The founding general, every time the old ministry went down to visit him, he had to ask the other party these 3 questions
Among the ten generals of New China, Xu Haidong is known as the "Tiger General". From the Northern Expedition War, the Jute Uprising, to the creation of revolutionary base areas, and then to the leading troops to the anti-Japanese front line with illness, Xu Haidong was experienced in hundreds of battles.
He was wounded 9 times in 10 years of fighting, with a total of 17 bullet marks on his body, and Edgar Snow once wrote in "Journey to the West": "Among the military leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, I am afraid that no one can be more 'famous' than Xu Haidong." ”
In 1955, the CCP decided to award Xu Haidong the rank of Grand General, and when he heard the news, he was deeply disturbed, saying that he had been ill for a long time and had made too little contribution to the party, and that the rank of Great General was deserved!
The Prime Minister comforted him: "The appointment of you as a general is based on your revolutionary contribution, neither high nor low, just right!" ”
General Xu Haidong has a broad mind and is bright and upright all his life, and this is not the first time he has "given way to an official", he often said a sentence: "I am a person who has an addiction to fighting, an addiction to walking, and an addiction to drinking in the past, that is, there is no addiction to being an official." ”
In the spring of 1931, when the anti-encirclement and suppression operations in the revolutionary base areas of Eyu and Anhui were at their most intense, during a battle, Xu Haidong was wounded and sent to the Red Army Hospital for treatment.
When he returned to the unit, what he did not expect was that because of the tension of the war, the 38th Regiment he had originally led already had a new regimental commander, and there was no shortage of political commissars, and his old regimental commander suddenly became a cadre with nowhere to be placed.
At that time, the political commissar of the division meant to let him raise another body and wait for the distribution, but he took the initiative to ask to go to the 38th Regiment as the deputy regimental commander.
The commissar said, "How does this work?" ”
But he asked, "Why not?" Aren't deputy regimental commanders and regimental commanders the same as leading soldiers to fight? Moreover, we are not making revolutions for the sake of competing for office. ”
Another time was in 1934, when, according to the instructions of the central authorities, Xu Haidong led the reorganized Red Twenty-fifth Army, leaving the Dabie Mountain area that had been fighting for several years and starting the Long March.
Before the expedition, he took the initiative to propose to the provincial party committee that he would no longer serve as a military commander and ask Cheng Zihua from the central authorities to take up his post, because he felt that after Cheng Zihua studied at the Wuhan branch of the Whampoa Military Academy, he had rich experience in struggle, and had been a division commander of the Central Red Army, and if he "took the helm," the Red Twenty-fifth Army would be able to suffer fewer setbacks, take fewer detours, and develop and grow as soon as possible.
He starts from the big picture in everything and does not have the slightest selfishness.
After the founding of New China, whenever an old subordinate went down to visit him, he always had to ask the other party 3 questions: Did he make a mistake in politics and governance? Is there any economic corruption? Divorced from your wife?
These "three questions" are unique and three points into the wood.
These three questions of General Xu Haidong not only embody the ideological realm and personality charm of the older generation of revolutionaries, but also highlight the mutual love and concern among the old comrades.
Among them, the first sentence asks about thought, the second sentence asks about integrity, and the third sentence asks about style.
These "three questions" are not only the old general's beating reminder to his subordinates, but also a natural outpouring of his own lofty spirit.
To this day, General Xu Haidong's "three questions" are still not outdated, and they are also extremely targeted, which can be described as a cautionary word.
This is true for his subordinates, and he is also strict with his children, never allowing them to use the glory of their fathers to seek special.
At home, he never let his children ride in a special public car, saying: "This car is for me by the party and the people, not for you." ”
Even the envelopes and ink distributed by the public, he did not allow his children to use, he told his children, there are two kinds of money, one is public money, private can not be spent, and the other is his own money, can not be spent casually.
During the Great Revolution, the Xu Haidong family lost 66 relatives, and after liberation, in order to commemorate them, Xu Haidong decided to build a martyr's tomb.
Although his relatives were sacrificed for the revolution, Xu Haidong believed that building tombs for them was "his own family's business" and could not take advantage of the public family, so he took out the money sent by his own illness and old comrades-in-arms, plus the money accumulated by his children, and built the "Tomb of Xu Haidong's Relatives and Martyrs" in his hometown of Dawu, Hubei Province, in October 1949.
Xu Haidong "cut the door" to his family, but he was very generous to his hometown, and soon after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he asked Anhui Province for more than 400,000 tea trees to plant in Dawu, and now these tea trees have become the "rich trees" of the villagers.
Later, he also raised funds to build a road from Dawu to Wuhan, and helped his hometown build a tobacco factory, a fertilizer factory, and an oil press.
"As a communist, as long as you have a breath and don't work for the party, it is the greatest shame." General Xu Haidong fulfilled his oath.