Kuang Yuchun, an instructor of the First Battalion of the 264th Regiment of the 30th Red Army, went to the hospital for treatment because his hand was seriously injured in the battle at Nijiayingzi. On the night of arriving at the hospital, the enemy situation was serious, and the hospital was urgently transferred from Kanglong Temple to Hongwan Temple.
A large group of wounded and medical staff marched sixty miles in a hurry. They were exhausted and exhausted, and finally arrived at Hongwan Temple at noon. Before he could stand firm, the cavalry of the Horse Bandit Army caught up with him. A platoon protecting the hospital was outnumbered, and the bandits and cavalry came to attack them ferociously.
The hospital is full of lesbians and wounded soldiers, with no combat capabilities. Facing the fierce enemy, everyone had no choice but to crawl to the southwest. But how can a man outrun a horse's legs when retreating, let alone two legs that are tired after a rapid march. Some lesbians who could not run fell to the ground with tears in their eyes. They took out a big cigarette and swallowed it in one gulp. Some shouted "Long live the Communist Party" and then cut their trachea and died.
Kuang Yuchun and his correspondent ran southward with Comrade Dong Changliang, who was seriously injured in his leg, as the crowd in front became farther and farther away, and the sound of horse hooves and gunfire behind him became closer and closer. Dong Changliang was shot again in the back, and blood flowed all over his body. He weakly begged Kuang Yuchun and the two of them to leave quickly and leave him alone. Before he finished speaking, he died.
The enemy is only one mile away from them, and there are all unarmed lesbians in front of them. Kuang Yuchun also wanted to run forward, but was dragged to the woods on the southeast mountain by correspondent . The horse bandits rushed past them, and most of the comrades were surrounded in the southwest depression.
All the gay men died under the horse, and the lesbians suffered even worse...
The screams from not far away were like knives piercing Kuang Yuchun's heart. He took out the gun from his body and found only two empty magazines. Only then did he remember that he had given the gun to the army before entering the hospital. He slammed the magazine to the ground, lay on a stone and cried.
The battlefield fell silent, and all the tragedy and unspeakable sorrow flowed into the ground with the blood, and were sealed in this desolate land in the northwest.
It is getting dark. The horse bandits escorted a group of comrades who could not escape and headed north.
The correspondent came to say goodbye to him with two balls of snow and two balls of rice noodles. Kuang Yuchun was shocked and asked him what he wanted to do. The correspondent was a new soldier who had just joined the Red Army in Longxi, but he had also experienced life and death in battle. What he said surprised Kuang Yuchun. Correspondent
said that the Red Army collapsed and there was nothing left. He wanted to go home and start a small business.
Kang Yuchun said excitedly that the Red Army has not collapsed. There is still a Red Army in northern Shaanxi and a Red Army in the old base area. The hearts of the poor in the world are towards the Red Army. He persuaded the correspondent to go with him from Ningxia to Inner Mongolia to find the Red Army in northern Shaanxi. He was familiar with the terrain in that area. The
correspondent started crying and said that his mother, who was almost 60 years old, was still at home. If he died, who would support her?
Kuang Yuchun couldn't talk any more and gave him the two taels of cigarettes and a small ingot of silver he had on him. The correspondent sent him down the mountain, and after saying goodbye to each other, they went their separate ways.
Kuang Yuchun was alone in the middle of nowhere, feeling inexplicably sad. In front of you is a battlefield of killing, and outside are the rampaging horse bandits and cavalry. The infinite world is a dragnet, and there is no place for you to stay.
He is a warrior. His sadness is temporary. He keeps walking and fighting. He took out his party certificate from his breast pocket, wrapped it in cloth and stuffed it into a stone crevice. One day, he thought, he would come and take it out. Thinking so, tears flowed out involuntarily.
At dawn, he walked to a village east of Zhangye . He wanted to beg for some food, but he didn't dare to enter the village, so he hid behind a big tree.
An old man who picked up dung came out of the village. Kuang Yuchun waited for him to approach and stood up. The old man was frightened and took a few steps back.
He claimed to be a businessman. He had lost money and came to ask for some food. The old man said, you must be a Red Army soldier.
Seeing that the old man seemed like an honest farmer, he admitted it. The old man sighed and asked why it was like this. He had seen these people at his relatives' house last month and they were all good people.
Then the kind old man took him home, helped him change into plain clothes, and gave him a felt hat.
After dinner, the old man asked him for three yuan and helped him buy a basket. In the basket were a carton of Hardman cigarettes and a few pieces of "Lanzhou" water pipes. Then, the old man told him to pretend to be mute on the road and never speak. His accent would tell you he was from Hubei.
Kang Yuchun is deeply grateful to the old man.
Saying goodbye to the old man, he crossed from the east of Zhangye to the north, taking small roads to avoid villages.
This afternoon, he climbed over a hill and came to the junction of , Gansu and . He climbed up a section of the incomplete Great Wall, only to see rolling yellow sand in front of him, blocking out the sky and the sun. The desert is vast and vast, with no homes, no trees, and not a single blade of grass.
He walked off the Great Wall and walked towards the desert. There was a dead tree stump beside the road, and a horse's withered bones lay in the yellow sand under the tree. A crow that was resting on the stump saw him approaching and flew away with a cry.
After walking in the desert for a long time, his mouth was terribly dry and blisters formed on his lips. The thirst was really unbearable, so he threw himself down and dug up the sand with all his strength, but after digging for more than a foot, the sand was still dry. Kuang Yuchun remembered that when he was a secretary in the military department, he had investigated this route. There should be a village in front of it, but now he didn't know where the village was.
He felt like he was dying of thirst. That horse was probably killed too, right? He would probably fall silently in the desert like that horse.
He immediately blamed himself again. He had only been away for a few days and he couldn't bear it anymore? If this continues, how will he reach northern Shaanxi, which is thousands of miles away?
Finally he mustered up the courage, got up, and continued walking forward. He wants to find the Red Army, and even the collapse of the sky and the earth cannot stop him.
In the afternoon, he came to a small town on the border of Gansu and drank some water. This small town is a must-pass on Ganmeng Road. Camel teams often come and go, and the vast majority of residents are Muslims.
He went from house to house begging for a few cold buns. A kind person pointed out a way to him and asked him to find an old lady Geng who owned a grocery store to stay overnight.
Mrs. Geng was very happy to see that he was a Han. She was especially happy to know that he was from Hubei. She said that she was from Hubei and had opened a business here.
After finishing speaking, he interrogated him for a long time and suddenly asked: "Are you a Communist?"
He was taken aback, but before he could speak, Mrs. Geng continued: "Don't be afraid! There was one who passed here two days ago and was caught at the entrance of the town. I heard that he was executed that day. Don't worry if you stay here with me, no one dares to come."
Kuang Yuchun said that she wanted to go home.
Old Mrs. Geng said rudely, "This is full of Ma family troops, how can you escape?" What do you eat on the road? Then she earnestly persuaded him that he might as well work with her for a few years and she would help him start a family. She had two daughters, one nineteen and one seventeen, but they were not rich.
She also called her two daughters out to meet him. Mrs. Geng said that when you get married in the future, the whole family business will not be entirely yours.
But Kuang Yuchun shook his head and said he wanted to go home.
The old lady turned against him and threatened him. If he didn't agree, he would be punished. If he was caught, he would get five yuan as a reward, and the official would get twenty yuan.
Kang Yuchun thought that it would be difficult if she really fell out, so she agreed verbally.
But how could he stay there? On the third night, he took enough dry food and ran away.
He originally planned to go to northern Shaanxi via the Mongolian desert, but after experiencing the hardships of the desert, he felt that his personal strength was insufficient, so he turned back and followed the Great Wall to the Yellow River. The day after
escaped, he arrived at Dongle Town . The military headquarters was stationed in this town. He came to a familiar tea shop and wanted to ask the boss to borrow a pair of scissors to cut his hair.
shouted "shopkeeper", and the boss looked up and saw that it was him. He was shocked and scolded him in a low voice for being so bold. There were horse bandits and cavalrymen coming and going in twos and threes outside the door, and Kuang Yuchun ducked in. The boss of
immediately kicked him out, saying that he could not keep him here, and he would not report it. Kuang Yuchun said that he just wanted to borrow a pair of scissors. But the boss still refused. When Kuang Yuchun opened his mouth again, the boss knelt down and said that the whole family still relied on him to support him. Seeing him like this, Kuang Yuchun pulled the boss up and walked out the door.
Before he could take a few steps, a horse bandit cavalry stopped him and asked him what he was doing. He said he was selling cloth.
"Who sells cloth? How wide and long is the cloth?"
He replied: "This is not necessarily true. There are some that are half a foot wide, some that are two feet wide, some that are fifteen feet wide, and some that are twenty feet long."
The bandit waved his hand and said, "Get out." He left in a hurry.
After leaving Dongle Town, he walked east along the highway and met many of his own people on the road. Walking at night, everyone can easily get together. Before long, there were eleven people in their group. With company, Kuang Yuchun feels much more at ease.
But the crowd was conspicuous, so they were stopped by Ma Buqing 's recruitment station at Shilipu, Liangzhou. When the horse bandit soldiers saw them, they called them "communists" and sent them to the Liangzhou prisoner camp overnight, where more than a thousand comrades of the West Route Army were captured.
As soon as Kuang Yuchun entered the prisoner camp, he met Xu Taixian of the Political Department of the Ninth Army, Fang Qiang, the Propaganda Minister, and Xiao Xianwang, his old friend and staff officer. He told Xiao Xianwang that his name was Yu Guangzhuo, which was his cousin's name. Xiao Xianwang naturally understood.
He asked about Army Commander Cheng Shicai and Political Commissar Li Xiannian. Xiao Xianwang burst into tears, shook his head, and said he didn't know if they were still there. Kuang Yuchun thought of the time when the 20,000 to 30,000 Red Army marched westward, but now it was raining and windy, and everything was scattered. She felt sad, and tears flowed down her cheeks. Several comrades advised him not to be sad. The blood of the comrades will not be shed in vain. They still have strength and will definitely return to the Red Army.
At the end of March, they were taken to Yongdeng .
A horse bandit officer called him out, and a businessman-looking man stood next to him.
The officer said: "Yu Guangzhuo, I see that you are young and pitiful, let me show you the best way to Yangguan." Pointing to the businessman, he said: "My friends and I have opened a business together, and I see that you are good at writing, so I want you to be my husband."
Kang Yuchun replied with three words: "I won't do it."
The horse bandit officer was puzzled: "Are you stupid? Well fed and clothed, are you no better than a prisoner?"
Kang Yuchun said that he wanted to go home. The horse bandit officer glared angrily, slapped him across the face and said, "Go away."
Later, the horse bandits came to the prison camp again to recruit troops, but no one in the ranks said a word. As a result, they were all escorted to Lanzhou and imprisoned in the so-called "reformatory school" at Dongjiao Airport.
At this time, a traitor named Leng appeared and went to the enemy to report. Xu Taixian and Xiao Xianwang were taken to the officer corps. The traitor heard somewhere that "Secretary Kuang" of the 30th Army was also in the prison camp, and brought the chief of staff of the 97th Army to the prison camp to check on Kuang Yuchun. The captain surnamed Jiang supported him and said, "Be honest, brother, I promise it will be fine."
This traitor has never seen Kuang Yuchun, and he didn't even recognize the person named Jiang. None of the comrades said a word. So until they escaped, the enemy didn't know who "Secretary Kuang" was.
Everyone hated this traitor from then on. One day Kuang Yuchun spat at him and called him a shameless traitor. He immediately reported it, and the captain surnamed Jiang punished Kuang Yuchun with three days of hard labor.
Everyone feels sorry for him. One night, Kuang Yuchun made an appointment with three comrades. While he was sleeping, he choked the traitor's neck and beat him severely. The traitor was beaten, but he didn't know who beat him, and he had no way of prosecuting him.
They stayed in the reformatory for three months and everyone suffered a lot.
works hard every day, building roads and airports, but only eats two meager meals a day. I was so hungry that I felt dizzy, and every time I stood up, I would see stars in my eyes. Many comrades have deep sunken eyes and are as thin as sticks of firewood. Seriously injured comrades were not given medical treatment. They continued to work hard due to injuries, hunger, and many were tortured to death. The horse bandits dragged the people out and threw them randomly into the Yellow River.
One day, Captain Jiang talked about the Three People's Principles . After returning to the room, Kuang Yuchun became angry and cursed: "What kind of doctrine? Nation means betraying the country, people's livelihood means people's death, and civil rights mean that only the rich have the right."
Jiang heard this, rushed into the room, and knocked Kuang Yuchun to the ground with a belt. All the comrades in the room stood up and glared at him. The man named Jiang was frightened and slipped out.
In June, the prisoners will be transferred to Xi'an. Everyone is secretly happy that we are close to northern Shaanxi and there are opportunities on the road.The enemy also left it alone and separated the classes, and no talking was allowed between classes.
There were seven people in Kuang Yuchun's class. When they arrived at Pingliang , the enemies from Lanzhou and Pingliang were waiting to defend themselves. Only one sentry was posted in front of the small temple where they lived. They took advantage of this opportunity, killed the sentry, ran north along the valley, and wandered in the ravine for a whole day and night. Then we hide in people's barns during the day and drive hard at night.
On the third afternoon after escaping, they arrived at the 31st Army Headquarters in Xincheng. Finally together with their comrades, the seven of them sang and danced all night until the sun rose over the mountains the next day.
In front of him, the mountains became brighter, and the clouds rolled up like feathers. The rays of sunlight penetrated the gaps between the branches in the yard and fell on him, making his face bright and vivid.
He took a deep breath of air, which was crisp and sweet. This is the long-lost free air, he is back!
