On the afternoon of January 10, 1949, Du Yuming's group was wiped out by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) following the footsteps of Huang Baitao and Huang Wei. At this point, the Huaihai Campaign ended completely.
After the end of the war, the first problem faced by our army was to accommodate the prisoners of the Kuomintang army. At that time, the prisoners of the Kuomintang army were like a tidal wave, and there was no boundless.
At the peak, the cooks were anxious to "scold the mother". Because they really couldn't supply so many people, they ended up having to distribute food for them to cook and eat.
In addition to the large number of prisoners, we were also faced with the problem of screening high-ranking Kuomintang officers. Because the Kuomintang officers were too cunning, before they were captured, they would disguise themselves in an attempt to confuse the PLA soldiers.
Thinking that Du Yuming is like this, after being captured, the People's Liberation Army once made it impossible for the PLA to identify his identity. The whole process is as exciting as a movie, so how did Du Yuming get captured in the end?
Quartermaster Gao Wenming
On the morning of January 10, a blush just lit up on the horizon. At this time, Chen Maohui, director of the prisoner shelter of the fourth column of Huaye, received a phone call.
On the other end of the phone, it was Zhao Yunhong, director of the health department of the column. He said to Chen Maohui very excitedly: He may have caught a big official, with a driver and guards by his side, and even a reporter.
After Chen Maohui heard this, he immediately asked Zhao Yunhong to bring this person over. Soon after, the group was sent to a shelter.
When Chen Maohui first met this Kuomintang "big official," he described it like this: He was wearing a shabby military coat with an ordinary soldier's cotton uniform underneath, and his face was black, looking like an old man's uniform, not like a big official at all.
At first, Chen Maohui thought that this was the general of the national army who exchanged clothes with him, and wanted to take the opportunity to avoid arrest. But the "officer" pulled out the cigarette in a paper package and pulled out the smooth movement that had been held to his mouth, which made Chen Maohui suspicious.
Moreover, after the "officer" took out a cigarette, the person next to him, who did not know whether it was a reporter or a guard, instantly took out a lighter and respectfully lit a cigarette for this person.
This scene, do you feel very familiar? This is very similar to the plot in "Bright Sword", in which Li Yunlong's troops captured Chang Naichao, the commander of the temporary Second Division.
So, is the officer in front of him really a high-ranking Kuomintang official? Or maybe he is pretending to be a ghost?
Chen Maohui was not used to him, and immediately asked people to search him. Soon, the People's Liberation Army found beef jerky, high-grade fruit candy and other materials on this officer.
In addition to this, a Parker fountain pen was found. In the Kuomintang, only very high-ranking generals deserve these things, which indirectly proves that the person in front of him is a "big fish".
After the search, Chen Maohui asked: What is your name, I hope you can answer honestly.
The man said, "My name is Gao Wenming."
"What about the position?" Chen Maohui asked again.
"Quartermaster," Gao Wenming replied.
Chen Maohui has a lot of experience, and after hearing Gao Wenming say that he was the quartermaster, he could see at a glance that he was lying and hiding his true identity.
There are many high-ranking Kuomintang officials who hide their true identities, and after Huang Wei was defeated, he once fished in troubled waters and wanted to escape. Fortunately, the People's Liberation Army found out in time and finally arrested him.
After this time, the PLA became more cautious, fearing that Huang Wei's example would happen again. After all, I'm not afraid of 10,000, I'm afraid of just in case.
But the high civilization in front of him was very arrogant, and Chen Maohui had no choice for a while. So, he came up with a brilliant idea.
He said to Gao Wenming: Since you are the quartermaster, then you should write the names of the 6 major divisions of the 13th Corps.
Gao Wenming was stunned for a moment, but still picked up the pen head-on. But after a long time, Gao Wenming didn't hold back a word, and then the entourage next to him said: Director Gao was damaged by the bomb, why don't I write it.
Chen Maohui directly refused, seeing that he was obsessed, Chen Maohui asked people to take out the "Urging Du Yuming and Others to Surrender" to read to him.
When reading Huang Wei's name, Gao Wenming was suddenly stunned and asked: Where is Huang Wei?
Chen Maohui replied: Don't worry, you will meet soon. And you must be familiar with that.
After that, Chen Maohui asked Gao Wenming and others to be brought down. After all, if he didn't want to speak, there was no special way. Moreover, our army has always treated prisoners preferentially, and it is impossible to extort confessions by torture.
However, not long before Gao Wenming and the others went out, someone came to tell Chen Maohui that they had found out Gao Wenming's true identity, and he was actually Du Yuming. This made Chen Maohui stunned, and hurriedly asked how he found out.
Du Yuming, who didn't want to be a prisoner and once wanted to commit suicide
The escort told Chen Maohui that when they escorted Gao Wenming past the 13th Corps, the prisoners of the 13th Corps whispered there, saying, "Why has the commander-in-chief been arrested?"
These words happened to be heard by the escorts, which completely exposed Du Yuming's disguise. Just as the two were communicating, another soldier ran in and reported, "Oh no, Du Yuming is going to commit suicide."
When Chen Maohui heard this, he immediately trotted out and rushed to the scene. Originally. Du Yuming didn't want to be a prisoner, and seeing that his identity had been exposed, he picked up a stone on the ground and slammed it on his head. When Chen Maohui arrived, Du Yuming was already bleeding and lying motionless on the ground.
Chen Maohui immediately sent someone to call a taxi, and then sent Du Yuming to a field hospital for treatment. When his injuries were almost healed, Du Yuming was sent to Gongdelin and imprisoned with other high-ranking Kuomintang generals for reform.
In the merit forest, Du Yuming is known as the "number one war criminal". Because his status is very high among the high-ranking generals of the Kuomintang, let's take a look at his qualifications. He was a cadet of the first phase of Whampoa, and most of the senior generals of the Kuomintang came from the Whampoa Military Academy and were their old seniors.
Again, in the later stage of the Liaoshen Campaign, he was appointed as the deputy commander-in-chief of the "suppression of bandits" in the northeast, although he was deputy, but his acting commander-in-chief power. The same was true during the Huaihai Campaign, and he was also a deputy to the Zheng.
Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to list him as the "number one war criminal". In the early stage of Gongdelin's transformation, Du Yuming was obviously unwilling to cooperate, and often lost his temper.
For Du Yuming's "little willfulness", we also try to be as tolerant as possible, hoping to influence him. For example, Du Yuming's health has not been good, so we arranged a single room for him in Gongdelin.
In addition, we also regularly send people to send Du Yuming to the hospital for physical examination. At that time, Du Yuming's spondylitis was so severe that he couldn't lie down at all. When he sleeps at night, it is an ordeal for him.
When we learned about the situation, we actively treated him and researched treatment options. At that time, New China had just been founded, and Western countries led by the United States imposed a blockade on the mainland, resulting in a very lack of domestic resources and a very inconvenient use of medicines.
In order to buy medicine for Du Yuming, the relevant departments specially sent people to Hong Kong and Macao to purchase. It is said that gold was used to exchange these goods at that time.
In addition, we also gave Du Yuming a lot of care when it came to eating. Because he is sick and needs to eat more nutritious things. For this reason, Gongdelin often opened a small stove for him, such as braised fish, roast chicken, milk, etc., which Du Yuming can eat.
Under our careful care, Du Yuming's body has slowly recovered his health, and he is not so tormented to sleep at night. From this time on, Du Yuming's thinking began to change, and he felt a little guilty in his heart, feeling that he was too willful at the beginning.
He once said to Liao Yaoxiang:
In 1957, the famous physicist Yang Zhenning won the Nobel Prize. Yang Zhenning's wife is called Du Zhili, and she is Du Yuming's daughter.
After the mainland government learned of this incident, it took the initiative to tell Du Yuming and also won him the opportunity to contact Yang Zhenning. Not only that, but we also actively allow Du Yuming to get in touch with his children and family members to provide them with convenience to the greatest extent.
At that time, the Kuomintang had a different attitude towards Du Yuming. Du Yuming's eldest son, Du Zhiren, studied in the United States and studied at Harvard University.
But in the final year, because there was no tuition, Du Zhiren finally chose to commit suicide by swallowing medicine. It is reported that Du Zhiren had asked the Kuomintang for help before committing suicide, believing that his father had meritorious service to the Kuomintang and should help him.
But the truth is very cruel, after Du Yuming was captured, the Kuomintang began to unload the mill and kill the donkey. When Du Zhiren asked for help, they only gave a few hundred dollars, which was a drop in the bucket.
This also made Du Yuming completely disheartened, and gradually became disillusioned with the Kuomintang. In fact, Du Yuming has long been convinced by us, not because we are actively treating him, but because it is related to the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
At that time, the U.S.-led coalition forces had beaten the North Korean army to the ground, and the situation on the border was very unoptimistic. Chairman Mao, Peng Dehuai and others knew the truth of the cold lips and teeth, so they decided to send troops into North Korea to aid North Korea.
This news soon spread to the merit forest. The generals of the national army of Gong Tak Lin were very interested in this matter and often got together to discuss who would win.
At that time, some unconvinced Kuomintang officers always hoped that the PLA would learn some "lessons" on the Korean battlefield so that they would feel more comfortable. There are even some people who clamore that this is the "Third World War", and when the time comes, Chiang's army will "counterattack the mainland", and they will be able to get out of prison early.
In addition to some who want to gloat, there are also some serious ones. For example, Du Yuming believes that our army's weapons and equipment and the quality of its soldiers are inferior to those of the US military.
The reason why Du Yuming said this was because when he was in the Kuomintang, he often had contact with the US military and had a very good understanding of the US military's armament and combat level.
But the result surprised Du Yuming very much, since the Volunteer Army entered the DPRK, it has been marching all the way and has dealt heavy blows to the joint forces many times. When the good news reached Gongdelin, many Kuomintang generals were completely convinced.
The same was true of Du Yuming, who really felt why the Kuomintang had advanced weapons, but it still failed. Because they have the people behind them, they are fighting for thousands of workers. They have a very noble idea to support, so they will win the war of liberation.
Since then, Du Yuming took the initiative to find the cadres of Gongdelin and began to actively give advice to the volunteers. In addition, Du Yuming also learned that the volunteer soldiers on the front line were bombed by US planes, which caused transportation difficulties. Many of the volunteers were hungry and carried the cold weather to fight against the combined forces.
Du Yuming was a soldier and knew that it was uncomfortable to be hungry. At that time, Premier Zhou promulgated the task of implementing fried flour. Fried flour is easy to preserve, easy to transport, and has a good taste, making it very popular on the front lines.
However, the Northeast region simply could not supply a huge amount of fried flour, so Premier Zhou mobilized the people of the whole country to make fried flour for the volunteers.
At that time, everyone was busy making fried noodles at home. Gongdelin is no exception, and he also spontaneously makes fried flour in prison.
Du Yuming was very shocked to see such a scene, and finally dragged his sick body with other war criminals to make fried flour for the volunteers. Since this time, Du Yuming's thinking has actually changed.
The end result also shows that Du Yuming's transformation has been very successful. Like the first amnesty, Du Yuming's name appeared on it.
Anti-Japanese heroes
Du Yuming was different from Chiang Kai-shek and other Kuomintang Kuomintang in that he was sincere for the country and had a relatively high ideological consciousness. Like in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in the face of the rapid advance of the Japanese invaders, Du Yuming once led his troops to deal a heavy blow to the Japanese invaders.
The most famous example is the "Kunlun Pass Victory". At that time, the Japanese army planned to capture Kunlun Pass and then open up an international line of communication to make it easier to launch an invasion.
In order to smash the conspiracy of the Japanese army, Du Yuming led the Fifth Army to start a fierce battle with the Japanese Fifth Division. In the end, with the record of annihilating more than 5,000 Japanese troops, Kunlun Pass was successfully recovered.
During the Burma campaign, he assisted the Allies in defeating the Japanese army. In general, Du Yuming made indelible contributions in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and achieved many glories, but it is a pity that he has been working for Chiang Kai-shek in the first half of his life.
Fortunately, Du Yuming finally repented, and the road was more tortuous. After repenting, Du Yuming did many meaningful things in the second half of his life.
In his later years, he has always devoted himself to promoting the cause of national reunification, and he has also urged his teachers and friends in Taiwan to work together for reunification.