On July 28, 1937, General Zhao Dengyu died heroically in the Nanyuan Anti-Japanese Defense War. There are several theories about Zhao Dengyu's sacrifice, one is that it is near the Yellow Pavilion west of the Dahongmen, the second is in Tianluozhuang near the Dahongmen, and the third is the Yuhe Bridge near the Dahongmen. Which of these three statements is correct? Combined with the historical data, the author has searched these three places and found a more accurate expression.
Zhao Dengyu
According to records, Zhao Dengyu was the commander of the 132nd Division of the Twenty-ninth Army at that time, stationed in Hejian . Two days before the Battle of Nanyuan, he was appointed commander of the Nanyuan garrison. Zhao Dengyu was ordered to march to Nanyuan in a hurry. On July 28, 1937, under the heavy artillery fire of the Japanese army, the Chinese army decided to move to Dahongmen, and Zhao Dengyu arranged a cavalry brigade to withdraw to the city first, and the losses of this unit were relatively small. At that time, when arranging the transfer to Feng Hongguo (Feng Yuxiang's eldest son) of the military training regiment, Feng asked him which way to take? He replied: Tianluozhuang. This was heard by the Japanese agent Zhou Sizhen, who was hidden in the Twenty-ninth Army, and he immediately reported to the Japanese army by telephone, and the Japanese army quickly dispatched the army to set up an ambush in Tianluozhuang. Zhao Dengyu's car, protected by a truck with guards in front and behind, when the army marched to Tianluozhuang, it was fiercely fired by Japanese machine guns, Zhao Dengyu heroically resisted, and charged at the enemy position, in the confrontation, he and most of the guards were martyred. The Japanese army searched for orders given to him by Song Zheyuan from him to confirm his identity.
This is the origin of the sacrifice in Tianluozhuang. So where is Tianluozhuang? Tianluozhuang was under the jurisdiction of Daxing County at the time of the Japanese invasion of China, and there is a "Map of Daxing County of Hebei Province" in the "Geographical Names of Daxing County in Beijing" from the Republic of China period, and the name of Tianluozhuang Village near Dahongmen. Due to the density of villages and the limited layout in the map of Daxing County, 92 villages are displayed numerically. A dozen villages in the Dahongmen area are displayed with numbers, and Tianluozhuang is displayed with the number 8. From the historical map (partial) of Daxing County, the trunk road on the east side of Tianluozhuang is Dahongmen South Road, and the railway on the west side of Tianluozhuang is the Jingyuan small train line. Tianluozhuang is separated from the more famous local ruins, the Yellow Pavilion, by a train track.
Schematic diagram of Zhao Dengyu's sacrifice place Gao Shiliang's painting
In that year, the Japanese army drew a map of the battle near Tianluozhuang, and there was a more detailed text description, and the map mentioned Tianluozhuang many times to illustrate the importance of this place. Because Tianluozhuang is adjacent to the Yellow Pavilion, there is also a very widely spread saying: Zhao Dengyu died in the Yellow Pavilion. Huangtingzi refers to the Fu Zifan Tomb Shinto Monument Pavilion, originally named Huang pavilion, which was changed to Huang Pavilion after the founding of New China. Fu Zifan was an important general in the late Qing Dynasty, who participated in the Sino-Japanese War and the defense of Weihaiwei. In the eighth year of the Republic of China (1919), Fu Zifan died. After Fu Zifan's death, his son Fu Liangzuo (a general in the Republic of China Army) repeatedly mediated and buried his father about 2 kilometers southwest of the Dahong Gate in Nanyuan. The Yellow Pavilion is the stele pavilion of the Shinto Stele of the Fu Zifan Cemetery (covered with yellow glazed tiles), and the cemetery is about 200 meters west of the Yellow Pavilion.
Today, the tomb of Fu Zifan is located in the courtyard of the Huangtingzi Hotel on the west side of Dahongmen South Road, and there are many relics, which are cultural protection units in Fengtai District. The stele pavilion has long ceased to exist, and the place name of "Yellow Pavilion" still exists. It can be seen that the place where Zhao Dengyu sacrificed in those years was in the middle of the current Dahongmen South Road, and Tianluozhuang and Huangtingzi were close to this road. Therefore, Zhao Dengyu's statement that he sacrificed himself in Tianluozhuang or Huang Tingzi is correct. It should be pointed out that Tianluozhuang is a small natural village formed after the reclamation of Nanyuan in the late Qing Dynasty, and later merged into Jiujingzhuang, Tianluozhuang as a village no longer exists, so for the location of Tianluozhuang, many people are not clear, and even feel unfamiliar with this place name, the author suggests not to use Zhao Dengyu sacrificed in Tianluozhuang. The statement that Zhao Dengyu sacrificed in the Yellow Pavilion is more appropriate, and the name of the Yellow Pavilion has always been louder, and it is also very close to the place of his sacrifice, so that it is easier to be remembered.
The author once interviewed Zhang Fuxiang, secretary of the general party branch of Dahongmen Village, and said that after Zhao Dengyu's sacrifice, the Japanese army admired Zhao Dengyu very much, and after burying Zhao Dengyu, the Japanese army also erected a tall wooden sign in the cemetery. The third theory is that Zhao Dengyu was sacrificed near the Yuhe Bridge (some write it as the Yuhe Bridge). Where is this place? The Royal River refers to the Liangshui River, and the Royal River Bridge refers to the Dahongmen Stone Bridge. The Liangshui River is north of dahongmen, and during the Kangxi Dynasty, a stone bridge was built on the Liangshui River, named Yongsheng Bridge. Dahongmen is about 2 kilometers away from Huangtingzi and Tianluozhuang. Zhao Dengyu's claim that he died near the Royal River Bridge is inaccurate, and there are many places in Beijing that call the Royal River Bridge, which is easy to confuse. If you look at it from the big place name, you can use the saying that "Zhao Dengyu died near the Big Red Gate".