In August 1967, Yang Dengying, a former senior Kuomintang agent who was resting at home, was suddenly taken away for quarantine and examination by several people who called themselves the "special case group", and two years later, the 76-year-old Yang Dengying repeatedly said to his children before his death: "I am really not a secret agent, nor a traitor, let alone a traitor.
Yang Dengying
In 1975, when Zhou Enlai was dying, during a conversation with Luo Qingchang, then deputy director of the Prime Minister's Office, he mentioned several unfamiliar names and particularly emphasized: "We must not forget these people who helped us in the most difficult period of our party..." Among them was Yang Dengying.
Who is Yang Dengying? Why did Premier Zhou put special emphasis on this person? He was a generation of famous spies who were called "double-sided agents" by posterity--Bao Junfu, and he was also the first agent of our party to lurk in the upper echelons of the Kuomintang.
Bao Junfu, guangxu was born in Zhongshan, Guangdong in the nineteenth year, the same age as Song Qingling and Mao Zedong, followed his family to Japan since childhood, graduated from Waseda University, during which he was exposed to learning Marxist-Leninist books and ideas, which had a great impact on the second half of his life.
After the outbreak of the May Fourth Movement in 1919, Bao Junfu returned from Japan, and because he was proficient in Japanese, he soon became a senior clerk in a Japanese merchant firm in Shanghai, and also wrote part-time in some Japanese news agencies. Taking advantage of his work, Bao Junfu soon became acquainted with the people who patrolled the Shanghai Concession and some Kuomintang members, and joined the reorganized Chinese Nationalist Party in 1924.
Around June 1925, Bao Junfu and a staff member named Yang Jianhong of the Shanghai Evans Foreign Bookstore met, the two were fellow villagers, very talkative, at first sight, after in-depth understanding, Bao Junfu learned that Yang Jianhong also had a more special identity, not only joined the Green Gang very early, but also was the head of the foreign trade union, and later Yang Jianhong went to Guangdong to join Chen Lifu and became his close confidant.
Chen Lifu
In 1928, the Kuomintang Organization Department established the Party Affairs Investigation Section, later known as the "Central Unification", and Chen Lifu, who was then the confidential secretary of the Party Department, was appointed director of the Investigation Section, and Zhang Daofan, who was very close to him, was appointed deputy director.
After the establishment of the Party Affairs Investigation Section, on the one hand, it began to establish an intelligence agency in Shanghai, focusing on the CCP, and on the other hand, it was looking for suitable and competent backbones everywhere. When Chen Lifu and Zhang Daofan were worried about the selection of the heads of the Shanghai government, Yang Jianhong recommended Bao Junfu to them.
Bao Junfu's social reach in Shanghai is very extensive, especially his network of relations with the concession and the patrol house is exactly what is very much needed for the Party Affairs Investigation Section, and after some investigation of Bao Junfu, Chen Lifu and Zhang Daofan determined that this is the most perfect candidate for the anti-communist reconnaissance mission in Shanghai.
In this way, Bao Junfu not only quickly became a celebrity around Chen Lifu and Zhang Daofan, but also used the identity of a Kuomintang agent to mix in the Shanghai Ten Mile Yangchang, and could play in both black and white.
When the Kuomintang entrusted the task of anti-communist reconnaissance to Bao Junfu, on the surface he did not hesitate to accept it, but when he thought that he had many Communist friends, he felt sorry for them, and he still needed the help of these Communist friends for many things, so he began to secretly contact the Communist Party.
The person who first had the most contact with Bao Junfu was called Chen Yangshan, and the two met and became good friends as early as 1925, and Chen Yangshan lived in Bao Junfu's home when he worked in the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee. When Yang Jianhong recommended Bao Junfu to join the Kuomintang's Shanghai intelligence agency, Bao Junfu also consulted Chen Yangshan's opinion and said that he was willing to accept Yang Jianhong's recommendation while secretly providing the Communist Party with the information he knew.
Chen Yangshan
In his long-term contacts with Bao Junfu, Chen Yangshan believed that he was a trustworthy person and could become a good channel for obtaining internal intelligence of the Kuomintang, so he made a report to his superiors.
In May 1928, Chen Geng, alias Wang Yong, and Bao Junfu met secretly at a café on Xiafei Road, and Bao Junfu gave Chen Geng a detailed account of his situation, especially emphasizing his relationship with Yang Jianhong, and joining the Kuomintang Shanghai intelligence agency was also involuntarily. Chen Geng expressed great understanding and supported him to continue to follow Yang Jianhong, hoping that he could establish closer contact with the concession patrol house, the garrison headquarters, and the municipal party committee as soon as possible, and could provide 300 yuan of ocean as a month as a fund.
Soon after, the Communists also equipped him with bodyguards, secretaries, and a private car, and the information he obtained was also directly contacted by the secretariat and Chen Geng.
In August 1928, Yang Jianhong committed suicide in a corruption case, and Bao Junfu became the top head of the Kuomintang's Shanghai secret service, and since then changed his name to "Yang Dengying", while continuing to provide top-secret information to the Communist Party under his real name "Bao Junfu".
In order to establish Yang Dengying's "nail" in the Kuomintang, Chen Geng would from time to time provide him with some publications and "intelligence" about the Communist Party, and would even deliberately arrange some fake organs for Yang Dengying to sabotage, so as to gain trust and appreciation.
Chen Geng of the Central Special Branch Period
As soon as Yang Dengying came to power, he had successive performances of "meritorious service", which made Chen Lifu and Zhang Daofan very satisfied. Zhang Daofan once had a nemesis surnamed Li in the official field, which made him a headache, so he found Yang Dengying, Yang Dengying did not say a word, using the relationship on the underworld, soon let Zhang Daofan's nemesis disappear forever, and since then Zhang Daofan has more trust in Yang Dengying and has become a protective umbrella for him in politics.
With the convenience of his work status, Yang Dengying cultivated his own eyeliner in the Kuomintang Shanghai Municipal Government and the Gendarmerie System and other departments, and even became a very good friend with Qian Dajun of the Songhu Police Headquarters, and Yang Dengying also favored this relationship to do things for the patrol house many times, and gradually, the patrol house only recognized Yang Dengying when dealing with the Kuomintang central unification. After contacting Yang Dengying, the british inspector general of the patrol house, Lamperson found that Yang Dengying analyzed the Japanese intelligence agencies very thoroughly, and was very impressed, and immediately invited him to be the adviser of the patrol house, and gave him a great privilege - when handling important cases in the public concession, there is no need to follow the routine arrest process. Subsequently, Lampson led Yang Dengying to become a consultant for the French Concession patrol house. After opening up these relationships, Yang Dengying could learn many secret news in time, and sometimes even a hello could save people, and the communists and so on avoided losses many times.
On April 15, 1928, Luo Yinong, then a member of the Standing Committee of the Provisional Politburo of the Central Committee, had just finished secretly talking with Deng Xiaoping, the secretary of the Organization Bureau, and in order to avoid the attention of the enemy's eyeliner, the two did not leave at the same time, Deng Xiaoping did not go far, he found that the secret post disguised as a shoemaker had made a "dangerous" hint to him, and when he looked back, he saw that the British patrol house detective had stepped into the courtyard where he had just left, and Luo Yinong, who had not yet had time to leave, was unfortunately arrested.
When Zhou Enlai learned of Luo Yinong's arrest, he was very anxious, and everyone initially judged that there should be a traitor leaking secrets, so he immediately consulted with Chen Geng on how to find out the traitor and how to rescue Luo Yinong. Chen Geng immediately thought of Yang Dengying, who had a personal relationship with lampsun, the police inspector of the British patrol house, and if he could come forward, there was a great hope of rescuing Luo Yinong.
Luo Yinong (middle)
After receiving the "task", Yang Dengying first conducted a comprehensive thinking and analysis, and then began to act, deciding to use his identity as an investigation section to extradite Luo Yinong from the British, and then notify the Communists to wait for an opportunity to rescue. After Yang Dengying sent a telegram to Chen Lifu and Zhang Daofan asking for instructions on the idea of extraditing Luo Yinong, Chen Lifu was very happy, knowing that Luo Yinong was a very important high-level leader in the Communist Party, and that catching this "big fish" was definitely a good opportunity to ask for merit and reward, so he instructed Yang Dengying to immediately negotiate with the British patrol house to extradite Luo Yinong.
After receiving the order, Yang Dengying went to the British patrol house to discuss the matter with his old friend Lampson, and in the conversation Yang Dengying learned that the traitor who informed him was actually Luo Yinong's secretary Huo Jiaxin and He Zhihua and his wife, not only that, He Zhihua also asked the British patrol house for 50,000 US dollars and two German passports, because she also had a list of more than 300 communists in her hand, and betrayed Luo Yinong only to express his sincerity to the British patrol house.
The stakes were so high that Yang Dengying secretly conveyed the news to Chen Geng at the first time, and he also told Chen Geng that he had agreed with Lampsun to extradite Luo Yinong to the Kuomintang on the 19th of that month, so he suggested that rescue activities be carried out immediately after the extradition procedures were completed. After receiving the secret report, the comrades of the Central Special Branch quickly planned a rescue plan. But no one expected that before the date of extradition, Chen Lifu actually rushed to Shanghai and personally handled the matter in person, resulting in the failure of the rescue plan of the Central Special Branch. Chen Lifu interrogated Luo Yinong overnight, but did not interrogate any useful information, and he was worried that the Communists would come to the rescue, so he ordered Luo Yinong to be killed. When Yang Dengying learned the news that Chen Lifu was going to execute Luo Yinong, it was already too late, so he had to secretly inform Chen Geng of the news of Luo Yinong's sacrifice at the first time.
Although the rescue of Luo Yinong was unsuccessful, through this incident, Zhou Enlai and Chen Geng and others were more certain that Yang Dengying was trustworthy.
One afternoon in late August 1929, Peng Pan, then secretary of the Central Agricultural Committee, xing Shizhen, Yan Changyi, Zhang Jichun, Yang Yin, and several other senior CPC leaders were holding a top-secret meeting at No. 12, Jingyuanli, Xinzha Road, Shanghai, when they were arrested and imprisoned by the public concession patrols and military police who suddenly broke into the door.
Yang Dengying soon learned of this top-secret news, and he also secretly learned that the person who patrolled Gaomi was Bai Xin, the secretary of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, and he was also the landlord of the place. The reason for Bai Xin's rebellion was that one of his relatives was shot by Peng Pan after the revolution and held a grudge. After investigation and verification, Chen Geng verified that the information provided by Yang Dengying was completely true. Zhou Enlai summoned an emergency meeting of the Central Special Committee that night, demanding that rescue operations be launched at all costs and that the traitor Bai Xin be eliminated as soon as possible.
Martyr Peng Pan
Two days later, after the Provisional Court of the Concession tried Peng Pan and five other people, it immediately pronounced a verdict and extradited them to the Shanghai Police Department in the afternoon. Chen Geng told Yang Dengying that they planned to carry out rescues on the way to extradition and escort, and instructed Yang Dengying to do something to get in touch with Peng Pan and make them ready. However, the operation ultimately failed due to a temporary problem with the firearms of the operatives, and five comrades, including Peng Pan and Yang Yin, died in the compound of the Security Headquarters at 1 p.m. on the 30th.
After Chen Geng and others learned that Peng Pan, Yang Yin, and five other comrades had died, they were in great pain, and the only thing they could do next was to get rid of the traitor Bai Xin and avenge the martyrs. After receiving Instructions from Chen Geng, Yang Dengying began to search for Bai Xin's whereabouts, and he found out that Bai Xin had been in the home of Fan Zhengbo, a special agent of the Central Unification, and planned to entrust someone to go through the formalities for going abroad as soon as possible. After consultation, the Central Special Branch decided to arrange for Yang Dengying to visit Fan Zhengbo's home and find a way to find out Bai Xin's specific time abroad. After careful planning, Bai Xin was finally shot dead when he was about to go abroad to get on the bus.
In April 1930, Chiang Kai-shek's entourage received a letter addressed to Chiang Kai-shek, signed Huang Dihong, a first-term student of Huangpu who had joined the Communist Party during this period, later studied at Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow, soviet Union, and had recently returned to Shanghai, and the Communist Party was responsible for contacting him with Zhou Enlai. Huang Dihong said in the letter that he was not only unambitious in working with the Communist Party, but also could not see any light, so he decided to "abandon the dark and throw in the light," and Zhou Enlai recently wanted to meet him, so he gave a detailed explanation in the letter of the time and place agreed to meet with Zhou Enlai, as a meeting gift for coming to surrender. After reading the letter, Chiang Kai-shek was very happy and immediately entrusted the matter to Chen Lifu to supervise, and Chen Lifu assigned the task to Xu Enzeng, who considered the importance and urgency of the task, and after consulting with Chen Lifu, he designated Yang Dengying to handle it.
After receiving the task, Yang Dengying immediately conveyed this important information to the Communist side, and then met with Huang Dihong according to the plan of the Kuomintang side, who in turn provided Yang Dengying with some information about the Communist Party that was not mentioned in the letter. After receiving Yang Dengying's secret protection, the Central Special Branch attached great importance to it, and after careful investigation into the leak of secrets by Huang Dihong's rebel party, it had conclusive evidence, so Chen Geng led the red team to capture Huang Dihong and execute him.
Zhang Daofan
On April 24, 1931, Gu Shunzhang, the head of the Central Special Branch, was arrested in Hankou, and during interrogation by the agents, Gu Shunzhang said that he could confess to the secrets of the Communist Party, but he could only say it until he saw Chiang Kai-shek in person, which also meant that Gu Shunzhang had formally defected. Because Gu Shunzhang controlled a large number of Shanghai underground party curtains, many grass-roots "lines of communication" and "liaison officers" were established by her own hands, and this information was not fully known to even Zhou Enlai, so his rebellion brought unprecedented damage to the Communist Party, and he was "the most dangerous traitor in the history of the Communist Party." Of course, the connection between Yang Dengying and the Communist Party was also clear to Gu Shunzhang, and when Xu Enzeng's secretary Qian Zhuangfei spread the news of Gu Shunzhang's rebellion to the Central Special Branch through Li Kenong, Chen Geng immediately informed Yang Dengying and asked him to immediately avoid the unexpected. Yang Dengying thought that with Zhang Daofan's protective umbrella, there should be no danger. But at the end of April, Yang Dengying was still arrested and imprisoned, where the spies were both en-wei and powerful, but Yang Dengying did not mention any secrets of the Communist Party. Due to the lack of sufficient evidence, coupled with Zhang Daofan's efforts to protect, after more than 10 months of detention, Yang Dengying was released on bail.
After Gu Shunzhang's defection, it was difficult for the underground party to continue its work in Shanghai, so in 1932 it was decided to move to Jiangxi, and Yang Dengying's contact with the Communist Party was broken.
In 1934, Yang Dengying was appointed vice president of the Nanjing Provincial Academy of Reflection, completely leaving the post of secret agent, losing real power in his hands, and his life gradually returned to flat. After liberation, Yang Dengying's life was very difficult, and he once made a living by setting up a cigarette stall.
In 1951, Yang Dengying was arrested for having served as vice president of the Kuomintang Reflection Institute and president of the Correctional Yuan, and after approval by the relevant leaders, he was ready to be sentenced to death. At this time, Yang Dengying proposed that he had done a lot of work for the underground organization of the Communist Party and asked Comrade Chen Geng to testify.
Chen Geng then wrote back to Ju Hua, then president of the Nanjing court: "Regarding the confession of Comrade Yang Dengying (real name Bao Junfu), as far as I know, he did have contact with the Communist Party since 1927, and I was the contact person, and Yang Dengying made great contributions to our Party during this period. As for the situation after he became the president of the pseudo-Central Correctional Institute, I don't know. ”
Bao Junfu (Yang Dengying) tombstone
Yang Dengying also saved his life because of Wang Geng's letter. Later, whenever Wang Geng went to Nanjing, he would visit Yang Dengying.
In 1967, Yang Dengying was injured during the "Great Movement", and two years later, on December 19, Yang Dengying died at the age of 76. Before dying, he repeatedly said to his children: "I am really not a spy, nor am I a traitor, let alone a traitor, and I can't tell you exactly what kind of person I am, but Zhou Enlai knows my contribution..."