In 1949, when the People's Republic of China had just been founded, the situation was grim, and there were internal and external troubles. One day, Li Kenong suddenly smiled and asked Chairman Mao: "Chairman, do you know what the first thing the President of the United States does after going to work every day?" This seemingly unintentional question aroused Chairman Mao's deep interest. Li Kenong then said the answer, which made Chairman Mao smile. As the "king of intelligence," what is the profound meaning behind this question? What is the story between him and Chairman Mao? Let us find out.
Li Kenong and Chairman Mao's indissoluble bond
Li Kenong, formerly known as Li Kechun, was born in 1900 in a poor peasant family in Suqian County, Jiangsu Province. His family was poor since he was a child, but he was diligent and studious, and studied in a private school. After the outbreak of the May Fourth Movement in 1919, Li Kenong was influenced by the New Culture Movement, began to come into contact with Marxist thought, and became strongly dissatisfied with the feudal social system.
In 1924, Li Kenong joined the Communist Party of China and began his long and tortuous revolutionary career. In the same year, he was ordered to go to Guangzhou and take up a post in the Guangdong region of the Communist Party of China. In this year, Mao Zedong also came to Guangzhou and assumed the post of secretary of the Guangdong District Committee of the Communist Party of China. The two formed an indissoluble bond.
During his stay in Guangzhou, Li Kenong was mainly responsible for intelligence work. With his extraordinary wisdom and cautious and meticulous style, he provided a lot of valuable information to the party organization and defused crises many times. Mao Zedong greatly appreciated Li Kenong's work and established a deep friendship with him.
In 1927, the Kuomintang staged a counter-revolutionary coup d'état and brutally suppressed the Communists. In this life-and-death struggle, Li Kenong risked his life to provide Mao Zedong and other CCP leaders with important intelligence to ensure their safe evacuation of Guangzhou. Mao Zedong praised Li Kenong's heroic deeds, praising him as "a valuable asset of the party."
Since then, Li Kenong has been following Mao Zedong and participated in major military operations such as the Autumn Harvest Uprising and the Nanchang Uprising. At these critical moments, Li Kenong played an important role and made outstanding contributions to the victory of the revolution.
In 1934, the Central Red Army began its arduous Long March. In this thrilling expedition, Li Kenong was in charge of intelligence work and opened up a lifeline for the Red Army. He went deep behind enemy lines on many occasions to reconnoiter the enemy's situation and provided key intelligence for the Red Army in formulating operational plans. Mao Zedong was full of praise for Li Kenong's work and personally wrote an inscription for him "King of Intelligence".
After the victory of the Long March arrived in Yan'an, Li Kenong continued to work as an intelligence. He not only provided a large amount of valuable information to the Party Central Committee, but also trained a number of intelligence personnel, laying a solid foundation for the future victory of the revolution.
It was precisely because of Li Kenong's outstanding contributions in the revolutionary years that he formed an indissoluble bond with Mao Zedong. The two trusted and appreciated each other, and became valuable revolutionary comrades-in-arms. Mao Zedong publicly commended Li Kenong many times, praising him as "the party's precious wealth" and "the king of intelligence". And Li Kenong has always been loyal, regarded Mao Zedong as a revolutionary leader, and worked for him wholeheartedly.
The origin of Li Kenong's nickname "King of Intelligence".
The reason why Li Kenong was personally given the nickname of "King of Intelligence" by Mao Zedong was because of his outstanding intelligence work for the cause of the party and the people during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation.
New Element 1: Li Kenong's outstanding intelligence work during the War of Resistance Against Japan
In July 1937, Japanese imperialism launched a full-scale war of aggression against China. Faced with a formidable enemy, the Chinese Communist Party decided to conduct extensive guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines. Li Kenong was sent to the North China base area to be in charge of intelligence work.
With his extraordinary wisdom and cautious style, Li Kenong soon built an elite team of intelligence officers behind enemy lines. Disguising themselves as peasants and merchants, they went deep behind enemy lines to reconnoiter the enemy's situation and provide a great deal of valuable information for the guerrillas' operations.
In 1941, Li Kenong learned that the Japanese army would launch a "sweep" operation in Pingshan County, Hebei Province, in an attempt to completely destroy the local guerrilla forces. He immediately sent informants to go deep behind enemy lines to find out the deployment of Japanese troops and the plan of action. With this accurate information, the guerrillas were well prepared and launched a fierce battle in Pingshan County, which finally defeated the Japanese army's "mopping-up" operation.
In addition, Li Kenong also instigated contradictions within the enemy on many occasions, sowing discord and plunging the enemy into chaos. His intelligence work made a significant contribution to the victory of the guerrilla war.
New Element 2: Li Kenong's key intelligence contribution in the War of Liberation
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party broke out. Li Kenong was transferred to the Central Plains Liberated Area and continued to be in charge of intelligence work.
In 1947, the Kuomintang army launched a large-scale offensive to "encircle and suppress the Central Plains". In the face of the enemy's heavy siege, the Central Plains Military Region fell into an extremely critical situation. Li Kenong went deep behind enemy lines, reconnoitred the enemy's situation, and provided the Central Plains Military Region with a great deal of valuable information on the enemy's troop deployment and combat plans. With this information, the Central Plains Military Region made accurate judgments, took appropriate countermeasures, and finally thwarted the offensive of the Kuomintang army.
In 1948, the People's Liberation Army launched the famous "Liaoshen Campaign". Once again, Li Kenong played a key role, and the intelligence he provided made a significant contribution to the victory of the PLA.
In addition to his outstanding performance on the battlefield, Li Kenong also has unique insights into the theory and methods of intelligence work. He believes that the fundamental purpose of intelligence work is to serve the victory of the war, so it must be closely integrated with the actual needs of the war. He stressed the need for strict secrecy in intelligence work and to take all kinds of prudent measures to prevent the enemy from stealing intelligence. At the same time, he put forward a series of specific methods for intelligence work, such as going deep behind enemy lines, disguising identities, and sowing discord, setting an example for future generations.
It was precisely because of Li Kenong's outstanding intelligence work during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, as well as his significant contributions to the theory of intelligence work, that Mao Zedong personally inscribed the nickname "King of Intelligence" for him.
Chairman Mao and Li Kenong's teacher-student friendship
The relationship between Mao Zedong and Li Kenong was not only a revolutionary comrade-in-arms, but also a deep friendship like a teacher and a student. The two met in Guangzhou in 1924 and formed an indissoluble bond, along the way, experienced the baptism of life and death, and the friendship between them became deeper and deeper.
Mao Zedong's emphasis on Li Kenong can be traced back to the Guangzhou period. At that time, Li Kenong was in charge of intelligence work, provided a lot of valuable information for the party organization, and defused crises many times. Mao Zedong greatly appreciated Li Kenong's work and established a deep friendship with him.
In 1927, the Kuomintang staged a counter-revolutionary coup d'état and brutally suppressed the Communists. In this life-and-death struggle, Li Kenong risked his life to provide Mao Zedong and other CCP leaders with important intelligence to ensure their safe evacuation of Guangzhou. Mao Zedong praised Li Kenong's heroic deeds, praising him as "a valuable asset of the party."
Since then, Li Kenong has been following Mao Zedong and participated in major military operations such as the Autumn Harvest Uprising and the Nanchang Uprising. At these critical moments, Li Kenong played an important role and made outstanding contributions to the victory of the revolution. Mao Zedong praised Li Kenong's work and personally wrote an inscription for him "The King of Intelligence".
In 1934, the Central Red Army began its arduous Long March. In this thrilling expedition, Li Kenong was in charge of intelligence work and opened up a lifeline for the Red Army. He went deep behind enemy lines on many occasions to reconnoiter the enemy's situation and provided key intelligence for the Red Army in formulating operational plans. Mao Zedong praised Li Kenong's work and regarded him as a valuable asset of the revolution.
After the victory of the Long March arrived in Yan'an, Mao Zedong continued to reuse Li Kenong and put him in charge of intelligence work. With the support of Mao Zedong, Li Kenong not only provided a large amount of valuable intelligence to the Party Central Committee, but also cultivated a group of intelligence talents, laying a solid foundation for the future victory of the revolution.
It can be said that Mao Zedong's great respect for Li Kenong stemmed from his high appreciation for his intelligence work. And Li Kenong has always been loyal, regarded Mao Zedong as a revolutionary leader, and worked for him wholeheartedly.
The two had a heart-to-heart relationship on the road of revolution, trusted each other, and appreciated each other. Mao Zedong publicly commended Li Kenong many times, praising him as "the party's precious wealth" and "the king of intelligence". And Li Kenong has always regarded Mao Zedong as a revolutionary mentor and obeyed his words.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Mao Zedong continued to reuse Li Kenong and put him in charge of intelligence work. With the support of Mao Zedong, Li Kenong made significant contributions to the construction and development of New China.
The friendship between Mao Zedong and Li Kenong stemmed not only from their fighting side by side in the revolutionary years, but also because of the high degree of compatibility between the two in terms of ideas and careers. They are all revolutionaries who have fought tirelessly for the cause of communism and are unswerving fighters for the interests of the people. It is precisely this high degree of ideological alignment that has made their friendship deeper and deeper, and they have become valuable revolutionary partners.
Li Kenong's later years and his contribution to the People's Republic of China
In his later years after the founding of New China, although Li Kenong was already in his old age, he still made indelible contributions to the construction and development of the motherland.
After the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, Mao Zedong personally selected Li Kenong as the negotiator for the Chinese People's Volunteers. In the final stages of this war, the two sides are about to enter the negotiation stage. Mao Zedong knew that only Li Kenong, the "king of intelligence", was the most suitable person for negotiation.
Li Kenong and Mao Zedong are highly consistent in their thinking, and they both believe that "the harder the front line, the greater the advantage that can be occupied at the negotiating table." As a negotiator, Li Kenong went to the US military position alone, and with his solid professional knowledge and excellent psychological quality, he repeatedly broke through the enemy's psychological defense line and made the American negotiators speechless.
In the end, thanks to Li Kenong's outstanding performance, the Chinese People's Volunteers gained great initiative at the negotiating table, winning valuable time to end the war and defend New China.
After the end of the Korean War, Li Kenong continued to work as an intelligence worker and contributed to the construction of New China. At that time, cracks began to appear in Sino-Soviet relations, and the two sides disagreed on ideologies and national interests. In order to prevent Soviet infiltration and sabotage, Mao Zedong once again reused Li Kenong and put him in charge of monitoring Soviet activities in China.
Li Kenong took decisive action, and he sent a large number of informants to the Soviet embassy in China and the expert group to find out the actual situation of Soviet activities in China. With the intelligence provided by Li Kenong, the Chinese government formulated timely countermeasures, effectively curbed the Soviet Union's infiltration and sabotage activities, and safeguarded national security.
In the process, Li Kenong also discovered that the Soviet Union had tried to use some of the classified information he had provided to contain China. But Li Kenong had been prepared for a long time, and he deliberately mixed some irrelevant data into real intelligence, which led to the failure of the Soviet plan again and again. It was not until the end that the Soviets realized that Li Kenong was the real "king of intelligence".
In addition to his important role in the Korean War and Sino-Soviet relations, Li Kenong also contributed to the diplomatic cause of the new China. He accompanied Mao Zedong on many trips to the Soviet Union, North Korea and other countries, providing intelligence support and defense work for Chinese leaders.
On February 9, 1962, Li Kenong died of illness in Peking Union Medical College Hospital at the age of 62. His death has brought heavy mourning to the whole country. Mao Zedong personally wrote an elegy for him, praising him as a "great revolutionary fighter".
At the memorial service, Dong Biwu and other revolutionaries of the older generation spoke one after another, praising Li Kenong as "the party's precious wealth" and "the king of intelligence." They said that if it were not for Li Kenong, the road to the founding and development of New China would not have been so smooth.
Li Kenong was unswervingly committed and dedicated all his life, and he interpreted the loyalty and responsibility of a communist with practical actions. His deeds will forever be engraved on the monument of China's revolutionary history and construction history, and will become a model for future generations to learn from.