One night in April 1938, General Wei Lihuang, who was then the commander-in-chief of the former enemy in the Second Theater of operations of the Kuomintang Army, found his confidential secretary, Major Zhao Rongsheng of the Nationalist Army, and chatted.
After the two men chatted for a few words, Wei Lihuang suddenly asked a question that frightened Zhao Rongsheng: "Can I join the Communist Party?" What are the procedures? “
Is Wei Lihuang's question true? Or is it tempting? Who is this Zhao Rongsheng? Why did Wei Lihuang want and dare to ask him such a question that concerned his life?
Zhao Rongsheng dressed up
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="4" > Yanda high school students joined the revolution</h1>
Zhao Rongsheng was born in Leijiadun, Anqing, Anhui Province, and his father, Zhao Lunshi, was a well-known local educator in the late Qing Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, and was closely related to Chen Duxiu, one of the founders of the Communist Party of China. However, due to the Fact that the Zhao family was known as the "Fourth Generation Hanlin" and had a strict tutor, Zhao Rongsheng did not have the opportunity to come into contact with Marxist thought and the theory of the Communist Party of China in his early years.
It was not until 1935, when he was admitted to the law department of Yenching University (now Peking University), that he began to systematically understand Marxism-Leninism and came into contact with the Chinese Communist Party.
At this time, Japanese imperialism was stepping up its planning of an all-out war of aggression against China, and the situation in North China was in danger, but the Kuomintang reactionary authorities still insisted on going their own way, stressing that they must "take care of the outside world before settling in the interior," ignoring the Japanese aggressors who were pressing forward step by step, and instead stepping up their efforts to suppress the growing anti-Japanese clamor.
The perverse actions of the reactionary authorities have aroused strong dissatisfaction among patriotic students and the broad masses of the people, and Zhao Rongsheng is no exception. In addition to his studies, he wrote many articles on propaganda against Japan and opposition to the civil war and published them in yanda weekly magazine, and soon became a well-known leader among his classmates.
At the end of 1935, students from major colleges and universities in Beiping organized the huge "12.9" patriotic student movement. Zhao Rongsheng actively participated in the movement and wrote many sharp articles for the propaganda work of the movement with his own pen. He was soon recruited as a member of the "Federation of Student Societies", a peripheral organization of the underground Party of the Communist Party, and soon he became the secretary of the "Federation".
In April 1936, Zhao Rongsheng secretly joined the Communist Party of China. He then served as a member of the branch's propaganda committee and was elected as an executive member of the student union of Yenching University, serving as the editor-in-chief of Yenchingda Weekly.
The 129 patriotic student movement marked the complete bankruptcy of the Kuomintang reactionaries' policy of "foreign countries must first be safe inside."
In the spring of 1937, Zhao Rongsheng met Edgar Snow, a famous American journalist who taught at the College of Letters, at Yanda University. At that time, Snow had just returned from northern Shaanxi, and he vividly described to patriotic young students what he had seen and heard in northern Shaanxi.
From Snow's mouth, Zhao Rongsheng and his classmates learned for the first time the real situation in northern Shaanxi, as well as the Red Army and the Soviet Union. They could not contain their enthusiasm and curiosity, so they planned to go there to see for themselves, take a walk, and understand the situation on the ground.
Zhao Rongsheng then made an appointment with more than 10 classmates, claiming to travel to Xi'an, taking a simple map that Snow had drawn for them, and first went from Beiping to Xi'an, and then to northern Shaanxi.
When their group finally arrived in Yan'an, their senior, Huang Hua, the student leader of the "12.9" movement, warmly received them and briefed them on the situation of the Soviet District.
Later, the female writer Ding Ling also came to meet them and invited them to their residence as guests, and Ding Ling also gave them some small gifts as souvenirs of the trip to northern Shaanxi.
In addition, the famous Chen Geng and Cheng Fangwu and others also came to visit them one after another. Lin Boqu also met with them at the Ministry of Finance in Yan'an and talked to them about the financial situation of the Red Army and the Soviet Zone.
Commander-in-Chief Zhu De spoke to the Red Army troops who had just arrived in Yan'an
Zhao Rongsheng naturally went to visit Mao Zedong on the highlight of their trip to Yan'an, because Snow told them that Mao Zedong was a big smoking gun, so they specially brought Mao Zedong two cans of large front door cigarettes.
They came to the cave where Mao Zedong lived, and Mao Zedong talked to them a lot about the War of Resistance. A few days later, Zhao Rongsheng also observed Mao Zedong's report on "the united front and the question of the War of Resistance" and gained a relatively clear understanding of the united front and the current situation. This also laid the groundwork for Zhao Rongsheng's later work in the united front.
In the days that followed, Zhao Rongsheng watched the drama performances in Yan'an, visited the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University, and met Zhu De, commander-in-chief of the Red Army, and other central leaders, and they were full of harvest.
Before they returned, Comrade Mao Zedong delivered a speech to them and gave them important instructions, asking them to continue to mobilize patriotic students in Peiping to carry out the anti-Japanese salvation movement, and at the same time to publicize the true situation of our party and our army to the broad masses of the people in the Kuomintang areas and eliminate the bad influence caused by the long-term anti-communist propaganda of the Kuomintang reactionary authorities among the masses.
After returning to Beiping, Zhao Rongsheng actively wrote many articles reflecting the situation in the Soviet region and the Red Army in northern Shaanxi with what he saw and heard in the school newspaper. Even a publishing house in Wuhan published Zhao Rongsheng's pamphlet "Active Skin Shi" written by Zhao Rongsheng.
This pamphlet produced tremendous repercussions in the Kuomintang area and received very good propaganda results, and many intellectual young people were influenced by reading this pamphlet and eventually threw themselves into the revolution and embarked on the road of pursuing national independence and liberation.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="120" > Secretary of Wei Lihuang</h1>
On July 7, 1937, the Japanese Army stationed in North China deliberately provoked the "Lugou Bridge Incident", and the national war of resistance of the Chinese nation broke out.
In the face of the large-scale attack of the Japanese army, the Pingjin front was soon in danger, and in order to preserve its strength, the party organization notified Zhao Rongsheng and a group of comrades to quickly move before the fall of Peiping.
Zhao Rongsheng first took a train south to Shanghai, and then wanted to change to Yan'an, but after all, he was a student, and he was shy, so he had to go back to his hometown in Anqing to find a way.
Chinese troops fought the Japanese at the Lugou Bridge
In Anqing, Zhao Rongsheng organized a book club to carry out anti-Japanese propaganda. But the good times did not last long, his hometown Anqing quickly fell under the Japanese army, and Zhao Rongsheng had to go to Wuhan to find the party organization.
After arriving in Hankou, Zhao Rongsheng saw in the newspaper that Ding Ling, who had received him, was now leading a northwest field service regiment and leaving the northern Shaanxi base area to go to the anti-Japanese front in Shanxi to offer condolences. Seeing this news made him excited.
Soon, Zhao Rongsheng left Hankou and went north to Linfen, Shanxi, where he finally found the party organization and met Peng Xuefeng and Ding Ling, who were then the chief of staff of the major general of the Eighth Route Army headquarters and the director of the office in Jin.
Under ding ling's introduction, he became a reporter for the service group with the army, because he was good at reporting on the war, and soon became the leader of the communication group.
On January 31, 1938, during the Spring Festival, General Wei Lihuang, the former commander-in-chief of the former enemy in the Second Theater of operations of the Kuomintang Army, came to the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army to pay tribute to Commander-in-Chief Zhu De, and Ding Ling informed Zhao Rongsheng to go to the headquarters to interview Wei Lihuang.
Although Wei Lihuang was also from Anhui, because he had commanded the Red Army that had encircled and suppressed the Eyu-Anhui Soviet Region, causing great disasters to the Soviet area and the local people, Zhao Rongsheng was quite disgusted with this fellow, let alone the feeling of "seeing his fellow villagers, two tears flowing".
Therefore, although Zhao Rongsheng made an interview with Wei Lihuang on the matter of visiting the New Year, he did not interview Wei Lihuang, but only handed over the records of Wei Lihuang's speech to deal with the matter.
Wei Lihuang during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression
Soon, the article "A Grand Event on the Western Front" written by Zhao Rongsheng was published by the "Mass Weekly", and Wei Lihuang still became interested in the author Zhao Rongsheng after reading this article that Zhao Rongsheng coped with.
So he asked Liu Yuheng, the secretary of the 9th Army who was related to the Eighth Route Army, about Zhao Rongsheng. Liu Yuheng was a native of Chao County, Anhui Province, a fellow villager with Zhao Rongsheng, and had previously served as chairman of the National Salvation Congress at Tsinghua University, and later went to the Kuomintang army to do united front work on the orders of the party organization.
He and Zhao Rongsheng were more familiar, so he introduced Zhao Rongsheng's situation to Wei Lihuang. After Wei Lihuang heard this, he sighed, "Why did all the capable young people run to the Eighth Route Army?" You want to bring him in and come to my headquarters as a secretary. ”
Therefore, Liu Yuheng wrote a letter inviting Zhao Rongsheng to work at the former enemy general headquarters in the Second Theater.
After zhao Rongsheng received the letter, out of disgust for Wei Lihuang, he did not reply to Liu Yuheng. Liu Yuheng waited for Zhao Rongsheng's reply and could only report the matter to his superiors.
Therefore, Fu Zhong, deputy director of the General Political Department of the Eighth Route Army, personally came forward to find Zhao Rongsheng to do the work. Zhao Rongsheng told Fu Zhong about his dislike for the Kuomintang side and his dissatisfaction with Wei Lihuang's encirclement and suppression of the Soviet area.
Fu Zhong did not simply criticize Zhao Rongsheng. He first affirmed Zhao Rongsheng's simple concept of class struggle, but stressed that united front work is one of the three magic weapons for our party to win victory, and now Wei Lihuang has a good feeling for our party and our army, and it is very important to send a reliable and capable person to work beside him, and to play an irreplaceable role by ordinary people.
The Chinese army fought fiercely against the Japanese army at Xinkou, Shanxi
Zhao Rongsheng was persuaded, so on February 14, 1938, the day of the Lunar Lantern Festival, Zhao Rongsheng quietly left the service regiment and reported to the former enemy headquarters in Huo County, the second theater, and became a major secretary of the Nationalist Army.
Wei Lihuang attached great importance to Zhao Rongsheng and often called him to secret talks, and Zhao Rongsheng instilled in Wei Lihuang many ideas of resisting Japan and saving the dead in a simple and simple way, and under his influence, Wei Lihuang's thinking gradually began to change.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="123" > helped Wei Lihuang "give gifts" to the Eighth Route Army</h1>
In mid-February 1938, Wei Lihuang commanded troops to block the Japanese Mongolian Corps south at Hanxinling, north of Linfen.
After 10 days of fierce fighting between the two sides, the Japanese army broke through the defense line of the Kuomintang army with superior firepower and strength, and Wei Lihuang had to retreat to the southeast of Jin, and asked the Eighth Route Army to cover its retreat.
Zhu De then sent troops to resist the pursuing Japanese army and met the embarrassed Wei Lihuang. Wei Lihuang was thus full of good feelings for the Communist Party and the Eighth Route Army, and Zhao Rongsheng took the opportunity to suggest to Wei Lihuang that he go to the safer Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region to join the main force, and by the way, he could also visit Yan'an.
Wei Lihuang nodded in agreement, and at the same time asked Zhao Rongsheng to draw up a draft of a speech for him to be prepared to be issued in Yan'an to thank the Eighth Route Army.
Wei Lihuang commanded the battle on the anti-Japanese front
On April 17, 1938, Wei Lihuang and his party entered the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region and went straight to Yan'an. The government of the Border Region held a grand welcoming ceremony to welcome Wei Lihuang and his party.
Wei Lihuang first met with Teng Daiyuan and Xiao Jinguang, who were in charge of the protection of the border areas, and then, under their leadership, he met with Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and other senior central leaders. The two sides had a very pleasant talk and jointly discussed the matter of further cooperation in the anti-Japanese resistance.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China hosted a banquet to entertain Wei Lihuang and his subordinates, and also allowed him to visit various parts of Yan'an. Three days later, Wei Lihuang left Yan'an and returned to the theater headquarters.
Before leaving Yan'an, Wei Lihuang also went to the hospital to visit Lin Biao, the commander of the 115th Division, who was mistakenly injured by the Jin Sui Army. Because Wei Lihuang rushed into the border area because of the defeat in the battle, he naturally came to the door empty-handed.
Wei Lihuang was very unhappy not to go, and on the way back to Zhao Rongsheng, he said that he had not sent anything to the senior leaders of the CPC at this meeting, and he was very uneasy about this, so he wanted to make some compensation after he went back.
Zhao Rongsheng took the opportunity to tell him: "The leaders of the Cpc have always been known for their simplicity, and it doesn't really matter whether they send gifts or not, they have repeatedly mentioned that the Eighth Route Army is in urgent need of replenishment of ammunition, medicines, and military uniforms, and as long as the General Seat helps them on this, it is much more useful than sending them tens of thousands of oceans." ”
Wei Lihuang was silent after listening to it, and Zhao Rongsheng added while it was hot: "This time, the Eighth Route Army covered the retreat of the front finger of the war zone of the general seat, and avoided a disaster. From this point of view, even if other things are not given, it is always reasonable to add a little ammunition to others."
Wei Lihuang nodded and said yes.
Xi'an Office of the Eighth Route Army
On the morning of the second day after arriving in Xi'an, Wei Lihuang came to the Xi'an office of the headquarters of the 14th Group Army. As the deputy commander of the World War II zone and the commander-in-chief of the former enemy, he wrote a handwritten edict: "Immediately fire 1 million bullets and 250,000 grenades of the 18th Group Army (i.e., the Eighth Route Army). ”
Wei Lihuang handed this instruction to the head of the 14th Army Station and said to him: "The army in the World War II zone is under my command, and I regard everyone who fights Japan the same way." The 18th Army is fighting well, and we must provide it sufficiently. Then he asked how many cans were left, and violently distributed 180 boxes of canned beef to the 18th Army.
At that time, during the second period of Kuomintang-Communist cooperation, and Wei Lihuang was the main person in charge of the World War II zone, the diehards did not dare to resist Wei Lihuang's orders in person, but they immediately sent a telegram to the Logistics Department of the Central Military Commission in Wuhan to ask for instructions, and at the same time used the method of delaying the delivery of materials to fool Wei Lihuang.
When Zhao Rongsheng learned of this, he was very anxious, and he found an excuse to sneak to the 18th Group Army's office in Xi'an and reported the situation to Lin Boqu. Lin Boqu immediately asked him to go back and find a way to keep an eye on this matter, and if necessary, he could also let Wei Lihuang put pressure on those people once and be sure to get these arms.
Limber Canal
Zhao Rongsheng then found his nephew, who was also in the 14th Army Wei Lihuang at the time, and asked him to come out and put pressure on the head of the military station. Wei Lihuang's nephew carried out Wei Lihuang, and in his words, he threatened the person in charge of the military station, and even claimed to have missed the military plane and asked the military law to engage in it.
This caused a lot of pressure on the people at the station, and the Military Commission in Hankou had not replied, which made the people at the station like ants on a hot pot, anxious to turn around.
Zhao Rongsheng tried to get Wei Lihuang to make a phone call to inquire about this matter. Under multiple pressures, the xi'an military station had to send this batch of ammunition to the Eighth Route Army. After the arms were fired, the Military Commission in Hankou called back and said that it did not agree to send them, but it was already in vain.
In his daily contacts with Wei Lihuang, Zhao Rongsheng paid great attention to transforming Wei Lihuang through subtle ideological work. For example, he often talked about the ANTI-Japanese propositions of the CCP, and used the national heroes who are famous in history to encourage Wei Lihuang to persist in the anti-Japanese struggle.
Zhao Rongsheng also used those disgraced traitors to allude to the capitulationists and diehards in the Kuomintang government, making Wei Lihuang full of antipathy to his superiors for anti-communist friction.
After a long time, Wei Lihuang felt that Zhao Rongsheng was his own year-old friend, and began to talk to Zhao Rongsheng about some very sensitive topics.
As one of Chiang Kai-shek's "Five Tiger Generals", the relationship between Wei Lihuang and Chiang Kai-shek was very delicate
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="125" > Wei Lihuang "joined the party" was stopped by Liu Shaoqi</h1>
So, one night, when Zhao Rongsheng was chatting with Wei Lihuang and recommending progressive books on socialism to him, Wei Lihuang suddenly asked Zhao Rongsheng: "Can I join the Communist Party?" What are the procedures? ”
Zhao Rongsheng was not mentally prepared, and for a moment he did not know how to reply, so Wei Lihuang asked him to go to Yan'an to ask Zhu De. Finally, Zhao Rongsheng said, "Or should I go to the Xi'an office of the Eighth Route Army and ask Lin Boqu?" ”
Wei Lihuang then took 100 yuan and asked Zhao Rongsheng to go to Xi'an to find Lin Boqu. Lin Boqu was also very surprised when he learned about it.
He asked Zhao Rongsheng to go back and tell Wei Lihuang that as a member of the Kuomintang who truly supported Dr. Sun Yat-sen's three major ideas, his contribution to the Chinese revolution was greater than that of joining the Communist Party. After Zhao Rongsheng returned, he relayed Lin Boqu's words to Wei Lihuang, and Wei Lihuang did not mention the matter of joining the party to Zhao Rongsheng again.
Soon, Zhao Rongsheng received a letter signed "Hu Fu" and asked him to go to the Eighth Route Army station in Shichi County for an interview. After Zhao Rongsheng made an appointment to the Shichi Bing Station, he met Comrade Liu Shaoqi, who was pseudonymized as "Hu Fu".
Liu Shaoqi came from Yan'an to see Zhao Rongsheng after learning about Wei Lihuang's intention to join the party. Liu Shaoqi talked about the party's united front work with Zhao Rongsheng all the way late at night, and talked about Wei Lihuang's desire to join the party.
He criticized Zhao Rongsheng and said: "Your courage is not small, Wei Lihuang is one of Chiang Kai-shek's concubines, and you dig the foot of the wall to dig into him." Do you know that there are many spies and other people of the same lineage around him, and if they are exposed, the Kuomintang side will definitely make a big fuss, not only will you be in direct personal danger, but the party will also fall into passivity in propaganda. ”
Liu Shaoqi finally instructed: "As long as you can stay by Wei Lihuang's side, it will be a result." If something happens, I will send someone to find you, you don't need to know where I am, and don't go to various places to find party organizations. ”
Comrade Liu Shaoqi
At the end of 1938, as the Japanese offensive in the Chinese battlefield reached its peak, the capitulation faction within the Kuomintang began to rise. The working group in the World War II area was reported to Chiang Kai-shek by Kuomintang agents and diehards. Under the pressure of Chiang Kai-shek, Wei Lihuang had no choice but to disband the working group.
Wei Lihuang was later transferred to the First Theater as commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief of the Second Theater. Zhao Rongsheng followed Wei Lihuang to Luoyang and was appointed secretary of the confidential office of the chief minister's department.
Wei Lihuang told Zhao Rongsheng privately: "If I take you with me for a long time, it will cause others to gossip." Now you work in the confidential room, and if I have anything, I will always send someone to find you, and you can come to me at any time. ”
Zhao Rongsheng secretly reported the matter to Liu Shaoqi, who was in Luoyang at the time, and Liu Shaoqi instructed him to continue to maintain relations with Wei Lihuang and prepare for long-term lurking.
In 1939, Zhao Rongsheng compiled the book "General Wei", which compiled and published Wei Lihuang's deeds since the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and created momentum for him to become the chairman of Henan Province. The book was a great success, and Wei Lihuang successfully became the chairman of Henan Province.
At this time, due to the stalemate stage of the War of Resistance, Japanese imperialism actively induced the Kuomintang, and the diehard forces within the Kuomintang began to stir up trouble.
Wei Lihuang did his best to restrain his troops from clashing with the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army. Therefore, in his jurisdiction, the Kuomintang and the Communists were able to maintain a certain degree of cooperative relations.
In June 1940, Wei Lihuang met with Commander-in-Chief Zhu De again, and the two sides signed a non-aggression agreement. Wei Lihuang gave Kang Keqing a pistol and issued Zhu De's guards a full set of new shoes and clothes.
Zhu De and Wei Lihuang took a group photo
In May 1941, due to the disastrous defeat of Wei Lihuang's troops at the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain, Chiang Kai-shek removed Wei Lihuang from his post as chairman of Henan Province, relieved him of his military powers, and asked him to return to the rear area to report for duty.
Considering that staying with Wei Lihuang might be detrimental to him, Zhao Rongsheng took a long leave of absence and left the army in the name of returning to his hometown in Anqing to visit his relatives.
In the Spring Festival of 1943, Zhao Rongsheng came to Chengdu to visit Wei Lihuang, who was idle at home. Wei Lihuang was worried that Zhao Rongsheng would be discovered by the surveillance agents, so he arranged for Zhao Rongsheng to live outside the city, and both of them were waiting for the opportunity to make a comeback.
In the autumn of 1943, the situation in the Pacific War changed, and Chiang Kai-shek once again appointed Wei Lihuang and appointed him commander of the expeditionary force to fight in Burma.
In order to avoid suspicion, Wei Lihuang went to his post alone this time and did not bring his own people, so he explained to Zhao Rongsheng that the expeditionary army was all Chen Cheng's people, Zhao Rongsheng went badly, and the days when the two sides worked together in the future were still long, and they were not in a hurry.
Soldiers of the Eighth Route Army marched
Zhao Rongsheng then returned to Yenching University, which had moved south. After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Zhao Rongsheng went to Chongqing to meet Wei Lihuang, and the two sides talked about China's future situation.
Zhao Rongsheng carefully analyzed the situation between the Kuomintang and the Communists, pointing out that the Chinese people longed for peace and democracy, but the reactionaries in the Kuomintang wanted to impose a civil war on the people.
Wei Lihuang thanked Zhao Rongsheng for his advice and told him to stay in Shanghai and Nanjing, and he would have a lot of things to do in the near future. He also asked Zhao Rongsheng to continue to study the current political situation and collect more information and materials for his reference. But later, because of the yin and yang difference, Zhao Rongsheng and Wei Lihuang never had the opportunity to cooperate again.
Later, Zhao Rongsheng took up a post at a newspaper in Nanjing at the behest of Wei Lihuang, but because he wrote some articles opposing the civil war and attacking Kuomintang corruption, he was soon hunted down by the Kuomintang reactionary authorities.
Zhao Rongsheng had to move to the Great Northwest and went to Lanzhou to find Guo Jiyao, wei Lihuang's old subordinate, and then Zhao Rongsheng became the president of the Northwest Daily newspaper under Guo's arrangement.
Since then, as a member of the press, he has continued to fight on the hidden front and the united front of the party. He also became a guest of Zhang Zhizhong, the director of the Northwest Travel at that time, and supported Zhang Zhizhong's peaceful activities. And fought in the northwest until the liberation of the whole country, and only then did he complete his mission.
Resources
"Remembering Mr. Wei Lihuang", Literature and History Materials Publishing House
Comrade Yi Shaoqi, Henan People's Publishing House
"Zhao Rongsheng: The "Red Spy" Around Wei Lihuang", Tianjin Branch Life, No. 2, 2013