march to victory

"Old man, what are you doing kneeling on the side of the road?"

Fortunately, I ran into two ordinary people in patched clothes when I took a detour through a forest.The young man was about 22 years old, with fist and footprint marks on his body, and blood stains on the corners of his mouth, body and hands.Kneeling on the side of the road, but shaking a little, a feeling of weakness that is shaking drunk, coughing from time to time, and occasionally he can be seen coughing up blood.Apparently, he had been severely beaten and suffered serious internal injuries.

The old man next to him is 60 or [-] years old, but has silver hair and a very thin body. One can tell that the old man has been malnourished for a long time.Kneeling on the side of the road with a hatchet stuck in his back, he obviously coughed twice from time to time, but he still insisted on using his hands, stroking the young man's back lovingly, and comforting him softly.

Zhang Qingshan didn't understand what they meant by this?If you are injured and don't seek medical treatment immediately, what are you doing kneeling here?Looking at you like this, it doesn't look like begging. Out of curiosity, I couldn't help squatting beside the two of you and asked.

The old man who was patting the back of the young man heard this, looked at Zhang Qingshan and the three of them, pondered for a while and asked back: "Are you the Red Army?"

The three of Zhang Qingshan were shocked when they heard this!

In these years, Lao Jiang did everything he could to destroy the Red Army.Not to mention things like not allowing the people to support the Red Army, even mentioning it is not allowed, or else you will be imprisoned or beheaded.But the old man in front of him asked directly. You know, it was the first time the two sides met. The old man just asked like this. If Zhang Qingshan and the three were Lao Jiang's spies, he would be dead.But now, there is only one possibility: the old man is desperately looking for the Red Army, and has reached the point of desperation.But the problem is, if you want to find the Red Army, you can go to the surrounding area to inquire. Why do you kneel here and ask passers-by? This is a huge risk.

Before the three of Zhang Qingshan could give a reply, the old man glanced at the three of them in disappointment, and said: "If you are not the Red Army, then please leave quickly, otherwise, if these evil reactionaries find out that you are with the Red Army Our father and son have said these words, you will be in danger, that is the old man's crime..."

Although Zhou Baoyu was clever, but after all, he was too young to hold his breath.Hearing this, he interjected unconvinced and asked, "Then what if we are the Red Army?"

An old house where a treasure!This is absolutely true.

Hearing this, the young man hadn't reacted yet, but the old man was taken aback, looked at the three of them carefully, and finally fixed his eyes on Wang Wu's waist, then kowtowed to the three of them happily: "Please Big Brother Red Army decides for us, I beg a few Big Brothers Red Army to make decisions for us..." After saying a few words, he turned his head and scolded his son, "Shui Bao, what are you still doing? Aren't you going to ask the Red Army to make decisions for us? ? These are the ones, kowtow and beg them to make the decision.”

The young man looked at the three of them suspiciously, and asked, "Are you really the Red Army?"

"We are the Red Army. Old man, I can't afford to be like you. Get up quickly..." At this point, Zhang Qingshan had to admit, and while helping the old man up, he said with a smile: "Old man, this is not a place to talk, please Tell me in detail in the woods."

"Good! Good!"

The young man was injured so badly that he couldn't walk at all, so Wang Wu had to carry him into the nearby forest.

"Old man, what is your surname." He asked as he walked, offering cigarettes to the old man and lighting the fire.

"Thank you!" The old man took a puff of cigarette and said, "The old man is not expensive. My surname is Li, and I am famous. Everyone calls me Li Laosan. This is my son Li Shuibao. This Red Army brother, do you know your name?"

"I'm Zhang Qingshan from the Pioneer Company of the Red Army. Third Master, you can just call me Xiao Zhang. By the way, Third Master, how can you tell at a glance that we belong to the Red Army?"

"Our father and son have knelt here for a long time. Some kind people passing by came to ask us why we knelt here. I first asked them if they were the Red Army... As a result, these kind people either answered no, or they persuaded us a few words. Leaving, only you will ask me this question back. As soon as I heard it, I felt that you might be the Red Army, otherwise, how dare you ask me back so confidently. Then..." He looked back at Wang Wu, who had his back on Li Shuibao, and said: "This The elder brother’s waist is bulging, and a red silk is exposed. Although I’m an old man, I also played box cannons when I was young. Not only did I like to put the box cannon on my waist, but I also liked to tie red silk on the handle of the gun—— In this era, there are a lot of people who have played with guns. Those who can afford it and own box guns are not easy. At least it shows that Li Laosan was not an ordinary person when he was young. I just want to hear about the second Red Army team (Central The Red Army and the Second and Sixth Army passed through Wanxian successively. In order to distinguish them, the local people habitually referred to the Second and Sixth Army as the second Red Army). If you ask back, and you have a box cannon on your waist, I think that you are probably the second Red Army that everyone is looking forward to. So, I will take a risk.”

Zhang Qingshan looked back at Zhou Baoyu and Wang Wu with a half-smile, especially at Wang Wu's waist, and saw that they were both bowing their heads in embarrassment, so he looked away—as a member of the Pioneer Company , Reconnaissance is a must, to be so careless, hum!Come back and clean up the two of you.

Because it was the first time they met, out of precaution, Zhang Qingshan couldn't take them directly to the company's hiding place, so after 30 meters into the forest, everyone sat on the ground.First, he murmured in Zhou Baoyu's ear, asking him to invite the doctor Xiao Jiang to see Li Shuibao's injuries. It wasn't until Zhou Baoyu ran away that Zhang Qingshan smiled and asked, "Old man, seeing you kneeling by the roadside, you are so openly asking for help. We must have a big grievance, so you just say it directly, our Red Army will definitely decide for you... Old man, what are you doing? Don't kneel... Old man, our Red Army is composed of poor children, it is the people's own team, If you do this, you will treat us as outsiders and divide us... Old man, if you still kneel down like this, I don't care about your business."

The old man probably had a great grievance, and was deeply afraid that Zhang Qingshan and others would not help him make decisions, so he knelt down at every turn.Zhang Qingshan tried to reason with him and set his position, but none of them could stop him from kneeling down. Unexpectedly, the final threat worked, and Li Laosan finally sat down. No more kneeling.

Li Laosan's wife died early, leaving behind a pair of children.Finally, it was extremely difficult to pull shit and pee.When the Central Red Army passed by here, my daughter joined the Red Army and embarked on the Long March—later, the reactionaries were liquidated. In order not to be implicated and to save his son’s life, Li Laosan not only contributed all his family’s savings to the security chief, but also It was only because of a huge debt that the father and son escaped.Son Li Shuibao didn't leave because he was going to get married this summer.

More than ten days ago, Li Laosan went to the mountain to cut firewood, accidentally fell down, hit his chest on a rock and was injured.

Because I was poor, I couldn't buy all the medicines at one time, so I had to go to the county to buy one more time when a pair of medicines was about to run out.

Early this morning, Li Shuibao carried a large bundle of firewood, and his wife carried a basket of eggs to the county town to sell.

Everything went smoothly: the medicine was bought, and because this was the last medicine for Li Laosan, he had a little extra in his hands. Li Shuibao felt sorry for his daughter-in-law who had suffered with him during this time but had no complaints, so he quietly I bought some of my daughter-in-law's favorite white sugar (a soft candy made from rice).

Seeing the happiness on his beloved wife's face while eating sugar, Li Shuibao smiled even happier.But at this happy moment, suddenly, the people on the street began to panic. Many of them looked like rich people, and they were running out of the city with their family guards, causing many ordinary people who didn't know why to panic...

After inquiring, Li Shuibao found out that the second Red Army had already entered Wan County and was about to hit the county seat, so these rich and powerful families ran away.The hateful thing is that it's okay for them to escape by themselves, but in order to drive more people to escape and to create confusion for the Red Army, some people with other purposes joined in.Anyway, it's all kinds of forces mixed together, spreading rumors, bewitching the people, and inciting terror...

When Li Shuibao heard these rumors, like many ordinary people, he expressed his disdain: whether it was the first Red Army or the second Red Army, they were all Communist Party teams. Judging from the performance of the first Red Army when it passed by last year, The second Red Army should also be soldiers of the people with strict discipline, so how could there be robbery, murder, rape, etc.?

However, these rumor spreaders are really too careful and targeted. They actually said that the first Red Army was indeed a good Red Army of the Communist Party, but the second Red Army was different. They just stood up to the Red Army. In fact, they are rogue bandits composed of bandits. Once they enter Wanxian County, they will burn, kill and loot all kinds of crimes. They even made out of nothing that the people in a certain county did not flee because they insisted that the two Red Army were the same. result……

If such rumors are still unconvincing, then the most powerful rumor has appeared: I heard that Lao Jiang has mobilized an army to fight the second Red Army in Wanxian, and the battlefield of the decisive battle is Wanxian County. , If you don't run out of the county seat quickly, when the battle starts, those who stay in the county seat will have no choice but to die.

This rumor is really terrible: no matter what kind of army, as long as it is fighting, it is only the common people who suffer.In order to survive, the common people were finally incited, and to escape the flames of war, they began to run out of the city with their families.

This time, he fell into the trap of a certain group of people who were spreading rumors.

Most of this group of people are local hooligans, but the backbone is the platoon of soldiers led by a platoon leader of the former security regiment in the county.This platoon leader named Qian Guigui did not flee with the security regiment, but sat on the dream of making a fortune for the country by taking the opportunity, and encouraged the soldiers to desert halfway, return to Wanxian County, and join forces with the local hooligans: first, the Wanxian The gates on three sides of the county seat were blocked and guarded with guns, leaving only the exit of the west gate.Then, he led this group of mobs to guard the city gate to collect tolls—this is why Zhang Qingshan and others didn't understand who these city guards were at first.There are both plainclothes and soldiers. This combination is so strange.

Li Shuibao was also frightened by the last rumor, and hurried to the gate of the city with his wife, tragedy struck...