As we all know, during the period of the agrarian revolution, the level of education of Party members was generally not high, especially in the Red Army. Under such circumstances, Zhang Guotao, a graduate of Peking University, one of the student leaders of the May Fourth Movement, a major party representative, and one of the three members of the first Central Bureau of the CPC, along with Chen Duxiu and Li Da, was not only old enough, but also one of the big intellectuals in the party.
However, a high degree of education does not necessarily mean that you are truly talented, and you must be talented and virtuous. This problem is particularly obvious in Zhang Guotao's body, and it is not an exaggeration to describe him with a human face and a beast heart.
In April 1931, the Party Central Committee sent Zhang Guotao to the Eyu-Anhui Soviet District to preside over the work. This was the second largest Soviet region in the country after the Central Soviet Region at that time, and it was established by many pioneers after hardships and hardships. However, at the beginning of Zhang Guotao's dismounting, out of the need to seize actual control and establish personal authority, he completely denied the work in the Soviet area and vigorously engaged in the "cruel struggle and ruthless attack" system.
He particularly seized on the fact that most of the original leaders in the Eyu-Anhui Soviet Region came from landlord families, declaring that the Party in the Soviet Area was not a Communist Party, and there was no Communist Party in the Red Army. Not long after he arrived, he made the vigorous Eyu-Anhui Su District a miasma of smoke.
Zeng Zhongsheng, Xu Jishen, Zhou Weiju, Xiao Fang, Jiang Jingtang, Xiong Shouhuo, and others who were leaders of the Red 4 Army and division at the same time, disapproved of Zhang Guotao's words and deeds, repeatedly put forward opinions in accordance with the principles of organization, and always tried to resist or adapt some of his erroneous instructions, in order to minimize the losses caused to the revolution. Zhang Guotao felt that this was Chengxin and he was working against him, so he held a grudge in his heart and prepared to find an excuse to take these people out of a pot.
Soon after, Zeng Guangqing, one of the thirteen Taibao of the Revival Society, sent two agents from Huangpu Phase 6 to bring a letter of persuasion written in Chinese to Xu Jishen of Huangpu Phase 1. Xu Jishen did not say a word after receiving the letter, and handed over the letter and the two messengers to the Red 4 Army Headquarters. This is a frank act, how can anyone who really has two hearts do it? But for Zhang Guotao, who was preparing to find stubble, this was simply a handle that fell from the sky. On the one hand, he instructed the Political Protection Bureau to "force, confess, and write" to the two agents who sent letters, induce them to record the confessions they wanted, and sat on Xu Jishen's "collusion with the Kuomintang long ago and was preparing to pull the Red Army against the water"; on the other hand, he sent Chen Changhao to take over the post of political commissar of the Zeng Zhongsheng Red 4 Army.
After Chen Changhao took office, he immediately arrested Xu Jishen, Xiong Shouhuo, Ke Baiyuan, Pan Fufo, Ding Chao, Gao Jiandou, Feng Jun, Wang Ming, Wei Mengxian, and 30 other commanders at or above the regimental level. After being severely tortured, it was announced to the outside world that a counter-revolutionary group had been dug up, and the scope of arrest was expanded, and Zhou Weiju, Xiao Fang, Jiang Jingtang, and other commanders at and above the division level were also arrested.
However, after arresting so many middle and senior commanders, there must be a convincing reason, right? After all, these middle and senior commanders who created the situation in the Eyu-Anhui Soviet Zone had a high prestige among the Red Army and the people in the Soviet Union. This was not difficult for Zhang Guotao, a talented man from Peking University, who personally translated the letter of persuasion from Zeng Yanqing into vernacular and published it in the newspapers and periodicals of the Soviet Region.
The original text that currently exists is written like this:
Following the guidance of my brother:
Formerly by Comrade Zhong Jun, Bong Shu My Brother, Fortunate Hochana, admired Wuji! When Bide Chung returned to his order, he presented the school seat in detail and was approved to do so. The son who is creeping back, the parents only have tears and pity, or even hurt themselves and do not care about it, but they would rather bear to blame their son! Heaven for the heavens, filial piety for the sons. There is no goodbye, but return. Though it is a thousand miles, the heart rejoices. Comrade Zhong Jun, who only needs to take the name of the defensive land, goes to Gan to ask for instructions for the school seat to take care of himself. The school seat returned to Beijing to be decided, so for a while it could not be revealed to the ear, and Gu Wu's brother did not worry about it. Looking around at the clouds, my heart was tired. Zhu Xi cherished himself, waited for favors, and praised Rong An!
The vernacular translated by Zhang Guotao himself is like this:
Is Brother Jishen okay?
The previous time, Comrade Zhong Jun took a letter to my brother, and my brother read it and agreed with my opinion, which really made me admire it very much. I immediately reported in detail to His Excellency President Jiang and accepted his instructions from the old man that I would contact you next. The principal said that the prodigal son who honestly climbed back, his parents would only shed tears of more pity, and where would they bear to blame him.
If you take a quick look, you can't say that Zhang Guotao's translation is wrong, but the subtlety of Chinese language and writing lies in the slight difference in context, and the meaning and emotion expressed may be completely different.
For example, the 6 words "my brother is unharmed" are originally clichés in the text, whether it is for friends or enemies, they can be used. As a graduate of Peking University, Zhang Guotao could not not understand, but he translated it into such an emotionally intimate word as "Brother is it good?", which made many grassroots commanders and fighters of the Red Army who had little culture have a preconceived subjective impression when they listened.
In fact, in the back of the Whampoa Military Academy, the phrase "The son who creeps back to the house, the parents only have tears and pity, or they hurt themselves and do not take care of their ears, and they would rather bear to blame their son!" It was Zeng's exhortation, but Zhang Guotao literally installed the word "principal" and became what Chiang Kai-shek himself said. In this translation, the nature changes.
It is really worthy of being the director of the speech department of the Beijing Students Federation, who knows how to talk to capture people's hearts, and knows how to write down and put people to death. Taking this letter as an opportunity, he concentrated all the Red 4th Army in Baique Garden, Guangshan County, Henan Province, and personally presided over a campaign aimed at physically eliminating dissidents.
Although none of the commanders of the Red 4 Army arrested and tortured admitted to the false accusations imposed on their heads, this did not prevent Zhang Guotao from killing people. However, after all, he was weak-minded and did not dare to execute people in public, so he could only secretly instruct the relevant personnel to strangle Xu Jishen, Zhou Weijiong and others with ropes in the huts of the security organs. Because he was worried that Xu Jishen's descendants would seek revenge on him, he did not even spare Xu Jishen's pregnant wife, Wang Wangchun, and instructed his subordinates to behead Wang Wangchun to cut the grass and remove the roots.
As for the other middle and senior commanders of the Red 4 Army who were arrested for no reason, they were tortured to the end, and finally shot, beheaded, buried alive, hanged, and there were all ways to die. According to statistics, the Total Number of Red Army and Local Cadres Killed by Zhang Guotao was more than 2,500 in baiqueyuan. The cadres at all levels of the Red 4 Army, except for a few who were spared, were almost all wiped out, and among the cadres of the 12 regiments of the main 4 divisions, only a handful of them were Ni Zhiliang and Wang Shusheng, and the others were arrested and killed. Even Xu Xiangqian, who didn't speak much and could not talk about offending Zhang Guotao, was almost poisoned by Zhang Guotao. Although he eventually gave up because there were few senior generals left to fight, Xu Xiangqian's wife Cheng Xunxuan, who was a guard in the Red 4 Army, was killed by Zhang Guotao.
After this movement, it was the great promotion, and Zhang Guotao, a great intellectual, particularly favored the promotion of workers and peasant cadres who had little culture and simple minds, but were brave in battle. Without him, the big old man is just good at control.
The author of this article: forgetfulness, "this is the war" to join the author, without the author himself and "this is the war" permission, any media, self-media shall not be reprinted, violators will be investigated for legal responsibility, readers welcome to forward. Friendly reminder: This number has been added to the copyright protection, anyone who dares to plagiarize and wash the manuscript, will be hit by the "Visual China" style of rights protection, the cost is high, do not lose big because of small, do not say that it is unpredictable.
About the author of the public account: Wang Zhengxing, a 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