Chapter 53 Chapter 5 "Comrade-in-arms" who can't speak - the mule

In the early morning, the Red Army began to climb the snow-capped mountains. The snow mountain, the local people call it "Sacred Mountain".Looking up from the foot of the mountain, the snow-capped mountains are majestic and precipitous, with ice sculptures and jade structures shining brightly.There are no roads, no traces of people, no birds in the mountains.In some places, there is knee-deep snow, and it takes a lot of strength to pull it out if you step on it.In some places, there are hard knots of ice, and if you accidentally slip and fall, you will fall into the Baizhang Snow Valley.

One by one, the Red Army soldiers climbed up step by step, stepping on the footprints of the people in front. Little Liu Ying moved forward with difficulty, leaning on a wooden stick.Before going up the mountain, Liu Ying ate a few more dried chili peppers and drank a large bowl of chili water, but she still couldn't stop the cold wind on the snow-capped mountain, and her blood froze to the point of congealing.The dazzling snow light hit her eyelids directly, causing her eyes to ache and she burst into tears.The most terrible thing was that the air was getting thinner and thinner, and it seemed like a big stone was pressing on her chest, making her unable to breathe.Liu Ying panted heavily, and her steps became heavier and heavier.Gradually, gradually falling behind.

How nice it would be if someone gave me a hand!Liu Ying thought to herself.But she quickly dismissed the idea.Everyone is suffering, climbing so hard, how can I expect others to help, and I am not a sick person. She really wanted to sit down and rest for a while, even if it was just a few minutes.But she immediately remembered the discipline of the army before she left: "You are not allowed to stop on the snow mountain!" It is dangerous to stop, and you will not be able to stand up if you sit down.I can't stop, I can't sit down, I want to climb over the snow mountain alive!

Liu Ying gritted her teeth and moved forward, trembling slowly, her face was pale, cold sweat broke out on her back, and she was about to be unable to support herself. Just then, a gray mule passed her.The mule was very thin, with long hair all over its body, carrying a pair of heavy file boxes, panting heavily from its nostrils, looking pitifully ahead with dim eyes, and white saliva dripping from its mouth.The thin ankles trembled every time he took a step forward, and the tail on the buttocks also swayed from side to side. What a poor mule, Liu Ying thought, now that people suffer, the mule suffers even more.

The mule slowly brushed Liu Ying up a steep slope. Perhaps to celebrate the victory of this step, its tail swished towards Liu Ying's face.Liu Ying instinctively grabbed the mule's tail with her hand to prevent it from glancing at her eyes.Unexpectedly, a miracle happened. Not only did the mule's tail not sweep her face, but her body was dragged forward by the mule a big step.This step, if you take it by yourself, I don't know how much effort it will take! Liu Ying suddenly realized: Wouldn't it be much easier to climb the mountain by pulling the mule's tail?Liu Ying came out of nowhere with a force, caught up with the mule, threw away the stick, and grabbed the mule's tail tightly with both hands, like a drowning man grabbing a bundle of straw.At this time, Liu Ying suddenly felt the wind on the soles of his feet, and the resistance under his feet was reduced by most.Unexpectedly, the mule tail has such a magical function!

Liu Ying was delighted with her discovery. There is no unparalleled road, and now she doesn't have to worry about crossing the snow-capped mountains. The mule seemed very docile and obedient, even though Liu Ying held on to its tail tightly, not jumping or being irritable.If it was on flat ground, it would have been jumping wildly, and you would be lucky if it didn't kick you.It probably has no power to resist on the snow-capped mountains. The heavy file boxes, steep slopes, and thin air have made it numb. Suddenly, there was hail from the sky, and it hit the Red Army soldiers head-on.The hailstone made the mule scream "咴咴", struggling and jumping continuously.Liu Ying desperately grabbed the mule's tail and climbed up the mountain twisting and turning, letting the hailstones hit her head and face.

"Liu Ying, what are you doing? What are you doing grabbing the mule's stinky tail?" Liu Ying looked forward, and it turned out to be Cai Chang and Liu Qunxian.They used to walk in front, but now they are overtaken by Liu Ying. "I'm using the power of the mule to climb the mountain." Liu Ying said proudly. "Does the mule's tail stink?" "It doesn't stink, it saves effort on your feet." Liu Ying said seriously.She had already fallen in love with this mule and its tail, how could she feel that it stinks? "It really saves effort?" "Otherwise, how can I catch up with you two?" "Liu Ying is still smart, and even made full use of the mule's tail." "You can try it too, it saves effort." "How do we compare?" How about you, you are as petite as a rag doll, and the tail of a mule can’t drag us both.” “You guys try it.” “Okay, just try it.” Cai Chang and Liu Qunxian thought about it and felt a little bit confused. Must try.Coincidentally, Liu Ying was followed by several mules carrying luggage, and they took the opportunity to grab a mule's tail each.Try it, it really works, and it really feels easy on your feet.The two of them happily grabbed the mule's tail and followed Liu Ying.

Liu Qunxian said to Cai Chang and Liu Ying as they walked, "A mule is better than a husband!" Cai Chang glared at her, "What nonsense are you talking about?" "What's wrong? You can have a husband, but you can't have a mule." "You The more you say it, the more outrageous it is." "It's not obvious, you don't have to worry about crossing the snow-capped mountains by pulling the mule's tail. Can your old Li carry you across? Bogu can't control me, he can't even protect himself." A few words put Liu Ying laughed. "Okay, okay. After you pass the snow mountain, you can write an article about the achievements of the mule, especially the new function of the mule's tail, and it will be spread all over the world!" Cai Chang said.

"I dare not write about the new function of the mule tail, this is Liu Ying's patent!" "Why is it my patent?" Liu Ying asked in surprise. "You invented it first!" "Me?" Liu Ying was silent for a while, and said, "I am not the first inventor." "Who?" "You don't remember. When crossing the Xiangjiang River, Li Bozhao couldn't swim Liu Bocheng, chief of the general staff, saw it, and hurriedly told her to cross the river by the tail of his mule. And..." "That's right. But pulling the tail of the mule to cross the snow-capped mountains is an invention of your Secretary-General Liu. "...

As they talked, they pulled the mule's tail across the top of the mountain. From then on, it is no news that female warriors pull the tail of mules across the snow-capped mountains. "Director Huang, your mule is so majestic! You have to take good care of it! Yesterday, a mule from our regiment was stolen and killed by some very hungry soldiers." "Who dares to touch my mule? Eat it!" Are the leopards daring?" Huang Kecheng, the combat director of the Red Army Corps, replied with a smile. "Let's be more vigilant, our troops also lost an animal." After entering the grassland, hunger became the deadly enemy of every Red Army soldier.The dry food that everyone carried was quickly eaten up.The grassland with a radius of hundreds of miles is desolate, full of swamps and mires, there is no human habitation, and there is no place to replenish food at all.Everyone had to dig wild vegetables to eat, and gray vegetables, rhubarb leaves, wild shepherd's purse, wild celery, etc. became everyone's staple food.The troops in front can still dig wild vegetables, but the troops behind can't even dig wild vegetables.Everyone had to chew on things with leather that had been boiled over fire. Belts, leather shoes, gun belts, and saddles all became life-saving food.

Troops have soldiers dying every day.Some fell down and couldn't stand up while walking; some were poisoned to death after eating poisonous wild vegetables; The soldiers fainted from hunger, and their stomachs broke from hunger.In order to survive, in order to get out of the grassland and get out of this ghost place, there were also incidents of stealing and killing animals. Huang Kecheng has a good mule with green hair and a majestic appearance.In the Soviet area, it followed Huang Kecheng to fight in the north and south for several years, and then followed him to the grassland in the west.The mule is docile and never stumbles.Usually honest and honest, on the marching road, carrying sick patients, safe and secure; carrying luggage, bearing humiliation.When it comes to charge and fight, it changes its appearance, with its eyes and ears raised, and its tail pouted, it rushes into the enemy's position. In air raids and breakouts, it possesses the alertness and agility unique to warhorses.It is familiar with all kinds of signals of the Red Army, understands the master's language and whistle, and will come and go as soon as it is called. It is really Huang Kecheng's loyal and silent "comrades" and the most precious treasure. At this time, Huang Kecheng was also worried about the fate of Daqing Mule. Night fell, and the meadow was pitch black, with no stars or moon, only the cold wind blowing constantly.Huang Kecheng was lying in the tent, sore and tired all over, but couldn't sleep. "Will someone take my big green mule away tonight?" The more he thought about it, the more worried he became, and the more worried he became, the more he couldn't sleep. "Clatter!" There was a sound outside the tent. Huang Kecheng was startled: Has someone come to "visit" my mule?He got out of the tent in a jiffy, only to see a figure shaking tens of meters away. "Who? What are you doing?" Huang Kecheng asked loudly. "Oh, it's Director Huang, our weatherproof cloth has fallen." A familiar voice came from a distance. Huang Kecheng breathed a sigh of relief, and lay down in the tent again. After a while, he seemed to hear something: "■■■".Did someone approach my mule?He was worried, and got out of the tent again. The surroundings were still so dark, and there were occasional green lights flickering in the distance, full of terror and murderous intent.Suddenly, a shrill scream pierced the night sky.Huang Kecheng's heart trembled, ah, I don't know which mule or horse fell down. "How miserable!" Huang Kecheng said to himself. These poor mules and horses followed the Red Army's Long March, suffered a lot and suffered a lot.They carried heavy luggage, weak wounded and sick, and female soldiers on their tails, climbing mountains, wading, and crossing bridges with difficulty.They are starving, skinny, and faithfully driven by humans. Everyone in the Red Army understands the discipline of "no slaughter of animals at will", but soldiers who are hungry to the limit have to raise their knives to ask mules and horses for food in order to continue their lives.Can you call these fighters brutal? Thinking of this, Huang Kecheng sighed unconsciously.He stroked the big green mule gently with his hand, expressing his condolences to its kind. Huang Kecheng didn't fall asleep all night.After dawn, the arduous march began again. On the second night, Huang Kecheng was even more worried about Daqing Mule, and stayed up all night. After not sleeping well for two consecutive days, Huang Kecheng was hungry, cold and sleepy. On the third night, he finally came up with a way to get the best of both worlds: he lay down against the edge of the tent and tied the mule's rein to his arm.In this way, as long as someone pulls the mule, he will be woken up. Huang Kecheng was secretly happy for his idea, now he doesn't have to worry about mules, and can sleep in peace. He fell asleep in a while, fast asleep, he was so tired.He slept so soundly, so dead. Its daybreak.Huang Kecheng opened his sleepy eyes.Well, the reins are still in my hands.He lifted up the tent and saw that the mule's head was facing him, which was great. He just wanted to stretch.Suddenly, he found that the situation was a bit abnormal, and he took a closer look, it was not good!There's blood on the back of the mule!He hurriedly walked behind the mule, and was suddenly dumbfounded: a piece of meat behind the mule's buttocks was chopped off!The cut place was red and bloody, it was horrible.The blood dripping on the grass had begun to freeze. "Hey!" Huang Kecheng stomped his feet and slapped himself on the head, his eyes darkened, and he almost fell down. "Damn me! Why did I sleep to death? I didn't even know Daqing Mule's ass was cut! Careless Jingzhou!" Huang Kecheng blamed himself for his carelessness. "Mule, mule, why don't you struggle, scream, wake me up and kick me awake?" He blamed the mule a little bit.But on second thought, can the mules be blamed?It must have barked and struggled, but it didn't hear it.Or maybe the mule has been through the pain and is numb to the pain. When the big green mule saw its master coming, it flicked its thin tail reluctantly, as if it wanted to tell the master about its miserable experience, and seemed to blame the master, why didn't it come to save it. Huang Kecheng felt sad for a while, and gently stroked the mule's head with his hand.He suddenly found that the mule was also crying, and there was a layer of shiny things in its eye sockets. "Hey—" Huang Kecheng let out a long sigh.In normal times, he would definitely find out the "murderers" who cut up the mule meat and punish them severely.But now is an extraordinary period and an extraordinary environment. In order not to be swallowed up by the bottomless mouth of the grass, and to get out of the grass alive, the actions of the soldiers seem reasonable.Besides, a piece of meat has been cut off from Daqing mule's buttocks, can you get that piece of meat back?Even if it is found, can it mend the mule's ass?The big green mule was already useless, and it would be useless to blame those hungry soldiers. Huang Kecheng stroked the big green mule again, as a final farewell to it.Then he turned around and said to everyone, "Kill it!" The poor Daqing mule saved many Red Army soldiers. Under the dim oil lamp, Zhang Guotao and several of his cronies gathered together, whispering. "Hmph! This old man Zhu De really doesn't know how to flatter him! He is still stubborn and won't cooperate with us!" Zhang Guotao said angrily. "Chairman Zhang, I think let's get rid of him completely, so as not to get in the way." Huang Chao and Li Te said through gritted teeth. "No, he has great prestige in the army, so he can't—" Zhang Guotao made a chopping gesture with his hand. "Are you going to let him go like this?" Everyone was puzzled. "You can't take advantage of him! You have to show him some color." Zhang Guotao said viciously. The room was silent for a while. "First of all, separate the couple and transfer Kang Ke away!" said one. "Okay, this method is good." Everyone agreed. "Remove his guard," said another. "Wonderful chess!" "Kill his mule!" The third person offered advice. "What's the use of killing his mule? We stole his horse the other day, and he doesn't seem to care." "Old man Zhu just got that horse from Geng Biao, and it was stolen by you. Of course he won't be too sad. This mule is not ordinary." Commander-in-Chief Zhu has a beloved horse - a red-haired mule.It was when the two armies joined forces in June 1935. Zhou Shiyuan, commander of the 274th Regiment of the 93rd Division of the 31st Army of the Red Fourth Army, out of love for Zhu De, took a horse that he captured in the Qianfo Mountain blocking battle in northern Sichuan. The red-haired mule was given to Commander Zhu.Zhu De liked this gift that united the deep friendship between the two armies very much. He often found food for the mule himself, used it to carry luggage and sick patients, and sometimes rode for a ride himself. Later, Yu Tianyun, Zhang Guotao's confidant and commander of the 31st Red Army, found out about this incident, and he was furious.In Aba, he yelled at Zhou Shiyuan for "eat the inside out".After that, Zhu De cherished this mule more and more, which symbolized the unity and friendship of the Red Army. For three months, he and the mule have been together day and night, with deep affection and loyalty. After hearing about the experience of the red-haired mule, Huang Chao said, "Okay, if you kill it, old man Zhu will be sad for days! Hahaha!" Zhang Guotao didn't laugh, he was deeper than these people.He whispered: "Okay, kill his mount, and hit him physically and psychologically. However, you don't want to come forward yourself, but quietly..." An uninvited visitor with a short gun came to the wounded and sick.He shook his head and asked everyone, "Are you hungry?" The wounded and sick wailed bitterly: "My belly has already stuck to my spine." "We have been hungry for many days." The man with the short gun gave a wicked smile, and said to everyone, "Okay, okay, don't make any noise. I'll take you to find something to eat." When the hungry sick and wounded heard that there was something to eat, they all followed him with a "hula". The man with the short gun led the wounded and sick to a dilapidated wooden house, pointed to a red-haired mule tied to a tree, and said, "This is food!" "You want us to kill this mule?" said one of the wounded. "If you don't kill the mule, what will you eat? Are you going to starve to death?" said the man with the short gun coldly. "Whose mule is this? Could it be the commander's?" asked another wounded man. "This is not the chief's mule. I know all the chief's mules." The man with the short gun patted his chest. "Arbitrarily slaughtering the army's livestock will be punished." Several wounded hesitated. "Cowards! You are the wounded and sick, what are you afraid of! If something goes wrong, I will take care of it! I won't shoot you again." As he spoke, he took out a sharp knife from his pocket, threw it at the wounded, and stepped forward. Qian Qian grabbed the mule's head fiercely, raised his head, and said as if ordering: "Hurry up! It's too late, this mule won't be your turn to eat." Everyone rushed forward and raised their sharp knives... "Stop!" Xiao Fan, Zhu De's guard, came running from a distance, out of breath: "This is... Zhu... Commander-in-Chief..." "What? Commander Zhu's mule?" The wounded and sick were all stunned. "Don't listen to his nonsense. This is not Commander Zhu's mule. He wants to snatch this mule and eat it for himself." The man with the short gun was anxious. "Why isn't it Commander Zhu's mule? I'm Commander Zhu's bodyguard!" "Who can prove that you are the commander-in-chief's guard? You want to pretend to be a guard to fool the wounded and sick. Brothers, go! Ignore him." The man with the short gun urged everyone to act quickly. Xiao Fan wrestled with the wounded and sick.He was so weak that he finally couldn't support the red-haired mule and fell to the ground. Xiao Fan burst into tears. "What are you arguing about? You are hungry and still have the strength to argue!" Suddenly, Commander-in-Chief Zhu De's loud voice came from outside. Xiao Fan stood up abruptly and said loudly: "Commander-in-chief, I just came back from outside and saw these sick and wounded want to kill your mule, but I couldn't stop it. Now the mule has been slaughtered by them." "What? Killed my mule?" Zhu De was startled.Through the human wall, he saw a pile of things lying on the ground in front of him, as if they were still struggling and wriggling.On the ground, there was a large pool of bright red blood. Zhu De quickly put down the burden on his shoulders and walked to the mule.The mule was dying, with its long head hanging on the ground, its body was bloody and bloody, and the muscles in its legs were still twitching and trembling. Zhu De's eyes darkened for a while, and he quickly raised his head to prevent tears from falling. When the sick and wounded saw the commander-in-chief, they were all frightened and went back a few steps.A bold patient said in a low voice: "Commander-in-Chief, we really didn't know it was your mule. Everyone was starving. We heard that there was a mule here, so we followed it." Commander-in-chief Zhu stared, and said loudly: "How dare you kill the commander-in-chief's mule! Who told you to do it? Who took the lead?" Everyone knew that Zhu De had a good temper, and he had never lost his temper.Today he really lost his temper. A tall wounded man hurriedly said, "It's him—" just after he said two words, the words stopped suddenly. "Hey, where's the man with the short gun?" He looked around for a week, but the man had long since disappeared.When it slipped away, no one knows. Everyone was stunned.The man with the short gun disappeared, and they could hardly argue.All of them lowered their heads, waiting in fear for Commander Zhu's punishment. Looking at the appearance of the wounded and sick, Zhu De seemed to understand something.In the morning, Kang Keqing came from a long way to tell him that someone deliberately caused the wounded to make trouble, and asked him to be careful and beware of these guys' conspiracy. Unexpectedly, this group of guys could strike so quickly and so despicably! "They can't break me!" Zhu De thought to himself.But what about the wounded and sick in front of them, they are ignorant, they are starving, what is the use of reprimanding them?So he said lightly: "If no one instructs, then forget it. However, slaughtering animals casually without approval is a violation of discipline, and the wounded and sick cannot break discipline!" The wounded and sick hung their heads and silently keep silent. "You know the origin of this mule, right? It was given to me by the head of your 274th Regiment." Zhu De told them the story of the red-haired mule. The wounded and sick are even more ashamed and remorseful. Finally, Zhu De said to everyone: "I know you are starving, and we must work together to find a way to overcome the difficulties. You see what is in my burden? It is the wild vegetables I dug all day today. You have to go out to dig wild vegetables, Survival." "Commander-in-Chief, we were wrong. Tomorrow morning, we will go dig wild vegetables." "That's right." Zhu De looked affectionately at the dead red-haired mule on the ground, picked up the burden again, straightened his back, and strode forward...