War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1488: Stripped Bark

Beside the bonfire with white smoke, Squad Leader Liu took out a red chili pepper and a small piece of shriveled ginger, asked Nurse Ji to chop it carefully, then threw half of it into a copper ladle and the other half. Pour the cold, ice-cold water into the enamel jar and place it next to the bonfire.

Also placed next to the bonfire were everyone's kettles, the kettle cups removed from the fire, and the others' enamel jars. These containers were also filled with water or unmelted ice picked up from the surroundings. Pimples - just no chili and ginger.

At the same time, Li Zhuang and Zhang Erwa were still busy helping the little lama rub his hands and feet, trying to warm him up as soon as possible, even though they were very cold.

Even Wei Ran couldn't care about anything else at this time. He knelt beside the bonfire in a manner that was almost kowtowing. He lowered his body so that his cheek was almost touching the grass. He tilted his head and was busy blowing air into the bottom of the bonfire in order to make the already weak More fuel burns more fully.

While everyone was busy, the cup of chili and ginger water was boiled first.

Carefully picking up the enamel jar, Nurse Ji scooped up a spoonful of water with a small spoon. After blowing on it, she carefully poured it into the little lama's mouth.

As spoonfuls of shredded ginger and chili water were poured into the little lama's mouth, the ice water in the copper ladle gradually melted and started to steam. At the same time, Wei Ran also took out his camera and pressed the shutter again, taking the 13th photo.

In this photo, not only is Nurse Ji feeding hot soup to the little lama, but you can also see the copper ladle next to it, as well as the pieces of leather belt floating in the copper ladle.

When all the chili water was drunk, the little lama slowly opened his eyes. Seeing this, everyone around him breathed a sigh of relief.

However, due to the language barrier, all they could do was make him sit closer to the bonfire, and at the same time ask him how he felt physically.

And the little lama shook his head, waved his hands and patted his chest, as if to indicate that he was fine.

Even so, when the broth with chili and shredded ginger in the copper ladle was boiled, Nurse Ji fed him another full pot until he was already sweating and then nodded to everyone.

"We can't stop, we have to keep going later."

As he spoke, Squad Leader Liu poured the boiled water in his enamel jar into the copper ladle, and after waiting for the others to pour the boiled water in, he then divided the broth among everyone and said, "This water bird meat We’ll eat it later, and we have to go to the bottom of the mountain no matter what!”

As soon as these words were spoken, except for the little lama who could not understand Chinese, everyone else swallowed subconsciously.

"But monitor, if we finish eating, we"

"If you can't get out tonight, you will die as well."

As Squad Leader Liu spoke, he had already started to divide the poor little water bird with the enamel spoon in his hand, and it had already become boneless from the repeated cooking, and even the bones were already soft and rotten.

But everyone could see clearly that Squad Leader Liu's distribution was definitely not fair. Not to mention the others, what he got in his own enamel jar were basically bones without meat.

“This is not okay”

Before Nurse Ji finished speaking, she had already snatched the spoon from Monitor Liu's hand without any explanation.

"Hey! You"

Before Squad Leader Liu finished speaking, Nurse Ji had already asked everyone to pour the minced meat in the enamel jar back into the copper ladle.

Without giving Monitor Liu a chance to speak, Nurse Ji had already used the enamel spoon in her hand to crush the bird meat and bones, stirring them back and forth, and then took out the few pitiful ones she found along the way from her own satchel. The wild vegetables were torn into pieces and thrown in, stirring again.

Shaking his head helplessly, Squad Leader Liu took out his glass medicine bottle, poured a pinch of coarse salt from it and threw it into the pot.

After stirring for a few more times, Nurse Ji began to give everyone the boiling hot soup with oily flowers floating in the pot.

Compared to Squad Leader Liu, hers was fairer. Not only did the minced meat and bones in each enamel jar maintain roughly the same content, but even the slices of leather belt cooked together were completely fairly distributed - just He only gave the extra two belts to the little lama.

"Eat it"

Squad leader Liu picked up his enamel jar and said, "After eating, let's set off when our bodies warm up."

Hearing this, everyone silently picked up their own enamel jars.

Perhaps it was because of the leather belt that was cooked with the soup. In this boiling hot soup with the aroma of butter and obvious salt and spiciness, there was also a leather flavor that could not be ignored.

Swallowing the vat of hot soup into his stomach in small sips, he finally felt that his body was getting warmer, and even some beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Biting a small piece of leather belt, Wei Ran swallowed it into his mouth and chewed it. Under the backlog of teeth, the juice that overflowed from this small piece of leather belt had an obvious bitter taste that was inedible.

But his reason told him that the chunks of leather belt that he couldn't even chew in his mouth could indeed provide some much-needed protein and satiety for his body.

While he was chewing the first piece of leather belt, Squad Leader Liu took away his anti-Japanese sword, cut the leather from the gun case, and then placed the knife on the charcoal fire and roasted it patiently. .

"These pieces of leather are our last life-saving things."

As Squad Leader Liu spoke, he picked up the pieces of leather that were beginning to smell burnt and put them into his satchel one by one.

Hearing this, everyone silently chewed the pieces of skin in their mouths, and at the same time, they also silently carefully put away the enamel jar and the other pieces of cooked skin in the enamel jar.

After a while, the last handful of fuel had been burned out. Fortunately, the water in the three kettles had been boiled.

"lets go"

As Squad Leader Liu spoke, he stood up with a wooden stick and asked with a smile, "Little Lama, can you still walk?"

Perhaps he guessed what Squad Leader Liu was asking, or perhaps because he had been asked this question so often before, he already understood the sentence. The little lama, whose body had warmed up, immediately nodded and patted his chest hard.

"Then let's go!"

Squad leader Liu said, carrying his bamboo basket.

"Comrade Wei Ran, please carry a bamboo basket for me too!" Zhang Erwa grabbed one of the bamboo baskets before Wei Ran could put it on his back.

just

Wei Ran looked at the mountains in the distance and couldn't help but shook his head. He was not sure whether he could walk there before the sun set today, and it wasn't just him. I'm afraid, Squad Leader Liu and others were also not sure.

Even so, Squad Leader Liu and the little lama who were walking at the front did not stop. Even the sky above became gloomy again, as if it would start raining again at any time.

Gradually, Wei Ran also noticed that there were far more corpses floating in the surrounding swamp than before, and there were also more wooden sticks inserted like tombstones or road signs.

Deliberately walking a few steps slowly, he raised the camera again, and with the resolute back of the small team still on the Long March in front of him as the background, he took a picture of the numerous wooden sticks and the floating corpses wearing Red Army uniforms.

Amidst the permeating smell of corpses, the team moved faster and faster. Wei Ran never picked up the camera again. Even though he wanted to record the appearance of all the victims, he only had ten last chances to press the shutter. .

I don’t know how long it took, but before all the hailstones on the water had melted, the wind blew again on the vast grassland. Although this wind took away the smell of corpses that was permeating the surroundings, it also took away not much of it. warmth.

"Take it!"

Wei Ran couldn't help but give the kettle wrapped in a canvas cover to Nurse Ji who was already shivering. The water in the kettle was still scalding hot.

"I'm not cold!" Nurse Ji said quickly. ,

"Hold it for me!"

Wei Ran couldn't help but put the kettle into the other person's hand, "It's too heavy, help me lighten the burden!"

Before the other party could say anything more, Wei Ran took a step forward and distanced himself from the other party.

Soon after, rain enveloped everyone again. Only this time, the little lama had a hot kettle wrapped in rags in his arms, and everyone was chewing a piece of leather straps that couldn't be chewed.

With this little help, the mountains directly ahead were getting closer and closer, and they could even clearly see the scattered trees growing on the mountains.

"Comrades! Work harder!"

Squad leader Liu encouraged loudly in the pouring rain, "Let's go to that mountain to spend the night tonight!"

I hope there is something to eat on that mountain.

Wei Ran chewed the piece of leather belt in his mouth and secretly prayed that at least there would be some fuel to burn.

Amid everyone's various expectations, everyone's pace became faster and faster, and the original mud and waterbed-like meadows under their feet were gradually replaced by solid grass. Finally, when they stepped on it, they no longer felt like they were submerged in water.

But at this moment, the sky was almost completely dark, and even the rain showed no sign of stopping.

"There!" Squad Leader Liu raised his finger and pointed at a looming tree, "Go there!"

Hearing this, everyone immediately quickened their pace and ran over with heavy steps, dragging their tired and hungry bodies.

Along the way, the straw sandals on Wei Ran's feet had already been sucked away by the mud halfway. For him, a person from later generations, he could bear to walk on the mud and meadows just now, but in this kind of It was too painful to walk on the solid grass covered with gravel and debris.

He had no choice but to stop in the end, take out a pair of straw sandals woven by an unknown person from the bamboo basket as quickly as possible, put them on his feet, and then quickly chased after them.

The mountain is not too high or too big, and the slope is gentle enough. But on this hillside, there is a small grove of low pine trees that is extremely rare.

but

Even though the sky was dark and it was raining coldly, Wei Ran could still smell a bit of corpse stench leaking out of the pine forest.

Suppressing the uneasiness in his heart, Wei Ran caught up with everyone who seemed to be aware of something as well.

Finally, when everyone stopped under a low pine tree as thick as a thigh, Wei Ran realized something was wrong the moment he reached out and touched the trunk.

The bark of this tree seems to have been ripped off

Is it for eating?

Wei Ran didn't find the answer in his heart, even though he already had the accurate answer in his heart.

"Comrades, gather firewood and light a fire! Let's have a good rest here!" Squad Leader Liu, who seemed to have also touched the trunk of the tree, gave the order.

"Yes!"

Li Zhuang and Zhang Erwa were the first to respond. They worked together to take out the slope tent from the bamboo basket carried by Wei Ran and set it up under the tree.

Not caring about rest at all, everyone searched in the dark for anything that could be burned. Monitor Liu also took out the tinder and fire sickle, and then asked Nurse Ji to take out the candle.

In the repeated collisions between the fire sickle and the flint, sparks appeared on the tinder. After the sparks were blown away, they struggled to light the tallow candle that was chanted in the copper gourd.

With this rare firelight, Wei Ran was able to see clearly that the bark of the pine tree they selected had indeed been stripped off, and there were even obvious marks of being scraped by a knife on the dry trunk.

Correspondingly, the tree was obviously dead.

"Duh!"

Just as he was looking at the tree with the copper ladle, Squad Leader Liu had already picked up his anti-Japanese sword and chopped it on the trunk.

When the knife went down, the blade got stuck on the tree trunk. When Squad Leader Liu pulled it off, he found that the gap was still wet.

In other words, the tree cannot be used as firewood until the fire is fully ignited.

"Don't let the fire go out"

Squad leader Liu gave instructions and led Wei Ran to another tree not far away, and the others also came over.

This tree is the same as before, most of the bark has been removed. Even if there is still some bark on the top, you may have to climb up to reach it.

After circling around the tree, Squad Leader Liu shook his head and walked towards the next tree, followed immediately by Wei Ran and others.

"Squad leader, what are you looking for?" Li Zhuang asked in a low voice.

"Cong Guang (Song Ming)"

Monitor Liu explained while walking around the tree and then walked towards the third tree.

This time, when Wei Ran brought up the flame of the candle, Squad Leader Liu finally raised his anti-Japanese sword and slashed at the root of a dry and incomplete branch on the trunk of the pine tree that had also had its bark stripped off. Go down.

At the same time, he also explained, "We have a business there of cutting fir trees and cutting pine oil. No matter what kind of thing it is, it can be easily ignited, even if it is wet, it doesn't matter."

As he said that, Squad Leader Liu had already slashed his head for the second time.

As a small piece of stubble the size of a scallop flew away, the exposed area also showed a brownish-red color under the candlelight.

Bending down to pick up the fallen wood stubble, Squad Leader Liu threw it into the bamboo basket he was carrying behind him.

"Let me do it!"

Before Zhang Erwa finished speaking, he had already snatched away the anti-Japanese sword and chopped it down on the peeled pine tree trunk. Li Zhuang and the little lama were busy picking up the brown-red firewood that flew out one by one. stand up.

As everyone took turns to chop, pieces of pine seeds rich in oil were collected into bamboo baskets, and many pine branches were also chopped.

"Now we still need something to start the fire. Candles alone are not enough."

As Squad Leader Liu spoke, he had already taken out the tobacco bag from his waist, unplugged the cigarette holder and pot without thinking, and then chopped the tobacco stem open with an anti-Japanese sword.

With the help of this kindling material rich in nicotine and tar, the moist pine seeds were finally ignited smoothly, and the tallow candle was blown out by Wei Ran and returned to Nurse Ji.

As more and more pine trees were ignited, more damp pine branches were ignited one by one, and finally a bonfire was lit under the canopy of the pine tree where the camp was set.

After leaving the task of taking care of the campfire to Nurse Ji, the others returned to the tree where Song Mingzi was found, and continued to take turns wielding their machetes, cutting off the not-so-large crown of the tree, and working together to drag it back.

"Let's eat the belt."

As Squad Leader Liu spoke, he placed a copper gourd filled with water on the bonfire. Then he took an anti-Japanese sword and carefully scraped the cut branches, removing the bark and the layer inside. The starch-rich fibers are scraped off and collected together, carefully crushed with the handle of a knife and thrown into the pot.

"Are these things edible?"

Wei Ran, who was still chewing the piece of leather belt in his mouth, poured the rest of the leather belt into the copper ladle and couldn't help but ask.

“Eatable”

Monitor Liu said matter-of-factly, "During the famine years, my parents and I survived by eating tree bark. If we had a millstone that could grind the bark, it would taste pretty good!"

Guru

Wei Ran couldn't help but swallow the saliva that smelled like leather. He was really hungry. This hunger was far different from the hunger when Leningrad was besieged.

At that time, although we still had to eat and drink, we didn't have to rush. But now, apart from the same lack of food and clothing, they also exercise a lot every day.

In his wild thoughts, the bonfire, which was not that big at first, became more and more prosperous. Enough bark was thrown into the pot, and even Squad Leader Liu threw half a stick of beef jerky from the fire and a pinch of coarse salt into it.

While waiting for his stomach to be filled, Wei Ran took off his soaked leggings and took off his straw sandals. He leaned his wrinkled feet, which had already been soaked and had many wounds, against the edge of the bonfire - just like that. Like everyone else.

"Did you smell it?" Nurse Ji, who was also baking her feet, asked suddenly.

"I smell it," Zhang Erwa answered first, then raised her finger and pointed in the direction, "It floated over from over there."

"Have a good rest first. Let's go over and take a look tomorrow." Squad leader Liu said, and at the same time ended the topic from the other side.

"I don't know how long it will take us to get out of this grassland." Nurse Ji started a new topic.

"soon"

Squad leader Liu said firmly, "Comrades, we will be able to get out soon. The army will definitely be waiting for us in front! So everyone must grit their teeth and persevere, and must not fail at the last moment!"

"Maybe they are on the other side of this hill." Zhang Erwa said in a joking tone.

"That's good"

Li Zhuang agreed cheerfully, but Wei Ran noticed that Squad Leader Liu's brows had knitted together.