In 1983, a 72-year-old man in Lushi County, Henan Province, was lying on a hospital bed for chemotherapy, at this time the old man's head had entered a state of sometimes awake and sometimes confused, but he still often chanted one thing, that is, he often told others about his heroic deeds in those years.
"He said that he single-handedly saved more than 3,000 old Red Army soldiers when he was young, he said that he was a real old Red Army member, he said that he also had sacrificed for the party, he said that he ... Saying that, the old man was lonely on the hospital bed, choked in his throat, and the following words could no longer be spoken, and finally he squeezed out a sentence with difficulty: "But the country... Why don't you make me pay party dues? ”
In the eyes of others, these words he said were some nonsense when his head was confused, and others would have long been unimpressed if they heard more.
Until one day two young party cadres came to the hospital to find him, listening carefully to the nagging of the old man by the hospital bedside, holding a pen and a notebook in his hand, recording the words spoken from the mouth of the old man word by word, at this moment the old man is happy, when describing the deeds of that year, his eyebrows fluttered and danced, so what did the old man say to the party members, how much of the words he said were true, and how should the party members verify?
The old man's name was Chen Yanxian, he was 72 years old at the time, his body had already entered his old age, he tried to recall the past from the hospital bed, and tried to explain it clearly to the two party members, the beginning of the matter had to start from 49 years ago, a dusty 49-year military-civilian cooperation, slowly from the mouth of the old man.
Chen Yanxian was originally born in Jincheng, Shanxi, due to the poor conditions at home, his parents lost their lives in the chaotic times, and he had no choice but to take his grandmother to flee everywhere, and when the two fled to Lushi County, they settled down in this place, but they did not have a field here, and even the most basic livelihood was difficult to solve.
A young boy Lang, in desperation, took up a burden on his shoulders early, with two large boxes hanging on both sides of the burden, the boxes were full of goods, relying on two legs to run between Jin, Yu and Shaanxi, he ran in all directions just to make the goods in the box easy out, so he could only make a living with difficulty.
In 1934, during this period, Chiang Kai-shek gathered hundreds of thousands of troops and began to launch a comprehensive encirclement and suppression of the Red Army, and the Red Army also formulated counter-encirclement and suppression tactics against Chiang Kai-shek, due to the gap in equipment and numbers, the Red Army began a strategic shift after the failure of the fifth counter-encirclement and suppression, forced to withdraw from the Central Soviet Region, and began a vigorous long march.
In December 1934, the 25th Army of the Red Army came to the vicinity of Lushi County, at this time the 25th Army had just jumped out of the enemy's encirclement, and only more than 3,000 people remained from the original more than 10,000 people.
This situation put this army in a dilemma, directly attacked, they are sure to destroy this garrison, but their losses will be particularly large, and they are easy to be caught up by Chiang Kai-shek's main army, so that the troops will face the risk of total annihilation.
When the Red 25th Army was in a dilemma, a big guy carrying a burden of the seller entered the sentry's field of vision, and the sentry controlled the seller, because they didn't know if this seller was a traitor sent by the enemy, after all, it was related to the safety of 3,000 people in their army, and the sentry had no choice but to bring this seller to the chief, and this seller was Chen Yanxian.
After Chen Yanxian saw the chief, his expression was extremely panicked, and he still had some Shanxi accents in his mouth, saying that he was just an ordinary people, and there were still old people in the family who needed to be supported, don't arrest him and so on...
The chief Chen Yanxian met was Cheng Zihua, commander of the Red 25th Army, Cheng Zihua was also from Jincheng, Shanxi, Cheng Zihua listened to Chen Yanxian's familiar Shanxi accent, and calmed Chen Yanxian in Shanxi dialect with a kind face, telling him not to be so nervous, they would not arrest him, but just needed to ask him something.
In Cheng Zihua's three words, he knew Chen Yanxian's net worth background and the route he took to and from when selling goods.
Cheng Zihua then began to call a meeting of all the cadres of the 25th Army to discuss together, and finally everyone agreed that the best way was to hire Chen Yanxian as their guide, hoping to lead their troops to avoid the enemy's garrison and cross the mountain without knowing it.
When Cheng Zihua talked to Chen Yanxian about this matter, Chen Tingxian was still particularly afraid in his heart, at that time, the Red Army was rendered by the National Name Party, and the Red Army was a red bandit in the impression of ordinary people, a mountain and forest bandit who did all evil.
No, Cheng Zihua's attitude is amiable, Chen Yanxian doesn't look like bad people, plus Cheng Zihua is also a fellow villager in Jincheng, Shanxi, which inevitably makes Chen Yanxian feel a little closer in his heart, so he agreed to Cheng Zihua to be their guide this time.
Cheng Zihua took Chen Yanxian to the headquarters, pointed to the map and said about the predicament they are encountering now, Chen Yanxian scratched his head and said that he couldn't understand the map, and made a twisted and embarrassed look, but then he said the location of the enemy's garrison, and drew the nearby mountain roads with branches on the ground, and the mountain paths Chen Yanxian drew crookedly, which he drew obviously did not have on the map.
Seeing this, Cheng Zihua and the people in the headquarters were all overjoyed, according to the crooked path drawn by Chen Yanxian, they could quickly pass through the enemy's garrison, and it could also make them more time-saving, and the people in the headquarters were excited to say to Chen Yanxian: "Fellow countryman, you saved our troop!" Fellow countryman, is this trail accurate? Xiao Chen, on behalf of the Red Army, I thank you. ”
Everyone thanked Chen Yanxian, where did the honest Chen Tingxian see such a scene, and immediately made a big red face and scratched his head embarrassedly.
After Chen Yanxian rested for a while, the others finally decided to take that route in Chen Yanxian's crooked little map, Cheng Zihua came to Chen Yanxian's side, gently patted Chen Tingxian's shoulder, and said to Chen Yanxian with a smile in Shanxi: "I and the troops have been handed over to you, and from now on we will obey your command." ”
Chen Tingxian smiled at Cheng Zihua and said, "Chief, don't say that, how can you have this ability, you are still the most wise and martial." ”
Cheng Zihua made Chen Yanxian, a kind honest man, cry and laugh with his sudden humor, and waved his hand helplessly, which is a good thing, proving that Chen Yanxian is now in a relaxed mood, and at the same time, it also makes Cheng Zihua feel a lot more at ease.
Immediately, under the leadership of Chen Tingxian, the people in the army rushed into the mountains and forests, and a hard army roamed between the deep mountains and valleys, and only the sound of Si Suo's footsteps was silent.
The road deep in the mountains is not easy to walk, narrow and dangerous, and if you are not careful, you will fall, but this can get rid of the blockage and pursuit of Chiang Kai-shek's army, fortunately, this is the familiar round-trip route that Chen Yanxian often sells goods, which avoids the factor of everyone getting lost in the deep mountains.
Chen Tingxian led a large force through the mountains for several days, although it was very hard, but no one complained, the whole army was a voice of thanks to him, because they passed through the blockade set up by the enemy army in Henan without a single soldier, and after walking for a while, the Red 25th Army finally entered the territory of Shaanxi, and they finally jumped out of the enemy's encirclement.
Cheng Zihua walked to Chen Yanxian's side, took out a bag of fresh ocean, handed it to Chen Yanxian's hand and said: "Xiao Chen, you are the lifesaver of our 25, I won't say much about too many words of thanks, from now on you will be a member of our Red 25 Army, a real official party member, you can't take this money to let you risk a trip for nothing, and I still delay your business." ”
Chen Yanxian scratched his head, he originally didn't want this money, but he thought about his elderly grandmother at home, and finally accepted the money embarrassedly, and then sold the goods in the box, after returning home, he opened the bag of fresh ocean left by Cheng Zihua, and found that there was also a signed note written by Cheng Zihua writing his merits.
After that, Chen Tingxian also kept thinking about the Red 25th Army in his heart, he continued to live in obscurity in Lushi County, and continued to travel in all directions for his livelihood, and one day the local reactionary vigilante group suddenly arrested him and tortured him to ask him where the "red bandits" went, but he always denied it and did not reveal anything, and finally the reactionaries had to acquit him because they had no evidence.
After the founding of New China, he always remembered the phrase "You are a member of our 25th century, a real official party member" For this reason, he took the initiative to pay the party fee several times, because of the long age, the note left behind has long been missing, there is no evidence, so he has not been able to gain the trust of the party organization, and has never been able to become a member of the party organization.
Chen Tingxian also told his friends many times about helping the Red Army get out of danger, but no one believed it, and over time he stopped talking about the past.
It was not until 1983, when the Central Military Commission was compiling the war history of the Red 25 Army, that the writing team once again remembered the great benefactor Chen Tingxian and expanded the scope of search to all parts of Jin, Hebei, Yu and Shaanxi, and with the cooperation of relevant parties, finally found him in a hospital in Lushi County, Henan Province, and the party organization sent two party members to take care of the old people's living in the hospital and record the old past stories spoken from the mouths of the old people.
In the end, the party members summarized Chen Yanxian's oral account and submitted it to the old general Cheng Zihua, who at this time was also old and could not leave to visit his former old friend, and only wrote a sentence under the summary: "I prove for him that Chen Yanxian is the lifesaver of the Red 25th Army." ”
Unfortunately, at this time, Chen Tingxian was hospitalized due to illness, unconscious, and passed away after less than half a year, and his family buried his bones next to the party school of the Lushi County Party Committee according to Chen Yanxian's wishes, thinking that this would be close to the party organization, but he wanted to join the party.
He also did not know that the Red Army that had asked him to be his guide had finally found him.