In the 1980s, Huang Wei, the former Lieutenant General Commander of the 12th Corps of the Kuomintang, was interviewed by a reporter and was asked what was the most impressive thing after the founding of New China.

In the 1980s, Huang Wei, the former Lieutenant General Commander of the 12th Corps of the Kuomintang, was interviewed by a reporter and was asked what was the most impressive thing after the founding of New China. After thinking for a moment, he said:

"There is such a thing that left a deep impression on me and I will never forget it, so I might as well tell you today. It was a few days after Mr. Mao Zedong passed away, and I received a notice asking me to go to the Great Hall of the People for a vigil. I was very puzzled. Strangely enough, the first batch of Song Xilian was released. , , Du Yuming, and others did not let me go, but I, the last person to come out, was allowed to go. In that case, it seemed that I was the only one Mr. Mao Zedong ordered to be released. ”

In fact, although Huang Wei was the only one who was notified to go to the Great Hall of the People to wake Chairman Mao, the Du Yuming and Song Xilian he mentioned were also included in the list of the funeral committee. When Central People's Broadcasting Station broadcast the list of funeral committees, the last three names surprised people across the country. In such a list that gathers central leaders, founding generals and democrats, the names of the three amnesty war criminals are indeed a bit harsh.

END

On December 25, 1948, Xinhua News Agency announced a list of 43 major KMT war criminals. Du Yuming, then deputy commander of the KMT's Xuzhou "Suppression General", was among them. At this time, the Huaihai Campaign had ended the second phase of the war. In order to cooperate with the Pingjin Campaign to persuade Fu Zuoyi to surrender, the People's Liberation Army entered a period of rest. Du Yuming, along with Qiu Qingquan, Li Mi and others, were besieged in the small Chenguanzhuang, waiting to be killed.

Prior to this, the Huaihai Campaign had just begun. The 120,000 troops of the Kuomintang Seventh Corps Huang Baitao were trapped in a tight siege. Xuzhou was in emergency. Chiang Kai-shek urgently ordered Huang Wei's 12th Corps to rescue Xuzhou. No excuses were allowed to delay the action. Under Chiang Kai-shek's constant urging, Huang Wei led the 12th Corps into the pocket formations set up by the People's Liberation Army, and was surrounded in Shuangduui near Suxian. The 300,000-strong People's Liberation Army formed a dragnet.

Chen Geng commanded the Eastern Front Group and led the 4th, 9th and 11th Columns of the Central Plains Field Army and the Henan-Suzhou-Anhui Independent Brigade to attack Huang Wei's Tenth Army and Fourteenth Army, approaching the core position of Pinggudui.

The Western Front Group was commanded by Chen Xilian and led the first and third columns of Zhongye and the thirteenth column of Huaye, approaching the double stack.

Chen Shiju commanded the Southern Front Group, leading the Zhongye Sixth Column, the Shaannan Twelfth Brigade and the Huaye Three Columns and Seventh Column, directly towards Jiangudui.

pairs of troops gathered in the north, defended by the Huayelu Zhongnan Column, in preparation to respond at any time.

The tightly surrounded Shuangdui battlefield was surrounded by a vast plain with no cover for more than ten miles. In addition, it was after the autumn harvest, and the sight was even more flat. The more than a dozen villages occupied by Huang Wei's regiment were all small houses built with earthen walls and thatched grass. All the local people had fled. Not only were they unable to collect food, but they also found it extremely difficult to collect fuel, drinking water, and feed for mules and horses. Huang Wei had a premonition that the 120,000 troops were in dire straits.

In the final breakout, Liao Yunzhou, whom Huang Wei had high hopes for, led his troops to revolt. Chiang Kai-shek could no longer mobilize any rescue troops. He just sent Chief of Staff Gu Zhutong to fly over Shuangduiji. After saying a few empty words such as "You have to hold on", he walked away. Finally, Huang Wei and deputy commander of the Corps Hu Lian broke out in a tank. Hu Lian ran out, but Huang Wei was captured because the tank broke down.

On January 6, 1949, the People's Liberation Army launched a general attack on the besieged Du Yuming's troops in the Qinglongji and Chenguanzhuang areas. On the 9th, most of the 13th Corps was wiped out, and the remaining troops withdrew to the defense area of ​​the 2nd Corps. On the morning of January 9, Chiang Kai-shek sent Air Force Commander Wang Shuming to personally fly over Chenguanzhuang, directing the Air Force to release poison gas, covering the generals' desperate counterattack, seizing the road to break out to the west, but all were repelled by the People's Liberation Army.

html Around dusk on the 19th, Du Yuming went to the headquarters of the Fifth Army in Chenguanzhuang, trying to gather the remaining troops and break out of the encirclement on the morning of the 10th according to Chiang Kai-shek's order.However, Qiu Qingquan, Li Mi and others threatened to persuade Du to break out that night. He acted alone with about ten adjutants and guards. In the early morning of the 10th, he was captured by People's Liberation Army soldiers in Zhanglaozhuang Village, Zhangzhuangzhai Town, Xiao County, Anhui Province.

At this time, Song Xilian was the deputy commander of the Kuomintang's "Suppression General" in Central China and the commander of the 14th Corps. Chiang Kai-shek personally visited him and gave him the important task of preventing the People's Liberation Army from advancing westward into Sichuan and western Hunan, and stationed himself in Shashi, Hubei. But at this time, the Kuomintang was at the end of its rope. After Chiang Kai-shek was forced to step down, he summoned Song Xilian in Xikou and asked him to lead his troops to move to the mountainous areas of western Hubei to unified command of the troops, including the Hunan Chen Mingren Corps, to consolidate the eastern Sichuan province.

Song Xilian knew that the Kuomintang was at its end, but out of fear of the Communist Party, he successively refused Zhang Zhizhong, Chen Mingren and even his supply commander Luo Wenshan to persuade him to surrender, and led his troops to fight against the enemy.

On November 1, 1949, the Second Field and Third Corps began to attack Song Xilian's headquarters in southeast Sichuan.

At the same time, the troops from the four fields also launched a pincer attack on Song Xilian's troops from western Hubei and western Hunan. The remnant troops of the Song Dynasty were defeated and had no intention of fighting the People's Liberation Army again, but they collapsed at the first touch.

By November 15, the People's Liberation Army had almost eaten up four armies of Song Xilian's group. Song Xilian commanded the 2nd Army of the 20th Corps, the 15th Army of the 14th Corps, and the remnants of the 118th Army directly under the Pacification Office, and retreated to the Qianjiang and Pengshui areas in eastern Sichuan.

In this way, Song Xilian led the remaining troops to flee all the way, with the People's Liberation Army chasing after them. On December 19, 1949, the remnants of Song Xilian's troops were besieged in Shaping, Dadu River.

Song Xilian ran eastward with the guard platoon and was pinned down in a ravine by a company of the People's Liberation Army. In desperation, Song Xilian took out a pistol and pointed it at his temple in an attempt to commit suicide, but was snatched away by his guard platoon leader Yuan Dinghou. At this time, the People's Liberation Army soldiers rushed forward, and Song Xilian and his men had to raise their hands to surrender.

Resistance

From the first day he was captured, Huang Wei showed no cooperation. Liaison Minister of the Central Plains Field Army Yang Songqing mobilized senior generals of the 12th Corps to write letters of persuasion to surrender to Du Yuming and Qiu Qingquan of the besieged Chenguanzhuang. Chen Zhenwei, Chief of Staff of the Eighty-fifth Army, wrote a letter for everyone to sign, except Huang Wei.

A young reporter interviewed Huang Wei: "Why didn't you surrender earlier?" Huang Wei slapped the table and shouted loudly: "There are martyrs who died in the battle and there are no generals who are still alive. Why should I surrender? For the sake of the country and the people. I will fight to the last soldier for the interests of our nation.”

After Du Yuming was captured, his identity was not revealed, and the People’s Liberation Army also treated them well. Not only did they provide them with water and meals, but they also did not embarrass them during subsequent inquiries. However, the sinful name of war criminal has always haunted him, and what made Du Yuming even more frightened was that when he was taken to a square, passed in front of a large number of prisoners, and saw many familiar old subordinates, he felt both ashamed and annoyed. I feel ashamed because I feel sorry for my old subordinates, but I am angry because the People's Liberation Army has actually begun to doubt his identity, and he will be recognized one day.

Du Yuming and others were arranged to rest in a mill. At this time, he was determined to die. Shortly after the guards left, Du Yuming found a stone and hit himself on the head, causing blood to cover his face. This smash also exposed his identity. After that, Du Yuming also tried taking sleeping pills, concealing terminal illness and other methods, trying to "die to repay the kindness of the principal."

After Song Xilian was captured, he was escorted to Leshan County. Many prisoners were lined up in a row. At this time, they saw a PLA soldier coming to take pictures with a camera. Song Xilian knew at a glance that he was taking promotional photos.He was very disgusted with this. He thought: "I have been arrested, and it is difficult to survive anyway. Why should I take pictures? If I am in such a mess, my former prestige will be lost once it is published in the newspaper?" So, he made up his mind: If he wants to die, he must die with integrity, and he must not lose face.

Driven by this mentality, when the soldier was about to take a photo, Song Xilian immediately turned his head away to prevent him from taking a picture of his face. Seeing that the young soldier's face had not been photographed, he repeated it several times, but Song Xilian dodged it every time. The little soldier was very angry. He rushed to Song Xilian and shouted loudly: "Song Xilian, I was ordered to perform a task. If you dare to sabotage my work, I will shoot you."

Song Xilian was determined to die, and sneered: "Shoot me? Very good, in this courtyard Do you want to execute them inside or outside? "

Transformation

After being captured, most of these war criminals put their own minds on others, thinking that the Kuomintang had murdered so many Communists in the past, and now that they fell into the hands of the Communists, they would definitely die. However, the war criminals policy of the Communist Party led by Chairman Mao baffled them. These former senior KMT generals were all locked up and the Communist Party wanted to reform them.

After Huang Wei was briefly detained by the Hebei People's Liberation Army Officer Training Corps, he was moved to the Merit Forest outside Deshengmen, Beijing. When he first arrived at Gongdelin, Huang Wei was determined to succeed or become a benevolent person. "A gentleman will not serve two masters," and he was resolutely opposed to the correctional officers. While studying, Huang Wei was either silent or talking nonsense. Everyone said that after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Chiang Kai-shek seized the fruits of victory and occupied the base areas. He said that the national army was a regular army of the legal government at that time, and it was legal to go anywhere. To obstruct the army from entering was a rebellion.

He also ridiculed and ridiculed other war criminals who had confessed and repented. During his study, Dong Yisan said that the four major families controlled all the banks in China. Huang Wei immediately jumped out and ridiculed him, and the two of them got into a fight.

Qiu Xingxiang, who is also a member of Department of Civil Engineering , actively reformed. Huang Wei said that he had "no integrity at all", and Qiu Xingxiang was not willing to accept it. Showing weakness and revealing: Huang Wei was originally called Wuwo, but once Chiang Kai-shek gave him a photo of himself, and the inscription was mistakenly written as "Peiwo", so Huang Wei changed his name to Peiwo. "A person who can even change the name given by his ancestors has no right to talk about integrity."

After being captured, Du Yuming was first detained in the Jinan East China Liberation Officer Training Corps, where he also refused all cooperation and even secretly saved up sleeping pills on the pretext of insomnia and tried to commit suicide by swallowing them. So when he was later transferred to Gongdelin, the People's Liberation Army escorting him had to put heavy shackles on his feet and handcuffs. Even when he arrived at Gongdelin, Du Yuming could only be held in a single cell. Many war criminals who were also imprisoned there found out many years later that there was "Chief Du" who once commanded an army of millions in Gongdelin.

Until 1956, when war criminals gathered across the country, the former Kuomintang military commander , who was originally imprisoned in Chongqing, became obsessed with . As soon as he entered Gongdelin, he saw a plaster model as big as a bed in the room, and inside the model lay a man wearing glasses with severe myopia. He took a closer look and couldn't help but be shocked - this person turned out to be Du Yuming, who was rumored to have been shot.

One day, Shen Zui quietly pointed at the plaster model of Du Yuming sleeping and asked what was going on? After hearing this, Du Yuming laughed loudly: "This is to treat my spinal disease! Management Xin specially customized this plaster mold for me to correct my spine ." Du Yuming's answer was beyond Chen Zui's expectation. Du Yuming said that he has been lying in this plaster cast for three years. He excitedly said to Shen Zui: "The Communist Party is really my reborn parent!"

Shen Zui did not expect that Du Yuming, who was loyal to Chiang Kai-shek and famous at that time, would say such words of gratitude to the Communist Party, and he felt deeply in his heart.

Du Yuming is still rational. The victory of the Chinese army on the Korean battlefield shocked his soul, while the peaceful liberation of Tibet really stimulated his nerves.He believed that even the marriage between Princess Wencheng and Songtsen Gampo could only be a political union between the Han and Tibetan peoples, and it was impossible to say who ruled the other. In the past hundred years, Tibet, as a special administrative region of China, has long been dominated by foreign aggressive forces. The "benevolence" of the Qing emperor could not be absorbed into the Brahmaputra River, and the cold light of Chiang Kai-shek's sword could not penetrate the Himalayas. However, a negotiation table of the Communist Party brought Tibet into the embrace of the Chinese nation.

Du Yuming's heart melted, and Huang Wei, the most stubborn, could only speak hard. He eventually devoted all his experience to the development of perpetual motion machine , and no longer confronted management cadres.

In 1959, before the first batch of war criminals were pardoned, Huang Wei once showed a rare smile in front of Qiu Xingxiang and told him about his family. Huang Wei's four children, except for the eldest Huang Xin who was sent to Jinling University by himself, the second Huang Li was admitted to Zhejiang University, the third Huang Minnan was admitted to Fudan University, and the fourth Huang Huinan was sent to high school by the Communist Party. Huang Wei has five kinds of tuberculosis . If he was in the old army, he would have to leave his job and go home. Huang Wei's family is not rich, and his financial strength is limited. Even if all the money is pawned, he may not be able to pay the considerable medical expenses during the treatment period. Huang Wei clearly told Qiu Xingxiang that just because he needed to repay the favor given to him and his family by the Communist Party, he was willing to bundle and tip tomatoes in the prison vegetable garden. In the late winter morning, he even took the initiative to cover the vegetable garden with straw curtains...

Compared with Du Yuming and Huang Wei, Song Xilian was lucky because he met Chen Geng. htmlWhen he was 117 years old, it was this eldest brother from the same hometown who led Song Xilian from Changsha to Guangzhou to enter the Huangpu Military Academy. While in the military academy, Chen Geng encouraged Song Xilian to join the Communist Party, but in the end he failed to resist Chiang Kai-shek's temptation. He followed the principal to get promoted and made a fortune, thus becoming a rival with his eldest brother.

However, when Song Xilian was detained in Bai Gongguan, Chongqing, and was still having trouble with the correctional officers, Chen Geng made a special detour to visit him. When Song Xilian first stepped into the Bai Mansion, he glared at the flowers and plants that fell into the hands of the Communist Party. After a long conversation with Chen Geng, he began to put down his guard and study reform seriously. He spent his own money to buy "Selected Works of Mao Zedong", "The Communist Manifesto", "Dialectical Materialism and Historical Materialism", and absorbed advanced ideological nutrients from them.

Song Xilian entered the Gongde Forest with a smile. He couldn't wait to tell everyone that when Chen Geng invited them to dinner in Chongqing, they happened to encounter the unique heavy fog there. Chen Geng said that there is a heavy fog in their minds now, but the fog will always dissipate. When the sun rises...

Song Xilian found that piece of sunshine from the classic works of communism. His speech or speech in Gongdelin can be called a combination of politics and art. Especially the last paragraph of Song Xilian's speech in connection with his crime of killing Qu Qiuba and talking about the Communist Party's lenient policy:

This outstanding revolutionary and literary prize winner in our country's history actually died in my hands. Cutting me into thousands of pieces is not enough to cover up my guilt! In the early days of liberation, I thought I was destined to die. Little did I know that the great Communist Party of China and Chairman Mao had forgiven my sins and extended their giant hands to save my soul from the abyss of sin and give me a chance to start a new life. The Party’s kindness to me has been profound again!

New life

In 1956, Chairman Mao pointed out in his "Speech on the Ten Major Relations" delivered at the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China: "... He did not even kill people like the captured war criminals Emperor Xuantong and Kangze. Not killing them does not mean that they are not guilty of killing, but that killing them is disadvantageous. ... All counterrevolutionaries should be given a way out in life so that they can have a chance to make a new start. Doing so will be beneficial to the cause of the people and to international influence. "

In September 1959, the front page of "People's Daily" published the news signed by Mao Zedong that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress to amnesty a group of war criminals on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.The announcement of this news was like dropping a bomb in the merit forest, and everyone was boiling.

Among the first batch of war criminals pardoned, Du Yuming and Song Xilian were on the list. In 1975, the most stubborn Huang Wei was also pardoned and released from prison. After receiving the pardon notice issued to him by the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China, Huang Wei returned to his room and couldn't help but burst into tears and burst into tears. At the amnesty conference, Huang Wei, as the representative of the last batch of amnesty war criminals, read out a letter of thanks to Chairman Mao. As he spoke, he gave impromptu speeches without writing and expressed his feelings to his heart's content, which won the applause of the whole room.

Someone wants to ask, these once famous Kuomintang generals, after being imprisoned for many years, are "grateful" and have "tears in their eyes". Are they sincere? Probably due to the situation. Let’s take a look at the true thoughts of the most stubborn Huang Wei.

After Huang Wei received the amnesty certificate, like every amnesty person, he got a form to decide where to go. Lao Jiang from the War Criminals Office was worried that Huang Wei would not read it, so he picked up the form and read the instructions. "We welcome those who stay in the mainland. Those who are able to work will be given jobs, and those who are incapable of working will be raised by the state. Those who are willing to go to Taiwan will be sent off, with sufficient travel expenses and convenience. Those who have gone to Taiwan and are willing to return to the mainland are also welcome. Those who are willing to settle abroad, we support. If there are difficulties, we can help solve the difficulties and create all the necessary conditions...",

Huang Wei listened impatiently, "What is there to consider? If I have to consider it, I made up my mind as early as the day I was captured twenty-seven years ago. If I can be released from prison, I will neither go abroad nor go to Taiwan. My only wish is to settle in China. Lu, disarm and return to my hometown, Guixi County, Jiangxi Province."

Huang Wei did not return to Guixi, Jiangxi Province in the end. Instead, like most amnesty war criminals, he entered the CPPCC Cultural and Historical Office and became a cultural and historical commissioner. This policy was arranged by Premier Zhou. Each of them was treated properly and enjoyed high-level wages.

In the literature and history reference room, Zheng Tingji of Huangpu No. 5 found Du Yuming and asked him for advice on how to report the Communist Party's kindness to them. At that time, Du Yuming became a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and was debating the issue of "traitors" with a Taiwanese newspaper. He insisted that he "surrendered to the people and followed the times. As long as he did not betray the truth, he was not a traitor." When Du Yuming heard Zheng Tingji's question, he was a little confused. He did not answer the question directly, but gave him a personal demonstration.

Du Yuming was a member of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang and commanded an army of more than one million people. At that time, an American reporter came to Beijing to find him and wanted to write a biography of him. That reporter is also an old acquaintance. During the anti-Japanese war at Kunlun Pass, this American reporter was at the scene. At that time, his pants were torn by thorns. In order to cover up his shame, he randomly picked up a sun flag on the battlefield and wrapped it around his waist. When Zheng Tingji saw the sun flag, he raised his gun and shot, scaring the American reporter half to death. Later, it was this American journalist who wrote the book "The Bloody Battle at Kunlun Pass", which recorded the vigorous Anti-Japanese War. It was at that time that Du Yuming became friends with the American reporter.

Many years later, an American reporter approached me about writing a biography of Du Yuming, but he was rejected. Zheng Tingji didn't understand, so Du Yuming said to him seriously: "Although the Literary and Historical Materials Research Committee decided on the same topic as him, at that time, I still wanted a domestic reporter to write about it. This American is good, but I can't guarantee that his views are not problematic. Didn't we just talk about the topic of gratitude? , the Communist Party is not kind to us, I don’t want to cause trouble to the Communist Party on this matter, and let Taiwan find another reason.”

Song Xilian went to the United States in his later years, and took his new wife to reunite with his children. But there, he contacted a group of old buddies from the Whampoa Military Academy and established the "China Peaceful Reunification Promotion Association" and the Whampoa Alumni Association to call for cross-strait reunification. For this reason, Song Xilian was called an "eagle dog" by the Taiwanese media.

Qiu Xingxiang, who was ridiculed by Huang Wei in Gongdelin, went to Taiwan in his later years. When faced with a huge sum of property given by Jiang Weiguo, he angrily cursed "I am not here to beg for food" and left back to the mainland.

Zhen Zui went to Hong Kong to visit his ex-wife, who was still in his dreams. Faced with calls from his relatives and friends to "run for freedom", he left behind the words "action is the best reply" and turned around and returned to Beijing.

Military reunification agent Zhou Yanghao was even more stubborn than Huang Wei. In 1975, the last batch of amnesty was granted and he chose to go to Taiwan. Unexpectedly, he was blocked by the Kuomintang regime, and finally went to the United States. Duan Kewen, another amnesty war criminal who went to the United States, published a book slandering the Communist Party's war criminal policy. Reporters from the Kuomintang believed that Zhou Yanghao was also anti-communist and specially dragged American reporters to interview him. Unexpectedly, Zhou Yanghao said: "I can be reunited with my family. In the final analysis, I have to thank Chairman Mao and the great policies of the Communist Party." He also said that Duan Kewen was "not a thing." He was originally just a colonel's office director under Wen Qiang. When Wen Qiang left the military command, he secretly affixed Wen Qiang's seal and deceived him into becoming a major general.

It seems that Chairman Mao was right when he said that no matter how stubborn the reactionaries are, they will eventually return to the side of the people as long as they work hard to reform.

Du Yuming, Huang Wei, and Song Xilian, who returned to the people's side, became members of Chairman Mao's funeral committee. It was only natural that Huang Wei was even invited to attend Chairman Mao's wake.

References

"The decisive battle of generals is not just on the battlefield: the story of the rebirth of the mainland by former Kuomintang generals", Huang Jiren, China Youth Publishing House

"Our Father: Descendants of Kuomintang Generals in the Mainland", Zhou Haibin, Chinese Publishing House

"General Eagle Dog: Autobiography of Song Xilian", Song Xilian, Chinese Literature and History Publishing House