The first reaction is the true reflection of human nature. It is difficult to be subject to acquired learning and change, and is basically determined by true character and subconscious habits.
The sentry guarding the confinement room ran away, became a deserter, and disappeared in the dark night rain. A little girl, a cook, had such a huge impact on him that he could not remember that he was a model soldier, so he chose instinct.
Later, Wang Xiaosan rushed into the medical team holding a petite body through the darkness. Xiao Hongying was in shock. Uncle Niu stopped Kuihua from wanting to wake her up. After Kuihua treated her wound, he stayed by the little girl's bed, smoking his pipe non-stop, and never left or spoke again.
Later, the exhausted Liu Jianqiang and Wu Shitou were dragged to the kitchen by Wang Xiaosan and his men, who forced them to drink ginger soup and never let them out.
It was late at night when the rain stopped. Several guards received orders from Instructor Yang and carried the deserter, who had long lost the ability to resist, down from the wooden platform. They locked him up in another woodshed and put him on guard duty.
Later, the day came, and it stopped raining, but it wasn't sunny either.
A meeting was going on in the main room of the independent regiment. Uncle Niu was sitting on a bench by the door smoking his pipe, while the others were sitting around a square table. Yang Dezhi was speaking, reporting what happened yesterday. There were two main points: the treatment of Hu Yi and the death of a cook and the disappearance of a sentry in the confinement room.
Ding Deyi, with the dirt still on his body and a tired look on his face, sat quietly at the head of the square table, listening to Yang Dezhi while fiddling with the thing in his hand, which was a small and exquisite Chinese official compass.
The compass is an openable and foldable type. It is square when closed. The main body is made of aluminum. The crystal glass edge is divided into 66 mils. The dial under the glass shows a black arrow-shaped magnetic needle, a copper distance fixture, an angle meter and a mileage meter. There are ruler scales and reflectors on the side. This compass is not only used to indicate direction, but also can be used to determine magnetic azimuth and elevation angle within 60 degrees, and can estimate straight-line distance mileage and survey and map outlines.
After Yang Dezhi finished speaking, he sat down. Ding Deyi still didn't react and continued to fiddle with the compass in his hand. He seemed a little distracted until Hao Ping gave him a gentle reminder, then he looked up.
"Oh, you're done? Well, then... let's talk about the solitary confinement room first. Since the sentry is missing, there's no way to investigate this matter. We can only put it aside for now. After the meeting, we'll mobilize the people around us to see if we can find any clues about him. We have to make proper arrangements for the deceased first. Also, who ordered the windows of the solitary confinement room to be nailed shut?"
"Su Yushi and I made the decision after discussing this. It has been neglected in the past. I only discovered the day before yesterday that we forgot to block the windows of our detention room. This is very detrimental to the seriousness of discipline. But I promise that this kind of negligence will not happen again."
Ding Deyi listened to Yang Dezhi's answer, looked at Su Qing, and Su Qing nodded. So Ding Deyi smiled helplessly: "This is not negligence, but my responsibility. The solitary confinement room of the independent regiment is different from other solitary confinement rooms. It has never been installed with windows. I personally think that the reason why it is called a solitary confinement room is to distinguish it from a prison cell... In addition, I deliberately left it for the little girl. It seems that on this point, I, the political commissar, have to make a deep self-examination to the two of you."
Uncle Niu was smoking without any reaction, Gao Yidao looked up at the rooftop as if nothing had happened, and no one said a word. Su Qing looked as if he had been hit hard in the chest, and slowly lowered his already pale face; Yang Dezhi was so embarrassed that he could not describe his expression and could not speak for a while.
"Well, now let's talk about Hu Yi's problem. What do you think? Tell us, who's going first?"
Yang Dezhi wanted to explain to the political commissar the issue of nailing the windows in the confinement room, but Ding Deyi started talking about Hu Yi directly. He had to express his opinion again and reiterate what he said yesterday, that black sheep are not worth keeping, and demanded that Hu Yi be subject to strict military law to serve as a warning to others.
Hao Ping spoke second, clearly supporting Instructor Yang's views and supplementing and emphasizing his opinions. First Company Commander Wu Yan only expressed his attitude and agreed to implement military law, and said nothing else.
Li Suanpan and Bao Si were ambiguous, just saying a few words that were not very meaningful. The main idea was to follow the political commissar's lead, which was the same as not saying anything. Gao Yidao's answer was the simplest: "I have no idea, I abstain." His unreliable behavior made Ding Deyi look at him in surprise. Su Qing just lowered her head and said nothing, but Ding Deyi also deliberately skipped her and did not ask her to express her opinion.
Uncle Niu was the last to speak: "I don't agree with this. He didn't escape from the battlefield. He deserted during the rest period. Although he didn't explain the reason, he has made contributions and worked hard for the independent regiment. Why can't we let him off the hook?"
As soon as Uncle Niu finished speaking, Yang Dezhi immediately replied, "Military law is ruthless and iron rules are like mountains. He doesn't even have an attitude of repentance, so why should we tolerate him?" This made Uncle Niu, who had a gloomy face, stand up again. He wanted to say something else, but was interrupted by Ding Dezhi with a wave of his hand.
"Okay, I understand everyone's opinions. What they said are all very reasonable and well-said. It seems that most comrades are inclined to strictly enforce laws and regulations. As for me, I will not talk about my opinion for now. I want to say something else." Having said this, Ding Deyi turned around to pick up the briefcase hanging on the wall behind him.
Everyone in the room was puzzled. What else could he say? What was the political commissar up to? Even Su Qing raised his head at this moment, watching the political commissar slowly take out three envelopes from the briefcase and place them on the table in front of him.
Ding Deyi opened the first envelope and unfolded a piece of paper with the division hospital's mark and official seal. He held it up in his hand for the people at the table to see and said, "This time when I went to the division for a meeting, I went to visit Lao Lu and met Dr. Zhou. She handed me this diagnosis certificate. Hu Yi was hospitalized for two days and the examination results showed that he had a brain injury. Dr. Zhou recommended that he stay in the hospital for observation and treatment, but he took the initiative to ask to be discharged and return to the base."
Everyone's expression changed to varying degrees, and those sitting closer even looked carefully at the bright red hospital seal.
Putting down the certificate from the division hospital, Ding Deyi opened the second envelope and unfolded a document. He held it in his hand. It was clearly a document from the division headquarters: "Capturing Japanese prisoners alive and rescuing important personnel from enemy-occupied areas are two things that are combined into one. Hereby, a general order within the division is issued to commend Hu Yi, the squad leader of the 9th squad of the independent regiment."
Ding Deyi then opened the third envelope, which was also a division document: "During this meeting, a certain friendly regiment commander specifically reported to the division headquarters that Hu Yi, the squad leader of the 9th squad of the independent regiment, provided 3,000 kilograms of food and a cow to the regiment when it was in the most critical moment, which temporarily restored the combat effectiveness of the regiment and saved the crisis. The division issued the second division-wide order to commend Hu Yi."
The whole audience was speechless.
"Of course, comrades don't know these situations yet, and I just learned about some of them. Now, putting aside the matter of the three envelopes, I will only talk about my personal opinion... We are an army with strict discipline and a strong style, that's true, but we are also an army with a conscience and an army that seeks truth from facts.
Why would a soldier who is not afraid of death become a deserter who is not afraid of death... Why does no one think about the purpose of military law? ... "
Ding Deyi's voice became higher and higher, and his face became darker and darker. He gradually clenched his fist and began to bang the table with his sonorous words, making everyone in the room dare not look at him. When he finished speaking, he stopped, and Ding Deyi's face finally turned dark blue. He stopped looking at the people in the room and turned to the open door to see the gloom in the distance. The regiment headquarters fell into complete silence.
The meeting was silent for a while, and suddenly someone spoke up: "I have an opinion."
These words were like a stone dropped into water, instantly creating ripples and attracting surprised glances from everyone in the audience.
Ding Deyi, barely suppressing his anger, looked at Gao Yidao who had already stood up. Gao Yidao was looking at the wall in front of him with his head held high. There was no expression on his dark face. After a few seconds of silence, Ding Deyi squeezed out a word: "Speak."
"I just don't understand. Our regiment doesn't even have a battalion-level unit right now. Why do we have to have an instructor? This will cause management chaos and be counterproductive. So I suggest that Instructor Yang be appointed as deputy political commissar."
Everyone thought Gao Yidao was going to make comments on the political commissar's speech, but they never expected him to suddenly say this. Li Suanpan and Bao Si lowered their heads quickly, fearing that they couldn't hold back their expressions, which would be ugly. Hao Ping's face froze. What a jerk! He had no right to propose these things, and he was the deputy political commissar? He was just talking nonsense on purpose to disgust Instructor Yang. This was too shameless.
Yang Dezhi's expression was even more interesting, his face was almost turning rainbow. The title of instructor was a hurdle, he stumbled and fell again and again, and now even Gao Yidao had learned this.
After hearing Gao Yidao's nonsense, Ding Deyi's face was still dark, but it no longer had a livid color, and his clenched fists suddenly loosened. Not only did he not rebuke Gao Yidao for making a fuss, but he nodded: "What you said... makes sense... It seems that I really didn't think about this matter. Now that a comrade has raised an opinion, I have to take it seriously, so I will cancel the instructor's position first..."
Gao Yidao finally lowered his serious gaze, looked at Hao Ping opposite him, and conveyed an extremely hidden smug smile with his eyes.
The door of the woodshed opened, and the light that came in was a little dazzling, causing Hu Yi, who was lying on the haystack, to close his eyes.
The man who entered the room bent down, untied the ropes on Hu Yi, then stood up again and said, "Why, is my rank as a poor political commissar not enough?"
Hu Yi opened his eyes and looked up at the political commissar beside him without saying a word.
"You really want me to shoot you, right? Well, I'll grant you your wish. Now I order you to stand up."
The weak Hu Yi finally struggled to climb up from the haystack, trying to straighten his slightly shaking body. His arms, which had just been freed from the ropes, trembled weakly. He slowly brushed off the broken grass that was stuck on his military uniform, straightened the brim of his hat, then straightened his chest and raised his head, looking directly at the political commissar in front of him.
Ding Deyi looked at Hu Yi seriously for a while, and said calmly: "It seems that you are still willing to admit that you are a soldier." Then he took out a black square cowhide box from his pocket, placed it in front of Hu Yi and said: "Salute now."
Hu Yi looked calmly at the small cowhide box in front of him. He knew it was a marching compass, but he didn't understand why he had to salute.
“This is an order.”
With legs together, stomach in, chest out and head held high, his figure seemed weak, but his military salute was still upright.
Ding Deyi handed the leather box containing the compass to Hu Yi: "Open it and take a look."
A beautiful Zhongzheng compass was placed in Hu Yi's palm, with two lines of small characters engraved on the edge of the aluminum: 1,362 military salutes. A certain regiment of the Eighth Route Army salutes Hu Yi.
The figure of the political commissar disappeared at the door of the woodshed. The door remained open, but the light that leaked in was no longer so dazzling. Gradually, I could see clearly outside the door...