One day in May 1969, I heard that there was a GAS 51 truck in the former youth farm, and now the old youth in the Pioneer Commune (we used to call the youth who went to the countryside before the Cultural Revolution old youth) there, so I wanted to go to them to borrow the truck for the production team to pull wood with. So we walked to the Pioneer Commune with a few students from the same team.
To know the old youth team, but see everyone look panic, a question to know that something big has happened: a neighboring team of youth was killed by farmers with a hoe nail rake.
When asked about the reason, it was said that it was caused by the evaluation of work points: it was the time to collect the small spring, and the work points were calculated according to the actual weight of wheat threshed by each person. Farmers are using hand-cranked threshing machine, the team of young people to the Lugu iron ore mine to borrow a diesel engine, and threshing machine wheel connected together, with machine power instead of hand-cranked, of course, the efficiency increased many times, threshing the weight of wheat is naturally far more than the farmers.
As a result, the farmers quit when the work points were recorded, saying that the youths were “cheating” with the machine, not a real skill, and could not be calculated by weight. The young people of course also quit and argued with the farmers. The situation soon took a turn for the worse, and several farmers started to fight, which eventually led to the tragedy.
The killed youth named Zhou Dacheng, said to be to persuade the fight, the results of the farmers to see his sturdy, fearing that he will not be able to fight, but he first poisoned, several people at the same time with a hoe nail rake to his head to cut, but will kill him alive.
I heard that the deceased is called Zhou Dacheng, and is 1 meter 8 a few head, the heart can not help but a shock: is it him? The Cultural Revolution cohort had a friendship with him on the train. At that time, a few young people with Chengdu accent in the next seat were talking loudly about youth training classes, farms and other things.
I talked to them and realized that they were a few old Chengdu youths who had gone to Beijing to sue. The highest one was Zhou Dacheng, a son of Chengdu University (now Southwest University of Finance and Economics).
Later it was learned that his father was beaten as a rightist in 1957, and Zhou Dacheng naturally had nothing to do with studying, so he went to the countryside before the Cultural Revolution.
“If you want to go, you have to do it fast!” The old man who came to report the news urged everyone, and said that several of their teams of young people have run out. It is said that the peasants are afraid of retaliation from the youths and have let it be known that as long as the youths dare to come, they will use cannons (suspected to be cannons) as a signal to block several mountain passes in the Pioneer Commune and treat the youths as bandits to be beaten and killed regardless. We were so frightened by what they said that we didn’t know what to do.
“Run is not a solution, can run the first day, can not get away from the fifteenth.” At this point a sturdy old youth said, “or to take a way out to do, the life of the youth is that door is not worth shivering?” So we all talk and make suggestions.
Finally, it was decided to divide the troops into two, one to Xichang Gaocao to bring help, and the other to Shaba Commune to seek help from the youth in the seventh grade. The reason for going to Gaocao is that the martial arts struggle there has not yet ended, and the youths have the “guys” in their hands, while going to Shaba is that there are many students from the seventh middle school, and they are “down to teach”. A few of us then joined the journey to Gao Cao.
The truck in the flying dust bumpy drive, dusk finally upside down to the destination, the car has not stopped, the car of the old youth will shout a few “Commander Zhang!”
The sunset saw a tall thin man flashing out from the roadside behind a dirt wall, although it was only May, the man actually bare shoulders, wearing only a red fire pants, the waist diagonally across an armed belt with a gun holster, carrying a five-four pistol in his hands.
I’ve heard of Commander Zhang’s great name, he is also an old youth from Chengdu, a man of great righteousness. Now I see the real body, and see him in the hands of the “guy”, the heart suddenly a lot more secure.
When the commander heard the intention, he didn’t even hit one: “Shrimp even dare to beat the youth, dare to kill, this is not good! You will stay here tonight, tomorrow we will go to catch the killer!” Such a bold, living like a good man of the green forest, this scene, it is surprising that people have a feeling of time and space dislocation.
That night we were arranged to live in the 410 factory dormitory. Because of the armed struggle, a large dormitory has long been empty, but the indoor clothing and washroom and other utensils have not been taken away. I heard from the commander that the workers of the same faction lived in the dormitory, so we were also guarding their homes for them. I didn’t know what would happen tomorrow, so I was still anxious and couldn’t sleep for a long time.
The next morning, we were woken up and ate something in a hurry to get on the bus. The commander also brought a few “brothers and sisters” with him. Before getting on the bus again counted the “guys” brought, the heart suddenly felt a little bad: the long and short guys add up to only five or six, a five-six submachine gun actually did not have a firing pin, can only be used to scare people.
The most smashing scale is a five six type light machine gun, but the bullet is less than twenty rounds. We naturally had no chance with the “guys” as there were not enough to go around.
The truck was driving towards Lugu in the cold morning sun, and we were shivering in the cold. When the car is almost to Lizhou, see a young man standing in the middle of the road, there are a few girls on the side of the road, look at the car is stopping the youth. But because of the rush, the car only in front of them to point a brake, the young man’s body to the side of a flash, the car will brush away.
Suddenly I saw this man also holding a large pebble in his hand, only to see his mouth chanting words, raised his arm, in the air in a large arc. Several of us instinctively hands on the head, down a shrink, waiting for the flying stone.
At the moment when the stone is about to strike, the brother probably saw the hands of several brothers in the car “guy”, so the momentum of the rotation of the body, the arm beautifully drawn a circle after gently touching the ground, let go, the stone firmly on the ground.
Everything happened instantly, turning the dryness into peace, the man’s quick reaction, the ability to control the muscles of the strong, really surprising, admirable. The group laughed, this is also counted: know the time to be a good man.
The car to Lugu Anning River bridge at the head of the dawn, Shaba to the students also arrived, a few ways to converge or some momentum. The bridge was erected on the five-six type light machine gun, after the bridge is the pioneer commune, that day seems to be the day of the rush, there have been farmers from the bridge one after another, and was told that only out, not in.
Discipline was announced, stressing the need to follow the command of all actions, etc. It seems to explain that when entering the high school students in front, when retreating to break the rear, junior high school students in the middle. A few brothers with “guys” in their hands were also repeatedly instructed not to shoot as a last resort, and if they did, they could only hit their hands and feet. We went to the farmer’s house to “borrow” some stretcher, hoe, nail rake and other farming tools to serve as weapons before we left with bare hands.
To catch the murderer is located in the production team on the other side of the dam, you must cross the dam to reach. The same class under the Zeyuan commune Lu Dan and I walked together, he kindly whispered to me, try and have a gun a little closer to the people, so safer, can not win the retreat also run away.
One or two hundred people are thus walking high and low to the opposite village, I only feel dry mouth, heartbeat ping bang bang. I had heard that the peasants in Coronation were tough and desperate, and I had also heard that Hu Zongnan had a unit that was scattered in Xichang, and that many stragglers stayed in the area. Most of the peasants have been prepared, it seems that today there will be a bad fight, I wonder how the day will end? I think both the attacking Allies and the defending Germans probably had this feeling on the day of the Normandy landings: it was going to be a long day.
It seemed surprisingly quiet and unsettling. Could it be that the ambush had been set and the pockets opened, waiting for us to throw ourselves into the net? The party was finally approaching the village when suddenly there was a clamor, from small to large. Only to see a large number of villagers to the hillside surge. Seeing this scene, the heart of a moment of peace – so not only we are afraid, they are also afraid of ah, it seems that there will not be any vicious battle it.
The village was empty, and the villagers all retreated to the hillside outside the village, squatting there and looking down. A young man put a light machine gun against the hill and set it up on the earth wall to guard. The rest of the people were led by the old know-it-alls of the team, and went straight to the homes of several murderers. Where to find what the murderer, people have long since withdrawn clean.
So the retaliation began: some on the house to uncover the tiles, with a hoe nail rake a burst of smashing, the beautiful name “to carry out the great production movement”, food was dumped into the manure pit, the pigs in the pen was stabbed to death with a dagger and bayonet, someone will be the house of the cage was piled in the yard, lit a fire.
A black smoke rose, and someone in the crowd on the hillside called out, “It’s burning!” Immediately afterwards, the villagers stirred, and a few people seemed to rush down a few steps. Everyone immediately tensed up, only to hear the Type 5-6 da-da-da-da to the air to a point of fire, downward villagers immediately turned and ran away again.
Although I know that the gun can hold the hall, the group also knows that this place should not stay long. A few old youths quickly wrote slogans on the wall with charcoal from the stove, and I remember two of them: “Severe punishment for murderers! “The intellectual youth and the poor peasants are linked by heart”. Although the murderer was not caught, the intellectuals also felt a sense of anger, so they withdrew from the village.
The county government sent several officials, including the Minister of Armed Forces, to deal with the matter, promising to bring the murderer to justice.
Around noon, all the youths were treated to a meal, free of charge! The restaurant on Lugu Street where we went was full of young people. A few of our junior high school classmates sat at a table and talked excitedly about everything that had happened today, thinking that as long as we were of one mind, no one would ever dare to bully the youth again.
Waiting for the food when the neighboring table came a burst of laughter, look back, only to see the next few tables of old youth, some bare a foot stepped on the bench, some wearing sunglasses, some beard Ba fork, arms on the veins blooming, some naked, a muscle lumps with chest hair, so powerful.
The most exciting thing is that their table either put the “guy”, or inserted a few daggers, is simply a party of Liang Shan good men. Looking back at us, it is a bit embarrassing, although the countryside for several months has been tanned, but no decent “line” to help. And the neighboring table of good men a comparison, simply too mismatched, too out of place.
So search through the coat pocket, finally found a small fruit knife, inserted on the table. Another student also pulled out a nail clippers, placed next to the cheer, probably feel a little unlike, so quietly put away.
Finally on the food, in order to a bit of good man momentum, several students are coincidentally, in due course added some tone auxiliary words to pretend to old: “hammer …… son! How the dishes on the formation of the door slow oh!”
In the afternoon to carry the body parade, Zhou Dacheng’s body moved out of the hospital in Lugu town and put on a truck. Everyone has put on white paper flowers. Suddenly someone said, “Make way, Uncle Zhou is here.” I saw two female youths supporting a thin old man who was walking warily toward the hearse.
When the old man saw his son’s body, his face twitched slightly, then he slowly turned to everyone and said, “Thank you all! Please everyone must be calm, trust the government, and believe that the government will take care of it.” The old man had just arrived by train, and what could Uncle Zhou, who was a professor at Cheng Kung University and a rightist, say?
The hearse drove to the field of the Pioneer Commune, causing a burst of confusion, the people rushing to the field must have heard about what happened in the morning, and ran like a mountain of legs. An old youth fired a few shots into the air before the crowd stopped.
A thin, long-haired young man with a scarf around his neck stood on the footrest of the hearse door, holding a roll of newspaper in one hand and swiping his long hair back with the other, and began his speech: “Folks, don’t be afraid. We are not here to fight, we are here to propagate the truth and tell you the truth ……”
The company’s main business is to provide a wide range of products and services to the public. Several female youth around silently shed tears.
Forty years have passed, looking back on that scene, it is surprising that there is a sense of a lifetime. The youth and the peasants, the same group at the bottom of society, than the youth, the peasants are even more bitter, more helpless. But they are pushed into confrontation, involved in a fight that is destined to have no winners, only victims.
That is a tragedy of the times.
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