1949, the People's Liberation Army's millions of troops liberated the vast area south of the Yangtze River. Not long after the liberation of the Two Lakes area, two mysterious letters were sent from the Secretariat of the General Office of the Central Committee to two rural areas in Hubei and Hunan.
letters were sent to a blacksmith in Daye County, Hubei and a farmer in Hengdong, Hunan respectively.
Strangely, after receiving the letter, they both danced like children, and said when they saw people that this was a letter from Chairman Mao to them. They were Chairman Mao’s sworn brothers, and the Chairman still remembered them.
The relatives and friends around me don’t believe it, and they think they are talking nonsense.
But as they narrated the little things between them and Chairman Mao. Only then did everyone believe that they were really Chairman Mao’s sworn brothers.
So, what unknown past is there between two ordinary farmers and Chairman Mao?
The times have changed dramatically
Time returned to 1910. At that time, Chairman Mao, who was young and full of ambition, resolutely bid farewell to his hometown of Shaoshan Chong .
and left a poem for his father to show his mind: The child is determined to leave his hometown and will not return if he fails to learn to be famous. Why do you need to bury your bones? Where can you not have green mountains in your life? Then, he resolutely embarked on the journey of finding a way to save the country and the people.
Just as Chairman Mao, who was the first to emerge, drew his sword and looked around, a huge change that had not been seen in a century came to his face.
1911, the constitutional reform of the Qing government was completely declared a failure. The old aristocratic class represented by the Regent Zaifeng and the Empress Dowager Longyu were unwilling to make concessions to the Han bureaucrats and literati in order to continue to maintain the unrealistic privileges and interests of Manchus. On the list of cabinet members in constitutional reform, their own people are arranged, which is the famous royal cabinet in history.
The purpose is obvious, which is to take all the power into their Aisin Gioro family .
However, the corrupt Eight Banners soldiers of the Qing government were unable to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement.
The Hunan Army represented by Zeng Guofan , the Huai Army represented by Li Hongzhang , and the Chu Army represented by Zuo Zongtang . The troops organized by the Han bureaucrats and scholars have risen one after another.
half of the Yangtze River is actually controlled by these Han bureaucrats and scholars. The Qing government was nominally a unified country, but in fact it was a separatist regime.
When Empress Dowager Cixi was alive, she could still rely on her strong political skills, combine the vertical and horizontal , and use both soft and hard skills to maintain a mutually beneficial and symbiotic relationship with these Han bureaucrats and scholars. However, with the death of Empress Dowager Cixi and the regent Zaifeng coming to power, the extremely conservative and stubborn bureaucrats showed a big resurgence. Not only did they not want to share the power of this country with the Han bureaucrats and scholars like in the past, they would instead become more and more powerful and take back their power from them.
However, they did not have the capital to recover their power. After Zhang Zhidong was angry to death, the only bridge between the Regent Zaifeng and the Han bureaucrats and scholars was completely ruined.
The bureaucrats and scholars south of the Yangtze River completely cut off their fantasies about the Qing Dynasty and began to overthrow the Qing Dynasty.
The fuse that ignited this powder barrel was the road protection movement that took place in Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong and Sichuan in 1911.
The cause and effect of this road protection movement is like this. In the late Qing government, due to financial exhaustion, it had to sell its country's railway sovereignty to the Western powers in exchange for the support of cash flow .
The importance of railways to modern countries requires no need to say much. If a railway is controlled, it can basically control all provinces along a railway.
In the late Qing Dynasty, a railway construction frenzy broke out in various parts of my country.
The people of Sichuan are not willing to lag behind. They have joined forces with capital from all over Hunan and Hubei to build a major transportation artery of the southwest that belongs to the Chinese.However, because construction funds were taken to Shanghai for speculation, the leeks were cut during the financial crisis and the railway project could not be completed for a long time.
So, the Qing government came up with the idea of this private railway. Anyway, you have all become unfinished projects, so it is better to sell it to me at a low price and I will resell the sovereignty to the Western powers.
However, during the negotiation process, the price of both parties was not right and finally turned over the table.
Landlords, bureaucrats and powerful factions who had long been dissatisfied with the Qing government took action, launching a vigorous road protection movement.
Hunan area where Chairman Mao was located at that time was also affected by the craze for the road protection movement.
Progressive teachers and students represented by the famous educator Xu Teli launched a vigorous Changsha Road Protection Movement in Changsha, Hunan.
As Sichuan's road protection movement became bigger and bigger, the Qing government was able to finally dispatch troops from the two lakes to Sichuan to suppress, resulting in the emptiness of troops in the two lakes.
Revolutionaries launched an armed uprising in Wuchang, Hubei, opening the prelude to Xinhai Revolution.
After the outbreak of the Wuchang Uprising, Changsha was not willing to fall behind and responded immediately.
During the Changsha Uprising of the Revolution of 1911, a soldier performed particularly well, his name was Peng Yousheng.
First entered the military
In the process of capturing Changsha City, he took the lead, took the lead in breaking through the enemy's fire blockade line and occupied the Changsha City Gate.
After the success of the Changsha Uprising, the rebel army quickly expanded its troops.
Chairman Mao was fled to the point of his career and was stimulated by the revolution and could not control himself.
Before this, he always regarded Sun Yat-sen, Liang Qichao, and Kang Youwei as his life idols. After hearing that Sun Yat-sen's revolution was successful, he immediately ran to sign up for the army.
The person in charge of the recruitment department at that time saw that he was a scholar, so he refused his request.
Chairman Mao was angry, so he started arguing with the person in charge on the spot.
At this time, a veteran Zhu Qisheng happened to pass by. Seeing that Chairman Mao was tall and had an extraordinary temperament, he walked up to ask what had happened.
After the explanation of the person in charge, I realized that Chairman Mao was still a student at this time. According to regulations, students could not join the army.
But Zhu Qisheng saw Chairman Mao’s extraordinary demeanor and decided to make an exception and allow him to join the army to join the army. He also introduced Chairman Mao to his deputy squad leader, Changsha combat hero Peng Yousheng.
The two talked to Chairman Mao and were immediately impressed by his knowledge. From then on, the three of them became close friends who could talk about everything and talk about everything.
During the conversation, Chairman Mao learned that Zhu Qisheng was originally a poor tenant farmer and worked for the landlord's family since he was a child. Over the past year, the food earned with hard work cannot support a few brothers and sisters.
In desperation, the young Zhu Qisheng had to leave home and go to the city to fight with a blacksmith to find another way out. In the blacksmith shop, Zhu Qisheng worked diligently and hardworkingly, but he was only able to fill his stomach.
Once, a great famine occurred in the two lakes and food prices soared. In order to save food, the masters in the blacksmith shop reduced the food of the guys.
Iron-smashing was originally a heavy physical work, but now he couldn't even eat enough. Zhu Qisheng was so hungry that his chest was pressed against his back and could not work normally. As a last resort, I had to secretly pick up a handful of rice from the master to cook.
After the master discovered the incident, he beat him up. In the end, Zhu Zhuqisheng, who could not bear it, resolutely left the blacksmith shop and went outside to make another way to make a living.
At that time, Huguang Governor Zhang Zhidong was recruiting new troops in the two lakes area, and the treatment of the new troops was much higher than that of other troops. At that time, being a soldier was a way out to change one's life.
Here, Zhu Qisheng met his old squad leader Peng Yousheng.
He is also an ordinary farmer in Hunan. He also has to go out to make a living because his family is not full.The only difference is that Peng Yousheng's home is a little better than Zhu Qisheng, and he finally has a few acres of thin land to barely survive.
Compare yourself, Chairman Mao expressed deep sympathy for their experience. So, in order to repay the care of these two brothers, Chairman Mao taught all his knowledge.
After the hard training on weekdays, Chairman Mao always takes time to teach these two brothers to write, keep accounts, do business, and also tell them various cultural knowledge. Over time, the relationship between the three became deeper and deeper.
Taoyuan Yi ming
Zhu Qisheng and Peng Yousheng came from the bottom of the class and had the opportunity to come into contact with things like "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin" in the mouths of storytellers under the overpass.
So they suggested simply learning from the ancient Taoyuan Sansheng, and the three of them became sworn brothers of the opposite sex. After a simple ceremony, the three of them bowed their hands.
At that time, the old army was definitely not a paradise. It is a common phenomenon that old people bully new people and superiors exploit subordinates.
Later, Chairman Mao was able to adapt Sanwan with a scholar to create a people's soldiers that shocked the ancient Shuo Army. It was precisely because of his understanding of the old army during this period.
It is precisely because of the protection of these two sworn brothers that during the period he stayed in the army, he was able to see these phenomena more thoroughly as an outsider.
According to Chairman Mao’s later recollection, during the period of time he stayed in the army, sometimes the recruits were not assigned to the quilt and could only tremble in winter. In order to avoid being bullied, Zhu Erge let himself sleep on the upper bunk when he was sleeping and gave up all the quilts to himself.
When eating on weekdays, the two brothers also knew that Chairman Mao liked braised pork the most, so he put all the meat in his bowl to him.
The details show true feelings. No wonder, decades later, Chairman Mao was obsessed with these two sworn brothers.
Unfortunately, happy times are always short. The Xinhai Revolution was led by Sun Yat-sen on the surface. As we said before, it was actually the Han bureaucrats and scholars who promoted this great historical change.
1912, the Beiyang faction represented by Yuan Shikai forced the Qing emperor to abdicate, and the north and the south reached peace and established a republican government.
So, these Han bureaucrats and scholars quickly abandoned Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary party and threw them into Yuan Shikai's arms. The fruits of the revolution were also stolen by Yuan Shikai.
Chairman Mao was filled with righteous indignation about this matter.
He decided to leave the army, return to school and continue his studies, and go to other places to find a way to save the country and the people.
When we were about to part, Brother Peng and Brother Zhu were reluctant to leave, but they all knew that this third brother was not a thing in the pool, and the army was not his place to stay for a long time. So the two raised a large sum of money from their few wages to make travel expenses for Chairman Mao and held a grand farewell ceremony for him.
Since then, Zhu Qisheng and Chairman Mao have never met again. After retiring from the army, he returned to his hometown in Hubei and started his old business of blacksmithing.
Peng Yousheng stayed in the army and later moved with the warlords from all sides. Finally, he followed the Hunan warlord Cheng Qian and joined the Guangdong Revolutionary Government Sun Yat-sen.
1926, the cooperation between , the Communist Party of China, was in full swing.
Chairman Mao was invited to Guangdong to attend the peasant movement lectures as a representative of Hunan. This incident once caused a lot of controversy, and the news that Chairman Mao came to Guangzhou to give lectures was published on the headlines of the Guangzhou Daily.
Peng Yousheng, who was in the army in Guangdong at that time, was extremely excited when he saw the news in the newspaper.
came to Chairman Mao’s residence and met the sworn brother.
The two have been together for 14 years and have endless longings. They have had a lot of fun and have a long talk all night. During the conversation, Chairman Mao persuaded the sworn brother to go to the revolution with him.
But Peng Shengwu was already old at this time and no longer had the ambitions of the 1911 Revolution. Now he just wanted to make enough money, go home to buy a family business, and live his own life peacefully, so he politely rejected Chairman Mao's invitation.
Later, the Kuomintang Chiang Kai-shek betrayed the revolution, and the Kuomintang and the Communist Party broke out with a decade-long civil war.
After the civil war broke out, Peng Yousheng was in great pain. Soon he withdrew from the army and returned to his hometown in Hunan to farm for a living, and never cared about the world.
Until , after the founding of New China , they were very excited to hear that their former sworn brothers became the leaders of New China.
But at this time, everyone's status was too different, and they were afraid that they would not be suitable for Chairman Mao to rashly. So they have never claimed to others about their relationship with Chairman Mao.
It was not until Chairman Mao’s letter was sent that they realized that this third brother had always been thinking about them in his heart.
But at this time the boss was old and it was not convenient to go out, so he wrote a thank you letter to express his longing for the Chairman. Zhu Qisheng took the train to Beijing and received a reception from Chairman Mao.
The two met again, speechless.
Zhu Qisheng brought his and his fellow villagers to Chairman Mao.
Chairman Mao took out 500 yuan from his royalties to fund this former sworn brother.
Don’t be inferior to each other when you are poor and humble, and do not forget each other when you are rich and noble. The friendship between the three of them can be said to be the beginning and the end.
