preface
"My name is Tan Mulan, and I am the daughter of Tan Yubao, vice chairman of Hunan Province!" A woman, who was about twenty-seven or eight years old, tightly protected the prisoner with her body and said to the beheading officer in a categorical manner.
In 1952, when Changsha, Hunan Province, was about to execute former Kuomintang major general Hong Zongyang, just before the execution, a woman ran into the execution ground, blocked in front of the prisoner, explained her identity to the prison officer, and did not allow the prison officer to order the shooting. His father Tan Yubao rushed to the execution site when he heard the news, and ordered him to be executed immediately, and Tan Mulan shouted again in a sharp voice:
"No way! No! This is a wrong case, please tell Premier Zhou Enlai to say it again! ”
From reunion to separation with his father
If we want to talk about Tan Mulan's courage to break into the legal field and insist on saving the Kuomintang Major General Hong Zongyang, we must first start with Tan Mulan's father, Tan Yubao. Tan Yubao was born in a poor peasant family, and after only three years of study, Tan Yubao had to drop out of school and go home to farm. Tan Yubao learned lion dance with other poor children during his spare time and soon became the leader of the lion dance class.
Picture 丨 Tan Yubao old photo
In 1926, underground members of the Communist Party of China came to Tan Yubao's hometown to carry out the peasant movement, and Tan Yubao, who was not afraid of power, was elected as the director of the Preparatory Committee of the Farmers' Association. The first target of the peasant movement was Tan Yubao's aunt, who at that time believed that her nephew was the director of the peasant association and was twisted to the peasant association for scolding the peasants.
Tan Yubao's grandfather and father rushed to the news and demanded that Tan Yubao release him, and many people thought that Tan Yubao would protect his aunt, and as a result, Tan Yubao executed his aunt in accordance with the requirements of the peasant movement, which won the unanimous praise of the villagers. The following year Tan Yubao joined the Communist Party of China.
After the "Ma-Ri Incident", Tan Yubao was wanted by the Kuomintang reactionaries and had to hide in the mountains, and then he followed the revolutionary army led by Chairman Mao to Jinggangshan. In 1928, Tan Yubao returned to his hometown to carry out secret work and served as the chairman of the Chaling County Soviet Government. At the Second National Congress of Workers, Peasants and Soldiers, Tan Yubao was elected as a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Republic.
Figure 丨 Tan Yubao during the revolutionary period
In 1934, the Red Army in the Xianggan area was ordered to break through the western expedition, and Tan Yubao and others formed a new provincial party committee to continue to lead the revolutionary struggle on the Xianggan border, when they faced 10 times more enemies than themselves.
At this time, Tan Yubao informed more than 40 scattered comrades to go to Qipan Mountain to hold a centralized meeting, which changed the remaining Red Army on the Xianggan border into a guerrilla unit, and Tan Yubao served as the political commissar of the guerrilla detachment.
In 1932, Chiang Kai-shek launched an "encirclement and suppression" campaign against the Jinggangshan Soviet Zone and sent aircraft to bomb it. At that time, Tan Yubao's hometown was also attacked by Kuomintang planes, Tan Yubao's family house was all blown up, his mother, wife and other family members were killed in the bombing, his father was stabbed to death by the Kuomintang reactionaries with a gun, and only the 8-year-old daughter Tan Mulan hid in a water tank to survive.
Chiang Kai-shek personally served as commander-in-chief of the "suppression of bandits" army
When Tan Mulan crawled out of the rubble, he looked at the corpses of his loved ones in front of him and cried loudly. In the evening, the villagers who fled down the mountain returned to the village, and an old man instructed Tan Mulan to go to Yongxin County to find his father, who had become a high official of the Communist Party, and asked Tan Mulan to tell his father to fight back early to rescue the poor people who were suffering and suffering.
After crying in front of the corpses of her relatives for a night, Tan Mulan set off at the urging of the old man, walked in the direction pointed out by the old man towards Yongxin County, and when he was thirsty, he would find water to drink along the river, and when he was hungry, he would ask for a bowl of rice from the people on the side of the road. After two months, Tan Mulan finally arrived at Yongxing County and began to inquire around for his father's address.
One day Tan Mulan was walking on the street, and suddenly saw a big man wearing a military uniform and carrying a pistol, carrying half a load of Guangyang past him, Tan Mulan fixed his eyes on it, it was his father Tan Yubao. She ran quickly toward her father, crying and holding his leg and shouting:
"Daddy, Daddy!"
Figure丨 The former residence of Tan Yubao, which was restored after the founding of the People's Republic of China
Tan Yubao put down his burden, looked at the ragged little girl in front of him, the yellow-skinned little girl, was not his daughter Jiaozai (Tan Mulan's breast name), and immediately leaned down and hugged her daughter tightly into his arms. When he learned that his relatives in his hometown had all been killed by the Kuomintang plane, Tan Yubao burst into tears and stomped his feet and scolded:
"Chiang Kai-shek, I am at odds with you!"
Since then, Tan Mulan began to live with her father in Yongxing County, and once Tan Yubao took advantage of the opportunity of the meeting to take her to meet Chairman Mao, Commander-in-Chief Zhu, and others. Under the leadership of her father, Tan Mulan came to Lenin Elementary School, and the meeting was about to begin.
Tan Yubao led his daughter to the podium, came to Chairman Mao's side, and asked her to call someone, Tan Mulan bowed to Chairman Mao, called "Chairman Mao", and then bowed to Commander-in-Chief Zhu and called out "Grandpa Zhu", and President Zhu happily took Tan Mulan in his arms and kissed him again. Chairman Mao looked at the clever Tan Mulan and said to Tan Yubao:
"Your daughter is looking for a father in a thousand miles, which is rare. Several of my children were lost, but your daughter found you. You're so lucky. Jiaozi, Jiaozi, the proud son of the Communist Party, the proud son of heaven! ”
Pictured: Chairman Mao and Mr. Zhu took a group photo
After the failure of the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign in 1934, the Red Army was forced to withdraw from the base areas for the Long March, and Tan Yubao was ordered to stay in the Soviet area to fight guerrillas. Due to the betrayal of the traitors, the guerrillas were attacked by the enemy, Tan Yubao led the fighters to retreat while counterattacking, the guards held Tan Mulan in one hand, and held a gun in the other to protect Tan Yubao's father and daughter, when they walked to a mountain rush, the guards accidentally fell, and Tan Mulan also fell into the abyss.
The political ties of the Kuomintang-Communist negotiations
Perhaps tan Mulan's life was great, she rolled down the mountain trough into the abyss of several inches deep and then fainted, falling into the reeds, unscathed. By the time she woke up, her father Tan Yubao and the guards had already gone far, and the enemy had also descended the mountain. She struggled to climb out of the reeds and up the hill where she could see the cooking smoke.
At that time, she had not eaten for several days, and after climbing to the edge of a ditch and drinking a few sips of water, Tan Mulan did not climb a few steps before passing out again. A firewood hunter passed through the ditch to find Tan Mulan and carried her back home, and after the wife of the firewood hunter fed Tan Mulan some rice soup, Tan Mulan finally woke up.
Picture 丨 Xianggan Province veterans in Yan'an group photo
Tan Mulan lied that she was a "local tycoon (child of a local tycoon)", who was kidnapped by a ticket, and the couple saw that she was pitiful, so they took her in. It didn't take long for the firewood collectors to take in the "local tycoons" to spread the word, and the firewood collectors couldn't help but be a little worried and decided to hand her over to the Kuomintang government.
After staying in the township office for a few days, Hong Zongyang, then the commander of the Xiangdong Shoveling Communist Volunteer Brigade, came to the township office. Hong Zongyang was a student of the second phase of Huangpu, joined the Communist Party during his school years, and was once a subordinate of Fang Weixia, who was deeply respected by Fang Weixia. During the agrarian revolution, Hong Zongyang was arrested and imprisoned for making a revolution, and after his people released him from prison on bail, he surrendered himself to break away from the revolution. The Hunan warlord He Jian knew that he was a Huangpu student and appointed him as the commander of the Xiangdong Shoveling Communist Volunteer Brigade.
Hong Zongyang liked it very much after seeing Tan Mulan, and took out a candy from his pocket to give her, but Tan Mulan ignored him, at this time a short person came, Tan Mulan was overjoyed after seeing it, and shouted: "Uncle Xu! This man's name was Xu Chengsheng, and he was the deputy commander of a guerrilla detachment under Tan Yubao, but what Tan Mulan did not know was that Xu Chengsheng had defected at that time and became a battalion commander under Hong Zongyang.
Xu Chengsheng walked up to Tan Mulan and shouted, "Where is this 'local tycoon boy', isn't this Tan Yubao's daughter Jiaozai?" The people present were shocked when they heard this, and the little girl in front of them turned out to be Tan Yubao's daughter, and many people gave Hong Zongyang ideas and asked him to immediately order the killing of Tan Mulan.
Hong Zongyang waved his hand to interrupt everyone, his mind was very chaotic, for Tan Mulan he still had some likes in his heart, not willing to kill this innocent child, but Tan Mulan is after all Tan Yubao's daughter, if he is blamed for protecting Tan Mulan, how to account? Just when Hong Zongyang did not know how to be good, his wife He Wenxiu came over and took Tan Mulan in her arms:
This kid me!
Hong Zongyang and He Wenxiu have been married for many years without childbearing, and have always wanted to adopt a child, and now He Wenxiu's behavior is in the arms of Hong Zongyang, he immediately announced that he would adopt Tan Mulan as a righteous daughter, and said that he was born of his wife, and then gave a deep gift to everyone, asking everyone to keep it a secret for him.
Pictured Chen Yi with the guerrillas
In October 1937, the two parties reached an agreement to jointly resist Japan, the Red Army and the guerrillas were reorganized into the New Fourth Army, Chen Yi was ordered to go to the Xianggan border to carry out the reorganization work, after several searches, finally found Tan Yubao in Jiulongshan. When Tan Yubao heard from Chen Yi that the Kuomintang and the Communists wanted to cooperate and that the guerrillas were to be reorganized, he immediately became angry, scolded Chen Yi as a traitor, and sent people to arrest Chen Yi.
Chen Yi patiently explained our party's policies and principles to Tan Yubao, and Tan Yubao began to be a little suspicious and sent people to follow the route provided by Chen Yi and find the New Fourth Army Communications Office for verification before believing Chen Yi's words. Tan Yubao, who was full of regret, personally untied Chen Yi, and then tied himself up with a rope to plead guilty to Chen Yi, and Chen Yi comforted him:
"You are vigilant, resolute in your struggle, and you are doing the right thing!"
In accordance with the instructions of the central authorities, Tan Yubao reorganized the guerrillas and then went to various places to negotiate a united front with the Kuomintang. When they came to Youxian County, Tan Yubao and his party first went to Hong Zongyang's house to talk with Hong Zongyang first, increasing the possibility of success of the talks. A large part of the reason for this is that Tan Mulan was adopted by Hong Zongyang.
Pictured here is a group photo of the representatives of the Kuomintang-Republican peace talks
The next day, Hong Zongyang accompanied Tan Yubao and others to the Youxian County Government for a banquet and talks, and Tan Yubao told everyone about the thinking of the CPC's united front and put forward three specific demands. After the talks, Hong Zongyang took the initiative to implement the agreement and released more than twenty Communists.
Later, Hong Zongyang accompanied Tan Yubao to visit Tan Mulan at the Youxian Normal School, and Tan Mulan immediately cried when he saw his father, which was the first time that the father and daughter had met after they separated. When Tan Yubao offered to take Tan Mulan to the base area, Tan Mulan shook his head and refused, and his previous experience made Tan Mulan reluctant to go back to the guerrilla life.
Tan Yubao understood his daughter's mood and decided to continue to let Tan Mulan live with Hong Zongyang, and Hong Zongyang also promised to take good care of Tan Mulan. In 1938, Tan Yubao, on the way to Yan'an, once again proposed to take Tan Mulan to Yan'an when passing through Youxian County, originally Hong Zongyang had agreed, at the farewell banquet, Hong Zongyang hugged Tan Mulan and cried, Tan Mulan was also moved, and refused to go to Yan'an with his father.
Pictured by Tan Mulan (left) and Hong Xiangjun, daughter of Hong Zongyang
Tan Yubao once again followed her daughter's ideas, but Tan Mulan recalled this experience in her later years with a slight regret, it was precisely because of her "impulse" at that time that she was later charged with the crime of drawing an unclear line with the counter-revolutionary Hong Zongyang, and repeatedly applied for membership in the party without approval, until 1975, when the problem was solved.
"Leave people under the knife and deal with them separately"
After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chiang Kai-shek provoked a civil war, and Tan Yubao and Hong Zongyang once again became hostile figures, but for their daughter Tan Mulan, the attitude of the two people was the same, and they were very concerned about and cared for them. After the liberation of Changsha in 1949, Tan Yubao sent someone back to Youxian To pick up Tan Mulan, arranged for her to study at the "Geda", and then entered the Hunan Provincial Public Security Department.
Figure 丨 Former Vice Chairman of Hunan Province Tan Yubao
At this time, Hong Zongyang had to return to his hometown to work as a farmer because of the defeat of the Kuomintang. In 1952, a nationwide campaign to suppress counter-revolution broke out, and Hong Zongyang was not spared from arrest and imprisonment and sentenced to death. On the morning of the execution, seeing that the time had come, Hong Mulan rushed into the execution ground crying and shouting, quickly ran to Hong Zongyang's side, and protected Hong Zongyang with his body:
"You can't kill, you can't kill Hong Zongyang!"
The supervisor asked her who she was, and Hong Mulan categorically said that she was the daughter of Tan Yubao, vice chairman of Hunan Province. The supervisor immediately called Tan Yubao, who heard the news and drove to the execution site, and when he saw his daughter tightly guarding Hong Zongyang's body, there seemed to be signs of wanting to "rob him away", and shouted:
"You are lawless!"
Then he slapped his daughter hard and ordered hong Zongyang to be executed immediately. Tan Mulan still blocked in front of Hong Zongyang and said in a sharp voice, "No! No! This is a wrong case! Please ask Premier Zhou Enlai to say it again! This sentence immediately calmed Tan Yubao, and he had to promise his daughter to ask Premier Zhou first, and then Hong Zongyang was sent back to prison.
Figure丨 suppression of counter-revolutionary movements
After returning home, the father and daughter once again engaged in a fierce argument, Tan Yubao believed that Hong Zongyang was executed for killing revolutionary martyrs and smuggling guns, why did Tan Mulan insist on protecting him? Tan Mulan said that Hong Zongyang took the initiative to release the revolutionary martyrs and left a large amount of guns and ammunition for the guerrillas in front of Zhejiang, which she saw with her own eyes:
"If there were no Hong Zongyang, would our father and daughter still have a day to meet?" Can we still be reunited? ”
When the news of Tan Mulan's "robbery" of the execution site soon reached Zhongnanhai, Premier Zhou knew that Hong Zongyang was a Huangpu student and knew something about his situation, so he gave the instruction of "leaving people under the knife and dealing with them separately." Later, Hong Zongyang was sentenced to imprisonment and served his sentence by working in a coal mine in Hunan.
Tan Mulan had been married once before liberation, her husband was a businessman, and after marriage, Tan Mulan learned that her husband had concealed his history of being a backbone of the Kuomintang, and Tan Mulan immediately divorced him. In 1954, Tan Mulan married Chen Fuhan, a middle school teacher, Tan Yubao expressed support for his daughter's decision, and Hong Zongyang heard the news of Tan Mulan's remarriage in prison, and also entrusted someone to carry a few feet of cloth for his daughter and son-in-law to express his blessings.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Tan Yubao took a photo in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province
Tan Mulan has always been worried about Hong Zongyang in prison, and every year he will travel thousands of miles to visit Hong Zongyang once or twice and bring him some food and clothing. In 1975, Hong Zongyang was released from prison, and as soon as he was released from prison, he went straight to Changsha, and when he learned that Tan Mulan was touring the Martyrs' Park, Hong Zongyang rushed to the Martyrs' Park and told his daughter the good news of her release from prison:
"It was Tan Yubao who saved me, premier Zhou who saved me, the Communist Party who saved me, and your daughter who saved me."
Soon after, Tan Mulan was transferred to the Civil Affairs Bureau of Chaling County, and Tan Mulan brought Hong Zongyang to chaling with him to live. In 1986, Hong Zongyang began to serve as a member of the CppcC National Committee of Youxian County, and was elected as a director of the Huangpu Military Academy Alumni Association in Hunan Province, contributing his share to the united front. After Hong Zongyang's death in 1993, Tan Mulan asked the relevant authorities to bury Hong Zongyang's ashes in the Hunan Provincial Revolutionary Cemetery.
Figure 丨 In his later years, Tan Mulan
According to his father's last wishes, Tan Mulan returned to his hometown after retirement, and Tan Yubao's former residence, which was destroyed by Chiang Kai-shek's plane that year, has been repaired, and a persimmon tree in the yard was planted by Tan Yubao himself. When someone once asked Tan Mulan if he had preserved a photo of Hong Zongyang on the shrine of the Tan family, Tan Mulan replied affectionately:
"Yes, hidden in a box."