On October 1, 1949, the grand founding ceremony was officially held in Beijing. At this time, there was still another important town in the southwest region of the mainland that had not escaped the autocratic rule of the Kuomintang. Chiang Kai-shek was still dreaming of a comeback, clinging to Chongqing and refusing to back down, and in order to completely dispel his illusions and annihilate the remnants of the Kuomintang army, the CPC Central Committee dispatched the People's Liberation Army to launch a war of liberation against the great southwest.
Figure | Founding Ceremony (Oil Painting)
More than a month later, the Kuomintang defeated Taiwan, and the mountain city that had been in the dark for a long time finally broke dawn, and a new page in Chinese history was turned. With the laughter of children, the PLA brigades have entered Chongqing, raised the bright national flag, and guarded the city under its wings.
After the army entered Sichuan, He Long placed his family in Chongqing to live, and he and his wife Xue Ming looked at the gradually lively city and were very relieved, often taking their children to the streets in a low profile to observe the people's feelings. On this day, He Long returned home with great pleasure, but saw an unexpected face at the door of his home.
An old lady stood at the door of He Long's house, she was wearing a left cardigan coat, trimmed pants, sleeves and legs were relatively wide, and her head was wrapped in thick black cloth, obviously a Tujia dress. The old lady was holding a child in her hand, followed by a long list of small dolls, and she took the initiative to ask the He family guards: "Is He Long here?" You told him that Sister Zhong of Sang Zhihong's family had something to do with him. ”
The guards just wanted to say that General He was not at home, when they saw He Long rushing with Xue Ming not far away and waving at him. He Long lifted the old lady's arm and asked excitedly, "Second sister, how did you get here?" We won't let anyone send me a letter, we'll go in and talk about it. ”
He Long helped the old lady into the door, and the children behind him, like chicks, also followed suit. Xue Ming stayed at the end to watch over them, although she didn't know the old lady, but she could guess that this was He Long's hometown person by looking at the outfit, and the relationship was close, otherwise she wouldn't suddenly come to the door.
A group of people walked into the courtyard, He Long and the old lady were reminiscing about the past, chatting about the latest situation, and several children looked around, but did not dare to leave the old lady's side. But the sense of existence of so many children is too strong for people to ignore, He Long did not hold back and asked the old lady: "Second sister, what is this group of little dolls?" ”
Pictured| He Long
The old lady saw that the children were obediently following her, touched the head of the child recently, nodded with a relieved expression, but said in her mouth: "Come and kneel down and kowtow to Grandpa He." As if prepared, the children knelt down neatly and prostrated their heads, shouting loudly in their mouths: "Grandpa He! ”
This battle startled He Long and his wife, they had not yet figured out the situation, and they rushed to let the children get up, but the children refused to get up, and He Long had to ask the old lady for help, saying: "Second sister, what is going on?" You're going to get the kids up!" ”
The old lady sighed, shook her head unhurriedly, and only asked him: "Do you remember the sons and soldiers who used to make a revolution with you?" This question was like thunder and thunder, making He Long lose his words, he seemed to guess something, his expression instantly became sad, and the faded memories of the past once again appeared in his mind.
It turned out that these children were all descendants of revolutionary martyrs.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, He Long led a group of compatriots in his hometown of Sangzhi to actively respond to Sun Yat-sen's call, held high the banner of "protecting the country and seeking Yuan", and embarked on a road to save the country and save the people.
In March 1916, He Longjian was well known, and the deeds of "two kitchen knives to make a revolution" became a household name, and the local people admired him very much. Under his influence, many young people with lofty ideals have stepped forward and followed He Long to fight warlords and make revolutions. He Long, who was originally a small and fragmented team, was also growing and growing, rushing to various parts of northern Sichuan to fight against the warlords.
Pictured| He Jinzhai
He Long was a natural general, and under his command, many heroes were trained in this subordinate soldier and became his right-hand man in the revolutionary cause. During the Northern Expedition, He Jinzhai was inspired by his cousin He Long, dropped the poetry and song of the school, and picked up a gun to join the Northern Expedition.
He Jinzhai was incorporated into the First Division of the Ninth Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and because of his outstanding ability, he soon became a brigade commander. He led his generals to the front line of the Northern Expedition battlefield, successively conquered LiXian and the important town of Yichang in western Hubei, annihilated an elite division of Wu Peifu, and made great military achievements, making this unit subordinate to He Long famous.
Tempered by repeated successes and failures, He Long and his hometown disciples hated the atmosphere of corruption in the Kuomintang army, understood the problems of the Kuomintang on the revolutionary line, and gradually understood and accepted the communist concept.
At that time, although He Long was wearing an old military uniform, he had gradually realized ideologically that although the Kuomintang's current military strength was stronger than that of the Communist Party, it was not enough to have the superiority of the army, and it needed good political ideas to be reliable.
The CCP has always followed the mass line and encouraged the strength of workers and peasants. This was the path he had been pursuing, and He Long had the idea of switching to the Communist Party in his heart long ago.
Therefore, when the Kuomintang rebelled against the revolution and launched a white terrorist attack, He Long did not choose Mingzhe to protect himself, he not only let the Communists in his ranks work as usual, but also protected and took in many Expelled and Mutilated Communists. At that time, zhu de and Liu Shaoqi, who had been sent abroad, were able to leave safely thanks to He Long's escort who was not afraid of life and death.
Before the Nanchang uprising, when He Long told his soldiers what he thought, different voices also appeared in the troops. Many soldiers who were timid and afraid of things and afraid of the means of the Kuomintang were afraid of their heads and tails and wanted to quit.
He Long did not embarrass them and let them leave, but he was inevitably a little disappointed in his heart. At this time, it was the disciples of his hometown who resolutely expressed their position, giving He Long courage and confidence, so that he could firmly choose.
Sang Zhi's villagers followed He Long out to work hard, in order to restore peace to the country and let the people live a good life, and He Long chose the Communist Party to be a good road for them. On August 1, 1927, He Long's team participated in the Nanchang Uprising, and more than 3,000 sons and daughters of his hometown threw themselves into the cruel war.
At the time of the Nanchang Uprising, He Long could be said to have acted entirely according to Zhou Enlai's instructions, and although the Twentieth Army was subordinate to the Wuhan Nationalist Government at that time, in fact they had changed their ways and accepted the leadership of the Communist Party.
Later, when Peng Zhen recalled the Nanchang Uprising, he once said of He Long: "For the sake of justice in his heart, He Longqi can be said to have disregarded his personal safety, and he closely linked his personal fate with the Communist Party. This is the basis for Zhou Enlai to make He Long the commander-in-chief of the Nanchang Uprising. ”
The trust of the warriors, He Long remembered in his heart. Whenever the fighting stopped, he was very concerned about the life of the soldiers, especially his old subordinate, the First Division. As long as they encountered the troops of the First Division, He Long would ask them about the casualties of the troops as soon as they met.
For those soldiers who teased him, He Long responded with a serious attitude: "I have this old capital, I hope you did not throw it away for me." Most of the people in the old group came out from Sang Zhi and followed me all the way, and I had to be responsible for these people. ”
Figure | Nanchang Uprising (oil on canvas)
In the early morning of August 1, 1927, the gunshots of the Nanchang Uprising first started at Zhangjiang Road, the general headquarters of Zhu Peide. The guards in charge of the guards were all elite forces cultivated by Zhu Peide, strong in strength, and did not pay attention to the rebel troops at all. Not to mention that they had already received secret reports from traitors and were secretly prepared to prevent riots, and the machine gunners in charge of the enemy had long been hiding in the drum tower.
After the Nanchang Uprising broke out, He Jinzhai led the First Division to take charge of the frontal attack, opposite the elite guard regiment of the Kuomintang Zhu Peide, and in the face of the enemy's fierce and sufficient firepower, our several charges were fiercely suppressed. At this time, He Long personally went on the field to command the team, and gave an order: "Take me to the basic company to kill them!" ”
The basic company here refers to the fifth and seventh companies of the old regiment, the weapons and equipment are relatively good, and most of the soldiers in it are veterans of his hometown brought out when He Longgang revolutionized, and they are all bold and careful, and every time they fight, they dare to gnaw the "iron fist" of "hard bones." In the critical moment, it was still the two companies that charged to take the lead.
Under the leadership of division commander He Jinzhai and regimental commander Liu Dawu, the rear row was responsible for throwing grenades to cover the front battlefield, and the soldiers bravely advanced through the smoke and rushed to the gate. Climbing over the wall into the courtyard, storming the drum tower, and finally launching a white-knife battle with the enemy, completely annihilating the stubborn enemy and seizing the crucial victory of the Nanchang Uprising.
After the battle broke out again, He Wenxuan, deputy commander of the Second Division and commander of the Fourth Regiment, led his troops to carry out the task of blocking the enemy's rushing to help and annihilating the enemy on the spot, so as to establish a miracle for the uprising. He Wenxuan's family of five all participated in the Nanchang Uprising, serving as regimental, battalion, company, and platoon commanders, and played a backbone role in the battle.
Wang Bingnan, acting commander of the Fifth Regiment of the First Division and commander of the first battalion, immediately launched an attack on the enemy patrol stationed at Niuxing Station after the uprising broke out, and won the victory. Later, together with He Wenxuan, he blocked the door for the enemy to enter the city to help.
Picture | Wang Bingnan
He Guiru, He Qinfeng, He Xueding, He Chunxuan, Wen Nanfu, He Xunchen, Wang Bingran, and a number of other officers of the Sangzhi battalion who had followed He Long's men all made outstanding achievements in the uprising.
The Nanchang uprising fired the first shot of armed resistance against the Kuomintang reactionaries, and this was the first time that the Communist Party successfully used the barrel of a gun to lay down a provincial city, representing the conviction and determination of the Communists not to fear power and dare to fight. Since then, the Communist Party has formally established its own army, has the ability to independently lead the armed struggle, wave the revolutionary banner before the oppressed people of the whole country, and lead the people in the right direction, which is an important milestone in the revolutionary road.
The Twentieth Army led by He Long, as the main force of the Nanchang Uprising, had a total strength of nearly 20,000 people, the most heroic of which was sang zhi's 3,000 disciples who took the lead. They were not afraid to sacrifice and break the strong enemy, made immortal merits for the success of the uprising, and made important contributions to the creation of the people's army.
From the Northern Expedition to the Nanchang Uprising, Sang Zhi's land was stained with the blood of the Red Revolution, sowing the seeds of armed uprising and becoming the cradle of the revolution. Especially after the Nanchang Uprising, the struggle on this land has never stopped. After the Sangzhi people actively participated in the Nanchang Uprising, the people here were enveloped by the atmosphere of terror of the reactionaries.
The reactionaries had a deep hatred for He Long and his followers, and when they could not capture He Long, they went so far as to take revenge on He Long's hometown of Hongjiaguan. They shouted that "all the bloodlines of the He family will be cut off, and none of the cronies will be left", which will turn the originally peaceful life of the Hongjiaguan upside down, and the entire village is almost ten rooms and nine empty.
In particular, the governor of Sangzhi County, in order to avenge the Communist Party's killing of his uncle, repeatedly sent troops to Hongjiaguan to carry out "cleansing and suppression." The relatives of the He family had to hide everywhere, and most of them had to hide in the mountains and live like a tramp.
Weng Shuxin, the wife of He Long's cousin He Dunwu, once described life at that time in an interview: "We could only live in caves, the Kuomintang could not endanger life, but life encountered one problem after another. There are no daily necessities, no medicines, many villagers are affected by miasma, get a rotten sore, both disgusting and uncomfortable, but there is no way, can only slowly wait for death. ”
However, the situation was unfavorable, Sang Zhi was suffering on his side, and the movement of the rebel troops to Guangdong over there was also unsuccessful. Faced with many difficulties, the CPC Central Committee immediately sent troops to help the people everywhere and resist the atrocities of the reactionaries.
After the insurrectionary troops were frustrated in the south, He Long was not willing to let the revolutionary action fall into vain, and repeatedly submitted a request to the Party Central Committee to return to work in western Hunan and drafted a brief plan on how to launch an uprising in western Xiang'e. Under the unremitting efforts of He Long, the organization finally decided to agree to his return to Hunan to work.
In February 1928, He Long and others returned to Hongjiaguan in Sangzhi County. After returning to his hometown, He Long seemed to be in the water, taking the old subordinates who were sent back to the hometown during the reorganization of the troops during the Northern Expedition and pulling up a new team. Among the soldiers who were finally reorganized into the team were the militia armed forces organized by He Long's eldest sister He Ying; and there were those who failed in the battle and returned to their hometowns with their guns ready to continue the struggle with the enemy. Together, there were more than three thousand of them.
They trusted He Long's skills and were willing to unite again for the sake of the revolution and become a new revolutionary contingent of workers and peasants. After the defeat of the Nanchang uprising troops in the south, in the face of the cruel retaliation of the enemy by the Sangzhi compatriots, they were still willing to fight for the country and the people, and once again gathered under the banner of the Communist Party.
He Long took a group of Sangzhi youths out of his hometown and spilled his blood for the revolution, and they created a practical model for Mao Zedong to "take the road of rural encirclement of the city". It added tremendous strength to the "armed division" of the Party Central Committee, and then developed into the Xiang'e Western Soviet Region, becoming one of the three major Soviet regions in the country, and making important contributions to the building of the people's army.
But war has not only the beauty of the future, but also the misery of the present. These young people with lofty ideals guarded the land in times of peril and allowed the people to live in peace, but many of them also lost their lives. The old people in the Sangzhi area watched the children go out one by one, but they came back with a little bit of ding, still full of sorrow.
It was good to be a single family, but the bitterness was that many martyrs had children. The parents in the family are gone, they have eaten with the old people in the village for a year or two, and for a long time, the families can't afford to raise so many mouths, let alone the children studying, which is unimaginable.
The old lady was watching He Long and they left, and when she went she was smiling, and the children who stayed at home she also tried to pull up. Although his family's economic conditions are not good, he still insists on not abandoning this group of dolls and waiting for their parents to return.
She stayed at the mouth of the village day and night, handing over the children one by one to the soldiers who returned home. But when new China was founded, and many children were not claimed, she already had a number in her mind: the parents of these children were afraid that they would not be able to come back.
The old lady gritted her teeth and continued to bear the children's life, and the villagers could also help, and absolutely did not let the martyrs underground chill. But how much can she earn as an old lady? Even if someone helps, the family will eventually reach the point where the pot cannot be opened.
Just as she was struggling with how to make ends meet, news of the liberation of Chongqing reached Sang Zhi. As soon as she heard that General He Long had entered Chongqing, she immediately called all the children, took the dry food sent by the neighbors, and rushed to Chongqing for help.
Pictured| old lady
After listening to the old lady's story about how she had lived with these children in recent years, He Long and Xue Ming had tears in their eyes. They looked back at these skinny little dolls, their hearts full of bitterness, these were the children of their comrades who sacrificed their comrades!
He Long has not returned to his hometown all these years, in addition to his busy work, he feels that he has no face to return to his hometown, and most of the brothers he has brought out are buried in the battlefield of a foreign country, and he has always felt ashamed in his heart. But He Long did not expect that there was still a group of children in his hometown who were lonely and helpless, forcing the second sister to have no way to find himself, and he wanted to slap himself when he remembered his past behavior.
He Long shook the old lady's hand and solemnly assured: "Second sister, you can rest assured, from now on they are all my children, and I will definitely raise them well." Hearing these words, the old lady was relieved. When Xue Ming heard that her husband wanted to leave this group of children, a smile also appeared on her face, and she squatted down to help the children up and carefully examined their appearance, and these were also her children in the future.
Perhaps Xue Ming's gaze was too loving, so that this group of dolls had long lost their mother's love. They were obviously happy in their hearts, but they couldn't help but shed tears, and the last one infected one, and a group of children all cried loudly. He Long and the three adults also had red eyes.
After everyone had calmed down, He Long said to his wife: "These children are all the children of my He family's relatives, we can't let the state help raise children, we can only work hard ourselves, what do you think?" ”
The old lady on the side looked at He Long like this, heard that he wanted to raise his own children, did not have the intention of asking for state assistance, felt both proud and worried in her heart, and wanted to open her mouth to let He Long think again, but she felt that she had no position, so she simply closed her mouth.
Instead, Xue Ming nodded sympathetically, looking at the child's eyes was still gentle, she said: "I personally have no problem, and I also like these dolls, but Old Nie may have an opinion there." ”
Picture | He Long and his wife
Here Old Nie is talking about Nie Zhanxin, he is the administrator of He Long's family, he has been responsible for all the affairs of this family, from the work arrangement to the degree of eating and wearing, the account book of He Long's family is in his hands.
The person in charge of the account is naturally more rational than others. Xue Ming guessed correctly, and Nie Zhanxin felt that He Long's approach was not quite right: "Since these dolls are the children of martyrs, then the state naturally has the obligation to help one or two in life." ”
However, He Long was more dead-eyed, unwilling to increase the burden of the country, and insisted on raising himself, but Nie Zhanxin could not help him, and could only die of this heart. However, he was really serious about taking care of the children's lives and taking them with him as his own children.
With the addition of several more children in the family, the expenses naturally flowed out, and the salaries of Ming Ming He Long and Xue Ming were high salaries at that time, but the family's life still became much more difficult. But no one can suffer from children, He Long himself saves money and frugality, and still has to send daily pocket money to the children at home, so that they can buy things when they go to school.
Every day after school, He Long's door is a long list of "gourd babies" bouncing around, you chase me, He Long saw that they are very satisfied, set up a bench to sit in the doorway to watch the monkeys, clapped his hands and laughed, said: "My children are really powerful, the body is great!" ”
epilogue:
During the revolutionary war, the martyrs were not afraid of life and death, and went to the soup for the sake of the party and the people, and regarded death as a homecoming. With lofty ideals and unswerving faith in their hearts, they persevered and fought hard to have the country they have now.
……
Later, in the list of martyrs published, on the family tree of Marshal He Long, there were 2,050 martyrs with names and surnames alone, and the He family's relatives can be said to have made great sacrifices for the revolutionary cause. Fortunately, the children of these martyrs have warm families and are no longer lonely.
Marshal He Long and his wife will carefully care for them and grow up, and when they grow up, they insist on learning, building the country, and continuing the spirit of their parents' dedication to the country in different posts, which may be the indelible belief of the Chinese nation from generation to generation!