In 1950, Yang Dezhi returned to his hometown to visit relatives, and his sister took out a photo and said: The bad guy saw the one who wanted to kill him. Yang Dezhi, who has been poor since he was a child, finally felt the joy of the victory of the revolution at this moment. When he left his hometown 24 years ago, he was just a poor 15-year-old boy who never imagined that one day he would become the founding general. When he walked into his hometown cottage, his sister pulled out a photo he had never seen before. What kind of story is hidden in this photo? What kind of content is on the photo that will make the "bad guys" of the old era come to the door? The magnificent course of the revolutionary years seems to be all condensed in this photo in the hands of my sister at this moment. Yang Dezhi's heart was mixed, and he had mixed feelings for a while......
1. The suffering of adversity and the will to struggle
Liling, Hunan Province, is known as the "Top Ten General Counties", but the situation of Yang Dezhi's family is far from satisfactory. The Yang family has been farming for generations, barely maintaining food and clothing on one acre and three points of land. When Yang Dezhi was born, there were already seven or eight brothers and sisters in the family, and his father was old and sick, and the family was surrounded by walls, so life was really difficult.
Despite this, his father Yang Laohan still tried his best to provide for Yang Dezhi and several older brothers and sisters to study in private school. It's a pity that his family is poor, and Yang Dezhi only studied for two or three years before he had to drop out of school to help his father do some chores at home. Whenever he had free time, he followed his father to do some iron repair work and save some extra money to support the family.
Until Yang Dezhi was 12 years old, unfortunate things happened one after another. That year, the family lost almost all of its labor. The mother became seriously ill after giving birth and died soon after; My father was sick from hard work and was also bedridden; The eldest brother, Yang Haitang, had to drop out of school and go out to work to make a living. Seeing that there were only a few children left in the family, Yang Laohan wanted to cry without tears. Fortunately, Yang Haitang, who was optimistic by nature, did not give up hope, he told Yang Dezhi and other younger siblings: "We are poor families, and only through struggle can we have a way out!" ＂
In 1926, at the age of 15, Yang Dezhi followed Yang Haitang to Hengyang, where he worked for a while before accidentally getting involved in the torrent of the peasant movement. Once, the foreman owed Yang Dezhi and others wages. Yang Haitang took his younger brother and other workers to ask for wages, but was severely beaten by the foreman. Although Yang Haitang had studied in a private school for several years, he could not change the status quo by looking at books, so he took the lead in responding to the call of the local peasant movement and led the workers to organize and vow to seek justice for the laborers.
Yang Dezhi watched Yang Haitang take the lead in defending his rights, and a fighting spirit of resistance was also ignited in his heart. Despite the difficult living environment, Yang Dezhi did not blindly compromise, but chosen
Second, bloody battles, open up the world
In 1926, Yang Dezhi joined the peasant movement with his elder brother Yang Haitang and was soon included in the Nanchang Uprising Army. Although he was only 15 years old, his enthusiasm for the revolutionary cause was no less than that of his predecessors. Although the Nanchang uprising forces were defeated in the warlord melee, they were eventually routed by Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang forces.
After escaping from Nanchang, Yang Dezhi and his comrades-in-arms entered Jinggangshan and joined forces with the local peasant guerrillas. Here, for the first time, Yang Dezhi learned what "guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines" is. Surrounded by the enemy, they were always able to rely on their familiarity with the terrain to launch cunning attacks on the enemy, gradually infiltrating and expanding the scope of the base area.
In April 1928, Mao Zedong led the Central Red Army to Jinggangshan and incorporated Yang Dezhi and others into the First Division of the Red Fourth Army. When he met Chairman Mao for the first time, Yang Dezhi was deeply attracted by the chairman's slightly shy and amiable demeanor. After that, Yang Dezhi has been following the main force of the Red Army, and has traveled all over the revolutionary base areas such as Jinggangshan and the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Region.
In October 1934, due to the frenzied "encirclement and suppression" of the Kuomintang army, the Central Red Army was forced to withdraw from the base area and began the world-famous 25,000-mile Long March. After Yang Dezhi's unit was in charge, they had to fight to the death with the Kuomintang army again and again. During this period, Yang Dezhi was injured many times, almost several times when he died, but he was rescued by his comrades in time.
On the way to western Sichuan, Yang Dezhi finally reunited with his brother Yang Haitang under heavy protection. The two were very relieved to see each other, and Yang Haitang told his younger brother that he had been operating in the local peasant guerrillas since the defeat of the Eighth Route Army. After listening to his younger brother's revolutionary battle, Yang Haitang sincerely praised Yang Dezhi: "You are really a great revolutionary soldier!" ＂
The joy of reunion did not last long. The following year, the main force of the Red Army was bombarded indiscriminately by the Kuomintang troops, and the two sides launched a tragic decisive battle in the steep mountainous areas of western Sichuan. Yang Haitang's guerrilla unit was responsible for covering the Red Army's breakthrough, and unfortunately the whole army was annihilated. Although Yang Dezhi searched in many ways, he never found his brother's whereabouts.
After saying goodbye to western Sichuan, Yang Dezhi never saw Yang Haitang again. But the heroic deeds of his brother's revolution have always burned Yang Dezhi's fighting spirit. In the rain of bullets, he always remembered his brother's earnest teaching: "In order to live a good life with hard work, we must work with one heart and one mind, and regard death as home!" ＂
With this indomitable will of the revolution, Yang Dezhi followed the main force of the Red Army across the Hengduan Mountains and entered the Red Army's base in Bildvv in Gansu. There, at the age of 24, he was appointed platoon commander of the communications guard platoon of the 1st Division of the Red Fourth Army. Since then, Yang Dezhi has officially entered the ranks of Red Army soldiers.
3. Counterattack the mainland and seize the new life
In 1947, the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party broke out. After arduous guerrilla warfare, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) finally began to gain the upper hand on the battlefield. At this critical moment, Yang Dezhi was ordered to serve as the commander of the 19th Corps and personally led his troops to participate in the famous Liaoshen, Pingjin, and Huaihai battles.
In September 1948, the Kuomintang army, which had advanced from Guannai to the Shandong Peninsula, was surrounded by the East China Field Corps under the command of Peng Dehuai. In the face of the siege of the Kuomintang army, Yang Dezhi bravely commanded the troops to intersperse the enemy positions and make repeated breakthroughs. Over the past few months, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has won more with less, annihilating hundreds of thousands of Kuomintang troops and recovering half of East China.
Immediately afterwards, Yang Dezhi led his troops to march to North China. There were many obstacles along the way, the Kuomintang army was fortified everywhere, and the People's Liberation Army had to fight a tough battle to seize every inch of land. In January 1949, Yang Dezhi personally led his troops to attack Huanghua, and after a fierce battle, he finally broke through the encirclement and liberated most of the land in Hebei.
At this moment, the headquarters of the North China People's Liberation Army issued an order to form a Western Front Corps led by Yang Dezhi to rush to the front line of Bohai Bay and cut off the enemy's supply lines at the same time. It can be said that at the time when the heroes are showing their great ambitions, they are attacking the east and the west, and the strategy is implemented vividly. In less than a month, Yang Dezhi surrounded the Kuomintang defenders layer by layer, and in the bloody storm, Jinan, the former "Huaihai Lonely City", was finally conquered.
After the fall of Jinan, the Kuomintang army was basically crushed in North China. Next, Yang Dezhi flew to the front line in North China and personally commanded the river crossing operation on the Zhangjiakou Dam, so that the last of the Kuomintang's rout troops had nowhere to hide. At the end of 1949, the People's Liberation Army counterattacked the mainland on all fronts, and Chongqing, Nanjing, Wuhan, Guangzhou, and Beiping were liberated one after another. After more than three years of hard fighting, the Chinese people finally defeated the Kuomintang reactionaries and regained the initiative on the mainland of the motherland.
With the liberation of various places, the sound of celebration resounded in the sky. For the first time, the land of China, which has been plagued by wars and turmoil, has completely swept away internal and external troubles and ushered in a long-lost peace and tranquility. The Xinhai Revolution, the warlord melee, the eight-year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party have turned a new page in the history of the century-old revolution. On October 1, 1949, the five-star red flag of the People's Republic of China fluttered in Tiananmen Square, ushering in a bright future for New China.
All these victories embody the blood and sweat of countless people with lofty ideals. Among them, Yang Dezhi, a young man from a poor family in Hunan, made an indelible contribution to the birth of New China. When he returned to his hometown and saw the Sangzi Mountains and Rivers again, his heart must have been filled with endless pride and pride. It took 24 years for this "longing" to be fulfilled, and the revolutionary ideal finally took root, blossomed, and bore fruitful results on the land of the motherland.
Fourth, the desire to reunite and return to the hometown to find relatives
On the occasion of the Spring Festival in 1950, Yang Dezhi finally had to return to his hometown Liling to visit relatives. When he left his hometown 24 years ago, he was just a poor boy with no money. Unexpectedly, in a blink of an eye, he has become the founding general of the People's Liberation Army, and has personally brought new life to this land of mountains and rivers.
Along the way, Yang Dezhi had mixed feelings about the upcoming reunion with his family. My mother died when I left home, so I wonder what is the situation of my father and younger siblings now? During the long journey, he often remembered the scene of his hometown, and countless lonely nights, all that came to his mind were the pictures of poverty and warmth in his childhood.
After arriving in Liling, Yang Dezhi found that the appearance of his hometown had changed. Placards were erected on both sides of the streets, and people were preaching the truth of the revolution. The dirt road when I was a child is now paved with bluestone slabs, which looks neat and tidy. The dilapidated house where Yang Dezhi's family lived no longer exists, and is replaced by a new-style dwelling. Yang Dezhi sighed with emotion in his heart, he didn't expect that in his lifetime, he would be able to see this homeland step by step from poverty and backwardness to rich civilization.
The moment he opened the door, a familiar old face appeared in front of Yang Dezhi's eyes. It was his father, Yang Laohan, who was now over eighty years old, old and haggard, with a face full of vicissitudes. Yang Dezhi rushed over and hugged the old man tightly, tears streaming out of his eyes. Although Yang Laohan was a little forgetful, he still clearly remembered that his son went to work in Xiangnan City, but he has not been heard from since, and he has always thought that he is no longer alive.
The sisters on the side were also stunned by Yang Dezhi's military uniform. They originally thought that the revolutionary soldiers were all fierce and vicious characters, but the elegant officer in front of them was actually the poor little Yang Dezhi back then! Seeing their younger brother return safely, they all cried with joy and hugged each other, as if they had returned to the innocent era of the past.
In the next few days, Yang Dezhi snuggled up with his family and revisited the family routines of the year. His sisters told him that life at home had been very difficult over the years. Fortunately, the people in the township were relieved later, and some people with high social status reached out to help, otherwise their family would have been displaced a long time ago. After hearing this, Yang Dezhi could only sigh for a long time, secretly glad that the revolution had finally won, otherwise his wife and children would never have peace.
Just the day before parting, one of the sisters suddenly pulled out an old photo. There is a group of heroic guerrillas in the photo, and one of them is Yang Dezhi's appearance when he was a teenager. His sister told him that the Japanese puppet army wanted them and named them to kill Yang Dezhi and others, and this photo circulated in the village for many years and was once regarded as "evidence of crime". Now that I think about it, it is the best testimony that Yang Dezhi began to accept the baptism of revolution.
Early the next morning, Yang Dezhi was leaving. Before leaving, he solemnly told his sister: "You must cherish the hard-won peace and live a good life." The revolution is for
Fifth, the fame is endless, and the grand plan is still unfinished
After returning to the army, Yang Dezhi was not satisfied. The homeland of New China has been established, but there is still a long way to go to consolidate and develop this hard-won victory. In 1953, Yang Dezhi was appointed commander of the 19th Corps and was ordered to reorganize the army and prepare for the upcoming military reform.
At the end of the Korean War, although the flames of war had been extinguished on the peninsula, the United States was still unwilling to give up its containment of China. In the northwest frontier, the imperialist forces have been secretly supporting Tibetan armed forces in an attempt to split China. In order to deal with the possible outbreak of border conflicts, Yang Dezhi had to lead his troops to conduct long-term combat exercises in the desert area. The boundless yellow sand was long, and the scorching sun scorched the earth like fire, and the officers and men gritted their teeth, endured the pain of dry mouths, and worked hard to complete various training tasks.
Yang Dezhi spoke bitterly and demanded that all officers and men must enhance their political consciousness and be ready to deal with all possible threats of war at all times. He personally took the lead in completing all kinds of extreme training, whether it was trekking in the desert or patrolling on foot at night, he was always at the forefront. Once, when the troops were marching for a long time, Yang Dezhi found that several recruits were physically exhausted and fainted out of breath. He immediately ordered the whole team to stop, personally picked up the recruits, and walked several kilometers in one go, until he found a water source before allowing the whole team to rest. This spirit of setting an example has won the admiration of all officers and men of the army.
In 1964, there was a brief clash on the Sino-Indian border. The troops led by Yang Dezhi were ordered to Lhasa, Tibet, to maintain border security. In this extremely difficult living environment, officers and men have to endure the severe cold and lack of oxygen on the plateau every day. A large amount of equipment and supplies could only be transported by manpower and camels, and there was a serious shortage of supplies for a time. In the face of the sudden war, Yang Dezhi did not flinch, he personally rushed to the forefront to command the operation, quickly seized the commanding heights in many areas, and effectively deterred the Indian army's aggressive ambitions.
At this time, Yang Dezhi received a major appointment: he was promoted to commander of the Xinjiang Military Region. As the supreme military leader of Xinjiang, a large ethnic province, he feels that his mission is very important. Xinjiang is not only vast and sparsely populated, but also in the marginal area of China's economic and cultural backwardness. In order to consolidate this territory and speed up the pace of regional development, Yang Dezhi personally built a number of military enterprises and agricultural reclamation farms in Xinjiang on a large scale, bringing a large number of jobs and economic income to the local area.
In the years since his retirement, Yang Dezhi has been committed to Xinjiang's economic construction. He often went to the grassroots level to conduct field investigations and solve the difficulties of ordinary people face-to-face. When asked why he worked so hard, he just smiled and said: "Without a stable, secure, and prosperous homeland, the cause of the revolution cannot be talked about." I am a revolutionary soldier, so I have to worry about this hot land all the time. It can be seen that the revolutionary ideal has always been an inexhaustible driving force for Yang Dezhi's progress.
Until the last moment of his life, this "little general" from Liling was unswerving, brave and diligent, and injected full enthusiasm into the prosperity of the motherland. Yang Dezhi's life has created brilliant achievements, but he cherishes it most in his heart