Chapter 15 7. A man dies in war

Speaking of Cao Deyuan’s family in Changle Village, Qinghe Township, Guiyang County, Hunan Province, the old people know that this is the scholarly family of the third generation of the local family of poetry and etiquette.His grandfather Cao Yuanyang served as the chief book of the former Qing Dynasty, his father Cao Kongxiang was a scholar of the Qing Dynasty, and Cao Deyuan was a Jinshi in the last major examination in the late Qing Dynasty.After the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, Cao Deyuan inherited his ancestral business in his hometown. He enjoyed teaching and gave good deeds on weekdays. He built bridges and paved roads, and won the admiration of his neighbors.

Cao Deyuan has two sons, named Fenren and Keren, who are both intelligent.Keren has a resolute character and is not afraid of evil forces. In 1929, a murder occurred in the village. Cao Gougou, a poor farmer, couldn't bear the humiliation of Cao Daozhi, a villain in his village, and killed him angrily.Ke Ren speaks out of righteousness, vents his anger on Cao Daozhi's brother, and vows to take revenge. The 18-year-old Ke Ren was forced to leave Hengyang to study in the Provincial Fourteenth United Middle School. One day in 1930, he went to the street to buy a pen. When the 14th Division of the 18th Army of the National Revolutionary Army was recruiting troops in Hengyang, he gave up his pen and joined the army and became a soldier of the 79th Regiment of the division.

Cao Ke, a soldier, has good moral character, is not afraid of hardship, and has a solid literary talent. After two years, he was sent to the engineering team of the 18th Army cadre cram school.After studying for one year, he graduated with excellent grades and was transferred to the lieutenant platoon leader of the Engineering Battalion of the 59th Division. In 1935, he was promoted to the commander of the 3rd company of the 593rd Regiment of the division. In July 1937, the Ke people were studying at the engineering school. When the news of the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War came, the superior ordered all the students to study immediately and return to the army. He was appointed as the deputy battalion commander of the division engineer battalion, and when he took office, he was transferred to the 99th division of the 99th army. Commander of the 1st Battalion Major of the 295th Regiment.

The people of Cao Ke led the soldiers to teach by example, and they taught together with the soldiers, and they often demonstrated in person during the training.He was strict in discipline, and once caught his cousin Cao Fufu molesting a woman, ordered him to kneel in public and was punished.The 1st Battalion led by him has repeatedly completed combat missions and won praise from his superiors and colleagues. On September 24, 1941, Cao Keren led the whole battalion into Xiangyin County. On the 28th, the Japanese army landed from Qingshan. After landing, they broke through the position of the Jiangfang troops and rushed towards Xiangyin County.The Cao Ke people responded calmly and used strong fortifications to block the enemy on the outskirts of the city.The enemy had no room to take advantage of, so he changed the landing site and bypassed Xiangyin to attack north of Hunan.

On October 2, the Japanese army planned to use Bike Xiangyin as a port for transporting wounded soldiers and supplies. After more than 20 planes bombarded the Cao Keren camp in turn, more than a thousand infantry stormed up. Cao Keren led more than 400 people in the whole battalion to resist to the death.After two days of fierce fighting, because the enemy marines smuggled in Jianmaozui, the first line of defense was flanked, and Cao Keren commanded the whole battalion to retreat to the second line of defense. From the early morning of the 4th, the Japanese army increased its troops by more than 800 people and outflanked Cao Ying's position from both wings. Some artillerymen withdrawn from northern Hunan joined the attack, and the enemy's firepower was fierce.The whole battalion suffered almost no casualties, and retreated while fighting. When they retreated to the Sijia Dike of East Lake, there were less than a hundred people left.The Japanese army quickly surrounded them, Cao Ke people saw that they were in a desperate situation, and shouted: "It's time to die for the country, use the bayonet!" So on the embankment, the two armies fought fiercely.

Outnumbered, with all his bullets broken, Cao Keren was injured and fell into a coma. When he woke up, he found that he and more than 10 of his subordinates had been captured by the Japanese army, and the rest were all killed. The Japanese army vented their anger of being blocked for several days and brutally tortured 17 prisoners. Cao Keren loudly reprimanded: "You inhuman things, do you deserve to be born of your parents?!" Knowing that he was the battalion commander, the Japanese army became even more brutal, cutting off his tongue, gouging out his eyes, cutting off his hands and feet, cutting open his chest, and finally nailing his body to the wall with big iron nails.

When the hot blood congealed into a purple-black lump, the Japanese army was defeated.Thousands of soldiers and civilians flocked to this ordinary Chinese soldier to suffer hardship, and there was an endless stream for several days. Among the relics are seen letters he wrote to his parents before the war: The country raises soldiers for thousands of days, and they are used for a while. In this autumn of life and death, every man still has a responsibility. As a soldier, how can he retreat in the face of battle?I still hope that my parents will be considerate of the difficult times and take good care of myself. I swear to the death to resist Japan, and I have made up my mind!

Cao Keren's nephew, Cao Hongyu, was 16 years old and graduated from middle school. He went to Nagato to apply for the military training regiment. Because the military period was over, he passed by Xiangyin to go home, and was in the middle of a war.Cao Keren persuaded him to leave quickly. Hongyu admired his uncle the most and couldn't bear to leave. Later, when he wanted to leave but couldn't, he was martyred at the same time. Keren's elder brother Fenren rushed to the funeral and wanted to move his brother's bones back to his hometown, but Xiangyin's elders tried to dissuade him, and he knelt down to beg him, and Fenren thanked him tearfully.

On the occasion of the anniversary of the martyrdom of Cao Keren and 400 officers and soldiers, all walks of life in Xiangyin County raised funds to build a pagoda, commonly known as the White Bone Pagoda, at the place where the martyrs were buried.In front of the pagoda, a couplet is engraved on the archway built with white marble, saying: "Danxin hangs on the sun, moon and white bones to town the mountains and rivers". During the Nanyue Military Conference, Chiang Kai-shek called on the whole army to follow the example of this young officer, bravely kill the enemy and serve the country, and awarded a special pension of 40,000 yuan.

Cao Keren's deeds were published in "Biography of Revolutionary Martyrs of Hunan Province: Anti-Japanese War Volume" in mainland China and "Biography of National Revolutionary Martyrs Album: Anti-Japanese War Volume" compiled by the History and Political Compilation Bureau of Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense. On January 12, 1984, with the approval of the Hunan Provincial People's Government, Cao Keren was posthumously regarded as a revolutionary martyr. A man dies in a war, leaving behind a tomb, a pagoda, an elegiac couplet by a former scholar, and perhaps something else.

Leading a lone army to defend the lone city, the Xiangshui River is ruthless, and the waves are full of heroes' blood; Destroying the enemy's front and chilling the enemy's courage, no matter how victorious Chujiang is today, it will remain a strong name through the ages.