井冈山时期，为了解决红军官兵吃饭储粮的问题，兴起了下山挑粮运动。朱德也常随着队伍挑粮，一天往返50公里。他的两只箩筐每次装得满满的，但他走起路来十分稳健利落，年青力壮的小伙子也常被他甩得老远。战士们从心眼里敬佩朱军长，但又心疼他。大家一商量，就把他的扁担藏了起来。朱德没了扁担，心里很着急，他让警卫员从老乡那儿买了一根碗口粗的毛竹，自己动手，连夜做起了扁担。为防止战士们再藏他的扁担，就在上面刻了“朱德记”3个大字。

During the Period of Jinggangshan Struggle, a grain hauling campaign was launched to solve the food problem of the Red Army. Comrade Zhu De also went with the soldiers to fetch grain on a round trip of about 50 kilometers every day. Carrying two full baskets of grain, he could still walk in a very steady pace, even leaving some of the young soldiers far behind. Everyone in the troops respected Zhu De so much that they didn’t want him to be that toiled. Therefore, they decided to hide his carrying pole. Unable to find his pole, Zhu De felt very worried, so he asked his guard to purchase a bamboo as thick as a bowl’s mouth, with which he made himself another shoulder pole overnight. In case of his pole being hidden again, Zhu De even marked the three Chinese characters “Zhu De Ji” on it.