In the summer of 1953, General Pi Dingjun, the founding lieutenant general and deputy commander of the Fuzhou Military Region, returned to his hometown in Anhui, which was the first time that the general had returned to his hometown after 24 years away from home.
The general's hometown is in Daijialing, Jinzhai County, Anhui Province, and the closer he is to his hometown, the more uneasy the general's mood becomes.
When the car drove to the Jinzhai territory, his wife found that the general's words were becoming less and less, and her face was becoming more and more serious.
What happened to you? Feeling unwell? The wife asked with concern.
No. General Pi Dingjun said: "I regret it a little, we shouldn't have come back this time......”
It stands to reason that the general has achieved fame and returned to his hometown without any reason to be unhappy.
What did General Pi Dingjun think, his wife couldn't understand, and the general didn't explain, just like that, speechless all the way.
General Pi Dingjun's wife clearly remembers that for a period of time before returning to his hometown to visit relatives, the general often talked to his children about the past of his hometown, and he was in a particularly good mood.
General Pi Dingjun was born in Jinzhai County, Anhui Province, his family was poor, after his father died early and his mother remarried, Pi Dingjun and his grandmother depended on each other, begging for food and letting go of cattle.
The children of the poor are in charge of the family early", Pi Dingjun joined the local peasant association at the age of 13, joined the regiment the following year, and joined the army at the age of 15, becoming a soldier of the Red Fourth Front Army.
He successively participated in the anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Region, the Long March, the Central Plains Breakout, the Menglianggu Campaign, the Laiwu Campaign, the Eastern Henan Campaign, the Huaihai Campaign, and the River Crossing Campaign.
The general also grew from a small soldier of the Red Army to a Red Army company instructor, battalion instructor, commander of the special service regiment of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, commander of the military division, commander of the detachment, deputy commander of the field army, and army commander.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the general successively served as commander of the 24th Army of the People's Liberation Army, commander of the 9th Corps of the Chinese People's Volunteers, deputy commander of the Fujian Military Region, deputy commander of the Fuzhou Military Region, commander of the Lanzhou Military Region, and commander of the Fuzhou Military Region, and participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
In 1955, when the Chinese People's Liberation Army awarded military ranks, Pi Dingjun was initially rated as a major general in East China.
Later, the chairman specially approved under his name: "Pi has merit, Shao Jinzhong", so Pi Dingjun was finally awarded the rank of lieutenant general.
The chairman's preference for Pi Dingjun stemmed from the battle of the "Central Plains Breakout".
On June 27, 1946, General Pi Dingjun was ordered to personally lead more than 7,000 warriors to block about 220,000 Kuomintang troops and cover the main force of our Central Plains Military Region to break through the encirclement of the Kuomintang.
Pi Dingjun led this lone army to fight for 24 days and nights in a row, across the three provinces of Hubei, Henan, and Anhui, experienced 23 battles, large and small, and overcame unimaginable difficulties and obstacles with amazing perseverance.
The troops traveled more than 1,000 kilometers, except for more than 2,000 people who were left behind, separated, and **, the remaining 5,000 people miraculously threw off the Kuomintang army and broke through victoriously!
It can be said that after decades of bullets and bullets, General Pi Dingjun was born and died, passed the test, and finally ushered in the day of victory.
The general and his entourage took a break in Jinzhai County, and the county's ** leaders collectively dispatched to welcome Jinzhai's son, General Pi Dingjun, the people's hero, back to his hometown.
General Pi Dingjun declined the hospitality of the leaders of Jinzhai County, and that night, the general's family stayed at the home of his nephew, Pi Guoguo.
I heard that Pi Dingjun, who had left home as a young man, had returned, and the old and young in the village rushed to tell each other, and they came one after another, and the house and outside of Pi Guoguo's house were crowded with enthusiastic villagers.
Pi Dingjun and the villagers started a homely routine, shushing the cold and asking for warmth, and the excitement was overflowing.
However, the general's wife sensitively felt that her husband was a little uneasy.
It was late at night, and the villagers left one by one.
This night, General Pi Dingjun could not be calm and stayed awake all night.
Early the next morning, the general woke up his wife and children and hurriedly left his hometown after many years of absence.
This was the first time the general returned to his hometown after joining the army, and it was also the last time he returned to his hometown.
The general left in a hurry without saying goodbye, this move was completely unexpected by the villagers, including Pi Guoguo, the villagers in his hometown could not understand, and even had a lot of complaints.
Even his wife couldn't figure out what was going on, and she pressed again and again, but the general remained silent and silent.
It was many years before General Pidinjun told his wife the truth.
The general said, "I also want to stay in my hometown for a few more days, but I want to see the villagers, and I am afraid that they will ......."”
Speaking of this, General Pi Dingjun's eyes moistened, and he choked up and said: "At the beginning, there were 14 fellow villagers who participated in the revolution with me, and all of them died in battle, and I was the only one who was still alive......”
Now, I'm back alive and kicking back, but they ......How can I explain it to the villagers? I can't stand it! ”
The wife finally understood the general's actions that day.
Because the general left his hometown in a hurry that day, the villagers of Daijialing in Jinzhai misunderstood him for many years.
It was not until after the general's death that the general's wife told the truth of the incident, and many family members ......of the martyrs were grief-stricken and wept bitterly
During the war years, generals could not be afraid of life and death, charge against the enemy's bullets, and not shed a single tear even if they were shot and wounded.
However, during the general's lifetime, whenever he mentioned the sacrificed fellow countrymen and comrades-in-arms, the general often burst into tears and was extremely sad.
Anhui Jinzhai Revolutionary Base Area is the hometown of the Red Army, the cradle of generals, here out of the Republic of 59 generals, including 1 general, 8 lieutenant generals, 50 major generals, Jinzhai is therefore known as "the cradle of generals".
In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the civil affairs department had such statistics, and there were 10,408 revolutionary martyrs confirmed in Jinzhai County, accounting for one-fifth of the total number of martyrs in Anhui Province;
A total of 100,000 heroic sons and daughters of Jinzhai County sacrificed their lives for the country, accounting for 40 percent of the county's total population at that time.
In the fiery years of the Chinese Revolution, Jinzhai made a brilliant contribution to the victory of the Chinese Revolution.
Today, the sons and daughters of Jinzhai are fighting on the journey of poverty alleviation, striving to build a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way and write a new chapter of the era in the old revolutionary area!