This book "The Golden Warrior", written by American writer Seagrave and his wife, spent 18 years collecting information and tracking cases, exposed the shocking inside story of Japanese plundering trillions of dollars worth of gold and other treasures from China and other Asian countries during World War II, and shocked the world.
The story of "There is gold under the mountain" told in the book has been circulated among the people since Japan surrendered in 1945: when Japan was about to surrender, a group of laborers were still digging tunnels day and night for no reason on some islands in the Philippines. A few days later, tons of gold and treasure were transported there and buried forever. When the workers were about to climb to the ground, there was a loud noise, and then there was a dead silence. Everything has become a permanent secret, leaving only a legend called "Jin Baihe".
The relationship between "legend" and historical facts has never been clearly defined by academic circles and officials, but according to the records in the book, China is undoubtedly the country that suffered the most in that war, and a large part of the gold plundered by Japan was also taken from China, and the northeast region was occupied by the Japanese for the longest time and suffered the most in that war of aggression. Then, how much of the shocking "gold under the mountain" was plundered from the northeast? How much gold did the Japanese take from northeast China?
For several days, our reporter visited relevant experts and scholars in China and Northeast China, starting with the largest financial institution at that time, Northeast Official Bank, and the most famous private bank at that time, trying to uncover the mystery of Japan's plundering of gold in Northeast China. However, all the interviewees unanimously stated that due to Japan's deliberate cover-up of these facts, its plundered treasures such as gold are far greater than the currently published figures.
unbridled plunder
Bo Jindi, an expert in Shenyang local chronicles: 660,000 Jin of gold in the official treasury of three northeastern provinces was taken away by the Japanese army.
The building used by Shenhe Sub-branch of China Industrial and Commercial Bank Shenyang Branch is the old house of the official bank of three northeastern provinces a hundred years ago. In front of this old building, which stands in Chang 'an Temple Lane, Chaoyang Street, Shenyang, a stone tablet under the stone chamber records the life experiences of the officials in the three northeastern provinces.
The official bank of the three northeastern provinces was established in the 31st year of Guangxu, namely 1905. In its heyday, it had 99 semicolons all over the country. It was the largest local bank in the three northeastern provinces at that time, and was in charge of the governor Zhang of the three northeastern provinces. The official bank of the three northeastern provinces was the economic backing when it entered the customs for six times. During the period when General Zhang Xueliang was in charge of Northeast China, he relied on the official banks of the three northeastern provinces to rectify the financial order and stabilize the monetary system in Northeast China.
After the "September 18th Incident", the whole Northeast fell, and wherever the Japanese Kwantung Army went, it was the transportation lines and financial institutions that were first seized.
At that time, the main financial institutions in Northeast China were: the official banks of three northeastern provinces and the official banks of local governments in Northeast China, with a capital of 20 million yuan; The border bank established by the warlord forces has a capital of 5.25 million yuan; Jilin Forever Crown Bank, the national treasury of the provincial government, with the capital of100,000 yuan; The official bank capital of Heilongjiang Province is 2 million yuan. The four banks have also set up the "Fourth Joint Issuance Reserve Bank of Liaoning Province" in Shenyang, and branches of China Bank and Bank of Communications in the northeast. The four major banks are the decisive forces in the financial circles in Northeast China.
On the second day after the September 18th Incident, the official bank of the three northeastern provinces, the largest financial institution, was occupied by the Japanese army. If the Japanese get the treasure, they will stick the words "Whoever breaks in will be shot" at the door. On the evening of the same day, the Japanese army transported the Xianyang in Guandi by truck.
According to the records of Shenhe Sub-branch, the official warehouses of the three northeastern provinces were occupied by the Japanese army, and 660,000 Jin of gold and 2 million taels of silver in the warehouse were taken away by the Japanese army. Because of the huge number, even Zhao Jianhong, who is responsible for writing the explanation of the stone tablet in front of Shenhe Sub-branch, told reporters: "I was a little skeptical at that time. After all, this number is too big. " Since then, Zhao Jianhong has also consulted the relevant materials of provincial and municipal archives, but there is no authoritative and unified statement. Zhao Jianhong, who has seen official vaults in three northeastern provinces, said that there are five vaults on the ground and underground, each reaching 300 to 400 square meters. "It was quite a big vault, which also showed that the financial resources at that time were quite strong." According to reports, the figure of 660,000 gold comes from the Story of Officials in the Three Northeast Provinces by Bo Di Chin, who is engaged in the local chronicles of Shenyang, and Bo Di Chin is also an expert in currency research. When Zhao Jianhong doubted this figure at that time, Bo Di Chin once said categorically that it can't be wrong.
Consistent with Zhao Jianhong's initial suspicion, the book History of Shenyang compiled by Shenyang Literature and History Research Institute records that the gold taken by the Japanese from the treasuries of three northeastern provinces in that year was 6,543.8+0.62 million Jin, while the relevant media still had 6,543.8+0.6 million Jin, which can be said to be a far cry.
But today, Bo Jindi, who used to work in the local records office of Shenyang, still insists on the figure of "660,000 Jin of gold". "At that time, it was also a multi-party textual research. The source of the characters was mainly the book" Warlord Bureaucratic Capital "published in the 1980 s." It was a pamphlet with more than 100 pages, and the records at that time were very detailed. ""When Japan occupied the official silver in the three northeastern provinces, Zhang Xueliang didn't have time to carry away so many coins. According to the financial resources of Fengxi at that time, this figure is also possible, "Bo Di Chin said. According to historical data, at that time, the Japanese shipped some gold back to their country, and a large part of it was transferred to Changchun to prepare funds for the puppet Manchukuo. "
Sun Jinghuan, an old employee of a century-old frontier bank: 7000 gold is missing.
Sun Jinghuan, 100 years old, has been engaged in banking in Shenyang since 1927. He has worked in Zhangbian Bank, the Japanese Puppet Manchuria Central Bank and the "South Branch of the Central Bank" run by the Kuomintang. In fact, these banks are all one bank, and now they are all in the south gate.
Sun Jinghuan has a good memory. "The border bank is operated by Zhang, and together with the official number of the three northeastern provinces, it is the largest bank in Northeast China." .
"Border banks are also open to the outside world," Sun Jinghuan said. He has worked here since the establishment of 1927 Border Bank, and is the team leader in charge of deposits. He was only in his early twenties at that time.
Sun Jinghuan said that before the "September 18th Incident", banks were very busy every day and their business was very good. In order to consolidate the role of paper money, the bank bought 7000 taels of gold from Shanghai as a savings fund.
"The gold is packed in seven wooden cases, each containing 1000 taels."
Sun Jinghuan said that this batch of gold had been kept in the bank before the Japanese army came in and had not been exchanged. At that time, paper money was based on silver, and 100 yuan could be exchanged for 100 dollars, but not for gold.
After the September 18th Incident, this bank was controlled by the Japanese and renamed as "Manchuria Central Bank". Sun Jinghuan was also transferred to Mudanjiang Branch until 1935 came back.
When I came back, I found that the treasure of the town store, 7000 liang of gold, was missing. As a banker under Japanese rule, Sun Jinghuan also witnessed Japan's establishment of a colonial financial system and unification of the monetary system in Northeast China, making the financial institutions and counterfeit coins in Northeast China subservient to Japanese financial institutions and yen, so that Japanese monopoly groups could export capital to Northeast China and plunder services. In order to support Japanese imperialism to expand the war, the Puppet Manchukuo Central Bank also accumulated a large amount of capital and concentrated it in important industrial sectors, expanding military industry and plundering material resources.
Jong Li, a Jilin scholar: Japan plundered gold and silver in Northeast China for war.
After the September 18th Incident, Japan occupied Shenyang, Changchun, Jilin, Qiqihar and other cities. In order to manipulate the economic lifeline of Northeast China, Japan first seized the major financial institutions in Northeast China, namely, the official bank of three northeastern provinces, the official bank of Jilin Yongheng, the official bank of Heilongjiang, the border bank of Liaoning Province, the joint issuance reserve bank, the Bank of China, the Bank of Communications branch and other financial institutions. In addition to gold, Kwantung Army also robbed Zhang Xueliang of seven or eight thousand two hundred private gold and antique calligraphy and painting in the border bank. According to the confession of the Japanese invaders, the funds plundered from the "Siku" amounted to 654.38+0.4 billion yuan. The affiliated businesses of these banks invested more than 38 million yuan, all of which were plundered by the Japanese army.
The wealth of the people has not been spared. Zhang Shuaifu was occupied. Later, the commander of Kwantung Army Ben Zhong loaded the property looted by Zhang Xueliang from Shuaifu into two trains and transported it to Peiping in an attempt to return Zhang Xueliang. Zhang Xueliang said angrily: "Treating me like this is tantamount to humiliating me. You can take my things back! If you don't take it, I'll burn it all at the train station and humiliate you. If you want to return it, you will return it to the three northeastern provinces. My three northeastern provinces are bigger than your four Japanese islands! "
During the four years from "September 18th Incident" to Japan's surrender 14, Japan invaded China crazily and at the same time plundered and destroyed China, which is extremely rare in the history of world aggression.
In order to annex the four banks in Northeast China, monopolize finance and control the national economy, Japan actively planned to establish the Puppet Manchukuo Bank. On July 1932 and 1 day, a total of 128 units of the head office and sub-branches of the Puppet Manchukuo Central Bank officially opened, and members of "Manchuria Railway" flooded into banks for supervision, and the original four banks were cancelled.
The central bank of the puppet Manchukuo is the "national bank" of the puppet regime of the puppet Manchukuo. It completely serves the Japanese aggressors, is completely attached to the colonial bank of Japanese imperialism, and is a tool for Japanese aggressors to plunder our wealth. The puppet central bank was completely controlled by the Kwantung Army, providing military expenses for the Kwantung Army and raising military supplies. The Bank of Japan has a counselor's office in a fake bank to supervise its activities. In fact, the pseudo-central bank is a special branch of the Bank of Japan.
The Japanese and Puppet rulers used the Puppet Manchukuo Central Bank to implement cruel monetary and credit acceptance. It participates in the formulation of economic and financial policies, monopolizes the manufacture and distribution of money, and monopolizes the northeast financial market.
Jong Li, a Changchun scholar who wrote the article "A Study on the Currency of the Puppet Manchukuo", said that during the period of Japan's invasion of China, it plundered the gold and silver and other metal currencies in the Northeast, bought the gold and silver produced in the Northeast and the modern ocean with one hand, and then transported them to Britain, the United States and Japan in exchange for foreign exchange to buy materials needed for the war and finance the Japanese war.
A study that is still blank.
Experts say that the amount of gold plundered by Japanese invaders is still a mystery.
Bian, deputy editor-in-chief of the Institute of Modern History of China Academy of Social Sciences, has long been engaged in the study of human and property losses in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. He told reporters that domestic related research is still blank. Relevant personnel of the Institute of History of Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences also said that it is difficult to find relevant information on property losses in Northeast China caused by Japanese economic aggression.
How much gold did the Japanese plunder from northeast China during World War II? The reporter found a lot of information, and the relevant experts could not verify it.
Professor Liu Guitian from the Party School of the Provincial Party Committee said that a known figure is 194 1 year, and the amount of gold returned to China by the Japanese invaders is 2,300 Dovanca gold.
From 1937 to 1940, the Japanese invaders completely controlled and plundered the puppet Manchu economy. Since 1937, the Japanese and puppet rulers have implemented a five-year plan for industrial development and carried out all-round economic plunder, turning Northeast China into a material supply base for expanding the war of aggression. In this five-year plan, 1937 plans to mine 4230 kilograms of gold and finally produce 3709 kilograms; 1938 also produced more than 3000 kilograms.
Why is there no accurate figure of gold plundered by Japanese invaders? Professor Wang, president of the "September 18th" Research Association, believes that this is the result of the Japanese aggressors' deliberate destruction of evidence.
At present, the Japanese invaders plundered Shenyang coal, ingots, steel, aluminum, liquid fuel and other materials in an incomplete quantity. As for such precious things as gold and jewels, they are top secret, and only senior Japanese officials at that time knew them.
He further explained that before 193 1 year, Zhang was able to master all the materials plundered by the Japanese army. Because materials can only be exported from Dalian and transported by Manchuria Railway. After the "September 18th Incident", Japan developed a passage to return to China via Dandong and Busan, South Korea. Japan has controlled the Northeast, so it is up to them to decide the quantity and what to transport.