On June 17, 1934, the "Shuntian Lun" of the British merchant Taikoo & Co. returned from Tianjin to Shanghai. Suncheon is a newly built ship of Swire & Co., Ltd., with a carrying capacity of 1,500 tons. This voyage carried 86 Chinese passengers, 11 British and Japanese passengers, and 3 children.
At 4 pm, the ship set sail from Dagukou and slowly sailed into the harbor. Night fell slowly, and the ship was sailing smoothly. When it reached the sea 200 miles away, it was already 11 o'clock at night. The tired passengers fell asleep one after another, and the ship seemed very quiet.
At this moment, a roar was heard suddenly, waking up the passengers. It turned out to be a group of bandits who had set up an ambush in advance. They drew their pistols, revealed their true colors and surrounded the tourists.
The bandits seized the cab and radio station, and drove the passengers into a room. The captain and the mechanic were forced into the smoking room, guarded by the bandits, and several women and children were placed under house arrest in the restaurant.
The bandits claimed to be transporting smuggled goods by sea and were the former members of Liu Zhennian . They were forced to rob ships because the authorities sent more ships to inspect the coast and increased tariffs, which made it impossible for them to survive and live in poverty.
The bandit leader Li Ziwen ordered the ship to sail to the sea area at the mouth of the Yellow River. When the ship sailed to the shallow water area near the mouth of the Taoer River, it encountered many small and large sailboats fishing. The bandits ordered the ship to approach, robbed five small boats, and hung them on the Shuntian wheel to continue driving.
When they reached the sea north of Lijin, the robbers transferred the kidnapped 6 foreigners and 20 Chinese, as well as the stolen valuables, to the robbed boat. They landed in the north of the Yellow River estuary and disappeared into the reed marshes along the coast of Lijin.
The Suncheon Lun was stranded due to low water and could not sail until the seawater rose. The captain ordered the radio station to send a distress telegram to the relevant departments. Soon, the British and American warships stationed in Yantai each sent two warships to the rescue. Eight hours later, the Shuntian ship encountered the British ship. Under its escort, it arrived in Yantai in the early morning of the 19th and reported the robbery situation to the Tianjin and Shanghai authorities.
html On the evening of June 19, the British military attache Di Hua Duli rushed to Jinan overnight to discuss with Han Fukju to rescue the hijacked British passengers. Japan also sent a ship to sail from Dalian to Yantai overnight, strongly requesting the Tianjin and Jinan authorities to investigate the case and give a satisfactory answer; the British Embassy also put pressure on the Nanjing National Government to quickly solve the case.Subsequently, major newspapers in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai reported the news of the robbery of the Suncheon Ship, and British newspapers reprinted it one after another.
The British sent planes to repeatedly search along the Lijin coast. They found suspicious ships and reported back.
The robbers found out that they had been exposed and couldn't help but panic. They released the British businessman Nickel and the former Minister of the Interior Sun Danlin, and asked them to go to the British Consulate in Jinan to deliver letters and discuss the redemption of notes. The two were picked up by a British plane.
Seeing that there were planes circling overhead for reconnaissance, the robbers shot at the planes from the boats. The British planes fired back with machine guns and dropped several bombs into the water. At the same time, they dropped Chinese leaflets warning the hostages to be released immediately.
Several robbers were killed. They released other British people and sent the Japanese Yamamoto to Tanggu in a small boat. So far, all the foreigners who were robbed have been released, and 19 Chinese are still in the hands of the robbers.
html On June 23, Lijin County County Magistrate sent a message to Han Fujuju, asking for cooperation between sea and land to completely wipe out the pirates. On June 29, Sun Danlin, who was released, met with Han Fuju and relayed the robbers' request for inclusion. Han Fuju said that if the hostages were not released, everything would be empty talk!
Han Fuju sent planes, with the cooperation of the Third Fleet, to bomb the coastal reed swamps. Some of the robbers were killed, and the rest landed and fled.
The bandit leaders Wang Gongchen, Li Ziwen, Rong Gaotang, Ren Fugui and others led more than a hundred robbers and dug underground huts in the reed swamps along the coast to hide themselves. Han Fuju ordered Zhao Mingyuan, commander of the First Route Militia Headquarters, to lead the navy and army to eliminate the robbers within a time limit. Zhao Mingyuan personally led the militia troops to search along the coastline for many days, but found no trace of the robbers, which was very distressing.
At this time, his lieutenant adjutant Liu Jingliang captured a concubine of the bandit leader Ma Sanpao. He proposed that he take a guard deep into the bandit's den and persuade her to surrender. Zhao Mingyuan knew that Liu Jingliang was loyal and eloquent, so he agreed to his request.
Liu Jingliang and his guards trekked in the reed swamp for two days, and after much trouble they finally found Li Ziwen, Wang Gongchen and others, indicating that as long as the bandits released the hostages, the government would never break its promise.
With his sharp tongue, Liu Jingliang finally persuaded several bandit leaders to put down their weapons, immediately released all the hostages, and accepted the adaptation. Only the leader, Fu Ruiwu, did not agree and fled inland with four or five people.
In view of Liu Jingliang's great contributions, Han Fuju promoted him to the rank of Major Adjutant of the Fifth Special Administration of Shandong Province, responsible for organizing the "Coastal Defense Wing". Liu Jingliang was appointed as the captain. As for the bandit leaders Li Ziwen, Wang Gongchen, Ren Fugui, Rong Gaotang and others who were recruited, they all served as squad captains.
Zhao Mingyuan also received awards for his meritorious service and was promoted to the fifth district inspector and security commander.
This "Shuntian Lun" robbery, which shocked both China and the world, lasted for three months and ended with the bandits accepting recruitment.
