Tourists visit the fifth floor of Chen's family in Luozhou Town, Fuzhou City to learn about Wu Shi's deeds.
Remake of Wu Shi's profile photo.
On General Wu Shi Square, the statue of Wu Shi stands quietly. All are taken by Wei Peiquan, a reporter of this newspaper
Premier Zhou Enlai left a message before his death: Don't forget Wu Shi they...
Who is "Wu Shi"? He was a senior general of the Chinese Kuomintang, but he sent a large amount of secret core information from the heart of the Kuomintang, accelerating the process of liberating all of China.
He never joined the Communist Party of China, but was willing to work for the Communist Party, and in order to liberate Taiwan, he went to the island to lurk, unfortunately exposed, and was killed by the Kuomintang in Taipei In 1950.
Wu Shi, the legendary hero of the CCP's hidden front, has too many stories in him. Why would he want to work for the Communist Party? What kind of thrilling "spy war" experience did he have? How did he accept a top-secret mission from the mainland to Taiwan, and how did he give his life?
On the occasion of the centenary of the founding of the party, this reporter walked into wushi's birthplace in Luozhou, Fuzhou, and Wushi's temporary residence in Sanfang and Seven Lanes, visited the relics of this mysterious Fuzhou man, and explored the legendary life of this "lurker."
June 10 this year marks the 71st anniversary of General Wu Shi's inauguration. Let us cut through the fog of history, get closer to a real "red messenger", and explore the "home country code" behind him.
Real "spy wars"
Shanghai Yuyuan Road, sycamore swaying, deep alleys, tide shops gathered. This atmospheric "net red street" has witnessed the "spy war" more than half a century ago.
In March 1949, No. 2 Jiande Fang, Yuyuan Road, Shanghai, the residence of He Kang, an underground member of the Communist Party of China. Lieutenant General Wu Shi, director of the History and Political Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense, came as promised, carrying a copy of top-secret information.
He Kang was surprised to find that this was the deployment map of the Kuomintang army's Defense forces on the Yangtze River, and "the number of the troops marked on the map was even more detailed than the regiment."
At that time, the Chinese People's Liberation Army advanced toward the north bank of the Yangtze River, and the road to Nanjing, the center of Kuomintang rule, had been opened, but the struggle between the enemy and us was very complicated. Zhang Zhen, then chief of staff of the Third Field Army, recalled that the information provided by Wu Shi allowed the PLA to determine the main attack direction of the river crossing, which was "very helpful for the operation of crossing the river."
"The reason why Wu Shi is an unsung hero with outstanding meritorious service on our party's hidden front is that he provided core intelligence at key nodes such as the Battle of the River Crossing, and made special contributions to the accelerated end of the Liberation War." Zheng Li, author of "Cold Moon Silent - Wu Shi Biography", said.
The "Spring and Autumn Books and Biographical Volumes of the Hidden Front" published by the CPC Party History Publishing House includes 10 volumes, including "Zhou Enlai, Commander of the Hidden Front," "Li Kenong, Outstanding Leader of the CPC's Hidden Front," and "Pan Hannian's Intelligence Career." "Cold Moon Silent - The Biography of Wu Shi" is one of them.
Zheng Li introduced: Wu Shi is an expert in military strategy, and he is familiar with judging the value of intelligence; in addition, he is in an important position and is able to probe intelligence like a fish. At that time, Wu Shi was the director of the Historical Administration Bureau, and on the surface, the historical political situation could not be linked to the core military intelligence. However, according to the "Regulations on Historical and Political Work," the core military materials of the Kuomintang must be sent to the Historical and Political Bureau for the record. Often, soon after the study of important military deployments, important military charts appear on his desk. Zheng Li said.
Beginning in early 1949, Wu Shi often traveled by train between Shanghai and Nanjing. These two places are "tiger's dens" full of spies. The train between the two places was seven or eight hours away, and Wu Shi did not know how many times he had run.
"He mostly took the train at 8 or 9 p.m. from Nanjing and arrived in Shanghai at 3 or 4 a.m. the next day." Zheng Li introduced that Wu Shi was responsible for this extremely dangerous intelligence transmission work, sometimes he personally delivered the information to Jiandefang, and sometimes he wrapped up the information and sent his close aide-de-camp to submit it.
In 2009, the TV series "Latent" was a hit, and thousands of viewers were moved by the lurker "Yu Zecheng" in the play. As one of the prototypes of "Yu Zecheng", Wu Shi entered the public eye from the historical record, causing heated discussion.
Zheng Li said: "Yu Zecheng is fictional, Wu Shi is real. This sentence became the recommended words on the waist seal when "Cold Moon Is Silent - Wu Shi Biography" was republished.
In September 1948, with the help of Wu Shi, Wu Zhongxi, a secret member of the Communist Party of China, went deep into the enemy camp and successfully obtained what was later confirmed to be "the earliest and more comprehensive information obtained by the People's Liberation Army on the enemy situation in Xuzhou before the Battle of Huaihai"--"General Situation of Xuzhou Suppression".
The following year, Wu Shi became the deputy director of the "Fuzhou Appeasement Office". He took advantage of this special position to provide the Chinese Communists with many important information, including the Kuomintang's military deployment in Fujian and Taiwan, through the hand of Xie Xiaoyi, head of the Fujian Intelligence Group of the Intelligence Department of the CPC Central Committee under the pseudonym Wu Shoukang.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China attached great importance to the information provided by Wu Shi. According to Xie Xiaoyi's recollection, he once checked with Wu Shi on the instructions of the central leadership to give a number of The Kuomintang troops. Wu Shi asked, "Can Mr. Zhou Enlai see it?" After seeing Xie Xiaodi nod, Wu Shi showed a satisfied look.
Zheng Li introduced: In Shanghai, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong, Wu Shi risked his life again and again to promptly send the KUOMINTK's core intelligence such as the "Map of The Deployment of Troops defending the Yangtze River," the "National Armament Deployment Map," the "Military Deployment of Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou," and the "National Combat Deployment After the Fall of Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou, and made special contributions to the liberation of Nanjing, Shanghai, and Fuzhou."
The pursuit of the "lurker"
"Wu Shi is already a high-ranking Kuomintang official and living a rich life, so why is he willing to give up all this and risk his life to follow the Communist Party in the revolution?" Lin Hongjian asked.
Over the years, as the executive deputy director of the Customs Work Committee of the Fujian Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Lin Hongjian often told the legendary story of Wu Shi to party members and cadres.
Lin Hongjian once visited Wucuo Village in Luozhou Town, Fuzhou. This is the ancestral house where Wu Shi was born.
On the wushi general square covered with green trees, only the statue of Wu Shi stands quietly, and the engraved "Life of Wu Shi" on the stone wall seems to be silently telling. The display board next to it emphasizes the content that most people are most interested in: there is a "comparison chart" of Wu Shirong's costume photos and the stills of the TV series "Latent".
Walking into Wu Shi's former residence, the reporter found that this is a two-entry wooden courtyard. According to reports, most of the yard has been renovated, and only the main hall still maintains the original appearance of decades ago.
In 1894, Wu Shi was born in a Han Confucian family. At the age of 18, Wu Shi joined the student army of the Xinhai Northern Expedition in Fujian Province. At the age of 21, he graduated from the Second Preparatory Officer School in Wuchang, Hubei Province, with the first place. At the age of 23, he graduated from the Baoding Military Academy in Hebei Province with the first place in the same period, and was nicknamed "Wu Zhuangyuan". At the age of 37, he was admitted to the Japanese Army University, where he achieved excellent results, and was known as the "Twelve Talents" because he was known as "a man of twelve abilities" because he was "able to write and write, poetry, and painting".
After returning from Japan in 1934, Wu Shi served in the General Staff Headquarters of the National Revolutionary Army. After the outbreak of the Lugou Bridge Incident, a wave of anti-Japanese salvation movements was set off throughout the country. During the Battle of Wuhan, Wu Shi and other generals and military experts drew up a "battle plan for encircling Wuhan." As a recognized "Japan passer", Wu Shi did excellent intelligence work behind the scenes and was quickly promoted. Wu Shi was promoted to major general at the age of 43 and lieutenant general at the age of 48.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Wu Shi participated in the planning and guidance of major battles such as Changsha, Xianggui, Guinan, Kunlunguan, and Guiliu. In 1945, Wu Shi was commended for his contributions to the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
People can't help but ask why such a talented Kuomintang general in an important position became a "lurker" of the Chinese Communist Party. When did he start working for the CCP?
Zheng Li said that after Wu Shi was arrested, in order to protect other comrades, he pretended that he had only begun to work for the Communist Party in the spring of 1949. In fact, according to the conclusions of the relevant departments, Wu Shi began to work for the CCP in 1947. His contacts with the top level of the Ccp began as early as 1937.
During the period of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communists in the War of Resistance, Wu Shi had some understanding of the Ccp. He had heard Zhou Enlai's speeches in Luojia Mountain, Wuhan, and had contacts with Ye Jianying and others. He also studied Chairman Mao's "On Protracted War" and thought it was remarkable.
What really prompted Wu Shi to change was his complete disappointment with the Kuomintang. He Kang, who later served as minister of agriculture, mentioned in an oral article that after the defeat in the Battle of Guiliu, Wu Shi, who was in the front line, was deeply disgusted by the situation of "tight in the front and tight in the rear". After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he witnessed the "five sons of Dengke" in the style of "robbery" (referring to the Kuomintang's enthusiasm for gold, houses, tickets, cars, and women), soaring prices, and the people's lack of livelihood, especially Chiang Kai-shek's brazen launching of a civil war against the wishes of the broad masses of the people to build a country peacefully.
In the process of changing Wu Shi's political tendencies, he was deeply influenced by He Sui, who became a "friend of life and death" with him. He Sui and Wu Shi were fellow Fuzhou villagers, 6 years older than Wu Shi, and had relations with the CCP in the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. He Sui is not a member of the Ccp, but his son He Kang and his second son, daughter, and daughter-in-law are all underground members of the CCP.
Under the influence of He Sui, Wu Shi gradually turned to our party. In 1947, the Shanghai Bureau of the CPC Central Committee began to contact and win over Wu Shi. In April of that year, Wu Shi "established some kind of connection" with the Communist Party. After that, He Kang began to contact Wu Shi in a single line.
The strait has an echo
On June 10, 1950, at the age of 57, wu shi fell in a pool of blood after two gunshots rang out.
At that time, his public identity was that of a lieutenant general and deputy chief of staff of the Kuomintang Army.
Zheng Li said that General Wu Shi was the first senior Kuomintang general to be slaughtered after the fall of the Kuomintang regime and the partiality of Taiwan.
On August 16, 1949, the day before the liberation of Fuzhou, Wu Shi flew from Fuzhou to Taiwan in the early morning and never returned.
After arriving in Taiwan, Wu Shi was promoted to deputy chief of staff and continued to provide important information on Taiwan to the Chinese Communists. Every Saturday at 4 p.m., Zhu Feng, commissioner of the East China Bureau of the Communist Party of China, who incarnated as "Mrs. Chen" who came to Taiwan to visit her grandson, would go to the Wu Mansion in Qingtian Street in Taipei City to retrieve the information prepared by Wu Shi and then transmit it from Hong Kong to the mainland through secret channels.
This chain of intelligence has been unscathed. Unexpectedly, beginning at the end of 1949, the Taiwan Provincial Working Committee of the CPC was seriously damaged by the Kuomintang Secrecy Bureau, affecting 619 PARTY members and cadres at all levels and 96 members of the masses. Wu Shi and others were arrested and imprisoned.
Wu Shi was tortured repeatedly in prison, and even if he was blind in one eye, he was always unyielding. The Kuomintang authorities said that "the interrogation of Wu Shi was the most difficult thing."
In Zheng Li's view, after Wu Shi went to Taiwan, because of the strait barrier, his ties with the Chinese Communists had been broken, and he could rest assured that he would be his deputy chief of staff and enjoy his glory and wealth. But he chose to continue fighting on the isolated island, in close contact with death. In the white terror on the island at that time, he took great risks and went to Hong Kong alone twice to find party organizations and establish contacts with the CCP's intelligence agency in Hong Kong. After returning to Taiwan, he organized an intelligence network and spared no effort to liberate Taiwan and realize the reunification of the motherland until he sacrificed himself.
Before his execution, General Wu Shi calmly left a posthumous poem, the last two sentences of which were "with the general's heart in his heart, Izumi sent a messenger to me."
At that time, along with him, the Kuomintang also killed three martyrs, Zhu Feng, Chen Baocang, and Nie Xi.
In 2013, a memorial square for the Unknown Hero was built in Beijing's Xishan National Forest Park, where statues were erected for Wu Shi and four other martyrs. Wu Shi's granddaughter Wu Hong often goes to the memorial square. "Every year on September 28th, our four families and other descendants of the martyrs are invited to beijing's Unsung Heroes Memorial Square to participate in commemorative activities, and every time we go, we see someone offering flowers to the statue," she said.
When Wu Shi went to Taiwan, he brought a pair of children with him, while leaving the other two children on the mainland.
Wu Hong, the granddaughter, remembers that in 1973, the Henan Provincial Department of Civil Affairs issued a martyr's certificate to the family and a pension of 650 yuan. "This was a 'huge amount of money' at the time, but my father (Wu Shaocheng, a member of the Communist Party of China) did not keep a penny and paid all the party fees."
In 1994, the ceremony for the placement of the ashes of General Wu Shi and his wife was held at futian cemetery in Xiangshan, Beijing. "At this ceremony, I got to know Grandpa more." Wu Hong said.
In 2019, at the invitation of Fuzhou Sanshan Humanities Memorial Park, Wu Hong came to Fuzhou to participate in the unveiling ceremony of the bronze statues of General Wu Shi and General He Sui. After the ceremony, she went to Sanfang Seven Lanes — Wu Shi had lived at No. 22 Palace Lane for a while. On the first floor promenade of this brick and wood mansion combining Chinese and Western styles, there are exhibition boards hanging to introduce the life of General Wu Shi.
"People are very enthusiastic after knowing that I am Wu Shi's granddaughter, and I can fully feel the admiration of the people in my hometown for my grandfather." Wu Hong said.
The people of Fuzhou will not forget Wu Shi's important contribution. At that time, Wu Shi provided the deployment of the Kuomintang Fuzhou garrison to the Communists, and also tried his best to prevent Chiang Kai-shek from building fortifications, so that the People's Liberation Army almost did not fight a major war, and attacked fuzhou city with great force, protecting this thousand-year-old city to the greatest extent.
To Lin Hongjian's great pleasure, in a special lecture on party history study and education in Fujian in March this year, he specifically mentioned "General Wu Shi and other heroic groups."
Zheng Li has compiled more than 600,000 words of "Wu Shi's Remaining Ink" and is striving to publish it. "As Premier Zhou instructed, we should not forget those who have done good things to the people, and we should not forget Wu Shi." Zheng Li said. (Reporters Zou Shengwen, Xu Xueyi, Liu Shaoqing)
Source: Xinhua Daily Telegraph