Zhao Is six years older than her husband, Li Dazhao, and frequent births have also accelerated her aging, so in the year she took refuge in the former Soviet Embassy in Beijing, although she was just 40 years old, she looked more than ten years older than her husband.
Therefore, many friends who come to Li Dazhao's house for the first time always mistakenly think that Zhao Shulan is the old mother of Li Dazhao's family. At this time, Li Dazhao would always generously pull his wife over and solemnly introduce her: "This is my wife."
Zhao Shulan and Li Dazhao are real green plum bamboo horses, and when they were young, they were neighbors and playmates. When Li Dazhao was ten years old, Zhao Shulan married him.
This marriage has lasted for twenty or thirty years in the blink of an eye. For decades, the two of them had hardly ever blushed. But they are not completely devoid of contradictions, but their contradictions have always focused only on the question of revolution.
After realizing the danger of the revolutionary work her husband was engaged in, Zhao Shulan gently persuaded her husband to pay attention to safety. A few years ago, shortly after the death of their youngest daughter, Li Zhonghua, Li Dazhao happened to be wanted by the Beiyang warlord government. At this time, Zhao Shulan, who was already extremely afraid of losing her loved ones, "worried about her husband" reached the extreme.
After her husband escaped from danger, Zhao Shulan specially entrusted someone to write a long letter to her husband, in which she begged him in an almost pleading tone: "You can ask your classmate Bai Jianwu to come forward and cancel the wanted order for you. ”
Of course, Li Dazhao would not agree to his wife's request, he belonged to the cattle, and since he was a child, he had identified the character of not looking back. Since he chose revolution, how could he be willing to compromise so easily?
In the reply letter, Li Dazhao explained in detail the reason why he could not do this, and he also told his wife, "I am not even afraid of death, so why would I be afraid of being 'wanted'" He also brought a long poem in the letter mourning his beloved daughter Zhong Hua.
After receiving the letter, Zhao Shulan almost cried, this letter made her understanding of her husband another layer, naturally, it also deepened her worries about her husband.
Soon after this correspondence, there were all kinds of things that were described at the beginning of the article as "moving to the former Soviet embassy in Beijing for refuge." At that time, the reason why they lived in the former Soviet Embassy was to avoid the "wanted by the Beiyang government" mentioned above.
In June 1926, the Warlord Zhang Zuolin entered The Prison and entered Beijing, and the first thing he did when he entered Beijing was to kill the ring. Under his rapid action, Shao Piaoping, the chief writer of Beijing Daily, and Lin Baishui, editor-in-chief of Social Daily, were executed.
Because the wind became more and more intense, many revolutionary comrades evacuated Beijing one after another, and the way they left Beijing at that time was usually to go south to Guangzhou or north to the Soviet Union for further study.
At this time, Li Dazhao, as the early leader of the Communist Party, was already on first-level alert. Li Dazhao's friends around him have also sensed his danger at this time, and some people have speculated that Zhang Zuolin's next target will definitely be him.
Because Li Dazhao, who was in charge of leading the revolutionary work in the north at that time, led the masses to carry out many patriotic struggles, he had long become a thorn in the eyes and a thorn in the flesh of the authorities.
But even knowing that the danger was approaching, Li Dazhao still refused to leave, and he was forced to go underground only after he became the most wanted target, that is, to hide in the former Soviet Embassy to secretly lead the revolutionary activities.
The Soviet Embassy was located in the embassy district of Dongjiaomin Lane in Beijing, a place with extraterritorial jurisdiction, and warlords such as Zhang Zuolin did not want to arrest people easily. According to Li Dazhao's understanding, Chinese armed forces are not allowed to enter this place. Therefore, Li Dazhao believes that even if his whereabouts are discovered, he is safe for the time being.
In order to reassure his wife, when he moved into this residence, he repeatedly stressed to his wife: "This is safe, they (warlords) do not know that I am here, even if they do, they do not dare to come here to get people!" Zhao Shulan listened to it before he relaxed his mind slightly.
After settling down near the Soviet Embassy, Li Dazhao maintained close ties with party organizations at all levels in the north through various connections and guided the struggle against the warlord Zhang Zuolin.
Zhao Shulan, who had long been Li Dazhao's assistant in revolutionary activities, was well aware of the severity of the current situation, so after Shao Piaoping and Lin Baishui were killed one after another, she had been tugging at her heart.
Once when chatting with her husband, she finally couldn't help but tentatively persuade her husband to leave Beijing, but Li Dazhao said after listening to it:
"I don't often tell you, I can't leave Beijing!" With me gone under such difficult circumstances, who will leave the work in Beijing to bear?"
Zhao Shulan only sat stupidly after listening to her husband's words, as a wife, of course she understood him, but she was a woman after all, and she was too worried about his safety.
Zhao Shulan and Li Dazhao
Through her husband's words, Zhao Shulan finally understood: For her husband, leaving Beijing at the most severe and dangerous time is an act of escape. At the same time, at present, only he can do the work in Beijing. It was for these two reasons that forced him to stay in Beijing.
Since then, Zhao Shulan has never persuaded her husband to leave Beijing again, but her worries about her husband's safety have increased day by day.
One day, when Zhao Shulan was sewing clothes on the bed, her husband walked in a little tired, and after entering the door, he put something on the table opposite her. Zhao Shulan subconsciously glanced at it, and when she was stunned: she saw a pistol on the table.
When she saw the gun, she immediately got up from the bed and walked to the table, and she found that the pistol was very special: it looked like a box, and if it were not for the fact that the muzzle was so obvious, she was almost unsure that it was a gun.
Zhao Shulan, who was looking at the gun, did not dare to reach out and touch it, she only stared at the gun and asked her husband, "Where did you get it?" ”
Li Dazhao turned around, he looked at his wife's face with surprise and smiled: "Entrusted people to buy, we are practicing shooting, we can deal with those bad things in the future!" ”
Zhao Shulan was shocked after listening to it, and she said in her heart, "Are they already so dangerous?" Want to take the gun with you all the time? Thinking of this, Zhao Shulan asked her husband with concern: "Is this thing easy to learn?" Li Dazhao looked at his wife and said very seriously: "Eager to learn! Zhao Shulan listened but still looked at the gun, she suspected that this thing was a little difficult for her husband to learn, after all, her husband was from Wen, but the gun shaft had always been a martial object.
Knowing that her husband had a gun, Zhao Shulan fell asleep very late. She herself wondered why her husband was more worried about his safety!
Later, in order to cope with possible dangers, Li Dazhao began to practice shooting frequently, and his training ground at that time was the open space of the Barracks of the West Courtyard of the Soviet Embassy. The one who often practiced with him was his student and revolutionary comrade Fan Hongjie.
It was when practicing shooting with Fan Hongjie that the two of them actually determined one thing: the person sweeping the floor in the courtyard was actually a sitting detective. Of course, Zhao Shulan did not know this.
Because she didn't know it, she almost fell into the trap of a detective. Here's the thing —
One day, when Li Dazhao and Zhao Shulan were talking at home, the detective actually went straight to his residence. As soon as the detective stepped outside their residence, the sensitive Zhao Shulan hurriedly greeted the uninvited guest and said, "You are..."
While looking at the outhouse, the detective pretended to be affectionate and said: "I am cooking at the embassy, I have paid attention, Mr. Li has not eaten meat for many days, as soon as he told the Soviet comrades, they will send me to send some meat to your house." With that, he showed the pork in his hand to Zhao Shulan.
After all, Zhao Shulan did not know the true identity of this person, because it was difficult to buy food after living in the embassy, and she felt that her husband had become significantly thin because he could not eat meat. So she said happily, "Thank you!" How much does it cost! ”
"No money, no money..." After the detective finished speaking, he looked at the situation in the inner chamber while putting the pork. Li Dazhao's every move was watched by Li Dazhao, and after determining that he was inspecting the situation in his inner room, he immediately stepped out of the back room and said sharply:
"Take the meat away, we are not short of your meat to eat!"
When the detective heard this, he immediately realized that there was something in Li Dazhao's words, and he understood: Li Dazhao had already recognized his identity, and his face was full of panic at this time. Zhao Shulan didn't know the inside story, so she said to her husband a little displeasedly: "Xinghua her father, people are kind enough to send us meat!" ”
Li Dazhao heard that the green tendons on his forehead were bulging here, and he was forcing himself to endure his anger, after all, this spy had already sent several of his comrades to prison.
Li Dazhao has always respected his wife, so he has not been angry at that time. The spies who delivered the meat also took the opportunity to say, "Yes! Right....... Mr. Li, don't misunderstand, I am a piece of kindness! After saying this, the spies turned and fled.
After the spies left, Li Dazhao looked at his back and yelled angrily, "Kindness? Let the wolf go! ......”
Zhao Shulan was stunned to see her husband so angry, and for the first time in more than twenty years of marriage with him, she saw him so angry and reprimanded her. With her understanding of her husband, if it were not for the great things, he would not have had such a big reaction. Zhao Shulan asked worriedly and in amazement, "You, what's wrong with you..."
After the detective left, Li Dazhao told his wife the truth: "This person did not come to the Soviet embassy to cook, he was a sitting agent sent by Zhang Zuolin." Hearing this, Zhao Shulan was shocked to "ah" a sound, and her face instantly turned miserable. After half a moment, she asked, "Is this true?" ”
"Really! Comrade Segen's arrest is the secret he told! Li Dazhao looked at his wife seriously, and at this time, Li Xinghua, the eldest daughter of Li Dazhao, who had been checking the movement in the house, also ran out, and she angrily picked up the pork sent by the spies and walked to the door, and then threw it into the courtyard with force: "Take it to feed the wolves!" ”
Zhao Shulan was already too shocked to speak at this time, and seeing that his wife was frightened, Li Dazhao hurriedly walked over and took her hand and slowly walked into his office. After his wife sat down on the bed and regained his composure, he said to her in a low voice, "Go get a foreign fire (match)!" ”
Zhao Xiulan silently took the foreign fire and handed it to her husband, and then she just stood by and watched her husband open the drawer and carefully sort out the documents. When her husband took the documents to the fire, she realized that he was going to destroy the confidential documents.
Zhao Shulan looked at the suddenly large and small flames, and her heart fluttered violently, and she secretly said in her heart: "This embassy is no longer safe." Thinking of this, she silently glanced at her husband who was burning documents. After half a moment, she finally couldn't help but ask worriedly:
"They will really rush into the Soviet embassy to arrest people and copy things!"
At this time, Li Dazhao had already processed all the documents that should be processed. To comfort his wife, he said a word of relief that day, saying, "Generally not." ”
After Zhao Shulan heard her husband's words, she was slightly relieved. But Li Dazhao was behind his voice, and felt that he should still tell his wife the truth, and he had already determined at this time that he had reached the most dangerous time. But as long as that day is not yet up, he will have to hold on, yes, he cannot escape, this is the attitude he must have as a leader of the revolution.
Li Dazhao thought to himself: "Revolution must always have sacrifices, other comrades can sacrifice, why can't I!" ”
But in front of his wife, he could not mention the word "sacrifice", who was already worried about his revolutionary cause, and if she mentioned "sacrifice" again at this time, she was afraid that she would often not be able to sleep.
But at this juncture, the wife must be prepared so that she can be just in case. So, after thinking about it, he added:
"They generally don't go to the embassy to arrest people, but there is a saying in our hometown of Leting, 'the dog jumps the wall', and everything should be on the lookout."
Zhao Shulan heard this and subconsciously swallowed a mouthful of spit, and after fixing her mind, she said to herself: "Cough! Don't come and jump the wall dog wow..."
The first on the left is Zhao Shulan
Zhao Shulan's biggest fear happened not long after: the dog was really going to jump the wall.
After receiving the news from the secret agent, Zhang Zuolin decided to find ways to attack Li Dazhao. But Li Dazhao was in the Soviet Embassy, so how could he enter the embassy and arrest people? The answer is to seek help from ministers of various countries who are hostile to the Chinese Revolutionary Party and the Soviet Union.
On April 4, 1927, Zhang Zuolin, who had already mastered Li Dazhao's movements, sent someone to secretly visit Odenko, chief minister of foreign missions in China, and after he nodded his head at the arrest of Li Dazhao, the ministers of various countries also nodded their heads and agreed to arrest people. After that, the Ministry of Works and Bureau notified the patrol houses:
"There are Chinese military and police entering the boundary, and they must not be stopped!"
With the "customs clearance document" issued by the foreigners, Zhang Zuolin can finally unscrupulously go underhand.
On the evening of April 5, shortly after Zhao Shulan lay down, Li Dazhao's student Fan Hongjie broke into their home. As soon as he entered the door, he pulled Li Dazhao aside with a panicked face. Zhao Shulan realized: Something must have happened. However, because Li Dazhao did not want his wife to worry, after noticing that the situation was serious, he hurried to hide from Fan Hongjie and talk to the side.
Zhao Shulan knew that her husband would not let her hear about it, so she had to continue to lie down.
That night, The first thing Fan Hongjie said to Li Dazhao was: "You must leave Beijing and hide!" Fan Hongjie was so anxious to inform Li Dazhao to flee because he had already received news from Yang Du's eldest son: "Stealing fear and keeping Chang (Li Dazhao) is in danger..."
After Li Dazhao heard this, his first thought was not his own safety, but the revolutionary arrangements he was doing at the moment, and he knew that at this juncture, he could not leave. So he asked, "How reliable do you think this news is?" ”
Fan Hongjie heard this and said "I can't be sure", Li Dazhao stood up and paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back. After half a moment, he finally spoke: "We can only put our foothold on 'faith' to avoid accidents." ”
At this time, Fan Hongjie understood that his teacher Li Dazhao felt that once the information was inaccurate, it was just a smoke bomb released by Zhang Zuolin, but he had left Beijing, and the revolutionary affairs at hand would certainly not be accomplished because of his departure, so wouldn't the revolutionary work suffer heavy losses!
On the other hand, Li Dazhao also felt that if zhang Zuolin was really deceitful, then they would leave the embassy with the protective barrier because of this, and wouldn't they have just won their plan?
After half a day of deliberation, Li Dazhao decided: "First, transfer a group of revolutionary comrades out of the embassy overnight to listen to the wind." ”
That night, Fan Hongjie quickly carried out the transfer task, and everything was safe during the transfer. Therefore, Fan Hongjie hurriedly returned to the embassy after transferring comrades and asked Li Dazhao to transfer immediately, and he said nervously: "You must quickly evacuate the embassy before dawn." ”
After hearing this, Li Dazhao shook his head and said: "There is a saying in China that a veteran general urges the rear, as a communist, I have always believed in 'charging forward, retreating but behind', I, a veteran general, want you all to be safe, and finally evacuate!" ”
Fan Hongjie heard this and jumped straight to his feet, he said loudly, "But you, you are not an ordinary veteran!" When Li Dazhao heard this, he finally said the real reason why he refused to evacuate, and he sighed:
"The North is in its darkest period, and I cannot bear to leave my comrades; at the same time, I am afraid that because of my departure, the Party organization in the North will suffer..."
At this point, Fan Hongjie understood that no matter what he said, he would not be willing to evacuate. Even if he evacuates, he will be the last. Seeing that he could not be persuaded, Fan Hongjie had no choice but to say nothing more.
On the same night that Fan Hongjie persuaded Li Dazhao to evacuate, Chen Xingya, director of the Beijing Police Department, formed an action team to arrest Li Dazhao, and they also formulated a detailed action plan. In order to prevent the revolutionaries from burning the documents, they even arranged a fire brigade.
That night, Zhao Shulan fell asleep very late, and she vaguely felt that something bad would happen. To her surprise, the next day everything went as usual.
On that day, April 6, it was the Qingming Festival, and the weather was excellent. So when we went to bed, Li Xinghua and her sister shouted that they wanted to go out to play. Because the weather was already warm, they also changed into new jackets.
After the daughters changed into new clothes and walked in front of Zhao Shulan, her mood also improved instantly, and she thought: "Maybe nothing happened last night, but I thought too much!" After comforting herself in this way, the expression on her face also became cheerful, and she said softly to the children: "Who wants to go for a walk with me to the barracks?" When Xinghua's sister heard this, she immediately clapped excitedly.
On that day, the mother and daughter, who had not yet eaten breakfast, went for a walk in the barracks with great interest. After seeing them go far, Li Dazhao returned to the inner room to write. Li Xinghua, who did not go for a walk with him, hid on a long wooden chair and read the newspaper.
At eight o'clock that day, Before Li Xinghua could finish reading a piece of news, she heard a sharp gunshot of "snapping", and then she heard a chaotic shouting not far away, and then many people jumped from the low wall into their yard.
Zhao Shulan, who was walking in the barracks, also heard the gunshots, and at that moment, her heart almost jumped to the eye of her throat, and her instinctive reaction was not to run away, but to drag her daughter quickly towards home.
When Zhao Rushlan rushed home, her beloved husband Li Dazhao had been taken away by the enemy.
After listening to the memories of her daughter Li Xinghua, who was at the scene at the time, Zhao Shulan knew everything that happened after she left.
On that day, the young people who jumped into their yard were the young people who were running around, and after the young people jumped into the courtyard, Li Dazhao opened the drawer for the first time and picked up the small self-defense pistol. He also calmly comforted his daughter: "Xing'er, don't be afraid, follow me outside to see!" ”
As soon as Li Dazhao walked outside, he was surrounded by a group of gendarmes in gray uniforms and boots, as well as policemen in black uniforms. Li Xinghua once said when recalling that moment of horror:
"They surrounded us like a bunch of devils, with a dozen black holes in the muzzle of their guns against Father and me. One of the villains immediately rushed to the front and snatched his father's pistol. ”
In this arrest, they also brought with them the spies and the revolutionary comrade Wang Shigen, who had been arrested earlier, because he refused to identify Li Dazhao, and they also brutally killed him.
After Li Dazhao's arrest, Li Xinghua, Zhao Shulan and other family members were also arrested, and they were detained in a women's detention center at that time. Those days were the most difficult time in Zhao Shulan's life, and she was worried about her husband's safety every day. Even when she nibbled on the nest head, she couldn't help but shed tears, and she thought, "I don't know if he is used to eating this nest after he is locked up." ”
Six days after their arrests, Chiang Kai-shek launched a bloody "April 12" counter-revolutionary coup. One noon more than ten days after their arrest, Zhao Shulan summoned them by the police.
After being taken to court, Zhao Shulan finally saw her most worried husband, he was still wearing his old gray cotton robe, but he didn't wear glasses, his hair looked disheveled, Xinghua tore his heart and lungs and shouted "Daddy", Zhao Shulan finally couldn't help but cry.
Li Dazhao couldn't help but look back at his wife and children when he saw the situation, but he immediately turned his head and made a calm look. Zhao Shulan did not know that the enemy wanted to break his will in this way and force him to surrender. Zhao Shulan did not know this kind of species, but Li Dazhao was like a fire.
Therefore, at the trial that day, Li Dazhao tried to look less at his wife and children, and he tried to pretend to be indifferent. Years later, Li Xinghua, who had a deep understanding of his father's revolutionary beliefs, described his father on the day of the interrogation in his article "Remembering My Father", saying:
"His heart does not seem to be on us, but is enveloped by a great force, which is his firm belief in the revolutionary cause that he tells us every day."
Obviously, the court trial of relatives painstakingly planned by the enemy did not bring Li Dazhao to his knees. After the trial, Zhao Shulan and others were taken back to the women's detention center, and when they left, she did not know that this was the last time they would meet in their lives.
Many years later, Zhao Shulan also understood that on that day, her husband was not ruthless to himself and his children, and his composure and indifference were all supported by his great revolutionary faith.
At this point, the enemy exhausted all methods but did not get any confession from Li Dazhao. This kind of thing undoubtedly made the authorities angry.
Later, Li Dazhao's "Self-Report in Prison" written while in prison avoided talking about matters related to the Communist Party and only talked about the Kuomintang. He did this, naturally, to protect the underground party. After this, the authorities were completely enraged, and they tortured him even more brutally: bamboo sticks and fingers. But even so, he still refused to bow his head.
On April 28, Li Dazhao, Fan Hongjie, and twenty other revolutionary comrades were hanged.
At the time of the execution, because he saw that Li Dazhao was too calm, the angry authorities decided to torture him. In order to torture Li Dazhao, the executioners and police twice put him down when he was about to be hanged.
According to historical records, after Li Dazhao was first put down from the noose rack, he woke up from his coma and tried to stand up on the bench to die. The historical record of this passage is as follows:
After being lowered from the noose rack, after a while, Li Dazhao slowly woke up, stretched out his right hand and rubbed the neck that was strangled by the noose, pressed his hands to the ground, and stood up with difficulty. After glancing at his comrades in distress, he climbed onto the bench again, put the noose around his neck, kicked down the bench at his feet with great effort, and soon lost consciousness again..."
After being put down from the gallows for the second time, Li Dazhao, who woke up from his coma, didn't even have the strength to stand up, and after smiling at his comrades in distress, he still tried to climb up to the gallows...
It was not until the third time after being noose by the executioner's gloves that the 38-year-old Li Dazhao died heroically.
When all this happened, Zhao Shulan and the children did not know it.
At dusk on the day of Li Dazhao's death, the police informed Zhao Shulan and others to pack their bags and leave the detention center. When she went back, Zhao Shulan had been thinking about her husband.
When I arrived home that day, it was already completely dark, and that night, Zhao Shulan and the children slept in confusion in worry. On the 29th, the day after Li Dazhao's death, Zhao Shulan and the children got the news from the newspaper that "Li Dazhao has died."
Seeing that "Li Dazhao and others were hanged yesterday", Zhao Shulan's mind was only left with a "buzzing" sound, and she fainted three times because of excessive sadness.
When she woke up from her coma for the third time, she had a headache and whispered to her daughter Xinghua, "What was the number yesterday?" Remember, yesterday was the day your dad was killed. ”
Li Xinghua picked up the newspaper from the ground and gritted his teeth and barely read it, then choked up: "Mom, yesterday was April 28." After Zhao Shulan listened, her nose was sour again, and after she nodded slightly, she stopped talking.
Reports of Li Dazhao's murder
After the death of her husband, Zhao Shulan was persecuted by the enemy many times. Because she was under surveillance for a long time, she had to move with her children several times, and eventually, with the help of her husband's former friends, she left Beijing with her children to return to her hometown.
Because of excessive grief, Zhao Shulan's body deteriorated day by day. In 1933, Zhao Shulan, who knew that he had run out of time and had been worried about her husband's unburied life, decided to hold a public funeral for her husband.
Later, with the help of Li Dazhao's former friends and relatives, patriots, etc., Zhao Shulan, who raised funds, finally buried her husband's body in the Xiangshan Wan'an Cemetery.
Just a month after her husband's funeral, Zhao Xiulan died of illness, and when she died, the only will she left behind was to be buried with her husband Li Dazhao.
In May of that year, Zhao Shulan was buried with her husband as she wished, and since then, there is finally nothing in the world that can separate them.
Li Dazhao and Zhao Shulan were buried together