At the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949, those who were invited to attend were all important figures of our party and patriotic figures. One of them had a special status. He was a veteran of the Kuomintang and a sworn brother of Chiang Kai-sh

At the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949, all those invited to attend were important figures of our party and patriotic figures. One of them had a special identity. He was a veteran of the Kuomintang and a member of Chiang Kai-shek. Sworn brother, he is Yang Hu. He turned from darkness to light at a critical moment, so Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou specially invited him to watch the ceremony. However, only nine years later, in 1958, Yang Hu was sentenced to death by the chairman. What exactly happened?

In 1889, Yang Hu was born into a peasant family in Ningguo County, Anhui Province. Due to his poor family background, Yang Hu worked as an apprentice and did odd jobs to supplement the family income at a very young age. Children from poor families are particularly precocious. Yang Hu has experienced the ups and downs of human relationships since he was a child. He felt that if he didn't give it a try, he might not be able to get ahead in his life. So at the age of 16, Yang Hu entered the Qing Navy Navy Wu Bian School to study. After that, he He transferred to the Liangjiang Martial Arts Hall to study, and upon graduation was promoted to the Nanyang Higher Police Academy.

Young Yang Hu, with a passion for serving the country, joined the China Alliance and began to follow Mr. Sun Yat-sen. He lurked in the Qing army, promoted revolutionary ideas, and encouraged the wavering Qing troops to launch uprisings. Later, he secretly carried out revolutionary activities in Guangdong and Northeast China. In 1915, Sun Yat-sen appointed Yang Hu as the commander-in-chief of the Jiangsu Army and the commander of the marine . Together with Chiang Kai-shek and others, he devoted himself to launching an army to defeat Yuan, and made great contributions. In the process, Yang Hu also forged a deep friendship with Chiang Kai-shek.

In the years following Sun Yat-sen's revolution, Yang Hu went through many hardships and saved Sun Yat-sen several times, making great contributions. He was both wise and courageous, and loyal. Therefore, he was highly appreciated by Sun Yat-sen and had a high prestige in the military. However, after Sun Yat-sen died in March 1925, Chiang Kai-shek took the opportunity to take power. Chiang Kai-shek knew that Yang Hu had both status and power, so he deliberately attracted him; Yang Hu also urgently needed a new backer at this time, so the two hit it off and became sworn brothers with different surnames.

The year when Sun Yat-sen passed away was a watershed. Before that, Yang Hu made great contributions in the 1911 Revolution and the National Defense Movement. However, after Chiang Kai-shek came to power, Yang Hu helped the enemy and became a puppet in Chiang Kai-shek's hands. A butcher's knife.

In 1927, Chiang Kai-shek launched the "April 12" counter-revolutionary coup and went on a killing spree, massacring our party members and revolutionary masses. Yang Hu was Chiang Kai-shek's most capable lover in this crime, and the innocent people who died in his hands His life is countless, and at this time, he has long forgotten his original intention to join the revolution. Yang Hu teamed up with Huang Jinrong, Du Yuesheng, Zhang Xiaolin and others to brutally suppress the revolutionary masses and workers' organizations in Shanghai, including Chen Duxiu's son Chen Yannian. The crimes Yang Hu committed are too numerous to list, and this is a stain he can never get rid of.

Yang Hu was very important to Chiang Kai-shek, and he was already very prestigious in the Kuomintang. Over time, Yang Hu became more and more arrogant, and this "ignorance of current affairs" offended the "dictator" Chiang Kai-shek, setting the stage for the next two The breakup of people laid the foundation for this.

From 1927 to 1937, Yang Hu could be said to have lived a life like a "Tu Emperor" in Shanghai. Warlords and gang bosses from all walks of life respected him as "Big Brother". Yang Hu was simply domineering in Shanghai. Accustomed to being arrogant, Yang Hu actually didn't take Chiang Kai-shek seriously. In 1936, Yang Hu spent a huge sum of money to build a villa on the edge of the West Lake that was as luxurious as a palace, and all this was done without telling Chiang Kai-shek.

Chiang Kai-shek is naturally not stupid. He has already noticed the changes in Yang Hu. How could the so-called "Chiang Dynasty" tolerate people like Yang Hu? Today's Chiang Kai-shek can no longer tolerate Yang Hu calling himself a brother, but he has not yet found an opportunity to deal with Yang Hu.

Yang Hu had a son named Yang Anguo. Perhaps in order to contain Yang Hu, Song Meiling offered to be Yang Anguo's matchmaker and introduced him to a well-matched and famous lady. On the wedding day, guests gathered, and most of the prominent people in the Kuomintang came. However, the groom never showed up.

Everyone waited for a long time, but still did not see Yang Anguo, so they had to send people to look around. It turned out that Yang Anguo already had a crush on himself, and did not like the girl introduced by Song Meiling, so she ran away before the wedding.

After learning the whole story, Soong Meiling was very angry. She felt that the Yang family was ignorant and had made her lose face and offend others. It is said that she once reprimanded Yang Hu in person, "How can you run a country if you can't run a household?"

Yang Anguo's farce intensified the conflict between Jiang and Yang. From then on, Chiang Kai-shek no longer reused Yang Hu, only gave him a false position as a Central Supervisory Committee member, and by the way took away Yang Hu's military power. Yang Hu was used to being domineering, and was suddenly ignored by Chiang Kai-shek. Naturally, he was very dissatisfied with him and no longer devoted himself to Chiang Kai-shek.

To be fair, Yang Hu is a very complex character. He was determined to be revolutionary and also killed his compatriots. After the Japanese army invaded China, Yang Hu opposed Chiang Kai-shek's "non-resistance" policy and firmly advocated resistance to Japan. . It was during this period that Yang Hu met Premier Zhou. After several interactions, Yang Hu was deeply impressed by Premier Zhou's charisma. When talking about the "April 12 Coup" of that year, Yang Hu was very ashamed. At this time, he finally realized the crime he had committed. Zhou The Prime Minister comforted him and said: "No one is a sage, how can he be without faults? What's more, Mr. Yang acted under orders, just know his mistakes. The Communist Party's policy is to forget about the past. For a person, not only his past and present, but more importantly Look at his future. Senior Kuomintang military and political officials like Mr. Yang must be treated equally."

Premier Zhou's words not only moved Yang Hu greatly, but also made him realize the tolerance and generosity of our party. Give up the idea of ​​​​abandoning the darkness and turning to the light.

Zhang Lan

During the War of Liberation, Yang Hu secretly protected many members of our party and patriots, and he did some good things. When liberating Shanghai, Premier Zhou ordered that the two democrats , Zhang Lan and Luo Longji, must be protected. However, the situation in Shanghai was very dangerous at that time, and it was almost impossible for underground workers to complete the rescue mission, so Wu Kejian, our party's cadre in charge of underground work, Thinking of Yang Hu.

Although Yang Hu was ignored by Chiang Kai-shek, he had been in Shanghai for many years and was still very powerful. No matter who he was, he had to give him face. Logically speaking, he was indeed the best candidate to rescue Zhang Lan and others. Premier Zhou pondered for a long time and finally chose to believe Yang Hu for once. After

was approved, Wu Kejian visited Yang Hu in person, moved him to understand and inform him of the matter in full. At this time, the KMT's advantage was no longer there, and Yang Hu had long wanted to quit. It just so happened that our party handed over an "olive branch". If this matter was handled well, wouldn't it be the best "letter of nomination"? So after weighing the pros and cons, Yang Hu agreed to help our party rescue Zhang Lan and Luo Longji. In order to ensure nothing went wrong, Yang Hu specially sent his confidants and son-in-law to escort him all the way.

After Zhang Lan and Luo Longji were rescued, Chiang Kai-shek became furious and offered a reward of 30,000 silver dollars on Yang Hu's head. In order to protect Yang Hu, our party transferred him to Peiping . Premier Zhou and Zhu De personally went to the station to greet him.

It was precisely because Yang Hu made the right choice at the critical moment and solved the urgent needs of our party that he was specially invited to attend the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

After the founding of New China, our party arranged for Yang Hu to live in the then Prince Gong’s Mansion , where he could receive 300 yuan in living expenses per month, and there were also secretaries and security personnel to take care of his life. The reason why our party treats Yang Hu so favorably is, firstly, because he is a high-ranking member of the Kuomintang but is able to turn back from his lost ways, which is rare and can set a "model"; secondly, because this can show our party's lenient policy and serve as a model for other uprising generals. Take a "reassurance pill."

To be fair, Yang Hu's treatment has been very good, but he is still not satisfied. He still wants power and has repeatedly proposed to be a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Our party staff expressed their attitude euphemistically but clearly: Although Yang Hu abandoned the dark side and turned to the bright side, he killed too many Communists in the "April 12 Coup", so it was best not to show his face.

However, Yang Hu felt that he had made "great contributions" in Shanghai and should be rewarded accordingly. So he became dissatisfied with our party and often made remarks that slandered our party. He also listened to the "Voice of America" ​​in private ” and the Kuomintang’s reactionary radio broadcasts, etc. Naturally, we were aware of Yang Hu's outrageous behavior, but Yang Hu did not take any actual actions at this time. Therefore, we could only hit him a few times with words, hoping that he could rein in the situation in time.

However, Yang Hu's ambitions had already expanded, and with Chiang Kai-shek clamoring for a "counterattack on the mainland" at this time, Yang Hu actually came up with the idea of ​​defecting to Taiwan. One day in the 1950s, Yang Hu's son Yang Anguo came from Taiwan to the mainland to visit relatives. Yang Hu said to him: "When you return to Taiwan this time, please tell the Jiang family and his son that I am in Cao Ying and my heart is in Han."

Yang Anguo After returning to Taiwan, he conveyed these words to Chiang Kai-shek, so Chiang Kai-shek began to take advantage of Yang Hu. He also sent Yang Hu's once-favorite concubine to the mainland to further instigate Yang Hu's rebellion. Yang Hu's abacus was very good. He thought: If Chiang Kai-shek successfully "counterattacks" with his help, wouldn't he become a hero again?

Since then, Yang Hu has often maintained contact with Taiwan's secret agents, and from time to time revealed some information about our party that he had learned about. Yang Hu began secret contacts with Taiwanese spies and embarked on the anti-communist path again. In 1958, Chiang Kai-shek once again clamored for a "counterattack." Yang Hu believed that the time was ripe, so he wrote a letter to Chiang Kai-shek, proposing that Chiang Kai-shek cooperate with Japan, and then attack the mainland from the north and south from Northeast China and Fujian respectively. , and he acted as an internal agent to instigate civil strife.

This letter was very confidential. Yang Hu was worried that the secret would be leaked by normal mailing, so he found a Japanese expatriate who was about to go abroad and asked her to take the letter to Taiwan. However, Yang Hu's series of actions have long been noticed by us. The expatriate was arrested as soon as he arrived at the customs, and Yang Hu's conspiracy to treason and surrender to the enemy was naturally shattered.

When he stood in court, Yang Hu still showed no repentance and still argued that he was too old-sighted to know what was written in the letter. In the end, he was sentenced to suspended death . However, considering Yang Hu's past merits, coupled with his old age and illness, Chairman Mao still showed mercy after some thought and changed Yang Hu's death sentence to life imprisonment. Therefore, Yang Hu lived until 1968 when he died of illness at the age of 79.