A Certain Brigade of the 73rd Group Army's 'Root-Seeking Team' Visits the He Long Memorial Hall

Officers and soldiers of a certain brigade of the 73rd Group Army visit the He Long Memorial Hall to seek their roots——

"Even My Head Belongs to the Party"

■ PLA Daily Special Correspondent Liao Xiaobin, Ni Xinlei; Special Correspondent Chen Hongbin

At dawn, in Hongjiaguan, Sangzhi, Hunan, a hundred-year-old honey locust tree stands in full leaf. Before the gates of the He Long Memorial Hall, the officers and soldiers of a certain brigade of the 73rd Group Army's "Root-Seeking Team" stand at attention. The brigade traces its lineage to the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army led by He Long. As inheritors of this heroic unit, they have come here once again, following in the footsteps of their forebears to seek the spiritual wellspring.

Entering He Long's former residence and the memorial hall, yellowed letters of appointment, weathered bugles, worn leather document satchels—each silent artifact tells the story of this marshal's life of iron and fire.

Officer Li Man paused before a yellowed set of meeting minutes, which recorded He Long's remarks during the Rectification Movement: "When I reproach those below me, I must first reproach myself. To reproach others, one must first reproach oneself—be strict with oneself, lenient with others. Today I am a commander. If the army does wrong, violates discipline, or contravenes government decrees and policies, the responsibility lies with the leadership organ, and I must bear it..."

To reproach oneself for one's own faults—easy to say, but how difficult to do in practice! When Li Man first took up her post in the brigade, she had also thought about "keeping a ledger" of her own mistakes, but at times would unconsciously overlook her own failings. On one occasion, she was responsible for coordinating supplies for a certain activity and only discovered an omission just before departure. "At the time, I made excuses for myself—I had already arranged for the team leader to inspect, and it was the team leader who had been careless. In reality, this was a roundabout way of pushing pressure and responsibility downward." During political rectification training (政治整训), she revisited the incident and found her thinking had changed entirely: "Turning a blind eye to one's own problems, not knowing where one has erred or what one's faults are, thinking that minor shortcomings are not worth worrying about—all of this reflects an unwillingness to carry forward the spirit of thorough self-revolution (彻底的自我革命精神)."

To investigate and correct mistakes immediately upon committing them, to correct as soon as one knows—this is one of He Long's most admired qualities. In 1937, when He Long ran out of dry tobacco leaves while attending a meeting in Yan'an, his bodyguard sent word to the logistics department's supply officer, asking him to help purchase some tobacco. Later, upon learning that the tobacco had been bought with public funds, He Long reproached himself, saying: "I, He Long, have committed the crime of misappropriating public funds!" He ordered his bodyguard to immediately inform the supply officer that this sum must be recorded as a personal debt of He Long's, not to be offset against any other funds, and to be repaid in full after the meeting. In the months that followed, he reduced his salt, oil, and vegetables at every meal—at times eating no vegetables at all—saving money from his living expenses to settle the debt.

There was another "ledger" that He Long also kept with perfect clarity. In March 1947, the Central Committee decided to transfer the field forces under He Long's command to the command of Peng Dehuai, with He Long taking charge of rear-area work in the border region. In one photograph in the memorial hall, He Long calmly sorts through a filing cabinet, his face betraying not a ripple of emotion. A commander who had spent his entire life leading troops in battle and galloping across the battlefield was now "changing careers" to the rear. Some spoke up for him in indignation, but in He Long's heart, compared to one's personal "small ledger," the organization's "big ledger" was clearly more important. He believed that a Communist Party member must in all things obey the Party, and that arrangements should be made however best serves the war effort. He Long willingly shouldered the heavy burden of rear-area work, ensuring logistical supply and troop replenishment for the front lines, and made an important contribution to winning the War of Liberation. Comrade Mao Zedong praised him: "Old Commander He is loyal to the Party and loyal to the people—he is the 'Xiao He' who guards the rear of the border region."

To calculate the "big ledger" or the "small ledger"? Even before joining the Party, He Long had already answered this question. In 1927, when our Party decided to launch an armed uprising in Nanchang, He Long—not yet a member of the Chinese Communist Party—firmly rejected Chiang Kai-shek's offers of high office and generous rewards, and resolutely led the 20th Army of the National Revolutionary Army to join the uprising. After joining the Party, he declared to his officers and soldiers: "Before I joined the Communist Party, the army I led was mine. Today, having joined the Chinese Communist Party, even my head belongs to the Party. Whatever the Party asks me to do, I will do..."

"Even my head belongs to the Party"—the words are plain, but every one of them struck home for Political Instructor Wu of a certain company. Several years ago, the organization transferred him to a certain company. The company had a weak foundation and had gone without recognition as an advanced unit for many consecutive years. At first, he felt as though a stone were lodged in his chest, too stifled to speak. Some advised him to go "have a word" with the organization; others felt that "keeping to the safety baseline is enough"... Though disheartened, he was resolute: "Soldiers fight battles—there is no reason to shrink back when difficulties are encountered." He walked into the brigade history hall, collected stories of forebears who had pressed forward one after another, giving their lives without hesitation, promoted the company's glorious traditions, and together with everyone else dug into the training ground to study techniques, practice operations, and solve difficult problems. By the end of last year, the company had won the "'Four-Iron' (四铁) Advanced Unit" plaque in one fell swoop.

"Back then, Old Commander He handed over his command authority. Today, what we face may be a reassignment of posts or a reallocation of duties—but the principle is in fact the same: loyalty has never been a slogan. It means stepping forward without hesitation and taking up the burden when the organization needs it." Political Instructor Wu put He Long's words into practice through concrete action: whatever the Party asks me to do, I will do.

As dusk fell, the officers and soldiers of the "Root-Seeking Team" formed ranks once more in the square. They silently turned the pages of that ledger called loyalty within their hearts, examining the debts and shortcomings of the past. "Rather let life be overdrawn than let the mission fall into arrears (宁让生命透支，不让使命欠账)." The resounding slogan echoed across the square—both a spur to themselves and a message of comfort sent across time to Marshal He Long. Not far away, the heroic statue wore a smile of gratification, gilded by the last rays of the setting sun...