Chapter 36 Section Four: The Death of Wu Han

The series of "iron evidence" and "analysis" that Shi Shaobin showed in "People's Daily" were like a dense volley of cannons fired at Wu Han, and at the same time shot at the body of Hu Shi, who had been dead for four years and was far away on an isolated island in Taiwan. Although there was some obscenity, But the feeling should be as good as shooting Wu Shi who is still in prison but still breathing.Many years later, according to Wang Chunyu, a historian at the Institute of History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Yin Da once said to several of their young researchers: "What is the 'Cultural Revolution'? Let us take a bath and see each other. So you have a bird, and I have a bird too!"

Calculating based on time, when Yin Da said this, it should be after the middle of the "Cultural Revolution", that is, he was taken back to the Institute by the rebels of the Institute of History from the headquarters of the "Central Cultural Revolution Group" After losing power.All the rebels in history have publicly posted big-character posters, exposing what Yin Da said about the "bird", and called it a "vicious attack on the Cultural Revolution". But when he first swung his sword at Wu Han and fired cannons, the "bird" that the proud Yin Da spoke of hadn't been revealed yet. What he revealed was a person who had already been knocked down or was about to be knocked down, held a lot of power, and whose words and deeds were related to the country's security. The heads of high-ranking officials.Of course, there are still some intellectuals who have no position and no power, and only have a lot of knowledge, and their words and deeds are as light as a feather.But the latter is not the point, and the former is the first object to be shown and castrated.

At 4:00 p.m. on the day Wu Han took refuge in Hu Shi's "ironclad evidence", the Central People's Broadcasting Station urgently interrupted the broadcast of the Xinhua News Agency: The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided that Comrade Li Xuefeng, the first secretary of the North China Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, would concurrently serve as the first secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, and that Comrade Wu De, the first secretary of the Jilin Provincial Party Committee of the Communist Party of China, would be appointed as the second secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, reorganizing the Beijing Municipal Party Committee.Comrades Li Xuefeng and Wu De have already arrived at work.The work of the Great Socialist Cultural Revolution in Beijing will be directly led by the new Municipal Party Committee.

The next day, "People's Daily" published an editorial, pointing out: The former leaders of the Beijing Municipal Committee run through a black line of anti-Party and anti-socialism. "During the Great Socialist Cultural Revolution, the 'Sanjia Village' anti-party and anti-socialist counter-revolutionary group was exposed. The root of this counter-revolutionary group is the former Beijing Municipal Party Committee.... No matter who he is, no matter how high his position is, No matter how old the qualifications are, the whole party and the whole country must punish them. The result they get can only be ruined."

With the complete downfall and discredit of the leadership of the Beijing Municipal Committee headed by Peng Zhen, Wu Han's fate also took a turn for the worse.In addition to the crimes of "current counter-revolutionaries" such as "Hai Rui" and "Sanjia Village" who have already been imprisoned, and because Shi Shaobin's "hard evidence" came out, which involved his early family background and Hu Shi's connection, Wu Han's head suddenly increased. Several heavy steel helmets such as "counter-revolutionary veterans" and "servants of slaves of American imperialism".Since then, Wu Han has completely lost his personal freedom, and has been subject to "organization" censorship and revolutionary masses parading and protesting all day long.

What he faces is not just "ruin", but the danger of being "judged" all the time. Wu Han's adopted son, Wu Zhang, who was only 7 years old at the time, later recalled: "I will never forget that they tied my father and knelt on a dry tree trunk under the scorching sun, and poured hot sand into his neck. They picked up the belt and whipped him. , pulled his hair, twisted his ears, and insulted him in every way imaginable. Dad was dragged to fight twice in three days. There was a fight in the school, a fight in the district, a fight in the county, and a fight here. There will also be fighting there... Later we heard that my father was handcuffed and taken to the People's Hospital to see a doctor, his white hair was pulled out, and he was still spitting out blood."

At the beginning of the criticism, Wu Han's family lived in a spacious, bright, comfortable and luxurious residence allocated by the city government on Beichang Street. With the escalation of the criticism, Wu's family was kicked out and moved into a dark room with only a dozen square meters.In addition to Wu Han being dragged out all day and being served with sticks, the Red Guards who were born during the "Cultural Revolution" also ordered Wu's wife Yuan Zhen, who was recovered enough to be able to walk, to go to Beichang Street with a broom every day to clean the road, and to leave it at any time Wu and Yuan were tied together and dragged out to criticize and humiliate them.Many people who lived on Beichang Street at that time saw with their own eyes that under the scorching sun, Wu Han was dragged onto the road with his neck twisted and his hands cut behind his back by the Red Guards and some unknown Beijing natives in the street. On the hard rubble, they were severely beaten with whips and sticks.After the severe beating, every time Wu Han stood up, his bruised knees had been worn away, his whole body was torn apart, and blood dripped down his thighs.And once Wu Han got the pardon, he limped back to the small black room that was only for shelter, wiped off the blood on his body, and held the book "Selected Works of Mao Zedong" signed by Chairman Mao himself in his hand, Repeatedly read it with a complex state of devotion, worship and bewilderment.It's just that the more he looked at it, the more he felt wronged, and the more he looked at it, the more at a loss.He kept asking himself, although he was not as talented as Su Qin and Zhang Yi back then, but as a moderately famous revolutionary "fighter" who had been cooperating between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party for so many years, Why did the "fight" come out with such a name in the end?

At that time, Wu Han hadn't realized that this "famous hall" was lucky enough for him, and senior officials who were older, bigger, and more powerful than him felt wronged and wronged.When he began to criticize Peng Zhen, Peng was even more unconvinced. He is an old revolutionary cadre, so why did he knock me down and step on 10,000 feet?Therefore, Peng Zhen strongly argued at the criticism meeting: "'Long live Chairman Mao!' These five words were first proposed by me, and I was also the first to shout out." According to general logic, is it possible that the first person to invent "Long live Chairman Mao!" "Will those who oppose Chairman Mao?Peng Zhen couldn't figure it out, and cried out for the unfair treatment he received politically and the torture he suffered physically.But times are stronger than people, and special times have their own special logic and ways of dealing with things and people. What's more, even people who "never leave their mouths and quotes" every day may not be sincerely loyal to Chairman Mao and Mao Zedong Thought.And there are many multi-headed giants who "laugh in front of their faces and murder behind their backs". In history, especially among the Chinese people who admire and pay attention to the art of contingency and cunning, regicides and patricides are not uncommon, and they are within reach. Within five steps there must be someone who conspires with this trick.

Of course, at this time Peng Zhen couldn't figure it out, and Wu Han couldn't figure it out either.But whether you understand or are confused, you must face the reality and this "fame" that is becoming more and more ominous. In March 1968, Minister of Public Security Xie Fuzhi ordered Wu Han to be arrested and imprisoned.One month later, his wife, Yuan Zhen, was sent to the suburban labor camp for labor reform and accepted "dictatorship of the masses".From then on, Wu and Yuan's couple began a more cruel and miserable misfortune. In the spring of 1969, Yuan Zhen, who could hardly stand upright, was allowed to go home to see a doctor. On the night she returned home, Wan Li, the secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee Secretariat who lived in the same hospital, heard the news and brought a bowl of Yuan’s favorite drink, red bean porridge. Congee porridge to express condolences, unexpectedly this bowl of gruel became the "Last Supper".Yuan Zhen, whose body had already collapsed, became more ill that night, his face turned blue, he gasped for breath, and his whole body convulsed.Adopted son Wu Zhang and adopted daughter Xiao Yan, who were only 10 years old at the time, immediately took their mother to the hospital with a flatbed truck. Since Yuan was Wu Han’s family member and an uncapped rightist, the hospital regarded Yuan as a class enemy and rejected her. Receive rescue.Staying up until the early morning of the next day, Yuan Zhen, who was lying on the cold concrete floor in a corner of the hospital lobby, left two underage children behind and passed away under the bleak starlight.It is said that when her daughter Xiaoyan went to the mortuary to change her clothes, Yuan Zhen's eyes were still half-closed, with a few drops of tears remaining on her cheeks—she could not rest in peace because she didn't know that after she left, her husband Wu Han and her two children What will be her fate?

On October 11, 1969, someone suddenly came to Wu's house to greet Wu Zhang and Xiao Yan to see their father. The siblings were very excited when they heard the news, and jumped out three times.When the two came to the gate, there was a gust of sinister wind, and the car parked in front of the gate turned out to be a hospital sign, and an ominous omen immediately passed through the minds of the siblings.Sure enough, the visitor said to them coldly: "Your father died this morning, and the body is in the car." Like a thunderbolt in the clear sky, Xiao Yan sat paralyzed on the ground, first wept loudly, then put his arms around the legs of the visitor and asked, "Why doesn't my father (when he was alive) want to see us?"

Someone came to push Xiaoyan's hand away, and said: "Last night he asked to see you, we don't know where you live." Hearing that the crying became louder, Xiaoyan passed out on the ground and was unconscious.The doctors present hurriedly picked her up and treated her. Looking at the skinny girl's face as white as paper, the doctors couldn't help but shed tears of sympathy. At this time, a big man in a yellow military uniform passed by behind the car, and he sternly reprimanded the siblings: "Your father is a bad person. If you don't draw a clear line with him, there will be no good fruit for you... Don't tell me about this matter." Anyone, otherwise I will not spare you!" After saying that, he called everyone to get on the car. The car carrying Wu Han's body sped away with the billowing dust, and neither Wu Zhang nor Xiao Yan could take a look at his dead father.The only souvenir Wu Han left for the siblings was a pair of blood-stained trousers he wore in prison. Wu Han died on October 11, 1969, exactly four years after Yao Wenyuan's article on "Hai Rui Dismissed from Office" was published. For the Wu family, things are far from over.Due to the deaths of Yuan Zhen and Wu Han, her daughter Xiaoyan was overly stimulated and became insane for a while.Not long after, Xiao Yan was arrested and imprisoned on the charge of "affecting the safety of the head".In prison, Xiaoyan's front teeth were knocked out by the prison guards, and a gash was opened on his forehead, bleeding profusely all day long. On September 23, 1976, Xiao Yan, who had been tortured unbearably, committed suicide by jumping off the building.