On June 16, 1947, near dusk, Jinming Village (now Jinming Village, Haimengang New District, Haimen District, Nantong City), which had been tossed by the homecoming group for a whole day, finally calmed down.
During the day, many village cadres and revolutionary masses were forcibly taken away after being tied up by the enemy, and the entire village was made into a mess by the other side.
Only at this time, the villagers, who had easily escaped, dared to open the courtyard door tremblingly, and everyone carefully looked left and right, and after repeatedly confirming that the enemy had gone away, they dared to come out to collect firewood and drive away the livestock from the enclosure.
In the east of the village, in a courtyard near the entrance of the village, villager Mao Zhonglan gently pushed open the courtyard door, and then quickly walked to the grass stack behind the yard, ready to take some firewood back to boil the pot.
As she approached the haystack, she suddenly heard someone coughing softly in the pool pit not far away.
Mao Zhonglan fixed her steps, crouched beside the grass stack, and carefully looked in the direction of the pond pit, and the next moment, her scalp couldn't help but feel a tingle.
These people haven't even left yet!
After seeing the situation in the pond pit, Mao Zhonglan's heart "pounded" wildly, she forced herself to be calm, pretended not to see the other party, picked up a ball of firewood and grass indiscriminately, turned around and walked towards the door of her yard.
Mao Zhonglan originally planned to hurry back to the hospital and never leave the hospital tonight.
Not far away, a short distance from the entrance of the village, two people came, these two people were walking quickly towards the village, under the setting sun, the two of them were constantly beating figures, on the dirt road, pulled by the afterglow to the elders.
After seeing the appearance of the person who came, Mao Zhonglan's eyes couldn't help shrinking sharply, one of these two people was Huang Meng, the mayor of Jiangzhong Township, and the other middle-aged man holding a dry tobacco bag was Chen Jinrong, director of the Jinming Village Farmers' Association.
During the day, the two escaped the enemy's search, and in the afternoon, they rushed to Xujiadai, busy comforting the families of the cadres whose houses had been burned down. It was not until dusk, when the two heard that the enemy in the village had left, that they hurried back.
Chen Jinrong and Huang Meng hurried back to the village to check the losses of the masses, but they never imagined that the cunning enemy would pretend to leave, kill another horse gun halfway, and quietly sneak back into the village.
Mao Zhonglan was in her eyes and anxious, she subconsciously wanted to open her mouth to call for warning, but when the words came to her lips, she swallowed them alive. The enemy is next to him, and if he shouts out, he will inevitably be unable to escape the other party's poisonous hands.
What to do?
Mao Zhonglan couldn't help but clench his fists, and various possible methods kept flashing in his mind, however, the more urgent he was, the more he couldn't figure it out, although there were many methods, but his heart was always a mess.
Seeing that the other party had gradually approached the entrance of the village, Mao Zhonglan knew that he could no longer hesitate, once the two entered the village, everything would be too late!
Mao Zhonglan took a few steps forward, gritted his teeth tragically, and prepared to risk warning the village entrance in front of the enemy. However, the next moment, an old hen running in front of her made her change her mind in an instant.
"Cluck... Duh. The old hen passed by Mao Zhonglan's feet and ran towards the mound in the direction of the village entrance.
In an instant, Mao Zhonglan had a good idea.
"Cluck, what to run!" Mao Zhonglan suddenly stepped forward and chased a few steps, kicked in the direction of the old hen, and scolded loudly while kicking:
"I know to run around all day, I don't look at the time, and I don't go to the shed so late!"
Chen Jinrong at the entrance of the village heard Mao Zhonglan's scolding when they boarded, and also saw that when Mao Zhonglan turned around, the hand on his back was in the direction of them, constantly swaying and signaling.
"In danger!"
Years of work experience, after Chen Jinrong saw this, he subconsciously realized that there might be enemies in the village. After the two looked at each other, without the slightest hesitation, they plunged into the next crop field, and then jumped off the distant ditch slope.
The two of them ran this time, but the group of enemies hidden in the pool pit were angry, everyone endured mosquito bites, the atmosphere did not dare to breathe, waited for a long time, saw that the two underground parties were about to step into the encirclement of everyone, but the people suddenly fled, which makes who can not be anxious and on fire!
The group of homecoming group members who crawled out of the pond pit immediately stared at Mao Zhonglan's yard with suspicion.
"Bang ~ bang ~ bang!" Mao Zhonglan, who had just returned to the courtyard, then heard the sound of the courtyard door being beaten by the people outside. After opening the door, several soldiers of the Homecoming Regiment rushed in, and the leader frowned and shouted at Mao Zhonglan angrily and asked:
"Tell the truth, did you send a letter to those two people outside the village just now to let them escape."
Mao Zhonglan pretended to be taken aback, and replied with a confused look:
"I work at home, how can I deliver letters?"
"Not honest yet!" The other party slapped Mao Zhonglan angrily and continued to ask why the two disappeared?
However, no matter how the other party coerced and lured, Mao Zhonglan was always just sure, he just cared about driving the chickens back to the shed, and he didn't pay attention to whether there was anyone outside the village, let alone know that the gang in front of him was hiding on the side, waiting to catch the underground party.
The enemies who could not find the flaws had to leave angrily after two more slaps on Mao Zhonglan, and went out to continue the search.
Years later, Chen Jinrong and Huang Meng, who have already retired, are still embarrassed when they recall this thrilling past of that year:
"If it weren't for Sister Mao's reminder of risking death at that time, once the two of us stepped into the village that time, we really wouldn't have been able to come out."
In those blazing years, there were countless grassroots heroes who rose up in the shadows, but eventually disappeared into the long river of history. Although these stories hidden in the long river of history, although little known, are still an indispensable corner of the magnificent picture of the people's war in those years.
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References: "Haimen Literary and Historical Materials", memories of Mao Zhonglan, Chen Jinrong, Huang Meng