Source: China Military Network - PLA News
Bravely breaking into Xilong Mountain
Li Haoran Zeng Haoyun
"Beep——" A short and crisp whistle suddenly sounded, breaking the silence of the camp.
Standing under the big banyan tree, instructor Chang Chaoyang stood up and looked up at the sky, as blue as ever. A team of fully armed officers and soldiers emerged from the dormitory building behind Chang Chaoyang and lined up neatly.
counts weapons and equipment, checks daily necessities, emphasizes precautions, and issues patrol orders... In the dim morning light, Chang Chaoyang took this group of young people on the journey of patrolling the boundary marker No. 42, Xilong Mountain.
, known as the "Death Forest", Xilong Mountain is located on the beautiful border line in the southwest of the motherland, with an altitude of 3,074 meters. The Dai language means: Tiger where there are haunted places.
1
In the early morning, mist in the mountains was shrouded in the mountains, and every grass and tree seemed to be immersed in a quiet dream. The rumbling sound of motor of patrol car came from the winding mountain road.
The rising sun like egg yolk shines into the car through the car window. Although the temperature inside the car is 18℃, the wet and cold rain fog in tropical mountains still makes people's pores shrink and they feel cold all over.
"All staff are ready!" After the vehicle slowly climbed over a mountain, Chang Chaoyang, who had been looking out the window, turned his head and reminded.
"It's coming, it's coming soon!" Private Wang Fan, who participated in the first mission to patrol Xilong Mountain, suddenly felt energetic.
Arrived in a small village, the road ahead was broken and the car stopped, and the Shilong Mountain was in front of me.
in the company, no one has more say in Shilongshan than Sun Chao. He is the "living map" of Mount Shillong and has been patrolling this primeval forest for ten years. Looking at the rolling and vast peaks, Sun Chao had no time to sigh, so he led the patrol team to plunge into the mountains.
started out with a rush to march. The bumpy forest path is only one person wide, and the roadside is surrounded by airtight bushes and thorns. In Wang Fan's view, the "road" mentioned by the old squad leader is a shallow footprint. Sometimes there is not even a footprint, but there are more people stepping on it, and the deep foot is a shallow foot.
The easiest thing to get lost in the bushes. Along the way, there were ravines and branches and vines. Chang Chaoyang took Sun Chao first to walk in front with a stick and a knife to cut the way among the thorns. The more you go forward, the more dangers you are. "Knock the mud on the soles of the shoes and put on all the gloves..." Looking at the "Bamboo Forest Forest" in front of him, Chang Chaoyang's expression became serious. Not only did he remind him loudly, he also ran to the team to carefully remind him to check each other.
The so-called "bamboo forest array" is actually a way out. A whole piece of lush and thin bamboo surrounded the mountainside into an iron barrel shape. The beloved bamboo , which was originally "indestructible brows and bows", has now become a "fatal weapon". If the foot slips, several holes may be pierced on the body.
"Be careful at hand!" Sun Chao suddenly pulled Chang Chaoyang and whispered and hurriedly warned.
Chang Chaoyang was shocked to find that he was about to raise his hand and wave his knife to chop the bamboo. A green whole body and a triangular head was arching in an attack under the emerald disguise. The scarlet snake letter spit out from his mouth from time to time. The "hissing" sound made Chang Chaoyang's scalp numb.
The players stopped immediately, and several soldiers turned pale. They didn't move, only feeling the dewdrops condensed by the fog beside them slowly dripping with the leaves. After a few minutes of confrontation, poisonous snake quietly disappeared.
2
One hour passed, they were still cutting the forest and opening the way; three hours passed, they were still marching hard; half a day passed...
Finally, they emerged from the bushes and forests and found a gentle slope to rest on the spot. After a while, no one communicated too much, but just gasped silently to adjust their breathing and replenish their moisture.
Sergeant Wu Pengfei, who was recorded with the team, is a direct recruit. He graduated from photography and likes this kind of short peace after climbing and marching. He quietly observed the wind and clouds, insects and birds singing among the mountains.
Wu Pengfei remembered that when he first came to Shilong Mountain, he was facing this stunning beautiful scenery. He was like a child who had just opened his eyes to see the world. The shutter sound of the camera in his hand kept ringing, and he wanted to record all the beauty.
"A mountain has four seasons, ten miles and different sky." When patrolling the mountain jungle, you can often have a variety of experiences such as spring, summer, autumn and winter, alternating ice, snow, rain and fog. The mystery, fickleness and beauty of Mount Shilong makes Wu Pengfei love and hate.
In the blink of an eye, heavy rain poured down. Wu Pengfei, who was in a daze, jumped up and shouted loudly, "Put on the raincoat and set off quickly." Perhaps there is no need to remind you, but in a blink of an eye, other comrades have already put on raincoats quickly. For them, sensing the changes in the weather has become an instinct. When
19 was about to arrive at the valley camping site, sent a short message, the patrol team removed the backpack and started camping and resting.
At this time, the soldier Zhang Jihong received a special gift, which was the longevity noodles specially prepared by the team members for his birthday.
It turned out that before receiving the task, he had just finished the phone call with his mother and had not returned home for two years. The phone was full of loneliness. But Zhang Jihong never expected that on his birthday, his comrades around him also asked him to eat a bowl of noodles in the wilderness.
"How is it? Is this noodles delicious?"
I don't know if I was eating too fast or being too moved, but Zhang Jihong answered while eating. No one heard what he said, but the sound of eating noodles caused everyone to laugh.
Under the stars, Zhang Jihong and his comrades sat together. The red oil in the iron pot was rolling, and the rising heat also exuded the fragrance of chicken soup... When the birthday song rang, Zhang Jihong's tears had already fallen on his cheeks.
In the dense forest of the canyon, in this small patrol team, everyone is the strongest support for each other.
3
woke up the next day because it suddenly started to rain heavily yesterday. The low-lying river beach road marked on the map turned into a turbid ditch. It was too late to detour. Chang Chaoyang could only take them to walk in the deeper and deeper torrent.
"Tighten the backpack rope, follow me one by one." Sun Chao first tied the backpack rope, leaned on a tree stick in his left hand, and staggered forward with the stone exposed in the water with his right hand.
The original forest is full of thrilling. In addition to the sudden dangerous shoals and bad water, there are also "cold-blooded killers" entrenched here.
"Leeds Valley" is a level that cannot be avoided on the patrol road. The valley here has a unique terrain and no sunlight can be seen on the shady back all year round, so it has become a natural settlement for leeches and . The leeches are embedded in branches and grass. Every time the patrol team passes here, the officers and soldiers must be "fully armed" and wrapped tightly from the collar to the legs of the trouser.
Despite this, I still can't escape the "attack" of leeches every time. Before walking 50 meters, the leech took advantage of the situation.
"If you don't want to lose a piece of meat, hold back the itch and hold on for two minutes." Everyone didn't care about the itch and pain of the body, and marched quickly as quickly as possible.
passed through the valley, and the patrol officers and soldiers quickly took off their clothes, rolled up their trousers and disinfected them with alcohol. As the blood-sucking lees gradually turned into a pool of blood, everyone's faces relaxed.
"Desperate Slope" is the last level before reaching the boundary marker No. 42. It is named locally for its near right angle slope. The hillside is surrounded by smooth stone walls, which is truly a thousand-foot cliff.
"Climbing on the Despair Slope, you will basically not be able to come back once your feet slip." The most experienced Sun Chao first reminded the officers and soldiers who were walking with him one by one. At this point, officers and soldiers need to use their hands and feet. It is best to bury their heads up, because climbing on a steep slope that is almost vertical, no matter whether you look up or look down, you will feel terrified and lose the courage to climb upwards.
Climbing straight on Shilong Mountain is the most challenging for foot strength and cardiopulmonary function. Sun Chao shook his hands and feet first, took a few deep breaths, and first groped in front of him to check the loose stones, grab, pull, push, climb, kick, climb... Several wounds were unknowingly cut by thorns and rocks on his face and back of his hands.
"Squad leader, the road ahead is broken." Wang Fan suddenly exclaimed.
A prominent cliff blocked the patrol officers and soldiers' way. There were small trees and rock vines growing sparsely between the cracks of the cliffs. There were particularly few stones or trees that could allow people to catch the leverage of force.
After careful observation, Sun Chao first tied a rope for climbing around his waist and decided to try to climb to the top of the wall with the help of rock vines.
"Be careful!" When Sun Chao was about to turn the corner first, he saw a piece of gravel rolling down above, and the comrades behind him hurriedly reminded him.
Seeing that the falling rock was about to hit the top of his head, Sun Chao quickly kicked and tried to dodge it. Unexpectedly, his feet slipped, and his body lost its center of gravity and slipped down. At this moment, he was holding the vine tightly, and his body swung back and forth on the cliff with the vine, as if he was swinging a "swing" at the gate of hell.
After a few seconds of shock, he calmed down, found the center of gravity, and finally climbed over the cliff, tied one end of the rope firmly to the tree stump as thick as a bowl, pulled and pulled it, and after repeated confirmation, he threw the other end to his comrades...
4
The desolate and mysterious Shilong Mountain could not stop the footsteps of the border guards. They climbed the mountains and forests and finally met the boundary marker No. 42 at dusk the next day.
"Look! The boundary monument! The boundary monument is right in front." Seeing the boundary monument No. 42 engraved with the word "China", Wang Fan, who met him for the first time, was extremely happy. Wipe the boundary marker, trace the red, salute... When lined up in front of the boundary marker, a sense of pride and mission to guard the territory and guard the border naturally arose.
boundary marker is as heavy as a tremendous amount in the hearts of border guards.
After some busyness, Shilong Mountain began to calm down. After discussing the plan for tomorrow's return with Sun Chaoxian, Chang Chaoyang looked at a crescent moon in the sky, recalling the little things he had come to Shilong Mountain in the past year, he suddenly added a deeper understanding of the beauty of this mountain.
At this time, the sky was covered with ink, the mottled starlight appeared and the figures of people beside the bonfire were like grass swaying in the wind in the vast canvas. On this night, the grass's rhizomes drilled into the soil again.
