On December 8, 1941, Japanese troops in Tianjin occupied the British Concession. Although He Siyuan's family in the British Concession immediately moved to the Italian Concession, they still did not escape the clutches of the Japanese army. On December 31, the inspector summoned He Yiwen (He Siyuan's wife) to the Bureau of the Italian Concession, where there were Japanese gendarmes, and the Italian Concession authorities handed He Yiwen over to the Japanese gendarmes on the spot.
The Japanese gendarmes said that they already knew that He Siyuan's family was hiding in the British Concession, and showed the intercepted correspondence between He Yiwen and He Siyuan, and said to He Yiwen: "The imperial army wants to cooperate with He Siyuan, please go to Shandong and persuade him." ”
Then, ignoring He Yiwen's protests, the Japanese gendarmes escorted her home, forced her to pack her bags immediately, and Aiko Kobayashi, the leader of the Japanese gendarmerie squad stationed in Lubei, escorted He Yiwen and his children to the train, took a third-class slow train, went to Cangxian That night, changed to a car to Huimin the next day, and lived in a Japanese home, monitored by Japanese gendarmes and guarded by plainclothes of the puppet army.
The Japanese took a picture of He Yiwen's mother and son with Ai Kobayashi. Later, He Yiwen learned that the Japanese army enlarged this photo, and together with the letter of persuasion, sent a postman to He Siyuan, who was then the director of the Kuomintang Lubei Bureau; He Siyuan did not open the contents of the letter, so he gathered his troops, tore the letter to pieces in public, and made it clear that he would resolutely resist the war to the end and would never surrender! Only this photograph was left as evidence of the Japanese army's crimes.
At that time, the Japanese army had announced that He Yiwen's mother and son would be held hostage, and that he Siyuan would be forced to "cooperate" with them by using the pseudo-minister of Nanjing or the position of pseudo-governor of Shandong (one of whom could be chosen) as bait. Otherwise, it will be necessary to carry out a "sweep" and put He Yiwen's mother and son in front of the Japanese army, and if He Siyuan resists, he will kill his own family first, and the brutality of the Japanese army can be seen.
The small leader of the puppet army who was responsible for guarding He Yiwen's mother and son was surnamed Ding, who secretly took very good care of him, and he told the Japanese gendarmes that it was inconvenient to detain here, so he found another private house for He Yiwen's mother and son to live in, where there were still puppet army guards, but the Japanese were not often in front of him. Each meal was delivered by a local restaurant, and the leader of the puppet army bought canned food for He Yiwen's mother and son, saying that He Siyuan entrusted him to buy it.
It turned out that the Lubei Bureau had done a fairly deep job in the work of the puppet army, and many of the puppet troops in Huimin, including the commander of the puppet army, had established relations with the guerrillas, and the small leader surnamed Ding was also one of them. Therefore, He Siyuan knew the activities of the Japanese army very well. Soon, through the puppet army relationship, He Siyuan sent the old attendant Zhang Xianwu disguised as a puppet soldier to take care of the life of He Yiwen's mother and son, and brought He Siyuan a secret French letter written on a small note, telling his wife He Yiwen (originally French) not to be afraid, and the Japanese would never dare to kill you and your children. Since then, almost every day, people have secretly exchanged and passed on information.
With He Siyuan's encouragement, He Yiwen became stronger, and Kobayashi Ainan asked He Yiwen to write letters to He Siyuan several times to persuade him to surrender, but he was rejected; an old friend of He Siyuan's, Zhu Jinggu, a traitor in Shandong at that time, sent people to offer condolences and advice, and He Yiwen also ignored it.
Once, He Yiwen reprimanded Xiaolin Ainan in person: "You can't beat He Siyuan, take women and children out of anger, it's really despicable!" Aoi Kobayashi was annoyed, and pulled out his pistol and said, "The imperial army is lenient, or you are dead!" ”
A few days later, the leader of the puppet army surnamed Ding and several Japanese puppet soldiers took He Yiwen away in a big mule car, saying that they were looking for He Siyuan, and the 4 children were handed over to the attendant Zhang Xianwu to take care of. Three days later, He Yiwen returned and said that He Siyuan had not been found. But later, He Yiwen secretly told the children that she had met with He Siyuan in Qinghe Town one night, and that it was when the leader of the puppet army surnamed Ding invited the Japanese soldiers to the gun tower to drink, and with the help of other puppet troops, He Siyuan came in to meet with He Yiwen secretly. Later, when He Siyuan talked about this matter, he once said that those Japanese soldiers were "stupid species."
One day, there was a clamor outside the gate, and a large number of Japanese puppet troops passed in front of the door, and many artillery vehicles passed with a roar. The puppet army guarding said, "The imperial army has gone to sweep up He Siyuan." He Yiwen was worried. Two days later, the person delivering the meal at the restaurant took advantage of the absence of the puppet soldiers and quietly said to He Yiwen: "The Japanese soldiers have returned, many people have died, and they have pulled a car of dead bodies." Since then, the custody of He Yiwen's mother and son has relaxed a little, and He Yiwen has been allowed to walk on the street.
It turned out that during this time, He Siyuan had waged a tit-for-tat struggle against the Japanese army. Because the Italian authorities were accomplices, He Siyuan sent a telegram to the Chongqing Nationalist government to gather together 70 Italian missionaries and nuns in the Henan area as "anti-hostages" (these Italian overseas Chinese were later released and not mistreated), and He Siyuan announced: If the Japanese army dares to kill one of my family members, we will kill 10 Italians in retaliation. At the same time, people were sent to various foreign consulates, Chinese and foreign newspapers, churches, and charitable organizations in Ping, Tianjin, Beijing, and Shanghai to expose and condemn the Japanese army's crime of violating public international law and taking women and children as hostages; it declared that the Nationalist Government's seizure of overseas Chinese as "anti-hostages" was a last resort, and the consequences should be borne by the Japanese army.
The representative of the Italian government in Wang's puppet Nanjing made representations to the Japanese army for the safety of the Italian overseas Chinese. Okamura Ningji had to order the Commander of the Japanese Army in Shandong to send He Siyuan's family back to Tianjin within a time limit. However, the Japanese army in Shandong was not satisfied, and launched another large-scale encirclement attack in an attempt to capture He Siyuan alive, but it did not succeed.
In late January, Ai Nan Kobayashi said that he would send He Yiwen's mother and son back to Tianjin, and first sent the five people to Jinan to stay at the Shitaiyan Hotel. Some unknown people secretly came to visit, brought snacks and fruits, and left in tears.
In Jinan, He Yiwen went to see the Japanese commander in Shandong, Tuqiao, who pretended to express his condolences and asked He Yiwen to make a radio speech in Jinan, admitting that she had voluntarily searched for a husband in Shandong with the assistance of the Japanese army, but had not found it, and now wanted to return to Tianjin.
He Yiwen said: "My Chinese language is not good, and I can't broadcast. If I had to speak, I would only tell the truth and would not speak nonsense. ”
Tuqiao had to ask Ai Nan Kobayashi to send He Yiwen's mother and son back to Tianjin, but still sent gendarmes to monitor, and He Yiwen's mother and son were still unable to reunite with He Siyuan. Until March 1944, He Yihua disguised himself as a nun of a foreign church, secretly left Tianjin with his children, traveled from place to place, and finally arrived in Xi'an. At this point, He Yiwen's mother and son were completely free from the threat.