Starting from the deputy company commander of the Soldier Assault Team

Zhang Anbang plans to start with film education, sourcing new films for the soldiers to watch, including those about war and drug enforcement...

Anything that can help soldiers develop a sense of legitimacy in their actions and make them more aware of their mission is acceptable.

Hong Xingguo also came over and said, "Xiao Qi, I really agree with your idea. I was thinking of doing some myself before. Film and television education is also an important vehicle for our army's political work and cultural development."

It can not only conduct ideological education and cultivate the fighting spirit of soldiers, but also take into account the construction of collective cohesion and add flavor to the soldiers' leisure life.

However, making a new film is indeed difficult, but Xiaoqi, you graduated from Tsinghua University, so you must have many classmates in various fields. Why don't you give it a try?

"That's right. In that case, Xiao Qi, you go and look for it. I'll also ask around. As long as it's good for the soldiers, we can get it. Let's go get it."

Gao Cheng made the decision immediately.

……

Zhang Anbang accepted the mission, but in those days the military strictly prohibited the unauthorized circulation of classified or bloody images, and even if some things were obtained, they had to be applied for from above first.

But it didn't matter, there were always ways. Zhang Anbang first found Hong Xingguo.

"Instructor, you still need to fill out this application form. It's not right for me to fill it out. After you fill it out, I'll keep an eye on getting it. Also, I've contacted some of my classmates and alumni. We can get some other videos over."

Hong Xingguo took the company's application form for political education materials and looked at the superior unit. "Xiao Qi, good heavens, you're not only applying to the regiment, but also to the division. Why don't you apply to the military region?"

Zhang Anbang smiled and said, "Instructor, you've forgotten the procedures in your haste. In the military region, you don't need to apply; the regimental propaganda section distributes everything uniformly. But these kinds of things are all the same."

I previously wrote a letter to a classmate who works in the Publicity Department of the Public Security Bureau, and I also need you, Instructor, to submit a request to the Battalion Party Committee regarding the application for drug enforcement education video materials for use in combat training.

Once the camp approves it, my classmate will help expedite the approval process. We'll go through the official government-to-office procedures; this cross-departmental process must be rigorous.

Hong Xingguo nodded repeatedly, "You're right, I'll fill it out now. After you're done, you go and handle the paperwork. I don't have that much influence at the regimental headquarters. You should take Lao Gao with you; the two of you have more influence."

……

Seven or eight days passed quickly, and Zhang Anbang completed all the formalities, receiving the national defense education videotapes and discs uniformly distributed by the propaganda section of the regiment's political department throughout the army.

The content page is rich, covering border defense and counter-terrorism, anti-drug operations, historical battles, etc. However, the content has been strictly edited. While retaining the realistic feel of combat, most of the bloody scenes have been cut out.

We also obtained the frontline documentary of the Sino-Vietnamese War and the actual footage of border anti-drug operations that we applied for from the military history museum and archives at the division headquarters.

A few more days passed, and Zhang Anbang, through a classmate's connection, obtained a digitally restored version of the 37-minute and 5-second edited version of Magee Video through official channels.

马吉影像由霉国圣公会牧师，金陵安全区国际委员会委员约翰・马吉，于 1937年12月至1938年3月间用16毫米家用摄像机秘密拍摄。

The original film, totaling 105 minutes in length, is the only surviving piece of irrefutable moving image evidence.

The content mainly consists of three aspects: first, a record of atrocities, including the massacre of soldiers and civilians who had laid down their arms, the streets littered with corpses, and bloody scenes such as tanks crushing people and machine guns firing.

Secondly, they filmed victims at Gulou Hospital, such as a pregnant woman who had been stabbed 37 times. These were important witnesses to the atrocities.

The third is the documentation of refugee camps, which records the lives and religious activities of refugees in the safety zone and filmed humanitarian aid efforts during the genocide.

In the very hot city trial of 1946, this footage became key evidence in prosecuting those bastards for their atrocities.

When Zhang Anbang visited the memorial hall in later generations, these original films and cameras had already become part of the archives.

It has also been included in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register, becoming a shared historical memory for humanity.

The students from the Public Security Bureau's Publicity Department also mailed Zhang Anbang a videotape of "The Sword of China," a large-scale anti-drug documentary focusing on border areas and recording the life-and-death struggle between public security, customs, border defense and other departments and drug traffickers.

The entire series consists of eight episodes, totaling 300 minutes. When it was first broadcast, it achieved a national viewership rating of 19.6%, attracting nearly 200 million viewers. Rebroadcasts reached nearly 600 million viewers, making it a benchmark work for anti-drug propaganda.

It exposed the dangers of drugs and showcased the spirit of sacrifice and dedication of anti-drug police officers.

After obtaining all the video recordings, Zhang Anbang taught them all to his instructor, Hong Xingguo.

The essence of watching these videos is a concrete form of political education, aimed at cultivating soldiers' sense of mission, patriotism, and discipline, which is the core scope of the instructor's work.

Zhang Anbang can help get the equipment, but the specifics of playback and storage still need to be handled by the instructor; he cannot overstep his bounds.

……

It was Wednesday afternoon again, a day for political education. In the activity room of the Seventh Company's headquarters, wooden benches were neatly arranged, and the soldiers of the Seventh Company sat down in orderly rows.

A large red banner with yellow characters hangs prominently on the wall in the center of the activity room. The twelve characters, "Obey the Party's command, serve the people, and fight bravely and skillfully," are particularly eye-catching and form the main banner of the activity room.

The two side banners read, one saying "Sweat more in peacetime, bleed less in wartime," and the other "Called upon us, ready to fight, and victorious in battle."

On the walls on both sides are slogans of the Seventh Steel Company itself. One slogan reads "Never abandon, never give up," and the other reads "Iron Cavalry's heroic spirit, shaking the battlefield."

"Wu Liuyi, take some men and draw the curtains."

"Yes."

The televisions of that era were CRT televisions, and their screen brightness and contrast were far inferior to those of later LCD televisions. When the natural light was strong, the screen would reflect light severely if the curtains were not drawn, and soldiers could not see the details of the picture at all.

Especially when playing black-and-white or dark-toned documentaries, light interference can make the images blurry.

Drawing the curtains will block out natural light and dim the light in the activity room, which will ensure that the screen image is clearly visible and allow the soldiers to concentrate more on the images.

As the VCR started humming, the television screen flickered, showing Magee's video.

Instructor Hong Xingguo sat in the middle of the first row, clutching a notebook in his hand. He had seen this video before, and every time he watched it, he felt extremely angry. Now that the television had just turned on, his brows furrowed.

Gao Cheng and Zhang Anbang didn't sit down. Neither of them liked to sit in the first row. They habitually stood on the side of the last row, watching the soldiers' reactions, looking like high school homeroom teachers.

The soldiers sat upright, and the entire activity room was quiet except for the narration from the documentary and the sounds of gunfire.

On the screen, black and white images flicker: the ruins of Nanjing's streets, refugees in tattered clothes, and compatriots who have been brutally murdered.

This footage was taken by Magee at great personal risk. Although the camera was shaky, every frame felt like a knife piercing the soldiers' hearts.

The soldiers' eyes widened and their fists clenched tightly.

Suddenly, the video showed civilians being driven to the wall, followed by a burst of gunfire.

Wu Liuyi gritted his teeth, his cheeks puffed out, and his eyes were practically spitting fire. He gripped the bench tightly with one hand.

"Hold!"

Wu Liuyi cursed under his breath; the sound wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the quiet activity room.

Hong Xingguo didn't turn around, but said in a deep voice, "Quiet."

Wu Liuyi took a deep breath and slowly released his grip, but he still couldn't help but pant heavily, with the veins on his forehead bulging.

Zhang Anbang was alright; he wasn't without anger, but he suppressed it tightly in his heart.

He had visited the memorial hall of Heilongjiang Province in his previous life, and every time he saw it, he had only one thought in his mind: to ride a horse and whip it to tread on the cherry blossoms on September 8th next year.

Gao Cheng's face was as black as the bottom of a pot, and his hands, which had been behind his back, fell to his sides. His eyes were frighteningly cold. He suddenly turned around and kicked the door frame next to him. With a loud bang, the window glass vibrated.

The video continued playing, showing the injured at Gulou Hospital. A pregnant woman with multiple stab wounds lay on a hospital bed, her eyes weakly open.

Magee's camera slowly panned across the bandaged bodies, and the narration read, "This is irrefutable evidence, an eternal wound for the nation."

……