Zhang Jinghui, the prime minister of the puppet Manchukuo , did not know the true identity of his s

Mondo History Updated on 2024-02-27

In 1950, the 79-year-old traitor Zhang Jinghui was repatriated by the Soviet Union, and one day soon after, he was imprisoned in the Fushun War Criminals Management Center and received a visit notice, and the person who came to see him was his son Zhang Mengshi. However, when he saw his son, he was speechless in shock.

The reason is that just a few months ago, his son was imprisoned in the Soviet Union as a war criminal, just like him, but now, his son not only sat in front of him well, but also wore a new military uniform, such a big contrast, how could he not be shocked.

Zhang Jinghui. Zhang Jinghui was born in 1871 in Fengtianfu Octagonal Terrace, when he was a teenager, he followed his father to sell tofu for a living, and later he was unwilling to sell tofu all his life, so he often mixed in the gambling house, fantasizing about getting rich overnight, although he failed to realize this wish, but also made a lot of friends during this period. During the First Sino-Japanese War, bandits were rampant in Northeast China, and local wealthy businessmen began to set up an insurance group to escort them.

In 1901, Zhang Zuolin was defeated in a turf struggle and escaped with only 17 people. At that time, Zhang Jinghui felt that Zhang Zuolin would be extraordinary in the future, so he willingly handed over the position of his boss to Zhang Zuolin, and his men and horses were under Zhang Zuolin's command. As it turned out, he made a wise decision at the time.

Zhang Zuolin. With the control of the Qing ** on the security of the Northeast, the social order has gradually improved, and the insurance group has slowly lost its role, without the support of rich businessmen, the insurance group has basically been disbanded, but Zhang Zuolin is unwilling to do nothing, so he began to contact the Qing **, and finally under the recommendation of a friend, he got acquainted with the prefect of Xinmin Mansion Zengyun, and then he also got his wish to become an official army. After becoming an official soldier, Zhang Zuolin also showed his ability, and soon made his power bigger and stronger, and Zhang Jinghui, as his right-hand man, is naturally rising step by step.

Zhang Zuolin. **After its establishment, Zhang Zuolin's team was reorganized into the 27th Division of the Army, and Zhang Jinghui was appointed as the regiment commander, and later promoted to brigade commander. After Yuan Shikai's death, Sun Yat-sen organized a revolution in Guangzhou and began a crusade against the warlords. At this time, Zhang Zuolin was already the largest warlord in the Northeast, so he ordered to send troops to block the revolutionary army, Zhang Jinghui was appointed as the division commander of the vanguard army, in the process of blocking the revolutionary army in the south, Zhang Jinghui made a lot of achievements, and the position was also promoted to the deputy commander of the Fengjun and the commander of Chahar, and later was appointed as Zhang Zuolin's representative, and was stationed in Beijing.

Zhang Jinghui can have his current status because of the decision he made at the beginning, and Zhang Zuolin has always treated him as a confidant, but what no one expected was that Zhang Jinghui would betray Zhang Zuolin. During the first Fengzhi War, Zhang Jinghui was reluctant to start a war with Cao Kun because of his good relationship with him, but he did not dare to tell Zhang Zuolin his thoughts.

Cao Kun. After the war began, Zhang Jinghui was appointed commander-in-chief of the Western Route Army, but when the two sides exchanged fire, Zhang Jinghui, as the commander-in-chief, abandoned his troops and fled alone. The Western Route Army lost its command and was directly defeated by the direct army, which was extremely heavy. Zhang Jinghui understood that Zhang Zuolin would definitely not be able to let him go when he returned to the Northeast, so he simply took refuge in Cao Kun. His approach made Zhang Zuolin angry, and he directly scolded himself in public for being blind.

A few years later, Zhang Jinghui's mother died, and he wanted to go back to the northeast to mourn, but he was afraid that Zhang Zuolin would arrest him. So he was cheeky and first went to find several other brothers who were sworn with him back then, and begged them to go to Zhang Zuolin to intercede for him. Those people couldn't bear to turn their old brotherhood against each other, so they agreed to his request. In the end, with their help, Zhang Zuolin forgave Zhang Jinghui and let him return to the Feng army, giving him a fictitious position with no real power. However, Zhang Zuolin didn't understand that there were only zero and countless betrayals, and his generosity also indirectly made a big traitor.

On June 4, 1928, the Japanese army created the Huanggutun Incident, the train Zhang Zuolin was riding was blown up, Zhang Zuolin was seriously injured, Zhang Jinghui who accompanied him was slightly injured, and Zhang Zuolin died shortly after returning to Fengtian. After Zhang Xueliang took over the Northeast, on December 29, Zhang Xueliang announced that he would change his flag and obey the leadership of the Nanjing Nationals.

The scene of the Huanggutun incident.

And his approach also made the Japanese feel uneasy, because they had been planning and occupying the Northeast, and Zhang Xueliang's sudden announcement of submission to the Nanjing Nationals** was very likely to make their plan fail. In order to avoid accidents, the Japanese chose Zhang Jinghui, and soon Zhang Jinghui was bribed by the Japanese and reached a cooperation with him, and he came forward to persuade Zhang Xueliang not to have a conflict with the Japanese army.

Chang. After Zhang Jinghui took over the task of the Japanese, he found Zhang Xueliang arrogantly, and made his request as an elder. As a result, Zhang Xueliang didn't eat him at all, and because of his attitude, he directly tore his face with Zhang Jinghui. Zhang Jinghui, who failed to complete the task, could only go back in disgrace.

On the day of the 918 incident, the homes of Zhang Xueliang, Zhang Zuoxiang and other important figures in Northeast China were forcibly broken into by the Japanese army, but Zhang Jinghui, who lived in Shenyang, not only did not break into his house by the Japanese army, but was also protected by the Japanese army, which is enough to show that before the Japanese army launched the invasion, Zhang Jinghui had already reached some kind of deal with the Japanese army.

On 27 September, Zhang Jinghui announced the establishment of the "Special Administrative Region Autonomy Maintenance Association," ostensibly to maintain public order, but in fact it was an organization set up specifically to appease the local people in Harbin on behalf of the Japanese. On February 17, 1932, Zhang Jinghui also pretended, he was appointed by the Japanese army as the chairman of the "Northeast Administrative Committee", and at the same time publicly issued a treason statement and broke away from the people.

When the Japanese army began to prepare for the "puppet Manchukuo", Zhang Jinghui showed the most enthusiasm, from arranging many matters, to welcoming Pu Yi, to announcing the establishment of the "puppet Manchukuo", Zhang Jinghui did it himself, and showed extreme "loyalty" in the eyes of the Japanese, "After the establishment of the "puppet Manchukuo", the obedient Zhang Jinghui was elected by the Japanese army as the prime minister, and in order to kneel and lick his Japanese master, he even openly waved the flag and shouted for the Japanese invaders.

In 1942, the 10th anniversary of the founding of the "puppet Manchukuo", Zhang Jinghui took people to Japan in person to express his gratitude to the Japanese emperor, and after returning to celebrate with Wang Jingwei, he also imagined a beautiful "future" together.

Wang Jingwei. In 1943, Hideki Tojo went to the Northeast to inspect the "puppet Manchukuo", Zhang Jinghui groveled in front of Hideki Tojo, and gave a satisfactory answer to all kinds of unreasonable demands made by Hideki Tojo, and soon after, a large amount of materials from Northeast China were sent to Japan. He was so determined to be a traitor, thinking that the Japanese could give him a better tomorrow, but in the end it was a dream. On August 15, 1945, Japan announced its surrender, and the traitors of the "puppet Manchukuo" had their good days at an end.

When they were awakened from the dream, they spent their days in fear, and after deliberation they agreed that escaping was the best way to go. Subsequently, the high-level leaders of the "puppet Manchukuo" headed by Pu Yi and Zhang Jinghui appeared at the Shenyang airport, but just as they were about to board the plane, they were arrested by the sudden appearance of the Soviet Red Army. They couldn't figure out why such a well-thought-out escape plan would be discovered at the last moment.

They began their service life in the Soviet prison with questions, and Zhang Jinghui still had a trace of remorse in his heart at this time, his youngest son Zhang Mengshi, because he followed him, was also imprisoned, he felt that he had harmed his son. But he would never have thought that the fate he could end up in now was all because of his son's "credit".

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, in 1950, China and the Soviet Union discussed and decided to extradite war criminals back to China in batches. Soon after, Zhang Jinghui and his son Zhang Mengshi were sent back to China in two batches. Because Zhang Mengshi was sent back to China earlier, after Zhang Jinghui was sent back, he immediately inquired about his son in the war criminals management center, but no matter how he inquired, he did not hear any information about his son. It wasn't until a later visit that he saw his son and learned his true identity.

Zhang Mengshi. Zhang Mengshi was born in 1921, after his father committed treason, he often heard the words "traitor, **thief" from his classmates, but at that time he didn't realize how wrong his father's approach was. In 1940, Zhang Mengshi was sent to Japan by Zhang Jinghui to study, in Japan, Zhang Mengshi came into contact with Marxist-Leninist thought, at this time he realized how unforgivable his father's approach was, after understanding this, he chose to join the Communist Party's peripheral organization "Northeast Youth Salvation Association in Japan", hoping to do something for the country and the nation.

In 1943, Zhang Mengshi returned to China, and after returning to China, he received the task of organizing and using his identity to collect strategic intelligence on the "puppet Manchukuo" and the Japanese army.

In 1945, Zhang Jinghui, Pu Yi and others wanted to escape, but after Zhang Mengshi learned about it, he spread the news as soon as possible, which made those people in the "puppet Manchukuo" arrest at the last moment of escape. His identity was kept in absolute secrecy at the time, so he was also arrested. Although the Japanese army surrendered, there were still Kuomintang in the country, in order not to cause trouble to the organization, Zhang Mengshi chose to forbear, and never revealed his identity, so he spent five years in a Soviet prison silently.

When he heard the news of the founding of New China, he knew that he finally didn't have to hide and could live in the sun, so he confessed his identity to the Soviet side and was confirmed by the country.

Zhang Mengshi went to visit Zhang Jinghui after he was sent back, and after learning the identity of his son, Zhang Jinghui also understood why he failed to escape back then, and sighed: It turned out to be you, you deceived me so hard.

In 1959, Zhang Jinghui died of illness in the War Criminals Management Center at the age of 88. After Zhang Mengshi recovered his identity, he successively served as the director of the Japanese Law Department of the Beijing Institute of International Relations and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and died in 2014 at the age of 93. ”

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