In 1950, New China entered its second year. Peng Dehuai led the First Field Army to liberate the Northwest, which basically came to an end. Just after the New Year, the 19th Corps of the stationed in Xi'an received a transfer order, and the deputy commander and chief of staff Geng Biao was going to Beijing to do diplomatic work. Before going to Beijing, Geng Biao took leave from the Corps and planned to go back to his hometown of Liling, Hunan to have a look. I had been away from home for 20 years, running for the revolution. When the revolution was victorious, I began to feel homesick.
Geng Biao felt a little uncomfortable about leaving the army he had fought for for many years. The commander of the Corps, Yang Dezhi, advised him: "Old Geng, you can come to the Corps as your mother-in-law in the future!" Yang Dezhi and Geng Biao were old partners. Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei The famous Yang Luogeng Corps was commanded by them together with Luo Ruiqing. When Geng Biao decided to go back to Liling to see his hometown after liberation, Yang Dezhi's homesickness was also aroused. Like Geng Biao, Yang Dezhi is also from Liling, Hunan. So, they decided to go together.
From left: Yang Chengwu, Yang Dezhi, Luo Ruiqing, Geng Biao
Hometown, this familiar and friendly word, affects the hearts of many wanderers. Returning to one’s hometown is a long-cherished dream for many people living in a foreign land. However, for soldiers who have been through life and death, fought in the north and south, and lived a rough military life, returning home has a different meaning.
Liling, Hunan is an old revolutionary area. Starting from the Pingliuli Uprising before the Revolution of 1911, revolutionary seeds were sown here very early. Although the number of generals who came out of Liling is not as high as that of the top ten general counties, there are also founding generals such as General Yang Dezhi, Song Shilun, Chen Mingren, Lieutenant General Yan Fusheng, etc. It can be regarded as a general county. Accompanying Yang Dezhi and Geng Biao this time was Tao Zhiyue, a general from Ningxiang, Hunan and commander of the 22nd Corps. It can be said that the three generals went back to their hometown to visit their relatives, which was a beautiful moment.
Geng Biao experienced the workers' movement in Shuikou Mountain, and then returned home to join the peasant movement. He participated in the battle of 100,000 peasant troops attacking Changsha. After the failure, he was appointed as the captain of the guerrillas. In 1930, he led the guerrillas to join the Red Army Yang Dezhi left his hometown in 1926 to work as a road construction worker in Hengyang. He just wanted to find a job that could improve his family's poor life. At that time, Yang Dezhi was only 15 years old, and it had been 24 years since he left his hometown. , Yang Dezhi, led by his brother Yang Haitang, joined the local peasant army and followed Mr. Zhu's team to Jinggang Mountain.
In the autumn of 1930, the army passed through his hometown - Sanwangchong Village, Nanyangqiao Township, Liling County, Hunan Province (now part of Zhuzhou County). Yang Dezhi, who was the communications guard platoon leader of the First Division of the Fourth Red Army at that time, could neither take leave to go home to see his relatives nor meet acquaintances who could carry a message home for him. Going home became a dream he could not realize and a regret in his heart.
After the failure of the great revolution, Li The turbulent peasant movement in Ling was suppressed, and the reactionary army and landlord armed forces burned, killed, and looted. They searched people who participated in the revolution from house to house, even their family members were not spared. In order to avoid enemy persecution, the villagers helped the old and young to hide in the mountains. In 1930, when the Red Army withdrew from Changsha and passed through Liling, what Geng Biao saw when he went home for a visit was an empty village. This was probably what Yang Dezhi saw as well.
After 24 years, Yang Dezhi is no longer the teenage boy he was back then. He has become the commander of the Corps of the People's Liberation Army. "Returned home". Also returning home with him were his wife Shen Gejun and his daughters Hua Rong and Bai Hua.
Yang Dezhi was with his family
I heard that this battle-hardened founder of the People's Republic The general was going back to his hometown, and fellow villagers from dozens of miles away came. Yang Dezhi originally planned to walk to his ancestral home in Sanwangchong to visit his fellow villagers. Yang Dezhi laughed when he saw him: "I am from the village, and I helped carry the sedan in the past. Now I will not commit the sin of using other people's shoulders as a road." But the kindness of the villagers was hard to resist, so he had to let his little niece sit in the sedan for him, and he walked with the folks in his hometown while chatting and laughing happily.
After Yang Dezhi returned home, he learned that his father, eldest sister, second sister and younger brother were no longer alive, and his uncle was also gone. He was bitten to death by a landlord's vicious dog while begging for food. Yang Dezhi felt extremely sad after losing so many relatives. He went up to the ancestral tomb mountain early the next morning to visit the tombs of his ancestors and fathers. He stood in front of his parents' graves for a long time, and the scenes of his early life with his parents came to mind. Now in front of him:
When Yang Dezhi was a child, his family was large and poor. My mother did not have her own name until she left this world. She was made a child bride when she was a child. Because the family who originally adopted him suffered disaster, she came to a small mountain village in Liling and married Yang Dezhi's father. The mother gave birth to thirteen children in her life, but this impoverished family simply could not support so many children.
Yang Dezhi still remembers how many times when his father came back from outside, as soon as he put down the pick, he heard his mother telling him in tears that either the boy had died of illness or the girl had starved to death. Every time this At that time, Yang Dezhi's mother always seemed to have committed some serious crime, while his blacksmith father just gently touched his wife's shoulder and let out long sighs of grief and indignation.
Yang Dezhi never knew where his dead siblings were, and his parents never told him where they were buried. So many years later, in Yang Dezhi's memory, of the dozen brothers and sisters, only one brother, Yang Haitang, and one sister, Yang Guisi, remained. Yang Dezhi can no longer remember where he ranked among his many brothers and sisters. He only remembers that when he was 11 years old, his mother fell ill and died during confinement after giving birth to another younger brother or younger sister.
In their family, there is an uncle who has never married. My father and uncle were both blacksmiths, and they wore a dark purple oilcloth apron speckled with sparks over their tattered clothes all year round. A bellows, a stove, an anvil, and some hammers, pliers, and fire shears were all the family's possessions. They often carry their burdens and travel from village to village, working here for a few days and there for a few days. But they never go far, because there are more than a dozen people in the family waiting for the few money they earn to make ends meet. Yang Dezhi learned to blacksmith at a very young age. His father taught him step by step and often reminded him: "Yazi, you have to study hard. Our family can only survive on this anvil and fire tongs!" "
But in fact, despite the hard work of his father and uncle, the family was still impoverished, without any land or land, and the two thatched huts they lived in were not owned by their own family. In Yang Dezhi's childhood, his elder brother Yang Haitang, who had attended a private school for several years, was his only source of joy. He often composed some lyrics by himself, using the tunes of Hunan Flower Drum Opera. He sang it to his family, which made the whole family happy. This brother, who was five years older than Yang Dezhi, was the person he respected the most and was the one who led him to the revolution.
At the age of 114, Yang Dezhi followed his brother to Anyuan Coal Mine to mine coal. During the multi-mile journey, the brothers climbed mountains and crossed rivers, spending the night at dawn. They carried a few hard pancakes made from grains in their pockets and did not dare to take more than a few bites. After walking for several days, I saw a shining light suddenly appear in the mountain nest late one night.
After working in the mine for more than half a year, his brother Yang Haitang couldn't stand the anger of his boss and "foreign dogs", so he took Yang Dezhi home. The two brothers had saved up money for half a year and couldn't even afford a train ticket. With the help of their coworkers, they climbed into a coal truck and stumbled back home. Due to financial constraints, my brother left home again and went to Hengyang. Half a year later, he wrote a letter saying that he was building roads there and persuaded his father to let Yang Dezhi go too. He said that the road needs to be built from Hunan to Guangdong. Guangdong is a very large place and maybe we can find a way out.
When he arrived in Hengyang, Yang Dezhi and his brother were still doing their old job - picking feet. The difference was that they picked coal in Anyuan and lime there. The same thing was that they were always made things difficult by the foreman wherever they went. When Mr. Zhu led the Nanchang Uprising troops to Hunan Hunan, Yang Dezhi followed his brother to join the Red Army, and the two brothers went to Jinggang Mountains together.
During the Jinggangshan period, the Fourth Red Army suffered a heartbreaking "August Failure" when it was divided into southern Hunan. After a battle, when the troops were checking their numbers, the company commander asked Yang Dezhi: "Have you seen the third squad leader?" The third squad leader was Yang Dezhi's brother Yang Haitang. But no one saw Yang Haitang.
Until 1934, when the Red Army passed through that place on its Long March, Yang Dezhi specifically asked the local fellows. They said that most of the Red Army soldiers who were dispersed seven years ago were killed by the White Army. Yang Dezhi still doesn’t know the whereabouts of his brother. Is it blood spilled on the battlefield, or is he the execution ground of the enemy? The only thing knows for sure is that they never saw each other again after that.
Both his parents and brother are still alive. What Yang Dezhi cares about most is his sister Yang Guisi. Although Sister Guisi is only more than two years older than Yang Dezhi, Yang Dezhi has always regarded her as an elder. She made shoes and clothes for Yang Dezhi, drove away mosquitoes on summer nights, and warmed the bedside in winter. When Yang Dezhi left home to find his brother in Hengyang, sister Guisi spent the whole night in the moon field making shoes for him. She already had a child at that time, and she ignored the child's cries and pulled the slender twine to tie the soles of the shoes.
On the day before leaving, Guisi put her shoes in her brother's bag and put them on his shoulders. She didn't say a word, just shed tears. His father led Yang Dezhi forward. Guisi called Yang Dezhi's name at home and shouted: "Cousin, please come back early!" Yang Dezhi promised, but did not dare to look back at Sister Guisi.
Guisi was a poor man. He got married when he was fifteen or sixteen. His husband died soon after, and later he married a poor man. Yang Dezhi has been thinking about his sister all these years. More than twenty years have passed, and he doesn't know how his miserable sister is doing.
In order to pay tribute to the souls of his parents, Yang Dezhi planned to visit his sisters' homes.
My eldest sister lives in Zhaoling, Zhuzhou . Her brother-in-law used to work in the Anyuan coal mine. It was he who introduced the Yang Dezhi brothers to work in the coal mine. My brother-in-law was a simple and honest man, hard-working and willing to help others. However, due to overwork, he suffered from mental disorder and became permanently disabled.
It is not uncommon for the old society to drive people crazy. When Geng Biao was a child laborer in Shuikou Mountain, his uncle who also worked in the mines was driven insane while carrying ore to the dock because he could not bear the exploitation.
When Yang Dezhi entered the main room and saw his eldest brother-in-law, he walked up to greet him. Ignoring the unpleasant stench that filled his eldest brother-in-law's body, he put his hand into the worn cotton coat. He found that the cotton coat was hollow and not warm, so he hurriedly took off his own woolen sweater and helped his brother-in-law put it on with his own hands. He repeatedly told his nephews to take good care of them. Before leaving, he left some money.
Near noon, Yang Dezhi arrived at the Song family house in Chengxialong and finally met Sister Guisi, whom he had long missed. Sister Guisi took out a letter and a yellowed photo from the crack in the wall, handed it to Yang Dezhi and said, "If bad guys see such a photo, they will be beheaded."
That was when the Red Army arrived in northern Shaanxi in 1935. Yang Dezhi, who was already the leader of the Red Regiment, wrote a letter to her sister and sent a photo of himself. The letter said he was doing business in Yan'an, but the photo showed him wearing a Red Army uniform. After receiving it, Guisi didn't dare to let anyone see it and secretly hid it in the cracks of the thatched house.
Yang Dezhi took his first photo in northern Shaanxi
Seeing Gui Si's serious look when handing over the photo, Yang Dezhi felt very distressed. He quickly comforted his sister and said, "I am not afraid now, the bad guys have been defeated by the Communist Party!"
"Yes." Sister Gui Si smiled. That smile looked very much like the mother in Yang Dezhi's impression. She said: “But the days are so long and hard.It has been twenty-four years since you left home. Twenty-four years! My father is dead and my uncle is also dead. My uncle was sixty-one years old when he died. It was winter. He went to beg for food and was bitten to death by the landlord's big dog..." As he spoke, Guisi couldn't help crying. She looked more like the mother in Yang Dezhi's memory.
Yang Dezhi didn’t know how old his mother was when she died. Guisi was in her early forties, and her face clearly showed signs of age. Thinking of this, Yang Dezhi couldn’t help but feel sad about what happened to poor families like them in the old society. Much misfortune. Fortunately, it is already New China, but it also makes Yang Dezhi feel the weight of the burden on his shoulders.
Yang Dezhi’s return to his hometown coincides with the first Spring Festival after liberation. He spent a grand and lively traditional festival with his fellow villagers in his hometown. He also gave a report to local cadres and the masses, recalling the past fighting years when the vast number of poor people followed the Communist Party to conquer the world and turned a corner; talking about building a new China now, the broad masses of cadres and the masses united as one to set off a new upsurge in construction. More than an hour's report Suede, winning rounds of applause.
A few days later, Yang Dezhi returned to the army with the satisfaction of realizing his dream, nostalgia, and more than 50 young farmers who were selected by him to join the army. At the same time, he also brought Sister Guisi to Xi'an to live with him.
Who would have thought that not long after living here, the United States began to cause chaos in North Korea and threatened Northeast my country. Yang Dezhi had a premonition that he would probably go to court North Korea participated in the war against the United States. After the American troops landed in Incheon, Yang Dezhi wanted to mobilize his sister to return to his hometown. But their relationship was too deep, and they were reunited after not seeing each other for more than 20 years. Yang Dezhi had endless things to say to her, but it was really difficult for him to say anything to ask his sister to return to her hometown.
On October 4, 1950, Yang Dezhi personally sent his sister Yang Guisi to the train station and got on the train back to Hunan. The next day, Yang Dezhi Then he received a top-secret telegram from Chairman Mao, asking the 19th Corps to rush to the Jinpu Railway Shandong Yanzhou, Tai'an , Tengxian front lines within a time limit to assemble and stand by. On February 16, 1951, Yang Dezhi led the 19th Corps across the Yalu River in China and fought on the front line of the war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea to defend the country.
Yang Guisi has been in her hometown since she returned to Hunan In life, Yang Dezhi was worried about her health, and repeatedly comforted her not to worry, to take good care of herself, and often brought her some tonics.
In December 1957, Yang Dezhi, who served as the commander of the Jinan Military Region, returned to his hometown for the second time to visit the frail and sick Sister Guisi. It was already past ten o'clock in the evening when we arrived at our hometown. Yang Guisi, who was in poor health, had already gone to bed. When she heard that Yang Dezhi was back, she quickly got up from the bed. The two siblings talked about their daily life and recalled the past until they got deep into the scene. night.
In 1958, Yang Dezhi received a telegram from his nephew Zuo Yunqiu, saying that his sister Yang Guisi had passed away. After receiving the telegram, Yang Dezhi was extremely sad. However, due to his busy official duties, he was unable to go back to his hometown for the funeral. He only sent a memorial service home. Whenever he thinks of his sister Yang Guisi, Yang Dezhi laments that she worked too hard and was not yet 50 years old when she died.
Although Yang Guisi was lucky enough to survive the sufferings of the old society, those sufferings remained in The marks on her body eventually overwhelmed her. Her experience represents the millions of people who suffered in old China, just like her mother.
References
"Memoirs of Yang Dezhi", Yang Dezhi, People's Liberation Army Publishing House
"Founding General Yang Dezhi and His Fathers and Folks", Huang Yukang, Soul of China
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