Huang Wei met Li Xianzhou after the amnesty, why are you still alive
In March 1975, in the lobby of the Beijing Hotel, ** and other leaders were presiding over the Gongdelin prisoner of war amnesty farewell banquet. Everyone was invited to visit factories, rural areas and schools in Beijing to compare the old society and feel the great changes in the new China.
The representative of the prisoners of war took the stage to speak, saying that he had embarked on the road of opposing the people in the past and felt deeply guilty, but now he was pardoned by the people and ushered in a new life, and he was determined to focus on studying Marxist-Leninist thought and his writings to contribute to the reunification of the motherland.
Huang Wei, an old man who has experienced vicissitudes of life, has experienced too many big scenes, and he is still excited to tears at this moment. During the banquet, Huang Wei was pleasantly surprised to meet his old friend Li Xianzhou, who had not seen him for many years.
He quipped, "Who is this?" How can an old man live like this? Li Xianzhou shook his head, glanced at Huang Wei, and replied: "I'm only 81 years old, it's still early!" ”
It turned out that Li Xianzhou was specially invited to the banquet to do Huang Wei's ideological work and help him let go of his prejudice against New China. It was after this conversation that Huang Wei's thinking underwent a drastic change, and in his later years he actively campaigned for the peaceful reunification of the two sides of the strait.
So, what was Huang Wei's attitude before the change, what kind of character is Li Xianzhou, and what kind of past does they have?
Huang Wei: The "Iron General" who stubbornly resisted reform After the end of the Liberation War, Huang Wei was imprisoned in Beijing Gongdelin Prison along with Du Yuming, Song Xilian and others. At first, he was determined to die for his country, insisting on the belief that "a gentleman does not have two masters", and went toe-for-tat with the guards.
He also wrote "Lime Yin" and "Song of Righteousness" to motivate himself, and he still straightened his waist when he walked, maintaining the majesty of the "general". For example, after reading "On Protracted War", Du Yuming wrote more than 10,000 words of thoughts on his own crimes, hoping to send them to Chiang Kai-shek.
However, Huang Wei insisted on not speaking, nor expressing his position, refusing to write anything claiming that he was "innocent and repentant", and became a prisoner only because he lost the battle. In the process of studying, the Kuomintang war criminals realized that Chiang Kai-shek seized the fruits of victory after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, and only Huang maintained a different view, which shows that his thinking was extremely stubborn and refused to reform.
For those war criminals who are serious and repentant and behave well, Huang Wei is even more sarcastic and sarcastic, very dissatisfied with the practice of sleeping in prison without turning off the lights, and even scolding the correctional officers for being inhumane.
Huang Wei was dissatisfied with the fact that only the Kuomintang war criminals needed to be reformed through labor among the Gongdelin war criminals, and the Japanese war criminals did not need to participate. Although he was included in the amnesty list, he was not granted amnesty because of conflicts with correctional officers.
However, ** did not give up on him, but insisted on his transformation. Huang Wei has been on the battlefield for many years, and his physical condition is not good, and his problems such as tuberculosis, fluid accumulation in his abdomen, and swollen legs are becoming increasingly serious.
**After learning about it, he showed his concern, instructed the best medical experts to carry it out**, and applied for foreign currency to buy expensive antibiotics. During Huang Wei's four years of illness, the staff of the War Criminals Management Center provided him with one pound of milk, two eggs, and three taels of pork every day, and did their best to take care of his health.
Huang Wei never stopped self-learning during the most difficult period of the country, but he ignored the difficulties of New China and mistakenly believed that ** cured his body in order to make him confess some things.
Although Huang Wei refused to cooperate during the reform, his wife and children were not treated unfairly, but were taken care of, and his eldest daughter was successfully admitted to Fudan University.
Huang Wei's wife Cai Ruoshu and eldest daughter Huang Minnan were allowed to visit Huang Wei in prison in 1956, during which Cai Ruoshu's mother and daughter persuaded Huang Wei to actively reform and think about herself and her family, but Huang Wei did not change because of this.
After learning that Huang Wei refused to admit his mistake, everyone around her persuaded Cai Ruoshu to divorce, and some people pursued her, but she refused one by one. When she learned that Huang Wei's name was not on the first amnesty list, Cai Ruoshu tried to commit suicide in the library, but fortunately was found by her colleagues in time and taken to the hospital.
In 1965, Cai Ruoshu was allowed to visit Huang Wei and delivered meals to her husband almost every day. Once, she softly suggested that Huang Wei admit his mistake, but Huang Wei directly threw the bowl in his hand on the ground and scolded Cai Ruoshu so that he didn't have to come again in the future.
Huang Wei refused to see Cai Ruoshu again, causing Cai to begin to experience auditory hallucinations, insomnia and other symptoms, and he could not continue to work. A year after Huang Wei was released from prison, Cai Ruoshu committed suicide by jumping into the river.
During his time in prison, Huang Wei refused to undergo reform, and in order to pass the time, he asked the correctional officers for many books on natural sciences. One day, while flipping through a book, he saw a watermill in his hometown and had the idea of designing an engine that would turn gravity into power and make the machine run automatically.
Although Huang Wei asked the management to study the conditions, he was refused, because the management believed that he was trying to escape the transformation.
In later days, Huang Wei and his wife were worried about continuing to carry out research on perpetual motion machines, so they handed over the relevant drawings and written materials to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. After in-depth argumentation, the Chinese Academy of Sciences made it clear that a perpetual motion machine is impossible to achieve.
However, despite this conclusion, Huang Wei still believes in his own ideas, saying: "Many important scientific discoveries started with bold speculation, and were confirmed and gradually developed into major achievements in the history of science. ”
In this way, due to his insistence on studying perpetual motion machines, Huang Wei missed the opportunity to be amnesty many times. In February 1975, due to the failure of the perpetual motion machine experiment, Huang Wei was physically and mentally exhausted, and as a result, he suddenly developed angina pectoris and was dying.
The Fushun War Criminals Institute immediately decided to send him to the best hospital in Shenyang, where he was to be carried out by a full-time doctor and **. After learning the news, he asked to do everything possible to save Huang Wei's life.
He also instructed that Huang Wei should be told the news of the amnesty in advance, but he could only let him know alone, so that he could cooperate with his ** and speed up his ** process.
In December 1974, while living in Changsha, he paid special attention to the issue of amnesty for war criminals. He believes that these Kuomintang war criminals have been put down and imprisoned for more than 20 years, there is no need to continue to detain, and they should be given freedom.
He also personally drew up a long list and asked for information about where these people were being held and their current status. The chairman's directive was also taken very seriously,** and the Ministry of Public Security was requested to draw up a list of all detained war criminals.
Soon after, the Ministry of Public Security counted the basic information, political performance, and physical condition of the war criminals, and proposed that 13 people, including Zhou Yanghao and Xie Daisheng, did not meet the conditions for amnesty and should continue to be detained.
**After learning about it, he personally instructed: "It's all gone, the spirit is too small." He also instructed that when the war criminals are released, they should hold a farewell party, invite everyone to have a meal, prepare enough fish and meat, and give everyone 100 yuan of pocket money.
At the site of the amnesty, in order to determine who could receive the amnesty, the staff of the Ministry of Public Security often stayed up all night to study the amnesty. Luo Qingchang, the head of the investigation department, was hospitalized due to excessive work pressure.
However, when the President announced the amnesty, things became very simple, and everyone was impressed by the President's magnanimity and boldness. On March 17 of the same year, ** made an explanation at the Fourth National People's Congress, announcing that all 293 prisoners of war would be amnesty.
Among them, the highest status is Huang Wei, commander of the 12th Corps of the Kuomintang. It is also instructed that all amnesty persons have citizenship rights and can be treated at public expense.
In addition, they can also arrange their work appropriately, and each amnesty person can receive a monthly subsidy of 100 yuan, which is 2 yuan more than the 17-level cadres in Beijing.
At the same time, ** also said that the amnesty personnel can come and go freely, those who are willing to return to Taiwan will receive enough travel expenses, and those who want to return in the future are also warmly welcomed.
The next morning, the Kuomintang war criminals were surprised to hear the news of "the release of all prisoners of war." They can't believe their ears. Those who were pardoned were thrilled and shouted in unison "Hooray" and "Thank you *** for your leniency"!
Huang Wei was also very excited, and wrote a letter of thanks to *** and *** on behalf of the 293 amnesty war criminals. In March of the same year, the last group of amnesty war criminals were ready to attend a celebration in their honor.
Considering that the thinking of some war criminals has not changed, especially Huang Wei, ** specially invited Li Xianzhou, who is 81 years old. As the big brother of Huangpu, Li Xianzhou is hoped to use his identity and experience to talk to Huang Wei and help him let go of his past stubbornness.
**On the afternoon of the 23rd of the same month, the lobby of the Beijing Hotel was filled with a joyful atmosphere, and everyone was smiling and full of expectations. All 293 amnesty delegates attended the event, and they warmly communicated with old friends they had not seen for many years, poured out their expectations and yearning for the new China, and also reflected on their past sins.
During the meeting, the leaders walked into the conference hall, and Ye Shuai first delivered a speech, encouraging everyone to visit factories, villages, and schools in Beijing to understand the changes in New China and compare them with the old society.
After everyone listened, the applause was thunderous, and the atmosphere of the whole meeting became solemn and warm, and the scene was moving. Representatives of prisoners of war took the stage to speak, and they admitted that they had taken the road of anti-people in the past, which had led to the desperate situation of old China, and their crimes were too numerous to mention.
However, today they were pardoned by the people and ushered in a new life, and only *** has such a broad mind. They said that in the future, they must focus on studying Marxist-Leninist thought and their writings and make their own contributions to the reunification of the motherland.
Although the old man Huang Wei was old and had experienced many big scenes, he still burst into tears with excitement.
After the group photo banquet of Huang Wei's family began, the greetings and toasts of relatives and friends made the atmosphere lively. Huang Wei met his old friend Li Xianzhou, who he hadn't seen for many years, and laughed excitedly and said, "Oh, who is this?"
How can you old man live like this? Li Xianzhou shook his head, glanced at Huang Wei, and said, "I'm only 81 years old, it's still early!" "Huang Wei and Li Xianzhou are both first-term students of Huangpu, and the two have been classmates for many years and have a deep relationship.
Li Xianzhou is called "Big Brother" by his classmates because of his age, big stature, wife and children, and honesty, and even Huang Wei is full of respect for Li Xianzhou.
During the Huangpu address book photo banquet, Li Xianzhou gave Huang Wei a profound ideological education, which made him realize the importance of transforming himself and make contributions to the reunification of the motherland and the development of the country.
Li Xianzhou also revealed the fundamental reason for the collapse of the Chiang Kai-shek clique - divorced from the masses, only under the leadership of the Communist Party can China have a future and become stronger.
After Li Xianzhou's admonition and care, Huang Wei, a "diehard", began to reflect on his past and realize his mistakes. After the banquet, 10 of the amnesty agents offered to return to Taiwan, but the Taiwanese side rejected their applications.
Huang Wei put forward the idea of settling in his hometown of Guixi, Jiangxi, and living a stable life in his old age. However, ** still decided to keep him in Beijing as a commissioner of culture and history of the CPPCC, enjoying the treatment of CPPCC members, with a monthly salary of 200 yuan.
Although the Kuomintang refused to allow the amnesty personnel to enter Taiwan, it still specially contacted Huang Wei and promised to pay him back his 27-year salary as a lieutenant general and invited him to Taiwan. However, Huang Wei declined the invitation on the spot.
He thanked the Communist Party for helping him along the way, saying that the Communist Party not only did not kill him, but also took good care of his family and his children received a good education.
He firmly stated that he would stay in China and make his own contribution to the prosperity and development of the country.
Li Xianzhou was born in the first phase of Huangpu, although he was old, but because he was honest and kind, he was righteous, never ate, drank, prostituted, gambled, smoked, and was deeply trusted and reused by Chiang Kai-shek. He was promoted all the way to company commander, battalion commander, regiment commander, deputy brigade commander, and even became the commander of the 9th Brigade of the 3rd Division of the 1st Army in 1932, becoming a close confidant of Chiang Kai-shek.
Chiang Kai-shek not only gave Li Xianzhou great use in military affairs, but also cared for him in his life. Once, he learned that Li Xianzhou's father was sick and his sister was studying abroad and was short of funds, so he gave Li Xianzhou two bills of exchange, one for 5,000 yuan to pay for Li's father's medical expenses, and one for Li's sister to study abroad.
That's why *** especially favored Li Xianzhou and asked him to persuade Huang Wei.
Li Xianzhou was deeply frightened because of Chiang Kai-shek's love, so he was extremely loyal to Chiang Kai-shek and never dared to have any thoughts of resistance. After the start of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Li Xianzhou led his troops to the north to resist the Japanese, and fought fiercely with the Japanese army in the Badaling area for several days, although he was finally defeated, but under the command of the army commander Hao Mengling, he successfully transferred to Xixian County, and fought with the Japanese army again there.
In the Battle of Nanhuaihua, Hao Mengling was unfortunately killed, and Li Xianzhou was also seriously wounded, but in the end they still succeeded in annihilating a brigade headquarters of the Itagaki Division. After the war, due to Li Xianzhou's meritorious service in the anti-Japanese resistance, he was appointed by Chiang Kai-shek as the commander of the 92nd Army and the commander of the 21st Division, and participated in the Battle of Taierzhuang.
After the fall of Xuzhou, the 92nd Army became the last army to withdraw from the battlefield. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, Li Xianzhou actively participated in the anti-Japanese resistance, which made Chiang Kai-shek's love for him even deeper, and he was successively promoted to commander-in-chief of the 28th Group Army and deputy commander of the second appeasement zone in Jinan, under the command of Wang Yaowu.
After the full-scale outbreak of the civil war, Li Xianzhou, in order to repay Chiang Kai-shek's kindness, did not hesitate to act as a "pioneer" and worked for Chiang Kai-shek wholeheartedly.
In January 1947, Chiang Kai-shek concentrated 300,000 troops in preparation for a large-scale offensive against the East China Liberation Army. He ordered Li Xianzhou to command the 73rd Army and the reorganized 46th Division and stationed in Laiwu County, preparing to flank the Linyi People's Liberation Army.
But in fact, this was a clever military operation by the PLA, the purpose of which was only to lure Wang Yaowu into mistakenly believing that the PLA was going to attack Linyi. Long before Wang Yaowu reacted, Su Yu had accurately identified Li Xianzhou's troops and decided to besiege Laiwu.
However, Wang Yaowu did not learn of this until the 21st of the following month, when the main forces of the People's Liberation Army had already carried out a comprehensive encirclement of Laiwu. Li Xianzhou was forced to lead his army to break through, but his troops were never able to gain an advantage in the engagement with the PLA, and several breakthroughs ended in failure.
In the end, more than 60,000 people of Li Xianzhou's army were wiped out, and he himself became a prisoner. After Li Xianzhou was captured, he was very frightened of the many crimes he had committed over the years as an old Jiang descendant, and he thought that he would definitely die at the hands of the People's Liberation Army.
However, he was not subjected to any torture, on the contrary, the PLA not only injured his leg, but also took care of his daily life. Commander Huaye personally came to visit him, and said to him with a smile: "You are blessed with great fortune, the bullet did not hurt the bones, and you should recuperate well." ”
* He also said to the cook: "Li Xianzhou is from Shandong and loves to eat dumplings, so you can make more dumplings for him to eat." This deeply touched Li Xianzhou, and he began to realize his mistakes in the civil war and began to change his thinking.
At the forum of captured high-ranking generals, Li Xianzhou made an important speech, in which he openly stated that the civil war was a great mistake and that the sons and daughters of China should not kill each other.
He also proposed to launch an anti-civil war movement and was elected as the leader of this movement. Nineteen Kuomintang generals, under the leadership of Li Xianzhou, jointly drafted an anti-civil war statement.
This statement was widely supported by all sectors of society and became an important factor in the PLA's victory in the War of Liberation.
Chiang Kai-shek was furious at the telegram and denounced Li Xianzhou for being "rebellious and ungrateful." During the renovation period, Li Xianzhou worked and studied with a positive attitude, and was respected by the management personnel.
They affirmed his exploits in the War of Resistance and pointed out his mistakes. In 1956, Li Xianzhou was transferred to Gongdelin in Beijing. Here, he reunited with his classmates Huang Wei, Du Yuming, Song Xilian and others in the first phase of Huangpu, and met his superior Wang Yaowu, who had been separated for 8 years.
In the merit forest, Li Xianzhou is famous for the "three virtues", that is, eating, pulling, and sleeping. Although he is over sixty years old, he still eats a lot of food, three bowls of rice per meal is not enough, and he naturally pulls more when he eats, and he can still sleep, often falling asleep immediately after eating and washing, and sleeping until dawn.
At that time, Gong Delin would ** a movie every week, and Li Xianzhou usually wrote a review after watching each one, and sent it to "New Life Garden" for publication, and soon became a well-known writer.
When Li Xianzhou heard the news of the first amnesty, he was pleasantly surprised, he thought that he would die alone in prison, but the issuance of the amnesty order brought him hope, and he looked forward to his name appearing in the first list.
However, the absence of his name in the first list made him nervous, but after calming down, he began to reflect on why he had not been pardoned, and that he must have not done a good enough.
As a result, he became more active in the transformation. In November 1960, the second batch of amnesty lists were announced, and Li Xianzhou's name was prominently listed.
In fact, Li Xianzhou was not on the list originally, and was specially instructed by *** to add his name. Li Xianzhou said excitedly: "I am sad and happy to learn that *** specially pardoned me, I am happy that *** cares for me, and sad that I, a student, did not win glory for the teacher."
After returning to society, I will continue to study hard, strengthen transformation, and do something beneficial for the people. After the amnesty, ** personally met him, talked with him cordially, asked him about his life after the amnesty, and instructed the secretary to prepare the items he needed one by one.
**When reminiscing about the Whampoa Military Academy, he specifically mentioned Li Xianzhou and Zeng Guangqing because they were older. Li Xianzhou was very excited to hear that the prime minister could still remember him, and he reviewed his past behavior with the prime minister and said that he would look forward in the future.
At the dinner table, the prime minister also specially prepared dumplings for Li Xianzhou to make him feel the warmth of his hometown. Before parting, the prime minister also cordially told Li Xianzhou that if there are difficulties, he can find the local ** to solve them, and if the local ** can't solve them, he can also write to him.
Li Xianzhou was deeply moved by this meeting with the premier, and he decided to actively transform himself and do useful work for the people. Later, ** also specially instructed Li Xianzhou to do Huang Wei's ideological work to help him return to the people's embrace as soon as possible and contribute to the reunification of the motherland.
With Li Xianzhou's unremitting efforts, Huang Wei finally put aside the mask of "arrogance". In his later years, Huang Wei's greatest wish was to use his identity to promote the harmonious development of ***.
He wrote letters to his old classmates in Taiwan on many occasions, expressing his deep desire for the reunification of the motherland and saying: "If the motherland is reunified at an early date, I will definitely go to Taiwan in person to celebrate the festive season with you." ”
Later, he went to Hong Kong many times to get together with old friends, participate in exchange activities, and hoped to contribute to the improvement of the first class and speak out for peaceful reunification. However, just as he was about to go to Taiwan to pay tribute to the tombs of Lao Jiang, Chen Cheng, He Yingqin and others, and to visit his wife Song Meiling and Chen Cheng's wife Tan Xiang, he died of a heart attack at the age of 85.
From anti-Japanese heroes to Kuomintang war criminals, and then to citizens of New China after transformation, the life experiences of Huang Wei and Li Xianzhou are like a mirror, reflecting the broad minds of the Communist Party and the Communist Party.
Editor: Knowing the responsible editor: Lin Hua.