【Red Hall Story Club】The secret of the aroma of vegetable roots

Text \ Sun Zhizhong

In the 1930s, there was a small shop called "Cai Gen Xiang Pickle Garden", which was famous in Lanzhou City. It is located under the outer wall of Dongguan, which is near the current Guangwumenwai Waterway. Through the pickle shop, as soon as you enter the gate, there is a spacious pickle making workshop, under a large wooden shed, there are large vats of pickles, spicy sauce, watercress sauce, kohlrabi and other flavorful pickles, all from the hands of a few skilled craftsmen. Further on, there is a small courtyard with a civil structure, where the Sichuan-born sauce garden owner Kang Taoran and his youngest son, Kang Yunong, live. The Kang Taoran family not only delivered all kinds of pickles with full color and flavor to customers with warm and thoughtful service, but also covered the activities of underground CCP members with their astute wisdom, covered the ganningqing special committee organs, and became a secret contact point for it.

One day in the early summer of 1932, a man with a Sichuan accent came to the pickle shop and asked about this dish, and the same language connected the comers with Kang Taoran, "Fellow countrymen see fellow countrymen, two tears flowing", the more they talk about it, the hotter it is. Someone said that he came from his hometown, passed through Lanzhou, and after doing things, he wanted to go to Jiuquan, Gansu, to find a place to stay, and asked the owner if there was a way. Kang Taoran saw that he was a fellow countryman, and immediately agreed to come and live in his home.

It turned out that this person who came was Fu Jianhan, an old party member in the revolutionary base area. A year ago, he was dispatched by the southern party organization to go alone to Ma Zhongying's ministry, one of the northwestern horses stationed outside Jiayuguan, to carry out secret work and win him to side with the people. This time, he was entrusted by Ma Zhongying to come to Lanzhou because of the difficulties in the supply of troops, and he wanted to ask for help from Gansu Xuanwei so that Sun Weiru could try to help. Not bad, after Fu Jianhan's lobbying, Sun Weiru expressed his willingness to try to help in order to control the horses. Then, through Yang Hucheng's connections, he interceded with Chiang Kai-shek, and finally ordered that Ma Zhongying's department be reorganized into the Army's 36th Division, and Ma Zhongying was appointed as the commander of the division. At this point, the supply of troops is guaranteed. While waiting for Sun Weiru's final reply, Fu Jianhan also had the privilege of meeting with Jiao Weichi, the head of the Shaanxi Provincial CPC Committee in Lanzhou and the leader of the first Jingyuan military riot, and reported to him on the activities of Ma Zhongying's party. Jiao Weichi decided to send Ge Jiyun, Li Hanyan and 4 other people, plus Fu Jianhan, a total of 5 people, to establish a special military branch directly under the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee in Ma Zhongying's division. In this way, Fu Jianhan lived in the vegetable root pickle garden for two or three months. The Kang Taoran family gave Fu Jianhan many conveniences in terms of eating, living and living.

In early December of the same year, the GanningQing Special Zone Committee of the Communist Party of China was established in Lanzhou. In view of the tight reactionary rule in Lanzhou at that time, the special committee organs did not have fixed locations and often changed with the situation. At first, most of them washed and dyeing shops in Jing'er Street and Xiaoyou Street; in April of the following year, after Liang Gancheng succeeded him as secretary of the Military Commission of the Ganning Qing Special Committee and Zhang Desheng succeeded him as the head of the organization department of the special committee, the organs of the special committee were transferred again. In addition to the residence of Wang Jiansan, a cadre of the Special Committee of Muta Lane, the Yinong Xuan Xiangguan, the Xiaoyou Street Washing and Dyeing Workshop, and the special committee of Muta Lane, the main one is the vegetable root fragrant pickle garden where Liang Gancheng lived. This is because this residence is located in the suburbs, not far from the Yellow River, and there is a wide room for maneuver, which is conducive to carrying out revolutionary activities; it is also because Liang Gancheng was arranged to be an instructor in the Duhan Three Regiment Teaching Team of the Appeasement Office in the East Campus, and it is more convenient to commute to and from work.

The Kang Taoran family is hospitable, helpful and has a good relationship with the neighbours. In particular, the little master Kang Yunong, although he did not understand liang Gancheng's true roots, he was curious and always tried to solve problems for Liang Gancheng. Liang Gancheng held meetings and wrote leaflets at home, and Kang Yunong took the initiative to go to the pickle shop to work, not only greeting customers, but also playing the role of standing guard and putting on the guard; Liang Gancheng sometimes went out and came back late, Kang Yunong waited to open the gate, and asked for warmth, and from time to time he got some food to fill his hunger. Kang Yunong also often accompanied Liang Gancheng to go shopping and relax, calling each other brothers and brothers, and being close to each other as family. Under the influence of Liang Gancheng's words and voices, Kang Yunong seemed to understand something and more actively supported and helped Liang Gancheng's work. In order to find a meeting and joint location for Liang Gancheng, Kang Yunong consulted with the family living in the fish pond of the watermill garden many times, and let Liang Gancheng secretly connect in his garden and study the work.

In order to carry out his work, Liang Gancheng used political instructors as a cover during the day, frequently interacted with underground party members of the Duhan Three Regiments, arranged work, and secretly contacted the progressive Figure Du Hansan (who later joined the party), grasped the enemy's situation in many ways, and extensively carried out united front work. In the evening, Liang Gancheng either went in tandem or wrote propaganda materials and leaflets in his own place of residence, which were engraved and printed by Communist Party members Xie Guanjun and Wang Jiansan and posted them before dawn, expanded propaganda in organs and schools, and mobilized the masses of the people to proceed from their own vital interests and oppose the Kuomintang reactionaries. Whenever Liang Gancheng worked late at night, Kang Yunong took the initiative to boil water for him, provide lamp oil for free, or prepare some flatbread and pickles in advance as a working meal when he was hungry.

One night in early August 1933, Liang Gancheng and Xie Guanjun worked late into the night and slept late because they were compiling and engraving promotional materials. Early the next morning, Liang Gancheng still insisted on going to work on time, and Xie Guanjun slept a little longer. Unexpectedly, as soon as Liang Gancheng went to work, he was arrested by the reactionaries in the teaching team. At the same time, Liang Gancheng's vegetable root pickle garden was also surrounded by armed soldiers, and plainclothes agents forcibly searched, and Xie Guanjun and Kang Yunong were arrested and taken away together. After a while, Zhang Desheng came to liang Gancheng to prepare for the research work, and when he arrived at the Caigen Xiang Pickle Garden and found that the surrounding situation was abnormal, he pretended to be calm, took advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness, turned around and entered the city, and quickly informed Chang Lifu and Wang Jiansan of the news that Xie and Kang had been arrested and the Cai Gen Xiang stronghold had been destroyed, and immediately transferred and left Lanzhou.

After more than 3 months of torture, the murderous reactionaries did everything in their power to inflict various punishments on Liang Gancheng, Xie Guanjun and Kang Nannong, but none of them received the expected effect. On October 19, 1933, the enemy finally poisoned the hand, and Liang Gancheng and Xie Guanjun were martyred. Kang Yunong was also severely physically damaged, coupled with a serious illness, and finally died tragically in prison, sacrificing his young life for the cause of the Communists.

With the passage of time, the things that happened in the vegetable root fragrant pickle garden were known to more and more people, some people were surprised, some people admired, some people went to the pickle garden again and again, meditated again and again...

Probably, this is the secret of the vegetable root pickle garden, a glorious and touching secret.

Memorial Hall of the Lanzhou Office of the Eighth Route Army