On January 22, 1950, at the guanlu junction of Nanjiang County in northern Sichuan, a suspicious army was quietly advancing.
Suddenly, a sharp gunshot broke the calm! The People's Liberation Army rushed down the mountain road on both sides and headed straight for the suspicious army.
It turned out that this was a Kuomintang army ready to flee.
Soon, the People's Liberation Army was in control of the situation, taking more than 1,200 prisoners.
At this time, a man in the prisoner of war ranks, called "Lao Feng", attracted the attention of the People's Liberation Army.
He dressed very low-key, dressed in a coarse cloth military uniform, and did not carry a gun. But after someone loudly identified him as Ding Shuheng, the face of the People's Liberation Army present changed.
Soon, the man was taken into the "Special Prisoner of War". After the central authorities received the news, they immediately ordered that he be brought back to Beijing for trial!
So, who is Ding Shuheng? What did he do that could elicit such a big reaction from the central authorities?
(now Nanjiang County)
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="8" >, from Peking University to CC Department</h1>
The story begins in 1892.
In this year, Ding Shuheng was born into a family of bureaucratic landlords in Xiaoheding, Deng County, Henan.
His family originally named him "Jiaguang", nicknamed "Ding Daya".
His grandfather, Ding Lintang, was a Yu shan xiucai (lǐn shàn xiù cái); his father, Ding Zhiyun, was the head of the Ordnance Department; and Ding Shuheng's uncle Ding Tongqing also served as a county in Linqingzhi County, Shandong.
(Ding Shuheng)
Born in a chaotic world, and growing up in such a family, Ding Shuheng has had the idea of breaking into the official field and working hard from a young age.
He followed his father and uncle to study in Kaifeng and Jinan, and the Zeng Wenzheng Gongjia Shu was one of his frequently read books.
Ding Shuheng began to study at the age of twenty-five and fell behind many times.
Until the age of twenty-eight, he was finally admitted to the preparatory department of Peking University.
(Zeng Wenzheng's official letter)
Peking University is a stepping stone for Ding Shuheng to enter the official arena.
During his time at the school, he organized the "Yu Society" at the recommendation of his fellow villager Wan Hongtu, and also published a series of publications to "endorse" the warlords of his immediate lineage.
In this way, he successfully connected with the Henan provincial government. The government will give the community a subsidy of 600 yuan per month.
(Direct warlords)
However, the good times did not last long, and in 1925, the direct family fell, the Kuomintang rose, and the Xishan Conference faction also had a lot of momentum.
Faced with this situation, Ding Shuheng saw the opportunity and relied on the "New Henan Society" to join the periphery of the Kuomintang's right wing.
It was not until 1926 that he graduated from Peking University, joined the Zhen Song Army, and officially joined the Kuomintang.
(Zhen Songjun)
In 1928, Ding Shuheng served as a member of the preparatory committee of the special party department of a certain division.
During this period, he began to pay attention to the dynamics of the CCP and asked his subordinates to report on the ideological situation in a timely manner. A year later, Ding Shuheng became the governor of Xinxiang County, and later became the director of the political department of the Sixty-fifth Division.
The Central Plains War broke out in 1930, and after weighing it up, Ding Shuheng decided to defect to Wanxuancai, but Wanxuan was killed.
His wishful thinking of taking advantage of the military's smooth progress also failed.
(Battle of the Central Plains)
Ding Shuheng saw that this plan could not be achieved, and resolutely turned his attention to the education circle.
In the summer of 1931, he went to kaifeng Liming Middle School to teach, and returned to Deng County after a year of contemplation.
This is not only his hometown, but also a place where he can enjoy the shadow of his ancestors to the greatest extent.
In this way, he successfully became the director of the Ninth District Office.
Soon, Ding Shuheng returned to Liming Middle School as the director of training and education, and also served as the director of the Kaifeng People's Tuition Education Management Office.
(Now Kaifeng Liming Middle School)
It was during this period that Ding Shuheng met Li Zonghuang and Chen Panling.
Under their recommendation, he joined the CC Department of the Kuomintang.
From Peking University to CC Department, Ding Shuheng took more than ten years to work step by step and deliberately. He was eager to try, feeling that he was about to usher in a vast world.
Soon, the opportunity arose.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="17" >2, "ten years without leaving the county"</h1>
After the July 7 Incident broke out in 1937, the clarion call of anti-Japanese salvation sounded throughout the country.
Ding Shuheng was keenly aware of this opportunity.
He immediately returned to Deng County, organized rallies, and issued an anti-Japanese declaration.
In the summer of the following year, Ding Shuheng was ordered by Bei Tingfang to be the deputy commander of the Deng County National Anti-Enemy Self-Defense Regiment.
As soon as Ding Shuheng took office, he joined forces with local gentry to draw up the Ten-Year Convention on the Construction of Deng County.
(Deng County)
In this convention, he shouted:
"Coexistence and common prosperity, dedication to local autonomy, wife and children, economic mutual assistance, and not leaving the county for ten years."
As soon as the convention came out, the crowd cheered and elected him as the "guardian" of the treaty.
Soon, the "county political forum" was also successfully held under the organization of Ding Shuheng.
He had unlimited scenery for a while and became a veritable red man in Deng County.
Behind it all, however, is a conspiracy.
Whether it is the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression or autonomy, in fact, it is all a pretext, and Ding Shuheng's real purpose is only two: first, to cultivate his own local ruling small groups, and second, to oppose communism.
Unlike the Wanxi powerful factions such as Bei Tingfang, Ding Shuheng did not have his own army, so he had to live completely dependent on Chiang Kai-shek.
For him, currying favor with his "political backers" is the most important thing.
It is said that Ding Shuheng once ordered the construction of a "Zhongyi Pavilion" in the backyard of the Corps Headquarters.
He often called the leaders of his cronies and drank here.
What is even more exaggerated is that he also enshrined Liu Guanzhang's tablet and Chiang Kai-shek's portrait in the pavilion!
(Chiang Kai-shek)
In the dead of night, Ding Shuheng and his subordinates made an alliance here.
Drinking chicken blood wine, they looked at the tablets and portraits not far away and swore: "Coexistence and common prosperity, life and death, unity, never change the heart." ”
In order to curry favor with Chiang Kai-shek, Ding Shuheng asked all the security officers of the Deng County Training Institute to join the Kuomintang en masse.
He also advocated the "Three Ones" policy: one party (Kuomintang), one doctrine (Three People's Principles), and one leader (Chiang Kai-shek).
And there are small leaders below the big leaders, and if you listen to Chiang Kai-shek on major state affairs, local affairs should naturally listen to him Ding Shuheng!
(Three People's Principles)
Ding Shuheng's gift-giving is also very exquisite.
During the Spring Festival, he would prepare gifts for important section chiefs and secretaries below the chief officer of the five theaters, that is, the provincial government.
According to the high and low rank of each person's position, they are given one after another, and the gift is thoughtful.
When he flattered Tang Enbo, the left sentence "famous general of the War of Resistance" and the other "hard work and high achievement" can be described as handy!
(Tombaugh)
Facts have proved that Ding Shuheng's "hard heart" is quite effective.
Many officials who were once stationed in Deng County had excellent personal relations with him. And this has become the best protection for him to take advantage of the opportunity to accumulate wealth.
In 1941, Ding Shuheng collected 750,000 catties of grain in the name of setting up a township warehouse, and once intercepted a loan of 480 million yuan. Greedy!
In addition to cultivating local forces, Ding Shuheng's other important cause was anti-communism.
As early as the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Ding Shuheng disregarded the united front of the national War of Resistance and began to slander the Communist Party.
At that time, magazines were an important way for young students to understand society and explore the truth.
Many magazines of this period have introduced communism and communism in more detail.
(Photocopy of The Guide)
In order to prevent young students from "wavering their minds", Ding Shuheng simply forbade them to read magazines, and arrogantly said: "Why? Not why! ”
Not only that, he also carried out round after round of political censorship in Deng County, in an attempt to extinguish the red flame and kill a hundred people.
In 1940, Ding Shuheng organized a review of the ideas of the teachers in Deng County and demanded the arrest of "communist elements."
Ironically, when he was in the educational world, he was full of benevolence and morality.
That same winter, a horrific murder occurred in Deng County.
At that time, the villagers of Liu Daomiao Village gathered together as usual to gossip and gossip.
A villager named Liu Yisan accidentally mentioned the Dahongshan guerrillas.
None of them thought that it was these few words that had led to the disaster of killing.
Ding Shuheng determined that the villagers were linked to the New Fourth Army.
Therefore, he sent a plainclothes team to break into the village in the middle of the night and killed Liu Yisan and nine other people alive!
(Liu Daomiao Village)
Ding Shuheng's behavior was so bad that even the elderly old woman did not spare it.
In March 1942, an old woman who had come to flee passed by Qudian.
Ding Shuheng immediately shot people in situ under the stigma of "being instigated by the Communist Party to sprinkle poison on the wells of various villages"!
The following spring, he even established the so-called "Anti-Rape Network in the Yu'e Border Region" to crack down on the CCP's underground activities.
(CPC Yu'e Border Provincial Committee)
During Ding Shuheng's tenure, he arrested and interrogated more than fifty young students and public education personnel.
The reason is simply because they have been to northern Shaanxi! So absurd and outrageous.
During the fall of Deng County, Ding Shuheng had no lower limit.
He not only served as the governor of the Japanese county, but also contacted the Japanese to join in anti-communism, drug trafficking and smuggling.
He once issued such an order, asking the plainclothes team to "deal with suspected communists and unstable elements urgently and solve them on the spot." ”
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, this great war against aggression finally came to an end.
But for Ding Shuheng, his anti-communist activities are just about to reach a climax.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="26" >3. After the War of Resistance: The Climax of Anti-Communism</h1>
In the summer of 1946, the War of Liberation broke out and the Fifth Division of the New Fourth Army was surrounded.
(New Fourth Army)
After a difficult battle, the Fifth Division broke through to the north, passing through Deng County.
As soon as he heard this news, Ding Shuheng couldn't sit still.
He immediately dispatched troops to intercept the New Fourth Army and chased it all the way to northern Shaanxi, implementing an all-round blockade.
In order to oppose communism, Ding Shuheng can be described as deliberate.
He was ambitious and felt that he should not only stay in small Deng County, but should have greater achievements.
In July 1946, Ding Shuheng, in his capacity as chairman of the county senate, initiated a provincial and county senators' association to discuss the "anti-communist self-defense plan."
He set up anti-Communist officials in each township and demanded that all Catholics sign the pledge.
When villagers pass through each intersection, they must conduct a round of interrogation.
In order to cut off the ties between the PLA and the people, Ding Shuheng even set up a secret service monitoring system called the "Five-Man Group".
In the village, five people are in a group, supervising and exposing each other.
Once the "Communist Party" was discovered in the group, five people were required to take responsibility together.
The highest level of the "five-member group" is composed of him and his cronies and is managed layer by layer.
At the same time, however, the CCP has sounded the clarion call for liberation in Deng County.
As early as the end of 1947, the People's Liberation Army had already advanced towards Deng County.
Ding Shuheng panicked and did not choose a path, and quickly sent a number of troops to surround and intercept.
However, with the start of the Battle of Sangzhuang, on December 24, 1947, the commander of the Nationalist Army, Wang Yuqian, was captured alive, and the situation was completely reversed.
In January of the following year, the People's Liberation Army temporarily took over Deng County, and Ding Shuheng fled.
(Liberation of Deng County Breakthrough Monument)
Ding Shuheng followed the Independent Brigade of the Kuomintang Army and returned to Deng County on February 5, 1948, where he carried out a frenzied encirclement and counterattack, killing sun Chengzhang and six other people.
In April 1948, he embezzled 75 million yuan of military food to settle his family. He himself passed through Hankou and went to Nanjing to attend the puppet national congress.
At this conference, Ding Shuheng can be said to have made the most of the limelight.
He was regarded as an "anti-communist hero", and not only reported to the cadres present on the "overview of Wanxi autonomy, the War of Resistance and Self-Defense", but even attended a Chinese and foreign press conference organized by Deng Wenyi.
(1948 Puppet National Congress)
What surprised him even more was that Chiang Kai-shek personally summoned him and gave him three thousand new rifles.
Ding Shuheng was oblivious and immersed in the "highlight moment" of his life.
However, the various "preferential treatment" he received at the puppet congress made him flutter and forget the real war situation.
In fact, the overall situation has been decided, and the liberation of Deng County is imminent!
Ding Shuheng stayed in Hankou for nearly three months, thinking he had asked for so-called "assistance."
On October 24 of the same year, Ding Shuheng followed Wang Lingyun's national army back to Deng County, marched into the city to demonstrate, and touted the "grand event of the National Congress".
During this time, he repeated his tactics, arresting and killing several Communists.
But what he never expected was that after only a few days, he received the news that the Kuomintang troops were withdrawing to the east, and even Wang Lingyun, who had brought him back, fled south!
(Wang Lingyun)
After the liberation of Fancheng on December 23, 1948, Ding Shuheng took advantage of the chaos and fled.
He lost his military power and was upset, but he remembered that Chiang Kai-shek had promised him supplies for his army.
So, he turned to Bai Chongxi.
Ding Shuheng took twenty-three gold rings and met Bai Chongxi.
Unexpectedly, before he could finish complaining, Bai Chongxi said bluntly: "The gun is a blank check written by Jiang, and there is nothing I can do!" ”
(Bai Chongxi)
However, until this time, Ding Shuheng was still obsessed, and his anti-communist heart did not die.
On the eve of the Battle of the River Crossing, Ding Shuheng arrived in Chongqing, met with Chen Shunde and others, and held a "hometown return forum" at No. 68, Weiwei Road, Chongqing.
At this meeting, Ding Shuheng transformed himself into the secretary of the Local Autonomy Innovation Committee, and also called for the establishment of the so-called "Henan Anti-Communist People's Self-Defense and National Salvation Army First Road General Headquarters".
What's even more ridiculous is that he also personally drew up a "homecoming plan".
It reads: "... In view of the CPC's land reform and anti-hegemonic policy, it is a reference for the Henan Provincial Government's war administration. ”
At this moment, he was still fantasizing about sending two cadres to sneak back to his hometown and organize the people and weapons to welcome his "glorious triumph"!
(Land Reform)
Ding Shuheng even met Chen Lifu and Yan Xishan and others, and also met with the American Habat stationed in Chongqing through Zhao Shouzhong.
He triumphantly prepared to write a "Review of The Ten Years of Wanxi Local Autonomy" to summarize his "glorious resume" of so many years of anti-communism.
Habat said that after the book was written, he could arrange for it to be published in the United States, pay Ding Shuheng a fee, and then introduce him to the United States.
With Habat's promise, Ding Shuheng was once again oblivious.
It was this stubborn mentality that blinded his eyes and made it impossible for him to see what the people wanted.
But the reality does not change with Ding Shuheng's imagination, and he ushered in his final end in January 1950.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="35" >4</h1>
Ding Shuheng dreamed of fleeing to the United States while wanting to go to Sichuan.
Soon, the People's Liberation Army entered Sichuan, and Zhao Zili led the army to move to the mountains.
Zhao Ziyi, who understood the situation, decided to revolt in late December 1949 and kindly persuaded Ding Shuheng to make meritorious deeds and not to go against the will of the people.
Ding Shuheng agreed on the surface, but in his heart he was extremely unconvinced.
Therefore, he secretly instigated two battalions to flee, and wanted to flee back to Deng County and establish a base area.
On January 22, 1950, when Ding Shuheng led his army through the Guanlu junction of Nanjiang County, he was captured on the spot by the People's Liberation Army that was ambushed here.
After Ding Shuheng was arrested, he once disguised himself as "Old Feng", but was eventually reported and exposed by righteous soldiers in the army.
When the central government learned of this news, it demanded that it be brought back to Beijing for trial. In 1951, Ding Shuheng was sentenced to death.
Ding Shuheng's life is a tragedy, but the reason is that it is all his own making.
When he carries out anti-communist activities again and again, obstructs the anti-Japanese resistance, and stands against the people, he should expect today's fate.
Or maybe there have been countless opportunities to get lost in front of his eyes, but each time, he has made the wrong choice.
Resources:
1. Chinese Committee of The Committee of Literature and History of the Deng County Committee of Henan Province of the Chinese Political Consultative Conference. DengXian Literature and History Materials Vol.2[M]. Committee of Literature and History of Deng County Committee of CPPCC Henan Province, 1985.
2. Compiled by the Literature and History Data Research Committee of the Deng County Committee of the Southern Province of the Chinese Political Consultative Conference. DengXian Literature and History Materials Vol.5[M]. Research Committee of Literature and History Materials of Deng County Committee of Henan Province, Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, 1988.
3. Editor-in-Chief of the Editorial Board of the History of Nanyang Region. Nanyang District Chronicle Vol. 45 Characters[M]. Editor-in-Chief Office of the Editorial Board of Nanyang Regional History, 1990.10.