Lou Xiaojun
The green mountains and green plants of Wuyi Mountain are uniquely endowed with superior natural conditions, coupled with the agricultural Dazhai movement carried out in that era, a large number of cash crops with higher value have also gone up the mountain, which has brought real harvest to the local villagers, and the green mountains and green waters live in harmony with the survival and development of people.
However, there are times of disharmony in nature.
Mountain fire is the natural enemy of green mountains and clear waters.
In Wuyi Mountain, every autumn, although most of the plants still maintain their green appearance, their nutrients shrink and no longer grow. On the slopes of the mountains, in the dense forest, thick deciduous and dead branches are very easy to ignite mountain fires in a dry environment.
In my impression, whether it is the carelessness of the villagers in cutting down the mountain, or the spontaneous combustion of high temperatures, there are always one or two wildfires every year.
That year, wildfires came again, and if they were left unchecked, they would cause significant economic damage.
At this time, it was dusk, and the villagers had already finished their work and gone home, and the brigade thought of the educated youth.
Demand immediate action! I gathered the young men and prepared to go. The female intellectuals were not far behind, and resolutely demanded to "go to the battlefield", so a special mountain fire extinguishing team was formed. Before leaving, everyone didn't forget to bring the triangular hat that they usually wear when they go to work (it turned out to be the right thing to do).
When I arrived at the mountain, the sky was already dark, and I saw that the raging mountain fire in the distance had become a prairie fire, like a wriggling fire dragon, slowly spreading towards the mountain.
In order to control the fire, it is necessary to open a fire shelter first.
The so-called fire shelter is to use a hoe and machete to cut out a fire isolation zone outside the burning mountain forest. This is a technical job, the fire shelter is widened, it wastes time, increases the loss, and the cut is narrow, which cannot effectively isolate the fire. At the same time, it is necessary to decide the location of the separation zone according to the direction of the fire and wind.
After a short discussion, Hu Kejun, the party branch committee of the brigade and the instructor of the militia battalion, immediately rushed to the front of the fire with the villagers and some male intellectuals to open a fire shelter, and whether they could curb the spread of the fire depended on them.
The rest of the people did not do any more mobilization, and everyone's emotions were completely ignited by the raging fire, and they picked up the branches around them and rushed towards the fire point on the mountain!
Yes, just twigs, no tools.
Hit! Hit! Wherever the fire is big, rush to it!
There was a ravine two or three meters deep beside me, which was tightly covered by lush plants, and suddenly the fire spread, igniting the dense plants in the ravine, and instantly ignited a sky-high fire.
At this time, a gust of mountain wind blew, and the mountain fire ignited several masson pines with large crowns on the side of the ravine, "crackling, crackling", and the masson pine instantly turned into a huge fire tree, if it were not for that particular occasion, I would definitely use "spectacular" to describe the scene at that time.
Everyone was scared!
My cheeks were burned, and when I touched my clothes, it was terrifyingly hot, and I wondered if it was going to burn! Everyone lowered their heads and used the hats above their heads to block the smoke of the fire.
"Retreat! Retreat again! I shouted, panicking myself and retreating backwards.
After a while, the fire was a little smaller, and everyone seized the opportunity to pounce again, concentrating on fighting a war of annihilation.
The first little pieces of the fire were extinguished by us one by one.
I breathed a sigh of relief, looked up, and found that on the mountains in the distance, the long fire dragon had been "cut" into several sections, and it turned out that several nearby production teams had also sent people to extinguish the fire.
Little by little, time passes,
We extinguished the fires around us and immediately continued to move towards the places where there were fires, not knowing any fatigue and exhaustion, just thinking about putting out the fire as soon as possible!
But at this point, I overlooked one question: where are we?
After about 2 hours, the fire was extinguished.
The fire dragon was gone, only the little sparks in the distance were still flashing weakly, and after a while, the cowardly light was gone, and a thin wisp of smoke came out.
Ha! We've won!
But instead of the shouts of victory, silence awaits us!
In addition to the silence, there is darkness.
The mountains that lost their firelight instantly became "pitch black", and they couldn't see their fingers, but fortunately, there were a few educated youths who were wearing white clothes, so they could barely see a few shaking figures.
No one knows where we're going. Someone shouted loudly into the empty mountains, but there was nothing but a terrible echo.
There is no longer a hot feeling on the face, the mountain wind is blowing, and the thin clothes even have a cold feeling. The burned mountain, a thick layer of grass and wood ash on the surface is still hot and hot, and the liberation shoes on the soles of the feet make a slight sound of "poof" when stepping on them, and the soles of the feet seem to have a feeling of burnt shoes.
All the people who participated in the fire extinguishing went down the mountain, and only a dozen or so of us tired young people were still wandering around the mountain.
Anyway, we have to go. So, everyone groped forward with one foot deep and one foot shallow, there was no road, anyway, just go down the mountain.
A few female intellectuals began to fear: Do you want to go until dawn?
At this moment, thirst, hunger, and fatigue surged up at the same time, the soles of the feet began to weaken, and the team walking in the dark kept making "ouch" and "ouch" sounds.
Someone cut their hand, someone broke their foot, but I couldn't do anything but say something encouraging.
His mouth and nostrils were full of ash, and he didn't even want to speak, so he walked forward blindly.
Someone is starting to fall behind.
Suddenly, there was a long "oops" behind me......
"Chen?"
"I can't get up."
It was the female intellectual, Xiaoli (pseudonym), who fell into a mountain pit.
In the dark, I couldn't see how deep she fell, I pulled a small tree with one hand, and reached out to her with the other, and finally grabbed her, but the ditch was too deep to pull up, so I slipped and slipped down to the bottom of the pit.
The small pit was less than 2 meters high, but there were no climbing supports, only some charred trees to scratch onto.
Seeing that someone was coming, Xiaoli had a little strength, grabbed the small tree and climbed up, but he couldn't go up halfway up, he couldn't go up, he couldn't get down, and his legs began to tremble. I didn't care much, so I quickly stretched out my hands and pushed her up.
Hey! Climb up with rolling!
Everyone continues to move forward, take care of each other, you pull me, I hold you, the more difficult the time, it seems that everyone can show unity and friendship.
I'm so tired.
At this time, a young man in the dark night silently handed me a stick, which could be used as a crutch and explore the road ahead.
I can't see who that young man is, but I really have to thank him.
This is my comrade-in-arms.
Finally, we are almost at the foot of the mountain. Looking at a looming highway at the bottom of the mountain, everyone was so happy that they almost cheered!
I can't put into words how I felt.
At this time, the burning ash floating in the sky has gradually dissipated, and the sky has a little brighter, so that everyone has the opportunity to look at each other: Ha! The hair, face, neck, and clothes were all black and whirring, strips and pieces.
Someone rolled up their trouser legs, wow!
Sweat sticks to the pores of the legs, and the whole leg becomes a "pockmarked leg".
"Hahahaha", laughter rang out, and all fatigue vanished.
Back at the brigade, the people of the village praised us as if they were welcoming the return of the "heroes", and the old man in the brigade canteen cooked us a big pot of brown sugar porridge to treat us.
The porridge quenches thirst and hunger, sweet, and warms people's hearts.
Xiaoli still reminisces about the taste of porridge to this day, saying that it was the best sweet porridge he drank in his life.
In fact, the brown sugar porridge is very ordinary, and now it seems insignificant, but it is only because of that year, that month, and that time that we have that unforgettable feeling, until now.
The original title of the article was "The Years of Educated Youth (3) - Mountain Fire"