"Prime Minister Zhou, come and wear my green military uniform!"
In April 1937, before departure, Chen Youcai, an adjutant of , , said this to Premier Zhou, and he himself dressed up as Premier Zhou in his usual manner.
In order to carry out the second cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, Premier and his group set off from Yan'an to Xi'an for negotiations with the Kuomintang for one week.
However, he was attacked in the middle. Only 4 of the 25 people who set off at survived , and Chen Youcai was even hit by several shots and died. After his death, he was also given many knifes on his body.
So, who assassinated Premier Zhou? Did the enemy regard Chen Youcai as Premier Zhou?
The relationship between Premier Zhou and Chen Youcai
1914, Chen Youcai was born in Hunan. His father was killed by the Kuomintang during the Great Revolution.
He followed Zhu De's troops to Jinggangshan at the age of 14, and later served as a guard next to Chairman Mao.
In February 1936, Chen Youcai was transferred to Premier Zhou and served as the guard staff officer.
There are many loving things happening between Chen Youcai and Premier Zhou.
For example, during the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression", the food in the Red Army became increasingly insufficient, and everyone (including Premier Zhou) only had half a kilogram of food to eat every day.
Premier Zhou is very concerned about the younger Red Army soldiers and thinks that they are just when they are growing up. How can they not eat enough?
So, Premier Zhou often saved some food from his own grain bags and handed it to young Red Army soldiers for . 19-year-old Chen Youcai was also lucky to have eaten it.
In September 1934, when the Red Army marched to the hilly areas of Minshan County, they suddenly heard the sound of bombers.
At this time, Premier Zhou was seriously ill and was carried on a stretcher by the soldiers. The guards around him were very anxious. They didn't know whether to march quickly, hide in the woods, or fire the enemy planes on the spot.
Chen Youcai calmly asked everyone to hold branches in their hands and leaves on their bodies, and disguised as a bush.
The enemy plane really mistakenly thought it was a "shrub" , and did not throw the bomb, but flew away directly.
Taking advantage of the opportunity when the enemy plane flew away, Chen Youcai and several soldiers carried Premier Zhou together to the ravine to hide.
After a while, the enemy plane of flew back and bombed the place they were disguised just now.
Chen Youcai's operation successfully protected everyone's safety and also allowed Premier Zhou, who was seriously ill, to suffer the turbulent pain of rushing to avoid.
This incident reflects Chen Youcai's courage and meticulousness, good at seizing opportunities and guessing the enemy's psychology.
In February 1936, Premier Zhou was commanding the anti-Japanese war in Yihe Town, Suide , but suddenly encountered attacks from enemies all the way. Originally, Chen Youcai and his guard company had defeated the enemy.
However, an enemy used a big stone to shoot at Premier Zhou as a cover. Chen Youzhe suddenly rushed forward and threw the enemy down.
"Touch! Touch!" After two gunshots, Premier Zhou discovered that one shot was fired by Chen Youcai, but the enemy was fired by the enemy, and the other shot was fired by Chen Youcai, and Premier Zhou was unscathed.
1 December 12, After the Xi'an Incident, , , Zhang Xueliang immediately contacted the Communist Party. The party organization decided to resolve the Xi'an Incident peacefully and sent Premier Zhou to Xi'an to deal with the matter.
During his time in Xi'an, the situation was complicated and there were crises everywhere. Chen Youcai wisely identified the enemy many times to protect Premier Zhou's safety.
In order to confuse the enemy, Chen Youcai has worn the same clothes as Premier Zhou many times, is used to protect Premier Zhou's safety intimately. Because Chen Youcai's figure is similar to Premier Zhou, , the enemy often cannot tell which one is Premier Zhou.
1937 at 9 am on April 25, 1937, Premier Zhou set out from Yan'an again and went to Xi'an to negotiate the negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.
When they were riding a truck by Laoshan (Laoshan is located in Ganquan County, Yan'an City), they suddenly heard a "pop".
Chen Youcai asked alertly: "What's the noise?"
The guard sitting next to him said: "It seems to be the sound of a whip."
Premier Zhou, who was sitting in the cab, also turned his eyes out the window and found that there were mountains and trees around him. How could the herders run here to herd sheep?
Suddenly, dense gunshots sounded around, and the driver was quickly hit and fell into the cab.
Tires were also broken by the enemy, and the car could not continue to move forward.
Premier Zhou calmly ordered: "Get out of the car, disperse, prepare to fight back!"
Then, Premier Zhou calmly jumped out of the truck and bowed to hide behind the front wheel.
Chen Youcai and the guards covered Premier Zhou and retreated to the woods on the right. Chen Guoqiao directed the spy team to block the enemy.
However, even with more than a dozen people covering it, Premier Zhou could not get out, and the enemy's firepower was too dense.
At this time, Chen You, who was wearing a suit and a top hat, looked particularly eye-catching. In order to attract the attention of the enemy, he shouted loudly and directed everyone to fight.
"Laoshan assassinated" in film and television works
Sure enough, the enemy's guns were pointed at him. He was injured in his leg and could not move, but later he was shot everywhere.
Because Chen Youcai looked like a high-ranking official, he fell down again, so the enemy did not spend his thoughts on Premier Zhou, who was wearing ordinary military uniforms, and Premier Zhou also successfully broke out with his people.
When the group of enemies rushed up to check the truck's items, they found a large box.
They were very happy, but when they opened it, they found that they were all files, and they threw the box aside in anger.
After inspection, and they found Premier Zhou’s business card in Chen Youcai’s pocket. They mistakenly thought that this person was Premier Zhou. They stabbed Chen Youcai more than 20 consecutively and then turned and left.
suspects of assassinating Premier Zhou
At noon on the day of the assassination of Premier Zhou, Zhou Xingman, director of the Central Political Security Bureau, arrived at the cave where Chairman Mao was in panic and reported Premier Zhou's assassination on the way, with heavy casualties from his subordinates, and Premier Zhou's life and death uncertainty.
Chairman Mao was shocked when he heard about this matter, and then issued an order to the commander of the Central Guard Regiment: "Go and find Vice Chairman Zhou!"
The commander of the Guard Regiment took the cavalry company and ran out of Yan'an on a horse.
When the cavalry company found Premier Zhou, the first thing he said was: "Go to Laoshan site to take a look!"
It's a pity that there were only martyrs' bodies, messy file boxes and trucks that were broken by bullets on the scene.
Those enemies who did evil have long since escaped without leaving any trace.
The most heartbreaking thing is Chen Youcai's scarred body. The cavalry found that there was a blanket under Chen Youcai's body. In addition to blood, there were also many knife marks on the blanket.
When Premier Zhou received this blanket, he felt heartbroken and couldn't help crying. He said, "My friend died for me, and I will never forget him."
So, who planned this murder by ?
The leadership of the Party Central Committee analyzed whether it was the Japanese who wanted to stop the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China and , or was Zhang Guotao who was determined to be an enemy of the Central Committee, or was there anyone within the Kuomintang who did not want to cooperate with the Communist Party, or was the bandits in this area causing trouble?
First of all, Zhang Guotao was listed as the key suspect because he had the intention of rebellion in October 1935.
Although he had admitted his mistake after being criticized and educated by the party organization in 1937, he still suspected of being lip service.
is still secretly doing something to confront the party organization, and Lao Shan is within the control of Zhang Guotao's old subordinates, so it is hard to guarantee that it was not what he instructed his old subordinates.
On the night of the incident, Zhang Guotao had already fallen asleep, but found a sound outside. His guard seemed to be arguing with someone. He stood up and walked outside and asked: "What happened?"
The guard beside him quickly turned around and protected him behind him, and said seriously: "The outside is surrounded, I suspect the Security Bureau may want to arrest you."
Zhang Guotao sighed, shook his head, and thought to himself that he was not very mature. then asked the guard to withdraw the person and told his subordinates not to act rashly.
The next morning, Zhang Wentianlai and Zhang Guotao explained that last night it was to strengthen the security work, so he would be disturbed, and hoped that he would not mind.
In fact, the movement that night was indeed a misunderstanding. The incident was not done by Zhang Guotao , because the scout in charge of the incident, Xie Ziqun, has found a clue.
Xie Ziqun was born in 1916. His hometown is Xingguo County, Jiangxi Province. He has been quick-witted and flexible since childhood. He joined the Red Army in 1930.
Xie Ziqun has solved many major and mysterious cases, and the central government trusts him very much.
For example, in January 1937, the party organization planned to move to Yan'an, but did not know what the situation was inside, so she sent Xie Ziqun to explore the way.
Xie Ziqun and 5 investigators arrived in Yan'an, dressed up as ordinary people visiting relatives, used local fellow villagers as cover, and thoroughly understood the situation in Yan'an, and then went back to report to the Party Central Committee.
0000000000000 troops were found to be invisible to Yan'an and use Yan'an as the command center of the party organization during the War of Resistance Against Japan.
Regarding Premier Zhou's assassination incident, there were no clues found from the scene. Xie Ziqun, who had rich experience, sent people to the local people to promote the revolution.
While telling the masses about anti-Japanese ideas, they also took the opportunity to inquire about the news by talking to the masses.
Because they get along very happily with the masses, they also bring food to eat with the masses and sleep together at night, which makes the masses trust them more and tell them everything they know.
Xie Ziqun also quickly found out that there was an old man Li in who happened to be chopping wood nearby that day. He was likely to know more, so he came to communicate with Old Man Li in person.
Old man Li is less courageous and afraid that he would be retaliated after telling the secret. lied that he "knows nothing" .
But when Xie Ziqun looked at him with a flashing look on his face, he knew he was lying.
But Xie Ziqun did not use tough means to force him to tell the truth. After the persuasion was fruitless, he mobilized local people with good relationships with Old Man Li to persuade him, and also helped Old Man Li do farm work every day.
In the end, Old Man Li was embarrassed to hide it anymore and revealed everything he knew to Xie Ziqun.
The real murderer who assassinated Premier Zhou
It turns out that there is a place called Huanglongshan in southern Yan'an. There are a group of bandits who robbed their families in , with about 200 people.
This group of bandits often rob passing merchants. The local people have suffered from this group of bandits for a long time, but they can only swallow their anger and be frightened all day long.
In August 1934, the Red Army came to Huanglong Mountain. After doing ideological work, the bandits expressed their willingness to correct their mistakes and benevolent. The party organization adapted these bandits into the Hongquan County Commando, and the captain of was named Li Qingyun.
Originally, Li Qingyun led the commando to earnestly complete the tasks assigned by the party organization, and the commando did not resume bandit activities.
However, the Kuomintang did something bad and quietly tempted Li Qingwu, deputy captain of the commando team. Li Qingwu, with the support of the Kuomintang, beat Li Qingyun to death and resumed banditry.
In addition to robbing ordinary people and passing merchants, this group of bandits is to spy on the Red Army's intelligence and assassinate local cadres.
even, these bandits became cruel and didn't even let go of "his own people". In April 1937, pretended to be the Red Army to rob the Kuomintang's trucks, causing losses to the Kuomintang's property.
KMT originally thought it manipulated these bandits, but these bandits used the Kuomintang as a shelter and robbed the Kuomintang officials from time to time. After all, there are many rich people in the Kuomintang.
After entering Yan'an, the Red Army sent people to suppress the bandits, but these bandits were too cunning and took advantage of their familiar terrain, which almost caused the bandit suppression troops to suffer a great loss.
This time, two bandits under Li Qingwu found out that Premier Zhou was about to go to Xi'an and was likely to pass by here. Li Qingwu ordered everyone to ambush here in advance.
In order to prepare for ambush, the bandits alarmed the old man Li who was chopping wood in the mountains and other work in advance.
Old Man Li quietly observed and knew that it was these bandits who were doing some money and murder, so he hurriedly hid back home.
The reason why these bandits wanted to murder is to make a name for themselves and to seek wealth.
After assassinating "Prime Minister Zhou", this group of bandits thought that such a large official should carry a lot of money with him, but unexpectedly they were all useless "waste paper".
In order to eliminate the roots, Li Qingwu cut many more knives at Chen Youcai's body, because they did regard Chen Youcai as Premier Zhou.
After Xie Ziqun found out the truth, the Party Central Committee was very angry and arranged a large number of troops to comprehensively suppress the bandits. Seeing that the big thing was not good, these bandits fled toward the direction of Yellow River and were eventually surrounded by our army.
Our army took a month to wipe out a large number of bandits and captured more than a dozen people including Li Qingwu, and these people were later executed.
On April 27, 1937, the party organization held a memorial service for Chen Youcai and others.
Premier Zhou highly praised the heroic dedication of martyrs Chen Youcai, whose bodies were buried on the hillside of Yan'an Tower.
In 1973 , When Premier Zhou learned that Chen Youcai's grave was destroyed by the Kuomintang in 1947, and his body disappeared, he couldn't help but burst into tears again.
reminds the local government to invite the martyrs to take good care of them and erect a monument for them.
Zhou Enlai (middle), Zhang Yunyi (left) and Kong Shiquan (right). Zhou Enlai wrote on the back of the photo "Laoshan is in danger, only four people are left."
Premier Zhou never forgot about this in his life and believed that this was the most dangerous assassination he had ever encountered, and that blanket was carefully collected by him.
A group photo is always in his underwear pocket. The back of it reads: "Laoshan is in danger, only 4 people are left."
Chen Youcai's sacrifice to cover up Premier Zhou is very admirable. Premier Zhou treats the soldiers sincerely and kindly on weekdays, and at the moment of life, it is reasonable to exchange for the soldiers' desperate protection.
References:
China Engineering Network: "Zhou Enlai's "most dangerous moment in his life", he stood up to meet the enemy..."
Hunan Daily : "The person who Zhou Enlai will never forget for the rest of his life - a follow-up martyr Chen Youcai"
Wenhui Network: ""Laoshan was in danger, only four people remained", Zhou En, who experienced countless dangers in his life, said that this time was the most dangerous - all the guards were killed"
