Why did Lu Han let Zhang Qun go privately during the Kunming uprising?

Article excerpt from: Century Style, author: Guo Chunxia. The copyright of the article belongs to the author, if there is any infringement, please contact to delete

　In December 1949, in the face of the powerful offensive of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the active struggle of many parties of our party, Lu Han, chairman of the Yunnan Provincial Government of the Kuomintang and director of the Yunnan "Appeasement" Office, put the national national righteousness first, led the uprising, and Kunming was peacefully liberated. However, in the course of the uprising, Lu Han, out of his arrogance, privately released Zhang Qun, a Kuomintang Class-A war criminal who had come to try to obstruct the uprising, which became a major regret in his righteous act.

The Luján couple

One

At the beginning of 1949, after three major battles, the Chinese People's Liberation Army had basically annihilated the main force of the Kuomintang army. On January 14, Mao Zedong, on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, issued a statement on the current situation, proposing eight terms for peace negotiations with the Kuomintang based on the complete elimination of reactionary forces. In the face of the powerful revolutionary forces, the local powerful faction in Yunnan, headed by Lu Han, chairman of the Kuomintang Yunnan Provincial Committee and director of the Yunnan "Appeasement" Office, soberly realized that the Kuomintang rule was about to collapse, and if they continued to follow Chiang Kai-shek, they would definitely be dead ended, and they must begin to find a way out for their own future. Lu Han immediately secretly sent people to Hong Kong to contact the South China Branch of the CPC Central Committee, learned about the policies and attitudes of the Communist Party toward the uprising of the Kuomintang troops, and expressed his desire for a peaceful uprising.

The CPC Central Committee attaches great importance to this and has made specific plans and arrangements. In April of the same year, Lu Han sent a special representative to Beiping to further explain to the leaders of the CPC Central Committee the political stand and attitude of Yunnan in preparing for a peaceful uprising.

In August 1949, the Chinese People's Liberation Army implemented the operational policy of great detour and great encirclement, and began to march on a large scale in south and southwest China. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek was in internal and external difficulties, and he understood that only by stabilizing Yunnan could he stabilize the southwest and establish an anti-communist base to lay the foundation for a future comeback. He flew from Taiwan to Chongqing specifically, and twice sent Yu Jishi, director of the attendant office, to Kunming to invite Lu Han to Chongqing to discuss the grand plan. After being rejected by Lu Han, he also offered to let his son Chiang Ching-kuo go to Kunming as a hostage, hoping that Lu Han would personally go to Chongqing. At the same time, Chiang Kai-shek also made two-handed plans, successively sending more troops to Gather in Yunnan, preparing to use force to solve Yunnan if the co-optation fails.

After a fierce ideological struggle, Lu Han weighed the pros and cons, believing that the immediate uprising had not yet arrived, and the Platon Army was far away for the time being, and it was difficult to deal with it for the time being, so it was better to seek perfection and venture to Chongqing. After Chiang Kai-shek met with Lu Han, while co-opting him and giving him money to the army, he also proposed to carry out a "rectification" of Kunming, and sent a large number of military command agents to wantonly search for communists and progressive elements in Kunming, in an attempt to slaughter the communists by Lu Han's hand, thus tying Lu Han to the chariot of the Kuomintang reactionary regime. Lu Han maintained a sober understanding of this, and on the one hand adopted a procrastinating approach, dealing with the agents of the military command to protect the arrested Communists, and on the other hand stepping up preparations for the uprising. Later, Mao Renfeng, the head of the military command, had to leave Kunming in a hurry due to the tense situation, and Lu Han took the opportunity to release all the arrested Communists.

In late November 1949, the People's Liberation Army entered the territory of Yunnan, and the troops rushed to kunming. Faced with this situation, Luhan could not sit still, believing that the uprising was imminent and setting the initial date of the uprising in early December.

Two

At a critical moment when Lu Han was preparing for the uprising, on December 7, Zhang Qun, then director of the Kuomintang Chongqing "Appeasement" Office, suddenly flew to Kunming on Chiang Kai-shek's orders.

Zhang Qun has an extraordinary relationship with Lu Han. It is said that when the warlord factions within the Kuomintang were fighting, Li Zongren and others used the pretext that Lu Han had different intentions toward the central authorities to use force to solve Lu Han, and it was Zhang Qun who saved Lu Han with his life and soul that enabled Lu Han to be saved. In 1948, in order to cater to Chiang Kai-shek's plot to make the southwest the last anti-communist base area, Zhang Qun volunteered to organize the Chongqing "Appeasement" Office. In this regard, Deng Xihou and others in Chuankang reacted coldly, which made Zhang Qun discouraged. When Lu Han learned of this, he immediately publicly declared his firm support for the establishment of the Chongqing "Appeasement" Office and supported Zhang Qun as its director. When others found out, they had to follow suit. Zhang Qun was naturally grateful to Lu Han for sending charcoal in the snow, so he always regarded Lu Han as his own person, and repeatedly spoke for Lu Han in front of Chiang Kai-shek.

After Zhang Qun arrived in Kunming, he repeated Chiang Kai-shek's plans to establish an anti-communist base in Yunnan. Faced with the imminent uprising, Lu Han was ready to stabilize Zhang Qun first, so he lied that everything in Kunming had been normal recently. Zhang Qun believed it to be true, and the next day he flew back to report to Chiang Kai-shek. But Zhang Qun still sensed the abnormality in Kunming from the clues, so he flew back to Kunming on the afternoon of December 9, knowing that as soon as he arrived in Kunming, he was picked up by Lu Han's new mansion, guarded by special personnel, and was actually monitored.

On the evening of the same day, Lu Han announced the uprising in Yunnan Province.

Three

After Zhang Qun heard the news of the uprising, he looked depressed and unwilling. After the offer to meet Luhan was rejected, he wrote a letter to Luhan requesting an interview and asked someone to forward it to Luhan.

At noon the next day, after Lu Han saw the letter, he couldn't bear it, and found the guard who was monitoring Zhang Qun and said: "Tell him, just say that I went to the front line, let him fly tomorrow." ”

When the Kunming underground organization of our party learned that Lu Han wanted to release Zhang Qun, he immediately made it clear: Zhang Qun is a Class-A war criminal and cannot be released, and if he wants to be released, he must also ask the central authorities to talk about it later. The generals around Luhan also advocated not letting go for the time being. But Luján insisted on letting go.

On the morning of December 11, Zhang Qun arrived at Kunming Wujiaba Airport under the escort of Lu Han's dispatch, preparing to take a plane licensed by Lu Han to Hong Kong. However, the officer guarding the airport did not allow the plane to take off because he did not see Luhan's warrant.

Zhang Qun was placed in the airport lounge, waiting for the result of the request. Soon, Luján sent his men to the airfield, showed his warrant to the officer guarding the airport in person, and allowed the plane to take off.

Due to the urgency of the incident, before the special take-off order was conveyed to the guard unit, the plane hurriedly slid onto the runway, and when the plane took off, the guard troops around the airport opened fire on the plane, Zhang Qun was scared out of a cold sweat, but finally escaped by chance.

The Kunming Uprising was a great act of righteousness in Lu Han's life, but in the process of the uprising, this undeserved thing happened, which became a major regret in this important righteous act.