In 1939, a heavy snowfall moistened the North China Plain to the point that even the soil became black and oily. On the twenty-eighth day of the first lunar month, only three days before the chūn equinox, the chūn wind on the North China Plain was slightly drunk, the grass was green, the leaves were green, and the swallows flying south had begun to form a formation and return to the north.

When he got up in the morning, the old man of Qingsan drank his son a little and got up and packed up the farm tools.

The old Han family lives in Jixiantun, Qingxian County. When he was young, he was this well-known **** style, plowing, cocooning, hoeing, and raking everything, and the landlords of the surrounding ten miles and eight villages were willing to hire him to work.

At that time, the old man who celebrated his birthday could eat several sorghum wotou in one meal, and he carried a 150 bag of grain without blushing or panting. Later, the old man who celebrated his birthday took the wages he had accumulated for several years, bought a máo donkey, and started a business of rushing his feet, carrying salt from the seaside salt field to the county seat of Qingxian County, Cangxian County, and Xinhai County to sell, and by the way, he also gave the workers and fishermen to carry Hengshui Baigan and grain. After a few years, he actually bought a few acres of land in Jixiantun on the south bank of the Ziya River, married his daughter-in-law and started a family. The daughter-in-law married to the house, and in less than a year, she added a white and chubby xiǎo son. Now, the old man celebrating his birthday is even happier. Chūn planted the autumn harvest and continued to run his máo donkey cart when the farm was not working. I have been to Tianjin, I have seen the road house, and I am a capable person in Jixiantun. Gradually, he became richer, and by the time he was in his forties, he already had 20 acres of fine paddy fields, and the máo donkey was replaced by two black and shiny mules for the New Year's holidays, and his wife could wear clothes made of foreign cloth to visit relatives at her parents' house.

This is not the time to make a fortune. The old man was targeted by the bandits, kidnapped, ransomed, and tossed, and the twenty acres of good land and the two mules were exchanged for the silver dollars in the bandits' pockets.

After this change, the waist of the old man who celebrated his birthday was bent early, and the wrinkles on his forehead and face were like the big xiǎoxiǎo ditches on the land on the border of Ji and Lu. However, the old man who celebrated his birthday was not discouraged, and he started his old business again, sold his three tiled houses, and ran a máo donkey cart again. Not to mention, it was another few years of hard work, and when the old man was 50 years old, he bought back his own ten acres of good land, built three tiled houses and a few thatched houses, but this time the máo donkey was not replaced by a mule, he felt that the last time he was kidnapped, it was because the mule was more eye-catching than the máo donkey.

Seeing that his son had grown into a seventeen or eighteen-year-old man, the old man who celebrated his birthday planned to work hard, save some money, buy back the remaining ten acres of land, and then pick up the house and build a tiled house, and find a matchmaker to tell his son that a handsome girl would get married.

The sound of artillery on the Lugou Bridge shattered the dream of the old man celebrating his birthday again. The devil came, and the old man who celebrated his birthday came back from the old day, only to find that the people who maintained the association led the security team to urge the food and distribute money. When the old man was young, he traveled from south to north, always thinking about huā money to eliminate disasters, so he dug up the grain buried in the yard, thinking that no matter how ruthless the security team and xiǎo devils were, they had to leave rations and seeds for the family. Unexpectedly, the gang of Han Jiān of the security team, when they saw that they had dug up the grain, they didn't say a word, they picked it up and left, and they didn't even leave him a single sorghum.

Now, the old man who celebrates his birthday can figure it out, and it is impossible for the countrymen who think of their duty today to be unable to run the donkey cart, and the food is also planted for the devil Han. No matter how good the **** style is, you can't plant it here, and grab it there, how can the one with the hoe be able to withstand the one with the gun?

The disheartened birthday celebration old man completely abandoned the idea of buying land and building a house, and led his wife and children to dig wild vegetables and go down to the river to catch fish, with the purpose of filling his stomach.

Later, the Eighth Route Army arrived at the Jilu side, and there was also a guerrilla army led by ** on the south bank of the Ziya River. The cadres of the Eighth Route Army mobilized the villagers to produce to save themselves, and although the old man who celebrated his birthday did not have the idea of making a fortune this time, it was his duty to serve the good crops of the villagers. On his birthday, the old man led his wife and children and began to farm wholeheartedly again. It's not bad, last autumn, the harvest of the 10 acres of land of the old man celebrating his birthday was good, and the sorghum beaten was enough to eat for a year. This time, he learned jīng, and according to the requirements of the district cadres, he dug the ground at home and hid all the grain. As a result, when the xiǎo devil swept the Jilu Bian, the grain of the old Han's well in celebration of his birthday actually escaped a catastrophe.

The old man who celebrated his birthday regained his spirit, and felt that this xiǎo devil was not so terrible, and planting crops well could still make the family worry about food and clothing.

The son proposed to join the guerrillas several times, but the old man who celebrated his birthday stopped him. He told his son that good iron does not shoot nails, good men do not serve as soldiers, and it is the duty of farmers to grow good crops. Bullets don't have eyes, and if a soldier dies, he will be cut off from his children and grandchildren, and in the future, there will not even be a person to go to the grave of his ancestors, so wouldn't others be able to tie their animals to the graves of their ancestors and waste them at will?

Leaving his son to help himself, the old man in his fifties who celebrated his birthday felt that his waist seemed to stand up again. After the autumn harvest, he planted all ten acres of land with wheat. Because wheat is expensive, it can be sold at a good price in the market. Besides, according to the cadres of the Eighth Route Army, Lu Xi implemented double cropping a year last year, planting wheat in the autumn and harvesting in the summer, and planting yù rice and beans after the wheat harvest without delay. If that's the case, if you work for a year and work for two years, you can tell your son about your daughter-in-law.

Seeing that the wheat seedlings are returning to green and growing well, the old man wants to hoe the ground and loosen the soil in time, and then chase the donkey féi, and it will be a good harvest in the summer. Therefore, early in the morning, the old man was busy driving, put on the máo donkey cart, and when the son got up, the two men loaded a cart full of donkey féi, and went to the ground with a lift and hoe.

After arriving at the ground, the old man squatted down first, carefully checked the growth of the wheat seedlings, it was really good, a sleet relieved the drought, the wheat seedlings tillered very well, if there were a few more rains on the chūn, there would definitely be a good harvest.

The old man who celebrated his birthday stood up, looked at his son and said solemnly: "Baby, in the next two days, we must remove the donkey féi in the pen and go up to the ground." Let's work hard and work hard. After the wheat is harvested, the grain is skipped, and you can be called a daughter-in-law. ”

The son has always been dissatisfied with the old man who celebrates his birthday and does not let him join the guerrillas, and when he heard his father say this, he replied angrily: "Then it has to be done if the devil does not come to the scourge." If you don't wait for the grain, the xiǎo devil will come to grab it. You don't look at what the world is now, and you still want to marry me a daughter-in-law! ”

As soon as the words fell, they heard that there seemed to be movement in the distance, and the two of them were so shocked that they looked up in the direction of the Ziya River, only to see that the Xiǎo devil was like a big flood in the Ziya River, and was surging in the direction of Jixiantun.

The old man was stunned, God, why didn't you take this group of damned beasts away? Why did they let them out and spoil the crops?

The son was young and reacted quickly, and he couldn't care about unloading the donkey anymore, so he unloaded the car in a panic, and led the máo donkey and shouted to the old man to run.

A few years ago, the old man of Qingsheng drove a máo donkey cart to pull his feet, went to Tianjin, and saw xiǎo devils very early, "I know that this is a group of beasts who kill people like killing xiǎojī." In addition, those who have experienced the Japanese occupation of the Jilu border and the sweep of the Jilu border "have experienced the old days, and know that the Xiǎo devils are coming silently, and the people in the tunzi can't run out, and they will suffer a big disaster."

The son wanted the old man to run away on a donkey, but the old man shouted anxiously: "Hanzi, dad can't run anymore." You hurriedly ran back to ring the bell and told your mother to hurry up and drill the tunnel. ”

Seeing that the xiǎo devil was getting closer and closer, the son knew that the matter was urgent, so he didn't talk to his father, and ran back with the máo donkey.

At this time, the old man of Qingsheng really saw clearly that this was a large army of devils coming up, not only cavalry "followed by black pressed infantry, but also iron turtles, cars, motorcycles and artillery."

The old man who celebrated his birthday wanted to go home to see, he really couldn't rest assured that his wife, son, and his donkey, but unfortunately all this was impossible.

Seeing the old man celebrating his birthday, the devil cavalry rushed towards Jixiantun behind the old man who saw his prey, "brandishing his sabers, howling, and pulling up the straggler charge" like a fierce beast that saw its prey. The sound of horses' hooves and the roaring beards of the Japanese army in the mountains and forests "trampled the wheat fields of the old man who had just returned to green into a large dirt field mixed with broken grass."

The old man who celebrates his birthday has served the crops all his life, and he values the crops more than his life. Seeing that the devil had trampled the wheat seedlings to a mess, he felt that his idea of wanting to give his son a daughter-in-law was once again shattered, and he squatted on the ground and whimpered and cried, crying and shouting: "God, what evil did I do in my last life, you actually released such a group of beasts to spoil my wheat field." I'm still counting on the summer wheat to tell the baby about the daughter-in-law! God, why don't you even leave a way to live for the croppers! ”

God, where can I hear the cry of the old man who celebrates his birthday, and the devil cavalry will not pay attention to the voice of an old farmer who wants to make a fortune all his life, seeing that the old man who is celebrating his birthday is about to die under the hooves of the devil cavalry, at this time, the old man who has never fought with others all his life, has planted crops in his own right, and drove the donkey cart stood up, stared at his desperate eyes, waved the iron inlay in his hand, and immediately chopped off the devil cavalry who was about to step on his horse and screamed.

The old man who celebrates his birthday has never fought with anyone in his life, and he always thinks about finding someone to talk and talk about when he encounters trouble. No one thought that when he was old and old, the old man who celebrated his birthday would suddenly become like a beast when the Japanese cavalry stepped on the wheat field and was about to die under the hooves of the horse.

The devil is a large army action, and after the old man of Qingsheng slashed out, he didn't even have a chance to squat down and vomit or continue to swing, so he was killed by the xiǎo devil. He didn't know that it was his iron forging that opened the prelude to the tragic reversal of Jilubian.

Going south from Qingxian were the First and Second Divisions of the Devils. These two divisions were originally ordered to withdraw to the northeast and return to the construction, but they received an urgent telegram from the base camp on the way, and turned around again to hide and go south.

After the devil cavalry killed the old man who celebrated his birthday, he roared past Jixiantun and continued south. The large army of devils who followed behind continued to move south with the cavalry, but they only divided the strength of a squadron and rushed into Jixiantun, and began to smash mén and pry households, arresting the common people who did not have time to go down the tunnel.

These crazy devils may have received the holy decree from the base camp to turn the base area of the Eighth Route Army into scorched earth, as long as they saw that there was no one in the courtyard, they would directly light torches and burn the house, making Jixiantun full of flames.

On this morning, more than 50,000 people of the 1st and 2nd Divisions of the Japanese Army deployed their troops on the front line of the Yahe River, and began to pull the net from north to south.

After the old and new regiments of the New Sixth Brigade retreated from Cangxian, they took a covert rest and recuperation at the boundary of Cangxian, Xinhai County, and Qingxian counties, and the troops were scattered in various villages and towns, guiding the local armed training in the three counties while resting and recuperating, and they were also responsible for monitoring the movements of the Japanese puppet army in the Pingjin area.

When the Eighth Route Army entered Shandong in the east, Zhang Hongtao led the Sixth Brigade to join the 31 detachments led by our party in the Hebei and Shandong borders, and after supplementing 2,000 training headquarters to train new soldiers, in accordance with Liu Yimin's order, the 31 detachments were completely mixed with the main force, and the first independent regiment and the second independent regiment of the Hebei and Shandong provinces were established. Huang Hua and Yang Zhong, who were born in the old Red Army, served as the commanders of the First and Second Independent Regiments of the Jilu Border respectively, and Zhao Mingxin and Di Yùdong, the leaders of the Party in the Jilu Border Region, served as the political commissars of the two regiments respectively. After the capture of Jinan, the Eighth Route Army expanded to eight new brigades, Jinan Garrison Brigade and Luzhong Garrison Brigade, and the Hebei and Lubian Independent Regiment was incorporated into the new Eighth Brigade, and the number was changed to the new 24th Regiment; The 2nd Independent Regiment of Jilubian was incorporated into the New Sixth Brigade, and the number was changed to the New 18th Regiment.

On this morning, Yang Zhong, the commander of the new 18th Regiment, returned to the regiment headquarters after running with the guard company in the morning, washed up, had breakfast, and prepared to go to the Ziya River to check the situation of the embankment.

Yang Zhong was a native of Nanjiang Village, Jintian Township, Anfu County, Jiangxi Province, and led more than 20 young people from his fellow township to Yongxin to join the Red Army in 1930.

Last night, Yang Zhongzhi had a discussion with several fellow villagers, and the villagers said that the upper reaches of the Ziya River are the Hutuo River that originates from the northern slope of Wutai Mountain and the Fuyang River that originates from the eastern slope of Taihang Mountain. In recent years, the embankment of the Ziya River has fallen into disrepair, and when floods come, they often inundate villages and land along the river, and the steamboats of the Xiǎo devils often pass in the Ya River, and they can also go west along the river, directly to the banks of the Hutuo River and the Fuyang River to launch sweeps. If the Eighth Route Army can lead the big guys to repair the river embankment and dredge the irrigation canal network, then this area will really become a land of fish and rice.

Yang Zhong considered that if he could take advantage of the battle to organize troops and villagers to strengthen the embankment of the Ziya River and dredge the irrigation canal network, he would be able to reduce flooding and increase grain production, and the prestige of the Eighth Route Army among the villagers would be further enhanced. Therefore, he decided to go to check the embankment of the Ziya River early this morning and see where to start! ~！