Chapter 93 Crossing the Yangtze River and defeating Chiang Kaishek in the south 1949

Journalist: “You soon hit Nanking again, Shanghai?”

Mao: “Yes, on April 20, 1949, 1.2 million Chinese Communist troops, rowing across the Yangtze River, captured Chiang’s capital, Nanjing, on April 23. The Kuomintang’s 22-year rule came to an end. Chiang Kai-shek flew back to his hometown of Xikou and knelt in front of his mother’s grave for the last time with tears, then a warship carried him to Shanghai and rolled him to Taiwan.

I asked Stalin to send planes and submarines to help me attack Taiwan in 1950, to settle it in one fell swoop, and I told Stalin that we had a number of Red agents who would follow the escape to Taiwan, so that we could cooperate from the inside. But Stalin refused to risk confrontation with the U.S. The resistance to the U.S. happened, and I had to put Taiwan on hold.”

Journalist: “You want Stalin to help you fight Taiwan? Stalin was afraid to provoke the United States?”

Mao: “Yes, Stalin did help me suppress the Muslim forces in the northwest who were strongly anti-communist. Stalin said to me, ‘You can deal with it with artillery. We can give you 40 planes and sweep that cavalry unit away in one fell swoop.’ The Soviet air force machine-gunned and wiped out the Muslim cavalry on the Gobi desert.”

Journalist: “Oh, Stalin put out planes to help you fight back the people?”

Mao: “Yes, the liberation army marched to the south like the autumn wind sweeping away the falling leaves. On October 14, 1949, our army occupied Guangzhou, and Chiang’s government retreated in full force without resistance. But no one came out to welcome Guangzhou, it was quiet. The Soviets were puzzled, and Lin Biao explained to Soviet intelligence: the masses were not too interested in changing the dynasty.”

Journalist: “Oh, Guangzhou also amounted to a peaceful and quiet liberation?”

Mao: “This is the last photo of me sitting on the side, I humbly let the four old men sit in the middle 1950 onwards, officially called me long live, I have been sitting in the middle ever since.”