The trekking to the Renshanhe Martyrs Cemetery in Pengyang County, which began in 1995, is the 29th time this year. Over the past 29 years, tens of thousands of students of Guyuan No. 2 Middle School have embarked on this road, walking 108 miles back and forth in one day, remembering and remembering, paying tribute to the martyrs, revisiting history, and receiving baptism.
In 2021, I served as the head teacher of the first (1) class of high school, and the hiking of the mountains and rivers to commemorate the martyrs was put on the agenda early. A few days before departure, the weather was very bad, with a mixture of rain and snow, and the temperature plummeted. Looking at the weather forecast, it will not improve in the short term. Whether the memorial to the martyrs can be carried out as scheduled before the Qingming Festival, the teachers are unsure. However, the students were not affected by the weather at all, and their enthusiasm was high, singing red songs, making banners, stressing discipline, and assigning tasks, and they were busy before departure. The school held another meeting on the afternoon of April 1 to listen to everyone's opinions. At the meeting, most of the teachers believed that the revolutionary martyrs sacrificed their lives for the country and the nation, and were not afraid of difficulties, so how could they stop because of the weather? The school leaders also felt that the arrow was on the bow and had no choice but to send it, so they immediately decided that the 26th hike of Guyuan No. 2 Middle School to pay tribute to the heroes and martyrs of Renshan River was officially launched on April 2.
At 5 a.m. on April 2, all the staff gathered on campus. The rain and snow had abated overnight, but it was still ticking. The snow on the branches and roofs melted into water, and the cold fell on the face, cold and cold. No one thought of retreating, and as the drums of the battle rang out in an earth-shattering manner, the procession set off majestically. I led a group of students to walk at the front of the line, Guyuan City was quiet, the street lights were bright and dim, and there were few pedestrians on the road. When the team entered from the Qingshixia intersection, the sky was dark and the red flag was faint. When passing through the Qingshi Gorge Reservoir, the sky is slightly bright, and the peaks on both sides are shrouded in fog, and you can't see the mountain trees clearly, but there is another beautiful scenery. Looking behind, more than a thousand people meander along, and the scene is extremely spectacular.
When the team reached the bottom of Huangmao Mountain, the cement road was gone, and they had to go up the dirt road. After days of rain and snow, the mountain road was extremely slippery, and teachers and students could not walk normally. Fortunately, the grass and trees on both sides of the road were dense, everyone was on crutches, grasping branches, pulling backpacks, falling and helping up, shoes sinking in and pulling out, big hands holding small hands, front and back, deep foot and shallow foot, difficult to go up. A student holding a flag turned around and accidentally swept the flag over the teacher, and the teacher's hair, face, and body were covered with mud, causing the students to laugh. Finally reached the top of the mountain, and the team was just about to take a break, when suddenly the snow was falling and the sky was blank. The student laughed and said that he had just finished walking through the grass and caught up with the snow-capped mountains. Looking around, the roads were full of rain and snow, there was no way to hide, there was no way to avoid, and the students recited in unison "The Red Army is not afraid of expeditions and difficulties, and thousands of rivers and mountains are just waiting for leisure", and their fighting spirit was high, and they marched along the road against the wind and snow.
When I returned from the ceremony, the sky was still falling intermittently. At this time, the road surface has been flooded, and all teachers and students are treading water. Some students couldn't walk anymore, so they put two people shoulder to shoulder, supporting each other and cheering each other on. When the team reached the top of Huangmao Mountain, the night was pitch black. Standing on the top of the mountain, Guyuan City is full of traffic and lights, and it is a thriving scene. Parents who come to greet them use their headlights to light the way for the students. The students forgot about their tiredness and rejuvenated. Such a scene makes everyone who experiences it emotional. Through the long journey, we want to tell the young students that the mountains and rivers are no longer harmed, and the heroes must be remembered. In the summer of 2023, the descendants of the 64th Army of the 19th Corps, who participated in the battle of Renshanhe, came to Guyuan No. 2 Middle School for a discussion and exchange.
On April 3 this year, Guyuan No. 2 Middle School began its 29th trekking trip to Renshan River. As a first-year teacher, I embarked on this journey again. In addition to all the teachers and students of the first year of the school, more than 100 people from outside the school, such as Zhongning No. 1 Middle School and famous ideological and political teachers of the autonomous region, participated in this trip. Drawing on past experience, the school carried out a series of activities such as physical training, physical fitness screening, historical explanation, and pre-war mobilization for students in advance, and connected with social forces such as public security, traffic police, blue sky rescue teams, hospitals, and forest farms, so as to comprehensively strengthen the travel support force. In addition, the event also received great attention from the news media, and the People's Daily Online tracked the live broadcast from the departure to the Renshanhe Martyrs Cemetery, and the Guyuan New Media Center broadcast the whole process when it returned. The teachers and students laughed and said that there will be no secrets on Ren Shanhe's trip this year, even if he can't walk halfway, he will be embarrassed to be a deserter.
The team assembled and set off at 5 o'clock in the morning, and after meeting at Nanguan Qiaotou and Hongwen Middle School, more than 2,000 people began a spectacular walking memorial to the martyrs. When the team reached the Qingshi Gorge intersection, it was still dark. The members of the Blue Sky Rescue Team who walked in front kept shouting to the back: "Put the flag down, be careful of the wires, watch your feet, and don't step on the air." The students did not panic and sang songs such as "Unity is Strength" and "Battle Song of the Strong Army", which filled the quiet valley with heroic spirit.
The teachers and students of Guyuan No. 2 Middle School all wore little red riding hoods, and I stood halfway up the mountain, looking up, the red flag was waving, and the red hat was close behind. It's really a martyr who should smile when he looks back, and Qingqi has its own descendants. Several female teachers and students went up the mountain exhausted, panting and sweating profusely. Seeing this, the surrounding students pulled forward, pushed back, supported left and right, changed their backs, and never let them stop. This kind of teacher-student relationship and classmate relationship may not be obvious on campus in ordinary times, but at this moment, it is natural to be in the same boat and share weal and pain.
At the top of the mountain, there were volunteers who enthusiastically stuffed water into the hands of teachers and students, which made people feel warm. Social security forces, ready to fight. The rescue vehicle shuttles back and forth to ensure safety. All this shows that the memory of revolutionary martyrs and the inheritance of red genes have been widely recognized by all sectors of society. The teachers and students of Zhongning No. 1 Middle School, the famous ideological and political teachers of the autonomous region, and others who participated in this activity for the first time, saw that the team climbed over the hurdles, climbed over the mountains and mountains, chased after me, and were not willing to lag behind, and did not dare to relax at all, and followed closely. Afterwards, he sincerely sighed that this was really a long march in the new era of exercising his will and refining his spirit, which benefited him a lot and was worth remembering for a lifetime.
On the downhill section, the students walked more easily, trotting forward from time to time, and the teacher who led the team always reminded them to pay attention to safety. What is surprising is that the teachers who were originally very difficult to go up the mountain seemed to be a different person when they went down the mountain, with brisk steps and fast movements, and they actually walked to the front of the team, which made me quite puzzled. Such a speed is far faster than in 2021. As they approached the cemetery, one of the girls slowed down and fell behind the group. The teacher asked her if she could hold on and wait for the ambulance, and she shook her head resolutely, saying that she would definitely go to her destination. Perhaps in the hearts of students, a hundred miles of trekking is the most sincere respect for the martyrs!
Lay flowers and salute to remember the immortal heroes. In 1949, the Chinese People's Liberation Army fought the first battle to liberate Ningxia in the Renshan River area, and 364 commanders and fighters fought bravely, died heroically, and were buried here, and 152 martyrs have not left their names so far. Qingshan buries loyal bones everywhere, mourning and sacrificing the souls of heroes. The story of the heroes and martyrs is magnificent, and the spirit of the heroes and martyrs lives on in the world. After the solemn memorial service, the procession rested for a while and began to return.
At 7:30 p.m., the team returned victorious. Outside the school gate, there were parents standing shoulder to shoulder, holding flowers, full of enthusiasm, full of flowers, lined up to greet and applaud. One parent said loudly: "Such activities are so meaningful, they should let their children walk more, this is the best patriotic education." I looked at the side of the road, and the banners such as "Carry forward the spirit of the martyrs and praise the patriotic spirit", "Remember history and cherish the memory of the martyrs", "There are mountains and rivers in front of me, and there is a homeland in my heart" stretched all the way, dazzling and moving. Respecting history and heroes is the basic value criterion of a nation, and it is also the spiritual driving force for a country to unite and unite, strive for good, and create the future. This scene is a wordless proof.
Guyuan No. 2 Middle School hiked a hundred miles to pay tribute to the martyrs, there is no doubt that the 30th and 31st ...... It will be passed on year after year, session after session, generation after generation, all the way. Remembrance and admiration, ideals and beliefs will surely make this "red journey" always new, always new.
About author:Huang Jintang is a teacher at Guyuan No. 2 Middle School. His works have been published in "Liupan Mountain", "Guyuan Daily", "Huluhe", "Yuanzhou", "Once Poetry", "Modern Poetry Figures", "Haihe Literature", "Taoxi Audio Micro-Magazine", "Poetry", "New Prose", "Southern Literature", "Contemporary Prose", "Years of the Heart", "Capital Literature" and other media.