The centenarian asks on the sickbed: Are everyone safe?
Early one morning in 2015, a centenarian was lying on a bed in the intensive care unit of the Bethune International Peace Hospital in Shijiazhuang. Despite his serious illness and haggard countenance, there was a sparkle of determination in his eyes.
The old man's children gathered around the bedside, and they all understood that the old man's time was running out, and their hearts were filled with heavy sadness. Suddenly, the old man's expression became a little nervous, he clung to the sheets, stared at the ceiling, and asked in a weak voice, "Are our people safe?" ”
Hearing this question, the children were stunned for a moment, and then immediately replied: "Dad, don't worry, they are all safe." Hearing this, the old man's nervousness was relieved, and he no longer clung to the sheets.
A smile appeared on his face, and he said with some pride, "You know what? Yesterday we eliminated more than a dozen devils! The old man's daughter whispered, "Father, you are hallucinating again, these things are too impressive for you......"Who is this old man?
He actually remembered the killing of devils during his serious illness, could it be that he was once a veteran of the Anti-Japanese War? He is Major General Zeng Mei, a 16-year-old Red Army soldier who came out of Xingguo, Jiangxi.
He left us on January 31, 2015, but what he left us with is the legend of his life.
In the last years of General America, he often recalled the past. We can't get a glimpse of the scenes he had in his dreams, or the battles he remembered or the memories of his heroic killings.
But perhaps, he recalled the cruelty of the bloody battle on the Xiangjiang River; Perhaps, he recalled the small two-story building chosen for the Zunyi Conference; Or perhaps, he recalled the joyful ...... of fighting devils on the battlefieldWe don't know any of this, but we can feel his life from the legendary experience of the old general.
Zeng Mei was born in 1914 in a poor peasant family in Wuyuan Village, Xingguo County, and he was the fourth of five children. In desperation, the three elder brothers went to work as apprentices in a firecracker shop in the town, and Zeng Mei was passed to a wealthy family in another village at the age of 8.
However, in 1927, ** came to Jinggangshan with the troops of the Autumn Harvest Uprising, and later ** also came up with troops, and the two sides were combined into the Red Fourth Army.
In 1929, a company of the Independent Regiment of the Red Army came to Xingguo. The Red Army was propagating its ideas in the rejuvenation of the country, and the people had a general understanding of them. Soon after, the Red Army fought local tyrants and divided the land in Xingguo, and wherever the Red Army went, it was warmly welcomed by the people.
In April 1930, the Red Army held a meeting in Xingguo County, calling on the masses to rise up and make a revolution. Zeng Mei, who had heard the news a long time ago, rushed from the countryside to the county seat early in the morning, eager to see the demeanor of Commissar Mao.
After arriving at the venue, Zeng Mei was infected by the atmosphere there, and saw the costumes of the Red Army soldiers, the octagonal hats they wore and the five-pointed stars on the octagonal hats......Zeng Mei was deeply moved.
Listening to everyone singing in unison, "To be a soldier is to be a Red Army," he was so excited that he signed up for the Red Army shortly after the conference. Zeng Mei, who was only 16 years old, became a soldier in the second platoon and sixth squad of the second company of the special service battalion of the Red Fourth Army.
Less than a month after joining the army, he fought for the first time in his life. In this battle, the troops completely annihilated the enemy, captured some **, and the pike dart in his hand was finally replaced by a rifle.
Zeng Mei has always performed well, not only for her bravery in battle, but also for her recognition in the troops. In 1931, he joined the Komsomol and the following year became a member of the Communist Party.
His ingenuity and excellence led him to be selected to study in the Cadre Surveying Class. Since joining the army, Zeng Mei has participated in five anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaigns and has shown outstanding combat talent.
Therefore, the troops decided to train him as a senior officer. In April 1934, Zeng Mei was appointed as a staff officer of the Operations Section of the General Headquarters of the Red Army. In just four years, he was promoted from a small soldier to an operational staff officer of the General Headquarters of the Red Army, which took great effort and sweat.
He not only needs to have excellent combat ability, but also needs to have a certain command foundation and knowledge reserve. Despite Tsengmei's desire to contribute to the revolutionary cause and help the troops achieve victory, the Red Army faced many difficulties.
Due to their small numbers and poor equipment, and being surrounded by the enemy, the Red Army had to retreat. In October 1934, in the face of the Kuomintang's "encirclement and suppression", the Red Army began the Long March.
Zeng Mei followed the ** agency from Ruijin to Yudu, preparing to go west to Hunan. Although he worked in the General Headquarters of the Red Army, he did not know the specific destination of the Red Army.
At that time, people did not know that this was a long march that spanned more than a dozen provinces, but they kept saying that they would be transferred. Zeng Mei remembered that when she left Ruijin, many people rushed to see her off, and everyone had a little sadness on their faces, and some even cried.
Some of the people took their hands and begged them to return. At that moment, Zeng Mei realized that she really had to leave the **Soviet area. As a native of Jiangxi, his reluctance to his hometown is indescribable.
What Zeng Mei didn't expect was that since he left Ruijin that time, he had not returned until the liberation of the country, and his longing for his hometown could only be buried deep in his heart. During the Red Army's Long March, they broke through several enemy blockade lines along the way and paid huge sacrifices.
There were more than 80,000 people when they set out, and when they arrived in Zunyi, Guizhou, there were only about 30,000 people left. In January 1935, the Red Army conquered Zunyi, and Zeng Mei was stationed in the old city with the ** column.
Little did he know that he would be a witness and participant in an important meeting. Soon after arriving in Zunyi, ** found him: "Xiao Zeng, there is a big mansion in the city, go and reconnoitre." ”
After Zeng Mei received the task, she immediately acted and quickly found Bai Huizhang Mansion. She found that there was only one janitor in the mansion, and after confirming her identity, the janitor led her into the mansion.
The interior layout of the mansion is clear, with houses on the left and south sides, pickle jars on the right, large kitchens in the middle, living rooms in the middle, and large rooms along the stairs on the left.
After Zeng Mei saw the layout here, she was full of emotion: "This is an ideal military station!" She reported these situations and her own views to ***, and was agreed.
Subsequently, the Operations Section moved into this small building and set up a war room, where Zeng Mei and his office worked. Soon, some leaders of the first class moved in one after another, and the Zunyi meeting was also held on the second floor of that small building.
At that time, there were eight operational staff officers, and they were on duty downstairs in shifts in groups of two, and they could not disturb the meetings upstairs unless there was an emergency. Zeng Mei remembered that the meeting started at three or four o'clock in the afternoon every day and lasted until late at night, for three consecutive days.
After that, the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army conveyed the spirit of the meeting to all the cadres and fighters of the units directly under the Military Commission. When Zeng Mei knew that *** came out to command the military again, she was so excited that she kept applauding, her face was full of joy, and her confidence increased a lot.
At present, the Zunyi Conference Memorial Hall still retains the list of participants who participated in the meeting, and in the restored "War Room of the Red Army Headquarters", the names of Zeng Mei and other eight staff officers are still hung on the wall.
Zeng Mei, the old Red Army, has always called *** Vice Chairman Zhou, which is the position he held before and after the Long March. On April 15, 1934, Zeng Mei was appointed as an operational staff officer, and he first met *** with a long beard at the time, looking serious and serious, but after contact, he found that he was very kind.
Zeng Mei is responsible for sorting out military intelligence for reference, and they basically live and work together. Zeng Mei thinks that *** is very remarkable, not only kind and sincere, not afraid of hardship, but also very serious in her work.
During the Long March, ** acted with the army during the day, handled work at night, often worked late at night, and sometimes stayed up all night, Zeng Mei could often see his bloodshot eyes.
When marching, they rarely rode horses and usually walked with warriors. He was overworked and his body was getting thinner and thinner. Once, Zeng Mei and others couldn't bear to wake up *** and wait for him to wake up before sending a telegram, and ** severely criticized them after learning about it.
After the victory of the Long March, Zeng Mei wanted to change his name to "Zeng Meide", but he was a little hesitant, ** after hearing about it, he suggested that he remove the word "De" and call it "Zeng Mei", which is a good name.
Zeng Mei, a name that was used until Zeng Mei's death, carries a deep Shijiazhuang feeling behind this name. Zeng Mei has spent decades in Shijiazhuang, and after her retirement, Zeng Mei's heart is full of joy every time she sees the new changes in Shijiazhuang.
Zeng Mei's love for Shijiazhuang has been integrated into his life and heart. Zeng Mei was the political commissar of the Hebei Provincial Military Region and an important figure who participated in the liberation of Shijiazhuang. In the battle to liberate Shijiazhuang, Zeng Mei served as the commander of the 1st Independent Brigade of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, and personally commanded the troops to surround Shijiazhuang and prepare for the final general attack.
Zeng Mei originally thought that he was just a supporting role, but he didn't expect that there was an important task waiting for him. After receiving the order, Zeng Mei felt a lot heavier on her shoulders. The Daguocun airfield was the enemy's only air passage and lifeblood for reinforcements, and taking it was crucial to liberate Shijiazhuang.
In order to hold this passage, the enemy deployed heavy forces and various defensive facilities. After the battle began, Zeng Mei made a deployment, the first regiment attacked the airport, the second regiment assisted, and was responsible for cleaning the perimeter of the airport, and the third regiment served as a reserve.
The battle lasted from early morning to afternoon, and Zeng Mei led his team to take the two large pillboxes outside the airport with great difficulty. However, the enemy relied on aircraft to launch a counterattack against them, and the battle was scorched.
Zeng Mei understood that victory could only be achieved by fighting hard, and he gave the troops a death order: "Even if there is one person left, you must hold on to the end!" ”
Zeng Mei, a heroic warrior, in order to liberate Shijiazhuang, he was not afraid of life and death, constantly attacking the enemy's planes and blowing up the enemy's reinforcement channels. His orders raised the morale of the soldiers, and commanders at all levels took the importance of the battle very seriously.
In the end, the enemy's stubborn resistance was defeated by the tenacious will of the PLA, and at dawn the next day, the PLA successfully broke through the last line of defense, and a large number of enemies threw down ** and fled in the direction of Shijiazhuang.
In the first battle of Daguocun Airport, Zeng Mei completed the task of cutting off the enemy's escape channel and made great contributions to the liberation of Shijiazhuang, for which he also won the first meritorious award. Zeng Mei organized nearly 100 battles during the Anti-Japanese War and eliminated a large number of enemies, including battles in Shanxi and Hebei.
He also organized and arranged to set up a revolutionary base in Wutai Mountain, Shanxi, where he gave full play to the strength of the masses, encouraged the poor peasants to rise up against Japan, inspired the people, and organized a guerrilla force of more than 100 people in a short period of time.
During the Liberation War, Zeng Mei participated in many important battles, including the Battle of Taiyuan, the Battle of Gubeikou and the Battle of Pingjin. He has been shuttling through the rain of bullets for nearly two decades, and his body is covered in scars.
Even in his later years, when he conducted a physical examination, he found that there were still several pieces of shrapnel in his skull, and even he did not know when he was injured. Zeng Mei has experienced a lot of life and death partings, he looks down on a lot, and he is very satisfied with his current life.
He said: "So many comrades-in-arms who fought with me have died, I can survive, what is not satisfied?" After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zeng Mei served as the chief of the operations department of the North China Military Region Command, the deputy chief of staff of the Beijing-Tianjin Garrison Command, and later served as the deputy commander-in-chief of the National Day military parade.
Zeng Mei treasured a photo album containing chronological **, each with a detailed description. Among them, his favorite military parade in Tiananmen Square **, which he took during the National Day parade in 1955, the People's Liberation Army wore military ranks to participate in the parade for the first time, and the navy, land and air force and national leaders were all present.
This military parade was very successful, and it was inseparable from Zeng Mei's careful arrangement and the hard training of the soldiers. In 1955, Zeng Mei was awarded the rank of major general in recognition of his dedication and sacrifice in the revolution.
Later, he was transferred to the political commissar of the Hebei Provincial Military Region and worked in Shijiazhuang for 16 years, during which his five children grew up and participated in the work. Despite her high position, Zeng Mei always told his children to rely on themselves and not interfere in their work or marriage.
He was also very polite to his in-laws, and maintained the advanced nature of a Communist Party member. In 2013, to celebrate his 100th birthday, Zeng Mei wrote the words "My life belongs to the people".
He sacrificed his life for the revolution and fought all his life for the cause of the party, and even when he was seriously ill and hospitalized, he still cared about the revolution and the safety of the party. His heart was always burning with a burning sense of enthusiasm and firm belief in the revolution, and until the last moment of his life, he was still worried about the success or failure of the revolutionary cause.
He was a true revolutionary who sacrificed his life and selflessly for the cause of the party, and deserves to be remembered and emulated forever.