In 1971, a ragged old man came to the gate of the Jinan Military Region and wanted to enter the military region. The sentry on duty hurriedly stopped him and asked him who he was looking for, and the old man said that he wanted to see Yang Dezhi, the commander of the military region. The sentry called Commander Yang's office, and then informed the old man that Commander Yang was not there, and asked the old man to come back another day.
After Yang Dezhi returned, he learned that the old man named Hou Lixiang had looked for him, and hurriedly asked the secretary to invite the old man to come over, and after the two met, the old man was left with tears of excitement. It turned out that the old man Hou Lixiang was An old subordinate of Yang Dezhi and had served as the commander of the first regiment of the main regiment of the Red Army.
In 1912, Hou Lixiang was born in Houyuan Village, Xionghe Town, Jiangling County, and in his early years, his life was relatively stable, and he also went to a private school to study for several years. But later, his parents died, and Hou Lixiang's life was even more difficult. As the situation changed, the 17-year-old Hou Lixiang chose to join the army and joined the Chinese Communist Party. The following year, he followed the troops to the battlefield, and since then he has galloped on the battlefield and made many contributions to the establishment of new China.
At that time, he entered a regiment of the Red Army. At first, the regimental commander was Yang Dezhi, who was promoted to battalion commander because hou Lixiang fought bravely. Later, after Yang Dezhi was promoted to division commander, Hou Lixiang was also promoted to regimental commander. According to the elderly Hou Lixiang, when he crossed the Dadu River by force, he was also one of the eighteen warriors, and in the face of the enemy's dense firepower, Hou Lixiang was not afraid of hardships and dangers, and successfully landed on the shore with other comrades-in-arms, and finally controlled the ferry and defeated a battalion of the enemy army.
Only with the end of the war era, the deeds of Hou Lixiang and his comrades-in-arms were gradually forgotten. In 1936, Hou Lixiang followed the troops to northern Shaanxi and fought under Chen Geng, but in a battle, he was unfortunately hit by a bullet and seriously wounded. In the short term, Hou Lixiang could not continue to fight, so he had to go back to his hometown for recuperation, and when he was well recuperated, he had already lost contact with the troops, so he did not go back.
Hou Lixiang, who is in his hometown, never forgets his troops, and he often tells the villagers about the various deeds he has experienced, but the villagers do not believe it. Since he did not leave any identification, Hou Lixiang could not prove that the deeds he said were indeed true, so he had to tell the villagers carefully over and over again. But the villagers still did not believe it, and also recognized Hou Lixiang as a person who loved to lie. Therefore, Hou Lixiang's impression in the hearts of the villagers was not good.
As Hou Lixiang grew older and had no income, his life became more and more difficult. Once, he learned about Yang Dezhi from the newspaper, so he went to the military region to find him. In 1974, General Yang Dezhi personally confirmed the identity of the elderly Hou Lixiang, and after verification, the Jiangling County Party Committee restored all the treatment of the Red Army for the elderly Hou Lixiang.