Chapter 30 Memories investigating the Li Wen case

The third series of my main experience Section 60 Recalling the Investigation of the Li Wen Case In early 1946, a group photo with some comrades of the Democratic League.Front row from right to left: Shi Liang, Zhang Lan, Shen Junru and the author. Recalling participating in the investigation of the KMT's assassination of Li Wen On July 11, 1946, Mr. Li Gongpu was assassinated by Kuomintang agents in Kunming. On July 15, Professor Wen Yiduo was killed by the agents after attending the memorial service for Mr. Li Gongpu. Li is a member of the NLD Central Executive Committee and vice-chairman of the Democratic Education Movement.Wen is also a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Democratic League, a member of the Standing Committee of the Yunnan Provincial Branch and director of the Propaganda Department.These two important members of the Democratic League Central Committee died in political murders one after another, which caused a great shock at home and abroad at that time, and naturally dealt a great blow to the Democratic League.

1. Request for Joint Investigation When the assassination happened, I was stationed at the NLD headquarters in Nanjing, serving as the NLD secretary-general and presiding over the work of the NLD Central Committee. The news of Li Gongpu's murder reached Nanjing on the 12th, and many leaders of the Democratic League Central Committee were in Shanghai. I had to speak to the press in my personal capacity and said: "Mr. The murderer was not caught, and it seems impossible to prove what the Kuomintang agents did, but there is no need to declare the matter, and everyone understands what is going on." "Politics is so dark now, the rulers have surpassed the law and used terror to act. Its rule." Unexpectedly, four days later, Wen Yiduo was killed again.

On the 18th, I issued a written statement in the name of the Secretary-General of the Democratic League: "Mr. Li Wenliang is a literati and scholar. Put away the words of constitutional democracy early, don't say it again, don't use it to deceive the people of the country." I said again: "I personally want to quit real politics and devote myself to cultural work... But, like today, I can't quit, I can't To avoid this bullet, I want to shout a hundred times: cancel the spies. I want to see if the Kuomintang spies can kill all those who demand democracy..." After reading this written statement, out of respect for the Kuomintang spies Resentment for despicable and vicious actions, I said at the press conference: Agents!Do you have a third bullet?I am here waiting for it!

2. Investigation in Kunming The Kuomintang has a guilty conscience and has always refused to agree to send people to conduct investigations with the Democratic League.It was delayed until the beginning of August, and it was only agreed that the NLD itself would send people to investigate, and the government would provide convenience for transportation and investigation, and a secretary from the Central Party Headquarters of the Kuomintang to "assist in the work." The Democratic League originally planned to send Luo Longji to go, but it was rumored that Luo could not go, and that he would die in Kunming.Later, it was decided that Zhou Xinmin, deputy secretary-general of the Democratic League, and I would investigate the case together.

On August 3, the two of us, together with Zhang Shouxian, the secretary sent by the Central Party Headquarters of the Kuomintang, flew from Nanjing to Chongqing first. Due to delays in changing planes, we arrived in Kunming on the 6th and started working. In order to make a gesture of "attaching importance" to this case, and to obstruct our investigation, the Kuomintang also sent a group of military, police and constitutional officials to Kunming to "investigate".I remember that among them were Gu Zhutong, commander-in-chief of the army, Leng Xin, Gu's chief of staff, Zhang Zhen, commander of the gendarmerie, and Tang Zong, director of the police department.In addition, Lu Han, chairman of Yunnan, and Huo Kuizhang, commander of the Kunming police, also participated in the "investigation" of the case.

We met with them immediately after we arrived in Kunming, but they deliberately delayed, repeatedly procrastinated, and changed the meeting date, which prevented us from starting work in time, and we did not see them until August 9.We met them mainly to explain our position and attitude, and requested that the case be transferred to the special court of Nanjing Organization for trial, because the Li Wen case is a political murder case, which cannot be tried by ordinary courts.We raised this request to the Kuomintang when we were in Nanking, and it is of course fruitless to raise it again now, but this is a matter of principle, and we have to make it clear.We asked not to rush to finalize the case when we could not agree to move it to Nanjing for trial.

On August 13, Gu Zhutong and Lu Han hosted a banquet for us, accompanied by Leng Xin and Zhang Zhen.At this time, Gu Zhutong told me that the murderer who assassinated Li had not been caught, but I heard that the murderer had been arrested, and the trial will be held in the next day.That night, we received a notice from the provincial court saying that there would be a "public trial" on the 15th, and we were invited to "observe the trial."We immediately wrote back saying that we did not agree to this "public trial", but since I was invited, I prepared to take this opportunity to investigate and participate, and proposed to add Feng Sutao, one of the leaders of the Yunnan branch of the Democratic League, to participate in the "observation trial".

3. Such a "public trial" The addition of Feng Sutao's "trial trial" was not approved, and only Zhou Xinmin and I went to the "public trial" on the 15th. During the "public trial" there were no more than 20 people who were invited, and even fewer in the afternoon; among them were only two reporters, both of whom were from the Kuomintang Central News Agency. The reporter sent by "Ta Kung Pao" to Kunming applied to participate, but was refused without reason. The only defendants who appeared in court during the "public trial" were the two murderers who assassinated Wen Yiduo, named Tang Shiliang and Li Wenshan, who were said to be two middle- and lower-level officers of the Kunming Police Command.Are they the real murderers?Nobody knows.I once requested that Wen Lihe, Wen Yiduo's son who was injured when he was killed, be sent to the court on a stretcher so that we can identify the murderer and testify.But it was not until after the "public trial" that Chief of Staff Leng Xin asked Secretary Zhang Shouxian to tell us that the Military Judiciary Department went to the hospital, and the hospital issued a certificate saying that Wen Lihe was "not recovering from his injuries" and should not appear in court.Therefore, there is only one question and one answer between the judge and the defendant in the trial, and the trial is considered to be over after the question and answer.When the defendant answered the judge's question, they made a speech in the courtroom, saying that "Wen Yiduo is a traitor" and that he "sweared at the soldiers" at Li Gongpu's memorial service. Assassinating him, this matter has nothing to do with others, and so on.The case was heard in this way, and it was done hastily.At the end, it was not stated whether the trial was completed.The case of Li Gongpu was let go because the murderer was never "caught and brought to justice".

After "observing the trial", I wrote to Gu Zhutong, explaining that we felt that there were many doubts after the hearing, and asked them not to rush to finalize the case, and asked for a copy of the interrogation record, but they never gave it to us. On the 19th, Gu Zhutong hosted another banquet.After dinner, I went to another room to talk, and I asked: The "public trial" on the 15th seemed to be over, but why was the verdict not pronounced?If the trial is not completed, will it be retried?Gu Chichi couldn't answer, and finally whispered to me: I still can't decide.

4. Obstruction and blockade At the same time, the Kuomintang took various measures below to obstruct our investigation and block us. The Kuomintang agents were spreading rumors long before the Li Wen case happened, creating an excuse to attack the democratic forces, and the atmosphere was already very tense.Reactionary publications and wall newspapers posted on the streets said that the democratic parties would "unite and riot" with local forces to seize the power that the Kuomintang had taken from Long Yun, saying "Li Wen joined the Communist Party" and "Wen Yiduo organized the assassination Group", all kinds of nonsense.Under such circumstances, the NLD had to hold several receptions at the end of June, explaining that our main purpose is "peaceful nation building, democratic unity" and that the NLD is a non-violent revolutionary group and has always opposed assassination riots.

After Li Wen and Li Wen were assassinated on July 11 and 15, the air in Kunming became more tense.Pan Guangdan, Chu Tunan, Fei Xiaotong and others had to live in the US Consulate in Kunming.Such a precarious situation, of course, has made it difficult or impossible for us to have access to many of our subjects.After we arrived in Kunming, we lived in a business hotel, and many "guests" had already lived in the store. Our visits, or visitors, and every move, of course, could not escape their eyes.One day I was eating breakfast in the Chinese restaurant of the hotel, and I ran into Mr. Sun Fuxi by chance.Sun is the brother of the famous writer Sun Fuyuan (Fu Yuan).Sun Fuxi once edited a travel magazine for China Travel Service, and this business hotel is run by China Travel Service, so he also lives in the hotel.We have known each other for a long time, how can we not say hello when we meet?The two exchanged greetings, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then broke up.Unexpectedly, he was noticed by the secret service.According to what Sun told me afterwards, after our conversation, the secret agent immediately took Sun to interrogate him and asked him: What is your relationship with Liang?What did you say to him?Sun Wan didn't expect that such an ordinary communication in the public would be subject to such interrogation, so he hurriedly explained: Mr. Liang used to teach at Peking University. He was a teacher, and I was a student. It was just a teacher-student relationship, and we hadn't seen each other for many years. , This is a chance encounter and so on.I still remember that Mr. Miao Yuntai was in Kunming at that time, and he was a representative of social elites at the Chongqing Political Consultative Conference. I wanted to take this opportunity to meet each other.This was an activity that had nothing to do with the investigation, but it failed to materialize. Later, Mr. Miao Yuntai sent the manager of a certain spinning factory to see me and said that he could not come because of "something".In such a situation, our investigative work is very difficult. However, we have collected a lot of information related to the case through various channels and through the US consulate, which is enough to show that it was the Kuomintang agents who murdered the two Li Wen. 5. Report the findings The investigation of the Li Wen case could no longer be carried out under the obstruction of the Kuomintang, and there was no date for the "public trial" to continue. On the 22nd, we flew back to Nanjing from Kunming. On August 25, I held a press conference in Shanghai to report on the process and results of the investigation.I said: This case can be explained by hesitating four words.One is that "the murderer was not caught" in the Li case, and only the Wen case was used for a "public trial". The Li case "swallowed" and the Wen case "vomited".The second is to admit that it was done by two middle- and lower-level officers of the Kunming Garrison Command, which is "vomiting".But out of the murderer's "personal anger", the mastermind of the assassination was "swallowed" in this way.The third is that only reporters from the Central News Agency are allowed to participate in the "public trial", which is "vomiting".But refusing reporters from "Ta Kung Pao" and other newspapers to participate is "swallowing".Fourth, the "public trial" seems to be the end of the trial, which is "spit"; but when asked whether there will be a retrial, they cannot answer "swallow".In this report, I also made three predictions: 1. The government in the case of Li will definitely not let it go. Because the case could not be dismissed, it was said that the officers of the police headquarters did it. However, out of "temporary anger", the case of Li It's not good to say that the secret agents did it for the same reason.Second, there will be no retrial after hearing of the case, nor will there be a formal verdict.3. When the two murderers execute the death sentence, there must be two scapegoats. The subsequent settlement of the case was generally in line with these estimates. In the end, we wrote the "Investigation Report on the Li Wen Case" with the results of the investigation and distributed it to all walks of life, exposing the crimes of the Kuomintang secret agents and demanding the abolition of the secret service agencies.You can refer to this book for all kinds of investigations.