In 1960, China's social construction cause was just beginning, and it encountered rare natural disasters, the country's grain production was reduced on a large scale, famine was raging, people were hungry, and people in many places were forced to have no choice but to gnaw bark, dig vegetable roots, and even eat Guanyin soil.
Guanyin soil is a kind of clay, eating during the famine period temporarily relieves hunger, but can not be digested and absorbed by the human body, after eating bloating, difficult to stool, a small amount of eating is not fatal; although there will be no hunger after eating, but because there is no nutrition, people still have to die. During that extraordinary period, the death of a peasant in Hunan actually alarmed General Xu Guangda, then vice minister of national defense and commander of the armored corps.
It turned out that the deceased was none other than Xu Deqiang, the sixth brother of General Xu Guangda. In 1960, due to natural disasters, the national famine raged, ordinary people did not have enough to eat, at that time only the army situation will be better, the army shoulders the heavy responsibility of defending the country, so only the army food supply can be guaranteed.
In order not to go hungry, many people with families in the countryside dragged their families to the army to join their relatives. First, the arrival of these people affected the normal office order of the army, and secondly, it also increased the army's food burden; most importantly, at that time, the whole country was in a famine, and it was very bad for the officers' relatives to use them to engage in special influence.
General Xu Guangda, then vice minister of national defense and commander of the armored corps, realized the seriousness of the matter, so he convened a meeting on the matter of visiting relatives, and the final result of the discussion was: The family members of the cadres of the troops were forbidden to come to Beijing; the families of the cadres who had already come to Beijing should return home as soon as possible; and the subsequent visiting personnel were only allowed to stay for three days.
A few days after the order was issued, two people rushed from Hunan to Beijing to find General Xu Guangda, and the person who came was none other than Xu Guangda's fourth brother Xu Defu and his sixth brother Xu Deqiang.
Of course, General Xu Guangda was overjoyed to see his brother come to visit him, and after learning that the reason why the brothers came to him was so that he could eat enough, Xu Guangda was helpless. As soon as the order prohibiting the families of the troops from coming to Beijing was issued, his brother came to his aid, and everyone's eyes were fixed on it.
Since the brothers came, General Xu Guangda arranged for the kitchen to eat, and Xu Defu and Xu Deqiang thought to themselves, their brothers are also officials, the food should be good, at least the fish have meat. Unexpectedly, the first meal they ate in Beijing disappointed them, and there were only two dishes and a soup on the table, and it was also two vegetarian dishes (a plate of soybeans and a bowl of cabbage). Is this the diet of the Commander of the Hall? Or did this brother look down on the poor brothers in his hometown after becoming commanders, wanted to drive them away, and deliberately took these meals to entertain?
I thought that Xu Defu paid Xu Guangda to study, and later in order to support Xu Guangda to participate in the revolution, xu Defu brothers were righteous, and they also suffered a lot, their brothers' feelings, but the love is stronger than Jin, but after all these years have passed, Xu Guangda is now the leader of the state, will people's hearts change? Looking at the two dishes and one soup on the table, Xu Defu could not avoid muttering in his heart.
After the meal, General Xu Guangda brought tea to Xu Defu and Xu Deqiang, looked at the skinny fourth and sixth brothers in front of him, and recalled that decades ago, when Xu Guangda was still herding cattle in the field, he was attracted by the sound of books coming from the school next to him. However, his family was poor and had no money to go to school, and it was the fourth brother Xu Defu who worked hard to earn some wages for him to study, until he was admitted to the Whampoa Military Academy.
Since he did the revolution, he could not take care of his family, even when his father died, he could not return to his hometown, in order to take the lead in changing customs and practicing economy, he could only send back 200 yuan to let the brothers help take care of the aftermath. Recalling the past, I felt very unhappy in my heart and felt that I owed too much to my family.
Now there is a great famine, Xu Defu they are really hungry and unable to come to Beijing to join Xu Guangda, how to say that they are also brothers, when the brothers are in difficulty, they can not help them, but also to drive them away, this is really unreasonable. But the order not to let relatives go to Beijing to surrender has just been issued, how to treat their brothers, the eyes of the big guys can be staring at him, if they favoritism, then the order is useless, and it will be difficult to convince the public in the future.
After hesitating for a long time, Xu Guangda still said reluctantly: "Fourth brother, our troops have just issued an order, the relatives of cadres can only stay in Beijing for three days, I am the commander of the troops, everyone's eyes are staring, and we must take the lead in setting an example, you are also just coming, I also understand your difficulties, not to have the intention to shake you away, it is really a special period, there is no way, I hope you also understand." ”
Xu Defu was already sullen in his heart, and this sentence undoubtedly completely ignited his anger, and he questioned loudly: "What? We just came and were going to drive us back? You are the commander-in-chief of the hall, and you don't have the right to give your brother two mouthfuls of food? ”
The more Xu Defu spoke, the more excited he became, pointing to Xu Deqiang on the side and saying, "What do you think the sixth brother has become?" For so many years, we all know that it is not easy for you to be a commander, have you ever been asked to do anything? We were also so hungry that we couldn't come to Beijing to join you, and we just came to drive us away! ”
Xu Guangda looked embarrassed and said, "Fourth brother, I understand all these situations you are talking about, but the rules are the rules, and no one can be special, just because you are my brother Xu Guangda, you should abide by this rule." ”
Xu Defu said angrily, "I saw that you became an official, so I forgot my roots." I went to my brother's house for dinner, how did I violate the law and make a special one! Xu Defu and Xu Deqiang were holding their breath, and they couldn't imagine that this brother who had become a general would treat them so gently.
The next morning, before Xu Guangda went out to work, he told the kitchen cook Lao Zhang to prepare Xu Defu's breakfast. After arriving at the kitchen, the Xu Defu brothers wanted to know whether General Xu Guangda had deceived them and deliberately entertained them with coarse tea and light rice. The two opened the kitchen cabinets one by one and were shocked: there was not a single grain of meat in the house, and the whole kitchen was clean.
The cooker Lao Zhang was preparing breakfast for the brothers, and Xu Defu took advantage of this time to ask Lao Zhang, "What does your commander usually eat?" The cooker Lao Zhang said: "The food of our troops is all rationed, and the chief is no exception, and the food standard of one dime per meal is." If you don't have enough to eat some substitute food, you look at the chlorella in the jar, that's the substitute food. Yesterday after the two of you came, our chief specially instructed, add some soybeans, that is the best nutritional products, the chief level can only be three pounds a month ration supply, the chief has given you all the rest to eat. ”
Hearing these words and thinking about the angry words he said yesterday, the more Xu Defu thought about it, the less he felt. After Xu Guangda returned home, Xu Defu found him and apologized to him: "I didn't expect that the situation in the part was not as rumored outside, and you were not much better." You and I know that you and your sixth brother shouldn't bother you, and we'll go back tomorrow. ”
General Xu Guangda tightly held Xu Defu and Xu Deqiang's hands, looked at the yellow-skinned brother, and tears flashed in his eyes. He owes too much to his family. But he is a soldier, or a national leader, for the cause of the party and the country, many times can only give up their small family for everyone.
The next day, Xu Guangda bought two train tickets to Changsha. Before leaving, he took out the only bottle of wine in his home, some clothes, fifty kilograms of national food stamps, and twenty boxes of foreign cigarettes (this cigarette was brought back by Xu Guangda during his visit abroad), gave it to Xu Defu and Xu Deqiang, and personally went to the railway station to send them off. Looking at his brother's thin back fading away, the man who had crawled through the gunfire and rolled over was in tears.
On the one hand, they felt that this time they had caused trouble for their brothers in Beijing; on the other hand, their lives as vice ministers of national defense and commander-in-chief were not much different from those of ordinary people.
But life had to go on, what to do when they got back, the brothers fell into contemplation while sorting out what Xu Guangda had given them. While sorting things out, they found twenty packs of foreign cigarettes. "Brother, we are farmers who can't smoke such a good cigarette, so why don't we find a way to sell these cigarettes?" Xu Deqiang said. "I think so, the next stop we get off the bus and sell it." Xu Defu agreed.
So the two got off at the Anyang Railway Station in Henan Province, selling cigarettes at the train station with a Hunan accent. Farmers with foreign accents, dressed in rags, were selling more than twenty boxes of foreign cigarettes, which aroused the alarm of railway security personnel, who sent the two brothers to the local public security organs for interrogation.
Faced with police interrogation, the xu defu brothers were originally reluctant to say Xu Guangda's name, they were afraid of affecting his reputation, but the honest Xu Defu brothers could not clearly explain the origin of the twenty packs of foreign cigarettes. In the end, in desperation, they had no choice but to tell their identities truthfully, and after learning that they were the brothers of General Xu Guangda, everyone present was shocked, and they could not believe that the two ragged peasants in front of them were actually the brothers of the deputy minister of national defense and the commander of the armored corps.
After verifying their identities, the staff prepared to re-send the two to the train to Changsha. However, the long-term hunger and the fatigue of the boat and car made the originally thin Xu Deqiang unable to hold on any longer, he fell ill at the station, the station staff rushed him to the hospital for treatment, due to the limited local medical situation, and urgently transferred to Beijing for treatment.
Late that night, General Xu Guangda, who had just finished his official duties, received a phone call and learned the news that his brother had been treated at the PLA General Hospital because of his serious illness, so he hurried to the hospital to visit. Unfortunately, his brother could not survive this night after all, and died shortly after General Xu Guangda arrived at the hospital, and it was later confirmed that Xu Deqiang died of long-term hunger and stomach atrophy!
The news of Xu Deqiang's starvation reached his hometown, and the local people were full of regret and sighed: "I became a commander, but my brother died." "General Xu Guangda has been a horseman all his life, with great military achievements and high morals. He was strict with himself, strict in the use of power, never for his own selfish interests, never used power for the benefit of his family, and his seemingly "indifferent" family style is precisely a profound manifestation of selfless dedication and high style and bright festivals as a communist. The local people were touched by the noble sentiments of General Xu Guangda, and today the subway station in Changsha still has a station sign named "Xu Guangda".