Crossing the Blockade - Fragment of the Troop's Diary (3)
Lin Yixing
September 14
It rained all night, and maybe I can't go today. Food is also very difficult here, and staying for two more days is even more problematic. Yesterday, we had pumpkin and beans for breakfast, and at noon we only had six taels of multigrain noodles per person, which was two or three wowotou when cooked. The village chief of our company ran all over this small village to mobilize food, and the village chief said that the team often passed here, and the villagers really did not have any accumulated grain, and the new grain had not yet been harvested. The instructor of the third battalion led the company to the Yanbei area, and he was also anxious about food. He asked everyone yesterday afternoon and said that we were all resting and sleeping in the house, and that we should not eat if we were not hungry. In order to save food, everyone agreed. So we didn't have dinner yesterday.
This time, the divisional political department decided to send me to work in the 2nd Brigade, and I am very happy that I will have more opportunities to withstand the test of battle. I often think that it would be a pity not to personally participate in the fighting in such a great war of resistance against Japan. The brigade political department also decided to send me to the 6th Regiment, which was fighting guerrilla warfare against the enemy in Yanbei. I'm even happier, I'm young and strong now, and it's time to work out. I and the two propagandists sent to the 6th Regiment followed this company, and after crossing the enemy's blockade line, we could find the 6th Regiment.
When I arrived at the company, I saw that the soldiers were much harder than me, and it was unimaginable if I didn't see it with my own eyes. Each of them was given only one set of clothes this year, and until now they have worn them with bullet bags and guns on their shoulders and backs, and there are no cloth to patch nails, and their flesh is exposed in pieces. It's September now, and the weather in September is already a little cold in the north, morning and evening, and the soldiers are all dressed in tattered clothes in the morning and evening at noon. Most people don't have a cover, just a gray army blanket. And I also had a sweater, and in addition to a blanket of flowers, a quilt, and I could be described as a "kulak" compared to the soldiers.
I was deeply touched by the fact that the soldiers were always in good spirits and nervous and happy under such difficult conditions, and they taught me a profound education. I truly realized from reality that the reason why the soldiers were able to work so hard was that they all had a high degree of political consciousness and class consciousness, and that only the army under the leadership of our party could train and educate such strong fighters. With such a strong and great army, why worry that victory does not belong to us!
September 14
In the morning, I finished writing the previous paragraph in my diary, and I went to sleep. The rain has not stopped, and it seems that it is impossible to leave today. For lunch, we ate peas. The peas were boiled badly and delicious with a little salt, and I greedily ate three bowls. After eating, my stomach was very swollen. Some people say that peas can't be overeaten and eat until your stomach is swollen. This time I suffered a loss, but I also got some experience. I stood at the door to watch the rain fall because of my bloated stomach, and the young daughter-in-law came running to pull me to her house to play.
The family we live in is said to be the first "old wealth" in this village, and the young daughter-in-law I talked to is the new daughter-in-law of the "old wealth" family this year, and she has just returned from her mother's house today. This new daughter-in-law's sturdy figure and round and ruddy face are strangely cute. She told me that she was holding my hands tightly, and that sincere affection was like I was the closest person to her. She didn't like her husband, she didn't want to live in this place anymore, she wanted to go with us to be soldiers, she wanted to escape from the home that bound her. She said excitedly that she had gone to work for the Women's Rescue Society in Green Valley Town (35 miles from this village), and her name is still present in the Women's Rescue Society.
"I worked so much when I worked at the Green Valley Women's Relief Association! Every day, I went from village to village, mobilized women to make shoes for our troops, talked about reasonable burdens, learned to read and write every day, and taught women to read and write. We also learned to sing, which was so free and enjoyable. The comrades of the Women's Relief Association are very nice, they often give us lectures and reason, saying that we women should take an active part in the anti-Japanese work, and that we women should be free, equal, and strive for liberation. I can't suffocate in this family, I'm willing to be a soldier, you take me there!" After saying that, her pleading eyes looked at me tightly. Looking forward to my answer.
"Can you take me away?" She pressed me earnestly.
For a moment, I was surrounded by complex feelings of emotion, sympathy, regret, and love. "What to do? Can I take her away? How can you take her away?. I'm running closer to the enemy. Will the instructor take her in? No. Will her home let her go? No. "I have a lot of question marks in my head. I can't bear to let her down, but what can I do to keep her from disappointing? I had no choice but to comfort her and ask her to find an opportunity to still go to Green Valley Town to participate in women's work.
When I got back to the house, I was thinking about what had just happened for a long time. For the sake of this enthusiastic girl, I was a little dissatisfied with the Green Valley Town Women's Rescue Association. Why not let her continue to work? If such a woman who actively demands progress and pursues freedom and light does not recruit her to participate in the anti-Japanese work, what kind of better woman can she be found? How could you bear to force her to go home!
"It's better to calm down and think about it." I said to myself. Yes, there are many more women like her. This is not a question of two people, it is a question of women demanding equality, freedom and complete emancipation. Our women's active participation in the anti-Japanese struggle is for the liberation of our ancestors and for our own liberation. We should strengthen women's work, mobilize all active and promising women to participate in all kinds of work in the war of resistance, and give play to the role that women should play.
September 16
Last night we passed the enemy blockade.
The blockade we crossed was a destroyed railroad and a road next to it. The enemy's bunkers were only sixty or seventy miles from where we were to cross.
Yesterday we set out at about three o'clock in the afternoon, and in the evening, when we were still more than 20 miles away from the blockade line, we rested for a while, ate some dry food, and drank some boiling water. As we approached the blockade line, the half-moon of the eighth and ninth months of the lunar month hung in the sky, and the road could be seen clearly. At this time, everyone's spirits were very nervous, and there was only the rustling of footsteps rushing forward.
When we approached the hollow where the two hills hugged, we could see from the dim moonlight that there were sentinels on both hills. The correspondent reported to the instructor that the scouts were already monitoring the enemy's movements on two critical hills. The company commander gave the order for us to pass through this area quickly. As we were about to get out of this mountain road, news suddenly came that the enemy cavalry had been spotted. The fighters quickly dispersed, me and a dozen new fighters hid behind the high slopes, and the old fighters scattered in front of us.
There was a tense silence before the battle. I had no fear, I thought that I might be killed in this battle, and if I died, of course, there would be nothing wrong. But never as a prisoner. If I had been injured, I am sure that my comrades would have carried me on their backs. After that, my mind flooded with many things, some of the most pleasant, some of the most painful, and strangely even the tiniest things. Time passed too slowly, and everyone was already impatient, when the messenger said, "It is not the enemy's cavalry ahead, but our mules and horses carrying food, and we are advancing rapidly."
We new fighters can endure a false alarm, and the old fighters say that they haven't caught fire with the enemy, which is a bit unpleasant.
We did not encounter enemy ambushes and pursuits, safely passed through the enemy blockade and walked twenty-five miles in one go. It was already twelve o'clock in the middle of the night, and we were resting and cooking in a small village, and we still ate at twelve o'clock during the day. At about three o'clock, he continued to move forward, and it is said that he walked 110 miles in half a day and one night.