In 2007, an elderly farmer in Lushi County, Henan Province, was renovating his house when he accidentally found a bullet under the old tiles on the roof. There was no gunpowder in the bullet, just a note with a record of the secrets of the past.
This old farmer's name is Li Mingshan, and he lives in Lushi County, Henan Province. In 2007, Li Mingshan wanted to renovate his family's old house, so he invited the village's engineering team. When the engineering team climbed to the roof to remove the old tiles, they found a bullet buried under the layers of broken tiles.
Three generations of the Li family have been poor peasants, and they have not experienced any major wars here, so why is there a bullet on the roof?
Li Mingshan carefully examined the bullet and found that the bullet had been hollowed out, and there was only a crumpled note inside.
The paper has yellowed due to age, but the handwriting on it is still very clear. It reads crookedly:
Today, I borrowed three catties of salt from Li Damiang's bud valley in Gaohe Village, and the pistol company of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, on the thirteenth day of the winter month of the first year.
It turned out that this was an IOU, and Aunt Li in the IOU was Li Mingshan's grandmother - Xiang Xiaocui.
Li Mingshan didn't know that his grandmother had lent grain to the Red Army, so he could only take a note to his father to ask about the situation.
Li Mingshan's father told him that his mother, Xiang Xiaocui, had told him about it when he was a child, but because he was too young at the time, he could no longer remember where the IOU was hidden, but at that time, he remembered the story of his mother and the Red Army.
In this way, this IOU, which had been buried for more than half a century, was finally unveiled by an old man.
Everything has to start from the year of Jiaxu, which was 1934, when the Kuomintang army carried out the fifth encirclement and suppression operation against the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, and under the influence of Wang Ming's "left-leaning" ideology, our army's fifth anti-encirclement and suppression operation against the Kuomintang army completely failed. After the failure of the anti-encirclement campaign, the Red Army had to make a strategic shift for this.
That is, from this year, our army began the road of the 25,000-mile Long March.
The Long March lasted two years, and the main force of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army achieved a strategic shift from the north and south of the Yangtze River to the regions. During these two years, the Red Army crossed 14 provinces, fought more than 600 battles with local Kuomintang troops and bandits, captured more than 700 county seats, and the Red Army also maintained and sacrificed many young Red Army soldiers, and there were more than 430 cadres above the battalion level, but their average age was less than 30 years old.
Although the Long March greatly damaged the vitality of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, it also left the main force of the Red Army with vital strength and laid the foundation for victory in the future War of Resistance.
In this Long March, the enemies of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army were not only the harsh natural environment, but also the encirclement and interception of the Kuomintang.
In order to attack the Chinese Communist Party, the enemy obstructed the pace of the Long March. They also spread rumors in the provinces and cities where the Chinese Red Army passed, telling the people that the Red Army was "a team that did all kinds of evil," and that if anyone found out that the Red Army was passing by, they must hide or go to the Kuomintang to denounce it.
Although the common people in the north and south of the Yangtze River knew that the Chinese Red Army was a disciplined contingent and would not take a stitch from the masses. However, the Red Army was not yet known in the northern regions, so many ordinary people were blinded by the Kuomintang. Moreover, at that time, it was taboo to help the Red Army, and it was necessary to take considerable risks, and some civilians could be retaliated against by the local Kuomintang troops just by sending things to the Red Army.
It was December, the weather was cold, and it was snowing for several days. Although there is a saying in the countryside that "the snow is a good year", heavy snowfall like this also makes it difficult to walk in the countryside.
At that time, the Red Army troops, who were carrying out the transfer mission, arrived at Lancao Village in Sanmenxia, Henan, and in order to let the team rest and recuperate, the leaders of the army unanimously decided to take the team into the village and station.
There are a total of 17 households in Lancao Village, and they are basically tenants, and the families are hungry and struggling to survive. Moreover, due to the fact that the news in the village was very closed due to the continuous fighting, and so many soldiers with guns came at once, the common people were suddenly stupid.
In troubled times, people in many areas have fallen into the grass and plundered villages. If the village encounters robbery, it is okay, although the ordinary people have no money and food, this winter may not be able to survive, but the whole village takes care of each other, so there is still a way to live; What's even worse is that once an ordinary villager is arrested and becomes a strong man, it is basically a life of nine deaths.
Before the Red Army soldiers could say anything, the young men in the village directly threw down the things in their hands and ran towards the mountains behind the village. And those old and weak women and children who have difficulty moving can't run far, so they can only close the door tightly, for fear of something happening. Among them is Xiang Xiaocui, who has wrapped his little feet.
This unit is China's famous 25th Army, the full name of which is the 25th Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, which was established in October 1931 and is a people's army created by the Communist Party of China in Hubei, Henan and Anhui during the agrarian revolution, and is subordinate to the Red Fourth Front Army.
On the 25,000-mile Long March, the 25th Army was arguably the most special of all the Red Army ranks. We all know that the environment of the Long March was extremely difficult, not only to climb snow-capped mountains and cross grasslands, but also to engage in frequent battles with the Kuomintang army.
After other troops fought against the Kuomintang army, the number of people in the team would become smaller and smaller, but the Red Second and Fifth Army could not only repel the enemy with insufficient vitality and equipment, but also constantly add fresh blood, and the team grew bigger and bigger. Later, it can even continue to replenish the resources of other troops.
After the end of the Long March, the number of the 25th Army was revoked and it was reorganized into the 75th Division of the Army. In 1937, it was reorganized into the 344th Brigade of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and became one of the main brigades of the 115th Division during the Anti-Japanese War.
The commander of the 25th Army is our country's founding general Xu Haidong, who officially joined the Communist Party of China in 1925, participated in the Jute Uprising, and went to Germany to win the two battles of Laoshan and Yulin Bridge; During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he served as the commander of the 344th Brigade of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, participated in the Battle of Pingxingguan, and also carried out guerrilla warfare in North China deep behind enemy lines.
Later, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Xu Haidong became a member of the first National Defense Commission of the People's Republic of China. In 1955, he was awarded the rank of general, and he was praised as a "man who made great contributions to the Chinese revolution" and "a banner of the working class". On March 25, 1970, Xu Haidong died in Zhengzhou.
However, Xu Haidong at this time had a headache, he also heard the propaganda of the Kuomintang along the way, and the common people of that era were afraid of officers and soldiers, and they would not open the door at all when they saw a gun.
But there was no way, the troops had been marching in a hurry for a long time, and the soldiers had basically not eaten a full meal. If this continues, the soldiers' bodies will collapse before the Long March is over.
He could only bite the bullet and send soldiers to knock on the doors of each house, hoping that the local people would provide them with a place to rest, but every house closed its door, and no matter how the Red Army soldiers called, not a single household in the whole village responded.
When he first arrived at the gate of the Li family, no one responded. The Red Army soldiers thought that there was no drama again, but at this time, Li Mingshan's grandmother Xiang Xiaocui opened the door.
The Red Army soldiers identified themselves and told Xiang Xiaocui that they hoped to borrow their family's wheat field to rest for a few days.
The wheat field is a grain field, and Chinese farmers generally build a flat ground in the field, which is used to dry wheat when the farm is busy, or spread the wheat or rice harvested in the field on the ground and use oxen to pull the stone stone to crush the wheat and millet. When the farm is busy, it is used to stack straw. There is also a reason why some peasants habitually put the harvested grain on the road.
Xiang Xiaocui immediately agreed.
Later, according to Xiang Xiaocui's diary, in fact, Xiang Xiaocui didn't want to open the door at first. But in the cracks of the doors and windows, she saw young soldiers standing in the snow in thin winter coats, and she couldn't bear it, so she opened the door and agreed to the Red Army soldiers.
But before Xiang Xiaocui finished speaking, several Red Army soldiers came to help Xiang Xiaocui clean up. A few young men picked up the work and began to work, and with great enthusiasm, they soon cleaned the wheat field and yard.
Xiang Xiaocui felt sorry for these baby soldiers, so she told their leaders that the Red Army Red soldiers could use their own wheat straw stacks on the ground as mats, so that the soldiers could be warm when they slept.
The Red Army soldiers hurriedly thanked them, and after cleaning the wheat fields, the Red Army soldiers went to other villagers' homes to clean up.
Xiang Xiaocui looked at these young Red Army soldiers and slowly found that they were not as brutal as the Kuomintang said, but were very kind to the people. So he ran to the back mountain and told the young people who were hiding to come back quickly.
Slowly, the people who had fled out of fear returned, and the village, which had been deserted, became lively because of this group of enthusiastic Red Army soldiers.
Soon, the homes of the people in the whole village were basically cleaned by the Red Army soldiers, and in addition, the soldiers also volunteered to take care of the helpless old and weak women and children in the village, and help repair the houses.
When it was time for lunch, the Red Army had little food left, so in the end each soldier could only get half a bowl of gruel. When it comes to porridge, it's actually a pot of rice bran, wheat flour and a little salt. But it was such a mush that the Red Army soldiers rarely ate it.
Xiang Xiaocui looked at them and remembered his eldest son who had been taken away. Touching the scene, Xiang Xiaocui fainted on the spot.
When the Red Army soldiers saw Xiang Xiaocui fainting and fell to the ground, they called the military doctor in the team, and finally woke Xiang Xiaocui up, and when he knew about his son, he comforted Xiang Xiaocui and said, Although your son is gone, every soldier in the Red Army is your son.
Later, some fellow villagers saw that the Red Army soldiers were eating poorly and wanted to send some food to the Red Army, but the Red Army did not accept it, because the troops had the discipline of "not taking a stitch from the masses."
"Not taking a stitch from the masses" is a concentrated embodiment of the situation between the army and the people during the revolutionary war, and it has always been an important spirit that has always been consistent in our army. In 1929, the CCP promulgated the "Three Major Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention", which were: not taking a stitch from the masses, returning all seizures to the public, not beating and scolding people, not damaging crops, not molesting women, not abusing prisoners, buying and selling fairly, borrowing things to be returned, and things being damaged must be compensated.
These disciplines were soon promulgated in the ranks of the Communist Party throughout the country, establishing a good reputation for our army among the people, and later becoming an important starting point for the discipline work of the Communist Party of China.
Winters in Henan are unusually cold, and at night, the temperature can be close to minus ten degrees. Xiang Xiaocui originally wanted to invite the Red Army soldiers to rest in the house, but the Red Army soldiers said that there was no way to disturb the discipline of the common people in the army, so Xiang Xiaocui could only invite the Red Army soldiers to rest in their own cowshed.
Xiang Xiaocui found a company commander of the Red Army and said that the soldiers could sleep in their own cowsheds, so that they could have tiles to cover their heads and be warmer.
As soon as the Red Army soldiers heard what the eldest lady said to them, they hurriedly saluted Xiang Xiaocui and thanked him.
It was at this time that a seriously wounded soldier was carried to the door of Xiang Xiaocui's house, and several fighters hoped that Xiang Xiaocui could let the wounded soldier rest on the second floor of their house, and of course, they promised not to touch the things in the house.
Xiang Xiaocui quickly agreed, and immediately let her son go upstairs to clean up a room.
By noon the next day, the Red Army soldiers were just preparing to make a fire to cook, only to find that there was no food left in the ranks. Xiang Xiaocui discovered the difficulties of the Red Army soldiers, and said that he had more than 2,000 catties of corn at home, which could be taken out to feed the soldiers.
The Red Army soldiers refused to accept anything, so they said that they had borrowed five buckets of corn and would return it when they had beaten the landlord's old wealth.
Xiang Xiaocui did not hesitate, and immediately took out five buckets of corn from his cellar to the soldiers, and also said: "There is nothing to borrow or not borrow, so it should be given to the Red Army."
After the soldiers collected the corn, they trotted all the way to the homes of other villagers to borrow stone mills, and some people went up the mountain to collect firewood and cook on the fire, and the younger ones stayed in the village to stand guard and be responsible for guarding.
Soon, the soldiers brought back a lot of bundles of firewood from the mountains, and the soldiers left a bundle for cooking on a fire, and the rest was given to the families of villagers who were willing to lend the Red Army grain and stone mills.
When the soldiers started eating, Xiang Xiaocui brought out a large pot of his own pickled yellow cabbage to the soldiers, saying that he was afraid that the cornmeal would not taste good, so he would eat some sauerkraut to eat.
The soldiers have already borrowed the grain from Xiang Xiaocui's family, so naturally they will no longer eat their sauerkraut, but Xiang Xiaocui is also very stubborn, and he has to let the soldiers take the sour cabbage. The little soldiers in the team had no choice but to run to their battalion commander for instructions. After the instructions, he ran back to Xiang Xiaocui's house before accepting the sour yellow cabbage in Xiang Xiaocui's hand.
Later, the leader of the Red Army went to Xiang Xiaocui's house to borrow salt, and promised Xiang Xiaocui that he would return it with corn in the future. But as soon as Xiang Xiaocui took out the salt, he saw the little soldier behind the chief take out a scale and clearly weigh three catties of salt.
When Li Mingshan's father recalled, he always said that his mother, Xiang Xiaocui, often told them that the discipline of the Red Army was very good.
You must know that in that war-torn era, there were more than 2,000 catties of corn and a large vat of salt at home, which could be said to be a rich family. Moreover, wars are frequent, and the demand for grain on all sides is very large, not only bandits will rob grain, but bullies, homeless people, and even some Kuomintang officers and soldiers will rob the common people of grain, but only the Red Army has never robbed it, and wherever they go, they will also beat up the rich and unkind bandits and bullies, and distribute the fields and grain to the common people. If it were replaced by other forces, it is estimated that even the salt foam would not be left for the common people.
The troops were stationed here for about half a month, during which time they were either cleaning for the villagers, burning fires and chopping firewood, or training on the threshing floor, except for the villagers who were looking for food a few times.
When the troops were about to leave, the local people were very reluctant. The little soldier who was looking for Xiang Xiaocui to borrow food found her again and told her that the army was about to leave, and the food might not have time to be returned, and he originally wanted to give her a little from the local tyrants, but the local tyrants here did not have much food, so the troops did not move them.
However, there is discipline in the troops, and they must pay back the things they take from the common people, and now the conditions of the troops are difficult, so they can only write an IOU first, and when the time comes, when the troops come back, they will return the food to her.
Then he wrote down the IOU and handed it to Xiang Xiaocui.
Although the Red Second and Fifth Army came back again, Xiang Xiaocui did not take out the IOU, but put it in a bullet case and threw it on the roof of the building.
Until 1959, Xiang Xiaocui, who was in his 80s, was lying on the hospital bed and did not mention the matter to anyone.
The news of the bullet casings and IOUs soon spread, and people from all walks of life in society wanted to come to Li Mingshan's house. The reporter wanted to get first-hand news, and there were many collectors who came up with the idea of buying this IOU, and it went all the way to 30,000 yuan.
Not only that, ** also sent someone to find Li Mingshan's family and said that ** was willing to repay Li Mingshan's family five times the amount on the IOU. At the same time, ** also hopes to take this IOU and put it in the 25th Army Memorial Hall for permanent preservation.
In the end, after careful consideration, Li Mingshan gave this IOU to the Red 25th Army Memorial Hall in the form of a free donation, fulfilling the old man's last wish.
Inside the current Red 25th Army Memorial Hall. There is not only this IOU, but also many historical relics that record the hard struggle of the Red Army officers and soldiers. The Red 25th Army Memorial Hall has thus become a bright pearl to commemorate the spirit of China's Long March.
It not only protects the relics left by the Red 25th Army's Long March in the local area, but also makes a major contribution to China's carrying forward the spirit of the Long March and publicizing the glory of the party.
In recent years, more and more historical relics similar to "IOUs" have been excavated among the people, which have not only added a strong touch to the history of China's Long March, but also established in the hearts of the new generation of young people the revolutionary spirit and patriotic feelings of our party and our army who are not afraid of difficulties and hardships.