When it comes to "catching young men", many people will think of the live-action drama "catching young men" in Sichuan dialect. In the play, the "Kuomintang bureaucrats" represented by Wang Baochang arrested young men everywhere and sent them to the army, and a series of farce re

text | Zhou Yu

mentioned " to catch the young man ", many people will think of the live-action drama "Catch the young man" in Sichuan dialect. In the play, the "Kuomintang bureaucrats" represented by Wang Baochang arrested young men everywhere and sent them to the army, and a series of farce resulted. But if you mention "one hundred thousand young people and one hundred thousand troops", what people can see is the passionate scene of young students writing and joining the army, rushing to the anti-Japanese front line. It’s hard to imagine that these two completely different scenes come from the same source, which is the Nationalist Government’s wartime conscription system. However, whether it was "catching young men" or calling on educated young people to join the army, they were all part of the National Government's wartime conscription mobilization, but there was a big difference in treatment between the two. Recruiting educated young people to join the army is at best "expulsion from school" as a punishment for not being drafted, and it is not as crude and arrogant as "catching young men." Among the veterans of the Anti-Japanese War interviewed by the author, the two types of people’s memories of joining the army are quite different. After Yang Qinhuai, who joined the army as a student, arrived in the army, his superiors still called them "classmates" and were more polite to them. This was not the case for He Shaoqing, who was captured as a young man. He and other people who were also captured were imprisoned in a small wooden house in the division's administrative area. "For several months, they ate porridge every meal."

Although the original intention of conscription was to defend the country and fight the war, it is undeniable that many illegal phenomena such as random arrests, buying and selling, and abuse of young men occurred during this process. According to statistics from the Military Service Inspection Office, "in the two years from February 1942 to February 1944, there were more than 2,000 illegal military service incidents nationwide, but in fact there were more than that." In July 1944, the incident of "abuse of young men" finally alarmed the Supreme Commander Chiang Kai-shek . The cause was that Dai Jitao's son Dai Anguo reported to Chiang Kai-shek that the young men imprisoned somewhere in Chongqing were "in miserable condition and suffered severe abuse." At that time, the agency responsible for recruiting, replenishing, and training new recruits was the Military Service Administration of the Ministry of Military Affairs of the Nationalist Government, and the director was Lieutenant General Cheng Zerun. Cheng Zerun was born in Changlong County, Sichuan, and graduated from the 5th session of the Beijing Army University. In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, he was instrumental in wooing the Sichuan warlords for the central government. At the same time, he was also the main staff of He Yingqin, Minister of Military Affairs, and served in the National Army. All political circles have influence. Because the matter was so important, Chiang Kai-shek decided to inspect it in person after listening to Dai Anguo's report. As a result, he happened to encounter the scene of officers of the tax police regiment abusing and torturing young men. The miserable sight of those young men as skinny as firewood made Chiang Kai-shek even more furious. He immediately called Cheng Zerun and inspected the matter on the spot. After a severe reprimand, it is said that when Jiang got agitated by the scolding, he angrily hit Cheng Zerun with his cane, which shows how deeply this incident irritated him.

Shortly after the "Abuse of Young Men Incident" occurred, Chiang Kai-shek held the famous "Huangshan Army Reorganization Preparatory Meeting" at his official residence in Huangshan, Chongqing. At the meeting, he said bitterly: "If PepsiCo fails to follow the rules because of our personal lack of responsibility, , so that the entire country and the army are insulted, then we will become the sinners of the country , the scum of the military! ⋯⋯Now the United Nations has generally regarded our army as not an army, our soldiers as not soldiers, and our military agencies as not agencies. Due to the exposure of our own corruption and shortcomings, it can be said that they have no sense at all now. Take our China seriously!” The “military agencies” in this speech obviously refer to the Military Service Department where the incident just broke out.

▲Cheng Zerun

As for Cheng Zerun, he was handed over to the military court for trial after being angrily reprimanded by Chiang Kai-shek that day, and his verdict was awaited in July 1945:

Cheng Zerun The director of the Military Service Department of the Ministry of Military Affairs and the director of the military service training class committed many frauds in the military service process. In June and July last year, he took advantage of his power to use his power to build private houses by using engineers and soldiers to save work and make profits. After investigation by Chairman Chiang Kai-shek, he was detained and handed over to the Military Justice Department for review. It was found to be true, and he was sentenced to death, deprived of public rights for life, and executed by firing squad on the morning of the 6th of this month!

html On July 6, Cheng Zerun was kidnapped and taken to the Guiyuan Garden Execution Ground on the outskirts of the city, where he was shot. He was the last senior general to be shot during the Anti-Japanese War after Han Fuju , Feng Ti, Mei Chunhua, Liao Lingqi and others, and he was also the only general who died because of his "strongness".

"Capturing young men" was a relatively common phenomenon during the Anti-Japanese War. However, in that special era, the implementation of the conscription system and forced recruitment methods were also very complex issues, and it is difficult to determine the rights and wrongs. As future generations, of course we cannot overly accuse the strong men who evaded military service of being "afraid of life" and "unpatriotic", because many people have a vague understanding of the nation and the country. When foreign enemies invade, the nation is in danger, and the casualties of frontline soldiers are increasing day by day, and the conscription system can no longer meet the needs of soldiers, isn't the conscription system a helpless move, a choice without choice?