Regarding the Long March of the Red Army, there has always been a topic of discussion: under such difficult conditions, why can the officers and men of the Red Army always work together and remain intact?
Zhang Xueliang also talked about this issue in his later years, once telling reporters:
"They are all leading soldiers, the long march, I will understand, the collar will be gone, he (the soldier) will not go with you, he ran." He can rule, he has the power. ”
In fact, the reason why the Red Army was able to complete the Long March in its entirety stemmed to a large extent from the system of the Red Army, that is, the equality of officers and soldiers, and even the cadres had to suffer more to ensure that the soldiers could survive.
Liao Hansheng, the founding lieutenant general, recalled after the founding of the People's Republic of China that people who have not really experienced the Long March will not understand how bitter it really is, and the most bitter of them will belong to party members and cadres.
"During the Long March, it was party members who suffered the most, party members who suffered the most injuries, and party members who sacrificed the most. The same is true of youth league members. ”
According to the relevant records of the Long March, just from Ruijin to Zhongdian, a short journey, the 6th Division of the Red Army had 360 party members and 256 youth league members killed. And these figures do not include those who later died of starvation, freezing, and falling into swamps when they later trekked through snowy mountains and meadows.
Liao Hansheng said that in the 6th Division of the Red Army, ordinary party members and grass-roots cadres are not ordinary, but only cadres at or above the regimental level, and the number of wounded and sacrificed is more than 10.
When the Red Army first began to cross the meadows, there were a lot of wild vegetables, and in order to save a small amount of grain, the superiors decided to find some people who knew wild vegetables to guide everyone and dig up more wild vegetables to eat. The superiors also specially compiled pamphlets to distribute, and in addition, the Soldiers of the Red Army were all from ordinary people, and they more or less knew some wild vegetables, but they could barely fill their stomachs.
However, wild vegetables are also dug more and less, sometimes encounter wild vegetables that everyone does not know, the division commander and political commissar will take the lead in tasting first, wait for half a day, find that eating does not hurt people, will be promoted to the whole division.
Imagine if it were a Kuomintang army, would officers do this?
Later, even wild vegetables could not be dug up, and the Soldiers of the Red Army began to dig grass roots, boil belts, and even the cotton wool in their winter coats was hollowed out.
At that time, several guards of the Red 6th Division headquarters did not know how long they had endured hunger and how many methods they had used to preserve a small piece of cowhide. One day, everyone took out this piece of cowhide, roasted it with fire, scorched yellow, fragrant, and took it to Liao Hansheng, the political commissar of the division, and said: "Commissar, we roasted a small piece of cowhide, while it is still soft, you can eat it soon!" ”
Who knew that Liao Hansheng was angry when he heard it, and said, "Who is not hungry?" Am I the only one hungry, and aren't you hungry? Where is the reason why I should eat? ”
When the guards saw that Liao Hansheng did not eat, he said reluctantly, "You are the chief!" Besides, you haven't eaten for days, and your body can't eat! ”
Hearing this, Liao Hansheng criticized them fiercely again, saying, "What chief is not a chief!" I am a political commissar, that is, to serve everyone, if everything I eat first, then do I still deserve to be this political commissar? ”
In the end, several guards had to eat the cowhide separately, and never dared to leave anything for Liao Hansheng again.
This is the secret of the success of the Red Army's Long March!
Just imagine, if Zhang Xueliang was really allowed to lead the long march of the troops, it might not be necessary for the enemy army to encircle and suppress them, the soldiers themselves could not bear the hardships, coupled with the corruption of the officers, whether the soldiers were dead or alive, they would have fallen apart long ago.