On the evening of June 15, 1950, all the employees of the Southwest Railway Engineering Bureau in Jialing New Village, Chongqing, a mountain city, were so excited that they could not sleep, just waiting for the sun to rise.
html On the 16th, the cockcrow started and the sky just turned white. The railway employees who had not slept all night climbed out of bed one after another, rummaged through the boxes and cabinets to take out their most appropriate new clothes, and went out together, all dressed up brightly."Are you all here?" On the playground of the Southwest Military Region, a man who looked like a leader was pacing back and forth beside the team, unable to stop the smile on his face.
"We're here! We're all here!" Everyone in the team looked around one after another. Obviously, at this important moment today, no one was late.
The difference from the past is that the teams gathered in the Southwest Military Region at this moment are no longer soldiers, but employees of the Southwest Railway. On the banner hanging above the rostrum, the words " Chengdu-Chongqing Railway Groundbreaking Ceremony" are extremely eye-catching.
Not long after, the employees began to commotion, and then, a figure entered their field of vision. Under the gaze of the Railway Bureau employees, the figure stepped onto the rostrum, stood next to the microphone and greeted everyone loudly: "Hello, comrades!"
"Hello, Political Commissar Deng!" The passionate railway employees shouted loudly responded. At this moment, for them, Comrade Deng Xiaoping standing on the rostrum is their hope. Deng Xiaoping, who was well aware of the mood of everyone in the audience, simply said two or three sentences.
After finishing his words, the audience burst into thunderous applause. Amidst the applause, He Long, holding a banner, stepped onto the rostrum and unfolded the banner with his own hands. The four characters "Pioneer" were embroidered on the banner. Seeing this, the representative of the Southwest Railway Bureau who had been waiting for a long time took the initiative to step forward and took the banner from He Long.
Taking over this banner means taking over an important task, taking over the central government's entrustment and the hope of the Sichuan people, which means that "the construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway has officially begun.
1. Three reasons
Him At that time, not long after the founding of the People's Republic of China, China, which had been devastated by war, was in need of reconstruction. However, the construction of the Sichuan-Chongqing Railway in the first year after the founding of the People's Republic of China was inseparable from the efforts of Deng Xiaoping, then political commissar of the Southwest.
In 1950, All over the country, from the coast to the northwest, there are projects in urgent need of funds. Deng Xiaoping, then political commissar of the Southwest Bureau, was rushing to apply to the central government to build railways. He wanted to restore Sichuan's depressed economy and solve the problems that had plagued the Sichuan people for generations. After many on-the-spot investigations, we immediately decided to propose the construction of the "Chengdu-Chongqing Railway" to the central government.
"If the people of Sichuan want to get rich, the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway must be built!" "Once such an idea is formed, it will never be erased.
After gathering all the materials, Deng Xiaoping, who has always been resolute, formulated a construction plan for the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway overnight and sent it to the central government the next day.
At that time, in the face of many urgent projects, the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway construction plan failed to convince Chairman Mao. After all, the state's funds were not sufficient to support the construction of so many large-scale projects at the same time. After much consideration, Chairman Mao still did not sign. And directly called Deng Xiaoping.
"Tell me, why should the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway be built? If you can convince me, I will sign and the central government will fully support the construction; if you fail to convince me, then the railway will be shelved for now. "Chairman Mao did not hide anything and went straight to the point.
He knew very well whether the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway could be built. In this case, Deng Xiaoping did not rush to answer. After lowering his head and thinking for a moment, he solemnly answered word by word: There are three reasons.
First of all, the southwest region is in urgent need of development. Chongqing and Chengdu are the central cities in the southwest region. Only by linking these two cities together, the economy of Sichuan Province will naturally be boosted. In this way, the southwest region can be reborn as a national regional food and food industry. Once the southwest develops as a supplier of non-staple food, it will not be a problem to improve people's livelihood across the country.
Secondly, the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway has been built many times before, but it was interrupted every time. If it is successfully built now, the status of New China and our party in the hearts of the people of Sichuan and Chongqing and even the whole country will be greatly improved. The national self-confidence and the people's happiness will be greatly improved. will be greatly improved. From an international perspective, once the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway is completed, my country's international reputation will be greatly enhanced.
Having said this, Chairman Mao's expression was already relaxed. Seeing this, Deng Xiaoping continued his efforts, and then gave the third reason: "As the saying goes: 'Shu will be in chaos before the world is in chaos, and Shu will be in control before the world is in order', which led to the Sichuan government decree The main reason for the sluggishness is transportation. Once the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway is successfully trimmed, the problem of political power management in Sichuan Province will naturally be solved. "
After Deng Xiaoping finished speaking, Chairman Mao was silent for a long time. When Deng Xiaoping was worried, Chairman Mao vigorously spoke. He clapped his hands and laughed and said: "Okay, for these three reasons, the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway must be built! I am relieved to have you in the southwest!"
Deng Xiaoping's three reasons made Chairman Mao He made up his mind and brought unlimited hope to the people of Sichuan and Chongqing.
Building railways and connecting them to the outside world has been the expectation of the people of Sichuan and Chongqing for half a century, and can even be called an obsession.
2. Decades of obsession
Known as the "Land of Abundance", Sichuan region has a prosperous population and rich products. However, because it is located between high mountains, only the waterway of the Yangtze River and a small trail between the Bashan and Qinling Mountains can communicate with the Sichuan region. External contact.
The difficulty of the road to Shu has been a major worry that has haunted the people of Bashu since ancient times. As early as 1903, Sichuan Governor Xi Liang reported to the Qing government requesting the construction of the Sichuan-Hankou Railway.
At that time, the great powers were always keeping an eye on China and listed China as their own. After this petition was reported, they took the opportunity to ask the Qing government to build the Sichuan-Hankou Railway. The reason can be imagined. The great powers that have long coveted Sichuan, a land rich in products, want to take advantage of the Sichuan-Hankou Railway to swallow it up in one fell swoop.
Under the urging of Britain and France four times, the Qing government finally agreed to build the Sichuan-Hankou Railway. At that time, the people of Bashu thought they had ushered in a bright future, but they did not know that the Qing government was pushing them step by step into the hands of the great powers.
In May 1911, in order to please the Western powers, the corrupt Qing government used the shoddy excuse of borrowing money from Britain, France, Germany and the United States to build roads, and sold road rights to the great powers regardless of public outrage. Such reckless behavior aroused public opposition from the people of Sichuan, and a Sichuan-wide road protection trend centered in Chengdu was set off. The road protection movement was vigorous and vigorous. Even if the Qing government ignored people's livelihood, it failed in the end.
In August 1911, the Sichuan-Hankou Railway, which had been under construction for two years, was suspended, and the people of Bashu fell into a vortex of despair again.
Until the Republic of China, the Kuomintang government proposed to build the Sichuan-Hankou Railway and the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway at the request of the Sichuan local government. After the plan was proposed, the National Government initially hired engineers to conduct survey and design, and even organized and established a special railway engineering bureau to be responsible for the construction of the railway. However, it was not until June 1937 that the construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway was officially put on the agenda by the National Government.
Just when the people of Bashu thought that the completion of the railway was just around the corner, the Nationalist Government, which was severely corrupt within, failed to take real action. Due to official corruption and inaction from above, it was not until October 1949 that it was more than ten years before the start of construction. Over the years, the construction of the railway has only completed less than one-tenth of the scheduled amount of work, and not even a single rail has been laid.
In more than ten years, the expectations of the Bashu people have been exhausted, leaving only disappointment with the National Government.
Until the liberation of Chongqing and the war in the southwest region basically ended, the railway construction matter, which had been on hold for more than 40 years, was put on the agenda again.
What is very different from the past is that when New China was in a state of devastation, the central government still did its best to provide funds and dispatch professionals to support the people of Sichuan and Chongqing in building the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway.
3. The Chengdu-Chongqing Railway was officially opened to traffic
However, despite the full support of the central government, the construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway is still full of difficulties and obstacles.
At that time, China's industry was extremely backward. Not to mention professional equipment, even relatively large machinery and equipment were difficult to find. Facing Sichuan, a basin surrounded by mountains and rivers, workers can only find their own tools or dig directly with their hands.
In addition to the lack of tools and equipment, safety was also a major hidden danger during the construction process. At that time, the suppression of bandits in the southwest had not yet ended, and workers had to be constantly on guard against attacks by bandits during construction.
Every problem faced by the workers was reported to the central government, and the central government immediately provided solutions. Without tools, they relied on manpower. More than 30,000 commanders and fighters were directly transferred from the Southwest Military and Political Commission, which not only solved the manpower shortage, but also solved the security problem.
However, in order to complete the construction as soon as possible, it will be difficult for nearly 30,000 people to complete the construction without a professional construction team. At this time, the people of Bashu recommended themselves and joined the road construction team.
In February 1951, the number of migrant workers on the construction site reached more than 100,000, and the enthusiasm of the people of Bashu for building railways was growing day by day.
In order to build the railway, some farmers from various parts of Bashu did not hesitate to change their camphor , nanmu , etc. into sleepers. In addition, some people donated their longevity materials and house materials, and finally scraped together 1.29 million sleepers were purchased to support railway construction.
On July 1, 1952, with the support of the Bashu people and the full support of the central government, the 505.06-kilometer-long Chengdu-Chongqing Railway was finally opened to traffic.
There was no turning back. In two years, the people of Bashu finally realized their wish and completed a pioneering work in the history of China's railways. The railway that had not been successfully built for more than 40 years was finally built successfully this time. This deeply buried railway was finally built successfully. The sting in the hearts of the people of Bashu was finally pulled out.
The successful opening of the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway not only solved the problem of travel difficulties for Sichuan people for thousands of years, but also completely opened the door for Sichuan people to communicate with the outside world. At this point, the road to economic prosperity in Sichuan Province has begun.
