Feng Chun/text
Our party’s struggle against the Kuomintang’s Wuxi County Police Headquarters began in July and August 1948. After the arduous efforts of the underground party, when the People's Liberation Army crossed the Yangtze River and moved south, most of the former police officers of the police station followed the instructions and did not escape or resist. On April 23, 1949, when the Kuomintang reactionaries fled in panic, the security of Xicheng was temporarily suspended. When there was a vacuum, he stayed at his post, maintained law and order, protected the police station's files, firearms and property, and cooperated with the People's Liberation Army in the smooth takeover.
(1)
During the War of Liberation, the Wuxi Police Headquarters was located in Shilangzhong Lane (now Liangxi Hotel) in the urban area. The organization was divided into: the Supervision Office and four departments of General Affairs, Administration, Judicial Affairs, and Foreign Affairs, as well as the Criminal Police Team, Guard, security brigade (with 3 squadrons under its jurisdiction), vehicle patrol team, and water patrol team. In the urban area, the General Administration has 5 branches and 18 branch offices in the East District, South District, West District, North District and the city. There are more than 800 police officers in the city, equipped with various long and short weapons. The Kuomintang rulers have very strict control over the police stations. There are Dai Li and Mao Renfeng's military reunification faction in the police station. These people are not large in number, but they have considerable energy. There are the so-called "orthodox" who have graduated from the Kuomintang Central Police School. This group of people has an absolute advantage in the police station and plays a decisive role. The students of the Central Police Academy are the same as the Huangpu Clan in the military, and are direct descendants of Chiang Kai-shek. The military reunification faction and the orthodox faction are at odds with each other and are incompatible with each other. In addition, there are some police officers who are from the military or who rely on personal connections to work in the police station. The Police Headquarters had three chiefs. The third chief was Miao Xiulin, who graduated from Xuzhou and graduated from the third phase of Huangpu. He once served as a major general under Tang Enbo. This person had reactionary thoughts and a stubborn stance. On the eve of liberation, someone from the Suzhou Police Department wrote to him asking about his attitude towards leaving or staying. Miao refused to reply to the letter to show his loyalty to Chiang Kai-shek. It can be seen that it is very difficult to carry out rebellion work in the police station.
In 1948, the People's Liberation Army shifted to a strategic counter-offensive on the battlefield. The Kuomintang troops were retreating steadily and the Kuomintang regime was on the verge of collapse. The favorable situation of the national revolution had a great impact on the reactionary camp. There was a trend of disintegration in the Wuxi Police Headquarters. Some police officers who had a sense of justice and were dissatisfied with the Kuomintang rule were looking for a way out. This provides a good opportunity for our underground party to divide and disintegrate the enemy and instigate rebellion. From then on, underground party and youth league organizations in various lines including the Wuxi Working Committee, Jiangnan Working Committee, Xicheng County Working Committee, Central China Second Prefecture Committee, etc. actively carried out instigation work.
The draft of a rebellion letter circulated by the rebellion group of the Wuxi Working Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1949
In July and August 1948, Wang Tianjie, a member of the Suzhou underground party, came to Wuxi and made an appointment with Wang Lufeng (also known as Wang Zongzeng), a member of the Judicial Section of the Wuxi Police General Bureau. Wang Tianjie and Wang Tianjie were classmates at the Central Police Academy. ) went out for an outing, deliberately promoting him, hoping that he would pursue "progress" and "get closer to the revolution." Wang Lufeng hated the corruption of the Kuomintang, so he immediately expressed his willingness to choose the bright path. At the beginning of 1949, Wang Lufeng and his classmate He Changjiu, a member of the Western District Bureau, went to Suzhou to find Wang Tianjie, hoping to establish contact with the underground party through him. Wang Tianjie warmly received him. In order to facilitate the conversation, Wang Tianjie specially opened a room in the hotel, invited them to stay for two days, and had a long talk with them, which further dispelled the concerns of Wang Lufeng and others. Wang Tianjie asked them to "go back to Wuxi to collect information" and "pay attention to preserving weapons. When the People's Liberation Army comes, they must be responsible for maintaining order and waiting for reception." He also promised to try to "get the Wuxi organization to contact you." After Wang Lufeng and He Jiujiu accepted the mission and returned to Xi, they took active action.
Regarding the Jiangnan Working Committee, the underground New Democratic Youth League of Ye Bing, directly led by Comrade Yang Zeng, developed a relationship in the Police Headquarters, named Gao Yiming. Gao Yuan was a cadre in the Liberated Area of Northern Jiangsu. He later left the revolution because of fear of the enemy, and found a job at the Wuxi Police Headquarters through connections. In 1948, he went to the Beitang area to look for party organizations and attracted the attention of the organizations.Du Feng, head of the Beitang Branch of the Underground New Youth League, seized the opportunity to educate him, and then handed over Gao's relationship to Ye Bing, who directly did Gao's work, publicizing the revolutionary situation to him and clarifying the party's The policy requires him to "provide information, preserve files and guns, and strive for meritorious service and atonement." Gao Yiming accepted the task of the New Youth League, determined to atone for his sins.
The underground party of the Xicheng County Working Committee of the Communist Party of China in the urban area developed four relationships at the Xiaomuqiao branch of the police station through Wang Chunhua, a party member and guard of Shenxin No. 3 Factory, and provided a lot of information to the underground party.
These have created favorable conditions for our underground party to fully carry out the work of instigating rebellion in the police station in the future.
(2)
In January 1949, the three major battles of Liaoshen, Pingjin, and Huaihai were about to end, and the liberation of Jiangnan was imminent. Our party's struggle to instigate rebellion against the Kuomintang Wuxi County Police Headquarters entered a new stage.
html In November, the party organization specially transferred Jiao Xiaotian, a probationary member of the Communist Party of China from the Suzhou party organization to come to Xixi and go to the police station to carry out rebellion work. Jiao Xiaotian, using his public identity as a graduate of the Central Police Department, used his cousin relationship to get through to the Chief of Police, Miao Xiulin. Miao promised to let Jiao "stay in the game until he is ready." Jiao stayed at the city branch and stood firm.
After Jiao Xiaotian came to Wuxi, Shen Renyong, the head of the Chengbei District Committee of the Wuxi Working Committee of the Communist Party of China, quickly established a relationship with Jiao. Shen confessed that his first task was to "establish a firm foothold and quickly find out the enemy's situation." According to the organization's instructions and the introduction of the Suzhou underground party, Jiao Xiaotian first found Wang Lufeng and He Jiujiu, making them his right-hand assistants in carrying out his work. Soon, with the approval of the party organization, Jiao Xiaotian, Wang Lufeng, and He Changjiu formed a group to carry out rebellion work together. They rented a room at the foot of the inner city of Ximen (the southwest foot of the original Great Hall of the People) as a secret contact point for the group to report work to the higher-level party organization and receive instructions.
Memoirs of underground party member Jiao Xiaotian on instigating rebellion against the Kuomintang at the Wuxi County Police Department
In order to complete the organization's tasks, the team investigated the enemy's situation through various channels and methods, and had a clearer grasp of the Kuomintang's military, political, police, constitution, and special affairs in Wuxi. In particular, the police personnel organization structure, personnel distribution and ideological dynamics. Jiao Xiaotian also served as a waiter, under the guise of helping patrol and check sentinels, and followed the patrol team of the city branch into the streets and alleys to inspect the urban terrain and the open and hidden sentries and military facilities where the enemy troops were distributed. For terrain and other conditions that are not within the jurisdiction of the city branch, we go to check them in the name of visiting relatives and friends. Wang Lufeng relied on his position to copy down a list of central government agents in the files of the Judicial Section, and also compiled the names, home addresses and phone numbers of the chief director, inspector general, section chief and branch chief of the Police General Bureau. This important information was promptly sent to the superior party organization by Jiao Xiaotian. While collecting intelligence, the team aimed at the Wuxi Police Station, which was dominated by central police college graduates and Xuzhou natives, and exploited the incompatible contradiction between them and the military reunification faction to divide and disintegrate them and gain strength. They first focused on the work of Li Zhongqi and Song Jingting (Song Gengshi). Li Zhongqi is the director of the city branch, and Song Jingting is the director of the city north branch. These two people are usually decent people and have high prestige among the personnel of the Central Police Department and the police station. They originally had fears and misgivings about the Communist Party and the People's Liberation Army, and were prepared to retreat with the enemy. Jiao Xiaotian and others recognized their righteousness, and He Jiuchong went to Nanjing to ask Gao Peiheng, a progressive professor from the former Central Police Academy, to come to Xi to help with the work. Although Gao was not in the future, Jiao and others used his name to carry out propaganda, which greatly promoted Li Zhongqi and Song Jingting. The change dispelled their concerns. Song Jingting expressed his willingness to follow the Communist Party and contribute to the liberation of Wuxi. Li Zhongqi also made up his mind not to retreat with the enemy, and took active actions to prevent General Director Miao Xiulin's planned sabotage and retreat plot. Their transformation played an important role in further dismantling the enemy and recruiting more police officers.
In March 1949, the superior party organization instructed Jiao Xiaotian's group to "expand the working area" and "win the majority, reduce resistance during wartime, prevent sabotage, and strive to keep as many police personnel as possible for my use." According to the party's decision, Jiao Xiaotian's group used individual chats, newspapers, magazines and various public opinions in the society to publicize the battlefield situation and the party's policy of "contracting down" civil servants, such as remaining old civil servants. The positions will not be changed, the original salary will be the same, and the policy of protecting private property and "rewarding for meritorious service" will be adopted. They also further used the sectarian relations in the police circles to spread the news through Li Zhongqi, Song Jingting, Zhang Zengrong and others that some professors and instructors with high prestige among police college students went to the liberated areas to join the People's Liberation Army, in order to win over and stabilize the majority.
On April 20, 1949, the peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party broke down. The Kuomintang military and political authorities in Wuxi were in a panic, and each was eager to prepare for an escape. Chief of Police Miao Xiulin had held a meeting before this to lay out the plan to evacuate police personnel. At the meeting, he threatened: "Anyone who doesn't leave will be shot." After the 20th, he repeatedly ordered all units of the police station to inventory property, burn files and documents, gather guns, and prepare to evacuate.
html In mid-April, Jiao Xiaotian's group received instructions from the underground party to "actively organize forces to prevent the enemy from causing damage before retreating, protect the lives and property of the people in the city, and avoid suffering as little or no losses as possible." Faced with Miao Xiulin's attempt to sabotage and evacuate, Jiao Xiaotian, Wang Lufeng, He Jiujiu, Li Zhongqi, and Song Jingting discussed countermeasures at the city branch and decided that Li Zhongqi and Song Jingting would come forward, in the name of the "Central Police School Alumni Association", at the city branch. A student representative meeting in Xixi was held, known to the public as a "contingency" meeting, and some non-police academy colleagues were invited to participate. The purpose of the meeting was to get those present to make the final decision and stay to welcome liberation.
On April 20, Li Zhongqi presided over a "contingency" meeting. Attending the meeting were Ji Yicheng, Liu Jianmin, Liao Daliu, etc., branch directors of the North District, East District, South District, and Central District. The West Branch was represented by He Changjiu, and the General Bureau was represented by Wang Lufeng. In addition, inspectors (bureau members) Han Wenliu, More than 10 people including Song Gongxia and Ma Xiangbo . The topic at the conference center was the question of whether to stay or leave. There was a heated debate among the attendees and the atmosphere was very tense. In order to prevent accidents, Jiao Xiaotian did not show up directly, but controlled the progress of the meeting through Li Zhongqi, Song Jingting, and Wang Lufeng in another room. When the debate was at its fiercest, Liu Jianmin proposed to trace the background of the meeting. Song Jingting asked Jiao Xiaotian to leave the branch three times to prevent any unexpected events. Jiao asked Song Jingting and others to calm down and said: "Don't be afraid, the enemy will not be able to catch anything." The meeting continued. After repeated debates, Li Zhongqi, Wang Lufeng and others clarified the situation and showed great justice. Finally, the attendees reached a unanimous opinion and agreed to abide by four principles: (1) Stay to welcome liberation. (2) Respond to the orders of General Director Miao Xiulin by force and softly. If you have to follow Miao, if you hear gunshots on the road, immediately disperse back to the city and bring the team back to the original place. (3) Each unit is responsible for managing the daily work of its own jurisdiction, preventing all damage, and protecting the safety of people's lives and property. Police station personnel are not allowed to take advantage of the situation. (4) The city branch serves as the contact point, with Li Zhongqi and Song Jingting as commanders.
After the meeting, Jiao Xiaotian's group stepped up their efforts to mobilize those who were wavering in their thoughts and prepared for liberation.
At the same time, underground members of the Jiangnan Working Committee system ordered Gao Yiming from the Police Headquarters to place propaganda leaflets of the New Youth League into some offices of the Police Headquarters, launching a political offensive against the enemy, causing panic and shock to the enemy.
Yang Shuchun, an underground worker led by the Social Affairs Department of the Second Prefecture Committee of Central China, also used local people in Datong Town, South Gate, to win over twelve policemen from Datong Town to stay and welcome the liberation.
(3)
At 19:00 on the evening of April 21, 1949, the People's Liberation Army forcibly crossed the Yangtze River on the eastern front. In the early morning of April 22, the Kuomintang officers and soldiers stationed at Jiangyin Fortress successfully staged an uprising.After that, the first unit of the 29th Army of the 10th Corps of the People's Liberation Army broke through the Yangtze River, went south along the Xicheng Highway, and quickly approached Wuxi.
Starting from April 21, the Kuomintang’s Wuxi Security Headquarters, City Defense Headquarters, and county government evacuated one after another. The police station was the last to be evacuated. On the 22nd, General Director Miao Xiulin called people to urge all branches, sub-stations and other units in the police department to burn all documents and files and gather them at the General Bureau.
On that day, people from all branches (including some personnel from the General Administration) followed the arrangements of the "contingency meeting" on the 20th, looking for various excuses, such as "the staff could not be concentrated", etc., and refused to execute the order, even pretending that Miao wanted to destroy it. When filing the General Administration's files, no one did anything for him. Only the water patrol team and the vehicle patrol team controlled by the military were gathered at the headquarters. It was delayed until noon on April 23, and the sound of artillery fire from the People's Liberation Army was getting closer and closer. Miao Xiulin was angry and anxious when he saw that people from various branches were not coming to gather. He moved the command post from Shilangzhong Lane to the County Council Office next to the bell tower of Chong'an Temple. He personally called or sent people to urge each unit to deal with the problem. They threatened and forced concentration. At this time, the situation was serious. On the one hand, Jiao Xiaotian's team promptly notified the heads of each unit to avoid answering calls or avoiding visitors. On the other hand, Jiao Xiaotian compiled some "news", such as "Our army's vanguard has crossed the river." , "Underground armed forces have entered the city" and so on, were widely spread among the police officers, forcing Miao to escape. By 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Miao Xiulin saw that the situation was over and did not dare to persist anymore. He had to lead a small group of people from the General Administration and the water patrol team and the vehicle patrol team to travel by land and water (the vehicle patrol team rode bicycles and the water patrol team rode bicycles). Escape southward by motorboat. When passing the Chengnan Branch, Miao Xiulin broke into the branch with a group of armed cronies and asked the branch director Liao Dali: Why didn't you answer his call? He also ordered Liao to gather the police (only some of them) to retreat with him. The underground party originally planned to intercept the guerrillas along the way, but the interception failed because they could not catch up. Miao Xiulin only took away a small number of people from the police station, and after escaping to Zhoushan , they all became prisoners of the People's Liberation Army.
Although Miao Xiulin has left, the situation is not yet stable. Jiao Xiaotian, Wang Lufeng, He Jiujiu, Song Jingting and others immediately established a leadership group, with Song Jingting stepping forward to inform each branch to take good care of the archives, documents, weapons and ammunition and prepare to hand them over to the People's Liberation Army or our local armed forces. Jiao Xiaotian rushed to the General Administration and asked the staff of each department to perform their duties and no damage was allowed. On the same day, Hua Yimin, Shen Renyong and Jiao Xiaotian, heads of the Chengbei District Committee of the Communist Party of China, studied the takeover of the police station. Afterwards, Jiao Xiaotian, in accordance with the party's instructions, held a general meeting of police officers at the Shilangzhongxiang General Bureau. Before the meeting, Shen Renyong arrived and agreed with Jiao Xiaotian on the candidate for the Inspector General. He also sent Yang Jialun, an underground staff member of the Criminal Police Team of the General Administration, to protect Jiao Xiaotian and defend Jiao Xiaotian. At the overall police meeting, Jiao Xiaotian announced the official takeover in the name of the underground party representative. At the same time, it was announced that: 1. Song Jingting will be the inspector general, responsible for assisting in handling the overall takeover affairs. 2. Strengthen discipline: (a) All police officers shall go to work, be on duty, stand guard, and patrol as usual. They shall be responsible for the social order in their jurisdiction and protect the safety of people's lives and property. (B) The documents, archives and all materials of each unit must be carefully kept and are not allowed to be destroyed, transferred or privately possessed. (C) County, township, and town branch bureaus and offices must hand over all documents, files, weapons, ammunition, and property to our local armed forces on the spot. After the handover is completed, report to the general bureau immediately.
After the meeting, people's hearts stabilized. The vast majority of police station personnel adhered to their posts in accordance with the decisions of the underground party, protected the archives and property of the police station, cooperated with the industrial and commercial self-defense groups and the workers' pickets led by our underground party to maintain public order, and made great efforts to help Xicheng survive the vacuum period stably. .
Other former police officers who were instigated by our underground party (regiment) system, such as Gao Yiming from the General Bureau, some police officers from Nanmen Datong Town and Xiaomuqiao Branch, some surrendered to us carrying guns and keys to archives. Some stayed behind, waiting to be received.
Late at night on April 23, our army successfully liberated the city of Wuxi. On the 25th, the Municipal Military Control Commission sent military representative Ding Jianhua to formally take over the police station, taking over a total of more than 700 former police officers, their weapons and equipment, and all documents and files.At this point, our party's struggle to instigate rebellion against the Wuxi County Police Headquarters has ended successfully.
