Chapter 53 last soldier

I have climbed many hills in northeastern Hunan, and I often find trenches, shell casings and shrapnel there.A pile of rusted cannonballs was unearthed there, showing that there were once battlefields everywhere.Let alone the period of the Red Army, during the War of Resistance Against Japan, the national army blocked the Yangtze River waterway with shipwrecks, and the mountain range where the three provinces of Hunan, Hubei, and Jiangxi were handed over became an important theater for blocking the westward advance of the Japanese army.Chiang Kai-shek's inscription of "magnificent mountains and rivers" is still engraved on Mufu Mountain to commemorate a large number of bloody heroes.

The war left trenches, shell casings, and shrapnel, as well as some stragglers who broke away from the ranks.Once, when I went to eat at my father's house in Meidong, I saw a strange face at the dinner table.When I asked, the other party was indeed not a local, but an outsider.Speaking of collecting herbs, the unfamiliar face said that there are rules for herbal collectors, and you can’t go up the mountain on the road, because there is no good medicine on the side of the road, and the good medicine is picked by the people in front; you can’t walk on the road of animals, because walking on the road of animals is easy to encounter wild animals , a little more dangerous.He also said that the herb collectors have taboos, and they have to avoid the words "Ya, Ye, Snake, Tiger, and Fall" in their daily speech, which are the "five monsters" they fear most.Among them, "snake" and "tiger" are easy to understand, and "ye (black night)" and "collapse (mountain collapse)" are also barely guessable, but what does "ah" mean?I do not understand.

The strange face smiled: What was the first word you yelled when you were in danger?Isn't it just a "Yeah" or an "Oops" sound? ——It turns out that his "ah" refers to all terrible things, the most common and most undesirable panic when people face danger. Knowing that I was not a local, the herbal picker spoke Mandarin to me; when he learned that my brother-in-law was from Sichuan, he spoke Sichuan dialect;However, when talking about his origin, he said that he was destined to this area. He came here to fight against Japan when he was a soldier, but he left the team during the melee and lived in the mountains for more than two years.During those two years, he followed a wounded soldier to learn how to gather herbs, and he also picked star anise lotus - but at that time he didn't know that star anise lotus could cure cancer, and now the price is as expensive as gold.

This time he came for the Octagonal Lotus. Many rangers were not as lucky as him.The virtuous father at the dinner table said that during the period when the bandits were fighting against the hegemony, the militiamen even caught one on the mountain.The man lived in the cave, his clothes were scantily clad, he looked like a wild animal, his hair was all white, he was almost a "white-haired man".But that guy has a good memory. Not only does he remember his own name, but he also remembers the unit number and the name of the officer, and he even remembers a death order left by the officer: stick to the guerrilla behind the enemy lines.He just didn't know that the Japanese devils had already run away, let alone what happened to the Communist Party and New China.The worst thing is that after he was arrested, he was very dishonest. He never revealed the location of the weapon hiding place, never went with the militiamen, broke his chopsticks and smashed his rice bowl after every meal, and he was determined to resist to the end.The county People's Armed Forces Department went all out to find a former company commander of the national army from the labor reform farm according to the number he gave. Although he was not his direct superior, he was a fellow of the Miao nationality in western Hunan.

"I order you to withdraw from the battle immediately and accept the reorganization of the People's Government!" The former company commander changed into a Kuomintang military uniform that he found out from nowhere, and put on an armed belt, according to the arrangement of the People's Armed Forces Department. Orders were given before him. The white-haired man stared at him with distrust. "Your ╳ Battalion Commander has been killed, and ╳╳ Deputy Battalion Commander has also been killed. I am now acting as battalion commander! You must obey my orders! Did you hear that?"

The white-haired man rolled his eyelids, still suspicious. "Ma Dabao, how dare you disobey? Damn, are you looking for death? I'm in the military law!" Temporary appointments are often seen on the battlefield, and the white-haired man probably heard the swearing of national curses familiarly, and his eyes gradually brightened.In this way, the current company commander slammed the table and cursed for the third time, and the other party finally turned on the electricity, and instinctively let out an "ow".He probably wanted to say "yes" back, but his words were already slurring.

Lifting his right hand with two broken fingers, he also gave a military salute. Things will be much easier in the future.He went up the mountain with soldiers and militiamen, and dug up three rifles, a machine gun, and the bones and remains of five comrades-in-arms who had been buried in the mountain.He no longer broke the chopsticks and smashed the bowl after eating.