Everyone in the world knows that Yang Zirong is the hero of "outwitting Tiger Mountain", but few people know his true life experience. This reconnaissance hero of the Northeast died heroically at the age of 29 only 16 days after capturing the "mountain eagle" alive. However, his life is like a fog and incomprehensible. Why is it that such a famous hero can't find his birth information? What is his real name? And how did he get on the revolutionary road? These questions have plagued many researchers for many years. It was not until 1969, when a special investigation team was formed, that the mystery could be solved. What exactly did they find? What kind of twists and turns are there behind the mystery of Yang Zirong's life experience? Let's uncover this long-lost history.
Yang Zirong's heroic deeds
In Northeast China in 1945, although Japan surrendered, peace was far from returning to this land that had suffered many vicissitudes. Bandits from all walks of life took advantage of the troubled times to run rampant and do evil. It was against this historical background that a young man named Yang Zirong quietly joined the ranks of the People's Liberation Army.
It was a sweltering afternoon in August 1945, and 28-year-old Yang Zirong arrived at a barracks in the Jiaodong area. He was a burly man, with a resolute countenance, and a pair of piercing eyes that gleamed with determination. Yang Zirong thought that he would be assigned to the combat unit, but he didn't expect to be arranged into the cooking class as a man.
"I'm here to be a soldier to fight, not to cook on a fire!" Yang Zirong muttered in his heart, but he did not complain, but silently accepted the arrangement. Who knew that this would take three months. During this time, Yang Zirong was diligent and hardworking, not only ensuring food in an orderly manner, but also often taking the initiative to help other comrades-in-arms. His performance quickly caught the attention of his instructors.
In November 1945, the Second Regiment of the Mudanjiang Military Region received the task of suppressing bandits. Yang Zirong finally waited for the opportunity, and he took the initiative to ask Ying to participate in this operation. The instructor agreed to his request, taking into account his excellent performance in the cooking class.
In this way, Yang Zirong bid farewell to pots and pans and embarked on a journey to suppress bandits. In the months that followed, he excelled, making several victories in battle. However, what really made him famous in the first war was the anti-bandit operation in March 1946.
On that day, the second regiment surrounded a bandit's den called Xingshugou Village. The village was inhabited by more than 400 bandits, who resisted with their strong fortifications. After the battle began, although our army launched a powerful offensive, it was difficult to make a breakthrough for a while due to concerns about the safety of the people in the village.
Just as the war was at a stalemate, Yang Zirong made a decision that surprised everyone. Without asking his superiors, he rushed to the village alone waving a white towel.
"Is this kid crazy?" When the regiment commander saw this scene, he was furious and raised his pistol to kill this "traitor". Fortunately, the herald arrived in time and told the regiment commander that the man was Yang Zirong and that he had gone to persuade him to surrender.
Two hours later, a miracle happened. The village of Xingshugou was surrounded by white flags, and more than 400 bandits laid down their arms and surrendered one after another. It turned out that Yang Zirong relied on his understanding of the psychology of the bandits and skillfully used their internal contradictions to successfully disintegrate the bandits' will to resist.
This feat made Yang Zirong famous in the whole group. The instructor immediately promoted him to the squad leader and assigned him a more important task - to infiltrate the lair of Zhang Leshan, the "mountain carving".
Zhang Leshan, nicknamed "Mountain Carving", is an old bandit who has been entrenched in the Northeast for many years. He is cunning and ferocious, and he has always been a big problem for our army. After Yang Zirong received the task, he immediately led 6 soldiers to form a small team and infiltrated the enemy camp in disguise.
In the enemy camp, Yang Zirong not only succeeded in gaining Zhang Leshan's trust by virtue of his extraordinary courage and wit, but also skillfully created internal contradictions. In the end, he seized the opportunity and took down more than 20 bandit leaders including Zhang Leshan in one fell swoop.
The success of this operation not only completely destroyed the nest of the "mountain eagles," but also brought about a turning point in the struggle against bandits in the northeast. The Northeast Army Command specially commended Yang Zirong for this purpose, awarded him the title of "Special Reconnaissance Hero", and recorded a third-class meritorious service.
However, the life of a hero is short-lived. Just 16 days after capturing the "mountain eagle" alive, Yang Zirong died in a battle against bandits due to a firearm malfunction at the age of 29.
Yang Zirong's heroic deeds soon spread throughout the country, and his image was molded into a model of revolutionary heroes. However, his origins remain a mystery. Why is this so? This leads us to the next chapter of our story......
The origin of the mystery of the life experience
Yang Zirong's heroic deeds are widely known, but his true identity has become a difficult mystery to solve. The formation of this mystery is closely related to the special circumstances of his enlistment in the army.
In 1945, when Yang Zirong came to the Jiaodong area to join the army, he used a pseudonym. This was not uncommon at the time, and many young people who participated in the revolution chose to use pseudonyms in order to protect their families or avoid being tracked down by the enemy. Yang Zirong is no exception. When he reported to the troops, he simply said that his name was Yang Zirong and that he was from Jiaozhou, Shandong, and other personal information was unknown.
In those war-torn years, the army's background checks on recruits were not strict. As long as there are young people who are willing to fight for the revolutionary cause, the troops will welcome them. Therefore, Yang Zirong successfully joined the army and began his military career.
However, although this practice of joining the army under a pseudonym was able to protect the safety of individuals and their families at the time, it also laid a hidden danger for the future investigation of their life history. After Yang Zirong's death, when people wanted to know more about this hero, they found that there was very little archival information about him.
The army's archives only record Yang Zirong's pseudonym, approximate place of origin and time of joining the army. As for important information such as his date of birth, family background, and experience before joining the army, there is a blank. This was not uncommon at the time, and many of the fighters who died in the war were left with a similar "mystery of identity".
What is even more regrettable is that Yang Ziyun's comrades-in-arms also have a very limited understanding of him. Even his comrades-in-arms who get along with him day and night can only provide some scattered information. They recalled that Mr. Yang spoke with a Shandong accent, had a cheerful personality and was an upright person, but rarely mentioned his past.
Even Qu Bo, the writer who later created "Lin Hai Xueyuan", although he worked with Yang Zirong, had to rely heavily on imagination to shape Yang Zirong's image when writing. Qu Bo once said in an interview that Yang Zirong's true background has always been a mystery, and all he knows is some fragmentary information.
As time passed, Yang Zirong's deeds were widely celebrated, but the mystery of his background became more and more interesting. People began to question why such a famous hero could not be sure of even the most basic identity information. This kind of question is not only from the general public, but also from the authorities.
In 1964, in order to solve this mystery, the Shandong Provincial Military Region and Yang Zirong's unit jointly formed an investigation team. The task of this investigation team is to find out the true identity of Yang Zirong. Investigators began their work with confidence, believing that as long as they followed the clues of Yang Zirong's accent, they would soon be able to find his family in the Jiaozhou area.
However, the reality is far more complicated than they think. The investigation team traveled around Jiaozhou and the surrounding areas for more than a month, visited hundreds of families surnamed Yang, and looked through a large number of household registration materials, but never found any information consistent with Yang Zirong. The investigation ultimately ended in failure, and the mystery of Yang Zirong's background is still unsolved.
The failure of this investigation not only did not solve the mystery, but instead raised more questions. Some people began to wonder if Yang Zirong was really from Jiaozhou? Could his accent be misleading the direction of the investigation? Some people even asked, could Yang Zirong be a fictional character?
Although these doubts do not dominate, they do cast a shadow on Yang Zirong's heroic image. In order to set the record straight, the authorities decided to open an investigation again. In 1969, a larger, more extensive task force was formed. This group includes not only military personnel, but also local government staff and professional archival researchers.
Their investigative approach is more systematic and comprehensive. In addition to on-site visits, they also issued missing person notices through various channels, accessed a large number of historical archives, and even used some relatively advanced technical means at that time. The investigation lasted more than two months and covered the entire province of Shandong.
Just when people were almost losing hope of finding out the truth, the investigation team finally made a major discovery. This discovery not only solves the mystery of Yang Zirong's life, but also reveals a little-known history......
Twists and turns in the course of the investigation
In the summer of 1969, in order to solve the mystery of Yang Zirong's origins, a special investigation team composed of military, local government and archival researchers once again embarked on the road to find the truth. The investigation was more systematic and comprehensive than in 1964, but it was no less fraught with hardships and twists and turns.
The investigation team first started with the information left by Yang Zirong when he joined the army. They revisited the enlistment form, hoping to uncover overlooked clues. However, the information on this form is still brief: Yang Zirong, a native of Jiaozhou, Shandong Province, and about 27 years old (when he joined the army in 1945). Other than that, there is no other valuable information.
Unwilling, the investigation team decided to expand the search. They are no longer limited to the Jiaozhou area, but have set their sights on the whole of Shandong Province. They published missing person notices in local newspapers and interviewed local veterans and residents in the hope of finding someone who knew about it.
In the process, the investigation team encountered many difficulties. First of all, the territory is vast, there are more than a dozen prefecture-level cities and hundreds of counties and towns in Shandong Province alone, and looking for a person's traces in such a large area is tantamount to looking for a needle in a haystack. Secondly, due to the impact of the war and social changes, the household registration files in many places are incomplete, and even the files in some places have been lost in the war. This further complicates the investigation.
What's even more tricky is that as the investigation deepens, many people claiming to be relatives of Yang Zirong have emerged. Some say that Yang Zirong is their long-lost brother, and some claim that Yang Zirong is their distant relative. Far from helping the investigation, these voices complicate the situation. The team had to spend a great deal of time and effort to verify these claims, and it turned out that most of them were lies fabricated for the sake of disgrace or fame.
Just when the investigation seemed deadlocked, an unexpected discovery turned the investigation around. While reviewing a roster of miners from the 1940s, a member of an investigation team noticed a man named Yang Zonggui. This man's age and place of origin matched Yang Zirong's, and he suddenly disappeared from the mine at the end of 1944, coinciding with Yang Zirong's entry into the army.
The discovery excited the team, who immediately followed the trail and began their investigation. They found several old miners who were working with Yang Zonggui at the time. The testimonies of these elderly people led to a breakthrough in the investigation.
The old miners recalled that Yang Zonggui was a hardworking and honest young man who usually didn't talk much, but he was very serious in his work. They still remember that Yang Zonggui often talked about his hometown, saying that there was a beautiful coastline and fertile land. This is consistent with Yang Zirong's claim that he is from Jiaozhou.
What's more, an old miner provided a precious old photo. The photo shows a group of miners at the mouth of the shaft, and one of the young men looks very similar to the well-known Yang Zirong. Although the photo is a little blurry, the resolute eyes and upright posture are undoubtedly Yang Zirong when he was young.
This discovery gave hope to the investigation team. They began to track down Yang Zonggui's origins, hoping to find his family. Regrettably, however, the family information in Yang Zonggui's file has been blurred, and he can barely make out the word "Shandong".
Just when the investigation team was struggling, a retired old archivist provided an important clue. He recalled that when he was sorting through the old files, he had seen a record of the reception of street children, which mentioned a child named Yang Zonggui. The child was reportedly taken into custody in the early 1930s, when he was about seven or eight years old.
This information led to a new shift in the direction of the investigation. If this Yang Zonggui is the later Yang Zirong, then his real age may be a few years younger than previously speculated. This also explains why, in the 1964 survey, no one of Yang Zirong's age was found in Jiaozhou.
The investigation team then went to the location of the children's shelter that year. Although the shelter is long gone, they found some scattered records in the local archives. The records, while incomplete, do mention a boy named Yang Zonggui. Records show that the boy was brought to the shelter on a cold winter night in 1932, dressed in rags and with a yellow face.
What's even more surprising is that a small yellowed note was also kept in the record, which read: "This son's name is Yang Zonggui, and he is unable to raise him due to changes in his family, and he hopes that a kind-hearted person will take him in." Although the handwriting of this note is sloppy, the words reveal deep helplessness and reluctance.
This discovery not only brings new clues to the mystery of Yang Zirong's life history, but also reveals a little-known history. It was a turbulent time, with wars and famine displacing many families and many children becoming homeless and homeless. Yang Zonggui, who later became Yang Zirong, probably left his family in this context.
As the investigation deepened, Yang Zirong's true identity gradually surfaced. However, the process is far more tortuous than imagined. The next thing the investigation team will face is how to confirm that Yang Zonggui is Yang Zirong and trace his legendary experience from a street child to a revolutionary hero......
Truth
As the investigation deepened, Yang Zirong's true identity gradually surfaced. However, to completely confirm that Yang Zonggui is Yang Zirong, the investigation team needs more evidence. They decided to continue the investigation from two directions: one is to find the trajectory of Yang Zonggui's life after the detention center, and the other is to trace Yang Zirong's experience before joining the army.
First, the investigation team focused on Yang Zonggui's whereabouts after he left the detention center. Through interviews with the staff at the time and other adopted children, they learned that Yang Zonggui had been adopted by a teacher surnamed Li after living in the shelter for about two years. This teacher Li is a teacher in a local primary school, has no children under his knees, and loves Yang Zonggui very much.
At Teacher Li's home, Yang Zonggui not only received good care, but also had the opportunity to receive an education. According to Mr. Li's neighbors, Yang Zonggui was a smart and studious child, who often helped Mr. Li with household chores and liked to read. This experience laid the foundation for Yang Zonggui's future growth.
However, the good times were short-lived. In 1937, the Japanese army invaded, and the war soon spread to Shandong. Mr. Li's elementary school was destroyed by the bombing, and he himself was killed in a bombing. Yang Zonggui, who was thirteen or fourteen years old at the time, once again became a helpless orphan.
During this turbulent period, Yang Zonggui's trail became obscure. But through the investigation, the task force found some scattered clues. Some people say that they have seen a teenager similar to Yang Zonggui helping out in a refugee camp, while others say that they have seen such a clever young man in the guerrillas. Although it is difficult to confirm this scattered information, it all points to the fact that Yang Zonggui survived tenaciously in difficult circumstances and may have participated in anti-Japanese activities.
The turning point came in 1942. The investigation team found Yang Zonggui's name in a secret file of the underground party. The archives show that a young man named Yang Zonggui was absorbed into the Chinese Communist Party because of his outstanding performance in anti-Japanese activities. This file not only confirms Yang Zonggui's existence, but also explains why he later changed his name to join the army.
At the same time, the investigation team did not relax its investigation of Yang Zirong's experience before joining the army. They revisited the testimony of Yang Zirong's comrades-in-arms and found some details that had previously been overlooked. For example, some comrades-in-arms recalled that Yang Zirong once mentioned that he was an orphan and said that he had worked in a coal mine. This information is highly consistent with Yang Zonggui's experience.
More decisively, the investigation team found a veteran soldier who had been in the same squad as Yang Zirong. The veteran soldier provided a key piece of information: he had overheard Yang Zirong shouting the name "Teacher Li" in his sleep. At that time, he thought that Yang Zirong was missing his former teacher, but now it seems that this is most likely referring to the teacher Li who adopted him.
With the accumulation of evidence, the fact that Yang Zonggui is Yang Zirong is ready to come out. But the investigation team still faces a difficult problem: why did Yang Zonggui change his name to Yang Zirong? A scholar who studies the history of the underground party has put forward a reasonable explanation for this.
In the later stages of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in order to protect the identity of underground party members, the organization often arranged for them to join the Kuomintang army or other organizations in a new capacity in order to better carry out their work. It is likely that Yang Zonggui changed his name to Yang Zirong under this circumstance and joined the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army in a new capacity.
This explanation not only conforms to the historical background of the time, but also answers why Yang Zirong is so secretive about his past. As an underground party member, it was his duty to keep secrets, and he always adhered to this principle even before his sacrifice.
Finally, the investigation team came to the final conclusion by comparing Yang Zonggui's childhood photos, group photos of the miners, and photos of Yang Zirong before his death: Yang Zonggui and Yang Zirong are indeed the same person.
This discovery not only solved the mystery that had plagued him for many years, but also added new luster to Yang Zirong's heroic deeds. From a homeless child to a miner, to an underground party member and revolutionary hero, Yang Zirong's life has witnessed the most turbulent and difficult period in China's modern history, and also shows the growth and sacrifice of an ordinary person in extraordinary times.
However, the investigation did not end there. There is another question that plagues the investigation team: What was Yang Zonggui's original family like? What caused him to live on the streets at a young age? In order to solve this final mystery, the investigation team decided to go one step further and trace Yang Zonggui's family history......
Tracing family history
In order to unravel the mystery of Yang Zonggui's (i.e., Yang Zirong) family history, the investigation team decided to go deep into the Jiaozhou area of Shandong Province to conduct a more detailed investigation. Their goal is to find any clues, no matter how small, that might be related to the Yang family.
The investigation team first came to the Jiaozhou Municipal Archives. Here, they looked through a large number of local chronicles, genealogies, and household registration materials during the Republic of China. After days of hard work, they finally found traces of the Yang family in a broken family tree. This genealogy records a man named Yang Fulin, whose birth year matches the presumed age of Yang Zonggui's father.
According to genealogical records, Yang Fulin is a branch of the Yang family in Jiaozhou. This branch has been farming for generations, and it is a well-known farmer in the local area. However, genealogical records came to an abrupt end in the late 1920s, coinciding with the time Yang Zonggui was sent to the asylum.
In order to further confirm this clue, the investigation team visited the local elderly in Jiaozhou. In a remote village, they found an elderly man who was over 100 years old. Although the old man has a vague memory, he still remembers that there was a Yang Fulin in the village when he was young.
The old man recalled: "Yang Fulin was a hard-working farmer, with a beautiful and capable daughter-in-law and a smart young son. The boy was about five or six years old, and he used to run around the village, and he was very lively. This description is consistent with Yang Zonggui's age.
However, the old man's next words shocked the investigation team. He said: "It's a pity that when the great drought happened, the Yang family's land was barren, and people also suffered. "
This information provides a key clue to the mystery of Yang Zonggui's life history. The team then consulted local meteorological records and historical records of the disaster. Sure enough, between 1931 and 1932, the Jiaozhou area suffered a major drought that had not been seen in a century. The drought has led to crop failures, many farmers have been displaced, and some have even starved to death on their way to escape famine.
Combined with this information, Yang Zonggui's family tragedy gradually surfaced. It is likely that during this disaster, Yang Fulin's family was forced to leave their homes. In the difficult process of escaping the famine, his parents may no longer be able to support the young Yang Zonggui and have to send him to a shelter.
To test this hypothesis, the team spent several months visiting the surrounding area. In a cemetery in a neighboring county, they found an unnamed grave engraved with "The Tomb of Yang Fulin and Wang". The date on the tombstone shows that the two died in the winter of 1932, at the height of the drought.
This discovery is almost certain, this is Yang Zonggui's parents. They may not have survived that difficult winter after sending their children to safety.
The efforts of the investigation team have not been in vain. Through the tracing of family history, the mystery of Yang Zirong (Yang Zonggui)'s life history has finally been completely solved. From an ordinary peasant child, to a helpless homeless child, to a commanding revolutionary hero, Yang Zirong's life trajectory reflects the fate of ordinary people in that turbulent era.
However, the deepening of the investigation also brings new problems. Now that Yang Zirong's true identity has been ascertained, why is there a letter signed "Jiaozhou Yang Family" among the relics he left behind when he died? The origin of the letter became a new mystery.
In order to solve this mystery, the investigation team returned to Jiaozhou again. They scrutinized local communication records, hoping to find traces of the letter. The hard work paid off, and in a 1948 postal register, they found a key piece of information: there was indeed a letter sent from Jiaozhou to the Northeast that year, and the recipient was "Comrade Yang Zirong".
This discovery sparked the curiosity of the investigation team. Who is writing to Yang Zirong? Could it be that after all these experiences, there is still anyone who remembers his existence? With these questions in mind, the investigation team began a new round of visits.
In a small remote village in Jiaozhou, they found an old woman in her nineties. The old man shuddered and took out a stack of yellowed letters from an old wooden box. These letters turned out to be sent back to his hometown by Yang Zirong (then Yang Zonggui) when he was young.
It turned out that many years after Yang Zonggui left his hometown, he had tried to find his roots. He inquired about his birthplace through various means and began correspondence with a distant relative who remained in the village. This distant relative was the old woman in front of her.
The old woman recalled: "Although the child had been away from home for many years, he was always thinking about his hometown. He asked his parents about the situation in the letter, and I had to tell him the truth that they were no longer there. Later, he wrote to say that he wanted to use the new name Yang Zirong, let's remember the name, saying that he was going to do great things for the country. "
This discovery not only explains the origin of the mysterious family letter, but also shows Yang Zirong's unswerving attachment to his hometown and relatives. Although the twists and turns of life forced him to change his name, he always retained his concern for his hometown deep down.
At this point, the mystery of Yang Zirong's life experience has finally been revealed. From an ordinary peasant boy to a revolutionary hero, his life experience condenses the suffering and hope of an era. This dusty history not only enriches Yang Zirong's image, but also provides us with a unique perspective to understand the fate of ordinary people in that special era.