A short good day passed soon, and the veteran told us that when the spring rainy season comes, the busy farming year will begin. Sure enough, on a morning after the rain, our entire company wore naval training uniforms and held an annual spring plowing ceremony on the playground. In my opinion, this is really distinctive. Holding the ceremony is a common form of activity for soldiers, while spring plowing is a farming job sowing by farmers. However, we combine the two, first reflecting the true nature of our soldiers, and secondly, the characteristics of the work we are doing now, which makes people miss it.

On the passage around the playground, the neatly arranged tractors, harvesters and other machines made me feel like I was rumbling armored chariots before the soldiers set out. A banner with white characters on the playground was tied to the basketball stand on the playground, with eight big words "Reclamation and guarding the border, defending the country" written on it. The song of "Nanniwan" sung by Guo Lanying was played on the radio. The song with a strong rural atmosphere brought my thoughts back to Nanniwan in the Yan'an period. ***, Commander-in-Chief Zhu, Vice Chairman Zhou and other older generation leaders, together with the officers and soldiers of the 358th Brigade, opened up land and farmed, and the scene of spinning and weaving of cloth appeared in front of me. I repeatedly warned myself in my heart: As a soldier, I must obey orders and obey the commands, do whatever I call, and must withstand it, and not let them look down on me.

The company commander said loudly: "Comrades, as the saying goes, the plan for the year lies in spring. Spring is the season for sowing. As the logistics company of the army, our main task is to provide all companies of the regiment with richer food and agricultural and sideline products, and improve the quality of life of the troops. This is our glorious task. Do comrades have confidence?"

"Yes!", we let out a huge roar together.

The instructor read out the notice of the company on carrying out labor competitions. The platoon families sent letters of war to each other and challenged each other. This warm scene reminded me of the great training craze my father often told me about that year. It was also like this. I didn’t expect that the farming on the army was so lively, and it instantly ignited the young people’s passion. Many new soldiers from the countryside screamed excitedly, as if they were about to go up and block the eye. This is the unique charm of the army’s ideological and political work.

After the simple and enthusiastic spring plowing ceremony, the tractors led the way in front. We wore blue naval combat uniforms and training hats, carried hoes on our shoulders and walked towards the farmland with neat steps, singing military songs and holding our heads and chests. The brothers from the mechanical camp next to us didn't understand what happened? How could we be so cool when we went to the field to do farm work?

When I was walking in the team, I suddenly saw the familiar faces of Gu Qing, Shen Jianzhong and others from the crowd. These eyes revealed care and brotherhood. We looked at each other for a while. I understood the words in my brothers' eyes. The perseverance of those soldiers who were heading to the battlefield was ready to die. I also straightened my back and carried a hoe and walked past them.

When we arrived at the large farmland, the tractors rumbled into the fields. The large tractors were hung with iron plows for plowing land, which was very powerful. Several single hand tractors sat alone on a small driving stool, accompanied by the huge "click" engine sound, and they were tilted forward. Some veterans with qualifications didn't sit on the small driving stool at all. They said it was a stool because this thing turned out to be a plastic with some upturned curves. Not to mention the backrest, there was not even a handrail. The hard stool was undulating in the field and was very bumpy. After a long time, the butt hurts. Therefore, the veterans would not sit on it, but just held the right hand side with their hands, and followed the car to plow while tilting. This kind of tilting body was also very tiring.

After the tractor was plowed, a tractor was left behind, and the ground that had been turned over was raked and raked with a hoe, and tidyed it up neatly, so that large pieces of corn would be planted here.

The soldiers of our platoons are mainly concentrated in a field that is beyond the edge, lined up in a row, with red flags in front of each platoon, and the numbers of each platoon were written. Several veterans were joking with each other.

"How is it, do you dare to try it?"

"Nonsense, I'll wait for you to smoke in the ridge in front of you."

The veterans have long been aware of such crop work and are used to such military life. Most of the new recruits are the first time. Even if they were farmers who farmed before, they have never seen such a man of a hundred gathering together to carry out a labor competition for turning over the ground. Some new recruits who are eager to show themselves are eager to try and are ready to leave a good impression on the veterans and company platoon cadres.

This is the first time I carried a hoe, let alone turning the ground. Looking at the endless end, I muttered in my heart: My God, if I turn it to the Year of the Monkey, I don’t have that much strength, my arms are not swollen, the more I think about it, the more numb my scalp.

With the deputy company commander's whistle, the lively scene began. Some competing soldiers chased each other and waved their hoes quickly, flashing up and down. The turned land revealed the fragrance of soil, and the earthworms were dug out.

I fell at the end of the class from the beginning because I was the only one who had no experience in farm work. The hoe was 1.5 meters long. Every time I plunged into the soil from the top of my head, and flipped it hard, and then performed the movement just now. After repeating dozens of times, I felt my arms swollen. Looking at the small figure that had already thrown me off for a long distance, I sighed: Hey, now I know what the difference between a mule and a horse is.

Suddenly, I saw our comrade-in-arms and fellow villager Lu Miaosheng running towards me, taking off his training uniform, wearing a short-sleeved sea soul shirt and swinging a hoe and then running.

"Who asked you to come? Don't affect our class's performance for me. Go back quickly, Miaosheng." I said gasping.

"It was the squad leader who asked me to come. The squad leader said that he could not leave a brother behind." Lu Miaosheng's words shocked me. The scene of the squad leader standing guard with me on the storm on New Year's Eve and snowy night appeared in front of me, and the scene of the whole class encouraging me to overcome the nausea problem of eating vegetables, and my eyes were blurred.

"I love the people, what's wrong with you? Hurry up! Come on, let's catch up with you together!" Lu Miesheng, who usually doesn't say much, seemed to have given me a heart attack. I also took off my training uniform and threw it on the ground, raised my hoe and worked hard to cultivate it.

It is said that people's spiritual motivation is endless. With the help of their comrades, I gritted my teeth and persevered. The hoe in my hand is no longer so heavy, and I have all the strength. More importantly, with the company of my comrades and fellow villagers, I am no longer lonely and backward alone. I almost forgot to move forward, slowly narrowing the distance of the large army. Some comrades who have completed the reclamation mission also shouted my name and encouraged me to work hard.

After completing his own reclamation task, our squad leader immediately started to reclamate me from the end. Soon, other comrades in our squad who had completed the reclamation task also joined my ridge and surrounded me from both north and south.

When we worked together to complete the reclamation mission, I couldn't tell whether it was tears or sweat on my face. I wanted to say thank you to everyone, but I felt that anything I said at this moment was redundant. I gave the highest etiquette of the soldiers to my comrades.

The squad leader gasped and pulled my hand down and said, "It's not easy for you to do farm work for the first time. We are a team."

"I'm sorry, squad leader, I..." Before I finished speaking, the deputy squad leader came over and patted my shoulder and said, "Xiao Huang, we didn't lose, at least we defeated ourselves." The squad leader said to the whole class soldiers: "The deputy squad leader is right, come here, let's cheer together!" The eight of our class gathered together, stretched out his hands and stacked them together and said loudly: "Come on, squad 5!"

After lunch, my arms could no longer be lifted, and my waist was sore, but I still gritted my teeth and insisted on going. After reporting to the platoon leader, I decided to ask the deputy squad leader to take me to the pump room to see the water pump in the afternoon.

The deputy squad leader walked towards the pump room with four soldiers. I asked in confusion: "Look at how many people are needed in the pump room?" The veteran of Zhejiang who was traveling with him smiled and said, "You will understand after a while."

When I arrived at the pump room, I saw that it was a small pavilion built by the river. There was an engine in the pump room, connecting a thick iron pipe to the canal outside the house. After the deputy squad leader started the engine, he led four soldiers to stand on the canal and quickly water the pipe with a spoon of manure. When one person was tired, the second person immediately relayed to continue watering until the water pump pumped the river water and sprayed out a huge column of water.

The veterans smoked each other and took a deep breath, and the wisp of blue smoke disappeared in the mist.

The deputy squad leader told me that because this water pump is fixed to irrigate the paddy fields every year after cultivation, after a winter, the engine cannot pump water all at once, and it needs to be manually watered and backflowed in to suck the river water. My task is to pay attention to the water pump, prevent the equipment in the pump room from being stolen, and require that it is not allowed to leave the pump room.

I still asked in confusion: "Deputy squad leader, where are the water going to be delivered?"

Another Fujian veteran squatted his cigarette butt and said to me: "You kid really come from the city. After watering the land we turned over in the morning with this water, we prepared to plant early rice."

Oh, I really don't understand, so I had to scratch my head and smile at the deputy squad leader and several veterans, watching them leave with the feces spoon, leaving behind laughter all the way.

I sat alone in the shade outside the pump room, staring at the roaring water pillar in a daze, trying to raise my arms and move my waist, a burst of soreness almost made my tears fall. I gritted my teeth and continued to move, secretly reminding myself: I must hold on and never let my comrades look down upon me anymore.

When the sun set, comrade Zhang Xin came and said it was almost done, so he asked me to turn off the machine and shut down the water to prepare to finish work and return to the barracks.

Zhang Xin is also my fellow Chongming villager. Seeing me hunching, she smiled and reminded me: "When you go back, hurry up and find the hygienist to ask for some plasters, otherwise it will be swollen tomorrow."

I sighed, "Hey, but why are you okay? Are you different people?"

Zhang Xin smiled and joked, "Your life is precious. We were farmers. We did farm work before joining the army. You will be fine in half a year."

Before the next day, I started vomiting and had a fever during dinner, which made the whole class roam around me and alarmed the company commander and instructor to come and visit.

In a daze, I heard the company commander say, "It seems that this kid is really not a piece of material for doing farm work. Good steel should be used on the blade, or I should get the company to be a communicator or something."

The instructor said: "Well, go back and study it formally."

I stood up and said, "Company Commander... Instructor, I... don't go anywhere, I'm in Class 5, I... can do it..."

The voice of the squad leader also came: "Company Commander, instructor, why don't you see it anymore? We really can't bear to leave him. If it doesn't work, I'll hand him over to you personally, can I?"

"Company Commander, don't let Xiao Huang leave, just stay, let's take care of him together." The words of my comrades rang in my ears, and my tears flowed down my face.
Chapter completed!