In 2007, an elderly farmer in Lushi County, Henan Province, was renovating his house when he accidentally found a bullet under the old tiles of the roof. There was no gunpowder in the bullet, only a note recording the secrets of the past.
The old farmer' name is Li Mingshan, and he lives in Lushi County, Henan Province. In 2007, Li Mingshan wanted to renovate his family's old house, so he invited the village engineering team. When the engineering team climbed to the roof to remove the old tiles, they found a bullet buried under the layers of broken tiles.
The three generations of the Li family are poor peasants, and there has not been any big war here, so why is there a bullet on the roof?
Li Mingshan carefully examined the bullet and found that it had been hollowed out, and there was only a crumpled note inside.
Due to its age, the paper has turned yellow, but the handwriting on it is still very clear. It reads crookedly:
Now borrowed to Gaohe Village Li Da Niang Baogu Five Buckets of Salt Three Pounds, Workers' and Peasants' Red Army Pistol Company, On the thirteenth day of the winter month of the year of Jia Shu.
It turned out that this was an IOU, and the Li Da Niang in the IOU was Li Mingshan's grandmother, Xiang Xiaocui.
Li Mingshan did not know that his grandmother had also lent grain to the Red Army, so he could only take a note to his father to inquire about the situation.
Li Mingshan's father told him that his mother, Xiang Xiaocui, had told him about it when he was a child, but because he was too young at the time, he could no longer remember where the IOU was hidden, but at that time, he remembered the story of his mother and the Red Army.
In this way, this IOU, which has been buried for more than half a century, was finally unveiled by an old man.
Everything must start from the year of Jia Shu, which was 1934, when the Kuomintang army carried out the fifth encirclement and suppression operation against the Chinese workers' and peasants' Red Army, and under the influence of Wang Ming's "left-leaning" ideology, our army's fifth anti-encirclement and suppression operation against the Kuomintang army was completely unsuccessful. After the failure of the anti-encirclement and suppression campaign, the Central Red Army had to make a strategic shift for this purpose.
That is, from this year onwards, our army began the long march of twenty-five thousand miles.
The Long March lasted two years, and the main force of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army achieved a strategic shift from the north and south of the Yangtze River to the region. During these two years, the Central Red Army spanned a total of 14 provinces, fought more than 600 battles with local Kuomintang troops and bandits, captured more than 700 county towns, and the Red Army also maintained and sacrificed many young Red Army soldiers, and there were more than 430 cadres above the battalion level, but their average age was less than 30 years old.
Although the Long March seriously injured the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, it also left the main force of the Red Army with a living force, laying the foundation for victory in the future War of Resistance.
During this Long March, the enemies of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, in addition to the harsh natural environment, also encircled and intercepted by the Kuomintang.
In order to strike at the Chinese Communist Party, the enemy obstructed the pace of the Long March. They also spread rumors in the provinces and cities through which the Chinese Red Army was passing, telling the people that the Red Army was a "communist bandit" and a contingent that "did nothing evil," and that if anyone found out that the Red Army was passing by, they must hide or go to the Kuomintang to report it.
Although the common people in the north and south of the Yangtze River know that the Chinese Red Army is a disciplined contingent and will not take a needle and a thread from the masses. However, the northern region did not know much about the Red Army, so many ordinary people were blinded by the Kuomintang. Moreover, at that time, helping the Red Army was a big taboo, and it was necessary to bear considerable risks, and some people could be retaliated against by the local Kuomintang troops just by sending things to the Red Army.
It was already December, and it was cold and the blizzard had been falling for several days. Although there is a saying in the countryside that "Ruixue Mega Year", heavy snow like this also makes rural roads difficult to walk.
The Red Army troops, who were on a transfer mission at the time, arrived at Lancao Village in Sanmenxia, Henan, and in order to allow the troops to rest, the military chiefs unanimously decided to take the troops into the village and station.
There are a total of seventeen households in Lancao Village, and they are basically tenant households, and the families are hungry and struggling to survive. And because the news in the village was very closed due to the continuous fighting, coupled with the fact that so many soldiers with guns came at once, the people were suddenly frightened and stupid.
Coinciding with the turmoil, many areas were inhabited by people who fell into the grass and plundered villages. If the village encounters robbery, it is good, although the ordinary people have no money and food, this winter and may not be able to pass, but the whole village takes care of each other, and the good villains can still have a way to live; what is even more tragic is that when they encounter those who have captured Zhuangding, once the ordinary villagers are taken away as Zhuangding, it is basically nine deaths.
Before the Red Army soldiers could say anything, the young man in the village directly threw down what he had in his hand and ran towards the back hill of the village. And those old and weak women and children with limited mobility could not run far, and could only close the door tightly, for fear of encountering some accident. Among them was Xiang Xiaocui, who was wrapped in small feet.
This unit is China's famous 25th Army, the full name is the 25th Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, it was established in October 1931, is the people's army created by the Communist Party of China in the Eyu-Anhui region during the agrarian revolution, and is subordinate to the Red Fourth Front.
On the twenty-five-thousand-mile Long March, the 25th Army can be said to be the most special of all the Red Army troops. We all know that the environment of the Long March was extremely harsh, not only to climb snow-capped mountains and cross meadows, but also to engage in frequent battles with the Kuomintang troops.
After other units fought against the Kuomintang army, the number of people in the team would become smaller and smaller, but the Red Second and Fifth Armies could not only repel the enemy in the absence of vitality and equipment, but also constantly add new blood, and the team became bigger and bigger. In the future, it can even continue to replenish the supply of troops for other troops.
After the end of the Long March, the twenty-fifth army was abolished and reorganized into the seventy-fifth division of the corps. In 1937, it was reorganized into the 344th Brigade of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army, becoming one of the main brigades of the 115th Division during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
The commander of the Twenty-fifth Army is Xu Haidong, the founding general of our country, who officially joined the Communist Party of China in 1925, participated in the jute uprising, and won two battles in Laoshan and Yulinqiao in Germany; during the War of Resistance Against Japan, he served as the brigade commander of the 344th Brigade of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, participated in the Battle of Pingxingguan, and also went deep behind enemy lines in North China and launched guerrilla warfare.
Later, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Xu Haidong became a member of the First National Defense Commission of the People's Republic of China. Awarded the rank of Grand General in 1955, Chairman Mao praised him as a "man of great merit to the Chinese revolution" and "a banner of the working class." On March 25, 1970, Xu Haidong died in Zhengzhou.
However, at this time, Xu Haidong had a headache, he also heard the propaganda of the Kuomintang along the way, and the people of that era were afraid of officers and soldiers, and they would not open the door at all when they saw the gun.
But there was no way, the troops had been marching for a long time, and the soldiers had hardly eaten a full meal. If this continues, before the Long March is completed, the warriors' bodies will collapse.
He could only send soldiers to knock on the door of each house, hoping that the local people would provide them with a place to rest, but every household closed the door, and no matter how the Red Army soldiers called, no one in the whole village responded.
When I first arrived at the gate of Li's house, no one responded. The Red Army soldiers thought that there was no drama again, but at this moment, Li Mingshan's grandmother Xiang Xiaocui opened the door.
The Red Army soldiers identified themselves and told Xiang Xiaocui that he hoped to borrow their family's wheat field for a few days.
Wheat fields are valleys, and Chinese farmers generally build a flat ground in the field, which is used to dry wheat when farmers are busy, or to spread the wheat or rice harvested in the field on the ground and use cattle to pull stones to crush the wheat and millet. When the farmers are busy, they are used to pile straw. Now some farmers still habitually put the grain they collect on the road for this reason.
Xiang Xiaocui immediately agreed.
Later, according to Xiang Xiaocui's diary, in fact, Xiang Xiaocui did not want to open the door at first. But in the gap between the doors and windows, she saw young soldiers standing in the snow wearing thin winter coats, and she couldn't bear it, so she opened the door and promised the Red Army soldiers.
But before Xiang Xiaocui could finish speaking, several small soldiers of the Red Army came to help Xiang Xiaocui clean up. A few young men picked up the guys and began to work, and with the enthusiasm of the top ones, they quickly cleaned up the wheat field and the yard.
Xiang Xiaocui was distressed by these baby soldiers, so he told their leaders that the Red Soldiers of the Red Army could use their own wheat straw stacks on the ground as a mat, so that the soldiers could be warm when they slept.
The Red Army soldiers hurried to thank them, and after cleaning the wheat field, the Red Army soldiers went to the homes of other villagers to clean up.
Xiang Xiaocui looked at these young Red Army soldiers and slowly found that they were not as brutal as the Kuomintang said, but were very kind to the common people. So he ran to the back hill and told the young people who were hiding to come back quickly.
Slowly, the people who had fled because of fear returned, and the village, which was originally deserted, became lively because of this group of enthusiastic Red Army soldiers.
Soon, the homes of the entire village were basically cleaned up by the Red Army soldiers, and in addition, the soldiers also volunteered to take care of the helpless old and weak women and children in the village and help repair the houses.
When it was time for lunch, the Red Army did not have much grain left, so that each soldier could only get half a bowl of porridge in the end. Saying that it is porridge is actually a pot of rice bran, wheat flour and a little salt boiled paste. But it was such a paste that the Soldiers of the Red Army could rarely eat.
Xiang Xiaocui looked at them and remembered his eldest son who had been taken away. Touching the scene, Xiang Xiaocui fainted in place.
When the Red Army soldiers saw Xiang Xiaocui fainting and fell to the ground, they called the doctor accompanying the army in the team, and it was difficult to wake up Xiang Xiaocui, and knowing about his son, he comforted Xiang Xiaocui and said, Although your son is gone, every soldier of the Red Army is your son.
Later, some compatriots saw that the Red Army soldiers were eating very poorly and wanted to send some grain to the Red Army, but the Red Army did not accept it, because the troops had the discipline of "not taking a needle and a thread from the masses."
"Not taking a needle and a thread from the masses" is a concentrated embodiment of the water conditions of the military and the people during the revolutionary war period, and it has always been an important spirit of our army. In 1929, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China promulgated the "Three Major Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention," which were: not to take a needle and a thread from the masses, to return everything seized to justice, not to beat and curse people, not to damage crops, not to flirt with women, not to mistreat prisoners, to buy and sell fairly, to repay borrowed things, and to pay compensation for damaged things.
These disciplines were soon promulgated among the ranks of the Communist Party throughout the country, establishing a good reputation for our army among the people, and later becoming an important starting point for the discipline work of the Communist Party of China.
Winters in Henan are unusually cold, and at night, temperatures can approach minus ten degrees. Xiang Xiaocui originally wanted to invite the Red Army soldiers to rest in the house, but the Red Army soldiers all said that the troops were not allowed to disturb the discipline of the common people, and there was no way, Xiang Xiaocui could only invite the Red Army soldiers to rest in their own cowshed.
Xiang Xiaocui found a company commander of the Red Army and said that the soldiers could sleep in their own cowshed, so that they could cover their heads with tiles and be warmer.
As soon as the Red Army soldiers heard what the eldest lady said to them, they quickly thanked Xiang Xiaocui for the salute.
At this time, a seriously injured warrior was carried to the door of Xiang Xiaocui's house, and several fighters hoped that Xiang Xiaocui could let the wounded warrior rest on the second floor of their house, of course, they promised not to move the things in the house.
Xiang Xiaocui quickly agreed to the next two, and immediately asked his son to go upstairs to clean up a room.
By noon the next day, the Red Army soldiers had just prepared to make a fire to cook, only to find that there was no food in the team. Xiang Xiaocui discovered the difficulties of the Red Army soldiers, saying that he had more than 2,000 catties of corn and could take it out to feed the soldiers.
The soldiers of the Red Army refused to accept anything, so that they could say that they had borrowed five buckets of corn and returned it when they had beaten the landlord's old wealth.
Without hesitation, Xiang Xiaocui immediately took out five buckets of corn from his own cellar and gave them to the soldiers, and also said: "There is nothing that cannot be borrowed, it should be given to the Red Army."
After the soldiers received the corn, they trotted all the way to other villagers' homes to borrow stone mills, and some people went up the mountain to collect firewood and cook on the fire, and stayed in the village at a young age to be responsible for guarding and guarding.
Soon, the soldiers brought back many bundles of firewood from the mountains, and in addition to leaving one bundle for cooking on the fire, the rest was given to the families of fellow villagers who were willing to lend grain and stone grinding to the Red Army.
When the soldiers were cooking, Xiang Xiaocui brought out a large pot of their own pickled yellow cabbage for the soldiers, saying that they were afraid that the cornmeal would not taste, and it was good to eat some sauerkraut.
The warriors had already borrowed the grain of Xiang Xiaocui's family, so naturally they would not eat their sauerkraut again, but Xiang Xiaocui was also very stubborn, and he had to let the warriors take the sour yellow cabbage under his hands. The little soldiers in the team had no choice but to run to their battalion commander for instructions. After instructing him to run back to Xiang Xiaocui's home, he accepted the sour yellow cabbage in Xiang Xiaocui's hand.
Later, the leader of the Red Army team ran to Xiang Xiaocui's home to borrow salt and promised xiang Xiaocui that he would return it with corn in the future. But Xiang Xiaocui had just taken out the salt, when he saw the small warrior behind the chief take out a scale and clearly weigh three pounds of salt.
When Li Mingshan's father recalled, he would always say that his mother Xiang Xiaocui often told them that the discipline of the Red Army was very good.
You must know that in that war-torn era, there were more than two thousand catties of corn and a large vat of salt in the family, which could be said to be a rich family. Moreover, wars are frequent, and the demand for grain from all sides is very large, not only bandits will rob grain, but bullies, displaced people, and even some Kuomintang officers and soldiers will rob the grain of the common people, but only the Red Army has never robbed, and wherever they go, they will fight as rich and unmerciful bandit bullies and distribute the fields and grain to the common people. If it is replaced by other forces, it is estimated that even the salt foam will not be left for the common people.
The troops were stationed here for about half a month, during which in addition to looking for food for the surrounding villagers a few times, the rest of the time was either cleaning for the villagers, burning fires and chopping firewood, or training at the threshing ground.
When the troops were about to leave, the local people were very reluctant. The little warrior who had been looking for Xiang Xiaocui to borrow grain found her again and told her that the troops were about to leave, and the grain might be too late to pay them back, and originally wanted to give back a little from the local tycoons, but there was not much grain for the local tycoons here, so the troops did not move them.
But there is discipline in the troops, and the things of the common people must be returned, and now the conditions in the troops are difficult, so they can only write an IOU first, and when the time comes, when the troops return, they will return the grain to her.
Then he wrote down the IOU and handed it to Xiang Xiaocui.
Although the Red Second and Fifth Armies came back again later, Xiang Xiaocui did not take out the IOU, but instead put it in a shell casing and threw it on the roof.
Until 1959, Xiang Xiaocui, who was already in his 80s, lay in a hospital bed and did not mention the matter to anyone.
The story of bullet casings and IOUs soon spread, and people from all walks of life in society wanted to come to Li Mingshan's house to find out. Reporters want to get first-hand news, and many collectors want to buy this IOU at a high price, and the price has been up to 30,000 yuan.
Not only that, the government also sent people to find Li Mingshan's family, indicating that the government was willing to repay Li Mingshan's family five times according to the amount on the IOU. At the same time, the government also hopes to take away this IOU and put it in the Memorial Hall of the Second and Fifth Armies for permanent preservation.
Finally, after careful consideration, Li Mingshan sent this IOU to the Red Second and Fifth Army Memorial Hall in the form of a gratuitous donation to achieve the old man's last wish.
Now inside the Red Twenty-fifth Army Memorial Hall. Not only this IOU, but also many historical relics that record the hard work of the Red Army soldiers in that year. The Memorial Hall of the 25th Red Army has thus become a shining pearl to commemorate the spirit of China's Long March.
It not only protected the ruins and relics left by the Red Twenty-fifth Army's Long March in the local area, but also made a major contribution to china's development of the spirit of the Long March and the promotion of the party's glory.
In recent years, more and more historical relics similar to "IOUs" have been excavated among the people, and they have not only made up for the history of China's Long March, but also established in the hearts of a new generation of young people the revolutionary spirit and patriotic feelings of our party and our army that are not afraid of difficulties and are extremely arduous.