Chapter 7 〇7. The beginning and end of the black water bandit suppression

On December 27, 1949, Chengdu was peacefully liberated.This is also the last big city that the Kuomintang forces have occupied in mainland China. However, real peace did not come here.The hidden secret agents and down-and-out officers of the Kuomintang who fled from all over the country and gathered in Chengdu quickly fled to the snow-capped mountains and grasslands in the Aba area of ​​​​northwestern Sichuan, where they gathered thousands of people and made waves everywhere.It is this group of bandit troops known as "onshore Taiwan" that has become a problem for New China. In the midsummer of 1951, the Public Security Department of Chengdu Military Control Commission dispatched a secret intelligence station, code-named "208".They extensively relied on Tibetan, Qiang, Hui, and Han ethnic groups, and actively sought out the upper class of ethnic minorities. They set up an invisible intelligence network among the snow-capped mountains and grasslands, and guided the bandit suppression army to sweep the caves and quell the banditry.

In early July 1951, on a sweltering afternoon, Li Shoufu, an investigator from the Political Security Office of the Public Security Department of the Chengdu Military Control Commission, was ordered to come to the conference room to accept a confidential task assigned by the leader. Nearly 60 years have passed, and Li Shoufu, who is already 80 years old, still clearly remembers every detail of that meeting: "There is a table in the middle of the meeting room. I am sitting on one side. Opposite are Lin Zuofu, the director of the political security office, Wang He, the chief of the investigation section, and Liu Chuanfu, the old investigator. There is an old-fashioned electric fan in the corner of the room, which keeps 'squeaking' Twisting non-stop."

The atmosphere of the meeting made the investigators, who were still young at the time, a little nervous. Lin Zuofu cut to the point and succinctly described the situation of the mission. Maoxian Prefecture (now Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture) is home to five or six thousand rebels. This is an anti-communist guerrilla armed force deployed in a planned way by taking advantage of the dangerous natural environment of the snow-capped mountains and grasslands and complicated ethnic relations before the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan. These people are different from Generally bandits, but a political and military gang.The Central Military Commission decided to form the Southwest Public Security Division to take on the task of suppressing rebels in the snowy mountains and grasslands.

The social situation in the snowy mountains and grasslands is complicated, the enemy is in the dark, but I am in the light.In order to cooperate with the troops to suppress the bandits, the Political Security Office of the Public Security Department of the Chengdu Military Control Commission decided to set up a secret intelligence station to sneak into the areas where the bandits were active and conduct intelligence reconnaissance. Li Shoufu was in charge of the intelligence station code-named "208". "Me?" Li Shoufu was a little surprised that the organization chose himself to take on this big responsibility - he was only 21 years old at the time, and he still looked like a kid.

Not only Li Shoufu, but also the reporter was very curious about the reason for this decision.However, after learning about Li Shoufu's detailed information, he will find that apart from his young age, he is indeed the best candidate for this position. Li Shoufu was born in Hongdong County, Shanxi in 1930. In 1945, Li Shoufu, who was still in middle school, participated in the revolution as an investigator of the local public security system. In 1950, he was assigned to Chengdu as a cadre going south, and served as an investigator in the work team of the Political Security Office, responsible for arresting fugitive and hidden bandits, digging up illegal radio stations and weapons.Although he is only 21 years old, Li Shoufu is an "Old Ann" with rich experience.

Luo Kegang and Mao Sikou, who are now in their 70s, have comprehensively sorted out the 60-year history of the Chengdu Public Security Bureau, and they are very familiar with Li Shoufu.They told reporters that there were two teams in the Political Security Office at that time, and Li Shoufu was already the team leader of the investigation team, and he showed strong work and leadership skills in this position.Li Shoufu is not only shrewd and capable, but also warm and forthright, which is especially conducive to being independent and interacting with ethnic minorities in areas where many ethnic groups live together.

Although somewhat unexpected, Li Shoufu accepted the task "with a deep sense of honor and great responsibility".However, what the leader said next made his heart sink again: "In this intelligence station, only you, the head of the station, are public security cadres, and the rest are former KMT police officers." What Li Shoufu gave to Li Shoufu was such a list of members of the 208 Intelligence Station: Kang Botao, Captain of the Inspection Brigade of the Chengdu Garrison Headquarters of the Kuomintang, Bai Dewei, Deputy of the Brigade, Zhang Shangyu, Director of the Inspection Office, He Lin, Deputy Head of the Social Investigation Team of the Inspection Office, and the former branch of the Sichuan Provincial Police Department. Director Zhong Tianlin, Ma Xiusheng, former intelligence officer of the Second Department of the Ministry of National Defense in the western Sichuan guerrilla zone...a total of 17 people.

Why choose the police officers of the Kuomintang?Li Shoufu was also full of doubts at the time, but after the leader explained the intention in detail, he soon felt relieved. "There is a Tibetan proverb that 'only a mouse can find a mouse hole', our approach is to 'use special products' and 'fight poison with poison'." Li Shoufu said with a smile to the reporter, "Of course, these former Kuomintang police agents are our comrades. Now, they are indeed the candidates for the intelligence officers who are most familiar with those gangs. Many of the rebels are the former colleagues or superiors of these intelligence officers, which is convenient for internal reconnaissance and disintegration.”

Naturally, the former Kuomintang police officers included in the list of members of the 208 intelligence station were selected after screening and reviewing one by one.They are all rebels or surrendered to meritorious service, and their historical crimes are not serious.After the liberation of Chengdu, they witnessed the earth-shaking changes brought about by the new society, sincerely supported the party and the people's government, and voluntarily wanted to make new contributions. Li Shoufu, the head of the intelligence station back then, did not know the origin of the number "208". What is certain is that the secret intelligence station that sneaked into the snow-capped mountains and grasslands was far from 208.In the following three years of fighting against bandits. 208 is the one with the most outstanding work.

On July 18, 1951, a 4,000 bandit suppressing army from the Southwest Public Security Division entered the Aba area from Shifang.On the same day, Li Shoufu led the reconnaissance team of the 208 intelligence station, and also marched from Chengdu to the snow-capped mountains and grasslands.What awaits them is not only harsh snow-covered plateaus, grassy swamps, but also intricate struggle environments where various forces are intertwined... Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in the northwest of Sichuan Province, formerly known as the Maoxian Special Area, is an alpine region with a vast area, sparsely populated areas and harsh natural environment.When the Red Army crossed the snow-capped mountains and crossed the grass during the Long March, it referred to this place. It was the most arduous, longest and most dangerous battle in the Long March.Jiajin Mountain, Maoergai, Maerkang... These remote place names are inscribed with the great journey paved with flesh and blood.Aba has the nickname of "Snow Mountain Grassland".

In the 14 years since the Red Army successfully walked across the snow-capped mountains and grasslands, the world has turned around. With the liberation of Chengdu, the last big city in mainland China, the defeated Kuomintang soldiers fled into the snow-capped mountains and grasslands, taking advantage of the harsh natural environment and complicated social conditions here to linger, accumulate strength, and try to make a comeback. These gangs are actually "time bombs" planted by the Kuomintang before they fled to Taiwan, and they are directly led by the Chiang Kai-shek clique.After the outbreak of the Korean War, the reactionary military force in western Sichuan was regarded by the CIA as "a dagger inserted into the hinterland of China", and it was secretly supported by the CIA, which continuously dropped secret agents, supplies and military equipment.Chiang Kai-shek even generously "added officials and promotions" to various bandit leaders, and various commissions and awards arrived with the airdrop.For a while, the commanders of the reactionary gang "shone their stars" and let them brag about the numbers and numbers of the troops. At that time, a Hong Kong magazine published an article titled "Onshore Taiwan—Fu Bingxun and his Blackwater Base" with news from Taiwan.The article said: "In just a few months, there has been a surge of righteous men from all over the world, and now Fu's banner has 100,000 soldiers, most of whom are regular soldiers of the national army..." This is how the name of "onshore Taiwan" became famous, but its "one hundred thousand army" is just a dream. The enemy situation and banditry situation in the Aba area are intricate and complex. Leaving aside the small crowd, there are mainly three groups of reactionary military forces that have formed a large scale, with a total number of five or six thousand people. One is the Fu Bingxun gang. Fu Bingxun graduated from the fifth phase of the Whampoa Military Academy and was a "protégé" of Chiang Kai-shek. He successively served as division commander and army commander under Hu Zongnan and Yang Sen.On the eve of the founding of New China, the Kuomintang army was defeated like a mountain.Fu switched to his backer several times and absconded with money twice.Frustrated, Chiang Kai-shek listed him as a wanted criminal and even removed him from the list of the Whampoa Military Academy. After the liberation of Chengdu, Fu Bingxun hid thousands of taels of gold and fled to the Jinghua Tibetan area in the Aba area.There he met more than 400 remnants of a division of the Kuomintang.Fu showed off his military rank and gold, and became the "commander" of this remnant army, and got in touch with Taiwan. Chiang Kai-shek was overjoyed when he learned that Fu Bingxun had pulled up a team behind the mainland. He not only withdrew the arrest warrant, but also ordered Fu Bingxun to be the commander of the 72nd Army and promoted to lieutenant general.Fu Bingxun used more than 400 guns as capital to collect all kinds of social dregs and became the main military commander of banditry forces. The second is Zhou Xunyu gang. Zhou Xunyu is one of the veterans of the Kuomintang Military Control Bureau and a veteran spy chief.In the 1930s, Zhou Xunyu participated in the planning and assassination of Yang Xingfo, a famous "leftist" figure in Shanghai, and Shi Liangcai, the president of "Shenbao". In 1949, when he was the head of the inspection department in Chengdu, he single-handedly created the last massacre before the Kuomintang fled the mainland—the Chengdu Twelve Bridges massacre. On the eve of the liberation of Chengdu, Mao Renfeng, the spy chief of the military reunification, formed the "Anti-Communist National Salvation Army", of which Zhou Xunyu was the commander of the third column.Before the Battle of Chengdu began, Zhou Xunyu led a group of military spies and reactionary forces to flee to the northwest of Sichuan. Along the way, he colluded with powerful officials and evil gentry, collected remnants of bandits, and coerced local ruffians, and assembled a so-called "enemy rear national army" with thousands of people , The range of activities is in Songpan, Lixian, Maoxian and other ethnic minority areas in the grassland. The third is the He Benchu ​​gang. He Benchu ​​was originally the commissioner of the Maoxian prefecture. When the local area was liberated, there was a fake uprising. He secretly organized the anti-communist self-defense and national salvation army in the Maoxian prefecture. If it is just a few thousand troops of these three gangs, it will not be mentioned at all in the eyes of the People's Liberation Army, which has defeated the 8 million troops of the Kuomintang.At that time, the enemy and bandit situation in the Aba area were complicated because these reactionary forces brought in the local ethnic forces. At that time, there were many chieftains in the Tibetan area of ​​northwestern Sichuan, each of which dominated one side and acted independently. Sometimes they united, sometimes they fought, and they harassed each other endlessly.The Kuomintang secret agents have tried their best to coerce and use the upper class of ethnic minorities.On the one hand, it conducts reactionary propaganda and distorts the various policies of our party and the people's government, and on the other hand, it promises high officials and generous salaries.Some ethnic minority leaders and chieftains were deceived by Kuomintang agents, who provided them with asylum and support, and even went with them. During the period of resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea, negotiations on the peaceful liberation of Tibet were underway.Thousands of Kuomintang gangs roaming among the snow-capped mountains and grasslands have become the troubles of the newborn republic. Mao Zedong defined the strategic position of suppressing bandits in Northwest Sichuan in this way: "In terms of national military affairs, this year (1952) is the first year to resist US aggression and aid Korea, the second is to march into Tibet, and the third is to suppress bandits in Blackwater." Heishui is the lair of the Kuomintang gang in Northwest Sichuan. Zagunao, the seat of Lixian County, Aba Prefecture.This desolate town scattered on the mountainside is connected to Aba Malkang in the west, Songpan and Maowen in the east, and Heishui area in the north. At the beginning of the founding of New China, the total population of Zagunao was less than 1,000, but it was populated by Tibetan, Qiang, Hui, Han and other ethnic groups.In the interior, such a scale is only a small village, but in the sparsely populated Aba area, Zagunao can already be regarded as a prosperous town. In late July 1951, a Han merchant bought three Qiang-style stone houses on the east hillside of the town, and hired several Qiang craftsmen to renovate them.This salesman was also entrusted by someone to prepare a shop for another boss who was about to open a business in Zagunao. In mid-August of that year, a young Han boss brought a caravan of more than a dozen people to Zagunao.They put dozens of packages of goods carried by people on their backs into the stone house.Salt, brick tea, needles and thread brains... All kinds of goods that are very popular in Tibetan areas have been set up in two shops, and the other one has a clinic and is also used for accommodation. A white cloth banner hangs on the eaves, on which is written: "Liyuan Company Name" in Chinese and Tibetan. The owner of Liyuan Company is Li Shoufu, the head of the 208 intelligence station, and the caravan accompanying him is all the members of the intelligence station when it was first established.This Liyuan company was the first intelligence station established by Li Shoufu's reconnaissance team after entering the Aba area, and it was also the "208" headquarters that radiated intelligence outlets to the vast snow-capped mountains and grasslands. From Chengdu to Zagunao, in fact, it is only a distance of more than 200 kilometers, but the members of the 208 intelligence station walked for nearly a month.Recalling that arduous journey, Li Shoufu still has a lot of emotion: "It is said that the 'Shu road is difficult', but the route we took did not even have a road that could be called a 'road', only some herds stepped on it. A narrow path. Most of this road is climbed by hands and feet.” Even though the road is difficult, this caravan has to carry all the goods purchased in Chengdu with them, and it is even more difficult to travel across mountains and mountains. Before departure, the Public Security Department of the Chengdu Military Control Commission allocated 60 million yuan (equivalent to 6,000 yuan in today's money) for the 208 intelligence station, all of which purchased tea bricks, salt and other goods. "This amount of money is not a small amount of start-up capital." Li Shoufu said with a smile, "When the Liyuan store opened, it became the largest store in the local area, and later opened branches in several towns. My 'Boss Li' became A wealthy businessman is very famous in the local area." With almost no road traffic, the hinterland of Aba can be said to be isolated from the outside world. The information and economic exchanges with the outside world rely on caravans like Liyuan Company.This also provides an excellent cover identity for the 208 intelligence station. Although the Liyuan shop is just a cover, it sells genuine and best-selling products in Tibetan areas, and the business is really good.Three months after its opening, not only the shortage of funds at the beginning of the operation and the insecurity of intelligence personnel's life were basically solved, but also the profit from the operation was enough to support the operation of the intelligence station itself. When the store opened, Li Shoufu acted as the boss and took command. The other members of the intelligence station became salesmen, carrying baskets on their backs or riding horses, roaming around, selling goods openly, and collecting information secretly.The intelligence agent Zhong Tianlin knew the medical skills, so he pretended to be a doctor Fang and practiced medicine around with a medicine box on his back.Because of his serious medical skills, he was also praised as "our good Monba (doctor)" by the local people. At the same time, Li Shoufu and others continued to recruit intelligence agents among the Tibetan, Qiang, Hui, Han and other ethnic groups to develop intelligence relations.In the three years since the 208 intelligence station started its activities, a total of 88 intelligence officers have been developed, and 200 intelligence relations have been established. A Tibetan intelligence agent named Suolang still makes Li Shoufu sigh when he mentions it: "He is not only my intelligence agent, but also my good brother." Suolang was originally a Tibetan in Gansu. In order to avoid warlord wars, his family fled to Aba. He was persecuted by slave owners and reduced to a wandering entertainer begging for a living.Li Shoufu met him in Tawa, Aba County, where fugitive slaves and beggars lived. The two drank blood wine and became brothers.Tibetans keep their promises and drink blood Wine is the most solemn oath. After becoming an intelligence officer of the 208 intelligence station, Suo Lang was not afraid of danger, and often sneaked into the bandit's lair alone, found out the location and number of gangsters, and brought back a lot of valuable information. In 1953, Solan went to scout a bandit.This group of bandits has always been brutal.Before leaving, Suo Lang smiled and said to Li Shoufu: "Don't worry, I will never come back to see you if you can't complete the mission." Unexpectedly, Suo Lang was spotted by the bandit leader during this operation. According to the confession of the bandit who was later arrested, Suolang was tortured, never said a word, and was buried alive in the end. With the growth of the team of intelligence officers, the intelligence network of the 208 intelligence station has also changed from near to far, from point to surface.In the surrounding areas occupied by "onshore Taiwan" gangs and their escape routes and inside the bandit nests, "208" successively established 148 intelligence websites, covering two-thirds of the snow-capped mountains and grasslands, an area of ​​about 50,000 square kilometers. Any disturbance of the Kuomintang reactionary bandit gang was keenly caught by the intelligence agents like a slight tremor on a spider's web, and then conveyed to the command center of the bandit suppression force. On November 19, 1951, the Chengdu Military Management Office sent another working group to Caodi to cooperate with the upcoming military campaign.Wu Zheng, who is the team leader, is the deputy chief of the investigation section of the Political Security Department.He leads the 208 intelligence station on the front line, and is responsible for the task of dispatching secret intelligence agents to the gang-occupied areas in the entire Maoxian prefecture. Unlike the 208 intelligence station, the identity of this working group is public.Although the Aba area had been declared liberated at that time, the people's government in most areas had not been established, and the working group sent from Chengdu temporarily assumed the various responsibilities of the people's government. A group of four from Wu Zheng's working group set off on foot from Chengdu to Malkang.For the sake of safety, the working group on the way still disguised themselves as traveling merchants.Because the black water adjacent to Malkang is the lair occupied by the Kuomintang reactionary gang. After walking for a few days, Li Qingmeng, a member of the working group, noticed something strange.This road is full of mountains and mountains, and there are no people. It is often a day without pedestrians.And behind the four of them, a middle-aged man appeared at some point, and followed them not far or near. Li Qingmeng said that at first he thought it was a merchant from the mainland going to Tibet, and it was for safety to accompany the caravan.But after careful observation, it was found that this person's behavior was well-regulated and his steps were steady, obviously he had received military training. Li Qingmeng reminded Wu Zheng, the leader of the working group, of his doubts.Unexpectedly, Wu Zheng, an experienced veteran investigator, ignored this. On December 16, after a 27-day long journey, the working group arrived in Malkang, and the middle-aged man who followed him disappeared.That night, Wu Zheng confessed to Li Qingmeng.It turned out that this middle-aged man who followed was another intelligence officer looking for the 208 intelligence station.His name was Liu Jianxiong, who was originally a lieutenant police officer in the Maoxian prefecture of the Kuomintang.This time it was he who took the initiative to ask for a job and broke into the bandit's lair as an undercover agent.Naturally, the working group whose identity is disclosed cannot have direct contact with Liu Jianxiong in the open. Liu Jianxiong is not only well aware of the social and political situation in the snow-capped mountains and grasslands, but also has many contacts with the main bandit leader He Benchu.He has to try to break into the bandit gang, obtain information, and use cameras to instigate and divide different bandit leaders. The intelligence network of the 208 intelligence station opened to the gangster's lair. Li Shoufu, the head of the 208 intelligence station who got the new mission, also brought several intelligence agents to Malkang.Under the cover of setting up a branch of the Liyuan business in Malkang, they launched intelligence reconnaissance against the blackwater bandits' lair. Although the 208 intelligence station was conducting secret intelligence reconnaissance, they did not carry any special agent equipment, including radio stations. "It's useless." Li Shoufu explained, "At that time there was no electricity in the Aba area. With the radio and the generator, and the antenna was erected, who couldn't see that this was a group of spies?" All the information depends on the eyes, ears and mouth of the intelligence officers, secretly observes, inquires from the side, and then returns to the Liyuan company to dictate to Li Shoufu. At 7 o'clock in the morning on July 20, the horn of the general offensive to encircle and suppress the Heishui rebels sounded.The People's Liberation Army on the east, west, and north fronts attacked at the same time according to the scheduled deployment. Seeing that the general situation was over, Fu Bingxun fled with his men and horses.Su Yonghe had no way out, and finally went down the mountain to surrender. On August 16, although Fu Bingxun was discovered by a company of the 4th Independent Regiment of the People's Liberation Army, Fu escaped with his guard Chen Wanlin. Subsequently, Fu Bingxun and Chen Wanlin were captured alive by several herdsmen.That place is called "Anqu Duma Village".The next day, the chieftain of Dumazhai ordered them to be tied up and sent to the living Buddha Gongtang in Chali Temple.Gongtang Living Buddha is a patriotic upper class leader.When Fu Bingxun first arrived in Heishui, he planned to assassinate him, and the two had a deep hatred. On the morning of September 26, when he was still 15 miles away from the Chali Monastery, Fu Bingxun found out from the conversations with the Tibetans escorting him that they were going to hand him over to Gongtang Living Buddha of the Chali Monastery.Fu Bingxun was terrified, and walked to a small stream, Fu Bingxun deliberately fell into the water.The stream was only waist-deep, so he could be saved if he was pulled at that time, and he could stand up by himself.But Fu Bingxun drowned after a while. At that time, Fu Bingxun's pseudonym was "Tang Youyu", and Chen Wanlin's pseudonym was "Chen Zhixian".After Fu Bingxun drowned, Chen Wanlin was transferred to Aba.When the anti-bandit troops learned of this situation, they salvaged the body and sent a telegram to the former commander.After seeing the telegram, the former staff members were all patriotic, wondering for a long time, and checked the list of more than 3,000 bandits, but there was no such person as "Tang Youyu".Later, according to Chen Wanlin's account, the certificate was forged in Taiwan, and "Tang Youyu" was Fu Bingxun.To be on the safe side, Du Aiguo repeatedly compared the photos, and finally concluded that "Tang Youyu" was Fu Bingxun based on various circumstances. At 16:00 on September 23, 1952, the Heishui Bandit Suppression Front Pointer officially sent a telegram summarizing the victory of the Heishui Bandit Suppression Campaign to the Western Sichuan Military Region, the Southwest Military Region, the Central Military Commission, and the Party Central Committee.In this campaign, more than 3,600 bandits were wiped out, and more than 4,500 guns and 9 six-point guns were seized.Chiang Kai-shek's dream of establishing "onshore Taiwan" was completely shattered.