In the thirties of the last century, he served as the principal of the first, second and third primary schools of Xintai County, secretly supporting and covering comrades engaged in revolutionary activities, and protecting members of the party organization many times; After the outbreak of the all-out Anti-Japanese War, he threw his pen into Rong and embarked on the road of resisting Japan and saving the country, and served as three county magistrates in Xintai and Taining. He shared weal and woe with the people and was deeply loved by the people in the base areas, and everyone affectionately called him "County Magistrate Zhang." His name is Zhang Chongyu.
Photo of Zhang Chongyu in his later years
Zhang Chongyu, formerly known as Zhang Litian, was born in October 1908 in Yangjiawa, Wennan Town, Xintai City.
In the spring of 1926, Zhang Chongyu was admitted to Shandong Provincial First Normal School. After the May 3rd Massacre in 1928, he was transferred to the Provincial No. 2 Normal School with a bitter hatred for Japanese imperialism and anger at the Kuomintang government's non-resistance. During this period, he had close contacts with Lu Baoying and Xue E, underground members of the Communist Party of China, and his revolutionary ideological consciousness was constantly improved. After graduating in the summer of 1931, he returned to his hometown to teach, secretly engaged in revolutionary activities.
After the "77" Lugou Bridge Incident in 1937, he actively engaged in anti-Japanese propaganda work. In August 1938, he served as the deputy director of the General Affairs Department of the Anti-Japanese Mobilization Committee of Xintai County, and at the end of the same year, he served as the director of the Manager Department of the Independent Battalion of Xintai County, responsible for the supply of materials.
In March 1939, Zhang Chongyu joined the Communist Party of China and served as the director of the Xinlai Joint Defense Office. On October 28, a meeting of representatives from all walks of life in Xintai County was held in Taigongyu Village, and he was elected as the county magistrate of the county's anti-Japanese democratic government.
On October 28, 1939, Xintai County held a meeting of representatives from all walks of life, and Zhang Chongyu was elected as the county magistrate of the anti-Japanese democratic government
Zhang Chongyu paid attention to strengthening the building of political power in the base areas. He broke the blockade of the Japanese invaders at all levels, and enabled the county's civil affairs, finance, construction, education, and other undertakings to develop steadily from scratch, thus providing material support for the consolidation and expansion of the base areas and for the final victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
The former office site of the anti-Japanese democratic government in Xintai County
In order to develop and strengthen the anti-Japanese armed forces in the base area as soon as possible, in October 1939, he rebuilt the Xintai County Brigade and concurrently served as the captain. In just over three months, the county brigade grew to six companies and one communications platoon, and the number of anti-Japanese armed forces in the county and district reached more than 1,500.
He led the people in the base areas to actively carry out the anti-sweeping struggle. On May 25, 1940, more than 1,000 puppet troops stationed in Xintai and Mengyin besieged the area of Tumen, our base area, in four ways. Zhang Chongyu personally led the county brigade and the local militia, cooperated with a certain unit of the Eighth Route Army to bravely counterattack, fought a bloody battle, defeated the enemy, killed and wounded more than 160 Japanese puppet soldiers, and seized a large number of guns, ammunition and other military items. After the battle, he was commended by the Taishan District Commissioner's Office, and his deeds of charging and fighting bravely were published in the "Popular Daily".
From June to July of the same year, the Japanese puppet army stationed in Xintai, Laiwu, Mengyin, Pingyi and other places continuously carried out "sweeps" on the Xinlai border and Xinsi border. He commanded the Xintai County Brigade, actively cooperated with the main force, and successively annihilated more than 400 enemies and smashed the enemy's "sweep". At the beginning of August, the Kuomintang stubborn faction Qin Qirong and Wu Huawen cobbled together more than 10,000 troops to invade the anti-Japanese base areas around Longting and Tumen, in an attempt to cut off the connection between Taishan District and the Yimeng Mountains. In mid-August, the Xintai County Brigade cooperated with the first and fourth detachments of the Shandong Column of the Eighth Route Army to carry out anti-stubborn operations on the border of Xintai (Tai) and Mongolia (Yin) to regain the Longting anti-Japanese base area. Subsequently, he led the county brigade to station in the sixth district (Liu Du), eliminated a stubborn force in Luanjiazhuang, attacked the "anti-communist self-defense group" in Yangjiazhuang, reopened the anti-Japanese war situation in the sixth district, and opened up and expanded the anti-Japanese base area.
The Japanese invaders hated Zhang Chongyu to the core. In order to destroy the anti-Japanese democratic government of the county, the ferocious Japanese invaders arrested Zhang Chongyu's family, imprisoned him in the Japanese military police in Xintaicheng, and forced Zhang Chongyu to surrender. After the conspiracy failed, Zhang Chongyu's wife was brutally killed. Zhang Chongyu did not give in, he was angry and angry, and threw himself into a new battle.
No matter how arduous the situation of the struggle, he was always full of faith in the victory of the war, and boosted morale and inspired the war with the spirit of revolutionary optimism. On one occasion, when the Japanese invaders were "sweeping" the Taining base area, they discovered the county brigade and entangled the superior forces to track and encircle them, in a vain attempt to wipe out our anti-Japanese armed forces in one fell swoop.
Zhang Chongyu was not afraid of danger, and led the county brigade and the squadron of the fifth district to retreat while fighting, and fought around the enemy for a day, and did not get rid of the enemy until dark. After a day of roundabouts, the troops and personnel were transferred from Xintai to Guanshantou Village in the west of Mengshan to rest and recuperate. Everyone was tired.
Seeing this scene, Zhang Chongyu said humorously: "We have retreated, and the enemy still has no friendship. If we come back tomorrow, we will beat him to the ground! After speaking, put on a smiling face and asked everyone if they had confidence. Everyone immediately lifted their spirits and shouted, "Have faith!" ”
Then, Zhang Chongyu said firmly: "When the enemy comes, I will go, the enemy will disturb me, and when the enemy is tired, I will fight, this is a guerrilla tactic!" ”
He is the "parent official" trusted by the people in the base area. The period from 1941 to 1942 was the most arduous two years of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and the Japanese invaders continued to "sweep" and "clean" our anti-Japanese base areas, and the front-line troops suffered heavy casualties, and they urgently needed to replenish the soldiers. There was a peasant in Longting who sent his eldest son to Zhang Chongyu and said, "County Magistrate Zhang, in order to defeat the Japanese devils, I handed over the child to you." "Due to the tense situation of the Anti-Japanese War, the new soldiers only trained in the county for five or six days before going to the battlefield, and the farmer's son died in the first battle. When the body was sent back to the village, the farmer did not complain, and resolutely sent his youngest son to Zhang Chongyu, and said earnestly: "County Magistrate Zhang, I will hand over my youngest son to you, let him practice for a few more days, practice his skills, and kill more devils." ”
Such things are not uncommon in the base area, and they have a great impact on Zhang Chongyu. He often said: "The Chinese people are great people, heroes of the revolution, masters of society, and the driving force of historical development." As a member of the Communist Party and a cadre of the Eighth Route Army, only by serving the people wholeheartedly can we be worthy of the martyrs and consolidate the anti-Japanese democratic regime. ”
He always had the people of the base area in his heart and shared weal and woe with the people. Although he is a county magistrate, he usually doesn't even have a change of pants. In the summer, because of the excessive sweat impregnation, he needed to change the clothes, so he always went to the ravine to wash and put it on after drying.
Once his superiors came to look for him, he happened to be washing clothes in the ravine, so he had no choice but to wear wet clothes to meet the leader. The county government is based in Huoshigou Village, and he is close to the masses, and the people there jokingly call him the village chief of Huoshigou Village.
During the War of Liberation, Zhang Chongyu successively served as the magistrate of Xintai County, the chief of the war service section of the Luzhong Branch, the director of the Civil Affairs Division of the Luzhong South Branch, the head of the Secretariat of the East China Branch, the director of the human resources department of the First Front Office, the transportation minister of the Zhejiang Office, and the captain of the Southwest Service Corps. In the arduous years of the War of Liberation, he was not afraid of hardships and dangers, worked day and night, worked diligently, worked selflessly, mobilized manpower and material resources to support the front line, participated in the front work of Jinan, Yanzhou, Huaihai, and Jiang crossing, and made outstanding contributions to the victory of the War of Liberation.
On December 7, 1949, Zhang Chongyu went south to Chongqing with the army. He has successively served as the director of the management office of Chongqing Beibei District, the mayor of Beibei City, East Sichuan District, the mayor, deputy secretary and secretary of the district party committee of Beibei District, Chongqing, the deputy secretary of the Central District Party Committee, the director of the Agriculture and Forestry Office of the Municipal People's Committee, the director of the Chongqing Rural Work Department, the deputy commander of the Chongqing Militia Division of the Xiangyu Railway, the deputy secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Agricultural Committee, the secretary of the Party Committee and vice president of the Party School of the Municipal Party Committee, the member of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the 4th CPPCC member of Sichuan Province. From the army to the localities, from Shandong to Chongqing, he was loved by the broad masses wherever he went.
On May 26, 1980, Zhang Chongyu died of illness in Chongqing at the age of 71.
He never cared about personal fame, fortune, gains and losses, and status, was loyal to the revolutionary cause, and did his best for the people. He is a good county magistrate who will always be respected by the people of Xintai, a good secretary who will always be loved by the people of Beibei, and a good example for party members and cadres in the new era to learn from!