9. Incentives

At night, the workshop was very lively. The migrant workers are together, you catch him, he scratches you, say a word about him here, reply to him twice, Zhang Quanming, the living treasure, on such an occasion, is even more skilled, telling jokes to make everyone look up and laugh, Xiao Minghui only rubs his stomach.

While everyone was playing, Li Minqiang, Daniel Zhang and a gray-haired old man walked in. Daniel Zhang waved his hand to everyone and said, "Everyone be quiet, come together, and tonight we will ask Uncle Yang to give us a report." ”

Then, after Li Minqiang said a few requirements concisely and clearly, he immediately burst into warm applause.

Daniel Zhang took a maza and let the old man sit down, and the lively workshop was quiet, some sat on the bunk, some sat on the maza, and gathered around Uncle Yang.

The old man looked at the smiling red faces in front of him, looked at the pair of bright eyes, his heart was surging, his thoughts fluctuated, and his eyes were a little moist. He wants to complain to these young people today about the bloody and tearful past, but he doesn't know why, he doesn't know where to start. The old man blushed, and his two big hands seemed to be inappropriate anywhere, rubbing them mechanically on his thighs. He coughed dryly twice, licked his lips with the tip of his tongue, and pondered for a long time before he spoke: "When did I start talking?" Well, let's talk about it from that year when there was a great drought here. ”

Uncle Yang is over 80 years old, and although he is full of gray hair, he is not deaf or blind, and he is in good health. The old man's name is Yang Laiyu, when he was eleven years old, there was a great drought in Zhaozhuang that has not been encountered in a hundred years, from the beginning of the spring to blow the wind and rarely see raindrops, after the Dragon Boat Festival, there are seven or seven forty-nine days of water not seen, the water in the river pond is dry and the bottom is cracked, the crops poured out with sweat beads are like the dry firewood in the stove on fire, and the poor farmers who are usually poor encounter such a big drought year, but also have no way to live. Yang Laiyu's family has a father, mother, an older sister and a younger brother, a total of five people. Yang Laiyu's father, Yang Zengqin, worked hard in the field all year round, vomiting blood due to overwork, leaving the root of the "injury", and often panting and coughing up blood. Usually, the family has half a year's bran and half a year's grain, and in this drought year, there is no food at all. Yang Laiyu's mother led the child to dig wild vegetables. But where can wild herbs be found in arid land? I had no choice but to peel elm bark and eat it. Elm bark can barely swallow it. When the elm bark is eaten up, the poplar bark is peeled, and the taste of the poplar bark is bitter and astringent, and the whole family is swollen after eating.

One night, it was dark as if everything was under the pot, the wind roared wildly, the sand grains and rotten leaves rolled up by the wind made the doors and windows and roofs crackle, Yang Laiyu's youngest brother Yang Laishui was so frightened that he lay in his mother's arms, motionless, and the family sat and waited under the muddy cotton oil lamp, looking forward to his father coming home. But he didn't come back until dawn, and when he inquired, he learned that he had been captured by the Japanese and did hard labor. The mother fainted to the ground in a hurry, and several children were so frightened that they cried.

Dad is the pillar of the family, and as soon as he is arrested, it is like the house has collapsed, and the burden of the family's life is completely on the shoulders of his mother alone. In order to prevent several children from starving to death, the mother reluctantly gave her sister to others as a child daughter-in-law. On the day my sister was taken away, the whole family cried. The mother said to her sister: "Child, it's not my mother's cruelty, it's the way of the world that forces you......"

Dad was arrested, sister gave it to someone again, Yang Laiyu missed his relatives, and he couldn't close his eyes when he hid on the kang at night, thinking: "The family is separated, what kind of world is this!" Just thinking about it, I heard someone whispering in front of the window: "Come to the rain, open the door!" Open the door! Laiyu heard his father's voice, hurriedly got off the kang and opened the door, and his father came back injured. It turned out that he was unwilling to do hard labor for the Japanese, and risked his life to sneak back. Although the whole family was so hungry that their chests were close to their backs, when they saw their father come back, their hearts fell like a stone to the ground.

Natural disasters forced the family to stay at home, so they had to flee, the father used a basket to carry his younger brother and two broken quilts, and his mother led Yang Laiyu to leave his hometown with a broken basket and began a wandering life. Dad was sick and starved and died on the way to escape the famine.

Yang Laiyu's mother and son fled to Tianjin, and their mother worked as a servant. Yang Laiyu had just turned fifteen years old and pulled into a foreign car, but unfortunately the next year it flooded Tianjin, and the Japanese devils took the opportunity to arrest laborers. Yang Laiyu was also tied up and pressed into the stuffy tank car, and he was stuffy in the carriage for a day, pulling him to the Shanxi coal mine. Going down to the well during the day to do thirteen or fourteen hours of work, and doing it a little slower is a whip. Many people were tired of their waists and bones, and they shed blood and sweat. As soon as they got off work, those wolf-like Japanese devils, with guns in their hands, escorted the absentees into a large house surrounded by barbed wire on all sides. Outside the door, there was a Japanese garrison and a traitor mine policeman, with guns with bayonets in their hands and foreign dogs with blood-red tongues sticking out at their feet. Whoever goes out to and pee has to take off his shirt and shoes, and untie his trouser belt, for fear that you will run away. Where is this mine, it's a hell! The life of the poor is really bitter in the water!

After liberation, Yang Laiyu went to Tianjin twice to inquire about the news of his mother and younger brother Yang Laishui, and got the news that his mother died a few days after he was arrested, and his younger brother was taken away by a worker.

After listening to the old man's accusation of blood and tears in the past, everyone was in tears and couldn't cry.

The old man wiped away his tears and said excitedly: "The Communist Party is our great savior, and it was the Communist Party that pulled me out of the fire pit. Big! But I don't think it's as great as the party's kindness, and without the Communist Party, I would have fed the wild dogs a long time ago! Is my father and mother kissing? Kiss! There is no Communist Party pro yet! In the past, my father and mother kissed me again, but they couldn't stop me from being tired and starving, and I was still beaten by the leather whip of the Japanese devils. But the Communist Party conquered the world, snatched the whip from the hands of those bullies, no longer suffered the anger of the bad guys, and became the master of the country. When I think about this, I can't sleep! Boys, we can't forget the pain of the scars, but we can't forget the roots! Don't forget to dig wells when drinking water, and always pat your chest and think about how to repay the kindness of the Communist Party! ”

The slogan of "never forget our roots from generation to generation, and always follow the Communist Party" sounded in the workshop.

The old man continued: "In the past, a great drought caused ruins to our poor families. For the sake of water, my father named me Laiyu, and my brother called for water, but the poor people also looked for water everywhere, but that was in the past, and the poor couldn't get it! Now that there is the leadership of the Communist Party, God will not starve to death without rain for a year. A few years ago, there was a drought here and the harvest was not good, so the government brought two large truckloads of rice and white flour to our village and distributed them to everyone. Now that the government has sent you to help us repair the reservoir, I am grateful from the bottom of my heart! I calculated that if this reservoir is completed, we will be able to make a few hundred catties of grain per acre. We must produce more food for the country, let the workers eat well and build more machines, so that our rural areas can be mechanized as soon as possible; Let the soldiers be well fed and practice their skills to kill the enemy and defend our country. The people of our whole country have worked together to build the country as strong as iron. ”

The old man's report ended with warm applause. Li Minqiang stood tall in front of everyone and asked everyone in a loud voice: "Comrades! Uncle Yang has been bitter in the past years? ”

"Bitter!" The audience answered in unison.

"Is Uncle Yang's reasoning right?"

"Yes!" There was another deafening roar.

"Comrades!" Li Minqiang said emotionally: "In the past, was it only Uncle Yang's family who suffered? No! The poor people of old China were living a life that was inferior to cattle and horses, climbing on the tip of a knife every day and struggling on the line of death. Let's take our comrades here as an example, which elder has not suffered in the past, and which family does not have a book of blood and tears! For the liberation of our suffering people, the Communist Party no longer lives a life that is inferior to cattle and horses, and has led the people of the whole country to fight bloody battles for decades. Speaking of this, he took out a book from his satchel and held it high in front of everyone, with five large gold characters "Memoirs of the Long March" printed on the red cover. He said: "The soldiers of the Red Army, climbing the snowy mountains, the wind roared, the snowflakes fell, the wind carried the hail, and blew on the soldiers who were wearing only a torn jacket, and their bodies were like knives; Over the meadows, the rain was pouring down, and the mud broke the soldiers' feet. Cold, hunger struck them mercilessly, claiming the lives of many warriors. On the Long March, they ate wild vegetables, wild fruits, and moldy barley. Sometimes, when these things are not available, they use undigested barley from horse manure to feed their hunger. Comrades, what are the predecessors doing this for? ”

"Liberate all of China!" Everyone replied in unison.

Li Minqiang took a small blackboard from the side, and the recipes written on it were: staple food: millet dry rice, steamed buns; Non-staple food: pork stewed vermicelli, egg soup. He continued: "Compared to the time of the Red Army's Long March, it is really a world of difference! However, some of us are holding honeypots and don't know the sweetness, they are not satisfied with such good living conditions, they are not at ease with the work of repairing the reservoir, and they are afraid of hardship and tiredness, how undesirable is this! We must not forget the cannibalistic past, and we must not forget the predecessors who fought to the death for the liberation of China, forgetting these means betrayal! ”

At this time, Zhang Yiming stood up with tears of excitement, clenched his fists and shouted: "Learn from the revolutionary predecessors, fight the battle of repairing the reservoir, and benefit the people!" ”

Earth-shaking slogans rang out in the shed again.

As soon as the slogan fell, Li Minqiang continued: "Today, our construction of the reservoir is a good thing for the benefit of the people and a contribution to the construction of a modern new countryside." We must inherit the glorious tradition of our predecessors and complete the task of building the reservoir ahead of schedule! ”

Li Minqiang's touching words inspire everyone's heart.

At the end of the meeting, everyone was vying to circulate the "Memoirs of the Long March" that inspired the fighting spirit, reading it again and again, revering, amazed, and excited, sometimes tearing, sometimes pondering, and sometimes rejoicing. As the descendants of the revolution, how can we not inspire ourselves to move forward bravely on the journey of building a new countryside by comparing ourselves with our predecessors to find the gaps!

At this time, Li Xiaobao was leaning on the roll and had a lot of thoughts. Listening to the old man's accusations about the past and his desire for water reminded him of the difficult childhood that his father had told him when he was alive, listened to Li Minqiang's inspiring words, and also remembered the teachings of the teachers at school, remembered Li Minqiang's sincere conversation, and remembered the words and hopes of the comrades who hated iron and steel, he felt guilty, and he recalled with tears in his eyes what he had done after coming to the reservoir construction site. He was distraught. My heart was beating harder than ever.

It was late at night, the lights in the shed were still on, and Chang Ziming, who came to talk to Li Minqiang, saw that some of the young men were reading books, and some were leaning on the cover scrolls to think about things. Zhang Shifu, Zhang Yiming, and Zhang Quanming were talking seriously about something around the stove. He made a gesture to those who had found him, signaling not to alarm them, and sat quietly on the floor by the door, listening to the men.

Zhang Shifu said: "The older generation of revolutionaries made a revolution and ate grass roots and tree bark and shed blood and sacrificed, now we eat polished rice and chew white noodles, but we still feel bitter after a few more sweats. ”

Zhang Yiming said: "It's better than not knowing, and I'm really ashamed to panic." ”

Zhang Shifu said: "Uncle Yang only complained about the days he lived in the past, and the Red Army was tired when he climbed the snowy mountains and crossed the grasslands. I think we're in heaven now. What reason is there not to throw off your arms and do a lot of work. ”

Zhang Quanming said: "We all have to learn from the platoon commander, you see how admirable people are when they talk and do things, I have been thinking about it for a long time, and the reason why people are doing well is because they have inherited the good traditions of the Red Army." ”

Zhang Yiming nodded convincingly and said: "This is in Li'er, let's take picking soil as an example, his swollen shoulders are high, I saw the distressed tears, I said that you are too tired." Guess what the platoon commander said? ”

"What do you say?"

Zhang Yiming learned from Minqiang's appearance and voice, patted his chest, and said: "'The soldiers of our army have a saying, called: 'Bitterness is not bitterness, think about the 25,000 Long March, tired or not, think about the revolutionary predecessors. If your shoulders are a little red, you feel bitter! When I heard this, my face turned red. ”

Zhang Quanming said in an angry tone: "The platoon commander worked hard to build the reservoir as soon as possible, but there are still people who gossip, and this kind of person is not afraid of big fans and tongues." ”

Zhang Yiming said: "When the forest is big, there are all kinds of birds, this kind of person just has eyes and no beads, and he is angry with him." ”

Zhang Shifu said: "It is not easy for our predecessors to lay down the country for us, in order to protect and build the country laid down by our predecessors, we have to learn from our predecessors like a platoon commander." ”

Zhang Quanming stood up and said, "Let me make a suggestion, do you think it's okay?" ”

"What's the suggestion?"

"Let's write a letter of determination to the company headquarters, and in order to build the reservoir as soon as possible, we will do an extra hour of work every day."

Zhang Yiming said: "This suggestion is good, this is called eight hours of hard work, rest time to contribute." ”

Zhang Quanming nodded with satisfaction and said, "Yes, that's what it means." ”

Zhang Shifu pondered for a while and said, "I see, our determination letter has been changed to a challenge book." ”

"Challenge?"

"That's right! For such a big project as the reservoir, we can't rely on a few of us, so we have to mobilize everyone to do it. ”

Zhang Yiming clapped his hand and said, "You mean you want everyone to have a competition!" ”

Li Xiaobao, who had been lying on the floor and listening to their discussions and thinking about his thoughts, suddenly stood up and said excitedly: "I also signed the challenge book!" ”

The three of them stood up in surprise and smiled happily.

Chang Ziming was deeply moved by the simple and touching words, although it was still a cold night, but there was a fire in his heart, baking his whole body. Listening to the young men pouring out the profound truth of enduring hardships for the construction of the reservoir as if they were at home. Seeing this kind of scene, he also thought of the moving scene of the young men covered in mud building sheds at night, swinging hammers to break the freeze, and pushing carts like flying, and also remembered the figure of Li Minqiang enduring great pain and carrying stone rammers, and also remembered the words that Secretary Tian Yongsheng often said: "As long as the masses are mobilized, incalculable power will burst out, and this force will be indestructible." "Isn't that what happened in the first row? He wanted to go over and have a heart-to-heart conversation with the boys, but the situation in front of him did not allow it. Why hasn't Minqiang come back? He came to Minqiang for a heart-to-heart talk and exchange of views, because he and Chen Wenjun had a disagreement on Li Minqiang's views.

How did Chang Ziming know that after Li Minqiang dismissed the meeting, he sent Uncle Yang home, and did not return to the platoon, but came directly to the company headquarters. At this time, he was arguing fiercely with Chen Wenjun in the company headquarters.