Wu Faxian (1915-2004), a native of Jiangxi, joined the Chinese Communist Youth League in 1930, the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in the same year, and the Communist Party of China in 1932. He was awarded the rank of lieutenant general in 1955, and served as a member of the Political Bureau, deputy chief of general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and commander of the Air Force.
1. The debate of origin.
Wu Faxian's hometown is Yongfeng County, Ji'an City, Jiangxi Province, but some people say that he is from Xingguo County, Ganzhou City, why is this?
Wu Faxian's ancestors did live in Nankeng Township, Xingguo County, which should mean that his hometown was the origin of Xingguo, and Wu Faxian himself also recognized this.
In the era of Wu Faxian's great-grandfather, the two sons, Wu Faxian's grandfather and uncle, separated from each other after they got married.
Wu Faxian's great-grandfather moved to Da'an Natural Village, Tieyuan Village, Junbu Township, Yongfeng County, about 30 miles away from Nankeng Township, with his eldest son, Wu Fangde, Wu Faxian's grandfather.
Therefore, Wu Faxian has two hometowns, but his hometown is Yongfeng County, which is undoubted.
2. Misunderstanding of "straw bales".
Some people once called Wu Faxian "General Straw Bag", firstly for ridiculing him for being short and fat, and secondly, sarcastically mocking him for being uneducated. The figure and appearance were given by my parents, and I shouldn't judge people by their appearance, but it is a big mistake to think that the general is uneducated.
Wu Faxian's father attached great importance to the education of boys, and when he was 7 years old, he asked him to go to the house of Mr. Zhang Xianzuo in a neighboring village to study in a private school.
In the private school, he studied the "Three Character Classic", "Analects", "The Mean", "Kindergarten Qionglin", as well as the books of Mencius and Zeng Wenzhenggong (Zeng Guofan), and also learned abacus, and he studied it for five years.
At the age of 12, a new primary school was opened in Tieyuan Village (also known locally as Tieluxia Village), and Wu Faxian studied in primary school for another two years, learning Chinese and mathematics.
After that, because of the death of his grandfather, the family was declining, and because of the debt of more than 100 yuan for his grandfather's medical treatment, the family could not afford to provide for it, so he had to drop out of school. In the past, he only had to herd cattle and chop wood in his spare time, but now he has to work in the fields all day like an adult.
Counting up, Wu Faxian studied for a total of 7 years, especially the 5 years of private school, which laid a good foundation for old learning, which could be regarded as at least an intermediate intellectual in the revolutionary team at that time.
During the Cultural Revolution, once his subordinates told the general that some people called him "General Straw Bag", and the general was not angry, but said: "Whatever they say, they don't want to think about it, Mr. Lin (**Is it a person who is willing to use straw bales?).”
3. Join the revolution.
In 1930, when the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army came to Junbu, 15-year-old Wu Faxian joined the village children's regiment and served as its captain.
In November of that year, Chiang Kai-shek mobilized 100,000 troops to launch the first "encirclement and suppression" to the ** Soviet area. Wu Faxian, who had become the head of the children's regiment at this time, led the children's regiment members to participate in this war, and was responsible for leading the way, delivering letters, standing guard, guarding posts, treating the wounded, and preparing food and grass for the Red Army.
The battle began at dawn on December 30, and in the evening, the good news came, the Red Army won a great victory, wiped out the 18th Division of the Kuomintang Army, and captured the division commander Zhang Huizan alive in Longgang Township, Yongfeng. For this reason, ** wrote the famous "Fisherman's Pride: The First Anti-Encirclement and Suppression", which includes: "The fog is full of Longgang and thousands of peaks are dark, calling in unison, and Zhang Huizan was caught in front." ”
That night, Wu Faxian led the children's regiment to clean up the battlefield, transport the wounded, and bury the dead, and according to his memoirs, "our children's regiment collected thousands of bullet casings and handed them over to the Red Army."
After the victory of the first anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign, the village Soviet mobilized young people to join the Red Army, and Wu Faxian took the lead in signing up, and together with 17 young people from the same village, officially joined the Red Army, and from then on left his hometown and began his lifelong revolutionary career.
Fourth, three send letters to the family.
General Wu has always been thinking about his family.
In January 1933, he wrote to his family, and soon after receiving a reply from his father, he learned the bad news.
It turned out that during the third anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign, the Kuomintang troops occupied his hometown, burned down their house, looted their belongings, and forced the family to go up the mountain. A family of 7 people, only his father remained, living on the streets of the township, selling yellow tobacco (tobacco leaves and shredded tobacco made by ordinary people) for a living.
For many years after that, because he had been following the troops, Wu Faxian could no longer communicate with his family, let alone take care of his surviving father, and cut off contact with his family.
In the autumn of 1940, it was already the second "Kuomintang-Communist Cooperation", when Wu Faxian served as the director of the Political Department of the Sulu-Henan Detachment of the Eighth Route Army in northern Jiangsu, and also served as the commissioner of the Huaihai District of the National Army.
He naively thought that since the Kuomintang and the Communist Party had cooperated, he could now contact his family justifiably, so he wrote to his father again.
Unexpectedly, his letter fell into the hands of the Kuomintang authorities, and on this basis, his father was arrested and put in prison, and thanks to the neighbors, he scraped together 20 yuan to redeem the old man and survive. After that, for fear of implicating his father and relatives and friends, Wu Faxian no longer dared to write letters to his family.
In the spring of 1949, Wu Faxian, who served as the deputy political commissar and director of the Political Department of the 13th Corps of Siye, arrived in Nanning with the army and concurrently served as the deputy director of the Nanning Military Management Commission.
In Nanning, he was overjoyed to hear the news of the liberation of his hometown, and immediately wrote a letter to his father and sent a photo with his wife and children.
Soon, my father's reply arrived, and he learned that my father was still alone, selling yellow cigarettes on Junbu Street for a living.
After receiving the reply, Wu Faxian was not only happy that his father was alive, but also worried about his loneliness, hoping to have the conditions to take care of his father as soon as possible.
In June 1950, Wu Faxian received a new appointment, and the Military Commission ordered him to go to Beijing to serve as deputy political commissar and director of the Political Department of the Air Force.
Before going to Beijing, he made a report to the organization, hoping to take a leave of absence to take a detour back to Jiangxi and pick up his old father. Due to the urgent task of forming the air force at that time, there was no organizational approval, so he had to go to Beijing to take up his post first, and then wait for the opportunity to pick up his father.
On July 7, the bad news came again, Wu Faxian received a letter from his distant cousin Wu Chenxian, learning that his father had died of dysentery a few days ago.
The letter also said that because he had no money and could not afford a coffin, he could only bury the old man in a hurry with a straw mat.
According to the schedule, if Wu Faxian set off from Nanning at that time, he could have taken his father over. Moreover, according to the medical conditions and level of the troops at that time, even a few cases of dysentery could be cured.
It is precisely because the general puts the interests of the revolution first and takes obedience to orders as his duty that his father died of illness, and "loyalty and filial piety cannot be both" has become an eternal pain in his heart.
Due to the supply system implemented at that time, Wu Faxian had no money in hand, so he had to make a report, and with the approval of the director of the Political Department, he received a relief payment of 280 yuan and sent it to Wu Xianchen, asking him to buy a coffin on his behalf, raise a new grave, and rebury his father.
On the day of the burial, Junbu Township ** also held a memorial service for Wu Faxian's father, which made Wu Faxian feel a little comforted and grateful.
5. Returning to my hometown for the first time.
In February 1960, General Wu Faxian, who had attended the enlarged meeting of the Military Commission, asked for leave from the Military Commission, and returned to his hometown for the first time after approval.
He first went to Shaoguan, rode through Nanxiong, arrived in Ganzhou the next day, and then went to Xingguo County. At this time, Wu Xianchen, who received the news, was already waiting for him in Xingguo County.
On the third day, they took a car from the county seat to Liangcun Township, Xingguo County. Because there was still no car for 60 miles from Liangcun to his hometown, he abandoned the car and walked to Nankeng Township that night.
Nankeng is the ancestral home of the general, where there is the ancestral ancestral hall of their Wu family.
When they arrived, the villagers surnamed Wu had been waiting for a long time, and they united to invite them to a meal.
Seeing that the villagers were living in difficulty, the general gave them 20 yuan and a pen to express his gratitude.
After resting for one night, the general continued to move forward in the rain, climbed over three mountains, walked 30 miles of mountain roads, fell several times along the way, and finally arrived at Da'an Natural Village in Tieyuan Village, Junbu Township.
After a 30-year absence, the general finally returned to his hometown, and the general was full of emotion. The house is gone, and even the foundation is gone.
After several "encirclement and suppression", coupled with the "Great Leap Forward" and "Great Iron and Steel Refinement" 58 years later, the trees on the mountain were also cut down, and as far as the eye can see, soil erosion, people's livelihood withered, and the eyes are full of devastation.
The villagers enthusiastically gathered around and told the friendship of their fellow villagers, which made the general sigh. Talking about the difficulties of life, the general was speechless and difficult to express.
When talking about the scene when the neighbors pooled money to bail his father out of prison, and remembered that he not only could not repay his father's kindness, but also did not repay the villagers' help, the general felt deeply guilty and his eyes were hazy with tears.
The local peasants live in poverty, and they can't even afford a decent meal.
Fortunately, Wu Chenxian had already prepared and had already brought rice, pork and radish from Nankeng Township, and the general invited the villagers to dinner.
Because he was already penniless, the general borrowed 10 yuan from his cousin Wu Chenxian and gave it to the neighbor's old mother as a token of gratitude, while he could only apologize to the other villagers again and again.
After the meal, the general, accompanied by relatives and friends, came to the back mountain, found the tombs of his grandparents and parents, bowed three times in front of each tomb, paid his respects to his relatives, and prayed for their forgiveness for not being able to fulfill his filial piety.
In the afternoon, when the secretary of the Junbu Township Party Committee heard the news of the general's return to his hometown, he led people to rush over in the heavy rain, not only bringing them.
Seven or eight quilts, and some rice, vegetables, and pork were also brought. They set up a cauldron in the field and cooked another meal for the general.
That night, the general and his entourage of more than a dozen people slept on the straw floor in the brigade warehouse in Tieyuan Village, covered with a quilt sent by the township, and spent the night.
The next morning, the general left his hometown and returned to Liangcun Township, Xingguo, stayed in Zhongzhou Market for one night, and on the third day, returned to Liangcun. That night, the Liangcun Commune killed a pig and warmly entertained the general and his party.
After returning to Beijing, the general wrote a report to Zhang Aiping, deputy chief of the General Staff of the General Staff, and after approval, gave a retired Jiefang brand car to the Liangcun Commune.
At that time, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) had the task of supporting localities in overcoming difficulties, and Liangcun was an old base area in the Soviet region, which made tremendous sacrifices and contributions to the Red Army and the revolutionary cause.
For more than 40 years, the general never returned to his hometown.
Sixth, the soul returns to its hometown.
On October 17, 2004, the general died of illness in Jinan, Shandong.
Yongfeng County, Jiangxi Province, sent people to express condolences and warmly invited, hoping that the general could return to his hometown.
After discussing with the general's wife and children, they readily agreed to transport the general's ashes back and bury them in Tieyuan Village, Junbu Township.
From Tie Yuan to Tie Yuan's eternal sleep, there has been a gap of 74 years.
Next to the general's cemetery is Tieyuan Elementary School.
Lying quietly in the arms of his hometown, with the sound of the student's book in his ears, and feeling the great changes in his hometown, this should be the greatest consolation to the general!