Chapter 2 Chapter 1 Family background and adolescence

Gao Gang, formerly known as Chongde, styled Shuoqing.In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, when the sea was raging and wars were frequent, on September 2, 1905, he was born in the hometown of Li Zicheng, the leader of the peasant uprising, a poor peasant family in Gaojiagou Village, Wuzhen Township, Hengshan County, Shaanxi Province. His residence is located in Gaojiagou The "Little Basin" sits on a north-south sunny slope and is a three-hole earthen cave dwelling with one door and two sides.Surrounded by majestic and steep mountains on all sides, the mouth of the ditch is narrow, like a bottleneck. A loess mound in the center of the valley rises from the ground, about 20 meters high. The flagpole, the bottom of the ditch from west to east, two streams flowing in two gullies, embracing the mound and converging, like a mother selflessly dedicating her milk and nurturing her offspring.Gao Gang's ancestors fled famine hundreds of years ago and settled here, working hard to make a living.

Gao Gang's grandfather, Gao Wanzhi, made his living by relying on Tuge Taling.He had three sons, Gao Gang's father was the eldest son, named Gao Zhonglai, the second Gao Zhongkui, and the third Gao Zhongfa (died in the plague that occurred in northern Shaanxi in 1930). Gao Zhonglai's father's generation has been farming for generations.When I was young, my family was poor and lacked food and clothing, so I worked hard with my father to manage the house.When his father died, he owed a lot of debt to the wealthy landlords.The two younger brothers did not start a family either, and the burden of the whole family fell on the shoulders of his elder brother.The debtor kicked down the threshold all day long, stayed on for ten and a half months, and couldn't even afford to eat and drink, so how could he have the money to pay off the debt.Unable to bear the debt, he pawned part of the life-saving cultivated land to pay off the debt.The second brother, Gao Zhongkui, has been working for the rich for many years, working for the rich during the day and working for the family at night.The children of the poor were in charge of the family early, and Zhonglai replaced his father with his brother, raised his two younger brothers, married a wife and started a family, and separated the family and started a business.He only has ten dong (3 mu in northern Shaanxi is 1 yi) thin land. He is busy farming and working, driving donkeys to transport in slack, selling salt and pouring wine, buying porcelain from Li Jiqian (formerly Li Jiqian village) and transporting them to Sanbian for food In exchange for reselling wine, he still works as a dental record at the Wujiapo (now Wuzhen) Yuba, earning some handling fees and making a living.Due to poverty and overwork, he died in his 50s.

Gao Zhonglai's first wife, Yang Shi, was well-known in the village for her meekness, kindness, understanding, and honesty.She gave birth to 2 boys and 2 girls. The eldest son was Chongyi, the second son was Chongde Gao Gang, the eldest daughter was named Changjun, and the second daughter was Chongli.When Gao Gang was 7 years old, Yang became ill from overwork, poverty and illness, and died of illness in middle age.After that, Zhong Lai married the Chang family and died of illness in middle age. Gao Gang was born when he was born, with a broad forehead and a big face, a tiger head and a tiger brain, and a strong physique, so Fuyin's body shape also happened to be the second child, so he was named Er Leng.He was competitive since he was a child, tenacious, active, and fighting. His mother called him to her side all the time, fearing that he would fight with the village dolls and cause trouble, and he would be drawn to the fields when he went out to work in the mountains. It is even more beautiful, turning somersaults from uphill to downhill, which makes my mother feel anxious. She has to work and stay in a daze.

During Gao Gang's childhood, the country was in turmoil, his family suffered misfortune, and natural and man-made disasters continued year after year. When he was five or six years old, he and his mother went to the mountains to dig bitter vegetables to make ends meet.Gao Gang's elder sister got married at the age of 15 and married Zhou Shenghua from a neighboring village. After marriage, they fled famine with their parents and went to Xinyaowan Village, Anding County (now Zichang County) to work for their neighbors.His younger sister Gao Chongli became a child bride-in-law at the age of 6, and married Ma Piying, and fled to Lijiaqu in Yan'an to make a living.

Around the time of Gao Gang’s birth, China was in an age of frequent wars where farmers, soldiers, and urban petty bourgeois rioted one after another. When Gao Gang was 6 years old, the Revolution of 1911 broke out and overthrew the feudal imperial rule that had lasted for thousands of years. Long before the Revolution of 1911, there were anti-Qing struggles such as the Boxer Movement. Many secret groups were active among the people. In the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, the Gelaohui and the "hard belly" organization had the greatest influence in northern Shaanxi and were widely distributed.During the turbulent years of the Qing Dynasty, these secret organizations helped each other defend each other, helped the rich and the poor, supported the weak and restrained the strong, opposed the government, opposed corrupt officials, and opposed local tyrants. .Later, some of these organizations tended to invest in revolutionary organizations, some degenerated into underworld organizations, and some became accomplices of the Kuomintang.

Gao Gang's father was once a member of the "hard belly" organization in Wujiapo area. He was attacked by a wealthy family and punished by going out of the house and pressing smoke.Gao Gang joined the Gelaohui organization in his early years. Seeing injustice, he drew his sword to help. He often led the so-called "discussing" members of the Gelaohui to his home and relatives and friends for board and lodging, which made relatives and friends very unhappy. For "bandits". It is impossible to clarify the details of Gao Zhonglai's joining the "Hard Belly" organization.As for Gao Gang joining the Gelaohui organization, he was greatly influenced by his father anyway.It is worth noting that the first person in Gao Gang's family to participate was politically tinged and opposed to the government, not Gao Gang, but his father Gao Zhonglai.However, he suffered from being uneducated, and gradually realized that "it is impossible to rely on courage and ignorance. If you are uneducated, you will not be successful."So his husband and wife decided to pawn the land and sell the land for their son to go to school.

The victory of the Revolution of 1911 and the birth of the Republic of China, people can't help but praise.However, the young Gao Gang faced disasters one after another. His mother couldn't afford to be ill, had neither money nor medicine, and died of illness and hunger.Before she died, recalling the pain of being humiliated and suffering, and worried that Er Leng would cause trouble, she said to Gao Zhong: "I can't do it. After I die, no matter how hard or tired I have to worry about Er Leng causing trouble, don't let him be with other people's children." Tear, you can’t control it, even if you sell the land to pay him to go to school, let the school discipline him well.”After saying the last sentence, he died.Not long after his mother was buried, Gao Gang suffered from smallpox again, and his father had to take care of the family and farm the land, running around for the family’s survival, without caring for him. The children in the village called him "Leng Mazi".Later, it was called "Gao Mazi". Although this nickname was not elegant, the enemy was frightened when they heard Gao Mazi's team.

After Gao Gang's biological mother passed away, his father was single and frustrated. It was difficult for the four children to sew and cook.Later, he took care of his family but couldn't take care of the land, and he couldn't take care of the family after taking care of the land, so he married Chang as his second wife.Gao Gang's brothers and sisters were all happy to have a stepmother who sewed and cooked, but the good times didn't last long. Mrs. Chang gave birth to a son, who died at the age of two.The stepmother, Chang Shi, suffered from severe schizophrenia because of her worries. She talked and ran like crazy all day long, disregarding her shame, and died soon after.

Wujiapo is located in the undulating Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi, with mountains and peaks, galloping and flying. It is adjacent to Zizhou County in the east, Zichang County in the south, about 40 miles away from the ancient Great Wall in the north, and the hometown of Li Zicheng and Huangling Mountain in the west. More than 20 miles away, it is a place full of revolutionary traditional significance.During the Boxer Rebellion, the "Hard Belly" organization in the Wujiapo area was well-known in northern Shaanxi for resisting grain donations.In particular, Li Zicheng spent his teenage years here three hundred years ago. He hired workers to herd sheep, became a monk, served as a general, served as a courier, trained soldiers and fought wars, organized peasant uprisings and even overthrew the Ming Dynasty. The story is in Wujiapo It has been widely circulated in the area, and almost all women and children know it.The middle-aged and elderly people are proud of their hometown after tea and dinner or during labor breaks. They relish telling the legendary stories of Li Zicheng's youth, which left a deep impression on Gao Gang's young mind in his youth and nurtured his growth.He gathered a group of children in the village, played with guns and clubs, practiced riding and fighting, raced with the village dolls, rode donkeys, learned from Li Zicheng in fighting, and imitated defeating Emperor Xuantong.Therefore, he was proficient in horseback riding and assassination since he was a child. After participating in the revolution, his riding skills became more refined, and even the fiercest horses were subdued in Gao Gang's hands.

Gao Gang loved to be playful and aggressive, and he was often hated by fighting injustices, which also added a lot of trouble to his father.Zhong Lai has a violent personality, and often beats Gao Gang severely when he fights with others.After being beaten, he didn't get discouraged and didn't remember the complaint, and continued to fight, so he became a doll head, and the dolls in the surrounding villages were afraid of him. "He is a naughty guy" is famous in the village. There is a coal mine in Dengjiaqian Village not far from Gaojiagou Village. All the children in Gaojiagou went to the coal mine to pick up cinders, but they were beaten back by the rich children of Dengjiake Village, and the baskets for picking up cinders were also "confiscated".Once when Gao Gang came back from school, the village dolls complained to Gao Gang. After hearing this, Gao Gang said, "Then you don't have long hands? I'll take you there!" He took a group of dolls to the coal mine to collect cinders. Sure enough, the dolls in Deng Village gathered together. Get up and beat them, stones, charcoal blocks, and earthen towers fly around, the dolls who pick up cinders howl and cry in fear of being beaten, and run like rats with their heads in their arms. The children in Dengcun chased away, took back the robbed baskets, and went home victoriously full of cinders.From then on, the dolls of Dengjiagou no longer dared to bully the cinder dolls of Gaojiagou.

In 1941, Yan'an's "Liberation Daily" described Gao Gang in the "Introduction to the Senators of the Border District" and said: "This is a naughty guy." Comrade Gao Gang was very young, because of entanglement with students to "beat the government officials" and "beat the staff" and so on. 'Illegal' behavior, and was insulted by adults and gentlemen like this. "In Hengshan, where the dark and ignorant warlords are rampant, it is inevitable that such a 'rebel' weirdo will be insulted and attacked by others. In the exploited and poor peasants, it is also inevitable that he will resist and fight back. !" When the storm of the Great Revolution in 1925 roiled the whole country, Gao Gang was only 19 years old. He threw himself into the revolutionary movement and joined the Communist Party of China.From then on, he ran in the strong wind and sand on the northwest plateau, fighting for the formation of the party organization's red guerrillas. "When you mention 'Old Liu' and 'Old Xie', people have to mention Comrade Gao Gang. They established the Red Twenty-six Army and created the Soviet in northern Shaanxi. Political Commissar of the Sixth Army, Vice Chairman of the Military Committee of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region (Northwest), Political Commissar and Director of the Political Department of the 15th Red Army Corps. "During these arduous struggles, Comrade Gao Gang, with his vigilance and heroic genius, overcame many difficulties and experienced countless dangers of life and death, and opened up a bright new land in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region. Whenever he talked with people How much he sighed and felt happy when he saw the stories of "Escape from Xi'an", "The Carpenter in Masquerade" and so on." Gao Gang was smart and intelligent since he was a child, curious and interested in new things.Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, was overthrown, and the news of the founding of the Republic of China spread to the countryside, which aroused family discussions in the village, and everyone said "the Qing Dynasty is over".It is said that how can a three-year-old doll be an emperor, who has to be served even for his own clothes and food, how can he serve the people....These important national events reached Xiao Gaogang's ears. He broke the casserole curiously and asked his father, "What does the emperor do?" His father told him, "The emperor is the largest official in the country. Farming, not working, but eating well, dressing well, not blowing wind, not raining, accompanied by singing and dancing, living in the palace and enjoying happiness.” From then on, the seeds of dissatisfaction with the emperor were planted in his mind. In the winter of 1915, Gao Gang entered the winter school of Mr. Wujiapo Wu's private school. In the summer of 1916, because his family was poor, Gao Gang herded sheep for Gao Wancai in his village, with food but no wages.In the winter of the same year, he continued to go to school to study, read, and study.He is smart, has a good memory, and is eager to learn. The two books he has read can be memorized by writing in a sand table, and he has a photographic memory from time to time. In the spring and summer of 1917, Gao Gang went to Yangjiashan in Anding County to work and herd sheep.In autumn, Gao Zhonglai saw that Gao Gang was talented and intelligent, and the last words of his ex-wife often lingered in his heart.In addition, their ancestors were uneducated, suffered a lot, and were bullied by the village and outside the village. They realized that only by studying can they have a bright future.It happened that a physiognomist said that Gao Gang had general talent on his face, which deeply touched Gao Zhonglai's idea of ​​"hoping for his son to become a dragon".At the same time, Gao Gang's stubborn personality, unscrupulous and unscrupulous, he saw that it was difficult to control, and he would not be a material for growing crops in the future, so he strengthened his determination to send his son to school.Therefore, in the following year, Gao Gang was sent to Longzhen Primary School in neighboring Mizhi County to study, and his official name was Chongde.He is very particular about naming his children, such as Chongyi, Chongde, and Chongli. He specially invited Mr. Zhao Xianglin to name them. ", contains the dual sustenance of nobility and moral cultivation, and is more important than the cultivation of virtue. The name "Gao Gang" is the pseudonym used by the Northern Shaanxi Special Committee when it was sent to Yan'an for military operations in 1928, and the word "Shuoqing" was used when it was engaged in military operations in Longdong. Mr. Zhao Xianglin of Longzhen Primary School is well-known in northern Shaanxi for his excellent scholarship.Gao Gang was Mr. Zhao's top student. He was clever and hard-working, but he was difficult to control. He sat on the desk and was scolded by Mr. Zhao, and was often beaten with a ruler.For this mischievous student, Mr. Zhao often tested Gao Gang's academics, intelligence, and perseverance by asking questions and answering them, and writing imitation plucking brushes.However, Gao Gang's answers to the questions he asked were fluent and decent.Mr. Zhao found that he had a certain degree of eloquence, quickness and intelligence; Gao Gang was the only student in the school who could not pull out a brush.Gao Gang's Wei stele is well written, which is the foundation laid by Mr. Zhao's men.Mr. Zhao thinks that he has good understanding and tenacity.The homework is often full marks. Mr. Zhao is a teacher who loves talent and thirsts for talents. He gradually pays close attention to this naughty student, and even gives him "partial food and drink". In modern terms, it is to focus on cultivating supernormal education.At the same time, Zhao Xianglin suggested that Gao Gang's father provide him with a few more years, "If you want to be strong, carry a steel gun, be strong, and go to school."Don't look at him naughty, "he must be promising. Diantian sells land and let him go to school." When Gao Gang was studying in Longzhen, the Hengshan area and even northern Shaanxi were hit by drought for years. His stepmother passed away, and his 6-year-old younger sister sold 6 yuan for copper coins. Dropped out of school and went home to work.Zhao Xianglin was very sorry about this. He deliberately asked Gao Zhonglai to find the school to persuade and enlighten him. He has a bright future and is less bullied.He rents a small amount of land by himself, drives livestock and serves as a "tooth recorder", and maintains a life of eating every meal. In northern Shaanxi, rich families have always been educated. Poor families like Gao Gang can’t afford to go to school at all. The land is the lifeblood of farmers. Said he had no vision. The Soviet revolution successfully brought Marxism to China, shaking the land of Shenzhou. At that time, China was in a period of warlords fighting, the country was divided, social unrest, people's dissatisfaction was growing, and foreign powers were eyeing. The great "May 4th" Movement broke out on May 4, 1919, which became a new starting point for the Chinese revolution.Leaders Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu who launched the "May 4th Movement" became the initiators and organizers of the founding of the Communist Party of China in 1921.The success of the Soviet revolution, the outbreak of the "May 4th Movement", the birth of the Communist Party of China, and the spread of Marxism provided Gao Gang with a broad space to pursue the truth of the revolution. In 1922, 17-year-old Gao Gang was admitted to Hengshan County No. 1 Senior Primary School from Longzhen Primary School with excellent grades.Gao Gang entered the first senior primary school in the county, which opened his eyes and lifted his spirits.At that time, Hengshan County was relatively prosperous, and the school had better teachers.It was an honor for him to be admitted to No. 1 High School, and his family was also honored. His uncle made a special trip to send him to report.At this time, Gao Gang had developed patriotic thoughts. During his study in Hengshan, he began to study hard, determined to learn the skills of saving the country and the people, and changing the phenomenon of inequality in society. He was good at researching problems, and often discussed current affairs with his classmates Cao Dongzhi and Wang Donggao. , Politics, he proposed "Why do some people do not work, do not cultivate land, but are rich as oil, eat well, dress well, live richly, and speak loudly; Sweat dripping from the head to the soles of the feet, not eating or wearing clothes, sometimes starving to death?" "Why is society so unfair?" How to change?He himself was also at a loss, so he could only bring it up for discussion. At this time, the democratic and scientific revolutionary principles and progressive readings advocated since the "May 4th Movement" were passed on to the school, especially the new ideas, new culture and Marxist books taught by Mr. Severely criticized the reactionary nature of feudalism and imperialism, and promoted Gao Gang's revolutionary thought to gradually mature.Gradually, he was no longer a student who studied his homework assiduously. The progressive students in his school circulated revolutionary and progressive books such as "Communist Manifesto" and "New Youth", and discussed "democracy", "science" and the spirit of the "May 4th Movement".Learn Marxist theory and the experience of the Soviet revolution, criticize the old regime for being undemocratic, dictatorship, respecting Confucius and reading scriptures, political occlusion and other disadvantages, through dabbling in a large number of books and discussions, participating in youth clubs, student unions, socialist youth leagues and non-Christian alliances The cultural activities of progressive groups and participation in anti-imperialist and anti-feudal political activities made Gao Gang realize that the inequality between the rich and the poor is caused by the dark social system and is not predetermined.Under the influence of progressive books and revolutionary ideas, the ideological foundation of being willing to scrape and go all out, and organizing the masses of the people to overthrow the old system was laid. On the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, 1921, Gao Gang and Yang Zhifang got married. They did not choose an auspicious day, and took advantage of the opportunity of New Year's Eve, when gods and ghosts ignored ghosts, and Gao Chongyi and his brothers married in one day, and no one was invited to entertain guests.It is superstitious that a family does not have two bridal chambers, Gao Chongyi settles the account at home, and Gao Gang's bridal chamber is borrowed from the single kiln of the neighbor.When they got married, they only sewed a piece of cloth quilt, two pairs of goat wool felt, and they didn't even have food to eat.Gao Gang lost his mother when he was young, and Zhifang lost his father when he was young. They are a couple with the same illness.Parents arranged for the marriage of boys and girls. After marriage, Gao Gang continued to go to school, and Yang Zhifang mostly lived with her natal family. Gao Gang has always been fond of cultural and sports activities, such as playing ball, chess and so on.With the support of progressive teachers, he and the head of the student union organized a drum band to use county assemblies, temple fairs, and Sunday street speeches and songs to widely publicize new culture, new ideas, democracy, and science, and to oppose local tyrants, evil gentry, and corrupt officials. and exorbitant taxes.He personally carried the drum and took to the streets to give speeches.These meaningful activities attracted many farmers from far and near to the county town on Sundays to buy things and watch the excitement, so that Sundays in the county town naturally formed a mass gathering, a place to spread new ideas and revolutionary truth, and broadcast revolutionary fire in northern Shaanxi. Gao Chongdao, Gao Gang’s guard in Yan’an, said: “Gao Gang was a football fan when he was young.” He loved playing basketball, soccer, skating, and dancing.When he was in Hengshan No. 1 High School and Yuzhong School, and when he was engaged in underground work with Ma Mingfang in Xiangshui in 1928, he often took the lead in organizing teams. There was no football in Xiangshui School. He made footballs out of rotten hemp and wool, and he would die every afternoon. Play.He played basketball and football very bravely. When he rushed and kicked on the court, other students were afraid and hid, and they all called him "a desperado." Gao Gang also used sports activities to make friends and carry out revolutionary work. "In 1929 During the soldier movement in Yan'an, he often went to Yan'an No. 4 Middle School, Gao Shuangcheng was in the army, used the game to meet a group of revolutionaries and progressive young people, and carried out military movement and united front work." In the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region until he went to the Northeast in 1945, he still participated in playing ball and skating.The organization of the Northeast Bureau was playing with a certain army, and there was a fight between the members of the organization and the army. Gao Gang was punched twice by the soldier when he tried to persuade the fight.The army leader knew that he had beaten the deputy political commissar of the coalition army and the deputy secretary of the Northeast Bureau, and hurriedly took the soldiers to Gao Gang to review and admit their mistakes, and said that he would deal with it seriously... Gao Gang said, even I dare to fight, it must be good to fight, let it go soon , take it back.His magnanimity taught the army a lot, and this army fought tenaciously and bravely in the liberation of Northeast China.Because of playing ball and exercising, he has a good physique, rarely gets sick, can eat and drink, is a big smoker, and will smoke a pack of cigarettes after two or three hours. When Gao Gang was in Hengshan No. 1 High School, he still had to have the nickname of "Dog Fighting Commander".This nickname also somewhat shows his organizational skills.At that time, the cooking oil and food on the school stove were accidentally eaten by the neighbor's dog, and sometimes even the oil jar was taken out by the dog, which made the food custodian compensate for the loss and complained endlessly.When Gao Gang found out, he said, "You guys are really idiots. You can't even do anything with a dog. How can you learn revolutionary skills?" The word "revolution" had become a fashionable language among students at that time.The food custodian said: "You brag and don't post stamps. If you can control the dog from stealing oil, I will treat you to a restaurant once."One afternoon, Gao Gang brought a few students, each prepared a stick of firewood, and hid them in the place where Goujitiaoqiang was located, and opened the gate. After lunch, a big gray dog ​​came into the yard wagging its tail. As soon as the gate is closed, command the staff at various positions and say: "Do it, close the door and beat the dog!" In an instant, he hit the stick, and you hit the stick, and the big gray dog ​​ran around the courtyard, barking, and running around. He didn't move anymore, and lying in the courtyard, Gao Gang hit the dog's head twice again, and the dog stretched its neck and kicked its hooves, and it stopped moving.Since then, the nearby residents have kept the dogs under strict supervision, and no more dogs have stolen oil. The students in the school called him "Dog Beating Commander".Later, he was called "from the commander who beat the dog to the commander who beat the fox (Hu Zongnan)." In the winter of 1924, Gao Gang, who had already joined the Youth League, soon became the head of the student union and became a somewhat famous figure.Going home during the winter vacation, he propagated to the young people in the village that the Communist Party is a revolutionary organization that seeks liberation for the poor.When his father heard it, he reprimanded him: "Master Yulinjing (i.e. Jing Yuexiu, then the guardian envoy of northern Shaanxi and the local emperor of northern Shaanxi) said that the Communist Party was started by students, and ordered to punish the students. You brain-dead boys don't want to live. Now, it's a head-off."Gao Gang firmly argued: "If the poor want to turn over, they must overthrow the reactionaries. The reactionaries will not automatically hand over power. If they are afraid of losing their heads, they cannot overthrow the dark social system. What are you afraid of? Hundreds of millions of people in China will not be killed!" Showed the determination to fight against the reactionaries.