**Marshal, one of the ten marshals of the Republic, died in January 1972. The marshal's memorial service was held shortly after, and he was also personally present.
However, on this solemn occasion, something unexpected happened.
On the afternoon of January 6, the leaders of the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery received a notice of an emergency meeting. They know in their hearts that this kind of meeting is usually because the leader has died.
However, they were still shocked when they heard that the topic of the meeting was the death of **. At the meeting, the higher-level leaders decided that the memorial service of ** was scheduled to be held in the auditorium of the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery on the afternoon of January 10, and the main leaders of ** would be present.
Therefore, they had to prepare all the preparations by the morning of the 10th to make sure that nothing went wrong.
* The preparation time for the marshal's funeral work was only four short days, and the cemetery leadership was facing great pressure and challenges. The staff of the funeral committee rushed to Babaoshan early, and they fully understood the difficulties and troubles of the cemetery leaders, and in consideration of the shortage of staff, the Central Military Commission immediately dispatched a company of the 1st Guard Division of the Beijing Garrison to come to support.
The commissar told the cemetery leadership that the company would be under their command today.
After learning about the task of tidying up and cleaning the auditorium and the cemetery, the cemetery leadership gladly accepted and handed it over to a company. The cadres who led the team briefly assigned tasks, and each shift was cleaned up according to the division of labor.
These more than 100 young men are all physically strong, energetic, and have the unique assault spirit of the army. They heard that this was to prepare for the memorial service, and knew that this was the last chance to do their best for **, so they were full of enthusiasm and completed the sanitation and cleaning work in just over half a day.
In addition to cleaning the cemetery, they are also responsible for checking the safety of the cemetery. After completing the cleaning work, the company stayed in Babaoshan to take charge of the vigilance mission and did not return until the end of the memorial service.
On the morning of January 10, people were busy preparing for the memorial service of Comrade **. The staff hung a huge wooden plaque at the entrance of the auditorium, 15 meters, 10 meters long, fastened to the cement edge above the front of the auditorium.
The wooden sign was covered with a black cloth, and the big characters "** Comrade Memorial Service" were pasted on it, each word was nearly one meter large. Due to the small size of the auditorium hall, the ** leaders will attend the memorial service inside, and other party, government and military representatives will attend in the small square in front of the auditorium.
Before the memorial service began, the hall had been properly arranged, and the portrait of **was hanging**, and his peaceful urn was placed on the mourning platform below. It is covered with the flag of the Communist Party of China, and is flanked by solemn and solemn guards of honor with guns.
On the right side of the urn is a wreath presented by ***, and on the left is a wreath donated by the Communist Party of China. After everything was ready, the leaders and comrades-in-arms who participated in the memorial service arrived one after another.
At the time, no one knew that a heavyweight would also suddenly arrive, and that was ***
The news of the death of the marshal was learned very early, and the day after the death of the marshal, the news was already known, and he remained expressionless and speechless for a long time.
The marshal is an old friend of *** for many years, and his death makes *** deeply regret.
Chen Changjiang understands that during the Jinggangshan period, ** worked closely with ***, and the two had an extraordinary friendship for a long time, and ** was also a poet friend who was as famous as the chairman in poetry.
**Contributions, loyalty, and talents are highly praised, and his personality and talents have been praised on more than one occasion on different occasions. On January 8, **received a eulogy from ***.
He took a quick look and didn't think deeply, just picked up the pen and quickly deleted a few carefully added paragraphs of text that commented on the merits of **'s life, but wrote some annotations on the side, affirming ***'s eulogy and asking him to handle it accordingly.
On the same day, the relevant documents for the convening of the memorial service were released, including the scale of the memorial service.
According to the specifications required by the document, the Military Commission organized a memorial service for Marshal **, with a limited number of 500 participants, at 3 p.m. on January 10, at the auditorium of the Babaoshan Martyrs Cemetery.
Although *** did not make it clear whether he would attend, on the day of January 10, he made an unexpected decision to attend the memorial service of Marshal **.
In that afternoon, Chen Changjiang was busy in the duty room of the swimming pool when he suddenly received an urgent notice that the chairman would immediately leave for Babaoshan to attend the memorial service of Comrade **.
At that time, they were not prepared for anything, nor did they expect the chairman to suddenly participate in such an event. **The death of the marshal has made many people look forward to this memorial service, but in fact, this memorial service is to be small-scale and low-standard, and Politburo members can generally not participate.
In fact, for a long time, the chairman has not participated in similar memorial activities, although Babaoshan is buried with revolutionary martyrs and ministers of the republic, but the chairman has hardly been to Babaoshan.
Therefore, in Chen Changjiang's work, there is no preparation to go to Babaoshan to participate in such activities.
Chen Changjiang felt very nervous when he received the notice that he was going to Babaoshan to attend the memorial service of Marshal **. This matter is very important, and seeing that the memorial service is about to begin, the staff around ** also feel nervous.
However, the matter could not be delayed, Chen Changjiang immediately reported to the *** office, and mobilized the required vehicles and guards to get ready. He especially reminded the guards to carry ** and ammunition and be on standby at any time.
The guard unit has made thorough preparations and formulated a plan to deal with emergencies, emphasizing prevention first. After everything was ready, Chen Changjiang was waiting for the arrival of *** outside.
He recalled: "I saw *** wearing the pajamas I usually wear, with fleece pants on the lower body, and I didn't even wear a hat, so I had to brave the cold to get on the bus." In such weather, how can you wear so little? ”
It was so cold, and seeing the chairman wearing only a leather coat, I couldn't help but worry about him. I know he has a fur hat and a fur coat in his closet, so why not give him a little more?
He needs to keep warm and not neglect his health because of his work. At the same time, I feel that I blame Xiao Zhang for not doing a good job of keeping warm, which is something they should be responsible for.
Chen Changjiang noticed that the door was unusually deserted, and there was no warm welcome from the leaders in the past. He instantly sensed that there might be a problem with the notification, and the relevant parties were not ready to receive it.
However, the President had arrived ahead of schedule before others were ready. Ignoring the arrival of the main car, he immediately rushed into the small hall to inform them of the arrival of ***.
Facts have proved that when the special car of ** arrived at Babaoshan, due to the untimely arrangement, no staff even came out to greet it; Other leading comrades also failed to arrive in time, and even the families of *** and **marshal did not expect the arrival of ***.
Subsequently, ** walked out of the door, and when he saw ***'s arrival, he immediately understood everything.
On the one hand, he arranged for someone to find the whereabouts of Mrs. **, and on the other hand, he took the lead in coming out to welcome the arrival of ***. **Meet with *** in the auditorium vestibule, the two shook hands affectionately without too many words.
**led *** to the crowd that had arrived, **and shook hands with Vice Chairman Song Qingling, **Deng Yingchao and others one by one. Many of them haven't seen each other for a long time, and they have experienced a lot of changes during this period, and when they meet each other, they inevitably feel a little sad in their hearts.
Subsequently, ** invited *** inside and prepared to start the memorial service.
At the sound of an order, everything is ready. Everyone present immediately got into work to ensure the smooth running of the meeting. The staff in charge of playing mourning music in the auditorium reconfirmed the warm-up of the loudspeaker to ensure that the mourning music was normal**.
The staff in charge of the heater also strictly checked the circuit and indoor temperature to ensure the normal operation of the equipment. All the security personnel were put on alert to ensure the safety of the venue.
However, no one expected that the megaphone would have an accident later. Fortunately, everything was taken care of in a timely manner. The memorial service was presided over by Li Desheng, and his solemn announcement began a moment of silence, after which the staff of the funeral committee sent a signal to the comrades who were in charge of the sound equipment, and the staff immediately released the prepared mourning music.
The mourning music sounded normally in the hall and in the plaza outside the auditorium, playing for a total of 3 minutes, and then stopped accurately. Finally, Li Desheng announced: "Please send a eulogy to the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China and the Prime Minister." ”
**Slowly walk to the microphone on the right, take out the eulogy prepared in advance, and begin to narrate in a deep voice. With the introduction of the life deeds, people are immersed in the deep nostalgia for the outstanding contributions made by ** in various historical periods.
Outside the hall, the staff of the Broadcasting Bureau skillfully debugged the machine, striving to adjust the sound to the best acoustics. After the commissioning was completed, they quietly came to the east gate of the hall and revealed the scene in the hall through the crack in the door.
As the great leader of the republic, every public appearance of ** is the focus of attention, such an opportunity is extremely rare, so more and more staff members come around.
During the eulogy, some people in the crowd couldn't help but shed tears, and the scene was filled with sobbing sounds. Similarly, **'s face is also full of grief, as **'s old friend and comrade-in-arms, he feels extremely reluctant to **'s death.
* Rest in peace! Before the words fell, the loudspeaker suddenly sounded loudly, and the sound was instantly deafening, and then fell silent, and everyone at the scene was stunned and looked around at a loss.
At this moment, the three staff members of the Broadcasting Bureau who were in charge of the amplification equipment were still lying on the crack of the door, and a loud noise made them panic, and they realized that something must be wrong.
So, they rushed into the equipment room with a pale face, knowing that a malfunction on such an occasion would have unimaginable consequences. Several staff members were anxious and returned to the equipment room, their hands were a little shaky, nervously checking, up and down, but did not find the problem.
Soon, the relevant personnel of the funeral committee and the public security bureau also arrived, standing aside and watching them check, curiosity driving them to know the truth of the matter. ** and others in the lobby.
Calm and unfazed, he walked over to the megaphone and tapped it twice, but the machine still didn't respond. So, he turned around and walked towards *** and decided to ask *** and Prince Sihanouk on the side to leave the hall first, because the security of *** is of paramount importance, and the safety of any foreign head of state cannot be ignored.
He was relieved when *** personally watched *** and Prince Sihanouk leave Babaoshan under the escort of the guards. Although the memorial service was suspended due to an accident, it is not over yet.
He hurried back to the memorial service and asked the person in charge of the funeral committee as he went, so that they could figure out what was going on. After returning to the hall, he motioned for Li Desheng to continue to preside over the memorial service.
Although there was a problem with the loudspeaker, no one became helpless because of it, they stood quietly and silently said goodbye to the ** marshal. When the leaders withdrew from the hall, representatives from all walks of life waiting outside also walked in one after another to bid farewell to the marshal.
Although the staff of the Broadcasting Bureau were shivering in the small room on the east side of the hall, they knew that they had caused a catastrophe and that they could not take responsibility without a loudspeaker.
If the megaphone is good, it is very likely that he will come to the stage and say two sentences, and those supreme instructions may be of great significance to the marshal, the veteran cadres and the people of the whole country.
The loudspeaker malfunctioned, and the cause of the accident was identified. The personnel of the Public Security Bureau paid attention to the whole process, for fear that new problems would arise. The Broadcasting Bureau believes that the pipe inside the imported machine may have burned, and the specific situation needs to wait for the machine to be returned for inspection.
Although the imported machine fell off the chain on an important occasion, fortunately, it did not fail at the beginning, and the eulogy of ** was read in its entirety. If there is a glitch at the beginning, the scene will be even more ugly.
After the memorial service, the staff of the Broadcasting Bureau brought back the loudspeakers and carefully inspected the relevant equipment. Eventually, the Broadcasting Bureau submitted a specific inspection report to **.
Although there was a little episode when *** attended the ** marshal's memorial service, it ended happily in the end.
Mao Runzhi's acquaintance with Marshal ** can be traced back to Jinggangshan in 1928, which opened their decades-long deep friendship. During this time, they not only fought side by side on the battlefield and established a deep combat friendship, but also shared ** poems, sang harmony with each other, and were full of romantic feelings.
* The deep friendship between the marshal and Mao Runzhi deeply touched the world. Mao Runzhi's memorial service for Marshal ** was his first and last participation in the memorial activities in 10 years.
What is different from the past is that he participated in the memorial service of ** in its entirety and evaluated the deceased fairly on the spot, which is unique after the founding of New China. This is not only a commemoration of the deep friendship between him and Marshal **, but also a respectful and fair evaluation of the deceased.