In 1975, the death of Xiong Botao, the founding major general, at the General Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army in Beijing, left his wife, Li Wen, grieving and confused. Because General Xiong Botao only went to the hospital as usual**, and there were no critical symptoms, and the hospital did not give a critical illness notice to his relatives, why did he pass away suddenly?
In order to reveal the truth about General Xiong Botao's death, the hospital hopes to conduct an autopsy on General Xiong Botao. However, after careful consideration, Ms. Li Wen politely rejected the hospital's proposal.
As a wife, in addition to her grief over her husband's death, she clearly longs to know the true cause of her husband's death. So why did Ms. Levine give up on the autopsy at the last minute?
What kind of secret is hidden behind this? In the 70s of the last century, China was in a special turbulent period. General Xiong Botao was not spared in this wave, but he was in a much better position than many of his comrades-in-arms and was able to continue to work in Beijing.
With the death of his comrades-in-arms one after another, General Xiong Botao's later life was full of loneliness and loneliness. One day in 1974, while working in the office, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest, clutched his chest and collapsed on the table, and it took a long time to recover.
It so happened that his secretary came into the office to get documents, saw his condition, and immediately took him to the PLA General Hospital. After the doctor's examination, he found that he had advanced lung cancer, and when he was told the news, he was stunned at first, then nodded, accepted the painkiller, and went home with his secretary.
Although Xiong Botao was unharmed after overcoming the disease, he was not afraid of the incident. Years of war had made him accustomed to death. Countless of his comrades-in-arms began to die in the early days of the revolution, and until now, he can occasionally hear the bad news of his old comrades-in-arms.
In Xiong Botao's eyes, death is just a way to reunite with old comrades. Although the Communists firmly believe in atheism, as the Marshal wrote before the crisis: "Go to Quantai to recruit the old department, and take the banner of 100,000 to kill Yama", romanticism is also one of the necessary qualities of the Communists.
As time passed, General Xiong Botao's condition gradually worsened. Faced with her husband who was suffering from illness, Xiong Botao's wife, Ms. Li Wen, looked around for a way.
After unremitting efforts, she got a prescription from an old Chinese medicine doctor. After Xiong Botao took the decoction according to the prescription, Xiong Botao's condition was indeed alleviated as the old Chinese medicine doctor said.
Although doctors had diagnosed that he would only live for half a year at most, Xiong Botao was not defeated by lung cancer. Half a year later, he was not only conscious, but also able to continue working. After six months of torture, he became thinner.
Since he was diagnosed with lung cancer in the hospital, Xiong Botao has come to the PLA General Hospital for a follow-up every month and a half.
In October 1975, when General Xiong Botao underwent a routine physical examination, he found that the doctors who gave him ** had been replaced by two young doctors, and the operation of medical equipment was not proficient.
When asked about General Xiong Botao's medication, he learned that the origin of the Chinese medicine he was taking was unknown, so a doctor advised him to stop taking it and prescribed some hormone drugs.
However, General Xiong Botao passed out due to lung pain shortly after taking the new medicine, and remained unconscious after being resuscitated. Eventually, he died in the hospital at the age of 71.
When the news of General Xiong Botao's death came, his family was deeply saddened. Li Wen was very puzzled by this sudden news, because a week ago, General Xiong Botao's state seemed to be fine, how could he die suddenly?
In addition, until General Xiong Botao's death, the hospital never informed the family that Xiong's condition was critical. In the face of Ms. Li Wen's doubts, the hospital could not explain.
In order to find out the real cause of General Xiong Botao's death, the hospital made a proposal to Ms. Li Wen: as long as she signed her consent, the hospital could conduct an autopsy on General Xiong Botao in the hope of finding the exact cause of death.
After hearing the proposal of the person in charge of the hospital, Ms. Li Wen did not immediately agree. She pondered for a long time in the hospital office, and finally decided to abandon the autopsy, hoping that the hospital would arrange Xiong Botao's cremation as soon as possible.
At the last moment when she learned the cause of her husband's death, why did Ms. Li Wen give up again? It turned out that she understood the pressure on the hospital side during this special turbulent time. She had accompanied General Xiong Botao's attending physician to the hospital for examination, but the doctor with excellent medical skills was no longer in the PLA General Hospital.
The old couple didn't need to ask to know the reason, the doctor was branded as a "capitalist roader" by the young generals, and was forced to be sent to the local government. But the hospital is operating as usual, and the vacant positions for doctors can only be filled by medical students or interns in the school.
She knew what that meant and gave up, perhaps to give the hospital more opportunities to discover and train young doctors.
Although these replacements were quick to take over, they did not receive full theoretical training and were not placed behind experienced doctors as assistants, which undoubtedly had serious consequences.
In fact, this situation was very common and even widespread across the country at the time. Fearing that the two young doctors, or even students, would be implicated, Ms. Li Wen finally chose to give up the opportunity to learn the truth.
She put aside her grief for the time being, simply dealt with the aftermath for Xiong Botao, and then went home. According to common sense, when a major general of the republic dies, the ** Military Commissar should give condolences.
However, during that period, many of Xiong Botao's life and death comrades-in-arms did not even have the opportunity to express their hearts. Xiong Botao and Li Wen's lives have always been very simple, leaving almost nothing to remember.
Today, Li Wen wipes several photo frames every day, reminiscing about the years he spent with his wife. ** They are the precious memories left by the Great Hall of the People in 1959 when celebrating the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
At that time, the ** Military Commission formed a choir composed of all generals, including Han Xianchu, Xie Fuzhi, Li Zhimin and other famous generals of the republic, and General Xiong Botao was also one of them, and he was also responsible for reciting poetry alone.
That year, the Great Hall of the People had just been completed. In order to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was proposed that the 10th anniversary of the National Day be held in the Great Hall of the People, and this proposal was agreed by all comrades.
On October 1st, as the birthday of the motherland, not only the leaders of the world, but also communist fighters from all over the world gathered in the Great Hall of the People, the flame of communism is spreading around the world, the people of the world are unprecedentedly united, and the victory of the revolution seems to be just around the corner.
In order to celebrate this special day, the ** Military Commission specially formed a choir composed of 230 generals of the Republic, with General Tang Yanshu as the leader, General Li Zhimin as the conductor, and General Xiong Botao as the reciter by virtue of his excellent voice conditions.
At the evening party, the "General Choir" brought four wonderful performances to everyone, in addition to the three military songs, the final closing program was the whole chorus "We must plant the banner of victory in Taiwan".
The choir led by General Xiong Botao moved the audience in the Great Hall with an emotional singing, and even *** applauded many times, and ** followed the rhythm and beat and hummed gently.
Although Khrushchev could not understand the lyrics, he was still infected by the atmosphere of the scene. After asking for a translator, he said to ***: "You will definitely succeed." This celebration was one of the happiest moments of Xiong Botao's life, and he believes that it is comparable to the victory of the Long March, the surrender of Japan, and the founding of New China.
The ** he placed at home recorded the wonderful moments of him and his comrades-in-arms in the choir rehearsal and the day of the party. Although many people are familiar with the story of the choir of 230 generals, they do not know that General Xiong Botao almost missed out on the choir.
When the medal was awarded in 1955, the ** Military Commission did not intend to award Xiong Botao the rank of general. At that time, most PLA generals already knew about the upcoming military rank before the official awarding of the title.
However, not everyone was satisfied. Several of Xiong's comrades-in-arms were particularly dissatisfied, because they had visited all sides and had not found any information about Xiong's rank, which usually meant that he did not have the rank of general.
Without Xiong Botao's knowledge, someone put forward his opinion to the ** Military Commission. They believe that Xiong Botao joined the party 26 years ago, experienced the Long March, fought against the Japanese army in Shanxi, and beat the Kuomintang army in the War of Liberation.
Xiong Botao, a real veteran Communist Party member, is enough to confer the rank of lieutenant general on his military exploits and qualifications. He survived both the Great ** and the Long March, but now he doesn't even have the title of major general.
* The Military Commissar has also thought about his rank many times, because his situation is a little more complicated than the average person. During the Long March, he was punished and expelled from the party, and although he was reinstated shortly after, the experience cannot be erased.
So, why was Xiong Botao expelled from the party? This goes back to his early revolutionary career.
Xiong Botao was born in 1904 in Huangpi, Hubei, to a small businessman who was not a wealthy businessman, but lived a wealthier life than the average family. This allowed Xiong Botao to obtain an educational opportunity that was extremely valuable at that time.
While in school, he came into contact with advanced Marxist ideas and immediately decided to devote himself to the revolutionary cause of the motherland. In 1926, Xiong Botao joined the Communist Party of China, but unfortunately, soon after he joined the party organization, Chiang Kai-shek launched the "April 12 Congress" that shocked China and foreign countries
In this great battle, countless heroic and resolute communists and revolutionary fighters died heroically under the butcher's knife of the Kuomintang reactionaries. Xiong Botao was fortunate to escape Chiang Kai-shek's liquidation because he had not been in the party for a long time, but he also lost contact with the organization.
After losing contact, Xiong Botao joined Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army. In the Northwest Army, Xiong Botao did not give up hope, and he always actively and covertly searched for revolutionary comrades.
In 1931, Xiong Botao re-established contact with the party and subsequently participated in the Ningdu Uprising, returning to the ranks of the Red Army.
In 1933, Xiong Botao was appointed chief of staff of the Second Red Division by virtue of his outstanding military exploits. However, the beginning of the Long March changed his situation. Due to the expansion of the correction of the left-leaning erroneous line, Xiong Botao was also implicated.
Having lost contact with the party organization and serving in Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army, his situation was complicated. In the end, he was removed from all positions, expelled from the party, and could only remain in the ranks of the Red Army as an ordinary soldier.
In Yan'an, some of the mistakes of the Red Army during the Long March were corrected, including the handling of Xiong Botao. Xiong Botao was readmitted as a party member and returned to the 2nd Red Division.
Subsequently, Xiong Botao repeatedly expressed to the organization his willingness to fight in the front-line troops. Finally, in 1938, his wish was fulfilled, and he left Yan'an for the Shanxi battlefield, where he served as chief of staff in General Yang Chengwu's troops.
Xiong Botao always adhered to a strong will to fight and a warm revolutionary spirit in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation. He served as chief of staff to General Yang Chengwu and General Li Tianyou, both of whom were awarded the rank of general in '55.
When Yang Chengwu and Li Tianyou learned that Xiong Botao had not obtained the general star, they expressed their confusion to the ** Military Commission. Finally, after comprehensive consideration, although Xiong Botao had the experience of joining the Northwest Army and also had the experience of being expelled from the party, he was always a staunch communist and fought for the reunification of the country and the unity of the nation.
Therefore, the Military Commission decided to confer the rank of Major General on Xiong Botao.
After the comrades-in-arms learned of the results, their joy was overflowing, and they all expressed their desire to invite Xiong Botao and other old comrades-in-arms to drink to celebrate. For their enthusiasm, Xiong Botao was indifferent, he said: "We are still alive, this is the greatest luck."
Compared with those comrades who died heroically, what qualifications do we have to compete for military ranks? This indifferent attitude towards fame and fortune, modesty and affinity did not allow him to be treated too unfairly during the special period.
Xiong Botao was deeply angry at the behavior of some people, but he was powerless to change it, so he could only stick to his principles and not go along with them. Under his influence, his wife and children also inherited this valuable quality.
Therefore, after Xiong Botao's death, his wife, Ms. Li Wen, decided to give up the autopsy and give up the opportunity to know the truth. Because Li Wen knew that if she insisted on investigating, then the last two young doctors would definitely be responsible for it.
After the death of General Xiong Botao, his children always remembered their father's teachings: "Be down-to-earth and do everything you can." And it is the dedication of countless selfless proletarian revolutionaries like General Xiong Botao that has finally enabled our country to lift the dark clouds and move forward.