As we all know, in the war years, the troops need horses to be responsible for transportation and combat, and it can be said that horses have made the greatest contribution to human warfare. What is less well known is that sometimes horses can also save lives. In the history of the Red Army, such a strange thing happened: when a Red Army unit was in a desperate situation in the desert and was about to starve to death and die of thirst, the commander's war horse actually became a savior, and through a very abnormal move, it saved this unit.
It was in the spring of 1937 that the Western Route Army of the Red Army, which had been besieged and harassed by the Qinghai local armed "Majia Army", gathered in Shiwo and held a meeting after suffering extremely heavy casualties, and was forced to split the remaining 3,000 people into three detachments and each look for an exit for the breakthrough.
Among these three detachments, the left detachment was composed of cadres and fighters of the former Red Thirty Army, with a total of about 1,000 people, and the main and deputy detachment leaders were Li Xiannian and Cheng Shicai. After deliberation, they decided to sneak from the south into the snow-covered Qilian Mountains, where they would take a break and then carry out guerrilla warfare and continue the struggle against the enemy.
After the meeting, Li Xiannian and Cheng Shicai led more than a thousand Red Army soldiers to start the action according to the agreed plan. It is worth mentioning that this is already a tired division and a sleepy division, and they must not only be ready to deal with the encirclement and blockade of the Ma family army at any time, but also have to fight hard against their own injuries and diseases, as well as cold and hunger.
Not long after the departure, the first problem encountered by the soldiers was the shortage of food. Every Red Army soldier's rice bag had long been scraped to the point of rotting, and one by one he was hungry and weak. However, the Qilian Mountains were extremely sparsely populated, there was nowhere to raise food, the soldiers were getting hungrier and hungrier, and Li Xiannian's brows were getting tighter and tighter.
Just when everyone was about to lose confidence, this hungry force was lucky to find the track of the yellow sheep. What was even more unexpected by the Red Army generals was that because the yellow sheep rarely encountered people in this area, they also developed the habit of not being afraid of people. Coupled with the well-trained soldiers of the Red Army, they used military trapping tactics to successfully capture several yellow sheep, and even had an accident, that is, they also caught a bison.
At this time, the warriors had already run out of salt, but after simply handling the yellow sheep and bison, roasting and eating the meat was also an extremely rare human delicacy for them. In this way, relying on the gifts of nature, they ate a beautiful meal and temporarily escaped the disaster.
There was a temporary supply in the stomach, but the Red Army soldiers still had to pass a difficult time, no doubt it was cold. At this time, it is still winter in the Qilian Mountains, and the temperature reaches more than -30 degrees Celsius when the temperature is the lowest. But none of the Red Army soldiers were wearing cotton clothes, and at best they could only use worn blankets to barely resist the biting cold. However, many Red Army soldiers were still frostbitten or even frozen to death at night. In desperation, Li Xiannian could only let the warriors gather around the campfire at night and try to sleep together as much as possible to reduce the risk of freezing.
After struggling for a few days, this Red Army unit had a hard time breaking through the siege, but the desert was already in front of it. Although they know that the desert is too dangerous, they can't go into the desert, because the Ma family army is forcing you to go down this dead end road. These fierce and vicious people did not dare to enter the desert themselves, for the simple reason that after entering, they would inevitably die nine times. They believed that the Red Army was already short of water and food, and that it would never be possible to enter the desert.
Knowing that it is a dead end, you must also go! Otherwise there is no silver lining. In the first few days, the Red Army soldiers relied on the energy replenished by that good meal to barely support themselves, but soon fell into a difficult situation of hunger, thirst and tiredness, especially in the desert, there was no water at all, and the water they had brought before would soon bottom out no matter how much they saved it. One by one, the warriors had chapped lips, pale faces, and were extremely weak, facing the danger of dying of thirst in the desert!
As the leader of this Red Army unit, Li Xiannian, like everyone else, had a thirsty throat that smoked, but what made him even more uncomfortable was the inner torment. He couldn't help but be in a hurry! If you can't find water as soon as possible, you may die of thirst at any time.
Walking to the bottom of a sand slope, the warriors really couldn't hold on any longer, and they sat paralyzed on the ground one by one. At this time, someone proposed that the horse be killed and the horse's blood be used to quench the thirst and prolong life.
There was only one horse left in this team, which was Li Xiannian's mount, the Great White Horse. Along the way, Li Xiannian was reluctant to even ride, preferring to walk on his own, so how could he bear to kill it? But if you can't bear to kill, you have to kill, because the lives of the warriors must be saved by this horse!
Just when Li Xiannian was preparing to make up his mind to kill the horse and save people, an incredible scene suddenly appeared in front of his eyes:
The great white horse seemed to read something from the anxious eyes of the Red Army generals, or it thought of a way to redeem itself, and suddenly folded its two hind legs, leaned down, raised its two front hooves, and quickly shaved the sand in front of it!
Everyone was confused by this sudden scene, and all of them stared at the extremely abnormal behavior of the great white horse. Then something even more incredible happened- the great white horse planed for a while, and after planing out a large bunker, everyone found that there was water flowing out of the bunker. Yes, it was really water, although it was pitifully small, but it made the Red Army soldiers rejoice: "There is water, there is water!" We have been saved! ”
Li Xiannian hurriedly asked the warriors to cut sand and get water on the spot like a great white horse. After everyone's efforts, they finally dug up enough water to let everyone drink a full drink, and prepared the water they needed for the next few days, and continued to move forward with a hundred times more spirit.
At the end of April, this red army detachment, which had endured hardships, finally came out of the desert and joined the large army. Although many people know that horses can find water is a natural skill, but later when the Red Army soldiers talked about the adventure, they still sighed: "At a time when we had no way out and our confidence was about to collapse, it was a horse that saved us. From now on, we are no longer afraid of any difficulties! ”