preface
As the founding general of new China, General Xu Shiyou's marriage in his life was very bumpy, and there were three bumpy marriages before and after: the first wife, Zhu Ximing, once had 3 children left for General Xu Shiyou, but only the third survived, which was Xu Shiyou's eldest son Xu Guang; the second wife Lei Mingzhen and Xu Shiyou married in Yan'an, but did not give birth to children, and then for various reasons, the two eventually divorced; the third wife Tian Pu met Xu Shiyou in Jiaodong, and eventually the two grew old together. Tian Pu gave birth to three sons and three daughters for Xu Shiyou.
Pictured: Xu Shiyou and his wife Tian Pu
Although the environment in which several children grew up was different, General Xu Shiyou's requirements for his wife and children were very strict, and in his daily life,
He governs the family strictly, respects the old and loves the young, and pays attention to his friends both principles and feelings
, with a unique personality charm.
Filial piety to the mother, in order to seek loyalty and filial piety, do not hesitate to let the eldest son give up the splendid future
When Xu Shiyou was just six years old, his father unfortunately died of illness, so in the era of war, Xu Shiyou was raised by his mother. When he was a child, Xu Shiyou believed that his mother was the greatest person in the world, she
Stoic, industrious, frugal, self-reliant
These excellent personality qualities have been inherited by Xu Shiyou. During the war years, Xu Shiyou was far away from home, and General Xu Shiyou often wept at night because he missed his mother, and was even more worried about her safety.
After the founding of New China, Xu Shiyou let his eldest son Xu Guang take the old mother into the army, when Xu Shiyou first saw his mother's white hair that had become sparse because she missed herself, and her body that had become rickety because of years of hard work, her walking also became trembling, Xu Shiyou was stunned in his heart, he did not expect to see his mother for decades, his mother had become so old! He desperately pounced on it, tightly grasped the old mother's vicissitudes of hands, and then "pounced" and fell to his knees on the ground. "Mother!"
Pictured: Xu Shiyou and his old mother in the comic
The mother also tearfully stroked her son's hands and prepared to help him up: "Son, you are now a founding general, how can you kneel in front of so many subordinates and kneel down to an old woman?" Xu Shiyou then cried uncontrollably and said, "How old an official I am, I am all the sons of my mother, and I have owed my mother too many things over the years, so let me kneel for a while, so that I will feel better in my heart." The cadres and fighters present were moved to tears when they saw the meeting between General Xu Shiyou and his old mother.
In order to let his mother enjoy the best life, Xu Shiyou then sent someone to bring his mother from the Dabie Mountains to Beijing. His mother was not used to the cold things in Beijing, so Xu Shiyou brought a hot brazier to his mother and refused to do it for him; in addition, every day he had to personally bring his mother's face wash and foot wash to his mother. Despite Xu Shiyou's hard work and resentment, his mother still can't live in a big city like Beijing and wants to return to her hometown in Dabie Mountain. In desperation, Xu Shiyou could only tearfully send his old mother back to his hometown in Dabie Mountain, but he could not fulfill his filial piety for his mother and has since become a piece of general Xu Shiyou's heart disease.
At this time, Xu Shiyou remembered his eldest son Xu Guang. When Xu Guang was 3 years old, Xu Shiyou left his family to follow the Red Fourth Front army to the four sides, and followed his great-grandmother around in his childhood, and had a deep affection for his great-grandmother. In 1948, Xu Shiyou's mother commissioned General Wang Shusheng to send Xu Guang to Tianjin, and the father and son were finally reunited. Seeing that his son had stayed in the countryside for many years and could not read one, Xu Shiyou was sad and happy, and hurriedly sent Xu Guang to the Fifth Aviation School and the Dalian Naval School, after 13 years of tempering, Xu Guang has become a very good naval officer, the future is immeasurable, if you can continue to stay in the army, then Xu Guang will definitely have an infinitely beautiful military future.
Pictured: Xu Guang wearing a naval hat
However, at this moment, Xu Shiyou suddenly called Xu Guang over to talk:
"Since it is difficult for me to be loyal and filial, you should go back to the countryside to take care of your great-grandmother instead of me."
This was undoubtedly a thunderbolt on a sunny day for Xu Guang. You know, Xu Guang has been in the army for 13 years, and suddenly let him drop everything and return to the countryside, which is a very painful decision for any young and promising person.
But Xu Guang saw the tangled look on Xu Shiyou's face, and he was very sensible since he was a child, and he made one of the most important decisions in his life - to change careers and return to his hometown of Xinxian. When Xu Guang returned home, Xu Shiyou was specially set up by his son to set a table of dishes, and at the same time called many staff around him to send him off. Before leaving, Xu Shiyou excitedly shook Xu Guang's hand and said, "Da'an (Da'an is Xu Guang's original name), you are really my good son!" In this way, Xu Guang gave up his bright future, returned to his hometown as the deputy director of the county armed forces department, took care of his great-grandmother, dedicated 48 years of precious life to the countryside, and also solved the worries for Xu Shiyou to devote himself to the construction of the motherland.
Pictured: Xu Shiyou and Xu Guang in 1977
When it comes to doing what it means, it's important to be true
In September 1948, General Xu Shiyou commanded the Battle of Jinan, and after the war he received a report that a death squad of the city had been seriously injured in the battle and had been shouting Xu Shiyou's name when he was taken to the hospital. After learning about it, Xu Shiyou immediately rushed to the hospital and received the heroic warrior who was dying. Only to hear the daredevil use the last bit of strength to approach Xu Shiyou's ear and say to him: "I have a daughter in Shanghai who has never met, she suffers from congenital heart disease..." But before he could finish speaking, the soldier unfortunately died.
Pictured: Battle of Jinan
After hearing this, Xu Shiyou stood up, took off his military hat to salute the martyr, and then asked the hospital to help sort out the relics left by the martyr and record the name and home address of the martyr. After the founding of New China, Xu Shiyou has always been worried about this important period, so he arranged for staff to go to Shanghai to look for it. Regrettably, the search for the orphans of the martyrs was interrupted because there were so few clues.
In October 1957, Xu Shiyou rushed to Shanghai for an important meeting, and when he met Huang Chibo, then director of the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau, he asked for help in finding the descendants of the martyr. Seeing that General Xu Shiyou was so serious about righteousness, Huang Chibo launched an overall personnel to search for it. However, it took a lot of time, and they could not find the martyr's orphan, so Huang Chibo could only write the entire search results into an investigation report and send it to General Xu Shiyou, and then put the matter on hold for the time being.
Two years later, in 1959, Xu Shiyou came to Shanghai again and said to Huang Chibo:
"It still has to be done with you."
At the urging of Xu Shiyou, the Shanghai Public Security Bureau finally found the orphan of the martyr, and Xu Shiyou learned of it and carried stationery, biscuits, candy and other items for the child.
Pictured: Huang Chibo, former deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau
General Xu Shiyou treats martyrs and orphans like this, and in daily life, he treats the staff around him with a heavy emotional side. Although General Xu Shiyou has a strong personality and is prone to tantrums, he is not as fierce as the legend. On the contrary, whenever the families of the staff around them visited, General Xu Shiyou would arrange for them to come over to eat and chat together. On the issue of dealing with the faults of the staff, as long as it is not a mistake of principle, Xu Shiyou can give tolerance.
According to Xu Shiyou's guard response, once he once caused a catastrophe because of a momentary negligence, and afterwards he thought that he would definitely be punished, and when the relevant departments asked General Xu Shiyou for advice, General Xu Shiyou said: "This comrade did not deliberately make mistakes, he followed me for many years and was loyal." Let me say my opinion,
One does not punish, the other does not transfer,
Let him pay more attention in the future, learn the lesson and don't make it again. ”
There is a clear distinction between public and private, and we never use power for personal gain
At the beginning of 1968, after Xu Daoyan, the grandson of Xu Shiyou's brother, graduated from junior high school, he could only return to his hometown to work as a farmer because he could not wait for the opportunity to go to school. After about a year, Xu Daoyan made a special trip to the Nanjing Military Region to visit Xu Shiyou and asked Xu Shiyou this and that, and he was very enthusiastic. Seeing that Xu Shiyou was in a very good mood, he tentatively asked Xu Shiyou: "Third Master, this time I still have one more thing I want to entrust to your old man's home, that is, I want you to say hello to the leaders of our county, I want you to find me a job, our requirements are not high, as long as I can go to the fertilizer factory as a worker." ”
Pictured: General Xu Shiyou receives the vast number of officers and men
Xu Shiyou frowned, feeling that this matter was not simple. Although Xu Daoyan's requirements are not high, but this is a matter of principle, but after all, the other party is related to himself, and he can't get over his face when he is angry, so he smiled and said to Xu Daoyan: "I said you, I can't be the lord of this matter." Xu Daoyan expressed disbelief: "You are the commander of the Nanjing Military Region and the well-known founding general, as long as you write a note to the county leader, won't my work problem be solved?" ”
Hearing this, Xu Shiyou was even more unhappy, so he explained to him with a straight face:
“
I Xu Shiyou is a general of new China, a general of the people, not a general of the Xu family.
The full force entrusted to me by the people is to serve the people and cannot be used indiscriminately. Besides, our family has been farmers for generations, and isn't it also honorable that you are now working as a farmer at home? Later, Xu Daoyan followed Xu Shiyou's advice, returned to his hometown to take root in the countryside, and later joined the Communist Party of China and became the secretary of the party branch in the village, and the surrounding masses also spoke highly of him.
Pictured: General Xu Shiyou smiling
Another time, Xu Shiyou's two nieces traveled thousands of miles from their hometown to Guangzhou, and they expressed their desire to join the army and serve the country, hoping to intercede with Xu Shiyou and let them directly enlist in the army. Although Xu Shiyou fully affirmed their desire to serve the country, he also said to them in a calm tone: "You must meet the conditions for becoming a soldier, you must pass the political examination and physical fitness before you can join the army, and you must never go through the back door through my trust relationship." Later, one of the two nieces successfully passed the examinations and enlisted in the army, while the other could only return to her hometown because she failed to pass the examination.
Life is simple, yearning for the countryside
In his daily life, General Xu Shiyou also maintained the true color of a simple life, and did not change his original intention even after the founding of New China. He has very low requirements for his own clothing, and wears an old military uniform for many years, even if the cuffs are dropped, he only uses scissors to cut off the cuffs and continues to wear them. According to the security council, Xu Shiyou never picks and chooses his daily necessities, usually what everyone uses, he uses, because he himself can't figure out what is the "famous brand".
Pictured: General Xu Shiyou group photo
And General Xu Shiyou's three meals a day are also very simple: he generally only eats two steamed buns, a bowl of porridge and a plate of pickles for breakfast, as for lunch and dinner, it is two vegetarian and two meats, and in order to avoid food waste, General Xu Shiyou also specially instructed the chef to replace the stir-fried plate with a small plate. In terms of sleep, because General Xu Shiyou has been accustomed to sleeping on a hard bed for a long time in the southern expedition to the north, he has long refused to sleep on a spring bed, and he only takes an ordinary jeep in terms of travel. Later, the Nanjing Military Region tried to change Xu Shiyou's car several times, but Xu Shiyou politely refused.
On the other hand, because Xu Shiyou was born as a farmer after all, although he had been fighting on the battlefield for decades all his life, he still had an incomparable attachment to the quiet and peaceful pastoral life. In his later years, General Xu Shiyou lived in Nanjing Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum No. 8, which was once a high-class villa of a Kuomintang general, in the back garden of this villa, Xu Shiyou began to do it himself, opened a vegetable garden, planted a variety of vegetables and fruits in it, also raised poultry, stocked fish fry in the swimming pool, and made this villa a business, his old comrades saw this scene and gave Xu Shiyou a nickname, called "No. 8 Production Captain".
Pictured: General Xu Shiyou holding two large earth melons
After a good harvest, Xu Shiyou invited his old friend to come to his house for dinner, and happily said to everyone: "This nickname you gave me is good!" I grew up in the countryside since I was a child, I liked to farm, and although I recognized a few words after participating in the revolution, my education level was limited. I have 'three not enough' in my life:
The fields have not been planted enough, the battles have not been fought enough, the books have not been read enough,
Now that there is no war to fight, I can only read books and all kinds of land. His son Xu Guang traveled thousands of miles from Dabie Mountain to Nanjing to visit his old father, but when he left, he took only a small bag of sweet potatoes.
Three "gifts" that Xu Shiyou received
General Xu Shiyou rarely gives gifts to others, and rarely accepts gifts from others, according to Xu Shiyou's secretary Sun Hongxian observed, in his life as General Xu Shiyou's secretary for more than 3 years, he has only seen Xu Shiyou receive gifts three times:
The first time was one day in 1974, when Xu Shiyou visited Jiahe Farm near the Nanjing headquarters as usual. After the inspection, the farm just cut a batch of sugar cane, so the staff put a bundle of cut sugar cane in the trunk of Xu Shiyou's jeep, hoping that Commander Xu could taste the sugarcane grown by everyone himself. This time, Xu Shiyou did not resign, he accepted it and pulled back to his headquarters, and distributed the bundle of sugar cane to the staff around him.
Pictured: General Xu Shiyou observes military intelligence
The second time was a case of mountain wine that a deputy chief of staff took out after visiting Xu Shiyou. Since the deputy chief of staff was Xu Shiyou's comrade-in-arms, Xu Shiyou could not speculate after receiving this gift, so he took the box of wine to the canteen of the Nanjing Military Region Headquarters and distributed it to the staff present.
The third time was a bag of chestnuts, a bag of walnuts and a bucket of sesame oil brought by a party secretary in Xu Shiyou's hometown. These things are all things that General Xu Shiyou likes to eat very much, but Xu Shiyou did not enjoy them exclusively, but took them out for everyone to taste together. Speaking of which, this party secretary is actually "nothing but the Three Treasures Hall", and in addition to visiting General Xu Shiyou on behalf of the people of his hometown, he also has a reluctant request: he hopes to let General Xu Shiyou get a car.
It turned out that the secretary said that the harvest in his hometown in recent years was very good, and everyone's enthusiasm for production was also very high, and Xu Shiyou said to him: "The reason why we Communists want to make a revolution is to let all the poor people have enough to eat. However, you must not be proud and complacent, you must not be complacent with a little achievement, you must not only let everyone eat enough, but also lead everyone to work hard to live a good life. ”
Pictured: General Xu Shiyou is talking eagerly with the officers and men of the unit
Seeing Xu Shiyou's very happy look, the commune secretary said to Xu Shiyou: "Now the villagers are learning dazhai (dazhai spirit) and engaging in mechanized production, originally the village wanted to buy a car, but the village funds are not enough, I hope that Commander Xu can think of a way." Xu Shiyou knew that this question could involve a matter of principle again, so he replied with a smile:
I have so much money to buy you a car!" The troops' cars are for war, and I don't have the right to give them to you
！”
The tutors are strict and never spoil their children
As an old Red Army soldier who came out of the baptism of blood and fire, General Xu Shiyou had a very deep feeling for the army, and he believed that the army was a good place to train and cultivate people, so he sent all 7 of his children to the army for training, without exception. In his daily life, he disciplined his children very strictly, and if he did not conform to his wishes, he would reprimand him severely.
Xu Shiyou's second son, Xu Jianjun, worked hard after joining the army, serving as chief of staff of the Nanjing Air Force in the early 1980s, but was later arrested and imprisoned for violating military discipline. Xu Shiyou, who learned of this, immediately slapped the table angrily and said, "Be sure to shoot!" Although this matter was later rehabilitated by the military region, Xu Shiyou was still very dissatisfied with Xu Jianjun in his heart. After Xu Shiyou's death, Xu Jianjun was full of guilt for his father, and later suffered from depression and died in 2012.
Pictured: Xu Shiyou and his daughter Xu Huashan
Xu Shiyou's third daughter, Xu Huashan, is Xu Shiyou's favorite daughter, but despite this, his requirements for Xu Huashan have never relaxed. Before the counterattack against Vietnamese self-defense began, Xu Shiyou, who was on the front line, learned that his third daughter was still on the wedding holiday, traveling around the country for honeymoon, and failed to return to the team in time. Xu Shiyou was angry when he heard this, and yelled at the staff around him:
"They've all started fighting, what honeymoon are you doing?" Immediately notify the Nanjing Air Force Command, give me immediate access to her whereabouts, and set a deadline of 3 days for her to rush back immediately, otherwise I will expel her from the military! ”
The staff around Xu Shiyou had never seen Commander Xu lose such a temper, so they hurriedly found someone to inform Xu Huashan, and Xu Huashan did not dare to stay for a moment after learning this news, and finally rushed back to the army day and night, because she knew that her father had always said the same thing.
Photo: Xu Huashan and reporters
Since Xu Huashan grew up next to his father, compared with other children, Huashan was more deeply influenced by his father. As early as when she was in elementary school, her father strictly required him to go to and from class on time, and if he wanted to go out at home, he had to ask Xu Shiyou for leave, and he had to explain the reason clearly. In Huashan's memory, she almost never used her father's bus to go to school, but rode a bicycle or took a bus, never received any special care, and Xu Shiyou often taught her: "You must not use public equipment for private purposes." Once, because of some small things, she played with the staff around her father to lose her temper with a child, and her voice was just a little louder, and Xu Shiyou immediately reprimanded her:
"You don't have that right!"
After being admitted to the military academy, Xu Huashan still clearly remembered two things that her father told her before leaving: "First, we must resolutely obey the orders of the school; second, we must complete our studies well and become an excellent soldier." However, in the military academy, Xu Huashan also encountered many difficulties, and he even wanted to drop out of school at one point. So she wrote to her father, poured out her true thoughts, and even worried that she might not live to graduate the day.
Pictured: Xu Huashan wipes the tombstone of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Soon after, Xu Shiyou wrote her a letter, and when she thought that her father would comfort herself, the letter paper was a cold sentence: "Since you came to the military academy, then you must persist to the end, absolutely can not give up halfway, if you feel that you will not live to the day of graduation, then prepare to die, strive to live!" Although these words sound very desperate, Xu Huashan's heart understands that behind these seemingly indifferent words, it actually contains Xu Shiyou's most sincere and warm care for his daughter.