"I have followed my father's involvement in creating this army all my life, and I have witnessed his suffering and glory all my life."
Years later, when the 83-year-old He Jiesheng recalled the glorious life of his father Marshal He Long, he still had a lot of emotions.
As the daughter of a marshal, she actually lived in the enemy's camp for 12 years, what kind of strong perseverance prompted this marshal's daughter to grow into a female general after many hardships?
Extraordinary birth
On November 1, 1935, a beautiful-looking baby girl was born in a wealthy family in Sangzhi County, Hunan Province.
Her mother was a big girl, while her father was General He Long, the commander-in-chief of the Red Second and Sixth Armies who relied on "two kitchen knives to make a revolution".
It is precisely because of this special family background that He Jiesheng's extraordinary life is destined.
In 1935, the North China Incident broke out, and the Japanese army accelerated its aggressive action in China.
The Passive Attitude of the Nationalist Government headed by Chiang Kai-shek in relying on foreign aid to resist Japan led to the fall of a large area of land in our country.
In the face of the increasingly serious national crisis, our Party has always held high the banner of resistance against Japan, strongly condemned the Kuomintang's non-resistance behavior, and proposed to stop the civil war and unite with the outside world.
However, chiang kai-shek's government, in disregard of the overall situation, insisted on taking "foreign countries must first be safe inside" as the basic national policy for handling internal and external relations, and launched an encirclement and suppression operation against our army.
Within the Party, the Fourth Anti-"Encirclement and Suppression" Campaign and the Fifth Anti-"Encirclement and Suppression" Campaign in the Central Soviet Region, Xianggan, Xiang'egan, and Fujian-Zhejiang-Gansu Region failed one after another, causing the Party and the Red Army to fall into an existential crisis.
On November 19, 1935, He Jiesheng, who had just been born 19 days ago, was tied in his mother's arms and began the first extreme challenge in his life.
On the long march, in the face of the enemy's encirclement and blockade, the little He Jiesheng followed his parents through countless life and death tests.
After the troops entered the Yimeng Mountains, they often had to pass through a series of tight blockade lines under the eyes of the enemy, and in order to prevent Xiaohe Jiesheng from suddenly crying and exposing the target, the mother had to wrap the child's head with clothes, and several times Xiao Jiesheng was stewed with purple face and could not breathe.
Poor living environment, long-term lack of food, the mother's body has been weakened to the extreme, unable to continue to take He Jiesheng to march to fight, behind him is the close pursuit of soldiers, He Long resolutely took the child from his wife's arms and tied it to his chest. After rushing all the way to kill and breaking through the siege, he found that the child on his chest was missing.
He Long, who had never frowned once in the face of enemy fire, suddenly panicked and hurried back to find the child, fortunately, a pair of kind compatriots picked up the child and saved them from a disaster.
Short happy times
In 1937, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out in full swing, He Long, as the commander of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army, could not take care of his children, and his wife Jian Xianren was also assigned by the organization to study at the University of the Soviet Red Army.
After some deliberation, He Long decided to entrust the child to his two old subordinates Qu Yuping and Qin Guangyuan during the Nanchang Uprising and brought them back to Sangzhi's hometown in Hunan to raise them.
He Jiesheng, who had followed her parents in the southern conquest and the northern war since birth, faced with two strange uncles who suddenly appeared at home, the two-year-old seemed to sense something, nestled in her mother's arms, and looked sullen.
He Long reluctantly looked at his thin daughter, and a trace of tears moistened the tough guy's eyes.
He took Qu Yuping and Qin Guangyuan to the cave next door, avoiding the child's doubtful gaze, and repeatedly instructed:
"If both of us suffer an accident, this child will be fully entrusted to the two, you can change your surname, but the name Jiesheng can't be changed, in addition, the child understands things, we must send her to school, learn to hyphenate, and grow up to serve the country."
The next morning, two-year-old Jiesheng left his parents with two strange uncles and went to his father's childhood hometown, Hunan Sangzhi, which his father often mentioned.
At that time, the situation in his hometown of Hunan was also very tense, and the secret service organization under Chiang Kai-shek frantically persecuted the members of our party organization, and Qin Guangyuan, who was responsible for taking care of Xiao Jiesheng, revealed his identity shortly after returning to his hometown and was arrested by the secret agents.
Worried that Xiao Jiesheng would fall into the enemy's clutches, Qu Yuping simply took the child to his side.
Afraid that the child's identity would be exposed and cause trouble, he declared to the outside world that Xiao Jiesheng was the adopted daughter he had brought back from the nursery, because he had no children under his knees, so the reason was justified, and even Qu Yuping's wife Yang Shi did not know the truth, thinking that her husband hated that he could not have children before making this decision, and he Jiesheng had a little resentment in his heart for the young He Jiesheng.
Yang Shi was originally the niece of the great warlord Yang Sen, who had the bad habit of smoking big cigarettes since childhood, and had not had children for many years after marrying Qu Yuping, and she was a warlord niece who was good at night and bad at home all day, drinking, smoking, and playing mahjong, and scolding the next person if she had a slight displeasure.
Janssen
Qu Yuping, who runs a timber, weaving and oil pressing business in the Hongjiang area, rarely returns home, and his relationship with his wife Yang is like a strange road.
Since the adoption of He Jiesheng, Qu Yuping returned home once every half a month, and he gave all the fatherly love of this life to Xiao Jiesheng.
Worried that his wife abused the children, he specially hired a nanny for Xiao Jiesheng, in order to get the Yang family to agree to take in the children, and even promised against his heart not to marry the second room and not to mention divorce.
During the White Terror period, in order to keep the child safe, he told his wife not to let the child take a step out of the courtyard, if the child's identity is exposed, not only Qu Yuping's whole family will suffer, but even Xiao Jiesheng's life will not be saved.
When He Jie grew up to be six or seven years old, he invited Mr. Teaching to his home at regular intervals every week to teach Jie Sheng to read and write alone.
Later, he simply let a Mr. Shi who had fled from Fujian live in the house and concentrate on teaching Xiao Jiesheng.
Qu Yuping's great fatherly love made Xiao Jiesheng almost forget the turbulent memories of before he was two years old.
In her eyes, the loving Qu Yuping is her biological father, shielding her from the wind and rain and protecting her for a lifetime.
However, in that war-torn era, no matter what kind of stability there was, He Jiesheng's stability was only a temporary happiness that Qu Yuping had exchanged for his best efforts.
In 1944, on the eve of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Qu Yuping was hit by a Japanese plane on the way to Guilin to deliver medicine to the Eighth Route Army, and was seriously injured.
At the last moment before his death, Qu Yuping was most relieved by Xiao Jiesheng, and with the last bit of strength, he called He Jiesheng, who was crying red-eyed, to him, told her of her origins, and told Xiao Jiesheng that when he grew up, he must find his biological parents.
Yang Shi, who was following alongside, looked at the father and daughter in front of her with stunned eyes, and she couldn't believe that her husband had the audacity to raise He Long's daughter by his side.
Qu Yuping had already seen through his wife's thoughts, and after Ping withdrew from Xiao Jiesheng, he asked people to close the door and pull his wife's hands with a serious look:
"I know your thoughts, her father He Long is now a great general of the Eighth Route Army, if you dare to move a hair of the child, He Long will come back and ask for someone, see how you make a mistake."
In the face of her husband's reprimand, Yang Shi, who was arrogant and accustomed to it in normal days, had no idea for a while, thinking about the way He Long brandished a large knife and slashed at himself, and the careful thinking in his heart was pressed down on Shengsheng again.
"Lord, The Station Master Has Arrived." The voice of the housekeeper came from outside the door, and Qu Yuping signaled his wife Yang to back off.
Luo Wenjie, the station chief of the Xiangxi Station of the Kuomintang Central Command, with the rank of major, once worked with Qu Yuping and Qin Guangyuan in the He Long Army, and he and Qu Yuping were even more friends of life and death.
Qu Yuping invited him to come over this time in order to entrust him.
Although he was not in the same camp as He Long, Luo Wenjie always admired He Long's personality, and even agreed to the request of his old friend.
As long as he serves in Xiangxi for one day, he will do his best to ensure the safety of his children.
Tough years
After Qu Yuping's death, He Jiesheng and his adoptive mother Yang Shi were arranged by Luo Wenjie to live in a deep mansion compound in Yuanjiang for several months before finally being sent to Qianzhou.
He Jiesheng, who lost the protection of his adoptive father, ended his happy childhood life early.
Yang's nature is lazy, and in addition to eating, drinking and having fun on weekdays, he smokes a lot of cigarettes, and soon destroys most of the property left by Qu Yuping.
In order to save money, the Yang family dismissed the family members and gave all the housework to the nine-year-old Xiao Jiesheng.
In addition to completing her studies, Xiao Jiesheng also has to take care of Yang's diet and living, carrying water, laundry, cooking, and even getting up in the middle of the night to make a supper for her adoptive mother who plays cards until late at night.
However, such a hard life did not dispel her enthusiasm for reading, after graduating from primary school, she was admitted to the provincial eighth middle school with excellent results, and her adoptive mother had no choice but to spend all the money on smoking cigarettes, and she could not afford to pay tuition for her to continue her studies.
Just when He Jiesheng was forced to give up his studies, an old acquaintance appeared in front of his mother's and daughter's house.
He is the teacher Shi who once worked as a personal trainer for He Jiesheng, he did not know where to find out the whereabouts of his mother and daughter, and personally came to the door to help He Jiesheng complete his studies, the premise was that he had to change his surname to "Shi", it turned out that Teacher Shi happened to be teaching in the middle school where He Jiesheng was admitted, and the school stipulated that each teacher could solve the problem of a child's tuition.
After that, He Jiesheng learned that the accidental appearance of Teacher Shi was only a subordinate secretly sent by Luo Wenjie to protect her.
And she and her adoptive mother have been in Qianzhou for many years, and it is Luo Wenjie who has secretly protected her to resolve countless crises.
As a teenager, He Jiesheng did not know how many people had secretly protected her and loved her in the 12 years she had lived in the enemy camp, and how many people had spied on her and approached her.
In 1947, he Jiesheng attended the eighth middle school in a noisy school wave, and she followed a group of low-grade classmates to see the hilarity.
Just after arriving at the party headquarters, a Kuomintang officer who identified himself as her brother involuntarily stuffed her into a palanquin and carried her away.
It was He Jiesheng's first direct contact with Luo Wenjie, a middle-aged man who looked full of love and aroused her infinite nostalgia for her adoptive father Qu Yuping.
It turned out that Luo Wenjie, like his adoptive father, had worked under his father, and after his adoptive father's death, it had been the man in front of him who had secretly helped her and her adoptive mother through one crisis after another.
If it were not for the fact that Luo Wenjie received the news that the police were going to arrest the troublesome students, he had no choice but to send his son to rescue him, and perhaps he Jiesheng would not have known about his existence in this lifetime.
In order to protect her safety, that night, Luo Wenjie arranged for someone to escort He Jiesheng back to his adoptive mother.
Many years later, He Jiesheng recalled the time in Qianzhou and was still full of regrets.
That night, when she was still ignorant of her youth, when she was hurriedly stuffed into a palanquin and carried away, she forgot to say thank you to Rowanjie.
The hardships experienced in her childhood gave He Jiesheng a strong personality and rich life experience, and also laid a solid foundation for her to become a female writer in the future.
In 1996, she was awarded the rank of major general, which made the legendary life of the children of a generation of marshals.
literature search:
CNKI: "General He Jiesheng's Life Feelings", No. 4, 2016
Chinese Communist Party News Network: "What is the Background of the Era of the Red Army's Long March", August 2016