At the beginning of the spring rain, the mountains are dripping green, and the towering Phoenix Mountain looks ethereal in the hazy mist, and the damp breeze sends bursts of floral fragrance.

In the gap between the thick clouds that slowly moved northward, a ray of golden glow slanted down, illuminating the small river and dense forest outside the mouth of the valley at the base of Phoenix Mountain in a brilliant dappled manner, and a tall zebra walked and stopped along the riverbank, lowering its head from time to time to chew the fat tender grass on the side of the road.

"Dad, when are you back?"

Wang Zemin, who was about to be two years old, leaned comfortably in his father's arms, holding a small Colt pistol made of pine wood.

Wu Ming, who was on the horse, touched his son's head lovingly: "Dad hasn't left yet, just ask Dad when he will come back, it must be your mother who taught you." ”

The son raised his delicate little face and said loudly: "No, I want to ask myself, my mother is very busy." ”

"Is there no one playing with you? Aren't Zhang Xiaoer and the others next door with you every day? ”

Wu Ming was talking to his son while enjoying this rare quiet and family happiness, Zhang Xiaoer mentioned just now is Zhang Dongning's second son, and he is also two years old this year

A month ago, after the construction of the military officers' family home behind the affiliated hospital, Zhang Dongning, Long Shaogang, Yin Dizhong, and more than a dozen old brothers sent their wives and children in, and the children over the age of seven all entered the town middle school to study, and more than 20 children between the ages of two and six stayed in the picturesque and fresh air family home

After two years of study and training, these nurses who are becoming more and more adequately dressed up are now competent for their jobs, and they have also become the coveted objects of single officers, the most beautiful female nurse from Shandong, Tao Zhen, was originally a refugee bought by Wu Ming from Hangzhou, and now she has become the wife of Zhao Rongsheng, the director of the Phoenix Mountain base.

Wu Ming's father and son rode the same horse, chatted without saying a word, and unconsciously returned to the side gate on the east side of the family area, waiting for Chengyuan to come up and hug Xiao Zemin, and whispered to Wu Ming: "Mr. Zhang is here, probably because he heard that we are going to go on an expedition, so he came from the town to ask for a meeting." ”

Wu Ming turned over and dismounted, threw the reins to another guard, and walked through the alley in the courtyard with Cheng Yuan, entered his own small courtyard, and bowed his hand to Zhang Fenglan, who was admiring the flowers and plants in the courtyard alone: "How come Mr. is free?" ”

Zhang Fenglan said with a smile: "In the afternoon, the students chartered the room to watch a movie, it is said that it is a new film "Children of the Storm" from Shanghai with the theme of promoting anti-Japanese salvation, I don't have classes, I heard that you are going to leave in the next few days, so I came to send it off." ”

Wu Ming bowed slightly, led Zhang Fenglan to the wide platform in front of the door, and the young guard immediately poured tea for the two, and then put down the teapot and quietly retreated to the side. Wu Ming drank two sips of spring tea just sent by the northern village, smacked his lips comfortably and asked, "I'm afraid you didn't come to send me, right?" ”

Zhang Fenglan, who had been recuperating for half a year and was basically healed, was in good spirits, and he smiled and thanked Wu Ming: "Thank you, thank you, for sending our injured comrades to northern Fujian."

"That's it?"

Wu Ming didn't care about this, half a month ago he sent more than 400 Red Army soldiers who had recovered from their wounds to the lofty mountains and mountains in northern Fujian and let them disappear into the mountains and forests of their own accord.

Zhang Fenglan was familiar with Wu Ming's temper, smiled and said, "I should leave too...... Anyway, I'm going back, and you know what I think

Wu Ming nodded: "Go to the south or go to the north?" ”

"To the south, closer." Zhang Fenglan replied.

Wu Ming asked with a smile, "Did you guess that I was going to lead my troops south?" ”

Zhang Fenglan nodded: "In the school staff dormitory, I will turn on the radio you sent me every night to listen to the news, and I can see the newspapers sent back by the caravan every day, and I still know more or less about the situation outside." ”

Wu Ming thought for a while: "Chen Yi and others are fighting guerrillas on the border of Jiangxi and Guangdong, the specific number of people is not clear, but there are still three or five hundred, if the more than four hundred people who were put back last time can successfully join them, then there should be almost a regiment of troops...... If you have already made a decision, go with me tomorrow, and I will prepare a military uniform for you when you go back, and you can bring the rest of the clothes yourself, and you will leave when you arrive in Ganzhou. ”

"Okay, then I'll go back and prepare."

Zhang Fenglan stood up after speaking, raised his leg for a long time and didn't put it down, and then turned around after slowly putting it down, his eyes were full of lingering: "Alas, to be honest, I really can't leave this place like a source outside the world, I'm afraid there are few pure lands like Mao Liangwu in the whole of China, and you, if only you and I were in the same camp." ”

Wu Ming grinned, stretched out his hand, climbed Zhang Fenglan's back and sent him out of the courtyard: "I believe we will meet again, as long as the Sino-Japanese war is in full swing, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party will put the country and the nation first, and they will definitely be able to give up their grievances and fight side by side, at that time, you and I will definitely be able to meet."

"It's just that you have to take care of yourself this time, there must be no more mistakes, although your organization has begun to correct the mistakes it has made, but some concepts are not so easy to change, and it will be up to you in the future."

Zhang Fenglan took Wu Ming's hand and shook it tightly: "Xie Lu, thank you, take care of yourself." ”

Wu Ming suddenly remembered that he didn't say anything, Yu Crisp sent Zhang Fenglan outside the hospital, and said as he walked: "It is estimated that there is no time to talk on the march, there is one thing to tell you first, you also have time to think more, our new 10th Brigade will be ready to fight at any time when it arrives in Ganzhou, I don't want to have any misunderstanding with your army left on the border of Jiangxi and Guangdong, so I have to trouble you to think of more ways, if you meet your comrades smoothly, please tell me, in order to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, try not to get close to our war zone, If there's anything I can do to help, I'll do my best to help as long as I'm still stationed in Gannan. ”

"Don't worry, I remember."

Zhang Fenglan smiled at Wu Ming, pulled up the corner of his robe, and strode across the small bridge, his steps were very firm and brisk.

At 8 o'clock in the evening of 4 May, Wu Ming followed the secret order of the chairman of the committee to leave the Changshan barracks with two regiments and three battalions of the newly formed 10th Brigade of the station, went to the railway station of Jiangshan County, took a train to Suichang, Jiangxi, and then marched on foot to Ganzhou in southern Jiangxi. A convoy of 25 trucks, consisting of the Quzhou Military Station and the Automobile Company of the Baggage Battalion directly under the newly formed 10th Brigade, carried weapons and ammunition from various regiments and battalions, and slowly marched westward through the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Highway.

To everyone's surprise, Wu Ming's brigade changed into the old-fashioned gray military uniforms of the security forces from top to bottom, and the officers and men's sidearms were all outdated rifles, among which there were even two battalions of officers and men carrying Japanese-made 38 rifles and cavalry guns of different lengths, and there were very few light machine guns, and there were no heavy machine guns and mortars, but the horses were loaded with five wagons.

It was precisely because of such a well-dressed and rudimentary equipment that the Wu Ming brigade, which was one of the first to go south to rebel, did not attract anyone's attention, and after getting off at Guixi Station, it was half past five in the morning, without any stop, that is, it went south along the newly expanded highway and walked 28 kilometers in a row until Yujia Town, south of Yingtan, before stopping to bury the pot for cooking, and two hours later the unit continued to go south, reaching Lufang Town, 10 kilometers north of Jinxi County, at 9 o'clock in the evening, and the whole brigade passed through the town, stopped advancing at the foot of the mountain three kilometers south of the town, and buried the pot again to make rice.

Zhang Fenglan, who followed the march as a staff officer of the brigade headquarters, rode his horse all the way, and after stopping, he was so tired that he kicked and shouted, and when he saw the officers and men of the battalions and companies of Wu Ming's brigade lighting torches and setting up tents in an orderly manner, most of the officers and men looked very relaxed, and had to exclaim in a low voice: "In a little more than a day, 6,000 men and horses have traveled nearly 60 kilometers, and all of them have arrived, I am afraid that there are few armies in the country that can do it." ”

Seeing that Zhang Fenglan had not figured out the situation, the eighteen-year-old warrant officer staff officer told him with a big grin:

"I didn't have any heavy equipment, and I was carrying a new-style marching backpack behind me, which was almost the same as marching with my bare hands, and it took me nearly fifteen hours to walk fifty-nine kilometers, what is there to marvel at? If it weren't for the long march and the speed had to be controlled, we would have eaten and slept in Jinxi City by this time. ”

Zhang Fenglan was even more surprised: "If you don't control the speed, how far can you go?" ”

The warrant officer staff officer had been told by Wu Ming, so he was polite to Zhang Fenglan, took out a cigarette and handed him one: "Please forgive me for not being able to tell you the specific data, but I can reveal some to you - the assessment standard for the second stage of the fully armed long-distance march of our recruit company is that completing a 150-kilometer journey in three days and three nights can only be regarded as qualified, of which one-third of the distance is a road, one-third of the distance is a small road, and one-third of the distance is a mountain road. ”

Zhang Fenglan was completely shocked.

Although the young staff officer did not say the specific situation of being fully armed, Zhang Fenglan had seen more than once the recruits who had returned from field training in Maoliangwu for nearly half a year, and according to his visual estimates, the average weight of ordinary soldiers was not less than 15 kilograms, and there were still a large number of light machine guns and water-cooled heavy machine guns in the training team.

Such a formidable force was rare even in the Red Army, let alone the entire brigade of 6,000 men and horses marching at such a high speed.

"Terrible, this team is very scary" This is the strongest and most direct feeling that came to Zhang Fenglan's mind.

After dinner, Zhang Fenglan found that in addition to the staff officer on duty, the rest of the officers were carrying rifles on their backs, and felt very incredible, until Wu Ming, who was damp, came to visit him, and he inquired before he learned that after camping on the march, the officers all need to stand on a stake, unless it is during the preparation and operation, otherwise he, the brigade commander, must also stand guard, which is an unwritten rule that Wu Ming's department has maintained since its formation.

Zhang Fenglan asked what was the last question? Wu Ming's answer was very simple and unexpected to him: the officers had high salaries, so they should suffer more