Chapter 9 09. Chairman Mao’s Amnesty to Female Bandit Leaders

Bandits have existed since ancient times, but from the end of the Qing Dynasty to the founding of New China, the number of bandits, wide distribution, great influence, high level of organization and high level of armed forces are unprecedented in the past.Years of melee wars between warlords provided a good breeding ground for the emergence, survival and development of bandits.In the army of the Republic of China, many army leaders started as bandit leaders, or used to be bandit leaders.In the Beiyang warlord army and the Kuomintang new warlord army, there were also many people who were sometimes soldiers and sometimes bandits.

Before and after the founding of New China, due to the deliberate organization of the Chiang Kai-shek regime and the gathering of Kuomintang stragglers and bandits, the number of bandits increased sharply, reaching an unprecedented level in history.When the bandits were at their peak, there were more than 2 million people.The armed bandits engaged in assassination and terrorist activities, attacked our government organs, killed our military and political personnel and progressive people, robbed property, raped women, set fire and poisoned, and disrupted social order. In January 1950, bandits in East China attacked people's governments at the township, district, and county levels more than 100 times, and more than 120 cadres were killed in southern Jiangsu alone.Li Houkun, the logistics chief of the Tenth Corps of the People's Liberation Army, was ambushed by bandits in Chaoyang Village, Dongyang County, Zhejiang Province and died.In the first three months of this year, in Guangdong alone, 4 county towns, 62 district governments, and 86 township governments were destroyed by bandits.In February and March of the same year, bandits in Neijiang County, Sichuan Province attacked five district governments in the county, killed more than 20 cadres, captured 38 cadres, and gang-raped 10 female cadres.Zhu Xiangli, Director of the Political Department of the 179th Division of the Sixth Zero Army, was captured by bandits while performing a mission.A chief of the artillery regiment of the army was caught by bandits and boiled alive.Bandits in Yilong County, Sichuan poisoned more than 4,000 people at one time.

The crazy destruction of the bandits seriously threatened the consolidation of the people's regime and the tranquility of the society, and brought serious disasters to the people.At the founding ceremony, Commander-in-Chief Zhu De issued an order requiring the People's Liberation Army to exterminate bandits. In June 1950, Mao Zedong pointed out at the Third Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China: We must resolutely eliminate all bandits that endanger the people. In accordance with the deployment and guidelines of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Central Military Commission, the People's Liberation Army has mobilized 6 corps headquarters, 41 military headquarters, 140 divisions, 2 brigades and 20 regiments since May 1949, with a total of more than 1.5 million troops. Launched a campaign against bandits on an unprecedented scale in history.

Before liberation, Guizhou was famous for its many bandits.Among the many bandits, there is a bandit leader who made her life full of legends because she was pardoned by Chairman Mao. On June 5, 1953, on several avenues leading to Huishui County, Guizhou, an endless stream of people rushed in one direction.It was neither a temple fair nor a fair, nor was it a big show, but people went to see Mrs. Chen, the famous female bandit leader in the whole province after hearing the news.Everyone wants to take a look at this legendary female devil queen who looks like a Shih Tzu, but kills without batting an eyelid.

Sister-in-law Chen's original name was Cheng Lianzhen, and her baby name was Cheng Yimei. She was from Shunchaopai Village, Guangxiang, Changshun County.When she was a young girl, she was slender and tall, with delicate and fair skin, and a delicate face, so she was called a great beauty by the local people.Because of her reputation, she was known by Chen Zhengming, a wealthy and powerful landowner in Bangou Village, Shuibolong Township, the county. After many efforts, she married Cheng Yimei as the second wife, known as Mrs. Chen.Since Chen Zhengming's family has guns and servants, Cheng Yimei follows him from village to village, and becomes the wife of the village in various occasions.She was born smart, not only learned to ride a horse, but also learned to shoot a gun.When Chen Zhengming was alive, she gave birth to a girl. After Chen Zhengming died of illness, Chen Jinfang gathered a group of people to besiege Cheng Yimei's residence in order to snatch Chen Zhengming's thousand hectares of fertile land, and shot randomly.Cheng Yimei knew that the visitor was not a good person, so she closed the gate together with her servants, and fought back in the courtyard and upstairs. Relying on the favorable terrain and excellent marksmanship, Cheng Yimei led her servants to kill three besieging gangsters with two guns in hand.The besiegers saw that their accomplices were dead and injured, and that Cheng Yimei was already on guard, and the siege would not gain any advantage, so they carried the corpses and retreated.Since then, Mrs. Chen's reputation as a "woman with two guns" has been known far and wide.

Chen Zhengming left behind a large amount of property. Although Cheng Yimei repelled those who robbed her property, there are still many people who are waiting for an opportunity to rob her property.In order to keep her property, Mrs. Chen became friends with Luo Shaoquan, the mayor of Bairi Township in Huishui County and a former battalion commander of the 89th Army of the Kuomintang.Cheng Yimei and Luo Shaoquan are both Bouyei people, Mrs. Chen wants to use Luo Shaoquan's power, and Luo Shaoquan wants to use Mrs. Chen's money.Luo Shaoquan borrowed money from Mrs. Chen and gave as much as he wanted, but he never paid back.In order to embezzle Mrs. Chen's property, Luo Shaoquan secretly mobilized his younger brother Luo Shaofan to marry Mrs. Chen.Luo Shaofan was Luo Shaoquan's accompanying adjutant, and he had long taken a fancy to Cheng Yimei's beauty. The reason why he didn't date Cheng Yimei before was mainly because Luo Shaoquan had an ambiguous relationship with Cheng Yimei, and it was difficult for him to intervene.Seeing that Luo Shaoquan had no other intentions towards Cheng Yimei, he followed Luo Shaoquan's instructions and went to play with her if he had anything to do.After a period of dating, Luo Shaofan soon lived together with Mrs. Chen in the house bought by Mrs. Chen on Shangma Road, Chengguan Town, Huishui County.The two continued to go to the village of Shuibolong to collect rent and handle housework.

Guiyang was liberated in November 1949, followed by the liberation of Huishui and Changshun counties.However, due to the fact that the main forces of the three armies of the Fifth Corps participated in the battle in Chengdu, there were only a few dozen takeover personnel in a county at that time, with few troops and few weapons. On March 21, 1950, Huishui bandit leaders Dong Quanhe, Wei Dianchu, Luo Shaoquan and others gathered bandits and attacked the county seat.Luo Shaoquan and Mrs. Chen led the bandits to attack the north gate of the county seat, but were repelled by the People's Liberation Army defenders.Seeing that there were not many troops defending the city, the bandit leaders from all walks of life gathered in Yayangzhai, five kilometers away from the county seat, for a meeting in an attempt to attack the county seat again.The news was learned by the villagers and reported to the People's Liberation Army garrison troops.The People's Liberation Army surrounded the village, and after two nights and one day of fighting, the bandits were wiped out.

During this battle, Luo Shaoquan, Luo Shaofan and Mrs. Chen rushed to reinforce from the periphery after hearing the gunshots.Before they arrived, they were blocked in the area of ​​Hongfan and Ziyou Village and were repelled. Their capable general, bandit company commander Luo Xien, was shot dead on the spot. After the battle, the bandits from all walks of life were severely injured. The leader of the bandits, Luo Shaoquan, Luo Shaofan, and Mrs. Chen, returned to their lair with more than 100 remnants.Activities are carried out at the junction of Huishui and Changshun counties, 15 kilometers away from the county seat. Sometimes they live in caves, and sometimes they disperse to go home.After many times of encirclement and suppression by our army, the bandit leader Luo Shaoquan was killed in the battle of Majiaopo.During the scuffle, Luo Shaofan and Mrs. Chen saw that the situation was not going well and ran away.

At that time, the township and village regimes were gradually established, and the Bandit Suppression Headquarters successively organized a large-scale encirclement and suppression by combining troops and militias. By. In June 1952, considering that Wu Kairong was a local and had worked as a scout, the organization decided to form a hunting team with Wu Kairong and Section Chief Yang of the Intelligence Section of the Guiyang Division. The task was to scout the whereabouts of Luo Shaofan and Mrs. Chen , Once found, wipe it out in time. After more than a month of work, Wu Kairong visited the masses and placed "eyes and ears" in Mrs. Chen's lair, but he never found any traces of them.During this period, several robberies occurred in succession. Some people suspected that Mrs. Chen was responsible. After careful investigation and verification, Wu Kairong determined that the robberies were not committed by Mrs. Luo and Mrs. Chen.

After joint research by Wu Kairong and several people, it was agreed that one of Luo Shaofan and Mrs. Chen might be hiding in a relative's house, and the food and lodging did not expose the target, and the masses would not be able to detect it; Unable to hide, they have fled their lair. Wu Kairong reported the situation to the organization, and upon approval, the three comrades temporarily withdrew to their original units. When the army pressed down on the border and the troops and militiamen searched and arrested, other bandits and entourages fled when they saw that the situation was not good.Only Luo Shaofan and Mrs. Chen were left, and they had nowhere to hide.After discussion, Mrs. Chen decided to go to Guiyang Ergezhai to join her aunt.In order to prevent being discovered, Mrs. Chen and Luo Shaofan agreed to leave separately, so that the goal was small, and agreed that Luo Shaofan would go to her aunt in Guiyang to find her after a while.

Not long after Mrs. Chen fled, Luo Shaofan also sneaked into Guiyang in disguise.After arriving in Guiyang, he didn't dare to run around, so he lived in a small inn on Chengji Road, and together with a few people from Qianxi and Puding who came to Guiyang to find work, he went to carry sand from the river to earn money for his living.More than a month later, he was recognized by the people who came to Guiyang from Huishui. The people reported the situation to the County Public Security Bureau, and the County Public Security Bureau reported the situation to the Guiding Division, and immediately organized personnel to arrest Luo Shaofan who was carrying sand on the construction site. .At first Luo Shaofan refused to admit his identity, until someone who knew him came out and called him by his nickname, then he bowed his head and remained silent. When asked about Mrs. Chen's whereabouts, he didn't tell at first, but later the public security officers interrogated him in turn. Finally, he couldn't hold on anymore and gave out the address of the relative's house that Mrs. Chen had told him to hide. The division immediately organized a hunting team combining the army and the local government. After finding out the residence of Mrs. Long, Aunt Chen's aunt, in Ergezhai, the hunting team went straight to Ergezhai to find Mrs. Long, but Mrs. Chen had already run away. .After interrogation, Mistress Long confessed that Mrs. Chen had married Ban Yonghua of Sifanghe. The hunting team rushed to Ban Yonghua's home overnight. Ban Yonghua explained: "My wife gave birth to a girl, and the child died after landing. She was nowhere to be seen the next day, and she went somewhere." The hunting team's clues were interrupted, and they went back to arrest Mistress Long for severe interrogation. Mistress Long saw that she would not be able to pass the test if she didn't explain thoroughly this time. In the end, she had to say that Mrs. Chen lived for a while after marrying Ban Yonghua. Some people began to doubt her identity, so they adopted the "thirty-six strategies to go first", and took advantage of a rainy night to run back to Long Sannai's house.At that time, rumors of her pursuit were very strong, and Mistress Long didn't dare to hide her at home, so she hid her in the place of her nephew Long Dewen in Hunzichang Township, Longli County.After the hunting team found Long Dewen, Long Dewen confessed that Mrs. Chen had followed Wei Tangba from Shuitian Village, Guiding County.After working tirelessly, the hunting team found Guiding County. Wei Tangba said that Mrs. Chen had moved to Wei Wanshu's house in Daxin Township, Longli County, more than 40 miles away from his home. Wei Guoyuan was a militiaman in Daxin Township at that time, and they often cooperated with their superiors to catch bandits.He is only a few steps away from Wei Wan's home. Since they are about the same age, he likes to go to his house to play when he has nothing to do.Once at Wei Wanshu's house, Mrs. Chen was doing needlework.During the chat, he said that now all the bandit leaders in Guizhou have been arrested, except for one female bandit, Mrs. Chen, who has not been arrested. I heard that the higher-ups already know her whereabouts and are organizing people to arrest her. After hearing these words, Mrs. Chen's face turned pale.Wei Guoyuan didn't think about it at the time, but his unintentional words really scared Mrs. Chen. Chen Gaoying is the person who sees Mrs. Chen the most in this village.Wei Wanshu's mother and Chen Gaoying met Mrs. Chen when they went to the market to sell tofu.At that time, the wife of her son Wei Wanshu had just died of dystocia, and met Mrs. Chen, who was dressed as a peasant woman, at the fair. I thought of my son.Mrs. Chen lied that her husband was dead and her brother-in-law bullied her.As soon as Wei Wanshu's mother told about her son's situation, Mrs. Chen agreed. After coming to the village, Mrs. Chen seldom went out, and Chen Gaoying often went there to play because she was close to her home.Mrs. Chen has quick hands and feet, and her hands are very skillful. She can sew a long gown a day.On the day Mrs. Chen was arrested, Chen Gaoying was not there, so she went to someone else's house for a drink.There is a custom here to invite relatives, friends and the whole village to eat for three days when holding a wedding.A distant nephew of hers got married, and a donkey picked her up the day before. She lived there for three days, and only after she came back did she find out that Mrs. Chen had been taken away the night after she left. Zhao Huayi participated in the arrest. He was only 20 years old at the time and was the chief of the investigation section of the Longli Public Security Bureau.At that time, he organized some small teams to specialize in suppressing bandits, known as the "Flying Tigers".He has a lot of power. If a county magistrate does not cooperate in any county, he can be dismissed on the spot. After learning the news that Mrs. Chen was in Longli, the relevant departments of the province attached great importance to this situation, and immediately held a meeting of relevant parties. Finally, it was decided that just in case, the environment and terrain of Mrs. Chen's location should be ascertained first.Went to Longli to get a good idea of ​​Wei Wanshu's situation, and finally decided to use the "Flying Tigers" to capture Mrs. Chen because she still had a gun at the time. In order to ensure everything is safe, the working group decided to transfer the men from the village to the village for a meeting, and then recruited absolutely reliable militiamen to cooperate with the "Flying Tigers" to capture Mrs. Chen.Zhao Huayi divided the work among several people. In order to ensure that no news was leaked, everyone was only allowed to enter the village and not to leave the village. The "Flying Tigers" sneaked into the village quietly. Wei Wanshu was cooking at home, and several members of the "Flying Tigers" rushed in but did not find Mrs. Chen.Chen Fengmei pointed a gun at Wei Wanshu and asked Mrs. Chen where she was. Wei Wanshu said in horror: "She went to a neighbor's house for a drink." Seeing that the matter was not exposed, everyone let go of their hanging hearts.Zhao Huayi hastily redistributed the personnel.At this time, an unexpected situation happened. A team member heard the dog barking and said loudly to Wei Wanshu: "Take care of the dog." Unexpectedly, Mrs. Chen just came out of the neighbor's house at this time and heard the stranger talking. She immediately realized that it was not good, and turned to run.At this moment, Chen Fengmei jumped up and grabbed her, and Zhao Huayi and others also went up to push Mrs. Chen down. At first she refused to admit that she was Mrs. Chen.After Chen Fengmei called out her nickname, Mrs. Chen knew that it was useless to hide it any longer.The first thing you do when you catch her is to chase the gun.Mrs. Chen explained that her gun was put under the bridge when she fled.Later it was gone. After catching Mrs. Chen, fearing that the night would be long and dreamy, several leaders decided to send her to the provincial military region overnight.Zhao Hua tied her up and hired a carriage. Back then Zhang Xunmin was the director of the County Public Security Bureau.That day I just went to the provincial military region for a meeting, and the main content of the meeting was to arrange for bandit suppression.After the meeting, it was still early, so I hired a carriage to drive to the county. At that time, a carriage was the best means of transportation.Halfway on the way, he saw a carriage coming towards him. Ning Xueliang, who was driving the carriage, knew him, so he told him, "Director, Mrs. Chen has been arrested and is in the carriage." Zhang Xunmin stopped and walked to the carriage to have a look.Sister-in-law Chen was still dressed in a Buyi ethnic costume. She lowered her head and couldn't see her face clearly, but she was a beautiful young woman from the outline. Mrs. Chen was arrested, and there were huge crowds of people who came to see her.Because Mrs. Chen had been rumored to be miraculous before, and no one had ever seen her before. Many people came here with this kind of curiosity.Mrs. Chen was locked up in Changshun for a period of time. Originally, the province was going to hold a report meeting, but later it was changed to a celebration meeting. At that time, the large playground with more than 1,000 people was full of people, and she herself felt that she must die. Mrs. Chen is a captain of the bandits, equivalent to the head of the regiment.There were two different opinions on whether Mrs. Chen should be killed or kept.To the general public, she is a female bandit leader who deserves to be executed for her heinous crimes.But for minorities, she's a heroine. How to deal with this female bandit leader, the provincial military region held a special meeting.At that time, any bandit leader above the squadron leader who refused to surrender would be executed as long as he was caught, and the approval authority was also relaxed. A district chief could be executed immediately with a nod.The "head" of the bandit like Sister Chen is even more certain to die. But some people also put forward another opinion: there are some loose bandits fleeing in Changshun, Huishui, and Ziyun, especially the bandit leaders of several ethnic minorities who have not been brought to justice. In order to find out their whereabouts, Mrs. Chen Can we suspend the treatment and fight poison with poison. A few days later, at the Party Committee of the Provincial Military Region, someone further explained the reason for "not killing": she is a minority woman, and although she was involved in the bandit chaos, the destructive effect she played was not as serious as the legend said. Now that a large group of bandits has been wiped out, the remaining bandits who can still use her to win the escaped surrender to the government may play a beneficial role in the new situation. It was difficult to unify the opinions for a while, so the Guizhou Provincial Military Region reported the reasons for killing and not killing and the details of Mrs. Chen to the Southwest Military Region. Li Da, chief of staff of the Southwest Military Region, was about to leave for a visit to North Korea. He instructed to put aside the case of Mrs. Chen for a while, and to study and deal with it when he came back. In late March 1953, Li Da returned from North Korea, stayed in Beijing for a few days, and was received by Chairman Mao.He reported on the bandit suppression work in the southwest region, specifically talking about Mrs. Chen's situation. Li Da said: "Chairman, this female bandit leader, some of the subordinates will be killed and some will be released." Chairman Mao said in an affirmative tone: "You can't kill!" After finishing speaking, he picked up a cigarette, struck a match slowly, lit it, took a deep breath, and fell into thought. Li Da saw that the chairman still had something to say, so he sat there quietly and waited for instructions. After smoking a third of the cigarette in Chairman Mao's hand, he said in his characteristic humorous tone: "Finally, a female bandit leader has emerged, and she is also a minority. Wouldn't it be a pity to kill her?" "What does the chairman mean?" Li Da asked tentatively. "When Zhuge Liang captured Meng Huo, he dared to capture Menghuo seven times and seven times. We captured Mrs. Chen, why didn't he dare to do eight times and eight times? Not even two times? In short, we can't kill once captured." Li Da understood Chairman Mao's words and said very seriously: "Chairman, we will follow your instructions." In April 1953, Li Da, chief of staff of the Southwest Military Region, came to the Military Region of Guizhou Province. One of his important tasks was to convey Chairman Mao's instructions on releasing Mrs. Chen.At the meeting of the main responsible cadres of the provincial military region, after conveying Mao Zedong's instructions, Li Da talked about his thoughts: "We Communists should have a broader mind and a more ambitious spirit than Zhuge Liang. Although the struggle against bandits in Guizhou has already It is the end, but the work is more complicated. In some places, the banditry problem is related to the ethnic problem. Therefore, we must pay more attention to policies, especially leniency and strictness. This will help eliminate hidden dangers as soon as possible and win over all people who can be won. " On June 5, 1953, a mass meeting of thousands of people was held in Chengguan Town, Huishui County. The president of the court pronounced a verdict and released Sister-in-law Chen on the spot.Just like that, a female bandit leader who "deserved death" miraculously survived again! In order to prevent accidents, the government sent a working group to Changshun County to do work, and later went to the old cinema hall in Huishui to hold a mass meeting to publicize the policy.Why not kill her? It was directly instructed by Chairman Mao. She should be treated with leniency, no one is allowed to touch her, and she should be helped if she has difficulties.The Communist Party has policies, and Mrs. Chen can go wherever she thinks.At that time, she didn't want to go back to Changshun County, and she didn't want to be on Huishui Street. She wanted to go to Buyi Village in the countryside.Finally, the provincial government researched and agreed to Mrs. Chen's request, and allocated her a two-story house in a Buyi village in Chitu. The pots and pans were all sent by the Communist Party. Mrs. Chen lived there for five years.Mrs. Chen never thought that the government would let her go. She wiped away tears of gratitude and vowed to repay Chairman Mao for saving his life.After being released for a few days, she went to the junction of Huishui and Changshun, where she was often active when she was a bandit, to find those bandits and their families who had not surrendered. Some bandits hid in the caves and persuaded them to surrender face to face.In just over a month, 22 bandits surrendered to the People's Government.There are a few bandit leaders known as the "Eight King Kongs" who are particularly vicious and cunning. The masses say that they kill people like killing chickens without batting an eyelid.Especially Cen Zhengxue, Chen Laomao, and Chen Dengan refused to surrender. Mrs. Chen mobilized their families to persuade them to surrender many times, but all failed. Afterwards, not only Huishui and Changshun, but also the gangsters hiding deep in Ziyun area, and several bandit "leaders" also turned around after hearing the news and surrendered to the government one after another. Mrs. Chen often said that her life was given by Chairman Mao, and she wanted to do something beneficial to society and the country.She always wanted to see Chairman Mao and his old man in Beijing.Later, when Chairman Mao passed away, Mrs. Chen set up a mourning hall for Chairman Mao at home when she learned about it, and passed out several times from crying. In March 1995, Chairman Mao's grandson Mao Xinyu came to Guiyang for research.After Mrs. Chen found out, she took a car to Guiyang to see Mao Xinyu. Mao Xinyu told Mrs. Chen that he studied history and is now studying at a university. He wants to read more books and prepares to write about Chinese history in the future.The next morning, Shao Hua invited Mrs. Chen to have dinner together, and told Mrs. Chen to take care of her health and do more for the people. Mrs. Chen said to her daughter Chen Dalian after she came back: "Chairman Mao gave me a second life, and now his children care about me again. The kindness of Chairman Mao's family can never be repaid in a lifetime." Mrs. Chen's daughter, Chen Dalian, got married in 1969. At that time, someone gave her a portrait of Chairman Mao, and Mrs. Chen confessed the portrait of Chairman Mao.Because there were Lin Biao's inscriptions on the base, after Lin Biao's death, Mrs. Chen scraped off those words and continued to enshrine them.Later, Chen Dalian moved a total of ten times, and the table enshrining the chairman's portrait became one with the chairman's portrait, and she couldn't take it down, which became an unsolved mystery. Mrs. Chen had a wish when she was alive, she wanted to pay a visit to Chairman Mao's remains in Beijing.When filming "Legend of Mon Asha", she mentioned it to the crew, and the comrades in the crew also agreed.Just when the film crew was about to invite her to Beijing to fulfill her wish, she suffered a massive stomach hemorrhage and was notified of her critical illness, but ultimately failed to make the trip. After Mrs. Chen passed away, in August 2000, Chen Dalian went to Beijing and made a special trip to the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall to pay homage to Chairman Mao's remains, which fulfilled Mrs. Chen's wish. Mrs. Chen was a member of the Huishui County Political Consultative Conference when she was alive.Lu Shiming, chairman of the county CPPCC, said: "Every time a CPPCC meeting is held, Mrs. Chen speaks actively. She is not well-educated, but she has great affection for the party and Chairman Mao. She actively participates in various meetings of the CPPCC. Every time she organizes activities , she can put forward some reasonable suggestions. She often patrols the streets and sees that some departments ask for this or that from the self-employed. She reflects this situation in a meeting, and the county quickly issues a notice to correct it. I am grateful to her." Secretary-General Liu Yuming said: "When Mrs. Chen was alive, the county organized members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference to inspect the tea city. She was already in her 70s, and she came to the tea city regardless of her old age. On the name tag, she raised a lot of opinions, which was rare at the time. One time, the CPPCC held an event about the 1997 Hong Kong handover quiz. She answered all the questions she was asked, and finally won. Two commemorative awards." After Mrs. Chen passed away, the provincial government held a memorial service for her, and made an evaluation of her life's merits and demerits, which was probably something she never thought of during her lifetime.