Fighting the years of forgetting ■ PLA Daily reporter Cheng Xue The village in the afternoon is quiet. Walking on the village road, you can hear the rustle of wind blowing leaves. From a distance, Majitang war history exhibition hall is hidden in a green. Here is Sanli village, Majitang Town, Taojiang County, Yiyang City, Hunan Province. It is like an uncut jade inlaid between the mountains in the west of Taohua river. During this year's National Day holiday, the reporter and his party came here with special admiration - Several plaques such as "Hunan patriotism education base" and "Hunan national defense education base" were hung at the door. The reporter realized that these rooms, which are not very different from other folk houses, are undoubtedly the Majitang war history exhibition hall we are looking for. "My hometown is Liujiawan at the foot of wujialun in Majitang. Open the door and you can see the towering martyr memorial tower." entering the exhibition hall, Liu Bingxian, a veteran and curator, is telling visitors about the battle that took place on this land. 72 years ago, the tranquility of this millennium old town was broken. The 440, 441 and 439 regiments of the 147th division of the 49th army of the fourth field army of the Chinese people's Liberation Army and the three divisions of the 97th army and the 103rd army of the Kuomintang launched a decisive battle here. The battle lasted two days and nights. The PLA fought in blood, annihilated more than 1000 enemies, and more than 300 PLA officers and soldiers died bravely. In the context of the war of liberation, this battle seems insignificant only in terms of the number of enemy annihilations. However, it seems that a small battle plays an important role in peeping into the victory footprints of our army from pieces of snow and mud - The Majitang campaign smashed the plot of the remnant of Kuomintang Bai Chongxi to flee West from Majitang to Guilin. On the night of the victory of the battle, Cheng Qian, then chairman of the Hunan provincial government, electrified the whole country and revolted in Changsha. The next day, Hunan was liberated peacefully. At the moment, it is less than two months before the founding ceremony of new China. At this moment, more than 300 soldiers fell in the dark night before dawn. When Liu Bingxian came home from his vacation as a soldier, he always listened to the old people talk about this history. As the first college student to come out of Liujiawan, Liu Bingxian always felt that he had a heavy burden: "There are fewer and fewer old people in the village who know this history, and some only know the outline of this history. As for the specific story and the specific details of the war, they don't know. Will everyone forget it in a few years?" In 2014, after his retirement, Liu Bingxian made a major decision: Mining and recording that war history. Since then, he has visited many places and interviewed officers and soldiers participating in the war. It took him four years to sort out the collected battle stories into a book "bloody battle horse trail pond", donate his old house and build a horse trail pond war history exhibition hall out of his own pocket. Looking around the exhibition hall, Liu Bingxian still remembers the shock he received when collecting battle stories. In August 1949, the KMT army, which had been defeated all the way, burned, killed and looted Majitang town. Some people were seriously ill and didn't want to drag everyone down. They said to the PLA soldiers, "let me die at home." the soldiers didn't give up him and organized everyone to remove the door panel and carry the patient to the mountain. When everyone hid in a safe place, they were attacked by the Kuomintang army. On the cliff, the people saw with their own eyes that several PLA officers and soldiers died on the spot under the strafe of machine guns. However, in the historical materials, there is only a string of small characters about the martyrs sacrificed in the Majitang campaign - "more than 300 PLA officers and soldiers such as Cui Qiang and Qiu Wanshun died bravely in the battle". "If I don't do it, no one will ever know the details of those campaigns." Liu Bingxian told reporters that many officers and soldiers who participated in the war at that time were from Northeast China. They won in the Pingjin campaign and trekked all the way south to Majitang to continue fighting. These northeast soldiers were far away from their hometown and finally died in a foreign land. Today, Majitang war history exhibition hall receives more than 100000 visitors free of charge every year. An endless stream of visitors came to this land to understand the battle and the stories of these heroes. The deeds of veteran Liu Bingxian also aroused strong repercussions in the local area. With the help of all sectors of society, Liu Bingxian repaired infrastructure such as martyr tower, martyr tomb, battle site Monument and so on. "It is certainly not enough to rely on the strength of old Liu alone. All departments at all levels should consciously invest in the construction of war history exhibition hall," said Yang Haibin, political commissar of the people's Armed Forces Department of Taojiang County. Out of the war history exhibition hall, the reporter looked into the distance - Today, trees all over the mountains have already covered the places that were bombed by shells. The lush new green connects the past and present, where the people of Majitang live a peaceful and peaceful life. "Born in the new era, grow up in the spring breeze." Tang Chunxin, an 89 year old man who led the people's Liberation Army in the Majitang campaign, summed up the life of the younger generation. We will never forget the past, because we have good expectations for the future. Veterans build their own history museum to restore a little-known battle—— If you remember, they will live forever ■ PLA Daily reporter Cheng Xue, correspondent Yang Haibin, Liu Yueshang, Jin Longxiang Majitang war history exhibition hall. "I want to tell my comrades in arms that they did not sacrifice in vain." Majitang Town, Yiyang, Hunan, by the Yixi river. A maple tree stands towering on the long river bank, with brown chapped old tree skin just like bronze, and its leaves sway in the wind. Under the maple tree, several red candles were wrapped in wax tears. After a careful sniff, Liu Bingxian seemed to feel the residual sadness in the air. Yes, finally. On September 30 this year, Xie Enhua, a veteran soldier of the 440 regiment of the 147th division of the 49th army who participated in the battle, took his family and comrades in arms from Guangxi to Majitang, Yiyang, Hunan, to visit the battle footprints of that year and pay tribute to his comrades in arms who fought together. Standing in front of the maple tree, Xie Enhua stood silent. The bullet marks vaguely visible on the trunk of the big maple silently tell about the battle that took place here that year. "I want to tell my comrades in arms that they did not sacrifice in vain," old man Xie Enhua said to Liu Bingxian. The monument next to the big maple took us back to the little-known battle: on August 4, 1949, the Kuomintang army trying to flee through lumajitang had occupied all the local mountains in advance and blocked our army's progress. In order to break through the blockade, a machine gun squad of company 7, battalion 3, 440 regiment launched a desperate struggle under the cover of big maple trees. After repelling the enemy's charge six times in a row, all 12 northeast soldiers in the squad died heroically. After the war, they were buried nearby under the big maple tree. Later, the people of Majitang respected them as "hero class". Xiao Zhongsheng, who participated in the burial of the bodies of dead PLA soldiers, still remembers this past: "it's really terrible. They didn't even leave their names." He left no name, but immortal merit. On that cruel day, after nearly 10 hours of fierce fighting, the 12 soldiers soaked the Yixi river next to the big maple with blood and vowed to defend their positions to the death. Their desperate battle won time for the arrival of the rear forces. "They held on until the moment the support troops arrived." when the bullets had been fired and the enemy was pressing step by step, the loud charge horn sounded, and the company commander led the supporting comrades in arms to firmly grasp this position in our army's hands. "As the outpost of the Hengbao campaign, Majitang campaign broke the Kuomintang's plan to flee to the West and made contributions to the peaceful liberation of Hunan." veteran Liu Bingxian told reporters, "without the desperate persistence of these 12 soldiers, we would not win so soon." On August 6, 1949, the radio station of Xinhua news agency in Beiping broadcast the news: "on the 6th of the central China front line, the people's Liberation Army captured Zhuzhou, an important military town in the southeast of Changsha, and liberated Yiyang, Yuanjiang, Huarong and other counties in the north and south of Dongting." 72 years later, under this big maple tree, the once war-torn place has become a quiet and far-reaching village and countryside, surrounded by cooking smoke and heard of chickens and dogs. Next to the big maple, the children played happily and happily. Not far away, people came and went in front of a supermarket called "Maple Bay". Local people named the supermarket "Maple Bay" because they will always remember that 72 years ago, 12 northeast heroes were far away from their hometown and gave their young lives on the land of Majitang, building the warmest "harbor" for future generations; They will always remember that these soldiers from the Northeast dyed the dawn of the Republic with their own blood. Veteran Liu Bingxian tells visitors about the Majitang battle. Today's children are as happy as they don't understand "Mom, uncle of the people's Liberation Army is fighting on the mountain and has no food at noon. Why don't they order a takeout?" he looked up and looked at his mother with big eyes and earnestly longed for the answer. "Because there was no takeout at that time, there was not enough food to eat, so we couldn't eat anything like this." the mother tried to tell the story in a way that the children could understand, but the children's eyes were full of doubts. This scene impressed Liu Bingxian. In April this year, when he stood in the Majitang war history exhibition hall and told the visitors about the battle that year as usual, the questions of the "post-10" children made the people present laugh. The battle in the children's mouth is one of the most fierce battles in the whole Majitang battle - wujialun battle. From 4 a.m. to 5 p.m. on August 4, 1949, the 441 regiment launched a desperate struggle with the Kuomintang army in the wujialun area of Majitang. The PLA fought bravely and tenaciously for 13 hours and won the victory. "Everyone lives in different times, and the way of thinking about problems will certainly not be the same. Children can't imagine that people can survive in such a cruel environment because their generation of children are really happy today." Liu Bingxian told the visitors the story of "half a bag of dry food". 72 years ago, in this battle, Liu Bingxian's father Liu Hanlin led the way to the people's Liberation Army. Just after reaching the top of the mountain, a shell suddenly landed next to Liu Hanlin. The company commander's messenger pressed him down and covered him with his body. Liu Hanlin was saved, but the soldier gave his young life and stayed in this hot land forever. When Liu Hanlin finished his task and returned, the company commander took off half a bag of 30 kg broad beans and hung it on Liu Hanlin. He said to him, "take it back and satisfy the hunger of the children and the elderly." This is August, when the crops are in short supply. The importance of this 30 kg broad bean is self-evident. As a child, Liu Hanlin often told young Liu Bingxian the story of this half bag of broad beans. At the moment, he told the story to more people. "Not only food, but also other material support compared with the Kuomintang army at that time," Liu Bingxian continued. Liu Zhengcai, who led the way to the people's Liberation Army, recalled that after the battle, some people would go to the battlefield to pick up copper bullet casings and sell money. "Pick it up and compare it: there are too few bullets in the people's Liberation Army. On the mountain side of the Kuomintang army, you can often dig pit by pit bullet shells and pick up a basket in two hours." Liu Zhengcai said