The heroic mother, Zheng Ying, sacrificed her flesh and blood to go to the battlefield
Dictation/Zheng Ying's arrangement/Guo Xiaomei
In 2024, the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, our revolutionary descendants and the Chinese people will celebrate the great victory of the motherland!
My mood is extremely excited, my thoughts are full of thoughts, and I deeply cherish the memory of Uncle Guo Yuncai and countless martyrs and heroic fathers who sacrificed their lives for the victory of the national liberation revolution. Why the battle flag is so picturesque, and the blood of heroes stains her red; Why does the earth grow in spring, and the life of heroes blooms flowers!
The year 2023 marks the 75th anniversary of the victory of the Jinan Campaign and the Huaihai Campaign, and our fathers fought bloodily and sacrificed their lives in Shandong for the liberation of the whole of China. In September 2023, I participated in a trip to Shandong where the descendants of the East China Field Army revisited their father's path to Shandong, visiting the places where my parents had fought and lived, and reminiscing about the difficult years of their revolutionary war years.
When I came to the Heroes Mountain Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery in Jinan, stood on the top of the Menglianggu Battle Site, and walked into the East China Field Army Memorial Hall and other places, I was so excited that I burst into tears, as if I saw my parents on the battlefield in Shandong! I couldn't help but shout, "Mom and Dad, I'm back!"
In the exhibition hall of the main hall of the East China Field Army Memorial Hall, the first part exhibits cultural relics donated by Zheng Ying. In January 2024, the 6th issue of "Hero Mountain", jointly edited by the Jinan Battle Memorial Hall and the Jinan Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery, was published, and this issue of the annual magazine published Zheng Ying's article "To Be a Hero - Commander Chen Yi Personally Changed My Name".
With a different mood, I visited the old area of Shandong three times. In April 2021, just one month after my mother's death, I walked into the battlefield search group of the military part of the Beijing New Fourth Army Research Association with the pain of losing my mother, and went to the Shandong battlefield to mourn my mother.
Every time I come here, I see the simple enthusiasm of the people in the old area of Shandong, and the battlefield of my parents, all of which make me feel emotional, and my mother Zheng Ying affectionately tells about her life for the liberation of Shandong......
As I grew older, every time I listened to my mother's story about the battle, I had a deeper understanding that my mother had grown from an innocent and pure girl to a strong warrior under the training of the party in the experience of war. As a mother and a soldier, between the revolution and her children, she chose the former without hesitation. I felt the cruelty and ruthlessness of war, and the true meaning of father's kindness and mother's love! Feel the greatness of a mother's loving heart!
Mom and Dad fought one battle after another with the army, until the Battle of Crossing the River and the Battle of Shanghai, liberating the whole of China.
On April 19, 2024, the author, as a descendant of the troops participating in the Third Field Army's Yangtze River Crossing Campaign and 400 descendants of the Yu River Crossing Campaign of the Second, Third and Fourth Field Armies of the country, gathered in Nanjing with other descendants of field army soldiers to celebrate the victory of the River Crossing Campaign and the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Nanjing.
From May 14 to 19, 2024, the author, as a descendant of the troops participating in the liberation of Shanghai, will participate in the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Shanghai by the Third Field Army (Hangzhou, Ningbo, Zhoushan, Shanghai).
In my mother's heart, the mission of faith is higher than the sky, and I have sacrificed my flesh and blood to go to the battlefield again and again, what a touching feat it is! As the daughter of the party, my mother practiced the word dedication to the extreme, and she deserves to be called a heroic mother.
It was the mothers and countless revolutionary mothers who gave up their children's love and sacrifices during the revolutionary war years to exchange for our happy life today.
The following is a memoir I helped my mother Jung Ying put together.
Military Mission
My name is Zheng Ying, formerly known as Zheng Guiqing, born in Yancheng City in 1927, participated in the revolution at the age of 12, became a female soldier of the New Fourth Army at the age of 13, and joined the Communist Party of China at the age of 16.
Commander Chen Yi renamed me Zheng Ying (meaning "little hero"), and this name has stayed with me for the rest of my life.
I fought in the south and north of the New Fourth Army Military Headquarters, the Second Division, the East China Field Army, the Third Field Army, and other units, and personally experienced many major battles and battles in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation.
In that beacon era, your father Guo Yunshan and I agreed that we got married after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Kuomintang authorities, on the one hand, negotiated with the CCP side in a false manner, and on the other hand, hurriedly transported the descendant troops that had previously shrunk in the rear of the southwest to the occupied areas to grab territory with the people's army on the front line of the War of Resistance Against Japan. The plan of the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao was to preempt the Kuomintang troops, command our army to take over the Japanese puppet occupied areas, and connect the liberated areas together.
Separation from the child for the first time
In October 1945, in accordance with the strategic principle and deployment of "developing to the north and defending to the south", while the main force of Shandong advanced to the northeast, Chen Yi, commander of the New Fourth Army, led the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army and most of the main forces to move north to Shandong in accordance with the requirements of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. When we arrived in Linyi, I was pregnant with my child and participated in the battle to defend Shandong. On the march, I gave birth to a baby boy. As soon as the child was born, he smelled the smoke of war, so he gave the child the place name "Linyi". The child is very cute, and it also brings joy to difficult days.
Your father and I love our first child very much, but it is very difficult, because of the harsh and dangerous war environment, your father has been fighting on the front line, I follow the army to fight, it is very troublesome and difficult to carry the child.
At that time, the Kuomintang launched a major offensive into the liberated areas of Shandong. In February 1947, your father's East China Field Army and I were going to fight a large-scale movement war called the "Laiwu Campaign". Your father went to the front line to fight, and I also asked to join the Ministry of Health's field ambulance team to go to the front line, so I discussed with your father and decided: for the liberation of the toiling masses in old China, our revolution cannot be abandoned halfway because of the love of our children, the war is cruel, it is not that we do not love our sons, we cannot take our children to fight. Your father saw that I was determined to go to the front line to participate in the battle, and he said to me in a heavy voice: "You go to the front line, you can't take the child, I agree to give the child to the countryman...... Although I have made up my mind, my heart is like a knife, and tears flowed down my face. Children are the meat of my heart, how can a mother not love her children? I gave birth to my own flesh and blood during the difficult war, and in order to defend the liberated areas of Shandong, I had no choice but to give my children to the local people.
At that time, a villager surnamed Yang in Linyi Village was contacted through the troops. It was a cold winter night, wind and snow, it was dark, according to the appointed time, I held my 2-month-old son in my arms, accompanied by your father, and quietly came to Yang's house. Daddy Yang's family of 3 people, including an eldest mother and a son, although their lives are very poor, but this family is simple and kind, reasonable. I told Daddy Yang about going to war and sending my son, and handed the note written by your father to Daddy Yang. I said excitedly: "Father Yang and Auntie are my relatives, my father and I are going to go to the battlefield to fight, we will sacrifice at any time and can't come back, my son will give it to you!" Just when I reluctantly handed the child to the eldest mother, the infant son suddenly cried, I hurriedly picked up and breastfed the child, stared at his tender little face, kissed gently, tears couldn't help but gush out, my heart was like a knife, affectionate and gently put down the sleeping son. Daddy Yang said to me gently: "Girl, don't worry about going to war, we will feed the children!" I bent down and bowed deeply to Daddy Yang and my aunt, and said goodbye to the two amiable and respectable fellows.
Later, I heard that the enemy searched the village, and Daddy Yang hid the child in the cellar, and the enemy came to Daddy Yang's house to force him to hand over the children of the Communist Party, and Daddy Yang said no, so the enemy poured chili pepper water on Daddy Yang, whipped him, doused him with boiling water, lit a fire, and bled all over, and he still did not hand over the child until he died, and was beaten to death by the enemy. (Compiler's note: Speaking of which, the mother's choked cry is even more sad than the loss of her son!) Daddy Yang is not only a noble person in her mother's heart, but also her relatives! At this time, no words can express my mother's gratitude and respect for Daddy Yang!)
After that, Aunt Yang carefully fed the child and went through a lot of hardships. After the victory of the battle of Menglianggu, Mrs. Yang inquired about the whereabouts of the troops, that day, the weather was fine, I heard that there were fellow villagers looking for me, when I saw that it was Mrs. Yang with her son, carrying two baskets on the flat shoulder, on one side was my son, on the other hand was the clothes, shoes and food that Mrs. Yang sewed for the child with her own hands, I couldn't believe everything in front of me. Aunt Yang said to me kindly: "Girl, I made a special trip to send you a child!" I blurted out a "mother" and threw myself into Aunt Yang's arms, like tears and joys of a long-lost relative. Aunt Yang took out the child from the basket and handed it to me and said: "Girl, children are the seeds of the revolution, your communist army fights the enemy for us poor, and we villagers should protect your children!" I was deeply moved by the righteousness and love of Daddy Yang's family, and I will never forget their kindness for the rest of my life, and I have always missed them......
The second separation from the child
In 1948, the War of Liberation entered the decisive stage. The Huaihai Campaign, which lasted from November 6, 1948 to January 10, 1949, was a large-scale strategic offensive campaign carried out by our army against the Kuomintang army in a vast area centered on Xuzhou. The Chinese People's Liberation Army defeated the enemy with 600,000 troops and 800,000, which was a brilliant classic battle in the history of our army's warfare.
On the eve of the Huaihai Campaign, a combat mobilization order was issued, and after obtaining your father's consent, I applied to Commander Chen Yi to fight on the front line. Commander Chen Yi asked, "What about your two children?" I replied without hesitation: "The whole country has not yet been liberated, and I cannot stop fighting just because I have children, and give children to the common people." Commander Chen Yi said: "Comrade Zheng Ying, you still want to go to the front line to be a hero...... In this way, I once again reluctantly gave my two sons, the eldest son who was 2 years old at the time, and the younger son who was not long after the moon was full, to the local people, and the note read: "Fellow countryman, we will fight and sacrifice for the liberation of the whole of China at any time, and we will not return the children to you."
My second son, who was breastfeeding, was lucky enough to be given to a young couple surnamed Liu, whose son was about the same age as mine, and she was willing to feed her two children. I held her hand and said, "I'm going to war, my child is your child, it's not easy for you to feed two children!" The woman said: "The communist army is for us poor people to live a peaceful life, and you don't even want your own life when you fight the enemy, and I can't watch your children suffer." The words of the townsfolk were engraved in my heart, and the cry of the child pierced my heart like an awl, and I wiped away my tears and gritted my teeth, and resolutely went to the battlefield without looking back.
Your dad and I said goodbye to our flesh and blood again, and we not only faced the test of life and death, but also the pain of family separation. Even so, for the sake of the faith and mission of the Communists, I endured the pain and sacrificed my life for righteousness. Every time I go to the battlefield, I don't think that I can come back alive, tomorrow and liberation are sacred words, which make me look forward to it and urge me to forge ahead. At that time, I only wanted to do whatever it took for the future of my country, the future of the people, and the happiness of millions of future generations, even if I shed my own blood and sacrificed. On the front line of the Huaihai Campaign, I always kept in mind the mission and responsibility on my shoulders, turned the support of the villagers into strength, fearless of hardships and dangers, not afraid of sacrifice to rescue the wounded in the front-line positions, and tried my best to climb and carry the wounded and sacrificed commanders and fighters off the ground.
One day, when I carried more than 20 wounded people on my back, and the flesh of my arms and legs peeked out of my worn clothes, I forgot the pain and exertion, and the strength in my body seemed to be exhausted.
Once, on a front-line position, I saw a soldier lying in a pool of blood with his gun clutched in his hand, wounded in multiple parts of his head, chest, and legs. I was preparing for first aid only to find him dead. I was sad for a while, grief turned into hatred, and immediately picked up a long snatch from his hand, anger burned in my chest, and when I saw the enemy rushing up about 200 meters in front of me, I opened fire fiercely without fear, only to see the enemy fall one by one......
In a battle, enemy planes bombed, a regiment commander was seriously wounded, our column of the battlefield ambulance health team Captain Liu, I saw him lying on this regiment commander in order to cover, the enemy plane a shuttle bullet pierced Captain Liu, he unfortunately died. At this time, I did not hesitate to rush over, pounced on the wounded regiment commander, and used my body to block the bombing and strafing of enemy planes. I heard a loud bang, and a bomb fell, and the shrapnel from the explosion pierced deep into my calf. I had to immediately carry the regiment commander out of the position for treatment, and in a huge pain, I gritted my teeth and pulled out the shrapnel with force, blood gushed out, and I immediately tore off my shirt to bandage the wound, untied my gaiters and fixed the wounded on myself. I didn't care that the blood from the wound on my leg was still flowing, so I crawled forward and carried the regiment commander off his back to the position and transferred him to the hospital on a stretcher for treatment. I immediately returned to the front line and carried the sacrificial Captain Liu off the ground, and I must not leave the corpses of my comrades to the enemy. Captain Liu and I were comrades-in-arms in the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army in 1941, and we were in charge of the same work in the field ambulance and medical team of the Ministry of Health of the column during the Huaihai Campaign.
After I participated in the Huaihai Campaign, the enemy tried in every possible way to cut down the Communist Party to the roots. Because of the bad guys' informant, the enemy knew that one of the two baby boys in the Liu family was a communist, and the enemy brutally tortured them to force them to hand over the communist children. When my father and I found out, I was very moved, in such a sinister and difficult environment, Shandong villagers Liu and his wife sacrificed their lives and sacrificed their own flesh and blood in order to adopt the children of the people's army, this is a great grace!
During the War of Liberation, I participated in every battle in Shandong, and it was the villagers who adopted my two sons, forming an indissoluble bond and a lingering complex. In the war years, there were many cases of female soldiers in our army being like me. The whole country was liberated, the smoke of the war dissipated, these ordinary mothers out of the secrecy requirements of the year, they rarely told people about this unknown experience, but they cast monuments with selfless love in the land of Shandong.
In February 2017, when the Huaihai Battle Memorial Hall interviewed me in Beijing, I was 91 years old, but every battle of life and death, blood and fire that I experienced in the smoke of gunfire will never be forgotten in my memory! I cherish the memory of my comrades-in-arms who sacrificed their lives on the battlefield for the revolution and the people who made great contributions to the victory of the war!
In the Huaihai Campaign, the PLA was much inferior in strength and equipment to the Kuomintang army, and the battlefield situation was complex and changeable, but our army was able to win the battle and annihilated the Kuomintang army's troops in 1 "suppression general" forward headquarters, 5 corps, and 1 "appeasement" area, totaling more than 550,000 troops in 56 divisions. Such a brilliant victory was achieved by relying on the correct policy decisions of the Central Military Commission and the General Front Committee under the leadership of the Communist Party, the close cooperation between Huaye and Zhongye, the spirit of the vast number of commanders and fighters who went forward one after another, never forged ahead without fear of sacrifice, and relied on the all-out support of the army and the people.
Although I am disabled in both eyes, blind in my left eye, and only have a sense of light in my right eye, after telling the story of my own experience of the Huaihai Campaign for several hours, I was invited to write two words for the Huaihai Campaign Memorial Hall: "The People's Army Moves Forward Forever" and "Save the Dead and Help the Wounded".
I also donated the dressing change tray that I used in the Huaihai Campaign, which is now on display at the Huaihai Battle Memorial Hall.
Finisher's Postscript
Due to the very difficult environment during the war years, my mother suffered a fracture of the thoracolumbar vertebrae, a severe tear in both knee joints, and a complete softening of the patella, but my mother was strong-willed, self-caring, optimistic and cheerful, and she told the Huaihai Campaign Memorial Hall to interview comrades while operating her bare hands on the battlefield and the enemy's fist and kick fighting movements, although the head was full of silver threads, she still maintained the posture and demeanor of a soldier, and won the praise of the interviewed comrades.
On April 25, 2024, I made a special trip to Xuzhou to visit the Huaihai Campaign Memorial Hall, accompanied by Wei Tianmei, a teacher who interviewed my mother at the Huaihai Campaign Memorial Hall, and came to the exhibition hall on the first floor to see the dressing change tray donated by my mother during the interview.
Narrator's profile
Zheng Ying, born in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province in November 1927, participated in the fifth branch of the New Fourth Army in 1940, and worked in the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army in May 1941. He joined the Communist Party of China in January 1944. He has served as a communicator, scout, and medical officer, and has served as a squad leader, platoon leader, and health team leader. He participated in guerrilla warfare, Funing Campaign, Lianshui Campaign, Huaiyin Campaign and other battles in the New Fourth Army Military Headquarters, the Second Division Headquarters, the East China Field Army, the Third Field Army, and the Anti-Japanese War.
During the War of Liberation, he participated in the Menglianggu Campaign, the Laiwu Campaign, the Baishan Campaign, the Weixian Campaign, the Lunan Campaign, the Jinan Campaign, the Huaihai Campaign, the River Crossing Campaign, the Shanghai Campaign and other battles and battles, and received many meritorious service awards.
In April 1946, with the approval of Xiao Wangdong, political commissar of the New Fourth Army, Guo Yunshan and Zheng Ying became husband and wife. In 1947, Zheng Ying studied at the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University, served as the branch secretary, and met Mao Zedong in Yan'an.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he worked in the Third Field Army of East China, the East China Military Region, and the Provincial Military Region, and won the first-class merit and the first-class merit three times. As in the wartime, she devoted all her efforts and energy to the construction of New China, and won the honors of exemplary pacesetter, advanced worker, and outstanding Communist Party member, and was deeply respected. He retired in 1985 and enjoyed department-level treatment.
After his retirement, he continued to contribute to the party, actively engaged in red history research and publicity, and enthusiastically devoted himself to social welfare, which was widely praised by the people. In his later years, he still maintained his firm belief in the party and his military style, and was optimistic and calm. When he was seriously ill, he was strong and struggled with the disease, and woke up in the "New Fourth Army Military Song" played by his daughter after being rescued from a coma. Every time she had a high fever of nearly 40 degrees, her tongue and lips were burned and she never screamed, she was seriously infected with "sepsis" three times and critically ill five times.
On April 5, 2021, Zheng Ying passed away.
Collator Profile
Guo Xiaomei, female, born in 1954. He is a member of the Communist Party of China and has been honored in the party for 53 years. He is a descendant of the Red Army and revolutionary martyrs, a member of the Beijing New Fourth Army Research Association and a member of the Eighth Route Army Research Association. He has been engaged in social welfare undertakings and red public welfare activities for a long time.
He joined the army in 1969 and graduated from the Second Military Medical University of the Chinese People's Liberation Army as a chief physician. On October 1, 1969, as a municipal student representative, he participated in the 20th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and was cordially received by Chairman Mao Zedong. He used to be a member of the editorial board of the People's Liberation Army Medical Journal and a director of the Chinese Medical Experts Association in Hong Kong.
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Please indicate: "Source: Fang Zhi Sichuan"
Source: Sichuan Provincial Office of Local Chronicles
Dictation: Zheng Ying
Finishing: Guo Xiaomei