Chapter 3 (3) Secret passage

The north wind blows, and the sea waves are rough. A small steamer with mixed cargo and passengers bumped along the coastline. The small steamer Zhou Enlai and the traffic officer Xiao Guang took traveled for several days and nights.This kind of small steamer can only go along the coastline. If it sails on the sea, it may capsize at any time, and the road is very bumpy.However, the people who take this kind of boat are generally small businessmen, and it is not easy to attract the attention of the police and secret agents, so it is relatively safe.Once the two of them got on board, there was no trouble.

Traveling across the sea by ship, Zhou Enlai had experienced it many times before.After graduating from Nankai Middle School in Tianjin, he boarded the Dongdu ship in September 1917 and went to Japan to study.Before leaving, he lavishly wrote: During his study in Japan, he bumped into walls everywhere and spent a period of lonely and depressing days. In March 1919, after learning the news of the establishment of the University Department of Nankai School, he resolutely decided to return to China.When I gave my farewell words to my classmates, I gave the poem "Self-Encouragement" by Liang Qichao, which I love very much:

After accepting the baptism of the "May 4th" Movement, on November 7, 1920, he took the French cruise ship "Pordos" from Shanghai and crossed the ocean again to go to Europe for a work-study program.In the spring of the following year, introduced by Zhang Shenfu and Liu Qingyang, he joined the Paris Communist Group, one of the eight founding groups of the Communist Party of China.Soon, he participated in the leadership of the European branch of the Chinese Communist Party. In March 1922, after learning that his comrade-in-arms Huang Ai was killed by a Hunan warlord when he was leading a workers strike in Changsha, he wrote very sadly:

In late July 1924, he set off from France, returned to China by sea by boat, and joined the vigorous wave of national revolution. On a bloody evening in the setting sun, the small steamer sailed wearily into Shantou Port.Shantou is no stranger to Zhou Enlai.Four years ago, on September 24, he led the Nanchang Uprising troops to Shantou, preparing to go to Hailufeng to join the local peasant armed forces and form the Workers and Peasants Revolutionary Army.At the meeting of the Southern Bureau of the Communist Party of China held on the 26th, he was designated to be responsible for all matters concerning the rebel army. On the 28th, under the cover of artillery fire from the "Flying Eagle" warship, the Kuomintang army forcibly landed here and attacked the rebel army. He personally commanded the battle and repelled the enemy.Revisiting the old place, the past is vivid in my mind, and I feel a lot of emotion in my heart.

As soon as he got on the pier, Zhou Enlai noticed a few familiar figures, pretending to be picking up passengers in the crowd or wandering idly, but their eyes were flickering at the passengers walking on the pier.He and Xiaoguang walked past them calmly, without arousing their suspicion.A young man dressed as a businessman came out of the crowd and greeted Xiaoguang.After talking with the young man in a low voice for a few words, Xiao Guang introduced him to Zhou Enlai, who was Xiao Chen, the director of the Shantou Underground Transportation Station of the Communist Party of China.Zhou Enlai followed Xiao Chen to the already arranged Jinling Hotel.

Jinling Hotel is the largest hotel in Shantou, with many guests.In the hotel lobby, Zhou Enlai took advantage of Xiao Chen's queuing up to go through the accommodation formalities, and carefully observed the situation around him.His gaze accidentally fell on a large photo hanging on the wall. It was a group photo of the welcome meeting of the Whampoa Student Army from all walks of life in Shantou in 1925. Among them was him, who was then the director of the Political Department of the Whampoa Military Academy.He frowned, grabbed Xiao Guang's hand beside him, and asked Xiao Guang to call Xiao Chen over.

Zhou Enlai walked out first.Outside the door, Xiao Chen and Xiao Guang chased after him suspiciously.Zhou Enlai said seriously: "It's not safe here, let's change to another place." Xiao Chen said: "The owner of this hotel is familiar with me, so there will be no problem." Zhou Enlai: "Listen to me, let's live in another place." Xiao Chen took Zhou Enlai and Xiao Guang to a relatively secluded side street and stayed in an inconspicuous hotel.In fact, this is a hotel secretly opened by Zhang Ruigui, the highest officer of the local Kuomintang garrison and commander of the independent division. There are not many tourists staying there, but it is relatively safe.After Zhou Enlai and Xiao Guang were settled, Xiao Chen went out.In less than half an hour, he brought Xiao Xiao, the underground traffic officer in charge of escorting Zhou En from Shantou to Dapu.This is a sharp young man with a pair of witty bright eyes.Sending Zhou Enlai here, Xiao Guang's mission is considered complete.

Xiao Xiao arranged Zhou Enlai in a room on the second floor with a window facing the backyard.The backyard is not big, and there is an alley leading to another alley, which is a messy and noisy poor residential area.Once there is a situation, it is easier to hide in the slums.In the small street in front of the building, there are several shops that are the eyes and ears of the traffic station. Once someone with suspicious behavior enters the small street, someone will immediately report to the traffic station. Zhou Enlai didn't care about taking a break, and after asking Xiao Xiao about the surrounding environment, he asked Xiao Xiao to bring the secret contact map to check the route to the next station.

This secret passage leading from Shanghai to the Jiangxi Central Soviet Area was established by Zhou Enlai himself.On January 31 of this year, at the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, he reported on the establishment of the underground transportation line from Shanghai-Hong Kong-Shantou-Dapu-Yongding-Jiangxi Central Soviet Area under his leadership. On March 4, the central government decided that Zhou Enlai and Kang Sheng, who was the head of the central organization at the time, would be responsible for all the people sent to the Central Soviet Area.From then on, leaders from Shanghai to the Central Soviet Area in Jiangxi all took this secret passage.

Stayed in Shantou City for one night. In the early morning of the next day, Zhou Enlai made up as a Mr. Portrait, and Xiao Xiao made up as Mr. Portrait's apprentice and embarked on the journey.The next stop is to take the train to Chaoan. There are all kinds of people in the carriage.Those who talk about business, those who sell small commodities, those who sing Cantonese opera, those who play monkeys, those who discuss the current situation... Zhou Enlai was reading the newspaper intently.He has not read the newspaper for many days.These newspapers were brought by the middle-aged man wearing glasses sitting opposite.While he was reading the newspaper, Xiao Xiao, who was sitting next to him, kept vigilantly observing the movement around him.

These newspapers are really important to Zhou Enlai.From these newspapers, he learned that Chiang Kai-shek had gone to power on December 15 due to the intensification of internal conflicts within the Kuomintang.Before leaving the field, Chiang Kai-shek made various preparations for a comeback: first, he deployed troops and generals, and placed his cronies in various important provincial capitals, the central organization of the Kuomintang, and the military department, as the control center; At the same time, he took away the important files of the Ministry of Finance, dismissed the staff above the department chief, and set up a financial trap for the new government; the third was to set up a fake public opinion organization, and snatched a flag of anti-Japanese and national salvation, so that he could continue to implement his dictatorship as an opposition; The fourth is to plan the Huangpu students to organize a secret service agency to carry out secret activities for him to come to power again to defend his dictatorship; the fifth is to order the killing of the leader of the third party Deng Yanda and the commander of the 10th army Wang Tianpei. "Sir, do you think that Chiang Kai-shek's resignation this time is playing a trick of retreating as he did four years ago?" the man wearing glasses sitting opposite asked Zhou Enlai. Zhou Enlai was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect that a person wearing glasses would talk to him about such a topic.He smiled faintly at the other party, shook his head, and said, "Sir, I am a craftsman and have never been interested in politics." "Haven't you been reading the newspaper?" the man with the glasses asked again. "I just browsed casually." Zhou Enlai acted casually. "What I'm interested in is the advertisement on it." As he said that, he focused his gaze on the advertisement column of the newspaper. The man wearing glasses let out a dull sigh, and opened the newspaper to read again.After watching it for a few minutes, he couldn't help saying to Zhou En: "If Chiang Kai-shek really returned to his hometown, why did he replace the chairman of the governments of several important provinces of Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang with his own cronies before he went to the field? After Jiang was electrified and left the field, both Wang Jingwei and Hu Hanmin claimed that they were not sick, and one stayed in Shanghai and the other stayed in Guangzhou. There is a lot to write about!" Zhou Enlai pretended to be puzzled, looked at the man wearing glasses and said nothing. The man wearing glasses shook his head helplessly when he saw Zhou Enlai listening to the scriptures, and said with some regret: "Oh, you are a portrait, why do I tell you what Chiang Kai-shek is doing? You don't understand, you don't understand... " Zhou Enlai smiled at the man wearing glasses, showing a political ignorance and indifference.How could the person wearing glasses think that the "Mr. Portrait" sitting opposite him was once a comrade who fought side by side with Chiang Kai-shek in the same trench, and now he is the "communist bandit leader" who was wanted by Chiang Kai-shek for a reward! At the beginning of 1923, Zhou Enlai, who was in charge of the general branch of the Chinese Communist Party in Europe, was entrusted by the organization to engage in cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in Paris, France.He was appointed by Sun Yat-sen as the preparator of the Paris branch of the Kuomintang because of his outstanding achievements in assisting the special commissioner of the Kuomintang Wang Jingqi to prepare for the establishment of the Kuomintang branch in Europe. At the beginning of the next year, he established the Paris Communication Office of the Kuomintang. His outstanding ability attracted the attention of Sun Yat-sen and Liao Zhongkai.Not long after, Liao Zhongkai, who was also the party representative of the Whampoa Military Academy at the time, negotiated with the relevant departments of the CCP, and asked Zhou Enlai's old friend Zhang Shenfu to write a letter and send money to Paris, inviting Zhou Enlai to return to China to participate in the work of the Whampoa Military Academy.In the autumn of that year, Zhou Enlai returned to Guangzhou from France, served as the chief political instructor of the Whampoa Military Academy, and began to work with the principal Chiang Kai-shek. In early November, in order to save the political crisis of the Whampoa Military Academy, Sun Yat-sen appointed Zhou Enlai as the director of the Political Department of the Whampoa Military Academy after an agreement with the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Soviet advisers.Later, during the Eastern Expedition against Chen Jiongming, Zhou Enlai and Chiang Kai-shek joined hands to lead the army to fight the enemy bravely.When the cadet army of the Whampoa Military Academy was reorganized into the First Army of the National Revolutionary Army, Chiang Kai-shek served as the army commander, and Zhou Enlai was appointed as the director of the Political Department of the First Army and the party representative of the First Division. The division commander was He Yingqin. In late January of the following year, Zhou Enlai was appointed as the deputy party representative of the First Army, and the party representative was Wang Jingwei.After the Zhongshan ship incident, Zhou Enlai led the Communists to withdraw from the First Army and the Whampoa Military Academy in order to take into account the overall situation of national cooperation.Soon, in accordance with the instructions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and entrusted by Chiang Kai-shek, he held an "advanced political training class" at the Dafo Temple in Guangzhou, and recruited retired Communist Party members and other political workers into the class to train talents for the Northern Expedition.At the opening ceremony of the training class, Chiang Kai-shek delivered a speech: "Although it is an unfortunate thing to withdraw political workers, I honestly admit my mistakes, and the future crimes should be attributed to me alone." In order to cooperate with the Northern Expedition to liberate Shanghai, in December 1926, Zhou Enlai, who had already served as a member of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, secretly sailed from Guangzhou to Shanghai to serve as the secretary of the Shanghai Military Commission of the Communist Party of China and planned the armed uprising of Shanghai workers.In March of the following year, the uprising began. Zhou Enlai served as the commander-in-chief of the uprising. After two days and one night of fierce fighting with 3,000 armed workers, he won the third armed uprising in Shanghai and liberated the entire Shanghai except the concession. However, after the Northern Expeditionary Army entered Shanghai, it was butcher knives waiting for the communists and workers to be armed. On April 12, Chiang Kai-shek openly betrayed the revolution and massacred Communists and armed workers, and the whole of Shanghai was shrouded in a bloody storm.Zhou Enlai survived many twists and turns, went through hardships and dangers, and survived.Chiang Kai-shek offered a reward of 80,000 oceans for Zhou Enlai's head.That is to say, from this time on, these two comrades-in-arms who once fought side by side in a trench began to fight wits and bravery on the battlefield, and the winners and losers will be judged. After the train arrived in Chao'an, Zhou Enlai and Xiao Xiao changed to a ship and went up the Han River.In Tai Po, they changed to a small wooden boat overnight.Several people quietly hid in the cabin and pulled up the canopy.The boatman put on a pole, and the boat braved the wind and waves in the middle of the river, bumping and shaking all the way.Looking at the river bank from the gaps in the canopy, sometimes you can see the frequent activities of the Kuomintang army, sometimes you can see the broken walls left by the war, and sometimes you can see the deserted villages left by people fleeing the war... When the boat landed on Qingxi, it was just dawn. , the river was filled with thick fog, and no one could be seen ten meters away.As soon as they landed, someone called Xiao Xiao.Xiao Xiao walked over, talked to a burly young man for a few words, then turned around and told Zhou Enlai to go with that man.Three of them walked in front, followed by two or three others. This is a remote town, surrounded by mountains, only the waterway leads to the outside.When he came to a spacious courtyard, Zhou Enlai noticed that the burly young man looked familiar, and then he remembered that it was Xiao Lu, the station master of Dapu Traffic Station.Three months ago, Xiao Lu went to Shanghai to report to him on the preparations for escorting the central leaders.Xiao Lu said that he only knew that the central leadership was here, but he didn't expect it to be Zhou Enlai!He said happily: "Comrade Wu Hao, I couldn't recognize your outfit just now by the river!" Zhou Enlai said: "If I asked you to recognize it at a glance, I would not be able to reach you!" Hearing what Zhou Enlai said, everyone laughed. Xiao Xiao sent Zhou Enlai here, which is considered to have completed the task.When we broke up, Zhou Enlai told him to be vigilant and not let the traffic station be destroyed by the enemy.Seeing that Xiao Xiao was still carrying the small wooden box used to pretend to be Mr. Portrait, he said, "Next time I will escort other comrades, so don't pretend to be Mr. Portrait again." Entering the Central Soviet Area from here, you have to pass through the blockade of the Kuomintang army.This section of the road can only be walked at night and rested during the day.Moreover, you can only take small roads and mountain roads, not big roads.This is a critical part of the whole journey of this secret passage.After passing this level, you can enter the Central Soviet Area smoothly. When it was dark, Xiao Lu led five well-armed and strong young men to escort Zhou Enlai on the road.Each of these young men carried two guns, a rifle, and a shell gun, and their belts were full of bullets and grenades.He looks heroic, mighty and bold. The night sky was pitch black, without any stars.The north wind was blowing fiercely, and it was bitingly cold. They climbed up the mountain along a rugged path.In order to prevent being discovered by the Kuomintang army, flashlights are only used on roads covered by woods, and roads without woods can only proceed in the dark.After turning over a big mountain, there is a flat land in front of it, which can be seen from a distance. Under the night, some lights are flickering, which is the bunker of the Kuomintang army.They walked around the woods at the foot of the mountain, along the weed-grown river, and there was no road at all.Not long after walking among weeds taller than a person, a high mountain crossed ahead, blocking the way.If you go around the river to the other side of the mountain, there is a watchtower of the Kuomintang army, you can't pass through it, you can only climb the mountain. The mountain is high and steep, and there is no road.Probably because it was expected that this is not a place where people can climb up, so the Kuomintang army did not set up a sentry post on the mountain.The place that the Kuomintang army thinks it is impossible to pass is exactly what this secret passage will pass through.This was the first time Zhou Enlai had climbed such a steep mountain in his life.For the sake of safety, Xiao Lu had already prepared a rope, one end was tied around his waist, and the other end was tied around Zhou's body.Of the other five young men, one opened the way in front, the other stayed behind, and the other three followed closely behind, never leaving.How can people climb this mountain!They climbed vines, climbed up steep cliffs, and climbed up step by step.When climbing to the top of the mountain and turning down the mountain, he also clings to the cracks in the rock, grasping the roots and vines, and hangs down step by step. Below the mountain is a large forest.After crossing the woods, there is a river across the front.The river is not too deep during the dry season, and the deepest point is only more than one meter.But in such a severe winter, wading across the river is not an easy task.Xiao Lu took off his trousers and went down to the river to test the water depth.He quickly walked to the middle of the river and turned around sharply, his teeth chattering from the cold.Xiao Lu said that the water was too cold and he had to carry Zhou Enlai across the river.Zhou Enlai has lived in the Northeast for many years, and the ice and snow are called cold.Xiao Lu still wanted to carry Zhou Enlai on his back, but when he turned around, Zhou Enlai had already taken off his trousers and entered the water.The river water was indeed very cold, and several people were trembling violently as their feet sank in the biting cold water.Because the water was too cold, everyone hurried across the river, and when they got to the other side, their shorts were wet.Xiao Lu wanted to warm himself by the fire on the bank of the river before leaving, but Zhou Enlai hurriedly put on his trousers and said that he should hurry on his way as soon as possible. In front is a barren slope covered with thorns.Usually only people who hunt and dig Chinese herbal medicines walk on the narrow path.At first, I could use a flashlight to see the road, but after climbing two slopes, I approached the bunker of the Kuomintang army, and had to walk in the dark again.The two people who opened the way ahead often bumped into thorn bushes, and their faces and clothes were scratched. After turning over several long slopes, there is another river in front of us.Go along a small path and there is a single-plank bridge.When they approached the single-plank bridge, they saw a fire on a flat ground at the head of the bridge.They hurriedly hid in the grass on the side of the road, and sent a person to the front to reconnaissance.Ten minutes later, the man came back and reported that more than 20 militia officers and soldiers had come out to hunt and were lighting a bonfire at the bridge for a barbecue.Some people say that just a few militia groups can rush over.Xiao Lu disagreed. They came to escort the head of the central government, not to fight against the militia.Zhou Enlai asked Xiao Lu if there was any other way to go. Xiao Lu said that there was no bridge to cross the river, and that river was deeper than the one just crossed.Zhou Enlai waded across the water. They went around through the wormwood and came to the river.At this time, the cold wind seemed to be blowing harder, and the branches by the river swayed and creaked.While Xiao Lu and the others were hesitating, Zhou Enlai had already taken off his clothes, put his clothes and luggage on his head, and jumped into the river.Seeing this, Xiao Lu and the others hurriedly took off their clothes and waded across the river with Zhou.In the middle of the river, the water is waist deep.A few people were shivering and swaying from the cold, like young trees blown by the wind by the river.On the shore, everyone was almost frozen, and no one spoke. It was dawn when they got dressed and were ready to go. Thus ended the journey of the first night. Zhou Enlai asked Xiao Lu: "According to this speed, how many nights will we have to walk?" Xiao Lu said, "There are more than ten nights to go."