On November 7, 1985, a convoy from Nanjing to Henan set off, along the way this convoy did not honk the horn, did not turn on the lights, but the whole process was escorted by the People's Liberation Army, and the vehicles used were all military vehicles!
So what exactly is the real identity of this team? Why is their trip so mysterious? What exactly is the convoy transporting? Let's explore the story behind this team.
One day in October 1985, on the desk of Deng Xiaoping, the chief designer of Zhongnanhai, there was a document urgently sent by the central government, and Deng Xiaoping looked at the contents of the document and was silent for a long time.
After some time, Deng Xiaoping picked up the fountain pen on the table and gave eight words on the document: According to this special office, the next example is not an example. So what exactly is the content of the documents urgently submitted by the central government?
Xu Shiyou
Nowadays, we all know that our country advocates cremation, and in addition to respecting the national customs of ethnic minorities, whether it is the central leadership or the local people, they are all cremated after their deaths, because this is a regulation formed since the founding of the country.
In 1949, new China was proclaimed, and the leaders of new China after its founding signed a proposal for cremation after death at the suggestion of Chairman Mao, but one of the founding generals did not sign it, he was Xu Shiyou.
Xu Shiyou was born in 1905 in Xinyang City, Henan Province, went to school, read books, graduated from junior high school, and later the family economy could not support Xu Shiyou to continue his studies, so he went to work in a grocery store, and later went to the Shaolin Temple to learn martial arts, and officially joined the Communist Party of China in 1927.
During the agrarian revolution, Xu Shiyou made many military achievements, from an ordinary Red Army soldier all the way to the position of commander of the 34th Regiment of the 12th Division of the Red Fourth Army, and in 1933 he was appointed deputy commander of the Red Ninth Army, and later became the commander of the Red Fourth Army and the commander of the cavalry of the Red Fourth Front.
During the Long March, when the Central Red Army was out of the meadow, it was surrounded by Hu Zong's southern troops, and Xu Shiyou was immediately ordered to lead the Red Fourth Army and the Red Thirty Army to fight fiercely with the southern Hu Zong for two days and nights here, and finally completely annihilated this enemy force and ensured the safe withdrawal of the Central Red Army.
At the end of the Long March in 1936, Xu Shiyou entered Yan'an Military and Political University after arriving in Yan'an, which was later changed to Kang Da. During this period of study, Xu Shiyou worked hard and diligently, and by the time the Anti-Japanese War broke out, he had been appointed as the deputy director of the School Affairs Department.
In 1937, the two parties cooperated again to establish an anti-Japanese national united front, and Xu Shiyou followed Marshal Zhu De out of the Taihang Mountains and threw himself into the War of Resistance.
The following year, Xu Shiyou was appointed deputy brigade commander of the 386 brigade of the 129th Division, brigade commander Chen Geng, division commander Liu Bocheng, and political commissar Deng Xiaoping, and it was precisely because of this that Xu Shiyou was able to get to know Deng Xiaoping and formed a deep friendship with Deng Xiaoping in the years of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
In September 1940, Xu Shiyou was transferred to the third brigade of the Shandong Column, and successfully established an anti-Japanese base area behind enemy lines around the Bohai Sea and the Qinghe River, inflicting heavy losses on the Japanese Kou.
In the spring of 1941, during this extremely difficult period of the War of Resistance, he commanded the Eighth Route Army to take the initiative to launch an attack on the Japanese puppet army, sweeping through the enemy troops here, and his prestige was far and wide.
In February 1942, Xu Shiyou was promoted to chief of staff of the Shandong Column, and later became the commander of the Jiaodong Military Region, leading the military and civilians here to continue to persist in the War of Resistance.
In the spring of 1945, Xu Shiyou led an army to defeat the Kuomintang capitulation faction zhao Baoyuan stationed here, which greatly boosted the morale of the jiaodong army and people in the war of resistance.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Kuomintang Chiang Kai-shek clique plotted to provoke a civil war in a vain attempt to continue its dictatorial rule in China, and the War of Liberation broke out, and Xu Shiyou was appointed commander of the Ninth Column of the East China Field Army.
Fight back
Later, he served as the commander of the Shandong Military Region, deputy secretary of the party committee, and member of the Shandong Branch of the CPC Central Committee, and held the power of the party, government, and army of the Shandong Military Region, and in 1947, under the command of Su Yu, Xu Shiyou led the army to successfully annihilate the 74th Division, the ace of the Kuomintang army.
In September 1948, under the orders of the Central Military Commission, he led the army to launch an attack on the Kuomintang defenders entrenched in Huiji, and after eight days of fierce fighting, completely annihilated more than 100,000 enemy defenders and basically liberated the entire territory of Shandong.
In 1955, new China held a ceremony to award medals, Xu Shiyou was awarded the rank of general, and then transferred to the commander of the Nanjing Military Region, in 1966, Xu Shiyou was criticized, but the following year in the case of Chairman Mao's personal appearance, Xu Shiyou was forced to ensure safety.
In 1979, Deng Xiaoping personally made Xu Shiyou the commander-in-chief of the counterattack against Vietnam, and Xu Shiyou led his army not only to defeat the Vietnamese army, but also to completely destroy the industrial and agricultural facilities in northern Vietnam, inflicting heavy damage on Vietnam.
On October 22, 1985, General Xu Shiyou died due to ineffective treatment, but before his death, Xu Shiyou expressed his hope that he could be buried after his death and accompany his mother, and the central government did not dare to give instructions, so he reported to Deng Xiaoping for a decision.
Our
In fact, this is not the first time that Xu Shiyou has expressed his desire to use earth burial after his death, as early as the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the party and state leader Mao Zedong took the initiative to take the lead in proposing that after the death of the central leaders, all cremation methods should be used.
In addition to Comrade Ren Bishi's death before the initiative was proposed, and still used the method of burial, the subsequent central leaders all used the method of cremation, and after that, the chairman also took the lead in signing the cremation proposal, but among all the signatures approved by the subsidiary, only Xu Shiyou's name was missing.
After the chairman learned of it, he was also silent, and then Xu Shiyou took the initiative to find the chairman to explain to him why he did not sign, because he did not fulfill his filial piety before he died, so he hoped to accompany his mother after death.
Xu Shiyou is a great filial piety, and the chairman understands this, so the chairman is also silent for a long time after hearing Xu Shiyou's words.
When Xu Shiyou participated in the revolution in the early years, the reactionaries attacked Xu Shiyou's home in order to threaten Xu Shiyou, but Xu Shiyou's mother learned of the news and evacuated early.
After this, Xu Shiyou went out to fight for many years, and there was no news, and his mother often missed Xu Shiyou at home, so she often inquired about his news.
However, some of these news are true and some are false, some say that Xu Shiyou died in battle, and some say that Xu Shiyou is not dead, and he also became a high official.
Pla
It was not until the founding of New China that his mother finally had the news of Xu Shiyou, and it was difficult to take his mother to his side, and the Korean War broke out, and Xu Shiyou was ordered to fight in Korea.
By the time General Xu Shiyou returned to China, his mother had already passed away, so Xu Shiyou, who was deeply sad in his heart, put forward a request to the chairman to be buried after death and perform filial piety for his mother.
In 1985, Xu Shiyou, who felt that time was running out, repeatedly wrote to the Central Committee, hoping that the Central Committee could approve his request, but at this time the Central Committee could not make a decision, so he urgently submitted it to Deng Xiaoping's office, hoping that Deng Xiaoping could give instructions.
Deng Xiaoping and Xu Shiyou had known each other as early as the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and their personal friendship was very good, and in 1979, Deng Xiaoping personally ordered Xu Shiyou to lead troops to Vietnam.
In 1985, when Deng Xiaoping was touring the south, Xu Shiyou learned that his old leader was coming, so he prepared to go to the station to meet him, but Deng Xiaoping considered Xu Shiyou's health and did not allow him to come and pick him up.
Later, after Deng Xiaoping arrived, he also took a bottle of Moutai to Xu Shiyou's home and talked to Xu Shiyou about wine, and Xu Shiyou's favorite wine was Maotai, so he was very happy.
When Deng Xiaoping saw the report on Xu Shiyou's application delivered by the central authorities, Deng Xiaoping, after a long period of reflection, wrote down with a pen: According to this special office, the following is not an example, eight big characters.
However, after that, it was instructed that there could be no memorial service, and only farewell parties for the remains were allowed.
The reason why this instruction was added is mainly because Xu Shiyou was buried by using earth burial, and it would not be good to handle the chase.
Therefore, after the death of General Xu Shiyou, after a simple farewell party for the remains, the funeral procession set off, but because Xu Shiyou was buried in the earth, the size of the coffin prepared in advance did not match.
Fortunately, at this time, You Taizhong, then commander of the Guangzhou Military Region, and Xu Shiyou's old subordinates personally went to the dense forests of Guangxi to find nanmu for coffins, and asked someone to hurry up and make it, and sent it to the tomb of General Xu Shiyou after completion.
On November 9, 1985, after two days of running, without honking and turning on the lights, the funeral convoy arrived at the cemetery of General Xu Shiyou, after which the veteran general who had fought for the country and the people for decades had to be buried next to his mother and accompanied him forever.