One day in March 1943, Chen Yi, the commander of the New Fourth Army, was dressed in a coarse white cloth military uniform and looked at a person opposite with a somber face. This man is not tall, with a Chinese character face and two small mustaches under his nose that are not thick. In the middle of the night, Chen Yi said, "Chairman Han, we have said that everything is only three, and today is the second time we have dealt with each other in person." In the future, I really don't want to see you in this situation! The person on the other side could only smile awkwardly and echoed: "General Chen is right, I have been captured by your army, and it is really the second time." ”
Who would have thought that this person who nodded to Chen Yi was actually Han Deqin, chairman of the Kuomintang Jiangsu Province and deputy commander-in-chief of the Lusu Theater!
Han Deloitte and the Red Army and the New Fourth Army all have a very "long history.". He was an "old qualification" in the Kuomintang army, graduated from the Baoding Officer School, and was a classmate of Ye Ting, Deng Yanda, Xue Yue and others. During this period, his best friend was Gu Zhutong, the future defense minister of the Kuomintang government. This friend took great care of him and promoted him almost all the way.
In June 1931, Han Deloitte led his 52nd Division to participate in the second "encirclement and suppression" of the Soviet zone, but as a result, he was ambushed by the Red Army general Huang Gongluo at Fangshiling, and the troops collapsed, and more than 5,000 people were captured, including Han Deloitte himself. His appearance was very average, coupled with the lack of a warrior temperament, he was not prominent among the captives, and no one paid attention to him. At that time, the Red Army's policy towards prisoners was very favorable, and almost immediately after the battle, they were dismissed from the road. Han Deloitte also followed the others, mixed with the travel expenses of two silver dollars, and flew back to Nanchang. This was the first time Han Deloitte had been captured by the People's Army.
Due to this defeat, Han Deloitte voluntarily asked for a demotion and lost his military power. In fact, this is not a good thing for him, so that he has lost a lot of battles. However, Han Deloitte himself was not happy, so he found his old classmate Gu Zhutong, hoping to be promoted. Later, Gu Zhutong came to Jiangsu as the chairman of the government, and he brought Han Deloitte with him. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Gu Zhutong served as the deputy commander of the Third Theater and had no time to take care of government affairs, so Han Deloitte became the acting chairman of Jiangsu Province and exercised political power.
Within a few days of the beginning of the War of Resistance, the diehards represented by Chiang Kai-shek continued to create anti-communist friction. As the acting leader of Jiangsu, Han Deloitte naturally wants to stand with the "leader". From 1938 to 1939, he repeatedly banned progressive organizations, slandered CCP members, and shielded anti-communist elements. After 1940, the New Fourth Army officially entered the development of northern Jiangsu, and Han Deloitte sent troops to harass many times, but each time it was beaten to the ground. The most tragic thing was that in the Battle of Huangqiao, Han Deloitte encountered Su Yu, the first general of the People's Liberation Army in the future, and the results were naturally conceivable. Han Deloitte's more than 10,000 troops were beaten by Su Yu's 7,000 men and horses.
On February 23, 1943, 7,000 Japanese puppet troops attacked the town of Caodian, the seat of Han Deloitte's administration. Unable to support himself, Han Deqin retreated all the way, and finally had to turn to Huang Kecheng, commander of the 3rd Division of the New Fourth Army, hoping to hide in the base area to rest. Huang Kecheng put the national righteousness first, regardless of the previous accusations, and agreed to Han Deloitte's request. Unexpectedly, the Japanese army had just withdrawn, and Han Deloitte returned to his old ways and pointed the spearhead of the attack at the 4th Division led by Peng Xuefeng. Moreover, during the march, Han Deloitte shot and killed the members of the district team and snatched the guns, and his behavior was heinous.
The 4th, 2nd, and 3rd Divisions of the New Fourth Army moved immediately and were ready to completely eliminate Han Deqin. Before the war, in order to give the enemy one last chance, the New Fourth Army sent people to persuade Han Deloitte to retreat to his defensive zone, if not, the consequences would be at his own risk! But Han Deloitte simply ignored the warning and remained arrogant. Then everything can only be spoken by the barrel of a gun. As a result, the 9th Brigade of the 4th Division of the New Fourth Army attacked from a distance, catching Han Deloitte by surprise. In the end, in his headquarters, Wang Wei Village, Han Deloitte was almost completely annihilated, and he himself became a prisoner of the order.
However, what is unexpected is that the acting chairman of Tangtang Jiangsu Province played a green skin after being captured.
After he was captured, soldiers of the New Fourth Army routinely searched him and confiscated all his guns and ammunition. Later, a box of matches was turned over from him, thinking that it should be used for smoking, but the soldier did not care and did not confiscate. But on the way back to the division headquarters, Han Deqin suddenly plucked a matchhead and stuffed it into his mouth in front of everyone. At that time, there was a legend that swallowing phosphorus on the head of a match could be poisoned. Han Deloitte obviously wants to give himself a "kill to become a benevolent".
However, the legend seems to be false, after eating a lot of matchheads, Han Deloitte not only did not die, but also did not have a physical discomfort. Seeing that he could not succeed in his plan, he made another plan and began a hunger strike. The soldiers of the 4th Division brought him food, and he did not even look at it, but also wrote down the so-called "will" on pen and paper, which seemed to be tough.
Han Deloitte's move is actually to find a face for himself. He has been an enemy of the people's army for half his life, has never won a victory, and today he is a prisoner again, which is really ugly on his face.
It was a stalemate for a day. The next day, Peng Xuefeng, the commander of the 4th Division, personally came to him, and Han Deqin immediately shouted at Peng Xuefeng and put up his official shelf. Master Peng waited for him to shout enough, and then persuaded him to eat. Han Deloitte may not be able to hold on, so he picked up the food and swept it away, and never mentioned hunger strike again.
At the same time, news of Han's capture spread throughout Yan'an and Chongqing, and almost everyone was elated. Needless to say, Yan'an was certainly happy to see a diehard faction being overthrown. And Chiang Kai-shek, who was sitting in Chongqing, could hardly hide the excitement in his heart. In fact, he had long wanted to take Down Han Deloitte and replace him with his confidant Tang Enbo. However, since Han Deloitte is Gu Zhutong's person, he must talk a little bit about face, and he can't be hard. Now that Han Deloitte has been captured, it is estimated that the New Fourth Army will not treat him well. If Han Deloitte was really shot, then he could not only make Tang Enbo's righteous position, but also throw the black cauldron that created friction to the New Fourth Army, which was really killing two birds with one stone.
As for Chiang Kai-shek's thoughts, Chen Yi, commander of the New Fourth Army, watched the fire. He understood that at this time, Han Deloitte was a powder keg, and if he really wanted to move him, it was simply an endless disaster. Keeping this nominal chairman who has been repeatedly defeated in battles and has been lost by himself is actually more in line with the interests of the New Fourth Army.
In fact, most of the soldiers of the New Fourth Army at this time hoped to execute Han Deqin, and wanted to avenge the dead comrades and eliminate this trouble forever. But Chen Yi disagreed with this idea, and after much deliberation, he felt that releasing Han Deloitte seemed to be the best way to solve the friction problem. After consulting the Party Central Committee, Chen Yi walked into the room where Han Deqin was being held, and then the scene at the beginning of this article occurred.
Chen Yi and Han Deloitte talked for 7 hours. During the conversation, Chen Yi continued to use the national righteousness and the achievements of the two armies to enlighten Han Deloitte. Han Deqin's attitude was extremely humble, and in addition to praising the New Fourth Army, he did not forget to spit bitter water, desperately saying that he was "obeying others' orders and being unable to help himself," and pushing all the responsibility for creating friction on Chiang Kai-shek.
Chen Yi did not break him either, and after he finished speaking, he solemnly reminded him: "Chairman Han, everyone has a bitter heart, and we understand your pain." In the future, as long as you give up the anti-communist stance and truly and conscientiously resist Japan, then everything will be fine, and our New Fourth Army will not embarrass you. At this point, we mean what we say, and I hope that President Han will do the same. Otherwise, I am afraid that even if none of us are willing, it will be inevitable to meet on an occasion like today. Our Party Central Committee has decided to release you, do you have any demands? ”
As soon as this remark came out, Han Deloitte was shocked. According to the rules of their victory, the captives had only two paths to go: surrender or be killed. Now that Leng Buding heard that he was about to be released, he obviously did not react, and he was stunned and unable to speak.
Chen Yi saw that he didn't speak, so he asked, "Chairman Han doesn't want to go back if he doesn't speak?" ”
Han Deloitte woke up like a dream and quickly replied, "No, no, of course I want to go back." He looked down and thought for a moment and continued, "However, I have three requests, and I don't know if Commander Chen can answer them." ”
Chen Yi motioned for Han Deloitte to continue.
"First, in order to promote the friendship between our two sides and highlight the principle of peaceful coexistence and mutual non-aggression, I hope to have a photo with Commander Chen jun for a while, and then we will sign a memorandum expressing mutual non-aggression to ensure the safety of both of us; second, I am also a chairman, and if I really go back alone, my face will really be a bit unbearable." So I hope your army will let me bring some people and weapons back; third, can you lend me some money so that I can go back and rebuild the province. ”
Chen Yi laughed after listening to it and immediately agreed to Han Deloitte. Soon, Chen Yi allocated 80,000 yuan from the small funds of the New Fourth Army to Han Deloitte, and returned his watches, pistols and other personal belongings. Immediately afterward, Han Deloitte's staff officer and Peng Xuefeng, commander of the 4th Division of the New Fourth Army, began to talk about the return of weapons and prisoners, and to discuss a peace agreement. Soon, the two sides signed the "Ten Memorandums of Understanding between Chen Yi, Commander of the New Fourth Army, and Han Deloitte", at least on the surface, the two sides have begun to live in peace.
After all parties reached an agreement, the New Fourth Army held a grand farewell party for Han Deloitte. After the ceremony, Han Deloitte officially embarked on the way home. When he walked out of the house, he found a bullock cart on the side of the road for him. It turned out that the leaders of the New Fourth Army were meticulous in their thinking, and they had long ago discovered that Han Deloitte had been unwell in recent days, so they specially "prepared a car" for him to take his place. Although this ox cart is not as good as a car, the sincerity of the yearning for peace is full.
After Han Deloitte returned, he quickly moved his office to Fuyang, Anhui Province, and avoided northern Jiangsu from afar. Later, he rose through the ranks of the Kuomintang government and enjoyed the privilege of accepting the surrender of the Japanese army in Hangzhou.
After Han Deloitte left, the New Fourth Army also gained a great opportunity for development after there was no resistance, and the troops grew stronger and stronger day by day.
The peaceful settlement of this matter was very satisfactory to both parties. But for Chiang Kai-shek, the driving force behind Han Deloitte, it was tantamount to letting Ruyi's abacus fall short. Because of Gu Zhutong's relationship, he could not forcibly replace Han Deqin, then Tang Enbo naturally could not ascend to the throne, and the regime in Jiangsu Province could not be completely grasped. Later, he talked to Chen Cheng about this matter, and said with regret: "Chen Yi is too cunning, this trick is too cruel!" ”