It is said that in history, China has three noble surnames, one is the surname of the emperor of the dynasty, the second is the surname of Zhang Natural, the "Jade Emperor", and the third in line is the kong surname of Confucius, the "Most Holy Ancestor of Dacheng". When someone asks, "What's your last name?" Ordinary surnames generally say: "No expensive, surname so-and-so." "If your surname is the above three surnames, you don't have to say the two words "free of expensive", you can just say the surname, others will not think that you are uneducated and rude.
His surname is also a noble surname, and his birthplace is in Qufu, the hometown of Confucius, and he is the 73rd generation descendant of Kong Shengren, named Kong Qingde.
Although Kong Qingde is a noble family, his family is very poor. In his later years, Kong Qingde recalled his youth and said that at that time, the family's greatest wish was to be able to fill their stomachs, and they only had envy for going to school and reading, and they did not dare to think about it. Imagine that as a descendant of an educational family, it is not ironic that the descendants of the family of education cannot go to school?
Later, Kong Qingde's father was taken away for participating in revolutionary activities and never returned, and his family became even poorer.
In 1928, in order to earn food, 17-year-old Kong Qingde threw himself into the 46th Division of the Kuomintang Chen Qiao yuan department stationed in western Anhui province as a soldier. When he became a soldier, he could eat enough food, but he always felt that this unit was not a unit that fought for the poor in the world. Therefore, in February 1931, under the leadership of Wei Mengxian, commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 272nd Regiment of the 138th Brigade of the 46th Division, he participated in the Lu'an Mutiny and joined the ranks of the Red Army.
The battalion commander, Wei Mengxian, was a native of Rizhao, Shandong, who graduated from the Whampoa Military Academy and joined our party. After the Lu'an Uprising, more than 200 people led by him were incorporated into the 2nd Division of the Central Teaching Of the Red Army, with Wei Mengxian as the chief of staff of the division. The team was later reorganized into the 12th Division of the 4th Red Army, serving as the chief of staff of the division and the commander of the 36th Regiment. He was mistakenly killed in October 1931 and posthumously recognized as a revolutionary martyr.
After Kong Qingde joined the Red Army, he successively served as a platoon commander in the 1st Battalion of the 35th Regiment of the 12th Division of the Red 4th Army, and as a company commander of the 8th Company of the 3rd Battalion, 30th Regiment, 10th Division of the Red Fourth Front. During the period of repression and expansion, Kong Qingde was also treated unfairly, and it was not until the Red Fourth Front was forced to leave the Eyu-Anhui Soviet Region and the Western Expedition to Sichuan and Shaanxi that he resumed his company commander post and threw himself wholeheartedly into one anti-"encirclement and suppression" battle after another.
After the Long March of the Red Fourth Front, Kong Qingde was promoted to the commander of the 36th Regiment of the 12th Division of the Red 4th Army, and before and after the end of the Long March, he was promoted to the commander of the Independent Division of the Red 4th Army and the commander of the 10th Division.
Kong Qingde on the Long March Road can be described as nine deaths, he once crossed the meadow three times, in the enemy's siege and interception, lack of medical treatment and food, and serious injuries, he finally defeated the god of death and survived with his will and faith. According to his own recollection, when crossing the meadow, their 36 regiment was greatly reduced, leaving only more than 800 people of 2800 people, and he himself almost died on this vast meadow.
During the Long March, due to the serious shortage of grain, Kong Qingde also became an expert in wild vegetables. At that time, in order to get out of the "land of death", the Red Army formed wild vegetable tasting groups at all levels to take the risk of identifying and promoting experience. Kong Qingde also had to dig up wild vegetables himself, knowing which ones could be eaten and which could not be eaten, until his old age, as long as he mentioned eating wild vegetables on the grass, he could also report the names of large bunches of wild vegetables in one breath, such as gray cabbage, bitter bitter vegetables, seed vegetables, wild celery, serrated vegetables, thorn grass, wild leeks, wild garlic, wild mountain ginger... Wait a minute.
After arriving in northern Shaanxi, Kong Qingde was once engaged in military teaching work, and when the Anti-Japanese War broke out, he was transferred to the 1st Battalion of the 769th Regiment of the 385th Brigade of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army. At that time, the battle annihilated more than 100 Japanese troops and destroyed 24 aircraft, but unfortunately, Zhao Chongde, the commander of the 3rd Battalion, died in this battle.
After that, Kong Qingde successively served as the commander of the 769th Regiment of the 385th Brigade, the commander of the 2nd Regiment of the Jiyu Detachment, the commander of the 12th Regiment, the deputy brigade commander of the 8th Brigade of the Ji'nan Military Region and the deputy commander of the Third Division, and the commander of the Three Armed Forces Division.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Kong Qingde successively served as the commander of the 4th Brigade of the Second Column of the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Field Army, the deputy commander of the 10th Column of the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Field Army, the deputy commander of the Tongbai Military Region, and the commander of the 58th Army, and became a founding lieutenant general in 1955.
General Kong Qingde is a very wise and responsible person, and he is also very close to the people in life, so he is also a long-lived centenarian general. On September 29, 2010, General Kong died at the age of 100.