Hundreds of square kilometers of the Sino-Mongolian border in Ulanqab are uninhabited low-hill Gobi. I have accompanied local leaders and army chiefs to the front line of border defense six times. Each time, I have to go to the forward post to express condolences to the soldiers guarding the border, and I have to patrol the border for hundreds of miles along the border constructed with cement piles and barbed wire.
From the headquarters of a border defense regiment to the border defense company to which it belongs, the nearest one is fifty or sixty kilometers away, and the further one is hundreds of kilometers away. The Gobi road is bumpy and uneven, and an off-road vehicle has to be used to go from one company to another. Most of the day. Along the way, we can see only a handful of herders’ settlements. The entire field of view is basically desert grassland. Most of the areas are Gobi covered with rocks and gravel. The vegetation is very sparse, only dotted with clumps and clusters here and there. The drought-tolerant Gobi wormwood and camel grass are so monotonous that people who enter this area will fall asleep in the car. If you are lucky, you can see herds of wild donkeys, gazelles or camels appearing in the distance, and a bright light will flash before your eyes. This is the most beautiful scenery you can see in the Gobi grassland.
As we approached the company, we could see the sentry tower standing tall on the low hill in the distance. The car drove into the station of a certain border defense company. It was a courtyard with a radius of 100 meters and a two-story red brick building. The courtyard was clean and two or three security vehicles were neatly parked on one side of the courtyard. Elm trees were planted in front of the barracks and cut into neat elm walls. Clusters of elm trees added a rare green to the desolate Gobi, making me feel that this place is full of vitality.
However, what really left a deep mark on my heart were the border guards guarding the border. That is the eternal green color at the border.
When I walked into the military camp and got close to the soldiers, I felt the military life of the border guards and their military feelings.
Some of the border guards come from small towns in the south of the Yangtze River, and some come from bustling cities. Before joining the army, they were the sweet children of their parents. From the first day they entered the border defense camp, their immature shoulders As soon as they shouldered their sacred responsibilities, the vast Gobi desert forged these soldiers into iron-blooded men who were particularly able to endure hardships, endure hardships, and bear heavy loads. Now is an era of peace. Their main tasks are to fight against smuggling and illegal immigration at the border, to prevent and control the cross-border crossing of humans and animals from China and Mongolia, and to prevent illegal people from poaching wild donkeys, yellow sheep and other nationally protected animals. Over the years, these border defense companies have outstandingly completed their tasks of patrolling and guarding the border. The conference room at each company's team headquarters is filled with plaques and banners recording the company's various honors.
The company is the front line of border defense, and the outpost is the front line. There are three soldiers per outpost. The duty points called temporary outposts are near the border, thirty or fifty kilometers away from the company. They are semi-bunker-style buildings made of cement bricks. One cadre leads two soldiers. The outpost is on duty for a month at a time. During the day, they left one person on guard duty and two people patrolling the border. At night, they kept watch through the observation window of the post. The space inside is very small, with three people sharing a bunk bed. The quilts are folded into tofu blocks with sharp edges. The walls are painted white and telescopes are hung on the walls. They cooked their own meals, and the company delivered water to the outpost. They stored it in iron buckets that could be used by three people for a week. In addition to the pots and pans covered with fine white gauze on the simple stove, a small radio and a few books were placed against the wall of the bed. A book or a guitar, rarely anything else here. The soldiers on duty practice outside the post every morning, and they are on guard duty strictly according to the prescribed time and patrol on foot according to the prescribed route. The overwhelming sandstorms in spring and the scorching heat in summer are still bearable, especially in the long winter, when the wind is freezing and blizzards are constant. Sometimes due to snowstorms, roads are cut off and water cannot be delivered to the company for several days, so they have to melt snow water to clarify it and drink it. . The Gobi Desert is inaccessible, desolate and lonely. In the event of an emergency, soldiers can only contact and report to the company through a dedicated military phone at the outpost. The soldiers were homesick for home, parents and relatives. When the bright moon was over the border, they gently plucked the strings of homesickness through their beloved guitar. Once I went to express my condolences at a post of a certain company, and there happened to be a deputy company commander leading troops on duty at the post. When we were leaving the post, he carefully took out a letter and asked me to go back to the city and forward it for him. I kept it. He promised to send the letter as soon as he got back. I can’t remember his name, I just remember that he is from Chongqing. One of the two soldiers he led is from Tianjin City and the other is from Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia. He is a Mongolian young man. The faces of the three of them were tanned by the hot Gobi sun, and their lips were a little bit... Dry and cracked. I left all the dozen bottles of mineral water in the car at the outpost, put the letter from the deputy company commander in my pocket and waved goodbye to them. I know that today is no longer the era of "three months of war", but a letter from home written in the Gobi border post is worth ten thousand yuan!
The border defense company has suffered the most and is the most lonely. They were not soldiers on duty at the outpost, but shepherds in military uniforms who tended the sheep of the company. Most border defense companies raise hundreds of sheep to supply the company's livelihood. Whoever is assigned to herd sheep in the company is worried. When they come to serve as border guards, they are not afraid of climbing on ice and lying in snow. They only want to defend the border country with steel guns. They never thought that they picked up the shepherd's shovel before touching the gun a few times. The soldiers herding sheep felt aggrieved. However, it is the duty of soldiers to obey orders. Even soldiers from the water town of Zeguo who had never heard of sheep herding accepted the task without any complaints. At first he didn't know how to let go, so he went to a far away pasture to ask the herdsmen for advice. When herding sheep in the Gobi Desert, you have to catch up with the sheep and walk more than ten miles away from the barracks. You have a kettle and a bag of dry food. You go out early and come back late every day, rain or shine.
They have to endure the scorching heat of 30 to 40 degrees above zero in the summer, and the severe cold of 20 to 30 degrees below zero in the winter. Especially when they can't see anyone all day long, they just talk to the stones and grass, and the sky. Baiyun talks, talks to himself, and occasionally sings a military song to relieve the unbearable loneliness. I believe that no one can understand that kind of loneliness. Dragging tired footsteps, the last person to return to the company canteen for dinner every day is the "sheepherd" in the company. The person with the darkest and roughest face you see in the company is also the "sheepherd" in the company. However, when you talk to him, he is the first to I give you a military salute. At that moment, what you see is not a soldier herding sheep, but a mighty bronze statue in the military camp. There was a soldier who had been a soldier for two years and a shepherd for almost a year. He said that the sheep were his soldiers, and he was the sheep commander. He gave the first sheep of the flock and dozens of well-bred ewes When he was discharged and left the team, he said goodbye to his comrades, fed his sheep for the last time, and recited the names of the sheep one by one. The company commander said that he cried at that time, and his comrades all cried.
At the border, I saw the most solemn military ceremony in my mind. It was dusk, and on the patrol road in the Gobi Desert, we met two soldiers wearing camouflage uniforms and carrying steel guns on their backs. The commander's car stopped, and the soldiers and the commander exchanged military salutes in standard postures at the same time. The leader suddenly appeared on the border line, and the little soldier was a little nervous. After asking about the patrol situation, the commander looked at his soldiers with majestic yet loving eyes. He patted the soldiers on the shoulders: "Boy, watch our door!" The two soldiers stood at attention again and saluted: "Yes!" The answer was just one word, which was a promise to the chief and a solemn promise to the motherland!
At the border, I saw four Chinese characters that I will never forget. On the shallow grass slope on one side of the Gobi patrol road, I saw the four words "Long live the motherland!" made of Gobi stones. It was these ordinary soldiers who picked up stones one by one during the patrol and used them to Written with a burning patriotism. Seeing these four words, tears welled up in my eyes.
The accompanying reporter asked, what was your biggest feeling at the border? I said, only these soldiers who protect the country and guard the border under the most difficult conditions can truly feel the weight of the motherland in their hearts, and only here do I know what it is. It’s called responsibility and dedication!
Official account: Old things, old people