More than 2,000 years ago, the Western Han Dynasty implemented the system of "tun reclamation and reclamation of the frontier" in the western frontier, and the army of Tuntian also provided grain and grass for the army, promoted the economic development of the frontier areas, and better maintained the stability of the frontier areas.
Wang Zhen, the founding general of the People's Republic of China, was not only a generation of warriors who were in the limelight, but also made the first contribution to the cause of reclamation in New China. His life was closely linked to the reclamation cause of New China.
As early as the Anti-Japanese War, Wang Zhen, then the commander of the 359th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army, led his troops into the thorny Nanniwan and turned nanniwan into a "good Jiangnan plugged in" with his hands and blood and sweat.
After the founding of New China, General Wang Zhen "returned to his old business" and in May 1956, he was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Reclamation.
In 1958, 100,000 demobilized officers and soldiers of Wang Zhen came to the fertile black land of the Northern Wilderness, and they became the backbone of the development and construction of the Northern Wilderness. Then, thousands of young intellectuals in the vibrant Shanghai and other places also rushed to Shihezi and Aksu in Xinjiang.
For the sake of the cause of reclamation, Wang Zhen has been traveling to the poor countryside in Xinjiang, Heilongjiang, Guangdong, Hainan Island, Yunnan and other border areas all year round. Of the nine Spring Festivals between 1957 and 1966, he spent 6 Spring Festivals in reclamation areas, five of which were spent in beidahuang reclamation area and one Spring Festival in Xinjiang reclamation area.
In the spring, Wang Zhen personally lit the fire of pioneering and sowed seeds with the cold ice water with the agricultural reclamation workers. During the autumn harvest, he rode the "Combain" harvester with the farmers and farmers to gallop and harvest in the golden fields.
Wang Zhen dreamed of paying close attention to the growth of the agricultural reclamation team and the development of the agricultural reclamation cause, and was more concerned about the life of the peasant reclamation fighters.
At that time, the demobilized and demobilized soldiers who reclaimed the Northern Wilderness faced one of the biggest problems: it was difficult to get married. There are many officers and soldiers who have not yet started a family in their thirties and forties. Wang Zhen looked in his eyes and was anxious in his heart. In the winter, when there were fewer agricultural affairs, Wang Zhen issued an order: Give these officers and men who have not yet started a family a task, take two months off, and go back to their hometown in the interior to find a wife.
This order is very peculiar, it can be said that it is rare in military history!
Some veterans felt embarrassed, they felt that they were all thirty or forty years old, and young girls couldn't look at themselves at all. And the girls in the village who are about the same age as themselves are mostly the children of landlords and rich peasants, and they dare not ask for it!
Wang Zhen did the work for them: Why don't you dare to ask for it? The children of the landlords and kulaks are also part of the people, and even if there is any problem, you can educate her! You can't transform these people, how do you transform the world?!"
This peculiar "order" worked, and two months later, when many veterans returned to the Northern Wilderness, they were followed by a new daughter-in-law who was shy. After a year or two, many military reclamation warriors have successively had the next generation, and the People of the Great Northern Wilderness have flourished.
Later, General Wang Zhen said: He has given countless orders in his life, and he is most satisfied with this one!
Under the struggle of generations of military settlers, new types of towns have sprung up from the ground in the remote and desolate northwest, northeast, and Hainan; on the vast fields, golden wheat waves and soybean fragrances have become the main bases for China's commodity grain; and the rubber and sugarcane forests on the continuous hills have become patches, supplementing China's strategic economic resources.
In his old age, General Wang Zhen once again came to the Northern Wilderness, to Xinjiang, to Hainan. Many veteran soldiers of that year came to see General Wang Zhen when they heard the wind, and the crowd was dense and the joy was thunderous.
The old general stood up with a trembling staff and bowed respectfully to the old soldiers. Say: Hello comrades! I salute you! At this time, the audience burst into tears and applause burst out.