In the sweltering summer of 1971, outside the high-walled iron gate of the Jinan Military Region, a row of sentries with guns and live ammunition stood in a neat line at the door.
A disheveled old man had been wandering outside the gate, looking into the compound from time to time, as if he were waiting for someone.
After a while, he finally plucked up his courage and walked cautiously to the sentry
"Comrade Sentinel, is Commander Yang at home?" ”
"I don't know." The sentry saw that he was unidentified and said shirked.
The old man continued to ask, "I am Commander Yang's old subordinate, can you tell me that he is at home?" When the sentry heard that the old farmer in front of him, who was like a "beggar", had an old relationship with Commander Yang, he pointed to the doorman and said, "Go to the communication room and ask."
In the communication room, he got the answer: "Commander Yang has gone out for a meeting, and you will come back another day." ”
However, the old man did not have a dead heart, and sat down in the open space more than a hundred meters away from the gate of the military district, and every time he passed a car, he got up and looked at it.
How he wished it was Commander Yang sitting inside, but not every time, and he didn't wait for Commander Yang when it was dark.
In the end, a clerk placed him in a small hotel nearby.
A few days later, The old man's commander Yang Dezhi, came back from a meeting, heard the document about it, and immediately asked him to go and invite the old man.
At this time, the clerk understood that the old man who had been arranged by himself in the small hotel was actually "Li Xiang", the commander of the Red Army regiment who had been missing for many years.
What exactly did Li Xiang have with Yang Dezhi, the commander of the famous Jinan Military Region? Why did he, as the commander of the Red Army, mysteriously disappear for decades?
I. The "Disappearance" of the Red Army Commander
On September 27, 1955, in the State Council Auditorium on the west side of the Ziguang Pavilion in Zhongnanhai, the ceremony for awarding the title of the Chinese People's Liberation Army was held here.
(Awarded in 1955)
After the awarding ceremony, the two generals, Yang Dezhi and Yang Yong, who were awarded the rank of general, walked out of the venue with great vigor.
At this time, these two battle-hardened old men invariably remembered Li Xiang, an old subordinate who had followed him in the southern conquest and northern war during the Long March.
The reason why Yang Dezhi still remembers this person is because he once worshipped himself and later became the leader of the regiment.
Since 1939, however, the two have not been in touch for more than a decade.
Yang Dezhi believes that if this person is still in the army, he will at least be rated as a lieutenant general. However, at this time, Li Xiang's whereabouts were already unknown, and he had tried to inquire many times without result.
In the end, he had to be treated as a sacrificial Red Army cadre, and his name was recorded in the military museum.
It is said that Mao Zedong also inquired about Li Xiang. Why did Chairman Mao remember him? It turned out that as early as the Long March, Li Xiang was already the grassroots leader of the vanguard of the Red Army.
(Old view of Jingzhou in 1930)
"Li Xiang" is actually called Hou Lixiang. Hou Lixiang was born in 1912 in Jiangling County, Jingzhou, Hubei Province. When he was a child, due to his poor family, he only attended private school for four years.
When he was a teenager, Hou Lixiang suffered the tragedy of the death of his parents.
Later, he left Houjiatai, where he had lived for more than ten years, and came to Jingzhou, hoping to earn an errand to survive on the knowledge he had learned in the private school.
Unfortunately, the job was difficult to find in those years, so he had to wander the streets.
At this time, a tall and tall young man asked Hanako to "stare" at him, and the other party quietly leaned in front of him and asked, "What is your name?" ”
"Courtesy. What about you? ”
"Oh, Li Xiang. The name sounds good. My name is LiangZi, so you can call me Brother Liang. He said and took a few copper plates from his pocket and asked him to take them to buy some food.
After eating, Hou Lixiang had some energy, and when he was looking around and thinking about where he was going next, he noticed the one called Hanako.
"Li Xiang, where are you going?" Call Hanako to ask.
"I don't know."
(Beggars in the Republic of China period)
"I'm going to Hankou today to beg for food, would you like to go with me?"
"Going to Hankou?" Hou Lixiang looked up and down at the kind named Hanako in front of him, thinking that he didn't have a place to go anyway, so he casually said, "Of course it's good." ”
"Well, tonight we'll take a foreign boat and go down to Hankou."
That night, the two boarded a foreign ship to Hankou and embarked on a revolutionary journey.
After arriving in Hankou, Brother Liang found a "job" in the guest house for his younger brother "Li Xiang". Soon after, he was sent to Wuchang. From that time on, Hou Lixiang worked during the day and at night to make up for cultural knowledge.
In May 1928, he was sent to Jiangxi by the organization to carry out revolutionary work.
On the eve of the Spring Festival of the following year, the Red Army expanded, and he joined the Red Third Army and joined the Communist Party of China in March of the same year.
After the failure of the fifth anti-encirclement and suppression campaign, Li Xiang embarked on the Long March with the Central Red Army.
(Red Army Long March Roadmap)
During this time, he grew from an ordinary soldier to a red army commander.
Because from the very beginning, his revolutionary leader "Brother Liang" mistakenly called his name "Li Xiang", so he has been using the name "Li Xiang" ever since.
During the Long March, as the vanguard of the army, "Li Xiang" participated in many famous battles, such as forcibly crossing the Dadu River, flying to capture the Luding Bridge, and attacking Lazikou.
At that time, he was a division, a regiment and a battalion of the Red Army, and Yang Dezhi was his direct superior, the leader of a regiment.
He has been injured several times, two times extremely seriously. Once, in the battle of Xiaohe in Sichuan, he led the soldiers to charge forward, but unfortunately was shot through the neck by a bullet. Another time was when he attacked Ganquan in Shaanxi before the meeting, and his right thigh bone was almost broken.
In order to let him recover from his wounds as soon as possible, the organization arranged for him to be recuperated in the rear hospital of Wayao Fort after the Red Army met the division.
After he recovered from his wounds, he returned to the army and was already the commander of the thirteenth regiment of the Red First Division. And his former old regimental commander Yang Dezhi had left the Red First Division and gone to the Red Second Division to become the commander of the division.
(Group photo of Yang Dezhi and others)
From then on, Hou Lixiang left Yang Dezhi and carried out revolutionary work under the leadership of Chen Geng, the commander of the new division, and Yang Yong, the political commissar.
In 1937, Hou Lixiang was ordered by the organization to enter the "Kang Da" study. That period of study made him feel more relaxed and happy than ever, and his cultural level also improved a lot.
At that time, they were often lectured by the heads of the central authorities, and they could also come into contact with many new comrades from different units. It was at that time that he met Xu Shiyou.
After the completion of the "Kang Da" study, he did not return to his original unit, but was transferred by the Central Military Commission to the Yan'an Central Guard Regiment as deputy regimental commander.
At the beginning of 1939, he was seriously injured during the Long March, which affected his life and work.
In desperation, Li Xiang had no choice but to propose to the organization to work in the rear while recuperating from injuries. At the end of the year, with the organization's letter of introduction, Li Xiang went to Wuhan several times, where he found the Eighth Route Army office.
Subsequently, under the arrangement of Ye Jianying, the leader of the office, Hou Lixiang was arranged by the underground party organization in Hubei Province to the central county party committee of Jiangling of the Communist Party of China.
(Anti-Big Learning Scenario)
From Yan'an, the holy land of revolution, back to his hometown of Jiangling, as a red army regimental commander, although he was not a return to his hometown, he could be regarded as a glorious return to his hometown.
However, he could only hide his honor, because Gangneung was still under the occupation of the Japanese devils at that time, so his achievements could not be "boasted" at all.
Out of the requirement of hiding his identity, he packed all the documents related to his identity and the Red Army that he brought back from Yan'an into his beloved suitcase, which was also brought back from Yan'an.
Then quietly place it under the bed and carefully hide it.
(Former site of the underground party organization)
Perhaps for the sake of security and confidentiality, in the first year after returning to his hometown, the organization did not arrange any work for Hou Lixiang.
In order to support his wife and children, after consulting with the head of the Hou family, he borrowed the Hou family ancestral hall to open a card shop, and successfully transformed from the leader of the Red Army into the owner of the card shop.
What he didn't expect, however, was that although the business of the pai shop had been good, the beloved suitcase he had hidden under the bed was missing.
After the suitcase was lost, he closed the card shop and spent three days and three nights at home, not eating or drinking. Because he had originally planned to wait until he was better, he would use those documents to work in the army.
However, overnight he became a person without identity, and how easy is it to join the revolution in the army?!
(Republic of China period store)
Second, he became a common man with a dead heart
In fact, he had the opportunity to reconnect with the organization later, but he missed it again.
In July 1942, Zhang Xiulong, the 15th Regiment of the Third Military Sub-district of the Eyu Border Region, led his subordinates to Qianjiang, and after learning the news, Hou Lixiang was very excited and hurried to an inn in Qianjiang County.
Here, he met Zhang Xiulong, revealed his identity to the other side, and asked to join his troops.
However, at this moment, news came from the front that the enemy had come to the bear's mouth.
In this way, Hou Lixiang not only did not return to the army, but was almost regarded by Zhang Xiulong as a traitor sent by the enemy.
In desperation, Hou Lixiang turned around a big circle and returned to his hometown.
(Mr. and Mrs. Zhang Xiulong)
Subsequently, Hou Lixiang moved with his family to Puji Town, not far from his hometown, to open a tea house.
In addition, he also learned the craftsmanship with his teacher, Fu, and in his spare time, he woven some dustpans, bamboo baskets and other living utensils to sell to the villagers in the surrounding villages and towns, and he could also have some income.
Since then, Hou Lixiang seems to have no enthusiasm for finding an organization, and has lived a stable life in the town with peace of mind with his wife and children.
After the founding of New China, the vigorous land reform movement was carried out in full swing throughout the country, and Hou Lixiang, who had wandered outside and was well-informed, was recalled to Houjiatai by village cadres.
At this time, he had the opportunity to disclose his identity as the head of the Red Army and try to get in touch with the organization.
But because ten years have passed and the documents have been lost, no one can prove it for him.
(Collective labor scene of the production team)
So he did not mention his past to the village cadres, but participated in the collective labor of the production team as an ordinary peasant.
Because he could not do farm work, Hou Lixiang could only feed the cattle to the production team.
One day, when he went to the toilet, Hou Lixiang picked up half a copy of the People's Daily that was thrown on the ground and read it carefully.
To his surprise, there was a news item on it that actually mentioned his former chiefs Yang Dezhi and Yang Yong. He read the newspaper in one fell swoop, which reported news about the two men having been awarded the rank of general.
After coming out of the toilet, he immediately returned to his room, found paper and pencil, and wrote a letter to the Central Military Commission, trying to get in touch through the organization and the two old chiefs.
A few months later, he did receive a reply from the two chiefs, and he couldn't help but cry with excitement.
But after that, due to various reasons, Hou Lixiang once again lost contact with the two chiefs.
Third, rush to Jinan to look for the old chief
Until one day many years later, Hou Lixiang was planting sesame seeds in the field of the forest farm. The postman rode his bicycle to deliver the newspaper, because it was rainy for several days, and the employees of the forest farm went home to rest, and he was alone, so the postman handed him the newspaper.
After getting the newspaper, Hou Lixiang casually flipped through it, and actually saw the name of the old chief Yang Dezhi in the most conspicuous position of the "People's Daily", which impressively wrote "Commander of the Jinan Military Region." He read the message excitedly and wrote down the important information inside.
Then, he took off his shoes and shook the mud on them, patted the soil on his body again, pulled out his legs, and ran in the direction of Shashi. It was from here that he followed "Brother Liang" onto a foreign ship and joined the revolution.
(Postman in the early liberation period)
The farm where he worked was a hundred miles from Shashi, and he didn't eat or drink, and it took him more than ten hours to complete this section step by step.
The next morning, he finally arrived at Shashi. Subsequently, he followed an old lady on a boat bound for Wuhan.
But after arriving in Wuhan, he made another mistake, because Wuhan was too far from Jinan. After thinking about it for a while, he went straight to a small train station in the suburbs and decided to pick up the train and go to Jinan.
Because pickpocketing buses are easy to spot, he chose a van.
Along the way, during the day he got out of the wagon and went to the field to pick some melons and fruits to fill his hunger; when night fell, he found another wagon, and just like that, he kept picking the train all the way to the destination.
After arriving in Jinan, Hou Lixiang couldn't help but feel a little excited at the thought of meeting the old chief who hadn't met for more than twenty years.
(Jinan street scene in the 1970s)
Excited, his first thought was that he couldn't go to see Yang Dezhi like this, so he took the pair of dirty and smelly rubber shoes on his feet, found someone to change a pair of cloth shoes, washed his face in the ditch on the side of the road, and then walked toward the Headquarters of the Jinan Military Region with his head held high.
And so, the opening scene happened.
(Sentinel)
Hou Lixiang's refusal to leave at the gate of the military region made the sentry extremely dissatisfied, and warned him not to do this again, and asked him to leave immediately.
Hou Lixiang did not wait for the old chief until dark, so he came to the communication room again, and the soldiers on duty inside had changed.
He explained the reason to the other party again, and when the soldier on duty saw him, he called Commander Yang's office.
After a while, a polite male soldier came out from inside, and the soldier on duty pointed to Hou Lixiang next to him and said, "Liu Wenwen, this is the person who wants to see Commander Yang." ”
Under the persuasion of Liu Wenwen, Hou Lixiang agreed to stay in a nearby small hotel first.
(Yang Dezhi)
Early the next morning, Hou Lixiang could not wash up, so he went straight to the communication room of the military compound and asked the soldiers on duty to contact Liu Wenwen.
After Receiving the call from the communication room, Liu Wenwen immediately reported to Commander Yang's staff officer and asked for instructions on how to deal with the matter.
After listening to it, Staff Officer He thought about it carefully, and for the sake of prudence, he immediately called Commander Yang for instructions.
Yang Dezhi on the other end of the phone heard that "Li Xiang", who had not been contacted for many years, was at the gate of the military region at this time, and he was excited.
However, out of all considerations, he still said to Staff Officer He: "You should receive it first." He also specifically instructed him to ask the details of the other party, especially to read the letter he wrote to the other party in 1961 and the story of the Long March of the Red Army.
(Yang Dezhi and Hou Lixiang)
Subsequently, Hou Lixiang carefully recalled the experience of that year and wrote down all of them, Yang Dezhi read it, and his thoughts flew to the war-torn era of that year, and his eyes were suddenly moist.
Then, he pulled out the letter that Hou Lixiang had written to himself from the drawer, and after comparing it, he found that the handwriting was exactly the same.
"Congratulations Staff Officer!"
"To!"
"Where is Hou Lixiang?"
"In a small hotel nearby."
"Go and call him, I'll see him!"
"Yes!"
Staff Officer He did not dare to hesitate and trotted all the way to the hotel, where Hou Lixiang was anxiously waiting for news from Commander Yang.
"Old man, go quickly, the commander has please!"
Hearing this, Hou Lixiang immediately shed tears of excitement...
(Hou Lixiang's later years)
After the meeting, two comrades-in-arms, who had not seen each other for decades, talked about the night. Later, with the help of Yang Dezhi, the organization restored Hou Lixiang's due reputation and treatment.
However, the two regretted that hou Lixiang had been separated from the party organization for decades because of the passage of time, so he could not restore his party membership until his death.
Edit: xixi
Editor-in-charge: Lao Qian has the end