In the fiery years of the Jinge Iron Horse, countless patriotic young people rose up on the ground and fought for the victory of the country, and they threw their heads and spilled their blood to defend the dignity of the country with their lives.
It is precisely because of their sacrifices and sacrifices that we have a good life today. Let's take a look at their glorious deeds today.
Jiangxi, once known as one of the "Ten Founding General Provinces", has a total of 325 founding generals.
However, on the eve of the Qingming Festival in 2022, a sad piece of bad news came - Zou Yan, the last living of the 325 founding generals of Jiangxi Province, died at the age of 107.
There are too many deeds that have happened to this old revolutionary, his life is valuable, detached from low-level interests, and he is also practicing the phrase "serving the people" that Chairman Mao once said throughout his life.
Cowherds embark on a revolutionary journey
Zou Yan was born in 1915 to a poor peasant family in Xiaguang Village, Chongxian Township, Xingguo County, Jiangxi Province.
"The children of the poor have long been in charge", Zou Yan has been determined to participate in the revolution since he was a child.
As a child, Zou Yan often went to the hillside with his friends in the village to herd cattle.
They tied the oxen to the trunk, sat down in the shade not far away, and began a heated discussion.
These cattle herders have a serious look, and they can't say a word - "farmers' association".
Zou Yan listened to his friends with wide eyes and asked doubtfully, "What is a peasant association?" ”
A small friend told him that the peasant association had come to help the Middle Peasant Revolutionary Army pass on the news.
Previously, Zou Yan had heard the grown-ups say the word "Middle Peasant Revolutionary Army," a group of revolutionary troops who were in charge of the peasants.
In his simple understanding, their job was to "unite the peasants in the struggle against the forces of evil."
During the conversation, the children were emotionally agitated and agreed to join the farmers' association together.
But they were too young, and the adults in the village let them join the children's group and do some simple intelligence relay work.
On chongxian's country roads, Zou Yan, who has excellent leadership skills, can often be seen leading a group of children of the same age to run back and forth between the streets.
Whenever they see landlords and rich peasants oppressing the people, they will come forward to stop them, and if verbal persuasion does not work, the children will call the adults of the peasant associations to come and help.
Not only that, smoking and making trouble in the village is also prohibited, for a while, there are no vendors selling cigarettes along the street, and the mahjong tables in the village dare not put out again.
Qiao bu fire bull array, scare off the enemy army, attack Ji'an
During that special period, the Children's Regiment played a crucial role, and even assisted the Red Army in laying out the fire bull array and taking down the warlord Deng Ying in one fell swoop.
In September 1930, Zou Yan was chopping firewood on the hillside when he suddenly saw a team of about 2,000 people in the distance advancing rapidly, and he chased after it curiously, pulling a soldier and asking what they were going to do.
The soldiers said they were going to attack Jian.
Zou Yan carefully observed their dress, and remembered that this team was Chongxian's Red Guards, and many comrades in it had successfully joined the Red Army.
Born into a poor family, he was accustomed to the ugly faces of landlords and warlords, and he also wanted to join the revolution and do his part for the people.
The warlord Deng Ying, who was hiding in Ji'an City, had been holding his position rigidly, without the slightest intention of backing down.
How to destroy the huge iron net around Ji'an City became a difficult problem, and the command post tried various methods, but all of them failed.
How on earth do you find a behemoth to quickly destroy the barbed wire?
The cannon was not there at the time, and it was obviously not feasible to use stones.
At this time, someone proposed to use cattle!
Tie a firecracker to the tail of the cow, wrap the body of the cow with thick wheat straw, and as long as the firecracker is burned, the cow will naturally rampage.
As long as the number of cattle is large, wouldn't it be easy to break through the iron net?
Where can I find cattle? You must know that at that time, there were not many people with cattle in the village, and the cows were also the treasures of the family, and the guys who ate ate.
At the moment when everyone was in trouble, Zou Yan volunteered to take over the burden of finding cattle.
He began to go back to the village to tell the farmers' association the news, and at the call of Zou Yan, the families with cattle in the nearby villages were willing to contribute their own strength.
Within a day, a mighty herd of cattle rushed to Ji'an City under the drive of the people.
One night in early October, Zou Yan led a crowd of cattle to take advantage of the enemy soldiers' snoozing in the bunker, sneaked to the neighborhood, and lit firecrackers on the cow's butt.
Suddenly, hundreds of cattle were frightened and rushed to Ji'an City, rushing down the barbed wire and successfully breaking into the enemy's perimeter fortifications.
Before the enemy could react, Zou Yan and the adults rushed into the position after them.
After a night of dogfight, the Red Guards finally captured the enemy's perimeter fortifications with the help of the "Fire Bull Array".
The warlord Deng Ying in the city was also frightened by the fierce battle in the night, and abandoned the city and fled.
After the Fire Bull Front captured Ji'an, Zou Yan asked the leaders to formally join the Red Army to dry the revolution.
But he was too young to be accepted by the troops.
But he said that he would not leave at all, pestered the red army chief, and finally moved the superior leaders, leaving him as a propagandist in the political department of the Red 12 army.
Since then, 15-year-old Zou Yan officially began his revolutionary career.
After listening to Chairman Mao's speech, I really understood the significance of the revolution
Not long after joining the Red Army, the leaders of the unit saw that Zou Yan was diligent and studious, and because he was still young, he sent him to the Central Military and Political School of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in southwest Jiangxi for training.
One day in June 1931, Zou Yan and his comrades were training in the field.
Chairman Mao happened to be passing by, and when he saw the situation, he walked to greet them one by one, asking them where they were and how they were studying.
The captain answered one by one, and then invited Chairman Mao to speak.
Chairman Mao said: Today I will only tell you one word of 'points,' that is, to divide the land among local tycoons. ”
At this time, Zou Yan profoundly realized that the land was originally the peasants' own. And the landlord and gentry can eat well and dress well without farming or laboring. The peasants rented the land of the landlords and gentry, and all the grain they beat was collected by them, which is naked exploitation!
Listening to Jun's words, it is better to read ten years of books, and this speech made Zou Yan truly understand the significance of the dry revolution.
He secretly made up his mind that no matter what difficulties he encountered in the future, he would unswervingly follow the party and carry out the revolution to the end.
It has gone through five anti-encirclement and suppression campaigns and the Long March
After graduating from school, Zou Yan successively served as a guard for Luo Ronghuan and Li Fuchun, and went through five anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaigns.
After the third anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign, Zou Yan was transferred to his side as a guard by Luo Ronghuan, then director of the Political Department of the Jiangxi Provincial Military Region, for his outstanding performance.
In the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" defense of Guangchang, our army fought very hard.
At dusk on this day, in order to allow Political Commissar Luo Ronghuan to rest for a while, Zou Yan, who had not closed his eyes for two days and two nights, volunteered to undertake the task of observing the enemy's situation.
Sure enough, at night he found that some of the enemy had bypassed the east bank of the Guangchang River and were secretly crossing the bridge to attack the back of our army.
After many battles, he immediately realized that the enemy wanted to encircle our army.
He hurriedly reported to Commissar Luo, which enabled the troops to withdraw from their positions in time and move to safety.
In October 1934, Zou Yan followed the main force and began the arduous 25,000-mile long march.
Sending an urgent message to Zhou Enlai, Cai Chang taught him to make "cotton clothes"
During the Long March, Zou Yan was tasked with transmitting classified information and important letters between the headquarters and the central leaders such as Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Zhu De.
In January 1935, after the Red Army captured Zunyi City, Li Fuchun, the deputy director of the General Political Department, sent Zou Yan to send an urgent message to Vice Chairman Zhou Enlai.
He set off from the station, hiked over several mountains, and ran to the outskirts of Zunyi City to find Vice Chairman Zhou.
Although the process of the Long March was arduous, with the mutual help of comrades, it was always full of warmth.
During this difficult period, one of the most profound things that Zou Yan remembered was that Sister Cai Chang taught everyone to make "cotton clothes".
In June 1935, the Central Red Army rushed to cross the Dadu River, passed through the Tibetan area, and came to the foot of Jiajin Mountain.
At this time, the command ordered everyone to prepare cotton clothes.
In this desolate Tibetan area, cotton and cloth can still be bought.
With a flexible mind, Zou Yan's mind turned, and with a dozen small Red Army soldiers, he picked up some broken hairs in the Tibetan people's cattle and sheep stables, kneaded them together, added strips of cloth and paper scraps, and even put together the fillings in the cotton clothes.
In the evening, they gathered around the campfire and prepared to make "cotton clothes", but no one had done it, and they did not know where to start.
Just when everyone was at a loss, Sister Cai Chang came over and asked with concern.
After learning the reason for their difficulties, Sister Cai Chang patiently taught the group of children to sew cotton clothes one stitch at a time.
With the help of Sister Cai, Zou Yan finally made a cotton coat for heating before the march.
Sister Cai Chang also encouraged them that although the road is arduous, it is a good man not to be left behind.
In this way, Zou Yan wore the cotton clothes that Cai Chang taught by hand, remembered her encouragement, and walked through one snowy mountain after another with snow all year round.
Defending the Republic: Approve the execution of the "mountain eagle", and fight with wisdom and courage to suppress bandits
After experiencing the baptism of fire in the Long March, Zou Yan still performed outstanding in the War of Resistance Against Japan.
He was not only a good soldier in battle, but also an expert in grasping production.
In 1942, during the large-scale production movement, Zou Yan was selected as a model worker in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, and led the group to provide strong logistical support for the soldiers in the front.
During the Liberation War, the central government transferred Zou Yan to the northeast.
During this period, he led his troops to participate in the Shangdang Campaign and major battles such as the liberation of Jilin and the siege of Changchun and Liaoshen, and made important contributions to the liberation of northeast China.
Not only that, during his time working in the northeast, he also personally approved the execution of the prototype of the notorious bandit leader "Zashan Eagle" in "Lin Hai Snow Field".
In that year, the mountain eagle was captured alive and detained in the detention center of the Mudanjiang Military Region.
Although the mountain eagle was more than 60 years old at this time, he was still physically fit. Considering that this person is full of evil, not killing is not enough to indignate the civilian population. Therefore, the special military court of the military region held a mass meeting in Mudanjiang City to publicly try a mountain sculpture and decided to execute him.
Afterwards, a notice of execution was issued, which signed the official name of Zou Yan.
The pursuit of enemy elements reached north Korean territory as far as possible
In 1949, Zou Yan served as the political commissar of the Central Public Security Column, organized the troops to safely welcome the Party Central Committee into Beiping, and defended the convening of the first national political consultative conference and the founding ceremony.
In 1950, during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the enemy airdropped nearly 20 agents near Tianchi in Changbai Mountain.
Due to the long years of snow and dense forest, no one noticed when the agents were just dropped by airdrops.
The rangers in the deep mountains found that many tree trunks had special symbols on them when they patrolled, how could there be this thing in the deep mountains?
Someone must have been there, and the ranger thought it was likely to be a mark left by poachers, grave robbers, and loggers, so he reported the matter to his superiors.
After Zou Yan learned of this, he immediately felt that things were not so simple.
He had too much dealing with the agents, who would choose to be in the mountains and forests when they were airdropped, and because of the terrain and the direction of the wind, they could not all fall in the same place, and in order to get in touch better, they usually chose to make marks on the trunks of trees, and then gathered together along these marks.
As soon as he thought of this, Zou Yan immediately led the team to the deep mountain old forest near the Tianchi of Changbai Mountain.
After many reconnaissance and close deployment, they finally discovered the whereabouts of the agent and chased them all the way to the northeast.
During the pursuit, 18 agents were arrested, but 2 agents crossed the border and absconded in the direction of North Korea.
At the moment when everyone was hesitating, Zou Yan immediately decided, "We must arrest those two people, what if they have important information on them?" ”
Speaking about this matter afterwards, Zou Yan lamented that it was the period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and there was no restriction on us crossing the border, and in the end we caught them in the homes of ordinary Koreans.
Captured CIA spies and attracted international attention
In April 1951, Zou Yan was then the deputy political commissar of the public security forces of the Northeast Military Region, and continued to lead and command the battles on the hidden front.
In 1952 alone, he led the public security forces to annihilate and capture 80 maritime dispatch agents and 33 airborne agents together with the public security department.
One of the most legendary arrests was when he captured CIA spies.
On November 29, 1952, in the jungle of Laofu Ridge in Changbai Mountain, public security personnel, militia and a group of other people hid in the night, looking nervous, and occasionally a warning voice came from their communication equipment, "It is expected that the enemy will arrive within an hour, and when the time is right, they can move at any time." ”
At 11:00 p.m., there was a flickering bright spot in the night sky, and the enemy plane appeared in the field of vision and sailed into Changbai Mountain.
Not far above the mountain range, the plane hovered motionless, and the lights on the fuselage were conspicuous in the night.
Zou Yan knew that at this moment, the enemy was airdropping spies into the country. So at his order, the public security and militia opened fire on the enemy planes one after another, and finally the tail of the plane caught fire and fell vertically.
Public security personnel and militia quickly rushed to the place where the plane fell, and Zou Yan sent another group of public security personnel to search the vicinity, "When the cabin was opened just now, two agents should have jumped down, you go to the neighborhood to search." ”
The wreckage of the plane lay deep in the woods, killing the pilot on the spot and capturing two other parachute agents alive.
After interrogation, they were spies sent by the CIA, Donnai and Fektu.
After this matter was exposed, it caused quite a stir in public opinion in the international community.
Not only that, Premier Zhou also specially commended Zou Yan for this.
Since the founding of New China, the northeast region has become a major airdrop location for foreign spies due to its sparse population due to geographical and climatic reasons.
In order to be able to break the enemy's conspiracy, Zou Yan was particularly attentive to the matter of cracking down on spies, and fought with the enemy's agents, accumulating 133 foreign agents.
In his later years, he devoted himself to the cause of education and warned his children not to engage in specialization
In 1955, Zou Yan was awarded the title of founding major general at the age of 40.
In the revolutionary cause, Zou Yan sacrificed his life and forgot to die. In the eyes of his daughters, he is also an extremely strict father in life, often teaching them not to be special, but to be diligent and thrifty.
The superior gave the old general a special car, and Zou Yan never allowed the three sisters to use it.
Therefore, the three sisters from the first grade of primary school, no matter the wind and rain, lightning and thunder, basically riding bicycles or like ordinary people crowded buses to and from school.
Once, when Zou Yan came home after lunch and saw two grains of rice on the table, he called his daughters over with a straight face and reprimanded them, and also asked them to punish them for memorizing "Hoe He".
Zou Yan said bitterly: "During the Long March, if it were not for my comrades-in-arms giving me some of their own dry food, how could I have lived to this day?" You must develop a good habit of cherishing food from an early age. ”
In 1988, Zou Yan responded to the army's call and offered to leave.
It is worth mentioning that Zou Yan served as deputy political commissar of the Shenyang Military Region before leaving his retirement. According to the terms of his military rank at the time, his rank should have been lieutenant general, and possibly even general.
Therefore, Zou Yan was also called "lieutenant general without title".
After leaving retirement, Zou Yan still exerted his residual heat, often going to school to give voluntary speeches and publicize revolutionary stories.
Whenever someone wrote to raise questions about the history of the party, the military, ideals, and convictions, and so on, he personally wrote letters to answer them, writing nearly a hundred letters, amounting to tens of thousands of words.
His life has witnessed the establishment and development of new China, so he attaches great importance to the cause of education in China.
Why does this veteran general attach so much importance to China's education?
Because he had only revolution in his childhood, he also absorbed advanced ideas and knowledge on the way to revolution.
In those turbulent times, it was very difficult to enjoy a good education.
Education can make a generation have new vitality, new ideas, can make a nation revitalized, a country rich and strong, because any era needs a new generation of young people to shoulder responsibilities and obligations.
It is precisely for this reason that the old general attaches great importance to education, and he has also done his best on the road of education.
In his later years, he often donated to the Hope Project and poor students, and as a retired cadre, he had no other financial resources and only a few pensions.
In March 2014, General Zou Yan, who had been frugal all his life, also donated 80,000 yuan to the Chongxian Middle School in his hometown.
On April 1, 2022, the old general Zou Yan passed away, and he will always live in the history of the country and in the memory of the people.
Revolutionaries are always young, and although the stars have fallen, the heroic wind has grown.