On December 24, 1978, in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, in a solemn atmosphere, Comrade Xiaoping delivered a eulogy to remember his life and achievements.
His courage in shouldering heavy burdens, his honesty in performing official duties, and his concern for the masses have deeply influenced us. Although this memorial service is belated, the excellent qualities and great achievements of *** will always be remembered by us.
After deciding to hold a memorial service, the matter of writing a memorial speech bothered many people, and despite the remarkable achievements on the battlefield, they had a hard time writing and did not know how to express it.
Finally, Comrade Xiaoping personally wrote a memorial speech, upholding the spirit of "emancipating the mind and seeking truth from facts". So, why is it so difficult to write a memorial speech?
What other events took place at the memorial service? In order to fairly evaluate ***'s life, we must understand what he did and what he said, so that we can seek truth from facts.
**Born in 1898 in Hunan, he studied in a private school for two years before the age of eight. However, his family later became extremely poor, even to the point where it was impossible to make ends meet.
When he was young, he was weathered, he farmed, dug coal, worked, and was wanted by the government for leading the starving people**, and finally fled his hometown. In 1916, he joined the army, gradually recognized the corruption and darkness of the warlords, and realized that the country's prosperity and strength and sufficient military strength were the key to resisting foreign aggression.
In 1922, he entered the Hunan Army Officers' Lecture Hall for further study and systematically mastered military knowledge. In the Northern Expedition, although he was in the Kuomintang camp, he hated the extravagance and waste of the Kuomintang.
**After coming into contact with communist ideas, I deeply agreed with them and hoped to join the Communist Party. However, due to the cooperation between the KMT and the CPC at that time, our party did not agree. Until the defeat of the Great Revolution in 1927, our party entered a low point, ** proposed to join the party again, and became a communist party member in 1928.
In the process of leading the troops to fight, ** was ordered many times in danger, and with bravery, he rushed out of danger many times. In January 1929, the Kuomintang army carried out an "encirclement and suppression" of Jinggangshan, and cleverly used the strategy of "encircling Wei to save Zhao", and decided to send a part of the army to attack southern Jiangnan, and the other part of the army remained in Jinggangshan.
In the face of the attack on Jinggangshan by the well-equipped and huge army sent by the Kuomintang, the selection of those who remained behind became a thorny problem. At this critical moment, a proposal was put forward for the 5th Army to remain behind.
However, many generals and chiefs of staff of the 5th Army objected to this, because they were unfamiliar with the place, and the 5th Army had only 800 men, which could hardly resist the 30,000 of the Kuomintang.
However, ** stepped forward at this critical moment, obeyed the decision of *** and others, and was ordered to lead the 5th Army to stick to Jinggang Mountain.
After the departure of the Red 4th Army, Jinggangshan was heavily surrounded by 18 regiments of the Kuomintang, and ** calmly commanded the soldiers to strengthen the fortifications. They used natural resources such as ice, snow, trees, and soil to fight fiercely with the enemy for three days and three nights.
**Originally, I thought that if it was properly deployed, it would be possible to hold Jinggangshan by guarding the 5 major whistles. However, He Jian discovered a secret passage to Jinggang Mountain by chance and led his army to attack from the back mountain.
When the Kuomintang troops attacked from the front and rear, ** did not hesitate to lead the remaining more than 700 Red Army troops on the mountain to break through. After fierce fighting, only more than 500 people escaped from Jinggangshan in the end.
At that time, everyone felt confused and didn't know where to go, but *** firmly said that we were going to Gannan to find ***'s outstanding military exploits, and the battle of the Hundred Regiments commanded during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression was his proudest experience.
On the battlefield in North China, the Japanese army decided to implement the "cage policy" from three aspects: railways, highways, and pillboxes, and the bravery and wisdom of the Japanese army successfully broke the Japanese army's plan.
In August 1940, ** commanded about 22 regiments, destroyed the main lines of communication of the Japanese army, and then attacked the Japanese stronghold. In the face of the frantic counterattack of the Japanese army and the puppet army, our army carried out a fierce counterattack.
The war lasted five months, gradually increasing from the initial 22 regiments to 105 regiments, and is known as the "Battle of the Hundred Regiments". The large-scale and long-lasting operation dealt a blow to the arrogance of the Japanese invaders and enhanced the prestige of the Eighth Route Army.
Tragically, in October 1940, when he was leading the Battle of the Hundred Regiments, Kuomintang agents attacked his two younger brothers, Peng Ronghua and Peng Jinhua, at night.
Peng Ronghua was shot dead by the Kuomintang, and Peng Jinhua was tortured in prison, but he remained loyal and finally gave his precious life. These two younger brothers are party members of *** development, and their unfortunate death makes *** sad.
However, he knew that this was unavoidable for the sake of the party and the revolution. Subsequently, ** took on the responsibility of raising the five children of the two younger brothers. As a senior leader, ** is not only known for his excellent military command ability, but more importantly for his high moral character.
In October 1950, ** attended a crucial meeting. At this meeting, he expressed the truth of the cold lips and teeth, and expressed his firm determination to send troops to resist US aggression and aid Korea.
However, some generals at the meeting expressed concern about this, such as ** believing that the disparity in strength between China and the United States is too great for our army to compete. In addition, Su Yu was overwhelmed by the long-term campaign and was recuperating in Qingdao.
However, after careful consideration, he expressed his firm support for the decision of the United States, and he firmly believed that our army had the experience of defeating a powerful enemy, and we were also confident enough in the face of the US army.
When he learned that he had been chosen as a conductor, ** accepted the order without hesitation.
On the battlefield of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, the problem of logistics supply has always plagued the volunteers, and at this time, they showed the noble quality of caring for the soldiers and sharing weal and woe with the soldiers.
As a commander, he lived in leaky huts and ate the same food as the soldiers on the front line. At one point, he was given an electric stove, and despite the freezing cold, he often worked late into the night.
He turned the hot side of the stove towards the guards, and if it was difficult for the stove to move, he covered the guards with his own bedding and coat. During the inspection, he saw that the soldiers in Hedong were wearing only one single coat in the cold winter, so he stopped to ask the specific reason.
He was furious when he learned that the relevant authorities had decided whether to issue a fur coat based on the "Hedong" and "Hexi" boundaries on the map.
After reporting to the relevant authorities that the weather was colder due to the high terrain, the soldiers quickly received cold items. What makes them feel even more warm is the care and care of **.
Not only concerned about the daily life of the soldiers, but also for their bold struggle with the leaders of the ***. At the meeting in February 1951, the cadres in charge of preparing supplies passed the buck to each other, and after many days of preparation, the problem of hunger among the officers and men of the front-line volunteers was still not solved.
Angrily asked: "You guys are so difficult, do you know that the dolls on the front line are hungry?" There are not enough aircraft artillery, and they have to freeze to death and starve to death, for whom do they fight and sacrifice?
Why can't these problems be solved domestically? ”
After the meeting, ** actively coordinated domestic resources and purchased military materials from abroad, which successfully alleviated the plight of front-line soldiers and improved the basic equipment level of the volunteer army.
** Not only caring for the soldiers, but also insisting on standing with the soldiers and maintaining close mass contacts. In 1955, he visited the South Coast and found a group of soldiers discussing issues, so he joined them with great interest.
When the soldiers found out that he was coming, they wanted to provide him with a high bench, but he waved his hand and chose to sit on a simple low bench to work with the soldiers to develop the cause of the coup d'état in the new country.
They discussed topics such as the lack of belief in Marxism and the lack of thoroughness of the democratic revolution.
When expressing his opinion in ***, he showed respect in a polite manner and agreed with the soldiers. He pointed out that some leading cadres are only willing to enjoy privileges but are not willing to share weal and woe with the masses, and this kind of behavior will lead them to gradually separate themselves from the masses.
His words made the soldiers laugh and at the same time made them think deeply. **'s words caused embarrassment among the small leaders present, and even caused him to fall into a low point in his life after the July 1959 meeting, and he stepped down from the post of defense minister.
However, the ill-fated *** died of illness in November 1974 without any relatives by his side at that time. So, how to deal with the aftermath of **?
In order to avoid unnecessary troubles, at the end of November 1974, the ashes of ** were properly placed in the Chengdu crematorium under the name of "Wang Chuan". However, in December 1978, under the instructions of Comrade Xiaoping, ** re-recognized the achievements of *** and others that year, and decided to hold a memorial service for them.
So, on December 22, 1978, ** sent someone to take ***'s ashes from Chengdu to Beijing, his ashes were carried by plane around Beijing for a week, and his memorial service was also under intense preparation, but the eulogy of the memorial service made many people feel embarrassed.
In the end, the organization decided that the vice president of the "People's Liberation Army Daily" would write a eulogy for ***, after all, the vice president has many years of writing experience, and I believe that it should not be a big problem to complete this task.
The vice president feels that the outstanding contribution of ** cannot be clearly described in just a few words. And, wouldn't it seem too much to boast if it were just to list his accomplishments?
Also, do the disadvantages of ** need to be mentioned? Would it seem inappropriate to expose his shortcomings in the eulogy? The vice president was only able to submit a less than complete eulogy before the deadline.
** After taking a look, I naturally understand his concern. They had already been instructed to write with a realistic attitude, but because the country has been going through a lot of things recently, the emancipation of the mind is not so easy to achieve.
Therefore, **affectionately reminisced about ***'s life and completed this eulogy.
At the memorial service, Comrade Xiaoping read it affectionately"Comrades are immortal"The words are full of deep admiration and nostalgia for his comrades. **'s family, comrades-in-arms, and even Urayasu Xiu were moved to tears, and Urayasu Xiu, who was standing in the corner, had red circles in his eyes, and in addition to tears, there was also a look of guilt on his face.
Urayasu Xiu used to be the wife of ***, and after marriage, ** loved his wife very much, and gave all his allowances to his wife and asked her to buy the food she liked. Although they got together less and separated more due to work after marriage, they never forgot each other, and it was not until the end of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea that they were finally able to be together for a long time.
**'s life fell into a trough, but his wife Urayasu Shu left him. During those painful days, it was his niece Peng Meikui who was by his side, giving him comfort and encouragement.
Peng Meikui's father was killed by the Kuomintang, and her mother went insane due to family changes, and she grew up under the care of her uncle. She greatly admired ***'s personality and talents, and looked up to him as a role model.
In his later years, Peng Meikui often took care of *** to visit him in the hospital and sent him daily necessities. **Write down your own experience into a material for your niece to keep.
After many years, the materials saved by the niece were finally handed over to Comrade Xiaoping, which clarified many things and contributed to the memorial service in 1978.
Although Osamu Urayasu regretted it after the death of ***, on the occasion of the memorial service, she begged to attend. **'s relatives and family objected, but in view of the deep relationship between Urayasu Xiu and ***'s former husband and wife, the organization agreed to her.
After the memorial service, Osamu Urayasu said to his former friends: "He was right, I did it wrong, I regret it!" ”
Osamu Urayasu, the name of Mrs. **. She spent a lot of effort to sort out ***'s "Self-Statement" and other related books. In May 1991, she passed away with deep longing and guilt for ***.
We should be grateful to Comrade *** for his eulogy, which affirms the great merits of *** and gives *** peace of mind underground. The news network of the Communist Party of China has an article "The people are close to the people and love the people", and the CCTV also has an article about the funeral, which mentions the details of the ashes of *** circling Beijing for a week.