At the end of 1930, there were bursts of cheers outside the Huangzhuling command post, and Chairman Mao followed the sound to check it out.
I saw a Kuomintang lieutenant general tied up by the Red Army soldiers, and Chairman Mao saw that he knew this person, so he signaled the soldiers to loosen his ties quickly.
"Mr. Runzhi, it's been a long time!" When the Kuomintang lieutenant general saw Chairman Mao's pleasant face, he bowed down to Chairman Mao.
Chairman Mao smiled: "Mr. Commander-in-Chief, how do you command?" Now you know how powerful our Red Army is, right? ”
"I'm ashamed, I'm a sinner now, and I ask Mr. Runzhi to raise your noble hand." He bowed vigorously and begged for mercy, hoping that Chairman Mao would spare his life.
The Red Army has always had a policy of preferential treatment of prisoners, so even if he did not beg for mercy, Chairman Mao would not execute him.
Then the chairman turned to the Red Army soldiers beside him and said: "Take good care of him, strictly enforce the prisoner policy, don't let him starve and freeze, and don't torture him!" ”
However, this person has done a lot of evil in the local area, and the people have long complained about it, and if it is not handled properly, it will chill the hearts of the local people.
Therefore, the policy of preferential treatment of him was opposed by some people, and Chairman Mao compared the allusion of Zhuge Liang's "seven captures of Meng Shu", and there was still no way to unify the conclusion......
This person's name is Zhang Huizan, and he is from Hunan like Chairman Mao.
In 1885, Zhang Huizan was born in Changsha, Hunan.
In that turbulent era, boys wanted to find a way out, and becoming a soldier became a good choice, and Zhang Huizan was one of them.
When he was young, Zhang Huizan was full of enthusiasm and wanted to fight for a good future for himself. As a result, he successively entered the Hunan Military Academy and the Hunan Army Martial Arts Hall to study.
After that, he graduated from Baoding Military Academy with excellent grades.
In 1908, because of his outstanding performance, he got the opportunity to study at the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer School. It was a very good start at the time.
A few years later, 23-year-old Zhang Huizan returned from school.
The most golden age, the most full of enthusiasm, but did not meet a good era.
At that time, the situation in the country was turbulent, not to mention the display of ambitions, and even the stability of life was a problem.
But Zhang Huizan is highly educated and quite talented, so in a short period of time, he has gained a firm foothold in the Hunan Governor's Mansion and the Beiping Military Quartermaster School.
In order to learn more useful things, Zhang Huizan went to Germany for a military investigation.
When he came back from this trip, he not only gained a lot of knowledge, but also thought more deeply about himself and China's future. He began to actively participate in the anti-Yuan Protectorate movement, and soon joined the Hunan army.
At this stage of his life, Zhang Huizan is still an aspiring young man who is eager to serve the country. The key is that he is not only enthusiastic, but also has real talent and learning, and can indeed play an important role in his work.
During his stay in Hunan, Zhang Huizan also did a great deed that has been praised by the local people for many years. That is to get rid of the brothel owner "Liu Mazi" who mutilated many girls.
"Liu Mazi" herself is a poor woman who has fallen into the dust, and her resentment has nowhere to vent, so she stretches her claws to innocent women, coercing and luring them to accept customers, for the enjoyment of powerful people, and she earns their blood and tears from it.
He was treated inhumanely, and he deserved everyone's sympathy. But it's not the same thing to retaliate against someone else.
Therefore, "Liu Mazi" was notorious in Hunan at that time, but because she had been rampant for many years, there were people behind her, and no one dared to touch her easily.
It is in this situation that Zhang Huizan has removed harm for the local people, and it is not surprising that the people are grateful to him.
At that time, Zhang Huizan knew that "Liu Mazi" had a backstage, so he deliberately searched for a day, and waited for all the organs to get off work before he arrested "Liu Mazi" and shot him before dawn.
It can be seen that at least at that time, Zhang Huizan still pretended to be the people in his heart and still adhered to justice.
But later, because of one incident, he completely stood on the opposite side of the people, so that the people wanted to kill him quickly.
Zhang Huizan
It all started in 1926.
In 1926, Zhang Huizan participated in the Northern Expedition and officially became a member of the Kuomintang army, and Zhang Huizan's outstanding ability soon attracted the attention of Chiang Kai-shek.
Chiang Kai-shek admired this talented subordinate, and not only promoted him many times, but also treated him as his own cronies.
Zhang Huizan rose all the way up, and often followed Chiang Kai-shek and other high-ranking officials, which inevitably brought him into close contact with the extravagant and corrupt style within the Kuomintang.
Accustomed to this, Zhang Huizan himself began to be greedy for pleasure, and his ambitions in his youth were corrupted step by step.
The honor and disgrace of the country and the interests of the people gradually became no longer worth mentioning in his heart.
At that time, Zhang Huizan was already full of thoughts about how to get a higher status, how to get more money, and how to get more power.
Zhang Huizan, who was blinded by the glory and wealth, is no longer his former self. Over time, the struggle for power and profit could no longer satisfy his desires.
Coupled with the fact that there are such people around him, Zhang Huizan's heart has gradually become distorted.
Indeed, Zhang Huizan is a very talented person, but these talents are not used in real meaningful places in the end.
In 1929, Zhang Huizan, who was already the deputy commander of the Second Army and was awarded the rank of lieutenant general, was ordered to go to Jiangxi and serve as the commander of the Nanchang garrison.
Zhang Huizan can climb up so fast without the help of Chiang Kai-shek. He was very grateful to Chiang Kai-shek, so he was eager to make some achievements and let Chiang Kai-shek know that he had not trusted the wrong person.
It is no secret that Chiang Kai-shek wanted to exterminate the Communists. Whether it was for the purpose of currying favor or for other reasons, Zhang Huizan naturally wanted to follow Chiang Kai-shek's pace.
Coupled with his personal distortion of psychology, during his stay in Nanchang, Zhang Huizan wantonly arrested and brutalized Communist Party members, Communist Youth League members, and progressives, which can be said to have reached the point of madness.
His methods are ruthless, and many of the torture methods that violate human ethics, such as waterboarding, electrocution, etc., were invented by himself. In just a few months, hundreds of innocent people have been killed by him.
Under the persecution of Zhang Huizan, the important organizations of our party had no choice but to move from Nanchang to Jiujiang in order to preserve their vitality. Not only that, but for the local ordinary people, Zhang Huizan is also cruel and ruthless.
As long as it is the object of his suspicion, he would rather kill 10,000 by mistake than let go of one.
Therefore, Zhang Huizan let his subordinates do whatever they wanted, they burned, killed, looted, occupied people's houses, and did all kinds of evil.
It's even more excessive than a ruffian, and Zhang Huizan is insatiable. He relied on his identity and the gun in his hand to coerce and lure the local chamber of commerce and ask for a huge amount of money.
The people were afraid of him and hated him so much that they gave him the nickname "Butcher Zhang".
These crimes all laid the groundwork for Zhang Huizan to become a street rat later.
On the other hand, Zhang Huizan tried his best to satisfy his selfish desires, and also sought money and benefits for himself. On the other hand, he coaxed Chiang Kai-shek into praising him.
Especially in the matter of the persecution of the Communists, Chiang Kai-shek was simply particularly satisfied. If you are satisfied, you will naturally be entrusted with important tasks.
In October 1930, Chiang Kai-shek appointed Zhang Huizan as the commander-in-chief of the front, and assembled a huge force of 100,000 people to launch an attack on the revolutionary base area where the Communist Party was located.
In recent years, Chiang Kai-shek was anxious to see that our party had not only not declined under repeated "encirclement and suppression," but had grown stronger and stronger.
So the importance of this battle in his heart can be imagined. The fact that Zhang Huizan was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the front line also proved that he was deeply trusted by Chiang Kai-shek.
The support of his boss, coupled with his confidence in strength, made Zhang Huizan very arrogant before the war. He even openly spoke to our party, claiming that he wanted to capture Mao Zedong and Zhu De alive, and set up a bounty of 10,000 oceans.
Even if you can't take it prisoner, you can get 5,000 yuan if you kill it, and you look like you're determined to get it.
But frankly speaking, the situation at that time was not optimistic for our party.
Because there are only about 40,000 troops in the base area, and our weapons and equipment and logistical supplies are far inferior to those of the Kuomintang troops.
Fortunately, we have Chairman Mao, an extremely excellent military commander, who has developed the tactics of luring the enemy into depth. After crossing the Gan River, the Red Army was stationed in a position where the terrain was more favorable to ours.
The Kuomintang troops were so eager to win that they were completely unaware of the killing moves hidden behind them, and thought that we had been beaten and retreated by them.
So, they decisively began to "take advantage of the victory to pursue".
Although the enemy has entered the game, we have a huge disadvantage in numbers, and even if our army is good at winning more with less, we still cannot underestimate the enemy.
In order to ensure that nothing goes wrong, Chairman Mao personally went to the front line every day to observe the situation of the enemy army in order to formulate the best strategy and tactics.
On December 6, Zhang Huizan led his troops to launch a large-scale attack in three directions.
However, Chairman Mao had already made preparations in advance, and he believed that the Red Army could not be dispersed and should concentrate its forces to break through one by one, and Zhang Huizan's troops happened to be the primary target.
On December 29, fog began in the mountains. This is excellent news for our army.
If you can't see the target clearly, our soldiers will be able to hide better, and some of the weapons and equipment carried by the national army will not be of much use.
Under the cover of night, the 3rd, 4th, and 12th Red Army Corps of our army gathered more than 20,000 men and preemptively occupied the favorable positions around the enemy's forward route.
After the ambush was completed, he waited quietly for the horn of the charge to blow.
In the early morning of the next day, Chairman Mao and Zhu De also personally rushed to the front line to command the battle.
Zhang Huizan's troops were not familiar with the terrain, and they were too greedy for merit, so even if they had already stepped into the encirclement of the Red Army, he was not aware of it at all.
Our troops, on the other hand, waited for them to reach the pre-planned position and then launched a decisive attack. In just half an hour, two battalions of the enemy were wiped out.
Only then did Zhang Huizan realize that he had fallen into the trap carefully designed by the Red Army.
However, Zhang Huizan was not incompetent, and he quickly made adjustments under such circumstances, ordering his troops to rely on their superiority in firepower to engage the Red Army head-on.
But it was too late.
The soldiers of our army have just made a good start, and it is the time when the fighting spirit is high, plus the wise leadership of Chairman Mao and Zhu De.
In the face of round after round of enemy counterattacks, they fought more and more bravely, and finally succeeded in defeating the enemy and fleeing in a hurry.
At the end of this battle, our army captured nearly 10,000 people, including Zhang Huizan.
The story of his capture is also very interesting.
At that time, Zhang Huizan saw that the situation was not good, so he hurriedly changed into the military uniform of an ordinary soldier, wanting to escape while the chaos was in chaos. But soon, the sound of gunfire from the direction of the hill became more and more sparse.
Zhang Huizan knew in his heart that this was a sign that the Red Army had occupied its position and won a great victory. In this way, they will inevitably begin to concentrate on searching the mountains and clearing the battlefield.
Zhang Huizan was not familiar with the situation in the mountains, and he would definitely not be able to outrun the soldiers of the Red Army, so he thought of finding a hidden place to hide.
There is a dirt pit not far away, and there is a lot of thatch on the side. Zhang Huizan thought he had found a good position, so he jumped into the dirt pit and carefully covered himself with thatch.
But the Red Army soldiers knew more about the mountains than he could have imagined. Soon someone remembered that they had seen a dirt pit here before, and they brought people over to search for it.
Although the exact location could not be determined, a clearly turned thatched pile was seen nearby. Then you still don't understand what's going on?
A soldier stepped forward and stabbed him with a gun, and Zhang Huizan was so frightened that he showed his head.
The capture of a Kuomintang lieutenant general was the first time for the Red Army, and this matter naturally attracted Zhu De's attention. He also came to talk to Zhang Huizan in person. But who knew that Zhang Huizan, as a prisoner, was very ignorant.
Not only looked down on the Red Army, but also contemptuously asked how much money it would take to release himself.
Zhu De was too lazy to be as knowledgeable as him, so he left a sentence - reflect on it and wait for the people's trial.
Zhang Huizan was a little panicked at this time, he knew that he had bullied the people for many years, and many people wanted to kill him quickly.
Let them judge themselves, and they will not end well. At this time, Zhang Huizan remembered his Hunan hometown Chairman Mao.
And so the opening scene happened.
Chairman Mao didn't think about how to deal with this headache captive for the time being. Judging from what Zhang Huizan did, shooting him a hundred times is not too much.
However, he held many secrets within the Kuomintang and was highly valued by Chiang Kai-shek. If we can use the preferential treatment policy to persuade him to surrender to our party, it will not only become a good example, but also provide important information for our party.
However, the attitude of the masses towards Zhang Huizan is also very important, and the ideas of the masses should be fully considered.
To sum up, our party has not been able to reach a consensus on how to deal with Zhang Huizan. Chairman Mao wanted to try his best to find a way to get the best of both worlds, but he didn't expect an accident to happen.
On January 28, 1931, the Soviet district government held a meeting to celebrate the victory of the anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign. The public trial of Zhang Huizan was scheduled at this conference.
However, at that time, the Party Central Committee had not yet made a final decision. However, due to the inconvenience of communications, the Soviet district government did not receive this news for a long time.
So I didn't care what special identity Zhang Huizan had, just followed the usual process. Hearing that Zhang Huizan, who was full of evil, was going to be tried, the people nearby rushed to surround the venue.
For a time, the crowd was furious, and they shouted loudly that they would execute this great evil man of the fishy people. Seeing this situation, Zhang Huizan thought that he was just going through a process, Chairman Mao had already explained that he had been treated preferentially, and he should not want his life!
But the angry people couldn't stop it at all, they had endured it for too long, and now they finally had the opportunity to slash the enemy, how could they let it go easily.
The situation soon became uncontrollable, and the excited people rushed up, beating Zhang Huizan all over his body, and Zhang Huizan lay on the ground and begged for mercy.
Seeing this, the host of the conference dragged Zhang Huizan to the execution ground, and the Red Army soldiers on the side found it and immediately stopped it.
Chairman Mao and Zhu De have both explained that Zhang Huizan cannot be killed, and the Party Central Committee has not yet discussed the final disposition result, so he must not be dragged away.
But the soldiers at the scene couldn't control the situation, and they couldn't do anything with the people for the sake of a prisoner.
In the end, Zhang Huizan was dragged to the execution ground, and the host of the conference pulled the trigger, and Zhang Huizan was killed on the spot. This was still not relieved, and the crowd at the scene cut off his head and threw it into the river.
Zhang Huizan, who was once invincible, finally ended up in a different place, but this is really what he deserves.
All in all, those who oppress the people will not end well.
After learning of Zhang Huizan's execution, both Chairman Mao and Zhu De expressed great sorrow, and it turned out that Chairman Mao and Zhu De were prescient.
If he had been spared as a hostage at that time, he would at least have been able to exchange for a few comrades from our party. Moreover, the underground base of our party in Nanchang was also destroyed as a result, and Tu Zuochao and others evacuated Nanchang overnight.
Chairman Mao carefully analyzed and summarized this and institutionalized the prisoner policy, until later, the "Three Disciplines and Eight Attentions" were formed
Resources:
Zhang Huizan was captured alive and killed - Centennial Tide 2011-02-04
Examination: Should Zhang Huizan be killed or not? ——Communist Party Member Network 2022-12-02]
[1] Feng Du. The "brilliance" and sorrow of Zhang Huizan, a famous general of the Communist Party[J].Party History,2001.
[2] Li Zongming, Tu Shenghua, Feng Du. Release Zhang Huizan: An Unrealized Kuomintang-Communist Negotiation[J].Party History Expo,1996.