WANG TEH-LIN (王德林), "A FIGHTING BULL"

Of our national heroes who led the Volunteers against the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1932, only few are now left in the field. Among those who remain we may mention only two: the "Little White Dragon," a former brigand chief, and General Wang Teh-lin, the self-styled "fighting bull."

Wang Lin who later came to be known as Wang Teh-lin was born in the valley of River Chi (沂水), Shantung, where Confucius longed to have his bath. His parents died early, and in his teens he was looked upon as a good-for-nothing loafer in his village. However, he was soon found among the more adventurous elements migrating from Shantung to Manchuria in the 90's and later owning a timber mill in Shanchakou (now Tungning), eastern Kirin. It was here that an important episode happened to him which changed Wang Lin the lumber mill owner into Wang Teh-lin who shines forth now as a lone star among the Volunteer leaders.

A few years before the Boxer Uprising, the Russian influence, if not dominant was already keenly felt in Manchuria; and over the hills of Shanchakou, as elsewhere along the Chinese-Russian border, Chinese and Russian frontier guards jointly searched the hills for bandits every winter. It so happened that six bandits were stopping at Wang Lin's lumber camp and were peacefully making themselves at home, when suddenly appeared not far from the camp the Russian guards. The outlaws, seeing that it was too late to escape, put up a desperate fight and killed several Russians. Half of their own number were killed and the others fled. The Russian guards reached the camp, shot down four or five mill hands and lined up the rest to face the firing squad. The Chinese soldiers hearing the shots hurried up the hills and were there just in time to save the innocent lumber jacks. All the while Wang Lin was returning to his camp from the city where he had collected accounts from his clients. In the camp he found his nephew—his sister's son, to be exact—among the dead, and he vowed vengeance.

In the spring he sold his mill and moved to Vladivostok, where he was known to the Chinese as a hard worker, a peaceful and honest man. But soon the number of drunken Russian guards who were drowned in the port or otherwise mysteriously disappeared was, so the story goes, on the increase. It did not take the Russians long to cast suspicion on this new comer, and one morning Wang Lin found himself arrested by the Russians who were quite determined to do away with him. But the Chinese population of Vladivostok was agog, and many Chinese firms of good reputation were willing to bail him out. The Russian authorities, in order to pacify the Chinese merchants and labourers, sent him to the Russian consul in Changchun. After three months' investigation, the consul found no evidence against him and set him free. Clad in autumn clothing he braved the Manchurian mid-winter weather and walked from Changchun back to Vladivostok. Then came the Boxer Uprising, and after the tumult which it created, we find Wang Lin and a score or so of his followers hunting in the woods along the highway between Vladivostok and Kirin city. They plundered and sometimes killed Russian travellers. And true to the traditions of outlaws, Wang Lin was always generous to the poor. The Russians pressed the Chinese authorities to exterminate the gang, but Wang Lin and his followers were always too fleet for the halfhearted Chinese soldiers and it was not until some time after one Russian official had been attacked that they were cornered and driven to a desperate fight. Five or six of Wang Lin's men were killed and the Chinese commanding officer desiring to end the trouble once for all—officially at least—got some villagers to verify that Wang Lin was among the dead. So Wang Lin was dead, and Wang Teh-lin was merrily carrying on his Robin Hood activities.

In 1915 due to a combination of factors, including the notorious Twenty-One Demands, Wang and his followers were incorporated into the Kirin regular army. He was made a major and his followers, over four hundred in number, formed a battalion. And for sixteen years he and his men led soldiers' humdrum life, with the occasional excitement in suppressing the bandits.

Then came the September 18 Incident. Two provinces were lost in as many days. It was a time of bewilderment to the local authorities. While they deliberated on what they should do, the Japanese lost no time in making further survey of eastern Kirin where they planned to build a railway of great strategic importance connecting Changchun to a northeastern Korean port. The surveyors came to south of Tunhua and came dangerously near the headquarters of Wang Teh-lin. His guards signalled to the Japanese to stop and shot and killed one of them when they ignored the guards' commands. The matter was referred by the Japanese to the garrison commander in Tunhua, and Major Wang was summoned. He went and he stuck to his gun. When the Japanese representative remarked to Major Wang's superior that Chinese military men were unreasonable, he spanked the Japanese on the cheek and retorted that there was no one in the world so unreasonable as the Japanese military who occupied two Chinese provinces without slightest provocation. He left with his bodyguards before any one else in the meeting grasped the full significance of the act.

By hook and crook the Japanese won over his superior who tried to persuade Major Wang to board the same train and go to the Kirin city. But he was too shrewd for the Japanese, and this was his reply: "After old Marshal Chang's train was bombed by the Japanese, who is safe to travel by train?" With these words he ended his allegiance to his former superior, and a few days later he captured Tunhua by a surprise night attack. What he did after that is too well known to call for repetition here. Suffice it to say that at one time he had under him between 100,000 and 200,000 men, although by the early part of 1933 his forces dwindled to 50,000-60,000 and he, as so many other Volunteer leaders, had to flee to Russia. In the following summer he came back to China by way of Europe and the South Seas. He stopped at Hongkong and with the promise of some material help by Canton back he went to assume his command of his forces without so much as touching Shanghai.

He is daring and quick in decision. A man of over fifty years old, he still lives a strenuous life. He is a simple man, but his tall and squarely built stature looks impressive; indeed there is something of a fighting bull in him. It was in Canton that he remarked: "I am a fighting bull, and I know only how to fight." To fight he certainly knows, for even as this is being written the news dispatches from Manchuria indicate that several districts in eastern Kirin have once more fallen into his hands and Chinese flags are proudly waving in that small corner of the territory that has been for centuries China's.

L. Y.

[No. 33; Aug. 16, 1934]

王德林¹，“武牛”

在1932年率领东北救国军抵抗日本侵略的民族英雄中，现在只有为数很少的几位还在坚持战斗。我们只能提到其中两位：一位是原先的胡匪头子“小白龙”，另一位是自称“武牛”的王德林将军。

王德林原名王林，出生在山东沂水流域，沂水就是孔夫子想浴乎其中的那条河。他小时候父母双亡，到了十几岁，村里人都认为他是个游手好闲没出息的孩子。但是在（19世纪）90年代，他很快成了闯关东的一员，后来在吉林东部的三岔口（现在的东宁）²开办了一家木材厂。正是在这个地方发生的一起重大事件，使得木材厂主王林变成了王德林——如今救国军诸领袖中独自放射光芒的一颗明星。

义和团运动爆发以前，俄国人的势力在东三省，即使还没占据主导地位，也已经能够深切地感觉到了。三岔口山上也像中俄边境的其他地方一样，两国的边防兵每年冬天都要联合巡山，搜索盗匪。有一次，六个匪徒来到王林的伐木场，并没有动刀动枪，就像到了自己家里一样。突然，俄国边防兵在伐木场附近出现，匪徒们眼看着来不及逃走，便殊死抵抗，打死了几个俄国兵。他们自己也死亡半数，其他三个逃走了。后来，俄国兵来到伐木场，开枪打死了四五个伐木工，又把其余的人排列成行将行枪毙。听到枪声的中国士兵赶上山来，刚好来得及救下那些无辜的伐木工。与此同时，进城收账的王林正在往回走。他回到伐木场，发现他的外甥——准确地说，他姐姐的儿子——也在死难者之列，便立誓报仇。

第二年春天，他卖掉了厂子，迁居海参崴。在当地的华人中间，人们都知道他工作勤奋、为人和气、待人诚恳。但是据说，很快，喝醉酒淹死在港口或是以别种方式神秘失踪的俄国边防兵就多了起来。不久，俄国人就怀疑到这个新来的中国人身上。一天早晨，王林被俄国人抓走，他们下定决心要除掉他。但是，海参崴的华人群情激昂，许多声誉良好的华商店主愿意花钱保释他。俄国当局为了安抚华商和华工，就把他交给了长春的俄国领事馆。经过三个月的调查，领事馆未能发现任何不利于他的证据，便把他放了。他穿着秋天的衣服，冒着东三省隆冬的严寒，从长春步行回到海参崴。紧接着爆发了义和团运动，骚乱过后，人们发现王林带着二十来号人在海参崴和吉林之间沿路的森林里打猎。他们抢劫，有时也杀害俄国旅人。但是，王林恪守绿林传统，以所劫钱财周济穷人。俄国对中国当局施加压力，要求他们剿灭这股土匪。但是，王林和同伙总比心不在焉的中国士兵跑得快，直到一名俄国军官遇袭后，他们才被逼上绝路，进行了殊死搏斗。王林有五六个部下被打死了，中国士兵的指挥官想要就此了事——至少如此公开表示——便找来几个村民证实王林也在死者之列。于是，王林其人就此死掉，而王德林却高高兴兴地继续开展他的罗宾汉³活动。

1915年，由于多种原因，包括臭名昭著的“二十一条”⁴在内，王德林及其部下编入了吉林的正规军。他的部下有四百余人，组成了一个营，他任营长。除了偶尔清剿土匪的兴奋，他和部下度过了十六年枯燥乏味的兵营生活。

接着，九一八事变爆发了。在相同的天数内，两个省相继失守。地方当局惶然不知所措，他们还在考虑如何应对的时候，日本人却在紧锣密鼓对吉林东部进行进一步的勘察，准备修建一条具有重大战略意义的铁路，把长春和朝鲜东北部一个港口连接起来。勘察队来到敦化⁵以南，临近王德林的指挥部，情况非常危险。他的卫兵示意日本人不要继续前进，他们却对命令置之不理，卫兵便开枪打死了一个日本人。日本人把事情提交给敦化的驻军司令，王营长被召见。他去了，并坚持自己的立场。当日本代表对王营长的长官指称中国军官不讲理时，他抽了日本人一耳光，并反驳说世界上还没有人像日本军队那样不讲理地无缘无故就占领了中国的两个省。在场的人还没来得及捉摸透这一行为的深远意义，他已带着卫兵扬长而去。

日本人不择手段收买了王营长的长官，长官试图劝他乘坐同一列火车到吉林城去。但是，对于日本人来讲，王德林是太精明了一点，他的回答是，“自张大帅所乘的火车为日本人所炸之后，⁶谁敢再坐火车？”说完这句话，他对前长官的忠诚就不复存在了。几天以后，他一夜奇袭，占领了敦化。之后的事迹已经广为人知，就无须赘述了，只消说，他的部队一度达到了十几万人——虽说1933年上半年缩到五六万人，而他也像其他救国军领袖一样不得不逃亡到俄国。第二年夏天，他才经由欧洲和南洋回国。他在香港稍事逗留，得到广州方面提供物资支援的许诺，便又回去率领部队了，甚至不曾在上海靠岸。

他勇敢而果断，50岁出头，仍然干劲十足。他为人淳朴，高大魁梧的身材给人深刻印象。他身上确实有一种类似好斗公牛的精神。他在广州时曾经说过，“我是只武牛，只会打仗。”他当然会打仗，甚至就在撰写本文的时刻，来自东三省的通讯称，他又控制了吉林东部几个区，中国国旗正在世世代代属于中国的那一小块土地上空骄傲地飘扬着。

林　幽

［第33期，1934年8月16日］