The murder of the wife of the Red Army commander in 1937 - the Huang Kegong case - was a contest between privilege and justice.
Huang Kegong joined the revolution at the age of 16 and joined the party at the age of 19.
After the Red Army arrived in northern Shaanxi, he served as the political commissar of the 11th Regiment of the 4th Red Division.
Liu Qian, a native of Dingxiang, Shanxi.
After Liu Qian came to Yan'an, she was arranged to study in the 15th team of Kang University, and her captain was Huang Kegong.
On October 6, 1937, Liu Qian's body was found by the masses.
Huang Kegong, as a major suspect, was arrested by the Yan'an Security Department on the way to the front line.
Huang Kegong said that he loved Liu Qian, and that night he just misfired.
How Lei Jingtian wished this was true, after all, they were comrades-in-arms who were friends in life and death.
But the forensic doctor told the presiding judge that in addition to a shot in the head, Liu Qian also had a bullet abrasion on her body.
Public Prosecutor Hu Yaobang: The first shot may have been misfired, how could the second shot be misfired!
In the face of the facts, Huang Kegong had to confess to Lei Jingtian.
It turned out that Liu Qian rejected Huang Kegong's marriage proposal, and Huang Kegong thought that "falling out of love is a great shame in life", and pointed the gun at Liu Qian, who was only 16 years old.
Public opinion was in an uproar. Those who advocate severe punishment believe that Huang Kegong, as an old revolutionary, has violated the law by forcing a girl who has not reached the age of marriage to marry him; he violates the principle of marital autonomy by employing forced marriage; he kills revolutionary comrades because he believes that he has made meritorious service to the party, and he is extremely cruel and selfish, and should be punished with capital punishment and make the people angry. If they are not killed, a small number of cadres who are proud of their achievements will do whatever they want.
However, some people believe that during the Anti-Japanese War, thousands of troops were easy to obtain, but one general was hard to find, and Huang Kegong committed a serious crime and should be sentenced to death. However, he has old qualifications, has shed blood, and has made meritorious contributions, and at a time of national crisis when talent is urgently needed, he was given a chance to make meritorious contributions. He also said that Huang Kegong had already lost a revolutionary force by killing Liu Qian, and if he killed Huang Kegong again and lost another revolutionary force, it would be a loss to the revolutionary cause.
Li Xingguo, a general of the Red Army, believes that Huang Kegong is the commander of the Red Army who participated in the 10-year revolution and walked the 25,000-mile Long March, while Liu Qian is just a female student who has just defected to Yan'an without firing a single shot. On the battlefield, 10 Liu Qian and 100 Liu Qian cannot be compared with Huang Kegong.
The day before the public trial, Lei Jingtian came to the bank of the Yan River, took this place as the place where Huang Kegong's soul returned, and asked someone to prepare a good coffin.
But he still had a glimmer of hope for the amnesty, and ordered: Prepare another horse for Huang Kegong, which is the black horse that will go to the front line.
In the evening, comrade-in-arms Li Xingguo came to visit Huang Kegong. He handed over a Red Army hat to Huang Kegong and said: You have worn this hat for 10 years. Wear it tomorrow and no one will dare to shoot you.
Some comrades-in-arms who had walked the Long March together petitioned for Huang Kegong's life with the "Regulations of the Chinese Soviet Republic on the Punishment of Counterrevolutionaries."
Li Xingguo: Article 34 clearly stipulates that the punishment of the workers and peasants who commit crimes is lighter than that of the bourgeois elements who commit the same crimes, and that those who have made meritorious contributions to the Soviets should be punished lightly and lightly punished in accordance with this regulation.
During the Anti-Japanese War, in the hearts of progressive youth, Yan'an was the red capital, the holy land of the revolution, and the base camp of the revolution.
The Red Army, which had just passed through the trough, lived a relatively stable life, but it was also faced with new problems and challenges. The Kuomintang played up the Huang Kegong case as a "peach-colored incident" to confuse the public. Attacking and slandering the government of the border region as "feudal separatist", "lawless" and "trampling on human rights".
At the same time, Zhang Zhonglin, a Kuomintang general who also killed his wife, was later Zhang Lingfu and was pardoned by Chiang Kai-shek.
Huang Kegong himself also wrote to Chairman Mao asking for amnesty.
Hu Yaobang: Chiang Kai-shek can shield the students of the Whampoa Military Academy, but the chairman will definitely not shield the cadres of Kang Da.
Lei Jingtian said: The chairman promised me that he would give me a reply before the public trial.
At the public trial meeting, the public prosecutor Hu Yaobang read out the indictment: Huang Kegong was a member of the Communist Party, a cadre of resistance to the Great Congress, regardless of the interests of the revolution, arrogant in his achievements, lawless, and damaged the image of a Communist Party member.
The crowd raised their arms and shouted: Severely punish Huang Kegong, severely punish Huang Kegong
The officers and men of the Red Army also put forward a proposal: amnesty for Huang Kegong, amnesty for Huang Kegong.
Huang Kegong said in his final statement: Huang Kegong said, please allow me to go to the battlefield and kill a few Japanese soldiers who died on the front line, and it is not in vain for my desire to go all the way to the north to resist Japan, and I am willing to set an example for the anti-Japanese soldiers to make meritorious contributions. I want to let Liu Qian under Jiuquan see that the man who wants to marry her is by no means a bad breed on the battlefield and can kill Japanese devils.
When the jury was deliberate, Li Xingguo said: How many enemies did one Huang Ke kill on the battlefield? 10 Liu Qian, 100 Liu Qian could not be compared with Huang Kegong.
Lei Jingtian: We are all old Red Army soldiers, and we have seen too many soldiers fall around us, but we are not afraid, we will still rush to the front of the battlefield. Have you ever wondered why? It's because we believe we have successors.
Lei Jingtian: We can sentence you to death for killing a comrade for homicide in accordance with Article 271 of the Criminal Law of the Republic of China, and we can sentence you to death for the crime of killing a comrade in accordance with the draft Criminal Law of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army published in 1932. We don't engage in officials, nobles and lowly people, if we tolerate Huang Kegong. The people will not share the heavens with us. I admit that Liu Qian cannot be compared with Huang Kegong in many ways. But on the legal scale, there must be equality. This is the meaning of the people's law.
In the end, with tears in his eyes, Li Xingguo put his handprint on the document agreeing to the death penalty.
The court sentenced Huang Kegong to death and executed him immediately.
At this time, Pegasus came to report that Chairman Mao's letter had arrived, and Huang Kegong hoped that it was an amnesty.
Chairman Mao said in his letter: Huang Kegong's history of struggle in the past was glorious, and today's death sentence is regretted by me and the comrades of the party Central Committee. But he committed a great crime that could not be pardoned, and if he were to be pardoned, he would have no way to educate the party, the Red Army, the revolutionaries, and still less an ordinary person. The Communist Party and the Red Army could not but enforce stricter discipline on their own Party members and members of the Red Army than ordinary civilians. All Communist Party members, all Red Army commanders and fighters, and all revolutionary elements must take Huang Kegong as a lesson from the past.
The handling of Huang Kegong's case has demonstrated our party's concept and will to strictly administer the party and the army and the party and the army according to law.
When Mao Zedong mentioned this matter many times, he pointed out: As a party cadre, it is absolutely unacceptable to be arrogant in his achievements, greedy for pleasure, and oppress the masses.
We are grateful to those heroes who bravely sacrificed themselves for the liberation of the nation, and they deserve our respect and memory, but if they use the aura and glory of heroes to do things that are sorry for the people, then they are not heroes and do not deserve our respect.
Because in the dictionary of the Communist Party, there is no word "meritorious hero".
Huang Kegong was executed.
By the Yan River, the alarm bell rang for a long time.
The movie "The Case of Huang Kegong" is based on a real classic case in the history of the party, and was released on December 4, 2014, China's first Constitution Day. This film highlights the contest between love and law, crime and punishment, privilege and justice, and contains the concepts of breaking privilege, advocating equality, enforcing the law like a mountain, and winning the trust of the people, which still has very important reference value.