In 1956, Song Xilian reached a turning point in his journey to rebirth. After that, he encountered difficulties and never wavered.

Song Xilian was captured by the People's Liberation Army on the banks of the Dadu River on December 19, 1949. He was taken to Chongqing via Leshan and imprisoned in Bai Gongguan. Those who were successively escorted here and lived in the same room include Wang Lingji, Chairman of the Sichuan Province of the Kuomintang, Zhong Bin, Commander of the 14th Corps, Xu Yuanju, Zhou Yanghao, and Shen Zui, General Directors of the Military Command Bureau, Liu Jin, Baoji Guard Commander, Guo Zhongrong, Captain of the Appeasement Corps, and others. Bai Gongguan is a place with terraces, flowers and trees, and a very quiet environment. Before liberation, it was a prison for communist political prisoners. Song Xilian knew about it, but had never been there. Now that he was here as a prisoner, Xu Yuanju and the others told him within a few days that the room he was living in was the same place where General Ye Ting was imprisoned. Song Xilian was stunned for a moment and sighed, thinking that the imprisoned person had turned over, and that it was really a change of dynasty.

At the beginning of his incarceration, Song Xilian, like others, was a loser anyway, resigned to life and death, living one day at a time, feeling depressed and pessimistic about the future. Besides three meals a day, the only way to kill time was to play chess. His main opponent was Zhong Bin, who he recommended to Chiang Kai-shek and succeeded him as the commander of the 14th Corps. The two of them had a good personal relationship, and Song was slightly better at chess. Sometimes both parties were very serious and often argued over a move. Others couldn't see it, so they ridiculed him: "You can give up the commander of a corps to Zhong Bin, but this game of chess still needs to be called so seriously?" "Those are two different things, two different things!" Song Xilian said with a wry smile.

Because everyone's ideological status is similar, no one is willing to discuss state affairs together, let alone their own future. Wife and children are important topics, and other interesting things in life are often brought up again for entertainment. Wang Lingji was one of the first people imprisoned here. He named this residence "Siwanglou" and introduced all new arrivals first, saying: "Look at the dawn at night, look at the meal in the morning, look at the dinner at noon, and look at sleep after eating." Song Xilian shook his head after hearing this, deeply feeling this It is joy in suffering.

In April 1950, after the arrival of General Chen Geng, Song Xilian's ideological situation underwent a turning change. He began to seriously consider the rest of his life. At forty-three years old, he is still at an age when he is physically strong and energetic. Living passively and pessimistically, there is not much difference between living and dying; living actively and strongly, bidding farewell to the past, and starting a new journey, only living is alive. How to take this road and how long it will take, he still has countless thoughts in his mind. Chen Geng's arrival gave him hope and confidence.

He first began to carefully read the books issued by the management, read newspapers every day, and successively explained the crimes he had committed in the past anti-people war. Due to the change in his mood, when Wang Lingji said something about the "Four Lookouts" again, he said rudely: "If you always hide the 'Four Lookouts' in your heart and talk about it, you will only be able to live like a year and keep looking at it. "Until death. What good will it do to us to be so negative and pessimistic?" Many people agree with Song Xilian's blunt statement, but Wang Lingji has the highest official rank among his colleagues (the rank of Chairman of Sichuan Province and the rank of General), and he is always very arrogant. , and said coldly: "My Wang Lingji is no longer alive, so there is no need to 'witness' death. If you want to 'hope' for life, the only thing you can do is ride a donkey and read the songbook - we'll see."

Soon, they moved from Bai Gongguan to the newly built detention center near Songlin Slope. The conditions here are good, the food has been improved, collective learning has become more systematic, and study groups have been organized. Chairman Mao's "The Chinese Revolution and the Chinese Communist Party", "On New Democracy", "On the People's Democratic Dictatorship" and "Farewell, Leighton Stuart" and other works, not only requires everyone to read carefully and take notes, but also requires contact with ideological reality and conduct discussions. At the beginning, many people had the idea of ​​​​"success is king, failure is bandit" to varying degrees. The basic footing has not changed, they are inconsistent in the center of learning, and they are unwilling to expose their thoughts.

The cadres of the management office emphasized two points, one is to obey the truth, and the other is to connect with reality.

Song Xilian first talked about the changes in his thoughts before and after General Chen Geng's visit at the study group meeting. Finally, he talked about Chairman Mao Zedong's works and said: "Who is Chairman Mao Zedong? In the past, we must have had the same view." I have read his articles and works more than ten years ago, especially his military works, and I have studied them more carefully. The purpose is to find out what Mao Zedong's magical plan was, with so many guns and so many groups of people. Just take root, strong winds can't knock it down, and fire can't burn it out? I saw it at that time and felt that he had his own way of doing things in the military, but I was never convinced that he was a great person and always wanted to defeat the Communist Party. The power has grown from small to large, mainly because there are many incompetent and selfish people in the Kuomintang. They take advantage of others' danger and deceive the people's hearts. That set of communist theories is not suitable for China's national conditions. If you want to win the world , It is impossible to rule the world... But then, the situation took a turn for the worse, the Kuomintang was defeated again and again, and the Communist Party was powerful in the world, until we people became prisoners. Today I read Chairman Mao Zedong's works and articles again, although many of them were. The place seemed to be beating me with a whip, and even made me tremble with fear. But in connection with the history of China in the past hundred years, and recalling the path I have traveled over the past few decades, it was like waking up from a dream. I saw the future of the country and the nation, and also saw the future of the country and the nation. It’s time to hope for a new life..."

The management staff affirmed Song Xilian’s speech at the meeting and asked him to write a speech and let him speak on a larger scale. But after the meeting, someone came to him and asked him to explain a passage in "On the People's Democratic Dictatorship": "'Treat others in their own way.' That's what we do, that is, treat others in their own way. The way of the reactionaries of Chiang Kai-shek and his lackeys is to fight against imperialism and the reactionaries of Chiang Kai-shek and his lackeys. That's all." The questioner also said to Song Xilian very slyly: "Brother, you spoke clearly and clearly at the meeting. Have you seen this passage? Do you understand it? Where does hope come from for those of us whose hands are stained with the blood of the Communist Party? Are we talking in our sleep in broad daylight? >

Song Xilian explained that Chairman Mao Zedong’s words meant that the Communist Party used the barrel of a gun to make revolution. It learned from the Kuomintang Chiang Kai-shek and used revolutionary armed forces to deal with counter-revolutionary armed forces. They say that we killed the Communist Party in the past, and today the Communist Party wants to kill us one by one. If that's the case, why are we left here? Although he was sure that the prisoners of war would not be killed, it was very slim when he thought about his future and whether he could one day live an ordinary life again. He had no choice but to keep silent about it.

Not long after, he began to confess his crimes again. This is nothing to the generals who lead troops in war. Anyway, with real swords and guns, life and death can be discussed openly. What is more complicated is the heads of the Military Command Bureau. Most of what they do is secret, and their relationships are intricate and often unclear. Because of this, Shen Zui, the late-arriving Major General of the Military Command Bureau, was interrogated one after another. He was so resistant that he quarreled with the interrogator and threatened to die. He couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, and really didn't want to live anymore. Song Xilian and Shen Zui have a good personal relationship. One night, Shen Zui tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep. Song Xilian took the initiative to talk to him all night long and said to Shen Zui very sincerely: "I understand your mood. People like you and me are young people who have achieved success at a young age and are very arrogant. If you don't completely change your temper, it won't do any good. You are only in your thirties, and I am only in my forties. There is still hope for the future, so you can't give up!"

Song Xilian’s earnest persuasion touched Shenzui’s heart. Decades later, Shen Zui still remembers this precious friendship.

After living in Chongqing for two years, Song Xilian was transferred to Beijing. At the Gongdelin War Criminals Management Center, he reunited with many old classmates and colleagues such as Du Yuming, Fan Hanjie, Wang Yaowu, Huang Wei, and lived, studied, and worked together. The mood is better and the content is richer. In order to speed up their ideological transformation, the party and the government adopted a series of new measures based on their serious study, change of stance, and confession of guilt in the past few years, which convinced them and saw hope and a future.

Song Xilian wrote in his "Study Summary of 1956": "The year 1956 was the most outstanding year in my transformation process after liberation, and it was also a year of greater harvest. Because it was precisely In this year, I finally solved my long-standing ideological problem, that is, my doubts about the leniency policy. For a leader of Chiang Kai-shek's reactionary clique and a listed war criminal, the Communist Party cannot. Killing me is a huge kindness. But will the Communist Party ever restore my freedom? I always feel that if I cannot regain my freedom, no matter how good the new society is, it will not mean much to me, and my future is still there. It was bleak. Especially in 1955, my health was in bad shape. I often felt dizzy, had high blood pressure, and was low in energy. I gradually became tired of studying and reforming, and fell into depression and irritability. ...

Since January 10 this year, the government announced that we will accelerate our transformation. To this end, it has taken a series of measures, such as organizing visits to cities, rural areas, factories, and schools; allowing meetings with relatives and friends and communicating with domestic Correspondence with relatives outside the home; interviews and heart-to-heart talks with old friends and colleagues among senior democrats; improvement of material life, relaxation of management system; etc., especially with Mr. Zhang Wenbai (Zhizhong), who has been with me for more than 20 years and now holds a high position in the government. He received me, taught me earnestly, moved me with affection, and told me in detail during his conversation that the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao would let us go and give us further leniency. The time is not far away! Several speeches by the head of the public security department also clearly stated that we will not be tried or sentenced. The party and the government will also pass a resolution to clearly stipulate the method of treating us leniently. At this point, I have doubts. Suddenly, the confidence doubled and the spirit was lifted!

In addition, a rare initiative in ancient and modern times at home and abroad - organized prisoners to conduct on-site visits, including visits to national cotton factories, Twelve units including the Yellow River Planning Exhibition, Agricultural Tools Manufacturing Factory, Yili Food Company, Sijiqing Production Cooperative, Gymnasium, State-owned Nanjiao Farm, Red Star Collective Farmers, Nationalities College, Tsinghua University, and Guanting Reservoir not only witnessed with their own eyes the post-liberation* With the construction achievements made by the Communist Party and the People's Government and the emergence of a large number of new people and new things, it was also the first time to experience the taste of talking with the broad masses of workers and peasants, and to try the sweetness of how they would live in the new society one day after freedom is restored. .

In April of this year, the head of the Ministry of Public Security announced that relatives and friends overseas could communicate with each other and come to Beijing for visits. This was another piece of good news! I lost my father and my wife in 2001, and all five of my children were sent overseas. For seven or eight years, I have been worried about what happened to them. I immediately wrote to my sister in Hunan and asked her to contact me in Hong Kong first. I received a letter from my daughter in Hong Kong and learned that their brothers and sisters were healthy and living well. I burst into tears and couldn't control myself. A month later, my eldest son received a letter from the United States saying that he was scheduled to graduate from college in June this year. Take a master's degree. The youngest son is studying in middle school in Hong Kong. As the good news came one after another, I started to dream wildly. I wrote a letter to my younger son and asked someone to visit him, motivating him to return to Beijing or Changsha to study. I thought that once I regain my freedom, I should have a child by my side..."

Song Xilian's year-end study summary is enough to show how fast and solid he is on the road to rebirth! This huge The changes are not limited to him personally. His companions are changing their minds, changing their stance, and making gratifying progress. On June 26, 1956, Song Xilian, Du Yuming, Fan Hanjie, Wang Yaowu, Liao Yaoxiang and other ninety-nine people. On the night of May 1st of this year, something happened that surprised Song Xilian and his companions. Unexpected news. As soon as the sky turned white on the morning of May 2nd, Song Xilian got up quietly, picked up the small stool and notebook, walked out of the room, and sat on the corridor to write quickly. Last night, he was so excited that he couldn't fall asleep. Because he was afraid of disturbing others, he lay down again after thinking about writing in his diary. It was already dawn, and he was still very excited, and the pen in his hand was a little trembling.

He tried hard to control himself and wrote: "Yesterday at about three o'clock in the afternoon, we were engaged in cultural and entertainment activities on the festival day. Suddenly, a command was called to assemble. No one knew why. The chief made a brief announcement, and immediately there was a long-lasting burst of laughter. There were applause, and some couldn't help but cheer and jump like primary school students! How happy and excited we are! Because this is something that we have been longing for for several years but even dreamed of it, and it is happening today! It will come true! Every year we can see the spectacular scenes of the May Day and National Day Tiananmen celebration parties in news movies. When we are excited, we often think of our own identity. It is impossible for a prisoner to be there in person and interact with the people* It is self-evident that we celebrate together. No one dares to make such an extraneous request. Who could have expected that the party and the government would be so tolerant and aware that we had buried it deeply. The car drove us to the Ministry of Public Security compound diagonally across from Tiananmen Square at a very fast speed. We didn’t even bother to watch the festive atmosphere along the way, and we only looked forward to reaching our destination quickly. We got off the car and climbed to the roof of the five-story building of the Ministry of Public Security. This is the most appropriate place and location to watch the event. I stood on the roof and looked around, surrounded by green pines and cypresses, and the majestic Tiananmen Tower stood tall. To the north, there is the broad Tianmen Square and the clean main road. This is the heart of the great capital, a place that many people yearn for! We all hold our breath, waiting for the grand party to begin! "

"The sky is bright! It got dark. Suddenly, the bright lights illuminated Tiananmen Square like daylight. Under the lights, there was a huge crowd. Countless red flags fluttered in the wind. The radio played cheerful and beautiful music. People in festive costumes linked their arms. Dancing and singing to the beat of the music, after a while, a rumbling salute was heard, and in an instant, countless colorful lights appeared in the sky, like streaks of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple intertwined. The rainbow formed! People cheered along with the fireworks, and the sound shook the earth. This was such a beautiful and spectacular scene. Although I was a high-ranking official in the old days, I had seen many scenes like this majestic, beautiful, and spectacular scene. The scene was the first time in my life. How many people attended this event? Five hundred thousand? One million? It is difficult to calculate accurately. The ten-mile-long East and West Chang'an Street has become like this. A sea of ​​people and flags! Joy, true joy, joy from the heart! Because the working people are the masters of the country and celebrate their own festivals in the great Communist Party of China. Under the wise leadership of the People's Republic of China, New China has made brilliant achievements in the six years since its founding! Here, there is no exploitation and no oppression; the era of imperialism's tyranny in China has ended forever. This scene, this scene, marks the end of the dark rule of the old China. The eternal end also marks the growth and brilliance of New China! "

"I am a Chinese, I have loved my motherland since I was a child, and I hope that it will be prosperous and strong. Seeing this scene, I can feel happy. Not genuinely excited and extremely happy? In this situation, when I think of my sinful past, I feel even more sad, and I understand even more clearly that only the Communist Party and socialism can save China! I am still a prisoner now, but I already firmly believe that my feelings are closely linked to the joy of the motherland and the people. One day I will definitely become a new person and do something beneficial to the people to repay the kindness they have shown me. Just in case. "

It can be said that 1956 did become a turning point in Song Xilian's rebirth. Since then, even if he encountered various difficulties, he has never had any doubts or wavers. .