In July 1947, one year after the full-scale outbreak of the Chinese civil war, the Chinese People's Liberation Army under the leadership of the CPC shifted from strategic defense to strategic offensive, bringing about major changes in the situation of the Liberation War.

Previously, the Nationalist government's eight-month full-scale offensive against the liberated areas of the Chinese Communist Party did not achieve the expected results, and the main forces of the People's Liberation Army still existed, which made Chiang Kai-shek make a new strategic deployment - focusing on attacking the Communist base areas in northern Shaanxi and Shandong.

Haizhou is backed by Lunan and has naturally become an important material supply place for the national army. The grain collection team went to the countryside every three or five to collect grain, saying that it was a grain requisition, but in fact it was an open robbery, not only robbing grain, chickens, ducks, pigs and sheep were robbed, and those who resisted a little were beaten and kicked, and even whipped up, which made people panic for a while, especially the families of these landlords, and they were not at peace.

"These robbers are simply brutes, what is the difference between them and the Japanese devils back then! I knew that I would have distributed all the food to each family, and I would have saved myself from being so troublesome now! "This is the trouble of the big family, but under the guns of the national army, they don't dare to do anything.

In June, taking advantage of the Nationalist Government's concentrated forces to attack Yan'an and the liberated areas of Shandong, resulting in the emptiness of its rear troops, Liu Bocheng and *** led a large army to forcibly cross the Yellow River and advance thousands of miles into the Dabie Mountains. In September, Chen Yi and Su Yu led the East China Field Army into the Henan-Anhui Soviet border area, although this move was to respond to Liu Deng's army and Chen Xie's corps, but in the eyes of the landlords, the People's Liberation Army, which was close to Xuzhou, had a great tendency to advance into Haizhou.

In this context, the landlords and large families in Guwei had the idea of betting on two ends - on the one hand, they continued to follow the national army, and on the other hand, they quietly let their children join the PLA.

Ding Facai was in trouble at this time, except for his youngest son Ding Facai, it was impossible for anyone else in the family to join the camp of the Communist Party, but Ding Facai had been away from home for seven years at the moment, just wandering around, gambling addicted, never returned home during the period, and lost a lot of family property. In fact, Master Ding also feels very sorry for his youngest son, especially on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, how much he hopes that Ding Facai can come home, even if the family is together even if they only have a reunion dinner, but at this moment he must make a decision - to expel Ding Facai from the Ding family!

A few days after the Mid-Autumn Festival, Master Ding gathered his clansmen and invited the village elder Xia and several villagers to Ding's mansion to witness. After explaining the reason, Master Ding asked the housekeeper Ding to vigorously read out the "Chase Order" written by someone else, and the text said:

Ding clan, the twelfth grandson Ding Facai, was born on the ninth day of March in the 11th year of the Republic of China, and has been away from home for more than seven years, refusing to return to the nest, which is disloyal; disobedience to one's parents and having no heirs so far is unfilial piety; Gambling addiction and loss of family property are unkind; When the family is in trouble, it is unjust to not help them. Such disloyal, unfilial, unkind, and unrighteous people will not be allowed to remain in the genealogy of my Ding clan.

Today, I, Ding Taiyu, hereby announce that I will officially drive the unfilial son Ding Facai out of the Ding Mansion, expel the Ding family tree, and sever the father-son relationship with him, and ask the Ding clan, the village chief Xia Gong and a number of villagers to testify together!

Liren: Ding Taiyu

Mid-autumn of the thirty-sixth year of the Republic of China

After reading it, Master Ding signed the "Chase Order" on the spot, pressed his handprint, and put it in the box and handed it to Mrs. Ding to put away.

It didn't take long for the news to reach Ding Facai, and he smiled disdainfully: "I didn't plan to go back to Ding's family again, what if I was expelled from the family tree and severed the relationship!" But he couldn't understand that the people who called him brothers and sisters on weekdays seemed to have disappeared these days.

However, it was just an expedient measure for Master Ding to drive his youngest son out of Ding's house, but he still privately asked Mrs. Ding to give Ding Facai some money, and asked her to find someone to build two houses and a pot house on a vacant land not far from the east of the village, leaving it for Ding Facai and placing some furniture. He also pretended to quarrel with Mrs. Ding about this, Mrs. Ding cried there with snot and tears, and in the end she had to give up, Ding Facai still did what he should do, and he had his own small house.

Later, Ding Facai found that the good brothers who suddenly disappeared before suddenly appeared again, and he scratched his scalp and didn't come up with a reason.

Master Ding is just one of the thousands of landlords in China, and he knows that although he can't bet on both sides, he can't put his eggs in one basket, and if the Nationalist army is finally defeated, the Communist Party advocates confiscating the landlords' land and distributing it to the common people.

In fact, the landlords' fears were not unreasonable, and since the People's Liberation Army switched from defense to offensive, the Nationalist army has repeatedly suffered defeats on the battlefield. In the northeast, following Lin Biao's summer and autumn offensives, the winter offensive is in full swing at this moment, and the defeat of the national army is assured. On the battlefield in North China, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) had taken Shijiazhuang in November, which was a precedent for the Communist army to seize a large city and dealt a heavy blow to the Kuomintang government. On the Shandong battlefield near Haizhou, the Kuomintang's key offensive strategy had lost its "key" significance, and not only did it not cause damage to the PLA, but it itself lost its troops and returned defeated.

Under the communist land policy, the poor people in many liberated areas have been allocated land, which has caused those who were unwilling to work for the Kuomintang to become "deserters" to join the Communist Party, and some of them have directly put on a show on the battlefield and put some empty guns. At this time, very few ordinary people took the initiative to sign up for the Kuomintang, resulting in a shortage of soldiers in the national army, so that they did the old business of forcibly recruiting strong men.

Haizhou, a city that has not yet been completely liberated, naturally cannot escape the doom, and it makes everyone panic for a while.

Big families like Master Ding and Master Liu, even if they prevaricate with some money, they can even hire someone to serve in the military for their families, but ordinary people can only live tremblingly, lest they be forcibly conscripted to their heads one day.

Although it was under the rule of the Communist Party in the early days, after the Kuomintang tore up the "peace agreement" and under the attack of its commercial patrol corps, it became a state-occupied area, and the PLA could only fight guerrillas. At this moment, some landlords' return groups colluded with the Kuomintang security brigade to wantonly arrest and massacre peasant presidents, turned over directors, and some family members of the Communist Party, causing the people to live in a difficult situation and complaining.

On this day, the village elder Xia received a notice from the county that Guwei Village needed to recruit 15 soldiers and report within three days.

Previously, because some people in other villages wanted to escape the Kuomintang's military service, they cut off their right index finger by themselves, and were later arrested and shot, and now people do not dare to use these self-harm methods anymore, but no one wants to go to the battlefield to die, no matter what, run away first, or go directly to join the ranks of the Communist Party.

Lao Xia braved the cold wind, and according to the usual practice, called the two security chiefs of Master Ding and Yang Dahu together, reported the names of the school-age young people in the village, wrote them on a slip of paper, and decided who would serve in the military by drawing lots.

After Shi Zhu heard the rumors, he chatted with Shi Yu and Ji about the matter, according to the principle of conscription of the national army, three Ding draw one, five Ding draw two, single Ding does not draw, Shi Zhu is the only male in the family, it is said that there is no need to worry about being drawn to be a soldier, but now is an extraordinary period, many people in the village have run away, and it is difficult to guarantee that the National Army will do anything out of the ordinary.

"Pillar, if you can recruit soldiers during the war, if you can't recruit them, no one will care if you are a single ding! Now that the people in the village who may have been drawn have basically run out, and the number of people is not enough, maybe those people will do something bad! After all, Shi Yushi has seen some of the world and understands the twists and turns, "It's a lot now, and whoever is in the coffin will not reveal it in advance, and at night, the soldiers will come to the door and take people away." But now that a lot of people have run away, I'm afraid that the soldiers will arrest people blindly at night, so I think you should go out and hide for a few days and come back......"

Shi Zhu was also a little worried about this, so he talked about it with his family, but he also had some concerns: "My grandmother, I'm also afraid that the Kuomintang will arrest people, but now Sien has a belly, it's almost five months, and he can't bear the weight, Shi Shuo is only more than a year old, and you are old, I'm afraid you won't be able to take care of it at home!" ”

At this time, Ji said: "Heda, it's a cold day now, and there is no heavy work at home, so I can take care of it." I see that you still listen to grandma, go out and hide for a few days, and then come back when the limelight is over. ”

Shi Zhu thought for a moment and said, "Zhong, I'll go to my uncle's side tomorrow to squat for a few days, I haven't been there for a long time, just go and have a look!" The next day, Shizhu got up early in the morning, simply packed up and went to the port, without saying anything to anyone else.

At night, as Shi Yu said, the national army began to arrest people according to the list of lots, and the dogs in the village immediately began to bark. It's just that nine of them are not at home, and only six of them have been caught, and these six people who have been caught naturally don't want to leave, and they also tried to escape, but they were still frightened by the sound of gunfire, and they stayed there obediently and didn't dare to move. Their family members are also crying and screaming, sounding like dead people - in fact, they also know in their hearts that this time, nine deaths!

Faced with this dilemma, Lao Xia made a difficulty, he was not only worried that he would not be able to get together this time, but he was even more worried that if this continued, he might not be able to recruit anyone next time. If the boss blames him, I'm afraid his life will not be guaranteed.

But in the face of this dilemma, the national army did not make any difficulties, and it can be said that it was easy to deal with - evading military service required heavy fines, and all those who escaped were confiscated all the valuable things in their homes, and the rest even burned down their houses to set an example to them. In the end, Lao Xia talked to the two security chiefs and the chiefs of the first class, and they were both compensatory and money-stuffed, so that they kept their houses.

The thing was "confiscated", and the matter seemed to have passed like this, but the national army still wanted Lao Xia to hand over nine more people, otherwise, the number and money would be spread over him and the chief himself. Lao Xia had no choice but to gather Master Ding and Yang Dahu together to discuss the matter.

Master Ding said: "For today's plan, either take another lot and replace it with someone else to become a soldier, or wait for the person who ran out to come back, but I don't know what day it will be!" ”

Lao Xia said: "Isn't it a broken rule to re-lot, everyone will be like this in the future, and there will be no point in loting!" I think it's better to find a way to wait for people to come back and then let them go to the army, but in that case, time is really a problem......"

Hearing this, Yang Dahu said: "Village chief, if you want the people who ran out to come back, I have a way to try!" ”

"Tell me about it!" Lao Xia couldn't wait to ask.

"These valuable things have been confiscated, so let's let the wind out, and say, since the money has been paid, even if you have completed military service, people don't have to go to the army anymore. Now, it seems that the Chinese New Year is coming, so I am afraid that these people will be able to come back sooner. ”

After Yang Dahu finished speaking, Master Ding immediately said: "Village Chief, I think this will be the case!" However, this matter must be kept secret, only we can know, and we can't tell those armor chiefs, otherwise the news will leak out immediately, and it will be useless. ”

Lao Xia took a few puffs of cigarette and said, "I have to do this, I can't count this head on your own head!" ”

A few days later, I also heard the news from the stone pillar in the ruin: first, there was no one in the list of those who were drawn to serve as soldiers, and second, the people who were drawn and ran out had their belongings confiscated, and the matter had been turned over.

Shi Zhu in the "Guanglian Commercial Bank" for a few days, every day is also in the house, dare not go out, he originally thought that the ruins are no better than the countryside of Guwei, it is a town anyway, the national army will not dare to forcibly arrest people, how do you know that these days there are really soldiers in broad daylight arresting people on the street, regardless of whether they are indiscriminate, and even some people have been arrested, even the family does not know, the slightest intention to escape, the soldier will shoot and threaten.

"It's like a Japanese devil catching someone!" Zhu Guanglian said to Shi Zhu from time to time, and when he mentioned it, he was full of anger, "The 'Thirteen Daofang' is still there, and there are not enough dead people?" The boat that sent the little devils back to their hometown had only stopped for two years, and I thought that the country was going to be stable, but I didn't think that these extinct national troops were coming again, they were just a bunch of brutes! ”

Shi Zhu was originally very familiar with the ruin, but he hadn't been here for several years, and he felt very strange at the moment, he didn't know what had happened in the ruins in the past few years, let alone what would happen in the future, what he saw and heard was only the situation in front of him, and he couldn't do anything about it, so he could only say to Zhu Guanglian: "Yes, my uncle, the Kuomintang gang is really bad!" ”

After getting the news from the village, Shi Zhu felt that no matter what way he looked at it, he would definitely not arrest himself to be a soldier this time, so he said goodbye to Zhu Guanglian and returned to Guwei.

At this time, the young people who ran out a few days ago have basically come back to prepare for the New Year, and everyone has the same idea.

On the night of the twenty-eighth day of the lunar month, the northwest wind was blowing loudly, and the branches and windows were blown to a rattle, and the wind blowing through the crack in the door to the house made a whining sound from time to time, and after midnight there was a light snowfall. Such an ordinary night could not be more ordinary, it should have been a warm moment for people to be wrapped in the quilt, but no one expected that danger was approaching step by step.

At two or three o'clock in the morning, the black dog at the head of the village suddenly barked, and then the whole village dog followed suit, and the golden retriever was no exception.

The golden retriever is nearly nine years old, and he is very familiar with the footsteps of the people in the village, and he will never shout so loudly if he encounters special circumstances.

The stone pillar tried to hear the movement outside through the door, but the wind was so loud that I could only occasionally hear the rustle of snowflakes blowing.

At this time, Shi Yushi also got up, arrived at the door, held his breath and listened, and said: "The pillar, it's broken, listen to this movement, it looks like the national army is coming to arrest people again!" ”

"Didn't you say you wouldn't catch it?"

"Those people can only listen to half of the nonsense they say, and they can't catch anyone to be soldiers, who knows what they can do! In this way, pillar, just in case, you hurry up and get dressed, or go out and hide first! ”

"Medium!" After that, Shi Zhu hurriedly went to the room to put on his clothes, said a few words to Ji's family, and then opened the door and prepared to go out. As soon as the door opened, snowflakes poured in.

Just as the stone pillar closed the door and was about to turn around, the lights of several flashlights suddenly appeared on the wall, shining on him impartially, and then someone came in over the wall and shouted, "Don't move! ”

was suddenly illuminated by the light of the flashlight, and the stone pillar subconsciously blocked it in front of him with his hand, and then squinted his eyes and looked forward, sure enough, they were all people in military uniforms, and they were still holding guns in their hands, obviously they were here to arrest people and serve as soldiers. Sensing that the situation was not good, the stone pillar suddenly ran to the side, trying to escape through the side door.

Before the stone pillar could open the latch of the side door, he only heard the person behind him fire a shot into the sky, "bang", the sound was crisp, he trembled when he listened, and then he heard someone shouting: "Don't move, if you run again, I will shoot you!" ”

Only then did Shi Zhu stop, slowly turned around, and said, "Don't shoot, I'm just going to pee!" Who are you? Shi Yu and Ji heard the movement outside, and they also ran out to ask what was going on.

"We're here to recruit soldiers, and this time you're on the recruit list!" The soldier in the lead said, "Come with us first, and then go to the county recruitment office if you have any questions!" ”

Shi Yushi asked again: "This chief, you said that you don't have a family, then let me ask you, what is my family name?" Show me the conscription list! ”

"What's the list? These are military secrets, so can you just read them? Lao Tzu was ordered to bring people, saying that if there is your family, there will be your family, and if there is a problem, you go to the county to find our chief and say go! ”

While he was talking, the neighbors heard the movement and all came over.

At this time, a man with an upper-average height, slightly chubby, and forty or fifty years old walked up to him and said, "Sir, I am the first chief here, surnamed Dai, last time I looked at the list of this conscription from the village chief, and there was no Shi family!" Is there a mistake?! ”

"We are also ordered to lead people, there are still nine people in your village, and no one is missing!"

Dai Jia Chang said again: "Sir, according to the laws of the Republic of China, a single Ding is not allowed to draw troops, the Shi family is only a man, and there are many families in the village who have three or four strong men, and it is not the turn of the Shi family!" Besides, didn't the people who ran out last time have all their belongings confiscated at home, and they have reached military service, why do they still come to arrest people? ”

At this time, the leader was a little impatient: "Don't talk nonsense, go to your village chief and security chief to ask about this matter!" No matter how verbose it is, even if you take it away, the national army is just short of people to do chores! ”

Hearing this, the Dai Jia chief didn't dare to squeak.

After that, a few soldiers escorted the stone pillar away, and Shi Yu's family stepped forward to pull it up, crying and shouting: "If you fight for my old life, you are not allowed to take my grandson away!" Seeing this, the leader smashed the butt of the gun on Shi Yu's forehead, and muttered: "Dead old woman, I don't want to live anymore!" ”

Shi Yushi was hit by the butt of the gun, and immediately fainted, and the blood on his forehead instantly trickled down his cheeks, staining the snow on the ground red. At this time, the golden retriever came to him, pushed Shi Yushi hard with his front paws, and hummed "whining" in his mouth.

Shi Zhu saw that his grandmother was beaten, and struggled to turn around and help her up, but as soon as he broke free, he was beaten back by several soldiers.

With Shi Zhu's skills, these people didn't care about him at all, not to mention beating down, even letting their heads fall to the ground, but Shi Zhu knew very well that if he did this, he was afraid that the national army would raid his home, and it would inevitably affect his family, so he endured it. At this moment, Shi Zhu only hates that he has no ability, and he can't even protect his grandmother!

Seeing Shi Yushi fall to the ground, Ji quickly stepped forward to help her up, pinched down the middle of the person, Shi Yushi came back to the yang, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he cried again. After Shi Yushi woke up, Ji asked Aunt Yang next door to take care of her temporarily, she stood up and said to the soldier: "Sir, the man of my family is going to be a soldier, and it is the New Year, so I have to bring him something, right?" ”

The soldiers said: "No need, there is everything in the army, you don't need to bring anything, just go with people!" ”

"Then it's okay to add him some clothes, right? You see, it's a cold day! ”

"Okay, okay, hurry up!" The soldier said a little impatiently, they didn't want to stay here for a while on such a cold day.

Ji ran to the house, took a thick cotton coat and put it on the stone pillar, and then took off the jade pendant around his neck and put it on the stone pillar: "Da, I don't know how long I have been there, you have to be careful yourself, go to the battlefield, pay more attention to safety." This jade pendant is yours, wearing it will definitely keep you safe, and I'll give it to me when you come back......"

Shi Zhu held back his tears and said: "Sien, you also have to pay attention to your body, take care of your grandmother and Shi Shuo, when I am away, this family will depend on you!" ”

With that, a few soldiers escorted the stone pillar away, leaving only a few rows of messy footprints on the snow, and they disappeared after a while.

Ji Shi returned to the house and hugged Shi Shuo, only then did he cry loudly, and his heart suddenly felt extremely painful. She thanked God for letting her meet the stone pillar, but she resented God for being too unfair and cruel to her - her grandmother, mother, younger brother, and father left one after another, and now she finally settled down, but she didn't expect her husband to be arrested by the national army to serve as a soldier again.

Shi Yushi heard Ji's cry, so he endured the pain on his forehead and came over to "comfort", saying that it was comfort, but after only saying a few words, he and Ji cried together, and the two cried until the sky was slightly bright.

In fact, at night, there were eight other families in the village who had the same experience as the Shi family.

As soon as the sky was slightly bright, the snow stopped, and Shi Yu hurriedly went to the Dai Jia Commander and asked why the national army wanted to capture Shi Zhu. The chief had to go to the chief Ding against the little light in the east.

"It's a decision from above!" It's rare for Master Ding to get up so early, and he is full of anger. He was drinking morning tea, picking up the teacup, blowing slowly, and talking to the chief as if it had nothing to do with him.

"But the Shi family is single!"

"Then this thing is easy to do, don't you have two sons in your family, and the youngest son Zhenbang is nineteen this year, right? Or, let him be a soldier and exchange that kid from the Shi family back? I don't dare to say anything else, just by virtue of my relationship with the chief of the Yishan guard, whoever is asked to be a soldier will have to go! "Master Ding is indeed true when he says this, the chief squire and him are brothers, and now that he is in power, he is indeed a lot tougher.

For the matter of Shizhu being arrested, we have to start from last year when Shizhu deceived Master Ding and a few people to distribute relief food, at that time, Master Ding and his big families were dumb and lost, but they have been angry about this matter and vowed to avenge this arrow, so they took the opportunity of this conscription, Master Ding and Yang Dahu intended to let the national army take Shizhu away.

Coincidentally, the nine people who drew the list and ran out at first only came back eight, and there was just one person missing, so Master Ding and Yang Dahu said to Lao Xia that Shi Zhu should be a strong man.

Lao Xia said: "I'm afraid this is inappropriate, right? The Shi family is single, and they can't reach his family! ”

At that time, Master Ding smoked a cigarette pouch and said: "Brother Xia, there is still one person left to come back now, why don't you let your son join the national army?" As long as I say a word to Chief Yishan, I will ensure that your son can serve the national army!" Of course, Master Ding didn't know when he said this that just last night, Yishan had been temporarily controlled by the communist army.

Hearing this, Lao Xia immediately said: "Hey--, my son is not in good shape, not the material for being a soldier!" Then do as you say, let the Shi family go, you are the chief of his family, you have the final say! ”

It was for this reason that Shizhu was arrested in the middle of the night to serve as a soldier.

When Dai Jia Changtian went to find Master Ding in the first place, what Master Ding said to him was the same as what Master Ding said to Lao Xia, and the words were full of intimidation - don't you let Shizhu join the national army? Okay, let your son go!

When Dai Jiachang heard that he was going to let his son become a soldier, his legs trembled with fright, and he hurriedly laughed and said: "Ding Baochang, forget about my son, anyway, the stone pillar has been taken away!" It's just that you also know that Shi Zhu's brother-in-law is in the port and knows a lot of people, so I'm afraid that it will be difficult for him to know about this matter, and I have to be able to give the Shi family a reason! ”

"I don't want your son to serve in the national army, so you should know what to do about it!" Master Ding said.

Dai Jia Chang thought for a moment and said, "Ding Baochang, in that case, you look at giving some money to the Shi family, and I can handle this matter well!" ”

"Money, money, money! You people, you know money! If it's a big deal, you have to ask me for money as a security chief! Master Ding was unhappy in his heart, and he kept chattering in his mouth, but even so, he was still a little jealous, and he had to ask the housekeeper to take some money and give it to the acting chief.

After getting the money, Dai Jiachang planned to go to Shi's house, but before he could lift his feet, he saw several people coming out of Ding's house, all of whom were poker friends who often played mahjong with Master Ding. This will be the acting chief to understand that it was not that Master Ding got up early, but that he played mahjong all night, and he had just finished the game, and he was waiting to go to bed.

Along the way, Dai Jia saw that each family was sweeping the snow in front of their homes. When he saw Shi Yu's family, he smiled and said, "Old sister-in-law, it's a good thing!" I've inquired clearly, your stone pillar was taken away by the national army, that's a good thing! ”

Shi Yushi naturally didn't believe it, and said, "A good thing? Is there anything good about being captured by the national army? ”

"Your pillar has studied and is knowledgeable, this time he was specially recruited by the national army, saying that he will be trained as a recruit after the year, and he will be trained to be an officer in the future! You see, last night was all a misunderstanding, and I couldn't leak the news in advance, and I am afraid that those few soldiers would not know what to do, so they took the pillars away as ordinary people......"

As he spoke, he took out the money from his pocket and handed it to Shi Yu: "Old sister-in-law, look, this is some money from the top that takes special care of your family!" The matter should be kept secret, so I didn't tell your family in advance, I went to Chief Ding in the morning, and he gave me the money! ”

Shi Yushi took the money, but she knew that these were all nonsense, and she couldn't believe it at all, but the person had been arrested, and no matter how much trouble she made, it would not help, and now the life of the family had to go on, and she could only pray that her grandson would come back safely.

Seeing that Shi Yu's family took the money, Dai Jiachang smiled again and said: "Your pillar, you will definitely be able to make contributions and get ahead in the future!" ”

"Lend you good words!" Shi Yushi's tone was very cold when he said this, just like the weather after the snow.