Every Qingming Festival, the first thing that comes to people's minds is such a story:
In 655 BC, Chong'er, the son of Jin Xiangong, one of the five tyrants of the Spring and Autumn Period, took several people to escape to Di, Qin, Qi, Cao, Song, Zheng, Chu and other countries. During his fugitive career in Tibet, he once starved to death. It was Jie Zitui who cut off the flesh on his buttocks and gave it to him to eat, so that he was able to live.
After 19 years in exile, 62-year-old Chong'er returned to China to become the Duke of Jin Wen. Rewarded those who helped him ascend to the throne, but forgot about Jie Zitui. Because Jie Zitui usually just does things silently, never showing and showing off himself. Wei Wuzi, who fled with him, said to Jin Wengong: "Do you remember one time, when you were so hungry that you died, Jie Zitui said that he got a piece of meat and cooked it for you to eat?" In the midst of those barren mountains and mountains, where can he get meat!"
Jin Wengong immediately sent someone to find Jie Zitui, but he couldn't find it, and later heard that Jie Zitui was hiding on Mianshan with his mother. Jin Wengong set fire to the mountain and wanted to force him out. As a result, Jie Zitui was burned to death on the mountain, and he still didn't come out in the end. Duke Wen of Jin then ordered Mianshan to be changed to Jieshan. The day Jie Zitui was burned to death was designated as the Cold Food Festival, which is now the Qingming Festival.
In addition to this story, I also thought of the story of Mao Zedong, a great man of a generation, who never forgot Xu Haidong and sent 5,000 silver dollars to the Central Red Army who had just arrived in northern Shaanxi for the winter. The origin of this story has to start with a telegram during the Long March.
On the afternoon of September 9, 1935. Mao Zedong and others were anxiously waiting for Zhang Guotao to lead the Left Route Army to meet and go north together. Ye Jianying, chief of staff of the Right Route Army, hurriedly handed over a telegram to him, he took out the pencil he had with him, wrote the contents of the telegram on the cigarette case quickly, and handed it to Ye Jianying, asking him to go back quickly. Ye Jianying returned to the venue, and Chen Changhao, the political commissar of the Right Army, was still talking.
Mao Zedong immediately rushed to the residences of Zhou Enlai, Zhang Wentian and others, and told them that Zhang Guotao had called Chen Changhao: "We must thoroughly carry out the struggle within the party." This means that if we do not agree to go south, we will have to solve it by force. This place must not be left and must be left immediately. So they led the 1st and 3rd Army Corps and the Central Column to march north overnight, and walked nearly 200 miles in one day and one night until they arrived at the village of Russia (now called Gaoji) in Diebe County, Gansu, and were out of danger. Later, Mao Zedong said to the American journalist Snow, that was the darkest day of my life!
It's chilling to think about. The Central Red Army set out from Ruijin, Jiangxi, passed through Hunan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, and other provinces, endured hardships and dangers, traveled more than 20,000 miles, suffered more than 50,000 casualties, and enthusiastically and sincerely came to fight the four front armies to fight the enemy together.
As a result, people looked down on them, neither obeyed nor cooperated, but wanted to annex. It seems that no matter what time it is, don't count on anyone. Relying on the collapse of the sky and the sinking of the ground, relying on the mountains and mountains falling, relying on everyone to run, the poor in the downtown and no one asking, and the rich have distant relatives in the mountains. When encountering difficulties, the most reliable thing is to solve them by yourself.
Therefore, Mao Zedong and Peng Dehuai led this team of their own, broke through the dangerous Lazikou, crossed the Jiajin Mountain, crossed the Liupan Mountain, and arrived at Xiangbiwan Village in Ganquan County, northern Shaanxi on November 4. At this time, northern Shaanxi had entered a cold winter, and the troops were still wearing single clothes. Mao Zedong looked at the hungry soldiers with yellow faces and thin muscles, and asked Yang Zhicheng, Minister of Supply, how much money do we have now? Yang Zhicheng said: "There are only more than 1,000 oceans. There are more than 7,000 people in the whole army, and this amount of money, let alone making cotton clothes, is not enough to eat! To survive the winter, you must have at least 3,000 yuan of ocean!"
Mao Zedong thought for a moment and wrote: "Comrade Haidong! Hello, because the troops have difficulties in eating and clothing during the winter, I have borrowed 2,500 yuan from you. Mao Zedong then said to Yang Zhicheng: "I wrote an IOU, and you can borrow it from Comrade Xu Haidong, the commander of the 15th Army Corps." Yang Zhicheng immediately rode to Xu Haidong and gave him the IOU.
Xu Haidong said while reading the IOU, he complained that I was not thoughtful, and he should have considered that the central government would encounter many difficulties when he first arrived in northern Shaanxi, and he had to let the chairman borrow it now. After he sent Yang Zhicheng away, he called Zha Guozhen, the Minister of Supply, and asked, "How much money do we have now?" Cha said: "There are still 7,000 oceans." Xu Haidong said: "Okay, let's keep 2,000 yuan and give 5,000 yuan to the central government!" Cha said: "Then we won't be able to survive the winter." We also have more than 7,000 people to eat and wear!" Xu Haidong said: "Chairman Mao borrowed money from us, which shows that the Party Central Committee and the Central Red Army are even more difficult than us. Even if we don't eat, wear, starve and freeze, we must support the Party Central Committee and ensure that they survive the first winter in northern Shaanxi!" The next day, he sent someone to deliver 5,000 pieces of ocean to the logistics department of the Central Red Army.
"Sending charcoal in the snow" is the most heart-warming thing, and Chairman Mao engraved it in his heart and never forgot it.
In 1941, after Xu Haidong fell ill as the commander of the fourth detachment of the New Fourth Army, the chairman wrote him a long letter of more than 200 words, which contained the most intimate words: "Carefully recuperate, the sky falls."
In August 50, in a reply to Xu Haidong's letter, he said, "The illness has improved, and I am very relieved." I hope you will recuperate in peace and heal. ”
When the whole army was awarded the title in 55, Xu Haidong felt deeply guilty about evaluating himself as a "general". He wrote a letter to the Central Committee: "I have been recuperating for so many years, and I have not had many military exploits, and it is too high to evaluate me as a "general". Chairman Mao said: "He is a person who has made great contributions to the Chinese revolution, and he must not only be rated as a general, but also the second general after Su Yu." Zhou Enlai also said to Xu Haidong: "You are rated as a general, neither high nor low, just right." ”
In 1969, on the eve of the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Chairman Mao asked Zhou Enlai why there was no Xu Haidong when reviewing the list of deputies. Zhou Enlai replied: "Because he is not in good health, he is not arranged to attend the conference again." Chairman Mao said: "He not only wants to attend the conference, but also to go to the rostrum!" So Premier Zhou arranged overnight to include Xu Haidong in the presidium of the conference, and sent someone to his home to ask if he could attend the meeting tomorrow. Xu Haidong said: "Chairman Mao wants me to go, even if I die, I have to go!" So, at the opening ceremony of the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Xu Haidong was in a wheelchair in the aisle of the rostrum. A year later, Xu Haidong died.
As the saying goes: the grace of a drop of water should be reciprocated by a spring. Why did Chairman Mao cherish Xu Haidong's lifelong gratitude for helping Xu Haidong with 5,000 yuan? It was because Xu Haidong's 25 th Army had come to northern Shaanxi from the Hubei-Henan-Anhui base area and had always belonged to Zhang Guotao's leadership. In the face of Zhang Guotao's parting of ways with the central authorities, it is still difficult to determine what his position and attitude will be. As a result, Xu Haidong not only borrowed very simply, but also preferred to starve and freeze himself, but also to give it twice. How can this kind of brave loyalty not be touched?!
In addition, when the CPC Central Committee headed by Mao Zedong first arrived in northern Shaanxi, it most needed support in the economic and political fields when it had not yet gained a firm foothold. He still remembers the bitter lesson of Sun Yat-sen 23 years ago when he had to give up the position of president of the Republic of China to Yuan Shikai, a Beiyang warlord who had troops, power, and money, because he had no guns and no money. Xu Haidong's generosity and help are like sending charcoal in the snow, solving the urgent need.
Lu Xun said: "Ruthless may not be a true hero, how can a poor son not be a husband!" Zhou Enlai also said: "We communists are atheists, but not ruthlessists." During the long march across the grassland, Zhou Enlai was seriously ill, and Chen Geng and others carried him out of the grassland on a stretcher. When Chen Geng died in 1961, Zhou Enlai specially rushed to Beijing from Shanghai to carry Chen Geng's coffin for the funeral.
From ancient times to the present, all wise and intelligent people are people who attach great importance to feelings and gratitude.