"Hahahaha" there was a sudden burst of laughter. The bearded soldier tilted his head and said with a smile, "Little bastard, why are you a soldier if you want to keep planting? One bullet here will wipe you out. You'd better go back to farming."
La. Sir, you don’t know, this sissy doesn’t even dare to visit a brothel, she’s still a young girl.”
As he said this, everyone laughed even louder, and some even clapped their hands.
Zhao Gang waved his hand to stop everyone's laughter and said, "Everyone, be quiet. Listen to this little comrade. Little comrade, what's your name? Where are you from? Being a soldier is so dangerous. Since you want to spread the word, why do you still want to be a soldier?"
Where are the soldiers?"
The little soldier glanced at the bearded man fiercely and said helplessly, "Sir, my name is Yang Erqiu. I am from Suiyuan. I also know the danger, but I can't help it! Our family turned out to be a tenant, a renter."
The landlord's family lived on the farm. My father was diligent and my mother could also do needlework. At first, the family lived well. Although we couldn't eat oily food, we were still hungry. My father also let me secretly go to the landlord's house to observe a few days.
Zakat.
Later, my father got sick and needed money. He spent all his savings first, and then borrowed loan sharks from landlords, but the disease never recovered, so my father simply died. But the money had to be repaid, and I was the only male in the family.
Yes, I was only 7 years old at the time and couldn't do anything. I had an older sister and a younger sister. The landlord saw that we were pitiful and he saw that I was a male, so he promised to let me pay back slowly. My older sister went into the landlord's house.
As a maid, my mother helped others with sewing work to subsidize her, and this lasted for two years."
As he spoke, the little soldier slowly shed tears and continued in a low voice, "Then for some reason, Chief Yan and Chairman Chiang started fighting, and they fought hard. Chief Yan asked for money, so he raised taxes. We
The landowner of my family had no money, so he fired my sister. Then he said that when I grew up and became a tenant, the money he wanted to pay back to them would have to be paid in advance. Where did our family get the money? I have a younger sister.
How much food do we need to eat for a family of four? My mother had nothing to do, so she had no choice but to run away. As a result... she was caught and beaten severely. My mother never got up again.
"
No one laughed at the little soldier Yang Erqiu anymore. The bearded soldier was also sitting on the ground, looking straight at the ground, not knowing what he was thinking.
Yang Erqiu wiped his tears with his sleeves and said, "I know it's our fault. We should pay back the money we owe. If we don't pay back, the beatings we get will be in vain. But how long will it take for the compound interest to be paid back? There is really no way.
, my sister sold herself..."
As he spoke, Yang Erqiu slapped himself hard and cried, "I'm useless. If I were older, I wouldn't let my sister be the kiln sister. I didn't understand anything at the time. Seeing that my sister had money to pay back,
There was still food for us to eat, and I was very happy. I didn’t know what a kiln sister was until I was laughed at by others..."
Yang Erqiu sniffed hard and said, "Yes, I am the cave sister's younger brother, but I don't think my sister is dirty at all. I joined the army when I was 15 years old because I was paid as a soldier. I didn't go to the cave dwelling because I was afraid of touching her.
When it comes to my sister, I don’t go to restaurants to save money. I want to save enough money to redeem my sister, build a good grave for my father and my mother, and marry my sister to a good family."
As he said that, Yang Erqiu's eyes lit up, "I can go home then. If I can save some money, I can also marry a wife, go home to farm, have children, and live like this for the rest of my life."
"Bah bang bang!" Zhao Gang clapped, and then people clapped one after another, applauding this little soldier with a grand goal.
"Er Qiu, I won't laugh at you anymore. You're more promising than me, so I won't drag you to a brothel. You have to live longer than me. I'm a free man, but you still have a family." Then.
The bearded soldier hummed, tears falling down as he spoke. He probably thought of his own sadness.
Zhao Gang nodded and said, "Comrade Yang Erqiu said it well, but I want to ask, Comrade Yang Erqiu, how many years have you been a soldier now? How much money have you saved? How much money can you redeem your sister from?"
Yang Erqiu immediately lowered his head, as if it was about to fall off. Yang Erqiu hummed and said, "I...I have been a soldier for six years and have saved seventeen yuan. But it costs five yuan to redeem my sister."
ten."
Zhao Gang sighed and patted Yang Erqiu on the shoulder and said, "It's not easy. I didn't dare to go out to restaurants for six years, and I still saved seventeen oceans. How much is your monthly military salary? Why did you only save so much? Have you ever thought about it?
, why is your family like this, why are you poor, why did your sister sell herself? Why have you, a person who is willing to work diligently and make money, never been able to get rich? "
Yang Erqiu lowered his head and thought for a moment, and said timidly, "When I was a soldier, I was told it was six dollars a month, but later on, because food, clothing, shoes, hats, bullets, etc. were deducted, the amount I got was only about one dollar.
Five cents. Logically speaking, I should have eighteen yuan a year, but I often can’t get it. My younger sister is staying with relatives, and she needs money to eat. So I can only borrow it from the army on credit first, and then the army will have the money.
, I will pay it back again. It took me six years to save so much... As for why this happened, it’s because the world is not good, it’s fate.”
Zhao Gang asked loudly, "Do you think so too?"
The others looked at each other, nodded and said nothing.
Zhao Gang sighed and said, "Comrades, please listen to my analysis and see if this is true. When did the tragedy of Comrade Yang Erqiu's family begin? It started when his father fell ill and had no money for medical treatment, and then...
Go borrow money. This landlord was pretty good at first, probably because Yang Erqiu had been a tenant for many years, so he lent it to his family. After his father found out that he couldn't be cured, he refused to seek medical treatment and died. Why can't we poor people afford medical treatment? Why?
We work so hard to farm but have no savings? Because we farm other people’s fields! We don’t have our own land! Why don’t we have our own land? Because we have no money to buy it! Where did our money go? It’s all given to us
The landlord is the one, so should we blame the landlord?"
Zhao Gang paused for a moment and said, "This is true or not, the landlords are abominable. They chased the debts of Comrade Yang Erqiu's family, and even forced Comrade Yang Erqiu's sister to sell herself, and Comrade Yang Erqiu's mother was beaten to death! But are the landlords the only one to blame? In the beginning
This landlord does not press for debt because he believes that when Comrade Yang Erqiu grows up, he will get more when he becomes his tenant. But why does the landlord suddenly want to press for debt?"
Yang Erqiu said loudly, "Because Chief Yan and Chairman Chiang are at war, our landlord also wants money."
Zhao Gang clapped his hands and said, "This is the key! The landlords have no surplus food. Even the landlords who were liberal at the beginning were forced to ask Yang Erqiu to pay back the taxes. Why do the landlords have no money? What are landlords? They are
He has a lot more land than us. If we, the tenant farmers, hand over the crops grown to him, he will have a lot more crops than us. But although war requires military rations, it also requires more weapons and money, which means that he needs these grains.
In exchange for money, this grain cannot be exchanged for money. Do you know why?"
The bearded soldier thought for a while and said, "I remembered that in those years, the food could not be sold at a high price. My neighbor's family was still worried at that time, saying that it was even more difficult than the bad harvests in previous years!"
Zhao Gang waved his hand and said, "That's right! Why? Because in those few years, the economic crisis broke out in the United States and Europe. You may not understand what I said about this economic crisis. I simply said that they couldn't finish their crops.
It was going to rot at home. I had no choice but to ship it all to us for sale. Don’t you know that in Shanghai at that time, foreign rice and noodles were everywhere. And the price was very cheap, cheaper than what we sold.
Half, do you think our crops can still be sold?"
A soldier said, "Others are not fools, so naturally they won't buy from us? But why should we let them sell it?"
Zhao Gang laughed and said, "Our country is at war every day and warlords are everywhere. What do you think we can do to stop other countries from selling things to us? In fact, internationally, sales are normal, but for such low-priced things, we can increase taxes to make them
The price is the same as or even higher than ours. However, because our country’s customs is not in our own hands, not only can we not increase taxes, but we continue to increase taxes on our own goods. As a result, our things are becoming more and more expensive, and other people’s things are becoming more and more expensive.
It became cheaper and cheaper. In the end, our businessmen went bankrupt and we farmers had no money, so we had to flee and borrow money. When the landlords had no money, they had to press for debt. This is the reason why Yang Erqiu's family was forced to pay debt.
."
Yang Erqiu said with sudden realization, "I understand, the reason our family is in debt is because all the money from outside families was taken away by the landlords. Our family was forced into debt to the end. One is to blame Chief Yan and Chairman Chiang for fighting, the other is to blame
It’s my fault that our country has no strength and is being bullied by foreign countries.”
Zhao Gang nodded, and everyone looked at Zhao Gang and listened to him continue: "This is one, and the other is why you can't get military pay after you join the army? I'm afraid it's not just money, right? Let me ask you, how many of you have
People were made to kneel, starve, drink urine, and eat phlegm? How many people were beaten? How many people have you seen beaten to death by your officers? And how many people had their military pay drank by your officers and drank the blood of soldiers?
?”
Speaking of this, everyone lowered their heads. Zhao Gang also saw a few people staring at everyone fiercely. Even the bold man with the beard tilted his head and did not dare to speak.
"What's wrong? Aren't they all heroic at the beginning? Why don't you dare to say it? Our meeting is just to talk about the bad things in the past, find out why we are like this, and then solve them
, don’t be upset anymore. I know, you are afraid of revenge, right?" Zhao Gang walked down with a smile, patted the bearded soldier just now and said, "Tell me, is there such a thing?"
The man with the beard stood up and said with a silly smile, "How can we do that? Sir, our troops are all brothers, there will be no such thing, right?"
Others quickly responded, "That's right."
Zhao Gang shook his head and said, "I don't think so. Your attitude tells me otherwise. I tell you, don't be afraid! Our Eighth Route Army is a new unit. You will be reorganized soon. Your original squad leader, platoon leader and even company commander will
Regiment commanders and division commanders have to be re-elected. How to choose?" Zhao Gang pointed to his nose and said, "It is not chosen by me, nor by the army commanders, but by the soldier committee among you!"
Soldiers' Council? What is that? Everyone asked each other about this name that they had never heard of before.
Zhao Gang explained, "This Soldiers Committee, to put it simply, is for you to elect each other and vote by secret ballot. Who will be your squad leader and who will be your platoon leader. When encountering non-military matters, such as an officer
If you beat or scold a soldier, the Soldiers Committee can hold a meeting to discuss the matter. If you think the commander has done something wrong, the Soldiers Committee can punish or even remove your commander. The Soldiers Committee can also participate in your own daily management, such as meals.
The management of money and the standards of food are all decided by you."
Everyone couldn't believe it. Yang Erqiu asked excitedly, "Is there such a thing?"
Zhao Gang waved and called, "You guys talk to them."
A soldier stepped forward and said loudly, "I am a soldier of the New Third Regiment of the 129th Division. I joined the army in June last year and was selected into the Soldiers Committee in August. We usually organize soldiers to learn culture, sing and do things for the fellow villagers after training."
We worked and painted slogans. We also participated in managing the meals and tried our best to keep the soldiers well-fed. When a battle broke out, we rushed to the front with other party members and league members and retreated. We cut off the rear with them. Some commanders made mistakes.
We pointed out that if we did not correct it, we would make a decision after holding a meeting to discuss it. The commander must comply. Our army officers and soldiers are one, because our army is not the army of any commander or chief. Our army is the people's army.
The army of the nation is the army of the proletariat."
"That's good." Zhao Gang clapped his hands and said, "So, I also hope that you can bravely stand up, tell us about any bad things that have happened in the army, understand them, and let everyone vote later.
Don't vote for that person. You won't have to worry about it anymore."
Yang Erqiu was the first to stand up and said, "Let me start by saying that a lot of my military salary was swallowed up by the regiment commander and battalion commander. In fact, Commander Yan paid the money most of the time. Everyone knows this. Also, our company
The commander often beat and scolded us, asking us to do this and that for him, and he even beat people to death."
Immediately someone said anxiously, "Yang Erqiu, you are such a wolf-hearted nonsense."
Yang Erqiu hummed, "Who among us doesn't know, so you are allowed to drink the soldiers' blood, but we are not allowed to tell you?"
Zhao Gang waved his hand, and someone immediately controlled the person who called out, "We are here at a grievance meeting. Everyone can speak out their grievances. If you agree, you will be rewarded, and you can even be given priority to enter the Soldiers Committee."
As soon as they heard that they could join the Soldiers Committee, everyone thought it was an opportunity to become an official. Your words and my words immediately turned the army upside down.
