The literary era since 1979

Chapter 167 True Youth

Nanning, western Guangxi.

In the rehearsal hall of the art troupe, the melodious sound of accordion is floating in the air. At this moment, a group of female art soldiers with their hair tied up in buns and wearing training clothes are practicing their voices and rehearsing on stage.

"Qin Yu, what are you standing here looking at?"

Lin Xiaoping stopped dancing and walked towards her roommate who was daydreaming in front of the window.

"Didn't they say that Teacher Fang was coming to our military district?"

Qin Yu peeked out of the window and asked, "Why haven't you come yet?"

As soon as they heard "Teacher Fang", the female soldiers in the dance team slowed down their movements and pace and started chattering.

"I heard that Teacher Fang and the others arrived yesterday."

"Yesterday? Is that true?"

"Of course it's true. I heard from my boyfriend that a welcome party was held for the writers who came to support the army. The political commissar and the regiment commander all attended. It is said that the military chiefs were also present."

"No wonder I didn't see the leader warming up her voice this morning. She's usually the first one to come and practice."

"And the deputy head, she didn't come today either."

"........."

Seeing them moving towards the window, Li Jiangsheng stopped playing the accordion.

"Okay, the people haven't even arrived yet, and you're already so excited."

"Focus on rehearsing. We're about to give a performance to comfort the soldiers. Don't embarrass yourself."

Wang Wen clapped her hands, making a crisp sound, and the female soldiers whose minds had drifted outside the window finally came back to their senses.

Seeing that the dance team captain and instructor had spoken, everyone returned to their positions to rehearse.

At this moment, a male soldier hurried over and saluted:
"Captain! Instructor!"

"Don't be anxious, speak slowly."

Li Jiangsheng listened quietly. When he heard that the cultural support team for the army would come to the art troupe soon, the political commissar and the troupe leader asked them to get ready quickly.

"Ah! Teacher Fang is coming!"

In an instant, the rehearsal hall erupted with clear calls like those of an oriole, with each high note higher than the last.

...............

"Clap clap clap."

When Li Cunbao, Fangyan, and the leaders of the art troupe appeared in the rehearsal hall, people led by Li Jiangsheng led the applause.

Immediately afterwards, rows of male and female arts soldiers in military uniforms clapped in unison in a warm welcome.

"Which one is Teacher Fang?"

"The one standing in the middle, the youngest one."

"I didn't expect Teacher Fang to be so young!"

Qin Yu couldn't help but be surprised and clapped his hands vigorously.

"Yeah, I thought she was in her early thirties like the instructor." What Lin Xiaoping said was also the voice of other people around her.

Pairs of eyes stared at Fangyan closely, as if they could see a bunch of labels on him:
Writer, poet, editor, screenwriter, handsome guy...

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa."

Li Cunbao felt flattered. When he visited western Guangxi and southern Yunnan for field research before, he never saw such a grand ceremony.

"Hello, comrades."

Fangyan greeted them with a smile.

Taking a quick glance from left to right, I guess all the most beautiful and well-groomed female soldiers in the entire army are here.

They are all good-looking, pretty and have good figures, and are no worse than the actresses in "Youth".

"This is the captain of the drama team..."

"Captain of the opera troupe..."

Director Yang assigned everyone to teams. "The dance team leader is Wang Wen, and the political instructor is Li Jiangsheng."

In the coming days, Fang Yan and Li Cunbao will follow this dance team to the troops to perform consolation shows.

"We are now your soldiers."

Fangyan shook hands with them and said, "I will follow your instructions."

At the instruction of the regiment commander, Li Jiangsheng called the instructor and took a few "new recruits" to the male soldiers' dormitory that had already been arranged.

Not long after walking out of the rehearsal hall, I ran into a few new recruits, all of whom were craning their necks and staring intently.

Fangyan followed their gaze and saw the female soldier lying in front of the window of the rehearsal room, pointing at them.

"What are you looking at?"

Li Jiangsheng's sudden rough voice startled the male soldiers and made the female soldiers leave reluctantly.

"Instructor."

Raising his hand to salute, the recruit looked back ahead.

Li Jiangsheng asked a few questions before letting them go. "Excuse me for making a fool of myself."

"In the military, military discipline must be strict."

Fang Yan and Li Cunbao looked at each other and followed him to the dormitory. After the group settled down, Fang Yan invited Li Jiangsheng and the other man into the room, brought over chairs, and started chatting.

Fangyan learned from them that they were all transferred from the 41st Army Infantry Regiment to the art troupe, and were comrades in the army propaganda team.

Unlike professional propaganda teams such as art troupes, military propaganda teams are usually amateur performance groups of the troops.

The actors in the film are all soldiers, ready to go to the battlefield at any time and anywhere. During the self-defense counterattack in 79, the military propaganda team they were in was immediately disbanded on the spot, and the team members were sent to the front line.

"The captain is different from me. He took the initiative to leave the propaganda team and volunteered to join the field army."

The instructor put down the enamel cup that was steaming from it.

Fangyan was very interested, "Why did you want to leave the propaganda team?"

Li Jiangsheng frankly said that "playing various instruments and singing" was not conducive to progress, and that he would get more training only when he joined the infantry regiment.

"The captain is not like other young men who are spoiled and afraid of..."

There was disdain in the instructor's tone.

"Cough cough."

Li Jiangsheng frowned and interrupted.

Li Cunbao's eyes lit up and he asked about his identity.

Li Jiangsheng had a clear conscience:

"I can barely be considered one, but some of my comrades don't like this kind of people, so I am also very sensitive about others mentioning this term. When I was transferred from the propaganda team to the infantry regiment, I wanted to prove to everyone that not all the children of cadres are spoiled cowards."

Li Cunbao narrowed his eyes into slits.

"you do not say………"

The instructor closed his mouth only after Li Jiangsheng glared at him.

"I think that as a soldier, you must first be responsible, and the children of the soldiers must set an example."

Li Jiangsheng narrated what he saw and heard in a serious manner.

Fang Yan watched quietly, and felt more and more that the man in front of him was like the "Zhao Mengsheng" who had transformed after the war.

"Then how did you get transferred from the field troops to the art troupe?" Li Cunbao wrote down everything and then expressed his doubts.

Now all military regions are undergoing streamlining and reorganization, with art troupes being the first to be affected, with many being simply disbanded.

"We were just seconded for a while."

The instructor said that it was precisely because the art troupe was downsized and there was a shortage of cadres that they were pulled in to take over temporarily.

"The main reason is still safety issues."

Li Jiangsheng explained that although there was no major battle on the border front, there were still small groups of agents secretly infiltrating.

Therefore, these former military propaganda team cadres who were familiar with both music and military operations were selected to strengthen the security of the art troupe, especially during the consolation performances, and at the same time take on the basic military training tasks of the art troupe.

"Agent?"

The dialect was a big surprise.

"Yeah, similar to the 'Scouts' in our unit."

Li Jiangsheng relayed the information he knew.

During the conventional frontal combat at that time, after Annan suffered a defeat, it sent this kind of special forces team to carry out small-scale harassment many times.

During that period, words such as "agent", "special forces", and "special commando" often appeared in the battle reports from the southern Xinjiang front.

Generally speaking, it is divided into junior ordinary agent teams, intermediate secret agent teams, and senior special agent teams.

Ordinary special forces cooperate with infantry and artillery in combat and reconnaissance, while secret special forces lurk behind enemy lines for a long time, conduct activities deep behind enemy lines, and temporarily carry out campaign-style sabotage missions...

"Because of these sons of bitches, we have suffered a lot of losses."

The instructor gnashed his teeth, becoming more and more excited as he spoke, "Damn it, 20 billion, and you raised an ungrateful wolf!"

"Don't we have any means of countermeasure?"

After listening to this, Li Cunbao frowned.

Fangyan suddenly said, "For example, forming a special forces team and giving them a taste of their own medicine?"

Li Cunbao nodded. "Teacher Fang is right. A tooth for a tooth, blood for blood."

"There are such troops, but they are not called 'Special Forces'."

Li Jiangsheng took a sip of water and said that the functions of the companies are similar, including the special forces company, the reconnaissance company, or the police investigation company.

Even when there is an emergency mission, elites will be drawn from these companies to form temporary reconnaissance teams.

The dead memories began to attack Fangyan again, and he realized that the concept of "special forces" did not exist in the country at that time.

It was only after the destruction of the Zimberlin radar site in 84 that specialized special forces began to be formed.

This point was mentioned in the TV series "I Am a Special Forces Soldier". The various army field armies drew reconnaissance companies from each division and reconnaissance platoons from each infantry regiment to form 15 reconnaissance battalions. These 15 reconnaissance battalions were the predecessors of the special forces.

"How much do you know about this kind of reconnaissance team?"

Li Cunbao added, "If it involves military secrets, just pretend I never asked."

“We don’t really know much.”

Li Jiangsheng and the instructor looked at each other and said, "We should go to the army and ask professionals about this."

When Fangyan heard that they would set out for the 41st Army tomorrow, he seemed to be lost in thought.

(End of this chapter)