As a commander, Sun Jixian was not included in Dadu River 17 Warriors, and Yang Dezhi renamed him in 1990.

This is 199 1. In April, Yang Dezhi wrote this poem to mourn the anniversary of his friend Sun Jixian's death 1. During the Long March, the founding commander Sun Jixian led 17 warriors to successfully cross the Dadu River, which made great contributions to their military career.

But for a long time after liberation, our army has been promoting "Dadu River 17 Warriors". As a commander, Sun Jixian is not one of them. Why?

19 1 1 year, Sun Jixian was born in a peasant family in Liu Zhuang, Jianzui, Cao County, Shandong Province. He has been practicing martial arts since childhood, and he is proficient in knives, guns, sticks and nunchakus. 193 1, 1 year, the 26th Route Army of the Kuomintang went to Cao County for conscription, and was successfully selected as a private soldier in the 73rd Engineering Battalion of the 26th Route Army.

Soon, the 26th Route Army was ordered to "encirclement and suppression" the Red Army in Jiangxi. In A.D. 193 1 year1KLOC-0/month, under the leadership of the Chief of Staff of Hebei, the 26th Route Army * * * 17000 people held the famous "Ningdu Uprising". After the uprising, Sun Jixian was incorporated into the 5th Corps of the Central Red Army, and in 65438.

1934, the red army began its long March. Sun Jixian was appointed as the battalion commander of the Red Army 1 Corps/Division 1 Battalion, shouldering the heavy responsibility of the vanguard battalion and breaking through all kinds of encirclement and interception by the enemy. On May 23rd, 1935, the Red 1 regiment stopped at a big town in front of Anshun Field after marching for 70km.

It is only 10 kilometers away from Anshun Ferry of Dadu River. Dadu River, located in the central and western Sichuan, is the largest tributary of Minjiang River, the first tributary of Yangtze River. The mountains on both sides of the strait are towering and the rivers are swift. During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Shi Dakai, the wing king, moved here with 20,000 soldiers, which coincided with the melting of ice and snow and the torrential rain. Although Shi Dakai organized troops to cross the river for many times, they all ended in failure, and eventually they were completely annihilated in the desperate situation where there was a natural barrier before and a pursuer afterwards.

At this time, the situation of the Central Red Army was exactly the same as that of Shi Dakai, which was very sinister: in the past, Sichuan warlords Liu Xiang and Liu's troops were guarding all the ferries on the Dadu River, and later, the Kuomintang Central Army Xue Yue, Zhou Hunyuan, Wu Qiwei and other hundreds of thousands of people followed closely. Chiang Kai-shek also asserted that he wanted to make the Red Army "the second in Shi Dakai".

Liu Bocheng, the advance commander of the Central Red Army, and Nie, the political commissar, decided to send the 1 battalion to destroy the Kuomintang troops in Anshunchang, find ships and cross the Dadu River, so as to fight our way out for the Red Army troops in the Long March. Liu Bocheng also asked Sun Jixian to light a fire as a signal every time he completed a task.

Before leaving, Nie Rongzhen asked Sun Jixian, "Sun Jixian, do you know Shi Dakai?"

Sun Jixian replied loudly: "No matter what he does, we must open it wherever we go!"

On the evening of May 24th, Sun Jixian led the whole battalion to Anshun Field and wiped out the enemy troops on the defensive here. However, because the enemy put the boat on the other side, they managed to get a boat.

But Sun Jixian was so busy looking for the boat that he forgot to signal. Anxious Liu Bocheng and Nie sent people to the front to inquire about the situation, only to know that they had occupied the ferry. Liu Bocheng met Sun Jixian and criticized, "What's the matter? Why don't you signal? "

Sun Jixian explained with a serious face: "First, heavy rain can't be lit in the wild; Second, we heard people on the road say that the enemy was going to set fire to the town, and we set fire to it as soon as we came. What do people think? The third is to patronize the war, find a boat, and forget the ignition! "

Liu Bocheng nodded and said, "Well, 1 camp to sleep. We will buy all the good things that can be bought in the whole street for you to eat and cross the river early tomorrow morning! "

That night, Sun Jixian and the commanders of the whole battalion couldn't sleep. Everyone got together for dinner, talking and laughing, waiting for the moment of fighting.

The next morning, Sun Jixian selected 1 7 warriors from1Battalion 2 to form a river-crossing commando team, with company commander Xiong Shanglin as the commando team leader. Each of them took a broadsword, a submachine gun, a short gun, five or six grenades and working tools, and they were ready soon.

However, because the boat was too small to accommodate 17 people, Sun Jixian temporarily decided that the commandos would cross the river in two batches. Xiong Shanglin led eight comrades to cross the river in the first batch. After the ship came back, Sun Jixian led the remaining eight comrades to cross the river in the second batch.

After the fighting started, the first batch of nine warriors quickly crossed the river, and the ship quickly transported Sun Jixian and other nine warriors. The fighting was extremely fierce. Yang Dezhi, then the head of the Red 1 regiment, later described this battle in the article "There are many heroes on the Dadu River":

After Sun Jixian led the commandos to cross the river, he captured two ships at the lower reaches of the ferry, which ensured that the follow-up troops crossed the Dadu River continuously. After Hong 1 Tuan crossed the river, he coordinated the 4th Regiment of Red 2 Division to seize Luding Bridge. When crossing the Luding Bridge, Sun Jixian was wrapped in a blanket and carrying a machine gun. When he rushed a few meters away from Luding Bridge, he was suddenly hit by an enemy plane. Several bullets flew over his shoulder. He thought he had been shot, but he rushed forward despite the gunfire. When he got to the bridge, he saw that only a few holes were punched in the blanket and his shoulder was slightly injured, which was very thrilling.

After crossing the Dadu River, Sun Jixian published an article entitled "Seventeen Heroes Crossing the River" in the Warrior Daily of Red 1 Army. The article only recorded the list of 17 warriors crossing the river, but did not mention him. Because Sun Jixian felt that as a commander, he should give honor to brave soldiers, so he concealed his achievements.

1956, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army in China the following year, the Central Military Commission decided to summarize the military history and compile a book. The General Logistics Department quickly launched the "30th Anniversary Essay Activity of the China People's Liberation Army" in the whole army, and widely published the notice of essay writing in newspapers at the central, provincial and municipal levels. At the same time, 10 people were transferred from the Ministry of Culture and Propaganda Department of the General Logistics Department to set up the editorial department.

After the announcement of the essay, people from all walks of life contributed enthusiastically. Liu Bocheng, then president of Nanjing Military Academy, also attached great importance to this activity. He actively mobilized the faculty and students of the college to record their combat experiences in the revolutionary war years. At this moment, Yang Dezhi and Sun Jixian served as the director and deputy director of the activity department of the college respectively, and Liu Bocheng asked them to complete an article on "Memories Forcing the Dadu River".

At first, Sun Jixian thought his cultural level was low and refused to say, "Comrade Yang Dezhi wrote enough, so I don't need to write any more."

But Liu Bocheng said: "It is not enough to recall Comrade Yang Dezhi's forcible crossing of the Dadu River. He was the commander of the Dadu River Campaign. You are a combatant who is directly involved in the battle. It is more conducive to analyzing and accumulating war cases from different angles. This is a political task! "

At the request of Liu Bocheng, Yang Dezhi and Sun Jixian wrote an article recalling the Dadu River from different angles. These two articles were selected by the editorial department and published in 1960 as the third volume of A single spark can start a prairie fire, which tells the story of the Long March.

Liu Bocheng also wrote an article "Reviewing the Long March". When he wrote about the experience of Dadu River, he clearly pointed out that 18 warriors crossed the river.

However, at an enlarged meeting of the Military Commission in the early 1960s, an air force lieutenant general suggested that there was some confusion in the propaganda about the Red Army's long March crossing the Dadu River. We should find out whether it is a 17 warrior or a 18 warrior. Even if 18 people cross the river together, Sun Jixian, as a commander, should not be counted as a soldier.

At that time, Sun Jixian also attended the meeting. An old comrade next to him couldn't listen any longer. He said quietly to Sun Jixian, "You should also come out and talk about it to set the record straight!"

Sun Jixian replied in a low voice, "What can I say? Can you say you are a soldier? "

After the meeting, the Military Commission asked the General Political Department to verify whether it was the 17 soldier or the 18 soldier who forced the crossing of the Dadu River, but the only information that could be found was the newsletter of the article "Seventeen Heroes who Forced the Crossing of the Dadu River" in Warrior Newspaper and the diary of a Red Army cadre who did not personally go to the Dadu River. Finally, the General Political Department confirmed that 17 soldiers forced the Dadu River and asked all units to publicize the Red Army's Long March.

Sun Jixian himself looked down on this point, but his children later felt wronged for him when they saw the propaganda of Dadu River without him. However, Sun Jixian said to the children, "The battle to cross the Dadu River has been described clearly in my memoirs. As for whether I am a soldier or not, there is no need to argue. During the revolutionary war years, countless martyrs gave their precious lives, and some comrades did not even leave their names after their sacrifice. We survivors feel sad at the thought of them. It is boring to fight for any' warrior' again. I feel very embarrassed! "

Sun Jixian's remarks fully demonstrated his moral integrity and great personality.

1979, a single spark can start a prairie fire series reprint. When Yang Dezhi's Memories of Crossing the Dadu River was selected into the series, the content about crossing the river was changed to this:

After reading this article, Sun Jixian was very angry. He doesn't care that the article doesn't mention himself, but the process of fighting has also been tampered with, which is completely out of line with historical facts. This made him very unacceptable, so he went to Yang Dezhi and said, "You know best about our Red 1 group crossing the Dadu River. How can you write like this? "

Yang Dezhi was also annoyed when he read this article, because he was visiting abroad when the book was published, and the relevant departments did not ask for his advice, so he directly changed 18 Warrior into 17 Warrior, and the fighting process did not conform to historical facts, but since the series had been published, he had to comfort Sun Jixian and say, "I will definitely correct it again in my later memoirs."

Yang Dezhi didn't break his word. In his memoir "Brother Heng Ma" written by 1985, he especially clarified the historical facts about crossing the Dadu River. He wrote:

1On April 3rd, 990, Sun Jixian died in Jinan at the age of 79. Before he died, he told his family that he would scatter some ashes on the Dadu River after his death, and he would tell later generations about the amazing legend created here by the Chinese Red Army of Workers and Peasants led by Chairman Mao.

Soon after, while chatting with Sun Jixian's son Sun Dongning, Yang Dezhi said excitedly, "Your father was a hero in the Long March. When crossing the Dadu River, there were nine people on the first boat, including Xiong Shanglin. There are nine people on the second boat, led by your father. Nine plus nine is eighteen, it should be eighteen warriors, and your father should be a warrior! "

At this time, the relevant departments sought Yang Dezhi's opinion on the Life of Comrade Sun Jixian. In Life, Sun Jixian's experience of crossing the Dadu River is written as follows:

Yang Dezhi said happily: "This is a good article. He personally selected and led the seventeen warriors to cross the river. This situation is true. This is higher than writing that he is the eighteen warriors! "

It is with Yang Dezhi's insistence that more and more people know Sun Jixian's identity as a soldier and that true history, and believe that Sun Jixian can rest in peace in the grave!