In 1945, with the end of the Anti-Japanese War, He Long and his wife Jian Xianren finally had time to find their daughter's whereabouts.
However, the two subordinates Qin Guangyuan and Qu Yuping, who entrusted her daughter back then, have all died, and the news of her daughter has been interrupted.
It was not until 1950 that He Long went to Daxian to preside over the work, and after many inquiries, he finally confirmed the news of his daughter.
Fifteen-year-old He Jiesheng, led by local cadres, limped to the man in military uniform in front of him.
Nervousness was written on her sallow face, her hair was dull, and her body was shriveled, as if a gust of wind could blow her down.
"After receiving Chairman Mao's instructions, I will pick you up to reunite with Commander He." The soldier, who identified himself as Liao Hansheng, said.
When Jian Xianren saw He Jiesheng's first sight, he immediately stepped forward quickly, hugged his daughter who had been thinking about it day and night, and tears fell like rain.
When he learned that his daughter's living environment had been extremely difficult for more than ten years, and she was often shivering from the cold cold at night, Jian Xianren felt as if she was in that cold night.
Thinking of this, she hugged her daughter again.
At this time, He Long was far away in Chongqing, looking forward to the reunion of father and daughter. When he heard the news that his daughter was about to arrive in Chongqing, he immediately took the whole family to the airport to pick him up.
Unexpectedly, He Jiesheng's plane arrived at the airport ahead of schedule, and she had already arrived at home.
Facing the empty house, everything unfamiliar around him made He Jiesheng very nervous.
What does the father look like now? Will you be alienated from yourself?
In the distance, there was a sound of car horns, as if someone was calling her name, and she looked at the tall, bearded man.
She limped over and shouted timidly, "Daddy." ”
He Long's eyes were already full of tears, and he hugged his daughter into his arms.
What caused her to be lost for many years before she was found? What did you go through?
The war was won and he was born safely
November 1935 was the most difficult period for the Red Army to counter the "encirclement and suppression." As soon as He Long, who commanded the operation at the front, led the main force of the Red Army to win a victory, he received a message from Wang Zhen in the rear.
"Congratulations to the vice chairman for getting a 'mortar'."
This is the synonym for "daughter" in the team.
He was immersed in the joy of a middle-aged woman, "The mortar is good, it is powerful enough, and it will destroy the enemy!" ”
At the age of 40, he was very happy to learn of the birth of his daughter, and he was very grateful for the newborn child.
Honghong, the first child with his wife, died before he could become famous, which has also become a long-standing heart disease for the husband and wife.
The birth of her daughter seemed to bring good luck, and since then, the Red Army's anti-"encirclement and suppression" has been reported frequently.
But He Long, who has always been brave and resourceful, has a difficulty in one thing, that is, how to choose a name for his daughter.
Xiao Ke, the former deputy commander-in-chief of the enemy, known as the "Confucian general", saw that he was worried, so he took over the matter of naming him.
"As soon as the battle was won, this child was born, and since then, there have been many successes, so let's call He Jiesheng."
At that time, the revolutionary contingent preferred the birth of a boy, so that he could continue to carry a gun to the battlefield and continue the fire of the revolution when he grew up.
A few days before He Jiesheng was born, a neighbor's family gave birth to a baby boy, and someone proposed that He Long could take the boy to the battlefield in exchange.
He Long, who had just come down from the front line, hurriedly refused and resolutely refused to change, even if it was his daughter, he was his own child. However, at the time of the Long March, the troops were strictly disciplined and repeatedly stated that children were not allowed.
Many cadres chose to foster their children in nearby homes, and He Long had to contact a relative. Originally, the other party promised to ask the nurse to take care of it.
But a week later, long later than the agreed time, relatives still did not come to pick up the children, and when He Long and his wife found the house again, they found that the other party had already moved out.
Jian Xianren was really reluctant to leave his daughter behind, and begged bitterly:
"No matter how hard it is, I will carry the child on my back and never cause trouble to the troops!"
Looking at his daughter, who was less than a month old, He Long couldn't bear it: "It's just that the Long March is hard, with the baby, it's hard for you!" ”
At the meeting of the former enemy's commander-in-chief, He Long put forward the idea of taking his daughter with him, and said that when he met someone who was willing to adopt the child on the road, he would foster his daughter there.
Given his realities, several other chiefs also expressed understanding.
In this way, He Jiesheng, a young soldier who was just 19 days old, was put into a small basket made by his mother and embarked on the Long March.
Difficult march, flesh and blood separated
Women are soft, and mothers are strong. Jian Xianren travels every day with his clothes on his back, and he has to take care of his daughter from time to time, finally wait until the camp to rest, and clean up his daughter's dirty clothes and change diapers.
To keep up with the march, you have to raise your daughter and take care of your own sister who is pregnant. The first female Red Army in the Western Soviet District of Hunan and Hubei has never complained of being tired or tired, and she is a well-deserved Iron Lady.
On the Long March, many soldiers fell, but He Jiesheng persevered to the end, and the suffering during this period can be imagined.
Even with his mother's careful care, the harsh conditions of the Long March still tortured Xiao Jiesheng to the point where he couldn't do it.
The task of the Long March was urgent, and there was little rest time, and Xiao Jiesheng's diapers were not changed for two or three days, resulting in large areas of skin ulcers.
The weather is changeable, and the baby cannot tolerate the bad weather, and has suffered from high fever and illness many times; Jian Xianren was worried that his daughter's crying would affect the march, so he hugged her head with a futon and almost suffocated; The march was arduous, and there was no milk, so they made soup with grass roots and wild vegetables and fed it to the children.
On the Long March, although He Long was concerned about his wife and daughter, he had to leave them. When Jian Xianren really didn't have the strength to take care of his daughter, he wrapped his daughter in his arms and took it with him.
Once, when the large army passed through the mountain pass, He Long wrapped the child in his arms and tightly strangled it with strips of cloth in order to prevent his daughter from falling.
The enemy suddenly flanked the front and rear and encircled and suppressed the Red Army troops. He made a quick decision and commanded the army to raid. Ride your horse and fight your enemies.
He Long was in the mood for killing, rode his horse and whipped out of the enemy's encirclement, led the troops to run dozens of kilometers, and finally threw off the enemy.
He Longzheng felt that the danger had been saved, and he was about to take out a cigarette pouch in his arms to treat himself, but suddenly found that his arms seemed to be empty.
Looking down, the child was turned out at some point, which frightened the battle-hardened Mr. He.
He immediately turned around and went all the way back to find his daughter.
Fortunately, he was picked up by the soldiers of the follow-up army and brought Xiao Jiesheng back by the way.
Because of the lack of supplies, Xiao Jiesheng was severely malnourished, and when the Red Army arrived in northern Shaanxi, she could not stand and walk.
Northern Shaanxi was relatively well stocked, and Lin Boqu, then Minister of Finance, heard the news of Xiao Jiesheng's weak health and immediately sent a dairy sheep.
Jian Xianren fed the goat's milk to his daughter, and under the care of his mother and many comrades-in-arms in the military region, a miracle happened, and Xiao Jiesheng finally stood up.
Not long after the happy time, He Long received an order to go to the front line of resistance against Japan, and Jian Xian, then the propaganda officer of the General Political Department of the Military Commission, also had to follow the troops to fight in other places.
The husband and wife, who shouldered an important revolutionary mission, sent someone to send their daughter back to their hometown in Xiangxi in desperation.
He Long instructed: "I only have two requirements: First, the child cannot change his name. Second, let the child read. ”
Growing up tenaciously and reuniting with family
In 1937, He Jiesheng's aunt He Sangu took care of her in her hometown Sangzhi.
Yao Xiaozi, the ninth-generation gang leader of the "Chuhan Palace" in Xiangxi, once suffered a loss in the battle with He Long, and after learning that his child was sent back to his hometown, he was determined to dig three feet into the ground to catch the child.
They searched from house to house and put suspected women and children on death row, including He Jiesheng and He Sangu.
After receiving the news, the person in charge of Xiangxi of the Communist Party of China immediately sent people to the rescue. Fortunately, He Jiesheng and the others have been successfully rescued by another gang that went to the rescue.
He Long also entrusted his daughter to Qin Guangyuan and Qu Yuping, his old subordinates during the Nanchang Uprising.
He Jiesheng and Qin Guangyuan spent a few months in Tongren, Guizhou, and lived a fairly stable life, but the identity of their adoptive father was unfortunately exposed. She had to be transferred to her second adoptive father, Qu Yuping.
Qu Yuping has a strong sense of protection for her, and he has never revealed Xiao Jiesheng's identity to others, even his wife.
So much so that the wife unanimously believed that Xiao Jiesheng was her husband's illegitimate daughter and had a very bad attitude towards her.
Fortunately, with the protection of his adoptive father, He Jiesheng's life was quite stable.
In 1944, Qu Yuping was unfortunately injured, and before her death, she stressed to her again that she must remember her identity and find her biological parents as soon as possible.
At this time, she was still young and could not afford to go out to look for it, so she could only repeat her parents' names over and over again, constantly deepening her memory.
Fortunately, He Long and Jian Xianren never gave up the search for their daughter, and finally found the 15-year-old He Jiesheng.
epilogue
"On the Long March, I was a burden that I couldn't unload, a luggage roll to eat and drink."
In 1995, He Jiesheng said in an interview with CCTV's "Long March Documentary" program team.
When she followed the Red Army through mountains and rivers and went through all kinds of difficulties, she was just a baby who was just 19 days old and still in swaddling clothes.
This female general, who went through the Long March and won the rank of general, summed up her legendary experience when she was young in only four words, that is, "nine deaths and one life".
When the show was showing, Jian Xianren was watching the show and was very sad to hear his daughter's self-report.
"We don't treat you as a burden, but as the successor of the revolution, and when you don't cry, all your uncles and aunts are worried about you, afraid that you are sick; They are also anxious when you cry, wondering if you are hungry. ”
In He Jiesheng's house, there is a photo of him and his mother in northern Shaanxi hanging on the wall. Every time she sees it, she will sigh with emotion, she was carried by her mother with this small basket to complete the Long March.
Every step of the way, a lot of hard work.
-END-
【Text|Junxi】
[Editor|Chang Gung]