In 1995, in a nursing home in Liaoning Province, there was a 91-year-old woman, perhaps aware that the limit was approaching, and some secrets were hidden by her for a lifetime, and if she did not say them now, I am afraid that no one would know about them in the future.
So the old man summoned his niece, who was responsible for taking care of him, and told her: I am the "arms thief" who has been hunted down and killed by the Japanese, Jiang, and Wang for many years, and they also call me "the first female bandit in the Central Plains."
The old man's words are like a stone stirring up a thousand waves, the niece's heart can not be calmed for a long time, looking at the amiable old lady in the past, how can not think that she was once an arms thief, the niece sent a doctor to see if there is a problem.
As a result, after examination, everything the old man said was true, and she was indeed the "arms thief" who stole the Kuomintang's arms for the Eighth Route Army, and she was personally praised by Liu Bocheng and Zhu Laozong that year.
This 91-year-old lady's name is Gao Chongde, what kind of legendary experience did she have in her life? And why did he live in a small nursing home in his later years, so that his identity was revealed near his death?
This all started from the first meeting between Gao Chongde and Lin Boqu.
Actively resist Japan, do not love red makeup, love armed
Gao Chongde, born in 1904 in Heishan County, Liaoning Province, as a girl, she did not have a gentle character and a heart for beauty, only a strong character and a patriotic heart.
When she was a child, Gao Chongde showed an unusual temperament, like to understand historical heroes, especially the ancient heroine Haojie, in her eyes, although the woman is weak, but also can become Haojie, not to lose men, so some people say that she is not like a girl, like a boy.
As an adult, Gao Chongde married Lü Zhengcao, the commander of Zhang Xueliang's regiment in the Northeast Army, and became an "official wife" step by step, because Lü Zhengcao was deeply appreciated and capable of Zhang Xueliang, so even if Gao Chongde played mahjong every day, there would be nothing wrong.
But Gao Chongde did not play mahjong and cards every day like other wives, but successfully entered the military camp as a husband, yes, she had to learn to shoot in preparation for the future to kill the enemy.
She believes that the country is in difficulty today, and it should not only be men who charge forward, but women who can also play a certain role.
Gao Chongde did not study for a few days and then put it down, but practiced deeply and diligently, and in a short period of time, she developed from the woman who touched the gun and did not know how to use it, to the famous goddess gunner.
After the "918 Incident", the Northeast Army entered Guannei, and as the wife of the regimental commander, naturally went together, because the retreat of the Northeast Army completely aroused the voice of the people to resist Japan, and the wave was higher than the wave, and Gao Chongde could no longer sit still.
After entering Guannei, Gao Chongde directly joined the ranks of the anti-Japanese movement to save the country, and she did everything that could arouse patriotism and propaganda.
For example, putting up anti-Japanese slogans on the streets, spreading leaflets, anti-Japanese speeches, and so on, is to call on everyone to rise and fall in the world, to be responsible, not to be a slave to the country, and to fight against the invaders.
A woman can achieve this level for the anti-Japanese resistance, and many people are deeply touched and have joined the anti-Japanese action.
It is precisely because Gao Chongde is often active in anti-Japanese actions that her figure has also attracted the attention of some people, and in the rescue team, a person surnamed Wang often approached her and transmitted some of the Chinese Communist Party's ideas on anti-Japanese resistance to Japan.
Although Gao Chongde did not know this person, the other person's conversation and thoughts were indeed extraordinary, so she often learned valuable experiences and ideas from him.
After the Northeast Army arrived in Henan, Gao Chongde once again met the person who had transmitted Communist Ideas for himself, and this time he directly told Gao Chongde that if he wanted to resist Japan, it was not enough to just hand out leaflets, but also to organize a certain number of personnel, and the Northeast Army that was scattered at that time was the best choice.
Therefore, Gao Chongde traveled everywhere every day, gathering all the Northeast Armies that wanted to serve the country but were scattered, and over time, this team gradually grew, of which Gao Chongde could be said to be indispensable.
You must know that recruiting the army without authorization was a capital offense at that time, and Gao Chongde's husband was the regimental commander, and naturally understood the reasoning for this, but she still chose to do this, which shows how great the patriotic heart in her heart is.
This incident made the organization think that Gao Chongde was indeed a rare talent, so it was ready to introduce her to someone, a person who changed the trajectory of the second half of her life.
Secretly see Lin Boqu and become an arms thief
In the second half of 1937, after organizational study and decision, Lin Boqu, chairman of the anti-Japanese base government, received Gao Chongde, and this meeting was not only to praise Gao Chongde's deeds after entering the customs, but also to entrust her with a greater task.
Lin Boqu jokingly said:
"Can I give you a leader?" You will listen to me from now on. ”
Gao Chongde also thought that he wanted to put himself on the front line, and without hesitation, he agreed, who knew that Lin Boqu had other arrangements:
"Your job is not to go to the front line, but it is more important than going to the front line to fight the Japanese devils directly!"
"You are directly under my leadership, and you will contact Wu Yunfu, director of the Shaanxi Office of the Eighth Route Army, for specific matters."
Although he did not go to the front line, Gao Chongde was not discouraged, because only she understood that this secret meeting, Lin Boqu gave herself a task, if successfully implemented, then undoubtedly added great strength to the Eighth Route Army, and the contribution to this was far more than that of the front line to kill the enemy.
Lin Boqu in the Yan'an period
The task that Lin Boqu asked Gao Chongde to complete was to steal arms from the Kuomintang army, even though the popularity of the Eighth Route Army at that time was high, and there were anti-Japanese resistance everywhere, but because the weapons and equipment were not good, the casualties were always the greatest.
After this period of understanding, Gao Chongde has understood what kind of troops the Eighth Route Army is, and he believes that this team is the real main force for saving the country, and now that he can use his own strength to help them, he will certainly not refuse.
Because of the arduousness and complexity of this task, Gao Chongde was directly led by Lin Boqu, which led many people to not know that Gao Chongde was a spy installed by the Communist Party in the Kuomintang.
After returning home, Gao Chongde consulted with a few trusted subordinates on how to transport arms, and if gao Chongde's personal strength alone relied on, then even if he could succeed every time, he could only steal a little at most each time, and it would not help.
In this task, not only is how to steal arms a problem, but after successful stealing, it is necessary to go through heavy defenses and other threats before they can be sent to the base area of the Eighth Route Army through countless hardships.
In the end, after deliberation, it was decided that the safest and most cumbersome method of smuggling arms would be transported by hand, which may be slower in time but can guarantee quantity.
This is a difficult and dangerous task, once the mistake, not only their own life is not guaranteed, even their own family will be affected, but Gao Chongde is looking for people with firm beliefs, even if things are difficult, someone must do it.
Therefore, after the discussion, Gao Chongde took advantage of his identity as the wife of the regimental commander to infiltrate the Kuomintang's arms base many times to steal the ammunition, and then quietly sent it to the base area of the Eighth Route Army.
The dangers of the transportation process, we can imagine, sometimes even have to walk hundreds of miles or thousands of miles to reach, passing through some small roads, often need to be manned to carry, the hardships of which are really very bearable.
It was in such a difficult environment that Gao Chongde sent important munitions to the Eighth Route Army again and again, and with the help of these arms, the casualties of the Eighth Route Army were greatly reduced.
In order to ensure that the transport of arms was safer, Gao Chongde contacted Cheng Qian, commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang First Theater, and asked him to help make Lü Zhengcao's regimental headquarters an "independent guerrilla in the First Theater."
Cheng Qian agreed to this request, and after that, Gao Chongde's transportation became more convenient, and any inquirer, Gao Chongde would think that the independent guerrillas were sending arms as a pretext, after all, as Lu Zhengcao's wife, this was still very convenient.
Send charcoal in the snow and get praise from Liu Bocheng
As time went on, the Kuomintang arms control departments and intelligence departments began to feel surprised, the former because the arms had inexplicably disappeared a lot, and the latter because the Eighth Route Army's munitions suddenly improved.
In their impression, the equipment of the Eighth Route Army can be said to be poor at home, and even many people are carrying large knives to kill the enemy, but how can they suddenly get better, where did these arms come from?
They certainly would not have imagined that this shipment of arms was taken from their warehouses, and then Gao Chongde personally crossed several layers of blockade lines and crossed many difficulties to reach the hands of the Eighth Route Army.
One day in 1939, when Gao Chongde was passing through the Taihang Mountains after delivering his arms, he was invited by the then commander Liu Bocheng, and as a spy, Gao Chongde was flattered in his heart.
Liu Bocheng also did not go around the bend, directly indicating that it is now a critical period, so a large amount of ammunition is needed, preferably a mortar shell, although a batch of mortars have been captured before, but not a single shell, are all gun racks.
The difficulty of this task can be imagined, although it is only a shell, but the size is not small, one person to take two is already the limit, and this thing is extremely strictly controlled, it is likely to expose the identity, thus there is a danger of death.
But looking at Liu Bocheng's eager eyes, the words of refusal came to his mouth but he could not say anything, and with a bite of his teeth, Gao Chongde still agreed to this task and said that he would definitely complete it.
After many turnovers, Gao Chongde finally found a batch of shells, risked being discovered, and urgently sent them to the base area, many soldiers on this trip died as a result, fortunately, this batch of shells was finally sent to Liu Bocheng's hands in its entirety.
Therefore, Liu Bocheng praised: Gao Chongde did not lose credibility, admirable and admirable.
After learning of the situation, Mr. Zhu also praised Gao Chongde: Gao Chongde sent shells like charcoal in the snow.
However, this operation was also as feared at the beginning, because the shells were too important, and the traces of Gao Chongde and his party were completely exposed, and they would next usher in a multi-party encirclement.
Found by the enemy, he fell under siege and was seriously wounded
Before it was discovered, Gao Chongde had always been cautious, so that the Kuomintang agents could only watch the ammunition decreasing day by day, but they could not investigate, arrested a large number of people, and as a result, none of them, and finally even made trouble on Dai Kasa's side.
As the head of the Military Command Bureau, Dai Kasa quickly informed Chiang Kai-shek after learning of the situation, and because the matter was too serious, he quickly named the case: the theft of the largest arms depot in the Republic of China.
The newspapers of Japan, Wang Jingwei, and Chiang Kai-shek were overwhelmingly shocked and angry, and they demanded a heavy reward to find the thief.
Since then, the eyes of a group of people have been staring at the arsenal, and after transporting shells, Gao Chongde has completely attracted the attention of the enemy, and after investigation, it was finally determined that Gao Chongde was the so-called arms thief.
In the autumn of 1940, the Kuomintang led the army to directly surround Gao Chongde's garrison, obviously hoping to capture Gao Chongde alive and set an example.
Gao Chongde under the breakthrough was seriously injured, and after learning of the situation, the Shaanxi office of the Eighth Route Army quickly dispatched to find someone, and after contacting various places, finally succeeded in finding Gao Chongde, but at this time, her situation was not optimistic.
At that time, she was seriously injured during the breakout, coupled with the dark wounds of the earlier transportation of arms, the signs of her life had become weaker and weaker, and the office immediately ordered someone to secretly send Gao Chongde to the Yan'an base area for treatment.
After Mr. Zhu learned of the situation, he quickly issued an important instruction to the hospital: "We must cure her disease." She is a hero of our Communist Party, a super spy working behind enemy lines! He is a 'great arms thief' of our party! ”
Anonymity for fifty years
After being discharged from the hospital, the organization let Gao Chongde work in the rear base area and no longer let her risk her life, because at this time the enemy was still angry about the matter of arms thieves, and posted leaflets everywhere to pursue and kill her, coupled with the gradual growth of the Eighth Route Army's momentum in recent years, it was no longer necessary to steal arms from the enemy's hands, but to capture them in a just and just way.
In this way, Gao Chongde stayed in Yan'an to study, because of the long-term separation, Gao Chongde also divorced her husband, but the two also contributed to the revolution.
Although Gao Chongde's name resounded all over the earth and her story was widely circulated in the Eighth Route Army, as a party, not only did she not have pride, but she worked in the rear in anonymity, and in her opinion, those were just false names.
When the arms were transported, they did not think that they would receive any honor later, but only wanted to add ammunition to the Eighth Route Army, after all, a bullet was an enemy's name, a shell, and even the key to victory or defeat.
When she got older, Gao Chongde simply found a house to live in seclusion, accompanied by only a niece, and the neighbors around her had the impression of an amiable old lady, where can she be associated with the arms thief.
Later, when someone asked how much ammunition Gao Chongde had transported to the Eighth Route Army, Gao Chongde pondered for a moment and replied: "I can't remember now, anyway, there are very many, otherwise how can Zhu De say that I am an arms thief?"
The spirit of the older generation is really touching, and there are countless heroes like Gao Chongde during the War of Resistance, either killing the enemy on the front line, or spying on intelligence within the enemy, and so on.
They don't care about false names, they don't even care about their own lives, they are all working hard for the lofty ideals in their hearts, such people are our examples, and they are the foundation on which we stand!