When it comes to the heroes of Yunnan Province in modern history, we are familiar with Tang Jiyao, Long Yun, Lu Han, etc., and of course, the Hunan general Cai Yi, who has devoted his life to Yunnan. However, I am afraid that few people know that in modern Yunnan, there was also a loyal old man who was the elder of the Republic of China, the pioneer of the anti-Japanese resistance, and was respected by thousands of people, and he was Li Genji.
In 1879, Li Gen was born in Tengyue, Yunnan, and after returning from his studies at the Zhenwu Academy and the Noncommissioned Officer School in Japan, he actively participated in the revolution, successively serving as the governor of Shaanxi Province, the chief of agriculture and commerce of the Beiyang government, and other important positions, and later because he opposed Cao Kun's bribery election, he did not want to be with him and returned to the countryside.
The "Prime Minister of the Mountains" was concerned about state affairs, and Xiucai was weak and still actively resisted Japan
In 1923, at the age of 44, Li Gen lived in seclusion in the countryside of Suzhou, he was born in Xiucai, and he naturally had a strong literary temperament. During his seclusion, Li Gen actively searched for local monuments and properly protected them, and in response to the problem of the difficulty of children in the mountains going to school, he founded a primary school to carry out enlightenment education, and also enthusiastically named the children in the township, built bathhouses, and spread the concept of hygiene.
In his spare time, Li Gengen would join various friends who came to visit him, such as Li Yuanhong, Yu Youren, Li Liejun, Zhang Taiyan, Zhang Daqian, Cai Yi, Shen Junru, Cheng Qian and other celebrities who had come to visit the mountains. The mountain people, who had never seen such a scene, were grateful, but also had great respect for Li Gengen, and honored him as the prime minister of the mountain.
Since he is the prime minister, he will naturally worry about the world. Li Gengen's retirement is not discouraged, but just unwilling to go along with the flow, and his heart is still concerned with the people of his home country.
On January 28, 1932, the Japanese caused an incident and brazenly attacked Shanghai, and the generals of the Kuomintang 19th Route Army stationed in Shanghai (commander-in-chief Jiang Guangnai, commander and deputy commander-in-chief Cai Tingkai) did not receive the order to resist, rose up to resist, and began the world-famous Songhu War of Resistance.
Seeing this situation, Li Gen was indignant, and he took the case and went out of the countryside again. The scribes are weak, have no strength to bind the chickens, and cannot be matched by the strength of the cloak, so it is up to me to repair the graves of the martyrs who sacrificed, so that they can die with dignity and dignity.
Under the leadership of Li Gengen, a famous "hero's tomb" stands at the foot of Magang Mountain, and on the day the martyrs were buried, he walked at the forefront of the procession, feeling extremely sad.
Now the Xu Beihong Memorial Hall in Beijing displays a photo painting called "The Picture of national martyrdom". The figure depicted in the painting is Mr. Li Gengen, an elder of the Kuomintang. On the screen, Mr. Li, who is tall and tall, holds a crutch in his left hand, full of grief and anger, and looks at him angrily. This is a painting painted by Mr. Xu Beihong, who felt that Mr. Li Laoshi was wearing hemp in Suzhou to send the national martyrdom.
Later, Li Gen paid tribute to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives several times against Japan, including the martyrs in the Battle of Songhu in 1937, and Dai Anlan, commander of the 200th Division who expeditioned to Burma, etc. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, he returned to his hometown of Tengchong, still did not forget to pay tribute to the martyrs, and built a cemetery of national martyrdom in his hometown, and built a martyrs' shrine, a memorial tower, and a monument. In this way, it commemorates those soldiers and civilians who died in the Tengchong War of Resistance.
With a single wit, he saved the lives of hundreds of progressives
In September 1949, when Yunnan was about to be liberated, the Yunnan Station of the military command at that time secretly monitored more than 90 progressives, and the station director, Shen Drunk, specifically asked Chiang Kai-shek to ask how to deal with these personnel. The callback telegram contained only eight words: "Extenuating circumstances, unjustifiable sins." ”
The meaning of this word for escape. In the Book of Shang, there is "self-inflicted sins, which means that if you do something wrong, you can't escape it, you have to bear it yourself. Chiang Kai-shek's meaning is very clear, although I also sympathize with them, but I am sorry, the sin is too great to forgive, and it must be executed.
The telegram first reached the chairman of Yunnan Province, Lu Han, who already had progressive ideas and was planning to revolt and defect to the Communist Party, so he sympathized with these progressives in his heart and did not want them to give their lives in vain. However, once the order is written in black on a white background, once it is sent to Shen Drunk's hands, the decision will be carried out without discount, and it will be too late to regret it.
Thinking left and right, Lu Han did not have any good ideas, and suddenly he thought of an old mr. Li Gen, who planned the Yunnan uprising, so he hurriedly invited him to consult the matter. Li Gen took the telegram, looked at it carefully, and suddenly picked up a pen and made a counter-check, so the text became: "The crime is inexcusable, and the feelings are excusable"!
I have to say that it is really high, a reversal, and immediately changed from a killing order to a pardon order. Lu Han was horrified and hurriedly ordered that the changed telegram be sent to Shen Drunk.
One thing that needs to be explained is that although this change is very clever, there are still flaws in the rigorous telegram, and the astute drunkenness of such an abnormal command will not be without doubt. However, at that time, Shen Drunk had a contradiction with Mao Renfeng, which was equivalent to being sent to Yunnan Station, and the retreat to Taiwan did not intend to take him with him, which was equivalent to being abandoned, so Shen Drunk was not dead set on serving Jiang. Since there are steps to go down, why not have your hands stained with blood? So Shen Drunk did not say anything, and acquiesced to pardon these progressives.
Chiang Kai-shek once suddenly remembered this incident and sternly rebuked the confidential secretary for why he would rebel against his own password. The confidential secretary did not know what was going on below, and since he could not explain it, he simply confessed. Later, the historical materials found in the Kunming archives proved that the secret order was not wrong, but it was counter-checked by someone, and Li Gen's divine pen saved the lives of more than 90 progressive people, which can be described as immeasurable merit.