When the order was awarded in 1955, there was an elder who attracted particular attention. I saw that he was almost old, but he was still full of energy, walking like a fly, and the most impressive thing was his long gray beard, which was particularly eye-catching among the marshals and generals. He was Jiang Weiping, an old revolutionary who only had the rank of major but won the respect of those present. His superiors saw him like this, ordered him to cut off his beard, said that it was related to the appearance of the soldiers, but he was not moved, and finally this matter went to the chairman, who heard that it was him, laughed, and said to the staff around him: He has a great merit, give a special case!
Jiang Weiping was a well-known old revolutionary, born in 1878, who witnessed the rise and fall of the motherland, and he was still an authentic and enthusiastic young man. In the early years, seeing the people's livelihood suffering, Jiang Weiping joined the Beiyang warlords and became a soldier, but the warlords were not suitable for him. Although they are nominally warlords and manage one side, the Beiyang warlords have long been corrupted internally, the soldiers do not have the appearance of soldiers, and they think of bullying the weak all day long, and the officials also see money and only recognize money in everything, which is worse than the Qing government. Angry, Jiang Weiping returned to his hometown and became famous in his hometown with his ancestral medical skills, and people in the eight townships of ten miles and eight townships would turn to him for help if they were uncomfortable.
After the July 7 Incident, the Japanese army accelerated the pace of invading China, the original civil unrest was cumbersome enough, and now with the addition of foreign invaders, the domestic situation has become more tense. Jiang Weiping went out of the mountains again to join Song Zheyuan's troops against the Japanese army. Although Song Zheyuan belonged to the Kuomintang troops, its actual combat effectiveness was not weak, but unfortunately, Song Zheyuan's troops were destroyed soon after, and even Song Zheyuan himself died in the battle. Moreover, although the Kuomintang troops were more regular than the warlords, they were more or less than half a pound and eight or two compared with the Beiyang Army, and they would not take care of the interests of the common people.
Since you can't save the country, save people. In this way, Jiang Weiping returned to his hometown to practice medicine again, and became a doctor at home to treat diseases and save people. Within a few years, the passage of a unit changed his destiny. In 1938, when the Eighth Route Army passed through Jiang Weiping's hometown, strict military discipline shocked him. Although it was a huge army, it did not disturb the local residents when passing by, and Jiang Weiping deeply felt that this should be a people's army, and the future of the country could be expected.
At that time, Jiang Weiping was already sixty years old, even older than Zhu De, the oldest commander in the Red Army at that time, and after selling his belongings, he joined the army with his son. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, it was not so simple for ordinary people to join the army, and the Japanese army could be seen everywhere on the road interrogating passers-by, not to mention that Jiang Weiping and his son also carried medicines from home, which was even more suspicious. Finally, at the end of May 1938, Jiang Weiping joined the Communist Party of China and served as the president of the 359 Brigade Pharmaceutical Group.
During the War of Resistance Against Japan, it was more difficult to get medicinal materials than to ascend to the heavens, let alone Western medicine, and even Chinese medicine was strictly managed. After Jiang Weiping joined the party, he potentially studied Western medicine, took his soldiers up the mountain to collect medicines, collected good recipes everywhere in the folk, and even magically produced a variety of commonly used drugs, such as the promotion of trauma creams, eye ointments, diarrhea pills, etc., cured the diseases of many soldiers, and greatly reduced the number of non-combat attrition.
Jiang Weiping had a very high temper, and he had long been famous in the military, and it was often a small matter, and he scolded his subordinates, so the generals in the army were very afraid of this doctor. But only when dealing with small soldiers and wounded people, Jiang Weiping will show a gentle side. When dealing with the wounded, Jiang Weiping was a doctor, and his vocation was to treat patients and save people, so he was so careful that the soldiers often thought that they had changed someone. At that time, Jiang Weiping was more than sixty years old, and he was the leader of his grandfather's generation for many small soldiers, probably because of the "generation of relatives", Jiang Weiping loved them very much.
During the Liberation War, Jiang Weiping served as the vice president of Bethune Hospital and braved artillery fire to treat countless soldiers. Later, the central authorities gathered the lightly wounded soldiers together and formed a health corps, which was handed over to Jiang Weiping. Jiang Weiping has always been rigorous in his work, and under his training, the combat effectiveness of this unit composed of wounded people has increased linearly, and it was later transferred to the battlefield to become an ace team.
During the Reclamation Period of Nanniwan, Jiang Weiping was the head of the 719 Farm, and the little soldiers at that time were full of energy, but they did not know how to grow crops. Jiang Weiping, who once returned to his hometown to work as a farmer, was also a good farmer, often patiently teaching the soldiers to plant, often appearing in the fields. In 1943 alone, Jiang Weiping reclaimed more than 400 acres of land, achieved self-sufficiency, and handed over 28,800 kilograms of public grain, becoming a model worker in the army.
Mao Zedong had always admired this old comrade, and when he learned that Jiang Weiping was reluctant to cut his beard in 1955, he laughed and allowed him to do so, when Jiang Weiping was already seventy-seven years old. He continued to serve on the front lines of national construction until he was promoted to lieutenant colonel at the age of eighty-two. Being awarded a military rank at such an advanced age is very rare in the world.