The person responsible for the first gangster case in Jiangsu and Anhui during the Republic of China was said to have a jade cat protecting his body. He escaped many times but died without a complete body.

In the eyes of many literary youths, the Republic of China era was infinitely beautiful, but it was actually very dangerous. In addition to famine and plague, military disasters and banditry took lives every minute. Until the founding of New China, the average life expectancy of ordinary people was only more than 30 years. Even in Jiangsu, where the capital of the Nationalist Government was located at that time, although it was known as a land of plenty, banditry was still very serious. In the same year that the Northern Expedition began, in Suining County in northwest Jiangsu, a shocking case occurred in which bandits massacred more than 800 people in an entire village.

Suining was historically a yellow flood zone with barren land. In addition, after the Nian Army Rebellion in the late Qing Dynasty, floods, locusts, soldiers, and bandits were frequent disasters. The people's livelihood was in decline and the people were in poverty. In order to prevent bandits and stragglers from attacking, local people chose to live in large villages. Each village had an earthen wall (wall) built outside, a trench was dug, and a suspension bridge was used to enter and exit. Therefore, the place name is often called "Xuwei". The village even built its own gun towers and maintained armed forces for the purpose of self-protection. At that time, this practice was very common throughout northern Jiangsu, especially at the junction of Jiangsu and Anhui. Ten miles to the south from Gaozuo Town, Suining County, there is a large village called Shijiadun, also known as Shilitun. There are about 400 households in the village, mostly with the surnames Lu and Zhang. Most of the people in the Wei only seek food and clothing, and only a few landlords named Lu are relatively wealthy. The owner of the polder is named Lu Ziyun, and there are also directors Lu Zigui and Lu Kuiyi. In order to protect their own wealth and ensure local security, they used the power of feudal clans to organize young and middle-aged villagers to set up incense halls, set up the "Red Boxing Club", practice martial arts every day, and purchased some guns and three cannons, becoming A well-known civilian armed force. As time went by, Shijiadun became the de facto leader of the surrounding villages, and Shijiadun was the only one who followed the lead in resisting the bandits. Due to the strong strength of Shijiadun, not only did small groups of bandits dare not easily rob near it, but even when they passed near Weizi, they would be shot or chased by members of the congregation, which led to the surrounding villages no longer being open to bandits. Paying money and grain in a similar way to paying tribute to avoid robbery). Over time, Shijiadun developed enmities with the bandits, the most prominent of which was Lao Wei San, the "ladle handler" of the bandits in nearby Hongze Lake.

Who is Old Wei San? In fact, he was also from Suining. He was born in Xiaozhuzhuang, northwest of Shaji, in 1895. His original name was Wei Qifu. Because he was the third among four siblings, he was also called Wei San. Over time, he became Lao Wei San. Due to poverty at home, when he was ten years old, he fled to the east of Si County, Anhui Province, south of Suining (now part of Sihong County, Suqian City, Jiangsu Province), and worked as a long-term laborer in the Chengtou, Sunyuan, and Chenwei areas near Hongze Lake. , cutting grass for people, herding pigs and cattle. One year when the Spring Festival was approaching, Old Wei San was preparing to return to his hometown with two bags of corn given by his employer. Unexpectedly, when he arrived at Quy Nhon Gem, he was snatched away by local ruffians. This is the result of a year’s hard work! Old Wei San couldn't help but feel angry and evil. He used a fake wood-carved pistol to seize three real guns from a local landlord's house. With the help of a distant cousin, he killed the gangsters who were robbing food. . A good man could no longer be a good man. From then on, Old Wei San "created the world" on his own and began his career as a bandit, robbing families and homes.

While working as a hired worker at Chen Peitang's family in Zhangtang Village, Sunyuan, Wei San met Xu Hetu, Chen's nephew who was slightly older than him and was studying in Zhangtang at the time. The latter colluded with officials and bandits, set up a local incense hall to recruit disciples, and became a local tyrant, so he was worshiped as an "old man" (master). With the backing of "all-in-one" officials and bandits, coupled with Lao Wei San's boldness, carefulness, ruthlessness, and certain leadership skills, the bandit forces gathered around him expanded sharply like a snowball, becoming the northern Jiangsu and Anhui Provinces. The famous "Mazi" leader in the border area, especially the Hongze Lake area, directly controls nearly 1,000 people and guns. If you include the large and small "Pengzi" under his control, the total number of people and guns reaches more than 3,000. . He took advantage of the conditions around Hongze Lake and the reed tidal flats that he was familiar with, and turned them into his own "bandit den". His activities spread throughout northern Jiangsu and Anhui, kidnapping, extorting, burning, killing, raping, and committing all kinds of evil. Hongze Lake became The most famous, powerful and harmful bandit gang in the surrounding area.

Although Lao Wei San was arrogant, he hit a wall in Shijia Dun. At first, Lao Wei San was afraid of the armed forces of his congregation and did not dare to fight forcefully, but tried to get Shijiadun to show weakness. Once, Wei San sent someone to send a letter to Lu Zigui, the director of the fair, asking him to prepare some rice noodles, eggs and pancakes to "serve" him. Unexpectedly, Lu Zigui did not show weakness, and brought a message to Old Wei San: "If you want rice, flour or eggs, you only have nails, plowshares (which are installed in earth cannons as shells) and bullets!" When Old Wei San saw this, " "Guang Di" dared to openly disobey orders. On the one hand, he lost face, and on the other hand, he also wanted to show some color to other villages. Therefore, he threatened in front of the public: "We can't defeat Shijia Dun. I, Wei San, am not surnamed Wei!" "The two sides are at war with each other, and the conflict is about to break out.

Lu Zigui and others heard that Old Wei San had vowed to defeat Shijiadun, and they also fully strengthened their war preparations. Organize manpower to cut down all the reeds in the two ponds in the southeast of the Wei to prevent bandits from hiding. Of the original three polder gates, the east gate was blocked with earth bags, and the remaining north gate and southwest gate were open during the day and locked at night. The entire polder worked at night to make broadswords and javelins. Many stones and stones were also smashed and carried up to the polder wall, where they were piled for later use.

All the residents of the fair, as well as some of the young and middle-aged people from the outside villagers who were fleeing from the bandits, were singled out and prepared to participate in the battle. Together with some strong and bold old men and women, there were seven to eight hundred people, armed with weapons in hand. On duty, especially members of the "Red Fist Club" were naked, wearing turbans, red belts around their waists, and swords in their hands, vowing to fight the bandits to the death.

Old Wei San also kept his word and transferred more than 10 stocks from Shang, Zhong and Xiahu (the old names of different areas of Hongze Lake) including Liu Rongduo, Liu Guangyi, Chen Maozhao, Liang Jiashan and Deng Wu. The bandits gathered about 1,500 men and guns and occupied the surrounding towns of Xiaoshunzhuang and Guandi Miaowei, ready to attack at any time. They also prepared several earthen cannons and removed all the rakes from nearby villagers to use as cannonballs for use in attacking fortresses. They also brought in several ox carts to build bridges when crossing the outer trenches and attack by force.

On the afternoon of August 17, 1927, with the sound of two gunshots, a black crowd of bandits launched an attack on Shijiadun from three directions: east, south and north, shouting wildly. There were people at the front in all three directions carrying flags, and the bandits' guns were all tied with red cloth. Behind them stood a man commanding him. He was of medium build, slightly fat and dark, with a mole on the lower right corner of his mouth, and a handful of hair about an inch long on it. If anyone recognized the hair, they would say it was Lao Wei San. When the bandits were approaching, an order was issued from within the polder, and the people in the congregation opened fire in response. The bandits launched several attacks and once approached the polder wall. However, the defenders on the polder wall attacked them with knives, poked them with spears, and threw stones at them. They fought fiercely until dark, but were all repelled.

The bandits attacked again the next morning, and the fighting became more intense, especially on the east side of Weizi, where the trenches were almost filled with the corpses of bandits in some places. The bandits filled several oxcarts with wheat straw, poured kerosene on them and set them on fire, then pushed them toward the polder gate in an attempt to burn it down. The first bullock cart was hit by the earthen artillery installed in the polder, and the people and the cart fell down the ditch. But the second bullock cart finally reached the polder gate, and the raging fire set the polder gate on fire. Lu Huaikong, the leader of the "Red Fist Club" who was directing the battle at Weimen, shouted to put out the fire. Unexpectedly, the bandits fired a shot and was shot to death. The polder gate could not be attacked for a while, so the bandits concentrated their cannons to bombard the polder wall. Many sections of the polder wall were blown down. Wherever they collapsed, the villagers used door panels and earth bags to fill them up, and then pushed back the bandits who took the opportunity to come up. Guard Lu Yuke saw a bandit grabbing a small tree on the polder wall and trying to climb up, so he raised his sword and struck it down, cutting off the bandit's head with one blow, and also chopped off the small tree along with it.

By the afternoon of the battle, the ammunition and gunpowder in the polder were exhausted, and the polder wall was blown down. The bandits then invaded the polder. Although the members of the "Red Fist Club" fought hand-to-hand with the bandits, they had no external reinforcements, suffered heavy casualties themselves, and eventually failed. Lao Wei San and his gang went on a killing spree, regardless of men, women, old or young, committing mass murder and adultery, turning ten families into a living hell. There is an elm seedling field in the faire. Many people who were unable to escape in time died there. They were forced to sit on the tips of knives buried vertically in the soil and stabbed to death by bandits, or were chopped or shot on the spot. There was a well in the northeast corner. Almost filled with corpses, the water in the well turned to blood. While killing people, the bandits looted everything they saw and burned houses they saw. Even pig pens and sheep pens were burned down. More than 3,000 houses in the polder were reduced to ashes, and many villagers hiding in their houses were also killed in the flames. Some villagers tried to escape when the dike was broken, but due to the deep water outside the trench, some women and children drowned in the trench. When the bandits retreated, they took away more than 140 people. Some were killed on the road and some were raped. According to statistics after the incident, a total of 827 villagers were brutally killed in Weiwei, and more than 40 people were injured. Many families were killed with 3 or 4 members, and some families were killed and their families were extinct since then.

After the bandits completely retreated, the villagers who had narrowly escaped death and the surrounding neighbors dared to return to the village to collect the bodies. It was the end of the seventh lunar month, and the weather was very hot. Hundreds of corpses were highly decomposed and torn apart by dogs, making them unrecognizable and difficult to identify. The stench of the corpses could be smelled for miles away. The scene was so tragic that it became Sui The largest murder case in the history of Ning County. There was Lu Tongxuan in Shijiadun who later served as the county magistrate of Suqian under the National Government. He was studying abroad at the time, and his parents and sisters were all killed in the banditry. He took the lead in running around calling for help, and requested the then Jiangsu Provincial Government to send troops to suppress bandits and provide relief to the victims. He successively raised 17,000 silver dollars to help the survivors rebuild their homes. However, too many villagers were killed and their vitality was exhausted. Shijiadun It has never recovered since then. However, the officers and soldiers sent to "suppress the bandits" colluded with Lao Wei San and his gang openly and secretly, resulting in repeated suppressions but repeated suppressions. Old Wei San and his gang were still committing crimes all around, committing dozens of massacres of various sizes and massacres in one day. For example, in the spring of 1930, hundreds of bandits led by Lao Wei San broke into Xiaopengwei, 4 miles away from Jinsuo Town, burned, killed, looted, and stole 18 guns. Dozens of local people were killed or injured. The commissioner of the Huaiyin Office of the National Government once lamented: "A small area of ​​land (referring to Hongze Lake) disturbed the unrest of six counties."

In 1937, the all-out Anti-Japanese War broke out, and the Kuomintang Jiangsu Provincial Government moved from Zhenjiang to Hongze. Huaiyin City east of Zehu Lake. In order to expand his personal power, Provincial Chairman Han Deqin adopted the strategy of "suppression and appeasement at the same time" against Lao Wei San and his gang, and increased recruitment efforts while conducting suppression. Under pressure, Lao Wei San accepted the recruitment in July 1938 and was appointed by South Korea as the commander of the Jiangsu Province Independent Brigade. He was stationed with Wang Guangxia's Jiangsu Province Standing 7th Brigade at Laozi Mountain opposite Hongze Lake. Old Wei San also gave himself a new name, Wei Zhixin.

However, although the name has been changed, the evil-doing banditry has not restrained at all. Instead, with the secret support of the Japanese and puppets, they have intensified their harm to the people. Not only did they set up cards on the lake to collect taxes, but they also often went ashore to rob and kill people on the west bank of Chengzi Lake. They openly fought with The local government led by our party was an enemy and even blocked the connection between the anti-Japanese armed forces in Huxi and Hudong.

In March 1940, the anti-Japanese regime in the Eight Districts of Siyang under the leadership of our party was established, administering six township offices including Luji, Jieji, Taiping, Gaoji, Longji and Jinwei. Soon the eight districts held a conference of representatives from all walks of life, proposing to unite and jointly overthrow the habitual bandit Lao Wei San. On the morning of March 20, Lao Wei San, Gao Zhujiu and other lake bandits jointly attacked the Eighth District. They were defeated by the Eighth District self-defense armed forces and were defeated for more than 30 miles in a row. In May, the 5th Detachment of the New Fourth Army, under the command of Liu Shaoqi and Zhang Aiping, worked closely with the Suluyu Detachment and the Longhai Nanjin Detachment to drive Wang Guangxia, Lao Wei San's backer, from the base area, and the bandits also retreated into Hongze Lake. In August, under the order of the Jiangbei Command, the commander of the 5th Detachment, Luo Binghui, led his troops to cross the Three Rivers north to liberate the entire territory of Huaibao, connecting the Northeast Anhui, Huainan, and Huaihai anti-Japanese base areas. Through the continuous attacks by our anti-Japanese armed forces along the lake, the scope of activities of the three bandits of Lao Wei was gradually reduced. On September 16, Lao Wei San led more than 1,000 people ashore to grab food near Luji. They encountered Huang Kecheng's troops from the 5th Column of the Eighth Route Army and suffered heavy losses.

In February 1941, the 9th Brigade of the 3rd Division of the New Fourth Army returned to northeastern Anhui and conquered Qingyang Town for the first time. Soon they expanded their results to the surrounding areas and wiped out the bandit land strongholds along Hongze Lake. In this area, the three bandits of Old Wei were defeated again and successfully entered half of the city. In order to consolidate the base area in Northeast Anhui and open up water connections between the Huaibei, Huainan and Huaihai liberated areas, the 9th Brigade decided to eliminate banditry in Hongze Lake. On May 2, the 25th Regiment of the 9th Brigade, with the cooperation of the 5th Brigade of the 2nd Division and the 10th Brigade of the 4th Division, attacked the lake bandits in three directions from the mouth of the Laobian River in Linhuai, Huang Wharf in Siyang, and Gaozui on the west bank of Chengzi Lake. After three days of fighting, most of the lake bandits were annihilated. All three bandits, Lao Wei, were wiped out. Only he escaped by diving.

Old Wei San, who was lucky enough to slip through the net, could not change his true nature, so he returned to Han Deqin and became the leader. This time he changed his career again and started espionage activities, organized a "black killing team", stepped up his infiltration and lurking on our side, planned riots and incited rebellion. It did have some results at first. His agent Sun Dekunmeng infiltrated into the party, and his distant nephew Wei Baozhai even infiltrated into the Hongze Lake Management Bureau established by the anti-Japanese regime and became the deputy director. However, the good times did not last long. These spy activities were detected one by one by our public security department, and both Sun Dekun and Wei Baozhai received the punishment they deserved. The darkness is not enough, and the light is coming. In the spring of 1943, Lao Wei San followed Han Deqin and Wang Guangxia to invade and occupy Lirenji and Chengdaokou in the Huaibei Anti-Japanese Base Area, intending to coordinate the eastward advance of the Kuomintang die-hard Wang Zhonglian in Mengcheng, Anhui Province, in an attempt to attack from the east and west and eliminate the main force of the 4th Division of the New Fourth Army. On March 17, the 4th Division took the initiative to launch an attack in Shanzitou Village, which is on the bank of Chengzi Lake and about 12 miles northeast of Jiejiji. After 15 hours of fierce fighting, more than 1,000 people including Han Deqin were captured alive, and more than 100 people including Wang Guangxia were killed. However, the old Wei San took advantage of the chaos and escaped from the encirclement again.

In the early morning of March 18, Lao Wei San ran to Qiuzhuang, about 20 miles away from Shanzitou Village, and knocked on the door of Qiu Xiangjiu’s house, who had been his guard. Old Wei San said to Qiu: "As long as you send me to the Yanghe River, you can take as many oceans as you want, and I can leave you the two box guns I have on me!" Qiu Xiangjiu pretended to agree, while secretly sending his nephew away His son Qiu Weijun reported to Xu Honglou, the head of Jiangwei Township in the Tuyuan District, overnight. That morning, Lao Wei San was caught with a gun while sleeping in bed before he got up. Old Wei San thought he would not escape death this time, but two days later, things took a turn for the better. It turns out that although there were frequent frictions between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party at that time, it was after all a period of cooperation against Japan. At the same time, in order to reflect the rational, beneficial and restrained struggle policy, the New Fourth Army decided to release all the prisoners captured in the Shanzitou battle.

When Old Wei San heard the news, he couldn't help but touch something hanging on his chest. He felt secretly happy in his heart. It seemed that there was a "civet" to help him. It was true that God would not kill me! It turned out that Lao Wei San believed that his many times of "saving danger" and escaping with his life were related to a "two-headed jade cat sign" he wore with him. This "jade cat" was obtained by Wei San from a landowner named Qin in the spring of 1930. He loved it so much that he wore it on his body during the day and pillowed it under his head when sleeping. Local people spread miraculous rumors that when there is a "fire signal" (something happens), the "jade cat" will shake on its own, reminding Wei San to escape as soon as possible.

But this time, the "Jade Cat" couldn't save Old Wei San. When the officers and soldiers of the 9th Brigade escorted the prisoners of war to the Dawangzhuang division headquarters near Bancheng, they passed by Luji on the way. Old Wei San, who had burned, killed and looted many times here, was recognized by the local people picking up dung. The news spread to ten, and the people heard that the habitual bandit leader Lao Wei San had been captured by the New Fourth Army, so they gathered more than 100 people. Wei Guoqing, the commander of the 9th Brigade, happened to be passing by. Everyone stopped the horse's head to explain the reason, and unanimously asked the New Fourth Army The heinous old Wei San was executed immediately. Wei Guoqing saw that the public's anger was really great, so he immediately wrote a letter asking the correspondent to send it to the person in charge of the escort team to take Old Wei San, who had arrived at the bridge south of Tanghuai, back to Luji. When Old Wei San saw that the visitor had only brought him back, he knew in his heart that he was doomed this time, and sighed helplessly: It is God's will that I die in Luji!

At noon on March 24, Lao Wei San was executed in a mass grave in the southwest corner of Lujiwei. The onlookers still couldn't understand their hatred, so they took off his clothes and piled corn stalks on him and burned them.

After hearing the news of his death, his wife and apprentice managed to transport the already unrecognizable body back to his hometown in Shaji, dress it up and bury it in a field about 3 miles away from his ancestral home. Not long after, the people of Shijiadun heard that Old Wei San had been shot by the New Fourth Army and that his body had been brought back for burial. More than 100 people came, armed with iron hairpins and shovels, to dig his grave and burn his body in revenge. The family only found some scattered bones and reburied them in the grave. By 1958, the People's Commune finally razed the three tombs of Old Wei to the ground, and this evil bandit leader became "history" together with his legend.