Chapter 83 History of Murder

Shi Liangcai was blacklisted for three reasons.One is because of his continued involvement in the Human Rights Protection League and his newspaper's fanfare in criticizing the government's murder of Yang Xingfo.The second is that Shi Liang firmly and openly supported the tough policy of resisting Japanese aggression. After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in Shanghai on January 28, 1932, contrary to Chiang’s timidity, Shi Liangcai publicly donated a huge amount of military pay to the 19th Route Army who bravely defended Shanghai at his own expense.A third reason has to do with the government's "party-oriented" education policy, enforced by the newly appointed Minister of Education Zhu Jiahua, whose police background is an ominous sign for academia.Zhu received a doctorate in geology from the University of Berlin and was "considered an admirer of the Nazi-style government".

After Zhu Jiahua became Minister of Education in 1932, his position as president of the Central University was succeeded by Duan Xipeng, an important member of the "Anti-Bolshevik League" and a major right-wing theoretician of the Kuomintang.Students at Central University strongly opposed Duan Xipeng's appointment.When Duan appeared as the principal, the students rebelled.They beat the new principal and kicked him out of the school.In retaliation, the government arrested more than 60 students, including student leaders Wang Zhiliang and Qian Qiming.Shi Liangcai's Shenbao aggressively attacked these government measures, denouncing them as part of an overall strategy to suppress Chiang's domestic opposition and to buy time from the Japanese by refusing to form a united front against the invaders.

Li Liewen, editor-in-chief of the "Shenbao" supplement, exposed these crimes in his "Free Talk" column, thereby angering Chiang Kai-shek and his supporters.Wu Xingya, director of the Social Affairs Bureau of the Kuomintang and leader of the right-wing movement, asked to fire Li Liewen, but Shi Liangcai refused.The combination of these three reasons, especially the fact that the "Shenbao" clearly linked Chiang's domestic persecution of human rights fighters and compromise with Japan, was a direct provocation to Chiang Kai-shek.As a result, in the autumn and winter of 1933, Chiang ordered Dai Li to prepare for the murder of Shi Liangcai.At that time, Shi Liangcai was serving as the chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council, one of the most authoritative institutions in Shanghai.

Dai Liyuan planned to carry out the assassination in Shanghai, but because Shi Liang lived in the concession, it was difficult to bypass the police protection there.However, in October 1934, Shi Liangcai decided to take the whole family to leave the British Concession, go to Hangzhou for vacation, and rent a villa in the West Lake, Qiushui Mountain Villa.Dai Li acted quickly, forming a six-man action team led by Zhao Lijun and dispatching it to Hangzhou. In addition to sending a secret message to Zhao Longwen, chief of the Zhejiang Provincial Police Bureau, to request cooperation, Dai Li also sent Zhang Bingwu, a driver of the Secret Service, from No. 53 Ji'e Lane, Nanjing, to drive a black Buick to the Hangzhou Police Academy.With the help of instructor Jin Minjie, the car was repainted to a different color and the license plate was changed, resembling a Nanjing Salt Bank car.

On November 14, 1934, Shi Liangcai and his family finished their vacation and planned to return to their residence in Shanghai in a car driven by their own driver.The team included Shi's wife Shen Qiushui, son Shi Yonggeng, niece Shen Lijuan, and son's classmate Deng Zuxun. They returned to Shanghai via the Shanghai-Hangzhou Highway.When the car drove to Bo'ai Town near Wengjiabu, Haining County, it was blocked by a car lying on the road.The license plate of that car was "Jingzi No. 72", which Jin Minjie got from the police academy.Shi's driver, Huang Jincai, slowed down. When he was about to stop, the door of the car in front opened, and the murderers jumped out with guns.Under a burst of bullets, the driver and his classmates were killed.Others fled into nearby fields.Both Mrs. Shi and Shen Lijuan were injured by bullets and fell down.His son Shi Yonggeng escaped safely.But Shi Liangcai was shot dead on the spot, and the murderers threw his body into a dry pond, then got into a car and fled away.Although the sirens sounded quickly, police chief Zhao Longwen deliberately called a meeting of the police rangers and car checkpoint personnel from the Hushu and Xiaohe branches in advance so that Zhao Lijun and his men would not be stopped for inspection on the way back to Jiangsu.At this time, Dai Li had already learned that the mission had been successfully completed, because Zhao Longwen sent a secret message to the Secret Service through Dai Li's brother-in-law Mao Zongliang: "A twenty-four history has been purchased in Hangzhou."

Although Chiang Kai-shek and Dai Li had tried their best, they never imagined that the murder of Shi Liangcai and his family members would cause a huge sensation at home and abroad.One by one, prominent personalities expressed their outrage at this terrorist act, and the Shanghai City Council resigned en masse in protest.Although their resignations were rejected by the Shanghai government, the Nanjing side had to make some gestures to calm the public outrage.Chiang Kai-shek sent a series of condolence messages to Shi Liangcai's family, and ordered Lu Diping, chairman of the Zhejiang Provincial Government, to arrest the murderer and bring him to justice.Zhao Longwen pretended to be actively handling the case and offered a reward of 1,000 yuan for the wanted criminal.But later he had to go abroad with Kong Xiangxi to attend the coronation ceremony of King George VI in 1937 to avoid the condemnation of public opinion.Because the case has not been solved, Lu Diping was dismissed from the post of provincial chairman and transferred to the president of the military senate. He died of illness in disgrace.

Political murder was soon closely linked to anti-Japanese terrorism: first in North China during and after the Great Wall War, and then in South China after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident.Meanwhile, the "Assassination King" Wang Yaqiao continued to capture the public's imagination, especially after the sensational assassination of Wang Jingwei in November 1935 during the Sixth Plenary Session of the Fourth Central Committee of the Kuomintang in Nanjing.