Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 922 They Must Perform

The No. 1 canteen in the film and television city.

Chen Fan stood in front of the maps that covered an entire wall, picked up a bamboo pole, coughed, and said loudly, "Comrades, what we're going to film these next two days are several battles along the Long March."

"Later, I'll divide everyone into two groups: one group will play our army, and the other group will play the pursuing Central Army and local troops. So, you'll need to change your costumes later."

Upon hearing this, everyone stared intently at Chen Fan, fearing they might be assigned to play the Blue Team.

Even kids know not to play the Japanese devils when playing games. They are real armed militiamen, and with so many people watching today, if they were to play the Blue Army, wouldn't they be laughed at to death?
Ignoring the stares of the crowd, Chen Fan continued to give instructions on various matters.

The main issue is safety. You can't point a gun at people; you can just point it upwards. Anyway, when the camera is shooting close-ups, it only shows a small group of people, and in long shots, you can't tell what kind of gun is being fired.

After explaining the precautions, Chen Fan announced the disbandment of the team and waited for the script supervisor to assign tasks.

He then called Zhang Wenhao over, tossed him a cigarette, glanced around, and whispered, "Director Kuang will assign you roles and tasks later. I've already spoken to him..."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Wenhao's eyes lit up, and he quickly asked, "We're playing the Red Army?"

Chen Fan smiled slightly at him, "What's so great about playing the Red Army? If you're going to play one, play the Blue Army."

Zhang Wenhao's smile froze instantly, his pupils dilating in a flash. "Huh?"

It's one thing if they don't give us special treatment, but if all else fails, we can just draw lots. But now they're doing the opposite, making our own people play the Blue Team. Won't we be laughed at to death?!

Thinking of this, he quickly lifted his clothes and shook them, "No, look, we're all wearing old-style military uniforms, specially made by the clothing factory. We don't need your props, we can just go up and film."

Chen Fan lit a cigarette, pulled him to sit down in a corner, looked around, and whispered, "It's better that you didn't wear these military uniforms. Wearing them would have been superfluous. You definitely can't play the Red Army in these clothes."

Zhang Wenhao looked completely puzzled. "Why?"

Chen Fan snorted twice and said, "When was the Long March? That was during the period of forced relocation and near-total disruption of logistics and production. What kind of clothes did our troops wear back then?"

He gave Zhang Wenhao a meaningful look and said, "Don't tell me you didn't listen at all when Captain Xiao was telling stories."

Zhang Wenhao stared blankly, his gaze drifting upwards. After a while, he suddenly realized, "Oh, I know."

He then slapped his forehead in frustration, his face full of regret. "How could I forget this? Back then, due to the lack of supplies, the general public wore the first military uniform designed in 29. The new military uniform designed in 31 had not yet been widely adopted, and only a very small number of units had changed to the new uniform."

Moreover, production conditions were backward at the time, and even military uniforms of the same style could vary greatly due to differences in production factories, fabrics, and batches.

The only distinctive feature shared by the entire army was the octagonal cap they wore.

He grabbed the hat in his hand and looked at it, his tone full of helplessness, "And it's not that new either."

Chen Fan chuckled and said, "Actually, there is another common point, which is gray cloth clothes. But like the hat, they can't be too new. We've fought countless battles on this breakout journey, so they're bound to be dirty, torn, and loose. There's nowhere to mend them when they're torn, and no time to wash them when they're dirty."

"Your outfits, tsk tsk, are perfect for filming costume-changing scenes, too bad I don't have them in my movie."

Zhang Wenhao couldn't even cry anymore, but he still wanted to try and salvage the situation. He pulled a chair closer to Chen Fan and chuckled, "Hey, how about we change our clothes and not play the Red Army, but the guerrillas instead?"

Pointing outside, he said, “There are dozens of people working here in our production team. Borrow a few sets of civilian clothes from each of them, roll around on the ground to make them a little tattered, and we’ll make sure we don’t give ourselves away.”

Chen Fan coughed lightly, pointed at him, and said seriously, "To tell you the truth, the Blue Team still needs you guys."

Zhang Wenhao looked at him innocently, "Why?"

Chen Fan took a drag of his cigarette, sighed, and said, "Think about it. I'm from Lujiawan. If I let you play the Red Army and others play the Blue Army, will they be satisfied? What if they slack off and the movie doesn't turn out well? Who will be responsible then?"

Zhang Wenhao immediately stretched out his neck and glared, "Let's see who dares!"

Chen Fan snorted twice, "They seem to follow orders on the surface, but they're actually disobedient on the surface. What can you do about it?"

Zhang Wenhao was speechless for a moment.

Chen Fan patted his arm and whispered, "I've also thought about drawing lots or using lotteries, but as long as you're playing the Red Army, people will definitely say I'm rigging the game. If you were in that situation, wouldn't you want to do that?"

Zhang Wenhao immediately shook his head, "I don't want to."

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly. He pointed at him, paused for two seconds, and continued, "Actually, in my opinion, playing the Blue Army is much more worthwhile than playing the Red Army."

Zhang Wenhao glanced at him, puffed out his cheeks angrily, and said, "I don't believe it."

Chen Fan snorted twice and said, "You really shouldn't disbelieve me. First of all, you guys playing the Blue Army wear neat and tidy clothes, and you don't even need to grab a handful of dust to smear your faces. Secondly, I'll give you the role of an officer, riding a tall horse, eating delicacies, and even riding in a car. Isn't that much more comfortable than being chased by people in front?"

Zhang Wenhao blinked, then looked at Chen Fan hesitantly, "Really?"

Chen Fan nodded earnestly, "Would I lie to you?"

Zhang Wenhao thought for a moment, then looked up and said, "Actually, whether we eat delicacies or have a car to ride in, these things are not important. In any case, you are from Lujiawan, and we can't let people say that people from Lujiawan are doing things behind the scenes."

He slapped his thigh and said, "We played the Blue Team."

Chen Fan immediately clapped his hands and laughed, "That's right!"

After saying that, he patted his arm and said, "Perform well. Afterwards, we'll have Secretary Yang record your work points. We can't let this trip be for nothing, right?"

With a smile, Chen Fan pushed Zhang Wenhao forward, clapped his hands, and said to Kuang Mingyi, who had come over, "Hurry up, draw lots to group them up, and then explain the filming tasks. After that, hurry up with the makeup and try to finish filming all the major scenes within three days."

Kuang Mingyi nodded, then hesitated for a moment before looking at Chen Fan and asking, "Director Chen, I'm a little worried."

He shook his head as he spoke, glanced at Zhang Wenhao and the others outside the door, then turned back and said in a low voice, "As for the delicacies and cars you mentioned, we have cars, but we really didn't prepare any delicacies."

Chen Fan hummed twice, lowering his voice just enough for him to hear clearly, "What do you mean there isn't? Didn't the cafeteria prepare chicken stew with mushrooms, cold black fungus salad, and seaweed soup today? Aren't mushrooms and black fungus delicacies? Isn't seaweed a seafood delicacy? And I just saw on today's menu that there's also stir-fried cured pork and braised fish. Just order a few plates and have them as your work lunch, take pictures while you eat, can you say it's a lie?"

Kuang Mingyi slowly opened his eyes wide, and couldn't help but give a thumbs up. "Brilliant, absolutely brilliant." After a pause, he asked, puzzled, "But why did you insist on having people from Lujiawan play the Blue Army? Couldn't others have done it?"

Chen Fan flicked his cigarette ash and patiently explained, "The others really aren't up to the task. Don't you even look at what they look like? The militiamen in other places are almost all covered in dirt and have hardly any flesh on their faces or bodies. You want them to play the Blue Army?"

Then look at the people from Lujiawan, and the other production teams in Nanhu Commune—good heavens, they're all slicked-back, ruddy-faced! If the Red Army had this kind of food back then, wouldn't they have been chasing the Blue Army? Why would they have gone all the way to northern Shaanxi?

He sighed after saying that, "If you ask me, the timing was wrong. If we had waited another two months, until the summer harvest was over, and then gone to those places where people often fled famine to find a group of refugees, preferably those who had been away for a month with their families, and sent them to work there, the effect would have been the most genuine."

Kuang Mingyi looked at Chen Fan with a strange expression, trying his best to purse his lips, but he still couldn't help it, and a few incoherent laughs popped out from his lips.

He felt it was inappropriate to laugh at this point, so he quickly changed the subject, saying, "What you're saying is ridiculous. There aren't that many places where disasters are happening."

I've heard that parts of North and Northeast China are experiencing drought and little rain this year, with some areas even experiencing a period of intense drought, but emergency relief efforts are underway. As for floods, we'll have to wait until the summer flood season arrives to see if any areas have received excessive rainfall.

Chen Fan took a drag of his cigarette, threw the butt into the ashtray, and said irritably, "You think there are only people fleeing famine when there's a disaster? I think you've been living in the provincial capital for too long and don't know what it's like down there."

I can't speak for other places, but in Gufeng County alone, every year several groups of people from other provinces come to make a living. It has nothing to do with whether they are affected by disasters or not. It's just that their hometown land is not productive enough, and they have many family members. The little food they have is not enough to feed them, so they have no choice but to leave.

If a flood or drought were to occur, frankly speaking, the situation might actually be better.

Kuang Mingyi wasn't stupid; he just didn't understand the situation at the grassroots level. Upon hearing this, he suddenly realized, "There's relief grain?"

Chen Fan snorted twice and pointed outside, "Stop talking nonsense and get moving, we still have a lot of work to do."

Kuang Mingyi shook his head and laughed, "Sometimes I really feel like our roles are reversed. You're the one in your forties or fifties, and you know more than I do."

Without waiting for Chen Fan to say anything, he waved his hand, turned around and walked out, saying, "I guarantee everything will be ready within an hour. Just wait to start filming."

They said it would take an hour, and it really did take an hour.

An hour later, Chen Fan rode on the small horse brought by the Lujiawan militia company, head held high and chest out, heading into the mountains.

As for Zhang Wenhao, he rode Chen Fan's little mare, looking around curiously, appearing quite pleased with himself.

With his crisp blue military uniform, he actually looked quite respectable.

The little mare was quite unhappy, sneezing every now and then. If her owner hadn't been watching her closely, she would have loved to roll over like a donkey and throw the person off her back.

Behind Zhang Wenhao was a group of militiamen from Nanhu Commune dressed as the Blue Army, wearing Blue Army uniforms, carrying submachine guns on their shoulders, and some even carrying machine guns and cannons—they looked like an elite force. However, these Blue Army soldiers all looked somewhat dejected, and many of them would turn around from time to time to look at the Red Army troops with envious eyes.

Chen Fan glanced back and shook his head helplessly.

Garlic bird, garlic bird, it's really a bit difficult to ask the militia to play the Blue Army these days. Just don't mess things up later.

After a rapid march, the team quickly entered the mountainous area. Kuang Mingyi, with the help of several staff members, used a megaphone to direct the team to find their respective positions.

Chen Fan, along with his photography crew, set up several camera positions.

Besides the busy film crew and the tense yet novel militia extras, there was also a large crowd of onlookers on the outskirts not far away.

For example, Xiao Liewen, and Minister Cao of Gufeng County, are both troublemakers who enjoy watching the drama unfold.

Not to mention the other dozens of vigorous production team leaders and secretaries.

They gathered in groups of three or five, some with their hands on their hips, others using their hands to shield themselves from view. The most outrageous group was the people of Lujiawan, where four leaders, each with a military binocular, all stared intently at the "battlefield."

Secretary Yang was a little puzzled. "Which scene are we filming today? There's a river in front of us, and a bridge over it. Could it be the scene of the capture of Luding Bridge?"

Captain Zhang scoffed, “Don’t you have any common sense? The Luding Bridge is an iron chain bridge. Do you see any iron chains on this bridge? It’s all a simple bridge made of bamboo. If the bamboo bridge collapses and the soldiers fall into the river, they can still hold onto the bamboo and swim forward.”

Ye Shubao put down the binoculars, turned to look at him, his eyes full of doubt, "That was the daring capture of the bamboo bridge?"

Xiao Liewen turned his face, pointed his binoculars at him, and said, "Are you really going to fight over a bamboo bridge? What's so special about seizing it? Our main force has used this method of crossing the river countless times. Is it really necessary to seize it?"

After saying that, he turned back to look at the battlefield. "Let's see how Xiao Chen has arranged things. I reckon this battle won't be simple. Good heavens, Si Hu Zi has become a high-ranking officer in the Blue Army. Oh, he's even commanding his troops to attack from both sides."

A few seconds later, Xiao Liewen suddenly put away his binoculars and said angrily, "What's going on? You're taking so long to even cross this little patch of woods! More training! We have to do more training!"

Minister Cao from the county quietly approached, then suddenly reached out and snatched his binoculars away, saying, "Here you go."

Xiao Liewen whirled around, glaring angrily, "What are you doing?"

Minister Cao held onto the binoculars tightly, saying, "Isn't it a waste for you to use such good stuff? Let me use it."

Xiao Liewen naturally refused and immediately got into a fighting stance.

Minister Cao, upon seeing this, quickly said, "So stingy! You can't even afford a pair of binoculars. Hey, wait a minute."

He hid the binoculars behind his back with one hand and kept Xiao Liewen out with the other, grinning as he said, "I'll tell you why your team is so slow. I'll lend you my binoculars for two days."

Xiao Liewen frowned slightly. "Why?"

Minister Cao chuckled and said, "The team you trained is definitely fine. The problem is that they are playing the role of the Blue Team now. Tell me, do you think the Blue Team, especially the Blue Team back then, could have this ability?"

Xiao Liewen suddenly realized, "I see."

The next second, he turned around, stepped behind Minister Cao, grabbed the binoculars, and ran, saying, "Give them to me."

Minister Cao's eyes widened in fury. "You're untrustworthy!"

Just as a major battle was about to break out, Chen Fan, who was standing on the mountaintop in the distance, finally shouted through a megaphone, "All departments, prepare! 3, 2, 1, action!"

(End of this chapter)