On the way back to the station, there was a little foreign appearance.

Some ethnic minority students, because they have been walking barefoot since childhood, have wide feet, have not worn such narrow, such hard leather shoes (Gaobang suede shoes), due to excessive force when reviewing and walking, both feet are worn out, blood blisters, when returning, simply carry leather shoes, barefoot, limp walking, let the captain see it, by the bear a few words, told them to put on shoes immediately.

I, a scholar, am not angry, the blood blisters have worn out, and the socks are also dyed with "patterns", although I have not taken off my shoes, but I am also limping, like returning from a defeated battle. Although the captain criticized some comrades for walking barefoot on the street as unsightly, he still praised everyone for having "seeds" and did not disgrace the squadron on the review stand.

Our squadron leader Zhang Wenyi, the governor of Shanxi Province, is a native of Shan. I met him when he was reforming the rebel troops, and I was together again when I went to the infantry school. He is a "38-style" cadre, very brave and ferocious in battle, has participated in dozens of battles, but has not been wounded a few times, and is a hero who has won many awards. His specialty is bomb throwing, which is one of the few in the corps, and his unique skill is: throwing far and accurately.

In the spring of 1950, the first People's Sports Games were held in the city, and he temporarily participated in the bomb throwing, and won the first place with a throw of more than 80 meters. According to him, on the battlefield, he mainly carried more hand ammunition, and he could blow up the enemy's pillboxes and machine guns from a distance, so as to clear the obstacles for the advance of the troops, and every company vied for him.

He treats people sincerely, is not pragmatic, works seriously, is not confused about major matters, don't look at him and doesn't know a few big words, but his brain is very sensitive, marching, fighting, courageous, knowledgeable, and experienced. I usually like to talk about historical celebrities and jokes with people, and I don't have a fight, and I don't put on my own glorious history. He was loyal to the party's cause and never cared about his personal reputation and status, and according to his qualifications, he should have been at the regimental division level a long time ago.

He was a little short-tempered, he said that in the past, when he had a temper, he beat people arbitrarily like Zhang Fei, and he was punished for this. He has a lot of respect for intellectuals and has never been angry with us. Sometimes we ask him: What about your wife? He said wittily: "I haven't been born yet." Every time he plays military chess, he doesn't let people regret his chess, but if he loses, you have to make him regret his chess, otherwise he will be scolded: "rotten soup".

He doesn't drink, but he likes to smoke, at that time it was the "Unity" brand cigarettes issued above (much better than the current Jinsheng), and if the cigarettes were not enough, he would be a "handout card". Pretending to be serious and putting on a straight face, he said, "Young man, hand over the 'Victory'." Everyone present laughed, and gave him the cigarette. I don't smoke, every time I give him a cigarette, he opens his mouth full of big yellow teeth: "This kid is refreshing!" "Sometimes when there is no smoke, he asks Political Commissar Du for high-level cigarettes, and the political commissar responds to his requests, and he is embarrassed to ask for more Captain Zhang.

He was in his forties at the time. He treats Chen Zhenhua, the little clerk of the team site, as his son, and if he gets married early, his son may be even older than Chen Zhenhua. We said: find one. He said: When socialism is completed, please have a wife to enjoy the blessings of old age - to warm your feet. After saying that, he burst out laughing. We studied and worked with him and benefited a lot, especially from loyalty to the revolution.

In addition to political theory, the academy focuses on military theory. It is necessary to study the theories and ideas of Chinese and foreign military strategists, to study the strategy and tactics of modern warfare, to study the tactics of individual combat, and to study the operational tactics of classes, platoons, and companies. For students with a low level of language literacy, they have difficulty in learning and have to remediate cultural and scientific knowledge. The school requires that cadres at the platoon and company levels must pass the cultural test, otherwise how can they learn the great military classics. The college requires students with high culture to help students with low culture, and my culture is considered high, so I want to teach the culture of two students.

One is Xing Youxue, who was born in poverty, and the other is an ethnic minority, born as a serf, named Wang Liancheng, and they are all combat heroes. Xing You learned some words and had strong mental arithmetic skills, while Wang Liancheng could only write his own name, and he learned it when he was in Bianzhong. Xing Youxue is twenty-four years old, he doesn't study too hard, his memory is poor, he sometimes doesn't know how to pretend to understand in his studies, and occasionally shows a little arrogance.

I taught them five words a day from easy to difficult, and then increased to ten. In order to strengthen my memory and increase the sense of imagery, I pasted (hung) the words on the real thing. For example, the "rice bowl" is attached to the bowl, and the "rifle" is attached to the gun. "Get up" is to draw the action of getting up, "running", "standing upright", ...... It seemed too primitive to draw pictures one by one and post them, but the effect was still very good under the very rudimentary conditions at that time, and it greatly broke my expectations.

After a month, I learned hundreds of words. I also care about Wang Liancheng, from time to time to give him more weight, let him read more, write more, practice more, at that time can not buy ready-made pinyin, picture literacy and other wall charts, so I have to do it myself, make cards, try to teach vividly. Later, from words, phrases, to sentences, to writing a paragraph, the difficulty gradually increased.

Because there are intense military studies and training during the day, discussions and democratic life meetings in the evening, the teaching of literacy is done in free time. They also endure hardships and don't waste any time. I also thought of many ways to bind a small notebook for them, half of the page was text, half of the page was blank, and the blank space was reserved for them to write and make sentences. Half a year later, they were able to read newspapers and write letters, and the hat of illiteracy left them. We have become close comrades-in-arms. My practice of teaching and learning was praised by my superiors.

Wang Liancheng was admitted to the aviation school after studying at the academy for a year, became a pilot, and after graduation, he was assigned to an air base in Wugong County, Shaanxi. We kept in constant contact, and he sent me a full-body photo of him in a flight suit, and he was already a big and handsome young man! In the early '60s, we lost touch with each other, leaving only that photo as an eternal memorial.

I used to be emaciated, but after entering the college, due to my good and regular life, I strengthened my physical exercise and became stronger. I ran a few laps on the big playground before dawn, and I practiced the horizontal bar, parallel bars, wooden horse, wave bridge, high jump, long jump, etc. By the time I got up, my homework was over, and I went out to exercise and study with everyone. After more than a year of exercise, my height of 169 cm, my weight has increased from 90 pounds to more than 120 pounds, and my physical strength and endurance have also increased, and I have a strong physique.

A little more than a year later, I was transferred to the training department of the school as a trainee officer, responsible for the procurement of military equipment, models, etc. The content of the work is to go to the factory to purchase all kinds of military teaching aids, models, weapons, physical wall charts, etc.

The first time I worked alone, I didn't know the bottom of my heart, and after groping for a while, I also found the pattern, and I actually made a name for myself. The task can be completed in time, the quality review is qualified, and a lot of money is saved. This is what I rubbed with those managers, unit chiefs, and sales staff.

Section Chief Qiao, who usually looks at people with a tense face, said at the conference: Xiao Zhang did a good job. Later, I worked more and more, and I was in the training department for more than four months, tired and dizzy, going out every day, going early and returning late. After the model of those teaching aids is done, it is necessary to design it according to the drawings and use vernier calipers to accept them one by one, which makes you see how troublesome it is. If you don't meet the requirements, it's a little bit worse, and that Section Chief Qiao will "regulate" that you can't raise your head. I thought to myself, quit doing it, let's change careers.