preface
On February 23, 1958, the burial ceremony of General Yang Jingyu was held in Tonghua City, which was unprecedented. The funeral was not only attended by thousands of people.
Figure Yang Jingyu
Even Chairman Mao, Zhu De, and other central leaders personally laid wreaths for General Yang Jingyu. What kind of merits did General Yang Jingyu have before his death, and why was he able to enjoy a marshal-sized funeral 18 years after his death?
White Mountain Black Water writes loyal souls
Yang Jingyu was not originally surnamed Yang, his real name was Ma Shangde, and he was not from the northeast, but from Henan.
The so-called "Yang Jingyu" is only that after he came to the northeast to resist the War of Resistance, he obtained a false name for himself, taking the meaning of "Jingyu" to sweep away the world, with the intention of defeating the Japanese Kou. Yang Jingyu entered the northeast in 1932 under the arrangement of the party to organize the fight against the Japanese Kou.
When Yang Jingyu came to this land covered with ice and snow, he knew that this was an extremely difficult task, but he did not back down from it, but began to actively organize Chinese to resist. Since the "918 Incident", the Japanese Kou have long regarded the northeast as a bag.
Before Yang Jingyu's arrival, although there were also a small number of anti-Japanese organizations in the northeast, most of them evolved from bandits as predecessors, and the lack of unified leadership could not really play a role in containing the enemy.
After Yang Jingyu came to the northeast, he organized a guerrilla group in the northeast, and the northeast anti-coalition armed forces officially formed a scale, giving the Japanese army a heavy blow.
Figure Statue of Yang Jingyu
Yang Jingyu knew that our anti-Japanese fighters, whether in terms of numbers or weapons and equipment, could not be compared with the Japanese army, so they adopted the flexible tactics of the guerrillas, circled around the mountains and forests with the enemy, and often caught the Japanese army off guard. After suffering several successive losses, the Japanese army hated Yang Jingyu to the bone and wanted to destroy the anti-coalition forces led by Yang Jingyu.
Yang Jingyu knew that the Japanese army was prepared, so he did not fight with them hard, but adopted the method of luring the enemy to go deeper, so that the Japanese army gradually fell into the encirclement of our army, and finally annihilated all the Japanese troops.
The heavily damaged Japanese army was not willing to lose, and the Japanese army under the rule of fascist ideology was anxious to invade the south, and the anti-coalition troops led by Yang Jingyu undoubtedly contained their plan to continue sleeping south, which made the Japanese military very annoyed, and strictly ordered the Japanese army headquarters in the northeast to eliminate Yang Jingyu's troops as soon as possible.
Figure Anti-War Pictures in Battle Data
In order to realize their evil plans, the Japanese army began to cut off the contact between the anti-coalition fighters and the people, they centralized the military management of the people, and drove our Chinese people to live in the guarded "partitions" on all sides. Even in order to prevent the people from joining hands with the anti-coalition fighters, even the people went up the mountain to cut firewood, and it was strictly forbidden to carry dry food.
Such a cruel method is very fatal to Yang Jingyu's anti-coalition team, because the inability to contact the people means that the most basic sources of food and daily necessities have been lost, and the situation is more difficult than ever.
Under such cruel conditions, it is inevitable that some people who are not strong enough in will cannot stand this kind of hard life and choose to defect to the enemy, which also makes Yang Jingyu's anti-coalition face an even more cruel test.
Figure The Japanese army invaded China
However, what Yang Jingyu did not expect was that if it was just the rebellion of some insignificant small people, it would not be possible to affect the situation of the entire Northeast War of Resistance, and at most it would only bring some personnel attrition to the Anti-Japanese League, and would not cause a fatal blow to the Anti-League.
The rebel was Cheng Bin, the division commander who was once known as "Little Yang Jingyu", which immediately put the Anti-Japanese League into a passive situation.
Cheng Bin had been used by Yang Jingyu before, so he knew every plan of Yang Jingyu and the specific strategies and tactics too well, and it was precisely because of this understanding that Yang Jingyu's troops completely lost the initiative after Cheng Bin's rebellion.
Forced to fight and retreat, and with successive defeats and the erosion of confidence in the confrontation, the number of the anti-coalition team led by Yang Jingyu became smaller and smaller, and the situation became more and more difficult.
Figure Portrait of Yang Jingyu
Cheng Bin, a shameful traitor, after betraying Yang Jingyu, not only did he not have the slightest pity for his former master Yang Jingyu, but he was bent on helping the Japanese to force Yang Jingyu to a dead end. In the eyes of Cheng Bin, an abominable traitor, he did not have the backbone of the Chinese nation, and only wanted to rely on the blood of his former leaders and comrades in exchange for the trust and reuse of the Japanese.
He not only personally led the puppet army to encircle and suppress the Anti-Japanese League, but also destroyed more than 700 secret camps in Yang Jingyu in one fell swoop. The secret camp was originally Yang Jingyu's magic weapon against the Japanese devils, where a large amount of grain, ammunition, and clothing was stored, enough to support the fighters of the Anti-League to preserve their living strength and fight the Japanese devils to the end.
But after the secret camp was destroyed, Yang Jingyu's team made it difficult to provide even the most basic food supply.
Betrayed by the righteous son, heroic sacrifice
After Yang Jingyu's troops were destroyed in the secret camp, the battle became more and more difficult, because there was no food, and too many anti-coalition fighters did not even fall under the enemy's guns, but died of freezing and starvation.
Although Yang Jingyu was worried and heartbroken about the departure of the soldiers, he did not waver in his determination to resist Japan for a moment, and still relied on his strong will to lead the anti-coalition fighters to fight the enemy.
However, the difficulties they faced were unprecedentedly severe, and sometimes there was no food in the ice and snow, and the warriors had to rely on snow and water to fill their hunger.
These scenes fell into the eyes of Zhang Xiufeng, the guard platoon leader of Yang Jingyu, who was a soft bone himself, lost confidence in continuing the war of resistance, and began to think of rebellion.
Although Zhang Xiufeng thought so, in Yang Jingyu's heart, he thought that Zhang Xiufeng was the most rebellious person in this team, because the relationship between Zhang Xiufeng and Yang Jingyu was not just a simple superior and subordinate, but a relationship of love and father and son.
Zhang Xiufeng had no father and no wife when he was young, it was Yang Jingyu who brought him up with him, and taught him a good marksmanship, he was also grateful to Yang Jingyu in his daily life, and Yang Jingyu was called father and son, before he defected, Yang Jingyu also trusted him very much, and even let him serve as his guard platoon leader, responsible for his own personal protection work.
Figure The rebellious division commander Cheng Bin
Zhang Xiufeng was a complete white-eyed wolf, he could not stand the hardships of the Anti-Japanese War, and could not resist the enemy's heavy reward temptation, just on February 1, 1940, he chose to take the anti-coalition more than 9,000 pieces of ocean activity funds and surrendered to the Japanese.
After Zhang Xiufeng surrendered, the Japanese attached great importance to Yang Jingyu in order to rely on the clues he provided to eliminate him, and asked him to lead people to suppress the Anti-Japanese League. After Yang Jingyu learned of Zhang Xiufeng's rebellion, his heart was very painful, and he did not expect that Zhang Xiufeng, who had once been regarded as a relative by him, would be so ungrateful.
Zhang Xiufeng was a terrible traitor, because he was too familiar with his righteous father Yang Jingyu. Under the heavy attack of the puppet army led by Zhang Xiufeng and the Japanese Kou, Yang Jingyu's troops suffered defeat, and Yang Jingyu himself was separated from the troops and hid in the deep mountains and dense forests, but the Japanese puppet army, under the leadership of Zhang Xiufeng, still surrounded the entire mountain forest and laid a net for Yang Jingyu.
Yang Jingyu was in the mountain forest, knowing that it was impossible for him to break through alone, after all, he was alone, but the Japanese army had a large number of elites surrounding the entire mountain forest.
Even when the iron-boned Yang Jingyu reached this step, his mind never thought of surrendering in exchange for his life, but was ready to fight the enemy until the last moment.
Photo taken by the Japanese after Yang Jingyu's sacrifice
Yang Jingyu hid in the mountains for a full 5 days, during which he did not eat a bite of grain due to the blockade of the Japanese army, and the drastic temperature change made him start a high fever, his limbs began to be cold, and his head was as hot as a furnace. The Japanese army knew that he was on the mountain, and had been strictly checking the pedestrians under the mountain, afraid of mixing in with people who would help Yang Jingyu.
Yang Jingyu's hunger was about to engulf his consciousness, and in order to alleviate the hunger in his belly, he ripped open his shirt and began to nibble on the cotton wool inside, and then plucked the bark from the tree and began to nibble laboriously.
These things, which were not food, made him recover a little bit of strength, in fact, it was more of a stimulus to his long-starved stomach, and it was just to dilute the pain caused by hunger.
Yang Jingyu hid in the mountain for a few days, and even had a certain degree of frostbite on his feet, and it was at this time that he saw a farmer on the mountain collecting firewood, and he said to this farmer:
"Fellow, can you get me some food and a pair of cotton shoes, and I can give you money?"
Although the Japanese pseudo-police are Chinese, they have been aiding and abetting abuse
This farmer's name was Zhao Tingxi, and seeing that although Yang Jingyu in front of him was embarrassed, he had a resolute look, and when he spoke, he really pulled out a silver dollar for him, and Zhao Tingxi immediately understood that the person in front of him would not be someone else, that is, Yang Jingyu, who the Japanese army wanted to pursue and kill.
Zhao Tingxi is also a spineless coward, after understanding Yang Jingyu's true identity, he did not want to provide Yang Jingyu with help within his ability, but directly said to Yang Jingyu:
"Hurry up and surrender, the imperial army will not kill those who surrender!"
If it was usual, Yang Jingyu hated such a soft bone, and would definitely teach him a harsh lesson, but at this time he was already very weak, but he only retorted:
"Surrender, if we all surrender Chinese, will there still be China?"
Zhao Tingxi, a despicable villain, was not impressed by Yang Jingyu's righteousness, but felt that it would be a good opportunity to get rich by informing the Japanese at this time, and he did not respond to Yang Jingyu's words again, but turned around and walked down the mountain.
Unfortunately, Yang Jingyu was heroic all his life, just in order to make the common people not slaves to the country, and finally he was betrayed by this shameless traitor.
Figure Relics of General Yang Jingyu
After Zhao Tingxi informed the Japanese army, the Japanese quickly narrowed the encirclement, Yang Jingyu heard the gunfire getting closer and closer, he knew that he had been betrayed again, and among these Japanese puppet troops that surrounded him was his former righteous son Zhang Xiufeng, who shouted on behalf of the Japanese puppet army, asking Yang Jingyu to surrender, but the only thing that responded to him was the bullets fired by Yang Jingyu at the Japanese devils.
At this time, although Yang Jingyu was very weak, he knew that in the doomed situation, his marksmanship was still surprisingly accurate, and he even directly killed a Japanese soldier with one shot.
The Japanese army continued to strafe Yang Jingyu, and the evil bullets injured him, but he did not give up resistance, regardless of the pain on his body, raised his gun to return fire, until he was hit through the chest by the bullet of the traitor Zhang Xiruo, and then fell on the cold snow.
General Yang Jingyu was besieged by such a group of beast-like Japanese Kou and died heroically, only a few days before his 36th birthday. Although Zhang Xiufeng had already betrayed his righteous father Yang Jingyu, when he saw Yang Jingyu's cold corpse, he still couldn't help but shed tears, and he murmured:
"I originally just wanted you to come with me and follow Taijun and have a good life for two days, but I didn't expect you to be like this!"
When the Japanese officer who led the team this time, Kishitani Ryuichiro, heard that Yang Jingyu had been killed, and his heart was ecstatic, but when he saw Yang Jingyu's body, he couldn't help but sigh, he really couldn't imagine why Yang Jingyu could hold out in the ice and snow for so many days, until the last moment of his life, he refused to surrender.
Kishitani Ryuichiro ordered the doctor to dissect the body of General Yang Jingyu, trying to find out how Yang Jingyu survived without food.
But after the real dissection, even Koryu Ichiro Kishi couldn't help but shed tears, it turned out that Yang Jingyu's stomach did not have a grain of grain, only cotton wool and bark that had not yet been digested.
Comrade Jing Yu is immortal
After Yang Jingyu's sacrifice, Kishitani Ryuichiro saw that there was no grain in his stomach, and his heart was greatly shocked.
But for the Japanese army, Yang Jingyu's sacrifice is undoubtedly good news. They brutally cut off his head and sent him to the city to show it to the Chinese people, and held a celebration banquet in the army.
At this so-called celebration banquet, although Zhang Xiufeng was a traitor, he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable thinking of the fierceness of his righteous father Yang Jingyu, and he couldn't drink a sip of wine, and in contrast to him was the traitor Zhang Xiruo, after personally killing General Yang Jingyu, he was proud at the celebration meeting, Zhang Xiufeng really couldn't see it, so he signaled him to come out with his eyes.
Picture Yang Jingyu Memorial Hall
After Zhang Xiruo followed Zhang Xiufeng to the outside of the house, Zhang Xiufeng directly gave him a punch and angrily rebuked:
"Do you think you can escape?" Shameless stuff! ”
Zhang Xiruo listened to Zhang Xiufeng's words, his heart was greatly shaken, thinking of the heroism of General Yang Jingyu's sacrifice, he knew that although Yang Jingyu had sacrificed, there were still loyal and righteous people in China who were like Yang Jingyu, and although he was a hero of the Japanese, the Japanese had always looked down on traitors in their hearts, so how could they really protect their own safety?
In order not to bear such a crime, Zhang Xiruo rarely showed off his killing of Yang Jingyu, but instead vigorously publicized that Yang Jingyu shot himself and committed suicide when he ran out of ammunition.
After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Kishitani Ryuichiro wrote this suicide note:
"From the day I saw Yang Jingyu, I knew that we could not win in the end, because there were iron-blooded soldiers like Yang Jingyu in the Chi Na people."
After that, he poisoned his wife and children and committed suicide by cutting his abdomen to seek inner peace.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, all the traitors who betrayed Yang Jingyu were tried, and Zhang Xiufeng, after being arrested by our people's government, gave a complete confession about the sacrifice of General Yang Jingyu, and none of the judges present were impressed.
Later, in order to commemorate General Yang Jingyu, the county where Yang Jingyu had fought was changed to Jingyu County.
After Yang Jingyu's sacrifice, because he had not contacted his family for many years, his children did not know of his sacrifice, and were still waiting for him to return, their father left them when they were young, they did not even know that their father was Yang Jingyu, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he used his father's real name Ma Shangde to inquire about his news, naturally always returning again and again.
The daughter of Takaichiro Kishitani apologizes to China
Just when they were about to lose hope,
By chance, in the Northeast Military Memorial Hall in 1953, a portrait of his father Yang Jingyu was found, and the children could not help but cry with headaches.
Later, Yang Jingyu's son Ma Congyun was arranged to be a train driver by the organization, and although Ma Congyun had no impression of his father in his heart, every time he thought of his father's battle in the white mountains and black waters, he would always shed tears.
Regrettably, Zhang Xiruo, the murderer of General Yang Jingyu, later denied it after his arrest, refused to admit the facts of that year, and even said that he did not participate in the battle that year, and said that he only heard that Yang Jingyu finally committed suicide, and due to insufficient evidence at that time, Zhang Xiruo escaped the punishment of the law and later returned to his hometown to become an ordinary farmer.
Yang Jingyu did not see Chairman Mao during his lifetime, but only had certain contacts with Chairman Mao by telegram, and Chairman Mao greatly appreciated Yang Jingyu's military ability, but he died early.
Figure Chairman Mao
On February 23, 1958, a full 18 years after Yang Jingyu's sacrifice, the state held a public funeral ceremony for him, and at this solemn ceremony, Chairman Mao personally laid a wreath for Yang Jingyu and wrote:
"Comrade Jingyu is immortal!"
The people who came to mourn could not help but shed tears when they thought of Yang Jingyu's last moment of fighting for this land before his death.
From 1932 to 1932, Yang Jingyu set foot on the land of the northeast until his death in 1940, in the whole 8 years, he passed by the god of death countless times, and countless times won more with less, beating the Japanese army to the ground.
But what is sad and lamentable is that everything he did was for his compatriots, and the last person to kill him was also the compatriot he wanted to protect, and even his righteous son Zhang Xiufeng, whom he regarded as his own.
Figure Statue of General Yang Jingyu
Yang Jingyu's hometown later established the Yang Jingyu Memorial Hall, and although his children did not have the opportunity to reunite with their father, they always came to visit him on his birthday and before the festival.
Later, Yang Jingyu's son Ma Congyun unfortunately died young, and his grandchildren still insisted on visiting him every year, and they were both proud and sad to have predecessors like him, and his grandson once said in an interview:
"I knew that my grandfather used cotton to fill his hunger in the end, when he was besieged by Japanese devils, so I tried to eat a little cotton, and I knew what the cotton my grandfather was eating at that time, but I found that I couldn't swallow it at all!"
When he said this, his voice choked, and his tears rolled down in large drops.