Widow Zhang was originally an ordinary peasant woman, but she actually became a bandit, and left a strong mark in the history of Banditry in China. So, what is the reason for an ordinary peasant woman to go up the mountain and become a local harm?
(Network illustration)
According to the "Henan Chronicle", Zhang's widow, whose original name was Zhang Hezhen, was born in the late Qing Dynasty, was a native of Luoning, Henan, and later married a farmer Zhang You.
Zhang You's family is slightly better, there are several acres of thin fields, plus the family is hard-working, and life is not sad. After marriage, Zhang Hezhen gave birth to three sons: the eldest son Zhang Zhensheng, the second son Zhang Mingsheng and the third son Zhang Xiansheng. For a while, people prospered.
However, at that time, it was the early years of the Republic of China, when the political situation was unstable and the warlords were divided. Bandits are rampant, and the Henan area is even more rampant.
In order to protect the family and nursing home, Zhang You specially purchased a gun. Unexpectedly, his gun made the bandits worry. Soon after, Zhang You was killed when he left the village with a gun, and the gun disappeared.
With the death of Zhang You, Zhang You's parents could not bear the pain of losing their children, and they also fell ill one after another, and both died.
At this time, only the weak Zhang Hezhen and 3 sons waiting to be fed were left to rely on each other. In desperation, Zhang Hezhen had to grit her teeth to support the family, and struggled to raise her 3 sons.
In order to feed who knew who the uncle of the family not only did not help, but also beat him up. Zhang Zhensheng was angry and went up the mountain to become a bandit.
Zhang Zhensheng was brave and fierce, and gradually gained his prestige among the bandits. Soon he was given the weight of the big boss and was promoted to the second boss.
Zhang Zhensheng decided to find the uncle of the ben family to export the evil gas, but he did not expect the news to leak, and the uncle of the ben family spent money to buy the people around him. Just as he was on his way to find uncle Ben with the bandits, he was shot with a black gun and died.
When Zhang Zhensheng's body was carried to Zhang Hezhen and explained everything to her, Zhang Hezhen was sad and angry and decided to avenge her son. She asked her third son, Zhang Xiansheng, to guard the family, and she took her second son Zhang Mingsheng up the mountain as a bandit.
Although Zhang Hezhen is said to be a female stream, she is bold and calculated, and she has never lost her hand in the robbery she planned. Coupled with the fact that she is also the mother of the second boss, she quickly gained everyone's trust. After the Big Boss was killed, she took over the position of the Big Boss at the behest of everyone.
Because she was born from a poor person, Zhang Hezhen knew the hardships of the poor, so she made rules: one is to only rob the rich, and the other is to only seek wealth and not to harm lives.
Zhang Hezhen is honest, she is not like other bandits, in order to force the kidnapped tickets to collect money to ransom people, torture the meat tickets. She tied people up the hill, just sent guards, and then urged the kidnapped family to raise money. The families of the kidnapped people also know the truth, and usually put together enough money in time to redeem people.
Therefore, Zhang Hezhen's business of kidnapping tickets is a single, and there is never a "dead ticket". As the business grew bigger, she also ventured into tobacco and other trades. Her fame grew, and some people came to her aid, and soon her ranks grew.
Although the number of people is large, a group of rabble-rousers is not easy to manage, and these people are doing evil everywhere in the name of Zhang Hezhen, causing chickens and dogs to jump around. In particular, some landlords and squires were overwhelmed and gritted their teeth in hatred for Zhang Hezhen.
In order to get revenge on Zhang Hezhen, these people paid for hired people and beat her young son Zhang Xiansheng, who stayed at home to farm, on the river beach.
When Zhang Hezhen heard the news, it was like a thunderbolt on a sunny day. At this time, the Zhen song army stationed in the Luoning area sent people to dock with Zhang Hezhen, hoping to receive more than 2,000 bandits under her command.
Zhang Hezhen thought that most of her bandits were from poor backgrounds, and she also hoped that her second son Zhang Mingsheng could take this opportunity to get rid of the identity of bandits, so with her consent, the more than 2,000 bandits were organized into a regiment, and Zhang Mingsheng was also appointed as a company commander. After sending these people away, Zhang Hezhen, who wanted to avenge his young son, returned to the mountain and raised the banner again.
(Network illustration)
Because Zhang Hezhen was famous and there were many people willing to follow her, in less than two years, Zhang Hezhen pulled up a team of bandits. Just as she was thinking about avenging her younger son, her second son Zhang Mingsheng was collecting military food in Touyu Village, and because he offended the landlord, he was shot and killed by a black gun.
Hatred made Zhang Hezhen furious, and she directly led the bandits to slaughter The Village of Touyu, which was a revenge for Zhang Mingsheng.
Subsequently, Zhang Hezhen decided to kill Luo Ning's hometown in one fell swoop to avenge Zhang Xiansheng.
After receiving the order, her bandits rushed to Zhang Hezhen's hometown in the dark. Who knew that because it was dark, they had slaughtered the wrong village and killed innocent people in a village.
The successive massacres of villages shocked the Nationalist government.
At that time, the warlord scuffle had come to an end, and the Nationalist government, in order to consolidate its political power, made the suppression of banditry a priority in its work. Zhang Hezhen's major case of slaughtering villages naturally became the focus of the National Government's encirclement and suppression.
Under the encirclement and suppression of the Nationalist army several times, the bandits under Zhang Hezhen died and fled, and their strength was not as good as before.
At this time, Zhang Hezhen was already a white-haired old woman. But the thought that she had not had a son left in the world made her hate those who killed her son. After she decided to get rid of her young son's killer with her own hands, she left Lonin.
In order to buy a gun, Zhang Hezhen took the smoke and soil to Xuchang for a trip. However, just as she returned with a gun, she was recognized and accused.
The government forces that received the information quickly arrested Zhang Hezhen, who was alone, and arrested him. Because she had too many lives on her hands and the local government was worried that bandits would come to rob the prison, she was immediately sentenced to death after the trial.
On the day of the shooting, there were many people who heard the news and rushed to the scene, after all, it was a female bandit.
Only to see Zhang Hezhen dying on the verge of death, but without any fear, she shouted loudly at the crowd: "I am Zhang Hezhen, I was forced to go up the mountain by the enemy, my sons let the enemy kill, my revenge has not yet been repaid, I am not afraid of death, even if I die, I will go to the enemy to ask for my life..."
However, before Zhang Hezhen could finish speaking, a gunshot rang out. Then she fell like a piece of wood, and a generation of female bandits died.
(Reference materials: "Henan Memorabilia")