,Chiang Kai-shek launched the "April 12" counter-revolutionary coup in 1927, which caused a heavy loss to the still-exploring Communist Party of China.
After that, Zhou Enlai, Mao Zedong, Chen Duxiu and others realized the importance of establishing an intelligence collection organization. Therefore, Central Special Branch came into being.
The former site of the Special Branch of the CPC Central Committee
The Central Special Branch is located in Shanghai and is directly under the command of Premier Zhou Enlai. In the early days of 's establishment, the Central Special Branch established four departments, general affairs department , information department, operations department and transportation department . Responsible for arranging meetings, gathering intelligence, rescuing captured comrades, and contacting radio stations.
Since its establishment, the Central Special Branch has trained a large number of "red agents" and placed them in various departments of the Kuomintang to be responsible for intelligence collection.
The identities of these people are often kept absolutely confidential, and their names are replaced by code names. They do not even know each other when transmitting information, and they only rely on secret codes to completely trust each other and communicate information.
However, it is precisely because of the opacity of information between each other that many "red agents" do not know their true identities until they die, and there is no way to track and commend these people.
After the founding of New China, there were countless "red agents" whose whereabouts were unknown. They contributed their strength and even their lives to the party's revolutionary cause.
However, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, they quietly retreated from the city. Some of them could not confirm their true identity even until their death. They could only leave an unmarked monument in the Unsung Heroes Square .
Comrade Yao Zijian, whom this article is about to talk about, is one of these countless "red agents".
Yao Zijian in his later years
1. Unexpected gains from the lecture
In 2001 , a group of young people named Yao organized a lecture in his work unit. This lecture was very large in scale because a "red agent" who was over eighty years old was invited Shen Anna , in the lecture, she will tell the employees the history of the hidden front struggle of the intelligence agents of the Central Special Branch.
Anna Shen was a famous "red agent" at the time, known as the person who "held the pulse of Chiang Kai-shek" .
When Anna Shen was young
Why did she say that?
At that time, Yao Anna was a female stenographer who was placed at the top of Chiang Kai-shek. She had been lurking in Chiang Kai-shek's top management for many years and provided a lot of information to the Communist Party. The Communist Party had already learned of Chiang Kai-shek's speech in the morning in the afternoon, and Shen Anna was here The role is very crucial.
A group of Yao followed their colleagues into the venue that day, and then Shen Anna walked up from the backstage. Although the 86-year-old Shen Anna has gray hair on her temples, she is in good spirits.
In her later years, Anna Shen was interviewed by a reporter
Regarding her 20-year experience as an agent, Anna Shen's eyes were full of determination.
Anna Shen greeted the employees in the audience enthusiastically, then sat down and slowly told the story behind her.
The employees in the audience listened very fascinated, and Yao Qun also listened very seriously. However, when Yao Qun heard a name, he felt a sense of déjà vu in his heart.
"Red Agent" Shen Anna
At that time, Shen Anna began to tell the story of her sister Shen Yina and her husband Shu Yuexin. For these two names, Yao Qun seemed to have heard of these two names somewhere, but they could not remember them specifically.
As Shen Anna's story went deeper and deeper, Yao Qunqun became more and more familiar with these two people. This feeling of déjà vu made Yao Qunqun very anxious. When Shen Anna mentioned that their working places were Nanjing and Shanghai, Yao Qun slapped his head, weren't these the two people his father had mentioned before?
Afterwards, Yao Qunqun could not help but get excited: "Is his father an agent of the Central Special Branch?"
Yao Zijian
But Yao Qunqun was not sure whether he heard it wrong, so after the lecture, he hurried back home Find out.
Yao Qunqun hurriedly opened the door. His father, Yao Zijian, was sitting in a rocking chair basking in the sun. Yao Qunqun rushed forward and said: "Dad, guess who is giving us a lecture today?"
Yao Zijian Monk Zhang Er was confused, looked at his son and said: "How do I know? Stop being so pretentious and tell me quickly!"
Yao Zijian
Yao Qunqun said : "Shen Anna, a red agent of the Central Special Branch." But Yao Zijian did not know Shen Anna, he said: "What's wrong with Shen Anna?"
Seeing that their father did not react in surprise, the Yao group continued: "His sister Shen Yina and brother-in-law Shu Yuexin are also red agents. I remember you told me these two names."
After hearing this, Yao Zijian was startled at first, and then his eyes gradually became moist.
Yao Zijian did not expect that after 60 years, he would hear someone say these two names again, and Shen Yina and Shu Yuexin were the two people who contacted Yao Zijian. Yao Zijian did not expect that Shen Yina had a younger sister.
At this time, Yao Qunqu asked: "Dad, if they were really your contacts when you were working in the party, then didn't you also belong to the Central Special Branch?"
When Yao Zijian heard this, his body couldn't help but tremble. He got up, but he was not sure, so he said to his son: "I don't know, but I just joined the party and then I did whatever the party organization asked me to do. I don’t know which department I belong to. Can you let me meet Comrade Shen Anna?” Returning to the work unit, I found Anna Shen who was about to take a special car back. Ana Shen was a little wary when she saw this young man rushing to stop the special car.
But after Yao Qunqun explained his purpose, Shen Anna immediately said to Yao Qunqun : "Take me to meet your father."
2. The conversation that revealed the truth
Shen Anna came to Yao Zijian's residence, and the two old people met. Finally, Yao Zijian excitedly held Ana Shen’s hand and said: “Old comrade, hello, hello...”
Anna Shen was also very excited. She said: "Hello, old comrade, I heard from your son that you know my sister Shen Yina and I came here specially to see you!"
Anna Shen and Yao Zijian met
Afterwards, Anna Shen and Yao Zijian had a meeting After an in-depth conversation, Yao Zijian relied on his sporadic memories to recall the unforgettable experience of his youth.
In 1933, Yao Zijian, who was studying at the Central Land Survey School of the National Government, met Shu Yuexin. Later, Yao Zijian followed Shu Yuexin and joined the Communist Party of China and became a party member. Yao Zijian felt very honored.
When he was young, Yao Zijian
In order to quickly join the party organization after graduating from the printing and surveying major, Yao Zijian studied very hard. He spent all day in school, studying surveying, mapping, and printing technology. At that time, due to the scarcity of military maps Sex, surveying and mapping major once became a very popular major.
After graduation, Yao Zijian, with the help of Shu Yuexin, met Lu Zicheng, the backbone of Shanghai's underground work at that time.
Lu Zicheng did not tell Yao Zijian that he was the person in charge of underground work, nor did he tell him about the Communist Party's secret establishment of the Central Special Branch.
After learning about Yao Zijian's situation, Lu Zicheng said: "Now the Kuomintang is in need of professional talents like you. We need you to infiltrate the Kuomintang and help the Communist Party obtain some useful intelligence."
Lu Zicheng
Young and energetic When Sheng Yao Zijian heard that he was being arranged to work in the Kuomintang, he was a little unhappy. He wanted to go to the battlefield to help the commanders draw maps and direct operations.
But Lu Zicheng said to Yao Zijian sincerely: "Your work is as important as fighting on the battlefield. Only if you obtain information that is beneficial to the party can we have a chance to win with one move."
So Yao Zijian went to Nanjing The General Bureau of Land Survey of the National Army General Staff Headquarters applied for a job and was eventually selected to become a surveyor .
But Yao Zijian soon discovered that his work was not very confidential. It was just ordinary surveying and mapping, which was of little value to the party organization. At this time, he was a little discouraged. He thought he could flex his muscles, but he didn't expect that he was of no use at all.
After careful consideration, Yao Zijian decided to request a change of position when the time came.
After working in the General Bureau of Surveying for half a year, Yao Zijian began to report to the bureau that he had an eye disease and was not suitable for surveying and mapping work, and asked if there was a civilian replacement. The
unit attaches great importance to and trusts talents like Yao Zijian, and then arranged a job for Yao Zijian to store military secret maps.
Although this job does not allow Yao Zijian to flex his muscles in the surveying and mapping profession that he is familiar with, it does bring him closer to the latest trends of the Kuomintang.
Because this job is not only safekeeping, but also responsible for finding the maps needed by the front line and sending them to their destinations. This means that Yao Zijian can get a glimpse of the latest trends of the Kuomintang through which maps they need.
After getting the job, Yao Zijian was very excited. He could finally communicate with the "people above" and pass on some beneficial information.
Yao Zijian would always hand-draw and save a copy of the map the Kuomintang needed, and wait until he reached the meeting point during his weekly break.
He always carries a suitcase in his hand, which contains various important map information, and the person who contacts Yao Zijian is Shu Yuexin's wife Shen Yina, who is also Shen Anna's sister.
But later, he changed his contact person and it was a person named "Mr. Li". Yao Zijian didn't know where Shen Yina ended up.
Shen Anna and her husband Hua Mingzhi
In 1938, Yao Zijian, who had been engaged in intelligence work for four years, received an order from his superiors and requested to report to the Eighth Route Army Office in Hong Kong immediately.
Yao Zijian resigned from his job at the General Bureau of Land Survey of the National Army Staff Headquarters and took a train to Hong Kong.
After that, Yao Zijian broke away from his identity as an intelligence agent and entered the Military and Political University to study. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he worked in the Radar Bureau of the Ministry of Industry until his retirement.
Yao Zijian is now 86 years old, but he still doesn’t know that he was originally from the Central Special Branch.
3. The "Lost" Red Agent
After listening to Yao Zijian's story, Shen Anna became even more convinced that Yao Zijian was one of the "red agents" back then.
However, in order to have evidence to prove it, Anna Shen immediately reported the matter to the central ministries and commissions after returning to Beijing, and requested a detailed investigation of Yao Zijian's identity.
Finally, under the central government's investigation, confirmed that Yao Zijian was indeed working for the Central Special Branch and was a "red agent" of the Central Special Branch.
And Yao Zijian's intelligence line belongs to "Wang Shiying-Wang Xuewen-Shu Yuexin, Shen Yina".
Yao Anna
Shen Anna told Yao Yiqun the news, and Yao Yiqun relayed it to Yao Zijian.
60 years of mystery was finally revealed. Yao Zijian was excited beyond words. He never expected that he would be a member of the Central Special Intelligence Section, and his immediate boss was the respected Premier Zhou Enlai.
Prime Minister Zhou Enlai
Yao Zijian was determined to save and serve the country when he was young. He was born in an ordinary family in 915 Jiangsu. At that time, Yao Zijian's family opened a teahouse, which was considered to be very good.
It is precisely because of this that Yao Zijian was able to go to school and receive the influence of knowledge.
At that time, the New Culture Movement was rising, and China was at the transition point between old and new ideas. Yao Zijian also received education in new ideas at this time. He often walked on the streets with his classmates to petition, calling on the government to do something.
With a pure heart, he expressed his patriotic feelings in petitions again and again.
At that time, Yao Zijian was still very fond of the Kuomintang led by Sun Yat-sen and always hoped to join the Kuomintang.
Sun Yat-sen
But later, as Chiang Kai-shek launched the April 12 counter-revolutionary coup and established the National Government in Nanjing, the Kuomintang turned into an ambitious political party.
Since then, Yao Zijian has been extremely disappointed with the Kuomintang.
In later practice, Yao Zijian realized that only the Communist Party could save China, so he resolutely joined the Communist Party.
It can be said that Shu Yuexin was an important figure in Yao Zijian's ability to become a communist. Because of this, Yao Zijian often mentioned this name with his son Yao Zijian in his later years.
It was also because of Shu Yuexin that Yao Zijian knew that his contact person's real name was Shen Yina, Shu Yuexin's wife.
Shu Yuexin
Yao Zijian, who knew his true identity, attracted the attention of the central government. Leaders at all levels came to Yao Zijian's hometown in Jiangsu to visit this "red agent."
But Yao Zijian always said that it was his honor to join the Communist Party and work for the party organization.
After Anna Shen passed away in 2010, Yao Zijian became the last veteran of the Central Special Branch. Although the 96-year-old Yao Zijian's hair has turned yellow and all his teeth have fallen out, his body is still strong.
Conclusion:
In January 2018, , 103-year-old Yao Zijian died of illness. " People's Daily " wrote:
"As the last veteran of the Central Special Branch, the departure of the old man Yao Zijian marks the end of an era, but the spirit he left behind will always be remembered."
