In the process of establishing New China, the role played by the people's army was crucial. From the Red Army to the People's Liberation Army, for more than 20 years, it was precisely because of their bloody sacrifices that the five-star red flag flew high in Tiananmen Square.
In the organization of the People's Liberation Army, we once divided the army into five major field armies, each of which was a well-known victorious division, especially the reputation of the Fourth Field Army.
As a powerful force of New China, the Fourth Field Army has made great contributions to the Republic, and they are the pride of our people's army.
However, in the course of writing history after the founding of New China, when the war histories of several other field armies were compiled or published one after another, the war histories of the Fourth Field Army were not written for a long time. It wasn't until a letter appeared that the problem was finally resolved.
In January 1994, Chen Yun, who was recuperating at home, received a letter, and he didn't care too much at first, but his brows suddenly locked up after seeing the name of the sender, because the envelope was written with Lin Xiaolin's name.
Chen Yun opened the letter and saw that it was written: "Uncle Chen, there are two things that need your help. The first thing is that I hope you will come forward and edit the combat history of the Fourth Field Army so as to give the soldiers of the Four Fields a reasonable treatment. The second thing is that I hope you can help and promote the construction of the Battle of Pingjin Memorial Hall..."
Lin Xiaolin is Lin Biao's daughter, she is the child of Lin Biao and his ex-wife Zhang Mei. In the summer of 1937, Lin Biao, who was already the president of Kang University, and Zhang Mei, who was known as "a flower in northern Shaanxi", got married, and the union of the two talented and beautiful people once became a beautiful conversation in Yan'an.
In 1938, Lin Biao was accidentally injured while wearing a Japanese army coat through Yan Xishan's Jinsui military defense area, because the injury was so serious that he had to go to the Soviet Union to recuperate, so he and his wife came to Moscow.
It was in this ice and snow capital that Lin Biao had his first child, Lin Xiaolin. Although the arrival of the child made the family more complete and warm, due to the couple's personality problems, Lin Biao and Zhang Mei chose to divorce.
After that, Lin Biao returned to China to participate in the Anti-Japanese War, while Zhang Mei has been living in the Soviet Union with her children. It was not until 1950 that Zhang Mei returned to China with her children.
After returning to China, Zhang Mei entered the university to continue her studies, later became a doctor, and met and married Xu Jiefan, who was also an old revolutionary, and Lin Xiaolin also regained a complete family.
After returning to China, Lin Xiaolin saw his father, Lin Biao loved his daughter he hadn't seen for many years, and held her on his lap and said a lot of questions. Although Lin Biao had formed a new family at that time, he did not dilute his love for his daughter Lin Xiaolin.
Having a father as a founding marshal is very honorable for a child, but Lin Xiaolin sees this very lightly, she never looks forward to being protected by her father, and even for her stepfather, who is a major general, Lin Xiaolin does not rely on her.
From here, we can see that Lin Xiaolin in his youth was a very low-key child, and this also made people not even know that Lin Biao had such an eldest daughter for a long time.
As an adult, Lin Xiaolin became more deeply aware of her father and the history of our Republic, and at the same time, Lin Xiaolin was also proud of our people's army, especially the "Fourth Field Army", and she had different feelings for this army.
About Shino, her history should be well known to us. During the War of Liberation, the PLA set up a total of five field armies, with five commanders, Peng Dehuai, Liu Bocheng, Chen Yi, Lin Biao, and Nie Rongzhen, leading five units: the first, second, third, fourth, and Huaye respectively. These five field armies all made great contributions in the War of Liberation and were all heroes of New China.
Just so-called: fierce warriors are like clouds and songs, and the bloody frontier is for the motherland. Among the five major field armies, if the four fields are taken out separately, the stories in them cannot be told for days and nights.
In the history of Siye, its initial force was the Northeast Field Army, which was the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army that had moved to the northeast, as well as the troops of the Northeast Resistance Alliance, and its mission was to fight with the Kuomintang army for the three eastern provinces.
As for the name of Shino, it was obtained on March 11, 1949, after the reorganization of the whole army.
At the time of exiting the customs, this was a force of only 100,000 people, and there was an extreme lack of weapons and equipment, but Zhu Rui, as the commander of the artillery team, did not even have a single gun, and finally relied on the artillery left by the Japanese from the river to arm the troops.
Compared with the Kuomintang army, which was sitting on a large amount of American-style equipment assistance, our people's army persisted in the struggle under such a difficult situation, and its difficulties and hardships can be imagined. However, just three years later, the situation in the northeast is completely different.
Thanks to the enthusiastic participation of the masses of the people, Siye has greatly expanded its military strength, turning it into a mighty division with a million troops, with a total of 18 corps, two columns, 12 field divisions, five cavalry divisions, one guard division, and one security brigade under its command.
Not only did the supply of troops abundant, but weapons and equipment also caught up, and they relied on Soviet assistance and their own capture, and by 1947 they already had more than a thousand guns, and the commander of the artillery, Zhu Rui, finally did not have to worry about artillery.
It was with such a powerful force that Siye won the Liaoshen Battle with his own strength, completely liberated the northeast, and then cooperated with the East China Field Army to win the Pingjin Campaign.
After that, Siye drove all the way south, successively carried out the Xianggan Campaign, the Gannan Campaign, the Hengbao Campaign, the liberation of Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan Island, and planted the banner of victory to the ends of the earth.
It is precisely because of such a glorious record that in the later awarding process, Shiye's honors were extraordinary.
As far as the number of generals is concerned, among the more than 1,600 founding generals of New China, 519 belong to the four wildernesses, accounting for one-third of the total number.
Among them, there are two marshals, three generals, eighteen generals, fifty-seven lieutenant generals, and four hundred and thirty-nine major generals.
This series of figures alone can actually show the important position of Siye, and Lin Biao became the youngest marshal of the Republic ranked third among the ten marshals of New China at the age of forty-eight, and Luo Ronghuan was praised by Chairman Mao as "the person who has worked with me all my life", not to mention Peng Zhen, Chen Yun, Gao Gang, Xiao Jinguang, Liu Yalou, Han Xianchu, etc., which are also telling the legend of Siye.
With such heroic troops, the state should not only give them honors and treatment, but also make them famous in history. Therefore, later, the state compiled war histories for various field armies to remember history and shine heroes.
But by the nineties, the war history of Ichino and Sanno had been repaired for a long time, and the war history of Erno had even been published, but the history of Shino's war had not moved.
Siye has to revise history, but many issues must be carefully considered and must be meticulous, which has brought a lot of difficulties to the work of compiling and revising war history, and relevant personnel have to devote more energy.
Therefore, while the war histories of other field armies were written one after another, the histories of the four fields have not moved. This is why Lin Xiaolin wrote a letter to reflect the problem, as a descendant of Lin Shuai, Lin Xiaolin has a strong sense of responsibility and honor for Siye, and hopes to promote this matter as soon as possible.
As for why Lin Xiaolin wrote to Chen Yun, there is also something to say about it. Chen Yun and Lin Biao are old colleagues and old comrades-in-arms. As early as after the defeat of Japan, the central government decided to march into the northeast, and at that time appointed Peng Zhen as the secretary of the northeast bureau, and Lin Biao and Chen Yun were among the deputy secretaries.
In 1983, the Jinzhou Liaoshen Battle Memorial Hall sorted out a collection reflecting the Liaoshen Campaign, and hoped that Chen Yun could inscribe it.
Chen Yun, as a first-hand witness of the Liaoshen Campaign, naturally would not refuse this matter, but he also believed that this matter could not be handled by a memorial hall, so he convened the staff of the publishing house and the memorial hall to talk in early August of that year.
In the conversation, Chen Yun pointed out: "We must view the Liaoshen Campaign comprehensively and in line with historical materialism, separate right from wrong, and in the right place, we should have a positive attitude. ”
At a forum a few days later, Chen Yun added: "On the question of the role of the Soviet side and the commanders and fighters of the troops in the Northeast Liberation War, although there is controversy at present, it cannot be evaded when compiling, otherwise this history cannot be clearly explained." ”
Even if he gave instructions twice in a row, Chen Yun was still not at ease.
The following year, Chen Yun wrote to the writing team of the book again: "For the people of the four wilderness and the column, we must pay attention to absorbing one or two of their articles... Don't make them unable to raise their heads because they were once Lin Biao's subordinates. Lin Biao is Lin Biao, and Lin Biao's old subordinate is Lin Biao's old subordinate. On this issue, we should adopt an attitude of historical materialism. ”
Under Chen Yun's guidance again and again, not only did the writing team of "Liaoshen Decisive Battle" open up their minds, but the thesis he advocated also once affected the compilation of Lin Biao's entry in the military volume of the Chinese Encyclopedia.
Under Chen Yun's influence, more and more cadres also opened their mouths to express their views on this matter; Huang Kecheng, who served as political commissar of the Second Corps of the Fourth Field Army, said: "Our troops were a little over 100,000 when we left the customs, and more than 1 million when we entered the customs, and we have also established a liberated area as large as the northeast." Of course, this is not the credit of a single person, but the role played by Lin Biao in it is also very important. ”
With the change of people's attitudes, the past history has finally become clear again. It was precisely because of seeing this that Lin Xiaolin, who had reached the age of smoothness at that time, finally summoned up the courage to write a letter to Chen Yun.
Chen Yun, who received the letter, was silent for a while, and his face became very solemn.
But soon, Chen Yun picked up the phone and called Hong Xuezhi, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. After the phone call, Chen Yun simply said to Hong Xuezhi: "There are two things that you need to do personally, come to Shanghai for an interview as soon as possible." ”
After receiving the call from the old chief, Hong Xuezhi also heard that Chen Yun's tone was very serious, and naturally did not dare to slack off, so he hurriedly bought a ticket to Shanghai.
As soon as he got off the plane, Hong Xuezhi hurried to Chen Yun's home, and when the two met, Chen Yun said to Hong Xuezhi very seriously: "The war history of Siye has not yet been compiled, and the memorial hall of the Pingjin Battle has not yet been completed. ”
At this point, Hong Xuezhi finally understood Chen Yun's intention of calling him over, and while being surprised, his mood also became heavy.
Chen Yun continued: "Lin Biao is Lin Biao, Siye is Siye, the war history of several other field armies has been written, and the history of the four field battles must also be organized and written, and it must be written well!" ”
In this regard, Hong Xuezhi's face also began to be difficult, and he said: "Old Chen, I am worried that I can't afford this task. ”
Chen Yun waved his hand and said, "I think you are very suitable, don't be presumptuous." ”
Why did Chen Yun let Hong Xuezhi do this? This is inseparable from Hong Xuezhi's early experience, because Hong Xuezhi is also a PLA general who came out of the northeast.
When he first marched into the northeast, Hong Xuezhi, as the deputy division commander, together with General Huang Kecheng we mentioned earlier, led the officers and men of the Third Division of the New Fourth Army into the northeast.
While in the northeast, Hong Xuezhi was appointed commander of the railway, dredged the railway from Chengde to western Liaoning, and ensured that the follow-up troops could smoothly enter the northeast.
Later, under the leadership of Lin Biao, Hong Xuezhi rushed to the front line of the battle, and he participated in the Tongliao Campaign, the Midfield Road Blockade Battle and the Siping Defense Battle.
Later, in the process of entering the pass, Hong Xuezhi participated in the Battle of Pingjin as the commander of the sixth column, and followed the liberation journey of Siye, all the way to Hainan Island.
From here, we can also understand that Chen Yun chose Hong Xuezhi because he had experienced the entire Liberation War and participated in a series of major battles including the Pingjin Battle as Lin Biao's capable general. It's better for someone who has seen it to do it.
And Hong Xuezhi has another advantage, that is, he looks like a fierce Zhang Fei, but he is a Zhang Fei who can "embroider", that is, he is bold and careful.
During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Hong Xuezhi was in charge of logistics work, and he was in charge of the food, clothing, warmth, and armament of front-line soldiers.
Regarding his work, Peng Dehuai once commented: "The victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was thanks to two mazi, one was Gao Mazi and the other was Hong Mazi. Mr. Peng's evaluation reflects from the side that Hong Xuezhi is not only a fierce general who can fight, but also a good hand who understands management.
In the face of Chen Yun's trust, Hong Xuezhi also knew that it was difficult for him to excuse himself. Chen Yun then said to him: "You report these two things to the Central Military Commission. Hong Xuezhi agreed.
On February 28 of that year, Hong Xuezhi's report to the Central Military Commission was approved, and a leading group for the compilation of the "Fourth Field Army's War History" was subsequently established.
In this group, Chen Yun and Peng Zhen served as general counsels, in addition to Lu Zhengcao, Xiao Ke, and other Shiye Suxun were also pulled over as advisers, and Hong Xuezhi served as the leader of the leading group.
The specific task of writing was entrusted to the Military Science Department, the Shenyang Military Region, and the Guangzhou Military Region to complete, and the time was set for three years later.
However, it is regrettable that before this war history was written, Chen Yun passed away. In fact, when Lin Xiaolin wrote to Chen Yun, Chen Yun's health was already very bad, he had Parkinson's syndrome, and his health was deteriorating.
By April 10, 1995, Chen Lao did not hold on after all, and when he died, he was still worried about the preparation of the war history, and told Hong Xuezhi to complete this matter.
Hong Xuezhi was extremely sad in his heart at that time, and he solemnly agreed to Elder Chen, and after bidding farewell to the old chief, he put all his energy on compiling the history of the four field battles.
In Hong Xuezhi's study, there is a large inscription written by Chen Yun before his death, which reads: "Not only the top, not only the book, only the truth." Exchange, compare, repeat. This character can be regarded as the compilation policy left by Chen Yun to the writing team, and it is faithfully implemented by everyone.
After three years, the "War History of the Fourth Field Army" was finally completed, and the Pingjin Battle Memorial Hall was officially inaugurated on July 23, 1997.
After completing these two major tasks, Hong Xuezhi felt relieved, not only because the promise to Chen Lao had been fulfilled, but also because this move made the hero who had shed blood in the black water of the White Mountain be remembered by history.
As for Lin Xiaolin, she was also relieved to see the completion of these two undertakings, and the guilt that plagued her was also alleviated.
Since then, Lin Xiaolin has still lived a peaceful life, does not accept any interviews, rarely shows her face in front of people, and only visits the battlefield site where her father once threw blood when she has the opportunity to commemorate it.
In 2007, Lin Xiaolin appeared at the Sanheba Revolution Memorial Hall, but was recognized by tourists, and many people came to take photos with her, and Lin Xiaolin did not refuse this time.
Later, in 2014, Lin Xiaolin also participated in the 80th anniversary of the Red Army's breakthrough of the Xiangjiang River campaign in Xing'an, Guangxi, and there were many revolutionary descendants like her.
The gathering of people to express their remembrance of their ancestors has a different meaning. Today, Lin Xiaolin is still alive.
In recent years, patriotic support for the army has increasingly become a mainstream consciousness, and this phenomenon did not come out of nowhere. After all, most people have not experienced the war firsthand, and they lack access to understanding, so it is difficult to resonate.
But in the current era, all kinds of media means are quickly and comprehensively transmitting this information to people, especially film and television dramas are the most direct. It is undeniable that the emergence of the trend of patriotic support for the army is closely related to this change.
This also illustrates the importance of documenting the work of writing. Life is perishable, words are eternal, and these inanimate words may contain thousands of living souls. For this alone, we must do a good job in recording and inheriting the history of the people's army.
The heroic souls who lie in the green mountains, lush pines and cypresses, and the heroic souls who lie in them should leave their names and deeds so that future generations can remember their achievements, so the cultivation of the history of the four fields is very necessary.
In this matter, whether it was Lin Xiaolin, Chen Yun, or Hong Xuezhi, they all contributed to the cultivation of the history of the four fields. Among them, Lin Xiaolin's sincerity is admirable, and Elder Chen's enthusiasm is even more moving, which can be said to be a good story.
Resources:
"The Fourth Field Army: Top Ten Tiger Generals, Outstanding Combat Achievements" - China Youth Network
"For New China - Documentary Exhibition of the Fourth Field Army's Conquest" - Heilongjiang Provincial Museum
"In 1994, Lin Biao's daughter made two requests, Chen Yun urgently summoned Hong Xuezhi: Leave it to you to do" - Guangzhou New Fourth Army Research Association