General Chen Zhongzhu’s business card
Foreword
In 2012, Wu Xianbin, the director of the Nanjing Civilian Anti-Japanese War Museum Wu Xianbin accidentally discovered a yellowed business card in the collection market, and then bought it with a lot of money. The front of the business card read Chen Zhongzhu’s name and title: Chen Zhongzhu, Commander of the Fourth Guerrilla Column in the Shandong-Suwan Border Region, with his personal seal printed below the name.
Later, Wu Xianbin learned through various channels that General Chen Zhongzhu’s relatives were still alive and had all moved to Australia, so he sent an email to Chen Zhongzhu’s eldest daughter.
After learning about it, Chen Pu, the eldest daughter in Australia, immediately made a special trip to Nanjing to view the relic and wrote down her longing for her father: "Dad, I saw your handwriting and seal today, and recalling the past feels like seeing you again."
At the same time, she also brought a letter of thanks from her mother Wang Zhifang.
Who is this General Chen Zhongzhu? What legendary stories are there about him?
Chen Zhongzhu
I am Chinese and I swear to the death as a traitor
In 1906, Chen Zhongzhu was born in a peasant family with five brothers. He was the second oldest. Unfortunately, his father died young, leaving only his widowed mother to raise them. The family only had a few acres of thin farmland, and there was no way to maintain their normal life.
In 1925, his hometown suffered a flood. Chen Zhongzhu had no way out, so he had to drop out of school in Shanghai to find a way to make a living, and finally became a tram conductor.
On the eve of the National Revolutionary Army's Northern Expedition to cross the Yangtze River, he chose to abandon his post and go home to plan the response. After the April 12 counter-revolutionary incident, Chen Zhongzhu entered the Jiangsu Provincial Police School under the introduction of his cousin Chen Duzhen. After that, he won the appreciation of Ye Chuqian, the veteran of the Kuomintang, with his excellent results.
When Chen Zhongzhu was studying in the sixth period of Whampoa Military Academy , he met a beautiful girl. This little girl had not officially entered middle school, but she had a certain cultural foundation. However, at a young age, her father pointed out that she was the son of a businessman. Faced with such a fate, Wang Zhifang was determined not to succumb. Moreover, when she was fifteen or sixteen, she also met Chen Zhongzhu, who shocked her life, and Chen Zhongzhu temporarily lived in her home at that time.
Chen Zhongzhu and his wife
After the young couple met, Chen Zhongzhu felt sorry for this poor and lovely girl, so he often taught her reading, playing the piano and singing in his free time. The two hearts slowly got closer. Wang Zhifang fell in love with Chen Zhongzhu, who was proficient in chess, calligraphy and painting, and was tall and heroic. After that, the two held a wedding in Shanghai.
In 1937, when the Anti-Japanese War broke out, Chen Zhongzhu said bluntly: Huangpu students must stay at the front to fight against the Japanese invaders when the country is in danger. At this time, his eldest daughter was only two years old, and his wife had just given birth to a baby boy. In order to protect his wife and daughter, Chen Zhongzhu sent them to Hankou ship to Chongqing, while he himself was involved in one battle after another.
Wang Zhifang was only 22 years old. She took a two-year-old daughter and a baby of several months alone. After all the hardships, she finally arrived in Chongqing. However, her youngest son unfortunately died of illness. It rained all night, and news came on the battlefield that her husband had been injured and sacrificed in the Battle of Xuzhou. Wang Zhifang also searched everywhere for news, but there was still no news from her husband.
Wang Zhifang felt strong in her heart. She did not believe that her husband would abandon her, so she scraped together a sum of money to borrow travel expenses and took her four-year-old eldest daughter through places like Kunming and Vietnam. Finally, she found her husband in northern Jiangsu. The family gathered together. Wang Zhifang did not dare to leave her husband again, and she has been with the army since then. Although it was a turbulent era, as long as the family was safe and sound.
General Chen Zhongzhu
It was not until the end of 1939 that their family got together in Taizhou . The following year, they gave birth to their second daughter. Chen Zhongzhu was very happy. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long.
Chen Zhongzhu returned home immediately after attending the meeting, and then asked his wife to leave quickly, while he stayed to continue the fight against Japan.
On New Year's Day in 1941, the originally bustling Taizhou City seemed very deserted, because at this time, a news quietly spread among the army: Deputy Commander-in-Chief Li Changjiang was going to lead his troops to surrender to Wang Jingwei.
At this time, Chen Yi also came to the home of Zhao Jingzhi, the commander of the 14th Military Region in Yancheng, and said straight to the point: "Brother Jing, there is a very urgent task for you to make a trip to Taizhou, so I came to see you late at night." Yangtze is plotting to surrender to Wang Puppet... Now, we have to work on his men. What do you think of Chen Zhongzhu? "
Chen Yi
Zhao Jingzhi was a little surprised: "Chen Zhongzhu? "
" Yes, I heard that you and he are from the same hometown? "
" Yes," Zhao Jingzhi then compared Chen Zhongzhu's basic situation with Chen Yi said it out, and added at the end: "He was deeply influenced by the education of the Kuomintang. However, he was very dissatisfied with the corruption within the Kuomintang, and criticized Han Deqin's passive resistance to the war. I am still very loyal to me, a Communist Party member and anti-Japanese cadre..."
After listening to Zhao Jingzhi's evaluation, Chen Yi, who was already satisfied with Chen Zhongzhu, became more certain of his decision: "Okay. I will do it this time. I want to take advantage of your relationship and ask you to persuade Chen Zhongzhu to persist in the war of resistance and not to follow Li Changjiang to the enemy. I have done some work with Li Mingyang, and his attitude is relatively clear. He is determined to part ways with Li Changjiang, and is going to fight guerrillas in the Taizhou countryside. If Chen Zhongzhu can be persuaded to leave Li Mingyang, that would be great. Chen Zhongzhu's column is quite strong. I wrote a letter, please read it and give it to him if necessary. said, Chen Yi took out a letter and handed it to Zhao Jingzhi.
Within a few days, Zhao Jingzhi set off for Taizhou, and then met Chen Zhongzhu in mid-January.
Zhao Jingzhi
Chen Zhongzhu held Chen Yi's autographed letter in his hand and read it over and over again. When the two parted, he held Zhao Jingzhi's hand tightly and said firmly: "Brother Jing, please rest assured, and please also tell General Chen Yi that I am Chinese and swear to death as a traitor." Traitor, I will never surrender to the enemy with Li Changjiang. I once told General Chen Yi that I will do my best to protect my family and the country..."
html On February 14, Chen Zhongzhu sent his wife and daughter out of the city, and then had an early dinner. Then he took out Chen Yi's letter and read it carefully. He felt stronger and he no longer had any worries.In the early morning of the next day, Chen Zhongzhu led his men to leave Taizhou City and set up camp in the water town in the northern suburbs before Li Changjiang announced his surrender to Wang Jingwei. After Li Mingyang safely evacuated Taizhou, Chen Zhongzhu immediately led the fourth column to the suburbs to join Li Mingyang.
I'm here to get my husband's head
html On June 5, Chen Zhongzhu knew that the anti-mopping up task he faced this time was very difficult, so he hurriedly came to the boat carrying his wife and said his final farewell to her. Looking at his wife who was about to give birth, and thinking about the hardships his wife had suffered along with him in the past six months, his heart was Infinite guilt, holding hands and looking at each other with tears in his eyes, he was speechless and choked. He had thousands of words and didn't know where to start. He sat with his wife for a while, and then said reluctantly: "Zhifang, I'm going to command the battle soon." As he said that, he put the photo of himself in full military uniform that he took in Taizhou last year into the palm of his wife's hand, and then stuffed a small wallet into her pocket.
Chen Zhongzhu and his wife
Wang Zhifang is a very smart woman. She knows that another battle is about to begin, and she also knows that the last thing to worry about her husband is to give him courage and strength. Therefore, she held back her tears and said softly: "Back off, don't worry, but be careful and promise me that you must come back..."
Chen Zhongzhu He couldn't let go of his wife, but knew that he could not make any promises to her. He stroked his wife's hand and said tremblingly: "I am not a good husband... Zhifang, please understand me. I am a soldier, and it is my bounden duty to protect the country and the people. Zhifang, I He is leaving, no matter he is a boy or a girl, he must be named Chen Zhi, and he must inherit his father's ambition..." Chen Zhongzhu couldn't say any more. He knew that he might never come back after leaving. His tears fell down, and then he gently kissed his wife's face.
On this day, more than 2,000 Japanese troops carried out a frantic "mopping up" of Li Mingyang's troops in five groups. Chen Zhongzhu and Li Mingyang led their men to fight fiercely with the Japanese army for a day. The battle was extremely difficult.
Chen Zhongzhu's commanding troops fought bravely and repelled countless enemy charges. At the same time, their troops also suffered heavy casualties. When the Japanese and puppet troops assembled from Benggan River towards Wu Jiaze, Chen Zhongzhu led his men and launched a desperate struggle with the well-equipped enemy troops.
Chen Zhongzhu’s family photo
In times of crisis, General Chen Zhongzhu took the lead. Unfortunately, he was shot in the head and several times in the fierce battle. Chen Zhongzhu died heroically. This year, he was only 35 years old.
When the enemy was cleaning the battlefield, they found Chen Zhongzhu's body inside. Later, someone remembered that the Japanese commander Nanbu Xiangji had previously placed a reward on Chen Zhongzhu's head, so a Japanese soldier cut off Chen Zhongzhu's head. Hanging on a tree for public display, he then took them into Taizhou City and went to the headquarters in Xiangji in the south to ask for a reward...
In this battle, more than 600 Japanese and puppet troops were killed, and the blood of Chen Zhongzhu and his men dyed the entire Benglong River red.
At that time, Wang Zhifang and her daughter were also on a small boat with the army. After being surrounded by motorboats, Chen Zhongzhu asked a guard to take them ashore and hide them under the haystacks of the farmhouse. They could only rely on the farmers to feed them daily dry food.
Three days later, the gunfire stopped, and the guards came back and told Wang Zhifang with grief on their faces: The commander died! Wang Zhifang endured her grief and searched for her husband on the battlefield. Looking around, there were corpses everywhere. The local villagers admired General Chen Zhongzhu’s loyalty and tenacity, and transported his body back to the village, and then used it from the river. A coffin was ordered for the plank that was fished out. When they opened the coffin, they saw a headless corpse in a white gown and trousers covered with blood. Local farmer Tang Bangben volunteered to punt a small wooden boat to carry the coffin along the Beng River to Taizhou.
Newspaper reports
Wang Zhifang and her daughter leaned over the bow of the boat and cried bitterly. Looking at her husband's body, Wang Zhifang couldn't bear to have her husband buried without a head, and finally decided to go to Xiangji in the south to retrieve her husband's head. Commander-in-chief Li Mingyang and security commander Chen Taiyun and other friends came forward to dissuade her. It was too risky, but Wang Zhifang had to do it for her husband.
Chen Zhongzhu was dedicated to serving the country, and we cannot let him die without his body intact.
Wang Zhifang first found a boat and transported her husband's body to Taizhou. When she arrived in Taizhou, the ship docked outside the city and asked someone to guard it. Then she took her daughter into the city and tried every means to contact Nan Xiangji through people she knew. The other party promised to return Chen Zhongzhu's head to her, and then the two agreed on a date for her to pick it up.
On the agreed date, Wang Zhifang took her six-year-old daughter Chen Pu to the southern Xiangji headquarters outside Taizhou City.When they got there, Wang Zhifang saw a wooden basin on the incense table in the hall with a large mouth bottle inside, and her husband's head was soaked in the potion. Wang Zhifang was so distressed that she almost cried. She held back her tears and said, "I'm here to take my husband's head." She stepped forward to take away her husband's head, but Nanfang refused to let her take it away, saying that a ceremony would be held. Wang Zhifang watched helplessly as the Japanese soldiers in the headquarters lined up, and he offered incense and saluted.
Song of the Beheaded General
After the ceremony, Nan Nan casually asked the translator: ‘How many wives does Commander Chen have? ’ The translator replied: “This is the only original wife.” After hearing this, Nan Nan asked a Japanese soldier to hold the wooden box in his hand to Wang Zhifang.
After receiving her husband's head, Wang Zhifang was heartbroken, but she still managed to hold on. Nanfang said: "We are two countries. Commander Chen is for his country, and I am for mine. But we respect his bravery and learn from his spirit."
Later, Nanfang saw that Wang Zhifang's belly was round, as if she was about to give birth. He was stunned for a few times, and then asked Wang Zhifang how many children he had. Wang Zhifang replied that she had two daughters. Nan Nan said he hoped she would give birth to a boy.
In Wang Zhifang’s view, the reason why the South held the above ceremony and said these words was because of the public opinion and pressure from people from all walks of life, and finally agreed to return Chen Zhongzhu’s head.
Wang Zhifang carefully took her husband's head back to the boat outside the city, and asked someone to sew the head and the body, giving him a body with full beard and tail. She originally wanted to bury her husband back to his hometown Yancheng, but Xiangji in the south refused, so Wang Zhifang had no choice but to bury her husband under the tenth telephone pole under the Xicang Bridge outside the west gate of Taizhou.
Wang Zhifang and her son
Two months after Chen Zhongzhu's death, Wang Zhifang gave birth to a posthumous son, named "Chen Zhi". After that, they have been living outside Taizhou city, struggling to survive on the two tons of rice subsidized by Li Mingyang every month.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, Wang Zhifang returned to her hometown in Nanjing with her three children. She was the only daughter in the family, so after the property left by her father was repossessed, they lived on rent. The Nationalist Government also held a grand memorial service for Chen Zhongzhu and posthumously awarded him the rank of Lieutenant General. They enjoyed the treatment of martyrs.
In early 1949, the Kuomintang troops were retreating steadily. Chen Pu's two uncles had all moved their families to Taiwan. Chen Pu's cousin was the commander-in-chief of the air defense of the five provinces. Before leaving, he continued to persuade Wang Zhifang: "These are the last few. The plane is here, take the kids away!"
Wang Zhifang thought about it for a long time, but she had already seen the incompetence of the Kuomintang. If they followed them and left, they would have no one to rely on, and she could not abandon her husband's remains, so she finally decided to stay in Nanjing.
Wang Zhifang was widowed at the age of 25 and has remained unmarried ever since. No matter how difficult her life will be in the future, she will not cry in front of outsiders.
Old man Wang Zhifang
In 1950, when the war to resist U.S. aggression and aid to Korea began, Wang Zhifang’s daughter had just entered high school and was thinking about being like Her father was a soldier who defended the motherland. Wang Zhifang strongly supported her daughter joining the army. She told her daughter: "You have to learn from Hua Mulan to avenge your father." Afterwards, she personally visited her daughter at the Shanghai Naval Academy, fearing that her daughter would not be able to adapt to the training at the military academy.
After Wang Zhifang's daughter retired, she traveled around and finally found two telegrams in an archives that Liu Shaoqi and Chen Yi reported to the Party Central Committee at that time, which truly recorded General Chen Zhongzhu's heroic sacrifice in the war.
Later, she was extremely surprised and handed it over to the Jiangsu Provincial Civil Affairs Bureau . On June 19, 1941, Commander-in-Chief Li Mingyang gave it to Chiang Kai-shek in the Second Archives. , He Yingqin 's telegram draft detailed the battle casualties. After three years of complaining, she finally received a martyr certificate issued by the Central Ministry of Civil Affairs in February 1987. The remains were then moved to the Yancheng City Martyrs Cemetery, allowing her father to return to his hometown.
In order to take care of her mother more conveniently, Wang Zhifang’s daughter applied for her to immigrate to Australia. However, even if Wang Zhifang went abroad, she still loved her motherland and compatriots deeply.
Wang Zhifang has been returning to China frequently since 1986, and then visited her husband's grave during the Tomb Sweeping Day, and then went to the Martyrs' Shrine in Taipei to pay homage to Chen Zhongzhu.
General Chen Zhongzhu’s Martyr Certificate
At the same time, Wang Zhifang is also very concerned about the education in his hometown In 1999, she donated 60,000 Australian dollars to establish the Zhongzhu Scholarship at Caoyankou Town Middle School in Jianhu County, and rewards 10 outstanding students with the interest every year. In 2006, she donated another 50,000 Australian dollars to the Zhongzhu Middle School named after Chen Zhongzhu, and personally unveiled the "Zhongzhu Middle School".
In 2012, Wu Xianbin, the director of the Nanjing Civilian Anti-Japanese War Museum, accidentally discovered a yellowed business card in the collection market, and then bought it with a lot of money. The front of the business card read Chen Zhongzhu’s name and title: Chen Zhongzhu, Commander of the Fourth Column Guerrilla Force in the Shandong-Suzhou-Anhui Border Region, with his personal seal printed under the name.
Later, Wu Xianbin learned through various channels that General Chen Zhongzhu’s relatives were still alive and had all moved to Australia, so he sent an email to Chen Zhongzhu’s eldest daughter.
After learning about it, Chen Pu, the eldest daughter in Australia, immediately made a special trip to Nanjing to check out the relic and wrote down her thoughts about her father: "Dad, I saw your handwriting and seal today. Recalling the past, it feels like I have seen you again."
At the same time, she also brought a letter of thanks from her mother Wang Zhifang: "I am Wang Zhifang, the widow of the anti-Japanese martyr General Chen Zhongzhu... The information about this seal is correct... The development of your museum can play a role in promoting patriotism. Doctrine, education that inherits the legacy of the martyrs. If you need any physical information, I will try my best to provide it.
The memorial tablet of Chen Zhongzhu in the Taipei Martyrs' Shrine
The wife of martyr Chen Zhongzhu
Wang Zhifang in Australia on July 1, 2012"
No matter how many years pass, we will always commemorate this "decapitated general who died for the country in the Anti-Japanese War," and we are also impressed by Wang Zhifang's loyal love for her husband.
