1

My encounter with Shangguan Xiong was so coincidental, like a story told by a storyteller, it was really hard to find a place to step on iron shoes, and it took no effort to get it. At that time, the two of us stood facing each other, one was the commander of the Tiger Regiment of the Eighth Route Army, and the other was an ordinary guerrilla; One is well-dressed, the other ragged; One was red, the other was blood...... There was a great difference in our status, and there were subtle emotions in my heart, although I was unusually excited and euphoric. We stared at each other in silence, and I couldn't say a word of what I had thought of when we met countless times, and my whole body trembled slightly. If it weren't for another regiment commander of the Eighth Route Army and Li Chaoyang who came out of it and broke the deadlock, we don't know how long the stalemate would have last. Seeing this, the regiment commander was very surprised: "What are you doing here, Shangguan Laohu!" Shangguan Xiong smiled and said, "It's nothing, it's nothing, I met an old man!" ”

Shangguan Xiong's tone seemed very calm, and I, still couldn't say anything, my heart was so excited that I was overturned, is he in the same mood as me? The shining tears in his eyes also disappeared, maybe he hid the excitement in his heart, after all, I am his brother who has lived and died together since childhood! Shangguan Xiong smiled and pulled me to the head of the regiment and said: "Commander Zhang, this is the Li Tugou I often talk to you about, the battle of the Xiangjiang River, I thought he was sacrificed, but I didn't expect him to be alive and come to Taihang Mountain, it's really not easy!" After listening to Shangguan Xiong's words, Head Zhang seemed more excited than Shangguan Xiong, and hurriedly came over to hold my hands and said, "Hero, hero!" You must have suffered a lot over the years! "I wanted to cry, but my tears had long since dried up, and I didn't cry anymore, but blood oozed from my broken ear.

Li Chaoyang couldn't believe that I found the person I was looking for and his team so easily, Song Qigui stood there, at a loss, I didn't know what he was thinking, I promised him, no matter what, as long as I lived, I wouldn't let him and his brothers be wronged, he didn't need to be afraid of anything at all, he should be as happy as me. Captain Zhang saw the blood flowing from my ear and said, "What are you?" Li Chaoyang said: "Commander Zhang, if he hadn't sacrificed his life to climb the city wall to kill the devil and open the city gate, we wouldn't have been able to take the county seat, and when he opened the city gate, his ears were broken!" Head Zhang immediately shouted: "Hygienist, hygienist!" ”

At this time, Shangguan Xiong stretched out his hand and shook it with mine.

My hands were so rough, and his hands were much smoother.

Our hands were clasped tightly together and we could feel each other's heartbeats.

But I had a faint feeling in my heart that there was a thin layer of imperceptible paper between our tightly clasped palms. Is Shangguan Xiong still the same Shangguan Xiong as before? I hope so, but I'm not sure, I'm really not sure, at this time, he seems to be standing very high, and I am standing very low, I don't seem to be able to reach him, he doesn't need my protection and rescue at all, it seems that everything in the dream is reversed, which makes me happy and uneasy. After the hygienist came, Shangguan Xiong let go of his hand and said, "Tugou, go and treat the wound, don't get any more inflammation." It's good to meet, we will have time together in the future, we can find a time to talk about the situation over the years, you can go and heal now. "I knew what he meant by inflammation, and when I thought of it, I felt a faint ache in my heart, and I don't know if he told Commander Zhang about my unspeakable things along with my heroic deeds.

After I left with the hygienist. I heard Head Zhang say in the back: "Shangguan Laohu, this brother of yours is a rare good man, I want him to go with me!" ”

Shangguan Xiong smiled: "Don't make this little calculation!" ”

Regiment Commander Zhang said: "Your subordinates are already full of generals, and this one is still missing!" ”

Shangguan Xiong smiled again and said: "This is different, you take ten and exchange one with me, I won't change it!" ”

Head Zhang said: "Okay, you smiling tiger, I'm going to decide this Li Tugou!" ”

……

Song Qigui followed me, from then until he died, he followed me, I don't know what he was afraid of.

2

The troops withdrew from the county seat of Huixian after cleaning up the battlefield, and the main force of the Eighth Route Army still had to move in the direction of Yan'an, and it was obviously impossible for the guerrillas to stay in the county seat. I took Song Qigui and a few remaining brothers to join the Eighth Route Army, but Commander Zhang didn't let me go, and I stayed in Shangguanxiong's team.

Li Chaoyang and I broke up in front of Liu Peilan's new grave.

In the process of our withdrawal from the county, Li Chaoyang has been carrying Liu Peilan's corpse, we said, let's carry it together, Li Chaoyang did not say anything, carrying Liu Peilan's corpse, walking as fast as flying. We followed him closely. Li Chaoyang found a sunny hillside and put Liu Peilan's body down. He finally spoke: "Perran, you can rest here in peace!" "We dug a grave here and buried her. When Liu Peilan was buried, the wind was howling, and Li Chaoyang couldn't cry anymore, just howling in a hoarse voice! His wolf-like howl irritated my heart, and I howled with him, and I thought it was the best way for a man to express his grief. It is a very cruel thing to be separated from Li Chaoyang at this time, I know very well that with him, it will never be possible to run together, and it will never be possible to compete together to kill devils! But I was not mentally prepared to stay, so I had to leave! When he broke up with me, he made a request to me: "Mako, let's exchange guns!" "I agreed, I gave him my ****, and he gave me a box gun. After exchanging guns with me, and saying goodbye to Shangguan Xiong, he led the guerrilla brothers to gallop away from another path and disappeared into the night.

The howling wind drowned out the howls of the souls.

Many nights, I would dream of Liu Peilan, standing in front of me covered in flesh and blood......

3

In between marches, Shangguan Xiong would order the guard Hong Dawu to come and ask me to talk to him. To be honest, I don't have a good impression of Hong Dawu, not because he pointed a gun at me in the county seat of Huixian, he can't say that there is anything wrong with him, but when he was in front of Shangguan Xiong, he gave me a smile and a friendly look, and when he faced me alone, he was as cold as ice.

In the face of Shangguan Xiong, I said very little, basically I answered whatever he asked, and many of the things I wanted to say after meeting before were omitted. Time has passed, and those words full of brotherly affection have never been recovered, and I don't know where they were lost.

Shangguan Xiong asked: "After the battle of Xiangjiang, where did you go?" You're alive, why don't you come and chase the team? ”

I said, "I was injured and threw myself into the river, and I was saved by a father and daughter. I searched for the team, but I couldn't find it. ”

Shangguan Xiong asked, "What about later?" ”

I said, "Later, I went to Dabie Mountain and was captured by the Kuomintang army. I heard that the Red Army had been changed to the Eighth Route Army, and I came to Taihang Mountain, where I met Li Chaoyang's guerrillas and fought devils with them. ”

When Shangguanxiong heard that I had worked in the ranks of the Kuomintang, his face changed. I am a real person, I don't hide what I have done, as for what Shangguan Xiong thinks, it is his own business, seeing that he is doing well, and he is also the head of the regiment, I am happy for him, about his affairs, I want to ask, but I have not spoken. Shangguan Xiong lowered his voice and said to me: "Tugou, you have to reform your mind well, you have been out of the team for so long, everything has to start all over again!" Also, from now on, don't talk to anyone about staying in the ranks of the Kuomintang, understand? ”

I didn't understand, but I nodded.

Shangguanxiong and I do have a great distance, as if one is in the sky and the other is underground.

What I don't understand is that Shangguan Xiong has never asked about Zhang Zongfu's situation, and I don't know if he has kept the Browning pistol that Zhang Zongfu gave him back then.

Once, after I finished talking with him, I said to him: "Battalion Commander Zhang Zongfu died in battle shortly after you left!" ”

Shangguan Xiong said lightly: "I know. ”

I didn't say anything more and went to do what I had to do.

4

In those days, dead people were so normal.

Song Qigui's death was so abnormal.

One night, more than ten days after we left the county seat of Huixian, we had just had dinner at the campsite, and Song Qigui, who was sitting next to me, suddenly fainted and fell to the ground, convulsive. In the last few days, I have noticed that he is always unwell, and sometimes inexplicably restless, and I thought that he was afraid that the Eighth Route Army would turn it against him if they found out about his past battles with the Red Army. I also comforted him to try to relax as much as possible, not to think about anything, just to change the bad habits in his body, no one will do anything to him, about the past, God knows what you know, as long as we don't mention it, no one will know what he has done. When I comforted him, he was in a trance and yawned.

I saw him faint and quickly called the hygienist.

The hygienist checked him for a while and said that there was nothing wrong with the inspection, maybe he was overworked, and he might be fine with a good rest. When he woke up, I saw that his neck was stiff and twitching from time to time. The one-eyed look of horror appeared, his hand grasped my sleeve tightly, and murmured, "Pock, pockmark, I don't ...... Don't want to die! ”

I said to him, "Old soldier oil, don't say stupid things, you won't die, how can you die!" You weren't killed in Jigong Mountain, how could you die at this time! You still have to fight devils with me, after fighting devils, you have to go back to your hometown to beg for a wife and children, and pass on the ancestry, how can you die! Besides, the hygienist checked you and said that you are fine, you close your eyes, relax your whole body, get some sleep, and you are alive again after dawn! ”

At that time, the comrades-in-arms were asleep.

Song Qigui's hand still grabbed my sleeve and didn't let go, as if he had grasped a life-saving straw.

I sensed his desperation.

The great fear of death seized him, and he could not relax.

Song Qigui's breathing became more and more rapid, I felt bad, I couldn't watch him die in front of me, there were already too many people dying in front of me, my heart couldn't bear the pain they brought me, if I was numb, it would be good, but my heart was not numb yet, my heart was still alive, it would still hurt, and blood would flow! I said to him, "You hold on for a while, I'll call the hygienist!" Song Qigui's hand didn't let go, and he didn't want to let go: "Mazi, you are my best brother, let me tell you, I can't live, it's useless for you to call the hygienist, he can't save my life!" I understand, I'm going to die, I'm going to die! You can't leave me, I want you to watch me die, so I won't be so afraid! ”

I was a little overwhelmed: "Veteran oil, you won't die, no!" Don't scare me. ”

Song Qigui's tears flowed out, and he choked up and said, "Mazi, I'm going to die, I can't fight devils with you anymore!" I'm really going to die, I know very well what kind of disease I have, there is no cure! Mazi, I was suffering from tetanus, and a brother was like me now, I watched him die, and after he died, his eyes were not closed, and he was arrested on the third day of his marriage, and he didn't blink his eyes when he died. Mazi, I'm dead, if my eyes don't close, you have to close my eyes! Also, you must cremate my body, you promised me! ”

After listening to Song Qigui's words, I believed that he was going to die, but I still said this: "Old soldier Youzi, you are talking nonsense, you have not been injured recently, how can you suffer from tetanus!" ”

Song Qigui said with tears in his eyes: "Mazi, I'm sorry for you, wow, I'm a damn bastard, damn wow!" I was wounded, not from the war, and the wound was not large, and it healed quickly. I'm going to tell everything now, and it's okay if I'm going to die anyway. That day, the devil hadn't attacked the city yet, so I left the city wall by going to, I went to the devil's headquarters, and found a Japanese girl in a room, I ...... I the Japanese and the Japanese grabbed a pair of scissors and stabbed me in the thigh...... Mazi, I'm sorry for you! Mazi, for the sake of our brothers, you can forgive me, I don't have any hobbies in this life, just like a woman. After I die, I must be burned and my soul will float back to my hometown! ”

I felt like my head was going to explode.

Song Qigui also told us about the night when we were in Tucheng, he actually took those two brothers to sneak into Tucheng to visit the kiln, and the prostitute he asked for was Du Laosan's concubine Qiuxiang who was killed by me, and he and Du Laosan had used martial arts because of the fight for Qiuxiang...... After he finished talking about those unsightly things, he gave up. When he died, his hand was still clutching my sleeve. I stared at the blindfold over his blind eye, and I felt very uncomfortable. I silently carried his corpse, went to a mountain den, picked up a pile of dry firewood, placed his body on top of it, and lit a fire.

The fire was blazing.

The fire burned the body of the veteran soldier Song Qigui on this windy autumn night, but it did not burn my memory of this man. In any case, he has fought devils with me, lived and died with me, he is my brother! Even though he had done so many disgraceful things, he had died such a wretched death!

5

Shangguan Xiong became the brigade commander in the expansion of the team in Yan'an, while I was an ordinary soldier in the battalion directly under the brigade. I can still see Shangguan Xiong often, but the two of us rarely speak. Sometimes when he sees me, he throws me a strange look, and I can't tell what that look meant.

One morning, I got up early to practice my sword on the edge of the Yanhe River before the army's morning exercise, and saw a man reading under a willow tree not far away. I didn't care, and I practiced the knife on my own. After I finished playing a set of knife techniques, I found that the man was standing there looking at me, and at this time, I saw the man's face clearly, he was the brigade commander Shangguan Xiong. I am very strange that he did not practice in the morning, but switched to reading, and I don't know when he became literate. In my eyes, he has become a little bookish, and he has improved from Shangguan Xiong, who was killing people in the Liu family's mansion at that time. People and people's lives are different. He has such a great talent, I am still very proud of him in my heart, after all, he is my brother!

He walked up to me and smiled at me, "Earth dog, you're still so fierce!" ”

He rarely smiled at me, and I was a little flattered by the smile, and I didn't know what to say to him.

He said, "Give me the knife!" ”

I handed the knife to Shangguan Xiong.

Shangguan Xiong held up the ghost head knife that had followed me for more than ten years with both hands, staring, his eyes flashing with metallic light. He sighed and said, "Earth dog, it's hard for you, after so many years, after all kinds of hardships, you haven't thrown away this knife, and I don't know how the master and his old man are doing!" When the revolution is victorious, we must go back with a knife to see his old man! ”

When he said this, my heart warmed, and I felt that the distance between us had narrowed, it was only a brief moment, but for me, it was enough.

Before the troops left Yan'an and re-entered the anti-Japanese battlefield, Shangguanxiong got married. His new wife was a schoolgirl named Zhang Wenqing, who had traveled from Shanghai to Yan'an. It was a simple wedding, but many marshals and generals of the later republics came. When my brother got married, I should have helped to do a lot of things, but I couldn't intervene, so I could only watch the lively scene of the wedding from a distance, and silently bless my brother Shangguanxiong.

6

Because of my good marksmanship, I was borrowed as a sniper by the Tiger Regiment that led the way in every battle.

As soon as the battle began, Sun Debiao, the head of the Tiger Regiment, pointed to the devil's officer and asked me to fight, and he also picked a brand-new 38-type rifle and gave it to me.

He smiled and said, "Take it, use it and it will become an old gun, and you will be handy!" ”

In one of the battles of the Hundred Regiments, I killed three devil officers in less than an hour, and the devils were so angry that they bombarded me with mortars, causing me to hide in my position.

A lot of times, I'm reluctant to just shoot the devil like that, thinking that it would be too cheap and shitty for him to die so happily. So I first aimed at the devil officer's left eye, knocked out his left eye, and then knocked out his right eye, seeing his painful appearance, I had an inexplicable pleasure, and then shot him in the center of the eyebrow, and sent him to the western sky.

It didn't take long for my approach to be discovered by Sun Debiao, and he said to me: "Mazi, you still get a devil with one shot, it's a waste of bullets like this!" ”

I gave Sun Debiao a strange smile.

Sun Debiao treated me as a baby, and told me again and again that he would go to the brigade commander Shangguanxiong to bring me to the Tiger Regiment, saying that it would be too condescending to put me in the battalion directly under the brigade. He really went to Shangguan Xiong again and again to ask for someone, but Shangguan Xiong didn't agree, and he also said to Sun Debiao, if you talk to me again, don't think about borrowing pockmarks in the future. Sun Debiao was helpless and sighed vigorously: "It's a pity, it's a pity!" ”

Then something happened that embarrassed me.

It was a sunny afternoon, and we were resting on a hillside. Somehow, I had a stomach upset that day, so I ran to a small forest on the hillside behind to have diarrhea. I scurried into the forest like a headless fly, came behind a tree, took off my pants and went wild! I was feeling the pain when I suddenly heard an exclamation, and I saw a female cadre running out of the forest with her pants in her hands, and I knew who she was from her back.

She is Shangguan Xiong's wife Zhang Wenqing. Organizationally, he took care of Shangguan Xiong and assigned Zhang Wenqing to our brigade as a propaganda captain at the brigade headquarters. She can't do her propaganda well, what are she doing in this forest? Could it be that she is also like me?

My feeling of pleasure vanished without a trace, and I thought to myself, this is the trouble.

Sure enough, after I finished, before I had time to get out of the forest, Shangguanxiong's guard Hong Dawu walked towards me with a solemn face.

He stared at me with a falcon-like gaze: "The brigade commander told you to go!" ”

I felt weak in my heart, but I still had the courage to ask, "What is it?" ”

Hong Dawu's hand was on the handle of the box gun, as if he was ready to take out the gun and kill me at any time, I saw his action, a nameless fire rushed to his head, I really wanted to give him an old punch, and he spat out his teeth.

He said coldly: "You won't know if you go!" ”

I suppressed the anger in my heart and said: "You don't have to be so arrogant, when Lao Tzu joined the Red Army, you still wore open crotch pants!" ”

My words are still full of ** flavor. Hong Dawu sneered and said, "Don't think that you are a sharpshooter, I'm afraid of you, when will we compete with each other!" ”

Hehe, another person wanted to test marksmanship with me, I gritted my teeth and said, "You want to compete with Lao Tzu in marksmanship?" You kid don't deserve it! ”

With that, I walked out of the woods in a rage. Hong Dawu followed me and didn't say a word, I think this kid must be angry.

Shangguan Xiong did not see me at the brigade command post, but stood in a deserted corner of the hillside with a gloomy face. When I saw him, the anger aroused by Hong Dawu just now suddenly poured out, and I thought that his wife must have said something about me in front of him, maybe I went to the woods to peek at her big white ass! If so, am I not a hooligan? Song Qigui, who died in this matter, may be able to do it, am I the one who is there? But am I explaining it clearly? I suddenly became very confused, as if I had really done something unseemly.

I stood in front of Shangguan Xiong in trepidation like a despicable villain, and the angry guard Hong Dawu stood not far away, looking at us nervously. Shangguan Xiong waved his hand at him: "Go farther!" "Hong Dawu is an obedient dog in front of Shangguan Xiong, he walks far away, but he still looks at us. Shangguan Xiong's face was gloomy, and he said to me in a low but powerful voice, "How can you do such a thing? She's your sister-in-law! ”

My heart was chilling and trembling.

I can't say it clearly even if I have a hundred mouths, what else do I have to say, Shangguan Xiong must have listened to Zhang Wenqing's words! Others don't understand me, don't he Shangguan Xiong understand me, I'm a waste! Besides, I've never been one of those scoundrels who get carried away!

My silence seemed to acquiesce in the matter, and Shangguan Xiong continued: "I understand you, that's it, you still have needs in your heart, but you can't do such a nasty thing!" When the revolution is victorious, I will find you a wife, and you can look at it as you like! Because it's you, I'll forget about it, if it were someone else, I would have to shoot him! However, you must pay attention in the future, don't do whatever you want because of your relationship with me! ”

His words stuck like a steel knife in my heart.

I can't stop talking, even if Shangguan Xiong kills me: "Shangguan Xiong, you listen to me, if I do something sorry for you, do something sorry for your wife, you will kill me immediately, I won't blink an eye!" Tell you, you just stripped the woman and put it in front of my eyes, ask me to see it, and I won't even look at it! Don't you understand my Li Tugou's character! ”

With that, I turned away.

Since I reunited with him, it was the first time I called him by his name, the first time I spit out what I wanted to say in my heart so happily, I was fearless at that moment, I was Li Tugou, that is, I had lost my life, and I was also a bloody man, I would not allow anyone to splash dirty water on my head!

I couldn't see Shangguanxiong's expression after I left, I only knew that for a long time after that, when Shangguanxiong touched me, he looked at me strangely, and he hadn't spoken to me for a long time. I thought that Shangguan Xiong would transfer me out of the battalion directly under the brigade headquarters because of this incident, then I would be relieved, and if I told my heart, let me go to Sun Debiao's tiger regiment, I would be happier, and I could always see Shangguan Xiong in the battalion directly under the brigade, and there was always a lingering haze in my heart. Shangguan Xiong didn't do this, he didn't transfer me out of the battalion directly under him, and later Sun Debiao asked many times, but he didn't agree, I don't know what Shangguan Xiong thought in his heart. It wasn't until a battle in the Liberation War that I was separated from Shangguan Xiong.