Braiding: Dawn sentry
Author: Guo Jianmin, Meng Yifei, Yang Wenyu
▲ Xu Baode Martyr First Class Meritorious Service
Although he had long been buried in the red land of southern Xinjiang, the memories of his comrades-in-arms for him were so persistent and deep. The company roll called, and the company commander could not help but mention his name again; at the holiday dinner, everyone rushed to toast him.
He was Xu Baode, a 19-year-old soldier of the Engineer Company of the 181st Infantry Regiment.
(i)
In April 1984, after the news of our army's reconquest of Laoshan and the heroic deeds of one battle after another reached Xu Baode's hometown of Chengguan Town, Yongji County, Shanxi Province, through radio waves and newspapers, Xu Baode, like the people of the whole country, was overjoyed and rejoiced, and how eager he was to heroically kill the enemy and serve the motherland like the Laoshan soldiers preached in the newspapers and on the radio!
The annual conscription began, and he was the first to run to the Armed Forces Department to register. At that time, his family was a well-known transportation professional household in the village, and he was also a well-known rich expert in the village, who had been driving a small tractor for more than three years before the age of 20, and could earn more than 2,000 yuan for his family every year.
The news that Xu Baode wanted to join the army was like a wing, and soon spread throughout the village. Some villagers and neighbors advised him: "On family conditions, what does your family want, and on getting rich, you are an expert, and you can't go to the army to draw a line." Xu Baode said: "People cannot just collect tickets for their own families, but defending their families and defending the country is the duty of every young person."
Although Xu Baode signed up, he had no bottom in his heart whether he could apply for the recruitment. So, for two days in a row, he repeatedly looked for the Minister of Armed Forces, and forced the Minister to nod. He still couldn't rest assured, and another person drove a tractor, ran to the county town in the dust, asked for help from east to west, and finally found the comrades who received the troops, said many reasons, and resolutely asked to join the army. The leader who received the soldiers saw that he was eager to serve the country and was in good health, and promised to accept him on the spot.
(ii)
After Xu Baode joined the army, he consciously put the interests of the revolution first, worked selflessly, and made selfless contributions. Before the army entered the war, his father was seriously ill and bedridden, and the family shot 3 telegrams and two letters in a row, asking him to go back to visit. However, considering that the company had just been formed and the work of the unit was very tense, in order not to cause trouble to the company commander, he did not tell anyone, only wrote two letters to his family, and then plunged into the work. Before leaving, his father's condition deteriorated, and the family sent him an urgent telegram that read, "My father is critically ill and hospitalized." The instructor was embarrassed, and with a contradictory mood, tentatively asked Xu Baode what to do? Xu Baode said: "Please rest assured that since ancient times, loyalty and filial piety have been difficult to complete, and on the balance of state affairs and family affairs, I know which one is heavy, and I will handle it well." After saying this, he put the telegram in his pocket, packed his bags, and stepped on the advance train to the south of the DianZhou War.
Soon after he took up the position, he suffered from a serious skin disease, 3 large boils on his legs, multiple ulcers on the inner thighs, suppuration and bleeding. In order to continue to grab the most difficult and dangerous combat tasks, he did not tell anyone or go to the hospital to see. Instead, he endured great pain and went up and down the mountain as usual to clear the mines. Only every night, after his comrades fell asleep, he quietly lay down under the mosquito net and applied the "skin relaxation ointment" he had asked from his fellow villagers on the affected area.
After taking up the position, I put all my energy and all my thoughts into my work. His infatuated fiancée sent him a letter two days ago, but he did not return a letter for more than twenty days. On the day of his last appearance, his fiancée sent two more letters. After he got the letter, he hurriedly tore open a letter in his hand, just read a few lines, heard the whistle of departure, and quickly put down his fiancée's letter, found the notebook, tore off a page of paper, and wrote these words on it:
"Xiulan: I'm going on a mission soon, and I can't finish reading your letter and can't talk to you in detail." The situation here, let the fellow Chai Dianjiang write for you. Your Bald. ”
Then he turned and handed the letter to Xiao Chai, asking him to read his fiancée's letter for him and write a reply. After he finished his explanation, he resolutely faced the rumbling of artillery with his comrades and walked towards the position. On the same day of his death, his fiancée sent him a bundle of his own hair in another letter, in which he wrote:
"Baode, the ancients used to use knotted hair and hair as a metaphor for like-minded friendship. I cut a head of my own and sent it to you, asking you to take it with you, and whenever you encounter misfortune and difficulties, you look at this bundle of hair and remember that in a distant hometown, there is a girl who loves you forever and waits for you. When you have completed your mission, you have left your position, and then send it to me, and I will know that my sweetheart has returned safely. ”
What a good mother" She sent Todd not a bunch of hair. Not an ordinary gift, but a hot, gold-like heart, a deep affection for the infinite understanding of soldiers. Unfortunately, this letter, this bundle of his beloved's hair, Xu Baode had not yet had time to read it, and he rested his head on the red soil of southern Xinjiang, leaving her forever and leaving everything he loved.
Martyr Xu Baode (front row, first from left) took a group photo with his comrades-in-arms before his death
(iii)
In the position, wherever the most dangerous is Xu Baode, the forward position must build a squad of combat fortifications, the location of this fortification is complex terrain, many mines, and great danger. After Xu Baode learned about it, he took the initiative to find the deputy chief of staff of the regiment and asked him to go to the mine to clear the danger alone. After careful consideration, the leader agreed to his request and sent several infantrymen to guard him. Xu Baode carried the explosives bag on his shoulder and climbed forward step by step, and everyone was worried about him. After several hours of intense work, 53 mines were cleared and a safe site was opened for the construction of the fortifications.
Every time the company assigned a task, he always rushed to go and came up with his own good reasons. Once, they went to the front of the position to lay mines, one of which had the most complex and dangerous terrain. Xu Baode and Yang Wenchang, a Fellow Hui warrior, both scrambled to go. Xu Baode was in a hurry and gave him three reasons: First, I am a member of the regiment and you are a youth; second, I am a Han nationality, and you are an ethnic minority; third, I have received many intensive trainings and have good skills. The squad leader saw no choice but to entrust him with the dangerous task of operating in this position. After arriving at the position, he cleared 47 mines and laid 169 mines in a row, successfully completing the task.
After the "4.26" battle, the Vietnamese army was ready to sneak attack a certain position in front of us, and had secretly opened several passages, in order to prevent the enemy from sneaking attack, the superior decided to let the engineer company send a capable mine-laying group to re-lay the mines on the road opened by the enemy.
On April 30, he accompanied the squad leader and three other comrades-in-arms, braving heavy rain and thick fog, and laid 243 mines. For the safety of his comrades during the operation, he explored the way at the front, and after completing the task, he was the last to withdraw. On the way back, he fainted on the side of the road due to muddy roads, overworked, and overworked. At the moment he fell, his hand touched the rattan by the side of the road, triggering a tripping mine. With a loud "boom," he was seriously injured in many places on his head and abdomen, and he fell into a pool of blood, and when his comrades-in-arms carried him on a stretcher, he said with difficulty: "I can't do it, go and save the other comrades."
Xu Baode used his own practical actions to realize the vow he wrote in the blood book to "contribute everything to the motherland". After his death, the party committee of the army posthumously awarded him a first-class merit and posthumously recognized him as a full member of the Communist Party of China.
(The author, Guo Jianmin, was then the deputy director of the 181st Political Office of the Infantry, and later the political commissar of the Xianyang Military Subdistrict in Shaanxi Province; Meng Yifei was then the head of the Propaganda Unit of the 181 Political Department)
(iv)
The following excerpt is from Yang Wenyu's essay "Affectionate Southern Xinjiang":
Xu Baode's letters can be the first in the sapper company, one letter every three days and four days, sometimes two at a time. Lian Li was familiar with it, no matter who it was, one look at the font of the three words "Xu Baode" knew that this was sent by Feng Xiulan. If it was a bag, Lao Yuan would hold it up in the air and shake it: "Baode, the delicious food is coming again." So he rushed up, grabbed the light and cleaned up, and Baldle laughed diligently, watching them jump and make trouble.
Bao De's fiancée, Feng Xiulan, is a good girl. Skillful and proficient in clothing cutting, he was only 18 years old and had brought more than 30 female apprentices in the county seat of Dina. Her appearance is also handsome, the second day of the first month of this year specially for Bao De took a color photo, the director of the photography department proposed to wash and enlarge the hanging into the frame, Xiulan is unwilling. The photo was sent to the front line, the comrades scrambled to see, you look at him, passed around, passed away, this time, Xu Baode was anxious, asked this and asked that. The instructor smiled: "Bao De yo, how did you lose your daughter-in-law when you fought?"
Bao De turned his head, laughed, and replied loudly: "Ha, fighting is more important than daughter-in-law!"
Bao De's words are not a joke, but a true word.
At noon on April 22, before she was about to enter the battlefield, Xiulan suddenly came with two more letters, and Bao only read one, and a wave of regret surged into her heart. Lately too busy, received a stack of letters can not always take care of the reply, is really sorry for her. At this moment, the whistle of departure sounded, and he took out his notebook and tore off a page and hurriedly wrote:
Turning around, he handed the piece of paper to his good friend XiaoChai and flew away.
Feng Xiulan sent Xiulan hair and letters to Xu Baode
At noon on April 30, the truck on duty returned, the mail truck just came up from the rear, the delivery man jumped out of the car, holding the letter, waving at the truck: "Baode, dear letter again, so thick!"
The car stopped, the people who got off the car were all in tears, their heads were hanging down, they didn't dare to look at the transceivers, they were all gone, there was no Baode...
Xu Baode was sacrificed, this is simply a thunderbolt on a sunny day! The 42 people at home gathered in the tent of the sixth class for a long time, guarding the empty bed of Baode, and tears fell like rain. The company commander cried and shouted, "This is our best top soldier." He exchanged ten infantry for one of my bodyguards, and I couldn't bear it! ”
The instructor choked up and couldn't speak, and this warrior who laughed everywhere he went was quite self-conscious. Half a month before the troops marched south, Bao De received a pair of pillowcases embroidered with a pair of colorful mandarin ducks, which came to life; within a few days, Xiulan rushed to the army in a dusty manner to see her sweetheart. The troops had not fought in many years, and at that time, many relatives came to the barracks to visit their children. Prudent quietly settled Xiulan in a corner of the reconnaissance company's small warehouse. The instructor knew, and quickly searched into the small warehouse, complaining with a face: "Alas, Xiao Xu, the object is coming, why don't you tell me?"
The two of them quickly stood up, and Xiao Xu blushed and said, "I have circled around your door a few times, and if I want to come and go, I don't want to tell you."
Xiulan interjected: "There are many people coming to the team, and the house can't live, so he said that it will take a few days to find a place at random, so don't let Lianli make it difficult."
After arriving in southern Xinjiang, the troops spent the Spring Festival with the border people, the morning ship, the big head, the male lion long dragon, the community fire of 1500 people poured into Yanshan County, the stilts of the sapper company were "eight immortals crossing the sea", Xiao Xu Qiao mixed with Cao Guo, personable, free and flowing, so many cameras chased him, flashing... How can such a good warrior never return?
……
Facing the soldiers of the whole company, the instructor read Feng Xiulan's letter to everyone with tears.
Where did the girl think that her letter was one step too late! On the snowy day of the previous year, the Brother Bao De, who drove a small four-wheeler to the county town and went to join the army, had been buried in the southern land.
Diamond Drill Regiment Fire Team (from left to right Ning Tunye, Guo Jianmin, Li Qingjun)