Lu Ming was not surprised and fell into deep thought, what made him even more sad was that today, when he was over fifty years old, he figured out that Bai Ling was his biological mother......

As soon as Bai Ling entered the Red Army's base in Nanliang, he had a pleasant feeling of stretching and relaxing when the abused little daughter-in-law returned to her parents' house. As soon as she saw the soldiers practicing on the court, she couldn't help but laugh and bend down. What made her laugh was the varied costumes of the Red Army soldiers, some of which were the black jackets and black pants often worn by the local sheep guards; Some wore a ** officer's tweed uniform with padded shoulders on the upper body, but a pair of hand-sewn cotton pants with a large crotch folded waist on the lower body; Some of the tops were torn jackets that had bloomed and dewed, but the lower body wore dark flower striped silk pants worn only by rural landlords. Hats and shoes are not more exquisite, some wear melon skin red caps, some wear black hats, some wear dog fur hats, some wear ** soldier hats, and some wrap a white cloth or blue cloth handkerchief. On the feet are cloth shoes, leather shoes, cotton nest nest linen shoes and straw sandals. The identity of the owner can no longer be seen in the costume, and the same is true for eating. No matter the soldiers, whether they are the captain of the brigade, the head of the detachment, or even the supreme commander, Commander Liao, they all scoop the same meal in one pot. There are no chairs and stools, and there is no dinner table, everyone squats on the ground, chatting while eating in a circle, and the few female players are also used to squatting in a pile to eat like the male players. When Bai Ling squatted down for the first time with a bowl of dried rice with shredded millet and potatoes, he couldn't help but laugh again and almost fell.

Bai Ling was arranged to be a cultural teacher. In a cave there were stones and roots and wood placed on the ground, and soldiers and officers took turns attending classes, taking turns going in and out of the cave, and taking turns sitting on stones and wood. Her blackboard is a door panel dyed with black ink from the bottom of a pot, and the chalk is made of loess mud kneaded into finger-thick strips; Later, an enthusiastic warrior found a soft, grayish-white stone on the hillside, which was written in the same way as a standard chalk ingot, in place of a strip of clay. The warriors practiced writing on the ground one by one. Bai Ling wrote a stroke on the blackboard, and the soldier drew a line on the ground with a branch, and taught the soldier the words "** Red Army fights Japan for the people and saves China", and each person's name has to be taught separately. Bai Ling faced those childish little warriors, feeling a kind of ** and sacred, these big children who are dressed in all kinds of clothes and can't even write their own names are destined to be the gravediggers of China's decadent regime and the founder of the ideal new China, and they will never forget to learn to read and write their names with her in this hole kiln. She was commended by the commander of the Liao army down to the squad leader, and also won the support of the guerrillas, on the one hand, for her excellent work, and on the other hand, because of her lively and cheerful personality. She taught the guerrillas how to read and write, and also helped them sew torn and worn clothes, pants, shoes and socks, often in return, asking them to sing her a hometown folk song. Most of these babies come from the forks and ditches of the Loess Plateau, singing melodious and mournful mountain songs in a thick nasal voice, which makes people feel refreshed. Their stiff and strange pronunciation made her unable to understand the meaning of the lyrics, and she often corrected them sentence by sentence and word by word before translating the language used by Chang'an officials. Every time she got a poem, she copied it into a small book, and actually collected a thick one. She changed the sour words of love and thirst and replaced them with lyrics with revolutionary content, and simply put them into the original tune, and they quickly became popular among the cadres and team members, and one of them actually became the military song of this Red Army guerrilla.

Bai Ling was transferred to the military department as a secretary half a year later. The military headquarters is also a cave with five or six male and female staff. She is no stranger to them, including Commander Liao, but now she has more opportunities to get in touch. The first time she met Commander Liao was when she listened to him give a military lecture to the team members. Commander Liao's face seems to be the face that a military commander should have: a square face, a short and straight nose, a square chin, a prominent but not "run" forehead, and a pair of eyes embedded under the eyebrow bone, which are easily reminiscent of the deep stream under the stone cliff. Bai Ling suddenly realized that there were many guerrillas who were extremely similar to the faces of Commander Liao, which was the standard face frame of a handsome man in the northern part of the Loess Plateau, and he must be a descendant of the Xiongnu Mongols, or the descendants of intermarriage with the Han Chinese. He was the most educated man in the entire guerrilla army, and he was also the most knowledgeable in military affairs. He graduated from the Whampoa Military Academy and participated in the Northern Expedition, and then was forced to retreat to Guanzhong to raise a pole of the ** army to hold a riot. After the insurrection failed, he retreated to the northern plateau and formed an army again, until the Red 36th Army was buried in the Qinling Mountains in Zishui County. The current Red Army still uses the name of the 36th Army, and he has become smart and sophisticated, and he no longer rushes out. As soon as Commander Liao stepped onto the podium (earthen platform), he suddenly pointed at Bai Ling and pretended to be stunned and asked, "When did this comrade sneak in, why can't I recognize it?" Bai Ling stood up openly: "Report to Commander Liao, the soldier Bai Ling reports to you, I fled from Xi'an for half a month." Commander Liao looked more and more stunned and inexplicable, and asked, "Are you from Guanzhong?" There is also a beautiful comrade brother like you in Guanzhong?" Laughter suddenly erupted in the cave, and Bai Ling couldn't help blushing. Commander Liao suddenly said to himself: "I thought that the beautiful comrade brother and comrade sister were all from our northern Shaanxi mile...... and then raised his head and laughed loudly......

Bai Ling went to Commander Liao's cave to deliver a secret document. Commander Liao suddenly asked: "Do you get used to the big local dolls coming to the forks?" Commander Liao always jokingly called her a doll or a gay brother from a big place, but never called her a gay sister or called her by her name. "It's good," she said. Commander Liao frowned, shook his head and said, "It's not good, it's not good, what do you say is good?" The people here can't get anything but herding sheep. No culture, no wheat, no cotton, even water is desperately lacking – you're not telling the truth. Bai Ling smiled and said, "There are beautiful songs here." Commander Liao nodded approvingly and said, "That's right, Qu'er can be called no better!" I've traveled to many places, including your big place Guanzhong, and I can't hear such a good song. What else do you say?" Bai Ling smiled and said, "All the boys are beautiful and handsome!" Commander Liao suddenly said, "How about finding you a son-in-law?" At that moment, Bai Ling took out a piece of paper from the hidden pocket under his body and handed it to Commander Liao. That was before leaving, Zhaopeng asked her to hand it over to Commander Liao. When she entered the base area, she did not hand it over to Commander Liao, and now she feels that it is necessary to hand it over. Commander Liao read the note, slowly stood up, looked at her for a long time, and then solemnly stretched out his right hand. Bai Ling and Commander Liao's hands shook together. Commander Liao said: "Comrade Bai Ling!" Bai Ling said excitedly: "Comrade Lu Zhaopeng asked me to salute you on his behalf!" Commander Liao said, "But you...... Why now...... What do you mean?" Bai Ling said: "I'm afraid you take too much care of me...... Commander Liao said: "Okay! As long as I live, I'll keep you safe. In the name of Comrade Lu Zhaopeng......"

Later, there was an incident in the army that exposed the hidden agents of the Kuomintang, which led to a civil strife, which caused the Red Army guerrillas, which had just come to the first place and formed a climate, to fall into a catastrophe of annihilation. When that spy infiltrated the base area in the name of defecting to the revolution, he also took the road of the Xi'an underground party with him; He came to Nanliang half a year later than Bai Ling and was assigned to a guerrilla brigade leader as his personal secretary. He had fled suddenly the previous day, and the guerrilla intelligence team had finally identified the terrible identity of the man from the evidence obtained. Immediately afterwards, a high-level secret meeting between Commander Liao and Political Commissar Bi was held, the content of which is unknown. A meeting of cadres above the detachment commander level was held in full swing that night, and the content is still unknown. Bai Ling began to feel that he had fallen into a dangerous situation. It's not that she's overly sensitive, it's her common sense. She can usually observe various important meetings, including the top decision-making of Liao and Bi. All these meetings or decisions are recorded, written, and resolved by two or three of their confidential personnel, and there is no problem of keeping secret the major policy decisions and major military and political affairs in the entire base area. She was not informed to observe the supreme meeting of Liao and Bi**, and the meeting of commanders above the detachment commander also avoided her participation, so she felt abnormal, and an anxiety of being suspicious and distrusted began to haunt her; Especially after the meeting of commanders above the detachment commander, a grim atmosphere of silence and tension suddenly enveloped the entire base area, and Bai Ling's stiff and suspicious expressions on the familiar faces of those commanders confirmed a certain premonition. She had insomnia at night, the first time in more than a year since she entered the base. At noon the next day, she was notified to attend an all-army meeting, at which Political Commissar Bi made a report on the anti-rebellion mobilization, announced the formation of a list of anti-anti-insurgency groups, and immediately arrested 11 guerrillas on the spot. Bai Ling was frightened and suddenly discovered that the eleven guerrillas who had been declared as hidden agents were all male and female students from Xi'an who had defected to the Red Army, and he couldn't help but shudder.

Bai Ling was transferred out of the military headquarters and incorporated into the guerrilla detachment. The guerrillas no longer learned to write her name, no longer begged her to mend her clothes, and no longer sang her beautiful songs of Xintian, but all looked at her with a suspicious and vigilant eye. Bai Ling was in pain but could not get rid of it, and a powerful storm of hatred quickly set off in the entire base area, even stronger than the hatred for the Kuomintang authorities. This is for the mole, she can understand, but she can't bear to be oppressed and wronged by the suspicion of hatred. She finally decided to find Commander Liao to explain herself, and was suddenly dragged back to the cave by two female team members, telling her not to run around, and then she realized that she had already been monitored by a special person. Seven or eight days later, a second arrest was made, and the seven arrested were still students from Xi'an. Bai Ling thought a little in her heart, all the twenty-one students who came to the base from Xi'an one after another, only two women and one man were left, including her, and then she felt that the same fate could not be escaped, and it was not far away.

The night before the second arrest, five of the eleven people arrested in the first batch were buried alive. The next day, a notice was posted at the door of the cave where the brigades were gathering. Bai Ling saw it at the door of the cave where she often went in and out as a cultural teacher, and all five of them were judged to be spies. Barely half a month after the first arrest, the remaining six of the eleven arrested in the first batch and two of the seven arrested for the second time were executed, and the punishment of digging a pit and burying them alive was also adopted. This method of execution is not considered cruel by the team members, because bullets are too precious. The guns in the hands of the partisans and every bullet in the chamber were taken from the enemy, for which many partisans lost their lives. At this time, a more serious incident occurred in the base area, and the captain of the first brigade was ordered to be arrested by the anti-counter team. The captain patted his chest at a high-level meeting and shouted to Political Commissar Bi: "I dare to guarantee with my head that those Xi'an students will definitely not all be spies!" You bury them alive one by one, which is equivalent to destroying yourself! Who will dare to defect to our army in the future......" On the evening of the end of the meeting, the order to arrest the captain was written and became a fact. The rift spread from the top to the guerrillas at once, and the rift widened and widened rapidly. When Commander Liao was shocked to learn that his love had tied up the first captain and taken him into the prison kiln, he finally lost his last patience and directly found the cave where the political commissar Bi lived and forced him to release him. Political Commissar Bi was uncompromising: "The purpose of detaining the captain is to prevent the spread of right-leaning ideology, which is different from a sleeper agent. If the captain is not detained, it will affect the further deepening of the suppression. "The anti-rebellion group was given absolute power to censor everyone, and Commander Liao actually only had the military command right to fight against the enemy. Political Commissar Bi said: "You also prevent the rise of right-leaning ideologies. ”

Political Commissar Bi did not hesitate to arrest all the seven or eight political dissidents, and the struggle to expose the right-leaning opportunists further developed from the suppression of the rebellion to the struggle to expose the right-leaning opportunists, and batch after batch of commanders and guerrillas were arrested and detained. The rebellion has long exceeded the original target range, and it doesn't matter if you come from Xi'an or not. The disagreement between Commander Liao and Political Commissar Bi finally developed to the surface and became public, and Commander Liao said: "You are ......" He was so angry that he didn't know what kind of ideological hat to put on Political Commissar Bi, and he thought of the political commissar Jiang who defected to the enemy: "You and that traitor are all the way!" Political Commissar Bi did not continue to argue, but issued an order to arrest Commander Liao. Political Commissar Bi convened a meeting of all the officers and men and declared a complete victory in the suppression of the rebellion, not only dug up a small group of spies lurking in the base areas, but more importantly, dug up a right-leaning opportunist line hidden in the Red Army, and the backbone elements formed an anti-party clique......

Bai Ling was arrested at this conference, and she was the last of the twenty-one people from Xi'an to be arrested, which was the result of Commander Liao's death order to protect her; Commander Liao himself has been sent to the prison kiln, and Bai Ling's protective umbrella is naturally gone.

Bai Ling was the last to be caught, but was executed the fastest, which may be mainly due to her close relationship with Commander Liao being regarded as a dead friend, or it may also be the result of her wild nature. She was imprisoned in the prison kiln, and she kept calling day and night, first calling Political Commissar Bi: "I want to talk to you!" Then call the honorific name of Political Commissar Bi, and then call Political Commissar Bi's nickname with insulting and provocative words: Bi - eyes - mirror - Bi blind! The guerrillas guarding the kiln reported to the anti-rebel group and decided to interrogate her in advance. Bai Ling's voice can be called a natural iron voice and a golden voice, and he howled like a she-wolf in the prison kiln for three days and three nights, his voice was still loud, his spirit was high, and his eyes were like torches. She glanced at the members of the anti-rebellion team that interrogated her and said, "Call Political Commissar Bi, I have something important to say." ”

When Commissar Bi came in, he was full of ambition to help his glasses. Bai Ling couldn't control the rising passion, so he threw out brick-like words: "I heard that you are also a 'native of Guanzhong'?" She quoted the words used by Commander Liao when he laughed with her, "I am ashamed that I am from Guanzhong with you!" Political Commissar Bi immediately changed his face: "You are the most cunning and the most hidden one." You've got it in our hearts!" Bai Ling no longer cared what Political Commissar Bi said she was, it didn't matter what she was or not, the most important thing was time, it was the time she couldn't get to talk to him directly. She roared fiercely and quietly like a desperate lioness: "There is no need to argue about what you have done. I now suspect that you are a high-ranking agent sent by the enemy, and only a highly trained agent can be so brutal and yet unrevealed, and so high-sounding! If not, then you are a careerist and conspirator, and you can now replace Captain Liao and sit on the throne. If neither of the above is the case, then you are a pure idiot, a vicious scoundrel, a bullshit bastard! You have the talent to sabotage the revolution, but you don't even have the ability to build the revolution! What I hated the most in the past were those soft-boned traitors, and now the most despised thing is you, an indescribable person......" Political Commissar Bi couldn't sit still and slapped the table: "Commander Liao protects you, you confuse him!" I have seen through you a long time ago, you scolded me for not caring about it, this is the dying ......madness of the counter-revolution" Bai Ling sneered and said: "I have long stopped thinking about my fate. My fate has already been laid out there. My death today is no different from my death half a month ago, and the only good thing is that I have waited for the opportunity to scold you! You put me to death, and you remember at the same time: you are a hundred times smaller than me!"

…………

Bai Ling was buried alive that night, and it was snowing in the sky. The rest of the details and circumstances surrounding her burial could not be verified. The two guerrillas who carried out the execution of burying her alive later died on the anti-Japanese positions in Shanxi. After being released from the prison kiln by Zhou Enlai's order, Commander Liao became the commander of a regular Red Army division, and also died in the command trench of the anti-Japanese front east of the Yellow River, where he was hit by a bomb thrown by a Japanese aircraft. Political Commissar Bi later went to Yan'an, and after reviewing the mistake with Zhou Enlai, he changed his name, and there was no way to find it......

Writer Lu Ming didn't insist on finding Bi to inquire about something. He felt that what was important was not the details of the martyr's death and the specific process, but only useful for future creations; What is important is the reflection on the root causes of this historical tragedy.