Chapter 17 Commoner Deputy Prime Minister - Chen Yonggui

One day in September 1975, in a small courtyard in the south of Jiaodaokou, Beijing, an old man with a wrinkled face, full of energy, spoke a strong Jinzhong dialect and dressed as a farmer moved in.He is Chen Yonggui, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, who is well-known both at home and abroad. Before Chen Yonggui moved to this hospital, he lived in Jingxi Hotel on Fuxing Road and Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on Sanlihe Road.That is because he was elected as a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee at the Party's "Ten Ten Congresses" in September 1973 and as Vice Premier of the State Council at the Fourth National People's Congress in January 1975.However, the leader of Dazhai, who has dealt with Tukela for more than half his life, has held important leadership positions in the province and county, but most of the time he still takes root in his struggle on Hutou Mountain, which is more than a symbol of that era.Suddenly, as the leader of the party and the country, he lived in the highest-level residence in the country with strict security, and was served by a large group of secretaries, guards, waiters, drivers, and master chefs. At a distance, he really felt awkward and depressed, not knowing what to do.For a long time, it was difficult to adapt to the leisurely life of being followed by guards wherever you go, and having waiters do everything for you.Especially those documents that he can't finish reading all day and can't read, and can't finish and can't approve are even more annoying to him.But this is the highest level of the country, and it is also the regulation required by this level of work. He can't get used to it and can't do anything about it, but his big hands are used to working, and he feels uncomfortable when he is idle.So, he got up together, made the quilt by himself, swept the floor by himself, washed the cups by himself, empty the ashtray, wiped the coffee table, turned off the lights in the corridor, and even the waiter went to his room to watch TV (because only the room of the chief executive was equipped with color TV at that time), he He also made tea for them with a smile on his face.All these make the staff have a kind of simple and deep friendship for this kind "Uncle Chen".

He also asked his secretary to write a letter to Chairman Mao, proposing that he spends one-third of his time in the central government, one-third travels around, and one-third returns to Dazhai's "three-three system."And proposed to move.Mao Zedong not only agreed with Chen Yonggui's "three-three system", but also approved "Diaoyutai has no fish to catch" in his report.So he moved out of Diaoyutai with Wu Guixian, the deputy prime minister who was a worker, and Wu Guixian lived in the west courtyard adjacent to him. The courtyard house where Chen Yonggui lived in Jiaodaokou faces south, with a length of about 100 meters from north to south and a width of more than 60 meters from east to west. Wait for the staff.The east room in the front yard is a garage. At that time, he was equipped with two cars, one was a big red flag and the other was a Toyota.The north room in the backyard is Chen Yonggui's office and bedroom, and the east and west rooms are the living room and the TV room with a color TV.

Therefore, the ground belongs to the security area of ​​our regiment. Therefore, according to the instructions of the superior, the regiment asked a company to send a 12-member guard squad for Vice Premier Chen Yonggui to guard day and night. At night, each shift has two sentries patrolling the courtyard. This is the superior. The designated post for his level.But he still does not want the cooks, waiters, administrators and other staff assigned to him by the State Administration Bureau. , the waiter; let the old man in his youth, who was still earning work points in his hometown, cook for himself, and later replaced him with Guo Shitou, who was also earning work points for cooking at the Dazhai reception station because of his age.The only driver was Master Tang from Wuqiao County, Hebei Province, sent by the State Council Administration Bureau.

After Chen Yonggui moved here from Diaoyutai, he felt that the absence of guards with multiple layers of guards was a kind of spiritual liberation.On the day I moved to my new home, I had lunch and went out alone, humming a play from my hometown.The comrades in the security squad quickly found his security staff officer, and everyone hurried out to catch up with him.He looked left and right, and finally slipped into a barber shop in Di'anmen, sat on a chair and asked the barber to shave his head bald.The barber saw that he looked like Chen Yonggui, the vice premier who kept appearing on TV, and felt a little strange.His guards hurried forward and said that you should shave him.The master understands that this is Chen Yonggui.People outside also knew that the vice premier had his head shaved here, and they all gathered around curiously to see him, a commoner high official, come to the common people's barber shop to have his head shaved.The guards were very anxious, but he acted like nothing happened. After shaving his head, the guard Li Yinchang gave the master 50 cents, smiled and left with everyone.

There are still many incidents of ordinary people walking around the streets like this, but the guards have stepped up precautions to prevent passers-by on the street from recognizing his true face. After entering the Politburo, Chen Yonggui did not change his account, and still earned work points in Dazhai; when he became a vice premier, the State Council and Shanxi Province gave him a monthly subsidy of more than 130 yuan.He became the party and state leader with the least economic income.It may be due to hard and simple nature and financial constraints. No matter when he visits abroad or inspects other places, no matter what kind of meeting he attends or works in the residence, he always wears the old-fashioned clothes with double breasts in winter black and summer white with the door locked. Wear pointed cloth shoes all the year round.

Chen Yonggui, who has grown food all his life, became the vice premier, and still loves to eat his Xiyang-style ramen, flatbread, millet porridge and other ordinary people's meals in big bowls.What I buy for smoking are ordinary cigarettes that cost 20 or 30 cents a pack. The courtyard of his residence is relatively large, and he does not allow his wife and children to live here. He feels that it is a waste of land to be alone in such a large courtyard. It is a pity that it is empty, so he built a pond to grow vegetables. Beans and beans, after being treated by him as a farming expert, all of them are fruitful. In addition to eating by himself, they are also given to comrades in the security squad to eat.

He is very considerate of the soldiers in the security squad. Every time he goes back to Dazhai, he will bring some local products to the security squad. If he is not in Beijing during the holidays, he will also call the gatekeepers to give them to the security squad for him. The guard class bought some apples and visited the soldiers on his behalf.Of course, living together all the year round, the security squad sometimes made him dissatisfied.Once, a new soldier took a small orange to his TV room to watch TV, and accidentally sat in front of him to watch, blocking his view.The soldier's ignorant and impolite behavior made him very unhappy, and he walked away without saying a word.When the leader of the regiment learned of this situation, he immediately withdrew the security squad of the fourth company and replaced it with a security squad of the high-speed aircraft company. The squad leader was Gai Qiangui, a native of Handan Yongnian.After Chen Yonggui heard the inside story of the change of guards, on the one hand, he admired the strict management of the guards, and on the other hand, he felt guilty for causing this incident due to his momentary unhappiness.Less than two years after taking over, the squad left because the company switched defenses to the farm.Because Chen Yonggui happened to be out of town when he left, it happened that Li Xishen and Guo Fenglian, the heads of Xiyang County, were here. On behalf of Chen Yonggui, they took a group photo with the comrades of the security squad to send them off.During several welcome and send-off activities in front of Tiananmen Square, I saw Chen Yonggui's honest, simple and kind smile.But what left a deep impression on me was Chen Yonggui at the foundation stone laying ceremony of Chairman Mao Memorial Hall on November 24, 1976.Among the leaders who used shovels to cultivate soil for the granite foundation stone, Chen Yonggui was the most powerful and skillful in pushing shovels and throwing soil.

In June 2002, I came to Dazhai for a visit. I looked at the huge stone statue of Chen Yonggui halfway up Hutou Mountain and climbed the steps leading to Chen Yonggui’s cemetery on Hutou Mountain. I looked at the lush Hutou Mountain and the green terraced fields. , listening to the introduction that Dazhai currently has eight major enterprises in beverage, alcohol, clothing, transportation, agriculture and animal husbandry development, with an annual income of more than 100 million yuan, watching the endless stream of tourists at their own expense, I deeply feel that Chen Yonggui is working hard. The holy land of Dazhai and the spirit of Dazhai created by Qianhe tragically have come to this day in the wind and rain, and still have his charm and aura.