The beacon of youth

From the Great Northwest to the Great Southwest, from Northern Shaanxi to Xinjiang, and then from Xinjiang to Tibet, the young PLA Independent Brigade fought for thousands of miles and came to Shigatse, Houzang, covered in gunpowder, and found a foothold on the snow-covered plateau.

We have finally settled down. With no battle to fight for the time being, it is estimated that the Independent Brigade will be stationed here for a long time. Will this be our home from now on?Many cadres and soldiers have this kind of thinking psychologically.

There are hesitation and doubts in their hearts, as well as thinking about the future. The soldiers are not afraid of marching and fighting, even in the face of death. However, they are still a little dazed and apprehensive about the uncertainty of the future. They don't know what to do in the future. Tibet is also liberated So, is this our eternal destination? ? ?

Fortunately, with the brigade commander and political commissar, everyone's mood is still stable. With them, the soldiers have the backbone. It must be right to listen to the superiors in everything, and our brigade commander will definitely not let us suffer.

Over the years, the soldiers of the independent brigade have a certain degree of blind obedience. They generally believe that the brigade commander is omnipotent, and there must be a good way. Still have a certain effect.

The deterrent force of the large troops entering forcefully is astonishing. In the face of overwhelming strength, basically no one dares to make trouble and resist. The independent brigade has no problem maintaining local law and order and the order and stability of production and life. The main difficulty lies in logistics. To put it bluntly That is, the problem of eating.

Logically speaking, the field army's logistics should be fully responsible for the supply of troops, and combat units like the independent brigade can just fight.However, under the conditions at that time, if we blindly relied on the logistics and transportation capabilities of the field army and waited blindly, it would cause irreparable losses.

Since the beginning of winter, the temperature in the Tibetan area has dropped rapidly, and after a while, the mountains will be covered by heavy snow. At that time, the logistics supply of the field army will be even more worrying.According to records in later generations, in order to transport supplies to the troops entering Tibet, there was once a transport team composed of more than 700 livestock. After arriving at the location after a arduous journey, only [-] kilograms of salt and seven bag cakes were left. The rest of the supplies and livestock were lost along the way.

More than 700 livestock and a transport team that stretched for several kilometers, only three catties of salt and seven frozen hard cakes were left after arriving at the field. The loss was unacceptable. This is simply the harsh natural environment. The whole army was destroyed.

Commander Wang Zhen, who was far away in Xinjiang, once organized a transport team with more than 4000 yaks.There are more than 4000 yaks to transport supplies for the troops entering Tibet, which is not a small scale.However, only a few hundred of them reached the Tibetan area of ​​Ali. More than 90.00% of the livestock and supplies were lost on the snowy road to Tibet, not counting the loss of transport troops.

The loss was unbearable. Whether it was the commander in the rear or the officers and soldiers of the troops entering Tibet in the front, they all trembled with distress after knowing the situation, because our People's Liberation Army troops had never suffered such a big loss.Even when he was fighting bloody devils, he never did this. Therefore, under the conditions at that time, it was very dangerous to entrust the food problem to the logistics of the field army and supply supplies from the interior. Li Yong, the brigade commander who knew these tragic experiences, certainly did not Such low-level mistakes will be made.

after research.We still have to find a way based on ourselves, and the Independent Brigade has prepared several plans.First, organize small teams to hunt in areas rich in animal resources, and replace part of the food with meat.Second, to buy food from the masses, the main targets are those chieftains, nobles and chieftains.Third, the local monks are very powerful, and the family background of the monastery is very strong. This is also very clear to Li Yong in later generations. Therefore, the monastery is the key object of raising food.Fourth, tap potential internally and save as much as possible.

Difficulties are not small, but Li Yong believes that the independent brigade has gone through countless difficult tests, and has overcome all the bloody storms. Are you afraid of the current difficulties?Shigatse is rich in resources. Whether it is animals, plants or minerals, it is a treasure land second to none in the Greater Tibet. As long as we work together, we will be able to overcome difficulties.

The stabilized troops were put into construction immediately. Besides food, there is an urgent problem, that is, how to solve the accommodation of the troops.

The cold is coming soon, and the temperature in Shigatse drops rapidly at night. It is definitely not possible for troops to stay in tents for a long time. Housing has become the top priority at present.

With the efforts of local government officials, some houses were found for the troops, but these houses were just a drop in the bucket. The troops who came to Shigatse were still too large, and the local free houses were limited. It was impossible for the troops to station all at once, and the cold night It is a great threat to the soldiers' bodies.

If you don’t have one, build it yourself. The traditions of the [-]th Brigade and the Second Column made the soldiers jump into the upsurge of building houses immediately, and they couldn’t do without it. It was really hard to sleep in the tent at night.

If you want to build a barracks, you must have materials, and where do the materials come from?After some investigation, Li Yong has a new understanding of the local plant resources.

Zhang Jinsong's reconnaissance camp went around and finally brought back first-hand information. There are a large number of Himalayan fir trees, Himalayan spruce trees, and a large number of rare species such as Tibetan larch and alpine pine in the Shigatse area. Excellent material for barracks.

At the Headquarters of the Independent Brigade in Shigatse, Zhang Jinsong, the commander of the reconnaissance battalion, grinned triumphantly: "The brigade commander and political commissar really answered that sentence, there is no limit to the road, come and see."

The eyes of the people in the room followed Zhang Jinsong's fingers to a large military map, and the proud reconnaissance battalion commander said a little ostentatiously: "Hey, our brigade commander is right, Shigatse is a treasure land, we are here, A lot of trees have been found here and here. They are stretches of primeval forests. We Lao Zhang can’t name them, but it’s definitely right to build a house. How about it? Our reconnaissance camp did a good job!!!”

Besides Li Yong and Wang Chengde, San Niu and Xiao Cheng were also present in the headquarters. San Niu curled his lips and muttered in a low voice, "The battalion commander is really a flatterer. He never forgets to flatter."

Both Sanniu and Xiaocheng were born in the reconnaissance battalion, and later became guards for Li Yong. These two boys are soldiers trained by Zhang Jinsong. When they talk, they are used to calling Zhang Jinsong the battalion commander. Don't forget that it's not cool to flatter the brigade commander.

To be honest, Li Yong is also in a mess about the local plant resources. He only knows common species such as birch and larch, and his eyes are full of rare species. Among the trees discovered by the camp, there must be rare species, which are also the protection objects of later generations of countries, but there is no such thing as protection now, and the most important thing is to solve the housing problem first.

It was too late to build houses with stones and bricks. Li Yong ordered the troops to use all wood and cut down as much as they used. Once they found forests, they immediately started to do it. The military order was like a mountain. The strong mechanization of the independent brigade once again improved the efficiency of the troops. There was a long queue of vehicles hauling timber.

The temperature at night had already dropped below zero, and the permafrost on the plateau was difficult to dig, or could not be dug at all. All of these brought great trouble to the construction of the army's barracks. Fortunately, the reconnaissance camp found forest resources , Just use wood to build walls and roofs, so the progress can be speeded up a lot.

While building the army, the Independent Brigade also dispatched a large number of work teams to tell the people around Shigatse about the PLA's ethnic and religious policies, and use real actions to dispel the concerns of the masses.

The life of the Tibetan people under the serf system is very difficult. While struggling with nature, they also endure the exploitation of the slave owners. The situation is miserable. The arrival of the independent brigade is like bringing a fresh breath to the local people The wind is a spring breeze that people in Tibetan areas have never seen before.

The People's Liberation Army stipulates that the people have freedom of religious belief, but the slave system must be abolished. The People's Liberation Army will never be polite to anyone who dares to bully the people.

The soldiers don't know much about the truth, but most of them are children of poor families. They have a natural sense of closeness to the suffering people in Tibetan areas. They don't see ordinary people being oppressed. Soldiers have become the backbone of the masses.

It was as if the sky was covered by dark clouds and the sky suddenly cleared up. The people in Tibetan areas suddenly felt that the sky had changed. The fierce leaders and their guards were no longer seen. Many people have seen it before. The gentlemen nodded and bowed after seeing the People's Liberation Army, with a smile on their faces, but these stern-faced People's Liberation Army soldiers smiled when they talked to their low-status slaves.

Every bit of effort made by the soldiers of the Independent Brigade turned into a spring rain, which watered the thirsty hearts of slaves and children. They all became Xiabao (friends) with the local people, and the masses affectionately called the soldiers of the People's Liberation Army Jinzhumai Bodhisattva Soldiers.

The roof is made of wood, and the walls are also made of wood. In order to prevent the cold, the soldiers nailed a thick layer of horizontal boards on the outside of the wall. They are all the kind that have just been broken, and they look white from a distance. .

The brigade commander Li Yong is only focused on two things these days, one is the food and the other is the house, so that his wife-to-be, Hu Xiaolian, has no time to look at it, and she is extremely busy.

Walking into the house just built by the soldiers, Li Yong felt like he was in a trench. The walls built with logs were thick and solid, and what he smelled in his nose was the fragrance of the wood.