The sky was gray, and although it was daytime, there was no trace of the sun. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info large clouds float low in the sky, and they are constantly rolling. In contrast to the gloom of the sky, the earth is pale. The soil in the north of the Huai River contains a large amount of alkaline salt water, and the temperature drops sharply in winter, the salt water freezes, and the soil hardens. When the temperature rises, the salt melts and the brine seeps out of the soil. When the sun shines, the water evaporates, and the salt flowers that turn into white flowers adhere to the surface of the soil. When the temperature plummets again, the unevaporated brine freezes into salt flowers and adheres to the surface of the soil. When there are more salt flowers, it becomes a large area of saline-alkali land. From afar, it looks like a layer of hoarfrost has grown on the earth. There were no crops on the saline ground, only yellowed weeds and a few trees and willows. In the middle of winter, these trees that have lost their leaves stand alone in the saline ground, listless, their thin and slender branches whipped by the northwest wind.

The 1st Division was the last to retreat, and on January 1, 1947, they withdrew across the Longhai Road and moved north. Walking on the not very smooth road, the fighters drooped their heads and did not say a word. The northwest wind whined and blew on the face, like a knife cut, and like a needle prick. The warriors were pressed against the stone of Lin He's defeat in their hearts, and now they were attacked by the northwest wind, and their hearts were even heavier, and their faces were as gloomy as the sky.

As he walked, a small soldier suddenly pushed Guo Lin, who had been walking with his head down, and stretched out his hand to look ahead, "Company commander, look." ”

Guo Lin looked up and saw that a long railway track in front of him lay horizontally on sleepers and piles of rubble, intersecting with the road where the troops were marching. This is the Longhai Railway, which connects the east and west of China. On the west side of the highway south of the railway, there is a stone tablet, which is engraved with eye-catching Yan style characters "Jianghuai Jingluo Envoy Jurisdiction", and a line of small characters is also engraved next to the big characters "In September of the second year of the Republic of China (author's note: 1913), President Yuan Da (author's note; Yuan Shikai) edict to set up the Huanghuai Jianghuai Economic Envoy, the two economic envoys immediately obeyed the order to demarcate the division, erect a monument as the boundary, the Republic of China two years of October 6.

The little soldier's eyelids jumped, "Company commander, as soon as we walk past this stele, we are out of the Jianghuai area, and the stele is the Huanghuai area!" ”

Guo Lin didn't speak, biting his lip and nodded. Although the Huanghuai and Jianghuai Economic Envoys were revoked after a few years of existence, the Beiyang Government later set up the Huanghuaihai Economic and Strategic Envoys to govern most of the original Huanghuai and Jianghuai areas. The Huang Huai Hai Jing did not exist for a long time, and it was also revoked. However, the geographical names of the Huanghuai region, the Jianghuai region, and the Huanghuaihai region formed by this were inherited later.

When they were about to cross the Longhai Railway, the soldiers turned their heads as if they had received a hint and stared at the land belonging to Jianghuai, the flat but open surface not like the whetstone, the snow-white salt flowers, and the yellowing weeds. Some people couldn't control themselves, and their eyes suddenly filled with tears, which flowed down their cheeks.

As he approached the boundary monument, Guo Lin walked out of the queue, trotted to the boundary monument, leaned down, and reached out to touch the handwriting on it. After a while, he took out a handkerchief from his left hand, grabbed a piece of dirt from the ground with his right hand, wrapped it in a handkerchief, put it in his arms, and then stood up and returned to the queue. As he walked past the boundary monument, he felt that his steps were heavy, heavy.

Seeing this, Xiao Mao couldn't help but quietly poke Xiao Jiang, who was walking side by side, "Hey, what does Company Commander Guo mean by this?" ”

Xiao Jiang said lightly: "Being in a foreign land, I care about my homeland." ”

"Ouch!" Xiao Mao smacked his lips, "When we left our hometown, why didn't we remember to carry a handful of soil from our hometown?" ”

"Don't you want to pick up the soil of your hometown?" Xiao Jiang glared at him, "Don't you look at whose fellow you are?" You pick up the soil of his house, beware of others saying that you are in Cao Ying, and your heart is in Han! ”

"Huh?" Xiao Mao blinked his eyes and was speechless for a while.

Xiao Jiang saw that Guo Lin's face was still very gloomy, so he smiled and said: "Company commander, you see that there is no mountain or wall on the border between the Yellow Sea and Jianghuai, and as soon as the wind blows, it blows through the two areas with sand and soil. I see, what you are carrying may not be the soil of Jianghuai, maybe it is the soil of Jianghuai blown from Huanghuai to Jianghuai! ”

"Haha", the fighters laughed, and even some of the tearful fighters couldn't help but burst into laughter, and their faces began to stretch. At this time, a soldier named Chu Dayu couldn't help but ask: "Xiao Jiang, according to what you say, if you live on the national border, the strong wind can blow foreign soil to our China?" ”

Xiao Jiang noticed that Guo Lin's face was still ugly, and said with a smile: "As soon as the wind blows, it blows out for a hundred or ten or hundreds of miles in one breath, which is too normal." Therefore, it is possible to say that the soil on the border of Jianghuai is blown by strong winds from the Haihe River. If you are on the national border, you are carrying a handful of soil, is it considered to be concerned about the motherland, or is it considered to be connected to foreign countries? ”

"Haha!" The fighters laughed heartily together.

"your sister-in-law's eggs!" Guo Lin still didn't smile, and glared at Xiao Jiang.

"Company Commander Guo, how can you open your mouth to scold?" The lean instructor Gao Zhe rode up from behind, "Comrades, what's wrong with joking and livening up the atmosphere?" What's more, what Xiao Jiang said is not unreasonable. Think about it, was your attitude right? ”

Guo Lin lowered his head and stopped squeaking.

Just now, when Gao Zhe rode past the warriors on horseback, he noticed the mood changes of the warriors. At this moment, he turned to Feng Tao, who was riding side by side, and shook his head helplessly, "The eight-year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was so hard and cruel, we didn't throw away the Jianghuai base area. Now that the war of self-defense has only been fought for half a year, the main forces of our army have withdrawn from Jianghuai. There are many southerners in the army, from Jiangnan to Jiangbei, and then to the north of the Huai River, no matter what, the troops are still in Jianghuai, and the soldiers can barely accept it in their hearts. This time out of the realm, the warriors' emotions fluctuated. We have to find ways to stabilize people's minds, otherwise it will affect the combat effectiveness of the troops. ”

Feng Tao kept his mouth closed, his face was also very gloomy, and he was still sad that he couldn't reunite with his long-lost lover.

At this moment, Gao Zhe's words suddenly caused him to think newly. After the fall of Linhe, the higher authorities did not give the order to disperse the guerrilla warfare, because the guerrilla warfare could only be fought piecemeal and could not destroy the main force of the enemy in large numbers. In the past, the use of guerrilla warfare to fight devils was determined by the harsh conditions at that time, but now our army's equipment and combat effectiveness have been greatly improved compared with before, and we are now capable of fighting a big war. Therefore, at present, the higher authorities would rather retreat the main forces than disperse to fight guerrillas, in order to concentrate their forces to fight a war of annihilation.

Thinking of this, he put aside his lovesickness for the time being, his face became cheerful, and he said with confidence, "The best way to stabilize people's hearts is to win a big battle." We'll see, the best is yet to come. (To be continued.) )