Late one night in early November 1950, Chairman Mao, who had been busy all day, had no sleep at all. Suddenly, Chairman Mao picked up his writing brush and drafted an emergency telegram to the Hunan Provincial People's Government. The content of the telegram is as follows:
"The Hunan Provincial People's Government will immediately find out Chaling whether Luo Keshao is there? Arrest him as soon as possible."
To be precise, this is an arrest warrant written by Chairman Mao himself, and it is also the first person he personally drafted a telegram to request arrest after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Chairman Mao's letter was quickly sent. Tan Yubao, who was then Vice Chairman of the Hunan Provincial People's Government and Chairman of the Provincial Supervisory Committee, was stunned for a moment after reading it. He was surprised and said: "Chairman still remembers this person?"
We know He said that Chairman Mao had a narrow escape from death since he joined the revolution, but his treatment of enemies has always been to "hand in guns but not kill, and treat prisoners preferentially." This can be seen from the members of the People's Government after the founding of the People's Republic of China, including generals from the Kuomintang uprising and war criminals who have been reformed.
For example, when war criminals were pardoned in 1975, some war criminals did not meet the release standards. After receiving the report, Chairman Mao directly instructed: "The courage is too small... Some people are capable and can do their jobs. The old and sick must be treated, and the Our cadres have been treated the same. It has been twenty-five years since they laid down their weapons.”
So, who is Luo Keshao? Why did Chairman Mao still remember him and write an arrest warrant himself after the founding of the People’s Republic of China? What other serious crime did he commit? It all starts with Luo Keshao's life and looks at how he committed the unforgivable crime step by step.
Luo Keshao was born in Jiaoping Village, Jiangkou Township, Chaling County, Hunan Province in 1877. He grew up in a wealthy family and was a landlord. Because his parents doted on him, Luo Keshao had lived a life of clothing and food since he was young. He usually walked around in a robe and had nothing to do. Over time, he collaborated with local gangsters and took pleasure in bullying the poor people.
This kind of life lasted until 1926. As the revolutionary ranks led by the Communist Party of China continued to grow, poor people everywhere began to awaken, and peasant associations were established in many rural areas. The peasants who had been oppressed by the landlord class for many years organized themselves into a battle of wits and courage with the evil gentry and landlords. As a member of the landlord bullies, Luo Keshao was inevitably beaten and was often tied up and paraded through the streets.
All this made Luo Keshao resentful and kept waiting for an opportunity to retaliate. In May 1927, the "Maritime Incident" broke out in Hunan. The Kuomintang reactionaries destroyed the peasant associations, arrested and massacred Communist Party members, revolutionary masses, etc., and released all arrested evil gentry, local tyrants, landlords, etc.
According to historical data, during the half-month period of the "Maritime Incident", more than 10,000 revolutionary people were killed in Hunan Province. White terror was everywhere in Hunan, which severely damaged Hunan's party organizations and worker and peasant mass groups. Luo Keshao was so happy that he took the opportunity to organize the local gangsters and confiscated the weapons of the peasants in his hometown.
Luo Keshao also sent people to post notices everywhere, promoting that as long as you join his armed forces, you can become famous. Seeing that the time was ripe, Luo Keshao established the Chaling County Eighteenth Regiment Defense Bureau, and he appointed himself as the regimental commander. Here, the so-called regiment defense bureau mainly refers to the command organization of the reactionary armed forces of the landlord class during the First Civil Revolutionary War, including the reactionary armed forces.
Chairman Mao also mentioned the Youth League Defense Bureau in his "Inspection Report on the Peasant Movement in Hunan". He wrote: "The population under the jurisdiction of the 'du' is from 10,000 to 50,000 to 56,000. It has independent armed forces such as the Corps Defense Bureau and independent financial collection. They have independent judicial power, such as arresting, imprisoning, interrogating, and punishing farmers at will. "
In the early days of the revolution, many progressive young people and revolutionaries in rural areas were persecuted by the Youth League Defense Bureau. After someone in Luo Keshao got a gun, he expanded his personal armed force to more than 200 people in just a few months. He began to show off his power in the local area, and anyone who opposed him would be killed.
On September 9, 1927, Chairman Mao led the Autumn Harvest Uprising. He established party organizations in Ninggang, Yongxin, Chaling and other counties to develop revolutionary armed forces. This gave many poor people hope. However, Luo Keshao could not tolerate this and was always looking for opportunities to attack the revolutionary armed forces led by our party.
In December of that year, the enemy attacked Chaling County in an attempt to eliminate the workers' and peasants' revolutionary army stationed here. Although our army fought bravely to kill the enemy, we were outnumbered and had to withdraw from the county after a fierce battle. At that time, the workers' and peasants' revolutionary army had limited strength, and the Kuomintang reactionaries were killing people everywhere. Some comrades who were not firm in their stance began to waver in their revolutionary beliefs and had the idea of surrendering to the enemy.
Everyone knows that after the Autumn Harvest Uprising, Chairman Mao carried out the famous " Sanwan adaptation", Chen Hao was appointed commander of the first regiment of the first division of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. Chen Hao was greedy for life and afraid of death. When he saw that the enemy was strong, he had the idea of defecting to the enemy. He conspired with deputy commander Xu Shu, chief of staff Han Changjian , and commander of the first battalion Huang Ziji . He believed that the Jinggangshan base area was too difficult, so he decided to take this team to surrender to the enemy.
Chen Hao chose Fang Dingying as his target in Guidong, southern Hunan. This man was the commander of the 13th Army of the Kuomintang at the time and had a teacher-student relationship with Chen Hao at the Huangpu Military Academy. Former committee member and third battalion party representative Wan Xixian intercepted a postman while patrolling outside the city. He unexpectedly found a letter written by Chen Hao to Fang Dingying from his body, so he immediately sent someone to report the news to Chairman Mao.
At that time, every soldier of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was precious. Chairman Mao was very angry. He decided to personally lead people to bring back this army that was trying to rebel. Chairman Mao and Yuan Wencai led a section of the Peasant Self-Defense Army to take a small road to Chaling County. Unexpectedly, they were blocked by Luo Keshao's troops in Jiangkou Village, and the two sides started a fierce battle.
Seeing Chen Hao quickly pull the troops away, Chairman Mao was blocked by Luo Keshao's regiment defense bureau. At the critical moment, Yuan Wencai said to Chairman Mao: "I led the special agent company to engage in direct fire, and Chen Bojun led the first company to penetrate directly from the river. I am not afraid that he will not retreat." Chairman Mao believed that the situation was urgent and could only do this, and finally repelled the enemy.
After the battle, the Peasant Self-Defense Forces suffered 4 casualties and 4 injuries. Chairman Mao was so angry that he stamped his feet. He said: "This Luo Keshao is too hateful, and he has delayed our major events!" Not caring so much, Chairman Mao led his troops to continue chasing. When they felt the Huanxi Fair in Chaling, the workers' and peasants' revolutionary army led by Chen Hao had already passed outside the fair.
Chen Hao never expected that Chairman Mao would personally lead people to chase him, and he suddenly panicked. Originally, the team was puzzled as to why he changed the marching route. But now when they saw Chairman Mao coming, they immediately understood what had happened. Chairman Mao asked Chen Hao loudly: "Why do you want to lead the team to Anren ?"
Chen Hao hesitated and could not give an answer. Yuan Wencai immediately ordered someone to go up and take off Chen Hao's pistol and tie him up. If it were 10 minutes later, this revolutionary army of workers and peasants would be taken away by Chen Hao, and the consequences would be disastrous. Therefore, Chairman Mao "cannot forget Luo Keshao!"
After this "performance", the Kuomintang reactionaries discovered that Luo Keshao could be used, so they incorporated him and appointed him as the "Captain of the Chaling County Volunteer Team." With this identity, Luo Keshao has been looking for opportunities. In his words, "do something big!"
In January 1928, Luo Keshao received a secret report from spies, saying that the workers, peasants and soldiers government of Yaoshui District, Chaling County was about to hold an important meeting, and many important people would attend. Luo Keshao thought that the opportunity had come. He immediately summoned his men and rushed to Yaoshui, preparing for a surprise attack so that he could claim credit from the Kuomintang.
At that time, there were secret whistles for meetings, and the workers, peasants and soldiers government of Yaoshui District also knew that the enemy was likely to come to sabotage, but no one thought that Luo Keshao would be so bold as to launch a direct attack. Unfortunately, Luo Keshao succeeded. He arrested and killed Yin Zibin, captain of the Peasant Self-Defense Force in Yaoshui District, and many others.
This incident alone earned Luo Keshao a telegraph award from the Kuomintang and gave him a rather generous bonus. After this incident, a saying spread in Hunan, "There are two giant snakes in Jinggangshan, one is Xiaojiabi to the east and one is Luo Keshao to the west. If we don't get rid of them, we will have no peace."
In August 1928, the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China sent Du Jingxiu and Yang Kaiming to the Jinggangshan base area. They asked the Red Army to leave the base area and develop in the southern Hunan area. Chairman Mao and others held a joint meeting. After research, everyone believed that the enemy in southern Hunan was strong and that we were weak. They adhered to the original policy of developing political power in the middle section of the Luoxiao Mountains.
At this time, the enemies of Hunan and Jiangxi provinces once again launched the second "conqueror campaign" against the Jinggangshan base area. In order to defend the Jinggangshan base area, Chairman Mao led the 31st regiment to Yongxin to attack the Jiangxi enemies, while Zhu De led the 28th and 29th regiments to attack Hunan enemies in Linxian County and Chaling. However, Du Jingxiu, Yang Kaiming and others ignored the resolution of the joint meeting and blindly implemented the instructions of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee. They forced the troops to leave Ling County and go south to attack Chenzhou, and suffered a serious failure.
This blind order not only caused the Red Army to suffer heavy losses, but also caused the border counties to fall one after another. The party organizations and the masses suffered heavy damage, which is known as the "August Failure" in history. During this period, the enemy found that the Red Army's strength in Ninggang County was empty, and occupied Xincheng, Ancient City and other areas.
Luo Keshao was not idle either. He ordered his subordinates to cooperate with the Kuomintang army and captured Liu Dinggui, a member of the Shangzhai Township Party branch, during the "search and suppression" operation in Duli Mountain. Luo Keshao decided to follow the clues and used various methods to force Liu Dinggui to confess, and finally forced him to confess the situation of the workers, peasants and soldiers government working in Xinlong'an, Shangzhai.
After receiving such important information, Luo Keshao repeated his old tricks. This time he personally led more than 200 people straight to Xinlong Temple in Shangzhai. Although the workers, peasants and soldiers government had several secret sentries and fired shots a mile away to inform them, some people in the nunnery still had no time to run up the mountain and were surrounded.
Luo Keshao attacked Xinlong Temple in Shangzhai this time, killing 19 outstanding Soviet cadres on the spot and arresting many others. It became a major murder case in the "August Failure" on the Hunan-Kiangxi border. In addition, Luo Keshao also commanded his men to burn and kill in Tengcun and Shangzhai areas, committing all kinds of evil, and the people were filled with hatred.
According to the information, Ninggang County Party Committee Secretary Long Chaoqing quickly reported the Xinlong'an murder case to Chairman Mao. Chairman Mao directly took action against the case. He said angrily: " This Luo Keshao is a local snake. If we don't get rid of him, I don't think we will have a peaceful day! " Chairman Mao also ordered that Luo Keshao must be brought to justice.
Since then, Yuan Wencai has been sending people to secretly investigate Luo Keshao's whereabouts. In February 1930, the opportunity came, and Luo Keshao was going to have a private meeting with his mistress on the New Year's Day. After receiving the report, Yuan Wencai immediately sent people to the village where Luo Keshao's concubine lived to wait and see, and finally succeeded in capturing Luo Keshao alive.
After Luo Keshao was arrested, how to deal with him caused some controversy. Some people think that he should be shot in public immediately to serve as a warning to others; others say that Luo Keshao should be kept as he still has value. It turned out that in March 1929, Luo Keshao was appointed by the Kuomintang government as the commander-in-chief of regimental defense in Chaling, Lingxian and Ninggang counties.
In the same year, Luo Keshao established a small arsenal in Jiangkou Township with the help of the Kuomintang. At that time, the Jinggangshan base area was extremely short of weapons, so Yuan Wencai was able to build this arsenal. Since Luo Keshao was captured, he has been afraid of death and has said not to kill him, and is willing to donate the arsenal to the Red Army, hoping to save him from death.
When there was an internal dispute in the Red Army about how to deal with Luo Keshao, Yuan Wencai was killed, but someone secretly let him go. Luo Keshao, who escaped, continued to roam the countryside, but soon the Red Army began its Long March. The remaining Red Army had to temporarily give up arresting Luo Keshao due to the disparity in strength between the enemy and ourselves, and the later establishment of the Anti-Japanese National United Front, and the entire nation's resistance war.
In the late period of the Liberation War, Luo Keshao saw that the People's Liberation Army was overwhelming and the Kuomintang was quickly heading towards defeat. He knew that continuing to fight would only lead to death, so he disbanded his personal armed forces and handed over the weapons and equipment to the People's Government. When New China was founded, Jiangkou Township, where Luo Keshao was located, was dominated by Hakka people. The traffic here was blocked and there was only one small road.
The People's Liberation Army who came to Jiangkou Township at that time was not familiar with the situation here. On the one hand, the cunning Luo Keshao helped the People's Liberation Army understand the local situation, and on the other hand, he actively donated all his property. As a result, he was mistaken by the People's Liberation Army as an enlightened squire. After the land reform began, Luo Keshao, who was good at disguise, even reported the land he owned.
Not only that, the Luo Keshao family also lived in a low and dilapidated house, and their clothes were in rags, almost like beggars. Sure enough, these methods worked for Luo Keshao. The local government believed that he was sincerely repentant. Since he was one of the few educated people in the area, they allowed him to teach in a primary school and concurrently serve as the principal.
Just when Luo Keshao thought he could escape, he never expected that Skynet would not miss any details, so the scene at the beginning of this article happened. One day in early November 1950, Luo Keshao, who was teaching, received a shocking news: Chairman Mao had asked the local government to check his whereabouts and arrest him immediately.
This news was told to Luo Keshao by his relative Luo Tianwen, who was a clerk in the township government at the time. That day, Luo Tianwen went to the Chaling County People's Government to handle matters. Someone told him that he had received a call from the provincial government, saying that it wanted to investigate Luo Keshao and asked him if he knew the current situation of Luo Keshao. At that time, communication methods at the grassroots level were backward, and many places relied on manpower to deliver letters.
Luo Tianwen rushed back that day and informed Luo Keshao of the news as soon as possible. Seeing that he might be doomed this time, Luo Keshao directly chose to pretend to be dead. Just do what you say, and when the Luo family suddenly cried that night, the Luo family blocked the door when the neighbors came to visit. They were told that Luo Keshao suffered from an acute infectious disease and died suddenly.
The next day, the Luo family "buried" Luo Keshao. Soon, the military police sent by the county came to Jiangkou Township to investigate the situation. They learned that Luo Keshao died suddenly overnight. After receiving the report, the county magistrate thought the matter was too strange and directly ordered: to open the coffin and conduct an autopsy! Sure enough, after digging up the cemetery, there was only an empty coffin inside.
At this point, the military police sent plainclothes men to stay on guard, and finally captured Luo Keshao in a nearby cave. After Luo Keshao was arrested, he was directly transported to Changsha for trial. He was later tried in public by the Hunan Provincial Higher People's Court and sentenced to death.
On February 10, 1951, Luo Keshao was publicly shot at Shiziling Ridge in Changsha, ending his criminal life.
