"Longtan Sanjie" is Zhou Enlai's name for Li Kenong, Qian Zhuangfei, and Hu Di, three special intelligence officers of the CPC Central Committee. The three of them went deep into the Dragon Pond Tiger's Den and took advantage of their positions in the Kuomintang regime to make special contributions to defending the Party Central Committee in the Midst of the White Terror.
After the defeat of the Great Revolution in 1927, the Central Organs of the Communist Party of China were stationed in Shanghai. The situation in Shanghai at that time was very complicated. The Kuomintang secret service organs, the Japanese secret service organs, the European and American secret service organs, and the Forces of the Youth Gang and the Hong Gang all gathered in Shanghai, all pointing the spearhead at the Communist Party and the Party Central Committee.
In order to protect the security of the Party Central Committee, the Central Committee established the Special Operations Section (hereinafter referred to as the "Central Special Section") in November 1927, which was under the responsibility of Gu Shunzhang, then a member of the Provisional Central Bureau, and directly under the leadership of Zhou Enlai.
In 1928, Zhou Enlai took advantage of the opportunity of the Kuomintang to establish the highest secret service organization, and sent Li Kenong, Qian Zhuangfei, and Hu Di to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the core organ of the Kuomintang secret service organ. The three of them set up an intelligence group, headed by Li Kenong.
Let's get to know the "Three Masters of Longtan".
Qian Zhuangfei (1896-1935)
Qian Zhuangfei, a native of Huzhou, Zhejiang, joined the Communist Party of China in 1926. At the end of 1928, he established a working relationship with the Central Special Branch, and at the end of 1929, he was assigned by the Central Special Branch to join the Kuomintang secret service with Li Kenong and Hu Di, thus being called "Longtan Sanjie". Since then, under the cover of being a confidential secretary of the Kuomintang secret service, a large amount of confidential information has been obtained. After Gu Shunzhang was arrested and defected in Wuhan in April 1931, Qian Zhuangfei intercepted this important information in Nanjing and sent his son-in-law to Shanghai to report to the police, thus helping the Party Central Committee avoid a devastating disaster. In the same year, it was transferred to the Central Soviet District. In April 1935, he died in Jinsha, Guizhou during the Long March.
Hudi (1905-1935)
Hu Di's original name was Hu Baichang, also known as Hu Beifeng, a native of Ganfenhe Town, Shucheng County, Anhui. In 1923, he was admitted to the Chinese University in Beijing. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1925. He has long been engaged in secret revolutionary work in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and other places. In 1929, he entered the secret service agency in Nanjing.
In the second half of 1930, he was sent to Tianjin to prepare for the establishment of the Great Wall News Agency, and served as its president. This is the branch of the Kuomintang secret service in the north and is under the jurisdiction of the Nanjing Yangtze River News Agency. Whenever there was any urgent intelligence from the Nanjing and Tianjin sides, Qian Zhuangfei and he immediately reported it to Li Kenong in Shanghai, who promptly relayed it to the CPC Central Committee through Chen Geng. In 1931, he went to the central revolutionary base area in Jiangxi, but in 1935, he was brutally killed by Zhang Guotao during the Long March of the Red Army.
Li Kenong (1899-1962)
Li Kenong, a native of Chao County (now Chaohu City), Anhui, joined the Communist Party of China in 1926. In 1929, according to zhou Enlai's instructions, he was admitted to the Shanghai Radio Administration under the pseudonym Li Zetian. Soon, Li Kenong was promoted to chief of the Special Services Unit. In April 1931, Gu Shunzhang, the head of the Central Special Branch, was arrested and defected, and the enemy attempted to use Gu Shunzhang to wipe out the organs of the Central Committee of our Party in Shanghai. At this critical juncture, Li Kenong received information sent by Qian Zhuangfei and managed to report to the Party Central Committee, making outstanding contributions to safeguarding the security of the Party Central Committee and underground Party organizations.
In 1955, he was awarded the rank of general and was awarded the Order of August 1st Class, the Order of Independence and Freedom of the First Class, and the Liberation Medal of the First Class. He is a deputy to the First and Second National People's Congresses, a member of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and a standing member of the Third National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He died in Beijing on February 9, 1962.
Tomorrow we will continue to learn about their legends.