Author: Former Iron Thirteenth Division Cai Chunbai
First, the rat stirs the food storehouse
In late spring and early summer, muffled thunder often roared in the southeast direction, lightning roared on the black clouds like cotton wool, and the rainy season in Vietnam came.
Because all the highways and bridges were blown up by US planes, the river rose during the rainy season, and cars could not pass, and all the food and food supplies for the troops were arranged during the dry season. A month before the rainy season, the required grains, canned dried vegetables, etc. have been transported to the station.
I put grain, dried vegetables and other food in a warehouse surrounded by a ventilated bamboo fence wall. The rats in the wilderness had never seen so much delicacy, and one by one dragged children and daughters from all directions like a tide. At night, the warehouse becomes a paradise for rats. There were rats everywhere on the ground, beams, corners, and grain bags, and when people walked into the storeroom, the rats were so frightened that they crashed into their feet, and a stick with their eyes closed often killed several rats. Rats don't count stealing grain, they still and pee in rice flour, and some simply have children in the cracks of grain bags. Since then, the cooking class has one more task every day, that is, to collect rat droppings from rice flour, but some rice flour has too many rats to pick up, sieving and no tools, let alone pouring out the flour, so that the troops will break the cooking. There is no way, only to eat clean rice during the day, and at night construction, I can't pick up the steamed bun mixed with rat and rat urine. Out of sight is pure!
Once, when a comrade-in-arms was sick, I went to the cooking class and filled him with a large bowl of soy milk, and conveniently dug some sugar in the sugar tank with a spoon and put it on. The sugar was very clumpy, and I dug hard, dug up a sugar lump, and was about to crush it into the bowl, but found that the sugar lump turned out to be a small mouse that was pickled by sugar. Probably because the cylinder head is not strict, the rat steals the sugar to eat and accidentally falls into the cylinder, and struggles for a long time to be wrapped in sugar and dies.
Rainy season traffic barriers, can not buy rat poison and rat exterminating tools, the director of the director did not know where to get a cat, put in the warehouse at night, the cat saw so many mice, was frightened to sneak out at once to climb the tree, how can not get down, and the rats in the deep mountain old forest may not have seen the cat, not afraid at all, running around in front of the cat. This is the spectacle of cat and mouse peaceful coexistence that I have seen.
Since then, I have developed an even more disgust for rats, and the thought of eating rat and rat urine buns that have been eaten for so long in white and black is disgusting, and when I see rats, I am disgusted. After returning to the place from the troops, the north room of the house found the rat tracks one night, I moved all the living room things in the north room, closed the doors leading to the rooms, put some fluffy newspapers in the four corners of the living room, and then entered the north room to rummage through the boxes and cabinets, frightening the rats to sneak into the living room to hide under the newspaper, and I immediately closed the north room door strictly. As the saying goes, I close the door and beat the dog, I am a rat behind closed doors, holding a wooden stick and hitting the newspaper hard, the rat jumps up and down in shock, I follow up and sweep the vertical split, while hitting and shouting, "Kill you bad thing, kill you bad thing!" "In the dead of night, the clatter of wooden sticks, my roar, the footsteps of chasing rats, startled the upstairs and downstairs, the neighbors did not know what was happening. Rats are also really flexible, a moment to sneak to the door frame, a moment to slip to the corner, suddenly run to this side, suddenly run to that side, suddenly run to that side, stir people dazzling, in the seven or eight square meters of empty living room rats is not easy, a stick down to nine times out of ten. Because I hated rats to the bone, I was fierce, and as long as I was hit with a stick, I would scream for my life, at least on all fours, covered in blood, lying on the ground trembling. After more than ten minutes of fierce fighting, five or six rats were wiped out. It was not too late for the gentleman to take revenge for ten years, and finally repaid the revenge of a arrow in the Vietnamese military camp!
Second, snakes visit the camp
There are many snakes in Vietnam, and as the rats in the barren mountains and wild mountains flock to the camp, the rat-eating snakes also follow, entangled in the trees, swimming in the grass, hiding in the cracks in the soil, big snakes, small snakes, poisonous snakes, pythons, inadvertently will encounter unexpectedly. The troops live in the bamboo forest in Dien Bien Phu, bamboo leaves and green snakes are particularly numerous, most of them inhabit the bamboo branches, the color is exactly the same as the bamboo branches, when they do not move, they can not see that it is a snake, when you approach, it will slowly swim away, and accidentally fall from the bamboo branches. There was a warrior going to the toilet, a bamboo leaf green snake impartial suddenly fell to his neck, he screamed while flapping, the snake panicked and swam away, is the snake scary or the person scary snake, who has ever commented with the comments? According to relevant information, bamboo leaf green is a poisonous snake, if bitten and not treated in time may cause disability.
The snake regarded the camp as its home and went nowhere. There have been many cases of snake-man contact such as giant pythons roaming air defense trenches and poisonous snakes entrenching on warrior beds, which are somewhat creepy.
Third, ants bully life
In addition to snakes, Vietnamese ants are also famous for many, of which the dry ants live in damp weeds, lying on grass poles, when people and animals pass by, it falls down, drills underfoot, climbs to the legs, desperately sucks blood, and secretes a substance that makes people feel no pain and itching, and the blood does not coagulate, and when you find it, it is already a bloody patch. Every time we passed the grass, there would be three or four or more ants burrowing into the shoe or the trouser tube, even if the trouser pipe was tightly tied to the upper, it was not spared, because it was soft, thick and thin, and could drill through very small gaps. Seeing the ant sucking blood must not be hard, so that even if the ant is broken, its head is still lying in the muscle, which is very dangerous to people. The way to remove the ant is to slap it with the hand, so that it is hit and frightened, and it falls down as soon as it shrinks, or when it is burned with fireworks, it will also shrink violently and fall.
Vietnam not only has dry ants, but also many water ants. The troops were in the late stage of the Seven Streams standby, the rainy season came, the river soared, and the mature rice grains were either flooded or about to be flooded. Most of the men of Seven Streams went to the front, and most of the people left behind were the old, weak, sick and disabled and women. In order to reduce farmers' losses, we should ask the local government to help farmers harvest rice. The water ants in the rice fields are particularly fierce, and the warriors will be bitten by the ants in less than a few minutes, and their legs will be bitten by the ants. A warrior was tired of cutting rice, lifted his legs out of the water, several black and yellow ants stinged on his legs, blood flowed down from the wound, and everyone laughed when they saw the tragic shape of his tight brows. He said, "Don't laugh, look at yourself." As a result, everyone lifted their legs, and everyone's white legs were covered with blood, and there were several ants, which became a different kind of landscape, causing everyone to laugh in unison." Curiously, ants rarely bite local farmers. Some soldiers said indignantly: "This is an ant bullying and insulting our foreigners, no wonder it is said that the world is hot and cold, and even the ants are so sophisticated." Some said, "You have fine skin and white flesh, and you are not strange that ants do not sting you?" "In fact, after the locals went into the water, they moved their steps as little as possible, and the ants stinged them less, and our warriors kept moving back and forth after going into the water, attracting the ants. A Vietnamese woman drew a hand in half-baked Chinese: "We thank you for helping us cut rice, but you fed the ants, and we still have to settle the account with you!" It caused another round of laughter.
The Chinese engineering units aiding Vietnam carried out activities to help the people between the rush repairs and battles, which were welcomed by the Vietnamese people.
Fourth, the stupid pig escapes
In the Spring Festival of 1967, Vietnam congratulated each of our companies with a pig, a box of cigarettes, and a few pieces of fruit candy, which was a manifestation of their country's sincere intentions under extremely difficult circumstances. The pigs are concentrated in the thirteen companies at the bottom of the Huanglian Valley, each pig is thirty or forty pounds, and the locals call it fragrant pigs. Chinese New Year's Eve day, I was ordered to herd the pigs. The Spring Festival is cold in the north of our country, and it is still very hot here. I tied the pig tightly with a rope, afraid that it would break free, and hurried back along the steep mountain road, which was flanked by wild grass more than a man's height, as dense as two high walls. At first, the pigs were very obedient, how to catch up and how to go, but when they reached the middle of the mountain, the pigs did not leave when they lay down, and they could not go away with a stick. I moved my heart of compassion, thinking that the rope was tied too tightly, and the leg was swollen and numb? So I re-tied the rope loosely, continued to hurry, began to walk well, I was happy, suddenly did not go, pumping can not go, dragging can not drag away, lying on the ground gasping for breath, I am helpless. At this time, it was nearly noon, the sun was dizzy, hot and tired, thirsty and hungry, so it would be more and more troublesome to consume. Thinking of this, I was furious, picked up the stick and slammed the piglet, and shouted, "You stupid pig, hurry up and go!" The pig jumped up in shock, broke free of the rope, and ran wildly through the dense grass like a high wall on the side of the road and burrowed into the meadow. I was suddenly confused, and rushed into the grass, but where can I find pigs in the densely packed meadows! Occasionally I heard the sound of pigs, and it was difficult to drill through, and the pigs flew away again. There was really no strength, and his arms and cheeks were cut by thorns and blood stains, so he had to return to the company empty-handed. One of my fellows said, "Why are you so embarrassed?" "I said before and after, he said, say you are smart and you are stupid, stupid in the heart is too soft, how can you tie the pig rope so loosely?" Although the pig is stupid and clever, you are very honest with it, and even pitifully lie on the ground and do not walk, it is not honest when it breaks free, and it runs faster than anyone. For the next few days, I secretly cursed myself every day, stupid, actually played by the stupid pig, isn't this even more stupid than the stupid pig!
On the first day of the New Year, the soldiers gathered in pairs to talk about their thoughts about the motherland, their hometown, and their loved ones. One of my fellow villagers said that we are resting, so it is better to help you find pigs, find a good meal, and if you can't find it, it will be a game. His proposal was echoed by many fellow villagers. We start where the pigs are lost, lined up in a row, and push forward like a dragnet. The grass here is high and dense, and nothing has been found for half an hour, it is really a vast sky, and the wind blowing grass is low and there is no sign of pigs.
Just when everyone was discouraged, they suddenly heard the sound of pigs not far away, and everyone excitedly surrounded them, constantly shrinking the encirclement, and when everyone shouted one, two, and three rushed up to catch the pigs, the pigs suddenly flew away again, running in the grass without a trace. So he began to pull the net a second time, and the second time he surrounded it, but the pig escaped. After a few pulls, everyone was exhausted. A fellow said, "In such a dense green yarn tent, pigs are much more flexible than people, and we are circling with pigs, just like the regular army against the guerrillas, it is difficult to win, and today the game ends here." Everyone laughed in agreement and returned to the company.
Just after the Spring Festival, I suddenly received thirteen consecutive calls, saying that a pig came from their pig's circle and asked if it was we who had lost it. They said that the pigs might be too hungry to bear it and ran back to the pigsty down the hill. So I went to thirteenth company again, this time with a sack, and if the pig did not leave, I would carry it back. Maybe the pig had a premonition that he couldn't run away, and obediently drove me back.
V. Flies Send "Gifts"
The last Spring Festival was spent in Huanglian Mountain, and this Spring Festival was in Dien Bien Phu, with different regions and the same connotation - every festive season is twice thinking of relatives. Those of us who have been away from home for several years and live abroad are even more homesick, homesick, and homesick. Most of the comrades-in-arms gathered in groups of three or five in groups on a geographical basis to talk about the world. On the first day of the first year, in order to avoid the harassment of enemy planes, several of our fellow villagers in Anhui gathered at the mouth of the air raid shelter to make a home. A fellow cooker prepared a bag of marinated beef and a bag of chicken wings for everyone, and everyone ate and chatted, replacing wine with tea, and the atmosphere of family, nostalgia and comradeship was very strong. Due to the darkness inside the cave, a fellow felt a little wrong when eating beef, and hurried to the outside of the cave to take a look. There was a layer of white flies in the beef mezzanine, and he immediately shouted. Other fellows also followed suit to check the beef in their hands, and although no flies were found, a shallow-tasting fellow vomited on the spot. Some of the villagers teased him, "You've already eaten the flies, throw up!" Some said, "That's the Spring Festival gift from the green-headed fly to you, what to spit out!" Another fellow said, "No, that's a cannabis fly, it's disgusting!" Everyone was full of tongues, causing him to spit more and more fiercely, spitting out bitterly, his face was white, tears were flowing out, and several fellow villagers laughed forward and backward.
The Spring Festival in our hometown is ice and snow, flies have long been frozen to death, and in Vietnam flies are still rampant in the world. Since then, every spring festival party, comrades-in-arms have talked about this interesting thing, which brings us laughter and memories.
Sixth, the old cow "secret agent"
During the Dien Bien Phu period, signal flares were raised from time to time on the hills near our company, and in addition to being bombed by US planes many times, it is estimated that there are enemy special forces operating nearby. One afternoon, there was an intermittent "click, click, click" sound on the top of the hill of the garrison, and the soldiers on duty asked a few of our company's miscellaneous personnel to distinguish them, and everyone felt suspicious, so after reporting to the company commander, we organized ourselves and dragged a net from different directions to the top of the mountain with live ammunition. The vegetation on the mountain is clear, the valley bottom is a bamboo forest, upward is a shrub, and then up is a person more than a person deep thorns and wild grass, airtight, a meter away can not see people, each step forward is very difficult, you must spend a lot of effort to open the dense plants to take a step. Everyone relies on the agreed whistle to connect with each other and advance in coordination. After nearly an hour of climbing, getting closer and closer to the sound, everyone's hearts tensed, and the bullets were pushed into the chamber, just like the "tongue" in the reconnaissance of crossing the river, crept to shrink the encirclement. Just as everyone was about to rush up to catch the agent, an old cow lifted its head, and the wooden bell hanging from its neck "clicked" and sounded, and everyone was stunned, one by one, like clay sculptures.
It turned out that there were many cattle in Vietnam, many of which were scattered, and they did not go home at night, so people hung metal bells on the necks of the cows in order to follow the sound. And this cow is different, hanging a wooden bell, and here is also one or twenty kilometers away from the nearest village, how the cow drilled here is unknown. When everyone returned to the station in despair, everyone's face and hands were marked with blood, their feet and legs were blurred with blood and flesh by dry ants, and some people's clothes were also torn. Everyone you look at me, I look at you, and go back to the dormitory with a bitter smile.
7. Frogs welcome guests
After The 12th Route was repaired, our department was ordered to go to Liangshan Seven Streams to stand by. For air raids, depart at night. After driving for more than four hours, the cooking truck found a remote pond to dig a stove to cook. It was the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse, and there was a frog chirping around, and the grasshoppers and crickets were singing along with it. After the cooking class has made the porridge buns, they open the lid of the pot to let the porridge cool. Attracted by the fire of the stove, many small insects gathered to the side of the stove, and the frogs that ate the insects followed. Because the pot surface is only a few centimeters from the ground, the porridge sparkles in the moonlight, as clear as the pool water, and many frogs jump into the pot one after another, and soon die. When the large troops started to eat, some soldiers were very surprised to serve frog porridge, and for the hungry soldiers, this was really a bowl of porridge that even Empress Dowager Cixi had never eaten--frog jumping pot porridge. Some soldiers said that this is the frog's practical action to welcome us from the triumphant return of the front line, is the dedication of those of us who have the courage to dedicate, praise for their quality!
Source: Veterans Original Home public number
Editor-in-Charge: A wave