Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

The Chinese diplomatic corps and French staff attempted several times to reclaim the embassy, ​​but after a few individuals proved unsuccessful, Charles de Gaulle was furious. France was the first truly Western country to establish diplomatic ties with China, a favor bestowed upon it. Charles de Gaulle was unwilling to squander this advantage, as such a minor incident could affect Sino-French relations. In particular, the Sino-British Joint Declaration explicitly stated that Britain recognized only the legal status of the People's Republic of China.

So Charles de Gaulle personally intervened in the matter, and France directly sent police to arrest several people who were staying in the embassy and then expelled them all from the country.

The Prime Minister put a lot of thought into this process. Seeing that it couldn't prevent China from establishing diplomatic relations with European countries, the US resorted to such despicable tactics, blocking Chinese diplomats from entering the embassy. The Prime Minister engaged in tit-for-tat confrontations with Europe and the US.

The situation is similar in other European countries. Taiwanese representatives, leveraging various connections and supported by the United States, are preventing European countries from expelling Taiwanese representatives. Therefore, the Prime Minister wants to expel all Taiwanese representatives from Europe.

This is also the longest overseas trip by a Premier since the founding of the People's Republic of China, which also shows the importance the central government attaches to European countries.

The Prime Minister did not return to China, so Wei Hongjun, as the first deputy director of the Central Special Committee, was given full authority to handle all matters related to the atomic bomb.

At 1959 p.m. on February 2, 21, Wei Hongjun summoned Deng He, secretary of the Cultural and Educational Work Committee, Chen Laozong, secretary of the Foreign Affairs Work Committee, Wang Jiaxiang, head of the International Liaison Department of the CPC Central Committee, Liao Chengzhi, head of the Central United Front Work Department, Duan Chengwei, acting head of the Propaganda Department, Wu Xiuquan, deputy head of the International Liaison Department of the CPC Central Committee, Qiao Guanhua, assistant minister of foreign affairs, Wu Lengxi, president of Xinhua News Agency, Yao Zhen, director of the International Propaganda Department of the Propaganda Department, and Liu Qi, vice president and editor-in-chief of Xinhua News Agency, to his office.

No one was sure why Wei Hongjun had called everyone over so late at night. Some of them had been called directly from their homes, without explaining what had happened.

In fact, General Chen, as Secretary of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, didn't need to report to Wei Hongjun. But no one was so perceptive as to ask such a question.

"Comrades, I have some news to inform you."

Wei Hongjun came in after a while and said directly without any courtesy: "Tomorrow at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, our country will officially conduct an atomic bomb explosion test."

A thunderclap rang out in everyone's ears. China's atomic bomb project involved a significant number of people—literally millions, tens of millions. Yet, only a handful of officials truly knew all the details. Even less was known about the specific atomic bomb test explosions, which were a highly secretive matter. Even many officials involved in the core atomic bomb project didn't know the exact time of the explosion.

Among those present, only two Politburo members, General Chen and Deng He, knew the general situation.

The others were completely clueless. So, as soon as Wei Hongjun finished speaking, everyone was instantly excited. Joyful expressions immediately appeared on their faces.

After all, this is an atomic bomb, China's own atomic bomb. In the past, the United States often threatened China with using atomic bombs, which made everyone very angry. Now that China is actually going to have its own atomic bomb, how can everyone not be excited?

Wei Hongjun gave everyone some time to digest the situation. Fortunately, everyone had experienced the revolutionary era and witnessed large-scale events, so they quickly calmed down.

"Comrades, I don't need to explain in detail. You should understand the importance of this matter. It involves our country's national defense and security, and even more so, world peace."

"So, the first step in keeping everything we heard today confidential is to keep it secret. No one is allowed to leak any information about the atomic bomb test before the central government issues an order."

"Yes."

Everyone nodded.

Wei Hongjun continued, "The reason we held a meeting this evening was to discuss how we should publicize the success of the atomic bomb test."

"This propaganda report must make one point clear. Our atomic bomb exploded on our own territory. It is our shield, not our weapon. This is the fundamental difference between us and those imperialist countries."

"China's acquisition of the atomic bomb was to protect our country and to ensure the people live and work in peace and contentment. Therefore, China's possession of the atomic bomb represents the growing strength of world peace forces and will further safeguard world peace."

Just because we have the atomic bomb doesn't mean we should just say, "I have the atomic bomb now, so everyone should be careful." That's what American imperialism does.

What China needs to do is to announce to the world that China's atomic bomb is a defensive weapon. China's possession of the atomic bomb shows that the force for world peace has become stronger.

"After the atomic bomb is successfully detonated, there will need to be propaganda materials for both internal and external use. The United Front Work Department will then have to publicize it among the Chinese and overseas Chinese. We must be well prepared in this regard. Comrades, time is running out."

"In particular, the newspaper's reports on domestic and foreign affairs, as well as those targeting overseas Chinese, must be drafted overnight and finalized after the Chairman has reviewed them. Comrade Yao Zhen will draft the external communiqués for Xinhua News Agency and People's Daily, and Comrade Liu Qi will draft the internal communiqués for Xinhua News Agency and People's Daily. Comrade Wu Lengxi, you will assist Comrade Liao Chengzhi in drafting a communiqué addressed to overseas Chinese."

Yao Zhen, 38, was a New Fourth Army cadre who had previously worked in the Shanghai Propaganda Department. After being transferred to the central government, he became the director of the International Propaganda Department of the Propaganda Department. He was a talented individual.

Historically, he was one of Kang Sheng's most important writers in the 1960s, drafting many central government documents. During the Great Movement, Yao Zhen was criticized, but Kang Sheng, instead of protecting him, kicked him. Yao Zhen was so upset that he committed suicide.

Liu Qi was one of the three great writers of the Jin-Cha-Ji region. Because Marshal Nie was a scholar and a political cadre, he placed great emphasis on cultivating educated cadres. Jin-Cha-Ji boasted a high concentration of educated individuals, both within the Party and government and within the military, and placed a strong emphasis on learning. Throughout the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the region produced the most novels depicting the battles. This was due to the region's large student population, high overall literacy level, and the abundance of writers, which contributed to its exceptional propaganda efforts from the war years onward.

The real writers of Jin-Cha-Ji were basically all in Yang Quanwu's division, which had a lot to do with Yang Quanwu's tolerance and support for these writers.

Liu Qi, along with Wei Wei, was one of the three great writers of the Jin-Cha-Ji region. After the Pingjin Campaign, Wei Wei was assigned to reorganize the Nationalist army and was appointed divisional political commissar, a division-level cadre. Liu Qi, by then head of the Propaganda Department of the Corps Political Department, was a highly valued cadre by Li Zhimin, the political commissar of the Beijing Military Region. He later left the military to join Xinhua News Agency.

Liu Qi's most remarkable fact was that he contracted tuberculosis shortly after liberation. Given his poor health during the war, he felt he wouldn't live long. He gathered a group of fellow soldiers from the First Jin-Cha-Ji Division and took a photo with them, saying he wanted to leave a lasting memory. In this photo, Liu Qi lived the longest. Not only in this photo, but throughout the entire First Jin-Cha-Ji Division, Liu Qi was known for his longevity.

"Comrades Chen Yi and Wang Jiaxiang reviewed the draft of the external communiqué, while Comrades Deng He and Duan Chengwei reviewed the internal communiqué."

"it is good."

Most of the people present were writers. Still, it took about four hours to complete the manuscript. After several people reviewed it, it was already one in the morning.

Wei Hongjun immediately took the manuscript to the Chairman. The Chairman looked over it, weighing every word. The three manuscripts combined contained less than 10,000 words, yet the Chairman spent over an hour reading them.

The Chairman carefully considered each word, sometimes changing it and then reversing it. He attached great importance to manuscripts sent to foreign countries, including those for overseas Chinese.

After the rectification was finally completed, the Chairman asked: "Tell me, after our atomic bomb is successfully detonated, will the great powers like the United States and the Soviet Union be able to detect it?"

"According to Comrade Qian Sanqiang, as long as our atomic bomb explodes, major powers like the United States and the Soviet Union will be able to detect it. Although they may not know the exact location and specific circumstances, they will definitely know that we have completed the nuclear test."

"Ah."

The chairman thought for a moment and said, "Then we can postpone our report for half a day. Let's see how they react first."

"Yes."

The Chairman had seen many storms in his life, but even at this moment, his expression remained solemn. This was because the Chairman knew that this was not a simple matter of an atomic bomb. He would directly influence the changes in the world situation.

What would the Soviet Union and American imperialism think if China became a nation with atomic bombs? Would the newly opened diplomatic situation in Europe be fraught with setbacks?

The Chairman must take all these things into consideration.

By the time the Chairman finished revising and gave Wei Hongjun some instructions, it was already three in the morning. After Wei Hongjun returned, everyone reworked the draft based on the Chairman's revisions.

The manuscript would then remain with Wei Hongjun, who would keep it secret after they returned. When the article needed to be published tomorrow, Wei Hongjun would send someone to deliver the official manuscript to Xinhua News Agency, and the People's Daily would publish it later.

"Xinhua News Agency's text and spoken broadcasts in Chinese, Russian and English must be broadcast simultaneously."

"Secretary Wei, where are the English and Russian manuscripts?"

Wu Lengxi asked Wei Hongjun.

This was a big deal, and Wu Lengxi had to get every detail right. Wei Hongjun said, "I've already asked the Central Translation Group to do the Russian and English translations, and Comrade Wang Jiaxiang and Comrade Qiao Guanhua to do the final review of the Russian and English manuscripts. I'll send someone to deliver the Chinese, Russian, and English manuscripts to Xinhua News Agency when the time comes."

"Yes."

When everyone left, they were both excited and nervous.

"Secretary Wei, take a short rest. We still have a lot of things to deal with tomorrow."

"can not fall asleep."

Wei Hongjun shook his head and said, "There are so many things going on at once, and we can't afford to be careless in any of them."

Wei Hongjun already had a lot of work to do, and now he is the head of the presidium of the Third Session of the Ninth Central Committee. He has to deal with a large number of documents every day, and he has to hold meetings with group leaders and deputy group leaders at the provincial level to understand the opinions of the representatives at each group meeting.

Since he couldn't sleep, Wei Hongjun reviewed the opinions of the meeting delegates.

This is how CCP meetings work. It's not like a representative presents his or her opinions at a formal meeting, and then everyone discusses them. If that were the case, the meeting would last for months.

Therefore, everyone puts forward their own opinions in the preparatory meetings and group meetings before the formal meeting. After each group has discussed, some opinions are adopted and can appear in the formal meeting, while some opinions are directly rejected in the group meeting.

Therefore, the Central Committee would send members of the Presidium to attend these group meetings in order to supervise them and prevent the group leaders and deputy group leaders from colluding to suppress the opinions of the representatives and arbitrarily shoot down the representatives' suggestions.

However, even if a proposal is approved at a small group meeting, it doesn't guarantee that it will be included in the formal meeting. This is because the presidium will conduct a final review of these proposals. Some proposals will still be rejected during the presidium's review and will not be included in the formal meeting agenda.

As the director of conference preparation and head of the presidium, Wei Hongjun not only has to review these proposals, but also has to adjust the process based on these proposals.

Wei Hongjun primarily reviews these proposals to determine if they are suitable for inclusion in formal meetings. Adjustments to the meeting process are delegated to his political secretary, Zhao Han, with Wei Hongjun simply confirming them. The reason political secretaries to members of the Politburo Standing Committee hold such high ranks is because they are directly involved in the specific work of the Politburo Standing Committee.

After daybreak, Wei Hongjun met with the conference presidium according to the schedule to discuss these issues. Some of the issues to be approved at the formal meeting were met with significant opposition in the preparatory meetings or group meetings, and so the proposals were sent back for further adjustments.

In the afternoon, Wei Hongjun adjusted his work schedule and remained in the office. Yang Quanwu, Zhao Lu, Zhang Aiping, and Liu Jie were also in Wei Hongjun's office. Time ticked by, and at 2:50 p.m., the phone rang.

"Jingle Bell……"

"I'm Wei Hongjun."

"Secretary Wei, I'm Cai Xin, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Nuclear Test Base. Please give me your orders."

"Comrade Cai Xin, hello. On behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, I am issuing an order to you to officially conduct an atomic bomb explosion test at 22:15 PM on the nd."

"Yes."

Cai Xin accepted the order, hung up the phone, and formally issued the order for the atomic bomb explosion test.

Although Wei Hongjun was very confident, he was still a little nervous sitting next to the phone. He didn't know how long it had been before the phone rang again. Wei Hongjun immediately picked up the phone and said, "This is Wei Hongjun."

"Secretary Wei, this is Han Wei. It worked! The explosion was a success. Listen to the cheers over here! Our atomic bomb exploded successfully."

Han Wei had a lot of experience and had worked with Wei Hongjun since the Liberation War, so when he reported the good news, he wasn't as formal as the others.

"Old Han, are you sure it was a nuclear explosion?"

"Yes, it was a nuclear explosion. Our researchers have confirmed it was a nuclear explosion."

Han Wei was very excited at the scene and couldn't control his emotions at all.

Wei Hongjun suppressed his excitement and said, "Old Han, on behalf of the Party Central Committee, congratulations to all the comrades who participated in the atomic bomb explosion test. They are all heroes. The Party and the country should thank them. The motherland and the people will never forget their contributions."

1061

Building 14, No. Huayuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, is the scientific research office building of the theoretical department of the atomic bomb project.

The offices in the building were small, only about a dozen square meters. However, the Theory Department had quite a few staff members, so the four deputy directors all worked in one office. This was a common practice in those days.

This isn't just the case in these research buildings; the office conditions in most ministries and commissions are also like this. Many vice ministers of central ministries and commissions also have to work alongside other staff members.

Not to mention now, even half a century later, the offices of many department-level officials in national ministries and commissions were still smaller than those of local section chiefs. That's why, in the 1990s, a Beijing security guard would say that all those who rode bicycles to work were major generals.

Peng Huanwu, director of the Theoretical Department, is not here; he's at the nuclear test site. The rest of the Theoretical Department staff has already begun new work.

"Ring ring ring..."

At around 3:30 p.m., the Office of the Central Special Committee called the Theoretical Department, and Deng Jiaxian, the first deputy director of the Theoretical Department, answered the call.

"Yes, okay, okay."

Deng Jiaxian's hands began to tremble after he put down the phone. This was because the call from the Central Special Committee Office was to inform the staff of the Atomic Bomb Theory Department that the atomic bomb had been successfully detonated.

Deng Jiaxian was born during China's most turbulent period. He witnessed the Japanese army's occupation of Beijing and the demands placed on students like him to raise flags in welcome. A mere teenager at the time, Deng Jiaxian remembered this humiliation deeply. Because he had torn up the Japanese flag, Deng Jiaxian fled from Beijing to Shanghai and Hong Kong in 1940, detouring through Haiphong and Lao Cai, Vietnam, before arriving in Kunming, Yunnan.

Having experienced this kind of humiliation, Deng Jiaxian and his generation of researchers knew firsthand that a weak nation would be bullied by imperialism. So, when they went abroad to study, they all thought of returning to serve their motherland, making it strong and immune to bullying. They all kept in mind the motto, "I am willing to dedicate my life to my country."

Upon returning to China, he immediately joined the Atomic Bomb Theory Research Laboratory, where confidentiality was extremely high. Even his parents and family members were forbidden from sharing any information about the atomic bomb. For example, Wei Hongjun, the First Deputy Director of the Central Special Committee and Secretary of the Scientific Work Committee, was completely unaware of any information about the atomic bomb. This was because of discipline.

This strict and harsh discipline was a huge restriction for many scientific researchers, but Deng Jiaxian resolutely accepted the order and joined the Atomic Bomb Theory Department without hesitation.

Although Peng Huanwu is the director of the Theoretical Department, he has more important work to do, so the main work of the Theoretical Department in recent years has been led by Deng Jiaxian.

The theoretical work on the atomic bomb had been completed two years earlier, and the Theoretical Department had already begun theoretical research on the hydrogen bomb.

It can be said that the atomic bomb is the child of the Theoretical Department, Deng Jiaxian and his group. Because the Theoretical Department only occasionally participated in the development of the atomic bomb, Deng Jiaxian and his group did not know the exact time of the atomic bomb's explosion.

Upon hearing the successful atomic bomb explosion, Deng Jiaxian took a sip of water to suppress his excitement. Then he walked out of the office and saw his colleagues working. He said slowly, not too loudly, "Our test was a complete success."

Everyone was stunned at first, but soon understood what Deng Jiaxian was talking about.

So everyone immediately applauded, shook hands with the people next to them, and hugged them, but no one cheered because everyone knew the confidentiality rules.