Pedaling the bicycle and feeling the long-lost freedom and fresh air, Zhang Shusheng enjoyed a kind of comfort that was once very familiar. With his surname, he is not particularly suitable for being a politician, but he just happened to come to this era, with the ideal of transforming China, and he couldn't do it.

If he came to power because he changed history, then history forced him at the same time.

Along the suburban roads, the speed of cycling is not slow. The economy of the Kunming Economic Circle is also becoming more and more developed, although there are only a few cars driving on the suburban roads along the way, but you can see many trucks pulling goods, some are meat and vegetables, and some are industrial products, leaving or entering the city.

In the past few years, the southwest has changed too much, faintly let Zhang Shusheng find the feeling of later generations, every highway is full of transport vehicles, there are rare private cars, there are also many large trucks loaded with goods from the north and south, and some villages have raised funds to buy tractors roaring past, these are all scenes that represent the national economy increasing year by year.

According to a new economic forecast, the economy of the southwest is likely to reach the level of Italian development by the end of the year, thanks to the pull of the war. If the question of reunification is successfully resolved, within the Fourth Five-Year Plan, the southwest will completely surpass these third-rate or even second-rate capitalist countries.

Following the road to the countryside, Zhang Shusheng rode all the way north, and after about an hour, he came to a village more than ten kilometers away from Kunming.

Further on, the highway is broken, only a few rugged township-level small roads stretch into the more mountainous areas, Zhang Shusheng did not go further, stopped the bicycle and pushed to the entrance of the village, from the arrow stele at the entrance of the village, know that this village is called Hongdou Village.

This village is not like Lishuping in the past, limited by the shallow hilly terrain, the degree of group living is low, only the village entrance road leads to the area of the group settlement, the other houses are scattered on the mountainside or hill.

Late June is already an important stage of rice growth, the rice field can be seen everywhere full of rice ears fluttering in the wind, the rice in the grain filling period has entered the last hurdle before the harvest, as long as everything goes well, look at the rice growth in the rice field, this year will be a bumper harvest.

There was a group of people squatting in the rice field on the side of the road in front, and a few people stood in the field, bending down from time to time to pull out one or two rice plants and hand them to the people at the edge of the paddy field, as if they were discussing something, far away, Zhang Shusheng only heard the words "grouting, water, and ...... this year".

For rice, Zhang Shusheng is also an expert, when he first studied hybrid rice, he almost learned it from scratch, and together with Zhou Zikai, he got hybrid rice. Because the problem of food is indeed one of the biggest problems in China, he has often been involved in some subsequent research on new species. With years of scientific research, as well as the changes brought to him by the dream machine, those exclusive exchange items that defy the sky, such as physique pills, brain domain transformation pills, interstellar learning machine training, etc., not to mention relying on those advanced technologies, Zhang Shusheng's own scientific wisdom is already world-class.

"Master Jiang, judging from these rice, there must be diseases, but why there is no effect after the last application, I can't make up my mind after thinking about it for a while. It's possible that there was a problem with the dispensing. ”

A man from an agricultural technician station dressed in a rural work uniform was there telling a few villagers about rice, and it seemed that the young agricultural technician had encountered a problem.

"Comrade Xiao Xu, this rice is about to be harvested, don't go wrong, please think of a way."

A very old, about 60-year-old man, his body is still very straight, and the whole person is in good spirits, it may be that the condition of rice has bothered him, frowning, looking at this paddy field.

"Don't worry, Master Jiang, I'll take a look again, turn around and immediately react to this problem urgently, I'll come back tomorrow." Although he had collected enough diseased plants, he was not in a hurry to go back, and then he checked the condition of the rice along the field, then took off his shoes and went down to the rice field himself.

Zhang Shusheng stopped the self-study car, walked over, picked up a diseased rice, and looked at it carefully.

"Comrade, look what's going on."

When the villagers saw Zhang Shusheng's dress and saw him holding the sick rice, they thought that he was also a staff member of the agricultural technology station, and immediately introduced the situation to him.

The old master Jiang also came over and helped him fan with a fan.

The problem of rice is relatively simple, it is caused by the compound attack of several diseases, and the agricultural technician must have just graduated and is not very experienced. Then he took out a pen and wrote down a few medicines and handed them to the agricultural technician.

"I see, you know too much about rice, may I ask you?"

The little Xu Nong technician thought that Zhang Shusheng was a teacher or a research institute in which school, and couldn't help but feel a little shocked, originally thought that the students who graduated from this technical school should be considered to be at a level in this township, but he didn't expect that a random passer-by on the side of the road could be regarded as half an expert, and he couldn't help but respect it.

"I used to stay at the Rice Research Institute in Dongchuan, but then I was not fit to do research, so I changed my career to become a journalist. Today is to go to the countryside to collect some things, and take a walk to take a look. ”

Zhang Shusheng said the personal identity that had been prepared a long time ago, if someone really wanted to check the documents, he could take them out, and the security department had prepared a bunch of fake identity information, and it was not right to say that it was fake.

"It turned out to be a journalist. It's a pity. The agricultural technician was slightly disappointed, began to sort out the information of the diseased rice, and prepared to go back to dispense medicine, and said in his heart that if this is a scientific researcher in rice, I am afraid that he is at least a graduate of Southwest University, and it is no wonder that people have stayed in the Rice Research Institute in Dongchuan District, which is a desirable place. Judging by his level, at least he is about the same as his own teacher.

"Comrade reporter, you must interview Master Jiang."

"Yes, Master Jiang is almost 70 years old, and he rents so much land by himself, just for the sake of the children in the school."

When the villagers heard that it was a reporter coming, they immediately gathered around, hoping that Zhang Shusheng would interview this Master Jiang.

"Folks, I haven't thought about the object of writing today, I originally wanted to come down and have a look, interview some school-related things, if what you said is true, I will interview Master Jiang." Zhang Shusheng said happily, it seems that this Master Jiang is a little extraordinary.

"Comrade reporter, the villagers are laughing, I am a bad old man, what do I have to interview." When Master Jiang was told by everyone, he was a little embarrassed and said humbly. "If you want to interview, you can go and interview those teachers, they are really hard, there is a female teacher who has just graduated, or a college student in the city, and she has been approached by her family a few times, but she just doesn't want to leave here."

"Comrade reporter, Master Jiang is a French devil who fought in the Sino-French War, and on this basis, you must also interview him."

However, as soon as Master Jiang heard this, his face suddenly became a little ugly, and he sighed: "Sanyanzi, how many years have it been, how many times have I told you, don't mention the past." ”

The old man seemed to be in a bad mood, and after sighing, he went barefoot to the field to remove the weeds.

Actually a veteran of the Sino-French War, Zhang Shusheng couldn't help but be in awe, the tragedy of the Sino-French War that year, he also heard about it, at that time in Zhennan Pass, in the entire Sino-Vietnamese border, the Chinese [***] team faced the French foreign guns and artillery can be described as heavy casualties. However, it was this tragic price that was exchanged for victory, but it was buried by the Qing political axe.

Looking at the lonely veteran in the rice field, maybe he was the only one left in the platoon shed where he was (the grassroots platoon and shed of the Qing army).

Although Zhang Shusheng was very curious about the story of this veteran, he didn't want to bother him when he saw his lonely figure, and after answering the questions of some villagers around him about crop planting, he was going to go to the school to see, after all, it would be a pity to go to the countryside and not go to the school. This is a great opportunity to learn about education at the grassroots level.

"Reporter Zhang!"

Zhang Shusheng was about to turn over and jump on the bicycle when Master Jiang's voice came from behind him. Then he stopped, looked back with a smile, and said, "Old man Jiang, but what's the problem with rice?" ”

"No, I heard you're going to the school for a walk, I'll show you the way."

"That's great."

In this way, as an ordinary person, Zhang Shusheng, under the leadership of this Sino-French war veteran, came to Hongdou Village Primary School. Listening to his introduction, I also learned more about this school.

This is a primary school built by three villages, and it took only half a month for the three villages to build the primary school after the government allocated funds and transported cement and bricks. The motivation is really not to say, starting from laying the foundation and building the wall, the villagers have been working day and night, and after the teaching supplies and teachers are in place, the enrollment began that month.

"The teacher Xiaofang who is in the music class, graduated from the Kunming Conservatory of Music, specializing in national music lessons for children, but unfortunately now I can't hear her flute playing teaching, in order not to delay other classes, her music performances are arranged after school in the afternoon, and many students bring bamboo flutes to listen to her classes." Master Jiang took Zhang Shusheng to stand in the corner of the school, looking at the classroom from a distance, and introduced him to the 'rebellious girl' from the city, "I heard that this child's family conditions are very good, but she still insists on going to the countryside to teach, it's really not easy." ”

From Zhang Shusheng's point of view, it was a young female teacher with two braids, who looked quite dignified, and looked like a very handsome girl.

Immediately, the two walked around the school again, Zhang Shusheng found that the teaching atmosphere of the school was very good, and from the teaching content vaguely heard from a distance, it was very standard, and it could be found that the teacher's preparation was sufficient. The students also listened to the class very seriously, no one deliberately deserted and lazy, and I heard Master Jiang say that the students were ashamed of not taking the class seriously.

Although the facilities in the school are relatively simple, they are also complete, such as the cement table tennis table, the smooth but smooth but well-laid basketball field, and the two strong basketball piles on the basketball court.

The most eye-catching thing is that the school actually has a large library. Although the southwest attaches great importance to the construction of school libraries, the scale of this library is significantly larger than that of elementary schools, at least the size of junior high schools.

"Master Jiang, why are you here?"

At this time, a middle-aged man in the distance saw Master Jiang and Zhang Shusheng and happily came over to say hello.

"Let's go, Master Jiang, go to my office and sit down and drink tea. Who is this? ”

"This is a reporter from the city who comes to write news."

"Huh? It turned out to be a big reporter in the city, quick, come into the house and sit, you are right today, you have to interview Master Jiang well. ”

It turned out that this was Tang Chenghe, the principal of Hongdou Primary School, and under the introduction of Principal Tang, Zhang Shusheng had a complete understanding of this Master Jiang.

This Master Jiang is indeed a veteran of the Sino-French War.

Back then, for some reason, this veteran gave up the opportunity to be promoted to the commander of the Qing army battalion, which was a very high position at that time, even if he finally returned to his hometown, he would be a figure with a head and a face.

The people of the village did not know what was happening, but they knew that when the veteran returned to his hometown, he built a house with a little savings and has been farming at home ever since. He will have a good hand of carving knife skills, always teach the villagers some carving skills, many people in the village are his apprentices, this is also a very important means of livelihood before the liberation of Kunming.

After the liberation of Kunming, when the village built a school, Master Jiang was the first to take the lead in donating all the money. Subsequently, because many people in the village went to the city to make a living, and they could not take care of farming, he helped them plant, because he did not have to pay agricultural tax, and all he needed to pay for farming was a little seed and fertilizer money (paid with the harvest, which is called agricultural fertilizer tax). In this way, Master Jiang planted the fields of six or seven families, and when he was busy with farming, he didn't even care about going home to eat, so he took a simple rice pocket and solved it at the edge of the field.

However, even so, Master Jiang did not get rich, because he donated the results of each year's harvest to the school, turning them into volumes of books, which were constantly enriched into the library, so that the school's collection of books exceeded the standard.

At noon, accompanied by the principal, Zhang Shusheng casually went to the canteen, and the children's lunch standard was the same as that of the children in Kunming City, which was two dishes and one soup, one fish-flavored shredded pork, one stir-fried lettuce, and one tomato and egg soup. Seeing that the children were eating happily, Zhang Shusheng finally smiled.

He has worked hard for many years, isn't it just to feed these children, whether they are in the city or in a remote village, they should not be treated differently from an early age, so Zhang Shusheng resolutely denied the practice of differential treatment from the beginning, and there are very good regulations in terms of teaching allocation, resource arrangement, and teacher treatment. For example, this primary school, compared to the school with a large number of students in Kunming, is just a little simpler, but the facilities are of the same standard, after coming out of the primary school, Master Jiang invited Zhang Shusheng to have lunch at home, and the latter readily agreed.

Master Jiang's home is very simple, it is actually a grass house, but it is very well repaired, and the grass on the roof is also very new, and it can be seen that the owner is repairing it every year.

There are some simple furnishings in the house, but there are a lot of semi-finished bamboo weaving and carving, as well as neat handmade finished products, which seem to be accumulated by Master Jiang. However, the necessities of life are so simple that Zhang Shusheng feels sad, such an anti-French veteran, but he lives such a frugal life in his hometown, but he does not forget education, and does not hesitate to make money through carving and farming at the age of seventy to sponsor the school.

Fortunately, the food is not bad, the grain is harvested every year, and Master Jiang's family also has rice to eat.

Zhang Shusheng helped the old man make a good lunch, the old man picked some vegetables from his own field, and cut some bacon to fry, which was a very hearty lunch. Although Master Jiang is very old, the basic skills of this life are very good, and the skills of stir-frying are also in place.

"Well, this cold salad is so delicious, and it has a lot of skill with my godfather's family. Stir-fried bacon with chili is also good. ”

While eating, Zhang Shusheng admired, the two drank a little wine, and with the power of wine, Master Jiang began to tell the story of the year, and a dusty story began to show in front of Zhang Shusheng.

"I think back then, when I was 15 years old, I was dragged to the Green Camp to be a Park knife soldier, just in time to fight the French devils......"

From Master Jiang's memories, Zhang Shusheng learned that Master Jiang's original name was Jiang Zhongwei, and it turned out that he joined the Qing army at the age of 15 and caught up with the Sino-French War. This ancestral carver has a special feeling for knives, and he doesn't know how many green camp masters he has defeated with his wild road knife technique, and he has grown up very quickly in the green camp.

Especially in the battle of Zhennanguan, he hacked to death more than a dozen French devils by himself, and was shot five times, but fortunately, three shots were in the leg and two shots were in the buttocks, and none of them landed on the upper body.

And the real most brilliant achievement is that this Master Jiang was promoted again and again on the battlefield, and finally became the platoon commander of the green battalion of the Qing army.

“…… At that time, the old general was really not afraid of death, his hair and beard were all white, and he took us to fight with the French devils who climbed up the mountain with bayonets. It's a pity that the brothers suffered too many casualties, and a platoon of green battalion soldiers, in the end, I and another old guy survived. Because I saved an old general with a simple knife in the chaos, he wanted to keep me and promote me to battalion commander.

However, when the news of the defeat came, everyone cried, the old general cried, and I fainted on the spot. Hey, I was young and vigorous at that time, I didn't understand anything, and when I woke up, I wanted to leave the army, but the old general couldn't keep me, so he gave me a sum of money and let me go. ”

When he said this, the old man Jiang Zhongwei was already in tears, who said that the hero was in the twilight, thinking of the middle school back then, the old man was still excited and indignant. In addition to the blood, it is very regretful.

No wonder he is reluctant to mention the past, but there is such a profound reason.

Zhang Shusheng never expected that this white-haired veteran actually saved Feng Zicai's life with a simple knife, and also, when Zhennan Pass was up, the 65-year-old Feng Zicai also fought with the French, not the old general led the troops to fight to the death, and the French army was afraid that it would have hit the hinterland of Guangxi a long time ago.

It's just that the sorrow is greater than the death of the heart, and the veterans unloaded their armor and returned to the field, all because of sadness and disappointment.

"Young people, the political axe is good now, and all kinds of policies are very considerate of the people. I have been disappointed for half my life, old man, and I can finally see some hope before I die. This nation always needs some people to do things, and what President Zhang did brought hope to this nation on the verge of collapse. ”

When the old man Jiang Zhongwei said this, he seemed to think of something, and said happily, "Show you something very precious." ”

Saying that, the old man turned around and lifted his clothes, a close-fitting gown, which had many holes, but he was still wearing it. However, Zhang Shusheng suddenly saw a line of words, a line of words engraved on the old man's back.

"Before leaving, I insisted on begging the old general to tattoo it on my back, and I don't know what was engraved on it all these years. I'm so old, and when I met you today, help me see what was engraved. ”

The old man was in a good mood and asked Zhang Shusheng to help him see what was engraved on his back.

Zhang Shusheng stared at the line of words carved by Feng Zicai himself, according to the old man, his eyes were already blurred with tears, and he saw such a line of words engraved on the old man's back.

"Loyal to the country, Han Ankang"

Zhang Shusheng cleaned up his mood for a while, and slowly read out such a sentence, a simple four words, he seemed to see that the old general Feng Zicai personally stabbed the old man Jiang Zhongwei.

"Loyal to the country, the Han is healthy!! Old general, Zhongwei is ashamed of you!!! ”

Jiang Zhongwei was shocked when he heard Zhang Shusheng read this sentence, and he was like saying it for decades, and when the old general said that he personally tattooed himself and said goodbye, the scene seemed to come to mind again. When he said that, because the comrades of the entire platoon had died in battle, he had nightmares in his heart, and he was shocked to hear the bad news of defeat, and he was really ashamed of those deceased comrades, and he couldn't sleep at night, so he had to choose to leave. However, it was difficult for Old General Feng to leave like him, but left such a sentence on the back of this capable subordinate.

When he first came, he was actually ashamed of the old general, so he didn't dare to look at what was carved on his back for decades.

Once the adopted son saw the words on his back and wanted to tell him, but he angrily stopped him, and from then on, the adopted son never dared to mention the words on his back to him.

"Mr. Jiang, it's not your fault." Zhang Shusheng saw the old man Jiang Zhongwei's tearful appearance, and couldn't help but sigh inexplicably, the mistakes made by the Qing Dynasty were reflected in the body of a small soldier. I think that back then, old as Feng Zicai, as small as such a simple knife hand, all took the bloody war to serve the country as their own responsibility, but they did not expect to end up like that, so that the French were invincible and the Chinese were undefeated.

"If only I had stayed back then, at least I could serve the old general until I was old." Old man Jiang Zhongwei shook his head and sighed, he had recovered from the grief just now, and all the past events were in his heart.

"Master Jiang, I heard that you also have an adopted son, I don't know where you are now?"

Zhang Shu was afraid that continuing this topic would cause greater sorrow for the old man, so he deliberately changed the topic.

"To tell you the truth, my adopted son also joined the army. Ever since this kid knew that I, an old man, had fought with the French with bayonets at Zhennan Pass, he had to sign up for the army. Now I'm fighting devils in the north. ”

"Then why haven't you heard them mention it?" Zhang Shusheng was puzzled, the old man's adopted son should also be from a certain unit of the Southwest Army, and he was in the northbound army this time.

"Yes, I haven't mentioned this to them, and I have also explained to the people in the countryside and the village, don't come to worship the military family during the New Year's holidays. After all, alas, ......" Mr. Jiang Zhongwei shook his head, as if he remembered the past, "I support being a soldier, and I support fighting devils." But I was just afraid of fighting a Sino-French war back then, so it would be better to go incognito, so I went out and read for a few years. ”

"It turns out that you are afraid that China's foreign war will be like back then, undefeated and defeated."

"Alas! ……”

Zhang Shusheng was silent, it turned out that the old man had such a heavy consideration in it, so he deliberately concealed the fact that his adopted son joined the army, and the result of the Sino-French war hurt his heart too much, so it is still difficult to understand this heart. Respectable and pitiful old man.

"Look, Comrade Zhang, this is a letter from my unsuccessful child."

Zhang Shusheng nodded and took it, opened it and looked at it seriously.

"Father, Lord Junjian:

It has been half a month since Anguo arrived in Beiping, and now he is fighting against the people. It is said that people occupy our northeast, kill my people, and destroy our rivers and mountains, which is really a great disaster for the nation. An Guo has been taught by his father since he was a child, and he has abandoned his pen and followed Rong, taking it as his responsibility to protect his family and defend the country. The unfilial son is in the army, serving as a marksman, and so far he has personally shot and killed 34 of the army, ranking first among the sharpshooters in the battalion...... The unfulfilled ambition of my father back then will be done by my unfilial son, protect the family and defend the country, and kill the enemy and secure Xinjiang!! ”

"Comrade Zhang, you are from the city, and you know a lot about these national affairs, unlike the old man, me, who can only squat under the big radio in the village every day to listen to the news. Do you think we can win against the devils? ”

The old man sat opposite Zhang Shusheng and asked a little eagerly, and his dim eyes seemed to shoot out a burst of essence that did not belong to this age.

Zhang Shusheng knew that it was the old man's eternal light.

"Definitely, old sir, I assure you. Whether it is this Sino-Chinese war or a future foreign war, our nation will absolutely not repeat the mistakes of the past. What you and your adopted son have done is not in vain, and all this will be taken back from the foreigners a thousand times in the future. ”

"Comrade Zhang, I believe what you said, at least the southwest political axe can do it, but what if Chiang Kai-shek can't do this Sino-Chinese war?"

The old man asked helplessly.

Zhang Shusheng smiled at this time, unprecedentedly confident, "Whoever can't do it, let whoever die!! ”――

(To be continued)