The back hill is overgrown with weeds, lush trees obscure most of the sun, and dappled tree shadows fall in front of a tombstone. An old man hunched over his back, holding a broom in his hand, staggered to sweep the fallen leaves in front of the tombstone.
Several elementary school students at Xiufeng Elementary School were playing in the back hill and happened to see this scene, and one of the students could not help but ask, "Grandpa, whose tomb is this?" ”
The old man paused, raised his head to look at the tombstone, and swept his long and deep gaze to the eight golden characters on the tombstone, "Righteousness and righteousness, honor and eternal honor."
These eight words have changed their colors in the baptism of time and the erosion of rain again and again, peeling off layer after layer of skin, and the edge of the bluestone slab under the word has climbed some moss, lining it more lonely.
Yeah, whose tomb is this?
The old man silently sighed in his heart, Mr. Du, it seems that you have walked too long, so long that people who pass by must ask a question, whose tomb is this? How can a person your size be forgotten by them? How can time forget it?
He turned his head to look at the direction of the tombstone, which was Shanghai, where Mr. Du had come, and where Mr. Du could never go back.
Legendary life
How does a person live a lifetime to be considered a legend? Du Yuesheng's life may give us some answers.
Born on August 22, 1888, Du Yuesheng grew up in a poor family, his parents died, and he was lonely and lonely. At that time, it was the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the people, social unrest, and most ordinary people were miserable and poor, unable to feed themselves, and they would not have to take care of a useless child.
Du Yuesheng was so young that he could only rely on food to wander all the way to Shanghai. Although the teenage years are not clothed and hungry, they are contaminated with gambling habits, and ordinary livelihoods cannot meet his gambling needs, so he began to mix gangs, sneak and grab the road, what to earn money and what to do.
The power of great Shanghai is complex, Du Yuesheng met Jin Rong by chance, and by cleverness and cleverness, he got the appreciation of Jin Rong, got the opportunity to smuggle tobacco soil, and established a company selling opium.
Du Yuesheng also gradually relied on these illegal businesses to quickly accumulate a large number of assets, developing the Qinggang into the largest gang in Shanghai and becoming a well-known figure in Shanghai.
In the war years, no matter who it was, it was impossible to protect himself, let alone a well-known big figure like Du Yuesheng. No matter how strong Du Yuesheng's strength was, he could not resist the Japanese who invaded China, nor could he prevent the fall of Shanghai.
After the fall of Shanghai in November 1937, in order to make the Chinese of Shanghai submit more quickly, the Japanese wanted to win over Du Yuesheng, a well-known figure in Shanghai, and let him manage Shanghai as a representative of the Japanese.
Although Du Yuesheng was the leader of the Green Gang, he knew that no matter when the national integrity could not be lost, nor could he become a traitor. He resolutely refused the generous conditions of the Japanese and took refuge in Hong Kong. During the period of refuge, he actively resisted Japan and set up a relief committee to raise funds and materials for the Kuomintang's resistance to Japan.
Struggling
After the victory of the War of Resistance, Du Yuesheng originally thought that his good days were coming, after all, the Japanese had been driven out of China, and Shanghai would be his world again. Du Yuesheng calculated everything, but the biggest hidden danger that he did not calculate was Chiang Kai-shek.
In 1945, Chiang Kai-shek preemptively occupied Shanghai, stole the results, and appointed his close confidant Qian Dajun as the new mayor of Shanghai.
Du Yuesheng rushed back to Shanghai from Hong Kong full of joy, and there was no applause and honor to greet him, no Kuomintang officials, only signs plastered everywhere with the slogan "Down with Du Yuesheng."
Chiang Kai-shek's lack of faith in his words made him a complete outcast, and not only the position of mayor and vice mayor could not be replaced by him, but even the publicly elected Shanghai municipal councillors were also named and assigned by Chiang Kai-shek.
At this point, Du Yuesheng realized that at this moment, he was worthless to Chiang Kai-shek. His original gangster origins and history of starting out by smuggling opium, even if he tried his best to whitewash, it would be impossible to completely erase the past.
These things may also affect Chiang Kai-shek's political path and the image of democracy painstakingly managed in front of the people, after all, he will continue to compete with the Communist Party for the people's hearts and minds, so he will kick Du Yuesheng away in pain.
Not only that, Chiang Kai-shek did not want to let Du Yuesheng go, because he was afraid of Du Yuesheng's residual forces in Shanghai and the influence that penetrated into all walks of life, so while vigorously guiding all Shanghainese to oppose Du Yuesheng, he also began to attack his family, the purpose of which was to make Du Yuesheng completely unable to stay in Shanghai.
Du Yuesheng's son, Du Weiping, who was now the manager of The Zhonghui Bank in Shanghai, was arrested by Chiang Kai-shek's son Chiang Ching-kuo on the charge of "speculation and mischief." After Du Yuesheng was arrested and imprisoned by his son, he used his connections to run around in many ways, and Du Weiping was finally sentenced to six months.
Old age is bleak
After this incident, Du Yuesheng thoroughly recognized Chiang Kai-shek's face, and turned his face and did not recognize anyone. Even if he is not allowed to enter politics, he can still thrive in Shanghai by doing business and mixing with other professions.
However, in the current situation, Chiang Kai-shek was afraid that he would be exterminated and would not leave him a way to live. To understand this, Du Yuesheng made a decision, and his family of more than thirty people moved to Hong Kong to settle down, temporarily avoiding these disasters.
During his preparations to settle in Hong Kong, communist liaison officers also held secret talks with Du Yuesheng, hoping that one day after the liberation of Shanghai, Du Yuesheng could be asked to continue to come back and preside over the overall situation. Although Du Yuesheng was moved, he still refused.
He understood that even if he had donated money and materials to the Communist Party during the War of Resistance Against Japan, it was not enough to cover up the wrong things he had done to help Chiang Kai-shek.
In particular, in 1927, he helped Chiang Kai-shek suppress the revolutionary movement, not only killing wang Shouhua, the leader of the Shanghai workers, but also brutalizing a large number of Communists and the masses of workers.
Nowadays, the front is the Dragon Pond Tiger Cave, and the back is a cliff, there is no way back, only the road to Hong Kong still has a glimmer of life. Unfortunately, people are not as good as heaven, and Du Yuesheng's trip to Hong Kong is not as smooth as he imagined.
Although he left Shanghai, he sold his property, but took away four hundred thousand US dollars. This money may be a huge amount of money for ordinary people, but for the Du family, who are accustomed to luxury, even the most basic daily expenses are not enough. What's more, in Hong Kong, he could not make ends meet, and he did not find any money-making business, and before Du Yuesheng died, only 110,000 US dollars were left.
On August 16, 1951, Du Yuesheng finally ended up hated under the double destruction of psychological and physical diseases, and the shanghai beach generation of tyrants came to an end.
Died in Hong Kong, buried in Taiwan, and finally the grave was not cared for, no one visited, Du Yuesheng was forgotten by posterity on this hill in Taiwan.
How beautiful it is before you die, how lonely you are after death.
To death, Du Yuesheng did not return to the Shanghai he had in mind, the ancients fell to the roots, when this leaf fell, how many people can really choose where to fall?