Literary Master 1983

Chapter 427 The Free Kingdom of Military Literature

Since there was no way to verify the truth about Bui Hue's death, and he himself was injured, he was not prosecuted and returned to Hanoi without any consequences.

When he arrived in Hanoi, he learned that Comrade Chang Zheng was not dead, but was seriously ill and had lost his ability to move, so he announced his resignation in advance.

The Vietnamese high command was thrown into chaos, and news was suppressed. Powerful military leaders from various regions returned to Hanoi, and for a time, no one seemed to care about the actual situation on the Laoshan front.

So what if a few people die? Nobody cares.

After Pei Shunhua returned, he naturally went to find "Chang Zheng" to give his work report. When he arrived at the ward, he saw that the leader's face was dark and he was very weak.

He managed to utter a single sentence.

"You've met Yu Qie, what do you think of him?"

"He was truly a literary giant of our time! A hero in troubled times!"

Upon hearing Pei Shunhua's words, Comrade Chang Zheng immediately showed a look of longing.

Perhaps the reason Comrade "Thuong Trung" wanted to cease hostilities was to allow Vietnam to produce a contemporary literary giant like Yu Xhe. Who knows how many more years it would take for a small country to produce such a literary star!
Bui Hue didn't know how to describe his experience working with Yu Xie: such people don't exist in Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh, the founding father of the nation, was a man of many talents, like a valiant hero descended from heaven. However, he was not born particularly imposing, and his doggerel was not very good either... Men like Yu Xie, the epitome of manhood, are admirable in themselves.

Due to his illness, the leader did not give any clear feedback, but only blinked his eyes slightly faster.

“Tell me more about Yuqie…” he said again.

So Pei Shunhua recounted his experiences one by one. When he talked about Yu Qie taking a gun to the front line, Chang Zheng's eyes lit up. When he talked about how many people on the front line sighed after reading Yu Qie's novel, Comrade Chang Zheng stared blankly at the ceiling, as if he was about to let out a long sigh as well.

"Mr. Yu also talked about the national character of small countries. He said that many Southeast Asian countries are secondary civilizations that rely on others to shape their self-identity. That's why we are so fickle, which is laughable."

And so, that sigh rang in Pei Shunhua's ears.

Perhaps this is the immense power of culture; it lurks like a ghost behind the nation-state. When you ignore it, it can unleash destructive force.

If a small country cannot strengthen itself and build a national identity, it will naturally be assimilated by other larger countries that rise to power.

Why did Mr. Hu never acknowledge Zeng Xueming as his father throughout his life?
In fact, that is precisely the reason.

Later, someone told Pei Shunhua, "Comrade Chang Zheng has been reading the novel 'Joint Security Area' recently, and he listens to some of it every night. We'll read it to him."

Listening to audiobooks?
This is to be expected. On the Laoshan front, the translated "Joint Security Area" has become a memory for tens of thousands of Vietnamese soldiers.

Vietnam has long lacked outstanding writers, and under the turmoil of war, it desperately craves cultural works... For an internationally renowned writer like Yu Qie to enter this small pool, and for his novels to be free, is like a Tyrannosaurus Rex entering a zoo—he's simply rampaging and domineering, and even a group of people couldn't beat him!

Pei Shunhua never imagined that this would be the last time they would see each other.

That evening, the television station suddenly broadcast the news that the leader had passed away peacefully. Hanoi subsequently held a very high-profile funeral for him.

Pei Shunhua, having previously visited the front lines with Yu Qie, was placed in a closed room for investigation. He was unable to contact the outside world and could only read newspapers each day. During this time, Pei Shunhua maintained a good attitude, constantly checking the news and trying to figure out when his confinement would end.

The answer is positive.

Recent news all point to one fact: Vietnam will not change its original policy, and the friendship will last for a longer period of time.

After Chang Zheng's death, media from all over the world flocked to the scene, with Japan's Kyodo News sending reporters to the streets of Hanoi to conduct interviews.

When a Japanese reporter asked a hospital nurse about her thoughts on Chang Zheng's death, she replied directly, "I'm afraid they'll have to continue the treatment."

Two years ago, the same Kyodo News interviewed a 24-year-old textile worker. She numbly replied, "It doesn't matter what happens above me. I just hope the next person can make life a little better."

After ten years of war, Vietnam's industrial output is lower than it was ten years ago, food is rationed, and inflation has soared to over 50% every year.

Supplies were scarce, corruption was rampant, IV drip bottles in Hanoi hospitals were reused, patients couldn't buy medicine, and their families had to resort to the black market to buy vitamins.

The Kyodo News report stated: "A major turning point is unfolding before us. This long, narrow coastal nation now realizes, from north to south, that the economy is their most important issue. They have to solve this problem."

Hanoi completed the transition from planning to market in a very short time. Although those on the front lines seem to have only just gained peace, in reality, Hanoi had already established its first foreign-invested garment factory last year.

The speed at which these measures were implemented, and the speed at which the people accepted them, gave the impression that a resolute force had been brewing here, and that years of war had destroyed the last shred of patience. Outwardly, it still seemed to have some strength left, but inwardly it was already riddled with holes.

Upon learning that Vietnam was about to undergo a major transformation, AFP reporters also traveled to Ho Chi Minh City.

The French, who had colonized Vietnam, had a deep affection for the land, especially Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). A group of French journalists traveled to Saigon to interview the Vietnamese, only to find the locals shockingly indifferent to the higher-ups, even more so than they were to the colonial government.

The French group wrote in their report:

“We have come to Saigon, the most economically developed city in Vietnam. The Vietnamese people portray those leaders who are obsessed with fighting as madmen, calling them ‘war prolongers’ who destroyed two generations of Vietnamese men in their own pursuit of imperial power.”

"In the 1970s, the pro-war faction in Vietnam proposed that everyone be conscripted into the military, sending rural children into the trenches and turning the mountains and forests into guerrilla bases. Over the years, on average, only two able-bodied men remained in the fields for every ten households. This level of militarism is rare in human history!"

"Vietnam's brutal population decline is almost comparable to that of the Soviet Union in the later stages of World War II. However, the Soviet Union had to fight because it was invaded by Germany; Vietnam, on the other hand, took the initiative and fought on three fronts at the same time in Cambodia, Thailand and China, ultimately achieving nothing."

When Pei Shunhua saw this AFP report in his prison cell, he sighed deeply.

Fortunately, the Vietnamese no longer needed to fight! After the chaos, the outcome of a series of struggles gradually became clear.

"Crack." The sound of a heavy iron gate rang out.

On this day, Pei Shunhua's confinement period ended.

This propaganda officer, renowned for his reporting from the Laoshan front, also received the opportunity to travel north. He was specifically chosen by higher-ups to be taken on the trip, and perhaps he would even get to see Mr. Yu again. Leaving the concrete building and breathing in the fresh air, Pei Shunhua felt refreshed and invigorated.

"I guess my ending is better than the one in the book! Everyone in the book died, but at least I'm still alive."

At the New Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, Bui Hue discovered that there were copies of a novel called "Joint Security Area" everywhere.

These blond, blue-eyed foreigners were engrossed in reading a pirated English translation of the novel. Upon seeing him arrive, one of them proactively asked, "I've been observing you for a while now. Do you speak Chinese?"

"You know Yu Qie?" Pei Shunhua asked.

“How could I not recognize him? I am his close business partner. My name is Kim Gee-po, one of the most renowned scholars of Yu Studies overseas,” Kim Gee-po said. “The English translation you are seeing now is the one I translated in Vietnam. Its exquisite descriptions of the role of Chinese civilization in the lives of soldiers in modern nation-states are truly remarkable! It has had a significant impact in Germany!”

"How could this book be related to Germany?" Pei Shunhua asked in surprise.

"German Chancellor Kohl recommended this novel, saying it's 'the specter of an ancient civilization cast upon the modern nation-state!' Isn't that an exaggeration? Of course, there's a reason for it. Kohl was a political performer adept at gaining fame; he was pushing for the reunification of East and West Germany, constantly peddling his own arguments..."

The German Chancellor actually knows Yuche?

And I actually managed to meet Yu Cheh researchers in Ho Chi Minh City.
I also spent nearly a month researching with this writer.

Pei Shunhua felt a sense of absurdity. He had only been in jail for three or four days, and even including the time spent traveling, it had only been a week in total.

It's like I've traveled through time! Everything has changed since I came out!

Is Mr. Yu that famous?

"Of course!" the Canadian white man said with an unquestionable attitude. "He will become the first person from mainland China to win a Nobel Prize, either this year or next year."
-
Meanwhile, Yu Qie has already appeared in the South China Sea.

The ship he was on was my country's first ocean-going training ship, the Type 679 Maritime Training Ship.

Despite being called a long-range training ship, it is actually limited by its technology and is only good for patrolling the South China Sea. Two years ago, the ship visited Hawaii, USA, during which it encountered a series of problems such as a ruptured oil pipeline. After arriving at the US port, it was discovered that half of the ship's hull number had been removed.

That wasn't the end of it. On the return trip, they happened to run into the USS Oldendorf, and the two ships made a friendly gesture—the two ships sailed side by side at the same speed, and all the crew members lined up on the deck to salute.

As a result, because our side rarely participates in such "abstract" activities, the helmsman's gaze was somewhat biased towards the American ship, and they nearly collided with the Oldendorf. Fortunately, the American ship's engines were powerful enough to accelerate and slip away before the accident occurred.

Yongshu Reef will one day be an unsinkable large aircraft carrier, but for now there is nowhere to set foot. It is composed of shellfish, coral and reef limestone. It is beautiful, but in the middle of a vast ocean, there is a small stilted building with four or five sailors waving excitedly. You can faintly hear their greetings.

The comrade who brought him introduced him: "These are the sailors who wrote letters and exchanged ideas with you, Teacher Yu, in the journal 'Military Literature'."

Yu Qie nodded and took a kayak over. Several sailors pulled him up. Yu Qie was tall, and when he stepped onto the bamboo frame, his feet made a frightening "creaking" sound.

It's so tough!
"Who is Lu Yingmo?" he asked.

A short sailor saluted and said, "Report! I am Lu Yingmo!"

"What about the rest?"

As soon as he said that, the others introduced themselves one after another: Squad Leader Li, Xiao Hu, Xiao Guangdong... matching the names of the people in the letter.

Yu Qie was filled with respect for them and raised his head in salute, saying, "On behalf of the writers of the Writers Association and the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, I salute you!"

Yang Dechang, who was in charge of naval literary and artistic creation, said: "Teacher Yu! They have read your novel 'The Battle of Laoshan' so well that they can recite it from memory. They earnestly request Teacher Yu to give some instructions."

"I'm just a first-timer on a warship, so I shouldn't presume to teach you," Yu Qie waved his hand and said. "I heard that some of you want to write a novel. I know a bit about that, and I have a few words to say."

"Yang Dechang?"

“Here it is, Teacher Yu.”

"Take notes. I'm going to publish this article in the theoretical section of 'Military Literature and Art.' My main ideas are as follows."

Yu Qie stretched out his finger, confidently stating.

"First, you need to act quickly. The golden age of military literature is only two or three years away. If you can't get published, write to me and I'll write you a letter of recommendation."

"Second, don't write anything else, just write about the navy, about sailors. Write about what you do."

Is there a third one?

Yes, Yu Qie held up a third finger. "Third, be quick, that's the most important."

He spoke with such certainty, and having just come down from the Laoshan front and written "Joint Security Area," he naturally believed whatever he said!
However, the sailors were still puzzled. Here, Yu Qie briefly listed "several waves of military literature": "The military novels of our generation are very different from those of the past. We delve into realism, face up to the proposition that 'soldiers are human beings,' and have been greatly liberated in our thinking!"

"The subject matter is also very groundbreaking, from snow-capped mountain outposts to rocket bases, from female soldiers' kingdoms to parade formations, from generals to soldiers, from history to reality... Look, I've even written 'Joint Security Zone' now. We're not just writing about war anymore, but also about the humanistic reflections behind it! The fate of the nation!"

"Only at this point did military literature truly become a part of contemporary literature. It broke away from being a product of large-scale, campaign-style warfare and became vibrant."

This is Yu Qie's opinion expressed at Yongshu Reef.

On another island, facing the sailors' questioning, Yu Qie said, "When the 1990s came, society underwent further transformation, and military literature naturally experienced a period of decline. In the long run, this is nothing, but for a person's creative period, it is a question of whether they can make a name for themselves."

"That's why I say time waits for no one; you don't have much time left."

These words were spoken with great sincerity and have had a significant impact within the industry. The military has long encouraged soldiers to create military literature, which, to some extent, has been a path to escape certain fates for some. The development of military literature is related to the destinies of many.

On June 29th, Yu Qie was invited by newspapers and magazines such as "Literary Gazette" and "Military Literature" to write a short literary review entitled "Towards the Free Kingdom of Military Literature," which was published in the above-mentioned newspapers and magazines.

(End of this chapter)