The Bell and Drum Tower in Zhangye , formerly known as Zhenyuan Tower, was built in the second year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty. It was renovated in the Qing Dynasty and is magnificent and majestic, ranking first in Hexi.
Half a century ago, this majestic Drum Tower became a well-deserved witness to the deeds of the Red Army.
That year, a group of ragged West Route Army homeless soldiers lived under the Drum Tower and struggled to survive in the cracks.
Liu Kexian is one of them.
Liu Kexian is a highly qualified veteran of the Red Army. He is a child of from the Dabie Mountains. At the end of 1932, Liu Kexian came to Sichuan with the main force of the Fourth Red Army.
In the battle to establish and defend the Sichuan-Shaanxi base area, Liu Kexian accumulated military exploits step by step and became the battalion commander of the Red Ninth Army.
During a battle on the Long March road, Liu Kexian was hit in the waist by an enemy bullet and was seriously injured. He rode a horse during the day and sat on a stretcher at night, enduring the pain and completing the Long March.
In late October 1936, Liu Kexian, who had not recovered from his serious injury, crossed the Yellow River with the headquarters hospital and embarked on the road to the Western Expedition.
The West Route Army fought hard in Hexi for nearly five months, and was finally defeated Qilian Mountain.
During the battle to retreat to the Qilian Mountains, Liu Kexian's little toe on his right foot was cut off again, and the wound was as painful as a knife.
Liu Kexian, who suffered from a waist injury and a foot injury, and was unable to move easily, was separated from the main force, leaving only the groom and the correspondent with him.
There were Ma Jiajun teams searching for the Red Army everywhere up and down the mountain. The three of them had no choice but to hide and move toward the outside of the Qilian Mountains.
In March in the Qilian Mountains, it was still a time of ice and snow. After walking in circles for a long time, Liu Kexian finally walked out of the vast Qilian Mountains under the care of his groom and correspondent.
Fortunately, they did not encounter too many enemies along the way.
has not eaten for two days, and his stomach is growling with hunger. There was no village nearby, so the three of them had to stuff a few mouthfuls of snow into their mouths and continue on their way, enduring hunger.
On the afternoon of the second day after leaving the Qilian Mountains, they saw a village.
Liu Kexian said to the groom and the correspondent: "Go to the village and order something to eat!"
After the two left, Liu Kexian couldn't help but worry, would there be a Ma Jiajun team in the village? Will they encounter enemies?
At dusk, the groom and the correspondent came back and brought Liu Kexian a steamed bun and some rice.
Seeing that the two of them came back safely, Liu Kexian's heart finally fell to the ground, and he kept saying "Okay! Okay!"
After having "dinner", they continued on their way. After walking all night, when the sun rose again, the three of them came to a village.
Just like yesterday, Liu Ke, who had limited mobility, hid in the grass to let his horse go, while the groom and the correspondent went to the village to beg for some food.
Not long after the two left, several fellow villagers came over with wooden sticks in their hands; Liu Kexian secretly said something was wrong, the horse must have exposed the target.
Liu Kexian's waist and legs were inconvenient, so he couldn't run even if he wanted to, so he had to sit there pretending to be fine.
When a guy saw him wearing Red Army clothes, he pointed and cursed, then raised the wooden stick in his hand and hit Liu Kexian.
Liu Kexian had difficulty moving and had no gun in his hand, so he could not resist at all, so he had to hold his head and let several people beat him.
After those guys hit him with a few sticks, they saw that Liu Ke didn't move, so they grabbed the horse and ran away. Liu Kexian, whose legs and feet were disabled, sat on the ground with an extremely depressed expression and watched helplessly as they ran away.
The groom and the correspondent came back from begging for food. When they heard what had just happened, they were very angry, but there was nothing they could do.
Without the horse, Liu Kexian had no choice but to move forward with difficulty, leaning on a wooden stick and with a disabled body, accompanied by the groom and the correspondent.
On this day, the three of them came to a village.
As usual, the groom and the correspondent asked Liu Ke to hide in the grass and wait while they went into the village to beg for food.
Liu Kexian waited for two or three hours, but never saw the two people come back; he looked at the village anxiously, waiting until the sun set during the day.
However, the groom and the correspondent never came back. Perhaps, the two were killed or captured by an enemy search party.
Recalling how the two of them took care of him along the way, Liu Kexian couldn't help but shed tears. If it weren't for the care of the groom and the correspondent, how could I have walked out of the vast Qilian Mountains dragging my disabled body.
Both the groom and the correspondent were from Sichuan, and were only in their teens; they had no names when they joined the army, and only the correspondent had a nickname of "Xiao Baicai".
Later, Liu Kexian kept asking about their whereabouts, but there was still no news about the two.
The unnamed grooms and correspondents, like countless unknown heroes who did not leave their names, made tangible contributions to the revolutionary cause and even gave their precious lives.
They are unknown and have not even left their names; they are ordinary and ordinary, and they do not do much, but they are even more admirable and grateful.
Without the care of the groom and correspondent, Liu Kexian had no choice but to drag his body on the road alone.
Go to this village today to order food and rest for a day; tomorrow go to another village to order food and rest for another day.
For Liu Kexian, walking is very difficult, and begging for food is also not easy. He is often insulted, beaten, and bitten by dogs.
All the hardships of life and death did not defeat Liu Kexian, but made him strengthen his belief that he must survive and return to the organization.
html Hexi Corridor in mid-April, there is no bitter cold in winter, willow silk is blowing on the face, and the breeze is lifting the clothes.
Liu Kexian begged for food while hurrying on his way, slowly approaching Zhangye City, and encountered more homeless Red Army soldiers begging for food.
These are some homeless Red Army soldiers who are struggling to make a living in the cracks between urban and rural areas. What everyone is most concerned about when meeting is two things: Is there any news about Yan'an ? How much food do you want?
If someone doesn’t get enough food, let’s support each other a little bit.
When we arrived near Zhangye, there were more and more homeless Red Army soldiers begging for food. As long as there were dogs barking in the village, you knew it was the Red Army soldiers begging for food without even looking.
Most of the people begging for food are disabled.
What impressed Liu Kexian the most was a company commander of the 30th Red Army. He was slashed in the neck during a fight with the Ma Jiajun cavalry. He could only keep his head down whether he was walking, eating or sleeping.
When everyone saw his black and white wounds, they would rather starve themselves than eat, and they had to find a way to get him something to eat.
After the Kuomintang and the Communist Party cooperated , the Ma Jiajun did not hunt and kill the scattered Red Army as they did in the past. Liu Kexian decided to go to Zhangye City to find out the news.
Liu Kexian limped to the city gate and was immediately surrounded by Ma soldiers standing guard.
"What are you doing in the Red Army?"
"Release the horses."
"Release the horses to whom?"
"Release the horses to no one. My horses are for carrying things."
"What about the horses?"
"Calling you guys "
Ma Jiabing saw that Liu Kexian was a seriously injured person and probably couldn't get much profit, so he let him into the city.
After entering Zhangye City, it became much easier to beg for food. Sometimes I could get some rice and noodles, and if I met someone getting married and taking a wife, I could also eat some meat.
Many captured female soldiers in the Red Army were forced by the enemy to be wives of local workers. Whenever Liu Kexian came to their door asking for food, they would sympathetically take out their own rations and even give him some money.
One day, Liu Kexian went to North Street begging for food.
A soldier in a Kuomintang uniform on a boat saw him limping and begging for food, and it was very difficult to move, so he said sympathetically: "You don't want to beg like this anymore. There is a camel shop just ahead. There are many of your people there. Every day. Let’s eat.”
Liu Ke walked forward for a while, and sure enough there was a camel shop with wounded people wearing Red Army uniforms coming in and out.
Liu Kexian walked in and recognized at a glance Wang Yunxian, secretary of the Ministry of Health at the headquarters, Huang Zhiting, a doctor at the headquarters hospital, and Zhou Qiang, among other more than a dozen of his comrades.
The Camel Shop on North Street usually receives traders who use camels to transport goods from Xinjiang to Lanzhou to rest when passing through Zhangye. After the Battle of Hexi, it was used to detain and house the Red Army.
A female nurse who had worked in the general hospital knew Liu Kexian and knew that he was the battalion commander of the Ninth Red Army and an old Red Army veteran from Hubei, Henan and Anhui, so she planned to report to the enemy and receive a few rewards.
When Wang Yun first found out, he said to the female nurse: "Don't be unconscionable. Can you bear to see him like this? What good will it do to you to kill him?"
Liu Kexian also quickly took out a little money from begging and gave it to the nurse. The female nurse begged her not to tell the truth.
Looking at the condemning and angry eyes around her, the female nurse lowered her head in shame and did not report it to the enemy after all.
The Kuomintang soldiers sympathized with Liu Kexian's experience and showed him the way; but the female nurse planned to betray her comrades for a little money.
It can be said that humanity is revealed only in times of adversity!
Although there is food in the Camel Shop, it is actually just people sent by Han Qigong to cook some leftover rice and leftover soup in marching pots outside. Each person is given a small bowl, and can only eat two meals a day.
Liu Kexian is a young man in his 20s. He has a big appetite and cannot get enough to eat at all. I was so hungry that I had no choice but to collect the hair from passing camels and sell it. One pound of camel hair could be exchanged for two large sesame cakes.
That night, Liu Kexian, Zhou Qiang and others took advantage of the darkness to touch the place where the camels were kept.
They plucked a lot of hair from the camel, and the camel screamed loudly in fright. The camel boss heard the noise and came out with a lantern. When he saw that a lot of camel hair had been plucked, he ran over and beat them.
All the people with good legs and feet ran away. Liu Kexian had an injury on his foot. He ran and hid. After being hit with a few sticks, he hid in a dark place.
The boss ran over and beat Zhou Qiang again, and kept scolding him while hitting him in the mouth. Poor Zhou Qiang lost both of his feet to the cold. He could only crawl around normally, but now he couldn't escape and had no strength to resist. He was beaten to a bloody head and was rolling on the ground in pain.
After a while, Han Qigong’s troops came to the camel shop to recruit soldiers. A few of the ones in better health were picked away, and the rest were disabled people and women.
People in Han Qigong rarely took care of food. One day, Wang Yunxian said to the remaining people: "I can't bear to be hungry like this. Why don't we each find a way!"
Zhou Qiang was a tailor for the Red Army, so he went to the tailor shop on Wangfu Street. . Wang Yunxian and others make a living by selling groceries and sesame candy.
After Liu Kexian and Huang Zhiting had been asking for meals together for a few days, they started to set up a street stall to sell bonuses. But there were very few people buying bonuses and business could not be done, so Liu Kexian had to go begging again.
During the day, he went out begging to make ends meet; at dusk, he stayed under the Bell and Drum Tower in the dusk, using a tattered sheepskin as both a bed and clothes.
On this day, Liu Kexian was sitting on the street begging. A man wearing a Kuomintang military uniform came over and asked him: "Where are you from?"
Liu Kexian was afraid that he had evil intentions, so he asked: "Where are you from?"
The man said: "I am from the headquarters. I used to be in the 88th Division of the 30th Red Army."
Seeing that the person coming was one of his own, Liu Kexian put down his guard and replied: "I used to be in the 9th Red Army. He was injured and was admitted to the Fourth Red Army General Hospital."
The name of this man wearing the uniform of the Kuomintang is Liu Desheng, who was originally a company commander of the 88th Division of the 30th Red Army.
During the Liyuankou organization war, Liu Desheng was wounded in the foot and captured, and was later escorted to Zhangye by the enemy. , and was assigned to the "Supplementary Battalion".
Almost all the soldiers in the "Supplementary Battalion" were captured soldiers of the Western Route Army, who were being guarded by the enemy for building roads and bridges. Not long after Liu Desheng arrived at the "Supplementary Camp", he suffered a foot injury.
After repeated requests from everyone, the Majiajun Battalion Commander sent him to Zhangye Hospital for Wounded Soldiers for treatment.
During his hospitalization, Liu Desheng, Qiu Junpin, Cai Wenliang and others secretly established an underground party branch in Zhangye and secretly gathered together. The lost Red Army soldiers developed more than 20 people.
After a conversation with Liu Desheng, Liu Kexian joined the underground party branch.
The life of the Kuomintang soldiers was also very difficult. They only had two meals a day and a few steamed buns every day. During the meal, Liu Desheng saved two steamed buns and secretly gave them to Liu Kexian.
Every time Liu Kexian took the steamed buns, he would ask: "Have you eaten?" "
Liu Desheng said: "Don't worry, as long as there is food for me, there will be food for you. "
Entrusted by Liu Desheng, Liu Kexian specialized in activities among the sick and wounded, looking for and contacting lost Red Army soldiers, and developing and expanding the party branch.
Once, Liu Kexian met a wounded soldier who had been a company commander, and he was slashed by the enemy. After being buried alive, he crawled out of the mass grave. The wound on his neck kept bleeding and he could not lift his head.
Liu Kexian went with him to beg for food. Later, the company commander finally returned to northern Shaanxi after many hardships. In August of this year, Mr. Gao Jincheng, a patriotic and progressive man, came to Zhangye with a commission from the Party Central Committee to search for and rescue the lost soldiers of the Western Route Army.
Mr. Gao Jincheng's arrival was like a ray of sunshine in the dark clouds, which helped the rescue work. Come to life.
Gao Jincheng has been practicing medicine in the northwest for many years, and has high social prestige and wide connections; the injury hospital where Liu Desheng is located is the Zhangye Evangelical Hospital founded by Mr. Gao Jincheng in the early years.
After arriving in Zhangye, Gao Jincheng took over from Han Qigong. After returning to the hospital, they re-branded themselves as Evangelical Hospital and began to accept a large number of sick and wounded Red Army patients.
After a period of contact and testing, Gao Jincheng and Liu Desheng got in touch and revealed their identities to each other.
Liu Desheng was an underground party member in Zhangye. The head of the branch, Gao Jincheng, was entrusted by the central government to carry out the rescue work. The successful connection between the two was gratifying.
Gao Jincheng used his identity and the Gospel Hospital as a cover to receive and treat Red Army stragglers. , and then secretly sent them to Lanzhou or Yan'an.
Liu Desheng and others spread the news. They tried every means to inform the separated comrades: the Red Army has been changed to the Eighth Route Army, and there is an Eighth Route Army office in Lanzhou; in case of difficulty, Zhangye Evangelical Hospital. Help.
Relying on the Gospel Hospital, Gao Jincheng and the underground party branch rescued batches of comrades, including Liu Kexian.
After Gao Jincheng came to Zhangye, Liu Kexian's long-delayed injuries finally got effective treatment. Treatment.
Hu Zongnan's two car platoons were transporting goods from Xinjiang to Lanzhou and passed by Zhangye.
Gao Jincheng found the leader, said many good things, and then agreed to take a wounded Red Army soldier to Lanzhou. The injured person was Liu Kexian.
Gao Jincheng wrote the address of Lanzhou Eighth Route Army Office on the note, took out eight yuan and handed it to Liu Kexian, repeatedly telling him to be careful on the road.
Lanzhou Eighth Route Army Office, Mr. Xie and Zhu Liangcai were very excited and happy to see Liu Kexian coming back, and quickly ordered someone to buy him a set of student uniforms .
Afterwards, they sent Liu Kexian to Gansu Provincial Hospital for treatment.
In October 1937, under the escort of Guo Fuhai, Liu Kexian returned to Yan'an via the Xi'an office.
In Yan'an, Liu Kexian accidentally met the company commander who was begging with him in Zhangye City at that time, the same company commander who crawled out of a mass grave.
When the two met again, they were so excited that they didn't know what to say.
From Hubei, Henan and Anhui to Sichuan and Shaanxi, after completing the Long March, fighting in the Hexi Corridor, and finally returning to Yan'an with his seriously injured body, Liu Kexian tasted all the ups and downs of the world.
If there is no firm belief and super strong will, how many people can persevere all the way!
After the founding of New China, Liu Kexian served as the political commissar of the Henan Provincial Military Region.
Pay tribute to the heroic Western Route Army, and pay tribute to the revolutionary veteran Liu Kexian who experienced nine deaths!
