In an ordinary rural area in Fan County, Puyang City, Henan Province, a group of elderly people often gather together to chat. Sometimes, the elderly Li Wenxiang, who is more than 90 years old, will also participate in the small talk of this group of elderly people.
They talked nothing more than short gossip from some parents, and there was no real meaning. But they all enjoyed the pleasure of passing the day. Because many of them have experienced war and suffered a lot, they know that this peaceful and happy day is not easy to come by.
However, some people in this group were suddenly interested in Li Wenxiang's past, and one of them couldn't help but ask: "Wenxiang, you said that you have been a soldier for so many years, how come you have not been treated, and your life is not as good as a few of us." Hearing this, Li Wenxiang just waved his hand and loudly told the crowd: "There is no treatment, I don't want treatment, I go home just to be a farmer!" ”
Hearing Li Wenxiang's answer, several old people looked at each other and could not understand. Subsequently, several elderly people took up the topic and began to chat endlessly, sometimes it was difficult to hear. However, over the years, as long as someone mentioned to Li Wenxiang that he had joined the army to fight in the war, he had this attitude.
Li Wenxiang lived in seclusion in the countryside for decades, making contributions to the countryside in obscurity, never mentioning his merit badge to anyone, in order not to cause trouble to the country. Even in his later years, due to the after-effects of his injuries during the war years, he became impoverished and became the most difficult family in the village, and he never opened his mouth to the organization and asked the state for subsidies.
Of course, Li Wenxiang is sometimes teased by some people and gossips about him in private. For example, it is better to be a soldier than a cadre, you must not learn from Li Wenxiang, and in the end you still have to farm. Li Wenxiang, who is bent on building his hometown, has become a negative teaching material for some people, used to warn his children and nephews. Whenever he heard these words, Li Wenxiang pretended not to hear them and left on crutches.
One day, suddenly a group of people came to his home, and at first, Li Wenxiang thought that he was a condolence cadre of the Civil Affairs Bureau. Because it was during the New Year's Day, it was the time to comfort the old soldiers, and he received a notice a few days ago, and Li Wenxiang warmly welcomed them.
The people who came looked around at the simple house where Li Wenxiang lived, the house was dilapidated, and it was not too much to describe the four walls of the house. The only valuable things in the house were a dilapidated television set and an old rusty sewing machine.
When one of the leaders who came saw a photo of Li Wenxiang wearing a military uniform hanging on the wall, he began to talk with him and asked in detail about Li Wenxiang's experience in joining the army. Li Wenxiang saw that the leader was very interested in these things, and couldn't help but talk to him about the previous war, and when he was happy, he also took the leader to see the first watch he bought with the bonus after his meritorious service that year.
Subsequently, Li Wenxiang used the key to open a drawer with a lock, only to see a small cloth bag in the drawer. Li Wenxiang carefully opened the small cloth bag, and inside it were several military merit badges and a watch that had long been unused. But when the leader took a closer look, he was surprised to find that they were all first-class merit, second-class merit, special merit, and honorary medals of combat model! And this leader is Lu Zhangong, former secretary of the Henan Provincial Party Committee.
Looking at the military merit medals in front of him, Secretary Lu was so surprised that he could not speak, he originally thought that Li Wenxiang was just an ordinary veteran, but he did not expect that he had made so many military achievements in the war years. Shocked, Secretary Lu inquired in detail about Li Wenxiang's origins.
Li Wenxiang was born in 1925 to a poor peasant family in Fan County, Henan Province, and his mother died of illness at the age of a few years. In order to make a living, Li Wenxiang followed his father to the north and south since he was a child, doing some small business outside to make a living, and living a life of hunger and cold.
In February 1947, at the age of 22, Li Wenxiang joined the People's Liberation Army with a patriotic feeling and became a soldier in the 85th Regiment of the 29th Division of the 10th Column of the East China Field Army. Less than a year after joining the army, Li Wenxiang participated in the Battle of Jinan with his troops.
In this battle, the most central part is to blow up the city gate of Jinan City. Because the task was arduous and dangerous, when selecting the members of the demolition team, the first thing to consider was the Communist Party. Since Li Wenxiang did not have a party member status at that time, when he asked to join the blasting team, he was directly rejected by the instructor. But he insisted on participating and vowed to complete the mission, and the instructor had no choice but to make an exception for Li Wenxiang to join the blasting operation.
The Battle of Jinan was officially launched, and this was the first time that the People's Liberation Army had broken through a large city heavily guarded by heavy troops, and Li Wenxiang and other members of the demolition team were ready to attack. Other PLA people suppressed the enemy with firepower, and Li Wenxiang pushed a large cart of bombs into the rain of bullets and bullets, regardless of life and death, and pushed forward step by step with great difficulty. He knew very well that the road under his feet was paved with the flesh and blood of countless comrades-in-arms, and he must not fall here.
In the end, Li Wenxiang, who was seriously injured, used all his strength to push a whole cart of explosives under the Yongzhen gate and quickly ignited the lead. With a loud bang, the gate of Jinan, which was strongly defended by the enemy, was finally blown open. Immediately afterward, the People's Liberation Army rushed straight into the city, and after a fierce battle, liberated the city of Jinan in one fell swoop. In this battle, Li Wenxiang made a second-class merit.
In the subsequent Battle of Huaihai, Li Wenxiang followed his troops from Nianzhuang all the way to the southwest. Because the Kuomintang army was well equipped, the People's Liberation Army specially studied a set of methods to blow up tanks, and Li Wenxiang was one of the best.
Because of Li Wenxiang's small stature, he was often able to accurately pack explosives between the wheels and tracks of enemy tanks. In the Battle of Huaihai, Li Wenxiang used such a clever trick of blowing up tanks, blowing up more than twenty enemy tanks in total. Immediately afterward, Li Wenxiang participated in the Lulou Blockade Battle.
Especially after the fall of the Nationalist army in Xuzhou, the remnants of the Kuomintang were defeated in the southwest direction, and Li Wenxiang's troops were responsible for encircling them. After several days of fierce fighting between the enemy and us, Li Wenxiang's company was left with only him.
In the face of such a dilemma, Li Wenxiang still insisted on holding the position alone, not leaving every step, so that the people were in the position, and persisted until the arrival of reinforcements. Subsequently, Li Wenxiang participated in the encirclement and annihilation battle. In this battle, Li Wenxiang single-handedly killed more than 30 enemies. In this battle, Li Wenxiang was awarded the special merit and promoted from a soldier to a deputy squad leader.
Later, Li Wenxiang participated in the Battle of Crossing the River and the Battle of Shanghai, and made a first-class merit. However, the process of meritorious service this time is very dangerous, it can be said that he walked around in the pile of dead people. In this battle, Li Wenxiang joined the commando team and blew up Liu Xing's international radio, but suffered heavy casualties, leaving 3 people in the entire platoon.
In order to complete the blasting mission, Li Wenxiang fell into the pile of dead people to pack the corpses, and even if he was stabbed by the enemy with a bayonet, he did not say a word. When the enemy let down his guard, Li Wenxiang quietly climbed up and successfully exploded the popular international radio.
In 1949, Li Wenxiang participated in the Battle of Fuzhou, made military merits again, and won the award of special meritorious service to the people. In the same year, Li Wenxiang participated in the Battle of Pingtan Island, which was close to Fuzhou. In this battle, Li Wenxiang pushed the enemy to a desperate situation. Although the enemy after the surrender repented and fired at Li Wenxiang, he was eventually taken by Li Wenxiang smoothly. In this campaign, Li Wenxiang made new contributions and became a model of combat.
Seeing Taiwan at hand, Li Wenxiang wanted to liberate Taiwan for a while, but because his superiors did not give the order. Li Wenxiang had no choice but to stay on Pingtan Island, and every day in the closest place to Taiwan, imagining the joy of recovering Taiwan. It was only a short distance of 68 nautical miles, and as long as the state gave an order, he would retake Taiwan with a large army.
However, four years later, Li Wenxiang was promoted from squad leader to deputy platoon leader, and from deputy platoon leader to platoon leader, but he still did not wait for the order of his superiors.
In 1955, Li Wenxiang was promoted to deputy company commander and was awarded the rank of second lieutenant. In 1956, Li Wenxiang, who did not wait for the battle, could only recover and change his profession and work as an officer in the Fujian Provincial Construction Department. I thought that I could spend this life happily and worry-freely, but in 1962, in order to respond to the call of the state, Li Wenxiang took the initiative to return to his hometown as a farmer.
When Li Wenxiang returned to the countryside of Henan, he had no products and just took his wife back to his hometown. Since then, he has taken root in the rural grassroots and worked hard, all he wants is to let the villagers live a good life. Li Wenxiang served for many years as a militia company commander, a production brigade captain, and a village director, and did a lot of practical things for the villagers.
No matter what happened in the village, Li Wenxiang always rushed to the forefront to benefit the villagers, but he was the last person in the village to build his own house.
In fact, in the early years, the Fujian Provincial Government twice transferred him back to continue to be a cadre, but he refused. He was reluctant to be a father and fellow villager in his hometown, and he wanted to rely on his own strength to let the villagers live a good life.
Li Wenxiang has lived in obscurity in the countryside for decades, selflessly dedicating his residual heat. No one knew that he was a revolutionary hero with many military achievements, and it was not until Secretary Lu found out that he revealed his true identity.
Later, Li Wenxiang won the title of National Model of Dedication and Dedication in the Third National Moral Model Selection. He also served as a deputy to the National People's Congress. Even with such an honor, Li Wenxiang is still as always, living his ordinary life with hardship and simplicity.
When the government wanted to build and renovate a house for this revolutionary hero, Li Wenxiang resolutely refused, believing that as long as the house could be lived, he did not want to waste the country's money. In Li Wenxiang's heart, there is only the great righteousness of the country, the masses of the people, the fathers and fellow countrymen, but there is no himself.
Whether on the battlefield of war or in the harsh countryside, Li Wenxiang was obscure, buried in hard work, bowed down and died. Li Wenxiang is a model for my generation to learn, and what is needed in our time is his spirit of selfless dedication.