22 DEATH TRAP FOR HIS OWN MEN
22 皖南事变：毛泽东设陷阱
(1940–41 AGE 46–47)
1940～1941 年 46～47 岁
THE POLITICAL commissar of the New 4th Army, the Red Army based in east central China, was an old nemesis of Mao's, Xiang Ying. A decade before, Mao had tried to have him eliminated when he opposed Mao's torturing and killing in the AB purge. And Xiang Ying had warned against taking Mao along on the Long March, predicting that he would scheme to seize power. He had remained outspoken about Mao, sometimes even mocking him.
新四军政委项英与毛泽东有不解之仇。十年前，他想制止毛用血腥暴力打AB团，毛诬陷他是AB团的后台。后来他反对毛长征，预见到毛要伺机夺权。至今他对毛的批评态度不改，甚至嘲弄毛。
Xiang Ying's HQ of about 1,000 staff and 8,000 escort troops was situated in a picturesque place called Cloud Peak, near perhaps the most strangely beautiful mountain in China, Huangshan, the Yellow Mountain, where, before one's astonished eyes, the clouds run, dance, storm and melt at dazzling speed around Gothic-looking rocks. By December 1940, Xiang Ying's group was the only part of the N4A south of the Yangtze, as Mao had sent 90 percent of the N4A north of the river, and put them under a separate headquarters run by his ally Liu Shao-chi.
项英的总部有一千工作人员、八千部队，驻扎在云岭，在以多变的云彩和奇诡的石峰着称的黄山之侧。一九四0年十二月，项英的总部是新四军唯一在长江以南的部队。毛把百分之九十的队伍都已调到江北，组成了江北指挥部，由毛的盟友刘少奇负责。项英管辖的新四军不到百分之十。
That month, Mao set Xiang Ying's group up to be killed by the Nationalist army, in the hope that the massacre would persuade Stalin to let him off the leash against Chiang. Months before, in July, the Generalissimo had ordered the N4A to move to northern China, an order Mao had defied. In December, however, Mao told Xiang to decamp, and cross to the north of the Yangtze.
毛有意把项英的孤零零的总部送给蒋介石的部队去杀戮，逼蒋介石开第一枪，促使斯大林同意打全面内战。这年七月，蒋曾下令新四军北上去华北，把长江流域让给国民党，毛曾置之不理。现在，毛令项英过江到长江以北。
There were two routes Xiang could take. The shortest ran due north (the North Route). The second would take him southeast, and then over the Yangtze much farther downstream (the East Route). On 10 December the Generalissimo designated the North Route, and Mao confirmed it to Xiang on the 29th.
过江有两条路，一条直端端北上，渡口在皖东的繁昌、铜陵，另一条朝东南方向走，在长江下游江苏南部的镇江渡江。十二月十日，蒋介石规定项英走皖东路，因为镇江一带国民党韩德勤部正在和新四军打仗，他怕项英部队去参战。他给名义上是项英上级的国民党长官顾祝同发电报说：“查苏北匪伪不断進攻韩部，为使该军江南部队，不致直接参加对韩部之攻击，应不准其由镇江北渡，只准其由江南原地北渡”。
毛没有向蒋表示异议，二十九日，他批准了这条路，对项英说：“同意直接移皖东、分批渡江”。
The next day, Mao suddenly told Xiang to take the East Route, the one the Generalissimo had vetoed, but did not tell Chiang this, so Chiang thought the Reds would take the route agreed. On 3 January 1941 a cable arrived at Xiang's HQ from the Generalissimo himself, specifying the itinerary and adding: “I have ordered all the armies along the way to ensure your safety.”
但是第二天，毛突然打电报要项英改走蒋介石特地否决的苏南路线：“走苏南为好。”这一路线改变，毛没有通知蒋介石。蒋介石还以为项英会按他的要求走皖东，于一九四一年一月三日发电报给新四军军长叶挺，重申皖东路线，并说他“沿途已令各[国民党]军掩护。”
Xiang replied at once, saying he would not be taking the route Chiang had designated, and asking to have the East Route cleared instead. But this crucial message never got to Chiang—thanks to Mao. Mao had banned all Communist commanders from communicating with the Generalissimo direct, and had ordered all contacts channeled through himself. Xiang sent the message via Mao, and Mao did not send it on. So Xiang set off in wintry chill and rain on the night of 4 January 1941 along Mao's chosen East Route not knowing that Chiang had never seen his cable.*
项英发现蒋介石并不知道路线已改，赶紧在四日给蒋介石发了封电报通知他。这封关键电报没有送达蒋介石手里--原因在毛。毛早已明令禁止中共将领直接跟蒋介石联系，所有的联络都必须经过他，再由周恩来转。毛把项英给蒋的电报压下了。
项英发完电报又等了若干小时，拖到当天夜里才出发。他以为蒋介石应该得到改变路线的消息了，沿途驻扎的国民党军队也应该接到命令，给他让路了。
毛泽东压下项英一月四日关键电报的根据，是他在一月十三日给重庆周恩来的电报。里面说：“军机前转上叶、项支[四]日致蒋电，措词不当，如未交请勿交。”这不仅说明毛不让周转项英的电报，而且说明毛是在十三日或前一两天才把项英四日的电报发给周恩来，这时对项英部队的攻击，已经在持续一星期后结束。
Xiang and his troops walked right into a much larger Nationalist force, who had not been told that Xiang's unit was coming, much less that it was only passing through, and thought this was an attack. Fighting broke out on the 6th. That day the local Nationalist commander, General Ku, gave orders to “exterminate” the Reds.
一月四日的夜晚，风雨交加，项英和一万新四军進入了国民党十几万大军的驻扎区。这些军队没有得到项英要过路的通知，以为是新四军来挑衅，就开了火。早已因黄桥之战中国民党将领被打死而痛恨新四军的顾祝同，六日下令把项英的部队“彻底加以肃清”。皖南事变爆发了。
Xiang sent frantic telegrams to Yenan pleading for Mao to tell the Nationalists to hold their fire. But Mao did nothing. When Liu Shao-chi, who was with the main N4A force north of the Yangtze, wired Yenan on the 9th about the situation, Mao pretended ignorance, claiming that the last he had heard from Xiang was on the 5th, and “after that we do not know anything.”
慌张的项英发了一封又一封电报给延安，要毛向国民党交涉停火，但是毛毫无动静。到了九日，新四军江北指挥部刘少奇电毛谈起项英的情况，毛才回电说他什么情况也不知道，五日以后就没有得到过项英的电报，得叶、项五日报告，他们四日夜间开动，五日晨到太平、泾县间，此后即不明了。
During the most critical period of bloody fighting, the four days from 6 to 9 January, Mao claimed he received no communication. During those days, Xiang's radio operators were sending out repeated, desperate SOS messages, and Liu Shao-chi had no problem receiving them. It is hard to believe that Mao's communications had conveniently “broken down” just for the four days when the N4A HQ was being massacred. And even if there was some glitch, this cannot explain how Mao did nothing—for days—to resume contact.
一月六日到九日，国民党军队围歼项英部的最激烈的四天，毛没有接到过项英的电报？在这些日子里，项英的电台不断发出求救的电讯，刘少奇都收到了，独独毛没收到？真是没收到，为什么不设法恢复联系，在这样重要的时刻？
Mao had a history of using “radio trouble” as an excuse to suppress information (after the kidnapping of Chiang Kai-shek in 1936, Mao had claimed he was unable to receive a vital message from Moscow). For Mao, the greater the bloodshed, the greater his excuse to turn on Chiang; and he was sacrificing someone he was glad to get rid of anyway, Xiang Ying.
毛的电台似乎总在关键时刻合着他的心思出故障。西安事变时，他也声称没收到莫斯科要他协助释放蒋介石的指令。现在他又声称没收到项英向他求救的一连串电报。毫无疑问，毛不想为新四军解围，毛要蒋介石歼灭他们。这样莫斯科才可能批准他打全面内战。同时，他也一箭双雕，除掉项英这个心腹之患。
After Liu brought up the subject of the N4A's plight on the 9th, Mao's radio miraculously started functioning again. From that day, urgent pleas from N4A HQ began to be recorded. On the 10th the HQ entreated Mao: “on the brink of doom …” “Please could you quickly make representations to Chiang and Ku to call off the encirclement. Otherwise the entire force will be wiped out.” Mao sat still.
在收到刘少奇一月九日发给毛的电报后，毛的电台奇迹般地恢复运作了。十日，新四军总部报告毛：“支持四日夜之自卫战斗，今已濒绝境，干部全部均已准备牺牲。”“请以党中央及恩来名义，速向蒋、顾交涉，以不惜全面破裂威胁，要顾撤围，或可挽救。”然而，毛仍旧一动不动。
That same day, Xiang Ying again tried to cable Chiang, again via Mao. That plea too was withheld from the Generalissimo, as Mao revealed to his liaison Chou (on the 13th): “I did not send it on to you … This cable must absolutely not be passed on.”
十日那天，项英自己给蒋介石打了封电报，恳求蒋撤围。这封电报他再次发给毛转，毛又再次把它压了下来。毛对周恩来说，项英的这封电报比前一封“立场更坏”， “此电决不能交，故未转你处。”
On the evening of the 11th Chou was attending a reception in Chongqing to celebrate the third anniversary of the CCP's New China Daily when a message arrived from Mao. Chou announced to the assembled throng that N4A HQ had been surrounded and attacked. But even now the telegram Mao sent was not an order to act; it was merely “for your information.”
十一日晚间，周恩来在重庆开酒会，庆祝《新华日报》三周年。毛关于新四军总部被围攻的电报这时姗姗来到，由周对庆祝会上的人宣布。但就是这份电报也不是叫周恩来向国民党交涉停火，而只是泛泛的情况通报。
It was only the next day that Mao finally instructed Chou to “make serious representations to have the encirclement called off.” But the level of crisis was carefully toned down (“they say they can still hold out for seven days” was a distortion of much more desperate reports days before). Chou did not make any serious protest until the 13th. By that time Chiang had stopped the killing on his own initiative, on the 12th.
迟至十二日毛才让周“向国民党提出严重交涉，即日撤围”。但毛故意降低了形势的严重性、紧急性，用“据云尚可固守七天”的谎言替代新四军总部早已报告的“今已濒绝境”。周恩来在十三日才向国民党提出抗议。蒋介石已经在前一天主动下令停止攻击了。
On 13 January, after the massacre had ended, Mao suddenly came to life, telling Chou to crank up a PR campaign for a righteous all-out war against Chiang. “Once the decision is made,” Mao said, “we will strike all the way to Sichuan [Chiang's base].”
就在十三日这一天，毛突然活跃起来，叫周恩来“向全国呼吁求援”。他命令部队：“军事上立即准备大举反攻。”“已不是增兵威胁问题，而是如何推翻蒋介石统治问题。”“一下决心，就要打到四川去，打到底。”
“Now it is a matter of a total split … of how to overthrow Chiang.”
AS HIS ARMY was no match for Chiang's, Mao could not possibly achieve these goals without Stalin's intervention. Chou saw the Russian ambassador on 15 January to impress on him that the Reds needed bailing out. He was given the cold shoulder. In his classified memoirs, Panyushkin recorded his suspicion that Mao had set Xiang Ying up—and that Chou had been lying.*
毛知道他的军队远不是国民党的对手，没有斯大林出兵相挺，他将一败涂地。一月十五日，周恩来去见苏联大使潘友新，说中共急需苏联的拯救。潘泼了他一头冷水。潘在他的只给苏联高层看的回忆录里指出，他当时就怀疑皖南事变是毛泽东有意让项英去送死，而周恩来向他撒谎。周对潘谎称新四军总部同延安的电讯联系是十三日下午断的，跟毛撒的谎，即六日到九日断的，对不上号。显然，周明白毛的版本一看就是假的，不能说给苏联人听。
Mao, meanwhile, appealed directly to Moscow for all-out war against Chiang, with what a Russian intelligence source calls “one hysterical telegram after another,” claiming that Chiang's plan was to wipe out first the N4A, then the 8RA, and then “crush the CCP.”
毛绕过潘友新，直接向莫斯科呼吁恳求，用苏联人的话说是发了“一封又一封歇斯底里的电报”。毛说蒋介石的计划是全歼新四军，然后消灭八路军，然后“摧毁中国共产党”，“我们有被斩尽杀绝的危险。”说来说去，就是要斯大林出兵帮他打全面内战。
“There is a danger our army will be completely annihilated,” Mao told Moscow.
“Danger of civil war,” noted Comintern chief Dimitrov in his diary the day this cable arrived, 16 January, calling the N4A “our troops.” Moscow did not believe Mao's claim that Chiang was about to try to “annihilate” the CCP, and told Mao so. Mao responded with another alarmist cable, specifically asking that it go “to cde. [comrade] Stalin so that he could weigh the situation in China, and see whether he could not give us concrete military help soon.” “Help” meant direct intervention, not just arms and aid.
“内战的危险。”季米特洛夫一月十六日的日记写道。虽然他称新四军为“我们的军队”， 但是莫斯科不相信毛的危言耸听，不相信蒋介石要“斩尽杀绝”中共，也把这个看法告诉了毛。毛马上发来另一封“狼来了”的电报，特别要求“呈交斯大林同志，使他能够估量中国形势，考虑能否给我们具体的军事援助。”这里的“军事援助”指的不仅是军火资金，而且是出兵。
This importuning seems to have annoyed Stalin. At a ceremony for the anniversary of Lenin's death on 21 January, he talked disparagingly about the N4A's nominal commander, Ye Ting, whom the Russians had once considered sending to the gulag, calling him “an undisciplined partisan.” “Need to check whether he did not provoke this incident. We, too, had a number of good partisans whom we were obliged to shoot because of their lack of discipline.” Dimitrov told Mao again more firmly than before: “Don't take the initiative to break …”
毛硬要把莫斯科拉進中国打仗，使斯大林大为不快。一月二十一日在列宁忌辰纪念仪式上，斯大林以谴责新四军军长叶挺的方式表达他的不快。斯大林称叶为“一个不守纪律的打游击的”，“查查看[皖南]事变是不是他挑起的。我们也有些打游击的，人是好人，但我们不得不把他们枪毙掉，就是因为他们不守纪律。”季米特洛夫明白斯大林是在含沙射影暗指毛，于是再次警告毛，口气比以前更坚决：“不要挑起破裂。”
Writing to Stalin, Dimitrov pinned the responsibility on Mao personally: “the Chinese comrades … are thoughtlessly pursuing the split; we have decided … to draw C[omrade] Mao Tse-tung's attention to his incorrect position …” On 13 February, Stalin endorsed Dimitrov's order to the CCP, marked for Mao personally. It was peremptory: “We consider that a split is not unavoidable. You should not strive for a split. On the contrary, you should … do everything possible … to prevent civil war erupting. Please reconsider your current position on this issue …” A cable from Mao that same day toed Moscow's line, but vibrated with determination to get Chiang: “the split,” Mao insisted, “is inevitable in the future.”
季米特洛夫告诉斯大林：“中国同志在不顾后果地追求破裂。我们决定向毛泽东同志点明他的不正确的立场。”二月十三日，斯大林批准了季米特洛夫写给毛本人的命令。命令不容争辩：“我们认为破裂不是不可避免的。你不应该竭力制造破裂。相反地，你应该尽一切努力防止内战发生。请重新考虑你在这个问题上的立场。”毛当天给莫斯科回电表态：“服从您的指令”， 但仍然执意要打蒋：“破裂在将来是不可避免的。”
Mao had seen Moscow's decision coming days before. It had greatly depressed him, and led him to write a most unusual letter to his sons in Russia (to whom he very seldom wrote) on 31 January:
莫斯科的态度，毛事先已预料到了，为此他非常沮丧。在这样的心态下，一月三十一日，他给在苏联的儿子们写了封异乎寻常的信：
My sons An-ying and An-ching:
岸英、岸青二儿：
… Seeing what progress you have made, I am very happy. An-ying writes well, the Chinese characters are not bad at all, and you have aspiration for achievements: all this is very good. I have only one thing to suggest to you both: while you are young, study natural science more, and talk less politics. Politics needs to be talked about, but at the moment you should set your mind on studying natural science … Only science is real learning, and will have boundless use in the future …
很早以前，接到岸英的长信，岸青的信，岸英寄来的照片本，单 张相片，并且是几次的信与照片，我都未覆，很对你们不起，知你们悬念。 你们长進了，很欢喜的……唯有一事向你们建议，趁着年纪尚轻，多向自然科学学习，少谈些政治。政治是要谈的，但目前以潜心多习自然科学为宜，社会科学辅之。将来可倒置过来，以社会科学为主，自然科学为辅。总之注意科学，只有科学是真学问，将来用处无穷。
Compared with his previous few rather dry and note-like letters to his sons, this one was long and intimate, even wistful. It reeked of fatigue. What was most extraordinary and absolutely unique was that Mao told his children to avoid politics!
毛一向给儿子的信像便条似的，这封信是罕见地长，罕见地亲切，带着伤感。而且，毛居然要他的儿子少谈政治！看得出来他的灰心失望，筋疲力竭。
MAO MIGHT HAVE failed to provoke full-scale war against Chiang, but he had won a number of far from negligible victories. Not the least gratifying was the death of his most outspoken critic. Xiang Ying had escaped after Chiang ordered the Nationalist army to stop fighting, but in the small hours of 14 March, while asleep in a mountain cave, he was shot dead by his aide-de-camp, who had turned against the Communists some time before. The aide took the gold and valuables Xiang Ying had in his pockets and gave himself up to the Nationalists.
毛固然没能挑起全面内战，但他赢得了一系列胜利。首先是他的宿敌项英死了。项英在蒋介石下令停火后逃了出来，三月十四日深夜，在一个山洞里睡觉时，被副官开枪打死。这名副官本来就对共产党不满，打死项英后，他拿走项英身上的金条财物，后来投向国民党。
Two months before Xiang Ying died, when he had just broken out of the death trap, Mao wrote a fierce condemnation of him to senior Party officials, insinuating that Xiang was “an enemy agent.” (Even today, Xiang Ying is still often blamed, along with Chiang Kai-shek, for the deaths of the N4A men and women.)
还在项英刚刚摆脱国民党的包围圈时，毛泽东就迫不及待地以中央名义发决议，给项英冠以种种罪名，把皖南事变说成是他“一贯机会主义领导的结果”，甚至影射项英是内奸：“此次失败是否有内奸阴谋存在，尚待考查，但其中许多情节是令人怀疑的。”直到今天，皖南事变的帐仍算在项英和蒋介石身上。
Getting rid of Xiang Ying was only one of Mao's gains. Another was that the N4A was allowed to stay where it was. Chiang was desperate to avoid a total civil war in the middle of the war against Japan. The Russians now put tremendous heat on the Generalissimo not to impede—much less roll back—Red expansion. General Chuikov made an explicit link between Chiang agreeing to fall into line and the continuation of Russian aid to the Nationalists. The Russian ambassador noted how Chiang was beside himself with anger. He “received my statement very nervously,” wrote Panyushkin. “He paced up and down the study and … I had to repeat my question three times.”
毛的第二个胜利是蒋介石因为害怕大打内战，无奈之下，允许新四军留在长江流域。崔可夫将军威胁蒋说，要想苏联继续提供军火，他就得这样办。潘友新大使注意到蒋愤怒得难以自制：蒋“非常神经质地接受了我的声明。他在书房里走来走去……我把问题重复了三遍他才听见。”
Chiang was also highly vulnerable to pressure from America, which was his only hope of freeing himself from dependence on the Russians for arms. US president Franklin Roosevelt, whose overriding concern was (like Stalin's) to get China to do as much fighting against Japan as possible and bog Japan down, had no leverage with the Communists, so he put all the pressure on Chiang, linking the issue of aiding his government with an end to civil conflict—in effect, regardless of who was causing it. In the wake of the N4A incident, US media announced that Washington was discussing withholding a US$50 million loan because of the civil strife. This news came just when American aid could have played a big role, as the air route over the Himalayas, known as “the Hump,” opened on 25 January.
压力还来自美国。蒋要摆脱对苏联武器的依赖，只有靠美国。罗斯福总统也跟斯大林一样，想要中国牵制日本，把日本陷在这个大泥沼中，所以不希望中国内战。对中共，美国完全没有影响力，罗斯福便把压力都加在蒋介石头上，警告蒋要援助就不要打内战，不管是谁发动的都不行。皖南事变时，美国媒体报导，华盛顿打算把准备给中国的五千万美金贷款压下来，等中国不打内战了再说。一月二十五日，飞越喜马拉雅山的航线“驼峰”开航，美国军事援助由希望变成现实。美国人的态度对蒋至关紧要。
Roosevelt leaned heavily for information about China on a private network that included Edgar Snow, largely bypassing the State Department, which he distrusted. His chief private informant on China was a Marine officer called Evans Carlson, who filed starry-eyed reports to the White House lauding the Reds, which Roosevelt recycled uncritically to members of his inner circle, one of whom told him that Carlson's version of events was corroborated by Snow's Red Star. Carlson was in Chongqing at the time of the N4A Incident, and immediately after it he returned to Washington to convey the Reds' version to Roosevelt in person.
罗斯福总统关于中国的消息大多来自一批非官方人士，包括斯诺，主要人物是海军陆战队军官卡尔逊(Evans Carlson)。卡尔逊对中共充满天真的幻想，而罗斯福把他的报告囫圃吞下，并转发给相关人士过目。其中一位告诉总统，斯诺的书证实了卡尔逊的看法，也就是说报告是可靠的。皖南事变时卡尔逊正在重庆，他奔回华盛顿去亲口向罗斯福报告中共方面的说法。
Britain did not count as far as aid was concerned, but Chiang aspired to be close to the Anglo-US bloc, and so was susceptible to British pressure. Britain's prime minister Winston Churchill disliked Chiang, regarding him as militarily useless, and a potential menace to British interests in China. The British ambassador, Clark Kerr, told Chiang that in the event of civil war Britain would not support him, regardless of who started the fighting. In the period covering the N4A Incident, his advice to London heavily favored the Communists. He openly said that Chou En-lai was worth all the Nationalists rolled into one.
英国没有援助可给，但是蒋介石崇尚英美，英国的压力对他也就不无分量。丘吉尔(Winston Churchill)讨厌蒋介石，认为他军事上无能，政治上对英国在华利益是个威胁。英国大使科尔(Clark Kerr)直言不讳地对蒋说，要是打起内战来英国不会支持蒋，管它是谁挑起的。皖南事变时他给伦敦的汇报强烈偏向中共。他也曾公开说，所有国民党人加起来也抵不过周恩来一个人。
In the aftermath of the N4A Incident, Moscow organized an immense publicity campaign against Chiang in the West. Communist propaganda claimed that up to 10,000 were massacred. In fact, the total casualty figure was around 2,000. Three thousand had managed to escape back to their own side by turning around and taking the North Route across the Yangtze, the one designated by Chiang. They were unmolested along the way.
皖南事变后，莫斯科在西方组织了一场声势浩大的反蒋宣传，称蒋介石屠杀了一万新四军。实际数字是死亡两千余人。三千新四军成功归队，原因是他们挣脱包围圈后，转身走皖东路，渡过长江。他们走的是蒋介石指定的路，一路安全，没人骚扰。
Chiang had not set a trap, but he presented his case poorly. His government unwisely announced the disbanding of the N4A, leaving the impression that the Nationalists had intentionally wiped it out. Chiang was also hampered by the fact that he had not protested publicly about the many earlier and much larger clashes in which his troops had been the victims, and had even suppressed news of them, on the grounds that civil strife was bad for domestic morale—and for international aid (which all the foreign powers had made conditional on there being no civil conflict). This silence on the Generalissimo's part had suited the Communists very well. As Red C-in-C Zhu De put it: “They [Nationalists] keep quiet, and we keep quiet, too. They are defeated and keep quiet; we win, so why should we publicise it?” As a result of all these factors, many in the West only knew about the N4A Incident, and saw it as a treacherous large-scale attack by the Nationalists on innocent Reds.
蒋介石并没有给新四军设陷阱，但他很不会做宣传。他的政府不明智地宣布解散新四军，给人的印象是他已经把新四军全都杀光了。对蒋更不利的是，他一向不肯公布中共军队围歼国民党军队的消息，也不准媒体报导，所以人们都不知道，其实他的损失比皖南事变中新四军大得多。蒋怕打内战的消息影响国内士气和国际援助。他的沉默正合中共的意。朱德说：“他们不做声，我们也不做声。他们打败了不做声，我们胜利了，何必那样来宣传呢！”由于这种种原因，人们都以为皖南事变是抗战中唯一的大规模内战，而且是国民党屠杀无辜的共产党人。
The Communist propaganda machine was effective. In Chongqing, Mao's disinformation symphony was conducted by Chou En-lai, who alone knew Mao's murderous role in the killing of their own men and women in the N4A. This accomplice of Mao's was extremely successful in spreading the lie, thanks to his charm. The American journalist Martha Gellhorn, who met him at this time, told us she would have followed Chou to the ends of the world had he beckoned. But the summing up by her husband, Ernest Hemingway, catches Chou's main attribute: “he does a fine job of selling the Communist standpoint on anything that comes up.”
共产党宣传机器的效率是国民党难以望其项背的。在重庆，这架机器的合奏指挥是周恩来，毛设陷阱的唯一知情人。毛的这位配合者迷惑了无数西方人。美国记者马莎·盖尔霍恩(Martha Gellhorn)是在这时认识周恩来的，她马上拜倒在周的魅力下。她对我们说，当年要是周召唤她，她会追随周到天涯海角。她的丈夫海明威(Ernest Hemingway)倒是把周看得很准：“共产党的观点是什么他就卖什么，而且卖得不错。”
In America, on 22 January the New York Herald-Tribune carried a report highly favorable to the Reds' version of events by Edgar Snow, which opened with the words: “The first reliable account of the recent clashes …” Yet Snow's account was based entirely on a CCP intelligence man in Hong Kong.
在周指导下，中共在香港对付外国人的情报人员给斯诺提供了大量中共方面的说法，斯诺都发表在美国《纽约先锋论坛报》上，第一句话就是：“这是最近冲突的第一篇可靠的报导……”
While the Communists' version traveled all over the world, other observations were sidetracked by friends that Moscow and the CCP had in America. Hemingway, who was in China just after the N4A Incident, made some sharp observations about the Reds: “… as good Communists they will attempt to expand their sphere of influence … no matter what territorial limits they may accept on paper.” Thanks to the Reds' “excellent publicity,” he wrote, “America has an exaggerated idea of the part they have played in the war against Japan. Their part has been very considerable but that of the Central Government troops has been a hundred times greater.”
海明威皖南事变后在中国，对中共有一些深刻的观察：“为他们的党着想，中共当然要想法扩展，不管他们在纸面上接受什么领土限制。”由于中共“善于宣传，使美国对他们在抗战中起的作用，产生了名不副实的印象。中共是起了不小的作用，但是中央政府军队的作用胜过他们一百倍。”海明威还说，“根据我在西班牙(内战里)的经验，共产党总是拚命给人假象只有他们在努力作战。”
“Communists,” Hemingway noted, “in my experience in Spain, always try to give the impression that they are the only ones who really fight.”
Given Hemingway's name, his assessment might have made a considerable impact on public opinion, but it did not see the light of day until 1965. He was dissuaded from publishing his views in 1941 by a Roosevelt aide called Lauchlin Currie, who told him “our policy was to discourage civil war.”
海明威的名望使他的这些见解一旦曝光会产生很大的影响。可是，这些见解直到二十多年后的一九六五年才见天日。一九四一年，在罗斯福助理居里的劝说下，海明威没有把这些见解公之于世。居里的理由是：“我们的政策是不要他们打内战。”
Currie, chief White House economic adviser, visited China right after the N4A Incident. US intercepts of Soviet intelligence traffic (Venona) name Currie as helping the Russians, and some consider that he was a Soviet agent. A judicious recent study of Roosevelt and intelligence describes Currie as “a manipulable sympathizer,” concluding that he was not a spy, but a “friend” of the Russians in the White House. On this trip to China, he certainly did the Reds sterling service. In Chongqing, he told Chiang that he had brought a verbal message from Roosevelt (as well as a written one). Currie opened the verbal message with this sentence: “It appears at ten thousand miles away that the Chinese Communists are what in our country we would call socialists. We like their attitude towards the peasants, towards women and towards Japan.”
居里是白宫主要经济助理，在皖南事变后访问中国。美国截获苏联情报的档案表明他总在帮苏联的忙，有人说他是苏联间谍。最近一份权威研究下结论，说他是个“容易受人利用的同情者”，不是间谍而是苏联在白宫的“朋友”。这位朋友的中国之行极尽为中共服务之能事。比方，他对蒋介石说他除了带来罗斯福的书面信件以外，还带来总统口信，口信是这样开头的：“在一万英里外的美国，我们看中国共产党其实就是我们那里的社会主义者。我们喜欢他们对农民的态度、对妇女的态度、对日本的态度。”居里叫蒋介石不要把口信告诉美国国务院的人，也不要告诉美国大使约翰逊(Nelson Trusler Johnson)。
In his report to Roosevelt, Currie mainly spoke ill of Chiang, and painted an extremely rosy picture of the Reds. He claimed that “the Communists have been the only party which has been able to attract mass support,” suggesting that this was the reason they had expanded. Currie gave Roosevelt the Communists' version of the N4A crisis.*
在给罗斯福的报告里，居里大讲蒋介石的坏话，粉饰中共，说“中共是唯一受大众拥护的党”，说这是它扩展的原因。对皖南事变，他把中共的说法照本宣科。
由于居里从中作梗，蒋介石未能建立一条直达罗斯福的通路。蒋介石请居里转告罗斯福，给他派个能够在他与总统之间“毫无隔阂地传达意见”的政治顾问，使他能“与总统直接联系”。蒋中意的人选是美国驻苏联第一任大使蒲立德(William Bullitt)，一个对共产主义没有幻想的人。居里当场一口否决这个人选，以后也没有向罗斯福汇报。他回美国后给蒋介石找了个学者拉铁摩尔(Owen Lattimore)，此人连罗斯福的面都没见过，更不用说符合蒋的要求了。结果，蒋介石与罗斯福之间的联络掌握在居里手中。
International pressure on Chiang was so strong that on 29 January he told his ambassador in Moscow to ask the Kremlin to intervene to help resolve the crisis with the Reds, effectively asking the Russians to dictate terms. Three days later, a jubilant Mao told his army chiefs: “No matter how hard Chiang Kai-shek tries to rebel, he can try this and that, but in the end will only get himself toppled.” Mao was using the word “rebel” as if Chiang were the outlaw and he himself already on the throne. Chiang acceded to Russian demands to let Mao's men hang on to their territorial gains and stay in the heartland of China near Nanjing and Shanghai.
迫于一系列国际上的压力，皖南事变后，蒋在一月二十九日叫他的驻苏联大使请克里姆林宫调停，也就是说让苏联人出价，问他们到底要什么。苏联人要蒋介石让新四军留在长江流域，中共夺取的别的地盘也都照样不动，蒋介石一一答应。毛不无得意地对中共将领说：“蒋介石无论他怎样造反，但闹来闹去，只会把他自己闹垮台的。”毛已经使用“造反”， 这样的字眼儿了，好像蒋介石已经在野，他已经坐拥江山了。
Mao had been quick to see how helpful Western journalists like Snow could be to his cause, but slow to appreciate how useful the British and American governments could be in tying Chiang's hands. His hostility to both states had been extreme. On 25 October 1940 he had told his top brass how he hoped Britain could be occupied by the Nazis, and the Japanese would continue to occupy China: “the most difficult, most dangerous and darkest scenario,” he said, was Chiang “joining the Anglo-US bloc”:
英美政府在束缚蒋介石手脚上起的作用，毛泽东相当迟缓地才意识到。虽然他老早就看出斯诺这样的记者对他的用处，但对英美政府他向来是极端敌视。一九四0年十月二十五日，他给周恩来的电报说：“最黑暗的情况是日本对新加坡久攻不下，美海军控制新加坡，德攻英伦不下……美国海军集中力量，打败日本海军，日本投降美国，日本陆军退出中国，美国把中国英美派从财政上军事上武装起来”，“最黑暗莫过如此。”
We must envisage this: that the Japanese are unable to take Singapore … which will be taken by the US navy; London does not fall … Japan surrenders to America; Japanese army leaves China; America finances and arms the pro-Anglo-American Chinese … It can't be darker than this.
英、美影响中国，在毛看来远比日本占领糟糕得多。但突然，他来了个一百八十度大转弯，十一月六日写信给周恩来说：“江[三日]电所示重要情报今晨才阅悉。蒋加入英美集团有利无害，加入德意日集团则有害无利，我们再不要强调反对加入英美集团了”，“而且应与英美作外交联络”。
This scenario was to Mao worse than Japanese occupation. But all of a sudden there was a spectacular change in his attitude. On 6 November he wrote to Chou En-lai: “I have this morning just read the important intelligence in your cable of the 3rd. So Chiang joining the Anglo-US bloc is only to our advantage … Let us oppose this no more … We must forge more links with Britain and America …”
Chou En-lai had clearly enlightened Mao about how useful the West could be to him. From now on, Chou devoted more energy to cultivating Westerners, particularly Americans. And his charm offensive intensified after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and America's presence in China greatly increased.
周恩来显然给了毛什么情报使毛豁然开朗，原来英、美政府对他很有用处。从这时起，周花巨大精力在西方官员中做工作，特别是在美国官员中。太平洋战争爆发后，美国在中国的地位越来越重要，周恩来的魅力攻势也越来越炉火纯青。
ON 13 APRIL 1941 Russia signed a Neutrality Pact with Japan, which freed large numbers of Japanese troops to attack Southeast Asia and Pearl Harbor. But it did not include a carve-up of China between Russia and Japan. Mao did not get his Poland scenario.
一九四一年四月，苏联同日本签订了“中立条约”，条约使日本得以放手進攻东南亚，袭击珍珠港，但用毛的话说：“对中国问题没有解决”。也就是说，苏、日没有瓜分中国，中国没有当上波兰。
*We know that Mao suppressed this cable because he told Chou En-lai, his liaison with Chiang, on 13 January, nine days and many deaths later: “I have sent you the cable of the 4th from … Xiang to Chiang. Its wording is inappropriate, so if you haven't passed it on, please don't.” The fact that Mao felt he still had time to withdraw the cable indicates he had only just recently sent it to Chou.
*Chou told the Russians that radio links between N4A HQ and Yenan had been broken from the afternoon of the 13th—different from the dates Mao gave: 6th-9th. Clearly, Mao's dates would have been bound to arouse suspicion in the Russians.
*Another thing Currie did which was to Mao's great advantage was to thwart Chiang's attempt to establish a sympathetic channel to Roosevelt. Chiang requested Currie to ask Roosevelt to send him a political adviser who had access to the president. Chiang named his own choice, William Bullitt, the first US ambassador to the Soviet Union, whom Chiang knew personally, and knew to be anti-Communist. Currie rejected Chiang's request outright, off his own bat, and there is no sign he even told Roosevelt that Chiang wanted Bullitt. When Currie got back to America, he recommended an academic, Owen Lattimore, who had not even met Roosevelt, much less had the sort of access to the President that Chiang had specified. The upshot was that Currie had a tight grip on communications between Chiang and Roosevelt.