In the late 1960s, the Cultural Revolution entered the stage of martial fighting between the two factions.
The center of gravity of the revolution in our village changed from the initial criticism of the rich and the poor to a tug-of-war between the two factions to seize power from each other, and fierce martial fighting began. All villages were divided into two factions according to their different views, all the way from the commune to the county to the region.
Both factions had their own names for their organizations, mostly based on the situation at the time or on the names of the leaders’ poems, such as “Full River Red” fighting team, “August 1st” fighting team, “Weidongbiao” fighting group, “People’s Revolutionary Committee”, or “People’s Committee” for short.
The “Man Jiang Hong” in our village was called “royalist” by the “People’s Committee”, which was to protect the village cadres who were in power at that time, while the “People’s Committee “faction is the rebel faction, is a power grabbing faction. The struggle between the two factions to seize power was in full swing, just like a race on the field.
The community members were working in the fields, and as soon as they heard the bugle sound, people from both factions threw down their tools and went back to the village to make revolution, leaving some of the rich, the rich, the bad and the right and their children to persist in their work in the fields, these people were not qualified to join the faction, much less to make revolution, they were the objects of the revolution. However, they were the targets of the revolution. During the period of martial fighting between the two factions, they were given a temporary respite.
At that time, I had just gotten out of the village school and became a member of the production team, honestly undergoing labor reform and experiencing firsthand the fierce revolution. Once I passed by the gate of the West Yard (the “base” of the “Man Jiang Hong” faction, a compound of the Yang family), I saw people building bunkers on the roofs of the houses with gun eyes, just like in the movies, building fortifications to stop the Japs, and some of them were carrying spears. The spear was a pig-killing knife tied to a long wooden pole.
Later on, there were newly made spears, clay guns, hand grenades, and clay bombs. The clay bombs were made of cast iron kettles with stones or steel pellets inside, which could be imagined as lethal.
In our village, the “Man Jiang Hong” was not as powerful as the “People’s Committee”. After several battles, the “Man Jiang Hong” was defeated and had difficulty gaining a foothold in the village. Had to run to the neighboring villages to get help. In the neighboring village of this faction, with the support of force, “Man Jiang Hong” back to the village, took the “Human Rights Committee” of the right.
The “People’s Committee” faction ran to a village in Linxian to hide. This hiding is more than half a year, from summer to winter, the two factions of the martial arts fight temporarily ceased, the countryside and restored peace. However, a more violent martial arts struggle is brewing in the calm.
In the waxing moon, every family was preparing for a joyful Spring Festival. Although the economy was in the doldrums and the society was in turmoil, there was always a New Year to be lived, and it was everyone’s hope to have a joyful Spring Festival. The village showed a rare joyful and peaceful atmosphere.
One night, after a busy day, people quietly went to sleep. The human committee sent the backbone of several villages outside the county, quietly touch back to the village.
There was a peach tree outside the window. The moonlight printed the shadow of the peach tree on the window paper, and the shadow was dark and bright.
I was just about to drift off when the sound of gunfire and shouting came from outside: “Surround the west yard, don’t let them get away!” After a messy footsteps, the sound of gunfire suddenly became intense, with the bang-bang sound of muskets and rifles being released singly, the sound of da-da-da-da, I don’t know whether it was submachine guns or machine guns, and even the ear-splitting sound of explosions.
My house was only a few dozen meters away from the west yard, and I could hear everything clearly. Our family was awakened and listened to the outside movement with sideways ears. My father sighed and said, “It’s the People’s Committee that has returned. Father told us to lie down and not to move. Mother said, “Will the people’s committee break into our house?” Father said, “I don’t think so, we don’t belong to a faction, no one is biased.” He also warned us not to say anything outside, and not to have close contact with any faction, just work honestly.
As we were talking, there was a sudden flash of fire outside the window, a violent explosion that shook the sky and the earth, and a stone or a steel ball broke through the window, hitting my brother and me in the middle of our pillows and bouncing off the floor. 5-year-old sister cried out in fear, and my mother rushed to hold her in her arms.
My father told my brother and me to leave the center of the bed and hide in the corner. We didn’t dare to light the lamp, and we listened in the darkness with fear and trepidation to what was going on outside. A strong smell of gunpowder rushed into the house and filled the darkness.
After a while, the sound of gunfire thinned out and we heard someone shout, “They’re running north, chase them!” “Search, see if there are any hidden ones!”
After a while, the street from the father and mother of a scream, I do not know who let the people of the Commission caught, is suffering a severe beating ——
The sun came up, the village was quiet as usual, as if nothing had happened, but the air was still filled with the faint smell of gunpowder.
Someone saw a man lying on his back in the wheat field in the north of the village, face down, a spear pierced through the back of his head and out of his mouth, wounded in the leg, with a pit stomped out under his feet and hands underneath the pickled permafrost. The deceased was called three goods, the people of Manjiang Hong, thirty years old.
Someone in a large doorway found a man full of blood, sitting on the ground, breathlessly moaning, dying. He was beaten with skin and flesh, he was the man who shouted at night to his father and mother, the Man Jiang Hong faction, his name was Tong Jun, twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, and I a production team.
The people’s committee took power again, and the Man Jiang Hong faction ran away.
Three goods died, the same army left a legacy. Dead is dead, disabled is also disabled. Turbulent times, who to find?
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