Tianjin defending Beiping in terms of geographical location is called Tianjin Wei, Tianjin and Beiping are dependent on each other, if the People's Liberation Army captures Tianjin, it is equivalent to opening the door to liberate Beiping. At this time, the city of Tianjin was surrounded by the four field troops of the People's Liberation Army, and its situation was better: the People's Liberation Army weaved a dense and dense net to cover Tianjin, and not a single bird wanted to fly out of the city. After the victory of the Liaoshen Campaign, the morale of the officers and men of the People's Liberation Army was greatly boosted, and their enthusiasm for fighting was high; The Kuomintang troops in the city tried in vain to take advantage of Tianjin's strong city defenses and refused to surrender. A bloody battle is about to begin.

At the station of the Sixth Company of Sharp Knife under a certain army in Siye, the soldiers were training vigorously. The battle against Tianjin was a tough battle, and the soldiers carried ladders and explosives bags to attack the hypothetical high walls, trenches and bunkers over and over again. The burly commander of the sixth company, Cui, stood on a mound and watched his soldiers' drills, he kept waving his arms and shouting loudly from time to time, it was obvious that he was not satisfied with the drills of his subordinates, and he called off the training of the whole company.

Company Commander Cui ran down the mound and stood in front of a soldier lying on the ground with an explosive bag in his arms, and commanded: "Stand up! The soldier stood up with a nervous expression and looked at the company commander at a loss.

Cui Lian said to him loudly, and also to other soldiers: "I told you a few times, why can't you remember?" Creeping forward is to bring your body as close to the ground as possible, reduce and reduce the exposed area of your body, and only in this way can you effectively protect yourself from the enemy's bullets. But how do you do it? I now command you to lie on the ground and repeat the prostrate movement. The soldiers next to him surrounded one after another.

The warrior said, "Yes! Then he lay on the ground, picked up the explosives bag, and crawled forward.

Company Commander Cui shouted to the soldier: "Raise your head too high, lower your head!" ”

The soldier slumped forward, his head down, his ass cocked again.

"Tell you to put your head down, you put your ass up again, what's the matter? Do you still want more than one eye in your ass? Company Commander Cui scolded humorously. The soldiers next to him laughed happily. Company Commander Cui waited for the soldier who was flushed with shame to stand up, then stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder sincerely, saying, "I know that you are a rookie, so I am strict with you." I love you strictly. I often tell you: the more you sweat in training, the less you bleed when you fight. Climb like you just did. You've got ten lives to be taken away from the enemy! He turned to the soldiers around him and said, "We revolutionary fighters are not afraid of death, but only by preserving ourselves well can we better destroy the enemy!" Life is precious, and after the war, we will build a new China and enjoy a happy new life! You're right? ”

"Yes!" The fighters replied in unison.

"I declare that after defeating Jiang Dam, the first thing to do is to go home and marry a daughter-in-law!" A Northeast warrior shouted.

Another soldier was sent to the front line by his wife wearing a saffron and beating gongs and drums, and he shook his head and said, "Haha! After we liberate the whole country, I will go home and buy a few acres of land to raise two more cows, farm and raise cattle during the day, and drink wine with a few villagers around the kang table at night. Play cards. It's so beautiful to think about! ”

"What are you going to do after drinking and playing cards?" There was a warrior who deliberately teased him.

"Then you don't need to ask, and then it's the woman who blows the lamp and pulls out the wax and hugs me to sleep!"

"What did you do when you woke up in the middle of the night?"

"Then you don't need to ask, hug your wife and continue to sleep!"

This question and answer caused the soldiers to laugh.

"You know that you are thinking about enjoying yourself after the victory of the revolution, but you have forgotten what the instructor said in political class? There are still many suffering people in the world waiting for us to emancipate us, and only by liberating all mankind can we, the proletariat, finally liberate ourselves! You don't talk about politics at all! Their words caused dissatisfaction and rebuttal from some fighters.

"If we don't want to live a good life in the future, why are we abandoning our family and business to fight?" The soldier from the Northeast asked a rhetorical question that was not convinced.

"Yes! I fought with our team just to have a good life in the future! ”

The soldiers, you and I are talking about everything, and the atmosphere of the argument is still very fierce.

After a while, Company Commander Cui waved his hand to silence everyone and said loudly: "The battle is about to start." At present, the most important task before us is to train the troops assiduously and train them well. Only by using excellent military technology and a fearless revolutionary spirit can we defeat the enemy and defeat the Kuomintang reactionaries and all their reactionary classes! At present, practicing the ability to kill the enemy is the biggest politics. Then he told the soldiers to rest for a while, and he sat down on a dirt slope, lit a cigarette, and smoked it in large gulps.

At this time, Xiao Ma, the communicator of the military department, came over from a distance with a tall young soldier, and he walked up to Company Commander Cui, stood up and saluted, and said, "Report to Company Commander Cui." In order to strengthen the propaganda and mobilization work of the grassroots companies before the war, the military department temporarily assigned political propaganda personnel to our subordinate companies. This comrade was assigned to the Sixth Company. With that, he gestured to the people behind him.

Company Commander Cui took a closer look at the man behind the pony, who was tall and handsome; A very clean, half-worn military uniform was worn on his body, which was very decent; He stood behind the pony and smiled gracefully at himself. Company Commander Cui suddenly had a good impression of him.

The young man stepped up to Company Commander Cui and saluted in front of him, and then said loudly: "Report to the company commander, Wang Hongju, a member of the political propaganda team, report to you!" ”

Company Commander Cui happily stepped forward and shook Wang Hong's hand and said, "Welcome!" Welcome! My name is Cui Fengming", and then he beat Wang Hongju's chest with his fist and said with emotion: "It's been a few years! It's the first time someone has called me you. You are an authentic Beiping dialect. ”

Wang Hongju also asked happily: "Listening to Lian Chang Cui's accent, he is also from Beiping, right?" ”

Cui Fengming said: "Yes, my home is in the area of Nanshuncheng Street in Dongzhimen, Beiping, and I am an authentic Beiping person. ”

Wang Hongju said: "My family lives near Luoguxiang in Beicheng, which is not too far from your home. ”

"Comrade Xiao Wang, you are only in your early twenties!"

"yes, I don't think you're a few years older than me."

"But I'm definitely older than you." Cui Fengming smiled proudly.

Cui Fengming and Wang Hongju hit it off at first sight, and their hands clasped tightly.

Cui Fengming pulled Wang Hongju and introduced to the soldiers: "Comrades, this is Comrade Wang Hongju, a member of the political propaganda team who has just come to our company, he will be a member of our company in the future, please welcome!" With that, he took the lead and applauded. The fighters applauded enthusiastically.

After giving a military salute to the soldiers, Wang Hongju said to Cui Fengming: "Company Commander Cui, the soldier Wang Hongju asks for assignment of work. ”

Cui Fengming told Wang Hongju that his work was assigned by Comrade Li Qiming, an instructor of the Sixth Company, and that Instructor Li was conducting pre-war political mobilization training at the regiment headquarters and would probably return tomorrow. He asked Wang Hongju to practice with the soldiers first and familiarize himself with the situation of the company.

At dusk, the 6th Company's garrison was set up. Cui Fengming held a bowl of braised pork in his hand, put two big white steamed buns on the table with chopsticks and said to Wang Hongju: "Eat, this is not my small stove." ”

Wang Hongju looked at the fragrant braised pork in surprise and said, "This is specially prepared for me?" ”

Cui Fengming crossed his hands on his hips and laughed: "Who are you sacred?" Do you need to prepare it for you? ”

Wang Hongju pointed to the rice on the table and said, "This meat and white steamed buns are not usually eaten by the leaders of our military department!" "When he said it, he was almost drooling.

Cui Fengming said: "In normal times, the life of the soldiers is very hard, and they eat coarse grains and pickles. It's hard to see meat. Ha! Count your kid lucky, just come today to catch up with the company to improve the food. These days, the fighters train very hard and consume a lot of physically, so we have to find a way to make them eat well and be full! I see you're hungry enough, eat it! Then the correspondent served another meal to Company Commander Cui. Wang Hongju hadn't eaten stew for a long time, so he unceremoniously took the meal and ate it. After the two of them finished eating, they both gave their thumbs up and shouted that it was delicious, and they both looked at the empty bowl with unfinished eyes.

"We are like hungry ghosts who haven't had enough to eat!" Cui Fengming said jokingly.

Wang Hongju wiped his mouth and said, "I think today's meal is the best meal in my life, although the rice bowl is empty." But it's not enough! ”

Cui Fengming and Wang Hongju looked at each other and laughed.

After eating, the correspondent took away the dishes and chopsticks. There was nothing to do, and the two of them sat cross-legged on the kang and chatted. Cui Fengming took out a box of cigarettes from his pocket, pointed to the cigarette trademark and said, "Made in the USA." Chiang Kai-shek's transport captain sent it to us. Then he took out two cigarettes, put one in his mouth, and handed the other to Wang Hongju.

Wang Hongju hurriedly waved his hand and said, "Thank you!" I don't smoke. ”

"And do you drink?" Company Commander Cui carefully put the cigarette handed to Wang Hongju back into the cigarette case.

"I don't drink wine." After Wang Hongju finished speaking, he saw that Cui Fengming looked a little disappointed, and he was a little embarrassed. He hurriedly added, "But I'm happy to drink a little." ”

"You're pretty tall. But I'm sure you'll be like me in no time. Cigarettes and alcohol are not leaving! ”

Wang Hongju explained: "It's not that I'm tall, smoking and drinking hurt my body, it's not a good habit of life. ”

Cui Fengming sat cross-legged on the edge of the kang. lit a cigarette and took a hard puff, squinting his eyes and swallowing the fog before speaking: "Actually, I also know that smoking and drinking hurt my body, before I entered the army, I didn't smoke or drink like you, but once I carried the gun, it was equivalent to tying my head to the waistband of my trousers." On the battlefield you will see patches of mutilated corpses lying in pools of blood, including your enemies and your comrades. Yesterday he was a brotherly comrade-in-arms, and today he left you. If you are human today, you may be a ghost tomorrow. Maybe before the tobacco and alcohol break your body, you will report to Marx! Tobacco and alcohol can refresh the mind and relieve emotional paralysis. We fight in the rain of bullets and swords all day long, and we are willing to give up our lives, are we still afraid of hurting our bodies by tobacco and alcohol? ”

Cui Fengming threw it away until the cigarette butt was almost hot, and he lit a cigarette and said with a smile: "Of course there is another cigarette."

The practical advantage is that it is inseparable from the soldiers' tobacco and alcohol. ”

"Just smoke, there are many reasons!" Wang Hongju disagrees with this reason.

"Believe it or not, you'll understand later, and I'm willing to bet you that within half a year in the company you'll have to smoke and drink!" Cui Fengming took a hard puff of cigarette, and after he spit out the cigarette, he tried his best to suck the smoke back into his mouth, looking complacent: "I'm really poor enough, and I have found so many reasons to smoke." I have said so much to you today, one is because we are fellow countrymen, and I think we have a fate; The second is also to teach you a lesson first: when you come from the military headquarters to the grassroots companies where we directly fight, you must recognize the cruelty and hardship of war, and do not idealize it. ”

"Company Commander Cui, thank you for inspiring and helping me in my work, what do you think is the focus of our company's work?" Wang Hongju asked tentatively.

"The instructor will come back tomorrow, you can ask him for advice, the two of us have a division of labor, and the focus of my work is to grasp military training."

Cui Fengming was talking and smoking, and he smoked one cigarette after another. He's smoked enough, he's talked enough. At this time, it was already dark, and Company Commander Cui stood up and looked out the window, and he said to Wang Hongju with a smile: "I don't know how to do it, I saw you today as a comrade and talked a lot." Not only because you are my fellow countryman in Beiping, but also, you remind me of my hometown in Beiping. My parents are in their sixties, and I can't serve by their side, which is a helpless thing, because since ancient times, loyalty and filial piety can't be both! If they are still alive, I will definitely use all my strength to honor the two elders after the success of the revolution. ”

Cui Fengming said as he waved his right hand forward vigorously and said, "I really want to capture Tianjin tomorrow and liberate Beiping the day after tomorrow!" After speaking, he asked Wang Hongju as if he remembered something: "Hey, do you have a woman?" ”

Wang Hongju didn't know how to answer this question, he nodded first, then shook his head, and then grinned and didn't answer. Because it was the first time they met, Cui Fengming didn't ask again when he saw Wang Hongju's embarrassed appearance, he smoked a cigarette and said to himself: "After all, it's been a few years since I ran away, I'm really homesick and miss my sweetheart." ”

Wang Hongju was aroused by Cui Fengming's words. Although he has not been away from home for a long time, he is inevitably homesick when he is physically and mentally exhausted or in the dead of night. He escaped from home after getting into trouble, and he was always thinking about his family, afraid that they would be persecuted by spies, worried about his parents' health, and worried about Huang Tingting's fate. He said: "Company Commander Cui, I am in the same mood as you, and I can't wait to enter Beiping tomorrow!" ”

At this time, Cui Fengming tied his belt and put on his pistol and said to Wang Hongju: "Go!" Let you familiarize yourself with the situation of the company, and go with me to check the outpost. ”

Wang Hongju immediately stood upright: "Yes!" (To be continued......)