The Surging News reporter Zhang Jiaran
【Editor's Note】
The blood of martyrs illuminates our way.
Since 2014, the state has legally designated September 30 of each year as the Chinese Martyrs' Memorial Day. Since that year, the annual commemoration of martyrs on 30 September has risen to the level of national will.
Martyrs are the most bloody people in a country, and they are also the people who bravely stand up when the country encounters danger. A nation that respects heroes and martyrs is a nation with blood and hope. Those who dye the red flag with blood and light up the dawn of the republic with their lives, those who turn their original intentions into conscious actions and practice the mission of the republic with their lives, are worthy of our eternal memory.
September 30, 2021 is the eighth Martyrs' Day in China. From this day on, the surging news launched the "This prosperous world as you wish" for eight consecutive days to pay tribute to the heroic martyrs special report, in order to show its virtue, but also enough to comfort future generations.
Xu Penglong The pictures in this article are all pictures of the surging news reporter Zhang Jiaran
Although Xu Penglong has been away from his parents forever for more than two years, his parents still have tears in their eyes when they mention him.
In September 2017, "post-00s" Xu Penglong enlisted in the army and has not returned to his hometown since. Parents miss their son, so they buy a map, and when they think of their son, they find the place where their son is on the map and look at it.
On the afternoon of March 30, 2019, a forest fire broke out in Muli County, Liangshan, Sichuan Province, and Xu Penglong, a firefighter of the third squadron of the Xichang Forest Fire Brigade in Sichuan Province, received the task and rushed to the fire site in the early morning of March 31 to carry out fire fighting, and the open fire was extinguished on the same day. However, Xu Penglong and 27 other forest fire commanders and fighters and three local firefighters encountered forest fires as they swerved toward two smoke points in the valley, and all 30 people were killed.
"Although he didn't talk much since he was a child, he was too sensible!" Xu Penglong is a native of Shandong and his family is in Tongzhuang Village, Xuezhuang Town, Fei County, Linyi City. On September 24, the www.thepaper.cn interviewed his parents, relatives and friends, and everyone unanimously commented on him.
Xu Penglong's parents have been living in an old house built more than 30 years ago, which is not only small in space, but also most of the furniture is very old, only a clean cabinet, which is used to place Xu Penglong's various photos and medals.
In fact, as early as four or five years ago, his parents had built a new house for Xu Penglong, and now that his son is gone, this new house has become the "sad place" of the second old, who would rather live in the old mansion than move to the new house.
After Xu Penglong's sacrifice, netizens across the country spontaneously produced many photos or portraits of Xu Penglong, and then sent them to his parents, and the old man carefully preserved each one as a souvenir in memory of the hero's son.
After Xu Penglong's sacrifice, netizens from all over the world spontaneously made pennants, plaques, etc., and sent them to his parents.
Rural teenagers
In the 1970s, Linyi Fei County built the Gucheng Reservoir, Xu Penglong's hometown is located in the reservoir area, and after the merger of several villages, the whole was relocated to the current Xuezhuang Town Tongzhuang Village.
Xu Penglong's father, Xu Xingyi, is 55 years old, and his mother, Jiang Hualiang, is 54 years old. Before Xu Penglong was born, they began to grow watermelons, melons and other greenhouse fruits, and because of their perennial farming, both of them looked older than their actual ages.
"A child is the heart of a parent, how difficult it is to raise him so big!" Xu Penglong's family was not financially well-off, he was born on March 12, 2000, has an older sister who is ten years older than her, and the family of four has been living in a few bungalows that are not spacious.
They have a radio at home. Jiang Hualiang loves to listen to books very much, and she is familiar with famous articles such as "Yang Jiajian", "Yue Fei Biography", "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and so on, and often tells Xu Penglong these stories, and has repeatedly told him the truth of "honesty and loyalty to the family".
At a very young age, Xu Penglong began to help his parents with housework and cooking. Jiang Hualiang said that unlike some children, he went out to play all day without home, and usually went out to play for more than half an hour and would come back.
"This child is very eye-catching, when playing in my house, if someone comes to the house, he will take the initiative to give up his seat, the adults are talking about things, he will also consciously walk away." 」 Fang Zhongjun, a member of the Party Branch of Tongzhuang Village, and Xu Penglong's children are similar in age, and the two often play together and talk about their impressions of Xu Penglong, Fang Zhongjun said.
Xu Penglong's dilapidated old mansion
In Jiang Hualiang's impression, he had only beaten Xu Penglong once.
When Xu Penglong was 5 years old, his parents planned to send him to preschool, but he could not persuade him to go. The first few times Xu Xingyi took him to school and failed to keep him at school, and later his sister took him there without success.
Later, one day, Xu Xingyi took his son to school again, xu Penglong still did not persuade him to stay in school, and threw his school bag to Xu Xingyi. In a fit of rage, Xu Xingyi took him home and beat him up. Jiang Hualiang saw the situation and pulled not to let him fight, and wanted to persuade his son to send her to school by her, but his son still righteously refused.
"At that time, the shed was busy, and there was no time to take care of him, and after sending him to school, he could have more energy to work." In desperation, Jiang Hualiang also slapped his son several times, and since then, Xu Penglong has never raised the idea of not going to school.
Hard work
"It's not easy for my father to earn money, he can't spend money indiscriminately."
After Xu Penglong finished primary school in the village, he went to the town to attend junior high school and began to live in the school. Jiang Hualiang recalled that when he was in junior high school, his family gave Xu Penglong more than ten yuan a week for living expenses, and he sometimes had left, which showed that life in school was very frugal.
After graduating from junior high school, Xu Penglong did not enter high school, and since then, he has firmly believed in his dream of becoming a soldier.
At that time, there was a school in Linyi City that could accept junior high school graduates, and after hearing that after two years of study, xu Penglong could directly become a soldier, Xu Penglong was very interested, accompanied by his sister to participate in the school's entrance examination, but later learned that he needed to pay a tuition fee of more than 27,000 yuan, Xu Penglong directly refused.
Eventually, he went to the Shandong Traffic Technician College in Linyi City to study auto repair. Jiang Hualiang clearly remembers that the consumption level in Linyi City was not low, and at that time, Xu Penglong was only given four or five hundred yuan per month for living expenses, and he could still have a lot left.
"Mom, you give me less (money), I still have, I know that we come from this family." Although our classmates ate and dressed better than me, I didn't go to compare. Xu Penglong often said this to Jiang Hualiang at that time.
Xu Penglong, who returned to Linyi after an internship in Qingdao
During the winter vacation in early 2017, Xu Penglong was arranged by the school to intern at an electrical appliance company in Qingdao. In more than two months, he earned more than seven thousand yuan.
"I couldn't do it at first, the work was not only slow and poor in quality, thanks to the teacher to take the school, and then I became skilled, and I still had the strength to help the teacher." Xu Penglong said to Jiang Hualiang after he returned.
Using the more than seven thousand yuan earned during the winter vacation, Xu Penglong had his own way of dominating.
Xu Penglong's sister works at an advertising agency in Linyi City, and usually takes care of her brother, she often asks her brother to go to her place for dinner, and buys him a mobile phone. After Xu Penglong got the money, he first gave his sister a thousand yuan. Then, he also deposited a part of Jiang Hualiang's bank card.
The remaining few thousand yuan, Xu Penglong did not forget to treat himself. He asked his sister to buy himself a new dress, which was the first time Xu Penglong used the money he earned to buy clothes, and after buying it, the sisters and brothers went to eat a spicy and hot meal together.
"At that time, I also advised him to buy a large size and wear it for two more years, and he also listened to my advice." Jiang Hualiang recalled.
Enlisted in the army
Xu Penglong did not wear the new clothes he bought several times, because after a few months he was conscripted into the army.
During the summer vacation of 2017, Tongzhuang Village began to mobilize conscription, Xu Penglong came to be interested as soon as he heard it, "Mom, I have long wanted to be a soldier, my two eyes are not short-sighted at all, it is a little thin, I must be able to become a soldier!" ”
After many rounds of selection, Xu Penglong got his wish that summer. He became a firefighter in the Xichang Forest Fire Brigade in Sichuan Province.
Xu Penglong did not make any demands on his parents. When he went to the military inspection, Xu Xingyi rode a motorcycle to pick him up, and then he had to take a bus to get to his destination. On the eve of joining the army, he told his parents that he hoped to have a car so that they could all send him.
Group photo of Xu Penglong and his parents
On the day of departure, his parents put on the clean clothes that they were reluctant to wear on weekdays, Xu Penglong put on a camouflage suit, and the family of three took photos in the old mansion. Xu Xingyi borrowed a car from a relative, and they happily sent their son away. At that time, no one expected that this would become a farewell for Xu Xingyi, Jiang Hualiang and their son.
After Xu Penglong went to become a soldier, he would call his parents every weekend. He didn't talk much on the phone, just saying that he was very good in the army, asking his parents to pay attention to their bodies and not to be too tired. However, Xu Penglong never forgot to pay his parents every time, even if his monthly subsidy was only nine hundred yuan in the first year or so.
The son went out for the first time, and he could not come back for a long time, Xu Xingyi, who was not good at words, did not say anything, but he missed his son very much in his heart, ran several stores to buy a map, and when he thought of his son, he took out a map to see where his son was.
Map bought by Xu Xingyi
"Penglong, don't you always give us money, you also keep spending some for yourself... The money that should be spent has to be spent, don't save it! Jiang Hualiang once persuaded his son in this way.
"I don't do those things that eat, drink and give gifts, I don't learn those things, I believe that I can do a good job with my own efforts and strength." Xu Penglong told his mother this.
Xu Xingyi and Jiang Hualiang did not know until their son was sacrificed, and their son worked very hard in the army, sometimes training until his arms were swollen and he had to continue to insist, and his excellent running results were achieved by his own diligent study.
At the beginning of 2019, near the Spring Festival, Xu Penglong's grandfather died, and at the beginning the family did not tell him, until the Spring Festival, when the whole family sat together and video called him, he found that his grandfather was gone. Jiang Hualiang cried and said, "The child cried like a tearful person after hearing the news of his grandfather's death there. ”
Tragic sacrifice
After more than two years of training in the army, Xu Penglong is no longer a "recruit egg".
At the end of February 2019, he proudly told his parents on the phone that he could already train recruits and that "I feel particularly honored to be able to teach others."
Photo of Xu Penglong (center) in the troops
Due to the abundant forest resources and the uneven distribution of precipitation throughout the year, the first half of each year is the high incidence of fires in Liangshan Prefecture, where Xu Penglong is located. In February 2019, Liangshan Prefecture accounted for 1/3 of the 54 forest and grassland fires reported by the Ministry of Emergency Management.
At the beginning of 2019, Xu Penglong's sister gave her parents an old smart phone, and neither husband and wife were very good at operating. On the evening of March 30, Xu Xingyi and Jiang Hualiang, who were returning home from their labor in the greenhouse, were ready to rest after dinner, and the neighbor came to the door to talk about the smart phone, and let another neighbor try to see if it could be used.
As soon as the neighbor saw that it could be used, Jiang Hualiang asked the neighbor to dial a video phone number to Xu Penglong.
"Mom, I just came back from putting out a fire outside, and I've been busy for three days and three nights, and I'm about to wash up and go to bed." As soon as Jiang Hualiang heard Xu Penglong say this, the tears flowed unconsciously, and he could not let his son see it.
Seeing that his son was so hard, Jiang Hualiang let his son go to sleep quickly and did not say too much.
On the afternoon of March 30, 2019, a forest fire broke out in Muli County, Liangshan, Sichuan, with a fire point of about 3,800 meters above sea level, complex terrain, steep slopes and deep valleys, and inconvenient transportation and communication.
In the early morning of March 31, Xu Penglong received the task and rushed to the fire site to carry out firefighting, and the open fire was extinguished on the same day. However, on the afternoon of the 31st, Xu Penglong and 27 other forest firefighters and three local firefighters were approaching two smoke points in the valley in a roundabout way, affected by the sudden change in the direction of the wind in an instant, and encountered forest fires and flames, and all 30 people were killed.
Among the 27 forest firefighters who died, there were two "post-00s", namely Xu Penglong and Wang Fojun, who was born in July 2000.
Xu Xingyi and Jiang Hualiang heard the news on the evening of March 31. At first, the old couple did not believe it, until more than two o'clock in the morning of April 1, Xu Penglong's unit called, "For the safety of the people, in order to defend the country, Xu Penglong sacrificed." ”
After Xu Xingyi received the phone, he did not dare to tell his wife, repeatedly dialed his son's mobile phone number, and the answer he got was always unable to be connected, and Xu Xingyi, who had passed the year of knowing his fate, could not help but cry.
That night, Xu Xingyi and Jiang Hualiang did not sleep. At 4 a.m., they got up to pack up their things and called a few relatives at home to rush to the airport.
In the end, Xu Xingyi and Jiang Hualiang brought Xu Penghua's ashes back to the Yimeng Mountains that he had been familiar with since childhood.
Xu Xingyi holds a picture of Xu Penglong
In April 2019, the Ministry of Emergency Management rated 27 forest firefighters who died as martyrs and posthumously honored as first-class merits, and 11 were posthumously recognized as MEMBERS of the Communist Party of China. Three local people who died were assessed as martyrs.
Now, Xu Penglong has been dead for more than two years, and Xu Xingyi and Jiang Hualiang are still difficult to get out of their grief.
"Some time ago, my nephew, who was about the same age as Penglong, got married, and we had to let us take pictures on stage. Jiang Hualiang said that whenever the holiday was the most difficult time for them, she could not sleep for many nights around the Mid-Autumn Festival this year.
However, to Xu Xingyi and Jiang Hualiang's relief, there was a boy in the same village who was a few years younger than Xu Penglong, who also became a soldier this year, and also regarded Xu Penglong as his idol, "Brother Penglong still has unfinished tasks, I have to hold the 'baton' he gave and continue to complete." ”
Editor-in-Charge: Wang Jun
Proofreader: Shi Gong