preface
On January 4, 2011, Lu Zhangong, the secretary of the Henan Provincial Party Committee, visited villagers in Beijie Village, Baiyige Township, Fan County, Henan Province, and when he walked into the home of an elderly man named Li Wenxiang, he did not realize that a "shocking secret" was about to surface in front of his eyes.
When Secretary Lu visited the old man, he found that the furniture in the house was very simple, and the biggest assets of his family were a television set, a rusty sewing machine and a wooden table, and there was nothing on the table, only a few photos, one of which caught Secretary Lu's attention.
Lu Zhangong identified the identity of the old farmer through a painting
The picture shows a young man in military uniform, heroic and cheerful, and very similar to Li Wenxiang in appearance, Secretary Lu asked curiously: "Uncle, is this your picture?" When did you join the army? ”
Old Man Li Wenxiang seemed to remember something, and after a moment's pause he said firmly: "This is a photo of more than fifty years ago, when I had not yet retired le!" ”
Secretary Lu carefully took the photo to the front of his body for details, when he found that the chest of Li Wenxiang's military uniform was covered with medals of different colors, and he immediately asked the old man Li Wenxiang: "Uncle, these medals are all yours?" Is there still one? Let me see! ”
Li Wenxiang was awarded the military merit medal and certificate
When Li Wenxiang heard Secretary Lu's request, he reached for a locked drawer with his wrinkled hands, took out a rag there, and carefully opened it. When the rags were opened, the seven medals lay there quietly, and they did not fade the light spots because of the passage of time, but shone more golden and shining in the sunlight.
And these seven medals are Li Lao's mental journey in the past 87 years...
War years, establishment of merit
In 1925, the land of China was renewed, and Li Wenxiang was born in an ordinary peasant family in Beijie Village, Puyang City, Henan Province. Li Wenxiang's family has been a farmer for generations, and can only rely on the sky to eat, rely on the ground to make a living, and live a precarious and miserable life.
When Li Wenxiang was five years old, his mother left him, and after losing his mother, he could only run to the landlord's house to help herd cattle to subsidize the family. Fortunately, during the agrarian revolution, Li Wenxiang's family was allocated two acres of saline and alkali land, and when the harvest was good, they could still live on the spot for a year, but when the harvest was not good, they could only dig wild vegetables and nibble on tree roots.
Poor peasants in the old society
When Li Wenxiang was a child, it was the period of the War of Resistance Against Japan, and after realizing the barbaric acts of the invaders, he established the ideal of "participating in the eight-way fight against devils", but because he was too young, he could not get the opportunity.
Fortunately, he did not give up his ideal of joining the army, and in December 1947, Li Wenxiang voluntarily joined the Chinese People's Liberation Army and became an ordinary soldier in the 85th Regiment of the 29th Division of the 10th Column of the East China Field Army. Before leaving, the old father who was dependent on him prepared a dress and two pairs of shoes for Li Wenxiang, and said to him with tears: "Baby! We must come back alive..."
However, after Li Wenxiang joined the army, he did not fear life and death and participated in a series of important battles.
Pictures of wartime periods
In September 1948, Li Wenxiang participated in the Battle of Jinan. Li Wenxiang's 85th Regiment was responsible for attacking the Yongzhen Gate outside Jinan, but the gate was three meters high and it was difficult for the troops to enter, so the organization decided to blow up the city gate and shatter the last hope of the defenders.
On September 22, the general attack officially began, and 7 demolition teams played in succession but could only explode a small gap in the city wall, and the scene was deadlocked. At this time, the captain shouted loudly: "The Communists stand up!" At this time, Li Wenxiang did not hesitate to stand out, and he had not yet joined the party at this time, nor did he need to participate in such a dangerous operation, but he said to the captain:
"Captain! Although I am not a party member, I am a fighter, and I ask to participate in this operation. ”
So at Li Wenxiang's strong request, the captain allowed him to participate in the operation, and finally under the cover of fire, Li Wenxiang braved the rain of bullets and bullets to push the explosive package under the city wall and forcibly blew up the city wall, allowing the follow-up friendly forces to attack Jinan City and capture Wang Yaowu alive. Li Wenxiang was also injured as a result, and the organization gave him second-class merit in recognition of his merits and promoted him to deputy squad leader.
Battle of Jinan
But the wounded Li Wenxiang did not choose to rest, and he picked up his gun again in the winter of that year and participated in the more arduous Battle of Huaihai.
During the battle, Li Wenxiang led the soldiers to block the attack in Lulou, facing more than several times the enemy, Li Wenxiang fought bloodily, repelling dozens of enemy attacks in a fierce battle that lasted for three hours, and in the fierce battle, only Li Wenxiang and the commander Cai Tongtian survived and finally won the victory.
This battle caused Li Wenxiang to be injured again and made a rare special merit; but Li Wenxiang was not satisfied; after joining the party in the line of fire, he participated in the Battle of Crossing the River, the Battle of Shanghai, the Battle of Fuzhou, and the Battle of Pingtan Island, and won the honorary titles of "First Class Meritorious Service", "Combat Model", and "Special Meritorious Service of the People", and at the same time promoted to deputy company commander and awarded the rank of second lieutenant.
Meritorious Service Award
However, with the end of the war, Chiang Kai-shek's defeat in Taiwan, and the drastic changes in the situation at home and abroad, will this revolutionary hero enter the sinking in the era of peace? Li Wenxiang gave the most correct answer as a party member...
Returned to his hometown to work as a farmer, and hid his name in anonymity
In August 1956, Li Wenxiang received a notice of demobilization, and although he was reluctant to fight for half his life, he still firmly obeyed the organizational arrangements. At first, the local leaders placed him in a power plant as a factory director, but Li Wenxiang knew that his culture was low, he did not understand electricity, and he was deeply afraid of affecting national construction, so he rejected the matter. As a result, he was assigned to the Fujian No. 3 Construction Engineering Company as an officer in the security section.
At that time, the state implemented a wage system, which was paid according to the administrative level, the highest was the first level, and the lowest was 24 levels. At that time, Li Wenxiang received an 18-level salary, and he could receive sixty-six yuan per month, which was not low in the era of 5 cents an egg and 8 yuan a month of food.
Old Man Li Wenxiang
In 1962, the whole country entered a period of economic difficulties, rural development stagnated, and a large number of farmland was also abandoned, in this case, the party and the government called on cadres to support the countryside, and Li Wenxiang's construction company was also carrying out activities to support the countryside.
Li Wenxiang was the first to find the leader after learning the news, and he said sonorously and forcefully: "I signed up!" ”
The leader also agreed after listening, but still hoped that he would seriously consider it. After that, the leader called Li Wenxiang over to talk alone, hoping that he would stay in the company.
After hearing this, Li Wenxiang firmly said to him: "The masses are hungry, and the cadres have a responsibility." ”
After that, he bit his finger and insisted on pressing his bright red handprint on the registration form, and even voluntarily gave up all his salary and returned to his poor hometown without hesitation, and this trip was a lifetime...
Baiyige Township in Fan County is located in the northeast of Henan Province, with a total area of 51 square kilometers, only 38,900 mu of land can be cultivated; at the same time, due to the change of riverbed, flooding disasters occur frequently, and a large number of farmers can only rely on the sky to eat.
Old photo of Fan County
Of course, Li Wenxiang, who grew up here, knew about this, and the first thing he thought of at this time was his wife Chen Baozhen, who lived in the south. Because going to Henan means giving up a stable job, and the wife who is accustomed to life in southern Fujian is bound to be difficult to adapt to, and all this also makes this veteran soldier who is charging into the battlefield difficult.
At this time, many colleagues also advised:
"You are so old, don't run away, now your life is so good, why go back to the countryside to suffer?"
"You also know the situation in your hometown, your wife and you go back is not suffering and suffering, it is better to ..."
In the face of many pressures, Li Wenxiang told his wife the idea of returning to his hometown, but when Chen Baozhen learned of her husband's thoughts, she said to Li Wenxiang: "I will follow you!" ”
In July 1962, Li Wenxiang and his wife packed their luggage and embarked on the footsteps of returning to their hometown. Before leaving, Li Wenxiang looked at his residence: "Farewell! I am a party member, and I want to listen to the party and respond to the party's call! ”
Chen Baozhen and Li Wenxiang
Li Wenxiang, who returned to the countryside of Henan, gave up all his treatment, and he had no money to build a house, so he had to live with his wife in a broken temple at the head of the village. Because Li Wenxiang had been on the battlefield and worked steadily, he was soon selected by the villagers as the leader of the militia and the leader of the production team.
However, the salinization of the land in his North Street Village is particularly serious, and the villagers can only eat relief grain to survive, and there is even a saying that "the snow in spring and winter is vast, and the water in summer and autumn is watery". Li Wenxiang, who became the captain, did not want to see the villagers live such a hard life, and he secretly made up his mind that he must lead the villagers to eat a full meal, and he said: "I don't believe it!" Changing poverty is harder than besieging a city and fighting a war! ”
In 1966, Li Wenxiang led dozens of militia members to form a "rice reform team", they used hoes to dig the diversion canal little by little, and after a winter of hard work, they finally introduced the yellow river water into the paddy field, and built more than 300 acres of paddy fields.
After the paddy field was completed, in the first year there was a good harvest of more than 600 catties, which made the whole village finally eat their own dry food, and no longer have to worry about their own grain. An old man named Zhang Wenbin recalled the scene at that time and said with tears in his eyes: "At that time, we were not even able to eat the nest, and suddenly we could eat rice with white flowers, which was the same as a dream." ”
However, behind the villagers' full meal is Li Wenxiang's hard work and sweat. In the "rice reform team", Li Wenxiang was the hardest, he soaked in the rice field day after day, and his legs became red and swollen. Once, Li Wenxiang returned home exhausted after planting seedlings, and fell asleep on the bed without even eating a bite of food. Wife Chen Baozhen looked at her tired husband very unbearable, so she took off his muddy shoes for him, but as soon as she lifted his pants leg, she saw that the wound on her husband's leg had been suppurated and was flowing out pus. Seeing this, Chen Baozhen's heart was full of mixed feelings, and he could not calm down for a long time.
Li Wenxiang and his wife
In 1979, the state began to implement the household contract responsibility system, and Li Wenxiang set a new goal for himself: "Not only to feed the villagers, but also to make the villagers rich as soon as possible!" ”
In addition to rice reform, Li Wenxiang is also studying improved corn varieties, because of the previous successful cases, the villagers also have great trust in him, but Li Wenxiang himself is also ignorant of breeding and selecting seeds, but Li Wenxiang immediately thought of a good way. He adopted the method of running night schools, inviting knowledgeable people to come to the village for classes, while he himself led the villagers to study, while experimenting in the field, and finally cultivated excellent corn varieties, this poor village that relied on relief grain, but under his leadership, he used grain to make the villagers rich.
Driven by Li Wenxiang, the local people also gradually became rich and built new houses, but Li Wenxiang still lived in the broken temple that leaked on all sides, and even donated the wood he was going to build a house to build a school to solve the problem of children's schooling. It wasn't until 1984, after nearly 20 years as the head of the production team, that three new houses were built, and he was the last in the village to build a new house.
In 1979, the state began to restore the treatment of cadres who had originally gone to the countryside, and the Fujian Provincial Construction Department sent someone to find Li Wenxiang, hoping that he would restore his status as a cadre and return to Fujian to work.
But in the face of the huge temptation, Li Wenxiang refused, he said: "I am old, I can't make much contribution to the unit when I go back, and I can't stand the salary paid by the state." Moreover, I am used to it in the countryside, if everyone goes to a comfortable place and no one comes from a poor place, won't it be even poorer? ”
However, the state has not forgotten this meritorious soldier, and the county civil affairs department and the organization department have organized more than a dozen inspections of demobilized soldiers, old party members, and old cadres for the issuance of various subsidies. But Li Wenxiang only wrote the basic situation every time he filled out the form, and did not talk about his meritorious service awards and family poverty. In this regard, Li Wenxiang said:
"The country is not rich yet, I can completely support myself by labor, there is no need to add trouble to the country, so I hid the real situation."
In 1984, the state gave Li Wenxiang a retirement relief fee of 26.48 yuan per month, and his former unit in Fujian also began to pay him a retirement allowance. These two kinds of expenses are not a kind of money, but Li Wenxiang feels that the two ends of the gun are stained by themselves, and the country suffers losses, so he takes the initiative to run to the county and voluntarily gives up the county's economic expenses.
However, Li Wenxiang's actions were not understood by his family, and since receiving subsidies was in line with the regulations, his daughter Li Jinying secretly ran to the county to receive subsidies in his name. When Li Wenxiang learned of this, he immediately called Li Jinying over and said to her sternly: "You can't add trouble to the public, you have to rely on your own labor, the difficulties are only temporary, and the suffering can survive." ”
However, Li Jinying also has a reason for taking subsidies, the furnishings in their home are very simple, the bed and wardrobe also accompany their parents through half a life, the most valuable thing is just a big-headed television set and a rusty sewing machine, although the villagers in the village have already lived a rich life, but the life of Li Wenxiang's family is at a lower level, becoming a "key difficult household" for leaders at all levels to come to comfort.
The cadres visited the elderly Li Wenxiang
Old Man Li Wenxiang knew all this, and he said with great seriousness: "It is not that the state does not give me treatment, it is that I do not want treatment, and that I am doing the revolution for the sake of the people to live a good life, not to be treated, and I came back to be a peasant and reduce the burden on the country!" ”
The truth is out, and the house of heroes is respected
With the passage of time, Li Jinying also reached the age of junior high school, because the school is far from home, and the thin Li Jinying watched others ride bicycles to school, while he could only walk to school, and his heart was very uncomfortable. So he begged his father to buy himself a bicycle.
Looking at his daughter who was suffering, Li Wenxiang's heart was like a knife, he could only grit his teeth, sell the only piglet left in his family in advance, and buy a second-hand bicycle for his daughter.
However, Li Jinying, who graduated from junior high school, should have continued to study, but she was very sad to see her father who was nearly seventy years old, and her mother was also close to blindness because of eye disease, and the tuition fee for high school would only make her parents more hard, so she decided to drop out of school to work to relieve the pressure on the family.
Li Wenxiang and his family
Li Wenxiang, who learned the news that his daughter had dropped out of school, was not angry, he just sat alone in front of the door, smoking a cigarette with a sad face. Seeing that her husband was so sad, his wife Chen Baozhen came forward and persuaded: "You will not go to resume public office, now that there are difficulties in the family, you go to the government, and they will help us!" ”
But Li Wenxiang did not speak, he still inhaled the tobacco one by one, and looked into the distance. At this time, Chen Baozhen understood her husband's thoughts, he turned to find his frustrated daughter, held her hand tightly and said: "No way, your father will not go to ask for someone..."
But well-meaning people will eventually have good rewards, and the deeds of Mr. Li Wenxiang have gradually come to light.
On January 4, 2011, Lu Zhangong, secretary of the Henan Provincial Party Committee, visited local households in need and inadvertently discovered Li Wenxiang's hidden identity as a hero for 55 years, which also showed a scene in our article above.
When Secretary Lu saw the words on the medal, he quickly exclaimed, "This is a first-class meritorious medal!" This is a second class meritorious service medal! This is the People's Meritorious Service Award! This is the Battle Model Medal..." After examining these medals, Secretary Lu grabbed Li Wenxiang's hand and said loudly: "Are you a special meritorious person?" He is a special hero! ”
Secretary Lu visited Li Wenxiang
At this time, everyone present learned Li Wenxiang's true identity, and his daughter Li Jinying also learned that her father was actually a special meritorious person!
On the morning of March 31, 2011, the first report of the "Comrade Li Wenxiang Advanced Deeds Report Group" organized by the Henan Provincial Party Committee was held in Zhengzhou, and an old man in an old military uniform, armed with crutches, walked to the center of the stage with the support of his wife. At this time, he handed the crutch to his wife, tried to straighten his body and raised his arms, and saluted everyone. He hit the hearts and minds of everyone in his own way.
As for this fighting hero of the Southern Expedition and the Northern War, people can't help but ask: Why was he willing to voluntarily return to his hometown to support the peasants in the revolutionary years, to be an unsung hero, and to be a commoner? Why can he stay away from fame and fortune and dedicate his life selflessly?
Comrade Li Wenxiang's advanced deeds report meeting
This answer is that old man Li Wenxiang can't answer...
At 16:08 on February 13, 2017, Li Wenxiang, a special people's hero and combat hero, died of illness and passed away forever. He died on December 31, 2012 at the age of 9