Chapter 31 6. Red Collar
In the spring of 1915, the second child and the third child of the He Family Courtyard in Podi Township were blessed with a son, whose birthday was only one month away. They were two white and fat boys.The old scholar, who became a grandfather, was overjoyed. He asked a silversmith to make two silver collars, wrapped them in red cloth and sewed them up, and sent them to Guandi Temple. Only then did he take off the collar and put it on for the two grandchildren.This is a custom passed down from generation to generation by the mountain people at the bottom of the slope, which means that Guan Ye, who is "loyalty and righteousness for thousands of years", has tied the two grandchildren with red collars. Trained to become a person of "thousands of loyalty".
The grandfather held a grandchild in one hand, and let them toddler under the old cypress tree in Guanye Temple. They also had to learn to climb slopes in the mud after the rain. If they can't learn to climb slopes, they are not children in the mountains. .At the age of six, the two brothers entered a private school inseparably, and finished reading the "Four Books" and "Five Classics".Later, my cousin went to Luoyang to attend high school, but my second uncle was reluctant to let his only son go to other places to study.A pair of cousins are desperate for a brief separation.When the cousin came back from Luoyang to spend the winter vacation, the two of them got into Guandi Temple, knelt in front of Guanye, burned incense and kowtowed, praying to Guanye to bless the two brothers never to be separated.It is said that Guan Ye's beautiful beard is like a wisp of black smoke floating in the wind, and Danfeng's eyes also "suddenly", accepting the good wishes of the two brothers.After the holiday, when my cousin went to Luoyang to go to school again, my cousin stole the bedding in advance and waited in the earth temple outside the village.The two 14-year-old cousins went to Luoyang together again and entered the same school.The cousin was delayed for a year and was one grade lower than the cousin.Cousin said: "I am one level higher than you, call me brother." Cousin said: "We don't know who is brother and who is brother, let's call each other nicknames, I call you Shengzi, you Call me Shizi."
The year after Shengzi was admitted to Modern Middle School in the provincial capital, Shizi was also admitted to Modern Middle School.
In 1931, the "September 18th" Incident occurred.Sixteen-year-old Shengzi was a representative of the Kaifeng Student Federation. They formed a petition group and lay on the rails at the train station. They were going to Nanjing to meet Chiang Kai-shek to petition for resistance to Japan. , escorted back to school.Shizi said, "Shengzi, what are you doing to torment Lao Jiang? Look at me!" He grabbed a small Japanese-made alarm clock, "I'll kill this devil first!" Then he threw the alarm clock to pieces. The bell jumped up and ran away with a "clang".He rushed up again, and kicked the bell flat.Shizi went to the streets with Shengzi again, searching the streets of the ancient city, looking for all the "spies" "sent" by the devils.He saw a "Three Gun" bicycle parked at the door of a house, so he lifted the stone block in front of the door and smashed the bicycle.A fashionable lady ran out of the gate and shouted: "Which rascal smashed my car?" Katsuko said: "You have to thank him, he defeated Japanese imperialism for you!" The lady immediately calmed down , Said: "Hey, thank you, I really didn't know this is a little Japanese thing!" The brothers continued to search.Shengzi said: "There is another thing that should be smashed. I wonder if you dare to smash it?" Shizi asked, "What?" He jumped up and said, "Hey, the country cannot be left alone for a day. Did the government tell us to smash it?"
Shengzi organized a reading club and asked Shizi to study with him.Shizi saw Marx and Engels' "Communist Manifesto", Bukharin's "ABC of Communism", Lenin's "State and Revolution", and Varga's "Course of Political Economy".He picked up a book and laid it down, shaking his head like a rattle, "They are all foreign products, and they are not used to Chinese culture!" Shengzi asked him to read Lu Xun's translation of the Soviet-Russian novel "Destroyed", and he turned his face away and said: " I just watch!"
During school holidays, the two brothers returned to their hometown in western Henan together.Shizi found that Shengzi always carried him behind his back, and went to Guanye Temple Elementary School to find his cousin. He had endless conversations with his cousin, but he became estranged from him.He became jealous of his cousin, and one night, he secretly followed Shengzi to Guanye Temple.
Cousin lived in a room on the side building of Guanye Temple, with dim lights flickering on the window paper.He looked in through the hole on the window sill, and saw a red flag with sickles and axes hanging on the wall, and Shengzi was talking to the red flag with his right hand raised.He couldn't hear what Shengzi said clearly, but he could see tears in his eyes.Shizi stood blankly in the dark night, listening to Shengzi and his cousin singing an unfamiliar song in a low voice.He didn't know it was The Internationale.It was the first time that this song from the French working class appeared in the small valley in the west of Henan. Wrapped with the mountain wind, it rang the bell on the eaves of Guan Ye Hall.Shizi couldn't bear the desolation and loss caused by this song that didn't belong to him.After the song, he saw his cousin holding Shengzi's hand and said, "Shengzi, from now on, we are comrades!" Shizi felt that his cousin had taken Shengzi away from him, so he couldn't help but to the door. Kicked.The lights went out suddenly.Shengzi jumped out of the room and shouted, "Who?" Shizi strode forward and said, "Me!" Shengzi said, "Brother Shizi, wait, listen to me!" Said: "I'm not used to your foreign songs." Sheng Zi asked: "Where are you going?" Shi Zi said: "Take care of your own head, I will tell you when I think about it!"
The year Shengzi escaped from the Huan River, Shizi was admitted to the Whampoa Military Academy.
In 1937, Shi Zi graduated from the Whampoa Military Academy and went back to his hometown to visit relatives before serving as a second lieutenant platoon leader in the 85th Division of the Kuomintang.At that time, Shengzi had turned Podi Town into "Little Yan'an" in the mountainous area of western Henan, mastered an armed force with a hundred guns, and established an underground county committee of the Communist Party in L County Middle School.However, Shi Zi was wearing the military uniform of the KMT's direct troops, with a "Browning" pistol pinned to his belt, and an additional shiny "Zhongzheng Sword". He touched the brim of his hat and said, "Shengzi, you don't want to engage in class struggle with your brother?" Shengzi said, "Shizi, after the 'Xi'an Incident', your Principal Jiang has accepted the idea of 'United Anti-Japanese War'." .At present, the enemy is at hand, and our two brothers will go to the national calamity and fight against Japan together." Shi Zi said: "Okay, you don't need to conduct political propaganda to your brother, we don't talk about politics." Then, he pulled out the Browning One shot from the pistol "bang" on the tree, and a dove fluttered down from the tree with its wings fluttering.He picked up the pigeon and said, "This is the appetizer for both of us." Not to be outdone, Shengzi also took out the "two-eight box" in his waist, and said, "Don't panic, here's another bowl of noodles." Meat topping'." With a shot, another dove fell from the sky.Shengzi picked up the pigeon and said, "After drinking, let's eat pigeon noodles."
Shizi drank too much wine, pulled out his sword from the scabbard, and showed off to Shengzi: "This is a special... special honor for graduates of Whampoa University." The words "Jiang Zhongzheng presented" asked: "Shizi, please tell me what is wisdom?" Shizi said: "Wisdom... a wise man is also a...strategy. You must not...don't be stupid! The principal is right What do you say about "United Anti-Japanese War"? To learn...students' training...the lecture said that the Japanese...are just ringworm...the disease of ringworm and scabies, and the Communist Party is the heart...the trouble in the heart. Besides, you will never ...Let it be directed by our school...principal. I'm afraid that one day..."
Shengzi asked: "What happened one day?"
Shizi's eyes were red, "One day, our brothers...will meet each other on the battlefield!" As he said, he tossed his cup and cried loudly, "Shengzi, you...do you know that our master is coming... Die... But we tied... our red... red collars... bundled together, put them in his pillow case, and put them under his head! My master knows...your surname...surname I changed my surname to 'Gong', and my surname is changed to 'Jiang'. The old man is afraid...that we two...brothers will kill each other!" He raised his sword and cried, "Principal! You are a teacher every...day, I will be... a father forever. What do you tell your students to do...how...what to do?"
Shengzi's eyes were also red, and he said, "Don't cry, Brother Shizi, anyway... Anyway..." His heart was confused, and his mouth also stuttered, "This, this...wait until...wait until... Classes are eliminated, that is... as Mr. Sun Yat-sen said, when the world is unified, the world will be peaceful and there will be no use of weapons. Don’t you think so?”
Shizi just cried loudly and said, "My dear grandfather! . . . "
After crying loudly, Shi Zi lay down on the table and fell asleep, still weeping.
Shengzi accompanied Shizi with tears in his eyes, returned his dagger to the scabbard, and left quietly.
When Shizi sobered up, his father asked him, "What did you say to Shengzi?"
Shi Zi didn't know anything, "I didn't say anything, just say some homely things."
His father asked: "Then why are you crying? Shengzi is also tearful!"
"We miss my grandfather!"
When Shi Zi returned to the army, Sheng Zi sent him out of the village and passed by the Guan Ye Temple. Sheng Zi said, "Brother, let's go and see Guan Ye again!" Shi Zi shook his head and said, "There is no Guan Ye in the Guan Ye Temple." Shengzi said: "The plaque of 'loyalty and justice' is still there." Shizi said, "I dare not look at it. The words 'loyalty' and 'righteousness' have been fighting in my heart all day long!" Shengzi sent the stone out. After reaching the mountain pass, Shizi stopped and said, "Shengzi, don't send it off. If you send it off again, I really want to take you away!" Shengzi said, "I just want to keep you!" Fuck you, I'll do mine, just don't forget that our red collars are still pillowed under our grandfather's head!" Shengzi said: "Don't forget, we are still good brothers who fought against Japan together. Mobilize the people in the rear to resist the Japanese, and wait for news of your victory against the devils at the front!"
My uncle remembered that when he and Shizi parted, a round of red sun was like a bright red burning coal, emerging from the east mountain pass, burning the endless mountains.Shizi strode towards the mountain pass, turned his head and waved to him, like a piece of charcoal with blue smoke melting into the blood-red morning glow.
When my uncle was wanted by the KMT, according to the instructions of the Western Henan Work Committee, he returned from the county seat to the bottom of the slope, and was about to dive into the Yichuan mountain area. A veteran who was missing an arm returned home, abducted to the bottom of the slope, and brought him a A secret letter.The envelope contained only a small round stone and a piece of paper. The note said: "The mountains and rivers are full of doubts, and there is no way out, and the willows are dark and the flowers are bright, and there is another village." On the bottom is a woman's name: "Xiao Cuihua", and The house number of a street in Zhengzhou.The uncle asked: "Brother, who asked you to deliver this to me?" The veteran said: "It is our Battalion Commander He, why? The letter was not signed?" The uncle said: "I only know that there is a platoon leader He." The veteran said: "That's right, the platoon leader will be promoted all the way, and he will become the battalion commander!"The uncle hurriedly stopped him and said, "Don't panic, we will leave after eating." The veteran said, "I heard that your place is not very safe!" The uncle said, "Don't be afraid, I'm spreading mounds inside and outside the village!"
My uncle drank three glasses of old wine with the veteran, and the veteran started talking, saying, during the "Battle of Taierzhuang", Platoon Leader He took him and a squad leader to crawl to the devil's position in the dark to "catch their tongues" and spotted the devil coming out. where it lurks.In the middle of the night, a little devil came out yawning, and just squatted down after taking off his pants, platoon leader He rushed forward and overturned the devil.Before he could shout, the devil had already stuffed a ball of stinky socks into the devil's mouth, bound his hands and feet, carried a naked kid back to the battalion headquarters, threw him to the ground, and said, "Report to the battalion commander, and bring back a stinky little devil." Devil!" The battalion commander said: "Why is he a stinky one?" Platoon Leader He said: "Along the way, he 'chichi lala' straight diarrhea!" After that battle, Platoon Leader He became Company Commander He .
The veteran said that the next step is the "Battle of Xuzhou".Company Commander He blushed, and the battalion commander ordered him to retreat immediately. He said, yes, yes!However, he led the brothers to fight back, and only after the cover battalion retreated did he lead the brothers to withdraw.No, I lost an arm.He was also covered in wounds and turned into a man of blood.
Uncle asked urgently, "Where is he injured?"
Don't worry, listen to me!A shell exploded behind him, flipping him over, leaving him covered in blood and shrapnel wounds all over his spine.But he got up and yelled, soldiers can only pull their bodies in the first half and get hurt in the second half, this is a disgrace to soldiers!He picked up a light machine gun and wanted to charge back again, and the devil gave him a penetrating wound on his thigh.The brothers insisted on dragging him down, making him lie on a stretcher and carrying him away.No ambulance could be found along the way, the wound festered, and the leg was swollen as thick as a bucket. It seemed that the leg was going to be useless.Passing by a closed restaurant, he said, open the door quickly, find me salt, and soak a basin of salt water.He tore off two bundles of leg wrappings, soaked them in salt water, and asked me for a spear stick. He pushed the leg wraps in from one side of the wound, and then pulled them out from the other side, pulling out a puddle of pus and blood. He also used a gun to poke in a strand of leg wrap dipped in thick salt water, saying that it was a medicine twister, which saved the leg.The wounds all over the spine had to be washed and rubbed with salt water.The salt water stung him to sweat, and the flesh on his body trembled with pain, but he gritted his teeth and didn't snort.There was also a bullet embedded in the shoulder blade, so he called it 'click' and pulled it out with his fingers.After arriving at the rear hospital, it took only over a month for the wound to fully heal.He said that Guan Yunchang was protecting him in the sky!
The uncle breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's right, he admires Guan Gong the most!"
The veteran said: "He became the deputy battalion commander as soon as he left the hospital. After another battle, he followed the division commander to the Zhengzhou Garrison Headquarters and became the major's staff officer."
Uncle asked: "There is a person named Xiao Cuihua, do you know?"
The old soldier shook his head and said, "There are only men on the line of fire, and I have never seen flowers and plants!"
My uncle gave the veteran five silver dollars.The veteran took it, hit the silver dollar with a "jingle", listened to it, and hurriedly put it in his pocket and said, "Thank you! I, with one arm, can't follow Battalion Commander He to be loyal to the country, so I can only go back The family has done their filial piety for the old lady!"