In June 1990, Marshal Xu Qianqian was admitted to the General Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, and a few days later, Chairman Li Xiannian came to visit Xu Qianqian.
Xu Xiangqian's physical condition at that time was very bad, and as soon as he heard that his old comrade-in-arms Li Xiannian was coming, he took out the best mental state and wanted to leave a good impression on the other party.
When Li Xiannian finally entered the ward and saw Xu Xiangqian, the two had not yet said a few words, an unexpected thing happened, Xu Xiangqian told Li Xiannian three last words, he said:
"I have three last words: First, comrades, don't give me a farewell ceremony for the body; second, I don't want to hold any memorial service; third, after I die, I hope that someone can scatter my ashes on the Dabie Mountain, Daba Mountain, Taihang Mountain, and Hexi Corridor!"
At that time, Xu Xiangqian was already very ill, his breath was very weak, his voice was very small, and Li Xiannian could only hear it by putting his ears over and listening intently.
Later, when Li Xiannian recalled this scene, he said that he was very impressed by Xu Xiangqian's eyes at that time, that kind of look was very unique, looked very energetic, and did not look like a long-term sick person.
When Xu Xiangqian and Li Xiannian spoke, the passion in his bright eyes was exactly the same as the passion that was when he led the troops to the southern conquest of the Northern War.
Picture | Li Xiannian
Generally speaking, we should maintain respect for the deceased's will, and since Xu Xiangqian has already made those three demands, it is good for the people around him to fulfill his wishes.
However, in the end, with regard to Xu Xiangqian's last words, the Party Central Committee found that most of them were difficult to implement, and a small part of Xu Xiangqian's ashes were also scattered elsewhere.
Xu Xiangqian specifically mentioned Dabie Mountain in his last words, and when he was working in Dabie Mountain, Xu Xiangqian did a very legendary thing, that is, he created a Red Army air force.
Although this air force had only one aircraft and was still an enemy aircraft, in the future, its role was very huge.
A reporter interviewed Xu Xiangqian's old subordinate, who was very excited when he talked about Xu Xiangqian's outstanding military command skills.
At a certain moment, the old subordinate said: "Many high-ranking generals, brave people often lack strategy, and those who are good at the art of war are always more conservative, among them, Marshal Xu Qianqian is an exception, his way of using soldiers is very special, a faction of his own!" ”
The old subordinate spoke very seriously, and the reporter was also recording while taking out paper and pencil, carefully making a record.
Suddenly, the old subordinate said: "In the Dabie Mountains of that year, our Red Army units had aircraft, and we had air forces, which were created by Marshal Xu Qianqian!" ”
The reporter was astonished: "Marshal Xu Qianqian created the Red Army's air force units, as well as aircraft, how come such a thing has never been heard of?" ”
Figure | Xu Qianqian Marshal
In 1927, the Jute Uprising broke out, and soon after, the Dabie Mountains gave birth to Red Army troops. In its infancy, the Red Army grew very difficult.
It is often said that the soldiers of the Red Army fought many battles and destroyed many enemies, but few people know that at that time, the soldiers used spears, large knives and red guns, turned the whole team upside down, and could not find a few decent steel guns.
In such harsh conditions, if the soldiers want to fight against all kinds of enemies and win, the degree of difficulty can be imagined.
Xu Xiangqian, a high-caliber graduate of the Whampoa Military Academy, had been exposed to advanced military training and theoretical knowledge, and since he came to Dabie Mountain, the local situation has quickly improved.
Under the leadership of Xu Xiangqian, the number of victories won by the Red Army troops continued to increase, and the number of enemy destroyers also continued to rise. The conditions of our army are very harsh in all aspects, and one of the most important ways of replenishing it is to capture it from the enemy.
After winning more battles, the soldiers had long guns and short guns and mortars, and the arrival of these weapons and equipment made the soldiers very excited. Some even often sleep with guns in their hands, and in their opinion, these babies are even closer than their new daughters-in-law!
In February 1930, the Red Army troops accidentally got a plane, and all of a sudden, this incident became a big news in the local area, after all, not to mention the local people, even the Red Army generals like Xu Xiangqian, who had seen the world, had never had close contact with the plane.
One day in February and March, an airplane appeared in the sky. In the past, whether it was the kind of plane that the masses of the people saw transporting supplies, or the plane that chased the Red Army soldiers on the battlefield to strafe and throw bombs, it was not the same as this plane.
The plane that everyone saw that day, it was like drunk, unstable, everyone didn't know what the plane really wanted to do, it kept circling around the sky, as if something had malfunctioned.
The picture | aircraft of the old era
After many circles, the plane suddenly tilted its wings and slowly landed on a clearing near the river. The peasants in the ravine had only seen the planes in the sky, flying high, looking only a little bit small, not the size of a palm.
Now, an enemy plane has landed in front of everyone's eyes, and everyone thinks it is particularly strange, and soon, the men, women and children in the vicinity are running to the river to visit the plane as if they were rushing to the temple fair.
It was a military plane of the warlord, and while on a mission, the pilot was unfamiliar with the local natural environment, lost his way, and happened to run out of fuel before landing by the river.
After everyone circled around the plane, the hatch of the plane suddenly opened, and a man climbed out, his nose blue and swollen face looking funny.
Someone in the crowd said, "I thought there was something great about flying an airplane, I thought it was necessary for the gods to drive, and mortals couldn't do it, and the pilot was like this!" ”
As soon as he saw the Red Army soldier, the pilot immediately waved the white towel in his hand and shouted: "Don't shoot, don't kill me, I surrender, I surrender to the Red Army commander!" ”
After a series of interrogations, Xu Xiangqian and others basically found out the situation of this pilot. The pilot's name is Long Wenguang, who studied at the Whampoa Military Academy and went to the Soviet Union to learn flying techniques, and is also a little famous among his peers.
During the interrogation of Long Wenguang, a Red Army soldier asked, "Don't just talk to us, you can also say a few words, do you have anything you want to know about our Red Army?" ”
Picture | Long Wenguang
Long Wenguang said, "I just know that the Red Army is also a human being, and it is not like everyone says that the Red Army is all red-eyed and green-nosed, and all of them are fierce and evil!" ”
Soon after, Xu Xiangqian came to the river with several comrades to personally visit the plane, saying: "No matter from what aspect, this plane is very important to our army, and comrades must send special personnel to protect the plane!" ”
Xu Xiangqian continued: "Our army must implement the preferential treatment policy, comrades must treat this pilot named Long Wenguang in a friendly manner, if something happens to him, this plane will really become a decoration!" ”
Xu Xiangqian's playful words made the people around him laugh. Although Long Wenguang was taken prisoner, he felt that everyone was very friendly to him, the Red Army troops advocated equality between officers and soldiers, and the Red Army commander spoke very kindly, and did not embarrass him at all.
All these left a deep impression on Long Wenguang's heart. In addition, Long Wenguang also found that the people's support for the warlord forces was often forced to be helpless, but this was not the case with the Red Army troops, and the masses of the people sincerely supported the Red Army.
After staying in such an environment for a long time, Long Wenguang began to doubt his own beliefs, and he began to have the idea of abandoning the dark and casting light, and he developed a good feeling for the Red Army troops.
At a later meeting, everyone seriously discussed the reorganization of the troops, and some people took a very long-term view, and they even linked the reorganization of the troops this time with the construction of the entire Soviet zone.
This statement inspired a small soldier sitting in the corner of the venue, the little soldier is usually very active in doing things, but also lively and active, is the pistachio in the army.
After the venue was quiet, the little soldier stood up and said half-jokingly: "Can we repair the small plane that landed on the riverside, let the pilot Long Wenguang defect to us, and then set up a Red Army air force unit. ”
Pictured| air force units of the old era
Immediately, everyone was amused and laughed, and some people said: "This idea of a little comrade is interesting, how can an airplane set up an air force unit?" Pass it out and don't die by enemy jokes! ”
Xu Xiangqian did not laugh with everyone at that time, he felt that the little warrior's words also had some truth, and after the venue was quiet again, he said: "Now God Bai gave us a plane, so we have to use it to try, we have to let him fly!" ”
He continued: "Send someone to the White Zone to get some gasoline to come back, let Long Wenguang fly this plane to the sky, fly to Nanjing and Wuhan, even if you don't throw bombs, scatter leaflets to scare and frighten the enemy, this is not bad!" ”
We have to sigh that Xu Xiangqian's vision at that time was really very long-term. From the beginning of his determination to develop the Red Army Air Force, until the founding of the People's Republic of China, Xu Xiangqian was responsible for the work of national defense construction.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, under the leadership of Xu Xiangqian and several other comrades, the contingent of our People's Liberation Army has entered a new era little by little, gradually moving toward regularization and modernization.
When working in Dabie Mountain, everyone trusted Xu Xiangqian, his talent and ability were much better than ordinary people, and soon, several other comrades stood up and said: "Yes, the plane delivered to the doorstep cannot be used, and the small plane must be let fly!" ”
Another person said: "We are going to build an air force with only one aircraft, everything is difficult at the beginning, maybe in the future, our army will have many aircraft, and then it will really be a very strong air force that can fight against the enemy!" ”
Soon after, Xu Xiangqian led his soldiers to conquer a nearby county town, where conditions were good in all aspects, and later, it became the capital of the Eyu-Anhui Special Committee.
Figure | map of the initial situation in the formation of the revolutionary base areas in Eyu and Anhui
Soon, a great difficulty arose, how to transport the plane to the capital, the two places were far apart, and several mountains had to be crossed on the way.
As soon as he heard that the Red Army troops wanted to transport the plane, the pilot Long Wenguang was anxious, he said: "The plane is so big, how to transport it, if you forcibly drag the plane to the capital, it is estimated that in the middle of the road, the plane will become a pile of scrap iron!" ”
Several Red Army soldiers said, "If you can say such a thing, you are underestimating our masses of the people!" Later, the result of the matter really surprised Long Wenguang.
The soldiers of the Red Army and the masses of the people cooperated together, and everyone showed the strength of the fools to move the mountains, and hundreds of people formed a group, took turns on the mountain road to carry the planes, and moved toward the capital inch by inch.
In the end, the plane was not only quickly transported to the capital, but also intact, without even a small piece of patent leather being broken.
Several commanders followed Xu Xiangqian, and everyone looked around the plane, and a comrade asked, "Can the plane still fly?" Everyone carries it tired and tired, isn't it in vain? ”
Long Wenguang poked half his head out of the plane and said, "Everyone's hard work has not been in vain, I just checked, all kinds of equipment on the plane are not broken, it is just short of gasoline and oil!" ”
Xu Xiangqian: "We must think of a way to get some gasoline from the white area, it is hard to have a plane, it must go to heaven!" ”
Someone joked: "This big guy only drinks gasoline and doesn't drink water, otherwise, we have a lot of spring water in Dabie Mountain, and it can drink as much as it wants!" ”
At that time, the Kuomintang reactionaries were particularly strict in blocking the red zone, and they set up a lot of checkpoints on the path leading to the Dabie Mountains.
In order to buy gasoline and engine oil, the underground party comrades who are active throughout the country have made great efforts. After overcoming many difficulties, gasoline, engine oil and other small parts all came to the Dabie Mountains together.
Next, Long Wenguang had been repairing the plane, and during this time, the plane got a new name, and the Soldiers of the Red Army called it "Lenin".
Regarding this plane, Xu Xiangqian thought very clearly: Judging from the actual situation, even if it can fly, this plane can play a very small role, it cannot carry much ammunition, nor can it destroy several enemies.
But Xu Xiangqian had a long-term vision, and he was well aware of the role of this aircraft and this so-called Red Army air force unit for all The Red Army soldiers.
Once the Red Army's planes took to the skies, their propaganda role was enormous, which showed that our army did not have insurmountable difficulties and could create anything, which was very good for boosting the morale of our army and for deterring the enemy.
One day not long after, the weather was very clear and sunny, Long Wenguang finally took off with the "Lenin", and when he saw the plane in the air, everyone danced with excitement, and some people were moved to tears.
Later, this plane officially participated in our army's attack on the county seat of Huang'an.
At that time, in order to cooperate with the flight of the "Lenin" aircraft, everyone also set up an "Aviation Bureau", and before participating in this battle, Xu Xiangqian ordered the soldiers of the "Aviation Bureau" to build bombs.
Figure |" Lenin" aircraft
This task was very difficult for everyone, when the soldiers had just begun to build grenades, and no one had ever touched the bombs.
Everyone found the bomb that had not sounded before the enemy plane, and after repairing the bomb, everyone felt that the power was not great enough, and they bundled a lot of grenades to the bomb.
After the battle against Huang'an County officially began, Long Wenguang flew a plane and threw the bomb into the county seat, along with the bomb, as well as many leaflets publicizing our party's policies.
After the bomb exploded, the stupid enemy was frightened, and they asked all day long: "The Communist Red Army troops are so poor, how can they have an air force?" ”
As Xu Xiangqian originally envisioned, in the battle, the actual role of this aircraft is not large, but the effect of propaganda is very obvious.
After all, the panic caused by this plane to the enemy at that time was indeed comparable to several large Red Army troops. This is exactly the result that Xu Xiangqian wants.
Xu Xiangqian's long-term vision is not only reflected in his attention to the Air Force, but also in his hard and simple style of life, he rarely pays attention to eating and wearing in his daily life, and everyone affectionately calls him "Marshal of Cloth".
When commanding the Linfen Campaign, at the mobilization meeting before the battle began, he said to many PLA cadres: "As cadres of our party and our army, we must love and care for our soldiers, and everyone must know that it is every PLA soldier who really fights the enemy on the battlefield. ”
Xu Xiangqian continued: "We must care about the thinking of ordinary soldiers, but also care about their living conditions, when starting every battle, we must carefully consider the deployment of troops, as far as possible to reduce casualties, we must love every soldier!" ”
In the course of the Battle of Linfen, the soldiers could not eat vegetables for a long time, and occasionally some people got a little vegetables, and they felt that Xu Xiangqian commanded the battle so hard, so they first took it to Xu Xiangqian to eat, and Xu Xiangqian resolutely refused.
Tu| Battle of Linfen (oil painting)
Later, Xu Xiangqian took a lot of PLA cadres to dig wild vegetables on the hillside, and when it was windy and rainy, everyone was drenched like a chicken in soup, and they didn't care at all.
After the wild vegetables were brought back, the comrades ate together, Xu Xiangqian did not allow everyone to have the slightest preferential treatment for themselves, what ordinary soldiers ate and drank, Xu Xiangqian also ate and drank, if there was no food to eat, Xu Xiangqian accompanied everyone to go hungry.
In this Battle of Linfen, the PLA troops liberated more than a dozen county towns and eliminated more than 100,000 Kuomintang reactionaries. This is a knife and a gun spelled out by every soldier.
Before and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Xu Xiangqian's two sisters did not have a very good life, and one day, they specifically found Xu Xiangqian and wanted the younger brother to give them some help.
To say that leading troops to fight on the front line, Xu Xiangqian is not ambiguous, but these things, Xu Xiangqian feels very troublesome, he is very bad at dealing with these.
In addition to the sister-brother relationship between the two sisters and Xu Xiangqian, there is also a special relationship, that is, when the War of Resistance Against Japan first began, the sons of the two sisters joined the Eighth Route Army together.
Xu Xiangqian's two nephews were very brave in fighting, and in the end, they all died heroically on the anti-Japanese battlefield.
Therefore, the two sisters are not only Xu Xiangqian's sisters, they are also the families of martyrs, how to distinguish these two identities clearly, Xu Xiangqian is caught in a dilemma.
At that time, Xu Xiangqian did a lot of ideological work for himself, and he said to himself: "Since they are my sisters Xu Xiangqian, then they are no longer ordinary martyrs' families, as my relatives, they should also play an exemplary and leading role, and they cannot be special!" ”
Figure | Xu forward
That night, Xu Xiangqian said to his two sisters: "I am a member of the Communist Party, and my party has always advocated seeking happiness for the masses of the people. ”
He continued: "I am a poor commander, and I have nothing good to take out to entertain you, and you have to eat whatever I eat, and everything is public!" I hope the two sisters can understand my difficulties! ”
After the two sisters left, some relatives and friends in their hometown also specifically sought out Xu Xiangqian, hoping that Xu Xiangqian, a "big official", would help them seek an official and a half-job through his own power. In the end, these people were all sent away by Xu Xiangqian.
Since they could not get the benefits, some people began to deliberately say bad things about Xu Xiangqian, they scolded Xu Xiangqian's six relatives for not recognizing him, scolded him for turning his face and not recognizing people, and said that after he became a high official, he immediately forgot his relatives and friends in his hometown.
Even after hearing these words, Xu Xiangqian was not angry, he once said: "I believe that I am right to do this myself, I am not ashamed, I can't control other people's mouths, if you want to say it, let them say it!" ”
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, near Xu Qianqian's residence, there was a military compound, and every week, a movie would be played there.
At the beginning, Xu Xiangqian also went to the movie with everyone, he didn't find anything unusual, and then once, he felt that something was wrong.
That time Xu Xiangqian was late, and as a result, the person who played the movie deliberately postponed the screening time, and everyone sat there waiting for him.
Also, every time you watch a movie, once Xu Xiangqian walks in, many people will stand up and welcome him, after a long time, Xu Xiangqian feels that these habits are not good, it is special, and he can't accept it.
Soon after, Xu Xiangqian specifically found a cadre of the troops: "In the matter of watching movies, Xu Xiangqian, like everyone else, is an audience, if you still postpone the screening of the movie for me and stand up to welcome me, then I will never go again!" ”
At Xu Xiangqian's strong request, the rules for watching movies were later changed.
Back to Xu Xiangqian's three last wishes.
No farewell ceremony for the body, no memorial service, this is actually a manifestation of hardship and simplicity.
Logically speaking, the Party Central Committee should respect Xu Xiangqian's last wishes, but for Marshal Xu Qianqian, for such a loyal communist fighter, if there is really no ceremony, how can we be worthy of him?
In the end, the Party Central Committee did not hold a grand farewell ceremony for Xu Xiangqian's body, nor did it hold a memorial service, but held a simple and simple farewell ceremony.
As for Xu Xiangqian's ashes, most of them were scattered in the Dabie Mountains, Daba Mountains, Taihang Mountains and the Hexi Corridor according to his last wishes, and a small part of them were specially divided and scattered on the General Ridge.
Picture | General Ridge
Many of our party's senior generals were buried in General Ridge, where Xu Xiangqian was able to reunite with his old comrades-in-arms. Buried in General Ridge, Marshal Xu Qianqian would not feel alone.