Written by Yuan Guoxiang
I became acquainted with Comrade Dao Zhiren when we were both working in the organs of the Southern Xinjiang Military Region in the early 70s. At that time, he was the head of the management section of the headquarters, and I was the head of the secretariat of the political department. However, he did not work for a few years before he took the initiative to ask to return to work in Ali Plateau. Because he is a very ambitious person, although he is very successful in the management office. But he would love to fight on the toughest of the frontiers. It was precisely because he had worked in Ali for more than 10 years in the past and was very familiar with the situation there, and since he had basically recovered from the illness he had contracted on the plateau, that the organization agreed to his request. I know some information about Dao Zhiren, the "bicycle commander" who appeared in the "Jiefangjun Bao"; he was originally a progressive student in Lintao, Gansu Province, and joined the New Democratic Youth League under the leadership of our party on the eve of liberation. In 1951, he joined the army from the Lanzhou Senior Industrial School, and after studying for a period in the Intelligence Department of the Northwest Military Region, he was sent to work in the Second Section (Intelligence Section) of the Southern Xinjiang Military Region. He has been to the Pamirs, worked at the Puli Intelligence Station for more than a year, and studied Hindi in the Xinjiang Military Region for two years. In 1957, he was transferred to the Ali Cavalry Detachment in Tibet, first as an operational staff officer, an intelligence staff officer, and then as the head of the reconnaissance unit. He led his patrol team to the main roads of the mountain passes in the Ali Defense Area on many occasions, conducted surveys of important soldiers, and led troops to survey and select points along our border defense line, and set up important outposts such as Pangong Luo, Jikan, Tashi Gang, and Bolin.
After the Dalai clique rebelled in 1959, some rebels coerced a large number of people into fleeing to Ali in the vain hope of fleeing abroad. The Ali detachment fully cooperated with the 11th Division and the 4th Division and 10th Regiment to fight against bandits, and Dao Zhiren, as the head of the intelligence staff and reconnaissance unit, went all out to participate in this life-and-death battle for several years. He often spurred horses with Tibetan cadres such as Ge Lang and Zhang Yikang, slept in the open air, galloped through the snow-capped mountains and grasslands, reconnoitred the enemy's situation, deployed eyeliners, and cooperated with the combat troops on many occasions to pursue and encircle and suppress the rebels, and achieved brilliant victories. When the anti-bandit troops basically withdrew from Ali, he also led a company to garrison the Tibetan La Pass to prevent the fleeing rebels from fleeing. In 1976, when a group of rebels entered the Pulan area, attacked our cadres and masses, and stole the cattle and sheep of our Tibetan compatriots, he led the team with the leader of the detachment to suppress the bandits.
Before the 1962 self-defense counterattack, he conducted reconnaissance on both sides of the Indian invasion stronghold of Barigas. Therefore, when the front commander of the Western Front entered the Ali area, the detachment sent him to report to the front command headquarters to provide the troops participating in the battle on the mountain and the situation of the enemy, and to guide the detachments that were interspersed behind the enemy lines. When the Ali detachment was responsible for attacking and destroying the Indian army's No. 16 invasion stronghold on the top of Mount Mordo, he was ordered to lead a small detachment to penetrate near the east embankment behind the Indian army's Koyul stronghold to reconnoiter the enemy's rear movements, and report forward in time. It was not until our side successfully uprooted all the invading strongholds of the Indian army, and he saw that the Indian army fled in the direction of Chushule and Leh by car, that he led the detachment to withdraw safely.
In 1968, the Ali Army Division was established, and the Ali Cavalry Detachment successfully completed its mission and was reorganized into the 18th Regiment of the 6th Division of the Army. Dao Zhiren served as chief of staff and went to Bachu, Maigaiti and other counties to undertake the task of "three branches and two armies", and made positive contributions to maintaining social stability and protecting production order. Later, he joined the joint inspection unit under the commander-in-chief of Li Shuangsheng, deputy commander of the Southern Xinjiang Military Region, and at a time when the armed struggle between the two factions was fierce, he intervened in the opposing mass organizations in Kashgar, carried out arduous and meticulous ideological persuasion and propaganda work, confiscated weapons, stopped the armed struggle, promoted the great alliance, established a revolutionary committee, and brought peace to the border city of Kashgar of the motherland.
It was precisely because of Dao Zhiren's good performance in these jobs that the Southern Xinjiang Military Region transferred him to be the director of the management department. Of course, with his kind of organizational ability and revolutionary drive, he was able to do the work of organ affairs without a problem, and he was quickly grasped in an orderly manner. Although the living environment of the military region organs is very good, the wife and children can also be reunited and taken care of. But he still resounded about the fighting life on the border line, so he took the initiative to return to the Ali Plateau, which he had dreamed of.
For this, his wife Yan Jiaqiong understands and supports it. Because she was a member of the propaganda team of the 53rd Division of the 18th Army who participated in the liberation of Tibet in 1951 and walked to Lhasa on foot. Later, he was transferred to the Tibetan Government Art Troupe, which was about to be established, but because the central government decided that Tibet would not reform for six years, the work had to be "dismissed, and several of their female comrades were assigned to the Ali Division Work Committee, and Yan Jiaqiong served as the secretary." It is conceivable that these female comrades are courageous, knowledgeable, and heroic heroines, and they rode horses for dozens of days before reaching the Ali Plateau. When they arrived in Ali, they had to fight adobe, repair houses, open up wasteland, grow vegetables, and face the harassment of the rebels, they also had to train their troops and be ready to fight at any time. In 1961, Dao Zhiren and Yan Jiaqiong got married in Garkunsha, becoming the earliest couple in free love on the Ali Plateau, and then three children were born one after another, although after each pregnancy, a few months earlier went down the mountain to give birth, but due to the lack of oxygen on the plateau, less nutrition, the first two girls were congenitally deficient, especially the eldest was very thin after birth. This is probably the biggest price paid by the highland couple for the revolution!
After Dao Zhiren returned to Ali, he was like a fish in water and achieved remarkable results. Because he is Ali's "living map" and "old frontier guard", he understands the border and social conditions, and he also understands some Tibetan language. In addition, he was originally a conscientious, hard-working, and energetic person, so he was highly praised by cadres and soldiers. Within a few years, he traveled all over the mountains and rivers of Alishan, inspected the people's armed forces departments of seven counties, and went deep into eight border defense companies to inspect and guide the work, and to care for and care for the soldiers. At the same time, he also organized troops to support local construction and help farmers and herdsmen to work, thus realizing his good wishes and making contributions to the Ali Plateau.
But unfortunately, he spent a long time on the plateau, his stomach ulcer recurred, he vomited a lot of blood, and passed out in a coma. After consultation by the Beijing medical team, the Southern Xinjiang Military Region telegraphed to see a doctor, and due to his increased red blood cells and viscous blood, conservative treatment was successful. He recuperated for more than a month before he was safely taken to Yamashita Hospital. After a period of treatment, especially the good environment of the plains, he regained his health, but it was "unqualified" to go to the plateau again. So his superiors reported to the General Political Department to assign him to Chengdu, Sichuan, which was his wife's hometown and where several dolls grew up. However, he waited for more than a year for the work to be carried out, and at that time, I was already the director of the political department of the Ali Military Sub-district, so I sent someone to find Jin Zhongfan, deputy political commissar of the Chengdu Military Region, through my friend Ding Xueheng, a former reporter of the Xinjiang Military Region. Because he was our old chief transferred from Xinjiang and knew the situation of Ali, he quickly appointed Dao Zhiren as the deputy commander of the Wenjiang Military Division.
In 1976, I participated in the resettlement of the first batch of demobilized cadres in the Xinjiang Military Region, and met Comrade Dao Zhiren at the home of Yan Jiaqiong, a tea shop in the suburbs of Chengdu. Later, when I went to Peng County to visit Liu Yue, a retired cadre of the Xinjiang Military Region, I stayed overnight in the Wenjiang Military Sub-district and talked freely with Dao Zhiren for a long time. In 1980, when I was attending the School of Political Science in Beijing, I suddenly saw an article in the People's Liberation Army Daily promoting "Bicycle Commander" Dao Zhiren, with a large photo of him pushing a bicycle. The content is that since he became deputy commander, in order to go deep into the rural areas to do a good job in militia work, he has actually ridden a bicycle to all the districts and townships in all counties of the military sub-district. I was very excited to read it, and immediately sent the newspaper to Comrade Jin Zhongfan, who was also studying at the Central Party School, and I said: "Old chief, the cadres who came out of the Ali border defense have not disgraced you!" He said happily: "It has won glory for our Xinjiang and Tibet troops." ”
Dao Zhiren is a tough guy who has been trained by Ali Plateau, so no matter what hardships and hardships he faces, it doesn't matter to him. Because of his upright style, excellent performance, and outstanding achievements, he was finally appointed commander, and later became the commander of the expanded Deyang Military Division. In 1992, when I went to the Chengdu Military Region to participate in the review of the "History of Self-Defense and Counterattack Operations on the Sino-Indian Border," I visited him in Deyang, and he was very busy holding an on-site meeting on the militia work in the countryside to "support the armed forces with labor." From the warmth of the people who received me, you could tell that he had a high prestige there. Although I have not met him, I think that an excellent cadre like him will definitely be able to do better results. But within two years, I heard that he had also retired. I once asked him what was the matter? He said, "When you are old, you should rest and move into a dry rest house as soon as possible and enjoy a peaceful and peaceful life in your old age."
In 1997, Comrade Dao Zhiren returned to Ali for a visit to Lhasa, and was warmly welcomed by veteran comrades from the military sub-district and localities. There, after talking about the glorious tradition of hard fighting in the past, he crossed the mountains and mountains from the Shiquan River to the old land of Kashgar to revisit, and then went to Urumqi to visit relatives and friends. Some of our "old Ali" had a happy gathering with him to talk about their friendship, and they were very happy. The group photos left at that time are now precious, because several old detachment leaders and old political commissars are now deceased. In the same way, I followed his example and returned to the Ali Plateau in 2001 to participate in the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Ali's liberation. Recently, due to the memoir of "Ali Soldier", we have spoken on the phone many times, in addition to wishing each other to take care of our health, we also made an appointment to meet in Chengdu when the peach blossoms bloom in the next year, or we will meet again in Lhasa after the train passes to Tibet.