He did not go to the front to lead the troops to fight, but his role was comparable to that of a general who commanded thousands of troops, and in view of his role, he was awarded the rank of "founding general" in 1955. Who is he? He is Li Kenong, who is known as the "King of Agents", what kind of legendary life does he have?
Chairman Mao also said: Li Kenong is the biggest agent in China, but he is an agent of the Communist Party. From the evaluation of these two great men, it can be seen that Li Kenong's contribution is extremely large and his role is enormous. Li Kenong, also known as the "King of CCP Agents", has saved the Party from danger many times, and he may have many people who did not know of his existence, because he had been quietly dedicated on the hidden front for a long time. So, what kind of legendary life did he have?
Li Kenong was born in 1899 in Chaohu, Anhui Province, to a family of eunuchs, and his father Li Zheqing served in the local government and came from a relatively well-off family. Therefore, he received a good education from an early age, began to go to private school at the age of 6, received formal traditional education, from primary school to high school, and graduated from the famous church school in Wuhu, Anhui Province in 1917 - St. Accord Middle School.
After graduation, he went to Beijing to find a job, worked in a magazine, and did the distribution of Popular Weekly. However, it was not long before Zhang Xun followed Yuan Shikai's example in carrying out restoration and attacking some progressive youth. Li Kenong was forced to return to Wuhu, where he married his friend Zhao Ying that year.
Li Kenong felt that China under the rule of warlords was not happy with the people, and when he returned to his hometown, he began to embark on the road of revolution and carry out anti-imperialist and anti-feudal activities.
In September 1918, through the introduction of Jiang Guangci and Li Zongye, Li Kenong and his wife joined an anarchist group organized mainly by students of Wuhu Provincial No. 5 Middle School, Anshe. Anshe published and distributed "The Flower of Freedom", which flaunted opposition to power, etiquette, and despotism, which had a certain progressive significance at that time and produced great repercussions in schools inside and outside Anhui Province.
In 1919, the May Fourth Movement broke out, and a wave of student movements was set off across the country, taking to the streets to demonstrate. After being introduced by a friend, Li Kenong went to Anqing to serve as the deputy editor of the "National Daily", and was arrested and imprisoned for writing against the ugly behavior of the warlords.
Li Kenong in his youth
After that, Li Kenong founded the Minsheng Middle School in his hometown, educated students to join the revolution, opposed slavery education, established the "Relief Society", and made a revolution with his own practical actions, but suffered from not finding an organization.
In 1926, Li Kenong was introduced by Qian Xingren to join the Communist Party of China, which coincided with the first Kuomintang-Communist cooperation, and Li Kenong became the propaganda director of the Kuomintang Wuhu City Party Department under the arrangement of the party organization. During this period, Li Kenong's talent for underground work began to appear. With his outstanding performance, he infiltrated the interior of Chiang Kai-shek's lackey, the Green Gang, and heard a lot of intelligence. After the April 12 coup, the Kuomintang reactionaries everywhere wanted to eliminate the Communists. The Kuomintang reactionaries in Anhui prepared to massacre the Communists in response to the April 12 coup d'état on April 18. This news was informed in advance by Li Kenong, who immediately informed the local party organization. The local party organization, which was warned by Li Kenong, quickly withdrew and avoided huge losses. Li Kenong himself was suspicious of the reactionaries and had to flee to Shanghai for a temporary shelter.
After Li Kenong fled to Shanghai, he found the organization and was appointed by the organization to serve as a propaganda committee member of the Central Shanghai District. In Shanghai, he gradually switched from working above ground to underground work, and began his career as a secret agent.
In November 1929, Li Kenong was watching a film at a film company in Shanghai, and his old friend Hu Di, a native of Shucheng, Anhui Province, introduced Qian Zhuangfei to him. At this time, Qian Zhuangfei had infiltrated the Kuomintang and was heavily used by Xu Enzeng of the Shanghai Kuomintang Radio Administration as his confidential secretary.
At the end of this year, Li Kenong was approved by the organization to break into the enemy's interior, just in time for the Shanghai Radio Administration to recruit. Li Kenong went to apply for a job and was successfully admitted to it, and he started from the grassroots level. With Li Kenong's outstanding talent and the expired "intelligence" sent to him, he was appreciated by Xu Enzeng, promoted to the head of the telegraph unit, and gradually squeezed into the top level.
At this time, Zhou Enlai decided that Li Kenong, Hu Di, and Qian Zhuangfei would set up a special action group within them, and these three people were also known as the "Three Jies of Longtan". The three of them went deep into the Dragon Pond tiger's den and made tremendous contributions to the cause of liberation of our party.
During this period, Li Kenong took advantage of Xu En's lustful characteristics to obtain the codebook he carried with him and copy it. After obtaining the codebook, he immersed himself in research, and after a period of hard work, he deciphered the secret code used by senior Kuomintang officials to send telegrams to each other, and then some confidential documents and plans of the Kuomintang were continuously grasped by the underground organization of our party. He made immortal merits for the revolutionary work of our Party.
However, not long after, in April 1931, a major incident occurred in the Shanghai underground party organization. Gu Shunzhang, the supreme leader of the Central Special Branch Organization at the time, defected, and before he could use the punishment, he was fully recruited, and he did not have any integrity. He rebelled, mastered many secrets of the CCP's underground party, and was a dangerous person. Gu Shunzhang sent 6 top-secret telegrams to Xu Enzeng, but it happened to be Saturday, he did not go to work, and went to the concubine for a date.
The telegram fell into the hands of Xu Enzeng's secretary, Qian Zhuangfei, because he was on duty that day. Qian Zhuangfei tried to crack this secret report, only to learn that Gu Shunzhang had defected and the detailed address of the Shanghai underground party organization was exposed. If they are not notified of the transfer, the consequences are serious.
After Qian Zhuangfei cracked the secret report overnight, he sent his son-in-law to find Li Kenong. After Li Kenong learned of the situation, he quickly contacted Chen Geng and searched for a night, and finally waited for Chen Geng in the early morning of the next day to inform them of this news and inform them of the transfer. Chen Geng found Zhou Enlai and quickly transferred, and the other Kuomintang reactionary agents were in a hurry to carry out arrest operations, and when they rushed to Zhou Enlai's residence, they all moved, leaving only some traces of burning documents, only 5 minutes before and after, very thrilling, if there was no Li Kenong, perhaps the history of the CCP would be rewritten. In a way, Li Kenong saved Zhou Enlai.
After passing through this incident, Li Kenong was also exposed, and he certainly could not stay in Shanghai. During this period, he was instructed by Li Fuchun, head of the provincial party committee, to travel back and forth between Shicheng, Guangchang, Yandu, Xingguo, Ping'anzhai and other places in Jiangxi, carefully and meticulously examining the problem of a large backlog of counterrevolutionary suspects, correcting a number of wronged cases of so-called ab regiments, social democratic parties, reorganization factions, and Trotskyists, so that a large number of unjustly accused comrades could see the light of day.
Later, he was appointed by Zhou Enlai as executive director of the State Political Protection Bureau to safeguard the security of the country's leaders. Later, he was transferred to the front line as the director of the political protection bureau of the Red Army, although he did not command thousands of troops and horses, but his role was no less than that of a legion, and he was silently dedicated to the rear to clear the way for the Red Army.
In October 1934, the Red Army began the Long March, and Li Kenong led his men to explore the way ahead to defend the safe march of the Red Army and defuse the danger in time. In 1935, after arriving in Yan'an, northern Shaanxi, Li Kenong again took up his old job as a secret agent, plotting against Gao Fuyuan and Zhang Xueliang, who forced Chiang Kai-shek to resist Japan, launched the "Xi'an Incident," promoted cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, made tremendous contributions, and formed an anti-Japanese national united front.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Li Kenong spent a long time on the hidden front, in charge of confidentiality, radio, and intelligence work, fighting wits and courage with the enemy, showing extraordinary ability to work underground, making the enemy feel frightened, and saving many CCP members and heroes.
Mao Ren Feng
During the Liberation War, Li Kenong fought with Mao Renfeng, Dai Kasa, and other reactionary agents, and he turned the crisis into safety many times and protected the state leader. Let Mao Renfeng have no choice but to defeat Taiwan.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Intelligence. In the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Li Kenong took part in negotiations with the United States with illness and lasted more than two years, and with amazing perseverance and wisdom, he defeated the Americans, and the United States finally signed an "armistice agreement."
We are donkeys, we are used to driving things, it is uncomfortable not to drive, we can drive as much as we can. These are the words that Li Kenong said to the staff around him in his later years, and he fought for the revolution until the last moment. On February 9, 1962, Li Kenong died of illness in Beijing at the age of 63.
After his death, Zhou En'en personally mourned and wrote a memorial speech: Comrade Li Kenong is one of the organizers of the political defense work of our party and our army. After the defeat of the Great Revolution, under the severe white terror, he fought strongly and bravely against the enemy and, together with Comrades Qian Zhuangfei and Hu Di, who had sacrificed heroically for the revolution, made outstanding contributions to defending the leading organs of the Party Central Committee.
Li Kenong was an outstanding organizer and leader of our party in the early days, and for a long time he lived a life of licking blood on the hidden front, fought wits and courage with the enemy, defended the safety of the leaders, and made great contributions to the founding of new China.
Today's happy life is not easy to come by, where there are some years of quiet, but some people carry the weight for us to move forward, pay tribute to the old revolutionary predecessors!