War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1482 Singing Rice Disappointment and Pistol

On the grass that was scorched by the sun, Wei Ran and his party formed a column. Under the leadership of the young lama and squad leader Liu, they kept a distance of 5 meters from each other and stepped on the grass like spring beds. Dian, moving forward with difficulty, following the mud traces stepped on by the large troops in front.

Along the way, the low temperatures last night and morning had been completely driven away by the scorching sun, and even the clothes on my body were exposed to a layer of sweat.

But this did not make everyone feel much comfortable. The high temperature brought with it the more pungent stench of the swamp, and in order to avoid the mosquito bites that covered the sky, they had to smear the stinky mud on the exposed skin of the whole body. Discomfort and doubled stench.

Of course, compared with these, compared with the need to conserve drinking water in the kettle, and the wild vegetables that were not found along the way.

The greater danger lies at the front of the team, in the quagmire that from time to time will swallow up all the wooden sticks in the hands of the young lama and squad leader Liu to explore the way, but still cannot find the bottom.

Even so, it was thanks to the branches and sticks that appeared from time to time along the way to indicate dangerous areas.

These branches and sticks were left by the troops at the front. Without these road signs, Wei Ran and others would not have been able to move so fast.

But at the same time, these simple road signs often also play the role of tombstones. Under each wooden stick less than two meters long, there is more or less a Red Army soldier who sacrificed his life buried here - this is what is walking on Li Zhuang behind him told him when he stopped halfway.

Wei Ran casually picked out two withered but not rotten grass stems, and skillfully pinned them to his belt, keeping them for making straw sandals when he rested in the evening.

"Comrade Wei Ran, Comrade Wei Ran."

Zhang Erwa, who was walking at the end of the team, passed Li Zhuang, who was also carrying a pick, and came next to Wei Ran.

"What's wrong?" Wei Ran turned around and asked, "Would you like some water? I still have some in my water bottle."

"I'm not thirsty"

Zhang Erwa, whose lips were obviously already chapped, waved her hand and said, "Comrade Wei Ran, I'll help you pick out the things. Can you take out the harmonica and play a few tunes to cheer everyone up?"

Before he finished speaking, he involuntarily lifted Wei Ran's pole and put it on his shoulders.

Seeing this, Wei Ran did not refuse, but pretended to put his hand into his pocket and took out the harmonica from the metal book.

"What do you want to hear?" Wei Ran finished speaking and played a nice melody casually.

"whatever"

Li Zhuang, who passed by Wei Ran, responded quickly, "We like to listen to all kinds of music!"

"Then let me try"

Standing on the meadow, Wei Ran squinted his eyes and looked up at the scorching sun hanging in the sky. When Nurse Ji carrying a wooden stick also walked past him, he finally put the harmonica to his lips again.

Deep in the plateau grassland, which was as quiet as a dead zone, he played an old song that he had heard countless times in later generations. Although he could not sing it well, it was like a national anthem, and the lyrics were engraved into his DNA. melody.

Stepping on the soft grass, stepping on the knee-deep mud that would suck away the straw sandals if not careful, Wei Ran followed behind everyone, following the memory and the abilities given to him by the metal book, and finished blowing the song completely. a song.

“This song is really nice”

Nurse Ji, who was walking in front of Wei Ran, sighed and said, "What's her name? Why have I never heard of it?"

"Yes, Comrade Wei Ran, what's the name of this piece? It's really nice." Li Zhuang and Zhang Erwa asked in no particular order, and even Squad Leader Liu who was further ahead turned his head curiously.

"Call my motherland" Wei Ran paused and continued, "It's the melody of a song."

"Can you sing?" Nurse Ji asked, "Sing it for us? This song must be nice."

"I can't sing well, I sing out of tune." Wei Ran answered truthfully, "But I remember the lyrics."

"What are the lyrics?" Nurse Ji immediately asked.

"A big river has wide waves, and the wind blows both banks of rice and flowers"

"The lyrics are good"

As soon as Wei Ran said the first verse of the lyrics, Squad Leader Liu who was walking in front said subconsciously.

When he came to his senses, he slowed down a little and explained with a smile, "My home is on the edge of the Yangtze River. When the rice is ripe, the wind makes a rustling sound. Standing on the ground, you can really smell the fragrance of the rice. The smell is enough to fill your stomach just by smelling it.”

"Gulu."

Zhang Erwa couldn't help but swallowed, "It would be great if I could have a bowl of rice now. I. I miss home. I want to go home."

Hearing the cry in Zhang Erwa's tone, Li Zhuang said sternly, "Missing home? Why are you homesick? I don't miss home!"

"You don't want to go home?"

"In no mood"

Li Zhuang asked firmly, "What if we go home? Aren't we going to farm the land for the landlords and be exploited and oppressed by them? Is it possible that you can eat white rice when you go home? What good things are you thinking about? ?”

"Li Zhuang is right."

Squad Leader Liu took two puffs of the pipe pot that was not lit at all and had no leaves. "If you want to eat white rice, you must first overturn the three mountains that are pressing on you, and you must also fight off the stubborn little boy." Japanese invaders,

By then, if we are all still alive, we will definitely be able to eat white rice! "

"Then I don't want to go home!"

Zhang Erwa wiped the corners of her eyes carelessly, "Actually, I don't know who to look for when I go home. My parents are starving to death, my brother was beaten to death by the landlord, and the land was taken away. I still can't eat when I go back. White rice."

"We must have eaten white rice someday!"

Nurse Ji said very firmly, "Comrade Wei Ran, please tell me what else is sung in the lyrics?"

"well"

Wei Ran, who was walking at the end, nodded, suppressed the soreness in his throat, and recalled the rest of the lyrics.

"When friends come, there is good wine. If the jackal comes, he will be greeted with shotguns. Okay, these lyrics are so good!"

Nurse Ji silently familiarized herself with the lyrics she just heard from Wei Ran, then took out the water bottle and took a sip of water. She turned around and said, "Comrade Wei Ran, please play the song again. I'll try to sing it." Sing."

"it is good!"

Wei Ran nodded vigorously, took out the harmonica again, and played the melody he just played again.

I have to admit that Nurse Ji has a naturally good voice and memory, as well as a sense of music that Wei Ran can only hope to achieve.

If there was no war, if the country was prosperous and stable, she might not need to be a nurse at all. She might have the opportunity to stand on the stage, under the spotlight, in front of the audience and in the camera, sing attentively, and accept cheers and applause.

It's a pity that there is no if. In this era when the motherland is weak and has internal and external troubles, this young girl who is obviously very talented in music is just like the girl named Kona from Leningrad.

They chose to abandon their talents without hesitation, take up weapons to fight, and chose to sacrifice everything they had and give it to more people with or without talents to create a world without war, where they could be prosperous and stable, and where they could pursue their dreams.

just

But it was inevitable that when this song from a not-so-distant later generation came out of her mouth, the scenes described in the lyrics were all filled with deep expectations and a love that was no different from that of later generations of singers.

Gradually, Li Zhuang and Zhang Erwa who were walking in the front started singing along, and squad leader Liu also started singing along. Even the little lama at the front was humming along in a low voice just like last night.

In this song that they had never heard or sung before, everyone's footsteps became more and more powerful and determined.

At the end of the team, Wei Ran quietly took out his camera and hung it around his neck. After making some adjustments with one hand, he pressed the shutter towards the ragged five-person team in front and the boundless grassland and swamp around it, and took a picture. Third photo.

This song, which was more like a portrayal of their dreams, was sung over and over again, and Wei Ran, who served as the accompanist, also led them to sing a song that truly belonged to this era by changing the song.

From the Internationale to the National Salvation Army Song, from the Unite of Workers, Peasants and Soldiers to the August 1st Uprising and even the March of the Volunteers, to those songs and ditties that Wei Ran had never heard before, these songs injected vitality into this hungry and tired team again and again. The power to break free from the mud.

"Look! We see someone!" As squad leader Liu at the front exclaimed, the singing and harmonica accompaniment stopped, and everyone saw several Red Army soldiers sitting around on a meadow not far away. .

"Hey——! Comrade——! Hey——!"

Squad Leader Liu was the first to take off his bamboo hat and shouted, while also speeding up his pace and running over.

The others looked at each other, also quickened their pace, and ran after Squad Leader Liu's footsteps. At the end of the team, Wei Ran subconsciously took out his camera again and pointed it at Squad Leader Liu and others, as well as the Red Army soldiers sitting around in the distance, preparing to record the moment of the two sides' charge.

However, Wei Ran was the first to notice something was wrong as Squad Leader Liu called one after another. No one among those sitting around responded, and no one even turned around to look at them.

Is it

Wei Ran sighed silently, but at the same time he couldn't help but press the shutter, recording the joy of reunion that was about to disappear.

As the distance got closer, Squad Leader Liu and others who were running at the front also discovered something was wrong.

When all of them stumbled through the mud and climbed onto the meadow, the wooden sticks inserted next to the Red Army soldiers sitting together actually gave the answer.

"Comrade.?"

Li Zhuang called out cautiously, but none of the soldiers who were leaning shoulder to shoulder responded to him.

"They. They all died." Even though Nurse Ji said this, she still checked her breathing one by one.

Wei Ran sighed silently. The spots on these people's corpses were already very obvious, and they could even smell a bit of corpse stench. In other words, they are still far away from the main force.

In the unspeakable silence, Wei Ran walked to the edge of the meadow and pressed the shutter again towards the unhatted Squad Leader Liu and others, as well as the corpses of the Red Army soldiers who were still sitting together.

This time, what he recorded with his camera was disappointment and grief.

"We. Let's keep going."

Squad leader Liu said with strong energy, then put on his bamboo hat again, leaned on the wooden stick, and took steps without hesitation.

In silence, the little lama bent down and picked up a bamboo hat that had sunk in the water from the swamp on the edge of the meadow. After shaking it vigorously, he put it on his head, blocking the dazzling sunlight and letting the bamboo hat shine. The words "Workers and Peasants' Red Army" written on it reflect the dazzling water light.

Without any rest, the hungry and exhausted group embarked on the journey again.

But compared to before, everyone was much silent this time. No one spoke, and no one suggested singing a song. Only the little lama walking at the front was spinning the prayer wheel in his hand.

Gradually, the meadow behind him became farther and farther away, and the bodies of the Red Army soldiers sitting together were finally completely blocked by the grass. Even the pole that once rested on Zhang Erwa's shoulders returned to Wei Ran's shoulders.

I don’t know how long it took, but before the sun set below the horizon, the sky above was covered by dark clouds again.

Seeing that it was going to rain again, Squad Leader Liu finally stopped. After looking around, he raised his hand and pointed to a small highland in the distance that was much higher than the ground. He said in a hoarse voice, "Let's go there to spend the night, Li Zhuang, Wei Ran, you go pick things up first, and we’ll go find some food.”

"I'll go look for wild vegetables too."

As Zhang Erwa spoke, he put all the withered grass and wild vegetables found along the way into the bamboo basket carried by Li Zhuang.

"I'll go as well"

Before she finished speaking, Nurse Ji also put the wild vegetables and dead grass she found along the way into the basket.

Watching the four people walking away in different directions, Wei Ran and Li Zhuang, who were carrying poles, looked at each other and walked from one meadow to another, carefully moving to the small highland dozens of meters away.

There are no traces of the front troops camping here, presumably because it was still early when they passed by.

Likewise, this is not the place where later generations Wei Ran and Xia Shushi discovered those relics. The area here is smaller and the terrain is much higher.

But it is inevitable that there are so many mosquitoes in this place that as soon as the three of them walked up, a large group of mosquitoes were driven away with a buzzing sound, forming a rather spectacular black cloud above everyone's heads.

It would be great if there was a copy net here

Wei Ran couldn't help but muttered, objectively speaking, the large mosquitoes here are no less than those in Inta's summer. More objectively speaking, these large numbers of mosquitoes are also rare proteins.

But under the current conditions, it is too difficult to catch them and accumulate enough to satisfy their hunger.

"I'm going to find some food too," Li Zhuang greeted as he put down his pole. He didn't even care about resting, so he chose a random direction and left this small highland.

In the blink of an eye, he was the only one left. Wei Ran looked up at the increasingly dense clouds above his head. After thinking for a moment, he pulled out the anti-Japanese sword from the basket, cut the surrounding grass into a clearing, and then spread the grass over it. They dug out the soil and built a fire platform about 20 centimeters above the ground.

Seizing the last moment before the rain, he took out some firewood, chopped it, put it in the basket and covered it with his bamboo hat. Then he picked up another bamboo basket, and after looking around, he walked down the small area. On the high ground, we walked towards a large pool of water a hundred or ten meters away.

Along the way from the small highland that had been left behind to this puddle the size of a football field, Wei Ran could occasionally see wooden sticks poked at the junction of the swamp and the meadow. Some of them There are some rag strips tied on it.

Thanks to the experience gained from chatting during the day, Wei Ran now knows that the vicinity of these wooden sticks tied with rag strips often means that the swamp next to it is too dangerous. Once you walk in, you may never have a chance to climb out alive. .

It was also through the sticks on the swamp that Wei Ran could see that in order to get around the swamp he was going to, the troops in front had to make a circle close to the side.

Knowing that he might not be able to find anything to eat along the marks left by the large army, Wei Ran just hesitated for a moment and walked in the opposite direction.

Using wooden sticks to explore every piece of grass or swamp he was about to step on, Wei Ran carefully searched for the wild vegetables he had eaten last night and had been collected by Zhang Erwa and others during the day.

From time to time, he would press the bamboo basket he brought specially into the mud, trying to catch some small fish, shrimps and frogs with higher calories.

However, this kind of "hunting" activity is bound to consume more energy and physical strength than gathering wild vegetables, so after just a few clicks, he felt that his eyes were turning black and his hands were losing strength.

Wei Ran hurriedly sat down to calm down his hungry body. Wei Ran waited patiently for five minutes before slowly standing up holding the basket and moving step by step towards the edge of the bubble he was interested in.

I hope the articles in primary school textbooks are not deceptive. I hope we can really catch fish here.

Wei Ran murmured a prayer, and used his weight to press the bamboo basket into the mud on the edge of the blisters, and then covered the bamboo basket with a layer of weeds.

It's a pity there is no bait

Wei Ran rubbed his shriveled belly and sighed. He wanted to take a piece of shit and use it as bait, but the metal book was too decisive. He was almost sure that if he were dissected at this time, there would be only The wild vegetables that I had eaten last night and the withered yellow grass leaves that I had eaten as snacks along the way.

After writing down the location of the bamboo basket trap, Wei Ran changed the route and walked back, trying to find more wild vegetables.

It's a pity that maybe the troops in front have already found all the edible wild vegetables, or maybe his ability to identify wild vegetables is insufficient.

So when he waded through the mud back to the edge of the small plateau, he only found less than ten wild vegetables and a small handful of withered grass that could only be used to weave a straw shoe.

"Comrade! Comrade!"

At this moment, the little lama Jiangba Kelsang, who was wearing a Red Army uniform on his upper body and a Red Army bamboo hat on his head, also ran over from the other direction with his hands in his hands, and at the same time he also ran towards Wei Ran. Shouting loudly.

What did he find?

Wei Ran couldn't help but took a few steps towards the other party, and then he saw that the other party was holding two bird eggs in his muddy palm!

"Where did you find them?!" Wei Ran asked in surprise. Although these two eggs are only the size of quail eggs, as long as there are eggs, it means there are birds!

This time, the little lama seemed to understand what Wei Ran was saying. He carefully handed the egg into his hand, and then pointed in a direction behind him.

"wait for me!"

Wei Ran said, ran to the small high ground, put the two eggs in the copper gourd, and placed them in the most conspicuous position.

At the same time, the little lama who was following him also ran up, took off the shawl he had tied around his waist and put it into the bamboo basket.

But then, he actually took out a box gun in a wooden gun box from his arms!

"Where did you get this?"

Wei Ran asked, pointing to the box cannon the other party was about to put into the basket.

Hearing this, the little lama turned around again and pointed in the same direction again.