The legendary life of a Vietnam veteran, with his young son born into death, established his own spiritual kingdom in the depths of the jungle far from civilization, and opened his legendary life.
What made him beat up his wife, what devastated the family that should have been happy. Whose conspiracy is behind the escape from civilization? Who reunited father and son and re-entered this seemingly bright and beautiful civilized society? Everything has to start with the war that year.
Picture 丨 He Wenlang
The beginning of everything, the Vietnam War
Friends familiar with Vietnam should know that the Vietnam War was a war between North Vietnam and the United States and South Vietnam with the support of the Soviet Union and China, and it was a large-scale local war that broke out in Southeast Asia in November 1955 after World War II, which had a profound impact on Asian international politics. The protagonist of our story is the veteran of the Vietnam War.
In 1972, Ho Man Thanh, who was in the Vietnamese army, suddenly received a letter from his superiors, including a list of the victims sent by the local government, including his family, and only his two youngest children and wife, Ho Man Lang and Ho Man Choi, survived the U.S. bombing.
This letter was like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, tearing a crack in He Wencheng's life, he asked the troops for leave to go home, and when he rushed home with a star and a moon, looking at the frightened eyes of his children and wife, he fell into extreme anger and self-blame, and he took his wife and children to hide in the temporary shelter built by the local government.
Figure丨 Vietnam War
Unexpectedly, after his family was shelled by the U.S. military, he began to develop PTSD, or post-war stress syndrome, which was very prevalent in the U.S. military at the time, and soldiers often showed extremely serious mental disorders due to daily exposure to death and panic.
He Wencheng began to develop violent tendencies, often beating up his wife because of trivial matters, and the two children lived in such an environment of violence and panic for several years. Long-term mental stimulation makes He Wencheng often hallucinate, and many times, he will dream of comrades who died on the battlefield at night, and will dream of mothers and children who were shelled.
Gradually he began to confuse reality and dreams, that day when he was taking a lunch break at home, he suddenly heard the sound of American bombers, he did not dare to think much, picked up He Wenlang, who was still crouching next to him and playing with mud, and prepared to run outside the door, his wife sensed that he rushed to stop it, but he punched him to the ground, so he ran back to the forest without turning his head.
Figure 丨 He Wencheng
When he calmed down, he realized that he had caused this behavior because of the hallucination, and he rushed back to his village in pain. The local residents also know that his wife is very difficult. After surviving the war, he also had to face domestic violence from his husband. Neighbors were also very sympathetic to his wife, so they lied that his wife had died.
This made He Wencheng have no courage to face it again. I had to take my son with me in the forest. Depending on each other. But it was because of his decision that they spent 41 years in the forest living an unforgettable and very grim life. At first, the father and son did not have too much fear of civilized society, so they lived not far from the village.
But then with the development needs of the local government. Various livestock and logging industries also began to develop. The woods close to the village had been almost completely cut down, and they had to continue to go deeper into the woods. Until he completely cut off contact with the outside world and lived a secluded life.
Pictured he Wenlang and father He Wencheng
Jungle life, far from civilization
People have to eat when they are alive, and it is undoubtedly very difficult to survive in the jungle. But fortunately, He Wencheng still has a certain understanding of some basic skills of the forest. The more primitive a person is, the more he is able to unleash his potential. Because in primitive society, it is not all kinds of physical and mental pressures, but the pressure of life and death without sufficient food, water and medical supplies.
It's no surprise that it's a meal on the plate in the mouths of other animals, and presumably those who have watched the wilderness survival should know that former special forces members like Berganiels and Edstavort will encounter many difficulties. For ordinary people, the odds of wanting to survive in the jungle will be further compressed.
The harsh natural environment and the dangerous hot and humid jungle test not only people's physical fitness, but more often the courage to face difficulties and the perseverance to face challenges, so the instinct to survive prompts them to constantly learn various skills. For example, use flint stones to make a fire, drill wood for fire, and generate sparks through rapid friction of the hands to ignite wood chips.
Figure丨 Skillfully igniting wood chips
In this way, a little spark can be obtained, and He Wencheng, who was born in the army, also learned the hunting skills when he was in the army, because if a person accidentally fell into the wilderness in the army, the knowledge of survival also played a vital role in life and death, and at that time, not only the Vietnamese army, almost all the armies in the world would carry out such wild survival training.
A famous TV show escaped from Amazon and was once widely popular on television. Because it truly reflects the helplessness and struggle of human beings in the face of the wilderness, eating live chickens and live frogs. Ru Mao's life of drinking blood is not new. For them, as long as life is still there, it is the best gift for them.
Bamboo cut with a vine wrist makes a very efficient bird catcher. A dirt pit, a large stone, is made into a seemingly very simple, but the success rate is very high. After catching a bamboo rat, it is not roasted in an emergency by wearing a bamboo skewer, but this is not survival, but a normal life.
Picture 丨 made a bird trap
Because food eaten raw can be contagious to various diseases, such as malaria, heating and disinfecting will give them a higher chance of survival in the wild. He especially liked to eat bamboo rat heads because he felt it was a symbol of a good hunter. In addition, He Wencheng has also captured many animals that look very scary and inedible to us.
Such as monkeys, lizards, snakes, and so on, which can be labeled as protected animals or highly toxic creatures, He Wencheng used all kinds of ways to eat meat for himself and his children and live a life without starvation. Humans in today's society mainly solve 4 things. Basic necessities of life. Indispensable. This is true even for them who live deep in the jungle.
The problem of eating has been solved. Next, let's talk about clothes. Human beings have existed in primitive times, using clothes to shield themselves from wind and rain and harm from the outside world, and later evolved into a symbol of civilization and a thing to hide shame. He Wencheng was in the forest, using animal bark to make clothes for himself.
Tu 丨 caught He Wenlang of the bamboo rat
He first removed the large coarse fiber particles inside. These fibers are then ground with a stone until your body is able to adapt, and then soaked in water to dry them. These bark hides are spliced together with vines. Such a piece of clothing that can shield the wind and rain is finished. If nothing else, a piece of clothing will take at least several years to wear before it is damaged.
Let's not underestimate the role of such a piece of clothing for human beings. Like fire, it can save humans hope for life in the process of excavation. Make people's will no longer so fragile, so that people can pick up their spirits and clean up their moods when they are desperate. Face the unknown and the endless challenges.
Food and clothing are solved, so let's talk about it next. Vietnam is located in the tropics, the local climate is very humid and hot, every day is like in the steamer. Especially in the summer, all kinds of mosquitoes, snakes and ants will come to visit you. So the first thing is to get away from the ground. So He Wencheng and his children built the house on a tree three meters above the ground.
Picture 丨The two men made clothes out of animal skins
Bamboo is one of nature's finest building materials. Through bamboo they fixed their houses. We also added a variety of waterproof materials such as thatched banana leaves so that you don't get wet when it rains. Sometimes to prevent the arrival of large wild animals, they build a bunch of campfires under the trees before going to bed at night.
Not only warm, but also gives people hope for life. Sometimes He Wencheng would look at the campfire in a daze, and he often wondered why he had to leave the civilized world that he was already familiar with, but his heart was very afraid, he was afraid that he would hallucinate again, he was afraid of dreaming of his late mother again, and he was afraid of losing his wife and children.
This is the best ending now, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, away from the interference of civilization, he can just calm down and think about the meaning of his life. The impact of war on a person is too deep. Whether it is an ordinary person or a soldier in the army, war is like a flood beast.
Picture 丨The house where the two people live
Devouring no one's mind, destroying man's will, and even taking human life. He made the living jealous and the dead regretful, but he made the initiators of the war earn a lot of money.
There were also many shrapnel left by the US bombing in the jungle, and through careful observation, He Wencheng collected these shrapnel, carefully polished and assembled. The shrapnel was revitalized in his hands and turned into various tools. Sickles, hammers, and even pots and pans were born in a place that was out of reach of this human civilization.
At this point in the story, everything seems to be so well organized, like the utopia conceived by Westerners. They are unrestrained and think every day about how to live better.
Picture 丨 "Mansion in the Sky"
Civilization disturbs, life changes dramatically
At that time, he wencheng entered the forest with his eldest son, He Wenlang, and when he was taken away, no one knew why he was chosen. 12 years after they entered the forest. That is, when the youngest son, He Wencui, was 14 years old, he himself went into the forest with his uncles to find his father and his brother. Although they have been found, they have become accustomed to life in the jungle.
Father He Wencheng still often hallucinates. He was still living in his dreams, always believing that the Vietnam War was not over. And long-term mental hallucinations and stresses have left his memory chaotic. He no longer recognized the man in front of him as his own young son. There was no difference between him in his eyes and a stranger and an outsider.
Helpless, He Wencui could only do his duty to visit them every year, hoping to fulfill his filial piety to the end. Every time you enter the forest, you bring rice oil and salt, which are things that you can't get by hunting in the forest. Because iodine deficiency can lead to a very serious disease, it can lead to an enlarged thyroid gland, which is what we call big neck disease.
Picture 丨 He Wencui
In the era of material scarcity. Large neck disease, which seems very rare today, is very common. The reason is that the water source or geographical conditions in this area do not have enough iodine for the human body to ingest, so the mainland adds iodine to the salt, which curbs the production of large neck disease from the source.
During these years of living in the forest, fortunately they did not encounter all kinds of strange diseases and suffered very serious injuries, in the humid and hot conditions of Vietnam, a small wound, if not treated with infection and inflammation, will take a person's life.
This lasted until 2013, when a local geo-survey team found a strange father and son in the jungle while drawing a map of the area, thinking that they were local indigenous people, so they reported the case to the police, and the police immediately dispatched the police after receiving the report, because with the government's development over the years, the forest area has gradually shrunk.
Figure丨 Tools made by two people
The forest, which seems to be very far away from the civilized world, is now close at hand. After a 5-hour search by the police, the father and son who were dependent on each other were finally found in the tree house, and He Wencheng was 82 years old at this time. The quality of the body has dropped to a very severe state. It is hard to believe that it is amazing to survive for 82 years under such conditions.
Under the strong persuasion of local officials and young sons, the father and son finally agreed to go out of the forest and return to civilized society. The first thing the two people did when they returned to the local hospital was to undergo various examinations. Surprisingly. Except for some very minor diseases, neither of them had any major physical problems.
However, these are not the most difficult challenges, after all these years of development, the outside world has undergone earth-shaking changes. Today, for this civilized society, they are like Martians landing on Earth. Faced with an unintelligible language and an unfamiliar outside world, He Wenlang showed great fear and panic.
Tu Shu took He Wencheng out of the forest
What he used to do every day was to go hunting when he was hungry, drink rainwater and rivers when he was thirsty, and never worry about being squeezed out of the forest, but now he knows nothing. To this new civilized world, it is like a newborn baby. In these forty years of jungle life, he has not come into contact with anyone, and the only father is not good at talking and rarely talking.
He would only say a few simple words. Just talking about aspects of life, such as going to the toilet, eating with chopsticks, watching TV, you need to learn from scratch. They are accustomed to drinking blood and living, and they show great discomfort with various refined grains, and food is often difficult to swallow. The use of various additives, pigments and flavors, made him full of fear of food.
In addition, his ideology and concepts have also been greatly impacted, living in the forest they only know that they have to eat when they are hungry, sleepy and sleepy, until the sun comes out and the sky is bright, and the moon comes out and the sky is dark. He doesn't know right from wrong, he doesn't know that people are male and female. In the forest, he had seen no more than 5 people over the years.
Picture 丨 He Wenlang who is happy to see new things
And they're scared off because of their strange appearance. In his mind, he knew that animals were their food, and he was shocked that outside the forest, humans could still live in harmony with animals, treating pets like their own children.
In the yard, the dog will look after the home. In the fields, the buffalo would cultivate for humans, and in the previous forest life, all he knew was that these things were human food, everything he saw under his own survival instinct.
Figure 丨 saw he Wencheng of the dog
Civilized life, doubly devastated
Humans are social creatures, you are eager to communicate with other companions, and only with other human beings can you find your place and play your part. After coming down the mountain, He Wenlang had a hard time understanding all this, one day at noon, two bear children in the village made trouble in his brother's house, and the younger brother's two children were now too noisy.
He Wenlang was told to drive them away. And in his philosophy. What bothers you should be erased directly from the world. So he looked left and right, picked up a stick and began to beat the two children. But he couldn't tell right from wrong. Even the children of his brother's family were a big hit. Whenever this clip is recalled, the younger brother and Wencai always break out in a cold sweat.
He recalled that there was no expression on his face at that time, only that he would mechanically carry out orders, and even if he was told to kill people, he would carry them out without moving. He didn't have the notion that humans would die too. Under the guidance of his brother for many years. He was finally able to simply tell the right from wrong of something. For example, if you ask him if the robbery is good or bad, he will not hesitate to answer yes.
Picture 丨 smirking He Wencheng
But if you ask him why it was wrong to do this, he will only be silent, and after the silence is a helpless smile. This is a kind of helplessness, a lack of understanding of this civilized society. He just didn't understand why he had to face all these things that he shouldn't have to face when he originally lived in the jungle.
It wasn't a few years later. My father died of organ failure. He Wenlang, who was alone, felt even more lonely. He felt that this was not the life he deserved, he wanted to go back to his forest, to the cabin where he had counted the stars and watched the moon with his father, to be able to hear the sound of the water, to see the stars across the sky, to feel the traces of the wind blowing.
Finally, after he had made up his mind to return to his hut, his brother and wife would also fill his luggage with rice and other food so that he would not go hungry. Back in the woods, he would often go to the place where he had been with his father, to the stream where he had caught fish with him.
Figure 丨 Crouching on the edge of a stream, He Wencheng
Then sitting motionless on the stone next to the stream and looking into the distance, looking at the end of the stream there, he seemed to see his father. It wasn't until November of last year that he suddenly felt unbearable pain in his abdomen and struggled to run to his brother's house. After being sent to the hospital, he was diagnosed with advanced liver cancer. At this time, he was already yellow and thin, and he lacked the anger that a person should have.
As for why the condition worsened to such an extent, local doctors speculated that it was due to long-term mental stress and dietary aspects. He lived in this jungle all his life, and then was suddenly brought to the civilized world, forced to accept all kinds of processed foods, and even learned to drink, in a short period of time, the human body has to undergo such a major change.
This is most likely the reason for his deterioration. And he knew now that his time was short, and all he wanted was to be able to see more of the world. Until the last moment of his life, his brother's family was with him, and his short life slowly faded away in such a scene, and he also left, following in his father's footsteps.
Figure 丨 He Wencheng's condition deteriorated
The war for a family, an ordinary person's life caused by the great changes, but let an innocent child to bear everything, he should have lived a happy childhood, even if not seeking great wealth, should also experience the life as a normal modern person from an early age, rather than facing the challenge of survival from an early age.
He is only one of thousands of victims of war, and there are all kinds of other human beings in this world who have been devastated by war, some who have lost their lives, some who have lost their freedom, and many more who have lost their dignity as human beings. So let us remember that we live in a peaceful country, not a peaceful world. Encourage the kings.