Source: Jiefangjun Bao Weibo, PLA News Communication Center Rong Media Author: Bu Jinbao
On January 8th, I went to Majiashihe Village, Dianzi Street, Juxian County, Rizhao City, Shandong Province, to visit Xu Shiji, a 106-year-old anti-Japanese war veteran, and his 100-year-old partner Zhang Hongmei.
Xu Shiji was born in 1916, joined the Eighth Route Army in March 1940, and successively followed the Ninth Detachment of the Shandong Column, the Second Brigade of the Shandong Column, and the troops of the Coastal Military Region of the Shandong Military Region, and fought with the Japanese Kou to the death in lunan, ludongnan, and northern Jiangsu, and made many military achievements. Seriously injured, he returned to his hometown in November 1946 to become an ordinary farmer.
Xu Shiji's demobilization certificate, although it is old, the information is still clear.
Against the past of the years of the war, Xu Shiji had endless words.
In the autumn of 1944, the Japanese army that was "sweeping" Shandong had to retreat in its entirety under the counterattack of our army. In September, when more than 2,000 Japanese troops retreated along the Yibo Highway to the area of Yishui Gezhuang and Caogou, they were ambushed by the troops of the Luzhong Military Region and suffered heavy casualties. Xu Shiji took part in this battle. He said: "We killed more than 300 Japanese soldiers, captured machine guns and cannons," and "captured a lot of canned food, tea leaves, and some delicious food, and distributed them to the people." ”
During a battle against Japan, Xu Shiji was seriously wounded. He said: "Our soldiers of the Eighth Route Army are 'seriously injured without crying, minor injuries can not be in the line of fire' and 'can bleed, do not shed tears'..."
Xu Shiji still remembers the water conditions of the military and civilian fish in the war: The battles such as Shigou Cliff, Jiazi Mountain, and Gezhuang are inseparable from the support of the common people. After laying down the Shigou cliff, villagers from nearby villages such as Fanjialou and Taizhuang carried grain noodles and pork, beat gongs and drums, and sent them to the front line. During the Battle of Sanguankou, villagers in the area of Dagujiagou and Lujiazhuangzi, which were 15 kilometers away, rode donkeys and carried them to the positions. When the battle of Gezhuang was fierce, migrant workers from several nearby counties formed a huge front army to send ammunition, transport grain and grass, and carry the wounded. Many fellow villagers carry cans of millet mung bean porridge and rolls of pancakes, all the way to the front line...
Xu Shiji's home is a hero's home, and his younger brother Xu Shilian followed him to join the Eighth Route Army at the age of 13, heroically killing the enemy in the battlefields of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the War of Liberation, and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and made many military achievements, and died heroically in a battle in 1951 at the age of 23. Xu Shiji's home contains obituary written by military commander Liang Xingchu and political commissar Liu Xiyuan to Xu Shiji's family:
Comrade Xu Shilian has been in the army for many years, turned to the country, experienced hardships, and has never slackened his desire to serve the people. After the liberation of our mainland, when the people were devoting themselves to national construction, the murderous US imperialists resumed their military aggression and invaded Korea, endangering the motherland. Comrade Xu Shilian saw this, but he resolutely volunteered to go to the DPRK, fought with the whole army in the ice and snow, under the enemy's aircraft and artillery fire, saved his neighbors from danger, saved the motherland from water and fire, repeatedly defeated the enemy's front, built meritorious deeds, and unfortunately died on the battlefield. When the news reached, the whole army was grieving, the Chinese and DPRK people mourned in unison, the motherland was proud, and Mr. Wang's whole family was glorified! Mr. Wang endured grief and mourning, turned grief into strength, actively produced, and supported the front line. I swore to lead the whole army, following the unfinished will of the martyrs, to fight bravely, to repay the blood debt of the martyrs, and to eliminate the aggressors in Korea. The martyrs have gone down in history, and the heroic souls will always exist in the world. Obituaries here.
The obituary written by the two founding lieutenant generals records the heroic deeds of Xu Shiji's younger brother Xu Shilian.
Xu Shiji's old partner, Zhang Hongmei, is nearly 100 years old, and her little feet are ironclad evidence that the feudal system of the old society brutalized women. After the Communist Party came to her hometown, she actively participated in the struggle against the enemy, served as the head of the literacy squad in the Liberated Areas, and organized women to sew clothes for the Eighth Route Army and send food and water. To this day, she still remembers the ballad she recited:
The devils have been here for more than seven years, and the people have not lived a good life. Run today, hide tomorrow, those pains can not be said. I heard that the eighth road came to fight the city, we are welcome to hear more, you bake pancakes I will send, the army and the people come together to counterattack. The leadership of the Communist Party was really able to open the county seat of Ju county in three days, and sixteen strongholds were uprooted, and we were truly restored. The old sixth regiment of the independent battalion has been rushing north. He besieged Zhao Xian for a day and a half, and captured a company of traitors. There were 27 ghosts left, and until now, when he did not leave the city, the army beat him when he went out, and sent his life outside the stronghold. Families collected consolation goods, and various villages tied pine doors. We should welcome the army to rest, and this is what we should do. The militia went to find houses, and the literacy class was busy setting up shops. Women's rescue meeting, go deliver tea. The people were overjoyed at first sight.
On this day, she also recited to us a folk song reflecting the fact that in 1944, the Eighth Route Army uprooted the Devil's Shigou Cliff stronghold in her hometown and captured zhu Xinzhai alive, the leader of the Traitors, and her husband Xu Shiji participated in this battle:
Zhu Xinzhai, wolf-hearted, surrendered to rikou as emperor of the earth. A bunker was built on a stone ditch cliff. He ruled over eighteen villages. Hey, he rules eighteen villages. On the twenty-seventh day of the lunar month, gunshots rang out on the cliffs of Shigou. Eight ways to kill Zhu (eliminate the traitor Zhu Xinzhai) to celebrate the New Year. He charged really tenaciously. Heck, he's so tenacious. In the middle of the night, Zhu Xinzhai was captured alive. The anti-Japanese military and civilians rejoiced. He was so frightened that he sifted through the chaff directly. Hey, scared straight through the chaff.
……
Hearing that I was a reporter, the elderly Xu Shiji asked excitedly: Are the troops of the 115th Division still there? His unit was the predecessor of the 113th Division, and the old man had always been concerned about the construction and development of the old unit.
I said, "In mile!" That's a lot! Our People's Liberation Army was developed from the 115th, 120th and 129th Divisions of the Eighth Route Army. The old man was particularly pleased to hear...
The two old men were kind, open-minded, respectful and loving. They worked hard to raise eight children to adulthood and honor their in-laws, which was rumored to be a good story in the local area.
Xu Shiji's family portrait, taken in 1970.
Mr. and Mrs. Xu Shiji are with their son, daughter, and grandson. Taken on January 8, 2022.
I asked two old men for the secret of longevity. They say: Life is simple, eat five meals a day, it's all home-cooked meals. Mainly family harmony and having a good mood. They said: Today's society is peaceful and tranquil, and it is great not to worry about eating or wearing, and this is all a blessing for the Communist Party.
(Photo courtesy of Qiu Xueping, Zhang Shoujun, Xu Shiji's grandson Xu Jiashao, etc.) ）
About the author: Bu Jinbao, former senior editor of the People's Liberation Army Newspaper, has visited more than 300 founding generals and heroic models, and has been invited to give more than 400 reports across the country, causing strong social repercussions.