On December 23, 2021, Zhang Wen, a 102-year-old veteran red army soldier who participated in the Long March, with the assistance of medical personnel, rubbed the footprints symbolizing his revolutionary journey and took a group photo with the medical staff. The footprints will be donated by the Red Boat Editorial Department to the permanent collection of the Shanghai Oriental Green Boat Red Army Footprint Memorial Park.
Zhang Wen, a 102-year-old veteran of the Red Army, took a group photo with medical staff
On January 3, 2022, the Editorial Department of Red Ship walked into Ms. Hong Wei's home and listened to her tell the thrilling and touching story of her mother Zhang Wen during the war years.
Zhang Wen, the old Red Army, whose original name was Zhang Xize, was the wife of Hong Xuezhi, the founding general of New China. From the bitter children in the Daba Mountains to the senior cadres of the People's Liberation Army, Zhang Wen's life is full of hardships and ups and downs. In the heart of General Hong Xuezhi, she is a virtuous helper and a good housekeeper, and in the hearts of the children, she is the supreme heroic mother.
A tin bucket saved her life
In July 1919, my mother was born into a poor peasant family in Hongkou Town, Tongjiang County, Sichuan Province. When her mother was ten years old, her grandmother was forced to make a living and sent her to the landlord's house and worked as a maid for three years. At that time, the mother went to the landlord's door every day before dawn, waited for the door to open, cooked for them on the fire, and successively gave the landlord's family two children, but the landlord's wife still scolded her and was bullied.
In December 1932, the Red Fourth Front army came to Hongkou Town, which was a major event in the history of Hongkou Town and a turning point in the fate of her mother's life.
In February 1933, her mother joined the Red Army, and she was not yet 14 years old when she joined the army. Introducing her to the Red Army was Zeng Guanglan, who later served as the secretary of the Cpc Central Committee. At first, Zeng Guanglan saw that his mother was young and discouraged him from saying that joining the Red Army would have to suffer a lot. My mother said that no matter how bitter it is, it will never be more bitter than working for the landlord's wife, being beaten and scolded!
Her mother fulfilled her wish as a soldier in the clothing factory of the supply department of the 4th Army of the Red Fourth Front. In the quilt factory, the heavy labor day after day did not tire her, but made her feel the dignity of being a human being and the warmth of the Red Army team.
In 1935, after the Red Army crossed the Min River on a western expedition, in order to get rid of the encirclement and blockade of the Kuomintang army, the troops marched continuously, coupled with hunger and cold, and the mother was infected with fever every day. It was not until after the founding of New China that she did not know that she was suffering from tuberculosis.
During the Long March, the enemy situation was urgent, and although he was ill, the march could not stop. The female comrades of the garment factory marched, carrying dozens of pounds of machinery and thread bundles. My mother's feet were so swollen that she couldn't wear shoes, and every step she took hurt so much. Seeing that her march was difficult, the comrades took the initiative to unload her backpack and thread bundles, and shared the weight for her, leaving only a tin bucket for water on her back. It was this tin bucket that shielded her from several bullets from the enemy.
One day, they marched near a hillside and found several broken huts in the distance. What I didn't expect was that there was a group of scattered soldiers of the Kuomintang army hidden in the house. Just as they were looking at the house and hesitating, suddenly there was a loud gunshot, and the Nationalist scattered soldiers rushed down from both sides of the hillside.
The enemy shouted, "Catch the Red Army Lady!" "Surrender, you can't run!" For a time, the situation was critical. The female comrades of the garment factory had no weapons in their hands and could not resist the enemy's attacks. The only way to avoid casualties is to use the terrain features to run as fast as they can and rush out of range of the enemy's fire. In the panic, the comrades-in-arms forgot the weight of dozens of pounds on their bodies and shouted loudly: "Quick! fast! Rush over! ”
Her mother later recalled that she had forgotten the pain of her swollen feet and ran forward desperately with the team, running out of breath and staring straight up with her eyes. Just when she felt that the world was about to fall, the idea of dying rather than being a prisoner flashed in her mind. Not knowing where the power came from, she completely ignored the bullets that "whizzed" around her, and miraculously rushed with the team.
As soon as she arrived at the camp, her mother collapsed, lying on the ground and gasping for breath, and her comrades rushed to help her unload the tin bucket. At this time, someone exclaimed, "It's so mysterious!" "Everyone found that the tin bucket she was carrying had been hit by 5 holes by bullets. The mother said that if it were not for the shielding of the tin barrel, she might have been shot and killed a long time ago. Luckily, the tin bucket saved her life.
Endure the pain and leave the eldest sister to the Shanxi hometown
In March 1936, the Red Fourth Army crossed the Jiajin Mountain and Dangling Mountain and came to Zhanhua in the Ganzi area of Sichuan, where the troops took a short rest. Under the introduction of the military commander Wang Hongkun and his wife, my parents were happily married, and on June 1, the Military Administration Office held a wedding for them. Because the life of the Red Army on the Long March Road was extremely difficult, the wedding of the parents was very simple, and the comrades of the management office made some yak beef from the local area, burned a little barley noodle cake, and burned a pot of gnocchi soup, which was their wedding feast.
In June 1939, my parents welcomed their first child, my eldest sister Hong Xinghua, in The Town of Panlong in Yan'an. The eldest sister was very healthy at birth, a new father, and the father was very happy, often holding the eldest sister back and forth in the cave, stroking her hair and kissing her little face. The mother looked at the father and daughter with such a look, and she was really happy and worried.
Sadly, they may at any time go to the anti-Japanese front with the Anti-Japanese General School. Long marches, wind and food and sleeping, adults can not eat, the newborn child can bear it? Besides, if the march had to pass through the enemy's blockade line, what should the mother do if the child's crying affected the movement of the large army? My mother was very anxious.
In July 1939, under the leadership of President Luo Ruiqing, the Yan'an Anti-Japanese University General School went to the jin-Cha-Ji anti-Japanese front. After a fierce ideological struggle, my mother finally decided to take her eldest sister with her, follow the 4th Regiment led by her father, march to the southeast of Jin, and go to the Taihang Mountains to run a school.
Due to the blockade of the Japanese army, the 4th Regiment marched with continuous enemy situation and several twists and turns. The troops crossed the Yellow River three times, crossed the Lüliang Mountains, crossed the Fenhe River, and came to the Yangqu area north of Taiyuan. At this time, the eldest sister suffered from pink eye, her eyes were covered with eye feces, and she cried very badly.
In order to enter the Taihang Mountains, it is necessary to break through the enemy's blockade line, the Tongpu Railway. Both his father and Principal Luo Ruiqing came to persuade their mothers to leave the children to be raised by the local people, but the mother could not make up her mind. Because she understands that abandoning the child may mean the eternal separation of mother and daughter.
On a dark and dreary night, the troops decided to move that night and break through the Japanese blockade line. In order to ensure the concealment of the operation, Principal Luo Ruiqing asked all mothers with children to absolutely ensure that their children did not cry or make trouble, and could not expose the target of the troops' march.
The mother carried the eldest sister on horseback, and when she turned over a hill and went downhill, because the slope was relatively steep, she fell off the horse with the eldest sister. The eldest sister was frightened and cried incessantly, and the mother quickly shoved the nipple into her mouth, but she could not stop crying. At this time, the troops were not far from the Tongpu Railway, and my mother was anxious.
Zhang Wen, a hundred-year-old Red Army veteran who participated in the Long March
The father told the troops to stop, walked over to the mother, and said in a commanding tone, "Leave the child behind!" The mother was stunned at once and said to her father, "Stay? You can't bear to take your daughter..." The father said: "After all, the children's affairs are small things, and the affairs of the troops are the big things." We can't influence the actions of the whole team for the sake of the children. ”
The mother was crying, crying helplessly. Because she knows very well that her father is a person who values feelings, and the eldest sister is their first child, her father is reluctant to do this no matter what. Looking at her infant daughter, the mother burst into tears, her hands trembling, and she reluctantly handed the child over to her father.
The father took the eldest sister and walked quickly down the hill. Not far down the hill, there is a thatched hut. The father stepped forward and gently pushed open the door, while the mother followed closely behind him. When they saw someone coming in, the people in the house were very nervous. The father explained his intentions: "Fellow countrymen, don't be nervous, we are the Eighth Route Army that went to the front line to resist Japan, we want to cross the railway line, the children's crying affects the movement of the troops, we want to leave the children to you." ”
Seeing that the fellow was a little hesitant, the mother continued: "Fellow, you will accept this child." When the revolution triumphs in the future, we will not forget your kindness. If we die in war, then you will make your children your own daughters! ”
At this point, my mother could not speak anymore. She had mixed feelings, not knowing when the War of Resistance would end, not knowing when the revolution would triumph. After this trip, can you really meet your daughter again in the future? Is this hope too slim...
When the villager took the child from the father's hand, the mother could no longer control her emotions, and the tears kept falling like broken beads. Worried that his mother's emotions were out of control, the father pulled his mother to turn his head and leave, hurriedly chasing after the troops. The mother suddenly thought of something and asked, "What is this place?" "Someone in the darkness told her that this was Dongxi fangshan Mountain, and my mother remembered this place name and never forgot it for the rest of her life, because this was the place where she once broke her liver and intestines.
At dawn, the troops successfully passed the Tongpu Railway and marched forward for more than 70 miles before taking a temporary rest on a hillside. At this time, the mother saw a diaper hanging on the horse's back, remembered the unknown fate of the eldest sister, and cried out loud again.
After leaving her hometown, thoughts have been harassing her mother, and she silently remembers the physiological characteristics of the eldest sister in her heart, and the eldest sister has a birthmark on her left arm. Wearing green clothes and embroidered shoes sewn by her mother, this has also become an important basis for finding a big sister after the founding of New China. In the spring of 1951, with the strong assistance of the relevant departments in Shanxi Province, my mother finally found my eldest sister after several twists and turns.
Editor: Wang Xiangming
Coordinator: Wang Hairong
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