Chapter 55 Section 55 The situation is critical, fleeing in a hurry

After November 20, 1948, Baoding fell, and Xuzhou changed hands. In December, the Xubeng battle broke out again, and the situation in the south of the Yangtze River became more and more tense. , the Kuomintang government moved to Guangzhou, and the war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party was close to the north bank of the Yangtze River. From this time on, the refugees who flocked from Xu Bang to Nanjing, and from Nanjing to Shanghai, reached hundreds of thousands in a short time. Before the lunar calendar in 1948, Pukou was covered with war clouds, and the capital Nanjing was shocked overnight. Therefore, even the merchants and civilians in Nanjing rushed to join the ranks of refugees.At this time, the target of escape is only a corner of Shanghai, because rich people can escape to Hong Kong or Taiwan by plane or ship, and middle-level people can escape to Guangzhou or southwest along the Shanghai-Hangzhou-South, Zhejiang-Jiangxi, and Guangdong-Han railways. If people without money have to stay in Shanghai, at least Shanghai is safer than Nanjing. Moreover, "there is no fear of going to Shanghai to beg for food." Even if it is to solve life, food and clothing, Shanghai is far easier than Nanjing or other places.

As a result, Nanjing Xiaguan Station was in chaos for a while. In the large square outside the station, refugees were sleeping in the open, sitting or lying down. I don’t know how many tens of thousands of people were crowded. It was completely destroyed, and there was no need to buy tickets, check tickets, or cut tickets. The drivers and passengers of the train station were helpless in the face of the creeping crowds. The refugees had to start from the end of the station square and walk towards the platform step by step. People squeezed towards the platform, and finally waited for a train to arrive. People from the nearest platform swarmed up until the roof, the head of the car, and even the sides of the train wheels under the carriage were full of refugees eager to go to Shanghai, so the train could not run on schedule. , heading east without time.

Just such a carload of refugees were sent to Shanghai. In a few days, there were as many as tens of thousands of refugees in Shanghai. The rich stayed in hotels or bought planes, cars, and boat tickets at high prices on the black market, and continued their journey to escape. Relatives and friends living in Shanghai went to seek refuge immediately, and most of them could not leave, and had no relatives or friends to vote for, so they had no choice but to live in temples, ancestral halls, Public temples, schools... In the blink of an eye, all the public places with roofs in Shanghai are full, but there are still a large number of refugees coming in a steady stream.

The influx of refugees to Shanghai started out as a panic about where to live, and soon turned into a serious problem of food and clothing.Although the Shanghai Municipal Government could watch them starve and starve to death, they were afraid that these refugees would take risks when they were on the verge of starvation and cold. More than 100,000 starving people appeared on the streets of Shanghai, and the security of Shanghai Beach immediately became a problem. However, where did the Shanghai Municipal Government get the huge relief funds?At this time, prices in Shanghai were soaring, and the value of the currency was falling day by day. In order to solve the livelihood of employees, many agencies paid salaries and allowances every day, and they had to raise money everywhere, which cost a lot of money.Wu Kaixian, who was then director of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Social Affairs, ran around to relieve the refugee issue, and was almost exhausted, but he couldn't think of any solution.Therefore, Wu Kaixian visited Du Yuesheng, and he told Du Yuesheng that the refugee problem was unprecedentedly serious. Wu Kaixian said:

"It's terrible, Shanghai has become a large shelter, and refugees from all over the country are still coming in. Now all the public places are full, and it seems that the refugees who come again can only sleep in the open. There is no limit to the number of refugees. Today is 100,000 People, it will increase to 110,000 tomorrow. Don’t say that the city government has no money. Even if it has money, it can’t make a budget. I went to ask Mayor Wu for instructions, and Mayor Wu said that he has no choice. , he said the city government can’t do anything!” After Du Yuesheng heard this, he sighed a long way, and he frowned and said:

"This matter is really troublesome. To be honest, I have never encountered such a difficult problem in my whole life." Wu Kaixian knew that what he said was not to evade, but to express anxiety and emotion, so he asked for advice next: "Mr. Du, what can you do?" Sure enough, Du Yuesheng resolutely shouldered this burden—— "Only recruiting copper tin." "However," Wu Kaixian said frankly, seeking truth from facts, "it's easy to save the poor and the poor." "Brother Kai," Du Yuesheng shook his head and smiled bitterly, and replied helplessly, "We have no choice but to do whatever we can. In fact, we can't make a budget if we want to, and we have nowhere to raise the money we want to raise, but we can't." Seeing death is not going to help, so we have to do it and talk about it, as a monk hitting the clock every day, who can guarantee what will happen tomorrow?"

Wu Kai first saw Du Yuesheng leaning on the sick bed, said a few more words, and then gasped, deeply moved, and sat aside silently while feeling conflicted. There was silence in the room, and after a while, Du Yuesheng asked softly again: "What's the current situation?" As soon as Wu Kai heard it, he knew that Du Yuesheng's words had implications. He was actually asking how long we can support?When will the burden of taking care of the lives of these more than 100,000 people be lifted?Wu Kaixian felt that he should be as usual, to tell the truth, so as to prepare his old friend mentally.

"Of course I hope I can continue to support it," he said sadly, "but the Communist Party has crossed the river to harass, and the defense of Shanghai may win a few battles, but..." Du Yuesheng gave another wry smile, he interrupted Wu Kaixian and said: "Brother Kaixian, don't worry about it. From now on, we will be like those refugees. We will have food to eat and porridge to eat. We don't have to make long-term calculations for everything. Are you right?" Wu Kai nodded with a smile, then brought the topic back to the refugee relief issue, and asked Du Yuesheng again:

"Mr. Du, did you promise to help?" Du Yuesheng struggled to get up, and he replied decisively: "In a word, I will try my best." A gentleman said, a horse is hard to chase. Since Du Yuesheng promised to help solve the food and clothing problems of the refugees, although he has devoted himself to raising funds, food, and mobilizing Shanghai citizens to donate clothes and quilts, he is still ill. Don't talk about going out to make contact, even if you lie on the bed and make a few phone calls, you will be so tired that you will be sweating like rain and out of breath. The so-called he keeps his word and helping refugees is mostly empty talk.If you want to donate, you can't donate, if you can't raise, if you don't accept it, it's hard for his clever wife Du Yuesheng to cook without rice.

The Great Shanghai Defense War is being actively deployed, because the Communist Party's 400,000 troops are about to encircle Shanghai Beach, and the defenders urgently need to build city defenses. Therefore, the commanders-in-chief of the national army defending Shanghai are Tang Enbo, the commander-in-chief of the Songhu garrison and commander-in-chief of the Third Front Army, and the mayor of Shanghai. Wu Guozhen jointly came forward and asked Du Yuesheng to do his best for his hometown again, and came forward to organize the "Shanghai Urban Defense Construction Committee".Their intention was to use Du Yuesheng's reputation to facilitate fundraising. At the same time, they also wanted to ask him to be responsible for "fundraising and purchasing materials", from getting money to paying, so that he could also earn some money.

However, Du Yuesheng is not in favor of fundraising for city defense fortifications, because the fundraising goal is as high as 20 billion gold coupons. There are friends in Shanghai who can fly and walk. , the communist army has already crossed the river, Nanjing is about to change hands, and the value of the currency is depreciating day by day, and the value of goods is soaring.This one.In addition, Nanjing is full of dragons and tigers, the Yangtze River is known as the natural moat, Shanghai is just a patch of reeds, Nanjing and the Yangtze River cannot be defended, and Shanghai does not even have a city wall in Pingyang. How is this "city defense war" to be fought?In addition, although the military and government authorities have a good idea, the personnel in charge of the city defense fortifications are greedy for profit and fish in troubled waters. Before the fundraising for the city defense fortifications has started, the corrupt officials in charge of building the city defense fortifications have already started.So although Du Yuesheng made some efforts, the fundraising effect was not good.In this way, the rumors from the outside started again, and gradually formed an atmosphere that was unfavorable to Du Yuesheng. When Du Yuesheng heard about it, he was really surprised. If one fails to do so, there will be a huge disturbance, so when he hears the rumors, it seems like a catastrophe is imminent, and the two doors of the 18th-floor apartment are tightly closed, unless the Kuomintang's military and political leaders, close relatives and friends, and confidants , confidant students, he will not meet anyone.Immediately, even though Du Yuesheng was seriously ill and unable to get out of bed, in order to avoid slander and avoid suspicion, and to protect himself wisely, he had to force himself up and try his best to apportion the donation so that the goal of fundraising could be successfully completed. He was always in step with the national government, especially determined to lead the people to help the national army defend the Great Shanghai. He gritted his teeth and did so, which caused a heavy burden on his health and psychology. However, Du Yuesheng's performance finally made him The rumors of a possible vote for the Communist Party were finally self-defeating because of this failure. Even so, the situation was getting worse day by day. On January 20, 1949, Chiang Kai-shek issued a proclamation, deciding to retire first. When I read the newspapers and heard the news, I felt like the world was falling apart and my family was on fire. Everyone knew that the situation on the mainland had reached the point where it was out of control. From this day on, Du Yuesheng had several emergency meetings with his confidants and think tanks.Then, everyone separately made preparations for evacuating Shanghai, but on the surface, Du Yuesheng and his confidantes still pretended to be nonchalant, and even pretended to be wandering on the sidelines, so as not to arouse suspicion and cause accidents. For his family, children, confidantes, and close friends, Du Yuesheng is in principle to go together. However, because each person's situation is different and the environment is different, when he urged those many people to leave Shanghai as soon as possible, on the surface way is slightly different. The closest, most closely related, Du Yuesheng directly gave the order: "Pack up your luggage, let's go, and leave." For those who were a little bit alienated, he used simple and vulgar metaphors to make them determined to leave Shanghai. Du Yuesheng once said to many people sincerely: "If you go with the Kuomintang, you will still have a bowl of porridge to eat; if you go with the Communist Party, you will only have rice fields!" The sum of the three characters of Mitian happens to be "shit".This sentence of Du Yuesheng's anti-communist warning was passed on by word of mouth among Du's relatives and friends, like Huang Jinrong's family, Jin Tingsun's family, Gu Jiatang's family... Women, children, old and young, most of them believed in Du Yuesheng's words as if they were gods. Therefore, every family They're all getting ready to pack. Boss Huang was 82 years old at the time. He was reluctant to go to the huge property on the beach, and he was afraid that he would not be able to bear the fatigue of the journey. However, he asked his wife Li Zhijing to take his eldest grandson Huang Qiyu and his family to Hong Kong first, and then to Taiwan. He left his youngest son to accompany him to live in Shanghai temporarily. However, he still took a registration photo and wrote his name, age, place of origin, and address on the back of the photo. He asked his wife to apply for a Taiwan entry permit for him after arriving in Hong Kong, just in case. , These photos are still in Li Zhiqing's custody. Jin Tingsun, Gu Jiatang, Wan Molin, Zhu Wende... But Du Yuesheng followed suit, and they all decided to leave Shanghai with their families and advance and retreat with Du Yuesheng. One day, Du Yuesheng was chatting with Wang Xinheng. Wang Xinheng reminded Du Yuesheng because of the ups and downs outside and too many rumors: "Others don't need to leave, you, Mr. Du, have to go." After hearing this, Du Yuesheng laughed, and he told Wang Xinheng: "Don't worry, I'll leave. But why shout out that I'm leaving now? Rumors are flying all over the place, and the Communist Party can rest assured of me, lest there will be temporary troubles." Once again, Wang Xianqing came to visit him, sat down, Du Yuesheng frowned and said: "Huang Renzhi (Yanpei) has been here three times. He invited me to a secret place to meet Zhou Enlai. I was afraid that it would be inappropriate. Huang Renzhi said that it would not be a hindrance, and it was just a one-time meeting. He did not discuss anything. question." When Wang Xianqing heard this, he became anxious. He shook his hands and said with a serious expression: "Old Master, this matter is absolutely unacceptable. Even if the two parties meet and do not discuss anything, it will be an undeniable fact once they meet. The Communist Party will create so many rumors." Du Yuesheng smiled in relief, and replied slowly: "I have also talked with Jingshi and Tsinghua University, and they also agree with your argument, so I have already rejected it." Hearing this, Wang Xianqing suddenly realized that it was Du Yuesheng who was trying to test him, lest his will would be shaken in that dangerous, shocking and critical period. Du Yuesheng was about to leave Shanghai, and there were quite a lot of things he was eager to handle.First, he wants to mobilize as much cash as possible to prepare for the long-term escape of his huge family; second, he single-handedly founded the well-known Zhonghui Bank. Leave the truth about the outstanding matters of the exchange.At this time, Du Yuesheng seemed to have realized that he would never return to Shanghai in his lifetime to revive the business of Zhonghui Bank. Since he would not open Zhonghui again, he wanted to make a good ending. Zhonghui Bank has a long history. It was established for more than 20 years. From before the war to after the victory, Du Yuesheng had been the general manager himself, and Xu Maotang was in charge of the business in the name of deputy manager. Unfortunately, Xu Maotang failed to use Zhonghui Due to the bank's long history and favorable environment, Zhonghui's business has never been able to open.Xinhua Bank, which opened in the same year as Zhonghui, has spread its branches all over the country in the past 20 years, but Zhonghui has always only had a head office on Aiduoya Road and a branch on Tianjin Road.It was not until 1947 that Du Yuesheng made up his mind to strengthen the lineup of Zhonghui Bank. He served as the chairman of the board and made Pu Xinya the general manager. home branch.However, what Du Yuesheng hoped to be able to settle accounts before retreating, this wish has never been realized. In April 1949, Li Zongren's peace plan declared a complete failure. On April 21, the People's Liberation Army launched a full-scale attack and crossed the Yangtze River from Digang, Anhui. On the 23rd, Li Zongren quietly flew to Guilin, and Nanjing abandoned it; The Kuomintang troops withdrew one after another, and the 400,000 People's Liberation Army was concentrating on the suburbs of Shanghai. The Songhu War was about to start, and Du Yuesheng had to leave. Lu Genquan and Du Yuesheng, the bosses of Lugenji Construction Factory, are from the same hometown in Pudong, and they are also old friends who have been dating for many years. In the spring of 1949, in order to facilitate contact with Du Yuesheng, Lu Genquan also moved to the 18th floor of Maierxiai Road and lived with him in the same apartment. When Du Yuesheng was in good spirits, he also invited some friends to play cards with him pastime.One day, this old friend from the same village came to see Du Yuesheng in a serious manner. After sitting down, he said at the beginning: "Mr. Du, you should be able to leave now." "Well," in front of Lu Genquan, Du Yuesheng didn't have to hide anything, he said decisively, "I'm preparing to leave." Lu Genquan was very happy and asked: "Mr. Du asked where are you going? Taiwan or Hong Kong?" "I really want to go to Taiwan," Du Yuesheng said frankly, "but the weather there is hotter and humid, which is not suitable for my asthma." "So, Mr. Du has decided to go to Hong Kong?" "Probably so," Du Yuesheng nodded and said, "The problem is that the house has not been found yet. This time, I not only dragged my family and family, but also many people wanted to go with me. Staying in a hotel is not a long-term solution. Looking for a house , especially looking for a fairly large one.” "Don't worry about this Mr. Du," Lu Genquan patted his chest and agreed generously, "I know a lot of real estate friends in Hong Kong. I will be responsible for finding the house Mr. Du needs." It took a few days for Lu Genquan to report that a house in Hong Kong had been found. It was located at No. 18 Kennedy, and the insurance was enough to live in. The rent was only HK$60,000. At the end of January 1949, Wu Kaixian, who was transferred to a new post in the Shanghai Social Bureau, left Shanghai for Taiwan, and then took up a new post in Guangzhou. Before leaving, he went to the apartment on the 18th floor of Fuli Road to meet Du Yuesheng, and talked about Du Yuesheng's imminent death. Wu Kaixian believed that even if Du Yuesheng couldn't go to Taiwan, he had to go to Hong Kong. He could escape to any place, but he couldn't stay in Shanghai to get closer to the Communist Party.However, he also knew that at that time the Communist Party already had a large number of latent people who secretly lobbied some Dumen related figures.How Du Yuesheng will behave in the future has a lot to do with it. Wu Kaixian, on the occasion of parting, specially came to remind Du Yuesheng again as an old friend of more than 20 years. He said: "Mr. Du, don't forget the scene of you when the party was purged in 1927. Who did you kill? The Communist Party knows it very well. Mr. Du, you also know that 'blood for blood' is the slogan that the Communist Party has been shouting, and the Communist Party has evil intentions. , They avenge, calculate their accounts, and in addition to paying their lives for their lives, they also inflict extremely painful insults and tortures. When they kill a person, they not only want that person to die, but especially make that person suffer a lot before they die. .” Du Yuesheng took the lead deeply and replied: "I know all of this. Brother Kaixian, don't worry, I will never let my head and heart be given to the Communist Party to sacrifice their martyrs!" On May 1, 1949, on the eve of the People's Liberation Army's siege of Shanghai by 400,000 people, the Kuomintang troops in Yixing, Changxing, and Wushangxing three outlying strongholds withdrew from Shanghai. Go to Hong Kong with one foot. However, the doctors who saw him unanimously opposed it. They believed that Du Yuesheng's health was too bad and his life would be in danger of flying.He had to listen to the doctor's words, so Du Yuesheng had no choice but to take a boat. At this time, there were so many people eager to escape from Shanghai that it was difficult to buy a boat ticket to Hong Kong or Taiwan.When Du Yuesheng left, his wife, friends, bodyguards, and servants had to keep up with a large group, and it was difficult to find an ideal cabin in a hurry. At that time, the cabins were scattered, Du Yuesheng, Yao Yulan and Meng Xiaodong, the three of them had only one first-class cabin, with two single beds in the cabin and one third-class bed outside. Therefore, Yao Yulan and Meng Xiaodong negotiated and arranged a time, the two of them took turns to be on duty, to greet Du Yuesheng, each working for a few hours, and went to sleep on the third-class bunk as soon as the time came. It was the time when Du Yuesheng suffered a severe asthma attack and he was recovering from a minor illness. He was recovering from a serious illness and his body was extremely weak.This time he left Shanghai Bund, where he was born and bred, where his flesh and blood are connected. He already knew that he would never come back in this life. , He has infinite desolation in his heart. The Baoshuyun Holland Ferry passed through the Huangpu River and headed straight to Wusongkou. Du Yuesheng's birthplace, Pudong Gaoqiao, passed by in a blink of an eye.Farewell, Shanghai, the sound of footsteps outside the cabin and the noise of people talking, Du Yuesheng's wooden expression relaxed slightly, he rolled his eyes to look at Yao Yulan who was sitting beside him, let out a long sigh, and then said with a wry smile: "I have been a widow all my life, and I almost lost my integrity." Yao Yulan understood that Du Yuesheng meant that he finally resolutely broke through the siege and left Shanghai. "That's right," Yao Yulan said following her heart, "It can be seen that a person should have his own opinions in everything." Because among the friends of Du Yuesheng's older generation, Huang Jinrong hesitated again and again, procrastinating and procrastinating, and finally decided to stay in Shanghai desperately.Yang Hu, on the other hand, listened to the words of Wang Jiyi, an old subordinate of the Seamen's Union, and became farther and farther away from Dumen, and his actions were secretive, showing signs of joining the Communist Party. The deeds of these two old brothers made Du Yuesheng deeply Feeling hopeless, but helpless.Jin Tingsun and the third brother Jin have the "clearest" mind about the places where individuals enter and exit, and the current overall situation. Before Du Yuesheng left Shanghai, the third brother Jin said earnestly and earnestly more than once: "Yue Sheng, you can't be fooled by others, you must have a sense of our grievances with the Communist Party." Jin Tingsun refers to "our grievances with the Communist Party", in addition to the killing of Wang Shouhua, as early as 1927, during the Northern Expedition of the National Revolutionary Army, Shanghai's "three tycoons" Huang, Du, and Zhang joined Jin Tingsun in response to Chiang Kai-shek's demands. Called, organized a joint progress meeting, joined the "Qing Party", and conquered many strongholds of workers' armed pickets.In addition, during the "communist suppression" war, before and after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Du Yuesheng made considerable contributions to the elimination of traitors and spies in Shanghai by taking advantage of the geographical advantages and the convenience of the people, all of which were considered necessary by the Communist Party. "Blood debt" of "blood payment". Therefore, Du Yuesheng always answered Jin Sange: "Third brother, I know, of course I have a number in my heart." Go back to the inner room.Du Yuesheng felt quite aware of it, and told Yao Yulan emotionally: "They want to trick me into staying, the purpose is to kill me."