Xu Shiyou on the battlefield, known as the "Tiger General", Shaolin Kung Fu plus body, holding a large knife, so that the enemy is dazzled, instant defeat, love to fight hard battles, seven times to participate in the death squad, is the "first person in the death squad".
"When the iron man also has tenderness, it is like a tiger sniffing roses." After leaving the battlefield, he was also a good son who was filial to his mother, knelt down in front of his mother many times, expressed his inner guilt to his mother, and refused to be cremated in his later years, just to be buried next to his mother and make up for his regret of not accompanying his mother before he died.
Pictured| Xu Shiyou and his mother
In his life, he never feared anyone or served anyone, and Xu Shiyou could only show his most tender side when facing his mother, the iron-boned general. On February 28, 1905, Xu Shiyou was born. When he was 13 years old, his father died of illness, and before he died, his father called his mother to bed, pointed to the youngest daughter, and said that in order to survive the whole family, he would send the youngest sister to exchange money.
A few days later, the traffickers came to the house with five pieces of ocean to ask for people, and Xu Shiyou, who had just returned from field labor, happened to bump into this scene, and when he figured out what had happened, Xu Shiyou swooped down on his knees in front of his mother and said, "Mother, my sister is still young, selling her is to push her into the fire pit, if our eight brothers and sisters must sell one, then sell me." ”
Xu Shiyou's words were like a sharp sword piercing into the mother's heart, and the mother, with tears in her eyes, walked to the trafficker, pulled back her daughter, and then pulled up Xu Shiyou, who was kneeling on the ground, and said that in the future, no matter whether we live or die, our whole family will always be together, and Xu Shiyou stood up.
Pictured| Xu Shiyou, commander of the Shandong Corps
In this way, the sister was not sold, and the death of the father made the already poor family even worse, and all the burden of the family was placed on the mother alone. Xu Shiyou, who is young, often rushes to help his mother work in order to help his mother share the pressure.
Xu Shiyou, who lost his father at an early age, has been dependent on his mother since childhood, outside, he is a "tiger cub" with a burst of temperament, at home, he is also a docile little sheep, everyone in the village knows that he is a big filial piety, Xu Shiyou respects Yue Fei very much, and often says that those who are not filial to their parents will not be loyal to the country.
Xu Shiyou su ri love to fight uneven, plus when he was eight years old, because his family was poor, Xu Shiyou was sent by his parents to the Shaolin Temple to learn martial arts, and several years of Shaolin Temple life allowed him to learn a superb martial art, and also laid a good foundation for his future military career. With his kung fu skills, he could not avoid accidents. At the age of 16, the son of the local bully Li Jingxuan bullied Xu Shiyou's eldest brother, and the angry Xu Shiyou injured Li Jingxuan's son. In order to get justice for his son, Li Jingxuan prepared to report to the government to let the government arrest Xu Shiyou, in order not to be caught by the government, in desperation, Xu Shiyou had to leave his mother and escape overnight.
Later, Xu Shiyou joined the Communist Party of China. With extraordinary courage and outstanding performance, the army also became more and more highly titled and famous, led the famous jute uprising, and formed the first revolutionary armed force in the Dabie Mountain area. "The spark of a spark can ignite the plains," the revolutionary armed contingent led by Xu Shiyou lit the "spark of stars" in the jute area of the Dabie Mountain area, which made the Kuomintang panic and headache. As a result, Xu Shiyou became the key target of arrest by the Kuomintang Qingxiang Regiment, and even his relatives became the "focus of attention" of the Qingxiang Regiment, and Li Jingxuan, the leader of the Qingxiang Regiment, shouted: "If we can't catch Xu Shiyou, then we will arrest his mother and ask his mother for questioning!" ”
Picture | Xu Shiyou was talking to the soldiers in the army
Xu Shiyou's mother knew that her two sons had participated in the revolution, and the Qingxiang Regiment would certainly not let her go, so she took her whole family to hide in the mountains, and did not expect to be targeted by the Qingxiang Regiment's eyeliner. Later, Xu Shiyou's mother came out to check the situation and asked for some food for everyone by the way, but was arrested by Li Jingxuan, the leader of the Qingxiang Regiment. In order to force his mother to reveal Xu Shiyou's whereabouts, the enemy used criminal law and beat him with a leather whip, but Xu Shiyou's mother never told Xu Shiyou's whereabouts.
Picture | Xu Shiyou
After Xu Shiyou learned of the situation, he immediately wrote a letter to Li Jingxuan, which was paid as "Xu Shiyou, the captain of the artillery team", and Li Jingxuan, who was already timid and afraid of things, was afraid of what chaos would arise after receiving Xu Shiyou's letter, so he quickly released the people. When Xu Shiyou took his mother home and looked at his mother's haggard face, Xu Shiyou knelt down in front of his mother and said, "I'm sorry mother, I am tired of you." Unexpectedly, my mother calmly said to him: "You are to save the poor, this is a good thing, the mother will not stop you." After a short reunion, Xu Shiyou hurriedly left his mother and returned to the army to continue to serve the revolution.
In 1949, Xu Shiyou wrote a letter to his mother, in which he told her that the first thing after the liberation of the whole country was to go back to see her. However, after the founding of New China, the superiors sent Xu Shiyou a new task, and there was no time to pick up his mother, there was no way, Xu Shiyou could only send someone to take his mother to his side. When the mother who was thinking about the night came to his eyes, Xu Shiyou was stunned, and the old man who walked trembling in front of him was actually his own mother, hunched over his waist and full of white hair, at this time, Xu Shiyou realized that his mother was really old, experienced the cruelty of the battlefield, but for a while he could not accept the fact that his mother was gradually getting old.
Pictured | Xu Shiyou's mother
"Mother..." In front of more than 100 subordinates, Xu Shiyou directly knelt down in front of his mother and tightly held her hand. Finally see you, son. After saying this, the mother suddenly reproached: "Now that you are a great general, how can you kneel down to an old woman in front of so many people and get up quickly." Xu Shiyou didn't care at all, and said, "No matter how big the official is, I am also your son, let me kneel a little longer." ”
In 1952, Xu Shiyou returned to his hometown to visit his mother, and due to the lack of roads at that time, when he walked to Xinxian County, he changed from a car to a horse and went to Xujiawa. About four hours later, Xu Shiyou first came to the martyrs' cemetery in Haohan Mountain. At that time, 18 brothers followed Xu Shiyou to participate in the revolution, and in the end, only he was left alone, and the other brothers all died on the battlefield, and the remains of five of them were buried here. Xu Shiyou stood in front of the grave of his former comrade-in-arms and did not speak for a long time.
Before leaving, Xu Shiyou said to the entourage: "After a hundred years, I will also return to my roots and return to my hometown to accompany my good brother." After saying this, he pulled his horse down the mountain and rushed home. An old woman caught Xu Shiyou's eyes: ragged, gray hair dancing in the wind, full of wrinkles, wearing a pair of torn cotton shoes, the cracked instep of her feet exposed outside, and a bundle of firewood on her back. Xu Shiyou walked to the front of his eyes and found out that it was his mother.
"Mother, mother! You old man..." Xu Shiyou swooped down and knelt in front of his mother, then stood up and took the firewood off his mother's back, and then he threw himself on his knees, hugging his mother and crying, and did not move for a long time. The mother did not speak, Xu Shiyou kept kneeling, such a move, frightened the entourage and the surrounding neighbors, everyone did not know what to do.
Later, under the persuasion of the old man in the village, he stood up and faced the parent official in his hometown, Xu Shiyou was very angry, and shouted: "How do you parent officials do, let an old lady in her seventies go up the mountain to cut firewood, no matter whose mother it is, such an old age, you can't do this no matter what." This time, Xu Shiyou stayed at home for three days and then returned to Jinan.
Later, when his mother died, Xu Shiyou knelt in front of his mother's grave and did not speak for a long time, and when he left, he said: "Mother, since ancient times, loyalty and filial piety have been difficult, I failed to serve you when your old man was alive, and after I die, I will definitely come to guard the grave for you." ”
Pictured| Xu Shiyou's family
The mother who had worked hard all her life passed away in this way, did not have time to see her mother for the last time, did not have much time to accompany her mother, and did not filial piety to her mother, which became the regret of Xu Shiyou's life.
From the publication of the "Cremation Proposal" in 1956 to the death of Xu Shiyou in 1985, for 30 years, Xu Shiyou did not change this idea, and has been worried about returning to his hometown for burial.
On April 27, 1956, Chairman Mao and other leaders held a central work conference at Huairen Hall in Zhongnanhai, and during the break of the meeting, Chairman Mao's secretary brought a proposal, which read, "Proposal to carry out cremation." At that time, in addition to Chairman Mao and many other leaders, everyone had heard about this incident.
After receiving the proposal, Chairman Mao first read the contents of the proposal, then snuffed out the cigarette in his hand, walked to the writing desk, signed his name on the paper, and wrote down the date of the day" "April 27, 1956", and the first funeral reform initiative in New China also began on this day.
Pictured| Xu Shiyou, commander of the Nanjing Military Region
At that time, Marshal Zhu De, who was standing next to Chairman Mao, took a pen and paper and signed his name on the proposal, and then Peng Dehuai, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, and others all signed on it, a total of 151 signatures. Yang Shangkun, who did not attend the meeting, later wrote a special letter and added his signature to express his approval of this initiative. At the time, the proposal read:
All state functionaries who are in favor of the cremation method are requested to sign at the back, and those who sign their names mean that they must be cremated after they die. The latter must ensure that the first deceased fulfills their cremation aspirations.
However, Xu Shiyou, who was then the commander of the Nanjing Military Region, was hesitant to sign, because the signature was voluntary, and no one blamed him, but if he did not sign, it seemed that he was engaged in special. Later, Xu Shiyou specifically found Chairman Mao and explained to Chairman Mao why he did not sign, he said: "Report Chairman, I live to be loyal to you, and after I die, I will do filial piety for my mother, I have been unable to stay by my mother's side since I was a child, I have only this one wish, please ask the chairman's approval: I will be buried next to my mother after I die." ”
Pictured| Xu Shiyou and Chairman Mao
After saying these words, Xu Shiyou was very uneasy in his heart, and he was worried that Chairman Mao would blame himself and say that he was special, but he did not expect that Chairman Mao took a deep look at Xu Shiyou, nodded, and jokingly said, "You are a monk." Xu Shiyou heard that Chairman Mao had agreed to his request.
In 1979, although Xu Shiyou was 74 years old, his body had always been relatively tough, and he worked hard in his post, and after the command of the war on the Eastern Front was over, Xu Shiyou slowly began to arrange his posthumous affairs. He wrote a letter to his son Xu Guang, in which he wrote:
Now mail Wu Shiyuan, use this money to buy me a coffin, I will not be cremated after I die, I will be buried in my hometown, buried next to my parents, alive and loyal to the country, dead to honor my parents.
The picture | a letter written by Xu Shiyou to his son Xu Guang
After Xu Guang received the letter, he added another 450 yuan, bought the best pine wood in Dabie Mountain, and asked the famous local carpenter to make a coffin that was good at that time according to the customs of his hometown, and placed it in Commander Xu's old residence, but this coffin was not used later, and the coffin buried by Xu Shiyou was made of Nan wood selected by Comrade You Taizhong.
Picture | Xu Shiyou's eldest sons Xu Guang (left) and Xu Shiyou (right)
In 1981, Xu Shiyou called his secretaries Li Wenqing, Wei Jinshan, and his son, who was working in Nanjing at the time, to his home, and at the dinner table, Xu Shiyou said to the two secretaries: "These children have grown up watching, and in the future you will rely on you to take more care of them and help them. After saying this, Xu Shiyou was silent for a while and said:
I don't cremation when I die. In the past, I reported to Chairman Mao that I was loyal in life and filial piety after death. I did not sign the central government's proposal to lead the staff to be cremated. I also told Chairman Deng Xiaoping that after I died, I was buried with my mother, I left home from an early age, I did not perform filial piety around my mother, and I wanted to be with her old man's family after I died. I gave my eldest son 50 yuan and asked him to buy me a coffin, and when he died, he would just pack it in, and you would help me with this.
Pictured | Xu Shiyou and his experimental field in his later years
On the eve of the Spring Festival in 1985, Xu Shiyou often felt pain in his abdomen, but he did not take it seriously, nor did he tell his family, afraid that his family would be worried. However, during the physical examination in March, Xu Shiyou was found to have advanced liver cancer. Xu Shiyou's daughter Xu Huashan recalled: "Although his father was told that he was seriously ill, he still smiled and said that he was just going to see Marx right away, he continued to do his own thing every day, and his smile did not decrease, and he could not see the nervous and worried emotions at all." ”
However, the optimistic attitude can not reduce the huge pain caused by liver cancer, it is really unbearable when Xu Shiyou will ask for painkillers, but after a long time, the body has developed resistance, and most of the time Xu Shiyou is relying on his own willpower to support. At this time, Xu Shiyou also knew that he was running out of time and that his life had come to an end.
So he asked his secretary to write an application for him, requesting that he be buried instead of cremation. Until his eightieth birthday, he could not rest assured at the banquet, and he was always worried about whether his application was approved by the Central Committee. Until the final deterioration of his condition, Xu Shiyou could not afford to be ill, could only lie in bed, sometimes awake and sometimes confused, he asked the people around him many times: "Has the central government agreed to my application?" Is there a reply? When the nephew came to visit him, he said, "Can you get a truck, and when I die, you must use the truck to send me home, wrap me in a plastic bag, and then next to your grandmother's grave, dig a hole and bury me..." ”
On October 22, 1985, Xu Shiyou died in Nanjing, and until the last moment, he did not wait for the reply of the Central Committee. After Xu Shiyou's death, the handling of his body became a major problem, and after the central government received Xu Shiyou's application, it was difficult to decide for a while, and the report on the application for burial was handed over to Deng Xiaoping.
Pictured| the former residence of Xu Shiyou
After receiving this report, Deng Xiaoping was embarrassed, on the one hand, this was after all the last wish of the deceased, the original intention was to fulfill filial piety, if the refusal would appear that the central authorities were not close to people, he was afraid that once this precedent was set, there would be a second and third time, and after a long time, the proposal would be useless. However, Xu Shiyou did not sign the proposal that year. In the end, Deng Xiaoping decided: agree to the burial, not the next example. On the morning of October 26, Wang Zhen, deputy director of the Central Consultative Commission, went to the Nanjing Theater to convey Deng Xiaoping's opinion:
In his 60-year career as a horseman, Xu Shiyou has made great achievements in battle and died a hundred deaths, and is a special person with a special personality, special experience and special contribution. Comrade Deng Xiaoping signed a special pass, which is a special of the special.
The use of seven "specials" in a row is enough to see the importance that Deng Xiaoping and the central authorities attach to Xu Shiyou.
Pictured| Xu Shiyou and Deng Xiaoping
In the end, Xu Shiyou fulfilled his wish to return to his hometown and often accompany his mother, but this approval was accompanied by three prohibitions: no memorial service, no monument to the deceased, no newspaper publicity, and only a farewell ceremony for the body. On the afternoon of the ceremony, tens of thousands of people spontaneously came to participate in the farewell ceremony that was originally intended to be held in a low profile. These people, including Xu Shiyou's former comrades-in-arms, colleagues, and people who had never known each other, all came to send the old general on his last journey.
Pictured | the tomb of Xu Shiyou
Xu Shiyou's burial ceremony was carried out in secret, the whole process is not allowed to take pictures and videos, not allow others to know, in order not to disturb the masses, the hearse set off late at night, so Xu Shiyou was brought back to his hometown, the burial place is only 40 meters away from Xu Shiyou's parents. At the beginning, Xu Shiyou's tomb did not have a monument, until a year after his death, a low-key tombstone was erected, on the tombstone there is no life deeds, no position, only the famous calligrapher Fan Zeng wrote seven words - the tomb of Comrade Xu Shiyou.
The general, who had been in the battlefield and had struggled for the revolutionary cause all his life, did not have much time to accompany his mother before he died, and after his death, he buried himself next to his mother's grave, in this way to accompany his mother and make up for his regrets before death. As the poem says, "Die filial piety for the son, die loyal to the subject, and die what is wrong with death?" ”