This night, Deng Xiaolin fell into deep thought. He was born poor, an orphan, suffered a lot, and was raised by his aunt for him to go to Hongdu Xinyuan Middle School until he graduated from high school. In a few months of exercise, the performance is good, especially able to endure hardships, work, exercises, marching are all good, and often go to the kitchen to help on Sundays.

Today, I am worried about "changing two words", which two words should be changed? He tossed and turned and couldn't sleep. He and I are bunk beds and good friends. So he said to me:

"Hey, old comrade (I'm three years older than him, he used to call me that), help me think about it." I said: "Didn't Commander Chen say that to see if we can grasp the 'tail' of the new democratic revolution, that is, to see who can persist in the revolution to the end. The bear should be treated as a deserter. ”

"Oh, that's so good!" Deng Xiaolin's mouth was stunned.

Another day passed, and a unique letter of determination was posted on the propaganda board of the team site:

Deng Xiaolin's letter of determination: Revolution to the end, never deserters! .

After the roll call in the evening, the instructor said to everyone: "Comrade Deng Xiaolin's determination is written very well, don't look at his only 11 words, but to the point, he expresses the determination of the revolution to the end. Some of our comrades have thousands of words, introductions, one, two, three, four, and so on, but there are no substantive things, most of them are empty words, and they can't do a single one. Comrade Deng Xiaolin's letter of determination grasped the key point, and 'never desert soldiers' expressed the determination of the revolution to the end. First, we must grasp the core of the revolution to the end, and second, we must find out the problems existing in ideology, work style, behavior, and so on in connection with reality. Third, it is necessary to grasp the core of not deserting soldiers, not deserting, and showing the demeanor of new soldiers. The next day, the bulletin board was re-posted with a new letter of determination that everyone had rewritten.

In the middle of summer in August, the weather is getting hotter and hotter, and I sweat when I move casually. Every day, the weight of theory classes is getting heavier and heavier, new classes are held almost every day, and discussions are organized in the afternoon, and discussions can be carried out under the shade of trees, and the class has to be patient. There were many people in the auditorium, and everyone sat on the ground, with the members of the military academy always sitting in the middle, and the teaching regiment and others sitting on both sides. A class lasted two hours, not long after the class, I was already sweating profusely, even my buttocks were soaked, and my notebook was also stained with sweat. As soon as the whistle blew, everyone quickly entered the auditorium again, and when the second class was over, the lecturers and students were all soaked like chickens in soup.

One day, more than 10 comrades of the teaching regiment were building an earthen platform, and a few bamboo poles were erected in front of the stage. At this time, someone said loudly: "The August 1 Army Day has arrived, and it will be used for the meeting."

On August 1, 1949, the troops held a grand celebration. The earthen platform was filled with leaders of fraternal units, and the banner on the platform read: Celebration of the 22nd anniversary of the founding of the army. The couplets on the left and right sides, the red paper and white characters are magnificent. Behind the stage, a huge sky-blue curtain hung portraits of leaders, and many colorful flags were planted on both sides of the stage. A large playground was filled with troops, and anti-aircraft machine guns were set up on the hills in the distance to prevent enemy air raids.

At this time, I saw Chief Chen, accompanied by Fan Education, walking towards the rostrum with many unfamiliar leaders

The singing voices of the various units at the meeting venue were high-pitched and loud, one after another, and there was a joyful scene. At about eight o'clock, the assembly began in the majestic "March", and President Fan presided over the meeting, and he walked to the front of the stage and said loudly:

"Ladies and gentlemen, hello everyone! Today, we are here to celebrate the "August 1st" Army Day! Now, I would like to invite the No. 1 chief to speak! Everyone is welcome! ”

As soon as everyone heard this, they knew that it was Commander Chen who had come, and they were very happy, and this was the second time he had come to the school to visit you, and they felt a special honor.

The audience applauded thunderously, and I saw Commander Chen walking up to the rostrum, saluting everyone with a standard military salute, and saying:

"Comrades, today is the 'August 1' Army Day, the festival of the founding of our people's army, and we are holding a grand celebration here to review the history of the development and growth of the people's army, inherit and carry forward the glorious traditions of the people's army, and march forward forever, comprehensively, cleanly, and completely eliminate the Chiang dynasty and liberate the whole country. ……”

He also talked about the development situation of the whole country, the requirements for the troops, and the tasks of the army in the next step. He stressed: "It is necessary to conscientiously implement the idea of 'the army marches forward, production grows by one inch, discipline is strengthened, and the revolution is invincible,' strengthen the ideological building of the troops, and carry out the revolution to the end!"

At present, our People's Army has already marched southward, westward, and northwestward, and the higher authorities have ordered us to make a detour to the south and southwest to intercept the enemy's retreat and wipe them out on the mainland. Your task is to move each person's two feet, follow the example of the Red Army's 25,000-mile long march of those years, resolutely destroy the reactionary army, and victoriously complete the task assigned to us by the superiors. ”

He took a sip of tea, raised his voice and asked loudly, "Do you have confidence?"

"Yes! We are determined to complete the task!"

The meeting of more than 10,000 people in the audience became a swearing-in meeting, and the slogans soared to the sky. Everyone's arms are raised, and there is really a potential to go to the moon for nine days!

Commander Chen's words were touching and exciting, and won a long applause from the audience. His eloquence, elegant demeanor, and mighty military demeanor left a deep impression on us. I heard that he was a graduate of the first phase of Whampoa, served as a guard of Lao Chiang, saved Lao Chiang during the Eastern Expedition, and later became a famous generation of famous generals of our army because of different political ideals, and we are proud and proud to have such a commander.

The conference ended with warm applause and loud singing.

We were about to pull out, and in order to facilitate the long-distance march, the superiors sent a lot of leggings, one pair for each person, and they were limited to five days to learn how to play the leggings in their free time, and everyone was excited when they heard it.

Our squadron leader's leggings were beautifully beaten, with angular and herringbone patterns that rose in waves, like beautiful patterns woven on cloth. He came to us, stretched out his legs, and said triumphantly:

"How's it going, boys? It's not worse than the flowers embroidered by the girl, is it? A smile on his face.

We watched and admired his craftsmanship from the bottom of our hearts. Everyone humbly asked him for advice on how to tie leggings. Some comrades are "bamboo pole legs", some are "basket legs", and some are "bell legs", so the methods and requirements for tying leggings are also different.

Most of the comrades were afraid that the gaiters would not be tied tightly, and the loose gaiters would affect the march, so they all tied them tightly, but as a result, they did not walk much, the blood did not circulate, their legs cramped, and they could not walk. The comrades with "trumpet-legged" legs are also not easy to tie the leggings, they are thick at the top and thin at the bottom, and after being wrapped layer by layer, they did not go far, and the leggings slipped all over the ankle bone, like a broken "stump leg". There was a boy in our class named He Huimin, and every time he didn't pass the leggings, he always said to himself, "Damn, really damn." ”

One day, Deng Xiaolin practiced hard to achieve "results", he came to the squadron leader and stretched his legs, "Old revolutionary, look, how are these leggings tied, not outrageous, right?" Xiao Deng raised his head in anger.

The squadron leader looked up and down, picking here and there with his fingers, and in an instant, Deng Xiaolin's leggings seemed to be scattered, and all of a sudden they were all loosened. Everyone in the room burst out laughing.

"Little ghost, you want to play a big axe in front of Lu Ban, and it's a little tender, and it's useless."

The onlookers burst out laughing again. Deng Xiaolin packed up his scattered leggings and walked away embarrassedly. The squadron leader squinted at Xiao Deng's embarrassed appearance and smiled.

He turned around and said to everyone solemnly: "This game is not for fun, and the march and war must not be fancy!" Everybody has to pass me! ”

So he seized the time, bit by bit, and tirelessly taught everyone the methods and secrets of tying leggings. The hard work paid off, and through everyone's efforts, everyone finally passed the test and caught up with the "old revolution".