Chairman Mao stood firm throughout his life. No matter how strong his opponent was, he was never afraid. During the Agrarian Revolutionary War, he led hundreds of people from Sanwan to Jinggangshan to join the armed forces, which kicked off the armed separatist regime. At that time, the Red Army was still very weak compared with the Kuomintang army. Facing a powerful enemy, Lin Biao once lacked confidence and raised the question "How long can the red flag last?" But Chairman Mao had no fear and firmly believed that the revolution would be victorious. For this reason, he wrote the article "A single spark can start a prairie fire."
Under the leadership of Chairman Mao, the Central Red Army quickly grew from weak to strong, growing to a hundred thousand soldiers, and repeatedly defeated Chiang Kai-shek 's heavy offensives. If it weren't for the blind command of Li De and Bogu, the Red Army would probably not have to use 's Long March . After the Anti-Japanese War broke out, many people in the Kuomintang thought that we could not defeat the ferocious Japanese invaders. Wang Jingwei and others became traitors because of this. But Chairman Mao did not believe in evil and commanded the Eighth Route Army to fight the Japanese and puppet troops on the battlefield behind enemy lines. The fight was successful, and he strengthened himself while destroying the enemy.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the War of Liberation ushered in. At that time, Chiang Kai-shek had more than 4 million regular troops and the People's Liberation Army had less than 1 million. There was also a huge gap in weapons and equipment. Because of this, Chiang Kai-shek blatantly tore up the "Double Ten Agreement" and ordered his troops to launch a fierce attack on the liberated areas. Chairman Mao commanded the troops to rise up and fight. In just over three years, they wiped out more than 8 million enemy troops and drove Chiang Kai-shek to an isolated island.
Just one year after the founding of New China, it has faced a more severe test. MacArthur led the "United Nations Army" to cross the 38th Parallel and march northward. The forwards once reached the Yalu River, posing a serious threat to the security of New China. Chairman Mao decided to send troops to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea, but many people opposed it. Lin Biao and Gao Gang were the most resolute. The reason was that there was a huge gap in strength between us and the United States, and the weapons and equipment were even more incomparable. But Chairman Mao firmly believed that "the hand grenade can definitely defeat the atomic bomb " and sent troops across the Yalu River to fight in North Korea.
At that time, almost no country in the world believed that we could win this war. However, under the superb command of Chairman Mao, Peng Dehuai and others, coupled with the brave fighting of the majority of volunteer army soldiers, we finally achieved a great victory in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, establishing our country's international status in one fell swoop. It can be seen that no matter how great the difficulties he faced or how powerful his opponents were, Chairman Mao was always fearless and eventually defeated these opponents one by one. Facing the indomitable Chairman Mao, the guard chief Li Yinqiao said that he had "three fears."
Li Yinqiao was born in Anping, Hebei Province in 1927. He practiced martial arts in Wudang in his early years and was proficient in Tai Chi and Tai Chi Sword. In 1938, Li Yinqiao participated in the revolution at the age of 11. He first served as a communicator in the Security Department of the General Office of the Central Committee, and later worked as a guard for Zhou Enlai. He started working as a bodyguard for Chairman Mao in 1947 and was later promoted to chief of the bodyguard. In 1962, Li Yinqiao left Chairman Mao to work in Tianjin. In total, he worked by Chairman Mao's side for 15 years.
In their 15 years of companionship, Li Yinqiao knew very well some of Chairman Mao’s lifestyle and habits. He later recalled that although Chairman Mao stood upright, he also had "three fears", namely "fear of tears", "fear of blood" and "fear of people shouting for mercy". Chairman Mao has cared about the sufferings of the people all his life, and the last thing he wanted to see was the people crying because of their difficulties in life. During the three-year natural disaster period, one of Chairman Mao's bodyguards reported to Chairman Mao the situation in his hometown after returning from a visit to relatives. He shed tears while talking about how many people had no food to eat. Chairman Mao was so distressed that he shed tears when he heard that the people's lives were so miserable. In order to tide over the difficulties with the people, he took the lead in reducing expenses and even stopped eating the braised pork that he only ate once a week. Chairman Mao also suffered from edema due to malnutrition.
Chairman Mao's second "fear" is "fear of blood." Li Yinqiao recalled that after Chairman Mao entered Beijing in 1949, he lived in Xiangshan Shuangqing Villa for a period of time.Since Chairman Mao worked at night, in order to allow him to rest peacefully during the day, the guards used shotguns to drive away the chirping birds around the villa. This morning, Chairman Mao came back from a meeting. As soon as he got out of the car, he saw a bunch of sparrows that the guards had shot to death. The bird feathers were stained with blood. His face suddenly twitched, showing a look of unbearable sadness. Then he ordered the guards not to shoot birds with guns anymore.
Chairman Mao's third "fear" is "fear of people shouting for mercy." Li Yinqiao recalled that when he was in Yan'an, a young guard soldier left the army privately because he couldn't stand the suffering. After he was captured, many people advocated that he be shot as a deserter. The little soldier was frightened and shouted for mercy. Chairman Mao came out after hearing the shouting. When he saw that the soldier was only a teenager and his face was sallow due to malnutrition, he couldn't bear it, so he ordered him to be released and asked the kitchen to prepare a small meal for him. This is Chairman Mao who has stood upright throughout his life, with a tough and tender heart.
