Chapter 8 Chenzhou (i.e. Yuanling)

I have no idea where I will go, what I will do there, what hope I will have in the future after leaving my relatives at home. I am only fourteen years old and a little over a child. Allow me to notice the pain of being separated from my family, and I am so delighted to see and hear all new things, and so yearn for freedom, that when I first left my hometown, I felt infinitely happy. But as soon as I set off on the road, I felt a little worried. There were about 300 people on the road at the same time, and I didn’t know a single one. Since I was so small, the burden on my back seemed to be bigger than myself. There were strange faces everywhere, and I didn’t know the same day and night. Who eats, and who sleeps with at night. I heard that you have to walk sixty miles that day to reach a place where there is a big river leading to ships, and then go down by boat. According to my past experience, such a long journey is not enough. I don't know if I can walk. My family worried that I would catch the cold, so they put too many clothes in the bag. I didn't expect that I would be exhausted by these clothes before I could enjoy the benefits of these clothes.

What frightened me in particular were the girls sitting in the palanquin and the officials riding on the white horses. I knew them all, but they seemed to no longer know me. When they approached me with their sedan horses, I was really scared and shy. In order to avoid the attention of these people, I followed a group of porters with a few young men of poor appearance. Later, a porter looked at me. The burden on his back was a bit too big, but the man was a little too small, so I was allowed to put the burden on his lighter end. At the same time, I talked to a middle-aged dispatcher, who turned out to be a classmate of my uncle. Now that we have acquaintances, and we walked the empty road freely with both hands, without getting tired, we arrived at the bank of a big river called Gaocun before dusk.

A row of covered boats was moored by the water, there were about twenty of them, and one of the bigger ones even hung a red silk flag with the word handsome. Soldiers were all on the bows of each boat, and everyone was looking for the designated boat. The messenger had left with me, so I carried the big burden alone, stood timidly on the shore, then rushed to a boat, and asked softly: Is there any room? Sir. Those people always say: It's full, see for yourself, it's full! Which team are you in? I don't know which team I should be in, and I don't know who to ask. Some ships without soldiers seem to be relatively empty, They wanted me to go over and ask, but because there were secretaries and staff officers in long coats standing on the bow, I was really afraid of their looks, and I didn't dare to take the risk to go over and ask.

Seeing the weather, it was gradually getting dark. Some people were already cooking at the bow of the boat, and some people were squatting to eat, but I was sitting on the big rock on the bank, dazed and worried, and couldn't think of anything to do. At that time, the broad river, It was already covered with mist, and wild ducks and the like flapped their wings on the water and flew towards the opposite river, leaving a deep purple in the sky. Seeing these novel scenes, Xiao Xiao felt a wordless sadness in his heart. He smiled, Rubbing my feet that have been damaged by the long journey. I understand that life has begun to enter a new world.

After a while, I saw the dispatch again, and the dispatch also saw me. Ah, you man, why don't you get on the boat? The boat is full, and there is no place to go up. The boat is full, you say! You are a child with such a big fist, zoom in, there is nowhere you can't get in. Come, come, my little boy, there's plenty of room here! I'm so glad to see a man I know. I followed him to that boat. It's an empty boat! There are no boards, and the top is only some sparse bamboo grids. When the boat shakes, you can hear the flow of water in the bilge. How can you sleep at night? Just wanted to tell the messenger that we will look for it again, right? It's true that other places can be fucked according to the vulgar word he used. A group of gangsters who stayed behind a little bit and carried the tent came. We were worried that once we left, it would not be easy to find such a cabin again. , so I lived tightly with these gangsters. When the dinner was served, people came up from each ship to shout, but because of the reason for picking up the meal, I ran into an acquaintance from the ordnance department. So I changed the ship and transferred to the ordnance ship. Stayed, ate, and fell asleep very comfortably after a while.

Everything I saw on the boat made me feel novel. The twenty-four big boats sometimes went down the beach with their tails in their tails, and sometimes scattered and floated into the flat pool. Bamboo groves and black hanging rocks are all in sight. When preparing to eat, the boats in the Changtan slipped away at will. The calmness and happiness are really touching. When the oars are rowed, the river is full of singing. Seeing this and listening to this, I completely forgot about my family for the time being. Four days later, our boats formed a long row and moored at the special pier on the river bank at the South Central Gate of Chenzhou City.

Two days later, we were stationed in an old general's office in Zongye Lane, and a new life began. There are plasters everywhere on the walls, tiles and messy grass on the ground, piles of black dry feces left in the grass, this is the impression I first entered the yamen. So it was our turn to clean it up. Do this There were a total of 20 people involved in the incident, and I was one of them. Everyone worked hand and foot together for a whole day in a very happy situation, and they were all refreshed. The floor was covered with bricks, the planks were spread out, and the newly made straw slats were spread out, and a hundred people lay down together on these two rows of straw slats, and happily sent off the first night.

After arriving in the field, each person should have his own business. As a supplementary soldier, he only needs to get up early in the morning to run. After running, he will train alone, hold his elbows back, and stand alone on the same ground. The feet rise and fall according to the command, and learn to walk slowly. There is nothing to do in the afternoon, so they lie on the straw and sing the military song "The Great General's Southern Expedition". Everyone is strong and simple, the oldest is about 22 years old, and the young Only thirteen years old, sleeping on a hard board bed, eating rough and old rice, but living in a kind of silence. The military knowledge I learned from the technical class in this city is very beneficial, so that I can live forever. More often than not, he became the monitor.

Until now, I don’t understand why some soldiers were not allowed to go out at will, while others were allowed to come in and out freely. According to my thinking, it is probably that people in the city can go out, while people in the country can go out but dare not go out. I remember that I was not restricted in going out, but every morning after running, I had to listen to the speech of the company commander Wu, a Miao man, who said: We soldiers are originally to defend the country and protect the people. Take care of your face. When you go out, your uniform should be neatly buttoned, your belt should be tightened, and your legs should be wrapped tightly. If you mess around, you have to spank your ass. When it came to this, they said loudly: Did you hear that? Everyone said: Yes Now that the promise has been heard, they were disbanded. At that time, only the fireman in the camp was pressed for committing crimes, but the soldiers were very afraid of trouble because they came from a small place, and no one dared to commit crimes. beaten.

I'm very satisfied with that street, it's very novel every time I go on the street. What I like the most is River Street, where there are countless small shops that sell boat cables, hardwood carts, small fish baskets, and knives , fire sickles, cigarette holders. There are interesting objects all over the floor. Every time I squat there to look at it for a long time, I am as reluctant to part with a gentleman standing next to an antique. There is a glutinous rice dumpling seller in the city gate, and soldiers often sit on the glutinous rice dumpling seller's bench and deliver hot glutinous rice balls to their mouths. Occasionally, when an officer in the camp passed away, he had to salute according to the rules. , he hastily put down the soil flower bowl, raised his hand, stood up and shouted a vague salute. Seeing this situation, the officer sometimes couldn't help smiling. I was the one who encountered this matter the most. You have to eat glutinous rice balls there every day or sit down and watch all kinds of passers-by.

I often lead the horses to the lawn outside Chaoyang Gate with the groom surnamed Zhang, who is in charge of the horses. I nail the sandalwood nail at the other end of the long reins to the lawn, and drive the horses around. , we would lie on the grass and bask in the sun, talk about the big snakes and big fish that everyone has seen, or go to the edge of the church middle school, climb up the city wall, and watch the middle school students play ball. Or go to a place where there are woods , each selected a smooth-skinned sycamore, kneaded grass to make a trap, hung it on their feet, climbed to a high branch and sat down, deliberately shaking the tree for a while. There are three trumpeters in the battalion who are very familiar with me. Every day they will go to the city wall to blow the horn. After crossing the dam outside the city to blow the horn, I will play with them. Sometimes we will climb to the top of the wall to blow the horn. I can't play the horn but I can play the drums. Our homework is fixed, just running every morning. No one is very clear whether the purpose of running is to chase people or to escape. As usual, the name call is blown shortly after the wake-up call, and after one o'clock the call is followed by the drill field , I just went for a run in the playground. After the work was over, everyone rushed to the kitchen. At that time, the bean sprouts must have been boiling in the big pot for a long time, and the brown rice in the big steamer was almost ready. We always ate bean sprout soup and brown rice every day, and every Sunday, we ate meat once. Each of us had a piece of fatty pork under his name. We got the guns when we got there. With nothing to do but run, they wiped their guns in the sun, and passed strips of oiled cloth tied to the chambers of the guns with a thin rope, each end of which was tied to a colonnade, and the guns were thrown away. Dragging one by one. At that time, there were several types of gun names: single ring, nine sons, and five sons; single rings were divided into two types: Cantonese and pig trough; There are five types of cover plates, some of which are Japanese Springfield and German cover plates, but they are not popular. Soldiers only know these names, and they also write them like this when filling out the firearms form. Since we are incorporated into the guard of the detachment commander, we have no other opportunities to serve except that the commander sometimes goes out to visit guests and sends 20 or 30 guards. One time I protected the commander with sideburns to celebrate his birthday somewhere, and I got 50 cents money reward. At that time, Chenzhou organized a coalition government in western Hunan, the full name was the First Military Government of the Yasukuni Allied Forces. Three different troops were stationed. One of the military leaders was Tian Yingzhao, the chief of the military and political affairs, and the other was a native of Zhijiang, the chief of civil affairs. Zhang Xueji. The other one was Lu Tao, the brigade commander of the Guizhou Army who later returned to Guizhou and became the governor. He was opposed to Feng Yuxiang, who was stationed in Changde and served as the brigade commander. The army on one side neither attacked downwards nor upwards on the other side. To take the offensive, everyone just keeps the original territory and waits for other opportunities. The main economic income in both aspects depends on the opium tax. In a corner of western Hunan alone, there are about 100,000 people concentrated in addition to the guest army and a mixed brigade. Our army is the first guerrilla detachment, belongs to the second army of the Yasukuni Allied Forces, and is under the jurisdiction of Zhang Xueji. There are about 5,000 households in Chenzhou. There were roughly 20,000 soldiers. Although the army was very large and diverse at that time, each army was jointly organized with military police inspection offices, so they did not fight each other. However, there were too many banknotes issued at that time, and two or three children and women would be trampled on every day when they were cashed out. Died. The leader was given rice every day, and it was very common at that time for the local troops to beat each other and injure each other. As a result of a military meeting, the upstream counties were redistributed and a number of defense areas were delineated. Except for a part of the army that must be stationed along the river to defend against the invasion of the downstream, the rest were designated to be stationed in the counties. Due to special reasons, the first detachment dispatched It was decided to drive through Zhijiang, the hometown of the commander-in-chief, to Qingxiang to suppress the bandits.