Chapter 14 postscript

It took two and a half years for this book to be conceived, conceived, and drafted.Since then, several comrades have helped me read, review, and revise the manuscript, which took another nearly a year.In this way, it took almost 3 years.Now it's finally published. In 1979, just after the victory in the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, Xu Shiyou emphasized summarizing experience. He believed that the scale of that battle was second only to the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and it was a major battle that our army had not fought in decades.He also believed that there were many special circumstances in that battle, and because of the special circumstances, many special experiences were produced.We can and should reveal general laws from these special fresh experiences, study new guiding ideologies for campaigns, and leave something useful to future generations.For this purpose, he led the organs and cadres at all levels of the Guangzhou Military Region to summarize.However, they didn't stop at nothing, they have been tirelessly exploring.

In 1980, Xu Shiyou was transferred to the Central Military Commission, but instead of living in Beijing, he returned to the old house in Nanjing where he was used to living. In 1981, after I was transferred to work in the Nanjing Military Region, we communicated frequently, and we often talked about issues related to the counterattack against Vietnam in 1979. One night in 1984, I went to visit him and talked about fighting back in self-defense against Vietnam.He said: "Old Zhou, this battle is the biggest battle our army has fought since the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. For me, it may be the last battle fought in this life. This battle has special terrain, special climate, special opponents, The people's conditions are special, and there are many experiences worth summarizing. We should use the form of memoirs to write down the lessons learned and leave something useful for future generations. This is our responsibility. You were the chief of staff of the Guangzhou Military Region at that time. You are well aware of the situation, and you are responsible for completing it. As for how the battle was fought, the Central Military Commission is sure. The outside world has different opinions, and the lower levels have different understandings. This is not surprising. Let the cadres comment. Let the people comment, let history and future generations comment!"

The next day, I selected four comrades from the Nanjing Military Region Headquarters, the Operations Department, the Intelligence Department, and the Military Training Department, and called in Vice Minister Xue Ade of the Operations Department to study the writing plan.After that, the four comrades went to the combat area and participating units to collect materials and drafted separately.After two years, a first draft of 370,000 words was formed, named "Famous Teachers", and sent to the People's Liberation Army Publishing House.The headquarters of the publishing house reviewed, and the general staff pointed out that there were 6 aspects of confidentiality. If they did not agree to publish, they were sealed up.

After Xu Shiyou's death, I always felt a little uneasy because I didn't complete the task he gave me.After thinking about it, I decided to adopt the style of documentary literature, focus on non-confidential materials, and adopt various concealment measures to re-conceive and form the system of this book, named it. This book still uses a considerable amount of material from "A Famous Master", thanks to comrades Xue Ade, Wang Jiadong, Jiang Chunqing, Guo Xinliang, Ren Conglin, and Xia Lunquan.Several of them went deep into the war zones and troops that participated in the war, spent a lot of effort on interviews, and spent a lot of time and energy writing the first draft of "A Teacher Is Famous".Writing the present book on this basis can be regarded as "sit back and enjoy the benefits".

In the process of writing this book, I received strong support from Comrade Liu Fangyan.He and I worked together on the idea, outline, and structure of this book.He saw the drafts and first drafts I had written and added a lot to them, including several paragraphs. For the publication of this book, Qiu Yinghan is a minister of merit.He has read the first draft, made good comments, revised the text of the second chapter, and spent a lot of brains on this book.In order to publish this book, he put in a lot of effort, traveled a lot, made many phone calls, made many negotiations, and went through many procedures.He is the general manager of the publication of this book, and it is conceivable that he has worked hard.

There are also many comrades who have copied manuscripts for me, and they all help me with these drudgery in their spare time.It was midsummer, and it was extremely miserable to copy at the desk in this "stove" in Nanjing.These comrades are: Fang Shibin, Cao Changmin, Xu Xitao, Zhou Guang.My eldest daughter, Zhou Juan, also put a lot of thought into this book, read the draft, and made comments.Here is a thank you to them all. I would also like to thank Chief Du Ping, the old political commissar of the Nanjing Military Region, who wrote the preface to this book.He said with a smile: Xu Shiyou is our old commander. I have worked with him for many years. This time the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam was fought very well. I am willing to write a preface for this book.He is an old man in his 80s, and he still works tirelessly to write despite his illness. This is a great encouragement and support to me.

I would also like to thank Jiangsu People's Publishing House for publishing this money-free book for me.Today, when "money worship" is prevalent, Jiangsu People's Publishing House is able to publish this kind of book that promotes the spirit of patriotism and revolutionary heroism with a low literary level, which is commendable. Comrade Chen Zhongnan, Director of the Youth Books Editing Office of Jiangsu People's Publishing House, made great efforts to publish this book.He is very enthusiastic and conscientious in editing and reviewing this book. He personally came to my home to discuss matters related to publication, and enthusiastically helped me revise and polish it, which added a lot of style to this book. I would like to thank him together.

I am a layman in literary creation, and some inadequacies are unavoidable. I sincerely hope that the commanders and fighters of the participating troops and readers will correct me.