Heroes on Yunpan Mountain (first left in the front row is company commander He Youhai, and second from left is Chang Menglan)
In 2000, CCTV's "Oriental Time and Space" broadcast an interview program "For the Sound of the Army Trumpet", telling the story of how during the Liberation War, after changing the platoon commander Chang Menglan received a task from company commander He Youhai to block the enemy's cover for the transfer of large troops, he still did not hear the assembly order to withdraw from the battle when he ran out of ammunition. Chang Menglan has always had a knot that cannot be solved, that is, did the assembly number at that time blow in the end? Did they complete the cover mission? To this end, he spent nearly 50 years looking around for the commander of He Company, only to learn that the company commander had died in the Korean battlefield.
After the program was broadcast, the writer Yang Jinyuan saw that he had a feeling and wrote a 13,000-word short story called "Lawsuit", which was published in Fujian Literature, No. 4, 2002. In June 2002, it was reprinted by Novel Monthly. The famous film and television actor Zhang Guoli felt good after watching it and recommended the novel to his friend Feng Xiaogang. Not long after, the film "Gathering Number", based on the novel "Lawsuit", was released.
In May 2009, Sui Naixin, head of the propaganda unit of a certain regiment of border defense of the Jilin Provincial Military Region, took over the task of expanding the regimental history museum. When searching for Song Xuancai, the seventh regimental commander, there were unexpected reports on the film "The Gathering" in which Chang Menglan, the prototype of Lian Changguzidi, and He Youhai, the prototype of the regimental commander, appeared. Chang Menglan, He Youhai, Song Xuancai? Several familiar names immediately caught sui's attention. He vaguely remembered that the information of the three people was recorded in the Regiment History Museum in writing and pictures. In order to deeply find out the truth of this history and restore the prototype of the story, Sui Chief collected and sorted out all the reports on the "assembly number".
That collective military trumpet: a veteran's eternal knot
Chang Menglan died in 2005. According to Chang Menglan's son, Chang Guiwen of Zhangleng Township, Zanhuang County, Hebei Province. In his memory, since he was a child, his father often told him about the past of the military trumpet, and that military trumpet was always his father's heart knot, until he closed his eyes and said in his mouth whether the regimental commander had blown the military trumpet!
Chang Menglan joined the army in 1945 and served as a soldier in the 30th Battalion and 8th Company of the 30th Regiment of the 4th Column and 10th Brigade of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, and on November 19, 1948, Chang Menglan was then the platoon commander of the 8th Company, and his regiment was moving to Guanwai, and the main force of the Kuomintang "Provisional Third Army" was at the foot of the ancient Great Wall in Sangyuan Town, Yanqing County, Beijing (now the junction of Dongsangyuan Village and Xiaonihe Village in Dayushu Town).
The enemy was momentarily confused and began to stop and line up. At that time, the situation was that the enemy was strong and we were weak, and it was the best policy to go. The regimental commander immediately made a decision and decided to take advantage of the cover of night to immediately withdraw and throw off the enemy to prevent being eaten by the enemy. In order to ensure the safe withdrawal of large troops, the regimental commander had no choice but to entrust the task of "breaking the rear" to the Eighth Company. He Youhai, commander of the Eighth Company, gave Chang Menglan the task of containing and attracting the enemy's main force at the forefront and ordered him to lead 7 people from the fifth squad to carry out this most difficult task. The company commander led the rest of the company to meet between the large troops and Chang Menglan and others, and was wary of enemies that might appear in other directions.
The company commander ordered Chang Menglan to block the enemy's only way, as long as they could drag until it was completely dark, the safety of the large troops would be guaranteed. Chang Menglan asked, "Company commander, when will we retreat?" "When I sound a trombone on the other side of the mountain, you're done and you're ready to withdraw from the battle."
Chang Menglan and his 7 comrades-in-arms set up a position on the mountain road (the western slope of Xiaonihe Village, present-day Big Yushu Town), and Chang Menglan specially arranged for a small soldier from Ning jin to leave the position for more than 100 meters, hide in a high ground, take off his cotton hat, and listen specifically to the sound of military trumpets on the other side of the mountain. The 8 people all knew in their hearts that the rallying number was connected to their own task!
After a period of waiting that could hear the heartbeat, the enemy rushed into range, the battle began, and the enemy rushed up the mountain road wave after wave, and was repelled by Chang Menglan with his fighters with machine guns and grenades. Chang Menglan, who had experienced hundreds of battles, felt that in all the battles he had participated in, none of them had this difficulty, and the number of enemies might have an army! Because there is clearly the sound of cars and tanks at the bottom of the mountain.
The battle had been going on for more than twenty minutes, the sky was already dark, the enemy troops on the opposite side were like mountains, it was difficult to see a few people insisting, and the little soldier in charge of listening to the trumpet could not hold his breath, and rushed over to Chang Menglan and said: "Platoon leader, this battle cannot be fought, is this not obviously sent to death?" It is estimated that at this time, our troops have also gone out for a while. Besides, it will soon be dark, and the enemy will not necessarily chase us. Simply, let's quietly withdraw. ”
"Keep fighting!" Chang Menglan resolutely and almost desperately gave the order, he shouted: "If the trumpet does not sound, we cannot withdraw, and the violators will enforce discipline on the spot!" ”
8 people, just like this tragically carried out a tenacious resistance. They condescended and struggled to repel three enemy attacks. Bullets and grenades had been fired mostly, 8 people were exhausted, some were injured but still gritted their teeth and insisted, waiting for the military trumpet. At this time, they had already held out for an hour and a half, the sky was already dark, the darkness had flooded the mountains behind them, the large troops must have been safely transferred, the task must have been completed, and the soldiers once again urged Chang Menglan to retreat.
But that military trumpet still didn't sound...
Chang Menglan speculated that maybe the company commander was also engaged with the enemy over there, maybe they didn't hear the company commander blowing the military trumpet in the distance during the fierce battle, maybe the company commander had led the team away, or maybe the company commander forgot to blow the military trumpet... But he insisted that no matter what kind of a maybe, as long as they didn't hear the military horn sounding, they had to keep going!
The enemy's fourth attack changed tactics, first firing an illumination shell to illuminate the positions of several people, and then a fierce shelling, Chang Menglan saw two fighters die on the spot... Soon the enemy rushed up, the two sides glued together, and several people who were alive fought for each other, and no one could take care of anyone. Chang Menglan carried a light machine gun, killed a bloody road in the chaotic enemy group, and broke through in the darkness. Maybe it was the cover of the night, or maybe the enemy in the darkness was afraid to shoot easily for fear of hurting his own people, chang Menglan miraculously broke out and ran out of the ground for tens of miles in one breath.
After the breakthrough, Chang Menglan first inquired about the whereabouts of the troops along the way, and has been looking for a long time. Because of the frequent wars at that time, no one knew the exact information of his unit, so Chang Menglan had to return to his hometown of Beizhuli Village, Zhangleng Township, Zanhuang County.
Miraculously surviving, Chang Menglan began his lifelong guilt and concern: the remaining comrades were estimated to have died, and their deaths were related to their insistence on waiting for the agreed military trumpet. In addition, more importantly, he believes that as a soldier, he must have a beginning and an end to do things, and the situation of the obstruction war has not yet returned to the troops, which is equivalent to the end of the obstruction war.
After the founding ceremony on October 1, 1949, Chang Menglan went north to Beijing and found a department of the Beijing Military Region that was specially responsible for sheltering people lost in the war, and the head of the department confirmed his identity, opened a letter of introduction to him, sent him a travel fee, and asked him to temporarily go home to wait for the news. However, two years passed, and he did not wait for any news. So he went to Beijing again, but the comrade in charge of the reception told him that his unit had entered the Korean War and asked him to go home and stand by. Chang Menglan remembered the duty of the soldiers to obey orders, and went home to continue waiting for the echo.
One year, two years, ten years, twenty years... Wait year after year. Chang Menglan was not willing to wait like this. For more than 40 years, as far as the northeast and Shanxi, as close as Shijiazhuang and Baoding, they have left the footprints that Chang Menglan has painstakingly searched for, looking for old comrades-in-arms, looking for military regions and troops, but every time they have found nothing...
Whenever he returned home disappointed, Chang Menglan felt that he was living in a dream, he could not believe that all 7 comrades had died, he had fantasized that some of them were still alive, and would go with him to see the company commander, report on the situation at that time, and also ask the company commander why they did not hear the expected assembly number?
Chang Menglan has also been to the hometown of several comrades-in-arms, in addition to the two comrades he personally saw and sacrificed, the other 5 people have also been missing, he almost dare not face the families of his comrades-in-arms, and that military trumpet has become Chang Menglan's eternal heart knot. He looked forward to finding his troops one day and returning to them, because he had always considered himself a soldier.
In the late 1980s, the Shijiazhuang Army Command College built a training ground in the north of Beizhuli Village, and from time to time groups of cadets came here to train, which made Chang Menglan very excited, like seeing his relatives who had been separated for a long time, he took the initiative to find the responsible officer and asked to help the troops do some work. Since then, as soon as the trainees arrived, he would go to the barracks to help boil water.
Gradually, the officers and soldiers learned of Chang Menglan's origins and were also very close to him. Later, Major General Wang Dingqing, the vice president of the academy, also met the old man, and he was deeply touched by the old man's firm belief and solemnly agreed to help him find the whereabouts of the old troops. Due to the long period of time, there have been many changes in the structure of the troops, and it was not until early 1996 that Wang Dingqing finally found out with certainty that a certain group army of the Shenyang Military Region was the fourth column of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, where Chang Menglan was located, and that a certain regiment stationed in Benxi, Liaoning Province, was formerly the Thirty Regiments of Chang Lao's regiment.
Hearing the news of the old troops, Chang Menglan was so excited that he did not sleep all night and planned to leave early the next morning. At that time, it was already a young age, and the family rushed to dissuade the old man, but they could not stop it. Chang Menglan took dry food and carried luggage on his back, from Hebei to Liaoning, all the way was arduous.
When he arrived in Benxi, he learned that the troops had changed their defenses to a small town, and he squatted at the station for a night, and the next day it was Chinese New Year's Eve, and there were almost no vehicles to the town, at that time, the sky was getting dark and it was snowing heavily. Chang Lao gritted his teeth, took out the fighting style of the year, and walked to the barracks in the snow and wind...
In the Spring Festival of 1996, a touching scene occurred in a regiment in Benxi, Liaoning: "Report! Comrade regimental commander Chang Menglan, former platoon commander of the 30th Battalion, 30th Regiment, 30th Regiment, 4th Column, 10th Brigade, Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, was ordered to lead five squads of seven soldiers on November 19, 1948, to carry out a blockade task in Sangyuan Town, Yanqing County, to cover the retreat of the whole regiment, and to persist to the end according to the orders of his superiors. During the battle I was separated from the troops, two soldiers were killed, and the whereabouts of the rest were unknown... Please instruct the chief! ”
Looking at the weather-beaten veteran in front of him and listening to the story of the battle for a long time, the young regimental commander's eyes were moist, and he held wine in his hands and saluted: "Comrade Chang Menglan, the party committee of our delegation expresses its heartfelt thanks to you and your comrades-in-arms for the great sacrifice they showed in the blockade war many years ago, and expresses high respect for the fearless spirit you showed in the battle and the responsible spirit of the tasks entrusted to you by the organization!" Your combat missions are very well done! Chang Menglan held the glass of wine in a hurry, and drank it with excited tears.
For decades, Chang Menglan, who had been running hard in Hebei, Beijing, northeast China, and other places in search of company commander He Youhai and looking for old troops, carried with him a letter of introduction issued by beizhuli Village in Zhangleng Township, Zanhuang County, Hebei Province, and an old photograph of "heroes on Yunpan Mountain" that he had treasured for half a century and had been published by the Jin-Cha-Ji Daily.
Unfortunately, the troops only found information that He Youhai served as the commander of the Eighth Company in 1948 and then went to the Military and Political Cadre School of the Nineteenth Corps to study, and no one could say clearly about his participation in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea after graduation, so they told Chang Menglan the news that He Youhai was sacrificed in the Korean battlefield. In fact, After the founding of New China, He Youhai changed his name and Youhai; after returning to China from the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, he was transferred to the command of a certain army teaching brigade; later he served as the commander of a battalion of the Internal Guard Unit of the Northeast Public Security Army of the People's Liberation Army, the commander of the Liaoning Central Brigade of the Liaoning Public Security Corps, and the secretary of the Anshan Sports Committee.
Later, when Old Man He Youhai learned from the media that Chang Menglan was not only alive, but had been looking for himself to verify whether the rallying number of that year was blown, he could not help but have tears in his eyes and said guiltily: "At that time, I knew that their hope of living was too small, and I also wanted the trumpeters to blow the assembly trumpet, but without the order of the superior, no one dared to blow it privately; moreover, once the trumpet sounded and the large troops exposed the target, all the sacrifices were in vain... Chang Menglan is my good soldier! Unfortunately, Chang Menglan passed away in 2005, and the two old comrades-in-arms could not see each other for the last time before they died, which cannot but be said to be a great regret. The old regimental commander of the two of them, Song Xuancai, died heroically as early as July 1948 in the battle to conquer Fengrun County, and was later buried in the North China Martyrs' Cemetery.
After verifying Chang Menglan's origins, the troops wanted to send him to the Invalides to spend his old age, but he refused. He said: "I'm not here to cause trouble for the troops, I'm not here to ask for treatment, I'm here to make a deal." So many comrades-in-arms have died, and I don't need the army to give me a pension. I still go back to the countryside, and I am used to the life of a farmer. A week later, Chang Menglan refused the chief's retention and returned to his hometown. Soon after his return, the relevant departments of Zanhuang County gave him the treatment of veterans according to the letters sent by the troops, and the living allowance of tens of yuan per month was this subsidy, and he began to insist on not accepting it.
For the rallying number that did not sound - the prototype of the movie "The Assembling Number" was in a border defense regiment in Jilin Province