A. The bullet hits someone else's target

December 7, 1979 was a day I will never forget. It was on this day that I took the 16 yuan given to me by my grandmother, parents, aunts and aunts, and carried their ardent hopes to bid farewell to my hometown, relatives and friends, and embarked on the long road of joining the army.

We left Yucheng at 5 p.m. on the 7th in the stuffy tank truck that the troops were accustomed to. When the car stopped after walking for more than an hour, I heard that this was the provincial capital of Jinan. I quickly stuck my head out and saw a sea of lights shining brightly, neon flashing, and everywhere there was a sea of lights. Although my home is only more than 50 kilometers away from Jinan, this is the first time I have seen the lights of the city.

The train was running through the endless night, and perhaps due to the exertion after the excitement, I slowly fell asleep. I don't know how much time passed, but I heard the leader with the troops say, "Wake up, everyone." It's here, it's time to get off! "I walked to the train door with my backpack in my hand and the snowflakes were flying in front of me. I thought, have you gone to the Northeast? I've never been far away, and I don't have any idea of the geographical location in my mind, and I don't know where it is.

It turned out that this was a small station called Qishan in Changyi County, Shandong Province. It's been a long time and I haven't even gone out of Shandong! At that time, the secrecy work of the soldiers was very good, and we didn't know where to go. After all of us got off the bus, under the command of the leaders who led the troops, we boarded the "Great Liberation" one after another, and after nearly two hours of bumpy driving on the rugged mountain road, we finally came to a gate where soldiers were standing guard. When we got out of the car, we saw "Warm welcome to new comrades!" slogan; The cheerful sound of gongs and drums was heard.

Where is this city? It's clearly a big ravine! My heart was half cold. During the inspection of the troops, I always heard people say that these soldiers are good, they are technical soldiers, and they are stationed in big cities. Before I could think about it, we quickly lined up, took roll calls, and divided into classes, and I was taken away by Xu Jingxiu, the squad leader whose family is Laixi, Shandong.

According to the rules of the army, after the new recruits arrive in the army, they must undergo three months of military and political training, that is, during these three months, from getting up, folding quilts, washing, eating, and dressing; Starting with subjects such as walking, running, and positive walking, we will realize the fundamental transformation from an ordinary person to a soldier. During this period, those who fail to meet the requirements will also be returned to their place of origin. Everything seems simple at home, but in the army everything is not simple. The quilt should be folded into "tofu blocks", and there should be time limits for eating and dressing. Let's just talk about simple walking, who can't walk at home? But not in the army. Stride length, swing arm height, and distance from the body are clearly defined. In my opinion, the hardest thing to deal with is walking in the right step. I and a few fellow villagers who are always criticized, often secretly get up at night to practice by themselves, but there is not much progress. It seems that it is not easy to be a real soldier!

At that time, our group of soldiers came from five places in Shandong and Jiangsu provinces. from Jinan City, Yucheng County, Qihe County in Shandong Province; from Nanjing City and Danyang County in Jiangsu Province. After a period of study and training, the two major factions were formed not in Shandong and Jiangsu, but in urban and rural areas. Urban soldiers are intelligent, well-informed, quick to accept new things, and make great progress in learning and training; Rural soldiers are simple and willing to endure hardships, but they are slow to respond, they have never seen much of the world, and it is really almost impossible to learn and train. Therefore, the rural soldiers were ridiculed, ridiculed, and ridiculed by the urban soldiers everywhere.

Once, our recruit company organized a bath in the bathhouse. Taking a shower, of course, to strip naked, is all too natural and commonplace. However, more than 100 recruits were all naked and bathing together, and we rural soldiers had never seen such a formation. When I was at home, I boiled a basin of water in the winter and wiped it with a towel, and in the summer I went swimming in the river. In front of the public, I was very embarrassed, and I just didn't want to take off my clothes. When I saw that the city soldiers had all stripped down generously, I was embarrassed and slowly undressed, and went down to an unnoticed corner of the pool. There are not a few soldiers like me in the countryside, and some of them go down in their pants, which causes a burst of cynicism among the urban soldiers.

The cultural and recreational activities after the training gave the city soldiers the upper hand. There is a young man from Jinan who served as a soldier in Yucheng and is named Geng Xianqiang. In his spare time, in the recruit company, he took the initiative to teach and sing lyrical songs such as "Who Doesn't Say My Hometown is Good" and "My Sister Looks for My Brother Tears". The movement between the waves, the melody of the melody and frustration, makes people feel admirable. I thought to myself, why haven't we heard such a beautiful song?

After more than two months of hard training, I finally barely passed the queue, housekeeping, etc., and the next step was to shoot and drop bombs. When I practiced shooting, I had another problem: I had to close my left eye and aim the crosshair and gap with my right eye at the bull's-eye. But as soon as I closed my left and right eyes, I couldn't aim at all. There is no way, only hard practice. In this way, I practiced when I walked, and at night when I was sleeping in bed, and finally I was able to open and close my eyes freely before I started shooting.

Shooting and bombing are not like queues and housekeeping which are soft indicators, shooting and bombing are hard indicators, shooting is the number of rings, and throwing bombs is the number of meters.

On the day of the official shooting, I was very nervous and afraid that I would fail. But the devil sends the gods, and whatever they are afraid of comes. When shooting, I didn't pull the trigger due to nervousness, and when I pulled the trigger hard, the muzzle of the gun shook, and the two bullets ran to someone else's target. When I fired the last 3 rounds, I learned my lesson and started to calm down, and each of the 3 bullets hit 8 rings, so I was still 6 rings away from passing 30 rings.

At this time, Liu Shenghua, a fellow villager from Yucheng who was shooting next to me, said: "Liang motherland, what did you do? My eyes are open to me and I can play better than you (he has the same problem with me, but he is the first in the class). Wait until the company leader comes back from the target inspection and says: "He has 2 more bullets on the target, there is no way, who will let someone help him." ”

When the shooting was over, everyone happily sang "The sunset is red and the sun is flying, the soldiers shoot the target and return the camp, and return the camp to the ......."

That night, I was so frustrated that I didn't even eat dinner. Because I dragged the class back, Xu Jingxiu's class leader criticized me, but more comforting and encouraging. He said: "Let the past pass, the next step is the bombing subject, you try to get a good score to make up for the lack of shooting." I nodded silently.

It didn't take long for the live ammunition throwing to begin. I came to the designated place according to the password, and thought to myself, I must vote for a good score this time for everyone to see. I picked up the grenade and pulled open the back cover, put the string on my little finger, and threw the grenade out with all my strength. Unexpectedly, due to the excessive force, the grenade left the safe area and ran to my right. The sudden situation made me stupid, I stood there and did not move, and the grenade was only about 10 meters away from me, which was very dangerous. At this time, the scene was panicked, and I saw squad leader Xu running over with an arrow and pressing me down on top of me. The grenade exploded with a "boom", and the dust raised fell on Squad Leader Xu. Fortunately, there are no "Wang Jie"-style heroes, otherwise, my history as a soldier would have ended.

This time I wasn't as lucky as last time. In the evening, the class held a class meeting to severely criticize and educate me. I could only weep bitterly and accept everyone's severe punishment. I thought to myself, no matter how you approve it, as long as you don't return me. Squad leader Xu finally said: "After you get out of the company, you mainly carry out construction tasks. If you go to the front line to fight, you will have to be returned based on your shooting and bomb throwing results. Hearing this, my heart finally settled in my stomach.

More than three months of recruit training is over. We finally put on the red collar badge and red hat badge and were assigned to our respective units, becoming a real PLA soldier. Yang Jun, who was more familiar with our commune, was assigned to the first battalion headquarters, Li Xuejun was assigned to the second battalion headquarters, Liu Chunhe and Li Deyuan were assigned to the communications company, Yin Fenjiang was assigned to the third artillery company, and I was assigned to the worst - the sixth infantry company. As soon as you hear it, you know that there is no technical content.

B. Became a cultural teacher

Our army was moved from Xuzhou a few years ago, and many barracks had not yet been built. The Sixth Company I was assigned to was working in a small village called Dianzi more than 10 miles away from the barracks to beat stones (for the troops to build barracks). This time, five comrades from our county, Liu Shenghua, Gao Decheng, Sun Wenshui, Zhang Zhenjiang, and myself, were assigned to this company. At that time, the company commander was Zhang Zhifa, a native of Henan; The instructor's name is Zhang Yiming, a native of Liaoning (later promoted to political commissar of the Dongying Military Division in Shandong). After arriving at the company, I was assigned to the second platoon and six shifts with Yu Guihe from Qihe County.

This small village called Dianzi belongs to Jingzhi Town, Anqiu County, Shandong Province. Although it is a hilly area, it is still a bit richer than my hometown. The landlord I live with is in a similar situation to my family, and I also have 6 children. When I see this hostess who works tirelessly day and night, I often think of my mother. Our class lived in two households, and Yu lived with the class leader in the river Kwai; I live with the deputy squad leader. Our squad leader is called Chen Chenghui, and the deputy squad leader is called Sun Qixin, one is Xintai County, Shandong Province; The other is Xinwen County, Shandong Province, which belongs to the Tai'an region. After we arrived in the class, the most important thing that squad leader Chen talked to us two recruits about was the issue of "relationship between men and women". A few years after the troops were relocated, every year when the soldiers were discharged from the army, they took away the beautiful girls from several surrounding villages, which aroused the hostility of the local youth and seriously affected the military-government and military-civilian relations. In particular, one of the squad leaders of our company was clingy to the "village flower" of Dianzi Village, so that a young man in the village who had a crush on the girl for a long time found the company to "duel" with the squad leader, and in the end, the squad leader was disciplined. In early 1979, before the start of the self-defense war against Vietnam, he wrote a bloody letter asking him to go to the front line to fight for "meritorious service and atonement." At that time, the regiment wanted to select 16 people from our company to participate in the battle, and the company was afraid that he would continue to stay in the village and cause trouble, so they approved his request. Unexpectedly, this squad leader was a blessing in disguise, bravely killed the enemy in battle, made meritorious contributions, and was exceptionally promoted to officer.

After listening to squad leader Chen's words, I was secretly happy for that squad leader, and at the same time warned myself that I must not make mistakes in this regard. Our landlord had a pretty girl, a year younger than me, and I never dared to talk to her. Occasionally, when she talked to me, I would blush, for fear that people would see that there was something suspicious. There is only one veteran surnamed Tao in Liaocheng who often jokes and amuses her, bringing some fun to the boring and monotonous life, but for this he has been warned by squad leader Chen many times.

The quarry is 500 meters southwest of the village. We lined up at 8 a.m. to work, 6 p.m. to get off work, and had a boxed lunch there at noon. Every day, "working at sunrise and resting at sunset" is similar to doing small jobs at home, which makes me very hesitant and confused, and I feel that the gap is too big from what I originally thought. Our group of soldiers did not live in the cities, nor were they technical soldiers, and since the beginning of our group of soldiers, the number of soldiers who joined the party was controlled in the future, and the direct promotion of soldiers to cadres was abolished (all of them can only be promoted after training in military academies). I always feel that I was born at the wrong time, resulting in no goal and direction for my efforts.

At this time, in May 1980, a reader signed "Pan Xiao" wrote "The road of life, how can it get narrower and narrower?" was published in the magazine "China Youth". The tearful remarks of the 23-year-old sparked a national debate about the outlook on life. At this time, the "Qianwei Daily" of the Jinan Military Region published another article "Three Hopes Have Been Lost, Where Is My Future?" A letter from a reader signed "a veteran soldier" caused a strong reaction in the troops. In particular, rural soldiers like us, who have the goal of becoming a soldier in the party, promoting cadres and learning technology, feel sincere and speak our hearts. In view of this ideological sprout, the army has carried out vigorous education on the "revolutionary outlook on life" from top to bottom, focusing on the question of "for whom to be a soldier?" For whom is the war fought? ". Through the in-depth and meticulous "education on the revolutionary outlook on life," we have profoundly realized that serving as a soldier is the duty of every young person, not a springboard for political capital, and still less can we join the army in order to find a way.

The ideological problem has been solved, and the work momentum is sufficient. Although I felt more tired and bitter when I came back from a day of stone work than the construction team at home, I was in a happy mood and a warm life in the big family of the army.

Due to the inconvenience of the company in the management of the construction tasks in the village, we have relatively more free time. When I was in the recruit company, I heard that the army must enter the military academy in the future, that is, from our group of soldiers, they can enter the military academy. I wrote to my family about the news, and my father sent me my high school textbooks early. In this way, I studied high school courses in my spare time.

One night, I was studying and was discovered by Instructor Zhang Yiming who was doing ward rounds. He asked me, "What level of education are you?" I said, "High school graduates." When he heard this, he said, "Good! Xiao Liangzi, study hard and strive to be admitted to the military school. "After listening to Instructor Zhang's words, I have a clearer idea of the direction of my efforts.

Not long after that conversation with Instructor Zhang, the company's correspondent suddenly informed me that I was going to the regiment to participate in training as a new cultural instructor in the company's primary school class. At that time, many rural soldiers were not well educated, and some even did not know a few big characters. In order to improve their cultural quality, each company has set up junior high school and primary school classes in accordance with the instructions of their superiors to provide them with cultural remedial lessons.

The so-called training course is actually two days long. Officer Wang, who is in charge of culture and education in the Propaganda Unit of the Political Department of the regiment, gathers the newly appointed cultural instructors of each company to convey the spirit of the division's instructions on scientific and cultural education and the specific requirements of the regiment, and then receives the required textbooks and teaching materials. During the training, I went to the Publicity Unit to ask Officer Wang to receive the teaching materials. At this time, a cadre wearing a "four-pocketed" military uniform came into the room, and I quickly stood up and saluted. Director Wang introduced me and said: "This is Guo Jinshan, the director of our unit, who is in charge of news and often publishes articles in newspapers, and is very famous!" "When I heard the introduction, I was in awe, it was amazing to be able to publish an article in the newspaper. Guo Gongren looked very kind and easy-going, and said with a smile: "Lao Wang, you are making fun of me again!" Then, Secretary Wang pointed at me and said, "This is Liang Guoguo, the new cultural instructor of the Sixth Company." With that, I hurriedly stretched out my hands and shook hands with Mr. Guo reverently. Sure enough, not long after returning to the company, I successively saw articles in the "Jiefangjun Bao" and the "Qianwei Bao" of the military region reflecting the work of our regiment, and the last signature was "Guo Jinshan." What particularly excites me is that there is an article that actually writes about our company's "glorious meritorious service in supporting the work of the main post." Since then, I have had another "complex".

C. Make a tour report in the whole division

After three months of stone digging in Dianzi Village, we successfully completed our mission and returned to the camp. At this time, we moved into a building, and one class was concentrated in one large room. Returning to the camp to facilitate management, everything has moved towards regularity again, and all aspects of internal health and other aspects have been strictly required. According to the unwritten rules of the army, we can only be promoted to veterans after another batch of new recruits leave the company. So, during the period when the recruits didn't arrive, it was still an opportunity for me and another recruit to perform in the River Kwai. Since both of them are recruits, there is competition. Yu graduated from Kwaihe Elementary School without much culture, but he is honest and willing to work. Every day before dawn, he gets up early, first cleans the downstairs, and then cleans the room when the comrades in the class get up after getting up. In this way, it seems that I am very passive, and I am also a recruit, and the performance of others is so good, it makes my face a little unbearable. There were many times when I went to bed at night and I thought I would be ahead of him tomorrow, but he always got up earlier than me. Once, when I went to bed at night, I didn't take off my clothes, and I got up at 4 o'clock, when the sky was still gray, and the surroundings were still gray. I first cleaned the front and back of the building, but it was too early, and the comrades in the squad were still sleeping and could not clean the room, so I cleaned the sanitary areas of other companies. But because no one saw it too early, he didn't "get" any praise. At this point, my mindset was a little unbalanced. Before going to bed the next night, I hid my broom and mop, and when it was almost dawn, I saw that Yu Guihe, who had gotten up early, had gone around the room and couldn't find it, so I covered my head with a quilt and snickered inside.

Later, squad leader Chen found out about this and criticized me. Only in this way can I become a qualified soldier. The class leader's criticism and education made me deeply educated and inspired. After that, no matter whether I praised it or not, I insisted on helping the kitchen cook, cleaning the public toilets, digging out ash at the company headquarters, washing clothes for the platoon commander, etc., and I was persistent. In this way, I have not only been praised many times, but also received even awards.

Our platoon commander's name is Liu Guoyi, a native of Changde, Hunan. I started to do his laundry, and I really didn't want him to know. Every time, I took it out secretly, washed it, dried it, folded it neatly, and then quietly put it back in. Unexpectedly, he still found out later, and he talked to me and said, "You are not allowed to wash it for me in the future." You're still young, learn more, don't put your time and energy into this! ”

Platoon Commander Liu's words are serious, loud, thought-provoking, and thought-provoking. After the company returned to the barracks, it was mainly responsible for the construction of the regimental auditorium. In this construction task, my main task as a recruit is to "hook the joints" of the walls built by the veterans. It's a lot easier than the veterans. At that time, the regimental film group had a radio station, which specially broadcast the praises of the good people and good deeds that emerged in various units, so I wrote a manuscript of the company's advanced deeds such as "working overtime to catch up with the schedule and building an auditorium in full swing" and sent it to the film group. One day at noon, I was "hooking" on a very high shelf, when I suddenly heard the radio "The following is a ......report provided by Liang Guoguo, a soldier of the Sixth Company", and I didn't listen to it at all, and I was so excited that I almost fell off the very high shelf. Since then, my name has been heard on the radio of our regiment. During this period, in addition to writing radio scripts, I also secretly sent manuscripts to the "Guardian Daily" and "People's Liberation Army Daily". But dozens of articles were sent in a row, all of which were mud cows into the sea - no news. In this way, I often consulted Officer Guo, who was in charge of news in the propaganda unit of the regiment. Mr. Guo was very enthusiastic and patiently explained and counseled me, which made me make great progress.

In June 1980, I was recommended by the company to take the entrance examination for the whole army's academies, because the "water" of my high school graduation was too large, and the result was what I had already predicted - my name fell to Sun Shan. On that occasion, a total of five comrades of our regiment were admitted to various academies and universities throughout the army, including two from Shandong and three from Jiangsu. As far as I know, they are all "university leaks" who have taken the college entrance examination. The reality of the comrades-in-arms around me who were admitted to the military academy further strengthened my determination to enter the military academy.

The scenery in front of people comes from the sweat behind them. It seems that I still have a long way to go on the road to military school, and I must have a long-term plan. In addition to construction, the company also has to carry out collective activities such as political education, and has very little time at its disposal. To solve this problem, you have to find a solution. How can I have time to study? That's when I thought about feeding the pigs. Because it is relatively leisurely to work as a breeder in the company and has a lot of spare time, many comrades are reluctant to go because they think of the bad reputation. After careful consideration, I submitted an application to the party branch of the company to become a breeder. Instructor Zhang Yiming seemed to see through my thoughts, and talked to me and said: "I can understand your feelings, and your thinking of not being afraid of hardships is also worthy of praise, but when you are breeders, you are generally old comrades, and after working for a few years, you can solve the problem of organization (joining the party) for them." New comrades generally do not think about it. ”

What should I do? At this time, I suddenly remembered that one night in April, I took a manuscript to the propaganda unit to ask Secretary Guo for advice. When I walked into the office, I found a soldier wearing "two pockets" and older than me lying on the table writing a manuscript. At this time, Officer Guo introduced me and said: "Xiaoliang, this is Zhang Xianling, a soldier of the third battalion and eight companies, and he is also your fellow villager in Shandong, who enlisted in the army two years earlier than you. Because he published two articles in the newspaper, we brought him in as a full-time reporter. "At that time, because most of my spare time was spent in cultural classes, I didn't think much about what Secretary Guo said.

At this time, Director Guo's words made me wake up. I thought to myself, in the future, if I work hard to write news reports and wait for them to be published in the newspaper, won't I be able to leave the company and be transferred to the agency as a full-time reporter, and then I will have time to study? After making up my mind, I put aside my cultural studies and grasped the main contradiction - that is, to study news writing diligently and strive to get into the newspaper as soon as possible.

December 10, 1980 was an unforgettable day for me. On this day, the third page of the "Qianwei Daily" of the Jinan Military Region published a "debut novel" of less than 500 words that I had written, but I did not expect that it would change my life after that.

Here are some excerpts:

Thirty veterans of a certain regiment who were engaged in cooking work summed up their experience and left it to the company

On the eve of leaving the unit, 30 cooks of a certain regiment who had exceeded their time limit wrote 40 articles on their cooking work experience based on their own personal experience and left them for the company.

Li Jiusheng, the leader of the fourth company cooking squad, has been a cook for six years. During this period, he humbly consulted the old cook, and successively read more than a dozen related books such as "Cooking Techniques", "Chinese Famous Recipes" and "Nutrition", and also took advantage of the opportunity to visit four famous restaurants in Hunan Province to learn from experience, and became more proficient in cooking techniques. When Li Jiusheng saw that he was about to leave the army, he seized the time to sum up his cooking work experience over the past six years, read more than 40 technical materials, and conscientiously compiled such technical materials and experiences as "Picnic," "Coarse Grains," and "Cooking" regardless of fatigue. Chen Chenglun, the leader of the Sixth Cooking Squad, has some ways to change the stove to save coal. Recently, he used his spare time to sum up the experience of coal saving and pass it on to his comrades.

(Originally published in The Guardian, December 10, 1980, page 3)

The manuscript I wrote appeared in the newspaper, and it became news in the company. From the company leaders to the platoon commander and squad leader, they all gave praise, and the villagers also came to congratulate me. I was so excited that I couldn't sleep at night. That night, I took a flashlight and read the articles that had first turned into lead letters under the covers, and summarized the reasons why dozens of articles in the past had fallen into the sea.

After the manuscript appeared in the newspaper, most people praised it, but it was also envied and criticized by some people. This is what people often call "pink eye". Some said, "It's not that the blind cat has touched a dead mouse, let's take a look at the previous article?" Others said, "This is not doing a proper job, and it is the idea of fame and fortune that is doing tricks." To their surprise, more than 10 days later, on December 28, the second page of the "Qianwei Daily" published again an article I had written under the title "A certain recruit company has established a registration card for recruits' specialties and hobbies." This caused a sensation throughout the regiment, and a recruit published two articles in the newspaper in such a short period of time, which had never been done in the whole regiment before.

The manuscript was published in the newspaper, driving away the haze of falling off the list in my heart. On the road of my life, there is another glimmer of hope. At this time, I didn't expect my father to come to see me. My relatives were particularly excited to see each other, and my father and I had a long conversation all night in the guest room where the company came to the team. It turned out that my father came this time for a purpose: it was the family of the girl I mentioned that I had urged again, asking what to do? You didn't get into the exam, did you change your mind? Otherwise, people won't wait any longer. When I heard my father's words, I felt a little angry. I never promised anything, let alone asked people to wait for me. I told my father what I thought, and at the same time reaffirmed my determination not to find a partner now.

If in the past I didn't have any specific impression of the girls in the city, I do now. Look at the staff officers, officers, and assistants of the regimental organs, as well as the platoon commanders of our company, all of them are looking for city girls. Their slender figures, flower-like appearances, glamorous dresses, and the charm of their gestures all make young men fascinated and reverie. Although our troops are stationed in the ravines, why can we attract these beautiful women from Shenyang, Shijiazhuang, Changsha, Dalian, Qingdao and other cities? Just because they are officers. "If there is a plane tree at home, the phoenix will come naturally". In the late 70's and early 80's, the political status of the army was very high, and these beautiful women often felt proud and proud that they had found an officer to be their partner. At that time, my idea was that no matter what the difficulties were, I would definitely strive to be promoted, and like these young officers, I would find a city girl to be my daughter-in-law, and I would never let my tragedy repeat itself in my next generation.

My father was naturally a little unhappy when he failed to convince me, but after listening to the introduction of the company leader and Platoon Commander Liu, I went back satisfied.

Not long after my father returned, our division held a grand meeting to summarize and commend the work of news reporting in 1980. At that meeting, I made a typical speech on the topic of "How New Soldiers Take the First Step in Journalism." After the meeting, according to the opinions of the leaders of the division's political department, I made a tour report in the artillery regiment and three other infantry regiments and other units to which the division belongs.

As soon as the tour report ended, I was naturally seconded to the regimental political department as a full-time reporter, and my original idea was realized.

After arriving at the organ, don't look at the "two pockets", but except for the salary, everything else is the same as the cadres of the organ. There is a special office for work, and the meal is the canteen of the institution. In addition, the cadres of the organs also spend money to buy meal tickets, so I don't have to spend money because I have food expenses. Because I am a soldier, the requirements of the leaders for me are not as strict as those of the cadres of the organs, and the working hours are basically at my own disposal. However, he still enjoyed the political treatment, and whenever he went to a unit for an interview, he would be greeted from afar and enthusiastically introduced "this is so-and-so from the political department of the regiment." Whenever this happens, I wonder when I really become a member of the political department. What I didn't expect was that a few years later, in June 1994, I was transferred to the General Political Department, the highest political organ of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

In order to "kick the head and kick well", to be able to work in the political department for a long time, and to realize my "established policy", I showed the vigor of construction in the company, and worked hard to interview and write day and night. Of course, the hard work paid off, and my manuscripts continued to appear in the newspapers, sometimes even three of my manuscripts in one page.

In the midst of the hustle and bustle, it is the day of the military school examination in June. Heaven seems to have deliberately favored me, and there were new regulations in my favor for the enrollment of military academies that year: those who enlisted in the army in the first year could not take the entrance examination, and in the future, the enrollment of military academies would be selected from among the outstanding soldiers in the second year. When I heard the news, I was both happy and worried: I was glad that I had a lot of strong competitors in this year's military school entrance exam; What worries them is that many of the new soldiers who have joined the army this year are coming with the intention of taking the military academy examination, and the new regulations will definitely be a heavy blow to them. This is certainly a common problem in the whole army, and as a news reporter, after capturing this information, I interviewed many new soldiers who wanted to apply for military academies this year overnight, wrote a targeted article and sent it to the newspaper office, which was soon published in an important position on the page of the "Guardian Daily" of the military district on 7 June. This report has played a role in calming the morale of the troops, stabilizing their mood, and boosting their morale for the new soldiers who are temporarily unable to apply for military academies in the whole military region.

Here are some excerpts:

The application conditions are not enough, and the motivation for work is not reduced

The 320 new soldiers of a certain regiment are ideologically stable and active in their work

After the issuance of new regulations on the enrollment of military cadets in military academies. A new soldier of a certain unit and a regiment who does not meet the requirements for applying for the examination has a general understanding of the general situation and the overall situation, is ideologically stable, works actively, and strives to make contributions to the building of the company.

This regiment has a total of 320 new fighters with a high degree of Chinese. They heard that four of the new soldiers who joined the army last year were admitted to military academies and academies in their first year, so they were very eager to take the examination, and many new soldiers sent home a college entrance examination review syllabus and a series of self-study books on mathematics, physics and chemistry, and conscientiously reviewed them to prepare for the military academies. This year, however, there are new regulations for recruiting military cadets in military academies and academies: Only outstanding squad leaders and soldiers who have served for more than one year are qualified to apply for the examination. As a result, many new fighters are no longer able to apply for the exam. But they can get it right, they still work diligently, and their fighting spirit is undiminished. Liu Kun, a new soldier of the First Artillery Company, was only six points short of the local college entrance examination before enlisting in the army, and now he has completed all the mathematics, physics and chemistry courses in high school. He said: "Serving in the army is first of all duty, and enrollment is secondary, and I firmly agree with this provision." During the training, he carried forward the revolutionary spirit of "not being afraid of two things," practiced hard and studied the artillery profession, and scored full marks in the two artillery theoretical assessments. He also warmly encouraged the two qualified soldiers in the platoon to apply for the exam, read all his books to them, and used his spare time to tutor. Tan Chengsheng, a new soldier of the Fifth Company, was a well-known top student in mathematics, physics and chemistry at school, and was unable to take the exam due to illness during the college entrance examination. After the new regulations for recruiting military cadets in military academies and academies were issued this year, he continued to work in a down-to-earth and conscientious manner. Recently, the company conducted four assessments: shooting (the first exercise), bomb throwing, politics, and culture, and he achieved excellent results and was praised by the cadres and soldiers.

(Originally published in the "Qianwei Daily" of Jinan Military Region, June 7, 1981)

Because of my outstanding performance in the news reports, although my preliminary examination results were very unsatisfactory, the cadre unit of the regimental political department, which was in charge of the entrance examination, made an exception for me to take the all-army unified examination, and the result was that my nephew still played a lantern - as usual (uncle).

The second time I fell off the list, it hit me hard, and I was a little discouraged. But thinking about the oath I made when I was a soldier and the responsibility of being the eldest brother in the family, I deeply feel that "there is a road in Huashan since ancient times", that is, to strive for progress and never give up until the goal is achieved.

The sun is new every day. I have to keep trying. If you work hard, you may not succeed, but if you don't work hard, you will always accept failure.