Chapter 96 trek

After Nanjing fell, Linda moved westward to Kunming in three batches. 800 people took the train from Changsha to Guangzhou along the Guangdong-Han Railway, then took a boat from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, from Hong Kong to Haiphong, Vietnam, and then from Haiphong to Kunming from Vietnam on the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway. It took about ten to fourteen days. Some professors choose this route.Zhu Ziqing, Feng Youlan, Jin Yuelin and more than a dozen teachers traveled from Changsha to Hanoi via Guilin, Nanning, and then along the Dianyue Road to Kunming.In addition, about 250 boys and five professors (Wen Yiduo, Zeng Zhaolun, Huang Zijian, Yuan Fuli, Li Jitong) organized a "Hunan-Guizhou-Yunnan Tour Group" and walked through the mountainous Guizhou to Kunming. The whole journey was more than 3300 inside.

The students were led by a teacher sent by Zhang Zhizhong, chairman of the Hunan Provincial Government, and organized into several teams. The teacher served as a counselor, accompanied by a doctor and a nurse, a radio, several boxes of books, and more than ten cooks.Zhang Zhizhong donated hundreds of copies of military equipment such as kettles, dry food bags, straw sandals, leg wraps, etc., five pigs, and Zhu Jingnong, director of the Hunan Provincial Department of Education, donated two pigs.The team set off on February 19, 1938. The entire tour group adopted militarized management, and the students wore military uniforms and carried umbrellas.

Wen Yiduo walked with the big team, first to save money, and second, to take the opportunity to learn about the lives of the people at the bottom.Liu Zhaoji recalled that Wen Yiduo, who had just turned 40 at the time, "had a very thin face, with several deep wrinkles engraved on his forehead, coupled with his disheveled hair, he looked very old. Everyone thought he was over 50 years old. people".Someone persuaded Wen to take a car, and Wen said: "During the national calamity, walking thousands of miles is not considered a crime. Besides, before I was fifteen years old, I was bound by an old family. Afterwards, I studied in Tsinghua University and went abroad to study. Teaching in major cities, living the life of a fake foreign devil, and being isolated from the vast countryside. Although I am a Chinese, I know very little about Chinese society and people's life. I am really dreaming and dreaming! Now I should know the motherland."

The tour group initially traveled fifty miles a day, and then increased by ten miles a week, and finally reached about eighty miles a day.Get up at six o'clock every day, only have two meals a day, morning and evening, and you can shoot once around noon, eat some dry food, and take a short rest.It is rare to come across a hotel on the road, and Wen Yiduo spends most of his time laying straw on the farmhouse floor for the night, often sleeping with chickens, ducks, dogs and hogs.Huang Zijian recalled that when they slept in the cowshed, the cows would still lick their necks. The team marched to Yuanling, and it snowed heavily.Shen Congwen, who was in Yuanling, held a banquet for them and arranged for them to stay in the tile-roofed house newly built by his brother.Shen asked Wen Yiduo and others to eat dog meat. Wen was very happy and said, "It's delicious, it's delicious!"

Along the way, the tour group happily sang songs as they marched, sang during the march, and sang at night.They sang "The Song of the Guerrillas" and "We Are All Sharpshooters" as well as Nie Er's songs. Many of the places that the tour group traveled along the way were the places where the Red Army's Long March passed.Wen Yiduo especially liked to hear the stories of the Red Army’s Long March told by peasants along the way. He heard that the Red Army had strict discipline, that officers and soldiers were equal, that they did not commit crimes, did not arrest strong men, committed no crimes in autumn, and opened warehouses to help the poor, etc. He gradually grew fond of the Red Army.

When the tour group arrived in Anshun, the students of Anshun Middle School heard the news of Wen Yiduo's arrival and came in droves to see Wen Yiduo's true face.Liu Zhaoji, a student of Tsinghua University, said to them: "Have you read Mr. Wen's new poems such as "Red Candle" and "Still Water"? If you haven't, come and read them." After the middle school students left, Wen Yiduo said to Liu seriously: "You talk too much. Poems like "Red Candle" and "Dead Water" are outdated, and I am not satisfied with them, so I haven't written any more poems in the past few years. During the national crisis, do not introduce works that have no vitality and no revolutionary atmosphere to young people."

The tour group crossed the Panjiang River and originally planned to camp at the local Hama Village.But this place is the top of the mountain, and there is no water or rice, so we can only temporarily change the plan and travel eighteen miles to Annan County.Due to the temporary change of the plan, it is impossible to notify the local area in advance to arrange board and lodging.The hungry, cold and exhausted students ran to the lobby of the county government and quarreled with Huang Zijian, the person in charge, because their board and lodging had not been resolved.Wen Yiduo saw that the students were going to "riot" like hungry people, so he spoke to appease them and calm their anger. He, Zeng Zhaolun and Li Jitong accompanied the students to sit in the lobby of the county government all night.

When departing from Changsha, Yang Zhensheng joked: "If I joined the tour group, I should take a coffin with me." After meeting Yang in Kunming, Wen Yiduo said humorously: "If I really brought a coffin this time, I would take a coffin with me now." I can give it to you." During the 68-day trek, Wen Yiduo picked up a paintbrush, drew more than 50 sketches, and grew a beard at the same time.After arriving in Kunming, Wen wrote to his wife saying that along the way, his body has become much stronger, his face is rosy, he can eat and sleep, and he can walk like flying.

When the tour group arrived in Kunming, Mei Yiqi, President of Tsinghua University, Jiang Menglin, President of Peking University, and other school leaders came to welcome them. Several wives of professors also presented flower baskets. Congratulations to teachers and students.Hu Shi, who was far away in the United States, said excitedly when he heard about the incident: "The most tragic event at the time moved to Kunming. I was very moved and noticed. The misfortune of teachers and students lasted for sixty-eight days. Later, I enlarged these photos and distributed them all over the United States. This glorious history is not only memorable in the United Nations General Assembly, but also in the history of world education.” People at the time praised this move westward near the National University as the “Long March of Scholars”.