In April 1956, Chairman Mao mentioned in "On the Ten Great Relations": "Even the captured war criminals Xuantong Emperor and Kang Ze will not be killed." ”
As we all know, "On the Relations of the Ten Great Powers" is one of Chairman Mao's most important works. How could Kang Ze be mentioned in such an important work and compared with the last emperor Puyi?
<h1>First, the "out of favor" Kangze</h1>
On July 1, 1948, Kang Ze, commander of the 15th Appeasement District of the Kuomintang, was happily celebrating his 44th birthday in Xiangyang City, with wine ponds and meat forests, guests and guests; local celebrities performed birthday celebration programs, a lively and brilliant party. Suddenly, Dong Yisan, the major general in charge of intelligence, quickly stepped in and said in Kang Ze's ear: "Report commander, just received a call from Laohekou, the PLA troops have attacked us, the war is extremely fierce, please ask the commander to quickly send reinforcements." Although the war somewhat upset Kang Ze's birthday feast, he was not worried, because Chiang Kai-shek sent him to Xiangyang, mainly to deal with the Communist Party's Tongbai Military Region and the Southern Shaanxi Military Region, and to clamp down on Dabie Mountain.
He had no idea that after only half a month, he would become a prisoner of the People's Liberation Army that was "sent to the door"!
Kang Ze, a native of Anyue, Sichuan, graduated from the third phase of Huangpu, studied in the Soviet Union, was a classmate of Chiang Ching-kuo, and later became a representative figure of the Huangpu Department, helping Chiang Kai-shek to establish the Lixing Society- The Revival Society- the Three Youth League. In 1931, Kang Ze reported to Chiang Kai-shek for approval to establish the so-called Nanchang Xingying Special Action Corps, with Kang Ze as the commander-in-chief of the major general, which was used by Chiang Kai-shek during the suppression of the Communist Party in Jiangxi. In the base areas once established by the Red Army, Kangze's Special Forces Were particularly active, wantonly slandering the Communist Party and communism, and combining with the reactionary forces in the Soviet union, they arbitrarily searched and arrested Communists and progressives, and even secretly tortured and murdered people, and tried their best to destroy the ccp's underground organization. Kang Ze's Einsatzgruppen could not count how many party members and patriots had been killed. Our party and the masses of the people in jiangxi's Soviet area hate it to the bone. Because Kang Ze repeatedly built "special honors", he often received praise and praise from Chiang Kai-shek and was deeply favored. Kang Ze and Dai Kasa were therefore known as the "Second Duke of Kang Dai" of the Kuomintang.
Commander Liu Bocheng and Political Commissar Deng Xiaoping said before launching the Xiangfan Campaign: Kang Ze was Chiang Kai-shek's confidant and cadre general, and now that the northeast and eastern China are fighting lively, we are taking advantage of the gap to attack the enemy in Xiangfan, which is equivalent to "in the mutual containment of the main forces of the two sides, I took the opportunity to drill in the air and shoot a basket with one person." ”
However, Kang Ze in 1948 can hardly be said to be a confidant of Chiang Kai-shek, and he "fell out of favor". The reason for the fall of favor is the expansion of power. Zhang Zhizhong, secretary of the Three Youth League, understood that at this time Chiang Kai-shek wanted to hand over the Three Youth League to Chiang Ching-kuo, and Kang Ze did not know the current affairs until Chiang Kai-shek angrily rebuked him for "controlling the rebellion of the Youth League" and was arranged to "go abroad for investigation." It was easy to go abroad and it was difficult to return to China, and the old Chiang did not let him come back until more than a year later, in 1947, under the pretext of attending the Third Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee (he was still a member of the Central Executive Committee), he cut first and then played, and "Lai" came back. At this session, he became a member of the Standing Committee of the Kuomintang Central Committee.
It seems that the position is still rising, but at the end of the year, an unexpected order came: Chiang Kai-shek appointed Kang Ze as the commander of the fifteenth appeasement district, stationed in Xiangyang. Although Kang Ze was a graduate of Huangpu, he did not have the experience of commanding the army and fighting on the front line for more than twenty years, and the situation at that time was in the eyes of everyone. Kang Ze recalled that Chiang Kai-shek gave an opening speech at the meeting, and mentioned that "the main force of the communist army will be destroyed within three months.", and some people in the audience muttered: "It is another three months." Guan Linzheng, who was sitting in the front two rows of Kang Ze, handed over a note: "It's all a lie, bragging!" ”
Military orders were difficult to violate, and although Kang Ze delayed it again and again, he also got Xiangyang to take office. Before leaving, he went to visit Zhang Zhizhong, but he did not expect Zhang Zhizhong to speak in a cold heart. Zhang Zhizhong said: It was my idea to let you go to the Appeasement Zone, and I suggested to him (Chiang Kai-shek), "Now the Communist Party is making a lot of trouble, like He Zhihan and Kang Ze, give them a place to go and fight with the Communist Party, so that they will not complain in Nanjing." ”
<h1>Second, Wang Hongkun "let xian" Wang Jinshan</h1>
Sun Tzu's Art of War says, "He who desires the same thing from top to bottom wins." "Kang Ze to Xiangyang, from the beginning is up and down centrifugal. Chiang Kai-shek repeatedly urged Kang Ze to take up his post, promising Kang Ze in person that the 60th Brigade, the 203rd Division, and the 85th Division and the 20th Division could all be transferred to Xiangyang under your command. Kang Ze came to the third hall of the Ministry of National Defense, and the reply he got was: the order can be issued, but these troops cannot arrive for a while. "When I heard him (the Ministry of Defense) say this, my heart was half cold."
Since ancient times, Xiangyang has been a place of contention for soldiers. Jin Yong's archery hero Guo Jing and his wife, who stubbornly defended Xiangyang, both died in battle. Wuxia novels are fictional, and the fact is that the late Song dynasty official Lü Wenhuan and others fought against the Yuan here for 6 years. The Flooded Seventh Army of Guangong is Fancheng, which is across the water from Xiangyang. Xiangyang is surrounded by the Han River on three sides, and there are mountain peaks in the south and west as a barrier, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack.
The troops guarding Xiangyang were mainly the Sichuan Army. Kang Ze then came to the "First God of War of the Sichuan Army" - Guo Xunqi. This Guo Xunqi was very famous, he was once a subordinate of Liu Bocheng, served as Chen Yi's superior, and saved Chen Yi. In the first battle after the Zunyi Conference: the Battle of Tucheng, the Red Army was defeated at the hands of Guo Xunqi, so it had to cross the Chishui River in four directions and detour through Yunnan and western Sichuan before joining the Red Fourth Front.
Kang Ze and his party went to Wuhan, and on the pretext of uneven communication equipment and weapons, they dragged on for several months, until February 1, 1948, when Kang Ze, Guo Xunqi and other commanders flew to Xiangyang.
Kangze's opponents, the Central Plains Field Army and the Tongbai Military Region, are determined to make a "drill shot", coach Liu Bocheng; the "pitcher" is Wang Hongkun, commander of the Tongbai Military Region! In June 1948, the People's Liberation Army marched to Xiangfan and launched the first phase of the campaign: to capture Laohekou and Gucheng, northwest of Xiangyang. The battle was not very difficult, and the main point was to intercept the Kuomintang troops in these two places and prevent them from running back to Xiangyang to strengthen its defenses. The battle began on 2 July and ended on the 3rd. The 12th Brigade of Southern Shaanxi, which penetrated south of Gucheng to cut off the enemy's retreat route, made a head start.
Kang Ze in Xiangyang City had no confidence in the defense of laohekou, because the 104th brigade of Laohekou was "all new recruits, and the flight was very large, and the combat effectiveness could not be said." When he first came to Xiangyang, he had three brigades in his hand, and the most capable of fighting was the reorganized 23rd Brigade, but unexpectedly, just over a month later, this brigade was transferred. In desperation, Kang Ze hurriedly asked the agreed 163rd Brigade to be transferred back to Xiangyang from Henan, which gave him some confidence. Defending Xiangyang, KangZe's confidence comes from geographical advantages: in history, Xiangyang City was successful in laying down Hutou Mountain from the south, overlooking the city walls, and now Nanshan has a large number of watchtowers, bunkers, and traffic ditches, and the People's Liberation Army only has 4 mountain cannons, one of which is still bad, and there is nothing to do with these fortifications.
Unfortunately, he was not only facing Wang Hongkun, but the main force participating in the Xiangfan Campaign was the Sixth Column, and the commander was the famous "Wang Crazy Maniac" Wang Jinshan. Some people say that Wang Jinshan is the prototype of Li Yunlong in "Bright Sword", and his iron fans on the Internet are innumerable. This is not unusual. The most convincing thing is that Wang Hongkun, Wang Jinshan's old superior, once made a strange request to Liu Deng: Let Wang Jinshan be the commander of the Tenth Column and make him a political commissar himself. The reason is that Wang Jinshan can fight. Wang Hongkun was actually willing to let Xian, I think this is the greatest respect and affirmation of Wang Jinshan!
Facing Xiangyang, Wang Hongkun and Wang Jinshan had a unique path, not attacking Hutou Mountain to the south, but aiming at a narrow corridor to the west. A good drama of "knife splitting three levels" is about to be staged!
<h1>Three, six vertical and three tigers</h1>
The route of the six-column attack was from the Han River and Pipa Mountain and Zhenwu to the west gate of Xiangyang. "There are no weak soldiers under the strong generals", And Wang Jinshan's "six columns and three tigers" - You Taizhong of the 116th Brigade, Li Desheng of the 117th Brigade, and Xiao Yongyin of the 118th Brigade. To whom is this task entrusted? Wang Jinshan deliberately asked the three brigade commanders, "Who is the main attacker?" Li Desheng immediately stood up and said, "The Seventeenth Brigade is the main attacker!" Wang Jinshan signaled the other two brigade commanders not to "rob", the Seventeenth Brigade was responsible for opening the west gate, the Sixteenth Brigade rushed into the city to expand the results, and the Eighteenth Brigade went to attack the East Gate. In fact, Wang Jinshan had long thought of handing over the task of attacking the stronghold to Li Desheng: "Li Desheng is good at tackling tough problems, let him take the initiative to ask for battle, and if he stands up and asks for it, he will do everything he can to complete the task even if he fights for his life." ”
War is brutal. The Kuomintang army occupied a geographical advantage and had the advantage of weapons. Attacking the city and pulling out the wall is bound to pay a blood price. Kang Ze also had a card in his hand, that is, there was a chemical mortar company. It was so powerful that it sent out a sea of fire, and the smoke was poisonous.
Before Xiangyang could fight, the Nationalist army guarding the city made a joke. It was the morning of July 6, kang ze was calling a meeting of his subordinates, when suddenly the north gate garrison reported that hundreds of ships on the Han River were coming from Fancheng to Xiangyang. One of the people who attended the meeting exploded. Some people say that "shoot and shoot, and the ship is not allowed to come closer"; some people say that "we can make a decision after finding out the situation"; some people say: "If the situation is found out and then fight, I am afraid it will be too late!" At the moment of the tongue-in-cheek conversation, the North Gate called and said that the 164th Brigade had retreated from Fancheng on the orders of deputy commander Guo Xunqi. Guo Xunqi firmly denied this: "I called them to stick to Fancheng, how can they retreat?" No, no, no, tell them to go back, hurry back, there must be no mistakes! Although the 164th Brigade was reluctant, it returned to Fancheng. Whether Deputy Commander Guo's order was wrong, or whether the 164th Brigade was frightened by the People's Liberation Army attacking Fancheng, is unknown.
In fact, contradictions are everywhere. During the attack on Xiangyang, Wang Jinshan had a quarrel with the people. Originally, the strategy of attacking Xiangyang was to "attack the city and not the mountain", but I did not expect that the 12th Brigade of Southern Shaanxi, which pretended to attack Nanshan, would really attack Hutou Mountain. Wang Hongkun hastened to inform Wang Jinshan that Liu Jinxuan, commander of the Southern Shaanxi Military Region, should stop attacking the mountain. Commander Liu did not do it, saying that in order to attack the city, he must lay down the hill. Before this was over, Commander Liu turned over the old accounts again, saying that during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he and Wang Jinshan attacked the Japanese strongholds, Liu had to attack the mountains first and then attack the strongholds, and Wang Jinshan had to attack the strongholds first and then attack the mountains; in the end, according to Wang Jinshan's opinion, he suffered a big loss. Wang Jinshan was an arrogant man, and this remark poked at his sore spot, saying to Wang Hongkun: "I will not do it, I will not command, withdraw the troops!" "Wang Hongkun hurriedly told Liu Jinxuan, don't fight Hutou Mountain, you quickly transfer the team to the east, I asked the Tongbai Twenty-eighth Brigade to make room for you."
The problem was resolved smoothly because the Communists had faith and discipline, and quarreled in order to fight a good war.
<h1>Fourth, "three passes of the sword", the soldiers came to the city</h1>
On July 9, Li Desheng led the 17th Brigade to launch an offensive against Pipa Mountain. After a fierce battle, The Biwa Mountain was occupied, and the regimental commander stepped on the thunder and died. Then hit the second level of Zhenwu Mountain, everyone learned the lesson, fought more smoothly, and won Zhenwu Mountain on the 11th. The last level of the Iron Buddha Temple, which is close to the wall of Xiangyang, must be both brave and hidden, so as not to let the enemy blow up the bridge on the moat. By digging trenches, the troops approached the Tiefo Temple, occupied it after a fierce battle, and incidentally occupied the Tongji Hospital next to it. On the 13th, Li Desheng had just walked out of the hidden place, and a bomb blew up a large pit in the hidden part that he had just stayed in, and Li Desheng was almost killed in one step. On the 14th, the Seventeenth Brigade took control of the West Gate Stone Bridge, and at this point, the "three passes of knife splitting" were successful.
Li Desheng's seventeenth brigade inserted into the west gate, and the defensive troops arranged by Kang Ze on the south mountain suddenly fell into the air, like outstretched arms, and the gap under the ribs was huge, so it was better to take it back. So Chiang Kai-shek personally called twice and asked Kang Ze to shrink the entire team back to the city to stand for help -- President Chiang Kai-shek "micro-exercised" to the brigade level, which was really tiring! Kang Ze felt that this was a clear instruction that should be carried out, so he completed the transfer on the afternoon of the 14th, and concentrated the 164th Brigade defending Fancheng across the Han River to Xiangyang City. At this time, Guo Xunqi volunteered and said: "Several brigades have been transferred into the city, and it is necessary to set up a city defense commander and unify the command, and I am willing to come to this errand." It seems that the People's Liberation Army said that Kang Ze was at odds with Guo Xunqi of the Sichuan Army, but in fact, it was the same as saying that Kang Ze was "deeply favored by Chiang Kai-shek", and some intelligence was inaccurate.
Li Desheng and son Li Heping
At 8:30 p.m. on July 15, the general offensive began. "Snap" two red and one green signal bombs lifted off. Wang Jinshan gave Li Desheng the remaining 92 shells of the entire column, and blasted open the opening in the western city wall, and the commanders and fighters braved the rain of bullets and bullets to burst into the city. The seventeenth brigade completed its mission, and the sixteenth brigade You Taizhong took over and advanced to the depths.
When the Seventeenth Brigade was in the midst of a fierce battle at Mount Pipa and Mount Zhenwu, Xiao Yongyin and the Eighteenth Brigade quietly bypassed Wenbi Peak at the eastern foot of the South Mountain and threatened the Dongguan in Xiangyang, and after the West Gate was opened, it immediately attacked the city from the East Gate, and first arrived at Kangze's command post: Yang Family Ancestral Hall.
<h1>Fifth, under the heavy reward, there is no brave man</h1>
Kang Ze's heart was desperate. On the morning of the 16th, he went up to the watchtower to see that there were people in different costumes walking around the city wall, and he realized that the city had fallen. In the morning, I received a telegram from Chiang Kai-shek: "At this time of hardship and danger, it is precisely the time to temper courage, and the future cause will also take this as the starting point." At noon, another telegram was received, saying that the reinforcements originally scheduled to depart from Hankou on the 16th would take 20 days to leave. Many years later, Kang Ze, who was at the Gongdelin War Criminals Management Center, said to Shen Drunk, who was giving him a haircut, "Bai Chongxi originally promised to send the reorganized Seventh Division to the rescue, but the speed of this division's march said that they were slower than the turtles. ”
Kang Ze used a "trick". Deputy Commander Guo Xunqi shouted to the soldiers in the compound of the headquarters: Brothers, reinforcements will arrive soon, and those who hold the headquarters will be rewarded with a reward of 100,000 yuan! After saying that, he took the banknote out in public, began to pay back the points, and then took it himself. It is useless to hit the "strong shot", along with the "gun not kill!" around it. "Surrender and don't fight!" The Kuomintang army did not want to fight, so they elected Dong Yisan to talk to Kang Ze, and everyone surrendered together. Dong Yisan found Kang Ze in the tunnel and found him wearing a steel helmet and sitting cross-legged, like an old monk. Dong Yisan said that sending people to handle "negotiations" was "very unpleasant", saying: "How can the two sides send people to contact each other in a short period of time, even if they send people?" Dong Yisan said: We can pull up the white sheet, and the People's Liberation Army will not fight when it sees it. Kang Ze said you should go to Deputy Commander Guo. Guo Xunqi stubbornly resisted to the end: "The reinforcements will arrive soon, tomorrow will arrive, and if the brothers persist, until tomorrow, there will be a way." Guo Xunqi came to the tunnel and said to Kang Ze: "Now there is only to stick to it, there is no other way." Kang Ze was very satisfied with the attitude of Deputy Commander Guo. Guo Xunqi said to Kang Ze road: The tunnel is very dangerous, let's go to the second floor of the watchtower, where it is safe.
Finally, the rest of the people were trapped in the tower, firing guns from the firing holes. At this time, a grenade was thrown from the firing hole and landed in front of Kang Ze, who was hit by shrapnel in the head, his flesh and blood were blurred, fortunately wearing a steel helmet, and he was not killed.
<h1>Sixth, capture Kang Ze alive and send him to the central government</h1>
Upon hearing that the three brigades of the Sixth Column had burst into Xiangyang City, Wang Hongkun first did one thing: sleep. "I felt that the victory in the battle was imminent, and I breathed a long sigh of relief, and as soon as I lay down, I fell asleep."
The Battle of Xiangfan, known as one of the "Five Road Victories", was praised by Zhu De as a "small model battle". In addition to Liu Bocheng's "coaching", Wang Hongkun's "brain" is unique, and he also benefits from Wang Jinshan's powerful arm. Wang Madman is not a reckless man who can only fight hard, he summed up the characteristics of the three brigades under his command, which is accurate and sophisticated, and can be said to be a command textbook: "Li Desheng can fight a hard battle, he is not afraid of suffering, he is not afraid of evil, and the task is entrusted to him, then he is like an old cow on the top of the frame, and he cannot shrink back." ...... You Taizhong's fighting wit and flexibility, division and interspersed, end enemy headquarters, street battles, and hole digging are all tricks. Xiao Yongyin fought a 'slippery' war, his Eighteenth Brigade you don't have to worry about how far you put it, he can't afford to lose, chasing the enemy to expand the results of the battle is his characteristic, known as sweeping eight hundred miles. As soon as the enemy flees, you let the Eighteenth Brigade go up, and without giving orders, he can even capture the enemy coachman and cook, and don't even think about slipping away! ”
Chiang Kai-shek in Nanjing, knowing that Xiangyang was irretrievable, affirmed: "The Kang Ze I know will not be captured, and it is likely that he will become a hero like Zhang Lingfu." Similarly, the PLA is worried about Kang Ze's "Cheng Ren." There is a reason for both sides to have such an idea. Because in the thirties when Kangze was at its most beautiful, as the commander-in-chief of the Einsatzgruppen, this Hitler SS-type team, in the Soviet zone, to check the scattered Red Army cadres, soldiers, and family members, and to arrest members of the peasant association, his cold-blooded cruelty was even worse than that of ordinary troops, and it can be said that his hands were covered with the blood of communists.
Unfortunately, both sides overestimate Kangze's "enlightenment." The Fifty-fourth Regiment of the Eighteenth Brigade rushed into the enemy headquarters and knocked out Kang Ze in the pile of dead men. The military doctor bandaged Kang Ze's wounds, and Xiao Yongyin went to see him, and saw him sitting crooked on a bed made of straw, saying to Xiao Yongyin in a thick Sichuan dialect: "You see, am I going to be crippled?" Xiao Yongyin immediately "announced the good news" to Wang Jinshan: Kang Ze would not commit suicide, because "he was worried about being crippled, and he was reluctant to die." ”
Chairman Mao attached great importance to the capture of Kang Ze alive, and specially sent a telegram to Liu Deng: "Send Kang Ze to North China, and send reliable armed personnel and shackles to deliver it properly." Liu Deng immediately forwarded it to Liu Zhong: "Send the living Kang Ze to the central government." Because Chairman Mao once said that "the two main culprits of the collapse of the Soviet zone were Chiang Kai-shek and Kang Ze." There is no forgiveness for Kangze. The troops even rumored that Chairman Mao was going to personally shoot Kang Ze.
However, after Kang Ze was sent to the Central Committee, Chairman Mao did not kill him, but only imprisoned him as a war criminal for reform.
Kang Ze and our party have a bloody feud, and the relatives of countless commanders and fighters have died at his hands, so why did Chairman Mao refuse to kill him? Chairman Mao himself explained the reason: not to kill them is not to have no murder, but to kill them is unfavorable. One is to kill one, you have to kill two, and many heads have to land. Second, if you kill someone, you can't correct your mistakes. The third is that after killing, there is a bad reputation for killing prisoners. Fifth, all counter-revolutionaries should be given a way out of life, so that they can have the opportunity to rehabilitate themselves. Doing so will be beneficial to the people's cause and to the international impact. Chairman Mao also read Kang Ze's confession materials by name. You wrote the article of the Revival Society, and pointed out: Kang Ze confessed his sins thoroughly, confessed his guilt deeply, and the significance of reforming a secret service leader is no less than transforming an last emperor.
Chairman Mao said a lot, and this was to explain it to the broad masses of Party members. Some modern scholars have summed it up in one sentence: Magnanimity is the arrogance of a new regime.
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Editor's Profile: Wang Zhengxing, former officer of a field unit of the People's Liberation Army, has served in infantry detachments, headquarters, logistics departments and other units, is committed to the study of war history and tactics, and has a unique understanding of military tactics and non-war operations. His book "This is War" was recommended in two issues in May and June 2014 by Phoenix TV's "Eight Minutes of Open Volume" column. His public account name is also "This is war", welcome to pay attention