- [Foreword]
Hong'an County, Hubei Province, known as " General County " , has produced a total of 8 generals, and the total number of generals has reached 223. It is truly worthy of its reputation. In this legendary county, there is an even more legendary village - Changfeng Village, Gaoqiao Town.
This impoverished village of less than 1,000 people has produced two vice prime ministers, one of whom has also held two national-level positions.
So, who are the two deputy prime ministers who came out of this village?
- [Li Xiannian who first joined the revolution]
Li Xiannian was born in Changfeng Village, Hong'an County, Hubei Province in 1909. He lived a turbulent and difficult life since he was a child. When he reached school age, he was unable to study due to various reasons.
Looking at China at that time, the Chinese people were struggling in the pit of fire of a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. The dire straits made life worse than death for Li Xiannian's family. This unsustainable life planted a revolutionary seed in Li Xiannian's heart.
At a young age, he yearned to save the entire family and the entire nation through his own power. He decided in his heart: "A good life cannot be obtained through weak begging."
As he grows older, his belief in devoting himself to the revolution is also growing.
Later, under the influence of the Great Revolution, Li Xiannian resolutely devoted himself to the peasant movement led by the party. Li Xiannian wants to use this peasant movement to bring hope for a living to these working people living at the bottom of society.
Although the Great Revolution eventually failed under the suppression of powerful reactionary forces, this did not change Li Xiannian's ambition and made him firmer in his next choice.
This time, he leaned directly to the side of the Communist Party. In 1927, he personally led the peasant armed forces and participated in the famous Jute Uprising. After first emerged, he officially joined the ranks of the Communist Party of China.
Li Xiannian first learned the party's discipline and ideology, and became familiar with the party's principles and policies, and then engaged in revolutionary work in the Red Army and local governments. Until 1931, Li Xiannian led more than 300 young people to join the Red Army and served as the political commissar of the 33rd Regiment of the 11th Division of the Fourth Red Army.
Li Xiannian, who is just in his early 20s, is a good age to be energetic and make achievements. But this was Li Xiannian's first experience in combat command, and he was inevitably filled with anxiety. After all, if he was not careful, it could cost the lives of all the soldiers, and even the people behind him could suffer misfortunes.
Therefore, Li Xiannian used various methods to improve his level of commanding operations. The commander-in-chief Xu Xiangqian became his first teacher at this time. Li Xiannian would study Xu Xiangqian's combat methods whenever he had time, and then improve them. In this way, Li Xiannian also learned a lot.
Xu Xiangqian
Seeing Li Xiannian working so hard, Xu Xiangqian was very pleased. He often took Li Xiannian with him to fight on the ground everywhere. Li Xiannian gritted his teeth and persisted in those trainings that were almost harsh in practice, because he understood: On a real battlefield, no one will care about your identity. With no eyesight, there is no guarantee that he will not be the next one to die.
During such intensive training day after day, Li Xiannian's abilities were gradually improving, and he successfully led his troops to participate in the four major battles of Huang'an, Shanghuang, Sujiabu, and Huangguang. After successfully completing the mission, he focused more energy on the next battle.
In July 1932, Li Xiannian served as the political commissar of the 11th Division and personally commanded the troops to severely inflict heavy losses on the enemy in the fierce battles of Feng Shouer, Qiliping and Hushanzhai in countering the four "encirclement and suppression" campaigns.During the subsequent westward strategic shift in October, he and Xu Xiangqian and others experienced more than 10 days of rapid marching and combat. After successfully arriving in Nanhuatang, they set out to establish a revolutionary base together.
Along the way, Li Xiannian took the spirit of learning war while fighting to the extreme. It was also during this process that he grew into a communist combat commander with more brains and means.
And the accumulation of all this was vividly displayed in the Yunling Blockade.
At that time, everyone who was planning to build a revolutionary base area was unexpectedly surrounded by the enemy. Being outnumbered, they could only continue to advance westward. At the junction of Hubei and Shaanxi provinces, Yang Hucheng's troops were heavily guarded. As they marched into the narrow ravine, they were intercepted by Hu Zongnan's First Division.
With such a situation of being attacked from both sides, Li Xiannian could only send people to deliver letters to the headquarters while making emergency deployments.
In order to ensure the effectiveness of the headquarters, Li Xiannian and Ni Zhiliang led the Red 11th Division and stayed here for two days and two nights. If it were not for their efforts and leadership, once the Kuomintang troops break through the defense line, the Red Fourth Army will definitely engage in fierce battles with them. By then, it will be too late to talk about a breakout.
Li Xiannian, who has been tempered in war after war, is not using his life as a bargaining chip. Whether it was the subsequent battle on the Jialing River or the bloody battle in Nanhuatang, they all demonstrated Li Xiannian's bravery.
On the anti-Japanese battlefield, Li Xiannian shed countless blood and sweat. Shentouling, Xiangtangpu, Southeastern Shanxi Anti-"Nine Route Siege" and other battles have wiped out a large number of Japanese soldiers. Not only that, even in the national war of resistance, Li Xiannian's name is enough It has been recorded in the annals of history and left a glorious page in the history of the Chinese nation's Anti-Japanese War.
- [Chen Xilian, a latecomer to the revolution]
Like Li Xiannian, Chen Xilian was born in Changfeng Village, Hong'an County, Hubei Province, but he joined the revolution a little later than Li Xiannian. It's a little late.
Chen Xilian, who was born in 1915, had a difficult life since he was a child. He often had to eat one meal and not finish another. In order to find a job at a very young age, he worked hard. Arriving at a wealthy family's house, helping to herd cattle is a hard job. If you are not careful, you will be beaten severely. Chen Xilian, who already lives in a cowshed and does not have enough to eat, can't even live a good life. What a day of improvement. Chen Xilian, who has experienced exploitation and oppression since childhood, dreams of one day leading everyone to live a better life.
If this is just a seed in Chen Xilian's heart, then let this seed. The person who quickly took root was his uncle - Chen Zhibin . Chen Zhibin was well-known in the village at that time for beating and scolding the poor and bowing to the rich, which made everyone in the village very disgusted. Chen Xilian and his mother went out to beg for food that day, and they met the evil-doer Chen Zhibin. Seeing Chen Xilian and his mother going out to beg for food, Chen Zhibin claimed: " The way you, mother and son, are dressed up is simply a disgrace to our Chen family. . "
Chen Xilian's mother immediately said angrily after hearing this: " We, mother and son, are about to starve to death. What else can we do if we don't go begging for food? "
After hearing Chen Xilian's mother's refutation, Chen Zhibin directly picked up the stick on the ground and beat her severely. Looking at the beaten mother, Chen Xilian's heart was full of anger, but he was still young and had no power at all. Protect his mother. He could only swear silently in his heart that he would one day avenge his mother. It was at this time that Li Xiannian and Chen Xilian, who had participated in the revolution in their early years, met. At that time, Li Xiannian was planning the peasant movement. When he saw Chen Zhibin, who was willing to be a lackey of the reactionary organization, he naturally knew that he could not stay. Li Xiannian saw the opportunity and found Chen Xilian. The two joined forces to find ways to successfully deal with Chen Zhibin.
This allowed Chen Xilian to see the dawn of the future. He wanted to join the peasant movement and find a good way out for himself, his family and many other people. After many considerations, Chen Xilian finally decided to leave home and join sports.
This year, Chen Xilian was only 14 years old.
Chen Xilian, who joined the guerrilla war of resistance, was young but had a clear understanding. He joined the Red Army step by step, learned the party's discipline, and learned to be a truly qualified soldier.
In all the counter-encirclement and suppression operations in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Area, Chen Xilian was always at the forefront, and the same was true in the counter-encirclement and suppression operations in Sichuan and Shaanxi. Amidst the sound of artillery fire, Chen Xilian's combat command capabilities are also constantly improving. After the Battle of Sigudun, won himself the title of "little steel cannon" .
Chen Xilian, who joined the Communist Party at this time and has many years of combat experience and cultural influence, has been transformed into a well-disciplined soldier.
In fact, Chen Xilian, who fought without mercy on the battlefield, also had some funny things happen in private.
In the battle of October 1933, Chen Xilian took over the arsenal, clothing factory and mint that Liu Houcun had run for many years. There are countless good things here, many of which Chen Xilian has never seen before, and other soldiers are also confused. They are used to living a hard life and have never seen these "good things" before.
They did not recognize the wax paper because it was too smooth to write on, so the soldiers ate it as candy. And those white flours were used as paint for writing propaganda slogans. Even those gold bricks were regarded as copper nuggets and thrown into the cesspit.
Chen Xilian naturally didn't recognize the gold bricks in the mint. Seeing that his table was shaking and he couldn't find anything handy, he simply took out the "copper nuggets" from under the bed and used gold bricks instead. Come on, think about recycling.
Later, when the military political commissar Li Xiannian and the director of the general manager Zheng Yizhai came over, they discovered that the gold bricks were used in this way, and hurriedly said: "This is not a copper block at all, it is real gold."
Chen Xilian immediately felt a pang after hearing this. Blushing, he realized that he had made a "mistake", so he quickly handed over the gold bricks in his house, and also found someone to fish out all the gold bricks from the manure pit, and handed them all to the general manager's department. This was how he made up for it. My own unintentional mistake.
Whenever they think of this past incident, Chen Xilian and Li Xiannian will look at each other and smile. Perhaps in that era full of gunpowder, the friendship between the two had already penetrated deep into the bones.
- [The deep friendship between Li Xiannian and Chen Xilian]
The friendship between Li Xiannian and Chen Xilian was already forged when they first met. That time they joined forces to knock down Chen Zhibin was their first cooperation, and it was the beginning of their friendship in joining the revolution.
Perhaps because Li Xiannian joined the army a few years earlier than Chen Xilian, or because the two came from the same village, Li Xiannian took more care of Chen Xilian in life. At work, Li Xiannian happened to be Chen Xilian's superior, so the two had more contacts.
During the execution of various tasks, the two people also cooperated closely. The two people who worked together for victory can also be regarded as life and death friends. This friendship of joint cooperation in fighting lasted until the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War.
After the Anti-Japanese War broke out, in order to better command the battle, the two had to perform different tasks separately.
But the friendship they have had over the years has been treasured in their hearts.
When Chen Xilian was running around to lead the troops in the war, it was Li Xiannian who went out of his way to find Chen Xilian's mother and gave him his small allowance. In order to take more care of Chen Xilian's mother, Li Xiannian would go to Chen Xilian's home whenever he had time. Chen Xilian always kept this feeling of filial piety in his heart.
These two people can also be said to be a combination of "one man and one man". Chen Xilian fought all the year round, while Li Xiannian mostly organized local work. This also meant that the two were often separated and could only rely on letters to communicate.
Every time they meet, the two of them will always stand together and chat, which is really something that they both enjoy and miss.
After the founding of the People's Republic of my country, our country finally had stability, but how to build an industrialized country and develop China's economy became the top priority at that time. As the domestic situation develops, positions will naturally change.
In 1954, Li Xiannian served as deputy prime minister and minister of finance; Chen Xilian served as commander of the PLA artillery. Such achievements and positions are worthy of the name given to these two people.
At the subsequent Eighth National Congress, Li Xiannian was elected as a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and has been re-elected since then. Chen Xilian was also elected to this position at the Ninth National Congress in 1969. The two good brothers who cherished each other were once again drawn into a more dense trench.
If it has been very difficult for the two of them to go from the war years to today, these positions are also natural for them, and what happened next is unique. At the Fourth National People's Congress in 1975, Li Xiannian and Chen Xilian were elected vice prime ministers at the same time. It was truly unique at that time that two deputy prime ministers could come out of one village.
Li Xiannian and Chen Xilian just sat in the positions of deputy prime ministers and worked conscientiously. It was not until 1976 that Chen Xilian, who had considerable experience in leading troops, was appointed to replace the sick Ye Jianying. Although he had not worked at the Military Commission for a long time, it can be seen that Chen Xilian's talents and contributions in the military were significant. how old are you.
At the first session of the Sixth National People's Congress in 1983, Li Xiannian was elected as the president of the country, becoming the third president of the country after Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi.
This suddenly became explosive news, not only because of Li Xiannian's high position, but also because of the village behind him - Changfeng Village, Gaoqiao Town. It is simply unbelievable that two deputy prime ministers can come out of one village, one of whom has successively held two state-level positions.
But while they were surprised, people were also thinking about the profound connotations of this village and the norms of that era.
In that era full of smoke and war, every Chinese who could stand up and fight bravely was a hero in our hearts. For Li Xiannian and Chen Xilian, their talent and hard work, as well as their belief and luck that are different from ordinary people, have made their legend and friendship possible.
On June 21, 1992, Li Xiannian passed away. The 83 years of his life were bumpy but legendary.
On June 10, 1999, Chen Xilian passed away, and his work continued until the last second of his 85 years of life.
Perhaps for them, the life they have lived is insignificant, but for generations of Chinese, it is more important than Mount Tai. We cannot imagine how long our miserable days would have lasted and how long the Chinese would have been groping in the dark without these revolutionary ancestors who had fought for us.
Peace is originally determined by the general, but the general never enjoys peace. We should inherit their beliefs and work hard throughout our lives to create a more prosperous and powerful China.
