During the battle of Goshen in 1935, a bullet went through one side of my right arm, with a big flare, and came out the other side. As I fell down, a grenade happened to explode again on my right side. So I was completely unconscious.
I don't know how long it took, but when I regained my senses, the gunfire in my ears had stopped. I opened my eyes and realized that I was leaning against an old oak tree, lying in a small clearing in the middle of a large forest. My right arm, left hand, and right hip, had been bandaged, and although the pain was not too bad, there was no strength at all in my body, and I could not move a hand or half of my body.
The sun had set in the valley to the west, and a dull color was growing thicker in the great forest, and that nasty twilight mist was rising everywhere.
I strained my heavy eyelids a little higher before I realized that the warriors were squatting and sitting nearby. Were eating in great haste.
"Company commander, you're awake!"
All of a sudden, beside me rang a voice with a strong child's voice. I turned my face to look, and realized that next to me, there is still a person miles. The first thing I noticed was that I was not aware of the fact that there was a person sitting right next to me.
"You're awake, good, good, good. Belly in hungry right. ......" He continued to speak enthusiastically, one side put down the hand of a small foreign porcelain tea pot. "Just wait, I'll be right back." He picked up the other, larger porcelain teapot and walked away.
This teapot is mine.
"Who is this man? And where did our scouting company go? ......" I was thinking, and the man came running again with joy, and he was followed by another man. When I got closer, I could see that the one behind me was the division chief of staff.
I struggled to sit up, the chief of staff has squatted down to gently hold me down and said: "Wu Company Commander, do not get up, can buy time to rest a little more, just rest a little more."
I obediently lie down, from the words of the chief of staff, I guessed that the troops may be transferred immediately, then I ...... this look ......
Sure enough, the tone of the chief of staff became serious: "Your reconnaissance company has been led by the division's reconnaissance staff and set off on a mission. The troops are going to move on immediately after dinner. The organization has decided to leave you here to recuperate." As the chief of staff said, he pointed to the man, "This is the hygienist who has been transferred from the health team and is responsible for treating you and taking care of you."
I couldn't help but look the man over carefully. It was only then that I saw clearly that he was only a child of fourteen or fifteen years old! The retired color of the eight-pointed hat is decorated with a new red cloth five-pointed star, looks even more bright. Under the five-pointed star, is a round, chubby face, because hanging smile, the pair of black eyes deeper into the plump cheeks to go. The nose was also round and turned upward a little, like a little garlic clove. He wore a blue blouse, a pair of light blue army pants, a pair of dark blue leggings, and a pair of straw shoes made of broadleaf grass on his feet. The clothes were old but cleanly washed and looked divine. The most conspicuous thing is the belt tied around his waist. This is originally a senior officer of the Kuomintang's triangular armed belt, was after he got, went to the strap, about the long point, and cut off a section, playing a new hole. He is short and fat old broad old broad belt tightly bundled, the center of the copper head was polished by him brightly, extraordinarily set off his whole body dressed in this way, make people feel: this is a very good life of the brat mile!
As I was gazing at my new companion, the chief of staff added: "This place is not far from the village at the bottom of the hill, and you will have to leave before dawn tomorrow. Further up the hill, you can find the small straw huts ...... where the local party members have lived."
A guard came running and reported to the chief of staff that the troops were leaving.
I heart a burst of nervousness, the chief of staff has been found, for me to correct a hat:
"Do not be sad, we will definitely come back!" He said word for word, "At that time, my first mission to the reconnaissance company, is to come up the mountain to find you!"
The Chief of Staff barked a few more words of advice to my new companion and left. Without taking a few steps, he remembered something and turned back, fished out his own tobacco pouch, threw it to my partner, smiled at me and said. "You smoker, it's all yours!"
Our troops went away, quietly hidden in the distance of this big dim forest, hidden in this increasingly thick twilight fog. ...... They are gone.
"Company commander, the porridge soup is getting cold, let me feed it to you."
The voice was so earnest that I looked up at my new companion and felt a great deal of reliance.
"What's your name, little comrade?"
"My name is Xiushui, Company Commander."
Xiushui? What a strange name. I couldn't help but mutter to myself, "Xiu Shui?"
"Uh, Xiushui." His voice suddenly lowered, "I heard that my mom gave birth to me on the Xiushui River, and then people called me Xiushui."
"You were born on the Xiushui River, why is it 'heard'?" I was filled with curiosity, "Xiu Shui, what is your last name? Where are your mom and dad?"
"I don't know ......" Xiu Shui turned his back and said with a little whimper. I very much regret that I have inadvertently provoked his sadness. Yes, every Red Army soldier, who does not have a period of life with tears!
I don't know what to say, the two people are silent, only the mountain wind in the treetops roaring.
"Xiu Shui, let's eat congee soup. You eat, I eat, we eat together." I finally managed to come up with a sentence. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and turned his face, "I've already eaten, Company Commander, your hands are inconvenient, I'll feed it to you." He acted like an adult coaxing a child, but there was still a teardrop on his eyelashes that he hadn't wiped away.
"Xiushui, my name is Wu Yongxiang; you can call me by my first name from now on, or 'Old Wu', okay?"
Xiushui smiled innocently, "Okay, Old Wu. Then you quickly drink the porridge soup."
I also said, "Okay, Xiu Shui."
It was completely dark and we decided to spend the night here under the pine tree, and then head for the top of the mountain as soon as it was light.
We didn't dare to build a campfire, Xiu Shui found some hay, gave me a pad under my body, and took care of me lying down. I moved my body Yu to one side to make way for half of the place, "Xiu Shui, you rest too."
"No, Lao Wu, you sleep." He said, from the body of the small lunch bag, touch ah touch, feel out two grenades, one hanging on the belt, a hold in the hand, but also open the lid, take out the string on the small copper ring, set in the ring finger. Then, sit down next to me, from time to time vigilantly look around.
"Xiu Shui, you also rest. This person of mine is very wakeful when sleeping, and will wake up immediately when there is a movement. It doesn't matter, you lie down too."
"No, Old Wu, you sleep." He repeated the words.
I said it again and he didn't listen． I had to give up.
As soon as I closed my eyes, I fell asleep but soon woke up freezing again.
The winter has not yet completely passed, in this late night in the mountain forest, the mountain wind like a needle like non-stop blowing, night dew like ice water like cover down, and we have no quilt, not to mention no cotton clothes.
The owls hooted mournfully in the trees, the wolves wailed in the distance, and the trees trembled in the cold wind ...... late at night in the great forests of the mountains ah!
Xiushui in the end young, can not withstand the threat of this cold, he shivered and looked very uneasy.
I can't go back to sleep, gritting my teeth to prop my body up.
"Xiushui, go find some dry branches, let's make some fire and get warm. ......"
"Light a fire? Will it work?"
"It doesn't matter, it's late at night, the white bandits won't come to the big forest, and with a lighted fire, we can still protect ourselves from wild animals."
After a moment's hesitation, he put the grenade away and went to hug the dry branches. The campfire was burning, and Xiushui's round face was rosy again, but he was indeed tired and sleepy. We hugged each other right there by the campfire, on the haystack, leaning against the big oak tree, warming each other with our bodies against the cold of this late night, and by and by we forgot all about it.
When the earliest birds began to chirp, we awoke too.
Xiu Shui went to carry some dry tree skills again, and also filled two teapots of clear spring water from the stream. "Old Wu, I'll make a fire, we'll cook some rice porridge and eat it before we leave, okay?"
Thank you, or first let me smoke a bag of cigarettes!" I smiled.
"Ah, I forgot" he hurriedly put down the tea pot, help me take out the small bamboo tobacco stick: "The chief of staff cared for me, said you do not eat a day does not matter, not smoking can not, is it true?"
See his serious look, really take me as a full smoker.
I smoke, he made a fire.
It's a good thing that I'm not a big fan of this. The first time I saw the movie, I was in the middle of the movie, and I was in the middle of the movie. He brought two full of rice bags, one larger, the other smaller, I looked at him strangely, he opened the large rice bag to the large tea pot to put rice, open the small rice bag to the small tea pot to put rice. Is this because it's fun? I couldn't help but ask him.
"The big rice bags are the rations distributed to you from the leadership." He said seriously,
"The smaller one is mine."
"You, fixing the water!"
He looked at me, smiled, and began to boil the porridge.
By the time we had finished the hot, flavorful, hot porridge, the woods were bright and the sun was coming up. With hot food in our stomachs, we grew a lot of strength in our bodies.
"Xiu Shui, help me find a bracing branch so we can walk."
"I'll carry you, no need to find a branch."
"How can this be, no! You'd better find a branch for me."
Xiushui is obviously a child who doesn't change his opinion easily, but this time, I was more stubborn than he was. I wouldn't leave until he agreed with my idea, and he couldn't argue with me, so he got me a branch.
The injury to my hip is not very serious, my left hand only hurt my fingers, and my right arm hurt only the muscle. I gritted my teeth, on the new crutches, while supported by Xiu Shui, began to go up the mountain to look for our "home", the small hut in an unknown place.
Climbing over a hill, there is no road anymore. The woods look even more desolate, and I don't know how far it is from the top of the mountain.
Walking and sitting, sitting and walking, marching half an hour can walk through the road, we actually walked straight from the morning to noon. We climbed a high mountain peak of Huanglong Mountain. This peak looks very strange, like the mountain grows out of a large tumor, to the oblique stab out.
We sat in a bush at the end of the peak's projection. Through the trunks of the trees, one could look down into the valley far, far below. What a deep valley! It seemed bottomless, full of green trees, and we were squatting on a small island in a sea of trees.
Suddenly, the sky lit up, a thick cloud pushed away, and the sun overhead showed its face. In the distant greenery, something like a band flashed against this strong sunlight.
"What is this thing?"
"This is your cradle!" I said, "The Shoal River, yo."
"Really? It's the Xiushui River?" As soon as Xiu Shui heard this, he stood up, stood on his tiptoes, and showed a look of yearning, "It's really the Xiu Shui River..." He stared blankly for a while, then suddenly turned his head and asked me, "Old Wu, in the future, when we have fought off all the white bandits, what do you want to do for a living? "
"Until then." I said.
"I have already planned, after beating up the white bandits, I will go to the Xiushui River to support the boat. I have decided long ago!"
I am afraid that again will cause his sadness, stood up: "We walk a little way, find a hidden place, burn some rice to eat, okay?"
So we set off on our journey again.
The majestic Mofu Mountain, how big it is, we do not know; how deep it is, we do not know; how high it is, we do not know...? We also do not want to know, we only hope to find that "home" in our hearts.
We've been through the mountains and mountains, climbed the slopes and slopes, but where is our "home"? The first time I've seen this, I've seen it in my life, and I've never seen it before. In this dense forest, we are like floating in the sea.
Three days and nights passed by us with great difficulty, and Xiu Shui's fat face began to sink, and the sunset-like blush on his cheeks disappeared. An uneasiness welled up in my heart, and I felt very sad: alas, what a good boy, it is I who have dragged him down.
"What's the matter with you, Old Wu?" Xiushui stared with wary, uneasy eyes.
"Does the wound hurt again?"
I know, if I say that thought in my heart, he will be angry, and really, by his question, I seem to feel the wound suddenly pain, so I nodded obediently, "Just a little pain in the right side of the arm."
"Come on, let's change the medicine once first."
He built a campfire and brought in two more teapots of clear spring water and put them on the fire to boil. Then from the small lunch bag he took out a bottle of iodine, a probe, some gauze - the only medical equipment and medicine we had.
Xiu Shui hands to unravel the gauze of my right arm. I'm not sure how much I'm going to be able to do, but I'm sure I'll be able to do it, and I'll be able to do it, and I'll be able to do it, and I'll be able to do it, and I'll be able to do it, and I'll be able to do it, and I'll be able to do it, and I'll be able to do it. I clenched my teeth, every vein on my body protruded.
"I'll uncover it slowly, Lao Wu."
"It doesn't matter, Xiu Shui, you make a good effort!"
As soon as the gauze was uncovered, the wound was revealed, only to see a mass of ink-black rotten flesh, oozing out black pus and blood. My heart jumped, I could not imagine that the wound has become this appearance, it seems that this arm is finished.
The heart just covered this shadow, I violently remembered Xiu Shui, the organization put my treatment and everything, all to him. For him, my everything is his responsibility. I can't let him worry and fret, so I put on a smile and said:
"It doesn't matter, it's nothing!"
"Never mind, it's nothing!" Unexpectedly, he said the same thing. We were speaking almost in unison, comforting each other.
"If only there was some anesthetic."
"Xiu Shui, you do the washing ," I said, with a pep talk, "What's one wound!"
The water was already hot, and he dipped a clean gauze in the hot water and began to wash. As he washed, the pus and blood flowed from one side to the other, and the more he washed, the more he washed.
"I see that it will take removing the rotten flesh to do that."
"Shusui, you see to it that it is done." I leaned my arm a little closer to him.
Xiushui took a small piece of gauze, tied it around a probe, and inserted it into the wound.
It was like having a bayonet thrust into my chest, and I couldn't breathe, couldn't stop shaking like a leaf in the cold wind.
The wound is being cleaned in this way. After washing it, it was stuffed with a piece of gauze soaked in iodine and bandaged up. I was bathed in cold sweat, and by this time the wound was a little more comfortable, but it still felt like a million steel needles were stabbing in it.
Xiushui washed the dirty gauze that had been replaced and dried it on a branch. With everything cleaned up, he sat down against me and looked at me, "Does it hurt better?"
"It doesn't hurt anymore." I said, "Fix the water, enough to tire you. Roast the fire and you sleep."
He looked carefully into my eyes again, "You're lying! The wound must still hurt. I'll rub it gently for you."
"No, no." I couldn't labor him any longer, so I lied once more, "Touching it hurts even more. Xiu Shui, go to sleep."
He thought about it and suddenly raised his face with an innocent look, "It's still early. Old Wu, have you ever heard a song about the Xiushui River? Let me sing it to you."
To be honest, the wound is getting more and more painful, which have the heart to listen to singing ah. But I couldn't spoil Xiu Shui's fun, so I put on a happy face and clapped my hands a few times:
"Welcome!"
Xiushui added a few more branches to the bonfire. The newly added branches "popped" in the fire, and the embers rose even more vigorously, lighting his face scarlet.
We sat close together, with our backs against the huge body of the old oak tree, and Xiu Shui began to sing:
There is a river under the mountains of Mufu,
Rolling river water does not dry up,
River water flows ah flow does not dry up,
Which is not as much as the boatman's suffering.
Author's introduction: Wu Yongxiang (1914-1970), a native of Xiangyin, Hunan Province, joined the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in 1930, and the Chinese ****anist Youth League in 1931. In 1931, he joined the Chinese ****anist Youth League and joined the Chinese ****anist Party in the following year. He was a company commander and regimental chief of staff of the 16th Red Division, and chief of staff of the military sub-district. In 1955, he was awarded the rank of Major General, after taking part in the anti-encirclement and three-year guerrilla war in the Xiang-E-Gan Soviet area.