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On the hillside on the east end of Xujiawa in Xin County, Henan Province, there is a tomb of a founding general. Among the founding generals, this tomb is extremely special because General Xu Shiyou buried here is not cremated, but burial .
In 1985, General Xu Shiyou died in Nanjing. Deng Xiaoping gave three requirements for Xu Shiyou's funeral:
- Do not hold a memorial service
- Do not publish in the newspaper to promote
- Do not erect the tomb
- Do not erect the tomb
But strangely, when we go to General Xu Shiyou's tomb again, we can still see a marble stele that records Xu Shiyou's name. According to the introduction, this stele was erected one year after General Xu Shiyou's death.
So why did General Xu Shiyou resolutely choose to bury when all the generals chose cremation? And who finally made the stone tablet in front of his tomb?
General Xu Shiyou’s Tomb
Shaolin Learning Martial Arts
Xu Shiyou was born in Xinxian, Henan Province in 1905. He has been naughty since childhood and often makes his mother angry.
But my mother has always been very tolerant and patient with Xu Shiyou, which also makes Xu Shiyou very attached to her mother.
The Xu family is very poor, but the most ordinary and lowest-level farmers have a total of 7 children in their family, and Xu Shiyou is the third child.
When Xu Shiyou was 8 years old, a monk passed by his village. Although few farmers at that time believed in Buddhism, because they were located in Henan, everyone had more or less good feelings for monks.
Xu Shiyou and his friends naturally had some understanding of the monks. In addition, this monk was extremely skilled in fist and kicking. He just waved the hat on his head and sat on the ground. The children were naturally very curious about this mysterious monk.
After their questioning, the monk told the children that they were born in Shaolin Temple and were also children of poor families. They went to Shaolin Temple because Shaolin Temple provided food and accommodation for the young monks.
The life of Shaolin Temple described by monks made Xu Shiyou very moved, especially when I heard that Shaolin Temple can have a full meal, which is simply a great thing.
Shaolin Temple
He quickly grabbed the monk, hoping that the other party could take him to Shaolin Temple to learn martial arts.
The monk was also a little surprised by the positive attitude of this child, but he was a monk and not a bandit. He could not have kidnapped Xu Shiyou and left directly. So he followed Xu Shiyou to the Xu family and asked the Xu family about their opinions, seeing whether he was happy to send the child to Shaolin.
Xu's mother is an honest farmer. She doesn't care about many problems, but they are all very practical.
"Does the child have to be a monk when he goes to Shaolin to learn martial arts?"
The monk smiled and shook his head: "It depends on the fate of being a monk. Learning martial arts does not necessarily mean being a monk."
"Then my son may be full in the temple?"
The monk nodded seriously: "Yes, he will eat enough food."
"My son may recognize words."
The monk nodded again: "Yes, he is just recognizing Buddhist scriptures."
These three questions were answered satisfactorily, and Xu's mother did not hesitate anymore and nodded and asked the monk to take his son away.
It is not necessarily possible to raise children to stay by their side. Now they are sent to Shaolin. They can learn martial arts, eat enough and read, which is naturally a good thing.
Xu Shiyou teaches martial arts
In this way, 8-year-old Xu Shiyou followed the monk all the way to Shaolin and began his eight-year martial arts career. It is precisely the past eight years of life that has made Xu Shiyou strong and brave since childhood, laying a good foundation for his subsequent revolutionary career.
In fact, General Xu Shiyou had already shaved his fortune back then, but he eventually left Shaolin Temple. The result was also because of General Xu Shiyou's mother.
In the eighth year that Xu Shiyou learned martial arts, his sister came to Shaolin Temple to see him. The sister secretly told him that his mother was seriously ill recently and she was very likely unable to get through it. This made Xu Shiyou, who hadn't seen her mother for eight years, feel anxious.
Shaolin monk
Originally, Xu Shiyou planned to take a few days off, but Shaolin Temple has the rules of Shaolin Temple. A monk who has not been ordained for so many years went back directly. So the master in the temple refused his leave and gave him another way: to fight.
This is a long-standing rule in Shaolin Temple. If these monks want to leave the temple, they must withstand the siege of other monks in the temple and fight all the way out to escape from Shaolin.
Seeing that the situation on his mother was critical, Xu Shiyou chose this path without saying a word, and his brothers were not vague at all. He heard that he chose to beat him out of the temple, and he took out his swords, guns, sticks, and fists and feet to greet him.
Even the masters in the temple took action without mercy. A hundred monks in the temple attacked Xu Shiyou. Xu Shiyou could only fight and retreat as much as possible and ran to the gate of the temple.
Fortunately, Xu Shiyou's hard work over the past eight years has not been in vain. Under the pressure, he was hit by countless sticks on his body, and he came out of the temple with a dangerous and dangerous situation. The master in the temple was very satisfied with Xu Shiyou. He sent the disciple to the door, touched Xu Shiyou's bald head, took out eight ocean and asked him to go down the mountain.
In this way, Xu Shiyou left Shaolin Temple where he raised him for eight years and returned to his hometown. And take good care of your mother until she is out of danger.
But at this time, the actual leaders of the countryside were all gentry and landlords. They exploited farmers a lot and looked arrogant.
Xu Shiyou has been learning martial arts for many years and is young. He looks down on the landlords in his hometown. In an argument with the landlord's son, he kicked the other party in the heart and kicked the person to death.
As a last resort, Xu Shiyou had no choice but to leave his hometown to join the army to protect his family. It was because of this accident that Xu Shiyou, who became famous on the battlefield in the future.
Xu Shiyou and his wife
The initial revolution
Starting, the fledgling Xu Shiyou joined the National Revolutionary Army of the Northern Expedition with the flow. At that time, he was only in his teens and had no idea about "revolution".
His hometown has not been disturbed by much Japanese army, so his purpose of joining the army is very simple, one is to eat enough and the other is to stand out.
Perhaps because he has been practicing martial arts for many years, Xu Shiyou, who was fighting on the battlefield, has the most prominent feature of the word "dare". He can rush forward in the rain of bullets and has good martial arts skills. Who wouldn't be afraid of such a person?
It is precisely because of this that he was soon promoted from an ordinary soldier to company commander and completed his idea of making a name for himself.
At this time, it was during the first time that the Kuomintang and the Communist Party cooperated with . Xu Shiyou also came into contact with many soldiers of our party, which made him fall into thinking for the first time: Is his choice to join the National Revolutionary Army correct?
The military career over the past few years has allowed Xu Shiyou to see the attitude of the army he currently lives towards civilians: squeeze.
Those farmers who are just like their families cannot see any happiness on their faces when the Kuomintang army arrives, and what they can see is deeper pain and numbness.
This made Xu Shiyou think of his parents and family far away in his hometown. If such an army came to his hometown, would he bear to treat his relatives like this?
The answer is naturally no.
Xu Shiyou suddenly realized that the Kuomintang could not bring hope to the people. They were no different from those gentry and landlords. They were just a group of warlords who could not see the sufferings of the world.
Only when the Communist Party is rooted in the people and everything is for ordinary people can it bring hope and future to the people.
Under such thoughts, in 1926 he chose to join China Youth League . A year later, he successfully joined the Communist Party of China and became a member of our party, starting his decades of revolutionary career.
After joining the Communist Party, Xu Shiyou has grown from a young boy who only wants to have enough food to become a revolutionary soldier, but his direct and impulsive personality has not changed at all.
He has always been extremely brave whether on the battlefield or in life. During his years of serving in the Red Army , he has participated in the suicide squad seven times. Even if he has been promoted to commander and become the commander of the first army, he dares to join the suicide squad and rush to the front line.
This is the only one among the Red Army. In the memories of the soldiers around him, Xu Shiyou had used his sword to kill the enemy many times. After a battle, he could kill more than a dozen enemies with his sword alone, and he was very brave.
Moreover, General Xu Shiyou is very good at drinking. Even if he wants to start fighting, he has to drink a few sips before he can go to the battlefield. Outsiders seem to him, he is always more like a turtle man than a commander of the Red Army.
It is precisely because of his impulsive personality that Xu Shiyou encountered a lot of criticism at work.
Xu Shiyou and Mao Zedong
Fortunately, Chairman Mao, as the leader of the Red Army, attached great importance to Xu Shiyou. He felt that although Xu Shiyou was sometimes stubborn, he was loyal, spoke very straightforward but had no bad intentions, and was a person who could be reused.
And Xu Shiyou did not disappoint Chairman Mao's expectations, made great contributions to the New China and made many contributions.
The relationship between the two is both a teacher and a friend, and it maintained it well until the end of the war.
Although Xu Shiyou is straight-hearted, he can hear Chairman Mao's words.
At a dinner party, Chairman Mao joked that Xu Shiyou changed the word "Shi" in his name to "Shi", saying that this way he could focus on the world instead of simply being an official and making a name for himself.
No one expected that it was Chairman Mao's joke that made Xu Shiyou feel at ease. Not long after, he really changed his name from "Xu Shiyou" to "Xu Shiyou", and this incident also became a beautiful conversation between Chairman Mao and General Xu Shiyou.
And after the founding of New China, Xu Shiyou still had great respect and love for Chairman Mao.
, who never read books, under the influence and suggestions of Chairman Mao, even took up the " Dream of Red Mansions " that he disliked the most, and read it more than five times in accordance with Chairman Mao's suggestion.
In his life, he collected hundreds of medals with Chairman Mao’s avatars. These medals were finally left in his former residence and made up a map of China!
General Xu Shiyou's medal of Chairman Mao
Others can match the deep friendship with Chairman Mao, but he trusted Chairman Mao so much, but in 1956, he once again rejected Chairman Mao's proposal, and the reason for such a choice was all for his mother.
Diagnosis of loyalty and filial piety
956, a "Initiative" on cremation was handed over to major leaders. In this proposal, Chairman Mao proposed to promote cremation, starting from the upper class of our party.
Everyone also supported this matter very much and chose to sign it one after another, but a general finally chose to refuse. This person was Xu Shiyou.
The reason why Xu Shiyou was unwilling to sign this "Initiative" was very simple. He hoped to be buried in the ground and be buried with his mother.
General Xu Shiyou has always felt guilty about his mother. Since the beginning of the revolution, he has been home pitifully few times. Since the time he returned home in 1932, Xu Shiyou has not seen his mother again in the entire 0 years of .
It was not until 1952 that he took a few days off to go home to meet his mother.
When Xu Shiyou returned home, he saw an old lady in a hunched body and dressed in a shabby clothes. The old lady was carrying a large bundle of firewood on her back, and it was very difficult to walk.
Xu Shiyou could no longer suppress his tears and knelt on his knees and hugged his mother. The old man also recognized his son and tearfully while kissing and slapping his son's back.
Xu Shiyou took off the firewood from his mother's shoulders. After walking into the house, he hugged his mother and cried for a long time before he gradually calmed down.
He looked at his mother's cotton shoes with her toes exposed, and then looked at her mother's messy and haggard hair. He felt very sad and felt sorry for her mother's grace. He had not been able to live a good life for so many years and was unable to be filial to her mother.
And Xu's mother also saw that her son had been difficult for so many years. She still boiled water for her son and cooked for her son as before. She hoped that her son would leave happily when she came back this time.
After this meeting, Xu Shiyou has not been able to go home for another five years.
He originally wanted to take his mother to take care of him, but his mother was old and it was inconvenient to ride. In addition, Xu's mother himself was unwilling to leave the home where she had lived for decades, so the matter was not done in the end.
957, Xu Shiyou had time to go home again. His mother was 78 years old at this time and was not in good health. She was also very happy to see her son come back to see her, but when she thinks of her body and age, she burst into tears.
"Son, I'm 78 this year. We, the mother and son, will meet each other less in the future."
The mother's words made Xu Shiyou feel very sad, but at this time he was the Deputy Minister of National Defense and the Commander of Nanjing Military Region . He has a heavy responsibility and a great work pressure. It is not easy to go home this time, and I have no time to come back on weekdays.
Thinking of this, Xu Shiyou also hugged his mother and shed tears. He knew that it might be difficult to see his mother again in the future.
Xu Shiyou's mother
Two years later, Xu's mother passed away. General Xu Shiyou, who had no time to send his mother for the last journey, knelt in front of his mother's grave and cried bitterly. He always felt that he was unfilial, but since ancient times, he had no choice for the sake of the new China and for the sake of more people in the dawn.
It was also at this time that General Xu Shiyou made up his mind to be loyal to the country when he was alive, so that he would be buried with his mother and be filial to his mother when he died.
's attachment and love for his mother and his regret for failing to fulfill his filial piety are the reasons why General Xu Shiyou finally chose to refuse to sign the "Cremnation Initiative" proposed by Chairman Mao.
After everyone knew Xu Shiyou’s idea, they all expressed their understanding of him. He also became the only general in New China who had not been cremated and was eventually buried.
The masses erected monuments for
985 just after New Year's Day, General Xu Shiyou, who was 80 years old, wrote a letter to the central government, asking for a burial after his death. No one dared to make decisions about this matter, and no results were found during many discussions, so it was temporarily put on hold.
At this time, General Xu Shiyou was seriously ill. Many times he was not awake. As long as he woke up, he would ask the central government whether he agreed to bury himself, but there was no reply for a long time.
It was not until October 26 of the same year that Wang Zhen came to the Nanjing Military Region and conveyed Deng Xiaoping's opinion to Xu Shiyou:
"Xu Shiyou has made great achievements in his 60 years of military career and has a lifetime of death. He is a special person with special personality, special experience and special contributions. The special pass signed by Comrade Deng Xiaoping is a special special."
In other words, this is the case of Xu Shiyou, and it cannot be found again.
Xu Shiyou and Deng Xiaoping
. After waiting for the central government, General Xu Shiyou, who was approved by the central government, could no longer hold on after just five days and eventually died of illness in Nanjing.
After Xu Shiyou passed away, the central government built a coffin for him according to his wish and transported him to Xinxian, Henan Province. His hometown was buried, and his grave was chosen next to his parents.
Regarding General Xu Shiyou's funeral, Mr. Deng asked not to hold memorial services, not to erect tombstones, and not to publicize them in newspapers.
The first item is already a tradition of the founding generals, while the last two items are unwilling to publicize the burial of General Xu Shiyou too widely. After all, this matter is an exception. The central government will no longer approve such a requirement. Therefore, the central government cannot make relevant statements, which is misunderstood.
Xu Shiyou's family
A year after General Xu Shiyou's death, many people came to General Xu Shiyou's tomb to visit and worship. Everyone felt that there was no stone tablet in front of the tomb, and they felt that it was too simple and too miserable, and reported this idea.
Because of the will and ideas of the masses, the central government finally moved. Under the leadership of Wang Zhen, a stone tablet was erected in front of General Xu Shiyou's tomb in 1986.
. The monument did not record his life or his achievements. He simply wrote down seven big words: Comrade Xu Shiyou's Tomb.
This general who devoted his life to the revolution finally returned to his hometown and to his most attached mother. After his death, he would accompany his mother forever to make up for his regret of not being able to fulfill his filial piety in his life.
It is precisely because we have many soldiers like General Xu Shiyou who sacrificed for the country and gave up their lives and family that have created a great victory belonging to the Communist Party and created a bright future belonging to the whole Chinese.
Let us pay tribute to General Xu Shiyou and these unswerving revolutionary soldiers!
What do you think about General Xu Shiyou's final choice to bury his parents? Welcome to leave your opinion in the comment section.
