In the winter of 1934, I returned to Xiangxi from Beiping due to business, and went up by boat from Yuanshui to my hometown, Fenghuang County.It has been 18 years since I went to the countryside. Once I entered the Chenhe River Basin, everything changed.On the surface, everything has naturally made great progress. If you pay attention carefully, you can see the tendency of degeneration in the change.The most obvious thing is that the beauty of honesty, simplicity and human kindness retained in rural society is almost disappearing, replaced by a vulgar outlook on life that has been successfully cultivated in the actual society in the past two decades.Although the superstition of respecting ghosts and gods and fearing the destiny has been destroyed by common sense, the sense of right and wrong has also disappeared along with it. The word "modern" has arrived in western Hunan, but the specific things are nothing more than the massive import of luxury goods that embellish urban civilization, and the high-quality cigarettes and various canned foods are widely consumed among all classes.The only abstract things are stereotyped official documents and sophistication in popular politics.Everyone seems to accept everything and learn everything with a humble and sincere attitude, and what can be learned and accepted is nothing more than that or this.Local people are older, their physical strength is gradually exhausted, and their emotions are almost frozen, so they have an inevitable conservatism.Only in this way, some of the graceful and noble demeanor of managing affairs and being a man is still retained.The so-called fashionable young man can only give people a painful impression. If he is a young man, he must have two fountain pens in his clothes, a platinum watch on his wrist, and when the sun shines, he will quickly put on big black glasses to show that he knows how much love is. Eyes, clothes must be very fashionable, and the materials should be very particular.His special strengths are playing the harmonica, singing Beijing opera, smoking Dabaotai or Sanwuzi cigarettes with his eyes closed, and being able to distinguish the quality of the brand from his breath.There are more than ten tricks when playing poker.Rich but ignorant, sometimes in broad daylight, I still take a big flashlight or a very small flashlight, because the brand is new and bright enough to satisfy the owner's great vanity, and it seems to improve the social status.If he is an ordinary student with a little thought, he must be able to read some political and economic pamphlets from the Advance Bookstore, and know some literary news, celebrity anecdotes or sports stars.These people all express dissatisfaction with the status quo, but as a rule, they don't understand what the country's social problems are and how hard they must work to achieve progress. (That is to say, in terms of place, the inherent advantages of the previous generation, especially the place where women among the elders, grandmothers or old aunts practiced diligence and thrift, governed life and treated others with kindness, and how much lyricism has been accumulated in simple beliefs against the simple natural scenery, these things And how it was gradually destroyed by imported foreign cloth kerosene, young people almost didn’t know it, and they had no hope of knowing it through learning.) While dissatisfied with the status quo, at the same time, they used their academic status to run to the big cities, in Shanghai or Nanjing. , Wuhan or Changsha calmly lived, squandered the savings of the previous generation at home, and enjoyed the rotten reality.And use empty words such as "the wheel of the times" and "imperialism" to write some realistic essays and poems, love letters or family letters.In the end, graduate, get married, go home, and return to the original reality to be a new generation of gentleman or lord, waiting for the end.There are only a few of them who really have ambitions and ideals, but they can't use their family property, or they don't bother to use their family property, and they want to work hard. They just think that there is nothing but "politics" in the world based on the simple cultural concept they got in school. , and nothing else.There is not only a lack of a deeper understanding of the development of historical society, but also a deeper understanding of the meaning of individual life.Personal future and national fantasies are all pinned on a kind of dependent plan, and as a result, they will naturally disappear when they are rolled out in society.Although these people still exist well in the past ten years, and some of them may have become petty officials, made a small fortune, had children, and lived a good life, but the ambition and ambition of the young people, from the career There is self-seeking, academic self-reliance, but it has completely disappeared.At that time, I thought that the only hopeful people were a few young officers who were in the prime of life and could cultivate some noble ideals in their pure minds.However, in their environment, it seemed that they couldn't do anything.The difficulties of tomorrow in the locality must be dealt with. Everyone can see clearly, but there is no way to prepare in advance in terms of personnel.So I wrote a novel, named it, and wrote a travel note, named "Xiang Xing Sanji". In both works, soldiers appeared. In contrast to the "current", what is the possible starting point for the disappearance and reconstruction of the so-called national morality.Although the integrity and enthusiasm of the characters in the novel have become a thing of the past, there should still be some essence in the blood or dreams of the young people. In a suitable environment, the self-esteem and self-confidence of the young people can be rekindled.In another work, I will continue to dissect and describe the character and soul of the local peasants in the past twenty years who have been crushed by the times and lost their original simplicity.In fact, this work has been tested in "Xiangxing Sanji".Because there are other taboos, even though it is a novel travelogue, I can't speak freely about the current affairs, so I have to place infinite hopes on the future.

After the Sino-Japanese War broke out, I had the opportunity to return to Xiangxi in the winter of 1937, and lived in a county town in the middle of Yuanshui for about four months.I have a good place to live on land and water, and I have seen and heard a lot. I have the opportunity to know clearly about the various changes in the development of the war in western Hunan, and how local problems have been eliminated from the chaos and gradually put on track. There are still some problems.And that insurmountable fundamental weakness, the problem, I also fully understand.The one who lives with me is a little brother who was injured on the Jiashan defense line.From his contact with several small officers under his command, I was able to know their situation in this place the year before the war, and how their outlook on life gradually changed after the war.Not long after, these young officers, along with my little brother who had just recovered from his injury, took the title of "Legion of Honor" and brought two regiments of recruits, and went back to the Jiangxi front line to defend Nanchang and fight against the Japanese army.One cloudy afternoon, when I saw a dozen sailboats going down the river, my brother and a group of small officers stood at the bow and silently waved to me. I ran along the dry river beach for a while alone. Unconsciously, his eyes were soaked with hot tears.Because a little worry four years ago has gradually become a reality, and a little dream four years ago has almost all been proved by the behavior of this group of officers.On the one hand, the fact of being bound by the past is painful, on the other hand, it is a kind of upward ideal, transplanted into young life, it seems that it can still sprout and take root, but when it is able to germinate and take root, it is unavoidable. Destroy.

At that time, the Hunan provincial government was planning to send thousands of young students to the countryside on a trial basis to carry out civilian training and assist "reserve divisions" in preparing for recruits, which was quite troublesome technically.The situation in Wuhan has become tense, and more and more public and private institutions and refugees from various provinces are evacuating to western Hunan.Ordinary people don't know much about Xiangxi, and they often call it "bandit area" in general.The local Baojia system was not very sound, and there were quite a lot of disputes over the implementation of military service due to the "surrogate service system".

So I wrote two more little books, one titled and one titled.At that time, the enemy was trying to invade Wuhan, and the war might be transferred to the Dongting Lake area.The local variety is inseparable from the war. Although I can write a lot, I can't write much.As far as the trivial matters of the Yuanshui River Basin are concerned, its past, present and developing future will be proved. It is hoped that it can give outsiders a more realistic impression, and it is more hoped that it can ignite the desire to go to the countryside. Students have a little courage and confidence to overcome difficulties!In addition, I use a small water pier in the Chenhe River Basin as the background, and use the personnel and affairs I am familiar with as the subject matter to write about the "constant" and "change" in the lives of some ordinary people in this place, as well as the process of multiplying and dividing the two. All mourning.The problem is analyzing the reality, so when I deal with the problem faithfully, I feel pain in my heart. I am afraid that the work will only give the reader a painful impression when facing the problem. I also deliberately add a little pastoral humor to achieve harmony in personnel and affairs.What I wrote at the beginning of the work is all kinds of existence under habit; everything is controlled by habit, so the various life styles and life ideals formed when money and products circulate in this small place are all in the same place. An inevitable situation develops.Contradictions in personnel and conflicts in personnel matters seem to have their own fateful endings.

The design of the work focuses on the intricacies of the constant and the changing, and writes about the "past", "present" and the developing "future". Therefore, what you can see in the previous part is the clarity of the natural scenery, and the few characters growing up in this environment. The emotional innocence and purity of the children and women can still be seen with a little hope, but the rest of the people and things involved in the pen are naturally bleak.Especially when it comes to local privileged people, no matter how cruel a pen is, it cannot be written down. The intentional country humor can't neutralize the sad emotion.However, as far as I can think of it, a conscientious reader will admit that this work does not lose its dignity and seriousness.Although this is only a matter in a corner of western Hunan, it may be similar to the situation in many places in the southwest.Although the existence of these phenomena has been drowned out by foreign wars, problems similar to these may occur in other places.Perhaps the war has really completely purified China, but preserving this social landscape that is close to historical relics in words, and comparing it with the "current" brand-new situation, it seems that it can also help us have a little more new understanding of society. Recognition, that is, the progress of a place in a war, necessarily involves some conflicts of human feelings and the reconstruction of human relations.

Although most of us lived in such a process before the war, when judging it from the principles of the current censorship system, the faithfulness of works will inevitably be taboo, and it will easily become a useless career.Therefore, when the work was first published in Hong Kong, part of it was abridged, resulting in inconsistency throughout.When rewriting chapters and publishing last year, some chapters could not be published.When it was ready to be published in Guilin and submitted for trial, and the inspection office thought it was inappropriate, all of them were detained.Fortunately, my friend sent it to Chongqing for re-examination for re-examination. After a year of redactions, it was only possible to send it back to Fuying. Since the country is at war, I fully agree with the management system of publications.Because if this system is used properly, it can not only passively restrict the publication of bad works, but also encourage the production of excellent works. The system is beneficial to the country, and the situation is obvious.The only side is that when an individual handles a problem so cautiously and conscientiously, what he encounters is just such a kind of procuratorial system that seems to be very cautious and conscientious.In addition, in society, it seems that as long as the author is not too cautious and conscientious, as long as he is good at dealing with the officialdom, he can get all kinds of unscrupulous conveniences at any time and anywhere. (Recently, when I reorganized and published all my works, there must be several articles in each collection that were "exempted from publication", and someone else got permission to use small articles to insult me ​​by making rumors, such as the stuff in a certain small publication Children, it’s not a crime.) Comparing the two, although I can’t help being a little confused about the status quo, I can see a bit of news that some of the current society is still a continuation of the past.In the progress of the country, we have to tolerate many facts that exist along with habits. The rationality and justice that scholars hope for may only be hopeful when "experts" in various fields and departments really raise their heads.I remember that when I went to press eight years ago, on the title of that little book, I said: The desired readers should be outside the school, or in places where news from the literary world, literary debates, and various criticisms cannot reach. For the lonely people who are working hard in various undertakings and are engaged in the great cause of national rejuvenation, what the works can give them may be a little bit of happiness in their hearts, or it may be just pain... Now this little book, what can i sayI understand very well that what my readers have gained from the setbacks encountered by the country, the root causes of the nation’s worries, and the struggles of the majority under the common goal in the past eight years of life experience The lessons... must be more and deeper than what I know.What an individual can do is an ordinary story ten years ago, and it is still an ordinary story after nearly ten years.What they wrote in the past may still give them some inspiration or understanding, but they can't say anything now.Thinking of the difficulties my readers have endured in silence, and the tenacity and courage they have shown to overcome them, I feel that I should be silent, and all words are superfluous.They gave me so much before I could give them anything.There are many things in front of us that are painful, but there is no need to be pessimistic.The sudden wind and rain may sweep away the lofty ideals of many people and make them disappear without a trace.However, a person's enthusiasm for the future of mankind and a pious attitude towards work should exist forever, and will definitely give great encouragement to those who come after!In the performance of some of the readers I am familiar with, I have seen the other side of the highest morality of human beings.If possible, I will continue to write my ode to such people in an ordinary story when I have completed the next three volumes proposed for this book.

1942