Chapter 3 friend and foe

Not to mention that the dogs of Zhang and Li villages cannot meet without casualties, even the cats of Zhang and Li villages, it is said, must never walk around on the same roof.Needless to say, the people of Zhang Village and Li Village have more prejudices and hatred than their cats and dogs. There is a small river between the two villages, and a field that is so damp and smelly that even the grass can't grow.Children from the two villages have to pass through this evil mudflat when they go to bathe in the river or catch birds in the reed leaves.After a heavy rain, this is a dangerous thing: sometimes, the mud puddles will suck the legs of the children like a magnet, until the whole body is sucked down, and it seems that a very happy thing has been completed.However, the greater danger to the children of the two villages is the bricks across the river.Mudflats are not always sinister, Bricks are always active and relentless.Moreover, after the brick battle, there must be a hand-to-hand battle; at this time, the children of the two villages must not retreat; it is honorable to be killed or injured; to retreat, to retreat home, there will be nothing to eat hope.Their parents do not support their children who are afraid to cross the river and try their best.

Probably since history, there has been no peace between Zhang Village and Li Village, and that river may be a testimony.Even that river was so noisy that the people of the two villages forgot what it was: if the people of Zhang Village were happy to call it Xiaoming River, the people of Li Village would immediately call it Daheikou, or even Heishui Lake.In order to show resistance, the people of the two villages did not hesitate to sacrifice the truth.If the sun in Zhang Village comes out in the east, then it can be concluded that the sun in Li Village is in the west. In the most peaceful years, Zhangcun and Licun could not avoid showing a little peaceful atmosphere and avoid fighting a few times; but this was too forced and unnatural, so when they fought, the casualties were Very special.The number of fights is small, and more people die after one fight, so the two villages can maintain the spirit of struggle and the continuation of feuds in the peaceful years.In the age of war and chaos, it goes without saying that the people of the two villages would regard the two banks of the small river as symbols of the times.If Zhang Village went to fight the bandits, Li Village would go back and beat Zhang Village's heroes to pieces.Zhang Cun will naturally retaliate in the same way.The vicious and ruthless revenge made the people in the two villages feel excited and ecstatic.When there is no way or opportunity, the old women of the two villages will burn incense and pray: May the Bodhisattva give the smallpox plague to the other side of the river or simply call the earthquake to the other side.

Deaths, injuries and lawsuits—the never-ending lawsuits—made the two villages of Zhang and Li decline and impoverish.The small river became more and more turbid and narrow due to congestion, and the two villages also became more dilapidated or decayed.But people in the two villages, as long as they can perfunctorily survive starvation, will still find fault with each other.The two villages compete in the annual meeting, sing thank you operas against the stage, set off fireworks in competitions, set off flames against each other in funerals, and compete in banquets in happy events... These things that are bold and unrestrained, and the competition is just to meet each other by force, have all become a thing of the past.Now, the two villages are still a little angry except when they fight in groups, and they don't even bother to bark during the truce.The tile house turned into an earthen house, and the thatched hut turned into a piece of dust. Looking left and right from the river bank, there are only two dilapidated and gray pieces, with a few thin smoke on them.

When they are poor, they can’t always be heroes at home, and they don’t get food when they fight. When they are hungry, they think about their career and way out. Naturally, young people from the two villages go to be soldiers; Eating, and risking their lives is something they have been used to since childhood.After entering the army and saving even twenty dollars, they would return home, as if private fighting was a more honorable thing, and the only mission of life was to attack the village on the other side of the river.The training gained in the army only made the battle between the two villages more intense and brutal.

The village chiefs of the two villages are the most fierce, otherwise they would not be able to be village chiefs.Zhang Rong, the second son of the head of Zhang Village, has lived in the army for three years and has not been back once.This made village head Zhang very sad, and blamed his son for only paying for his salary, and forgot the sacred duty of attacking Li village.In fact, Zhang Rong may not have forgotten this vocation, but because he was a platoon leader, he didn't want to take a long vacation casually without giving up all his previous efforts.The village head slowly came up with ideas in his desperation, and often declared to the villagers: "Second boy will come back soon. But even if we don't come back for a while, we will still hold Li Cun at the end. Zhang Rong, my second boy, is the platoon leader. There are so many villains in Li Village, but there is one who can be the platoon leader? I really wish that all the villains in Li Village are in Zhang Rong, my second boy. Whether you beat him or not, you have to beat each of them with twenty military sticks! Twenty military sticks!" Soon this set of sayings was memorized by the whole village: "Beat him twenty" gradually became the slogan of the challenge, and even the children went to Hena When throwing bricks at the same time, he knew to shout: hit him twenty.

Li Village did not have a platoon leader.Generally speaking, there is nothing shameful about this.However, thinking about the declaration of the village head of Zhang village, the whole village became restless, and the saddest person was naturally the village head.For this reason, the head of Li Village sent his youngest son Li Quan to join the army: "Boy, you go to the army! You have to grow your ambition, you are limited to half a year, and you have to be promoted to platoon leader! Go up and up to battalion commander! Listen! Do you understand?" Li Quan joined the army, not so much to serve as a soldier, but to be an alternate platoon leader.But half a year passed, and after waiting for another half year, the qualification of platoon leader never came to him.He has no face to go home.Zhang Village had already heard about this matter, so the slogan "beat him twenty" was blown to the river at any time, so that the people in Li Village had no choice but to step up their preparations.

When the real war came, the people in the two villages did not feel concerned at all. What did the war against Japan have to do with them?To be honest, if a few students hadn't given lectures twice, they wouldn't even know about the Sino-Japanese War.From the mouth of the students, they knew about the war and how brutal the Japanese soldiers were.They hated the Japanese devils very much, and they were not afraid to die fighting the Japanese devils.However, there must be a preliminary problem: the public opinion of Zhang Village believes that before fighting the Japanese devils, Li Village must be destroyed first;Both of them asked the students if it was possible to do so.The students told them that they should unite to fight Japan.They couldn't understand what this meant, so they didn't chop bricks on the students' heads because they didn't understand the history of the two villages.They stopped thinking about the issue of fighting Japan.

The battle is getting closer, and the two villages haven't felt any uneasiness yet.They only hoped that Japan would win and level the villages on the other side.If the Japanese could wipe out their feuding neighboring villages for them, they thought that although they may not necessarily help the Japanese, they would not have to hinder the advance of the Japanese army or cause any inconvenience to the Japanese army. Unfortunately, the Japanese came to attack their own As for the village, that is another matter.But they always felt that the Japanese had to do this, and that the neighbors must suffer first. Except for these hopes and thoughts, they had no preparations at all.

The fleeing men and women crossed the river in the village. The people in the two villages knew some facts about the war, and they hated the cruel Japan deeply.However, when they thought of the neighboring villages, they felt happier again: Humph!Woe to those over there, no doubt!As for the damage to the neighboring villages, how could they get there safely? They deliberately ignored it.Anyway, their enemies will finish first, so there is no need to think about anything else, this is their logic.For some days, they didn't fight anymore, because they knew that Japan would soon wipe out their enemies for them, so why bother to do it themselves.

The village chiefs of the two villages showed their highest wisdom in how to entertain the Japanese soldiers.This is not to say that they are willing to be traitors, or afraid of death.They hate Japan.However, in order to make the neighboring villages suffer, they had to perfunctory the Japanese devils and told the devils to go to the other side of the river first.It's not too late for them to turn around and beat the Japanese when the enemy is wiped out.Such wisdom led the two senior and virtuous village chiefs to send out detectives to find out where the Japs had gone and which road they were taking, in order to welcome them into the village and shoot them as they wished—to the village. Shots were fired from the bank.

There are indeed miracles in the world.The detective came back and reported to Village Chief Zhang: Zhang Rong is back, and he is still more than five miles away from the village.But, but, he walked slowly with Li Quan on his arm!The detective must know what the village head is going to say, so he hastened to add: I didn't faint, I rubbed my eyes a few times, and it was definitely the two of them! Village head Li also received the same report. Since it is a miracle, it cannot be solved by ordinary methods.The first thought of the two village chiefs was to kill the two scoundrels who thought they were enemies and friends.But this is too bad.According to Mr. Zhang's thoughts, the mistake must be on Li's body. How can Zhang Rong's life be spared?In Village Chief Li's mind, the facts must be adjusted just right, so naturally he couldn't kill his youngest son for no reason.How to do it?If they were allowed to break up in the village and go home separately, it would be a natural solution.But what should the people of the two villages think?Ugh, the village chief's son can do whatever he wants, so who will fight in the future?Again, what if Li Quan enters Zhang Village, or Zhang Rong enters Li Village?It's too difficult!These two guys have broken the most precious tradition. If there is no proper disposal immediately, people from the two villages may still be able to marry soon!The wisdom of the two village chiefs is simply useless! The second report came: the two of them sat under a big poplar tree outside Zhang village.The hearts of the two village chiefs seemed to be pierced by knives.That poplar tree is sacred, and no one is allowed to fight within fifty paces of the tree.When the war was suspended due to harvesting crops, a broken white flag would always be hoisted on the poplar tree.Now they are under the poplar tree, no one can punish them.The two village chiefs can't go there to recognize Nizi, even if they starve to death there. The third report: Li Quan was lying under a tree, seemingly unconscious; Zhang Rong was still sitting, with blood all over his face and body. A hero's heart is iron, but iron sometimes gets hot.The two village chiefs couldn't bear it any longer, and declared to everyone that they were going to see what happened to those two scoundrels, definitely not to recognize their sons, they would rather not have such sons. They don't want to go under the poplar tree, that's not a hero.Without a weapon in his hand, the village chief can't lose his identity.They did not summon the villagers to protect them, although they knew it would be dangerous to go alone.The two old men came to the poplar at the same time, neither of them looked at the other, so as not to stain their eyes and feel sorry for the ancestors. However, many villagers followed, all of them with their fellows.The village head is not afraid of danger, so everyone can't be careless.Besides, if you don't come to see such a miracle, you will be wronged if you die. Village head Zhang saw that his second son was covered in blood, and he didn't soften his heart. Bleeding is the job of heroes.He was anxious to hear what the second boy had to say. Seeing his father, Zhang Rong wanted to stand up, but after struggling a few times, he still sat down.He is a tall man, even though he is sitting, he can be seen at a glance.The head has seven edges and eight petals, and the eyebrows and eyes seem to be carved on a random stone, showing majesty and toughness amidst the ugly.The big man didn't know how to call "Daddy", and then hesitated for a while and called "Uncle Li" with the same voice! Village head Li didn't answer, but took two steps forward, probably to see Li Quan who was unconscious on the ground.Village head Zhang's bearded mouth moved, and his eyes burst into flames. He felt that the "Uncle Li" was very harsh. Zhang Rong looked at his father and said without shame: "Li Quan saved my life, and I saved his life. The Japanese devils are behind. I don't know whether they came here or went south to cross the Majia Bridge." Go. I dragged Li Quan back, his life may be... Anyway, I would like to hand him over to my family. Before he passed out, he told me: Our two villages must unravel the hatred. , the entire province, the enemy of the whole country is Japan. At the front, he and I became the best friends. We also have many friends, from Guangdong, Sichuan, Shaanxi...all friends. Anyone who fights The Japanese are friends. If our two villages continue to quarrel, I pointed to Li Quan, who is about to die, and said that they can no longer be counted as Chinese. If the Japanese devils come, Zhang Village and Li Village will be completely destroyed and preserved. Save. Dad! Uncle Li! Say something! We can end our little enmity with each other with one sentence. If we don’t fight Japan because of personal enmity, our ancestral graves will be lost! I have been wounded three times, but I just ask everyone to wash me, wrap me up, and go to the army immediately. If I don’t drag Li Quan back, I will never come back. If you two old people still refuse to let go of the hatred, I will There’s no need to go back to camp. I’m going to fight Japan in the front, and what’s the use of you shooting yourself at home? I still have a pistol here, and I’ll kill myself!” The two village chiefs lowered their heads. Li Quan moved.Village head Li ran over.Li Quan opened his eyes and saw that it was his father. His lips parted a few times: "I'm done! You guys, go fight! Fight, Japan!" Village head Zhang also ran over, and Dou Da's tears fell on Li Quan's face.Then he patted Village Chief Li on the shoulder: "We are friends now!" In "Anti-Japanese War Literature and Art", Volume 1, Issue 12, July 1938