In 1928, Yuan Shikai's "imperial master" Yang Du lived in Shanghai.
Du Yuesheng, a big gangster in the Green Gang, appreciated him very much, and gave him a bungalow on Xue Huali Road in the concession to live in, giving him a monthly consulting fee of 500 yuan, and the Shanghai tabloids said that he was Du Yuesheng's apprentice.
Yang Du did not admit it, saying that I had not handed over the post and that I had not lit an incense candle. I call him Mr. Du, and he calls me Brother Du. Honestly, I'm not a green gang, but a "cleaner."
This is of course self-deprecating, but the positioning of the pilgrim is very accurate. Du Yuesheng wants his name, he wants Du Yuesheng's profit, and they just need each other.
In 1927, Yang Du went to the Taiping Lake Hotel in Beijing to attend the wedding of Xiong Xiling's daughter. An urgent message was received from Wang Daxie of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Zhang Zuolin was going to shoot at the Communists.
At that time, Li Dazhao and other Communists used the Russian barracks to preside over party affairs. According to the provisions of the Treaty of Xinugu, The Chinese military and police cannot enter the embassy, so it is very safe here.
Zhang Zuolin secretly approached the british, American, and Japanese envoys to discuss sending troops into the embassy area to search the Russian barracks. He secretly trained a group of military police to prepare for special missions.
Wang Da Xie regarded Yang Du as a comrade, and only then did he reveal this secret. Yang Du and Li Dazhao were old acquaintances, and quickly withdrew to return home and quietly relayed to Hu Egong that he would inform Li Dazhao through the inside line.
Li Dazhao received the message and was half-convinced. The Beiyang government has always been afraid of foreign missions, and Zhang Zuolin had the courage to search the Russian barracks. In the end, only 4 people moved elsewhere to hide, but Li Dazhao insisted on staying.
Zhang Zuolin sent troops to surround the Russian barracks in Dongjiaomin Lane. Plainclothes agents disguised themselves as rickshaw drivers and lined up the rickshaws along the fence to block the way to escape over the wall. Li Dazhao and more than 30 other Communist Party members were arrested.
When Yang Du heard the news, he immediately went to the headquarters of the An Guojun army to meet Zhang Zuolin and proposed that Li Dazhao and others should be transferred to the local court for trial. As long as the normal legal process is followed, there is still a possibility of rescue.
Yang Du sold his Beijing residence, the "Yuelu" mansion, in exchange for 4,500 oceans, all of which were used to bribe the trial officials and go all out to rescue Li Dazhao from prison. Zhang Zuolin ignored the opposition of public opinion and executed Li Dazhao and others on April 28, 1927.
Yang Du Mo Bao
A few months later, Yang Du left Beijing to live in Shanghai, selling calligraphy and paintings for a living.
His writing fee is very high, ranging from tens of yuan to hundreds of yuan. Despite this, there is still an endless stream of people who come to the door to seek ink treasures.
Through Zhang Shizhao's introduction, Yang Du became acquainted with Du Yuesheng, the leader of the Qing Gang. Du Yuesheng was extremely powerful in Shanghai Beach, had a good friendship with the patrol house in the concession, and was also Chiang Kai-shek's secret high counselor. Like the ancient Meng Tianjun, he recruited a large number of pilgrims to serve himself.
Yang Du's reputation has long been known throughout the country, and literary learning is even rarer at that time. As soon as the two of them saw each other, Du Yuesheng gave him a ticket for the house, and Yang Du wrote him a few words and made some articles.
At this time, Wang Shaoxian, a fellow villager in Hunan, became a regular visitor of the Yang family. He was originally a rich boy, usually idle and fine, often came to talk to Yang Du. Wang Shaoxian had a relative named Chen Geng who was engaged in intelligence work in the SPECIAL BRANCH of the CPC Central Committee.
One day, Chen Geng followed Wang Shaoxian to Yang Du's house. Yang Du secretly told Chen Geng: "I am willing to contribute to the Communist Party with my own identity and social status." Yang Du was an extreme constitutional monarchy who suddenly turned to communism, which aroused the suspicion of some people in the party.
Yang Du
In 1929, after a year of inspection, Zhou Enlai personally approved Yang Du to join the party, and Pan Hannian contacted him in a single line, which was later changed to Xia Yan. Yang Du used his special status to provide a lot of information and donate a lot of property.
Xia Yan contacted Yang Du once a month and gave him some party publications and "forbidden books" to exchange information about the war in the Central Soviet Region.
Yang Du talked freely about the domestic situation, vividly and interestingly talked about the factional struggle within the northern warlords and the Kuomintang, and repeatedly wrote down the internal situation of the Kuomintang in his own handwriting, packed it in a large envelope sealed with fire paint, and asked Xia Yan to transfer it to a higher-level organization.
After the two became acquainted, Yang Du once confessed his heart to Xia Yan, saying, "I have done two big mistakes in my life. First, before the Xinhai Revolution, I refused to cooperate with Mr. Sun Yat-sen, saying that Huang Xing could work with you, but I could not cooperate with you, and I later confessed my mistake to Mr. Sun Yat-sen on this matter; second, I always had a full line, but I did not believe that China could practice a republic, and advocated that China should have an emperor to rule. ”
In Xia Yan's view, although Yang Du joined the party, he still looked like a scholar in terms of behavior. He believed in Buddhism and wrote a very large book on Buddhism. He never called each other comrades, even if he talked about Comrade Zhou Enlai, who he admired very much, he was also a brother who opened his mouth and closed his mouth to Mr. Wu Hao.
After liberation, Premier Zhou mentioned Yang Du many times and was very concerned about the situation of his descendants. Once Xia Yan told him that Yang Du's daughter Yang Yunhui had already worked in the film factory after returning to China, and Premier Zhou was very happy, saying: "She can come to me directly if she has difficulties." ”
Before Premier Zhou died, he instructed his secretary to relay to Wang Yeqiu: "He joined the party in his later years and was led by me until his death. Wang Yeqiu was asked to convey to the editorial department of Shanghai Cihai that if there was Yang Du's resignation, he must add this matter.
Yang Du can be regarded as a strange person in modern Chinese history. He studied the study of emperors with the Confucian king Min Yun in his youth, and he wanted to become an imperial master. In the middle age, he assisted Yuan Shikai to claim the title of emperor, and was insulted by the world, so he had to devote himself to the Buddha. In his later years, he was specially approved by Zhou Enlai and quietly joined the Communist Party of China.
His life shifted from the ancient study of kings to bourgeois constitutionalism and finally to communism. This arduous road of exploration is exactly the path that millions of Chinese intellectuals have followed.
Before Yang Du died, he wrote a self-elegy: Emperor Dao Zhenru, now it has become a thing of the past; the medical people save the country, and there are future generations after him.
He truly recognized the power of the people and believed that with the efforts of countless future generations, China will surely have a better future.