General Zuo Quan with his wife Liu Zhilan and his daughter
Zuo Quan's last family letter to his wife
Zhuzhou's past
Deep affection
The feelings of home and country in General Zuo Quan's family letter
Yuan Chongjie Yuan Weiran
As the saying goes, a family letter is worth ten thousand dollars. Especially in the war years of blood and fire, family letters are even more precious.
I have always been to Shanxi, and I paid homage to the martyrs' cemetery of General Zuo Quan, a senior general from Liling, and what impressed me most was a letter from General Zuo Quan. General Zuo Quan's only surviving ten family letters include both his revolutionary aspirations and his vision and hope for Red China; both the lingering love of his children and the ardent expectations placed on future generations.
Reading the general's family letters, it is as if you have touched the era of suffering of blood and fire, and thus feel the personality charm of the heroes of the War of Resistance.
Gratitude
Zuo Quan lost his father at an early age, in the process of his growth, his uncle played the role of a father, took the initiative to take on the burden of the family, and cared for Zuo Quan, and the feelings between the uncles and nephews were very deep. His uncle paid attention to educating and cultivating Zuo Quan from an early age, creating good conditions for him to study. Zuo Quan studied very hard, his grades have always been excellent, and he was exposed to Marxism when he was a teenager, so he had the ambition to transform society and resolutely threw himself into the pen. From leaving his hometown of Liling, Hunan At the age of eighteen to his heroic sacrifice, in the nearly twenty years of revolutionary career, due to the Southern Expedition and the Northern War, he never had the opportunity to return to his hometown, but he often worried about his hometown and his family, and he expressed his thoughts through the pen in his hand in addition to planning.
On September 18, 1937, Zuo Quan crossed the Yellow River with the officers of the Eighth Route Army, and in the gap between hasty battles, he wrote a family letter to his uncle Zuo Mingsan in his hometown. The letter was sent from the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army in Beiyangcheng Village, Jishan County, In the Jinnan region of Shanxi. This letter is also a reply from Zuo Quan after receiving a letter from his uncle, and he is even more distressed to learn that a great change has taken place in the family, especially the untimely death of his brother, the top pillar of the family. He said: "I have learned everything from your letter, and in just over ten years the changes have indeed been great, but unfortunately, Brother Ringo has been ancient, and my family has lost its pillars, which makes me very sad. I can't help but run away with my own responsibility, and all the people in my family are Brother Ringo, and now brother Ringo has passed away for a long time, which really disturbs me and makes my heart ache. "In the face of national disasters and family disasters, in the face of the gains and losses and weights of small families and everyone, how did Zuo Quan choose?" In his letter, he wrote: "... uncle! Although I could not go home for a while, I sacrificed all my happiness and fought for my cause. Believe that this path is bright and great. I would like to repay you and my mother for their kindness to me with my successful career..." "I sacrificed all my happiness and fought for my cause." "General Zuo Quan's ambition and awe-inspiring spirit jumped on the paper and was admirable.
At the end of the letter, Zuo Quan again talked about his views on the future and development of the family, saying: "Uncle! I am very excited to mention the reunification of your and my families, and I am very hopeful that I will succeed as soon as possible, so that my elderly mother and my sister-in-law and nephews and daughters can gather with your family and spend some pleasant and comfortable days. With love, not only can I not forget, but I should repay it with all my strength. It can be seen that the words reveal respect and gratitude for his uncle.
Love of service to the country
In a letter to his uncle, Zuo Quan also described the situation in china at that time, saying: "It has been more than two months since the Lugou Bridge incident. Japan has mobilized its national forces to destroy China. The Chinese government has also set up a position for self-defense, and a full-scale war has been fought. This war is bound to last, and only by being protracted can we win victory in the War of Resistance. Despite the critical situation, Zuo Quan was still full of confidence in victory and high morale in the revolution, so he added: "We will use the posture of guerrilla movement warfare to move in all aspects of the enemy before and after, and cooperate with friendly forces to crush the attack of the Japanese enemy... In a protracted war, it is necessary to be able to endure hardships, and without the spirit of persistent protracted and arduous struggle, the victory of the anti-Japanese resistance is not guaranteed. ”
More than two months later, Zuo Quan wrote another letter to his mother in Hongdong County, in the Jinnan region of Shanxi Province. If you don't see the opening title and the last greeting of this family letter, you can't see that it is a family letter to your mother. Zuo Quan first spent a lot of time briefing his mother on the situation at that time, saying: "In the area occupied by the Japanese, the Japanese massacred, raped and kidnapped, and burned houses... It's heartbreaking. ...... The Japanese will not only destroy our country, but also destroy our seed, and the tragedy of the destruction of the country and the extinction of the seed has befallen every Chinese people. At present, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression throughout the country has reached a serious juncture, and both the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in North China and Songhu have been defeated, but the good policy of saving the country advocated by our Communist Party can stillnot be realized. Then he analyzed to his mother the reasons why the Japanese invaders could not be eliminated quickly, and wrote in the letter: "It is not that the Chinese army cannot fight, it is not that our weapons are not good, it is not that our army is small, but that it is a strategic and tactical command error, and it is the policy error of the government (the author's note: the national government) ... We have repeatedly suggested to the Government and proposed good measures for improvement, but neither of them has accepted it. This is indeed a crisis in China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and if these shortcomings and mistakes cannot be improved, the future of the War of Resistance will be dark and tragic. At the same time, he expressed to his mother the firm conviction and determination of the revolutionary comrades under the leadership of the Communist Party and the determination to fight to the end, so he said: "No matter how the enemy attacks, we are ready to resolutely not return to the south bank of the Yellow River." After we reorganized into the National Revolutionary Army, the authorities are still harsh on us, but all the officers and men of my army have a determination, for the benefit of the nation-state, there was not a single copper plate in the past, and there is still no copper plate, and I am prepared not to have a copper plate in the future.
According to common sense, the family letter written by the son to the mother should be some words such as booing and asking for warmth and short parents. However, the content of this family letter to the mother is completely different, and it can be seen that the hero's mother is well-versed in the great righteousness and fully supports her son's revolution, otherwise the son would not have said so much about the revolution. Later facts proved this.
After five years, Zuo Quan sacrificed heroically. Her mother did not know the news of her son's sacrifice. Until 1949, when the People's Liberation Army was moving south to prepare for the liberation of all of China, Commander-in-Chief Zhu De arranged for the troops entering Xiang to detour through Liling to visit Zuo Quan's mother. At that time, the old man knew that his young son, whom he thought about day and night, had sacrificed his life for the country for seven years. Therefore, I asked someone to write a tribute text for my son: Wu'er resisted Japan and became a benevolent person, died where he wanted, and was worthy of a boy with aspirations. Now that we have succeeded in democratic liberation and sacrificed ourselves, what a pity, my children know, and the underground is blind!
Affection
General Zuo Quan's wife, Liu Zhilan (1917-1992), grew up in Beijing and was known as the "Seven Fairies" with his six sisters. She is good at calligraphy. He was very active during the "12.9" Movement and was the captain of the "Minxian" team of the Women's Affiliated High School of the Beijing Normal University. In February 1939, he went to the Shanxi Front, worked in the Women's Committee of the Central Northern Bureau and served as an instructor at the Shaanxi North Public School. Their matchmaker was Zhu De, the commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army, a general of the Left Quan who was devoted to the revolutionary cause, and only married Liu Zhilan at the age of thirty-four. On April 16, the two married in Beicun, Lucheng County, where the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army was stationed. In May of the following year, his daughter Zuo Taibei was born in the Eighth Route Army Headquarters Hospital. At that time, the Japanese army frantically attacked the Taihang base area. Three months later, the Hundred Regiments War began, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army was often transferred, and the family members had many inconveniences with the accompanying army. On August 30, when his daughter was less than 100 days old, Zuo Quan sent his mother and daughter to leave the front line for Yan'an, and the short-lived happiness of heaven became an eternal memory. Who knows, this time it was Zuo Quan's farewell to his beloved wife and young daughter.
Knowing that his wife and daughter had arrived safely in Yan'an, Zuo Quan wrote his first letter to his wife on November 12, 1940, and until his death twenty-one months later, he wrote a total of twelve letters to his wife, and eleven letters were lost because of one, and eleven letters are extant, about 16,000 words. At that time, due to the heavy blockade of the base area by the Japanese army, the twelve family letters were entrusted to Yan'an and handed over to Liu Zhilan. In these family letters, the most impressive thing is General Zuo Quan's deep love for his wife and daughter. Each family letter uses a large space to greet his wife and daughter, or express his thoughts, or express his love, which can be described as affectionate and meticulous.
For example, his third letter to his wife on May 20, 1941, which first addressed her learning and progress, said: "... I agree that the main reason for you to postpone is your study, because since we got married, you have constantly raised the question of wanting to postpone learning. After being born in Taibei, because of the relationship between children, seeing that you can't work very well and can't learn more, I think that after postponing my return, I can quickly deal with my children and quickly enter school, which is of course very good. So without hesitation agreed to your proposal. In fact, before you asked the question of retraction, I had already had a thought. Then, as if with a contradictory mentality, he said: "Comrades often say to me to bring Liu Zhilan back." I also agree with the kindness of these comrades, and sometimes I even want to suggest that you return to the front sooner, but the thought of your high desire for knowledge, the strength of your upward heart, and your always desire to make progress is the attitude that every Communist Party member should have. In order not to delay you, I had to suppress my eagerness and patience. Then he talked about the child's life, which was so meticulous: "The trustee bought two sets of small clothes on a hot day for Taibei, and he has not yet sent them, and the winter clothes are sent to you after they are ready, and the red sweaters go to the winter to send you once." If the clothes of taibei are enough to wear, you can keep them and dispose of them as you like..." This is the last part of the content, which seems to be family chores, food, clothing, shelter and transportation, but in fact shows the hot blood and soft intestines of the iron-boned general who gallops on the battlefield. In the war-torn environment, as a general who commands thousands of troops and horses, he saves money and carefully prepares daily necessities for his wife and daughter, which shows how deeply he loves his wife and daughter.
Even more moving to the reader was the last family letter written to his wife on May 22, 1942, three days before Zuo Quan's sacrifice. The letter begins with the love and longing for children and the imagination of the joy of heaven: "... I think Taibei has grown taller and knows a lot of things, how is she doing in the nursery? Can you see her often? At the time of the letter, Hido reported everything in the North. In idle swimming and sitting alone, sometimes it is as if you and Beibei are playing and talking with me, especially Beibei is very naughty, one time underground, one time crawling in the arms of his mother, and then from his mother's arms to his father's arms to make a fuss, it is really happy. Then the conversation turned sharply, and from the current separation to the expectation of reunion: "Unfortunately, three people are divided into three places, if they are together, it is really painful." However, for the sake of the revolutionary cause, Zuo Quan also advised his wife to have the courage to give up: "Repeat, although I love Taibei so much, but the situation has changed, you can boldly deal with the problem of Taibei according to your feelings, and you don't have to take care of me." Everything is based on the principle of not giving you more to suffer, no more hindering your learning and hindering the action when necessary. At the end of the letter, Zuo Quan expressed his fiery love to his wife, and at the same time did not forget to encourage each other: "Honey, it is easy to see and difficult to see, it has been twenty-one months since we were separated, when will we meet?" Read, read, read, read! We are willing to work hard under the wind of the party's rectification and strive for progress! Comfort yourself with progress, and reward yourself with progress. ”
Unexpectedly, this affectionate family letter has become a masterpiece. Three days later, on May 25, 1942, before Liu Zhilan received this "letter of last refusal", Zuo Quan was unfortunately killed in the Battle of Cross Ridge, and the young life of thirty-seven years old was forever fixed on the Taihang Mountain.
Regarding the details of Zuo Quan's sacrifice and the revolutionary spirit, Zuo Quan's partner Marshal Peng Dehuai once said affectionately to Zuo Taibei: "Your father must know that the first shell fired by the enemy was tentative, and the second shell will follow, and it is still too late to dodge." But why didn't your dad hide? You know, at that time, there were countless comrades and horses gathered on cross ridge, and your father could not leave his subordinates and rush out first. He died in his duty, in his post, in his infinite loyalty to the revolutionary ranks! ”
【Source: Zhuzhou Daily】
Copyright belongs to the original author, a tribute to the original