In 1925, the famous "female bandit" Camel Dragon in the northeast was executed at the age of 24!
She had led thousands of male bandits and the so-called "Ren Rebel Army" to fight against the Japanese invading army, and even Zhang Zuolin, the leader of the Fengzhi warlords, she had never paid attention to it.
Although she is a bandit, her appearance is not extremely fierce, but her face is good and moving, which fascinates countless men...
So, what kind of person is this "camel dragon"? Why was he executed at the age of 24?
In this article, let's talk about the story of the "female bandit" camel dragon in the northeast!
Figure | 1925 'Camel Dragon' Zhang Suzhen before his execution
Born poor
"Camel Dragon", whose real name is Zhang Suzhen, was born in 1901 in Liaoyang County, Liaoning Province, and his parents made a living by selling straw shoes and straw hats.
Zhang Suzhen looks very beautiful and happy, and has been able to sing and dance since she was a child. There is a teahouse in front of her house, which often has people who perform books and plays, and she stands outside the door to listen when she has no money to buy tickets. Whenever the end of the scene was approaching, the door of the tea house would open, and Zhang Suzhen would seize the opportunity to run inside to see a short section.
After returning home, Zhang Suzhen began to learn to sing with a board and eyes. Because of her enthusiasm for learning, when she was ten years old, she would sing many local dramas, such as "Du Shiniang's Angry Sinking Treasure Chest", "Fifteen Guan" and so on;
At that time, Zhang Suzhen, who liked drama, also told her parents that she wanted to learn art from a teacher, but in the end she could not achieve it because of her family's poverty.
However, the sky is unpredictable, and people have bad luck! In the spring of 1916, Zhang Suzhen's mother unfortunately fell ill and died, and at the age of 15, she had to rely on her father for her life.
At that time, Zhang Suzhen also wanted to go to the drama team to learn to sing, and the father felt that his daughter had grown up, coupled with the poor family, he could not give his daughter good care, so he had to agree.
When she was 16 years old, Zhang Suzhen went with a fellow villager named "Zhao Xingwu" and said that she was going to learn 'Ji Opera' in the Desheng Opera Class in Changchun, Jilin Province.
But who knows, this Zhao Xingwu is a black-hearted villain, he did not take Zhang Suzhen to study drama, but sold her to a green building called "Yutang Chun" as a girl, and the old bustard also gave her a flower name of "Cui Xi'er".
But fortunately, the old bustard in the Qinglou did not let her pick up the guest!
Because the old bustard knew that she had the talent to perform opera, plus she looked very good, so he intended to cultivate her, so he let her learn piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, so as to make more money in the future.
But the Qinglou is the Qinglou after all, and the women inside want to "guard themselves like jade", which is almost unrealistic, even if the old bustard in the Qinglou really wants to cultivate her, but in the face of power and interests, it will inevitably push her to the cusp of the storm.
For example, this time, the old bustard in the green building pushed her to a bandit!
Figure | 'Great Dragon' Wang Futang
This person's name was 'Wang Futang', and he was the leader of the famous "Ren Rebel Army" in the northeast at that time, and he was nicknamed "Great Dragon".
One day, Wang Futang came to Yutangchun and asked to find a girl to accompany him. Who knew that as soon as he entered the door, Wang Futang took a fancy to Zhang Suzhen, who was performing on the stage, so he asked her by name.
In order to make a lot of money, the old bustard was initially reluctant to let Zhang Suzhen pick up customers, but Wang Futang was not a vegetarian, and when he saw that the old bustard was a little hesitant, he asked his subordinates to tie up the old bustard's son, followed by various threats.
Finally, under pressure, the old bustard had to call Zhang Suzhen to accompany him!
I thought it was a sheep into the mouth of the tiger, but who knew that the two fell in love at first sight, and there was a feeling of seeing each other and hating the night. Zhang Suzhen's spicy personality of daring to love and dare to hate deeply attracted Wang Futang; and the heroic spirit on Wang Futang's body also deeply attracted Zhang Suzhen!
At this time, Wang Futang already wanted to marry her and let her be the Lady of the Press!
From then on, Wang Futang often went in and out of Yutang Chun and began to find ways to save her from this place of wind and dust.
In addition, in order to show his admiration, Wang Futang specially asked Zhang Suzhen to send a promise letter - two German-made large mirror 'fast and slow machine' barge shell guns. Since receiving this "gift", Zhang Suzhen has been playing with it in her hands all day and loves it.
Not long after, Wang Futang spent a lot of money to redeem her and officially married her.
After marriage, the relationship between the two sons is very good, but Zhang Suzhen is also very clear in her heart that a woman wants to gain a foothold in the bandit's nest, and it is useless to rely on her looks alone, and she must have real skills.
Therefore, she practiced riding horses and guns with her husband all day, and Wang Futang often taught her some rules and black words. Because of her diligence and willingness to practice, coupled with her innate talent for riding and shooting, she soon practiced a good marksmanship and immediately became very good at kung fu.
In addition, because Zhang Suzhen was decisive and good at double guns, he soon became the deputy commander of the bandit army and became famous in various parts of the northeast.
And it was also from this time that Zhang Suzhen's life underwent earth-shaking changes!
Plunge into the green forest
Before Zhang Suzhen joined, Wang Futang's men only had more than 400 people, and after the two got married, after the couple's painstaking management, their personnel and horses once expanded to more than 2,000 people, becoming a bandit gang on the Weizhen side.
After the strength increased greatly, their courage gradually became bigger!
On the night of the 25th day of the eighth lunar month in 1923, Wang Futang and his wife Zhang Suzhen led a group of men and horses to attack the Ji family compound on the outskirts of Changchun.
The Ji family is a well-known local rich family, the family has a lot of land, but they do not plant at all, all rely on rent for a living, life is very solid. However, in that era of chaos, the Ji family was still very worried about bandits.
In order to prevent bandits from coming to rob, the Ji family also specially maintained a guard team composed of more than twenty people, which was equipped with basic guns and ammunition, as well as grenades, machine guns and other equipment. Not only that, the Ji family also built a high courtyard wall and a turret around it.
At this time, the Ji family, like an iron wall of copper, could not be easily conquered! However, despite this, Wang Futang and Zhang Suzhen decided to come to the "kiln" in an attempt to grab more property.
To explain, the so-called "kiln" here is actually a robbery of homes. After the Republic of China, social turmoil, the people did not have a good life, and the frequent occurrence of banditry made the lives of the common people uneasy.
In order to protect the safety of life and property, some landowners and relatives will gather in groups and build tall earthen walls in their places of residence to form "earth fences" to prevent bandits from invading. And this kind of "earth fence" is also called "kiln".
If it is a "kiln" equipped with weapons, it is also called a "ringing kiln"; when bandits come to rob wealth, it is called "beating kiln".
At that time, in order to ensure the success of the operation, Wang Futang and Zhang Suzhen also joined forces with several local bandits.
Due to the large number of people, Wang Futang and his family soon occupied each household in Tunzhong and surrounded the Ji family compound, making it a "lone kiln".
Originally, it was already a victory, but who knew that when they first attacked the courtyard, they were suddenly met with the stubborn resistance of the Ji family's preset dark guns, and the bandits were quickly repelled. But this was not the end, and it was not long before the security team in Changchun also arrived in time, sandwiching the bandits in the middle.
After more than half an hour of fierce fighting, Wang Futang and others could not hold on any longer and decided to break out. As a result, in the process of the breakthrough, Wang Futang was unfortunately shot and killed.
After the death of the "Great Dragon" Wang Futang, the people elected Zhang Suzhen as the new leader of the 'Ren Rebel Army', calling himself "Camel Dragon". Zhang Suzhen immediately said that he would destroy the Ji family compound and avenge her husband.
To this end, she actively trained the team and gradually expanded her power, while she also continued to practice marksmanship.
In the end, thanks to her efforts, the team developed rapidly, and the number of people once expanded to several thousand. In addition, because she is good at double guns and her marksmanship is accurate, people in the jianghu also call her "double-gun camel dragon".
A year later, the long-stored Hulong led his men back to the Enemy family and washed the Ji family compound in blood. The operation was so successful that the camel dragon not only swept away the Ji family compound in one fell swoop, but also looted some of the surrounding villages.
After this operation, the strength of the camel dragon was greatly enhanced. After becoming powerful, she often led the team to activities in the Wuchang, Yushu, Shuangcheng and other areas of Jilin Province.
During this period, she also disguised herself as a commoner and returned to the 'Yutang Chun' in Changchun, where she had suffered humiliation, and killed the vicious old bustard. In addition, they also fought with the Japanese invading forces many times and killed many Japanese troops.
In this way, the camel dragon led a team of several thousand people and swept across the Kanto land with extreme speed. And the excessive high profile eventually brought misfortune to her!
Defeated and arrested
In 1924, the camel dragon led people to attack two famous rich families located in the upper reaches of the Songhua River, the Wujia Compound and the Baijia Compound, which also created the famous "East Wasteland Blood Case" in modern history.
Before the battle began, the camel dragon divided the troops into three ways and attacked the two compounds with all their might. Among them, the camel dragon personally led the attack on the Bai family compound all the way.
However, the White Family Compound City was high and deep, and the security was tight, and it was undoubtedly very difficult for the Camel Dragon to capture it.
But the stubborn hump dragon is not afraid at all, and she commands a desperate attack...
After a fierce battle, the camel dragon finally captured the White Family Compound, but she also paid a heavy price for it.
Although the dragon is a bandit, she does not only fight and rob the house, in the face of the country's righteousness, she also hates the Japanese invaders, and for this reason, she has led her troops to attack the Japanese Kwantung Army many times.
Because of this, the Japanese Kwantung Army has always regarded her as a thorn in the eye and a thorn in the flesh, and wants to pull her out to get rid of the trouble.
Of course, as a bandit, the camel dragon also has its own flaws, such as when hitting a "rich household", it will indulge its subordinates to do wrong and harm the public. Therefore, many people's evaluation of her is "both good and evil"!
In the winter of 1924, the Japanese Kwantung Army, Bong Army and local militia armed with about 20,000 people began to encircle and suppress the dragon.
Figure | Japanese Kwantung Army
Seeing that the situation was not good, the camel dragon ordered his men to disperse and withdraw, but the encirclement and suppression troops were in hot pursuit. Due to the disparity in strength between the two sides, the Horde's rebel army was soon defeated, and the Camel Dragon secretly fled to Gongzhuling and hid in a local brothel.
In early 1925, Li Du, then commander of the Jilin Provincial Garrison and commander of the Changchun region, learned of the brothel where the dragon was hiding, and prepared to arrest him.
However, Li Du did not directly lead his troops to arrest him, because he knew that if he did not grasp it well, he would definitely hit the grass and snake and let her run away.
Finally, after some consideration, Li Du found the company commander "Old White Dragon" from the green forest, asked him to disguise himself as a rich businessman, and went to this brothel to wait for the opportunity to arrest her.
"Old White Dragon" came from the green forest, very clear about the rules and black words on the road, coupled with a rich business background, so it was easy to get close to her.
Sure enough, under the careful arrangement of the "Old White Dragon", the camel dragon was finally arrested and arrested!
It is worth mentioning that when the old white dragon revealed his true identity to take the camel dragon away, the camel dragon behaved very calmly and only told him to change his clothes.
But the old white dragon did not agree, because he knew that the camel dragon would use it to find a gun. Afterwards, it was found that in the box where the dragon put his clothes, there were indeed two pistols that had been loaded.
Figure | The Princess Ridge brothel where "Camel Dragon" Zhang Suzhen stayed
Fate ends
The arrest and imprisonment of the camel dragon is supposedly a happy thing, but Li Du is very embarrassed about it!
Because after this news came out, Zhang Zuolin and Wu Junsheng both sent telegrams to Li Du, one asking him to escort the camel dragon to Shenyang, and the other to let him take him to the Eight-Sided City.
Zhang Zuolin was the leader of the Fengjun Army, and he could not afford to offend; while Wu Junsheng was his superior, he could not afford to offend. But if the camel dragon is sent to Zhang Zuolin or Wu Junsheng, with her posture and character, it is possible to avoid death and not kill, and if this is the case, then won't she lay the root of the curse?
Just when he was embarrassed, the chief of military justice gave him a suggestion: let him put the dragon on the spot and then report to the two leaders. Li Duwan was helpless and had to agree!
Subsequently, after Li Du ordered his men to take pictures of the camel dragon, he immediately sent someone to send the photos to Shenyang and Bamian City respectively, and at the same time decided to execute the camel dragon in Changchun!
Before the execution, zhang Suzhen, the "camel dragon", made a request to Li Du, she wanted to dress up well, and walked beautifully to the execution ground, and Li Du agreed!
On January 9, 1925, Zhang Suzhen, the "Camel Dragon", dressed like a noble lady, was escorted to the execution ground by heavily armed soldiers.
On the way to the execution ground, many ordinary people came to see her off. When she walked to a pawnshop, the pawnshop owner gave her a pair of jade bracelets and put them on her personally.
Before the execution, Zhang Suzhen shouted loudly: "I am not afraid of death!" The big hero dies without changing his name and surname, I am the 'Camel Dragon' heroine you know! Executioners, shoot me! ”
With the sound of a gunshot, the legendary life of the northeast "female bandit" Camel Dragon was frozen at the age of 24!
Figure | The house where "Camel Dragon" Zhang Suzhen lived
Some people say that Zhang Suzhen is a good person, and although the "benevolent rebel army" led by her also fights and robs the house, it is still not difficult for the poor people. Moreover, she is not a cold and heartless person, whether it is for her husband, or for her brothers, or for the people.
Of course, some people say that she is a bad person, killing people like hemp, endangering places, and is a veritable "cancer" that must be eliminated.
Perhaps, in that era of chaos, it was difficult to measure her by the evaluation of good people or bad people.
She has done good things and bad things, and as for whether it is good or bad, the author believes that it is left to posterity to comment on it, after all, everyone looks at the problem from different angles, and the results obtained must be different!