(The Woman Who Told History – No. 1750)
In the 1745th issue of "The Woman Who Told History", the author once told the love story of the martyr Xia Minghan, and it was mentioned that the Xia family was full of loyal martyrs, except for Xia Minghan, his two younger brothers and a younger sister, as well as a nephew, were heroically sacrificed in the revolution.
Xia Minghan's seventh brother, Xia Mingpei, was the first to die, and he died heroically on February 28, 1928, at the age of 19. He was brutally tortured after his arrest, and the enemy cut off his heels, pierced his palms with wire, etc., and he did not give in. Less than a month later, on March 20, the 28-year-old Xia Minghan was arrested and killed; two days after his death, on March 22, his fifth brother Xia Mingzhen died heroically at the age of 21. He died the worst, being stabbed dozens of times by the enemy! Three months later, Xia Mingheng's fourth sister, Xia Mingheng, died heroically at the age of 26; in 1930, Xia Mingheng's nephew Wu Yizhuang (the son of the eldest sister Xia Mingwei) also died heroically, at the age of 18.
This article is going to tell the story of Zeng Zhi, the wife of Xia Mingzhen, the fifth brother of Xia Mingheng. When Xia Mingzhen died, she was only 17 years old, and she paid a lot for the revolution. She later married twice, and her second husband also died for the revolution, and the third husband later became vice premier of the State Council. What is touching is that for the sake of the revolution, Zeng Zhi endured the pain of giving away all three of her sons: the eldest son was born 26 days later; the second son was born 40 days later, and the third son was born 13 days later.
(1) Beautiful women have had strange ambitions since childhood
Later, people often referred to Zeng Zhi as "the most beautiful red army". Yes, in the history of the Chinese revolution, Zeng Zhi is indeed a rare beautiful revolutionary, and from the photos of her youth (there was no beauty effect at that time), it can be concluded that even if she "crosses" to the present, she is definitely a star-like existence.
Zeng Zhi was born on May 2, 1911 in Wang Jiachong, Yizhang County, Hunan Province (now Chengguan Town, Yizhang County), and unlike most revolutionaries at that time, the Zeng family was a traditional landlord-bureaucratic family. Her father, Zeng Zhen, was very learned and graduated from changsha political science and law college. Therefore, Zeng Zhi went to school and read from an early age, she did not call this name, and her father initially gave her the name Zeng Zhaoxue, a very learned and very masculine name.
Zeng Zhi is not only very intelligent, but also has great ambitions since childhood, and was admitted to the Hengyang Peasant Movement Training Institute at the age of 15, and when she signed up, she directly changed "Zeng Zhaoxue" to "Zeng Zhi". The name her father gave her was atmospheric enough, but she was not satisfied, and she explained the name "Zeng Zhi" in this way:
"I changed my name to Zeng Zhi to fight for our women's ambition!"
Perhaps from the moment she changed her name, it was doomed to be extraordinary in her life.
However, zeng zhi's growth later relied mostly on the teachings of his mother (his father was too nerdy to run a family business). Her mother's name is Wu Futian, and from the name point of view, she is also from a beautiful background, and her father is a wealthy salt merchant. The mother is not only knowledgeable and thrifty, but also very far-sighted, insisting on sending her four children to the big city to study and increase her knowledge.
Therefore, at the age of 13, Zeng Zhi went to Hengyang Provincial Third Girls' Normal School alone to study. She was an activist at school, not only excelling academically, but also very enthusiastic about the student movement. Influenced by revolutionary ideas, she joined the party at the age of 15. What is valuable is that Wu Futian is very supportive of his daughter's participation in the revolution.
In that era, Zeng Zhi, like ordinary girls, was betrothed by his parents early. But when Zeng Zhi, who joined the revolution, proposed the dissolution of such arranged marriages, the mother did not object, but resolutely sided with her daughter. She also took the initiative to settle the matter for her daughter, she held several banquets, invited several respected squires to testify, and canceled the marriage contract with the man.
It was also in this way that Zeng Zhicai met Xia Mingzhen.
(2) Zeng Zhi's first love
The acquaintance with Xia Mingzhen was still when Zeng Zhi studied at the Hengyang Peasant Movement Training Institute. At that time, Zeng Zhi was the only girl among them, plus she was both good in character and learning, excellent in appearance, dressed up (at that time she actually dared to keep a shawl hair), which was very eye-catching, and there were naturally many suitors. Among them, Xia Mingzhen is also very concerned about her. However, because Zeng Zhi is young, he has not seriously considered love.
However, due to a fortuitous event, Zeng Zhi's beautiful flower attracted Xia Mingzhen.
Zeng Zhi became an officer of the Hengyang Farmers' Association at the age of 16, when she lived in the women's department of the association. As the leader of the group, Xia Mingzhen often organizes people to hold meetings here. One night, the meeting was too long, and Zeng Zhi couldn't stay up, so he went to bed in the middle of the room and lay down to sleep. As a result, after she woke up in the middle of the night, she found Xia Mingzhen lying next to her, and she was also surprised, so she asked the other party.
Xia Mingzhen hurriedly explained. It turned out that the meeting was already very late, and Xia Mingzhen did not go back because he was too sleepy, so he directly lay down next to Zeng Zhi's bed and clothes. After listening to Xia Mingzhen's explanation, Zeng Zhi did not mind anymore, and he couldn't sleep well, so he turned over and went to sleep.
If you change to another girl, it is estimated that Xia Mingzhen would have been kicked out earlier. Fortunately, Zeng Zhi's thoughts were open and not feudal, and Xia Mingzhen was able to sleep on the spot until dawn. Although there was nothing on either side, the matter was discovered and passed on. Lonely men and widows were together at night, and in that era it was really not good. Although the two were innocent, they could not speak clearly. So the two simply did not do two and determined the relationship endlessly.
Of course, Zeng Zhi has always admired Xia Mingzhen. Xia Mingzhen is also a talent, heroic, and intelligent, capable, and very revolutionary. Another point is that Xia Mingzhen is from a famous family like Zeng Zhi, and the two sides are also door-to-door. Therefore, the two of them can also be called talented and beautiful, and they are a perfect match. Besides, Xia Mingzhen also had a crush on Zeng Zhi earlier, so he knelt down in front of Zeng Zhi and said, "I really love you, marry me!" ”
It was romantic enough at the time. So soon, 16-year-old Zeng Zhi married 20-year-old Xia Mingzhen.
Unfortunately, a few months after they were married, Xia Mingzhen was killed. In March 1928, when a counter-revolutionary riot broke out in Bin County, Xia Mingzhen was killed by a group of counter-revolutionary thugs, and he was brutally hacked. Later, Zeng Zhi recalled that she found the bodies of her husband and eight other peasant movement cadres who had been killed by the rioters by the river— "he was facing the sky, lying on the ground, his face was bruised, his eyes were closed, his hands were still clenched, his clothes were torn open, he was stabbed thirty or forty times in the chest, and there were wounds on his shoulders, stomach, and feet..."
You can imagine how shocked and hurt Zeng Zhi was at that time! Not long after they got married, their lover in their early 20s died tragically, and he was only 17 years old! Strictly speaking, it is still a minor! It can be said that at that time, Zeng Zhi was more sad and more sad, and how desperate and desperate he was. The girl was nearly crushed by the blow of the sword of destiny, and she did not even have the courage to attend her husband's funeral. This has also become Zeng Zhi's eternal regret in this life, and later due to war and other reasons, Xia Mingzhen's place of buried bones has been damaged, the bones do not know the end, Zeng Zhi wants to hang it and can not find a place.
But Zeng Zhi is Zeng Zhi after all, she still has to live, she gritted her teeth and finally stood up.
(3) Zeng Zhi's second love
Soon, Zeng Zhi ushered in her second marriage. In the same year that Xia Mingzhen died, she married Cai Xiemin.
Don't accuse Zeng Zhi of empathizing so quickly. At that time, a 17-year-old girl who had lost her lover was still pregnant, really pitiful, she was cared for and loved by many people.
After Xia Mingzhen's sacrifice, Zeng Zhi cried a lot, and then firmly followed the team led by Zhu De and Chen Yi to Jinggang Mountain. At Jinggangshan, Zeng Zhi met Cai Xiemin. Cai Xiemin was also a man with deep revolutionary qualifications, a native of Huarong County, Hunan Province, who had participated in the Northern Expedition and the Nanchang Uprising, and was also a comrade-in-arms of Comrade Mao Zedong. In January 1928, he participated in the Shonan Rebellion, and then led the peasant army up Jinggangshan, successively serving as a party representative of the 30th Regiment and the 32nd Regiment of the Red Fourth Army.
Cai Xiemin is ten years older than Zeng Zhi and more mature than Xia Mingzhen, and he is very caring and pitying for Zeng Zhi, so under everyone's care and mediation, the two are married. This was very good for both of them at that time, and the comrades congratulated them from the bottom of their hearts.
The next Zeng Zhi and Cai Xiemin were inseparable, and the husband sang with the woman, which was very harmonious, and was called "Liang Zhu in the army". Zeng Zhi and his wife had been fighting and working on the front line until Zeng Zhi was more than seven months pregnant and physically incapacitated, and she went to the rear at the suggestion of Comrade Mao Zedong. At that time, Zeng Zhi rode down the front line on Mao Zedong's horse.
In November 1928, Zeng Zhi came to the basin. However, due to the difficult birth, she tossed and turned for three days and three nights before she had a hard time laying down her next son. Of course, this child is the widow of her ex-husband Xia Mingzhen. Later, Zeng Zhi once said that her son looked exactly like Xia Mingzhen. Finally, he had his own "descendants", and the martyrs were also blinded under the Nine Springs. After the birth of the child, Cai Xiemin and Zeng Zhi have the absolute obligation and responsibility to raise the child.
However, this is nothing more than wishful thinking. At that time, due to the persecution of the revolutionary situation and the reasons of the war, Cai Xiemin had no time to take care of the family, and the 17-year-old Zeng Zhi could not take good care of his son, so 26 days after his son was born, he endured the pain and sent him away. The child was received by Wang Zuo's subordinate, a deputy company commander named Shi Libao, so the child was later named Shi Laifa. Shi Laifa lived in the Shi family, and of course his deputy company commander father had no time to take care of him, he was brought up by Shi Libao's mother-in-law.
Unfortunately, when Shi Laifa was 7 years old, his adoptive father Shi Libao died in battle, and soon after his adoptive mother died, he became an orphan (because at that time he did not know that his birth mother was Zeng Zhi). After that, the only bone and blood of the martyrs Zeng Zhi and Xia Mingzhen has been dependent on their grandmother for their lives, and they have grown up in Jinggangshan.
After going down to Jinggangshan, Zeng Zhi and her husband Cai Xiemin were sent to Fujian to work. In November 1931, Zeng Zhi gave birth to her second son in this life, the son was very strong, and the couple named the child Iron Bull. However, the iron bull is not iron, and the fate of Zeng Zhi's second son is even more tragic.
Originally, Zeng Zhi had written to his mother Wu Futian before giving birth, saying that he could not take the child because of work reasons, and that the child would have to be raised after birth. But the mother did not agree, she wanted to take the grandson back to raise herself, and sent Zeng Zhi 40 yuan, so that she thought of sending the child back to her mother's house after giving birth.
However, Zeng Zhi, who put revolutionary work first, did not satisfy his mother's wishes, but did a very "ruthless" job. She discussed with her husband and gave the child away again, and the other party was a Chinese medicine doctor named Ye Yanhuan. At this time, her iron bull was only 40 days old. However, at that time, there was also a situation, the Xiamen Municipal Party Committee was in urgent need of a revolutionary fund, so Zeng Zhi also received 100 pieces of ocean from the other side, which were all used as revolutionary funds.
Originally the first child sent someone, Zeng Zhi was very guilty, the second child sent again, she is really reluctant to, her own heart meat ah! But for the sake of the revolution, she still gritted her teeth and did not hesitate! Before sending his son away, Zeng Zhi also went to the park with his husband to hold the child, took a family portrait in the photo studio, and fed the child the last milk...
However, to Zeng Zhiwan's surprise, the iron bull was taken away for half a month and then contracted smallpox and unfortunately died. When the bad news came, Zeng Zhi was in great pain. But in order to work, she still suppressed the pain in her heart during the day and continued to work; but at night, she could no longer bear it, crawling in her husband's arms and crying bitterly...
In February 1933, Zeng Zhi gave birth to a third child. Also a boy, she gave a hopeful and sunny name zeng chunhua. However, the child remained.
For several years, Zeng Zhi followed her husband Cai Xiemin on a journey for the revolution. Cai Xiemin served as secretary of the Fuzhou Municipal CPC Committee and secretary of the Fujian Provincial CPC Committee; then went to Xiamen to lead the Hui'an anti-donation struggle, and then served as secretary of the Central County CPC Committee of Zhangzhou; and then formed the Red Third Regiment and established the rural revolutionary base area in southern Fujian. In the battle against the Kuomintang army, his troops were besieged by more than 4,000 people on the other side and almost died. During this period, Zeng Zhi was also frightened and tried to help her husband solve problems at work, and he was also very busy. It can be said that the couple simply does not have time to take care of the children.
There is also that when Zeng Zhisheng Zeng Chunhua, because he had no money to go to the hospital, he just found a midwife to give birth, and as a result, he also suffered a great sin, and after the child was born, he was seriously infected, got gynecological diseases, and it was difficult to take care of the child. So just 13 days after the birth of her son, she gave it away again, this time to a widow...
(4) Zeng Zhi's third love
It was a fateful fate, and soon after she sent the child away, her husband Cai Xiemin had an accident.
In 1934, Cai Xiemin was responsible for establishing the Mutual Masonic Association, a peripheral party organization, in Xiamen. On April 16, on his way out of Xiamen for the Central Soviet Zone, he was arrested for betrayal by traitors. In prison, Cai Xiemin was severely tortured by the enemy, unyielding, and heroically rebelled in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, in July of that year.
At this point, it has only been 6 years since Xia Mingzhen's sacrifice. In just a few years, he suffered two heavy blows in a row, and Zeng Zhi was almost crushed by fate. Because at this time, she not only lost her lover, she also lost a son three years ago, and two sons are missing. As a woman, what could be a bigger blow than that? At this time, she was only 23 years old! If you put it now, most of the 23-year-old women are not married, and they are even called girls...
Seeing that the young Zeng Zhi suffered such a great hardship, who among the comrades was not distressed? So another outstanding revolutionary entered Zeng Zhi's heart.
He was Tao Zhu, the national leader who later became a famous Shenzhou. Tao Zhu was three years older than Zeng Zhi and was born in 1908 in Qiyang, Hunan. At the age of 18, he enrolled in the Whampoa Military Academy, and later served as the secretary of the Fujian Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, the secretary of the Zhangzhou Special Committee, and the secretary of the Fuzhou Central Municipal Party Committee. Tao Zhu also established the Guerrilla Corps of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in southern Fujian, and made great contributions to the establishment of the later New Fourth Army.
After Cai Xiemin's sacrifice, Zeng Zhi did not stop the pace of the revolution, she wiped away her tears and continued to fight. At this time, after organizational arrangement, she worked with Tao Zhu. For the safety and convenience of underground work, the two once pretended to be husband and wife (which was not uncommon at the time), and later fell in love with each other, and became a revolutionary couple.
Although Tao Zhu was a colleague with Cai Xiemin before, but later the two did not work together, he only knew that Cai Xiemin married a hot and capable wife, left his children for the revolution, and thought that Zeng Zhi was a "mother night fork". As a result, when he first met Zeng Zhi, he was shocked: but when he saw her hair shawl, white skin, elegant, dignified and virtuous, like a big girl, he suddenly had a good feeling for her.
Of course, Tao Zhu is also a table of talents, compared to Xia Mingzhen or Cai Xiemin, he is more handsome, but also let Zeng Zhi's eyes shine. Later, the two helped each other in their work, admired each other, and Tao Zhu's great sympathy for Zeng Zhi's suffering, it was natural for the two to walk together.
To Zeng Zhi's happiness, Tao Zhu did not have any accidents, and the two of them were quite affectionate since they got married, until after the founding of the Country.
Of course, Zeng Zhi and Tao Zhu also have love crystals. In April 1941, in Yan'an, Zeng Zhi gave birth to her fourth child, her daughter Tao Siliang. Tao Siliang was a little luckier than her first three half-brothers, and was not completely sent by her mother, but it did not mean that she had been with her parents, she was still "sent" by Zeng Zhi for several years.
Tao Siliang was also separated from his mother shortly after birth. At that time, Zeng Zhi and her husband were organized and sent to the northeast occupied areas to organize guerrilla struggles behind enemy lines, and she knew that she was a person who worked hard in the revolution, and instead of taking her daughter to follow her to suffer, it was better to let her children stay in Yan'an and let others take care of them. So before going to the northeast, she gave her daughter to Yang Shunqing of the Yan'an Security Nursery to raise. She instructed, "We have entrusted this child to you, and if we can't come back, this child will be yours!" ”
At that time, Zeng Zhi said very resolutely, meaning that the future of the revolution was uncertain, and it was not certain that he would sacrifice; I was willing to sacrifice for the revolution, and I was willing to let my daughter lose the love of her parents. She Xiaojia, for everyone, for Zeng Zhi, she did a good job thoroughly!
(5) The sons and daughters of Zeng Zhi
Among all the children of Zeng Zhi, Tao Siliang was the happiest. Because her send-off was temporary, only 4 years, after 4 years, she returned to Zeng Zhi.
In 1945, the War of Resistance finally ended in victory. Yang Shunqing of the Yan'an Security Nursery Brought Tao Siliang, who had raised and cared for him for four years, to the northeast. After four years of separation, Tao Siliang was finally reunited with his parents. When they were separated, the daughter was still waiting to be fed, and when she said goodbye, she was already a beautiful little girl. Zeng Zhi excitedly hugged his own flesh and bones and couldn't help but burst into tears. Since then, she has been reluctant to be separated from her daughter...
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Tao Zhu successively served as the secretary of the South China Branch of the CPC Central Committee and the first secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee; Zeng Zhi was still a strong woman, and she successively served as the deputy director of the Industry Department of the Central South Bureau and the secretary of the Guangzhou Municipal Party Committee. Tao Siliang lived and studied with his parents in Guangzhou. She excelled in her studies and was later admitted to the Second Military Medical University of the People's Liberation Army of Chinese.
Zeng Zhi's family finally lived a happy life. Later, Tao Zhu also became one of the leaders of the country, and in 1956, he was elected vice premier of the State Council.
Later, due to historical reasons, Zeng Zhi and her husband Tao Zhu were wrongly criticized, but the two still did not give up and remained steadfast in love. In November 1969, Tao Zhu died of illness and humiliation at the age of 61. Before leaving, he wrote a poem to his wife Zeng Zhi with great affection:
It is also difficult for me to return to the battlefield, and I feel that the feelings of the king are forced to the clouds.
Ruthless white hair induces cold and heat, and the dirt suppresses bitterness for the rest of his life.
The sick horse also knows that it is late, and the dead flower is even more timid.
Like smoke and the past, the past is forgotten, and the heart is selfless and wide.
After her husband's death, Zeng Zhi was not crushed—she never had to be crushed, whether it was Xia Mingzhen's sacrifice, or Cai Xiemin's sacrifice, or now Tao Zhu's departure—she still had to live strongly, because she still had her daughter Tao Siliang.
However, in the later years of Zeng Zhi, she still remembered her former sons. So what happened to the two sons she sent away that year?
First of all, Zeng Zhi's third son Zeng Chunhua, who is the second son of Zeng Zhitong Cai Xiemin. Zeng Chunhua was given to a widow by her mother 13 days after her birth, and the widow's hometown was in Hubei, and her life was also very poor, so that Zeng Chunhua later fell ill and had no money for medical treatment. Zeng Chunhua suffered from severe lymphatic tuberculosis when he was 4 years old, and has not been properly treated and has been delayed. It was not until he was 14 years old that he received free treatment from fuzhou church hospital, and he had surgery to remove two ribs and a kidney. However, since then, Zeng Chunhua has basically become a disabled person, his legs are also lame, and his height will not grow.
Zeng Chunhua's life has always been very bitter, he did not go to school when he was a child, and when he grew up, he lived by selling cigarettes and melon seeds on the street. In 1950, Zeng Zhi saw this son in Hankou, and Zeng Chunhua, who was 17 years old at the time, was only as tall as an ordinary eleven- or twelve-year-old child, and he was skinny and boneless, and he was disabled. Zeng Zhizhen wanted to take him away, but for various reasons, it was impossible. One of the reasons is that Zeng Chunhua has an opinion of Zeng Zhi and is reluctant to go with her; besides, he already has feelings for his adoptive mother, and it is impossible to leave his adoptive mother who is dependent on him. Later, Zeng Chunhua was admitted to a technical school and went to work as an ordinary worker in the ravine of Lechang County, Guangdong Province...
In addition, Zeng Zhi's eldest son, he is also the son of the martyr Xia Mingzhen, he was sent by his mother to change his name to Shi Laifa, after the death of his adoptive father and adoptive mother, he followed his grandmother to live in the countryside of Jinggangshan. Later, of course, Zeng Zhi also looked for him. In 1951, when Zeng Zhi was serving as the director of the Electric Power Bureau in Guangzhou, he sent someone to Jinggangshan to find Shi Laifa and brought him to Guangzhou. After more than 20 years of separation, the baby in his arms was already 23 years old, but in the eyes of his mother, he was still a child. Thinking of her lover Xia Mingzhen, who died at the age of 21, Zeng Zhi couldn't help but burst into tears! Yes, Shi Laifa is too much like his father Xia Mingzhen!
Similarly, Zeng Zhi wanted to leave Shi Laifa behind, wanted to give him maternal love, to make up for his regrets. However, she failed again. Like Zeng Chunhua, Shi Laifa could not return to his birth mother. Because, he couldn't let go of Jinggangshan's 80-year-old grandmother! How can Zeng Zhi "take people's love"?
After meeting his mother, Shi Laifa, the only descendant of the martyr Xia Mingzhen, returned to Jinggangshan and continued to live in the countryside, where he had been a farmer all his life...
However, it is gratifying that Shi Laifa spent his life in peace and security in the countryside, and he later married and had children, and he had a son, as well as grandchildren and granddaughters, and his children and grandchildren were full of children and grandchildren, and the martyr Xia Mingzhen should also be relieved in the spirit of heaven!
In his later years, Zeng Zhi and his granddaughter
(6) Falling red
To be honest, Zeng Zhi is not a good mother. But she sacrificed her family for the country, and she was truly an outstanding revolutionary! She devoted her life to the revolution, and after resuming her work in the 1980s, she served as deputy director of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee. On June 21, 1998, Zeng Zhi, a hero who had struggled all his life, died in Beijing at the age of 88.
Zeng Zhi, this unusual flower of revolution, returned home after nearly a century of stunning decline. Originally, Zeng Zhi was absolutely eligible to be buried in Babaoshan, but according to her last wishes, her ashes were scattered to Jinggangshan, where she had fought, and some of them were buried under a tree...
Falling red is not a merciless thing, turning into spring mud is more protective of flowers!
(Text/Woman Who Tells History: Summer Ice)
References: Memoirs of Zeng Zhi, Tao Zhu Biography, etc.