After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1945, the Chinese people celebrated the victory, but the traitors in the puppet Manchu regime were terrified. They have aided and abetted the abuse, lost their backers, and are only waiting for the judgment of history. Many traitors were captured by the Soviet Red Army and later repatriated to China. Among them, when Zhang Jinghui, the puppet Manchurian premier, arrived at the Fushun War Criminals Management Center, he saw a guard, who was his own son Zhang Shaoji, who had been executed. For a while, Zhang Jinghui was very sorry and grief-stricken, what did his son go through, and why was he able to serve here? What kind of twists and turns are hidden in this?
1. Reluctant resistance
Since Zhang Shaoji was born, his life has been destined to be extraordinary. In 1922, Zhang Jinghui seized power during the warlord war in the Northeast, and at the age of 51, he got Zhang Shaoji's son, and he doted on him. Zhang Shaoji has been clothed and fed since he was a child, and he has been imperceptibly taught by Russian and has been influenced by progressive ideas. However, his classmates secretly despised his identity as a "traitor", and Zhang Shaoji felt strongly dissatisfied and reflective about what his family had done.
In 1938, Zhang Shaoji received a letter from his cousin Zhang Shaoxiong and was allowed to study in Japan, freeing himself from the shackles of his family like a prisoner. After enrolling in Waseda University, he frequently discovered his cousin's mysterious whereabouts, and finally Zhang Shaoxiong said that all this was related to the anti-Japanese cause of the Northeast Youth Salvation Association in Japan. Zhang Shaoji, who had been dormant for a long time, also understood this, and resolutely joined the revolutionary organization, secretly lurking beside his father, and opened the road of forbearance and resistance.
In 1941, when the Soviet-German war was on the verge of breaking out, the organization urgently needed to explore the troop movements of the "Malayan Tiger" Yamashita Bongbun. Zhang Shaoji accepted the order to return to China, and slyly asked his father to "study" in the office, and used this to spy on a large number of military documents. After careful analysis, Zhang Shaoji accurately deduced that Yamashita Fengwen had secretly crossed the Yellow River to the south and headed south to Sanya, which won valuable time for the Soviet army's defense. This action aroused great attention from the superiors and strengthened Zhang Shaoji's determination to serve the revolution.
In 1943, considering the increasingly severe situation in Japan, the organization prudently decided to let Zhang Shaoji end his study ahead of schedule and return to his father to serve his life. Since then, Zhang Shaoji has been active in the high-level of the puppet Manchurian government as a Russian translator, collecting military intelligence extensively. On one occasion, he even slyly flattered the deputy chief of the General Affairs Department of the puppet Manchurian government, Tsei Tsuhiro, at a banquet, causing him to leak the situation of the "Huoyao Society," the highest decision-making body of the Japanese puppet rule, and helping the CCP to counterattack in the future.
II. The Agent's Hidden Journey
In the autumn of 1943, Japan was defeated in the Pacific Theater, and the Northeast Anti-Japanese Base Area was also actively preparing for war, and the organization decided to let Zhang Shaoji return to China ahead of schedule. After returning to China, Zhang Shaoji worked as a Russian translator for the puppet Manchu government and lurked under his father Zhang Jinghui.
When he first arrived at his new office, Zhang Shaoji had to be cautious, for fear of being persecuted by exposing his identity. He hid his political stance, kept his distance from the staff, and did not mention his experience during his stay in Japan. Even when he was drunk, he never spoke openly so as not to show his feet. On the contrary, he tried his best to show favor to his traitor father, and he did not care about the remnants of the previous dynasty.
Gradually, the organization's trust in Zhang Shaoji also grew. In addition to his regular work of translating Japanese documents, he was also sent to various provinces and cities in the northeast to collect military information. Everywhere he went, Zhang Shaoji would use the excuse to break into the core of the puppet Manchurian organization and obtain internal documents. His talent and alertness were soon put to good use by his superiors, who took on more classified tasks.
In the spring of 1944, Zhang Shaoji was sent to a secret stronghold in Changchun City. During this period, he delved into the forgotten documents and archives of the puppet Manchurians in the past, and found out the specific deployment of the Japanese army after Zhang Kejia's "pro-Japanese faction" was dismissed. His report aroused great attention from the upper peak, and the encirclement of the Lushunkou direction was fruitful. In order to be fluent in Russian, Kamichi also authorized him to listen to Soviet radio broadcasts and obtain information about the decisive victory.
It was not until the end of February 1945 that Zhang Shaoji was captured by the Japanese as a traitor. In the detention room, Zhang Shaoji was repeatedly beaten and tortured, but he was unyielding and refused to reveal any secrets. Seeing that he was speechless, the Japanese finally reported Zhang Shaoji to the puppet Manchurian government on suspicion of "spies", and hoped that Zhang Jinghui would come forward to "make the decision" for him.
This action of the Japanese invaders aroused Zhang Jinghui's anger, although he had long found that his son and himself were a little abnormal, but he never expected to be so "rebellious". Zhang Jinghui refused to testify and made a special trip to inquire about the place of detention, but after seeing the miserable Zhang Shaoji, he finally became a father and retreated to silence without commenting. In the end, Zhang Shaoji was sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment and detained by the Soviet Red Army.
3. A twist and turn of fate
On August 15, 1945, Japan announced its unconditional surrender to the United Nations, and the victory of the War of Resistance against Japan fell to the Chinese. This news undoubtedly bodes well for Zhang Shaoji's release, but his fate is far from over.
As early as before his arrest in 1944, Zhang Shaoji had sent a large amount of military intelligence from Northeast China back to China, making great contributions to the preparations for the final battle. However, no one could have predicted that the victory in the war would put him in an even more difficult situation.
Soon after the surrender, Zhang Shaoji was released from detention by the Soviet Red Army. According to the agreement, the Soviet side entrusted the puppet Manchurian government official and his future and fate to the Chinese side. Zhang Shaoji had illusions that he could regain his freedom as soon as possible by virtue of his revolutionary exploits, but it backfired, and he was escorted to Beiping to be detained separately.
In Beiping Prison, Zhang Shaoji was charged with "puppet Manchurian spies" and suffered unprecedented cruel treatment. In prison, he had to endure a cold, dark cell and was deprived of all freedom of life. The harsh living conditions, combined with mental torture, soon exhausted the young revolutionary. On one occasion, the prison guards found that he was hiding Marxist-Leninist books and immediately beat him severely, almost killing him.
During this period, the CCP's underground organization learned that Zhang Shaoji had suffered this catastrophe, so they secretly rescued him. Comrade Mao Zedong even wrote a letter to redress his grievances, pointing out that Zhang was an "important underground fighter of our party" and should be dealt with leniently. However, due to the fact that the post-war social order had not been fully restored, the letter could not be delivered, and Zhang Shaoji's situation was once in a desperate situation.
The turning point came with the liberation of the country in 1949. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhang Shaoji was released by amnesty and was warmly accepted into the revolutionary ranks. Since then, he has gotten rid of the shadow of his traitor identity, and soon regained his vitality under the appreciation and reuse of the party, and embarked on a new path of life.
Secret struggles within the War Criminals Management Centre
In August 1950, Zhang Jinghui, a high-ranking traitor of the puppet Manchu regime, and others were escorted back to China and imprisoned in the Fushun War Criminals Management Center. It was here that Zhang Jinghui unexpectedly witnessed his son Zhang Shaoji serving as a caretaker in the station. For a while, Zhang Jinghui was puzzled, and couldn't believe that his son, who was sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment in the past, could now serve here.
In fact, Zhang Shaoji's ability to obtain this important position was entirely due to his efforts to uphold revolutionary beliefs and propagate progressive ideas in prison. As early as when he was in detention, Zhang Shaoji secretly disseminated Marxist theory to the prisoners of war. At first, these traitors hated the communist ideology and rejected Zhang Shaoji as a "heretic". But with Zhang's unremitting efforts, more and more war criminals were moved by his words and began to rethink what they had done.
This awakening naturally aroused the jealousy of the prison authorities. On one occasion, the prison guards discovered that Zhang Shaoji was privately organizing a study group and immediately punished him severely. Zhang Shaoji was not intimidated, but continued to insist on propaganda during the punishment, which finally triggered the prison escape incident. This development further alarmed the authorities, who realized that Zhang Shaoji could indeed exert influence among war criminals.
The turning point occurred in 1949 when the People's Republic of China was founded. After learning of Zhang Shaoji's experience, the working group for receiving war criminals decided to appoint him as a staff member of the Fushun Management Center to assist in the rehabilitation and education of war criminals. In this way, Zhang Shaoji changed his former identity as a prisoner and became a key person in charge of ideological transformation in the institute.
During his work in the management center, Zhang Shaoji unremittingly preached the policy propositions of New China to war criminals. He organized collective study and guided everyone to accept new ideas and abandon stubborn reactionary positions. It is precisely thanks to Zhang Shaoji's diligent efforts that many former "die-hard elements" have finally accepted ideological transformation and re-embarked on a new path in life.
5. Entanglements of family affection
When he saw his son Zhang Shaoji, Zhang Jinghui had mixed feelings in his heart. As a traitor father, he was once deeply stung by his son's "rebellion", but now he has to face this betrayer. Although there is a family affection that blood is thicker than water, Zhang Jinghui can't completely let go of it after all, and he still has a problem with what his son did.
The backlash with his father is a trauma that Zhang Shaoji can't bear. During the revolutionary years, he did so much for his country that he deserved to be rewarded rather than treated as such. Facing his father's cold eyes and alienation, Zhang Shaoji felt extremely hurt and helpless. Although he understands that his choice is destined to break with the family, the family affection that blood is thicker than water is difficult to part with after all.
In the spring of 1951, Zhang Shaoji decided to formally confide in his father for a long time. He deliberately went to visit during the holidays, hoping to have a showdown to untie the knot. As soon as they met, Zhang Shaoji bluntly told about his various experiences of joining the underground party. He said that when he was in Tokyo, he had secretly supported the Anti-Japanese Salvation Association, and later spying on the military situation in the family organization; He said that he had been involved in danger and humiliation for the revolutionary cause several times, but he had never wavered in his loyalty to the party and the people.
In the face of his son's confession, Zhang Jinghui sneered and said that he didn't believe it at all. He believed that this was nothing more than a trick by Zhang Shaoji to justify his own sophistry and lies, and completely denied his son's revolutionary process. As a result, the two sides were caught in a tense clash of swords, and invective erupted in the reception room. In this dangerous atmosphere, Zhang Shaoji finally made up his mind and announced that he would break off his relationship with his traitor father, and from then on he made a choice between morality and blood.
After that, Zhang Shaoji completely severed his ties with his family and devoted himself to the construction of New China. And Zhang Jinghui is still alone, suffering in a small cell for the rest of his life until his death. The breakup between the two is a microcosm of family sophistication, witnessing all the troubles and tribulations that people endured in that turbulent era.