Changes in the Muong Lum revolutionary base area

The land of Muong Lum - Sin Chai, La Pan Tan commune, Muong Khuong district in the 50s of the last century was the enemy's rear area. The revolutionary movement was built from here and spread throughout the mountainous district of Muong Khuong. Through many ups and downs, the ethnic people here, who in the past wholeheartedly followed the Viet Minh, still believe in the Party's guidelines and policies, the State's policies and laws, contributing to changing the face of their homeland.

Proud of tradition

According to the history of the Muong Khuong Party Committee, in 1948 and 1949, the French colonialists and their henchmen were active in Muong Khuong. They tried their best to hunt down and arrest revolutionaries in order to suppress the fighting spirit of the army and people here.

At the same time, in the Muong Lum - Sin Chai area, Viet Minh cadres Luc Binh Ngoc, Luc Binh Loi, Luc Binh Thuy, and Ly Han Sinh came to build a base and establish a guerrilla team in the enemy's rear. This was an important area to prepare forces to coordinate with the main force to attack Ban Lau post and enemy posts on the Muong Khuong line.

With absolute faith in the victory of the revolution, the ethnic people here enthusiastically joined the guerrilla team, sheltered Viet Minh cadres, and fought the enemy together. Coming to Muong Lum today, meeting any people, we felt a sense of pride in them for being born and raised in the revolutionary homeland.

In every house, stories about the glorious traditions of the past are always told by the previous generation to their children and grandchildren to nurture that pride. The story that everyone here knows by heart is about the excellent son Thao Sau, who joined the revolution and sacrificed his life in the resistance war against the French.

Mr. Phan Củi Sai, a prestigious person in Muong Lum, shared: He was told that Thao Sau was one of the young men who soon became aware of the revolution and joined the Viet Minh guerrilla team. Once, Thao Sau heard that a group of French soldiers were coming up, so he coordinated with the guerrilla team to bring the Viet Minh cadres to a safe area. On the way, the guerrilla team and the Viet Minh cadres discovered and killed an enemy informant.

Angry because he failed to capture the Viet Minh cadres and lost his men, a French officer commanded a group of soldiers to surround the Muong Lum - Sin Chai area. They gathered all the villagers into one area and threatened that if they did not reveal who shot their men, they would take the villagers' lives. Faced with the enemy's ferocity, it was likely that many villagers would be unjustly killed, Thao Sau stood up and admitted that he was the traitor who shot the arrows.

As if to vent their anger, the enemy captured the young man and tortured him, and he died when he was only in his twenties. Some people also recounted that when they captured Thao Sau, the enemy tried to entice and bribe him to reveal where the Viet Minh cadres were operating, but Thao Sau refused to reveal, so they tortured him even more brutally.

Thao Sau sacrificed but his image lives forever in the hearts of the ethnic people here. On the memorial of the children of the ethnic groups in Cao Son who sacrificed their lives in the resistance wars, the name of martyr Thao Sau is solemnly recorded in the first line of the list of martyrs.

Bright future in revolutionary countryside

Located halfway up the mountain, looking at the map, the two villages of Muong Lum - Sin Chai are only more than ten kilometers away from the communes of Ban Sen, Ban Lau, and Ban Cam, but are blocked by towering mountain ranges, so to get here, you have to go up the Lung Khau Nhin - Cao Son - La Pan Tan road and then go down again.

The difficult traffic situation is also the reason why life here is still difficult. Therefore, when Muong Khuong district had a policy to mobilize people to donate land to open roads to break the "oasis" situation of this land, the people enthusiastically responded.

Many stories that sound like “fairy tales” from the days when there were no roads are still told by the people, such as stories of students having to walk down to Ban Lau and then catch a bus back to Muong Khuong town to go to school, stories of getting up early in the morning to go to the district market, but when they got there the market had already closed, or stories of people carrying bags of rice and corn down the trail to Ban Cam to sell, but there was not much profit left, and they were sick for several days when they returned.

The newly opened road connecting the center of La Pan Tan commune through the villages of Ma Cai Thang, Cu Ty Chai, Muong Lum, Sa San to National Highway 70 is like a door opening up opportunities to escape poverty for the people here. Mr. Phan Củi Sai, a prestigious person in the village, confided that he had been to many places but had never seen corn and rice grown as well as here.

Before, there was no road, it was so miserable that many people looked for other places to work, but now that there is a big and beautiful road running through, many people are eager to return. Mr. Sai is also one of the pioneers in donating land to build roads.

The road runs along his family's cornfield for nearly 400 meters, but he did not ask for any compensation. If he did not donate land to build the road, how could the economy develop? When would it ever improve?

Muong Lum village chief - Mr. Sung Vu said: The village still has many difficulties, but the new road has opened up new hopes for a bright future in this revolutionary countryside. In 2022, only 3 households escaped poverty, this year the number of households out of poverty will certainly be more.

The village chief's mind is full of ideas about fruit tree and off-season vegetable growing models. He said he would go to the commune to register for some models and if they were successful, they would expand them. Previously, the traffic was difficult, so he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to sell the products, but now that everything is smooth, he has no worries. "In the past, previous generations followed the revolution to protect their homeland, now our generation has the responsibility to make this countryside more and more beautiful," Mr. Sung Vu confided.

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