One evening in early 1949, as the night gradually dimmed, Xi'an Railway Station looked particularly gloomy. At this time, a group of people were ambushing around the Xi'an Railway Station, and with the sound of "bang" all his life, the railway station was suddenly chaotic, and a man dressed in black died on the spot because he was hit by a gun.
The man who was assassinated was none other than a close confidant of Xiang Li, an important figure in the Kuomintang.
Hearing that his cronies had been killed, Xiang Li drove to the scene in a furious hurry to track down the murderer of the black gun. However, he led the troops to search until midnight, but still found nothing, and finally had to end hastily.
After returning to his residence, Xiang Became more and more agitated, and it was just when he was about to carry out the criminal plan of "sending a large number of spies to lurk and carry out the bombing of Xi'an", but who knows, the list of spies he had carefully selected was secretly sent to Nanjing by the gods, and one of the spies and his cronies was also assassinated.
In order not to alarm his superiors, Xiang Li immediately ordered the control of Xi'an, strictly investigated the entry and exit personnel, and prevented the news of the killing of his cronies from leaking.
At this time, Xiang Li did not know that a person who was in the shadows and lurking inside the Kuomintang's "Party Bureau" was gradually strangling his earth-shattering conspiracy in the cradle...
Yes, the person who secretly assassinated Xiang's cronies was Li Maotang, who was ostracized by him.
Li Maotang
When he learned that Xiang Li had blocked the news and wanted to hide the sky and cross the sea, Li Maotang asked Wang Keping, the second section chief of the Shaanxi Provincial Communications Group of the "Party Communication Bureau," who had been at odds with Xiang Li, to take a heavy gift to Nanjing to visit Ye Xiufeng, revealing the secret of Xiang Li's deception of his superiors.
When Ye Xiufeng learned that Xiang Li was so rampant, he was furious and immediately called Xi'an, removing Xiang Li from his post and replacing him with Wang Keping. Li Maotang could be said to have effortlessly eliminated Xiang Xiang and completely smashed his plot.
At the same time, the Northwest Field Army launched the Libei Campaign and the Yichuan Campaign in succession, the offensive was fierce, and the main force of Hu Zong's southern garrison in Xi'an was deeply damaged, and they were planning to withdraw to Zhongnan Mountain first, leaving an empty city in Xi'an, and after the Red Army entered Xi'an, detonated bombs buried in various parts of Xi'an City, and severely damaged the Red Army.
But what Hu Zongnan did not expect was that all this was in Li Maotang's grasp...
In order to make Hu Zongnan not retreat to Zhongnan Mountain, Li Maotang gave Hu Zongnan bitter persuasion, telling him that Zhongnan Mountain and Hu Zongnan were in harmony, and that there was no doubt that Hu Zongnan would die when he reached Zhongnan Mountain, but he did not expect that Hu Zongnan really believed it, and at Li Maotang's suggestion, Hu Zongnan led his troops to retreat to southern Shaanxi and Sichuan.
When Hu Zongnan was preparing to retreat with his subordinates, Li Maotang took the initiative to ask for help, stayed behind to arrange for the orderly evacuation of various departments, and supervised the secret agents to carry out the "jade burning plan" and blow up the city of Xi'an to pieces.
Hu Zongnan saw that Li Maotang was so brave and fierce, and said, "I really didn't misread Li Maotang at the beginning. And left Li Maotang a large amount of materials, money and aircraft to help Li Maotang implement the plan and successfully retreat.
As everyone knows, Li Maotang's move was to serve as an internal response to the People's Liberation Army and help the Red Army successfully take Xi'an. With the cooperation of the xi'an underground party, he had already taken control of the remaining Kuomintang personnel in Xi'an with the "Western Intelligence Department" and dug up the huge amount of explosives that Hu Zongnan had buried when he left.
In mid-May 1949, after the Red Army entered Xi'an City, a huge ceremony was held to liberate Xi'an. Hu Zongnan did not hear the explosion of "jade and stone burning" in Xi'an, but heard the sound of vibrating gongs, drums and firecrackers celebrating liberation.
After Hu Zongnan fled to Baoji, he waited for Li Maotang to return and asked him what had happened in Xi'an during the retreat, but Zuo waited for Li Maotang to return.
Only then did Hu Zongnan learn through the news brought by his subordinates that Li Maotang, his most trusted confidant, the most valued talent under his command, and the "Commissioner of the Northwest Bureau" of the Kuomintang Central Committee, was actually a Communist Party!
He couldn't help but scold:
This big spy is my confidant, how is he the CCP?
This made Hu Zongnan unable to accept it for a long time.
Hu Zongnan
So, how did Li Maotang successfully lurk in the Central Unification for 14 years and become Hu Zongnan's most trusted confidant? How did he get out of it?
Push the boat along the water and become an important figure in the Central Unification
Li Maotang was born in Weinan County, Shaanxi Province, when he was young, his family was poor, and he only studied in a private school for a few years, and later he was introduced by relatives to learn telegraph technology at the Xi'an Telegraph Transmission Institute, and then worked as a telegraph operator in the Shaanxi Provincial Telegraph Bureau.
In his spare time, Li Maotang especially liked to study the advanced works of Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, and others, and he very much agreed with their views and admired them very much. The seeds of saving the country and repaying the country were already buried in his heart at that time.
In 1926, when Li Maotang was studying in Xi'an, he met many Communist Party friends, and under their influence, Li Maotang believed that the Communist Party was a party that wholeheartedly served the people, so he took the initiative to submit an application to the party organization to join the party, and under the introduction of the two friends, he became a glorious communist party member.
After joining the party, Li Maotang was successively transferred to Wuhan and Shaanxi to work, and when he threw his head and spilled his blood for the revolution, he was also targeted by Kuomintang agents many times, and on both occasions he was almost caught by the Kuomintang.
In May 1932, the Ankang Special Committee of the Communist Party of China was established, and Li Maotang was the commissioner of the provincial party committee and the secretary of the Ankang Special Committee. During this period, together with Chen Zijing and Liang Bru, he developed more than a dozen Communist Parties among the junior officers and soldiers of the Kuomintang's Ankang District Appeasement Headquarters, and abolished the feudal system of "officers beating and cursing soldiers" and made grain and salaries public.
The formulation of this system moved the cheese of many people, at first only a few people agreed, and finally Li Maotang broke them one by one. Since then, the Ankang area has achieved the publicity of grain and wages, soldiers are no longer oppressed by officers, and Li Maotang is also welcomed by soldiers.
In early December, in order to welcome the Northwest Field Army into the Ankang area, Li Maotang led his developed Communists into the countryside secretly, distributing revolutionary leaflets and slogans welcoming the arrival of the Red Army, while also continuously transmitting information to the Northwest Field Army, informing them of the local situation in Ankang and the movements of the Kuomintang army. As a result, the Red Army successfully passed through the Ankang area and left a deep impression on the hearts of the Ankang people.
However, Li Maotang was also arrested and imprisoned for this reason, and after his release, he could not continue to stay in Ankang and work, so he went to Shaanxi Province to participate in the leadership of the CPC Central Military Commission, but due to the defection of Yuan Yuedong and Du Heng after their arrest, the Shaanxi Provincial CPC Committee fell into a strong attack by the Kuomintang, and Li Maotang safely escaped the pursuit of the enemy, but lost contact with the party organization.
Soon after, Li Maotang went to Shanghai, and with the help of all sides, Li Maotang contacted Wang Chaobei, a special branch of the Central Bureau, and wanted to restore his party membership through Wang Chaobei and send himself back to Shaanxi to work.
Wang Chaobei made Li Maotang's request to the party organization three times, and the party central committee considered that Li Maotang's identity had been exposed and that he would probably be arrested again when he returned to Shaanxi, so he asked Li Maotang to contact the underground organization of the Communist Party in Shanghai and join them.
Wang Chaobei
In 1935, Li Maotang received an order from the party organization and rushed to Zhengzhou to attend the enlarged meeting of the Standing Committee of the Shaanxi Provincial CPC Committee, originally thinking that he could finally return to the Shaanxi work he had in mind, but what he did not expect was that on the way to the meeting, all the participants were arrested for traitors, and only Li Maotang was lucky enough to escape the big search.
The Kuomintang learned from the list of participants that Li Maotang would also come to the meeting, so they came up with a vicious plan, and they said to the outside world: As long as Li Maotang took the initiative to dedicate himself, they would release the others arrested at that meeting.
The naïve Li Maotang really thought that he could use himself in exchange for the safety of all comrades, so he took the initiative to send it to the door. As a result, the Kuomintang rebelled, and none of the people who promised to let go were released, and they put themselves in.
After Li Maotang was arrested, he spent several difficult days in the local prison, and then was escorted to the Nanjing Provincial Hospital for interrogation. Although the Kuomintang tortured him in every way, he never did anything harmful to the Communist Party, and did not reveal a single bit of information about communist party personnel. Seeing that the interrogation was fruitless, the Kuomintang transferred Li Maotang to Shanghai again, hoping to use Xu Enzeng, the head of the secret service, to plot against Li Maotang.
After Li Maotang arrived in Shanghai, Xu En sent Du Heng and Chen Jianwen, two traitors of the Communist Party, to persuade Li Maotang to surrender and promised Li Maotang's high-ranking official Houlu.
Considering that he was already deeply trapped in the enemy camp and had been transferred to many places, it was more difficult for Li Maotang to get in touch with the party organization again than to ascend to heaven, and he himself had experience in underground work, so it was better to push the boat into the Kuomintang and get in touch with the party organization when the opportunity was ripe.
Therefore, Li Maotang told Xu En that he could help him do things, but Xu En could not say that Li Maotang had turned himself in. Xu En, knowing that Li Maotang was a talent, agreed to his request.
Since he agreed to join Xu Enzeng's team, he must have sent a big gift to show his sincerity, Li Maotang considered in many ways, and felt that if he went to arrest Wang Chaobei, he was the easiest to escape, so Li Maotang confessed Wang Chaobei to Xu Enzeng, and led a team of people and horses to capture Wang Chaobei.
Li Maotang led this group of people to destroy several former underground places of the Communist Party in Shanghai, but no one was caught, and everyone was tired, so Wang Chaobei secretly passed on a message to Wang Chaobei while everyone was resting, asking him to seize the time to transfer. Subsequently, Li Maotang led the crowd to Wang Chaobei's residence, creating the illusion that people were going to the empty building, and successfully deceived Xu Enzeng.
Wang Shiying, a member of the Central Special Branch Red Team, has always believed that Li Maotang will not rebel, and he entrusted Wang Chaobei to send a message to Li Maotang, asking him to first establish a foothold within the enemy and obtain intelligence for the central authorities. Li Maotang obeyed the arrangements of the party organization and since then penetrated into the Kuomintang Central Unification Secret Service Organization.
However, Li Maotang could not even find anyone with one-line contact, and he only found someone to speak to the party organization in 1936, showing his determination to be loyal to the Communist Party and to crush the enemy within the enemy.
He came up with a brilliant plan to go to Yan'an and become a special party member of Chairman Mao
After entering the enemy's interior, Li Maotang showed great courage, and during the Xi'an Incident, he boarded a plane alone to Go to Xi'an and parachuted to the outskirts of Xi'an to prepare to rescue Chiang Kai-shek and his wife.
At that time, the atmosphere in Xi'an City was tense, martial law was closed day and night, and Li Maotang, who was born with courage, simply disguised himself and went into the city. However, at the gate of Xi'an City, Li Maotang was seen as flawed by the Northeast Army, which was like a great enemy, and was tied up on the spot, and finally due to the peaceful settlement of the Xi'an Incident, he was able to escape.
Since then, Li Maotang has been treated differently by Chiang Kai-shek, and Xu En has also praised him as "commendable in his loyalty to the party-state." Li Maotang has stood out and been reused, becoming a shining "new star" of the Central Bureau of Statistics.
In July 1937, Lee Mao-do inadvertently captured the Japanese assassin who killed Kim Joo, the chairman of the Korean Independence Party, who was fierce and skilled, and after killing Kim Jiu, he always wanted to find an opportunity to solve Chiang Kai-shek. After the case was solved, Li Maotang made new meritorious contributions, and Chiang Kai-shek was very kind to him, and he was promoted to two consecutive levels, promoted to chief instructor of the special training class of the Central Unification, and later served as the deputy director of the Shaanxi Investigation Office of the Central Unification, becoming an important figure in the special affairs system of the Central Unification in Shaanxi.
After gaining a firm foothold in the Central Bureau of Statistics, Li Maotang wanted to get in touch with the party organization that had been "lost for a long time." In 1939, he contacted the party organization through his friend Wang Chaobei, and the central government approved Li Maotang to work for the party, and decided that Wang Chaobei and Li Maotang would have a one-line contact. Since then, many important pieces of information have been continuously reported to Yan'an, and even Li Maotang has sent the Kuomintang radio code to the party organization, and the party organization has obtained countless important information by cracking the Kuomintang's secret telegrams, which has made great contributions to the victory of the Liberation War.
In 1945, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression had changed from passive to active attack, and Wang Chaobei went to Yan'an to report on his work at the request of the party organization and accepted new tasks. Li Maotang also wanted to go with Wang Chaobei to solve his long-pending issue of party membership.
After much deliberation, Li Maotang felt that going there in secret would definitely arouse the suspicion of the internal personnel of the Central Bureau of Statistics, and he would most likely be exposed, so he came up with a brilliant plan and told Hu Zongnan to go to Xi'an to inquire about the CCP's intelligence for him.
Initially, Hu Zongnan said: "It is too dangerous to go to Yan'an. ”
Li Maotang said to Hu Zongnan: "I will not hesitate to crush my bones for the sake of the party-state!" Just let me go! ”
Hu Zongnan was touched by Li Maotang's spirit, but he had doubts and asked him: "What if the CCP arrests you and wants to kill you?" ”
Li Maotang told Hu Zongnan his best idea: he would pretend to be Zhang Huaizhong, an inspector of the Central Ministry of Communications, pretend to inspect the post and telecommunications work in Yan'an, and meet with his cousin Li Bingkun after arriving in Yan'an to obtain information from the Communist Party. Going with him was also his cousin Li Maorong, who was a businessman who happened to go to Yan'an to do business, and the two of them had a caretaker together.
After Hu Zongnan listened, he affirmed Li Maotang's plan and nodded his head in agreement.
In August, Li Maotang, dressed as a postal inspector, rushed to Yan'an with Wang Chaobei, dressed as a businessman. After greeting the party organization in advance, the two successfully entered the Yan'an area, and Li Kenong, vice minister of the Central Social Department (in charge of intelligence and security work), Luo Qingchang, Shi Zhe, and others warmly received them to meet them and prepared rich dishes for them.
Li Kenong tightly held the hands of the two of them and sighed: "It's not easy, welcome back home!" ”
Li Maotang has mixed feelings, as if in another world, "the old road is green and the mountains are there, and the wanderer is white."
After Li Kenong led the two to a brief rest, he went to a debriefing meeting, at which Li Maotang proposed that he wanted to restore his party membership, which was very important for him personally.
Li Maotang was removed from the party because of his fake defection, but only a few people know his deeds, and Li Kenong did not dare to make a good claim to let Li Maotang rejoin the party, so he had to ask Chairman Mao for instructions.
After hearing that Li Maotang had provided the Party Central Committee with countless important pieces of information, Chairman Mao said: "Comrade Li Maotang has paid so much for the Party organization, and we have no reason to refuse this request. ”
Chairman Mao also asked: "These are not problems, the key is that there needs to be an introducer to join the party, and who is willing to be an introducer for Li Maotang?" ”
Li Kenong told Chairman Mao: "Director Luo Qingchang and Director Wang Dongxing both mentioned that they could be used as introducers. ”
Chairman Mao laughed and said to Li Kenong, "You forgot? Li Maotang is also a director, although he is a director of the Kuomintang, but the two directors recommend a director, we will definitely agree. ”
After study by the leaders of the Party Central Committee, it was decided to accede to Comrade Li Maotang's request, allowing him to re-perform the formalities for joining the Party and becoming the first special Party member specially approved by Chairman Mao himself.
When Li Maotang was leaving, in order not to let the Kuomintang notice something unusual, the party organization handed over some documents of the "Seventh National Congress" to Li Maotang and asked him to bring to the Kuomintang as the communist intelligence collected.
On the day of Li Maotang's departure, the party organization published an article commenting on Li Maotang through the Yan'an Xinhua News Agency, which read: Zhang Huaizhong, an inspector of the Kuomintang Post and Telecommunications Bureau, acted without authorization after coming to Yan'an, and also made remarks attacking our party and government, deliberately undermining the beautiful vision of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. The company hereby declares that Zhang Huaizhong is a person who is not welcomed by the people of Yan'an.
The play was very successful, and Li Maotang suddenly became famous within the Kuomintang, and was also praised by Hu Zongnan, Zhu Shaozhou and others. At the same time, Chairman Mao set up the Xi'an Intelligence Office in Xi'an, with Wang Chaobei and Li Maotang as the chief and deputy directors.
After the establishment of the Xi'an Intelligence Office, it obtained a lot of important information, so that many underground workers of the Communist Party were transferred in a timely manner and saved from being killed by the Kuomintang reactionaries.
Group photo of some staff of the Xi'an Intelligence Office. Front row: Li Maotang (third from right), Wang Chaobei (fourth from right)
Destroy the Jade Burning Plan and guard the ancient city of Xi'an
In early 1949, the Northwest Field Army launched the Libei Campaign and the Yichuan Campaign in succession, and in the exchange of fire with Hu Zongnan's troops, it severely damaged his troops.
At this time, Hu Zongnan knew that Xi'an could not be defended, so he consulted with Xiang Li and prepared to send a large number of agents to carry out the "Jade Burning Plan" after the Northwest Field Army entered Xi'an, destroying the Northwest Field Army together with Xi'an City. Xiang Li is responsible for selecting spies and operating in secret.
Li Maotang, who was lurking in the "Party Communication Bureau," learned of the Kuomintang's plot to send a large number of agents to carry out the Jade Burning Plan through various operations, and in order to change his current disadvantageous position and smash this evil plan, Li Maotang came up with a series of plans that could not only destroy the Kuomintang plan, but also eliminate Xiang Li and put himself in power.
When Li Maotang learned that Xiang Li's cronies, who were also one of Xiang Li's carefully selected spies, would appear at the Xi'an Railway Station, he sent his own men and horses to shoot xiang Li's cronies at the Xi'an Railway Station, which led to the scene mentioned at the beginning.
After Xiang Li learned the news, in order not to expose his and Hu Zongnan's plot, he sealed off the whole city to prevent leakage of wind and noise, and told his superiors that this person died of illness instead of being shot.
After Xiang Li was shot and killed, Xie Weijie was activated. What Xiang Xiang could not imagine was that Xie Weijie had already been plotted against by Li Maotang, and now another layer of identity was a key member of the Xi'an Intelligence Department.
Soon, Xie Weijie used the convenience of his position to steal the list of agents of several hundred people for the Xi'an Intelligence Service, but these were far from enough to put Xiang Yuan to death and help Li Maotang change his position. After thinking about it, Li Maotang seized the point of reporting to his superiors that Xiang Keping had concealed it, took advantage of the opportunity of Wang Keping's contradiction with Xiang Yuan, asked Wang Keping to visit Ye Xiufeng with heavy gifts, and told Ye Xiufeng the fact that Xiang Had crossed the sea.
Ye Xiufeng
When Ye Xiufeng learned of this, he was furious and scolded Xiang Li for not paying attention to him, and then ordered Xiang Li to be removed from his position. So who will take the place of Xiang Li next? Wang Keping introduced himself, and with his heavy gifts and Ye Xiufeng's understanding of him, he successfully took the post of Xiang Li.
After Wang Keping returned, Li Maotang promptly plotted against Wang Keping and asked him to start underground intelligence work, and Wang Keping did not disappoint Li Maotang's expectations, and he transferred the radio back to Xi'an for use by the Western Intelligence Department.
After Li Maotang's painstaking management, the original Stronghold of the Kuomintang in Xi'an almost became the domain of the Communist Party, but Hu Zongnan was still in the dark, regarding him as the most trustworthy confidant.
At this time, Hu Zongnan was preparing to lead his troops to withdraw from Xi'an, leaving an empty city and a large number of spies to carry out the jade burning plan. Hu Zongnan originally wanted to retreat to Zhongnan Mountain, but Zhongnan Mountain was only more than fifty miles away from Xi'an, and the distance was too close, and it was easy to pose a big threat after the Northwest Field Army entered. So Li Maotang dissuaded Hu Zongnan, saying that the harmony between Zhongnan and Hu Zongnan would be unlucky, and he would die after that.
Hu Zongnan was convinced of what Li Maotang had said, so he led his army to retreat to southern Shaanxi and Sichuan.
When Hu Zongnan was about to retreat, Li Maotang offered to stay and direct the retreat of the various units, and then supervised the implementation of the jade burning plan to destroy Xi'an. Hu Zongnan agreed to Li Maotang's request and left Li Maotang a large number of people, horses, materials, and planes for Li Maotang to dispatch.
Before the Northwest Field Army entered Xi'an, Li Maotang had already arranged for people to remove all the explosives in Xi'an City, and arrested all the Kuomintang agents who remained in Xi'an City, and the whole city greeted the Northwest Field Army into the city with joy.
Yes, Li Maotang successfully guarded the ancient city of Xi'an, enabled the People's Liberation Army to liberate Xi'an without firing a shot, and made great achievements for this great victory, at this time he had been infiltrating the "Central Unification" for 14 years. Hu Zongnan, on the other hand, lost Xi'an, and after later flying to Taiwan, he was sent to a court-martial by the Kuomintang and tried by the Kuomintang, and when he first learned that Li Maotang was a member of the Communist Party, he could not help but burst out in scolding:
How is this big agent the CCP?
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Li Maotang served as the first vice minister of the Ministry of Domestic Trade. In May 1953, Li Maotang died of illness in Beijing at the age of 47, and the legendary deeds of a red agent were sealed. In March 1982, Li Maotang's party membership and reputation were restored, and the heroic soul of a generation of legendary agents was laid to rest in the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery.