54 years ago, he lent 1.2 million oceans to the anti-Japanese government, until 1999, when he picked up the old house and the IOU was released, people discovered the secret of the 84-year-old man and learned about his ups and downs.
In August 1999, a rare incident broke out in Jingzhou Village, Dakou Township, Yanshi City, deep in the hills of western Henan:
The 84-year-old Zhang Zhenhe (also known as Zhang Shaoxian) family pulled out two IOUs from 54 years ago, which read: "Now borrowed to Zhang Zhen and Dayang Yiyi Yishi Ten Thousand Yuan" and "Pick Up Ten Thousand Yuan" in Qibao Township, Fushan District, and the money is stamped with a large seal "Luoyang County Anti-Japanese County Government".
1.2 million oceans! That's a staggering number. Before that, the locals only knew that he was an old revolutionary, and they didn't expect him to have such a righteous deed!
Unable to withstand repeated questions, the elderly Zhang Shaoxian told people a legendary and touching story.
01 Donated the family money that generations have worked hard to save
In the 1930s and 1940s, the Zhang family, in Dakou Town, Yanshi County, where merchants and merchants gathered at that time and the market was prosperous, opened a grain store and a cloth village, because it was during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, grain and cloth were strategic materials, which were very tight, so the Zhang family's business was very prosperous.
Inspired by the Communist Party's active anti-Japanese ideology, in 1938, Zhang Zhenhe, a 23-year-old son of a rich family, became a member of the party, and from then on, he handed everything over to the party, passed on intelligence, raised money, and completed the task brilliantly every time.
In May 1944, the iron hooves of the Japanese army shattered the dream of peace of the people of Luoyang, and Luoyang fell. The following year, Brigadier Pi Dingjun, a well-known anti-Japanese general, led his troops into western Henan to establish an anti-Japanese organization behind enemy lines, and the anti-Japanese county government of Luoyang County was stationed in Nanzhai, Xiao Village, Dakou Township.
However, because the government is deep behind enemy lines, the military and the people lack medical treatment and medicine, guns and ammunition, and the government's work encounters difficulties.
Between March and June 1945, county magistrate Tian Sheng (who had been the mayor of Jiaozuo City after liberation and died in 1966), and hu Ziqing, secretary of the county government (who became deputy commander of a division of the Xinjiang Construction Corps after liberation), approached Zhang Zhenhe and asked him if he could raise some money.
At this time, Zhang Zhenhe had already disclosed his identity as a party member, and had served as a member of the MountainOus Committee and chief of staff of the First Joint Defense Headquarters.
"Medium! My family has money, the Japanese devils don't take it away, what do you want money to get? For the anti-Japanese resistance, the big deal is not to do business, sell the classics! ”
Tian Sheng smiled and advised him: "Just borrow some money, you still have to live a life for a large family, and the party's policy does not require this!" ”
Zhang Zhenhe said generously: "Both of you are from the party, do you still care about money?" borrow! ”
After that, he persuaded his family to lend more than 1,000 pieces of ocean and more than 71 million yuan of customs golden tickets and reserve tickets to the anti-Japanese county government on six occasions, which had been accumulated by generations in the family for many years, and even the IOUs were not asked for at that time.
02 The government hit 2 IOUs
In August 1945, Japan announced its unconditional surrender, but the joy of the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians throughout the country was still lingering, the Kuomintang reactionaries had begun to seize the fruits of victory, and the Kuomintang receiving officers and a large number of troops quickly marched into the Luoyang area, and their arrogance was very arrogant. Under the critical situation in which the enemy is strong and we are weak, our army has decided to carry out a strategic transfer.
Before leaving, the Luoyang County government sent Zhang Zhenhe two IOUs of 1.1 million and 100,000 oceans to the Zhang family according to the conversion ratio at that time.
At this time, Zhang Zhenhe, who had changed his name to Zhang Shaoxian, was ordered to also go south with the army. The contingent has not yet been pulled out, and the local Kuomintang enemy and stubborn forces have released the wind to cut down the grass and roots of the Communist Party members, their families, and those who have helped the Communist Party.
With the special approval of the party organization, Zhang Shaoxian's wife and children were allowed to accompany the team. Before leaving, Zhang Shaoxian used the remaining money in his family to buy a Czech-style rifle, a Hanyang-made rifle, two home-made pistols, 1,000 rounds of ammunition, and handed them to the party organization.
After about half a month, due to the frequent fighting, his wife and children could not keep up with the speed of the march, and Zhang Shaoxian tearfully sent the three of them home.
After Zhang Shaoxian's wife returned to her hometown, she met her brother. Illiterate, she showed her brother the IOU that her husband had hurriedly given her before they separated, and asked what it was? When the younger brother saw it, he was frightened:
"This is a loan slip, who dares to put this this in these years?" It's about to burn! ”
Mrs. Zhang did not burn, and quietly stuffed it in the brick cracks of her old house.
03 Nine dead life, return to the hometown
One day in the summer of 1948, Zhang Shaoxian and his three comrades-in-arms encountered five or six paratroopers of the Kuomintang New Fifth Army in a wheat field in Huaiyang County, Henan Province, and he ordered three comrades to disperse to confuse the enemy, and he himself lay in the wheat field and shot down an enemy, but the enemy soon found him.
As he turned to move to one side to change positions, a bullet hit the side of his neck, and blood immediately spilled all over his body, but at that time he did not feel pain, and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with an enemy who pounced on him.
In the melee, he shot the enemy in the stomach, and then he himself fell unconscious, fortunately, the enemy's bullets did not hit the point, when he and his comrades met, they could not help but hug together, but Zhang Shaoxian laid the root of the headache from then on.
Shortly after Zhang Shaoxian went to Wuhan, the People's Liberation Army crossed the Yangtze River. After the liberation of Changsha, a large number of outstanding party cadres were needed, and Zhang Shaoxian was ordered to go to Hunan and take over the Changsha Coal Company as a military representative.
In October 1950, the organization sent him to study at the first foreign trade workers' special course of Beijing Chinese Min University. In June 1951, Zhang Shaoxian, who passed the examination, graduated and returned to Changsha, and soon became the deputy manager of Changsha Coal Construction Company.
In 1952, he was ordered to work in the Price Department of the Ministry of Forestry, and his wife and children followed him to Beijing. Here, he alone worked for several people, responsible for the dispatch of timber in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanxi, Hebei, Liaoning and other regions, and when examining the contributions of the revolution, Zhang Shaoxian did not disclose anything about the loan.
In 1956, Zhang Shaoxian, who was 41 years old, had four daughters and one son, came to Qinghai with other comrades to support the frontier and set up the Qinghai Timber Company, and his family also followed him to this magical place.
The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is known as the roof of the world, many people are not accustomed to its thin air, and Zhang Shaoxian's altitude sickness is also obvious, but the belief in dedicating himself to the construction of the motherland's frontiers did not make him bow his head.
Qinghai is a Shaolin region, in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, a hundred wastes to be rebuilt, Zhang Shaoxian their task is to ensure the adequate supply of timber, to prevent the speculation of timber upside down activities, the initial period, the task is arduous, the cadres are extremely short, the entire company management personnel are only more than 20 people, many people are in several positions, Zhang Shaoxian alone served as the secretary section chief, business section chief, price section chief three positions, relying on hard work, plateau construction urgently needed timber is continuously transported to qinghai all over qinghai.
Altitude sickness, recurrence of gunshot wounds, and stressful work are Zhang Shaoxian's frequent headaches.
One day, he was directing the wood dispatch on the spot, and a sharp pain struck, tears came from his eyes unconsciously, and he sat on the firewood pile and pounded the back of his head with his hands to alleviate the pain.
The dispatcher asked him what was wrong? He waved his hand and said, it's all right, just a moment. Since then, painkillers have become his weapon in the fight against headaches.
However, over time, the body became resistant to drugs, and this "weapon" became more and more difficult to make, and his stomach also took medicine and ate something wrong.
At the beginning of 1962, the organization appointed him as the director of the Marco River Forest Farm, when preparing to go to the post, Zhang Shaoxian's headache had a violent attack, after learning about the situation, on July 20 of the same year, the Qinghai Provincial Department of Civil Affairs and the Department of Agriculture and Forestry specially approved him to return to his hometown and paid him a retirement fee of 2608.65 yuan.
Zhang Shaoxian has since returned to his hometown. It was three years of natural disasters, the living standards in his hometown were not as good as in qinghai on the frontier, and the 5 sons and daughters who had grown up were at the age of long bodies, and the amount of food was particularly large, but the rations distributed by the production team did not help at all, and his only son Baoling was often hungry.
04 No matter how difficult it is, do not ask the state for money
The rations of the villagers in Jingzhou Village at that time were dried sweet potatoes plus wild vegetables and bark, and Zhang Shaoxian took out a part of his pension and bought some dried sweet potatoes, which was the most difficult for several families in Zhou. In order to survive the famine, he and his wife and children only ate half a day.
He comforted his children: "Famine is temporary, don't be afraid, sleep when you are hungry, and relieve hunger when you sleep." ”
At this time, his wife reminded him that the IOU in the crack of the wall was still there, could he take it out and tell the government? Zhang Shaoxian sighed and said apologetically: "At present, the country is in difficulty, why mention this?" Who called me a party member! Bao Ling Mom, you and your children have suffered with me! Saying this tough guy shed tears.
After that, a nationwide production self-help campaign was launched, and the country's economic situation improved, Zhang Shaoxian thought: I can't always squat at home Wow, I have to find something to do.
As a result, the villagers of Jingzhou Village can see him carrying a hammer to go out early and return late every day, so the willow trees, large-leaved poplar and locust trees along the bridge ditch on the edge of the village grow up lushly. In a few years, he planted more than 70,000 trees!
In 1968, Zhang Shaoxian's 25-year-old son Zhang Baoling wanted to get married, according to the local marriage customs, the in-laws wanted to prepare a rich banquet, Zhang Shaoxian blocked: "At present, we advocate changing customs and customs, we want to take this head, and then we don't have this money!" ”
The wife once again mentioned the IOU, he said: "800 years ago, what to mention?" In order to fight Japan, it was a matter of course, didn't I even break my life? Besides, for this little thing to alarm the leadership, do you think it should be? ”
The wife knew his temperament and said nothing more. In this way, when their only son, Baoling, got married, he quietly brought the bride to the house, and it was a long time before the villagers knew that Baoling had become a family. When the four daughters got married, Zhang Shaoxian simply sent things off as usual.
Not only that, since the 1990s, the elderly Zhang Shaoxian has also donated more than 2,500 yuan to the disaster area and the school.
Write at the end:
Some people have converted the purchasing power of 1.2 million oceans according to the situation in 1945: at that time, 18 oceans could be exchanged for 60 catties of wheat, and 100 oceans could buy 3 cows. In other words, 1.2 million oceans can buy nearly 40 million catties of wheat or 36,000 head of cattle.
No matter how it is converted, 1.2 million pieces of ocean in 1945 are astronomical for an ordinary peasant family.
The elderly Zhang Shaoxian, who had experienced the baptism of fire and the difficult period of New China, had been living in obscurity and poverty in the remote and impoverished rural areas of western Henan for many years, and had never thought of asking the state or the government for this loan. Perhaps, this is the source of strength for the Chinese nation to overcome aggression and rise day by day.