preface
In 1957, when Du Learned that his son-in-law Yang Zhenning had won the Nobel Prize in Physics, he was very excited, but very complicated.
The emotional changes in this cannot be experienced by people who are not really in the situation.
Figure 丨 Du Yuming
Du Yuming, a famous anti-Japanese general
In 1923, when Du Yuming was faced with the first major choice in his life, he resolutely chose to go south and was admitted to the Huangpu Military Academy founded by Sun Yat-sen in June 1924, becoming the first batch of Huangpu students.
Soon after enrolling, he joined the Kuomintang. In 1925, he participated in the first crusade against Chen Jiongming, and served as a member of the propaganda team of the teaching group, participating in the Battle of Tamsui with the regiment, and later left the Whampoa Teaching Regiment due to illness.
In 1926, Du Yuming joined the Huangpu Military Academy's Wuhan Branch Cadet Corps, of which Zhang Zhizhong was the regimental commander, and was appointed by Zhang Zhizhong as the commander of the first battalion and three companies of the cadet corps. But later, for various reasons, he found Chiang Kai-shek and threw himself into Chiang Kai-shek's new warlord clique.
In the following years, although Du Yuming was an unknown little person, he was good at training, worked hard, and was flexible in dealing with the world, which was quite favored by Zhang Zhizhong.
Pictured du Yuming when he was young
In 1930 he was promoted to colonel of the Sixth Regiment of the Second Division. In the winter of the same year, the Second Division was renamed the Fourth Division of the Army, with Xu Tingyao as the division commander and Du Yuming as the commander of the Twenty-fourth Regiment.
Du Yuming held that the post of regimental commander is very important and is the key to the ups and downs of his career in the future life. Therefore, he made extra efforts, devoted all his energy, and conscientiously managed the army without slacking off.
At that time, Xu Tingyao was the new commander of the division, and many of his subordinates did not think much of him, and the discipline of the troops was lax. Xu Tingyao was greatly frustrated. Only Du Yuming's 24th Regiment was stationed clean, the internal affairs were neat, and the exercises were strict. Therefore, Xu was particularly praised by Du, and Du was soon valued by Xu and regarded as a powerful backbone.
Until 1932, Xu Tingyao was promoted to commander of the 17th Army, under the jurisdiction of Tang Enbo's 4th Division and Guan Linzheng 25th Division, Du Yuming began to serve as the commander of the 73rd Brigade of the 25th Division, and later promoted to deputy division commander. At this point, Du Yuming found a relatively stable backer in the Jiang family dynasty with many factions.
After the outbreak of the Pacific War in December 1941, the Japanese army trapped Thailand and pushed straight into Burma, the South China Sea was in a hurry, and the British were nervous, asking China to send troops into Burma quickly.
Figure 丨 The image of Du Yuming in the movie
Therefore, the Kuomintang government formed the First Road of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, appointed Du Yuming as the deputy commander of the First Road, joined the commander on behalf of the commander, and began in late February 1942, commanding the Fifth Army, the Sixth Army, and the Sixty-sixth Army to march into Burma one after another.
According to the agreement at that time, the Allies established the Chinese Theater in China, with Chiang Kai-shek as the supreme commander of the Chinese Theater and General Stilwell of the United States as chief of staff.
The First Route Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force entered Burma this time, but due to the selfish interests of all parties involved in the war, the system was disordered, and the command was not unified, it led to a fiasco.
Stilwell and Luo Zhuoying fled to India alone and ordered the troops to march to India. In order not to make his troops into exiled foreign units controlled by the Americans, Du Yuming retreated to the border according to Chiang Kai-shek's orders.
On the way back to China, due to the dangerous environment, the number of scattered, sick and accidental deaths was much higher than the number of casualties who fought with the enemy on the battlefield, and countless Chinese athletes were buried in foreign lands!
On this treacherous return to China, Dai Anlan, the commander of the 200th Division who had followed Du Yuming for many years, died heroically at the age of 38. Du Yuming himself was also infected with return fever, and he was unconscious for two days and two nights, and almost died.
Figure 丨 The Battle of Huaihai
In August 1942, Du Yuming led the remnants of the Fifth Army back to the motherland, and in the face of this unit that had paid countless painstaking efforts, Du Yuming was in tears and could not help himself. After Du Yuming returned to China, he was promoted by Chiang Kai-shek to the position of commander-in-chief of the Fifth Army and commander-in-chief of the defense of Kunming.
In 1948, the two sides had entered the decisive stage, and Du Yuming, who had just been discharged from the hospital, was appointed deputy commander of the Xuzhou "Suppression General" and commander of the Second Corps. Du Yuming boarded Chiang Kai-shek's chariot, and could only do his best to repay Chiang Kai-shek's kindness.
In the Battle of Huaihai, Du Yuming, deputy commander of Xuzhou's "Suppression General", after Liu Ji was defeated by the People's Liberation Army, took more than ten people, including guards, retinues, and drivers, disguised as the People's Liberation Army and fled to Zhang Laozhuang on the south side of Liu Ji.
When the mountains and rivers were exhausted, Du Yuming changed into soldier clothes, shaved off the characteristic mustache on his face, and mixed with the soldiers, hiding behind a hidden object in Zhang Lao Village.
When the People's Liberation Army appeared before him, he took up a pistol and pointed it at the door of his head, and he was going to die loyal to his party-state. I was about to pull the trigger when I was stopped by an adjutant.
A few days later, when the PLA asked him again, he grabbed a stone from his side and slammed him on the head, but the PLA saved him after being injured.
It was also this unusual performance that exposed his identity as a commander and aroused the suspicion of the People's Liberation Army: "What is your name?" ”
"Do you know that I am Du Yuming and what else is asking?" After being captured, he was silent and did not reveal any problems. Chen Yi wanted to see him, but he was refused. In order to prevent him from committing suicide again, the People's Liberation Army put heavy shackles on him and sent him to Beijing Gongdelin Prison, where Du Yuming became a reformed prisoner.
During this period, Du Yuming tried to break through countless times, but without Chiang Kai-shek's orders, he did not dare to randomly come randomly. There were also thoughts of suicide in the middle, but they were eventually saved.
Figure 丨 Chiang Kai-shek
It was not until January 10, 1956, after seven years of captivity, that he lived in groups with others and was treated the same way. This excited him and took this day as the day of his rebirth, as the day of severance of the evil relations with the opposition clique.
When Du Yuming was first imprisoned, he refused to study, and it was not until he was received by a group of democrats such as Liu Yazi and Ma Yin that he slowly began to study. He read newspapers and books, but he still did not want to read such things as "Chiang Kai-shek, the Enemy of the People" and "The Four Great Families".
At that time, reading books and newspapers was subject to approval. Later, he asked for pen and ink paper to be distributed, and began to write history and experience.
Du Yuming has a characteristic, speaking half a sentence, writing things is also writing half a meaning.
In early November 1949, the rebel general Chen Mingren went to Jinan to see Du Yuming and comforted Du Yuming when he could not ask for death and was unwilling to survive. When Du Yuming heard Chen Mingren say that he was going to transfer himself to Beijing, he thought that he would give him a chance to make meritorious atonement for his sins during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and only then did he learn that he had been imprisoned in Gongdelin Prison.
Picture 丨 Chen Mingren
In this situation, he thought to himself, the Communist Party will not kill him, nor will it make him make meritorious atonement for his sins, so let's live one day and count one day. When he wrote this material, he was supposed to see what your Communist Party did to me, but the pen was transcribed to "see how the Communist Party leads the people to create a new world." The meaning of the front and back is completely unconnected, which can only be seen as half a sentence.
Militarily, it is called "lead but not send", say half a sentence, start your head, see if you can pick up the next sentence, and listen to what the other party has to say. In this half-sentence strategy, the other party has no intention of starting from where to start, so it only listens to it and does not say it, and there is no drama.
He had to shut his mouth automatically, lest he cause trouble. So talk about how the weather is today, what you might eat for the next meal, and the topic is naturally divergent, as if it was okay, everything is as usual.
"Yesterday's guests, today's prisoners." Du Yuming really felt this taste, and having been a high-ranking official for a long time, it was difficult to put down the shelf in a short period of time. Because the shelf could not be put down, he suffered hardships, and his captivity was because he ate spiced beef jerky, spiced dried tofu, canned in broad daylight, and what was more troublesome was smoking high-grade cigarettes.
Tu Shu was Du Yuming when he was the commander of the Northeast Security
In the reform center, after five or six years of collective life, labor, and study, the concept of superior and subordinate, big and small officials in the past was somewhat indifferent, but since Du Yuming removed the torture equipment and participated in the collective study, at first he was not so comfortable and casual with everyone, and there were still some shelves.
In a meeting, he would unconsciously glance around and then sit down, and if he had a serious expression, it was better to say that he seemed cautious.
When discussing, he always likes to say a few words first, and then look around expressionlessly after saying it. When he attended the study, he spoke very briefly at first. Later, his speeches became longer, often long, bookly, newspaper, large paragraphs, half-and-half quotations.
The "classmates" also had to listen hard, often most of the time let him occupy, no one said a word, just after the meeting, some said that he was used to being an official, some said that he was "a good teacher".
Tu Shu Du Yuming was captured
This can also happen when playing cards, and when he usually plays cards, he will not only teach his partner often, but even say that he wants to "open the class to collect apprentices". Some people agree, some don't buy it.
Of course, Du Yuming did not care, he would not put other people's views and attitudes towards himself in his eyes. For him, the most memorable thing about his years in prison was that even as a criminal, the people's government tried everything to help him cure various diseases that had not been cured for many years.
In 1957, Du Yuming sighed about this: "I used to have money and status in the reactionary old society, and my illness was not cured. Now that I am a criminal, the people's government still tries to do everything to cure all kinds of diseases that I have not cured for many years, and this great revolutionary humanitarian spirit will never be forgotten by me. ”
Prior to this, he had recovered from stomach ulcers, spinal tuberculosis, tuberculosis, and kidney tuberculosis.
As the health of the body continues to improve, there is no mental baggage, and the mental state has also undergone great changes. He is no longer so serious with his classmates, but easy-going, sometimes joking with everyone, not so stubborn about different views on issues, and can listen to the opinions of others with an equal attitude.
Pictured by Chiang Kai-shek and Du Yuming
Son-in-law Yang Zhenning won the Nobel Prize in Physics
Du Yuming's entire mental state has undergone an earth-shaking change, and another important reason is that he has contacted his family and learned that his son-in-law, Dr. Yang Zhenning, has won the Nobel Prize in Physics, which makes him excited.
Du Yuming is a cautious person, which can be seen from the process of his correspondence with his family. From 1955 onwards, he expressed the intention of contacting his family, but most of them were more subtle, just some words such as "I don't know if the old mother is alive or not".
He was testing the government, waiting for it to contact him. Sure enough, the management office asked him to provide information, and he quickly told the whole family about the experience of the eight families going to Taiwan. These eight are his wife Cao Xiuqing, three sons and three daughters plus an old mother.
Picture 丨 Cao Xiuqing
According to 1956, the old mother was 77 years old. Of the six children, Du Zhili was the eldest daughter and married to Yang Zhenning, who was a student of Yang Zhenning when she was a university student in Kunming. The third du zhiren and the fourth du zhiyan are twins, except for the eldest Du Zhili who went to the United States to study in 1947, the rest of the children were in Taiwan at that time in primary and secondary school, and the old mother was alive.
He was grateful when the government helped him communicate with Du and inform him of his family's situation. After getting in touch with their loved ones, the next step is to hope that the family members can return to their home countries as soon as possible.
Unlike others, Mr. Du made it clear to the government that he would never leave his homeland. So after the amnesty, after the reform and opening up, when many people went to Hong Kong, the United States, Du Zhili and Cao Xiuqing also asked him to settle in the United States, he also refused.
Du Yuming's handling of the issue of his son-in-law Yang Zhenning was also vague and vague. When he learned that Yang Zhenning won the Nobel Prize, went to Sweden to receive the prize in Taiwan, and passed through Hong Kong without returning to the mainland to see, his thoughts were complicated.
Figure 丨 Yang Zhenning
At that time, he did not understand Yang Zhenning's attitude, but his heart was to hope that Yang Zhenning would come back and at least make some contributions to the scientific cause of the motherland, which would also be beneficial to the solution of his own problems, but he did not take the initiative to propose to the government to let him do the work of son-in-law.
Therefore, he engaged in a "roundabout tactic": he wrote to his daughter and son-in-law saying that he was living well, and he concluded that his daughter would reply to the letter saying that they (Yang Zhenning and his wife) hoped that Du's problem would be solved as soon as possible.
In order to make them aware of the Party's lenient policy and to further strive for their early return to the motherland, he was prepared to do more work to win the trust of the Government.
Du Yuming quickly replied to his daughter and son-in-law, but in addition, in his letter to their husband and wife, he also wrote a small note to Yang Zhenning alone, and only two sentences were written on the small note:
Congratulations on your achievements in science and good luck!
Pictured by Deng Jiaxian (center) and Yang Zhenning (left) and Yang Zhenping (Yang Zhenning's younger brother) in the United States in 1949
It may also be that it is hindered by the dignity of the elders, Du Yuming did not mention his own affairs. May also be engaged in their own long-term research on strategy and tactics, more or less also committed some occupational diseases, everything has been changed to wipe out the corners, not to say directly, not frank enough.
In fact, when dealing with the issue of whether Yang Zhenning and his wife will return to China and his own future, there is no need to be so circuitous at all, and he is tentative at both ends and wants face at both ends.
After contacting the eldest daughter, Du Yuming was much more comfortable and cheerful. Sometimes he joked with his classmates, and when he was idle, he gave people nicknames, and many of Qin cheng's classmates had nicknames from him.
What "nine hundred and nine" ah, refers to people miserly. What "more than ten thousand" refers to the general of the Seventy-ninth Army, Chang Fangjing, who has a face of hemp, and the southerners regard the hemp as "more than ten thousand", that is, the meaning of countless points. This is the other side of Du Yuming, witty and lively.
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the founding of New China, Chairman Mao proposed to pardon a group of war criminals who had indeed changed from evil to good.
Pictured: Chairman Mao
This is the first amnesty since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Many war criminals are pondering the standard of "changing evil from good," and some of them have realized that they should be pardoned. Some people's hearts are hanging in mid-air, and even if some people think that amnesty is hopeless, they still have a little illusion.
But Du Yuming did not have the luxury of consciously being able to get an amnesty, and he also told his classmates: "I am one of the 43 war criminals, and there is no hope." After you go out, I will continue to reform well and strive for amnesty in the future. ”
But what he did not expect was that when the amnesty conference was held on December 4, the first name he shouted was him. He walked to the podium in some disbelief, and the moment he took the amnesty notice from the judge,he bowed his head and bowed deeply.
At this time, his joy, happiness, and shame were mixed, and tears rolled down. From this, he went to a new life and finally returned to the ranks of the people.
After Du Yuming's amnesty, he stayed in Beijing with Wang Yaowu, Zheng Tingji, Song Xilian, Yang Botao, and Zhou Zhenqiang, first working in the Red Star Commune on the outskirts of Beijing, and a year later he was arranged to serve as a commissioner of literature and history in the CPPCC National Committee, officially becoming a target of the united front.
In November 1964, Du Yuming was specially invited to be a member of the Fourth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. In 1978, he was successively elected as a deputy to the Fifth National People's Congress and a standing member of the Fifth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
He was extremely excited that war criminals who used to be guilty of crimes against the people are now participating in the discussion of major state affairs and doing useful things for the people. In November 1964, he excitedly wrote to Premier Zhou expressing his boundless gratitude to the Party and the people's government and his determination to do everything in his power to realize the peaceful reunification of the mainland and Taiwan.
As a citizen, the place he most wants to go to is Tiananmen Square, and he wants to see Tiananmen Square and see the Monument to the People's Heroes.
Picture 丨 Monument to the People's Heroes
The founding of the People's Republic of China was announced by Chairman Mao at Tiananmen Square, and he gazed at chairman Mao's inscription "The people's heroes are immortal" written by Chairman Mao on the Monument to the People's Heroes and the inscription written by Premier Zhou Enlai.
Looking at the people leisurely touring the square, he missed his wife in the cemetery. In a letter to his wife, he said that he had been granted amnesty, and in the spring of 1961, he was appointed commissioner of the Cultural and Historical Materials Research Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, officially participated in the work of state organs, lived well, and lived in a room and a hall, as well as an office.
After receiving her husband's letter, Cao Xiuqing immediately returned to the motherland from the other side of the ocean. On June 3, 1963, under the careful arrangements of the Chinese embassies abroad, Cao Xiuqing flew back to the motherland.
At the airport, the leaders of the CppcC And old friends all came to greet her, and she saw her husband looking east and west with myopic glasses at a glance, and hurried to him, when the wife said ecstatically: "Don't you know me? This is not coming back! ”
Pictured by Du Yuming and Cao Xiuqing
Du Yuming smiled and said, "Just come back!" Just come back! "The airport was filled with pleasant laughter and a warm atmosphere.
In the spring of 1971, son-in-law Yang Zhenning also flew to Shanghai with his wife Du Zhili by French air route, returned to his homeland after 26 years of absence, met his family that he missed, and also met his father-in-law Du Yuming for the first time, and was cordially received and feasted with premier Zhou with his father-in-law's family.
After that, in 1972 and 1973, Yang Zhenning would return to the motherland with his wife every year to visit relatives, accompany his father-in-law's family, eat with his father-in-law, and chat together.
When Yang Zhenning returned to China in the 1970s, the party and state leaders gave him the highest courtesy
Du Yuming had an unfulfilled wish in his life, that is, he failed to see the reunification of the motherland. In his later years, he contributed greatly to the cause of the reunification of the motherland. Since 1960, Du Yuming has published articles and speeches on many occasions, using his personal experience and feelings to exhort Taiwan teachers and friends to work together for the great cause of realizing the reunification of the motherland.
After dying, he did not forget the kindness of the Communist Party and made a last word:
My mood is extremely happy, because through the party's education, I have changed my outlook on life.
Yu's wife, Cao Xiuqing, knew Yu Zhi, and Yu had asked him to lead his children to continue to contribute to the modernization of the motherland. I hope that my classmates, relatives, friends, and compatriots in Taiwan will put the great righteousness of the nation first, promote peaceful reunification at an early date, and jointly build our ancient civilization into a modern power and bring benefits to future generations.
The feelings of yin yin are overflowing with words and touching.
On May 7, 1981, Du Yuming died in Beijing at the age of 77.