Chapter 31 A special match between Mao Zedong and Zhu De

In 1941, Mao Zedong wrote to Xie Juezai, Secretary-General of the Border Region Government based on the actual situation of the Border Region, saying: "Economic construction is the center of other items. With food, clothing and housing, everything is active and easy to manage." Ren Bishi, who was in charge of the Central Bureau of the Border Region, presided over the "Decision on Economic Construction of the Border Region" based on this spirit, and regarded the extensive development of the border region's economic construction as an urgent and urgent task, and asked party committees at all levels to take it as the most urgent task at present. actual central work.

In December 1942, Mao Zedong also pointed out at the meeting of senior officials of the Northwest Bureau: The Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region must be based on economic development and solve financial problems from economic development. The fundamental solution lies in production.Otherwise, "there are many who eat it, those who live it are few, those who use it are sick, and those who serve it are comfortable, and they will collapse."Since then, "developing the economy and ensuring supply" has become the general policy of the party's financial work. In Yan'an in the 1940s, "Do it yourself, have enough food and clothing" was not just an inspiring slogan, but something that everyone from the party leader Mao Zedong to the correspondents, from the army commander-in-chief Zhu De to ordinary soldiers scrambled to put it into practice.

Everyone knows that Zhu De actively participated in labor.The story of "Zhu De's shoulder pole" has been circulating since the Jinggangshan period.After the mass production movement began, Zhu De took the lead and set an example.Together with the staff around him, he formed a production team and first planted three acres of vegetables in the Wangjiaping resident.What he often said was: We are the people's soldiers, a revolutionary team, we can fight with guns, and we can farm with hoes.We must use our own labor to solve the problem of food and clothing, and we must not have the idea of ​​relying on the public, let alone rely on increasing the burden on the common people.Zhu De is an expert at growing vegetables. According to the different growth seasons of vegetables, he has planted tomatoes, cabbage, spinach, eggplant, beans, potatoes, pumpkins, bitter melons, etc. in rotation. The vegetable garden is full of colors all year round, which is very enviable.

In Yangjialing, Mao Zedong reclaimed a piece of wasteland in the ravine opposite the cave where he lived.Because Mao Zedong's talent for growing vegetables was not as good as Zhu De's, and he was a "night owl" who worked at night and slept in the morning. When he fell asleep in the morning, Zhu De had already got up early to fertilize.Naturally, the harvest in the first year was not as good as Zhu De's, but he was not convinced. In the second year, Mao Zedong invited fellow villagers from Yangjialing to serve as consultants. Whenever he was free, he went to the vegetable fields to fertilize, water, and weed, and carefully managed them.

The hard work paid off, Mao Zedong planted dense and large tomatoes, and he also grew his favorite red pepper.He was very happy, and when the guests came, he would take out the vegetables he had grown to entertain the guests. In addition, Mao Zedong also worked with the government staff to open up wasteland to plant millet and turn in the public grain. At that time, Lin Boqu, chairman of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Government, was almost sixty years old, but he was not far behind.In order to carry out the large-scale production movement, he kept talking to his comrades, listened to their opinions extensively, researched and formulated various policies and plans to encourage the development of production, and helped the masses solve various difficulties.People in the border area affectionately called him "Old Lin".

Participating in productive labor, he is not far behind.Since there are many party and government agencies and schools in Yan'an, and everyone is engaged in production, it is really not easy to find a vacant land.Elder Lin leaned on crutches and searched everywhere for a few days, but couldn't find it.Everyone advised him: "You are so busy with work, you are too old, and there is no suitable land nearby, so forget it! As long as each of us opens up one more barren land, it will be enough for your share." But Mr. Lin said seriously: "I am the chairman of the border region government. If I ask others to do it, I must do it first. If I don't complete the task, how can I ask others?"

Everyone really couldn't hold him back, and the secretary Xiao Wang came up with an idea: "Let's find a piece of land on the river beach to plant." "What should I do if there is a flood when I plant land on the river beach?" Elder Lin asked worriedly. "We plant sugar radishes, and when the flood comes down, the sugar radishes have already been harvested." Xiao Wang said confidently. So Mr. Lin took the staff around him, moved the stones on the river beach, opened a vegetable field, planted sugar radish, and the harvest was good every year. At the end of 1943, he formulated four personal production saving plans for 1944:

(1) From the perspective of agricultural production, complete the two stones of fine grain and hand it over to the Grain Bureau (using the method of changing jobs and cooperating). (2) Collect waste paper and hand it over to the Construction Department. (3) From January 1, 1944, quit smoking foreign cigarettes. (4) Cotton clothes, unlined clothes, shirts, shoes and socks, sheets, towels, and soap this year will not be provided by the public at all. Lin Boqu announced the production saving plan on the New Year's poster, and at the same time wrote a poem: Serve guests with boiling water without cigarettes, and get clothes that have been used for three years.

One mu of Tamba wild rice is paid for by the public, and the candied radish is paid for by private expenses. Fertilization and weeding are automatic, and it does not cost money to restore the old as new. Mobilize men's plowing and women's weaving, and broaden the fields of grass and vegetables. The children in the border area are so strong and strong, and they changed their jobs to join the Tang general class. Peng Dehuai, Li Fuchun, Chen Yun, Xiao Jinguang, Luo Ruiqing and other leaders also swung their shovels into battle.But the person who had the most experience in reclamation was He Long, who was then the leader of the Northwest Finance and Economics Committee.

Everyone knows that He Long was a revolutionary with a kitchen knife and made many military exploits. He was a well-known military strategist. On the front line of North China's Anti-Japanese War, he beat the Japanese army's most powerful "Meritorious Alliance" to the ground.At this time, in order to be the "general grain and grass officer" of the party in the northwest, he applied military strategies and tactics to agricultural production.He said: We must innovate and create scientific farming methods. For example, soldiers open up wasteland on flat land and adopt the tactics of "encirclement warfare". Everyone develops around a piece of wasteland toward the center, making the encirclement circle smaller and smaller, and everyone's emotions are higher. , until the wasteland is wiped out. "When opening up wasteland in the mountains, the tactic of 'breaking through' is adopted. Select a point at the foot of the mountain, dig up the mountain, and dig all the way to the top of the mountain, dividing the barren hill into two pieces. The soldiers look up to see that the large wasteland has been 'broken through', and split up. Elimination will increase confidence and make you more sure.”

In order to save energy and improve labor efficiency, He Long also summed up a set of reasonable postures for land reclamation.He introduced: When opening up wasteland on flat land, the legs should be "hooked in front and arrowed in the back", that is, the front legs should be bent and the rear legs should be straightened, so that the heels can stand firmly, the waist should be straight, and the shank of the shovel should be longer, so that it is not necessary to raise it high, so as not to Bending over.When the legs are tired, change positions back and forth.When digging the ground in this way, the common people can dig three shovels for one shovel. Because of the high speed, they can even perform 48 movements in one minute.When opening up wasteland on the mountain, you should face the hillside, keep your legs side by side, and the handle of the shovel should be shorter, so you don’t have to bend over when digging and pulling. With such a good farming method as a guide, the land reclamation troops are even more powerful. In 1944, He Long called on the troops in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region to complete the production of 100,000 shi of fine grains, which was equivalent to the task of increasing production by five times the previous year.The army did not disappoint He Long. Even though the crops were damaged, they still harvested 820,000 shi of grain. Zhou Enlai and Ren Bishi were good at spinning thread. One morning in 1943, dozens of spinning wheels were neatly lined up in the Yangjialing Auditorium in Yan'an, where the spinning competition held by the central government agencies and the Central Guard Corps was about to begin. Zhou Enlai, Ren Bishi, Li Fuchun and other central leading comrades appeared in the auditorium, and the comrades responded with warm applause.This time, the three of them did not come to observe, but to participate in the competition. At 9:00, with the sound of the whistle, dozens of spinning wheels in the audience started to spin immediately, and the "buzzing" sound was a cheerful melody in the ears of the participants and spectators. Zhou Enlai and Ren Bishi took their time, turned the handle of the spinning wheel with their right hand, and pulled out strips of yarn with their left hand, and put them on the fringe.They move skillfully, the thread they draw out is long and even, and they seldom stop when the thread is broken. After a while, they spun a thread ear as big as a carrot.Withdraw the thread fringe, quickly connect the thread again, and start spinning "buzzing".Until 12:00 noon, the judges announced the end of the competition. In the afternoon of the same day, the results of the competition came out. Ren Bishi spun many and good threads, and won the first place in spinning, and Zhou Enlai was rated as a good thread spinning expert.The thread they spun was sent to the exhibition of industrial and agricultural production achievements in the border area for display. Zhou Enlai and Ren Bishi's good grades are the result of hard work and practice.They have all consulted specialists, from the tightness of cotton rolling, the method of stringing, the height of spindle loading, the coordination of rocking cart and thread drawing, to the whole set of techniques such as slag picking and jointing, etc., and practiced them repeatedly.Of course, Ren Bishi's first place was also due to Wang Zhen's contribution.His spinning wheel was sent by Brigadier Wang from Nanniwan. It is of good quality and is of the accelerated type, and it is very easy to use. Zhou Enlai, Ren Bishi and other secretaries of the Central Secretariat can spin such good threads in their spare time, and other comrades in the central government do not want to fall behind.Every day before dawn, someone would shake the spinning wheel, and at night, under the light and moonlight, there would be a constant "buzzing" sound of the spinning wheel. Due to the hands-on actions of the leading comrades, people's courage to overcome difficulties was greatly enhanced, and the production enthusiasm of the military and civilians was aroused. Various agencies, troops, and schools in the border area took action quickly.For a time, during the day, people who opened up wasteland could be seen busy everywhere in the barren mountains and ridges, and at night, the sound of spinning wheels could be heard endlessly.Every day at dawn, people carrying shovels, shovels, and dung baskets flock to the fields, and there are bustling labor forces in the mountains and villages of the entire border area. "One more acre of wasteland will increase the revolutionary force", this is the consensus of the people. "Intensify production, work hard, harvest more food is also a war of resistance..." The "Production Chorus" composed by musician Xian Xinghai became the favorite song of the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians on the Loess Plateau.