Figure 丨 Li Xian read the old photo
preface
For his hometown of Hong'an, Li Xiannian has deep feelings.
On May 27, 1992, after Li Xiannian was seriously ill and hospitalized, he never forgot his hometown of Hong'an, and forcefully stood up to meet with the responsible comrades of the Hong'an County CPC Committee, put forward his own ideas on the future development of Hong'an, and exhorted: Hong'an is an old revolutionary area, and must not fail to live up to the efforts of the martyrs, and must let the people live a good life!
The founding father who came out of Hong'an
Born in a poor peasant family in Hong'an, Hubei Province, Li Xiannian followed his father and brother to work in the fields since childhood, herding cattle and collecting firewood. After a hard day's work, I can't rest directly when I get home, and I need to help my mother do some chores.
Although the days are a little tiring, the young Li Xiannian has not lost hope for his future life. When he was a child, Li Xiannian liked to play with his friends the most, and after work, he could see Li Xiannian with a large group of children in the village, either catching fish or picking wild fruits, busy all day long.
Among the many children, Li Xiannian is relatively smart and naughty, strong and assertive, and naturally becomes the "child king", and the friends in the village like to play with him.
Young children, lonely and ignorant of the world, but from the words of adults, I heard that the emperor is the most powerful, can say anything, can manage anything, very powerful. For this reason, in the process of playing, Li Xiannian naively said to his friends: "When I grow up, I will not do anything else, I want to be an emperor, and then you will have to drive cattle for me!" ”
Figure 丨 Li Xiannian when he was young
However, in the social environment at that time, it was very difficult for the children of poor families to get ahead. In the process of growing up, Li Xiannian was also "beaten" by society, which also made him slowly observe and think about some social issues.
In the spring of 1919, at the age of 10, Li Xiannian was sent by his family to a private school to study. With the increase of age, Li Xiannian became more and more aware of the importance of reading and the hard-won opportunities. After studying private school, Li Xiannian hoped to enter the academy for further study, but the cost was too high, Li Xiannian's family could not support it at all, and there was no way for Li Xiannian to stop school.
At this time, although Li Xiannian still couldn't understand the cause of his family's poverty, he deeply realized that the children of rich people, no matter whether they studied well or not, could still go to school; the children of poor families, no matter how good they studied, had no hope of further study!
This strong contrast left an indelible mark in the heart of young Li Xiannian.
Figure 丨 Li Xiannian personal photo
Since they could not learn, the family was ready to let Li Xiannian go out to learn a craft so that he could support himself in the future. After consulting with his parents, Li Xiannian chose the carpenter in the seventy-two lines.
As craftsmen, carpenters often had access to the dignitaries of the time. In the process of Learning The Craft, Li Xiannian heard and witnessed many unfair things, and not only gained insight, but also became more sympathetic to the poor and hated the rich and old masters.
When faced with poor people, Li Xiannian enthusiastically helped; in the face of landlords and gentry, Li Xiannian was unwilling to do it, even if he could not get rid of it, he also tried to make them pay more. His clear-cut position of love and hatred and simple class feelings had a great influence on the poor, and people also called him "Little Lee Carpenter".
Later, by chance, Li Xiannian went to Wuhan to work under the introduction of his fellow villagers. During this time in Wuhan, Li Xiannian witnessed workers' strikes, student marches and other activities, and under the influence of new ideas, he began to want to overthrow this dark old world like many oppressed people at the bottom.
Figure 丨 Li Xiannian
In October 1926, the National Revolutionary Army attacked Wuchang City, and a vigorous wave of revolution swept through the three towns of Wuhan and expanded to the vast township areas of the surrounding counties. Li Xiannian saw the possibility of overthrowing the old world, so he quit his job and returned to his hometown, ready to join the revolutionary movement.
After returning to his hometown of Hong'an, Li Xiannian was not alone in the battle, his second brother Chen Youzhou and his friends Han Shuangxian and Li Zexin in the same village were all active members of the agricultural movement, and they were very happy about Li Xiannian's return. So they acted separately and established the Kowloon Township Farmers' Association, and Li Xiannian was elected as an executive member.
On November 13, 1927, Li Xiannian participated in the "Jute Uprising" that shook the whole country. The next morning, the rebels took control of Hong'an County, and Li Xiannian, pinning a single-shot pistol made by a Hong'an coppersmith, holding a pennant paper flag in his hand, stood on the city tower with a smile on his face.
Since Li Xiannian remembered, he had never been so happy as he is today. On the 25th, Li Xiannian led the peasants to arm them, and in one fell swoop eliminated the local tycoons and gentry of Guihualou and Datangwan, and opened the landlord's granary and distributed all the grain to the peasants.
Figure 丨 Comrade Li Xiannian
On the 27th, in a dilapidated thatched hut, Li Xiannian took the oath in front of the party flag and officially joined the Communist Party of China.
At that time, the Kuomintang was still a behemoth, and when it learned of the jute uprising, it immediately sent troops to suppress it and massacre revolutionary cadres and Communists. After the decision of the county party committee, Li Xiannian continued to stay in Hong'an and persist in the struggle.
Under the efforts of Li Xiannian, in early 1928, a group of young people in Yejiatian Village joined the Communist Youth League and formed the first league branch in Huangpi County, with Li Xiannian as the secretary of the branch.
Soon, Li Xiannian organized some young peasants to form a township guerrilla group and served as the leader. The enemy is strong and we are weak, so Li Xiannian can only hide during the day, attack at night, and carry out guerrilla activities with the Red Horse Village as the center of activity.
Chairman Mao and Li Xiannian shook hands
Since then, the villagers in the junction areas of Hong'an and Huangpi have never seen the kind "little Li carpenter" again, but only li Xiannian, a heroic guerrilla leader.
In Li Xiannian's early revolutionary movement, his hometown of Hong'an left him with deep memories. After that, Li Xiannian followed the Red Fourth Front to the four sides, and in the tempering of blood and fire, he also broke out of his own prestige.
On June 15, 1935, Li Xiannian shook the hand of the comrades of the vanguard of the Red Army and said excitedly: "Welcome, welcome to you, welcome to the Red Fourth Front!" And took the lead in shouting: "Welcome to the Party Central Committee!" Welcome Chairman Mao! ”
The two main Red Army forces were finally able to meet after much hardship. On June 18, the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission led the central Red Army to all of them to arrive at Fan Attack and meet the Red Fourth Front In Victory Division.
That evening, Chairman Mao, President Zhu, and other central leaders cordially met with Li Xiannian. This was the first time Li Xiannian had met Chairman Mao and other central leaders, and he was very excited in his heart. When Chairman Mao learned that the general in front of him was only 26 years old, he sighed: "Comrade Xiannian is really young and has a bright future!" ”
Pictured: Chairman Mao's office
After receiving Chairman Mao's praise, Li Xiannian was not proud, but on the contrary, he did his own work in a down-to-earth manner. Later, during the Long March period, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and the War of Liberation, Li Xiannian made immortal contributions to the establishment of New China.
He is in charge of Hubei
At the end of February 1949, Li Xiannian was busy with the work of the newly established Provisional People's Government of the Central Plains, but suddenly received a notice: Comrade Li Xiannian went to Xibaipo to attend the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
At this meeting, Chairman Mao put forward the measures that the party should take in the economic, political, diplomatic, and other fields after the national victory, and warned the comrades of the whole party:
Winning the national victory is only the first step in the long march... The road ahead is longer, the work is greater, it is harder. We must ensure that comrades continue to maintain a modest, cautious, non-arrogant, and non-dry style of work, and that comrades continue to maintain a style of arduous struggle.
On the morning of March 11, Li Xiannian made an important speech at the meeting, summing up and reporting on his work in the past period of time, which was affirmed by Chairman Mao and other central leading comrades attending the meeting.
Li Xiannian spoke at the meeting
One night during the meeting, Chairman Mao specially invited Li Xiannian to his residence to talk.
After Li Xiannian sat down, he gave a detailed report to Chairman Mao on some of the situations before and after the breakthrough in the Central Plains. Chairman Mao nodded after listening, and then continued to inquire: "I heard Comrade Xiaoping say, do you want to go back to Hubei to work?" ”
"Yes," replied Li Xiannian, "since I joined the revolution, I have spent most of my time fighting and working in Hubei, and I am more familiar with the situation in Hubei, and working there is more suitable for me." ”
Chairman Mao smiled and agreed with Li Xiannian's idea of returning to Hubei to work.
In mid-May 1949, according to the decision of the Party Central Committee and the Central and Southern Bureau, Li Xiannian served as the secretary of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee, the chairman of the Hubei Provincial Government, and the commander and political commissar of the Hubei Military Region.
At that time, Li Xiannian was treating patients in Beiping, but after learning the news about his appointment, he ignored the doctor's persuasion and discharged from the hospital, took his entourage south and went to the seat of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee.
Hubei has just been liberated, which can be described as a hundred wastes waiting to be revived, and Li Xiannian, as the secretary of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee, naturally has a lot of burden on his body. In the face of the complex situation in front of him, Li Xiannian did not panic, but went deep into the front line to conduct investigation and research, and then prescribed the right medicine according to the actual situation.
After a period of research, Li Xiannian pointed out at the first financial and economic work conference in the province:
Our current task is to support the front line, suppress bandits and oppose hegemony, ensure the supply of materials, ensure the rapid recovery of agriculture, industry and commerce, and the funds needed for industrial construction; we must focus on agricultural production in our work, restore and develop trade, stabilize prices, promote the exchange of materials between urban and rural areas, and enable the renminbi to go to the countryside.
These measures by Li Xiannian played an important role in the recovery and development of Hubei's economy at that time. It was also from this time that Li Xiannian shouldered the heavy responsibility of building a new Hubei.
In the process of work, Li Xiannian clearly saw that the current cadres in Hubei are a bit short of them, and the quality of these cadres in doing things for the people needs to be improved. After discovering the problem, Li Xiannian and other comrades worked together to find a solution, and finally proposed to solve the cadre problem from two aspects.
First, strengthen the ranks of cadres. In the early days of liberation, there was a shortage of cadres throughout the country, not just Hubei. In order to solve this problem, Li Xiannian decided to establish Hubei People's Revolutionary University and personally served as its president. From the official opening of the school on August 1, 1949 to the closure of the school on March 25, 1953, a total of 15,416 cadres were trained, effectively solving the problem of the shortage of cadres in Hubei.
Second, improve the quality of cadres. The quality of cadres determines the success or failure of the cause, and the stronger the people's concept of cadres, the more things they do for the people, and the greater the benefits that the people will gain. At the opening ceremony of hubei people's revolutionary university, Li Xiannian stressed: Everyone should firmly establish the idea of serving the people, strive to learn professional knowledge well, and apply it to the masses of the people in the future.
It is under the leadership of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee with Li Xiannian as the core that the entire Hubei Province has a new look! After stabilizing the situation in Hubei, Li Xiannian thought of his hometown of Hong'an and his fathers and fellow villagers living in his hometown.
In 1953, Li Xiannian returned to his hometown for the first time after a 25-year absence.
Li Xiannian had a cordial conversation with the villagers
After returning to his hometown, the comrades of the local county party committee reported to Li Xiannian on the work carried out by Hong'an in carrying out the work of eliminating bandits and opposing hegemony and land reform. When talking about the current work, Li Xiannian deliberately stressed: We must make great efforts to grasp economic construction and do a good job in increasing production and economizing. Hong'an is an old district with heavy tasks in economic construction, and it is hoped that the Hong'an County CPC Committee will not fail to live up to the great trust of the party and the people.
The next morning, Li Xiannian inspected the construction of the Hong'an Reservoir. When he saw the scene of the hot labor on the construction site, Li Xiannian sighed: "We must all strengthen our belief in serving the people and not fail to live up to the trust of the people." ”
In the afternoon, Li Xiannian inspected Hong'an Middle School. After listening to a brief introduction from his entourage, Li Xiannian asked: How many students and teachers are there in this school?
After learning about the number of teachers and students, Li Xiannian thought about it and said: "There are many teachers, but the number of students is not too many, can we recruit some more?" ”
The student gave Li Xiannian a red scarf
"If you can recruit more, there are not enough classrooms," replied the comrades of the county's liberal arts and sciences education.
After learning of this situation, Li Xiannian immediately consulted with the comrades of the county party committee and decided that the county would pay a sum of money to repair and build new school buildings. After solving the problem, Li Xiannian told the entourage: "We solved the problem of a school here today, but it is far from enough. We want to hold a special meeting on education, so that the primary and secondary education in the province can have a greater development in a few years. ”
On the morning of the third day, the Hong'an County Party Committee held an enlarged meeting of cadres in the whole county, and more than 600 cadres attended the meeting. After the meeting began, Li Xiannian said in his still old rural voice that today is mainly to meet with everyone, it is not easy to come back, if you don't even take a picture with everyone, it is inevitable that some people will say that I Li Xiannian set up a shelf!
The atmosphere of the whole meeting was very harmonious, and Li Xiannian also put forward many of his own views on the development of his hometown Hong'an, which made all the cadres deeply educated and encouraged.
Figure 丨 Li Xiannian inspected the work
On the morning of the fourth day, Li Xiannian left his hometown, and the cadres attending the meeting went to bid farewell to the founding fathers with the masses!
Worry about the development of your hometown
Since li xiannian returned to his hometown once in 1953, he has been concerned about the development of his hometown, and in his spare time, he will ask: "Hong'an, how has the recent development been?" ”
After seven years, Li Xiannian once again returned to his hometown of Hong'an.
One day in October 1960, Li Xiannian, vice premier of the State Council and minister of finance, led the responsible comrades of the relevant central departments from Henan to Hong'an. This is the second time that Li Xiannian has returned to his hometown, and it is also the first time he has returned to Hong'an since he was transferred to the Central Committee.
During the inspection, Li Xiannian stressed to the comrades of the Hong'an County CPC Committee that in the past war years, we relied on the masses of the people and won victories until the establishment of political power. At present, some cadres have thrown away the party's fine traditions and are only concerned with their own enjoyment.
Consider the common people at all. In dealing with such cadres, we must deal with them seriously, and we absolutely must not be soft-hearted.
Figure 丨 Li Xiannian and third sister Li Deqin
That night, Li Xiannian talked with his sister Li Deqin and nephew Chen Ximin about the situation in Hong'an Village. In the process of chatting, Li Xiannian's sister proposed to him: Can you give some care to your hometown?
After hearing this, Li Xiannian said, "Sister, I am the vice premier of the country, not the vice premier of Hong'an. Hong'an has difficulties, which can only be solved by Hubei Province first, and I personally have no right to 'go through the back door' for Hong'an. You have to explain to the villagers, and you must understand the difficulties of the country. ”
After listening to his brother's words, Li Deqin did not say anything more. The next day, Li Xiannian left his hometown of Hong'an again because of his work.
For the development of Hong'an, not only Li Xiannian was very concerned, but also General Hu Qicai was also very concerned.
Hu Qicai and Li Xiannian were also from Hong'an, and the two formed a deep revolutionary friendship during the war. Although he later worked in different units, he still maintained close contacts.
Figure 丨 General Hu Qicai
In 1983, Hu Qicai returned to his hometown to visit the villagers, but after seeing the hardships of the villagers' lives, his heart was very unhappy. After returning to Beijing from his hometown, Hu Qicai went to visit Li Xiannian, who was then president of the country, and in the process of small talk, the two talked about the development of his hometown of Hong'an.
Hu Qicai then told Li Xiannian about what he had seen when he returned to his hometown this time, and then asked: "You are in charge of poverty alleviation work, can you take care of your hometown?" After Li Xiannian listened, he said euphemistically: "Doesn't the state have a special poverty alleviation fund, which is specially used to relieve poor counties?" ”
After hearing this, Hu Qicai wanted to continue to "intercede" for his hometown, but he was rejected by Li Xiannian: "I am the president of the country, not the chairman of Hong'an, how can I be treated differently?" ”
At this moment, Hu Qicai felt that Li Xiannian was still the same old temper: he would not give in on the issue of principle! However, on the issue of hong'an development, Li Xiannian still attaches great importance to it.
Figure 丨 Li Xiannian in his later years
In 1992, the State Council decided to build the Beijing-Kowloon Railway. Li Xiannian attached great importance to this and was concerned about the determination of the direction plan of the Wuhan liaison line of the Beijing-Kowloon Railway, but after considering the role of this railway in the old revolutionary areas and in the economic development of his hometown of Hong'an, he wrote a letter to the minister of railways and the deputy director of the State Planning Commission at that time, expressing his views:
I think that from the long-term perspective of developing the economy of the old area and prospering Dabie Mountain, the plan to go out of Macheng and go to Wuhan via Hong'an is better! Please consider this in your further arguments.
In the end, the Beijing-Kowloon railway line was able to pass through the Hong'an area, which was credited to Li Xiannian. On June 21, 1992, Li Xiannian died of illness at the age of 83!
Nowadays, Hong'an has long been rid of the original appearance of poverty, and the people live a happy and healthy life, which can also be regarded as the realization of Li Xiannian's wish!