On September 23, 1942, at night, Zhang Yongtai, the village chief of Hualin Village, Qingfeng Town, just fell asleep when he was awakened by an emergency door slap.
Zhang Yongtai put on his clothes and walked to the door and asked:
"Who is it? It's midnight."
"Village chief, it's me, the dog." The people outside were quick and urged in a low voice:
"What a big thing happened, our village prepares for the New Fourth Army's public grain , and the Japanese army at Shitouqiao found out."
Zhang Yongtai's heart was suddenly jumped, and immediately opened the door, then pulled Lin Xiaogou outside into the house, "What's going on, tell me quickly."
Some time ago, Zhang Yongtai contacted the villagers in the village who supported the War of Resistance in the War of Resistance in the village and raised more than 3,000 kilograms of grain for the New Fourth Army. He was about to find an opportunity to give it to the front line troops, but suddenly the Japanese and puppet troops were storming the Hualin area in the fifth district, so he had to temporarily delay it.
originally thought that this matter was prepared very secretly, but unexpectedly, the news would leak out and the Japanese army found out.
Lin Xiaogou obviously ran a lot, and went into the house and gasped and said to Zhang Yongtai:
"In the afternoon, Uncle Sangui's nephew Wang Hua came to visit our village. Uncle Sangui accidentally told the village about raising food in the past few days. His nephew, others don't know, I know the most. He is very close to the yellow dog on weekdays. After he got this news, how can he not show his attentiveness to the Japanese?" Lin Xiaogou answered He said:
"When it was almost dark, I went to the neighboring village to take a look at Wang Hua's house. It was dark and no one responded when knocking on the door. It was probably because he went to the town to report it."
Zhang Yongtai listened to Lin Xiaogou's words and quickly analyzed in his heart that there should not be much information leaked by Sangui inadvertently. It is unknown whether Wang Hua would go to report it. But it is better to believe that this kind of thing is not trusted. More than 3,000 kilograms of public grain, but the people squeezed out from their teeth and handed it over to the New Fourth Army to fight the Japanese. They must not let this grain fall into the hands of the enemy.
Zhang Yongtai, who made up his mind, immediately woke up his eldest son Zhang Kaishu and his second son Zhang Zeshen. The three of them pulled Lin Xiaogou and loaded the grain stored in the house onto a carriage, and then quietly drove the car to a deserted ridge outside the village.
If the elderly in the village die, they will usually be buried in their own fields, and some villagers who cannot afford coffins are buried on this small trough by their families.
In recent years, there have been a lot of war and life are in trouble, and the number of tombs buried here has increased significantly.
At this moment, the night is deep, and there are many tombs on the deserted ridge. Apart from the few chirpings of autumn insects, it is quiet.
"During this period, I probably can't transport public grains. The Japanese will definitely try every means to search for the whereabouts of this batch of grains. It is too dangerous to hide in the village. It is placed in a weed nest, and the grain cannot be saved. My plan is that we can dig a hole here to hide the grains in it. When the enemy searches, the wind will be relieved, and we will find a way to transport the grains out." Zhang Yongtai stood in an open space and said to the three young men in front of him.
"Dad, just do whatever you say, let's listen to you." The second son Zhang Ze responded in a deep voice. Everyone knows that this food should be handed over to the New Fourth Army. No one wants to give the Japanese and puppet troops half of the grain, so he naturally responded positively.
"Then let's dig it out!" Zhang Yongtai picked up the shovel and shoveled it to the ground. The dry floating soil was then dug out a deep depression. The soil in the deserted tomb ridge was not strong, and the rock and soil below was loose, so it was not difficult to dig.
That night, Zhang Yongtai and his son and Lin Xiaogou struggled to dig a hole. Until dawn, the few people finally dug three big holes.
The three large pits were all supported by wooden sticks and firewood mats. Zhang Yongtai and others then put more than 3,000 kilograms of grain into the three large pits in turn, and then covered them with a layer of pole mat, then piled up the soil, forming grave mounds outside.
In order to make the tomb realistic, Zhang Yongtai also found a few thick hemp ropes for carrying the coffin and buried them on the tomb, with a few mourning sticks inserted on each tomb.
"Open the office, when you go back, get some paper money, let's spread here to cover the eyes of others."After piled up the grave, Zhang Yongtai ordered his eldest son.
Zhang Kaidian quickly ran home, took out the paper that he had prepared for his grandfather from the box, and ran all the way to the deserted grave ridge.
When the people were about to lift the paper, Lin Xiaogou pointed to the dirt road in the west of the village and said:
"Village Chief, look over there. "
In the mist and morning light, a team wearing Japanese and puppet military uniforms walked along the dirt road towards Hualin Village.
" Hurry up and burn paper. "Zhang Yongtai quickly ordered everyone.
A wisp of flame with a choking smoke rose, and the yellow paper turned black and rolled in the flames, and eventually turned into broken and fragmented pieces, drifting away with the breeze.
"Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Let him go over and take a look. When the translator walked to the nearby, he saw that it turned out that someone was burning paper.
encountered this kind of thing early in the morning. The translator muttered in his heart, it was so unlucky. This trip to check the grain seemed to be unsatisfied.
Then, the translator returned to the Japanese commander and hunched his waist to report:
"Taijun , several villagers were burning paper, but they found nothing abnormal. "
The Japanese army clicked, then waved and continued to move forward. Then a group of puppet troops entered Hualin Village and started a large search from house to house.
Because Wang Hua, this guy, heard Uncle Sangui say that it was not clear whether the specific amount of grain was transported out. Therefore, this Japanese and puppet army team searched in the village from morning to noon, and finally found nothing.
At this time, Zhang Yongtai, who had calmly returned to the village, introduced a group of Japanese and puppet troops into the village office in the name of the puppet village chief. He rewarded the food and drink while patting his chest and saying that he was in the village. No problem.
The Japanese and puppet soldiers who did not find food were searched, and finally had to return in disappointment. After waiting for a while, seeing the Japanese and puppet troops storm gradually ended, Zhang Yongtai sent people to dig out the food overnight, transported it to the river bank, and delivered the food safely to the front line troops.
After the liberation, Zhang Yongtai, who was working at home, talked about this with the villagers. Someone asked you why you didn’t tell the government that you had merits. Zhang Yongtai smiled and said:
"They were holding their heads in front and working with the Japanese. We were raising food for the New Fourth Army behind. That was called duty. What kind of merits are you asking for? Although we are old, our face is still there! ”
In those years of war, there are countless grassroots heroes. They rise up in the dark, but eventually disappear in the long river of history. Although these stories hidden in the long river of history are little known, they are still an indispensable part of the magnificent picture of people's war back then.
Thank you for reading, I am history like smoke, talk about small Many history, different grassroots stories. This article is a novel of revolutionary treasures - 3 articles of 136html. Everyone is welcome to follow and read the exciting content of the past period. Comments and forwarding are welcome to jointly promote positive energy. Thank you.
Reference materials: "Jianhu Literature and History Materials", provided by Zhang Yongtai's son Zhang Zeshen, the old man Zhang Yongtai died of illness in 1954.
