Preamble:
Although the times have changed now, the sword and sword shadow have dimmed, and the hard bones and majestic posture have disappeared, but the vivid faces of the founding generals are still flying in front of our eyes. Their life course and extremely simple and noble character are still prominently displayed in the history of the Chinese revolution and in the long river of human history. Today I would like to introduce the deeds of one of the generals.
In 1958, an old man in plain clothes was picking up dung near the entrance of the hospital, and was reported because the surrounding people felt that he affected the city's appearance, but no one expected that this old man who picked up dung was actually a founding lieutenant general.
So, who is this founding lieutenant general who picks up dung, and why did he, as the founding lieutenant general, pick up dung?
Cause of the incident:
He Dequan was born in 1897 in a poor peasant family in Xiantangwei Village, Changsha County, Hunan Province. He lost his mother at the age of 3 and was forced to beg along the street with his sister at the age of 4, and later worked as a long-term laborer for a landlord. Forced to make a living, he joined the Hunan Army in 1914.
In modern Chinese history, the Hunan army is a very interesting character, and its role in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China is very different. In the later years of the Qing Dynasty, the Hunan army group was rampant and domineering, affecting the political situation in the late Qing Dynasty for decades, which was also one of the reasons why He Dequan defected to the Hunan army.
The Hunan army created by Zeng Guofan was different from the abbreviation of Hunan, and the soldiers of the Hunan army were all from Hunan, but they were limited to Xiangxiang County, Hunan. The name of the Hunan army is derived from the "Xiang" of Xiangxiang, not Hunan.
The Hunan army followed the example of the Ming general Qi Jiguang's "Qi Family Army", based on the original Luo Zenan's "Xiangxiang Lian Yong" more than 1,000 people, plus Jiang Zhongyuan's "Chu Yong" to expand into the Hunan Army. In terms of training, Zeng Guofan attached great importance to military training. An important feature of its training is that it wakes up early, and requires Hunan soldiers to get up early before sunrise for training.
At the same time, the training of the Hunan army has reached the level of "training all the time" on a daily basis. Long-term and high-intensity training is an important guarantee for the Hunan army's combat effectiveness.
But after arriving in the Republic of China, the Hunan army became a small transparent. The bigwigs of the Hunan Army of the Republic of China headed by He Jian are all old antiques, and they don't know at all that "the times have changed", and they also use Zeng Guofan's military thinking to guide the whole army.
During the period of the Republic of China, the Hunan army had two characteristics: first, the size of the army was small, and second, the army was extremely conservative. He Jian was even more superstitious about Zeng Guofan's tactics of fighting in a daze, and every time the troops arrived, they had to build civil engineering projects on a large scale, and he was the best migrant worker in the warlord army at that time.
The Hunan army had a very strong ability to dig fortifications, but its ability to take the initiative to attack was very poor, and they often sat in the pillbox fortifications on the battlefield and watched the Red Army maneuver on the battlefield.
Join the Hunan Army:
And when He Dequan entered the Hunan Army, there was a serious warlord mentality in the army at that time, and after entering the Hunan Army, he was naturally bullied by veterans, but in two years, he also became a veteran from a recruit and became a small squad leader.
Once, he saw a veteran in another class bullying a new recruit, which made him feel as if he had been bullied by a veteran two years ago, so he rushed over without saying a word and scuffled with the bullying veteran. , and later transferred the bullied recruit to his class through his superiors.
Of course, He Dequan would never have imagined that this recruit named Peng Dehua was the famous Mr. Peng. The two got along day and night for nearly four years, and later left the Hunan Army one after another, but miraculously, in 1922, the two were admitted to the Hunan Army Lecture Hall and became alumni.
After graduating from the Hunan Army Lecture Hall, both of them became platoon commanders, went their separate ways, and later participated in the Northern Expedition, and later, both of them left resolutely because they were incompatible with the Kuomintang army, He Dequan returned to his hometown, and Peng Dehuai joined the ranks of the Red Army. This is why Dequan later joined the Red Army and laid the groundwork for our party.
Join our party:
It wasn't until 1930 that Mr. Peng led the Red Third Army into Changsha that He Dequan learned the news of his old friend again, and it turned out that he was already the leader of the Red Army. After He Dequan heard the news, he came to find Peng Dehuai and said that he also wanted to join the Red Army, Peng Dehuai naturally agreed with both hands, but there were old people in the family and some young people in the family, and the life of the Red Army was hard and difficult, and there was no military salary to take back to subsidize the family.
He Dequan knew Mr. Peng's good intentions, but he thought that even if he was at home, he could not change the status quo of everyone's poverty, so it was better to give it a go and join the revolutionary team.
Seeing He Dequan so firm, Mr. Peng immediately readily agreed to join the Red Army, and arranged for him to be a platoon commander in the special service battalion, He Dequan went home and took the 14 guns he had saved to officially join the Red Army.
Soon after, he received a special task, because he was a local and knew the local situation, his superiors wanted him to enter Changsha to learn about the enemy's troop deployment.
He Dequan returned to the company and immediately took off his military uniform, changed into a set of clothes specially borrowed from the villager's family, and went directly into the city as an ordinary old peasant. In fact, He Dequan was sent to the city to inquire about the news, which was quite a wise decision, he was not only a native of the country, but also served in the Hunan army for many years, and many small Kuomintang officers in the city knew him.
So by getting acquainted with a battalion commander under him before, he got an unobstructed road. He Dequan went to a number of important passages through this road to inquire about the situation, and sure enough, he got first-hand information on the enemy's defense, successfully returned to the military headquarters, and successfully completed the task.
Afterwards, Mr. Peng also praised him as a warrior who dared to count his teeth, and soon after, our army made the most correct judgment based on the information obtained by He Dequan and avoided the loss of the Red Army troops.
In 1934, He Dequan served as the chief of staff of the 15th Regiment of the 5th Division of the 3rd Red Army Corps, and in the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" Gao Hu Brain battle in the Central Soviet Region, he led 1 battalion to hold the position, resist the repeated attacks of the enemy several times the enemy, and successfully completed the task of blocking the enemy and covering the transfer of the main force, and was awarded the Red Star Medal of the second class by the Central Revolutionary Military Commission.
In October of the same year, he participated in the Long March and served as the chief of staff of the 12th Regiment of the 4th Red Division and the 12th Brigade of the 2nd Column of the Shaanxi-Gansu Detachment. After arriving in northern Shaanxi, he served as the commander of the 12th Regiment of the 4th Division of the 1st Red Army, the chief of staff of the 4th Division, the commander of the regimental teaching battalion, and the principal of the regimental battalion school. Participated in the battles of Naola Town, Eastern Expedition, Western Expedition and so on.
Soon after the outbreak of the all-out War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, He Dequan served as the captain of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army and the chief of staff of the Luxi Military Region, and made great achievements in the War of Resistance Against Japan.
In 1941, He Dequan was transferred back to Yan'an and was appointed as the head of the 18th Military Station in Yan'an. Later, he led his troops to start a large-scale production campaign. The excellent performance was once appreciated by Chairman Mao.
Mass Production Movement:
Soon after the Kuomintang declared an all-out war of resistance against Japanese aggression, not long after the Kuomintang was tempted by Japanese imperialism to surrender, it passively resisted Japan, actively opposed communism, sabotaged the anti-Japanese united front, encircled and blockaded the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo border region and various anti-Japanese base areas, suspended the distribution of funds for the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, and suffered natural disasters and famines in North China and other places for many years.
As a result, the entire anti-Japanese base areas suffered great financial and economic difficulties, and the army's supply was on the verge of being cut off, and they fell into the predicament of having no food to eat, no clothing, no cover, and no funds.
In 1941, due to the frenzied offensive and "sweeping" of the Japanese invading army, the military encirclement and economic blockade of the Kuomintang diehards, the financial and economic difficulties of the liberated areas were extremely serious.
At the end of 1942, the CPC Central Committee put forward the principle of "developing the economy and ensuring supply," calling on the military and civilians in the liberated areas to be self-reliant, overcome difficulties, and launch a large-scale production campaign.
After taking office, He Dequan also followed the instructions and took the military station department to participate in the vigorous large-scale production movement, opening up wasteland and farming, which was no worse than other troops.
It was during the most difficult period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression that the troops launched a large-scale production campaign. He organized the soldiers to cultivate the land together, and after a few months, more than 900 acres were cultivated. On the vegetables, he can be very careful, watering and fertilizing. When the autumn harvest season was fruitful, millet, buds, potatoes, and fruits and vegetables that could not be seen at a glance not only solved the problem of their own military station, but also sent a lot of food and materials to other fraternal troops.
So a miracle was created - a large pumpkin weighing 24 kilograms was grown!
Later, this big pumpkin was also sent to the Military Commission for exhibition, Chairman Mao also came to watch, and happily asked who planted it, and the staff told him that it was planted by the stationmaster.
Chairman Mao was very happy and said to Zhou En: "Even for the size of this pumpkin, I have to give He Dequan a model worker!"
Later, Yan'an carried out a large-scale production summary, Chairman Mao and Zhou Enlai did not forget this incident, and the two jointly signed an order to award He Dequan the title of "Model Worker" and awarded him a certificate of "Establishment of Revolutionary Housework".
In Yan'an, there was a story of "Minister He selling cloth shoes" at that time. As long as there is time, He Dequan and his wife Yu Wei use shabby clothes to make cloth shoes, and then take them to the market to sell, and in a year, the money from selling cloth shoes can buy 5 quintals of millet. In addition to leaving a fraction of the money to buy accessories for making cloth shoes, the rest were all handed over to the father.
In less than three years, the large-scale production movement smashed the enemy's, pseudo-puppet, and stubborn blockade, overcame serious material difficulties, improved the living standards of the army and the people, brought the party-government and the army and the people closer together, accumulated experience in economic construction, and laid a material foundation for the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. In this way, he persisted until the end of the Anti-Japanese War.
End of the Anti-Japanese War:
After the start of the Liberation War, He De returned to the front line again, served as the commander of the South Manchurian Road Guard, the head of the first regiment of the Northeast Military and Political University, etc., and in 1949, he followed the Siye Army all the way south to Hunan, and since then he has stayed in Hunan and served as the deputy commander of the Hunan Provincial Military Region.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as the deputy director of education of the Central South Military and Political University and the deputy commander of the public security forces of the Central South Military Region. From 1955 to 1964, he served as deputy commander of the Hunan Provincial Military Region. In 1955, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general, and was awarded the Order of August 1 of the Second Class, the Order of Independence and Freedom of the First Class, and the Order of Liberation of the First Class.
Although He Dequan is in a high position, he has always maintained his true character as a farmer, and even insisted on picking up manure every day during his illness and hospitalization, which was praised by the hospital.
It was in 1958, and He Dequan was admitted to the hospital because of his poor health. Although He Dequan was sick, he got up early every morning and went out for a walk, only to find that there were often mules and horses passing by on the nearby road, leaving a lot of feces.
He Dequan felt that it was unhygienic to have manure on the road, and secondly, he also knew that manure was an important fertilizer for crops, so from the next morning, he went out every day to collect manure and sent it to a nearby production team.
One day, outside the Changsha 163 Military Region Hospital, many people were chatting around an old man who was wearing work clothes in the hospital, picking up animal feces on the ground with his hands and feet, and chatting with everyone. Ask him if he is a manure digger at the hospital.
He Dequan shook his head and said that he was a soldier, and he only picked up dung when he was idle. Everyone didn't believe it, He Dequan laughed, fortunately he didn't say that he was a lieutenant general, otherwise everyone would have said that he was bragging.
Soon picked up a bag, the old man, as usual, picked up the bag and sent it back to the corner of the production team's office not far away, turned around and left.
After a long time, whether it was the people near the hospital or the staff of the production team, they all knew that there was a strange old man in the 163 Military Region Hospital, and over time everyone became more and more curious, but they had only seen the old man who delivered dung, and they didn't know anything about his identity, only that the old man was a soldier. And the smell of feces is particularly strong.
As a result, many citizens gathered in the hospital director's office, who reported the situation to the director and strongly urged the hospital to consider the image of the hospital and the city. Citizens are dissatisfied with the fact that the handyman hired by the hospital has been hanging in front of the hospital, which has affected the overall image of the hospital. The handyman was not only dressed in shabby clothes, but also carried a dung basket, which made the citizens feel unbearable, and asked the dean to strengthen management.
The director was confused, because he remembered that the hospital had never hired handymen to pick up manure. The production team was very grateful to He Dequan for his contribution, so they wrote a letter of commendation and sent it to the hospital.
At dusk, the dean took the citizens to a ward in person, only to see an elderly man who was actively cooperating with the nurse in the ward for a physical examination. At this time, the dean enthusiastically called the old man "old general", which confused the citizens. The old man changed into neat clothes and appeared clean and tidy, in contrast to the description of the citizens.
In addition to the shock of the citizens, General He Dequan explained to everyone with some embarrassment: "I'm sorry, I just want to respond to the call and socialize agricultural production, but I didn't expect to cause trouble to everyone." ”
But they couldn't understand how the old general could do such a dirty job? He Dequan said: What's different about the general, isn't the general the People's Liberation Army? Even Mr. Zhu has picked up dung for the villagers, and I am nothing compared to him.
Until March 20, 1983, General He Lao died at the age of 86. After He Dequan's death, there was nothing left in the house except for a few old pieces of furniture.
His salary is not low, one is to support the collective agricultural production in his hometown, every year to help his hometown buy improved seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and build a collective pig farm, and the other is to support the children of poor families and martyrs' orphans to go to school, and has sponsored 11 children to study. Although the general is gone, his spirit lives on.
Epilogue:
From the incident of General He Dequan joining the party at a young age to picking up feces during his later hospitalization, it can be seen that General He Dequan still adhered to his beliefs and threw himself into the anti-imperialist struggle without flinching despite the arduous years of war, shed his own blood and tears for the founding of New China, and contributed his own strength to the prosperity and independence of the motherland.
Through the story of General He Dequan picking up dung, it not only shows his noble character and selfless dedication as a founding general, but also shows the hard work and simplicity of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the fine tradition of serving the people. It's worth learning from Xi forever.
Bibliography:
Hunan Characters of the Twentieth Century
"Xiang Chao"
Anecdotes of the Founding General