In 1938, just after the Battle of Pingxingguan, Li Tianyou returned to Xi'an Qixianzhuang to recuperate from his injuries.
One night he immediately gave up his bedroom to two old men, and he made do with the guards for the night.
The next day, I heard that the old couple's surname was Du, and they were from a famous family in Kaifeng, Henan.
Li Tianyou thought that they had money, and it was very important to me! At that time, he did not expect that he would be extremely nervous when he saw these two old men in the future.
Why? In a word, the hero is sad to pass the beauty pass!
Battle of Xiangjiang: Guangxi people fight Guangxi people and block them with blood
General Li Tianyou was born into a poor peasant family and helped people chop firewood for a living. On a quest to find a new way out, he joined the Gui Army and became a brave soldier under Li Mingrui.
As time passed, he gradually realized that the Communist Party was the hope of China, so he resolutely joined the Communist Party of China.
On the evening of October 16, 1934, the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, faced with the arduous challenge of opposing "encirclement and suppression", was forced to make urgent strategic adjustments and launched a historic Long March along the borders of Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hunan provinces.
In this battle, Li Tianyou, commander of the Red 5th Division, and his troops became the vanguard of the Red 3rd Army, especially in the fierce battles along the Xiangjiang River, especially in the fierce battles along the Xiangjiang River, especially in holding the hilltop position.
In 1937, Li Tianyou took a group photo with cadres above the Red 4th Division in Shaanxi, and the first one on the right was Li Tianyou
After receiving the urgent order from the corps headquarters, Li Tianyou quickly went to the Guanyang and Xinwei areas. This was a great test for Li Tianyou and his troops, as they needed to defend the hill with determination at all costs for 3 to 4 days.
In the face of the powerful 7th Army of the Gui Army, the enemy known as the "Steel Army", Li Tianyou was undaunted. He immediately led his troops to the designated area day and night, hastily erecting bunkers on a hill and preparing to defend against the onslaught of the enemy.
Li Tianyou was on the Northeast Front in 1947
Not only was the scale of the battle grand, but the fact that Li Tianyou and his troops were from Guangxi meant that they would have a fierce fight with their fellow countrymen on the battlefield.
On the first day of the battle, both sides fought inextricably and achieved their own victories and defeats. However, by the next day, the situation had become dire.
To make matters worse, the next level of commander suffered heavy casualties. Unfortunately, Chief of Staff Hu Jun never returned, heroically dying on the battlefield.
The 14th Regiment also faced flanking attacks from both sides, the regiment commander Huang Mianchang was unfortunately shot and died while organizing a counter-charge, and the deputy regiment commander and the regimental chief of staff also fell one after another after taking over the command.
Despite the successive sacrifices of its commanders, the Red 14th Regiment stubbornly repelled the enemy's attack. After three consecutive days and two nights of fierce fighting, although the Red 5th Division suffered heavy losses, he led the surviving officers and soldiers of the Red 5th Division to successfully cross the Xiangjiang River and complete this mission full of difficulties.
In 1938, Li Tianyou took a group photo at the office of the Eighth Route Army in northern Shaanxi. From left: Xie Jueya, Li Tianyou, Lin Biao, Zhao Pin
Li Tianyou recalled this period of history and said: "In 1934, there was a bloody battle on the Xiangjiang River with the 7th Army of the Gui Department. It was the warriors who used their blood and flesh to build a strong line of defense that the enemy could not pass!"
After the war he was sent to study at the Soviet Military Academy. In 1943, the Soviet-German war broke out, and the Soviet border was blocked. Li Tianyou disguised himself as a businessman and risked his life to cross the Gobi Desert, cross Ningxia and Gansu, and finally arrive in Yan'an.
Li Tianyou and at the Frunze Military Academy in Moscow, from left: Yang Zhicheng, Tan Jiashu, Zhong Chibing, Liu Yalou, Lin Biao, Li Tianyou, Lu Dongsheng.
In 1948, Li Tianyou led three columns to complete the main attack mission in the Battle of Pingxingguan. At this time, Li Tianyou was just 34 years old, in his prime.
Guangxi cracked down on bandits
In 1949, Chairman Mao personally instructed and appointed Li Tianyou as the director of the Guangxi Bandit Suppression Command, and he would face an extremely arduous and complicated task.
Guangxi is a ruin after the victory of the Liberation War, and bandits are rampant, seriously threatening local social stability and the safety of people's lives and property.
Li Tianyou took a group photo with representatives of the Fourth Field Army attending the first National Political Consultative Conference. First row, from left: Li Tianyou, Zhong Chibing, Luo Ronghuan.
Guangxi's difficulties in suppressing bandits can be described as numerous. Gongcheng was the place where Guangxi was preparing for the party's work, but due to the interference of various factors, riots continued.
Bandit riots also occurred in Pingle, Yulin, and Liuzhou in Guangxi. Although Bai Chongxi was malicious, the bandit leaders were at large. Before he fled, he deliberately left behind many spies to incite the bandits to reorganize and continue their evil deeds.
Monument to the victims of the Gongcheng riots
Against this background, the central authorities have decided to appoint Li Tianyou, who is only 37 years old, as director of the Guangxi Military Region's Command for Suppressing Bandits, responsible for organizing the work of suppressing bandits.
In order to solve this problem, Li Tianyou made up his mind that more drastic measures must be taken. Although Li Tianyou made every effort to suppress bandits, the problem of bandits in Guangxi became more and more serious.
Chairman Mao was very worried about this, and personally instructed Guangxi to crack down on bandits, asking them to thoroughly solve the problem of bandits in the province before the specified deadline.
Chairman Mao's criticism shook the military and local leaders in Guangxi, and Li Tianyou and other leaders began to conduct self-reflection, study future work guidelines and plans, and report to Beijing in a timely manner.
After receiving the report, Chairman Mao called back to express his agreement and encouraged them to work in accordance with the proposed guidelines. During the anti-bandit operation, Li Tianyou unexpectedly met his former opponent Chen Mingren again and fought together.
Chen Mingren was the "defender general" of Chiang's army on the Siping battlefield, and he had several battles with Li Tianyou and finally drawn. In the People's Liberation Army, he assisted in the suppression of bandits as Li Tianyou's comrade-in-arms, and became an enemy who once gritted his teeth and became a comrade-in-arms.
The crowd crossed the road to welcome the bandits
The cooperation between Li Tianyou and Chen Mingren has been a great success. They commanded the anti-bandit battles in Yaoshan and southwest Gui respectively, and with excellent command and courage, they succeeded in completely eliminating the activities of the bandits.
The People's Liberation Army searching for the enemy in the dense forests of Guangxi
Guangxi has achieved remarkable results in cracking down on bandits, and a considerable number of bandit leaders at and above the military level have been captured or eliminated, which has not only effectively safeguarded Guangxi's social stability, but also dealt a blow to the arrogance of the bandit forces and destroyed their foundation.
Public trial of the bandits
At the end of 1951, Li Tianyou successfully completed the task of suppressing bandits assigned by the great man, and won two commendations from Chairman Mao. Because of his outstanding performance in the suppression of bandits, Li Tianyou was subsequently appointed commander of the Guangxi Military Region.
In 1951, Li Tianyou participated in the second enlarged meeting of the Party Committee of the Guangxi Military Region, and the fifth from the right in the first row was Li Tianyou
In 1955, Li Tianyou was awarded the rank of general. As a dignified commander and a general who has experienced a hundred battles, every time he returns home from the battlefield, the first thing he does is to pick up his children from kindergarten.
When he arrived at the kindergarten, his son said that his mother had forgotten him here for two months, and Li Tianyou couldn't cry or laugh when he heard it. No way, his wife is busier than herself.
A thousand miles of marriage are tied by a thread
Li Tianyou's wife, Du Qiyuan, was born into a large family in Kaifeng, Henan Province, and she devoted herself to the cause of liberation and revolution. He joined the Communist Party in 1937 and has been working in the central government since arriving in Yan'an.
Many of the Du family's children came to Yan'an to participate in the anti-Japanese resistance, and Du Qiyuan's sister married Wu Liangping, deputy minister of the Propaganda Department. Therefore, Du Qiyuan was appreciated by many cadres.
She is young and beautiful, from a famous family, she has studied since she was a child, and now she is a college student at Henan Medical College. Such a young lesbian is the dream lover of many young people.
In addition to Chen Haochang, Ye Qun also said that he had introduced Du Qiyuan to Li Tianyou, but Li Tianyou didn't remember. And Li Tianyou's comrade-in-arms Li Guoping also recommended Li Tianyou to her.
The Du sisters in Yan'an, from left, Du Lingyuan, Du Qiyuan (Du Kun), Du Cuiyuan and Lin Lan
Although there are so many versions, now we can't verify who is the real matchmaker, but the peak is still him, and the fate of the two is really not shallow.
In the early summer of 1944, Du Qiyuan was invited to attend a ball organized by the central authorities. Li Tianyou was amazed by Du Qiyuan's generosity and advanced thinking.
The love between parents written by son Li Yaming
The goodwill left over from the last dance party made the communication between them very smooth. When Du Qiyuan heard that Li Tianyou insisted on returning to the embrace of the party organization under difficult circumstances, his reverence for him increased even more.
The hearts of the young people gradually drew closer, and the common revolutionary ideals made them more compatible. After getting along for a period of time, Du Qiyuan decided to take Li Tianyou to meet his parents.
Who knew that when the Du family's parents saw it, wasn't this the little comrade who lent me the room last time? Li Tianyou didn't expect that his small move would lead to a lifetime of fate.
When Li Tianyou was in the Battle of Pingxingguan, Du Qiyuan was appointed as the director and secretary of the Harbin Flour Mill. It sounds like an official, but the flour mill has neither raw materials nor funds, only 200 workers waiting to support their families.
At this time, Du Qiyuan's husband was on the battlefield, she had to rely on herself for everything, she fostered her eldest son in kindergarten, and her younger son in a fellow villager's house.
I ate and lived in the flour mill day and night, solving various problems such as technology, funds and workers' emotions. Since the leader asked her to be the factory director and secretary, she must lead by example and dedicate everything to her work.
A few months later, the flour mill was reopened, the workers were happy, the flour supply in Harbin was solved, and the city praised her as a model for the industry.
Du Qiyuan's honor is not because of whose wife she is, but because of her own ability. She has worked in various industrial sectors, and before retiring as Deputy Director of the Political Department of the Third Department of the General Staff, she was awarded the Order of Merit of the Red Star of the Second Degree.
After being diagnosed with acute nephritis, Li Tianyou chose to continue working, and as a result, his condition turned to chronic nephritis. Despite a long period of treatment, his condition deteriorated and he eventually passed away on September 27, 1970.
General Li Tianyou's admiration and loyalty to Chairman Mao was the most distinctive belief in his life. Even at the end of his life, he still adhered to his beliefs and gazed affectionately at the portrait of Chairman Mao.
Li Tianyou was photographed in Guangzhou in 1970
The death of General Li Tianyou has aroused deep mourning among the people of the whole country. On October 4, 1970, his memorial service was held in Guilin, Guangxi Province. He was only 56 years old when he died, and few people knew about his exploits.
After the death of her husband, Du Qiyuan interviewed all her comrades-in-arms and leaders, and compiled her husband's lifelong experience of fighting on horses into a book. Maybe this is the red love of that era.
Li Tianyou's four sons
Resources:
Party history collection "Li Tianyou: The founding general known as the tiger general, can make Yang Yong his deputy, Chairman Mao said that he is not simple, long live the first commander of the 38th Army of the Army"
Red Boat Magazine丨Li Yaming, son of founding Admiral Li Tianyou: The mother feels guilty because she has no time to take care of her children at work
"Beacon Love" is jointly produced by the Red Boat Editorial Department of China National Expo Magazine and the Editorial Department of the special issue of "Beacon Love" of the Beijing Founding General Descendants Choir