The first person to lead the team to rush to the main peak of the old mountain - remember the battle hero Zhang Daquan martyr

Text: Huang Hong, Liu Yuqing

Zhang Daquan was the deputy company commander of the Fifth Company of a certain unit, twenty-nine years old, and joined the army in March 1976. On April 28, 1984, during the battle to retake Laoshan, Zhang Daquan was ordered to lead five assault platoons to capture the main peak of Laoshan. He was brave and fearless, taking the lead in only one hour and fifty-four minutes to lead his troops to rush to the main peak and seize the surface position of the main peak of the old mountain. After being wounded three times, he persisted in the line of fire, continued to command his troops to fight, and died heroically while clearing the remnants of the enemy. After the war, the Central Military Commission awarded him the title of "Hero of Battle".

(i)

Chariots galloped, motors roared, and the army advanced towards the Laoshan area. The rows of shells were like thunder and lightning, and they slammed into the heads of the enemy defending the old mountain

go.

In the early morning of April 28, 1984, the battle to recover Laoshan, the sacred territory of the motherland, began.

The vanguard unit ordered to seize the main peak of Laoshan Mountain was a certain fifth company of a certain unit that had repeatedly built up its feats in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, and the vanguard officer was Zhang Daquan, deputy company commander of the fifth company, who had the military order that "he could not take the main peak and swore not to return to his death."

The main peak of the old mountain is a natural danger. It rises abruptly among the peaks, from the place where the troops are secretly assembled and standby to the 1422.2 height at the summit, with a vertical specific height of 1112.2 meters, which is higher than the foot of Mount Tai through the South Heavenly Gate to the Top of the Jade Emperor. It takes five hours to go up the mountain with bare hands. The main peak is like a sharp upward head straight into the clouds. The front is a cliff tens of meters high, straight and steep, impossible to climb. The vegetation on the mountain is dense, and tall trees, dense arrow bamboo, aircraft grasses that are more than one person high and various shrubs are intertwined into a tight and solid net. The moist and rainy subtropical climate allows the ferns to grow to more than a person tall.

The Vietnamese army also planted tens of thousands of tripping mines and pressing mines at the front of the main peak, forming a large minefield; Anti-infantry walls of more than two men were built and anti-infantry trenches that were more than one man deep and more than two meters wide were built. The fortifications on the main peak are made up of various large and small trenches, short cave bunkers and tunnels, some of which are covered with more than four meters thick. In order to occupy this piece of land in China forever as an anti-China bridgehead, they painstakingly operated for five years, employing people to carry horses, and forced thousands of reinforced concrete prefabricated blocks up the mountain and covered them with permanent reinforced concrete fortifications.

They fought with the French and the Americans, and studied the firepower of mountain defense warfare. The east side of the main peak of Lao Shan was connected to Highland 54 and the south side to Hill 50, and the Vietnamese army took advantage of this favorable terrain to equip a large number of light and heavy machine guns, anti-aircraft machine guns, submachine guns, mortars, recoilless guns, and bazookas on the three high areas. Three highlands, at opposite angles, cross-firing. Constitute a dense network of firepower.

The main peak of Lao Shan was guarded by two infantry companies and a firearms company of the 122nd Regiment of the elite 313rd Division of the Vietnamese Army, and one infantry company was also awarded the title of "Decisive Battle Decisive Victory Company" by the senior military organs of the Vietnamese Army.

The main peak of the old mountain is a combination of natural danger, fortification and firepower network. The Vietnamese army occupied the main peak, condescending, and waited for work, and indeed had a certain defensive advantage. Therefore, they think that the main peak position is an indestructible fortress, and they dare to take off the red stripe when they sleep, and they are arrogant!

Yet they look at the wrong person. In the face of the heroic and warlike Chinese People's Liberation Army, there is no "steel fortress" that cannot be breached and a mountain that cannot be taken down. Laoshan is China's territory, you are cast with steel and iron, we must also take it back after full preparation, the attack order has finally been issued: attack at dawn, occupy the main peak before dark! After the powerful artillery preparations of our army, using the effect of artillery preparation, the commanders and fighters of the five companies who were lurking in the bushes only three hundred meters away from the main peak in advance jumped up and pounced on the main peak with a sudden and courageous movement. According to the coordinated plan, they first carried out a surprise attack on the outpost positions of the main peak, Highlands 21 and 52. Under the cover of the fire group, they captured Hill 21 with only one charge.

While the enemy was still dazed and in chaos, he charged again and captured Hill 52. At this time, the three special horns of the main peak position of the old mountain were equivalent to being cut off by five companies, and the development of the situation was very favorable to me. Five in a row, two high ground, and high morale. In accordance with the instructions of his superiors, Zhang Daquan also commanded four light machine guns, two heavy machine guns, and four four O rocket launchers to suppress the fire of the enemy's main peak position; At the same time, he ordered a platoon leader Li Weimin to move back from the right wing, the second platoon led by platoon leader Cao Jie to attack from the front facing the main peak, and the third platoon led by platoon leader Yu Jianguo to provide fire support and serve as a reserve team on The 52nd Highland, taking the opportunity to attack the main peak and annihilate the main peak to defend the enemy.

A row of thumps from the right wing of the main peak slammed into the front, and in a few moments it advanced more than 100 meters. Zhang Daquan personally commanded the second platoon to attack from the front, and was also approaching the main peak step by step.

The enemy who captured the main peak was about to make a great contribution to the main peak and sent out to their superiors, "The main peak position is urgent!" Telegram. Our artillery observation post set up on another hill can see the battle situation of the main peak, and they can't help but report loudly to the command post: "Go up, the infantry is about to rush to the main peak!"

The entire Laoshan front line was cheering for Zhang Daquan and the warriors of the Fifth Company!

At this moment, however, a situation that was extremely unfavorable to the Fifth Company arose. Between the main peak and Highland 50, there is a recess, which is the throat road leading to the main peak. When the five companies and a platoon entered this hollow, they were attacked on both sides, and the Vietnamese troops on the main peak and the No. 50 highland used various weapons to attack one row of fire, causing a row of heavy casualties. The second squad leader, Yang Deming, and several soldiers were shot or wounded in succession, and the cunning enemy also drilled into the hole and called for their artillery fire to block the second and third platoons and suppress the fire. The second and third platoons were constantly injured or injured. Zhang Daquan, who was commanding the team, was also injured in the left thigh by a six-O shell. The second platoon advanced less than 20 meters from the front and was blocked. Three platoons of fire support were also weakened by enemy fire suppression. The first assault to the main peak was lost.

Looking at his comrades-in-arms who had fallen into a pool of blood, Zhang Daquan was so angry that his eyeballs were about to come in and out. He did not care to bandage the bloody wounds, quickly observed the enemy's fire points and terrain conditions, and decisively ordered the troops to suspend the attack, commanded a platoon to retreat slightly, reorganized the personnel who could still fight, appointed squad and platoon agents, and adjusted the combat formation.

And then. Order a platoon leader to take a squad to observe the fire from the flank and organize the suppression; Three exclusions continued fire support, partially reinforced to the second platoon; The second platoon quickly prepared, led by himself, ready to launch a second charge towards the main peak.

Zhang Daquan knew that he was going to be short and successful and failed in this move. Perhaps, at this critical moment, he remembered a lot of things, but the scene of the landlord's aunt accusing the Vietnamese army of crimes, or it may be the stock hope of the chiefs and the steel oath they made when they drank the wine, and they only listened to the captain of the Jay platoon, "We must take the main peak and resolutely complete the task." I am a communist and a company commander, and at this critical moment I know how you are from the left and I am from the right, you must take the troops up, and if you die, you will die on the main peak" He shouted to the comrades of the whole platoon, "Comrades, avenge your fierce comrades-in-arms, follow one of me!" After saying this, he took a light machine from the hand of a lying wounded man, flattened it, and shot while rushing towards the main peak.

The second platoon leader Cao Jie and the whole platoon followed close behind, launching a second charge at the main peak under the cover of the first and third platoons, and launched a "tug-of-war" battle with the enemy who was negatively resisted. Zhang Daquan was like an angry tiger, hitting the red ding-eye. He felt that it was inconvenient to shoot lying down because of the steep slope, and he shot at people crisply upright. A small black and thin Vietnamese soldier with a submachine gun was aiming at one of our fighters, and before he could fire, he was beaten to the head by a bullet from Zhang Daquan; Another enemy's bazooka hand had just fired a rocket, and before he could load a second, he was also beaten by Zhang Daquan and faced the sky. Encouraged by Zhang Daquan, more than twenty men in the platoon attacked the main peak like a gust of wind, dividing and suppressing the enemy in the trench.

The enemy of the "Decisive Battle Decisive Victory Company" with rich practical combat experience finally woke up after a chaotic wave of ghost crying wolf howls. They found that this Chinese People's Liberation Army with a command flag at the waist and carrying a light machine gun was a particularly great threat to themselves. Once this person appears, it brings a danger to their position; The one step forward this man shortened the distance they had taken to the grave a lot. As a result, several enemies concentrated their firepower and focused on Zhang Daquan, and bullets rained down on Zhang Daquan's side. A bullet hit his left wrist, and he only felt his left wrist shake violently, and the machine gun fell to the ground, and blood poured out of his left wrist, staining the handle and body of the gun red. He stumbled and almost fell.

Platoon leader Cao Jie hurriedly ordered hygienists to go up to rescue them. However, before the hygienist arrived, Zhang Daquan stepped forward, clamped the machine gun with his right arm, mounted the gun in the arm bend of his left arm, and rushed towards the main peak again. The comrades-in-arms were thrilled by Zhang Daquan's heroic feat, and they shouted: "Rush!" Kill!", one by one jumped up, although some people kept falling, they still followed the deputy company commander, killing the enemy who was fighting against the main peak was completely unexpected, their opponent intention was so difficult to deal with, seeing that the last line of defense would be broken, first of all the mental defense line collapsed, desperate, like a burning honeycomb, the camp exploded, some drilled into the hole without spinning, some threw down their weapons and held their heads, and a few were anxious to jump down the cliff, but some desperately resisted like crazy wild dogs.

Under the command of the officers, the fire of the people on the main peak was sprayed at the five companies. Zhang Daquan was shot in the abdomen, injured him for the third time, cut to the ground, looked down, the intestines fell out with blood, the wound was like red iron, burning his nerves and pain unbearable. Beads of sweat the size of soybeans mixed with muddy water and flowed down his cheeks. His face was sallow, and he lay on the ground, gasping for breath for a while. There were not many people around, and some of them were still injured. Many warriors were blocked by enemy fire at the front of the main peak and could not advance.

The main peak of the old mountain is close at hand, but it is still in the hands of the invaders, And Zhang Daquan understands that now, time is life, insisting on advancing is victory, and the slightest hesitation will abandon the previous achievements.

He quickly took out his first-aid kit, tied the triangle scarf to his waist, tightened the belt again, pressed his intestines to his abdomen, and said to his comrades with severe pain: "Communists, members of the Communist Youth League!" Comrades-in-arms! The time has come for the Party to test us, victory must be ours, and the main peak must be ours. Fire group give me a blast! The other comrades follow me!" After saying that, an arrow rushed up, and the assault platoon followed him, launching a third attack on the main peak.

At this time, the fourth and seventh companies of the friendly neighbors also came up from both flanks and threw themselves into the battle of besieging the main peak. They fought side by side, and the more courageous they became, the sharper they were

When the enemy defending the main peak was beaten to death and wounded, the remaining enemies saw that the trend had gone, and adopted the usual tactic of "rat drilling holes", all of which hid in the tunnels and short holes, and continued to resist. So far, the surface positions of the main peak have all been occupied by us. In the trenches of the main peak, Zhang Daquan killed two more enemy soldiers, one of whom was a lieutenant officer. Zhang Daquan was very happy, and tore off the officer's military title badge and put it in his pocket. Then, order the troops to search for and suppress the remnants of the enemy and close the mouths of the tunnels; Li Zhongrong, a correspondent of the Fourth Company, was ordered to fire two red flares into the sky.

When the red signal bomb marking the surface position of the main peak had been occupied by us was raised, the commanders of the command post invariably looked at the watch: from launching the attack to occupying the surface position of the main peak, it took only one hour and fifty-four minutes in total. I want to give Zhang Daquan a head start!"

There was a roar of applause in the command post. When the commander of the military region heard this news, he praised the five companies for their good fighting and encouraged them to continue to work hard and win the final victory.

However, just at the place where this red signal bomb was raised, ten minutes after its rise, our hero was the first deputy company commander Zhang Daquan, who led his troops to rush to the main peak of laoshan Mountain, and in the battle to clear the enemy, he was stunned. Unfortunately, he was hit in the head and legs by a vicious bullet fired by an enemy hiding in a bunker, and finally fell. He collapsed at the mouth of a tunnel only eight meters from the summit, his body still in a charging posture, his right hand still clutching a machine gun, as if ready to shoot at the enemy. His roaring shouts of death still seemed to echo on the main peak, inspiring his comrades-in-arms to destroy the remaining enemy Lao Shan, and the sacred territory of the People's Republic of China finally returned to the people's embrace of the red flag, which had been planted on the peak and fluttered in the wind; The heroic name of the martyr will always be engraved on the historical monument of the Chinese People's Liberation Army!

(ii)

Comrade Zhang Daquan was born in a remote mountain village in Jinsha County, Guizhou Province. He is of medium stature, with a white face, slender eyes, a slightly flattened nose and broad lips. Even when you are silent, your face seems to have a smile on your face, and these facial features give people an impression of being thick and simple. But his two thick black and thick eyebrows added a kind of fortitude and courage to his thick and simple image. Zhang Daquan's hometown has inconvenient transportation, few people and thin land, and backward material, cultural, and living conditions. Because of his family's poverty, he only went to primary school for three years before taking a leave of absence, and at the age of nine, he had to go to the field to participate in the agricultural movement, earning half a laborer's work in the production team to supplement the family.

He married at the age of seventeen. In March 1976, this rural youth, who had just grown a fluffy beard on his lips, put on a military uniform and came to the army prematurely to become the father of a child. Moreover, although he had "thrown a hoe from the rong", he maintained a living habit that was incompatible with the life of the army for a long time. For example: after returning from labor, he grunted and drank raw water from the tap, and said with full reason that he never drank boiled water at home; Often do not wear socks, wrap the socks sent to him into the baggage, saying that it is too bad to wear shoes and socks; When holding a gun, he often unconsciously made some hoe-holding actions for the first time to hit the target, he shot nine shots and nine misses, and hit a "bald head" In short, the distance from ordinary people to soldiers was much longer than others for Zhang Daquan. Some cadres described him as having become a People's Liberation Army and still covered in "yellow mud," concluding that he could become an excellent "production soldier" in the future, but he could not be an excellent "combat soldier."

With the passage of time, these cadres found that their judgment had been wrong and had a new understanding of Zhang Daquan. Zhang Daquan did not have the slightest squeamishness and arrogance in him, he said the least, did the most, and he had the unique qualities of diligence and simplicity, kindness and purity of the Chinese nation, and the fine temperament of abiding by discipline and being rich in the spirit of sacrifice. The son of a peasant from this mountain village is essentially a "dry" word, and he usually does not have half a sentence of unnecessary nonsense. In 1976, the construction task of the troops was still very heavy, and at that time, in addition to training and duty, digging earth, lifting stones, picking sand, and carrying cement were the main tasks of an ordinary soldier, all of which belonged to the category of simple labor, and what was needed was real "dryness". On this journey, Zhang Daquan did not hesitate to throw all his sweat.

The newly built office building of the regimental organ was completed. The building is located on a high ground with a masonry staircase in front of it. Completing this project requires a large number of stones of a certain specification. At that time, our troops had too many "revolutionary words" and too little mechanization. These large stones of more than 100 pounds are not pulled by cars, and they are all carried by human shoulders. Just like the construction of the pyramids and the Great Wall, it is purely manpower. Fortunately, manpower is plentiful. With a telephone call and a meeting, the regimental headquarters distributed the quota downwards, and thousands of people in the regiment took action.

From the quarry to the office building, about a kilometer, on this road, people came and went, full of sweaty soldiers, and the degree of hard work was unimaginable. It is said that when the shoulders can't stand up, there are also two warriors with a little brain that will make a little trick. According to the regulations, in order to facilitate the measurement and acceptance, after the stone is in front of the office building, it is necessary to form a stone stack in all directions. When they fortified the stone stacks, they deliberately staggered the stones, trying to make the gap between the stones and the stones a little larger, and the gap was a little more, and the stone stacks were invisibly "enlarged".

For this reason, there was also a joke that a cadre jumped on the stone stack to prepare to lecture the troops, because the inside of the stone stack was "virtual", and the result was that the stone collapsed, and the cadre's leg was sandwiched in the stone, and he was furious. In order to shorten the transportation distance, a few young men quietly did some tricks and feet when no one was prepared, and carried away the ready-made stones used by the nearby company and family members to fence the vegetable field, causing the master to scold a sentence or two ugly.

Zhang Daquan is really an honest man. In his mind, there was only one straight road like an airplane runway: how his superiors commanded, he would do what he wanted to prescribe, and he would never do anything that was short of pounds and pounds. He teamed up with another warrior, and the squad leader gave them a quota of two cubic meters in two days, an average of one cubic meter per person. Picking up that number in two days is not an easy task.

On the first morning, I didn't feel anything, after lunch, I felt a fiery pain in my shoulders, and every piece I picked up, every step I took, it was very difficult, but Zhang Daquan still carried it again and again. While whispering the labor trumpet that would be hummed at home, he gasped and took a neat step with his partner, dragging the large stones weighing more than a hundred pounds with his shoulders to the front of the office building.

When the stone stacks were stacked, Zhang Daquan was as serious as a stonemason building a city wall, tightly sewing and square. Once, his partner touched the red and swollen shoulder and saw that the other groups' stone stacks were larger than those of this group, and one or two groups had finished their work in advance, were washing clothes under the faucet, and were a little out of breath, deliberately leaving several small hollow holes in the stone stacks.

However, his front foot was just laid. The back foot was filled in by Zhang Daquan. The warrior was a little displeased," I said you were too. He did not directly express his dissatisfaction.

"If you build a house, you will have one less cornerstone, and the house will be wanted." Zhang Daquan came to a "move to the straight" answer.

"Forget it, I'm not with you."

Do whatever you want. Zhang Daquan did not give in, it was a tit-for-tat confrontation.

After all, Zhang Daquan is "righteous", so the collective composed of these two people has never split and continues to rise. After completion, the deputy company commander carefully measured their stone square and loudly announced, "Solid two cubic meters!"

Another time, it was already two o'clock in the middle of the night, Zhang Daquan got up from the warm and baked bed, dressed and carried the gun to the shore of the medicine warehouse. Perhaps because the day was too hard, the comrades who came to change the guard slept too dead and did not come to the change of guard on time. It wasn't until the wake-up call at half past six in the morning that he screamed "Oops" and found himself missing his post. He didn't even button his clothes and ran to the warehouse, and saw that Zhang Daquan was still on the sentry, motionless, vigilantly guarding. This comrade was busy explaining without choice, and at the end he complained to Zhang Daquan and said, "Why didn't you come to call me?" Makes you stand more in the middle of the night! Zhang Daquan only smiled and said, "Leave the ringing position to call you, what if something goes wrong in the warehouse?" The comrade was full of admiration and guilt, and did not say a word again.

In 1978, the Party Central Committee justified the so-called "great contest of martial arts and demon style", the confusion between right and wrong was clarified, and the upsurge of mass large-scale military training rose up in the troops. At this time, Zhang Daquan was already the squad leader, and he was also the squad leader of the top class of this company. Since this class is called the "top class," it is because its training indicators are much higher than those of ordinary squads, it is the measure of the military training level of the whole company, and it is the symbol and representative of the company. For example, the minimum standard for other classes is 40 meters, and the top class is 50 meters, a difference of 10 meters! In those years, the political movement in the army was more prosperous than military training, soldiers did not train "soldiers", soldiers did not look like soldiers, sat in dormitories all day to learn quotations, engage in criticism, playgrounds were about to become pastures, and the military skills of cadres and fighters were generally low. Needless to say, the other comrades in the class, even the squad leader Zhang Daquan's foundation is thin enough, shooting, the highest level is good, bomb throwing, the highest level of 86 meters of equipment exercise, I have not seen it at home, I have not touched it after I arrived at the army. In short, his starting point was not zero, but it was not much better than zero, and such a level of teaching soldiers was enough to choke, and how dare he show his face at the contest with strong hands. However, Zhang Daquan took over the training task of the top class, and spelled out a spring, a summer, and an autumn, and in the end there was no hope of the negative branch and the whole company

Although they did not win "gold medals" at the competition meetings of divisions and regiments, they also won several "silver medals," and their achievements were also considerable. Zhang Daquan himself had better grades and became the "top" of the top class: shooting, he was excellent at the second time, enough to be a "special shooter", and the three types of light machine guns, submachine guns, and semi-automatic rifles had reached the level of "special class", which was the highest level among excellent shooters. Bomb throwing, he rose from 36 meters to 60 meters, reaching the standard of "bomb throwing expert", and once the bomb was fired, it could accurately drop simulated trenches, high windows, bunkers and other targets, which was also "difficult" in infantry bomb throwing technology. Five kilometers and ten kilometers are fully armed cross-country, and each time he is the first to reach the finish line. Crossing obstacles and high walls, he can cross it with a churn, low wall, he can cross it as soon as he picks up his legs, and the rapid and sharp movement often amazes the visitors. In the top class of the fifth company, in addition to the poor equipment exercises, he was almost at the top of the door technology. Although it is not the Great Wall between ordinary people and soldiers, there is a long distance from an ordinary peasant who is accustomed to touching his head to a real soldier who is skilled in martial arts.

As for how this distance has been shortened, Zhang Daquan himself is no longer able to provide us with any information. However, the survivors of the war, Zhang Daquan's comrades-in-arms, still remember Zhang Daquan's deeds of practicing military technology hard: in order to improve his shooting skills, Zhang Daquan hung bricks on the gun to enhance the stability of the control gun body. One, two, and then four! Without anyone's supervision, his practice under the scorching sun is a few hours in order to improve the bomb throwing technique, he gets up an hour earlier than others every day, lifts the barbell, swings the dumbbell, insists on throwing three or five bullets at noon, after the lights out ring, he does not do 500 push-ups and does not sleep, the right arm is swollen like a bun, when eating, the hands are trembling and even the chopsticks cannot be held steadily, but the training is not interrupted as usual In order to practice crossing the obstacles, he crossed the low wall made of cement boards again and again. Once, after stepping into the air, the skin of the knee was scraped off by the cement board and a long strip was scraped off, and the bloody flesh appeared... Some people in the same class are always thinking about ways to do more with less, hoping to achieve good results with less effort. Zhang Daquan rarely made up his mind on this, but just practiced hard. In the repeated hard work of "doing half the work" again and again, he finally became a convincing "top man".

This ordinary and ordinary soldier, with every step he took, left deep footprints behind him.

(iii)

In February 1979, Zhang Daquan and his company participated in the first battle to punish the Vietnamese xiaoba In the battle, Zhang Daquan showed bravery, completed the task well, was promoted to platoon leader, and at the end of the year, he was promoted to deputy company commander of the fifth company.

Zhang Daquan was a cadre who grew up from the Fifth Company and knew the foundation of the company very well. In those years, the country was tossed and turned, and the Five Companies suffered. By the time Zhang Daquan took over the post of deputy company commander, the company did not have a penny of savings, but repaid more than 600 yuan in debt. As soon as the warriors entered the canteen, they frowned bitterly, because for a long time, there was no meat in the dish, and no oil in the soup. Don't say that the meal, eight dishes, ten dishes, each meal can maintain a dish and a soup is good. Cadres and fighters have great opinions, and a small number of fighters simply set up small pots and small stoves in the squad, which affects training, health, and troop management. Seeing this scene, Zhang Daquan felt particularly uncomfortable in his heart. The new officer took office with three fires, and he was determined that the first fire would be to do a good job in the production of the company. He was a doer, and when he thought of it, he had to do it.

One day in January of 1980, he gathered all the platoon leaders of the company to the edge of the vegetable field, pointed to the dishes that were almost deserted, and said: "I am not comfortable eating green vegetables every day, but it is useless to complain, and no amount of meat can enter the mouth." There is only dryness, and everything is available when you do it. He divided the whole vegetable field according to the number of people in each class, and even the "dead corner personnel" such as the divisional officers, clerks, hairdressers, and correspondents of the company department were not spared, and everyone was divided into one piece. He still gave himself a piece, four points, twice as many as the warriors. Then, Zhang Daquan loudly announced: "Starting from this year, starting from me, at the end of the year, each person must pay 300 catties of vegetables, and those who exceed the quota will be rewarded and those who are insufficient will be punished!" Hearing Zhang Daquan's ironclad voice, the squad leaders would look at each other and smile heartily.

They knew that this deputy company commander was going to be real. Yes, in those years, all the cadres who came to the Fifth Company also stressed the importance of production, but they all talked about it, and no one had ever done it in a real way. Later, when it comes to talking, everyone's ears are grinding cocoons, but they don't like to listen, so they have now such a "lazy soldier" field, and it is better to talk about it a hundred times than to take out a look and do it for everyone to see.

From then on, every time it was time for rest, Comrade Quanlian saw Zhang Daquan endlessly busy on his vegetable field, carrying water and fertilizing, digging hoes and rakes for farming, never stopping. His vegetable patch was getting better and better, surpassing the farmers' own land nearby. The cadres set an example, the soldiers did not follow orders, and after a few months of hard work, the vegetable field of the Fifth Company changed, the vegetables in the field grew well, and every time the battalion made a competition, it praised the Fifth Company. The cadres and fighters of the Fifth Company knew very well that these green and lush vegetables, which were growing happily, were watered with the blood and sweat of Deputy Company Commander Zhang Daquan. They remembered this: one day, Zhang Daquan finished his work and went to the vegetable fields of various classes. He noticed that the vegetables in the field were small and yellow, and said to the soldiers in an expert manner, "The vegetables you planted should be watered with dung." The warrior said, "It's time to pour it, but now the toilet and the pig's dung are all light, and we can't do anything about it."

Zhang Daquan rushed to the toilet pigsty to take a look, and sure enough, it was not false. He lit a cigarette and sat down at the vegetable patch to think about it. Zhang Daquan summed up his years of agricultural production, and he stood up sharply and said, "There is a way." With that, he strode toward the dormitory. The comrades were confused and could not guess what new tricks this deputy company commander, who was quite experienced in agricultural production, was going to make. After a while, I saw Zhang Daquan wearing high-barrel rain boots, carrying a shovel to the cesspool behind the toilet, pounced, and jumped without hesitation, he stood in the cesspool and scraped the wall of the septic tank with the shovel. Ah, comrades understand, Zhang Daquan intends to use a shovel to scrape off the dung stuck on the wall of the septic tank and mix it with water for fertilizer. They were touched by the spirit of selflessness of the deputy company commander, and no one wanted to be a bystander anymore, taking the dung bucket and carrying the water, and cooperating with Zhang Daquan. The problem of fat was finally solved.

As expected, in 198, five consecutive vegetable harvests were harvested, with more than 50,000 catties of vegetables in a row, an average of more than 300 catties per person, and Zhang Daquan alone handed over 560 catties of vegetables, nearly doubling the overproduction. Since the beginning of 1981, the life of the Fifth Company has improved. At the time of the meal, although it was still a dish and a soup, there were more oil beads in the soup, and it was said that you could eat meat three times a week, and the pattern of the meal was also increased, the soldiers were happy to eat, and the people who opened the small stove also quietly put the pot into the warehouse. At this time, Zhang Daquan did not say anything on his mouth, and his heart was also happy.

Let the whole company eat enough, eat well, be physically strong and solid, have the strength to engage in training, and have the strength to charge in wartime; this is the "most recent goal of struggle" when Zhang Daquan was the deputy company commander. He often said, "If the life of the company is not good, my deputy company commander is in vain." Therefore, he always works with the secretary general to think about ways to do a good job in production and improve life.

From 1979 to 1984, he did not spend a festival well, and whenever this time came, he ran to the cooking class to help cook. The family is no exception. One year during the Spring Festival, the lover came to the team, and on this day, he wanted Zhang Daquan to lead her and the child to the street and buy a dress for the child. Zhang Daquan only said, "I must not be empty!" I went into the kitchen. The family and children had to go on their own. This Spring Festival, Quanlian was extremely happy, and Zhang Daquan, secretary general Zuo Keli, and the comrades in the cooking class were busy all day, making sixteen dishes for everyone, and many soldiers said, "This is the best meal I have ever eaten in my life." In order to eat well, he is willing to do anything.

Once grinding tofu, there was no gauze filter soy milk, Zhang Daquan opened the box, and took out the new mosquito net he had just changed to use as filter gauze. Every time the pigs in Lianli laid off their cubs, Zhang Daquan moved the covers to the pigsty, and together with the breeders, slept in the pigsty, often busy until dawn. He worked hard and gave a lot of labor to the production and life of the company. In 1983, Wulian's production and life came to a big turnaround, and the accumulation of agricultural and sideline industries exceeded 10,000 yuan, and every meal could eat three dishes and a soup, and once a month, a small meeting was held. This time to fight LaoShan, in order to let Quanlian eat tofu in the wild, Zhang Daquan also borrowed a small grinding back on his body, on the day of the company's expedition, most of the comrades in Quanlian were busy writing letters to their families, but Zhang Daquan went into the gang room, personally took charge of the spoon, fried nine dishes, and let everyone eat a happy meal before the expedition! Zhang Daquan's family consisted of four people, a wife and two children, the eldest of whom was eight years old. He earned eighty-one yuan a month, not only to support his family, but also to support his elderly and sick parents, and he spent it every month. His house was small and broken, the walls were cracked, the straw had long since rotted, it was windy and windy, and it was raining and leaking. The couple had long been ready to repair it, but due to economic tension, it had not been repaired. Personal difficulties, Zhang Daquan never hangs on his lips, always buries in his heart, and does not extend his hand to the organization. In order to reduce the burden on his wife a little, he compressed and compressed his own expenses, toothpaste soap, cigarettes, all bought the cheapest, and tried to send more to his wife.

The cadres of the Fifth Company knew Zhang Daquan and took the initiative to care for and help him; every time the superior allocated a hardship relief fund to the company cadres, there was no need to discuss it, and everyone unanimously raised their hands in favor of giving Zhang Daquan, but Zhang Daquan blushed and straightened his head every time, insisting on not accepting it.

"How long are you going to be in the army?" Once, his wife tentatively asked Zhang Daquan.

How long? Zhang Daquan seemed to have never thought about this question, and he could not answer it for half a moment. He said to his wife, "I don't know how long I've been doing it, it's an organizational matter."

Zhang Daquan is not a wooden man, and he has heard the voice of his wife's question: Can you change careers and come back earlier? He couldn't sleep that night, and for the first time since he joined the army, he seriously thought about it.

He knew that his wife was industrious and reasonable, and had made great sacrifices to support herself in her good work in the army, treating her parents, raising two children, planting a three-person responsibility field, and returning from work to do endless housework. For several years, I didn't help my wife, I couldn't help my wife. Of course, it is good to change jobs and go home early, although it can't help anything economically, but at least you can help your wife to farm and hunt, and repair the house at a time. Zhang Daquan made up his mind and prepared to reflect the practical difficulties to the leaders for the first time and strive to change careers as soon as possible.

However, the next day, when Zhang Daquan walked into the office of the regiment cadre unit, last night's determination somehow flew all over the cloud of nine clouds. He saw that in the office, two cadres were excitedly stating their difficulties and asking the organization to take care of the job change. Zhang Daquan sat silently for a while, smoking a cigarette fiercely, and finally seemed to realize something, threw away the cigarette butt violently, did not say a word, and returned to the company. Since then, no one has seen him like this again, has gone to the leader, and has not heard him talk about changing careers.

At the beginning of 1983, the organization decided to send Zhang Daquan to the junior high school of the teacher's cultural cram school. For Zhang Daquan, who has only read books for three years, it is a bit of a "forced duck on the shelves". Zhang Daquan was clear that after the Third Plenary Session, the party's requirements for military cadres have become even higher, and it is far from enough to be satisfied with being an "old scalper." To be a qualified commander, it is also necessary to have a very high culture. Therefore, I gritted my teeth and insisted on not playing poker for eight months without going to the street, studied hard, and got the junior high school diploma of the red tongtong.

In January 1984, Zhang Daquan, who had not asked for leave for two years, asked the leaders to visit their relatives. He consciously took a leave of absence once every two years in order to use that relatively much time to fix the house. Who knew that he had just issued a pass from the cadre unit, and before he could get on the road, the troops received an urgent order for combat readiness, and all vacations were immediately stopped. Zhang Daquan did not complain a word, returned the pass, returned to the company and threw himself into intense combat training.

Even so, Zhang Daquan has always been concerned about repairing the house. The night before the battle began, he said to company commander Qin Deyong: "As long as I still have breath, I will definitely take down the main peak." I don't have any other ideas, and the only thing I feel sorry for my wife is that the house has been dragged on for several years and has not been built. This time to win the battle, we must take a leave, go back to fight with my wife to repair the house, and if you can't change the tiles, you must also lay straw."

The moment of victory finally came, and Lao Shan returned to the arms of the Chinese people. Although Zhang Daquan's house has not been repaired, he will still smile at the prosperity of the victorious country in the face of the battle.

(Illustration: Wang Chunyuan, Zhang Shimin)