On October 13, 2009, General Lu Zhengcao left us at the age of 106, and he is the longest-lived founding general in china.
General Lü Zhengcao once said when looking back on his hundred years of life: "In my lifetime, I have played Japan, managed railways, and played tennis. ”
As early as a teenager, the general was associated with the railway. His hometown is in Tangwangshanhou Village, Haicheng City, Liaoning Province, and there is a railway passing through the village. Every day, the Japanese train passes on time, and Lu Zhengcao feels that the Japanese are very powerful, making him realize that only when the nation is independent, the motherland can be strong, and in the future, the train of his own country must also be punctual and smooth.
In 1922, the Japanese army had already occupied the South Manchuria Railway, using the railway to transport military supplies and intensifying its aggression against China. They patrolled with wolfhounds all day long and oppressed the Chinese people. At the age of 18, Lu Zhengcao joined the Northeast Army, and he had no other ideas, just wanted to drive out the Japanese. And changed his name To Lu Zhengchao to Lü Zhengcao. The implication is to practice well and practice the ability to kill the enemy.
Because Lu Zhengcao was poor since childhood, he only studied in private school for four years, dropped out of school as an apprentice in a silk factory, experienced labor training, and developed the quality of hard-working and hard-working. When he was a soldier in the Northeast Army, he was diligent and studious, with books on his desk and his bed clean.
One day, when the young marshal Zhang Xueliang went to the barracks to inspect, he looked through Lü Zhengcao's notes and found that the handwriting was correct, and after some inquiry, he had a good feeling for Lü Zhengcao. Soon, Zhang Xueliang recommended Lü Zhengcao to go to the Northeast Martial Arts Hall and became the fifth batch of students. Lü Zhengcao received systematic military training in infantry, drilling, command, and shooting, and soon became the best among young officers. After graduation, he served as a company commander and battalion commander of the Northeast Army, and was later transferred to Zhang Xueliang's side as an aide-de-camp and secretary.
After the Xi'an Incident, Lü Zhengcao secretly joined the Communist Party of China. On October 14, 1937, Lü Zhengcao led the 691st Regiment of the 13th O Division of the 53rd Army of the National Revolutionary Army to declare an uprising in Xiaoqiao Town, JinXian County, Hebei Province, and broke away from the Kuomintang camp and was renamed the "People's Self-Defense Army". The People's Self-Defense Army was initially organized into three columns, with Lü Zhengcao as its commander.
The People's Self-Defense Army persisted in the armed struggle behind enemy lines in the North China Plain, and carried out sabotage attacks on railway lines such as Pinghan Road, Beining Road, Jinpu Road, Shide Road, and Cangshi Road, effectively dealing a blow to the Japanese army's repeated sweeps. In May 1938, the Fangshunqiao Railway, the Dingxian Railway and the Yujiazhuang Railway were destroyed. In June, the Baoding Railway was attacked. In July, the Zhaixidian Railway was destroyed. From August onwards, Lü Zhengcao led his troops to participate in the Battle of the Hundred Regiments and destroyed the Zhengtai Railway Line. It has successively destroyed the Wangdu Railway, the Mingyuedian Railway, the Kongcun Railway, the Xinle Railway and the Yangzhuang Railway. A total of more than 500 kilometers of roads and railways were destroyed, 20 bridges were blown up, more than 27,000 pounds of power lines were harvested, and more than 1,300 Japanese puppet troops were killed and wounded, effectively preventing the enemy reinforcements on Pinghan Road to Zhengtai Road.
In July 1946, the Northeast Railway General Bureau was established, with Lü Zhengcao as the director and political commissar, commanding the three railway bureaus in the northeast, including Qiqihar, Suihua and Mudanjiang. At that time, Lu Zhengcao put forward a loud slogan: "Wherever the PLA fights, the railway will be repaired, and the train will drive!" "Before the Liaoshen Campaign, 5,700 kilometers of railways were repaired in the Northeast Liberated Area, and the total mileage of traffic reached 9,818 kilometers.
After the victory in the Liaoshen Campaign, Lü Zhengcao immediately organized the reception and repair of the railway, and the nearly 20,000 kilometers of railways in the whole northeast were returned to the hands of the people. In early November 1948, the Shen (Yang) Shan (Customs) Line was opened, and the employees of the Northeast Railway drove the train to pull on the equipment and followed the Northeast Field Army into the customs.
In February 1949, the Ministry of Railways of Northeast China and the Ministry of Communications of North China jointly formed the Ministry of Railways of the Central Military Commission, and appointed Teng Daiyuan as minister and Lü Zhengcao as vice minister and commander of escort transportation. After that, in order to strengthen the unified command of the emergency repair of railways, the Central Military Commission formed the Railway Corps of the People's Liberation Army on the basis of the Railway Column of the Fourth Field Army, which was assigned to the establishment of the Ministry of Railways, and Lü Zhengcao was also deputy commander. After the founding of New China, he served as vice minister and minister of railways and political commissar of railway soldiers.
In October 1950, the Chinese Volunteer Army went to Korea to participate in the war. Lü Zhengcao also served as the commander of the transportation for the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. In the early days of the war, because our side did not have air superiority, the railway line was often blown up by US bombers, and the transportation of military materials such as grain, guns, and ammunition encountered great difficulties. Lü Zhengcao personally went to the battlefield to guide the emergency repair of railways, organized railway troops and staff members and workers of the railway aid to Korea transport team, actively repaired railways, organized the transportation of military materials, and summed up a series of emergency repair measures, such as "first through and then fixed," "easy before difficult," and "pre-prepared," and finally greatly improved the transportation of materials for the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. In order to win the war to resist US aggression and aid Korea, it provided a steel transportation line that could not be broken and was constantly bombed.
In 1958, Lü Zhengcao presided over the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway is a railway connecting Xining City in Qinghai Province to Lhasa City in the Tibet Autonomous Region, and is the first railway to reach the hinterland of Tibet. Most of the altitude along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is above 3,000 meters, the geological structure of the permafrost for thousands of miles, the lack of oxygen and the fragile ecological environment of the plateau of the construction personnel are the three major problems of the world's railway construction facing the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, and the railway construction is extremely difficult, the highest altitude in the world, the longest line, and the first plateau railway in China.
In December 1977, Lü Zhengcao was appointed as the first political commissar of the Railway Corps and the first secretary of the Party Committee of the Railway Corps.
In July 1979, the western section of the first phase of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway project undertaken by the 7th Railway Division had just been laid to Golmud, and the Guanjiao Tunnel undertaken by the 10th Railway Division began to gush water due to geological problems, and the foundation of the tunnel changed. After Lü Zhengcao learned of the situation, he immediately led a group of nationally renowned geologists and tunnel experts to the plateau. At that time, the railway had just been opened, the road was uneven, and he could only walk a dozen kilometers or twenty kilometers per hour, and he still went up by train. In the Guanjiao Tunnel, Lü Zhengcao and experts studied and determined the plan for rectifying the Guanjiao Tunnel according to the problem of water inrush in the tunnel.
In May 1984, the entire section from Xining to Golmud was completed and opened to traffic.
The second phase of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway began on June 29, 2001, and the qinghai-Tibet Railway was opened to traffic on July 1, 2006. This railway is known as the line of unity, happiness and lifeline by the people of all ethnic groups along the line.