General Zhang Zhengguang's Memoirs "Good Dreams Come True"

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I was born in Pingjiang, Hunan Province, to a poor peasant family. When he was young, he worked as a farmer and went to school at the same time, and he studied in a private school in the village for seven years.

I have two great blessings in my life: one is that I have a good father who is hardworking, kind, and upright, and the greater fortunate thing is that I met the Chinese Communist Party when I was young.

During the Period of the Great Revolution and the Beginning of the Agrarian Revolution, I followed my father in the revolution. At the age of thirteen, he became the leader of the Young Pioneers in the township (1928), joined the Chinese Communist Youth League at the age of fourteen, and joined the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army at the age of fifteen. The reason why I was able to grow from a poor peasant to a member of the Communist Party of China and a revolutionary cadre was entirely due to the guidance and cultivation of the Party, and of course my father's share of the credit.

My father, Zhang Youfa, was a hard-working and generous farmer, introverted, rough and inky, and a good calculation. My family has two acres of mountainous land. Grandfather Zhang Xiangcheng planted in the mountains all year round, and the sweet potatoes produced were just enough for the whole family to eat for a year. My father often went outside to work as a short-term worker to get some money to subsidize the family. My mother, Fang Xuemei, was also an ordinary rural woman, who had two sons and one daughter in her life, and when I remember, my mother died of illness and left the burden of life to my father.

I am the eldest son of the family. The order of the descendants on our Zhang family tree is "Ji Qiu Rong Shi Order, Xiao You Zhen Jia Sheng, Ji Shan Zhao Yu Qing, Deng Ke dozens". I belonged to the "Ji" generation, so my father named me "Ji Hou", and after participating in the revolution, I changed my name to "Zhengguang".

Shortly after the death of his mother, his grandfather also left the world. I was only six years old, and I had a brother and a sister. Under the care of our strong grandmother, we struggled to survive the days that were even more difficult than Huang Lian.

There is a foreigner in our village, known as "Old Sun Tou". Living with him was his old mother. His family had no house and no land, and lived in a dilapidated house where other people's houses contained farm tools. Daily food depends on the old grandson to work a short time to earn some money to buy grain and vegetables. If you can't find a job, it's hard to even eat. Often at this time, my father asked me to send a few pounds of dried sweet potatoes to the old Sun Tou's house. When his mother received it, she always thanked her very much.

I asked my father, "Why don't you see the old rich man's family delivering something to the old grandson?" The father replied, "In this world, the poor always help the poor, and the rich eat the poor." He also said, "A person should think of himself in the first half of the night and think of others in the second half of the night!" My family is poor, but we want to help people who are poorer than ours. ”

These words of my father still remain in my mind.

In August 1926, the Fourth Army, the main force of the Northern Expedition, spearheaded by the Ye Ting Independent Regiment, attacked the stronghold of the Beiyang warlord Wu Peifu at Tuanshanpu, east of Pingjiang County. My father led the young adults in the village to support the operations of the Northern Expeditionary Army. After a fierce battle, the independent regiment, with the cooperation of the Pingjiang Peasant Army, captured more than 600 enemy soldiers and successfully captured the county seat of Pingjiang. The Republic of China Daily soon reported the news of the Northern Expeditionary Army's capture of Pingjiang and fully affirmed the support of the peasant masses. The article said, "The northern expedition revolutionary army won this victory in capturing Pingjiang, and its strength was all in the peasants. After this battle, my father joined the Northern Expeditionary Army and became a porter.

A few months later, my father returned to his hometown and joined the Chinese Communist Party the following year.

In July 1928, Peng Dehuai, Teng Daiyuan, Huang Gongluo, and others led soldiers and peasants in Pingjiang to hold a huge "Pingjiang Uprising." The father followed the rebels with a dart. Later, the villages of Pingjiang established Soviet power, and his father was elected chairman of the township soviet. He led the masses to fight the local tyrants, divide the land, and do the work of the Soviets well and satisfactorily.

At this time, I was twelve years old and was also influenced by my father's revolutionary actions.

In the raging agrarian revolutionary struggle, I joined the Boy Scouts and the Young Pioneers. Under the leadership of the party organization, my companions and I actively participated in revolutionary activities such as guarding the guard, checking for tobacco and drugs, prohibiting gambling, supporting the change of customs and customs, and breaking superstitions. After Chiang Kai-shek launched the "April 12" coup d'état to betray Sun Yat-sen, the revolutionary situation changed drastically. Once, when the guerrillas went down the hill to suppress a landlord who had committed many evil deeds, I was ordered to stand guard and set up a guard.

I was fourteen years old in 1929. One day, I said to my father, I want to join the Chinese Communist Youth League. My father was very happy after hearing this, and personally took me to the clear water pond a few miles away to take the oath of joining the regiment.

In the autumn of 1930, the Red Fifth Army under the command of Peng Dehuai was expanded into the Red Third Army, and the Red Army was developed in the Pingjiang area. I actively signed up and prepared to join the army. However, my grandmother said, "You are young, and it is not too late to join the army in two years." ”

Later, after my father's patient persuasion, my grandmother's thoughts finally became clear, and I became a glorious Red Army soldier as I wished. I remember that on the day I joined the army, my grandmother reluctantly sent me to the village entrance, and my father personally sent me to the Red Army garrison in Pingjiang County.

As soon as I left Pingjiang with the team, the landlord return group came back to counterattack. As the chairman of the township soviet, my father bore the brunt of it and was taken away by the homecoming regiment, and the enemy imprisoned my father in the water prison of the puppet government and brutally tortured him. The enemy tortured him, forced him to betray the Communist Party, and made him confess his contacts with the Red Army. My father resolutely did not yield and insisted on not betraying the party. The enemy became angry and put on two, seven, and eight pounds of wooden shackles on his neck, hands, and feet, but still found nothing.

After my father was soaked in the water cell for a long time, the wounds on his body began to fester. Then, bacteria are overgrown, maggots are rampant, and pain and malice fill the whole body. When my uncle Zhang Ronggui visited the prison to deliver food, he saw that his brother was covered in scales and wounds, and he couldn't help but cry bitterly and wash away the maggots on his father's body.

My father advised my uncle to be stronger, saying that sooner or later the Communist Party would destroy these man-eating beasts.

Half a year later, his father, who was originally physically strong, was tortured to death in a water prison by a brutal enemy, and the whereabouts of his body were unknown.

My father was a man of dedication! I am grateful and miss my father for the rest of my life!