Text/Editor: Nirvana
The old forest of the black water of the White Mountain, some are legendary stories, the one mentioned today, his life also has extraordinary experience, he from Shandong in the early Republic of China with the flow of the Guandong, from ordinary gold diggers to his own head, suffered hardships, earned money, submitted to the little devil, but also supported the Northeast Resistance Federation, and then married the Orunchun girl, lived a nomadic life, was known as the Orunchun "horse", led the forest people to guard the place.
His rather complicated experience is not so much a legend as it is seen as the epitome of thousands of ordinary people who have broken through the Kanto, that is, under the chaotic times, the country's poverty, and the loss of the family and country, an ordinary person's struggle against fate and the fulfillment of his promises.
one
Wang Ruiyi, Guangxu was born in Zhangxing Village, Zhaoyuan County, Dengzhou Prefecture, Shandong Province in 26 years. There are eight brothers and sisters in the family, and he is the third oldest, so he was nicknamed "Wang Ba Lao San" when he later broke into the Guandong, and he also came from here.
At the age of eight, Wang Ruiyi studied in his hometown for three years, which can be regarded as a rough literacy.
Old photos of Shandong at the end of the Qing Dynasty
In the late Qing Dynasty, the government of the dynasty was corrupt, officials were corrupt, and taxes were exorbitant, and the life of the bankers was even more difficult. Wang Ruiyi's family has a large population and a difficult livelihood, so after three years of schooling, he followed his father and brother to work in the fields.
When Wang Ruiyi was eighteen years old, he followed the people in the village to the Kanto. The first stop is in Harbin Daoli. Through the introduction of his fellow villagers, he worked as a handyman in a restaurant run by a Russian, washed dishes and dishes, worked for more than two years, learned to make "lieba" (bread), and then lived in other places for three years, so he worked in Harbin for five years.
In the spring of 1923, the Guandu Gold Mining Bureau went to Harbin to recruit gold miners and went to Taipinggou to mine gold, Wang Ruiyi felt that he was working in the restaurant, and he didn't know when he could mix up and when, so he immediately quit his job at the restaurant and signed up to dig gold.
Wang Ruiyi's first foothold was in Beizhongka, Taipinggou on the bank of the Jiayin River. Beizhongka is a tributary of the Jiayin River near the Heilongjiang River and is famous for its gold production. At that time, gold miners lived on horse frames, low and simple. Fortunately, the staple food is not bad, Isshiki is Harbin Shuanghe's "Golden Rooster Brand" flour, but due to transportation difficulties, vegetables, salt, candles, matches are difficult to buy.
During the Republic of China, the organizational form of Taipinggou gold mining was a manager responsibility system, in fact, the manager was the head. Eat, wear and live. The main pipe in production is segmented, and the gold mined is handed over at the internal price.
Old photos of gold panning in the Republic of China
At that time, the manager of Beizhong Card was surnamed Shi, and he gave Wang Ruiyi a large section of more than a dozen of them. Everyone dug deep ditches, picked big hair, and dug and scoured every day, but the whole autumn did not see gold, and the result was all for nothing. In winter, the cabinet did not give clothes to small workers, and most of them froze away.
Fortunately, Wang Ruiyi recognized an old man who opened a vegetable garden at the mouth of the ditch in Taipinggou as a godfather (that is, a godfather), settled in his place, and sold vegetables to him in the Jingou.
After working for a few days, I heard from the gold mining workers that the old man cleansed the pit, and whoever worked for him had to work for nothing, so Wang Ruiyi went to another store, "Aijiadian". This small shop was opened by the widow's old lady, and later the old lady saw that Wang Ruiyi was quite honest, so she helped Wang Ruiyi scrape together a few money to do small business. Two hundred and forty huali round trip to the ditch to deliver vegetables, paraffin, sugar, matches and other necessities, tired is a little tired, but can really earn money.
The next year, I heard that the North China Card had a little gold on the head and wanted to put it on it. Because Wang Ruiyi often delivered vegetables to the ditch during this time, he met Manager Huang of Beizhong Ka, so he asked him for a paragraph, and Manager Huang said: "There is no upper end, there is a small ditch below, if you want to do it, just do it there."
Old photos of gold panning in the Republic of China
Wang Ruiyi then found four people to do it. I didn't expect to see gold when I uncovered the fur, which made everyone happy. Several people said together: "Let's not say anything to anyone." Wang Ruiyi secretly said to Manager Huang again: "Xiaogou withdrew gold, you can give it to us." Manager Huang said: "Okay, all the gold in Xiaogou belongs to you." ”
At that time, the gold miners were all spontaneous from all over the world, and they were not united with each other, and they were in groups of three and five, each with their own henchmen, and who mined gold and how much was kept secret from each other. In order to be afraid of others asking, Wang Ruiyi built a small house in Xiaoditch.
Occasionally someone asks, "How?" Everyone said in unison, "It's not good, it's a little gold, it's not interesting." But in fact, every day the "upper class" gets four or five taels of gold.
But after a long time, I can't not pay the gold, once the result of the handover is revealed, everyone is vying to open a small ditch, Manager Huang also came to ask for a paragraph, Wang Ruiyi said that you said that the package was given to us, and now you want to hand over the paragraph and say nothing. In the end, the two sides argued for many days, and after discussion, Wang Ruiyi and others left a hundred zhang, and the rest was given to others.
But this summer, Wang Ruiyi and others also made a "small foreign fortune", and there were more than 100 taels left after paying the gold.
When the managers saw that the gold miners had money, they tried to get the gold diggers to pull out the gold. One of the most common is gambling. What "treasure game" ah, "card nine games" ah, in the mining area extremely prosperous, in fact, behind are the managers, the bosses open.
Wang Ruiyi originally could not play money, but could not withstand the manager and others kept prodding, so within a few days began to gamble with everyone, gambling money this thing, the winner is always only the banker, so it didn't take long for Wang Ruiyi to lose all the gold he had worked hard to find all summer.
Wang Ruiyi sulked for a day, turned his head to think about it, and realized that this was a game, so after a few days, Wang Riyi turned his head and left Taipinggou, dead or alive no longer stayed.
two
The following spring. Wang Ruiyi went to Jinmangou, and his luck was still very good this year, and he made a fortune, earning more than 400 taels of gold in a year. Wang Ruiyi was very happy, if he went back to his hometown, he could buy half a tunzi.
But as the saying goes, people's hearts are not enough to swallow elephants, and Wang Ruiyi still wants to earn more before leaving.
The next year, Wang Ruiyi himself became the leader and recruited more than fifty people, but as a result, he was unlucky this year and dug for a whole summer, without seeing any gold. As soon as this man had a little money, he came to eat, drink, and gamble, so in half a year, more than four hundred taels of gold were spent by him.
What to do if there is no money, then you can only borrow, borrow more, other people's opinions about him have changed, and rumors have come. Some say that this kid is not a fuel-saving lamp, sooner or later he will be a beard (bandit), and some people say that even if he does not have a beard, he may run away quietly one day, maybe he will pit whom.
As soon as the person's reputation was bad, the brand also fell, Wang Ruiyi had to go on, sure enough, it was said, one night, the soles of his feet were greased - slipped.
Wang Ruiyi still had some loose gold on his body, and after thinking about it, he returned to Shandong. After five or six years in the Guandong, he still didn't get rich when he went home, and his father saw that others were big bags and small bags to bring things and souvenirs home, and his own children came back, still so virtuous, but also sullen, the old couple discussed, said, the children are twenty-six seven, or give him a daughter-in-law, don't hang around blindly all day in the future.
But Wang Ruiyi was accustomed to spending money lavishly, and the family's family could not live at all, stayed at home for less than two years, and his daughter-in-law did not say anything, stole twenty pieces of ocean from the family, turned around and returned to Harbin.
Soon, Wang Ruiyi went back to his old profession, digging gold, at that time Wang Ruiyi was in his early thirties, and the year of establishment still achieved nothing, every sigh, looking back at the past, home is not home, business is not work, eating, drinking and gambling are all occupied, so this time Wang Ruiyi was ruthless, quit smoking and alcohol, to change the evil and return to the right, after some days, with some money and hired more than thirty people to continue digging gold, as a small head, there are more than one or two dollars left every month, and the days began to be a little more comfortable again.
Who knows that after the 918 incident in 1932, the Japanese came and took over all the gold factories in the Jiayin River Valley, at that time many people heard that the Japanese came and ran, Wang Ruiyi had nowhere to go, and in the gold factory can earn some, so he did not run, every summer organized a group of people to dig for gold, although it was said that they would be angry with the Japanese, but the life was still passable.
During the Republic of China, there were many Orunchun "forest people" in the Jiayin River, most of them built a horse rack near Jingou, and when hunting, they took their wives and children to leave, and when the snow closed the mountain, they spent the winter in the horse frame.
After the Japanese devils occupied the three eastern provinces, the little devils' "recruitment" of the "forest people" was really poisonous. They knew that the Orunchun people had accurate marksmanship, were familiar with mountain roads, smoked cigarettes and drank heavy alcohol, so they used tobacco and alcohol to buy the Orunchun people to deal with the anti-Japanese coalition army.
The captain of the "habitat" in the area of Taipinggou is named Sharkib. Wang Ruiyi had a good relationship with their family, and Shakibu proposed him a family affair-the eldest girl of the Ei ethnic group Dumud.
Said to be the eldest girl, in fact, only seventeen years old, and Wang Ruiyi was thirty-five years old at that time, so the girl did not agree, but the old Dutou Dumudman promised. It turned out that he only had this only daughter, and wanted to recruit him as an elderly son-in-law. At that time, the E's marriage was arranged by the parents, and the girl's family could not resist, so it was decided as soon as someone said it. This was the beginning of Wang Ruiyi, later laughingly called Orunchun's "horse".
three
After Wang Ruiyi recruited his son-in-law, he followed the Orunchun people to live a nomadic life for a year.
At that time, the Orunchun people hunted roughly four times a year, in February and March, the deer fetus was formed, catching a doe, called "deer fetal wei", in May and June the antler velvet grows, catching a deer to take the antler horn, called "red wei", in September and October, it is the breeding season, called "called deer wei", in November and February that is to track the snow tracks, see the animal and hit, called "beating the skin".
So in a year, seven or eight months are in the mountains and forests, Wang Ruiyi also likes this kind of leisurely days, traveling around the mountains and rivers all year round, no one cares, no one asks, drink mountain springs when thirsty, eat birds and beasts when hungry.
But the bad thing is that the accommodation is really bad, and the Orun Chunqi forest people themselves say that their house is called "immortal residence", and the Han people call it "Puluozi". In fact, it is a hut with several birch trees more than two meters long to form a sauce hat-style hut, surrounded by birch bark and roe deer skin, and a cylinder is left on the top.
People are lying on the ground, and the ground is covered with some grass, which is dirty and stuffy, and it is even more uncomfortable if it is rainy.
Moreover, the people of Qilin do not cook with pots, but with "hanging stoves", three logs to support a shelf, and the "hanging stove" hangs in the middle, and cooks with wood on the shelf. Often full of smoke, that choking needless to say. Forest people are smoky all year round, so most of them have eye diseases.
Moreover, most of the meat they stewed was not cooked, and they did not pay attention to hygiene, sometimes they could not eat a grain for ten days and a half months, and often had a bad stomach, so the next year Wang Ruiyi's old man called him out again, he said that he would not do anything, and went back to dig for his gold.
At that time, when the Anti-Resistance League was rising, Wang Ruiyi also felt that the life of being a slave of the country was uncomfortable, so he often contacted Xia Kibu, the captain of the local "forest" in Orunchun, and Zhao Shangzhi's team, sometimes sending some flour, sometimes some daily necessities, and sometimes sending intelligence.
But after a long time, these things related to the gold diggers, Orunchun and the Anti-Resistance Alliance were detected by the Japanese devils. Soon Shakib was denounced, brutally killed by the Japanese and fed wolf dogs.
Wang Ruiyi was also arrested and imprisoned for betraying by traitors. It turned out that Wang Ruiyi got a batch of materials for Zhao Shangzhi at that time, and at that time there was a gold factory in charge of contacting the Anti-Resistance Alliance, but this kid was not decent, and he went halfway up to the kiln and was caught by the devil, and he recruited all the people related to the Gold Factory and the Anti-Alliance.
Wang Ruiyi's group of people were arrested, basically caught and fed wolf dogs, he was also beaten to death, but fortunately Wang Ruiyi did not keep money, and he was more generous to these traitors in the garrison on weekdays, so he basically scattered his family wealth, and found a big traitor Zhang Yukun who married a Japanese woman as a guarantee, and only then got out of the ghost gate.
During the puppet Manchukuo, many adult men of the Orunchun ethnic group were incorporated into the Japanese gendarmerie as reporters, tasked with detecting the whereabouts of the Anti-Japanese Federation and spying on anti-Manchu anti-Japanese speeches, and some were sent across the river to spy on the military situation of the Soviet Union. It is reported once a month every five to ten, and the report is given big smoke regardless of whether it is true or not. The little devil's hand is very vicious, the Orunchun tribe originally regarded tobacco and alcohol as life, and then open it to it, smoking one by one, coupled with drunken fights, the population is getting smaller and smaller.
Wang Ruiyi recalled that there were still more than 100 foresters in the area of the Jiayin River during the Republican period, and by the end of the puppet Manchukuo, there were dozens left.
Because Wang Ruiyi is Orunchun's aunt, he was also integrated into the gendarmerie, but Wang Ruiyi still had a bottom line and was unwilling to send intelligence to the devil, and soon took advantage of the excuse to go to the Ulaga gold mine.
shop
The Ulaga Gold Bureau was discovered in 1936. At that time, Wang Ruiyi, the son of Jiuli Zhuangzi, had a friend surnamed Mao, and at this time he became the captain of the mining police team in the Ulaga gold mine. Wang Ruiyi became a mining policeman under him, and then used the relationship to organize some people to be a small leader again, and within a few years, he put on the cart and horse, and widened, and because of the identity of Orunchun's "horse", plus the original mountain and forest captain here was his uncle, because he was not in good health, Wang Ruiyi also acted as the captain of the forest people.
When the War of Resistance was won in 1945, Wang Ruiyi had more than 30 "foresters" under his command when he was acting captain of the mountain and forest team. At that time, a man named Ji Hongfu set up a security team in the county, with more than 100 people. When they saw Wang Ruiyi's strength, they came to pull him, but Wang didn't do it.
Ji Hongfu not only held great power in the local county, but also took over the gold mine, collected the gold, and issued the central ticket. Wang Ruiyi once said to him as an old friend: "Lao Ji, you are also a person in your fifties, you have seven or eight sons, the current situation is so chaotic, you have to leave a way back for your children and grandchildren!" Ji Hongfu didn't listen to Wang Ruiyi's words, and the more he made a fuss, he really took his life.
In the spring of 1946, both Xingshan (Hegang) and Luobei counties were liberated. The Eighth Route Army knew that Foshan County (because it was the same name as Foshan City in Guangdong Province, on November 9, 1955, Foshan County was renamed Jiayin County. The people of the forest are so powerful that they did not come in out of nowhere.
The Eighth Route Army first asked Wang Jinshan, one of Wang's brothers, to scout the enemy, and after the man found Wang Ruiyi, he said: "The Eighth Route Army is the former ten major coalition forces (Northeast Anti-Japanese Coalition Army), they know that you have had contact with the Anti-Japanese Alliance in the past, and sent me to see you, hoping that you can pull the Qilin team out and separate it from the security team." ”
At this time, as soon as Wang Ruiyi thought of the Anti-Alliance, he remembered the prison disaster, and he had no bottom in his heart, so he did not agree.
A few days later, Wang Jinshan came again with several members of the Eighth Route Army. They reiterated with Wang Ruiyi that the Eighth Route Army and the Northeast Anti-Japanese Coalition Army during the Anti-Japanese War were both contingents led by Chairman Mao, which fought for the poor and practiced ethnic equality, and targeted ethnic minorities such as Orunchun, not only did not oppress but also supported.
The Central Army, like the puppet Manchu traitor brigade, is the dog of the rich, bullying the people and discriminating against ethnic minorities. The security team is with the Central Army, they do evil and are full of evil, you have seen all this, sooner or later there will be no good end.
Wang Ruiyi felt that what they said was reasonable, but he had not yet seen the real official and did not dare to express his position, so he provoked them and said: "I have seen cadres of the past ten major coalition forces, and they all have courage and a set of methods. If the Eighth Route Army has a kind, ask them to lead themselves, and I will guarantee his safety. ”
Unexpectedly, a few days later, Li Juchuan (later the magistrate of Foshan County), a cadre of the Eighth Route Army, really came, and as a result, when the two talked, they were actually fellow villagers in Shandong. The two chatted very well, but Wang Ruiyi was still a little hesitant about the strength of the Eighth Route Army, when Li Juchuan was about to prepare to collect the Qilin team, Wang Ruiyi hesitated, he was also worried that the current situation was unstable, standing in the Central Army or the Eighth Route Army was still uncertain, and what he thought in his heart was to be responsible for the dozens of Qilin people and families.
Li Juchuan didn't say much anymore, just said that you should not stick too much with the people of the security team and left.
five
After Li Juchuan left, Wang Ruiyi also had no bottom in his heart, who is stronger in the Central Army and the Eighth Route Army? In whose hands will the world fall into in the future? There were rumors outside one after another, some saying that Lao Jiang had American aircraft artillery, and Du Yuming had hit Harbin. Others say that the Eighth Route Army won battles everywhere, but the commander of the Central Army could not be defeated. Wang Ruiyi has dozens of people and dozens of guns in his hand, and if one step is wrong, it will be all over, and if you think about it, you can only take one step to see one step.
It's summer. Li Juchuan, who was already the county magistrate, came to Wang Ruiyi with a team of two hundred people, originally to start attacking the security team, hoping that Wang Ruiyi would participate. Wang Ruiyi did not dare to act sincerely, only gave the Eighth Route Army some ideas, and two days later, the Eighth Route Army began to attack the security team, and after a day and a night of fierce fighting, the security team was crushed.
After Ji Hongfu's security team fled back to Foshan, they knew that they were alone, so they went to find the bandit Liu Shandongzi "Lao Ting" to help.
Liu Shandong's real name is Liu Guangcai, a native of Shandong, the elder five big and three thick, served as the head of gold mining, after the victory of the War of Resistance pulled up the team, defected to the Central Army, the more and more trouble, by the summer of this year there were already six or seven hundred people, the number is: "The Kuomintang advanced army mixed into the sixth brigade" Liu Shandongzi is the brigade commander.
Because they burned and robbed, committed adultery and plundered, and did all kinds of evil, people called them "old and straight".
After Ji Hongfu found Lao Ting's people, Lao Ting immediately agreed to help. At this time, the Eighth Route Army did not know that the old people had arrived, and they were ready to eliminate all the security teams before the two sides partnered, and let Wang Ruiyi spy on the situation before the operation.
Who knows, the relationship between Wang Ruiyi and the Eighth Route Army has long been known over there. As soon as he entered the village, he was detained and ready to be shot, fortunately, Wang Ruiyi had the identity of Orunchun's "horse", and was the captain of the local foresters, and the main force of the old people was the foresters who could fight well, so the foresters all interceded for Wang Ruiyi, and Lao Ting did not want to offend the foresters at this time, so he put Wang Ruiyi back.
After returning to explain the situation, Political Commissar Liu of the Eighth Route Army also discovered the seriousness of the problem, and now the enemy is outnumbered, so he can only retreat first. After the retreat of the Eighth Route Army, the three regiments of Lao Ting, plus the men of the security team, immediately occupied Uraga.
Lao Ting asked Wang Ruiyi to work with him, but Wang Ruiyi saw that the composition of these people was too complicated, except for the regiment of the Qilin people who were better, most of the others were habitual bandits, hooligans, after entering Uraga, cheating the people, raping women, and robbing property was all evil, so on the surface he agreed to be a battalion commander of Lao Ting and the director of the Gold Mining Bureau, but proposed that his team not leave Foshan, and Lao Ting thought about it and agreed.
land
In this way, after the two parties left, Wang Ruiyi became the most powerful person in the local area, at this time, his uncle, the captain of the real forest people, was in worse health, and he had excessive smoking and drinking, and now he couldn't get up on the kang, and this time was the time to choose a replacement.
At that time, the agent of the Qilin team had always been Wang Ruiyi, and the platoon commanders still approved of Wang Ruiyi's continued post, saying that Wang Ruiyi did not smoke a lot, did not drink, had the heart and eyes, and had the guts, and he could not suffer a loss by handing over Orunchun to him.
The old man has been inspecting Wang Ruiyi for many years, and the acting captain is actually a trial, and the agreement passed smoothly.
The sign of the takeover is to hand over the weapons of the previous session to the next chief. It used to be a knife, but after the Republic of China, it was changed to a gun, and whoever has it has the right to live and kill, and Wang Ruiyi's uncle passed on to him a mirror box gun. The ceremony of receiving the gun was very serious, he called all the men in the team, Wang Ruiyi knelt down the edge, he held the magazine gun in his hand, and said tremblingly; "This gun is not easy to come by, and your position is not easy, it is related to the lives of a hundred and ten Orunchun people!" I've been observing you for how many years, see that you still have a kind, you can have a lot of eyes, don't let our people suffer.
Then he told everyone to listen to Wang Ruiyi. The ceremony is officially over.
Since then, Wang Ruiyi has truly become Orunchun's "horse master".
At that time, it was the autumn of the chaotic times, when the two parties of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party were fighting for the most fierce competition in the northeast, Wang Ruiyi had actually begun to weigh in his heart how to protect the interests of himself and the Orunchun people in such a complicated situation, at this time, many of the Orunchun forest people under Lao Ting had already joined the team of the Ulaga forest people in Wang Ruiyi's place after they were scattered.
Soon, the troops of the Eighth Route Army passed by again to attack Lao Ting, who was in Beigou, and many people in the Qilin team advocated fighting the Eighth Route Army, because some of them had fought the Eighth Route Army in the past, and they were afraid of being retaliated, and some people even boasted that "I can shoot two with one shot, but if I can't beat it, I will drill into the mountain", just when everyone was arguing, Wang Ruiyi suddenly gathered the team, rode in front of the team, and loudly announced: "We voted for the Communist Party!" ”
Just when everyone was at a loss, Wang Ruiyi had already taken out the mirror box gun that symbolized the power of the captain of the Qilin team from his waist: "If you are not convinced, please take care of yourself!" The people of Qilin looked at each other and did not dare to speak.
Sure enough, in less than three months, the so-called Sixth Brigade of the old Liu Shandongzi was completely wiped out by the Eighth Route Army, and soon Liu Shandongzi was captured alive in the Lishuangfudi camp in Xunke County.
In view of this performance, the Eighth Route Army quickly contacted Wang Ruiyi and talked to Wang Ruiyi, let him lose his concerns, and then repeatedly explained the party's ethnic policy, so later, after the security team was defeated, many people went up the mountain to become bandits, and came to pull Wang Ruiyi, but Wang Ruiyi never agreed, the security team sent people to assassinate him was also recognized by him, Wang Ruiyi has always also safeguarded the interests of the local and Orunchun as the main principle, the two sides fought several times, until October 1948, In the course of the fierce offensive of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the mobilization of the masses to eliminate bandits, bandits were eliminated.
Although Wang Ruiyi was also unfairly treated during the Cultural Revolution and spent more than a year in prison, because of his special status, he soon implemented the policy for him, and after smashing the "Gang of Four", he also became a member of the county CPPCC as the leader of the Orunchun people.
summary
Old photos of Kanto
Wang Ruiyi's life experience does show the struggle and struggle of an ordinary person in a chaotic world. His story represents the difficulties and challenges experienced by thousands of ordinary people who have crossed the Kanto, as well as their struggle for fate and the keeping of their promises.
In the late Qing and early People's Dynasties, the land of Qilu was characterized by social unrest and lack of resources, and people had to leave their hometowns and migrate to the northeast in order to survive and develop their chances of development. Wang Ruiyi, like many ordinary people who crossed the Kanto region, experienced the arduous process of self-employment, and also faced the oppression and exploitation of the Japanese invaders. However, he did not completely submit to the invaders, but sought survival and opportunities in a difficult environment, and also supported the Northeast Resistance Alliance and contributed to the resistance to the invading forces.
He later married the Orunchun girl, and lived with the Orunchun people, known as the "colt of Orunchun", leading and guarding the Qilin people. This shows his adaptability and leadership skills in his new life environment, while also expressing his responsibility and loyalty to family and place.
His experience represents the fate of ordinary people of that era, who struggled to survive in turbulent and impoverished conditions, while also demonstrating their loyalty to their homeland and their struggle for their own destiny.
The information in this article comes from the oral history "Gold Rush and the Life of "Horses" compiled by Wang Ruiyi and Fan Dechang