Chapter 3: The Wind Rises in Guangdong Section 22: Deserters (2)

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  A strange color flashed in Wang Xiaoshan's eyes, and he calmly said: "Report to the superior officer, I have never hit them. If the superior officer doesn't believe it, you can ask the comrades in the squad." After a pause, he added: "Since coming here, whether on or off the training ground, I have never hit any soldier. If the superior officer still doesn't believe it, you can also ask Hu Pai Zhang."

  Zhuang Jihua looked at Hu Zongnan, who nodded and said: "Right, I've never seen Squad Leader Wang beat a soldier. During the Cultural Revolution, you're probably thinking of someone else."

  "Hmm, okay then, what do they usually whisper about when they're together?"

  "They were very careful and always whispered behind people's backs. Once, I heard them talking about something at home, and I thought it might have something to do with their family," said Wang Xiaoshan.

  "Oh!" Zhuang Jihua suddenly remembered some methods from his past life, and he seemed to have an idea. He then said to Hu Zongnan: "Shoushan brother, you and Wang Ban Zhang gather the soldiers in the squad and hold a meeting, ask them if they know what happened at their homes. Also, what do these two usually talk about."

  Hu Zongnan nodded and took Wang Xiaoshan away, while Zhuang Jihua told Song Xilian and Du Yuming: "You go back and continue training, pay special attention to the soldiers' ideological situation, tell them not to think wildly."

  "Yes." The two of them also left, Song Xilian hesitated and wanted to say something as they were leaving, but Du Yuming pulled him away.

  Only a few people left and the office was empty, leaving only Zhuang Jihua and Cao Yuan. The clerk Li Anguo had run out early with great energy.

  Cao Yuan found a stool and sat down, then asked Zhuang Jihua: "During the Cultural Revolution, weren't you just about to kill one as a warning to a hundred?"

  "Of course not, I'm thinking of how to turn bad things into good ones and break the current stalemate." said Zhuang Jihua thoughtfully.

  "What's with the gloomy atmosphere? The past two days have been great, and training has been going well. What's so gloomy about that?" Cao Yun asked in confusion.

  "Hmph, what's so good about it? It's far from good, you haven't seen that they're just passively accepting things? Is there anything else in the army besides training? Soldiers aren't machines, they have thoughts too, but look at them now..."

  "You're criticizing me, but you're right, I didn't do a good job on ideological work, it's my responsibility."

  For ideological work, Cao Yuan had actually thought of many ways. Every night, he taught soldiers lessons, lecturing against imperialism and warlords, and was preparing to publish a blackboard newspaper. The problem was that the effect of these efforts seemed not to be very good. The soldiers didn't have much reaction, and sometimes he found that when he was speaking on stage, there were many soldiers dozing off below. He couldn't understand why in military school, lecturing on the same content, those students below always resonated with it, always stirring up their revolutionary passion.

  "I'm not talking about whose responsibility it is." Zhuang Jihua interrupted Cao Yun's words: "I am thinking of how to use this incident to open up the ideological work situation."

  "Can this incident be used to open up the ideological work front?" Cao Yuan was somewhat skeptical, what can be utilized from this incident, deserters, the best hope is just imprisonment. The troops were stationed outside the island when they were first formed, it was only because of the appearance of deserters that they were relocated inside the island, the deserters they caught were shot dead. As the troops were successively formed in various departments, there have been cases of soldiers running away, and the intensity of handling has also decreased a lot, but the minimum is still flogging.

  "Alright, just watch." Zhuang Jihua was quite confident, his senior from the previous life had already done it before, but now...it seemed not to be working out, apparently it was also a summary of what he had learned.

  Then Zhuang Jihua ordered the cooking class to prepare a meal for the two, and especially instructed that there must be meat. The cooking class leader Niu accepted the task with a heavy face; after returning to the class, he let people buy meat and wine to prepare "killing head rice", and the news quickly spread out. The leader took the opportunity to reprimand the soldiers again, and the soldiers were fearful. Zhuang Jihua forgot that in this era, before killing someone's head, they would be given some good food, and there must be wine and meat, which was a rule that had been passed down for hundreds of years.

  When Niu Ban Zhang brought the "killing head rice" into Lian's department, Zhuang Jihua was somewhat unexpectedly surprised to find wine and asked Niu Ban Zhang: "What's going on? Why is there wine?"

  "Comrade company commander, there's wine and meat here, it's a rule."

  "What's going on?" Zhuang Jihua was puzzled, and Cao Yuan was also confused.

  "Rules for eating before heading out: eat and drink well, be a glutton."

  "I'm fed up," Zhuang Jihua blurted out, finally understanding what Niu Ban Zhang was saying. If he didn't understand now, he'd be an idiot: "Damn it, who said we're going to kill them? Get lost, get lost, get lost!" Zhuang Jihua was already annoyed, and this little brat was adding fuel to the fire. Looking at Niu Ban Zhang's "honest" face, Zhuang Jihua felt like kicking him out with one foot.

  The orderly walked into the isolation room with "killed head rice", and Zhao Gou Dan's face turned pale. This meal was very sumptuous, similar to the legendary "killed head rice". Later, Zhuang Ji Hua came in and had them untied.

  "Sit down and eat, you must be hungry after running for a whole night." Zhuang Jihua's face was calm, his voice devoid of any emotion.

  Two men sat at the table, trembling so much they couldn't even hold their chopsticks steady. Suddenly, Han Wensheng flipped over and kowtowed, knocking his head against the ground: "Commander Lian, spare my life, I'll never dare again."

  Zhao Gou Dan is not Zhao Han Jie, but they are as alike as two peas in a pod. Even their words are almost the same. Zhuang Ji Hua felt a little heartache, but thinking about it, he decided to scare them first, so he said lightly: "What's wrong, dare to be deserters, but not dare to eat?"

  "Spare my life, I dare not again."

  "My aged mother of over 80 years is still living..."

  Zhuang Jihua interrupted them and scolded: "Japanese devils, you didn't even change the lines."

  He slammed his hand on the table and stood up, scaring them into immediately scrambling to their feet.

  "Wipe away your dog's urine! What a crybaby! Are you still a man?" Zhuang Jihua shouted: "Sit down."

  The two of them quickly sat down.

  "Eat."

  Grabbed chopsticks and stuffed them into mouth.

  "Stop it, slow down." Cao Yuan came in at this time. He heard Zhuang Jihua's roar outside and hurriedly came in to take a look. Seeing the two people's appearance, he also felt uncomfortable in his heart.

  Two men held their bowls and shoveled food into their mouths, not daring to put them down, only staring at Zhuang Jihua with their eyes.

  "You wish you'd choke to death, but it's not that easy." Zhuang Jihua said coldly.

  The two became even more frightened, put down their bowls, and looked at Zhuang Jihua with a pitiful expression, preparing to kneel again. Cao Yuan saw their appearance and couldn't help but laugh and feel annoyed, saying: "Sit properly, you're always kneeling, don't you have any backbone?"

  "What you've committed is a capital offense. You can be spared if you kneel down. Idiots." Zhuang Jihua continued to intimidate them.

  The two of them now dare not cry, nor dare they kneel, and just sit there in a daze.

  "Commander Lian, it's done, you can kill me now, but spare Dog Egg's life." Han Wensheng said suddenly.

  "Drinking, there are still good men." Zhuang Jihua said sarcastically.

  "What I said is true, Dog Egg and I are from the same village, and it was I who instigated him to run away."

  "Why are you instigating them to run away?" Zhuang Jihua asked, actually this was his intention, but Han Wensheng jumped out voluntarily which was somewhat beyond his expectation. His original plan was to scare the two of them first and then ease up a bit, have a heart-to-heart talk with them, and understand their thoughts.

  "We didn't have any other meaning, we came out to be soldiers, just wanted to make some money for our family. After arriving in Guangzhou, I heard people say that there are piglets being sold to the United States, and that the United States is full of gold, so I was tempted to sell piglets to the United States. We two came out together, when we left home, the elderly said to walk together, so I advised him to walk with me." After Han Wensheng finished speaking, he calmed down and stopped trembling.

  Zhuang Jihua was speechless, that flower flag country is the United States, selling piglets to the flower flag country, the flower flag country is full of gold, it's really conceivable, and there are actually people who believe it.

  "Is there anyone else at home?" Cao Yuan asked, he also didn't expect these two people to run away for this.

  "My family has an older brother, two younger brothers, Dog Egg is the eldest at his house, and he also has two younger sisters and a younger brother." Han Wensheng replied.

  "Why did you join the army?" Zhuang Jihua asked.

  "Our family can't open the pot at home, in August (old calendar) the autumn flood came and flooded the land, and we have to pay rent and taxes. My family originally had two mu of thin fields, now my brother wants to sell the land, but my father doesn't allow it. I think if the land is sold, what will we do next year? Just as you're recruiting soldiers here, with 20 yuan settlement fee, I gritted my teeth and came here."

  "Gou Dan's family was even worse off, they didn't even have a place to live. His father wanted to sell his sister, but the human trafficker only offered five silver dollars for a 14-year-old girl. Gou Dan managed to rescue his sister and ran away to join the army, leaving behind the settlement money for his family."

  Han Wen wiped away tears, Gou Dan sat there with tears streaming down his face, Zhuang Jihua's hands were shaking, and so was his heart. He had sold a watch for over 300 yuan, enough to buy sixty little girls like this.

  Human life is as fragile as paper, and people are treated worse than dogs.

  "Company Commander, you can kill me now, I have an older brother at home, Dog Egg's family is relying on him."

  "Commander Lian, spare us, we won't run away again. Brother Wen, is a good person..."

  "You eat, I won't kill any." Zhuang Jihua couldn't bear it anymore, dropped the sentence, pushed the door and went out, he was afraid that he would burst into tears on the spot.

  Cao Yuan's eyes were slightly red as he said to them: "We didn't plan on killing you guys anyway, Lao Zhang just wanted to scare you, so go ahead and eat with peace of mind."

  Back in Lian's department, Zhuang Jihua lay on his own bed, and the two people's words made him feel uncomfortable. Since coming to this era, he had not truly understood this society, and he had only seen a glimpse of its surface. He had plagiarized others' achievements and felt complacent, but in fact, he was nothing and knew nothing.

  It took a long time for Zhuang Jihua to calm down. At noon, everyone in the whole regiment was very silent. Hua Chun, who usually had a bit of a loud mouth, said two sentences and was scolded by Zhuang Jihua, so others didn't dare speak loudly again, even the action of grabbing dishes was lightened.

  Cao Yuan also had a sullen face, only focusing on eating with his head down. The clerks, orderlies and buglers at the same table were originally not used to having meals with their superiors, now they were even more cautious, afraid that the sound of chewing would be too loud and trigger Zhuang Jihua's anger.

  In the afternoon, Zhuang Jihua brought Han Wensheng and Zhao Goudan to Quan Lian's presence, asking Han Wensheng to repeat what he said that morning about why he joined the army. After Han Wensheng finished speaking, he noticed that most of Quan Lian's soldiers, including the squad leader, had lowered their heads. He asked loudly: "Now I want to ask you all, why did you join the army?"

  Silence. After a while.

  "Me too, there's no way at home..."

  "...if one can survive, who would come out to be a soldier..."

  "...I want to support my mother."

  "It's all the same whether we die of hunger or are beaten to death!"

  …..。

  …..。

  "You all can't make a living and that's why you joined the army, but have you ever thought about why you can't make a living?" Zhuang Jihua asked loudly. Silence...

  "You may think it's because of natural disasters, floods, droughts; it's the heavens, no, not right, it's not a natural disaster but a man-made one; it's because the landlords' rent is too heavy, the government's taxes are too heavy; but why are there such heavy rents and taxes? I'll tell you it's because of the warlords' needs, the foreigners', the imperialists' needs."

  "We Chinese have rich resources, but foreigners are jealous, so they come to grab and plunder. The warlords are their running dogs, who cruelly collect taxes without caring about the people's lives or deaths. They hand over the collected rent and taxes to imperialism through various means, that's why we're so poor, that's why we can't survive."

  "Han Wenxiong and Zhao Goudan want to sell piglets to the United States, but I have to tell you that the United States is not a paradise. I am someone who has returned from the United States, and I understand it better than all of you. The United States is also called America, where Chinese people still do the lowest-paying and most dangerous jobs, receiving the lowest wages. Let me tell you a fact: there is a railway that runs across the country from east to west in the United States, stretching for tens of thousands of kilometers. But under every sleeper on this railway lies the vengeful spirit of a Chinese person."

  "Selling piglets, what are piglets? Not humans, but livestock. Brothers, we are human, so why are we being sold like livestock? Why have we become so debased, so inferior? It's because of imperialism, warlordism and feudalism, it's because these three big mountains are weighing on our heads. If we don't overthrow them, we will forever be treated like pigs and dogs."

  "How can we overthrow these three big mountains? There is only one way, pick up the gun and fight with them. We are soldiers, we have to go to the battlefield, there is a possibility of death, but our deaths are worth it, we are for our sons and grandsons not being sold as livestock and dying, we are for our daughters and granddaughters not being sold and dying, so we are worth it." Zhuang Jihua's emotions became more and more agitated.

  "Maybe someone will say, let others fight, let others die; okay, you can hide, you can ignore it; but have you ever thought that if we all do this, our sons will still be treated as livestock and sold, we will still sell our daughters for five yuan because we cannot make a living, our grandsons will still be treated as livestock and sold, and our sons will still sell their daughters for five yuan. Maybe our descendants will repeat this tragedy over and over again, brothers, are you willing to accept that?"

  "I refuse." All the soldiers were infected by his emotions, all the soldiers' faces turned red and they shouted loudly in hoarse voices.

  "I don't want to."

  "Yes, we must change this situation, how to change it." Zhuang Jihua picked up the gun he had prepared beforehand and held it up with force: "That is to take up guns, go into battle, fire at warlords, fire at imperialism!"

  "Down with imperialism!"

  "Down with imperialism!"

  "Down with the warlords!"

  "Down with the warlords!"

  "We will never be slaves!"

  "We will never be slaves!"