The last war elephant
Shen Shixi
The summoning leader of Xishuangbanna once had a team of majestic elephant soldiers. The so-called elephant soldiers are troops who fight on elephants. Compared with cavalry, elephant soldiers can not only play a role in mobility and speed, but war elephants
can also use their long trunks to chop enemies, trample them with elephant hooves, and directly participate in battles; a large group of elephants can overwhelm the enemy like a mountain. Pounce on the enemy
The battle dust is billowing, the roar is loud, and it is unstoppable.
In 1943, the Japanese invaded Myanmar and entered the border town of Xishuangbanna, across the river from Myanmar.
The important town of Daluo. The Xiang soldiers fought a battle with the Japanese invaders on the banks of the Daluo River. The battle was extremely fierce, with the sound of gunfire, the sound of fighting and the roar of the elephants shaking the world; the Japanese dropped more than 70 corpses in the Daluo River, and all of our more than 80 war elephants
< p>He was shot and fell to the ground with blood that dyed the river red. After the battle, the commander dug a large pit more than ten meters long and two wide by the Daluo River, ceremoniously buried the fallen war elephant, and erected a monument on the pit. : Baixiang Tomb. When the migrant workers in Manguang Village were carrying the corpses of war elephants, they unexpectedly discovered that a male elephant was still panting. Its neck was slashed with a knife and a machine gun shot. The bullet passed through his front leg, and his body was covered in blood, but he was still alive. They used an eight-horse cart to transport it back to the village. This is the only surviving war elephant, named Gaxin. The kind-hearted villagerscured its injuries and raised it.
When I went to Manguang Nongzhai to jump in and settle down in March 1969, I was still alive. It is over 50 years old, its neck is very crooked
, its mouth can never be closed, and saliva drips all day long; even one of its front legs cannot be completely cured
< p>Okay, it's a little shorter, and I stumble when I walk; almost all the sparse elephant hair has fallen out, and the skin is wrinkledlike a dehydrated loofah; years of wind and dust, The two tusks had a thick layer of ugly yellow stains. It is a war elephant,
It is a hero. The villagers respect and take good care of it and never ask it to carry things. It spent the whole day leisurely
Wandering in the village, asking for skewers of bananas at the owner's house, and drinking spring water from the west house.
I got to know Bo Nongding, the old man in charge of raising Gaxin, very well, so we also became friends with Gaxin.
In the third year after I joined the queue, I became more and more aging, ate less and less, and slept in the shade of trees all day long.
My skin became saggy, and my body shrank. , like a dehydrated lemon. When Bonondin was young, he worked as an elephant slave for a chieftain for many years.
He had a very good understanding of his subject's living habits. He said to me: "The sun is going to set, the fire pit is going to go out, ugh
The dog is going to hell." A few days later, the dog refused to eat and lay on the ground. I had to hold its nose and shake it.
After a while, it would open its eyes with difficulty and look toward Take a look. I think it is almost in a semi-conscious state.
But one morning, I passed by the elephant house next to the threshing floor, and I was surprised to find that Yan Xin suddenly regained consciousness. Although his body was still weak, his spirit was strong. But he was in a state of excitement, his eyes were burning red
When he saw Bonondin, he roared briefly, his nose bowed and bowed, and the tip of his nose pointed at the pile of debris in the elephant room.
In the small attic, the elephant's hooves kicked the ground rapidly, as if he couldn't wait to get something in the small attic.
At first, Bonontin didn't want to pay attention to it. It got angry, hit the pillars with its nose, and hit the wooden board with its huge body.
The wall. The elephant room was shaken to the point of collapse. Bonontin couldn't resist it, so he had to ask me to help him. He climbed up to the small attic and passed the debris down to see what it wanted.
There were half a basket of corn seeds, two bunches of old corn and a few torn sacks in the small attic. There seemed to be nothing else
. I thought it was getting better and wanted to eat, so I threw down two bunches of old corn. It hooked them with the tip of its nose and threw them out of the elephant room like garbage; I also passed half a basket of rice around. Give it to Bonondin. Before he could catch it firmly, he was knocked to the ground by the nose of Zhanzhen, and he angrily trampled on it with elephant hooves. I threw the broken sack down again, and it used its ivory handle.
The sack was torn to pieces.
In addition to a broken bamboo mat in the corner of the small attic, there was nothing left to throw away. He was still agitated.
Andi raised his head and roared at me. "Look again to see if there is anything else?" Bonondin urged from below. I opened
the broken bamboo mat, and there was something like a saddle inside. It was very big and heavy. It looked like it was made of bison hide.
It was covered with a thick A layer of dust. Apart from that, there was really nothing left in the small attic. I kicked that piece of shit downstairs.
A strange thing happened: when Yan Xuan saw the broken thing, he suddenly became quiet, blew away the dust covering it with his nose, and rubbed the tip of his nose on the broken thing for a long time, and his eyes Tears shone in my eyes, as if I were seeing an old friend reunited after a long absence.
"Oh, after a long time of fuss, it wants its elephant saddle." Bonondin suddenly realized, "This is what it wears on its back when it is a war elephant. It was a saddle used in the war. We brought it back to the village from the battlefield, and it was still wearing an elephant saddle. When I was treating its injuries, I took off the elephant saddle from its body and threw it to the village. In the small attic. Alas, it has been 26 years. I have completely forgotten about it. I didn’t expect that I still remember it so well. ”
He picked up the elephant saddle with his trunk, threw it on his back, and motioned for us to help tie it up. Bonon and I
It took a lot of effort to put the saddle on the elephant's back.
The elephant saddle has bullet holes and seems to be stained with blood, mixed with a strange smell of leather, gun smoke, war dust and fresh blood
The center of the elephant saddle There is a lotus-shaped seat cushion, surrounded by a circle of silver bells and decorated with apricot tassels. 26 spring, summer, autumn and winter wind, frost, rain and snow, although it is a bit worn, it still looks heavy. Condensed
yet luxurious. He is wearing an elephant saddle, which adds to his heroic and heroic demeanor.
"Why is it wearing an elephant saddle now?" I asked in confusion.
"I'm afraid it's not a good sign." Bonontin frowned and said sadly, "I think it may have to
leave us and go to the Elephant Tomb." I heard The legend about Elephant Tomb. Elephants are very spiritual animals.
Except for those who suddenly die in the wilderness due to misfortune, they can accurately predict the time of their own death. About half a month before death comes, the elephant leaves the herd, bids farewell to its companions, and walks alone to the remote and mysterious elephant grave. Each group of elephants
has an elephant mound, a deep rain-cracked ditch, a huge cave, or a depression left by an earthquake. All the elephants in this population, no matter where they wandered to the ends of the earth during their lifetime, must end up in the same elephant mound. What is surprising is that from birth to death, the baby elephants have never been to or seen an elephant mound. , but at the last moment of his life, with the guidance of a mysterious power, he was able to accurately find the elephant grave belonging to his own species. Sure enough, Bonondin was right. Gaxin was ready to bid farewell to Manguang Nongzhai and find its final destination. It walked around the village three times, expressing its reluctance to leave the village that had saved it, taken it in, and fed it for 26 years. The news that Ga Xun was leaving spread like wings throughout the village, and men, women, old and young all flocked to the threshing floor to see Ga Xun off. Everyone knew that it was not so much a farewell as a funeral for an old war elephant that was still alive. Many people burst into tears. The village chief Pafa tied a white gauze scarf around the elephant's neck, and tied four pieces of black cloth around the elephant's legs. The old man and the children brought bananas, sugar cane and glutinous rice cakes to Gaxin's mouth. It ate nothing and drank only a little cold water.
The sun sets over the western mountains, the sky is dark, and amidst the sighs, we set out on the road. The crowd that saw him off had dispersed, but Bonontin still stood on the threshing floor and stared longingly. I thought he was sad about Yaxuan's departure, so I went over to comfort him: "Birth, old age, illness and death, separation and separation are natural, so don't be too sad." Unexpectedly, he lowered his voice and said, "Young man, you have the guts. Come with me to make a fortune?" Seeing my confused and ignorant expression, he continued: "Let's quietly follow the elephant tomb..."
I understand him What he meant was that he wanted me to partner up with him to pick up ivory. In the tropical rainforest, the bones of the elephant's body will rot, but the ivory will always shine with a charming luster; because old elephants are buried in elephant mounds for generations, there are dozens or even hundreds of ivory tusks in each elephant mound. It is no exaggeration to say that finding an elephant tomb is equivalent to finding a cornucopia of treasures; smart elephants seem to know that humans covet their well-developed front teeth, and for fear of being plundered by greedy humans, they usually choose elephant tombs deep in dense forests with difficult and dangerous roads and inaccessible places. However, if you adopt despicable tracking methods and quietly follow an old elephant that is about to die, you may be able to find the remote and mysterious elephant grave. I hesitated and remained silent, not daring to agree easily.
Bonondin obviously saw through my thoughts and said: "We only pick up the tusks of other elephants in the elephant mound. We don't want the ivory of the carboxyl, so it's worthy of it." This is a good idea. It not only takes care of your emotions, but also fulfills your dream of getting rich. Why not? The two of us gave chase, and soon we caught up with Xun Xin, who was walking alone on the path leading to the mountains. It was getting dark, and the white gauze scarf on its neck that marked the funeral ceremony became a road sign for us to follow in the dark. Although it was lame on one leg and could not walk fast, it did not stop for a moment and walked all night. At dawn, it arrived at the bank of Daluo River. "I remembered, this is the upstream of Crystal Ferry. This is where we carried the fish ashore 26 years ago." Bonondin pointed to a turtle-shaped reef in the bay and said, "Thankfully, we have this reef. Block it, otherwise, it would have been washed downstream by the rapids and drowned.
"
In this way, this is the battlefield where the anti-Japanese athletes and the Japanese invaders fought bloody battles 26 years ago. At this time, Yan Xuan stepped on the flowing river water and walked to the turtle-shaped reef. His nose We kissed again and again on the rough rocks that were turned rusty by the sun. After a long time, we raised our heads and faced the fiery red sun on the horizon. Ou-o-o let out a deafening roar. It suddenly seemed to have changed. The elephant's body swelled up as if it had been blown out, the skin on its four legs was shining tightly, its eyes were bright, and its roar was so exciting and tragic that the fish in the river jumped out of the water. I thought, at this moment, It must have seen the shocking scene 26 years ago: the majestic war elephants carrying the anti-Japanese athletes, braving the hail of bullets, rushing towards the invaders like an overwhelming sea; the Japanese invaders howling like wolves and abandoning their helmets; the heroic battle Elephants and anti-Japanese soldiers were also shot and fell into the river.
I am in awe of the elephant. Although it is just an elephant and is called a beast by humans, it has many qualities that people call humans. No noble feelings; when it was about to die, it could not forget the land where it had shed blood, and came here specially to remember the past and the battlefield.
We followed it, and again! After walking for about an hour, it suddenly stopped again on a gentle and sunny hillside. "Oh, this is the place where more than 80 war elephants are buried. I participated in the digging and burial. I remember it very clearly. . Well, there is another monument there. "Bo Nongding said quietly.
I looked in the direction of his finger. Sure enough, there was a stone tablet standing in the grass, engraved with three big characters with peeling gold foil and a bit blurry handwriting: Baixiang Tomb . Could it be the stone... I didn't dare to think about it, and looked sideways at Bonondin. He also frowned in confusion. He came to the stone monument and chose a flat piece of grass. After digging up the soil with two iron picks, it used its nose to clean out the dirt and continued digging. It had not eaten for several days and was exhausted from the long journey. It stood on the edge panting for a while,
But it dug relentlessly, from morning to afternoon, and finally dug an oval shallow pit; it slid down the pit, and in It continued to dig deeper into the pit, rolling up the soil with its nose and throwing it out. We watched from a distance and saw its body sinking inch by inch. The sun went down and the moon rose, but it was still digging. .
In the middle of the night, the cock's back sank from the edge of the pit and disappeared. The sound of the ivory digging into the earth became increasingly rare, and the rhythm of the proboscis' crow became slower and slower. After a while, everything calmed down and there was no sound.
Bonondin and I waited patiently for the sky to turn white before we bravely walked to the pit to take a look. About 3 meters deep, Xia Xuan was lying at the bottom of the pit, his face turned sideways, his nose curled up in the crook of his legs, one eye wide open, staring at the sky.
It was dead. It dug a pit next to the Elephant Tomb left by its mysterious ancestors and buried it with its companions who had fought side by side. As an old war elephant, it found the best one.
The final destination. There is a rotten smell in the pit, and the remains of the war elephants that were buried 26 years ago can be seen. In the red soil, there seems to be white ivory exposed due to the digging of the soil. The pits were polished by the sand, shining with a luxurious luster in the morning light. Bonondin grinned as if he had a toothache and said with a grimace: "If we pick up ivory here, we are afraid that the Hsinchu building will catch fire. Even if you buy a Gupzi cow, you will be killed by a tiger! ”
“Yes, you will be punished.” "I said. Looking at the noble body of the war elephant, I felt the insignificance of my soul. Bonondin and I started pushing the loose soil into the pit, filling the pit and compacting it, and then dragged it with our bare hands. He walked back to the village with his exhausted body.