"I will not be cremated after I die", at 16:57 on October 22, 1985, 81-year-old Xu Shiyou died of illness, This sentence, which he has said countless times, has become a heavy stone in the heart of ***, and later he personally made instructions:After Xu Shiyou's death, no funeral or monument was erected.
Xu Shiyou. Xu Shiyou is a general, why is the funeral specification after his death not as good as that of a major general? Why was this instruction made, and what kind of secrets are buried in it? Let's take a look today.
Xu Shiyou's military talents are known to everyone, he has been from squad leader to commander, ** I have heard his name when I first met Xu Shiyou during the Long March.
Xu Shiyou is straightforward, daring to fight, and resourceful。During the anti-encirclement and suppression period, Xu Shiyou participated in the death squad seven times, although he was wounded four times, but he was still indomitable, he led the soldiers to break through the siege of the enemy's strength and weakness, and led the Fourth Army of the Red Fourth Front Army to fight with the enemy for two days and two nights during the Long March, and finally won a great victory in this battle, and the total annihilation of the enemy army opened the door to march to Gannan. He participated in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, and was the founding general of China.
He was awarded the rank of general, the 1st Class August 1 Medal, the 1st Class Independent Freedom Medal, the 1st Class Liberation Medal, and was the Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, the Commander of the Nanjing Military Region, the Commander of the Guangzhou Military Region, the Vice Minister of National Defense, and the ...... member of the Standing Committee of the ** Military Commission of the Communist Party of ChinaBut such a general, he always has guilt in his heart, he once said that in his career, he will follow *** all his life, but in filial piety, he is ashamed of his mother.
Xu Shiyou was born in Xujiawa, Xinyang City, Henan Province, which was a peasant family with many brothers and sisters in the family. What's even more difficult is that Xu Shiyou's father died early, and his mother took care of the family alone, and life was very hardXu Shiyou saw it in his eyes and remembered it in his heart, but because he was still young and couldn't make any money at all, Xu Shiyou worked as a handyman at a martial arts master at a young age, and went to Shaolin Temple to learn martial arts at the age of 8.
But it is precisely because of this that Xu Shiyou was forced to be separated from his mother since he was a child, and his thoughts and love for his mother can only be buried in his heart.
After growing up, Xu Shiyou left home to join the army, and his mother stayed in his hometown to continue to take care of the house. But it was an unpeaceful era, Xu Shiyou went out to participate in ** provoked some people, causing this group of people known as the "Qingxiang Group" to arrest Xu Shiyou's mother and detain him, wanting to know about Xu Shiyou from his mother's mouth, but his mother was tight-lipped and tortured.
When Xu Shiyou learned the news and rescued his mother, he saw his mother's bruised appearance, Xu Shiyou was heartbroken, as a son, he couldn't stay by his mother's side, causing his mother to be blamed like this, he felt guilty and swore that he must give his mother a stable life in this life!
With the passage of time, the war has not ended, Xu Shiyou misses his mother deeply and deeply, he can't leave the army, because he understands his mission, so it was not until after the founding of the People's Republic of China that Xu Shiyou saw his mother after many years of absence.
At that time, New China needed to be built, and Xu Shiyou could not go to his hometown to pick up his mother to Beijing in person, so he sent someone to pick up his mother and live in the army. But when his mother arrived in Beijing, Xu Shiyou looked at the person in front of him with gorgeous hair and a rickety waist, and when there was no impression of the appearance, the seven-foot man burst into tears, he rushed over and grabbed his mother's hand tightly and knelt directly in front of her, only heard crying for a while, when he was injured on the battlefield, Xu Shiyou never shed a single tear, but today he can no longer hold back.
Xu Shiyou's mother also cried for a long time when she saw her son like this, but it didn't take long for her to realize that her son was now a general, and how embarrassing it was to kneel in front of her in front of so many soldiers, so she insisted on pulling her son up. But Xu Shiyou refused, he said that he had been away from home for so many years and had failed to fulfill his filial piety, so let him kneel for a while today!
Xu Shiyou wanted to fulfill his filial piety, but his mother had worked hard all her life, and she was suddenly not used to living a quiet life, so after living in the army for more than a month, his mother returned to her hometown.
Since then, he has had few opportunities to see his mother. In 1959, Xu Shiyou passed by the house once on official business, and his 74-year-old mother was collecting firewood and feeding pigs, which made Xu Shiyou even more mixed. Not long after, his mother was critically ill, and Xu Shiyou was unable to rush back in time to see the old man for the last time because of official business, and saw him off for the end, which finally became the biggest regret in Xu Shiyou's heart.
Xu Shiyou once said: "Loyalty and filial piety are in a dilemma, he failed to serve his mother well during his lifetime, and when he dies, he must be buried next to his mother to guard her grave." ”
Xu Shiyou wants to be buried next to his mother is not easy to do, after the founding of New China, with the increase in population, the contradiction between land and population has gradually become acute, ** in order to save land, a vigorous reform was carried out, and the original burial was changed to cremation.
In China's old thought, people are to be buried when they die, and the old saying is good "to enter the soil for peace", probably because China's thousand-year-old agricultural development has given the Chinese children a unique emotion for the land, and the ability to retain a complete body after death is also to leave a little thought for future generationsNow it is not easy to change this deep-rooted thinking, so the leader took the lead and signed his name on the cremation proposal.
For this reason, he specially went to ***'s office and asked *** to bury him.
He gave up all his wishes, because he left home since he was a child, and he failed to fulfill his filial piety for his mother in this life, so he hoped that he could be buried next to his mother in the way of burial after death and guarded the grave for him.
**After listening to Xu Shiyou's words, his brows furrowed, he didn't want to oppose Xu Shiyou's wishes, but remembered his mother. At the beginning, he went out to study and participated in reforms, and he came to this day step by step, why is it not like Xu Shiyou, who failed to fulfill his filial piety by his mother's side? But he is the chairman of a country, he must set an example for the country, and Xu Shiyou, as a general, can have this filial piety, ** I feel that I can't force Xu Shiyou to sign the cremation proposal.
In this way, Xu Shiyou got ***'s approval, and his hanging heart finally settled. He had already arranged his own funeral, and he knew that his burial was contrary to the policy pursued by the state, so he told his son to wait for him to be simple in a hundred years. Xu Shiyou gave his son Xu Guang 50 yuan, and asked him to use the money to buy a coffin for himself, and then he could dress himself casually, as long as he could be buried next to his mother.
thought that this was the end of the matter, but in 1976, ** died, and Xu Shiyou was worried that his burial would be rejected, so he applied to ** again。His application was naturally taken seriously, the rule is that the dead are alive, ** I have known General Xu Shiyou for most of my life, how could I not understand his thoughts? But there must be a complete coping strategy.
Xu Shiyou is eighty years old, and his life is about to come to an end, he knows that birth, old age, sickness and death are the only ways in life, so he is very calm, but he has been waiting for the information of **, waiting for the information of ** approving his burial, he wants to accompany his mother!
On October 22, 1985, Xu Shiyou passed away, and ** finally made a final decision.
"Do it as such, not as an example. "This is the eight big characters that *** wrote on the report after Xu Shiyou's death, and the news was brought back to the Nanjing Military Region by **, after all, it was as General Xu Shiyou's last wish!
Subsequently, the funeral of General Xu Shiyou was held in secret.
Xu Shiyou's son Xu Guang bought a few pine trees with the 50 yuan given by his father and some money from his own subsidy, and built a coffin for Xu Shiyou, and originally thought that he would just put it in the coffin according to what his father said. But who knows, after falling ill, General Xu Shiyou's whole body was swollen, and the coffin prepared in advance could not be placed.
General You Taizhong, who learned the news, immediately sent people to the primeval forest of Guangxi to harvest two hundred-year-old nanmu, which were transported directly to Nanjing around the clock, and then sent to the factory to make excellent nanmu coffins. General You Taizhong is General Xu Shiyou's old subordinate, and he has respected his old chief all his life, how could he stand idly by.
On the afternoon of October 31, 1985, the farewell ceremony of General Xu Shiyou's body was held in the auditorium of the Nanjing Military Region. Because you can't hold a funeral and can't erect a monumentXu Shiyou's coffin was silent when it set off from Nanjing to Xu Jiawa, Hepu Village, Tianpu Township, Xinxian County, Henan Province, and even the local people wanted to come forward to greet them after getting the news.
In order to keep a lower profile, the Nanjing Military Region specially chose to send the funeral in the early hours of the morning. On this day, there were no people on the long street, no military music and firecrackers, only a few jeeps and soldiers in military uniforms, Xu Shiyou was a respected good general, the soldiers stood quietly aside, and finally bid farewell to General Xu Shiyou.
General Xu Shiyou's cemetery is condescending, located 31 kilometers from the county seat, just to guard his mother's tomb, this is a specially selected place, in order to meet General Xu Shiyou's pure heart! When General Xu Shiyou's coffin arrived, the sappers who had been waiting for a long time began to work, and there was no sound in all directions, only the sound of the collision of soil and shovels, and the burial ceremony of General Xu Shiyou ended in just over half an hour.
Everyone stood in Xu Jiawa in the early hours of the morning, looking at this new tomb without a tombstone in the cemetery, his eyes were slightly red, this was the last time he saw the old chief, and he would watch over his hometown here in the future and accompany his mother.
**。The soldiers also knew that this decision was made for the good of General Xu Shiyou, so there was never any objection, but what they didn't expect was that many people did not object. Even though the whole funeral was silent, many people still spontaneously went to Xu Shiyou's tomb to mourn, and everyone used this way to thank Xu Shiyou for his contribution to China in this life, and they put General Xu Shiyou's favorite liquor in front of the tomb, just to express their grief.
As more and more people went to the tomb of General Xu Shiyou to pay their respects, ** made a request to erect a tombstone for General Xu Shiyou a year later, and this request was granted。So in front of General Xu Shiyou's tomb, there is an additional stone tablet with "Comrade Xu Shiyou's Tomb", and there is no past meritorious work of General Xu Shiyou's life on the stele, but this is enough, General Xu Shiyou has not pursued these false names in his life.
General Xu Shiyou, who has been in Rong Ma's life all his life, finally got what he wanted, and the country would not treat such a hero badly, and there was no problem with the original decision-making.