Literary Master 1983

Chapter 84 Military Radio
According to Ning Ke, the frontline soldiers could not hear the news at home and abroad, their favorite songs, or the addictive storytelling series because they had no radio...

However, they do have spiritual and cultural needs, and the soldiers can only read books and write letters in their spare time. It is not just Ningke, the soldiers in Maoerdong are the same.

As a result, military literature achieved unimaginable popularity on the Laoshan front.

Cave No. 3 is in the shape of a "Y". The main tunnel is about 15 meters long, and the two branch caves are 8 meters and 6 meters long respectively. One of them is very close to Cave No. 2, but it is also very narrow. Yu Qie and others can only bend over or crawl forward.

The whole tunnel was filled with an indescribable damp odor, and the accumulated water was of course dirty, with sharp gravel and the rotting bodies of rats and leeches. The top of the cave was still dripping, and Yu Qie said, "Can't we get some waterproof canvas to cover these places? And what about the drainage system?"

Wang Min said: "The construction period is limited, so we can only use our productivity to dig those hidden cable channels... As for ventilation and drainage, they are ranked very low in the priority list."

Ning Ke changed the subject: "I still don't understand why the Vietnamese artillery fire is so short?"

Wang Min said: "You don't understand, and of course I don't understand either - Yu Qie, you think differently from us, do you know that?"

Yu Qie asked, "What is the general purpose of firing?"

"Cover." Nink explained, "After the artillery fire, the infantry will come to occupy the position."

"Why are you only firing but not attacking?"

"This is harassment, which makes the military and civilians run around in a hurry. After all, you can't guard against thieves all the time - you don't know when they will be serious."

Yu Qi suddenly thought of something, but he hadn't figured it out yet.

Nink went on to talk about why some people on the 3rd hole were in a bit of an abnormal mental state:
There was no entertainment for everyone, so they could only chat and smoke. But there was no always a topic or a person to chat with, especially for those who were alone guarding the branch tunnel entrance, cigarettes became their last resort.

No matter how non-smokers you are, it is hard not to become a smoker when you come to the cat ear cave. In this way, people in holes 2 and 1 are closer to the front line of the battlefield, which will only make them more depressed.

For the first time, the troops assigned doctors who were responsible for psychological treatment to the soldiers in these caves instead of the traditional political commissars. It can be seen that the situation has reached an extremely serious level.

"These holes are like solitary confinement, a small dark room... No matter how tough a man you are, you will be submissive after being locked up for a few days! What about being locked up for several years?"

Wang Min added: "The last time I came to take pictures, I found that the Vietnamese were still seizing the opportunity to play recordings, homesickness songs, and talk about rewards and treatment, trying to destroy the minds of our soldiers and tempt them to abandon their positions."

"Radio waves cannot be blocked in the atmosphere. This is science! We don't know where their radio stations are located. We can only think of ways to control the radios."

Yu Qie was puzzled: "Don't we already have radios? How can they use them to incite us to rebellion?"

"The Vietnamese didn't know this... They were still building military radio stations. In order to get a better signal, they tried their best to get closer to our positions. So we used electronic suppression, and they had to continue to build closer."

During World War II, radio could be heard by receivers hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away, as there were very few radio waves in the world. In the 1970s, the situation became much more complicated, with both sides broadcasting radio intensively, and radio could be heard by the other side, so electronic suppression was created, which greatly reduced the transmission distance of radio.

Sometimes, even if there is a mountain between us, we can’t hear anything.

Wang Min then began to praise Yu Qie: "None of us defected, and no one surrendered. On the contrary, some people in Vietnam surrendered to us collectively... This is not only because the soldiers have strong ideological qualities, but also because your story is really well written."

"The Letter from My Fiancée is also widely circulated in Vietnam!"

Ning Ke nodded and said, "That's the case. I heard that they are also reading our novels and listening to our songs. To be honest, they are just cut from the same cloth... When they play some songs or novels, I don't know whether they are talking about us or them... There are not many works coming out over there."

He became more and more angry as he spoke: "We eat our food, use our things, and even the things we look at are ours... What an ungrateful bastard!" Finally we arrived at Cave No. 2. There were eight people inside, and they warmly welcomed the arrival of the three comrades. Because it was night, everyone deliberately suppressed their voices.

Yu Qie asked. "Where's Li Hai?"

A young soldier came forward excitedly and saluted Yu Qie: "Are you Yu Qie?"

"I'm Yu Qie, I'm here to see you."

Li Hai burst into tears upon hearing this. When he calmed down, Yu Qie explained, "I came to the frontline to collect folk songs. I will definitely write about your situations in the novel. The superiors are very concerned about your lives... This photographer Wang Min is also here to take pictures. His photos will be published in the Military Newspaper."

"Maybe there's also Renren Daily," said Wang Min.

"Okay, there is also the People's Daily, which will allow people all over the country to pay attention to everyone's situation."

"Please rest assured, people across the country, we can still hold on!"

These words made even Yu Qie's nose sore. What kind of life was that? There were so many big things in the 1980s, such as the Los Angeles Olympics, the dual-track system, and the visit of the US President... Who would care about the Laoshan front line? Who would have thought about these cat-ear cave people living in the cave?

"Li Hai, I can only stay here tonight. I have to leave before dawn... If you have anything else to tell me, I will do my best to help you complete it on behalf of our literary and artistic community."

What Li Hai said was quite simple: his sister was getting married, and she hoped that this brother would come back to help her with the wedding. Of course, Li Hai couldn't go back, so he cut some bamboo from Laoshan and made a bamboo curtain with the big word "Double Happiness" on it as a wedding souvenir for his sister.

He hoped that Yu Qie could carry the bamboo curtain back and give it to his sister.

Of course Yu Qie agreed. This was a soldier's request.

Soon, Wang Min reminded Yu Qie to pay attention to the time and they had to go down the mountain at night. The Maoerdong position was partially exposed to the sight of the Vietnamese, and it was too dangerous to go down the mountain during the day.

So these eight people and Yu Qie's three people finally played a game called "Paper Relay", in which one person wrote a sentence and passed it to the next person.

This game is played at night when no one wants to talk.

Everyone gathered in a circle, turned on their flashlights, and wrote the first sentence on a piece of paper: "Today I counted the water drops from the top of the cave, and it was exactly one drop every sixty seconds. I can catch it and drink it."

When it was passed to the next person, he wrote: "I can't get hurt in battle. If I get hurt, I won't be able to get a wife. It's better to be glorious first."

When it came to Wang Min's hand, he said elegantly: "The night gave me black eyes, but I use them to look for light."

Yes, Gu Cheng's words are undoubtedly in line with the situation of the cat ear cave. The cat ear cave is dark, but people's hearts are towards the light. Yu Qie only regrets that he is not a great poet and cannot write a poem that will be passed down through the ages.

Yu Qie wrote on the paper: "We are together."

These are words from his novel, very simple and plain, but they touched countless soldiers.

The note came to Ning Ke's hand: "Salute to the comrades in the literary and art circles!" Then he picked it up and thought about it, and added another sentence at the end: "Salute to Comrade Yu Qie!"

Yes, salute to Comrade Yu Qie! After the experience in the cat ear cave, he can now truly represent this sentence, and no one thinks Ning Ke has overstated it.

(End of this chapter)