"We can't stop you, I beg you to be merciful and forgive us!"
I saw Zhou Yimei and her current husband prostrate in front of the door, and said to Li Wenqing tremblingly.
Time passed to 1952, and New China had stood in the forest of the world for three complete years, and General Li Wenqing, a brave general who had not set foot on the land of his hometown for more than 20 years, returned to his heart like an arrow and decided to take advantage of the rare holiday time to revisit his hometown. In an instant, when he pushed open the door of his ex-wife's house, this scene came into view.
"Where is Li Xuewu at the moment?" General Li questioned angrily.
He ...... When he heard that Guibu was coming, he was so frightened that he ended his life in a short-sighted way. ”
Li Wenqing sighed faintly, and then remembered to step forward and help the two of them up: "Obey me, you are also helpless under coercion, how can I have a grudge against you." Subsequently, he took out a pile of cash coins and handed them to Zhou Yimei to supplement the family's needs.
The general's return to his hometown undoubtedly overjoyed the whole village, and General Li was full of enthusiastic villagers everywhere he went. However, the young people in the family did not know the reason: what was the reason for this excitement?
The elders, however, shook their heads in regret, deeply understanding the heavy burden of that past.
Born in a poor peasant family, he was bullied by the landlord
In 1910, Li Wenqing was born in a poor family in Lijiahe, Songzi County, Hubei Province. The family, which has been a farmer for generations, has a meagre income and often faces food shortages. In the seven acres of land that Li's father leased from the landlord, after hard work, only about 20 stone of grain could be kept in the harvest year. The need to pay rents from landlords, government taxes, and household necessities severely limits the family's development opportunities.
Unfortunately, in 1928, China was hit by a severe drought that led to a drastic reduction in crop yields, especially in areas like Songzi, where the numbers were even more alarming. As a result, the number of families unable to support basic living expenses has increased dramatically, and countless people have suffered from hunger and cold, and even died.
In a difficult environment, Li Wenqing's mother was entrusted to enter the landlord's house as a servant, so Li Wenqing was able to temporarily leave the predicament and go out to work to improve the family situation. After a period of searching and hard work, he found the landlord of Qiu's house in Gong'an County to engage in the tedious work of raising cattle and sheep. Despite all kinds of challenges and difficulties, Liu Wenqing always stuck to his post, was not afraid of hardships, and tried his best to complete the tasks assigned to him.
As it turned out, his diligence paid off, and instead of dismissing him for his dereliction of duty or mistakes, the landlord paid him accordingly a few months later. Unfortunately, the disaster has not stopped, and the disaster continues to spread, making life more difficult for the hungry.
At the beginning of 1930, in order to ensure the basic living needs of his family, Li Wenqing decided to break the kettle and exchange his daily hard work for the survival opportunity of himself and his family. He worked tirelessly every day to save as much money as possible to cope with the difficulties that might arise in the future.
However, fate seems to play a joke on him again. One morning, just as Li Wenqing was about to start a new day's work, he encountered an unusually manic cow, which was in a state of madness and very dangerous. Li Wenqing tried to report the matter to the landlord Wang, but was denied an interview. Despite feeling anxious, he had to act in order to protect himself from harm. After a tough struggle, he finally managed to control the crazy cow.
However, before he could enjoy the joy of victory, the mad bull suddenly fell to the ground and died. Li Wenqing originally thought that he had prevented a potential disaster, but was later told that he might be the real culprit.
Oh my mother, this thing is really tragic, I can't tell you that he hated the Wang family and deliberately killed the cow medicine. Liu Wenqing could only leave the Wang family empty-handed, and even the clothes he brought when he came were detained, not to mention the wages he earned in the past few days.
What can the family of four do to survive this year!" Dad! Uncle is also here! Why doesn't my mother go home with the third young master? Where is my sister?" When Li Wenqing walked to the door of the house, it was already night, and when he opened the door, he only saw his father and a cousin, and there was no trace of his daughter-in-law at all, so he had to ask again: "Where is my sister? Are you sleeping? I see that the lights in the house are not on." The father's face was full of sorrow, and as soon as his eyes met his son, he immediately avoided it, as if he had something important to say but couldn't say it. "Your daughter-in-law is now at Li Xuewu's house. Uncle Tang had no choice but to reply in place of Li Wenqing's father.
Seeing that his father wanted to speak and stopped, Li Wenqing knew that they must have something to hide and refuse to tell him, so he decided to go directly to the second young master Li Xuewu to ask for clarification. After coming to Li Xuewu's house, those servants didn't react when they saw Li Wenqing coming, he walked to the courtyard in three steps and two steps and shouted Zhou Yumei's name.
Zhou Yumei didn't appear, but called out Li Xuewu with a black face. Without waiting for Li Wenqing to open his mouth to speak, Li Xuewu asked a few of his subordinates to hurry up and beat Li Wenqing to the ground. But fortunately, my father and cousin were following behind at that time, and quickly rushed forward to pull everyone away, bowed and apologized to the second young master, and then rescued the injured Li Wenqing back home.
"Tell me what's going on!" Li Wenqing asked his parents eagerly as he walked.
When he got home, Uncle Tang told Li Wenqing what he knew. It turned out that Li Xuewu, the second young master of the Li family, had long been interested in Zhou Qimei, but Li Wenqing couldn't do it at home.
Since Li Wenqing went out, Li Xuewu deceived Zhou Yimei into his residence under the pretext of recruiting a servant. At first, Zhou Yimei would still go home often, but as time went by, she went home less and less.
Li Wenqing's father must have felt that something was wrong, so he personally went to the second young master to find someone, only to find out that Li Xuewu had forcibly occupied Zhou Yimei. Uncle Cousin came today to discuss with his father what to do.
"I must kill that bastard first!" After hearing the news, Li Wenqing was furious, and angrily walked into the kitchen, grabbed the kitchen knife, and was about to go to Li Xuewu desperately. Seeing this, his cousin and father hurriedly stopped him, and with great difficulty pulled him to the bench and sat down to calm down.
When Li Wenqing's mood was almost stable, Uncle Tang sighed and began to persuade him: "If you are so impulsive, our whole family will be implicated." Who doesn't know that there are more than a dozen tall and mighty bodyguards in his house! What kind of behavior is it if you touch an egg against a stone? As for our mother, she is still a servant of Li Xuewu's family, are you sure that if you do this, it will not affect your mother?"
In the face of the cruel reality, what Uncle Cousin said is indeed not unreasonable. Li Wenqing gradually calmed down, and tears fell down his face. Seeing that Li Wenqing was no longer so excited, Uncle Cousin took the opportunity to continue to comfort him: "I have a way, you can actually try to find the third young master." The next day, Li Wenqing took the money he received when he got married, and came to the town to buy some food and drink, and brought those food to the third young master's house.
Growing up in the revolution and swearing to revenge class hatred
At that time in 1930, our place in western Hubei was in full swing, the peasant brothers wielded hoes to make an uprising, and the Red Fourth Army led by our Communist Party was renamed the Red Second Army, haha, let's join hands with the brothers of the Red Sixth Army to form the Red Second Army, and Brother He Long was also ordered to become our commander-in-chief and commander of the Red Second Army! He is a good commander-in-chief, and if he doesn't say anything, we are all convinced!
In the same year, Brother He Long led us to the place of Songzi and led the vast number of peasant brothers to start a new uprising and expand the team. That evening, I saw a group of young men hurrying through the village with their luggage on their backs, all of them in high spirits, and I saw that they were the boys from the next village, and immediately grabbed them and asked them where they were going. I heard from my friends that the Red Army had already been stationed in the village in front of me and was about to leave, and now it was just in time to catch up!
When I heard this, I immediately became excited, and hurried over, and saw that a group of Red Army troops there were preparing to cross the river in an orderly manner, and although their clothes were tattered, their eyes were sharp, and they carried spears on their backs, and large knives pinned to their waists, and they were full of fighting spirit. It was very cold, but I was not afraid at all, and I resolutely jumped into the water and followed them. At that time, the political commissar of the army asked me why I wanted to go with them, and I gritted my teeth fiercely and squeezed out two words to give the answer: revenge!
Hey, then I became a soldier in the 11th Regiment of the 4th Division under Brother He Long, after a short but effective training, I gradually became proficient in handling the spear, and every time I fought, I would bravely charge at the enemy, because of my outstanding performance, so I was soon promoted to platoon commander. However, I have never been able to forgive Li Xuewu and other landlords and bullies who have bullied me for many years, and I always think about how to make them pay. It wasn't until the beginning of 1931, when my unit was transferred to Songzi, Changyang and other places, that I ushered in an opportunity.
Once, in order to complete the task assigned to me by the organization, I took my platoon to the vicinity of the Lijia River. After finishing my work, I suddenly remembered that this place was only a stone's throw away from my home, so why not clean up the heart-wrenching Li Xuewu who bullied our family and let people feel heartache to relieve the hatred in my heart for many years! So I immediately called a meeting with my brothers and told them my plan, and they all responded positively. It's just that when I came to the village, I found that Li Xuewu's house was already empty.
The neighbors told me that this Li Xuewu heard that there was a Red Army named Li Wenqing on our side, and he was frightened and ran away. My beloved sister Zhou was also forcibly taken away by him and sold to other villages. Revenge failed, I was so angry that I set fire to the entire Li Xuewu house, and then went back.
After returning to the army, I frankly admitted that I went to Li Xuewu for revenge without authorization, so I was blocked. But I didn't feel any remorse, but thought indignantly: Since joining the army, I have seen the team defeat the local tyrants again and again, and distribute the land to the peasants, why did I use the same way to go to the local tyrants to settle accounts, but instead I was punished!
Our political counselor had long known about my experience, and when he saw that I was depressed all day, he patiently explained to me: "We all know about the grievances between you and Landlord Li. But which of us warriors doesn't have an irreconcilable blood feud with the landlords and bullies? If everyone is as willful as you, sooner or later our ranks will be in chaos. The feud between you and your cousin is a personal feud, and the feud between our ranks and the landlord class is a class feud.
In addition, if you kill one Li Evil Shao, there are countless other Li Evil Shao. It is not okay to do things that are not conducive to the overall situation for the sake of personal vendetta. The reason why landlord Li dares to snatch your wife and hurt you many times is because they control power. What we have to do is to unite and take back power from the hands of the landlord class, and overthrow a system that only knows how to take but does not give, only in this way can we truly repay our class hatred!"
At this moment, it dawned on me that the words "class hatred" had been deeply imprinted in my heart. After coming out of the lockdown room, I vowed to continue to work hard and stand bravely at the forefront of every battle.
Follow the old leader, a heroic courage
That battle was really shocking! Brother Li Wenqing rushed to the enemy's defense line without hesitation as usual, but the enemy's firepower was so fierce that Brother Li Wenqing was shot several times, blood gushed out, and the whole person was about to collapse!
The blood loss made him weak, and slowly he collapsed on the battlefield, as if the parts of his body were leaving him one by one. The intestines flowed directly out of the big hole torn by the bullet, and it was terrible to see! Brother Li Wenqing was looking for something that could be used to mend the wound, and suddenly found a broken bowl in his hand, so he quickly picked it up and pressed the wound on his stomach in an attempt to stop the intestinal bleeding again.
He thought that he might never be able to return to his hometown to take care of his parents in the future, but in retrospect, he helped so many suffering people out of trouble during this time, and he could be regarded as working hard for the revolution, and this life was quite fulfilling. Brother Li Wenqing closed his eyes and began to review the bits and pieces of his life.
Then, just when Brother Li Wenqing felt that he was about to be unable to survive, General He Long came over. Seeing Li Wenqing's eldest brother lying on the ground, General He Long understood that he was also a brave and sacrificed soldier, so he immediately ordered the soldiers to bury him properly.
General He Long felt deeply sorry after hearing other comrades-in-arms tell about the heroic deeds of Li Wenqing's eldest brother, and when he learned about the heavy losses in this battle from the headquarters, he could not help but sigh deeply. Just as he was sighing, the soldier who had just been in charge of burying Li Wenqing's boss ran back and reported:
"Report, the guy you said isn't dead, he's awakened again!" It turned out that although Brother Li Wenqing's face was pale, he didn't really die, but just fell into a coma. Just as the soldiers were about to put him in the grave, he miraculously came to his senses. Hearing the news, General He Long couldn't help but jump up excitedly:
"Great! Get him to the emergency room! We must make sure he's safe, and besides, I'm going to make him a company commander!" General He Long was both surprised and happy, sweeping away his previous sorrows.
Thanks to the all-out treatment of the doctors and the strong and courageous persistence of Li Wenqing's eldest brother, he actually survived this hurdle, and it was really a medical miracle! After only two months in bed in the hospital, he could not wait to apply to return to the army to fight.
General He Long also kept his promise and appointed him as the commander of the 19th Company of the 3rd Regiment. It didn't take long for Li Wenqing's eldest brother to gradually rise through the ranks, and finally became the head of the 15th Regiment and became General He Long's right-hand man.
I remember that in the Battle of Honghu in 1932, Li Wenqing's eldest brother accidentally cut his right eye by an enemy bullet. It was only after the end of the war that he rushed to the Red Army hospital for treatment, but he had already missed the best opportunity for treatment. Due to the serious eyeball infection, Li Wenqing's eldest brother hurts as if his head exploded every day. General He Long originally wanted to personally arrange for him to go to the Soviet Union for surgery, but because of the urgency of the war and the extreme shortage of medical supplies in the Red Army at that time, Li Wenqing's eldest brother eventually lost his eyesight. General He Long smiled and said:
"Now your brain finally doesn't hurt, but you've become 'Li Blind'!" From then on, he wore an eyepatch to participate in the battle, and people affectionately called him "The One-Eyed General".
Before entering the grassland and embarking on the Long March, General He Long transferred Li Wenqing's eldest brother to the Ministry of Military Affairs as the commander of the 15th Regiment to protect the safety of the marching of the large army. They estimated that it would take about 20 days to cross the meadows, but the food they brought was very limited, and when they set out from Ganzi, each soldier was given an average of 5 catties of barley flour. Originally, Li Wenqing's eldest brother planned to arrive in the Aba area, where the reactionary troops were stationed, to seize the enemy's grain stockpiles, but when he went there, the enemy had already fled when he heard the news, and when he left, he even looted the rations of the local people.
In the last few days at the end of the meadow, the comrades-in-arms of the entire regiment could only eat grass roots to fill their stomachs, and even the poisonous grass and belts were swallowed by everyone, and many comrades-in-arms fell into the arms of the meadow forever because of hunger and toxins.
After 20 days, our troops finally reached Hadapu and successfully walked out of the terrible meadow. It's so pitiful to see those former warriors, all skinny and skinny, and their faces are ugly!
At this time, Li Wenqing immediately ordered a rest and recuperation, and also bought a lot of food for everyone to make up for it. That night, just in time for a particularly lively local bazaar, Li Wenqing discussed with a few comrades-in-arms and immediately took out money to buy 20 chickens and two pot helmets. Regardless of the image, I didn't even let go of the bones of the chicken, and I ate it all raw!
But who would have thought that in the middle of the night, the stomachs of several comrades-in-arms would swell like leather balls, and they would roll on the ground in pain. Afterwards, Li Wenqing chatted with Tang Jinlong and sighed: "It was not easy to cross the grassland, we almost starved to death, and our stomachs almost exploded because we ate too much." ”
This Li Wenqing is still quite proud, he always desperately charges forward every time he fights, but at the same time, he is also a little willful, and sometimes he even almost breaks into a big disaster, provoking his superior He Long to be so angry that he wants to shoot him twice!
When our 15th regiment walked out of the grassland, the number of people had shrunk from more than 1k to less than 400, and the rest of the soldiers had difficulty walking, let alone carrying out tasks.
At this moment, a fierce battle suddenly broke out not far ahead, and it turned out that the enemy had already set a trap to round up the cavalry platoon directly under our headquarters. This cavalry platoon has an extremely important position in the hearts of He Long and Liu Bocheng, and it was also trained by Liu Bocheng himself.
According to the plan, Liu Wenqing should lead the 15th regiment to reinforce quickly, but the situation at that time was that our soldiers had no physical strength, and when the 15th regiment finally arrived, the cavalry platoon was already in a predicament, not only all members died heroically, but our reinforcements were late.
When He Long heard the news, he was furious on the spot, and even convened a meeting of all the cadres of the army to discuss the matter, and finally even ordered someone to tie up Liu Wenqing, shouting excitedly: "Shoot! Shoot!"
Seeing this scene, Liu Wenqing was also angry, and shouted angrily: "Let me die on the battlefield!"
Fortunately, at this critical moment, the rational Liu Bocheng stood up, clearly understood the practical difficulties of the 15th regiment, and stopped He Long in time. Despite this, Liu Wenqing was removed from the position of regiment commander and replaced by Tang Jinlong, who had almost died with him before.
Although He Long was angry, he also understood Liu Wenqing's character and strength, so he did not completely deny him. During the Anti-Japanese War, Liu Wenqing was again promoted to the commander of the 715th Regiment of the 120th Division, and still followed his old leader He Long.
At that time, during the Battle of Qihui, Li Wenqing personally recaptured a beautifully made and well-styled pistol from the Japanese army. At first, he struggled with what to do with the gun, but later the political commissar told him that as a soldier, he should stick to the rules and regulations and hand over the spoils of war for unified disposal. Hearing this, he felt that it was indeed very reasonable, so he decided to hand over the pistol to the political commissar to deal with.
However, what made him angry was that it didn't take long for him to hear from his other comrades that the pistol had not been handed in, but had been given to a schoolgirl by the commissar without permission. This thing is really infuriating, and it makes me angry just thinking about it!
Liu Wenqing, who couldn't hold back the fire in his heart, decided to find a political commissar to theorize. At the beginning, he only joked a few words, but the political commissar was not convinced, but refuted him, and the contradiction gradually escalated. In the end, Liu Wenqing, who has always been mild-mannered, couldn't help but be angry, pulled out the pistol on his waist and loaded it: "Tell you, I'm going to collapse you now!"
Seeing that the situation was wrong, the political commissar ran away. In the end, the two officers with disparity in rank launched a thrilling chase in the city, which attracted the curiosity of the surrounding residents and became a topic of conversation after dinner.
Although this period of events is not a big deal, it happened to collide with the Yan'an rectification, and some people questioned some bad practices in the army led by He Long. Many people are complaining about the "bandit Xi" in He Long's team.
Mr. He was a bloody man, and after he figured out what was going on, he tied up Li Wenqing without saying a word, and threatened to break him up with a gun, so as to warn others!
Li Wenqing is a tough guy who has been saved twice and shot twice by Mr. He! He is full of admiration for Mr. He, and he has also begun to seriously reflect on himself, abandon his impatient personality in the past, and become much calmer from then on.
From the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression to the War of Liberation and then to the founding of New China, Li Wenqing relied on his desperate spirit and excellent ability to climb all the way to such high positions as regiment commander, commander of military divisions, chief of staff of the Northwest Field Army column, and chief of staff of the army. After the founding of New China, he served as deputy commander of the Chengdu Military Region for a long time.
At that time, it was bloody and bloody, and Li Wenqing was criticized several times for not being able to do anything, and the old chief He Long was also arrested and put in prison. A special team to investigate this matter once approached Li Wenqing and asked him to write a report to expose He Long, but all the reports they got in their hands were all about He Long's glorious deeds during the Anti-Japanese War for New China.
The group was a little anxious, and said to Li Wenqing: "He Long still wants to kill you, can your relationship be good? Hurry up and confess yourself, and write down all his crimes, which is also a good thing for you." ”
Li Wenqing replied very unceremoniously: "What kind of ball do you know!" directly slapped their sugar-coated cannonballs head-on, looking even more determined than expected. Later, Marshal He Long was rehabilitated, and in 1975, Babaoshan also held a grand ceremony to bury Marshal He Long, and even Premier Zhou personally came to see off Marshal He, and everyone understood that Marshal He Long's reputation had been guaranteed again.
In the process of putting things right in the whole country, Mr. Li Wenqing's reputation was finally restored. It was not until July 13, 1999 that General Li Wenqing was completely liberated from this world and passed away suddenly.
Looking back, General Li Wenqing's life can be described as magnificent! He was squeezed by the big landlords since he was a child, and later he joined the army without hesitation, and gradually cultivated indestructible faith and loyalty in the rain of bullets and bullets. It is precisely because of countless revolutionary ancestors like him that we can enjoy such a beautiful life today!