Chapter 3 2. Destination

The roads in the mountains were made temporarily by engineers, and there were temporary bridges and sawn-off trees everywhere along the way, but there was still a huge gap between this temporary mountain road and the real road.We walked along the cols most of the time, and in many places, it was just a "gap" that could pass through the trees. The bumps and twists and turns along the way can no longer be described in words. When we were in the car, we tried to figure out where we were and where we were going. According to the information we heard before we came, the 723 engineering department should be in the Daxinganling area, but it didn't feel very similar to the road.Some people who have been to Daxinganling told us that the continuous virgin forest here is no different from other places, but obviously the terrain is different, and the temperature is not as cold as Daxinganling. Speaking of it, it may be the Langshan area of ​​Inner Mongolia.And now, apparently, to take us deep into the forest.

Of course, these are just speculations. In fact, until now, we don’t know where that area was at that time. According to what Lao Mao said later, he said that the vastness of that mountainous area made him feel that we may have even passed through China and Mongolia. The border is within the territory of Mongolia. This journey was extremely difficult, because the car followed the direction of the col, and the col followed the mountains, and the car went around in the mountains. We quickly lost our sense of direction and could only sit where we were.The car was driving extremely slowly, breaking down from time to time halfway, and the wheels were often stuck in the black fallen leaves under the forest.I can't remember how many times I was woken up to push the cart while dozing off, and finally arrived at the destination after four days and five nights.

I still remember it vividly.The destination that appeared in front of our exhausted eyes was a valley, which should already be the core area of ​​the primeval jungle, but we saw a large piece of rusted barbed wire covered with grass and vines in the grass here. Sharp-eyed people also saw that the wooden stakes tied with barbed wire were painted with almost peeling Japanese characters. At that time, everyone was familiar with this kind of scene.Here are the three provinces in the Northeast. After the establishment of the Puppet Manchukuo, Japan secretly did a lot of things on this land. When we were doing exploration, we often saw secret bunkers and buildings abandoned by the Japanese in the mountains. Most of them were in the places where they evacuated It was doused with petrol and burned all over.The facilities in some buildings are very strange. I once saw a three-story building in the northeast. The rooms inside were only half the height of a person. There were no stairs, and there was a chain up and down. I didn’t know what it was used for.

Passing through the barbed wire, many dilapidated wooden simple houses appeared behind the trees, covered with several layers of grass vines, and the roofs were collapsed by the leaves. It seemed that they had been abandoned for forty or thirty years.On one side of the simple house, there were PLA trucks and more than a dozen military tents. Several engineers saw the truck approaching, and they all came to help us pick up our luggage and get off the car. We saw Rong Aiguo here again, but he didn't say hello to us, but just stood and looked at us from a distance, his expression was as serious as ever.

Thinking about it later, this was the last time I saw him. In fact, I am not sure whether his name is Rong Aiguo.After this incident, because of work, I saw most of them more than once, but I never heard of this person again.At that time, I also asked many veteran officers of the engineering corps. In fact, there were some political commissars with quite a lot of connections and served in many companies, but they all told me that they did not know this person.So I thought about it later, the identity of this Rong Aiguo is not simple, he must not be a person in the ordinary engineering system, of course, this is something later, and has nothing to do with this story.

After getting out of the car, we were settled in those simple wooden houses. Those houses used to be the place where Japanese soldiers lived.When we went in, we found that the house had been cleaned up briefly, and lime powder was sprinkled to kill insects, but decades of neglect cannot be cleaned up. The wooden bed boards are full of unknown dead insects, and the wood is very damp. Unable to sleep, we had to sleep on the ground in sleeping bags. I personally don’t like those simple wooden houses. I feel that the atmosphere inside is very strange. I believe people who were born in the same age as me have this feeling. Once you stop at a place related to Japan, you will feel a heavy feeling, which is hard to let go.Unfortunately, I couldn't choose at the time.

After cleaning up, some soldiers came to take us to dinner. The few of us who got acquainted with each other followed Lao Mao, because he seemed to be the most famous here.When I saw him get out of the car, he looked at the tents for a long time, half-smiling, as if he knew what was going to happen.Lao Mao likes to play deep, and I feel more secure when I stand beside him. We had nothing to say in the afternoon, and in the evening, we were taken to a tent, where more than 20 people sat on the floor noisily, with a curtain in front and a slide machine behind, which we called a film machine.One look at the decoration and you can tell that this is a meeting for us.

The person who presided over the meeting was a senior colonel. I think I should have seen him before, but I can't remember where.He first officially welcomed us on behalf of 723, and then apologized for the inconvenience caused by the secrecy measures.Of course, there was no sign of apology on the face.Then he didn't talk nonsense, and said to us directly with the accent of Langfang people: "The content of the next meeting is a top secret of the state. Please raise your hands and swear with me that you will never disclose it in your lifetime, including My wife, parents, comrades-in-arms and children.”

We are all accustomed to taking oaths. Many exploration projects are state secrets, and you must take an oath to keep them secret when you join the project team. In those days, this kind of oath was also very important. This is called revolutionary sentiment. Unlike now, oaths can be eaten as food. At that time, the state secrecy regulations classified secrets into three levels: secret, top secret, and top secret.Ordinary exploration projects, such as the exploration of the Daqing Oilfield, are classified as state secrets, but there are still photos that can be published in newspapers.We have never encountered a top-secret exploration project in the country, and we don't know what shocking things are in it, so we can't guess it.

We all solemnly swear, and many people look at each other, obviously looking forward to the unraveling of the suspense that has tortured us for so long.Of course, many people disagreed, because at that time there were often incidents of thunder and rain, and many times they were nervous, and it was a top secret of the country. At the last glance, it was nothing more than a big deal, but it involved a certain person. The whereabouts of these "old people", or things like living habits. Someone later concluded that things that involve people's livelihood are called secrets, things that involve economic and military interests are called secrets, and things about "old people" or something that cannot be explained and subverts the world view can be called "top secrets."

There are thorns in every age. I saw the old cat in front of me. When he took the oath, the other hand drew a cross on his thigh, which means that this oath is not counted.This is a bit of a trick in the world, and I don't think so.It's also because of my family background, the activities my family did before liberation were much more wicked than breaking the oath, and my father didn't seem to have any psychological shadow.Moreover, in this day and age, if I say it, others may not believe it. Everyone had their own thoughts. After the ceremony was completed, the colonel turned off the lights, and someone behind him started to put on a slide show. After the slide show started, I realized that I was too ignorant that the slide show was actually a small projector. It was a novel thing. We usually watch movies with big screens, but now there is such a small one, and we feel very curious. However, we only discussed it for a while before being suppressed by the colonel with gestures.Then, everyone watched a short black and white video about 20 minutes long in silence. I only watched it for about ten minutes, and then I felt a suffocation, and I knew that such a serious secrecy work this time was definitely not a bluff.The movie we are watching now is a piece of "Zero Film" that must not be leaked.