As the saying goes: a chaotic world makes a hero. In 20th-century China, there was turmoil, people were in the midst of war, living a life of lack of livelihood and worrying about their lives. It is also in this context that a number of enthusiastic sons and daughters have emerged. They used their bodies to rush to the forefront of the war and made great contributions to the founding of New China.
At the beginning of the founding of New China, the state awarded these heroic generals. A total of 177 founding lieutenant generals were awarded, and Yang Xiushan was one of them.
Yang Xiushan was born in Hubei in 1914, and his original name was Yang Musen. When he was young, he studied in a private school for a few years, but later because of the difficult family conditions, he dropped out of school to subsidize his family and go to the home of a local landlord to herd cattle. At the age of 15, Yang Xiushan joined the Communist Youth League and served as the leader of the children's league. At the age of 16, he joined the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and was incorporated into the 2nd Squadron of the Special Service Brigade of the 6th Red Army. In 1934, at the age of 20, Yang Xiushan officially joined the Communist Party of China and became a member of the party.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Yang Xiushan served as the political commissar of the cavalry battalion of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and in 1941, he served as the political commissar of the 7th Regiment of the 358th Brigade. In the struggle to open up the anti-Japanese revolutionary base area in northwestern Jin, Yang Xiushan led his troops to carry out guerrilla warfare and successively participated in the Battle of the Hundred Regiments, Chen Zhuang, and Miyu Town.
In 1948, Yang Xiushan led his troops to the Great Northwest, and also participated in the battles of Zhongyang, Qinghua, Longdong, shajiadian and so on. In 1949, Yang Xiushan served as the commander of the 4th Division of the 2nd Army of the 1st Field Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. He also led troops into Xinjiang. In 1950, Yang Xiushan studied at the Nanjing Military Academy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and after graduation, Yang Xiushan stayed in the academy as a class teacher.
At the 1955 ceremony, Yang Xiushan was awarded the rank of lieutenant general. In 1959, Yang Xiushan served as deputy director of the Military Academy Department of the General Staff department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, in 1961 he was appointed director of the Political Department of the National Defense Industry Commission, in 1974 he was appointed deputy commander of the Wuhan Military Region of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and in 1998, Yang Xiushan left his post to recuperate and died in Beijing in 2002 due to illness at the age of 89.
Yang Xiushan had fought countless vicious battles in revolutionary battles, and he had been seriously wounded six times, and the last few times he had passed by the god of death. In 1935, after Yang Xiushan became the political commissar of the regiment, he led his troops to participate in the battle of Yangjiahe. In this battle, in order to achieve greater results, Yang Xiushan personally led his troops to pursue the enemy, and unfortunately he was hit in the neck by a bullet, almost died, and after rescue, he recuperated in the hospital in the rear for several months before recovering.
After he was discharged from the hospital, in the battle of Chestnut Garden, Yang Xiushan was wounded again, he was hit in the right leg by the enemy's shell shrapnel, due to the medical conditions at that time, plus the shrapnel was too small to remove all the shrapnel, and finally there were more than a dozen pieces of shrapnel left on his leg.
In the course of the Long March, in order to win time for the main force of the Red Army to cross the Jinsha River, he led the troops to fight in bloody battles, unfortunately hit in the head, until the founding of New China, Yang Xiushan often felt headaches, after the doctor's examination, his head also had a few shrapnel left.
In a battle in 1936, Yang Xiushan was injured again, a bullet hit his buttocks, his bones were also broken, and in the following year, his wounds often recurred, and Yang Xiushan was tortured.
After his death, his family cremated his body, and in his ashes, 21 pieces of shrapnel remained, and those present burst into tears after seeing it.