The anti-Japanese resistance in the northwest of Shandong was extremely hard, and everyone had difficulty defecating by eating fried noodles with bran, and the commander personally defecated the soldiers

Liu Zhiyuan, born in 1904, is a native of Weixian County, Shandong.

When he was a teenager, Liu Zhiyuan used the money he earned to buy books and study hard. When I went to the teacher's school, I dropped out of school because of the compulsion of life. In order to make a living, Liu Zhiyuan was admitted to Zhang Zongchang's general school internship school and has been the commander of the old army.

During this period, under the influence of progressive ideas, Liu Zhiyuan secretly joined the Communist Party of China in May 1933. In August of the same year, he led a rebellion of more than 1,000 people in Rehe in accordance with the party's instructions. Later, he led the troops to the front line of the Chasui anti-Japanese resistance, and successively served as the commander of the 18th Division of the Anti-Japanese Allied Army and the commander of the Second Army.

In 1934, Liu Zhiyuan came to Shanghai and engaged in underground work in the representative organs of the Shanghai Party Central Committee. In 1936, he arrived in Yan'an and entered Kang University to study.

In the early winter of 1937, Liu Zhiyuan came to northwest Shandong from Yan'an.

Not long after they arrived, Liu Zhiyuan, Zhang Weihan and other comrades were entrusted by the Luxi Special Committee to persuade the two bandits to resist the Japanese. The bandits robbed homes and houses and treated murder as child's play, and this trip was very risky. Everyone went to see them off with a sense of unease. Liu Zhiyuan is very calm and composed. He spoke with a thick Jiaodong accent and talked and laughed humorously with his comrades.

Liu Zhiyuan is tall and burly, wears a pimple buttoned cardigan, a pair of earth-colored coarse cloth pants on cotton trousers, and the cotton shoes on his feet have been sewn many times. His eyes are piercing, and his eyebrows shine brightly, giving the impression of handsomeness and fortitude.

Thanks to the patient and meticulous persuasion work of Zhang Weihan, Liu Zhiyuan, and other comrades, these two bandits were stimulated by the great national righteousness and finally embarked on the road of resistance against Japan.

In March 1938, Liu Zhiyuan served as the commander of the machine gun battalion of the 10th detachment. In more than half a year, he led the machine gun battalion to fight in Guanxian, Cuixian and the Dafeng Mountains east of the Yellow River, and fought to the death with the Japanese invaders. At the most arduous time of the struggle, Liu Zhiyuan displayed a tenacious revolutionary will and a high degree of revolutionary optimism.

In November 1938, Liaocheng fell, and Wang Jinxiang, a diehard of the Kuomintang, sabotaged the anti-Japanese national united front and mobilized a large number of troops to encircle and suppress our machine gun battalion. Due to being outnumbered, in the two battles of Cuixian and Hedian, our army lost one after another. Some comrades developed pessimism. On the way to the transfer, Liu Zhiyuan said to everyone with full confidence: "The people in northwest Shandong are rich in revolutionary traditions, and as long as we follow the instructions of Chairman Mao of the CPC Central Committee and closely integrate with the people to fight the people's war, we will soon create a new situation!" "

The period from 1941 to the first half of 1943 was the most difficult years of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in Northwest Shandong. Liu Zhiyuan once made this account in his diary: "In order to carry out the campaign to strengthen public order in North China, the Japanese invaders stepped up their military attacks on the 1st Division of Hebei, Shandong, and Henan, and the Kuomintang troops stationed in northwest Shandong surrendered to the enemy one after another under the hint of Chiang Kai-shek's 'curve to save the country,' which made the anti-Japanese situation even more tense.

The trinity of the Japanese, the puppet, and the stubborn first encroached and swept away, then divided and blockaded, set up strongholds everywhere, dug blockade ditches between the blockhouses and pillboxes next to the highways, and divided our base areas into many triangular pieces. In the sweep, the 'three light policies' of burning, killing, and looting were also implemented. The areas of Xiang (Ping), Bo (Ping), and A (Dong'e) are full of jujube trees, and most of them have been cut down. In addition to the 'three lights', there is one more 'light'. In addition, due to the early flooding and hailstorms, Guanxian, Tangyi, and Guantao have become unprecedented no-man's land within a radius of dozens of miles.

Under these conditions, the troops had to fight against the vicious and brutal enemy on the one hand, and on the other hand, they had to fight against hunger. We ate fried noodles with leaves and chaff, and most of the horses were killed to satisfy our hunger. But we still call on the troops not to compete with the people for food, even a few leaves.

In the event of seizures, most of them will have to provide relief to the people who have supported us in blood. Comrades often suffer from edema, stool, and lice are all over the place. In between our marches, some of the soldiers made a fire to roast their clothes, and the lice fell into the fire and burned (sometimes, I had to pick the stool and catch lice for the soldiers).

In this case, I often think of Chairman Mao's inscription on the graduation certificate of Kang Da: 'Be ready to sacrifice for the cause of the people's liberation at any time. I firmly believe that relying on the leadership of Chairman Mao of the CPC Central Committee and the broad masses in northwest Shandong, the dawn of victory will be within reach. ”

Liu Zhiyuan, as the commander of the Fourth Army Division in Luxi, shared weal and woe with the soldiers, and was never special. At one point, the troops broke through and came to a village. When the common people heard that Commander Liu was coming, they made two bowls of elm bark and sorghum mixed noodles and made some noodles. Liu Zhiyuan picked up the noodles and came to the guard class, poured them into the rice pot full of leaves, stirred them with a spoon, and ate a bowl of noodles himself, and he also beckoned the soldiers to come together to "eat".

Everyone watched him eat so deliciously, and watched his tall body, which weighed 17 or 80 pounds, only more than 100 pounds, with high and prominent cheekbones, deep sunken eye sockets, swollen legs and feet, and moist eyes. Seeing the expressions of his comrades, Liu Zhiyuan first tightened his face, and then laughed loudly. He said, "Those who eat tears often have their hearts softened." We also have to drink the water of the five rivers in the northwest of Shandong and eat the enemy's iron dumplings" The five rivers mentioned by Liu Zhiyuan refer to the Yellow River, the Wei River, the Tuxiao River, the Maji River, and the canal. Iron dumplings refer to the enemy's "iron wall encirclement".

Later, life became more and more difficult, and Liu Zhiyuan's requirements for himself became more and more strict. The warriors starved, and he starved with him. When everyone was hungry, he told everyone the story of "Huangliang Dream", or told everyone a story about his underground work in Shanghai, sometimes wearing a suit and posing at ease, but his stomach was rumbling with hunger, and he had no money to buy food and persisted in the struggle. He always managed to make everyone laugh and forget about hunger.

In the war environment of Rong Ma and the extremely difficult conditions of material life, Liu Zhiyuan paid close attention to his study. Everywhere he went, no matter how late it was, he would read a book for a while before sleeping. What he read the most were Chairman Mao's writings and military history books. There is a line-bound Song version of the eleven family notes grandson, he has read it many times and marked it a lot.

At a meeting, he said to the cadres: "I used to be very superstitious about Sun Tzu, and after reading Chairman Mao's military writings, I realized that Sun Tzu's Art of War was flawed. For example, Sun Tzu's management of the army was to replace education with severe punishment, so that the soldiers did not understand why they were fighting, for whom they were fighting, and who they were fighting. He could not see the hearts and minds of the inhabitants of the war zone, and overemphasized the role of commander-in-chief. Those of us engaged in revolutionary warfare must remove the dross and extract the essence. ”

He also said: "There is no such thing as 'partition' in the history books of the military history. How to fight our war now, first, we must understand Chairman Mao's military thinking, and second, we must rely on the masses. If three people go together, there will be my teacher. There are many Zhuge Liang among the masses, and we must often go to the 'three visits to the thatched house'. ”

Liu Zhiyuan paid great attention to summing up experience in a timely manner. In order to sum up the experience of guerrilla warfare in the plains and the individual operations of the local corps, Liu Zhiyuan conscientiously studied many of Chairman Mao's works, read many history books, and collected the enemy's newspapers through various channels for research. Under the difficult conditions of marching and fighting almost every day, he squeezed in time to write notes on the "Study of the Problems of Guerrilla Warfare." In addition, on the basis of investigation and study, he summed up the experience of persisting in tunnel warfare in the plains and mobilizing the masses to disintegrate the enemy army.

Liu Zhiyuan was very concerned about the study of the troops, and personally went to the soldiers as an instructor. He personally consulted with local comrades and set up a military middle school and a Minyou theater troupe, and often went to the school and troupe to give some instructions.

In the spring of 1941, the troops were resting and recuperating in Dong'e and Chiqiao at the level junction while carrying out a vigorous study and culture movement. The learning conditions are poor, and there is an extreme lack of paper. Once, two soldiers from the communications squad knocked the military shovel loudly and shouted, "It's time to go to class!" While drawing two words with lime blocks on each other's backs, they stood there for everyone to recognize, causing a burst of laughter from everyone. At this moment, Liu Zhiyuan came in. The two fighters stuck out their tongues, thinking that the commander would criticize him for not studying seriously and making jokes.

Who knew that Liu Zhiyuan took the small shovel and looked at it, and wrote a few words on it with a lime block, and then said: "Isn't it good to practice calligraphy on this?" When marching and fighting, you can also write""Everyone said: "Wonderful, so that you don't have to worry about pen, ink and paper." This method advocated by Liu Zhiyuan was soon popularized in the army.

Liu Zhiyuan is very humorous. Once, a soldier wrote "captive" as "captive tiger", and he humorously said: "It is easy to capture 'captives' on the great plains, but it is difficult to capture 'tigers'." A joke helped the fighters distinguish the difference between "captive" and "tiger".

He often tells everyone the story of "iron oak grinding embroidery needle" to educate everyone to have perseverance in learning. He pointed out that study is like marching, and if you don't walk step by step, it will be difficult to travel a thousand miles. He taught everyone to learn to be humble and not to be proud. Once, he typed an anagram and asked us, what is the word for arrogance? No one could have guessed. Liu Zhiyuan wrote a big "smelly" word, and the point of the "smelly" word was very small and very small. He smiled and said, "Isn't it stinky if you are so arrogant?" "The fighters, laughing, were deeply educated.

Our army finally overcame one unimaginable difficulty after another, and ushered in a situation in which the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression was about to be won. In the spring of 1945, the Japanese, puppet, and recalcitrant armies entrenched in northwestern Shandong were dealt heavy blows one after another by our First Army Division. In the face of the good situation, Liu Zhiyuan is full of confidence. At a civilian-military conference, he said: "The development of the situation is like a lotus flower in June, which is blooming bigger and bigger. In between battles, he also wrote a lot of poems, expressing his nostalgia for the martyrs, expressing his revolutionary passion, and showing his confidence in defeating the enemy.

Liu Zhiyuan's military command skills are outstanding. The Fourth Group Headquarters of the Puppet Security Army stationed in Liaocheng gathered the enemy in Liaocheng, Ping, Boping, Pingyin and other places to carry out a dying struggle. The enemy took attack as defense and tried in vain to force me to fight a decisive battle on the north bank of the Yellow River. At that time, the First Army Division drew up two operational plans: one was to concentrate all efforts on eating the enemy attacking us; The second is to go north to Qihe, Yucheng and other counties, and then move to the southwest to capture fighters and destroy the enemy.

After careful consideration, Liu Zhiyuan gave up these two plans and adopted a new style of play. The troops first waved a shot at Boping, then turned south, concentrated the main force to raid Dong'e City, annihilated the defending enemy in one fell swoop, and liberated Dong'e City. Then, Chengsheng launched the Battle of Liaoyang Highway. On the night of May 23, the troops spread out on the whole line, surrounded the enemy respectively, and after five days of fierce fighting, they completely annihilated more than 1,000 Japanese puppet troops in 16 strongholds such as Zhuzhuang, Guliushu, Anle Town, Shifo, Dingshui Town, Guodiantun, and Taolou, and cut off the enemy's contact between Liaocheng and Yanggu.

At the end of the five-day fierce battle, the comrades of the headquarters heard the news that Liu Zhiyuan's left palm was pierced by an enemy bullet and caused a fracture when he was directing the operation in the outer trench of the ancient willow tree. He was sitting in a chair, calmly asking the doctor to operate on him. During the operation, there is no anesthetic drug, and the wound must be repeatedly scrubbed with a medical cloth, and then plugged with yellow iodine medicine twist.

It is difficult for people who do not have a strong will to endure the pain of such surgery. But while Liu Zhiyuan underwent surgery, he talked and laughed at the same time. After the bandage, the doctor wiped the sweat from his face and said with emotion that Commander Liu's strong will is a great education and encouragement to our medical staff! Liu Zhiyuan said with a smile: "We have destroyed so many enemies and liberated such a large area of land, and our hands hurt, but we also hurt happily and happily." A few words made everyone laugh.

After the battle of Liaoyang Highway, Liu Zhiyuan did not recover from his injuries, and he commanded the battle again and cleared the enemy in Gaotang and Qingping counties. In the liberation of Eping, our army annihilated more than 2,000 defenders and killed Li Qishan, the commander of the recalcitrant brigade, while our army only suffered more than 50 casualties.

After the liberation of Eping, it was the Mid-Autumn Festival. The masses of the people, who had been liberated by the ravages of Japan imperialism, and the commanders and fighters of the Rongma conquest wished victory together and watched the Peking opera "Breaking the King into Beijing" performed by the Minyou Theater Troupe. After the performance, Liu Zhiyuan said with emotion: "We should take King Li Chuang as a warning." Liu Zhiyuan's words deeply educated the comrades present at that time.

After Chiping's victory, Liu Zhiyuan was transferred to the post of deputy commander of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region.

On December 18, 1946, he commanded the battle to liberate Liaocheng together with Commander Yang Yong and Political Commissar Zhang Linzhi. Before the city was opened, he was ordered to go to northern Henan to command the battle.

After the liberation of the country, Liu Zhiyuan served as commander of the Plains Military Region and first deputy commander of the Shanxi Military Region. On February 5, 1955, he gave a speech at a military and civilian conference in Taiyuan City, and died of cerebral hemorrhage before the speech was over, which is extremely regrettable.