"Xinjiang is ten thousand times larger than the Nanniwan you used to run, are you confident?" Chairman Mao asked Wang Zhen.
"Report Chairman, there is! Xinjiang will definitely be well managed. ”
The newly loaded willow three thousand miles, attracting the spring wind to the jade pass. With Chairman Mao's ardent expectations and good wishes, Wang Zhenyi went to China's remote Xinjiang region without hesitation and devoted all his energy to the construction of Xinjiang.
Under Wang Zhen's leadership, one of the world's largest corps has also gradually "taken shape" in Xinjiang, and today, the team has grown to more than 3.2 million people.
However, the rules and regulations of this legion are not like other legions, with fixed time to change defenses and preferential treatment. In such a harsh environment, not only did this corps have no personnel to change their defenses, but the soldiers did not even have pay.
So how did this legion develop into the largest corps in the world? Why did they not have military pay after working hard in such a harsh environment?
right. Wang
In March 1949, when the all-out War of Resistance was about to be victorious, the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was officially held in Xibaipo, and Wang Zhen, an alternate member of the Central Committee, and Peng Dehuai, traveled a long way from the northwest line to Xibaipo to attend the meeting.
At this time, although almost the whole country has been liberated, there is still a place where people are still living in the waters, that is, China's remote Xinjiang region.
In the early days of Xinjiang's liberation, the economy was very difficult, and there were many industries to be revitalized, especially in the rural areas of Xinjiang, life was extremely poor, and many remnants of the Kuomintang army were still entrenched there at that time, and the liberation of Xinjiang was more difficult than imagined.
To this end, Wang Zhen said in his speech at the meeting: "We must go to the most difficult place, to Xinjiang! His generous statement was praised by Chairman Mao.
Chairman Mao
After the meeting, Wang Zhen took the initiative to ask Xinjiang to take the initiative, led the troops to brave the severe cold, and directly pushed toward Xinjiang, promoting the peaceful liberation of Xinjiang and making tremendous contributions to the great cause of the motherland's reunification.
What people did not expect was that since then, Wang Zhen has regarded the Xinjiang region as his second hometown and stayed there to do his best to develop the economic construction of the Xinjiang region.
After the smooth liberation of Xinjiang, this remote area urgently needed manpower to participate in development and construction, and after careful consultation, the central government decided to entrust the arduous task of building Xinjiang to Wang Zhen.
Before entering Xinjiang, Chairman Mao once asked Wang Zhen: "Xinjiang is more than 10,000 times larger than the Nanniwan bay you used to run. ”
"Guaranteed to get the job done." Wang Zhen's voice was sonorous and powerful, and Chairman Mao nodded with satisfaction, "The new Yang Liu three thousand miles has attracted the spring wind to Yuguan, I hope that after you arrive in Xinjiang, you can surpass Zuo Wenxianggong and build Xinjiang into a charming and rich paradise." ”
Old photos of Xinjiang
In October 1949, with Chairman Mao's ardent expectations, Wang Zhen held an impassioned mobilization meeting for the soldiers in Jiuquan, Gansu Province, and he generously stated: "There is a lot to be done in marching into Xinjiang!" We must do our utmost to do more for the people of Xinjiang, not only to defend the frontiers of the motherland, but also to transform the insurrectionary troops, and most importantly, we must unite the people of all ethnic groups, build Xinjiang well, and live up to the expectations of Chairman Mao and the country! ”
On November 6, after nearly a month of preparation, Wang Zhen led the first corps of the Chinese People's Liberation Army to officially enter Xinjiang, which opened the prelude to the development and construction of Xinjiang, and at the same time, the world's largest army, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, also began to grow gradually in this remote area.
Since ancient times, the governance of Xinjiang has been a difficult problem faced by Chinese dynasties, so China has long proposed the form of "tun reclamation and border reclamation" to consolidate Xinjiang's stability and promote economic development by reclaiming Xinjiang's land.
After summing up the historical experience of successive dynasties and dynasties, Wang Zhen put forward the new idea of "reclaiming the border of Tun Andu". Subsequently, after formulating the specific implementation strategy, he and many instructors did a lot of ideological work on the 100,000 Kuomintang rebel troops led by Tao Zhiyue.
Tao ZhiYue
The work done by Wang Zhen also laid the foundation for the later establishment of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.
Wang Zhen made a bold ambition: We must build Xinjiang into the second Nanniwan, and since then, the soldiers of the 22nd Corps have worked hard in the Manas River Valley and made great contributions to building Xinjiang and defending the motherland.
During the period of reclamation, many troops successively transferred to Xinjiang's production and construction, and under the orders of the central authorities, they sweated and dedicated their youth in China's great northwest region with high morale.
When reclaiming land, the soldiers used military maps without agricultural maps, replaced the cattle without arable land with war horses, and even the sights of guns were used as level gauges to clear the land.
It is necessary to open up the wasteland, but everyone has no water, no house, and three has no tractor, and can only rely on livestock or their own hands to reclaim the wasteland.
With no place to live, they dug a hole in the ground, built a few wooden sticks and pasted some grass, and became a simple dwelling.
Old photos of Xinjiang reclamation
With the joint efforts of tens of thousands of soldiers, the newly built city of Shihezi in Xinjiang has risen under extremely difficult circumstances, and this new city has also brought new vitality to the Xinjiang region, which has suffered from war and chaos for many years.
In the 1990s, Shihezi also became an economic center integrating finance, culture, science and technology, and commerce, all thanks to Wang Zhen's foresight.
On August 6, 1954, in order to further promote the construction of Xinjiang, the Central Military Commission decided to merge the 22nd Corps and the Production Management of the Xinjiang Military Region to form the Production and Construction Corps of the Xinjiang Military Region.
Two months later, after careful preparations, the Xinjiang Production Management and Construction Corps was formally established. At the beginning of its establishment, there were only more than 100,000 Shubian soldiers in the legion, and Tao Zhiyue served as the commander.
With the 100,000 troops of the uprising settled, Tao Zhiyue's heart was much calmer, and he began to concentrate all his energy on the construction of Xinjiang.
The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps worked
At this time, although Wang Zhen was transferred out of Xinjiang, the establishment of this unit and the development of Xinjiang's reclamation cause were inextricably linked to Wang Zhen.
In May 1956, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to establish the Ministry of Agriculture and Reclamation, and Wang Zhen became the minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Reclamation, once again participating in the construction of Xinjiang.
In the three years since the establishment of the Production Management and Construction Corps of the Xinjiang Military Region, under the instructions of Wang Zhen, the speed of agricultural reclamation has developed rapidly. At this time, the internal management of the corps was continuously strengthened, the construction of state farms was continuously advanced, and the reclamation work was also carried out.
After a long period of operation and reclamation, the land that can be cultivated is connected to a large area for easy planting. Immediately afterward, the soldiers of the Corps spent another three years planning forty-four new farms and inspecting the completed farms, which greatly promoted the construction of new farms.
Barracks building
With the rapid development of The reclamation cause in Xinjiang, more and more locals have joined the corps under the call of the government to contribute to the construction of Xinjiang. At this time, the central authorities also took into account that many people in the army did not have a high level of knowledge, so the central authorities actively called on highly educated intellectuals in the country to contribute to the defense of the family and the country.
At the call of the state, a large number of intellectual young people jumped up, packed their bags and embarked on the road to China's northwest border without hesitation.
In 1958, with the increase in the number of corps, people also rose to reclaim land and build water conservancy work, water conservancy projects can not only irrigate agriculture, but also generate electricity, but also solve the problem of local people's draft water, which can be described as killing three birds with one stone.
Under the instructions of the government, the soldiers worked hard and diligently facing the loess and facing the sky, and in just one year, they reclaimed 570,000 hectares of land and built more than 100 new farms, all of which were bought by the soldiers on the side of the border with their own sweat and hard work.
Although their skin was tanned by the wind and the sun, although they may not even have enough to eat, they had no hesitation, and after more than a decade of development, by 1966, the number of the Xinjiang Construction Corps had expanded to more than 880,000 people.
Xinjiang was gradually stabilized, but at this time Wang Zhen was faced with another difficult problem; from ancient times to the present, although some dynasties were able to vigorously carry out the cause of "tun reclamation" and maintain stability in the border areas, they still could not get rid of the situation of "ending from one generation to the next", and the fundamental reasons were mainly twofold: First, the homesickness of the soldiers; and the soldiers of the second division were faced with the problem of difficulty in seeking relatives.
As they grew older, most of the soldiers missed their relatives back home in their hearts, and it was a little difficult for many to take root in this remote place for a lifetime. And the serious imbalance in the proportion of men and women in the army has led to the inability of soldiers to solve their own lifelong problems.
Wang Zhen once counted with his fingers to Premier Zhou that the ratio of men to women in the entire Xinjiang army was 160:1, while the ratio of unmarried men and women over the age of 30 was 300:1. As they grew older, the fledgling soldiers gradually grew into people who could stand on their own, and the old people in the army directly became older young people.
In these hundreds of thousands of troops, the cadres below the regiment were basically all bare sticks, and at that time there was a clear stipulation in the army that in order to respect the customs and habits of ethnic minorities, soldiers were not allowed to marry women of ethnic minorities. Therefore, how to let the soldiers settle down without worries has become an urgent problem to be solved.
Faced with this thorny problem, Marshal Peng Dehuai had already made plans, and once when he went to visit the soldiers, he talked about this issue, and he swore to the soldiers: "When fighting a war, you can charge into the front, and even if there are great difficulties in reclaiming the land, you can overcome it, if you all fight bare sticks, who should inherit our cause?" Lifelong events will definitely be solved. ”
Before Peng Dehuai's voice could be heard, he received warm applause from the soldiers. Wang Zhen also knew in his heart that if he wanted to truly ensure the peace and stability of the frontier, he must be a good red bride, the soldiers have a home, and with their children, they will not feel depressed about it, and they can also better develop the motherland's "reclamation" cause.
So Wang Zhen immediately instructed the cadres at all levels to investigate, and those who were married at home could bring their wives and children with them. At the same time, he also recruited young women with lofty ideals throughout the country to participate in the construction of Xinjiang.
After Wang Zhen's efforts, by 1954, the proportion of female soldiers in the army had accounted for 40% of the whole team, and the soldiers could pursue their own objects, and the problem of settling down was basically solved.
At the same time, in order to ensure the safety of the soldiers, Wang Zhen also set aside enough space to build schools, hospitals and other infrastructure to ensure their basic living needs.
It can be said that Wang Zhen's series of measures have played a very important role in Xinjiang's stability and peaceful development, and the number of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps has also increased day by day. Even Chairman Mao jokingly called him "the greatest red lady."
Subsequently, the Central Committee considered that the current young people should inherit the will of the older generation, so Wang Zhen agreed with Shanghai Municipality and decided to send more intellectuals to the frontiers of the motherland to temper, to grow, and to inherit the will of the old revolutionaries more profoundly.
To this end, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps deliberately vacated the Tarim Reclamation Area for training of these knowledgeable young people.
In 1962, the central government mobilized nearly 1,000 young intellectuals from Shanghai to study in Xinjiang, nearly 20,000 in 1963, and by the end of 1964, the number of young people from Shanghai to Xinjiang had reached an unprecedented 50,000.
Although the Xinjiang Production Management Corps suffered a serious setback later, which led to a period of suspension of work and production, after the resumption of work, Wang Enmao, vice chairman of the autonomous region, quickly led the troops into production and construction.
In 1991, Wang Zhen, who had devoted his life's experience to the cause of Xinjiang, returned to Xinjiang for the last time, and when he held a meeting with the leaders of Xinjiang, Wang Zhen said emotionally: "If I go to see Marx, I wish that my ashes be scattered in the Tianshan Mountains and will always guard the peace and stability of the motherland with the people of all ethnic groups." ”
When he was about to leave Xinjiang, Wang Zhen deliberately put on his Uighur costume and bowed deeply to the soldiers and civilians in Xinjiang, and bid farewell to the land. Two years later, Wang Zhen died of illness, and the central government sprinkled his ashes from the sky according to his will, so that he would always guard the land he loved.
Later, more and more people joined the Xinjiang Production Management Corps, which has grown to more than 3.2 million people so far, becoming the largest corps in the world.
At present, the soldiers in the corps have no military salary and have been working all their lives, but for the sake of peace and stability on the frontier of the motherland, they have always been duty-bound and dedicated their youth and blood to the motherland and this land.
It is believed that with the joint efforts of the legionnaires, China's future will surely develop better and better.