On a winter day in 1935, the sky was filled with dark clouds, so low that they seemed to be pressing down on the top of the city wall. The biting cold wind blew away, and pedestrians on the road exhaled white breath.

In a courtyard in the ancient city of Xi'an, which has thousands of years of history, a young and beautiful couple are talking. The husband looked calm and said to his wife:

The considerate wife forgot the unhappiness of the previous two days and agreed.

Later, the wife took a sickle to the vegetable garden at home, intending to cut some leeks so that she could make delicious dumplings for her husband. But no one could have imagined that. At this time, his husband slowly walked behind his wife holding a short pistol.

The wife had no idea that death was about to come, and she was still talking to her husband behind her back. But her husband's calm and handsome face was now distorted. He slowly raised the pistol with his right hand, pointing the black muzzle at the back of his wife's head.

"Bang"! With the sound of a gunshot that echoed through the house, a strange case occurred during the Republic of China.

"The Case of Wife Murder in the Ancient City". The man who cruelly killed his wife was Zhang Lingfu, then the head of the Kuomintang lieutenant colonel.

On August 20, 1903, Zhang Lingfu was born in Dongda Village, Dongda Township, Chang'an County, Shaanxi Province. His original name was Zhang Zhonglin.

Unlike many generals of the Communist Party who were born in poverty, Zhang Lingfu’s family was relatively well-off and he was considered a rich peasant family. Zhang Lingfu himself is relatively smart and studious, and his family provides him with the opportunity to study and go to school.

This made Zhang Lingfu's childhood go very smoothly. In that era when some ordinary people had no food to eat, Zhang Lingfu was superior to others in everything. Perhaps at this time, he developed a self-centered, lack of Empathic character.

In 1921, Zhang Lingfu was admitted to the famous Chang'an Middle School in Shaanxi and received a new education. New ideas gradually spread among this generation of children. Unexpectedly, Zhang Lingfu was filled with the word "revolution". Head full.

In 1923, Zhang Lingfu was admitted to the History Department of Peking University. Even today, only very few people can go to Peking University, which shows that Zhang Lingfu is indeed very smart.

Zhang Lingfu has a certain level of history and calligraphy, but he is extremely ambitious and cannot sit on the bench and engage in academic work. At the same time, something happened in his family, and his family was in trouble and it was difficult to pay for school fees. Soon after, he joined the army and was admitted to Whampoa Military Academy.

In addition to being smart and clever, Zhang Lingfu also has a good face. He is handsome in his early 20s and will become the focus of the crowd wherever he goes.

In the same year, he married his first wife, Xing Fengying, from his hometown.

The Republic of China was so dark. In a nutshell, poor families had to "sell their sons and daughters" in order to keep a way of survival. Xing Fengying is a child bride who was sold.

Zhang Lingfu’s father, Zhang Hongen, was on the verge of bankruptcy due to business failure and could not find a wealthy family for Zhang Lingfu. He had no choice but to give Xing Fengying at home to his son.

Xing Fengying is a traditional Chinese rural woman who is illiterate and knows nothing about the outside world and has no desire to know.

But the advantages of traditional women are also vividly displayed in her, including tolerance, filial piety, and thoughtfulness. Zhang Lingfu is rarely at home, and his parents were taken care of by Xing Fengying until they die.

Although Xing Fengying has a good face, she is illiterate and has no common language with Zhang Lingfu.

When Zhang Lingfu was in his hometown, he sometimes shared the same bed and pillow with her. After Zhang Lingfu joined the army, he almost never contacted Xing Fengying again. However, Zhang Lingfu never divorced Xing Fengying, Zhang Lingfu’s legal spouse It's always been her.

In 1927, Zhang Lingfu graduated from the fourth class of Huangpu Military Academy.

Readers who are familiar with history must know that the four generals of Huangpu are like clouds, and dozens of high-ranking officials and generals from both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party are from the fourth period.

Among them, the most famous is undoubtedly Lin Biao.

In the same year, the vigorous revolution began. The Northern Expedition troops went all the way north and fought many victorious battles. Zhang Lingfu was also among them, and he slowly rose through the ranks from acting platoon leader.

By 1933, Zhang Lingfu was the major commander of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Independent Brigade of the 1st Division. He was a young and promising man. With Zhang Lingfu's handsomeness and talent, he has had a lot of luck over the years.

But as he arrived in Guangyuan, Sichuan, he discovered a woman who made him extremely excited, his future second wife: Wu Hailan.

Wu Hailan was born into a good family. Her father was a well-known coppersmith in Guangyuan County. At that time, few parents would send their daughters to study. In the eyes of many traditional people, this was "treason". There is an old saying in China: "It is virtue for a woman to have no talent."

But Wu Hailan's father was not like this. He was very open-minded and had financial foundation, so he sent Wu Hailan to a girls' school in the county.

At that time, there were very few girls who had received modern education, and Wu Hailan was beautiful and generous. Many local matchmakers crossed the threshold of Wu Hailan's family and wanted to marry Wu Hailan.

But what about Wu Hailan?

The families of the classmates she came into contact with were all rich or noble, and they were all local prominent families and upper-class people. Wu Hailan's vision is getting higher and higher, and she doesn't take ordinary men seriously.

Except for one man.

That is Zhang Lingfu.

In 1933, Zhang Lingfu met Wu Hailan through a friend’s introduction. The relationship between the two quickly became heated. Wu Hailan admired the talents of the major leader and admired his extraordinary prowess.

Zhang Lingfu was also impressed by Wu Hailan's beauty, not to mention that his father-in-law's family was a prominent local family.

After the two got along for a few months, they quickly got married in Guangyuan according to traditional etiquette.

When Xing Fengying learned about this, she swallowed her anger and said nothing.

After they got married, Wu Hailan followed Zhang Lingfu to live in the big city of Xi'an, because the Kuomintang troops were encircling and suppressing our Red Army.

After Zhang Lingfu was ordered, he left home and returned to the army to fight.

Wu Hailan lived in the home of Zhang Lingfu's cousin Zhang Defu.

According to Zhang Lingfu’s nephew, Zhang Defu’s son Zhang Juzheng (yes, Zhang Juzheng) recalled:

A year later, Wu Hailan gave birth to a daughter for Zhang Lingfu, named Zhang Qingfang. Here, the family People are also happy.

But what happened next caused a sensation throughout Xi'an.

In 1935, Zhang Lingfu went home to visit relatives.

Soon after, the "Gucheng regiment leader's wife-killing case" broke out (the scene at the beginning of the article), which caused a sensation and was unknown to everyone inside and outside Xi'an.

Even the matter of a mere regiment-level cadre was brought to Chiang Kai-shek. Why is this?

Why did the two loving people end up like this after they were obviously married?

Let us go back to 1986 to find out the cause of this incident.

Zhang Lingfu has always been known for his strict management of the army in the army. He likes to "kill one to serve as a warning to others" and sometimes shoots soldiers himself. Perhaps this is a true portrayal of the Kuomintang army at that time.

Although the internal discipline of the Kuomintang army was loose at that time, officers could often go home to visit relatives.

But some conflicts inevitably occurred between Wu Hailan and Zhang Lingfu.

There are currently two main theories, which are considered to be the reasons for the tragedy at the beginning.

The first is the "cheating theory".

In 1984, Wang Yaowu's adjutant Wu Litian published an article "The Zhang Lingfu I Know" in the literary and historical materials of Shaanxi Province. In it, he talked about the rumors he had heard about the murder of his wife and believed that Zhang Lingfu discovered that Wu Hailan was having an affair and shot him dead.

It is said that Zhang Lingfu, as Hu Zongnan’s favorite general, spent a long time fighting abroad.

Once, a fellow countryman and comrade-in-arms returned to the camp. Zhang Lingfu casually asked him about his wife while chatting with him. His friend looked at him and wanted to tease him, so he jokingly said:

After Zhang Lingfu heard about this, he was furious, a man and a soldier.

It was okay to be cuckolded. He hurriedly asked for leave and returned home to settle the score with Wu Hailan. In a fit of rage, he shot his wife to death.

The second is the "espionage theory."

At that time, the Chinese and Japanese sides were fighting in the northwest region.

According to the memories of Zhang Lingfu’s fourth wife Wang Yuling and his subordinate Liu Guangyu in his later years, Zhang Lingfu once had a confidential document disappear.

As a result, he doubted whether his wife was a "spy" sent by the Kuomintang. When Zhang Lingfu questioned Wu Hailan in every possible way, Wu Hailan remained silent. As a result, Zhang Lingfu shot Wu Hailan to death in anger.

Did Zhang Lingfu really kill his wife for one of these two reasons? The author has some new guesses and perceptions based on historical data. At the end of this article, I will state my own guesses.

In any case, Wu Hailan was killed, and Zhang Lingfu "buried" Wu Hailan's body as if nothing had happened and burned her "clothes" on fire.

But paper can’t cover up the fire after all. Wu Hailan is not as illiterate as Xing Fengying. Even if a woman from a poor family disappeared in that era, no one would care about her.

She is an educated person because she is literate. Although her family is not powerful, it is considered well-off.

Therefore, I met many good friends during my stay in Xi'an.

One of them is Li Chaohui, the younger sister of the famous "Li Sisters" from Xi'an. Not only was Li Chaohui powerful in the local area, but her lover was Zhou Fanbo, the confidential secretary of Yang Hucheng, the powerful warlord who controlled Xi'an at the time.

Li Chaohui discovered that Wu Hailan was missing, and then learned the truth of that day through various methods, and ordered someone to publish an article in "Xi'an Daily" to report Zhang Lingfu for killing his wife.

Not only that, because Wu Hailan had participated in the Women's Association of Xi'an, after this news was learned by the Women's Association, all new women in Xi'an began to denounce Zhang Lingfu.

At this time, Zhang Lingfu has made a big mistake.

After Wu Hailan's brother Wu Zhengyou learned the news, he immediately rushed to Xi'an and ran around. The younger sister, who had been regarded as the apple of her family's eye since she was a child, died in vain like this. Her family must seek justice no matter what.

Wu Hailan’s family submitted petitions to the Xi’an Court and Hu Zongnan’s First Division Headquarters, but received no response.

Originally, the Wu family had expected that there might be officials within the Kuomintang army protecting them, which would lead to the case falling into pieces. But with the involvement of one person, the matter took a turn for the better.

She is Yu Fengzhi.

Who is Yu Fengzhi? She is the wife of "Young Marshal" Zhang Xueliang. Everyone must know it by now.

Chiang Kai-shek forced Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng to suppress the "bandits" in the northwest. Zhang Xueliang also happened to be in Xi'an at this time. When this incident reached the ears of Yu Fengzhi, the honorary president of the Xi'an Women's Association at the time, she was furious and decided to intervene in the incident.

When Yu Fengzhi returned home, he told Zhang Xueliang that Zhang Lingfu, a murderer, would be severely punished.

But Zhang Lingfu was under Hu Zongnan. Zhang Xueliang was under great pressure from our Red Army Xu Haidong unit and was unwilling to offend Hu Zongnan again (he was afraid that Hu Zongnan would stab the Northeast Army in the back).

It is well known that there are many factions within the Kuomintang.

Therefore, Zhang Xueliang did not agree to his wife's request and did not dare to intervene in this incident.

And Yu Fengzhi is also a sweetheart, so she will take care of this matter to the end.

She immediately contacted Chiang Kai-shek’s wife, Song Meiling.

As "the most powerful woman in the Republic of China", Soong Meiling was the convergence point of the same interests of the "four major families". It can be said that the wind gets the wind and the rain gets the rain.

During the Anti-Japanese War, she deposited a large amount of cash assistance from the Americans for the purchase of military aircraft into American banks and earned interest. But even Song Meiling did one good thing, and that was the "New Life Movement".

Among the "New Life Movement", the most important one is to liberate women and get rid of traditional feudal customs.

Fortunately for Zhang Lingfu, this was not disrespecting women, but simply killing his wife. This behavior is really too bad.

After Song Meiling learned about this, she was also very angry. This was just hitting her own "barrel of a gun". She immediately asked Chiang Kai-shek to investigate and deal with this person and give an explanation to the victim's family.

In the eyes of others, although Zhang Lingfu has a high official position, he is just a regiment leader. This matter has been brought to the central government. How can we not kill his head to vent the public's anger?

There is an old saying in China that has been circulating for thousands of years: "A murderer must pay a life, and a debt must pay a debt."

But what they did not expect was that Zhang Lingfu, the district commander, was indeed insignificant at the time. , ordinary officers will just kill them.

But he also has a more important identity: a fourth-term graduate of Huangpu.

As we said before, the fourth phase of Huangpu is a phase where generals are gathered, and it is also Chiang Kai-shek's confidant team. For a man like Chiang Kai-shek, how could the death of an ordinary citizen's daughter be compared with that of his close men?

Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek, ostensibly in order to calm public opinion, ordered Zhang Lingfu to surrender to Nanjing quickly. At the same time, he expressed his position to Soong Meiling that Zhang Lingfu would be severely punished.

But in fact, Huangpu students have decided to let him go.

Therefore, after Zhang Lingfu received the order, he found that there were no military police or military agents to escort him, so he felt confident and knew that his life should not be cut off.

Not only did he live in Xi'an for a while before setting off (he also slept with his first wife, whom he had not spoken to for a long time, and they gave birth to a son), he also traveled and played in big cities such as Zhengzhou along the way, and even used his His excellent calligraphy earned him a living allowance.

After Chiang Kai-shek met Zhang Lingfu in Nanjing, he scolded him, and then he was thrown into the "Model Prison" and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Although he was sentenced to a fixed term of imprisonment, anyone with a discerning eye could see that Zhang Lingfu was still going to be released from prison.

Although Zhang Lingfu could not move around at will during his stay in prison, he lived a comfortable life. With his status as a member of the Huangpu faction, he had enough to eat and drink, and he did not look like a criminal at all.

On July 7, 1937, the July 7th Incident broke out, and the Chinese nation fell into a life-and-death situation.

The country is in crisis, but it is a great opportunity for Zhang Lingfu.

Chiang Kai-shek took the opportunity of the resistance against Japan to release all the criminals in prison (except political prisoners, who were Chiang Kai-shek's dissidents) and incorporated them into the army.

Zhang Lingfu will see the light of day again.

After being released from prison, Zhang Lingfu was favored by Wang Yaowu. In order to show that he had changed his mind and to deceive others, he swapped his first name "Zhonglin" and his nickname "Lingfu". His original name was Zhang Zhonglin and he officially changed his name to "Zhang Zhonglin". Zhang Lingfu.

To be fair, Zhang Lingfu also made a lot of contributions during the Anti-Japanese War, but due to his limited military position and limited abilities, he did not have many outstanding achievements that have been passed down to later generations.

He can be regarded as a person who contributed to the Anti-Japanese War. In the author's opinion, he is not up to the level and grade of a famous anti-Japanese general. He is even far worse than his future nemesis, Li Tianxia, ??a senior official of the Kuomintang.

But Zhang Lingfu was really good at love luck. During the Anti-Japanese War, Zhang Lingfu met a beautiful woman, Gao Yanyu, and quickly got married.

Not only that, Gao Yanyu's family is a truly famous family in Xi'an. His ancestors have produced several Hanlin officials, and they are one of the richest families in Xi'an.

Although Gao Yanyu was as beautiful as a flower, she soon had a conflict with Zhang Lingfu. Zhang Lingfu said that she loved smoking opium, and that she was too feudal and superstitious to look like a woman who had read books.

Before the Anti-Japanese War ended, their marriage broke down.

In the summer of 1945, the Anti-Japanese War was about to be won.

Zhang Lingfu is stationed in Changsha. At this time, Zhang Lingfu has been appointed as the lieutenant general commander of the 74th Division. He has the rank of lieutenant general and is a real senior KMT general.

Zhang Lingfu’s marriage experience is obviously much richer than his Anti-Japanese War experience.

At this time, he was already 42 years old, but he fell in love with Wang Yuling, a woman 25 years younger than him who was only 17 years old at the time.

Not only was Wang Yuling in her prime, she was as beautiful as a flower and graceful, but her family was extremely wealthy. When she was young, she and her sister used to burn U.S. dollars for fun.

Zhang Lingfu tried every means to get close to Wang Yuling. He often took Wang Yuling to read classical literature together. He also took this girl, who was still in her Huaichun period, to ride horses together on both sides of the Xiangjiang River.

Zhang Lingfu is handsome and an officer of the national army. He is also familiar with various historical allusions and writes well.

This aspect, every aspect, hit Wang Yuling's heart.

In this way, Wang Yuling was completely captured.

In the same year, Zhang Lingfu and 17-year-old Wang Yuling got married at the Golden Gate Hotel in Shanghai, with Cheng Qian, then chairman of the Hunan Provincial Government, personally officiating.

I don’t know if Zhang Lingfu will change his mind about this beloved wife like his previous wives, but Wang Yuling is indeed devoted to his lover.

The relationship between the two couples was very harmonious. Zhang Lingfu once said to others in a boastful manner:

As Chiang Kai-shek tore up the "Double Ten Agreement", the vigorous People's Liberation War began.

In early 1947, Wang Yuling gave birth to a boy, Zhang Daoyu.

Zhang Lingfu was very happy about this, but he showed no mercy as a father to the people in the liberated areas. He burned, killed, looted, and committed all kinds of evil.

On May 16 of that year, the "Reorganized 74th Army", one of the five main forces of the Kuomintang army led by Zhang Lingfu, was surrounded by our Huaye troops and annihilated on Menglianggu.

When Wang Yuling heard about this, it was like a thunderbolt. For three to five seconds, he was speechless and had no expression. His brain was like a blank piece of paper.

Wang Yuling's love for Zhang Lingfu is sincere and deep.

After the reactionary Chiang dynasty was overthrown, Wang Yuling first retreated to Taiwan with the Nationalist Army, and then with the help of Sun Liren, he went to the United States. After the age of 19 (the old man is still alive, he is 92 years old this year) ), the beautiful Wang Yuling never remarried.

He was a widow for Zhang Lingfu for half his life!

Not only was Wang Yuling sincere and sincere, she also resolutely fought against the "Taiwanese poison" forces in her later years. She returned to Shanghai to settle in the 1990s. Looking at her life, she has a strong feeling for her family and country.

It is a heroine.

At the end of the article, the author is not talented. He would like to talk about his conjecture about the "Ancient City Wife Murder Case". Perhaps the reason is not that complicated.

The details of the "cheating theory" cannot stand up to scrutiny at all.

It is different from now. In that era, once cheating was discovered, neither oneself nor the family could hold their heads up anymore. It could be said to be "social death". If Wu Hailan really cheated, even the whole family would be Some people will support Zhang Lingfu's behavior (of course, from today's perspective, this kind of value is oppressive to women).

The "espionage theory" is even more nonsense.

Although Zhang Lingfu was in the fourth phase of Huangpu, his position was too low. He was a regiment-level cadre and had no confidential information at all. Moreover, many years have passed since the Agrarian Revolutionary War, and most of the parties involved are no longer alive.

Our army’s underground staff have all been declassified. There are few omissions in the issued certificates and martyr certificates, and there is no identity certificate for Wu Hailan.

Moreover, the Chiang Kai-shek government was at the height of its "anti-Japanese" campaign at that time. Even if Zhang Lingfu could produce some evidence of suspicion, he would not be imprisoned.

Contemporaries made many remarks that could not stand scrutiny for various reasons.

In fact, judging from the memories of Xing Fengying, Zhang Juzheng and others, it was Wu Hailan and Zhang Lingfu who had conflicts over trivial matters.

The Wu Hailan family did not have much power, so Zhang Lingfu was unscrupulous and killed his wife, not expecting that things would get worse.

Because Zhang Lingfu is handsome and handsome, some people have been elevating his historical status over the years. From the author's point of view, he made some contribution to the war against Japan, but his cruel nature should also be exposed in his short life. , overall, the merits and demerits cannot be offset, and it should still be hung on the wall of shame in history.