In the history of the Red Army, there were fathers and sons who joined the Red Army together, and there were also brothers who joined the Red Army together, but it is really rare for couples to join the Red Army together.
Of course, it is not nothing, such as the founding lieutenant general Yuan Ziqin, who joined the army with his wife.
Yuan Ziqin was born in 1908 in Shanghang County, Fujian Province, during the Qing Dynasty, the Yuan family had a person who had a reputation in the eight townships of Ten Miles and Eight Townships, and his family was relatively well-off.
However, by the time of Yuan Ziqin's generation, the Yuan family was not as good as before, especially his grandfather and father had died one after another, and the family was even more difficult, and some local tycoons and inferior gentry also took the opportunity to bully them.
In order to protect herself, Yuan Ziqin's grandmother and mother consulted and joined the local Christianity, under the protection of the church, the Yuan family did not collapse, Yuan Ziqin was able to continue to study, and was admitted to the county middle school.
At the county middle school, Yuan Ziqin was exposed to a lot of advanced ideas, which opened his eyes, especially for the Communist Party, but he never had the opportunity to know the Communists.
In March 1929, the Red 4th Army reached Changting County, and Yuan Ziqin's brother-in-law Huang Li was deeply encouraged and joined the Red Army. Under the influence of Huang Li, in September of that year, Yuan Ziqin and his wife Huang Yongxiu also joined the Red Army.
Both husband and wife joined the army, which was rumored to be a beautiful talk at the time, Yuan Ziqin once asked his wife: "To do revolution is to shed blood and sacrifice, are you afraid or not?" The wife said firmly, "Wherever you are, I am!" ”
Because Yuan Ziqin went to middle school and had a high level of education, he has been engaged in political work since joining the army, while his wife worked in the Red Army Hospital, but unfortunately later died heroically.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Yuan Ziqin recalled this period of time and said with emotion:
"My brother-in-law Huang Li influenced me, and I influenced my wife Yongxiu, and we are a real revolutionary family."
During the Long March, Yuan Ziqin and the soldiers ate the same dry food and wore the same straw shoes, and sometimes the soldiers got a few pairs of cloth shoes and gave them to him to wear, and he also shook his head and said, "I came from the mountains, or I am comfortable walking in straw shoes!" ”
At that time, at the end of the whole army, the Red Fifth Army was shouldering the heavy responsibility of transporting heavy loads and covering the central authorities, and the soldiers were very hard, and it was inevitable that there would be some complaints, and Yuan Ziqin often gave everyone encouragement, saying: "Comrades, since the Central Committee has entrusted us with such an important task, we must submit a complete answer sheet to the Central Committee!" ”
After the outbreak of the All-out War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Yuan Ziqin originally wanted to fight on the front line, but his superiors did not agree, but arranged a more important job for him: to serve as the director of the political department of the second branch of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University.
At that time, a large number of enthusiastic young people poured into Yan'an to study, and organizationally considering that Yuan Ziqin had been engaged in political work for many years and had great experience, he was put in charge of the work of the second branch of the Kang University.
The second branch of the Kang Da was in Chen Zhuang, Lingshou County, Hebei Province, less than a hundred miles away from the enemy-occupied area, and the reconnaissance of enemy planes was a common thing, Yuan Ziqin said with a smile: "The little devils would never have thought that we had opened the Kang Da under their eyes." ”
Among the students, Yuan Ziqin also has a nickname, called "Mother Yuan", which means that he is careful and enthusiastic, and treats the students as if they were his own children, taking care of them. With the efforts of Yuan Ziqin, the Second Branch of kang da has also cultivated countless talents, which have been supplemented to various departments of our army and made great contributions.
During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Yuan Ziqin served as the political commissar of the 60th Army, and the commander was general Wei Jie, who was also famous.
In April 1951, the 60th Army took part in the Fifth Campaign against the "Turkish Brigade" of the United Nations Army. This Turkish brigade was luxuriously equipped, boasted of being invincible in the world, and was very arrogant, clamoring to convince the volunteers.
At the pre-war meeting, Yuan Ziqin said: "I heard that our enemy is a Turkish brigade, and I have only one request: give me a hard beating!" ”
Sure enough, after the battle began, the officers and men of the 60th Army came down like a fierce tiger, and soon broke through the depth of the Turkish brigade by more than 10 kilometers, and then began to intersperse the encirclement, and finally annihilated more than 1,000 enemy troops, defeating the Turkish brigade and no longer daring to be arrogant.
When he was awarded the title in 1955, Yuan Ziqin was awarded the rank of lieutenant general and served as deputy director of the General Political Department and head of cadres of the General Political Department.
On February 23, 1968, Yuan Ziqin died at the age of 60.
——To learn more about the story of the founding generals, you can check out the column of the history inn, a total of 100 founding generals.