In 1978, in order to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the death of General Chen Yi, the Shanghai People's Publishing House organized relevant personnel to compile a book "The Loyal Guard of the People - In Memory of Comrade Chen Yi".

Introduction

In 1978, Shanghai People's Publishing House organized relevant personnel to write a book "The Loyal Guard of the People - In Memory of Comrade Chen Yi" in order to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the death of General Chen Yi.

Comrade Chen Pixian, then secretary of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, was full of passion and imagination in this context, and wrote the article "Raising the Red Flag in the Sky - Recalling the Three Years of Guerrilla War in the South led by Comrade Chen Yi".

In the article, Chen Pixian recalled a traffic officer:

"What is even more unforgettable are those five traffic officers. When I was in Youshan , I had a traffic officer Chen Meizi, who was in her mid-twenties. In order to complete various tasks and deliver letters in time, she often walked alone through the mountains in the middle of the night. Dense forests, traveling among the enemy's fortresses. Most of them are poor farmers with deep hatred and a firmer class stance. They are also resourceful and brave, and have made significant contributions to the guerrilla war."

After Chen Pixian's article was published, it was published in " Wenhui ". Subsequently, " Hubei Daily " also reprinted it one after another, triggering widespread response.

Everyone can’t help but wonder: Who is this anonymous Chen sister and what is her current situation? Therefore, the search for Chen Meizi has become a matter of concern to all walks of life and leaders.

In addition, Guangdong, Nanxiong, Shaoguan, Dayu and other places have instructed relevant departments to send people to search for Chen Meizi.

Chen Pixian said: "Chen Meizi is a book about the three-year guerrilla war in the South. She is a hero among women. Even if she is dead, we must find out where she died. She must be seen alive and her body must be seen dead."

For a moment, Chen Pixian's thoughts returned to 42 years ago...

01 Chen Meizi's Revolutionary Road

Youshan is located on a peak in Dayuling, surrounded by lush greenery, undulating mountains, and a desolate atmosphere. Chen Meizi was born here in 1910 in Pingtian'ao, Nanxiong.

Less than a month after Chen Meizi was born, her family sent her to the Kong family in Songtou Village to be a child bride. Time flies, and Sister Chen, who eats bran-pharyngeal vegetables, gradually grows up.

When she grew up, Sister Chen was tall and tall, with a pair of black eyes shining on her pointed face, which made her even more charming, beautiful and generous.

Under the education and influence of Pan Yuehua, a member of the local Women's Association, Chen Meizi joined the local Farmers Association. During her period, she actively participated in various activities such as fighting local tyrants, fighting landlords, banning smoking and refusing gambling, and was highly praised by local people.

Soon, everyone recommended Chen Meizi as the women’s director. From then on, she led local women to be active in various villages in Pingtian Ao, mobilizing local women to join the farmers' association, fight against the husband's family who abused the child bride, and supported the men to join the Farmers' Self-Defense Army.

After several years of tempering, Chen Meizi has become more and more mature.

In 1927, the people's revolution in Nanxiong reached a low ebb. In this context, Communist Party member Li Letian Su Hailing Red Guard established a revolutionary base in Youshan.

As the flames of struggle become more intense, the burden of the Women's Association becomes increasingly heavy. She actively delivered information, distributed leaflets, and bought food. She was very busy day and night.

But there are unforeseen circumstances. One day, Chen Meizi was returning home from helping build a shed in the mountains and found that the enemy had come to her house. Astute as she was, she quickly ran away.

At the same time, she also realized based on her years of struggle experience: her identity must have been leaked.

After the reactionary forces Jingwei Group learned of Chen Meizi's activities, they came to her home to search for her. After not seeing Sister Chen, these people brutally killed her fiancé, mother-in-law, and father-in-law, and burned down the family house.

Chen Meizi waited for the enemy to leave and returned home. She saw blood everywhere and it was too horrible to look at. For a moment, she knelt beside her mother-in-law and couldn't help but burst into grief and cried loudly: "Mom, dad, it was me who harmed you, you died so miserably!"

After Li Letian, secretary of the local special committee, learned of Chen Meizi's experience, he was taken to the guerrillas and served as a confidential traffic officer.From then on, Chen Meizi regarded the guerrillas as her home, actively transmitting information, cooking and washing.

In June 1929, the "Qing Party Army" stationed in more than a dozen "Qingxiang" strongholds such as Huangkeng and Hukou in an attempt to eliminate the guerrillas. Due to the difficulty in supplying the guerrillas, Chen Meizi went down the mountain and mobilized a few women's association members to pretend to go up the mountain to cut firewood and deliver salt and grain up the mountain.

Boss Hu of a sewing shop in Datangwei, Nanxiong, made a batch of clothes for the guerrillas and wanted to give him several hundred Guangyang . A few hundred dollars, this is a big number, who will complete this arduous task?

Li Letian thought about it again and again, and finally handed the task over to the bold and careful Chen Meizi. Chen Meizi thought to herself that this was more than just a bag of grain and several kilograms of salt. How could it be delivered safely and reliably?

She looked at the upright bamboos in front of her in trance, and her eyes suddenly lit up: She cut down a bamboo, opened up several large knots at the end, and then rolled the Dayang paper into a tube.

Then, wearing a headscarf, a skirt, and bare feet, he and the people in the mountains carried bamboo poles to sell. She deliberately raised the price and couldn't "sell" it until it was ready to be sold, so she carried it to Boss Hu's shop and said with a smile: "Boss Hu, store it for a while and sell it again."

As she said this, she patted it with her hands and showed off the glory. At the end of the bamboo pole, Boss Hu understood it and nodded: "Do you want to send me a deposit note?"

Sister Chen put her hair back with her hands, took a few sips of water, and replied with a smile: "We believe you, don't worry." In this way, Chen Meizi successfully completed the task and was praised by Li Letian.

02 Chen Yi arranged Chen Meizi’s marriage

In February 1935, the troops led by Cai Huiwen, commander of the southern Gansu Military Region, and Chen Pixian, then secretary of the Gannan Provincial Committee of the Young Communist Party, broke through and came to Youshan.

In April of the same year, Xiang Ying and Chen Yi, who stayed in the Central Soviet Area to lead the guerrilla war in the south, broke through the siege and came to Youshan, where they joined the Youshan guerrillas led by Li Letian and Yang Shangkui.

Chen Yi, wearing a top hat, long gown and holding a cane, looks like a "fragrant individual traveler". Despite the pain from his leg injury, he remains optimistic, open-minded, bold and unrestrained.

He held Li Letian's hand and said with a strong Sichuan accent: "Letian, Letian, we are bound by a thin thread! The mountains here are high and the roads are dangerous. It is a good place to set up camp. We are also here to join you. Do you welcome us?"

5

Li Letian couldn't tell how happy he was to see the head of the Central Branch, and said repeatedly: "Welcome, of course, we have been looking forward to this day. Under your leadership, our revolution must have hope!"

In the fifth anti-encirclement and suppression campaign, Chen Yi was both a combatant and a commander. He took the lead and led the Red Army to fight with the enemy, but was unfortunately injured during the process.

Due to the long journey, my thighs were red and swollen, and the wounds were constantly bleeding. In order to allow Chen Yi to rest and recuperate better, Li Letian forcibly "locked" him into a separate shed and arranged for special agent Song Shengfa to take care of him.

Due to the dangerous environment, the leaders changed their names. Chen Yi changed his surname to Liu, and the guerrillas called him "Big Old Liu."

Song Shengfa, 20 and zero, handsome and delicate, people call him Xiao Song. He is serious about his work, and Chen Yi likes him very much. But men are always not as careful as women.

Li Letian saw that Chen Yi's injuries were getting more and more serious and became anxious. He proposed several times to let Chen Meizi, who had nursed the wounded, take care of him, but Chen Yi refused. It's no wonder that Chen Yi was injured on his thigh and it was always inconvenient for women to take care of him.

Li Letian mentioned Chen Meizi many times, which caught Chen Yi's attention. As time went by, Chen Yi felt that Chen Meizi was intelligent and virtuous, and thought, wouldn't it be a good thing if Chen Meizi and Xiao Wei could be brought together as a couple.

After Chen Yi proposed this idea, Li Letian also thought it was a good match, so they started planning the marriage between Xiao Wei and Chen Meizi.

Xiao Wei, a native of Wan'an, joined the Red Army in 1930. Shortly after Chen Yi arrived in Youshan, Xiao Wei came with more than 20 Red Army troops. It was Li Letian who sent Chen Meizi to pick them up.

When crossing the river at Changling, Xiao Wei fell into a deep pool accidentally due to his physical weakness due to illness and not having eaten for several days. He was tired and exhausted. At that time, it was Chen Meizi who jumped down to save him and carried him to the people's home. This may be what people often call fate.

Xiao Wei was educated and was deeply favored by Chen Yi, who was called a "scholar". Whenever he had free time, he would guide Chen Meizi in cultural studies; Chen Meizi would often help Xiao Wei wash clothes and make shoes.

The two of them went back and forth, and they liked each other, and they fell in love without knowing it, just waiting for someone to pierce the layer of paper. Chen Yi saw it and was happy in his heart.

One morning, the sun was shining brightly and the wind was gentle. Chen Yi took Xiao Wei to Sister Chen and said with a smile: "Sister, congratulations to you. The organization has decided that you will marry a scholar. What do you think?"

Although this was exactly what Sister Chen wanted, she was unprepared, and a blush appeared on her melon-shaped eyelids. She Niuni said: "I won't get married, I won't get married, and we will get married when the revolution is successful!" "Silly girl, I didn't say you can't get married to do the revolution. If you get married, you can focus on the revolution!"

Sister Chen's heart beat loudly, she glanced at "Big Old Liu" shyly, smiled, and ran into the forest.

Just do it! At dusk, the team members were busy planning a happy event for the two of them. At the wedding, Chen Yi served as the officiant and delivered a speech on behalf of the Soviet Central Government Office.

03 Chen Meizi helped Chen Yi and others tide over the difficulties.

At that time, in order to deal with the Youshan guerrillas, the enemy took political measures to rectify the Baojia system , immigrate and merge villages, cut off the connection between the masses and the guerrillas; control the amount of purchases by ordinary people, and stipulated that those who bought more would be punished with "collaborating with bandits" or "helping bandits".

In the military, build strongholds, build bunkers, and blockade layers. In order to avoid the enemy's aggressiveness, Xiang Ying, Chen Yi, Li Letian, Yang Shangkui, and Chen Wangxian led the troops to move to Beishan.

determined the policy of "relying on the masses, persisting in struggle, accumulating strength, creating conditions, and welcoming a new revolutionary upsurge" to carry out work, and successively opened up five guerrilla areas in Youshan District, Beishan District, Xinkanghan District, Nanshan District, and Shangchong District.

In addition, two secret communication lines were established with Youshan as the center, one extending to , south and , and the other extending to Meishan and Beishan, to convey information and guide work.

Chen Meizi serves as a confidential traffic officer at the Beishan Liaison Station, directly contacting Xiang Ying, Chen Yi, Yang Shangkui and other leaders. She wears a headscarf, a waist skirt, and a basket. She is alone, wearing stars and moon, wandering through the forest and flowing water, and often appears in the cracks of enemy forts.

In the spring of 1936, the enemy forced the masses to form search teams and carried out large-scale searches of mountains and mountains under the supervision of the enemy. The situation and life of the guerrillas became even more difficult.

"The food blockade has been in effect for three months, and I have a lot of rice in my bag, including wild vegetables and boiled vegetables." Leaders such as Xiang Ying and Chen Yi have always shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers. Chen Meizi saw this and felt pain in her heart, thinking of ways to get food and salt to help them tide over the difficulties.

Chen Yi is a heavy smoker, and his addiction is even worse because he works late at night. Chen Yi once stopped smoking for a few days and became more irritable and restless, so he could only use leaves as a substitute.

Chen Meizi heard the coughing and decided to get some cigarettes for "Big Old Liu". He once came to Shangwei and quietly dragged a local fellow to get a few packs of cigarettes, which he tied on his underwear with a belt.

When passing the level, the enemy aggressively searched her pockets and purses, but she successfully brought the cigarettes back. When he returned to the station, he said happily while unpacking the cigarette: "Chen Meizi still has a way!"

On May 2, 1937, Chen Meizi sent a letter to Meiling Zhaikeng, where Xiang Ying and Chen Yi were stationed, and rested in a shed with Xiang Ying, Chen Yi, Yang Shangkui, and Xiao Wei.

It was almost noon, and suddenly there was a burst of intensive gunfire. Xiang Ying, Chen Yi and others immediately rushed out and hid themselves among the weeds and thorns.

Xiang Ying and Chen Yi's station is a very secretive place. They are not confidential traffic officers or the chief's personal agents. Most people don't know about it, not even the middle and lower-level commanders in the guerrillas.How did the enemy find this place?

It turned out that Chen Hai (real name Chen Hong), who was sent by the CCP's Jiangxi-Guangdong Border Special Commission to the 46th Division of the Kuomintang Army to carry out troop movement, rebelled. Dayu's underground liaison station forwarded a letter to Chen Yi, lying that the central government had sent someone to come down to meet the responsible comrades.

Xiang Ying and Chen Yi were extremely surprised when they heard that someone from the central government was coming. Since the breakout, there has been no contact with the central government. The password was burned, the radio station was buried, and the guerrillas were like orphans separated from their mother in the mountains.

Xiang Ying and Chen Yi were very happy. However, when Chen Yi took people down the mountain for an appointment, he realized that this was a conspiracy of the traitor. Fortunately, he was discovered in time and cleverly escaped and returned to the mountain.

Chen Hai did not give up and immediately led his troops to surround Meiling Zhaikeng. Xiang Ying and Chen Yi were safely transferred under the cover of security personnel. When the enemy searched the mountain, Chen Meizi was unfortunately arrested. The enemy soldier shouted proudly: "Catch the communist wife, catch the communist wife!"

The enemy officer was even more overjoyed, thinking that he could catch the "big shot" from her now, so he asked with a smile: "Sister, where is your leader? Tell me, I told you to let you go home."

As soon as Sister Chen heard "home", the three bloody corpses of family letters, mother-in-law, and fiancé immediately appeared in front of her eyes. She was immediately filled with anger and replied angrily: "I don't know!"

When the enemy saw that they were too weak to come, they showed their ferocity and slapped Sister Chen several times. "Quickly tell me, where is the leader of the Communist bandit!" "

Sister Chen staggered a few steps, stood up and wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, gritted her teeth and replied: "I don't know! "

The enemy became angry and shouted hysterically: "Hit me, beat me to death!" "

The enemy saw that Chen Meizi refused to eat anything, so they escorted her to Dayu when the sky turned dusk. Before leaving, the fireworks were just starting to burn, and suddenly clouds gathered and heavy rain poured out, extinguishing the fire.

Chen Yi said humorously: "Thanks to Marx, I survived the catastrophe. "

Chen Meizi was imprisoned in Dayu Prison, and it was difficult for the enemy to find witnesses. With the arrival of the national anti-Japanese climax, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party realized the second cooperation. Only with the rescue of the party organization, Chen Meizi escaped from the jaws of death.

When Chen Yi saw Chen Meizi, he said gratefully: "Sister, you are indeed a good girl of my Chen family. "

At this time, Chen Yi disclosed his name. Chen Meizi said with tears: "Without the party organization and without you, there would be no Chen Meizi. "

04 Chen Pixian went through great hardships to find Chen Meizi

Not long after Chen Meizi was released from prison, Chen Meizi followed Xiao Wei back to Wan'an and changed her name to Chen Guiying. After returning to their hometown, the couple rented a house and opened a shop and continued to work for the Party Central Committee.

Soon after, Xiao Wei was elected as the security chief and continued to work underground. Unexpectedly, when he was meeting with the organization director of the Wan'an County Party Committee, he was unfortunately discovered by the villagers and arrested. Chen Meizi is well aware of the greedy and extortionate face of the villagers, and spends a lot of money to get the job. Xiao Wei was successfully released on bail.

After liberation, the family fell into trouble because Xiao Wei had been the security chief. Chen Meizi suffered misfortunes many times and experienced the bitterness and hardships of human life.

Decades later, Dayu’s comrade was in trouble and finally found Chen Meizi. She was already 68 years old at this time. His eyes were sunken, his skin was dark, and he looked like he had experienced a lot of sadness.

When he saw the text written by Chen Pixian, his dry and dull eyes suddenly shone with luster, and his lips that had been closed for a long time burst into tears: "Xiao Wei, A Pi has sent someone..."

Chen Meizi’s cries were heartbreaking, and the people present couldn’t help crying after listening to them, and they recalled the past...

After Dayu’s comrades left, Nanxiong, Shaoguan, Comrades from Xinfeng and other places came one after another. After that, comrades from the Nanjing Military Region, Guangzhou Military Region, and the General Party History Department also interviewed her one after another.

While submitting historical materials on the guerrillas in Jiangxi and Guangdong, he also reported his personal situation to the superiors. After Chen Pixian learned of the incident, he also instructed relevant departments to conduct an investigation.

In addition, the main leaders of the Ji'an Prefectural Committee and the Jiangxi Provincial Committee also attached great importance to this matter and formed a special investigation team.

After a large number of witnesses and physical evidence, it was approved by Jiangxi Provincial Department of Civil Affairs. In February 1980, the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Civil Affairs approved Chen Meizi as an "Excellent Confidential Traffic Officer" and enjoyed the treatment of a veteran Red Army soldier.

When Chen Meizi heard the good news, she couldn't help but feel excited, and asked people everywhere to write letters to Chen Pixian. After receiving the letter, Chen Pixian personally replied:
"I am very happy to receive your letter. I learned that you have regained your political honor and attended several conferences with honor. I am very happy, and I have not forgotten the contribution you and the local people made to the revolution."

Chen Meizi's family was elated after receiving Chen Pixian's reply and rushed to circulate it first. In order to thank the old chief for his care for her, Chen Meizi decided to go to Beijing to visit him personally.

But something unexpected happened, and something unfortunate happened again. Chen Meizi prepared peanuts for Chen Pixian. She accidentally fell down while going upstairs and was hospitalized with a broken bone. She was bedridden and her trip to Beijing also came to nothing.

On February 21, 1989, under a hazy sky and drizzling rain, Chen Meizi died of illness in her old house, ending her life.