In 1941, the old man Niu Yuqing had just turned 18 years old, and his home was located
Yinan County
Xitaohua Village belongs to the Yimeng MountainOus Area, which was one of the main anti-Japanese base areas in China at that time and the focus of the Japanese army's sweeping.
The song "Yimeng Mountain Minor" is written against the background of the People of Yimeng to support the revolutionary fighters in annihilating the reactionaries and Japanese imperialism.
It reflects the revolutionary spirit and touching deeds of the military and the people who are linked by flesh and blood and that suffer and share hardships.
In 1941, Japanese imperialism carried out a large-scale and brutal sweep of the Yimeng region, and the Eighth Route Army immediately launched a counter-sweeping operation.
In the course of the operation, because the enemy is strong and we are weak, the large units of our army must be immediately transferred and implement the guerrilla warfare strategy of the enemy advancing and retreating, and the enemy retreating and advancing, while some soldiers who were injured in the course of the battle resolutely demanded that they stay in order not to cause trouble to the large troops.
These wounded and sick soldiers who remained were carefully cared for by the local people, who gave a part of their already small amount of food to the soldiers in the difficult living environment.
Niu Yuqing's Old Man's West Peach Blossom Village is a place where the warriors recuperate and hide.
That winter, Niu Yuqing and his father were commissioned by their uncle to hide the 18 wounded soldiers in two cellars they had dug to prevent them from being discovered by the Japanese army.
However, the Japanese army happened to be sweeping in Xitaohua Village, and there were more than 40 ghosts who came to the village, some of whom were also arranged to go to the nearby highlands for sentry vigilance, and once they found that there were eight roads running out of the peasants' homes, they would kill the peasants and the eight roads together.
Most of the wounded of the Eighth Route Army temporarily lost the ability to continue fighting due to gunshot wounds, they were very young, the average age was not two or three years older than Niu Yuqing, Niu Yuqing was just 18 years old, it was the time when he was young and clever.
In order to take care of these dozen warriors, the father and son adopted the method of going out day and night to avoid the detection and arrest of the devils.
During the day, the father and son sealed the cellar mouth tightly with stones, so that the ghosts searched back and forth many times without being exposed, and at night, the father and son quietly moved the stones and entered the cellar to send food and drink to the Eighth Route Army.
The devil installed searchlights on the highlands of the village, and kept swinging back and forth at night,
The father and son's actions are very confidential and have never been discovered by the devils.
In addition to sending water and food to the warriors, Niu Yuqing also tried to send them supplements, and since there was no nutrition in that year, the only good thing they could bring to the warriors was sweet potatoes.
Under the meticulous care of the Niu family's father and son, the 18 soldiers were slowly getting better, but one soldier surnamed Zhang was injured by a bomb on his thigh, and the injuries were very serious, and it was impossible to recover from his daily diet alone.
At that time, it was at the peak of the devil's sweep,
Niu Yuqing could not sneak out of the city for a while and a half to buy medicine for him.
The serious injury caused this warrior to suffer a hundred times, niu Yuqing promised his uncle to take care of all the fighters, but the soldier's situation was too serious, he could only pray for Xiao Zhang in his heart every day, hoping that he could survive this pass.
After 7 days, the devil found nothing in The West Peach Blossom Village,
He removed all the equipment and personnel and went back to his stronghold in the city.
When the devils were gone, Niu Yuqing began to hope that the main force of the Eighth Route Army would come back quickly and give professional treatment to this soldier.
As the days passed, the warriors were almost recovered, and they and Niu Yuqing took turns to take care of Xiao Zhang, but Xiao Zhang's breath was getting weaker and weaker.
Niu Yuqing's blessing could not withstand the cruel reality, this little soldier could not survive to the day when the large army arrived, niu Yuqing was very sad about Xiao Zhang's death.
Niu Yuqing remembers very clearly, Xiao Zhang said to him when he was sober,
He had only been married for 10 days, but in order to fight the Japanese invaders, he did not hesitate to bid farewell to his new wife and parents and enlist in the army.
It's been so long now, he's still homesick, and he doesn't know what happened to his parents and wife.
Unfortunately, Xiao Zhang can no longer see his lover and relatives, only in his 20s to die, Niu Yuqing felt that he was too young, and he left before he saw Japan surrender, which was really uncomfortable.
The Niu family father and son made a new grave for Xiao Zhang.
When the eighth route army returned to Xitaohua Village to pick up the wounded, Xiao Zhang's two older brothers told Niu Yuqing that if their brother died, they would continue to fight the Japanese army more firmly, so as to be worthy of their dead brother.
Now that the war on the front line is very tight, they can only make up wooden signs for their brother with a sad mood, entrust Niu Yuqing's father and son to take care of their brother's grave, and wait until the war is over.
If they are lucky enough to survive, they will return here to relocate their brother's grave.
After the two brothers told Niu Yuqing the address of their home, Linqu Chiliangyuzhuang, Weifang, Shandong, they hurried to the front line with the large troops.
Since then, Niu Yuqing has been looking forward to waiting for the war to end and see Xiao Zhang's two older brothers come to move the grave for his younger brother.
On August 15, 1945, after Niu Yuqing heard the news of Japan's surrender, on the one hand, he was excited that the devils were about to withdraw from China, and on the other hand, he thought that Xiao Zhang's two older brothers were expected to come soon to move the grave for his younger brother.
However, soon after, Chiang Kai-shek launched a civil war, which made Niu Yuqing feel a lot of worry: the matter of moving the grave was estimated to be delayed.
Sure enough, during the civil war, Xiao Zhang's two brothers did not come, and waited until the founding of New China, Niu Yuqing thought in his heart,
The world is basically too peaceful, Xiao Zhang's two brothers should come to move the grave for him! As a result, after a few years, no one came.
So Niu Yuqing believes that it is very likely that Xiao Zhang's two brothers also sacrificed for the revolution, but he still insisted on guarding Xiao Zhang's tomb, and he was fine on weekdays, and often went to clean Xiao Zhang's grave.
Later, the state wanted to erect monuments in the Yimeng region to commemorate the villages that had contributed to the War of Resistance and the War of Liberation.
The identification of martyrs with names and surnames is also required.
In order to commemorate these martyrs who made sacrifices for the revolution, Xitaohua Village also built a martyrs' cemetery here, and some descendants of the martyrs moved the tombs of the martyrs to the cemetery, and some family members were more willing to move the tombs back to their hometown martyrs' cemeteries for burial.
However, Xiao Zhang's tomb was not able to complete the relocation like his fallen comrades, because he had no family to relocate.
In this regard, although Niu Yuqing was very disappointed, since he had promised Xiao Zhang's two brothers to take care of him, he had to do what he said, so he decided to continue to guard Xiao Zhang's tomb until he found his descendants.
As the days passed, Niu Yuqing gradually married and had children, and like many farmers, he lived a life of facing the loess and facing the sky every day, but the difference was that as soon as he had time, he would go to Xiao Zhang's grave to clean up the weeds, or talk with Xiao Zhang.
Xiao Zhang's tomb is buried in the field of Niu Yuqing's family, and every time it comes to the Qingming Festival and martyrs' memorial day,
Niu Yuqing would go to the grave to burn paper for Xiao Zhang, and introduce Xiao Zhang to his new life by the way.
Sometimes when he talks, he can't help but start shedding tears when he thinks that Xiao Zhang has not been able to watch the Japanese devils roll out of China and the land of China come back to life.
Later, the villagers all knew about Niu Yuqing guarding the tomb of the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army, and they were also like Niu Yuqing, who would regularly visit Xiao Zhang's tomb every year, and even the surrounding schools would organize students to come to pay tribute to Xiao Zhang.
Niu Yuqing was very touched by so many people who came to visit Xiao Zhang's grave, and he personally explained the events of that year to the students and the people who came to the grave, so that the descendants of New China could remember these revolutionary martyrs who sacrificed for the liberation of all of China.
That's it
Niu Yuqing has been acting as a docent himself, spreading the revolutionary stories of Xiao Zhang and others.
Until after the reform and opening up, many villagers went to the city to find opportunities to get rich, there were fewer and fewer people in the village, and gradually only the elderly and children were left, and the relocation of the surrounding villagers made Xiao Zhang's grave look very desolate, and Niu Yuqing was very unhappy in his heart.
He felt that he could not let Xiao Zhang's grave be forgotten by everyone, and he wanted to help Xiao Zhang realize his soul's wish to return to his hometown.
Therefore, every time a stranger came to the village, Niu Yuqing asked him for the address left by Xiao Zhang's brother, but many years had passed, and no one had ever mentioned the place of Linqu Chiliangyuzhuang to him.
Later, Niu Yuqing found that the people who came to their village were all nearby city people, and villages like Chiliangyuzhuang during the War of Resistance Against Japan must only be remembered by the elderly.
But the elderly generally do not travel far, because of the inconvenience of legs and feet.
Gradually, Niu Yuqing grew older, his wife also died of illness, and it became more and more difficult to find Xiao Zhang's descendants, because the legs and feet were gradually unfavorable, and the number of times Niu Yuqing went to Xiao Zhang's grave gradually decreased, but fortunately, there were many young villagers nearby who did not forget this martyr, and everyone would spontaneously help xiao Zhang to sweep the grave when they were idle.
Looking at the former revolutionary fighters in the village martyrs' cemetery, all of whom had names and surnames, but Xiao Zhang's tomb stood alone in his family's field, Niu Yuqing felt very sorry for Xiao Zhang.
He felt that even if he couldn't move Xiao Zhang's grave, he still had to erect a monument for Xiao Zhang first.
However, after contacting the government department, Xiao Zhang's identity was difficult to find out for a while and a half, so the matter of erecting the monument could not be put on the agenda in time, and it was temporarily shelved.
There is no monument, Niu Yuqing thought again, although Xiao Zhang has been dead for many years,
But Chinese pays attention to the roots of the fallen leaves, and he always has to return to his hometown to be complete.
Niu Yuqing's age is useless, but Xiao Zhang's matter has become a piece of his heart disease, Niu Yuqing's son has always admired his father's behavior of guarding the tomb, he knows that his father's last wish in this life is to let Xiao Zhang's soul return to his hometown, so Niu Yuqing's son tried everything to leak this matter to the local media, hoping to use the power of the media to find Xiao Zhang's descendants.
When the local media heard about the incident, they immediately reported it
Many people who learned of this incident were deeply moved by Niu Yuqing's behavior of guarding the tomb, and they began to take spontaneous action to find the unknown small village of Linqu Chiliangyuzhuang for the xiaozhang martyrs.
The kung fu paid off, and soon after, Liu Yongzhong, the secretary of the party branch in Chiliangyuzhuang's village, received the news.
Through the media, he got in touch with the elderly Niu Yuqing and learned from the old population that there were 3 young people in Xiao Zhang's family who joined the Eighth Route Army, and they went door to door in Chiliangyuzhuang to look for descendants.
But at that time, more than 70 years had passed since Xiao Zhang's sacrifice, and these war years things were known only to the elderly.
It is not an easy task to confirm which of Xiao Zhang's descendants is.
In order to allow the remains of the martyrs to be moved back to his hometown, Liu Yongzhong communicated with the old people in the village one by one regardless of his hard work, and after repeated visits, he finally got some key information from an old man named Zhang Yuxin.
Zhang Yuxin is already 88 years old, and his brother is also a soldier of the Eighth Route Army.
When his brother joined the army, he went to register his name with the three brothers of the Zhang family.
The three brothers of the Zhang family are Zhang Weixin, Zhang Weishun and Zhang Weiji, and Zhang Weiji is the youngest one.
But after these three brothers joined the army, they did not come back, about all of them died on the battlefield, and their descendants were called Zhang Jiyong, counting, Zhang Jiyong should be called Zhang Weiji's grandfather.
After communicating with Zhang Jiyong, it was confirmed that Xiao Zhang was Zhang Weiji, Zhang Jiyong was very excited, he said that he was very grateful to the old man Niu Yuqing for being able to persist until now, so that he could learn about his grandfather's burial place.
Dang even said that he would move his grandfather's grave back.
After Zhang Jiyong and his family had worshipped Zhang Weiji at home, they set off with Liu Yongzhong and went to Xitaohua Village to visit the tombs of Niu Yuqing and his grandfather.
After seeing the old man Niu Yuqing, Zhang Jiyong and Liu Yongzhong made a promise to the old man and admired the high wind and bright festival of waiting for the martyr's grave all his life, and the old man Niu Yuqing was also very excited after seeing Xiao Zhang's grandson.
The stone that had hung in his heart for 74 years finally fell.
Xiao Zhang's tomb is about to be moved, remembering so many years of companionship, Niu Yuqing sighed with emotion, in his heart, he had long regarded Xiao Zhang as a friend, and now Xiao Zhang wanted to leave here, which really made him a little reluctant.
The deeds of 92-year-old Niu Yuqing, who guarded the tomb for the martyrs for 74 years, soon spread in Linqu County, and the local county government paid great attention to this matter.
They immediately began to identify the martyr Zhang Weiji.
The identification of martyrs has always been a strict matter in China, and the relevant matters of this matter were carried out by Fu Tingfeng, the director of the Martyrs' Cemetery in Linqu County, who after more than 5 months of investigation, successively visited the villagers of Xitaohua Village, teachers and students of the surrounding schools, and communicated with researchers from the Yinan County Chronicle Management Department.
In the county records of Yinan County, it is clearly recorded that Zhang Weiji, a soldier of the Eighth Route Army, was a revolutionary fighter of our party who joined the army in Linqu County.
After receiving this ironclad evidence, Fu Tingfeng immediately began to relocate the remains of the martyrs.
After the cooperation of all departments in Linqu County, on September 11, 2015, the relocation of the remains of zhang Weiji martyr was completed, and in the Linqu County martyrs' cemetery, the tomb of zhang Weiji martyr was solemnly added, and the revolutionary martyr finally returned to his hometown.
This is a great joy for the elderly Niu Yuqing or for the descendants of the Zhang family.
74 years ago, 18-year-old Niu Yuqing personally cared for Zhang Weiji, who was injured by the bomb, and witnessed Zhang Weiji's death, if Zhang Weiji could live until now, it is estimated that his age is about the same.
Under the support of his family, the old man Niu Yuqing insisted on walking to bid farewell to this old friend who had accompanied him all his life, and when he was parting, the old man insisted on taking a look at Xiao Zhang's remains box.
When the car started, Niu Yuqing burst into tears, because he knew that this was his last farewell to the martyr Zhang Weiji, 74 years, he did not live up to the instructions of Xiao Zhang's two brothers.
After completing the task of sending Xiao Zhang's soul back to his hometown, the biggest wish in this life has been fulfilled, and the old man Niu Yuqing has no regrets.
As the van escorting the remains of the martyrs left, Niu Yuqing waved at the car behind the car, as if to say: All the way, Xiao Zhang, you are finally going home.
Although the old man Niu Yuqing was a peasant, he inherited the red traditional spirit of the revolutionary fighters' indomitability and not giving up, which once again showed the unbreakable revolutionary friendship between our party and our army and the people whose blood is thicker than water and which cannot be defeated by any hardships and hardships.
Even today, this move is a precious spiritual wealth of our Party and should be inherited and carried forward.