Zhang Xiuxiu couldn't cry anymore.

Zhang Datou slapped her: "Something without conscience, your godfather is dead, and you don't even cry!" ”

That's it, Zhang Xiuxiu didn't cry out.

Zhang Datou said to his daughter: "Xiuxiu, you will be here with me at night to guard the spirit of your godfather, and you will dress him in linen and filial piety!" ”

Zhang Xiuxiu nodded, and a woman walked up to her and took her to wear filial piety clothes.

Because the weather was hot and humid, Zhang Changfa's body was not good for a long time, so Zhang Datou decided to mourn tomorrow and sent Zhang Changfa up the mountain to be buried. At this time, he has a lot to do. Zhang Datou asked people to kill a big fat pig at home, and after the funeral tomorrow, he wanted to invite the whole village to eat tofu rice. Then, he went to the village to discuss with an old man, first lent his coffin to Zhang Changfa, and after a few days, he found someone to make a good coffin and return it to the old man. The old man was reasonable and asked Zhang Datou to ask someone to move his coffin. In Fenghuang Village, it is very normal to borrow a coffin. After the coffin was borrowed, Zhang Datou instructed Zhang Hongliang: "After you finish dinner, take people up the mountain overnight, choose a piece of land on the ancestral land of our Zhang family, dig out the tomb, and bury it early tomorrow morning!" The tomb must be dug deeper! Zhang Hongliang patted his chest and said, "No problem, this matter is on me!" ”

It was late at night, even Zhang Hongliang and they went back to rest after digging the tomb, they had to get up early tomorrow morning and carry the coffin up the mountain to be buried, they needed to rest well, and this day also tossed them badly. To do such a thing, the people in the village have no complaints, and when everyone has a dead person, they need everyone's help.

There was a stench of corpses floating in the mourning hall.

There were only father and daughter left in the mourning hall. They guarded the body of Zhang Changfa and talked. Zhang Xiuxiu didn't expect her father to talk so much to her on this sad night. Zhang Datou told her the origin of Zhang Changfa. Zhang Xiuxiu had never heard about Zhang Changfa's origin in such detail before. She only knew that Zhang Changfa was a descendant of the New Fourth Army.

Zhang Datou's narration is very organized, maybe these things have been rolling in his stomach for decades, in fact, these things are also told to him by his father. Zhang Xiuxiu listened very attentively, and the old things that were very old seemed to be presented in front of her eyes. Time can bury a person's body, but it can't bury a person's memory.

That was in July 1944, decades ago. That morning, when the sky was bright, some early risers found more than thirty people dressed in gray cloth gathered under the old banyan tree in the village, some of them lying on the ground, some on stretchers, and some sitting back to back. Most of these people were wounded and sick, some of them had bandages on their heads, some of them had bandages on their hands and feet, and some of them had wounds on their bodies...... The villager of Phoenix Village, who got up early, was terrified, who were these people? They also have knives and guns. He quickly hid in the house and closed the door. He thought of the news brought back by the people in the village who were doing crafts outside, and the Japanese had already fought to a neighboring county more than 100 kilometers away. The mountain of Phoenix Village is far away from the emperor, and occasionally bandits have come, but they have never come to the team. What kind of team these wounded soldiers were, the villager didn't know at all. It would be terrible if the Japanese came, I heard that the Japanese are devils who kill people without blinking! The villager fastened the door of his house and pressed it tightly against a thick piece of wood.

A man wearing a hat came to the door of the villager's house, and he had clearly seen the villager just now. He said to the puzzled villagers in the gate: "Fellow, don't be afraid, we are the New Fourth Army. "The villagers have heard of the New Fourth Army, they are the Chinese own team that fought the Japanese. The villagers still don't believe it, why did the New Fourth Army come to Fenghuang Village instead of fighting devils on the front line? Did the Japanese pretend to be the New Fourth Army to trick him into opening the door? The villagers said in the door: "Are you really the New Fourth Army? The person at the door said: "Fellow, we are really the New Fourth Army, our own people!" "The villagers still don't dare to open the door. The man at the door said, "Fellow, believe us, if we are Japanese devils, do we need to tell you who we are?" A long time ago smashed your door open, or a fire burned your house down. When the villagers heard what he said, their hearts were shaken, and he thought about it, the people outside the door still had a point, if they were really robbers, did they still need to reason with you? After a while, the villager opened the door. In fact, at this time, many villagers who got up early noticed those people under the banyan tree and were also pricking up their ears to listen to them. When the villager opened the door, the people of the village also opened the door one after another.

The first villager to open the door was Zhang Datou's father, Zhang Wenhui.

After Zhang Wenhui opened the door, he saw an elegant and handsome face.

The man wearing the New Fourth Army military hat smiled and said to Zhang Wenhui: "Fellow, thank you for your trust in us. My name is Jiang Feng. ”

Zhang Wenhui soon knew that this was a team that had been broken up by the war with the Japanese, and Jiang Feng was the leader of this team. Most of the people in the team are wounded and sick, and they entered the Phoenix Mountain Mountains to let the wounded and sick better recover and preserve this team. Zhang Wenhui saw that the wounded were sad under the banyan tree, so he took the initiative to say to Jiang Feng and let the seriously injured live in his house. Zhang Wenhui also asked the villagers to vacate some empty rooms for the wounded and sick to live at home. Jiang Feng was very moved, and he said to Zhang Wenhui in a gentle manner: "The motherland will remember you!" Actually, at that time, Zhang Wenhui didn't know what the motherland meant.

A seriously wounded soldier and a female New Fourth Army with a big belly lived in Zhang Wenhui's house, because they were husband and wife, and the female New Fourth Army was still a hygienist, and they lived together and took better care of each other. The seriously wounded man's name is Yang Wuping, and the female New Fourth Army is called Hu Cuigu.

Yang Wuping's head and face were covered with bandages, and his exposed eyes were always red, burning with the fire of anger and hatred. Hu Cuigu has a big belly, and the experienced village woman knows at a glance that the child in her belly is eight or nine months old, and it will soon be in labor. What made the people in the village feel strange was how the New Fourth Army could let such a big-bellied woman follow the march to fight? There is an indescribable melancholy in Hu Cuigu's eyes, she rarely uses her eyes to look directly at people, and always avoids the gaze of others, including that of her husband Yang Wuping. It was as if she had hidden a lot of pain and unspeakable secrets in her heart.

Yang Wuping's injuries were very serious, and he usually didn't say anything, but he always held the rifle. Jiang Feng said to Zhang Wenhui that Yang Wuping was a sharpshooter, and many devils died under his gun. Yang Wuping In that tragic battle, one of the devil's shells fell beside him, and a piece of shrapnel cut off half of his Tianling cover, and no one thought that he would survive. According to Yang Wuping's own words, his life should not be extinguished, it was God who let him survive and kill a few more devils. Zhang Wenhui was terrified when he heard it, he didn't know what it looked like when half of the Tianling cover was cut off, when Hu Cuigu changed Yang Wuping's dressing, Zhang Wenhui didn't dare to look at it, but he admired a hero like Yang Wuping in his heart.

One night, Zhang Wenhui killed an old hen that laid eggs at home and stewed it for Yang Wuping to eat. Yang Wuping didn't eat it. Zhang Wenhui begged him to eat, no matter how Zhang Wenhui begged, Yang Wuping just didn't eat. Zhang Wenhui asked Hu Cuigu to persuade him to eat. Hu Cuigu felt sorry for Yang Wuping, and said to him with tears in her eyes: "Wuping, you can eat some, it's rare for the villagers to be kind, besides, you are so seriously injured, you also need to supplement nutrition." Yang Wuping said angrily: "If you can eat it, you can eat it, I don't have that appetite, I can't eat it!" Hu Cuigu was very helpless, and there was no way to take Yang Wuping. Zhang Wenhui thought of Jiang Feng, so he found Jiang Feng and asked Jiang Feng to persuade Yang Wuping to eat chicken. Jiang Feng was moved by Zhang Wenhui's sincerity, he came to Zhang Wenhui's house, walked to Yang Wuping's bed, and said to Yang Wuping, who was holding the rifle: "Wuping, since the fellow has cooked chicken soup for you, you can eat some, don't worry about anything, I will give the fellow money, you can eat with confidence." Tears oozed from Yang Wuping's eyes: "Instructor Jiang, I can't eat!" I just want to get back to the battlefield as soon as possible and kill the Japanese devils! Jiang Feng's eyes were also moist: "Wu Ping, I understand your mood, only when you take care of your body can you go back to the battlefield to kill the enemy!" So, you have to eat this chicken! In this way, Yang Wuping reluctantly drank some chicken soup, and then he asked Zhang Wenhui to bring the chicken to the other wounded and sick to eat. Zhang Wenhui looked at Hu Cuigu, who had a big belly and a pale face, and gave her a bowl of chicken soup and a chicken leg, but Hu Cuigu didn't eat it, she asked another hygienist to send the chicken soup and chicken legs to the other wounded and sick.

During those days, the villagers of Fenghuang Village killed their own chickens for the sick and wounded. The sick and wounded also recovered quickly.

None of the villagers of Fenghuang Village, including Zhang Wenhui, thought that there would be a battle at the tip of the plum blossoms, and it would be so fierce. They also didn't expect that the legendary Japanese devil would suddenly get so close to them and almost enter Phoenix Village.

Two months later, in order to get sufficient food from the Phoenix Mountains, the Japanese invading army launched an attack on the Phoenix Mountains, and the Plum Blossom Peak is a checkpoint in the Phoenix Mountains, and the Japanese troops coming from the south can only enter the Phoenix Mountains by crossing the Plum Blossom Peaks. Most of the mountains facing south of Meihuajian are cliffs, only the slopes facing south of the main peak of Meihuajian are relatively gentle, and the Japanese army can only climb over the peak of Meihuajian from here and enter the Phoenix Mountain area. Holding the main peak of Meihuajian will be able to block the Japanese army south of Phoenix Mountain.

At that time, there were only more than thirty wounded soldiers led by Jiang Feng in this area. Fortunately, Jiang Feng put two mobile sentinels at the tip of the plum blossoms, otherwise a wing of the Japanese invading army would have successfully crossed the tip of the plum blossoms and entered the mountains of Phoenix Mountain. After Jiang Feng got the news, he immediately took the more than 30 soldiers to the top of Meihua Mountain to block the Japanese invading army. Because Yang Wuping's injuries were serious and Hu Cuigu was about to give birth, the two of them were left at Zhang Wenhui's house.