In January 1973, Xing Jixiang received an order to be the chief of any section of the headquarters office of the Nanjing Military Region, with the post of regimental officer, and became the full-time secretary of Commander Xu Shiyou.
Commander Xu is a legendary general with Shaolin martial arts, and the selection of a secretary for him must meet five conditions: a native of Shandong, about 40 years old, a regimental cadre who has passed the test of war, has a certain level of education, and is suitable for the work of the organ.
Xing Jixiang was fortunate to be selected, and he was both excited and felt the pressure of this heavy burden.
Commander Xu was then a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, vice minister of national defense, and commander of the Nanjing Military Region, and lived at No. 8 Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum.
This is the Kuomintang Executive Yuan in order to "live in the house, serve filial piety and guard the mausoleum" and build the villa Yanhui Hall, covering an area of more than 40 acres, construction area of about 1,000 square meters, completed in 1948.
On Xing Jixiang's first day in office, Li Shuhe, director of the military region's security department, said to him solemnly: "You are the one who is the commander in this courtyard, and if there is a problem with the commander's safety, you will be punished first." It's not that the military region can't get along with you, or Chairman Mao can't spare you!"
Xing Jixiang understood the meaning of the Minister of Security's words, and always put Commander Xu's safety in the first place, and from time to time conducted defense education for the Outer Guard Battalion and the Internal Guard Platoon.
The security personnel can do "six relatives do not recognize, iron face selfless".
Once, a full-time secretary who had just been transferred came to Nanjing to visit Commander Xu, and although the guards knew him, they were not allowed to enter because they had not been notified, and he was very angry and understanding.
Commander Xu has always had very strict requirements and high standards for his work, so Xing Jixiang has always demanded that he be conscientious, cautious, and meticulous in handling everything well and not making mistakes.
At that time, Commander Xu also concurrently held the post of secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee, and every day there were dozens of documents and telegrams from the central government, provinces, and municipalities, and Xing Jixiang had to read them word by word.
Except for the documents and telegrams that Commander Xu had to read, which had to be read by him in a hurry, some of the other documents and telegrams were excerpted and sent for reading, and some took advantage of the opportunity of his evening walk and television to make oral reports. The report should be short and clear, and clear in a few words.
Commander Xu asked about the circumstances or things that Xu could not answer.
Whenever there was a meeting, the competent department would send Commander Xu's speech, and Xing Jixiang would revise it concisely and clearly according to his thinking and spoken language.
Xing Jixiang worked for more than ten hours a day, and when he went home on weekends, he had to wait for Commander Xu to go to bed before leaving, and he rushed back before Commander Xu got up, and every time he went home, he didn't see the sun at both ends.
Commander Xu has developed a high degree of vigilance during the protracted revolutionary struggle, and his actions are generally not told to anyone half an hour in advance, and he will leave as soon as he says he will go, so as to prevent the secrets of his actions from being exposed.
Xing Jixiang said that it is necessary to understand the heart of the chief. In this way, some things need to be prepared in advance, and it is necessary to rely on the secretary's "listening to his words and watching his deeds" to speculate and judge the intentions and actions of the chief.
Once, when Xing Jixiang accompanied Commander Xu for a walk at night, the chief suddenly said: "The countryside is too busy now!"
Xing Jixiang realized that the chief might have to go out to inspect, so Xing Jixiang prepared to go out according to the first-level combat readiness: notify the guards, doctors, and cooks, and put the things he wanted to bring on the car.
As expected, at breakfast the next day, Commander Xu told Xing Jixiang to go to Suzhou for inspection.
Commander Xu was not allowed to tell the other party in advance where he was going, and this would often cause the other party to be caught off guard and not prepared or unable to find anyone.
Sometimes, Xing Jixiang took some time to quietly inform the other party.
On one occasion, when he went to Huaiyin to inspect Huaiyin, Xing Jixiang secretly informed the other party of the possible arrival time and asked the leading comrades of the other party to wait for the chief at a pretext meeting in the guest house.
Commander Xu had to convene a meeting of the leading comrades concerned every week, usually in the evening. He only told Xing Jixiang to "call a few of them to a meeting", and then turned around and left.
Xing Jixiang had to judge "which people to call for the meeting" and "what time to come at night", and he could not be mistaken, and the chief often organized people to hunt in the Chuxian area, and after returning, he usually had to treat guests to eat wild meat. Who he wants to invite, as a secretary, should be considered in advance.
Commander Xu spoke very quickly, with a strong Henan accent, and Xing Jixiang sometimes couldn't hear clearly, and couldn't ask a second time, Xing Jixiang recalled: "If you make a mistake, he will lose his temper and criticize you for several days." ”
Xing Jixiang wrote a list of people who might be invited on the calendar card, but Commander Xu really wanted to treat him the next day, he looked at the list listed by Xing Jixiang and said that one Xing hooked one, and he hooked more than a dozen people at a time, and in the last check, Xing's prediction was only wrong.
Once inspected in Wuxi, I slept on a sofa bed in a guest house, which was very soft. At breakfast, Commander Xu said, "I didn't sleep well last night. ”
Xing Jixiang immediately realized that he was used to sleeping on a hard bed, so he asked the waiter to change the brown bed before he went out to inspect and visit.
At noon, Commander Xu slept soundly for two hours and was very happy.
At dinner in the evening, Commander Xu gave Xing Jixiang a glass of wine and said, "You are qualified to be a secretary." The comrades present said to Xing: "It is really not easy to receive his praise!"
Commander Xu drank a lot of heroes, a bottle of Moutai a day, and most of his salary was used to buy wine. He drinks alcohol in a clear way between public and private, and the wine he invites for official banquets is kept by the administrator, and the wine he usually drinks is bought by himself for safekeeping.
When he came back from the inspection in Wuxi, it was raining heavily, he got out of the car and went straight to the fish pond, Xing Jixiang also followed, and found that the water door outside the fish pond was not opened, and the trees of the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum had been sprayed with pesticides, and the rainwater with pesticides flowed into the fish pond.
Commander Xu was afraid of killing the fish medicine, so he scolded: "What are you doing with all these stupid people at home!" Xing Jixiang immediately went to call the guard platoon, and the guard platoon went to class, leaving only two standing guards.
Xing Jixiang called the guards over, and when they saw that the water gate was broken, they couldn't open it. Xing Jixiang put down his briefcase and jumped into the water without taking off his clothes.
At this time, Commander Xu smiled and left.
When Xing Jixiang opened the water door and returned to the office to take a shower and change clothes, the waiter came and shouted: "Secretary Xing, the chief asked you to accompany him to drink and eat." ”
During the meal, Commander Xu said to Xing Jixiang: "I heard that you can drink two catties of wine! I want to try your amount of alcohol today, how much can you drink?"
The waiter knew that Xing Jixiang couldn't drink two catties, and he also knew the chief's temper, so he poured out a little bit of the two bottles of Moutai, and the wine bottles were porcelain, so he couldn't see the depth of the wine.
In the end, Xing Jixiang still drank both bottles of wine, and after drinking, Xing Jixiang felt that something was wrong, so he hid in the cooking room and fell asleep.
Commander Xu looked for Xing Jixiang everywhere after his lunch break, and when he found Xing Jixiang sleeping in the cooking room, Xu Shiyou went out without calling him. In the evening, when Xing Jixiang watched a movie with Xu, Xu said to himself: "What can you drink two catties of wine?
Commander Xu was very concerned about and sympathetic to the weal and woe of the masses and the soldiers. He not only went deep into the company and rural areas from time to time to inspect and educate the personnel around him with his own personal experience, but also organized the personnel around him to cultivate wasteland and grow vegetables, raise pigs, chickens, ducks, and fish in order to reduce the burden on the state and the people, so as to achieve self-sufficiency in staple and non-staple food.
Therefore, Xing Jixiang also serves as a "side captain".
Commander Xu personally delivered several large vts of pickles and surplus products to the guard detachment every year.
In 1974, the commander of the eight major military regions was transferred, and Commander Xu was transferred to the commander of the Guangzhou Military Region.
Xing Jixiang later said: "This can be regarded as an affirmation of my work by his side!"
Reference: "I Worked as a Secretary to General Xu Shiyou"