright, and protested to me: "You guys can't do this! I, I've got to get over there to give a speech! ”

I apologized to him and comforted him, saying, "At most, I will be a minute or two late, and I believe that it will be in time, and the meeting may not be able to start on time." ”

"The Chinese are so sloppy!"

I was severely condemned, but I respected him more and more in my heart. Really, we are too sloppy, if there are more old gentlemen like this, wouldn't China be better?

But fortunately, less than a quarter of an hour late, the meeting was announced under the ** and enthusiastic circumstances.

Zhang Zhonglao's speech was very simple, he encouraged everyone with full enthusiasm and raised everyone's hope. He believes that "July Seven" is the most glorious day for the Chinese, even more glorious than the Double Tenth Festival. He hoped that everyone would strengthen unity, resist the war to the end, and let the Chinese always erect a backbone.

After Zhang Zhonglao finished speaking, he left in a hurry. Whether he made it to the opening of the political council, I didn't ask.

But I dare to believe that there must not have been a meeting on time.

Who can say that China's bureaucracy is more observant of the moment than the popular groups?

5. National Participation Council

The convening of the National Political Participation Conference was quite valued by ordinary people at that time, and Zhang Zhonglao's seriousness is an excellent proof.

But in fact, it was just a trick, and it was a routine one, and no one can deny it today.

The predecessor of the Senate was the so-called National Defense Council, which was established in Nanjing after the "August 13" (at the end of August). At that time, leaders of various parties and factions were invited, at first fifteen people, and later to more than twenty people. Meetings are held once or twice a week to listen to reports and prepare for consultations, and there are no organizational regulations, let alone detailed rules, and in fact they are just a kind of government-run forum. At that time, although the representatives of the Central Committee were invited, they never attended.

Now this cell has expanded from 20 or so to 200 members, and its name has changed from the National Defense Council to the National Council.

In March and April, the Kuomintang convened an extraordinary national congress and obtained four resolutions: (1) the establishment of a president, (2) the establishment of the Three People's Youth League, (3) the formulation of the "Anti-Japanese War and the Founding of the People's Republic of China", and (4) the preparation of the National Council for Political Participation. Isn't this the basis of the legal system? In the "Program for the Founding of the People's Republic of China in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression", there is also a clear clause: "Organize the National Political Council, unite the strength of the whole country, and concentrate the thoughts and insights of the whole country, so as to facilitate the decision and implementation of national policies." "It's even more like a public opinion organ.

The Constitution was promulgated on April 12 and amended on June 21, according to the provisions of the first article; "During the Anti-Japanese War, in order to brainstorm and unite the strength of the whole country, the National Political Council was specially set up." Although it is "ad hoc", and it is only limited to the "Anti-Japanese War period", but in short, it is for "brainstorming" and "uniting forces"! These nice words alone can intoxicate many people.

But what is the essence of it? Three-quarters of the 200 members who participated in the administration of politics were members of the Kuomintang, and only one-quarter were members of various parties and factions and those without party affiliation. The most interesting thing is that although the Kuomintang invited almost all the leaders of all parties and factions, it did not recognize the legal existence of any party other than the Kuomintang; Therefore, although the leaders of various parties and factions have "participated" in "politics," in the eyes of the Kuomintang they are only "well-known people" who have "long believed in the government" or "have been trustworthy" without party or faction. (At that time, the term "social elite" had not yet been coined.) ）

The Trinity Doctrine of the Kuomintang reactionaries -- the so-called "one doctrine, one **, one leader" -- is like the third period of syphilis, which has never been concocted. Although there was another set of rhetoric in the "Program for the Founding of the People's Republic of China", he shouted "the country is supreme, the nation is supreme; Military first, victory first; Concentration of will, concentration of strength", in fact, it is just a change of clothes. I am the country, I am the nation, so I am the supremacy, and this "one leader" is also. Military first, victory first, so the military order must be unified, the government order must be unified, this "one **" also. The will is concentrated on our Kuomintang, the strength is concentrated on our Kuomintang, and everything is concentrated on the Kuomintang in which we believe in the Three People's Principles.

If the Trinity Doctrine is a kind of fantasies, then the National Council for Political Participation is one of the projections of this fantasies to objectivity.

But it still works. What does it do? It is not so much that it is adapted to the demands of democracy, but that it is more out of helpless prevarication than the subtlety of propaganda against the enemy.

The enemy is most afraid of China's internal unity, which is indeed a weapon. When the enemy attacked Shanghai and threatened Nanjing, the "one leader" made a small fumble of this weapon, and that was the National Defense Council. The enemy is now marching on the fifth route and attacking Wuhan, so he has greatly weakened this weapon again. The meaning is very clear, it is to frighten the enemy, don't come!

To put it bluntly, we can say that the convening of the National Council for Political Participation is just one of the jugglers in the commemoration of "July Seven".

Sixth, the frenzy of donations

But look at the spirit of the common people!

The gold donation platform, which Chen Cheng was most worried about and which he was most opposed, received the greatest success in the history of the commemoration program. I really didn't even think of it. Five fixed gold offering platforms and three mobile gold offering platforms overturned the entire three towns of Wuhan. The crowd of donors poured up the stage from morning to night every day. People are competing with each other, and there is a competition between Taiwan, in a simple word, it's crazy.

In terms of dates, it was originally only set for three days, but by the evening of the third day, there was still a steady stream of donors. It was extended for another two days.

In the case of donations, the five-day result was a discount of more than $1 million in cash and goods – a considerable amount at the time.

For example, there are fiat money, foreign currency, silver dollars, copper dollars, and all kinds of items: gold watches, gold bracelets, platinum rings, gold rings, silver shields, silver cups, silver plates, silver jewelry, broadswords, straw sandals, cloth shoes, suits, Chinese clothes, medicines, food, ...... Anything that can be moved, almost everything.

The number of people who gave the money must always be more than 1 million. And the types of people, there is everything. Shoeshine children, rickshaw drivers, dock workers, old mothers, back-rubbing people in the bathhouse, the hall of the teahouse hotel...... It's the main character, and even the name Hanako has it. These people, and they are extremely enthusiastic volunteer propagandists, jumped on the gold offering platform, opened their voices to publicize, and returned to their posts to continue to publicize. They themselves offer not only once or twice, but even ten or twenty times, all the time, every day. The amount of more than one million yuan was mainly accumulated by these poor patriots, one dime and two cents! Naturally, there are rich people, and the gold bracelets, platinum rings, etc. are proof, but there will never be many poor people, and the total amount of donations may not catch up. In those days, many volunteer propagandists shouted at their throats! There are so many touching interjections that keep happening and spreading!

The press has done its best to propagandize. The Wuhan newspapers of those days kept a rich record of gratitude, tears of gratitude. It's a pity that I can't get this information at the moment, and I can't write some more concrete facts to make my friends who are not in the situation also cry.

In short, this is an extremely grand expression of public opinion out of spontaneity. I dare to say that the value of those altars as organs of public opinion is far beyond the so-called National Council for Political Participation, which is composed of 200 political participants!

Regarding the report on the donation account, we once published a special book, which Feng Naichao was in charge of editing. Because of the large number of people and the fragmented number, a lot of work was spent not only on editing, but also on printing. It's just those surnames and numbers that are turned over and over, and I don't know how many lead words have been added! But this book, I think is the most precious record, this is the real people's deeds, and how many patriots' precious efforts are impregnated in it!

It's a pity that I don't have this book in my possession at the moment. Whoever has this book, I hope not to take it lightly, and not to think that it is just the bits and pieces of accounts of some small people in the market and throw it away. I want to treat it as a sacred biography of the Bible—no, that's too thin. Seriously, if anyone still keeps this book today, I would advise him to treat it as a national treasure and keep it for future generations.