Chapter 20 Xiao Hua and his "Long March Songs"

On the south side of Tiananmen Square, there is a road called Xijiaomin Lane to the west. Walk about 800 meters west along Xijiaomin Lane and not far to the south is Dongsongshu Hutong. No. 23 of this alley is a very ordinary Beijing courtyard house.The courtyard is about 10 meters long from north to south and about 5 meters wide from east to west.The neighbors of the hospital are all ordinary Beijing citizens. During the "Cultural Revolution", people who didn't know the inside story saw that the gate of the courtyard was often closed except for some serious-looking soldiers, and outsiders were not allowed to go one step further. What about the characters?In fact, this is a monitoring point set up by the central government here.In the south room, I live in a squad that performs guardianship tasks.The east and west rooms are the kitchen and the bathroom, and the north room is the intensive care unit.The layout of the intensive care unit is very simple. The intensive care unit of less than 20 square meters is divided into two parts. The inner room is occupied by the subject of surveillance—General Xiao Hua, the former director of the General Political Department of the People’s Liberation Army.Xiao Hua's inner room only has a table, a chair, and a bed, plus a large 100-watt light bulb that is on all day and all night.For this big dazzling light bulb, Xiao Hua couldn't sleep well at first, but after getting used to it, he was able to fall asleep on time.One night, a company cadre and I went to check the sentry and saw Xiao Hua sleeping soundly under bright lights. The company cadre who had worked as a security guard for Xiao Hua felt very uncomfortable, and told the soldiers to act according to the policy, not to embarrass him.The outer room is where the soldiers perform their tasks. There is only a small square stool for the comrades who perform guardianship tasks to sit on.The outer room can observe everything in the inner room.Our task is to change the whistle every 2 hours, and take turns sitting on the small square stool to "guard" Xiao Hua day and night.Even going to the toilet must be followed closely in accordance with the relevant regulations. Every shift sentry will record its diet and daily life in detail, and report any abnormalities in time.

At that time, this monitoring point was strictly kept secret, and no one was allowed to come here except those who were performing tasks and a few approved personnel.Because I was a company correspondent when I first arrived in the army, I often came here to do some official business or the accompanying company cadres came here to check the guardianship situation, and I heard and witnessed some situations during Xiao Hua's guardianship.According to comrades here, at the peak of the "Cultural Revolution" in December 1967, Xiao Hua was kicked out of the political arena because he was persecuted by Lin Biao and Jiang Qing's counter-revolutionary clique.At the beginning, he was detained in another place. Soon, the address of the detention was leaked. To keep it secret, the central task force secretly dragged Xiao Hua here one night, and my company performed the guardianship task.During this period, except for the transfer to the brother company for a period of time due to camping and training, until the liberation of Xiao Hua before the National Day in 1974, my company carried out the task of guardianship of Xiao Hua for nearly 7 years.

The guardianship task at the time was a highly policy-oriented political task.There are four main requirements: one is that suicide is not allowed;Even if the relationship between the soldiers and the generals is reversed, these four disciplines enable the soldiers and the generals to understand each other, so that a certain tacit agreement is reached, and a special harmony emerges between the management and the managed. When Xiao Hua was under guardianship, we summarized that he had three main tasks.The first task is to read the newspaper and listen to the radio.He was only allowed one copy of the People's Daily, and later a small radio.Xiao Hua is a Confucian general, and he reads the newspaper very carefully. Due to the abundance of time, he reads and reads every time, thinking while reading, and never misses a word.After reading the newspaper, he listened to the radio. He always turned the volume of the radio to a very low level, and he listened so earnestly.It can be seen from his expression that he is very concerned about the construction of the army, especially the political construction of the army.Whenever he heard Lin Biao's fake, big, and empty news, he showed anxiety; whenever he heard Ye Shuai's report on strengthening ideological and political work in combination with the regularization of the army, his face showed joy and relief.The second task is to write the so-called confession materials.Xiao Hua often thinks deeply about the paper on the table. Every time he thinks over and over again, he starts to write after he has a draft in his heart.What he wrote is directly handed over to the task force, and we are disciplined not to read it.However, from the interrogation by the task force, most of what Xiao Hua wrote was recalling and examining his military career, and whether he had dedicated all his life and strength to the ideals and careers he pursued during the long-term revolutionary journey.He never wrote the so-called non-existent crimes that the task force asked him to write, let alone wrote other people's black materials against his conscience.He often said to our guards: I participated in the revolution in my hometown of Jiangxi Xingguo when I was 12 years old. At the age of 17, he served as the political commissar of the "International Division of the Young Communist Party" of the Red Army. At the age of 22, he was appointed as the commander and political commissar of the "Eastern Anti-Japanese Advance Column" of the Eighth Route Army.During the Anti-Japanese War, he participated in the Battle of Pingxingguan and opened up the Shandong Anti-Japanese Base.During the Liberation War, Liaodong base area was opened up and participated in Linjiang, Liaoshen, Pingjin and other battles. In 1955, when he was just 39 years old, he became the youngest general.How could I be anti-party after decades of revolution with Chairman Mao’s Communist Party.I believe that Chairman Mao and the Party Central Committee will rehabilitate me sooner or later.Although he was imprisoned, he often showed his loyalty and respect to Chairman Mao, as well as his indignation and dissatisfaction with the Lin Biao Group.The third task is to exercise the body and regulate emotions to survive the long years of guardianship.According to the regulations, Xiao Hua has two time for exercising in the morning and afternoon every day, and the exercising is to take a walk in the courtyard. When I saw him for the first time in 1971, I happened to be walking in the courtyard. Xiao Hua was of medium height, with a slightly protruding abdomen, and steady steps. Fangzheng had a calm expression on his face, and his bald top, which was shiny at the age of 55, gave him People have the impression of an all-powerful Confucian general demeanor.Xiao Hua's daily life is the same as that of our soldiers. A cook in the company cooks the same pot of food for the soldiers of this class and Xiao Hua.People are not grass and trees. After a long time, the soldiers and Xiao Hua have a certain relationship. Under the premise of not violating the principle, everyone never abuses Xiao Hua in life.He tried to eat as much as he wanted, and sometimes he wanted to improve his appetite, so the soldiers took the money he gave to the store to buy him some fruit and food to improve his life.Xiao Hua also has the joy of family reunion with his family once a month.Each time, a jeep took him to the division compound on Wanshou Road, and he talked with his wife and children in the presence of guardians. The time and content of the conversation were limited.Talking about politics and guardianship is strictly prohibited.

Xiao Hua has lived in adversity for a long time, and it is certain that his heart is heavy, but he is by no means depressed. He still lives so fulfillingly and is full of confidence in the future.Such a strong tolerance for distortions in politics is inseparable from his decades of struggle and countless trials of life and death.During his many years of guardianship, his greatest pleasure was to revise his "Long March Suite".He said to Yang Tianliang, a soldier who joined the army in 1971: Before the "Cultural Revolution", the Song and Dance Troupe of the General Political Department rehearsed the "Long March Songs" I wrote.But I am not satisfied with what I wrote, I will use this precious time to revise it.The Long March is a great feat in the history of the Communist Party of China. I was not yet 20 years old at the time, and my wife was only in her teens. I walked many dangerous roads with her on my back.Chairman Mao praised me as a "red kid" on the Long March.It is my greatest wish to use my personal experience and feelings to write about the Long March, publicize the Long March, and comfort the thousands of heroes who died on the Long March.

Xiao Hua participated in the revolution since he was a child and has never read any books, but he is talented and intelligent with an extraordinary IQ.The most typical example is: During the Anti-Japanese War, 22-year-old Xiao Hua promoted the united front and led the army to Shandong Huimin to negotiate with Shen Honglie, the old and cunning chairman of the Shandong Provincial Government of the Kuomintang. "A doll also came to negotiate with me?" Shen Honglie didn't take Xiao Hua seriously at all.However, after a fierce exchange of words and passion, Lao Shen couldn't help admiring Xiao Xiao, and the word "Baby Commander" spread from then on.A comrade-in-arms from Henan also said to me many times: No one has told Xiao Hua about the internal situation of our class, but who is a party member in the class, who is a member of the league, everyone's position, responsibility, and education level Xiao Hua, his hometown and even his personality are all clear.Even those of you who don't live here, once you've been here a few times, you know what you do.He often told our soldiers that the culture he learned was self-taught during the war and work.People who have not been to school can write such extraordinary poems and have such literary attainments, which fully demonstrates Xiao Hua's brilliant talent.After each manuscript was written, he always hummed to himself first, and then quietly read it to two trusted soldiers.Because of his strong Jiangxi accent, he felt that the chanting lyrics were not standard, so he laughed at himself and said: I used to be the chairman of the promotion of Mandarin, it seems that I haven't learned Mandarin well.He also told them the real stories described in each poem to ask for their opinions on whether the meaning of the words and the historical facts are appropriate.In order to revise the "Songs of the Long March", he often stayed up late at night, sometimes to the point of forgetting to eat and sleep, often thinking hard and deliberating over the use of a word.From his eyebrows, it can be seen that in order to conceive a more appropriate word, he thought of crossing the Chishui River four times, breaking through the Wujiang River, crossing the Jinsha River skillfully, forcibly crossing the Great Yellow River, climbing snow mountains, crossing grasslands, and attacking Latex in order to conceive a more appropriate word. There are magnificent battle scenes such as the joining forces of the three armies of Zikou and Huining.Rather than saying that he is writing poetry, it is better to say that he is using words to condense the arduous and arduous journey of the Long March he and his comrades in arms.The personal experience of Cong Huiyuan and Diligent Yuan laid the foundation for Xiao Hua to write the majestic epic "Long March Suite".

After a lot of hard work, Xiao Hua's "Long March Suite" has been perfected day by day, reaching the state of proficiency. October 1, 1974 was an auspicious day for the 25th anniversary of the founding of New China, and it was also a happy day that Xiao Hua would never forget.Three days before the National Day, the superior came to inform him to relax the guardianship of Xiao Hua.Xiao Hua, who is politically sensitive, immediately realized that his day of success might come, and he was extremely excited all day long. In the early morning of September 30, Wang Dikang, secretary-general of the General Political Department, came to the custody point and read Chairman Mao's order to release Xiao Hua in front of Xiao Hua.Hearing the good news that he had been looking forward to for many years, Xiao Hua, who had been imprisoned for nearly seven years, could no longer restrain his feelings. Facing the guard soldiers who had been with him for many years, he burst into tears and couldn't help shouting: Chairman Mao Long live, long live Chairman Mao.The soldiers who formed a deep friendship with Xiao Hua also shook his hand one after another, congratulating him on his new life.After a while, the General Office of the State Council sent someone to measure Xiao Hua's figure, and wanted to make clothes for Xiao Hua that day, and attend the National Day reception hosted by Premier Zhou that night.After a while, Xiao Hua's lover Wang Xinlan, his three daughters, one son and daughter-in-law all came to pick Xiao Hua home. The excitement of meeting the relatives was beyond words.Especially the youngest third daughter was full of joy and laughter.After the daughter-in-law who met Xiao Hua for the first time called Xiao Hua's father, Xiao Hua was so happy that Xiao Hua couldn't keep her mouth shut, and said to everyone happily: I thought my nerdy son who graduated from college could not find a wife. Is it pretty good?All of these made this serious intensive care unit full of laughter for the first time.Afterwards, Xiao Hua took the whole family and gave the various fruits they bought to all the comrades in the "Guardian Class", thanking everyone for their care within the scope of the policy over the years.He told every comrade his home address, welcomed comrades to his home, and waved goodbye to the soldiers reluctantly. On October 1, "People's Daily" reported the National Day reception held by Premier Zhou in a prominent position.People saw in the report that Xiao Hua also attended the National Day reception.Since then, Chairman Mao and the Party Central Committee have declared to the world that Xiao Hua was liberated.

Xiao Hua, who has gained freedom, still regards "Long March Suite" as a major event in his career.He successively found many old comrades-in-arms and old generals who had gone through the Long March, repeatedly asked for their opinions on the "Long March Suite", and revised it many times, finally achieving success. In October 1975, the Chinese Revolutionary History Museum held a large-scale exhibition commemorating the 40th anniversary of the victory of the Long March.Regardless of old age and frailty, Chairman Zhu De visited the exhibition with a large number of generals who had gone through the Long March.When Xiao Hua and his wife, who were invited to visit the exhibition, walked to the west gate of the History Museum, they saw Yang Tianliang, a soldier from the former Xiao Hua guard point, on duty. They warmly greeted Yang Tianliang and introduced to his wife that this is our class Yang Tianliang.He also said happily: "Xiao Yang, the Zongzheng Song and Dance Troupe and the Haizheng Song and Dance Troupe are rehearsing the "Long March Songs" I wrote in cooperation with the Beijing Military Region Comrades in Arms Art Troupe.Not long after, the large-scale song and dance "Long March Suite" met the audience on the screen.Xiao Hua's extraordinary poems made with blood and fire are sung superbly by singers such as Ma Yutao, Ma Guoguang, Jia Shijun, etc. They enthusiastically eulogize Chairman Mao Zedong's wise strategy to save the party and the Red Army, and truly reproduce the shocking weeping of ghosts and gods by the Red Army during the Long March. history of heroism.It depicts an immortal picture scroll of the Long March.People who have not participated in the Long March cannot write "Long March Group Songs", and people without passion cannot write "Long March Group Songs". In 1975, on the 40th anniversary of the victory of the Red Army's Long March, "The Songs of the Long March" was staged more than 40 times in the Beijing Exhibition Hall, and the venues were full.Chairman Mao's use of troops is really like a god... The "Long March Songs", which is well-known for its vivid images, sincere feelings, rigorous rhythm, and sonorous rhythm, resounds throughout China.It not only enabled people to achieve artistic enjoyment, but also enabled them to achieve spiritual sublimation, and a wave of enthusiasm for the Long March surged throughout the country.

Although Xiao Hua left us more than 20 years ago, the popular "Long March Suite" will remain in people's hearts forever together with the author Xiao Hua.