In 1983, in a small village called Beijie Village in Puyang, Henan Province, three large tile houses were officially settled, which belonged to a white-haired old man. The old man worked hard for half a lifetime, and finally built a big house on his homestead. But everyone in the village knew that this old man could have lived in a big house a long time ago, but he had always given up the opportunity to others. The old man was a veteran, and after the war, he did not follow the advice of others to become an official and get rich elsewhere, but chose to return to his native Henan hometown to farm. The villagers have a very high evaluation of the old man, and they are very grateful to him, because he is hard-working, down-to-earth, and has seen the world with a flexible mind, often able to come up with some good ideas, and played a vital role in leading the whole village on the road to poverty alleviation and prosperity. One day in 2011, a big man came to the old man's home and expressed deep condolences to this veteran who had made great contributions to the construction of his hometown. What this big man did not expect was that when he walked into the old man's tile house, he would find a huge surprise, and it was this "surprise" that also made the other layer of the old man's identity revealed in front of the world!
At the beginning of the new year in 2011, in a small farm yard in Baiyige Township, Fan County, Puyang City, Henan Province, the host's family was sitting leisurely in the courtyard to rest. This is an old man who is over eighty years old, but now he is still physically tough and mentally strong.
At this time, the villagers led a few people into the room. In the face of visitors, the old man was not much surprised. As a retired anti-war veteran, over the years, someone from home has come to interview and comfort him from time to time, and he has long been accustomed to it. But the old man did not know,
The identity of the person who came this time was extraordinary, it was Lu Zhangong, a senior leading cadre in Henan Province at that time.
Lu Zhangong comforted the elderly
Lu Zhangong did not state his identity, but just cordially pulled the old man to the family. During the chat, Lu Zhangong saw a portrait of a young soldier on the wall. The portrait paper was yellowed, and at a glance, I knew that it was some years old, and above it was a young man in a second lieutenant's uniform, looking ahead, with a gentle and determined look.
After inquiry, the protagonist on the portrait is the old man in front of him. Of course, what attracted his attention the most was the many military medals hanging on the chest of the old man on the portrait.
Lu Zhangong was very shocked, this military merit medal seemed to be quite numerous, and quickly asked the old man whether these military merit medals were still preserved, and whether he could see them. The old man was a little stunned for a while, because this portrait had been hanging on the wall of the home for many years, and even though there were many people who had been comforting him in recent years, few people asked about the military merit badge on the top. But after thinking about it for a moment, the old man still remembered something, stood up on crutches, turned and walked into the west wing, took out a tightly wrapped, already somewhat yellowed small cloth bag from the depths of the cabinet, and handed it to Lu Zhangong.
Li Wenxiang and his portrait
After taking the small cloth bag, Lu Zhangong carefully opened it, and after carefully watching and discerning, he was overjoyed and excitedly said: "Amazing, this is amazing, you are really a hero of the country!" ”。 People around them saw that the leader was so happy, and they rushed to take a closer look, only to see
In addition to the military medals on the portraits, there are many awards and honorary certificates.
After some observation, they found a specific military merit record behind one of the awards, which read: ...
Consistently fighting bravely and flexibly, the Jinan, Huaihai, and Pingtan campaigns have been outstanding, and they have been jointly established: once for first-class military merit, once for second-class military merit, and once for special military merit
……
Who the hell is this old man? Why would such a heroic figure who has made great contributions to the country return to his backward and poor hometown and become an obscure old farmer? These military medals represent the battles in which the old man participated, and how come no one in the local relevant departments knows about these outstanding military achievements he obtained when he was in the army? So next, let's walk into the veteran Li Wenxiang and reveal his ups and downs, magnificent life.
Military merit badges and awards in Li Wenxiang's cloth bag
Military career
Li Wenxiang was born in 1925, and his hometown is the above-mentioned Beijie Village, Baiyige Township, Fan County, Puyang City, Henan Province, and he is an authentic farmer. When he was a child, the family conditions were also very average, and unfortunately, when he was 5 years old, his mother died of illness, which was even worse for this family that was not rich.
In order to subsidize his family, Li Wenxiang began to work everywhere when he was very young, suffered a lot of hardships, and experienced the hardships that life brought to ordinary people early.
In 1947, the War of Liberation was in full swing, and the officers and men of our army fought desperately, and in order to achieve the final victory, they braved the turbulent waters of the Yellow River and used their flesh and blood to cross the natural dangers. At that time, there was a ferry port near Li Wenxiang's hometown. At that time, the common people all knew that the Communist Party was the people's army, the People's Liberation Army was helping the toiling masses throughout China, and only when the People's Liberation Army won, the poor could have a real way to live, so they all had money to contribute money and powerful efforts, and they joined the war on the front line. Li Wenxiang also has such an understanding,
At that time, he was 22 years old, and he was full of prosperity, and resolutely chose to join the army, become a member of the People's Liberation Army, and contribute his strength to the cause of the liberation of all Of China.
The People's Liberation Army bombed the city walls
On September 16, 1948, our army focused on those big cities that urgently needed to be conquered, and the battle to liberate Jinan began, which was heavily guarded by the enemy and the task was very arduous.
At that time, Li Wenxiang's unit also participated in the Battle of Jinan, and the main combat task was to take the Gate of Yongzhen, the city gate west of the outer city of Jinan.
Although the Yongzhen Gate is in the west, it is one of the important passages from Jinan to the outside world, and the enemy also attaches great importance to it, knowing that the People's Liberation Army will definitely attack this side, so it has carried out a very strict defensive deployment
: Not only did the city wall be reinforced, fire points were set up on the upper floor of the city gate and in the fortress at the foot of the city wall, but also a fire net was added to the original, and a hidden triangular shooting chamber was built in the middle of the city wall.
The enemy laid such a heavenly net, and the difficulty of Yongzhenmen to conquer it can be imagined, but the PLA officers and men were not intimidated by the difficulties. After careful consideration, our army decided to form a siege and demolition squad and adopt the method of blasting the city wall to overcome the difficult problem in front of us.
Li Wenxiang also signed up for the demolition team.
The task of the squad is very dangerous, but Li Wenxiang does not care, for him, since he has chosen to be a soldier, there must always be sacrifices to kill the enemy, and he will already do a good job
"Sacrifice your life to go to the country"
Mental preparation.
Battle of Jinan
The walls were so strong that our soldiers carried out as many as seven consecutive blasts, and only opened a small opening in the upper part. The battle situation gradually became fierce, and the casualties on the PLA side were increasing, but the opening that could be opened was less than one person high, and it could not allow our soldiers to enter the city smoothly. Faced with this critical situation, the leader of the demolition team made a decision to send a death squad to break through. Saw
The captain shouted, "Whoever is a Communist, come with me!" As soon as the words fell, a row of fighters, including Li Wenxiang, stood up one after another, wanting to follow the captain.
However, at this time, Li Wenxiang had not yet become an official Communist Party member, so when he saw that he also stood up and wanted to join the death squad, the captain did not agree, and said loudly: "Li Wenxiang, you are not a party member, hurry back!" Li Wenxiang ignored it, seeing that the other comrades-in-arms who came out of the line were picked up one by one, he was impatient and hurriedly said to the captain:
"Although I am not a party member, I am a good fighter, and the most important thing is to be able to win a war at this time!"
The situation was critical, and the captain was persuaded by him.
Amid the deafening sound of gunfire, Li Wenxiang and his comrades-in-arms embraced the belief of victory, pushed the cart full of explosives left and right, and rushed straight towards the city wall in the target. Struggling to dodge the layers of fire attacks from the front, Li Wenxiang and his party successfully transported more than 300 kilograms of explosives in their hands to the foot of the Yongzhen Gate, pushed down the explosives, set up a fuse to ignite, and they withdrew with training. Then, accompanied by a loud noise, the explosives were successfully detonated, and the previously impenetrable city wall was blown open by a huge opening of 300 pounds of explosives. Seeing this scene, the PLA fighters immediately rushed up and attacked the city of Jinan from the exploded mouth to launch a new round of charge.
Because of his outstanding contribution to the demolition team this time, Li Wenxiang was awarded the second class military merit by the army, and a military merit medal was included in his hand.
However, this military merit medal in the Jinan Campaign is only the beginning, and Li Wenxiang's combat career continues.
The Battle of Huaihai xuzhou battlefield
On November 6, 1948, the Huaihai Campaign, which is famous in the history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, officially began. Li Wenxiang followed the troops to Xuzhou, where he began to implement the battle plan.
The People's Liberation Army built fortifications in Xuzhou, but the Kuomintang troops stationed there were fully equipped, not only full of ammunition, but also equipped with a lot of tanks. As soon as the heavy weapons and tanks were dispatched, there were many casualties in our army's positions. But it's not completely without a little solution.
At that time, After years of battlefield training, Li Wenxiang became a "tank fighter" in the army.
Because of his previous experience of blowing up the city walls, he learned from his experience and figured out a way to try to crawl forward on the battlefield, tying explosive packs or grenades to explosive packs and stuffing them under the tracks of enemy tanks. Tanks walking bulky, the people inside can not see the bottom, relying on this method, Li Wenxiang led his comrades to attack many times,
Successfully pinned down and blew up more than 20 enemy tanks.
In the last month of 1948, the Kuomintang general Du Yuming led his troops to break through in the Lulou area, and Li Wenxiang's troops blocked it.
The war was carried out to a white-hot stage, the enemy in order to be able to smoothly withdraw under the heavy encirclement of the People's Liberation Army, poured out of the nest, the aircraft and artillery were all on the way, our army desperately resisted, heavy casualties, but for the sake of the final victory, no one chose to retreat, did not let the enemy step through the defensive line of the position. Because of the dead defense of our army, Du Yuming and the troops led by him were ultimately unable to successfully break through, and were strangled in the encirclement by the PLA reinforcements who arrived in time. At the end of the battle, the reinforcements counted the numbers, and it was only then that they found that
Li Wenxiang was the only one left in the squadron he was in before
The rest have all been sacrificed. The position was littered with the corpses of familiar comrades-in-arms, and Li Wenxiang was devastated and determined to avenge them. After that, Li Wenxiang was incorporated into other units, and participated in the Siege of Yongcheng Chen Guanzhuang, this time fighting heroically, eliminating more than 30 enemy troops by one person.
The People's Liberation Army fought in positions during wartime
It is no exaggeration to say that during the Battle of Huaihai, Li Wenxiang was like what he had thought before, "sacrificing his body to go to the country in difficulty, seeing death as a sudden return", and sacrificing his life to fight in the front line of the position.
Because of his heroic performance, the troops not only awarded him special military merit, but also promoted him to deputy squad leader, and then promoted him to squad leader in a very short period of time.
After the end of the Battle of Huaihai, Li Wenxiang continued his military career and continued to read about his outstanding battle achievements.
The Battle of Crossing the River, the Battle of Shanghai, the Battle of Fuzhou, and the Subsequent Battle of Pingtan Island, none of them fell, and his merits were also accumulated
After the battle of Fuzhou, he was awarded the medal certificate of special meritorious service by the central government, and after the battle of Pingtan Island, he was praised as a "model of combat" by his comrades-in-arms and superior leaders after the First World War...
Until the founding of New China, Li Wenxiang played his light and heat in the army, did not stop the pace of dedication to the motherland for a moment, and by 1955, he had worn the rank of second lieutenant and was promoted to deputy company commander. But the next year, that is
In 1956, because New China had achieved national stability and peace, a large number of soldiers began to be demobilized and transferred, including Li Wenxiang, who had been in the army for 9 years.
The troops were transferred
Soldiers retire
Li Wenxiang had an official position and had won many military merits and honors, and the army also wanted to give such a hero a proper placement, so he was allowed to change careers as a cadre and go to Sanming, Fujian, a big city with relatively good development at that time. That's it
Li Wenxiang became a security section officer at the Third Construction Engineering Company of the Fujian Provincial Construction Department, and received a salary of 66 yuan per month issued by the state.
This was a lot of income at that time. Li Wenxiang was only 32 years old that year.
The country is stable, the people's lives are developing in a good direction step by step, and Li Wenxiang has returned to a peaceful life. Logically speaking, he is a cadre, and the arrangement of the troops is also very good, he sits in the security section every day, the wind cannot blow, and the rain does not get wet. But Li Wenxiang is a person who can't sit still, he is used to running around in the army, some are not used to the rhythm of sitting in the office every day, so he began to look around for things to do.
Where there is a need, take the initiative to help, where there is any problem, volunteer to solve it, and do not ask for returns.
In this way, in just a few years, he ran all over the barracks in Fujian, in addition to his own city of Sanming, other Xiamen, Yong'an, Nan'an, etc., are all all over his footprints.
Of course, he is not young, and it is not the time when his head is pinned to the muzzle of the gun, even if he keeps running around, Li Wenxiang is ready to start a family. Because Li Wenxiang was in good condition at that time, there were actually many people introduced, but
He had only two requirements: to be progressive in his thinking and to be able to endure hardships. In this way, Li Wenxiang picked Chen Baozhen, a Fujian girl.
It is precisely because of such excellent quality that Chen Baozhen followed Li Wenxiang and completed the happiness and bitterness of the second half of his life.
Li Wenxiang and his wife Chen Baozhen
However, if it has been developed according to the situation described now, what is the picture presented at the beginning of the article? After all, it seems that Li Wenxiang should be a cadre who has always been paid a high salary, living a leisurely life with his wife and children in a big city, and may have run often when he was young, but he would retire honorably at an old age. But at the beginning of the story, as we have already said, Li Wenxiang returned to his hometown of Henan, not only became a farmer facing the loess with his back to the sky, but also built his own tile house in eight years. If he had stayed in Fujian, he might have lived in a building a long time ago. What happened in between?
Return to the countryside to support the farmers
It turned out that at that time,
The state began to call on cadres and workers to support the countryside and go up to the mountains and go to the countryside.
But from a state cadre with a fixed salary to giving up everything to become a peasant, there is a huge gap, and everyone does not want to go.
The production brigade in the field of large pot rice
And Li Wenxiang is really a real person who truly serves the country and the people, just like when he was fighting in the war.
Li Wenxiang once again actively and enthusiastically went to the unit to register his name, preparing to return to his hometown and lead the people in his hometown to get rid of the current situation of poverty and backwardness.
In fact, in the policy regulations of that year, veterans like Li Wenxiang were not in the ranks of supporting the countryside, not to mention that he had worked hard and had just established a family in Fujian. Everyone respected him and advised him to give up his thoughts and live well with his Fujian wife, and not to take others back to the north to starve and freeze. The leader also talked to Li Wenxiang and thanked him for taking the lead, but also advised him not to really get hot on his head.
But Li Wenxiang really made a good plan, and after consulting with his wife, he took advantage of the leader's absence and secretly signed the application for returning to his hometown to support the countryside and pressed the bright red handprint. The results have been determined, Li Wenxiang returned to his hometown in Henan with his wife, this year, Li Wenxiang was 37 years old. Before leaving, he packed his military merit badges and medals in a small cloth bag, handed them to his wife, and told her about three chapters to:
"From now on, I will only be a peasant who has returned to my hometown to cultivate the land, and from now on, do not mention my past merits, and do not make any demands on the organization." Don't add the slightest trouble to the country. ”
Farmers who cultivate the land
However, it was not the time to come back, when the autumn harvest had passed, the grain in the village had just been distributed, and the production brigade was a little more even, and the family was squeezed a little, and only then did the couple who had returned from thousands of miles come out
30 catties of wheat and 6 catties of mung beans were allocated to them 3 points of land. This is the "start-up fund" of Li Wenxiang's two sons in both families.
Li Wenxiang used his remaining savings to buy some grain and family supplies. Because his family had died during the war, the two of them had no house and had to live in the old temple in the village.
Soon winter came, Li Wenxiang's wife Chen Baozhen was a southerner, had never experienced the cold in the north, the broken temple leaked wind everywhere, and she was frozen and shivering. After the snow, the cold was even worse, and Chen Baozhen couldn't stand it, and said to Li Wenxiang: "If you don't talk to the leaders about our difficulties, first help get some materials and build the house." Seeing his wife suffer from freezing, Li Wenxiang was very distressed, but he still did not agree, stressing that he could not violate the "three chapters of the covenant law", could not make demands on the organization, could not add trouble to the country, and insisted on it.
This insistence is more than twenty years. In the past two decades, Li Wenxiang has been seriously thinking about how to truly change his hometown and achieve poverty alleviation.
Li Wenxiang and his wife
Li Wenxiang's hometown is located in Fan County, Henan Province, this area is close to the Yellow River, every year when the Yellow River floods, the grain in the field will be flooded, long-term waterlogging and lead to serious salinization of the land, crop yield is not high, each mu can only produce one or two hundred catties of wheat.
The grain could not be harvested, the local farmers could not make money, and for a long time they were starving and freezing.
Li Wenxiang consulted a lot of materials, and also saw that the central government was introducing the cultivation method of rice at that time, explored the terrain of his hometown, and learned
The North Street Village, where I am located, is on the back side of the river, which is still a depression, just right for growing rice. He gleefully told the villagers the news, but touched a nose of ash.
Because for the villagers here, they are northerners, and they have been growing wheat on this land for generations, and no one has ever planted rice. Now the wheat is not very good, but this is also the basis for the survival of the family, hastily changed to rice, no one knows what the result is, and planting rice requires a lot of water to irrigate the rice field, although there is yellow river water here, but it does not reach the ground.
Faced with the questions of the villagers and the water source problem in front of him, Li Wenxiang did not flinch, and he decided to make this attempt himself.
Li Wenxiang found other villagers with ideas to form a "rice reform team" to solve the water source problem first. They set up a simple tent on the Yellow River beach near the village, intending to build a diversion canal before spring ploughing.
Villagers build diversion canals
After more than 40 days of rushing work, the water canal was finally repaired in the last time, and Li Wenxiang began to plant seedlings non-stop, because he could not delay the spring ploughing season. Working day and night, Li Wenxiang's feet were blistered and puffed by the water of the rice field.
Emperor Tian did not pay off, time flew by, and finally to the autumn harvest season, under the gaze of the whole village, Li Wenxiang's rice field began to accept, the result did not disappoint him, originally these fields of wheat can only produce one or two hundred catties, now plant rice, the yield per mu can reach more than four hundred catties, this is only the first year of trial planting!
The scene of the harvest was in front of them, and the villagers believed Li Wenxiang's words and began to change to rice the following year.
In the years that followed,
Li Wenxiang was elected as the leader of the production brigade and the leading director of the village, and began to lead everyone to try to grow watermelons, improve the existing grain types, and develop related agricultural products.
It is also the implementation of the implementation
"To get rich, build roads first"
of ideas, building multiple external roads.
Villagers grow rice
The development of North Street Village is booming, but Li Wenxiang has begun a low-key life again.
Every time the village had to know about his personal situation, he did not say a word about his previous honors and the current situation in his family, so that it was not until 83 that he saved enough money to build a house that he and his wife and children lived in a large tile house, and the local authorities did not know anything about his previous great achievements.
This is Li Wenxiang's life, the first half of his life is outstanding, and the second half of his life leads the villagers to work in agriculture and get rid of poverty.
After Lu Zhangong visited him this time, he quickly made a report to the upper side, CCTV came to interview the elderly Li Wenxiang, and the People's Daily, the People's Liberation Army Daily, and so on were reprinted. For a while, Li Wenxiang's reputation was greatly enhanced, but for this situation, the old man was very regretful and said bluntly:
"I already knew that if I didn't show you that cloth bag, it would cause trouble for the country!"
Li Wenxiang
The editor has something to say:
Every time veterans are mentioned, in addition to their contributions in the past, what is more valuable is their spirit of not seeking returns and being willing to dedicate silently.
For themselves, no matter how magnificent the experience is in the past, no matter how heavy the feat, it is deserved, and it is their obligation for the motherland.
However, now we should understand that no one should do anything, this is the unrepentant effort of veterans.
Video Link:
The three chapters of the law do not mention meritorious service, return to the countryside to work as farmers for 50 years, and the 80-year-old man has alarmed the provincial party committee with a cloth bag