In 1949, the Kuomintang's million-strong army was completely defeated in the War of Liberation, and Chiang Kai-shek led the remnants to flee to the island of Taiwan.
In this year, the People's Republic of China was proclaimed, but there were still sporadic Remnants of the Kuomintang throughout the country, some of whom fell into the grass and some of them stubbornly resisted, posing a great threat to the lives of the common people.
In the next few years, our army went east and west to eliminate these militants one by one. At the same time, many captured Kuomintang war criminals were held in major cities across the country, and the party organization decided to try them regularly, according to the sentence of the crime, and the shooting of the person who should be shot.
In 1952, the city of Changsha, Hunan Province, was about to execute a Kuomintang prisoner on death row named Hong Zongyang.
Just as the executioner was about to shoot, a young woman suddenly rushed into the execution ground, hugged Hong Zongyang's body tightly, and shouted: "I am the daughter of Tan Yubao, vice chairman of Hunan Province, and this person cannot be killed!" ”
Tan Yubao is a veteran member of our party and has made important contributions to both the party and the country, so why did his daughter desperately want to protect a Kuomintang death row prisoner?
There's a twist in the story.
Father and daughter went from separation to reunion
Tan Yubao was born into poverty, dropped out of school at a very young age and returned home to farm, and later in order to earn a living, Tan Yubao joined the local lion dance team and was elected as the leader of the team.
In 1926, Tan Yubao was unanimously praised by the villagers in the peasant movement, and he was elected as the director of the Preparatory Committee of the People's Association.
Tan Yubao's aunt Zhou Tanshi married a local landowner and became the target of the peasant movement, and Zhou Tanshi, believing that he was a relative of Tan Yubao, did not change his arrogance and nature at all, and scolded the common people.
At this time, Tan Yubao stood up, he killed his relatives in righteousness, and without hesitation, he sided with the poor people, and he was also approved to join the Communist Party because of his outstanding performance in the peasant movement.
After that, Tan Yubao followed Chairman Mao's troops to participate in the Autumn Harvest Uprising and climbed Jinggang Mountain to open up the first revolutionary base area of the Communist Party.
In 1932, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the encirclement and suppression of the Jinggangshan base area, Tan Yubao's team received orders to withdraw westward, in the process of the breakthrough, Tan Yubao's troops were fiercely attacked by the Nationalist army, and a large number of soldiers died on the way through the breakthrough.
After discussion, Tan Yubao and the remaining leaders decided to reorganize the remaining Red Army fighters into guerrilla units, with Tan Yubao as the political commissar, and carry out guerrilla operations in the local area.
Tan Yubao's parents and wife were brutally murdered by the Kuomintang troops during this encirclement, and his daughter Tan Mulan, who was only eight years old at the time, hid in the water tank in her home without saying a word, which saved her from a disaster.
After the Kuomintang troops left, the young Tan Mulan cried in front of the corpses of his family, and the villagers who escaped the disaster also rushed over, and they were very sympathetic to Tan Mulan's tragic experience.
At this time, an old man said to the tearful little Mulan: "Baby, don't cry, go to the Communist Party team to find your father." ”
In this way, Tan Mulan embarked on the road to find her father, she walked for more than two months, drank spring water when she was thirsty, begged for some food when she was hungry, and finally found her father in Yongxin County.
Tan Yubao couldn't believe that the little girl with yellow muscles in front of him was his daughter Mulan, and he picked up his daughter and cried, "Jiaozi, you have suffered!" ”
She was adopted as a righteous daughter by Hong Zongyang
Tan Mulan's stable life lasted only three years.
In 1934, the Red Army's fifth anti-encirclement and suppression campaign failed, launching a great 25,000-mile long march, and Tan Yubao, under the instructions of his superiors, led his troops to persist in the local resistance and carry out guerrilla warfare.
In the winter of that year, Tan Yubao's troops were surrounded and suppressed by the Nationalist army, Tan Mulan followed his father to break through everywhere, just at the moment of this thousand gunshots, the guards who pulled Tan Mulan to run stepped on the air, and the two fell to the bottom of a cliff together, and Tan Mulan was knocked unconscious.
Unexpectedly, Tan Mulan was actually rescued by Hong Zongyang, who was the captain of the volunteer team in the National Government, hong Zongyang was very fond of this little girl, but his subordinates thought that she was a descendant of the communists and must be killed.
Just as he was hesitating, Hong Zongyang's wife He Wenxiu came over, and she immediately took Xiao Mulan in her arms and said pityingly: "This little girl is so cute, let's consider her a dry daughter!" ”
Hong Zongyang and He Wenxiu have been married for many years and have been sorry for not having a child, and He Wenxiu's proposal made Hong Zongyang very happy, so Tan Mulan lived in the Hong family.
Hong Zongyang has always announced that Tan Mulan was born to himself and his wife, and this couple really took good care of Tan Mulan like their own daughter.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party began the second cooperation in history and established an anti-Japanese national united front.
At this time, Tan Yubao also learned that his daughter was adopted by Hong Zongyang, so he rushed to Hong Zongyang's residence, on the one hand, to discuss the issue of joint resistance to Japan, on the other hand, he hoped to bring his daughter back.
Unexpectedly, Tan Mulan has developed a deep affection with Hong Zongyang and his wife in many years of life, and she told her father that she wanted to stay here and continue to live.
Tan Yubao understood his daughter's mood very well, and he also felt deeply guilty that he had not been able to take good care of Xiao Mulan, so he agreed to his daughter's request.
In this way, Tan Mulan lived in Hong Zongyang's home for more than ten years.
During this time, Hong Zongyang also proposed to send Tan Mulan back to his father many times, but for various reasons, he never made the trip.
It was not until after the liberation of Changsha in 1949 that Tan Yubao sent someone to bring Tan Mulan back.
However, Because of the defeat of the Kuomintang, Hong Zongyang had to return home to work as a farmer.
Rescue people at the execution ground
In 1952, Hong Zongyang's identity was revealed by the masses, he was arrested and imprisoned, and the local military court sentenced Hong Zongyang to death after trial.
On the day of the execution, Tan Mulan, ignoring the obstruction of the soldiers around him, rushed to the execution table to protect Hong Zongyang with his own body, crying and shouting: "Can't kill, can't kill!" ”
Tan Yubao rushed to hear the news, he was very angry at his daughter's ignorance, and slapped her daughter fiercely, but he did not expect Tan Mulan to give in: "This is a wrong case, Uncle Hong cannot be killed, you must ask Premier Zhou to do it!" ”
This incident caused a huge sensation at the time and soon reached the ears of The Zhou Premier of Zhongnanhai.
When Premier Zhou knew that Hong Zongyang was a student at the Whampoa Military Academy and had taught him, he issued an instruction to "keep people under the knife and deal with them later."
In this way, Hong Zongyang was changed from death sentence to imprisonment and was sent to a local coal mine for labor reform.
brief summary:
Under the rolling wheels of history, anyone is a tiny speck of dust. Although Hong Zongyang is a Kuomintang, at the same time, he is also an ordinary person with flesh and blood and full of feelings, which can be seen from his unconventional and resolute adoption of Tan Mulan.