Wang Hongju became a soldier in the first squad of the third platoon, and he fought with his comrades-in-arms every day, practicing military techniques such as shooting, bomb throwing, assassination, and explosives. A few days later, he was in trouble again.

One day, he and two soldiers were patrolling the village near the station, and as they approached a farmhouse, they heard a commotion coming from the farmhouse, and they hurried over to see what was going on. Then out of the gate of the farmhouse came a soldier with a fat chicken in his hand, "Boss, put that hen down!" Behind him was a crying old lady staggering out with her little feet, followed by a young woman holding a child.

"Stop!" Seeing this, Wang Hongju shouted loudly and stepped forward to block the person carrying the hen in his hand, he took a closer look at that person, he knew, it was a soldier in the second platoon, named Liu Shun. Wang Hongju pointed to Liu Shun's hand and asked, "Liu Shun, did you rob the old hen?" ”

Liu Shun pushed Wang Hongju away and said, "Go away, you don't have to worry about Lao Tzu's affairs!" ”

Wang Hongju said without showing weakness: "If you snatch this old hen, you will return it to others!" At this time, two soldiers patrolling with Wang Hongju came to him, and one of the soldiers criticized Liu Shun: "Liu Shun, you have been liberated into our army for a while, why haven't you changed the bad style of the Kuomintang army?" ”

Liu Shun glared and said, "My hen is not robbed, you can't control it!" ”

The woman holding the child asked Liu Shun with a box of cigarettes in her hand, "You exchange a box of cigarettes for an old hen for us, isn't this a robbery!" Are you still unreasonable? ”

"Boss, please help me get this hen back! Not long after my daughter-in-law gave birth, she relied on eating the eggs laid by this hen to make up for herself! The old lady kept making a fuss at Wang Hong.

"Auntie, I'm not the boss, you will call us comrades in the future." Wang Hongju asked for the cigarette from the young woman, and he handed the cigarette to Liu Shun and ordered: "Take this cigarette." The old hen was returned to the old man. ”

Liu Shun glanced at Wang Hongju contemptuously: "Yo, you poor and sour talent, you have just been a soldier for a few days, so you will treat yourself as a character!" Let me tell you, when Lao Tzu was a soldier, you still wore open crotch pants! ”

Wang Hongju said categorically: "Liu Shun, I will take care of the things you rob the people, and I will take care of it!" ”

Liu Shun pointed to the old lady and said: "Let's fight the world for the people, the people should treat us, what is the fuss about me with an old hen of theirs!" ”

Wang Hongju saw Liu Shun messing around, and there was another wave of anger in his heart. But he still held back his anger and persuaded: "Liu Shun, you are now a revolutionary soldier, and you can no longer play the warlord style of the Kuomintang army." We have three disciplines and eight points of attention, no matter what reason you have, it can't be used as an excuse to steal other people's things, you should immediately return the old hen you stole to others. ”

"Lao Tzu pinned his head to the waistband of his trousers to make a revolution, maybe one day he will take his life, what's the big deal about eating one of their chickens! There will be a big battle in a few days, so I'll fight the tooth sacrifice first. If I sacrifice it, I won't be able to eat this bite, you can dodge it for me! After Liu Shun finished speaking, he pushed Wang Hongju away and was about to leave, but Wang Hongju saw that he couldn't convince Liu Shun, so he went to grab the old hen in Liu Shun's hand in a hurry. Liu Shun was so angry that he slammed the old hen in his hand to the ground. The old lady hurriedly picked it up, but the old hen that had been raised for several years had already fallen to death, and the old lady squatted on the ground sadly and began to cry.

"Liu Shun. You're just a jerk! Wang Hongju, who was furious, grabbed Liu Shun's neck and collar, and punched him all over the face, and Liu Shun was not to be outdone and pounced on Wang Hongju. The two fell to the ground and rolled together, and the strong Wang Hongju turned over and rode on Liu Shun's body. Liu Shun stretched out his hand and grabbed several blood marks on Wang Hongju's face, and the angry Wang Hongju punched Liu Shun twice in the face, and Liu Shun's nose was bleeding. The two soldiers who were patrolling with Wang Hongju stepped forward to persuade them to fight, but they couldn't pull them away. It wasn't until Liu Shun was beaten and begged for mercy that Wang Hongju stopped.

Liu Shun robbed the common people and caused a brawl between soldiers, which smeared the good image of the people's army, Cui Fengming and Li Qiming were very angry, and Li Qiming was even more angry. Lian Li ordered Liu Shun to apologize to the party who was robbed, make a profound inspection of his disciplinary violations at the company's meeting, and confined him down. At the same time, although Wang Hongju stopped Liu Shun's bad behavior, because he beat his comrades-in-arms in public, he also caused a bad influence among the masses and violated discipline, and Li Qiming also ordered him to make a profound review in front of the soldiers of the whole company.

Wang Hongju was very dissatisfied with Li Qiming's punishment of himself, and felt that Li Qiming had a great personal prejudice against him, and he was always preoccupied with his life and training. Company commander Cui Fengming knew that Wang Hongju had an unexplainable knot in his heart, so he found an opportunity to have a heart-to-heart talk with him after training. Cui Fengming knew that there was a gap between Wang Hongju and Li Qiming, so he first told Wang Hongju about Li Qiming's life experience.

Li Qiming is a native of Yangquan, Shanxi, and his original name was Li Tudan. In the past, there were many poor families who named their children cats, dogs, and eggs, which meant that it was easy to feed, and Li Qiming was the name he changed after he joined the army. Li Qiming's family has been working for the mine owner for generations, and has lived a poor life. He has a family of six, with an older sister, an older brother and a younger brother in addition to his parents. In another coal kiln collapse accident, his father and brother were killed, and even the bodies were not found. The family lost its pillars and had no land to plant, so my mother had to take her sisters and brothers to beg along the street. His sister was tricked into becoming a prostitute in a kiln by bad guys, and later hanged herself because she was bullied. The poor and sick mother could not withstand the blows again and again, and died of hatred on a cold night. After his mother's death, Li Qiming took his younger brother to work and ask for food, wandering for many years, and suffered a lot of suffering. In the end, with a full hatred for the dark society, Li Qiming and his younger brother went to the northeast to join the People's Liberation Army, and they wanted to use the guns in their hands to take revenge on the dark society that made him suffer so much. Unfortunately, his brother was killed in a battle, and he lost all his relatives from then on.

Li Qiming suffered a lot of bitterness and hatred, took a firm revolutionary stand, and fought bravely on the battlefield with a brave style, and was commended by his superiors many times. In the arduous battle, he gradually grew from an ordinary soldier to a party cadre and an instructor of the company. His greatest characteristics are that he is simple and courageous, has a clear distinction between love and hatred, and is 100 percent loyal to the revolutionary cause.

After listening to Cui Fengming's introduction to Li Qiming, Wang Hongju frowned and said: "Could it be that the instructor is a staunch revolutionary, and I am a petty bourgeoisie?" As early as when I was in college, I actively participated in various activities organized by the party. I risked my life to assassinate spies, I abandoned my privileged family environment and threw myself into the revolutionary ranks without fear of personal life and death. Why should I be labeled a petty bourgeoisie if I am literate? Why should I undergo ideological transformation if I am not from a worker's and peasant background? When others say this about me, I feel wronged and uncomfortable! People like Liu Shun come from poor backgrounds, but I think I'm much nobler than him! ”。

In the face of Wang Hongju's complaints, Cui Fengming did not give a positive answer, and he continued: "The masses of workers and peasants like Instructor Li are the organizational foundation of our party and army, the backbone of our cadres, and the new force of the Chinese revolution. Without their participation, the Chinese revolution would not have succeeded, and we must give full respect to those workers and peasants cadres! Of course, their origins also determine the limitations and narrowness of their thinking, and they simply think that revolution is to smash the old world to pieces by violent means, just as to tear down the old houses. Many of them defected to the revolution with a strong hatred for the exploiting class, and their aim was to take up the gun and no longer be oppressed by the landlords and the old wealthy, so that they would have food, clothing, and housing in the future. And many intellectuals have a better family life. They did not lack food and clothing, and the motive force behind their joining the revolutionary ranks was to realize the great revolutionary ideals and the political aspirations of the people who were responsible for the rise and fall of the world. Therefore, it is inevitable that some contradictions will arise between the two in terms of ideology and concepts, and you must understand Comrade Li Qiming and not take it too seriously. ”

Wang Hongju said with deep approval: "Yes. My family is very rich, I have not been brutally exploited and oppressed, I have no deep hatred for landlords and capitalists, and I don't need to divide the land and the house! Then why should I give up my life as a child-in-law and join the revolutionary ranks? Why am I willing to shed my blood and sacrifice for the revolution? Because I am strongly dissatisfied with the corrupt government of the Kuomintang. Because I sympathize with the toiling masses, because I agree with the ideas of communism. I joined the revolutionary ranks in order to realize my life values and the great communist ideals. ”

Cui Fengming said: "But there were quite a few intellectuals who participated in the revolution at the beginning. The intricate revolutionary struggle was covered with a layer of idealistic romanticism, but in the actual work, it was discovered that there was a big gap between the ideal and the reality. This contrast leaves some people at a loss and then falls into a depression; Some of the weak-willed even fled from the ranks of the revolution, and I have had such people around me. Let's take my experience as an example, I came out of a big city, I went to a private school, I finished elementary school and junior high school, and I was also an intellectual, and I was a little uncomfortable with you when I first joined the revolution. When I first joined the army, I naively thought that the fighters in the revolutionary ranks should be hot-blooded young people like me who fought for great ideals, but in fact, among our soldiers were landless peasants, unemployed workers, bankrupt small proprietors, some lumpenproletarians, co-opted bandits, captive soldiers of the Kuomintang army, and then there were people who served as soldiers for the sake of food; Although they were all oppressed at the bottom of society, they also had many bad habits, and at that time, the soldiers around me and I did not have a common language, they were unwilling to communicate with each other, they were not used to many things, and they felt that they had low political consciousness and were illiterate people who could not read a few words. This reality has made me very distressed, and even made it difficult for me to adapt to life in the army. When I was my old chief, he enlightened me, saying that the revolution itself is a complicated, arduous and even painful process, and that the object of the revolution is not only our opponents but also ourselves, and that we must be good at discovering the advantages of others, but also find our own shortcomings, and integrate ourselves into the revolutionary collective as soon as possible. ”

Cui Fengming lit a cigarette and continued: "After years of war, I have seen that the army is constantly correcting itself, constantly maturing and becoming stronger, and I have naturally integrated into this revolutionary collective. Comrade Wang Hongju, these are my personal feelings, and I hope that you will also be able to adapt to the environment, abandon your own sense of superiority, stop idealistic rhetoric, and stand up to tempering and beating. Remember: in my eyes you are an excellent young man, if you are gold, sooner or later you will shine!"

Cui Fengming saw that Wang Hongju was still sullen, so he said angrily: "I said so many words bitterly, don't you understand the meaning of this?" Comrade Wang Hongju! Listen to me: In our revolutionary ranks, although everyone has a different starting point for participating in the revolution and a different understanding of the revolution, we are all on the same path, and we all came together to defeat the Kuomintang reactionaries and establish a new China. In addition, all our comrades are equal, and no matter who they are, they must carry out ideological transformation in the course of continuous revolutionary practice, including you and me and Comrade Li Qiming. Don't be discouraged, hurry up and integrate yourself into the company, you are a mule or a horse, it doesn't matter who says it, you can only see it when you pull it out and slip it! ”

Cui Fengming's words seemed to open a gap in the thick dark clouds, and a ray of warm and bright sunlight instantly shone into Wang Hongju's heart. He felt that Cui Fengming was much more mature and wise than himself, and he was not only his company commander but also his mentor and friend. "Company Commander Cui, you have been training in the team for several years, and you are indeed much more mature than me politically. With your political maturity and your eloquence, I think you are definitely a political commissar! Being a small company commander is a bit of a condescension! Wang Hongju was in a better mood and said witty words again.

Cui Fengming said with a smile: "Brother, you don't know, don't look at my clever tongue when I do other people's ideological work, in fact, I also have a naïve side, and I am still far from true maturity!" (To be continued......)