Biography
Zhang Chuyuan (1913-1997), a native of Jiubao Village, Ningwu County, a famous hero of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, one of the five banners of the Jinsui Border Region, and the founder of the "Combination of Labor and Armed Forces" during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
In 1941, Zhang Chuyuan gloriously joined the Communist Party of China. In the spring of 1943, under the guidance of the county People's Armed Forces Department, Zhang Chuyuan formed 12 workers' groups among the villagers, organized the militia to set up a work-change mutual aid group, combined labor and force, created a "combination of labor and force" mode of struggle, and developed production in guerrilla areas. Producing on the spot in peacetime, the enemy rose up to fight when he attacked, creating a form of struggle in which "one hand holds a gun and the other hand holds a hoe" and combines labor and force, and the whole village is formed into a unified combat group with "high defense" all year round.
Commander He Long spoke highly of it: "With the good example of 'combining labor and force,' the chess pieces in the anti-Japanese base areas will live, and once the pieces are alive, the War of Resistance Against Japan will surely be victorious." ”
Zhang Chuyuan said
The government called for "fast harvesting, fast fighting, and fast hiding", and if the enemy was allowed to snatch away the grain, everyone's efforts for a year would be wasted.
Even under the eyes of the devil, we must also plant it, and we must not waste a piece of it.
"Hoe, la ya hey; gun barrel, hey, ho ho, ho, lao-wu combined production and war, Ning Wu's Zhang Chuyuan, our good example..." During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, such a song was circulated in the northwest of Jin. Zhang Chuyuan mentioned in the song is the founder of the "combination of labor and martial arts".
"Defend production with battle, and promote battle with production." When the enemy comes, he fights, and when the enemy does not come, he produces. To this day, the older generation of people in the old fort village will hum this song.
People who grow up in bitter water
In June 1913, Zhang Chuyuan was born in a poor peasant family in Jiubao Village, Ningwu County.
In the turbulent years of sheep herding, cattle herding, short-term work, and coal mines, food and clothing became the biggest problem for peasant families, and Zhang Chuyuan was oppressed and exploited by the puppet government, leaving many wounds on his body. Over time, he, like other peasants, began to face an even greater crisis—the invasion of the Japanese army.
In January 1940, after the establishment of the anti-Japanese democratic government in Ningwu County, Zhang Chuyuan actively participated in the Peasant Rescue Association, and then served as the director of the village armed forces committee and the leader of the anti-Japanese self-defense force, leading the masses in the struggle against the enemy.
After participating in the Peasant Rescue Association, Zhang Chuyuan propagated anti-Japanese propaganda to the masses during the day, checked the post at night, participated in secret meetings, and even crossed mountains and mountains to deliver grain to the Eighth Route Army. The older generation of villagers in the village recalled that at that time, the old fort village would often place a message tree, and as soon as the tree fell, the villagers knew that there was a Japanese army to "sweep".
In 1941, the War of Resistance Against Japan was in an extremely difficult stage. Because the Japanese army carried out the so-called "general war" that combined military, political, economic, and cultural affairs, it implemented a policy of "encroachment" in the guerrilla areas, set up strongholds, and dispatched two ends for three days to take turns to "sweep" the base areas, burning, killing, robbing, and plundering. The area of the base area is shrinking day by day, and the situation is very grim.
Villagers put down their hoes against the enemy, their stomachs will starve; when they pick up their hoes and point them at the farmland, they will be attacked again, and their lives will always be worrying.
The combination of labor and martial arts shows its skills
As the gate of the Jinsui Border Region, the strategic position of Ningwu County is very important. At that time, among the five flags erected in the Jinsui Border Region, Ningwu had two sides, and Zhang Chuyuan, a special militia hero, was the most vivid of them.
In accordance with Mao Zedong's instructions to "squeeze out the enemy" and in accordance with the specific arrangements of the Ningwu County CPC Committee for "squeezing out the enemy," Zhang Chuyuan decided to start with rectifying the militia organization of the villagers in Jiubao and arming the defense of agricultural production, and to carry out an active struggle against the enemy in order to deal with the Japanese-Koso".
In the spring of 1943, Japanese soldiers often came to harass them, and everyone could not cultivate the land. Zhang Chuyuan reorganized the militia in the village, and the district issued 9 grenades and 1 submachine gun. At the same time, according to the law that the enemy only came out at dawn to attack suddenly, every day when the chickens called, he checked the sentry while collecting feces, and paid attention to the enemy's movements.
One day, the Japanese army arrived at dawn. When Zhang Chuyuan and the militia saw the enemy coming out, they sent a few people back to the village to take care of the transfer of the people, and the rest of the militia went up the mountain together. When dozens of enemies led more than a dozen livestock to swing over, the militiamen shot at the enemy in unison, threw grenades, and beat the enemy back fiercely.
This battle increased the prestige of the militia among the people, and many young and middle-aged people joined the militia on the same day. At this time, the county rewarded the old fort village with two rifles, and everyone was more energetic. The armed forces are stronger, but who sends dung to the fields to cultivate the land? The work change mutual aid group has played a role: the two burdens of production and combat are shouldered one by one, the militia has become a change of work mutual aid group, the militia covers the production of the masses, the masses help the militia to cultivate the land, and the labor force is combined. According to the distance of residence and the temperament of the people, they freely combined into 12 work groups, and Zhang Chuyuan was elected as the leader of the armed and production brigade.
At that time, there were still some landlords in the old fort village who wanted to "maintain" the exploitation of interests, and contact the enemy, and even secretly acted secretly. Zhang Chuyuan launched and led the local people to carry out rent reduction and interest reduction, land redemption, and anti-maintenance and anti-corruption struggles, and reorganized and expanded the militia.
Under the organization of Zhang Chuyuan, the old fort village formed a unified combat group of "high defense" all year round. Regardless of spring, summer, autumn or winter, every day at dawn, the change of work group eats breakfast and goes to the ground, the militia goes out to stand guard, and there are militia watchmen at the head of the village in the forest. As soon as the militia found out about the enemy, they sounded the alarm, and the masses working in the fields under the mountain heard the alarm, immediately hid their livestock, and moved them together to avoid the enemy's harm.
When it came time for the autumn harvest, the whole village, men, women and children, old and young, mobilized and formed 7 harvesting groups, women and children only took care of harvesting crops, and the men turned their backs on one side and beat them with flails on the other, and every day they cut, fought, and buried them at any time, and ploughed the harvested land overnight, and the enemy came to grab it several times, but did not snatch a single grain. This year, the enemy came out to harass more than 20 times, and under the blows of the militia, each time failed to reach the edge of the village of Old Fort. After collecting the grain, the village feasted on the militia, and everyone said happily: "Without our militia, our village will be defeated and prosperous."
A set of data shows that before 1943, when the combination of labor and force had not yet been implemented, the enemy snatched 50 stones of grain from the village. After 1943, zhang Chuyuan led the militia to fight 17 times, smashed the attack and "sweeping" of the Japanese puppet army, effectively defended the anti-Japanese national regime and spring ploughing, summer harvest, and autumn harvest, and the grain robbed throughout the year was less than two stones.
The villagers retained their food, the mood of production grew stronger, and the changing groups became more united.
The tradition of combining labor and force in the militia is still passed on
In 1944, the Jinsui Border Region held the Third Conference of Heroes, and Zhang Chuyuan was elected by the working people of Ningwu County to attend this meeting, and was rated as a special labor hero of the whole border area. His experience in combining labor and armed forces with struggle was popularized in the Jinsui Border Region.
Zhang Haiquan, Zhang Chuyuan's son, said: At that time, his father proposed mutual cultivation and mutual assistance in changing jobs, which was a temporary living system that could effectively solve the contradiction between combat and production.
After the meeting of heroes of the masses, Comrade Lin Feng, secretary of the Jinsui Branch of the CPC, called for the implementation of the combination of labor and force, and the peasants who hold hoes should take weapons; at the same time, force and labor must also be combined, and those who often take weapons must also take up hoes. After the Third Model Workers' Congress of the Jinsui Border Region, the combination of labor and force became the direction of the people of the whole border region, forming a climax of production and fighting in the entire base area. The production of the organs and troops in the border areas has also been stimulated, and they have actively responded to the call, and have achieved the goal of "combining labor with force" and "combining production with combat."
Zhang Chuyuan led the militia and cooperated with the 35th Regiment of the Eighth Route Army under the command of He Long and Guan Xiangying, and participated in more than 40 large and small battles. Commander He Long spoke highly of it: "With the good example of 'combining labor and force,' the chess pieces in the anti-Japanese base areas will live, and once the pieces are alive, the War of Resistance Against Japan will surely be victorious." ”
After the founding of New China, Zhang Chuyuan successively served as the main party and government leaders in Wuzhai County, Ganlan County, Xinxian District Poverty Alleviation Association, and Ningwu County, and was elected as a member of the Shanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. The "War of Resistance Daily" and "Liberation Daily" successively published articles and editorials introducing their heroic and exemplary deeds and highly praising this pioneering deed. In 1950, Zhang Chuyuan attended the National Heroes' Association and participated in the National Day ceremony, where he was cordially received and feasted by Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, and other party and state leaders. In May 1960, he attended the First Congress of the National Militia. In 1985, he was invited to Beijing to participate in the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
After retiring in 1984, the 71-year-old Zhang Chuyuan was hired by the county working committee for the care of the next generation as the head of the old cadre reporting group and an off-campus counselor. His words and deeds have influenced and educated generations. To this day, the tradition of combining labor and force in the militia is still passed down.
Sources: Lvliang Evening News, Jinsui Cultural Research, Fangzhi Shanxi, etc
Shanxi Evening News reporter Sun Jiasen
Journalist's Note
Xiongguan is like iron, the first to combine labor and force, the glorious banner of history is eternal; the boldness is the same, always maintain the revolutionary tradition, and the hero's true character is unswerving. Ningwu, a red hot land. The impression given to me here is that the indomitable spirit handed down by the ancestors of the Ningwu people looks very tough and stubborn, and it is very windy to live. This is a kind of eternal fighting spirit, changing fate with bare hands, innovating and pioneering new models.
When writing Zhang Chuyuan's story, many materials and relics made me think of the same picture countless times: the people of Ningwu held a hoe in one hand and a gun in the other, and production and battle were carried out simultaneously. In that turbulent and fiery era, they seemed to be very ordinary, ordinary, and even soaked in "bitter water" since childhood, but they never gave up hope and struggle, and became a bright flag floating in the sky.
Zhang Chuyuan and other heroes and sons and daughters of Ningwu left behind the stories of the popular population, and in the special period of extreme hardship, they were able to go forward and fight unremittingly, fight against the enemy, and fight against the surroundings. We grew up in times of peace, and what else can we do in this inclusive, open, and harmonious time and space? My generation continues to work hard, this is not the slogan of generation after generation, but based on society, we should find and realize the "value".
(Editor-in-charge: Chu Jialin)