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In 1951, Chen Yi was appointed mayor of Shanghai and formally reformed old Shanghai. Ordinary people responded one after another, and letters of denunciation came one after another.

After sorting out the information, the staff found that the person who received the most reports from the public was Huang Jinrong.

Chen Yi was in a dilemma. Huang Jinrong was the top tycoon in Shanghai, and if he was touched, it would definitely cause unrest among all parties.

After some thought, Chen Yi came up with a clever idea: let Huang Jinrong sweep the streets!

When Chiang Kai-shek heard this, he couldn't help but laugh, "Chen Yi is too naive!"

Who is Huang Jinrong? Why did he arouse public outrage? Did Chen Yi's strategy work?

Huang Jinrong's Thoughts

In 1949, the People's Liberation Army launched the Battle of Crossing the Yangtze River and headed towards Shanghai.

Chiang Kai-shek was still determined to make a final struggle, so he summoned Tang Enbo and ordered him to stay in Shanghai for six months until he could lead the U.S. troops back to attack.

Although Tang Enbo had always been Chiang Kai-shek's most loyal supporter, at this moment he had to doubt Chiang Kai-shek's words.

The People's Liberation Army has a million troops. If he is asked to stay in Shanghai, wouldn't he be waiting to die in vain?

Lao Jiang patted his shoulder and comforted him: "Don't worry, I have already thought of a way out for you."

In fact, after the three major battles, Chiang Kai-shek realized the urgency of the situation and began to plan to flee to Taiwan.

But he was unwilling to give up this precious land of Shanghai to others.

However, the Kuomintang’s strength alone was definitely not enough to garrison Shanghai.

The various forces in Shanghai are lingering and powerful. If they can be persuaded to resist the People's Liberation Army, then Shanghai will definitely not fall into the hands of the People's Liberation Army for a while.

So he began to win over Shanghai tycoons from all walks of life, including Du Yuesheng, Huang Jinrong and others. At first, these tycoons were unwilling to be enemies of our army, nor were they willing to work for Chiang Kai-shek.

Chiang Kai-shek then brought up their past accounts and threatened them, "In 1927, you did a lot to target them. Now that the People's Liberation Army has entered the city, do you really think you will get away with it?"

Everyone present felt guilty. After the first cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party broke down, they did help the Kuomintang kill many of our party members.

When the People's Liberation Army enters Shanghai, they will definitely be the first to be liquidated.

After Chiang Kai-shek's threats and inducements, the cowardly soldiers fled to Hong Kong and Taiwan, while those who were bewitched by Chiang Kai-shek planned to stay and fight against our army.

Only a small number of people were sober and were thinking about how to surrender to our army, including Huang Jinrong.

Long before our army launched the campaign to cross the Yangtze River, the Central Committee had discussed "how to deal with these Shanghai gang members."

People thought that these gangs were powerful and if they were eliminated all at once, it would cause unrest. Keeping them would be beneficial to the future development of Shanghai.

The Central Committee finally decided to work with these people and make them serve our party.

So the central government immediately sent people to secretly contact tycoons from all walks of life in Shanghai, and explained to them that as long as they stayed in the city quietly, did not cause trouble for our army, and honestly accepted reform in the future, they would not be touched.

The tycoons were skeptical after receiving the news. With a murder case between them, would the People's Liberation Army really let them go so easily?

Others didn't believe it, but Huang Jinrong decided to believe it once.

Huang Jinrong was already 84 years old at this time and had some old illnesses, so he could not bear the traveling around.

He started preparing for his death last year, and his biggest wish now is to return to his hometown. He doesn't want to live a glorious life and end up dying in a foreign land.

So after some thought, Huang Jinrong accepted our army's "surrender" and promised to obey all our army's arrangements.

Chen Yi encountered a problem

On May 12, the Battle of Shanghai began.

In order to avoid destroying Shanghai’s precious buildings and hand Shanghai over intact to the people, the Central Committee issued a strict instruction to the Third Field Army: no use of heavy weapons is allowed!

After receiving the news, Chen Yi turned to Nie Fengzhi and said, "This is like hunting a rat in a porcelain shop. You must be extremely careful!"

So the soldiers used their bodies as shields and rushed into the enemy's artillery fire with only light rifles.

After a fierce battle, our army captured Shanghai with great difficulty. When the battle was over, the Suzhou River had been dyed blood red by the blood of the soldiers.

After the great victory, the PLA soldiers were encouraged, but at this time, the common people in the city were in a state of panic.

When Chiang Kai-shek was in Shanghai, he used public opinion to mislead the masses. He tried to portray our army as arrogant and unreasonable, so that the masses would reject our army.

Therefore, after learning that the People's Liberation Army had entered the city, every household sealed their windows and locked their doors to prevent our army from "looting indiscriminately."

But what they don’t know is that our army proposed the three major disciplines as early as the Red Army period, and will never take a single needle or thread from the masses. It is a truly civilized army.

Before entering Shanghai, General Chen Yi also issued "City Entry Rules" to the soldiers, which regulated the specific behavior of the soldiers after entering Shanghai.

But when the soldiers saw a rule that said "do not enter private homes", they immediately had doubts.

In the past, when they fought, they always stayed in the homes of fellow villagers. They helped them fetch water and farm, and the villagers let them recuperate at home.

The villagers knew that the soldiers would not take a single needle or thread from them, so they always secretly stuffed sweet potatoes and eggs into their packages when they left.

The relationship between the soldiers and the people is like that of a family. But now the army does not allow them to enter the houses of the people. Why is that?

Chen Yi insisted: "We must absolutely obey the instructions of our superiors! This is our gift to the people of Shanghai. If we are too rude, we will be kicked out!"

Seeing that the leader had spoken, the soldiers no longer had any objections.

On the day they entered Shanghai, it suddenly started to rain, and some cadres asked Chen Yi to let the soldiers take shelter in the empty auditorium.

But Chen Yi still did not approve. In order to encourage the soldiers, Chen Yi also stood with the soldiers in the rain.

At night, the soldiers slept on the ground without disturbing any households.

The next morning, the people carefully opened the windows and saw this scene:

The PLA soldiers slept in rows on the wet ground, their clothes still stained with blood and their faces showing the fatigue of having just experienced a fierce battle.

From this moment on, the people completely saw through the Kuomintang’s lies and realized that the People’s Liberation Army was a truly righteous army.

Through practical actions, the People's Liberation Army gained the trust of the people and was finally accepted by the city of Shanghai.

Chen Yi was appointed mayor of Shanghai and began to rectify old Shanghai.

He demolished opium dens and gambling houses that endangered people's lives; he also spoke on behalf of the people and cracked down on all illegal and criminal activities.

The people saw hope in life, and letters of denunciation were sent to Chen Yi.

After opening it, Chen Yi discovered that the people were almost all reporting on the same person - Huang Jinrong.

Huang Jinrong was the top tycoon in Shanghai, and he had been committing crimes in Shanghai. Many revolutionaries of our party died at his hands.

Not only did the common people hate him to the core, even Chen Yi did not have much of a good impression of him.

But when the People's Liberation Army entered the city, Huang Jinrong helped our army a lot. Our army also promised him that as long as he reformed well, he would be given a chance to start a new life.

Moreover, Huang Jinrong had complicated relationships and was implicated in many matters.

Now not only the gangs in Shanghai, but even Chiang Kai-shek is paying attention to Chen Yi's actions.

If Chen Yi really dealt with Huang Jinrong harshly, not only would Chiang Kai-shek laugh at him, but the wealthy businessmen who had fled to other places would not return to the mainland to invest.

Chen Yi was in a dilemma as he had to agree to the masses' request.

So after thinking it over, Chen Yi came up with a clever way to deal with Huang Jinrong.

Chen Yi personally went to Huang Jinrong's home and educated him: "You have done too many bad things in the past, and the people will not easily forgive you. Now I give you a chance to make amends. Do you want it?"

Huang Jinrong quickly said: "Yes! As long as the country and the people can forgive me, I am willing to do anything."

Huang Jinrong was very familiar with this routine. Every time Chiang Kai-shek talked to him, he would take a large sum of money from him.

He thought Chen Yi came to ask him for money this time.

Unexpectedly, Chen Yi gave him a broom and said: "You used to arbitrarily exploit the working people and never felt their hardship. I will punish you to sweep the streets and do some labor to win the people's understanding!"

When Chiang Kai-shek heard the news, he laughed at Chen Yi for a long time: "They are too naive. How can a man as cruel and cunning as Huang Jinrong be willing to sweep the streets?"

As a result, the next day, newspapers in Hong Kong and Taiwan were full of news about Huang Jinrong sweeping the streets, with a photo of Huang Jinrong holding a broom attached.

Chiang Kai-shek stared at the newspaper in his hand and suddenly sighed, "Chen Yi is too amazing."

Back then, Chiang Kai-shek kowtowed to Huang Jinrong and acknowledged him as his master, only in exchange for Huang Jinrong's nod.

I didn't expect that Chen Yi could make Huang Jinrong obey so easily.

Lao Jiang Becomes a Disciple

Although Huang Jinrong was powerful and influential, he was a commoner in his early years and had no background.

When he was young, he was just an ordinary patrolman in the French Concession in Shanghai. He gradually made his fortune by fawning over the French and getting along with everyone.

During that period, he often helped the French to oppress the working people and cause harm to the local people.

In order to get promoted, he secretly colluded with ruffians and used the thief crying "stop thief" to build momentum for himself.

Once, a shop across from the police station lost a golden sign, and the owner came to Huang Jinrong to report the case. Huang Jinrong found it back in just one afternoon.

In fact, this was a conspiracy between him and the gangsters.

Later, with the help of these gangsters, he solved the kidnapping case of a French Catholic priest, and was thus highly valued by the French.

From then on, Huang Jinrong became famous and became a well-known figure in Shanghai.

With the help of the French, Huang Jinrong began to slowly develop his own power.

He opened various entertainment venues and gradually became the biggest boss of the Shanghai gangs. Even Chiang Kai-shek had to show him some courtesy.

On Huang Jinrong's 80th birthday, Chiang Kai-shek personally came to wish him a happy birthday, kowtowed to him and became his disciple.

Of course, Chiang Kai-shek did not really want to be his apprentice. At that time, he opened a stock exchange and lost a lot of money. Every day, people came to his house to collect debts. Chiang Kai-shek had no choice but to ask Huang Jinrong for help.

Huang Jinrong saw him kowtow, so he waved his hand and helped Lao Jiang solve this big problem. With Lao Jiang as his "apprentice", Huang Jinrong no longer had any worries in Shanghai.

Although Huang Jinrong committed many evil deeds, he still had some national integrity. When the Japanese army invited him to serve as the chairman of the maintenance association, Huang Jinrong firmly refused.

It was for this reason that our party gave Huang Jinrong a chance to reform himself.

Later, Huang Jinrong personally wrote a "confession" to repent for his previous mistakes.

The confession of this "local tyrant" who once dominated the area not only had a deterrent effect on the remaining forces of the gang, but also gave people hope for the new government.