01
confused
In December 1950, a young man woke up from his slumber. In the dream, the smoke of war was thick and the war was raging, and a bomber roared over his head, followed by shells exploding around him.
Fortunately, it was a dream. The young man slowed down for a while before he recovered from the horror of the nightmare. But what he didn't expect was that there was even worse news waiting for him—that his limbs had been amputated. He had just turned sixteen that year. It can be said that his tender limbs, before they are fully extended, have lost the power to grow forever.
He couldn't remember the origin of the matter, he was in a coma for too long, seven days and seven nights. What had happened on that night seven days ago was only known to him in the accounts of others.
The young man, named Zhou Quandi, crossed the Yalu River in 1950 as a soldier of the 231st Regiment of the 77th Division of the 26th Army of the Volunteer Army. That winter, North Korea ushered in an extremely cold weather that had not been encountered in 50 years, minus 40 degrees, ice and snow, and cold winds. Zhou Quandi followed the troops and ambushed on the shore of Changjin Lake for three days and three nights, dressed in thin cotton clothes, and filled his hunger with snow and water. The night was getting darker, the stars were twinkling, and when the piercing charge horn sounded in the ears, the bitter cold killed people, and Zhou Quandi's consciousness was already blurred, and he finally failed to stand up and rush up. What he didn't know at the time was that he was already a relatively lucky one, and around him, one by one, his comrades-in-arms had been frozen into ice sculptures, and they remained in the snow forever.
Brother Zhou Quan
Also hearing the Volunteers' charge was a group of Americans, one of whom was Oliver Prince Smith, who was then the commander of the 1st Marine Division. He led the battle ace of the US army, well-equipped and outstanding. It was the general of such an elite unit that, in the darkness of the night, when he saw the dense rows of Chinese troops in the distance appearing in front of him like they had come out of the ground, although he had been mentally prepared, he was still distraught and his hands and feet were flustered.
Oliver Prince Smith
In the face of wave after wave of volunteer attacks, one by one, the soldiers who fell on the stormtroopers, perhaps more puzzled than ever: what was the power that made these poorly equipped soldiers so fearless.
02
answer
Smith may not know that since the beginning of the Land of China, similar things have happened countless times.
More than two thousand years ago, west of the Yellow River, the same teenage young man led tens of thousands of horses to ride out of Longxi, over the Wuxiao, begging for Pu, wading fox slaves, crossing the Yanzhi Mountains, rushing more than a thousand kilometers, killing the King of Lan, beheading the King of Luhu, defeating the Xiongnu, opening up the Hexi Corridor, and consolidating the Great Han River. The Huns lamented this:
"The loss of me to the Qilian Mountains will make my six animals restless, and the loss of my Yanzhi Mountains will make my married wife colorless."
The young general Jinge Iron Horse, sealed the wolf Juxu, swallowed like a tiger. However, at the age of twenty-four, the general died of illness. Emperor Wu of Han was heartbroken by this. I think that at the beginning, when the general was triumphant, Emperor Wu had built a luxurious mansion for him, but the general refused, leaving only one sentence:
"The Xiongnu have not perished, and there is no home for them."
More than 900 years ago, the Jin army invaded the south, and a young general led the northern expedition to resist the Jin soldiers. The army fought all the way to Kaifeng Province, and was about to reclaim the original capital of the Northern Song Dynasty. The general slashed his sword and was full of pride: "Straight to the Yellow Dragon Mansion, and drink with the kings!" ”
However, at this critical moment, Song Gaozong issued 12 gold medals in a row, asking the general Ban Shi to return to the Dynasty. He could only sheath the knife and cry bitterly: "Ten years of strength, wasted in one fell swoop!" Since then, the whole army has wept and wept and sighed heavily. Not long after, because of the treacherous courtiers, the general was poisoned and killed in the Lin'an Wind and Wave Pavilion.
"Thirty meritorious deeds of dust and earth, eight thousand miles of clouds and moons... Wait to start from scratch, clean up the old mountains and rivers, and go to the sky. ”
More than 700 years ago, the Army of the Yuan Dynasty approached the city, and the Southern Song Dynasty was weak. The Southern Song Dynasty led the army to fight back, even if his wife and children were captured, he was not discouraged. In the end, the resistance was unsuccessful, and the soldiers defeated Wupoling. After the suicide failed, the prime minister was captured. The Yuan Dynasty repeatedly sent people to persuade him to surrender, and even Emperor Gong of Song, who was captured by the Yuan Dynasty, and even Kublai Khan himself, came forward to persuade him to surrender, but the man sternly refused:
"Song Zhuangyuan... What is owed to the ear of the country is repaid with death! ”
"May one death be enough."
In the end, the man was heroic. After his death, people found his last words in his belt:
"Kong Yue Chengren, Meng Yue takes righteousness, but its righteousness is exhausted, so Renzhi." Reading the books of the sages, what you have learned, and now and then, there is almost no regret. ”
Huo went to sick and hungry to eat hufu meat, thirsty for The blood of the Xiongnu, Yue Fei whitened the head of the teenager, empty and sad, Wen Tianxiang left Dan to take care of the sweat, perhaps in different ways, the ending is different, but all for a common belief: to protect the mountains, rivers, lakes and seas of his country, so that the people are healthy, the mountains and rivers are unharmed.
The same was true of the Battle of Chosin Lake and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
The War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea is not a decision made at one time and one place, but can be described as a long examination for 100 days, with three twists and turns. After repeated discussions and weighing, the CPC Central Committee finally made the strategic decision of "resisting US aggression and aiding Korea and defending the family and the country." Chairman Mao once said: "If we ignore the Korean issue, the United States will inevitably advance to the ground and follow the old path of Japan's aggression against China, even worse than Japan." It must insert three sharp knives into China's body: a knife from North Korea into our head, a knife from Taiwan into our waist, and a knife from Vietnam at our feet. The world has changed, and it has attacked us from three directions. Then we are passive. Therefore, punch a punch, so as not to have a hundred punches come. To resist US aggression and aid Korea is to defend one's homeland and defend one's country. ”
Thousands of years of turmoil, many heroic deeds, the young Zhou Quandi may not have known. But the genes that passed down in the blood were already deeply engraved in the body of Chinese Zhou Quandi. This has become the biggest difference between the two people under the same starry sky and in the same time and space, and it has also become the source of Smith's confusion.
What puzzled Smith was the power of faith.
Defending the family and defending the country is the strongest faith in Chinese.
03
Lake Chosin
The Battle of Chosin Lake was undoubtedly an important turning point in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. After this battle, the Americans completely changed their attitude and views on the Chinese military. After holding out for two days, Smith knew in his heart that if he did not leave, he would really face the end of total annihilation, so he ordered a retreat, and left the famous words in an interview with the US army:
"We're not retreating, we're attacking in a different direction!"
Prior to this, the five-star general MacArthur set a strategic goal of eliminating all volunteers and people's armies in Korea and ending the Korean War by Christmas. The Battle of Chosin Lake shattered the strategic plan of the US military, forced the US ace troops to experience the "longest retreat" in history, and laid the foundation for victory for the final armistice negotiations.
As a major battle recorded in history, the Battle of Chosin Lake and its spirit deserve to be repeatedly commemorated by future generations. In fact, in recent years, excellent literary and artistic works around this campaign have come out many times, and the novel "Changjin Lake" written by the writer Wang Jun is a very excellent work.
"Chosin Lake" book shadow
The novel takes Wu Tie hammer, Ouyang Yunyi and other volunteer soldiers as the protagonists, and crosses the narrative from the multiple perspectives of volunteer soldiers and US generals, showing us every inch of the texture of this battle from a microscopic and macro perspective. This book truly restores the cruel war scenes, in the cold weather, the soldiers can only swallow the frozen potatoes, ice beans; after the trumpeter blows the charge trumpet, the mouth skin will be torn off by the cold ice knife charge trumpet, of course, there are countless soldiers who are frozen to death in the snow; because the medical supplies can not keep up, when amputations are performed on the soldiers, they can only first use wine to drunk the soldiers instead of the effect of anesthesia. In the midst of the war, there was also a rare warmth, the local people of Korea took the initiative to contribute their precious food to the volunteer army, but they died under the bombardment of THE US fighters, leaving only a little daughter, following the march of the volunteer army...
War is related to countries, but what is related to war and participation in war is like Zhou Quandi, a person with flesh and blood. War is not the death of thousands of people, but the death of one person, which happens thousands of times. Therefore, the novel focuses on personal life, emotions, beliefs, and spirits, based on real deeds and detailed historical materials, to show us the Battle of Chosin Lake, to show the people who stayed there, returned from the wind and snow, and the stories that happened in the ice and snow.
In peacetime, we are fortunate not to have to experience war, but to experience that cold and windy winter through literary works. Reading, feeling, is a kind of memorial, to commemorate that great battle, to commemorate those great people.
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《Chosin Lake》
Wang Yun said
Beijing October Literature and Art Publishing House
Published in October 2021
Faith is like a guiding light that illuminates our way back home.
In the late winter of 1950, under extremely harsh conditions, the 9th Corps of the Chinese Volunteer Army divided and surrounded the U.S. troops in the Chosin Lake area, annihilated more than 13,000 enemy troops, and recovered a vast area in the east north of the 38th Parallel, turning the tide of the war in one fell swoop and laying the foundation for victory in the final armistice negotiations of the Korean War.
This battle of disparity in weapons and equipment seems to have gone beyond the scope of conventional warfare and is more like a death-defying contest of willpower. Narrow roads meet the brave to win! The Chinese soldiers were thinly dressed, their weapons were rudimentary, and they were hungry, but they braved the cold of minus thirty or forty degrees to bravely go forward, bravely killed the enemy, and solidified into a solemn statue on the last position... Under the pen of the writer Wang Yun, one after another vivid volunteer soldiers have returned to us from the ice and snow, they have flesh and blood, sorrow and joy, their stories are tear-inducing and touching, and they have forged the soul of the Chinese nation to stand up with a fearless revolutionary spirit!