In 1941, Niu Yuqing of Linyi, Shandong Province, covered more than a dozen wounded Eighth Route Army fighters in the cellar of his home. Later, one of the fighters died.
When reinforcements arrive,
There was a "comrade Zhang" who told Niu Yuqing that the deceased was his brother and asked Niu Yuqing to help bury him.
And he said to him:
When the Japanese are driven away and The day of China's victory, as long as he still has a breath, he will definitely come to pick up his brother and "return to his hometown."
Niu Yuqing agreed to the other party's request,
He has been guarding the grave waiting for the return of "Comrade Zhang". He waited, waited, day after day, year after year.
From an 18-year-old cattleherd, he has been waiting to become a 92-year-old elderly man, but "Comrade Zhang" has not returned.
Niu Yuqing once went to the relevant departments and wanted to erect a monument to the dead warriors. However, due to the lack of clarity on the name and place of origin, the identity could not be verified and was refused. Is it possible to make a warrior an "unsung hero" and not be able to return home after death? Niu Yuqing was a little reluctant.
So, with the help of my family, I went online for help.
Finally, in 2014, he found the soldier's hometown and learned that "Comrade Zhang" had already died. "Comrade Zhang" is named Zhang Weixin, he joined the army in 1940 with his second brother Zhang Weishun and third brother Zhang Weiji to join the anti-Japanese troops of the Eighth Route Army, and the third brother Zhang Weiji was an unsung hero who died in Taohua Village in 1941.
First, the past of Linyi Peach Blossom Village
One day in 1941, Niu Yuqing's hometown of Yinan Taohua Village suddenly came more than a dozen wounded Soldiers of the Eighth Route Army.
Niu Yuqing heard his father say: They are the Eighth Route Army, and they are fighting the Japanese.
Because he was wounded during the battle, he could not follow the troops to move, and wanted to ask his fellow villagers to help cover up.
thereupon
Niu Yuqing and his father helped the soldiers dig two large cellars and send the wounded soldiers into them, and one cellar hid 9 people.
At that time, the wounded did not eat, Niu Yuqing father and son cooked a large pot of sweet potatoes every day, and then brought a bucket of water, took advantage of the night to smear and send it to the kiln, and then carefully sealed the entrance with corn stalks when leaving.
A week later, there was a soldier with a serious leg injury, and the wound began to become inflamed.
Niu Yuqing did not have anti-inflammatory drugs at home,
He wanted to go to the mountain at the west end of the village to collect herbs, but because of the ghost patrol, he could only give up, and he did not expect that the warriors would be sacrificed like this.
Later, when the reinforcements arrived, Niu Yuqing was very remorseful about this. A cadre-like "Comrade Zhang" patted him on the shoulder and comforted him: The deceased was his brother.
Now the war is tight,
I hope Niu Yuqing will find a place to bury him. When the day of victory, as long as he still has a breath, he will come back to pick up his brother and return to his hometown.
Fearing that the Japanese would not finish, Niu Yuqing did not dare to delay more, so he buried the soldiers in a ditch in front of the door with the help of his father and villagers. "Comrade Zhang" casually inserted a wooden sign on the grave, and the handwriting on it was scrawled.
After several subsequent relocations, the wooden plaque has long been damaged.
Niu Yuqing only remembered his surname Zhang, his family lived in Linqu, he was about 20 years old, and he had just been married for ten days on the battlefield, but more details could not be remembered.
Niu Yuqing's hometown was once a big battlefield during the War of Resistance Against Japan, where many anti-Japanese heroes died. After liberation, those with names and surnames were moved back to their hometowns.
And it has been recognized by the relevant departments.
Only the younger brother of "Comrade Zhang" has not been implemented.
Niu Yuqing was very unwilling.
2. Erect a monument to the heroes of the Anti-Japanese Resistance
Initially, Niu Yuqing and his father took care of the graves of the warriors, and every year on the Qingming Festival, they went to add new soil to the graves. After Niu Yuqing's father died, Niu Yuqing went to the grave alone. More than ten years have passed, and "Comrade Zhang" still has not come.
After more than ten years, Niu Yuqing had a premonition that "Comrade Zhang" might have also been sacrificed, so he was very sad in his heart. But he thought that in a few more years, the family of "Comrade Zhang" might come to him.
Because of Niu Yuqing's insistence, the locals all knew that there was a soldier of the Eighth Route Army buried there.
There are elementary school teachers who often let students bring flowers to worship. They gave Niu Yuqing an idea and asked him to find the relevant departments to help build a monument to the soldiers. The erection of the monument requires the details of the warriors, but these Niu Yuqing are not clear.
The name of the warrior is unknown, and the relatives of the warrior cannot be found. Did this make the warrior a wild ghost? The more the 92-year-old thinks about it, the sadder he gets.
He was old and didn't have many days.
Later, he was persuaded to post a message of help online.
In 2014, with the help of netizens and relevant departments, they found some news about the fighters. There is a village called Chiliangyu in Yeyuan Town, Linqu County, Shandong Province, and the warriors may be the people who went out of this village.
More than 40% of the families in the village are surnamed Zhang, who is he?
The eighty-eight-year-old Zhang Yuxin told reporters that his brother joined the army to resist Japan in 1940. At that time, along with his brother, there were three brothers from a family whose names were: Zhang Weixin, Zhang Weishun and Zhang Weiji.
Two years ago, the tomb of the eldest brother Zhang Weixin had just been found and had been moved into the martyrs' cemetery.
After Niu Yuqing and Zhang Yuxin checked the information, they finally confirmed that the warrior who died in Peach Blossom Village was Zhang Weiji, the old third of the Zhang family.
The relevant departments contacted Zhang Jiyong, a distant descendant of Zhang Weiji, and came to Visit Niu Yuqing in Taohua Village.
The old man looked at Zhang Jiyong's appearance and seemed to feel different from the Zhang family brothers that the villagers had shown him before. When I asked, I found that it was indeed not a direct family member of the Zhang family. He hesitated for a moment, then turned his head back to look back at the ditch in front of his house and said, "At first we buried him (Zhang Weiji) in that ditch. The head faces east and the feet face west. ”
The situation when "Comrade Zhang" patted him on the shoulder to comfort him is still vividly remembered. He said that when "the day China wins, it will come back." I didn't expect that the first class would be 74 years. Only then did he learn that the three Zhang brothers had all died on the battlefield and had no direct descendants.
Zhang Jiyong hurriedly comforted the old man and said: Zhang Weiji and my grandfather are the same grandfather, Zhang Weiji's three brothers went too early to resist Japan, there are no immediate family members, and I am also Zhang Weiji's grandson.
Zhang Jiyong also promised to regard Niu Qingyu as his own grandfather and visit him every New Year's Festival. After verifying Zhang Weiji's identity, the Linqu County Civil Affairs Bureau finally agreed to move his grave to the Martyrs' Cemetery.
When he left Linqu, the old man Niu Yuqing clinged to it.
He has guarded Zhang Weiji's grave for 74 years, and has long regarded the heroic spirit of the martyr as his old friend. Now that he is over ninety years old, he has limited mobility and unclear vision, and it is unlikely that he will come back to worship him every year.
I feel a little regret in my heart.
epilogue
When the movie "Eight Hundred" was released, the director said to the audience through artistic language: The Chinese at that time was very "numb". Many viewers objected to this. Because according to historical data, the vast majority of people at that time showed extreme unity and were very supportive of the anti-Japanese heroes.
The great man said: The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression has brought the awakening and unity of the Chinese nation to an unprecedented height.
Throughout the period of the War of Resistance Against Japan, in addition to the heroes who fought heroically on the frontal battlefield, there were also many kind and knowledgeable ordinary people in our people. They also used to cover our warriors like Old Man Niu Qingyu. They, like those of us who shed blood and sacrificed for our country, deserve praise!