Chapter 46 4. When the White Army came, she became the enemy of both sides and lived in the dark

In mid-November 1933, on the eve of the Second National Congress of Soviets, Mao Zedong went to Changgang Township to investigate in order to prepare a speech for the congress. Mao Zedong took his secretary Xie Juezai, guards Chen Changfeng and Wu Jiqing and several people, led the horses, loaded the bedding, and went to the morning. After walking for 3 days, talking and laughing all the way, they came to the Xingguo Lianjiang River. Resting at the ferry under the ancient camphor tree, a melodious folk song floated close to the river.Everyone listened to the song in silence until the ferry docked.

A group of girls got off the boat and jumped ashore happily.Xie Juezai stepped forward to greet with great interest: "Sister-in-law, may I ask which of you is the king of folk songs?" The girls laughed for a while, and introduced a beautiful girl with an oval face, and said, "She, she is the first place in the folk song competition." Your Majesty, your name is Zeng Zizhen." Standing in front of Xie Juezai, Zeng Zizhen smiled shyly, dimples appeared on her beautiful face.She brushed her black hair together, opened her voice and sang. Not long after Xie Juezai arrived in the Central Soviet Area, he often heard people singing Xingguo folk songs. Now that he heard the true biography, he was overjoyed and sighed repeatedly: "Oh, I finally heard the original Xingguo folk songs. It really deserves its reputation and reputation." Several years Hearing and seeing, Mao Zedong had a deep affection for Xingguo folk songs, and he couldn't help saying: "You sing like a thrush, no wonder they call you the king of folk songs." Mao Zedong didn't recognize Zeng Zizhen, but Zeng Zizhen recognized Mao Zedong. I remember that Mao Zedong misunderstood Xingguo folk songs.He deliberately sang:

Mao Zedong laughed loudly: "Well, the king of folk songs is really capable. Using folk songs as propaganda, he expanded the Red Army by a company at once?!" Zeng Zizhen said: "It is not fake to expand the Red Army by a company. On the surface, I sang it. The ability, in fact, is that the cadres in the villages do their work well, they care about the masses and are considerate, and their working methods are flexible, so that those who serve in the Red Army have no worries, so they can go to the Red Army with peace of mind, go to the front to fight white dogs, defend the Soviet area, and defend the fruits of the agrarian revolution.” "Look at it, look at it," Xie Juezai was very excited. "This king of folk songs is indeed not simple. He sings well, speaks better than he sings, and has the level of being a director of the Political Department." Mao Zedong asked: "Excuse me. Comrade sister-in-law, which township are you from?" Zeng Zizhen: "Go to the Changgang Township in the community." Mao Zedong secretly exclaimed, the real thing is: come early, it is better to come by coincidence, and hit the pillow while dozing off.He said calmly: "King of folk songs, you said that the township cadres have done a good job, can you sing them in folk songs?" "What's so difficult about this." Zeng Zizhen opened his mouth and sang:

Mao Zedong asked: "King of folk songs, is what you sang true?" Zeng Zizhen replied: "There is a mouth under the nose. If you don't believe me, you can ask." "Okay," Mao Zedong said, "we are here to ask." "Hey," a girl became vigilant and asked, "May I ask you?" Where did the comrades come from?" Chen Changfeng rushed to answer: "We are Rui..." Mao Zedong took up the conversation: "We are tired, can you take us to Changgang Township for a rest?" "It is very convenient to rest , "The girl stared at her closely, "Which department do you belong to?"

Mao Zedong: "We belong to the "Red China" newspaper. The newspaper published a lot of articles praising Xingguo and Nagaoka. Some people didn't believe it. We came here to investigate and verify." "It's easy to verify. I'll take you there." Zeng Zizhen stopped the girl's interrogation, deliberately not revealing the mystery, and jumped on the boat again. A few miles across the river, a few young women were plowing the fields in the distance. Mao Zedong and his party saw it strangely. According to the customs in southern Jiangxi: women are not allowed to go to the fields.Why do women here go to the fields and still plow?Ask: "Women don't plow the fields, people don't laugh at them?" Zeng Zizhen didn't answer.Shouting to the field: "Sister Yuying, someone asked you something." Li Yuying said "Woo--", stopped the cow, and came over to answer: "At first, when a woman plows the field, not only will people laugh, but she will also point at her back and scold, saying The women who plowed the fields were hit by lightning, and the sowing did not germinate. We are not afraid. At night, a few people secretly went to the beach by the river to learn to plow and harrow, and several plowshares were broken. The family members of the Red Army plowed the fields, but Lei Gong didn’t see any of them.” The people laughed along with her.Mao Zedong smiled and asked: "How much do you pay for farming an acre of land?" "What kind of money do you want?" Li Yuying said: "The Red Army is fighting at the front, and we will charge money for doing something for others? Even tea and meals are provided by everyone. You can bring it yourself." A group of people entered the village and came to Huochatang House, facing a new house.When passing by the new house, Mao Zedong found that there were old materials burned between the beams and rafters of the new house, so he stopped to watch.Ma Hairong, the owner of the house, said: "There was a fire not long ago, and a half of the house was burned. The township mutual aid association gave me six slings of money, and everyone helped the workers, donated wood, bricks and tiles, and the house was built again in a few days." Mao Zedong While looking at the house, he asked, "Are there any village cadres here to help?" Ma Hairong smiled: "All the township cadres have come, and the village cadres have come even more. The village cadres have returned to their homes for dinner after finishing their work. Look, that big beam is The director of the village representative donated it, and he knows how to be a carpenter, measured the size, carried it over and put it on the beam.” Not far from the next door, the neighbor is Liu Changxiu, a member of the military, and there are several meritorious service announcements posted at home.Mao Zedong and others went into the house to have a look, and asked Liu Changxiu: "Who in your family is the one who made meritorious service in the Red Army?" Legion." Xie Juezai gave a thumbs up: "Quack, croak, father and son have made great contributions!" Zeng Zizhen took the opportunity to say: "I sang folk songs, some of them belong to this family. Aunt Changxiu, you let the government care about you Let me tell the comrades who come from above..." Mao Zedong asked and took notes, and soon wrote the famous article "Changgang Township Investigation".Mao Zedong called on:

"Every township Soviet must learn from the cultural and educational work of Changgang Township!" On January 27, 1934, at the "Second Soviet Congress" meeting, Mao Zedong praised: "The comrades in Xingguo have created first-class jobs, and we should praise them as model workers." There are thousands of Changgang townships and dozens of Xingguo counties." The reputation of Changgang township is getting bigger and bigger, and Xingguo folk songs are spreading farther and farther. Singing in the day and night, in those days, folk songs became the whole life of Zeng Zizhen.She tasted grief in folk songs, and also tasted love and joy in folk songs.

Just like today's stars, folk song king Zeng Zizhen also has many fans around him. There is an admirer named Lai Mingshan.Lai Mingshan is a demobilized Red Army wounded soldier.Lai Mingshan was very young, two years younger than Zeng Zizhen, and he was a small blacksmith who worked on a low stove.The so-called blacksmith who builds a low stove is the kind of blacksmith who walks around with a stove and visits the house to find work.Lai Mingshan was born in a poor family. He was illiterate since he was a child, but he liked listening to and singing folk songs the most. Lai Mingshan especially likes to listen to Zeng Zizhen singing folk songs. He is fascinated by it. He often picks up a low stove and follows the Red Army folk song team from one mountain to another.

When he went to a new place, during the day, he yelled and smelt iron, and at night, he took a seat to listen to songs and watch plays.Sometimes, if the folk singing team is short of manpower, they will go to the backstage and look for opportunities to step forward to help the leader or lend a helping hand. Once in the Red Army, he is not an outsider.Everyone treats him like a member of the team, calling him around to order him around.He sang when asked to sing, acted when asked to act, came and went, the more he sang, the better he was, and he was able to sing folk songs for a role. When a person sings with real emotion, the singing will move people.

Although Lai Mingshan's voice is not loud, but the singing is very emotional, giving people a special shock.When Xie Changbao was beaten to death on the battlefield, Lai Mingshan lost the small stove and officially became Zeng Zizhen's second partner in singing folk songs. Both of them sang folk songs with all their heart and soul, sang back and forth, and sang love. In 1934, the two sang a couple of folk songs. When the Red Army left Xingguo on the Long March, Zeng Zizhen led the comrades of the folk song team to set up a stage at the head of the Wutang Bridge, and sang songs such as "Ten Sending the Red Army Away" for three days with tears.His voice became hoarse, and blood flowed from his mouth.

"Newly made bamboo hats and round dingdang, give it to my brother to go to the front, bless my brother to win the battle; defeat the enemy and return home." "Send Lang to Shau Keiwo, with tears in his eyes and mouth singing, I hope Lang's revolution will go to the end; ten years is not too much to wait for you !" Tears flowed at every step, and turned around at every three steps.The Red Army brothers who got along day and night drove away in groups. They sang and sang, but couldn't continue.The Red Army soldiers are also infinitely nostalgic, with teary eyes... In the following days, Zeng Zizhen recalled the farewell scene thousands of times, and saw thousands of Red Army marching away, looking forward to it, but seeing few people coming back...

After the Long March of the Red Army left Xingguo, life was hard.Zeng Zizhen and his wife followed the county party committee to fight guerrillas. At that time, she was 8 months pregnant, with a big belly all day long, wandering around the mountains, walking more and more difficult every day. In the twelfth lunar month of winter, dripping water turns into ice. On the mountain in Juncun Township, in an unobstructed cave, Zeng Zizhen gave birth to a daughter named Heying. It's freezing cold, the clothes are thin, and the teeth are chattering with the cold.However, on the barren mountain, there is nothing but the howling north wind.There was a guerrilla who searched for a day and finally found a basket of chaff. He sprinkled the chaff on Zeng Zizhen and the baby to keep out the cold.How can rice chaff keep out the cold!Within a few days, Heying froze to death. In confinement, I don't even have to eat.Every day, I ate wild vegetables with the guerrillas and struggled to move over mountains and mountains with the guerrillas. Once, I met Zeng Shan who was fighting guerrillas in Qiaotougang.Zeng Shan was the acting secretary of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee at the time, leading the province's struggle against the enemy, but they had no food, no clothes to wear, and the struggle was very arduous. In the spring of 1935, when Zeng Zizhen and others were resting in Fangshanling, Fangtai Township, Xingguo County, the entire mountain was surrounded by the White Army.She, Lai Mingshan, and a female cadre named Bai Cui broke through and descended the mountain together. On the tossing mountain road, a group of white soldiers rushed up and grabbed Zeng Zizhen first. "Hey, are you from the Red Army?" At that time, Zeng Zizhen was holding a boy by his hand.Quickly respond accordingly: "I am a woman, where is the Red Army? I am a rich farmer who was forced to flee to the mountains." The Bai Army released Zeng Zizhen, and after a while, grabbed Lai Mingshan again and asked him Red Army.Lai Mingshan casually said that he was a rich peasant and it was fine.But he was too honest and couldn't turn a corner when he spoke, so he said: "Yes." He was arrested by the Bai army and put in prison. Lai Mingshan was in prison and worked as a coolie for two months before returning home. Lai Mingshan is an honest man. He can be a good mountain singer, but he cannot be a good revolutionary. Referring to Lai Mingshan, Zeng Zizhen said: "An honest person should live an honest life. If you don't have that ability, don't go into trouble." After being released from prison, he was at peace for a year.One person came and asked Lai Mingshan to do work for the underground party.Not long after, the man rebelled and confessed Lai Mingshan, and was captured by the Kuomintang and taken to the Penny Hill Concentration Camp in Happy Township, where he was beaten to pieces and almost died. It was hard to get through those bloody days. During the "Cultural Revolution", Lai Mingshan became a traitor again, was scolded and fought to the death, and suffered all his life. After the Red Army went north, Zeng Zizhen and his wife felt inferior like motherless children.Because she used to sing everywhere, she was so famous, and there were countless people who knew her, so disasters could happen at any time. Those days were the darkest time in Zeng Zizhen's life.Because of the raids by the White Army, Zeng Zizhen did not dare to show his face on the street for four or five years.Later, the wind died down, and Zeng Zizhen went to the street quietly once. Came to the county town of Shau Kei Wo, which was originally the place where the Red Army sent troops. Looking at things and thinking about feelings, he was missing the Red Army, when suddenly, a woman with a salt stall rushed out, grabbed Zeng Zizhen by the hair and wrestled. It turned out that this person was Sweet Potato Granny, and her little husband became popular after Zeng Zizhen sang. The Sweet Potato woman was beating her while crying and cursing: "I'll kill you, I'll beat you to death, it's you who promoted my husband to be a Red Army soldier, making me a widow now. My child has no father... ..." This woman is a famous pungent woman.Zeng Zizhen struggled to get away. Unexpectedly, several women rushed over and wrestled Zeng Zizhen. Some pinched with fingers, some pinched with nails, and some bit with teeth. hit her in the face.In a moment, her nose was bruised and her face was swollen, and her blood was flowing... Being humiliated in the street brought great excitement to Zeng Zizhen.Accompanied by the screams, the desperate pinching, twisting, and biting condensed so much secret resentment and long-cherished hatred!If it was the Bai Army or the Landlords Returning to Homeland Corps beating and scolding themselves, it was only natural and completely understandable.However, it happened to be my sisters and family members of the Red Army who beat themselves with resentment from the bottom of their hearts and wanted to fight themselves desperately. Inadvertently, he became the enemy of both sides. During those endless days and nights, Zeng Zizhen lived in darkness, always reflecting on her revolutionary career: On the one hand, Zeng Zizhen thinks that she is not wrong.For the sake of the revolution, she not only sent her two husbands to the front line, but also mobilized her four brothers to the front line, all of whom sacrificed heroically.As a woman, she still desperately went to the front line. Although she was not killed in battle, it was because the white army's artillery fire did not target her, but she was still bearing the greatest sacrifice. On the other hand, Zeng Zizhen felt that she had indeed brought tragedy and pain to others. It was precisely because of her mobilization that her husband bid farewell to his wife and son, resolutely went to the front line, and finally sacrificed, leaving a group of people for the world. Orphans and widows are struggling in dire straits. All the eyes shot at her were thorns-full of sorrow, blame, hatred. She was plunged into an inescapable ferocity.Under the oppression of the social status quo, she was desperate.All hope is gone, only folk songs are running silently in her heart. On October 3, 1937, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party cooperated, and Chen Yi negotiated from Ganzhou to Nanchang, passing through Xingguo.Zeng Zizhen met Chen Yi, wept bitterly, and narrated his misfortune.Chen Yi told her: "No matter how many difficulties and obstacles there are, we must believe that the revolution will succeed." He insisted silently and waited silently. Pressed by a heavy sense of guilt, Zeng Zizhen never dared to go out on the street again.Frightened, shed tears every day, fearful, living in the dark like a mouse.