Literary Master 1983

Chapter 421 Demilitarized Zone (Joint Security Area) (Part Two)
Xianyunqiang, the photographer for Military Pictorial, once again served as Yu Qie's photographer.

To Yu Qie's surprise, Ning Ke, Wang Min, and others who had collaborated with him a few years ago all called to congratulate him. Yu Qie knew this was part of a larger scheme, but he still wanted to do something for the sacrificed Lao Tang.

On the day he received the order, at Yu Qie's insistence, he and Xian Yunqiang went to the Fourth Company outpost where the conflict had occurred.

Yu Qie brought a bottle of specially supplied Moutai liquor. He gave most of it to the men of the Fourth Company, and sprinkled the rest on Platoon Leader Tang's tombstone—according to the wishes of Platoon Leader Tang's family, he was buried nearby in the bamboo forest of Laoshan.

"Old Tang, I got this from your regional leaders, please do me a favor! You have no idea how much this bottle of wine is worth? In a few years, it will be priceless and unavailable."

"However, you certainly deserve it! Ten bottles of wine are enough! I don't personally enjoy drinking, but I got these for you."

Near this outpost is a lush, dense bamboo forest, so thick that even several bomb runs couldn't break its iron-like branches. This place will one day become a martyrs' cemetery, and perhaps Old Tang will be among them. But he has already turned into a handful of dust, a wisp of ash.

Yu Qie took a full sip and poured the rest of the wine onto the soil.

"You're a good soldier! I kept my promise to you."

"I will find a way to do what I didn't have time to tell you. Why use a gun to kill someone? Scholars have their methods."

Sitting before Old Tang's tombstone, Yu Qie whispered these words. When Yu Qie stood up and turned around, he found that many people in the Fourth Company had already shed tears.

I don't know if it was because the scenery evoked memories, or because of Yu Qie's departure?

In fact, this was probably the last time they would see Yu Qie.
-
In Hanoi, Bui Hue, Director of the Special Propaganda Department of the General Political Department of Vietnam, is watching a report from the front lines.

This report shows that a very peculiar phenomenon has occurred on the Weichuan front (which we call the Laoshan front).

The Vietnamese guarding a certain high ground were secretly colluding with the Chinese on the other side. The Chinese threw them cigarettes and candy, wrapped with notes containing greetings: "Don't be nervous, take care of your life, and wait for the rotation."

The characteristic of this region is that both sides are in bunkers made from natural caves or rock crevices, and are very close to each other. On the high ground, the two sides are less than 10 meters apart, and the Vietnamese can clearly hear the shouts or voices of the Chinese soldiers on the other side.

Because of this geographical phenomenon, four years ago, the Chinese novel "The Fiancée's Letter" was widely circulated among the Vietnamese army on the front lines, causing a great uproar.

Breakup letters arriving like snowflakes, economic devastation, low morale... all the problems mentioned in the novel became boomerangs that struck the Vietnamese.

Therefore, the Vietnamese troops on rotation suspected that the previous unit and the Chinese had a very good working relationship and had not fought at all. No wonder there had been no movement for several months.

When the Vietnamese realized that the soldiers on the opposite position were showing signs of wanting peace and not wanting to fight, they tested them with hand gestures, making gestures of shaking hands and not shooting at each other... They immediately reciprocated by exchanging gifts and then continued to fight a tacit war.

This tacit understanding has been going on for over a year in many places.

Since the "ceasefire negotiations," this tacit understanding has now become completely public. On the front lines of Laoshan, Vietnamese soldiers are everywhere laying down their weapons and passively resisting.

Rather than calling it a ceasefire, it would be more accurate to say that before this, some soldiers on the front lines had already privately abandoned the fight.

When news of the frontline soldiers' unauthorized ceasefire and exchange of gifts reached Hanoi, it immediately caused a huge uproar. This indicated that the lower ranks had reached their breaking point and had completely lost their will to fight.

The General Political Department of Vietnam was very surprised and established a working group led by Colonel Bui Hue to investigate the truth of the matter in the highlands.

The soldiers' secret ceasefire also drew the attention of Vietnam's top leadership. General Le Tai, stationed in the rear, listened to the working group's report and, after looking at the photographs, displayed the most serious expression a person could muster. He pondered for a long time before finally saying to Bui Hue, "I already know that this is a war that neither side wants to continue."

"We lost not only on the battlefield, but also culturally—the reason we stopped fighting is to cultivate people like Yuqie in the future. Otherwise, sooner or later, we will be assimilated by our northern neighbors!"

Pei Shunhua asked the general, "What is my mission?"

"Your mission is to protect Yu Qie and not to ruin this hard-won ceasefire!"

"Also, you need to find out whether these soldiers on the front lines who colluded with others are traitors within our ranks! If so, they must be eliminated!"
-
More than half a month has passed since Colonel Pei saw that astonishing report.

He was ordered to protect Yu Xie, a mandate from the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense.

The writer Yu Xe, from an “enemy country,” is more influential than he was a few years ago. If he were shot here, it would not only break the “ceasefire” agreement but also damage Vietnam’s international image.

Vietnam has shifted towards "renovation and opening up" and urgently needs foreign investment. For a poor country like theirs that relies on foreign investment, a major international scandal is especially unacceptable.

News from Stockholm indicates that Yuche has been shortlisted as one of the final five Nobel laureates. His news has garnered significant attention in the West.

Therefore, protecting Yuqie became the top priority for the Vietnamese, and China also sent a small team to accompany Yuqie. The number of Chinese personnel was far greater than that of the Vietnamese.

They looked at the Vietnamese with stern eyes, conveying the message that "we will not allow our writers to be harmed in any way."

Is this what they call a "Nobel Prize-level" writer?
After a rigorous handover, Colonel Pei met Yu Qie, whom he had studied many times, for the first time on a high ground in Laoshan.

This writer seems to possess a magical power...

Colonel Pei's feelings were complex, containing both hatred and a fear he was unwilling to acknowledge.

“Mr. Yu, I am Colonel Bui Hue. I have been responsible for your safety these past few days, and we have been conducting joint visits and research. You are very famous in Vietnam. I am the first Vietnamese to meet you... I wonder if this is a kind of luck? I hope we can both achieve our mission of peace.”

"You can speak Chinese too?" Yu asked.

“China was once our teacher, and many of us can speak Chinese,” Pei Shunhua said with neither arrogance nor servility.

"So you knew about this! Did you know that your founding father, Ho Chi Minh, was a Confucian scholar? He was passionate about Chinese culture, wrote poetry, and even translated the Four Books and Five Classics into French and English for overseas publication. I once sought him out to see it..."

At this point, Yu Qie suddenly laughed. Everyone thought he had some insightful opinion, but instead he said, "However, I think Ho Chi Minh's translation skills are not high."

The Vietnamese side immediately became angry, and the larger Chinese delegation immediately confronted them... Bui Hue reached out to stop them.

He asked Yu Qie, "Why did Mr. Yu humiliate our ancestors? He also had a deep friendship with your leaders."

"I am just giving a fair assessment of his writing style. If you disagree, you can ask a well-known writer to judge me... Unfortunately, that's not easy where you are, and I'm afraid you can't find one in the whole country."

“And another one!” Yu Qie said, “You’re not the first Vietnamese person to meet me.”

He took a few steps, without turning back, and said directly, "Because the first Vietnamese man to see me is already dead."

Everyone immediately remembered: Yu Qie initially became famous because of that one shot.
-
Upon their first meeting, Pei Shunhua was turned away.

He felt he couldn't get into an argument with Yu Qie; instead, he should present the facts. That way, no matter how sharp-tongued Yu Qie was, he wouldn't be able to slander them.

Bui Hue always had one question: Would those Vietnamese soldiers on the front lines really lay down their weapons and choose not to resist because of the instigation in the novel?
As the two sides in the conflict, who extended the olive branch first and started a tacit agreement?
The Chinese say that the Vietnamese started it.

The Vietnamese man said, "No, it must be a Chinese man."

To get to the bottom of this, we have to conduct a thorough investigation.

Both sides began visiting and distributing books along the relatively peaceful highlands of the front line.

The first high ground reached was Hill 634. There had been no conflict there for nearly a year, with both sides tacitly agreeing to a ceasefire. Some even said that some Vietnamese had established good relations with the Chinese.

How many rounds can we even play?

The Chinese were naturally happy about the ceasefire. They occupied most of Laoshan, "invaded" the area, and then went home, so they couldn't be happier to stop the fighting.

The Vietnamese even ceased fire and started reading Yu Qie's novel.

Damn it! This infuriated Pei Shunhua!

Xian Yunqiang, a reporter from Military Pictorial, said: "I interviewed Commander Qin of this position. They told me that the Vietnamese would throw notes at our positions from time to time and use various communication tools to shout messages to our side."

Pei Shunhua immediately denied it, saying, "I don't believe we threw the note first; maybe you were the first to do it?"

Xianyunqiang had spent many years on the front lines and had a habit of keeping photographic evidence. He found a roll of film taken in early 87, which showed the date the photo was taken.

So what did the photos depict?

A note, half in Vietnamese and half in Chinese, reads: "China and Vietnam live in harmony."

The Vietnamese side was greatly surprised. Bui Hue refused to admit that a single note could represent the thoughts of most Vietnamese soldiers, so Xian Yunqiang presented more evidence!

Hello, we're from the same hometown!

[Chinese soldiers, we've heard you speak Beijing dialect quite well. Say a few words and let us hear it.]

……

They were all notes thrown over by Vietnamese soldiers at the time.

As someone from a later era, Yu Qie was naturally well aware of what was happening on the Laoshan front: although China suffered some losses in the early stages, it grew stronger and stronger in the later stages, and for every Chinese person sacrificed, five or six Vietnamese would have to be sacrificed in return.

For years, the Vietnamese on the other side of Laoshan suffered from relentless bombing. Occasionally, when they organized a large-scale operation, they were immediately brought back to reality.

The Vietnamese soldiers on the front lines couldn't continue fighting, and with the rear pressing them relentlessly, they naturally had to write notes begging for mercy.

Pei Shunhua still didn't believe it.

So, Yu Qie and his group contacted Commander Qin, who was stationed there at the time. He recounted an incident: "Since 86, many Vietnamese people have been on the verge of collapse, frequently trying to curry favor with our army. After observing them, we found it to be true... After one conversation, I had someone drop a leaflet for a Vietnamese soldier, inviting him over for a chat..."

"Do you have any evidence?" Pei Shunhua asked.

"Of course there is evidence."

Commander Qin displayed the relevant documents. These were military telegrams detailing the incident. A training section chief had asked Commander Qin, "You invited the Vietnamese soldier over; what if he actually comes? Why don't we kidnap him and take him prisoner?"

Commander Qin rejected the idea at the time, saying, "All's fair in war is a tactical tactic, but soldiers' morality cannot be based on deception."

Although the Vietnamese soldier never actually came.

The garrison then displayed more materials, including relevant battlefield logs and reply telegrams from the regimental headquarters—since no one could have imagined that the conflict would end a few years later, the possibility of the materials being falsified was very small.

Pei Shunhua felt as if the sky had fallen. The evidence was simply irrefutable.

He had come to believe that "colluding with Chinese people" was a fairly common phenomenon among the Vietnamese army on the front lines.

General Li in the rear demanded that the traitors be found and severely punished! Execute them!

But if seven or eight out of ten people on the front lines are traitors, does that mean they should all be killed?

Or should we select a few truly outrageous traitors and make an example of them?

To avoid escalating the situation, Colonel Pei insisted, "I believe this is merely the wavering behavior of a few units and a few soldiers."

Yu Qie immediately shook his head: "No, it's your widespread cowardice that's the bitter fruit of your wrong provocations. These soldiers are innocent; the responsibility lies with your highest levels."

The highest level!

How can we possibly hold these people accountable?

Colonel Bui of the Vietnamese Politburo was taken aback upon hearing this! The reporter for *Military Pictorial*, Hien Van Cuong, was also secretly puzzled:
Why did Teacher Yu want to stir up trouble?

why?
Even if they felt resentful about Lao Tang's sacrifice, they shouldn't have targeted their superiors, since Yu Qie was an influential person.

That evening, Yu Qie symbolically distributed novels to both sides stationed on the hill. The novels were very popular, especially on Hill 634, where there was no fighting. Yu Qie could even walk directly to the Vietnamese side, and not a single person showed any hostility towards him.

On one front, a Vietnamese platoon leader even crawled out of his bunker and called out to Yu Xie. The platoon leader not only spoke with a sob in his voice, but also threw out a cigarette as a gesture of goodwill.

The Vietnamese squad leader's words were filled with helplessness: "Let's be friends, please don't fight us anymore. We have no choice but to come here to defend our position!"

"Now that the two countries have finally signed a ceasefire agreement, we just need to follow the plan and leave Laoshan in a few months!"

"This area will become a demilitarized zone!"

This infuriated Colonel Pei, who was listening nearby. After identifying himself as a member of the Politburo, he berated the Vietnamese squad leader: "You are a traitor in our army! A little novel or a piece of candy is all it takes to make you lay down your arms!"

(End of this chapter)