Back to 1978

Chapter 83: What's the point of doing revolutionary work if you're afraid of death?
Zhang Wenzhen, the head of the Zhongping logistics team and director of the supply and marketing cooperative, watched Xie Hushan squatting next to the command center, staring at his diesel generator that was running at full speed for at least five minutes with the eyes of a weasel stealing a chicken.

This guy comes here to sit after work and dinner, and doesn't even go to watch the cultural performances. It must be up to no good.

He walked over with some fear in his heart, squatted beside Xie Hushan and said:
"Comrade Hushan, I can't lend you this thing. It's not that I'm stingy, but this thing is used to generate electricity for our headquarters duty room. Other supplies are easy to find for you. There is only one of this thing. If you take it away, our headquarters will be paralyzed."

Xie Hushan nodded: "This thing doesn't have much power, it's useless for me to move it away."

Zhang Wenzheng curled his lips. It's no use moving away. Why are you squatting here and watching it for five minutes? Your legs must be numb from squatting, but you're not willing to stand up?
"Director Zhang, I would like to represent our brigade in a bid for advancement. It would be best if the county leaders of the general command center could award the Zhongping Brigade an honorary title. But if we want to win this, we need logistical support." Xie Hushan was scratching the ground with a wooden stick, muttering to himself.

Zhang Wen Zheng immediately perked up. This kid Xie Hushan was really patient. After more than a month, he finally gave in!
Listen, he’s going straight for the honorary title, he’s going to do something big!

This guy used to lead people to complete the daily average quota every day. He thought of organizing some young female comrades from Zhongping Commune last week to encourage everyone, and asked Xie Hushan to lead the young men to see if they could help the young female comrades grab a red flag because these young female comrades from the commune came to visit them specially.

My goodness, this guy is so lacking in virtue that he treats the dozen young female comrades he organized with great effort from the Zhongping Commune Glass Factory, the commune compound, the agricultural technology station, the veterinary station and other places as servants.

This bastard thought he didn't know that he had already overheard him holding a meeting for his men in the shack before the female comrades came to organize a condolence visit.

This guy is really not a human being. Zhang Wenzheng still remembers what he said to his militiamen:
"Let the lesbians say whatever they want, but it goes in one ear and out the other! There are only a dozen of them, there are too many wolves and too little meat, don't waste your time listening!"

“Remember the four steps: wipe sweat, drink water, rub shoulders, and massage legs! Do not miss any of these four items! Fully enjoy the warmth that the commune has given us!”

"This may be the only chance in your life for country bumpkins like you to experience the enthusiastic service of a dozen female comrades from the worker and cadre class. You must cherish this opportunity and use your time wisely!"

The girls expressed their condolences enthusiastically, wiping sweat and rubbing shoulders for three whole days. However, the earthwork transportation work of the Zhongping Militia Brigade led by this guy not only failed to reach a new high, but almost fell below the lowest per capita level.

More than 200 people were arranged by Xie Hushan. While working, they lined up to enjoy the services of wiping sweat, drinking water, massaging shoulders and massaging legs by a dozen female comrades.

They were all like paralyzed old men in their seventies or eighties who went to the market to ask the barber to help them shave their beards. They just sat there without saying a word, staring at the female comrades' faces, waiting for the female comrades to massage their shoulders and massage their legs.

If he can have maids to serve him while he works, how can he be efficient in doing any work?

More than a dozen young female comrades who had just started working and were full of enthusiasm for the revolutionary cause, all left with sore hands and feet and tears in their eyes.

How can they not cry? They might be criticized by their leaders and asked to write self-criticisms when they go back. After all, in the eyes of the leaders, they let you go to help everyone, ask about their well-being, and express their condolences and encouragement. But in the end, how can you do your job?

When I looked at the data, before you went there, the militia comrades could transport 6.4 cubic meters of earth per person per day. How come it dropped to 6.1 cubic meters per person per day after you went to express your condolences?
The leader was not at the scene, but Zhang Wenzhen saw it. The female comrades were wronged. It was all because of the bastard in front of him who screwed them.

It must have been Xiao Yang, the newcomer to the commune, who criticized this kid. Xiao Yang had been in the third team for a while and was so shameless as to scold Xie Hushan. This must have woken him up.

So when Zhang Wenzheng heard Xie Hushan say that he would lead the team to grab the red flag, he immediately patted his chest and said:

"Then we must support you. My logistics team is always ready for you. Tell me if you need anything, except diesel engines!"

"Thick ropes, thick iron wires, pulleys, wood, hooks, wheat straw..." Xie Hushan was scratching on the ground nearby, reporting various supplies to Zhang Wenzhen.

Zhang Wen Zheng was stunned. Isn't this different from the support when other teams were trying to grab the red flag?

When other teams were competing for the red flag, they placed buckets of water on the roadside for quenching thirst at any time. The logistics team delivered meals directly to the construction site, medical workers waited on the side with first aid medicines, the radio station prepared encouraging music and songs, and torches for working late into the night were also ready.

Why does this grandson want support, all of which are real supplies?
He immediately asked:
"It's fine if you want supplies, but you have to tell me what you want to do with them. This is the rule. During the construction period, everything should be kept simple. Otherwise, in the commune, you have to write an application report for all the things you want."

Xie Hushan pointed to the dam, then to the riverbed, and drew a diagonal line between the two places:
"The distance from the riverbed to the dam is equivalent to the distance from the roof of a six-story building to the cellar, which is only about 20 meters. But for this 20 meters, we have to push the car up and down the slope in a serpentine shape for more than two miles to level this 20-meter height. I was staring at the diesel engine before, wondering if I could modify it to send the soil up at an angle."

"The diesel engine is not powerful enough. Even if it can be transmitted slowly, it is not worth it. Moreover, I don't think people will be convinced by the use of the machine. After all, the diesel engines used for power generation are already available in the headquarters of each commune. This is taking advantage of the public."

"Yes, yes, yes. It's not good to use a diesel engine. I already knew that this thing doesn't have enough horsepower." Zhang Wenzheng breathed a sigh of relief and said quickly.

Xie Hushan continued, "You can't cheat in this job. I've calculated that no matter how hard we work, we can't beat the Mountain Moving Commando purely by physical strength. These bastards have already done it to the extreme. They pull two days' worth of earth in one day, using one person like two animals. If they really do that, there will definitely be people in our team who will be unable to get up the next day."

"I can..." Zhang Wen Zheng was a little dissatisfied and wanted to refute.

Xie Hushan interrupted him: "Leader, wait for me to finish. If you want to take advantage of the honorary title, you either have no shame or you have no life."

"Everyone has earned this honorary title at the risk of their lives. What? Are you going to lose face?" Zhang Wen Zheng's expression was a little dull:

"Take your three hundred men to the entrance of the headquarters and cry shamelessly, begging the county leaders to give you one for free?"

"How can they be called reckless? What our Zhongping Brigade is going to do is reckless. Look at the picture I drew." Xie Hushan gestured to Zhang Wenzheng to look at the picture he had drawn on the ground:
"From the dam to the riverbed, it's enough to go straight down the diagonal line for about 200 meters. Set up two sets of pulleys made of thick ropes, put the carts on hooks, and people push the carts to transport soil along the original route, but they don't return the same way. Instead, use one set of pulleys to hang the cart down first, and then slide down on another set of pulleys, falling from the sky. Originally, after unloading the cart from the dam, it would take ten minutes to push the cart two miles back to the riverbed, even if it was fast. With this thing sliding down, it takes ten seconds to get both the cart and the people back to the riverbed."

Zhang Wenzheng immediately perked up, muttering to himself, "One person can save ten minutes, so how much time can be saved by 285 people? If all the time is used to carry the soil uphill, even pushing the cart downhill still requires strength, how much more effort can be saved!"

The more he thought about it, the brighter his eyes became. "If we can research and use this method first, we can promote it to other teams later. Any team that uses our method will have to bow their heads in front of us no matter how much they do, even if they surpass us, because they are apprentices! Our Zhongping team is the master! That's it! How did you come up with this idea, kid? You really dare to think of it!"

"Although I designed a double insurance, there is still a certain degree of danger. If the two ropes on a person's body break at the same time when sliding down, he will still fall to his death." Xie Hushan added: "But I can slide first."

"I'll go to the warehouse to find materials and start working right away! Besides, if you're afraid of death, why would you do revolutionary work?" Zhang Wenzheng stood up, rubbed his numb legs, and walked towards his own material warehouse:
"Go pick a few people, and we'll fight all night long tonight. We're going to set this thing up! Once it's set up, it won't be your turn to die. I, Zhang, will be the first to go up and clear the way for everyone!"

……

There were several burning torches lit around. On the dam, Zhang Wenzhen, two supply and marketing cooperative cadres, Han Hongbing, Daxi, Ma Saner, Wu Shuanzi and others were adjusting the pulley block. Yang Liming came closer with a flashlight to illuminate the group to ensure that there would be no mistakes.

Xie Hushan sat on the pile of earth next to him and watched a group of people installing and debugging the device. This thing didn't require any high-tech skills and could actually be done with high school physics. After explaining it in detail to these people, they all understood the logic behind it.

It’s just that the more than 10,000 people working at the reservoir have a low level of education, but they are very loyal. They do whatever they are told to do and are used to breaking records purely by manpower. They have never considered any way to be lazy or take shortcuts.

While others were debugging, Xie Hushan was thinking about what Zhang Wenzheng would say, "What's the point of revolution if you're afraid of death..."

The construction of Douzhuang Reservoir has been underway for more than a month, and there have been casualties. Two of the people's soldiers who have taken on all the most dangerous work have already died while blasting the mountains.

In fact, those soldiers were the real friendly forces. They were invited by the county armed forces department to provide support, but they were given the most dangerous work as soon as they arrived.

Not afraid of sacrifice, in this era, this statement is not just something you say casually.

At this time, Zhang Wenzheng was also in a good mood, competing with Han Hongbing, Chen Daxi, Ma San and others for the first place to slide down:
"Leader, we are the main force doing the work, let me do the sliding down! You are old and your waist is twisted..."

"Everyone, get out of the way. I must be the first one to slide. Why? What reason? The reason is that all these materials were collected by the logistics team from various places! I am the head of the logistics team of the commune headquarters and a party member. If there is fun... no, there is danger, I will be the first one to go!"

Xie Hushan was amused to hear Zhang Wen Zheng competing with a group of young people for the starting position.

It can be said that Lao Zhang is also a Der person. In Xie Hushan's context, Der people specifically refer to those weirdos who know very well that there are some things they should not do and that doing them will definitely not have a good ending, but still insist on seeking death.

He was originally a cadre who was transferred from the army to the county agricultural machinery factory. It was definitely a lucrative position. In theory, being involved in professional work such as agricultural machinery, agricultural technology, and animal husbandry would not only make money for himself, but also ensure that his children would have stable jobs at home.

The admission indicators of agricultural technical schools are biased towards the children of these professionals, which has become a reality tacitly accepted by the people in this era.

Every year, the county agricultural machinery factory obtains a number of quotas from the agricultural technical school and arranges for the enrollment of children of the agricultural machinery stations of subordinate communes. In fact, strictly speaking, Lao Zhang and his children, like Xie Qimao and Daxiu, are the vested interests of this matter, but Lao Zhang is a Der and can't stand it.

He gave the leader's office a collection of great people's quotations. It is normal to hang great people's portraits and quotations in the office, but the great people's quotations that Lao Zhang gave to the leader were:

"Schools for children of cadres cannot be run any more. We must integrate with the masses."

This is equivalent to slapping the leader in the face.

So not long after giving the gift to the leader, Lao Zhang came to Zhongping and mingled with the masses. If it weren't for his old comrades-in-arms helping him, he would have been stripped of his position as director of the Zhongping Supply and Marketing Cooperative long ago.

"Hook the car first, hook the car first! Let's try to get the car down!" Han Hongbing hooked the two hooks on the thick rope pulley to the iron pipes at both ends of the front of the trolley and pushed it forward!
The cart weighing nearly 100 kilograms was suddenly driven by the pulley and the thick rope fell straight down into the air. In an instant, it had crossed more than 200 meters of thick rope and fell heavily into the thick straw stack that had been piled up in the riverbed!
"It's my turn, it's my turn!" Old Zhang walked excitedly to another set of pulleys, tied two simply woven safety ropes around his waist and legs, held one with both hands, took a few run-up steps, and rushed down the slope!

The whole person flew away with the wind!

Finally, he jumped into the straw stack!

"It's my turn! It's my turn to play!" After Lao Zhang took off the safety rope and waved at them from below with a torch, Ma Saner pushed Chen Daxi who wanted to cut in line, put on the safety rope himself, and slid down second! In the air, he didn't forget to shout proudly:

"With this thing, other teams can't compete with us!"

Han Hongbing looked at Xie Hushan with a passionate gaze: "Commander Xie, speak up! If these bastards still can't get the honor, I won't need you to ask, I will hang them one by one on these ropes, and then hang myself in the end!"

"Everyone gather tomorrow morning before work begins." Xie Hushan sat on the dirt pile, holding a cigarette in his mouth:

"Let all 14,000 people at the reservoir construction site tilt their heads up and look carefully!"

"What does it mean to not be afraid of sacrifice? What does it mean to have a divine soldier descend from the sky?"

(End of this chapter)