In 1961, Shanghai Haiyan Film Studio produced the adventurous drama film "No. 51 Soldier Station", which was directed by Liu Qiong and starred Liang Polo, Sun Daolin, Li Wei and others, telling the story of the underground party transporting military supplies to support the Soviet-Chinese anti-Japanese base area during the War of Resistance Against Japan.
Poster of "Unit 51"
In 1943, the Shanghai underground party's material station, No. 51, was sold by traitors, and the material channels for the New Fourth Army in the Soviet Union were cut off. In order to restore the material supply of the New Fourth Army as soon as possible, Liang Hong, a young cadre of the New Fourth Army, was ordered to work at the military station, and he carried out a series of underground activities under the cover of the "little boss" of fan Jinsheng, a disciple of the gang leader Fan Jinsheng. The role of Liang Hong also made his actor, the 22-year-old actor Liang Boluo, become famous in one fell swoop.
The prototype of "Little Boss" Liang Hong is Zhang Weiqing, one of the screenwriters of the movie "Soldier Station No. 51". At that time, Zhang Weiqing was the chief of the quartermaster section of the Logistics Department of the First Division of the New Fourth Army, and he went to Shanghai on the orders of Commander Su Yu to carry out the procurement and transportation of military supplies of the New Fourth Army.
Stills from "Soldier Station 51"
In 1943, Zhang Weiqing went to Shanghai under the orders of Su Yu to establish a secret military station to procure seamless steel pipes needed for cannon production, as well as strategic materials such as radio equipment, printing equipment, Western medicine, and ink.
Through the introduction of Pan Haipeng, the "old man" of the Hong Gang in Qinglonggang, Northern Jiangsu Province, Zhang Weiqing, as a businessman, came to No. 24 Tongjiang Road, Wusong Town, which is close to the Huangpu River- Baofeng Fishing Company. Jiang Yongqing, the owner of the fishing house, saw that Zhang Weiqing had a big business, was alert and flexible, and was good at dealing with people, so he let him become a "small boss (agent)" in Baofeng Fishing Shop.
At this point, the secret contact point of the First Division of the New Fourth Army and the Shanghai Underground Material Procurement Group of the Central Soviet Military Region took root in Baofeng Fishing.
The original site of the First Division of the New Fourth Army and the Shanghai Procurement Group of the Central Soviet Military Region
In 1944, Zhang Weiqing purchased a batch of seamless steel pipes, and through the underground party members of jiangnan shipyard, assisted in processing a batch of more than 10 tons of materials such as mortar barrels and gun mounts, which needed to be urgently transported to the Soviet-Central Base Area. In order to pass smoothly, Zhang Weiqing bought Hu Laojiu, the commander of the pseudo-coastal defense brigade, and the liaison officer of the pseudo-naval commander bought an export certificate, pretended to be a smuggler, bribed the Korean driver of the Nippon Telegraph Corporation, and obtained a supply car from the enemy's Admiralty and a sentry boat from the pseudo-coastal defense regiment.
Zhang Weiqing (second from left)
After that, Zhang Weiqing used these connections to start a "business" of buying and selling. He transported yellow croaker, cooking oil, wheat, corn, and so on from northern Jiangsu to Wusong Town to sell, and then other comrades went to Shanghai to purchase grass and green cloth, white newspapers, printing paper, lathes, pig iron, and other military supplies, and then transported them ship by ship under the banner of the "Peace Army." Every time Zhang Weiqing contacted his comrades, he wore a yellow uniform, a Japanese military hat, and a bayonet, and used his status as a "peace army" as a cover, breaking through many passes such as customs and water police, and continuously delivering a large amount of military supplies to the base areas of the New Fourth Army in the Soviet Union.
Mr. and Mrs. Zhang Weiqing
In addition to Zhang Weiqing, there are many "little bosses" of the New Fourth Army, who have infiltrated Shanghai, Zhenjiang, Yangzhou and other places in different capacities, using various social relations to skillfully maneuver with the enemy, purchasing a large number of steel, hardware, chemical raw materials, and machine tools and equipment, collecting technical personnel, and making outstanding contributions to the military construction of the New Fourth Army.
Filmed in 1961, "Unit 51", 60 years since today, revisited, we can still feel the dedication of the actors and the tension and excitement brought to us by the plot, feel the difficulty of the underground party at that time, this is a profound and real classic movie.