Heart/Photo
Visit the general's hometown
Text/Jiang Feng
1
The stream is babbling, clear and transparent, green mountains, lush.
From Huangwu Town to Yueshan Nanzhu Mountain House, is a tributary of the water, the famous stream, along this meandering stream, to pass through eight ferries, just into the mountain pass, called the head ferry, followed by the second ferry, three ferry water... All the way to the Hachidu River, each crossing of the water is the settlement of the cottage.
The path along the stream is the road that a teenager walked the most more than a hundred years ago, more than ten kilometers to the town of Huangwu, and I don't know how many hours of walking it took.
Today, I came in by car by road, and it took me twenty minutes.
On both sides of the stream, most of them are surnamed Jiang. Casually ask a family on the side of the road, that is, the surname Jiang. I asked, where is the former residence of General Gan Siqi? The villagers told me very warmly, "You are asking about the former residence of General Jiang Fengwei, right?" You have to go up and do it at the Badu Shui Nan Bamboo Mountain House."
In Badushui, locals pointed to a clearing and told me that it was once the former residence of General Jiang Fengwei.
In fact, I already knew in my heart that for the sake of the revolution, the general changed his name and surname, and for the sake of the revolution, he did not have his own children, so how could he care about a former residence?
What I came looking for was actually the trajectory of the general's life.
2
On the thirteenth day of the eleventh month of the twenty-ninth year of Guangxu (1903), the cry of a baby sounded in this ravine, breaking through the pre-dawn darkness. When he was born, he had three older brothers and an older sister, the fifth in the family, but seventh among his uncles and brothers, known as the Seven Sons, and later two younger brothers were born.
According to the genealogy of the Jiang surname, in the second year of Tang Tongguang (924), the Later Tang Dynasty's imperial master Jiang Dehou moved to the confluence of The Water and the Creek in Ningxiang Huangcai Town, which has a history of more than 1,000 years, and its descendants have multiplied on the upper reaches of the River and the banks of the Creek.
Curiously, from the beginning of the twentieth century, on both sides of the Creek, Shang zhou bronzes were constantly found. On the Zuo'erlun Mountain, which is only 1 kilometer away from the Badushui of The Moon Mountain, siyang Fangzun was unearthed, which is now the "treasure of the town hall" of the National Museum, and only 200 meters away from the land of the Siyang Fangzun was unearthed, an elephant pattern large bronze bronze cymbal weighing 221.5 kilograms known as the "King of Chinese Cymbals", and in the Tanhe River where the Xixi and the Water Meet, the only Bronze Human Face Fangding of the Shang Dynasty with human face as the main decoration was unearthed, which later became the "treasure of the town hall" of the Hunan Provincial Museum. Just 3 kilometers away from The Badu River, there is a primeval forest of magical fragrant trees that emit a strange fragrance. The ancestors of the Jiang surname seem to have come to guard this Shang Zhou bronze.
The ancestors of the Seven Sons lived here in the farming life of the heirlooms. His grandfather Jiang Pengming (zi Zhaohan), good at cutting wood and burning charcoal, transported the charcoal he and the farmers had fired to the Yellow Charcoal River, and then used wooden boats to transport them along the water to Ningxiang County to sell, slowly accumulated some wealth, built more than a dozen houses, and became a well-known and solid home in the local area. However, he only gave birth to two daughters, "no filial piety has three, no queen is greater", which is a Chinese tradition, so he passed on Jiang Hongrui (zi Yufeng), the son of his cousin Jiang Qiming (字伯丕, quanru), as a child and continued the incense.
Jiang Hongrui went to a private school to study, learned to write papers, helped others fight lawsuits, and became famous in the Area of Huang Cai. He married a local He family girl, the couple was industrious and frugal, and by the end of Guangxu, he had more than twenty acres of thin land. But with the birth of six sons and a daughter, young and old, a family of more than ten people, the burden of family life is increasing.
Seven dolls can not all be sent to the school hall, according to the old tradition of Ningxiang farming and reading heirlooms, farmers with many sons often do farm work at home to support their families, and the middle sends books to seek meritorious names. Jiang Hongrui saw that the seven men usually like to read books and like to ask questions about everything they do, so he sent him to a private school run by the Liudushui clan to study.
Because it was the thirty-second generation of the "Feng" character school surnamed Jiang, the private school teacher named the seven men Jiang Fengwei, the character Bingkun, and explained and encouraged them: "Xianglin Weifeng, the hero of the world, the mian zhi mianzhi, do not live up to my words."
When feng wei came home from school, Feng Wei wanted to help the family herd cattle. Other friends played in the river and caught fish while herding cattle, and Feng Wei always carried a book in his hand. The little friend laughed at him as a "nerd on the back of a cow".
On the first day of March in the fourth year of the Republic of China (1915), Jiang Hongrui helped others win a lawsuit, especially happy, drank a little wine at noon, but suddenly fell to the ground, and when Langzhong rushed to his home, he had stopped beating.
The untimely death of his father became the misfortune and great disaster of this big family, and those who forced debts and took advantage of the fire and robbery flocked to the Jiang family. The young mother, Ho, had to bear the burden of raising her seven young children, and even if she had the money to send her children to school.
Jiang Fengwei dropped out of school, and the twelve-year-old boy followed his three older brothers to chop firewood, reclaim the land, plant sweet potatoes, plough the fields, plant seeds, harvest, and learn all kinds of agricultural work.
3
Unwilling to stay in this mountain rush for a lifetime, Jiang Fengwei yearned for the outside world. He learned from his classmates that there was a new-style school under Shuiyun Mountain, more than twenty kilometers away from home, called Yunshan School, and he was eager to go there to study.
The Jiang family has always had a tradition of sponsoring poor children to study. His mother told him that the patriarch of the ancestral hall surnamed HuangCaijiang was his father's closest friend and might be able to help. He went to the town of Huangcai to find the patriarch and hoped to get help. The patriarch and the elders consulted and decided to fund this clever and reading child from the public funds of the ancestral hall surnamed Jiang to go to school, but the ancestral hall only funded tuition, and the living expenses had to be prepared by themselves.
In the autumn of 1918, Jiang Fengwei walked out of Yueshan Chong and was admitted to the thirteenth class of High School of Yunshan School. He brings his own sweet potato rice from home as a staple food. Sometimes the brothers sent him once in a while, and sometimes they came home on their own during the holidays, more than twenty kilometers away, relying on their own legs.
Yunshan School, also known as Yunshan Academy, was founded in the fourth year of Qing Tongzhi (1865) and is known as the "cradle of the Ningxiang Revolution", the revolutionary pioneer of Ningxiang and the "Ningxiang Four Hairs" who spread the revolutionary torch - He Shuheng, Jiang Mengzhou, Xie Jueya, and Wang Lingbo all taught here.
Here, Jiang Fengwei met the best teacher. The principal is Wang Lingbo, and Xie Jueya is the director of teaching, as well as his homeroom teacher and teacher of Chinese language, history and geography. At this time, although He Shuheng left Yunshan School and went to Changsha, he often returned and funded Jiang Fengwei's living expenses through Xie Jueya.
Here is a whole new world, the study is no longer the private school of "Zhi Hu Ye", but there are Chinese languages, there are natural science disciplines, learning theory, but also to learn skills, vernacular language instead of wen Yanwen, "the world rises and falls, the pirate has the responsibility" The patriotic idea replaces the traditional theory of Zunkong reading the Bible. In addition to giving him help in life, Xie Jueya is more of an inspiration for his thoughts. Jiang Fengwei's current political treatise", "On the Rise and Fall of the World, pifu has the Responsibility", from shallow to deep, from the surface and the inside, expounds the current situation of the situation and the responsibilities of scholars, and shows his ambition to serve the country and the responsibility of protecting the country. "Evaluate the first class, and make a model essay to pass on the whole school."
In July 1920, after graduating from Yunshan School, Jiang Fengwei was admitted to Changsha No. 13 United Middle School (i.e., Changjun Middle School), the most influential government-run middle school in Changsha at that time, and Jiang Fengwei studied here before and after, including Li Weihan, Li Fuchun, Li Lisan, Chen Geng, Guo Liang, Zeng San and other alumni who later became famous revolutionaries of the CCP.
Under the introduction of He Shuheng, he soon joined the Xinmin Society founded by Mao Zedong and became one of the important members, participating in the student movement to expel Zhang Jingyao and becoming a strong backbone of the student movement in Chang county middle school.
When the elders of the Jiang family who were far away in Huangcai heard these situations, they were very worried that this child would not study well in Changsha, and if he continued to toss like this, it would bring trouble to everyone, so he stopped his tuition subsidies, and he had to drop out of school again and return to Yueshan Chong to cultivate the land.
4
A year later, some well-meaning people persuaded the patriarch that a good offspring like Feng Wei should help him more, and there would definitely be a big surprise in the future. The ancestral hall surnamed Jiang resumed his financial support, and he was able to continue his education in Changsha.
In 1924, Jiang Fengwei was admitted to the Hunan Public Law and Politics College (now Hunan University), and in 1925 he joined the Communist Youth League of China.
The winter of 1925 was particularly cold. During the winter vacation, Jiang Fengwei returned to Huangcai and listened to the villagers talk about the numerous crimes of Yang Zhize, the mayor of Dahu Town and the director of the RegimentAlpin Defense Sub-bureau, in Huangcai and Huangshan.
Because Yang Zhize, who had made meritorious contributions to suppressing Zhang Sanyuan's peasant uprising, was arrogant and arrogant, and he was also the brother-in-law of He Yao, a military and political figure of the Nationalist government at that time and the commander of the Second Division of the Xiang Army, he embezzled the treasury coupons allocated to the people by the province, blackmailed the villagers, fished and fleshed the people, and plundered the people's fat and people's paste. ”
Jiang Fengwei mobilized the masses, organized mass demonstrations, closed shops and went on strike, printed leaflets and distributed them, submitted a complaint against Yang Zhize to the provincial court, submitted an article to Changsha's "Popular Daily" to expose Yang's crimes, and recovered the treasury coupons for the villagers. In July 1926, the Ningxiang Regimental Defense Bureau arrested Yang Zhize and sent him to the provincial court for legal action. However, Yang was detained in the provincial capital for several months and was not dealt with. From October 17 to 21, under the organization of the Ningxiang Special Branch of the Communist Party of China, a huge mass parade and petition campaign was organized in Ningxiang and Changsha, and Jiang Fengwei and seven other people were elected as representatives to petition Zhang Yipeng, the acting governor at the time, demanding that Yang be killed. Under strong public pressure, on November 13, 1926, Yang Zhize, who had committed the most heinous crimes, was shot and killed in Changsha Zhizhiling.
This incident had a great impact at that time, and the shock to the people was also great. On March 5, 1927, Mao Zedong published the "Report on the Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan", which exemplifies the combined forces of students and the people, and twice mentions the shooting of Yang Zhize.
In 1926, under the introduction of Jiang Mengzhou, Jiang Fengwei joined the Communist Party of China. In the spring of 1927, the 23-year-old Jiang Fengwei was selected to study at Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow, the Soviet Union, bid farewell to the Xiang River, went to the Volga River, and then returned from his studies, starting a new journey in his life.
Thirty-three years later, it has been thirty-three years since I returned to the banks of the Shuishui River.
5
On January 23, 1959, thirty-three years ago, the enthusiastic young lady who led the villagers in their struggle against the bullies and had the ideal of saving the country and the people returned.
Today, his household name is Gan Siqi, the founding general of the republic, and his wife is Li Zhen, the only founding female general of the republic.
Why was it renamed Gan Siqi? I once consulted the general's nephew Jiang Yuan.
In 1930, after Jiang Fengwei returned to China, he worked in the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai, and in order to conceal his identity, he changed his name to Gansiqi in the harmonic sound of the Russian name Gansky. Since then, posterity only knows gan Siqi, but does not know Jiang Fengwei.
Thirty-three years later, he once again embarked on the road back to his hometown. On this day, the sky drifted the first snow of the winter, and the natural, simple and quiet mountain village seemed to welcome the return of the wanderer in this enthusiastic way.
For Li Zhen, after 25 years of marriage with Gan Siqi, she is still the first time to come to Huangcai.
"Old Li, you are going to your mother-in-law's house for the first time, do you know why our hometown is called Badushui?" In the car, Gan Siqi said to Li Zhen.
Li Zhen shook her head.
"This river called The River, originating from the Mountain, usually, the stream is clear, the long stream is continuous, but a torrential rain, the flood flows, there is no bridge on the stream, can only rely on jumping stones to cross the water, the first time to cross the water is called the first crossing, the second crossing of the water is called the second crossing, and so on..."
"I know, when I come to your house, I want to cross the water for the eighth time!" Li Zhen laughed.
"Yes, in the winter, crossing the water barefoot, it is cold and red. Now that I'm on the road, I'm sitting on the car and welcoming my new daughter-in-law to my in-laws' house, so I don't have to take off my shoes to cross the water. Gan Siqi's words made a car laugh.
6
Most of the villagers are the first time to see the general and his wife, in people's imagination, the general who returns to his hometown must be richly dressed and full of style. But the only founding general couple of the famous republic that people saw were dressed in old army coats, easy-going and smiling.
One of the general's cousins looked at him carefully and said, "I said Fengwei, I heard that you were a great general in Beijing and made great contributions to the revolution. ”
"Son-in-law, the old cotton jacket is good, and the dress is warm." You say that I have made great contributions to the revolution, and this merit is indeed not detailed; the whole country has been liberated, the people have turned themselves into masters, and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea has defeated the Americans, but this credit is not mine, it is the wise leadership of Chairman Mao and the Communist Party. The general replied with a smile.
A younger brother proposed: "Brother, you have become such a big official in Beijing, and your nephews and nieces are still farmers in their hometown, can you help them find a job in Changsha or Beijing?" ”
The general said, "Work well at home and do your best." Just because I am a relative of Jiang Fengwei, I can't take special care. If you are reading, as long as you can read, Old Li and I will eat less, and we will send you to read, only through reading, is the right way, other roads are not feasible. ”
Later, some of the children of the relatives who had difficulties in their families were supported by the generals and their spouses.
At that time, during the three-year difficult period, the general saw that although the life of the villagers had changed compared with before the founding of New China, their lives were still very difficult and their hearts were very heavy. He whispered to his nephew Jiang Guozhang: "Guozhang, you are the accountant of the brigade, I believe you can help me do one thing." ”
The general took out a stack of money from the old army coat, about a few dozen yuan, and said to Jiang Guozhang: "I have not returned home for more than thirty years, your aunt is also the first time to go to the in-laws' house, I came in a hurry, and it is almost the New Year, this little money is distributed to me, distributed to the most difficult widows and widows, some can be 10 yuan, some can be 8 yuan, if they can't be separated, they can also be 5 yuan or 4 yuan." I also helped me explain that, first, etiquette is light and affectionate, which is a little bit of li zhen and I; second, we must overcome difficulties, rely on ourselves, be diligent and thrifty, and believe in the party, and our future life will surely get better and better. "At that time, more than 5 yuan could probably buy a hundred catties of rice.
"I will definitely get things done, please rest assured uncle." Jiang Guozhang answered.
Some villagers do not understand the general and his wife, and the saying that "big cadres only have small feelings" has been rumored in Yueshan Chongli.
7
At the site of the Yueshan Commune, after the responsible person of the commune party committee reported on the work, he took out the report that had been prepared long ago to change the name of "Yueshan Finished Elementary School" to "Gansiqi Primary School" and asked him to write the name of the school.
"How does this work, isn't it good that the Moon Mountain is small?" Why change it to 'Gansiqi Primary School'? Like you, I am an ordinary Party member, only a few days before I joined the revolution, and it is not right for you to do this, and if I do what you think, I am wrong. The general looked at the report and said solemnly.
"Old Gan is right, comrades must understand." Seeing that Gan Siqi spoke so seriously, Li Zhen hurriedly spoke to ease the atmosphere.
"I understand your feelings, I understand it, but I can't accept it, as for you to build a good school, this is a great thing, I support it." The general said in a soothing tone.
The head of the commune also proposed to repair the former home of the general, who had been damaged, and the general said that the country was still very poor, and we should not waste money on it.
Later, in order to support the development of their hometown, the general and his wife personally donated 5 large tractors and 2 large motors. Decades later, before Li Zhen died, he left a last word, donating all his family property of more than 11,000 yuan of bank deposits, more than 2,500 yuan of treasury bills and two gold bars, half to Ningxiang Yueshan and half to Liuyang Yonghe for the development of education. Li Zhen said: "This is also Lao Gan's last wish. ”
After dinner, relatives and friends accompanied the general and his wife on a walk by the stream, and heard the sound of trees being cut down on the mountain, and at the same time, seeing that the original dense forest on the mountain had become bare, the general asked what was going on. Someone replied that the trees were used to burn charcoal to make steel.
The general sighed, took off his military hat, and touched the top of his thinning hair: "In the past, the trees here were densely forested, but now, like my hair, there are few!" ”
When he left Yueshan the next day, the general instructed the commune cadres and villagers to plant more trees and protect this green mountain and water.
Unfortunately, this was the first time the general returned to his hometown after the founding of New China, and it was also the last time he returned to his hometown.
On February 5, 1964, on the eve of the Spring Festival, the general went to work in the general political compound in the morning, just entered the elevator, his face was pale, fell in the elevator, and when the ambulance was delivered to the hospital, the heart of this child stopped beating forever.
8
Not leaving a son and a half daughter for her husband Gan Siqi is a regret for Li Zhen.
On New Year's Day 1935, introduced by Ren Bishi's wife Chen Chunying and married by He Long, in Yongshun, Xiangxi, Gan Siqi, who was the director of the Political Department of the Red Second Army, married Li Zhen, director of the Organization Department of the Political Department of the Red Second Army. This battlefield wedding on the Long March Road is very simple. In July 1936, after a seven-month-pregnant child died prematurely, Li Zhen was also ill, and the cruel war environment made her lose her fertility.
"Old Gan, before it's too late, we'll break up, and you'll marry another wife and have you a baby!" Li Zhen said to Gan Siqi many times.
"I want a lover, not a child!" Gan Siqi replied.
Li Zhen believes that she is a child bride and has had two marriages before, while Gan Siqi drank "foreign ink" in the Soviet Union, and she is married for the first time, and she is not as good as him.
"What I want is a lover", what a simple word, without too much explanation, without too many sweet words, but full of Gan Siqi's deep love for his wife.
I have to say that at that time, among the senior generals of the army, many people had many marriages. Some old comrades-in-arms said to Gan Siqi: "Old Gan, you have been revolutionizing for decades, you should have a child of your own!" In fact, these comrades-in-arms reminded him that he could remarry and find someone to give birth to a child for himself. The general laughed when he heard it.
Gan Siqi served most of his life as a political worker, successively serving as a party representative of the Independent First Division of the Red Army, director of the Political Department of the Red Sixth Army, the Red Second Army, and the Red Second Front, the director of the Political Department of the Eighth Route Army's 12 O Division, the director of the Political Department of the Northwest Jinbei Military Region, the Jinsui Military Region, and the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Jinsui United Defense Army, the director of the Political Department of the Northwest Field Army and the First Field Army, the deputy political commissar and director of the Political Department of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army, and the deputy director of the General Political Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and was in charge of the literary and artistic work of the troops for a long time. There were many beautiful women in the literary and artistic troupe, and some literary and artistic female soldiers were full of love for this leader who could write and be martial and approachable, but Gan Siqi was unmoved, and his love for Li Zhen was as firm as ever, and there was never a scandal.
"Old Li, we can raise the children of martyrs as our own children." Gan Siqi proposed to his wife.
The general couple adopted 29 children in their lifetime. These children, including the children of Gan Siqi and Li Zhen's relatives in their hometowns with family difficulties, and most of them are the children of martyrs and comrades-in-arms, who have grown up under their education, and who have excelled in both character and learning, and more than twenty people have been admitted to colleges and universities to study, making contributions in the fields of national defense, science and technology, culture and education, and medical treatment.
9
Without his real name, his name is a household name; without his own children, his children are more than others; without his own former residence, the villagers keep that piece of former residence forever.
The general's broad mind and lofty demeanor will always remain in the hearts of the people of his hometown.
Today, the original Yueshan Township has belonged to Huangcai Town, with Xixi Village, Yueshan Village and Longquan Village. Walking into the Yueshan Gorge in the Xixi River Basin, the mountains are rolling and winding, and the stream flows quietly; looking out, the jungle on the mountain is luxuriant, like a green ocean. On both sides of the stream, most of them are white-walled and green-tiled two-story farmhouses, and every household is connected to a cement road, and some of the paths are planted with many unknown wildflowers. In Badushui, there is a lotus garden, and in summer, "the lotus leaves are infinitely blue, and the lotus flowers are different red." On the side of the road stood a sign that read, "The General's Hometown Lotus Garden."
The villagers' lives are better and their living standards have improved. However, the villagers in their hometown look forward to the return of the general and his wife to their hometown and always be with the landscape of their beloved hometown; the villagers are even more looking forward to the restoration and construction of the former residence of the general and the construction of the red memorial.
"Drink water and do not forget to dig wells", as posterity, we should not forget history, we should build this place into a hot land for red education and patriotic education, so that future generations will always remember the history of the republic. Together with the land of the four sheep fangzun, the dragon spring rafting, the original forest of the fragrant tree, the city wall dashan forest park, etc., the general's hometown was built into a beautiful home that combined red culture and tourism.
(This article refers to the relevant information of the "Biography of the Founding General Gan Siqi Li Zhen and His Wife", special thanks!) ）
Jiang Feng, real name: Jiang Taijun, a native of Ningxiang, Hunan, graduated from the Department of Chinese of Central China Normal University, worked as a teacher and associate professor in colleges and universities, and is now working in a provincial unit in Hunan.