The trees are thousands of feet tall, and the fallen leaves return to the roots, which is the most simple local feeling of every wanderer.
General Han Wei, former deputy commander of the Beijing Military Region of the People's Liberation Army, was a wanderer who left home at a young age, joined the revolution at the age of sixteen, and since then he has fought in the north and south, rarely returning to his hometown.
In 1986, General Han Wei, who was already eighty years old, presided over the last family meeting of his life.
He said very seriously to his son Han Jingjing: "After I die, you will send my ashes to western Fujian, and I will be buried with my comrades-in-arms." ”
Han Jingjing was greatly puzzled, his father was one of the few "Three Bay Generals", and with such qualifications alone, his father was fully qualified to enter the Eight Treasure Mountain after a hundred years.
"I couldn't bring them back before I died, and I have to be with them when I die!" The tone of the old general was unmistakable and non-negotiable.
Han Jingjing said, "You still have to think about it again..."
In the eyes of most people, being buried in Babaoshan after death is a treatment, but also a supreme and final honor.
"There's nothing to think about, I can't help them alive, and staying with them after death is the only thing I can do."
Han Jingjing also said: "Have you ever considered 'returning to the roots of the leaves' and returning to your hometown in Hubei?" ”
General Han Wei's hometown is in Huangpi Grain House Bay, Hubei Province, and "the leaves fall back to the roots", which is the common sentiment of people.
"'Leaves fall back to the roots'? Where they are, my roots are. General Han Wei finally said, "I will not go to Babaoshan, and if I do not return to Hubei, I will go to western Fujian." ”
"This is my only last wish!" Without saying a word, the general did not say a word more.
Han Jingjing knew that his father had already made up his mind that the nine cows would not be able to pull back.
A founding lieutenant general, after his death, did not enter the Babao Mountain, did not return to his hometown in Huangpi, Hubei Province, but asked to go to western Fujian and be buried with his comrades there.
What kind of special relationship did the old general have with western Fujian and his comrades-in-arms there?
In early April 1992, when General Han Wei's life was coming to an end, the general called his son to his bed and told him about the regrets that had been buried deep in his heart.
He said: "In the Battle of the Xiangjiang River, all the sons and daughters of The Western Fujian I brought out were sacrificed, but they could not even be rated as 'martyrs', I could not stop them, I was sorry for their families..."
On the occasion of the general's death, he once again mentioned the burial of Minxi:
"I, the general, was bought with their blood, and I can't help them alive, so I can accompany them when I die, so that I can feel at ease."
Han Jingjing fully understood his father's intentions, and his father wanted to make up for the regrets in his heart by burying Minxi, but he wished.
How did those Soldiers of Western Fujian die?
What does their sacrifice have to do with Han Wei?
Why can't they be rated as martyrs?
It all has to start all over again.
When the Red Army crossed the Xiang River during the Long March, there was a unit called the "Desperate Rear Guard Division", which was the 34th Division of the Fifth Red Army.
The commander of this division was Chen Shuxiang, and Han Wei was a fierce general under the commander of Chen Shuxiang's division, who was the commander of the 100 regiment at that time.
Han Wei and Chen Shuxiang are a pair of good comrades-in-arms who depend on each other for life and death.
They participated in the Autumn Harvest Uprising together, as platoon commanders in a company, as company commanders in a battalion, as regimental commanders in a division, and as division commanders in an army.
After the reorganization of the troops, the Red 19th Army was downsized into the 34th Division, and only one of the two division commanders could be the commander of the division, and the two had also made mutual humility.
In the tragic Battle of the XiangJiang River, the Red 34th Division was responsible for the rear guard task of the whole army, and was known as the "Desperate Rear Guard Division" in history.
Han Wei's 100 regiment is the "defender of the rear guard".
After the Battle of Xiangjiang, after a day of bloody fighting, the Red 34th Division suffered heavy casualties, and its strength was sharply reduced from 5,000 to more than 2,000.
After completing the task of covering the central column across the river, the Red 34th Division decided to break through.
Chen Shuxiang ordered Han Wei to lead his troops to break through and stay behind to attack the enemy.
The two old comrades-in-arms had an argument for the first time, and Han Wei resolutely refused: "You are the commander of the first division, as long as you are still alive, the 34th division is still there!" ”
In the end, the two old comrades waved tears to say goodbye, and Han Wei led the rest of the 100 regiments to stay behind, covering the breakthrough of the remnants of the main force.
"To resist the enemy is to win", this was the battle cry of the 100th Regiment.
The blockade battle was extremely fierce, and in the end, only a dozen fighters, including Han Wei, were left in the 100th Regiment.
They fought and retreated, and finally were forced to retreat to the top of the mountain, behind which was a steep cliff, and Han Wei had no way to retreat.
"Smash the gun!" It's better to die than to be captured! Han Wei picked up the rifle in his hand, smashed it into the stone, and immediately shouted: "Jump! He turned and jumped off the cliff.
One by one, more than a dozen Red Army soldiers smashed their weapons and jumped off the cliff one after another.
Fortunately, Han Wei and the other two warriors fell on a tree before falling into the grass and surviving, while the other warriors were immediately killed.
In the pursuit of the troops, Han Wei and they encountered the enemy again, in addition to Han Wei, the other two fighters were also honorably sacrificed.
Unfortunately, under the heavy siege of the enemy, the red 34th Division's breakthrough troops ran out of ammunition and eventually failed to break through.
Commander Chen Shuxiang made a heroic sacrifice, and almost none of the officers and men survived...
General Han Wei was known as "General Sanwan".
"Three Bays" is a place name. On September 29, 1927, the Autumn Harvest Uprising troops arrived at the New Three Bays in Yongjiang West, where the troops underwent the famous Three Bays reorganization.
Through reorganization, the First Division of the First Army of the former Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was reduced to a regiment, and our army opened up a new model of "party organizations are established on the company level," and also began to promote a new type of officer-soldier relationship in the army in which officers and men are consistent and equal from top to bottom.
Because of the violation of discipline, Han Wei also suffered from the "twenty big boards" in Sanwan.
At that time, Han Wei was still a guard platoon leader, and one day, Han Wei bought some wine from the people out of his own pocket and called a few comrades-in-arms to prepare a drink.
Unexpectedly, several fighters denounced him for violating discipline and tied him up.
Later, the chairman personally issued an order, in order to strictly discipline and set an example, Han Wei was reprimanded for beating the "twenty big boards".
It was also under such strict discipline that Han Wei gradually grew into a qualified revolutionary soldier.
In 1929, the Red Army entered Fujian, and Han Wei, the guard platoon leader, was transferred to the front-line troops, and from then on, Han Wei sang triumphantly all the way, leading the team to a tiger and a tiger, and the battle was also fought.
Because he was not afraid of death when he fought, he charged into battle, as if entering no man's land, so he was called "Han Tiger".
In western Fujian, Han Wei's work of "expanding red" was also very successful, and in just a few months, Han Wei developed countless Hakka children to join the Ranks of the Red Army.
General Han Wei said more than once in his later years with emotion: If there had been no Battle of the Xiangjiang River, the founding generals of Fujian would not have been less than Hubei!
According to statistics, at the most, there were more than 20,000 sons and daughters of western Fujian in the Long March.
Han Wei's Red 34th Division is a typical "Western Fujian Army", this division was adapted from the local Red Army units in Western Fujian, and among the more than 6,000 people in the division, the sons of Western Fujian accounted for the vast majority.
This is especially true of Han Wei's 100th Regiment, except for a few people such as Han Wei, more than 1,000 soldiers in the regiment are basically Fujian Yongding people, so it is called the "Hakka Legion".
Unfortunately, the blood of more than 6,000 Minxi disciples of the Red 34th Division spilled on the Xiangjiang River, and the blood stained the water of the Xiangjiang River red.
However, among the more than 6,000 disciples of Western Fujian who died, many could not be rated as revolutionary martyrs.
Why is that?
Originally, at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was such a provision in the regulations on how to evaluate martyrs:
To evaluate a martyred Red Army soldier as a martyr, there must be a corresponding witness, and there must be two or more regimental cadres among the witnesses.
The harsh reality is that the Red 34th Division was completely destroyed in the Battle of xiangjiang, and there were very few teachers and students, and only Han Wei was left with cadres at or above the regimental level.
"Recognizing these sacrificed warriors and giving them the honor they deserve" became a sacred mission of General Han Wei.
"I am a survivor of the Battle of Xiangjiang, and the only surviving regimental-level cadre of the Red 34th Division. Han Wei felt that he had an unshirkable responsibility.
Over the decades, he reflected the actual situation to his superiors countless times, making requests, and at the same time looking around for possible survivors of the Red 34th Division.
However, what was rewarded to him was disappointment after disappointment.
Until the death of the veteran general, many of the victims of the Red 34th Division could not be recognized as revolutionary martyrs.
This incident made the old general Han Wei feel guilty for a lifetime, and became a knot in his heart that he could not open.
Han Wei was heartbroken and unable to do anything.
"I don't accompany them who accompanies them?" This was General Han Wei's last wish.
On April 8, 1992, General Han Wei completed his life journey at the age of 86.
In August 1992, in accordance with the general's last wishes, Han Jingjing sent his father's ashes back to western Fujian.
General Han Wei finally returned to his comrades-in-arms.
May General Han Wei rest in peace, the martyrs of the Red Army throughout the ages, and all the ancestors who sacrificed their lives for New China forever!