In November 1925, Liu Shaoqi, who had become ill from overwork, returned to Changsha from Shanghai to recuperate in the company of his wife, and in order to prevent the persecution of the enemy, after consultation, the two temporarily borrowed the Changsha Cultural Book Club near the hospital.
Located at 56 Chaozong Street, the book club was founded in 1920 by Mao Zedong, Yi Lirong and others, mainly to facilitate the spread of Marxism, and later the Communists would also make secret contacts here.
But the news fell into Zhao Hengti's ears.
Since the first cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China in 1923, the students of Changsha have been deeply inspired and have stood up to hold demonstrations to expel warlords and propagate revolutionary ideas. This made Zhao Hengti, the chairman of Hunan Province at the time, very dissatisfied, and he had been using the power in his hands to sabotage in the open and in the dark, in an attempt to curb the vigorous development of the revolutionary forces.
As soon as Liu Shaoqi arrived in Changsha, Zhao Hengti began to be afraid. He was afraid that the famous workers' leader's arrival in Changsha would make it more difficult for the revolutionaries who were already "disobedient" to control, so he sent a secret agent to investigate Liu Shaoqi's address, and when Liu Shaoqi's wife returned to Ningxiang Tanzichong to visit her in-laws, he asked his subordinates to arrest him.
Picture | Zhao Hengti
On December 16, the young man who greeted the guests at the bookstore counter was keenly aware that there were several people who were wrong, these people were all raw faces, they wandered around the bookstore door a few times, and then they broke in with great momentum, did not say a word, and rushed directly to the back floor.
This posture is not like reading a book, but more like coming to make trouble.
The young man immediately realized that this group of people was most likely a secret agent sent by the enemy, so he shouted loudly, and Liu Shaoqi in the back building heard the movement and immediately went downstairs to transfer, but the enemy who had already figured out the internal structure of the store blocked Liu Shaoqi's retreat. They rushed up, pounced on Liu Shaoqi, tied him up and escorted him to the Changsha Martial Law Headquarters.
As soon as Zhao Hengti heard that his men had successfully arrested Liu Shaoqi, he eagerly wanted to put him to death to avoid any trouble. In order to avoid the discontent of the masses caused by the leak of information, he ordered all those in the know to keep their mouths shut and strictly forbade newspapers to report on the matter.
On the other hand, Yi Lirong, the manager of the book club, hastily told the party organization about the incident after learning the news of Liu Shaoqi's arrest. Li Weihan, then secretary of the Xiang District Committee, immediately convened an emergency meeting to discuss matters related to the rescue operation.
Figure | He Shuheng
On the way to the meeting, after Thinking for a moment, He Shuheng suddenly looked at a beautiful-looking woman and said solemnly: "This matter still requires you to get out of the horse!" ”
Who is this woman, and why does He Shuheng think that she can play a role in the rescue operation?
Let's first talk about the identity of this person, she is Liu Shaoqi's wife, He Baozhen.
Pictured| He Baozhen
He Baozhen, also known as He Baozhen and He Baozhen, is a native of Daoxian County, Hunan. In 1902, she was born in a poor family, although her father was a talent, but he was depraved, and he could only rely on some small business to barely eat a meal, since He Baozhen was born, the family often starved for a meal and a full meal.
But it was such a family at the bottom of society that she had a stubborn nature that He Baozhen did not want to bow to the powerful, and at an early age, she quarreled with her parents because she did not want to bind her feet like other girls, and even went on hunger strike. Under her unremitting efforts, she finally won the "freedom" of her feet for herself. This was an incredible thing at the time.
In 1918, He Baozhen, who rebelled against her parents' arranged marriage, was admitted to the Hunan Provincial Third Girls' Normal School in Hengyang.
In May 1919, the May Fourth Movement swept the country, and the students of Hengyang also stood up in response to this unprecedented patriotic movement. However, in order to prevent students from participating in the demonstration, the Third Girls' Normal School directly ordered the gate to be locked and prohibited students from contacting the outside world in the name of "protection".
However, the high wall and iron wall could not stop the tide of revolution, and other patriotic students outside the wall threw propaganda materials such as the "Hunan Provincial Student Federation Strike Declaration" stack after stack to the students of the Third Female Division.
Under the blue sky and white clouds, pieces of paper took off and flew over, like free white pigeons.
Picture | Oil painting of the May Fourth Movement
After reading these leaflets, He Baozhen was deeply moved, and she took the lead in standing up and gathering progressive students in the school, calling on everyone not to give up the struggle against the evil forces of the school and actively participate in the patriotic movement outside the school. As the organizer and leader of the patriotic and progressive students of the three female teachers, He Baozhen, who was loved by the students of the whole school, was elected as the representative of the Shonan Student Federation.
After the End of the May Fourth Movement, the spark of revolution was not extinguished. Deng Zhongxia, Mao Zedong and others came to the Three Girls' Division many times to conduct social investigations, and they gave speeches to teachers and students of the school, propagated Marxism-Leninism, organized and guided the patriotic movement of students in the school, and during this time, He Baozhen, as one of the leaders of the student movement, also had the opportunity to have frequent contact with them.
In 1922, He Baozhen joined the Socialist Youth League under the introduction of Zhang Qiuren, the head of the Hengyang underground party, and served as the head of the organization of the Three Women's Division.
Pictured| Zhang Qiuren
In order to better spread progressive ideas among young students, He Baozhen and others invited Mao Zedong to give a speech at the school under the instructions of the party organization, but this incident angered Ouyang Jun, the principal of the Third Female Division at that time.
This person is a young lady in the family of an official eunuch, and although she has studied abroad, her thinking is extremely old-fashioned and old-fashioned. Although Ouyang Jun was nominally the headmaster, he was backed by a reactionary government and almost regarded the Three Female Teachers as his own private domain. She did not allow students to read progressive books, ordered that everyone must do what they wanted, and abused lynching whenever someone disobeyed discipline.
But how could the stubborn He Baozhen easily bow her head, she wanted to bring down Ouyang Jun, the mouthpiece of the reactionary government.
After consulting with other progressive students, He Baozhen publicly exposed Ouyang Jun's evil deeds such as withholding students' food expenses and punishing students, and led the students of the Third Female Division to strike classes and march on the streets, demanding the removal of Ouyang Jun from the post of principal.
Ouyang Jun, who was embarrassed and angry, colluded with the reactionary authorities, asking them to help him suppress the progressive students, while sending people to lock up He Baozhen and not allow her to meet and talk to anyone. But it didn't take long for He Baozhen to escape with his agility and continue to organize and lead the student movement outside the school. At the same time, the newspaper "Ta Kung Pao" also repeatedly exposed Ouyang Jun's persecution of students, which aroused the enthusiasm of the people of all classes in Hengyang and demanded that Ouyang Jun, the principal of the Third Female Division, be severely punished.
Ouyang Jun could only resign, but she deeply hated He Baozhen, who took the lead in opposing herself, so she used the power of the principal to fire He Baozhen before leaving.
Figure | Ta Kung Pao
He Baozhen, who left the campus, regretted it, and in October 1922, at the suggestion of Zhang Qiuren, she took a boat to Changsha and temporarily stayed at Mao Zedong's home as a relative. Here, He Baozhen often listened to the teachings of Mao Zedong, Yang Kaihui and others, and her ideological realm was further improved.
Not long after, the Xiang District Party Committee of the Communist Party of China considered that Anyuan's labor movement work needed to be strengthened, so it sent He Baozhen to work as a teacher and a member of the Workers' Club Books and Newspapers Section at the Anyuan Road Miners' Club Children's School.
During this period of working in Anyuan, He Baozhen and Liu Shaoqi often contacted each other when they worked, and the two had a good feeling for each other, and in April 1923, the two officially formed a pair of revolutionary partners, determined to support each other and walk side by side on the road of revolution from now on.
In May 1925, the Second National Labor Conference was held in Guangzhou, and Liu Shaoqi was elected as the executive member and vice chairman of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions. So after the meeting, He Baozhen followed Liu Shaoqi to Shanghai to work.
Just this month, in protest against the unjustified dismissal of workers by Japanese capitalists, workers in the Shanghai spinning mills united again and launched a strike movement. However, Japanese imperialism, in collusion with the Beiyang warlord government, decided to suppress the workers' movement by force and force the working class to give up its rights. They shot and killed Gu Zhenghong, a Communist Party member who led the workers' movement, and wounded more than a dozen workers present, which was the Massacre of May 30 (sà) that shocked China and foreign countries.
On May 31, the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions was established, and Liu and He participated in leading the May 30 Movement. The strike campaign lasted for four months, and on September 30, British and Japanese manufacturers were forced to agree to the conditions proposed by the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions and sign the terms, which also represented a major victory for the workers in the strike struggle.
Figure | May Thirtieth Movement
However, just after the end of the May Thirtieth Movement, Liu Shaoqi, who was running day and night for the interests of the workers, fell ill, and the organization knew about this situation and decided to let him temporarily leave his work and return to Hunan to recuperate accompanied by He Baozhen.
It was during this period of recuperation that Liu Shaoqi was arrested by Zhao Hengti, who had a ghost in his heart. So at the meeting to discuss the rescue operation, why did He Shuheng think that He Baozhen could play a major role?
He Baozhen was also puzzled, and she asked, "What can I do?" He Shuheng mentioned a person's name and said, "You should be familiar with Mr. Ou Minggao, right?" He is now working in the Department of Education, has great influence in Changsha, you come forward with him, his role is very large. ”
How could He Baozhen not know Ou Minggao? In 1919, she was admitted to the Third Girls' Normal School in Hunan, and Ou Minggao entered the Third Girls' Division in the following year and became He Baozhen's Chinese language teacher.
At that time, the smart and diligent He Baozhen was very liked by Ou Minggao, and he often chose He Baozhen's articles as fan texts to read in class, not to mention that Jiang Bingxun, the principal of the Hunan Daoxian Girls' School who funded He Baozhen's studies at that time, was Ou Minggao's old friend.
Later, when He Baozhen led the students in a struggle against Ouyang Jun, Ou Minggao publicly expressed support for her actions.
Pictured | sculpture of He Baozhen
Ouyang Jun, who knew about this matter, has since set his sights on Ou Minggao, she not only secretly put small shoes on Ou Minggao, but also once reprimanded the student representative headed by He Baozhen when he was angry: "You have made a mistake, you must review your mistakes at the whole school assembly, you have to apologize to me in front of all the students, right, I heard that Ou Minggao still appreciates you, but your abacus is wrong, no matter where you go to file a complaint, I will not be afraid." ”
After Ouyang Jun resigned as principal, Ou Minggao went from being the director of the female third division to the principal, and under his leadership, the atmosphere of the female third division was renewed from the inside out. Although the school has got rid of the past obsolescence, Ou Minggao still has a regret in his heart, that is, He Baozhen was expelled without completing his studies that year, and he later wrote a special letter to He Baozhen to invite her to return to the school to continue her studies, but at that time, He Baozhen struggled in the Anyuan worker group and really could not leave.
Thinking of her teacher, whom she had not seen for a long time, He Baozhen couldn't help but feel uneasy, she nodded her head, and said firmly: "Okay, I'll go visit him." ”
The next day, He Baozhen and Yi Lirong went to Ou's house on Yancang Street to explain to Ou Minggao about Liu Shaoqi's arrest. After Ou Minggao heard this, he immediately stood up angrily, patted the table, and said, "It makes perfect sense!" ”
Figure | easy to look at
Ou Ming took a few breaths, finally suppressed the anger in his heart, and said to He Baozhen, who asked for help from him: "I publicly reprimanded Zhao Hengti for the government's arrest of students some time ago, and now I am no longer working in the Education Bureau, so it is very likely that Zhao Hengti will not meet me at all." ”
He Baozhen was anxious in his heart, and he was about to say something when he opened his mouth, and Ou Minggao waved his hand at her calmly and continued: "In this way, I will lead you to see Ouyang Zhensheng, the speaker of the provincial council, and with him out of the horse, Zhao Hengti will never dare to slacken off." ”
Ouyang Zhensheng has always had great respect for Ou Minggao, and he agreed to Ou Minggao's request, personally took He Baozhen to find Zhao Hengti, and then put pressure on Zhao Hengti as the speaker of the provincial council, warning Zhao Hengti not to act arbitrarily. He Baozhen, on the other hand, maintained his usual straightforwardness and rebutted Zhao Hengti's reasons for arresting Liu Shaoqi one by one in a reasonable and well-founded manner.
Zhao Hengti was refuted by a little girl who could not speak, wanted to be angry, and was jealous of Ouyang Zhensheng, and could only say nothing with a somber face. Ouyang Zhensheng saw that the time was ripe, coughed, and said meaningfully: "Since you have caught the wrong person, let Liu Shaoqi be released quickly!" ”
At the same time that the plan on He Baozhen's side was proceeding smoothly, other comrades also launched rescue operations. After learning of this incident, the Changsha Ta Kung Pao resisted the pressure of the reactionary authorities and published the news of Liu Shaoqi's arrest on December 17.
As soon as the news came out, there was an uproar throughout the country. On December 25, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions issued a telegram in the "Workers' Road Special" asking Zhao Hengxi to release Liu Shaoqi as soon as possible. The All-China Railway Federation of Trade Unions also pointed out bluntly:
"The arrest of Liu Shaoqijun by Zhao Hengti in Hunan for no reason did not happen by accident, but the historical relationship between imperialism and warlords colluding with each other. At the height of the revolution, when their power is endangered, they will come to attack us. ”
Picture | Liu Shaoqi
In just a few days, trade unions and progressive groups across the country called Zhao Hengti, and many times, he received as many as 40 telegrams a day. The arrest of Liu Shaoqi was already known to the people of the whole country, and Zhao Hengti did not dare to provoke public anger, and could only temporarily postpone the plan to execute Liu Shaoqi.
On January 26, 1926, due to the active rescue work of He Baozhen and other comrades, Zhao Hengti finally bowed his head and publicly released Liu Shaoqi at the door of the provincial office.
After only 52 days, Liu Shaoqi, who was killed in Changsha, regained his freedom!
He Baozhen and Liu Shaoqi went to Ou Minggao's home to thank him before returning to their hometown in Ningxiang, and no one thought at that time that this would be the last time Ou Minggao would see his beloved student.
In the winter of 1932, under the arrangement of the party organization, Liu Shaoqi left Shanghai for work in the Central Soviet District, while He Baozhen and his young son continued to stay in Shanghai shrouded in white terror.
At this time, He Baozhen assumed the pseudonym Wang Fenfang, ostensibly a teacher, but in fact was the head of the National Mutual Masonic Association and the head of the rescue department. With her wit and courage, she successfully completed one dangerous and arduous task after another under the eyes of the enemy, but as the work progressed, the reactionary authorities gradually noticed her.
Picture | He Baozhen sketch
One day in March 1933, He Baozhen found some strangers hovering around the house, and those people gradually dispersed, surrounding the He family. She immediately reacted, her identity may have been exposed, but the enemy's action is too fast, she has no time to escape, in desperation, He Baozhen brought her youngest son Liu Yunruo to the neighbor's sister-in-law, hoping that she could help her take care of Yunruo for a while.
The sister-in-law looked at He Baozhen's expression for a while, realized that the other party was likely to have encountered a very difficult thing, and in order not to cause trouble, she refused He Baozhen's request. But in the end, the sister-in-law still could not stand He Baozhen's bitter pleading, and decided to risk her life to help cover Liu Yunruo.
When He Baozhen heard this, she was finally relieved, as if she had completed the last thing in her life, she looked at her young son and said to her sister-in-law: "You can rest assured, in a few days someone will come to pick him up." ”
Just a few minutes after He Baozhen arranged for her son, the vicious enemy rushed into the He family, arrested He Baozhen and imprisoned her in the Shanghai Public Security Bureau. At this time, the enemy only suspected that He Baozhen was a communist, but did not clearly grasp the evidence that could prove her identity, so they used various means to force He Baozhen to explain all their situation.
However, He Baozhen only had the sentence "I am a teacher and my name is Wang Fenfang" from the beginning to the end, and the enemy spent half a day trying not to dig out half a useful piece of useful information from her mouth, so he had to send her to the Nanjing Constitutional Headquarters, and soon after transferred her to the Nanjing Model Prison.
Figure | He Baozhen (Portrait)
He Baozhen, who was imprisoned (líng yǔ), did not give up the struggle with the enemy, and in prison, she met Qian Ying (yīng), Shuai Mengqi, Geng Jianhua and other comrades, a group of loyal revolutionary youths gathered together, encouraged each other, and organized other refugee friends as much as possible to fight against the enemy under close supervision.
He Baozhen knew that if she wanted to pass on the news in prison, she had to have a good relationship with the guards, and after consultation with Shuai Mengqi and others, she was ready to take advantage of the opportunity to pull up family routines and help do things, and some female guards were close to each other, and when they relaxed their vigilance, they could more easily contact comrades in other cells.
This practice was so fruitful that a small organization was formed in this prison, which was full of enemy eyes.
On one occasion, Xiong Tianjing, an underground worker of our Party, was ordered to come to the model prison and try to establish contacts with the revolutionary comrades in prison. She cleverly entered the big prison in the name of visiting the prison, and as she passed the cell where the female prisoner was being held, Xiong Tianjing glanced at the guard in front of her and threw a piece of paper into it as quickly as possible.
Fortunately, the guards did not see what Xiong Tianjing had thrown into it, and he said loudly to his colleagues: "Key! Get the key for me! ”
Picture | Bear Tianjing
Another guard quickly pulled out a bunch of keys, found one of them, and opened the cell door. The female prisoners inside did not panic at all, each doing their own thing, some sitting on the ground combing their hair, some sitting on the toilet, and a beautiful woman humming a little song to coax the little doll.
The guards fished in and turned over all the places they could turn over, but in the end they found nothing. They looked at each other, apparently unwilling to die, and went to another cell to search. The female prisoner holding the doll looked out through the gap in the window, made sure that the guard had left, and then turned back to the victim and whispered, "Okay." ”
She is He Baozhen, who is imprisoned.
Just now He Baozhen had received the paper ball, but before he could open it, the guard shouted, in order to prevent the transmission of the news from being exposed, He Baozhen decisively threw the paper ball into the toilet bucket, and then hugged the doll in the arms of the victim and let her sit on the toilet bucket.
Another friend went to the window he Baozhen looked at the wind, and He Baozhen quickly read the contents of the note by the light coming through the window, and took advantage of the dinner in the evening to pass an important message to the male prisoner's cell according to the above requirements.
It is a pity that He Baozhen, who has done a good job in the revolutionary struggle in prison, has not been able to wait for the rescue of comrades outside the prison.
In the autumn of 1934, a masonic lesbian came to visit the prison, and He Baozhen managed to contact her and ask her to help a comrade who had just been released solve the family's difficulties after she went out.
At that time, she left with a full mouth of promises.
Picture | He Baozhen in the comic work
However, what He Baozhen did not expect was that this female comrade actually exposed her identity and was arrested by the enemy not long after going out. What was even more unfortunate was that she could not withstand the severe torture of the enemy, and not only told the information of the party organization she knew, but also confessed that the "Wang Fenfang" who was imprisoned in prison was He Baozhen, the head of the Mutual Aid Association.
The enemies were ecstatic and immediately interrogated He Baozhen. In order to force He Baozhen to confess all the information he knew, the enemy used all kinds of cruel punishments unimaginable to ordinary people, but He Baozhen never gave in.
The enemy saw that there was nothing he could do, and he could only threaten with his life in an attempt to force He Baozhen to obey: "Whether it is dead or alive, two roads are at your disposal, but you must remember that if you want to live, you must honestly say everything you know, otherwise there is only one way to die!" He Baozhen laughed contemptuously: "If you want to confess, you have to order me to have one." ”
She opened her eyes wide, forced her eyes to look at the ugly-looking jailers in front of her, and said loudly with all her strength: "Revolutionaries, you can't kill them!" ”
This martyred Communist, who finally spilled blood and rain, dedicated his young life to the great revolutionary cause.
Decades have passed, and the Nanjing Yuhuatai has been repeatedly washed by the rain, but the bright red blood of the heroes has dissolved into the bricks and stones of the Yuhuatai, and their noble character has been passed down from generation to generation and has lasted for a long time.