Li Chengpeng: After Zhang Youxia was arrested, a friend told me that the streets and alleys of Beijing are very calm

Watching the drama over these years has been generally like this: first, the once triumphant Bo Xilai was suddenly arrested. Before the official announcement, Wen Jiabao made his final speech before leaving office:

"Without the success of political system reform, the tragedy of the Cultural Revolution will happen again."

Such an "impromptu" speech would be a disciplinary violation today. Some say it was a performance. Perhaps I don't understand politics well enough.

Then Zhou Yongkang, who held the highest positions under the emperor, was arrested. Strangely, his case was always designated as "Case No. 2." People were all asking: who was Case No. 1?

One detail: when Bo Xilai was arrested at the Diaoyutai State Guest House, he shouted, "Zhou Yongkang, you bastard." Heh, quite like a TV drama. But the person who revealed this plot was a famous figure arrested along with the Zhou case. Those in the know are aware of this. Whether to believe it or not is up to fate.

I am a novice in palace politics; I can't remember who came first among Guo Boxiong, Gu Junshan, Xu Caihou, and Zhang Yang. I only remember experts saying: the one who truly controlled military power was Fang Fenghui of the General Staff Department. He was Hu's man and could not be arrested. Comrade Fang was once praised as the "youngest general" who completed the 60th anniversary National Day parade with "zero errors."

But the arrest happened so fast it was like a bolt from the blue.

Li Chengpeng: After Zhang Youxia was arrested, a friend told me that the streets and alleys of Beijing were very calm

Later, a great silence fell. The democrats suddenly felt that the tide had turned. But Li Keqiang's powerful words, "The Yellow River and Yangtze River will not flow backward," rekindled hope.

The water in the Shanghai swimming pool extinguished everyone's hope. The water was too deep.

Not surprising; Zhu Yuanzhang decided that Li Shanchang was "suspicious and wavering with divided loyalties," and so he executed Li Shanchang's entire family.

"Over these years, too many people have died, too many people have been arrested." Liao Xilong was a football fan; it was inconvenient to go to the venue, so he watched at home. At that time, there were continuous blizzards, and the team leader and logistics of the Shenyang military football team had not yet arrived in Chengdu. According to pre-match rules, the team leaders of both sides must hold a joint meeting, otherwise, they would be disqualified. While in a state of urgency, Liao Xilong said: I'll serve as the team leader for the brotherly unit just this once.

How could Wang Junsheng dare to say no.

The newspaper leadership urgently requested that I interview Commander Liao. At that time, I wanted nothing more than to leave the newspaper and focus on writing wuxia novels. Clutching a copy of Wen Rui'an's "Divine Phase Li Buyi," I went to the North Campus with a casual attitude. I didn't even know the background of this commander; I only felt that when we shook hands, his hand was extremely soft, not like someone from a military background. Right, he was missing two fingers on his right hand.

Secretary X told me that this was a disability caused by an honorable injury during the counter-attack against Vietnam.

I wrote the article in a wuxia style, but the editor-in-chief deleted a lot and added a Xinhua News Agency style. The title was "From General to Football Fan." I was very dissatisfied, but thinking that I was going to resign anyway, I let it be. Unexpectedly, on the day of publication, Secretary X called and said a car was downstairs at the newspaper office, asking me to go to the North Campus.

The editor-in-chief was almost scared to death and wanted to go along to apologize, but seeing Secretary X's smiling face... he didn't let him go.

I won't elaborate on what happened later. The commander liked the article very much and directly requested to transfer my files so I could enter the North Campus; the army needed writers. My mother strongly opposed it, saying her father had followed Guan Linzheng through the "main gate" to the North Campus, only to be later labeled a counter-revolutionary and a spy. When he died, his legs were so edematous that a poke would leave a hole, and they wouldn't even let a memorial service be held. She said, "Don't pick up a piece of iron that brings bad luck."

I sincerely wanted to be a wuxia writer, not a secretary. Secretary X expressed great confusion about this: "So many people would break their heads to get in, are you crazy?"

I've come to believe in fate more and more. If I had gone to the North Campus back then, perhaps I would have been arrested along with Secretary X early on due to corruption or conduct issues. Staying away from politics is quite good. Life is strange; I didn't end up writing much wuxia after all. My debut work was actually a cheesy romance novel, and I wrote a bunch of miscellaneous essays. Later, I was banned across the entire internet. To write an article, I had to change various pseudonyms: "Big Eye Brother," "Brother Eye Big," "Eye Brother Big," "Big Eye Brother." Remembering that old saying: you want to stay away from politics, but politics does not stay away from you.

I've seen too many buildings rise and fall over these years, until Zhang Youxia was arrested. A friend from the central media in Beijing just said: the streets and alleys of Beijing are very calm, no military vehicles have entered the city, and ordinary people aren't that concerned about this.

Indeed, Lin Biao, as a successor, was even written into the gang's program; his status and faction were N times larger than Zhang Youxia's. When it was decided to get rid of him, he was gone, and the world didn't fall into chaos.

Another buddy attending a relative's funeral in Beijing mentioned this. The relatives were completely clueless and asked: "What? Who is Zhang Youxia?"

Then the relatives went back to scrolling through Douyin and Xiaohongshu.

At the moment of great change, ordinary people are useless. It's palace intrigue; a few dozen private soldiers who can enter the Xuanwu Gate are enough. Of course, the death of Brother Biao had a profound impact on China's political situation and was an important straw. But before the camel collapses, you don't know who the last straw is.

Just keep adding straws, don't count them.

People's hearts have certainly scattered.

The streets are calm on the surface, but undercurrents are surging.

The old guys are watched by the Special Service Bureau, but there are always ways to communicate. I'll stop here; saying too much would be inappropriate.

Just keep watching and pondering; it is exactly the right time to write history.