In 1994, a 190-year-old lady from Liaoning gave her last words: I am an arms thief being hunted by the Kuomintang.

Before describing the "No. 1 Stolen Arms Case of the Republic of China", I have to mention the founding general Lu Zhengcao.

He is one of the generals of the Republic of China with a special status. Lu Zhengcao was born in the Northeast Army and was an anti-Japanese general trained by Zhang Zuolin and Zhang Xueliang. He led the entire regiment after the Xi'an Incident. Joined the anti-Japanese team of the Communist Party of China.

One thing that is very regrettable is that for confidentiality reasons, General Lu Zhengcao’s memoirs did not mention his first wife Gao Chongde.

What kind of secret made General Lu Zhengcao say nothing about his first wife?

After all, they had been together for so many years, and they got married when they were in the Northeast. After the September 18th Incident, the couple fought bloody battles, broke away from the Northeast Army together, and joined the Communist Party together. .

Zhu De commented on Gao Chongde: It was like providing help in times of need!

Liu Bocheng commented on Gao Chongde: He has not lost his credibility and is respectable and admirable!

The time comes to 1994, sixty-three years have passed since the September 18th Incident!

In the Heishan Hospital in Liaoning, northeastern China, there was a ninety-year-old woman in the ward. She was seriously ill and had a premonition that her time was running out.

This old lady was Gao Chongde. Her last words were as follows: I am the arms thief fifty-four years ago... The Japanese are chasing me... The Kuomintang is also chasing me... …

The staff in the hospital were shocked on the spot after hearing these words. They had always believed that Gao Chongde was an ordinary female anti-Japanese warrior. An old man like this would There are many in the Northeast.

But everyone suddenly heard that Gao Chongde actually claimed to be an arms thief? Were they hunted by the Kuomintang and the Japanese?

With the death of Gao Chongde, the secret of that year was revealed, which is known in history as: the first arms theft case of the Republic of China! It is also known as the largest arms warehouse theft case in the Republic of China!

In other words, from 1940, when the Kuomintang and the Japanese and puppet troops sent troops to capture Gao Chongde, to 1994, when Gao Chongde died, this secret had been hidden for 54 years!

For us, the following article is equivalent to a wonderful story, or it feels boring after reading half of it.

But for the protagonist Gao Chongde, he has to stay anonymous year after year. It is far more difficult for an agent on the real battlefield than for the talented and beautiful woman in the spy movie.

Everything starts from 1904. Gao Chongde was born in Heishan County, Liaoning Province, which was Fengtian at that time.

Northeasterners have the deepest experience of the Russo-Japanese War. The white mountains and black soil of the three northeastern provinces were shattered by the war. It was also called World War 0, which changed the future world structure and human history.

People here naturally advocate force. For example, when Gao Chongde was a child, she did not like needlework and did not like to bind her feet. She would hang out outside teahouses and small restaurants and listen to storytelling, especially martial arts storytelling. As a girl, she I already have my own dream of being in the world.

In terms of this girl's character, whether it is rebellious or strong, Gao Chongde has been different from the weak female students since she was a child. She is full of heroic spirit. Under the influence of her teacher, Therefore, he has great ambitions and is determined to resist Japan, save the country and expel Japanese pirates.

Naturally, women serving as soldiers were not accepted by the customs of the old society, but Gao Chongde resolutely joined the Northeast Army and met his husband, Lu Zhengcao, in the army.

The girl who dances with guns and sticks is also known as the first female shooter of the Northeast Army. It is said that heroes love beauties, but why don’t beauties love heroes?

After talking about Gao Chongde’s experience in joining the army, let’s talk about the founding general Lu Zhengcao. Any founding general who came from the Northeast Army was naturally the first unit to start a fierce battle with the Japanese invaders.

Lu Zhengcao was born in January 1905 in Houcun, Tangwangshan, Haicheng County, Fengtian.

The Russo-Japanese War had a great impact on Northeast China. The Japanese invaders occupied a large amount of land in China, and the people were in dire straits.

For example, when Lu Zhengcao was just born, his mother took him to hide in a haystack. After the Russo-Japanese War, the South Manchuria Railway was swallowed up by the Japanese invaders.

Lu Zhengcao said in his memoirs: “In my boyhood, I witnessed and experienced the oppression and killing of the people in my hometown by the Japanese invaders. The South Manchuria Railway passed through Shanhou Village, and our family’s vegetable plot was close to the village. Next to the railway. The villagers went to the west of the village to farm, and they were often beaten and scolded by the Japanese when passing by the railway..."

This was once the place where Li Shi and Xue Rengui played chess. It reminds me of the time when the Tang Dynasty wiped out the Japanese pirates. The mines that the Japanese had coveted for a long time were rich in silica sand.

Lu Zhengcao’s ancestors were sent away, and his father barely supported the family by renting a car and working as a kid.

Lu Zhengcao's character is very similar to Gao Chongde. When he was a child, he also loved to listen to chivalrous storytelling, so he always drew his sword to help when there was injustice and often fought with others.

Most people in the village are named Lu, and the whole village hates the Japanese. Take Lu Zhengcao for example. When fighting with others, whoever loses will pretend to be Japanese and then be beaten by a group of kids. The partners chased and beat him.

Because the Japanese have been widening the South Manchuria Railway, they have conflicts with the locals, because the villagers live on this side of the road, and the cultivated land is on the other side of the road, passing the railway back and forth.

Lu Zhengcao’s uncle and uncle were both slashed by the Japanese. When he was eight years old, he had to go far to go to school.

There was a conflict between the teacher and the Japanese, and his head was badly chopped with a foreign knife. Eight-year-old Lu Zhengcao had no choice but to cry.

Later, when Lu Zhengcao was in school, he couldn’t even take a detour because there was a flood in the northeast and the bridge was flooded. He saw with his own eyes that the villagers were stabbed to death by the Japanese when they were crossing the road. Pick it up and throw it into the river.

After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Lu Zhengcao was the first to stand up and cut off his braids. He was naturally very proud, but he frightened his family.

Because Lu Zhengcao always fought with others, the teacher punished him to copy books, memorize books, and do more homework... In the process, he laid a solid foundation, which became the key to changing his destiny in the future. .

After Lu Zhengcao dropped out of school, he went to farm, sold food and then went to school again, and so on.

When he grew up, Lu Zhengcao worked, studied, and fought against Japan at the same time. He changed his name to "Zhengcao" because he said he was "well-trained to fight against Japan."

At the age of 17, he joined the Northeast Army, entered Zhang Xueliang's Guard Brigade, and served as a soldier in the 9th Company of the 3rd Battalion of the Regiment. This army attaches great importance to intellectuals, so Lu Zhengcao was naturally reused.

Zhang Xueliang saw that Lu Zhengcao was very good at writing, so he sent him to the fifth period of the Martial Arts Hall. Lu Zhengcao's little knowledge reached this point, and he naturally ranked at the bottom, so he worked hard to make up for classes and learned English.

After graduation, Lu Zhengcao joined the Northeast Army as a platoon leader, so he met his wife Gao Chongde, and the two entered the palace of marriage.

In the melee of warlords, lovers naturally gather less and stay apart more often.

Whenever they have time, the couple often go to the training ground together, so both of them have developed good marksmanship.

In Lu Zhengcao's memoirs, he spoke very highly of Zhang Xueliang, such as reorganizing the old army, supporting the Kuomintang Central Committee to unify the country, launching intelligence operations against the Japanese, etc.

In particular, it perfectly handled major historical events such as the death of Zhang Zuolin and the change of flag in Northeast China without the Japanese being aware of it.

After the September 18th incident, according to Lu Zhengcao’s memoirs, it was Zhang Xueliang who sent an urgent telegram to Chiang Kai-shek, asking what to do. There is no need to resist Chiang Kai-shek's call back.

Although in his later years, Zhang Xueliang claimed that he gave the order not to resist and had nothing to do with Chiang Kai-shek... But the author personally believes that the content in Lu Zhengcao's memoirs is obviously the most credible.

In short, the Northeastern Army abandoned its hometown and could only secretly support the anti-Japanese armed forces. Zhang Xueliang also used righteousness to destroy the new and killed his traitorous cousin to scare the country's traitors.

The Anti-Japanese War began. Lu Zhengcao and his wife Gao Chongde embarked on the arduous anti-Japanese road, resisting the Japanese invasion in Chahar and the Great Wall. The most serious situation was naturally in Rehe Province. .

Lu Zhengcao was very angry about the loss of Northeast China. Gao Chongde had a hot temper and was naturally filled with indignation. He watched helplessly as his hometown was forcibly divided into the so-called Southern Manchuria and Northern Manchuria. That is my hometown, not what the Japanese call northern and southern Manchuria.

As a result, the four northeastern provinces began to resist the war, and the so-called "Puppet Manchukuo" invaded Rehe. Later generations called it the Eastern Three Provinces, but at that time it was called the Eastern Fourth Province.

If Rehe is lost, North China will not be preserved. On the other hand, Tang Yulin, chairman of Rehe Province, is busy growing opium and selling tobacco paste.

Officers such as Zhang Xueliang, Lu Zhengcao, Gao Chongde, etc. hope that Chiang Kai-shek in Nanjing will mobilize the Central Army to attack the Northeast as soon as possible. They can no longer hesitate, otherwise they will harm the country and the people.

However, Nanjing was just calling for resistance against Japan. Chiang Kai-shek and his gang were busy in the civil war. They only verbally supported the Northeast Army but did not pay a penny of military pay.

In the order Chiang Kai-shek secretly sent to the Northeastern Army, he believed: "China's armed forces are not good enough, and the more we fight, the more ground we will lose..."

It is not difficult to imagine that among them, Lu Zhengcao and Gao Chongde After the junior officers learned about this warrant, how angry they must be in their hearts. What does it mean to lose more and more ground? Our family is gone!

In 1933, after the fall of Shanhaiguan, the Rehe War of Resistance began immediately.

Song Ziwen was ordered to come to Rehe for inspection. Zhang Xueliang and Tang Yulin naturally welcomed him warmly, hoping to get military pay for the anti-Japanese war.

Song Ziwen took the fur coat and fur hat given by the Northeast Army, patted his chest and said that the military expenses were paid by the government. After saying this, he left. The slogans were shouted loudly, but the money was not available. Not even a penny was given.

Looking at the Japs at this time, they mobilized heavy equipment of the Army and Air Force and began to invade Rehe. Tang Yulin had already fled before the Japs came.

Zhang Xueliang had no choice but to intercept the Japanese invaders while arranging troops to fight at Xifengkou of the Great Wall.

Zhang Zizhong, Song Zheyuan, and the Dadao team fought hard to recapture Xifengkou, and the "March of the Dadao" was sung.

Lu Zhengcao went to the front line to fight and built an offensive at Lama Dongzi in Rehe. As a result, he gave the Japanese invaders a head-on blow and captured many trophies.

In particular, all the amulets carried by the Japanese were removed and sent to the headquarters. Because Lu Zhengcao and the others had great military exploits and few casualties, they became famous.

In the end, Rehe fell. Zhang Xueliang sent a telegram to Lu Zhengcao, urgently coming to Peking for a meeting and appointing Lu Zhengcao as the leader of the 647th Regiment.

As a result, Zhang Xueliang was forced to step down before Lu Zhengcao took office. According to Lu Zhengcao's memoirs, the people across the country demanded resistance to Japan, but Chiang Kai-shek wanted to negotiate peace with the Japanese.

Since Zhang Xueliang advocated resistance to Japan, Chiang Kai-shek would naturally ask Zhang Xueliang to step down, thereby easing relations with the Japanese.

Since Chiang Kai-shek asked Zhang Xueliang to step down and since he wanted to ease relations with the Japanese, who would take the blame?

So He Yingqin, the leader of the Eight Great Vajras of the Kuomintang, came to North China and signed the "Tanggu Agreement" with the Japanese invaders.

According to the content of the agreement, the countless anti-Japanese armed forces in eastern Hebei were defined as "demilitarized zones" by the Kuomintang and were not protected by the government.

To put it bluntly, the Kuomintang recognized that this was a so-called "non-war zone" and everyone could see that it was handing over Jidong to Japan.

After Gao Chongde learned about it, he was trembling with hatred, so he went to Jidong to take in the anti-Japanese armed forces, especially the female dependents and children of the evacuated anti-Japanese warriors.

He Yingqin replaced Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei and became a traitor. However, the matter was far from over. The Japanese entered the customs and continued to invade Pingjin.

Two years later, He Yingqin secretly signed the "He-Mei Agreement" with the Japanese. This was a standard traitorous agreement. The Kuomintang required the Chinese anti-Japanese troops to withdraw again and abandoned the party headquarters in Hebei and Pingjin. And people are not allowed to take to the streets to protest.

The Japanese were naturally not polite, so they began to plan what they called "the autonomy of the five provinces of North China." Although the anti-Japanese troops were determined to kill the enemy, they were forced to retreat step by step under the orders of Chiang Kai-shek and He Yingqin.

Lu Zhengcao resisted on the front line, while Gao Chongde took in the families of the soldiers and organized the separated troops.

When the Chinese army was forced to retreat, one can imagine the inner anger of Lu Zhengcao and Gao Chongde.

Lu Zhengcao will naturally contact the Communist Party, and Gao Chongde will naturally follow his wife. Even Zhang Xueliang's younger brother has already contacted the Communist Party.

It is not difficult to explain why the Xi'an Incident happened. According to Lu Zhengcao, on the day Zhang Xueliang left the field, they, the middle and lower-level officers, had already had the idea of ????mutiny.

After the Xi'an Incident, Lu Zhengcao naturally defected to the Communist Party and declared that he would fight independently against Japan; his wife, Gao Chongde, would naturally follow her husband and defect to the Communist Party.

No matter how history evaluates Zhang Xueliang, no matter how the world evaluates Zhang Xueliang, at least Lu Zhengcao and his wife believe that the young marshal is an eternal hero.

Zhou Enlai also believed that Zhang Xueliang was an immortal hero for launching the Xi'an Incident.

Putting aside Lu Zhengcao for now, the following article will talk about Gao Chongde alone. At this time, she is no longer the young girl in the army.

From September 18th to the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Gao Chongde, who was already 33 years old, had developed good marksmanship and had high prestige among the troops, and even higher prestige among the family members of the troops.

Especially during these years of anti-Japanese career, an underground party codenamed Mr. Wang had already contacted Gao Chongde to organize an anti-Japanese and national salvation team.

When her husband Lu Zhengcao joined the Eighth Route Army, his wife Gao Chongde was organizing the "Northeast Anti-Japanese National Salvation Corps" in Henan.

Gao Chongde spontaneously and voluntarily organized family members and stragglers of the Northeast Army at the left-behind area, providing them with daily care and psychological comfort, encouraging the soldiers to go to the front line, and leading the old, weak, women and children into the arsenal.

The Mr. Wang mentioned above was the one who took Gao Chongde to northern Shaanxi and met Lin Boqu, then chairman of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Government.

After the two met, Lin Boqu had already learned about Gao Chongde’s deeds and greatly admired this heroine. From September 18th to the present, she had actively participated in the anti-Japanese and national salvation movement, and she was a well-deserved anti-Japanese woman. hero.

Gao Chongde naturally said that he would join the Anti-Japanese Army of the Eighth Route Army, because the Northeast is his hometown. If his family is gone, what is the point of living? We must fight back to the Northeast, we must resist Japan and save the country!

Lin Boqu's response was that he hoped that Gao Chongde would enter the hidden front and make greater contributions to the Eighth Route Army. Killing the enemy was not just about using real swords and guns. There was no place where he could fight against Japan except on the front line. Besides, there are many more.

Gao Chongde immediately realized that Lin Boqu wanted to be an agent, that is, intelligence espionage.

Lin Boqu's original words were: "In view of the current situation, we have arranged for you a special task that is more important and more difficult than going to the front line - through your special status in the Northeast Army, we want to We will smuggle out some arms and ammunition for the Eighth Route Army. You will be directly led by me. For specific details, please contact Wu Yunfu, the director of the Eighth Route Army’s Shaanxi Office.”

The reason for arranging such a task must first clarify the history at this time. Background...

After the Xi'an Incident, although the Kuomintang and the Communist Party no longer engaged in civil war, they fought for a full ten years, and the grievances and resentments between them are self-evident.

Therefore, although the Kuomintang was the ruling party, it did not provide military pay and ammunition to the Eighth Route Army. As a result, many Eighth Route Army soldiers could not even get a kitchen knife, and even went to fight the Japanese with bare hands.

This is what happened every day in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War. There was a lack of weapons and equipment, medical equipment, and various supplies...

How difficult was it? Let's put it this way, even when soldiers undergo surgery, they have to be tied to the operating table with ropes because there is no anesthesia... and this is not an isolated phenomenon, but a common phenomenon.

Under this circumstance, Gao Chongde readily agreed and was willing to obtain Kuomintang weapons, equipment and ammunition for the Eighth Route Army on the hidden front.

It is necessary to explain clearly here: Lu Zhengcao did not join the Communist Party alone, but brought thousands of people with him; as for his wife Gao Chongde, she did not join the Communist Party alone, and she had long cultivated a capable team. A team that is good at fighting and is absolutely loyal to Japan.

When the two parted, Lin Boqu warned Gao Chongde again: "Remember, your identity must not be exposed, do not contact other people, and do not let even your closest people know! "

From this moment on, the future "Arms Thief" Gao Chongde began her illustrious journey.

Gao Chongde worked in the logistics department of the Northeast Army. She looked at the Kuomintang's arsenal. With her status and reputation, she was naturally able to withdraw the arms with a note.

Gao Chongde used the secret funds given by Lin Boqu to bribe the guards and officers of the arsenal. Many soldiers guessed that the arms were going to be given to the Eighth Route Army, so they refused to accept the money and opened the door to convenience. .

As mentioned earlier, Gao Chongde had a large number of people with lofty ideals under his command who were absolutely loyal to the anti-Japanese cause, so after Gao Chongde received large quantities of arms, he handed them over to the Eighth Route Army.

When Gao Chongde came to pick up military equipment, he had two ways to go. One was to take a forged military note and take away truckloads of weapons and ammunition.

The second is to open the door of the arsenal late at night, and the surrounding Northeastern Army guards will take the initiative to go out to relieve themselves or ask for sick leave.

In this way, batch after batch of guns and ammunition continued to enter the hands of the Eighth Route Army, making outstanding contributions to the Anti-Japanese War.

However, no wall is airtight. As Gao Chongde obtained more and more arms, and the Eighth Route Army's equipment became more and more sophisticated, this matter attracted the attention of military commanders and Japanese spies.

The Kuomintang’s military reunification agents first discovered that the Eighth Route Army had won one great victory after another, and the number of weapons seized was simply not enough to sustain large-scale battles. The weapons they continued to replenish were obviously weapons from the Northeast Army. .

The Japanese spies also discovered that when they fought against the Eighth Route Army, it became increasingly difficult. The weapons they lost were definitely not enough for the Eighth Route Army. The Eighth Route Army suddenly had so much ammunition. Where did it come from? ?

In particular, the appearance of heavy weapons such as small steel cannons and artillery shells in the ranks of the Eighth Route Army aroused the vigilance of Japanese spies and military commanders.

Because on the battlefield at that time, steel cannons and cannonballs were very precious. The Japanese obviously did not lose similar equipment, but where did the Eighth Route Army come from?

For example, when the Japanese were fighting Suyu, because they lost a small mountain cannon, they posted slogans everywhere: Suyu gave me back the cannon, but I don’t want those two grenades.

I have written to Su Yu many times, saying that as long as the 92 Infantry Cannon is returned, the two sides can live in peace... Of course Su Yu will not give it. You come to invade us and you still live in peace with me? Are you kidding me?

The above cases are just to prove the importance of heavy weapons, and Gao Chongde obtained batch after batch of heavy weapons for the Eighth Route Army.

Immediately afterwards, the Kuomintang definitely intervened in the investigation. As a result, Dai Li and his gang were shocked if they did not investigate, and immediately named it internally: the theft of the largest arms warehouse in the Republic of China!

The Japanese and puppet army newspapers and the Kuomintang newspapers began to report on this incident one after another, and even the fancy media joined in.

Not to mention various warlords, who regarded this breaking news as a case against political opponents and hyped it up.

Japanese spies then secretly sneaked into the Northeast Army and began to investigate the arms theft case.

Looking at Gao Chongde at this time, in order to avoid the limelight, he temporarily stopped delivering ammunition to the Eighth Route Army.

As the investigation continued, the military commander discovered that more than one ammunition depot of the Northeast Army had been stolen, and the methods were exactly the same. It must be the same theft gang.

After the limelight passed, Gao Chongde continued to take action. You must know that weapons are either heavy steel or flammable and explosive gunpowder.

From the arsenal of the Kuomintang to the base areas of the Eighth Route Army, it ranges from hundreds to thousands of miles!

Furthermore, the Eighth Route Army's base areas are very scattered, so on the way to deliver weapons and ammunition, they will pass through numerous enemy blockades.

In order to detour, these anti-Japanese warriors in the Northeast often had to bypass two or three provinces and cross the banks of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. The Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army both received arms from Gao Chongde and others.

For example, in 1939, Gao Chongde personally led a team and gave military ammunition to Liu Bocheng's anti-Japanese team, which was the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army.

When Gao Chongde set out, he weighed one hundred and twenty kilograms. When he returned after delivering the arms, he only had more than eighty kilograms left.

Liu Bocheng praised Gao Chongde for this matter: he did not lose his credibility and was respectable and admirable.

Mr. Zhu said: Gao Chongde’s sending of shells is like sending help in the snow.

The investigation by the Kuomintang and the Japanese and puppet troops continued. After three full years of investigation, it was determined that the "thief" in the case was Gao Chongde of the Northeast Army, the first female gunner of the Northeast Army.

Immediately afterwards, the Japanese, puppets, Chiang Kai-shek and other forces began to mobilize troops and spies to hunt down Gao Chongde, so that many anti-Japanese warriors died.

Especially in the autumn of 1940, a regiment of the enemy's Third Reserve Division and soldiers besieged Gao Chongde.

As a result, this heroine, armed with two guns, led her team to break out of the encirclement. Although they broke out of the enemy's blockade, Gao Chongde was also seriously injured in this battle.

The newspapers exploded, with various headlines such as "The First Female Bandit in the Central Plains" and so on. When the enemy saw the fierce response from public opinion, for the sake of their own face, they began to pursue Gao Chongde endlessly. kill.

But Gao Chongde suddenly "evaporated" and was protected by our party.

Until 1994, in Heishan Hospital in Liaoning, a ninety-year-old woman’s last words were: I am the arms thief...