The soldiers on the clouds and the tea mountain with the fragrance of osmanthus flowers
-- Xishuangbanna Frontier Discipline
Text/Defense Warrior
One
Leaving the beautiful Menglong Dam, we walked along the winding mountain road to Brown Mountain, which is at the top of the clouds. In terms of altitude, Brown Mountain is not the highest 8 mountain in Xishuangbanna, and the reason why it is called "the top of the clouds" is because it is shrouded in clouds and mist all year round, and it is a real mountain with clouds and fog. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, Brown Mountain was under the jurisdiction of the Tusi of Cheli and Mengming, because it was the main settlement of the Brown people, and was called "Engong Brown", which means "the mountain inhabited by the Brown people".
Before the tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan a kilogram of "Lao Banzhang Ancient Tree Tea" was not stirred, few people in the world knew about Brown Mountain, let alone set foot in this remote and barren land far away from the city and high mountains.
The car drives towards the mountain on the winding and narrow winding mountain road, like the hundred-foot silver chain hanging high Baizhang Cliff Waterfall, sending out the roar of ten thousand horses galloping, in its downstream is the Meng'ang River that rushes between the mountains and valleys, the two mountains on both sides of the river are verdant, the bamboo and trees are verdant. Plumes of white mist rise from the sky above the Bronn Reserve in the sunlight, making us feel like cars are moving on the road and clouds are floating under our feet. The ever-changing sea of clouds sometimes looks like a flock of running sheep, sometimes like a white floc flying, the mist covers the world in front of you with a veil of mystery, the large tea forest on the roadside is dazzlingly green, and the wild cherry blossoms and mountain osmanthus flowers dress up the cottage with the ancient road and the mountain spring splashing into a magnificent picture in the clouds. Seeing this scene, the blood in my heart seemed to be ignited.
I have lived in border passes since I was a child, and I have grown up in military camps, and I have traveled to many extreme border places with beautiful scenery, strange customs, and difficult living conditions, and I have been to many border defense companies and outpost platoons located on the front line of border defense, and I have also been to many remote border police stations and border defense workstations. There was a time when some people called these troops stationed in the mountains and valleys "mountain soldiers" or "mountain soldiers", but then I felt that this was not respectful to them, and even offended their dignity. Because their stations were often obscured by clouds, I gave them the poetic name "Soldiers on the Clouds". Since the early fifties of the last century, Brown Mountain has been stationed in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the Armed Border Police, and now there is also an immigration management police officer transferred from the Armed Border Police, who are stationed at the border police station and the border checkpoint for entry and exit management. I don't know how many "soldiers on the clouds" have come out of this mountain on the southwestern border of the motherland, because the subordinate relationship of the troops is constantly changing, and this number is difficult to count. As a writer who grew up in the barracks and was born in the military, I like to look for those heroes who fought and sacrificed in ordinary posts, and I want to solve a mystery from their stories: from the beginning of the founding of New China, my father and his old frontier people stationed in these unknown mountains, how did they fulfill their mission in the deep mountains and valleys of the frontier far away from their hometowns and relatives? How to face sacrifice and dedication? How to realize the value of life in love and parting? And how did they overcome the ever-present hardships and hardships, dedication and sacrifices?
Two
The first "soldier on the clouds" I met in Brown Mountain was Huang Huagang, a veteran of Guizhou who was wounded in the leg during the 60s to survey the boundary and suppress bandits. From the time he was stationed in Brown Mountain as a soldier until his death, he never left this mountain hidden in the clouds. First as a member of the army's ethnic work team, and later as an officer and township cadre, he married a local Brown daughter-in-law and gave birth to children in Brown Mountain. After the veteran Huang Hua just passed away, he was buried in the "Dragon Forest" of the Brown tribe according to local customs, and became an eternal "soldier on the clouds".
The second "soldier on the clouds" I know is my old leader Yang Shixing, who went to Brown Mountain as a soldier in the late 60s and transferred to local work in the 80s. When he was in charge of poverty alleviation work in the county, he took his team members to visit all the villages and villages in Brown Mountain, leading the masses to dig roads, erect electric wires, and open up tea gardens and orchards...... , his deeds were also on the front page of "Yunnan Daily" that year. Now Brown Mountain Village is connected to roads, every household is connected to electric lights, telephones, radio and television, and every household has a car and motorcycle. When people enjoy every day comfortably and happily in the modern civilized living environment, people will occasionally mention the "soldier on the clouds" who wore a military uniform without a collar badge and cockade - "Brother Lao Yang" and "Uncle Lao Yang".
Yan Niluo, Zheng Decong, Li Wenming, Ma Jiaping, Bi Shao and ...... I can't record the stories of these "soldiers on the clouds" one by one, but by the fire pond in the village, in the cheerful festival song and dance field, people will play the beautiful three strings and tell us the stories of those "soldiers on the clouds".
Respect for heroes is the cultural orientation of every outstanding nation, and those "soldiers on the clouds" are the heroes in their minds.
As a former border guard, I have always taken the search for heroes and the praise of heroes as my pursuit, and I want to share with you the heroic legends of those ordinary soldiers that I have found in my work and life. Therefore, I often patrol the border gates where troops are stationed, as well as the police offices and joint defense posts where the officers and men are stationed in the border guards, and the joint defense posts are covered by the clouds with the officers and soldiers, and I am stationed at remote checkpoints with fog locks, I have endured the baptism of storms together, I have walked together on roads washed away by mudslides, and I have set up ambushes among the thorny bushes infested with poisonous insects and snakes and scorpions.
Our arrival made Director Shi Fushou, who had not closed his eyes all night in order to investigate a case of cross-border transportation of explosives, jump out of bed and insisted on taking us to their new class chapter of the "Rule of Law Culture Demonstration Village" to give a lecture on the rule of law.
I have seen reports on Director Shi's deeds on many media platforms, and I have also learned about his character from the mouths of my comrades-in-arms. Once, he received an official letter from a public security organ in another province. The official letter said that a Lahu woman who married from Brown Mountain to another province could not settle down in the local area because she did not have a household registration and migrated. It has been more than 20 years since the woman left Brown Mountain, and she is in a remote Lahu village in Brown Mountain, and she has not registered or applied for an ID card from the time she was born until she was 48 years old. After he married with her husband to other provinces, because she did not have a hukou and ID card, she could not find a job, take a train, or live in a hotel, just like an "invisible person" living in this world, and life was very inconvenient. Director Shi insisted on finding the woman's aunt, brother-in-law and the elderly in the village who knew about the investigation in the limited clues provided by the woman, and after confirming her identity, he repeatedly communicated with the higher-level public security household registration department to re-apply for her ID card and household registration relocation procedures.
After listening to this story, I feel that today's "soldiers on the clouds" have the same enthusiasm to serve the masses as the "soldiers on the clouds" of the past.
Fire-like character, cloud-like life. Keeping our hearts close to the people and applying our feelings to the masses is what I see today as "soldiers on the clouds."
Three
It is a mountain road with many curves from Mengang, the seat of the Brown Mountain Township Government, to Xinbanzhang, and after renovation in recent years, the road surface is wider and smoother. The tall trees on both sides of the road shade the sky and the sun, and the ancient tea forest on the hillside in the distance can hear the gentle chirping of various birds from time to time. When the osmanthus is in full bloom, the fragrance of osmanthus wafting with the wind is fragrant and fragrant, overflowing and refreshing. The villages along the way are different, retaining the cultural characteristics of different ethnic groups such as Brown, Lahu, Hani, etc., it can be said that it is a village and a scene, but the difference is that the thatched houses and wooden buildings in the past have become luxurious and magnificent western-style buildings.
Banzhang is the meaning of "osmanthus" in Dai language. There are more than 540 people in 104 households in Xinbanzhang Village, and the main residents are Hani and Yuni people, who originally thought that Xinbanzhang was separated from the old Banzhang, but only some of them were separated from the old Banzhang, and some others moved from Gelanghe, Guangbei Laozhai, Manguo, Asuo and other villages. Most of the Hani people live in the mountainous and semi-mountainous areas, the earliest "village" is the "shed" when planting the mountains, because the new Banzhang is suitable for planting tea, and there are many mountain osmanthus trees in the mountain forest, the new Banzhang also has a poetic name: "the village of osmanthus fragrance", the Hani Ni people are a nomadic to nomadic hunting, nomadic farming, foreign scholars call it "Rizhao broad-leaved forest" nation. In addition to the convenience of farming, the reason for the relocation is the plague of tigers, snakes, plagues, wars, and natural disasters such as soil erosion. Like Lao Banjang, this place is one of the famous ancient tea mountains because a large number of ancient tea plantations have been preserved. The ancient tea trees of the new banzhang are all more than 170 years old, which is also a very old tea tree in Brown Mountain, which is also a shining business card of the new banzhang in the tea industry. The taste of the new Banzhang tea, located between the old Banzhang and the old Man'e, its tea taste is neither as bitter as the old Man'e, nor as domineering as the old Banzhang, it belongs to a compound taste, the tea soup is fresh and mellow, the tea is full of gas, there is a certain bitterness, but the bitterness is fast, and the personality characteristics of sweetness and sweetness have also attracted many tea lovers, so the new Banzhang village is full of heavy tea gas inside and outside the village.
In this way, the life of the new Banzhang people has also begun to "broaden". Twenty years ago, there was a wind in the tea industry to drink Banzhang tea, save Banzhang tea, and fry Banzhang tea, coupled with the new Banzhang next door Lao Banzhang and Lao Man'e are famous in the tea industry, and the new Banzhang is also lively. Enterprises and bosses from all walks of life who make tea have come one after another, and various tea estates and tea numbers have been opened in the village. Xianda, the deputy leader of the villagers' small group, told me that his family collects tea for a tea house called "Jin Dafu", and the famous "Chinese cabbage" comes from Xinbanzhang. All this is thanks to the moist clouds and mist of Brown Mountain, it is the clouds and mist of this mountain that gather and convey the aura of heaven and earth for the tea of the new banzhang, and it is the "soldiers on the clouds" who guard the peace and harmony of this side of the water and soil.
Four
Tea has brought wealth to the new banzhang, but also changed the life and concept of the new banzhang people, every household has built a western-style building, there are cars, pickup trucks and motorcycles, the road in the village has become wider, and they are all solid and smooth cement roads, there are some strange trees and various flowers on the side of the road, so that this small village that has not been passed down in the past has become a blessed land that everyone yearns for. In the past, girls married outside, but now they all marry inside. This kind of change in life, but also brought about a change in concept, in the past you went to the people's homes, people will generously say: "the new tea is on the market, take a few catties to drink", now even if it is a good game of Lao Geng, it would be good to be able to send you a few taels. After all, this leaf, which used to be ordinary, is now almost as valuable as gold. One year, a kilogram of tea was fried to 600,000 or 700,000, and I was very disgusted by this kind of hype, so I talked about my feelings on my personal public account, which attracted some people to besiege me, and some people called directly to scold my mother.
Interests will make people lose their reason and duty, and for a period of time, there are also people who cut down trees and plant tea indiscriminately, and some people take gambling, alcoholism and other eating, drinking and having fun as a daily routine after they are "broadened". These things have made government leaders at all levels very worried.
Shi Futao, director of the Brown Mountain Border Police Station, graduated from Gansu University of Political Science and Law. is a very capable post-80s generation, enlisted in the army in 2007, and after the transfer of the army, he brought his brothers and parents to Xishuangbanna, ready to be a "soldier on the cloud" for a lifetime. He likes to take the people's auxiliary police to go around the villages, turn the legal knowledge he learned in college into small stories to tell the villagers, guide the villagers to know the law, abide by the law, and use the law, and replace those old and vulgar bad habits with a civilized way of life. "Nine out of ten bets are lost, and there is no family affection at the gambling table", "I sweat hard during the day, and the card table is empty at night". People remember what Director Shi often told them bitterly.
In the village, I saw that Liu Kang, a community policeman, and Liu Lizhong, the head of the village security team, were convening the villagers to listen to a lecture on the legal system, and they had already formed a pair of "Lao Geng brothers" who had a tacit understanding in their work, and they were conscientiously implementing the requirements of holding a legal lecture once a month and a "fire pond meeting" in accordance with the plan of the leaders to build the new class chapter into a "model village for rule of law culture". In recent years, the new class chapter has taken the creation of the "people's rule of law demonstration village" and the construction of the rule of law culture as the carrier, and the strengthening of the construction of the rule of law as the starting point, combined autonomy and rule by virtue, actively innovated propaganda and education methods, paid close attention to ideological and political education and legal popularization education in rural areas, and used the rule of law to build a solid foundation for social peace, realizing the gorgeous turn of the new class chapter "from chaos to order".
"Social harmony and stability are all guided by the rule of law. Li Jihua, the leader of the villagers' group, took us to the square in front of the village group's office building. I saw easy-to-understand slogans in the "Rule of Law Culture" bulletin board, such as "Solving Problems, Resolving Contradictions, Relying on the Law", "Fair Law Enforcement, Independent Law Learning, Integrity and Law-abiding". This square is also a "garden" for villagers to learn the law, fitness, and dance, and a "magic weapon" for all villagers. Through learning, abiding by and using the law, the villagers know how to respect each other, unite and live in harmony.
He told me that when he saw these young people at the border police station, he would recall his years as a soldier and see that the glorious tradition of our army of "going deep among the masses, mobilizing the masses, and relying on the masses" has been inherited by these new generation of border guards, and he felt very gratified.
In the process of getting along with the people's auxiliary police of the Brown Mountain Border Police Station, I realized that every soldier in the cloudy mountain has no reason to love the mist-shrouded frontier mountain. Frankly speaking, it may not have been their choice to become a soldier and a police officer here at first, but it comes from feelings and responsibilities, which makes them have a deep love for their posts and mountains. In every mountain in the frontier, there are many comrades-in-arms like them, and in the process of getting along with the people's auxiliary police at the Brown Mountain Border Police Station, I found that the love of every soldier in these cloudy mountains for the mist-shrouded frontier mountains is true. At first, it was not their choice to become a soldier and a police officer here, but because of feelings and responsibilities, they had a deep love for their posts and mountains. In every mountain in the frontier, there are many comrades-in-arms like them, maybe their stories are not known, but their words and deeds, their love for the frontier, will be remembered by the mountains of the frontier.
Not everyone's story will be written in a book and engraved on a tablet, and it seems to me that sometimes the wordless memory is greater than the praise.
There was a light rain in the sky. The way back was covered by clouds and mist, I looked out through the window of the car covered with raindrops, the mountains in the distance seemed to be hiding behind the clouds, looking mysterious and magnificent, looking at the flickering lights of the Yunwu Mountain Border Joint Defense Station, I suddenly remembered a couplet in a high mountain joint defense post before: the cloud outpost cloud soldiers, the alchemy heart of the mountain valley.
About author:National defense soldier (real name Duan Jinhua), born in Jiangcheng County, Yunnan Province in the mid-60s, lived in the military camp of the Yunnan Border Guard Force since childhood, served as a soldier in the Yunnan Armed Police Force in the 80s, worked in the propaganda and cultural department of Xishuangbanna for a long time after retiring from the army, and served as the executive deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Xishuangbanna Prefecture Party Committee (Director of the Information Office and Director of the Internet Information Office); Poetry, the subject matter is mostly frontier life.