In Hong'an County, Hubei Province, there is a small town called Gaoqiao Town, which many local people call general town, because this small place has produced 18 generals since modern times, and a village called Changfeng Village under Gaoqiao Town is even more incredible, and there have been two big people here.
These two big figures, named Li Xiannian and Chen Xilian, are well-known figures in China's modern and modern history, but few people know that they were from the same village, later became superiors and subordinates, and became vice premiers at the same time after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the two maintained a friendship for half a lifetime.
First meeting
These two people have made great contributions in the battlefield and in the political arena, but when they first met, they were just two ignorant teenagers. For those born before liberation, the first time they met, it was a struggle against the old era.
Chen Xilian was born poor, and his mother depended on each other for his life, the family only relied on a few acres of thin land to survive, but also faced the exploitation of the landlord, starvation is the norm of life, at that time there was a baochang named Chen Zhibin in the village, who has always been in the fish and meat township, and Chen Xilian and their orphans and widows are even more ruthless, and the angry Chen Xilian quarreled with him, but was beaten and lay in bed for several days.
Are these landlord bullies lawless? Chen Xilian was indignant, he did not expect, and soon he waited for the team to punish the evil.
Late one night, Li Xiannian knocked on Chen Xilian's door. Seeing Li Xiannian, Chen Xilian was quite surprised, he had heard of this person, six years older than him, a native of his village, but he ran out to make a revolution very early, and had always been Chen Zhibin's number one enemy, how did he come back?
Li Xiannian explained that when he followed the team to participate in the jute riots, then joined the party, and has been engaged in revolutionary work, Chen Zhibin is such a landlord bully who oppresses the people's heads, which they want to get rid of. After listening to this remark, Chen Xilian immediately expressed his willingness to lead the way, and under the leadership of Li Xiannian, they successfully arrested Chen Zhibin and returned the peace of the people.
This was the first time that Chen Xilian realized the significance of "revolution", overthrowing the old society and establishing a new China, and such a goal made Chen Xilian see hope for the future. Subsequently, Chen Xilian followed in Li Xiannian's footsteps, left his hometown, joined the army to serve the country, and then he and Li Xiannian also established a decades-long revolutionary friendship.
Serve the country with one heart
Although Chen Xilian did not receive systematic military education, he was a natural general, fought bravely, made the enemy feel frightened, and was a victorious general on the battlefield; Li Xiannian attached great importance to him, and repeatedly appointed Chen Xilian's troops as the vanguard, and the 263rd Regiment led by Chen Xilian was a "division that always won" in the Red Army.
And Li Xiannian is also Chen Xilian's mentor and friend, he is older than Chen Xilian, but also earlier than Chen Xilian joined the army, whether in life or work, he takes good care of Li Xiannian, the two are superiors and subordinates, but also a friend of life and death.
The two worked together sincerely for many years, until the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, they were temporarily separated because of different tasks, but they always had old friends in their hearts. After Chen Xilian joined the army, because of the chaos of the soldiers, there was no time to take care of his mother, Li Xiannian always remembered this matter, when passing through his hometown, Li Xiannian deliberately found Chen Xilian's mother, and left his few allowances to Chen Xilian's mother, after that, as long as there was an opportunity, Li Xiannian came to visit Chen Xiannian, and Chen Xilian was very grateful after he knew.
It was not until the period of the Liberation War that the old friends made a partnership again, but this time the time of the partnership was short, Chen Xilian needed to command the front, but Li Xiannian wanted to organize local work, so he hurriedly saw it, and then separated again, and this separation lasted until after the founding of New China. Chen Xilian stayed in Beijing, while Li Xiannian was in Wuchang, but the love between the two was not consumed by distance, and the two often exchanged letters and cared about each other.
And Chen Xilian's mother, because she is close to Wuchang, Li Xiannian simply took the old man to Wuchang to take care of it, so as not to let the old man run around, for Li Xiannian, to help friends, it is natural.
At this time, the two people were already in important positions, getting older, but they still maintained a pure heart for each other, and whenever they met in Beijing, the two people still hooked up and talked, as if they were still the hot-blooded teenagers of the year, and even the police officers of the two said that these two people were "old children".
Then the two moved several times, sometimes meeting, sometimes separating, but as soon as they met, both people were very happy. The battlefield is cruel, many of the deceased are buried in other places, only their old partners have heard the gunfire of the war and survived to the present. Whether it is a general or a political commissar, no matter how big an official he is, the other party is his own iron brother.
Half-life confidant
In 1956, Li Xiannian was elected a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee, and in 1969, Chen Xilian was also elected, and the two compatriots were also political commissars, which was really a surprise for New China. The two then continued to serve the country, making immortal contributions to the nascent country.
What is more interesting is that in 1975, Li Xiannian and Chen Xilian were elected vice premiers at the same time, and among the twelve vice premiers, Li Xiannian ranked third, and Chen Xilian ranked fourth after him. Li Xiannian's political career was even more brilliant, he was elected as the third president in 1983, and then a few years later he was elected chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and he held two positions at the state level, which is the only two people in the history of New China who have this honor.
This also makes the place of Changfeng Village famous, after all, a place can appear such two unborn talents, who can not praise a person's outstanding spirit?
Until their deaths, Li Xiannian and Chen Xilian maintained their precious friendship, they were comrades-in-arms, colleagues, teachers and students, the closest brothers, and half-life confidants.
On June 21, 1992, the 83-year-old Li Xiannian closed his eyes forever and passed away, his departure was a loss to the country, and it was a great blow to Chen Xilian. Li Xiannian's death made Chen Xilian sad every time he recalled it.
In the last few years of Chen Xilian's life, someone asked him to write a memoir, but Chen Xilian shook his head and refused, saying: "During the Red Army period, there were more than 2,000 people who fought with me in the world, and when I was liberated, there were more than a dozen people left, and now I am alone, what do I have to say." "
On June 10, 1999, seven years after Li Xiannian's death, Chen Xilian also passed away at the age of 84.