Zhang Side was born in 1915 in a poor peasant family in Yilong County, Sichuan Province. He has deep feelings for the Communist Party and the People's Army. In 1933, he joined the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army , and in the same year, he joined the Chinese Communist Youth League . In 1937, he joined the Communist Party of China. He participated in Long March , and was smart and brave in combat. He once achieved a record of two machine guns by one person in a battle and was injured three times. In 1938, he served as the communications squad leader of the Central Military Commission's Guard Battalion. He worked conscientiously and responsibly. He achieved excellent results in leading the whole class to complete various tasks such as confidential communication, standing guard, clearing up land and producing, and building kilns and burning charcoal. In November 1942, the troops were reorganized and the First Company of the Central Guard Regiment was transferred to serve as a soldier. He happily obeyed the organization's assignment and carried out guard tasks in Mao Zedong's inner security squad. He served the people wholeheartedly, often helped comrades to wash clothes and weave straw sandals, and took the lead in helping the people in the resident produce labor. In 1944, he actively participated in the large-scale production movement and was elected as the deputy captain of the farm. In July, I went to the mountains of Ansai County, northern Shaanxi to burn charcoal (Figure 4-1). He plays an exemplary role everywhere, not afraid of hardship, fatigue, or dirt, and strives to get into the kiln for work whenever it comes out of charcoal. On September 5, he unfortunately died because of the collapse of charcoal kiln . He was 29 years old at the time.
On September 8, at Zhang Side's memorial service, Mao Zedong delivered a famous speech entitled "Serving the People", and highly praised Zhang Side's revolutionary spirit of serving the people wholeheartedly. "Comrade Zhang Side died for the interests of the people, and his death was heavier than Mount Tai."
Zhang Side worked as a servant, communicator, and guard, engaged in production, burned charcoal, and after the 25,000-mile Long March, the party did whatever he asked him to do. He was the squad leader, so he became a good squad leader. Later, due to work needs, he changed to a soldier. He was still diligent, conscientious, hardworking, and regardless of gains and losses.
Mao Zedong pointed out in "Serve the People": "Our team is completely to liberate the people and works completely for the interests of the people. Comrade Zhang Side is a comrade in our team." From then on, the voice of "Serve the people" spread throughout Yan'an , spread throughout the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, and spread throughout the battlefields of all liberated areas across the country. Zhang Side's image has become synonymous with "serving the people" and a monument to a new worldview. Mao Zedong sorted out his speech at Zhang Side's memorial service into the article "Serve the People", and published it in the Yan'an Liberation Daily on September 21, 1944.
Zhang Side is an ordinary Communist Party member and an ordinary soldier. The people's leader and the commander of the army personally delivered eulogies and speeches to him. This is because Mao Zedong saw from Zhang Side that the simple and shining nature of a Communist Party member and an Eighth Route Army soldier possessed, and this essence is to serve the people. It has become the most distinctive feature of the People's Army led by the Communist Party of China and the Party. In Zhang Side, the purpose of the Communist Party of China serving the people wholeheartedly, and adhering to this purpose is the force for our party and army to overcome all enemies and all difficulties. During the Yan'an period, the idea of "serving the people" was established as the fundamental purpose of the People's Army led by the Communist Party of China and the Party. Practice has proved that it is precisely because of the establishment of a flesh-and-blood relationship with the people that our party and army have achieved great and brilliant victory after great success in the historical process of revolution, construction and reform.
After the founding of New China, a large number of commemorative medals with the theme of "Serving the People" were produced (Figure 4-2 and Figure 4-3). These commemorative medals are all engraved with the inscription "Serve the People". There are also many commemorative medals that also contain the image of Zhang Side: the commemorative medal of Zhang Side carrying firewood and burning charcoal on his back (Figure 4-4). The image of Zhang Side carrying firewood and burning charcoal on his back is engraved under the relief statue of Mao Zedong. The background picture shows the Baota Mountain and the cave in Yan'an, and the inscription "Serve the People".
" Lao San's " commemorative medal (Figure 4-5), there are many types of layouts. Under the relief statue of Mao Zedong, the protagonist image of the three articles "Serve the People", "Moving Mountains in the Apartment" and "Commemorating Bethune", is engraved, especially the image of Zhang Side on the right.
I met Comrade Zhang Side in 1942.That winter, I was ordered to report to the Central Security Corps. At that time, the regiment headquarters was located in Houjiagou Village, not far from Zaoyuan Village in Yan'an. After reporting, he met Comrade Zhang Side with the introduction of Commander Wu Lie. At first, I was in the third company and he was in the first company. Soon, they were transferred to Chairman Mao’s guard squad together. When we were accepting the task, the regiment commander pointed at the four comrades Zhang Side, Wang Baocheng, Wang Yisheng and Shao Zhencai and said to me: "They are all old Red Army soldiers, you are the Eighth Route Army. You must learn from them. Today we will transfer you to the Zaoyuan Guard Team to defend Chairman Mao. This is a very important task and a very glorious one. When necessary, we should sacrifice our personal lives and firmly ensure the absolute safety of Chairman Mao. Now Comrade Tian Shuyuan takes you there." So we all stood up excitedly and expressed our determination to complete this glorious task.
In the guard squad, Comrade Zhang Side and I spent day and night, and we all know each other well. In particular, I know that Zhang Side was born as a cowherd and had the same common suffering experience as me, which quickly established a deep relationship between us and increased contact with each other.
In my memory, Comrade Zhang Side is a person who loves learning very much. He never went to school in his childhood, and after he arrived at the army, he was often in a war environment and it was difficult to receive more cultural education. He only sometimes temporarily participated in some learning and related training, so the cultural education he received was also limited. However, despite this, due to his efforts, he still recognized a lot of words and was able to take notes. He had a bag that I had shown it to me, and it contained a stack of notebooks, which also contained words such as "Military Class", "Political Class" and "Cultural Class" on them. While in Zaoyuan, whenever he had free time, he would take it out and write and draw in his notebook. In the past, I thought that being a soldier was to stand guard and charge and fight. Inspired and influenced by his passion for learning, I later paid attention to cultural learning. In addition, Chairman Mao's frequent supervision and emphasis later, he gradually made progress.
Comrade Zhang Side is extremely loyal and loving to the Party and Red Army . Once, when he was sorting out his bags, I found a five-pointed star hat badge inside. I felt it was very fresh, so I asked him: Where did this come from?
He said: When it was adapted in Sanyuan County, Shaanxi Province, in order to jointly fight against Japan, the superiors asked to replace the hats that the Red Army had originally wore, and change them to wear hats with blue sky and white sun hat badges, and make them into the 18th Army of the National Revolutionary Army. Everyone changed the hats, especially when they changed the hat badges, and I couldn't figure it out. When I changed the dress, I left the red five-pointed star on the original hat. He stroked the five-pointed star hat badge with his hand and told me that it was Chief of Staff Liu Bocheng who did the ideological work for us, and everyone figured it out. Chief of Staff Liu Bocheng told us: The name of the army has been changed, but its nature has not changed. We are still the people's army led by the Communist Party. Our army is fighting for the complete liberation of the entire Chinese people! After listening to the Chief of Staff, we all figured it out later.
After saying that, Comrade Zhang Side sat intently and immersed in his deep memories of the past. Comrade Zhang Side's conversation, manner and expression left an unforgettable impression on me, and deepened my understanding of him, knowing that he loved the Party and the Red Army so much, and thus received a profound education.
Comrade Zhang Side is sincere and simple, and never cares about whether to hold a position or what work to do. He participated in the Long March and went through thousands of difficulties and dangers. He was still old enough in theory. After arriving in northern Shaanxi, he served as the squad leader of the communications squad in the Central Military Commission Guard Battalion. Later, he was sent to Nanniwan to open up land and farm, and was selected as a model by the army. However, after being transferred to the guard squad, he was just an ordinary soldier. He never complained about this. In the class, whether he is on duty or participating in productive labor, he can take the lead, work hard and never care about personal gains and losses. I think this spirit of focusing on revolution is worth learning. Therefore, when you are responsible for various tasks and encounter some things in the class, you pay great attention to learning and following them.
In March 1943, my superiors transferred me out of the security squad based on my work situation, and were specifically responsible for taking care of Chairman Mao’s life, and were with Chairman Mao every day. After that, I spent less time with Comrade Zhang Side and could only say hello when meeting, but his figure, words, etc. remained in my mind and made me pay attention to his situation in the security squad from time to time.
Zhang Side said goodbye to her adoptive mother Liu Guangyou in October 1933. With the belief in defending her hometown and liberating the poor, she came to the Red Army Independent Regiment of Changsheng County as a correspondent. Shortly after joining the army, he joined the Communist Youth League. Although the army was not far from home, he never entered every time he passed by and was focused on his work. This Red Army team later became the troops of the Red Fourth Front Army . During the Long March of the Red Army, he was injured and rescued many comrades. He was a soldier who loyally served the people.
However, Zhang Side's ability to have such a high level of thought has a lot to do with his biological father, and his biological father Zhang Xingpin had an important impact on his growth.
Zhang Xingpin was born in Hanjiawan Village, Liuhechang Township (now Side Township ). Since childhood, he has never studied because of his poor family. He is smart and capable, loyal, simple and responsible, and gets along well with his neighbors. He can do his best to help others when encountering difficulties. He mainly rented land and worked hard for his family. He rented more than ten acres of thin land. He had no amount of grain left in addition to paying rent and paying tenants every year. He worked hard all year round and could not make a living, so he had to work in the evening, carry the slide rod, or carry rice, salt, and sell fruits, earn a few copper coins to make a living.
Because of the family having many children, his wife Zhu is weak and sickly, and he is bedridden for a long time, the family often has the worries of being out of stock. Therefore, just seven months after his fourth son Gu Wazi, he adopted Gu Wazi to his younger brother Zhang Xingzhong and his younger sister-in-law Liu Guangyou as his son because his wife died. After adoption, Zhang Xingpin's family still had five people. After his wife passed away, his eldest son and second son died one after another due to difficulties in life and were poor and sick. At that time, only he, his third son Siming and his third daughter-in-law Zheng, had three, and they spent their time hard.
The Red Army is here, and Zhang Xingpin seems to see hope in life. In 1932, the Fourth Red Army captured some parts of the three counties of Ningqiang, Zhenyuan, and Xixiang. It was circulated everywhere in the society: "The Red Army led by the Communist Party is an army that defeats the local tyrants and divides the land and is the master of the people." Zhang Xingpin carries rice in Dingshan, Wazichang and other places. After hearing the news, he went home overnight and told his younger brother Zhang Xingzhong and his younger sister-in-law Liu Guangyou that the good news that "The Red Army is here" and "The Red Army is making a comeback for the poor."
After that, Zhang Xingpin often went to the tenant's house, or on the way to carry salt and rice, to promote the benefits of the arrival of the Red Army to the poor to the poor. At that time, Ning Xiangqi, the local armed leader of the Kuomintang, was very scared when he heard the news and stopped people from spreading the news that "The Red Army is Coming".
In January 1933, the Red Army occupied Nanjiang and Bazhong City respectively. Zhang Xingpin was very excited when he heard the news. In order to confirm whether the news is reliable, he made a special trip to Yilong , Bazhong and other places to inquire about the news about the Red Army. When he heard and witnessed the situation of the Red Army, he felt more at ease. He rushed back to Hanjiawan at night and came to Zhang Lipin's house to tell the news that "The Red Army is coming" to tenants such as Zhang Lipin, Zhang Lifang, and Chen Ruwan.
January is the cold season. That night, after Zhang Xingpin walked into Uncle Zhang Lipin's yard, he approached the brazier and said excitedly: "Uncle, the Red Army supports us poor people. When they come, we will do whatever we ask us to do!" Zhang Lipin agreed with his nephew's words very much, nodded, and said, "Yes, yes, yes!" More than a dozen tenants sitting there also echoed at the same time.
On the third day of July that year, Xu Shiyou led the Red Army to advance into Yilong City. Soon, the team drove to Zhang Side's house, Liuhechang. Zhang Xingpin saw the Red Army team that he was looking forward to day and night, and when he saw someone, he said, "The poor are ahead!"
A few days later, the Red Army went to the countryside for a meeting and mobilized the establishment of a Soviet government.Some farmers were afraid to attend the meeting because they were subjected to reactionary propaganda by the local Kuomintang. Zhang Xingpin went to Hulun , Ke, Wen Caigui, Dai Songwei, Zhang Liping and other 17 poor households to mobilize and say to them: "The Red Army turned over and sought liberation for the poor. They were new to the place and were not familiar with us. Who would go to the meeting if we poor people? Let us set up the Soviet Union. If we don't do such a thing, who would do it?"
After Zhang Xingpin's persuasion and mobilization, everyone happily attended the mobilization meeting for the establishment of the Soviet Union convened by the Red Army. Not long after, the Hanjiawan Village Soviet was established. Zhang Xingpin was elected as the Land Interior Commissioner.
After the establishment of Soviet governments in Yilong, Changsheng and other places, the Sichuan-Shaanxi Soviet government issued a call to governments at all levels to expand the Red Army, organize Red Guards, , Young Pioneers, and Boys Regiment, and defend the Red Army regime in the Soviet area. Zhang Xingpin set an example, walked ahead in everything, regardless of day or night, traveled around the house, made publicity and visits, mobilized the children of poor families to join the Red Army, and promoted to everyone the ten major benefits of the Soviet Union, such as "Red families can be divided into good fields and good land, and someone farmed on their behalf." In just over ten days, he mobilized more than 80 young people to participate in the Red Army, Red Guards and Guerrillas. He mobilized the educated, intelligent and capable young man Nie Shaohong to join the Red Army. His family was not conscious. Zhang Xingpin came to do ideological work three times and repeatedly said to Nie Shaohong's family: "Only if there is a poor person's own army, there will be a happy life for the poor." Finally, Nie Shaohong's family figured it out.
After joining the Red Army, Nie Shaohong was not afraid of hardship or death, and was brave in fighting. He was praised by the commander of the 75th Regiment of the Red Ninth Army and was soon promoted to battalion commander.
The story of Zhang Xingpin mobilizing his biological son Zhang Side to join the army has always been a good story in the local area.
In 1933, Zhang Xingpin was already fifty-five years old, and his younger brother Zhang Xingzhong was also fifty-three years old. The two brothers each have a son. Who is over fifty years old? Who is not worried about having no successor? Who is not worried about having no son to pass on the family line? But the two brothers Zhang Xingpin wanted to make more suffering people turn over and avoid suffering from cattle and horses. Zhang Xingpin asked his son Zhang Siming to join the guerrillas, and then mobilized his younger brother and sister-in-law to let Zhang Side join the Red Army. Zhang Xingzhong and Liu Guangyou and his wife already knew that Zhang Side had the desire to be a Red Army, and the whole family thought of going together, so Zhang Side, who had just turned 18, happily became a Red Army soldier. Before leaving, Zhang Xingpin repeatedly reminded him: "Son, you are a good descendant of the Zhang family. After arriving in the team, you must listen to the leaders. You are not afraid of hardship in work, not afraid of death in war, and bring glory to the parents and villagers in the hometown!"
After serving as a village cadre, Zhang Xingpin was loyal to the revolution, worked actively, did justice in his work, and did not favoritism. He shared the wealth of the local tyrants, such as grain cloth, gold, silver, copper coins, and a large amount of opium and other property, strictly managed and could not be embezzled. Every time he gained something, he would definitely be handed over to the Red Army and the District and Township Soviets in a timely manner.
When he organized the distribution of land for poor farmers, he strictly implemented the policies and policies of the Soviet government of Sichuan and Shaanxi Province, and first distributed good land to relatives of the Red Army. The fields shared by other poor farmers were all good and bad. However, more than ten tenant farmers including Luo Gui'an were secretly intimidated by the landlords and did not dare to take the land allocated by the Soviets. Zhang Xingpin did ideological work one by one, so that they could dispel their concerns and actively participate in the land division movement.
He also mobilized more than 30 young and middle-aged people, organized a front-line transportation team, transported the grain and materials donated by the village to the front line of Dingshan, Wazi, Lishan and other Soviet areas to support the Red Army's operations. When he organized the support transport team, he always paid reasonable compensation to some of the experts specially hired. Zhang Xingpin distinguishes right from wrong in everything in his work, adheres to principles everywhere, and resolutely protects the lives and property of farmers.
One day in October 1933, Zhang Lipin, an uncle from the same clan of the village, went to visit Zhang Xingcai, the son of a guerrilla team member in Dingshan. When he went, he wrapped a white cloth hat with herringbone pattern on his head. The Red Army discovered that he was dressed abnormally and mistakenly thought he was a detective of the White Army, so they were imprisoned and prepared to execute him. After hearing the news, Zhang Xingpin rushed to Dingshanchang, explained the situation to the Red Army, issued a guarantee, and protected Zhang Lipin, so that Zhang Lipin could survive.
In the same month, Chen Yuan, a villager, wore a good flowery dress, went to the market at Liuhe Venue. After seeing this, the Red Army mistakenly thought that she was the wife of a fleeing local tyrant and evil gentry. She was arrested on the spot and prepared to be escorted to Lishanchang to execute her. After hearing the news, Zhang Xingpin rushed to the township Soviet in time to prove to the Red Army that Chen Yuan was a poor man and once again avoided a man-killing incident. After Chen Yuan returned home safely, he said to someone, "Brother Zhang Xingpin is such a good person. He is my life-savior!"
Zhang Xingpin is one, two, and is not accommodating, and it is just a hot topic. He also talks about policies for some rich people and does not do anything randomly. The property that the rich should not confiscate should never be confiscated in violation of policies. Except for all confiscated money and goods, if they are returned to the poor with permission from their superiors, they will first take care of the extreme poverty of the village. Therefore, Zhang Xingpin enjoys a high prestige among the masses. However, what Zhang Xingpin did not expect was that when he was in charge of the village land interior committee member, he was not favored for personal gain and was doing his job impartially, he caused a disaster for Xiao Yun. Due to the frame-up of irregular people, he caused him to be killed.
The person who served as the chairman of the Soviet Union in Zhang Xingpin Village was named Hu Nantai. He had a habit of smoking big smoke. He repeatedly proposed to Zhang Xingpin, who was also in charge of internal affairs, that he would leave some of the confiscated big smoke for him to smoke, but Zhang Xingpin refused harshly. Therefore, Hu Nantai, who is not upright, holds a grudge against Zhang Xingpin, who is doing things impartially, and looks for opportunities for revenge.
In the autumn of 1934, after Hu Nantai was transferred to the chairman of the township Soviet, he believed that he had the conditions and opportunities to retaliate against Zhang Xingpin. So, he took advantage of his position to spread everywhere that Zhang Xingpin sheltered the wealthy Zhang Bingjun and Fan Youwan. Although Hu Nantai's "false" words were purely made of nothing, in the social atmosphere where poor people hated the landlords and wealth at that time, such remarks were extremely lethal to the attacked. That winter, Hu Nantai took advantage of the opportunity to attend a meeting in the county and falsely accused Zhang Xingpin of "taking the landlord route" and "hiding the wealthy" to the county Soviet government. At that time, the Soviet area implemented Zhang Guotao's extreme "left" anti-counterfeiting line and cracked down on the so-called "AB regiment" and "reorganization faction". Hu Nantai's report on Zhang Xingpin's two black stories was also catering to the need for some Soviet cadres to deliberately capture their goals in order to "achieve achievements". So, the county secretly executed him on his way to Dingshan County on the name of notifying Zhang Xingpin to go to Dingshan for a meeting.
Zhang Xingpin, an outstanding village cadre who serves the poor wholeheartedly and serves the Soviets wholeheartedly, was executed and mysteriously "disappeared"!
This is a special mistake in a special period. Even Zhu Daili, the eldest brother of Commander-in-Chief Zhu De at that time, was unable to survive this "anti-counterattack".
Zhu Daili, whose courtesy name is Yunjie, was born in October 1878. On January 25, 1895, the rich man forcibly withdrew his tenant, and his father's family divided his family and relied on farming. When the Red Army liberated Yilong in 1933, Zhu Daili, under the influence of his younger brother Zhu De, actively supported the Red Army and participated in revolutionary activities. When the village Soviet was established, he was elected as the chairman of the Soviet Union.
Soon after, more than a dozen guerrilla members from the Soviets in Liu Township, Ma'an District, Changsheng County came to the rich man's home in Heniba Village to "fetch grain". The villagers told Zhu Daili the news, and the villagers expressed dissatisfaction with the Liuxiang guerrillas' arbitrarily coming to the village to "fetch grain". Zhu Daili immediately convened the guerrillas in the village to discuss. At the meeting, he said: "The guerrillas who came to our village to 'grain harvest' are from Liu Township, Ma'an District, Changsheng County. Our village is under the jurisdiction of Yilong County . They crossed the line and came to our village to 'grain harvest'. The county and district did not notify us, and they did not have a letter of introduction. Why should we come to our village to 'grain harvest'?" So, they drove away the guerrillas who came to 'grain harvest' in Ma'an District. Three days later, two Red Army soldiers led three guerrillas from Liuxiang to escort Zhu Daili to Sanduishi, Laiyi Township, to kill him at the age of fifty-five.
This may be the best explanation for that atmosphere.
Zhang Side's biological father Zhang Xingpin was in trouble shortly after Zhu Daili was wrongly killed. Zhang Xingpin was unjustly killed and was executed inexplicably. Needless to say, Zhang Side, who was expeditioning to a foreign land, had no idea, and even Zhang Side's family did not know.This grievance was not until 43 years later, on November 10, 1987, when the Yilong County People's Government officially issued a document announcing the rehabilitation of Zhang Xingpin and restoring his political reputation. The same time in Yilong County was announced to be rehabilitated, including Zhu Daili, a large number of cadres and masses who were wrongly killed in the fight against the counter-counter.
