On November 30, 1949, Chongqing was liberated, and the People's Liberation Army immediately organized personnel to collect the bodies of the martyrs who had been slaughtered in the slag cave and the White Mansion, but the remains of Yang Hucheng have not been found.
A man in his thirties came to the Ministry of Public Security and revealed the secret story of the Kuomintang's killing and burial of General Yang Hucheng at the "Dai Gong Ancestral Hall"
A few days later, the remains of Yang Hucheng's father and son were excavated from the garden of the "Dai Gong Ancestral Hall", and next to Yang Hucheng was the urn of His wife, Ms. Xie Baozhen.
Ms. Xie Baozhen died after the victory of the War of Resistance, and General Yang had to carry his wife's urn with him wherever he went.
I didn't expect this heroic couple to stay together in such a tragic way...
Pictured| Yang Hucheng's wife Xie Baozhen with the children in 1936. From left: Yang Zhengmei, Yang Zhengzhong, Yang Zhenghan, Yang Zhengying
Yang Hucheng had three wives in his lifetime, and the first wife, Luo Peilan, married Yang Hucheng in 1916. The two came together through free love, and the relationship after marriage was very good.
She has always followed her husband and has never complained about the hard military life.
She was fluent in writing, diligent in studying, and also took time to learn to ride a horse and shoot a gun, and in order to boost morale, Luo Peilan, who was pregnant with Liujia, rode with her husband to the front line to comfort the wounded.
In 1925, the 24-year-old Luo Peilan stayed in Dongli Fort to recuperate from tuberculosis, and Yang Hucheng was on the front line in Chang'an, not knowing that his wife was terminally ill.
On his deathbed, Opellan took one last look at his children, but he still did not wait for her husband, who was thinking about day and night.
The villagers and soldiers, out of respect for Ropperland, held a solemn funeral for her. Because Yang Hucheng never returned, he did not nail the coffin lid after he was buried.
Four days later, Yang Hucheng hurried home, crying and collapsing beside Luo Peilan, fainting in grief.
On the day of the funeral, Yang Hucheng draped his wife in filial piety, made a banner to guide the way, and performed the ceremony of filial piety, which was extremely rare in the local area.
Yang Hucheng's second wife, Zhang Huilan, was given to him by Yang Hucheng's old friend Zhang Yangqing.
Picture | Xie Baozhen
Zhang Yangqing respected Yang Hucheng as a person, knowing that Yang Hucheng already had a wife, or sent his only daughter over. Yang Hucheng repeatedly pushed back, Zhang Huilan and his wife also fiercely opposed, Zhang Yangqing is still stubborn, sent 14-year-old Zhang Huilan to the Yang family.
This is an arranged marriage by the order of her parents, Zhang Huilan has a grudge against her father, but she has a sincere respect for Yang Hucheng, and she and Luo Peilan are also sisters.
Because Yang Hucheng has a close relationship with the Chinese Communist Party, she has also secretly supported the work of the underground party, providing them with her home as a point of contact.
After Luo Peilan's death, Zhang Huilan took care of the family and raised her two children as her own children. Yang Hucheng treated him as a wife, and in front of relatives and friends, he was also introduced in the name of his wife. But on major political occasions, Yang Hucheng will not bring Zhang Huilan out.
Every time he left home on an expedition, Yang Hucheng would resign with Zhang Huilan, and when his old mother was away, Yang Hucheng would bow to Zhang Huilan and say goodbye.
This marriage may not have brought Zhang Huilan real love between men and women, but Yang Hucheng gave her a lot of love and trust, and she has no regrets in her life.
Yang Hucheng's third wife was Xie Baozhen.
Picture | Yang Hucheng with Zi Zhengzhong and female Zheng Kun
Xie Baozhen, formerly known as Xie Baozhen, was born in 1913 in Xi'an, 20 years younger than Yang Hucheng, and joined the Communist Party in his early years.
In 1926, when Yang Hucheng and Li Huchen's second "tiger general" were guarding Chang'an, there were almost daily battles, and the sound of gunfire was incessant. Xie Baozhen's singing team has been following the troops, publicizing performances, comforting and encouraging the soldiers guarding the city, and mobilizing the masses to donate food and donations.
Such a smart and capable Xie Baozhen, it is difficult not to attract people's attention. On the way to the east, Xie Baozhen performed and preached, her eloquence was extraordinary, and her preaching was particularly inspiring.
In February 1927, the CCP founded the "Zhongshan College" in Xi'an, and the Women's Association recommended Xie Baozhen to study, and soon Xie Baozhen joined the Communist Youth League.
At that time, Xie Baozhen was only 14 years old, cut off his long braids, and worked in the "Frontline Work Group" directly under the political department of the General Headquarters of the Second Army of the National Revolutionary Army.
This is a cultural and labor troupe shouldering the heavy responsibility of "propaganda," and its leader is Xuanxia's father, a member of the Communist Party of China. Xie Baozhen was the youngest in the regiment, but she rode horses to shoot guns and perform propaganda, and she was not left behind.
In order to mobilize women to participate in the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggle, Xie Baozhen organized the establishment of the "Foot Letting Go Committee" and the Poor People's Girls' School, and sent people to wait at the city gate to persuade and educate the women passing by.
Yang Hucheng gradually developed a heart of admiration for her, and when talking to the Communist Party staff, he repeatedly expressed the hope that Xie Baozhen could come to his side and help him "study and study."
Picture | Xie Baozhen and Yang Hucheng to the United States
Yang Hucheng also gave Xie Baozhen a self-written poem:
The northwest mountains and rivers are high and long, how can a boy be an old hometown? The back wave of the Yellow River pushes the front wave, jump on the wave head and do a game.
This year, the Communist Party of China under the white terror struggled, and many people with weak wills left the party. At this time, Yang Hucheng was in love with Xie Baozhen.
The desire for a Communist Party member and a Nationalist general to marry is no small matter for the CCP organization. Xie Baozhen asked the Henan Provincial CPC Committee for instructions, and the Military Special Committee studied and decided to approve their marriage.
This year, Yang Hucheng was 35 years old and Xie Baozhen was 15 years old.
At the wedding, someone asked Yang Hucheng why he fell in love with Xie Baozhen, and Yang Hucheng replied very frankly: "I know that she is ideologically progressive and married, and she can directly help me." "
Xie Baozhen did not twist either, and said to Yang Hucheng at the wedding: "I don't want you to swear by the mountains and the sea, as long as you revolutionize!" "
Everyone raised a glass of congratulations: "Good! For the revolution to the end, white head to old age, cheers! "
Luo Peilan's children called Zhang Huilan "Huilan Niang" and Xie Baozhen as "bride".
No one would have thought that Yang Hucheng's wife, Xie Baozhen, was actually an underground Communist Party member. She has also been using her identity as the "official wife" to cover up the activities of the party organization.
She has always accompanied Yang Hucheng's side and followed Yang Hucheng to the east and west. Sometimes, she also participates independently in political communication and social activities.
After marriage, Xie Baozhen accompanied Yang Hucheng to Japan for recuperation.
Because when Yang Hucheng applied to join the Communist Party in 1927, the Henan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China considered it a lot and did not agree. This time in Japan, Yang Hucheng applied to the Tokyo Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China for the second time.
He said: "I ask to be a Chinese Communist Party, to be a He Long!" "
On October 9, the Tokyo Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China immediately asked the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China for instructions, and on October 9, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China replied to the Tokyo Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China: "The Central Committee has allowed Yang Hucheng to join the Party. "
Picture | Yang Hucheng and Xie Baozhen
However, due to delays, when the letter was delivered to Tokyo, Yang Hucheng had already left Tokyo and returned to Shanghai, and the Tokyo Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China missed the opportunity to handle the formalities for Yang Hucheng to join the party, and Yang Hucheng mistakenly believed that the CCP had once again refused him to join the party.
Because both applications were not approved, Yang Hucheng never asked to join the party again, but he has always been a close comrade-in-arms of the Communist Party.
After returning to China, many secret meetings of the party organization were held directly at Yang Hucheng's home. Every time comrades in the party came to xie Baozhen, Yang Hucheng always used the excuse to avoid it and would not ask his wife about any work.
In October 1930, Yang Hucheng was appointed chairman of Shaanxi Province, and later director of the Appeasement Office.
Xie Baozhen was just 19 years old, which was the best of his years. However, she did not dress up like other officials' wives, but wore a plain cheongsam, simple and generous, and treated people kindly.
However, in the matter of the revolutionary cause, Xie Baozhen burst out with extremely powerful energy, distinguishing between right and wrong, and confronting the enemy tit-for-tat. She has a distinct personality and an assertive opinion, she can hold up the scene at the age of 18 or 9, and she can stand alone at the age of 20.
She is often seen in the political activities of progressive youth organizations on East Avenue, and she travels alone to Tong Chai Fong to learn foreign languages.
After the "918" incident in 1931, the patriotic masses all raised the banner of "resisting Japan and saving the country", and "On the Songhua River" was sung everywhere in Xi'an City.
Xie Baozhen served as the president of the "Northwest Women's National Salvation Federation" and took to the streets with progressive women to publicize the anti-Japanese national salvation and carry out fundraising activities.
In March 1933, when the Japanese invaders occupied Rehe and Chabei, Yang Hucheng hated Chiang Kai-shek's dictatorship and hated the civil war, and once lamented to his subordinates: "Resisting Japan, the country has a way out, everyone has a way out; in the civil war, everyone will die together." "
Therefore, when he saw Zhang Xueliang, Yang Hucheng felt that it was too late to meet and hate.
Picture | a group photo of Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng before the Xi'an Incident
At this time, Xie Baozhen and Zhang Xueliang's wives Yu Fengzhi and Zhao Yidi were in Xi'an, and they were married to Fu Xuewen, the wife of shao Lizi, the new chairman of Shaanxi Province, as sisters.
In December 1936, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng repeatedly tried to persuade Chiang Kai-shek to no avail, and finally jointly launched the Xi'an Incident, which shocked China and foreign countries.
The peaceful settlement of the Xi'an Incident was exchanged for temporary tranquility and peace. But for Xie Baozhen, the family was in turmoil and encountered various misfortunes.
Yang Hucheng and Xie Baozhen had long harbored a premonition of Chiang Kai-shek's revenge, and they had sent their four children away from Xi'an before the Xi'an Incident.
Yang Hucheng and his wife repeatedly advised Zhang Xueliang not to personally send Chiang Kai-shek to Nanjing, but Zhang Xueliang did not listen to it, and when he arrived in Nanjing, he was placed under house arrest, and Yang Hucheng was immediately dismissed.
Yang Hucheng protested to the Nanjing government, and Chiang Kai-shek, while cursing Zhang Xueliang, told Yang Hucheng that leaving him now would cause "antagonism below."
Chiang Kai-shek forced Yang Hucheng to go abroad to investigate in the name of "European and American military inspectors" and surrendered military power.
Yang Hucheng deeply understood his situation, he and Xie Baozhen had already made the worst plan, but in the face of their son Yang Zhengmin, who was sending off, they were reluctant in their hearts and comforted him: "This is just Chiang Kai-shek's plan to move the tiger away from the mountain." "
After the "July 7 Incident" in 1937, Yang Hucheng was so anxious that despite the fact that he was already in danger, he repeatedly called Chiang Kai-shek to ask for a return to China to participate in the anti-Japanese resistance, but he was strictly refused.
At the end of November, Yang Hucheng and Xie Baozhen disregarded the obstruction and returned to China via Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, both Yang Hucheng and Xie Baozhen found that there were many more surveillance agents around them, and Yang Hucheng advised Xie Baozhen to go back to take care of the children first, while he went to Wuhan to visit Yu Youren.
On December 2, Chiang Kai-shek asked Yang Hucheng to come to Nanchang for a meeting, but asked Dai To go to greet him and directly detain Yang Hucheng.
Pictured| Xi'an Incident Memorial Hall
Xie Baozhen only received the news a few days after Yang Hucheng was imprisoned. She was resolute all her life and rarely shed tears, but this time she held her head and cried, hitting the table with her hammer over and over again, shouting incomprehensibly: "What is the crime of resisting Japan!" What's wrong with saving the country! "
Xie Baozhen has already given birth to 5 children for Yang Hucheng, the oldest child is 7 years old, and the youngest is only 1 year old.
She wants to accompany her husband, but her children are young, and her concern for her husband and her reluctance to her children make her heart feel like a thousand knives.
She said to her mother, "Mom, Tiger City has been deceived, I have to go and rescue him." "
Worried and afraid, the mother stopped Xie Baozhen: "Child, they have even directly imprisoned Tiger City, what is the use of you going to the top?" "
Xie Baozhen was very insistent: "How many people under the heavens are Chaimi and his wife, and how many sufferings and coexistence, life and death are accompanied?" I can't let Tiger City suffer alone and fail him! "
Xie Baozhen finally decided to take his son Yang Zhengzhong to Nanchang to find her husband. The mother endured and took the child to Chengdu to escape.
General Yang, who was bent on going to the battlefield to defend his family and defend the country, finally wasted his best years in confinement. His family was not displaced by the Japanese invasion, but because of Chiang Kai-shek's persecution and hiding.
7-year-old Yang Zhengzhong did not quite understand the danger he was about to face, but he saw that his mother was secretly wiping away tears along the way, and he had a feeling of fear in his heart.
Xie Baozhen originally thought that she would be able to see her husband as soon as she arrived in Nanchang, but she and her son were directly imprisoned, and it was not until the summer of the following year that they were sent to Taohuaping in Yiyang, Hunan Province, and met Yang Hucheng.
Yang Hucheng and his wife hugged and cried, and Yang Hucheng was not happy at all when they met--this was just two more people continuing to be tortured.
On the first night of Xie Baozhen and Yang Zhengzhong's arrival, more than 20 revolutionary martyrs were shot at the Taohuaping Temporary Prison of the military commander.
Yang Zhengzhong woke up in his sleep, tightly took Yang Hucheng's hand and asked him, "Daddy, are you going to be shot?" "
Xie Baozhen gently hugged his son and comforted him: "Child, don't make noise, don't make trouble, everything will be fine." "
In September 1938, Yang Hucheng's family was put on a car, and after ten days of bumps, they came to a place called Cat Cave in Yanglangba, Xifeng County, Guiyang.
During this long winter, they lived in a wooden house that leaked wind and rain. The following spring, Dai Kasa ordered them to move them to a cave on a high mountain, which was a dark and damp cave "Xuantian Cave", Xie Baozhen had been sick since he lived in, yang Hucheng looked for the head of the secret agent who came to take care of them, and gave him a sum of money, as long as he could build a house outside the cave for his wife to live in.
After the house is repaired, the Yang Hucheng family can walk around within dozens of steps outside the house during the day, and must be locked inside at night.
During this period, Xie Baozhen gave birth to a daughter, because of malnutrition, the baby died 8 days after birth.
Xie Baozhen was in tears at sunset because of sadness, and Yang Hucheng took her hand and said, "We still have four children outside, fortunately they are not with me..."
Thinking of the 4 children who were still hiding in Tibet, Xie Bao was really full of guilt. They could not give up Yang Zhengzhong's education, even in the dark and free days, they still read newspapers to their children and taught him to write.
In the summer of 1941, Xie Baozhen gave birth to another girl, this daughter is healthy and lively, Yang Hucheng is very happy, and named her Yang Zhenggui.
Xie Bao was really very weak, because of malnutrition, there was no milk for the child to eat, the child had been crying and crying because of hunger, and later, he didn't even have the strength to cry.
Picture | the last photograph of Yang Hucheng before his death in November 1937
Yang Hucheng was very anxious, and could only ask the agents, who found them a nurse named Wu Qingzhen. She is a peasant woman with a kind heart, and in addition to taking care of her two children, she also helps Xie Baozhen with some housework.
Even so, Xie Bao's real body was still worse than a day. Because of her Communist Party status, the agents especially targeted her, causing great trauma in her heart.
Ten years of dark life, Xie Bao really missed his mother and children all the time. She wrote one family letter after another with hope, all of which were detained by the agents and burned one by one.
Xie Baozhen took the scissors and cut his hand, protesting in this radical way. Because the contradictions between him and the agents became more and more intense, Xie Baozhen, who had a strong personality, used washbasins, rice bowls, tables and chairs to smash into the faces of the agents again and again.
She asked the captain of the special agent aloud, "Is patriotism guilty?" Is it guilty to resist Japan? On what charges have you imprisoned us? "
The young girl's premature death, coupled with a long period of mental stimulation, Xie Baozhen had the idea of asking for death. Her mental state was getting worse and worse, and the agents used this as an excuse to directly drag Xie Baozhen out and detain her separately from Yang Hucheng.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, Yang Hucheng and Xie Baozhen were very excited after receiving the news. They still had a faint hope that they could regain their freedom, but they did not expect that Chiang Kai-shek would transfer their family to the former Sino-US Cooperation Institute in Chongqing.
Yang Hucheng was extremely depressed, long-term insomnia, resulting in swollen gums and pain, and his entire face was puffy, even to the point where he could not eat. The illness could not be postponed any longer, and the agents were reluctant to find a dentist for General Yang.
Hopes of regaining her freedom were dashed again and again, and Xie Baozhen began a hunger strike in despair, wanting to exchange her sacrifice for the freedom of her husband and children.
Figure | the prison place of General Yang Hucheng in the Xuanxuan Heavenly Cave
She was reluctant to eat the meals sent by the agents. The agents pried her mouth open with iron tongs and poured glucose water into her mouth.
Xie Baozhen later began to try to swallow gold, wanting to end his life with a wedding ring, but was found by the agents and rescued.
She began to scold Chiang Kai-shek, saying that he was "mad", and the agents eventually decided to kill him.
February 8, 1947, was the Chinese New Year's Eve night of the old calendar year, the day of reunion of Chinese families.
The military command agents tied Xie Baozhen's hands and feet, tied them to the bed, and injected an unknown drug from his legs.
Xie Baozhen has been on hunger strike for many days, and in the cannon fire of the New Year, she struggled and roared, and finally closed her eyes with hatred, only 36 years old.
Yang Hucheng rushed in after hearing the shouting, poor Xie Baozhen had already died, his neck and hands were strangled with blood marks, and the needles in his legs had not yet been pulled out.
At Yang Hucheng's repeated requests, Xie Baozhen's wedding ring was cremated along with her body. Yang Hucheng was sad and resentful, and used a few old wooden planks to nail an urn for his wife.
Picture | the former site of the Dai Gong Ancestral Hall
Xie Bao's real sacrifice deeply stung Yang Hucheng, who often held his young daughter and looked at the urn with sluggish eyes, sometimes the old tears flowed, crying uncontrollably, sometimes silently, and could no longer eat a good meal and sleep all night.
At night, he put Xie Baozhen's urn on the pillow, stroked it with his hand, and murmured, "Baozhen, Baozhen..."
Before retreating, Chiang Kai-shek retaliated by ordering military agents to kill Yang Hucheng, and his son Yang Zhengzhong and his younger daughter Yang Zhenggui, who was less than 10 years old, were not spared. Yang Hucheng's secretary, Song Qiyun and his wife, and their children Song Zhenzhong, adjutant Yan Jiming, and guard Zhang Xingmin were all killed in this tragic massacre.
How much inhuman torture they have suffered during these long years is no longer known. Only according to the memoirs written by shen drunk and Zhou Yanghao, agents of the military command, they could only piece together a fragment of their tragic lives.
The agents said that Yang Hucheng had aged rapidly in the past 12 years, and he was no longer strong and tall, but had become thin as a wood; his voice was no longer loud and powerful, but low and quiet.
When the agent told Chiang Kai-shek about Yang Hucheng holding his wife's urn and crying bitterly every day, he always smiled very proudly.
In the autumn of 1949, the news of Yang Hucheng's and his wife's murder in prison reached their hometown, and Zhang Huilan fainted on the spot after learning about it.
On January 30, 1950, 16-year-old Yang Zhengying attended Yang Hucheng's memorial service.
Picture | Chongqing Municipality held a memorial meeting for General Yang Hucheng and the martyrs from all walks of life
She also learned 3 months ago that her father had been assassinated by Kuomintang agents and that her mother had died in prison two years earlier.
She and her siblings waited for 12 years, expecting only 8 cold coffins.
On that day, from Xi'an Railway Station to Xincheng Square, several kilometers away, it was lined up with Xi'an citizens wearing plain clothes and pinning small white flowers.
At the moment when Yang Hucheng's coffin was slowly lifted out, Yang Zhengying and the masses around him lost their voices and cried bitterly.
At the time of the Xi'an incident, Yang Zhengying was not yet 3 years old, and he did not expect that the only memory of his father in his life was such a heart-rending scene.
The | the only photograph of Yang Zhengying's father in his collection
After their remains were transferred from Chongqing to Xi'an, they were buried in the land chosen for them by Zhang Huilan.
Zhang Huilan also chose a cemetery for herself, she let Yang Hucheng and Xie Baozhen lean together, and she was slightly away.
It was she who raised Xie Baozhen's children, and it was she who silently supported this family and left a descendant for Yang Hucheng. But even she herself did not want to bother, this pair of lovers of life and death.
They married in 1928 and separated in 1947. Yang Hucheng and Xie Baozhen fought hand in hand for ten years, accompanied by iron windows for ten years, and now Yang Hucheng and Xie Baozhen, a martyr couple, are buried in the General Yang Hucheng Cemetery in Chang'an County.