The only founding female general in the Million Army, her life was bumpy, and the list of relics made people cry bitterly
Hua Mulan was full of hearts from the army, and Mu Guiying commanded a thousand formations. The sons and daughters of China do not love red clothes and love arms.
On the afternoon of September 27, 1955, our army held its first major award.
Among this group of founding generals who had made great achievements and were full of legends, there was a female general who was particularly eye-catching, she was the first female general of the republic, and the only founding female general- Major General Li Zhen, who was then the head of the cadre department of the Political Department of the Air Defense Army.
Familiar people know that behind Li Zhen's shining stars is her battle experience of birth and death, and the feelings of a clean and honest public servant.
Li Zhen was born in Liuyang, Hunan Province, to poor peasant families, her parents had a total of six daughters, and her father died of illness after the birth of her youngest sister. In order to make ends meet, at the age of 6, her mother tearfully sold her to a family as a child bridesmaid, and at the age of 16, she was forced to hold an old-fashioned wedding with her husband.
In 1926, li Zhen, who was unfortunately married, decided to "follow the Revolution with the Communist Party", joined the Women's Association, and soon became the chairman of the Township Women's Association, and the following year he joined the Party with honor.
Subsequently, Li Zhen participated in the autumn harvest uprising on the border of Xianggan and Gansu, the anti-"encirclement and suppression" struggle in the Xianggan and Xiang'echuanqian base areas, and the Long March of the Red Army.
During the Long March, Li Zhen had an experience of nine deaths.
In July 1936, after the Red Second and Red Sixth Armies and the Red Fourth Front met in Xikang Ganzi, they were ordered to form the Red Second Front together with the Red Thirty-second Army, with Li Zhen as deputy director of the Organization Department of the Political Department of the Front, and her husband Gan Siqi as the director of the Political Department.
Soon, the troops set out from the East Valley of Ganzi, over the Chalqi Mountain, and into the meadows.
One day, Li Zhen, who was pregnant, fainted on the ground after inspecting the soldiers' camp, and when her comrades rescued her, they found that she was infected with terrible typhoid fever.
Before crossing the meadow, Mr. He had given Li Zhen a few pairs of hot herbs, but Li Zhen left it to the injured little warrior, and she had no medicine to use at this time.
In addition to participating in the decision-making of the troops, Gan Siqi also had to command the battles and do the political work and mass work of the troops, and had no time to take care of his wife at all.
Seeing that Li Zhen's high fever was not stopping, Gan Siqi invited a doctor, and after diagnosing Li Zhen with typhoid fever, he sold his only private property, a gold pen awarded to him by the Moscow Sun Yat-sen University, and bought drugs and injections, which made Li Zhen's high fever subside.
The grassland environment was harsh, and halfway through, Li Zhen was born prematurely. The process of giving birth to a child is very painful, especially on the eve of labor, Li Zhen, who gave birth in the wilderness, died of pain, and the bones of her whole body seemed to be scattered.
There was no food at that time, her body was already very weak, and it was very difficult to give birth to a child with great effort.
Her voice was hoarse, her yellow-skinned face had deep eye sockets, and her hands were clutching the clothes under her because of the pain in her body...
The child was born, but there was no milk at all. At that time, the whole army was cut off from cooking, there was no food to fill the hunger, and the children were crying and crying with hunger. Everyone lives by eating tree bark and grass roots, and some of these are not even guaranteed, and children naturally do not get nutrition.
Despite the warriors' care for the little life, they were unable to get out of the meadow, and the baby died after only 14 days of birth. Li Zhen and his wife were heartbroken.
Gan Siqi persuaded Li Zhen to stay and recuperate at Hadapu, but Li Zhen shook his head and disagreed. Gan Siqi said, "You are not lightly ill, and you cannot fight with the troops marching!" ”
Li Zhen demanded that she be tied to her horse and continue to march with the Red Second Front, and it was not until October 1936 that she ended the march on horseback after the victory of the Red Army at Shotai Fort.
This experience left a hidden pain for Li Zhen, because she did not rest after giving birth, coupled with the impact of typhoid fever, her body was seriously damaged and she permanently lost her right to be a mother.
Later, Li Zhen and his wife raised more than 20 martyrs' orphans and selflessly dedicated their love to these children.
In 1980, the Central Military Commission approved that Li Zhen's rank was set at the rank of deputy of the Grand Military Region, but Li Zhen still lived in the original house. She often told the staff around her that the war years were very difficult, and now that the conditions are better, we cannot covet enjoyment and abandon the good tradition of hard work.
In March 1990, Li Zhen completed 82 years of glorious life.
When people tearfully sorted out her relics, they found that this female general who had participated in the revolution for 64 years, in addition to the 4 medals that recorded her outstanding military achievements, the other relics were so simple that they could be called "destitute":
4 old rattan chairs that have been used for 15 years and are still reluctant to throw away, a marching box that has been used for 40 years, 11,000 yuan, two small gold bars left over from the war years...
Li Zhen arranged her relics in her will as follows:
One gold bar was donated to his hometown of Liuyang County, and the other was donated to Gan Siqi's hometown of Ningxiang County, all for the development of education;
The deposit is divided into two parts, part of which is donated to the Beijing Children's Palace, and part of which is handed over to the organization as its own party fee.
Looking at the list of Relics of General Li Zhen, the staff present all cried bitterly.
epilogue:
Reliving the course of Li Zhen's struggle, we are shocked by her courage to be fearless of life and death, moved by her indifferent feelings of fame and fortune, impressed by her determination to be honest and self-preserving, and we are even more excited by the power of faith reflected in all this.