introduction
"The Red Army is not afraid of expeditions and difficulties, and it is only idle in thousands of rivers and mountains." In the poetry of the great man, the Long March seems to be as relaxed and pleasant as an ordinary long-distance trip, but in fact, behind these poems, there is a strong bitterness, the taste of which can only be known by those who have personally experienced it at that time. So how did the Red Army accomplish this miraculous journey?
01
The Long March was the most glorious stroke in the history of the Red Army. This twenty-five-thousand-mile journey was extremely arduous, and it was even more dangerous in the meantime, and it was necessary to face the encirclement and interception of the Nationalist army at any time, which made the already exhausted Red Army soldiers even more haggard. However, the Long March was also a refinement and sublimation of the Red Army, which strengthened the revolutionary confidence of the Red Army and laid the foundation for its future indomitable will. For example, a Tibetan family had a wooden plank in their home, which was an "IOU" that stated that the Red Army had borrowed thousands of pounds of grain to record a period of time in the Red Army's Long March.
▲Painting of the Red Army's Long March over the meadow
The victory in the Northern Expedition was also the beginning of the national government's reversal of face with our party. With a calculated mind and no intention, our party members were beaten to a gradual defeat. In 1933, the Nationalist army launched the fifth encirclement and suppression of the Red Army, and although the combat effectiveness of the Red Army soldiers was as strong as ever, they could not stand up to the "sharp" strategic guiding ideology of the top level of our Party at that time -- hard and hard, and the result was, of course, that the egg hit the stone, and the elite troops and elite equipment of the Nationalist army suffered heavy losses. However, this fiasco also opened up the Red Army, and finally understood that only transfer had a chance to turn over, so from 1934 onwards, the Red Army troops began to disperse and transfer, which is the origin of the Long March twenty-five. By 1935, the Red Army had entered Sichuan, and in July of the same year, a large force arrived in the Songpan Maoergai area.
▲Stills of the Red Army
At that time, it was no better than today, and the Red Army could only rely on its feet to enter Sichuan, and in the process, everyone had a good feeling of li Bai's "Shu Dao Difficulty" in those years. Moreover, the Red Army was also poor after all, and even when they crossed the snowy mountains, they did not wear cotton jackets, and they could only wrap the quilt they covered when they slept outside the single coat to barely withstand the cold. It is common sense that the human body needs to replenish more calories in cold weather, but for the Red Army soldiers, where is there so much food to eat? So when the Red Army finally crossed the snowy mountains to Songpan Maoergai, it was already cold, hungry and exhausted.
▲Recent photos of Songpan grassland
However, in front of them was an endless grassland, and the grassland at that time was full of potholes and swamps, and it was quite difficult to find food, so the central government decided to reorganize here now and reserve the grain on the road. The Red Army also came by chance, just in time for the barley to ripen, but the surrounding people had long disappeared, and the barley was not harvested in the field. It turned out that the Nationalist Government had launched a public opinion offensive in this area one step at a time, propagating in the local area that the Red Army was a "communist bandit" who wanted to come here to burn and loot, frightening the common people into fleeing into the mountains.
02
Of course, today we know which side of the "banditry" is heavier, but how can the people at that time distinguish between good and bad? The Red Army troops have always had the discipline of not taking a needle and a thread from the people, but they can't cross the grasslands without harvesting grain, so the General Political Department of the Red Army has no choice but to hurry up and follow the power, ordering the soldiers to harvest the barley only to pick the mature, and give priority to harvesting the barley in the homes of the local toastmasters, and there is no need to say hello, it is they who cut, but they cannot harvest the barley in the people's homes at will until they have to, even if they must harvest, they must record the reasons and quantities of the harvest on a wooden sign, and then insert the wooden sign into the ground. It is written that in the future, these peasants can take wooden signs and go to the troops to exchange money.
▲Renqing Dolma and "IOU" group photo
Renqing Dolma is over eighty years old, a villager in Kezang Village, and she has such a wooden plaque in her home, which was left by the Red Army more than 80 years ago. The wooden plaque is about 1 meter long and about 20 centimeters wide, with the words "harvest certificate" in capital letters at the top, and the end is the former enemy's General Political Department. The wooden plaque states that the Red Army harvested 1,000 kilograms of barley from the Renqing Dolma family, and the Renqing Dolma family could exchange the equivalent value for the Red Army troops with the wooden plaque. In the Maurgay region, only two such wooden plaques remain today, after all, the locals did not know what it was at the time, and did not care too much to destroy it. The Renqing Dolma family was still preserved because the wooden plaque was used to repair the house.
▲ IOU photo
In the end, Renqing Dolma did not exchange the "IOU" for money, she said that the commemorative significance of this wooden plaque was greater than the actual value, she did not have the intention of taking the wooden plaque to ask the state for arrears, and also refused the state's initiative to compensate, and even rejected the person who bought the wooden plaque at a high price. In Renqing Dolma's view, the contribution made by the party and the Red Army to the people's happy life today is far greater than that of the 1,000 kilograms of barley, and over the years the village has built smooth cement roads and new houses, and her family has not only planted a field of barley, but also raised dozens of sheep, and her life is prosperous. These kindnesses are far from being repaid by the 1,000 pounds of barley. Renqing Dolma said that his children and grandchildren will continue to contribute to the development of the country.
epilogue
Zhuge Liang, the minister of the Three Kingdoms, expressed his feelings to the Lord of the Later Kingdoms and was willing to "bow down and die for the sake of the country", so why not the soldiers of the Red Army during the War of Resistance? In order to defend the country and defend every people, they have spilled their blood on the battlefield in exchange for today's peaceful and tranquil life, and their merits are worth remembering by all, and their contributions are immeasurable.
Resources:
The Long March of the Seven Laws